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diff --git a/22023-0.txt b/22023-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cb8918e --- /dev/null +++ b/22023-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10031 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. Mitchell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Scottish Reformation + Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics + +Author: Alexander F. Mitchell + +Editor: David Hay Fleming + +Release Date: July 9, 2007 [EBook #22023] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION *** + + + + +Produced by Susan Skinner, Jordan, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: This text uses utf-8 (unicode) file encoding. If +you don't see 10 characters in the next line: +œ ē ū α β γ ε λ ο ς +make sure your text reader's "character set" or "file encoding" is set +to Unicode (UTF-8). You may also need to change the default font. As a +last resort, use the latin-1 version of the file instead.] + + + + + +THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION + + +[Illustration: [Handwritten: yrs always cordially Alex F. Mitchell]] + + + + +THE +SCOTTISH REFORMATION + +Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and +Distinctive Characteristics + +(Being the Baird Lecture for 1899) + +BY THE LATE +ALEXANDER F. MITCHELL, D.D., LL.D. + +EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY +IN ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY + +EDITED BY + +D. HAY FLEMING, LL.D. + +_WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR +BY JAMES CHRISTIE, D.D._ + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS +EDINBURGH AND LONDON +MDCCCC + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Few men have shown more indomitable application to an arduous duty, amid +physical weakness and bodily pain, than did the author of these Lectures +in their preparation and revision. In the MS. there are a goodly number +of additions and minute alterations in his own hand--some of them very +tremulous, some of them in ink, some of them in pencil. He intended to +revise them still more carefully ere they were published; but expressed +the desire that, if he were not spared to do so, I would see them +through the press. The Master, whom he served so long and so faithfully, +having released him from the work he loved so well, and from the +suffering he so patiently endured, the final revision has devolved upon +me. + +On the suggestion of Professor Robertson the book has been arranged in +chapters. The sixth lecture having temporarily gone amissing before its +delivery, Dr Mitchell prepared a rescension of it. The original and the +rescension are now combined in chapter x. He intended to devote an extra +lecture to Alesius, and another to Andrew Melville, but unfortunately +was unable. The chapter on Alesius is therefore taken from two of his +class-lectures, some of the longer extracts being thrown into +appendices, and a few passages being slightly compressed. This is at +once the fullest and the best account of Alesius that has yet been +published. The facts concerning Melville in chapter x. are supplemented +to a small extent in the paper quoted in Appendix A. + +Comparatively few of the authorities were entered in the MS. when it was +placed in my hands. I have filled in many, and have taken care, in +almost every instance where volume and page are given, to check the +quotations with the originals. My notes, and my additions to Dr +Mitchell's notes, are enclosed within square brackets; but when I have +merely supplied authorities, they are not so distinguished. The list +which he had drawn up of the works of Alesius was partly in an obsolete +form of shorthand, which to me was quite undecipherable. Having been +privileged to examine a good many of these rare treatises in various +public libraries, I have been able, though only to an inconsiderable +degree, to supplement the list; these additions being marked like those +in the notes and other appendices. In revising the Lectures themselves, +I have corrected a number of trifling slips, but have made no alteration +of which Dr Mitchell would not have cordially approved had his attention +been drawn to it. + +In preparing the Lectures, Dr Mitchell availed himself of elaborate +articles he had written at various times for periodicals and other +publications. The present volume is valuable in several ways, not the +least of these being that it embodies, on many obscure and important +points, the matured views of one of the most competent and cautious of +historical students--of one who grudged no time and spared no labour in +eliciting and elucidating the truth. + +D. H. F. + +_December 1899._ + +[Illustration: (signed) yrs always cordially Alex. F. Mitchell] + + + + +THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR MITCHELL xiii + +CHAPTER I. +THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION 1 + +CHAPTER II. +PATRICK HAMILTON 19 + +CHAPTER III. +THE OPPRESSED AND THE OPPRESSORS 34 + +CHAPTER IV. +GEORGE WISHART 56 + +CHAPTER V. +KNOX AS LEADER OF OUR REFORMATION 79 + +CHAPTER VI. +THE OLD SCOTTISH CONFESSION OF 1560 99 + +CHAPTER VII. +THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 123 + +CHAPTER VIII. +THE FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE 144 + SECT. I. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 145 + II. THE DISCIPLINE OF THE CHURCH 162 + III. THE PREROGATIVES AND DUTIES OF CHURCH MEMBERS 169 + IV. EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG AND UNIVERSITY REFORM 174 + V. CARE OF THE POOR 179 + +CHAPTER IX. +THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX 184 + +CHAPTER X. +THE SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE 214 + +CHAPTER XI. +ALESIUS 239 + +APPENDICES. + +A. THE PÆDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS 285 + +B. CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON 289 + +C. CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE 292 + +D. CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF THE WHITE LADIES + AT FRANKFORT WAS GRANTED TO THE ENGLISH EXILES 294 + +E. THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS 295 + +F. THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE DECAPITATION OF + ANNE BOLEYN 297 + +G. THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND 298 + +H. ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING 300 + +I. THE WORKS OF ALESIUS 301 + + * * * * * + +ADDENDA 307 + +INDEX 311 + + + + +BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + +OF + +THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER FERRIER MITCHELL, D.D., LL.D., PROFESSOR OF +ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS. + + +A pathetic and almost melancholy interest attaches to this volume of the +Baird Lectures. Their scholarly and accomplished author may be said to +have entered on the last stage of the malady to which he succumbed when +they were read for him in Blythswood Parish Church, Glasgow, by his +friend and former student, Professor Robertson, the closing one, indeed, +having been delivered but a few days before his death. In proof of the +deep interest which he took in the subject of these Lectures, and of his +desire to present them in as perfect a form as possible, it may also be +mentioned that he employed his time in revising them while confined to +bed during the protracted and painful illness through which he passed. +The editing of them he intrusted to another friend, Dr Hay Fleming of St +Andrews, with whom he had much in common--similarity of tastes and +interest in the same literary pursuits having led to an intercourse +between them which ripened into mutual confidence and esteem. Had +Professor Mitchell lived to see the work through the press himself, +there is hardly room to doubt that, as in the case of most of his other +publications, additional explanatory and supplementary notes on obscure +points would have been appended by him. As it is, the editor in +executing his task has done what he could in this respect. + +When the decease of the venerable Professor took place at St Andrews +towards the end of March of this year, it was felt that the Church of +Scotland had been bereft not only of one of her ablest and most trusted +leaders, but of one of the wisest and warmest friends of her missions; +and the many tributes paid to his memory, both from the pulpit and in +the press, were all expressive of the high regard in which he was held, +and of the sense of public loss caused by his removal. But the loss was +not that of his own Church alone, nor of the University with which his +name had been so long and so honourably associated. There are those in +other communions who had learned to look upon him as "a master of +Israel," and in all Presbyterian Churches especially he was recognised +as one of the ablest and most learned exponents of the principles which +they hold in common, and as one of the most earnest defenders of "the +faith once delivered to the saints." + +As many of those who are familiar with Professor Mitchell's writings may +know little or nothing of his personal history, it has been suggested +that a short biographical sketch of him would form an appropriate +introduction to this posthumous volume. The particulars woven together +in the following narrative have been collected from various sources, +some of them having been furnished by members of his own family. + +Alexander Ferrier Mitchell was born on 10th September 1822 in the old +ecclesiastical city of Brechin, with which his ancestors had had an +honourable connection for several generations. His grandfather, +Alexander Mitchell, and his father, David Mitchell, were both known as +Convener Mitchell, probably as having succeeded each other in the +convenership of the local guilds. On the maternal side he was descended +from another Brechin family, some of the members of which had in their +day served in various capacities abroad, one of his granduncles, +Alexander Ferrier, after whom he was named, having been a doctor in +India, and another, Captain David Ferrier, "a brave and bold +sailor,"--in memory of whom there is a tablet on the east door of the +old Cathedral,--having made a voyage round the world in the Dolphin, in +which also he ran the blockade in time of war into some of the French +ports. Elizabeth, daughter of James Ferrier at Broadmyre, the +Professor's mother, was a woman of good judgment and deep piety, and +from her he seems to have inherited some of the most prominent features +of his character. He was one of a family of three, his brother and +sister having died, the former at Bloemfontein in South Africa, many +years ago. In childhood he had a narrow escape, a cart having run over +his body. He was picked up and carried home by the minister of the +Episcopal church. As a boy he passed through more than one severe +illness, and when taken for a change to Glenesk one summer he was +described by a sympathetic friend as "a deein' laddie." To a mother's +unwearied care and attention he owed, under the divine blessing, the +recovery of his health, and to a mother's religious training he owed in +no small degree that knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and that pious +disposition by which he was distinguished from his earliest years. His +elementary education he received at the grammar-school of his native +town, and when fifteen years of age he proceeded to St Andrews to +prosecute his studies with a view to the Christian ministry. + +In those days the journey thither was not made with the comfort and +facility with which it is now accomplished; and the Professor himself +has told how, on landing from the North off the ferry-boat at Newport, +he walked all the way to St Andrews--a distance of eleven miles--along +with the carrier's son by the side of the cart which conveyed his +luggage to its destination. Widely different as were the future careers +of those two youths, there were various interesting points of contact in +their lives, the one becoming an eminent doctor in the University, and +the other filling the honourable position of a magistrate in the ancient +city, while both were associated as members of the kirk-session of the +Town Church. + +At the very outset of his career at St Andrews the young student from +Brechin gained the highest distinction, having won the first bursary +open to students entering the University, as the result of a competitive +examination in classical scholarship. Throughout his course, both in +Arts and Divinity, he maintained a highly honourable place in all the +classes, distinguishing himself particularly by proficiency in Hebrew +and other Oriental languages; while he won the commendation of his +professors and the esteem of his fellow-students not more by his +attainments in learning than by the sterling integrity of his character +and the example of his consistent Christian life. Among his +contemporaries at College were not a few who in after-life rose to +prominent positions in the Church, one of these being his future +colleague, the late Principal Tulloch, with whom he continued to have +most cordial relations during a lifelong friendship. + +On completing the usual curriculum of study at the University, Mr +Mitchell was in 1844 licensed to preach the Gospel, and after acting for +some time as an assistant, first to the minister of the parish of Meigle +and then to the minister of the parish of Dundee, he was in 1847 +ordained by the Presbytery of Meigle to the pastoral charge of the +parish of Dunnichen in his native county. + +The Professor had been no passive spectator of the exciting and +momentous events which were taking place in the Church of Scotland in +the years which immediately preceded and followed his entrance on the +work of the ministry; and in his address as Moderator of the General +Assembly, four decades afterwards, he gives a graphic account of the +impressions made upon him by his visits to the Supreme Court of the +Church during that period of acrimonious controversy and painful +separation. He says: "My first view of the General Assembly was gained +in 1840, where from the public gallery of the Tron Church, in near +proximity to Dr John Ritchie, of the Potterrow (whose thoughts were +already running in the same direction as those of his successors are +now), I listened to the thrilling eloquence of Chalmers, and the calm, +thoughtful utterances of Cook, and witnessed the first of those titanic +encounters between Cunningham and Robertson, which the pen of Hugh +Miller and the histories of the period have made classical. My next +glimpse of the Assembly was in 1843, when, from the students' gallery of +St Andrew's Church, beside my friend William Smith, afterwards of North +Leith, I witnessed that sad sight which was never to fade from our +memories, nor cease to influence the course of our thought and +action--the scene when Welsh, Chalmers, Gordon, and many more good and +devoted ministers, abandoning in despair the contest of ten years, +withdrew from the Church of their fathers, to rear another in which they +hoped to enjoy greater freedom and peace. My next view of the Assembly +was in 1848, when, along with Dr Tulloch, and two or three other college +friends, I took my place for the first time as a member of the House, +and when my old preceptor, then Professor of Church History in St Mary's +College, filled the chair. The Church at that time was but slowly +recovering from the staggering blow she had received in '43, and the +great Dr Robertson was shaping out the splendid scheme which was to +constitute her mission for the immediate future, and give to her the +consciousness and confidence of reviving life. There were plenty of aged +men there, whose lives had been honourably worn out in her service; a +goodly band of young men, with not a little of the ardour and enthusiasm +of youth; not a few of riper years, who, after weary waiting, had at +last been promoted to pastoral charges. But that class which is the +mainstay of a Church--the men who have attained to experience by years +of labour in her service, and are still able to bear the burden and +heat of the day--was more scantily represented." + +The young minister, with so many conspicuous gifts and graces, was not +allowed to remain long in the quiet pastoral charge at Dunnichen, where +his ministry had been very acceptable; and in 1848--only one year after +his ordination, and when not more than twenty-six years of age--he was +appointed to the chair of Hebrew in St Mary's College, St Andrews, +through which he had so recently passed as a student. He has himself +told of the cordial welcome which he received from the venerable +Principal Haldane and the other members of the professorial staff, and +of the harmony with which they co-operated in the work of the College. + +It was not then a common thing that so young a minister should be called +to occupy such a position of dignity and responsibility, nor was Hebrew +then so popular a branch of study as it has, for various reasons, since +become in our Divinity Halls; but the ability and success with which the +Professor discharged the duties of his chair, and the salutary influence +which he exerted in many ways upon the students, more than justified the +appointment. He was one of the first in Scotland to introduce a +scientific method in the teaching of Hebrew, and his class-room became a +place of very real work, necessitating careful preparation on the part +of the students. Some of these, perhaps, thought him rather exacting, +and the strict discipline which he enforced was not altogether to their +liking; but there were very few who did not value his good opinion, or +who would not have considered it a kind of degradation to incur his +displeasure; while many, imbued with something of his own spirit, +attained under his guidance to such a degree of proficiency in the +knowledge of the sacred tongue as made the reading of the Old Testament +in the original a source of interest and pleasure to them in subsequent +years. Dr William Wright, one of the greatest of Orientalists, was one +of his students, and two others of them are occupants of Hebrew Chairs +in Scottish Universities. + +The appointment of the Professor to the Convenership of the Committee on +the Mission to the Jews in 1856 marked a new era in its history, in +respect both of the method of its operations and the field in which +these have ever since been carried on. One of the results of the Crimean +war, which had then but recently closed, was the opening of the Turkish +empire for evangelistic enterprise; and it may be said that the +Professor laid the foundations of the Mission in the Levant at the +several stations occupied by the Church of Scotland, which are now known +not only as places of great historic interest but as important centres +of missionary activity in which the Church bears an honourable part. In +the autumn of 1857 he undertook a journey to the East at the request of +the Committee, and in the course of his travels there visited not only +the principal Turkish cities on the coast, but Jerusalem and other +places in Palestine and Syria, collecting information with a view to +find openings for the planting of the Mission at suitable stations in +addition to the two which had been already occupied. The report which he +presented on his return led by degrees to a great expansion of the +Mission, and several of his own students and others were through his +influence induced to enter the service of the Committee. With many other +claims on his attention, he ungrudgingly gave up a great part of his +time to the administration of the affairs of the Mission, over which for +nineteen years he continued to preside with great zeal and wisdom, +pressing its claims on the members of the Church, and guiding and +encouraging the missionaries by an intelligent and sympathetic interest +in their arduous work. When in 1875 he retired from the Convenership, +the General Assembly expressed its sense of the value of the +distinguished services which he had rendered to the Church in this +department of her work in the following terms: "The Assembly are +satisfied that the present prosperity of the Jewish Mission, and the +remarkable progress which it has made, has been mainly owing to the +great labour, the learning, enthusiasm, and warm and intelligent +Christian interest which Dr Mitchell has devoted during these years to +the cause of Jewish conversion in connection with the Church of +Scotland." After his retirement from the Convenership he but seldom +attended the meetings of the Committee, for the reason, as he was once +heard to say, that he did not wish to appear to hamper his successors; +but he never ceased to take a deep interest in the Mission, and none +rejoiced more than he in its growing prosperity. + +While the Professor still occupied the Hebrew Chair, he had shown a +special aptitude for another branch of learning, in which he was yet to +make a reputation for himself in the Churches not only of Britain but of +America. In 1866 he published a lecture, primarily addressed to his +students, on 'The Westminster Confession of Faith: A Contribution to the +Study of its Historical Relations and to the Defence of its Teaching,' +which, as a reply to views then current in certain quarters, attracted +no little notice at the time of its publication, and which is not only +of special interest as illustrating his theological standpoint, and the +calm and temperate, yet earnest and vigorous, manner in which he could +defend it, but is of permanent value as a contribution to the literature +of the subject with which it deals. In the following year he published +'The Wedderburns and their Work, or the Sacred Poetry of the Scottish +Reformation in its Relation to that of Germany'--a subject which was +treated by him much more fully in one of his most recent works. + +The Professor was known to possess a most extensive and accurate +knowledge of Church History in general, and of Scottish Church History +in particular; and when in 1868 he was called to occupy the Chair of +Ecclesiastical History in St Mary's College, the appointment was hailed +with satisfaction alike by the University and the Church. With an +absorbing interest in his subject, and with the true instinct of the +historian, he was most painstaking in ascertaining historical facts, +never reaching his conclusions but as the result of patient and careful +investigation; and those who knew him intimately can tell how little he +grudged the trouble of a journey to Edinburgh or London, or even of an +occasional excursion to the Continent, in order to prosecute his +researches in libraries there with the view of verifying a statement, or +of obtaining indubitable evidence on some controverted point. Besides +those who had the privilege of listening to his prelections from the +professorial chair, there are many in the Churches on both sides of the +Atlantic who have profited by his great erudition; and his published +writings, which all bear the impress of a master-hand, will always be +reckoned standard works in Ecclesiastical History. + +It is no part of the purpose of this notice to describe his various +works in detail, but the mere enumeration of them will show what a life +of unremitting study he lived. Besides those already referred to, he +edited, along with the late Dr Struthers, in 1874, 'The Minutes of the +Westminster Assembly from November 1644 to March 1649,' to which is +prefixed an elaborate Historical Introduction written by himself; in +1882 he wrote a 'Historical Notice of Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism' +(first printed at St Andrews in 1551), prefixed to Paterson's +black-letter reprint of the same; in 1883 he published his Baird +Lecture, 'The Westminster Assembly: Its History and Standards'; in 1886 +he published 'The Catechisms of the Second Reformation'; in 1888 he +edited, for the Scottish Text Society, 'The Richt Vay to the Kingdome of +Heuine,' by John Gau, the earliest known prose-treatise in the Scottish +dialect setting forth the doctrines of the Reformers; and in 1897, for +the same Society, 'The Gude and Godlie Ballads,' reprinted from the +edition of 1567, with a full and most interesting Introduction. For the +Scottish History Society he also edited in 1892 and 1896, along with the +writer of this sketch, two volumes of 'The Records of the Commissions of +the General Assembly,' covering the period 1646-1650, from the original +manuscript in the Assembly library, with an introduction, notes, and +appendices by himself. To these must be added the present volume of the +Baird Lecture, 'The Scottish Reformation.' + +The Baird Lecture on the Westminster Assembly was received with great +favour in America as well as in this country, and a new edition of it +was published at Philadelphia in 1897, in a notice of which in the +'Presbyterian and Reformed Review' the following statement occurs: "The +book at once took its rank as the most trustworthy and sympathetic +account of the Westminster Standards in existence, and rapidly ran out +of print. The public is to be congratulated that Dr Mitchell has +permitted himself to be persuaded by the [Presbyterian] Board to revise +the text and allow a new edition to be issued to meet the present +demand. The revision does not much alter the text. A phrase is more +felicitously turned here or rendered a shade more exact or emphatic +there; a few additional references are added in the notes; and a few +additional citations and remarks incorporated in them: that is about +all. But so good a book needed only these little touches of betterment." + +The Professor also contributed to various journals and encyclopædias +many important articles, chiefly on historical topics relating to +Scotland, which, if collected, would form a volume of miscellaneous +papers of great interest and value. The most important of these are +included in the subjoined list: In the 'British and Foreign Evangelical +Review,' January 1872, "Our Scottish Reformation: Its Distinctive +Characteristics and Present-Day Lessons," pp. 87-128; October 1875, "Dr +Merle D'Aubigné on the Reformation in Scotland," pp. 736-760; October +1876, "Killen's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," pp. 713-741: in the +'Catholic Presbyterian,' March 1879, "Calvin and the Psalmody of the +Reformed Churches": in the 'Scottish Church,' November 1886, "St Andrews +in Covenanting Times": in the 'Year-Book of the Church of Scotland,' +1886, "Brief Sketch of the History of the Reformed Church of Scotland": +in 'St Giles' Lectures,' First Series, 1880-81, "Pre-Reformation +Scotland"; and in Fourth Series, 1883-84, "The Primitive or Apostolic +and Sub-Apostolic Church," being the first of the lectures entitled, +"The Churches of Christendom." To Dr Schaff's Encyclopædia he +contributed separate articles on "St Columba," "The Culdees," "Patrick +Hamilton," "Iona," and "The Keltic Church"; and to the 'Presbyterian and +Reformed Review,' published at Philadelphia, he contributed a review of +Dr Hume Brown's 'John Knox.' Besides many Reports on various matters +presented to the General Assembly, he issued for special purposes a +"Statement regarding the Eldership," and a "List of Acts of the Scottish +Parliament, and of Acts, Overtures, and Resolutions of the General +Assembly of the Church of Scotland, adopted at various times for the +Acknowledgment of the True Reformed Protestant Religion, the Maintenance +of Sound Doctrine, and the Subscription of the Confessions of Faith of +1560 and 1647." When at Geneva, on one of his visits to the Continent, +he prepared for private circulation, from the original, which is still +preserved among the historical treasures in the Hotel de Ville, "Livre +Des Anglois, or Register of the English Church at Geneva under the +pastoral care of Knox and Goodman, 1555-1559," with a Prefatory Notice +and a Facsimile of pp. 49, 50. To this list of his minor works may be +added a sermon on "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ," published in +1879. + +The Professor accorded a generous and helpful sympathy to those who were +workers in the field in which he laboured himself with so great +assiduity and success; and he was not only a member both of the Scottish +History Society and of the Scottish Text Society, but took an active +interest in their affairs. He was also one of the representatives of the +Church of Scotland in the General Presbyterian Alliance from the date of +its formation, and took part in the business of all its General +Councils, at the first of which, held at Edinburgh in 1877, he laid on +the table a paper which he had drawn up on "The Harmony between the +Bibliology of the Westminster Confession and that of the earlier +Reformed Confessions, exhibited in parallel columns." He was appointed +Convener of the Committee on the Desiderata of the History of the +Presbyterian Churches; and at the following General Council, held at +Philadelphia in 1880, it fell to him, in consequence of the death of +Principal Lorimer, who was Convener of the British section of the +Committee on Creeds and Formulas of Subscription, to give in the report +containing "Answers to Queries regarding Creeds and Confessions." The +Answers as regards the Church of Scotland, which had been prepared by +himself, are to be found in the Report of the Proceedings of the +Council, pp. 969-984. When in America he also delivered a course of +lectures at Alleghany. His connection with the Alliance brought him into +close contact with some of the leading Presbyterian divines of Britain +and America, with whom his opinions on the history of the doctrine, +worship, and government of the Church carried great weight; and Dr +Schaff has acknowledged his obligations to him, among others, in his +well-known work entitled 'The Creeds of Christendom.' + +In 1885 the Church showed her appreciation of the Professor's character +and work by electing him to the Moderatorship of the General Assembly, +an office which he filled with a union of dignity and authority which +reflected honour upon the Church. If there are parties in the Church of +Scotland, he never identified himself with any of them, and had learned +to call no man master but Christ. He knew his own mind, and could give +forcible expression to his convictions when occasion required. Naturally +of an unassuming disposition and unobtrusive manners, he never courted +popularity nor sought to thrust his opinions upon others; and it was for +this reason, perhaps, that he was deferred to even by those whose views +were in some respects widely divergent from his. It was doubtless for +this reason also, as well as for others, that he wielded so great an +influence in the counsels of the Church, and probably few men had more +to do than he with the shaping of her policy in recent years. In paying +a tribute to his memory at a meeting of the Presbytery of Edinburgh a +few days after his decease, the Very Rev. Dr Scott of St George's said +that "by Professor Mitchell's death the Church had lost a laborious, +faithful, successful, and honoured minister and professor, and perhaps +one of the soundest and wisest counsellors that the Church ever had. He +was a man who had friends in all the Churches. He knew how powerfully +his influence had told in the Church--always for conciliation, not only +so far as those without their own Church were concerned, but those +within the Church also. Had it not been for Dr Mitchell's influence the +relaxation of the formula regarding the subscription of elders would +never have been carried through." + +A man of a very catholic spirit, and a lover of peace and concord, the +Professor, like many others who longed for a comprehensive union of the +Scottish Churches, would willingly have made all reasonable concessions +for the attainment of so desirable an object. But he was too loyal a son +of the Church of Scotland to consent to any unworthy compromise, and in +the hour of danger no one was more ready than he to exert all the +influence at his command in her defence. Readers of Dr Boyd's +'Twenty-five Years of St Andrews' may remember the account there given +of the impression made by the Professor's sermon in the Town Church in +the height of the contest in 1885, when the question of Disestablishment +was brought so prominently before the electors of the St Andrews Burghs. +Dr Boyd says: "It had been intimated at the services during the day that +Dr Mitchell, our Professor of Church History, would lecture in the +parish church in the evening on 'Some aspects of the Church Question +deserving of consideration in the present crisis.' Dr Mitchell was that +year Moderator of the Kirk: and he very seldom preaches. The church was +filled by a great congregation. I should not in the least degree have +been surprised to hear Dr Mitchell preach wisely and devoutly: that is +his usual way. But it did surprise me to find that man of calm and +well-balanced mind fire up into a pathos and vehemence which I have +rarely seen equalled and never surpassed. The question of +disestablishment had been raised: and one was made to realise how it +stirs the blood of good men here. And not merely were there this evening +a fire, a keenness, a power of stirring a multitude to the depth of +their nature, which are rare indeed, but an incisive severity of +denunciation which few had expected from that calm, cautious man. And if +the preacher was at white-heat, so was the congregation long before he +was done. Several times there would have been loud applause, had it not +been hushed." + +The attitude which the Professor maintained in regard to the doctrine +and worship of the Church was a strictly conservative one, and may be +best described in his own words, taken from an article included in the +list of his minor works. In that article, after quoting the advice +tendered by an eminent minister of the Church of England to a minister +of the Church of Scotland--"Stick by your own Kirk: it is an honest +Kirk, one of the few that has fairly rid itself of sacerdotalism and +ritualism, and you have no cause to be ashamed of it"--he goes on to +say: "The advice is not unneeded in the present day by others than he to +whom it was originally tendered, and I give it this publicity for the +benefit of all whom it may concern. The Reformed Church of Scotland from +the first rid herself of these medieval corruptions, and the attempt to +bring her again under the yoke issued in dire disaster to those who made +it. This surely is no time for the Presbyterian Churches to swerve from +the testimony they have so long and resolutely borne against all such +errors. When we think of the mischief they are now causing in the Church +of England, and the grief they are occasioning to many of her most loyal +sons, rather does it become us to bear more decided testimony to the +truths, that under the New Testament there is but one Priest, who ever +liveth to make intercession for us, and one sacrifice once offered, +which perfects for ever them that are sanctified; that He has not +communicated His priestly office to His ministers either by succession +or delegation, nor authorised them to repeat or continue that sacrifice +which is the propitiation for sin; and that He has neither Himself +imposed, nor warranted others to impose, a load of 'fondly' invented +ceremonies in His worship." + +If the Professor thus strenuously opposed sacerdotalism on the one hand, +he had as little sympathy with Broad Churchism on the other. The +non-natural sense in which the narratives of the New Testament miracles +are understood and interpreted by some of the modern critics he rejected +as subversive of Christian truth, a common saying of his being, "If the +Gospel is not true historically, it is not true at all: 'If Christ be +not raised, your faith is vain'"; and while he mellowed with advancing +years, he never wavered in his deep religious convictions, nor for a +moment relaxed the tenacious grasp which he had of the doctrines of +Christianity as set forth in the standards of the Reformed Churches. One +of his latest sayings was, "I die in the faith which I have always +professed." + +From his _Alma Mater_ the Professor had received the degree of D.D. in +1862, and in 1892 the University of Glasgow conferred upon him the +degree of LL.D. in recognition of his eminence as a teacher and an +author. A young minister of the Church, himself one of his most +distinguished students, has drawn a picture of him as he appeared about +the latter of these dates, which is so true to the life that no excuse +is needed for introducing it here. He says: "St Andrews and Professor +Mitchell are inseparable. For forty-four years he has taught in the +University: first the Hebrew Tongue; next the History of the Church of +Christ. As a Professor, Dr Mitchell comes into contact with a +comparatively small number of students. The classes in St Mary's are +diminutive--in some ways a source of much gratification to the writer +and others--consequently he is little known by most men here. Of course, +all are familiar with the Figure pacing the town in the bright of the +forenoon; or, arm-in-arm with a youthful Professor, walking as far as +the Swilcan; or, at a Graduation Ceremony, scanning the audience, if +perhaps he may get a glimpse of some old pupil among the crowd of +interested spectators. For many of his students have risen high: and +some of them have a weight of years to bear. But all are not aware that +in the Church History Class-Room English is spoken as she is nowhere +else in St Andrews. The beautifully rounded and perfectly balanced +sentences, and the elegance of the language, will hardly be excelled. To +make the study of Church History what is called popular is one of the +few impossibilities of life, but there is no man living who can invest +the subject with more interest; for Professor Mitchell is thoroughly up +to date with all his facts, and loses no opportunity of visiting the +great German authorities.... To be reproved in class by the Professor is +not to be desired: to be 'spoken to' in his ante-room still less so. +Many men stand in awe of him--I have always thought unnecessarily so." + +The Professor continued to take a warm interest in his students after +they had left the Divinity Hall, and had entered on the work of the +ministry; and when attending the General Assembly he could generally +tell how many of its members had passed through one or other of his +classes in St Mary's College. When he retired from the duties of his +Chair in 1894, the occasion was regarded as affording a suitable +opportunity of giving public expression to the esteem in which he was +held by his friends, and to their grateful appreciation of his services +both to the Church and the University; and in 1895, while the General +Assembly was in session, he was presented, in name of a large number of +his former students and other friends, with an illuminated address, a +cheque for 200 guineas, and his portrait by Sir George Reid--acknowledged +to be one of the best that have yet come from the studio of the +President of the Royal Scottish Academy. The Right Hon. James A. +Campbell of Stracathro, M.P., with whom he had long had intimate +relations, presided at the ceremony and made the presentation. The reply +of the Professor, as containing many interesting reminiscences, and as +showing the view which he took himself of his life and work, is here +inserted _in extenso_. He said:-- + +"Mr Campbell, I thank you, sir, with all my heart, for the many kind +things--far more kind than I deserve--which you have just said of me, +and for the many kind services which you have rendered to me in the +course of our lifelong friendship; and I thank, with all my heart, you, +my many esteemed friends and pupils, who have united in presenting me +with this address expressive of your warm affection, this speaking +likeness and munificent gift. Kindness far more than I have merited has +followed me all my life through--never more conspicuously than at the +close of my public career; and now in retiring from the professorial +work I loved, and from the College for which almost for half a century I +lived and laboured, it is a consolation to me to know that I carry with +me into my retirement the esteem of so many honoured friends and the +affectionate regard of so many former pupils. Some have been speaking +lately of the loneliness of a Scottish student's college life. I can +only say for myself that the years I spent as a student in St Mary's +College were among the happiest of my life, and that the friendships +then formed within the little band of my fellow-students were among the +most valued and lasting of those I have enjoyed. I have but to name John +Robertson, afterwards minister of Glasgow Cathedral; John Tulloch, +afterwards Principal of St Mary's College; William Milligan, afterwards +Professor of Biblical Criticism in Aberdeen; William Dickson, afterwards +Professor of Divinity in Glasgow; Drs W. H. Gray, Gloag, and Herdman, +and with these some who afterwards joined the Free Church: Dr Thomson, +long at the head of the Free Church Jewish Mission at Constantinople; Dr +Thomas Brown, younger brother of my late colleague, Dr William Brown, +agent for the Turkish Missions Aid Society; and Edward Cross, afterwards +Free Church minister at Monifieth, with whom I laboured in happiest +intercourse in Dundee, he being assistant to the Free Church minister in +the same district of the town when I was assistant to the Parish +minister. When in my twenty-sixth year I returned as a Professor in the +College where so shortly before I had been a student, I can never forget +the kindness with which I was received by my aged instructors there, +especially by Principal Haldane, whose kind counsels were then +invaluable to me, nor the kindness of Professors Duncan and Alexander, +the only two of my instructors remaining in the Old College. St Andrews +about that time had the reputation of being rather a hot place. The +conviction that I was a man of rather placid temper, who would not add +fuel to the flame, I believe weighed considerably with Lord Advocate +Rutherfurd in finally recommending me for the Chair. Within St Mary's +College we were a happy family, and the youth of twenty-six and the two +aged Professors beyond threescore and ten continued to work in unbroken +harmony--the youth deeming it a special privilege to aid the venerable +Principal in his class-work during the last year of his life, as well as +to aid him and his aged colleague in their pulpit work. It was soon +after this that I began to take an active part in Church work, attending +the General Assembly as an elder and as Convener of the Jewish +Mission--doing what I could to reorganise it in Turkey, first in +conjunction with such venerable fathers as Drs Muir, Hunter, Grant, and +James Robertson, and with several brethren nearer my own age, who were +bearing the burden and heat of the day--Drs Crawford, Nicholson, Nisbet, +William Robertson, and Elder Cumming, and such laymen as Sheriff Arkley, +David Smith, Henry Cheyne, John Elder, John Tawse, and the good Edmund +Baxter, all now gone to their rest and their reward. Principal Haldane +was succeeded by my old class-fellow, Principal Tulloch, in harmony with +whom I wrought for thirty years in the College, occasionally taking part +of his work, as I had of his predecessor's, when he was laid aside by +ill-health, and also taking part with him in Church work, especially in +the work of the Anti-Patronage Committee, on whose success so many in +the Church had set their hearts. After his untimely removal, though I +had served for seven or eight years beyond the statutory thirty, I +continued at my post, and in the most kind and cordial relations both in +Church and University work with his successor, Principal Cunningham, +heartily co-operating with him in the repeal of what has been termed the +Black Act of 1711, and in the restitution of the old formula for +ministers and elders, which are now so generally welcomed, and have been +acknowledged by one at least of the three who protested against the +change to be a great boon. I have often spoken of the pleasure I have +had in superintending the work of my students, and my gratification at +the zest with which they took to the study both of Hebrew and Church +History. The circumstances which led to my resignation are already well +known to you all, and I need only say that it was to me a very regretful +necessity. I leave in each of the three other Divinity Faculties at +least one distinguished pupil, and in St Mary's College two who, with +their younger colleagues, I trust will strive to make it more than ever +a School of the Prophets, a nursery for earnest, faithful, scholarly, +and devoted ministers, who shall set high above all passing isms Christ +the personal Saviour, and those great truths as to His divine nature, +incarnation, atoning death, and glorious resurrection, to which the +historic Church of Christ through so many centuries has clung as her +life and strength and joy. Christ before, Christ behind,--according to +St Patrick's prayer,--Christ above, Christ beneath, Christ in the +heart, Christ in the home. I heartily thank you all for your great +kindness, and especially Principal Stewart and Mr Wenley, and one who +once said I had been as a father to him, and of whom I may truly say +that he has been as a son to me." + +In 1852 the Professor married the eldest daughter of the late Mr Michael +Johnstone of Archbank, near Moffat, who belonged to an influential +yeoman family that has been connected with Annandale for the last two +hundred years. The late Mr Peter Johnstone, brother of Mrs Mitchell's +father, who was a proprietor as well as a large farmer, is still +remembered as having done a great deal to promote the cause of education +in the district where he resided; and her brother, the late Mr James +Johnstone, was tenant of Bodsbeck farm, which is the scene of the +Ettrick Shepherd's well-known Covenanting story--"The Brownie of +Bodsbeck." How much Mrs Mitchell did to brighten the life and to +minister to the happiness of the Professor can be known only to those +who have had the privilege of being admitted into the inner circle of +their friends, and there are not a few who have very pleasant +reminiscences of delightful intercourse with them in their house at 56 +South Street, where the duty of entertaining strangers seemed never to +be forgotten. Their family of four sons and two daughters all survive, +with the exception of the eldest son, Robert Haldane, who died several +years ago in Australia, to which he had emigrated along with his brother +Johnstone. + +Probably few are aware that the Professor spent many of his happiest +days, and did much of his literary work, at Gowanpark, his country +residence near Brechin, which, with its charm of seclusion and +restfulness, no one who has visited it can ever forget, and which his +family came to regard as their home almost as much as St Andrews. There +he found relaxation in the interest which he took in the work of his +little farm, which was his own property, and as long as he had health he +enjoyed a ramble among the neighbouring hills, or a walk, varied by an +occasional drive, along the quiet country roads. His home in the +country, however, was with him no mere place of recreation, still less +of idleness, and there, as elsewhere, he never failed to find his chief +source of pleasure in the prosecution of his favourite studies. + +When the Professor retired from the duties of his Chair he did not cease +to take an interest in the affairs of the College, of which he was an +ornament while he lived, and with which, as was said in a notice of him +at the time of his death, his name will always be associated--like those +of Andrew Melville, Samuel Rutherford, and others in remote and +troublous times, and that of Principal Tulloch in our own more peaceful +days. Nor did he cease to interest himself in the work of the Church +which he loved so well and had served so faithfully. Perhaps it was to +show his love for the Church as much as to gratify his own feelings +that, amid great bodily infirmity, he undertook the journey to +Edinburgh, in May 1898, to attend the General Assembly. He was unable, +indeed, to be present there more than once or twice, and when on one +occasion he occupied the Moderator's chair for a few minutes, a thrill +of respectful sympathy passed through the House. In a letter written a +few days after his return home he says, "I am very pleased to have been +able to give even such limited attendance," adding, with a touch of +pathos, as if anticipating that the visit would be his last, "in the +fiftieth year since Mr John Tulloch and Alex. F. Mitchell were first +returned as members." + +Soon afterwards he removed to his loved retreat at Gowanpark, but his +health did not improve, and he was but seldom able to leave the house. +Most of the letters he wrote at this time, some of them in pencil, with +his head resting on the pillow, were evidently intended to be his +parting words to those to whom they were addressed. In one of these, +written in the middle of September, he says, "For the first fortnight +after I came here I was able to go out of doors, and in my invalid chair +bask in the sun for an hour a-day. I am still keeping my bed in the hope +of being able to return without risk to St Andrews in the end of the +month;" and then, alluding to a subject his interest in which seems to +have helped to keep him alive, he says, "I have got five of my six +Baird Lectures transcribed. Of course I must get some one to read them +for me." + +When he returned to St Andrews, the burden of his infirmities grew +heavier, and as the spring approached it was manifest that he was +nearing the end. He was greatly affected by the tidings of the tragic +death of Dr Boyd, who had paid him a visit shortly before his departure +for the south. On the Monday before he died he repeated the words of the +second paraphrase in a clear, strong voice, and quoted almost the last +recorded words of St Paul, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished +my course, I have kept the faith." On Tuesday evening he desired some +one to sing to him, and as Miss Mitchell was unable to control her +feelings to do so, Mr Smith, his amanuensis, who had come in, was asked +by him to sing "Jesus, Lover of my Soul." When this was done he turned +to Miss Mitchell, and said, "What would you like?" and they sang +together "Rock of Ages." With uncomplaining patience he had suffered +much, but welcome rest came to him on the morning of Wednesday, 22nd +March. Having served his own generation by the will of God, he fell +asleep amid the tender regrets of his family, leaving behind him a +memory that will always be held in honour, and an example of laborious +service, of deep piety, and of fervent trust in Christ. + +In compliance with his own wish, his remains were conveyed to Brechin, +where they were laid to rest beside those of his fathers under the +shadow of the old Cathedral, the members of the local Presbytery, in +token of their respect, being present on the occasion. "The world +passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God +abideth for ever." + +_Gilmerton Manse, December 1899._ + + + + +THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION. + + +[Sidenote: Its Animating Principle.] + +With the single exception of the period which covers the introduction +and first marvellous triumphs of Christianity, the Reformation of the +sixteenth century must be owned as perhaps the greatest and most +glorious revolution in the history of the human race. And the years of +earnest contendings and heroic sufferings which prepared the way for its +triumph in many lands and issued in its cruel suppression in others, and +the story of the men who by God's grace were enabled to bear the brunt +of the battle and to lead their countrymen on to victory or to +martyrdom, will ever have a fascination for all in whose hearts faith +in the great truths, then more clearly brought to light, has not yet +altogether evaporated. The movement then initiated was no mere effort to +get quit of acknowledged scandals, which had long been grieved over but +never firmly dealt with; no mere desire to lop off a few later +accretions, which had gathered round and obscured the faith once +delivered to the saints;[1] no mere "return to the Augustinian, or the +Nicene, or the Ante-Nicene age," but a vast progress beyond any previous +age since the death of St John--a deeper plunge into the meaning of +revelation than had been made by Augustine, or Anselm, or St Bernard, or +À Kempis, or Wycliffe, or Tauler. Its object was to get back to the +divine sources of Christianity,--to know, and understand, and +appropriate it as it came fresh and pure from the lips of the Son of God +and His inspired apostles, not excluding that chosen vessel to whom the +grace had been given "to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable +riches of Christ." It was, in fact, a return to the old Gospel so +attractively set forth by him in his Epistles, and verified to the +reformers by their own inmost spiritual experience under deep +convictions of sin and shortcoming. The cry of their awakened +consciences had been, How shall we sinners have relief from our load and +be justified before God? And this, as has been said, was just the old +question put to the apostle himself by the jailer at Philippi, What must +I do to be saved? And the answer their own experience warranted them +with one accord to proclaim was still, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, +believe in the riches of His pardoning mercy, in the merit of His +atoning death, in the freeness and power of His efficacious grace. By +believing, however, they meant, and were careful to explain that they +meant, not a mere intellectual assent to the truth of the facts, but +such an assent as drew with it the trust of the heart and the personal +surrender of the soul to Christ; or--to use language of somewhat later +origin--the individual _appropriation_ of the freely offered Saviour, +with all His fulness of blessing, pardon, and righteousness by His one +offering once offered, and renewal into His own image by the continuous +indwelling of His Holy Spirit. + +[Sidenote: Infusion of a New Life.] + +Such was the animating principle which gave power to the teaching of the +reformers in all lands, and which constitutes still the central article +of a standing or a falling church to all their true-hearted +successors--Christ crucified for our sins, raised again for our +justification, and now exalted to the right hand of the Majesty in the +heavens as Prince and Saviour, to give repentance and remission of sin +and all needed grace to those who thus believe in Him, and are brought +into union with Him. And the Reformed Church will never perish or decay +while it continues to set forth this Gospel, and is honoured by its +divine Head to bring it home to the hearts and consciences of men, with +the same power as its first teachers were honoured with in the brave +days of old. For it must never be forgotten, I repeat, that the +Reformation movement was not only the introduction of a more scriptural +and scientific method of exhibiting Christian doctrine, and simple +unfolding of its teaching as to man's fallen state and the remedy their +heavenly Father had in His love provided for them; not only the +reassertion of the supremacy of the written Word of God over human +traditions, as well as of the right of all Christian men and women to +have direct access to that blessed Word; not only the translation into +the vernacular--German, English, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, +Spanish--and the circulation throughout Western Europe of that which for +ages had been to the Christian laity as a book that is sealed; but it +was also, above all this, the infusion of a new and higher life into the +churches. We fall short of a full comprehension of the movement if we +fail to recognise that the God of all grace and blessing was then +pleased to "send a plentiful rain to confirm His inheritance when it was +weary," to grant a second Pentecost to the church, to make the people +willing in the day of His power, and to pour out His Spirit in rich +abundance upon men. + +With all the conscious and unconscious preparation which had paved the +way for them, the men who were God's chosen instruments at that crisis +were made deeply to feel and humbly to own that it was God Himself who +had led them on--at times by ways they had not thought of; that it was +He who had upheld them in their extremity when all human power seemed to +be arrayed against them; that it was He who, when their resources were +exhausted, was pleased, in the day when they cried unto Him, to hear +their prayer and revive their hopes by the plentiful outpouring of His +Spirit. How feelingly this was acknowledged by Luther at various crises +in his life is known to all who are in any measure acquainted with his +thrilling story. No one could have more constantly in his heart or more +frequently on his lips the Hebrew psalmist's song of holy confidence, +"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. +Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the +mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.... There is a river, the +streams whereof shall make glad the city of God." There was also that +other which, under reverses and discouragements, was the solace of our +own reformer, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men +rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick.... Blessed be +the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth." As they mused +the fire burned and found expression in such songs of holy confidence +as-- + + "A sure stronghold our God is He, + A trusty shield and weapon; + Our help He'll be, and set us free + Whatever ill may happen. + + * * * * * + + Through our own force we nothing can, + Straight were we lost for ever, + But for us fights the proper Man, + By God sent to deliver. + Ask ye who this may be? + Christ Jesus named is He, + Of Sabaoth the Lord + Sole God to be adored, + 'Tis He must win the battle."[2] + + "If God were not upon our side + When foes around us rage, + Were not Himself our help and guide + When bitter war they wage, + Were He not Israel's mighty shield, + To whom their utmost crafts must yield, + We surely must have perished."[3] + +[Sidenote: Decay of the Medieval Church.] + +By the time at which reforming influences began manifestly to show +themselves in Scotland, that grand medieval organisation, which had +supplanted the simpler arrangements of the old Celtic church, had in its +turn exhausted its life powers, and shown unmistakable signs of +deep-seated corruption and hopeless decay. Whatever good it may have +been honoured to do in times past,--in keeping alive the knowledge of +God and of things divine in the midst of "a darkness which might be +felt," in promoting a higher civilisation than the Celtic, in +alleviating the evils of the feudalism which Anglo-Norman settlers had +brought in, in founding parishes and universities and some other +institutions which, with a purified church and revived Christian life, +were to be a source of blessing after it was swept away,--yet now at +last it had grossly failed to keep alive among the common people true +devotion, or to give access to the sources at which the flame might have +been rekindled; it had failed to provide educated men for its ordinary +cures, to raise the masses from the rudeness and ignorance in which they +were still involved, and even to maintain that hearty sympathy with them +and that kindly interest in their temporal welfare which its best men in +its earlier days had shown. It continued to have its services in a +language which had for ages been unintelligible to the bulk of the +laity, and was but partially intelligible to not a few of its ordinary +priests. It had no catechisms or hymn books bringing down to the +capacities of the unlettered the truths of religion, and freely +circulated among them.[4] It did not, when the invention of printing put +it in its power, make any effort to circulate among them the Holy Book, +that they might read therein, in their own tongue, the message of God's +love. No doubt it had its pictures and images, its mystery plays and +ceremonies, which it deemed fit books for children and the unlearned. +But it forgot that these children were growing in capacity, even if +allowed to grow up untrained; that "to credulous simplicity was +succeeding a spirit of eager curiosity, an impatience of mere authority, +and a determination to search into the foundation of things"; and that, +if it was to maintain its place, it must not only keep abreast but ahead +of advancing intelligence and morality. But the old church began greatly +to decline just as the laity began to rise. Bishop Kennedy, I suppose, +was almost its last preaching bishop; and the character of the +preaching, so far as preaching was still continued by the friars and +some of the inferior clergy, was not generally fitted to supply the lack +of Bibles and catechisms, and other vernacular books of instruction. It +never grappled, as it ought, with the problem of lightening the burdens +it had long exacted of the peasantry; but refused almost to the last +moment to ease even the most galling of them. It never grappled, as it +ought, with the problem of the education of the masses; and what was +done for those of the community in more fortunate circumstances was done +more by the efforts of a few noble-minded individuals than by any +corporate action of Church or State. There is not among all its codes of +canons anything approaching to the clear ringing utterances of our +First Book of Discipline concerning the necessity and advantages of +education.[5] + +[Sidenote: Lethargy of the Medieval Church.] + +Not only had the life powers of the medieval church been exhausted and +decay set in, but corruption, positive and gross corruption, had reached +an alarming height. There were the indolence and neglect of duty which +wealth too often brings in its train; the covert secularising of that +wealth, just as in the old Celtic church, by various devices, to get it +into the hands of unqualified men and minors; luxury, avarice, +oppression, simony, shameless pluralities, and crass ignorance; and +above all that celibate system, which nothing would persuade them +honestly to abandon, though it had proved to be a yoke they could not +bear, and was producing only too generally results humiliating and +disastrous to themselves and to all who came under their influence. The +proof of this does not rest merely or even mainly on the statements of +Knox, Alesius, and Spottiswood, nor on the representations of Lindsay +and the Wedderburns. The fact, as both the late Dr David Laing and Dr +Joseph Robertson have shown, and the late Bishop Forbes has sorrowfully +acknowledged, is confessed and deplored in the canons of their councils, +in the Acts of the Scottish Parliament, and in the writings of their +own best men.[6] The harsh measures to which men themselves so +vulnerable had recourse to maintain their position, the relentless +cruelties they perpetrated on men of unblemished character, amiable +disposition, deep-seated conviction and thorough Christian earnestness, +could not fail in the end to turn the tide against them, and arouse +feelings of indignation which on any favourable opportunity would induce +the nation to sweep them away. + +[Sidenote: Corruption of the Medieval Church.] + +The corruptions in the doctrine of the church were hardly less notable +than those in the lives of its clergy. The sufficiency and supremacy of +the written Word of God were denied, and co-ordinate authority was +claimed for tradition. The Virgin Mary and the saints departed were +asserted to share the office which Scripture reserves for the one +Mediator between God and man. Penances and other external acts of +work-righteousness were alleged to co-operate in the pardon of sin with +the "one obedience" by which "many are made righteous." The sacraments +were asserted to produce their effect _ex opere operato_,--not by the +working of the Spirit in them that by faith receive them. Belief in the +literal transubstantiation of the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper +was rigidly enforced and substituted for that spiritual presence and +spiritual manducation which the earlier church had maintained. The +doctrine of a purgatory after this life was invented, and the virtue of +masses for the dead therein detained was persistently taught and +required to be believed. The Roman church was affirmed to be the mother +and mistress of the churches, and its head to be the successor of St +Peter and the Vicar of Christ. + +[Sidenote: The Reforming Priests.] + +Yet it must never be forgotten that, even in these degenerate days, +there were those among the ministers of the church who wept in secret +over the abominations that were done, who longed for the dawn of a +better day, and, in their parishes or cloisters or colleges, sought to +prepare the way for it, and who succeeded in doing so with many of +their younger comrades, and only made up their minds in the end to +abandon the old church when all their efforts for its revival proved +vain. Nay, the men who initiated and carried to a successful issue the +struggle for a more thorough reformation than the others desired, the +martyrs, confessors, and exiles, were almost all from the ranks of the +priesthood of the old church--from the regular as well as from the +secular priesthood; from the Dominican and Franciscan monasteries as +well as from the Augustinian abbeys; and from none more largely than the +Augustinian Priory of St Andrews, and the College of St Leonard founded +in connection with it, notwithstanding that its prior for the time being +was so far from what he ought to have been. At least twenty priests +joined the reformed congregation of St Andrews in 1559-60, and among +them more than one who had sat in judgment on the martyrs and assisted +in their condemnation.[7] A much larger number were ultimately admitted +as readers in the Reformed Church. + +[Sidenote: Precursors of the Reformation.] + +How was the great revolution which was to bring the church back from +these corruptions of life and doctrine prepared for? Ebrard supposes +that witnesses for holy living and simple faith, but partially connected +with the dominant church, were never from Celtic times entirely wanting +in Britain; and it may have been that, through Richard Rolle and a few +other hermits, the feeble spark in the smoking wick continued to +smoulder on till it was blown into a flame by Wycliffe. At any rate it +was blown into a flame by him and his poor priests; and from their time +witness after witness arose to contend for the right of the laity to +read the Word of God, and to maintain that men were saved by the merits +of Christ and should pray to Him alone, that there was no purgatory in +the popish sense, and that the pope was not the Vicar of Christ. +Wycliffe's poor priests, when persecuted in the south, naturally sought +shelter among the moors and mosses of the north. The district of Kyle +and Cunningham was "a receptakle of Goddis servandis of old," where +their doctrines were cherished till the dawn of the Reformation. In 1406 +or 1407 James Resby, one of these priests, is found teaching as far +north as Perth, and for his teaching he was accused and condemned to a +martyr's death. A similar fate is said to have befallen another in +Glasgow about 1422, in all probability the Scottish Wycliffite whose +letter to his bishop has recently been unearthed in a Hussite MS. at +Vienna; and in 1433 Paul Craw or Crawar, a Bohemian, for disseminating +similar opinions, was burned at the market cross in St Andrews. These +were not in all probability the only grim triumphs of Laurence, Abbot of +Lindores, one of the first rectors in the University of St Andrews, who +during so many years "gave no rest to heretics," but they are all of +whom records have been preserved to our time. The fact that every Master +of Arts in the University of St Andrews had to take an oath to defend +the church against the Lollards,[8] and the other fact that the Scottish +Parliament in 1425 enjoined that every bishop should make inquiry anent +heretics and Lollards, and that where any such were found, they should +be punished as the law of holy church requires,[9] speak more +significantly of the alarm they had occasioned than these sporadic +martyrdoms. Still more, perhaps, does the abuse Fordun, or rather his +continuator, heaps on them, bear witness to the alarm they had caused. +Yet at the very close of the century, and in the old haunt, we find no +fewer than thirty processed, and through the kindness of the king more +gently dealt with than the ecclesiastical authorities wished; three of +the most resolute--namely, Campbell of Cessnock, his noble wife, and a +priest who officiated as their chaplain and read the New Testament to +them--being released when at the stake. + +[Sidenote: John Major.] + +Reforming tendencies in the sixteenth century, it has been said, first +showed themselves in Scotland in the reassertion of "those principles, +catholic but anti-papal," which had been maintained in the preceding +century in the Councils of Constance and Basle. The decisions of the +former were received in Scotland in 1418, and allegiance to Benedict +XIII. was finally renounced.[10] A Scottish doctor[11] had taken a +rather prominent part in the proceedings of the latter, though the +Scottish Church, like the others, ultimately fell away from that council +and the pope elected by it, and under Bishop Kennedy was reconciled to +the Roman See and to Pope Eugenius.[12] Scotland had had no Grosteste, +no Anselm or Bradwardine among its prelates in the middle ages, no +Wycliffe among its priests. Duns Scotus, the one theologian before the +sixteenth century who claimed Scottish birth and European fame, never +seems to have taught in his native land. Chief among its doctors in the +beginning of the sixteenth century stood John Major, a native of East +Lothian, who taught with distinguished success, first in Paris, then in +Glasgow, after that in St Andrews, then once more in Paris, and finally +in St Andrews again. Melanchthon, while ridiculing his scholastic ways, +places him at the head of the doctors of the Sorbonne. The remembrance +of his early labours in Montaigu College had not died out when Calvin +entered it, and probably he had returned to it before Calvin left. +Patrick Hamilton and Buchanan may possibly have been brought into +contact with him while there, as they, Alesius, and John Wedderburn +afterwards were in St Andrews, and John Hamilton and Knox in Glasgow. He +was a true disciple of D'Ailly and Gerson, but like them was warmly +attached to the dominant church and opposed to the heretics of his time. +He taught, as they had done, that the church, assembled in general +council, may judge and even depose a pope and reform abuses in the +church; that papal excommunications have no force unless conformed to +justice, and do not necessarily prevent a man who dies under them from +going to heaven. He sharply censured the vices of the Roman court, and +of the bishops and clergy of his time, particularly those of his native +land. He is especially severe in censuring their immorality and +ignorance; and, like Wycliffe, condemns the monks and friars for +inveigling into their order young novices who had no vocation for a +celibate life, and ought rather to have been encouraged to enter into +honest wedlock. But he was a stern opponent of heresy--Lutheran as well +as Wycliffite--a subtle defender of Roman doctrine; and in dedicating to +Archbishop Betoun his Commentary on St Matthew's Gospel, he +congratulated him on the success of his cruel measures against Hamilton +and the heretics.[13] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] As Lord Acton has so well said, "The modern age did not proceed from +the medieval by normal succession, with outward tokens of legitimate +descent. Unheralded, it founded a new order of things, under a law of +innovation, sapping the ancient reign of continuity. In those days +Columbus subverted the notions of the world, and reversed the conditions +of production, wealth, and power.... Luther broke the chain of authority +and tradition at the strongest link; and Copernicus erected an +invincible power that set for ever the mark of progress upon the time +that was to come.... It was an awakening of new life; the world revolved +in a different orbit, determined by influences unknown before. After +many ages, persuaded of the headlong decline and impending dissolution +of society, and governed by usage and the will of masters who were in +their graves, the sixteenth century went forth armed for untried +experience, and ready to watch with hopefulness a prospect of +incalculable change" (Lecture on the Study of History, 1895, pp. 8, 9). +"There are no true 'cycles' in human development; history never repeats +itself; the Greco-Roman world has only distant analogies with the +Feudal-Catholic world, just as this has only distant analogies with the +Revolutionary world. The great phases of human civilisation are +contrasted rather than compared; they differ as infancy, childhood, +manhood, and senility differ in the individual" (Harrison on "Freeman's +Method of History," in the 'Nineteenth Century' for November 1898). + +[2] Miss Winkworth's Christian Singers of Germany, pp. 110, 111. + +[3] Ibid., p. 117. + +[4] [Hamilton's Catechism, which was not intended for indiscriminate +circulation among the laity, was not published until 1552; and The +Twopenny Faith was not issued until the spring of 1559.] + +[5] [For these utterances see _infra_, chap. viii. sec. iv.] + +[6] Because of its permanent importance, I deem it best to insert here a +note from my Introduction to 'The Gude and Godlie Ballatis,' p. lxiv: +"We do not need to call in Knox, or Lindsay, or the satirists, in +evidence of this humbling fact. The testimony of their own councils, of +the Acts of Parliament, and of some of their best men, as Principal Hay +in his congratulatory address to Cardinal Betoun, and Ninian Winzet in +the sad appeals and confessions inserted in his 'Tractates,' as well as +that of impartial modern historians like Tytler and Dr Joseph Robertson, +is more than sufficient to establish it beyond contradiction. The +testimony of Conæus, who died when about to be raised to the purple, +covers almost all that Alesius and Knox have averred: 'In multorum +sacerdotum aedibus scortum publicum ... nec a sacrilego quorundam luxu +tutus erat matronarum honos aut virginalis pudor.' More notable still is +the representation given in the 'Memoire' addressed to the Pope by Queen +Mary and the Dauphin, evidently at the instance of Mary of Guise, in +which the spread of heresy is expressly attributed to the ignorance and +immorality of the clergy. See Appendix B, vol. ii., of Mr Hume Brown's +recent biography of Knox." + +[7] [So early as the 23rd of June 1559, Knox wrote to Mrs Anna Lock: +"Diverse channons of Sanct Andrewes have given notable confessiouns, and +have declared themselves manifest enemies to the pope, to the masse, and +to all superstitioun" (Laing's Knox, vi. 26). In all probability some of +these canons were included among the fourteen canons of St Andrews +Priory who are mentioned as Protestants in January 1571-72, and of whom +twelve were then parish ministers ('Booke of the Universall Kirk,' +Bannatyne Club, i. 222). None of these fourteen is found signing the +General Band of 13th July 1559, which in St Andrews was adopted as "the +letters of junctioun to the Congregatioun"; but eighteen priests did +sign it; and of the other thirteen ecclesiastics who there made sweeping +recantations, at least six may be held to have joined the congregation, +for they not only confessed that "we haif ower lang abstractit ourselfis +and beyne sweir in adjuning us to Christes Congregatioun," but they +promised "in tyme cuming to assist in word and wark with unfenyiet mynde +this Congregatioun" ('Register of St Andrews Kirk-Session,' Scot. Hist. +Soc., i. 10-18). In 1573 it was stated that "the most part of the +persons who were channons monks and friars within this realme have made +profession of the true religion" ('Booke of the Universall Kirk,' i. +280).] + +[8] [Enacted by the University on 10th June 1416 (M'Crie's Melville, +1824, i. 420).] + +[9] [Enacted by Parliament on 12th March 1424-25 (Acts of Parliament, +ii. 7).] + +[10] Robertson's Concilia Scotiæ, vol. i. p. lxxviii. + +[11] [For an account of this Scottish cleric--Thomas, Abbot of +Dundrennan--who so greatly distinguished himself at the Council of +Basle, see 'Concilia Scotiæ,' vol. i. pp. xcvii-xcix.] + +[12] [The bull of Eugenius the Fourth, addressed to Bishop Kennedy, and +dated 6th July 1440, orders the excommunication of the followers of the +anti-pope, Felix the Fifth, elected by the Council of Basle, to be +published in Scotland (Ibid., p. c.)] + +[13] [Dr Mitchell, no doubt, had the Commentary itself before him. Those +who have not access to it will find the dedication in the Appendix to +Constable's 'Major,' Scot. Hist. Soc., pp. 447, 448.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +PATRICK HAMILTON. + + +It has not been very clearly ascertained how or when the opinions and +writings of Luther were first introduced into Scotland. M. de la Tour, +who in 1527 suffered in Paris for heresy, was accused of having vented +various Lutheran opinions while in Edinburgh in attendance on the Duke +of Albany. This, of course, must have been before 1523. On the 9th June +1523, the same day that John Major was received as Principal of the +Pædagogium, or St Mary's College,[14] Patrick Hamilton was incorporated +into the University of St Andrews;[15] and on 3rd October 1524 he was +admitted as a member of the Faculty of Arts. If he did not from the +latter date act as a regent in the University, he probably took charge +of some of the young noblemen or gentlemen attending the classes. At +that date he was probably more Erasmian than Lutheran, though of that +more earnest school who were ultimately to outgrow their teacher, and +find their congenial home in a new church. + +[Sidenote: His Studies.] + +Patrick Hamilton was born in 1503 or 1504 at Stonehouse in Lanarkshire, +or at Kincavel near Linlithgow. His father, a natural son of the first +Lord Hamilton, had been knighted for his bravery, and rewarded by his +sovereign with the above lands and barony. His mother was a daughter of +Alexander, Duke of Albany, the second son of James II., so that he had +in his veins the noblest blood in the land. His cousins, John and James +Hamilton, were in due time raised to episcopal rank in the unreformed +church of Scotland, and several others of his relations received high +ecclesiastical promotion. Marked out for a similar destiny, Patrick was +carefully educated, and, according to the corrupt custom of the time, +was in his fourteenth year appointed to the Abbacy of Ferne in +Ross-shire, to enable him to maintain himself in comfort while +continuing his studies abroad. Like many of his aristocratic countrymen +he went first to the University of Paris, and probably to the College of +Montaigu, where Major, the great Scottish scholastic doctor, was then +teaching with much _eclat_, and gathering round him there, as afterwards +at St Andrews, an ardent band of youthful admirers, several of whom in +the end were to advance beyond their preceptor, and to lend the +influence of their learning and piety to the side of Luther and the +reformers. Before the close of 1520 he took the degree of M.A. at the +University of Paris, and soon after left Paris for Louvain, to avail +himself of the facilities for linguistic studies provided there, or to +enjoy personal intercourse with Erasmus, the patron of the new learning. +He is said while there to have made great progress in the languages and +in philosophy, and to have been specially attracted towards the +philosophy of Plato. With the Sophists of Louvain, as Luther terms them, +he could have had no sympathy. But there were some there, as well as at +Paris, whose hearts God had touched, to whom he could not fail to be +drawn. He may even have met with those Augustinian monks of Antwerp whom +these Sophists so soon after his departure sent to heaven in a chariot +of fire, and whose martyrdom unsealed in Luther's breast the fount of +sacred song. In the autumn of 1522, or the spring of 1523, he returned +to Scotland, and, after a brief visit to his relatives in +Linlithgowshire, appears to have come on to St Andrews. Probably, along +with Alesius, Buchanan, and John Wedderburn, he there heard those +lectures on the Gospels which Major afterwards published in Paris and +dedicated to the Archbishop of St Andrews and other prominent churchmen +in Scotland. But his sympathies were more with the young canons of the +Augustinian priory than with the Old Scholastic; and probably it was +that he might take a place among the teachers of their daughter college +of St Leonard's that he was received as a member of the Faculty of Arts. +Skilled in the art of sacred music, which the _alumni_ of that college +were bound specially to cultivate, he composed what the musicians call a +mass, arranged in parts for nine voices, and acted himself as leader of +the choir when it was sung in the cathedral. He is said to have taken on +him the priesthood about this time, that he might be formally admitted +"to preach the word of God." But he was not then of age for priests' +orders, and Dr David Laing is doubtful if he was in orders at all, and +certainly no mention is made of his degradation from orders before his +martyrdom, and the final summons of Betoun seems to imply that he had +never been authorised to preach at all. + +[Sidenote: Parliament and Heresy.] + +The years 1525 and 1526 were very unquiet years in Scotland, various +factions contending with varying success for the possession of the +person of the young king. It was on the 17th July of the former year +that his Parliament passed its first Act against the new opinions, in +which, after asserting that the realm had ever been clean "of all sic +filth and vice," it enacted, "that na maner of persoun strangear that +hapnis to arrife with their schippis within ony part of this realm bring +with thaim ony bukis or werkis of the said Lutheris his discipillis or +servandis, desputt or rehers his heresyis or opunyeouns bot geif +[_i.e._, unless] it be to the confusioun therof, and that be clerkis in +the sculis alanerlie, under the pane of escheting of ther schippis and +gudis and putting of ther persouns in presoun."[16] In consequence of a +letter from the pope, urging the young king to keep his realm free from +stain of heresy, the scope of the Act was extended in 1527 by the +chancellor and Lords of Council so that it might apply to natives of the +kingdom as well as to strangers resorting to it for purposes of +commerce.[17] + +[Sidenote: James Betoun's Motives.] + +In 1526 the primate, Archbishop James Betoun, uncle of the cardinal, +having taken a keen part in the political contentions of the day with +the faction which lost, had to escape for a time from St Andrews, and, +disguised as a shepherd, to tend a flock of sheep for three months on +the hills of Fife, on the high grounds of Kennoway, immediately to the +east of where the railway now reaches its summit level.[18] It was at +this juncture that copies of the New Testament of Tyndale's translation +were brought over from the Low Countries by the Scottish traders to the +seaports of Aberdeen, Montrose, St Andrews, and Leith. Most of them are +said to have been taken to St Andrews and put in circulation there in +the absence of the archbishop. One was present there at that time who +had long treasured the precious saying of Erasmus, "Let us eagerly read +the Gospel, but let us not only read, but live the Gospel"; and who +seized the golden opportunity to impress the saying on others, and +invite longing souls to quench their thirst at those wells of living +water which had so marvellously been opened to them for a season. During +the months when the primate was in concealment, and in those which +followed his return, Patrick Hamilton came out more earnestly than he +had done before as an evangelist and an advocate of the great truths, +for which ultimately he was to be called to lay down his life. His +conduct could not long escape the notice of the returned archbishop. I +do not suppose that he was naturally cruel, nor after his recent +misfortunes likely, without consideration, to embroil himself with the +Hamiltons, with whom in the tortuous politics of the times he had often +acted. But he had those about him who were less timid and more cruel, +especially his nephew, the future cardinal. He was himself ambitious and +crafty, and about this very time was exerting all his influence to +obtain special favours from the pope without the sanction of the +king.[19] He knew that the holy father had written the sovereign +requiring him to keep his realm free from heresy, and no doubt he and +his scheming nephew thought that by their zeal in this matter they would +discredit the opposition of the king and his advisers to their ambitious +schemes at the papal court. Still, he was anxious to perform the +ungrateful task in the way least offensive to the Hamiltons. So while +issuing his summons against the reformer to appear and answer the +charges which had been brought against him, he did not attempt at once +to restrain his personal liberty; he would rather, if he could, rid the +kingdom of his presence without imbruing his hands in his blood. And +that was the result actually attained. + +[Sidenote: Final Return to Scotland.] + +Some of Hamilton's opponents even, touched by his youth, his illustrious +descent, his engaging manners and noble character, joined with his +friends in urging him to avoid by flight the danger which impended. He +yielded to their counsels, and, along with two friends and a servant, +made his escape to the Continent. The story of his residence there has +been graphically told by Principal Lorimer and Dr Merle D'Aubigné; and +the latter has the merit of explaining why Hamilton did not carry out +his original intention of visiting Luther and Melanchthon at Wittenberg, +as well as Frith, Tyndale, and Lambert at Marbourg. At the very time he +arrived on the Continent, the plague was raging in Wittenberg. "Two +persons died of it in Melanchthon's house." Luther himself was suddenly +taken ill. "All who could do so, and especially the students, quitted +the town."[20] Thus the absence of documents bearing on his alleged +sojourn at the Saxon university is naturally explained. He went to the +younger University of Marbourg in Hesse, and prepared there, and +publicly disputed, those theses that most fully and systematically set +forth the doctrines which he mainly taught, and for which at last he +suffered. He was warmly beloved by Lambert of Avignon, who was then the +most distinguished theological professor in the infant university, as +well as by others with whom he was brought into contact; and he would +have been gladly retained by them, could he have been persuaded to +remain in Germany: but his heart yearned to return to his native land, +and once more proclaim there the truths which had now become to him more +precious and engrossing than before. His faith had been confirmed, and +his spirit quickened, by living for a time among earnest and decided +Christians; and in the autumn of 1527 he set out once more for Scotland, +prepared for any fate that might await him, not counting even life dear +unto him if he might finish his course with joy, and bear faithful +witness to his Master's truth, where before he had shrunk back from an +ordeal so terrible. He appears first to have resorted to his native +district, and made known to relatives, friends, and neighbours about +Linlithgow that Gospel of the grace of God which gave strength and peace +to his own spirit. In his discourses and conversations he dwelt chiefly +on the great and fundamental truths which had been brought into +prominence by the reformers, and avoided subjects of doubtful +disputation. His own gentle bearing gained favour for his opinions and +success in his labours, and it won for him the heart of a young lady of +noble birth, to whom he united himself in marriage, following in this +the example of Luther and others of the German reformers. + +[Sidenote: In St Andrews.] + +Archbishop Betoun being then on the other side of the Forth, in the +neighbouring abbey of Dunfermline, could not fail to hear of his doings +or to desire to silence him. But neither could he fail, in the state of +the political parties in Scotland at the time, to recognise "that a +heretic with the power of the Hamiltons at his back was more to be +dreaded than Luther himself," and must be dealt with very cautiously. It +was long supposed that, if not at the king's express desire, as Bishop +Lesley seems to suggest,[21] then certainly from his own wariness, the +archbishop did not at first venture formally to renew his old summons, +but invited the reformer to St Andrews to a friendly conference with +himself and other chiefs of the church on such points as might seem to +stand in need of reform, and that Hamilton accepted the invitation. At +first, it has been said, he was well received: "All of them displayed a +conciliatory spirit; all appeared to recognise the evils in the church; +some of them seemed even to share on some points the sentiments of +Hamilton."[22] He left the conference not without hope of some other +than the sad issue he had at first anticipated. He was permitted for +nearly a month to move about with freedom in the city, to dispute in the +schools of the university, and privately to confer with all who chose to +resort to him at the lodging which had been provided for him. It was +evidently the intention of those who were deepest in the plot against +him, that he should have ample time allowed him to express his +sentiments fully and unmistakably, and even should be tempted by +dissemblers, like Friar Campbell, to unbosom himself in private on +matters as to which he refrained from saying much in public--the many +alterations required in doctrine and in the administration of the +sacraments and accustomed rites. + +It is said that the archbishop still desired that he should again save +himself by flight, and there is nothing in the summons flatly +inconsistent with this;[23] but he and his friends took the credit of +the terrible deed as promptly as if they had planned and intended it +from the first. They also assembled their armed retainers, that when the +days of truce had expired they might be able to hold their prisoner +against all attempts to rescue him. The reformer refused to flee, +affirming that he had come to the city for the very purpose of +confirming, if need be, by the sacrifice of his life, the doctrines he +had taught. He even anticipated the time fixed for his appearance, and +had one more conference with the archbishop and his doctors, who even +then had come to a formal decision that the articles charged against him +were heretical. The same evening he was seized and imprisoned in the +castle, and next day was brought out for public trial and condemnation +in the Abbey Church or cathedral of St Andrews. + +[Sidenote: His Martyrdom.] + +[Sidenote: Effects of his Constancy.] + +Among the articles with which he was charged, and the truth of which he +admitted and maintained, the most important were: "That a man is not +justified by works, but by faith alone;" "That faith, hope, and charity +are so linked together, that he who hath one of them hath all, and he +that lacketh one lacketh all;" and "That good works make not a good man, +but that a good man doth good works."[24] On being challenged by his +accuser with having avowed other heretical opinions, he affirmed it was +not lawful to worship images or to pray to the saints; and maintained +that "it is reason and leisome to all men that have a soul to read the +Word of God, and that they may understand the same, and in special the +latter-will and testament of Christ Jesus."[25] These truths, which have +been the source of life and strength to many, were to him the cause of +condemnation and death; and on the last day of February 1527-28, the +same day the sentence was passed, it was remorselessly executed before +the gates of St Salvator's College. "Nobly," as I have said elsewhere, +"did the martyr confirm the minds of the many godly youths he had +gathered round him, by his resolute bearing, his gentleness and +patience, his steadfast adherence to the truths he had taught, and his +heroic endurance of the fiery ordeal through which he had to pass to +his rest and reward." The harrowing details of his six long hours of +torture have been preserved for us by his friend Alesius, himself a +sorrowing witness of the fearful tragedy. "He was rather roasted than +burned," he tells us. It may be that his persecutors had not +deliberately planned thus horribly to protract his sufferings--though +such cruelty was not unknown in France, either then or in much later +times. They were as yet but novices at such revolting work, and all +things seemed to conspire against them. The execution had been hurried +on before a sufficiency of dry wood had been provided for the fire. The +fury of the storm, which had prevented the martyr's brother from +crossing the Forth with troops to rescue him, was not yet spent. With a +fierce wind from the east sweeping up North Street, it would be a +difficult matter in such a spot to kindle the pile and keep it burning, +or to prevent the flames, when fierce, from being so blown aside as to +be almost as dangerous to the surrounding crowd as to the tortured +victim. They did so endanger his accuser, the traitor Campbell, and "set +fire to his cowl, and put him in such a fray, that he never came to his +right mind." But, through all his excruciating sufferings, the martyr +held fast his confidence in God and in his Saviour, and the faith of +many in the truths he taught was only the more confirmed by witnessing +their mighty power on him.[26] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[14] See Appendix A. + +[15] [The entry in the Register of the University occurs at the bottom +of a page, and is preceded and followed by entries of 1521, as if it had +been inserted there to save space. The entries of 1521 are distinct and +easily read, but in this of 1523 the ink is very faint, and the surface +of the vellum has a rubbed appearance. It runs thus: "Die nono mensis +Junii anno Domini I^{m} V^{c} xxiij incorporatus erat venerabilis vir +Magister noster Magister Johannes Major doctor theologus in Parisiensis +et thesaurarius capelle regis. Eodem die incorporati sunt Magister +Patricius Hamilton et Magister Robertus Laudar in nostra Universite" +(_sic_).] + +[16] Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, ii. 295. + +[17] [The Act as thus extended was ratified on the 12th of June 1535 +(Ibid., ii. 342).] + +[18] Pitscottie's History, 1778, p. 216; Lesley's History, p. 136. + +[19] Soliciting legatine powers over the whole of Scotland, instead of +over his own province of the archdiocese, so as to render nugatory the +exemption granted to the king's old tutor and favourite prelate the +Archbishop of Glasgow. + +[20] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 42, 43. + +[21] [The only passage, so far as I know, in which Lesley speaks of the +king in connection with the martyr is the following: "Suae pertinaciae, +ac flagitii poenas igni luebat, adhortante magno Catholicae Religionis +protectore Rege ipso, quem et sanguinis propinquitate attigerat" +(Lesley's 'De Origine,' 1578, p. 427; 1675, p. 407). This is rendered by +Dalrymple: "For his obstinacie and wickednes committed, he is burnte at +command of the king selfe gret Catholik protectour, to quhom Ferne als +was neir of kin and bluid" (Dalrymple's Lesley, Scot. Text Soc., ii. +215, 216).] + +[22] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 57. + +[23] In an old manuscript book of forms used in ecclesiastical processes +by the archbishops of St Andrews before the Reformation, I found and +have been able to decipher the recorded copy of the summons issued by +Archbishop James Betoun against Hamilton after his return from Germany. +It is addressed specially to the Dean of the Lothians, and refers only +to the preaching of the reformer in West Lothian, so that there can no +longer be any doubt that his compearance in St Andrews before the date +appointed in the summons must be regarded as a resolute avowal of his +determination to defend his teaching at all hazards. The summons is +inserted at length in Appendix B. [For an account of the manuscript +Formulare see Robertson's 'Concilia Scotiæ,' vol. i. pp. cxcv, cxcvi.] + +[24] Spottiswoode's History, i. 124, 125. + +[25] Pitscottie's History, 1778, p. 206. + +[26] The older sources for the facts of Patrick Hamilton's career and +martyrdom are the references to them by his friend Alesius in two or +three of his works, and especially in his 'Commentary on the First Book +of Psalms,' under Psalm xxxvii.; by Lambert in his 'Commentary on the +Apocalypse'; and by Gau in the latter part of his treatise on 'The Richt +Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine'; and after those by Foxe, Knox, +Calderwood, Pitscottie, and Spottiswoode in their histories. The only +satisfactory formal biography of him is that by Principal Lorimer +entitled, 'Patrick Hamilton, the first Preacher and Martyr of the +Scottish Reformation.' His story has also been told by Dr Merle +D'Aubigné, in his own dramatic way; and still more recently it has been +made the subject of a veritable drama by the Rev. T. P. Johnston, +minister of Carnbee. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE OPPRESSED AND THE OPPRESSORS. + + +[Sidenote: Henry Forrest.] + +Archbishop Betoun thought that by Patrick Hamilton's death he had +extinguished Lutheranism in Scotland. The University of Louvain +applauded his deed; and so also, I regret to say, did John Major, the +old Scottish Gallican, then resident at Paris, and preparing for the +press his Commentary on the Gospels, the first part of which was to be +dedicated to his old patron in Scotland, and was emphatically to express +his approval of what that patron had done to root out the tares of +Lutheranism.[27] But, according to the well-known saying, "the reek of +Patrick Hamilton infected all on whom it did blow."[28] His martyr death +riveted for ever in the hearts of his friends the truths he had taught +in his life. This was especially the case with the younger _alumni_ in +the colleges, and the less ignorant and dissolute inmates of the priory +and other monastic establishments in the city. As at a later period it +was felt certain that a stern Covenanter had been detected when a +suspected one refused to own that the killing of Archbishop Sharp was to +be regarded as murder, so in these earlier days it was thought a +sufficient mark of an incipient Lutheran if he could not be got to +acknowledge that Hamilton had deserved his fate. On the charge that he +had a copy of the English New Testament, and had been heard to say that +Hamilton was no heretic, Henry Forrest was subjected to a rigorous +imprisonment and a violent death. Forrest was a native of the county of +Linlithgow, and had associated with Hamilton in St Andrews, and was the +first to share his bloody baptism there. He was burned at the north +kirk-style of the Abbey Church, that the heretics of Angus might see the +fire and take warning from his fate.[29] One for simply touching in his +sermons with a firm hand on the corruptions of the clergy had to escape +for his life.[30] Another, whose history after being long forgotten has +been again brought to light in our own day, for a similar offence was +subjected to cruel imprisonment, and at last forced to flee from his +native land. + +[Sidenote: Alesius and the Scriptures.] + +The name of this confessor was Alexander Alane, and it is so entered in +the Registers of St Andrews University; but it is by the name of +Alexander Alesius, imposed on him by Melanchthon, that he has been +chiefly known to posterity. It may admit of some doubt whether he was +absolutely the first after the death of Hamilton to abandon his +country[31] and all he held dear, rather than renounce the faith the +martyr had taught him, or crouch before the lecherous tyrant who had +destined him to a filthy dungeon and a lingering death. But it admits of +no doubt that he was the most notable of all the band of young Scottish +exiles who had to leave their native country between the martyrdom of +Hamilton and that of Wishart, and who were honoured to do faithful +service in the cause of the Reformation in England and on the Continent. +The story of Alesius, of the shameless cruelties which drove him from +his native land, of the hardships he had to bear in the earlier years of +his exile, of the high place he gained in the affections of Melanchthon +and Beza, and the great work he was to do by his writings and +prelections for the Protestant churches of Germany, is one of the most +interesting in the great movement of the age. But to be appreciated it +must be told in detail, and as most of his work was done out of +Scotland, I have decided to reserve it for a supplementary lecture. I +must not, however, omit to mention here one special service which he was +honoured to do for the cause in his native land soon after he left it, +as it casts fresh light on the origin of the Reformation in Scotland. +His first publication, printed in 1533, was entitled 'Alexandri Alesii +Epistola contra decretum quoddam episcoporum in Scotia, quod prohibet +legere Novi Testamenti libros lingua vernacula.' It brought into bold +relief, and set high above all minor issues, what had been taught by +Wycliffe in the fourteenth century, and maintained by the Lollards of +Kyle in the fifteenth, and what had actually been urged as an additional +charge against Patrick Hamilton. Save for this epistle of Alesius, and +the controversy it occasioned, we might not have known that even in +ignorant Scotland the bishops had been so far left to themselves as to +issue such a decree.[32] It is still more melancholy to think that even +among the better informed controversialists of Germany one was found to +champion their cause, and to maintain that there was nothing at variance +with sound doctrine in the decree; that nothing but harm could come from +the practice of allowing laymen to read the Scriptures in their own +tongue; and that it could not fail to make them bad Christians and bad +subjects, as Luther's translation had done in Germany. + +[Sidenote: Norman Gourlay and David Stratoun.] + +[Sidenote: Fugitives and Martyrs.] + +From the time that Alesius fled from Scotland down to the death of +James V. in the end of 1542, there was almost continual inquisition made +for those who were suspected of having in their possession heretical +books, including the New Testament in the vernacular, or who otherwise +betrayed a leaning towards the new opinions. In 1532, we are told, +"there was ane greit objuratioun of the favouraris of Mertene Lutar in +the Abbay of Halyrudhous;"[33] and of course their goods were forfeited +to the crown. In 1534 a second great assize against heretics was held +in the same place. The king, as the great Justiciar of the realm, was +present in his scarlet robe, and took a prominent part in the +proceedings. Betoun was also present and taking part. About sixteen are +said to have been convicted and to have had their goods forfeited. James +Hamilton, brother of the martyr, had been ordered by the king to flee +the country, as he could not otherwise save him. His sister was +persuaded to submit to the church. Two were reserved for a fiery +death--Norman Gourlay and David Stratoun. Gourlay was a priest in +secular orders, and "a man of reassonable eruditioun,"[34] who had been +abroad, and there imbibed the new opinions. These he abjured,[35] and +was, it seems, really burned for the greater crime of having married a +wife.[36] Stratoun was the brother of the Laird of Laureston in the +Mearns, and had been reclaimed from his former godless life by his +neighbour, Erskine of Dun, but by some free speeches had incurred the +resentment of the notorious Prior Hepburn. They were burned at the Rood +of Greenside, on the northern side of the Calton Hill. In the same year, +Willock, M'Alpine, and M'Dowal had to escape into England. In 1536, when +the king and Betoun were abroad, there was comparative peace. In 1537 +several were convicted at Ayr, and had their goods forfeited, among whom +was Walter Steward,[37] son of Lord Ochiltree. In 1538-39 many were +accused and convicted in various burghs in which by that time reformed +opinions were spreading, and many had to seek safety in flight. Among +these last were Gavin Logie, principal regent in St Leonard's +College,[38] who for a number of years had been exercising a marked +influence on the students under him; John Fyfe, who under the +designation of Joannes Faithus matriculated at Wittenberg in 1539, and +under that of Joannes Fidelis was incorporated into the University of +Frankfort on the Oder, and appointed Professor of Divinity there in +1547; George Buchanan, who at the king's command had exposed the +hypocrisy of the friars; and George Wishart, who had taught the Greek +New Testament in Montrose; also Andrew Charters, John Lyne, and Thomas +Cocklaw, John and Robert Richardson and Robert Logic, canons of the +Augustinian Abbey of Cambuskenneth. Nearly all of these fugitives took +refuge in England. Cocklaw, Calderwood tells us, for marrying a wife had +been mewed up within stone walls, but his brother came with crowbars and +released him. His goods, as well as those of his wife, were forfeited to +the Crown. Large numbers of the wealthy burgesses, even after they had +consented to abjure their opinions, were stripped of their possessions, +among whom the burgesses of Dundee were conspicuous. "Nor was the good +town of Stirling far behind Dundee in the same race of Christian glory. +She had less wealth to resign, ... but she brought to the altar a larger +offering of saintly blood."[39] On 1st March 1538-39, no fewer than four +of her citizens were burned at one pile on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh. +On the same day with them, and in the same place, perished one of the +most sainted and interesting of Scotland's martyrs--Thomas Forret, canon +of the Augustinian Abbey of Inchcolm, and thereafter vicar of Dollar, +who was universally admired for his attractive character. He taught his +parishioners the ten commandments, penned a little catechism for their +instruction, and caused a child to commit it to memory and to repeat it +publicly, that it might be impressed on the hearts of his parishioners +who could not read. He succeeded in leading several of the younger monks +in the abbey to more evangelical views; but the old bottles, he said, +would not take in the new wine. He preached every Sunday to his people +on the epistle or gospel for the day, and showed them, in opposition to +the teaching of the friars, that pardon for sin could only be obtained +through the blood of Christ. + +[Sidenote: Cardinal Betoun.] + +During all these anxious years the severe measures against the +reformers had really been directed by the man who comes more prominently +into public view toward their close. This was David Betoun, the nephew +of the primate, and, like him, a younger scion of the house of Balfour +in Fife, who by this time was not only Abbot of Arbroath and Bishop of +Mirepoix in France, but also coadjutor to his aged uncle in the +Archbishopric of St Andrews, and cardinal, with the title of St Stephen +on the Cœlian Mount. "Paul III.," says D'Aubigné, "alarmed at seeing +the separation of England from Rome, and fearing lest Scotland--as she +had a nephew of Henry VIII. for her king--should follow her example, was +anxious to have in that country one man who should be absolutely +devoted to him. David Betoun offered himself. The pope created him +cardinal in December 1538, and thenceforth the _red_--a colour +thoroughly congenial with him--became his own, and, as it were, his +symbol. Not that he was by any means a religious fanatic: he was versed +neither in theology nor in moral philosophy. He was a hierarchical +fanatic. Two points, above all, were offensive to him in evangelical +Christians: one, that they were not submissive to the pope; the other, +that they censured immorality in the clergy, for his own licentiousness +drew on himself similar rebukes. He aimed at being in Scotland a kind of +Wolsey, only with more violence and bloodshed. The one thing of moment +in his eyes was that everything in church and state should bend under a +twofold despotism. Endowed with large intelligence, consummate ability, +and indomitable energy, he had all the qualities needed to ensure +success in the aim on which his mind was perpetually bent without ever +being diverted from it. Passionately eager for his projects, he was +insensible to the ills which must result from them. One matter alone +preoccupied him, the destruction of all liberty. _The papacy divined his +character and created him cardinal!_"[40] + +This is one of the few attempts made fairly to estimate the character of +the man whom one party seemed to have thought they must make out to be a +very monster of iniquity, and of whom the other party seemed to have +felt that the less they said the better; and to a certain extent +D'Aubigné's estimate is correct, but it requires to be supplemented. The +cardinalate was rather eagerly sought by him and his friends on the +ground of what he had already done, and was expected yet to do, for pope +and king, than voluntarily offered by the pope. Two, if not three, +letters, extremely urgent, were written regarding it by the king to the +pope, to the King of France, and to Cardinal Farnese, in the favour of +all of whom he stood high.[41] The pope consented to bestow on him the +cardinalate he so much coveted; but the office of legate _a latere_, +without which the other was rather an office of dignity than of power, +was not granted till 1544,[42] by which time neither the papacy nor any +others needed to divine his character. Betoun was a man not only of +large intelligence, high ability, unremitting energy, and unbounded +ambition, but also of considerable scholarly attainments. He did not +belong, it is true, to the school of Pole and Contarini, who would have +made concessions to the reformers in regard to doctrine, nor to that of +the disciples of D'Ailly and Gerson, who were pressing for a reformation +within the old church in regard to morals. His associations and +sympathies were rather with the laxer Italian and French humanist +school, both in their virtues and vices, and he seems to be lightly +referred to in their gossip as _ille latinus Juvenalis_.[43] He was a +great stickler for the liberties of holy church, and for years refused +to pay the tax imposed on him for the support of the College of +Justice.[44] It was no doubt by his counsel that heretical processes +from the first were carried on under the canon law, and that that code +and French consuetudinary ecclesiastical law were more completely +naturalised in Scotland than they had been before. Most of his time from +1514 to 1524 was passed abroad--the later years in the diplomatic +service of his country; and he had acquitted himself with much credit +and success. He had been subsequently employed in the negotiations for +the marriage of the king, first with the daughter of the King of France, +and after her death with Mary of Guise, and in both missions had given +high satisfaction to his sovereign. He had no sooner returned home in +1524-25, than the same measures of cruel restraint against the reformers +began to be adopted here which had already been put in practice in +France; and he was a member of the various Parliaments in which the +rigour of these measures had been increased. Even some of the hardest +sayings of the Scottish king against heretics were but the echo of those +of his father-in-law, the King of France. + +Like too many of the high dignitaries of the Scottish church of his +time, Cardinal Betoun was of notoriously incontinent habits;[45] but he +was never, so far as I know, guilty of such shameless excesses as were +the boast of his comrade, Prior Hepburn, nor did he ever allow himself +to sink into the same indolence and unredeemed sensuality. He was above +all a "hierarchical fanatic," devoted to the cause of absolutism, who +would shrink from no measures, however cruel, to preserve intact the +privileges of his order, and to stamp out more earnest and generous +thought, whether that thought was aiming at the reformation of the old +church or the building up of another on her ruins. If we may not say +that he had sold himself to France--which had pensioned him with a rich +bishopric and helped him to his honours--we must say he had lived so +long in it, and had got so enamoured of it, that he was at any rate +three parts French, and all popish. He had mingled not only with her +scholars but with her nobles, loved and determined to imitate their ways +even down to their scandalous laxity of morals and merciless treatment +of so-called heretics. He made no earnest effort to reform the old +church, and so help her to weather the gathering storm; and it was not +till towards the close of his life that he laid out on the building of +St Mary's College part of the money which his uncle had carefully +hoarded for that purpose. + +[Sidenote: The Cardinal and James V.] + +For the forcible suppression of the new opinions the cardinal needed the +unflinching support of his sovereign, and he spared no efforts to gain +him over completely to his side, and to detach him from his +nobility,--turbulent and self-willed, but fondly clinging to what +remnants of liberty were still left to them,--and to alienate him from +his uncle, not unfrequently well-meaning but always over-impetuous, and +often in his later years selfish and untrustworthy. There was much in +the king's character to encourage such efforts. With good natural +abilities and a frank and amiable disposition, he had for their own +selfish ends been encouraged by his early guardians in sensual +pleasures, and never to the last freed himself from his evil habits. +"Dissolute as a man, prodigal as a king, and superstitious as a +Catholic, he could not but easily fall under the sway of superior +minds,"[46] who undertook to free him from the worries of business, to +provide him with money, and to regard his failings with indulgence, and +on easy terms to absolve him from those grosser excesses which could not +fail at times to trouble his conscience. These things Betoun and his +clerical party endeavoured to do; and, lest he should be tempted to +follow the example of his uncle, and appropriate the property of the +monasteries and other religious institutions, or set the church lands to +feu, as he had threatened, they once and again presented lists to him of +those who were suspected of heresy, urging that they should be +prosecuted without delay, and their goods, on conviction, be escheated +to the Crown. They made large contributions from their own revenues to +aid him in the wars with England, which obedience to their counsels had +brought on him. They procured dispensations from the papal court to +enable his sons, though illegitimate and infants, to hold any +ecclesiastical benefices inferior to bishoprics, and on reaching a +certain age to hold even the highest offices in the church. In this way +they largely added to his revenues during the minority of his sons, and +buoyed him up with the hope that when these sons came to years, and were +formally invested with their dignities, he would have wealthy allies on +whom he could thoroughly depend in his contests with his nobles. + +[Sidenote: James the Fifth.] + +But though James showed little indulgence to the reformers, and little +favour for their doctrines, he seems to the last to have had less real +liking for the priests of the old faith. No bribery, no flattery, no +solicitations could reconcile him permanently to those who for their own +selfish ends dragged him into courses from which his own better impulses +at times made him revolt. "He incited Buchanan to lash the mendicant +friars in the vigorous verse of the 'Franciscanus.' He encouraged by his +presence the public performance of a play" which, by its exposure of the +vices of the clergy, contributed greatly to weaken their influence. "He +enforced the object of that remarkable drama by exhorting the bishops to +reform their lives, under a threat if they neglected his warning that he +would deal with them after the fashion of his uncle of England" or his +cousin of Denmark. "He repeated the exhortation in his last Parliament, +declaring that the negligence, the ignorance, the scandalous and +disorderly lives of the clergy, were the causes why church and +churchmen were scorned and despised."[47] + +So, notwithstanding all measures of repression, the desire for a +reformation quietly grew and spread throughout the nation, especially +among the smaller landed proprietors in Angus and Mearns, in Perthshire +and Fife, in Kyle and Cunningham, as also among the more intelligent +burgesses in the various burghs, and, above all, among the _élite_ of +the younger inmates of the monasteries and of the _alumni_ of the +University. When the poor monarch, as much sinned against as sinning, at +last died of a broken heart,[48] and the Earl of Arran, who claimed the +regency, looked about for trusty supporters to defend his claims against +the machinations of the cardinal and the queen dowager, he deemed it +politic to show not a little countenance to the friends of the +Reformation and of the English alliance. We are not warranted to assert +that he meant to declare himself a Protestant; but he chose as his +chaplains preachers who showed themselves favourably inclined to the new +faith. He encouraged the chief men among the Protestants to frequent his +court, and he ventured to lay hands on the unscrupulous cardinal, who +had striven to exclude him from the regency. He consented to pass +through Parliament an Act expressly permitting the people to have and +to read the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the vulgar +tongue, and despatched messengers to all the chief towns to make public +proclamation of the Act. The little treatises of Alesius had thus done +their work, and he himself thought of returning and completing what he +had so well begun. + +[Sidenote: Arran's Deceit.] + +The friends of the Reformation imagined that the hour of their triumph +was at hand. They did not know on what a treacherous prop they were +leaning, or what sore trials were yet in store for them ere that triumph +should be gained. They knew the regent to be weak and timid; they did +not know him to be deceitful--so deceitful that, within six weeks after +the last of the messengers were despatched with the above-named +proclamation, immediately on the return from France of his brother, the +Abbot of Paisley, others were secretly sent off to inform the holy +father of his accession to the regency, to put himself and the kingdom +under his protection, and to ask permission to have under his control +the income of the benefices of the king's sons till they should come of +age.[49] The love of money was with him the root of this evil; as the +fear of man was of others which soon followed, and were fraught with +dire calamities to the nation. And so he went from bad to worse, till +in the dim light of the Franciscan chapel at Stirling,[50] "that weak +man, to whom people had been looking for the triumph of the Reformation +in Scotland, fondly fancying that he was performing a secret action, +knelt down before the altar, humbly confessed his errors, trampled under +foot the oaths which he had taken to his own country and to England, +renounced the evangelical profession of Jesus Christ, submitted to the +pope, and received absolution of the cardinal."[51] + +Even in June he had entered in the books of the Privy Council an Act +against Sacramentaries holding opinions on the effect and essence of the +Sacraments tending to the enervation of the faith catholic, in which +they were threatened with "tinsale of lif, landis, and gudis."[52] He +had not dared to proclaim this openly, though perhaps his ally, Henry +VIII., would not have blamed him greatly for doing so. But no sooner was +he in league with, and under the power of, the cardinal, than he showed +in open Parliament "how thair is gret murmure that heretikis mair and +mair risis and spredis within this realme, sawand dampnable opinionis +incontrar the fayth and lawis of Haly Kirk, actis and constitutionis of +this realm"; and exhorted all prelates and ordinaries "to inquir upon +all sic maner of personis and proceid aganis thame according to the +lawis of Haly Kirk"; promising to be ready himself to do therein at all +times what belonged to his office.[53] This promise he was soon obliged +cruelly to fulfil. + +[Sidenote: The Perth Martyrs.] + +On the 20th January 1543-44 he set out in company of the cardinal, the +Lord Justice and his deputy, with a band of armed men and artillery, to +Perth, where a great assize was held. Several were convicted of heresy, +and their goods forfeited. Several were condemned to die. The governor +himself was inclined to spare their lives, but the cardinal and the +nobles who were with him threatened to leave him if he did this. So on +St Paul's day (25th January) 1543-44, Robert Lamb, James Hunter, William +Anderson, and James Ranaldson were hanged; and the wife of this last, +who had refused when in labour to pray to the Virgin Mary, was denied +the consolation of being suspended from the same beam with her husband, +and put to death by drowning, after she had consigned to the care of a +neighbour the infant she carried in her arms. Dundee was next visited, +but it was found that the suspected citizens--who in the previous autumn +had sacked and destroyed the Grey Friars and the Dominican +monasteries--had taken the alarm and fled from their homes. + +[Sidenote: The Balance of Parties.] + +The weak and inconstant man continued to be regent in name, but from +that hour he was dominated by the imperious cardinal almost as +completely as King James had been. He wrote to the pope that the +cardinal's devotion to the holy see and to the interests of his native +country was so great that he deserved the praise, or at least no small +part of the praise, of preserving its liberty and extinguishing +heresy.[54] That last work, however, was by no means so nearly +accomplished as the regent in his letter to the pope had boasted. In +fact, within two months after we find the cardinal himself confessing in +a letter to the pope that he was still in the thick of the fight, and +all but worn out--"_vigiliis, laboribus, atque sumptibus_"--not only in +contending with foes without, but also with traitors within, the +camp.[55] The regent himself was obliged to confess, in a subsequent +letter, that they were then in a miserable plight; and that, unless +material assistance came to them from abroad,--and in particular from +his holiness, when almost all their other friends were growing cold,--it +would be hard for them to maintain the struggle against the English +king. The balance of parties at this critical juncture was more nearly +equal than is generally supposed. "An active minority of the nobles and +gentry saw in the government of Beaton not only their own personal ruin, +but the giving away of the country to a power more dangerous to its +liberties than England itself.... With those who favoured England were +naturally associated those who desired a reformation of religion,--a +body now so numerous in the opinion of a papal legate [Grimani] who +visited the country in 1543, that, but for the interposition of God, +Scotland would soon be in as bad a case as England itself."[56] These +appeals for foreign help, and the hopes raised by them, intensified the +struggle, and retarded for years the triumph of a really national party +resolved to set the interests of Scotland above those of France and Rome +as well as of England. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[27] _Supra_, p. 18, n. + +[28] [The saying in slightly different forms may be found in Laing's +Knox, i. 42; Calderwood's History, i. 86; Spottiswoode's History, i. +130.] + +[29] [Various dates, ranging between 1529 and 1533, have been assigned +for Forrest's martyrdom.] + +[30] [William Arth.] + +[31] [It was probably in 1530 that he left Scotland.] + +[32] [Howard and Barlo, in writing from Edinburgh on the 13th of May +1536, say, that to the Scots the reading of God's Word "in theyr vulgare +tonge is lately prohybitede by open proclamation" (Lemon's State Papers, +v. 48). Norfolk, writing to Crumwell from Berwick on the 29th of March +1539, says: "Dayly commeth unto me some gentlemen and some clerkes, +wiche do flee owte of Scotland as they saie for redyng of Scripture in +Inglishe; saying; that, if they were taken, they sholde be put to +execution" (Ibid. v. 154). In the Epistle to James VI. prefixed to the +Bassandyne Bible, it is said: "The false namit clergie of this realme, +abusing the gentle nature of your Hienes maist noble gudschir of worthie +memorie, made it an cappital crime to be punishit with the fyre to have +or rede the New Testament in the vulgare language." One of the charges +on which Sir John Borthwick was condemned, on the 28th of May 1540, was +that he possessed a copy of the New Testament in the vernacular +('Register of St Andrews Kirk Session,' Scot. Hist. Soc., i. 98).] + +[33] Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 15. + +[34] Laing's Knox, i. 58. + +[35] [Foxe alleges that Gourlay and Stratoun were condemned and burned, +"because, after great solicitation made by the king, they refused to +abjure and recant" (Cattley's Foxe, iv. 579); but, on the other hand, +the writer of the Diurnal of Occurrents (p. 18) and Bishop Lesley +(History, 1830, p. 149) assert that Gourlay did abjure.] + +[36] Such was the punishment meted out to him for endeavouring to do in +a scriptural way what rulers of the church were doing in disregard of +the laws of Scripture as well as the laws of their church. Pitscottie +knew no other cause why he was burned save that "he was in the +East-land, and came home, and married a wife contrary to the form of the +pope's institution because he was a priest; for they would thole no +priest to marry, but they would punish and burn him to the dead; but if +he had used ten thousand whores he had not been burnt" (Pitscottie's +History, 1778, p. 236). + +[37] [In the letter, dated 29th December 1537, granting his escheat to +his father, he is described as "_umquhill_ Walter Stewart" (M'Crie's +Knox, 1855, p. 316). Calderwood places his recantation and accidental +death in 1533 (History, Wodrow Society, i. 104).] + +[38] [Gavin Logie is usually spoken of as Principal of St Leonard's +(Laing's Knox, i. 36, n.).] + +[39] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, p. 51. + +[40] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 131.--Like his +predecessor Archbishop Forman, who--thirty years before, in the +interests of France, which had richly rewarded him with the +Archbishopric of Bourges--had so cruelly embroiled Scotland with England +and almost courted the disaster of Flodden, Betoun never ceased either +during the life or after the death of James V. to sow the seeds of +discord between the two realms, and so to court reverses to the Scottish +arms, and destruction to the Scottish monasteries near the southern +border. He shunned no risk, shrank from no cruelty, to remove out of the +way those who thwarted his schemes or favoured the better policy which +in the end was to carry the day. + +[41] Theiner's Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum, 1864, pp. +608-612. + +[42] [Betoun's Commission as Legate is dated 30th January 1543-44 +(Lemon's State Papers, v. 443; Thorpe's Calendar, i. 46).] + +[43] [There is such a reference to him in Theiner's Vetera Monumenta, p. +608.] + +[44] Robertson's Concilia Scotiæ, vol. i. p. cxxxvi, n. + +[45] See Appendix C. + +[46] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 132. + +[47] Concilia Scotiæ, vol. i. pp. cxxxix, cxl. + +[48] [14th Dec. 1542.] + +[49] [His letter to the Pope is dated 10th May 1543 (Theiner's Monumenta +Hibernorum et Scotorum, pp. 614, 615).] + +[50] [On the 8th of September "he was enjoyned to passe to the Freres in +Stirling, ... and there received open pennance and a solempne othe, in +the presence and hereing of all men that was there, that he shulde never +doo the same againe, but supporte and defende the professon and habit of +mounkes, freres, and such other; and therupon, being absolved by the +Cardinall and the Busshoppes, herde masse and received the sacramente" +(Hamilton Papers, ii. 38).] + +[51] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi, 206. + +[52] Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 294. + +[53] Acts of Parliament, ii. 443. [This was on the 15th of December +1543.] + +[54] [This letter is dated 20th May 1545 (Theiner's Monumenta, p. 616).] + +[55] Theiner's Monumenta, p. 617. [This letter is dated 6th July 1545.] + +[56] Hume Brown's Knox, i. 64, 65. Grimani's opinion, as sent from +Stirling, is thus summarised by Father Stevenson: "The realm is in such +confusion, so divided, so full of heresy that, but for the interposition +of God, it will soon become as bad as England. The queen and the +cardinal have spent all their money in the common cause; and the clergy +are unable to assist, for the fruits of their benefices have been seized +by the Lutherans" (Mary Stuart, 1886, p. 51). + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +GEORGE WISHART. + + +It was about this time that a new evangelist arrived in the country, +singularly fitted to impress on the hearts of men the lessons of the +Holy Book to which they had now access in their native tongue. This was +George Wishart, a younger son or nephew of Sir James Wishart, laird of +Pittarrow in the Mearns. He appears to have been born about 1512-13, and +to have received his university training in King's College, Aberdeen, +then presided over by a distinguished humanist skilled both in Latin and +Greek. He acquired a knowledge of Greek--at that time a very rare +accomplishment in Scotland--either from the Principal of King's College, +or from a Frenchman teaching languages in Montrose. From his early years +he seems to have been intimate with John Erskine, laird of Dun, and at +that time also provost of the neighbouring burgh of Montrose. The +earliest notice we have of him is as attesting a charter granted in +favour of Erskine.[57] This lends confirmation to the tradition which +Petrie, himself a native of the town, says he had heard from ancient men +(who in their youth had seen and known the reformer) that then, or soon +after, he was employed as assistant or successor of Marsillier, the +Frenchman Erskine had brought from France to teach the languages, and +that, like him, he read the Greek New Testament with some of his pupils. +John Hepburn, then Bishop of Brechin, would not naturally have been +quick-scented to detect heresy in one who stood so high with his good +friend Erskine of Dun; but David Betoun, Abbot of Arbroath, often +resided at the mansion-house of Ethie, half-way between Arbroath and +Montrose, and he was both more lynx-eyed and more anxious to stamp out +any approach to heresy, and he urged the bishop on. + +[Sidenote: Summoned for Heresy.] + +Wishart in consequence was summoned by Hepburn, but instead of appearing +in answer to the summons, he, like many others in that year of grievous +persecution, sought safety in England, and it is said that he was +forthwith excommunicated and outlawed. He found shelter under Bishop +Latimer, whose diocese comprehended Gloucester and Bristol, as well as +Worcester; but in the following year he fell into fresh trouble at +Bristol--not, as was at one time supposed, by denying the merits of the +Virgin Mary, but by denying the merits of Christ Himself. For this he +was duly convented before Archbishop Cranmer, and, after conference with +him, was persuaded to recant and bear his faggot. Soon after the +enactment of the bloody statute of the six articles, he, like most of +the Scottish refugees, left England and sought shelter among the +reformed churches on the Continent, especially those of Zürich, Basle, +and Strassburg, and brought home with him, and ultimately translated +into English, the First Helvetic Confession,[58] composed and agreed on +by the chief theologians of these churches. + +[Sidenote: His Appearance and Habits.] + +He returned to England about the close of 1542, and soon after entered +into residence in Corpus Christi or Benet College, Cambridge, with the +view of studying and teaching there. In one of the windows of the +common-room in that college, above the arms of archbishops and nobles, +distinguished _alumni_ of the college, stands the name of George +Wishart, with the martyr's crown over it; and it is to Emery Tilney, +his pupil during the year he was in residence there, that we are +indebted for our fullest description of his appearance and habits. He +was, he tells us, "a man of tall stature, polled-headed, and on the same +a round French cap of the best; judged to be of melancholy complexion by +his physiognomy; black haired, long bearded, comely of personage, well +spoken after his country of Scotland, courteous, lowly, lovely, glad to +teach, desirous to learn, and was well travelled; having on him for his +habit or clothing never but a mantle or frieze gown to the shoes, a +black Millian [_i.e._ Milan] fustian doublet, and plain black hosen, +coarse new canvas for his shirts, and white falling bands and cuffs at +his hands,--all the which apparel he gave to the poor, some weekly, some +monthly, some quarterly, as he liked, saving his French cap, which he +kept the whole year of my being with him.... His charity had never end, +night, noon, nor day, ... infinitely studying how to do good unto all, +and hurt to none."[59] + +Such, according to his pupil, was the evangelist who--in 1543 according +to some, in 1544 according to others--returned to his native land, and +for two years testified of the gospel of the grace of God throughout +Angus and Mearns, Ayrshire and the Lothians, but whose favourite fields +of labour were to be central Angus and Mearns, the towns of Montrose +and Dundee. A portrait of him, as well as one of his great opponent, has +been preserved in the Roman Catholic College of Blairs, and the +expression of the face harmonises well with the description his pupil +gives of him. Another portrait, deemed by Dr Laing not unworthy of +Holbein, is in possession of a descendant of the Wisharts.[60] + +[Sidenote: A Protestant Pasquil.] + +It is supposed that for a short time after his return to Scotland he +lived quietly at Pittarrow, in the parish of Fordoun, where the shrine +of St Palladius was preserved; and being an accomplished artist, +occupied himself with adorning the ancestral mansion with several +beautiful fresco paintings, which, after being long covered over by the +wainscot, were again brought to light in the present century, but +unfortunately were destroyed before their value was perceived. Dr Leslie +of Fordoun, who saw them, has thus described the most remarkable of +them: "Above the largest fireplace in the great hall was a painting of +the city of Rome, and a grand procession going to St Peter's.... The +Pope, adorned with the tiara, and mounted on horseback, was attended by +a large company of cardinals on foot, richly dressed, but all uncovered. +At a little distance, directly in front of the procession, stood a +beautiful white palfrey, finely caparisoned, held by some persons who +were well dressed, but uncovered. Beyond them was the Cathedral of St +Peter, the doors of which appeared to be open. Below the picture were +written the following lines:-- + + "IN PAPAM. + + "Laus tua, non tua fraus, virtus non gloria rerum + Scandere te fecit hoc decus eximium; + Pauperibus dat sua gratis nec munera curat + Curia Papalis, quod more percipimus. + Haec carmina potius legenda, cancros imitando."[61] + +Wishart began his work as a preacher in Montrose, the scene of his early +scholastic labours, expounding the rudiments of the Christian faith and +practice as set forth in the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and +the Apostles' Creed. At that time Montrose was frequented by many of the +landed gentry in the surrounding districts who were favourable to the +Reformation and the English alliance, and their hearts could not fail to +be cheered and their courage raised by the exhortations of the +evangelist. Dundee, however, was the chief and favourite scene of his +ministrations; and it was from the great success attending them that it +gained the name of the Scottish Geneva. It was even more decidedly +attached to the new opinions and the English alliance than Montrose; +and a reformation, as it was called--including the sacking of the +monasteries in the town and neighbourhood--had taken place in the autumn +of 1543. The governor confessed, when put to penance, that this had been +done with his permission.[62] The martyr cannot with any certainty be +connected with it, much less made to bear the blame of it; though +another George Wishart, a citizen and bailie of Dundee, with whom the +martyr has been recklessly confounded, was afterwards put on his trial +for having taken a leading part in it.[63] If the martyr could, his +enemies would hardly have failed to have brought it against him at his +trial. + +[Sidenote: Preaches at Dundee.] + +He preached for a time in Dundee with great acceptance, expounding +systematically that Epistle to the Romans, the full significance of +which the recently published Commentary of Calvin had deeply impressed +on the minds of his co-religionists in various lands where Wishart had +been. At length he was charged by one of the magistrates in the queen's +name and the governor's to desist from preaching, to depart from the +town, and trouble it no more. This was intimated to him when he was in +the pulpit, surrounded by a great congregation, and with a significant +reminder that he had already been put to the horn, and that there was +no intention to relax the law in his favour. Thereupon he called God to +witness that he intended not their trouble but their comfort, and felt +sure that to reject the Word of God, and drive away His messenger, was +not the way to save themselves from trouble; adding, "God shall send +unto yow messengeris who will not be effrayed of hornyng nor yitt for +banishment."[64] He left the town forthwith, and with all "possible +expeditioun passed to the west-land."[65] There he pursued his labours +in the same kindly spirit, refusing to allow his followers to dispute +possession of the churches by force of arms with the authorities, and +choosing rather to preach in the open air wherever he found a convenient +place and audience fit to listen to him. + +[Sidenote: Succours the Plague-stricken.] + +Soon after he left Dundee, the plague, which that year was raging in +several of the towns of Scotland, extended its ravages to that place. +This naturally led the citizens to bethink themselves of the treatment +they had allowed the evangelist, who had laboured so devotedly among +them, to suffer at the hands of his enemies, as the news of what they +were suffering led him to think compassionately of his friends who were +now in trouble, and stood in need of comfort. He returned to the +afflicted town, and its inhabitants received him with joy. He announced +without delay that he would preach to them; but it was impossible he +could do so in a church. Numbers were sick of the plague; others in +attendance on them were regarded as infected, and must not be brought +into contact with those who were free from infection. The sick were +crowded in and about the lazar-houses near St Roque's Chapel, outside +the East or Cowgate Port of the town. Wishart chose as his pulpit the +top of that port, which, in memory of the martyr-preacher, has been, it +is said, carefully preserved, though--like Temple Bar, so long tolerated +in London--it is now in the heart of the town, and an obstruction to its +traffic.[66] The sick and suspected were assembled outside the port, and +the healthy inside. The preacher took for the text of his first sermon +the words of Psalm cvii. 20: "He sent His word and healed them;" and, +starting on the key-note that it was neither herb nor plaster, but God's +Word which healeth all, "He maist comfortablie did intreat [_i.e._ treat +of] the dignitie and utilitie of Goddis Woord; the punishment that cumis +for the contempt of the same; the promptitude of Goddis mercy to such as +trewlye turne to Him; yea, the great happynes of thame whome God tackis +from this miserie evin in His awin gentill visitatioun, which the malice +of man cane neyther eak nor paire."[67] By this sermon, Knox tells us, +he so raised up the hearts of all who heard him, that they regarded not +death, but judged those more happy that should depart than those that +should remain behind, considering that they knew not whether they should +have such a comforter with them at all times. + +No doubt John Wedderburn, as well as the others who had been suspected +of heresy and had fled from the town in the persecution of 1539, had +before this time returned, and were co-operating with Wishart in his +work; and then, in all probability, was prepared that beautiful funeral +hymn which passed from the Bohemians to the Germans, and from the +Germans to the Scotch; and which, in addition to the original stanzas, +contains in the Scottish version certain new verses having unmistakable +reference to the circumstances in which they originated--in a +plague-stricken town which had just before been occupied by the soldiers +of the cardinal and the regent, and might well dread a similar +visitation for its determined adherence to the new evangelist. + + "Thocht _pest or sword_ wald vs preuene, + Befoir our hour, to slay vs clene, + Thay can nocht pluk ane lytill hair + Furth of our heid, nor do vs deir. + + Quhen fra this warld to Christ we wend, + Our wratchit schort lyfe man haif end + Changeit fra paine, and miserie, + To lestand gloir Eternallie. + + End sall our dayis schort, and vaine, + And sin, quhilk we culd nocht refraine, + Endit salbe our pilgremage, + And brocht hame to our heritage."[68] + +[Sidenote: His Fearless Devotedness.] + +Wishart concerned himself not only about the souls but also about the +bodies of his hearers in that sad time, fearlessly, like Luther on a +similar occasion, exposing himself to the risk of infection, that he +might minister to the diseased and the dying, and taking care that the +public funds for the relief of the destitute should be properly +administered. He forgot himself only too much, and the terrible risks to +which, as an excommunicated and outlawed man, he was exposed in so near +proximity to the cardinal, who was so eager to get him out of the way. + +One day as the people were departing from the sermon, utterly +unconscious of the peril menacing their favourite preacher, Knox tells +us that a priest, bribed by the cardinal, stood waiting--with his +whinger drawn in his hand under his gown--at the foot of the steps by +which the preacher was descending from the top of the port. Wishart, +most sharp of eye and swift of judgment, at once noticed him, and, as he +came near, said, "My friend, what wald ye do?" and at the same moment +seized the hand in which he held the dagger, and took it from him. The +priest fell down at his feet and confessed the whole truth. Immediately +the rumour spread that a priest had attempted to assassinate their +favourite preacher, the sick outside burst open the gate, crying, +"Deliver the tratour to us, or ellis we will tack him by forse." But the +preacher put his arms around his would-be assassin, exclaiming, +"Whosoevir trubles him shall truble me, for he has hurte me in nothing, +bot ... hes lattin us understand what we may feare in tymes to come"; +and so, says Knox, he saved the life of him that sought his.[69] + +[Sidenote: His Innocence.] + +Like Drs Laing, Lorimer, and Weir, I cannot persuade myself that the man +who spoke and acted thus is the same as "a Scottish man called +Wysshert," who is mentioned in a letter of the Earl of Hertford in April +1544, as privy to a conspiracy to apprehend or assassinate Cardinal +Betoun, and as employed to carry letters between the conspirators and +the English court.[70] There were other Wisharts in Scotland. Yea, as Dr +Laing has shown, another George Wishart in Dundee, who was a zealous +friend of the English alliance--not only after the conspirators got +possession of St Andrews castle, but from the earlier date when the +monasteries in Dundee were destroyed and sacked.[71] There was probably +another about St Andrews who, while the martyr was yet a boy, was called +in to attest a charter by the notorious friar Campbell in 1526. I will +not venture to affirm that, with all his gentleness, Wishart might not +have been tempted to maintain that violence and murderous intent--such +as Betoun had twice shown to get rid of him privately--might be lawfully +met and restrained by force, though even that is hardly in keeping with +all we know of his gentle ways; but we may be sure that had such +thoughts been cherished by him, he, like Knox, would have said this +openly, and not have engaged in any secret reprisals. As an outlawed man +he came down to Scotland under protection, and never seems to have +travelled in it save under protection; and so he was one of the last men +likely to be chosen for a secret mission to England. If anything more +than the able essay of the late Professor Weir in the 'North British +Review' for 1868 were needed to prove that the "pure lustre of the +martyr's fame is still unsullied," it seems to me to be supplied by +himself in his affecting address at the stake. "I beseech Thee, Father +of heaven! to forgive them that have of any ignorance, or else have of +any evil mind, _forged any lies_ upon me. I forgive them with all my +heart."[72] The cardinal was not ignorant of the volcano on which he was +sitting or of the plots that had been hatched against him; and he may +have suspected Wishart of being in the conspiracy. That may have been +the reason why he sent two friars to him to get his last confession, +and, when they failed to do so, allowed Wynram to go, as the reformer +had requested. Wynram, after hearing it, returned to the cardinal and +his abettors, and assured them that Wishart was innocent. This can only +refer to such a suspicion of conspiracy, not to the charge of heresy +which was confessed and acknowledged; and Mr Andrew Lang has failed as +completely as the cardinal in his laboured attempt to produce a tittle +of evidence against him. + +[Sidenote: His Constancy.] + +From the time of Wighton's attempt the reformer had a clearer view of +the perils which beset him, and a mournful conviction of the issue which +awaited him if he would not flinch or flee. By his success in Dundee the +rage of his adversaries was lashed into a fury which appalled his +friends in various districts; but none of these things moved him that he +might finish his course with joy, and make full proof of his ministry. +As soon as the plague abated in the city, heedless of the new proofs he +then had of the cardinal's relentless determination to capture or trepan +him, and the earnest warnings of his northern friends that they could +not be answerable for his safety, he took his last farewell of his kirks +in Montrose and Dundee. At all hazards he was determined to fulfil his +engagement to meet his western friends in Edinburgh, to prosecute his +work there under their promised protection, and to seek a public +disputation with some of the popish clergy who about that time were to +meet in Synod in the capital. Disappointed of the presence and +protection of the western men, he laboured for a brief season in Leith, +Inveresk, and East Lothian without much success. At last, forsaken by +many of those who should have stood by him, he was seized at Ormiston, +under cover of night and promise of safe keeping, by the Earl of +Bothwell, Sheriff Principal of the county. The Earl pledged his honour +not to give him up to his enemies, but was soon persuaded to deliver him +to the governor, as was the governor to hand him over to the cardinal, +though he finally protested against his being tried or condemned by the +churchmen in his own absence. A full account of his labours during these +days of despondency has been given by Knox, who got from him, it is +said, the first rudiments of Greek, and who--having rendered his first +service to the cause of the Reformation by bearing the two-handed sword +for his protection--was dismissed on the night of his betrayal with the +significant words, "One is sufficient for one sacrifice," showing what +fate he now anticipated for himself. + +[Sidenote: His Martyrdom.] + +I cannot enlarge on these things, nor on the sad scenes which took place +at St Andrews on the last day of February and 1st of March 1545-46, when +the cardinal, regardless of the remonstrances of the regent and the +murmurs of the people, but with the assent of the Council which he had +adjourned from Edinburgh to St Andrews, condemned him to the stake. +Throughout all these trying scenes he comported himself as nobly as +Patrick Hamilton had done; and not less plentifully did his blood prove +the seed of the church, verifying his words, that few would suffer after +him before the glory of God evidently appeared. No doubt his cruel +martyrdom hastened the removal of that tyrant who set himself above all +restraint of civil law, and breathed forth threatenings against the +saints of God,--though that removal had not been plotted by him, nor +would have been approved by him. The words attributed to him at the +stake by Buchanan and Lindsay of Pitscottie, foreshadowing his +persecutor's approaching fate, are not generally regarded as authentic. +Knox says nothing of them, nor Foxe, nor Spottiswoode; nor does Sir +David Lindsay, in his 'Tragedy of the Cardinal,' make any reference to +them. It seems better authenticated that he made the following general +statement: "I beseech you, brethren and sisters, to exhort your prelates +to the learning of the Word of God, that they at the last may be ashamed +to do evil and learn to do good, and if they will not convert themselves +from their wicked error, there shall hastily come upon them the wrath of +God, which they shall not eschew."[73] It is easy to see--especially +after the events which so speedily occurred--how a statement which +referred to the prelates generally should come to be applied +specifically to their imperious chief, just as the example of Eli had, +in a well-known ballad, been similarly used for warning by the +Reformation poet to the aged James Betoun for his weak indulgence to his +nephew and the younger Prior Hepburn, notwithstanding their scandalous +excesses.[74] + +Such was the end of the life and ministry of George Wishart, one of the +most zealous and winning evangelists, and one of the most heroic and +steadfast confessors, that our country has ever produced. The +remembrance of him was fondly cherished, especially in that district +where he chiefly laboured, and where he wrought a work not less +memorable than that which M'Cheyne and Burns were honoured to do in our +own day. His influence was but deepened by his cruel fate, and he "lived +again," as Dr Lorimer has eloquently said, "in John Knox.... The zealous +disciple, who had counted it an honour to be allowed to carry a sword +before his master, stood forth immediately to wield the spiritual sword +which had fallen from the master's grasp, and to wield it with a vigour +and trenchant execution superior even to his."[75] + +[Sidenote: Church Organisation.] + +It may not be inappropriate to state how far the organisation of the +Reformed Church had by this time advanced in Scotland. Patrick Hamilton +seems to me to have laboured to the last for the revival of Scriptural +teaching and Christian living within the old church rather than apart +from her. Alesius, and some others of his disciples, were for a time +reluctant to separate from her, if her rulers could have been persuaded +seriously to set about repairing acknowledged evils and defects. But +Wishart, and those who came under his influence, seem to have abandoned +this struggle, and to have striven for the formation of a new +organisation apart from the old one. He formed kirks or +congregations--at least in Montrose and Dundee; the former consisting +probably mainly of the lesser gentry in the adjacent districts of Angus +and Mearns, and the latter chiefly of the substantial burghers of the +town of Dundee. I suppose that some forms of discipline began to be put +in practice in the Dundee congregation, and that it was on that account, +as well as from the remarkable revival which had taken place under his +ministrations, that the town came to be spoken of as "the Scottish +Geneva." The New Testament of Tyndale's translation had been introduced +both there and in Montrose as early as 1526; and by this time the +subsequent editions had been largely imported, and since 1543 might be +openly read.[76] John Wedderburn was then in his native city, and I +suppose by that date had published, in its most rudimentary form, his +'Psalms and Spiritual Songs,' largely translated from the German. John +Scott, the printer, was also there, and under suspicion of the +authorities in Edinburgh. Of the psalms and hymns, one, as I have +already mentioned, bears unmistakable reference to the _pest_ then +infesting the town of Dundee; another was sung by Wishart that evening +on which he was apprehended in East Lothian; a third is certainly +referred to in the 'Complaynt of Scotland,' which, being published as +early as 1549, is a guarantee for the earlier existence of the hymn.[77] +This rudimentary collection of 'Psalms and Spiritual Songs' was the book +of praise in family and social gatherings of the reformed until the +'Genevan Psalter' came into use.[78] The earliest editions of it have +perished. A nearly complete copy of the edition of 1567 has, however, +been preserved, and now at last reprinted.[79] + +[Sidenote: Helvetic Confession and Communion Office.] + +The translation of the First Helvetic Confession, which Wishart made, +was no doubt meant as the Confession of the churches he formed, though +it may only have been extant then in manuscript, and not published till +1548. That fragment of the Communion Office which was used by Knox in +the administration of the Lord's Supper at Berwick in 1550, and perhaps +had been used by him at St Andrews in 1547--and which was recently +brought to light again by Dr Lorimer from among the MSS. in Dr Williams' +library in London[80]--was almost certainly derived from Wishart, for +part of it is translated from the Office of the Church of Zürich, with +which he could not fail to have become acquainted during his residence +there, and part from other German Offices, which were more likely to +have fallen in his way (who had been a traveller on the Continent) than +in Knox's. It may even have been used by Wishart in 1545, when he +dispensed the communion in both kinds at Dun. The same may be said of +that interesting burial-service which purports to have been used in the +kirk at Montrose, and has been reprinted in the Miscellany of the Wodrow +Society;[81] though probably this, as we now have it, may not be the +original form, but a recension of it, made later, under the auspices of +Erskine of Dun, superintendent of Angus and Mearns. The foundations of +the superstructure that was to be were thus laid by Wishart. It was +reserved to his successor to raise it, as the martyr had predicted it +would be raised, even to the copestone. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[57] [The charter is dated at Montrose on the 20th of March 1534-35. The +Martyr's signature, as "M. Geo. Wischert," proves that he had already +taken his degree (Register of Great Seal, iii., No. 1462).] + +[58] [His translation is reprinted in the Wodrow Miscellany, pp. 7-23.] + +[59] Cattley's Foxe, v. 626. + +[60] [This is now in the National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.] + +[61] [Cook's History of the Reformation, 1811, i. 272, 273; 1819, i. +273. Dr Cook says that Dr Leslie, minister of Fordoun, "got a short view +of them," and favoured him with the account which he wrote. In a very +similar notice of the paintings by Dr Leslie, it is stated that they +were discovered when the old house of Pittarrow was being pulled down in +1802 ('New Statistical Account of Kincardineshire,' p. 81).] As Dr Cook +long ago surmised, the lines of covert sarcasm on the pope are not +original. One evening as I returned to Guildford Street after a long day +in the British Museum, I had occasion to pass through Red Lion Square +and the alley to the east of it, where I saw exposed in a pawnbroker's +window a little antique volume, in a very dilapidated state, opened at +the page which contained these lines almost _verbatim_. I at once +purchased it, and on further examination I found it had been published +at Basle in 1537--_i.e._, a few years before Wishart was there. [The +little collection which Dr Mitchell thus refers to bears the title: +"Pasqvilli de Concilio Mantuano Iudicium. Qverimonia Papistarum ad +Legatum Pontificium in comicijs Schmalcaldianis. Mantua uæ miseris +nimium uicina Papistis. MDXXXVII." + +The colophon runs thus: "Impressum Romae in porta Angelorum. +M.D.XXXVII." + +Wishart evidently found his lines in the following:-- + +"Lavs Romani Pontificis. Scripta ad placitum Romanae curiae per +uenerabilem dominum Doctorem Ioannem Cochleum, Theutonicae Doctor +Rotzloffel, et Georgium VVicelium cognomento, Meister Lugenmaul, Romanae +Ecclesiae propugnatores egregios. + + "Pauperibus sua dat gratis nec munera curat + Curia Papalis quod modo percipimus + Laus tua non tua fraus, Virtus non copia rerum + Scandere te fecit, hoc Decus eximium + Conditio tua sit stabilis nec tempore paruo + Viuere te faciat hic Deus omnipotens. + +"Quos uersiculos pessimus quidam haereticus, Lutheranus, iuuenilis +fortasis Poeta VVittembergensis, ita de uerbo ad uerbum inuertit. + + "Percipimus modo quod Papalis curia curat + Munera, nec gratis dat sua pauperibus + Eximium decus hoc fecit te scandere rerum + Copia, non uirtus, fraus tua, non tua laus. + Omnipotens Deus hic faciat te uiuere paruo + Tempore, nec stabilis sit tua conditio."] + +[62] Hamilton Papers, ii. 38. + +[63] Maxwell's Old Dundee prior to the Reformation, 1891, pp. 92, 395. + +[64] Laing's Knox, i. 126. [Calderwood (i. 186) and Spottiswoode (i. +150) have _burning_ for _hornyng_.] + +[65] Laing's Knox, i. 126. + +[66] [Knox calls it "the East Porte of the Toune" (Laing's Knox, i. +129). Maxwell says that the Port which stood in the Seagate would alone +correspond to that described by Knox; and he adds: "The Port yet +standing in the Cowgate--which, because of its association with the +honoured name of George Wishart, only was left when some of the others +were demolished--really cannot be identified as his preaching-place, and +should not carry the inscription which has been recently put over its +archway" ('History of Old Dundee,' 1884, pp. 220-222).] + +[67] Laing's Knox, i. 130. + +[68] Gude and Godlie Ballatis, 1897, p. 165. + +[69] Laing's Knox, i. 130, 131. The name of this priest is given as Sir +_John_ Wightone, or Weighton, by Knox, Calderwood, and Spottiswoode. +Maxwell cannot find a priest of this name among those ministering in +Dundee in 1550 ('Old Dundee prior to the Reformation,' 1891, p. 87, n.) +The _James_ Wichtand who was reader at Inchture and Kinnaird in 1574 +(Wodrow Miscellany, p. 353) is said to have held a chaplaincy in Dundee +before the Reformation. But Dr Laing holds that there was a Sir _John_ +Wighton, a chaplain in Dundee, who obtained the vicarage pensionary in +the parish church of Ballumby in 1538, and who appears to have been +incarcerated in St Andrews Castle in the cardinal's absence in 1543 +(Laing's Knox, vi. 670). + +[70] Lemon's State Papers, v. 377. + +[71] Laing's Knox, i. 536. [Maxwell gives a detailed account of this +other George Wishart in his 'Old Dundee prior to the Reformation,' 1891, +pp. 91-95.] + +[72] Cattley's Foxe, v. 635. + +[73] Cattley's Foxe, v. 635. [Foxe is here quoting the account in the +black-letter tract printed in or about 1547, which Knox deemed important +enough to copy from Foxe into his own pages.] + +[74] Gude and Godlie Ballatis, 1897, p. 180. + +[75] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 153, 154. + +[76] Wedderburn and Wishart seem also to have been acquainted with +Coverdale's Bible of 1535. + +[77] See my Introduction to 'The Gude and Godlie Ballatis,' 1897, p. +xxxviii, n. + +[78] No doubt the initial Catechism was in use also. It has been +conjectured that the Catechism may even have been printed separately, +and that the first part of the following entry may refer to it: "The +catechisme in two partes; the first in Scotch poetry, having a kalender +before it. The second part in Latin and Scotis prose, entituled +Catechismus ecclesiae Geneuensis.... Edinburgh: Imprinted by John Ross +for Henrie Charteris, 1574" (Dickson and Edmond's Annals of Scottish +Printing, 1890, p. 334). + +[79] [Reprinted under the editorial care of Dr Mitchell in 1897 for the +Scottish Text Society.] + +[80] Lorimer's Knox and the Church of England, 1875, pp. 290-292. + +[81] Wodrow Miscellany, pp. 295-300. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +KNOX AS LEADER OF OUR REFORMATION. + + +As stated towards the close of my last lecture, the sword-bearer of +Wishart stood forth at once "to wield the spiritual sword which had +fallen from the master's grasp, and to wield it with a vigour and +trenchant execution superior even to his." + +At this time Knox was full forty years of age, having been born at +Giffordgate, in Haddington, in 1505. He probably received the rudiments +of his education there, and matriculated at the University of Glasgow in +1522. Some suppose that he may have followed Major to St Andrews in +1523, or may have come there later, to study theology or to act as a +private tutor to some young men studying at that university. But there +is no reference to him in the university books, nor mention of his +presence by any one then resident. From 1522 up to 1545-46, when he +appears as sword-bearer to Wishart, his life is to us almost a blank. +But as Minerva was said to have come full armed from the brain of +Jupiter, so did Knox then start up as leader of our Reformation, fully +equipped and singularly matured. Whatever his early training may have +been, he had by that time thoroughly mastered the subjects in +controversy between the two churches, and possibly, as Bayle supposes, +had made himself aquainted in his retirement with the writings of that +great doctor of the western church to whom Luther, Calvin, and Alesius +were largely indebted. I believe no man in recent times has in brief +space sketched his character, both on its brighter and darker sides, +with less partisan feeling than Dr Merle D'Aubigné, when he says: "The +blood of warriors ran in the veins of the man who was to become one of +the most intrepid champions of Christ's army.... He was active, bold, +thoroughly upright and perfectly honest, diligent in his duties, and +full of heartiness for his comrades. But he had in him also a firmness +which came near to obstinacy, an independence which was very much like +pride, a melancholy which bordered on prostration, a sternness which +some took for insensibility, and a passionate force sometimes mistakenly +attributed to a vindictive temper."[82] According to Calderwood, he +received his first "taste of the truthe" from the preaching of his +fellow-countryman, Thomas Guilliame or Williams, a black friar, who in +1543 became one of the chaplains of the regent, and shortly after, +being inhibited to preach, retired into England.[83] The good seed sown +by him was watered by Wishart, and grew up apace, "first the blade, then +the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." + +[Sidenote: Tragedy of the Cardinal.] + +On 29th May 1546, while the applause of priests and friars was still +ringing in his ears, and he was proudly congratulating himself on the +progress of his new fortifications, and the success of all his measures +to secure the triumph of his party and his own complete personal +ascendancy, the cardinal was suddenly surprised by conspirators in his +stronghold, and cut off by "a fate as tragical and ignominious" as +almost "any that has ever been recorded in the long catalogue of human +crimes."[84] Only the deep feeling of relief thus given from merciless +oppression could prompt or excuse the lines of Sir David Lindsay-- + + "As for the Cardinal, I grant + He was a man we weill culd want, + And we'll forget him sune; + But yet I think the sooth to say, + Although the loon is weill away, + The deed was foully dune."[85] + +When it became known that the conspirators who assassinated Betoun +meant to hold the castle of St Andrews, they were joined by a +considerable number of their friends from among the reforming gentry of +Fife, and gradually by others from a greater distance who were friendly +to the Reformation and the English alliance, and in consequence were +then being subjected to many annoyances at the hands of the regent and +his new following. Among these last, about Pasche 1547--in charge of his +pupils, the sons of certain lairds in East Lothian--came John Knox, +whose life, ever since he had cast in his lot with Wishart, had been +made so miserable to him by the regent's bastard brother[86]--the +aspirant to the vacant archbishopric--that, but for this refuge +unexpectedly opened to him, he would have found it necessary to leave +his native land and follow Alesius, Fyfe, and others to Germany or +Switzerland. At the time when he arrived in St Andrews there was a truce +between the regent and the occupants of the castle, and with the latter +the inhabitants of the city had pretty free intercourse. The reforming +citizens resorted at times to the services in the chapel of the castle; +and John Rough, the chaplain of the garrison, under the powerful +protection he enjoyed, occasionally forced his way into the parish +church and preached there to the assembled citizens. + +[Sidenote: His Call to the Ministry.] + +Knox was no sooner settled in St Andrews than he resumed the system he +had followed with good effect in East Lothian, causing his pupils to +give account of their catechism in public to all who chose to come, and +opening up in a plain and colloquial manner the Gospel of St John. His +great ability and success as a teacher, and his wonderful gift of +persuasive speech, thus became generally known. After private but +unsuccessful efforts had been made by Balnaves and others to induce him +to become colleague to John Rough, a formal call to the ministry was, +with the counsel of Sir David Lindsay,[87] publicly addressed to him +from the pulpit by Rough, in the name of the rest, and he was solemnly +adjured not to despise the voice of God speaking to him. Thus honourably +called to assume the office of a public preacher in that reformed +congregation, he at last entered on the work with all his heart, and +made full proof of his ministry before the assembled citizens in their +parish church, as well as before the rude garrison in the castle +chapel. He administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the simple +form he always used, and continued the public catechising of his pupils, +which the people of the town heard repeated till they had the substance +of his teaching by heart, and thus was spread a knowledge of Gospel +truth even among those who could not read. A very graphic account is +given in his History of the sermons, catechisings, and disputations he +held with the popish champions, by means of which the new doctrines +gained a hold on the minds of the citizens of St Andrews which they +never wholly lost. But times of trial were to come ere the cause should +finally triumph in that city, or in his native land; and the earnest +preacher, whose mouth God had opened in that old parish church, was to +be taught by sad experience how hard it is to leave all and simply +follow Christ, ere he was to be privileged to see the full fruit of his +labours. + +[Sidenote: A Galley-slave.] + +Those who had presumed to take into their hands "the sword of God" as +they called it, and to mete out to the tyrant cardinal the punishment +which human justice was too weak to award, were made to feel that they +who take the sword must expect to suffer from the sword. They had been +able to withstand the power of the regent and the attacks of his +unskilful captains; but help and skill at last came to the aid of these +from their co-religionists abroad--chief among them being a militant +ecclesiastic entitled Prior of Capua--and the succour promised to the +garrison by England having been again and again delayed, they were +obliged to surrender the castle to the representative of the French +king.[88] The occupants of the castle--those who had come to it for +shelter, as well as those who were really guilty of the murder--were +deprived of liberty, and dealt with as criminals of the worst class. For +nineteen months[89] our reformer had to work as a chained slave on board +the French galleys, generally at Rouen or Dieppe, though sometimes a +cruise was taken to more distant waters. Once, at least, he was brought +within sight of the towers of the city where he had begun his ministry; +and then he solemnly affirmed that he believed God would once more allow +him to proclaim His word there. Even then he maintained unshaken faith +in God, and at times indulged in sallies of pleasantry against his +popish custodiers; but he would have been more than human if the iron +had not entered into his soul, and if traces of the sternness thence +arising had not long been visible in his character. + +[Sidenote: His Work in England.] + +Early in 1549 he was, by English influence, released from his captivity +in the French galleys, and from his exile.[90] He proceeded first to +London, and thereafter to Berwick, with the approval of the English +Privy Council. There he was as near to his persecuted fellow-countrymen +as it was safe for him to go, and there many of them might resort to +him; and in fact so many did so, that the president of the English +Northern Council became anxious for his transference farther south. +There also, through the appointment of the Privy Council, a wide field +of usefulness was opened to him among the English. Into this he entered +with his whole soul, preaching the Gospel with great boldness and +success not only to the garrison and citizens of Berwick, but also in +the surrounding districts; and proving himself a true successor of those +early Scottish missionaries who had originally won over to the Christian +faith the heathen Saxons of Northumbria. At Newcastle, in 1550, he +discussed, before Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, his doctors, and the +Northern Council, the idolatry of the mass; and in the spring of 1551 he +removed his headquarters to that more central and influential town, +extending his labours at times, no doubt, into Yorkshire, as well as +into Northumberland and Cumberland. + +His fame as an eloquent preacher, and able and ready defender of the +doctrines of the Reformation, spread southwards; and at the close of +1551, or early in 1552, he was appointed one of the royal chaplains of +Edward VI. In the autumn of 1552 he was summoned to the south, and +preached with great power and faithfulness before the king and his +court. He persistently advocated, along with the other royal chaplains, +those thoroughgoing Protestant doctrines which, in the north, he had +previously held and taught and carried out in practice. In conjunction +with the other five royal chaplains, he was called to give his opinion +of the Articles then proposed to be adopted as the creed of the English +Church, and of the revised Communion Office then prepared to take the +place of that of 1549. His objections to the act of kneeling in +receiving the elements in the Lord's Supper helped to procure the +insertion of that rubric which high-churchmen term "the black rubric." +He refused both an English bishopric and a London rectory, and continued +to labour on, faithfully and devotedly, as a preacher unattached. He +had a presentiment that the time he would have to do so would be brief, +and he improved it to the uttermost. The Reformation in England at that +date had been forced on by its courtly patrons and their earnest +preachers beyond what was warranted by the hold it had as yet gained on +the mass of the people. When the good King Edward[91] was succeeded by +the bigoted Mary, nothing remained for the Protestant bishops and +preachers but either to prove the sincerity of their convictions in +prison and at the stake, or to leave the country and reserve themselves +in exile for happier times. Knox, as a foreigner, was especially +warranted to choose the latter course; and at the urgent request of his +friends in the north he did so, when it was only not yet too late to +escape. + +[Sidenote: Visits Scotland.] + +The five years of the reformer's life which followed were not less +eventful for himself nor for those of whom he now became the chosen +leader. After an unsuccessful attempt to set up a substantially Puritan +church among the English exiles at Frankfort, Whittingham and he +obtained at Geneva, through the favour of Calvin, an asylum for +themselves and their like-minded fellow-exiles, where they might be +allowed peacefully to carry out their own forms of worship and +discipline. But he had not been long there till, at the earnest +invitation of the reforming party, he paid a visit to his native land--a +visit which was memorable for its immediate, and still more for its +ultimate, results. For several years the cause of the Reformation had +been making quiet progress. Those who could read the Scriptures had been +drinking the waters of life from the fountain-head. Those who could not, +drank from the streams opened by the Reformation poets, whose verses +were carefully committed to memory. Then came the voice of the living +preacher, accompanied, as it had never yet been in Scotland, with the +demonstration of the Spirit and with power from on high. The reformer +wrote that he would be content to sing his _nunc dimittis_ after forty +such days as he had had three of in Edinburgh. He prolonged for six +months a visit which he had intended to complete in as many weeks; and, +when he was at last recalled to Geneva by the urgent letters of the +congregation there, he promised to his friends in Scotland that he would +return whenever they saw meet to summon him and to assure him of +protection from persecution. + +The few quiet years which Knox and his fellow-exiles passed at Geneva +were to be richly blessed to themselves and to their fatherland. He, at +least, had not gone there to have his views of Christian doctrine or +church order formed or materially changed. He went to see the pure +reformed faith (which he and Calvin in common believed, and +independently had drawn from the Holy Scriptures and from the writings +of the great doctor of the ancient church) exhibiting its benign +influence in quickening to higher life, and moulding into a united +community the volatile citizens of Geneva. He came to have his wearied +spirit revived and refreshed by communion with devoted Christian +brethren; and, by witnessing the success of their labours, to be nerved +for further achievements in the service of their common Lord and for the +good of his native land. + +[Sidenote: Genevan Benefits.] + +It was there that Puritanism was organised as a distinct school, if not +also as a distinct party, in the church. If it had done nothing more +than what it was honoured to do in the few peaceful years our fathers +were permitted to spend in that much loved city by the bright blue +waters of the Leman Lake, it would have done not a little for which the +church and the world would have had cause to be grateful to it still. +There were first clearly proclaimed in our native language those +principles of constitutional government, and the limited authority of +the "upper powers," which are now universally accepted by the +Anglo-Saxon race. There was first deliberately adopted and resolutely +put in practice among British Christians a form of church constitution +which eliminated sacerdotalism, and taught the members of the church +their true dignity and responsibility as priests to God and witnesses +for Christ in the world. There was first used that Book of Common Order +which was long to be the directory for public worship in the fully +reformed Church of Scotland, and whose simple rites Bishop Grindal was +forced to own, in his controversy with the English Puritans, he could +not reprove. There was nearly completed, after the model of the French +version, the English Metrical Psalter. There was planned and executed a +translation of the Scriptures into our mother tongue, which for nearly +half a century continued to hold its place alongside of others executed +at greater leisure and more favoured by authority.[92] That was how our +reformer and his tireless associates occupied themselves when left +freely to follow their own bent. That was how he was ultimately prepared +for the great work he was to accomplish in his native country when +finally invited to return to it. + +Immediately after the accession of Elizabeth to the English throne in +the autumn of 1558,[93] the English exiles on the Continent began to +break up their congregations and return to their native land. Those at +Geneva were among the first who commenced to do so; but those of them +who had been occupying themselves in that translation of the Bible into +English which was to prove such a blessing to their countrymen decided +to remain where they were until they had finished that work.[94] Those +who returned were at first favourably received by the queen and her +advisers, and taken into service in the reconstituted church; but when +it was found that they were generally averse to comply fully with the +ceremonies which she fostered, a change took place. + +[Sidenote: Returns to Scotland.] + +Knox, who does not seem to have been one of the translators, appears to +have left Geneva among the earliest. In February 1558-59 we find that he +had gone to Dieppe, whence, while assisting in the French Protestant +services, he sent a request to Cecil for leave to pass through England +on his way to Scotland, and to converse with him on some matters which +deeply concerned the welfare of the Protestants in both realms.[95] But +his 'First Blast of the Trumpet' was an insult which Elizabeth could not +brook, and so, after waiting in vain for the desired permission for a +reasonable time, he set sail from Dieppe for Scotland, and arrived in +Edinburgh on the 2nd of May 1559, much to the consternation of the +popish council then assembled in the city. It dissolved forthwith; but +care was taken to get Knox's name, as that of an already condemned +heretic, added to the list of Protestant preachers then under summons to +appear before the queen regent and her council to answer for their +persistence in preaching.[96] Knox at once resolved to throw in his lot +with his brethren, and went north to Dundee where the zealous +Protestants of Fife, Angus, and Mearns were already assembling, +determined to make common cause with their preachers, and to go forward +in peaceful form to Stirling in order that they might do so, and leave +the queen and her council in no doubt as to the position which they were +henceforth to occupy towards her and them. They accordingly marched +forward from Dundee to Perth, and sent on Erskine of Dun to Stirling to +apprise the queen and council of their attitude and intentions. It is +said that she promised Erskine that the prosecution of the preachers +would be abandoned, but they were condemned in absence and outlawed, and +the breach between the two parties thus became irrevocable. Nothing +remained for the queen, from her point of view, but to prosecute the +matter to the bitter end, if thereby she might succeed in silencing and +repressing the Protestants. + +[Sidenote: Preaches in St Andrews.] + +After the regent's falsehood to Erskine and persistence in her fatal +policy, the reformers proceeded at once to set about such reform as they +desired, and commenced rather roughly at Perth, where they had the +majority of the population in their favour. Knox, along with Moray, +went to Fife as soon after as it became apparent that forcible measures +must be taken to secure toleration for the Protestants. After a few +brief visits to other towns he presented himself at the public +preaching-place in St Andrews. Modern historians will not allow us to +say that it was in that city that he had received his university +training, or had first listened to the preaching of the reformed +doctrines, or been brought to a personal knowledge of the truth; but +they leave untouched, as previously stated, the more important facts +that it was there, when in charge of his pupils at the university, that +he had first ventured at the hazard of his life openly to make known to +others that which had been blessed of God to the quickening of his own +soul, and publicly to exert in the cause of the Reformation those rare +gifts of telling argument and persuasive speech which were destined so +signally to contribute to its ultimate and permanent triumph throughout +the land. It was there, probably in the old parish church, that he had +been first solemnly called to the ministry of the Word in the reformed +church; and there, in the chapel of the old and now ruined castle, that +he had first celebrated the Lord's Supper with the same purity and +simplicity with which it was afterwards observed in the fully reformed +Church of Scotland.[97] Even in exile and working as a slave in the +galleys his heart had turned with special pleasure to the scene of his +first labours, and he had cherished the confident expectation that God +would again bring him to the place where he had first opened his mouth, +and permit him again to preach from its pulpit the precious truths of +His Holy Word.[98] + +[Sidenote: The Victory.] + +This expectation he believed that God had then fulfilled, and neither +the threats of adversaries could make him quail from his purpose, nor +the counsels of timid friends move him to let slip the opportunity which +he believed God had then given him of bearing full and faithful +testimony to the truth of God in that important city.[99] He therefore +boldly proclaimed before the dignitaries of the church, the doctors of +the university,[100] and the magistrates of the burgh, as well as +before more humble citizens, that doctrine of the grace of God which had +long been his own solace and support, and was then being more generally +recognised and embraced by his countrymen. Having thus seized the +opportunity and improved it to the utmost, his efforts were so +abundantly blessed by God that the cause of truth and right finally +triumphed there. The reformed worship was by general consent peaceably +set up, and the authority of the archbishop was virtually ended in the +very stronghold of his power. That which, with the divine blessing, the +reformer's preaching then accomplished in St Andrews, was by the same or +similar means effected in the chief cities of the kingdom, and +throughout the greater part of the lowlands, almost within the compass +of a single year. In fact, four months after his arrival, he could write +to his friends: "Nothwithstanding the fevers have vexed me, ... yitt +have I travelled through the most part of this realme where (all praise +be to His blessed Majestie) men of all sorts and conditiouns embrace the +Truthe.... We doe nothing but goe about Jericho, blowing with trumpets +as God giveth strenth, hoping [for the] victorie by His power +alone."[101] The reformer's expectation of victory, and of victory by +the persuasive means which Bishop Hooper affirmed were alone legitimate +and in accord with Christ's will, was neither disappointed nor long +deferred. The great body of the nation, with unexampled rapidity and +unanimity, embraced the truth, and submitted to the discipline of their +teacher, and under its salutary influence, as Stähelin in his 'Johannes +Calvin' affirms, from being one of the rudest, most ignorant, indigent, +and turbulent peoples, grew to be one of the most civilised, educated, +prosperous, and upright which our family of nations can show. + +Believing that we have no cause to be ashamed of the great revolution +which was thus effected, or of aught which has legitimately followed +from it, but that we need to have our pure minds stirred up by way of +remembrance of the great things the Lord has done for us, I proceed to +direct attention to the distinctive characteristics of the Scottish +Reformation in respect of doctrine, worship, government, discipline, and +church life, and the lessons which such a review should tend to rivet on +the hearts of those who still hold fast its principles and long to see +them more fully carried out. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[82] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 17. + +[83] Calderwood's History, i. 155, 156, 160; Laing's Knox, i. 95, 96, +105. [Calderwood says that Williams was born "beside Elstonefurde, in +East Lothiane."] + +[84] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, pp. 155, 156. + +[85] [Though these lines are continually attributed to Lindsay, I do not +remember to have ever seen them in any edition of his works, or quoted +as his by any earlier writer than Wodrow.] + +[86] [According to Knox, though "called bastard brother to the +governour," many deemed him to be a son of "the old Bischope of +Dunkelden, called Crychtoun" (Laing's Knox, i. 105). Buchanan says he +was "first callid _Cuningham_, estemit _Cowane_, and at last Abbot +_Hamiltoun_" (Admonition to the trew Lordis). In a transcript used by +Ruddiman, _Givane_ occurs instead of _Cowane_.] + +[87] [Laing's Knox, i. 186. Though the Lyon King was then in St Andrews, +he was not one of those who were sheltering in the castle (Laing's +Lindsay's Poetical Works, 1879, vol. i. pp. xxxix, xli).] + +[88] [Knox says that the castle was rendered "upone Setterday, the last +of Julij" (Laing's Knox, i. 205); Bishop Lesley says "the xxix of Julij" +(Lesley's History, 1830, p. 195). In 1547, the last of July fell not on +Saturday but on Sabbath.] + +[89] Laing's Knox, vi. 104. + +[90] [The negotiations for the release of the captives seem to have +dragged their weary length along very slowly. So early as the 29th of +March 1548, Huntly wrote thus to Somerset: "The governor has agreed to +exchange the men in the castle of St Andrews with Scots prisoners +conform to your desire, and has sent me commission therein, as I shall +show you at my coming to London: or if you send your mind to my Lord +Warden, I shall appoint with him. The governor has written to the king +of France to send the men taken in St Andrews to Rouen, to be ready for +the exchange" (Bain's Calendar, 1543-67, p. 104).] + +[91] [Edward died July 6, 1553.] + +[92] [The first edition of the Genevan version was printed at Geneva by +Rouland Hall in 1560. "The changes made in the Geneva Bible were the +adoption of Roman type instead of the black letter, in which all English +Bibles had previously been printed, and the division of the chapters +into verses. These changes were the principal cause of the wonderful +popularity of this version, of which about 200 editions are known. From +1560 to 1616 no year passed without one or more editions issuing from +the press, in folio, quarto, or octavo. In 1599 no less than ten +distinct editions were printed, each of which consisted of a large +number of copies. The last quarto printed in England is dated 1615, and +the last folio 1616. After this time a great many editions were printed +at Amsterdam by Joost Broerss and other Dutch printers; the last folio +bears the imprint of Thomas Stafford, and the date 1644.... 150,000 +copies were imported from Holland after this version had ceased to be +printed in England.... Owing to the vast number of copies in circulation +during the three-quarters of a century that this version was the +household Bible of England, it is now the most common of all early +printed Bibles.... The singular rendering of the 7th verse of the third +chapter of Genesis in every edition of the Genevan version has caused it +to be commonly known as the 'Breeches' Bible" (Dore's Old Bibles, 1888, +pp. 203, 204).] + +[93] [Mary Tudor died on the 17th of November 1558.] + +[94] Troubles at Frankfort, Petheram's reprint, pp. cxci, cxcii. + +[95] [After making two requests by messengers, Knox wrote to Cecil from +Dieppe on the 10th of April 1559, and on the 22nd sent from the same +town a duplicate of that letter with a postscript added (Laing's Knox, +ii. 15-22, vi. 15-21).] + +[96] [The Provincial Council is said to have closed on the 10th of April +(Robertson's Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 151, 176; Lesley's History, p. 271); +but Knox says that it sat until he arrived in Scotland (Laing's Knox, i. +291); and that the date of his arrival was the 2nd of May (Ibid., i. +318, vi. 21); and an anonymous writer alleges that the council broke up +when assured that Knox had come (Wodrow Miscellany, pp. 56, 57). M'Crie +suggests that, although the Acts were concluded on the 10th of April, +the council may not have then closed (Life of Knox, 1855, p. 126, n.).] + +[97] [While it is apparent from Knox's own narrative that his first +public sermon was delivered in the parish church of St Andrews (Laing's +Knox, i. 189), it is not quite so clear whether Rough addressed the call +to him in that church or in the chapel of the castle, though it rather +appears to have been in the former (Ibid., i. 186-188); and the precise +building in St Andrews in which he first celebrated the Lord's Supper +seems to me to be also uncertain (Ibid., i. 201).] + +[98] Laing's Knox, i. 228. + +[99] Ibid., i. 348, 349; vi. 25. + +[100] [Many members of the university became Protestants. The twenty-one +men in St Andrews, whom the first General Assembly deemed qualified "for +ministreing and teaching," were with few exceptions professors, or +regents. For the number of the ecclesiastics who joined the congregation +at St Andrews in the early months of the Reformation, see _supra_, p. +13. In September, 1566, St Andrews was emphatically declared to be "the +most flourishing city as to divine and human learning in all Scotland" +(Laing's Knox, vi. 546).] + +[101] Laing's Knox, vi. 78. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE OLD SCOTTISH CONFESSION OF 1560. + + +[Sidenote: Alleged Omission of a Chapter.] + +Knox, in his 'History of the Reformation,' has stated that the +preparation of this Confession was entrusted to the same six ministers +who were commissioned to draw up the Book of Discipline--viz., Wynram, +Spottiswoode, Willock, Douglas, Row, and himself.[102] It has been +frequently taken for granted that the Confession was prepared and +revised within four days after the formal charge to frame it was issued +by the Parliament, and that the Book of Discipline was not ordered to be +prepared till after the Parliament of 1560 was adjourned. It is evident, +however, from the dates specified in the Introduction, and at the +conclusion of the copy of the Book of Discipline engrossed by Knox,[103] +that the original charge to frame it had been granted on the 29th April +1560, or just two days after the nobles and barons signed one of those +"godly bands" or covenants[104] by which they pledged themselves to +stand by each other in setting forward the Reformation of religion +according to God's Word; and it can hardly be supposed that that book +should have been taken in hand some months before the Parliament met, +and that no attempt should have been made in this interval to prepare +materials for the 'Confession of Faith.' Besides, Knox has not stated +that within four days after the charge was formally issued the +Confession was _prepared_, but only that it was _presented_, so that we +may hold with Dr M'Crie that "the ministers were not unprepared for this +task," which was then formally devolved on them by the Parliament. Knox +has further stated that the Confession was accepted by the Parliament in +the form in which it was laid before them _without change of a single +sentence_.[105] Others supplement his statement by explaining that +before it was publicly presented it was submitted privately to certain +lords of Parliament, and by their direction was handed for revision to +the rather time-serving Wynram and the anon time-serving and +vacillating Laird of Lethington, who softened many harsh expressions in +it, and even recommended the omission of a chapter or part of a chapter +from it. This they say was a chapter bearing the title, "Of the +obedience and disobedience due from subjects to magistrates."[106] But +the chapter on the "Civil Magistrate" still found in the Confession +treats so fully and expressly of the obedience due to magistrates, that +it is difficult to see how place could ever have been sought for an +additional chapter on the same subject. There may possibly at first have +stood in the chapter still retained some such clause or sentence +regarding the _limits_ of obedience as we find in the corresponding +chapter of some of the Genevan symbolical books,[107] and this may have +been the matter deemed unfit to be "entreated of" at that time, and +recommended by the revisers to be omitted; or it may be that, after all, +their recommendation and the suggestions of the English ambassador on +the subject were not followed in this instance, and that we have the +chapter still as it was originally framed by Knox and his +associates.[108] + +In endeavouring to form an estimate of the real merits of this +Confession, we must make due allowance for the circumstances in which it +was composed. Even though we suppose that the materials of it had been +collected beforehand, only four days seem to have been allowed to the +committee to put them into final shape. + +[Sidenote: Character of the Confession.] + +We must not look either on the one hand for an exhaustive and logical +elaboration of the several doctrines of the system and nicely balanced +statement of complementary truths, or on the other for a careful +avoidance of incidental expressions which seem dogmatically to determine +points not fully or directly handled in the places where we should have +expected them to be so. Yet, if we make such due allowance, look at it +from the proper point of view, and peruse the work not only in the now +obsolete Scotch, but also in the neat Latin version which often +accompanies it, and is said to have been the work of Archbishop +Adamson,[109] we shall not hesitate to own that it holds a +distinguished place among the Confessions of that age, and is a credit +to our reformer and his associates. Coinciding not infrequently in +expression and agreeing generally in its definitions of doctrine with +the other Reformed or Calvinistic Confessions (an agreement which its +framers explicitly testified by inserting among the subordinate +standards of their church, first Calvin's Catechism, and a few years +after the Later Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism), the +Scottish Confession of 1560 had characteristics of its own,--a framework +rather historical than dogmatic, and a liberal and manly, yet reverent +and cautious spirit. It probably contributed to mould the early Scottish +theology into a form somewhat less minute and rigid than the Swiss, yet +considerably less vague and indefinite than the earlier English. + +The first topic deserving of notice, from the place it holds both in the +preface and in the body of this treatise, is the distinct and hearty +acknowledgment of the supreme authority of the written Word of God, or +"the buiks of the Auld and New Testamentis," which books are briefly but +sufficiently defined as those "quhilk of the ancient have been reputed +canonicall."[110] In these they affirm "that all thingis necessary to +be beleeved for the salvation of mankinde is sufficiently expressed," +and to these they desire in all things to conform, protesting that, if +any man should note any article or sentence in their Confession contrary +to the Scriptures, and should "of his gentleness" admonish them of the +same, they "do promise unto him satisfactioun fra the mouth of God, that +is, fra His Haly Scriptures, or else reformation of that quhilk he sal +prove to be amisse."[111] + +[Sidenote: The Fall and the Remedy.] + +In the opening chapter the unity and attributes of God, and the trinity +of persons in the Godhead, are briefly but definitely treated of.[112] +In subsequent chapters the divinity of our blessed Lord is fully +asserted, and the "heresies of Arius, Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, and +sik uthers as either did denie the eternitie of His Godhead, or the +veritie of His humaine nature, or confounded them or zit devided them," +are specifically rejected.[113] The second chapter treats of the +creation and fall of our first parents, while the third treats of the +effects of the fall in language no less explicit than that of the other +Protestant Confessions, Lutheran and Reformed; and as it not only +clearly embodies the teaching of our reformers on this subject, but +gives a brief summary of their views regarding the application of the +Gospel remedy, it may be as well I should quote it at length. It is as +follows: "Be quhilk transgressioun, commonlie called original sinne, +_wes the image of God utterlie defaced in man_, and he and his +posteritie of nature become enimies to God, slaves to Sathan, and +servandis unto sin.[114] In samekle that deith everlasting hes had and +sall have power and dominioun over all that have not been, ar not, or +sall not be, regenerate from above: quhilk regeneratioun is wrocht be +the power of the Holie Gost, working in the hartes of the elect of God +ane assured faith in the promise of God reveiled to us in His Word, be +quhilk faith we apprehend Christ Jesus with the graces and benefites +promised in Him."[115] + +[Sidenote: The Eternal Decree.] + +[Sidenote: Alasco's Influence.] + +After this follow several chapters on the history of the promises of +redemption, the preparation for the coming of the promised Redeemer, +the dignity and constitution of His person, His incarnation, +sufferings, and death, His resurrection and ascension, and the blessed +effects resulting from them to His people. In another of these chapters +distinct reference is made to "the eternall and immutable decree" from +which the appointment of the God-man as our Redeemer, and "al our +salvatioun springs and depends";[116] and in another all that is good in +us is traced up to that decree of the eternal God who of mere grace +elected us in Christ Jesus His Son before the foundation of the world +was laid. The same mysterious subject is again referred to in the +sixteenth chapter, which treats of the church, and, like the earlier +Confession used by Knox's congregation at Geneva and our later +Confession, identifies that invisible but real church, which is "the +bodie and spouse" of Christ Jesus, with the elect of all ages, nations, +and tongues, so that "as without Christ Jesus there is nouther life nor +salvation, so sal there nane be participant therof bot sic as the Father +hes given unto His Sonne," and who in time come unto Him.[117] Many +individual expressions occurring in these chapters can be clearly traced +to one or other of Calvin's Confessions, or to the earliest edition of +his Institutes;[118] but the only Confession I can remember in which a +similar, though shorter, history of the preparation for the coming +Redeemer is given, is the 'Summa Doctrinæ' of John Alasco,[119] which +may be regarded as the Confession of Faith, not only of the ministers +but also of the members of the church of the foreigners in London. Knox +was brought into contact with them both in London and in Frankfort, +agreed with them generally in opinion, and largely adopted their forms +and arrangements in matters of worship and discipline. + +[Sidenote: Justification.] + +A group of chapters[120] treats of the nature and work of the Holy +Spirit, the cause of good works, the works which are reputed good, the +perfection of the Law of God, and the imperfection of man. Those who +have overlooked the explicit statement in the third chapter concerning +the depravity of man have generally overlooked or failed to perceive the +full significance of the emphatic statements in the twelfth chapter +regarding our entire dependence for spiritual renovation, and all good, +on the Holy Spirit. The words are: "Of nature we are so dead, so blind, +and so perverse, that nether can we feill when we ar pricked, see the +licht when it shines, nor assent to the will of God when it is reveiled, +unles the Spirit of the Lord Jesus quicken that quhilk is dead, remove +the darknesse from our myndes, and bowe our stubburne hearts to the +obedience of His blessed will;"[121] and again, "As we willingly spoyle +ourselves of all honour and gloir of our awin creation and redemption, +so do we also of our regeneration and sanctification."[122] These +statements, however they may be viewed by others, seem to me no less +explicit than those of the later Confession, which have been sometimes +contrasted with them. "This effectual call is of God's free and special +Grace alone, not from anything at all foreseen in man, who is +altogether passive therein _until_, being quickened and renewed by the +Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to answer this call, and to embrace +the Grace offered and conveyed in it."[123] The last of this group of +chapters contains the fullest and most direct exposition the Confession +embodies of the views of its framers in the article of Justification. It +is as follows: "It behovis us to apprehend Christ Jesus with His justice +and satisfaction, quha is the end and accomplishment of the Law, be +quhome we ar set at this liberty that the curse and malediction of God +fall not upon us, albeit we fulfill not the same in al pointes. For God +the Father, beholding us in the body of His Sonne Christ Jesus, acceptis +our imperfite obedience as it were perfite, and covers our warks, quhilk +ar defyled with mony spots, with the justice of His Sonne."[124] To the +same effect it is said in chapter xxv. that "albeit sinne remaine and +continuallie abyde in thir our mortall bodies, zit it is not imputed +unto us, bot is remitted and covered with Christ's justice."[125] It has +been questioned, however, whether we have in these statements the +doctrine taught generally in the reformed churches regarding the +_articulus stantis vel cadentis ecclesiæ_. This can be a question only +with those who forget that the church which received this Confession, +and required her adult members to assent to the heads of it, appointed +for the instruction of her youth the Catechism in which this doctrine of +Calvin is stated in his own words; and that the very men[126] who in +1560 drew it up, in 1566, along with their brethren of the General +Assembly, declared of the _Later Helvetic Confession_--which is +admitted to contain what has been termed "the Lutherano-Calvinian view" +of justification--that therein was "most faithfully, holily, piously, +and indeed divinely explained" what they themselves had for eight years +been constantly teaching, and still by the grace of God continued to +teach, and that in consequence they felt constrained not only to express +their approval, but their "exceeding commendation of every chapter and +of every sentence," save the one relating to holidays.[127] It may be +taken for granted that they knew their own meaning, and that of their +Swiss brethren;[128] the more especially as in our day Stähelin, whose +impartiality and historical reputation will not be challenged, has +adduced the statement in chapter xv. as one of his proofs that Calvin +himself could not have framed the Scotch Confession otherwise than Knox +has done.[129] + +[Sidenote: Notes of the True Church.] + +The nature of the church, and the notes by which the true church is to +be discerned, are explained in chapters xvi. and xviii. As in most of +the other Reformed or Calvinistic Confessions, greater prominence is +assigned to the Invisible Church, consisting of the elect of all times +and nations, than to the general visible church subsisting at any +particular time in the world and embracing all who profess faith in +Christ and submit to the godly discipline He has prescribed. The notes +by which it may be discerned whether any branch of the professing church +is indeed part of the true Kirk of Christ are stated _negatively_--not +to be "antiquitie, title usurpit, lineal descente, place appointed, nor +multitude of men approving," as Roman Catholics were wont to allege; and +_positively_ to be "the trew preaching of the Worde of God," "the right +administration of the Sacraments," and "ecclesiastical discipline +uprightlie ministred as Goddis Worde prescribes."[130] "These articles," +as Principal Lee has so pithily expressed it, "have been almost as +disagreeable to some Episcopalian writers as they were to the most +servile adherents of the pope. It is thought a most dangerous omission +to make no mention of uninterrupted succession and conveyance of +authority from the apostles. This omission has been somewhat incorrectly +charged against the reformers of our church. They do certainly mention +_lineal succession_, but they mention it only to disown it. They say +that though the Jewish priests in our Saviour's time 'lineally descended +from Aaron,' yet no 'man of sound judgment will grant that they were the +Church of God.'"[131] They further assert that wherever the three notes +given above are found and continue for any time (be the number never so +few above two or three), there without all doubt is the true Kirk of +Christ, who according to His promise is in the midst of them; and in +this they are borne out not only by Calvin but by Luther, who boldly +affirmed: "Were I the only man on earth that held by the Word, _I alone +would be the church_, and I would be justified in pronouncing of all the +rest of the world that it was not the church." + +[Sidenote: Two Sacraments only.] + +The only other parts of the Confession I deem it necessary to refer to +in this review of it are the chapters relating to the sacraments and the +right use of them. It was asserted some years ago by a leader of modern +thought in Scotland that Knox did not go beyond the Zwinglian doctrine +regarding the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; and that his Order for the +administration of it was a bold protest against the "mystical jargon" +which Luther employed, and from which Calvin was not free. When he made +this assertion he seems to have forgot that the address in Knox's Order +for the administration of the Lord's Supper was little else than a +translation of that in Calvin's Liturgy, and teaches exactly the same +mystical doctrine. This doctrine is no less explicitly taught in the +Confession; and Stähelin, whose competence to judge in the matter cannot +be questioned, maintains that the Zwinglian doctrine is as explicitly +rejected as the Romano-Lutheran; and that the language as well as the +doctrine closely resembles Calvin's. The text of the common editions of +the Confession speaks of two _chief_ sacraments only as being appointed +under the New Testament as well as under the Old. From this expression, +some, who are more familiar with Anglican than with Calvinistic +formularies, have concluded that Knox, like several of the earlier +English reformers, attributed a _quasi_-sacramental character to some of +the other rites regarded as sacraments by the Romanists. But in the +copy of the Confession reprinted in Dr Laing's edition of Knox's History +the word _chief_ is omitted in the second instance, and the clause runs +_two sacraments only_.[132] Perhaps it will be accepted as some +confirmation of the correctness of this reading that it is identical +with that found in Alasco's 'Epitome Doctrinæ Ecclesiarum Frisiæ +Orientalis,' from which treatise the opening sentence of chapter xxi. of +the Scottish Confession may possibly have been taken,[133] though the +verbal coincidence with the early edition of Calvin's Institutes is in +some respects more marked. + +[Sidenote: Type of Scottish Theology.] + +Such are the main contents and general bearing of this ancient Scottish +Confession. Notwithstanding the confident assertions to the contrary +made of late both within and without the Presbyterian churches, I +venture to think that no one who, with a good conscience and honest +intent, could sign that Confession, and answer in the affirmative the +questions regarding election put to candidates for the ministry at their +ordination, need hesitate to put his name to that which in 1647 was +received as "in nothing contrary" to the former, and held its place +alongside of it even after the restoration of Charles II., and under the +episcopal _régime_.[134] Most assuredly at least no one need hesitate to +do so who would have put his name to that Confession which was drawn up +in the time of the first episcopacy,[135] and which is quite as +distinctively Calvinistic as the Westminster Confession, while it +ventures incidentally to determine some points the Westminster divines +have wisely left undetermined.[136] The old Confession can advance no +claim to the terse English style, the logical accuracy, the judicial +calmness, and intimate acquaintance with early patristic theology which +characterise that mature product of the faith and thought of the more +learned Puritans of the south. I am not ashamed to avow that it has long +appeared to me that there is somewhat to be said in favour of the +opinion that Scottish presbyterianism gained quite as much as, nay, more +than, it lost, by being brought into contact with the broader, richer, +and decidedly more catholic spirit of the south, and adding to its +earlier symbolical books those which it still holds in common with +almost all the orthodox presbyterians of the Anglo-Saxon race. No one +who will take the trouble to read the report of the discussion on +Arminianism in the Scottish General Assembly of 1638[137] will, I am +sure, be so bold as to affirm that the type of theology then prevalent +among Scottish ministers was in any material respect different from that +which was set forth in the Confession of 1647, and which has never +since, either under episcopal or presbyterian _régime_, been set aside +in the National Church. The teaching of the latest of our symbolical +books imposes nothing in regard to the doctrines known as +Calvinistic[138] but what is explicitly contained in or fairly deducible +from the earliest Confession drawn up for the English church at Geneva, +of which Knox was pastor, and adopted (along with the larger one on +which I have been commenting) at the beginning of the Reformation in +Scotland, and printed in Scotch psalm-books[139] as late as 1638, in +which it is asserted "which church is not seene to man's eye but only +knowne to God, who of the lost sonnes of Adam hath ordained some as +vessels of wrath to damnation, and hath chosen others as vessels of His +mercy to bee saved, the which also in due time He calleth to integritie +of life and godly conversation to make them a glorious church to +Himselfe."[140] + +[Sidenote: Unmeasured Language.] + +Probably, however, the main argument against recurring to the old +Scottish Confession of 1560 is that derived from the unmeasured language +of vituperation in which it, as well as the contemporary forms of +recantation[141] required of priests at that date, indulges when +referring to the teaching of the members of the pre-Reformation church. +No doubt it might be deemed sufficient proof of this to subjoin the +examples furnished in chapter xviii. on the "Notis" or marks by which +"the trewe Kirk is decernit fra the false," where the old church is +designated the "pestilent synagoge," "the filthie synagogue," and "the +horrible harlot, the kirk malignant"[142]--the last words no doubt meant +as a translation of the Vulgate rendering of Psalm xxvi. 5, _ecclesiam +malignantium_,[143] translated "the congregation of evil doers" in our +authorised English version. But I may add, in corroboration, that in +chapter xxi. on the true uses of the sacraments, the papists are charged +with having "perniciouslie taucht and damnablie beleeved" the +transubstantiation of the bread into Christ's natural body and of wine +into his natural blood,[144] and that in the last chapter the language +of Rev. xiv. 11 ("the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and +ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his +image") is adduced in proof of the ultimate fate of those who delight in +superstition or idolatry.[145] + +The same unrestrained spirit is shown in some contemporary Confessions, +notably in the earliest Danish one, the framers of which seem to have +kept closer to Luther than to the more gentle Melanchthon: but however +excusable it may have been in the fierce battle then forced on them, +there can be no doubt that the calmer and more measured language of the +later Confession is a decided improvement on the statements of the +earlier one; and I do not hesitate to say that, with the simpler formula +of 1693-94 recently restored, and the explanatory act which accompanies +it--emphasising the distinction between matters of minor importance and +the great doctrines of the faith--the position of the ministers of our +church in these respects is as nearly what it should be as is that of +the ministers in any of the allied Presbyterian churches. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[102] Laing's Knox, ii. 128. + +[103] Ibid., ii. 183, 257. + +[104] [For this band, see Laing's Knox, ii. 61-64.] + +[105] ["Quhilk thay willinglie acceptit and within foure dayis presentit +this Confessioun as it followis, without alteratioun of any ane +sentence." (Laing's Knox, ii. 92).] + +[106] [These statements are based on the information which Randolph sent +to Cecil on 7th September 1560 (Laing's Knox, vi. 120, 121).] + +[107] "At vero in praefectorum obedientia unum semper excipiendum ne ab +ejus obedientia nos deducat, cujus decretis regum omnium jussa cedere +par est.... Adversus ipsum si quid imperent nullo sit nec loco nec +numero, sed illa potius sententia locum habeat, obediendum Deo magis +quam hominibus." + +[108] This seems to be the opinion of Dr Laing (Knox's Works, vi. 121, +n.) Indeed one can hardly read chapter xviii. without having a suspicion +induced that Knox may have proved too strong for them in regard to some +of what they termed the more harsh expressions in the treatise, as well +as in regard to the particular chapter in question. + +[109] [The Scotch and Latin versions are printed in parallel columns in +Dunlop's 'Collection of Confessions' ii. 13-98.] + +[110] "Libros, qui ab infantia usque ecclesiae semper habiti sunt +canonici" (Latin version, Dunlop, ii. 70). + +[111] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 17, 18; Laing's Knox, ii. 96. A similar +protestation is made in the Preface to the First Book of Discipline +(Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 518; Laing's Knox, ii. 184). + +[112] The sources from which this chapter was taken can still be pretty +clearly traced. I place in parallel columns its statements and those of +the two Confessions from which it was probably taken:-- + +"We confesse and acknawledge "Je confesse qu'il y a un seul +ane only God, to whom only we Dieu auquel il nous faut tenir, +must cleave, whom onelie we must pour le servir, adorer, et y avoir +serve, whom onelie we must worship, notre fiance et refuge."--Confession +and in whom onelie we must subscribed by students +put our trust. in Academy in Geneva. + +"Who is eternall, infinit, "I beleve and confesse my +unmeasurable, incomprehensible, Lorde God eternal, infinite, +omnipotent, invisible: ane in unmeasurable, incomprehensible, +substance, and zit distinct in and invisible, one in substance, +thre personnis, the Father, the and three in persone, Father, +Sone, and the Holie Gost."--Old Sonne, and Holy Ghoste."--Confession +Scottish Confession, in Dunlop's of English Congregation +Confessions, ii. 21, 22. at Geneva, in Laing's Knox, iv. + 169; Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 3. + +[113] This also comes from a Genevan source:-- + +"We condemne the damnable "Ideirco detestor omnes haereses +and pestilent heresies of Arius, huic principio contrarias +Marcion, Eutyches, Nestorius, puta Marcionis, Manetis, Nestorii, +and sik uthers."--Old Scottish Eutychetis, et similium."--Genevan +Confession, as above, ii. 31. Confession. + +[114] Extraneum ab omni benedictione Dei, Satanae mancipium, sub peccati +jugo captivum, horribili denique exitio destinatum et jam +implicitum.--Calvin. + +[115] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 24, 25; Laing's Knox, ii. 98. It has +been questioned if this description of faith is one which Calvin and his +stricter followers would have used. But nothing is more common, even in +the earliest edition of his Institutes, than to find him describing +faith as the apprehension of Christ with His gifts, or graces, as well +as with His righteousness: "Apprehendimus ac obtinemus et ... Christi +_dona_ amplectimur, quod ipsum est habere veram, ut decet fidem." "Haec +omnia nobis a Deo offeruntur ac dantur in Christo Domino nostro nempe +remissio peccatorum gratuita, ... _dona et gratiae_ Spiritus Sancti si +certâ fide ea amplectimur." In one of these chapters [of the Scottish +Confession] relating to the incarnation of Christ Jesus, He is spoken of +not only, as in most of the Protestant Confessions, as the promised +Messiah, the just seed of David, the Immanuel, or God in our nature--God +and man in one person--but also as the _Angel of the great counsel of +God_ [Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 31; Laing's Knox, ii. 99]. This +expression is no doubt a translation of the μεγαλης βουλης +αγγελος of the Septuagint, and is the more remarkable, not only as +showing familiarity on the part of some of the framers of the Confession +with a somewhat unusual rendering of one of the most explicit Messianic +prophecies of Isaiah, but also as showing that they had perceived the +true significance of an expression which last century gave rise to no +little discussion and misconception. So far as I can remember, this +remarkable expression does not appear in any other of the Protestant +Confessions of that age. + +[116] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 32; Laing's Knox, ii. 100. + +[117] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 60, 61; Laing's Knox, ii. 108. + +[118] The following are a few specimens of close verbal coincidence +between the Scottish Confession and the first edition of Calvin's +Institutes:-- + +1. "It behooved that the Filii Dei sumus quod naturalis +Sonne of God suld descend unto Dei Filius sibi corpus ex corpore +us, and tak himself a bodie of nostro, carnem ex carne nostra +our bodie, flesh of our flesh, and ossa ex ossibus nostris composuit +bone of our bones, and so become ut idem nobiscum esset. +the Mediator betwixt God +and man, giving power to so +many as beleeve in Him to be +the sonnes of God."--Dunlop, +ii. 33, 34. + +2. "Quhatsaever wee have Ut quod in Adamo perdidimus +tynt in Adam is restored unto us Christus restitueret. +agayne."--Dunlop, ii. 34. + +3. "It behooved farther the Praeterea sic nostra referebat, +Messias and Redemer to be very verum esse Deum et hominem +God and very man, because He qui Redemptor noster futurus +was to underlie the punischment esset.... Prodiit ergo verus +due for our transgressiouns, and homo, Dominus noster, Adae +to present himselfe in the presence personam induit ... ut Patri +of His Father's judgment se obedientem pro eo exhiberet +as in our persone to suffer for our ut carnem nostram in satisfactionem +transgression and inobedience, justo Dei judicio statueret +be death to overcome him that ac sisteret, ut in eâdem carne +was author of death. Bot because peccati poenam persolveret. +the onely Godhead culd Quum denique mortem nec solus +not suffer death, neither zit culd Deus sentire, nec solus homo +the onlie manhead overcome the superare posset, humanitatem +samin, He joyned both togither cum divinitate sociavit ut alterius +in one persone that the imbecillitie imbecillitatem morti in poenam +of the ane suld suffer and persolveret, alterius virtute +be subject to death quhilk we adversus mortem in victoriam +had deserved: and the infinit luctaretur. +and invincible power of the +uther, to wit, of the God-head, +suld triumph and purchesse to us +life, libertie, and perpetuall +victory."--Dunlop, ii. 35, 36. + +4. "That Hee being the Judicis scilicet sententia damnatus +cleane, innocent Lambe of God, pro nocente et malefico ut +was damned in the presence of apud summi judicis _tribunal_ ejus +an earthlie judge, that we suld damnatione absolveremur. +be absolved befoir the _tribunal_ +seat of our God."--Dunlop, ii. +37, 38. + +5. "Suffered ... the cruell Crucifixus in cruce quae Dei +death of the Crosse, quhilk was lege maledicta fuerat. +accursed be the sentence of +God."--Dunlop, ii. 38. + +6. "Suffered for a season the Divini judicii horrorem et +wrath of His Father quhilk sinners severitatem sensisse ... luens +had deserved. Bot zit we poenas non suae ... sed nostrae +avow that He remained the only iniquitati. Neque tamen +wel-beloved and blessed Sonne intelligendum est patrem illi +of His Father, even in the middest unquam iratum fuisse. Quomodo +of His anguish and enim dilecto filio, in quo illi +torment."--Dunlop, ii. 38. complacitum est, irasceretur. + +[119] Alasco's Works, ii. 296, 298. + +[120] Chapters xii.-xv. + +[121] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 46. "Sunt autem dona Spiritus Sancti, +per quem regeneramur, e diaboli potestate et vinculis explicamur, in +filios Dei gratuito adoptamur, ad omne opus bonum sanctificamur."--Calvin. + +[122] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 47. + +[123] Westminster Confession, chap. x. + +[124] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 58. There is hardly one of these +expressions that may not be found in Calvin's Institutes:-- + +It behoves us to apprehend Confiteor nos justificari per +Christ Jesus with His justice and fidem quâtenus per eam apprehendimus +satisfaction. Jesum Christum. + +We are set at this liberty Omni execratione quae nobis +that the curse and malediction incumbebat eximeremur dum in +of the law fall not upon us. eum traduceret. Fides, in Christi + damnatione absolutionem, + benedictionem in maledictione, + apprehendit. + +God the Father, beholding Ubi nos in filii sui communionem +us in the body of His Son Christ semel recepit, opera +Jesus, accepts our imperfect nostra grata acceptaque habet, +obedience as it were perfect. non quod ita promereantur sed + quia condonatâ eorum imperfectione, + nil in illis intuetur, nisi + quod a Spiritu suo profectum, + purum ac sanctum est. + +_Covers_ our works, which are Nullae nostrae sordes aut +defiled with many spots, with immunditiae imperfectionis +the justice of His Son. imputantur, sed illa puritate + Christi ac perfectione velut + sepultae _conteguntur_. + Cujus perfectione tegatur + nostra imperfectio. See also + Calvin's Catechism in Dunlop's + Confessions, ii. 175. + +[125] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 95; Laing's Knox, ii. 119. + +[126] [Of the six, all save Willock sign the letter to Beza on 4th +September 1566 (Laing's Knox, vi. 548-550).] + +[127] Laing's Knox, vi. 546-548. + +[128] Considerable ingenuity has been expended in the attempt to show +that the words "who is the end and accomplishment of the law" are to be +understood in some other than their most obvious and commonly received +meaning. Without questioning the competency of such ingenious rather +than ingenuous exposition, were a case raised before the judicial +committee of a modern privy council to have the expounder tried and +condemned as a heretic, I venture to think that when the matter to be +determined is rather what, in point of fact, did Knox and his associates +hold and teach, the following brief quotation from the "godly and +perfect" treatise of Balnaves on Justification must go pretty near to +settle it: "Christ is the end of the law (unto righteousnes) to all that +beleeve--that is, Christ is the consummation and fulfilling of the lawe, +and that justice whiche the lawe requireth; and all they which beleeve +in Him are just by imputation through faith, and for His sake are repute +and accepted as just" (Laing's Knox, iii. 492). If more than this has +been taught in recent times, I should be greatly inclined with Principal +Lee to trace it to Jonathan Edwards, or perhaps even to the great +Independent, Dr Owen, rather than to the Westminster divines, or the +earlier Scottish. + +[129] Stähelin's Johannes Calvin, ii. 88. + +[130] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 66-68; Laing's Knox, ii. 110. + +[131] Lee's Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland, i. 124, +125. + +[132] Laing's Knox, ii. 113. [In the Confession, as printed in the Acts +of the Parliaments of 1560 and 1567 ratifying it, the word _chief_ is +retained (Acts of Parliament, ii. 532; iii. 20). The Confession of 1616 +bears that: "We believe that there be only two sacraments appointed by +Christ under the New Testament, Baptisme and the Lord's Supper" ('Booke +of the Universall Kirk,' iii. 1137). Concerning the sacraments the First +Book of Discipline says: "They be two, to wit, Baptism and the Holy +Supper of the Lord Jesus" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 520; Laing's Knox, +ii. 186).] + +[133] Hujus generis _duo praecipua_ in vetere ecclesiâ fuerunt +circumcisio et agnus paschalis. Nos illorum loco _duo_ etiam habemus +baptismum et caenam domini. + +[134] "The Confession of Faith made by Mr Knox, and ratified in +Parliament by King James VI., together with the Westminster Confession +(both agreed on by the General Assembly of Presbyters), are owned next +to the Word of God, by both parties, as the Standard of the doctrine of +our Church" (Case of Suffering Church of Scotland). + +[135] It is printed at length in Calderwood's History, vii. 233-242; and +also in the 'Booke of the Universall Kirk,' iii. 1132-1139; and is +supposed to have been mainly the work of Howie, Melville's successor at +St Andrews. + +[136] [In speaking of this Confession of 1616, Dr Grub says that it +"agrees with the old one in all important points, the chief difference +being in its more marked enunciation of the doctrine of Calvin in regard +to election and predestination" (Grub's History, ii. 306).] + +[137] Printed in Peterkin's Records of the Kirk, pp. 155-160. + +[138] Generally so designated, but really as old as the days of Paul and +Augustine. + +[139] [After 1564-65, the Book of Common Order was usually printed with +a complete metrical version of the Psalms (Laing's Knox, vi. 279, 280, +284); and was comprehended under the name 'Psalm Book' (_infra_, p. +128). Mr Cowan, of 47 Braid Avenue, Edinburgh, informs me that the +Confession, drawn up for the English congregation at Geneva, appears in +every edition of the Book of Common Order which he has examined, from +the Geneva edition of 1556 down to the edition printed by Evan Tyler in +1644.] + +[140] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 8; Laing's Knox, iv. 171, 172. + +[141] [These forms of recantation may be seen in the Maitland +Miscellany, iii. 215-221; and in the Register of St Andrews +Kirk-session, Scot. Hist. Soc., i. 11-18.] + +[142] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 65, 66; Laing's Knox, ii. 109, 110. + +[143] The designation is undoubtedly Knoxian, as it occurs in his +dispute with Friar Arbuckill in 1547. To the reformer's assertion "that +the spous of Christ had nether power nor authoritie against the Word of +God," the Friar replied, "Yf so be, ye will leave us na kirk;" and to +that the reformer rejoined, "In David I read that thare is a church of +the malignantis, for he sayis, _Odi ecclesiam malignantium_. That church +ye may have without the Word, ... of that church yf ye wilbe, I can not +impead yow" (Laing's Knox, i. 200). + +[144] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 80; Laing's Knox, ii. 114. + +[145] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 96, 97. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER. + + +[Sidenote: At Frankfort.] + +This, though in point of time the first composed of the symbolical books +of the Scottish Reformation, was the last to be formally assigned its +honoured place. The title it commonly bore in that age was the Book of +Common Order. In the First Book of Discipline it is called "the Order of +Geneva" and "the Book of our Common Order."[146] In recent times it has +been more generally designated as Knox's Liturgy. It has usually been +deemed sufficient to say that it was drawn up and first privately and +then publicly printed at Geneva, and was directly taken from the liturgy +then used there, as well as approved by Calvin. But this is only +partially true. The first English congregation on the Continent which +invited Knox to be one of its pastors was that formed at Frankfort in +1554, and admitted to hold its services in the same church as the +congregation of French-speaking exiles on condition of using the same +ceremonies and Confession of Faith as the French.[147] The minister and +other office-bearers accordingly signed the Confession of Faith along +with those of the French congregation, and it was ultimately +incorporated into the Book of Common Order as the exposition of the +Apostles' Creed in the baptismal service. The first draft of the Book of +Common Order was drawn up before the end of 1554, and privately +printed,[148] to implement the stipulation for conformity with the +French in ceremonies as well as in Confession of Faith, and it seems to +have been mainly owing to Knox that it was not adopted at once, but that +time was given for circulating and examining it. Unfortunately the +ambitious plan was taken of inviting the English exiles at Strassburg +and Zurich to join with them in their proposed action, which led to +those unfortunate disputes, chronicled at length in the 'Troubles at +Frankfort,' and to the departure of a large number of the English exiles +to Geneva, where through the kindness of Calvin a hospitable reception +was promised them, and the Church of Marie la Neuve was assigned for +their services and those of the Italian exiles, but without any +hampering clause about identity of ceremonies or Confession of Faith. +The congregation which shared with the English exiles the church of "the +white ladies," or Cistercian nuns, at Frankfort, consisted chiefly of +the company of French-speaking exiles which had been originally gathered +at Strassburg by Farel, tended for several years by Calvin, and then by +Poullain, or Pollanus, under whom, when the Interim was imposed on the +city, they had to seek a new home. This they ultimately found in +England, to which Bucer and Martyr from the same city had already been +invited and had gone. Glastonbury Abbey was assigned for their residence +by the king and council, and there they lived in peace and quiet till +the close of the reign of Edward VI. In 1551 Pollanus published the +first edition of his 'Liturgia Sacra seu Ritus ministerii in ecclesia +peregrinorum profugorum propter Evangelium Christi Argentinæ.' No doubt +he had heard that the favour shown to Alasco and his congregations of +French and Flemings in London was intended to help on further +reformation in the Church of England also, and so in a lengthy +dedication to the king he bespeaks his favour not only to his +congregation but also to their book, affirming "ut in cultu Dei externo +ita etiam in disciplina morum nullam esse puriorem aut quæ propius +accedat ad illam quæ fuit temporibus Apostolorum." No doubt it was in a +similar spirit and in similar terms that he pressed the forms of his +book on the acceptance of the English exiles at Frankfort, and to a +great extent with success. Their Book of Common Order is founded on +Farel's and Calvin's services, but is so after these services have +passed through the alembic of Pollanus and been modified and +supplemented by him. This will appear from several of the notes +subjoined, and will be more fully shown in the Appendix.[149] + +[Sidenote: Its Authority.] + +The exclusive authority of this book--previously drafted but first used +in Knox's congregation at Geneva--was not asserted by the General +Assembly till 1564: nevertheless, even in 1560, the Book of Discipline +indicated a very marked preference for its regulations, speaking not +only of it as the book of _our_ Common Order, already used in some +churches, but specially commended its form for administration of the +Lord's Supper; and in giving directions for the celebration of the +sacraments and marriage, and for the burial of the dead, it followed +closely the regulations of this book. In 1561 Quintine Kennedy, Abbot of +Crossraguel, in his oration against the Protestants, alluded to it in +such a way as implied that it was already well known and in general use +in Scotland.[150] In 1562 the General Assembly enjoined the observance +of a uniform Order in the administration of the sacraments and the +celebration of marriage according to the "Booke of Geneva"--_i.e._, the +Order used by Knox's congregation there;[151] and in 1564 it further +ordained that "everie minister, exhorter, and reader sall have one of +the Psalme Bookes latelie printed in Edinburgh, and use the Order +contained therein [that is, the Order in Knox's Book] in prayers, +marriage, and ministration of the sacraments."[152] + +[Sidenote: Early Practice in Scotland.] + +There seems sufficient reason to believe that for some years before the +establishment of the Reformed Church, the morning and evening prayers, +along with the lessons from Holy Scripture, as contained in the Second +Prayer Book of Edward VI., were used at least in part of the assemblies +held by the reformed for worship and mutual edification;[153] and +perhaps they may have continued to be so used for a year or two +afterwards, though no formal sanction was ever given by the General +Assembly even to those parts of that book, still less to the other parts +to which Knox's party had always objected. But it is now ascertained +that as early as 1556, or at least 1557, Knox had recommended, and that +soon after some of the more fully organised congregations adopted, a +form of service more simple, and more nearly resembling the Genevan than +the Anglican.[154] It is known that when the treaty of peace between +France, England, and Scotland was being negotiated in July 1560, the +ministers and congregation of Scotland, thinking their own profession +after the order and discipline of Geneva to be more pure than the +Anglican, as containing no other ceremonies than are expressly mentioned +in the Scriptures, "wald not ressave or admitt any uther."[155] + +[Sidenote: Knox and the English Liturgy.] + +Randolph, the English ambassador, in his letters to his Government, not +only admits that they were "lothe to remytte anie thing of that that +thei _have receaved_,"[156] but also leads us to conclude that the +practice of their leading ministers in public worship at this early date +was not very dissimilar to that of their successors in the next +century. "The Byshop of Athens," he says, "preacheth earnestly, and +prayethe hartely for the Queene's Majestie our Soveraigne, and greatly +extollethe her benefyttes; Mr Wyllocke specially by name prayethe both +for France and Englande; Mr Knox, universally for all Prynces lyvinge in +the feare of God, desyring Him to turne the hartes of other, and to +sende them in the rycht way."[157] About the same period, in one of his +letters to Mrs Lock, Knox links together "Mr Parson's _pattering of his_ +CONSTRAINED _prayers_" and "the masse-munging of Mr Vicar and of his +wicked companions," in such a way as shows that he was no great admirer +of the one or the other.[158] In tolerating for a little the use of the +morning and evening services of the Prayer Book of Edward VI., our +reformers can be judged inconsistent only by those who do not know that +in the time of the good King Edward considerably greater latitude was +allowed in the celebration of those services than has ever since been +suffered in the sister church. The minister, for instance, was expressly +permitted to shorten them _according_ to his _discretion_ when a sermon +or other divine ordinance was to follow. He had a sort of sanction for +any neglect of minuter directions as to kneeling, crossing, &c., from a +general rubric which intimated that these things were to be left free +"as every man's devotion serveth." He had also a pretty full indulgence +practically conceded for deviating from the strict injunctions of the +book in regard to surplices and other ecclesiastical vestments,[159] +which were never adopted or tolerated by Knox and his associates, the +rigid enforcement of which in the days of Queen Elizabeth produced great +misery and discontent at the time, and paved the way for more and +greater in the days of James and Charles, her successors. It is by no +means so clear as some have recently asserted it to be, that Knox used +this liturgy habitually when he was in England, acting as one of the +court chaplains and special preachers in the time of Edward VI. The +observance of the liturgy was not enforced in the northern part of the +kingdom when Knox began his labours there. And even at the time when he +removed to the southern province it was not necessary that he should use +the liturgy in the office he held, as the special preachers of that day, +and even the lecturers for long after, often delivered their discourses +in the open air, and used before them only free prayer or a short prayer +similar to that which is still employed by the university preachers at +Oxford and Cambridge. It was not till a considerably later period that +"to gall tender consciences" it was required of all _lecturers_ and +_special preachers_ that they should also personally read the liturgy so +many times every year. Dr Lorimer has proved that Knox used at Berwick a +simpler form of communion service, moulded so far as yet traced on Swiss +and German offices.[160] And it can be established on the best of all +authority--Knox's own testimony--that he neither approved of nor was +willing to conform to the communion office. Then no sooner was he beyond +the restraint of English law than he proposed for adoption in his +congregation, first at Frankfort and then at Geneva, the form ultimately +adopted in Scotland after his return thither. + +[Sidenote: A Guide or Moael.] + +As has been already mentioned, the exclusive authority of the Book of +Common Order, as a guide and aid to ministers in conducting public +worship and administering the sacraments, was asserted by the General +Assembly in 1564. It continued to hold the place thus given to it down +to 1637, when it was superseded, in so far as the king and his council +were concerned, first, by what is known as Archbishop Laud's Liturgy, +and then by an injunction of the disappointed prelates, which required +that, till further order should be taken, neither the new nor the old +liturgy should be used in the public services, in Edinburgh, but only +those prayers which the ministers had been accustomed to make before and +after their sermons.[161] Thus the bishops themselves were the unwitting +instruments of first setting aside a partially liturgic, and introducing +instead a wholly extemporary, form of worship into Scotland. There is no +reason, however, for maintaining that the Book of Common Order, while it +continued in authority, was regarded as more than a guide or model, at +least to the ordained ministers, or can be so regarded by any one who +studies with care its rubrics and general contents, far less was +observed as a rigid liturgy, every word of which must be repeated +unvaryingly by the officiating minister. It has indeed been maintained, +even in recent times, and by ministers of the National Church, that "the +idea of extemporaneous prayer as an appropriate vehicle of public +devotion was one quite unknown to the Reformation." But this cannot be +made good with respect to any of the Reformed or Calvinistic churches, +and certainly least of all with respect to the National Church of +Scotland at any period of its history. Our reformers laid it down in +their First Book of Discipline as a fixed principle that "it is neither +the clipping of their crownes, the greasing of their fingers,[162] nor +the blowing of the dumb dogges called the bishops, neither the laying on +of their hands, that maketh true ministers of Christ Jesus. But the +Spirit of God, inwardly first moving the heart to seeke to enter in the +holy calling for Christ's glory and the profite of His Kirk, and +thereafter the nomination of the people, the examination of the learned, +and publick admission, ... make men lawfull ministers."[163] They +distinctly taught that no one was to be regarded as a lawful minister of +Christ into whose mouth Christ had not put _some word of exhortation_ +or vouchsafed some gift of expounding and preaching the Word of +God,[164] and they expressly encouraged their ministers to look for +their Master's aid and guidance in praying as well as in preaching. +Hence throughout their Book of Common Order they carefully abstained +from imposing the _ipsissima verba_ of particular forms as rigidly +binding, or even from encouraging their ministers to rest contented with +the stated repetition of them. + +[Sidenote: Its tolerant Rubrics.] + +[Sidenote: Calderwood's Testimony.] + +[Sidenote: Row's Opinion.] + +"When the congregation is assembled," run its tolerant rubrics, "the +minister useth one of these two confessions, or _like in effect_."[165] +"This done, the people sing a psalme altogether in a plain tune, which +ended, the minister prayeth for the assistance of God's Holie Spirit _as +the same shall move his heart_, and so proceedeth to the sermon. The +minister, after the sermon, useth this prayer following, or _such +like_."[166] "Then the people sing a psalme, which ended, the minister +pronounceth one of these blessings, and so the congregation +departeth."[167] Such are its few and simple directions for the ordinary +form of public worship; and as if even these might fail to beget in the +minds of some of the old priests a sense of their freedom from minute +restrictions and a burdensome ritual, it is added: "It shall not be +necessarie for the minister daylie to repeat all these things before +mentioned; but, beginning with _some maner of confession_, to proceede +to the sermon, which ended, he either useth the prayer for all estates +before mentioned, or else _prayeth as the Spirit of God shall move his +heart_, framing the same according to the time and matter which he hath +entreated of."[168] To the same effect, in the First Book of Discipline, +after recommending that in all the large towns there should every day be +either sermon or common prayers with reading of Scriptures, it is said: +"What day[169] the publick sermon is, we can neither require _nor +greatly approve_ that the common prayers be publickly used, lest that we +should either foster the people in superstition, who come to the prayers +as they come to the masse; or else give them occasion, that they think +them no prayers which be made before and after sermons."[170] Even in +the most solemn of its special services and in the most solemn part of +it, the prayer of thanksgiving and consecration in the communion, the +rubric is: "The minister ... giveth thanks either in these words +following _or like in effect_."[171] The same thing is confirmed by many +of the rubrics of the other occasional services in the Book of Common +Order,[172] and by the express testimony of Calderwood, Row, and others +who officiated as ministers of the church while the book was in use. The +first named of these, though entertaining so strong a regard for its +venerable forms that even on the approval of the Westminster Directory +in 1645 he is said to have opposed the adoption of any Act expressly +abrogating the Book of Common Order, had not hesitated when contrasting +it with the English Liturgy thus to speak of the nature and extent of +the submission expected to be given to it: "Habemus quidem nos etiam in +Ecclesiâ nostra Agendas, et ordinem in sacris celebrandis servandum, +_sed nemo alligatur precibus aut exhortationibus liturgiae nostrae_, +proponuntur tantum ut peradigmata, quibus precum aut exhortationum +materia et forma quoad substantialia indicantur, non ut eisdem verbis +adstringantur ministri. Totos ego tredecim annos, quibus functus sum +ministerio, sive in sacramentis, sive in aliis sacris celebrandis, +exhortationibus aut precibus quae extant in Agendâ nostrâ, _nunquam usus +sum_. Sic etiam alii complures; et omnibus etiam liberum est idem +facere."[173] While in regard to the Liturgy by which it was attempted +in 1637 to supplant the Book of Common Order, Row thus expresses +himself: "Though they amend all those errours, and that in all the +Service Book there were no materiall errour at all, neither masse nor +popish ceremonie; and though they should read nothing but Canonicall +Scripture, yea say that all their prayers and exhortations were merelie +words of Holie Scripture, yit it is not lawfull to introduce a reading +ministrie, and to stint men (gifted of God, who has the spirit of their +calling, able ministers of the gospell who hes the Spirit of adoption +teaching them to pray, Gal. iv. 6; Rom. viii. 26; and to whom God hes +opened a doore of utterance, to speak the gospell with boldness, haveing +touched their lips with a coall from His awin altar) to such a Liturgie +as is to be made the onlie forme of God's publict worship. For though I +confess good use may be made of a formed Liturgie and publict service, +to serve for a rule to other kirks to fall on the like way, finding it +warranted by the Word, and to be as a monument to the posteritie, who +thence may learn what forms have been, are, and ought to be used; and +that it may lead the way, and be a directorie to those that are +beginning in the ministrie; yit certainlie reading of prayers and +exhortations is not the way whereby the Lord in His Word has appoynted +His servants of the ministrie to worship Him, or to convert, edifie, and +comfort, or strengthen soulls; but seing they have receaved gifts for +praying and preaching, they ought to stirre up the gift of God, and putt +the talent to use; and though in their privat studies they may borrow +some help from other men's gifts and labours, yit _neither is it lawfull +for a man to tye himself, or for bishops to tye all ministers, to a +prescript and stinted forme of words in prayer and exhortation_."[174] +Henderson says that while they had their Directory and prescribed Order, +they were "not tyed to set formes and words."[175] + +[Sidenote: Practice in other Reformed Churches.] + +It is plain, therefore, that the General Assembly, by the sanction it +gave to the Book of Common Order, did not mean to restrict its ordained +ministers to the use of a certain unvarying form of words, but to +provide such a Directory or model as would guide them in "the substance +and right ordering of all the parts of divine worship," as well as guide +the readers and others not fully admitted to the ministry of the Word, +through whose special aid alone they were able, in a time of so great +dearth of qualified ministers, to supply in part the spiritual +destitution of their countrymen. Nor in granting such an amount of +liberty, at least to their ordained ministers, did they follow a course +which was, as has been so confidently asserted, altogether novel, but +rather, as in several other things, carried out more thoroughly and +consistently[176] what others of the Reformed churches had adopted at +least partially. In almost all the Reformed or Calvinistic liturgies the +prayers are left partly free, and in several of them no form is +furnished even as a guide or model for the prayer immediately preceding +the sermon (and the same might be said of some of the earlier Lutheran +_Agend-bücher_). In the churches of Basle, which probably in this +respect only followed the general practice of the churches of East +Switzerland, Hagenbach informs us that there was for fifty years after +the Reformation no form of prayer, before or after sermon, imposed by +public authority, and for fifty years longer only the prayer after +sermon for all estates and conditions of men.[177] What, therefore, +distinguished our reformers from their successors, and from the English +Puritans of the seventeenth century, was not that the former disapproved +of or curtailed free prayer while the latter advocated and encouraged +it, but that the former retained in their Book of Common Order a variety +of forms, not only as models, but also as aids to the officiating +minister, while the latter put their Directory into such a shape that +even the "help and furniture" it provided required the exercise of +thought and care on the part of the minister to adapt it for use. This +certainly was no great divergence, considering how thoroughly both +parties were agreed, on the one hand, as to the liberty which should be +left to ordained ministers, and, on the other, as to the limitations +within which it should be confined. + +[Sidenote: Prayers of the Readers.] + +From the notices given in his 'Order and Government of the Church of +Scotland,' and from the specimens of Henderson's prayers which accompany +his printed discourses, it is further evident that he, like Calderwood, +habitually used free prayer both before and after sermon. There seems +reason to suppose that in not a few cases the readers also before 1638 +took the liberty of varying from the forms in Knox's Book and exercising +their own gifts. The charges made against the character of their +prayers, in what is called the King's Declaration, but what was in +reality the declaration of some of his prelates, is only intelligible on +this supposition.[178] And the Assembly, as I read their deliverance, +rather deny that the prayers of the readers were of the particular +character charged than affirm they were the identical prayers contained +in Knox's Book.[179] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[146] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 520, 583; Laing's Knox, ii. 186, 239. +[In another passage it is spoken of as "the Booke of the Common Order, +called the Order of Geneva" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 548; Laing's +Knox, ii. 210).] The Book of Common Order, which has been frequently +reprinted, is included in vols. iv. and vi. of Dr Laing's edition of +Knox's Works. + +[147] The extract from the minutes of the city council embodying these +conditions, which I found in Withof's 'Vertheidigung' and communicated +to Dr Hume Brown, was printed by him in the Appendix to his 'John Knox,' +and is also reprinted here in Appendix D. + +[148] "At lenght it was agreed that the Order of Geneua (whiche then was +alreadie printed in Englishe and some copies there amonge them) shulde +take place as an Order moste godly and fardeste off from superstition. +But Maister Knox beinge spoken unto, aswell to put that Order in +practise, as to minister the communion, refused to do ether the one or +the other, affirminge, that for manie considerations he coulde not +consente that the same Order shulde be practised, till the lerned men +off Strausbrough, Zurik, Emden, &c., were made privy" (Brief Discourse +of the Troubles begun at Frankfort in the year 1554, Petheram's reprint, +p. xxvii). We have the following additional entry: "After longe +debatinge to and fro, it was concluded that Maister Knox, Maister +Whittingham, Maister Gilby, Maister Fox and Maister T. Cole shulde drawe +forthe some Order meete for their state and time: whiche thinge was by +them accomplished and offred to the congregation (beinge the same Order +off Geneua whiche is nowe in print). This Order was verie well liked off +many, but suche as were bent to the Booke of Englande coulde not abide +it" (Ibid., pp. xxxvi, xxxvii). + +[149] [It is greatly to be regretted that Dr Mitchell does not seem to +have been able to prepare the Appendix to which he here refers; but +after this lecture had left his hands he expressed his "strong +conviction that the words and matter of Knox's Latin Prayer Book of 1556 +were derived directly from the Liturgia Sacra of Pollanus." On this +point he entertained "no doubt whatever."] + +[150] Laing's Knox, vi. 162. + +[151] Booke of the Universall Kirk, i. 30. + +[152] Ibid., i. 54. + +[153] [The grounds on which this opinion is usually based are given in +Laing's Knox, vi. 277, 278. To these may be added the terms of the +summons raised by Sir James Archebald, Vicar of Lintrathin, against his +parishioners, on the 27th of May 1560, for payment of his teinds, &c., +on the plea that he "is lauchfullie providit be the lawis and practik of +oure realme, observit in tymes past, of the said vicarage, and hes bene +in possessioun of the samyn thir divers yeris bigane, and hes causit +_the commone prayeris and homilies_ be red owlklie to the parrochinaris +of the said parrochin, and uther wyiss is content to abyde sik +reformatioun as the Lordis of our Secreit Counsale plesis mak +thairintill, and als is adjonit to Goddis congregatioun, and takis part +with the saidis Lordis in setting fordwart the commone caus, to the +gloir of God and commone weill of our realme" (Spalding Miscellany, iv. +120).] + +[154] Laing's Knox, iv. 137-139. [Laing gives the 7th of July 1556 as +the correct date of this letter, and says that it is by some oversight +that M'Crie in the later editions of his 'Life of Knox' has dated it 7th +July 1557 (Ibid., iv. 140).] + +[155] Lesley's History, p. 292. + +[156] Laing's Knox, vi. 119. + +[157] Laing's Knox, vi. 118. This evidently shows that they used not the +_ipsissima verba_ of the prayer for all estates, but variant words, +"like in effect." [Randolph's letter is dated 25th August 1560. +Alexander Gordon, Bishop of Galloway, was titular Archbishop of Athens.] + +[158] Laing's Knox, vi. 13. [This letter is dated 6th April 1559.] + +[159] Liturgies of Edward VI., Parker Society, pp. 157, 158. [The +"certain notes" thus referred to pertain to Edward's First Liturgy.] + +[160] Lorimer's Knox and the Church of England, 1875, pp. 29-32. + +[161] [On the 29th of July 1637--six days after the riot in St Giles--it +was reported to the Privy Council by Archbishop Spottiswoode, for +himself and in name of the remanent bishops, that it seemed expedient to +them "that there should be a surcease of the service-booke" till the +king signified his pleasure as to the punishment of "that disorderlie +tumult"; and "that a course be sett down for the peaceable exercise +thereof." He also reported that "the saids bishops had appointed and +given order that, in the whole churches of this citie [_i.e._, +Edinburgh], sermon sall be made at the accustomed times, by regular and +obedient ministers, and that a prayer sall be made before and after +sermon, and that neither the old service nor the new established service +be used in this interim." The Council remitted to the bishops "to doe +therein according to the power incumbent unto thame in the dewtie of +thair office" (Peterkin's Records of the Kirk, p. 52).] + +[162] [In Knox's version--"the crossing of thair fingaris" (Laing's +Knox, ii. 255).] + +[163] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 603. + +[164] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 526, 530, 532, 536, 603; Laing's Knox, +ii. 191, 194, 196, 199, 255. + +[165] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 417; Laing's Knox, iv. 179; vi. 294. + +[166] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 421; Laing's Knox, iv. 182; vi. 297. + +[167] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 425; Laing's Knox, iv. 185; vi. 298. + +[168] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 426. There is a similar rubric in the +Liturgy of Pollanus: "Minister, nomine Domini invocato, ut Spiritu +Sancto adjutus, possit digna Deo atque salutaria ecclesiae eloqui +recitat textum." + +[169] The Liturgy of Pollanus appoints sermons to be preached on the +mornings of Tuesday and Thursday. The service is to begin with a psalm, +which being sung, the minister having invoked the Holy Spirit recites +his text and proceeds with his sermon. He concludes with some shorter +prayer "prout animus tulerit." + +[170] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 583; Laing's Knox, ii. 238. + +[171] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 450; Laing's Knox, iv. 194. + +[172] In the Order of the General Fast it is stated: "The exhortation +and prayers of everie several exercise we have remitted to be gathered +by the discrete ministers, for time preased us so that we culd not frame +them in such order as wes convenient, nether yit thought we it so +expedient to pen prayers unto men, as to teach them with what hart and +affection and for what causes we shuld pray, in this great calamitie" +(Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 695; Laing's Knox, vi. 421). See also +Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 698; Laing's Knox, vi. 470. Even the Order of +Excommunication might be "enlarged or contracted as the wisedome of the +discreit minister shall thinke expedient" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. +746; Laing's Knox, vi. 470). + +[173] Calderwood's Altare Damascenum, 1623, p. 613. In this and the +preceding pages I have made use of materials contributed by me to a +Report anent Innovations in Public Worship, presented to the General +Assembly in 1864. [Elsewhere, Calderwood says: "None are tyed to the +prayers of that book; but the prayers are set down as samplers" +(Calderwood's History, 1678 ed., p. 25). Principal Baillie's evidence is +to the same effect: "The Warner is here also mistaken in his beliefe +that ever the Church of Scotland had any liturgy; they had and have +still some formes for helpe and direction but no tie ever in any of them +by law or practise" (Review of Bramhall's Faire Warning against the +Scots Discipline, 1649, p. 57).] + +[174] Row's History, Wodrow Society, pp. 403, 404. + +[175] Order and Government of the Church of Scotland, 1641: Address to +the reader. + +[176] Certainly not more consistently than Pollanus in the following +rubric: "Hae sunt precationum in liturgiis certae formulae, _quae tamen +sequitur minister_ SUO ARBITRIO ut tempus fert et res postulat. Neque +enim ullâ praescriptione formularum alligandus est Spiritus Dei ad eum +verborum numerum, cui non liceat subjicere vel supponere si meliora +suggerat.... Hae formulae _serviunt tantum rudioribus. Nullius libertati +praescribitur_, tantum ne ab eâ ratione discedatur quam nobis Jesus +Christus praescripsit.... Cumque is (_scilicet_ Spiritus Sanctus) apud +tribunalia subministret quae dicenda sint, non deerit nobis [si] cum +vera fide coram Deo nos sistemus sensu orationis excitati." + +[177] "Von vorgeschriebenen Kirchengebeten vor und nach der Predigt +finden wir keine Spur, vielmehr das sichere Gegentheil.... Ums Jahr 1589 +finden wir zuerst das sogenannte Lob und Dankopfer und die daran +gehängten Fürbitten für die Obrigkeit, und die übrigen christlichen +Stände.... Erst nach der Mitte des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts ... suchte +man auch im Liturgischen die Willkür der einzelnen in engere Schränken +zuruckzuführen" (Geschichte der ersten Basler-konfession, S. 249-251). + +[178] [The charges are in the alleged causes which led James VI., +immediately after his accession to the English throne, to endeavour to +bring about uniformity in the services of the church throughout the +whole kingdom, and run thus: "That diversitie, nay deformitie, which was +used in Scotland, where no set or publike forme of prayer was used, but +preachers or leaders and ignorant schoolmasters prayed in the church, +sometimes so ignorantly as it was a shame to all religion to have the +Majestie of God so barbarously spoken unto, sometimes so seditiously +that their prayers were plaine libels, girding at soveraigntie and +authoritie; or lyes, being stuffed with all the false reports in the +kingdome" (Large Declaration, 1639, p. 16).] + +[179] [The committee appointed by the General Assembly to examine the +Large Declaration describe it as dishonourable to God, to the king, and +to the kirk; and as "stuffed full of lies and calumnies." Concerning +this part in particular they say: "To the great dishonour of this kirk +[it] is affirmed in this Declaration that there is a great deformitie in +our service--no forme of publict prayer, but preachers, readers, and +ignorant schoollemasters, praying in the church, sometymes so +ignorantlie," &c. (Peterkin's Records of the Kirk, pp. 265, 266).] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE; OR, THE BOOKE OF THE POLICIE OF THE +CHURCH. + + +[Sidenote: Knox's part in its preparation.] + +I regard the First Book of Discipline as, in several respects, the most +thoughtful, judicious, practical, and comprehensive of the documents +connected with the organisation of the Reformed Church of Scotland. It +was drawn up by the same six men[180] who were subsequently entrusted +with the preparation of the Confession of Faith; and it has been said +that they first settled the titles of the several chapters, and then +apportioned the preparation of so many of them to each. But this is +matter of pure conjecture. The portion on the universities, from the +multitude of its practical details, we cannot but assign mainly to +Douglas, the Principal of St Mary's College, and Wynram, the sub-prior +of the Augustinian Monastery at St Andrews. One can hardly doubt that +the rest, if not actually drafted by Knox, was carefully remoulded by +him; and it bears evidence of acquaintance with books which were far +more likely to have been known to him than to any of the others--as +Herman of Cologne's Book of the Reformation, Latin versions of some of +the earlier Kirchenbücher or Kirchenordnungen of the German Protestants, +and probably of the famous Ordonnances of Calvin, as drafted at Geneva +after his return from exile. + + +I. _The Government of the Church._ + +[Sidenote: Permanent Office-bearers.] + +The opinions of our reformer and his associates respecting the +government and discipline of the church are gathered partly from the +opening chapters of the Book of Common Order, but mainly from the +treatise ultimately entitled the First Book of Discipline. I believe +that a careful study of these will lead to a pretty definite conclusion +as to what these opinions actually were, and to a pretty decided +conviction that, like their opinions respecting matters of doctrine and +ritual, they were substantially in harmony with those to which the +Scottish nation has been so long and firmly attached. It may be admitted +that there were some of Knox's associates who, whatever may have been +their own private sentiments, would, on grounds of expediency, have been +contented to retain the former hierarchical government of the church; +and if on such a point any weight is to be allowed to the assertions of +Spottiswoode,[181] the popish Archbishop of St Andrews might possibly in +that case not have refused to follow the course taken for a time by his +relatives in St Mary's College, and to remain at his post at the head of +the reformed church. But from the disastrous issue of the compromise in +their case, as well as from what is known and indisputable of his own +history and character, there is no reason to suppose that anything was +lost, but on the contrary that incalculable gain accrued to the reformed +church from this temptation not being put in his way. It was long +maintained by the leaders of the Scottish episcopalians that Knox +himself, to a certain extent, yielded to the wishes of his less +thoroughgoing associates, and was implicated with them in certain +attempts to continue or restore the semblance of a hierarchy in the new +church. In fact, some of them went so far as to assert that it was not +till after his death that controversy arose as to whether the episcopal +or presbyterian form of government was the more primitive and +scriptural. These views, if I understand rightly, are now abandoned by +their ablest men; and it was full time that they should be so. The works +of Whitgift, which have been republished in our own day and made more +generally accessible, clearly show that the controversy about the +presbyterian government of the church had been formally raised even in +England at least as early as 1568; while the Later Helvetic Confession, +approved by the Church of Scotland in 1566 at the request of Knox +himself,[182] as clearly shows that the principles on which the +controversy fell to be decided had been generally adopted by the +followers of Calvin even at an earlier date. These principles were: +First, that the names of bishop and presbyter are in Scripture used +indiscriminately to denote the holder of the same office; second, that +the only office-bearers of permanent divine appointment in the church +are the pastor, the doctor, the elder, and the deacon. In fact, at the +head of Calvin's Ordonnances Ecclesiastiques, drawn up, if not printed, +as early as 1541, we find the following: "Il y a quatre ordres d'offices +que notre Seigneur a institue pour le gouvernment de son eglise, +premierement les pasteurs, puis les docteurs, apres les ancients, +quatrement les diacres," which passed substantially into the Book of +Common Order in 1556. This being the case, we are not guilty of any +anachronism in attributing substantially presbyterian opinions to our +reformer, even if we have to grant that the particular church court +first known as the greater eldership or presbytery, and now exclusively +enjoying the title of presbytery, existed at that time only in a +rudimentary form. + +[Sidenote: Superintendents temporary.] + +The Book of Common Order of 1556 is the earliest authentic document +casting light on the opinions of our reformers respecting the government +and discipline of the church. The introductory part of the book treats +at length of the permanent office-bearers of the church, the manner of +their election, the duties of their respective offices, and the +assemblies they were to hold in common for government and discipline. +The enumeration of the office-bearers and the description of their +duties is quite in harmony with what the Books of Discipline +subsequently laid down. The office-bearers recognised are the minister, +the elder, the deacon, and the doctor; and the duties assigned to each +are such as have generally been allotted to these functionaries in the +presbyterian churches. The terms in which the last-named of them is +referred to are specially deserving of notice. They effectually close a +loophole, that might otherwise have been imagined to be left, for the +introduction of either bishop or superintendent as an essential and +ordinary office-bearer in the church on the pretext that, even if he +were so, he could be of little use in the single English congregation at +Geneva.[183] "Wee are not ignorant," it is said, "that the Scriptures +make mention of a fourth kind of ministers left to the church of Christ, +which also are verie profitable where time and place doth permit; but +for lack of opportunity in this our dispersion and exile we cannot well +have the use thereof, and would to God it were not neglected where +better occasion serveth. These ministers are called teachers or doctors, +whose office is to instruct and teach the faithfull in sounde doctrine, +providing with all diligence that the puritie of the Gospel be not +corrupt either through ignorance or evill opinions."[184] Now, can it be +supposed that Knox would have said all this of the doctor and not a word +of the superintendent, if he had deemed both to be of like permanence +and necessity in the church of Christ; or that he would have devoted +several pages to explain the duties of the office-bearers, and their +assemblies for the interpretation of the Scriptures and the +administration of discipline, and not have uttered one word about the +bishop, had he believed that that official was the chief or even an +essential minister of the church? Can it be supposed likely that he +would have been so silent, even if there had been no bishop, as +confessedly there was no doctor, among the English in Geneva; or +possible that he could have been so with Miles Coverdale,[185] a +regularly consecrated bishop attending on his ministrations and acting +as an elder in his congregation, unless he had regarded (and wished it +to be known that he regarded) the simple presbyter as _jure divino_ on a +level with the diocesan bishop, to say nothing of the fact that his +party at Frankfort had refused to have a bishop or superintendent over +their congregation? + +[Sidenote: Necessity of Preaching.] + +This examination of the introductory chapters of the Book of Common +Order will enable us the better to understand and explain the parts of +the Book of Discipline drawn up in 1560 respecting the ministers and +office-bearers of the church. Even the ordinary ministers of the church +must all be well qualified to preach the gospel of salvation, as many of +the common people were unable to read,[186] and could only be saturated +with its teaching by the living voice of the preacher who, by sermons +and catechising on the Lord's day, and in the towns also by the sermon +during the week, was to his utmost to carry home the truth to their +hearts. Our reformers judged it necessary "that His Gospell be truely +and openly preached in every church and assembly of this realme";[187] +that no one "unable to edifie the church by wholesome doctrine" should +be promoted to or retained in ecclesiastic administration;[188] and held +that the sacraments cannot be "rightlie ministred by him in whose mouth +God hath put no sermon of exhortation."[189] Instead of entrusting +parishes, as was so often done in England, to men able only to read +homilies prepared by others, they affirmed that it was alike to have no +minister at all and to have an idol in place of a true minister, yea, in +some cases it was worse.[190] Men of best knowledge of God's Word and +cleanest life were to be nominated annually for election as elders and +deacons.[191] The former were to assist the minister in all affairs of +the kirk, to hold meetings with him for judging of causes, admonishing +evil livers, yea, to take heed to the life, manners, diligence, and +study of the ministers, as well as of the flock.[192] The deacons were +to assist in judgment, but chiefly to collect and distribute what was +provided for the poor. They might also, as in the French Church, be +admitted to read the Scriptures and common prayers in the congregation +if required and qualified to do so.[193] Besides ministers, elders, and +deacons, generally recognised in the reformed churches as holding +offices of divine institution, and being of "the ministry" or consistory +of the church, certain other functionaries are mentioned in this Book of +Discipline, to whom special duties are assigned, at least for a time. +These are the readers, or exhorters, and the superintendents, and both +classes appear to be spoken of in such a way as to make it clear that +they were not to be permanently retained as orders of office-bearers in +the church distinct from those above named. + +[Sidenote: Readers.] + +Readers, or exhorters, were to be provided for those churches which +could not presently be supplied with ministers. These readers were to be +men judged most apt distinctly to read the common prayers and the +Scriptures, but they were to be encouraged and urged so to exercise +their gifts that they might grow in knowledge and utterance, and in time +might come to be entrusted with the power of preaching the Word, +administering the sacraments, and discharging all the functions of the +ordinary pastor.[194] Special provision was made for the spiritual +improvement of these readers or exhorters in those weekly meetings for +the interpretation of Scripture which, originally introduced among the +exiles at Frankfort and Geneva, were after their return set up by them +in England under the name of prophesying, and in Scotland under the name +of the exercise.[195] + +The portion of the book relating to the superintendents opens with a +statement of the reasons which had led its framers "to make difference +betwixt preachers _at this time_."[196] These last words, as has often +been remarked, would have been unmeaning had they regarded the +superintendent's office as by divine institution permanent in the church +and superior to that of the ordinary minister. Accordingly, when they +proceed to state in detail the reasons which induced them to sanction +such a difference, these are found to be--not, as in the Anglican +Ordinal, that there have always been in the church of Christ distinct +orders of bishops and presbyters,[197] nor even as in Alasco's book that +such offices were in some sort necessary, though, save in matters +executive, in no way superior to their brethren the ordinary ministers +of the church, but--that the dearth of qualified preachers or ministers +at that time in Scotland was so great, that if each were to be settled +in a single town or parish, and allowed to make continual residence +therein, the larger part of the realm would be left altogether destitute +of that efficient spiritual instruction, oversight, and training which +the people themselves eagerly longed for, and the reformed leaders +earnestly desired to provide for them. To meet this emergency, without +being obliged to avail themselves so generally and unrestrictedly +as the English had done of the former popish incumbents, they deemed it +most expedient that these should, for a time at least, be restricted to +the humbler duties of readers; and that from the whole number of godly +and learned men then in the realm ten or twelve should be selected, and +one of them assigned to each of the proposed provinces, which he should +visit annually through its whole extent, preaching from time to time in +every parish not provided with an ordained and preaching minister, +seeing to the administration of the sacraments and of church discipline +in such parishes, and presiding at the meetings of the provincial synod, +and at the examination and admission of ministers and readers appointed +to serve at the churches. + +[Sidenote: Superintendent and Bishop compared.] + +It used to be maintained by Scottish episcopalians, and has been +reiterated even in our own day, that there is hardly any difference to +be discerned between these superintendents and the old bishops save the +substitution of a name which is bad Latin for one which is good Greek. +This is more smart than true. The following very material differences +will at once occur to any one acquainted with the First Book of +Discipline, and with the constitution and practice of episcopal +churches. (1) The bishop in the latter must be consecrated to his office +by three, or at least two, bishops who have derived their office in the +like lineal succession from their predecessors; while the +superintendent, according to the practice of the Church of Scotland, and +the constitution of the Church of the Foreigners in London, might be set +apart to his office by a simple presbyter or ordinary minister of the +church. (2) The distinctive duties of the bishop are such as, according +to the practice of the churches recognising the necessity of his office, +cannot be delegated save to one of his own order, while there was no +duty entrusted to the superintendent in the Church of Scotland which +might not be devolved on a mere presbyter; and it was the custom of the +General Assembly to delegate to ordinary ministers the whole functions +of visitation and superintendence in provinces not provided with a +permanent superintendent, and to do so at times even in the case where +the former popish bishop of the diocese had joined himself to the +Reformed Church. (3) It is not generally recognised in episcopal +churches as a duty specially incumbent on the bishop to preach regularly +in the several churches of his diocese (certainly it was not expected of +the English bishops who were contemporary with the Scottish +superintendents);[198] but it was one of the main duties expected of +these superintendents, and one of the chief reasons assigned for the +institution of their office, that the Gospel might be preached from time +to time in all those parishes not provided with a more stated ministry, +and that thus men in every corner of the land might attain some +knowledge of the truths of our holy religion, as well as some feeling of +godliness. (4) Finally, the bishop in all episcopal churches, so far as +my knowledge extends, is allowed to claim a negative voice in synods of +his clergy, and can in no case be taken under discipline and judged by +them, but only by a synod of his own order; while the superintendent in +the Scottish Church was merely the permanent Moderator of Synod, and was +bound to give effect to the decision of the majority, or to carry it by +appeal before a higher court; and he was not only liable to be judged +and punished for neglect of duty and for personal misconduct by the +General Assembly, but was also liable to be charged with such offences +before his own synod, and to be judged and punished by it. On these +grounds I am so far from admitting that the superintendent was in all +respects identical with the bishop, that I am inclined to hold that it +was just because he was so completely stripped of all real episcopal +power that, when the hierarchy was revived, even the most moderate of +the bishops found they could not contain themselves within the limits +prescribed to the superintendents in the First Book of Discipline; and +that one of the main obstacles in the way of their success in the +struggle with their refractory presbyters was occasioned by their own +hasty promise to observe the caveats founded on the previous practice in +the case of superintendents, and especially by their promise to be +subject to the judgment and censure of the General Assembly. + +[Sidenote: Gradation of Church Courts.] + +The form of church government in Scotland was still further connected +with that of the Calvinistic churches on the Continent (particularly +that of France) by the establishment and gradation of church courts--the +General Assembly having jurisdiction over the whole church, the +provincial synod over the ministers and congregations within a +particular province, and the session or lesser eldership or consistory +over one or more neighbouring congregations.[199] What afterwards came +to be known as the greater eldership, or presbytery, or classical +consistory,[200] does not appear at first under that distinctive name; +but even the germ of this was implanted in that weekly meeting of +ministers and elders for the interpretation of Scripture termed the +exercise, which was authorised both by the Book of Common Order and the +First Book of Discipline.[201] It was soon established in all the +considerable towns in Scotland where there was a fully constituted +reformed church, and though at first it may possibly have confined +itself to the object it was immediately intended to serve, and may have +intervened only by advice in matters of discipline, yet it was not in +the nature of things that such a gathering of ministers and elders from +neighbouring churches should take place from week to week without such +cases as occupied the attention of parochial consistories being +discussed and advised on, as well as the doctrinal and critical +questions arising out of their exercises, which they were expressly +empowered to dispose of. The tendencies of the institution were so +manifest, and the powers it speedily assumed so undisguised, that Queen +Elizabeth became alarmed, and insisted on the suppression of it +throughout the province of Canterbury, notwithstanding the +remonstrances and entreaties of the good Archbishop Grindal, and his +repeated and urgent petitions that she would rather endeavour to confine +it to the original purpose, in which it had been of great service, than +suppress it altogether. In the province of York, where the institution +had taken firmer root, and where the contentions between Papists and +Protestants had gained more prominence than those between Puritans and +anti-Puritans, it was tolerated for a considerably longer period. When +in 1581 Scotland was regularly divided into presbyteries, the exercises +previously existing in particular towns were merged in, and their work +devolved on, these; and in the beginning of the seventeenth century, +when episcopacy was restored, the name of presbytery was again +frequently exchanged for that of exercise. + +[Sidenote: The General Assembly.] + +Of these several church courts perhaps the most distinctive as well as +the most important was the General Assembly, which was originally held +to represent the whole church; and which may still, after the lapse of +ages, be held substantially to do so--having representatives not only +from each of the presbyteries but also from each of the universities and +royal burghs in the kingdom. It has been wont to meet not (as such +national synods have generally done elsewhere) occasionally and chiefly +for legislative purposes, that is, authoritatively to explain the +church's creed and enact canons to regulate the administration of +discipline, but frequently and at short stated intervals to review the +proceedings of the inferior judicatories of the church, as well as to +legislate regarding matters of doctrine and discipline. Whether its +peculiar vitality in the Scottish Church is to be ascribed to its +popular constitution, or to the fact that it has in general faithfully +represented the national sentiments in those controversies which in +successive generations have been agitated in our country; or whether the +groundwork of it had not been laid long before in those national +councils of the church which the popish ecclesiastics had, under the +bull of Pope Honorius III.,[202] deemed themselves warranted to hold +every year, and at which the king and his nobles appear often to have +been present, and whether, therefore, in the maintenance of this +quasi-Gallican liberty, as well as in some minor matters enumerated by +Lord Hailes, there may not have been a closer and more real connection +between the pre- and post-Reformation church in Scotland than has been +commonly admitted, it would now, perhaps, be very difficult to +determine. But it will be allowed on all hands that this venerable +court--which was so early established and has subsisted almost +uninterruptedly since the Reformation, and has exercised such extensive +legislative and judicial powers--is the most distinctive characteristic +of the Scottish Church, and has had great influence in the development +of Scottish opinion and religious life. + + +II. _The Discipline of the Church._ + +The opinions of our reformer and his associates regarding the discipline +and practical organisation of the church have hardly ever been made a +subject of serious controversy, even by those who have so long called in +question the generally received ideas regarding his opinions on the +government of the church. That which marked out the early Reformed +Church of Scotland most distinctively among the churches of the +Reformation was the fact that she advocated, and resolutely carried into +practical operation, that "godly discipline" which they all admitted had +been used in the primitive church in her best and purest days, and the +restoration of which, they perhaps ventured to hint, was much to be +desired, but which yet they had not the courage to demand from the civil +power as of essential concern to the wellbeing of their churches. Even +Luther, who began so well, hesitated and quailed before the claims of +the civil powers, and left it to Calvin to carry out his own earlier +conceptions, and those of the Hessian Synod of 1528.[203] Our reformers, +however, boldly laid down the absolute necessity of it in their Book of +Common Order, and named in their Confession as one of the three +distinctive marks of a true church of Christ, "ecclesiastical discipline +uprightlie ministred as Goddis Worde prescribes, whereby vice is +repressed and vertew nurished."[204] Not content to exercise such a +discipline merely under this clause of their State-ratified Confession, +they sought and obtained an explicit acknowledgment of the church's +privileges in special Acts of Parliament, which continue in force at the +present day, and have enabled the Church of Scotland to maintain a +stricter and more efficient discipline than any other established church +has ventured to aim at. + +[Sidenote: Nature and Ends of Discipline.] + +The nature and ends of this discipline are pretty fully explained in the +introductory chapters of the Book of Common Order, in the Book of +Discipline, and the Order of Excommunication and Public Repentance. "As +no citie, towne, house, or family," it is affirmed in the first of +these treatises, "can maintaine their estate and prosper without policy +and governance, even so the Church of God, which requireth more purely +to be governed than any citie or family, cannot without spirituall +policy and ecclesiastical discipline continue, increase, and +flourish;[205] and as the Word of God is the life and soule of this +church, so this godly order and discipline is, as it were, sinews in the +body, which knit and joine the members together with decent order and +comelinesse; it is a bridle to stay the wicked from their mischiefs, it +is a spurre to pricke forward such as be slow and negligent; yea, and +for all men it is the father's rod, ever in a readiness to chastise +gently the faults committed, and to cause them afterward to live in more +godly feare and reverence."[206] Three causes are assigned why such +discipline should be retained and practised in the church--viz., that +evil men may not be numbered among God's children, that the good may not +be infected by association with the ungodly, and that the individual +taken under discipline may be made ashamed of his fault, and so may be +induced to repent and amend. This is said to be the object even of +excommunication--the highest censure the church can inflict on an +offending brother--that he, being brought to a due sense of his sin and +misery, may be saved in the day of the Lord. It is expressly provided +that, in regard to this last and highest censure, nothing is to be +attempted without the determination of the whole church--_i.e._, of the +ordinary members of the church--and they are affectionately reminded +that it is their duty to take good heed "that they seeme not more ready +to expell from the congregation than to receave againe those, in whom +they perceave worthy fruits of repentance to appeare," and "that all +punishments, corrections, censures, and admonitions stretch no farther +than God's Word with mercy may lawfully beare."[207] + +[Sidenote: Order of Excommunication.] + +The Order of Excommunication and Public Repentance, sanctioned by the +General Assembly in 1569, long continued to be used as a directory in +the administration of discipline. It was compiled by Knox, or rather +abridged by him from Alasco's 'Modus ac Ritus Excommunicationis' and his +'Forma ac Ratio Publicæ Penitentiæ,' used with the approbation of +Edward VI. in the Church of the Foreigners in London. It breathes +throughout a spirit of tender regard for erring brethren and earnest +longing for their recovery, quite as strongly as it manifests a spirit +of holy zeal for the glory of God and the purity of His church. In all +save the most notorious and urgent cases, the offender was to be dealt +with repeatedly both in private and in public to confess his aggravated +offence before the extreme penalty was inflicted on him. If these +dealings and admonitions proved ineffectual, the minister was once more +to explain the nature of his offence, and the frequency of the public +and private admonitions addressed to him, was then to appeal to the +elders and deacons to confirm the truth of what he said, and finally was +to ask of the whole church if they thought such a contempt should be +suffered amongst them, and only in the event of no man making further +intercession for the erring and obstinate was the minister to proceed to +pronounce the fearful sentence.[208] + +[Sidenote: Discipline under Prelacy.] + +In the times of declension which arose after James VI. took the +government into his own hands, the strict exercise of such discipline +became specially odious to the king and his gay courtiers, and incessant +efforts were made to relax its rigour. These, however, were in general +directed to effect this object rather by means of than in spite of the +church, by securing that cases involving the sentence of excommunication +should be reserved for the determination of the higher courts of the +church, on which the king and his friends could bring their influence to +bear with most effect. Even during the domination of the Second +Episcopacy it is well known, from records still extant, that +kirk-sessions and presbyteries were continued, and were allowed, with +the sanction of the bishop, to maintain a discipline which in the +present day would not be generally accounted lax. The grotesque penances +so often resorted to in the times immediately succeeding the +Reformation, and for the use of which our forefathers have been +subjected to so much abuse and ridicule, were by no means confined to +them, and probably had been suggested by similar grotesque ones in use +before, and were employed by the Court of High Commission, by the Church +of England, and by other churches too, in so far as they ever ventured +to exercise discipline on notorious offenders. Even those melancholy +trials of witches, for which they have been so severely blamed, were +not originated by them, and were countenanced quite as much by their +opponents, and by no one more than by the pope and his entourage, as +well as by James VI., the great patron of the bishops, and for long were +clamoured for by the people. + +[Sidenote: The People remoulded.] + +To us, living in the light and glorying in the toleration of the +nineteenth century, some of these disciplinary provisions may seem +harsh, several of the details frivolous, others inquisitorial; and the +very principle of such a close identification of the ecclesiastical and +civil, as that all offences against morality and church discipline were +to be also dealt with and punished by the state, more than questionable. +But to men living in the sixteenth century and just emerging out of the +ignorance and licence which the old church had tolerated, and longing to +be moulded into a community really holy and self-denying and quickened +to a higher life--enthused with a longing to reach loftier heights in +it--the iron discipline of Calvin and Knox was welcome as requiring only +what they felt to be their duty and their true interest. We may extend +to the disciple what the historian of French Protestantism has said of +the master, and so far varying the words of Haag affirm: "The +institutions of Calvin [and Knox] accomplished what was proposed. In +less than three generations the Genevese [and Lowland Scots] were +entirely remoulded. To frivolity and licentiousness succeeded that +somewhat austere strictness of morals which in earlier days +distinguished the disciples of the reformer[s]. History tells of only +two [three] men who have been able permanently to impress their stamp on +an entire people--Lycurgus and Calvin [and Knox], whose characters in +fact have much in common."[209] The Athenians made merry over the black +broth of the Spartans; but Sparta conquered Athens. How many accusations +and witticisms have been launched against the Calvinistic spirit, and +yet Calvinistic countries led the way in Christian activity and civil +freedom, and to them even those who abuse them are largely indebted for +their blessings. + + +III. _The Prerogatives and Duties of Church Members._ + +[Sidenote: The Exercise.] + +The thorough agreement of our reformers' ideas respecting the nature of +the church with those of the apostles and primitive Christians comes out +even more emphatically in the statements they make in the First Book of +Discipline and the Book of Common Order about the ordinary members of +the congregation, and the arrangements there recommended for promoting +their spiritual welfare, and calling forth all their gifts. Not only are +they to be allowed a voice in the choice of their ministers, elders, and +deacons, in the exclusion of members from the church and their +readmission into it, and through their representatives in the government +of the church generally; not only are they to have week-day and Sabbath +services, and frequent communions for their edification and growth in +grace,--but in the principal congregations there are to be weekly +meetings for the study and interpretation of the Scriptures. At these +meetings every man was to be allowed to speak his mind and propose his +doubts, to exercise his gifts for the edification of the brethren, or to +"inquire as God shall move his heart and the text minister +occasion."[210] The opening paragraph of chapter xii. of the First Book +of Discipline shows us whence this remarkable institution was derived, +and proves clearly that Neander was not the first in post-Reformation +times who discovered the full significance of certain well-known +passages in St Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, but only a +restorer of the long-forgotten teaching of Calvin, Alasco, and Knox. +The paragraph is as follows: "To the end that the kirk of God may have a +tryall of men's knowledge, judgements, graces, and utterances; as also, +such that have somewhat profited in God's Word may from time to time +grow in more full perfection to serve the kirk as necessity shall +require; it is most expedient that in every towne where schooles and +repaire of learned men are, there be a time in one certain day every +week appointed to that exercise which S. Paul calls prophecying; the +order whereof is expressed by him in thir words: 'Let the prophets speak +two or three and let the other judge, but if anything be revealed to +another that sitteth by, let the former keep silence; for ye may one by +one all prophesie that all may learne, and all may receive consolation.' +... By which words of the apostle, it is evident that in the Kirk of +Corinth when they did assemble for that purpose, some place of Scripture +was read, upon the which one first gave his judgement to the instruction +and consolation of the auditors; after whom did another either confirme +what the former had said, or added what he had omitted, or did gently +correct or explaine more properly where the whole verity was not +revealled to the former; and in case things were hid from the one and +from the other, liberty was given for a third to speak his judgement to +the edification of the kirk." The exercise or practice here authorised +by the apostle, it is next affirmed, is a thing most necessary for the +kirk of God this day in Scotland, "for thereby, as said is, shall the +kirk have judgement and knowledge of the graces, gifts, and utterances +of _every man within their bodie_, the simple and such as have somewhat +profited shall be encouraged daily to studie and to proceed in +knowledge, and the whole kirk shall be edified; for this exercise must +be patent to such as list to hear and learne, and _every man shall have +liberty to utter and declare his minde and knowledge to the comfort and +consolation of the Kirk_."[211] Then after appointing some prudent +regulations to prevent this liberty of prophesying from encroaching on +the province of the regular ministry of the church, or degenerating into +a school for the encouragement of rash speculation instead of +ministering to the comfort and godly edifying of the brethren, +directions are given that the ministers of the landward parishes +adjacent to every important town, together with the readers within six +miles, should assist those that prophesy within the towns, that they +themselves may learn or others may learn from them. "And moreover," it +is again repeated, "men in whom is supposed to be any gifts which might +edifie the church if they were well imployed must be charged ... to +joyn themselves with the session and company of interpreters.... For no +man _may be permitted as best pleaseth him to live within the kirk of +God_, but every man must be constrained by fraternall admonition and +correction to bestow his labours, when of the kirk he is required, to +the edification of others."[212] Such was the remarkable provision made +by our reformers, that every adult member of the church should enjoy +such means of grace as were fitted to promote his growth in Christian +knowledge as well as in spiritual life, and should have reasonable +opportunity of using for the glory of God and the good of his brethren +the gifts with which the Spirit of God had furnished him. It may be +questioned whether some such institution is not as much needed in the +present day, if the members of the church are to be preserved from the +temptations to doubt with which they are surrounded, and if they are to +be encouraged to supplement the labours of their ministers and elders in +winning back those who have been seduced into the paths of error or sin; +and whether its influence, if it were only set about with earnestness, +would be less powerful to preserve and reclaim than it was in those +earlier times. + + + +IV. _Education of the Young and University Reform._ + +[Sidenote: Schools.] + +The care and anxiety of our reformers were not confined to the adult +members of the church. They were extended in a special manner to the +young, and were manifested towards them, if possible, with more intense +earnestness and loving tenderness. Though parish schools, in the later +sense, were not yet devised, detailed arrangements were made that the +readers at the several kirks should impart religious knowledge and the +elements of primary education to the young of the flock, and that those +who showed an aptitude for learning and capability of being trained to +be of service to kirk or common-weal should have access at various +centres to higher training. "Seeing," they say in their importunate +pleading with the nobles on their behalf, "that God hath determined that +His kirke here in earth shall be taught not by angels but by men, and +seeing that men are borne ignorant of God and of all godlinesse, ... of +necessity it is that your honours be most careful for the vertuous +education and godly upbringing of the youth of this realm, if either ye +now thirst unfainedly [for] the advancement of Christ's glorie or yet +desire the continuance of His benefits to the generation following; for +as the youth must succeed to us, so we ought to be carefull that they +have knowledge and erudition to profit and comfort that which ought to +be most deare to us, to wit, the kirk and spouse of our Lord +Jesus."[213] To secure this noble end it was deemed necessary that, +besides the readers' schools, every considerable town should have at +least one schoolmaster appointed who was competent to teach grammar and +the Latin tongue; and that in the more notable towns, especially the old +cathedral cities, where the revenues of the prebendaries or of the monks +might be made available, there should be a college in which at least +logic, rhetoric, and the languages--_i.e._, Latin and Greek--should be +taught by competent masters, for whom and for the poorer scholars +attending them suitable stipends and bursaries should be provided out of +the aforesaid revenues. The fruit of such an organisation, it is +affirmed, would soon appear. "For first, the youthhead and tender +children shall be nourished and brought up in vertue _in presence of +their friends_, by whose good attendance many inconveniences may be +avoyded in which the youth commonly fall either by overmuch libertie +which they have in strange and unknowne places while they cannot rule +themselves, or else for lack of good attendance and of such necessaries +as their tender age requires. Secondly, the exercise of children in +every kirke shall be great instruction to the aged and unlearned," who +had never been taught to read, and in whose presence in the Sunday +afternoon service they were examined. Lastly, "the great Schooles called +the Universities shall be replenished with these that shall be apt to +learning; for this must be carefully provided that no father, of what +estate or condition that ever he be, use his children at his own +fantasie especially in their youthhead; but _all must be compelled_ to +bring up their children in learning and vertue." Thus boldly did our +reformers lay down the principle of compulsory education, which men in +our own day have only hesitatingly adopted, but with greater consistency +or daring than our contemporaries have yet evinced, for they proposed to +apply the principle to the children of the rich and potent, as well as +to those of the poor and vicious. Those higher classes, they say, "may +not be permitted to suffer their children to spend their youth in vaine +idleness as heretofore they have done, but they must be exhorted, and by +the censure of the kirk compelled, to dedicate their sonnes by training +them up in good exercises to the profite of the kirk and commonwealth." +This they expect the rich to do at their own expense, while they desire +the children of the poor to be supported at the charge of the kirk. The +sons neither of rich nor poor are to be permitted to reject learning if +they develop any aptitude for it, but are to be "charged to continue +their studie that the commonwealth may have some comfort by them." To +secure this object, discreet and learned men are to visit the schools +every quarter, and examine what proficiency the pupils have +attained.[214] + +[Sidenote: Value of Learning.] + +To these suggestions regarding primary and secondary schools succeeds a +very detailed statement of the changes desired in the universities to +adapt them to the new order of things. And then they conclude as +follows: "All other things touching the books to be read in ilk classe, +and all such like particular affaires, we referre to the discretion of +the masters, principals, and regents, with their well-advised counsel; +not doubting but if God shall grant quietnesse, and give your wisedomes +grace to set forward letters in the sort prescribed, ye shall leave +wisdome and learning to your posterity--a treasure more to be esteemed +than any earthly treasure ye are able to amasse for them, which without +wisdome are more able to be their ruin and confusion than their help and +comfort. And as this is most true, so we leave it with the rest of the +commodities to be weighed by your honours' wisedome, and set forwards +by your authority to the most high advancement of this commonwealth +committed to your charge."[215] + +These touching appeals were not made altogether in vain. Though neither +quietness nor a large measure of grace was granted to the rough barons +so earnestly and tenderly addressed, yet the goodly fabric of our church +and commonwealth was reared up in those troublous times. The full and +liberal adoption of the plan of national education sketched by our +reformer and his associates still remains in part to be desiderated, and +is worthy to be striven for by the churches which claim to represent +them. The partial carrying out of their views, more than any other +influence that can be named, has conduced to elevate our people and +raise Scotland to the rank it now holds among the nations; and we can +hardly doubt that the more complete realisation of them in the careful +Christian training of the young and the adult members of the church, and +the extension of the blessings of education and religion to the masses +so long left to grow up in ignorance and vice, would tend greatly to +bring back the disaffected to the paths of peace and life, to raise the +members of the church in the scale of intelligence and virtue, to make +the nobles more than ever heretofore the _decus et tutamen patriæ_, and +to bind all, both classes and masses, closely together in the bonds of +mutual Christian affection and true patriotism. + + +V. _Care of the Poor._ + +[Sidenote: Oppression of the Poor.] + +I must still add that the same enlightened principles which guided them +to make careful provision for these important objects, led them also to +take a kindly interest in the humbler poor and aged, and to urge both on +the state and on the members of the church the duty they owed to this +long despised and neglected class of the population. First, for the poor +peasantry who were not paupers, but who, they allege, had been +grievously oppressed by the exactions of the clergy in the times +immediately preceding, they present the following earnest plea: "With +the griefe of our hearts we heare that some gentlemen are now as cruell +over their tenants as ever were the Papists, requiring of them (the +tiends and) whatsoever they afore payed to the kirk, so that the +Papistical tyrannie shall onely be changed into the tyrannie of the lord +and laird. We dare not flatter your honours, neither yet is it +profitable for you that we so doe: (for neither shall we,) if we permit +cruelty to be used; neither shall ye, who by your authoritie ought to +gaine-stand such oppression, nor yet they that use the same, escape +God's heavie and fearfull judgements. The gentlemen, barones, earles, +lords, and others must be content to live upon their just rents, and +suffer the kirk to be restored to her _(right and) liberty_; that by her +restitution, the poore, who heretofore, by the cruell Papists, have been +spoiled and oppressed, may now receive some comfort and relaxation, and +their tiends and other exactions _be cleane discharged_ and no more +taken in time comming. The uppermost claith, corps-present, clerk-maile, +the pasche-offering, tiend-ale, and all handlings[216] upaland can +neither be required nor recieved of good conscience."[217] + +[Sidenote: Exactions of the Medieval Church.] + +[Sidenote: The Oppressors relentless.] + +The history of the world, the history of the Christian church, has few +passages more noble than this, where these poor ministers, not yet +assured of decent provision for their own maintenance, boldly undertake +the patronage of the peasantry, and say they would rather suffer +themselves than ask that teinds should be exacted from those who had +been so long ground down, not only by the exaction of these from their +crofts and even from their gardens, but also by a multitude of other +imposts, which, although their very names are now almost forgotten in +Scotland, had been long felt to be a grievous oppression. Was it any +wonder that those crushed and down-trodden classes should rally round +their protectors, and under their kindly and godly training should grow +up to be a strength to the church and a power in the state? Charming +fancy pictures are still sometimes drawn of the stately monastery--with +its handsome church and kindly and cultured monks--as a centre of +civilising and Christianising influences to the district in which it was +erected. These influences no doubt had a certain reality in the early +ages of the church, and even in the days of the good Queen Margaret; but +in Scotland, at least, these days had long passed away before the +sixteenth century; and the monasteries, as a whole, had become a source +of weakness and scandal, rather than of strength and honour to the +dominant church. In fact, their wealth, being to a large extent derived +from the teinds of parishes, should have been devoted to the spiritual +interests of these parishes, whereas the vicars appointed by them being +generally put off with a miserable pittance and left largely dependent +on these hated and oppressive exactions--corpse presents, uppermost +cloth, Pasche-offerings--could not fail to alienate the peasantry from +the monasteries and their rural representatives. Such charges of +oppression could never have been so publicly made against them had they +not been notoriously true. And if further evidence were needed, it may +be found in abundance in the poems of Sir David Lindsay and the +Wedderburns. The picture the former has drawn of the poor peasant driven +out of house and holding[218] by these oppressive exactions is known to +be true to the life; and contributed greatly to the overthrow of the +merciless oppressors who, until the very eve of the triumph of the +Reformation, could not be persuaded either to abolish or abate their +dues.[219] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[180] [The six were John Wynram, John Spottiswoode, John Willock, John +Douglas, John Row, and John Knox (_supra_, p. 99).] + +[181] Spottiswoode's History, Spot. Soc. ed., i. 371, 372. + +[182] _Supra_, pp. 112, 113. + +[183] The appointment of such an official as chief minister of the +English congregation of Frankfort had, however, been urged by Knox's +opponents there, but was refused by his party (Discourse of Troubles at +Frankfort, pp. xiv, xlvii, cxvii, cxxxv-cxxxviii, cxlvi, cxlvii). + +[184] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 409, 410; Laing's Knox, iv. 177. + +[185] The great services Coverdale had rendered to the cause of +Protestantism by his translation of the Scriptures did not suffice to +blot out from the minds of Elizabeth and her ministers the remembrance +of his connection with Knox and Goodman. He was welcomed at the +consecration of Archbishop Parker, though he came in his black gown, for +they could not well do that without him; but all Grindal's efforts +failed to secure for him a Welsh bishopric, or even to get him left +unmolested in the parochial benefice he conferred on him. + +[186] Even in St Andrews, with all its equipment of schools and +colleges, the common people are represented in 1547 as welcoming Knox's +offer of a public disputation, because though they could not all read +his papers they could understand what he addressed to them _vivâ voce_ +(Laing's Knox, i. 189). + +[187] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 518; Laing's Knox, ii. 185. + +[188] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 526; Laing's Knox, ii. 191. + +[189] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 530; Laing's Knox, ii. 194. + +[190] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 530; Laing's Knox, ii. 194. + +[191] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 577; Laing's Knox, ii. 233. + +[192] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 578; Laing's Knox, ii. 234, 235. + +[193] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 581; Laing's Knox, ii. 236, 237. + +[194] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 532; Laing's Knox, ii. 195, 196. +[Readers who were able to _exhort_ and explain the Scriptures were to +have their stipends augmented until they attained the honour of a +minister (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 536, 537; Laing's Knox, ii. 199, +200).] + +[195] [The readers who had "any gift of interpretation" were to take +part in these meetings (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 590; Laing's Knox, ii. +244).] + +[196] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 539; Laing's Knox, ii. 202. + +[197] ["It is evident unto all men, diligently reading Holy Scripture +and ancient authors, that from the apostles' time there hath been these +orders of ministers in Christ's church: bishops, priests, and deacons" +(Liturgies of Edward VI., Parker Society, p. 331).] + +[198] The jest attributed to Queen Elizabeth that she had _made_ a +bishop but _marred_ a good preacher shows this. + +[199] In the chief towns, just as in Geneva, there seems from early +times to have been a common or "general session," although there were +several congregations in each, as in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and +Perth. + +[200] Even the Second Book of Discipline does not sharply distinguish +between the lesser and greater eldership or presbytery; and Gillespie +admits they were not distinguished in the primitive church, though he +holds that both were needed in Scotland to do the work which the one +presbytery did in the primitive church (_infra_, pp. 230-233). + +[201] [The Book of Common Order distinguishes between the weekly meeting +of the ministers and elders in their assembly or consistory, and the +weekly meeting of the congregation for the interpretation of the +Scriptures (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 411-413; Laing's Knox, iv. +177-179). For the nature and object of the exercise see _infra_, pp. +170-173.] + +[202] [The bull, which is printed in Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 3, is dated +"xiiij kalendas Junij pontificatus nostri anno nono," _i.e._, the 19th +of May 1225.] + +[203] See Schenkel's article, "Kirche," in Herzog's Real-Encyklopädie. + +[204] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 68; Laing's Knox, ii. 110. + +[205] See Calvin's Institutes, book iv. chap. ii.--"As no city or +village can exist without a magistrate and government, so the Church of +God stands in need of a spiritual polity of its own. This is altogether +distinct from the civil government, and is so far from hindering or +impairing it, that it rather does much to aid and promote it." + +[206] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 413; Laing's Knox, iv. 203. + +[207] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 414-417; Laing's Knox, iv. 204-206. If +this humanity is not observed in private as well as in public, there is +danger lest instead of discipline we fall into a kind of Gehenna, and +instead of correctors and educators become executioners of the brethren +(Calvin). + +[208] The form of absolution then appointed to be used was, with consent +of Henderson, modified by the Westminster divines into the shape in +which it appears in their Directory for Church Government and +Excommunication, and as modified was afterwards inserted in our Form of +Process of 1707. + +[209] La France protestant, deuxième édition, iii. 530. + +[210] Book of Common Order, in Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 412; Laing's +Knox, iv. 179. + +[211] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 587-589; Laing's Knox, ii. 242, 243. + +[212] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 590, 591; Laing's Knox, ii. 244, 245. + +[213] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 547; Laing's Knox, ii. 209. + +[214] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 548-550; Laing's Knox, ii. 209-211. + +[215] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 561; Laing's Knox, ii. 220, 221. + +[216] [Dr Mitchell seems to have thought that _handlings_ should be read +_haldings_.] + +[217] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 562, 563. [The words which in this +quotation are enclosed in parentheses are not in the copy of the Book of +Discipline preserved by Knox (Laing's Knox, ii. 221, 222). Instead of +the words, "if _we_ permit cruelty to be used," that copy reads, "if +_you_ permit suche creualtie to be used"; and after the words, "comfort +and relaxation," is the clause, "Concludit be the Lordis."] + +[218] The pauper comes on the stage with the words-- + + "Of your almis, gude folks, for God's luife of heavin, + For I have motherles bairns either sax or seavin;" + +and proceeds in piteous strain-- + + "Gude man, will ye gif me of your charitie, + And I sall declair yow the black veritie. + My father was ane auld man, and a hoir, + And was of age four scoir of yeirs and moir. + And Mald, my mother, was four scoir and fyfteine, + And with my labour I did thame baith susteine. + Wee had are meir, that caryit salt and coill, + And everie ilk yeir scho brocht us hame ane foill. + Wee had thrie ky, that was baith fat and fair, + Nane tydier into the toun of Air. + My father was sa waik of blude, and bane, + That he deit, quhairfoir my mother maid gret maine: + Then scho deit, within ane day or two; + And thair began my povertie and wo. + Our gude gray meir was baittand on the feild, + And our Land's laird tuik hir for his hyreild, + The vickar tuik the best cow be the heid, + Incontinent, quhen my father was deid. + And quhen the vickar hard tel how that my mother + Was deid, fra hand he tuke to him ane uther: + Then Meg, my wife, did murne baith evin and morow, + Till at the last scho deit for verie sorow: + And quhen the vickar hard tell my wyfe was dead, + The thrid cow he cleikit be the heid. + Thair umest clayis, that was of rapploch gray, + The vickar gart his clark bear them away. + Quhen all was gane, I micht mak na debeat, + Bot with my bairns past for till beg my meat. + Now, haif I tald yow the blak veritie, + How I am brocht into this miserie." + +--Laing's Lindsay's Poetical Works, 1879, ii. 99, 102, 103. + +[219] [In the Articles addressed by some of the temporal lords and +barons to the queen regent, and sent by her to the Provincial Council +convened in Edinburgh a few weeks before the Reformation burst like a +tempest upon the country, it was requested that "the corps presentes, +kow, and [um]est claith, and the silvir commonlie callit the kirk +richts, and Pasch offrands quhilk is takin at Pasch fra men and women +for distribution of the sacrament of the blessit body and blood of Jesus +Christ," should no longer be extorted under pain of excommunication or +debarring from the sacraments, but left to the free will of the givers +(Concilia Scotiæ, ii. 148, 149). The Council met this demand for +reformation by enacting that in future the poor should be freed from +mortuary dues, while those not quite so poor were only to pay them in a +modified form; and the small tithes and oblations were to be taken up +before Lent so as to avoid the appearance of selling the sacrament +(Ibid., ii. 167, 168, 174). When, on the 27th of May 1560, the reforming +vicar of Lintrathin raised a summons against his parishioners for +payment of his teinds, "the cors present and umest clayth of all yeris +and termes bigane restand unpayit" were specially excepted from his +claim (Spalding Miscellany, iv. 121).] + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX. + + +[Sidenote: Assassination of the Good Regent.] + +The eighth decade of the sixteenth century was memorable in the history +of Protestantism in its Presbyterian or Calvinistic form, and the year +1572 has been termed its _annus mirabilis_. It marked a crisis in the +long and bloody struggle of the Protestants in the Netherlands with +their Spanish oppressors,--a struggle which issued in securing the +independence of the Dutch people, and settling on a Calvinistic basis +the Reformed Church of Holland. It formed the turning-point in the +tragic fortunes of the Reformed Church of France, at which, from being +able to claim as adherents a majority of the landed gentry and a large +minority of the more intelligent and wealthy _bourgeois_ in the +provincial towns, and being only weak among the citizens of the capital +and the peasantry of northern and central France, she was, by an act of +base treachery and fiendish cruelty, hurled from her promising +position, sadly crippled in numbers and influence, permanently weakened +and cast down, though not crushed or driven to despair.[220] This decade +was especially memorable in the history of the Reformed Church of +Scotland as having witnessed the removal of the ablest and best of the +lay defenders of the Reformation, the death of our great reformer +himself, and the return to Scotland of the intrepid and devoted man who +was to take up and complete the work, from which failing health and a +grieved spirit had obliged Knox to withdraw. The assassination of the +Good Regent (as the Earl of Moray was deservedly surnamed) was +unquestionably the most disgraceful of all the murders perpetrated in +Scotland in the interests of faction during those years of confusion and +strife.[221] It brought no permanent advantage to the party of reaction. +It wrought much woe to the country, which under his firm yet kindly rule +had begun to settle into order and to recover its prosperity. + +[Sidenote: He leaves Edinburgh.] + +This great national calamity preyed on the spirit and broke the already +waning strength of Knox. In the month of October in that year[222] he +had a stroke of paralysis or of apoplexy, which for a time laid him +aside altogether from work, and permanently enfeebled his constitution. +As in the case of Wycliffe in the fourteenth century, his opponents +exulted over his misfortune, and circulated maliciously exaggerated +accounts of his condition, on which probably their more malicious and +notoriously fictitious accounts of his last illness were founded. But +this first seizure was not so severe as to put a final arrest on his +activities. Before many weeks were over he had so far recovered as to be +able, in part at least, to resume his labours. He was able in a measure +to continue them through the anxious and unquiet months of the +succeeding winter and spring--bearing faithful testimony to the +principles, religious and political, which he had long professed; +standing up resolutely in defence of the authority of the young prince, +when many, who had formerly sworn allegiance to him, led by the +intriguing laird of Lethington and the "fause" house of Hamilton, went +over to the party of his popish mother. He exposed their sophistries, +and fearlessly rebuked their defection, even after they had gained for +the time the supremacy in Edinburgh. Others might truckle to them or +quail before them, but that palsied old man, with all his former +plainness and much of his former fire, persevered in denouncing their +treachery and discrediting their proposals. Threatenings were uttered +against his life if he persisted in his course; protection seems to have +been refused him by the party against the violence of their lawless +followers; and one evening (as had often happened to Calvin in his years +of conflict) a musket-ball was fired in at the window of his house, and +lodged in the roof of the apartment in which he was sitting. Again and +again faithful citizens, an attached kirk-session, and John Craig, then +his colleague in the ministry, entreated him to remove for a time to +some place where his life would be safe from violence, and whence he +could return to his loving and beloved flock as soon as the prevailing +faction should be put down, or should vacate the city. But he heard them +all unmoved, until at last they were constrained to tell him plainly +that if he was attacked they had made up their minds to peril their +lives in his defence, and if they were compelled to shed blood in the +contest it must lie on his head. Thus "sore against his will,"[223] as +one of the earliest historians of his declining years tells us, and +"almost thrust out by the authority of the church court,"[224] as +another of them has it, he, on the 5th May 1571, took farewell of +Edinburgh for a time, and crossing the Firth of Forth at Leith moved on +by short and easy stages through Fife to the city in which "God had +first opened his mouth" to proclaim His truth, and for which to the last +he, as well as the Good Regent, cherished a special affection. As Mr +John Davidson, then a teacher in one of the colleges, has expressed it +in homely Scotch:-- + + "Thou knawis he lude the by the lave, + For _first_ in the he gave the rout + Till Antechrist that Romische slave, + Preicheing that Christ did only save. + Bot _last_ of Edinburgh exprest, + Quhen he was not far fra his grave + He came to the by all the rest."[225] + +[Sidenote: His preaching in St Andrews.] + +In St Andrews the reformer was sure to be free from personal danger, and +on the whole to have the sympathy of the citizens; though it was not to +be supposed that--in the city and university where the late Archbishop +Hamilton had been long supreme, and had recently been claiming to +exercise the authority of Chancellor of the University, and new founder +of St Mary's College,[226] and where he had left behind several +relations and dependents more compliant with the new order of things +than himself--there were not to be found in this crisis several +influential persons who had more sympathy with their late chief and +with the selfish and crooked policy of the Hamiltons than with the +straightforward course and steadfast fidelity of the dauntless reformer, +and who would have little relish for his earnest warnings and stern +reproofs. The notices preserved to us regarding this last and, so far as +is yet known, longest visit of Knox to St Andrews are both detailed and +interesting. From the simple and loving Memorials of his attendant, +Richard Bannatyne, we learn that all the time he was there--_i.e._, from +the beginning of July 1571 to the 17th of August 1572--he preached every +Sunday, and expounded the prophecies of Daniel to the middle of the +ninth chapter, applying the words of the prophet to the circumstances of +Scotland at the time, and inveighing in the strongest terms against "the +bloody house of Hamilton" and its abettors for their deceit, treachery, +and turbulence, their base murder of the Good Regent, and cunning plot +to restore a popish queen.[227] These themes, to which in the +applications of his sermons he ever and anon returned, woke up all the +fire and fervour of the old man eloquent; and if it might not be said, +as in earlier days, that every sermon was of more value to the cause he +defended than five hundred armed men, yet the report of his untiring +zeal and unswerving fidelity would still contribute greatly to animate +and cheer the adherents of the young prince and of the new regent in all +parts of the land. + +As I have hinted, there were some in the city to whom such discourses +could not fail to be distasteful--some who refused to attend on his +ministry, and were perhaps so stung by what was reported of his sharp +but not undeserved reproofs that they were compelled to throw off the +mask they had hitherto worn, and soon after openly to apostatise from +the faith which for several years they had professed and taught. But the +effect on many of the young men in attendance on the university, or +acting as regents in its colleges, was salutary and enduring; and +perhaps it was not without special intention that, when the door was +shut against him in Edinburgh and the ears of the men in power there +were closed against his counsels, he betook himself to what was still +the principal university in the realm, and made his last appeals to the +rising hopes of the church and country there. Such discourses as he then +delivered, coming from one they had already learned to venerate, could +not fail to form or foster in their ingenuous minds that fidelity to the +reformed faith, that jealousy of popery, and that hatred of its cruelty +and tyranny, which distinguished them to the last. + +[Sidenote: Melville's sketch of Knox.] + +James Melville, whose plastic nature and gentle spirit retained through +life the impressions then made, supplements in his Diary the notices in +Bannatyne's Memorials, and, in a passage which has been often quoted, +gives a very fresh and vivid sketch of the old reformer. "Bot of all the +benefites I haid that yeir"--the first year he was a student in St +Andrews, and had "drunk of St Leonard's well"--"the greatest," he tells +us, "was the coming of that maist notable profet and apostle of our +nation, Mr Jhone Knox, to St Androis; wha be the faction of the Quein +occupeing the castell and town of Edinbruche was compellit to remove +thairfra with a number of the best, and chusit to com to St Androis. I +hard him teatche ther the prophecie of Daniel that simmer and the wintar +following. I haid my pen and my litle book, and tuk away sic things as I +could comprehend. In the opening upe of his text he was moderat the +space of an halff houre; bot when he enterit to application he maid me +sa to grew and tremble that I could nocht hald a pen to wryt. I hard him +oftymes utter these thretenings [against the faction then] in the hicht +of their pryde, quhilk the eis [_i.e._, eyes] of monie saw cleirlie +brought to pass within few yeirs upon the captean of that castle, the +Hamiltones, and the Quein hirselff. He ludgit down in the Abbay besyde +our Collage."[228] So far was it from being true, as is commonly +asserted, that he had caused the destruction of the abbey and of the +abbey church or cathedral in 1559, that in 1571 he found a habitable +building there, in which he, a frail old man, with his wife and +children, could pass the winter in comfort. It, we know from a letter of +his antagonist, Archibald Hamilton, was "the new ludgene of the +abbey,"[229] or _novum hospitium_, built for the reception of Mary of +Guise, the queen of James V.[230] It was in the immediate vicinity of St +Leonard's College, and our diarist further tells us: "Our regents, Mr +Nicol Dalgleise, Mr Wilyeam Colace, and Mr Jhone Davidsone, went in +ordinarilie to his grace [or devotional exercises] efter denner and +soupper.... Mr Knox wald sum tymes com in and repose him in our Collage +yeard [that is the gardens immediately to the west of the _novum +hospitium_, adjoining St Leonard's College], and call us schollars unto +him and bless us, and exhort us to knaw God and His wark in our contrey, +and stand be the guid cause, to use our tyme weill, and lern the guid +instructiones, and follow the guid exemple of our maisters."[231] No +wonder, in these circumstances, that he is able to add, "Our haill +collage, maisters and schollars, war sound and zelus for the guid +cause," or that we can now still further add that thence proceeded +several of the men who were to uphold it most resolutely in the evil +days which followed. + +[Sidenote: Opposition in St Andrews.] + +In the New College we are told, "whowbeit Mr Jhone Dowglass, then Rector +[and Principal] was guid aneuche," yet the "uther maisters and sum of +the regentes war evill-myndit," and "hated Mr Knox and the guid +cause";[232] and two of them, Archibald and John Hamilton, soon after +apostatised, betook themselves to the Continent, and rose to high office +in the Universities of Louvain and Paris, where the one in not inelegant +Latin, and the other in courtly Scotch, sought to vindicate their +conduct, and to traduce and refute their former co-religionists. Some +of the masters of the Old College also, as Bannatyne has recorded, hated +the plain-speaking reformer, though "be outward gesture and befoir his +face thei wald seime and apeir to favore and love him above the +rest."[233] The Hamiltons especially seem to have given him considerable +occasion to complain of their bitter and unguarded criticisms, and one +of them, stung by his denunciations, challenged him to defend his +doctrine in the schools of the university. This he at first refused, +maintaining that the pulpit was not to be controlled by the university +schools, nor the church put into subjection to the academy. + +[Sidenote: Patrick Adamson.] + +St Andrews at that time was the _rendezvous_ of others of the adherents +of the young prince, who did not feel themselves safe under the faction +then in possession of the castle and city of Edinburgh. One of these, Mr +John Durie of Leith, was "for stoutness and zeall in the guid cause +mikle renouned and talked of." He was an enthusiastic leader of the +volunteers of his day. "The gown was na sooner af and the Byble out of +hand fra the kirk, when on ged the corslet, and fangit was the hagbot, +and to the fields."[234] Another was Robert Leckprevick, the famous +printer, who brought his types and printing-press with him, and so did +notable service to the cause. "He haid then in hand," Melville tells +us, "Mr Patrik Constant's [or Adamson's[235]] Catechisme of Calvin, +converted in Latin heroic vers, quhilk with the author was mikle estimed +of";[236] and deservedly so, for Adamson was an accomplished scholar, +was using his scholarship for the church's good, was eulogised by +Lawson, Knox's colleague and successor, and had not yet developed that +spirit of subserviency to the powers that be which afterwards proved his +ruin. + +The printer had also the honour of publishing in St Andrews the last +work which engaged the thoughts of the reformer. This was his 'Answer to +a letter of a Jesuit named Tyrie.' It had been drawn up some years +before, but was now carefully revised and enlarged, and exhibited his +matured views respecting several of the most notable subjects of +controversy between the reformed and unreformed churches. Possibly it +may have been because he had detected through all their disguises the +secret leaning of the two Hamiltons to Romanist or semi-Romanist views +regarding the apostolical succession, the nature of the sacraments, and +the unfailing visibility and perpetuity of the church, that he now so +fully entered into a controversy which previously he had been inclined +to shun. Perhaps this is what is hinted at in the preface, in which he +says: "Wonder not, gentill reidar, that sic ane argument suld proceid +fra me in thir dolorous days after that I have taken gude-night at the +warld and at all the fasherie of the same.... There ar sevin yeares past +sen a scrole send from a Jesuite to his brother was presented unto me be +a faithfull brother requyring sum answer to be maid to the same.... +Amongs my other caires I scriblit that which followis, and that in few +dayis; which being finished I repented of my laubour, and purposed +fullie to have suppressed it. Which, na dout I had done, if that the +devil had not steirit up the Jesuites of purpois to trouble godlie +harts, with the same argumentis which Tyrie usis, amplifyed and set +furth with all the dog eloquence that Sathan can devyse for suppressing +of the free progres of the Evangell of Jesus Christ." Then, after a +touching reference to the hard lot of his dispersed flock "suffering +lytill les calamitie than did the faithfull efter the persecutioun of +Steaphen," and an earnest petition that God would grant them one day to +meet in glory, he entreats the brethren to pray for _him_, that God "in +His mercy will pleis to put end to my long and panefull battell," as he +was unable to fight as erewhile he had done, and longed for release, +though still resigned to bear patiently whatsoever God saw meet to lay +upon this, his "wicked carkase."[237] + +[Sidenote: The St Andrews Assembly.] + +In March 1572 the General Assembly was held at St Andrews in the schools +of St Leonard's College.[238] This place was no doubt chosen in part at +least for the convenience of the aged reformer, whose counsel in that +time of trouble was specially needed. It was the last Assembly at which +he was able to be present, and probably the first witnessed by Davidson +and Melville. "Thair," the latter narrates, "was motioned the making of +bischopes, to the quhilk Mr Knox opponit himselff directlie and +zealuslie";[239] and thus probably were implanted in the youthful +student's mind the germs of those presbyterian principles which were +nurtured by intercourse with his uncle Andrew Melville, and were +retained by him to the last with heroic tenacity. + +[Sidenote: Three Kinds of Bishops.] + +Two months before this a convention at Leith had given its sanction to +a sort of mongrel episcopacy, nominally to secure the tithes more +completely to the church, but really to secure the bulk of them by a +more regular title to certain covetous noblemen who sought in this way +to reimburse themselves for their services in the cause of the +Reformation.[240] Chief among these noblemen was the Earl of Morton, +then one of the chief supporters of the young prince, and soon after +regent of the kingdom. Having secured a presentation to the +Archbishopric of St Andrews for Mr John Douglas before mentioned, he +came over to the city, had him elected by the chapter in terms of the +convention, and on the 10th of February inaugurated into his office. +This function was performed by Wynram, Superintendent of Fife, according +to the Order followed in the admission of Superintendents, save that the +Bishop of Caithness, the Superintendent of Lothian, and Mr David +Lindsay, who sat beside Douglas, laid their hands on his head. Knox had +preached that day as usual; but, as Bannatyne is careful to tell us, had +"refuised to inaugurat the said bischope";[241] and as others add had +"denounced anathema to the giver, anathema to the receaver,"[242] who +as rector and principal had already far more to do than such an aged man +could hope to overtake.[243] It was in reference to the same appointment +that Adamson, as yet uncorrupted by Court influences, had a few days +before in a sermon from the same pulpit given utterance to his famous +distinction of three kinds of bishops, my lord bishop, my lord's bishop, +and the Lord's bishop, the first of whom had been in time of popery, the +second was now brought in merely to enable my lord to draw the kirk +rents, and the third was the evangelical pastor as he should be in times +of thorough reformation.[244] + +One more brief sketch from the Diary of the quaint but graphic +chronicler on whom I have repeatedly drawn may conclude our notice of +these last labours of the reformer, and bring us to his last illness and +death. "The town of Edinbruche recovered againe [out of the hands of the +queen's faction] and the guid and honest men therof retourned to thair +housses,[245] Mr Knox with his familie past hame to Edinbruche." During +the time of his residence in St Andrews he was very weak. "I saw him +everie day of his doctrine," says Melville, "go hulie and fear with a +furring of martriks about his neck, a staff in the an hand, and guid +godlie Richart Ballanden, his servand, halding upe the uther oxtar, from +the abbey to the paroche kirk; and be the said Richart and another +servant lifted upe to the pulpit, whar he behovit to lean at his first +entrie; bot or he haid done with his sermont he was sa active and +vigorus that he was lyk to ding that pulpit in blads, and fly out of +it."[246] + +[Sidenote: His Message to Charles IX.] + +Soon after his return to Edinburgh he found himself quite unable to +preach in the large church which he had formerly occupied, and a smaller +one was fitted up for him in the western part of the nave of St +Giles.[247] But not even so were his services to be long available. On +one occasion only after his return may it be said that the old fire +burst out with all its former fierceness and brilliancy. This was in +September, when tidings reached him of the bloody massacre of St +Bartholomew's day in France. "Being conveyed to the pulpit," Dr M'Crie +tells us, "and summoning up his remaining strength, he thundered the +vengeance of God against 'that cruel murderer and false traitor, the +King of France,' and [borrowing the language of the Old Testament +prophets] desired Le Croc, the French ambassador, to tell his master +that sentence was pronounced against him in Scotland, that the divine +vengeance would never depart from him nor from his house, if repentance +did not ensue; but his name would remain an execration to posterity, and +none proceeding from his loins should enjoy his kingdom in peace."[248] +The only further notice of his work is by Melville, who simply informs +us that after "instituting in his roum, be the ordinar calling of the +kirk and congregation, Mr James Lawsone, a man of singular learning, +zeal, and eloquence, ... he tuk him to his chamber and most happelie and +comfortablie departed this lyff."[249] + +With this kindly notice by his youthful admirer this lecture would have +ended, had I not promised to the late Dean Stanley several years ago +that, when a suitable opportunity occurred, I would not fail publicly to +advert to a shameless misrepresentation of the closing scene to which he +had directed my attention. This originated with Archibald Hamilton, +already referred to as one of the two masters of the New College, who +apostatised from the Protestant faith, and after his flight to the +Continent published the most barefaced lies of his old antagonist and +the noble men who were associated with him in his hard battle and +well-earned triumph. These lies were exposed and refuted at the time by +Principal Smeton of Glasgow, himself a convert from that Society of +Jesus which Hamilton ultimately joined. But as they have been revived in +our own day, and distributed in the form of a tract by Popish emissaries +at the doors of Protestant churches in London, and as one of a series +bearing the sensational title of "Death-bed Scenes," I shall, in +fulfilment of my promise, subjoin a brief account of the reformer's last +illness and death, taken almost exclusively from the contemporary +narratives of Bannatyne and Smeton, the former of whom was an +eye-witness, and the latter of whom had full information from +Lawson,[250] who also was an eye-witness of all. This, I feel assured, +is all that is required to set matters in their true light. + +[Sidenote: Popish Calumny.] + +The vague charges of immorality brought against the reformer by those +calumniators, ancient and modern, may be dismissed at once as nothing +more than the stock-in-trade of hard-pressed controversialists in the +sixteenth century. Had there been the slightest foundation for them, +some of Knox's many opponents in Scotland--Ninian Winzet, or the Abbot +of Crossraguel, or Tyrie the Jesuit, or Hamilton himself before he left +the country--would not have scrupled openly to upbraid him with them. +Neither would the culprits among the Protestant clergy and laity, whom +at various times he subjected to so rigorous a discipline, have borne +this patiently at his hands had he himself been a known offender. It was +his character which gave him his influence both at home and abroad, both +with friends and with foes, and could it have been successfully +assailed, it would not have been left to two Jesuits in a foreign land +to lead the assault after he was silenced in death. + +Such, however, I hardly need to assure you was not the end of the +restorer of a really holy church in Scotland, if aught of credit is to +be given to the unanimous testimony of those who attended him during his +last illness and witnessed its closing scene, though it may have been +the end which Popish controversialists in the sixteenth century deemed +meet for him--as well as for Luther and Calvin and many more of whom the +world was not worthy--as it is in one of the foulest legends with which +their successors in the nineteenth century think it fair to supplement +the legends of their predecessors in the sixteenth. According to them +Luther was the child of a demon, not figuratively but literally; Calvin +was eaten up of worms, like Herod who slew the children of Bethlehem and +was smitten by the judgment of God, because (though apparently in this +they confound him with a later Herod) he affected divine honours. To +mention such slanders, as the sceptical Bayle has said with special +reference to the case of Knox, is all that is needed to refute them. +They are the product of malignity so evident that it defeats itself. I +know but one parallel to them in our literature, and it has the excuse +that it has come down to us from the dark ages.[251] Some would +persuade us that the time has come when we might afford to forget old +controversies and to shake hands with our former antagonists, but such +occurrences as these tend to show that such forgetfulness and +affectation of cordiality is likely to be all on one side. + +And now let me simply set over against these fables, in as abridged form +as I can, the unvarnished statements of Bannatyne and Smeton, the latter +of which was published in reply to Hamilton who first gave shape to +these charges, and which hitherto has been deemed a conclusive +refutation of them.[252] + +[Sidenote: His last Illness.] + +[Sidenote: His Dying Exhortations.] + +On the 10th of November, the day after he inducted Lawson as his +colleague, he was seized with a violent cough and began to breathe with +difficulty. Many, who desired ardently, if it were possible, to detain +him a little longer here, advised him to call in the assistance of +skilful physicians. He readily complied with their advice, though he +felt that the end of his warfare was now nigh at hand. Next day he +caused the wages of all his servants to be paid, and earnestly exhorted +them all to be careful to lead holy and Christian lives. On the 13th, +being obliged by the increase of his malady to leave off his ordinary +course of reading in the Scriptures (for every day he had been wont to +read some chapters of the Old and New Testaments, especially some of the +Psalms and Gospels), he directed his wife and servant to read to him +each day the 17th chapter of St John's Gospel, one or other of the +chapters of St Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, and the 53rd chapter of +Isaiah. On the 14th he rose early, apparently supposing it had been the +Lord's day, and being asked why he did so when he was so ill, he replied +that he had been meditating all night on the resurrection of the Lord +(the subject which would have fallen to be treated next in order by him +in his ministry), and that he was now prepared to ascend the pulpit to +communicate to his brethren the consolation he had enjoyed in his own +soul. Next day, though very sick, he prevailed on Durie, already +mentioned, and another friend, Steward by name, to remain to dinner with +him, ordered a hogshead of wine in his cellar to be pierced for them, +and desired Steward to send for some of it as long as it lasted, for he +should not tarry till it was done. Little is recorded of him for several +days after this, but it was probably in this interval that he was +visited by many of the chief of the nobility, including the Earl of +Morton, so soon to be created regent,[253] and by many members of his +congregation. All of these he "solidly exhorted" and comforted. On the +20th or 21st he gave orders that his coffin should be prepared. On the +22nd he sent for the ministers, elders, and deacons of the church, that +he might give them his last counsels and take final farewell of them. In +the brief but solemn address which he delivered to them he called God to +witness, whom he served in the Gospel of His Son, that he had taught +nothing but the pure and solid doctrine of the Gospel of the Son of God, +and had never indulged his own private passions, or spoken from any +hatred of the persons of those against whom he had denounced the heavy +judgments of God. He exhorted them to persevere in the truth of the +Gospel and in their allegiance to their young sovereign, and dismissed +them with his solemn blessing. To Lawson and Lindsay, whom he asked to +remain behind, he gave a last earnest message for his old friend +Kirkaldy of Grange, the commandant of the castle, who had gone over to +the party of the queen,[254] and whose soul, notwithstanding, he said, +was dear to him--as being one of his congregation in the castle of St +Andrews, and a sharer in his hard lot in France--so that he would not +have it perish if by any means he could save it. "Go and tell him," he +said, "that neither the craggy rock in which he miserably trusts, nor +the carnal prudence of that man whom he regards as a demigod, nor the +assistance of foreigners, as he falsely flatters himself, shall deliver +them, but he shall be disgracefully dragged from his nest to punishment +and hung on a gallows in the face of the sun, unless he speedily amend +his life and betake himself to the mercy of God." + +[Sidenote: His Consolation.] + +On the 23rd the difficulty of his breathing had greatly increased, and +he seems to have thought that his end was near at hand. To one of his +most intimate friends who asked him if he felt great pain, he replied +that that was not reckoned as pain by him which would be the end of many +miseries and the beginning of perpetual joy. And soon after, apparently +supposing his end was come, he repeated the Lord's Prayer and the +Apostles' Creed, adding certain paraphrases of his own on each petition +of the prayer and article of the creed to the great comfort of those who +stood by; and then lifting up his hands to heaven he once more said, +"Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." During the succeeding night +he caused the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians to be read and re-read to +him, and repeatedly said to himself, "O! how sweet and salutary +consolation does the Lord provide for me in this chapter." The following +day, about noon, he once more sat up in bed, but owing to his extreme +weakness was not able to remain long in that posture. About three in the +afternoon one of his eyes failed, and his tongue performed its office +less readily than before. About six in the evening he again said to his +wife, "Go, read where I cast my first anchor," referring to the +instructions he had given on the 13th.[255] + +When this had been done, he continued for some hours in troubled +slumber. It is in this occurrence alone that there can be got the +slightest foundation for the slanders which his traducers have +circulated. And it is only necessary to quote the account given of it by +those who witnessed it to show that it was as honourable to the dying +confessor as the gross misrepresentation of it was dishonourable to his +opponents. During these hours he uttered frequent sighs and groans, so +that those who stood by could not doubt that he was contending with some +grievous temptation. When he awoke they asked him what was the cause of +his distress. He answered that in the course of his life he had had many +contests with his spiritual adversary. Often he had been tempted to +despair of God's mercy because of the greatness of his sins, often also +tempted by the allurements of the world to forget his calling to endure +hardness as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. But now the cunning +adversary had assailed him in another form, and endeavoured to persuade +him that he had merited heaven itself and a blessed immortality by the +faithful discharge of the duties of his high office. "But blessed be +God," exclaimed the dying reformer, "who hath brought seasonably to my +mind those passages of Scripture by which I was enabled to quench the +fiery dart, 'What hast thou, that thou hast not received?' 'By the grace +of God I am what I am,' and 'Not I, but the grace of God in me' ... +wherefore I give thanks to my God by Jesus Christ who has been pleased +to grant me the victory. And I am firmly persuaded that ... in a short +time, without any great bodily pain, and without any distress of mind, I +shall exchange this mortal and miserable life for an immortal and +blessed life through Jesus Christ." + +[Sidenote: His Peaceful Death.] + +This persuasion of his speedy and happy departure was soon to be +justified by the event. After evening prayers Dr Preston, his physician, +asked him whether he had heard them, when he replied, "I would to God +that ye and all men heard them as I have heard them, and I praise God +for that heavenly sound." Shortly after the signs of immediate +dissolution appeared, his friends gathered round his bed, and his +faithful servant addressed him: "Now, sir, the time that you have long +called to God for, to wit an end of your battle, is come. And seeing all +natural power now fails, remember those comfortable promises, which +often times ye have shown to us, of our Saviour Jesus Christ. And that +we may understand and know that ye hear us, make us some sign." And so +he lifted up one of his hands, and incontinent thereafter rendered up +his spirit apparently without pain or movement, so that he seemed rather +to fall asleep than to die. + +Such was the account of his last illness and death transmitted by those +who attended on him and witnessed it, a death worthy of his noble life, +and fully justifying the brief comment of Smeton, "Surely, whatever +opprobrious things profane men may utter, God hath in him given us an +example of the right way as well of dying as of living." It is true, as +his heartless traducer takes care to remind us, no dirge was chanted +over his remains, no mass of requiem was celebrated for his soul. He and +his countrymen had long ceased to believe in the worth of such priestly +ceremonies, or to imagine that their eternal state could be affected by +them, or by aught save Christ's finished work and their own faith and +repentance while God's day of grace was prolonged to them here. The +brief eulogy pronounced over his grave by the stern and reserved +regent[256] was a truer and more impressive testimony to his worth than +the most gorgeous celebration of Romish rites which he could but have +shared with a Borgia or a Betoun. The stern simplicity of his grave, +which, like his master Calvin's, was till lately preserved in the memory +of men without stone or bronze to mark it out, tells a tale very +different from that his traducer hints at; and if his bitter taunts +shall lead the reformer's countrymen now to erect a material monument to +him in some measure corresponding to the benefits he has been honoured +to confer on them, this attack on his fair fame will have been overruled +for good. + +[Sidenote: The Scottish Nation his Monument.] + +But his real monument will never be one graven by art or man's device. +It is one more noble, more lasting far. It is to be found in the life +God enabled him to live, and the work God honoured him to do. It is to +be seen in the plans he devised, in the institutions he founded, in the +people he moulded anew, when the old church had confessedly failed in +its mission. And while the Scottish nation continues to retain these +institutions, and to bear this impress, it will continue the grandest, +as it is the most telling, monument to the memory of its noble-hearted +and single-minded reformer. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[220] Dr Lorimer in British and Foreign Evangelical Review for 1872, p. +758. + +[221] [The Good Regent was assassinated on the 23rd of January 1569-70.] + +[222] [1570.] + +[223] Bannatyne's Memoriales, Ban. Club, p. 118. + +[224] See Laing's Knox, vi. 651. + +[225] M'Crie's Knox, 1855, p. 459; Rogers' Three Scottish Reformers, p. +97. + +[226] [Archbishop Hamilton was hanged at the market cross of Stirling on +the 7th of April 1571.] + +[227] Bannatyne's Memoriales, Ban. Club, p. 255. + +[228] Melville's Diary, Wodrow Society, p. 26. + +[229] [Archibald Hamilton's letter or protestation is in Bannatyne's +Memoriales, pp. 262, 263.] + +[230] [According to Martine, it was built, not for the reception of Mary +of Guise, but when James V. was married to Magdalene, the fair daughter +of Francis I., in 1537, the tradition being that the physicians chose +this place as peculiarly suitable for such a delicate creature; and that +"so many artificers were conveened and employed, and the materials so +quicklie prepared, that the house was begun and finished in a month" +(Reliquiæ Divi Andreæ, p. 190). There is better evidence to show that +Mary of Guise spent her honeymoon within its substantial walls in the +summer of 1538 (Lesley's History, pp. 155, 156; Pitscottie's History, +1778, pp. 250, 251).] + +[231] Melville's Diary, p. 26. + +[232] Ibid. + +[233] Bannatyne's Memoriales, p. 256. + +[234] Melville's Diary, p. 32. + +[235] [In the rather scurrilous Legend of the Bischop of St Androis, it +is said:-- + + "Ane baxters sone, are beggar borne, + That twyse his surnaime hes mensworne; + To be called Constene he thocht shame, + He tuke up Constantine to name. + + * * * * * + + Thinking that poore professione vaine, + He changed his surname ower agane; + Now Doctor Adamsone at last, + Whairthrow he ower to Paris past." + +--Dalyell's Scotish Poems, 1801, ii. 309, 310. + +He inherited both names from his ancestors, who were called Constantine +or Adamson (M'Crie's Melville, 1856, p. 461).] + +[236] Melville's Diary, p. 32. + +[237] Laing's Knox, vi. 481, 482. + +[238] [This Assembly met on the 6th of March 1571-72.] + +[239] Melville's Diary, p. 31. + +[240] [This convention was held in January 1571-72. See Booke of the +Universall Kirk, i. 203-236; Calderwood's History, iii. 168-196.] + +[241] Bannatyne's Memorials, p. 223. + +[242] Calderwood's History, iii. 206. + +[243] [Dr Laing has not only indicated that there has long been much +uncertainty and speculation as to the parentage and social status of +John Douglas, but has stated that he "was descended from the Douglasses +of Pettendreich" (Laing's Knox, i. 286 n.) Principal Lee has said: "All +the accounts of Douglas which I have ever seen in modern books abound +with errors. He is represented as having been an obscure Carmelite friar +whom the Earl of Argyle chose to employ as his chaplain, and for whom +the Archbishop of St Andrews expressed the strongest aversion. He was +quite a different man--a man of family undoubtedly, and most probably +related to James Douglas the Earl of Morton, son of Sir George Douglas +of Pinky, and, like him, a branch of the great family of Angus" (Lee's +Lectures, ii. 3). When working in the Register House, I found +unimpeachable evidence concerning his parentage. On the 2nd of January +1563-64, letters of legitimation were granted in favour of Mr John +Douglas, Rector of the University of St Andrews, bastard son natural of +quondam Robert Douglas in Langnewtoune (Register of Privy Seal, xxxii. +23).] + +[244] Melville's Diary, p. 32; Calderwood's History, iii. 206. + +[245] These honest men earnestly implored their pastor to return also to +Edinburgh, if he could do so without serious injury to his health. + +[246] Melville's Diary, p. 33. + +[247] [Dr Cameron Lees says that the Tolbooth, in which Knox preached +for some little time and where he delivered his last sermon, was "the +portion of St Giles which had been cut off the western part of the nave, +and was used for meetings of the Council" (St Giles', 1889, p. 157).] + +[248] M'Crie's Knox, 1855, p. 269. + +[249] Melville's Diary, p. 33. + +[250] [In the opinion of Dr David Laing, Lawson was the author of the +Vera Historia extremae vitae et obitus eximii viri Joannis Knoxii, +appended to Smeton's Responsio ad Hamiltonii Dialogum, in 1579 (Laing's +Knox, vi. 646).] + +[251] Walsingham's abuse of Wycliffe. [Thomae Walsingham, Historia +Anglicana, ii. 119, 120; and Ypodigma Neustriae a Thoma Walsingham, p. +340; Rolls series. Translations will be found in Vaughan's John de +Wycliffe, 1853, pp. 468, 469; and in Lechler's Wycliffe, Relig. Tract +Soc., p. 423.] + +[252] [For the substance of Archibald Hamilton's account, see M'Crie's +Knox, 1855, p. 405. Bannatyne's account is in both editions of his work +(Journal of Transactions, 1806, and Memoriales of Transactions, 1836). +It is likewise in Laing's Knox, vi. 634-645; and there (pp. 649-660) is +also given a translation of Smeton's (or Lawson's) account. The accounts +of Bannatyne and Smeton do not always agree as to the exact day on which +certain events happened.] + +[253] [Morton was elected regent on the 24th of November 1572, the day +on which Knox died (Acts of Parliament, iii. 78; Bannatyne's Memoriales, +p. 280). Bannatyne places Morton's visit on the 19th; Smeton leaves the +day uncertain.] + +[254] For a defence of Kirkaldy see Barbé's Kirkaldy of Grange, Famous +Scots Series, pp. 108-124. + +[255] For a different interpretation see Taylor Innes's John Knox, +Famous Scots Series, pp. 30, 31. + +[256] [Morton's testimony to Knox, as recorded by Melville, was: "That +he nather fearit nor flatterit anie fleche" (Diary, p. 60). As recorded +by Calderwood: "Here lyeth a man who in his life never feared the face +of man; who hath beene often threatned with dag and dager, but yitt hath +ended his dayes in peace and honour. For he had God's providence +watching over him in a speciall maner, when his verie life was sought" +(History, iii. 242).] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +THE SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. + + +In a previous lecture I have endeavoured to give a pretty full account +of the First Book of Discipline. It remains yet to say a few words about +the Second Book of Discipline. + +[Sidenote: The Two Books Compared.] + +Principal John Cunningham has said: "The First Book exhibited a system +of polity sagaciously suited to the circumstances of the country and the +church: it seemed to grow out of the times."[257] I will add that it was +not only suited to the times, but to many of the practical needs of the +church of all times. I therefore hold that even yet it is worthy of a +higher place than to be deemed merely a "collection of parchments and +coins deposited beneath it [_i.e._, the Second Book] by which future +generations may read the story of the times in which the building was +begun."[258] The Second Book is more a book of constitutional law; and +aims, as the Principal says, at elaborating a system from the New +Testament without reference to circumstances, and bears far more +resemblance to the Ordonnances of Calvin than to the less ambitious and +more comprehensive Church Order Books of Germany. But the Second Book of +Discipline has even fewer practical details than the ordinances of +Geneva. Of course, so far as it actually abolished or modified the +regulations of the First Book, these fell to be disused; but in so far +as it did not actually do so, they still had a certain validity: and +even in the Covenanting times it is generally the Books, not the Book of +Discipline, to which reference is made in Acts of Assembly. + +No one in our times, perhaps, has shown a more thorough appreciation of +the real merits of the First Book than the Duke of Argyll in his +well-known essay on "Presbytery." Mr Hill Burton, who depreciates it in +comparison with the Second, makes far more than is warranted of the +strong language in which it occasionally indulges against the old +church, with which he contrasts the more restrained and balanced +utterances of the Second Book.[259] I do not yield to many in my +admiration of the courage and calmness of Melville; but I could no more +think of placing him, scholarly and bold, yet calm, as he generally was, +nor the Book attributed to him, more logical and unimpassionately +didactic though it be, before the eager, impetuous, yet sagacious Knox, +with his wealth of rude eloquence and thrilling tenderness, and his Book +in which these qualities of head and heart are so clearly mirrored, than +I would think of placing Calvin, highly as I honour him, before Luther, +or his Catechism before the Wittenberg hymn-books. + +I do not believe that the principles of the two Books are so widely +different as they have sometimes been represented to be, or that the +grand ideas of Knox concerning the place of the laity in the church, the +education of the young, and the support and kindly treatment of the aged +poor, were meant to be rejected or ignored by his great successor; but I +do think these matters fall considerably into the background. Some of +the noblest conceptions of the earlier Book are narrowed, and the whole +system stiffened; and in the contests in which the church had then to +engage with the young monarch, in vindication of her independence in her +own province, positions were laid down which were soon pressed to +consequences from which Knox and his associates would have shrunk. + +[Sidenote: The Supreme Power.] + +They, who had been obliged long to contend with a corrupt and obstinate +clergy which would grant no real reform in doctrine, no substantial +concessions for the alleviation of practical grievances, boldly laid +down the principle that "to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates ... +chieflie and most principallie the conservation and purgation of the +religioun apperteinis; so that not onlie they are appointed for civill +policie, but also for maintenance of the trew religioun, and for +suppressing of idolatrie and superstitioun whatsoever.... And therefore +wee confesse and avow that sik as resist the supreme power doing that +thing quhilk appertains to his charge, do resist Goddis ordinance, and +therefore cannot be guiltles."[260] Melville, who was called to contend +with a king bent on securing autocratic power in the church as well as +in the state, laid down, with the utmost precision, the principle in +chapter x., "Although kings and princes that be godlie, sumtymes be +their awin authority whan the kirk is corruptit and all things out of +ordor, place ministers and restore the trew service of the Lord efter +the examples of sum godly kings of Juda and divers godly emperours and +kings also in the light of the New Testament; yit quhair the ministrie +of the kirk is anes lawfullie constitute and they that are placeit do +thair office faithfullie, all godlie princes and magistratis aucht to +heir and obey thair voice, and reverence the majestie of the Son of God +speiking be them";[261] or, as in chapter i., where it is laid down, "As +ministeris are subject to the judgement and punishment of the magistrat +in externall things if they offend, so aucht the magistratis to submit +themselfis to the discipline of the kirk gif they transgresse in +matteris of conscience and religioun."[262] + +[Sidenote: Limits of Ecclesiastical Power.] + +Hill Burton sarcastically remarks that "if we grant that those who +prepared it were what they called themselves--the Church of God, +presided over by the Lord Jesus Christ as the representative of the +Godhead on earth--it would be difficult to refuse assent to what +follows. Nothing can be more perfect than the analysis by which the two +ruling powers are separated from each other, and the ecclesiastical set +above the secular."[263] If this is not quite borne out, one can hardly +help feeling that more care should have been taken to mark out the +limits of ecclesiastical authority, and to show that the power of +ministers and elders was as distinctly limited by the laws of Christ as +that of kings and magistrates ought to be by the laws of the land; or, +in other words, that ministers and elders may err in interpreting the +laws of Christ, just as civil rulers may err in interpreting the laws of +the land. No doubt the limitation contended for is in words admitted, +"the magistrat neither aucht to preich, minister the sacraments, nor +execute the censuris of the kirk, nor yit prescrive any rewll how it +sould be done; bot command the ministeris to observe the rewll commandit +in the Word, and punish the transgressours be civill means. The +ministeris exerce not the civill jurisdictioun, bot teich the magistrat +how it sould be exercit according to the Word."[264] "It is proper to +kings, princes, and magistrates to be callit lordis and dominators over +their subjectis, whom they govern civilly; bot it is proper to Christ +onlie to be callit Lord and Master in the spirituall government of the +kirk, and all utheris that beiris office therein aucht not to usurp +dominion therein, nor be callit lordis, bot onlie ministeris, disciples, +and servantis. For it is Christis proper office to command and rewll His +kirk universall, and every particular kirk, throw His Spirit and Word, +be the ministrie of men."[265] But it is not made sufficiently prominent +anywhere in the Book that these men are only entitled to unreserved +obedience when they truly speak Christ's mind and truly follow His Word. +Those who have made most of the Book have neither clearly perceived this +nor have they realised the full meaning of the lucid and explicit +statement made by Rutherfurd when he was contending against the +Erastians and Independents of England. Had they done so, I cannot but +think that the bitter divisions among Scottish Presbyterians would have +been fewer, and that there would have been far less occasion for the +reproach often cast on them, that new presbyter is but old priest writ +large. + +[Sidenote: Rutherfurd's Opinion.] + +"That the magistrate is not obliged," Rutherfurd affirms, "to execute +the decrees of the church without further examination, whether they be +right or wrong, as Papists teach that the magistrate is to execute the +decrees of their Popish councels with blind obedience, and submit his +faith to them, because he is a layman and may not dare to examine +whether the church doth erre or not, is clear. 1. Because, if in hearing +the Word all should follow the example of the men of Berea, not relying +on the testimony of Paul or any preacher, [and] try whether that which +concerneth their conscience and faith be agreeable to the Scriptures or +no, and accordingly receive or reject; so in all things of discipline +the magistrate is to try by the Word whether he ought to adde his +sanction to these decrees which the church gives out for edification, +and whether he should draw the sword against such a one as a heretick +and a perverter of souls. But the former is true; the magistrate's +practise in adding his civill sanction and in punishing hereticks +concerneth his conscience, knowing that he must do it in faith as he +doth all his moral actions; _ergo_, the magistrate must examine what he +practiseth in his office according to the Word, and must not take it +upon the meer authority of the church, else his faith in these moral +acts of his office should be resolved _ultimate_ on the authority of the +church, not on the Word of God, which, no doubt, is Popery, for so the +warrant of the magistrate's conscience should not be 'thus saith the +Lord,' but 'thus saith the church in their decrees.' 2. The magistrate +and all men have a command to try all things, _ergo_, to try the decrees +of the church, and to retain what is good (1 Thes. v. 21); to try the +spirits even of the church in their decrees (1 John iii. 1). 3. We +behooved [in that case] to lay down this Popish ground that ... the +church cannot erre in their decrees.... Its against Scripture and reason +that magistrates, and by the like reason all others, should obey the +decrees of the church with a blinde faith, without inquiring in the +warrants and grounds of their decrees, which is as good Popery as, +Magistrates and all men are to beleeve as the church beleeveth, with an +implicite faith, so ignorance shall be the mother of devotion. Whoever +impute this to us--who have suffered for nonconformity, and upon this +ground, that synods can erre, refused the ceremonies--are to consult +with their own conscience whether this be not to make us appear +disloyall and odious to magistracy in that which we never thought, far +lesse [presumed] to teache and professe it to the world."[266] + +[Sidenote: Gillespie's Opinion.] + +Even more notable are the utterances of George Gillespie, when +vindicating against the Erastians of the south that more free government +of the church by its own courts from which they feared so many evils. +"I dare confidently say," he affirms, "that, if comparisons be rightly +made, presbyterial government is the most limited and the least +arbitrary government of any other in the world."[267] And, after +entering into details to make good this affirmation in regard to the +papal and prelatical forms of government, he proceeds to maintain that +Independents "must needs be supposed to exercise a much more unlimited +or arbitrary power than the presbyterial churches do," because they +exempt individual congregations from all control and correction by +superior courts, and because it is "one of their three grand principles +which disclaimeth the binding of themselves for the future unto their +present judgement and practice, and avoucheth the keeping of this +reserve to alter and retract."[268] Some who think that, after all +recent changes, they more truly hold the opinions of Gillespie than we +do, have laid it down very dogmatically that even although the +constitution of a national church were in all other respects scriptural, +yet if it did not reserve this power to alter and retract without let or +hindrance, it would still be at variance with the tenets of the +Covenanting times; but you see here that Gillespie affirms that that was +a principle of the Independents, not of the Presbyterians, and +claims[269] it as a special merit of the latter that they were willing +to explain their doctrine and discipline to the civil authorities, and, +getting these sanctioned, to abide by them till they were again altered +by consent of church and state. He denies that in claiming a distinct +government for the church the Presbyterians meant to deprive the +Christian magistrate of that power and authority in matters of religion +which the Word of God and the earlier Confessions of the Reformed +churches recognised as belonging to his office. On the contrary, he +maintains that not only in extraordinary cases when church government +doth degenerate into tyranny, or those who manage it make defection from +the truth, "the Christian magistrate may and ought to do diverse things +in and for religion, and interpose his authority diverse wayes so as +doth not properly belong to his cognisance, decision and administration +ordinarily, and in a reformed and well constituted church";[270] but +also that, in ordinary cases, he is free to act as his own conscience +directs in giving or refusing his sanction to the government and +discipline of the church; and that if he is offended with any sentence +of its courts, "they ought to be ready, in all humility and respect, to +give him an account and reason of such their proceedings, and by all +means to endeavour the satisfaction of the magistrate his conscience, or +otherwise to be warned and rectified if themselves have erred."[271] + +[Sidenote: Its Influence not unmixed.] + +Had the principles thus laid down been more clearly kept in view by +the framers of the Second Book of Discipline, its influence for good on +Scottish Christianity would have been more unmixed than it has been. Had +they been more consistently acted on by Rutherfurd and his associates, +who consented to their formal insertion in our later standards, many sad +troubles which then and afterwards befel the church, for which they +lived and laboured, would have been altogether avoided, or more easily +provided against; but as it is, great misunderstandings have certainly +arisen. The two Books of Discipline have been too much read apart, +instead of being regarded as complementary each of the other; and while +all that is liberal and progressive tends, I think, more and more to +rally round the one, I believe that much that is narrower, but still +earnest and resolutely Christian, will continue to draw its inspiration +from the other. + +[Sidenote: Its Theory of the Church.] + +The Second Book of Discipline, as well as the First, failed to commend +itself to the ruling powers, and to obtain a place in its full form on +the statute book. Those of its clauses relating to the functions of the +several church courts were inserted almost word for word in the Act of +the Scottish Parliament of 1592, reckoned the charter of the +presbyterian church. It was, however, several times ratified by the +General Assembly, and was partially carried out by its authority from +the time of its ratification; and to this extent it, as well as the +First Book of Discipline, appears to have been fully recognised. The +question of its authority was very fully argued in the famous +Auchterarder case. The counsel for the presbytery and the minority of +the judges did not venture to argue, however, that as a whole the Second +Book of Discipline had received the sanction of the state save in +irregular times; but they contended that the notes, contained in +Spottiswoode's History, of the clauses respecting which the king and the +commissioners of Parliament had come to agreement with the ministers, +should be accepted as determining the extent to which it was law. It was +affirmed, however, by the majority of the judges that only the clauses +actually inserted in the Act of Parliament could be so regarded, and it +has since been maintained by Mr Peterkin that the alleged notes of +agreement between the king and the church's commissioners are not +actually found in the manuscript copy of the History which is preserved +in the Advocate's Library.[272] The general theory of the church, +however, which may be said to underlie the most important statement of +the Second Book of Discipline, is not materially different from that +which finds expression in the First. "The kirk of God," it is said, "is +sumtymes largelie takin for all them that professe the Evangill of Jesus +Christ, and so it is a company and fellowship, not onely of the godly, +but also of hypocrites professing alwayis outwardly ane true religion. +Uther tymes it is takin for the godlie and elect onlie, and sumtymes for +them that exercise spiritual function amongis the congregation of them +that professe the truth."[273] These last, ministers, doctors, elders, +and deacons, are taken to represent the church in its wider sense, and +must have a lawful calling from it. This lawful calling is said to +consist of two parts--viz., election and ordination. Election is defined +to be the choosing out of a person or persons most able for the office +that is vacant, by the judgment of the eldership and consent of the +congregation to which the person or persons are appointed. Ordination is +defined as the separation and sanctifying of the person appointed of God +and His kirk after he be well tried and found qualified. The ceremonies +of ordination are declared to be fasting, earnest prayer, and imposition +of the hands of the eldership. Then follow two of the most important +paragraphs in the Book, which come nearest to supplying that which I +deem defective in it, a clear and distinct admission that human rulers +in the church as well as in the state have but limited powers. "All thir +[_i.e._, those various kinds of office-bearers], as they must be raisit +up be God and be Him made able for the wark quhairto they ar callit, so +aught they [to] knaw their message to be limitit within God's Word, +without the quhilk bounds they aught not to passe. All thir sould tak +these titils and names onlie ... quhilk the Scriptures gevis unto them, +as these quhilks import labour, travell and wark; and ar names of +offices and service, and not of idlenes, dignitie, warldlie honour or +preheminence, quhilk be Christ our Maister is expresslie reprovit and +forbidden.... And generallie thir twa things aught they all to respect, +the glorie of God, and edifieing of His kirk, in discharging their +dewties in their callings."[274] + +[Sidenote: Institution of the Presbytery.] + +[Sidenote: Eldership or Presbytery.] + +It is generally supposed that it is in this Second Book of Discipline +that we have the first clear institution of that church court which we +now call the presbytery, and it admits of no dispute that it was in the +year 1581, after the final adoption of the Book by the Assembly, that an +attempt was made, with consent of the crown, regularly to divide the +country into presbyteries. These, however, though marked out on paper in +that year, were in point of fact only gradually set up, and in general +they arose out of, and absorbed into themselves, the previously existing +_exercise_, which the First Book of Discipline had sanctioned and +recommended to meet weekly for the study and interpretation of the +Scriptures.[275] The introduction of what are called, but erroneously, +lay elders[276] to the place they have so long worthily filled in the +presbyteries was a still more gradual process. The presbytery of St +Andrews, even down to the close of the sixteenth century, appears to +have contained no elders save the _doctors_, under which name were +comprehended the masters of the university, both professors of divinity +and professors of philosophy, and even the doctor or master of the +grammar-school. The question, however, has been raised whether it is +really the presbytery or the kirk-session which is meant by the word +_eldership_, which is generally applied in the Second Book of Discipline +to that court to which it asserts that it belongs to see that the Word +of God is purely preached within its bounds, the sacraments rightly +administered, the discipline maintained, and the ecclesiastical goods +rightly distributed; to take care that the ordinances made by +provincial, national, and general assemblies are duly executed; and also +to make constitutions which concern τὸ πρéπον in the +kirk,[277]--all which duties by the Act of Parliament are expressly +assigned to the presbytery.[278] This question has been keenly debated +down to our own day. The weight of authority is certainly very decidedly +in favour of the opinion which identifies this eldership with the +presbytery. Among recent authorities we have Dr David Laing and Dr Cook +of Haddington on this side, in opposition to the late Principal +Cunningham of St Andrews; and among those of a somewhat earlier time we +have Principal Lee, Dr M'Crie, and the late Dr George Cook of St Andrews +pronouncing in favour of the same view. If we go to older authorities +again, we have Spottiswoode, the episcopal historian, and Calderwood, +the presbyterian, at one in supporting it. I know of no considerable +authority in the seventeenth century which has been adduced on the other +side, save that of Henderson, whose statement, however, is rather +inferential than direct. In fact, the eldership is used in the Second +Book of Discipline itself as a convertible term with presbytery, and is +often so used in the acts of contemporary assemblies. When presbyteries +came to be set up, they are sometimes designated by the name of +eldership, and sometimes by that of presbytery; and where our present +authorised version of Scripture reads "with the laying on of the hands +of the presbytery," the Genevan version reads, "with the laying on of +the hands of the companie of the eldership."[279] + +[Sidenote: The Kirk-Session.] + +The only other alternative is that suggested by the late Procurator +Cook, that in the Second Book of Discipline the functions of the two +courts were as yet undistributed; and that when they came to be legally +distributed by the Act of Parliament of 1592, those which the framers of +the Second Book assigned to the eldership were in nearly its very words +appropriated to the presbytery, and a much more limited province +assigned to the kirk-session--the court called by the Puritans of the +south by the name of the Lesser Presbytery. Perhaps it may be regarded +as a rather curious confirmation of this theory of Procurator Cook's, +that what he supposes to have been first intended by the framers of the +Book as a common court is asserted by Gillespie, the ablest of their +successors in the following century, to have been really characteristic +of the presbytery of the primitive church. Whatever may be thought of +his argument in vindication of what he calls the two presbyteries, the +fact remains that he explicitly admits there was but one in the +primitive church;[280] and this will be all the more remarkable if, +with Mr Cook, we hold that what the framers of the Second Book of +Discipline really designed was one presbytery or eldership governing a +larger or smaller number of churches in common; and that we owe the +distribution of the power between the two courts rather to the Act of +Parliament than to the Second Book of Discipline. I agree with +Gillespie, however, that in the circumstances of the church in a +thoroughly Christianised country it would have been a matter to be +regretted if every congregation had not had its session or lesser +presbytery, with such definitely limited powers as by the Act of +Parliament, and by the later acts of the church, are entrusted to it; +and I am not sure that we do not owe this arrangement to the episcopal +rather than to the presbyterian party, and that it was a concession made +by them as the only presbytery they could well acknowledge, if they were +to leave any function for the bishop at all in this court. At least the +rough draft of the clause of the subsequent Act of Parliament in regard +to the kirk-session appears first in the conference held between the two +parties, and is then noted as having had the express approval of the +king and commissioners of Parliament,[281] which was not at that time, +nor till considerably later, secured to the clauses in the Act affirming +the powers of the larger presbytery. + +[Sidenote: Westminster Theory of the Church.] + +I have said elsewhere that in chapters xxv. and xxvi. of the Westminster +Confession of Faith we have a doctrine affirmed as to the church and the +communion of saints which seems to me to be more thoroughly catholic +than that which is set forth in the Articles of the Irish Episcopal +Church, of the teaching of which the compilers of our Confession have so +largely availed themselves. In addition to one invisible church to which +all the true elect of God are affirmed to belong, and particular visible +churches composed of _professing_ Christians in particular nations (both +of which are expressly owned in both formularies), the Westminster +Confession recognises one visible church to which all throughout the +world who profess faith in Christ are to feel that they belong, and +with the members of which they are bound, as God gives them opportunity, +to cultivate union and communion. "The catholic or universal church, +which is invisible, consists of the whole number of the elect that have +been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the head thereof; +and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. +The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel +(not confined to one nation as before under the law), consists of all +those throughout the world that profess the true religion, and of their +children, and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and +family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of +salvation. Unto this catholic visible church Christ hath given the +ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God for the gathering and +perfecting of the saints in this life to the end of the world; and doth +by His own presence and Spirit, according to His promise, make them +effectual thereunto. This catholic church hath been sometimes more, +sometimes less, visible; and particular churches which are members +thereof are more or less pure, according as the doctrine of the Gospel +is taught and embraced, ordinances administered, and public worship +performed more or less purely in them.... All saints that are united to +Jesus Christ their head, by His Spirit and by faith, have fellowship +with Him in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory. And, +being united to one another in love, they have communion in each other's +gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, +public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good." In other words, +every true member of the church, be he hearer or office-bearer, holds +his place in the body for the good of all, and is bound to use his gifts +and opportunities to promote, as far as he can, the spiritual and +temporal good of all. A single sentence from the Westminster Directory +for Church Government is all I need to give, in supplement of this +statement of the Confession, to put you in full possession of their +authors' views and aspirations. "When their number [_i.e._, the +membership of a congregation] is so great that they cannot conveniently +meet in one place, it is expedient that they be divided according to the +respective bounds of their dwellings into distinct and fixed +congregations for the better administration of such ordinances as belong +unto them, and the discharge of mutual duties; wherein all, according to +their several places and callings, are to labour to promote whatever +appertains to the power of godliness and credit of religion, that the +whole land, in the full extent of it, may become the kingdom of our Lord +and of His Christ." + +[Sidenote: Ideal Presbytery.] + +The sum of all this may be given in the words of Henderson, in the +conclusion of his treatise on 'The Government and Order of the Church of +Scotland,' the only other treatise which has any right to be set +alongside of the Books of Discipline. "In the authoritie of these +assemblies, parochial, presbyteriall, provinciall, and nationall, and in +the subordination of the lesser unto the greater, or of more particular +elderships to the larger and generall eldership, doth consist the +externall order, strength, and steadfastnesse of the Church of +Scotland.... Here there is a superiority without tyrannie, for no +minister hath a papall or monarchicall jurisdiction over his own flock, +far lesse over other pastors and over all the congregations of a large +dioces. Here there is paritie without confusion and disorder, for the +pastors are in order before the elders, and the elders before the +deacons; the church [_i.e._, each congregation] is subordinate to the +presbyterie, the presbyterie to the synod, and the synod to the +nationall assembly. One pastor also hath priority [of esteem] before +another, for age, for zeale, for gifts, for his good deservings of the +church, each one honouring him whom God hath honoured, and as he beareth +the image of God which was to bee seen among the apostles themselves. +But none hath power or jurisdiction above others: even as in nature one +eye hath not power over another, only the head hath power over all, even +as Christ over His church.... And lastly, here there is a subjection +without slaverie, for the people are subject to the pastors and +assemblies, yet there is no assemblie wherein everie particular church +hath not interest and power; nor is there anything done but they are, if +not actually, yet virtually called to consent unto it."[282] This is +presbytery in theory, and there is no reason why we should not +approximate to the ideal in practice more closely than some recent +representations imply, save that we come short of what we ought to be as +men and as Christians, and that would suffice to mar any form of +government that could be devised by the wit of men. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[257] Cunningham's Church History of Scotland, 1859, i. 444. + +[258] Ibid., i. 445. + +[259] Hill Burton's History of Scotland, 1876, v. 203. + +[260] Confession of 1560, in Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 92, 93. [In +Laing's Knox, ii. 118, it is _reformatioun and purgatioun_ instead of +_conservation and purgation_.] + +[261] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 788, 789. [The Second Book of Discipline +has been frequently printed. It is in Calderwood's History, Wodrow +Society ed., iii. 529-555; Spottiswoode's History, 1655, pp. 289-302; +Spottiswoode Society ed., ii. 233-256; Booke of the Universall Kirk, +Bannatyne Club ed., ii. 488-512; Peterkin's ed., pp. 537-563; Dunlop's +Confessions, ii. 757-805. The quotations in the text are from Dunlop.] + +[262] Ibid., ii. 764. Melville afterwards more pithily expressed the +same principle in his sovereign's presence: "Thair is twa kings and twa +kingdomes in Scotland. Thair is Chryst Jesus the King, and His kingdome +the kirk, whase subject King James the Saxt is, and of whase kingdome +nocht a king, nor a lord, nor a heid, bot a member! And they whome +Chryst hes callit and commandit to watch over His kirk, and governe His +spirituall kingdome, hes sufficient powar of Him and authoritie sa to +do, bathe togidder and severalie; the quhilk na Christian king nor +prince sould controll and discharge, but fortifie and assist, utherwayes +nocht fathfull subjects nor members of Chryst" (Melville's Diary, p. +370). + +[263] Hill Burton's History of Scotland, v. 203. + +[264] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 763. + +[265] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 762. + +[266] Rutherfurd's Divine Right of Church Government, 1646, pp. 596, +597. [1 John iii. 1 is a misprint in the original for 1 John iv. 1.] + +[267] Aaron's Rod Blossoming, 1646, p. 177. + +[268] Ibid., pp. 180, 181. + +[269] [Dr Mitchell may have found such a claim elsewhere in Gillespie's +works; but it is not distinctly made in that chapter of 'Aaron's Rod +Blossoming' from which the quotations in this paragraph are taken, +although perhaps it may be held to be implied in the words: "By which it +appeareth that their [_i.e._, the Independents'] way will not suffer +them to be so far moulded into an uniformity, or bounded within certain +particular rules (I say not with others, but even among themselves) as +the Presbyterian way will admit of" (Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p. 181).] + +[270] Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p, 182. + +[271] Aaron's Rod Blossoming, p. 183. + +[272] Peterkin's Booke of the Universall Kirk, 1839, p. 549 n. [The late +Bishop Russell, after examining the four MS. copies of Spottiswoode's +History, came to the conclusion that the one in the Advocates' Library +is only the first and incompleted draft of the work, and that the one in +Trinity College, Dublin, is the one which Spottiswoode himself prepared +for the press. Bishop Russell accordingly followed the Dublin MS. in his +edition of the History printed for the Spottiswoode Society, and that +edition (as well as the old folio edition) contains the notes of +agreement and disagreement. Peterkin has printed the Second Book of +Discipline, from an attested copy publicly read on the 29th of September +1591 "in the elderschip of Haddingtoun," and "subscryvit be the brethren +thairof." Of the ten subscribers, nine write _minister_ after their +names; the other simply signs, "Mr L. Hay, Bass."] + +[273] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 759, 760. + +[274] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 769. + +[275] _Supra_, pp. 170-173. + +[276] ["Some reproachfully and others ignorantly call them _lay elders_. +But the distinction of the clergie and laity is popish and +anti-christian; and they who have narrowly considered the records of +ancient times have noted this distinction as one of the grounds whence +the mystery of iniquity had the beginning of it. The name of _clergie_ +appropriate to ministers is full of pride and vaine-glory, and hath made +the holy people of God to be despised, as if they were prophane and +uncleane in comparison of their ministers" (Gillespie's Assertion of the +Government, 1641, p. 3).] + +[277] Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 779, 780. + +[278] Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, iii. 542. + +[279] [In some editions of the Genevan version the word "eldership" is +thus explained in the margin: "Under this name he containeth the whole +ministerie of the church which was at Ephesus."] + +[280] Assertion of the Government of the Church of Scotland, 1641, pp. +128-130, 136-147. + +[281] [It is not quite clear which conference Dr Mitchell is here +referring to. In the conference held at Stirling in December 1578, the +Second Book of Discipline was discussed section by section. The results +are preserved not only by Spottiswoode, as mentioned above (p. 227 n.), +but also by Calderwood (iii. 433-442), neither of whom, however, says +that these results were then noted as having been expressly approved by +the king. The heads agreed upon at the Holyrood conference on 17th +February 1585-86 do not include anything which can be regarded as the +draft of the clause of the Act of 1592 concerning the power and +jurisdiction of "particulare kirkis" (Calderwood's History, iv. +491-494). The articles defining the jurisdiction of provincial +assemblies, presbyteries, and particular kirks, agreed on by the king in +conference with some of the brethren sent to him by the General Assembly +in May 1586, are transferred almost _verbatim_ to the Act of Parliament +of 1592 (Booke of the Universall Kirk, Bannatyne Club edit., ii. 665, +666; Calderwood's History, iv. 567, 568; Acts of Parliament, iii. 541, +542).] + +[282] The Government and Order of the Church of Scotland, 1641, pp. 60, +64, 65. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +ALESIUS. + + +We owe it to the Rev. Christopher Anderson, the author of the 'Annals of +the English Bible,' that attention has been once more turned to the +deeply interesting story of Alexander Alane, or Alesius. Principal +Lorimer, in his 'Scottish Reformation,' has thrown further light on him. +And Dr Merle D'Aubigné, who appears to have minutely examined most of +his tracts and commentaries, has wrought into his graphic but +imaginative narrative much of the information which they have been the +chief means of handing down to us. It was after his expatriation that he +received from Melanchthon the name of Alesius, or the wanderer. + +[Sidenote: His miraculous Escape.] + +This highly distinguished but long forgotten _alumnus_ of St Andrews +University was born in Edinburgh on the 23rd of April 1500, of honest +parents, and received the first rudiments of his education in his +native city. It was probably while he was still there that he had +vouchsafed on his behalf those wonderful interpositions of Providence, +which remained through life engraven on his heart, and which he thus +relates in his preface to his Commentary on the Second Epistle of Paul +to Timothy, published at Leipzig in 1551. "Certe ab infantia [Diabolus] +me saepe incautum opprimere voluit, et perdere non tam insidiis et +crudelitate hostium, quam praecipitio in ignem et aquam. Verum ille, qui +servavit me inter omnia pericula et infantem de gradibus patris mei +cadentem in acervum lapidum advectorum ad extruendum supremum tabulatum +in aedibus, et reptantem manibus in cacumine altissimi montis, ex cujus +declivi vel praerupto, divinitus in alterum latus in quo facilis erat +descensus, subito perveni."[283] With even more than his usual licence, +Dr D'Aubigné thus recounts this adventure: He "was fond of going with +other boys of his own age to the heights which environ Edinburgh. The +great rock on the summit of which the castle stands, the beautiful +Calton Hill, and the picturesque hill called Arthur's Seat, in turn +attracted them. One day, it was in 1512, Alexander and his friends, +having betaken themselves to the last-named hill, amused themselves by +rolling over and over down a slope which terminated in a precipice. +Suddenly the lad found himself on the brink; terror deprived him of his +senses; some hand grasped him and placed him in safety, but he never +knew by whom or by what means he had been rescued. The priests gave the +credit of this escape to the paper with which they had provided him, but +Alexander himself attributed it to God and his father's prayers."[284] + +[Sidenote: Discussions with Patrick Hamilton.] + +Alesius, or Alane as he was still called, being of good abilities, was +early sent to the university, and seems to have been one of the first +set of students who entered St Leonard's College (the college founded by +Prior John Hepburn, with the consent of Archbishop Alexander Stuart) +after its opening in 1512. His studies appear to have been prosecuted +there in the usual way, and in 1515 he became a determinant, or took the +degree of B.A.;[285] and, probably after acting for a few years as a +regent in the college, he was drafted as a novice into the priory, and +ultimately became one of its canons. When John Major came to St Andrews +in 1523 as principal of the Pædagogium, he, like Hamilton and some +others who ultimately shared the same opinions, studied theology under +him, and made great progress, especially in the study of the schoolmen +and the fathers of the Christian church. He was, like most of the young +scholastics of his time, fond of disputation; and if he listened to +those lectures on the gospels which Major gave to the press some years +after, he probably imbibed from his teacher that combative attitude +towards the new opinions which at this period of his life he showed. +D'Aubigné says: "His keenest desire was to break a lance with Luther.... +As he could not measure himself personally with the man whom he named +_arch-heretic_, Alesius had refuted his doctrine in a public discussion +held at the university. The theologians of St Andrews had covered him +with applause.[286] ... Alesius, alive to these praises and a sincere +catholic, thought that it would be an easy task for him to convince +young Hamilton of his errors.... Armed cap-a-pie, crammed with +scholastic learning, and with all the formulæ 'quo modo sit, quo modo +nonsit,'" he had various discussions with him. "Hamilton had before him +nothing but the Gospel, and he replied to all the reasonings of his +antagonist with the clear, living, and profound word of the +Scriptures.... Alesius, struck and embarrassed, was silenced, and felt +as if 'the morning star were rising in his heart. It was not merely his +understanding that was convinced, the breath of a new life penetrated +his soul."[287] He continued from time to time to visit the reformer +while he lived, and to cherish his memory after he had been so cruelly +put to death. + +When the opinions and martyrdom of Hamilton were the subject of +conversation among the canons, several of the younger of whom were +attached to him, Alesius refused to condemn him. He was not yet by any +means, as Dr Lorimer would have it, a Lutheran; he was not yet prepared +to separate himself from the old church; but he saw and mourned over her +corruptions, and longed, and in a quiet way laboured, for the removal of +them, and also yearned for the revival of a more earnest Christian +spirit, and more correct moral conduct among those over whom his +influence extended. From that day no one could induce him to express +approval of the proceedings which had been taken against Hamilton, or to +pronounce an unfavourable judgment on the articles for which he had been +condemned to death. + +[Sidenote: Patrick Hepburn.] + +This silence brought him under the suspicion of his more bigoted +associates, and gave special offence to his superior, Prior Patrick +Hepburn (the nephew of Prior John, who had founded St Leonard's +College), a violent, coarse, immoral young noble, emulous of the +debaucheries and vices, as well as of the cultured _hauteur_, of the +young French ecclesiastics of rank among whom his youth had been passed. +Knox has given a graphic if rather coarse account of the revelries of +this young man and his gay associates, more in keeping with what we +should have expected from the sons of Tarquin in heathen Rome than from +the _élite_ of the young ecclesiastics of a primatial Christian city, +and under the eye of an aged archbishop.[288] The representation of +Alesius is only the more credible because it is the more restrained, and +the one representation corroborates the other, and proves to what a low +ebb morality had sunk among the ministers of the old church in Scotland +before it was swept away. Not only did this bold bad man set at nought +the laws of God and the canons of his church, and make a boast of doing +so among his boon companions, but even when the archbishop sought to +separate him from his unlawful connection, the prior collected his armed +retainers, and would have fought with him had not the Earl of Rothes and +the Abbot of Arbroath, the primate's hopeful nephew, come between the +two bands and patched up a sort of truce between their leaders. + +The Christian lives and healthful influence of the younger canons could +not but be felt to be a standing rebuke by their superior, and doubtless +were one main cause why he bore them so deep a grudge and gave way to +such savage outbursts of temper in his intercourse with them. He is +said to have denounced them, and especially Alesius, to the aged +primate, and probably with the view of entrapping him into some +unguarded expression of approval of the new opinions, he got him +appointed to preach the sermon at the opening of a synod of bishops and +priests which was held at St Andrews probably in the Lent of the year +1529. Alesius, while carefully avoiding everything which might give +needless offence to his hearers, thought, to use his own words, that in +such presence, and speaking in the Latin language, he would not +discharge his duty unless he earnestly exhorted those set in authority +over the churches to the practice of piety, the observance of good +morals, the study of Christian doctrine, and the pious teaching and +governing of their churches. He confesses that he earnestly inveighed +against immoral priests, but he adds that as he had said nothing in a +disloyal spirit, or more harshly than the facts warranted, and had +attacked no one by name, the sermon gave no offence to good men. But his +irate and domineering prior imagined that the sermon was specially aimed +at him, and was intended to hold him up to the ridicule of the assembled +prelates and clergy. Having already defied the archbishop, Hepburn could +not brook such a liberty on the part of one of his own subordinates. An +opportunity soon occurred to him of paying back with interest the insult +which he imagined had been done to him. + +[Sidenote: Assaulted and Imprisoned.] + +It so happened that the whole college of canons resolved, for many and +grave reasons, to lodge a complaint with the king respecting the +harshness and cruelty of their superior. When this came to Hepburn's +ears, he rushed with a band of armed attendants into the sacred +chapter-house where the canons were assembled, and when admonished by +Alesius, who probably presided in the meeting, not in the heat of +passion to be guilty of any foolish prank, he ordered the speaker to be +seized by his armed attendants, and drawing his sword would have run it +through him had not two of the canons forcibly dragged him back and +turned aside his weapon. The affrighted and timid canon cast himself at +his superior's feet and entreated him to spare his life, but in return +only received a kick in the breast which nearly proved fatal to him. +When he had partially recovered from this, and was being hurried off to +prison, another dastardly attack was made on him, but that was parried +by the prior's own retainers, who saw that he was beside himself with +rage and fury. After this all the other canons were seized and +imprisoned, but on the remonstrance of certain noble friends they were +ordered to be released by the king, who was then in St Andrews and was +informed of what had taken place. + +[Sidenote: His Prison changed.] + +The king's order was speedily carried out in regard to all save Alesius; +but he, notwithstanding all remonstrances of friends, was not only +detained in custody, but was even thrust into a more filthy dungeon, +called by the sufferer, in one of his treatises, _teterrimo specu subtus +terram inter bufones et serpentes_,[289] and in another a +_latrinâ_,[290] or sink, to which I know nothing at all corresponding in +St Andrews save the underground chamber near the college hall,[291] and +the roughly-hewn cavern still subsisting in the rock to the north of the +house at the end of Castle Street, going down by the southern entrance +by thirty or more somewhat irregular steps through the rock, and +terminating in a small chamber of rounded or oval form, having an +opening in its roof originally little more than a foot in diameter, but +now considerably enlarged, and to which on the other side a covered +passage from the castle leads down. They might well abandon hope who +entered there, and possibly one at least of its uses was for literally +immuring those who were never again to have further intercourse with +their fellow-men. In this or some other equally horrible place the poor +canon was confined for eighteen or twenty days; and when, after repeated +remonstrances on the part of the king and the magistrates of the city, +the prior was obliged to produce his victim, he enjoined him strictly on +no account to utter one word about the shameful maltreatment to which he +had been subjected. Alesius, however, had suffered too horribly in this +place to let slip the opportunity so unexpectedly presented to him of +telling the worst to the friendly magistrates, and entreating them to +save him from all further risk of a repetition of this barbarous +cruelty. But the magistrates, though friendly, were easily persuaded +that all was now to go right. As soon, however, as they were got out of +the way under this persuasion, the prior upbraided the poor canon for +having divulged the whole disgusting truth which he had enjoined him to +conceal, and ordered him to be again placed in confinement, in which he +was left to languish for nearly a year. But this confinement was in a +less objectionable place, and apparently within the precincts of the +priory; and when the prior was absent the canons occasionally had the +prisoner brought out from his ward, and even permitted him, as in former +times, to take a leading part in the services at the altar. On one +occasion the prior, coming back unexpectedly, and seeing what occurred +in his absence, ordered Alesius at once into confinement, threatening on +the morrow to have him off to the old filthy place where his life had +been so nearly sacrificed before, and where he was to be entrusted to +the care of a more remorseless jailer. + +[Sidenote: He escapes by Night.] + +As soon as their superior left them for the night the canons, satisfied +that all hope of preserving the life of their comrade in St Andrews was +at an end, and that if he did not seek safety by instant flight horrible +torments and certain death awaited him, gathered round him and urged him +to escape. On his expressing a wish to consult with other friends before +taking a step so serious, they pressed him only the more urgently to +flee and leave the country at once, as he would certainly be pursued, +and, if overtaken, brought back for condign punishment. The sequel I +give in his own unvarnished statement, which is to me more touching from +its very simplicity than the highly embellished _rechauffées_ of +D'Aubigné: "Etsi maximo dolore afficiebar cum cogitarem mihi è patria, +qua nihil dulcius est bene institutis naturis, discedendum esse, tamen, +et necessitati, et tot bonorum virorum consiliis parendum duxi."[292] +And then follows a parting scene only less affecting than that of St +Paul from the disciples on the seashore at Tyre, and proving that even +yet all good was not extinguished from the hearts of those under the +rule of this vicious prior, and encouraging the hope, which was +afterwards fully realised, that the best of them would ultimately find a +more congenial home in a new and purified church. Only the apostle, +though in a heathen land, could kneel down in open day on the seashore +to pray with his friends, and they without challenge could accompany him +to the ship which waited to receive him; while these men, though living +in a professedly Christian land, had secretly to bring out their friend +from the place of confinement and comfort him, and then send him away +alone into the thick darkness to pursue his weary journey under cover of +night to that broad firth which bounds Fifeshire on the north, if haply +he might find on its shores some boat to ferry him across, or on its +bosom some friendly craft to convey him without loss of time beyond the +reach of his implacable persecutor. "Clam igitur educunt me domo, +instruunt et viatico. Ita cum lachrymantes inter nos vale dixissemus, et +illi suavissima commemoratione illustrium virorum et sanctorum qui +similiter è patria tyrannidi cesserunt, maesticiam meam non nihil +levassent, media jam nocte in densissimis tenebris solus iter +ingredior."[293] Sadly he plodded on his way through the darkness, +oppressed with forebodings, for he knew of no hospitable retreat in +other lands; he had neither friend nor acquaintance among foreigners; he +could speak no language but his native tongue and Latin; and he had some +reason to fear that he might be classed with those vagabonds who had +been driven out from various Continental states because of their +fanatical opinions, and were justly suspected even by Protestants in +Germany. But in the multitude of distracting thoughts within him he +encouraged himself in the Lord his God and in Christ his Saviour. Ere +morning had well dawned his journey was completed, and he got safely on +shipboard, where, according to his own account, _quidam homo +germanus_[294]--that is, according to some, a certain man a German; +according to others, a certain man a kinsman--received him very +affectionately, and afterwards nursed him with great kindness during the +sea-sickness from which he suffered throughout the stormy voyage. + +[Sidenote: His Dundee Friends.] + +On the day following his escape, when the vessel which sheltered him had +already sailed, there came horsemen to the shore, sent by the prior from +St Andrews, to make search for the fugitive. When they returned without +success to their master, he is reported to have summoned before him a +certain citizen of Dundee, whom he suspected to have aided in providing +a ship for the canon. This merchant citizen[295] took with him another +true-hearted favourer of the Reformation, James Scrymgeour, provost of +the town; and on the former denying that he had given the assistance +which he was accused of doing to Alesius, and which probably he could +deny with a good conscience, his sons in St Andrews and Dundee having +been too prudent to involve him in their little plot, the provost spoke +out boldly to the haughty prior, and said: Why make a work about this? +I, myself, if I had known that Alexander was preparing to go away, would +with the greatest pleasure have furnished him both with a ship and with +provisions for his voyage, that he might be put in safety beyond the +reach of your cruelty. Assuredly, had he been my brother I would long +ago have rescued him from those perils and miseries in which you have +involved him. + +Thus Alexander Alesius was driven from his much-loved native land, +destined never to return to it more, or again to see the friends and +relations to whom he was so warmly attached. "Could any one then have +whispered in the ear of the disconsolate exile that he was on the road +to far more extensive usefulness" and freedom; that he would gain many +friends in foreign lands, and would not only be spared to labour there +for more than thirty years, but would also be honoured to be the first +to plead by his writings for the free circulation of the Scriptures in +his native Scotland, and one of the first to help on Cranmer in England, +and Hermann von Wied, the reforming Archbishop of Cologne, in Germany; +that he would be privileged to attend, as one of the Protestant +representatives, many of the most important colloquies of the leaders of +the old and the new church on the Continent, to be the intimate friend +of Luther and Melanchthon, to labour as a professor of theology in two +German universities, and to live and die in the greatest honour and +respect among those with whom he laboured,--"how incredible would it all +have seemed to him!" Yet it was thus God meant it, and thus He brought +it to pass; and if there was one among the Scottish exiles of those +times who was less embittered towards his persecutors than another, or +more ready to yield to them in things indifferent or of minor +importance, if only he could gain their hearts for Christ and His cause +in matters of highest moment, it was he. + +[Sidenote: Driven by the Tempest to Malmö.] + +[Sidenote: Hermann von Wied's Apologue.] + +The ship in which Alesius sailed was bound for France, probably for +Dieppe or Rouen, with which towns the trade of Scotland was carried on, +and where many Scottish merchants resided or had factors; but she had +not gone far on her way from port when a violent westerly gale carried +her across the German Ocean, drove her into the Sound, and made it +necessary to get her into the harbour at Malmö in Scania, in order to +refit her. There, as well as at the French ports named, there was a +community of Scottish merchants, probably by this time enjoying the +ministrations of John Gaw or Gall, another St Andrews _alumnus_, early +won over to the cause of the Reformation. The community of Malmö, a year +or two before, had given its adhesion to the same cause, and its leading +ministers, as well as the Scottish chaplain, were, therefore, prepared +to welcome and treat with all kindness their exiled co-religionist, as +he himself, twenty-five years after, feelingly narrates.[296] After +being refitted at Malmö, the vessel proceeded on her voyage to France, +where Alesius left, and plodding his way along the northern coast, +visited Belgium, where he would meet with friendly Scots at Bruges, and +probably also at Antwerp. He then passed up the Rhine to Cologne, +where, as already suggested, he was favourably received by the +Archbishop, Hermann von Wied, who afterwards became a friend of the +Reformation, though at this time, like Alesius himself, not yet decided +altogether to break with the old church. It is no doubt to this visit he +refers in the following passage of the treatise from which I have +repeatedly quoted: "When lately at Cologne I conversed familiarly with +a certain man of the highest learning and authority, and perceived how +deeply he was grieved by the disturbed state of the church in Germany. I +began to exhort him to interpose his judgment in certain matters of +dispute, because I hoped that milder views might gain the ascendancy if +princes and people only had such monitors excelling in learning and +authority. When I had argued long in support of my opinion, heaving a +sigh, but making no formal reply to my arguments, he bade me listen to +an apologue: When the lion, worn out with old age, could no longer +obtain his prey by hunting, he fell on the device of inviting the beasts +to visit him in his den. There came to him a bear, a wolf, and a fox. +The bear entered first, and being affably received by the lion, and +conducted round the den, he was asked how he was pleased with the +amenity of the place. Being no courtier, the bear answered bluntly that +he could never stay in such a filthy hole, among heaps of decaying +carcasses. The lion, enraged, chid the bear for finding fault with the +amenity of the royal den, and tearing him up, cast away his carcass +among the others. The wolf, who had been standing by, seeing in what +danger he was, thought by artifice to soothe the haughty mind of the +lion. He accordingly approached, was led round the den, and was asked +whether the smell of the heap of carcasses was unpleasant to him. The +wolf replied, in a carefully considered speech, that he had never seen +anything more pleasant. This artifice, however, was of no avail to the +wolf. The lion meted out the same treatment to him as to the bear, +tearing him up for his impudent flattery. The fox, who had witnessed all +this, and how both the simplicity of the bear and the flattery of the +wolf had given equal offence to the lion, was in great perplexity what +to answer when it came to his turn. He went forward, however, and being +interrogated as the others had been whether the smell of the den was +disagreeable, he replied modestly that he could not express any opinion +on the point, as he was labouring under a cold in the head." Alesius +waited to hear from his host the moral or application of the apologue, +but this was not given by him. He preferred to leave it to his own good +sense, merely counselling him to be cautious of engaging in such +discussions for the present. Ultimately, however, both came to see that +there is a time to speak as well as a time to keep silence; and it is +interesting to note that to the last both observed similar moderation in +their statements of doctrine, both evinced the same desire, by +conciliation to gain opponents, rather than to provoke them, +notwithstanding all the hard usage they both met with from their secular +and ecclesiastical superiors. + +[Sidenote: Befriended by Melanchthon.] + +Soon after this Alesius appears to have passed on from Cologne to +Wittenberg, and there for a time to have resumed the study of theology, +as well as of Greek and Hebrew, under Melanchthon and the other gifted +teachers in that university. Luther he does not seem to have met for a +time, or to have been acquainted with his writings when he published his +_first_[297] treatises. Melanchthon cherished a special affection for +Alesius and the Scottish exiles who soon after followed him to +Wittenberg, believing that they were the descendants of those Scoti who +had sent the early Christian missionaries to Germany, and that it became +him to repay to them the great kindness the heathen Germans had received +from their forefathers in the distant past.[298] + +It was while he was thus occupied that Alesius heard of the cruel edict +of the Scottish bishops, and it hardly admits of doubt that he submitted +to Melanchthon, and got corrected by him, his little treatise against +their decree, forbidding the New Testament Scriptures to be used by the +laity in the vernacular. It is a very pithy and forcible bit of +pleading for the right of the Christian laity to possess and study the +Scriptures in their own tongue. This remarkable treatise struck the true +key-note in the contest it ushered in, and helped it on to victory--a +victory which was substantially to be gained ere Knox had taken his +place among the combatants on the side of the Reformation at all.[299] + +To this epistle Cochlaeus replied without loss of time,[300] and ere the +year was out Alesius rejoined in that Responsio ad Cochlei +calumnias,[301] in which he has given so touching an account of his own +maltreatment, so interesting a statement of his own opinions in matters +of faith and church polity, and so trenchant a reply to the sophistries +and slanders of his opponent.[302] + +[Sidenote: Cochlaeus.] + +This able and, for the age, singularly temperate reply made a deep +impression in England as well as in Scotland, and doubtless prepared the +way for that offer of employment there which two years subsequently was +made him by Cranmer, whom, in his moderation and earnest desire to avoid +a total rupture between the old church and the new life, he then so much +resembled. But whatever its merits, the disputatious Cochlaeus--"der +gewaffnete mann," as Luther sneeringly terms him--was determined that +his opponent should not have the last word in the dispute, and +accordingly in August 1534 he published at Leipsic his Apologia pro +Scotiae Regno adversus personatum Alexandrum Alesium Scotum.[303] In +this treatise he repeats the assertion in his previous one that +Melanchthon, not Alesius, was the author of these epistles. He charges +Alesius with putting lies into the mouth of a foreigner to the discredit +of his native country, and tells him that if he had the power he would +gladly send him away to Scotland with his hands tied behind his back to +be ignominiously punished as a traitor and a public slanderer. His +opponent's minute and temperate narrative of facts appears to have made +no impression on him. He is content magisterially to pronounce it absurd +and incredible, and inconsistent with itself as well as with +probability. He appears in his ire to forget that the king of Scots and +his subjects were better able to judge of its truthfulness than he, a +foreigner, could be; and that after saying all he could for the bishops +and superior clergy in his former reply, he had been obliged to conclude +with the damaging admission that possibly there were "bishops and +prelates who, neither in sanctity of life nor in acquaintance with +sacred learning, responded to or satisfied their dignity and office." + +[Sidenote: Effect of his Treatises.] + +The epistles of Cochlaeus, if abusive and less cogent in reasoning, as +well as less relieved by any sparkle of wit or racy anecdote than those +of Alesius, are certainly written in a more easy and flowing Latin +style, and, in that respect at least, the Scottish prelates had no +reason to be ashamed of the champion who had volunteered his services in +their cause. Nor were they wanting in those more substantial expressions +of their satisfaction which Cochlaeus, like most of the +controversialists of his time, evidently coveted. The Archbishops of St +Andrews and Glasgow testified their gratitude for his services by +sending him liberal presents. The king wrote him a letter, a +contemporary transcript of which is still extant, and also, as is stated +by Cochlaeus himself in a letter to a Polish archbishop, sent him some +more material tokens of his regard.[304] And even the messenger who had +brought over the copies of his first epistle received, as it now +appears, a present of fifty pounds Scots.[305] Alesius, though in quite +another way, did not lack his reward, and it came in the way which he +valued most--the treatises he had written, to a certain extent at least, +got into circulation both in Scotland and in England. They cheered the +hearts of the faithful under all the terrible trials to which they were +subjected in the later years of James's reign, when he seems to have +abandoned his former kindliness, and surrendered himself in a great +measure to the priests and to vicious indulgences. They carried +conviction to the minds of many, and gradually ripened opinion to +demand the right to do publicly what many had learned to do secretly--to +study the Word of God, and especially the New Testament, in their native +tongue. This right was authorised by an Act of the Scottish Parliament +passed in 1543,[306] when Cardinal Betoun was in disgrace, and the +Archbishop of Glasgow was left alone to protest against it. This Act was +the first real victory of the reformed party in Scotland, and it was +mainly due to the able and temperate pleading of Alesius that this great +boon, or indeed I may say this indefeasible right of Christian laymen, +was granted. The same subject had been reverted to by him in his more +elaborate treatise, De authoritate Verbi Dei, which was published in +1542 in Latin, and some time after was translated into English.[307] + +[Sidenote: Erasmus intervenes.] + +One other episode in this controversy remains still to be adverted to. +This is the intervention of the great humanist, Erasmus,--an incident in +his history on which his biographers with one consent have observed a +judicious silence. Nevertheless, the fact is as undoubted as melancholy +that he--who had done so much to promote the freer circulation and +profounder study of the Greek original of the New Testament, and had +even ventured, under the patronage of Pope Leo X., to bring out a Latin +version of the New Testament more true to the original than the Vulgate +version, that those who knew only Latin might understand more fully the +meaning of the original--in his old age, when irritated by the course of +events, and by his controversies with Luther, consented to recommend +this scurrilous pamphleteer to his friends in Scotland. His own letter +is not now extant, or, if extant, is not at present accessible; but the +answer sent to him by the Scottish king has been preserved, like his +letter to Cochlaeus, among the MSS. in the British Museum. It is +sufficient to prove the fact that Erasmus did intervene, and commend to +his Scottish friends a writer who represents Luther's translation of the +New Testament, which more than any other book has made Germany what it +is, as the "pabulum mortis, fomes peccati, velamen malitiae, praetextus +falsae libertatis, inobedientiae praesidium, disciplinae corruptio, +morum depravatio, concordiae dissipatio ... vitiorum scaturigo ... +rebellionis incendium ... charitatis peremptio ... veritatis +perduellio." + +[Sidenote: At Cambridge and London.] + +In 1535 Alesius, having received encouragement from the agents of the +English king then negotiating an alliance with the Protestant princes of +Germany, came over to England with a letter of recommendation from +Melanchthon.[308] He was favourably received by Archbishop Cranmer, by +Crumwell the Vicar-General, and by the king himself, who appointed him +king's scholar, and instructed Crumwell, as Chancellor of the University +of Cambridge, to give him a place as a reader in divinity there. He +accordingly went into residence in Queen's College, the same college +which shortly before had been the home of Erasmus while lecturing in the +university on Greek, and towards the end of the year he began a course +of lectures on the Hebrew Psalter. He is supposed to have been the first +who delivered lectures in Cambridge on the Hebrew Scriptures, but he was +not suffered to do it long in peace. It could not be concealed that he +was a favourer of the new opinions and a friend of Melanchthon, and that +he had, in fact, been recommended by him to the king and the chancellor +of the university. By the time he had entered on the exposition of Psalm +viii. he was challenged by one of the champions of the old learning to a +public disputation, and courageously accepted the challenge; but when +the day appointed for the discussion arrived, his opponent did not +venture to meet him in open fight. He preferred to plot against him in +secret, and to foment tumult among the scholars, till Alesius, finding +that his life was in danger, and that he could not count on the +protection of the university authorities, deemed it his duty to leave +Cambridge and return to London.[309] + +[Sidenote: Returns to the Continent.] + +For the next three years he remained there, supporting himself chiefly +by the practice of medicine, which he studied under a London physician +of note. He occasionally, however, gave assistance to his reforming +friends in the varying fortunes of these unquiet times. He did so +notably in a convocation or a meeting of the superior clergy in 1536 or +1537,[310] being put forward by Cranmer and Crumwell as the chief +spokesman on the reforming side, the opinions of which he defended with +considerable force and ability, so far as the notes of the debates +preserved by Foxe in his 'Acts and Monuments' enable us to judge.[311] +His appearance on this occasion brought him into sharp collision with +Stokesley, Bishop of London. On the other hand, it secured for him the +warm friendship of Cranmer and Latimer, towards both of whom he +continued to the last to cherish a deep affection, and of whose +martyrdom he spoke with so much grief when he published his Commentary +on the First Book of Psalms. While in England, as Thomasius tells us, he +married an English lady, by name Catherine de Mayn; and when Henry VIII. +once more veered round to his former moorings, and passed the bloody +statute of the six articles, insisting _inter alia_ on the doctrine of +Transubstantiation and the celibacy of the clergy, Alesius, like several +other married priests, had to consult his safety and that of his family +by a hurried retreat to the Continent.[312] + +Among those who had to leave England about the same time were John +M'Alpine[313] and John Fyffe--or, as they were henceforth to be surnamed +by Melanchthon, Joannes Macchabaeus and Joannes Fidelis--both, like +Alesius himself, Scotsmen, the former having been prior of the Dominican +monastery at Perth, and the latter an _alumnus_ and teacher in St +Leonard's College. They had, along with several other known favourers of +the Reformation, been obliged to leave Scotland at an earlier period, +and after finding a temporary shelter in England, apparently at +Salisbury, under the protection of Bishop Shaxton, who was then a +favourer of the reformed opinions, were, like Alesius himself, to find +their ultimate home and special work on the Continent--the one in the +University of Copenhagen, the other in the University of Frankfort on +the Oder. They seem to have gone first to Wittenberg, and while the +others for a time resumed their studies there, Alesius almost +immediately on his return was selected by Melanchthon to accompany him +to the colloquy at Worms, and then to that at Regensburg, which were +attended not only by the Lutheran and the Catholic theologians, but also +by Bucer, Calvin, and other reforming divines of Strassburg. So it came +about that Alesius, who had suffered exile in the cause of the +Reformation in Scotland, and still had striven to promote it, was +probably the first of our countrymen to be brought into contact with +Calvin, who was ultimately to exercise so marked an influence on the +form and mode of that Reformation, and who too was then an exile both +from his native land and from the scene of his earlier labours. To the +last Alesius seems to have been the one of his pupils to whom the gentle +and timid Melanchthon most closely clung, and it was by his +recommendation that in the very year of his return to the Continent he +was promoted to be Professor of Divinity in the University of Frankfort +on the Oder. And it is something of which a Scotchman and a St Andrean +may be proud, that the university of that little principality of +Brandenburg, which has since expanded into the great kingdom of Prussia, +was indebted for two of its first Protestant professors of divinity to +Scotland and to St Andrews. + +[Sidenote: Leaves Frankfort for Leipsic.] + +His stay at Frankfort, however, was but short, a controversy having +arisen between him and one of his colleagues about the propriety of +attaching civil punishments to adultery and other offences against the +seventh commandment. In 1542, or early in 1543, he resigned his +professorship, and transferred his family to Leipsic. Melanchthon, who, +though concurring in his opinions, blamed his hasty resignation, yet +exerted himself to procure an appointment for him in the great Saxon +university; so also did Ludovicus Fachsius, at once the Burgomaster and +the head of the Faculty of Law, of whose kindness he makes special +mention in the dedication to his sons of his edition of Melanchthon's +Catechism, which he had used when superintending their religious +instruction.[314] + +[Sidenote: The Perth Martyrs.] + +The remaining twenty-one years of his life were spent busily and +usefully in this famous university, though he suffered somewhat +severely during the Schmalkaldic war and the seige of Leipsic. It was +there that most of his theological treatises were elaborated and +published. He was twice at least chosen Rector of the university--viz., +in 1555 and in 1561.[315] In 1542, as already stated, he published in +Latin the arguments he had used in his disputation with Stokesley, +Bishop of London, on the authority of the Word of God, and against the +doctrine of the seven sacraments, both confirming his former arguments +as to the rights of the Christian laity, and maintaining the supremacy +of Scripture over tradition. He had previously published his inaugural +dissertation in the University of Frankfort, 'De restituendis scholis,' +in which he advocated at length the great need for university training +for the ministers of the protestant churches, and gave a detailed +account of his own opinions, which he affirmed were then in full accord +with those of the Lutheran churches. In 1543, probably before he was +fully settled at Leipsic, it is said that on hearing the news of the +favourable change which had taken place in Scotland on the death of +James V. and the accession of Arran to the regency, he, like many other +Scottish exiles, had serious thoughts of returning home, and availing +himself to the uttermost of this unexpected opportunity which seemed to +be opening for carrying forward the work of the Reformation in the land +which was still dear to him. But before he had fully made up his mind to +follow this course, he fortunately heard that the fickle regent had +already begun to change his policy, and that though the privilege of +freely reading the Scriptures in the vernacular, for which he had so +earnestly contended, was legally secured, the triumph of the Reformation +was by no means so near at hand as at first he had been led to suppose. +Shortly after this, roused by the tidings of fresh persecutions which +had reached him from Scotland, and especially by the account of the +cruel executions of the humble martyrs of Perth by the cardinal and his +party on St Paul's day, 1543-44, Alesius on 23rd April wrote to +Melanchthon in the following terms:-- + +"Three days ago there were here several countrymen of mine, who declare +that the cardinal rules all things at his pleasure in Scotland, and +governs the governor himself. In the town of St Johnston he hung up +four respectable citizens, for no other cause than because they had +requested a monk, in the middle of his sermon, not to depart in his +doctrine from the sacred text, and not to mix up notions of his own with +the words of Christ. Along with these a most respectable matron, +carrying a sucking child in her arms, was haled before the tribunal and +condemned to death by drowning. They report that the constancy of the +woman was such that, when her husband was led to the scaffold and +mounted the ladder, she followed and mounted along with him, and +entreated to be allowed to hang from the same beam. She encouraged him +to be of good cheer, for in a few hours, said she, I shall be with +Christ along with you. They declare also that the governor was inclined +to liberate them, but that the cardinal suborned the nobles to threaten +that they would leave him if the condemned were not put to death. When +the cardinal arrived with his army at Dundee, from which the monks had +been expelled, all the citizens took to flight; and when he saw the town +quite deserted he laughed, and remarked that he had expected to find it +full of Lutherans."[316] + +[Sidenote: He pleads for National Union.] + +[Sidenote: He repels the Cry of Innovation.] + +Before the expiry of that year Alesius addressed to the chief nobles, +prelates, barons, and to the whole people of Scotland, his Cohortatio ad +concordiam pietatis ac doctrinæ Christianæ defensionem. This piece, Dr +Lorimer tells us, "is instinct throughout with the spirit of true +Christian patriotism, as well as with genuine evangelical earnestness +and fervour. Lamenting the distractions of the kingdom by opposing +political factions--the French faction and the English--he [like the +author of the Complaynt of Scotland a few years later] implores his +countrymen to lay aside these divisions, and demonstrates by many +examples from classical history the dangers of national disunion, and +the duty of patriotic concord in defence of the safety and honour of +their common country. His expostulations against the oppression and +cruelty of the bishops, and his allusions to the martyrs who had +suffered in the cause of truth, are full of interest; and his +digression, in particular, upon the character and martyrdom of Patrick +Hamilton, is a noble burst of eloquence and pathos. When he exhorts to +national union he means union in the truth--union in the one great work +of purifying religion and reforming the corruptions of the church of +God. What urgent need there was of such a work he demonstrates at much +length, and with great freedom and faithfulness. Unless the church of +Christ be reformed it must perish from the earth, and those are its +worst enemies, not its real friends, who oppose such indispensable +reform."[317] "Everywhere," he says, "we see the church driven forward +to such reform. Ask even those who are most solicitous for its welfare, +and they will tell you that the church can no longer be safe or free +from troubles unless it be strengthened by the removal of abuses. If +this, then, is a measure of absolute necessity unless we would see the +whole church go to ruin; if all men confess that this should be done, if +facts themselves call with a loud voice that some care should be taken +to relieve the labouring [bark of the] church, to purify her depraved +doctrine, and to reform her whole administration,--why, I demand, are +those maligned and vilified who discover and point out the church's +faults and failings? The proper remedies could not possibly have been +applied till the disease was known; and yet the men who point it out, +warn of its virulence and danger, and wish to alleviate or entirely +remove it, are hated and persecuted as much as if they had been +themselves the cause of all." With equal vigour he repels the cry of +innovation raised against the reformers and their teaching. Their work +was rather an honest attempt at restoration. What they sought, he said, +"was just such a change as would take place in the manners of an age if +the gravity, modesty, and frugality of ancient times were to take the +place of levity, lewdness, luxury, and other vices. Such a change might +be termed the introduction of what was novel, but in fact it was only +the reintroduction of what was old and primitive. Let us," he exclaims, +"have innovation everywhere if only we can get the true for the false, +seriousness for levity, and solid realities for empty dreams." "It is no +new doctrine we bring, but the most ancient, nay rather the eternal +truth, for it proclaims that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the +world to save sinners, and that we are saved by faith in Him. Of Him +even Moses wrote, and to Him give all the prophets witness, that +whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins. This is the +old doctrine which runs through all the ages. Those which are really new +are the doctrines which have obscured or contaminated it, brought in by +those entrusted with the care of the vineyard of the Lord, and who, like +the keepers of the vineyard in the Gospel parable, have maltreated and +slain many of the Lord's messengers." + +This was the last service, so far as we know, which Alesius was able to +render to the cause of the Reformation in his native land, and it did +not fail in due time to produce abundant and lasting fruit. As Major +before him, so Knox after him, strenuously contended for union of +Scotsmen among themselves; and after that, but only after that, for a +league with England rather than with France. They laboured, and others +entered into their labours, and, proceeding on the same lines on which +they had worked, at last brought the conflict to a triumphant issue. +Tidings of their success filled Alesius with joy in the land of his +exile. Even these, however, failed in his old age to tempt him back to +the home of his youth, or the scene of those early struggles which were +so deeply engraven on his memory and heart. And, so far as we know, he +received no call to return from those who were then at the head of +affairs in Scotland, though unquestionably he was more deeply read in +theology than any one of them, and though, as unquestionably, the +faculty of divinity was for several years but poorly supplied in the +universities of Scotland, and preachers of ability, culture, and +learning were very rare in the land. + +[Sidenote: Appreciation of his Services.] + +His life, especially after the close of the Schmalkaldic war, seems to +have passed tranquilly and happily at the great Lutheran University of +Leipsic. He was loved and honoured by his colleagues and by his prince, +and, as I have already hinted, he was the bosom friend and unremitting +correspondent of Melanchthon. As his services had been called into +requisition by the Preceptor Germaniæ at the colloquies of Worms and +Regensburg, so were they sought and got at the colloquy of Saxon +theologians for the preparation of the Leipsic Interim in 1548, at that +of Naumburg in 1554, at that of Nuremberg in 1555, and that of Dresden +in 1561. "In all these"--the Leipsic professor, who on the occasion of +the first centenary of his second rectorship pronounced an oration on +him, affirms that--"he so conducted himself that no one could charge him +with want of perseverance in building up the truth, or of judiciousness +in examining the errors of others, or of faithfulness and dexterity in +the counsels he gave." M'Kenzie, who has inserted a sketch of his career +in his 'Lives of Eminent Scotsmen,' assures us that in the conference of +Naumburg he acquitted himself to the admiration of the whole assembly, +for which he is highly commended by Camerarius in his 'Life of +Melanchthon'; and further, that in the year 1555 the disciples of Andrew +Osiander having raised great dissensions in the city of Nuremberg +respecting the doctrine of justification, Melanchthon made choice of +Alesius as the fittest person to appease them by his wisdom and +learning, and that his management answered Melanchthon's expectations, +though Alesius himself had previously taken a side in the controversy. +In the Majoristic controversy, Alesius, like Melanchthon, so far sided +with Major as to maintain against the extreme Lutherans the necessity of +good works, not to justification, but to final salvation; and in 1560 he +seems to have discussed this question in one of his so-called +_disputationes_. + +With respect to his private life, we are told by Thomasius that he had +by his English wife one son, whose name was Caspar, and who died while +still a youth, and had a monument erected by his father to his memory, +bearing the simple inscription, "Caspari. Filiolo. Alexander. Alesius. +Doctor. Lugens. Posuit." He had at least two daughters. One named +Christina, Thomasius tells us, was married to a German bearing the +classical name Marcus Scipio: she outlived her husband, and died in +1604, in the fifty-ninth year of her age. The name of the other daughter +does not seem to have been known to Thomasius, but as he states that she +was given in marriage in 1557, we can have no doubt that she is the same +Anna whose wedding is referred to in a letter of Alesius to +Melanchthon, recently unearthed, and inviting him and other friends in +Wittenberg to the wedding.[318] + +[Sidenote: His Death.] + +[Sidenote: Deserves a Memorial.] + +Alesius himself died on the 17th March 1565, and was buried at Leipsic; +but no stone was raised, or, if raised, now remains, to tell where his +ashes repose. In all probability it was in his son's grave, in the +church of St Paul, in the city of Leipsic, that his ashes were laid to +rest. The only monuments to his memory reared at the time and still +existing are those furnished by our own John Johnston--second master of +St Mary's College, and colleague of Andrew Melville--in his Latin poems +on the Scottish martyrs and confessors, and entitled Περι Στεφανων and +by Beza in his 'Icones.' Johnston, joining together Macchabaeus and +Alesius, says:-- + + "Sors eadem exilii nobis, vitaeque laborumque, + Ex quo nos Christi conciliavit amor. + Una salus amborum, unum et commune periclum; + Pertulimus pariter praestite cuncta Deo. + Dania te coluit. Me Lipsia culta docentem. + Audiit, et sacros hausit ab ore sonus."[319] + +Beza says, "He was a man dear to all the learned, who would have been a +distinguished ornament of Scotland if that country had recovered the +light of the Gospel at an earlier period; and who, when rejected by +both Scotland and England, was most eagerly embraced by the evangelical +church of Saxony, and continued to be warmly cherished and esteemed by +her to the day of his death." The man who was held in such high esteem +by the reforming Archbishops of Cologne and Canterbury; who was the +bosom friend of Melanchthon; who was highly thought of by Luther, and +warmly eulogised by Beza and Johnston, was certainly not one whose +memory his countrymen should willingly let die. He was unquestionably +the most cultured, probably also the most liberal and conciliatory, of +the Scottish theologians of the sixteenth century. He was the first to +plead publicly before the authorities of the nation for the right of +every household and every individual to have access to the Word of God +in the vernacular tongue, and to impress on parents the sacred duty of +sedulously inculcating its teaching on their children, and therefore, as +Christopher Anderson has said, "the man who struck the first note in +giving a tone to that character," for which his native country has since +been known, and often since commended, as Bible-loving Scotland. Had his +countrymen not so long lost sight of him, perhaps some stone of +remembrance might have been found to his memory in Germany; but surely, +though he was so long an exile, the chief memorial of his birth and +death ought to be in Edinburgh or St Andrews. "There, in reference to +the cause he advocated, no inappropriate emblem" would be "a father and +his child reading the same sacred volume; and, for a motto, in +remembrance of his position at the moment, perhaps his own memorable +quotation of the Athenian, 'Strike, but hear me.'"[320] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[283] [Alesius thus proceeds: "Et in mari inter tempestates et 18 diebus +subtus terram in teterrimo specu inter bufones et serpentes custodivit +(oportet enim me haec alicubi commemorare pro gratitudine erga Deum). +Hic igitur Salvator omnium, maxime fidelium, perficiet id quod per me +facere instituit" (In Alteram ad Timotheum expositio. Autore Alexandro +Alesio. D. Lipsiae, 1551, sign. A 2).] + +[284] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 13, 14. +[D'Aubigné is here following, or rather embellishing, the account which +Alesius thus gives in another of his works: "Pueri, me adhuc puero, +quasdam sententias excerptas ex Joanne, scriptas in membrana, ut illam, +in principio erat verbum, Ecce agnus Dei, &c., Sic Deus dilexit mundum, +Ego sum resurrectio et vita, &c., ac similes, vel auro et argento +inclusas circa collum gestabant, non tam ornamenti causa, quàm quod +magnam vim et virtutem in his collocarent contra incantationes et +pericula, in quae diabolus saepe pueros incautos solet conjicere. Memini +frequenter, et quoties reminiscor, toto corpore cohorresco, me in +praerupto altissimi montis manibus et pedibus reptantem, ac proximum +praecipitio, subito translatum nescio à quo aut quomodo, in alium locum: +et alia vice ex eminentiori deambulacro aedium patris cadentem inter +acervum lapidum poliendorum ad aedificium, servatum esse divinitus. + +"Non tribuo hanc salutem sententiis ex Joanne, quas forsan aliorum +puerorum more circumferebam: sed fidei parentum, qui harum sententiam +mente circumferebant, et pro me orabant. Sed tamen, ut mihi videtur, +magis deceret nobilitatem Christianam, has et similes sententias in auro +et lapidibus preciosis insculptas à collo dependentes circumferre, quàm +ethnicorum Regum ac Caesarum imagines" (Commentarius in Evangelium +Joannis. Basileae, 1553. Epistola Dedicatoria, pp. 14-16).] + +[285] [In a list of names without a heading, he appears as "Alexr. +Allane na. Lau.," which shows that of the nations into which the members +of the university were then classified, he belonged to Lothian. In the +list of determinants he appears as "Allexr. Alan." Opposite his name and +the names of his class-fellows is the word "pauperes," which shows that +they paid no fees.] + +[286] He himself at a later period ingenuously acknowledges that his +arguments in great part were borrowed from the treatise of an English +bishop, namely Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, who at the request of Henry +VIII. had replied to Luther's attack on that monarch. + +[287] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 59, 60. + +[288] Laing's Knox, i. 40, 41. + +[289] [See it so described in the passage quoted, _supra_, p. 240 n.] + +[290] [He calls it a _latrinâ_ in his 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias,' +sign. A v.] + +[291] [Now known as Bishop's Hall.] + +[292] Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign. A vj. + +[293] Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign. A vj. + +[294] Ibid. + +[295] No doubt James Wedderburn, merchant at the West Kirk Style of +Dundee, who carried on a large trade with the Continent, and was known +to be friendly to those holding the reformed opinions. One of his sons +was then studying at St Andrews, and probably had been the means of +communication between the canons and Dundee to secure beforehand a +speedy departure for their fugitive friend. [For many interesting +details concerning the sons of this Dundee merchant, see Dr Mitchell's +Wedderburns and their Work, 1867; and also his edition of The Gude and +Godlie Ballatis, 1897, pp. xvii-xxxii, lxxxiii-civ.] + +[296] [In his Introduction (pp. xviii-xx) to Gau's 'Richt Vay to the +Kingdom of Heuine,' Dr Mitchell says: "The treatise 'De Apostolicis +Traditionibus,' in which he [_i.e._, Alesius] has given an account of +his visit, and of the manner in which he was received by his countrymen +and the reforming preachers of Malmö, is one of the rarest of his minor +treatises, and is not to be found in any of our Scottish libraries, nor +in the British Museum, nor even in the library of the University of +Leipsic, in which he was so long an honoured professor.... Neither the +name of Gau nor that of any other of his countrymen then in the city is +given by Alesius.... Principal Lorimer has ingeniously conjectured that +Gau may have come out to act as chaplain to his countrymen at Malmö. And +I am inclined to accept the conjecture to a modified extent.... At any +rate, we find that before the close of 1533 he was in Denmark, and had +got such an accurate knowledge of the Danish language that he had +translated and published a treatise of considerable length from Danish +into his native Scotch." In the Appendix to the same Introduction (p. +xlv) Dr Mitchell explains that "modern Danish scholars express doubts +whether, in the early part of the 16th century, any nation, save the +German as represented by the Hanseatic League, was organised as a +distinct community at Malmö."] + +[297] [This sentence is interlined, and the word which seems to be +_first_ is rather indistinct.] + +[298] In the preceding narrative I have availed myself of the details +which Alesius has given us of his labours and sufferings in his +commentaries and lesser treatises, and especially in two of the smallest +of them, both published in 1533, the one bearing the title--"Alexandri +Alesii Epistola contra decretum quoddam Episcoporū in Scotia, quod +prohibet legere Noui Testamenti libros lingua vernacula"; the other +"Alexandri Alesii Scotti Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias." + +[299] [The nature of the arguments used by Alesius in this epistle may +be learned from the lengthy extracts quoted in Christopher Anderson's +Annals of the English Bible, 1845, ii. 430-437.] + +[300] [This reply by Cochlaeus, which is dated 6th June 1533, is +entitled: "An Expediat Laicis, legere Noui Testamenti libros lingua +Vernacula? Ad Serenissimvm Scotiæ Regem Iacobum V. Disputatio inter +Alexandrum Alesium Scotum, & Iohannem Cochlæum Germanum. Anno dn̄i +M.D. XXXIII." A beautiful copy of this very rare work was secured at the +Laing sale for the library of the Church of Scotland. There is also a +copy in the Signet Library. A few extracts may be found in Anderson's +Annals, ii. 439-441.] + +[301] [A beautiful copy of this excessively rare tract was also secured +for the Church library at the Laing sale.] + +[302] [For a translation by Dr Mitchell of that part of the Responsio +which relates to the opinions of Alesius, see Appendix E.] + +[303] [Dr Mitchell possessed copies of several of the other tracts of +Cochlaeus, as well as of this: "Pro Scotiae Regno Apologia Iohannis +Cochlei, adversvs personatum Alexandrum Alesium Scotum. Ad Sereniss. +Scotorū regē. M.D.XXXIIII." It ends: "Excusum Lipsiae apud +Michaelem Blum."] + +[304] [Alesius says: "I was at Antwerp whan a contryman of myne, whose +name was John Foster, did send a somme of mony unto Cochleus by a +marchant from the Bisshop of S. Andrews, which geveth him yerely so long +as he liveth a certen stipend. And it chanced by the goodnes of God, +wherby He discloseth the wickednes of these hipocytes (_sic_), that a +pistle of Cochleus which he sent unto a certen bisshop of Pole came unto +my handes, wherin he complayneth that he hath gret losse and evel +fortune in setting forth of bokes, for as moch as no man wil wetesaue to +rede his bokes. And he beggeth a yerely stipend of the bisshops of Pole, +saing that he hath bene nobly rewarded of the King of Scottys and of the +Archbisshop of S. Andrews and of the Bisshop of Glasguo" ('Of the +Auctorite of the Word of God').] + +[305] [From the Treasurer's Accounts, as quoted by M'Crie, it appears +that the servant who brought over his book received £10 (M'Crie's Knox, +1855, p. 321 n.).] + +[306] [15th March 1542-43 (Acts of Parliament, ii. 415).] + +[307] [The title is: "De Avthoritate Verbi Dei Liber Alexandri Alesij, +contra Episcopum Lundensem. An. M.D.XLII." The preface is dated: +"Francfordiae ad Oderam. Calend. Maijs. an. Domini M.D.XL." The colophon +is: "Argentorati apvd Cratonem Mylivm an. M.D.XLII. mense Septembri." +The translation, which is in black-letter, bears no date, place, or +printer's name. For a copy of its title, see _infra_, p. 268 n.] + +[308] [Alesius says that he was the bearer of the Loci Theologici, which +he had persuaded Melanchthon to dedicate to Henry VIII. (Foreign +Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 525).] + +[309] [He was in London during the time of the trial and execution of +Anne Boleyn. He sent Elizabeth an account of a dream or vision which he +then had. See Appendix F.] + +[310] [There is "great uncertainty" as to whether this meeting took +place in 1536 or 1537 (Hardwick's Reformation, 1883, p. 182 n.). The +year 1537 is given by Alesius in his 'De Avthoritate Verbi Dei' (p. 18), +and is repeated in the translation. In the latter it is said: "Contrary +to all my expectacion I chanced to fall agayn into such a disputacyon as +I was in before, and in maner with like adversarys.... Unto this +disputacion I came sodenly unprepared, for as I did mete bi chance in +the streate the right excellent Lord Crumwel going unto the Parlament +Howse in the yeare 1537, he whan he sawe me called me unto him, and toke +me with him to the Parlament House to Westmyster (_sic_), where we fownd +all the bisshops gathered together."] + +[311] Cattley's Foxe, v. 381-384. [The whole of this account, as Cattley +points out, is taken by Foxe almost _verbatim_ from a statement made by +Alesius himself in his rare tract entitled, _Of the Auctorite of the +Word of God agaynst the Bisshop of London, wherein are conteyned certen +disputacyons had in the Parlament Howse betwene the Bisshops, abowt the +nomber of the Sacraments, and other things very necessary to be known: +made by Alexander Alane Scot and sent to the Duke of Saxon_. Christopher +Anderson says that this translation of the tract De Authoritate Verbi +Dei Liber was made by Edmund _Allen_. So completely had the original +name of Alesius dropped out of knowledge that Anderson actually charges +the printer with committing "a strange blunder in the title." Believing +that _Ales_ was the real name of Alesius, he thought that the printer +had divided the name of the author between the author and the translator +('Annals of the English Bible,' ii. 479 n.).] + +[312] [For the circumstances of his departure, see Appendix G.] + +[313] [For M'Alpine, see Gau's Richt Vay, Introd., p. xii.] + +[314] "I owe much," he says, "to your father, who received me most +hospitably at my first coming hither, and, in name of Duke Maurice (now +Elector of Saxony), invited me to give my services to this famous +university, and retained me here some years after, when I was called +elsewhere" (_i.e._, probably Königsberg), "promising me the favour and +grace of the most illustrious prince elector. Finally, after the war, he +encouraged me, then hesitating, to write to the elector to beg the +restitution of my books and other effects, which I had lost at the time +of the siege of this city, kindly offering his best services in +rendering my supplicatory letter to the prince, by which, however, he +only succeeded in securing that the elector, when departing from his own +dominions to attend the imperial diet, should give instructions on the +matter to his counsellors whom he had left at home, and should deliver +to be sent on to me a letter full of kindness through Damianus +Sybothendorff, secretary to his highness." + +[315] On the former of which occasions he inscribed the following +paragraph in the matriculation book of the university: "Anno MDLV, die +23 Aprilis, qui Divo Georgio sacer est, et quo existimo me natum esse, +supputatis retro LV annis, ego Alexander Alesius, gente Scotus, Patriâ +Edinburgensis, atavis consulibus, qui duobus regibus, Jacobo Quinto, et +Henrico Octavo, et quatuor electoribus, Johanni Friderico, Mauricio et +Augusto, Ducibus Saxoniae, et Joachimo Electori Brandeburgensi +inservivi, invitus suscepi officium rectoris universitatis scholae in +inclytâ urbe Lipsiâ." + +[316] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 112, 113. [The Perth +martyrs are noticed above, pp. 53, 54. See also Laing's Knox, i. 117, +118, 523-526.] + +[317] Lorimer's Scottish Reformation, 1860, pp. 115, 116. [The +quotations from the Cohortatio which follow agree substantially with +those given by Dr Lorimer, but many of the variations in the phraseology +show that Dr Mitchell had the original as well as Lorimer's translation +before him when he wrote.] + +[318] See Appendix H. + +[319] M'Crie's Knox, 1855, p. 462. + +[320] Anderson's Annals of the English Bible, 1845, ii. 485. For a list +of the published writings of Alesius see Appendix I. + + + + +APPENDIX A (p. 19). + +THE PÆDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.[321] + + +St Mary's College, if in one sense the youngest, is in another sense the +oldest, college within the University. It occupies the earliest site of +the University, and gathers up into itself not only the old +_Pædagogium_, but also a still older college. In January 1418 ... a +certain _Robertus de Monte Rosarum_ mortified a site on the south side +of South Street, with the buildings thereon, as a college for the study +of theology and arts. This was the strip of ground on which the eastern +portion of the Library, as well as the new south wing, now stands, but +on which, in the oldest bird's-eye view of the city, a sort of +collegiate building is represented as standing. That was undoubtedly the +College, or Hall, or "Inns" of St John, to which repeated reference is +made in the oldest manuscript records of the University. It had probably +a lecture-room, rooms for the students to lodge in, and a chapel also, +dedicated to St John the Evangelist, in which daily service was +maintained, but, so far as we now know, it was very poorly endowed. + +In 1430 Bishop Wardlaw, the illustrious founder of the University, +mortified as a site for a _Pædagogium_ or common school for the faculty +of arts the strip of land and buildings thereon immediately to the west +of St John's College--the frontage now covered by the western portion of +the Library, the porch of St Mary's College, and the Principal's house. +After the erection and endowment of St Salvator's College by Bishop +Kennedy, and of St Leonard's College by Prior Hepburn, the attendance on +the _Pædagogium_, which was but slenderly endowed, seems to have fallen +off, and the number of its regents to have been curtailed. Archbishop +Alexander Stewart, the favourite pupil of Erasmus, and one of the most +accomplished of our long line of chancellors, was the first who formed +the purpose of enlarging and endowing Bishop Wardlaw's foundation, but +his life was prematurely brought to a close on the fatal field of +Flodden. His successor, Andrew Forman, appears to have taken no interest +in the work on which Stewart had set his heart. But James Betoun, who +came next in succession, acted a nobler part. He brought with him from +Glasgow John Major--the one great schoolman of whom Scotland in the +sixteenth century could boast, who had upheld the reputation of his +country in the University of Paris as an able and successful teacher of +the philosophy and theology of the day. Major and Patrick Hamilton--the +one the representative of the old, the other of the new learning--were +incorporated into the University of St Andrews on the same day (9th June +1523); and, for at least two years, the former presided over the +_Pædagogium_, and probably lectured both on philosophy and theology. In +1525-26 he returned to Paris, partly that he might publish there his +commentaries on the Gospels, and partly that he might act again as a +teacher in that wider sphere; but a few years later, on a vacancy +occurring in the principality of St Salvator's College, he returned to +St Andrews, and continued in that more lucrative charge till his death. + +It was mainly in his last years, however, that James Betoun set himself +in right earnest to complete the work which Archbishop Stewart had +begun. At his solicitation Pope Paul III., on 12th February 1537, issued +a bull annexing the teinds of the church of Tannadice, in Forfarshire, +and of the wealthier church of Tyninghame, in East Lothian, to the old +foundation, and erecting it into a privileged college under the title of +the Blessed Mary of the Assumption. In this college, medicine, law, and +theology, as well as arts, were henceforth to be taught, and the +privilege was granted to it of conferring degrees in all lawful +faculties, and of conferring them on those who had gained their +knowledge elsewhere as well as on those who had studied within the +college--in fact, making it almost a university within the University, +and conceding to it more extensive powers than were conceded to many +universities. His first work was to replace the decaying buildings of +the _Pædagogium_ by others more massive and commodious. That work was +far from finished at the time of his death, and having been intermitted +by his successor [the cardinal], was only completed by Archbishop +Hamilton, who, with papal sanction, reconstituted the college and added +to its endowments. + +Early, however, in 1538, the first staff of teachers entered on their +work as a college organised and equipped "_ut militans Dei ecclesia +indies abundet viris litterarum scientiâ præditis_," and few +institutions through a long and eventful history have more illustriously +fulfilled this object, though in another sense than its founders meant, +and handed on the torch of sacred learning from generation to +generation. Bannerman, who succeeded Major, had the honour of +reorganising the old institution and starting it on its new career. +Archibald Hay, who came next, was the child of the Renaissance, and more +in earnest about religion than many of that school; and, had his life +been spared, and the cardinal given heed to his counsels, the old Church +might have been able to make a better fight for privilege or for life in +the struggle which ensued. John Douglas, his successor, bridged the +passage from the old to the new without any violent break, probably +taking part with Wynram in the composition of Archbishop Hamilton's +Catechism, as he did afterwards in the preparation of the Reformed +Confession of Faith and the First Book of Discipline. He was a man of +the ancient academic type, content to live in single blessedness, to +treat his pupils, who also lived in college, with the familiarity and +affection of a father. He had the honour of training the youthful Andrew +Melville, and perhaps it was with some presentiment of his future +eminence that, as he held the precocious youth between his knees at the +college fire, he fondly said, "My sillie fatherless and motherless +chyld, it is ill to wit what God may mak of thee yit." + +God watched over that weakly youth, and prospered his studies at Paris, +Poictiers, and Geneva, so that with a mind stored with all the learning +of his time, he returned to his native land to complete the reformation +of its universities, and to delight successive generations of students +by his stores of learning and wit, and by his accessibility and +generosity. It was to meet his ideas of what a theological school should +be that the college was set apart "allenarly" for the study of theology, +and furnished with professors of the Old and the New Testament, who were +to "expone" the various books of Scripture as well as to read them in +the original, comparing the Hebrew of the Old Testament with the +Septuagint and the Chaldee paraphrases, and the Greek of the New +Testament with the old Syriac translation, while the principal was to +teach the _loci communes_ or the systematic theology of the age. The +first assistants in the "wark of theology" were Mr John Robertson, who +acted as _professor Novi Testamenti_, and his own nephew, James +Melville, who taught Hebrew and the Old Testament, and to whom we owe +that graphic diary which gives us several interesting glimpses of +college life in those early days. To John Robertson succeeded Mr John +Johnston, author of Latin poems in praise of our reformers and martyrs, +and of Latin verses descriptive of the line of our Scottish kings. + +Melville was by no means an illiberal theologian, and he and Johnston +wrote to the Protestant churches of France urging moderation on them in +controversies which were then being discussed with great bitterness. +Both lived with and for their pupils, and secured in an unusual degree +their reverence and affection. Both ultimately lost the favour of the +king; and Melville, after being cruelly used in London, had to spend his +declining years in the French Protestant University of Sedan. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[321] [This is taken from a paper on "St Mary's College," contributed by +Dr Mitchell to the "Student's Handbook to the University of St Andrews," +1895, pp. 12-15.] + + + + +APPENDIX B (p. 30). + +CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON + +E FORMULARI VETERE ANDREANO. + +_Citatio super suspecto de heresi ad faciendum purgationem alias ad +videndum [ipsum] hereticum declarari._ + + +Jacobus etc., Decano Christianitatis nostre de L[audonia] Universisque +et singulis aliis Dominis rectoribus, vicariis perpetuis, capellanis +curatis et non curatis per provinciam nostram S[ti Andree] ubilibet +constitutis, Illique vel illis ad quem vel ad quos presentes litere +pervenerint, Salutem cum benedictione divina: Quia per fidelem +inquisitionem aliter de mandato nostro legitime receptam compertum +extitit quendam Magistrum P[atricium] H[amilton] de heresi multiplici +suspectum, quem citandum et desuper accusandum antea decrevimus, sed +medio tempore relictâ patriâ ad alia et extera se transtulit loca, nuper +autem vagante fama ad aures nostras clamorosa insinuatione pervenit +Ipsum nuperrime in patriam reversum et quod primo statim adventu non +debite missus nec prerogativis aut privilegiis debitis munitus, sed +propriâ auctoritate et temerariâ presumptione, predicationis officium de +heresi ei designata acceptare ausus est, et suas hereticas pravitates et +perversas Martini Lutheri heretici alias ab ecclesia damnati et suorum +fautorum ac sequacium opiniones promulgare, docens seminansve et +pertinaciter affirmans, ac populum Christianum de eisdem instruere non +erubescit, indeque simplices et illiteratos hujus regni Christi fideles +qui in se et progenitoribus per tanta temporis curricula, spatio viz. +mille et trecentorum annorum et ultra in ecclesiâ Dei constantissime +militaverunt, a verâ nostrâ orthodoxâ fide et catholica ecclesia +seducere, et quantum in eo est pervertere nititur et proponit, dicendo +predicando et temerario ausu inter alia palam et publice affirmando:-- + +Legibus, canonibus, patrum sanctionibus et decretis, humanis quoque +constitutionibus non esse obtemperandum; Claves et censuras ecclesie +contempnendas, nec sacramentis ejusdem fidendum, Templa non esse +frequentanda, nec ymagines adorandas, pro defunctorum animabus non esse +exorandum; nec decimas Deo et ecclesie solvendas; pro bonis operibus +nullum fore salutis premium nec pro malis cruciatum; Nostros +progenitores in ecclesia Dei et ejusdem sacramentis fidentes in malâ et +iniquâ fide esse mortuos et in inferno sepultos:-- + +Aliaque dictu et recitatu saltem inter Christianos et fideles horrenda +et nephanda predicat docet et affirmat in Dei viventis claviumque +ecclesie ac nostre fidei orthodoxe contemptum, regni et reipublice +ejusdem damnum scandalum et, digna Dei ultione, si premissis favere +incipiat, sperandam ruinam, animabusque perpetrantium gravissimum +periculum nisi remedio succurratur oportuno: In quibus omnibus et +singulis idem Magister P. communi voce et famâ ex publicâ et notoria +ejusdem predicatione orta de heresi suspectus reputatur, habetur et +divulgatur. Consilio igitur desuper recepto ipsum citandum et de +premissis experiendum decrevimus: Quare vobis et vestrum cuilibet nos +precipimus et mandamus, quatenus citetis legitime dictum Magistrum P. H. +primo, secundo, tertio et peremptorie etc. quod compareat personaliter +coram [nobis] nostrisque consulibus Dn̄is Episcopis, Abbatibus, +Prioribus, sacrarum literarum Professoribus, et Religiosis, aliisque +nobis pro tempore assistentibus, in ecclesiâ nostrâ Metropolitanâ S[ti +Andree] regni Scotie primatiali, die _N_ mensis _N_ proxime futuris, +horâ decimâ antemeridiana vel eo circa, ad respondendum nobis ex officio +de et super suis pertinaciter dictis, affirmatis, predicatis, +divulgatis, tentis et disputatis contra nostram orthodoxam fidem et +sanctam ecclesiam catholicam; et propterea ad videndum et audiendum +ipsum hereticum declarari, et penâ condignâ a canonibus propterea latâ +et imperatâ puniendum fore et puniri debere; superque adherentiâ et +favoribus prestitis peregrinis opinionibus et pravitatibus dicti Martini +Lutheri, heretici ab ecclesiâ damnati, et suorum sequacium; ac aliis +interrogandis similiter reddendis, et tanquam heretice pravitatis +fautorem et male de fide sentientem accusandum fore et accusari ac +condempnari debere. Testimonia quoque et probationes, si necesse fuerit, +desuper recipi, jurari, et admitti; ac in premissis omnibus et singulis +summarie et de plano sine strepitu et figurâ judicii prout juris fuerit +procedendum fore et procedi debere; Vel ad allegandum causam +rationabilem quare premissa fieri non deberent; Cum intimatione debita, +ut moris est, intimamus eidem quod sive dictis die et loco comparere +curaverit sive non comparuerit Nos nihilominus in premissis omnibus et +singulis procedere volumus et intendimus justitiâ mediante; Imprimis +absentiâ seu contumaciâ in aliquo non obstante; et ne periculum sit in +mora, et ut interim hujus hereses in hoc regno hucusque ab omni tali +labe et hereticâ peste per tanta temporis spatia sano, et post Christi +Salvatoris susceptam fidem inviolabiliter preservato, non oriantur nec +per Christi fideles audiantur, vobis omnibus et singulis supradictis, +modo et forma premissis precipimus et mandamus, quatenus auctoritate +nostra inhibentes omnibus et singulis Christi fidelibus cujuscunque +dignitatis, status, gradus, ordinis aut conditionis existant, ne dicto +Magistro P. sic ut premittitur, de heresi suspecto, favorem, +assistentiam, societatem, colloquium seu gratam audientiam praebeant; +nec in suis temerariis et insolentibus predicationibus disputationibus +seu conventiclis publice vel occulte quovis quesito colore vel ingenio +conveniant seu presentiam exhibeant; sed sibi et suis saltem de +premissis fautoribus resistere studeant, resistentiamque faciant et +procurent; ab illo quoque edendo, bibendo aut communicando in premissis +abstineant, donec de heresi et infamia desuper ortâ purgetur, et eundem +vitent sub penâ excommunicationis majoris; Quam contrarium facientes +incurrere volumus et decernimus ipso facto. Et quos vos, etc. Datum, +etc. + + + + +APPENDIX C (p. 46). + +CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE. + + +"While ... he was possessed," Mr M'Bain tells us, "of eminent qualities, +he led, in many respects, anything but a moral life. His favourite +mistress was Marion Ogilvie, daughter of Sir James, afterwards Lord, +Ogilvie of Airlie, to whom [as Abbot of Arbroath] he granted a liferent +lease of the lands of Burnton of Ethie, and other lands near the place, +for a small sum of money _and other causes_. This was on the 22nd of May +1528. On the 20th of July 1530, he granted her a liferent lease of the +Kirkton of St Vigeans, with the muir-fauld and the toft of St Vigeans, +and a piece of common land lying to the south of the church. On 17th +February 1533-34, she obtained a nineteen years' lease of the eighth +part of the lands of Auchmithie [lying to the north-east of Ethie], with +the brew-house there, and the lands belonging to it, and on 10th March +1534[-35] there is the record of a feu to her of a piece of land in the +'Sandpots,' for the construction of a toral or ustrina lying 'beyond and +near the red wall of the monastery commonly so called'" (Eminent +Arbroathians, 1897, pp. 37, 38). For these facts Mr M'Bain has the +authority of the 'Registrum de Aberbrothoc,' Bannatyne Club, ii. 482, +500, 519, 521. On p. 482 are the words: "Pro certa summa pecunie et +aliis causis assedat pro toto tempore vite Mariote Ogylwy subtenentibus +coadjutoribus et assignatis," &c. Mr M'Bain adds: "It is not known by +whom Ethie House was built, but it was [one of the mansions belonging to +the abbey and] a favourite residence of David Beaton and Marion Ogilvie, +his mistress.... After Beaton's death a natural daughter of his by +Marion Ogilvie laid claim to the furniture in Ethie House, if not to the +house itself.... But Ethie was not the only place in the neighbourhood +occupied by David Beaton and Marion Ogilvie. In 1542 he acquired the +barony of Melgund, and erected the castle in which he and his mistress +and their children resided. The Beaton and the Ogilvie arms are still to +be seen in one of the rooms. The initials 'D.B.' are over one window, +and 'M.O.' over the other; while on the corbal of the stair leading to +this room are the Ogilvie arms, and the initials 'M.O.' ... David Beaton +settled the property of Melgund on his mistress in liferent, and on his +eldest son David in fee" (Eminent Arbroathians, pp. 38, 39). + +[According to Dr Joseph Robertson, "Cardinal Beaton had five bastards" +('Concilia Scotiæ,' ii. 302). There is record evidence, however, to show +that he had at least seven. On the 4th of November 1539, three of his +sons were legitimated in the following terms: "Rex dedit literas +legitimationis Jacobo Betoun, Alexandro Betoun et Johanni Betoun, +bastardis, filiis naturalibus Davidis archiepiscopis S. Andree, &c." +(Register of Great Seal, iii. No. 2037). He had also a son David (Ibid., +No. 1931), and three daughters, Elizabeth (Ibid., Nos. 1274, 2330), +Margaret, and Agnes (Ibid., iv. Nos. 1353, 2740; 'Liber Officialis +Sancti Andree,' Abbotsford Club, p. 158).] + + + + +APPENDIX D (p. 124). + +CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF THE WHITE LADIES AT +FRANKFORT WAS GRANTED TO THE ENGLISH EXILES. + + +"Nun war bey Ankunft der Engelländer eine Kirche in Frankfurt, die +einigen französischen Protestanten zum Gebrauch eingeräumt war, welche +nun auch zum Behuf der Engelländer in Vorschlag gebracht, und am 14 +Julii ihnen wirklich angewiesen wurde. Doch machte der Rath gewisse +Ordnungen, und suchte die Sache also einzurichten, das allerlei +Disputen, die etwa entstehen mögten, der Weg verlaget wurde. Die +vornehmsten waren diese: (_a_) dass die Engelländer und Franzosen +einerley Lehre und Ceremonien führen sollten; Daher sollten jene (_b_) +der Franzosen Glaubensbekäntniss, das diese N.B. dem Rath überreichet +hatten, unterschreiben. (_c_) Liessen sich die Engelländer gefallen, +dass das Volk bey dem gemeinen Gebet das Amen nicht mehr laut sagen +sollte, wie sonst in der Kirche von Engelland üblich ist. (_d_) Dass die +Prediger das weisse Chorhemde, nebst vielen andern in Engelland +eingeführten Ceremonien abschaffen sollten, als welche den Einwohnern, +die solcher Dinge ungewohnt wären, einstossig seyn könnten. Und was der +gleichen Umstände mehr waren, welche die Engelländer, um desto eher zum +Stande zu kommen, freiwillig eingiengen."--J. Hildebrand Withof, +'Vertheidigung der.... Nachricht wie es mit V. Pollane erstem +Reformirten Prediger zu Frankfurt-am-Mayn ... zugegangen,' 1753, folio. + + + + +APPENDIX E (p. 260). + +THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS. + +(_From the 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias.'_) + + +"With all his scribbling, he [_i.e._, Cochlaeus] has never yet, so far +as I know, disclosed what are his own opinions about Christian doctrine; +and therefore his empty and scurrilous treatises miss their mark, and +are justly held in derision by learned men.... But I, renowned monarch, +that you may know that my alliance is with the Church of Christ and not +with any other factions, do not refuse before you and other good men to +give a simple and clear account of my faith as I formerly wrote to you, +for I believe the prophetical and apostolical Scriptures, and embrace +the consensus of the holy fathers whom the Church approves. I also +reverence the ecclesiastical authority, being one who, especially in +doubtful matters, will obey and follow its decisions. Does Cochlaeus ask +anything further? I myself will add, I approve of nothing seditious. +With my whole heart and soul I abhor the ravings of the Anabaptists. No +new doctrine, unsupported by the testimony of the ancient Church, is +acceptable to me. Further still, as I do not undertake the defence of +Luther, so, on the other hand, I do not approve of all the dreams of the +monks which have been received, not only contrary to the decision of the +Scripture, but also to the authority of the ancient church. Moreover, I +cannot approve of the cruelty which is everywhere being practised +against those who, following the judgment of Scripture and of the +fathers, reject or censure any manifest abuse or error that in the +course of time may have crept into the Church. Such is my faith, O +Cochlaeus, use it if you are pleased with it; if not, show me a better. +If the unjust punishments inflicted on the truly pious afford you +pleasure, you are not only a miserable, but a contemptible wretch. I +neither can nor will ever knowingly burden or pollute my conscience by +approving of these parricides. I saw in my own country the punishment of +one, born in a most honourable station, and innocent of any serious +crime, Patrick [Hamilton]. I saw burned at Cologne two men of pious and +orthodox sentiments, and most averse to the fanatical opinions of the +Anabaptists. Nor can I express in words how deeply I was grieved by +these mournful spectacles. And I did not grieve only over the fate of +those who were punished, in whom because, as the poet says, 'grace shone +through their very anguish,' their singular bravery and constancy +brought some alleviation to my grief; but much more did I grieve over +the fate of the Church, which is disordered in many ways, and likely yet +to be more so, by the practice of such cruelty. Finally, there is no +doubt that the State will, in God's appointed time, have to suffer +heaviest punishment for its guilt in permitting such parricides; yet I +do not impugn the laws as to the punishment of heretics, if only there +is due cognition of each case, and care is taken that those who are +really innocent of perverting the true Christian faith may not be +punished." + +Then follows a paragraph of great importance in itself, and of almost as +much from the light it casts on its author's state of mind, and, +perhaps, also on Melanchthon's, at that particular time:-- + +"I myself also desire moderation in certain things on the part of the +Lutherans, and reasonableness. To this they may be recalled if the +matters in dispute are duly examined into. It is the duty of the bishops +to do their utmost that learned men of either side should lovingly +confer together on Christian doctrine, that some one certain form of +doctrine, founded only upon the Word of God and the teaching of the +primitive fathers, should be framed; and if this were done, the Church +might easily be brought to coalesce again into one body. Nor do I doubt +that good men on both sides are so disposed that they would not only +willingly proffer their opinions, but also yield their individual +convictions if they should hear more weighty reasons from the other +side. For it is tyrannical, and specially unbecoming in a theologian, to +do that which the son reproves in the tyrant, his father, in the +tragedy. He wishes, the son says, to speak but to hear nothing in reply. +At present the good men who are most desirous to provide some remedy for +public evils keep silence, and secretly bewail the fate of the Church, +not only alarmed by fear of those in power, but crushed by a sort of +despair in this so great madness of slanderers, who have become so +domineering that they would suffer no one but themselves to gain a +hearing." + + + + +[APPENDIX F (p. 267). + +THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE DECAPITATION OF ANNE +BOLEYN. + + +I take to witness Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, that I +am about to speak the truth. On the day upon which the Queen was +beheaded, at sunrise between two and three o'clock, there was revealed +to me (whether I was asleep or awake I know not) the Queen's neck after +her head had been cut off, and this so plainly that I could count the +nerves, the veins, and the arteries. + +Terrified by this dream, or vision, I immediately arose, and, crossing +the river Thames, I came to Lambeth (this is the name of the Archbishop +of Canterbury's palace), and I entered the garden in which he was +walking. + +When the archbishop saw me, he inquired why I had come so early, for the +clock had not yet struck four. I answered that I had been horrified in +my sleep, and I told him the whole occurrence. He continued in silent +wonder for a while, and at length broke out into these words, "Do not +you know what is to happen to-day?" and when I answered that I had +remained at home since the date of the Queen's imprisonment, and knew +nothing of what was going on, the archbishop then raised his eyes to +heaven and said, "She who has been the Queen of England upon earth will +to-day become a queen in heaven." So great was his grief that he could +say nothing more, and then he burst into tears. + +Terrified at this announcement, I return[ed] to London sorrowing. +Although my lodging was not far distant from the place of execution, yet +I could not become an eye-witness to the butchery of such an illustrious +lady, and of the exalted personages who were beheaded along with +her.--(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 528).] + + + + +[APPENDIX G (p. 269). + +THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND. + + +As soon as the king [_i.e._, Henry VIII.] began to hate her [_i.e._, +Anne Boleyn], laws hostile to the purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared. +When I could not bear these with a good conscience, nor could my +profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of +the ordinary reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the +king's orders), I came to the Court, and asked for my dismissal by means +of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years with empty hopes, +until it was decreed and confirmed by law that married priests should be +separated from their wives and punished at the king's pleasure. But +before this law was published, the Bishop of Canterbury sent Lord +Pachet [_i.e._ Paget] from Lambeth to me at London.... He directed me to +call upon the archbishop early in the morning. When I called upon him, +"Happy man that you are," said he, "you can escape! I wish that I might +do the same; truly my see would be no hindrance to me. You must make +haste to escape before the island is blocked up, unless you are willing +to sign the decree, as I have, compelled by fear. I repent of what I +have done. And if I had known that my only punishment would have been +deposition from the archbishopric (as I hear that my Lord Latimer is +deposed), of a truth I would not have subscribed. I am grieved, however, +that you have been deprived of your salary for three years by +Crumwell;[322] that you have no funds for your travelling expenses, and +that I have no ready money. Nor dare I mention this to my friends, lest +the king should become aware that warning had been given by me for you +to escape, and that I have provided you with the means of travelling. I +give you, however, this ring as a token of my friendship. It once +belonged to Thomas Wolsey, and it was presented to me by the king when +he gave me the archbishopric." + +When I heard what the bishop had to say, I immediately caused my +property to be sold, and I concealed myself in the house of a German +sailor until the ship was ready, in which I embarked, dressed as a +soldier, along with other German troops, that I might not be detected. +When I had escaped a company of searchers, I wrote to Crumwell (although +he had not behaved well towards me) and warned him of the danger in +which he stood at that time, and about certain other matters. For this I +can vouch the testimony of John Ales, Gregory, and the Secretary, and +Pachet himself. But Christopher Mount said that Crumwell did not dare +to speak to me when I was going away and soliciting my dismissal, nor +could he venture to give me anything, lest he should be accused to the +king, but that he would send the sum that he owed me into Germany.[323] + +The next intelligence, however, which I heard of him was that he had +undergone capital punishment by order of the king; to whom he had +written, when in prison, saying that he was punished by the just +judgment of God, because he had loved the king more than God; and that +out of deference to his sovereign he had caused many innocent persons to +be put to death, not sparing your [_i.e._, Elizabeth's] most holy +mother, nor had he obeyed her directions in promoting the doctrine of +the Gospel.--(Foreign Calendar, Elizabeth, i. 532-534).] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[322] [In Crumwell's accounts there are payments of £5 to Alesius on +each of the following dates: 4th January 1536-37, 28th March, 28th May, +and 24th October 1537; of 10 merks, on 19th February 1537-38; and of £5, +on 13th October 1538, to Ric. Morison, which he gave "by my lord's +command" to Alesius (Letters and State Papers, Henry VIII., vol. xiv. +part ii. 328-338).] + +[323] [Alesius arrived at Wittenberg on the 9th of July 1539, and from +thence informed Crumwell that he was encouraged to hope that he would +receive a post in the University there (Letters and State Papers, Henry +VIII., vol. xiv. part i. 583, 584). Melanchthon wrote to the Elector's +chancellor, on the 1st of December 1539, recommending him for the +University of Frankfort (Corpus Reformatorum, iii. 842-844).] + + + + +APPENDIX H (p. 281). + +ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING. + + +Nockau, 11 _August_ 1557. + +ALEXANDER ALESIUS AU MELANCHTHON. + +S.D. Quod fœlix faustumque sit. Dilectissima filia mea Anna, cui +nomen in baptismo indidit bonæ memoriæ primogenita vestra, desponsata +est honesto iuveni Martino Luxsolario (nam solem etiam pro insigni +habet), doctoris Martini filio, petente id sua matre per cognatos et +affines, et suadentibus communibus amicis nostris. Dictus est autem +dies nuptiarum ultimus Augusti, circa quod tempus vos ad colloquium +profecturum (_sic_) spero. Peto igitur reverenter et amanter, ut una cum +honestissima coniuge vestra, genero, filia ac nepte nuptias vestra +praesentia ornare velitis. Existimo autem magistrum Paulum, amanuensem +vestrum, una venturum, sed tamen ut eum cum uxore invitetis meis verbis +ad nuptias oro. Scitis autem summum sacerdotem et pontificem nostrum +filium Dei, qui primos parentes in paradyso copulavit, et non minore +magnificentia quam sapientia et potencia suam ordinationem contra +sophistica et tyrannidem diaboli et multiplicem ingratitudinem nostram +defendit, ut totam actionem, ita etiam invitacionem hospitum et communia +officia sua presentia et primo miraculo comprobasse[t] ac monstrasse[t], +quantum dilectetur (_sic_) istis congressibus. Nos autem parentes et +amici, sponsi et sponsae, una cum eis, pro hoc officio et molestia +profectionis gratitudinem pollicemur per omnem occasionem. + +Ex pago Nockau postridie Laurentii 1557. + +ALEXANDER ALESIUS. + +_Adresse:_ Clarissimo et ornatissimo viro d. Philippo Melanchthoni, suo +præceptori carissimo. + + + + +APPENDIX I (p. 283). + +THE WORKS OF ALESIUS. + + +The following is a list of the published writings of Alesius, so far as +I have been able to trace them:-- + +1. Epistola contra decretum quoddam Episcoporum in Scotia, 1533. [For a +full copy of the title see p. 259 n. No place, date, or printer's name +is given on the title-page. This small 8vo consists of only 14 leaves. +It begins: "Inclyto Regis Scotorum D. Iacobo Quinto Duci Albaniæ, +Principi Hiberniæ & Orchadum Domino suo clementissimo Allexander Alesius +S. D." At the end there is the date, "Anno. M.D.XXXIII." In Cooper's +'Athenae Cantabrigienses' (i. 239), 1542 and 1543 are given as the dates +of other two editions.] + +2. Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, 1533. [The full title is: "Alexandri +Alesii Scotti Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias." No place, date, or +printer's name is given.] + +3. Oratio de Gratitudine et Restituendis Scholis. Lipsiæ (?), 1541. [In +the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' the 'Oratio de Gratitudine' and the 'De +Restituendis Scholis' are entered as separate works published in Leipsic +in 1541. They may, however, have been also issued as one. In the 'Corpus +Reformatorum,' xi. 251-257, is printed the "Oratio de Gratitudine M. +Alexandri Alesii Scoti, Decani, in promotione Magistrorum anno +M.D.XXXIV." The full title of the other is: "De Restitvendis Scholis +Oratio habita ab Alexdro (_sic_) Alesio, in celebri Academia +Frācofordiana ad Oderam. An. M.D.XL. Mense Iunio. Francofordiæ apud +Ioannem Hanaw." The dedication ends: "Francofordiæ ad Oderam calēdis +Iunij. An. M.D.XL." There are only 19 leaves in this small tract.] + +4. De Auctore et Utilitate Psalmorum. 1542. + +5. De Auctoritate Verbi Dei contra Episcopum Lundensem. 1542. [See p. +264 n.] + +6. Of the Auctorite of the Word of God agaynst the Bisshop of London. +[For a full copy of the title, see p. 268 n. This small 8vo black-letter +tract of 46 leaves bears no place, date, or printer's name. In the +British Museum Catal., _Leipsic_ is given as the probable place of +printing, and 1537 as the supposed date. Perhaps the date has been +inferred from the opening sentence of the tract: "Abowt V yere agone I +wrote to the noble king of Scottys the father of my contry complanning +of a certen proclamacyon wherin the bisshops had forbidden the Holy +Scripture to be redd in the mother tong." It is rather curious that in +the Latin version this sentence runs thus; "Ante _biennium_ scripsi +inclyto regi Scotorum patri meæ patriæ, et questus sum de edicto quodam, +quo episcopi prohibebant lectionem sacrorum librorum lingua patria."] + +7. Cohortatio ad concordiam pietatis ac doctrinæ Christianæ defensionem. +Lipsiæ, 1544. + +8. [De Argvmento Epistolae ad Romanos Dispvtatio prima, pvblice +proposita in celebri Academia Lipsensi, et in ordinaria dispvtatione +defensa, praesidente Alexandro Alesio, sacrae theologiae doctore. +Lipsiae in officina Valenttini Papae. anno M.D.XLVII. This small 8vo +tract of 8 leaves is printed in italics.] + +9. Ordo Distributionis Sacramenti Altaris in Regno Angliæ. 1548. [This +is a translation of 'The Order of the Communion,' which has been +re-printed for the Parker Society in 'The Two Liturgies of Edward VI.' +In the British Museum Catal., it is mentioned that the translator's +address to the reader is signed: 'A. A. S. D. Th.'--_i.e._, "Alexander +Alesius, Scotus, Doctor Theologiæ." See also Coverdale's Remains, Parker +Society, p. 525 n.] + +10. Epitome Catechismi D. P. Melanchthonis cui addita est expositio +symboli et Orationis Dominicæ. 1550. + +11. Commentarius in Epistolam Primam Si Pauli ad Timotheum. Lipsiæ, +1550. + +12. Commentarius in Epistolam Secundam Si Pauli ad Timotheum. Lipsiæ, +1551. [The exact title of this is: "In Alteram ad Timotheum Expositio. +Avtore Alexandro Alesio. D. Lipsiæ, excvdebat Georgivs Hantzsch anno +M.D.LI."] + +13. Ordinatio Ecclesiæ in Regno Angliæ. 1551. [This is a translation of +the 'First Liturgy of Edward VI.' As a translation it is somewhat +adversely criticised in the 'Liturgical Services of Queen Elizabeth,' +Parker Society, pp. xxiv-xxvii. The full title is: "Ordinatio Ecclesiae, +sev Ministerii Ecclesiastici, in Florentissimo Regno Angliæ, conscripta +sermone patrio, & in Latinam linguam bona fide conuersa, & ad +consolationem ecclesiarum Christi, ubicunque locorum ac gentium, his +tristissimis temporibus, edita, ab Alexandro Alesio Scoto sacrae +theologiae doctore. Lipsiae in officina VVolfgangi Gvnteri. Anno +M.D.LI." The copy of this 4to in the Edinburgh University Library +belonged to Drummond of Hawthornden. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' +1619 and 1690 are given as the dates of two 8vo editions.] + +14. Commentarius in Epistolam S. Pauli ad Titum. Lipsiæ, 1552. [The full +title of this is: "Epistolae ad Titvm Expositio, in qva pleraque +tractantur per quæstiones, ut à pueris facilius percipi, & retineri +possint. Nulla est autem sententia in tota Epistola praetermissa, quae +non sit explicata: Et de Syntaxi, & Figura sermonis, ac genuina +significatione dictionū passim disputatur. Praelecta Lipsiae, ab +Alexandra Alesio. D. Lipsiae, in officina typographica Georgii Hantzsch. +M.D.LII."] + +15. Refutatio errorum Andreæ Osiandri de Justificatione. Wittembergæ, +1552. [The full title is: "Alexandri Alesii Doctoris Theologiae diligens +refutatio errorum, quos sparsit nuper Andreas Osiander in libro, cui +titulum fecit: De Vnico Mediatore Christo. Edita VVitebergæ ex officina +Ioannis Lufftij anno 1552." In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' it is +stated that an edition was also printed at Leipsic in 1553.] + +16. Commentarius in Evangelium Joannis. Lipsiæ, 1552. Basilii, 1553. +[The full title is: "Commentarivs in Euangelium Ioannis, praelectvs in +celebri Academia Lipsensi, ab Alexandro Alesio D. Theologo, anno Domini +1552. Cum locuplete rerum & uerborum memorabilium indice. Basileae, per +Ioannem Oporinum." The colophon is: "Basileae, ex officina Ioannis +Oporini, anno salutis humanae M.D.LIII. Mense Martio." This volume +contains over 600 pages.] + +17. Disputatio in XIIII. cap. Rom. Disputt. et Orr. aliquot Francoforti +habitæ 1540 et 1541. [The full title is: "In Capvt XIIII. Epistolae +Pavli ad Romanos, Dispvtatio Alexandri Alesii Theologiae D. Lipsiae, +M.D.XLVI." This tract of 6 leaves, with the exception of the title-page +and the heading, is printed in italics.] + +18. Omnes Disputationes Alexandri Alesii in Epistolam Si Pauli ad +Romanos. Lipsiæ, 1553. [The full title is: "Omnes Dispvtationes D. +Alexandri Alesii de tota Epistola ad Romanos diversis temporibvs +propositae ab ipso in celebri Academia Lipsensi, et a mvltis doctis +viris expetitae, iam tandem collectae per Georgivm Hantsch, et editae in +gratiam stvdiosorvm. Cvm praefatione Philippi Melanchthonis. M.D.LIII." +In the British Museum Catal. Wittenberg is entered as the supposed place +of publication. In the sale catal. of the Makellar Library there is the +item: "Alesius (Alex. Scotus) De Paulina Argumentatione, capiti secundo +ad Romanos, Ideo inexcusabilis es, o Homo quis-quis es qui Judicus +(_sic_), Disputatio Sexta, ... s. l. anno 1549." See also _supra_, Nos. +8 and 17.] + +19. Primus Liber Psalmorum Davidis. Lipsiæ, 1550, 1554. + +20. Disputationes Tres De Mediatore et Justificatione hominis. Lipsiæ, +1554. + +21. Responsio ad Tapperum de Missâ et Cœna Domini. Lipsiæ. [In the +'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' 1565 is given as the date of publication.] + +22. Contra horrendas Serveti Blasphemias Disputationes Tres. Lipsiæ, +1554. [These disputations were probably issued separately and were +supplemented by a fourth. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' there is the +entry: "Contra Michaelem Servetum ejusque blasphemias disp. iii. +Leipsic, 8vo. 1554"; and also this other: "Contra horrendas Serveti +blasphemias disputatio quarta. Leipsic, 8^{vo.} 1555."] + +23. Disputatio de Perpetuo Consensu Ecclesiæ. Lipsiæ, 1553(?), 1556. + +24. Ad libellum Ludovici Nogarolæ comitis De Traditionibus Apostolicis +et earum necessitate Responsio Alexandri Alesii D. Lip. 1556. [For the +rarity of this tract see _supra_, p. 255 n. In his Introduction to Gau, +Dr Mitchell gives as the alternate title: "Apostolicæ institutiones a +Ludovico Nogarola Com. in parvum libellum collectæ et ab Alexandro +Alesio in Disputationem propositæ in celebri Academia Lipsiensi. Lipsiæ, +Excudebat Georgius Hantzsch, 1556." 8vo.] + +25. Responsio ad Duos et triginta Articulos Theologorum Lovaniensium. +Lipsiæ, 1559. [In the sale catalogue of the Makellar Library 1545 is +given as the year of publication. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' 1549 +is given.] + +26. Assertio Doctrinæ Ecclesiæ Catholicæ de Sancta Trinitate, cum +confutatione erroris Valentini Gentilis. 1564 (?). [British Museum +Catalogue gives Geneva, 1567.] + +27. Edinburgi Regiæ Scotorum Urbis Descriptio. Bannatyne Club +Miscellany, vol. i. [This description of Edinburgh was sent by Alesius +to Sebastian Munster for his "Cosmography," printed at Basle in 1550, +and republished in 1572. There are translations of it in Mackenzie's +Lives and Characters of Scots Writers, ii. 400, 401; and in Chambers' +Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh; and in Hume Brown's Scotland before +1700.] + +28. [Congratulatory letter to Queen Elizabeth, dated at Leipsic, 1st +September 1559. The original holograph of twenty pages and a slip is +still preserved. A translation of most of it is given in the Calendar of +Foreign State Papers, Reign of Elizabeth, i. 524-534.] + +[There are copies of Nos. 5, 12, 14, 15, 16 (1553), and 18 in St Andrews +University Library; of No. 2 in the Church of Scotland Library, +Edinburgh; of No. 16 (1553) in the Signet Library; of No. 8 in the +Advocates'; of Nos. 2, 3 (De Restituendis Scholis), 5, 13, 16 (1553), +and 17 in the Edinburgh University Library; and of Nos. 1, 6, 7, 9, 10, +12, 13, 15, 16 (1553), 18, 19 (1554), 23 (1556), and 26 in the British +Museum. Nos. 27 and 28 are in all important public libraries. At Laing's +sale, No. 1 brought £6, 5s.; No. 2, £17, 17s.; No. 5, £6; No. 6, £4; No. +13, £10; No. 15, £5, 17s. 6d.; No. 16, £5, 10s.; and No. 18 (with which +was bound up "Sarcerius de Scholasticae Theologiae Vanitate"), £6. In +the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' the following six items, which are not in +the above list, are mentioned: "Disputatio de Justitia Dei et Justitia +hominis coram Deo. Leipsic, 1553." "De utriusque naturae officiis in +Christo." "De distincta Christi hypostasi." "Preface to Gardiner upon +obedience. Translated from English to Latin." "De Balaei Vocatione. +Translated from English." "Ordinationes Anglorum Ecclesiae per Bucerum. +Translated from English to Latin." In connection with the last, see +'Liturgical Services of Queen Elizabeth,' Parker Society, p. xxv, n. 3.] + + + + +[ADDENDA. + + +Page 20. _Patrick Hamilton's admission to the Faculty of Arts in St +Andrews University._--The entry in the 'Acta Facultatis Artium' runs +thus: "Congregatione artium facultatis, in Nouis Scolis eiusdem tenta +tercio die mensis Octobris, anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo vigesimo +quarto, Magister Johannes Ba[l]four regentium senior Collegij Sancti +Saluatoris in quodlibetarium est electus; et Magister Patricius +Hamiltone, abbas de Ferne, Rossensis diocesis, in facultatem est +receptus." + +Page 117. _Two sacraments only._--In the Preface to the Book of Common +Order it is said that "for the ministration of the two sacraments, our +Booke giveth sufficient proofe" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 395; Laing's +Knox, iv. 164). In the Confession used in the English congregation at +Geneva only two are referred to (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 9; Laing's +Knox, iv. 172); in "the Maner to Examine Children" their number is said +to be two (Laing's Knox, vi. 344); and in Calvin's Catechism, printed +with the Book of Common Order, it is emphatically declared that there +are two only (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 233). + +Page 121. _The language of Rev. xiv. 11._--In the text of the Confession +the passage runs thus: "For sik as now delyte in vanity, cruelty, +filthynes, superstition or idolatry, sal be adjudged to the fire +unquencheable: in quhilk they sall be tormented for ever, asweill in +their awin bodyes, as in their saules, quhilk now they give to serve +the devill in all abhomination" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 96, 97). As +printed in Laing's Knox (ii. 120) the word "inextinguishable," and in +the Acts of Parliament (ii. 534; iii. 22) the word "unstancheabill," is +used instead of "unquencheable." In Dunlop, however, there is in +addition, at the bottom of the page, in smaller type: "Rev. 14. 10. The +same shall drynke the wyne of the wrath of God, which is poured in the +cuppe of hys wrath. And he shall be punyshed in fyre and brymstone +before the holy angells, and before the Lambe. And the smooke of theyr +torment ascendeth up evermore, and they have no rest daye nor nyght, +whyche worshyppe the beast and hys ymage." + +Page 153. _Readers or exhorters._--The name _exhorter_ does not occur in +the First Book of Discipline; but that "sort of readers" therein +mentioned as having "some gift of exhortation" (Dunlop's Confessions, +ii. 537; Laing's Knox, ii. 200) soon came to be known as exhorters, and +are so named in various Acts of Assembly; see, for example, the Act of +1564 quoted on p. 128. They are distinguished from readers in the +'Register of Ministers, Exhorters, and Readers,' printed for the +Maitland Club; but, as David Laing has pointed out, the title of +exhorter as indicating an advanced class seems to have been soon and +silently dropped. "On comparing the list of the persons so styled in +1567 with that of 1574, we find some of them had become ministers, but +the greater number are entered simply as readers" (Wodrow Miscellany, p. +323). + +Page 233. _Conference between the two parties._--Besides the three +conferences mentioned in the footnote, there was another held in the +early summer of 1578. The results, as recorded in the Booke of the +Universall Kirk (ii. 414, 415) and in Calderwood's History (iii. 412, +413), embrace nothing about the kirk-session, beyond the perpetuity of +the persons of the elders. + +Page 259. _Alesius at Wittenberg._--Through the influence of Luther and +Melanchthon, the Elector of Saxony had conferred on Alesius the prebend +of Aldenburgh. Being in greats straits for money, and having been +disappointed of help otherwise, he was constrained to write from +Wittenberg, on the 12th of December 1533, to Spalatinus, requesting him +to obtain payment of the moiety of the prebend (Corpus Reformatorum, ii. +690, 691). + +Page 261. _The disputatious Cochlaeus._--On the suggestion of +Melanchthon, an attack in verse was made on Cochlaeus for his injustice +to Alesius; but the timorous author so dreaded Cochlaeus that, instead +of writing in his own name, he personated Alesius (Corpus Reformatorum, +iv. 1025, 1026). + +Page 265. _Erasmus and Cochlaeus._--Summaries of the letters which James +V. wrote, on the 1st of July 1534, to Erasmus, to Cochlaeus, and to the +King of the Romans, are in the Letters and State Papers of Henry VIII., +vol. vii. p. 358. + +Page 267. _Alesius as a physician._--"I determined with my self to serve +the tyme and to change the preaching of the crosse with the scyence of +physic wherin I had a litle sight before, and thus I went unto a very +well-lerned phisycian called Doctor Nicolas, which hath practised phisyk +in London thes many yeares with high prayse, whose company I dyd use +certen yeares, wherby I did both see and lern many things, even the +principal poyntes concerning that science. In so moch that at length +certen of my frindes did move me to take in hand to practise, which +thing I did I trust not unluckyly" (Of the Auctorite of the Word of God +agaynst the Bisshop of London). + +Page 268. _Latimer and Cranmer._--For the opinion of Alesius on Latimer +and Cranmer, see Dr Mitchell's Westminster Assembly, 1883, p. 14 n., and +p. 23 n. + +Page 268 n. _Ales or Alesius._--Christopher Anderson may be excused for +supposing that Ales was the real name of Alesius; but less can be said +for those editors of State Papers and compilers of important Library +Catalogues who have helped to perpetuate the error long after it was +pointed out by Principal Lorimer in his Patrick Hamilton. + +Page 269. _John M'Alpine and John Fyffe._--From a correction which Dr +Mitchell has made in his own copy of the 'Gude and Godlie Ballatis,' +1897, p. cv, it seems that he had come to the conclusion that it was +M'Alpine and _Macdowal_, not _Fyffe_, who were protected by Bishop +Shaxton. Cf. Lorimer's Patrick Hamilton, pp. 186, 187.] + + + + +CORRIGENDA. + +[Transcriber's Note: These corrigenda have been applied to this version +of the text.] + + +P. 119, line 4 from bottom. _After_ contained _insert_ in. + +P. 240, line 14. _For_ oedibus _read_ aedibus. + + + + +INDEX. + + +Acton, Lord, quotation from 'Lecture on the Study of History' by, 2 fn. + +Acts of Parliament referred to, 15, 23, 50, 51, 53, 226, 233, 264. + +Adamson, Archbishop, 102, 195, 199. + +À Kempis, 3. + +Alane, Alexander, 36, 239, 242 + --not Ales, 268 fn., 309 + --see Alesius. + +Alasco, John, reference to 'Summa Doctrina' by, 109, 117 + --his congregation at London, 126 + --on the office of bishop, 154 + --'Modus ac Ritus Excommunicationis' and 'Forma ac Ratio Public + Penitentiæ' by, 165. + +Ales, John, 299. + +Alesius, 10, 11 fn., 17, 22, 32, 33 fn., 36 _et seq._, 51, 75, 80, + 239 _et seq._ + --his treatise against the decree of the Scottish Bishops, 37, 259 + --a miraculous escape, 240 + --at College, 242 + --discussions with Patrick Hamilton, 243 + --his account of Patrick Hepburn, 245 + --assaulted and imprisoned, 247 + --his escape, 251 + --at Malmö, 255 + --at Cologne, 256 + --befriended by Melanchthon at Wittenberg, 259, 308 + --his controversy with Cochlaeus, 260 _et seq._ + --the intervention of Erasmus, 264 + --at Cambridge, 266 + --at London, 267 + --his dispute with Stokesley, _ib._, 268 + --marries Catherine de Mayne, 268 + --returns to the Continent, 269 + --appointed Professor of Divinity in Frankfort University, 270 + --Professor in Leipsic University, 271 + --the Perth Martyrs, 273 + --he pleads for National Union, 275 + --his public and private life, 279 + --his family, 280 + --his death, 281 + --his theological opinions, 295 _et seq._ + --his dream concerning Anne Boleyn, 297 + --his departure from England, 298 + --a letter to Melanchthon, 300 + --his works 301 _et seq._ + --prebend of Aldenburgh conferred on him, 309 + --one writes in his name, _ib._ + --he practises as a physician, _ib._ + --his name not _Ales_, _ib._ + +Allen, Edmund, 268 fn. + +Anderson, Rev. Christopher, reference to 'Annals of the English Bible' by, + 239, 260 fns., 268 fn., 283 fn. + +Anderson, William, 53. + +Anselm, 3, 17. + +Arbuckill, Friar, 121 fn. + +Archebald, Sir James, vicar of Lintrathin, 128 fn., 183 fn. + +Argyll, the Duke of, 215. + +Arminianism, discussion on, 119. + +Arran, Earl of, 50 _et seq._, 273. + +Arth, William, 35 fn. + +Assembly, General, 160-162. + +Augustine, 3, 119 fn. + + +Baillie, Principal, 138 fn. + +Bain's Calendar quoted, 86 fn. + +Balnaves on Justification quoted, 113 fn. + +Bannatyne's Memoriales, 187 fn., 189, 192 fn., 194 fn., 198 fn., + 205 fn. _et seq._ + +Bayle, 80, 204. + +Benedict XIII., 16. + +Betoun, Archbishop James, 22, 24 _et seq._, 30 fn., 34, 42, 74, 245, + 246, 262, 286, 287. + +Betoun, Cardinal, 11 fn., 36, 42 _et seq._, 54 _et seq._, 57, 60, 68-74, + 81, 245, 264, 273, 274, 287 + --his seven children, 292. + +Beza, 36, 281, 282. + +Boleyn, Anne, 267 fn., 297. + +'Booke of the Universall Kirk' referred to, 13 fn., 117 fn., 118 fn., + 128 fn., 198 fn., 218 fn., 227 fn., 233 fn. + +Borthwick, Sir John, 38 fn. + +Bothwell, Earl of, 72. + +Bradwardine, 17. + +Brown, Mr Hume, references to 'John Knox' by, 11 fn., 55 fn., 124 fn. + +Bucer, 270. + +Buchanan, George, 17, 22, 40, 49, 73. + +Burton's 'History' referred to, 215, 219. + + +Caithness, Bishop of, 198. + +Calderwood, 137, 142--his 'Altare Damascenum' referred to, 137 _et seq._ + --'History' referred to, 33 fn., _et passim._ + +Calumnies, Popish, 202 _et seq._ + +Calvin, 17, 80, 88, 90, 105 fn., 106 fn., 107, 112, 115, 116, 124, 125, + 147, 163, 164 fn., 168, 170, 187, 204, 215, 216, 270. + +Cambridge, 58, 266, 298. + +Campbell, Friar, 29, 32. + +Campbell of Cessnock, 16. + +Catechism, Hamilton's, 8 fn., 287 + --Calvin's, 103, 112 + --Heidelberg, 103 + --Melanchthon's, 271. + +Cattley's 'Foxe' referred to, 33 fn., 39 fn., 59 fn., 70 fn., 74 fn., + 268 fn. + +Charters, Andrew, 41. + +Church, the medieval, corruption and decay of, 7 _et seq._ + --the reforming priests of, 12 _et seq._ + +Cistercian Nuns, or White Ladies, at Frankfort, 125, 294. + +Cochlaeus, 260 _et seq._, 295, 309. + +Cocklaw, Thomas, 41. + +Colace, William, 192. + +Cole, Thos., 125 fn. + +Common Order, Book of, its origin, 123 _et seq._ + --its authority, 127 + --early practice in Scotland, 128 _et seq._ + --Knox and the English liturgy, 130 _et seq._ + --a guide or model only, 132 _et seq._ + --testimony of Calderwood, Baillie, Row, and Henderson, 137 _et seq._ + --practice in other Reformed churches, 141 + --its evidence on Church government, 145, 147 _et seq._ + --on discipline, 163 _et seq._ + --on Church members, 170. + +Conæus, 11 fn. + +Confession, First Helvetic, 58, 77 + --Later Helvetic, 103, 113, 147 + --Westminster, 107, 110, 118, 122, 234 + --of English congregation at Geneva, 107, 120 + --of 1616, 117 fn., 118. + +Confession of 1560, the Scottish, its preparation, 99 _et seq._ + --alleged omission of a chapter, 101 + --its character, 102 _et seq._ + --the supreme authority of the Scriptures, 103 + --the fall and the remedy, _ib._, 105 + --the eternal decree, 107 + --influence of John Alasco, 109, 117 + --the effectual call, 110 + --justification, 111 _et seq._ + --notes of the True Church, 114 _et seq._ + --the sacraments, 116 _et seq._ + --compared with later confessions, 118 _et seq._, 122 + --its unmeasured language, 120 _et seq._ + +Constable's 'Major' referred to, 18 fn. + +Cook, Dr George, of St Andrews, 231. + +Cook, Dr, of Haddington, 231. + +Cook, Procurator, 232. + +Cook's 'History of the Reformation' referred to, 61 fn. + +Coverdale, Miles, 150. + +Craig, John, 187. + +Cranmer, Archbishop, 58, 254, 266, 268, 282, 297, 298, 299, 309. + +Craw or Crawar, Paul, 15. + +Croc, Le, 201. + +Crumwell, 37 fn., 266-268, 298-300. + +Cunningham, Principal, 231 + --his 'Church History of Scotland' quoted, 214. + + +D'Ailley, 18. + +Dalgleish, Nicol, 192. + +Dalrymple's 'Lesley' referred to, 28 fn. + +'Dalyell's Scottish Poems' quoted, 195 fn. + +D'Aubigné's 'Reformation in the Time of Calvin' referred to, 26 fn., + 33 fn., 42 _et seq._, 48 fn., 80 fn., 239, 241 fn., 243 fn., 250. + +Davidson, John, 188, 192, 197. + +Declaration, the Large (or King's), 142, 143. + +Discipline, the First Book of, its preparation, 99, 144 + --the government of the Church, 145 _et seq._ + --the discipline of the Church, 162 _et seq._ + --discipline under Prelacy, 167 + --the prerogatives and duties of Church members, 169 _et seq._ + --education of the young and university reform, 174 _et seq._ + --care of the poor, 179 _et seq._ + +Discipline, the Second Book of, compared with the First Book, 214 _et seq._ + --the authority of the king, 217 + --the limits of ecclesiastical authority, 219 _et seq._ + --influence of the Second Book not unmixed, 225 + --its authority, 226 + --its theory of the Church, 227 + --institution of the presbytery, 229 _et seq._ + --the Westminster doctrine of the Church, 234 _et seq._ + --the ideal presbytery, 237. + +'Diurnal of Occurrents' referred to, 38 fn., 39 fn. + +Dore's 'Old Bibles' quoted, 91 fn. + +Douglas, John, 99, 144, 193 + --is made Archbishop, 198 + --his parentage, 199 fn. + --Principal of St Mary's College, 287, 288. + +Dunbar, Archbishop of Glasgow, 262, 264. + +Dundee, 41, 54, 60, 62-65, 71, 75, 76, 94, 158 fn. + +Dundrennan, Thomas, Abbot of, 16 fn. + +Dunlop's 'Collection of Confessions' referred to, 102 fn. _et passim._ + +Durie, Mr John, 194, 206. + + +Ebrard, 14. + +Edinburgh, 38, 41, 89, 93, 158 fn., 187, 190, 200, 239-241. + +Education, 9, 174 _et seq._ + +Edward VI., 87, 88, 130, 131. + +Erasmus, 21, 24, 264, 309. + +Erskine of Dun, 40, 56 _et seq._, 78, 94. + +Ethie House, 57, 293. + +Eugenius the Fourth, Pope, 17. + +Exactions of pre-Reformation Church, 9, 179 _et seq._ + +Exercise, or Prophesying, 153, 159, 170 _et seq._, 229. + +Exhorters, 152, 153, 308. + + +Fachsius, Ludovicus, 271. + +Farel, 125. + +Felix the Fifth, 17 fn. + +Ferne, 20, 307. + +Fisher, Bishop, 243. + +Forbes, Bishop, 10. + +Fordun, 16. + +Forman, Archbishop, 43 fn. + +Forrest, Henry, 35. + +Forret, Thomas, vicar of Dollar, 41. + +Foster, John, 263 fn. + +Foxe's 'Acts and Monuments,' see Cattley. + +Frankfort on the Oder, 40, 88, 109, 124, 126, 149 fn., 150, 269, 270, 272. + +'Frankfort, Troubles at,' 124 fn., 125. + +Frith, 26. + +Fyffe, John, 40, 269, 310. + + +Gau, Gaw, or Gall, John, 255 + --his 'Richt Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine' referred to, 33 fn., 255 fn. + +Geneva, 89-91, 125, 149, 158 fn., 288. + +Gerson, 18. + +Gilby, Ant., 125 fn. + +Gillespie, George, 158 fn. + --his 'Aaron's Rod Blossoming' quoted, 222 _et seq._ + --'Assertion of the Government' referred to, 229 fn., 232. + +Glasgow martyr, 15. + +Gordon, Bishop of Galloway, 130. + +Gourlay, Norman, burned for marrying, 39. + +Grimani, 55. + +Grindal, Archbishop, 91, 150 fn., 160. + +Grosteste, 17. + +Grub's 'History,' 118 fn. + +'Gude and Godlie Ballatis' referred to, 67, 74 fn., 76 fn. + +Guise, Mary of, 11 fn., 46, 93, 94, 192. + + +Haag, quotation from 'La France Protestant' by, 168. + +Hailes, Lord, 161. + +Hamilton, Archibald, 192, 193, 202, 203, 205. + +Hamilton, James, 39. + +Hamilton, James, Bishop of Argyle, 20. + +Hamilton, John, Abbot of Paisley, Archbishop of St Andrews, 18, 51, 82, + 146, 188, 287 + --his Catechism, 8 fn., 287. + +Hamilton, John, apostate, 193. + +Hamilton, Patrick, 17, 19 _et seq._ + --birth and early years, 20 + --studies abroad, 21 + --returns to Scotland and is received into St Andrews University, 22 + --preaches the reformed faith, 24 + --summoned to appear before Archbishop Betoun, 25 + --escapes to the Continent, 26 + --his final return to Scotland, 27 + --invited to a friendly conference at St Andrews, 28 + --seized and condemned, 30 + --his martyrdom, 31 _et seq._ + --sources of information, 33 fn. + --effect of his death, 34 _et seq._, 37, 73, 75, 242, 243, 244, 275, + 286, 289, 296, 307 + +'Hamilton Papers' quoted, 52 fn. + +Hardwick's 'Reformation' referred to, 267 fn. + +Harrison, quotation from article on 'Freeman's Method of History' by, 2 fn. + +Hay, Mr L., Bass, 227 fn. + +Hay, Principal, 11 fn., 287. + +Heidelberg Catechism, 103 + +Henderson, Alexander, 142, 166 fn., 231 + --his 'Government and Order of the Church of Scotland' quoted, 140, 237 + +Henry VIII., 49, 266 fn., 268, 298. + +Hepburn, Bishop, 57. + +Hepburn, Prior John, 242, 244, 286. + +Hepburn, Prior Patrick, 36, 40, 46, 74, 244-247, 249, 250, 252, 253. + +Honorius III., 161. + +Hooper, Bishop, 98. + +Hunter, James, 53. + + +Innes, Taylor, reference to 'John Knox' by, 209 fn. + +James V., 23, 38, 39, 44, 46 _et seq._, 192, 247-249, 263 fn., 273. + +James VI., 131, 143 fn., 166, 168. + +Johnston, John, 281, 288. + +Johnston, Rev. T. P., reference to 'Patrick Hamilton' by, 33 fn. + + +Kennedy, Bishop, 9, 17, 286. + +Kennedy, Quintine, Abbot of Crossraguel, 127, 203. + +Kincavel, 20. + +Kirkcaldy of Grange, 208. + +Kirk-session, or lesser eldership, 158, 232, 233, 308. + +Knox, 6, 10, 11 fn., 13 fn., 18, 33 fn. + --early life and education, 79 + --leader of the Reformation, 80 + --settles in St Andrews, 82 + --called to the ministry, 83 + --a galley slave, 85 + --obtains release, 86 + --his work among the English, _ib. et seq._ + --five years exile, 88 _et seq._ + --a visit to Scotland, 89 + --returns to Scotland, 93 + --at Dundee, 94 + --preaches at St Andrews, 95 _et seq._ + --the reformed worship established throughout Scotland, 97 _et seq._ + --the old Scottish Confession of 1560, 99 _et seq._ + --Knox's Liturgy, 123 _et seq._ + --the First Book of Discipline, 144 _et seq._ + --his last days, 184 _et seq._ + --leaves Edinburgh, 187 + --preaching in St Andrews, 188 _et seq._ + --James Melville's impression of Knox, 191 _et seq._ + --returns to Edinburgh, 200 + --Popish calumnies, 202 _et seq._ + --his last illness and death, 205 _et seq._, 216, 278. + +Knox's Liturgy, _see_ Common Order, Book of. + + +Laing, Dr David, 10, 22, 102 fn., 231 + --his 'Knox' referred to, 13 fn. _et passim_ + --his 'Lindsay's Poetical Works' referred to, 83 fn. + +Lamb, Robert, 53. + +Lambert, of Avignon, 26, 27 + --his 'Commentary on the Apocalypse' referred to, 33 fn. + +Lang, Mr Andrew, 71. + +Latimer, Bishop, 58, 268, 299, 309. + +Laud's Liturgy, 133. + +Lawsone, Mr James, 195, 201, 203, 205, 207. + +Lay-elders, the term, 229. + +Leckprevick, Robert, printer, 194, 195. + +Lee, Principal, 113 fn., 231 + --quotation from 'Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland' by, + 115, 199 fn. + +Lees, Dr Cameron, reference to 'St Giles' by, 201 fn. + +Leipsic, 271, 272, 279, 281. + +Lemon's 'State Papers' referred to, 37 fn., 44 fns., 69 fn. + +Lesley's 'History' referred to, 24 fn., 39 fn., 85 fn., 129 fn., 192 fn. + --'De Origine' referred to, 28 fn. + +Leslie, Dr, of Fordoun, 60, 61 fn. + +Lethington, Laird of, 101, 186. + +Lindores, Laurence, Abbot of, 15. + +Lindsay, Mr David, 198, 207. + +Lindsay, Sir David, 10, 11 fn., 81, 83, 182 + --reference to 'Tragedy of the Cardinal' by, 73. + +Liturgy of Edward VI., 77, 128, 130, 131, 154 fn. + +Lock, Mrs, 13 fn., 130. + +Logie, Gavin, 40. + +Logie, Robert, 41. + +Lollards, persecution in Scotland of, 15 _et seq._ + +Lorimer, Principal, his 'Patrick Hamilton, the first Preacher and Martyr + of the Scottish Reformation,' referred to, 26, 33 fn., 310 + --'Scottish Reformation' referred to, 41 fn., 69, 75 fn., 81 fn., 239, + 244, 274 fn., 275, 276 fn. + --'Knox and the Church of England' referred to, 77, 132 fn. + --article in 'British and Foreign Evangelical Review' by, referred to, + 185. + +Luther, 6, 19, 21, 26, 28, 38, 67, 80, 115, 116, 163, 204, 216, 243, 254, + 261, 265, 282, 295. + +Lyne, John, 41. + + +M'Alpine, 40, 269, 310. + +M'Crie, Dr, 231--'Melville' referred to, 15 fn., 195 fn. + --'Life of Knox' referred to, 40 fn., 93 fn., 129 fn., 188 fn., 201, + 205 fn., 281 fn. + +M'Dowal, 40, 310. + +M'Kenzie's 'Lives of Eminent Scotsmen,' 279. + +Magdalene, Queen, 192 fn. + +'Maitland Miscellany,' 120 fn. + +Major, John, 17 _et seq._, 21, 22, 34, 79, 242, 278, 280, 286, 287. + +Malmö, 255. + +Margaret, Queen, 181. + +Marsillier, 57. + +Mary, Queen, 11 fn., 189. + +Massacre of St Bartholomew, 184, 185, 201. + +Maxwell's 'Old Dundee prior to the Reformation' referred to, 63 fn., + 68 fn., 69 fn. + --'History of Old Dundee' referred to, 65 fn. + +Mayn, Catherine de, 268. + +Melanchthon, 17, 22, 26, 36, 239, 254, 259, 261, 266, 270, 271, 279, + 280, 282, 300, 309. + +Melville, Andrew, 216 _et seq._, 281, 288, 289. + +Melville, James, 191 _et seq._, 288. + +Montrose, 24, 57, 60, 62, 71, 75, 78. + +Morison, Ric., 299 fn. + +Morton, Earl of, 198, 199 fn., 207, 212. + +Mount, Christopher, 300. + + +Neander, 170. + + +Ogilvie, Lord James, 292. + +Ogilvie, Marion, 292, 293. + +Order of Excommunication, 165, 166. + +Osiander, Andrew, 279. + + +Paget, Lord, 299. + +Parker, Archbishop, consecration of, 150 fn. + +'Pasqvilli de Concilio Mantuano Iudicium' quoted, 61 fn. + +Paul III., 286. + +Perth Martyrs, the, 53, 273. + +Peterkin, references to 'Records of the Kirk' by, 119 fn., 133 fn., 143 fn. + --to 'Booke of the Universal Kirk' by, 218 fn., 227 fn. + +Pitscottie, Lindsay of, 73 + --his 'History' referred to, 24 fn., 31 fn., 33 fn., 39 fn., 192 fn. + +Plague, or pest, 64, 67, 76. + +Pole, Cardinal, 45. + +Poor, care of, 179, 180. + +Poullain, or Pollanus, 126, 127, 136 fns. + +Preaching, necessity of, 151. + +Presbytery, ideal, 237, 238. + +Presbytery, or greater eldership, 159, 229 _et seq._ + +Preston, Dr, 211. + +Psalm Book, 120, 128. + +'Psalms and Spiritual Songs,' 76. + + +Ranaldson, James, 53. + +Randolph, Thomas, 129. + +Readers, 152, 153, 172, 308. + +Reformation, the, nature and need of, 1 _et seq._ + --decay of the medieval Church, 7 _et seq._ + --the reforming priests, 12 _et seq._ + --precursors of the Reformation, 14 _et seq._ + --Patrick Hamilton, 19 _et seq._ + --Acts of 1525 and 1527 against reformed opinions, 23 + --Tyndale's New Testament brought into Scotland, 24 + --the oppressed and the oppressors, 34 _et seq._ + --George Wishart, 56 _et seq._ + --Knox as leader of the Reformation, 79 _et seq._ + --its triumph, 97 + --the Confession of 1560, 99 _et seq._ + --the Book of Common Order, 123 _et seq._ + --the First Book of Discipline, 144 _et seq._ + --the last days of Knox, 184 _et seq._ + --the Second Book of Discipline, 214 _et seq._ + --Alesius, 239 _et seq._ + +Regent, the Good, 185, 188, 189 + +Register of Privy Seal, 199 fn. + +'Register of St Andrews Kirk-Session' referred to, 13 fn., 37 fn., 120 fn. + +Resby, James, 15. + +Richardson, John, 41. + +Richardson, Robert, 41. + +Robertson, John, 288. + +Robertson, Dr Joseph, 10, 11 fn. + --'Concilia Scotiæ' referred to, 16 fn., 30 fn., 45 fn., 50 fn., 93 fn., + 161 fn., 183 fn., 293. + +Roger's 'Three Scottish Reformers,' 188 fn. + +Rolle, Richard, 14. + +Rothes, Earl of, 245. + +Rough, John, 83. + +Row, John, 99, 144 fn. + +Row, John, of Carnock, on liturgies, 138. + +Rubric, the black, 87. + +Russell, Bishop, 227 fn. + +Rutherfurd's 'Divine Right of Church Government' quoted, 220 _et seq._ + + +Sacraments, two, only, 116, 117, 307. + +Saxony, Elector of, 271 fn. + +Scipio, Marcus, 280. + +Scott, John, printer, 76. + +Scotus, Duns, 17. + +Scriptures, reading, in vernacular, 5, 37, 38, 51, 259, 260, 264, 272, + 273, 282 + --Genevan version, 91, 231. + +Scrymgeour, James, 253. + +Sharp, Archbishop, 35. + +Shaxton, Bishop, 269, 310. + +Smeton, Principal, 202, 203, 205, 211. + +Spalatinus, 309. + +'Spalding Miscellany' referred to, 128 fn., 183 fn. + +Spottiswoode, Archbishop, 133 fn. + --his 'History' referred to, 10, 31 fn., 33 fn., 34 fn., 64 fn., 68 fn., + 73, 146 fn., 218 fn., 227, 231. + +Spottiswoode, John, superintendent of Lothian, 99, 144 fn., 198. + +St Andrews, reforming priests from Augustinian Priory and College of + St Leonard, 13 + --University and Colleges of, 15, 19, 20, 22, 95, 96 fn., 239, 242, + 285 _et seq._ + --Major at, 18, 19, 22, 242, 286 + --Patrick Hamilton at, 19, 20, 22 _et seq._, 29 _et seq._, 307 + --Alesius at, 36, 242 _et seq._ + --Wishart at, 72, 73 + --Knox at, 82 _et seq._, 95 _et seq._, 188 _et seq._ + +St Bernard, 3. + +St Giles' Church, 133 fn., 201. + +Stähelin's 'Johannes Calvin' referred to, 98, 114 fn. + +Stanley, Dean, 202 + +Stevenson's 'Mary Stuart' quoted, 55 fn. + +Steward, Walter, 40. + +Stewart, Archbishop, 286. + +Stirling martyrs, 41. + +Stokesley, Bishop of London, 268, 272. + +Stonehouse, 20. + +Stratoun, David, 39. + +Succession, Apostolic, 115. + +Superintendents, 152 + --wherein they differed from bishops, 155 _et seq._ + +Sybothendorff, Damianus, 271 fn. + + +Tannadice, 287. + +Tauler, 3. + +Theiner's 'Vetera Monumenta Hibernorum et Scotorum' referred to, 44 fn., + 45 fn., 51 fn., 54 fns. + +Thorpe's 'Calendar' referred to, 44 fns. + +Tilney, Emery, 58. + +Tonstal, Bishop of Durham, 86. + +Tour, M. de la, 19. + +Tudor, Elizabeth, 92, 93, 131, 150 fn., 156 fn., 159, 300. + +Tudor, Mary, 88, 92 fn. + +Twopenny Faith, the, 8 fn. + +Tyndale's translation of the New Testament introduced into Scotland, + 24, 26. + +Tyninghame, 287. + +Tyrie, the Jesuit, 195, 196, 203. + +Tytler, 11 fn. + + +Walsingham, 205 fn. + +Wardlaw, Bishop, 285, 286. + +Wedderburn, James, 10, 253 fn. + +Wedderburn, John, 10, 18, 22, 66, 76. + +Weir, Professor, article on George Wishart in 'North British Review' + referred to, 70. + +Westminster Confession of Faith. See Confession. + +Westminster Directory for Church Government, 166 fn., 236. + +Westminster Directory for Worship, 137, 142. + +Whitgift, 147. + +Whittingham, William, 88, 124 fn. + +Wichtand, James, 68 fn. + +Wied, Hermann von, Archbishop of Cologne, 145, 254, 256, 282. + +Wightone, or Weighton, Sir John, 68 fn. + +Williams, Thomas, 80. + +Willock, John, 40, 99, 112 fn., 130, 144 fn. + +Winkworth, Miss, quotation from 'Christian Singers of Germany' by, + 6 _et seq._ + +Winzet, Ninian, his 'Tractates' referred to, 11 fns., 203. + +Wishart, George, 36, 41 + --early education, 56 + --summoned for heresy, 57 + --escapes to England, _ib._ + --converted before Cranmer, 58 + --returns and enters Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, _ib._ + --a pupil's description of him, 59 + --returns to Scotland, _ib._ + --preaches in Montrose and Dundee, 62 _et seq._ + --his labours in Dundee during the plague, 64 _et seq._ + --attempted assassination of, 68 + --innocent of the plot to assassinate Betoun, 69 _et seq._ + --proceeds to Edinburgh, 71 + --seized at Ormiston, 72 + --his martyrdom, 73 + --his work, 74 _et seq._ + +Wishart, George, bailie of Dundee, 63, 69. + +Witches, prosecution of, 168. + +Withof's 'Vertheidigung,' 124 fn., 294. + +Wittenberg, 26, 259, 269, 300 fn., 308, 309. + +'Wodrow Miscellany' referred to, 58 fn., 69 fn., 78 fn., 93 fn., 308. + +Wycliffe, 3, 14, 17, 18, 37, 186, 205. + +Wycliffites in Scotland, 15. + +Wynram, John, 77, 99, 100, 144, 198, 287. + + +THE END. + + +PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS. + + + +Baird Lectures. + + +THEISM. Being the Baird Lecture for 1876. By ROBERT FLINT, D.D., LL.D., +Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh. Ninth Edition, +Revised. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. + + +ANTI-THEISTIC THEORIES. Being the Baird Lecture for 1877. By the SAME +AUTHOR. Fifth Edition. Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. + + +THE EARLY RELIGION OF ISRAEL. As set forth by Biblical Writers and +Modern Critical Historians. Being the Baird Lecture for 1888-89. By +JAMES ROBERTSON, D.D., Professor of Oriental Languages in the University +of Glasgow. Demy 8vo, 12s. + +THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY IN THE SCOTTISH CHURCH. The Baird Lecture for +1897. By ROBERT HERBERT STORY, D.D. (Edin.), F.S.A. Scot., Principal of +the University of Glasgow, Principal Clerk of the General Assembly, and +Chaplain to the Queen. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. + + + +Croall Lectures. + +AGNOSTICISM. Being the Croall Lecture for 1887-88. By ROBERT FLINT, +D.D., LL.D. In 1 vol. demy 8vo. + +[_In the press._ + +RECENT ARCHÆOLOGY AND THE BIBLE. Being the Croall Lecture for 1898. By +THOMAS NICOL, D.D., Professor of Divinity and Biblical Criticism in the +University of Aberdeen; Author of 'Recent Explorations in Bible Lands.' +Demy 8vo, 9s. net. + + +THE POETRY AND THE RELIGION OF THE PSALMS. The Croall Lecture, 1893-94. +By JAMES ROBERTSON, D.D. Demy 8vo, 12s. + + * * * * * + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH AND LONDON. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Scottish Reformation, by Alexander F. 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