Chapter 14

[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 hadmadea bishop butmarreda 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 seeinfra, 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 thathandlingsshould be readhaldings.][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, "ifwepermit cruelty to be used," that copy reads, "ifyoupermit 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 motherWas 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).[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).][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 isreformatioun and purgatiouninstead ofconservation 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 writeministerafter 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 themlay 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 ofclergieappropriate 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 almostverbatimto 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.[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.A2).][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 alatrinâin his 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias,' sign.Av.][291][Now known as Bishop's Hall.][292]Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign.Avj.[293]Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign.Avj.[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 befirstis 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."

[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 hadmadea bishop butmarreda 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 seeinfra, 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 thathandlingsshould be readhaldings.]

[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, "ifwepermit cruelty to be used," that copy reads, "ifyoupermit 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 motherWas 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.

[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 motherWas 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).

[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).]

[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).]

[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 isreformatioun and purgatiouninstead ofconservation 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 writeministerafter 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 themlay 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 ofclergieappropriate 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 almostverbatimto 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.

[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.A2).]

[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).]

"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 alatrinâin his 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias,' sign.Av.]

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

[292]Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign.Avj.

[293]Responsio ad Cochlei Calumnias, sign.Avj.

[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 befirstis 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."

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