SKETCHES 
 
 SCOTTISH CHURCH HISTORY: 
 
 EMBRACING TI1K PERIOD PROM THK 
 
 REFORMATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE " LIFE OF DR. M'CRIB," &C. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Ufct'tton. 
 
 ISSUED BY THE COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 
 
 THE FREE CHUKCH OF SCOTLAND, FOR THE PUBLICATION OF THE 
 
 WORKS OF SCOTTISH REFORMERS AND DIVINES. 
 
 JOHN JOHNSTONE, 
 15, PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH; AND 
 26, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 
 
ENTERED IN STATIONERS' HALL. 
 
 Printed by JOHN JONHSTONE, 104, High Street, Edinburgh. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 THE substance of the following Sketches was origi- 
 nally delivered in the form of lectures; and the first: 
 portion of them, embracing the period preceding the 
 restoration of Charles II., appeared some time since 
 in a popular religious periodical. The author hav- 
 ing been requested to publish the whole in a sepa- 
 rate volume, they now appear in a somewhat altered 
 form, and with considerable additions; presenting a 
 connected and concise history of the church of Scot- 
 land from the reformation to the revolution. 
 
 Having been composed chiefly for the benefit of 
 the young, with the view of inducing them to take an 
 interest in the church of their fathers, and adapted 
 to a popular audience, without the most distant pros- 
 pect of publication, these Sketches will be found to 
 differ, both in style and matter, from ordinary histo- 
 rical writings. The circumstances now mentioned 
 will account, not only for the absence of polish in the 
 composition, but for the frequent introduction into 
 
IV PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 the text of authorities which might otherwise have 
 found a more appropriate place in the margin. The 
 popular and almost conversational tone thus impart- 
 od to the narrative it was found impossible to alter, 
 without recasting the whole into another mould, and 
 constructing a new work. The object is rather to 
 exhibit the more prominent and characteristic fea- 
 tures of our church history, than to enter into de- 
 tails, or to develop the internal character of the 
 church in her ecclesiastical acts and proceedings. 
 Though the volume has been unavoidably extended 
 to a much larger size than was originally anticipated, 
 either by the author or his publisher, it has been con- 
 sidered advisable, at the expense of swelling it still 
 more, to insert in the appendix the correspondence 
 between the author and Mr. Patrick F. Tytler, on 
 the alleged participation of John Knox in the con- 
 spiracy against Riccio. 
 
 To the high professions of impartiality with which 
 some historians have ushered their productions into 
 the world, the author is not disposed to attach 
 much value; having seldom found such professions 
 realized, and being convinced that no writer of 
 church history who has any principles to which 
 he attaches importance, can describe the scenes 
 and characters with which these principles are 
 identified, without imparting to the description 
 more or less of the colour of his own mind. The 
 author candidly avows himself a presbytcrian of the 
 old school ; and he has been at no pains to conceal 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. Y 
 
 his sentiments. In support of the main facts of the 
 history, which have been amply authenticated in 
 larger works accessible to all, he considered it super- 
 fluous to adduce authorities. But he has advanced 
 no statement, the truth of which he did not endea- 
 vour to ascertain by personal investigation; and, in 
 disputed cases, the authorities to which he refers will 
 speak for themselves. 
 
 The leading facts of our ecclesiastical history, so 
 far as is requisite to form a candid and enlightened 
 judgment on them, are placed beyond all dispute, 
 having been substantially admitted by respectable 
 historians of all different creeds and principles. The 
 discrepancies which appear in their accounts, and 
 which have induced some to question the credibility 
 of all history, consist chiefly in the opposite inter- 
 pretations which they put on the same facts, and 
 the different conclusions which they draw from the 
 same events interpretations and conclusions which 
 will vary, according to the author's sentiments and 
 prepossessions, and vary with regard to the facts 
 and events of the present day, as well as those of 
 the past. 
 
 EDINBURGH, August 12, 1841. 
 
NOTE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. 
 
 AFTER three editions of this work had appeared, the 
 author was unexpectedly requested to publish a 
 fourth, under the auspices, and for the use of, the 
 " Committee of the General Assembly of the Free 
 Church of Scotland for the Publication of the Works 
 of Scottish Reformers and Divines." With a request 
 emanating from such a quarter he cordially and in- 
 stantly complied. As by this medium of publica- 
 tion, the Sketches will be likely to secure a publicity 
 which the highest hopes of authorship could scarcely 
 have anticipated, the present edition has undergone a 
 patient and minute revisal, that it might be rendered 
 more worthy of so wide a diffusion. The alterations 
 now made, have been chiefly with regard to phrase- 
 ology, not sentiment or fact; and in its present 
 form, it is hoped that the work will prove useful 
 and acceptable to those numerous readers to whom 
 it is now respectfully addressed. 
 
 T. M'C. 
 
 EDINBURGH, October 7, 1846. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. From 1529 to 1540, ... 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. From 1544 to 1559, ... 32 
 
 CHAPTER III From 1560 to 1572, ... 64 
 
 CHAPTER IV. From 1572 to 1586, ... 95 
 
 CHAPTER V. From 1592 to 1616, ... 120 
 
 CHAPTER VI From 1617 to 1630, ... 159 
 
 CHAPTER VII From 1633 to 1638, ... 197 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. From 1639 to 1640, ... 243 
 
 CHAPTER IX. From 1640 to 1647, 266 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. Mr. Ty tier's Charge against John Knox, 309 
 
SKETCHES, &c. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of religion before the reformation Popery in Scotland Origin 
 of the reformation The early martyrs of the reformation Patrick 
 Hamilton Stratton Kennedy and Russell Woman at Perth Per- 
 secuting character of popery. 
 
 BEFORE entering on the history of the reformation, 
 it may be necessary, in order to appreciate the full 
 value and importance of that glorious deliverance, to 
 take a brief survey of the state of the world, and par- 
 ticularly of our own land, previous to its introduction. 
 
 Before this period, if we except the Waldenses, who 
 inhabited the inaccessible fastnesses of the Alps, the 
 followers of Huss in Bohemia, and the Lollards of 
 Kyle in Scotland, there was not a nation in Christen- 
 dom, and hardly any class of people, that had not 
 bowed the knee to the authority of the Roman 
 church.* The pope, pretending to be the vicar and 
 representative of Jesus Christ, not in the lowliness of 
 his character when on earth, in which he set an 
 example to his followers, but in the splendour of his 
 royal dignity in heaven, had risen to such a pitch of 
 arrogance, as to assume the honours, not only of the 
 head of the Church, but of supreme potentate and 
 * " All the world wondered after the beast." Rev. xiiL 3. 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
10 STATE OF RELIGION 
 
 plenipotentiary over all the kingdoms of the earth. 
 Our Lord has said, " My kingdom is not of this 
 world," teaching us that his church is distinct from, 
 and independent of, worldly kingdoms, and claims no 
 temporal dominion over men; but the church of 
 Home, in direct contravention of this statute, and 
 interpreting literally those passages of scripture in 
 which the glory of the church is portrayed under 
 images drawn from earthly things, transformed her- 
 self into a worldly monarchy, and challenged, in 
 civil as well as ecclesiastical affairs, the homage of 
 the greatest princes of Europe. If at any time one 
 of these monarchs ventured to disobey the mandates 
 of the Italian priest who happened, for the time 
 being, to be seated in the chair of St. Peter, he was 
 immediately excommunicated, and his kingdom laid 
 under an interdict; the effects of which were, that 
 his subjects were absolved from their allegiance, 
 and his assassination was declared a meritorious 
 service, entitling the murderer to heaven all other 
 princes were summoned to make war against him 
 the churches throughout the country were shut up 
 the sacraments were suspended the dead were buried 
 in the highways, and the muffled bells rang a funeral 
 peal, as if some tearful curse hung over the devoted 
 land. In such circumstances, the stoutest monarchs 
 had been made to tremble, and submit to the 
 most humiliating penance. Two. of them one, the 
 king of England, another, the king of France were 
 compelled to hold the pope's stirrup while he mounted 
 on horseback; a third was ordered to lie prostrate 
 on the earth, while the haughty pontiff, placing his 
 foot on his majesty^s neck, exclaimed, " Thou shalt 
 tread upon the serpent, and trample on the dragon 
 
BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 1 1 
 
 and lion;" another was whipped by proxy, the cardi- 
 nal of Lorraine having received the lashes on his 
 bare back in the name of his royal master, lying flat, 
 as D'Aubigne * expresses it, " like a mackerel on a 
 gridiron;" while another (Henry IV., emperor of 
 Germany), having offended the pope, travelled to his 
 residence to beg his forgiveness ; and there did he 
 stand at the gate, barefooted and bareheaded, for the 
 space of three days, ere " his Holiness " would admit 
 him to his presence ; and after all, the haughty pontiff 
 deprived him of his crown, and transferred it to 
 another. 
 
 The spiritual power claimed by the pope was, as 
 it still is, not less extraordinary. Not content with 
 assuming the prerogatives and even the titles of the 
 Deity, the lordship of conscience, the gift of infalli- 
 bility, and the power of absolving men from the con- 
 sequences of sin in a future world, he went so far as 
 to " exalt himself above the Most High." He pre- 
 sumed to consecrate vice, and dispense with the 
 obligations of the divine law;-f- he invented new sins, 
 and created new worlds in which they might be 
 punished. Indulgences were openly sold for money, 
 by which the deluded people were taught to believe 
 that their guilt would be forgiven, and the souls of 
 their departed friends redeemed out of a place which 
 they called purgatory. 
 
 * The French historian, who flourished in the sixteenth century. 
 
 f- Bellarmine, the standard author of the papists, goes so far us to aver, 
 that "if the pope should command vice, and prohibit virtue, the Church 
 would be bound to believe vice to be good, arid virtue to be evil, unless 
 she would sin against conscience." And the Romish canons teach that 
 the pope " has a heavenly power to change the nature of things, that 
 his will is instead of reason, nor is there any one that can say unto him, 
 What doest thou : J " (See Bruce's Free Thoughts, p. 20.) 
 
12 CHARACTER OF POPERY. 
 
 Popery, however, with all its sanctified pretensions, 
 was merely a vast conspiracy against the civil and 
 religious liberties of mankind, the ramifications of 
 which extended over nearly the whole earth, and 
 every member of which, from the pontiff down to the 
 meanest monk, was sworn to advance the interests of 
 the body. Swarms of priests and confessors infested 
 every country penetrating, like the plague-frogs of 
 Egypt, into the recesses of every family, from the 
 chamber of the king down to the hut of the meanest 
 cottager, and polluting everything they touched. 
 This motley band, by means of auricular confession, 
 made themselves masters of the secrets of every 
 court, every household, and every bosom; a regu- 
 lar system of spiritual espionage was established, by 
 which secret intelligence of every movement might 
 be conveyed to head-quarters ; and the whole compli- 
 cated machinery, obeying the touck of some unseen 
 hand, could be made to bear, with decided and irre- 
 sistible effect, on the accomplishment of its designs. 
 Some may wonder how such a system of or- 
 ganized tyranny and oppression could have been 
 tolerated so long without any combined attempt to 
 shake it off. But we shall cease to wonder when 
 we consult the scriptures, where we learn that the 
 antichristian system is the master-piece of satanic 
 cunning, expressly devised for deluding mankind 
 " whose coming is after the working of Satan, with 
 all power, and signs, and lying wonders ; and with 
 all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that 
 perish." We shall cease to wonder when we con- 
 sider that popery is the religion of the corrupt heart 
 of man, admirably contrived to gratify its pride, and 
 sympathize with its lusts and passions ; furnishing 
 
POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 13 
 
 pardons which may be procured for money, and pre- 
 senting objects of worship which may be seen and 
 handled; enlisting all the fine arts architecture, 
 music, painting, and statuary into its service; ap- 
 pealing to every sense ; enthralling the mind by the 
 mystery and plausibility of its doctrines ; fascinating 
 the imagination by the gorgeousness of its ritual; 
 and overwhelming reason itself by the very magnitude 
 of its absurdities. And we shall cease to wonder, 
 when we think on the power which the popish clergy 
 were able to wield in support of their system; that 
 the slightest heretical whisper was sufficient to con- 
 sign the suspected person to the dungeons of the 
 inquisition; and that, if he persisted in holding his 
 opinions, he was doomed to expiate, in the flames of 
 a cruel death, the crime of having dared to question 
 the dogmas of the infallible church. For, after all, 
 the church of Rome would have found it impossible 
 to withstand the opposition which, from time to 
 time, her arrogance provoked, had not " the kings 
 of the earth," intoxicated with " the wine of her for- 
 nication " in other words, seduced, corrupted, and 
 enslaved by her idolatries " given their power to 
 the beast," by lending themselves to be the tools of 
 her policy, and the executioners of her vengeance. 
 
 The state of religion in Scotland, immediately 
 before the reformation, was deplorable in the ex- 
 treme. Owing to the distance of this country from 
 Rome, it was the more easy for the clergy to keep 
 up in the minds of the people a superstitious vene- 
 ration for the papal power; and our ancestors, who 
 heard of the pope only in the lofty panegyrics of the 
 monks, regarded him as a kind of demigod. Of 
 Christianity, almost nothing remained but the name. 
 
1 4 POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 Such of the doctrines of our holy religion as were 
 retained in the profession of the church, were com- 
 pletely neutralized by heresies entirely subversive of 
 them, or buried under a mass of superstitious obser- 
 vances. An innumerable multitude of saints were 
 substituted in the place of Him who is the " one 
 mediator between God and man." The exactions 
 made by the priests were most rapacious. The beds 
 of the dying were besieged, and their last moments 
 cruelly disturbed, with the view of obtaining legacies 
 to their convents. Nor did the grave itself put a 
 period to their demands; for no sooner had the poor 
 farmer or mechanic breathed his last, than the priest 
 came and carried off his corpse-present; and if he 
 died rich, his relations were sure to be handsomely 
 taxed for masses to relieve his soul from purgatory. 
 Tn Scotland alone, the number of convents, monas- 
 teries, and nunneries, amounted to upwards of a hun- 
 dred and fifty.* These were inhabited by shoals of 
 monks and friars; the monks being confined to their 
 cloisters, and the friars permitted to wander about 
 preaching and begging. The profligacy of the priests 
 and higher clergy was notorious. The ordinances of 
 religion were debased, " divine service was neglected, 
 and, except on festival days, the churches (about the 
 demolition of which such an outcry has been made 
 by some) were no longer employed for sacred pur- 
 poses, but served as sanctuaries for malefactors, 
 places of traffic, or resorts for pastime. "f One anec- 
 dote will sometimes show the state of matters better 
 than whole pages of description. It seems that a 
 chief part of the priest's office in those days was 
 cursing. A letter of cursing cost a pluck; and no- 
 
 * Appendix to Spotswood^" j History. -\- M'Crie's Life of KHOX, i. 2.3. 
 
POPERY IN SCOTLAND. 15 
 
 thing was more common with the country people, 
 when any part of their property, even the most trifling 
 article, was amissing, than to pay the priest for curs- 
 ing the thief. The process is thus described in a 
 friar's sermon, quoted by Knox: " The priest whose 
 duty and office it is to pray for the people, stands up 
 on Sunday, and cries, ' Ane has tint a spurtill;* thair 
 is a flail stoun beyond the burne; the guidwife on 
 the other side of the gait has tint a home spune : 
 God's malison and mine I give to them that knows 
 of this geir and restores it not !" f 
 
 Persecution and the suppression of free inquiry 
 were the only weapons by which such a system of 
 corruption and imposition could defend itself. Every 
 avenue by which truth might enter was carefully 
 guarded; the scriptures were effectually kept from 
 the view of the people by being locked up in a dead 
 language ; the most frightful pictures were drawn 
 of those who had separated from the church of 
 Rome; and if any person hinted dissatisfaction with 
 the conduct of churchmen, or proposed the correction 
 of abuses, he was immediately marked as a heretic, 
 and if he did not consult his safety by flight, he was 
 immured in a dungeon, or committed to the flames. 
 Such were the power and the vigilance exercised by 
 the clergy, that it was not safe to utter a word 
 against them, even in one's sleep. It is recorded as 
 a fact, that one man, a precentor or chanter as he 
 was called, was actually apprehended, and had he 
 not recanted, would have suffered death, merely be- 
 cause he was overheard saying in his sleep one night, 
 " The deevil tak the priests, for they are a greedy 
 pack ! " + 
 
 * Lost a porridge-stick. f Knox's History, p. 14. J Ibid., p. 15. 
 
16 THE VICAR OF DOLLAR. [1529. 
 
 As an illustration of the gross ignorance which 
 then prevailed among the clergy, Buchanan informs 
 us that in 1545, when severe laws were enacted 
 against the reading of the New Testament, such was 
 the blindness of the priests, that many of them, 
 scandalized at the term new, maintained that it was 
 a dangerous book lately written by Martin Luther, 
 and cried out, "they would have no neic testament; 
 give them the old one ! " * When Thomas Forrest, 
 usually called dean Thomas, or the vicar of Dollar, 
 was examined before the bishop of Dunkeld on a 
 charge of having ventured to preach from the gospel 
 or epistle for the day, and " shown the mysteries of 
 the scripture to the people in their own language, 
 so as to make the clergy detestable in their sight," 
 the following conversation took place: "My joy, 
 dean Thomas," said the bishop, " I love you well, 
 and, therefore, I must give you my counsel how you 
 shall rule and guide yourself." " I thank your lord- 
 ship heartily," replied the vicar. " My joy, dean 
 Thomas," continued the bishop, " I am informed 
 that you preach the epistle or gospel every Sunday 
 to the parishioners, and that you take not the cow 
 nor the uppermost cloth from your parishioners ; 
 which thing is very prejudicial to the churchmen. 
 My joy, it is too much to preach every Sunday; for 
 in so doing you may make the people think that we 
 should preach likewise. But it is enough for you 
 when you find any good epistle, or any good gospel, 
 that setteth forth the rights of the holy church, to 
 preach that, and let the rest be." " Truly, my lord,"" 
 eaid the vicar, " I have read the New Testament, 
 
 * Buch. Hist., p. 219, fol. edit 
 
1538.J THE VICAR OF DOLLAR. 17 
 
 and the Old, and all the epistles and gospels, and 
 among them all I never could find any evil epistle, 
 or any evil gospel; but if your lordship will show me 
 the good and the evil epistles and gospels, then I 
 shall preach the good and omit the evil." " I thank 
 God," replied the bishop, with great vehemence, " I 
 have lived well these many years, and never knew 
 either the Old or New Testament ! Therefore, dean 
 Thomas, I will know nothing but my portuise and 
 pontifical." * From this saying there arose a pro- 
 verb which was commonly applied in Scotland, for 
 many years after, to persons who were grossly 
 ignorant: " Ye are like the bishop of Dunkeld, that 
 kent neither new law nor auld." -f- 
 
 The fate of the vicar was decided in 1 538. Hav- 
 ing happened to quote, on his trial, the words of 
 Paul, " I had rather speak five words with my un- 
 derstanding than ten thousand in an unknown 
 tongue," he was asked where he found that ? " In 
 my book whilk is in my .sleeve," answered the vicar. 
 Upon this the public prosecutor started up, pulled 
 the New Testament out of his sleeve, and holding it 
 up before the people cried, " Behold he has the look 
 of heresy in his sleeve, whilk makes all the pley J in 
 the kirk ! " " Brother," said the vicar, " God for- 
 give you ; ye ought to say better, if ye pleased, than 
 call the evangel of Jesus Christ the book of heresy ; 
 for I assure you, dear brother, there is nothing in 
 this book but the life, latter will, and testament of 
 our master and saviour Jesus Christ, written by the 
 four evangelists for our comfort and instruction.'"' 
 This, however, could not avail him. The pope had 
 
 " My breviary and book of ceremonies." 
 
 Spotswoode, p. 66; Row's MS. Hist., an. 1538. + Confusion. 
 
 * < 
 
18 ORIGIN OF THE REFORMATION. [1517. 
 
 condemned the English Bible ; and the poor vicar, 
 Testament and all, were burnt at the stake.* 
 
 But the time had now arrived, in the all-wise pro- 
 vidence of God, when the eyes of men were to be 
 opened to the abominations of this mystery of iniqui- 
 ty. The reformation, it is well known, commenced 
 in Germany in 1517, when the heroic Martin Luther 
 declared war against indulgences; but it was a con- 
 siderable time before its blessed light reached the 
 shores of Scotland. As we intend to confine ourselves 
 to the history of the reformation in our own country, 
 we shall not enter into any general account of its rise 
 and progress abroad. But there is one feature of this 
 glorious work which has been too much neglected by 
 those who have written its history, -f- and to which, as 
 it characterized the reformation in our own land no 
 less than in others, we cannot refrain from adverting 
 we mean the strictly religious character of its origin. 
 Without denying that many who took a prominent 
 part in promoting it were actuated by worldly and 
 selfish motives, and without overlooking the influence 
 of secondary causes, which contributed to its advance- 
 ment, such as the revival of learning, the invention of 
 the art of printing, and the posture of political affairs 
 in the countries where it was introduced it ought 
 never to be forgotten, that the reformation of religion 
 in the church was the result of its revival in the souls 
 of men. The first reformers were, without exception, 
 men of piety and prayer men who had deeply studied 
 the Bible and their own hearts; and it was by dis- 
 covering in the scriptures the true doctrines of salva- 
 
 * Titscottic, p. 35R. 
 
 f This was written before the appearance of the admirable "History 
 of the Reformation," by Merle D'Aubigne. 
 
1517.] ORIGIN OF THE REFORMATION. 19 
 
 tion which alone can purify the heart and pacify the 
 conscience, that they were led first to see the corrup- 
 tions of the church of Rome, and then to seek their 
 removal. The reformation was the triumph of truth 
 over error. It was the preaching of the pure gospel 
 by the reformers, and especially the great doctrine 
 of justification by faith through the righteousness of 
 Christ, that gave its death-blow to the papal system. 
 It is true, that had the reformers not received the 
 support of the civil power, in all human probability 
 the infant reformation would have been strangled at 
 its birth, as it actually was in Spain and Italy, and the 
 whole of Europe might have been yet lying under the 
 dominion of antichrist. And it is a striking fact, 
 that since the era of the reformation, protestantism 
 has made little farther progress in Europe, and that 
 those nations which refused to receive the protestant 
 religion continue popish to this day; while in those 
 that embraced it, the gospel continues to flourish in 
 proportion to the zeal with which it was welcomed, 
 and the purity in which it was established. But 
 though, in accomplishing his gracious designs, God 
 employs earthly means, and makes use of events in 
 the political world, it is not the less on that account 
 the work of God. History is a record of the opera- 
 tions of divine providence; but it is also a record of 
 human guilt and folly, as exhibited not only in the 
 malicious opposition of the enemies of religion, but in 
 the unworthy motives and mistaken policy of its pro- 
 fessed friends. And the first lesson which the student 
 of church history requires to learn, is to distinguish 
 between these two things to remember that the 
 work may be of God, though the manner of working 
 is of man; and not to confound the cause of truth 
 
20 PATRICK HAMILTON. [1528. 
 
 and righteousness with the follies, the errors, and 
 mismanagements of the instruments employed in 
 advocating and advancing it. 
 
 The first person who was honoured to carry the 
 tidings of the reformation to Scotland, and to seal 
 them with his blood, was Patrick Hamilton.* This 
 amiable and accomplished young gentleman was of 
 noble extraction, and nearly allied to the royal family, 
 being nephew of the earl of Arran and of the duke of 
 Albany. He was destined for the church, but while 
 pursuing his studies he acquired some knowledge of 
 the reformed doctrine, and with the view of obtaining 
 better information, he went abroad and paid a visit to 
 Luther and other reformers in Germany. The result 
 was, a deeper persuasion of the truth, accompanied 
 
 * Patrick Hamilton, though not the first who introduced or suffered 
 for the reformed opinions in Scotland, may be considered the proto- 
 martyr of the reformation, inasmuch as he was the first who suffered in 
 that glorious cause, after the standard of the reformation had been un- 
 furled by Luther. Before his time, two individuals, at least, had suffered 
 martyrdom for their religious opinions James Resby, an Englishman, 
 and scholar of Wickliffe, who was burned in 1422; and Paul Craw, a 
 Bohemian, and a follower of Huss, who underwent the same cruel fate 
 at St. Andrews about ten years afterwards. In 14.04, thirty persons, 
 chiefly gentlemen and ladies of distinction, were accused of heretical 
 sentiments, but conducted their defence with such boldness, that they 
 were dismissed with an admonition. In 1525 there was an act of par- 
 liament passed, prohibiting the importation of Luther's books into Scot- 
 land, which, they said, had always " been clean of all sic filth and vice." 1 
 If we may judge from the character of the Scots, who have been accused 
 of being usually " wise behind ths hand," it is highly probable that such 
 books had already been introduced into this country. Life of Knox, 
 ii. 28. " The more the subject is investigated," says Dr. M'Crie, " the 
 more clearly am I persuaded it will appear, that the opinions of Wick- 
 liffe had the most powerful and extensive influence upon the reforma- 
 tion. We can trace the existence of the lollards, in Ayrshire, from 
 the time of Wickliffe to the days of George Wishart; and in Fife, 
 they were so numerous, as to have formed the design of rescuing Patrick 
 Hamilton by force on the day of his execution." Life of Melville, 
 i. 8. 
 
1528.] PATRICK HAMILTON. 21 
 
 with a strong and unconquerable desire to impart to 
 his benighted countrymen the beams of that saving 
 knowledge by which his own soul had been enlight- 
 ened. His friends, aware of the danger to which he 
 would expose himself by so doing, used every argu- 
 ment to dissuade him from making the attempt. But 
 the motion was from Grod, and could not be resisted. 
 On arriving in Scotland about the commencement of 
 the year 1 528, his spirit, like that of Paul, was stirred 
 within him, when he beheld the ignorance and super- 
 stition which prevailed; and wherever he came, he de- 
 nounced, in the plainest terms, the corruptions of the 
 church. His clear arguments, aided by his fervent 
 piety, mild manners, and exalted rank, could not fail 
 to produce a powerful sensation; and the clergy took 
 the alarm. James Beaton, archbishop of St. Andrews, 
 was at that time primate of the church and chancellor 
 of the kingdom a cruel and crafty man, who scrupled 
 at no means, however flagitious, for effecting his pur- 
 poses. Afraid to proceed openly against Hamilton, 
 he advised that he should be decoyed to St. Andrews, 
 on the pretext of a friendly conference with him about 
 his doctrine. The open-hearted young man eagerly 
 embraced the proposal, and fell into the snare. It is 
 needless to dwell on the revolting consequences. He 
 was easily induced, by some insidious priests, to de- 
 clare his sentiments. At the dead hour of night he 
 was dragged from his bed, taken to the castle, and 
 after confessing his faith before the archbishop, was 
 condemned to be burned at the stake as an obstinate 
 heretic. On the afternoon of Friday, February 28, 
 1528, this gentle and gracious youth was led to the 
 place of execution, where a stake was fastened, with 
 wood, coals, powder, and other inflammable materials 
 
22 PATRICK HAMILTON. [1528. 
 
 piled around it. When he came to the place, he 
 stripped himself of his gown, coat, and bonnet, and 
 giving them to a favourite servant, " These," he said, 
 "will not profit in the fire; they will profit thee. 
 After this, of me thou canst receive no commodity, 
 except the ensample of my death, which I pray thee 
 to bear in mind; for albeit it be bitter to the flesh, yet 
 is it the entrance into eternal life, which none shall 
 possess that deny Christ before this wicked genera- 
 tion." When bound to the stake he exhibited no 
 symptom of fear, but commended his soul to God, 
 and kept his eyes stedfastly directed towards heaven. 
 The executioner set fire to the train of powder, which, 
 however, did not kindle the pile, but severely scorched 
 the side of the martyr. In this situation he remained 
 unmoved, till a new supply of powder was brought 
 from the castle. Meanwhile, the friars who stood 
 around him, cruelly molested him, crying out, " Con- 
 vert, heretic ; call upon our Lady; say, Salve regina" 
 " Depart, and trouble me not," he said, " ye messen- 
 gers of Satan." One of them in particular, called 
 friar Campbell, rendered himself conspicuous for 
 his rudeness in disturbing the last moments of the 
 martyr. " Thou wicked man," said Hamilton, ad- 
 dressing him, " thou knowest that I am not an here- 
 tic, and that it is the truth of God for which I now 
 suffer so much didst thou confess unto me in private 
 and thereupon I appeal thee to answer before the 
 judgment-seat of Christ." At length the fire was 
 kindled, and, amidst the noise and fury of the flames, 
 he was distinctly heard pronouncing these last words: 
 a How long, Lord, shall darkness cover this realm? 
 How long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of men? 
 Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 
 
1528.] MARTYRS OF THE REFORMATION. 23 
 
 The martyrdom of this engaging and accomplished 
 youth produced a sensation very different from what 
 his murderers anticipated. They expected by this 
 bold stroke, aimed at a person of such high rank, to 
 intimidate all others, and suppress the rising refor- 
 mation. The effect was precisely the reverse. It 
 roused the minds of men from the dead sleep into 
 which they had fallen led them to inquire into the 
 causes of his death created discussion and ulti- 
 mately, what Hamilton had failed to do by his living 
 voice was accomplished by his cruel death. 
 
 Knox informs us, that many even in the university 
 of St. Andrews began to "call in doubt what they had 
 before held for a certain verity, and to espy the vanity 
 of the received superstition." And he relates, in his 
 own homely way, an anecdote which shows how mat- 
 ters stood : " Short after this," he says, " new con- 
 sultation was taken that some should be burnit. A 
 merry gentleman, named John Lindesay, familiar (ser- 
 vant) to bishop James Beatoun, standing by when 
 consultation was had, said, ' My lord, gif ye burn 
 any man, except ye follow my counsell, ye will utterly 
 destroy yourselves. Gif ye will burn them, let them 
 be burned in how* cellars ; for the reek of Mr. Patrick 
 Hamilton has infected as many as it did blow upon." 1 -]- 
 The impression made by Hamilton's death on the 
 popular mind was greatly aided by the fearful death 
 of friar Campbell, who had insulted him at the stake. 
 This wretched man soon after went distracted, and 
 died in the utmost horror of mind, with the last 
 appeal of the martyr ringing in his ears. 
 
 Notwithstanding all warning and advice, however, 
 the flames of persecution were kindled throughout the 
 
 * Hollow, deep. ( Knox, p. 15. 
 
24 DAVID STRATTON. [1529. 
 
 country,and numbers suffered between the years 1528 
 and 1540. We shall select only two or three instances. 
 The first presents a curious illustration of the impolicy 
 of superstition, and at the same time of the wonderful 
 power of divine grace in qualifying for martyrdom an 
 individual who was as unlikely to suffer, and who as 
 little thought of being called to suffer such a death, 
 as any one who peruses this account. In the history 
 of the French church, we read of an honest country 
 gentleman, who had paid little regard to any form of 
 religion, but who was so pestered and annoyed by 
 the priests with some unfounded suspicions of heresy, 
 that he began first to inquire what heresy was, and 
 from one step to another was led to suffer willingly 
 and intelligently for a religion of which he had for- 
 merly known absolutely nothing. The following case 
 is somewhat similar: Mr. David Stratton* was a gen- 
 tleman of property on the sea-coast of Angus. He 
 was the proprietor of some fishing-boats, out of which 
 the bishop of Murray demanded tithe. Stratton, who 
 was a man of stubborn disposition and rough man- 
 ners, was so incensed at the increasing pride and 
 covetousness of the clergy, that he ordered his ser- 
 vants to cast every tenth fish they caught into the sea, 
 and sent word to the bishop, that "if he wanted his 
 tithe, he might come and receive it where he got the 
 stock."' He was forthwith summoned to answer for 
 heresy. Heresy was a thing he had never dreamt of. 
 He had hitherto been notorious for his contempt of 
 all religion. But now he was led to make inquiry, 
 and happilv sought the acquaintance of John Erskine 
 of Dun, afterwards one of the leaders of the refor- 
 
 * Stratton was brother to the laird of Lauriston. Lijfe of Knoj:, 
 i. 354. 
 
1530.] DAVID STRATTON. 25 
 
 mation, from whose conversation he derived singular 
 advantage. At this time, TyndaFs translation of the 
 New Testament had found its way into Scotland, and 
 was privately circulated with great industry. One 
 copy supplied several families. At the silent hour 
 of night they would assemble together in a private 
 house, and having ascertained that there were no 
 spies near them, the sacred volume was brought forth 
 from its concealment, and, while one read, the rest 
 listened with mute attention. One day, Mr. Stratton 
 retired with the young laird of Lauriston to a soli- 
 tary place in the fields, to hear the New Testament 
 read to him (he was unable to read himself) ; and it 
 so happened that, in the course of reading, this saying 
 of our Lord occurred, "Whosoever shall deny me 
 before men, him will I also deny before my Father 
 which is in heaven."* These words produced the 
 most extraordinary effect on the mind of Stratton; he 
 suddenly became as one enraptured or inspired ; and 
 throwing himself on his knees, his hands stretched 
 out, and his eyes fixed for some time stedfastly to- 
 wards heaven, he burst forth in the following strain : 
 "0 Lord, I have been wicked, and justly mayest thou 
 abstract thy grace from me; but, Lord, for thy 
 mercy's sake, let me never deny thee nor thy truth, for 
 fear of death or corporal pains." The issue proved 
 that the prayer had been heard. Being brought 
 before the bishop's court at Holyrood house, he 
 refused to recant, boldly defended the truth, and was 
 sentenced to be hanged and burnt. The execution 
 took place at the rood of Greenside between Edin- 
 burgh and Leith, " to the intent," it is said, " that 
 the inhabitants of Fife, seeing the fire, might be 
 
 * Matt. x. 33. 
 VOL. I. C 
 
26 KENNEDY AND RUSSELL. [1540. 
 
 stricken with terror." He died triumphantly, anti- 
 cipating a joyful immortality. 
 
 The next case we shall notice presents an affecting 
 proof of the triumph of divine grace over constitu- 
 tional timidity, and the love of life so natural to youth. 
 Alexander Kennedy was a young gentleman of liberal 
 education, residing in Glasgow; he had a turn for 
 Scottish poetry, and at the time we refer to he had 
 not passed the 18th year of his age. He was appre- 
 hended along with Jerome Russell, who was of the 
 order of grey friars, and is described by Knox as 
 " a young man of meek nature, quick spirit, and of 
 good letters." Kennedy, on being brought before his 
 judges, and threatened with the dreadful doom of 
 being burnt alive, was at first inclined to recant. In 
 a short time, however, he recovered his composure. 
 The poor lad seemed all at once to have been 
 strengthened from on high ; and after having thanked 
 God for having preserved him from apostasy, he rose 
 from his knees : " Now," said he, addressing his 
 judges, "I defy death. Do with me as you please; 
 I thank God / am ready" His companion, llussell, 
 though naturally mild, was roused by the irritating 
 language of his persecutors. " This is your hour and 
 power of darkness," he said to them; "now ye sit as 
 judges, and we stand wrongfully accused: but the 
 day will come when our innocence will appear, and 
 ye shall see your own blindness, to your everlasting 
 confusion. Go on, and fill the measure of your ini- 
 quity." On their way to the place of execution, 
 llussell, observing some symptoms of depression in 
 the appearance of his youthful fellow-sufferer, thus 
 encouraged him: "Brother, fear not; greater is He 
 that is in us, than he that is in the world. The pain 
 
3540.] MARTYRDOM AT PERTH. 27 
 
 that we are to suffer is short, and shall be light, but 
 our joy and consolation shall never have an end. Let 
 us, therefore, strive to enter in to our master and 
 saviour by the same strait way which he has trod 
 before us. Death cannot destroy us, for it is already 
 destroyed by Him for whose sake we suffer." And 
 so both of them, after kneeling down and praying, 
 cheerfully yielded themselves to the executioners 
 they were fastened to the stake the faggots were 
 lighted and their spirits ascended, as it were in a 
 chariot of fire, to the realms of everlasting glory. 
 
 The next story is of a more harrowing description. 
 It is that of a female, the wife of one Robert Lamb, 
 at Perth, who suffered at the same time with her 
 husband. Lamb's crime was, that he had interrupted 
 a friar who was preaching that a man could not be 
 saved without praying to the saints; and the only 
 charge against his wife was, that she refused to pray 
 to the Virgin Mary when in child-birth, declaring that 
 she would only pray to God in the name of Jesus 
 Christ. For these crimes Lamb was condemned to be 
 hanged, and his wife to be tied in a sack and drowned. 
 The circumstances attending the last scene of this 
 poor woman's life were sufficient to have moved any 
 heart but that of a popish inquisitor. Warmly attached 
 to her husband, she implored, as a last and only 
 favour, that she might be allowed to die in kis com- 
 pany. This affecting request was barbarously refused ; 
 but she was allowed to accompany him to the place 
 of his execution. On the way, she exhorted him to 
 patience and constancy in the cause of Christ; and 
 on parting with him, she said: " Husband, be glad; 
 we have lived together many joyful days; and this 
 
28 POWER OF FAITH. [1540. 
 
 day on which we must die we ought to esteem the 
 most joyful of all, because now we shall have joy for 
 ever. Therefore, I will not bid you good night, for 
 we shall meet in the kingdom of heaven. 11 After wit- 
 nessing his death, she was ordered to prepare for her 
 own, and was taken for that purpose to a pool of 
 water in the neighbourhood. Here the tenderness of 
 the mother began to manifest itself. She implored her 
 neighbours to be kind to her fatherless and mother- 
 less children; and, with a look of anguish, she took 
 from her bosom the infant she was suckling, and 
 committed it to a nurse whom she had provided. 
 Yet all this did not shake her fortitude or her faith ; 
 she rose superior to her sufferings, and calmly resigned 
 herself to death. 
 
 On hearing of the courage and constancy of these 
 early martyrs of the reformation, one cannot fail to 
 admire the power of faith in the glorious gospel of 
 Christ that faith under the strengthening influences 
 of which, in more ancient times, even " women en- 
 dured torture, not accepting deliverance, that they 
 might obtain a better resurrection." The mental 
 heroism of these sufferers closely resembles that 
 of the primitive martyrs of Christianity, and far 
 excels the most splendid and admired examples 
 of courage recorded in Roman history. The con- 
 duct of the wife of poor Robert Lamb may remind 
 some of the noble matron of Rome, the wife of 
 Pcetus, who, when condemned to die with her hus- 
 band, plunged the dagger first into her own bosom, 
 and then, handing it to her husband, said with a smile, 
 " Foetus, it is not painful." We see in both the same 
 noble contempt of death; but, when more narrowly 
 
1540.] PERSECUTING CHARACTER OF POPERY. 29 
 
 examined, how different do the cases appear ! Putting 
 out of view the vast difference between the causes in 
 which they suffered, the Roman lady was obliged to 
 die; she could not have escaped by making any con- 
 cessions. The Scottish mother might have saved her 
 life by saying a few words, such as " Hail Mary, 
 queen of heaven ! " Hers was a voluntary sacrifice on 
 the altar of faith and a good conscience. 
 
 Our admiration of the power of divine grace in 
 these worthies must increase, when we consider that, 
 at this time, the number of the reformed was compa- 
 ratively very small that the sufferers met with little 
 sympathy from their neighbours and that there was, 
 as yet, no public preaching of the gospel in Scotland, 
 so that it could only be from reading the scriptures 
 that any acquired the knowledge of the truth; and 
 yet, in spite of these disadvantages, a single ray of 
 that truth, darting from a single text, was sufficient 
 to open their eyes, and, in the faith and hope of the 
 gospel, they would cheerfully submit to death in the 
 most frightful forms. 
 
 It is true that the victims of popish cruelty in 
 Scotland were few when compared with those who 
 suffered in other countries; but no thanks to popery 
 for that ! What our ancestors endured was merely a 
 sample of the bloody tragedy which it was now 
 enacting in almost every nation in Europe. Thanks, 
 rather, under providence, to the stout hearts and 
 stalwart arms of our reformers, who arrested its san- 
 guinary career soon after its commencement, braved 
 its power even on the throne, and never ceased till 
 they had proscribed it by the laws of the land. 
 
 We may be told by some that all the cruelties of 
 
30 PERSECUTING CHARACTER OF POPERY. [1540. 
 
 which we have been speaking are to be traced to the 
 barbarism of the age, and to ignorance of the prin- 
 ciples of liberty, which, they say, were not understood 
 even by protestants for many years afterwards. This, 
 however, is a mere theory, unsupported by facts 
 the language of persons who are fond of reducing 
 everything to general principles. Protestantism dis- 
 avows, by the very right of protest which it claims for 
 itself, the right of persecuting others for conscience' 
 sake. But popery, like every form of superstition, 
 is, in its very essence and spirit, a system of intole- 
 rance. It aims at universal dominion; it denies the 
 right of private judgment in matters of religion; it 
 lays the conscience and understanding of every man 
 at the feet of his priest; and, when it has once taken 
 possession of his mind, it hardens the heart, and fits 
 it for perpetrating atrocities which human nature, 
 undebased by its influence, shudders to hear of, and 
 shrinks from beholding. Our ancestors knew it 
 better than we do; and it was one of their articles of 
 indictment against it, which shows that they had 
 feelings which were shocked, and a sense of human 
 rights which was outraged by it that it was " a 
 cruel, bloody, and tyrannical superstition." 
 
 How thankful ought we to feel to a kind and ill- 
 requited providence, that we have been delivered 
 from such a system of oppression that we are not 
 called to suffer as our forefathers were, for profess- 
 ing the gospel of Jesus Christ that we are permitted 
 to enjoy, in unmolested peace, our religious privi- 
 leges! If David would not drink of the water of 
 Bethlehem, because it was in his eyes " the blood of 
 the men that went in jeopardy of their lives," but 
 
1540.] PERSECUTING CHARACTER OF POPERY. 31 
 
 " poured it out unto the Lord," how dearly ought we 
 to prize, and how devoutly ought we to improve, to 
 the glory of God, privileges which have been trans- 
 mitted to us at the expense of the blood of His dear 
 saints ! 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 The last martyrs of the reformation George Wishart Walter Mill 
 Commencement of the reformation Scotland reformed by her 
 nobles and people Arrival of John Knox Demolition of the monas- 
 teries. 
 
 IN 1539, James Beaton, archbishop of St. Andrews, 
 the murderer of Patrick Hamilton, died, and was 
 succeeded in the primacy by his nephew, cardinal 
 David Beaton. This prelate inherited all his uncle's 
 hostility to the reformed doctrine, with even a larger 
 share of his ambition, craft, and cruelty. When 
 James V. died of a broken heart, he forged a will in 
 the name of the deceased monarch, appointing him- 
 self governor of the kingdom ; and had this policy 
 succeeded, there can be little doubt that he might 
 have arrested, to an indefinite period, the progress 
 of the reformation in Scotland. Some idea may be 
 formed of the wholesale measures which this bloody- 
 minded man had devised for the extirpation of protes- 
 tantism, as well as of the numbers of the reformed at 
 this period, when it is stated, that before the death 
 of the king, the cardinal had presented him with a 
 list of three hundred and sixty of the chief of the no- 
 bility and barons, with the earl of Arran at their 
 head, who were suspected of heresy, and doomed to 
 
1544.] GEORGE WISHART. 33 
 
 destruction.* A merciful providence interfered to 
 defeat this atrocious plot. The forgery was dis- 
 covered; and Arran, who was friendly to the refor- 
 mation, was elected governor of the kingdom. 
 
 Baffled in his bloody and ambitious designs, Beaton 
 retreated, like a chafed tiger, to his castle at St. 
 Andrews, and, taking the law into his own hand, he 
 sacrificed to his vengeance all the protestants who 
 came within his reach. But the special object of his 
 hatred was Mr. George Wishart, a reformed minister, 
 and brother to the laird of Pitarrow. All the ac- 
 counts of this martyr transmitted to us, unite in re- 
 presenting him as a person of the most amiable and 
 venerable character. He is described as a tall man 
 of dark complexion, graceful in his person,- and cour- 
 teous in his manners, of profound learning, and re- 
 markable for humility and charity. His piety was 
 so fervent, that he used to spend whole days and 
 nights in prayer and meditation. As a preacher, he 
 had a wonderful command over the feelings of his 
 audience, and many were converted under his minis- 
 try. "Wisharfs popularity, however, was gall and 
 wormwood to those of the Romish clergy who were 
 still attached to their superstition, and especially to 
 Beaton, who tried various plans, for some time un- 
 successfully, to get him dragged or decoyed into his 
 den. Hearing of his success in Ayr, the cardinal 
 sent the bishop of Glasgow to apprehend him. The 
 bishop, whom Knox calls " a glorious fule," "f found 
 the preacher surrounded by so many gentlemen, that 
 he durst not execute his commission; but he took 
 possession of the church; and the gentlemen having 
 threatened to expel him by force, " Let him alone," 
 
 * Crawfurd's Lives, p. 79. ) A vain-glorious fool. 
 
34 GEORGE WISHART. [1544. 
 
 said Wishart, who could not endure violence of any 
 kind, "his sermon will not do mekill hurt; let us go 
 to the mercat cross." The bishop's sermon, accord- 
 ing to Knox's account, was a very harmless one indeed. 
 "He preached to his jackmen, and to some auld 
 boisses * of the town : the sum of all his sermon was, 
 They say we sould preach; why not? Better late 
 thrive than never thrive. Haud us still for your 
 bishop, and we sail provide better the next time/ 1 ~\~ 
 In Wishart's character, piety was beautifully blended 
 with benevolence. He was so liberal to the poor, that 
 he parted not only with his money, but even with his 
 body-clothes, to supply their necessities. The town 
 of Dundee, which was the first of the Scottish burghs 
 that embraced the reformation, having been visited 
 with a severe plague in 1544, he no sooner heard of 
 it, than he hastened to the scene of death with as 
 much earnestness as others were flying from it. "They 
 are now in trouble, and need comfort," he said; "and 
 perchance the hand of God will make them now to 
 magnify and reverence that word which before, for 
 fear of men, they set at light part." He was received 
 with great joy by the inhabitants; sermon was inti- 
 mated for the very next day; and as the plague was 
 still raging in the place, he took his station upon the 
 head of the east gate, the infected standing without 
 the gate, and those that were free within; and there 
 he preached to them on these appropriate words in 
 the 107th psalm, " He sent his word and healed 
 them ;" adding, by way of paraphrase, " It is neither 
 herb nor plaister, Lord, but thy word heals all." 
 " By the which sermon," says Knox, "he raised up the 
 hearts of all that heard him, that they regardit not 
 * Old Topers. t Knox's Hist., p. 44. 
 
1545.] GEORGE WISHART. 35 
 
 death, but judgit thame mair happie that sould de- 
 pairt, than sic as sould remain behind. 1 ' His con- 
 cern for the bodies of his fellow-men was not less dis- 
 tinguished than his love to their souls. When not 
 preaching, he was constantly employed in visiting 
 the sick, and ministering to the wants of the poor; 
 exposing himself, without fear, to the risk of infec- 
 tion. 
 
 But, in truth, the life of Wishart was in greater 
 danger from his persecutors than from the pestilence. 
 One day, as he was descending from his elevated 
 position on the gate after sermon, he observed a man 
 standing at the foot of the stairs, and immediately 
 suspecting his purpose, he laid hold of his hand, say- 
 ing, " My friend, what would you dof taking from 
 him, at the same time, a dagger, which he held con- 
 cealed under his gown. The wretch was so confound- 
 ed, that he confessed on the spot that he was a priest, 
 who had been bribed by cardinal Beaton to assassi- 
 nate Wishart. The people, on hearing this, would 
 have torn him to pieces, but the good minister took 
 the assassin in his arms, and saved his life. " No," 
 said he, " he has done me no harm, but rather good; 
 he has let us understand what we may fear; in times 
 to come we will watch better." 
 
 The singular promptitude and penetration display- 
 ed by Wishart on this occasion may be explained on 
 ordinary principles. Knox himself tells us that he 
 marked tho priest, " because he was maist scharp of 
 eye and judgement.'" But the following incident, 
 which occurred soon after, is not so easily explained. 
 When at Montrose, he received a letter, purporting 
 to come from an intimate friend who had been taken 
 suddenly ill, and was anxious to see him before his 
 
36 GEORGE WISHART. [1546. 
 
 death. Wishart set out in the company of a few 
 friends, but had not proceeded above a quarter of a 
 mile when he suddenly stopped, and said to them, 
 " I am forbidden of God to go .this journey; will 
 some of you be pleased to ride to yonder place, 
 (pointing to a little hill) and see what you find, for I 
 apprehend there is a plot laid against my life." They 
 went to the hill and discovered some sixty horsemen 
 concealed behind it, ready to intercept him. It 
 turned out that the letter was a forgery of the car- 
 dinal's, and Wishart once more escaped ; but, with a 
 presentiment soon after verified, he, said to his friends 
 on their return, " I know I shall end my life in the 
 hands of that blood-thirsty man; but it will not be 
 after this manner." " I know assuredly my travel 
 is nigh an end," he said on another occasion, with 
 something like the spirit of ancient prophecy, " but 
 God will send you comfort after me. This realm shall 
 be illuminated with the light of Christ's gospel, as 
 clearly as any realm ever was since the days of the 
 apostles; the house of God shall be built in it; yea, 
 it shall not lack (whatsoever enemies shall devise to 
 the contrary) the very copestone. Neither shall this 
 be long in doing; for there shall not many suffer 
 after me." 
 
 Shortly after this, Wishart was basely betrayed 
 into the hands of the cardinal by the earl of Both- 
 well, under a pledge of personal safety. He was con- 
 ducted to St. Andrews, and after a mock trial, during 
 which he was grossly insulted, mocked at, and even 
 spit upon, by his judges, he was condemned to the 
 stake as an obstinate heretic. The crimes of which 
 he was accused were, such as denying auricular con- 
 fession, purgatory, the mass, and other inventions of 
 
1546.] GEORGE WISHART. 37 
 
 the Eomish church; and he defended himself with 
 great meekness and fidelity. Of one real heresy 
 only did his enemies accuse him, namely, of holding 
 that the souls of men slept, after death, till the resur- 
 rection; and of this he was so anxious to clear him- 
 self, that he formally disclaimed it at the stake. So 
 determined was Beaton on accomplishing his object, 
 that though Arran, the governor, wrote to him to delay 
 the trial, declaring that " he would not consent to his 
 death until the cause was well examined, and pro- 
 testing, that if the cardinal should do otherwise, the 
 man's blood should be required at his hands," the 
 haughty prelate, setting all authority at defiance, 
 and without waiting for the sanction of the civil 
 power, proceeded to carry the sentence into effect 
 at his own hand. On the day of execution, the guns 
 of the castle were planted so as to command the 
 street and the scaffold, in case of any attempt to 
 rescue the prisoner; and the front tower of the 
 palace was elegantly fitted up with cushions and 
 tapestry, that there, seated at their ease, the cardi- 
 nal and his clergy might enjoy the spectacle. That 
 morning the devoted minister was invited to break- 
 fast with the governor of the castle. He replied, 
 " Very willingly, and so much the rather that I per- 
 ceive you to be a good Christian, and a man fearing 
 God." Bread and wine having been set upon the 
 table, he said, " I beseech you, in the name of God, 
 and for the love you bear to our saviour, Jesus Christ, 
 to be silent a little while, till I have made a short ex- 
 hortation, and blessed this bread, so that I may bid 
 you farewell." He then spoke about half-an-hour on 
 the institution of the supper, and the death of Christ; 
 after which, he blessed the bread and wine, and having 
 
38 GEORGE WISHART. [1546. 
 
 tasted them himself, distributed them to the governor 
 and his friends. " As for myself, 1 ' he concluded, 
 " there is a more bitter potion prepared for me, only 
 because I have preached the true doctrine of Christ ; 
 but pray for me that I may take it patiently as from 
 his hand." He was then brought out, and fixed to 
 the stake with a heavy chain. The fire was lighted, 
 and the powder fastened to his body exploded. 
 " This flame hath scorched my body," said the suf- 
 ferer, " yet hath it not daunted my spirit. But he 
 who from yonder high place beholdeth us with such 
 pride, shall, within a few days, lie in the same as igno- 
 miniously as now he is seen proudly to rest himself. 11 
 The fire having now been kindled, he was first 
 strangled, and his body was soon consumed to ashes.* 
 This happened on the 1st day of March 1546. 
 Nothing could be more unlikely, at the time Wishart 
 uttered this memorable prediction, than that it should 
 be fulfilled. The cardinal himself paid no regard 
 to it; he dwelt securely in his fortified castle; the 
 people of the town were at his command ; and he had 
 powerful friends throughout the country. A late 
 writer is so perfectly sure that our ancestors could, 
 in no instance, receive premonitions of future events, 
 that he maintains it to be " more probable 11 that 
 Wishart was privy to some conspiracy against the 
 cardinal, " than that he should be endowed with the 
 spirit of prophecy ."-f" But is there anything incon- 
 sistent with reason or religion in supposing that God 
 may, on special occasions, such as in times of hot 
 persecution, have granted to his faithful and prayer- 
 ful servants impressions and forewarnings of coming 
 
 * Spotswoocle, pp. 79, 82 ; Pitscottie, p. 457 ; Knox, p. 53. 
 t M'Gavin's edition of Scots Worthies, i. 37. 
 
1546.] GEORGE WISHART. 39 
 
 events, beyond what could be discovered even by " an 
 extraordinary degree of sagacious foresight f "That 
 the Supreme Being," says Dr. Cook, "may, in seasons 
 of difficulty, thus enlighten his servants, cannot be 
 doubted." To hold that this opinion is inconsistent 
 with the perfection of the holy scriptures, is to 
 mistake the matter entirely. Our worthies never 
 pretended to be endowed with the spirit of prophecy, 
 in the sense in which this is true of the ancient pro- 
 phets ; they did not lay claim to inspiration, nor re- 
 quire implicit faith to be placed in their sayings as 
 divine ; they did not propose them as rules of duty, 
 nor appeal to them as miraculous evidences of the 
 doctrines they taught. But they regarded such pre- 
 sentiments as gracious intimations of the will of God, 
 granted to them in answer to prayer, for their own 
 encouragement or direction ; and they delivered them 
 as warnings to others, leaving the truth of them to 
 be ascertained and proved by the event. 
 
 To insinuate, as some have done, that Wishart 
 the meek, the unworldly, the beneficent, the tender- 
 hearted and pious Wishart, who repeatedly interceded 
 for the life of his enemies, prayed for their forgive- 
 ness at the stake, and kissed the executioner before 
 he did his office was "privy to the conspiracy" 
 afterwards formed against Beaton, is the strangest 
 exhibition of prejudice which modern times afford. 
 The charge has been revived of late, in a more malig- 
 nant spirit, by some writers whose sympathies seem 
 to be all in favour of the popish clergy, and with 
 whom, in estimating the justness of the accusation, 
 it is apparently enough to know that Beaton was a 
 bishop, and Wishart a reformer. Some idea may be 
 formed of the credulity, if not the charity, of these 
 
40 ASSASSINATION OF BEATON. [1546. 
 
 gentlemen, when we mention that the whole evidence 
 on which they proceed is a passage in some manu- 
 script correspondence of the period, in which mention 
 is made of "a Scotishman called Wyshert," who, 
 it seems, had been employed as a sort of go-between, 
 or confidential servant, in some conspiracy formed by 
 Henry VIII. against the life of the cardinal ! After 
 what we have stated of the character of Wishart, our 
 readers may be safely left to judge whether lie was 
 likely to be the person employed on this menial and 
 degrading service, or whether, knowing that such a 
 conspiracy had been formed, he was a man capable 
 of telling it at such an awful moment, for the pur- 
 pose of being accounted a prophet; as if, after the 
 manner of modern fortune-tellers, he had first acted 
 as a spy, and then pretended to predict what he had 
 discovered! In the hands of writers actuated by 
 such a spirit, or guided by such evidence, no man's 
 character can be safe, and no man's memory can be 
 sacred. But "the memory of the just is blessed ;" and 
 it is consoling to think that, in this case, as in many 
 others of a similar kind, providence has preserved 
 materials sufficient to vindicate the character of the 
 reformer, and make the odious charge recoil on the 
 heads of his accusers.* 
 
 * See an able and triumphant " Vindication of George Wishart the 
 martyr, against Mr. Patrick Fraser Tytler," which appeared 'in the 
 Edinburgh Christian Monitor for 1823, vol. iii. p. 475, where the author 
 shows the absurdity of supposing that a gentleman of Mr. Wishart 's 
 rank and character, the brother of a Scottish baron, would be designated 
 by his friends " a Scotishman called Wyshert," and proves by direct 
 historical testimony, that this person could neither be the martyr nor his 
 brother the laird of Pitarrow. Mr. Tytler attempted a reply in the same 
 periodical (iv. 90), in which, however, he does not venture to repeat 
 his charge against Wishart, or to answer the arguments of his critic. 
 More recently the charge has been revived by the Rev. C. J. Lyon 
 
1546.J ASSASSINATION OF BEATON. 41 
 
 The truth is, that the plot which had been con- 
 certed against the cardinal by Henry VIII. had com- 
 pletely failed, and his assassination was the result of 
 a more private conspiracy which was formed some 
 time after Wishart's death. This conspiracy, as we 
 are informed by our historians, was first proposed 
 by a hot-headed young man of the house of Rothes, 
 named Norman Lesley, who was instigated by some 
 personal pique against Beaton, and was heard to 
 swear that "these two" (holding out his hand and 
 dagger) "were the two priests that would give abso- 
 lution to the cardinal."* With him were associa- 
 ted his brother, John Lesley, William Kirkaldy of 
 Grange, James Melville of Carnbee, and some others, 
 not exceeding twelve persons in all. Early on the 
 morning of Saturday, 29th May 1546, this small 
 band surprised the castle of St. Andrews, turned out 
 the attendants, burst into the chamber of the car- 
 dinal, and after upbraiding him with his perfidy and 
 cruelty, fell upon him with their swords. He died 
 exclaiming, " I am a priest fy, fy all is gone !" 
 The inhabitants of the town, awakened by the terri- 
 fied inmates of the castle, ran to the palace, eagerly 
 demanding a sight of the cardinal ; and the conspira- 
 tors, in order to satisfy them, exposed his dead body 
 
 of St. Andrews, who has been satisfactorily answered by the Rev. 
 W. Lothian of the same place. In his History of Scotland, Mr. Tytler 
 does not venture to repeat the charge as to Wisharfs share in the con- 
 spiracy, though he still insinuates that, from his connection with the 
 conspirators against Beaton, he must have known of it; it is just possible 
 that he might not! (Vol. v. 417.) This is pure conjecture. And to 
 attempt fixing such a serious charge on the memory of this venerated 
 martyr of the reformation, merely on conjecture, without adducing a 
 single proof of his implication in the plot, is altogether unworthy of the 
 dignity of history to say nothing of its impartiality. 
 
 * Buchanan, b. 15; Spotswoode, p. 82; Pitscottie, p. 483. 
 VOL. I. D 
 

 42 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. [1546. 
 
 on the very tower from which he had, a few months 
 before, in savage pomp, witnessed the execution of 
 George Wishart. 
 
 Far be it from us to vindicat this act of bloody 
 revenge. The rude and unsettled state of the times, 
 and the arbitrary violence of Beaton, who had set the 
 example of acting in defiance of all law in the mur- 
 der of Wishart, may palliate the irregularity, but 
 cannot excuse the atrocity of the deed.* Viewed as 
 an event in providence, we may recognise in it a just 
 judgment from God on a cruel persecutor; while, at 
 the same time, considered as the deed of man, we 
 condemn the instruments whose passions were over- 
 ruled for accomplishing it. Beaton died unlamented, 
 as he had lived undesired; and the general feeling as 
 to the manner of his death was expressed in the fol- 
 lowing couplet of Sir David Lyndsay: [ 
 
 " As for the cardinal, I grant 
 He was the man we weel could want, 
 
 And we'll forget him soon ; 
 And yet I think the sooth to say, 
 Although the loon is weel away, 
 
 The deed was foully done." 
 
 The martyrdom of Wishart did not arrest the pro- 
 gress of the reformation, nor did the fate of Beaton 
 
 * The History of England records instances of the murder of bishops, 
 much more numerous and more revolting than any similar cases in Scot- 
 land. The murder of Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, in the twelfth 
 century, by four English barons that of Sudbury, archbishop of York, 
 in the next century, by Wat Tyler's mob of Walcher, bishop of Dur- 
 ham Ayscoth, bishop of Salisbury, and others, who fell victims to their 
 own ambition, oppression, and illegal practices, might be cited to show 
 that the assassination of Beaton is not without its parallels in prelatic 
 England; not to speak of the cold-blooded judicial murders of arch- 
 bishop Cranmer, and bishops Latimer, Ridley, and Hooper. 
 
 f The Scottish poet, whose ingenious satirical poems contributed greatly 
 to the downfal of the Romish 'lergy. 
 
1546.] PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION'. 43 
 
 stop the fury of persecution. New preachers, many 
 of whom had fled from England on the accession of 
 " bloody Mary," supplied the place of those who had 
 been put to death, and converts, both from among 
 the clergy and laity, were daily added to the re- 
 formed faith. The inhabitants of Edinburgh, almost 
 in a body, resolved no longer to attend mass, but to 
 make an open separation from the church of Rome, 
 an example which was followed by many others in 
 town and country. In vain did the queen, the widow 
 of James V., who was now regent of the kingdom, 
 try to stem the torrent. The clergy sunk every day 
 in public estimation, and various causes contributed 
 to accelerate their downfal. Instead of setting 
 themselves to reform the notorious abuses of the 
 Church, they made an ostentatious display of the 
 most puerile of her ceremonies; instead of prudently 
 bending to circumstances, they rose to a higher 
 pitch of arrogance than ever. The very year of 
 Wishart's martyrdom, cardinal Beaton and the arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow had a mortal quarrel in that city, 
 the point of dispute being which of their crosses 
 should be carried foremost in a procession. The 
 cross-bearers happening to meet, a scuffle ensued, 
 and they pummeled each other with their crosses, till 
 both were thrown to the ground. Some time after, 
 a momentous controversy arose about the propriety 
 of saying the pater-nosier to the saints. A monk, 
 called friar Totts, in a sermon preached in St. 
 Andrews, at the request of some doctors in the uni- 
 versity, engaged to prove that all the petitions in the 
 Lord's prayer might, with great propriety, be ad- 
 dressed to the saints. " If we meet with an old man 
 in the streets," said he, " we will say, Good morrow, 
 
44 " YOUNG SAINT GILES." [1558. 
 
 father; how much more may we call the saints, Our 
 fathers! And seeing we grant they are in heaven, 
 we may say to every one of them, Our father which 
 art in heaven," &c. This stuff might have gone down 
 a few years before, but the temper of the times had 
 changed; the audience could not refrain from laughter, 
 and the preacher was obliged to leave the town, glad 
 to escape from the persecution of the boys, who cried 
 after him on the street, " Friar Paternoster !"' A 
 scene of a different kind occurred in the metropolis. 
 St. Giles, it seems, was the patron saint of Edinburgh, 
 and on his feast-day it was the custom to parade his 
 image through the town, with drums, trumpets, and 
 all sorts of musical instruments. When this day 
 arrived in 1558 (just two years before the refor- 
 mation), the clergy resolved to have it observed 
 with all due solemnity, and the queen, fearing a 
 tumult, agreed to honour the scene with her pre- 
 sence. But, lo! when the hour of procession ar- 
 rived, the saint was missing; some evil-disposed per- 
 son had stolen him out of the receptacle in which 
 he was usually kept. This occasioned some delay, 
 till another image, of smaller dimensions, was bor- 
 rowed from the Greyfriars, which the people, in deri- 
 sion, called " Young Sanct Geill." All now went 
 forward peaceably, till the queen retired to dinner, 
 when some young fellows, provided for the purpose, 
 came forward and offered to assist the bearers of the 
 image. " Young Sanct Geill" was soon jostled off 
 into the street and smashed in pieces. The result 
 was an Edinburgh riot no jest at any time; and the 
 priests were glad to save themselves by a hasty flight. 
 Down went the crosses; off went the surplices, caps 
 and coronets. " Such an uproar," says Knox, " came 
 
1558.] WALTER MILL. 45 
 
 never among the generation of antichrist in this realm 
 before!"* 
 
 There was only one thing needed to seal the ruin 
 of the popish clergy in Scotland the continuance of 
 the cruelties by which they endeavoured to put down 
 the opposition they had raised. And, like those 
 beasts of prey whose dying struggles are more formi- 
 dable than their first attack, popery expended the 
 last efforts of its expiring power in a deed of transcen- 
 dent cruelty. Walter Mill, an old decrepid priest, who 
 had been condemned as a heretic in the time of cardi- 
 nal Beaton, but had escaped, was at last discovered 
 by the spies of his successor, archbishop Hamilton, 
 and brought to St. Andrews for trial. He appeared 
 before the court so worn out with age and hardships, 
 that it was not expected he would be able to answer 
 the questions put to him; but, to the surprise of all, 
 he managed his defence with great spirit. He was 
 condemned to the flames; but such was the horror 
 now felt at this punishment, and such the general 
 conviction of the innocence of the victim, that the 
 clergy could not prevail on a secular judge to ratify 
 the sentence, nor an individual in the town so much 
 as to give or sell a rope to bind the martyr to the 
 stake, so that the archbishop had to furnish them 
 with a cord from his own pavilion. When com- 
 manded by Oliphant, the bishop's menial, to go to 
 the stake, the old man, with becoming spirit, re- 
 fused. " No," said he, " I will not go, except thou 
 put me up with thy hand; for I am forbidden by the 
 law of God to put hands on myself." The wretch 
 having pushed him forward, he wont up with a cheer- 
 
 * Knox, p. 95 ; Spotswoode, p. 118; Row's MS. Hist. 
 
46 PRETENDED MIRACLE. [1559. 
 
 ful countenance, saying, " I will go unto the altar of 
 God. 1 ' "As for me," he added, when tied to the 
 stake, his voice trembling with age, " I am fourscore 
 years old, and cannot live long by course of nature; 
 but a hundred better shall rise out of the ashes of my 
 bones. I trust in God I shall be the last that shall 
 suffer death in Scotland for this cause." So saying, 
 he expired amidst the flames, on the 28th August 
 1558. He was indeed the last who suffered in that 
 cause; and, as Spotswoode observes, his death 
 was the death of popery in this realm. This exe- 
 cution roused the horror of the nation to an in- 
 credible pitch. The citizens of St. Andrews marked 
 the spot on which the martyr died, by rearing over 
 it an immense heap of stones; and as often' as the 
 priests caused it to be removed, the sullen and omi- 
 nous memorial was restored by the next morning. 
 The knell of popery had rung; and Scotland was 
 prepared to start up as one man, and shake itself 
 free of the monster which had, for so many cen- 
 turies, prostrated its strength, and preyed upon its 
 vitals. 
 
 As a final resource to support their sinking credit, 
 the priests contrived once more to get up a miracle, 
 the last they attempted in Scotland. Public notice 
 was given, that on a certain day, at the chapel of our 
 Lady of Loretto, near Musselburgh, they intended 
 to put the truth of their religion to the test, by curing 
 a young man who had been born blind. A great 
 multitude collected to witness the miracle; and 
 there, sure enough, was the young man, apparently 
 stone blind, accompanied by a procession of monks, 
 who, after solemnly invoking the assistance of the 
 Virgin, made him open his eyes, to the astonishment 
 
1559.] PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 47 
 
 of the beholders. But among the crowd there was 
 one Colville of (Jleish, a brave gentleman and a 
 good protestant, who immediately suspected the 
 trick. He took the young man home to his lodgings, 
 and locking the door, prevailed upon him, partly by 
 threats and partly by promises, to reveal the whole 
 secret. It appeared that while in the service of the 
 nuns of Sciennes, near Edinburgh, the boy had ac- 
 quired the faculty of turning up the white of his 
 eyes, and keeping them in that position so as to 
 appear blind. The monks having come to the 
 'knowledge of this, thought of turning it to some 
 account, and having kept him for some years con- 
 cealed, so as not to be easily recognised by his old 
 acquaintances, they had first sent him out to beg as 
 a blind pauper, and now produced him to act his 
 part on the occasion referred to. To confirm his 
 narrative, the lad " played his paivie" before Colville, 
 by " flypping up the lid of his eyes, and casting up 
 the white," to perfection. Upon this, Colville ex- 
 posed the whole story, and made the young man 
 repeat his exhibition at the cross of Edinburgh, to 
 the confusion of the whole fraternity of monks and 
 friars, who would, no doubt, have wreaked their ven- 
 geance on their former tool, and made him blind 
 enough, had not Cleish stood beside him with his 
 drawn sword, while he made his confession, and 
 placing him, when he had done, on his own horse, 
 carried him off to Fife.* 
 
 It is a great mistake to suppose that the Scottish 
 reformation originated with the common people, or 
 in the spirit of rebellion. It would be much nearer 
 
 * Row's Hist, MS., p. 356; Life of Knox, i. 321. 
 
48 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. [1559. 
 
 the truth to say that Scotland was reformed by her 
 noblemen and gentlemen. At both the periods of 
 her reformation, the flower of her nobility took the 
 lead; her principal reformers were men of superior 
 education as well as high rank; and many of the 
 first protestant preachers were converted ecclesias- 
 tics, who continued to officiate in the church, after 
 having abandoned the mummeries of popery, and 
 become genuine pastors of Christ's flock. And 
 though, unfortunately, the crown was unfavourable 
 to the reformation, it was not until every other 
 method had been tried, and tried ineffectually, that' 
 the protestant noblemen and gentry found it ne- 
 cessary to bind themselves by solemn oaths for 
 mutual defence, and to hazard their lives in the 
 cause of religion. 
 
 The first band of this description was formed in 
 December 1557, and was subscribed by the leading 
 nobles and gentlemen of the land. The demands of 
 these reformers were at first exceedingly few and 
 simple; but it is remarkable that, among these, 
 even at this early stage of the reformation, the 
 most prominent place was given to the popular 
 election of ministers. They requested " that public 
 prayers, and the administration of the sacraments, 
 should be celebrated by ministers in their mother- 
 tongue, that all the people might understand them; 
 that the election of ministers, according to the custom 
 of the primitive Church, should be made by the people; 
 and that they who presided over that election should 
 inquire diligently into the lives and doctrines of all 
 that were to be admitted."* The principal persons 
 
 * Spotswoode, p. 1C9; Knox, p. 120. 
 
1559.] PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 49 
 
 among the nobility and landed gentry, " into whose 
 hearts the Lord God of our fathers did put such a 
 thing as this, to beautify the house of the Lord," 
 and whose names deserve to be held by all Scotsmen 
 in everlasting remembrance, were Archibald Earl 
 of Argyle ; Lord James Stewart, afterwards Earl of 
 Murray, and commonly called the Good Regent, the 
 Earl of Glencairne, the Earl of Morton, the Earl of 
 Rothes, Archibald Lord of Lome, Lords Ochiltree, 
 Yester, and Boyd; Sir James Sandilands of Calder, 
 John Erskine of Dun, and a large proportion of the 
 lesser barons. The feudal system, which then pre- 
 vailed in Scotland, gave these noblemen and gentle- 
 men the virtual command of the whole community; 
 they reigned on their estates like so many princes. 
 These were not the men, when once enlightened by 
 the truth, tamely to submit to priestly domination. 
 They had long been disgusted by the manners of the 
 higher clergy, who, though in general mean or base- 
 born persons, had claimed precedence of the ancient 
 nobility, thrust themselves into places of power, and 
 appropriated to themselves the greater share of the 
 national wealth. On the other hand, they saw that 
 the reformed preachers, who were in general the 
 sons or relatives of persons of rank, were men of 
 principle and self-denial, mainly bent on the promo- 
 tion of the spiritual interests of their countrymen. 
 For some time they contented themselves with pro- 
 tecting these good men from the vengeance of the 
 prelates; and providing, by an act of council, that 
 " it should be lawful for every one that could read, 
 to use the English version of the Bible, until the 
 prelates should publish a more correct one, 11 an 
 act which, by giving " free course to the word of 
 
50 ARCYLE'S LETTER. [1559. 
 
 the Lord," had great influence in promoting the 
 reformation. 
 
 Hamilton, archbishop of St. Andrews, hearing 
 that Argyle kept one of those ministers, Mr. John 
 Douglas, in his castle as his chaplain, sent the earl 
 a coaxing letter, in which, after declaring he felt 
 " bound in conscience" to inquire into this matter, 
 and representing the danger to which he exposed 
 himself and his honourable family, by defection from . 
 the church, he exhorted his lordship to rid himself, 
 " in some honest fashion," of Douglas, that perjured 
 apostate who had seduced him, offering to provide 
 him with a learned preacher, who, he would " lay 
 his soul in pawn," would teach him no other than 
 true doctrine. The earl's answer is respectful but 
 spirited, and contains some shrewd hints which the 
 archbishop could not fail to apply to himself: " Your 
 lordship declares that there are delations of sundry 
 points of heresy, upon that man called Douglas. I 
 have heard him teach no articles of heresy, but that 
 which agrees with God's word. Your lordship 
 regards your conscience; I pray God that ye do so, 
 and examine your conscience weill. He preaches 
 against idolatrie; I remit to your lordship's con- 
 science gif that be heresie or not. He preaches 
 against adulterie and fornicatioun ; I refer that to 
 your lordship's conscience. He preaches against 
 hypocrisie; 1 refer that to your lordship's conscience. 
 He preaches against all manner of abuses of Christ's 
 sincere religion; I refer that to your lordship's con- 
 science. My lord, I exhort you, in Christ's name, 
 to weigh all these affairs in your conscience, and 
 consider if it be your dutie, not only to thole this, 
 but in like manner to do the same. Your lordship 
 
1559.] SCOTTISH DIALECT. 51 
 
 says you would take the labour to get me a man 
 to instruct me in your catholick faith. God Al- 
 michtie send us mony of that sort, that will 
 preache trewly, and naething but ane catholick 
 universal Christian faith; for we Hieland rude 
 people has mister of them (much need of them). 
 And if your lordship wald get me sic a man, I 
 sould provide him a corporal living, with great 
 thanks to your lordship. And beuause I am 
 able to sustean more than ane of them, I will 
 request your lordship to provyde me as many as 
 ye can ; for the harvest is grit, and the labouraris are 
 few." 
 
 We beg to make a remark here, once for all, on 
 the style of these extracts and anecdotes. Since the 
 introduction of the English dialect into our country, 
 the Scottish has been disused by almost all except 
 the humbler classes of society, and hence has become 
 associated in some minds with rudeness and vul- 
 garity. But at the present era of our history, and 
 for many years after, the language of the court, the 
 bench, and the pulpit, of our kings and queens, and 
 the finest ladies and gentlemen of the day, though 
 differing materially in its pronunciation from the 
 coarse dialect or patois which now prevails, was uni- 
 versally Scottish. This very obvious statement seems 
 called for, when we find such sentiments as those we 
 have now given actually stigmatized as " vulgar scur- 
 rility !" There can be no question that much of the 
 disgust which some profess to feel at the sayings of 
 our worthy ancestors, may be traced to the mere 
 circumstance that their thoughts and feelings, truly 
 noble and refined as they were in themselves, and as 
 they might have appeared in an English dress, 
 
52 PLAIN DEALING. [1559. 
 
 were unfortunately uttered in their own mother- 
 tongue. 
 
 But to proceed. The nobility and gentry resolved 
 to do everything in their power to suppress idolatry, 
 and advance " the preaching of the evangel." as they 
 well termed the reformation; and yet, anxious to 
 proceed in the most orderly manner, presented sup- 
 plications to the queen regent, humbly craving the 
 reform of some of the most glaring abuses of the 
 church. The queen, however, who was a determined 
 papist, a Frenchwoman, and acting under foreign 
 influence, instead of listening to these petitions, had 
 concerted with the bishops to summon the reformed 
 ministers to Edinburgh; and, in order to get the 
 gentry out of the way, had issued an order for them 
 to march to the border. The gentlemen of the west, 
 on their way through Edinburgh, discovered the 
 plot, and were so indignant, that they went resolutely 
 in a body to the palace, entered the queen's cham- 
 ber, where they found her surrounded with her 
 priests, and bitterly complained of the deception. 
 Her majesty attempted to soothe them with fair 
 speeches; but Chalmers of Gathgirth, a gruff old 
 baron, who was very zealous in the cause, cut her 
 short by saying, " Madam, we know that this is the 
 malicious device of these jaivels (the bishops), and 
 of that bastard (Hamilton, the archbishop) that 
 standeth by you; but we vow to God we shall make 
 a day of it ! They oppress us and our tenants, to 
 feed their idle bellies; they trouble our preachers, 
 and would murder them and us! Shall we suffer 
 this any longer ? No, madam, it shall not be !" So 
 saying, he clapt on his steel bonnet, and the rest 
 of the gentlemen followed his example. Alarmed 
 
1559.] ROYAL PROMISES. 53 
 
 for the bodily safety of the bishops, who were trem- 
 bling from head to foot, the queen interfered, and 
 sent the unceremonious gentlemen away, with fair 
 promises of protection to the ministers. 
 
 These promises were not long kept. The queen, 
 after dissembling a while with the reformers, at 
 length threw off the mask, and avowed her deter- 
 mination to suppress the reformation by force. It is 
 often seen that, on the eve of some great deliverance 
 to the church, her enemies are permitted, before 
 their final overthrow, to gain a temporary advan- 
 tage ; and so it was now. The queen's brothers, the 
 princes of Lorraine, who were the most ambitious 
 of men, and the most bigoted of papists, had formed 
 a gigantic conspiracy for dethroning Elizabeth, and 
 recovering England and Scotland to the dominion of 
 Borne. For this purpose it was deemed necessary 
 to despatch French troops into our country, to subdue 
 the refractory Scots, and extinguish the heresy which 
 had sprung up among them. Our fathers, it may 
 be easily supposed, viewed these foreign allies with 
 no small jealousy. The lords and gentlemen, taking 
 the alarm, began to prepare for self-defence; but 
 not till thfey had used every expedient, without suc- 
 cess, to prevent matters from coming to an extremity. 
 The queen declared that, " in spite of them, all their 
 preachers should be banished from Scotland, though 
 they sould preach as weel as St. Paul;" and when 
 reminded of her former promises, she replied, that 
 " it became not subjects to burden their princes with 
 promises, further than they pleased to keep them." 
 A proclamation was issued, prohibiting any person 
 from preaching without authority from the bishops; 
 and on hearing that this proclamation was disregard- 
 
54 ARRIVAL OF JOHN KNOX. [1559. 
 
 ed, she summoned four of the preachers, Paul Meth- 
 ven, John Christison, William Harlow, and John 
 Willock, to stand trial at the justiciary court of 
 Stirling, for usurping the ministerial office, and 
 exciting sedition among the people. The trial 
 was appointed to take place on the of 10th May, 
 1559. 
 
 Such was the critical state of affairs, when an 
 individual suddenly appeared on the stage, the report 
 of whose arrival in Scotland spread a panic among 
 the popish clergy from which they never recovered, 
 and who was destined to do more for the cause 
 of the reformation than all the nobles of Scot- 
 land, with their armed followers, could have ef- 
 fected; need I say, that individual was John 
 Knox? 
 
 As the life of this reformer forms the subject of 
 a work with which many of the readers of these 
 pages may be familiar, we need not dwell on his 
 previous history. Suffice it to say, that John 
 Knox was born at Gifford, a village near Had- 
 dington, in the year 1505; that he was a fellow- 
 student of the famous George Buchanan, who was 
 classical tutor to James VI., and one of* the most 
 learned men of his age; and tiiat it was not lon^* 
 before both Buchanan and Knox embraced the re- 
 formed religion, with all the ardour of youth, and 
 all the firmness of strong and cultivated minds. 
 Knox had formed a strong attachment to George 
 Wishart, and waited constantly on his person, bearing 
 the two-handed sword which was carried before him, 
 from the time that the attempt was made to assassi- 
 nate him at Dundee. When Wishart was appre- 
 hended, Knox insisted for liberty to accompany him; 
 
1559.] ARRIVAL OF JOHN KNOX. 55 
 
 but the martyr dismissed him with this reply, " Nay, 
 return to your bairns (meaning his pupils), and God 
 bless you; ane is sufficient for a sacrfice? After the 
 assassination of Beaton, he retreated for safety to 
 the castle of St. Andrews, which was then held by 
 the conspirators. Knox had, before his conversion, 
 entered into priest's orders; and while he remained 
 in the castle, he was unexpectedly called upon to 
 officiate to the Protestants who had there sought 
 refuge. But the castle having surrendered, he was 
 sent, with other prisoners, to the galleys. Upon 
 regaining his liberty, he repaired to England, where 
 he remained till the death of that good prince, 
 Edward VI., when the fires of persecution, kindled 
 by the bloody Mary, compelled him to flee to Geneva, 
 and he accepted the charge of the English congre- 
 gation in that city. But during all his wanderings, 
 his heart was fixed on his native country. With 
 the friends of the reformation there he kept up a 
 constant correspondence; and he at last resolved to 
 devote himself, at all hazards, to the work of eman- 
 cipating Scotland from the darkness and thraldom 
 of popery. He arrived, as we have already seen, at 
 a period when his presence was much required, and 
 at a crisis for which his character was admir- 
 ably adapted. Possessing firm and high-toned 
 principle, the foundations of which were deeply laid 
 in sincere piety and profound acquaintance with the 
 scriptures; endowed with talents of no common 
 order, and an eloquence popular and overwhelming; 
 ardent in his feelings, indefatigable in his exertions, 
 daring and dauntless in his resolutions, John Knox 
 was the man, and almost the only man of his time, 
 who seemed to be expressly designed by the hand 
 
56 ARRIVAL OF JOHN KNOX. [1559. 
 
 of Providence for achieving the lofty and adventurous 
 enterprise to which he now consecrated himself, 
 spirit, and soul, and body. 
 
 His arrival in Scotland was not long concealed 
 from the clergy. On the morning after he landed 
 at Leith, a person came to the monastery of the 
 greyfriars, where the provincial council was sitting, 
 with the information that John Knox was come 
 from France, 'and had slept the last night in Edin- 
 burgh. The priests were panic-struck with the in- 
 telligence, the council was dismissed in confusion, a 
 messenger was despatched to the queen, and within 
 a few days Knox was proclaimed an outlaw and a 
 rebel. Undismayed by this sentence, he did not 
 hesitate a moment on the course he should pursue. 
 He determined to present himself voluntarily at Stir- 
 ling, where the protestant ministers had been sum- 
 moned to stand their trial. Having remained only 
 a single day in Edinburgh, he hurried to Dundee, 
 where he found the principal protestants already 
 assembled, with the intention of accompanying their 
 ministers to the place of trial, and avowing their 
 adherence to the doctrines for which they were 
 accused. Accompanying them to Perth, Knox 
 preached a sermon in that town, in which he 
 exposed the idolatry of the mass and image-worship. 
 The audience had peaceably dismissed, when one of 
 the priests, as if in contempt of the doctrine just de- 
 livered, began to celebrate mass. A boy uttered 
 some mark of disapprobation, and was struck by 
 the priest; the boy retaliated by throwing a stone 
 at his aggressor, which happened to break one of the 
 images. This, in the excited state of the public 
 mind, operated as a signal to some of the people who 
 
1559.] ARRIVAL OF JOHN KNOX. 57 
 
 lingered on the spot; and in a few minutes the altar, 
 images, and all the ornaments of the church, were 
 torn down and trampled under foot. The noise soon 
 collected a mob, who flew, by a sudden and irresis- 
 tible impulse, on the monasteries; and notwithstand- 
 ing the interposition of the magistrates, and the 
 entreaties of Knox and the other ministers, the fury 
 of the people could not be restrained till these costly 
 edifices were reduced to a heap of smoking ruins. This 
 tumult was quite unpremeditated, and confined to the 
 lowest of the inhabitants, or, as Knox calls them, 
 " the rascal multitude.' 1 The queen-regent, how- 
 ever, glad of a pretext to crush the reformation, 
 magnified this accidental riot into a designed re- 
 bellion, and, imputing the whole blame to the 
 Protestants, assembled an army to avenge the in- 
 sult. 
 
 Nothing was farther at this time from the minds 
 of the reformers than to excite rebellion, or to gain 
 their purpose by violent and unconstitutional means. 
 " Cursed be they," was their language to her ma- 
 jesty, " that seek effusion of blood, war, or dissension. 
 Let us possess Christ Jesus, and the benefit of his 
 evangel, and none within Scotland shall be more 
 obedient subjects than we shall be. 11 They soon dis- 
 covered, however, that the pledge of their allegiance 
 was to be the renunciation of their religion; and that 
 nothing would satisfy the queen and her advisers, 
 but the suppression of the reformation by fire and 
 sword. This brought matters to a crisis. When 
 lord Ruthven, who was sheriff and provost of 
 Perth, was commanded by her majesty to go home 
 and suppress the reformed opinions in his jurisdic- 
 tion, he told her very plainly, " that in uhatcon- 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
58 LORDS OF THE CONGREGATION. [1559. 
 
 cerned their bodies his charge was to keep them in 
 order, but what concerned their souls was neither 
 in his commission, nor would he meddle with it."" 
 And lord James Stewart, having been severely 
 blamed by Francis, the husband of Mary queen of 
 Scots, for taking part with the reformed, and charged 
 " upon his allegiance" to leave them, boldly replied, 
 " that he had done nothing against his allegiance, 
 but what was lawful for maintenance of the liberties 
 of the country, and propagation of the gospel, which 
 it was no more lawful for him to abandon than to 
 deny Jesus Christ.' 1 * If, therefore, any confusion 
 ensued, if our reformers were compelled to assume 
 a hostile attitude, the blame must rest with those 
 who reduced them to the alternative of either resist- 
 ing their sovereign, or submitting to have themselves 
 and their country enslaved. Finding all their en- 
 deavours to obtain the peaceable enjoyment of their 
 religion to be fruitless ; perceiving that the queen, 
 who had so often deceived and disappointed them, 
 had now become their declared enemy the leading 
 protestants, who now began to be called the lords 
 of the congregation, saw the necessity of arming and 
 combining in self-defence. For this purpose, they 
 drew up another engagement or bond, in which they 
 renounced popery, and pledged themselves to mutual 
 support in the defence and promotion of the true 
 religion. This bond received numerous subscriptions. 
 And now, having taken their ground, and finding 
 their numbers daily increasing, they saw that 
 the only effectual method to prevent the odious 
 chains of ecclesiastical tyranny from being rivetted 
 on themselves and their posterity, was to make 
 
 * Lord Herries' Hist. Memoirs, pp. 37, 42. 
 
1559.J KNOX AT ST. ANDREWS. 59 
 
 a united and determined effort to shake them off 
 for ever. They demanded the reformation of the 
 church, and each of them engaged, in his own 
 sphere, to take immediate steps for abolishing the 
 popish service, and setting up the reformed re- 
 ligion in those places where their . authority ex- 
 tended, and where the people were friendly to their 
 design. 
 
 St. Andrews was the place fixed on for com- 
 mencing these operations. In the beginning of June 
 1 559, the earl of Argyle and lord James Stewart, 
 afterwards earl of Murray, who was prior of the 
 abbey of St. Andrews, made an appointment with 
 Knox to meet him on a certain day in that city. 
 Travelling along the east coast of Fife, the refor- 
 mer preached at Anstruther and Grail, setting 
 before the people the danger in which the civil 
 and religious liberties of the nation were placed 
 by the invasion of foreign and mercenary troops, 
 sent to enslave them by a popish faction in 
 France, and bidding them prepare thems?lves 
 either to die like men, or live as freemen. Such 
 was the effect of his exhortation, that altars, 
 images, and all monuments of idolatry in these 
 places, were immediately pulled down and destroyed. 
 The archbishop of St. Andrews, apprized of his de- 
 sign to preach in that town, and apprehending simi- 
 lar consequences, assembled an armed force, and sent 
 information to the lords, that if John Knox dared 
 to present himself in the pulpit of his cathedral, " he 
 should gar him be saluted with a dozen of culver- 
 ings, * whereof the most part should light on his 
 nose." The noblemen having met to consult what 
 * A species of fire-arms. 
 
60 PREACHES BEFORE THE LORDS. [1559. 
 
 ought to be done, considering that the queen, witli 
 her French troops, was lying at Falkland, only 
 twelve miles from St. Andrews, while they "were 
 only accompanied with their quiet households," and 
 fearing lost his appearance in the pulpit should lead 
 to the sacrifice of his life, and the lives of those who 
 were determined to defend him, agreed that Knox 
 should desist from preaching at this time, and urged 
 him very strenuously to comply with their advice. 
 The intrepid reformer, however, disdained all such 
 fears, and would not listen to their solicitations. 
 " God is my witness," said he, "that I never preached 
 Christ Jesus in contempt of any man, or to the worldly 
 hurt of any creature. But to delay to preach to- 
 morrow (unless the body be violently withhalden) I 
 cannot of conscience; for in this town and kirk began 
 God first to call rne to the dignity of a preacher, from 
 the which I was reft by the tyranny of France, and 
 procurement of the bishops, as ye all well enough 
 know, and it is no time now to recite. This only I 
 cannot conceal, which more than ane has heard me 
 say, when the body was far absent fra Scotland, 
 that my assured hope was, in open audience, to 
 preach in Sanct Androis, before I departed this life. 
 And therefore, my lords, seeing that God, above the 
 expectation of many, has brought the body to the 
 same place, I beseech your honours not to stop me 
 to present myself unto my brethren. And as for the 
 fear of danger that may come to me, let no man bo 
 solicitous; for my life is in the custody of Him whose 
 glory 1 seek; and therefore I cannot so fear their 
 boast nor tyranny, that I will cease from doing my 
 duty, when God of his mercy offereth the occasion. 
 I desire the hand nor weapon of no man to defend 
 
1559.] DEMOLITION OF THE MONASTERIES. 61 
 
 me ; only I crave audience, which if it be denied here 
 unto me at this time, I must seek farther where I 
 may have it. 11 
 
 This bold reply silenced all remonstrance ; and the 
 next day, being the Sabbath, 10th June 1559, Knox 
 appeared in the pulpit, and preached before the 
 lords of the congregation, and a numerous assem- 
 bly, without experiencing the slightest interruption. 
 He discoursed on the subject of our Saviour's ejecting 
 the buyers and sellers from the temple, and over- 
 throwing the tables of the money-changers : " Take 
 these things hence: it is written, My Father's 
 house shall be a house of prayer; but ye have made 
 it a den of thieves." From this he took occasion 
 to expose the enormous corruptions introduced 
 into the church under the papacy, and to point out 
 what was incumbent on Christians, in their different 
 spheres, for removing them. On the three following 
 days he preached in the same place; and such was 
 the influence of his doctrine, that the provost, bailies, 
 and inhabitants harmoniously agreed to set up the 
 reformed worship in the town; the church was 
 stripped of images and pictures, and the monasteries 
 were pulled down. 
 
 The demolition of the monasteries and other reli- 
 gious houses, which marked the commencement of 
 our reformation, has furnished a rich topic for 
 declamation to many, who refer to it as a proof 
 of the bigotry and barbarism of our reformers. We 
 allow they may have gone too far, under the excite- 
 ment of the moment; and " can any man think," 
 says honest Row, " that in such a great alteration in 
 a kingdom, everv man did everything rightly?" But 
 
 / if O O v 
 
 let us do them justice. Had the queen-regent, instead 
 
62 DEMOLITION OF THE MONASTERIES. [1559 
 
 of resorting to violent measures to suppress the re- 
 formation, listened to the petitions of her noblemen 
 for inquiry into the abuses of the church, or even 
 allowed her subjects liberty to profess the gospel, 
 these excesses would never have occurred. It was 
 only when this liberty was denied them, and they 
 were required to submit unconditionally to the will of 
 the popish clergy, that the people had recourse to 
 this method of redress. " After which answer," says 
 sir James Balfour, " the congregation goes to the 
 staitly monastry of Scone, and pulls it doun, and so- 
 lemnly burns all the Eoman trashe, as images, altars, 
 and the lyke. Then proceed they fordward to Stirling, 
 Cambuskenneth, and Linlithgow, and there demolish 
 and pull doun all whatsoever carried any symboll of 
 the Roman harlot.""* The churches and cathedrals, 
 be it observed, were generally spared; it was only 
 the monasteries, and places identified with the reign- 
 ing superstition, that fell a sacrifice to the popular 
 fury. And when we consider that these formed the 
 strongholds of popery, against which the nation was 
 now at war, and the receptacles of a lazy, corrupt, 
 and tyrannical priesthood, who had so long fattened 
 on the substance of a deluded people, there appears 
 more good policy than some are willing to admit in the 
 advice which John Knox is said to have inculcated: 
 " Down with those crow-nests, else the crows will 
 big in them again. ") Another view of the matter, 
 equally capable of defence, is suggested by an anec- 
 dote which he relates of a woman, who, when tho 
 flames of the monasteries in Perth were ascending 
 to heaven, and some were lamenting their destruc- 
 tion, exclaimed, that if they knew the scenes ofvil- 
 
 * Annales of Scotland, i. 316. ) Row's MS. Hist., p. G. 
 
1559.] DEMOLITION OF THE MONASTERIES. 63 
 
 lany and debauchery that had passed within these 
 walls, they would "admire the judgments of Heaven, 
 in bringing these haunts of pollution to such an 
 end."* 
 
 * Knox, Hist. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 National establishment of the reformed religion First meeting of the 
 general assembly The First Book of Discipline Constitution of 
 the church of Scotland Anecdotes of John Knox and queen Mary 
 The murder of the Good Regent Death of John Knox. 
 
 THERE was a striking difference between the Scottish 
 and the English reformation. In England the reign- 
 ing powers took the lead, and the people followed, as 
 they best might, in the wake of royal authority. In 
 Scotland, the people were converted to the pro- 
 testant faith before the civil power had moved a 
 step in the cause; and when the legislature became 
 friendly to the reformation, nothing remained for it 
 to do, but to ratify the profession which the nation 
 had adopted. The consequence has been, that the 
 church of England, with all her excellences (and 
 they are many), has never ventured to advance be- 
 yond the limits prescribed by queen Elizabeth; while 
 the Scottish church, carrying the legislature along 
 with her, has made various steps in reformation 
 lias, on more than one occasion, improved her stan- 
 dards, pointed her testimony to the times, and dis- 
 carded from her creed and constitution everything 
 which seemed, even by implication, to symbolize 
 with the apostasy of the church of Koine. 
 
1560.] ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTESTANTISM. 65 
 
 In the month of August 1560, when, through the 
 friendly aid of England, the French troops had been 
 expelled from Scotland, and when, after the queen- 
 regent's death, a free parliament was assembled, 
 popery, as a matter of course, was abolished, and 
 the protestant religion substituted in its place. 
 Considering the suddenness with which this change 
 was effected, the business was wisely and well con- 
 ducted. A petition was presented to the parliament 
 by the ministers and others, in the name of the 
 people, requesting them to secure, by legal enact- 
 ments, the profession of the true religion. The 
 parliament then requested the ministers to lay 
 before them a summary of Christian doctrine, which 
 they could prove to be agreeable to scripture; and, 
 in the course of a few days, the ministers presented 
 a confession, consisting of twenty-five articles, which 
 the parliament, after due examination, formally 
 ratified and approved. This confession agrees in 
 all points with those of the other reformed churches, 
 and is not materially different from the Westminster 
 confession now in use, which was afterwards adopted 
 by the church of Scotland. It was remarked, that 
 when it was read over, in the audience of the whole 
 parliament, in which there were several lords and 
 bishops known to be disaffected to the reforma- 
 tion, only three of the noblemen voted against it, 
 giving no other reason for their dissent than, 
 " We will beleve as our forefatheris belevit:" "the 
 bishops spak nathing." Upon which, the earl 
 Marishal, after declaring his own approbation of the 
 articles, protested, '' that if any ecclesiastics should 
 after this oppose themselves to this our confession, 
 they should be entitled to no credit, seeing that, 
 
66 ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTESTANTISM. [1560. 
 
 having long advisement and full knowledge of it, 
 none of them is found, in lawful, free, and quiet 
 parliament, to vote against it." 
 
 This amounted, it will be observed, to a national 
 establishment of the protestant religion. The nation, 
 by its rulers and representatives, passed from popery 
 to protestantism; and, in its civil capacity, ratified 
 (not the gospel, indeed, which no acts of parliament 
 can ratify, but) the profession of the gospel, which 
 the people, in their religious capacities, had already 
 embraced. And thus it appears that there was a 
 civil establishment of the true religion in Scotland, 
 before there was even an established church, for the 
 reformed church of Scotland was not as yet regu- 
 larly organized, much less endowed. The legal 
 recognition of the presbyterian church as an orga- 
 nized society was a subsequent step, and indeed not 
 fully obtained till several years after this; the settle- 
 ment of regular stipends on the ministers was still 
 later. And yet, by the act of the state to which 
 we have referred, the protestant religion became the 
 national religion of Scotland. These are the plain 
 facts ; and we leave every one to form his own judg- 
 ment on them. But if the principle of civil estab- 
 lishments of religion is to be debated at all, at this 
 point must the battle begin; and the question to be 
 decided is, whether it was right or wrong for the 
 nation of Scotland to declare, by an act of its par- 
 liament, that popery was abolished, and that pro- 
 testantism was thenceforth the national religion? 
 
 By the same parliament which established the 
 protestant religion, another act was passed, which 
 has been severely blamed, even by friends of the re- 
 formation, prohibiting the celebration of mass, under 
 
1560.] ESTABLISHMENT OF PROTESTANTISM. 67 
 
 severe penalties, which amounted, in extreme cases, 
 even to death. The only apology which some can 
 find for this dubious act of policy, is that the prin- 
 ciples of religious liberty were not then so fully un- 
 derstood, and that it is no wonder our ancestors 
 carried with them a portion of the intolerance of 
 the Eomish church, from which they had so lately 
 escaped. Our reformers, however, had no idea of 
 converting their creed into a penal code, or of punish- 
 ing all who departed from it as heretics. They 
 regarded papists as enemies to the state, and the 
 leading principles of popery as subversive of all good 
 order in society. The proscription of the mass, the 
 characteristic symbol of popery, was certainly the 
 most effectual way of putting down the civil nuisance. 
 The truth is, they would not allow the mass to be a 
 point of religion at all ; they regarded it as manifest 
 idolatry an opinion in which every sound protes- 
 tant will coincide; but having, erroneously we think, 
 conceived that the Mosaic law against idolaters was 
 still binding on Christian nations, they applied the 
 statute to it as a civil crime. Whatever may be 
 thought of this interpretation of the civil law, it was 
 obviously a very different thing from the spirit of po- 
 pery, which, stamping the whole of its creed with the 
 attribute of infallibility, and denying all hope of sal- 
 vation to those beyond its pale, enforces all its dogmas 
 with civil pains on those whom it accounts heretics. 
 And that the object of our reformers was not to 
 punish the persons of heretics, or religious opinions as 
 such, but to stay the plague of idolatry and profane- 
 ness in the land, appears from two facts which we shall 
 now state. The first is, that the penalties actually 
 inflicted on " mass-mongers," as they were termed, 
 
68 FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY. [1560. 
 
 were entirely of the ignominious kind usually allotted 
 to persons convicted of infamous crimes, and intended 
 to brand the practice as odious and disreputable.* 
 And the other fact, to which we refer with pride 
 (and England, with all her boasted liberality, can- 
 not say so much), is, that NOT A SINGLE PAPIST 
 
 SUFFERED DEATH IN SCOTLAND FOR THE SAKE OF HIS 
 RELIGION. We hear of four priests condemned to 
 death for saying mass in Dunblane; but the sentence 
 was remitted, and they were merely set in the pillory. 
 Candour wiil ascribe this as much to the lenity 
 and liberality of our protestant ancestors, as to the 
 reluctance of the popish clergy to suffer martyrdom 
 for conscience' sake. Very few of them, indeed, 
 appear to have had much conscience in the matter, 
 except on the point of their worldly emoluments; 
 and the only instance on record of their taking the 
 reformation to heart, is that of a poor priest in 
 Cupar of Fife, who was so much distressed at seeing 
 his altars and images demolished by the crowd, that 
 on the following night lie went and hanged himself. 
 The first meeting of the general assembly of the 
 church of Scotland was held at Edinburgh, on the 
 2()th of December 1560. It consisted of forty mem- 
 bers, only six of whom were ministers; and its deli- 
 berations were conducted at first with great simpli- 
 
 * " Upon the secund day of October 1561, Archibald Dowglas, provest 
 of Edinburgh, with the baillies and counsule, causit ane proclainatioun be 
 proclameit at the croce, commanding and charging all and sundry monks, 
 freris, priestis, and all utheris papists and profane persons, to pas furth 
 of Edinburgh within twenty-four hours next efter following, under the 
 pane of burnying of disobeyaris upon the cheik, and harling of them 
 throw the toun in ane cart: at the quhilk proclainatioun the qucnis grace 
 was very commovit. And the samyn day Mr. Thomas llacalycan was 
 chosiri provest of Edinburgh, and Archibald Dowglas dischargit, for 
 making of the proclainatioun forrsaid without thequenis advyise, togidder 
 with all the baillies." {Diurnal of Occurrents in Scotland, p. G9.) 
 
1560.] LIBERTY OF THE KIRK. 69 
 
 city and unanimity. As a proof of this, it may be 
 mentioned, that seven different meetings of Assembly 
 were held without a moderator or president.* It 
 may appear still more extraordinary to some to be 
 told that none were appointed to represent the sove- 
 reign in the general assembly, as commissioner, for 
 at least twenty years after the reformation; though, 
 during that time, there were no fewer than thirty- 
 nine or forty assemblies, and though the supreme 
 magistrate, especially during the regency of Murray 
 and Lennox, was very friendly to the church and 
 her interests.-]- At the second general assembly 
 there was some debate, raised by Maitland of Leth- 
 ington, about the propriety of their meeting without 
 the queen's authority. " The question is," said 
 Lethington, " whether the queen alloweth such con- 
 ventions." " If the liberty of the kirk," said a mem- 
 ber, " should depend upon the queen's allowance or 
 disallowance, we are assured we shall be deprived, 
 not only of assemblies, but of the public preaching 
 of the gospel." " No such thing," said Lethington. 
 " Well, time will try," replied Knox ; " but I will 
 add, take from us the freedom of assemblies, and 
 take from us the evangel ; for without assemblies 
 how shall good order and unity in doctrine be 
 kept?" The greater part of the nobles and barons 
 having expressed their concurrence in this sentiment, 
 they requested her majesty's friends to inform her, 
 that if she entertained any suspicion of their pro- 
 ceedings, she might appoint some one to hear their 
 deliberations; and this matter being amicably settled, 
 the assembly convened in virtue of the intrinsic power 
 granted by Christ to his church, and concluded their 
 
 * Life of Kuox, ii. 18. f Stevenson, Introd., i. 117. 
 
70 RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. [1560. 
 
 work without so much as petitioning for the counte- 
 nance of the civil power. So early did the church 
 of Scotland assert the royal prerogatives of the King 
 ofZion.* 
 
 What a wonderful change had now come over the 
 face of Scotland ! A few years before this, idolatry 
 was rampant, and, to use the words of Patrick 
 Hamilton, " darkness covered this realm." Now su- 
 perstition has vanished, and the light of truth 
 has arisen on the mountains and valleys of our 
 land. A year ago, it was blasphemy to say a word 
 against the mass ; now, the mass itself is denounced 
 as blasphemy. Not a cross, not an image, not a 
 cowl, not a mitre is to be seen; and were it not for 
 the smoking ruins of some monastery, or the vacant 
 niches of a cathedral, it could hardly have been 
 known by a stranger that popery had ever existed 
 in the country. Still, however, the victory was not 
 secured. Still, the dignitaries of the church retained 
 their titles, and claimed all their temporal privileges. 
 Still, though the popish service was proscribed, the 
 protestant worship, except in a few places of note, 
 was not substituted in its place. There was a sad 
 dearth of preachers; the mass of the people, in town 
 and country, were so poor as hardly to be able to 
 provide for their own subsistence; and it became a 
 matter of indispensable necessity that some means 
 should be adopted to provide them with religious 
 instruction. 
 
 Under the papacy, no regular provision had been 
 
 made, either for the support of the poor, who were 
 
 shamefully neglected, or for the maintenance of a 
 
 working clergy- Two years before the reformation, 
 
 * Calderwood, p. SO; Knox, p. 295. 
 
1560.] REVENUES OF THE CHURCH. 71 
 
 a kind of proclamation was issued, and affixed to the 
 gates of the monasteries and other religious houses, 
 in the name of "the blind, the lame, bedrals, widows, 
 orphans, and other poor,"" complaining that the alms 
 of the Christian people had been unjustly stolen from 
 them by monks and friars, who are described as 
 " haill of body, stark, sturdie, and abill to work ;" 
 and charging them " to remove furth of the hospitals 
 which they now occupied, that we, the lawful pro- 
 prietors thereof, may enter and enjoy the commodi- 
 ties of the kirk, which ye have wrangouslie haldin 
 from us.' 1 The preaching friars were left to shift for 
 themselves, and derived a miserable subsistence from 
 the contributions of the faithful, while the higher 
 clergy and the monks lived in luxurious ease. The 
 reformed church, however, having discarded these 
 drones and dignitaries, and depending for success 
 on the preaching of the word, required funds for 
 the support of a ministry equal to the spiritual need 
 of the whole population ; and our reformers justly 
 considered that, after the poor had been provided 
 for, they had a claim on the revenues of the church 
 for the support of such a ministry. 
 
 But other and more powerful claimants for the 
 property of the kirk appeared in the nobility and 
 landed gentlemen, whose ancestors had swelled the 
 revenues of the church by large donations of land 
 and money. Many years before the reformation, the 
 laird of Grange, who was treasurer to James V., 
 and a secret friend of the protestant cause, advised 
 his majesty, " gif he wad do weill and be rich, to tak 
 hame again, to the profit of the crown, all vacant 
 benefices, by little and little, as they may fall by de- 
 cease of every prelate. 1 " The king relished the pro- 
 
72 REVENUES OF THE CHURCH. [1560. 
 
 posal so highly, that, as sir James Melville informs 
 us, he determined to carry it into effect; and the style 
 in which he attempted it affords a curious illustra- 
 tion of the rudeness of the times. At his first meet- 
 ing with the prelates, " he could not contean him 
 any langer, and after many sour reproofs, he said, 
 ' Wherefore gave my predecessors sa mony lands 
 and rents to the kirk? Was it to maintain hawks, 
 and dogs, and harlots to a number of idle priests? 
 Pack you off to your charges, and reform your 
 own lives, and be not instruments of discord between 
 my subjects and me. The king of England burns 
 
 you, the king of Denmark beheads you; but, by , 
 
 / shall stick you icitli this same whinger? And there- 
 with he drew out his dagger upon them, and they fled 
 in great fear from his presence.' 11 * Knox tells us an- 
 other anecdote, which shows how the nobility felt 
 on this point. After a dispute between the refor- 
 mers and some of the popish clergy, in which the 
 latter were so sorely baffled that they could give 
 no direct answer to the arguments against the mass, 
 the noblemen present said, " We have been miserably 
 deceived heretofore; for if the mass may not obtain 
 remission of sins to the quick and dead, where- 
 fore were all the abbacies so richly doted with our 
 temporal lands?" 
 
 It was very natural, therefore, when the reforma- 
 tion revealed the falsity of the pretences on which 
 so much of their wealth had been obtained by the 
 church, and the costly establishments of the prelates 
 were abolished, that the landed gentry should claim 
 a portion at least of the forfeited property. But in 
 doing this, they showed a degree of avarice and ra- 
 
 * Sir J. Melville's .Memoirs, j>. G',',. 
 
1567.] KEVENUES OF THE CHURCH. 73 
 
 pacity hardly to be expected from persons who had 
 taken such an active part in reforming the church. 
 Though the protestant religion had been established 
 by the law of the land, the church, as we have said, 
 was still unendowed; and the ministers were sup- 
 ported, very sparingly, on the benevolence of the 
 people, or of the gentlemen who received them into 
 their houses. Knox and his brethren, perceiving how 
 matters were going, and that the whole ecclesiastical 
 property would soon be swallowed up, insisted that a 
 considerable proportion of it should be reserved for 
 the support of the poor, the founding of universities 
 and schools, and the maintenance of an efficient 
 ministry throughout the country. At last, after 
 great difficulty, the privy council came to the deter- 
 mination, that the ecclesiastical revenues should be 
 divided into three parts that two of them should be 
 given to the ejected prelates during their lives, which 
 afterwards reverted to the nobility; and that the third 
 part should be divided between the court and the pro- 
 testant ministry. " Well !" exclaimed Knox, on hear- 
 ing of this arrangement, "if the end of this order be 
 happy, my judgment fails me. I see two parts freely 
 given to the devil, and the third must be divided be- 
 tween God and the devil. Who would have thought, 
 that when Joseph ruled in Egypt, his brethren should 
 have travelled for victuals, and have returned with 
 empty sacks unto their families ? happy servants 
 of the devil, and miserable servants of Jesus Christ, 
 if, after this life, there were not hell and heaven! 1 ' 1 * 
 
 * Even this pittance, it would appear, was not fully or regularly paid 
 
 to the ministers. Various means were taken to elude a settlement; and 
 
 in 1567, we find the General Assembly, in their instructions to their 
 
 commissioners whom they sent to deal with the privy council, t!:us ex- 
 
 YOL. I. p 
 
74 FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. [1560. 
 
 But there was another thing that tried the temper 
 of the nobility, and the patience of the reformers, 
 as much as the settlement of the patrimony of the 
 church; and this was the ratification of the order, 
 government, and discipline of the church, for this 
 purpose, in the year 1560, a commission was given 
 to John Knox, with Messrs. Winram, Spotswoode, 
 Row, and Douglas, to set down the heads of disci- 
 pline, as they had already done those of doctrine. 
 This was effected, and a plan of government was soon 
 drawn up, and cordially approved of by the general 
 assembly, under the name of The First Book of Dis- 
 cipline. When this book, however, was submitted 
 to the privy council, it was warmly opposed by some 
 of the nobility, who dreaded that its provisions would 
 interfere with their selfish plans for appropriating 
 the revenues of the church. On this account, though 
 subscribed by a number of the nobility, barons, and 
 burgesses in parliament, it did not receive a formal 
 ratification. But it was still regarded by the church 
 as a standard book, and continued to regulate her 
 practice and guide her decisions. 
 
 The constitution of the reformed church of Scot- 
 land, as laid down in the First Book of Discipline, 
 was purely presbyterian, and remarkably simple. It 
 
 pressing their disappointment : " That Satan, by his instruments, had of 
 long time, and by many subtile ways, laboured to hinder the progress of 
 true religion within this realm; and that now the same was in hazard to 
 be utterly subverted, chiefly through the poverty ef the ministers that 
 ought to preach the word of life unto the people; some being compelled 
 to leave their vocation, and betake them to civil callings; others so dis- 
 tracted through worldly cares, as they could not wait upon the preach- 
 ing of the word so diligently as they wished." To prevent this, and also 
 to provide for the " poor and indigent members of Christ," they entreated 
 that the patrimony of the church should be restored to the just pos- 
 sessors. (Spotsu-oode, p. 209.) 
 
1560.] CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 75 
 
 recognises four classes of ordinary and permanent 
 office-bearers the pastor, the doctor, the elder, and 
 the deacon. The two former were distinguished 
 merely by the different work assigned to them the 
 pastor being appointed to preach and administer the 
 sacraments, while the doctor's office was simply 
 theological and academical. The elder was a spiri- 
 tual officer, ordained to assist, in the discipline and 
 government of the church, those " who laboured in 
 word and doctrine;" and to the deacon was assigned, 
 as of old, the oversight of the revenues of the church 
 and the care of the poor. The affairs of each con- 
 gregation were managed by the kirk-session, which 
 was composed of the pastor, elders, and deacons; 
 the weekly exercise, afterwards converted into the 
 presbytery, took cognizance of those matters which 
 concerned the neighbouring churches ; the provincial 
 synod attended to the wider interests of the churches 
 within its bounds; and the general assembly, which 
 was composed of ministers and elders, commissioned 
 from the different presbyteries of the kingdom, and 
 which met twice or thrice a-year, attended to the 
 general interests of the national church. These were 
 the general features of the system, in the formation 
 of which it was the study of our reformers to imitate, 
 as closely as possible, the model of the primitive 
 churches exhibited in the New Testament; while, in 
 all the subordinate details of their discipline, they 
 steadily kept in view the apostolic rule, " Let all 
 things be done unto edification."" Though shackled, 
 in point of practice, by the imperfect provision made 
 for the settlement of churches, and labouring under 
 the disadvantage of not having obtained a civil 
 ratification to their discipline, which would have 
 
7G CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [1560. 
 
 settled the point at once, they declared it as a prin- 
 ciple founded on the word of God, that " it appertain- 
 eth to the people, and to every several congregation, 
 to elect their own minister." Indeed, from its very 
 infancy, the church of Scotland was, essentially and 
 pre-eminently, the church of the people. Their in- 
 terests were consulted in all its arrangements; and 
 the people on their part, who had been mainly in- 
 strumental in its erection, felt deeply interested in 
 its preservation. They watered the roots of their 
 beloved church with their blood; and when it 
 " waxed a great tree," and they were permitted to 
 lodge under the shadow of its branches, they sur- 
 veyed it with the fond pride of men who felt that 
 they had a share in its privileges, and therefore a 
 stake in its prosperity. 
 
 Owing to the paucity of ministers, and as a tempo- 
 rary expedient till presbyteries were fully organized, 
 it was judged proper, after supplying the principal 
 towns, to assign to the rest the superintendence of a 
 large district, over which they were appointed to 
 travel, somewhat in the character of missionaries, 
 for the purpose of preaching in vacant parishes, 
 planting churches, and inspecting the ministers and 
 readers within their bounds; of their diligence in 
 which services they were to give a report to the 
 assembly. These persons were called superinten- 
 dents. With strange inconsistency, those very 
 writers who taunt the Scottish church with being 
 republican in her constitution, have laid hold of this 
 circumstance as a proof that she was originally pre- 
 latical ! But in point of fact, these superintendents 
 differed from other ministers in little else than the 
 greater amount of labour allotted to them. They 
 
1560.] CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 77 
 
 were the servants of the church courts, and were as 
 much amenable to them as any functionary in the 
 excise now is to her majesty's board of commissioners. 
 They were admitted in the same manner as other 
 pastors, being elected by the people and ordained by 
 the ordinary ministers. They were equally subject 
 to rebuke, suspension, and deposition, as the rest of 
 the ministers of the church. They could not exercise 
 any spiritual jurisdiction without the consent of the 
 provincial synods ; and they were accountable to the 
 general assembly for the whole of their conduct. 
 Nor was there anything in the appointment of these 
 superintendents inconsistent with the genius and 
 spirit of presbytery a system which, if we may so 
 speak, possesses a plastic character, capable of ac- 
 commodating itself to any country, to any form of 
 civil government, and to every condition of the 
 church. The grand peculiarity of presbytery, which 
 distinguishes it from diocesan episcopacy, or prelacy, 
 lies not in the want of superintendence for the 
 pastor with his session forms the true primitive 
 parochial episcopacy, while to the presbytery belongs 
 the superintendence of the congregations within its 
 bounds; nor does it consist in the equality of its 
 orders, for it has various orders; nor even in the 
 temporary and delegated precedence of one over the 
 rest of his brethren, for this belongs to every mo- 
 derator in a church court; but it lies in the parity 
 of its ministers, and placing the supreme jurisdiction 
 in a general assembly, the members of which, as in 
 our houses of parliament and courts of justice, assume 
 no pre-eminence in authority over one another. If 
 there was any danger of superintendents becoming 
 prelates, it arose from the tendency of human nature, 
 
V8 CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. [1560. 
 
 in certain circumstances, to abuse powers conferred 
 for the best of purposes. Our ancestors soon began 
 to perceive this; and so suspicious were they of any- 
 thing approaching, or likely to lead, to a lordly do- 
 mination over the brethren, that they refused to 
 these superintendents the name of bishops; and as 
 presbyteries were set up, this office gradually ceased 
 on the death of the first incumbents.* 
 
 Different opinions will, of course, be formed of the 
 polity adopted by the Scottish church, according to 
 the leanings of individuals; and our object being not 
 to discuss principles, but to state facts, we leave the 
 reader to form his own conclusions. Our reformers, 
 it is certain, drew their plan immediately from the 
 scriptures; and, to use the words of Row, who had 
 the best means of information, they " took not their 
 example from any kirk in the world no, not from 
 Geneva." They have often been blamed for having 
 swept away, from a morbid antipathy to popery, 
 not only the abuses and corruptions of the church, 
 but everything that was decent in its worship, and 
 dignified in its government leaving the kirk of 
 Scotland as bare and barren of ornament as her 
 native mountains. We allow that, having satisfied 
 themselves that the church of Rome was the anti- 
 christ of scripture, they wore anxious to strip their 
 establishment of everything that bore the least 
 resemblance to her characteristic features. And 
 they did this in conscientious obedience to the call, 
 " Come out of her, my people, that ye be not par- 
 takers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
 
 * Life of Knox, ii. 0, 283 ; Row '8 MS. Historic, p. 12. Gilbert Rule, 
 in his " Good Old Way," has answered all the arguments in favour of the 
 contrary view of the subject, in " The Fundamental Charter." 
 
1560.] CONSTITUTION OF CHURCH OF SCOTLAND. 79 
 
 plagues." But we deny that any point of order or 
 doctrine was rejected merely because it had been 
 held by the Romish church. With respect to de- 
 cency, we defy any church to show more regard than 
 was paid by our reforming ancestors to the precept, 
 " Let all things be done decently and in order."" 
 And as to ornaments and dignities, peopled ideas of 
 these things will differ, according to the views they 
 take of what true ornament or dignity is. If they 
 refer to worldly ornaments and dignities, of these 
 the reformed church of Scotland did not, and would 
 not, boast; she disclaimed them as incompatible with 
 the simplicity of Christ, and demeaning to the spiri- 
 tual glory of his church. But there is an " honour 
 which cometh from God;" and of this distinction 
 she was emulous in this, if we may so speak, she 
 was proud to excel all other churches. The basis 
 of her constitution, of which we have presented an 
 imperfect sketch, may be given in few words : 
 "ONE IS YOUR MASTER, AND ALL YE ARE BRETHREN." 
 Recognising no earthly head, rejecting all earthly 
 control, she stood forth the immaculate spouse of 
 Christ; and holding in her hand the word of God, 
 as the charter of her rights, she pointed to her ex- 
 alted king, seated on the throne of heaven. Placed 
 on such a footing, the ministry of the gospel must 
 command respect. That it has done so, is testified 
 by the fact, that while the prelates of Rome, with 
 all their mitres, croziers, and surplices, sunk into 
 general contempt, being hated by the people for their 
 tyranny, and scorned by the nobles for their arro- 
 gance, the humble presbyterian pastor, faithfully 
 discharging the duties of his office, met with respect 
 and affection from all classes of his flock. And that 
 
80 MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. [1561. 
 
 it must continue to do so, may be augured from the 
 principles on which presbyterianism is founded the 
 principles of common sense as well as of scripture, 
 and which, however they may be now slighted by 
 some, will, by the blessing of God, survive the hostility 
 that aims at their subversion, and flourish in a 
 higher state of purity than ever they attained in the 
 palmiest days of presbytery, long after the boasted 
 fabrics of human wisdom and human folly have 
 crumbled into dust. 
 
 The infant reformation had scarcely been esta- 
 blished, when its safety was endangered by the arrival 
 in Scotland of Mary queen of Scots. This princess 
 having been married in early life to the French dau- 
 phin, was educated in the court of France, under the 
 auspices of her uncle, the cardinal of Lorraine, and 
 nursed up in a blind attachment to popery and arbi- 
 trary power. Every means had been employed, 
 before she left France, to prejudice her mind against 
 the reformers, and the religion which had been em- 
 braced by her subjects. The willing tool of an art- 
 ful and deep-laid policy, she was taught that it would 
 be the glory of her reign to bring back her kingdom 
 to the obedience of Rome, and to co-operate with 
 the popish princes of the continent, who had formed 
 a plan for the universal extirpation of heresy. She 
 arrived at Leith in August 1561, and was received 
 by the good people of Edinburgh and Lcith with 
 every demonstration of joyous loyalty. She had 
 hardly landed, however, when orders were issued for 
 the celebration of the mass in her private chapel. 
 The ministers regarded this direct breach of the 
 law passed by the parliament, as a sure sign of the 
 queen's resolution to set at defiance all that had been 
 
1561.] DISPUTE BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND KNOX. 81 
 
 done against popery and in behalf of the reformed 
 religion. Many, however, of the common people, 
 animated by the sudden fervour of loyalty inspired 
 by the presence of their young and lovely queen, 
 began to justify her, and declare their resolution to 
 defend her in the enjoyment of her own religion. 
 Even the lords of the congregation, though at first 
 highly incensed at her conduct, were 'no sooner 
 admitted into her presence, than, soothed and flat- 
 tered by the fair speeches of this insinuating princess, 
 they began to caol in their religious zeal. The effects 
 of this transformation on the nobility are thus curi- 
 ously described by an old historian of the period: 
 " Every man, as he came up to court, accused them 
 that were before him; but after they had remained a 
 certain space, they came out as quiet as the former. 
 On perceiving this, Campbell of Kinyeancleuch, 
 a man of some humour, and zealous in the cause, 
 said to lord Ochiltree, whom he met on his way to 
 court, ' My lord, now ye are come last of all; and 
 I perceive that the fire edge is not yet off you ; but 
 I fear that, after the holy water of the court be 
 sprinkled upon you, ye shall become as temperate as 
 the rest. For I have been here now five days, and 
 at first nothing was heard but Down with the mass, 
 hang the priest; but after they had been twice or 
 thrice at the abbey, all that fervency passed. I 
 think there be some enchantment, whereby men are 
 bewitched. 1 " 
 
 There was one man, however, whom neither the 
 blandishments of the court, nor the defection of his 
 friends, could induce to desert his principles, or cool 
 in his attachment to the cause of the reformation. 
 Knox, the intrepid reformer, perceiving that the 
 
82 DISPUTE BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND KNOX. [1561. 
 
 queen was determined on prosecuting her designs, 
 and that preparations were making for the celebra- 
 tion of mass in a more public and pompous manner 
 than she had ventured on at first, took occasion to 
 denounce the evils of idolatry from the pulpit, con- 
 cluding his sermon with these remarkable words: 
 " One mass is more fearful to me, than if ten thou- 
 sand armed enemies were landed in any part of the 
 realm, of purpose to suppress the whole religion." 
 On hearing of this sermon, the queen sent for 
 Knox, and held a long conference with him. She 
 charged him with having taught the people to receive 
 a religion different from that which was allowed by 
 their princes. He replied, that true religion derived 
 its origin and authority, not from princes, but from 
 God; that princes were often most ignorant on this 
 point; and referred to David, and to the primitive 
 Christians. " Yea," said the queen ; " but none of 
 these men raised the sword against their princes." 
 " Yet, you cannot deny," said Knox, " that they re- 
 sisted; for those that do not obey the commandment, 
 do in some sort resist." " But they resisted not 
 with the sword." " God, madam, had not given to 
 them the power and the means." "Think you, then," 
 said the queen, " that subjects, having the power, 
 may resist their princes?" " If princes exceed their 
 bounds, madam," replied the reformer, " no doubt 
 they may be resisted, even by power. For no greater 
 honour is to be given to kings than God has com- 
 manded to be given to father and mother. But the 
 father may be struck with a frenzy, in which he would 
 slay his children. Now r , madam, if the children arise, 
 join together, apprehend the father, take the sword 
 from him, bind his hands, and keep him in prison 
 
1561.] DISPUTE BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND KNOX. 83 
 
 till the frenzy is over, think you, madam, that the 
 children do any wrong? Even so, madam, it is with 
 princes that would murder the children of God that 
 are subject to them." 
 
 On hearing these bold sentiments, so different 
 from anything that she had been accustomed to, 
 Mary stood, for nearly a quarter of an hour, silent 
 and amazed. At length, addressing the reformer, 
 she said, " Weel, then, I perceive that my subjects 
 shall obey you, and not me." " God forbid," an- 
 swered he; " but my travail is that both princes and 
 subjects obey God. And think not, madam, that 
 wrong is done to you when ye are willed to be sub- 
 ject to God; for he it is that subjects the people 
 under princes : yea, God craves of kings that they 
 be, as it were, foster-fathers to his kirk, and 
 commands queens to be nurses unto his people." 
 " Yea," quoth she, " but ye are not the kirk that 
 I will nourish. I will defend the kirk of Rome; for 
 it is, I think, the true kirk of God." " Your will, 
 madam, is no reason; neither doth your thought 
 make that Roman harlot to be the true and imma- 
 culate spouse of Jesus Christ." He added, he was 
 ready to prove that the Roman church had, within 
 five hundred years, degenerated farther from the 
 purity of religion taught by the apostles than the 
 Jewish .church, which crucified Christ, had dege- 
 nerated from the ordinances God gave them by 
 Moses. " My conscience is not so," said the queen. 
 " Conscience, madam, requires knowledge ; and I 
 fear that right knowledge ye have nane." " But I 
 have both heard and read." " So, madam, did the 
 Jews, who crucified Christ Jesus ; they read the 
 law and the prophets, and heard them interpreted 
 
84< KNOX AND QUEEN MARY. [1562. 
 
 after their manner. Have you heard any teach but 
 such as the pope and cardinals have allowed? and 
 you may be assured that such will speak nothing to 
 offend their own estate." The queen, after some 
 further reasoning, told him, that although she was 
 unable to contend with him in argument, she knew 
 some who would answer him. " Madam," replied 
 Knox, fervently, " would to God that the learnedest 
 papist in Europe were present with your grace to 
 sustain the argument, and that you would wait 
 patiently to hear the matter reasoned to an end !" 
 " Well," said she, " you may get that sooner than 
 you believe." " Assuredly," said Knox, " if ever I 
 get that in my life, I get it sooner than I believe; 
 for the ignorant papist cannot patiently reason; and 
 the learned and crafty papist will never come to 
 your presence, madam, to have the ground of their 
 religion searched out. When you shall let me see 
 the contrary, I shall grant myself to have been de- 
 ceived in that point." Thus ended this extraor- 
 dinary conference. On taking his leave of her 
 majesty, the reformer said, " I pray God, madam, 
 that you may be as blessed within the common- 
 wealth of Scotland as ever Deborah was in the 
 commonwealth of Israel."* 
 
 Some time after this, the queen, although she 
 had obtained intelligence of the massacre of Vassy 
 in France, where her uncle, the duke of Guise, had 
 attacked a congregation of protestants peaceably 
 assembled for worship, and butchered a number of 
 them, gave a splendid ball to her foreign servants, 
 at which the dancing was prolonged to a late hour. 
 Against this conduct Knox had inveighed in severe 
 * Knox, p. 290; M'Crie's Life of Knox, ii. 32, &c. 
 
1565.] KNOX AND QUEEN MARY. 85 
 
 terms from the pulpit, and he was again summoned 
 before her majesty. In his defence, he declared that 
 he had been misrepresented, which he would show 
 the queen, provided she would be pleased to hear 
 him repeat, as exactly as he could, what he had 
 preached the day before. Mary was obliged, for 
 once, to listen to a protestant sermon. When he had 
 finished, she told him, that if he heard anything 
 about her conduct which displeased him, he ought 
 to come to herself privately, and she would willingly 
 listen to his admonitions. Knox easily saw through 
 this proposal, which was evidently intended to pre- 
 vent him from saying anything in public that might 
 be displeasing to the court. He excused himself on 
 the ground of his office; and, retiring, he jocularly 
 observed, " Albeit at your grace's commandment I 
 am heir now, yit can I not tell what uther men shall 
 judge of me, that at this time of day am absent 
 from my buke, and waiting upon the court." " Ye 
 will not always be at your buke," said the queen, in 
 a pet, and turning her back upon him. As he left 
 the room, " with a reasonable merry countenance," 
 he overheard one of the popish attendants saying, 
 " He is not afraid ! " " Why should the pleasing 
 face of a gentilwoman afrayme? ri said he, regarding 
 them with a sarcastic scowl ; " I have luiked in the 
 face of mony angry men, and yit have not been af- 
 frayed above measour." 
 
 At this time Knox was the only minister of Edin- 
 burgh, and there was only one place of worship 
 St. Giles" 1 which, however, was capable of accom- 
 modating no fewer than three thousand persons. 
 We may conceive the effect produced on this im- 
 mense multitude by the eloquent declamations, the 
 
86 KNOX AND QUEEN MARY. [1565. 
 
 fervent appeals, and overwhelming invectives, of 
 such a preacher as Knox. And we need not won- 
 der that the proud, the self-willed queen of Scots, 
 who had lived amidst the flatteries and pleasures of 
 a licentious court, and who would not listen to the 
 advices of her most sage and favourite counsellors, 
 should have ill brooked the unsparing rebukes of the 
 Scottish reformer. Their last interview was more 
 stormy than the preceding, and presents so charac- 
 teristic a view of Knox, that, familiar as it may 
 be to many of you, we cannot avoid noticing it. 
 He had deeply offended her majesty by protesting 
 against her marriage with Darriley. " Never had 
 prince been handled," she passionately exclaimed, 
 " as she was ; she had borne with him in all his 
 rigorous speeches ; she had sought his favour by all 
 means ; and yet," said she, " I cannot be quit of 
 you. I vow to God I shall be once revenged!" 
 On pronouncing these words, she burst into a flood 
 of tears. When she had composed herself, Knox 
 proceeded calmly to make his defence. " Out of 
 the pulpit," he said, " few had occasion to complain 
 of him; but there he was not his own master, but 
 was bound to obey Him who commanded him to 
 speak plainly, and to flatter no flesh on the face of 
 the earth." Mary again burst into tears. Her 
 courtiers tried to mitigate her grief and indignation 
 by all the arts of blandishment; but during this 
 scene the stern and inflexible mind of the reformer 
 displayed itself. He continued silent, with unaltered 
 countenance, until the queen had given vent to her 
 feelings. He then protested, " that he never took 
 delight in the distress of any creature ; that it was 
 with great difficulty he could see his own boys weep 
 
1567.] DEPOSITION OF THE QUEEN. 87 
 
 when he corrected them, and far less could he re- 
 joice in her majesty's tears; but seeing he had given 
 her no just cause of offence, and had only discharged 
 his duty, he was constrained, though unwillingly, 
 to sustain her tears, rather than hurt his conscience 
 and betray the commonwealth by his silence." 
 
 This apology inflamed the queen even more than 
 the offence; she ordered him instantly to leave her 
 presence, and await the signification of her pleasure 
 in an adjoining room. There he stood alone, none of 
 his friends venturing to show him the slightest coun- 
 tenance. In this situation he addressed himself to 
 the ladies of the court who were sitting in their rich 
 dresses in the chamber: " fair ladies, how pleasing 
 were this lyfe of yours, if it sould always abyde, and 
 then, in the end, that we might pass to heiven with 
 all this gay gear! But fye upon that knave Death, 
 that will come, whether we will or not !" 
 
 The subsequent history of the unfortunate Mary 
 is too well known to require notice. For a short 
 time, a dark cloud hung over the reformed church. 
 The queen, by her alluring manners, gained over a 
 party of the nobles. The earl of Murray and other 
 protestant noblemen were compelled to take shelter 
 in England ; mass was openly celebrated, and Knox, 
 for his fidelity in warning the people against the con- 
 sequences, was accused of high treason, and placed 
 in such imminent hazard of his life, that his friends 
 advised him to quit Edinburgh for a season. To 
 crown all, Mary joined the league which had been 
 planned by Catherine of Medicis and the duke of 
 Alva, those bloodiest of all persecutors, and which 
 bound her to join with them in the extermination of 
 all heretics in other words, she signed the death- 
 
88 DEPOSITION OF THE QUEEN. [1567. 
 
 warrant of the great mass of her own subjects, nobi- 
 lity, gentry, ministers, and commons.* But these 
 gloomy appearances were soon dispelled by her own 
 infatuated conduct. Disgusted with Darnley, and 
 irritated by the assassination of David Eizzio, an 
 Italian musician, whom she had made her secretary, -f 
 she abandoned herself to the counsels of the earl 
 of Bothwell, who, to gain his own ambitious ends, 
 plotted the murder of the king. The unfortunate 
 Darnley, was decoyed to Edinburgh, and lodged in 
 a house in the outskirts of the town. On the morn- 
 ing of the 10th February, 1567, the whole city was 
 awakened by a tremendous explosion, which was 
 found to proceed from the house in which the king 
 was lodged having been blown up with gunpowder. 
 His dead body was found lying in the neighbourhood. 
 The whole kingdom was thrown into a ferment; the 
 murder was traced to Bothwell, the queen's favourite ; 
 and the suspicions of all fell upon the queen as an 
 accomplice in the barbarous deed. These suspicions 
 were soon confirmed by her marriage with the mur- 
 derer of her husband, and led to a complete change 
 of government. The protestant noblemen were re- 
 stoi'ed; the queen was obliged to abdicate the throne, 
 and ultimately to flee into England, and her infant 
 son was proclaimed king of Scotland, by the title of 
 James VI. 
 
 Poor Mary might have lived and reigned happily, 
 had she not been a devoted papist. But she died the 
 
 * Ty tier's History of Scotland, vii. 18-"0. 
 
 f Rizzio or Riccio, was suspected, on good grounds, to be a pensioner 
 of Rome, ('fijllc^s JIist.,\ii. 19.) His overbearing pride created him 
 many enemies, and among others the husband of Mary, who never rested 
 till he had procured his destruction. (See note A, Mr, fader's charge 
 against Joint, Knux.) 
 
1569.] THE GOOD REGENT. 89 
 
 victim of foreign intrigues more than of her private 
 rices. The latter might have been tolerated by her 
 subjects; but she dealt in larger crimes, and lent her- 
 self to traffic with the religion, liberties, and lives of 
 her countrymen. Her memory has shared a similar 
 fate; for her injudicious admirers have sought to 
 vindicate her at the expense of the reformers and 
 the reformation. In defence of these, again, others 
 have been compelled to tell the truth ; and the repu- 
 tation of the beautiful but frail princess, which 
 was too tender to admit of handling, has been fairly 
 crushed in the collision. 
 
 In awarding their due meed of praise to the instru- 
 ments employed by providence in accomplishing the 
 Scottish reformation, it would be ungrateful to pass 
 without notice the services rendered to the cause by 
 James, earl of Murray. This excellent nobleman, 
 who succeeded to the regency, after the deposition of 
 his sister, queen Mary, was universally respected 
 and beloved as a governor. Warmly attached to 
 the reformation from its commencement, and evinc- 
 ing by his private virtues the sincerity of his re- 
 ligious professions, he entered office at a critical 
 period, and it may be said that to his prudence and 
 decision Scotland owed, under God, the preservation 
 of the reformed religion. To the unfortunate queen, 
 while she retained the reins of government, he testi- 
 fied all brotherly kindness; but when she had for- 
 feited the regards of all good men and the loyalty 
 of all good subjects, the noble firmness with which 
 he upheld the dignity of government, and prosecuted 
 the murderers of the late king, exposed him to the 
 vengeance of these mean-spirited assassin's. One 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
90 THE GOOD REGENT. [1570. 
 
 Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, whose life the regent 
 had spared after it had been forfeited to the laws of 
 his country, smarting under an injury which he un- 
 justly ascribed to the man who pardoned him,* 
 lay in wait for his victim as he rode through Lin- 
 lithgow, and firing through a window, mortally 
 wounded him, and then made his escape on horse- 
 back. This dastardly deed, which, in the manner 
 as well as the spirit in which it was perpetrated, has 
 nothing to redeem it from a resemblance to the base 
 attempts of a modern Fieschi, has been actually ap- 
 plauded by some of the partisans of Mary; while 
 they hold up their hands in horror at the execution 
 of archbishop Hamilton, who confessed on the scaf- 
 fold his participation in the infamous transaction ! 
 But Murray's memory is embalmed in the page of 
 impartial history. De Thou, the great French histo- 
 rian, affirms, that " he was a man without ambition, 
 without avarice, incapable of doing an injury to any 
 one, distinguished by his virtue, affability, benefi- 
 cence, and innocence of life." And Spotsvvoode, 
 who must have conversed with many personally 
 acquainted with Murray, says: " He was a man 
 truly good, and worthy to be ranked among the best 
 governors that this kingdom hath enjoyed, and 
 
 * Life of Knox, ii. 10,5, and note W. The story, so often retailed, of 
 regent Murray's cruelty to Hamilton's wife, has been found out to be a 
 complete forgery, resting solely on the authority of Crawfurd's Memoirs, 
 a book which has been proved to be a tissue of fabrications from be- 
 ginning to end. (See Preface to Historic of King James the Sext, Ban- 
 natyne edit.) Murray's assassination was the result of a plot, in which 
 the lairds of Ferniherst and Buccleuch had a chief share. One of their 
 followers, on the day after the murder, and before it could be known on 
 the borders, said, in reply to another who threatened him with the re- 
 gent's displeasure, " Tush, the regent is cauld as the bit in my horse's 
 mouth." (D(inna.t>jne''s Mem., p. 4, Ban. edit.) 
 
1571.J LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX. 91 
 
 therefore to this day honoured with the title of The 
 Good Regent?* 
 
 Knox did not long survive the good regent, whose 
 untimely death he, in common with the whole country, 
 deeply deplored. Having returned to Edinburgh, 
 he resumed, with his usual ardour, his ministerial 
 labours, in which he was now ably assisted by his 
 colleague, John Craig. But a stroke of apoplexy, 
 from the effects of which he never fully recovered, 
 and his incessant cares, brought on him prematurely 
 the infirmities of age, and he was soon unable to 
 make himself be heard in the large church of St. 
 Giles. The following description of his personal 
 appearance at this time, given by James Melville in 
 his Diary, is exceedingly striking: " Of all the 
 benefits I had that year (1571), was the coming of 
 that maist notable prophet and apostle of our nation, 
 Mr. John Knox, to St. Andrews. I heard him teach 
 there the prophecies of Daniel. I had my pen and 
 my little book, and tuk away sic things as I could 
 comprehend. In the opening up of his text, he was 
 moderat, the spice of an halff-houre; but when he 
 enterit to application, he made me sa to grew and 
 tremble, that I culd nocht hald a pen to wryt. I 
 heard him oftimes utter those thretenings, in the 
 hicht of their pryde, whilk the eyes of monie saw 
 cleirlie brought to pass. Mr. Knox wald sumtyme 
 
 * See the character of Murray cleared from the aspersions of Dr. 
 Robertson and other historians, in Life of Knox, vol. ii., note W. Mr. 
 Tytler, who manifests such horror at the assassination of David Rizzio, 
 passes the murder of regent Murray without any expression of sympathy 
 for the victim or abhorrence of the crime. He even attempts to antici- 
 pate any such emotions in the breasts of his readers, by repeating, as 
 an undoubted fuct, the story about Hamilton's wife, and reiterating the 
 charge of betraying Norfolk, which even Hume has said he could prove 
 to be "no vray dishonourable." (Teller's Hist, of Scot., vol. vii.) 
 
92 DEATH OF KNOX. [1572. 
 
 come in and repose him in our college-yard, and call 
 us scholars to him and bless us, and exhort us to 
 know God and his wark in our country, and stand 
 by the guid caus. I saw him everie day of his doc- 
 trine (preaching) go hulie and fear (cautiously) with 
 a furring of martriks about his neck, a staff in 
 the ane hand, and guid godlie Richart Ballenden, 
 his servand, haldin up the other oxtar, from the 
 abbey to the paroche kirk, and by the said Richart 
 and an other servant, lifted up to the pulpit, whar 
 he behovit to lean at his first entrie; bot or he had 
 done with his sermon, he was sa active and vigorous, 
 that he was lyk to ding that pulpit in blads and flie 
 out of it."* 
 
 But the time was fast approaching when this 
 zealous servant of Jesus Christ was to rest from his 
 labours. Feeling his end approaching, he desired 
 that some one should read to him every day the 17th 
 chapter of John's gospel, the 53d chapter of Isaiah, 
 and a portion of the epistle to the Ephesians. To 
 his colleague, elders, and deacons, assembled in his 
 room, he said : " The day approaches Tor which I 
 have long and vehemently thirsted, when I shall be 
 released from my great labours and sorrows, and 
 shall be with Christ. I know that many have com- 
 plained of my too great severity; but God knows that 
 my mind was always void of hatred to the persons of 
 those against whom I thundered the severest judg- 
 ments." On Sabbath, after lying quiet for some 
 time, he suddenly exclaimed, " If any be present, let 
 them come and see the work of God." lie then 
 burst out into these rapturous expressions : " I have 
 been these two last nights in meditation on the 
 
 * Melville's Diary, p. 2G, Ban. edit. 
 
1572.] DEATH OF KNOX. 93 
 
 troubled state of the church of Christ, despised of the 
 world, but precious in the sight of God. I have called 
 to God for her, and commended her to her husband, 
 Jesus Christ. I have fought against spiritual wicked- 
 ness in heavenly things, and have prevailed. 1 ' Hav- 
 ing seemed to fall into a slumber, interrupted with 
 heavy moans, and being asked why he sighed so 
 deeply, he replied, " I have during my life sustained 
 many assaults of Satan, but at present he has 
 assailed me most fearfully, and put forth all his 
 strength to make an end of me at once. The cun- 
 ning serpent has laboured to persuade me that I 
 have merited heaven and eternal blessedness by the 
 faithful discharge of my ministry. But blessed be 
 God, who has enabled me to quench this fiery dart, 
 by suggesting to me such passages as these: ' What 
 hast thou that thou hast not received?' and, 'By the 
 grace of God I am what I am.' " A little after, he 
 said, " Now, for the last time," touching three of his 
 fingers as he spoke, " I commend my soul, spirit, and 
 body, into thy hand, Lord." He then gave a deep 
 sigh, saying, " Now it is come !" His attendants, 
 perceiving that he had lost his speech, requested 
 him to give a sign that he heard them, and died 
 in peace; upon which he lifted up one of his hands 
 and sighing twice, expired without a struggle. He 
 died in the 67th year of his age, November 24, 1572. 
 His funeral was attended by the regent Morton, all 
 the nobility in town, and a vast concourse of people; 
 and when his body was laid in the grave, Morton 
 pronounced over it the short but emphatic epitaph: 
 " There lies he who never feared the face of man !"* 
 
 * James Melville has it thus : " Here lies he that neither feared nor 
 flattered any flesh." (Diary, p. 47. ) 
 
94 CHARxVCTER OF KNOX. [1572. 
 
 Such was the end of one, whose name, while 
 he lived, was a terror to the enemies of the refor- 
 mation, and whose memory, since the day of his 
 death, lay under a load of unmerited reproach, from 
 which it has only lately been rescued. In the popular 
 histories of the day, John Knox was held up as a 
 fierce and gloomy bigot, equally a foe to polite learn- 
 ing and innocent enjoyment; and in his conduct 
 towards the queen of Scots, to whose winning love- 
 liness the rugged reformer afforded an inviting 
 though most invidious contrast, he was represented 
 as acting the part of a barbarian. We have cause 
 to rejoice that the cloud of popular prejudice against 
 our reformer has been dispelled, and his character 
 placed in its proper light. It has been shown, 
 that though sternly upright, and fearlessly coura- 
 geous in the discharge of his duty, he was a tender- 
 hearted and generous man; that his firmness as 
 a patriot was based on the sincerest piety; and 
 that the real design, as well as the effect of his 
 measures, was to emancipate his country from super- 
 stition, ignorance, and barbarism, substituting in 
 their place the blessings of education, liberty, and 
 religion. The attempts made to revive the exploded 
 calumnies of his enemies, whether by the sentimental 
 admirers of queen Mary, or by the lovers of des- 
 potism and apostolic succession, have met with no 
 credit or sympathy from the public ; and, to their 
 honour, the breasts of all true Scotsmen have once 
 more learnt to vibrate in unison with the manly 
 worth, the sacred patriotism, and the high-toned 
 principle of the Scottish reformer. 
 
CHAPTER IY. 
 
 Attempts to alter the constitution of the church of Scotland Tulchan 
 bishops Anecdote of Campbell of Kinyeancleuch Andrew Melville 
 Second Book of Discipline The national covenant of Scotland 
 Excommunication of Montgomery Melville's intrepidity Scenes be- 
 tween James VI. and the presbyterian ministers. 
 
 KNOX, at his death, left the affairs of the kirk in a 
 very unsettled state. Hitherto the church of Scot- 
 .and had contended chiefly for the honour of Christ 
 in his priestly and prophetical offices, against the 
 corruptions of the papacy; she was soon called to 
 struggle for the glory of his regal office, as the king 
 of Zion, against the encroachments of civil power 
 and prelatic ambition. Even before the death of 
 Knox, an attempt was made to alter her form of 
 government. In the year 1572, a convention, com- 
 posed of superintendents and other ministers sup- 
 posed to be favourable to this design, met at Leith, 
 and, through the influence of Morton, were induced 
 to consent that the titles of archbishop, bishop, &c., 
 should be retained; and that qualified persons among 
 the ministers should be advanced to these dignities. 
 The general assembly, which was held the same year, 
 condemned this innovation; but it served the design 
 of Morton, which was, that these bishops should be 
 nominally put in possession of the whole benefices. 
 
96 TULCIIAN BISHOPS. [1572. 
 
 but should rest satisfied with a small portion to 
 themselves, and enter into a private bargain to de- 
 liver up the rest to him and other noblemen who 
 acted with him. The ministers who were so mean 
 as to accept of bishoprics under this disgraceful and 
 simoniacal system, exposed themselves to general 
 contempt, and were called, by way of derision, tulchan 
 bishops a tulchan being a calf's skin stuffed with 
 straw, which the country people set up beside the cow 
 to induce her to give her milk more freely. " The 
 bishop," it was said, " had the title, but my lord had 
 the milk. 1 ' 1 They were, indeed, mere phantom 
 bishops, for most of them had no episcopal ordina- 
 tion; and they had no share in the government of 
 the church.* 
 
 Still, the introduction of these nominal digni- 
 taries threatened the future peace of the church; 
 and the prospect of the confusion to which it might 
 give rise, embittered the last hours of Knox, whose 
 " dead hand and dying voice" were raised against 
 the innovation. Hume of Godscroft informs us that 
 the reformer " rebuked Morton sharply for divers 
 things, but especially for his labouring to set up and 
 maintain the estate of bishops;"^ and shortly before 
 his death, he admonished the same nobleman to 
 
 * The first tulchan bishop was Mr. John Douglas, a simple old man, 
 whom Morton presented to the see of St. Andrews. " That was the first 
 time I heard Mr. Patrick Constantino," says James Melville, " the week 
 after the bishop was made. In his sermon he made three sorts of bishops, 
 my lord bishop, my lord's bishop, and the Lord's bishop. My lord 
 bishop, said he, was in the papistry ; my lord's bishop is now, when my 
 lord gets the benefice, and the bishop serves for nothing but to make his 
 title sure ; and the Lord's bishop is the true minister of the gospel." 
 (Diary, p 25.) This Mr. Patrick Constantino was the same person with 
 Patrick Adamson, who afterwards agreed to become one of " my lord's 
 bishops." 
 
 f History of House of Douglas, ii. 284. 
 
1574.] PUSILLANIMITY OF THE MINISTERS. 97 
 
 maintain the church of God, and his ministry; warn- 
 ing him that if he did not, " God would spoil him of 
 all, and his end would be ignominy and shame" a 
 prediction which Morton acknowledged, before his 
 execution, he had " fand true indeid."* 
 
 The history of the church during Morton's regency, 
 from 1572 to 1578, presents little more than a series 
 of struggles between the court and the kirk, all oc- 
 casioned by the attempts of the regent to intrude 
 that spurious kind of prelacy which we have now 
 described. For some time he appeared likely to 
 obtain the advantage. The old heroes of the refor- 
 mation were fast dying out; and their successors, 
 dreading the regent's resentment, or unwilling to 
 show an example of insubordination by resisting his 
 authority, were yielding up, inch by inch, the liberties 
 of the church. We have no doubt, the idea which 
 many have formed of the presbyterian clergy, from 
 the common accounts of the period, is, that they 
 were a body of rude fanatics, who took delight in 
 opposing the civil power, and setting themselves up 
 as spiritual dictators to king and subjects. The 
 truth, however, as attested by history, is, that the 
 greater part of the Scots ministers were a simple and 
 facile race of men, easily deceived or overawed ; that 
 persons of weak or worldly minds were easily found, 
 who, from fear of offending the great, or losing their 
 livings, fell in with the measures of the court; and 
 that, had it not been for a few active and energetic 
 spirits, stirred up from time to time by a gracious 
 Providence, to stem the tide of defection, they would, 
 on more than one occasion, have bartered away their 
 dearest privileges without a struggle. Such, we are 
 
 * Bannatyne, 508. 
 
98 CAMPBELL OF KINYEANCLEUCH. [1574. 
 
 sorry to say, was the case at the period of which we 
 now speak. 
 
 An incident occurred in 1574, which displayed 
 their pusillanimity, as well as the grasping avarice of 
 the regent. Among other plans for replenishing his 
 coffers, Morton had fallen on the expedient of unit- 
 ing three or four parishes under the care of one 
 minister. Mr. John Davidson, who afterwards be- 
 came minister of Prestonpans, and made a consi- 
 derable figure in the history of the church, and who 
 was at this time a young man and regent in the 
 university of St. Andrews, had composed a poetical 
 dialogue, which he called " A Conference betwixt 
 the Clark and the Courtier," and in which he exposed, 
 in terms more plain than pleasant, the mischievous 
 and disreputable character of the practice.* Morton 
 was highly incensed at this jeu $ esprit, and threat- 
 ened the author with prosecution. The poem was 
 presented to the general assembly for their judgment, 
 and it was too evident that his brethren were afraid 
 to give it the sanction of their approbation. On 
 this occasion, the honest spirit of Campbell of Kin- 
 yeancleuch (the same who rated the nobility so 
 severely for truckling to queen Mary) again mani- 
 fested itself. Perceiving that the assembly were 
 trifling in the matter, he turned to Mr. Davidson, 
 and said, " Brother, look for no answer here. God 
 hath taken away the hearts from men, that they dare 
 not justify the truth, lest they displease the world. 
 Therefore, cast you for the next best." " What is 
 
 * Among other lines, the poem contained the following : 
 " Had gude John Knox not yet been deid, 
 It had not cum unto this heid : 
 Had they myntit till sic ane steir, 
 He had made heavin and eiith to hear." 
 
1574.] STATE OE THE CHURCH. 99 
 
 that?" said Davidson. " Go home with me," replied 
 his sagacious friend. " Nay," added he, seeing that 
 the young minister hesitated, " ye may lawfully 
 flee when ye are persecuted." Davidson, finding 
 that Morton was determined against him, accepted 
 the kind invitation, and set off under the laird's 
 protection to Kinyeancleuch. On their journey, 
 Campbell was seized with a severe and fatal illness. 
 Feeling the near approach of death, this faithful 
 and pious gentleman could not restrain his emotions 
 when he thought of the state in which he left the 
 church of his native land. " A pack of traitors," 
 he exclaimed, referring to some of the ministers, 
 " have sold Christ to the regent, as manifestly as ever 
 Judas did? What leal heart can contain itself unburst- 
 ing?" And he burst out into tears, accompanied 
 with sobs and lamentations. He then stretched out 
 his hand to Mr. Davidson, saying, " Take my best 
 horse with you, and ride away with my blessing. The 
 Lord bless you: gird up your loins, and make to your 
 journey; for ye have a battle to fight, and few to 
 take your part but the Lord only." * 
 
 I cannot pass this incident without giving utter- 
 ance to a reflection which I have no doubt has already 
 occurred to my readers. How seldom amongst our 
 people in this day, and, alas ! how much more 
 seldom amongst our gentry, do we meet with a simi- 
 lar example of such tender-hearted concern for the 
 interests of Zion! Amidst all the professions of zeal 
 that we hear, how rarely, among any class of Chris- 
 tians, does the low state of religion in the Church 
 draw a tear from the eye, or a sob from the heart ! 
 
 The state of ecclesiastical affairs in Scotland, 
 
 * CalderwoocTs MS. Hist., iv., ad. an. 157-1, Adv. Libr. 
 
100 STATE OF THE CHURCH. [1575 
 
 during this period, was very singular. A species of 
 secular and nominal prelacy was upheld by the 
 court, while the church, established by law, remained 
 presbyterial. The assembly would grant the bishops 
 no authority, even as their representatives in par- 
 liament, and demanded that, in all matters ecclesi- 
 astical, they should be subject to the church courts. 
 This anomalous state of things could not Last long 
 without producing jealousies and dissensions. The 
 churchmen who were raised to these titular dignities 
 disdained to lubmit to the trial and censure of the 
 general assembly; and the assembly, on the other 
 hand, soon discovered that the continuance of bishops, 
 even in name, was dangerous to the liberties of the 
 church. In August 1575, while they declined inter- 
 fering with the civil arrangement regarding these 
 prelates, the assembly decided that " the name of 
 bishop is injurie to all them that has a particular 
 flock over the which he has ane peculiar charge ;" and 
 in several subsequent meetings, various acts were 
 passed to the same effect, which, says Row, " were 
 afterwards riven out of the registers of the general 
 assembly (ye may easily judge by whom);"* yet, by 
 God's good providence, a principal act was concluded, 
 and remains undestroyed, in the year 1580, when it 
 was declared that " the office of ane bishop, as it is 
 now used and commonly taken within this realm, has 
 no sure warrand, authority, or good ground out of the 
 scripture of God, but is brought in by folly and cor- 
 ruption, to the great overthrow of the kirk of God. 1 " 1 ^ 
 
 * He refers to archbishop Adamson, who obtained possession of the 
 registers, and mutilated them in those places where prelacy had been 
 condemned. 
 
 f Row's MS. Hist., ad. an. 1575; Booke of Univ. Kirk, pp. 152, 194; 
 Ibid., Ban. edit., i. 342, ii. 453. 
 
1578.J SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE. 101 
 
 While matters were in the" state now described, 
 the cause of truth was revived, and a new spirit in- 
 fused into the councils of the church, by the arrival 
 in Scotland of another champion of the reformation, 
 whose name deserves a place next to that of Knox 
 Andrew Melville. This accomplished scholar and 
 divine had been residing for ten years on the con- 
 tinent, where he enlarged the learning which he had 
 acquired at home, and which had procured him a 
 very high character in the literary world. Endowed 
 with all the firmness, intrepidity, and integrity of 
 Knox, Melville was enabled, from his superior lite- 
 rary endowments, to confer lasting benefits upon his 
 country, by introducing salutary reforms into its 
 universities, and reviving a taste for letters. He 
 was successively appointed principal of the university 
 of Glasgow, and of the new college, St. Andrews; 
 and being also a minister and a professor of divinity, 
 he had a right to sit in the church courts. It was 
 not long before he was called to lend the powerful aid 
 of his talents in the struggle of the church against 
 prelacy. And among other services, he had a chief 
 hand in the composition of the Second Book of Dis- 
 cipline, which, after long and deliberate discussion, 
 was approved and adopted by the general assembly 
 in 1578. 
 
 Of this book, which, though it was not ratified by 
 parliament, still forms a standard work in the church 
 of Scotland, we may remark that it defines the 
 government of the church still more exactly than the 
 First Book of Discipline, which was drawn up hastily, 
 to meet the emergency of a sudden conversion from 
 popery. It traces the essential line of distinction 
 between civil and ecclesiastical power; declaring, 
 
102 SECOND BOOK OP DISCIPLINE. [1578. 
 
 that Jesus Christ has appointed a government in his 
 church distinct from civil government, which is to 
 be exercised in his name by such officers as he hath 
 authorized, and not by civil magistrates, or under 
 their direction. Civil authority, they say, has for its 
 direct and proper object, the promoting of external 
 peace and quietness among the subjects; ecclesias- 
 tical authority, the directing of men in matters of 
 religion and conscience; yet as they are both of God, 
 and tend to one common end, if rightly used, viz., 
 the glory of God and making men good subjects, they 
 ought to co-operate within their respective spheres, 
 and fortify, without interfering with, one another. 
 They claim the right of church courts, as courts of 
 Christ, to convene and settle business independent 
 of the civil power. These courts were divided into 
 sessions, presbyteries, synods, and general assem- 
 blies. They admit of no superiority of office in the 
 church above a teaching presbyter, or minister of the 
 gospel no pastor of pastors. None are to be in- 
 truded into the ministry contrary to the will of the 
 congregation. And among the abuses which they 
 desire to see reformed by the state, is lay-patronage, 
 which they declare leads to intrusion, and is incom- 
 patible with " lawful election, and the assent of the 
 people over whom the person is placed, as the prac- 
 tice of the apostolical and primitive kirk and good 
 order craves. 11 
 
 Of the discipline thus briefly sketched, we shall 
 only say, that while presbyterians never alleged an 
 inspired prescription for every part of its details, 
 they consider its leading and characteristic principles 
 to be of divine origin, or, to use the language of 
 Calderwood, " to be taken, not out of the cistern of 
 
1578.] COMMENCEMENT OF JAMES 1 REIGN". 103 
 
 men's invention, but from the pure fountains of God's 
 holy word." At the same time, its subordinate ar- 
 rangements are supported by the general rules of 
 scripture. They are simple, well calculated to pre- 
 serve order and unity, and promote the edification of 
 the flock of Christ; and, when duly observed, they 
 will be found as much opposed to clerical domination 
 as to popular confusion. 
 
 Impolitic as Morton's administration was, it was 
 not nearly so bad as that which succeeded. A party 
 of discontented nobles having gained access to the 
 young king, persuaded him to assume the govern- 
 ment into his own hands. Morton resigned, and in 
 1578, James VI. ascended the throne, in the twelfth 
 year of his age. This young prince had been care- 
 fully brought up under the superintendence of the 
 countess of Mar, andthe celebrated George Buchanan, 
 who early instilled into his mind the elements of 
 learning and the principles of religion. It must be 
 owned that Buchanan was not exactly the man fitted 
 to inspire his royal pupil with favourable ideas of 
 presbytery. He had become recluse and testy in his 
 old age; and the impression which he left on the 
 mind of James may be gathered from what the king 
 used long after to say of one of his old English 
 courtiers: " That man makes me always tremble at 
 his approach; he minds me so of my old pedagogue/"* 
 Buchanan, on his part, seems to have entertained a 
 very low opinion of the mental capacity of his pupil ; 
 for, on being reproached for having made the king 
 a pedant, ho is said to have replied, that " it was 
 the best he could make of him." Unfortunately, at 
 the commencement of his reign, James fell into the 
 
 * Irving's Life of Buchanan, p, 159. 
 
104 COMMENCEMENT OF JAMES* REIGN. [1579. 
 
 hands of two unprincipled courtiers the one a 
 Frenchman, whom he created duke of Lennox; and 
 the other, captain Stewart, a notorious profligate, who 
 afterwards became earl of Arran. These men, be- 
 sides polluting his morals, filled his head with the 
 most extravagant notions of kingly power, and the 
 strongest prejudices against the Scottish church, the 
 strict discipline of which, for obvious reasons, was 
 peculiarly obnoxious to persons of such character. 
 To the impressions then made on the vain and weak 
 mind of James we may trace all the troubles which 
 distracted his reign in Scotland.* 
 
 The reign of James, however, may be said to have 
 had an auspicious commencement. On the 17th 
 October 1579, he made a sort of triumphal entry 
 into Edinburgh, when he was received by the inhabi- 
 tants with every demonstration of loyalty. Entering 
 at the West Port, the houses in the streets through 
 which he passed were covered with tapestry; and 
 various allegorical devices, in the quaint style of the 
 times, were contrived to give eclat to the procession. 
 The silver keys of the city were delivered to him by a 
 young boy, emerging from a splendid figure of the 
 globe, which opened as his majesty approached. Four 
 beautiful damsels, representing the four cardinal vir- 
 tues, each addressed him in a short speech ; while 
 another lady, personating religion, invited him to 
 enter the church, where he heard a discourse. There- 
 after, Bacchus, crowned with garlands, and bestrid- 
 ing a puncheon, welcomed the king to his own town; 
 wine was liberally distributed to the poor; musicians, 
 stationed at different places, greeted him with the 
 
 melody of their viols ; and finally, amidst the sound 
 
 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Melville, i. 2.57. 
 
1580.] THE NATIONAL COVENANT. 105 
 
 of trumpets, and the shouts of the people, his majesty 
 proceeded to the Abbey.* 
 
 In the following year, the king gave a proof of his 
 attachment to the protestant cause, highly gratifying 
 to his people, by agreeing to a solemn deed, which 
 marks one of the most important eras in the history 
 of the church of Scotland we refer to the NATIONAL 
 COVENANT. Before the reformation, several bonds or 
 covenants had been entered into by the protestant 
 nobility, gentry, and others, in which they pledged 
 themselves to defend and support the true religion 
 against its enemies; and to the confederation thus 
 solemnly cemented may be traced much of the success 
 which attended their struggles against popery. The 
 same practice had been previously adopted, with the 
 happiest effects, by the protestant princes of Ger- 
 many and the protestant church of France. In Scot- 
 land, however, where the protestant had become the 
 established religion, this solemnity assumed the pe- 
 culiar form of a national deed; and our ancestors 
 were naturally led, by similarity of circumstances, to 
 imitate the covenants of ancient Israel, when king, 
 priests, and people, swore mutual allegiance to the 
 true God. In following this practice, they justly 
 considered themselves warranted by the light of 
 nature and the precepts of the moral law, by the 
 promises which refer to gospel times, and by the 
 example of holy scripture. 
 
 The national covenant of Scotland was simply an 
 abjuration of popery, and a solemn engagement, 
 ratified by a solemn oath, to support the protestant 
 religion. Its immediate occasion was a dread, too 
 well founded a dread from which Scotland was never 
 
 * MS. in Adv. Lib.; Caldenvood's MS. Hist., ad. an. 1579. 
 VOL. I. H 
 
106 THE NATIONAL COVENANT. [1580. 
 
 entirely freed till the revolution of the re-introduc- 
 tion of popery. It was well known that Lennox was 
 an emissary of the house of Guise, and had been sent 
 over to prevail on the young king to embrace the 
 Roman catholic faith. Foreseeing that James would 
 succeed to the throne of England on the death of 
 Elizabeth, the crafty politicians of Rome, ever 
 watching to regain their ascendency in that king- 
 dom, saw the advantage of winning over the Scottish 
 monarch. The pope himself sent him flattering let- 
 ters; Jesuits and seminary priests were introduced 
 into the country in disguise; and letters from Rome 
 were intercepted, granting a dispensation to Roman 
 catholics to profess the protestant faith for a time, 
 provided they preserved a secret attachment to their 
 own religion, and embraced every opportunity of ad- 
 vancing the papal interests.* Such an unprincipled 
 conspiracy against true religion and civil liberty, a 
 conspiracy so dangerous at all times to a country 
 divided in religious sentiment, demanded a counter- 
 combination equally strict and solemn, and led to 
 the formation of the national covenant of Scotland. 
 This was drawn up at the king's request, by his 
 chaplain, John Craig. It consisted of an abjuration, 
 in the most solemn and explicit terms, of the various 
 articles of the popish system, and an engagement to 
 adhere to and defend the reformed doctrine and dis-' 
 cipliue of the reformed church of Scotland. The 
 covenanters further pledged themselves,, under the 
 same oath, " to defend his majesty's person and au- 
 thority with our goods, bodies, and lives, in the de- 
 fence of Christ's evangel, liberties of our country, 
 ministration of justice, and punishment of iniquity, 
 Life of Melville, i. 173. Note. V. 
 
1581.] THE NATIONAL COVENANT. 107 
 
 against all enemies within the realm or without." 
 This bond, at first called " the king's confession,"" 
 was sworn and subscribed by the king and his 
 household, for example to others, on the 28th of 
 January 1581; and afterwards, in consequence of 
 an order in council, and an act of the general assem- 
 bly, it was cheerfully subscribed by all ranks of 
 persons through the kingdom; the ministers zeal- 
 ously promoting the subscription in their respective 
 parishes. 
 
 But, while this solemn transaction had a powerful 
 influence in quieting the public mind, and rivetting 
 the attachment of the nation to the protestant faith, 
 it did not prevent the royal favourites from prose- 
 cuting their obnoxious measures. On the death of 
 Boyd, nominal archbishop of Glasgow, Lennox of- 
 fered the vacant see to several ministers, on condi- 
 tion of their making over to him most part of its 
 revenues by a private bargain; but they had firm- 
 ness to reject the base temptation. The offer was 
 at last accepted by Robert Montgomery, minister 
 of Stirling, a man, says Dr. Robertson, " vain, feeble, 
 presumptuous, and more apt to have alienated the 
 people from an order already beloved, than to re- 
 concile them to one which was the object of their 
 hatred."* The consequence was, a keen altercation 
 between the court and the general assembly, which 
 continued for some time. 
 
 At length, in 1582, matters were brought to a 
 crisis. The king having written a letter in favour 
 of Montgomery, the assembly of that year answered 
 it " discreetly and wisely, yet standing to their 
 poynfc," and were proceeding to confirm a sentence 
 
 * Robertson's History of Scotland, book yi. 
 
108 EXCOMMUNICATION OF MONTGOMERY. [1582. 
 
 of suspension against Montgomery, when lie rushed 
 out of the house ; and a messenger-at-arms appeared, 
 who charged the moderator and assembly, " under 
 pain of rebellion and putting them to the horn," if 
 they should direct summons against him, or in any 
 way trouble him in his ministry, for aspiring to the 
 see of Glasgow. This was a case of what has been 
 called collision between the jurisdictions civil and 
 ecclesiastical. The question was, not whether the 
 individual ministers should obey the law of the land, 
 but whether the church should obey the state, 
 or, in other words, yield up her spiritual indepen- 
 dence. The assembly did not hesitate a moment. 
 Montgomery was summoned to their bar, to answer, 
 among other offences, for having procured the charg- 
 ing of the assembly with the king's letters; and 
 not compearing, he was laid under the awful sentence 
 of excommunication. 
 
 The presbytery of Glasgow having assembled to 
 carry this judgment into effect, Montgomery entered 
 the meeting with the magistrates and an armed 
 force, to stop their procedure. The moderator, re- 
 fusing to obey the mandate, was forcibly pulled from 
 his chair by the provost, who tore his beard, struck 
 out one of his teeth, and committed him to the tol- 
 booth. But still the presbytery continued sitting, 
 and they remitted the case to the presbytery of 
 Edinburgh, which appointed Mr. John Davidson, 
 who had now returned to Scotland, and was settled 
 at Liberton, to excommunicate Montgomery. The 
 court stormed and threatened; but the intrepid 
 young minister, at the risk of his life, which was 
 menaced by Lennox, pronounced the sentence before 
 a large auditory, and it was intimated on the sue- 
 
1582.] MELVILLE'S INTREPIDITY. 109 
 
 ceeding Sabbath in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and many 
 of the adjoining churches.* 
 
 To show the disrepute into which prelacy had 
 fallen in Scotland, and the respect paid to a sen- 
 tence of the ecclesiastical courts, we may mention, 
 that when Montgomery shortly afterwards came to 
 Edinburgh, the inhabitants, as soon as they heard 
 he was in town, ro.se up en masse, and demanded 
 that he should be expelled. Lennox attempted to 
 shield him from their fury, by a proclamation that 
 all men should accept of him as a good Christian 
 and a true subject. But the Frenchman knew not 
 the temper of the people he had to deal with. They 
 insisted that the excommunicated archbishop should 
 no longer pollute the town with his presence, and 
 waited for his coming out of the council-room, where 
 he had sought refuge, the men armed with sticks, 
 and the women with every kind of missile. Mont- 
 gomery was glad to crave the convoy of the provost 
 out of town by a back passage, called the Kirk Wynd. 
 In making his way through this narrow defile, he was 
 discovered and pursued by the mob, with "Aha, false 
 thief! mansworn thief!" and taking to his heels, 
 he narrowly escaped, at the expense of two or three 
 buffets on the neck, when in the act of getting out at 
 the wicket gate of the Potterrow port. It is said 
 that king James, who was fond of all sorts of practical 
 jokes, even at the expense of his friends, when he 
 heard of this rude popular ebullition, " lay down on 
 the Inch of Perth, and laughed his fill, saying that 
 Montgomery was a seditious loon.^-f- 
 
 In the meantime, Melville was not idle. In a 
 
 * Row's MS. Hist., ad. an. 1532; Calderwood's Hist., ib. 
 
 \- Culderwood's MS. Hist., vol. v., ad. an. 1.581 ; MS. Notes in Adv. Lib. 
 
110 THE RAID OF RUTHVEN. [1582. 
 
 sermon preached at the opening of the general as- 
 sembly, he inveighed against those who had intro- 
 duced what he called the lludie gullie of absolute 
 power into the country, and who sought to erect a 
 new popedom in the person of the king. Adverting 
 to the designs of the popish powers, " This," he ex- 
 claimed, " will be called meddling with civil affairs; 
 but these things tend to the wreck of religion, and 
 therefore I rehearse them." Being afterwards em- 
 ployed with others to present a bold remonstrance 
 to the king and council from the assembly on this 
 subject, he displayed a spirit which reminds us of 
 the first reformer. Arran, looking round with a 
 threatening countenance, exclaimed, " Who dare 
 subscribe these treasonable articles? 11 " WE DARE," 
 replied Melville, and advancing to the table, he took 
 the pen from the clerk and subscribed.* 
 
 In these contendings the ministers had hitherto 
 received no support from the nobility; but in August 
 1582, a few noblemen, disgusted with the conduct of 
 Lennox and Arran, forcibly took possession of the 
 king's person, with the view of delivering him and 
 the country from their disgraceful influence. The 
 nobles seem to have treated him, while he was 
 in their hands, very much as they would have done 
 a spoilt child, who did not know ho\v to use his 
 liberty without doing mischief to himself and all 
 around him. On attempting to escape he was seized 
 by the master of Glammis, upon which he burst into 
 tears. " No matter," Gflammis roughly replied, with 
 his leg planted across the door, "better that bairns 
 weep than bearded men." This enterprise, which is 
 known in history as "the raid of lluthven," was ill- 
 
 * Life of Melville, i. 183. 
 
1582.] LENNOX AND JOHN DURY. Ill 
 
 planned; and it soon issued in the restoration 
 of the unworthy favourites, the banishment of the 
 lords engaged in it. and troublesome consequences 
 to the church. The king never forgave the at- 
 tempt, which he ascribed to the influence of the 
 ministers, and which thus served to prejudice him 
 still more than ever against the discipline of pres- 
 bytery. It does not appear that the ministers 
 had any share in the plot; but candour requires us 
 to state, that they imprudently involved themselves, 
 by passing an act of approval. 
 
 For about a year, while the two worthless favour- 
 ites were removed from court, the church enjoyed 
 a respite; and the faithful ministers who had been 
 banished were, to the great joy of the people, re- 
 stored to their charges. The following scene will 
 illustrate the estimation in which these pastors were 
 held. John Dury, one of the ministers of Edinburgh, 
 had proved a great eye-sore to the court, and par- 
 ticularly to the duke of Lennox, whose open profli- 
 gacies were as openly rebuked by the unsparing 
 preacher. Lennox became so enraged, that, not 
 content with having summoned Dury to the council 
 at Dalkeith house, and procured his banishment from 
 Edinburgh, he caused him to be attacked by his 
 French cooks, who nearly murdered him, on his 
 way from the council, with their spits and large 
 knives. During his banishment, the assembly 
 ordered the presbytery of Edinburgh to keep his 
 charge vacant, arid after the raid of Huthven, Dury 
 was restored to his flock. The people, hearing of 
 his approach to the city, went out in great crowds 
 to meet him at the Nether Bow. Here, with a 
 gravity characteristic of Scottish mobs on much 
 
112 THE BLACK ACTS. [1584. 
 
 less solemn occasions, they arranged themselves in 
 the form of a triumphal procession, in the midst of 
 which the exiled minister was conducted along the 
 street the multitude, with uncovered heads and 
 loud voices, singing the 124th psalm, in the peculiar 
 metre, matched with its fine old music : 
 
 " Now Israel may say, and that truly, 
 If that the Lord had not our cause maintained," &c. 
 
 The sounds of the rejoicing melody reached the 
 ears of the duke, whose house stood in the High 
 Street; and when, on looking out of his window, he 
 saw his old enemy thus restored in triumph, " in a 
 French passion" he tore his beard, imprecated curses 
 on John Dury, hastened out of town, and never re- 
 turned again to Scotland.* 
 
 The scene, however, soon changed. The earl of 
 Arran, who was really the worse of the two, was 
 restored to favour; the nobles who had engaged in 
 the raid were banished; and a cloud descended on 
 the church. In February 1584, Melville was sum- 
 moned before the privy council, to answer for cer- 
 tain treasonable speeches he was alleged to have 
 uttered in a sermon, and finding that the un- 
 principled Arran was determined to send him to 
 the castle of Blackness, then the bastile of Scot- 
 land, he yielded to the importunities of his friends, 
 and escaped from the storm by retreating to Ber- 
 wick. 
 
 In May following, the parliament overturned the 
 independence of the church, by ordaining that no 
 ecclesiastical assembly should be held without the 
 king^s consent; that none were to presume to say a 
 word, privately or publicly, against the proceedings 
 
 * Melville's Diary, p. 95; MS. Notes in Adv. Lib., M. 8. 
 
J584.] THE BLACK ACTS. 113 
 
 of his council; that to decline the judgment of 
 the king and privy council, in any matter what- 
 ever, should be punished as treason; and that all 
 ministers were to acknowledge the bishops as their 
 ecclesiastical superiors. These acts of parliament 
 were called by the people the black acts a name 
 they well merited, whether we consider the base 
 character of the administration that decreed them, 
 the malicious hostility to the liberties of the church 
 which they betrayed, or the melancholy consequences 
 to which they led. Suspecting that the ministers 
 would publicly condemn these Erastian acts, orders 
 were sent to the provost and bailies to apprehend 
 James Lawson and Walter Balcanqual, ministers 
 of Edinburgh, in the event of their doing so, and 
 pull them out of the pulpit. This, however, did 
 not deter them from denouncing the acts on the 
 following Sabbath; and on Monday morning, when 
 they were proclaimed at the cross, they publicly 
 protested against them, with all due formalities, 
 in the name of the church of Scotland. Orders 
 were immediately issued for their apprehension ; but 
 they saved themselves by a timely flight, and, with 
 upwards of twenty other ministers, who followed 
 their example, took refuge in England. 
 
 Some may be surprised to hear of the liberties 
 then used by presbyterian ministers, and perhaps 
 disposed to blame them for introducing secular mat- 
 ters into the pulpit. But did not the government 
 first set the example of intermeddling with what did 
 not belong to them, when they claimed an erastian 
 power over the church? Some individuals among 
 the clergy may have used unbecoming language; but 
 not to mention other considerations, it ought to be 
 
114 FREEDOMS OF THE MINISTERS. [1586. 
 
 remembered that, at that period, the pulpit was al- 
 most the only organ by which, in the absence of a 
 free press, public opinion was or could be expressed, 
 and the ecclesiastical courts were the only assem- 
 blies in the nation which possessed anything like 
 liberty or independence. It was the preachers who 
 first taught the people to express an opinion on the 
 conduct of their rulers; and the assemblies of the 
 church set the earliest example of a firm and regu- 
 lar opposition to the arbitrary measures of the court. 
 But they stood upon higher ground still; for we 
 distinctly maintain, that the ministers of Scot- 
 land would never have thus denounced the acts 
 of government, unless these acts had infringed, di- 
 rectly or indirectly, on the liberties of the church 
 and the prerogatives of the king of Zion ; and when 
 they did so, it was from no contempt of royal autho- 
 rity, but from conscientious obedience to that higher 
 power, " by whom kings reign, and princes decree 
 justice." In fact, the assembly about this time 
 passed an act prohibiting the use of rash and irreve- 
 rent speeches in the-pulpit against his majesty, and 
 deposed one of their number for having been guilty 
 of that offence. 
 
 But the reader will be less surprised at the free- 
 doms which the ministers took with the king, when 
 we mention what freedoms the king used with the 
 ministers. Nothing, indeed, pleased James better 
 than a public disputation with the clergy. Having 
 been in Edinburgh a little before this time, he at- 
 tended worship in the High Church. Balcanqual 
 advanced something to show that ministers had as 
 great authority as bishops; upon which James, who 
 plumed himself on his skill in divinity, and thought 
 
1586.] SCENE IN THE HIGH CHURCH. 115 
 
 he could handle a text better than any divine in his 
 kingdom, rose up from his seat, and interrupting the 
 preacher " Mr. Walter," said he, " what scripture 
 have ye for that assertion? I am sure ye have 
 no scripture so to allege." The preacher said he 
 would show his majesty that he had scripture suf- 
 ficient. " If ye prove that by scripture," said the 
 king, "I will give ye my kingdom;" adding, that it 
 was the practice of the preachers to busy themselves 
 about such causes in the pulpit, but he " knew their 
 intent weil enouch," and would look after them. 
 This interlude continued upwards of a quarter of an 
 hour, after which the king sat down and patiently 
 heard out the sermon. 
 
 There is a similar story told of James, which is less 
 generally known. Patrick Adamson, who had been 
 presented to the see of St. Andrews, had gone up 
 to England on pretence of business, and obtained 
 episcopal consecration there in a clandestine manner. 
 On his return to Scotland, however, he found the 
 zeal of the assembly and the people running so high 
 against the order, that he durst not openly avow 
 his prelatic character. While in this predicament, 
 the king brought him from St. Andrews to Edin- 
 burgh to preach before him in the High Church, 
 and accompanied him with his own guard, to pro- 
 tect him from the people. On entering, his ma- 
 jesty, finding the pulpit pre-occupied by Mr. John 
 Cowper, one of the ordinary ministers, who was 
 just beginning to officiate, cried out, " Mr. Cowper. 
 I will not have you preach to-day; I command 
 you to come down out of the pulpit, and let the 
 bishop of St. Andrews go up and preach to me." 
 " Please your majesty," said Cowper, " this is the 
 
116 ARCHBISHOP ADAMSON. [1586. 
 
 day appointed to me to preach, and if it were your 
 majesty's pleasure, I would fain supply the place 
 myself." By this time the king discovered, from 
 the surprise and commotion of the people, that he 
 had unwittingly let out the secret of Adamson's 
 new dignity; and, correcting himself, he replied, 
 " I will not hear you at this time ; I command you 
 to come down, and let Maister Patrick Adamson go 
 up and preach this day." " I shall obey, sir," said 
 Cowper, coming down from the pulpit. But the 
 whole assembly was now in uproar and confusion. 
 The archbishop, surrounded with the king's body- 
 guard, mounted the pulpit, and was seen bowing 
 with great reverence to his majesty; but not a 
 word could be heard for the outcries and lamenta- 
 tions of the people, who kept running out and rushing 
 in, creating the most extraordinary noise; in the 
 midst of which the king, coming still lower clown 
 with his titles, cried out in great wrath, with an 
 oath, "What d 1 ails the people, that they will 
 not tarry to hear a man preach ?" * 
 
 Patrick Adamson, who was formerly introduced 
 to our notice,^ gave great annoyance to the church 
 about this time, and no individual in the nation was 
 more heartily disliked. He was known to have 
 been the chief adviser of the measures for overturn- 
 ing the presbyterian discipline, and he had employed 
 his pen to traduce the characters of some of the 
 best and noblest of the land who had opposed them. 
 With all his learning and talents, he was of a mean- 
 spirited and cowardly disposition. Trusting to the 
 favour of the court, though he had been first sus- 
 
 * Prynne's Antipathic of Lordly Prelacy to Regal Monarchy, p. 338; 
 Row's MS. Hist., p. 80. t P. DG 
 
1586.] ADAMSON'S RECANTATION. 117 
 
 pended by the assembly, and afterwards excommu- 
 nicated by the synod of Fife, he determined to show 
 his contempt of these ecclesiastical censures, by 
 preaching in the parish church of St. Andrews on 
 the Sabbath after the latter sentence was pronoun- 
 ced. But somebody having whispered to him, as he 
 entered the church, that a great crowd of gentlemen 
 had gathered, and were threatening to take him 
 out of the pulpit and hang him, he became so 
 frightened that he fled for refuge to the steeple, 
 and it required all the persuasions and bodily 
 strength of the bailies to get him " ruggit out" and 
 carried home.* At last, deserted by the king, and 
 deprived of his annuity, he was indebted for support 
 to Andrew Melville, to whom he had been a most 
 bitter enemy; and falling into ill health, he earnestly 
 petitioned the synod of Fife to be released from the 
 sentence of excommunication. This was granted, 
 upon which he presented to them a formal recanta- 
 tion of his prelatical sentiments, and died in Feb- 
 ruary 1592, expressing his deep regret for the part 
 he had acted against the church. -f- 
 
 The puerilities of James VI. , his conceit of ar- 
 bitrary power, and ridiculous passion for inter- 
 meddling with church affairs, have not escaped the 
 notice of historians; but as an offset to these fail- 
 ings, some are fond of painting, in the most gloomy 
 
 * Melville's Diary, p. 164. 
 
 f Row's MS., p. 83; Life of Melville, i. 314-316. Adamson's recanta- 
 tion may be seen in Defoe's Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, p. 196. 
 Dr. M'Crie observes, that " the circumstances in which the archbishop 
 subscribed his recantation necessarily throw a degree of suspicion over 
 the sincerity with which it was made, and detract from its value as a 
 testimony in favour of presbytery. But there is not the least reason to 
 doubt the genuineness of the document itself." 
 
118 DAVID FERGUSSON. [1586. 
 
 colours, the fanaticism and puritanic severity of the 
 presbyterians. That the church courts did, in some 
 instances, carry their notions of discipline to an 
 excess bordering on intolerance, can hardly be de- 
 nied; and considering the rude materials with which 
 they had to deal, it is not at all surprising; but 
 our forefathers were far from being morose ascetics, 
 or foes to innocent amusements. Military exercises, 
 athletic games, archery, and music, were commonly 
 studied and practised, even by the gravest mini- 
 sters.* Nor did they object to a little merriment, 
 even in the midst of their most solemn assemblies. 
 The commissioners of the church having met at St. 
 Andrews to protest against the inauguration of 
 Adamson as archbishop, one came in and told them 
 that '* there was a corbie Grouping' 1 on the roof of 
 the church. " That's a bad omen, 1 ' said David Fer- 
 gusson, minister of Dunfermline; " for inauguration 
 is from avium garritu; the raven is omnimodo a 
 black bird, and therefore ominous; and if we read 
 rightly what it speaks, it will be found to be 
 Corrupt ! corrupt ! corrupt ! " 
 
 David Fergusson, several of whose witty sayings 
 are recorded by his contemporaries, and who is de- 
 scribed as " a merrie wise man," was distinguished no 
 less by his intelligence and integrity, than his good 
 
 * Speaking of John Dury's week-day exercises, James Melville says: 
 " The gown was na sooner aff, and the byble out of hand fra the kirk, 
 when on ged the corslet, and fangit was the hagbot, and to the fields." 
 (Diary, p. 20.) Of himself, honest James says : " 1 lovit singing and 
 playing on instruments passing weel, and wald gladly spend time where 
 the exercise thereof was in the college; for twa or three of our condis- 
 ciples played fellon weill on the virginals, and another on the lute and 
 githorn. 1 had my necess;irs honestly enough of my father for archery 
 and goff ; but nocht a purse for catchpull and tavern." Private, or rather 
 academic theatricals, of an innocent description, were likewise very 
 common. 
 
1586 ] DAVID FERGUSSON. 119 
 
 humour. He was now the oldest minister of the 
 church, having been one of the six who were honoured 
 to plant the reformed religion in Scotland, and he 
 retained his vivacity to the last. King James, who 
 resided frequently at Dunfermline, used to take great 
 pleasure in his conversation. Having once asked him, 
 how it happened that, of all other houses, that of the 
 master of Gray, who was a papist, should have been 
 shaken by an earthquake during the night? " Why," 
 said Fergusson, " please your majesty, why should 
 not the deevil be allowed to rock his awn bairns?" 
 " David," said James to him one day, " why may not 
 I have bishops in Scotland, as well as thsy have in 
 England?" "Yea, sire," replied Fergusson, "ye may 
 have bishops here; but remember, ye must make us 
 all bishops, else will ye never content us. For, if ye 
 set up ten or twelve louns over honest men's heads, 
 and give them more thousands to misspend than 
 honest men have hundreds or scores, we will never 
 all be content. We are Paul's bishops, sire Christ's 
 bishops; haud us as we are." To this his majesty re- 
 plied by uttering a profane oath. "Sire," said the mi- 
 nister, " ban not."* Mr. Fergusson, who was a shrewd 
 observer of character, used to forewarn his brethren, 
 that if James should come to the throne of Eng- 
 land, he would not rest till he had introduced pre- 
 lacy into Scotland; and his prediction was too soon 
 realized. 
 
 * " Swear not." Row's Hist., pp. 40, 314, 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Re-establishment of the presbyterian discipline in 1592 King James 
 and Andrew Melville Renewal of the national covenant in 1596 
 Pretended riot of 17th December Schemes for the introduction of 
 prelacy into the church of Scotland The Gowrie conspiracy Robert 
 Bruce James at the Hampton court conference Aberdeen assembly 
 in 1605 Scheme of constant moderators Extraordinary scene at 
 Perth Bishops admitted by the packed assembly of Glasgow in 1610 
 Consecration of the bishops Archbishop Gladstanes Court of high 
 commission. 
 
 WE need not dwell on the events which led to the 
 re-establishment of the presbyterian discipline in the 
 year 1592. Suffice it to say, that the signal over- 
 throw of the Spanish armada, the invasion of which 
 discovered the hostile intention of the popish princes 
 of the continent the prudent counsels of chancellor 
 Maitland, who supplanted the king^s unworthy 
 favourites and the blessing of God on the faithful 
 warnings and contendings of the ministers, led to 
 the happiest results. James was persuaded to desist 
 from imposing upon the nation a hierarchy which 
 none desired but himself; nay, he professed to have 
 become a convert to presbyterianism. At one time 
 there can be no doubt he was sensible of its advan- 
 tages; for, in answer to an English divine who ex- 
 pressed his astonishment why the church of Scotland 
 
1592.] KING JAMES AND THE KIRK. 121 
 
 was never troubled with heresy, he said, evidently 
 in good earnest, " I'll tell you how, man. If it 
 spring up in a parish, there is an eldership to take 
 notice of it; if it be too strong for them, the pres- 
 bytery is ready to crush it; if the heretic prove too 
 obstinate for them, he shall find more witty heads in 
 the synod; and if he cannot be convinced there, the 
 general assembly, Til warrant you, will not spare 
 him." At a meeting of the general assembly in 
 1590, he pronounced a high panegyric on the church 
 of Scotland. He " praised God that he was born in 
 such a place as to be king in such a kirk, the purest 
 kirk in the world. The kirk of Geneva," continued 
 his majesty, " keepeth Pasch and Yule.* What 
 have they for them I They have no institution. As 
 for our neighbour kirk in England, their service is 
 an ill-mumbled mass in English : they want nothing 
 of the mass but the liftings. I charge you, my good 
 people, ministers, elders, nobles, gentlemen, and 
 barons, to stand to your purity; and I, forsooth, as 
 long as I brook my life and crown, shall maintain 
 the same against all deadly." The future behaviour 
 of James furnishes an awkward commentary on this 
 speech, and leaves us too much room to question 
 its sincerity; but at the time that it was delivered, 
 the assembly received it with every demonstra- 
 tion of joy; "there was nothing heard for a quarter 
 of an hour, but praising God, and praying for the 
 king."f 
 
 Shortly after this, in June 1592, the parliament 
 formally restored presbytery, having passed an act 
 ratifying the government of the church by sessions, 
 presbyteries, provincial synods, and national assem- 
 
 * Easter and Christmas. t CahlerwooJ, Pref., iv. p. 256. 
 VOL. I. I 
 
122 ESTABLISHMENT OF PRESBYTERY. [1592. 
 
 blies; the black acts were repealed; and, with the 
 exception of the law of patronage, which was still 
 suffered to remain in the statute-book, the jurisdic- 
 tion and liberties of the church were secured, on what 
 appeared to be the most stable footing against all 
 future aggressions.* This act, which still continues 
 the legal charter of the church of Scotland, has been 
 always regarded by presbyterians as a great step in 
 the national reformation. It was never, indeed, viewed 
 as the basis of her ecclesiastical constitution, which 
 is to be found in her Confession of Faith and Books 
 of Discipline; but it was a clear civil recognition 
 and ratification of that constitution, giving her the 
 advantage of legal ground, sanctioning her liberties, 
 and reducing within proper bounds the prerogatives 
 of the crown; and had the church been remiss in exer- 
 tions to obtain such a settlement, or declined to accept 
 of it, she would certainly have acted a part equally 
 foolish and criminal. The question was, whether 
 presbytery or prelacy should be the established 
 form; and a refusal on the part of the presbyterians 
 of an establishment, crippled as it was with certain 
 conditions from which they were resolved to seek 
 deliverance, would have been equivalent, at that 
 time, to surrendering their liberties into the hands 
 of an overbearing monarch, who was quite prepared, 
 in such a case, to place the whole country under an 
 arbitrary hierarchy. As it was, this important act 
 was not obtained without a struggle; the royal con- 
 sent was given with reluctance; and the representa- 
 tives of the church, who were waiting for it with 
 trembling anxiety, were not relieved from their 
 
 * Act for abolishing of the acts contrair to the trcw religion. Act 
 Parl., Jac. vi., Jan. 1592. 
 
1593.] KING JAMES AND THE MINISTERS. 123 
 
 fears till they heard it proclaimed at the cross of 
 Edinburgh.* 
 
 The church" of Scotland did not long enjoy this 
 civil establishment in peace. She soon became in- 
 volved in troubles arising from the dubious and 
 vacillating policy of the king. Although a desperate 
 popish plot for the extirpation of the protestant 
 religion, concerted by the king of Spain, and headed 
 in Scotland by the earls of Huntly, Angus, and 
 Errol, had been discovered in the beginning of 1593 
 though Jesuits were flocking into the country, and 
 murders had been committed on some eminent pro- 
 testants, James, either from motives of policy, or 
 from personal fear, because, as he used to say, " the 
 papists were dexterous king-killers," "f could not be 
 prevailed upon to act a decided part against the 
 traitors. The popish lords were no sooner pro- 
 claimed rebels, than the declaration was withdrawn, 
 and some of them were even admitted to court. 
 Against these proceedings the clergy remonstrated 
 with the utmost boldness, both in the pulpit and 
 ecclesiastical assemblies. " The king, 1 " says sir 
 James Balfour, " was tossed like a tinnes ball be- 
 twixt the preceisse ministers and the treacherous 
 papists. Mr. Robert Bruce told him to his face out 
 of the pulpit, that ' God would raise more Bothwells 
 against him than one, gif he did not revenge God's 
 quarrel against the papists, before his awn particular 11 '' 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Melville, i. 324; Melville's Diary, pp. 199-201. By 
 accepting, or rather taking the benefit of this establishment, the church 
 cannot be viewed as homologating patronage, against which she still con- 
 tinued to protest, in her standards, as an unwarrantable encroachment 
 on her liberties. 
 
 f " Just," says Toplady, " as some Indians are said to worship the 
 devil, for fear he should do them a mischief."' ( Works, ii. 207.) 
 
124; KING JAMES AND ANDREW MELVILLE. [1596: 
 
 referring to the insurrection of the earl of Both- 
 well, against whom he supposed the king to be more 
 zealous than against his more dangerous enemies. 
 Mr. Patrick Simpson was still more plain ; for, 
 preaching before his majesty on the words, " Where 
 is Abel, thy brother ? " he openly rebuked him for 
 not prosecuting Huntly, the murderer of " the 
 bonnie earl of Murray." " Sir," said the preacher 
 " I assure you the Lord will ask at you, Where is the 
 earl of Murray, your brother I " " Mr. Patrick," 
 replied the king before all the people, " my chalmer 
 door was never steeked upon you ; ye might have 
 told me anything you thought in secret." " Sir," 
 said Simpson, " the scandal was publick." * 
 
 But the most remarkable exhibition of boldness on 
 the part of the ministers was that made by Andrew 
 Melville. In 1596, when the design of recalling the 
 popish lords was ascertained, Melville accompanied 
 a deputation of the clergy to Falkland, to remon- 
 strate against a measure which they judged to be 
 fraught with danger to the country. They were ad- 
 mitted to a private audience; and James Melville, 
 whose temper was the reverse of that of his uncle, 
 and who was employed to speak for the rest, because, 
 as he says himself, " I could propone the mater in a 
 mild and smooth manner, quhilk the king lyked best 
 of," was beginning to open the case, when he was 
 interrupted by his majesty, who accused them, " in 
 maist crabbit and coleric manor," of holding sedi- 
 tious meetings, and of alarming the country without 
 any reason.f This was too much for Andrew Mel- 
 ville, who could no longer keep silence. He look 
 
 * Balfour's Annals of Scotland, i. 395; Row's MS. Hist., p. 100. 
 t James Melville's Diary, p. '24.5, Bun. edit. 
 
1596.] KING JAMES AND ANDREW MELVILLE. 125 
 
 the king by the sleeve, and calling him " God's sillie 
 vassal," he proceeded to address him in the following 
 strain " perhaps," says his biographer, " the most 
 singular, in point of freedom, that ever saluted royal 
 ears, or that ever proceeded from the mouth of a 
 loyal subject, who would have spilt his blood in de- 
 fence of the person and honour of his prince:"* 
 " Sir," he said, " we will always humbly reverence 
 your majesty in public; but since we have this oc- 
 casion to be with your majesty in private, and since 
 you are brought into extreme danger both of your 
 life and crown, and along with you the country and 
 the church of God are like to go to wreck, for not 
 telling you the truth and giving you faithful counsel, 
 we must discharge our duty, or else be traitors both 
 to Christ and you. Therefore, sir, as divers times 
 before I have told you, so now again I must tell you, 
 there are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland : 
 there is king James, the head of this commonwealth, 
 and there is Christ Jesus, the king of the church, 
 whose subject James the sixth is, and of whose king- 
 dom ho is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a 
 member. We will yield to you your place, and give 
 you all due obedience; but again I say, you are not 
 the head of the church ; you cannot give us that 
 eternal life which we seek for even in this world, and 
 you cannot deprive us of it. Permit us, then, freely 
 to meet in the name of Christ, and to attend to the 
 interests of that church of which you are a chief 
 member. Sir, when you were in your swaddling 
 clothes, Christ Jesus reigned freely in this land, in 
 spite of all his enemies; his officers and ministers 
 convened for the rulino- and welfare of his church, 
 
 ~ 
 
 * M'Crie's Life of Melville, i. 391. 
 
126 . INTREPIDITY OF THE CLERGY. [1596. 
 
 which was ever for your welfare, when these same 
 enemies were seeking your destruction. And now, 
 when there is more than extreme necessity for the 
 continuance of that duty, will you hinder and dis- 
 hearten Christ's servants and your most faithful 
 subjects^ quarrelling them for their convening, when 
 you should rather commend and countenance them, 
 as the godly kings and emperors did ? " During the 
 delivery of this confounding lecture, his majesty's 
 passion, which was very high at its commencement, 
 gradually subsided ; and the ministers were dismissed 
 with fair promises. 
 
 Different opinions will, no doubt, be formed of the 
 conduct pursued by these undaunted presbyters. 
 Those who are accustomed to regard the interests of 
 truth as of paramount, because eternal, importance, 
 will admire it as moral heroism; while others, judg- 
 ing by an inferior standard, may denounce it as 
 officious insolence.* It is no doubt perfectly easy 
 for us, at this distance of time, to sit down in safe 
 tranquillity, and sagely to pronounce that this or the 
 other measure was too precipitate, and that the zeal 
 of certain persons was quite irregular. But, as it 
 has been well remarked, " if we look backwards, and 
 impartially consider the state of things at that 
 period, and the different circumstances affecting it, 
 our censure must needs be more modest; and we 
 shall probably find ourselves inclined to admit of an 
 apology, for that which cannot obtain our approba- 
 tion. In the midst of a storm at sea, it is not surely 
 
 * Some having blamed Andrew Melville with being too fiery, he replied, 
 " It' you see my fire go dou-nvaid, set your foot on it, and put it out; 
 but if it go vptcnrd, let it go to its own place." " Meaning (says Living- 
 stone) that his zeal was not for himself or outward things." (Charac- 
 teristics, ari. A. Melville. 
 
1596.] NATIONAL COVENANT RENEWED. 127 
 
 to be expected that things should be managed so 
 calmly and prudently as in moderate weather and an 
 easy voyage." * " However," says a modern histo- 
 rian, " from our being placed under happier circum- 
 stances, we may shrink at the broad indecent re- 
 proach which, from the pulpit, was frequently directed 
 even against the sovereign himself ; however we may 
 be convinced that such a practice now would be use- 
 less or intolerable, we must, if we calmly investi- 
 gate the period at present under review, be satisfied 
 that we, in a great degree, owe to the intrepidity of 
 the clergy, the liberties which we enjoy ; and that, 
 had they remained silent, the king would either have 
 destroyed every vestige of freedom, or, what was 
 more likely, his throne would have been subverted, 
 and Scotland delivered into the hands of a merciless 
 and bigoted tyrant." ( 
 
 The year 1596 is memorable in the history of the 
 church of Scotland, both for the happy revival of 
 religion, and the lamentable manner in which it ter- 
 minated. For some time its power had been visibly 
 decaying; various corruptions had crept into the 
 church, and numerous offences were chargeable both 
 on ministers and people. To meet these evils, some 
 extraordinary effort was necessary; and for this 
 purpose the general assembly of 1593 had appointed 
 a commission for a general visitation of the whole 
 presbyteries throughout the realm. But the honour 
 of giving a new impulse to the religious feelings of 
 the nation is clue to that zealous minister to whom 
 we have repeatedly alluded, John Davidson, minister, 
 formerly of Liberton, now of Prestonpans. Lament- 
 
 * Dr. Macqueen's Letters on Hume's History of Great Britain, p. 83. 
 f- Dr. Cook's History of the Churck of Scotland, ii. 19. 
 
128 NATIONAL COVENANT RENEWED. [1596- 
 
 ing the evils which abounded, and the inefficacy of 
 all the means hitherto used to correct them, he pro- 
 posed, in an overture to the general assembly, that, 
 after a solemn confession of the corruptions and of- 
 fences of ministers and persons of all estates, not 
 excepting the courts of justice and the king's house- 
 hold, they should renew the national covenant, 
 " making promise before the majesty of God to 
 amend their conduct." This proposal was cordially 
 agreed to, and the assembly was held in the Little 
 Church of Edinburgh, on Tuesday, 30th of March 
 1596. On this solemn occasion, Davidson, who was 
 chosen to preside, preached so much to the convic- 
 tion of his hearers, and, in their name, offered up a 
 confession of their sins to heaven with such fervent 
 emotion, that the whole assembled ministers melted 
 into tears; and rising from their seats at his desire, 
 and lifting up their right hands, they renewed their 
 covenant with God, " protesting to walk more warily 
 in their ways, and to be more diligent in their 
 charges." This scene, which continued during three 
 hours, was deeply affecting, beyond anything that 
 the oldest person present had ever witnessed. As 
 the greater part of the ministers were not present to 
 join in the sacred action, the assembly ordained that 
 it should be repeated in the different synods and 
 presbyteries, and afterwards extended to congre- 
 gations; and the ordinance was obeyed with an 
 alacrity and fervour which spread from presbytery 
 to presbytery, and from parish to parish, till all 
 Scotland, like Judah of old, " rejoiced at the 
 oath."* 
 
 But the satisfaction diffused by this exercise was 
 
 * Melville's Diary, 229-243; Caldcnvood, p. 317. 
 
1596.J RIOT OF SEVENTEENTH DECEMBER. 129 
 
 of short duration; it seemed designed, as a brief 
 moment of sunshine, to prepare the faithful ministers 
 of the church for the coming storm. It was re- 
 marked by many that the church never had another 
 assembly like this during the reign of James; and 
 Calderwood, after detailing its proceedings, closes 
 his account with these emphatic words: '''Here end 
 the sincere general assemblies of the kirk of Scotland."* 
 On the 17th of December of the same year, when 
 the minds of the people were in a state of high 
 excitement from rumours of the designs of the 
 papists, information was conveyed to the minis- 
 ters that Huntly, one of the popish lords, had been 
 all night in the palace, and that his retainers were 
 waiting for orders to enter the capital. Alarmed at 
 this intelligence, lord Lindsay and Mr. Bruce were 
 appointed to wait on the king, to set before him the 
 dangers that threatened religion. " What dangers 
 see you ?" said his majesty. Bruce mentioned their 
 apprehensions as to Huntly. " What have ye to do 
 with that I " said James ; " and how durst you con- 
 vene against my proclamation ? " " We dare do 
 more than that,' 1 said lord Lindsay; "and we will 
 not suffer religion to be overthrown. 1 ' Meanwhile, 
 the panic had been communicated to the people, and 
 some evil-disposed persons taking advantage of it, 
 raised the cry, " To arms i to arms ! " " These are 
 not our weapons," said Bruce, attempting to calm 
 the assembly, and after some confusion, which 
 issued in no violence, the tumult was soon quelled. 
 Such was the whole affair of the 17th of December, 
 which the king professed to resent so highly, that 
 he removed the court to Linlithgow, and made it 
 
 * Calderwood's (printed) History, p. 323. 
 
130 KING'S AVERSION TO PRESBYTERY. [1596. 
 
 a pretext for overthrowing the liberties of the 
 church.* 
 
 The real secret of James' antipathy to presby- 
 tery was his ambition to be regarded as head of the 
 church, a claim to which presbyterianism, from its 
 very nature, stands directly opposed. His senti- 
 ments on this subject were discovered in two publi- 
 cations which appeared shortly after the event now 
 related. The first of these, which is entitled " The 
 True Law of Free Monarchies," is an unvarnished de- 
 fence of arbitrary power, and may help us to under- 
 stand the meaning of his favourite maxim, " No 
 bishop, no king." The king, according to James, is 
 to be " a free and absolute monarch," at liberty to 
 do what he pleases with his people, " who," says he, 
 " are not permitted to make any resistance but by 
 flight, as we may see by the example of brute boasts 
 and unreasonable creatures, among whom we never 
 read or hear of any resistance to their parents, except 
 among the vipers." In the other treatise, u Basilicon 
 Doron," which was addressed to his son, prince Henry, 
 he maintains "that the office of a king is partly civil 
 and partly ecclesiastical ; that a principal part of his 
 function consists in ruling the church ; that it belongs 
 to him to judge when preachers wander from their 
 text; that parity among ministers is irreconcilable 
 with monarchy, and the mother of confusion; and in 
 short, that episcopacy should be set up, and the princi- 
 pal presbyterian ministers banished from the country." 
 
 With principles so opposite to the spirit of free- 
 dom and of the Scottish church, it is not surprising 
 that James and the presbyterian ministers should 
 
 * Life of Melville, i. 407-410; Melville's Declining Age of the Church 
 of Scotland, p. o; Bailee's Hist. Vindication, p. (jii-71. 
 
1596.] MR. DAVID BLACK. 131 
 
 have been perpetually at variance. The clergy, 
 jealous of their religious rights, openly and vehemently 
 denounced the king's proceedings from the pulpit; 
 and the king, on the other hand, threatened all with 
 civil pains who ventured to condemn his measures, 
 or question his authority as supreme potentate of 
 the church. " There would never be peace," he said, 
 " till the marches were rid between them." Deter- 
 mined, however, to " rid the marches 1 ' 1 in his own 
 person, he summoned one of the most zealous of 
 their number, Mr. David Black, minister of St. 
 Andrews, to answer before the privy council, for 
 certain treasonable speeches, as he termed them, 
 which he had uttered in the pulpit. Black, in his 
 own name, and in that of his brethren of the minis- 
 try, sent in a declinature to the council, denying 
 their authority to sit as judges of his doctrine, in 
 the first instance, or till he was tried by the church 
 courts. They saw clearly that this prosecution was 
 put out as a feeler, to ascertain how far the church 
 would yield; and, to use their own language, they 
 feared " that their yielding on this occasion would 
 be held as an acknowledgment of his majesty's juris- 
 diction in matters that are mere spiritual, which 
 might move his majesty to attempt further in the 
 spiritual government of the house of God, and end 
 in either a plain subverting of the spiritual judica- 
 ture, or at least a confounding thereof with civil, if at 
 any time profane and ambitious magistrates might 
 by such dangerous beginnings, find the hedge broken 
 down, to make a violent irruption upon the Lord's 
 inheritance; which the Lord forbid/ 1 * This faithful 
 
 * Declinature of the King and Council's Judicature in Matters Spiri- 
 tual, &c., by Mr. David Bluck, 18th Nov. 15%. 
 
132 INTRODUCTION OF PRELACY. [1598. 
 
 struggle for the liberties of the church issued, as 
 might have been expected, in the defeat of the 
 weaker party, and Black was banished from St. 
 Andrews.* 
 
 It was the delight of James, however, to gain his 
 object by policy rather than violence; and at length, 
 by a series of stealthy, wheedling, and disgraceful 
 manoeuvres, which he dignified with the name of king- 
 craft, he succeeded in overturning the presbyterian 
 polity. His first attempt of this nature was made 
 shortly after the tumult to which we have referred, 
 when he requested the assembly to appoint some of 
 their number, with whom he might advise respecting 
 affairs in which the church might be interested; and 
 the assembly rashly complied, appointing fourteen 
 ministers to act as commissioners for the church. 
 " This," says James Melville, " was the very needle 
 which drew in the episcopal thread." Next year, the 
 king stole another step towards his purpose, by pre- 
 vailing upon the parliament to declare that prelacy 
 was the third estate of the kingdom, and that such 
 pastors as he pleased to raise to the dignity of bishops 
 should have a right to vote in parliament. The next 
 step was to prevail on the church courts to allow their 
 commissioners to enjoy this enviable privilege. The 
 commissioners themselves do not seem to have been 
 unwilling to comply; and they endeavoured to per- 
 suade their brethren that his majesty's object was 
 merely to maintain the dignity of the ministerial 
 office, and in nowise to bring in the popish or angli- 
 can bishops. But the more clear-sighted saw through 
 
 * The king was afterwards so far reconciled to Mr. Black, as to 
 allow his admission into the vacant parish of Arbirlot. There he lived 
 peaceably for six years, and died of an apoplectic stroke, when he was 
 in the act of dispensing the communion elements to his people. 
 
1598.] INTRODUCTION OF PRELACY. 133 
 
 the stratagem, and protested against it. The vene- 
 rable Fergusson compared it to the wooden horse by 
 which the Greeks succeeded in taking Troy. And 
 John Davidson, now an old man, but retaining all 
 the spirit of his youth, cried out, " Ay, busk, busk, 
 busk him as bonnilie as ye can, and fetch him in as 
 fairly as you will, we see him weill enough; we see 
 the horns of his mitre." At length, in March 1598, 
 in an assembly summoned to meet at Dundee, for 
 the especial convenience of the northern ministers 
 whom James had bribed to come up, it was de- 
 cided, by a majority of ten, that the ministry, as the 
 third estate of the realm, should have a vote in par- 
 liament. 
 
 Still, in spite of this disgraceful compliance, it, 
 required all the craft and finesse of the king to con- 
 stitute these representatives of the church bonajide 
 bishops. After various conferences, and proroguing 
 one assembly after another, an assembly, which met 
 at Montrose in 1600, agreed to a number of caveats 
 or cautions, to prevent the commissioners of the 
 church (for by that name they were to be designated) 
 from abusing their powers. But the strictest caveats, 
 sanctioned by the most sacred promises, were feeble 
 ties on an unprincipled court and perfidious church- 
 men. The king, conceiving that matters were now 
 ripe for accomplishing his purpose, quietly nomi- 
 nated three of the ministers, David Lindsay, Peter 
 Blackburn, and George Gladstones, to the vacant 
 bishoprics of Ross, Aberdeen, and Caithness. And 
 these individuals, thus nominated without the know- 
 lodge or consent of the church, sat and voted in the 
 ensuing parliament, directly in the face of those 
 cautions which they had so lately vowed to observe. 
 
134 THE COWRIE CONSPIRACY. [1600. 
 
 " It was neither the king's intention," says Spots- 
 woode, *' nor the mind of the wiser sori, that these 
 cautions should stand in force; but to have matters 
 peacebly ended, and the reformation of the policy 
 made without noise, the king gave way to these 
 conceits."* 
 
 The triumph of James, however, was not complete, 
 so long as the general assemblies continued to man- 
 age the affairs of the church; and it required other 
 ten years of sad struggling and manoeuvring before 
 he gained a victory, of which it is hard to say 
 whether it was more disgraceful to the victors or 
 more disastrous to the vanquished. 
 
 About the time of which we now speak, several 
 ministers were involved in trouble, by an event in 
 which they had no concern, and solely through the 
 pragmatical obstinacy of the king. All who have 
 read the History of Scotland, are acquainted with 
 " the Gowrie Conspiracy," an enigma in the life of 
 James VI., which still seems to defy solution, and is 
 involved in as much mystery as it was at the time 
 of its occurrence. John Ruthven, earl of Gowrie, an 
 accomplished young nobleman, had just returned 
 from his travels on the continent, and was univer- 
 sally beloved by all who knew him. He was a zealous 
 protestant, and had spent a quarter of a year at 
 Geneva with Beza, the great reformer, who had con- 
 ceived for him the highest esteem and admiration, 
 and who could never afterwards hear his name men- 
 tioned without tears. The citizens of Perth respected 
 him so highly, that they elected him provost in 1 593, 
 and continued him in the office during his absence. 
 
 * Spotswoode, p. 4. ! >4, Calderwood, p. 40'2 d stq; Caldenvood's Course 
 of Coni'ormitie, pn:im. 
 
1600.] THE COWRIE CONSPIRACY. 135 
 
 Suddenly, in August 1600, when he had not been 
 three months at home, the king, with a large retinue, 
 came to Gowrie's house in Perth, saying he had 
 been invited by the earFs brother, Alexander Ruthven. 
 A scuffle took place, and the inhabitants, on reach- 
 ing fehe spot, found their provost and his brother 
 weltering in their blood. James and his friends gave 
 out that these two noblemen had attempted to assas- 
 sinate him, and that they had been killed in the act, 
 on the king giving the alarm. This story is so full 
 of glaring improbabilities, that one cannot help sym- 
 pathizing with the opinion of Sir Thomas MoncriefF, 
 who, meeting the king near the Bridge of Earn, on 
 his return from Perth, and hearing his account of 
 the affair, is said to have replied, " May it please 
 your majesty, it is a strange story indeed, if it be 
 true"* Nothing throws so much suspicion on the 
 king's account, as his extreme spite at any who 
 whispered the smallest doubt of its truth. It was 
 not enough that the ministers returned thanks to 
 God for his deliverance; they were required to de 
 dare their full belief in his story. On his return to 
 Edinburgh. Monday, llth August 1600. James went, 
 accompanied by some of the nobility, to the cross, 
 where his chaplain, Patrick Galloway, preached to 
 the people convened on the street a sermon, in which 
 he endeavoured to persuade them that Gowrie and 
 his brother had verily conspired the king's death, and 
 were slain in the execution of the enterprise; and the 
 king himself, rising up after him, made a harangue 
 to the same ptn'pose.f He next caused a narrative 
 
 * The Muses Threnodie, &c., by Cant, p. 170; Account of Gowrie 
 Conspiracy in Scott's MSS.. Adv. Lib. 
 
 + Discourse by Mr. Patrick Galloway, delivered on occasion of tbe 
 Gowrie Conspiracy. August 16iH>. (Ban. J/IA-., i. 141.) 
 
136 ROBERT BRUCE. [1600. 
 
 of the affair to be published;* but in spite of all his 
 efforts, the clergy as a body, and not a few of the 
 laity, persisted in their incredulity .-j* They remem- 
 bered, among other things, that Gowrie was a stanch 
 friend of the protestant religion, and in favour with 
 queen Elizabeth, while the popish lords, under whose 
 influence the king now acted, were the deadly enemies 
 of the house of Gowrie. Incensed at their conduct, 
 the king summoned the ministers into bis presence, 
 and partly by arguments, partly by threats, they were 
 all convinced or silenced, except Mr. Robert Bruce, 
 who steadily refused to " stain the glory of his 
 ministry" by hypocritically acknowledging himself 
 persuaded of the guilt of Gowrie, and against whom 
 his majesty was pleased to maintain his own veracity 
 by the unanswerable arguments of deprivation and 
 banishment. | 
 
 Robert Bruce, who has been thus introduced to 
 our notice, was a noble character, and deserves a 
 more particular description. He was second son to 
 the laird of Airth, from whom he inherited the 
 estate of Kinnaird. In his youth he was educated 
 with the view of his rising to the bench; but his 
 conscience was so deeply impressed with an inward 
 
 * This narrative is introduced in Moyse'a Memoirs of the Affairs of 
 Scotland, p. 265. 
 
 f The citizens of Perth would never believe that their provost was 
 guilty, although their minister, William Cowper, used every means to 
 persuade them. (Scott's MS. Records, Adv. Libr., ad an. 1600.) In the 
 tumult which succeeded the discovery, they surrounded the earl's house, 
 and seeing the king standing in his hunting coat at the window, they cried 
 out, " Give us out our provost, or the king's green coat shall pay for it! " 
 Ruthven of Forgun, on seeing him, cried up, " Come down, thou son of 
 Signior Davie! thou hast slain an honester man than thyself." (Cald. Mt. 
 Hist., ad an. 1600; Cant's History nf 1 ><>rth, pp. 206, '25.'5.) 
 
 J Narrative by Mr. Robert Bruce of iiis Troubles. A.D. 10'UO. (Kan. 
 Misc., p. 1G3.) 
 
1600.] ROBERT BRUCE. 137 
 
 call to the ministry, that he could obtain no rest till 
 he was permitted to attend the theological lectures 
 of Andrew Melville at St. Andrews; and on one 
 occasion, in conversation with James Melville, allud- 
 ing to the conflict of mind through which he had 
 passed, he said : " Before I throw myself again into 
 such a torment of conscience, as I have had in re- 
 sisting the call to the ministry, I would rather 
 choose to walk through a fire of brimstone, though 
 it were a mile in length." With all his fervency, 
 however, such was his lowliness of mind, that, when 
 a preacher, he could not be prevailed upon to enter 
 upon the ministry, until he was, somewhat impro- 
 perly, entrapped into it. At a sacramental occasion 
 in Edinburgh, in the church to which he was after- 
 wards called, one of the ministers desired him to 
 sit beside him while serving a table ; and having left 
 him, as if for a little, he sent word to Mr. Bruce, 
 who was still sitting opposite to the elements, that 
 unless he continued the service, the work must 
 necessarily be closed. The eyes of all were fixed on 
 him many requested him to supply the minister's 
 place; and Bruce, thinking he had been seized with 
 a sudden illness, proceeded with the services, in a 
 manner which produced the most unprecedented 
 effect on all present. Having thus commenced, he 
 continued to discharge the duties of the ministry; 
 and some time afterwards, when the commissioners 
 for the church would have had him consent to be 
 ordained by the imposition of hands, Bruce, with 
 characteristic spirit, refused to submit to the cere- 
 mony, on the ground that it would imply that his 
 former ministry had been unlawful. King James had 
 VOL. I. K 
 
338 ROBERT BRUCE. [1600. 
 
 such a high opinion of him, that when he went to 
 bring his queen home from Denmark, in 1590, he no- 
 minated him an extraordinary councillor an office 
 which Bruce discharged so well, that his majesty 
 declared " he would be obligated to him all his 
 life." 
 
 The heroic independence and unbending rectitude 
 of Bruce's mind were nevermore strikingly displayed 
 than in his conduct in regard to the alleged Gowrie 
 conspiracy. For his firmness in this matter he was 
 banished to France. Having been permitted to re- 
 turn to his native country, he signified that his doubts 
 were in a great measure removed, but still refused 
 to give a public profession of his faith in the king's 
 story, or to make the humiliating submission which 
 was enjoined. He had never, he said, refused to do 
 the duty of a subject; but to utter in the pulpit, 
 under the authority of his office, anything of which 
 he was not fully persuaded, he was not at liberty. 
 " I have a body and some goods," continued he; " let 
 his majesty use them as God shall direct him. But, 
 as to my inward peace, I pray his majesty in all hu- 
 mility, to suffer me to keep it. Place me where God 
 placed me, and I shall teach as faithful and whole- 
 some doctrine to the honour of the magistrate as 
 God shall give me grace. But to go through the 
 country and make proclamations here and there, 
 will be counted either a beastly fear, or a beastly 
 flattery; and in so doing, I should raise greater 
 doubts, and do more harm than good to the cause, 
 for people look not to words but to grounds. 1 "* The 
 
 * Life of Melville, ii. 81. The king acknowledged to Mr. Bruce that 
 he ordered Alexander Ruthven to be struck. " I grant," said he, "that 
 I am art and part in Master Alexander's slaughter, but it was in niy 
 
1603.] -HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCE. 139 
 
 consequence of this was, that Bruce was not allowed 
 to resume his ministerial labours in Edinburgh. We 
 shall have occasion to meet again with this valuable 
 servant of Christ. 
 
 The time had now come when James was to be 
 no longer molested nor thwarted in his designs on 
 the church by the inconvenient and uncourtly firm- 
 ness of the Scottish ministers. In March 1603, on 
 the death of Elizabeth, he suceeded to the crown 
 of England, and was received by his new subjects 
 with every demonstration of unbounded loyalty. He 
 was not long seated on the English throne, when a 
 conference was held at Hampton court, to hear the 
 complaints of the puritans, as those good men were 
 called who scrupled to conform to the ceremonies, 
 and sought a reformation of the abuses of the church 
 of England. On this occasion, surrounded with his 
 deans, bishops, and archbishops, who breathed into 
 his ears the music of flattery, and worshipped him 
 as an oracle, James, like king Solomon, to whom he 
 was fond of being compared, appeared in all his 
 glory, giving his judgment on every question, and dis- 
 playing before the astonished prelates, who kneeled 
 every time they addressed him, his polemic powers 
 and theological learning. Contrasting his present 
 honours with the scenes from which hehad just escaped 
 in his native country, he began by congratulating 
 himself that, " by the blessing of Providence, he was 
 brought into the promised land, where religion was 
 
 own defence." " Why brought ye him not to justice ? " said Bruce : " you 
 should have had God before your eyes." " I had neither God nor the 
 devil before my eyes, man ! " said the king, interrupting him, " but my 
 own defence." (Calderwood, MS. Hist., ad an. 1600.) 
 
140 HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCE.. [1603. 
 
 professed in its purity; where he sat among grave, 
 learned, and reverend men; and that now he was not, 
 as formerly, a king without state and honour, nor in 
 a place where order was banished, and beardless 
 boys would brave him to his face."* After long con- 
 ferences, during which the king gave the most extra- 
 ordinary exhibitions of his learning, drollery, and 
 profaneness, he was completely thrown off his guard 
 by the word presbytery, which Dr. Reynolds, a re- 
 presentative of the puritans, had unfortunately 
 employed. Thinking that he aimed at a " Scotch 
 presbytery," James rose into a towering passion, 
 declaring that presbytery agreed as well with mon- 
 archy as God and the devil. " Then," said he, 
 " Jack and Tom, and Will and Dick, shall meet, 
 and at their pleasures censure me and my council, 
 and all our proceedings. Then Will shall stand up 
 and say, It must be thus: Then Dick shall reply, 
 and say, Nay marry, but we will have it thus. And, 
 therefore, here I must once reiterate my former 
 speech, Le Hoy savisera (the king will look after it). 
 Stay, I pray you, for one seven years before you 
 demand that of me; and if you then find me pursy 
 and fat, and my wind-pipes stuffed, I will perhaps 
 hearken to you; for let that government be once up, 
 I am sure I shall be kept in breath; then we shall 
 all of us have work enough, both our hands full. 
 But, Dr. Reynolds, till you find that I grow lazy, let 
 that alone." Then, putting his hand to his hat, 
 " My lords the bishops," said his majesty, " I may 
 thank you that these men plead for my supremacy; 
 they think they can't make their party good against 
 
 * Dr. Barlow's Summary of Ilamptou Court Coni'erence, p. 4. 
 
1605.] HAMPTON COURT CONFERENCE. 141 
 
 you, but by appealing unto it. But if once you are 
 out, and they in place, I know what would become 
 of ray supremacy; for no bishop, no king, as I said 
 before." Then rising from his chair, he concluded 
 the conference with, " If this be all they have to say, 
 I'll make them conform, or I'll harry them out of 
 this land, or else do worse.' 1 ''* 
 
 The English lords and prelates were so filled with 
 admiration at the quickness of apprehension and 
 dexterity in controversy shown by the king, that, as 
 Dr. Barlow informs us, " one of them said his 
 majesty spoke by the instinct of the Spirit of God; 
 and the lord chancellor, as he went out, said to the 
 dean of Chester, I have often heard that Rex est mixta 
 persona cum sacerdote (that a king is partly a priest), 
 but I never saw the truth thereof till this day !"f 
 
 In these circumstances, buoyed up with flattery 
 by his English clergy, and placed beyond the reach 
 of the faithful admonitions of the Scottish ministry, 
 we need not wonder to find James prosecuting, with 
 redoubled ardour, his scheme of reducing the church 
 of Scotland to the English model. The bishops 
 being now established, his next object was to pro- 
 cure something like an acknowledgment of them by 
 the church, to effect which it was necessary to 
 destroy every vestige of freedom in the constitution 
 of her assemblies. The first attempt of this kind 
 had been made in 1599, when the king dismissed 
 the assembly, and summoned another to meet at 
 Montrose in 1600, solely by virtue of his royal pre- 
 rogative. This was entirely contrary to the esta- 
 
 * Collier, Eccl. Hist., p. 681, Hampt. Court Conference, ut sup. 
 f" Dr. Barlow's Summary of the Conference, pp. 82, 84. 
 
T42 ASSEMBLY AT ABERDEEN. [1G05. 
 
 blishment ratified by parliament in 1592, according 
 to which the time and place of meeting were to be 
 nominated by the preceding assembly, with his 
 majesty's consent.* Under various pretexts, James 
 had infringed this rule, proroguing and altering the 
 time of assemblies at pleasure; and at last the 
 assembly, which should have met at Aberdeen in 
 July 1605, was prorogued indefinitely. Now was 
 the time to decide whether the church was to stand 
 firm, or to yield her liberties, without a struggle, 
 into the hands of the king. In the midst of a tem- 
 pestuous winter, which kept many from coming up, 
 a few faithful men having convened at Aberdeen, 
 determined at least to constitute the assembly, and 
 appoint another meeting. The king having heard 
 that it was to be held at Aberdeen, sent instructions 
 to Stratton of Laurieston, as commissioner, em- 
 powering him to dissolve the meeting, just because 
 it had not been called by his majesty. The breth- 
 ren present resolved to constitute before reading 
 the communication; and John Forbes, minister of 
 Alford, was chosen moderator. While they were 
 reading the king's letter, a messenger-at-arms ar- 
 rived, and in the king's name commanded them to 
 dissolve, on pain of rebellion. The assembly agreed 
 to dissolve, provided it were done in the regular 
 way, by his majesty's commissioner naming a day 
 and place for the next meeting. This the commis- 
 sioner refused to do; the object of the king being 
 to reserve to himself the right of calling it or not 
 at his sovereign pleasure. The moderator accord- 
 ingly, at the request of his brethren, appointed 
 
 * Row's Hist., p. 143. 
 
1605.] PROSECUTION OF THE MINISTERS. 143 
 
 the assembly to convene at the same place on the 
 last Tuesday of September, and dissolved the 
 meeting.* 
 
 Such is a short account of the assembly at Aber- 
 deen, which brought so many faithful ministers into 
 trouble. Their conduct on this occasion was marked 
 equally by respect to the royal authority and fidelity 
 to the great Head of the church; and it deserves the 
 warmest approbation of every friend of religion and 
 civil liberty. No sooner, however, was his majesty 
 informed of their proceedings, than he transmitted 
 orders to his privy council to proceed against the 
 ministers as guilty of high treason. Fourteen of 
 them having defended their conduct, were committed 
 to various prisons; and six of the principal ministers, 
 who were obnoxious for their fidelity, were selected 
 for prosecution. Their names, which deserve to be 
 recorded, were, Mr. John Forbes, the moderator; 
 Mr. John Welch, minister at Ayr; Mr. Andrew 
 Duncan at Crail; Mr. Robert Dury at Anstruther; 
 Mr. John Sharp at Kilmany, and Mr. Alexander 
 Strachan at Creigh. 
 
 At three o'clock in the morning, in the depth of 
 winter, and through roads almost impassable, these 
 good men were summoned to stand trial for high 
 treason before the court of justiciary at Linlithgovv, 
 where they were met by a number of their brethren, 
 who had come to countenance them during their 
 trial. The prisoners made an eloquent defence. 
 The concluding speech of Forbes, the moderator, is 
 
 * Life of Melville, ii. 114-116. History of the Reformation of Religion 
 in Scotland, written by that faithful servant and witness of Christ, Mr. 
 John Forbes, p. 46, et seq. (MS. penes me.) Petrie's Hist, of the Catho- 
 lic Church, p. 570-580. 
 
144 PROSECUTION OF THE MINISTERS. [1605. 
 
 remarkably impressive. " My lord," said he, ad- 
 dressing the earl of Dunbar, when he saw they were 
 about to pass judgment, " I adjure you before the 
 living God, that you report to his majesty, in our 
 names, this history out of the book of Joshua." He 
 then related the account of the league between the 
 Israelites and Gibeonites, and the manner in which 
 God avenged the violation of that covenant many 
 years afterwards on Saul and his house.* " Now, my 
 lord, warn the king, that if such a high judgment fell 
 upon Saul and his house for destroying them that 
 deceived Israel, and only because of the oath of God 
 which passed between them, what judgment will fall 
 on his majesty, his posterity, and the whole land, if 
 he and ye violate the great oath ye have all made to 
 God, to stand to his truth, and to maintain the 
 discipline of his kirk according to your powers.*' 
 Then reading over to them the last sentence of the 
 national covenant, he added, " So take this to heart, 
 as ye will be answerable to God in that dreadful day 
 of judgment, to which we appeal, if ye wrongously 
 condemn us." 
 
 But what avail innocence and eloquence against 
 the arts of corruption and the influence of terror ? 
 The earl of Dunbar had been sent down for the 
 express purpose of securing the condemnation of 
 the ministers; the jury were packed, and a verdict 
 was at last obtained at midnight, finding, by a majo- 
 rity of three, the prisoners guilty of high treason. 
 On hearing the verdict, the ministers embraced each 
 other, and gave God thanks for having supported 
 them during the trial. Arriving at Edinburgh, they 
 were met by their wives, who were awaiting with 
 
 Josh. ix. 3-19; 2 Sam. xxi. 2. 
 
1606.] BANISHMENT OF THE MINISTERS. 145 
 
 much anxiety the result of the trial. On being told 
 that they had been convicted by so few votes of the 
 crime of treason, " they joyfully," says Row, " and 
 with masculine minds, thanked the Lord Jesus, who 
 had given them that strength and courage to stand 
 to their Master's cause, saying, They are evil en- 
 treated, as the'ir Master was before them judged 
 and condemned under silence of night.""* 
 
 It was thought that they might be set at liberty 
 after a little confinement; but orders came down 
 from London in November 1606, to banish them out 
 of his majesty's dominions. They were accordingly 
 brought from the castle of Blackness to Leith, and 
 the ship being ready, and many of their friends 
 having attended to see them embark, " they fell 
 down upon their knees on the shore," says our his- 
 torian, ; 'and prayed two several times, verie fer- 
 ventlie, moving all the multitude about them to tears 
 in abundance; and after they had sung the twenty- 
 third psalm, joyfullie taking leave of their friends 
 and acquaintances, they passed to the ship, and after 
 encountering a storm, were safely transported and 
 landed in France."-f* 
 
 Previously to this, it was thought expedient to 
 remove Andrew Melville and a few of the more 
 zealous brethren out of the way. They were sum- 
 moned to London, on the pretext of a consultation 
 with the king, and they were not long there when 
 they were prohibited from returning to Scotland. 
 Melville, on account of a Latin epigram, which he 
 
 * Row's MS. Hist, ad an. 1606. " The people said, it was certainly 
 a work of darkness to make Christ's faithful servants traitors. 0, if 
 the king were never in greater danger than by such men ! " (Petrie's 
 Hist, of the Church, p. 580.) 
 
 f Row's MS. Hist., p. 176. 
 
146 CONSTANT MODERATORS. [1607. 
 
 wrote for his own amusement, containing some sati- 
 rical reflections on the English service, was committed 
 to the Tower of London; and, after a confinement of 
 four years, was banished to France, where he died, 
 at Sedan, in the year 1622.* 
 
 Meanwhile, the king, intent on bringing his 
 favourite project to a conclusion, went a step farther, 
 and proposed that the bishops should be appointed 
 constant moderators; in other words, that they should 
 have a right, in virtue of their office (ad mtam aut 
 culpam), to preside in all meetings of presbyteries, 
 synods, and general assemblies. This new aggres- 
 sion on the liberties of the church, the object of which 
 was clearly seen through,-}- met with fresh opposition 
 from the church courts, and gave rise to many un- 
 seemly and disgraceful scenes. As an illustration, 
 we may describe the scene that took place in Perth, 
 at the opening of the synod there, in March 1607, 
 when Mr. William Row, a bold and zealous cham- 
 pion of presbytery, presided as moderator. The 
 king had sent lord Sooon, \ a man of violent temper 
 and dissolute habits, to force them to accept a con- 
 stant moderator. Scoon sent notice to Mr. Row, 
 that if, in his preaching, he uttered a syllable against 
 constant moderators, he should cause ten or twelve 
 of his guards to discharge their pieces in his face; 
 and during the time of sermon he stood up in a 
 menacing posture to outbrave the preacher. But 
 Mr. Row, no way dismayed, knowing what vices 
 
 * Life of Melville, ii. 156-319. 
 
 f They were plainly intended to prepare the way for the introduction 
 of prelates. " The constant moderators were (as was said at that time) 
 the little theeves, entering at the narrow windows to make open the 
 doors to the great theeves." (Course of Conformitie, p. 50.) 
 
 J Sir David Murray, lord Scoou, and afterwards viscount Stormont. 
 
1607.] EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT PERTH. 147 
 
 Scoon was most addicted to, and particularly that 
 he was a notorious glutton, drew his picture in the 
 beginning of his discourse so much to the life, that 
 Scoon, seeing all eyes directed towards him, was 
 glad to sit down and cover his face. After which 
 the minister proceeded to prove that no constant 
 moderator ought to be tolerated in the church ; but 
 being aware that Scoon understood neither Latin 
 nor Greek, he wisely avoided naming the constant 
 moderator in English, giving him the learned title 
 of proestos admtam. Sermon being ended, Scoon said 
 to some of his attendants, " You see how I charmed 
 the preacher from meddling with the constant mo- 
 derator; but I wonder what man it was he spoke so 
 much against by the name of Prestos ad vitam" 
 When told that this was a learned phrase for con- 
 stant moderator, Scoon's rage knew no bounds, and 
 he resolved to prevent the synod from meeting, 
 unless they chose for their moderator one of those 
 who had been nominated by the king. Upon their 
 refusing to submit, and proceeding to elect one of 
 their number, Scoon rose in great wrath, threatened, 
 and gave abusive names to them, and even attempted 
 to snatch the roll of the members out of the modera- 
 tor's hand; but Row, who was a man of great bodily 
 strength, kept down the commissioner in his chair 
 with the one hand exhorting him to " speak with 
 reverence and reason" and holding the roll in the 
 other, deliberately called over the names of the mem- 
 bers, who chose Mr. Harrie Livingston as their 
 moderator. " Let no man be so bold as come there !" 
 cried Scoon, rising to intercept Livingston on his 
 way to the moderator's chair. " Let us begin at 
 God," said Livingston, kneeling down, when he had 
 
148 EXTRAORDINARY SCENE AT PERTH. [1607. 
 
 got to the middle of the table, " and let us all be 
 humbled in the name of Jesus Christ." " The d 1 
 a Jesus is here !" exclaimed the commissioner, with 
 shocking profaneness, overturning at the same time 
 the table around which the ministers were kneeling. 
 But they continued to kneel, undisturbed by his 
 violence, till the prayer was ended and the meeting 
 constituted. During this time, Scoon stood with 
 his head uncovered, calling for the bailies of Perth, 
 and commanding them to ring the common bell, and 
 remove these rebels an order which, though he was 
 at that time their provost, none of them chose to 
 execute. Baffled in this, on their adjourning, he 
 ordered the doors of the church to be locked, so that, 
 when the ministers returned, they were compelled 
 to hold their synod in the open church-yard, the 
 members kneeling down on the graves for prayer, 
 amidst the tears of the populace, who crowded 
 around them, deeply sympathizing with the dis- 
 honour thus offered to their church, and soon fur- 
 nished them with tables and stools from their own 
 houses.* 
 
 The extraordinary scene which we have just de- 
 scribed, disgraceful as it was to the individual who 
 occasioned it and to the government that employed 
 him, reflects no discredit on the ministers of the 
 synod of Perth, who deserve praise for their firm 
 and yet respectful opposition to such a despotic inva- 
 sion of their privileges. And it shows the impolicy 
 of all state interference with the proper jurisdiction 
 of the church an interference which must issue 
 either in the tame submission of the church, in the 
 
 * Row's Hist., p. 180; Livingstone's Characteristics, art. W. Row; 
 Scott's MS. extracts from Kirk-session Register of Perth, vol. i. 1G07. 
 
1610.] THE ANGELICAL ASSEMBLY. 149 
 
 things of God, to the authority of man, or in a colli- 
 sion between the civil and sacred jurisdictions, which 
 all wise governments have, for their own sakes, care- 
 fully avoided. 
 
 It is needless to dwell on the other steps by which 
 James succeeded in accomplishing his object. It is 
 enough to observe, that at length, in an assembly 
 held at Glasgow in 1610, by dint of bribery and in- 
 timidation, he obtained the consent of the church to 
 receive the bishops as moderators of diocesan synods, 
 and to confer on them the power of excommunicat- 
 ing and absolving offenders, of ordaining and de- 
 posing ministers, and visiting all the churches within 
 their respective dioceses. 
 
 It would be absurd to consider this convention at 
 Glasgow as a free and lawful general assembly of the 
 church. Koyal missives were sent to the presby- 
 teries nominating the individuals whom they should 
 choose as their representatives, and whom the 
 bishops had previously selected as most likely to 
 favour their designs; and the earl of Dunbar, the 
 king's commissioner, was furnished with instruc- 
 tions to spare no expense, and scruple at no means, 
 for securing that everything should be done ac- 
 cording to the royal pleasure. The bribery prac- 
 tised at this assembly was shamefully notorious. 
 Golden coins, called angels, were so plentifully dis- 
 tributed among the ministers, that it was called, by 
 way of derision, the angelical assembly. Sir James 
 Balfour informs us that Dunbar had, at a former 
 assembly, in 1606, distributed for the same object, 
 " amongst the most needy and clamorous of the 
 ministry, to obtain their suffrages, forty thousand 
 mcrks, to facilitate the business intended, and cause 
 
150 THE ANGELICAL ASSEMBLY. [1610. 
 
 matters go the smoothlier on."* This was a trifle, 
 however, when compared with the other expenses 
 which it cost the king to establish prelacy. Mr. 
 Eow may have somewhat exaggerated the sum, but 
 he states, that " in buying the benefices of the bishops 
 out of the hands of the noblemen who had them, in 
 buying votes at assemblies, in defraying all their 
 other charges, such as coming to and living at court 
 prelate-like, &c., the king did employ (by the con- 
 fession of such as were best acquainted with, and 
 were actors in, these businesses) above the sum of 
 three hundred thousand pounds sterling money a 
 huge thing, indeed, 1 ' he adds; "but sin lying heavie 
 on the throne, crying aloud for wrath on him and 
 his posteritie, is infinitely sadder than three hun- 
 dred thousand pounds sterling."^ 
 
 The pretext under which this disgraceful bribery 
 was practised, was that of defraying the expenses 
 of the poor ministers who had come from a distance. 
 " But," says Row, "the contrare was well knowne; 
 for both some neare Glasgow, who voted the king's 
 way, got the wages of Balaam, and some gracious 
 ministers in the north, who voted negative, got no 
 gold at all." Those who were mean enough to ac- 
 cept of these bribes returned home in disgrace, self- 
 condemned and taunted by their brethren for having 
 sold the liberties of the church, which they had 
 solemnly pledged themselves to defend before their 
 
 * " Which mystery of slate," adds sir James, with great simplicity, 
 " came thereafter to light by the view of the lord treasurer Dunbar's 
 accompts ; a gross fault in him, which, if revealed in his lifetime, might 
 have cost him his head, for his small prudence and little circumspection, 
 in leaving such an item on record to be looked on by posterity." (An- 
 nals of Scotland, ii. 18.) 
 
 t Row's MS. Hist., p. 209. 
 
1610.] THE BISHOPS CONSECRATED. 151 
 
 departure. Altogether, it must be owned, this as- 
 sembly is a blot on the escutcheon of the church of 
 Scotland. It is true that it was neither legal in 
 its constitution nor free in its deliberations, and on 
 this account it was, with other assemblies held at 
 this period, declared null and void by the famous 
 assembly of 1638; it is true, also, that many of the 
 faithful ministers protested against it at the time. 
 But still, it is lamentable to think that so many 
 ministers could be collected out of the parishes of 
 Scotland, weak enough to yield to the threats, or 
 base enough to take the bribes, of a despotic and 
 domineering government, bent on overturning the 
 liberties of the church. It was well for the bishops 
 that the bolder spirits who had opposed their en- 
 croachments were out of the way, that the flower of 
 the ministry had been banished out of Scotland; 
 for, as archbishop Gladstanes acknowledged, in a 
 letter to the king announcing their success at G-las- 
 gow, " had Andrew Melville been in the country, 
 they had never been able to get that turn accom- 
 plished."' 1 
 
 Blinded and misled as the members of this con- 
 vention were, they had no idea of sanctioning the 
 doctrine of the divine right of episcopacy; they con- 
 ceived that the form of presbyteries would still be 
 kept up, with the bishops as moderators. No sooner, 
 however, had the bishops gained their object at 
 Glasgow, than three of them set off to London, and 
 having received episcopal ordination from the Eng- 
 lish prelates, they returned to consecrate the rest, 
 without consulting presbytery, synod, or assembly. 
 It thus appeared that they considered themselves 
 quite independent of the church of Scotland, and 
 
152 INEFFECTUAL OPPOSITION. [16JO. 
 
 conceived they had a right to govern their brethren, 
 in virtue of the powers communicated to them by 
 the bishops of another church with which she had 
 no connection. In short, they now alleged that they 
 had received new light on the subject of church go- 
 vernment, and had discovered that prelacy was more 
 agreeable to scripture and antiquity than presbytery. 
 With such sentiments, they soon began to exercise 
 the supreme jurisdiction with which they supposed 
 themselves invested. 
 
 At the meeting of the synod of Fife, Gladstanes, 
 archbishop of St. Andrews, took the chair. It had 
 been previously arranged by the ministers that, after 
 protesting against this usurpation, they should march 
 out in due order, leaving the bishop alone in posses- 
 sion of the chair. Mr. John Malcolm, minister of 
 Perth, as being the oldest member, was selected as 
 the fittest person to take the lead in this proceeding. 
 Before entering on business, Malcolm rose up, and 
 begged to ask by what authority, and on what grounds, 
 the order of our kirk, established in so many famous 
 general assemblies, and ratified by the king's acts, 
 was altered; which, said he, " we cannot see but with 
 grief of heart, seeing we acknowledge it to be the 
 only true form of government of Christ's kirk. 1 ' 1 " I 
 am astonished," said the bishop, in a high passion, 
 " to hear such an aged man utter such foolish talk. 
 Can you be ignorant, sir, of what was done by the 
 general assembly in Glasgow?" Other members, 
 however, coming forward in his support, Gladstanes 
 became calmer. " It's a strange thing, brethren," 
 he said, " that ye are so troubled about such an in- 
 different matter. What matter who be moderator, 
 provided nothing be done but to all your content- 
 
1610.] INEFFECTUAL OPPOSITION. 153 
 
 merit?" " Ye pretend the word,"" said they, " but 
 ye let us see no warrand; we know nothing ye seek 
 but gain and preferment in this course." Upon this, 
 the bishop, starting up, exclaimed with vehemence, 
 " God never let me see God's face, nor be a partaker 
 of his kingdom, if I should take this office upon me, 
 and were not persuaded I had the warrand of the 
 word ! " The rest of the members looked to Malcolm, 
 expecting him to walk out, as had been concerted; 
 but as Bow observes, he was " a man who had not a 
 brow for that bargain," 11 and he was prevailed upon 
 to remain by Mr. William Cooper (afterwards made 
 a bishop), who stood up and said, " Brethren, 1 be- 
 seech you remember that these things are not so 
 essential points, as to rend the bowels of the kirk 
 for them. Are these things such as to cast your 
 ministry in hazard for them? What joy can ye have 
 for your suffering, when ye suffer for a matter so 
 indifferent as, who shall be moderator? who shall 
 have the imposition of hands? Wherefore serves it. 
 to fill the people's ears with contentious doctrine 
 concerning the government of the kirk ? Were it not 
 much better to preach sincerely, and wait on and see 
 what the Lord will work in these matters'" Glad- 
 stanes, as we may easily conceive, highly applauded 
 this speech; he declared that no honest man could 
 be of another opinion; and such was the influence 
 it had, coming as it did from one highly respected 
 among his brethren for piety and prudence, that 
 they carried their opposition no further.* 
 
 This is the first time in the history of the Scottish 
 church that we have met with anything resembling 
 the sentiments now generally known by the term 
 
 * Row's MS. Hist., ad. an, 1G10; Cald. MS. Hist., vol. v. ib. 
 VOL. I. L 
 
154 BISHOP COOPER. [1610. 
 
 latitudinarian; and it is rather suspicious that, on 
 this occasion, these loose principles should have been 
 employed with success to cajole good men into a 
 surrender of the privileges of the church, and into 
 the adoption of a scheme which, in their judgment 
 and conscience, they condemned. The same strain 
 of reasoning which Cooper employed, with sincerity 
 we doubt not, on the present occasion, has too often 
 since that time furnished a pretext for introducing 
 the most extensive changes into a religious profes- 
 sion, and overthrowing the liberties of the Christian 
 church. If prelacy were indeed a matter of such 
 indifference, why plead for it " the warrand of the 
 word;" and why involve a whole church in disorder, 
 by attempting to intrude it on a reluctant people, 
 who were perfectly well pleased with the government 
 they enjoyed? But, in fact, nothing can be properly 
 called a matter of indifference which affects the 
 honour of the great King and Head of the church; 
 and we can conceive nothing more impertinent or 
 disgusting than the cant of liberality, when assumed 
 by men who, in the act of robbing the church of 
 her dearest rights, affect to mourn over the con- 
 tentions which are the fruits of their own selfish 
 policy. 
 
 It has been observed that " James" 1 bishops, 11 as 
 they were called, " were prudent and humble men, and 
 gave great respect to all honest and deserving mini- 
 sters as their brethren, 1 ' 1 very different from those 
 that succeeded them about twenty years afterwards, 
 whose ambition, in aiming at civil offices, induced 
 the nobility to join with those who sought to re- 
 establish presbytery.* This remark is so far true, 
 
 * Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 15; Scott's ?.ISS. in Adv. Lib. 
 
1615.] ARCHBISHOP GLADSTANES. 155 
 
 and the reasons are very obvious. James' bishops 
 were all originally presbyterian ministers, who were 
 well acquainted with their co-presbyters, and had 
 not learned those imperious airs which archbishop 
 Laud taught their successors. His majesty, too, 
 in their selection, took care in general to fax 
 upon those who, in addition to their servility, pos- 
 sessed the talents and temper best fitted for conci- 
 liating their brethren. Hence we find among them 
 such men as William Cooper, bishop of Galloway, 
 who, though Spotswoode accuses him of fondness 
 for popularity, and Calderwood charges him with 
 various delinquencies, seems, on the whole, to have 
 been a good, peaceable, and amiable man a sort 
 of Leighton among the early bishops. A very diffe- 
 rent character was archbishop Gladstanes of St. 
 Andrews, who had formerly been minister of 
 Arbirlot, in Angus. Vain-glorious, obsequious, 
 and time-serving, this prelate was a tool exactly 
 to the taste of James, before whom he crouched 
 with ail the servility of an Eastern slave. " Most 
 gracious sovereign," he thus addressed him, " may 
 it please your most excellent majesty, as of all vices 
 ingratitude is most detestable, I finding myself, 
 not only as first of that dead estaitt quhilk your 
 majesty hath re-created, but also in my private con- 
 dition so overwhelmed with your majesty's princely 
 and magnifick benignitie, could not bot repaire 
 to your majesty's most gracious face, that so un- 
 worthy a creature micht both see, bless, and thank 
 my earthly creator. As no estaitt may say that they 
 are your majesty's creatures as we may say, so there 
 is none whose standing is so slippery, when your 
 majesty shall frown, as we; for at your majesty's 
 
156 JOHN SPOTSWOODE. [1615. 
 
 nod we must either stand or fall."* Gladstones did 
 not long enjoy his poor dignity, having died in May 
 3615. According to the testimony of his contem- 
 poraries, he was a notorious glutton, and brought 
 on himself such a miserable death, that his body 
 required to be buried immediately after; yet " the 
 solemnity of the funeral was made in the month of 
 June following; and the day of his funeral being 
 windy and stormy, blew away the pall, and marred 
 all the honours that were carried about the empty 
 coffin." -f- 
 
 Gladstanes was succeeded in the primacy by John 
 Spotswoode, a shrewd and crafty politician, and 
 the author of a History of the Church of Scotland, 
 which, as has been well observed, might more pro- 
 perly be called " Calumnies against the Church of 
 Scotland." This historian, as appears from his 
 private correspondence, was engaged in all the 
 Jesuitical plots of the government for overturning 
 presbytery, which he had sworn to support, and 
 could hardly be expected to give a fair account of 
 transactions in which his own credit was so deeply 
 implicated, and for his share in which he was after- 
 wards excommunicated by the church which he had 
 betrayed. His falsehoods and misrepresentations 
 have been so completely exposed, that to appeal to 
 
 * Original letter to the king, Sept. 11,1 609 ; MS. in Adv. Lib., M. C, 9. 
 
 (- Row has recorded a prayer which he is said to have used after 
 supper, too coarse and profane to be here related. And he adds au 
 epitaph composed on him at the time, beginning thus : 
 
 " Here lyes beneath thir laid-stanes 
 The carcass of George Gladstunes; 
 VV'herever be his other half, 
 Lo, here ye have his epitaph." 
 
 Vv'udrow's Biographical Collections, Maitland edit., vol. i., part i. 
 
1616.] COURT OF HIGH COMMISSION. 157 
 
 him now as an authority, on any point of history 
 affecting the cause of presbytery, may be set down at 
 once as a mark of blindfolded prejudice.* 
 
 It could hardly be expected that men thus in- 
 truded into the government of the church, under 
 the wing of royal prerogative, would find it easy to 
 gain either respect to their persons, or submission 
 to their authority. In fact, the people despised 
 them, and the ministers continued to preach, to rule, 
 and to administer ordinances, as if no such persons 
 as bishops existed. The king found it necessary, 
 therefore, in the absence of all respect for their 
 episcopal powers, to arm them with civil autho- 
 rity. For this purpose he erected the court of high 
 commission, a sort of English inquisition, composed 
 of prelates, noblemen, knights, and ministers, and 
 possessing the combined powers of a civil and ec- 
 clesiastical tribunal. This nondescript tribunal, the 
 proceedings of which were regulated by no fixed laws, 
 was empowered to receive appeals from any church 
 court, to summon before it all preachers charged with 
 speaking against the established order of the church, 
 and on finding them guilty, to depose and excom- 
 municate, or to fine and imprison them. But though 
 thus invested with powers which enabled them to set 
 at defiance both the ecclesiastical and the civil juris- 
 diction, it must be admitted that, for several years, 
 the bishops had the prudence to refrain from exer- 
 cising their authority to the extent which the king 
 desired. " They took little upon them," says a pres- 
 byterian writer, " and were very little opposed, until 
 
 * I refer here particularly to the exposure made of Spotswoode's 
 numerous misrepresentations in Dr. M'Crie's Life of Melville, passim. 
 See Index, vol. ii., 548. 
 
158 COURT OF HIGH COMMISSION. [1616. 
 
 the assembly at Perth, in the year 1618."* During 
 this interval, though the meetings of the general 
 assembly were suspended, sessions, presbyteries, and 
 synods continued to conduct business much in the 
 usual way; and the church, if it did not enjoy pros- 
 perity, was at least suffered to remain in a sort of 
 dead calm, till the waters were again disturbed by 
 the tyrannical interference of the king. 
 
 * Blair's Life, p. 13. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The king attempts to introduce the English ceremonies Prosecution of 
 Mr. David Calderwood The five articles of Perth Black Saturday 
 Disputes between the ministers and people King James and the book- 
 seller Ejected ministers John Welch Robert Bruce Robert Blair 
 Patrick Simpson Andrew Duncan George Dunbar John Scrim- 
 geoui Robert Cunningham Revivals at Stewarton and Kirk of 
 Shotts. 
 
 IN the spring of 1617, king James paid a visit to 
 Scotland, having, as he expressed it, " a natural and 
 salmon-like affection to see the place of his breeding 
 his native and ancient kingdom." He had been 
 led by the bishops to believe that the people and 
 their ministers were now quite submissive to all his 
 wishes on the point of church government. He was 
 determined, therefore, to try next whether they would 
 submit, with equal ease, to the ceremonies of the 
 English church. Among other directions for his 
 reception, he ordered repairs to be made on the 
 chapel of Holyrood-house; an organ was sent down, 
 and the English carpenters began to set up statues 
 of the twelve apostles, made of carved wood, and 
 finely gilded. The people began to murmur " First 
 came the organs, now the images, and ere long we shall 
 have the mass."" The bishops became alarmed, and, 
 
160 PETITION AGAINST INNOVATIONS. [1617. 
 
 at their solicitation, the king, though mightly offended, 
 agreed to dispense with the gilded apostles. It was 
 verystrange, he said, that they would admit figures of 
 " griffins, monsters, and deevils" into their churches, 
 and refuse those of holy apostles. His other wishes, 
 however, were gratified. A splendid altar was 
 erected, with two closed bibles, two unlighted candles, 
 and two empty basins. In the king's chapel, the 
 English liturgy was ordered to be read daily; the 
 communion was taken in a kneeling posture; and the 
 roof of that venerable pile, for the first time since 
 the reformation, echoed to the sounds of choristers 
 and instrumental music.* 
 
 In the parliament, which was held soon after his 
 arrival, James manifested his determination to have 
 his example imitated in all the churches of the king- 
 dom. With this view, he prevailed on them to pass 
 an article, ordaining, " that whatsoever his majesty 
 should determine in the external government of the 
 church, with the advice of the bishops, and a com- 
 petent number of the ministry, should have the 
 strength of a law." In vain did the more prudent 
 of the clergy warn him of the danger of such an 
 enactment. " To have matters ruled as they have 
 been in your general assemblies," said his majesty, 
 " I will never agree; for the bishops must rule the 
 ministers, and the king rule both."j- Intelligence 
 of this having reached the ministers, a number of 
 them, out of several parts of the country, met and 
 drew up a supplication to the king and parliament, 
 in which, after protesting against any innovations 
 in the church without the consent of a free general 
 assembly, they pleaded that their church had at- 
 * Cald. MS. Hist., ad. an. 1617. t Spotswoode, p. 3:>1. 
 
3617.] PROSECUTION OF CALDERWOOD. 161 
 
 tained to a purity in doctrine, discipline, and wor- 
 ship, which had been acknowledged rather as a 
 pattern to be followed, than as one requiring to be 
 modelled in conformity with other churches less 
 reformed; that, under their form of government, 
 ratified by various acts of parliament during his 
 reign, they had enjoyed a peace and freedom from 
 schism, which the introduction of any novelty 
 would miserably destroy; and that his majesty 
 had repeatedly assured them of his determination 
 not to impose upon them the English forms, which 
 had allayed all their suspicions: they therefore 
 prayed that he would not suffer the article, of which 
 they had heard, to pass into a law, " to the 
 grief of this poor church, that the universal hope 
 of thousands in this land, who rejoiced at your 
 majesty's happy arrival, may not be turned into 
 mourning." 
 
 This faithful and respectful petition, which was 
 signed by fifty-six names, through the cowardice of 
 the person intrusted with it, was never formally 
 presented; but a copy of it having come into his 
 majesty's hands, he was highly incensed, and 
 though he found it expedient to defer giving his 
 sanction to the obnoxious article, he determined 
 to wreak his displeasure on some of the most zeal- 
 ous of the ministers, who were summoned to 
 appear before the high commission at St. Andrews. 
 As a specimen of the manner in which they were 
 treated at this court, we may select the case of 
 Mr. David Calderwood, the author of the well- 
 known History of the Church of Scotland, who 
 has given an account of the whole affair in his own 
 simple and graphic manner. " What moved you to 
 
162 PROSECUTION OF C ALDER WOOD. [1617- 
 
 protest ?" asked his majesty. Calderwood answer- 
 ed, that " it was an article concluded in parliament, 
 which cut off our general assemblies." The king then 
 inquired how long he had been a minister; and hav- 
 ing been told, he said, " Hear me, Mr. David, I have 
 been an older keeper of general assemblies than you. 
 A general assembly serves to preserve doctrine in 
 purity, and the church from schism, to make confes- 
 sions of faith, and put up petitions to the king, in 
 parliament. But for matters of order, rites, and 
 things indifferent, that belongs to the king, with 
 advice of his bishops."" From this royal doctrine 
 Mr. David tendered his humble dissent. The king 
 then challenged the last clause of the protestation, 
 in which the ministers declared that they must be 
 forced rather to incur the censure of his majesty's 
 law, than to admit any imposition not flowing from 
 the church lawfully convened. Calderwood answer- 
 ed, " That whatsoever was the phrase of speech, they 
 meant no other thing but to protest that they would 
 give passive obedience to his majesty, but could not 
 give active obedience unto any unlawful thing which 
 should flow from that article." " Active and passive 
 obedience! " exclaimed the king. " That is, we will 
 rather suffer than practise," said Calderwood. " I 
 will tell thee what obedience is, man," returned his 
 majesty: " what the centurion said to his servants, 
 ' To this man, Go, and he goeth ; and to that man, 
 Come, and he cometh 1 that is obedience." " To 
 suffer, sire," replied Calderwood, " is also obedience, 
 howbeit not of that same kind ; and even that obe- 
 dience is not absolute, but limited, being liable to 
 exception of a countermand from a superior power." 
 The king here whispered something to Spotswoode, 
 
1617-] PROSECUTION OF CALDERWOOD. 163 
 
 who, turning to Caldervvood, said, " His majesty 
 saith, that if ye will not be content to be suspended 
 spiritually, ye shall be suspended corporally.' 1 '' To 
 this wretched witticism, the prisoner replied, ad- 
 dressing himself to his majesty, " Sire, my body is 
 in your majesty's hands, to do with it as it pleaseth 
 your majesty; but as long as my body is free, I will 
 teach, notwithstanding of their sentence." 
 
 After some further altercation, Calderwood re- 
 quested leave to address the bishops, which was 
 granted. He argued with them that they had no 
 power to suspend or deprive him in this court of 
 high commission ; " for," said he, " ye have no power 
 in this court but by commission from his majesty; 
 and his majesty cannot communicate that power to 
 you which he claims not for himself." This home- 
 thrust at the authority of the court, which neither 
 the king nor the bishops could well parry, threw 
 the assembly into confusion. We give the rest of 
 the scene in Calderwood's own language: "The 
 bishop of Glasgow rounding in his ear, ' Ye are 
 not a wise man; ye wot not who are your friends; ' 
 he rounded likewise to the bishop, and said, ' Where- 
 fore brought ye me here? ' Others, in the meantime, 
 were reviling him, and some called him a proud 
 knave. Others uttered speeches which he could not 
 take up for confusion of voices. Others were not 
 ashamed to shake his shoulders and dunch him on 
 the neck, he being yet upon his knees." The king 
 demanded, in the meantime, if he would abstain from 
 preaching for a certain time, in case he should com- 
 mand him by his royal authority, as from himself; 
 and Calderwood, thinking he still referred to the 
 sentence of the commission, and being disturbed by 
 
164 FIVE ARTICLES OF PERTH. [1617. 
 
 the shaking, tugging, and cross-questioning, replied, 
 " I am not minded to obey." Upon which he was 
 hurried off, and committed to lord Scoon, to be im- 
 prisoned for declining the king's authority. Scoon, 
 who seems to have taken a malicious pleasure in 
 performing such services, was conducting his pri- 
 soner along the street, when some one asked, 
 " Where away with that man, my lord ? "" " First 
 to the tolbooth, and then to the gallows," said 
 Scoon. Mr. Calderwood having thus discovered his 
 mistake, took the earliest opportunity of assuring 
 his majesty that it was not his authority, but that of 
 the commission, which he had disowned ; but it was 
 not deemed safe to allow so bold a champion of 
 presbytery to stand in the way; so he was banished 
 out of the country. Lord Cranston earnestly 
 pleaded that the period of his banishment might be 
 delayed on account of the tempestuous season of the 
 year. This petition was refused. " If he be drowned 
 in the seas," said the king, " he may thank God he 
 hath escaped a worse death." * 
 
 Irritated at the unexpected opposition to his mea- 
 sures, James vented his rage on the bishops, whom 
 he called " dolts and deceivers," because they had 
 made him believe they had managed matters so well 
 that his presence was all that was wanted to settle 
 them. In the month of November 1617, he con- 
 voked a meeting of the clergy, for it could not be 
 called a general assembly, at St. Andrews, and there 
 proposed to them five articles of conformity with the 
 
 * Calderwood's Hist., p. 682; The Bannatyne Miscellany, p. 205. 
 Calderwood's late was neither to be hanged nor drowned, he being, soon 
 after the re-establishment of presbytery in 16IW, appointed minister of 
 Pencaitlund, and dying peaceably at Jedburgh, - 2yth October 1650. 
 
1617-] FIVE ARTICLES OF PERTH. 165 
 
 English church, which having been next year agreed 
 upon at another meeting in Perth, are generally 
 known by the name of The Jive articles of Perth. As 
 these articles occasioned much disorder in the church, 
 and led to very serious consequences, we may here 
 enumerate them, and subjoin a few remarks to ex- 
 plain the opposition made to them by the church of 
 Scotland. They were as follows: 1. Kneeling at 
 the communion. 2. The observance of certain holi- 
 days, viz., Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, Ascen- 
 sion, and Pentecost. 3. Episcopal confirmation. 4. 
 Private baptism. 5. Private communicating. 
 
 These articles may appear to some as too insigni- 
 ficant to require or to justify the resistance which 
 was made to them by the faithful portion of the 
 church. But the slightest innovations are impor- 
 tant in religion; and by several of these articles, as 
 might easily have been shown, the most sacred doc- 
 trines of Christianity were involved in danger. We 
 can only hint at a few of the leading objections 
 against them. The first article, viz., that of kneel- 
 ing at the communion, was particularly obnoxious, 
 from its tendency to countenance the popish doctrine 
 of the adoration of the host. Although this cere- 
 mony is retained by the English church as expres- 
 sive of veneration rather than worship, the Scottish 
 ministers were justly apprehensive that the adora- 
 tion addressed at first to an invisible Being, might 
 soon be transferred to the visible symbol, and again 
 degenerate into an idolatrous worship of the ele- 
 ments. They maintained, besides, that the practice 
 of sitting at a communion-table, in token of their fel- 
 lowship, which was the common mode of all the other 
 reformed churches, was much more agreeable to the 
 
166 FIVE ARTICLES OF PERTH. [1617- 
 
 example of the first supper, than that of receiving 
 the elements individually from the hands of a priest, 
 while kneeling at an altar. 
 
 Against the holidays they objected, that the nati- 
 vity of Christ was of an uncertain date ; that the 
 institution of Christmas was an imitation of the 
 idolatrous Saturnalia of the llomans, to coincide 
 with which it was changed by the Roman church to 
 the 25th of December; that Easter and Pentecost 
 were revivals of the ceremonial law of the Jews; 
 that the anniversary days of the birth, crucifixion, 
 and resurrection of Christ, were no more consecrated 
 by these events, than were the forms of the manger 
 in which he was born, of the cross on which he suf- 
 fered, and of the sepulchre in which he was buried; 
 that they tended, wherever introduced, to diminish 
 respect for the only day which God had made holy, 
 viz., the Christian Sabbath; and that those who kept 
 them came under the charge of " observing days, and 
 months, -and years," a practice expressly condemned 
 in scripture. 
 
 The third article, respecting confirmation, was 
 objected to chiefly from having no foundation in 
 scripture, and because it implied a confirmation of 
 baptism, as if this ordinance, administered by pres- 
 byters, were not complete without the imposition of 
 hands by a bishop. 
 
 The fourth and fifth articles, viz., the private 
 administration of the sacraments of baptism and 
 the Lord's supper, our fathers condemned as incon- 
 sistent with the nature and design of these institu- 
 tions, both of which are church ordinances, and 
 therefore to be administered only when the church 
 is assembled, and as leading to superstitious notions 
 
[1618. FIVE ARTICLES OF PERTH. 167 
 
 of the virtue of the mere outward signs. Though 
 important ordinances, they denied them to be essen- 
 tial to salvation; and to insist on either baptism or 
 the Lord^s supper being administered privately, 
 seemed to them not only inconsistent with scripture, 
 but fitted to revive those popish doctrines, against 
 which humanity and reason alike protested that 
 all unbaptized infants are excluded from bliss, and 
 that the reception of the consecrated host on a 
 death-bed is essential to salvation. 
 
 But while our fathers had good reasons for con- 
 demning these ceremonies, as unwarranted and super- 
 stitious, there was another source of alarm which 
 will be better understood by many in our own day 
 than any we have now mentioned. They knew well, 
 that the moment these articles received the sanction 
 of the civil power, the bishops would forcibly im- 
 pose them on all both ministers and people, who, 
 whatever might be their private opinions, would 
 be obliged to practise them under the severest penal- 
 ties.* Need we wonder, then, that they should 
 have strenuously protested against this direct impo- 
 sition on conscience this tyrannical encroachment, 
 which left them no alternative between surrendering 
 their Christian liberty, or incurring the consequences 
 of disobeying the law of the land ? 
 
 Such, then, were the celebrated articles which 
 James sought to intrude on the Scottish church. 
 The assembly which met at St. Andrews, much to 
 his chagrin, postponed the consideration of them; 
 and on the 25th of August 1618, the last assembly 
 which met in James 1 reign, and for twenty years 
 afterwards, was held in Perth, for the purpose of 
 
 * Gillcspic's Dispute against English- Popish Ceremonies, p. 4-7. 
 
168 FIVE ARTICLES OF PERTH. [1618. 
 
 extorting something like a sanction to the obnoxious 
 ceremonies. " This assembly," says Row, " was not 
 made up of commissioners sent from presbyteries, 
 but of bishops, doctors, deans, and such ministers as 
 were the bishops' followers; then the king had his 
 commissioners, and there were sundry noblemen and 
 gentlemen who were written for by the king and 
 bishops, to keep the said assembly; and sundrie 
 commissioners, sent from presbyteries, were not 
 called upon, nor got they any vote there, the mode- 
 rator knowing what they would say." " There was 
 set in the Little Kirk," says Calderwood, " a long 
 table, and forms at every side for noblemen, barons, 
 burgesses, bishops, and doctors, and at the head of 
 it a cross table, with chairs for his majesty's com- 
 missioners and the moderator. The ministers were 
 left to stand behind, as if their place and part had 
 been only to behold. But this apparently was done 
 of policy, that they might carry some majesty on 
 their part, to dash simple ministers.'"* 
 
 In an assembly thus constituted, it need not sur- 
 pi'ise us that a majority was found willing to vote 
 with the court. Archbishop Spotswoode, unable to 
 answer the reasonings of those who condemned the 
 articles, burst out in a passion with these words, 
 which were remembered long after, " This matter 
 shall not be carried either by arguments or votes: if 
 it were but we bishops, with his majesty's commis- 
 sioner, we will conclude the matter, and see who 
 dare withstand it ! "-J* Having told them he would 
 send up the names of all who voted against them to 
 the king, the question was put, " Will you consent 
 
 * Row's Hist., an. ad. 1618; Calderwood, p. 608. 
 t Blair's Lite, p. 15. 
 
1621.] BLACK SATURDAY. 169 
 
 to the articles, or disobey the king?' The articles 
 were carried by a considerable majority; but a mi- 
 nority of forty-five, even out of this packed assembly 
 whom no promises could allure or menaces deter 
 from voting according to their consciences, saved 
 the Scottish church from absolute degradation. 
 
 When this mock assembly rose, the bishops pre- 
 pared to enforce the obnoxious rites. In a few 
 weeks they were ratified by the privy council, and in 
 July 1621 they obtained the sanction of parliament. 
 It was remarked, that at the very instant when the 
 marquis of Hamilton, the commissioner, rose to 
 touch this act with the royal sceptre, in token of 
 ratification, a black .thunder-cloud which had for 
 some time hung over the city, enveloping it in ex- 
 traordinary darkness, burst, as if immediately over 
 the parliament-house, into a tremendous storm ; 
 three brilliant flashes of lightning, following in 
 quick succession, and rendered more frightful by the 
 surrounding darkness, darted in at the great window, 
 and seemed to strike directly in the face of the com- 
 missioner; this was succeeded by terrible peals of 
 thunder, and such a tempest of rain and hail, that 
 it was with great difficulty, and after long delay, the 
 members were able to reach their homes. On this 
 account, as well as of the sad work transacted on it, 
 this day got the name, which it long retained among 
 the people, of Black Saturday.* 
 
 Our fathers who lived under the realizing belief 
 of a superintending Providence, directing with the 
 same hand the elements of nature and the events of 
 time, were accustomed to see and hear God in every 
 thing. These appearances, in the excited state of 
 
 * Row's Hist., ad. an. 1621; Caldervvood, p. 783. 
 VOL. I M 
 
170 CHRISTMAS DAY. [1618. 
 
 the public mind, were considered as ominous of 
 the wrath of Heaven at this flagrant breach of 
 national engagements, and betokening approach- 
 ing judgments. Whatever may be thought of the 
 warrantableness of thus interpreting the appear- 
 ances of nature appearances which, it must be 
 allowed, are naturally fitted, and must therefore b3 
 intended, to inspire us with awe of the divine Ma- 
 jesty the fears to which they gave birth, in the 
 present instance, certainly do more honour to the 
 piety of our presbyterian ancestors, than the raillery 
 which Spotswoode puts into the mouths of others, 
 who said, " it was to be taken as an approbation 
 from heaven, likening the same to the thunder- 
 ings and lightnings at the giving of the law of 
 Moses!"* 
 
 The bishops had now obtained all that seemed 
 necessary to their complete ascendency. They had 
 procured the sanction of what they called a general 
 assembly; and the parliament had ratified their 
 articles, which were now the law of the land. All 
 that remained was, that the law should be obeyed. 
 But this was not so easily accomplished. When 
 Christmas day, 1618, arrived, the churches of Edin- 
 burgh were opened, and some of the time-serving 
 ministers, in obedience to instructions from the 
 king, observed the festival. But, notwithstanding 
 all the exertions made by the bishops and magis- 
 trates, few or none could be prevailed upon to attend; 
 the people flocked out of town, or went about their 
 ordinary affairs; the kirks were almost deserted, 
 and in some of them the dogs were playing in the 
 middle of the floor. Mr. Patrick Galloway, one of 
 
 * Spotswoode, p. 542. 
 
1618.] CHRISTMAS DAY. 171 
 
 the ministers, a vain-glorious man, who had offered 
 to sign the protestation with his blood, and who was 
 formerly so zealous, says Calderwood, that, " he took 
 it ill if he were asked to eat a Christmas pie" now 
 appeared in the pulpit, fretting and fuming because 
 he was not followed in his present course, and de- 
 nouncing famine of the word, deafness, blindness, and 
 leanness upon all those who came not to his Christ- 
 mas sermon. Another of the ministers, Mr. William 
 Struthers, inveighed from the pulpit against the 
 people of Edinburgh, in a strain of the most violent 
 vituperation. And yet this man had been formerly 
 so zealous against the bishops, that he could scarce 
 give a comment upon the chapter after meals with- 
 out a stroke at them; and on one occasion it is re- 
 corded of him, that being in Glasgow, and happen- 
 ing to observe bishop Spotswoode coming down the 
 street, he went into a shop, and fell into a swoon. 
 On administering a little aquavitse, he recovered; 
 and being asked what accident had befallen him, 
 " What ! " he exclaimed, " saw ye not the character 
 of the beast coming?"* 
 
 These trifling anecdotes carry their own moral 
 with them. He has studied history and observed 
 life to little purpose, who has not discovered that 
 those who make the most flaming professions when 
 professions may be made without danger, or who show 
 an overstrained strictness about matters of really 
 small moment, are generally the first to yield when 
 the trial of principle arrives, and turn out the most 
 bitter opponents of their brethren who, though they 
 made less noise about their faithfulness, prove never- 
 theless faithful in the evil day. 
 
 * Calderwood's MS. History, ad. an. 1618. 
 
172 KNEELING AT THE COMMUNION. [1618. 
 
 Of all the articles of Perth, there was none that 
 proved more obnoxious than that of being compelled 
 to kneel at the sacrament. The people are, in 
 general, more ready to take alarm at trifling inno- 
 vations in the service where they are required to 
 take an active share, than even in matters that more 
 nearly concern the truth as it is in Jesus; but this 
 ceremony was so identified in their minds with the 
 idolatry of Rome so clearly derived from worship- 
 ping the body of Christ in the host that they shrunk 
 from it with horror. In some churches, we are told, 
 they went out, and left the minister alone; in others, 
 the simpler sort, when the officiating clergyman in- 
 sisted on their kneeling, cried out, " The danger, if 
 any be, light upon your soul, and not upon ours !" 
 The elders and deacons refused to officiate, and the 
 ministers were reduced to a sad dilemma. This led, 
 as might have been expected, to unseemly alterca- 
 tions, in which the dignity of the clerical character 
 suffered from rude collision with the common peo- 
 ple. One of the deacons, named John Mein, seems 
 to have given them more than ordinary provocation, 
 by the steadiness with which he stood to his point, 
 and answered their arguments. 
 
 " What will ye say," said Mr. Galloway, " if I 
 prove kneeling out of the Scripture? Ps. xcv. 6, 
 ' O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel 
 before the Lord our maker. 1 Heard ye me on that 
 text last Sabbath ?" 
 
 " Yes, sir," answered the deacon. " and thought 
 ye proved nothing. If you can prove kneeling out 
 of Scripture, I will be content to go with you. But 
 ye allege only the 95th psalm, which was 1600 
 years before the institution." 
 
1 619.] KING JAMES AND THE BOOKSELLER. 173 
 
 " May not that content you which has contented 
 the kirk of Scotland ? " asked Struthers. 
 
 " Sir, that is a point of papistry," said John, " to 
 believe as the kirk believes." 
 
 " What will you say to this, then," cried Gallo- 
 way; " the kirk has concluded it, and the king and 
 council has confirmed it. Would you set yourself 
 above both kirk and king ;" 
 
 " Sir," replied John, smiling, " ye were wont to 
 say to us langsyne, ' Thus saith the Lord; 1 but now 
 ye change your tune, and say, ' Thus saith the kirk 
 and the king.'"* 
 
 King James, whose ill humour seems to have in- 
 creased with age, was particularly incensed at the 
 people of Edinburgh for their opposition to his fa- 
 vourite ceremonies. One James Cathkin, a book- 
 seller of that city, was apprehended in London, 
 in 1619, on the charge of having circulated Calder- 
 wood^s treatise against the Perth articles, and was 
 brought before his majesty; when the following cha- 
 racteristic conversation took place. His majesty 
 asked him where he dwelt? He replied, " If it 
 please your majestie, I was born in Edinburgh, and 
 dwells in Edinburgh." 
 
 " What religion are you of?" asked the king. 
 " Of the religion your majestie professes," said 
 Cathkin. 
 
 This was too much for his majesty, who ex- 
 claimed, with a tremendous oath, " You are none 
 of my religion ! you are a recusant you go not to 
 the church!" 
 
 " If it please your majestie, I go to the church," 
 said Cathkin. 
 
 * Calderwood's MS. Hist., ad an. 1619. 
 
174 KING JAMES AND THE BOOKSELLER. [1C 19. 
 
 " Were you there on Christmas day?" 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Arid why were you not there?" 
 
 Cathkin replied, that holidays had been " casten 
 out of the kirk;" and ventured to hint, that " it had 
 been good if our ministers had acquainted the ses- 
 sion of the kirk before they had brought in these 
 novelties upon us." 
 
 " Plagues on you and the session of your kirk 
 baith!" said the king. " When I was in Scotland, I 
 keeped Yoole and Pasch* in spite of all your hearts; 
 and,'' added he, pointing to Cathkin, who was on his 
 knees before him, " see, my lords, these people will 
 kneel to me, and will not kneel to God. I never 
 can get order of thir people of Edinburgh. I forgave 
 them the seventeenth day!" (alluding to 17th Dec. 
 1596.) " Ye are worse than Turks and Jews.'' 
 And so saying, he wound up with an execration 
 against the " soules and bodies" of the whole popu- 
 lation of Edinburgh, in language too gross for re- 
 petition.* 
 
 The history of the church during the subsequent 
 years of James 1 reign, presents little that is inte- 
 resting or important. We may therefore devote the 
 remaining portion of this chapter to a few sketches 
 of the most eminent of those ministers who flourished 
 and suffered during this barren portion of our eccle- 
 siastical annals. 
 
 The reader will recollect the six ministers who 
 were tried for high treason at Linlitligow, and 
 banished, for having held an assembly at Aberdeen 
 
 * Christinas and Easter. 
 
 f The Bannatyue JMLicellany, pp. 197-20G. 
 
1622.] JOHN WELCH. 17n 
 
 in 1605. Among these worthy sufferers in the cause 
 of Christ, and his royal prerogative as king of Zion, 
 the most remarkable was Mr. John Welch. He 
 was by birth a gentleman, his father being laird of 
 Collieston, an estate in Nithsdale ; and he was settled 
 as minister, first at Selkirk, and afterwards at Ayr. 
 The accounts given of his piety, and of his perseve- 
 rance and success in prayer, are such as almost to 
 exceed belief in this lukewarm age; but the inci- 
 dents recorded in illustration of these belong properly 
 to the province of the biographer. The following, 
 however, may be quoted as being, if not a better 
 attested, at least a more easily credited narrative. 
 In France, the country of his exile, Mr. Welch ap- 
 plied himself with such assiduity to the study of the 
 language of the country, that he was able, in the 
 course of fourteen weeks, to preach in French, and 
 was chosen minister to a protestant congregation 
 in the town of St. Jean D'Angely. War having 
 broken out between Louis XIII. and his protestant 
 subjects, this town was besieged by the king in per- 
 son. On this occasion, Welch not only exhorted the 
 inhabitants to a vigorous resistance, but mounted 
 the walls, and rendered his personal assistance to 
 the garrison. The king was at length admitted to 
 the town on a treaty; and being displeased that 
 Welch preached during his residence in it, he sent 
 the duke D'Espernon with a company of soldiers to 
 take him from the pulpit. When the preacher saw 
 the duke enter the church, he ordered his hearers to 
 make room for the marshal of France, and desired 
 him to sit down and hear the word of God. He 
 spoke with such an air of authority, that the duke 
 involuntarily took a seat and listened to the sermon 
 
176 JOHN WELCH. [1622. 
 
 with great gravity and attention. He then brought 
 Welch to the king, who asked him how he durst 
 preach there, since it was contrary to the laws of 
 the kingdom for any of the reformed to preach in 
 places where the court resided. " Sir," replied 
 Welch, " if your majesty knew what I preached, you 
 would not only come and hear it yourself, but make 
 all France to hear it; for I preach not as those men 
 you use to hear. First, I preach that you must bo 
 saved by the merits of Jesus Christ, and not your 
 own; and I am sure your conscience tells you that 
 your good works will never merit heaven. Next, I 
 preach that as you are king of France, there is no 
 man on earth above you. But these men whom 
 you hear subject you to the pope of Rome, which 
 I will never do." Pleased with this reply, Louis 
 said to him, " He bien, vous serez inon ministre 
 Very good, you shall be my minister;" and ad- 
 dressing him by the title of " father," assured him 
 of his protection. He was as good as his word; for, 
 in 1621, when the town was again besieged, he gave 
 directions to take care of his minister, and he was 
 safely conveyed with his family to Rochelle. 
 
 Having lost his health, and the physicians having 
 informed him that his only chance of recovery was 
 to return to his native country, Mr. Welch ventured, 
 in the year 1622, to come to London; and his wife, 
 who was a daughter of the celebrated John Knox, 
 having obtained access to James, petitioned him to 
 allow her husband to return to Scotland. On this 
 occasion, the following singular colloquy took place: 
 The king asked her who was her father. She replied, 
 " John Knox." " Knox and Welch!" exclaimed he, 
 " the devil never made such a match as that." " It's 
 
1631.J ROBERT BRUCE. 177 
 
 right like, sir," said Mrs. Welch; " for we never 
 speired* his advice." He then asked her how many 
 children John Knox had left, and if they were lads 
 or lasses. She said, three, and they were all lasses. 
 " God be thanked! 11 cried the king, lifting up both 
 his hands, " for an they had been three lads, I had 
 never bruiked^ my three kingdoms in peace ! " She 
 again urged her request that he would give her hus- 
 band his native air. " Give him his native air, 11 
 replied the king, " give him the devil!" " Give that 
 to your hungry courtiers," said she, offended at his 
 profaneness. He told her, at last, that if she would 
 persuade her husband to submit to the bishops, he 
 would allow him to return to Scotland. Mrs. Welch, 
 lifting up her apron, and holding it towards the 
 king, replied, in the true spirit of her father, " Please 
 your majesty, Fd rather kepj; his head there!" 
 Welch languished a very short time in London, 
 having been released by death, in May 1622. 
 
 The reader will recollect the noble part acted by 
 Robert Bruce in the case of the Gowrie conspiracy. 
 Will it be believed that this high-minded gentleman, 
 and worthy minister of Christ, was persecuted till 
 his death, by the mean jealousy of the bishops, who 
 set spies on his conduct, committed him to various pri- 
 sons, and procured orders to drag him like a common 
 felon, from one corner of the kingdom to another? 
 From the descriptions of contemporaries, it appears 
 that Bruce's appearance and manner corresponded 
 with the dignity of his mind. " He had," says 
 Livingstone, who was well acquainted with him, " a 
 very majestick countenance, and whenever he did 
 
 * Asked. f Enjoyed. 
 
 J Catch. M'Crie'3 Life of Knox, vol. ii. pp. 271-274. 
 
178 ROBERT BRUCE. [1631. 
 
 speak in public or private, yea, when he read the 
 word, I thought it had such a force as I never dis- 
 cerned in any other man. He was, both in public 
 and private, very short in prayer with others; but 
 then, every sentence was like a lolt shot up to heaven ; 
 yea, I have heard him say that he wearied when 
 others continued long in prayer; but being alone, he 
 spent much of his time in that exercise. It was his 
 custom, after "the first sermon, to retire by himself 
 for prayer; and one day, some noblemen who had far 
 to ride, sent the beadle to learn if there was any 
 appearance of his coming. The man returned and 
 told them, ' I think he shall not come this day, for 
 I overheard him always say to another, that he icill 
 not go, and cannot /70, without him, and I do not hear 
 the other answer him a word at all.'"* It is need- 
 less to say who " the other" person was, whose silence 
 astonished the ignorant beadle. 
 
 The manner of Mr. Bruce's death, which took 
 place in August 1631, was beautifully in accordance 
 with the tenor of his life. On the morning of his 
 departure, his illness consisting chiefly in the debility 
 of old age, he arose to breakfast with his family, 
 and having eaten an egg, he desired his daughter to 
 bring him another. Instantly, however, assuming an 
 air of deep meditation, he said, " Hold, daughter, 
 rny Master calls me!" and having asked for the 
 family bible, and finding that his sight was gone, he 
 said, " Cast up to me the 8th chapter of the epistle 
 to the Romans, and place my finger on these words, 
 ' I am persuaded that neither death nor life shall be 
 able to separate me from the love of God which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord.'" " Now," he said, "is my 
 
 * Livingstone's Characteristics, ;irt. R. Bruce. 
 
1631.] ROBERT BLAIR. J79 
 
 finger upon the place?" and being told it was, he 
 added, " Then God be with you, my children; I have 
 breakfasted with you, and shall sup with my Lord 
 Jesus Christ this night ! " And so saying the good 
 man expired. 
 
 The memoirs of Mr. Eobert Blair, who was first 
 settled at Bangor in Ireland, and latterly at St. 
 Andrews, exhibit the history of a mind deeply 
 exercised about eternal things, and may be regarded 
 as a fair specimen of the warm and manly piety, 
 chastened by knowledge, and rendered firm and con- 
 sistent by the admixture of public principle, which 
 distinguished many in these times. The most sin- 
 gular feature in the religious history of these good 
 men, was their wonderful success in obtaining answers 
 to their prayers for temporal favours. We will in- 
 troduce one or two instances of these " returns of 
 prayers," as they were termed, with an observation 
 made by Mr. Blair, after recounting an extraordi- 
 nary incident in his own life: " If any one who may 
 read these things shall be offended, seeing revelations 
 have now ceased, and that we are to keep close to the 
 will of God revealed in the scriptures; I answer for 
 their satisfaction, that if any creature, be he angel 
 or man, add anything to that perfect rule of faith 
 and manners, or reveal anything contrary thereto, 
 let him be accursed. This we leave to papists and 
 sectaries. But, in the meantime, it ought not to be 
 denied, that the Lord is pleased sometimes to reveal 
 to his servants, especially in a suffering condition, 
 some events concerning themselves, and that part of 
 the church of God in which they live."* There is 
 much included in these words, " especially in a suf- 
 
 * Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Robert Blair, p. 78. 
 
180 PATRICK SIMPSON. [1601-18. 
 
 fering condition." We know not what it is to suffer 
 for. Christ, and therefore know not " the consolations 
 of Christ" which abound under these sufferings. It 
 is only when the Master sees his servants sick and 
 exhausted, and ready to perish in his service, that 
 he brings forth such cordials to recruit their spirits. 
 Mr. Patrick Simpson was first ordained minister 
 of Cramond, but was afterwards transported to Stir- 
 ling, where he continued till his death. He was a 
 very learned man, and was the author of a history 
 of the church, and of some of her ancient councils. 
 On being blamed by one of his friends for wasting so 
 much time in the study of pagan writers, he replied 
 that his purpose was " to adorn the house of God 
 with these Egyptian jewels." In 1601, his wife, who 
 was a woman of singular piety, fell sick, and, under 
 her indisposition, was assailed by the most fearful 
 temptations, supposing herself to be delivered up 
 unto Satan. Having fallen into one of those fits of 
 despair on Sabbath morning, when Mr. Simpson 
 was going out to preach, he was exceedingly dis- 
 tressed, and betook himself to prayer; and on his 
 returning to the company present, lie assured them 
 that " they who had been witnesses to that sad hour, 
 should yet see the adversary of her soul meet with 
 a shameful defeat."" Her distraction continued till 
 the Tuesday morning preceding her death, when, on 
 coming from his retirement, he said to the atten- 
 dants, " Be of good comfort, for I am sure that ere 
 ten o'clock of the day, that brand shall be plucked 
 out of the fire. 11 He then prayed at her bed-side, 
 and upon his alluding to Jacob wrestling with Grod, 
 she sat up in the bed, drew the curtains aside, and 
 said, " Thou art this day a Jacob, who hast wrestled 
 
1619-26.] ANDREW DUNCAN. 181 
 
 and prevailed ; and now God has made good his word 
 which he spake this morning to you, for I am plucked 
 out of the hands of Satan, and he shall have no 
 power over me." Shortly after this she expired, 
 uttering only the language of comfort, hope, and 
 joy.* Patrick Simpson took an active share in the 
 struggles of the church against the encroachments 
 of the bishops; he nobly refused a bishoprick when 
 offered to him ; and he died, almost broken-hearted, 
 when the Perth articles were agreed upon, in March 
 1618. 
 
 The next instance partakes almost of the nature 
 of romance. Andrew Duncan, minister of Crail, in 
 Fife, was distinguished by his sufferings in defence 
 of the presbyterian polity. He was another of those 
 who were banished for having attended the assembly 
 at Aberdeen; and on his return in 1619, he was 
 again brought into trouble, being summoned before 
 the high commission court of the bishops for oppos- 
 ing the Perth articles. On this occasion he boldly 
 admonished his judges of their sin and danger. 
 " Pity yourselves," he said, in his protest, " for the 
 Lord's sake; lose not your own souls, I beseech you, 
 for Esau's pottage; remember Balaam, who was cast 
 away by the deceit of the wages of unrighteousness; 
 forget not how miserable Judas was, who lost himself 
 for a trifle of money, which never did him good. 
 Better be pined to death by hunger, than, for a little 
 pittance of the earth, perish for ever, and never be 
 recovered, so long as the days of heaven shall last 
 and the years of eternity shall endure." Spotswoode, 
 the archbishop, on glancing at the faithful docu- 
 ment, tossed it from him in disdain; another of the 
 
 * Livingstone's Charact., art. P. Simpson; Wodrow'a Analecta. 
 
182 GEORGE DUNBAR. [1626. 
 
 bishops, picking it up, said, " He calls us Esaus, 
 Balaams, and Judases." " Not so," said Mr. Duncan ; 
 read again; beware that you be not like them. 1 " He 
 had soon an opportunity of exemplifying his doctrine; 
 for having been banished to Berwick, to live " upon 
 his own charges, 11 he was almost literally " pined to 
 death by hunger." With a numerous family, and a 
 wife far advanced in pregnancy, he was reduced to 
 the utmost hardship. One night in particular, when 
 the children were crying for bread, and there was 
 none in the house to give them, the poor exiled 
 minister occupied himself alternately in praying to 
 God, in pacifying his children, and comforting his 
 partner. He exhorted her to wait patiently on God, 
 who was now trying them, but would undoubtedly 
 provide for them, though he should rain down bread 
 from heaven. They had neither friend nor acquain- 
 tance in that place to whom they could make their 
 case known. Early next morning, however, a man 
 brought them a sackful of provisions, and went away 
 without telling them whence it came, though en- 
 treated to do so. Shortly after this, during the 
 night, when the good man knew not where to apply 
 for aid to his suffering wife, a lady came to their 
 door, and having sent the servant back with her 
 horse, to return for her at a certain time, requested 
 permission to act the part of servant and nurse. 
 She continued to do so till her services were no 
 longer required, and on her departure presented the 
 astonished and grateful couple with a box contain- 
 ing linen, cordials, and money; but, notwithstanding 
 all their entreaties, would neither tell who she was 
 nor whence she came. 
 
 This practice of banishing ministers from one part 
 
1626.] ROBERT BO YD. 183 
 
 of the country to another, must, particularly in those 
 cases where they had large families, have been very 
 grievous and oppressive; yet they seem to have en- 
 dured it with great cheerfulness. One of them, Mr. 
 George Dunbar, minister of Ayr, who had a number 
 of young children, was twice thrust out by the 
 bishops. At that time there were few such things 
 as coaches or carriages in the country; and it may 
 amuse some of my readers to Isarn that the children 
 on these occasions had to be transported in creels 
 placed on horseback. When the bishop's messen- 
 ger came the second time to Mr. Dunbar's house to 
 turn them out, one of his little daughters, who had 
 no doubt suffered by the former transportation, cried 
 out to the man, "What! and is Pharaoh's heart 
 hardened still?" All that her father said, on hear- 
 ing the summons, was, " Margaret," addressing his 
 wife, "prepare the creels again. "* 
 
 Some are apt to imagine that all the ministers of 
 a certain period and persuasion were possessed of the 
 same character; and sourness of temper has been 
 supposed to have been the characteristic feature of 
 presbyterians. A minuter acquaintance with them 
 would correct such an impression; for we meet with 
 all different sorts of temperament among them me- 
 lancholy and lively grave and facetious rude and 
 gentle. In short, they resembled each other only in 
 their piety and fidelity. Robert Boyd of Trochrig 
 was a man of profound learning, sagacity, and inte- 
 grity, and had he not been driven about by the 
 bishops from one place to another, he might have 
 Droved an ornament to his native country. He was 
 successively principal of Glasgow and Edinburgh 
 
 * Livingstone's Characteristics. 
 
184 JOHN SCRIMGEOUR. [1620-30. 
 
 universities, and minister of Paisley; but in none of 
 these situations was he allowed to remain in peace ; 
 and from the last place, to the disgrace of Paisley, 
 he was driven by a rascally mob with stones and 
 dirt, so that he retired in disgust to his property of 
 Trochrig. He was a man of grave and severe cha- 
 racter, but he tells us that his brother, whose un- 
 timely loss he deplored, was constantly laughing and 
 joking. 
 
 John Scrimgeour, minister of Kinghorn, who stood 
 boldly out against episcopacy, was, as Livingstone 
 tells us, " a man rude-like in his clothing, in his be- 
 haviour, and some of his expressions, but of a tender 
 loving heart." Though a great scholar, he used to 
 say, he wished that all books were burnt except the 
 bible and a few notes upon it. His temper was so 
 irritable, that, like Jonah, he could not restrain him- 
 self from expressing his displeasure even before God. 
 A favourite daughter being supposed near death, he 
 used in secret prayer the following extraordinary 
 language : " Thou knowest, O Lord, I have been 
 serving thee in the uprightness of my heart accord- 
 ing to my measure, and thou seest that I take plea- 
 sure in this child; and cannot I obtain such a thing 
 as this at thy hand?" with other expressions of a 
 similar nature, which, though the prayer was granted, 
 he said " he would not utter again for all the world.'" 
 On his death-bed, his body was racked by a very 
 painful disorder; and in the interval of one of the 
 attacks, he said to Mr. Livingstone: "John, I have 
 been a rude stunkard man all my days, and now by 
 this pain the Lord is dantoning (subduing) me, to 
 make me as a lamb before he take me home to him- 
 self." 
 
1620-30.] ROBERT CUNNINGHAM. 185 
 
 A very different character from this, though es- 
 sentially like, was Robert Cunningham, minister of 
 Holywood in Ireland. " He was," says the same 
 writer, " the one man, to my discerning, of all that 
 ever I saw, that resembled most the meekness of 
 Jesus Christ in his whole carriage; and was so far 
 reverenced by all, even the most wicked, that he 
 was often troubled with that scripture, ' Woe to you 
 when all men speak well of you. 1 " The sweetness of 
 his disposition endeared him so much to his brethren, 
 that they could not endure to hear of any one harm- 
 ing him; and Mr. Blair on learning that the bishop 
 of Down intended to depose him, told the prelate, 
 with solemn earnestness: " Sir, you may do to me and 
 some others as you please, but if ever you meddle 
 with Mr. Cunningham, your cup will be full !" 
 
 The death-bed scene of this amiable man corre- 
 sponded with the gentleness of his nature. Having 
 been thrust out of his charge in Ireland, he came 
 over to his native country, but never held up his 
 head again. " The bishop," he said, " has taken 
 away my ministry from me, and I may say my life 
 also, for my ministry is dearer to me than my life."* 
 During his sickness he was heard to say, " I see 
 Christ standing over death's head, and saying, Deal 
 warily with my servant ; loose now this pin, now that, 
 for this tabernacle must be set up again." A little 
 before his departure, March 1637, his wife sitting 
 by his bed-side, with her hand clasped in his, he 
 commended to God first his congregation, then his 
 
 * George Wishart, the eminent martyr, regarded his suspension from 
 preaching in the same light : " He grew pensive ; and being asked the 
 reason, said, ' What do I differ from a dead man, but that I eat and 
 drink?'" (Clark's Gen. Martyr., p. 563.) 
 VOL. I. N 
 
186 STATE OF RELIGION. [1620-30. 
 
 brethren in the ministry, and his children, and con- 
 cluded with, " And last, O Lord, I recommend to 
 thee this gentlewoman, who is no more my wife !" 
 Thus saying, he softly disengaged his own hand, and 
 gently moved that of his wife a little away from him. 
 At this affecting farewell, she burst into tears, and 
 in the act of attempting to allay her grief, he fell 
 asleep in Jesus.* 
 
 The general state of religion in Scotland during 
 the earlier part of the seventeenth century, was 
 very far from being satisfactory. In the large 
 towns, which had enjoyed the labours of a faithful 
 ministry, the good fruits were apparent in the holy 
 lives of many; but, in consequence of the niggardly 
 provision made for the support of a settled ministry, 
 many parishes in the country were left, in a great 
 measure, desolate; the place of ministers being 
 often supplied by readers, who, for a small salary, 
 were engaged to read portions of the scriptures, 
 and the prayers which were contained in the Book 
 of Common Order, prefixed to the Psalms in metre. 
 It may be easily imagined, that this class of men, 
 little raised above the peasantry from which they 
 were chosen, without learning, without authority, 
 would ill supply the place of a regular and well- 
 trained ministry. The general assembly, long 
 before, were deeply affected with this state of spi- 
 ritual destitution, and many were the plans pro- 
 posed and the efforts made to supply the country 
 with good and faithful pastors. But, in the ab- 
 sence of all funds for their support, this was found 
 impracticable; and on the entrance of prelacy, the 
 case became still worse, two-thirds of the benefices 
 
 * Livingstone's Characteristics. 
 
1620-30.J WITCHCRAFT. 187 
 
 formerly appropriated to the maintenance of the 
 ministry being claimed by the bishops to support the 
 dignity of their station. Under the rule of these 
 prelates, who were too much taken up with their 
 own projects of worldly ambition to pay much re- 
 gard to the interests of religion, the pulpits were 
 filled for the most part with a time-serving clergy, 
 and the people allowed to sink into spiritual apathy. 
 
 At this period, therefore, the state of religion in 
 Scotland was very peculiar; some spots being fa- 
 voured with a faithful ministry, and richly cultivated, 
 while others were left in their native sterility; and 
 the character of the people corresponded, being 
 something like the prophet's figs, " the good, very 
 good, and the evil, very evil." In some parishes, 
 where the gospel was preached, piety flourished to 
 an uncommon degree, and discipline was exercised 
 with a rigour which, in the present day, would be con- 
 sidered intolerable. In other places, the people re- 
 mained destitute of all privileges and all restraint, 
 in a state of ignorance, superstition, and crime, very 
 little better than that which existed in the days of 
 popery. This accounts for the apparent contradic- 
 tions which the records of the time may be found to 
 contain. The country, in fact, was but partially 
 civilized, and the ministers of religion had to con- 
 tend, not only with the ordinary fruits of human de- 
 pravity, but with strange forms of evil, engendered 
 and fostered in the shades of that long dark night 
 from which they had lately escaped. 
 
 The most singular, certainly, of all the crimes 
 which characterized this age, and which has occa- 
 sioned most speculation, was that f witchcraft. The 
 prosecutions instituted, both before civil and eccle- 
 
188 WITCHCRAFT. [1620-30. 
 
 siastical tribunals, against those who were charged 
 with this offence, exhibit a very strange picture of 
 society. It does not come within our present pro- 
 vince to enter upon this subject; nor is it necessary 
 to discuss the policy of those laws which were enact- 
 ed in the reign of James VI. against this crime, and 
 under the operation of which so many unhappy in^ 
 dividuals were subjected to a cruel death. We 
 know that the unholy arts of necromancy, sorcery, 
 and divination, practised among the heathen nations 
 of antiquity, were prohibited by the law of Moses, 
 under the penalty of death, as involving the worship 
 of false gods, or treason against Heaven; and that 
 witchcraft is among the sins condemned in the New 
 Testament. Whether the " god of this world" is now 
 permitted to exercise his power in the same manner 
 as then over the souls and bodies of men, may admit 
 of question; but it cannot be denied, that even the 
 pretence or profession of holding intercourse with 
 evil spirits, and practising diabolical arts, amounts 
 to a crime of no light consideration, either in a 
 moral or civil point of view; and it is certain that 
 at this period of our history, there were individuals 
 who avowedly acted as the agents of Satan, and 
 practised on the credulity and the superstitious 
 fears of their neighbours, to an extent of which we 
 can form no conception, often employing their arts 
 to the vilest of purposes. It is melancholy to think 
 that so many wretched creatures should have fallen 
 victims to these delusions; but while we condemn 
 the cruelties exercised in their discovery and punish- 
 ment, we should bear in mind the peculiar state of 
 society at the time. It is unfair to single out the 
 clergy as eminently chargeable with these prose- 
 
1625-30.] REVIVALS. 189 
 
 cutions, in which they only participated with per- 
 sons of all ranks with the king on the throne, the 
 judges on the bench, and the most learned men of 
 the age. And it is quite preposterous to confine the 
 charge to the presbyterian ministers; for the trial 
 and burning of witches went on with even superior 
 activity and cruelty during the reign of prelacy, both 
 before and after the restoration. 
 
 In the midst of all this corruption, however, and 
 in spite of the banishment of so many faithful mini- 
 sters, the gospel flourished in some places to an un- 
 precedented degree. The persecutors might remove 
 the labourers from the field, but they could not des- 
 troy the fruits of their labours. A spirit of grace 
 and supplication was poured out on their bereaved 
 flocks, and they were wonderfully enabled in patience 
 to possess their souls, so that no sufferings could 
 induce them to abandon their principles, or resign 
 themselves to despair. " Nay," says the author of 
 memoirs in reference to this period, " when the 
 darkness was at the greatest, and when, to the eye 
 of reason, there seemed scarcely a ray of hope, the 
 presbyterians declared that utter desolation shall 
 yet be to the haters of the virgin daughter of Scot- 
 land. The bride shall yet sing, as in the days of her 
 youth. The dry olive tree shall again bud, and the 
 dry dead bones shall live." Many faithful ministers, 
 such as Dickson, Bruce, Livingstone, and Henderson, 
 had great boldness given them to preach the gospel, 
 with the connivance, or in spite of the mandates of 
 the bishops; and two remarkable revivals took place, 
 one at Stewarton in 1625, and the other at the Kirk 
 of Shotts in 1630, which deserve to be recorded. 
 
 The parish of Stewarton, at the period referred 
 
190 REVIVAL IN STEWARTON. [1625 
 
 to, was favoured with an excellent minister, Mr. 
 Castlelaw; but it is remarkable that the principal 
 instrument of the revival was not he, but the minis- 
 ter of the neighbouring parish of Irvine, Mr. Dickson. 
 This good man had been formerly professor of moral 
 philosophy in the university of Glasgow, and was 
 settled in Irvine in 1618. His zeal against the Perth 
 articles exposed him to the rage of the bishops, who 
 summoned him before the high commission court, 
 and after subjecting him to the most insulting treat- 
 ment, banished him to Turriff, in the north of Scot- 
 land. To all this Dickson meekly replied, " The will 
 of the Lord be done; though ye cast me off, the 
 Lord will take me up. Send me whither you will, I 
 hope my master will go with me, as being his own 
 weak servant." By the intercession of the earl of 
 Eglinton, whose countess, though reared in her youth 
 at court, was an ornament to her Christian profession, 
 and exerted all her influence for the promotion of 
 religion and the protection of its faithful ministers, 
 the pastor was restored to his beloved people. After 
 his return, in 1623, his ministry was singularly 
 honoured of God for the conviction and conversion 
 of multitudes. Crowds, under spiritual concern, 
 came from all the parishes round about Irvine, and 
 many settled in the neighbourhood, to enjoy his 
 ministrations. Thus encouraged, Mr. Dickson be- 
 gan a weekly lecture on the Mondays, being the 
 market-day in Irvine, when the town was thronged 
 with people from the country. The people from the 
 parish of Stewarton, especially, availed themselves 
 of this privilege, to which they were strongly en- 
 couraged by their own minister. The impression 
 produced upon them was very extraordinary. In a 
 
1630.] REVIVAL AT THE KIRK OF SHOTTS. 191 
 
 large hall within the manse there would often be 
 assembled upwards of a hundred persons, under deep 
 impressions of religion, waiting to converse with the 
 minister, whose public discourses had led them to 
 discover the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and to cry, 
 " What shall we do to be saved?" And it w r as by 
 means of these week-day discourses and meetings 
 that the famous Stewarton revival, or the Stewarton 
 sickness,, as it was derisively called, began, and spread 
 afterwards from house to house for many miles along 
 the valley in Ayrshire through which the Stewarton 
 water runs. Extravagances, as might be expected, 
 took place during this period of excitement, from which 
 some took occasion to bring reproach on the whole 
 proceeding;* but these were checked and condemned 
 by Mr. Dickson and others, who conversed with 
 them; and the sacred character of the work was 
 attested by the solid, serious, and practical piety 
 which distinguished the converts. Many who had 
 been well known as most abandoned characters, and 
 mockers at religion, being drawn by curiosity to 
 attend these lectures, afterwards became completely 
 changed, showing by their life and conversation that 
 the Lord had " opened their hearts to attend to the 
 things spoken" by his servant.*^ 
 
 The impulse given by this revival continued from 
 1625 to 1630, when it was followed by a similar 
 effusion of the influences of the Spirit in another 
 part of the country. This took place at the Kirk of 
 Shotts. And here also it is observable that the 
 honour of originating the revival was reserved not 
 
 * " The ignorant and proud secure livers called them the daft people 
 of Stewarton." (Life of Robert Blair, p. 18.) 
 j- Gillies' Historical Collections, vol. i. p. 306. 
 
192 REVIVAL AT THE KIRK OF SHOTTS. [1630. 
 
 to the minister of the parish, though a good man, 
 but to one of those faithful servants who suffered for 
 their nonconformity to the innovations of the time; 
 the Lord thus signally accomplishing his word, 
 " Them that honour me, I will honour." The cir- 
 cumstances which led to this revival were the follow- 
 ing: Some ladies of rank who had occasion to travel 
 that way, had received civilities at different times 
 from Mr. Hance, the minister of Shotts; and on one 
 occasion, when their carriage broke down near the 
 manse, he kindly invited them to alight, and remain 
 till it was repaired. During their stay they noticed 
 that the house was much dilapidated, and in return 
 for his attentions, they got a new manse erected for 
 him in a better situation. Mr. Hance, on receiving 
 so substantial a favour, waited on the ladies to thank 
 them, and wished to know if there was anything he 
 could do to testify his gratitude. It is pleasing to 
 know that at this time, as well as afterwards, the 
 noblest of the daughters of Scotland distinguished 
 themselves by their zeal in the cause of religion. 
 These ladies loved the gospel, and the persecuted 
 ministers who were contending for its purity. They, 
 therefore, gladly seized the opportunity of asking 
 Mr. Hance to invite such of them as they named to 
 assist at the sacrament, that they might enjoy the 
 benefit of their ministrations, and afford to others 
 an opportunity of partaking in a privilege at this 
 time rarely enjoyed. The minis-ter gladly consented; 
 and information of it spreading abroad, an immense 
 concourse of people gathered from all parts to attend 
 the dispensation of the ordinance, which was fixed 
 for Sabbath the 20th of June 1630. 
 
 Among the ministers invited on this occasion, at 
 
1630.] REVIVAL AT THE KIRK OF SHOTTS. 193 
 
 the request of these ladies, were the noble and vene- 
 rable champion, Robert Bruce of Kinnaird, who was 
 still able to preach with his wonted majesty and 
 authority, and John Livingstone, chaplain to the 
 countess of Wigton, who was afterwards settled 
 some time in Ireland, but who at present was only 
 a preacher, and about twenty-seven years of age. 
 Much of the spirit of light and love was imparted 
 during the services of the communion Sabbath; and 
 so filled were the communicants with the joy and 
 peace which they had experienced, that, instead of 
 retiring to rest, they joined together in small com- 
 panies, and spent the whole night in devotional 
 exercises. 
 
 It had not been usual before this time to have 
 service on the Monday after the dispensation of the 
 Lord's supper; but God had vouchsafed so much of 
 his gracious presence on the preceding days of this 
 solemnity, that they knew not how to part on this 
 Monday without thanksgiving and praise. John 
 Livingstone was with difficulty prevailed on to 
 preach the sermon. In the memoirs of his life, 
 written by himself, he gives the following memoran- 
 dum in reference to this discourse: " The only day 
 in all my life wherein I found most of the presence 
 of God in preaching was on a Monday after the 
 communion, preaching in the church-yard of Shotts, 
 June 21, 1630. The night before I had been with 
 some Christians, who spent the night in prayer and 
 conference. When I was alone in the fields, about 
 eight or nine of the clock in the morning, before we 
 were to go to sermon, there came such a misgiving 
 of spirit upon me, considering my unworthiness and 
 weakness, and the multitude and expectation of the 
 
194 REVIVAL AT THE KIRK OF SHOTTS. [1630. 
 
 people, that I was consulting with myself to have 
 stolen away somewhere and declined that day's 
 preaching, but that I thought I durst not so far 
 distrust God, and so went to sermon, and got good 
 assistance about an hour and a-half upon the points 
 which I had meditated on : ' Then will I sprinkle 
 clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from 
 all your filthiness and from all your idols will I 
 cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and 
 a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take 
 away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will 
 give you an heart of flesh. 1 (Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26.) 
 And in the end, offering to close with some words of 
 exhortation, I was led on about an hour's time, in a 
 strain of exhortation and warning, with such liberty 
 and melting of heart, as I never had the like in 
 public all my lifetime."* 
 
 To this sermon, under the blessing of God, no less 
 than five hundred people ascribed their conversion. 
 And in gratitude for such a remarkable token of the 
 divine countenance on this day, the church of Scot- 
 land has ever since devoted a part of the Monday 
 after a communion Sabbath to the duty of public 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 Some remarkable incidents occurred on that Mon- 
 day, one of which, as illustrating the striking effect 
 produced by Mr. Livingstone's discourse, may be 
 now related. " Three young gentlemen belonging to 
 Glasgow had made an appointment to go to Edin- 
 burgh to attend some public amusements. Having 
 alighted at Shotts to take breakfast, one of their 
 number proposed to go and hear sermon probably 
 more from curiosity than any other motive; and 
 
 * Life of Mr. John Livingstone, p. 14. 
 
1630.] REVIVAL AT THE KIRK OF SHOTTS. 195 
 
 for greater expedition, they arranged to come away 
 at the end of the sermon, before the last prayer. 
 But the power of God accompanying the sermon 
 was so felt by them, that they could not go away 
 till all was over. When they returned to take their 
 horses, they called for some refreshment before they 
 mounted; but when it was set upon the table, they 
 all looked to one another, none of them daring to 
 touch it till a blessing was asked; and as they were 
 not accustomed formerly to attend to such things, 
 one of them at last said, ' I think we should ask 
 a blessing to our drink.' The others assented at 
 once to this proposal, and put it on one of their 
 number to do it, to which he readily consented. 
 And when they had done, they could not rise till 
 another had returned thanks. They went on their 
 way more sedately than they used to do, but none 
 of them mentioned their inward concern to the 
 others, only now and then one would say, * Was 
 it not a great sermon we heard? 1 another would 
 answer, ' I never heard the like of it.' They went 
 to Edinburgh, but instead of waiting on diversions 
 or company, they kept their rooms the greater part 
 of the time they were there, which was only about 
 two days, when they were all quite weary of Edin- 
 burgh, and proposed to return home. Upon the 
 way home they did not discover the state of their 
 minds to one another; and after arriving in Glasgow 
 they kept themselves very much retired, coming sel- 
 dom out. At last, one of them made a visit to his 
 friend, and declared to him what God had done for 
 him at the Kirk of Shotts. The other frankly 
 owned the concern that he had been brought under 
 at the same time; and both of them proceeding to 
 
196 REVIVAL AT THE KIRK OF SHOTTS. [1630. 
 
 the third, and finding him in the same state of mind, 
 they all three agreed to have a fellowship-meeting. 
 They continued to maintain a practice suitable to 
 their profession for the remainder of their lives, 
 and became eminently useful in their day and 
 generation. 1 '* 
 
 From this, and other well-attested instances, it 
 appears that the revival on this occasion was not 
 characterized by those excesses which have brought 
 discredit on similar scenes in our own country and 
 elsewhere. The word of God sank deep into the 
 hearts of the hearers, forcing them to retire, like 
 the stricken deer, into solitude, there to weep and 
 mourn till the dart was extracted by the hand that 
 had launched it, and the balm of consolation was 
 poured into the bleeding wound. It was some time 
 before the modesty of the converts would permit 
 them to own the change wrought upon them, till, 
 like the spring of living water, which cannot be 
 controlled or concealed, the grace of God evinced its 
 power by bursting from the once " stony heart," 
 and pouring itself forth in the pure, peaceful, and 
 fruitful stream of a holy conversation. And it is 
 worthy of remark, that then, as it has often been, 
 both before and since, the Most High was visibly 
 preparing his Church by a copious effusion of 
 his Holy Spirit, manifested in the general revival of 
 religion, for the struggles which awaited her, in as- 
 serting his righteous claims against the powers of 
 this world, and carrying into effect the noble enter- 
 prises which were before her. We now enter on 
 the history of what has been termed the second 
 reformation. 
 
 * Gillies' Hist. Collections, vol. i. ; pp. 208-311. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Accession of Charles I. His visit to Scotland Laud's Service Book 
 Its reception in Scotland The covenant renewed State of parties 
 Alexander Henderson Earls Loudoun and Rothes Hamilton's visit 
 to Scotland Glasgow assembly 1638 Presbyterian form of wor- 
 ship. 
 
 CHARLES I. succeeded to the throne of England in 
 March 1625. Naturally reserved, imperious, and 
 obstinate, he had imbibed from his father, James 
 VI., the most extravagant notions of monarchical 
 authority. He was taught to hold, as a point of 
 religious rather than political faith, that the king, in 
 his sole person, was superior to all law, civil or eccle- 
 siastical. Whatever might be his private virtues 
 (and they have been greatly exaggerated), there can 
 be no doubt that his conduct as a prince, from the 
 commencement of his reign, was violent and uncon- 
 stitutional. Yielding himself to the influence of his 
 queen, a popish princess, and to the guidance of 
 high church counsellors, who flattered his love of 
 arbitrary power, Charles soon began that course of 
 opposition to parliament and people which ended in 
 his ruin. 
 
 In June 1683, he paid a visit to Scotland, to 
 receive the crown of that ancient kingdom. Our 
 
198 THE KING'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND. [1633. 
 
 sagacious countrymen were not long in discovering 
 the real character of their new monarch. The first 
 thing that excited their suspicions was the open pro- 
 fanation of the Lord's-day in the royal household. 
 Laud had by this time re-published King James' in- 
 famous Book of Sports, afterwards ratified by Charles, 
 for allowing of pastimes on the Lord's-day, " which," 
 saysWhitelocke, " gave great distaste to many others 
 as well as those who were usually called puritans."* 
 It was, therefore, with feelings of no ordinary alarm 
 that the inhabitants of Edinburgh witnessed the 
 example given by the court, when they heard the 
 sacred quietude and peaceful devotions of their 
 Sabbath disturbed, for the first time, by the sounds 
 of unholy mirth and boisterous revelry. -j- 
 
 Charles was crowned " with such rites, ceremonies, 
 and forms, as made many good Christians admire," 
 says Row, " that such things should be used in this 
 reformed kirk." During this ceremony, Laud openly 
 insulted one of the bishops, who, less ostentatious 
 than the rest, did not appear in full episcopal cos- 
 tume. Thrusting him from the left hand of the king, 
 he said, " How dare you, sir, appear in this place 
 without your canonicals?" On the following Sab- 
 bath, the king heard sermon in the High Church, 
 and when the ordinary reader was about to com- 
 mence the psalm, one of the bishops came down 
 from the king's loft, and after some angry words, 
 pulled him from the desk, substituting two English 
 choristers in their vestments, who, with the assis- 
 tance of the bishops, performed the service after the 
 English form 4 Thereafter Guthry, bishop of Moray, 
 mounted the pulpit, and addressed the king with 
 * Whitelocke's Memorials, pp. 1 7-19. t Row's Hist., p. 279. J Ibid. 
 
1633.] THE KING'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 199 
 
 such fulsome panegyric, that his majesty, fond as he 
 was of such incense, blushed for shame. 
 
 In the parliament which met immediately after, 
 the king began his campaign as the champion of 
 prelacy, by proposing an act empowering him to re- 
 gulate ecclesiastical vestments. From the speci- 
 men which they had seen at the coronation, the par- 
 liament were startled at the motion; and when the 
 act was read for their approval, lord Melville, an 
 aged nobleman, rose and said, " I have sworn, sire, 
 with your father and the whole kingdom, to the Con- 
 fession of Faith, in which these innovations were 
 solemnly abjured. 11 Others of the noblemen began 
 to make similar objections, upon which Charles 
 pulled out a list from his pocket, and said, " Gentle- 
 men, I have all your names here, and I'll know who 
 will do me service, and who not this day." Not- 
 withstanding this illegal and disgraceful threat, the 
 votes carried against his majesty; the clerk, how- 
 ever, suborned for the purpose, declared that they 
 were in his favour; and when the earl of Rothes 
 contradicted this, the king declared that the report 
 of the clerk must be held decisive, unless Rothes 
 chose to challenge his veracity at the bar of the 
 house, and, on failing in his proof, to suffer the 
 penalty of d&ath. The nobleman, disgusted at this 
 conduct, or unwilling to expose his majesty, declined 
 the perilous task, and the articles were ratified as 
 the deed of parliament.* 
 
 The gratulations with which Charles had been 
 received on his arrival were now exchanged for very 
 different symptoms. On expressing his astonish- 
 
 * Burnet'8 History of hia Own Times, i. 24, 25; Row's Hist., pp. 250, 
 252; Rushworth, ii. 183. 
 
200 THE KING'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND. [1633. 
 
 ment at this change of the public feeling, he was 
 honestly told the reason by lord Loudoun : " Sire, 
 the people of Scotland will obey you in everything 
 with the utmost cheerfulness, provided you do not 
 touch their religion and conscience." 
 
 Prelacy had now been established in Scotland for 
 thirty years, and yet the antipathy against it was 
 becoming every day more intense. The conduct of 
 the prelates, and of the clergy, especially that of the 
 younger portion of them whom they had obtruded 
 on the flocks of the banished ministers, did not 
 tend to abate this feeling. These novices, who had 
 neither piety nor learning to recommend them, dis- 
 dained to mingle with the people; they aped the 
 manners of the higher classes, and even among these 
 assumed a haughtiness of demeanour which filled 
 our nobles with indignation. An incident, bearing 
 on this point, is related by sir James Balfour. 
 Charles was extremely desirous that the primate of 
 Scotland (Spotswoode) should have precedence of 
 the chancellor; " which," says sir James, " the 
 lord chancellor Hay, a gallant stout man, would 
 never condescend to, nor ever suffer him to have 
 place of him, do what he could." Once and again 
 the king attempted to gain this point, so anxious 
 was he to humble the nobility and exalt the clergy; 
 and on his coronation, he sent sir James to the 
 doughty old chancellor, with a request that he would 
 " but only for that day give place to the arch- 
 bishop." Lord Hay's reply was in the true spirit 
 of a Scottish chief. " He was ready to lay down 
 his office at his majesty's feet, but since it was his 
 royal will that he should enjoy it with all the privi- 
 leges of the same, never a stoled priest in Scotland 
 
1636.] LAUD'S SERVICE-BOOK. 201 
 
 should set a foot before him, so long as his blood 
 was hot."* The prosecution of lord Balmerino, in- 
 dicted for high treason, for having attempted to use 
 the privilege of petition, viewed in connection with 
 similar proceedings in England, tended greatly to 
 alarm the Scots nobility. In addition to all this, a 
 spirit of repentance seems to have been poured out 
 on the people, leading many seriously to reflect on 
 the share they had in procuring the calamities now 
 impending over the church. They began to con- 
 trast the days they had enjoyed under the pure 
 ministration of the gospel with those in which they 
 now lived; and their faithful pastors now banished 
 far away, with the worthless hirelings who had been 
 intruded upon them. The result was, deep com- 
 punction for their contempt of former privileges and 
 breach of solemn engagements, on account of which 
 they now considered themselves to be justly punished 
 by Heaven. 
 
 Thus it will be perceived, that about this period 
 everything was prepared for an explosion; and yet 
 this was the time fixed for introducing fresh inno- 
 vations of a character still more obnoxious than all 
 the preceding. No change had as yet been attempted 
 on the form of public prayer, which was still con- 
 ducted, externally at least, as it had been practised 
 since the reformation. A collection of prayers, 
 prefixed to the psalms in metre, usually called John 
 Knox's liturgy, had been long in use. It was ori- 
 ginally meant as a help to weak ministers, at a 
 period when it was difficult to find well-qualified 
 persons to supply the pulpits; and the prayers in 
 this book were still used in the churches by the 
 
 * That is, so long as lie lived. 
 O 
 
202 LAUD'S SERVICE-BOOK. [1637. 
 
 readers, who were employed to read the scriptures 
 to the people before the ministers began the proper 
 service of the day, and in some places on the morn- 
 ing and evening of every week-day. In the pre- 
 tended assembly of 1616, held at Aberdeen, it was 
 ordained that a new liturgy, or book of common- 
 prayer, should be formed for the use of the church 
 of Scotland; and the task of preparing it is said to 
 have fallen on Covvper, bishop of Galloway.* But 
 this project was not carried into effect probably 
 from their knowledge of the aversion of the Scots to 
 fixed forms of prayer. The people did not question 
 the lawfulness of set forms, but their necessity; 
 they had been long habituated to hear them read, 
 though not by their ministers; and they considered 
 it altogether at variance with scripture, with the 
 practice of antiquity, and with the very nature of 
 prayer, that the church should be shackled and 
 bound to an invariable formulary in this part of 
 divine worship. To the English liturgy they ob- 
 jected, not only on the ground that it restricted the 
 minister to a prescribed form of words, but because 
 it recognised a number of superstitious practices 
 which the scripture condemned, and which not only 
 the puritans, but many of the best and most en- 
 lightened members of the church of England, had 
 long desired to see reformed. But the English 
 liturgy, undesired as it was, would not have excited 
 such a sensation as that which Laud attempted to 
 force on the people of Scotland. For our especial 
 benefit, it pleased his grace of Canterbury to draw 
 up a new service-book of his own, much more nearly 
 
 * Booke of Universal Kirke, p. 595, Pet. Ed. ; Scott's MSS., in Adv. 
 Lib. 
 
1637.] TUMULT IN EDINBURGH. 203 
 
 resembling the popish breviary; and in various 
 points, particularly in the communion-service, bor- 
 rowing the very words of the mass-book. 
 
 To prepare the way for the introduction of this 
 Anglo-popish service, as it was called, a book of 
 canons was sent down, for the regulation of the 
 clergy; next came orders for every minister to pro- 
 cure two copies of Laud's liturgy, for the use of his 
 church, on pain of deprivation even before the book 
 had been seen by any of them; and lastly, when 
 the minds of the whole nation had been wrought up 
 to a state of alarm, by reports of a design to rein- 
 troduce the popish worship, down came the long- 
 expected service-book, with orders from the king 
 and council that it should be read in all the churches. 
 
 Brief as was the space during which the mini- 
 sters were permitted to examine the contents of this 
 book, they had time sufficient to discover its cha- 
 racter, and warn the people against it. The pulpits 
 resounded with accusations against its orthodoxy, 
 and denunciations of the tyranny of the bishops in 
 imposing it on the once free reformed church of 
 Scotland. In the midst of these preparations, ar- 
 rived the fatal day appointed for commencing the 
 use of the service-book the 23d of July 1637. 
 
 On the morning of this Sabbath, one Henderson, 
 a reader in the High Church of St. Giles, and a great 
 favourite with the people, read the usual prayers 
 about eight o'clock; and when he had ended, he 
 said, with tears in his eyes: " Adieu, good people, 
 for I think this is the last time of my reading prayers 
 in this place." The dean of Edinburgh was ap- 
 pointed to perform the service, after the form of the 
 obnoxious liturgy. An immense crowd had assem- 
 
204 TUMULT IN EDINBURGH. [1637. 
 
 bled. At the stated hour the dean was seen issuing 
 from the vestry, clad in his surplice, and he passed 
 through the crowd to the reading desk, the people 
 gazing as they would at a show. No sooner, how- 
 ever, had he begun to read, than his voice was 
 drowned in a tumultuous clamour, raised chiefly by 
 persons of the lower classes, denouncing the innova- 
 tion. An old woman, named Janet Geddes, who 
 kept a green-stall in the High Street, no longer able 
 to conceal her indignation, cried out, " Villain, dost 
 thou say mass at my lug!" 11 and, with these words, 
 launched at the dean's head the stool on which she 
 had been sitting. Others followed her example, and 
 the confusion became universal. The service was 
 interrupted, and the women, whose zeal on this oc- 
 casion was most conspicuous, rushed to the desk in 
 wild disorder. The dean threw off his surplice 
 and fled, to escape being torn in pieces. The bishop 
 of Edinburgh then ascended the pulpit, and endea- 
 voured to allay the ferment; but his address only 
 inflamed them the more. He was answered by a 
 volley of sticks, stones, and other missiles, with cries 
 of "A pope! a pope! antichrist! pull him down! 
 stone him!" and on returning in his coach, had 
 he not been protected by the magistrates, he might 
 have fallen a victim to the fury of the mob a mar- 
 tyr to Laud's liturgy ! * 
 
 * In an old manuscript lately printed (Appendix to Rothfa" 1 Relation, 
 p. 193, Ban. edit.) there is a satirical account of this scene, differing in a 
 few particulars from that given above, and adding several others. Ac- 
 cording to this account, the epithets bestowed on the clerical function- 
 aries by the crowd were much more distinguished for their strength 
 than their delicacy. " The dean, Mr. James Hanna, was mightily up- 
 braHcd. Some cried, ' Ill-hanged thief! if at that time when thou 
 wentcst to court thou hadst been weel hanged, thou hadst not been here 
 to be a pest to God's church this day.' A certain woman cried, ' Fy, if 
 
1637.] TUMULT IN EDINBURGH. 205 
 
 Nothing can be more ridiculous han the attempts 
 Made at the time by the prelatic clergy, and which 
 have been revived of late by their advocates, to 
 magnify this incidental tumult into a regularly or- 
 ganized conspiracy. The terror into which the 
 bishops were thrown, and the* disgrace they felt at 
 being defeated by a handful of women, naturally led 
 them to exaggerate the whole affair; and they may 
 have really believed, perhaps, what some absurdly 
 asserted, that the authors of the tumult were men 
 disguised in women's clothes. We need not won- 
 der at this, when we consider that even Baillie, a 
 good presbyterian, whom we shall frequently have 
 occasion to quote, says, in his letters at this period, 
 " I think our people are possessed with a bloody devil, 
 far above anything that can be imagined.'" But 
 Baillie soon found he was mistaken: at that time he 
 had not made up his mind on the question, and in- 
 deed seems to have been incapable of it from pure 
 bodily fear. "The Lord save my poor soul!" ex- 
 claims this good, but rather weak-minded man, " for 
 as moderate as I have been, and resolving, in spite 
 of the devil and the world, by God's grace so to re- 
 main to death for as well as I have been beloved 
 hitherto by all who has known me, yet / think I may 
 be killed, and my house burnt upon my head!"* 
 But indeed there is not the vestige of a proof that 
 it was premeditated, or even foreseen, by any class 
 
 I could get the thropple out of him ! ' One did cast a stool at him, in- 
 tending to have given him a ticket of remembrance ; but jouking (jerk- 
 ing down his head) became his safeguard at that time." There is little 
 doubt that one folding stool was made use of for the purpose here ex- 
 pressed; and if the missile employed was anything like what is com- 
 monly called " Jenny Geddes's stool," preserved in the Antiquarian 
 Society's museum, it was well for the dean that he had learned tojouk. 
 * Baillie's Letters and Journals (Bannatyne edit., 4to.) i. 24. 
 
"208 TUMULT IN GLASGOW. [1638. 
 
 of people; and nojie will assert it who have read the 
 accounts transmitted by those who were on the 
 spot, and who had no temptation to conceal the 
 truth. 
 
 This tumult, simple as it was in its commence- 
 ment, proved the cteath-blow of Laud's liturgy. 
 Though at first confined to the humbler orders, and 
 the result, as we have seen, not of any premeditated 
 scheme, but of an impulse given to long suppressed 
 feelings, the quarrel was soon taken up by the higher 
 classes. The infatuated conduct of the prelates (the 
 younger part of them especially) to enforce the ob- 
 noxious mandate of the court, roused the whole 
 country to follow the example set by Edinburgh. 
 Petitions and remonstrances poured into the privy 
 council. New riots, in which the gentry began to 
 participate, took place, and it was found absolutely 
 necessary to suspend the use of the liturgy. In 
 Glasgow, similar indignation was excited by an at- 
 tempt to impose this book; and there, as in Edin- 
 burgh, the women seem to have borne the principal 
 share. One Mr. William Annan, minister of Ayr, 
 who preached in defence of the service-book, had 
 well-nigh fallen a victim to their fury. During the 
 day he was pursued with threats of vengeance; and 
 on venturing out at night, he was beset by some 
 hundreds of ladies, chiefly the wives of honest bur- 
 gesses, who attacked him with "fists, staves, and 
 peats, but no stones;" tore his coat, ruff, and hat to 
 pieces, and after beating him soundly, allowed him 
 to go home. His humiliation, however, was not yet 
 complete; for next morning, on mounting his horse, 
 the animal, startled by the mob which began to 
 collect around him, unhappily fell and rolled over 
 
] 638.] PROTESTATION OF THE NOBLES. 207 
 
 him, " in very foule myre ;" and the discomfited 
 divine, covered with mud, made his escape out of 
 Glasgow, amidst the derisive shouts of the populace. * 
 
 About this time the excitement in Edinburgh was 
 so great that many noblemen and gentlemen, com- 
 missioners from various places, with their retainers, 
 and great crowds of people from all quarters, came 
 up to town, waiting with the utmost anxiety the 
 king's answer to a supplication for the suppression 
 of the service-book. Had that answer been concilia- 
 tory, had any concessions been made at this critical 
 juncture, it is probable that prelacy might have 
 survived, and a civil war been prevented. But the 
 fatal infatuation of Charles prevailed. A new pro- 
 clamation arrived, enjoining strict obedience to the 
 canons, and instant reception of the service-book, 
 condemning all the proceedings of the supplicants, 
 as they were called, and discharging all their public 
 meetings, under pain of treason. The supplicants, 
 apprized of this measure, which, had it been tamely 
 submitted to, would, in all probability, have extin- 
 guished every spark of freedom in the country, re- 
 solved to proceed in a body to the Scottish privy 
 council, which was to meet at Stirling on the 20th 
 of February 1638, and present, in name of the kirk 
 and kingdom, a protest against the proclamation as 
 soon as it was made. 
 
 This was deemed the legal course for securing their 
 liberties, and the manner in which they went about 
 it shows their zeal and determination. The earls of 
 Traquair and Roxburgh, after in vain attempting to 
 dissuade them from their purpose, resolved to steal a 
 march on them, by secretly starting from Edinburgh 
 * Baillie's Letters, i. 21. 
 
208 ARCHIE ARMSTRONG. [1638. 
 
 at two o'clock on Monday morning, the day before 
 the meeting of council, expecting to have the procla- 
 mation ratified and published ere the supplicants 
 were aware of their departure. In this, however, 
 they were disappointed. Traquair's servant having 
 stepped into an ale-house before leaving Edinburgh, 
 to fortify himself for the cold ride of a February 
 morning by a glass of " Scotch twopenny," incau- 
 tiously let out the secret of his journey to some of 
 his boon companions, and among them was a servant 
 of the lord Lindsay, who immediately communicat- 
 ed the news to his master. Lindsay lost not a mo- 
 ment in sounding the alarm among his friends, and 
 he himself, with the earl of Home, mounting their 
 horses at four o'clock the same morning, overtook the 
 two earls at the Torwood, passed them by taking a 
 turn round the wood, and reached Stirling an hour 
 before them. In course of time, Traquair and Rox- 
 burgh rode leisurely up the streets of that ancient 
 burgh, and proceeded, with the aid of some other 
 councillors, to pass the proclamation, when, to their 
 mortification and astonishment, the two lords of the 
 covenant appeared, and, in all due form of law, pro- 
 tested against it.* 
 
 On the news of this spirited protest reaching Lon- 
 don, the court was greatly incensed, and none more 
 so than Laud, who was supposed to have had the 
 chief hand in urging the king to these extreme mea- 
 sures, and who on this occasion betrayed his wounded 
 pride in a very ridiculous manner. On his way to 
 the council-table, he was met by the celebrated 
 Archie Armstrong, the king's fool, who said to him, 
 " Wha's fule now ? Doth not your grace hear the 
 
 t * Rotlies' Relation, p. 63; Baillie, i. 33; Gutlirie's Memoirs, p. 33. 
 
1638.] THE COVENANT RENEWED. 209 
 
 news from Striveling about the liturgy V Laud was 
 silly enough to complain of this jest as an insult; 
 and it was ordained, by order of council, that " Ar- 
 chibald Armstrong, for certain scandalous words of 
 a high nature, spoken by him, against his grace 
 the lord archbishop of Canterbury, should have his 
 coat pulled over his head, and be banished the court." 
 Some one having met Archie, after the execution of 
 this sentence, attired in black, asked him what had 
 become of his fool's coat. ' 0," said he, " my lord 
 of Canterbury hath taken it from me, because either 
 he or some of the Scotch bishops may have use of it 
 for themselves; but he hath given me a black coat 
 for it, to cover my knavery withal." * 
 
 The same promptitude and decision in protesting 
 against the proclamation was manifested at Edin- 
 burgh; and at length the council, apprehensive of 
 danger from such large masses of people collected in 
 town, agreed that if they would disperse the crowd, 
 the commissioners might appoint some of their num- 
 ber to represent the rest, who should remain and 
 attend to the public interests. To this the commis- 
 sioners agreed, and erected four tables, as they were 
 called one for the nobility, another for the barons, 
 a third for the boroughs, and a fourth for the church. 
 But before separating to return to their homes, the 
 commissioners, considering the critical state both of 
 church and nation, agreed to renew the national cove- 
 nant, with a bond applicable to the present conjunc- 
 ture, binding themselves " to adhere to and defend 
 the true religion, and forbearing the practice of all 
 innovations already introduced into the worship of 
 God ; and to labour by all means lawful to recover the 
 
 * Rothes' Relation, App., p. 208; The Scots Scouts' Discoveries, 1639. 
 
210 THE COVENANT RENEWED. [1638. 
 
 purity and liberty of the gospel as it was professed 
 and established before the aforesaid innovations." 
 This covenant was sworn and subscribed, with much 
 solemnity, in the Greyfriars' Church at Edinburgh, 
 on 1st of March 1638. 
 
 A fast was appointed. After sermon the covenant 
 was read; upon which the earl of Loudoun, whose 
 manner was peculiarly impressive, made an address 
 to the assembled multitude, dwelling on the impor- 
 tance of this bond of union in present circumstances, 
 and exhorting all to zeal and perseverance in the 
 cause of the Lord. Thereafter Mr. Alexander Hen- 
 derson, then minister at Leuchars, offered up an im- 
 passioned prayer for the divine blessing; when the 
 noblemen present stepped forward to the table, sub- 
 scribed the deed, and, with uplifted hands, swore to 
 the observance of its duties. After them the gentry, 
 the ministers, and thousands of every rank, sub- 
 scribedand swore. The immense sheet of parchment 
 was speedily filled, and numbers, for want of room, 
 were obliged to sign only with their initials. The 
 enthusiasm was universal ; it seemed as if a new era 
 had dawned on them; every face beamed with joy, 
 and the city presented one scene of devout congra- 
 tulation and rapture. "Behold," says a writer speak- 
 ing of that time, " the nobility, the barons, the bur- 
 gesses, the ministers, the commons of all sorts of 
 Scotland all in tears for their breach of covenant, 
 and for their backsliding and defection from the 
 Lord; and, at the same time, returning with great 
 joy unto their God, by swearing cheerfully and will- 
 ingly to be the Lord's. It may well be said of this 
 day, Great was the day of Jezreel. It was a day 
 wherein the arm of the Lord was revealed a day 
 
1638.] THE COVENANT RENEWED. 211 
 
 wherein the princes of the people were assembled to 
 swear fealty and allegiance to that great king whose 
 name is the Lord of hosts.' 1 * 
 
 " To this much vilified bond," it has been well 
 said, u every true Scotsman ought to look back with 
 as much reverence as Englishmen do to their magna 
 charta. It was what saved the country from abso- 
 lute despotism, and to it we may trace back the origin 
 of all the efforts made by the inhabitants of Britain 
 in defence of their freedom, during the succeeding 
 reign of the Stuarts."^ But it must be viewed in a 
 still more sacred light. It was the " oath of God," 
 sworn in his name, in agreement with his word, and 
 in defence of his cause; and the effects bear a strik- 
 ing resemblance to those recorded in holy writ, as 
 the native fruits of similar exercise in ancient Israel. 
 The minds of the people were at once solemnized by 
 the service, and cemented in defence of their religi- 
 ous privileges. They felt themselves bound to God, 
 and to one another, not only by the common obliga- 
 tions of the divine law, which lie upon all men, in- 
 dependent of their own consent, but by the super- 
 
 * Wilson's Defence of Reformation Principles, p. '242. All the pres- 
 byterian writers of that time bear witness that the divine presence 
 accompanied this solemn service in a remarkable manner, and that its 
 happy influences were everywhere manifest. The general assembly of 
 1040, in their letter to the Swiss churches, say, that " when they began 
 to descend and search deeper into their hearts, the remembrance of their 
 violated covenant pierced and penetrated their consciences; wherefore, 
 being led by serious repentance, they resolved to renew the covenant, with 
 confession," &c. (Epistola, &c., subjoined to Hisioria Motuum.) And in 
 another document they declare, that " the Lord from heaven did testify 
 his acceptance of that covenant by the wonderful workings of his Spirit 
 in the hearts both of pastors and people, to their great comfort and 
 strengthening in every duty, above any measure that hath been heard of 
 in thitrland." (Reasons ayainst t/ie Rendering of our Sworn and Subscrib- 
 ed Confession of Faith.) 
 
 \~ Aikman's Hist, of Scotland, iii. 445. 
 
212 STATE OF PARTIES. [1638. 
 
 added obligation of a voluntary oath an oath sworn 
 by the nation, and registered in heaven. They look- 
 ed on themselves as embarked in a holy cause, in 
 which it was an honour to suffer, and martyrdom to 
 die. The prelates were thunderstruck at the event; 
 and Spotswoode, the archbishop of St. Andrews, who 
 had sagacity enough to foresee in it the doom of the 
 whole prelatical fabric, exclaimed, in despair, " Now, 
 all that we have been doing these thirty years bypast 
 is at once thrown down ! " * 
 
 The state of parties in Scotland at this remark- 
 able era was very singular, and in some respects un- 
 precedented. It is customary with high church his- 
 torians to speak of the country as divided into two 
 parties the royal or prelatical, and the presbyte- 
 rian; and they would even have us to believe that 
 the latter was a mere " faction," composed of rebel- 
 lious persons, guided, or rather goaded on by a set 
 of fanatical leaders. This, however, is just a speci- 
 men of the defamatory style uniformly adopted by 
 the enemies of the truth, whenever the ministers of 
 religion bestir themselves to vindicate the liberties 
 of the church, or obtain the reformation of her 
 abuses. The real state of matters was precisely the 
 reverse. The two parties mentioned certainly ex- 
 isted in the country; but it is quite ridiculous to 
 say that the nation was divided into them. The 
 prelatical party maybe said to have been composed of 
 the bishops alone, with a few of their underlings 
 among the clergy, whom they had intruded into the 
 church a party so insignificant, in point of number, 
 rank, wealth, or influence, that they may truly be 
 called a faction a faction opposed to the whole na- 
 
 * Bishop Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 35. 
 
1638.] STATE OF PARTIES. 218 
 
 tion.* At the head of this faction, however, Charles, 
 unhappily for himself and the country, had now openly 
 placed himself. It was long -before his good sub- 
 jects, in the excess of their loyalty, would believe that 
 he could be the author of the harsh and arbitrary 
 proclamations issued against them from the English 
 court; they ascribed the whole to the machinations 
 of Laud, and the misrepresentations of the Scottish 
 bishops, who, pretending to be frightened by the up- 
 roar about the liturgy, had fled to court, carrying to 
 his majesty, and disseminating through England, the 
 most false and exaggerated reports. There can be no 
 doubt now, from unquestioned documents, that these 
 prelates, by their infatuated counsels, were the prin- 
 cipal means of plunging the nation into a civil war; 
 but their loyalty, it seems, taught them to transfer 
 all the responsibility, and consequently all the odium, 
 of their measures, from their own heads to that of 
 the monarch, on pretence of supporting the royal 
 prerogative. To this rash policy, Charles, with an 
 
 * The misrepresentation referred to is only an echo of that circulated 
 at the time by the deposed bishops who fled into England, and who gave 
 out that " many, and some of the chiefest amongst the covenanters, were 
 men of unquiet spirits and broken fortunes," &c. To this the noblemen 
 and gentlemen replied : " It is known by all who are acquainted with this 
 country, that almost the whole kingdom standeth to the defence of this 
 cause, and that the chiefest of the nobles, barons, and burgesses, are 
 honoured in the places where they live for religion, wisdom, power, and 
 wealth, answerable to the condition of this kingdom; that the meanest 
 of the commons who have joined in this cause, are content of their mean 
 estates with the enjoying of the gospel; and no less known, that our ad- 
 versaries are not for number any considerable part of the kingdom, and 
 that the chiefest (setting aside some few statesmen, and such as draw 
 their breath from court) are known atheists, or professed papists, drowned 
 in debt, denounced his majesty's rebels for a long time past, are under 
 caption of their creditors, and have already, in their imaginations, divided 
 among them the lands of the supplicants, which they hoped to be pos- 
 sessed in by the power of England." (The Remonstrance of the Nobility, 
 Barons, &c., Feb. 27, 1639, p. 14.) 
 
214 STATE OF PARTIES. [1638. 
 
 infatuation which seems to have been inherent in 
 the Stuarts, was induced to yield; for he sent down 
 a message informing his subjects in Scotland, to 
 their grief and dismay, that the liturgy had been 
 imposed by his own express orders, and that the 
 measures of the bishops had his entire approbation; 
 and, as if this had not been enough, he gave the 
 sanction of his name to an infamous libel against the 
 Scottish nation, drawn up by one Dr. Balcanqual, 
 and filled with the most unfounded statements and 
 injurious reflections, which was published under the 
 title of " The king's large declaration."* Thus the 
 whole was converted into a personal quarrel between 
 Charles and his subjects; and the question came to 
 be, whether the people of Scotland should submit, in 
 matters of religion, to his arbitrary dictates, irre- 
 spective of parliament or general assembly, or at once 
 assert their privileges as Christians, and their rights 
 as freemen? 
 
 In opposition to the contemptible faction which 
 we have described, the Scottish parliament, the most 
 ancient and respectable of the nobility, barons, and 
 gentlemen, with the mass of the common people, were 
 decidedly presbyterian. Nothing, indeed, is more 
 remarkable, during the whole of this singular period, 
 than the unanimity which prevailed on all the ques- 
 tions at issue between them and the court. With 
 
 * Baillie describes this declaration as " a number of silly fables in- 
 vented for our disgrace," " heaping up a rabble of the falsest calumnies 
 that ever was put into any one discourse that I had read, to show that we 
 were the most desperate traitors that yet had lived, and mere hypocrites, 
 who, in matters of religion, had never been wronged, but had only sought 
 pretences of religion to cover our plots of rebellion." Exactly the view 
 given of them by prelatical writers ever since, who, indeed, generally 
 refer to this work of Balcanqual as their sole authority! (Baillie*t 
 Letters, i. 140, 175, 208, Ban. edit.) 
 
1638.] THE COVENANT CORDIALLY SWORN. 215 
 
 the single exception of Aberdeen, which was under 
 the influence of the marquis of Huntly, and the 
 Aberdeen doctors, who, owing to their distance from 
 the immediate scene of action and lack of intercourse 
 with their brethren, remained attached to the cause 
 of prelacy, the whole nation cordially joined in the 
 cause of the covenant. No compulsion was used to 
 procure subscriptions, for none was needed. Some 
 individuals, indeed, among the clergy, who refused to 
 sign, might be treated somewhat unceremoniously; 
 but this was rather an expression of the popular dis- 
 like at the measures with which they were identified, 
 than an attempt to force their consciences. Every 
 thing like personal violence was deprecated and re- 
 pressed by the leaders of the covenant; and both 
 Rothes and Baillie lament that their good cause 
 should have been injured by any approach to such 
 practices. So far from persons being compelled to 
 sign the covenant, great care was taken to prevent 
 improper or incompetent subscriptions. None were 
 allowed to subscribe but such as had communicated 
 in the Lord's supper. " Some men of no small note," 
 says Henderson, " offered their subscriptions, and 
 were refused, till time should prove that they joined 
 from love to the cause, and not from the fear of 
 man." " The matter was so holy," says the earl of 
 Rothes, " that they held it to be irreligious to use vio- 
 lent means for advancing such a work." A unani- 
 mity so singular can only be ascribed to a remarkable 
 effusion of the Holy Spirit, the genuineness of which 
 was attested by the general revival of practical reli- 
 gion that marked the whole progress of the work. 
 " I was present," says Livingstone, " at Lanark and 
 several other parishes, when, on Sabbath, after the 
 
216 THE COVENANT CORDIALLY SWORN. [1638. 
 
 forenoon's sermon, the covenant was read and sworn ; 
 and I may truly say, that in all my lifetime, except- 
 ing at the Kirk of Shotts, I never saw such motions 
 from the Spirit of God. All the people generally and 
 most willingly concurred. I have seen more than a 
 thousand persons all at once lifting up their hands, 
 and the tears falling down from their eyes; so that 
 through the whole land, excepting the professed 
 papists, and some few who adhered to the prelates, 
 people universally entered into the covenant of God. 1 ' 
 Nay, such was the enthusiasm that some subscribed 
 it with their blood, and others would not be pre- 
 vented from signing, even in the presence of the 
 prelatical ministers and their underlings, who, with 
 oaths and imprecations, and in some cases with 
 drawn swords, attempted to intimidate them from 
 coming forward.* 
 
 If we search for the secondary causes of such an 
 excitement among a people proverbially sober and 
 intelligent, the whole might be traced to three 
 main sources of dissatisfaction and alarm armi- 
 nianism, popery, and despotism. It would be easy 
 to enlarge on each of these topics, showing the close 
 
 * Baillie's Letters; Rothes' Relation; Livingstone's Life. It may be 
 proper to state that the counties north of Aberdeen, particularly Caith- 
 ness, Sutherland, Ross, and Inverness, cordially entered into the cove- 
 nant. " It was professed by all that it was the joyfullest day that ever 
 they saw, or ever was seen in the north ; and it was remarked as a spe- 
 cial mark of God's goodness towards these parts, that so many different 
 clans and names, among whom was nothing before but hostility and 
 blood, were met together in one place for such a good cause, and in so 
 peaceable a manner, as that nothing was to be seen and heard but mu- 
 tual embracements, with hearty praise to God for so happy a union." 
 (JMkes's Relation, p. 106.) At Inverness, the town drummer having been 
 ordered to invite the inhabitants to sign the covenant, added to the pro- 
 i lunation, of his own accord, something about pains and penalties, which, 
 Rothcs says, " gave occasion to our adversaries to calumniate our pro- 
 ceedings." (lb., p. 107.) 
 
1638.] CHARACTER OF LAUD^S FACTION. 217 
 
 connection in which they then stood to each other, 
 and the ample grounds our forefathers had for ap- 
 prehension. To ignorance of these causes, or to a 
 wilful suppression, we may trace all the misapprehen- 
 sion which still exists, in so many quarters, regard- 
 ing the struggles of our reforming ancestors at this 
 period. Suffice it here to say, that arminianism, as 
 then maintained in England, was fitted, if not in- 
 tended, to pave the way for the introduction of 
 popery; that Laud and his divines were radically 
 popish; and that popery was then, as it has ever 
 been in theory and practice, whatever it may be in 
 profession, decidedly favourable to absolute despot- 
 ism in the state.* The doctrine advocated by these 
 divines, and by the doctors of Aberdeen, was, that 
 the king was supreme judge in all causes, ecclesias- 
 tical as well as civil; and that, though all the 
 subjects should be massacred in one day, or ordered 
 to submit to the Turkish religion, under penalty of 
 being spoiled of liberty, goods, and life, they had 
 no alternative but to submit to his will.-j- This 
 shows what sort of people our ancestors had to deal 
 with. The question was not about obedience to 
 law, but submission to an arbitrary prince, who held 
 that his will was above all law; and who was sup- 
 ported by a clergy defending him in these extrava- 
 gant claims, by popish powers urging him to exercise 
 them, and by a large army in England levied to en- 
 force them. In such circumstances, had Scotland 
 yielded, she would have entailed on herself indelible 
 
 * Hist. Essay on the Loyalty of Presbyterians, p. 188; Rennet's 
 Memorial of the Reformation, pp. 162-165; Rushworth, part ii. p. 76. 
 
 f Baillie's Letters, i. 89; Duplyes of the Ministers and Professors of 
 Divinitie in Aberdeen. 1638. 
 
 VOL, I. P 
 
213 ALEXANDER HENDERSON. [1638. 
 
 disgrace. She did not yield; and the consequence 
 was a struggle, which, commencing in this country, 
 was soon transferred to England, and issued in a 
 revolution that shook the throne, and involved the 
 three kingdoms in a protracted civil war. During 
 this contest, whatever may have been the designs of 
 parties in England, the Scots distinguished them- 
 selves as much for true loyalty to their king as for 
 fidelity to the cause of God, .and patriotic devotion 
 to their native country. 
 
 It is usually seen, that when Providence has some 
 great work to accomplish in the church, instruments 
 are raised up admirably fitted for the part they are 
 designed to perform. At this juncture it is pleasing 
 to find that, notwithstanding the oppression under 
 which the church had laboured for thirty years, 
 individuals arose, out of the ranks of the nobility, 
 the barons, and the ministry, who, in point of ta- 
 lents, piety, and natural dispositions, seem to have 
 been expressly formed for the struggle. Among 
 these, the first place is due to Alexander Henderson, 
 then minister of Leuchars in Fife, and who, for per- 
 sonal worth, as well as his prominent share in the 
 transactions of this period, deserves particular notice. 
 In the early part of his life, Mr. Henderson had been, 
 to say the least, neutral in the contest between pres- 
 bytery and episcopacy; there is even reason to think 
 he was a defender of the corruptions introduced 
 by the bishops. As a proof of this, he accepted a 
 presentation from archbishop Gladstanes to the 
 parish of Leuchars, and such was the repugnance of 
 the people there to his induction, that, on the day 
 of ordination, they barricaded the church doors, so 
 that the ministers, with Henderson, were obliged to 
 
1638.] ALEXANDER HENDERSON. 219 
 
 effect their entrance by the window. Some time 
 after, having heard that Robert Bruce was to preach 
 at a communion in the neighbourhood, Hender- 
 son, attracted by curiosity, went secretly to hear 
 him, and placed himself in a dark corner of the 
 church, where he might remain most concealed. 
 Bruce came into the pulpit, and after a pause, ac- 
 cording to his usual manner, which fixed Hender- 
 son's attention, he read with his wonted dignity and 
 deliberation, these words as his text : " Verily, 
 verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the 
 door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other 
 way, the same is a thief and a robber." These 
 words, so literally applicable to the manner in which 
 he had entered upon his ministry, went " like drawn 
 swords" to his inmost soul. He who wished to con- 
 ceal himself from the eyes of men, felt that he was 
 naked and opened before the eyes of Him with whom 
 we have to do. In short, the discourse of this 
 powerful preacher was, by the divine blessing, the 
 means of Henderson's conversion ; and ever after he 
 retained a great affection for Bruce, whom he called 
 his spiritual father. 
 
 After this wonderful change, which went much 
 deeper than a conversion to presbyterianism, Hen- 
 derson continued to discharge the duties of his 
 retired parish in a manner much more conducive 
 to the edification of his people, and laid up those 
 stores of learning for which he afterwards found so 
 much use. He became a decided opponent of the 
 prelatical measures; and when matters came to ex- 
 tremity, his talents as a public speaker, his piety 
 and learning, his gentlemanly and ingratiating man- 
 ners, and his profound sagacity in business, pointed 
 
220 EARLS OF LOUDOUN AND ROTHES. [1638. 
 
 him out to all his brethren as the fittest person for 
 taking the lead in their affairs.* 
 
 Among the nobility who entered with heart and 
 soul into the cause of the covenant, the most dis- 
 tinguished were the earls of Loudoun and Rothes. 
 John Campbell, earl of Loudoun, was a nobleman 
 whose patriotism, prudence, eloquence, and forti- 
 tude, justly entitle him to be regarded as the chief 
 assertor both of the civil and religious rights of his 
 country. From his youth, he attached himself to 
 the presbyterian interest, which he saw was identi- 
 fied with the cause of civil liberty. On the com- 
 mencement of the contentions in 1638, he took an 
 active share in opposing the despotic measures of 
 the court; and on one occasion roundly told the 
 king's commissioner, in language which was soon 
 re-echoed in tones of thunder from every part of the 
 kingdom, " That they knew no other bands between 
 a king and his subjects but those of religion and 
 the laws. If these are broken," he said, " men's 
 lives are not dear to them: boasted (threatened) we 
 shall not be; such fears are past with us." Loudoun 
 may be called the Brutus of Scotland during this 
 epoch of her history; firm as a rock, nobly upright, 
 sternly conscientious. The earl of Rothes, with the 
 same high principles, was a man of a different 
 stamp. Lively and facetious, polite in his address, 
 and indcfatigably active in all his movements, this 
 young nobleman, who died at the age of forty-one, 
 was at the head of all the enterprises of the cove- 
 nanters, and rendered essential service to the cause.f 
 
 * Life of Alex. Henderson in Dr. M'Crie's Miscel. Writings. Part i. 
 Life of A. Henderson, by Rev. Dr. Aiton, minister of Duljihington. 
 f la 1U-11, Rotiicj being in London shortly before his death, eume into 
 
163S.J HAMILTON'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND. 221 
 
 In the month of June, after the swearing of the 
 covenant at Edinburgh, the king sent down, as his 
 commissioner to Scotland, the marquis of Hamilton, 
 a nobleman of insinuating manners, chiefly with the 
 view of conciliating the Scots, and inducing them, if 
 possible, to renounce that oath. The covenanters had 
 by this time become very suspicious of the designs of 
 Charles, for which they had too good reason ; for from 
 a correspondence between the king and Hamilton, 
 afterwards discovered, it was found that Charles was 
 at this time making preparations for an invasion of 
 Scotland. After describing these, he says to Hamil- 
 ton, " Thus you may see that I intend not to yield 
 to the demands of these traitors the covenanters. 
 And as concerning the explanation of their damnable 
 covenant, I will only say, that so long as this cove- 
 nant is in force, whether it be with or without 
 explanation, I have no more power of Scotland than 
 as a duke of Venice, which I will rather die than 
 suffer. 1 ' 1 * On his arrival in Scotland, however, 
 Hamilton soon found that he had to deal with 
 a people who were determined to " die rather than 
 suffer" such an infringement of their rights, and 
 who had now adventured too far to retrace their 
 
 high favour at court; and from some expression in Baillie's letters, it 
 has been surmised, very unreasonably and uncharitably, that had he 
 lived much longer, he would have changed sides and become an apos- 
 tate. There is not a word spoken by Baillie that can be construed into 
 such a suspicion, which seems, indeed, to rest on no better foundation 
 than the conjecture of the strongly biassed mind of Clarendon. Among 
 the other noblemen who engaged at this time in the cause of the cove- 
 nant, may be mentioned, earls Eglinton, Montrose, Cassils, Home, 
 Lothian, Wemyss, Dalhousie; and lords Lindsay, Tester, Sinclair, Boyd, 
 Fleming, Elcho, Carnegy, Balmerino, Cranston, Cowper, Johnston, 
 Forester, Melville, &c., &c. 
 
 * Bui-net's Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton, p. 60; Peterkin's 
 Records of the Kirke (Introduct.), p. 14. 
 
222 HAMILTON'S VISIT TO SCOTLAND. [1638. 
 
 steps either with safety or a good conscience. No 
 sooner, therefore, did he give a distant hint of 
 his instructions, than the covenanters declared, 
 that " there was not a man joined but would rather 
 quit his life than his part in that covenant."* 
 Alarmed at the arrival of some military stores at 
 Leith, they blockaded the castle, and placed armed 
 guards at the city gates; and it required all the 
 artifice of the commissioner to allay the storm which 
 he had injudiciously excited. 
 
 On the 9th of June, Hamilton, who had been re- 
 siding at Dalkeith, entered Edinburgh with great 
 pomp, and it was arranged that the manner of his 
 reception should present a demonstration of the 
 power and zeal of the covenanters. For this pur- 
 pose, the circuitous road by Musselburgh, along the 
 beach of the sea, was selected. The nobles, to the 
 number of thirty, and all others who had horses, 
 rode to the end of the long sands at Musselburgh, 
 to accompany his grace to the palace. The people, 
 to the number of sixty thousand, were ranged, 
 under the directions of sir George Cuningham, in 
 ranks along the sea-side, extending to several miles. 
 At the eastern extremity of Leith links, on the side 
 of a rising ground, stood about seven hundred mini- 
 sters, all in their cloaks an exhibition of their 
 numbers and unity in the cause. While riding 
 slowly along through this prodigious array, and 
 hearing so many thousands beseeching him on all 
 sides, with tears, that he would advise the king to 
 deliver them from the bishops and their books, and 
 restore to them their beloved ministers, the marquis 
 was deeply affected, and protested, that had the king 
 
 * Rothes' Relation, p. 151. 
 
1638.] MANOEUVRES OP THE COURT. 223 
 
 been present to witness the scene, he would never think 
 of forcing his obnoxious measures on such a people. 
 It is needless to dwell on .the temporizing measures 
 by which Hamilton endeavoured to bring over the 
 covenanters. One of his plans deserves notice, as 
 showing the unprincipled character of the means 
 resorted to by the king. With the view of counter- 
 acting the covenant as sworn in the previous March, 
 and sowing dissension among the covenanters, he 
 ordered Hamilton to subscribe, in his name, the 
 national covenant, as sworn in 1580, with a general 
 bond for the maintenance of " the religion now 
 presently professed," and to require all his .subjects 
 in Scotland to follow his example. The design of 
 this manceuvre was very obvious. In the covenant, 
 as sworn in 1580, no particular mention was made 
 of prelacy, though there can be no doubt it was im- 
 plicitly abjured by that covenant; and under the 
 ambiguous, phrase "the religion presently professed, " 
 it was clearly intended to screen prelacy, and involve 
 those who had renewed the covenant in the alterna- 
 tive of either virtually renouncing their oath against 
 prelacy, or incurring the charge of disobedience. 
 When, therefore, the king^s proclamation appeared, 
 on the 22d of September, enjoining the swearing of 
 u the king^s covenant, 1 ' as it was called, the covenan- 
 ters, with great reason, protested against the strata- 
 gem. They maintained that, as that covenant was un- 
 derstood and explained, they could not swear it, having 
 already subscribed it with an express clause renounc- 
 ing prelacy and the innovations which had accom- 
 panied it.* " If we should now enter upon this new 
 
 * Reasons against Rendering our Subscribed Covenant; Baillie's 
 Letters, '03-1 ID; Rctlies' Re'atior, p. 1-2. 
 
22-4 MANOEUVRES OF THE COURT. [1638. 
 
 subscription," said they, " we should think ourselves 
 guilty of mocking God, and taking his name in vain; 
 for the tears that began .to be poured forth at the 
 solemnizing of the covenant are not yet dried up 
 and wiped away, and the joyful noise which then 
 began to sound forth hath not yet ceased. As we 
 are not to multiply miracles on God^s part, so ought 
 we not to multiply solemn oaths and covenants on 
 our part, and thus to play with oaths as children do 
 with their toys, without necessity. 11 And they con- 
 cluded by demanding a free general assembly of the 
 church of Scotland, in which, without limitations 
 prejudging the question, the prelates and all their 
 innovations might be subjected to a fair and impar- 
 tial trial.* 
 
 All the manoeuvres of Charles and his bishops to 
 outwit, intimidate, divide, or gain over the covenan- 
 ters, having thus signally failed, the king found 
 himself under the necessity of complying with the 
 wishes of the people, and summoning "a free general 
 assembly," which was indicted to meet at Glasgow, 
 on Wednesday, November 21, 1638; and the mar- 
 quis of Hamilton was appointed his majesty's com- 
 missioner. This assembly was appointed to inquire 
 into the evils that distressed the country, and to 
 provide suitable remedies; and the bishops having 
 been generally accused as the authors of these dis- 
 turbances, they were subjected, by his majesty's 
 proclamation, to the censure of the assembly. -f* 
 
 * Protestation of the Noblemen, Barons, Gentlemen, &c., subscribers 
 of the Confession of Faith and Covenant, lately renewed within the king- 
 dom of Scotland, made at the Mercate Cross of Edinburgh the 22d of 
 September, immediately after the reading of the proclamation, dated 
 September 9, 1638, pp. 12-23. 
 
 f Reason for a General Assemblie, lG3(i, p. 5. See the royal procla- 
 
1638.] GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 225 
 
 This famous assembly met at Glasgow on the day 
 appointed. A more noble, grave, and competnet body 
 of men never perhaps convened to deliberate on the 
 affairs of the church. It consisted of 140 ministers, 
 freely chosen by their different presbyteries, with 98 
 ruling elders, of whom 17 were noblemen of the 
 highest rank, 9 were knights, 25 were landed proprie- 
 tors, and 47 were burgesses of great respectability, 
 capable of representing their respective communities 
 in parliament. Some of the noblemen and gentle- 
 men, hearing that an attempt would be made by the 
 marquis of Hamilton, the king's commissioner, to 
 overawe the assembly by a large retinue of followers, 
 came accompanied by their usual retainers in arms. 
 The assembly was conducted throughout with the 
 utmost gravity and decorum, although honest Baillie 
 makes grievous complaints of the manner in which 
 they were incommoded and jostled by the crowd, 
 who were very naturally anxious to witness their 
 proceedings; and he gravely lectures the Scottish 
 people in general for not taking a lesson on "mo- 
 desty and manners'" in church, " from Canterbury, 
 yea, from the pope, yea, from the Turks or Pagans." 
 " We are here so far the other way," says he, "that 
 our rascals, without shame, in great numbers, make 
 puch din and clamour in the house of the true God, 
 that if they minted to use the like behaviour in my 
 chamber, I would not be content till they were down 
 the stairs." 
 
 The order and dignity which characterized the 
 proceedings of the assembly itself, meeting as it did 
 in a period of such excitement, were mainly owing 
 
 nation, indicting a free general assembly at Glasgow, Records of the 
 Kirke of Scotland, p. 81. 
 
226 GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. [1638. 
 
 to the consummate tact, firmness, and address of its 
 moderator, Alexander Henderson. For the exercise 
 of these qualities, he found abundant occasion in the 
 course of the seven days during which the commis- 
 sioner kept protesting and disputing against their 
 constitution. The king had called a " free general 
 assembly;' 1 '' but it soon appeared that he had never 
 any intention of allowing it to meet. His secret 
 correspondence with the commissioner, now pub- 
 lished to the world, displays the duplicity of his 
 character in the most extraordinary light.* He 
 exhorts Hamilton to use all his endeavours, to divide 
 the assembly, by sowing the seeds of jealousy be- 
 tween the laics and the clergy; if this failed, he was 
 to protest against all their proceedings, and on no 
 account to allow them to proceed to the censure 
 of the bishops. The bishops, who had been sub- 
 jected by the king's proclamation to the censure of 
 the assembly, instead of appearing at the summons, 
 sent in a declinature, in which, with ridiculous 
 effrontery, they refused to acknowledge its autho- 
 rity, chiefly on the ground that the moderator was 
 not a bishop, and because the meeting was partly 
 composed of laymen, as they were pleased to call the 
 ordained elders of the church; thus setting them- 
 selves up as judges of a court before which they 
 were cited as criminals, and presuming, in their own 
 persons, to settle the grand point at issue, relating 
 to the government of the church, which was to come 
 before the assembly. 
 
 The first question, therefore, came to be, Whether 
 the assembly found themselves competent judges of 
 
 * ^'ce Records of the Kirlce of Scotland, by Alex. Pcterkin ; Part 
 ii. Bui-net's Memoirs of Hamilton, pp. !J2-93. 
 
1638.] GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 227 
 
 the bishops? On this question being put by the 
 moderator, the commissioner, after a long speech, in 
 which he extolled his majesty's grace and condescen- 
 sion, presented to them a proclamation in the 
 king's name, discharging the service-book, the ar- 
 ticles of Perth, and the high commission, and de- 
 claring that the bishops should be answerable from 
 time to time to the general assembly. The obvious 
 design of this was, to quash all further proceedings 
 against the bishops, whom Hamilton persisted in 
 styling the " lords of the clergy "' to divide the 
 assembly and, at the same time, by apparently 
 granting all the popular demands, to throw on the 
 members, should they continue their sittings, the 
 odium of unreasonable opposition to "a pious and 
 gracious prince," who had done so much for the 
 people. As to subjecting the prelates to the censure 
 of the assembly, it was sufficiently clear, from their 
 declinature, that nothing was further from their in- 
 tentions, or more unlikely to happen. 
 
 In these circumstances, it required more than or- 
 dinary prudence in the moderator, to act a part at 
 once respectful to royalty and true to the interests 
 of the church. Henderson nobly discharged the 
 task. " It well becometh us," he said in reply, " with 
 all thankfulness to receive so ample a testimony of 
 his majesty's goodness, and not to disesteem the 
 smallest crumbs of comfort that fall to us of his 
 majesty's liberality. With our hearts do we ac- 
 knowledge before God, and with our mouth do we 
 desire to testify to the world, how far we think our- 
 selves obliged to our dread sovereign; wishing that 
 
 c O O 
 
 the secret thought of our hearts and the way where- 
 in we have walked this time past were made mani- 
 
228 GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. [1638. 
 
 fest. It hath been the glory of the reformed 
 churches, and we account it our glory after a special 
 manner, to give unto kings and Christian magistrates 
 what belongs unto their place; and as we know the 
 fifth command of the law to be a precept of the se- 
 cond table, so do we acknowledge it to be the first of 
 that kind, and that next to piety towards God, we 
 are obliged to loyalty and obedience to our king. 
 It has pleased his majesty to descend so far to his 
 subjects' 1 humble petitions, for which we render to 
 his majesty most hearty thanks offering, therefore, 
 to spend our lives in his service. And we would do 
 with him as the Jews did with Alexander the Great. 
 When he came to Jerusalem, he desired that his 
 picture might be placed in the temple. This they 
 refused to grant unto him, it being unlawful so to 
 pollute the house of the Lord; but they granted to 
 him one thing less blameable, and far more conveni- 
 ent for the promulgation of his honour to wit, that 
 they should begin the calculation of their years from 
 the time that he came to Jerusalem, and likewise 
 that they should call all their male first-born by the 
 name of Alexander: which thing he accepted. So, 
 whatsoever is ours, we shall render to his majesty, 
 even our lives, lands, liberties, and all; but for that 
 which is God's, and the liberties of his house, we do 
 think, neither will his majesty's piety suffer him to 
 crave, neither may we grant them, although he 
 should crave it. 11 * 
 
 On hearing this noble reply, the commissioner 
 said, " Sir, ye have spoken as a good Christian and a 
 
 * This account of the Glasgow assembly is taken from a MS. Journal 
 of the assembly in my possession, compared with another in the pos- 
 S'.'Ksion of David Laing, Ksq. 
 
1638.] GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 229 
 
 dutiful subject." The " dutiful subject" had spoken; 
 it remained for the " good Christian" to act. Hen- 
 derson repeated the question for the third time " I 
 now ask if this assembly find themselves competent 
 judges of the prelates?" " If you proceed to the 
 censure of their persons and offices," said Hamilton, 
 "I must remove myself." "A thousand times I 
 wish the contrary from the bottom of my heart,"" re- 
 plied the moderator; "and I entreat your grace to 
 continue to favour us with your presence, without 
 obstructing the work and freedom of the assembly." 
 The earl of Rothes seconded this request, using va- 
 rious arguments to prevail on the commissioner to 
 remain, and even trying to coax him into good hu- 
 mour, but without effect. Hamilton began to shed 
 tears, lamenting that such a weighty burden should 
 have b.een laid on such a weak man, and acted his 
 part so well as to draw tears from many. This scene 
 continued for some time, when, perceiving that they 
 were determined to proceed, he rose up, and after 
 repeating his protestations, he, in the name of the 
 king, as head of the church, dissolved the assembly, 
 and discharged their further proceedings. 
 
 There are critical periods in the church, when the 
 vital principles on which it is founded are at stake, 
 and when to yield would entail, not only disgrace on 
 the individuals most concerned, but ruin on the 
 cause in which they are embarked. And such was 
 the present. The assembly had indeed been con- 
 vened by the king's authority, but they were not 
 bound to dismiss at his bidding. Neither the laws 
 of the land, nor the constitution of the church, as ra- 
 tified by these laws, allowed any such power to the 
 sovereign. The covenant had already been pro- 
 
230 GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. [1638. 
 
 nounced by the lord advocate, and other legal 
 officers, to be perfectly agreeable to law, and it was 
 in pursuance of that engagement that the assembly 
 had now met, though, for the sake of good order, 
 they had requested the sanction of royalty. And 
 none can accuse them of rebellion, in refusing to 
 obey the command of the commissioner, except those 
 who hold that the power of the king is supreme in 
 ecclesiastical matters, and are prepared to re-enact 
 the despotism which compelled our fathers to as- 
 sume the attitude of resistance. Had the assembly 
 broke up in obedience to this unconstitutional man- 
 date, it would have amounted to a virtual acknow- 
 ledgment of the king's claim to be head of the 
 church, and to a denial of the headship of Christ. Be- 
 sides, they would have been guilty of basely betraying 
 the liberties of the church, when these were placed 
 in manifest peril, and when they had a fair oppor- 
 tunity of asserting them. Our fathers were men of 
 another spirit. As Christians, they chose " to obey 
 God rather than men," " not fearing the wrath of the 
 king." As presbyterians, they felt themselves called 
 upon to contend for the distinguishing glory of pres- 
 bytery the independence of the church. As free- 
 men, they claimed the protection of law, in oppo- 
 sition to the mandates of the sovereign. As an 
 established church, they stood on the vantage-ground 
 of having their spiritual privileges recognised and 
 secured by national constitution; and as covenanters, 
 they had pledged themselves to maintain and defend 
 these privileges at all hazards. 
 
 While the commissioner, therefore, was in the act 
 of retiring, a protestation, which had been prepared 
 that morning in anticipation of such an event, was 
 
1638.] GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 231 
 
 presented by Rothes, and read by the clerk, in which, 
 for reasons given at length, they declare, " In the 
 name of the Lord Jesus Christ, THE ONLY HEAD AND 
 MONARCH OF His CHURCH, from a consciousness of 
 our duty to God and his truth, the king and his 
 honour, this kingdom and her peace, this assembly 
 and her freedom, and the safety of ourselves and our 
 posterity, in our persons and estates, we profess with 
 sorrowful and heavy but loyal hearts, we cannot dis- 
 solve this assembly.' 1 ' 1 They likewise protested, that 
 " if any stir should arise by impeding of their lawful 
 meetings, the cause should not be imputed to them, 
 who did ardently desire the commissioner's abode,but 
 to the prelates, who had declined them, being con- 
 scious of their guiltiness." This protest having been 
 read, the moderator delivered a cheering address, in 
 which, with admirable dexterity, he converted the 
 departure of the commissioner into an encourage- 
 ment for them to remain. " All who are present 
 know," he said, " the reasons of the meeting of this 
 assembly; and albeit we have acknowledged the 
 power of Christian kings for convening of assemblies, 
 yet that may not derogate from Christ's right; for 
 he hath given divine warrants to convocate assem- 
 blies, whether magistrates consent or not. There- 
 fore, seeing we perceive his grace, my lord commis- 
 sioner, to be so zealous of his royal master's com- 
 mands, have we not also good reason to be zealous 
 toward our Lord, and to maintain the liberties and 
 privileges of his kingdom?" This, with similar ex- 
 hortations from other members, made such an impres- 
 sion, that with the exception of one or two who slunk 
 away, they all remained at their post. Lights were 
 ordered to be brought in, and the question being 
 
232 GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. [1638. 
 
 put , " If they would abide the whole time of the as- 
 sembly and adhere to the protestation?" the whole 
 assembly rose, and, as one man, decided in the affir- 
 mative. Lest, in the confusion of so many voices, 
 any dissenting vote should have been unheard, the 
 roll was called, and one by one they declared their 
 resolution to remain till the business of the assembly 
 was finished. 
 
 Before the roll was called, an incident occurred 
 which greatly encouraged the assembly. A young 
 nobleman, lord Erskine, son of the earl of Mar, who 
 had formerly refused to sign the covenant, stepped 
 forward to the table, and begged the audience of 
 the assembly. In a low tone, but with great earnest- 
 ness, and an utterance almost choked with tears, 
 he said, " I request you, for the Lord's cause, right 
 honourable and worthy members of this assembly, 
 that ye would receive me into your number; for I have 
 remained too long obstinate to your wholesome ad- 
 monitions, being moved and stirred up by my own 
 private ends, rather than any checks of conscience, 
 which ends I cease to reckon before you; but I am 
 ashamed of them, and that I should have dallied so 
 long with God. Therefore, I request you, for Christ 
 Jesus' sake, that ye would receive mo into your 
 number, and suffer me to subscribe our covenant." 
 " Which words," says the record from which I quote 
 them, " because he spake them with a low voice, the 
 moderator rehearsed to the assembly, professing he 
 could scarce utter them for tears, so that all almost 
 who did hear him, through joy, were constrained to 
 weep." " We all embraced him gladly," says Baillie, 
 " and admired the timeousness of God's comforts." 
 This was followed bv another gratifying occurrence. 
 
1638.] GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 233 
 
 The earl of Argyle, who had hitherto appeared neu- 
 tral, though he warmly sympathized with the cove- 
 nanters, and had retired with the commissioner in 
 hope of adjusting the quarrel, returned on the fol- 
 lowing day ; and though not a member of the court, 
 he cheerfully consented, at the request of the mode- 
 rator, to remain and countenance their proceedings. 
 The accession of such a nobleman, who was known 
 to stand high in the royal favour, tended greatly to 
 encourage the assembly; and his example was follow- 
 ed by many others of the king's counsellors. While 
 Henderson, however, congratulated them on this 
 " human encouragement," he took care to guard his 
 brethren against placing too much reliance on it. 
 " Though we had not a single nobleman to assist us,' 1 
 said he, " our cause were not the worse nor the 
 weaker." 
 
 The first step taken by the assembly, was to nul- 
 lify the six pretended assemblies which had been held 
 since the accession of James to the English throne, 
 including the assemblies from 1606 to 1618. These, 
 for various reasons which even Hume allows to be 
 " pretty reasonable," were declared to have been 
 " unfree, unlawful, and null assemblies." They next 
 proceeded to the censure of the prelates, fourteen in 
 number, who were charged with a great variety of 
 moral as well as ecclesiastical delinquencies. Of 
 these, two archbishops and six bishops were excom- 
 municated, four deposed, and two suspended. The 
 task of publicly pronouncing these sentences devolv- 
 ed on the moderator; and on the following day, be- 
 fore an immense auditory, Henderson discharged 
 his office in the gravest and most impressive man- 
 ner. After sermon on Psalm ex. 1 : " The Lord 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
234 GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. [1638. 
 
 said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until 
 I make thine enemies thy footstool," he pronounced 
 on the degraded prelates, in the name of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, the awful sentence of deposition and 
 excommunication. Never were the religious feelings 
 of the people of Scotland wound up to such a pitch 
 of intensity as on this remarkable occasion. To 
 see the church of Scotland again rising in her might, 
 after a slumber of more than thirty years, and, with 
 her first awakened effort, prostrating those prelates 
 who had so long lorded over her with more than cle- 
 rical pride and power, appeared to them as a dream. 
 A sensation of mingled awe and wonder pervaded 
 the assembly; and as the more solemn part of the 
 service approached, the interest became so intense, 
 that even the reporters who took notes of the pro- 
 ceedings became too much agitated to continue their 
 task. It is only necessary to add, that this assembly 
 condemned the service-book, the canons, and the high 
 commission; that they renounced the five articles of 
 Perth; and that, after declaring prelacy to have 
 been abjured by the national covenant, and to be 
 contrary to the principles of the church of Scotland,* 
 they, in the name of that church, and as a church 
 of Christ, unanimously voted its removal, and re- 
 
 * In other words, the assembly decided, upon various grounds, that 
 prelacy was abjured in the national covenant of 1580, and was included 
 under the phrase of" the pope's wicked hierarchy." While the assembly 
 was still sitting, the marquis of Hamilton issued a " Profession and De- 
 claration," in which he endeavoured to prove that episcopal government 
 was not abjured by that covenant. Shortly after there appeared, " An 
 Answer to the Profession and Declaration, made by James, marquis of 
 Hamilton, his majesty's high commissioner," in which his arguments 
 were fully answered by the covenanters. Hamilton's Explanation of 
 the Covenant, and the Answer, are inserted in the Large Declaration, 
 pp. 3-27-337. 
 
1638.] GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 235 
 
 stored presbyterian government to all its former in- 
 tegrity. 
 
 The assembly having now sat from the 21st of 
 November to the 20th of December, and held no 
 less than twenty-six sessions, Henderson addressed 
 them in an eloquent concluding speech. After apo- 
 logizing for his own weakness in the part he had 
 taken in the proceedings, and complimenting the 
 ministers on the diligence and fidelity they had dis- 
 played, he thus proceeded: 
 
 " And now we are quit of the service-book, which 
 was a book of slavery and service indeed ; the book 
 of canons, which tied us in spiritual bondage; the 
 book of ordination, which was a yoke put upon the 
 necks of faithful ministers; and the high commis- 
 sion, which was a guard to keep us all under tha-t 
 slavery. All these evils God has rid us of, and like- 
 wise of the civil places of kirkmen, which was the 
 splendour of all these evils; and the Lord has led 
 captivity captive, and made lords slaves. What 
 should we do less than resolve, first, since the Lord 
 has granted us liberty, to labour to be sensible of it, 
 and take notice of it? For we are like to a man 
 newly awakened out of a dream, or like a man that 
 has lien long in the irons, who, after they are taken 
 off and he redeemed, he feels not his liberty, but 
 thinks the irons are on him still. So it is with us. 
 We do not feel our liberty; therefore it were good 
 for us to study to know the bounds of our liberty 
 wherewith Christ hath set us free, and then again 
 to labour earnestly that we be not more entangled 
 with the yoke of bondage. 
 
 " Then, for these nobles, barons, burgesses, and 
 others, who have attended here, this I may say con- 
 
236 GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. [1638. 
 
 fidently, and from the warrant of the word, ' Those 
 that honour God, God will honour them.' Your 
 lordships, and these worthy gentlemen, who have 
 been honouring God, and giving testimony ample of 
 your love to religion this time bygone (though I will 
 not excuse your former backslidings), if ye will go 
 on, the Lord shall protect you, bless you, honour 
 you ; and your faith shall be found, in the day of the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ, unto praise, honour, and 
 glory. And I must say one word of these nobles, 
 whom Jesus Christ has nobilitated indeed, and de- 
 clared sensibly to be worthy of that title of nobility : 
 Ye know they were like the tops of the mountains 
 that were first discovered in the deluge, which made 
 the little valleys hope to be delivered from it also; 
 and so it came to pass. I remember reading, that 
 in the eastern country, where they worship the sun, 
 a number being assembled early in the morning to 
 that effect, all striving who should see the sun first, 
 a servant turned his face to the west, and waited on. 
 The rest thought him a foolish man, and yet he got 
 the first sight of the sun shining on the tops of the 
 western mountains. So, truly, he would have been 
 thought a foolish man, a few years ago, that would 
 have looked for such things of our nobility; yet the 
 Sun of Righteousness has been pleased to shine 
 first upon these mountains; and long, long may he 
 shine upon them, for the comfort of the hills and 
 refreshing of the valleys; and the blessing of God 
 b* upon them and their families, and we trust it 
 shall be seen to the generations following. 
 
 " Last, I must give a word of thanksgiving to this 
 city, wherein we have had such comfortable resi- 
 dence, and to the principal magistrates of it, who 
 
1638.] GLASGOW ASSEMBLY. 237 
 
 have attended our meeting. The best recompense 
 we can give them is, to pray for the blessing of God 
 upon them; and to give them a taste of our labour, 
 by visiting their college, and any other thing that 
 consists in our power; that so the kingdom of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ may be established among them, 
 and that the name of this city may from hence- 
 forth be, ' Jehovah-shammah The Lord is there.'"" 
 The 133d psalm was then sung, beginning thus: 
 
 " Behold, how good a thing it is, 
 
 And how becoming well, 
 Together such as brethren are 
 In unity to dwell." 
 
 The apostolical blessing was pronounced, and Hen- 
 derson dismissed the assembly with these memor- 
 able words, uttered in a solemn and emphatic voice : 
 " We have now cast down the walls of Jericho ; let 
 him that rebidldeih them beware of the curse of Hiel 
 the Bethelite!" " And so," says Baillie, " we all 
 departed with great comfort and humble joy, casting 
 ourselves and our poor church in the arms of our 
 good God.' 1 
 
 The assembly of 1638 may be regarded as one of 
 the noblest efforts ever made by the church to assert 
 her intrinsic independence, and the sole headship of 
 Christ. Single martyrs have borne witness to the 
 same purpose single ministers, and even congrega- 
 tions, have stood out boldly for the same truth; 
 but here we have the whole church of Scotland, by 
 her representatives, in her judicial capacity, lifting 
 up her voice, and proclaiming, before the whole 
 world, the sovereign rights of her Lord and King. 
 No church, except one constituted on the presbyte- 
 rian model, could have borne such a testimony, or 
 gained such a triumph; and the simple fact, that 
 
238 PRESBYTERIAN FORM OF WORSHIP. [1G38. 
 
 such a noble stand was once made by the church of 
 Scotland, should endear her to the hearts of all who, 
 whatever may be their denomination, are the genuine 
 friends of liberty, of the Christian religion, and of 
 the best interests of man. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the. original demands 
 of the covenanters came short of the abolition of epis- 
 copacy; and that they would have been contented, 
 at the outset, with some limitation of the power of 
 the bishops, and their subjection to general assem- 
 blies, with the discharge of the articles of Perth and 
 of the high commission court, and with the free entry 
 of ministers. But, by degrees, their eyes were opened 
 to discover the root of all these evils the prelacy 
 itself; and nothing tended more to produce this dis- 
 covery than the measures of the court, which may 
 be said to have driven them, step by step, into the 
 right course, beyond their first intentions, and in 
 some cases against them. This is repeatedly refer- 
 red to in the speeches delivered at the Glasgow 
 assembly, and in their public papers, with dutiful 
 acknowledgments to that mysterious Providence 
 " who had made the wrath of man to praise him," 
 and secured to himself the whole honour of a refor- 
 mation accomplished by instruments who could not 
 assume any of the credit to themselves. 
 
 Having described the external reformation thus 
 effected, let us now take a glance into the interior 
 of a presbyterian kirk, and see how the public wor- 
 ship was conducted about 1638. At eight o'clock 
 on Sabbath morning appeared in the desk the reader, 
 whose office it was to read the prayers from Knox's 
 liturgy, and portions of scripture, before the mini- 
 ster entered the pulpit. These readers were found 
 
1638.] PRESBYTERIAN FORM OF WORSHIP. 239 
 
 so useful to the ministers, that, though the office 
 had been declared by the general assembly to be 
 without warrant, they were still allowed to officiate, 
 and continued to do so till the Westminster assem- 
 bly, when, much against the inclination of our 
 Scots commissioners, they were condemned. The 
 last relic of these ancient functionaries appeared in 
 the practice, which was common till of late in some 
 of the parishes of Scotland, of the precentor or 
 schoolmaster reading some chapters of the bible 
 before the ringing of the last bell.* 
 
 Immediately on entering the pulpit, the minister 
 kneeled down and began with prayer, the people 
 generally kneeling also. It was customary at some 
 part of the service, to repeat the Lord's prayer and 
 the doxology; but in other respects the worship was 
 unfettered by forms, the officiating minister guiding 
 the devotions of his flock, as Justin Martyr describes 
 those of the primitive Christians, " according to his 
 ability, without a prompter." Prayer being ended, 
 the congregation joined in singing a portion of the 
 psalms; a part of the service in which they took 
 great delight, and in which they were so well in- 
 structed, that many of them could sing without the 
 aid of a psalm-book. f No such pains had been 
 
 * Baillie's Letters, i. 413; Scott's MSS., Adv. Lib. 
 
 f From a very early period the Psalms of David, which were trans- 
 lated into metre by Sternhold and Hopkins, were sung in the Scots 
 churches, and great pains were used to instruct the people in psalmody. 
 From a curious document in the handwriting of Calderwood, we find 
 that " men, women, and children, were exhorted to exercise themselves 
 in the psalms," and that " sundry musicians of best skill and affection, 
 for furtherance of the act of parliament arient the instructing of the 
 youth in musick, have set down common and proper tunes to the whole 
 psalms, according to the diverse forms of metre." (Bannatyne Miscel- 
 1'iny, p. 231.) In 1631 there appeared a new version of the psalms, said 
 to have been composed by king James ; and Charles, among his other ill- 
 
240 PRESBYTERIAN FORM OF WORSHIP. [1638. 
 
 taken to instruct the people of England in this part 
 of divine worship. So far from being able to sing 
 the psalms " without built," many of them were not 
 able even to read them; and hence the Westminster 
 divines found it necessary to enact, that, " for the 
 present, where many in the congregation cannot 
 read, it is convenient that the minister, or some 
 other fit person appointed by him and the other ruling 
 officers, do read the psalm line by line, before the 
 singing thereof"* an act of toleration which our 
 Scottish ministers yeilded with no small reluctance. 
 " Then," says Lightfoot, in his Journal of the Assem- 
 bly, " was our directory read over to the Scots com- 
 missioners, who were absent at the passing of it; 
 and Mr. Henderson disliked our permission of any 
 to read the psalms line by line; and this business 
 held us in some debate." -f- 
 
 The psalm being sung, the minister offered up an- 
 other short prayer, beseeching the influences of the 
 Spirit to accompany the word preached. And then 
 followed the sermon; which having been succeeded 
 by prayer and praise, the congregation was dis- 
 missed with the apostolic blessing. The presby- 
 terian discourses of this and the succeeding period, 
 though some of them may not please a fastidious 
 taste, and others are disfigured by a certain home- 
 judged innovations, insisted on this version being used instead of the old 
 one. But our fathers had various objections to it. Calderwood says, 
 " The people are acquainted with the old metaphrase more than any 
 book in scripture; yea, some can sing all, or the most part, without built, 
 and some that cannot read can sing some psalms.'' (Hid.) Mr. Row in- 
 forms us that in the new version " there were some expressions so 
 poetical, and so far from the language of Cannan, that all who had any 
 religion did dislike them; such as calling the sun tie lord of light, and 
 the moon the pale ladie of the night," 1 &c. (Row's MS. Hint., p. 263.) 
 
 * Directory for Public Worship. f Lightfoot's Works, xiii. 344. 
 
I(i38.] PRESBYTERIAN FORM OF WORSHIP. 241 
 
 liness of style, hardly compatible, in our eyes, with 
 the dignity of religious subjects, uniformly possess 
 the sterling merit of rich evangelical sentiment and 
 Christian experience; and in this respect present a 
 striking contrast to the episcopal sermons of the 
 same time, which are, in general, the driest, most 
 jejune, and most pedantic productions imaginable. 
 
 The dress of the ministers was extremely simple. 
 In 1610 king James, among other cares for his 
 mother kirk, sent directions from court that all 
 ministers should wear black clothes, and when in 
 the pulpit should appear in black gowns. In gene- 
 ral, however, the presbyterian ministers preferred 
 the old Geneva cloak, which had much the appear- 
 ance of a gown. As to the people generally, they 
 seem to have conducted themselves during divine 
 service with suitable decorum; though the following 
 extract from the minutes of the kirk-session of 
 Perth, would indicate that clergymen were occasion- 
 ally exposed to annoyances similar to those of which 
 they have had to complain in more modern times: 
 " John Tenender, session-officer, is ordained to have 
 his red staff in the kirk on the Sabbath-days, there- 
 with to wauken sleepers, and to remove greeting 
 bairns furth of the kirk. 11 * 
 
 According to the form now described, public wor- 
 ship was conducted in the church of Scotland from 
 the reformation down to the period of which we are 
 writing; and it has continued, with a few incon- 
 siderable variations, to be the form observed from 
 that time to the present. Laud's service-book did 
 not survive the tumult of July 1637; and no attempt 
 was made, even during the persecuting reigns of the 
 
 * Scott's MS. Register, ad. an. 1616. 
 
242 PRESBYTERIAN FORM OF WORSHIP. [1638. 
 
 Stuarts, to impose another book of prayers on the 
 Scottish church.* 
 
 * The Countryman's Letter to the Curate; Sir G. Mackenzie's Vindi- 
 cation, p. 9; Dr. M'Crie's Miscellaneous Writings, p. 277. The English 
 liturgy was not introduced into Scotland till about 1711. Attempts 
 were made to introduce it in 1707, but neither then, nor for several years 
 afterwards, was it generally used, many of the episcopal clergy being 
 greatly opposed to it, and continuing till their death to conduct the wor- 
 ship much after the presbyterian form. (Defers History of the Union, 
 Preface, 20-27. MSS. penes me.) 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Bishops' war Preparations of the covenanters Encampment at 
 Dunse Law Pacification at Birks General assembly 163.') Private 
 meetings Lord and Lady Loudoun Civil war renewed by Charles. 
 
 IT does not fall within the scope of these sketches to 
 enter on a minute description of the hostilities which 
 commenced shortly after the dissolution of the Glas- 
 gow assembly of 1638, or to settle the much dis- 
 puted question, Who began the civil war? Those 
 acquainted with the numerous causes which con- 
 spired to bring about this collision, will not place 
 much weight on the meeting of that assembly. It 
 has been alleged by many that Charles' concessions 
 were such as ought to have satisfied the Scots; but 
 they well knew that these concessions were not sin- 
 cere, that he only waited the opportunity to retract 
 them, and that he had been all the time making war- 
 like preparations to prostrate their liberties at his feet. 
 One thing is certain, that whoever may have been to 
 blame in commencing hostilities, the Scots used every 
 effort to prevent, and showed every disposition to ter- 
 minate them. Aware that their proceedings at Glas- 
 gow would be misrepresented, and eagerly taken ad- 
 vantage of, they sent up a supplication to the king, 
 
244; THE BISHOPS'* WAR. [1639. 
 
 in which they most humbly and respectfully explained 
 the reasons of their conduct. All, however, was of 
 no avail. No sooner was it known at court that the 
 assembly had continued to sit after being discharged 
 by the commissioner, than the king meditated re- 
 venge. He was so highly incensed at the covenan- 
 ters, says Burnet, that "he resolved neither to think 
 nor talk of treating with them, till he should ap- 
 pear among them in a more formidable position." 
 They had touched him on the tender point of the 
 royal prerogative. As the champion of prelacy he 
 deemed himself bound in conscience to resent the 
 insult offered to the order. In short, his pride was 
 piqued, and nothing would satisfy him but uncondi- 
 tional submission. The only answer he made, on 
 reading their supplication was, " When they have 
 broken my head, they will put on my cowl."" He 
 immediately raised an army in England, with which 
 he advanced to the border, ordered a fleet to block- 
 ade the Firth of Forth, and despatched the marquis 
 of Hamilton with another army, to land in the 
 north, and join the forces under the command of the 
 marquis of Huntly. As the parliament of England, 
 with whom Charles had -also quarrelled, refused to 
 grant him supplies for this outrageous undertaking, 
 the bishops, by the advice of Laud, came forward 
 with large contributions. The inferior clergy in the 
 English church declined all interference in the 
 quarrel; but the papists, who expected everything 
 from the triumph of the king's party, and acted 
 under the private directions of the queen, were not 
 slow in contributing to the object.* The war thus 
 
 * Clarendon's State Papers, vol. ii. ; Hardwick's State Papers, vol. ii. 
 pp. 1 18-124, &.c. ; Prynne's Hidden Works of Darkness, p. 177, &c. 
 
] 639.] THE BISHOPS' WAR. 245 
 
 commenced, having been instigated by the advice, 
 and supported by the money, of the prelates, and 
 being, moreover, mainly designed to support their 
 episcopal pretensions, was commonly called by the 
 English the " bishops 1 war,"" and Charles was termed 
 in ridicule, " Canterbury's knight." 
 
 The posture of Scotland at this crisis was suffi- 
 ciently alarming; but our fathers were not to be 
 intimidated. They would not submit to be trampled 
 on by a bigoted court, and an infuriated bench of 
 bishops. " Certainly," says Baillie, " our dangers 
 were greater than we might let our people conceive ; 
 but the truth is, we lived by faith in God, we knew 
 the goodness of our cause, and we were resolved to 
 stand to it at all hazards whatsoever, knowing the 
 worst to be a glorious death for the cause of God 
 and our dear country." Animated by such pious 
 and patriotic sentiments, the nation rose almost 
 simultaneously, and made vigorous preparations for 
 meeting the threatened invasion. Charles, who had 
 boasted in his letters and proclamations that he 
 would force the Scots to unconditional submission, 
 soon discovered the truth, of which the marquis of 
 Hamilton forewarned him, that " while the fire-edge 
 was upon the Scottish spirits, it would not prove an 
 easy task to tame them."* An army was soon 
 levied, by the orders of parliament, and placed under 
 the command of general Leslie, a brave old veteran 
 who had been trained to war under that noble 
 champion of protestantism, Gustavus Adolphus, king 
 of Sweden. Beacons were erected along the coun- 
 try, so constructed, that when a fire was lighted at 
 the foot of a long pole, they were to stand to their 
 
 * Burnetts Memoirs of the Duke of Hamilton, p. 140. 
 
246 THE BISHOPS' WAR. [1639. 
 
 arms; when another fire was kindled on a grate 
 fixed to a transverse beam, they were to repair to 
 their regiments; and in case of imminent danger, 
 the whole army was summoned to the scene of ac- 
 tion by the lighting of a tar-barrel placed on the top 
 of the pole. By a series of vigorous measures, the 
 covenanters soon made themselves masters of all 
 the fortified places in Scotland. Apprehending 
 danger from the king's fleet, they took care to fortify 
 the town of Leith; and such was the zeal manifested 
 by all classes, that about one thousand five hundred 
 of both sexes, including ladies as well as gentlemen, 
 wrought in the trenches till the fortifications were 
 completed.* 
 
 But while thus providing for self-defence, the 
 covenanters took care to vindicate themselves from 
 the calumnies of their enemies. } The king having 
 denounced them as traitors and rebels, even before 
 they took up arms, and every effort being used 
 by the bishops to render them odious in the eyes 
 of the English, they published a paper, in which 
 they " take God to witness that religion was the 
 only subject, conscience the motive, and reformation 
 the aim, of their designs; 1 ^ and that they had no 
 intention of invading England, or casting off their 
 
 * " Noblemen, gentlemen, and others wrought at it; and none busier 
 in bearing the rubbish than ladies of honour." (Guthiie's Memoirs,^. 54.) 
 
 f Some of these calumnies, though fully refuted at the time, are re- 
 tailed even to this day. For example, the Glasgow assembly is charged 
 with having restrained the liberty of the press; whereas they only pro- 
 hibited any from printing " anything that concerned the kirk, without 
 authority from the kirk, under the pain of diurch censure a privilege 
 ordinarily used from the time of the reformation. 1 " (Remonstrance of 
 t/te Nobility, &c., 1639, p. 16; Printed Act." of Asscmll>/, 1638.) 
 
 J Information to all Good Christians within the Kingdom of England, 
 p. 4. Edin., 1639. 
 
16o9.] THE BISHOPS' WAR. 247 
 
 dutiful obedience to his majesty's lawful commands. 
 And when they found themselves compelled to take 
 up arms, another paper appeared,* prepared by 
 Henderson, in which the real state of the quarrel 
 was explained, and their conduct in resorting to self- 
 defence vindicated by many unanswerable arguments. 
 At length, the blazing tar-barrel announced that 
 the invasion had taken place. A squadron of 
 twenty-eight ships of war, carrying between five and 
 six thousand English troops, under the marquis of 
 Hamilton, appeared in the Firth of Forth; but the 
 people flocking from all quarters to the point of 
 danger, the fleet was literally pent up on both sides, 
 and the soldiers durst not set a foot on shore. 
 None distinguished themselves more on this occa- 
 sion than old lady Hamilton, the mother of the 
 marquis, who was so zealous a covenanter, that she 
 came on horseback to Leith, at the head of an armed 
 troop, with two pistols at her saddle; protesting, as 
 is affirmed, that she would kill the marquis with her 
 own hand, if he should venture to land in a hostile 
 way: for which purpose, it is said, she had loaded 
 her pistols with balls of gold instead of lead. It is 
 certain she paid him a visit on board his ship, while 
 he lay in the Forth. What passed at this interview 
 we are not informed; but the people augured the 
 best from it. " The son of such a mother,' 1 '' they 
 said, "will do us no harm."^ Hamilton was soon 
 glad to make his escape, when he heard the tid- 
 ings from the borders. The Scots encountered, 
 
 * Instructions for Defensive Arms. Edin., 1639. 
 
 f Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 30. The story about the " balls of gold" 
 rests on the authority of Gordon of Straloch's MS. (none of the purest 
 sources, to be sure) ; but the heroism of the old marchioness is noticed 
 by Spang. (//Yrf. Moluum, p. 357.) 
 
248 ENCAMPMENT AT DUNSE LAW. [1639. 
 
 at Kelso, a part of the English army, much supe- 
 rior to their own in numbers, and at the first on- 
 set the English threw down their arms and fled, 
 with the loss of three hundred men. " It would," 
 says an English writer, " make too much sport with 
 the English courage and bravery, which is so well 
 confirmed in the world, to give an account how like 
 scoundrels this army behaved."* " The English 
 soldiers," says Baillie, " were a great deal more 
 nimble at flying than fighting; and it was difficult 
 to tell whether the arms of their cavalry were more 
 weary with whipping, or their heels with jading 
 their horses." f The real fact was, that the English 
 had no heart in the business. | Whitelocke tells 
 us, that though " the Scots had been proclaimed 
 rebels in England, and a prayer was published, to 
 be used in all the churches against them; yet 
 nothing could alter the opinion of the English 
 officers and private soldiers, who said ' they would 
 not fight to maintain the pride and power of the 
 bishops.' " They had been impressed into the ser- 
 vice against their will ; while the Scots, a nation some- 
 times vanquished, but never subdued, felt at the time, 
 as Baillie says, that they would not have been afraid 
 " though all Europe had been on their borders." 
 
 Encouraged by their success, but still standing on 
 the defensive, the Scots encamped at Dunse Law, a 
 hill near that town, in the beginning of June 1639. 
 
 * Defoe's Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, p. 189. 
 
 f- Baillie's Letters, i. 210, Ban. edit. 
 
 J The king wrote to Hamilton that he was now fully safefied of what 
 that nohleman had told him in the gallery at Whitehall, viz., " That the 
 nobility and gentry of England would never incline to invade Scotland, 
 and thereby begin an offensive war.'''' (Mem. of D. Hamilton, p. 139; 
 Nalson, i. 231.) 
 
 Whitclocke's Memoirs, ut. sup. 
 
1639. 1 ENCAMPMENT AT DUNSE LAW. 249 
 
 The appearance they presented on this occasion is 
 described with such naivete by Baillie, that we can- 
 not give it better than in his own words: 
 
 " It would have done you good to have cast your 
 eyes athort our brave and rich hills as oft as I did 
 with great contentment and joy; for I was there 
 among the rest, having been chosen preacher by the 
 gentlemen of our shire. I carried, as the fashion 
 was, a sword and a couple of Dutch pistols at my 
 saddle; but I promise, for the offence of no man, 
 except a robber in the way; for it was our part alone 
 to pray and preach for the encouragement of our 
 countrymen which I did to my power most cheer- 
 fully. Our regiment lay on the sides of the hill 
 almost round about. Every company had, fleeing at 
 the captain's tent-door, a brave new colour, stamped 
 with the Scottish arms, and this motto, For Christ's 
 Crown and Covenant, in golden letters. Our soldiers 
 were all lusty and full of courage; the most of them 
 stout young ploughmen; great cheerfulness in the 
 face of all. They were clothed in olive or gray plaiden, 
 with bonnets having knots of blue ribands. The 
 captains, who were barons or country gentlemen, 
 were distinguished by blue ribands worn scarf-wise 
 across the body. None of our gentlemen were any- 
 thing the worse of lying some weeks together in 
 their cloaks and boots on the ground. Our meanest 
 soldiers were always served in wheat bread, and a 
 groat would have got them a lamb leg, which was a 
 dainty world to the most of them. We were much 
 obliged to the town of Edinburgh for money: Mr. 
 Harry Rollok, by his sermons, moved them to shake 
 out their purses. Every one encouraged another. 
 The sight of the nobles and their beloved pastors 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
250 ENCAMPMENT AT DUNSE LAW. [1639. 
 
 daily raised their hearts. The good sermons and 
 prayers, morning and evening, under the roof of 
 heaven, to which their drums did call them instead 
 of bells, also Leslie's skill, prudence, and fortune, 
 made them as resolute for battle as could be wished. 
 We were feared that emulation among our nobles 
 might have done harm; but such was the wisdom 
 and authority of that old little crooked soldier (general 
 Leslie), that all, with an incredible submission, gave 
 over themselves to be guided by him, as if he had 
 been the great Solyman. Had you lent your ear in 
 the morning, and especially at even, and heard in 
 the tents the sound of some singing psalms, some 
 praying, and some reading the scripture, ye would 
 have been refreshed. True, there was swearing and 
 cursing and brawling in some quarters, whereat we 
 were grieved; but we hoped, if our camp had been 
 a little settled, to have gotten some way for these 
 misorders. For myself, I never found myself in 
 better temper than I was all that time till my head 
 was again homeward; for I was as a man who had 
 taken my leave from the world, and was resolved to 
 die in that service, without return.' 1 ' 1 * 
 
 Such were the people whom Charles compelled to 
 rise in self-defence. The motto on their banners, 
 FOR CHRIST'S CROWN AND COVENANT,-]- was meant to 
 vindicate their appearance in arms, by proclaiming 
 to the world that it was solely in behalf of the rights 
 of conscience and religion. This gave a religious 
 character to the whole enterprise, which it was of 
 vital importance to keep in view; for Charles and 
 his bishops had taken great pains to represent them 
 
 * Bailee's Letters, i. 211, Ban. edit. 
 
 f That is, for the headship of Christ over his church, and for tUe 
 covenant in support of it. 
 
1639.] ENCAMPMENT AT DUNSE LAW. 251 
 
 as a set of lawless rebels, actuated by a factious spirit, 
 and aiming at the subversion of royal authority. It 
 was chiefly, too, to contradict this calumny, and 
 show the sacredness as well as justness of their 
 quarrel, that the ministers took such a prominent 
 part in the war, both in the pulpit and in the field, 
 and, I may add, in the cabinet also. From not 
 attending to this circumstance, they have been re- 
 proached, not only by prelatical writers, but by others 
 from whom better things might have been expected. 
 To such as condemn defensive war, even when the 
 dearest rights of a people are invaded, and who 
 would adduce such passages of scripture as : " The 
 weapons of our warfare are not carnal," and, " All 
 they that take the sword shall perish by the sword," 
 which were quoted at the time bv the advocates of 
 
 / 
 
 slavish submission to a despot, with the view of pre- 
 venting a whole nation from using the only weapons 
 by which they could vindicate their civil and religious 
 liberties to such persons we can only reply as one 
 did of old, "We are not careful to answer you in 
 this matter."" Away with such pusillanimity ! Scot- 
 land has ever been a loyal nation ; but touch her on 
 the point of conscience, and it will be found that, like 
 her emblematic thistle, she cannot be touched with 
 impunity. She has ever been more anxious to secure 
 her religious rights than to enjoy civil privileges; her 
 love of liberty has hitherto been entwined with her 
 love of religion ; and if these twin-sisters should ever 
 be dissevered, we fear thattheblowwhichdivides them 
 will prove fatal to both. We shall say no more in 
 vindication of our Scottish ministers, than that their 
 magnanimous spirit in coming to the field, presents a 
 striking contrast to the conduct of the bishops, who, 
 
252 PACIFICATION AT BIRKS. [1639. 
 
 after inciting the unfortunate monarch to fight against 
 his subjects, accompanied him only to York, and then 
 left him, in the hour of peril, to finish as he best 
 might the war which they had urged him to begin.* 
 The issue of the affair at Dunse Law was, that 
 the king, perceiving the determined front opposed 
 to him, and his own troops daily deserting, proposed 
 a negotiation for peace. Commissioners from the 
 army of the covenant, among whom were the earls 
 of Rothes and Loudoun, and Alexander Henderson, 
 having first required a safe-conduct under the king's 
 own hand, were admitted to an audience with his 
 majesty, in his camp at Birks, on the south side of 
 the Tweed; and upon being required to state their 
 demands, Loudoun, falling on his knees, said, that 
 "they^only asked to enjoy their religion and liberties, 
 according to the ecclesiastical and civil laws of the 
 kingdom." In particular, they entreated that the 
 acts of the late asseihbly at Glasgow should be rati- 
 fied by parliament; that all matters ecclesiastical 
 should be determined by the assemblies of the kirk, 
 and matters civil by parliament; and that those in- 
 cendiaries who had endeavoured to set two neigh- 
 bour kingdoms at variance might be tried by the 
 laws of their country, and punished according to 
 their deserts. A treaty was at length agreed upon, 
 of a very general and ambiguous description, but 
 which the covenanters, in their extreme desire of 
 peace, gratefully accepted. } The commissioners 
 
 * Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, p. 1!>9. 
 
 f " In the course of the negotiation, the Scots told the king that if he 
 would give them leave to enjoy their religion and their laws, they would, 
 at their own expense, transport their army to assist iu the recovery of 
 the Palatinate a memorable circumstance unnoticed by historians." 
 (Macaulay's Jhst., ii. 295; tiydwi/'s Slate Papers, ii. GO'-'.) 
 
1639.] LOYALTY OF THE PRESBYTERIANS. 253 
 
 were sumptuously entertained by the officers of 
 the king's army: Bothes kept them all in good 
 humour by his jests and anecdotes; and thus, 
 as one of the English wits observed, the bishops 
 were beaten on this occasion, " neither by civil law, 
 nor by canon law, but by Dunse Law." The com- 
 missioners returned, thankful for, rather than proud 
 of, their success, and the army was disbanded, 
 though, having intelligence of a treacherous design 
 to break the treaty, they still kept the officers on 
 half-pay. " Yea," says Baillie, who was a high 
 loyalist, though a stanch covenanter, " had we been 
 ten times victorious in set battles, it was our conclu- 
 sion to have laid down our army at his feet, and on 
 our knees presented nought but our first supplica- 
 tions. We had no other end of our wars; we sought 
 no crowns; we aimed at no lands and honours; we 
 desired but to keep our own in the service of our 
 prince, as our ancestors had done; we loved no new 
 masters. Had our throne been void, and our voices 
 been sought for the filling of Fergus' chair, we 
 would have died ere any had sitten down on that 
 fatal marble but Charles alone."* Such, we have 
 reason to believe, were the sentiments of the whole 
 Scottish nation at this time. Such was their loyalty, 
 as it appears in all their public papers, and, as it 
 was proved, through all the political changes that 
 followed, down to the restoration of Charles II., 
 which was brought about mainly by the presbyterians. 
 And such were the men who are stigmatized, to this 
 day as republican and anti-monarchical rebels! 
 
 Charles, we may easily believe, was much morti- 
 fied at being compelled to treat with men whom he 
 
 * Buillie's Letters, i. 215. 
 
254 GENERAL ASSEMBLY. [1639 
 
 had doomed to destruction; and he resolved, on the 
 first opportunity, to break through all his engage- 
 ments. He began by blaming the Scots for not dis- 
 charging their officers, and for pressing the covenant 
 upon his subjects. To these complaints it was an- 
 swered, that as general Leslie, and those who had 
 accompanied him, had relinquished their posts of 
 honour and profit in Sweden to serve their native 
 country, they judged themselves bound in honour to 
 give them entertainment; and that as to the cove- 
 nant, they could aver that none had, to their know- 
 ledge, been forced to subscribe it. The king 
 then attempted a new stratagem: he sent an order 
 for fourteen of the leading noblemen and ministers 
 to hold a conference with him at Berwick, with the 
 purpose, there can be no doubt, of entrapping them. 
 Six of the number waited on his majesty, but he de- 
 clined imparting his pleasure till the whole fourteen 
 were present; and the six were dismissed, like 
 Joseph's brethren, upon promise that they should 
 return and bring up the rest with them. This step 
 excited the utmost alarm in Edinburgh: they had 
 now begun to distrust the king in everything; they 
 suspected a plot against their leaders; and when the 
 fourteen, among whom was Mr. Henderson, were 
 setting out on their way to Berwick, they were stop- 
 ped at the Watergate by a multitude of the lower 
 classes, who took their horses from them, and ordered 
 them to stay at home an order which, as may bo 
 supposed, they were not very unwilling to obey.* 
 
 Notwithstanding this affront, by which he was 
 deeply offended, the king found himself obliged to 
 
 * A True Representation of the Proceedings of the Kingdome of Scot- 
 land since the late Pacification. Printed in year of God ll ? 40, p. '21. 
 
1639.J GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 255 
 
 sanction a meeting of the general assembly, which 
 was appointed to be held at Edinburgh, in August 
 1639. The earl of Traquair was sent as commis- 
 sioner, with secret instructions to prevent, if possible, 
 the condemnation of episcopacy, and to protest, at 
 the close of the assembly, that any concessions made 
 by him, with which the king might be dissatisfied, 
 " his majesty should be heard for redress thereof, in 
 his own time and place." The assembly was placed 
 in a somewhat awkward predicament, in consequence 
 of an agreement entered into by the Scots commis- 
 sioners at the pacification at Birks, that no reference 
 should be made to the proceedings of the Glasgow 
 meeting. This agreement, however, which showed 
 their ardent desire for a peaceful settlement of the 
 contention, was qualified at the time by a declaration, 
 that though his majesty could not approve the Glas- 
 gow assembly, it was not his majesty's mind that any 
 of the presbyterians " should be thought to disap- 
 prove or depart from the same." Accordingly, when 
 Traquair would have had them consider all that was 
 done against the bishops at that time as null and 
 void, the assembly firmly answered, that they were 
 careful not to offend the king by requiring any 
 formal approbation on his part of the Glasgow assem- 
 bly; but that, " while tliey breathed., they would not 
 pass from that assembly." Finding them deter- 
 mined, the commissioner, to their great joy and 
 astonishment, announced his seemingly gracious con- 
 cessions, and, with consummate duplicity, pledged 
 himself, in his sovereign's name, to sanction an act 
 of assembly, embracing all the points for which the 
 covenanters had struggled, assenting to the abolition 
 of episcopacy and of all the innovations and evils 
 
GENERAL ASSEMBLY. [1639. 
 
 condemned by the Glasgow assembly, and undertook 
 to get this act ratified in parliament. This artifice 
 succeeded : the suspicions of the presbyterians were 
 lulled, and the declaration of the commissioner threw 
 them into raptures of devout joy and chivalrous 
 loyalty. The stern heroes of the covenant were 
 melted into tears; and the venerable patriarchs of 
 the old presbyterian church, who had served at her 
 altars for half a century, and who had mourned her 
 degradation in silent sorrow or sad captivity, poured 
 out their hearts in thanksgiving to God and the king 
 in the most affecting terms.* 
 
 " Old Mr. John Row being called upon, with tears, 
 said, ' I bless, I glorify, I magnify the God of heaven 
 and earth, that has pitied this poor church, and 
 given us such matter of joy and consolation; and 
 the Lord make us thankful, first, to our gracious 
 and loving God, and next, obedient subjects to his 
 majesty. 1 
 
 " Mr John Weymes, being called on, could scarce 
 get a word spoken for tears trickling down along his 
 gray hairs, like drops of rain or dew upon the top 
 of the tender grass; and yet withal smiling for joy, 
 he said, ' I do remember of a glorious reformation in 
 Scotland. I do remember when the kirk of Scot- 
 land had a beautiful face. I remember since there 
 was a great power and life accompanying the ordi- 
 nances of God, and a wonderful work and operation 
 upon the hearts of the people. This mine eyes did 
 ibee: mine eyes did see a fearful defection after, pro- 
 cured by our sins; and no more did I wish, before 
 mine eyes were closed, but to have seen such a beau- 
 tiful day as, to my great comfort, I now see this day, 
 
 * Records of the Kirk of Scotland, p. 273. 
 
1639.] GENERAL ASSEMBLY. 257 
 
 and that, under the conduct and favour of our king's 
 majesty. Blessed for evermore be our Lord and 
 King, Jesus; and the blessing of God be upon his 
 majesty, and the Lord make us thankful!' 
 
 " The moderator (David Dickson) said, ' I believe 
 the king's majesty made never the heart of any so 
 blyth in giving them a bishoprick, as he has made 
 the heart of that reverend man joyful in putting 
 them away. Would God the king's majesty had a 
 part of our joy that we have this day!'" * 
 
 The same assembly condemned the book entitled 
 the " King's Large Declaration," and understood to 
 be the production of Dr. Balcanqual, as an infamous 
 libel, " dishonourable to God, to the king's majesty, 
 and to the national kirk, and stuffed full of lies and 
 calumnies." To crown their triumph, they obtained 
 the sanction of the commissioner and of th.6 Scottish 
 privy council to the covenant as it had been sworn 
 the preceding year; and it was accordingly ordered 
 to be subscribed by all ranks and classes within the 
 kingdom. 
 
 So much has been said about the Scottish presby- 
 terians at this period compelling: the lieges to swear 
 the covenant, that a few words may be necessary to 
 explain this part of their history. We have already 
 seen that, at first, no compulsion was used, with the 
 consent either of the church or of the parliament, 
 in imposing the covenant. Aberdeen was almost 
 the only town that could complain of being forced 
 into the bond; and for this the Aberdonians had 
 themselves to blame, having taken up arms against 
 the covenanters, and thus set themselves against the 
 
 * MS. Journal of the General Assembly 1G39 (penes me), p. 37'2; Re- 
 cords of the Kirk, p. 251. 
 
258 MUNRO ENFORCES THE COVENANT. [1639. 
 
 whole country.* So that when Montrose was sent, 
 in 1639, to that "unnatural toun," as it was called, 
 he took it upon himself, without any authority, to 
 compel the bailies and chief persons to subscribe the 
 covenant. The same conduct, we regret to say, was 
 followed by colonel Munro, a Highland gentleman, 
 who had distinguished himself abroad, and who, 
 being accustomed to pillage in the German wars, 
 suppressed the king's adherents in the north with 
 unjustifiable severity. Having been sent to Aber- 
 deen to oppose the marquis of Huntly and the earl 
 of Aboyne, who were levying forces and fortifying 
 that part of the country against the covenanters, the 
 colonel's first exploit, for which he had no warrant 
 from church or state, was to impose the covenant on 
 all whom he suspected of disaffection: and for diso- 
 bedience to this injunction, Mr. Irvine of Drum, and 
 twelve other gentlemen, with twenty-six burgesses 
 of Aberdeen, were sent up as prisoners to Edinburgh, 
 
 * The following letter affords decided evidence that the leaders of the 
 covenant had not the slightest intention of enforcing it by civil pains 
 and penalties. It was written by the earl of Rothes to his cousin, 
 Patrick Leslie, who was provost of Aberdeen: " LOVING COUSIN, 
 Because your town of Aberdeen is now the only burgh in Scotland that 
 hath not subscribed the Confession of Faith [so the covenant was then 
 termed], and all the good they can obtain thereby is, that if we sail fairly, 
 as there is very good condition offered, they shall be under perpetual igno- 
 miny, and the doctors that are unsound punished by the assemlly; and if 
 things go to extremity because they refuse, and in hopes of the marquis of 
 Huntly "s help, the king will perhaps send in some ship or ships and men 
 there, as a sure place; and if that be good for the country judge ye of it. 
 
 It is but a fighting against the high God to resist this course Do 
 
 all the good ye can in that town and the country about : ye will not re- 
 pent it ; and attend my lord Montrose, who is a noble and true-hearted 
 
 cavalier I am your friend and cousin, ROTHES. Leslie, \2>th 
 
 July 1638." (Rothes* Relation, App., p. '216.) The passage in the above 
 letter respecting the marquis of Montrose, who at this time professed 
 great zeal for the covenant, is worthy of notice. AVe shall find this 
 " noble and true-hearted cavalier" appearing, a few years after this, in 
 his true colours. 
 
I 639. | THE COVENANTERS NO PERSECUTORS. 259 
 
 till, as Munro said, " they should learn to speak the 
 country language." These are the only instances in 
 which we hear of any severe measures to enforce the 
 covenant ; and when it is considered that they were 
 adopted during the heat of a civil war, and com- 
 mitted, in the first instance, by one who proved a 
 renegade, and in the other, by a rough soldier of 
 fortune, who had no notion of conscientious scruples 
 in the matter, they are hardly worth the indignation 
 that has been wasted on them. 
 
 But why, it may be asked, did they procure an 
 order to enforce subscription to the covenant by civil 
 pains and penalties? Far be it from us to defend 
 persecution for religious opinions, or to justify the 
 covenanters in any instance where it can be shown 
 they were guilty of this ; but to form a candid judg- 
 ment on the question, we must consider the circum- 
 stances in which our fathers were placed. In a time 
 of civil war, it is found necessary to administer tests 
 and exact compliances, which would be thought into- 
 lerable in a time of peace; and as this war was raised 
 entirely on religious grounds, the covenant, which was 
 intended as a bond of mutual defence and confedera- 
 tion, was the only effectual means of distinguishing 
 friends from foes. Had there been a party in the 
 country conscientiously opposed to presbytery, and 
 yet favourable to the struggle made by the.presby- 
 terians for civil liberty, a civil test would have been 
 quite sufficient. But no such party existed. Those 
 opposed to presbytery, were all the advocates and 
 abettors of civil despotism; those who would not 
 abjui'e prelacy, would have wreathed around the 
 necks of their countrymen the galling chains of civil 
 and ecclesiastical thraldom. The name of maliq- 
 
2GO THE COVENANTERS NO PERSECUTORS. [1639. 
 
 nants, which this party now acquired, shows the light 
 in which they were generally regarded. But the 
 best vindication of the presbyterians is to be found 
 in their actual practice. Though they considered 
 it necessary to obtain the sanction of the civil power 
 to the covenant, by which it was constituted a legal 
 and national deed, and though severe laws were 
 afterwards passed against those who refused sub- 
 scription to it, which cannot in themselves be de- 
 fended, yet it is not possible to point to a single in- 
 stance in which any were put to death; and very few 
 instances occurred in which any were subjected to 
 hardships for refusing to subscribe it. 
 
 Superficial thinkers have been accustomed to in- 
 dulge in sage reflections on the intolerance of our 
 Scottish ancestors; professing to wonder that, on 
 escaping from persecution, they should have become 
 persecutors themselves; and charitably concluding 
 that, had they possessed the power, they would, like 
 all dominant sects, have abused it as much as their 
 opponents. As their history becomes better under- 
 stood, such sentiments are found 10 require consider- 
 able qualification. Men of sense and candour, 
 guided by the spirit of a less flimsy religion, and the 
 light of a sounder philosophy, are beginning to dis- 
 cover that the intolerance of the covenanters, if it 
 indeed deserves that name, was all on the side of 
 liberty; that the power which they claimed was 
 wielded in the promotion of morality and liberal 
 education; and that their measures, severe and 
 trenchant as they may be thought, if successful, 
 would have issued in the entire demolition of civil 
 and ecclesiastical tyranny. 
 
 The proceedings of the general assembly of 1 G<>9, 
 
1640.] EARL OF LOU DOUN'S DANGER. 261 
 
 while they diffused general joy through Scotland, 
 gave mortal offence to the king, who blamed his 
 commissioner for having exceeded his instructions, 
 so that when the Scottish parliament met for the 
 purpose of ratifying the acts of assembly, they were 
 prorogued by royal mandate till June 1640.* Against 
 this arbitrary proceeding the members remonstrated, 
 and sent the earl of Loudoun, with other deputies, to 
 London, to lay their grievances at the foot of the 
 throne. The result was, that Loudoun was sent to 
 the Tower on a charge of high treason ; and if we are 
 to believe the secret history of the period, the king 
 resolved to despatch him privately, without trial or 
 even charge, after the manner of an Eastern sultan. 
 About three o'clock in the afternoon he sent an order 
 to sir William Balfour, the lieutenant of the Tower, 
 to see lord Loudoun's head struck off within the 
 prison before nine the next morning. When the 
 sentence was communicated to the prisoner, he 
 heard it with the utmost composure; but the lieu- 
 tenant, anxious to save him from death, and his 
 majesty from disgrace, apprized the marquis of 
 Hamilton, and both immediately repaired to the 
 king, whom they found in bed, and earnestly be- 
 sought him to reverse the warrant. At first Charles 
 stormed, and declared, with an oath, that it should 
 be executed; but on Hamilton setting before him 
 the danger of the measure, he yielded, and sullenly 
 tore the warrant in pieces. -f* 
 
 * Even this parliament the king refused to sanction. The estates, 
 however, met at the time appointed, June, 1640, and, in the absence of 
 the king's commissioner, voted themselves a legal parliament, and amorg 
 other acts, ratified the general assembly at Glasgow, and rescinded all 
 laws in favour of prelacy. 
 
 t Burnet's Mem. of Hamilton, p. 161 ; Rushworth, iii. 99; Oldmb.on's 
 
2G2 LADY LOUDOUN. [1640. 
 
 We notice this incident chiefly for the purpose ot 
 introducing another, not so generally known, regard- 
 ing the lady of this illustrious nobleman. On hear- 
 ing of her husband's imprisonment, lady Loudoun 
 presented in person a petition to the Scottish parlia- 
 ment, beseeching them to interfere in his behalf, 
 from consideration of the loss which his family and 
 the country would sustain by his death. The par- 
 liament having cheerfully acceded to this request, 
 her ladyship returned them thanks. " But," said the 
 heroine, " I hope your lordships will not suffer your 
 loving apprehension of my husband's danger to 
 restrain you from any course which your lordships 
 think advantageous for the kirk and kingdom. To 
 these I desire your lordships to have regard only, 
 and never to prejudice them in the least, for any 
 compassionate consideration of my dear husband's 
 suffering."* Had this speech been delivered by 
 the lady of a cavalier, it would, doubtless, have called 
 forth universal and unbounded admiration. But 
 lady Loudoun was a covenanter; and it is probable 
 that, in certain quarters, this will share the fate of 
 similar instances of female heroism and self-denial 
 at this period, which our high church historians 
 can only account for on the supposition that these 
 ladies, in their zeal for securing to their husbands 
 the crown of martyrdom, must have been contem- 
 plating the advantages of a second match ! Such 
 writers are as incapable of appreciating the sacred 
 enthusiasm of these high-spirited women as they 
 
 England, i. 140; Scots Staggering State, &c. "This is so extraordinary 
 an event," says Mr. Brodie, " that I rejected it in the first instance : but 
 on a maturer reflection, I have seen it in a different light." (Hist. British 
 Empire, ii. 515.) 
 
 * MS. Register of Rescinded Acts, 1640, in Register Office. 
 
1640.] PRIVATE MEETINGS. 263 
 
 are of understanding the manly principl&s which 
 animated their husbands and brothers in this glorious 
 cause. 
 
 While thus involved in outward trouble, the.pres- 
 byterians were threatened with intestine discord, 
 from a dispute which arose in ] 639 regarding pri- 
 vate meetings. During the tyranny of the prelates, 
 it had been customary for religious persons, particu- 
 larly in Ireland, to meet in private houses for prayer 
 and Christian conference; and the Scottish exiles, on 
 returning home from that country after the expul- 
 sion of the bishops, felt naturally desirous to keep 
 up these meetings, from which they had derived 
 much comfort in the time of their troubles. Some 
 of them are said to have been tinctured with Brown- 
 ism or Independency, and they were accused of 
 various excesses and disorders. It seems unques- 
 tionable, that some of the more forward had, in their 
 zeal for such means of private edification, spoken in 
 disrespectful terms of the ordinary ministry, or of 
 some ministers who had opposed them. This roused 
 the ire of Mr. Harry Guthrie, minister of Stirling, 
 and afterwards bishop of Dunkeld, who brought the 
 matter for adjudication before the assembly which met 
 at Aberdeen in July 1610. The consequence was, a 
 keen dispute, in which Samuel Rutherford defended 
 the private meetings; while Calderwood, who, from 
 having witnessed the extravagances of the Brownists 
 in Holland, entertained a great dread of anything 
 approaching to Independency, argued against them. 
 Much to the dissatisfaction of many, this assembly 
 condemned the practice; but the question having 
 been renewed in the assembly of 164*1, was amicably 
 settled by their agreeing to certain regulations, 
 
264 TREATY AT LONDON. [1640. 
 
 drawn up by Henderson, for preventing the abuse 
 of such meetings.* 
 
 It is needless, as it is painful, to dwell on the 
 subsequent proceedings of the infatuated monarch. 
 Yielding to the solicitations of his prelatical coun- 
 sellors, and having obtained funds from them for 
 renewing the war, Charles once more, in spite of all 
 his promises, denounced the Scots as rebels, and, 
 without any provocation, prepared to invade the 
 country. On this occasion the Scottish army did 
 not wait his approach, but entered England, and 
 encountering the enemy at Newburn, gained an- 
 other decisive victory on the 28th of August 1640. 
 The result was another treaty, begun at Ripon, and 
 afterwards transferred to London. Mr. Henderson 
 having been included among the commissioners for 
 conducting this treaty, it was deemed advisable by 
 the general assembly that he should be accompanied 
 by some of the ablest of his brethren, who might be 
 useful in combating the errors of the times, and de- 
 vising means for settling the unhappy differences 
 which prevailed. The persons selected for this 
 purpose were Mr. Robert Baillie, Mr. George Gil- 
 lespie, and Mr. Robert Blair, who set out in high 
 spirits for the English metropolis. " We rode," 
 says Baillie, in a letter to his wife, " upon little nags, 
 each attended by his servant. We were by the way 
 at great expenses; their inns are all like palaces; 
 and no marvel they extortion their guests. For 
 three meals, coarse enough, we would pay, together 
 with our horses, sixteen or seventeen pound sterling, 
 and some three dishes of creevishes, like little par- 
 
 * Guthrie's Memoirs, p. 78, etseq.; Baillie 's Letters, i. p. 107; M'Crie'a 
 Miscellaneous Writings, p. 38, Ap. ii. ; Records of the Kirk, p. 294. 
 
1640.] TREATY AT LONDON. 265 
 
 tans, two and forty shillings sterling." Such was 
 the humble guise in which the founders of the so- 
 lemn league went up to London, where they found 
 everything prepared for an important change. " Mr. 
 Blair and I," says Baillie, " preached to our commis- 
 sioners at home; for we had no clothes for outgoing. 
 Many ministers used greater freedom than ever here 
 was heard of. Episcopacy itself beginning to be cried 
 down, and a covenant cried up, and a liturgy to be 
 scorned. The town of London, and a world of men, 
 mind to present a petition, which I have seen, for 
 the abolition of bishops, deans, and all their apper- 
 teanances. Huge things are here in working! All 
 here are weary of bishops."* But to form a proper 
 idea of the causes which led to this revolution, the 
 scene must now be transferred for a little to Eng- 
 land. 
 
 * Baillie "S Letters, i. 271, 274, Ban. edit. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The scene changes to England The star chamber Irish massacre The 
 long parliament The solemn league and covenant Westminster as- 
 sembly George Gillespie Westminster standards Presbyterianisin 
 in England Presbyterianism in Ireland Erastianism and sectarian- 
 
 FROM the unhappy hour when judicial toleration was 
 granted to popery, on the arrival of Charles 1 queen 
 in England, there followed a series of arbitrary 
 measures which alarmed the jealousy of the English 
 nation. Archbishop Laud, who ruled the church 
 with a rod of iron, had been striving to reintroduco 
 the worst errors of Romanism, and whatever might 
 be his private motives, it was evident to all that the 
 real tendency of his measures was to restore the 
 authority of the pope. The proceedings of the in- 
 famous star chamber, over which he presided, had 
 roused the indignation of all classes. Many of the 
 best ministers in the land had been imprisoned, pil- 
 loried, or driven into banishment, for nonconformity. 
 Multitudes of people, despairing of religious liberty 
 at home, had submitted to voluntary exile, and fled 
 to America, where they planted a colony in New 
 England. Even this last resource was grudged 
 them, and means were taken to prevent the emigra- 
 
1630.] THE STAR CHAMBER. 267 
 
 tion of the puritans, as they were called. Among 
 the rest, it is said, two individuals who had incurred 
 the vengeance of the prelates, were on the point of 
 embarking for the New World, when the government 
 issued orders to prohibit the ship from sailing these 
 were John Hampden and Oliver Cromwell. And 
 thus, if the report be true, in the inscrutable ar- 
 rangements of Heaven, it was ordered that these 
 persons should remain to act their distinguished part 
 in the revolution which followed; and that the royal 
 party should, in pursuance of their own reckless 
 policy, forcibly detain the very instruments destined 
 for their own destruction. 
 
 As a specimen of the cruelties exercised by the 
 star chamber, we may notice their treatment of Dr. 
 Alexander Leighton, father of the celebrated arch- 
 bishop of that name. This worthy man, who was a 
 professor of divinity in St. Andrews, was apprehend- 
 ed in London, at the instigation of Laud, and on the 
 charge of having published a book, entitled " Zion's 
 Plea against the Prelacy," was thrown into prison. 
 There he lay in a filthy hole, infested with vermin, 
 for fifteen weeks; and when served with his libel, he 
 was reduced to such a state of distress, that his hair 
 and skin had come off his body, and he was unable 
 to appear at the bar. In this wretched condition he 
 was condemned, unheard, to suffer the following sen- 
 tence in November 1630. On hearing it pronounced, 
 we are told that Laud " pulled off his cap and gave 
 God thanks;" but the bare recital of it, in the peti- 
 tion of Dr. Leighton, some years afterwards, at the 
 trial of the archbishop, sent such a thrill of horror 
 through the parliament, that the clerk was repeatedly 
 ordered to stop till the members had recovered them- 
 
268 THE STAR CHAMBER. [1637. 
 
 selves. " This horrid sentence was to be inflicted 
 with knife, fire, and whip, at and upon the pillory, 
 with ten thousand pounds fine; which some of the 
 lords of court conceived could never be inflicted, but 
 only that it was imposed on a dying man to terrify 
 others. But Laud and his creatures caused the sen- 
 tence to be executed with a witness; for the hang- 
 man was animated with strong drink all the night 
 before in the prison, and with threatening words, to 
 do it cruelly. Your petitioner's hands being tied to 
 a stake, besides all other torments, he received 
 thirty-six stripes with a treble cord; after which he 
 stood almost two hours in the pillory, in cold, frost, 
 and snow, and then suffered the rest, as cutting off 
 the ear, firing the face, and slitting up the nose. He 
 was made a spectacle of misery to men and angels. 
 And on that day sevennight, the sores upon his 
 back, ears, and face not being cured, he was again 
 whipped at the pillory in Cheapside, and there had 
 the remainder of the sentence executed, by cutting 
 off the other ear, slitting up the other nostril, and 
 branding the other cheek !"* 
 
 In June 1637, similar punishments were inflicted 
 on Mr. Prynne, Dr. Bastwick, and Mr. Burton, three 
 eminent puritans, whose only crime was writing 
 against Laud and his ceremonies. The generous 
 spirit of the English people revolted at such exhibi- 
 tions, which only rendered their perpetrators odious, 
 and prepared the way for their downfal. The suf- 
 ferers at the pillory, instead of being mocked by the 
 spectators, met with their cordial sympathy; and 
 symptoms began to appear, very plainly indicating 
 that had Laud been placed in the same degrading 
 
 * XeiJ'a Hist, of the Puritans, ii. 3!'5; Ludlow's Tracts, p. 23. 
 
1641.] IRISH MASSACRE. 269 
 
 position, with his " mean sallow visage, pinched 
 features, and peering eyes," the very picture of the 
 superstitious littleness of his mind, the spectacle 
 would have been hailed with shouts of universal 
 satisfaction.* 
 
 In 1641, an event occurred which awakened the 
 whole population of England, as well as Scotland, to 
 a full sense of the danger to which their religion and 
 liberties were exposed we refer to the horrible mas- 
 sacre of the protestants of Ireland by the Roman 
 catholics. The exact amount of the share which 
 Charles had in this infamous transaction is involved 
 in considerable perplexity;^ but certain it is, that 
 the avowed object of the leaders in the insurrection 
 was to subjugate the parliament of England and the 
 Scots army, and make common cause with the king 
 in his struggle for arbitrary power. Religious ran- 
 cour, goaded by superstition, lent its energies to this 
 design. The ignorant natives, schooled by their 
 priests into the belief that they would merit heaven 
 
 * New Discovery of the Prelates' Tyranny, in their late Prosecutions 
 of Dr. Bastwick, Mr. Burton, and Mr. Prynne; Ludlow's Tracts, p. 25. 
 
 j- The truth of history requires us to state, that not only was Charles 
 strongly suspected at the time of having encouraged the rebellion, but that 
 evidence exists calculated to leave the dark stigma uneffaced from his 
 character. It is certain that the rebels produced a commission, with the 
 Jdng's broad seal attached to it, in vindication of their atrocities; and it 
 is equally certain that Charles granted commissions under the great seal, 
 empowering the Irish leaders to take up arms in his behalf. (Rcid^s His- 
 tory of Presb. Church in Ireland., ii. 303.) It is stated, on what appears 
 the strongest authority, that when the marquis of Antrim pleaded for the 
 restoration of his estates in the reign of Charles II., the ground of his 
 claim was, that Charles I. had given his consent and authority for what 
 he had done ; and that the letter was read before parliament, and pro- 
 duced a general silence. (Calannfs Life of Baxter, p. 143.) This is con- 
 firmed by further evidence in Bonnet's Memorial of the Reformation, p. 
 190. See also " Declaration of the Commons assembled in Parliament, 
 Concerning the Rise and Progress of the Grand Rebellion in Ireland." 
 London, 1C43. 
 
270 IRISH MASSACRE. [1641. 
 
 by putting the heretics to death, received the sacra- 
 ment before commencing the work of carnage, and 
 they swore they would not leave a protestant alive 
 in the kingdom. The scene of slaughter opened on 
 the 23d of October 1641, and continued without in- 
 termission for several months. The protestants of 
 Ulster were attacked with a savage ferocity unpa- 
 ralleled in the annals of civilization. No mercy was 
 shown to sex or rank, age or infancy. The mother 
 was reserved only to see her helpless children 
 butchered before her eyes, and then to suffer the 
 same fate. Some wretches were prevailed upon, by 
 the promise of life, to become the executioners of 
 their dearest relatives; and after having incurred 
 this tremendous guilt, were executed in their turn. 
 Others, after being tempted by the same promise 
 to disown their faith and conform to the popish rites, 
 were coolly told, that, lest they should relapse, it 
 would be charity to send them immediately to heaven, 
 and were forthwith put to death. In these tragical 
 scenes the women, under the influence of religious 
 frenzy, were as active as the men; and mere child- 
 ren, hardly able to wield the knife, were urged by 
 their parents to stain their little hands in blood. 
 But time would fail us to recount the cruelties and 
 indignities committed on the unhappy protestants.* 
 
 * Tlie bare mention of these execrable atrocities is enough to make the 
 ears tingle. Not to speak of the multitudes who perished in the field of 
 battle arid in dungeons, thousands were driven into the water, like so many 
 beasts, and knocked on the head or shot if they attempted to swim for 
 their lives ; others were dragged through the water with ropes about their 
 necks; others buried alive; others hung up by the arms, and gradually 
 slashed to death, to see how many blows an Englishman would endure 
 before he died; women were ripped up their children were thrown to 
 the swine to be devoured before their eyes, or, being taken up by the heels, 
 hud their brains dashed out against trees; while others were found in the 
 
1641.] CHARLES SANCTIONS PEESBYTERY. 271 
 
 Suffice it to add, that at the first outbreak of the re- 
 bellion, according to the lowest computation, forty 
 thousand, while according to other accounts, currently 
 believed at the time, no less than between two and 
 three hundred thousand altogether, fell victims to the 
 vengeance of popery.* 
 
 When the tidings of this massacre reached Scot- 
 land, Charles was in Edinburgh, endeavouring to 
 conciliate the Scots, in the hope of obtaining their 
 aid against the English parliament. With this view 
 he sanctioned all their proceedings against episco- 
 pacy, and even ratified the acts of the Glasgow as- 
 sembly concessions for which he has been severely 
 censured by some historians, and of which he him- 
 self is said to have repented; and yet these very 
 writers, while they allow that he was forced by cir- 
 cumstances into these concessions, and never meant 
 
 fields sucking the breasts of their murdered mothers, and without mercy 
 buried alive. Multitudes were enclosed in houses, which being set on fire, 
 they were miserably consumed in the flames, or cut to pieces on attempt- 
 ing to escape ! These fearful butcheries, accompanied with the most 
 hellish blasphemies and imprecations on the part of the murderers, and 
 the most heart-rending shrieks and lamentations from their terrified vic- 
 tims, present a scene unparalleled in British history, and only next in 
 horror to the massacre of St. Bartholomew in France. 
 
 * Sir John Temple's History of the Irish Rebellion; Brodie's Hist, of 
 the British Empire, iii. 109; Reid's Hist, of the Presbyterian Church in 
 Ireland, i. 308-33C. Dr. Reid says, " It is vain to hope to discover the ex- 
 act number of protestant sufferers during the first or earliest stage of the 
 rebellion. Suffice it to say, that the lowest probable computation presents 
 an awful sacrifice of human life." We consider forty thousand a very 
 moderate computation indeed, if not " the lowest probable," in estimating 
 the number involved rn a massacre which so many writers have calcu- 
 lated at hundreds of thousands, which almost depopulated the northern 
 counties of Ireland, and which continued, with brief intermission, to rage 
 for two years. Clarendon, who was not likely to put the matter in the 
 worst light for the papists, tells us that " about forty or fifty thousand 
 of the English protestants were murdered before they suspected them- 
 selves to be in any danger ;" and that " an incredible number were de- 
 stroyed." (Clar. Hist., ii. 299.) 
 
272 THE LONG PARLIAMENT. [1641. 
 
 to give them effect, are loud in their condemnation 
 of the Scots, for not giving him credit for his good 
 intentions, and for taking part with the English 
 parliament in the subsequent struggles ! But the 
 charge is as absurd as it is disingenuous. For how 
 could they expect the peaceable enjoyment of their 
 own discipline, so long as Charles continued to wage 
 war with his parliament a war instigated by the 
 counsels of the avowed enemies of the presbyterians, 
 and plainly designed to establish arbitrary power ? 
 The duplicity of the king, and his attachment to 
 prelacy, were too well known to encourage them to 
 place much reliance on professions which, made only 
 in the hour of his need, would be too easily revoked 
 in the event of his success. From the triumph of 
 Charles in such a contest they had nothing to expect 
 but revenge; their only hope, as presbyterians and as 
 patriots, lay in the success of the English parliament. 
 This parliament, so well known in history by the 
 name of the long parliament, has been loaded with 
 such uniform and indiscriminating abuse, that it 
 may surprise our readers to learn that, during the 
 first years of its history, it consisted of independent 
 gentlemen of the most unblemished reputation, and 
 of whom Clarendon himself is obliged to say, " As 
 to religion, they were all members of the establish- 
 ed church, and almost to a man for episcopal govern- 
 ment. Though they were undevoted enough to the 
 court, they had all imaginable duty to the king, and 
 affection for the government established by law or 
 ancient custom; and without doubt, the majority of 
 that body were persons of gravity and wisdom, who, 
 being possessed of great and plentiful fortunes, had 
 no mind to break the peace of the kingdom, or to 
 
1641.J THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 273 
 
 make any considerable alterations of the government 
 of the church or state."* 
 
 It would be interesting to trace the steps by which 
 the public mind of England was gradually prepared 
 for the complete extirpation of the hierarchy. Neal 
 ascribes it to the arrogance of the prelates, who, 
 instead of being content, like their predecessors, 
 with an acknowledgment of the lawfulness of their 
 office, began to plead for its divine right ; " and as 
 the parliament increased in power, the puritans 
 stiffened in their demands, till all methods of accom- 
 modation were impracticable. "-f- But he conceals 
 the fact, which could be easily proved from other 
 writers, that the great body of the English puritans, 
 including under this term many of the established 
 clergy, had long been decidedly presbyterian in their 
 sentiments. At no period of our history was the 
 subject of church government so thoroughly dis- 
 cussed. It became the all-engrossing topic of the 
 day; and it is computed that, on this controversy 
 alone, there issued from the press, between 1 640 and 
 1660, no fewer than 30,000 pamphlets. The ques- 
 tion, from its close connection with public affairs, 
 soon became a national one; the trial of archbishop 
 Laud brought out sad disclosures; public feeling ran 
 every day higher against the prelates; and at last 
 the parliament, deeply sensible of the necessity of 
 some reform in the English church, summoned an 
 assembly of divines to meet at Westminster on the 
 1st of July 1 643, for the purpose of taking this sub- 
 ject into their serious deliberation. To aid them in 
 this object, they invited the general assembly of the 
 Scottish church to send up some of their number as 
 
 * Clarendon, i. 184. t Neal's History of the Puritans, ii. 409. 
 
274 PROPOSALS FOR UNIFORMITY. [1641. 
 
 commissioners; and they resolved to sympathize 
 with the Scots, by co-operating with them in the 
 cause of liberty and reformation. 
 
 Every step taken by the English parliament was 
 viewed with intense interest in Scotland. It appears 
 from the correspondence carried on during the 
 treaty in 1640 and 1641, between the English and 
 Scottish commissioners, hitherto unpublished, that 
 even at that early period the Scots contemplated, 
 and earnestly pleaded for, a uniformity in doctrine, 
 worship, discipline, and government, between the 
 two churches of England and Scotland. Their pri- 
 mary motive in making this proposal was certainly 
 to secure the peaceable enjoyment of their own form, 
 which, they knew, could not be expected so long as 
 the two churches continued so much divided. At a 
 time when religion was such a governing principle 
 both over rulers and subjects, they held that " unity 
 in religion" was the only effectual cure for the civil 
 dissensions by which the country was rent asunder. 
 But they had still nobler motives for such a uniformity. 
 While they disclaimed all intentions of dictating 
 terms of union, they could not fail to see, and seeing, 
 to avail themselves of the opportunity of promoting, 
 the interests of truth, and extending to their 
 brethren in England the blessings of a purer worship 
 and more scriptural form of polity. " We have not 
 been so forgetful, 1 ' they say, " of ourselves, who are 
 the lesser, and of England, which is the greater king- 
 dom, as to suffer any such presumptuous thoughts 
 to enter into our minds. Yet charity is no presump- 
 tion, and the common duty of charity bindeth all 
 Christians at all times both to pray and profess their 
 desire that all others were not only almost but alto- 
 
1641.] PROPOSALS FOR UNIFORMITY. 275 
 
 gether such as themselves, except their afflictions 
 and distresses." " This unity of religion," they add, 
 " shall make ministers to build the church with 
 both their hands, whereas now the one hand is 
 holden out for opposition against the other party; 
 and shall turn the many unpleasant labours of writ- 
 ing and reading of unprofitable controversies into 
 treatises of mortification and studies of devotion. 
 It is a thing so desirable, that all sound divines and 
 politicians are for it; and as we conceive so pious a 
 work to be worthy the best consideration, so we are 
 earnest in recommending it to your lordships, that 
 it may be brought before his majesty and the parlia- 
 ment, as that which, without forcing of conscience, 
 seemeth not only to be a possible but an easy work." 
 They then proceed, with great .modesty, to suggest 
 a reformation in the English church, concluding with 
 a recommendation, that it " be peaceably governed by 
 churchmen in assemblies; and the state, in parlia- 
 ment and council, governed by civil men and not by 
 churchmen; thus the work shall be better done; the 
 means that uphold their unprofitable pomp may 
 supply the wants of many preaching ministers, and, 
 without the smallest loss to the subjects, may be a 
 great increase to his majesty^s revenues; his majes- 
 ty's authority shall be more deeply rooted in the 
 united hearts, and more strongly guarded by the 
 joint forces, of his subjects; and his greatness shall 
 be enlarged abroad, by becoming the head of all the 
 protestants in Europe, to the greater terror of his 
 enemies, and securing of greatness to his posterity 
 and royal succession."* 
 
 * Copies of letters and other documents relating to Scotland, 1640-41 
 MS., in my possession. 
 
276 UNION WITH THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. [1642. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of the sound policy 
 of these sentiments, it must be allowed that the de- 
 sign was a noble one; that the plan was sublimely 
 comprehensive, that the spirit in which it was pro- 
 posed was truly Christian, enlightened, and catholic; 
 and that these are the last men who deserve to be 
 branded as traitors and rebels. Let us at least do 
 them the tardy justice of admitting, that had their 
 pious wishes been fulfilled, it is possible that our 
 country might not have been seen, as it is at this 
 day, inflamed with intestine discords, and emitting 
 a thousand fiery particles of dissent, that threaten a 
 universal conflagration. 
 
 The English parliament, when these propositions 
 were first made, were not prepared to adopt them 
 throughout; but when, in August 1642, the royal 
 standard was raised at Nottingham, and the country 
 involved in civil war, they began to see the necessity of 
 acting on them, and to court an alliance with the Scots. 
 And yet, deeply as our fathers sympathized with the 
 proceedings of the parliament, it was not without a 
 severe struggle, and not till every effort had been 
 tried, and tried in vain, to effect a reconciliation, that 
 they were compelled, as a last resource, to join with 
 the parliament in maintaining the liberties of the 
 country. " Necessity/ 1 said Henderson, in a speech 
 to the English parliament, September 1643, "neces- 
 sity, which hath in it a kind of sovereignty, and is 
 a law above all laws, and therefore is said to have 
 no law, doth mightily press the church and kingdom 
 of Scotland at this time. It is no small comfort to 
 them that they have not been idle and at ease, but 
 have used all good and lawful means, by supplica- 
 tions and remonstrances to his majesty, for quench- 
 
1643.1 THE SOLEMN LEAGUE. 277 
 
 J * 
 
 ing the combustion in this kingdom; and after all 
 these, that they sent commissioners to his majesty, 
 humbly to mediate for a reconcilement. But the 
 offer of their humble services was rejected, from no 
 other reason but that they had no warrant nor 
 capacity for such a mediation; and that the inter- 
 mixture of the government of the church of England 
 with the civil government of the kingdom was such 
 a mystery as could not be understood by them." In 
 these circumstances, his majesty having denied the 
 Scots a parliament, they were compelled to call a 
 convention of the estates, to deliberate on the peril- 
 ous aspect of matters in the country; and commis- 
 sioners having been sent from the English parliament, 
 their consultations issued in a solemn league and 
 covenant between the three kingdoms, " as the only 
 mean, after all others have been essayed, for the de- 
 liverance of England and Ireland out of the depths 
 of affliction, preservation of the church and king- 
 dom of Scotland from the extremity of misery, and 
 the safety of our native king and his kingdom from 
 destruction and desolation." 
 
 The general assembly which met in Edinburgh, 
 August, 1643, was rendered remarkable by the pre- 
 sence of the English commissioners, and the forma- 
 tion of this solemn league between England, Ireland, 
 and Scotland. This assembly met in the New Church 
 aisle of St. Giles" 1 , which was then first fitted up for 
 their reception, and in which, till within a few years 
 ago, the assembly continued to meet. In the pros- 
 pect of the important discussions to come before 
 them, all eyes were again turned to Henderson, and 
 he was a third time called to the moderator's chair. 
 On the 7th of August, the long-expected English 
 
278 ARRIVAL OF ENGLISH COMMISSIONERS. [1643. 
 
 commissioners, who came by sea, arrived in Edin- 
 burgh. Four of them, Sir William Armyn, Sir 
 Harry Vane, Mr. Hatcher, and Mr. Darley, ap- 
 peared for the parliament; and two ministers, Mr. 
 Steven Marshall, a presbyterian, and Mr. Philip 
 Nye, an independent, appeared for the assembly of 
 divines. The arrival of these gentlemen at such a 
 crisis, excited a thrilling interest through the whole 
 community, of which we, in present circumstances, 
 can hardly form a conception. Trembling for their 
 liberties, which they conceived, and with too good 
 reason, to be involved in the struggle now maintained 
 in England ; alarmed by the discovery of new popish 
 plots, and by constant rumours of wars, massacres, 
 and victories, they hailed the appearance of these 
 strangers, as the family of Noah did that of the dove 
 with the olive branch, and fondly augured from it 
 the cessation of the national deluge. The general 
 assembly, at that time the watchful sentinel of the 
 liberties of the country, welcomed them with heart- 
 felt enthusiasm, regarding their visit as the omen of 
 that religious as well as civil union with England 
 for which they had so long thirsted and prayed. 
 Henderson cautioned his brethren to conduct them- 
 selves, now that the eyes of strangers were upon them, 
 with even more than their ordinary decorum; and 
 a deputation of ministers and elders was appointed 
 to wait on the commissioners, and courteously to 
 invite them to the assembly. Yet such was their 
 care to avoid even the appearance of introducing 
 civil matters, that, while the Englishmen were cor- 
 dially granted free access as spectators, they were 
 courteously requested, in any transactions with them 
 as commissioners, to retire to a loft of the New 
 
1643.] THE SOLEMN LEAGUE. 279 
 
 Church adjoining the assembly room, where the cor- 
 respondence between them and the assembly would 
 be conducted. 
 
 It was at first intended, by some at least of the 
 English, that there should be merely a civil league 
 between the two kingdoms, pledging themselves to 
 mutual support against the common enemy; but 
 through the influence and arguments of Henderson, 
 in which he was supported by the whole assembly, 
 and powerfully aided by the critical circumstances 
 in which England was placed, it was agreed that 
 there siiould also be a religious union, cemented by 
 the three kingdoms entering into a solemn league 
 and covenant. Henderson presented the draught of 
 one which he had composed to a meeting of the three 
 committees, from the parliament of England, the 
 Scottish convention of estates, and the general assem- 
 bly,, which, after some slight alterations, they adopted. 
 On the moderator producing it, the effect was quite 
 electrifying. " When the draught was read to the 
 general assembly," says Mr. Blair, who witnessed 
 the scene, " our smoking desires for uniformity did 
 break forth into a vehement flame, and it was so 
 heartily embraced, and with such a torrent of affec- 
 tionate expressions, as none but eye and ear wit- 
 nesses can conceive. When the vote of some old 
 ministers was asked, their joy was so great that 
 tears did interrupt their expressions."* The cove- 
 nant was received with the same cordiality by the 
 convention of estates. 
 
 In the month of September 1 643, the city of Lon 
 don witnessed a spectacle equally interesting, but to 
 Englishmen much more novel and extraordinary. 
 * Memoirs of tlie Life of Blair, p. t'8. 
 
280 THE SOLEMN LEAGUE. [1643. 
 
 On the 25th of that month, both houses of parlia- 
 ment, with the assembly of divines, and the Scottish 
 commissioners, met in St. Margaret's Church, West- 
 minster. After divine service, the solemn league 
 was read, article by article, in the pulpit, from a 
 parchment roll, the whole assembly standing un- 
 covered, and swearing to it with their hands lifted up 
 to heaven. On this solemn occasion, our countryman, 
 Mr. Henderson, delivered an animated address, in 
 which he warmly recommended the duty as pleasing 
 to God, exemplified in other kingdoms and churches, 
 and often accompanied with the most blessed fruits. 
 " Had the pope at Rome the knowledge of what is 
 doing this day in England, 11 he said in conclusion, 
 " and were this covenant written on the plaster of 
 the wall over against him, where he sitteth, Bel- 
 shazzar-like, in his sacrilegious pomp, it would make 
 his heart to tremble, his countenance to change,. his 
 head and mitre to shake, his joints to loose, and all 
 his cardinals and prelates to be astonished. The 
 word of God is for it, as you have been now re- 
 solved, by the testimony of a reverend assembly of 
 so many godly, learned, and great divines. In your 
 own sense and experience you will find, that al- 
 though, while you are assaulted with worldly cares 
 and fears, your thoughts may somewhat trouble you ; 
 yet at other times, when, upon seeking God in private 
 or public, as in the evening of a well-spent Sabbath, 
 your disposition is more spiritual, and leaving the 
 world behind you, you have found access unto God, 
 through Jesus Christ, the bent of your hearts will bo 
 strongest to go through with this work. It is a good 
 testimony that our designs and ways are agreeable 
 to God, if we affect them most when our hearts arc 
 
1643.] THE SOLEMN LEAGUE. 281 
 
 farthest from the world, and our temper is most 
 spiritual and heavenly, and least carnal and earthly. 
 As the word of God, so the prayers of the people of 
 God in all the reformed churches are for us, and on 
 our side. It were more terrible than an army, to hear 
 thai there were any fervent supplications to God against 
 us. Blasphemies, curses, and horrid imprecations 
 there be, proceeding from another spirit, and that 
 is all."* 
 
 The solemn league having been thus adopted by 
 the English parliament, was sent back to Edin- 
 burgh, where it was ordained by the commission of 
 the church and the committee of estates to be sworn 
 and subscribed throughout the kingdom the former 
 enjoining it under ecclesiastical censures, and the 
 latter under pain of being punished as enemies to his 
 majesty's honour and the peace of these kingdoms. 
 
 It may be proper here to say a few words respect- 
 ing a deed which exercised such an important influ- 
 ence on the destinies of the church and the nation. 
 In this covenant our fathers bound themselves and 
 their posterity, first, to endeavour the preservation 
 of the reformed religion in the church of Scotland, 
 the reformation of religion in England and Ireland, 
 " according to the word of God and the example of 
 the best reformed churches," and the bringing of the 
 three churches to the nearest possible conjunction 
 and uniformity in religion; secondly, to the extirpa- 
 tion of popery and prelacy; thirdly, to the preser 
 vation of the rights of parliament, of the liberties of 
 the kingdoms, and of his majesty's person and 
 
 * Two speeches delivered before the subscribing of the covenant, the 
 25th of September, at St. Margaret's, in Westminster- the one by Mr. 
 Philip Nye, the other by Mr. Alexander Henderson. 1643. 
 VOL. I. T 
 
282 THE SOLEMN LEAGUE. [1643. 
 
 authority; and, lastly, they pledge themselves to 
 personal reformation, and a holy life. Our limits 
 prevent us from entering on a lengthened vindication 
 of this covenant from the numerous objections that 
 have been brought against it. It is hardly necessary 
 to expose the vulgar prejudice, which, taking advan- 
 tage of a term now become obnoxious, would identify 
 the extirpation of popery and prelacy with the extir- 
 pation of the persons of papists and prelatists. The 
 only points of objection worthy of notice, are the 
 mixture of things sacred and civil in the same bond, 
 and the enjoining of it under civil penalties. The 
 same answer may suffice for both, and is to be found 
 in the extraordinary circumstances in which our 
 ancestors were placed. A combined attack having 
 been made upon their civil rights and their religious 
 liberties, it became warrantable, and even necessary, 
 to unite both in their means of defence. So far as 
 it can be shown that, in any case, they resorted to 
 violence to enforce the covenant, we do not vindicate 
 them; but indeed it cannot be proved that it was 
 forced upon any, or that civil injury was incurred 
 by any for simply refusing it. The truth is, that 
 the great body of the people of all ranks entered 
 with heart and soul into the solemn pledge; and the 
 acts of the church and the state enjoining it, if 
 candidly interpreted and compared with the com- 
 mentary of their practice, will be found to have been 
 nothing more than a judicial sanction of the measure, 
 with a formal intimation that the church would hold 
 its opponents as enemies to religion, and that the 
 state would regard them as enemies to the liberties 
 of the country. But whatever errors or excesses 
 may have characterized the mode in which it was 
 
1643.] THE SOLEMN LEAGUE. 283 
 
 managed by men, the work itself may nevertheless 
 have been of God; and if the matter of that cove- 
 nant was agreeable to the divine will, if the nation 
 voluntarily entered into this solemn engagement 
 with the Lord of hosts, it will not be easy to show 
 that either lapse of time or ^change of circumstances 
 could dissolve the obligation. Nations as such, in 
 the eye of reason as well as scripture, possess a 
 permanent identity in all the stages of their history, 
 and are, equally with individuals, the subjects of 
 God's moral government. Since, therefore, the three 
 kingdoms were brought, in the good providence of 
 God, to swear allegiance to him, as well as amity to 
 each other, they could not draw back without per- 
 jury; and the serious conclusion is, that in all their 
 subsequent departures from the reformation thus so 
 solemnly covenanted, their sinful conduct is aggra- 
 vated by the guilt of having broken their vows to 
 the Most High God.* 
 
 It has been repeatedly asserted that the Indepen- 
 dent party in the English parliament outwitted our 
 Scottish divines, by getting the clause inserted in 
 the covenant which binds them to reform the church 
 of England " according to the word of God;" by 
 which, it is said, they tacitly understood indepen- 
 dency, while the Scots understood it of their beloved 
 presbytery. We have already seen that, if there 
 was any address shown in the concoction of the 
 league, the praise is due to the Scots, who succeeded 
 in getting more than they ever expected from the 
 English, when they prevailed on them to make it a 
 religious as well as civil bond. They certainly under- 
 stood presbytery to be the system most agreeable to 
 
 * Sermons on Unity of the Church, by Dr. M'Crie, Appendix. 
 
284 THE SOLEMN LEAGUE. [164-3. 
 
 the word of God, and to the example of the best 
 reformed churches; but it is quite a mistake to sup- 
 pose that they were " taken in" by Sir Harry Vane, 
 or artfully led to expect the conformity of England 
 as the bribe for their assistance. The truth is, our 
 ancestors entered into this league with England 
 rather in the hope, and with the desire, that they 
 might be brought into a nearer conformity with the 
 presbyterian discipline, than with any sanguine ex- 
 pectation of seeing this accomplished. They never 
 supposed that England would submit to their polity, 
 without some alteration suited to their circum- 
 stances, and accordingly they joined with them in 
 constructing a new Confession and Directory. " We 
 are not to conceive," says Henderson, in a letter 
 dated 1642, " that they will embrace our form. A 
 new form must be set down for us all. And although 
 we should never come to this unity in religion and 
 uniformity of worship, yet my desire is to see what 
 form England shall pitch upon before we publish 
 ours."* In short, nothing is more apparent, from 
 the whole of their correspondence, than that they 
 went up to the Westminster assembly with very 
 slender hopes of being able to prevail on the English 
 to submit to presbytery; and the result filled their 
 hearts with unfeigned astonishment, as well as gra- 
 titude to that God whose hand they constantly re- 
 cognised in all their proceedings. " The seven 
 years of ensuing providence, 1 ' says Henderson, in 
 the dedication of a sermon preached in 1 644, " may 
 carry us as far beyond the present intentions, 
 whether of the enemies of religion or our own, as 
 the seven years past have done beyond our former 
 
 * Baillie's Letters, MS., ii. 305. 
 
1643.] WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 285 
 
 intentions and theirs. The pulling down of popery 
 in the Christian world, and the pulling down of 
 prelacy in Britain, are equally feasible to the Al- 
 mighty, who delighteth to turn our difficulties and 
 impossibilities into the glorious demonstrations of 
 his divine power, and who putteth motions into the 
 hearts of men, which they turn into petitions and 
 endeavours, and God, by his power, bringeth forth 
 into reality and action: the conception, birth, and 
 perfection is all from himself." 
 
 But it is time to- take some notice of the labours 
 of our Scottish ministers in the Westminster assem- 
 bly. This famous assembly was convened, as we 
 have seen, by the parliament on the 1st July 1643. 
 It was to consist of 120 divines, with 30 lay assessors, 
 of whom 10 were lords and 20 were commoners. The 
 divines were, for the most part, clergymen of the 
 church of England, selected not for their peculiar 
 views on the point of church government, but for 
 their well-known learning, piety, and abilities. 
 Some of them were keen advocates of prelacy, but 
 these, so soon as they saw how matters were likely 
 to be carried, retired from the assembly. A con- 
 vocation of more grave, judicious, and learned 
 divines, was never, perhaps, collected in Christen- 
 dom. Their theological writings, which still con- 
 tinue to be standard works, amply confirm this 
 commendation; and, above all, "the Westminster 
 Standards," as presbyterians have denominated the 
 Confession of Faith, Larger and Shorter Catechisms, 
 and other formularies of the church of Scotland, 
 which were the result of their labours, would be 
 alone sufficient to entitle their memory to the vene- 
 ration and respect of all who love the truth. 
 
286 WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. [1643. 
 
 The parliament of England having solicited the 
 general assembly to send up some of their number 
 as commissioners, four ministers were appointed 
 Alexander Henderson, Samuel Rutherford, Robert 
 Baillie, and George Gillespie. With these were 
 associated the following elders: the earl of Cassilis, 
 lord Maitland, and sir Archibald Johnston of War- 
 riston. Our worthy commissioners reached London 
 in November 1643, and, on being introduced to the 
 assembly at Westminster, were cordially welcomed 
 by a speech from Dr. Twisse, their learned and ex- 
 cellent prolocutor. The following description of the 
 appearance of the assembly, as it presented itself to 
 our commissioners, from the pen of Mr. Baillie, is 
 given in his usual homely and graphic style: "The 
 like of that assembly I did never see, and, as we 
 hear say, the like was never in England, nor any 
 where is shortly like to be. Here no mortal man 
 may enter to see or hear, let be to sit, without an 
 order in writ from both houses of parliament. They 
 did sit in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, in the place of 
 the convocation; but since the weather grew cold, 
 they did go to the Jerusalem chamber, a fair room 
 in the Abbey of Westminster, about the bounds of 
 the college fore-hall, but wider. At the upmost end 
 there is a chair set on a frame, a foot from the earth, 
 for the Mr. Prolocutor, Dr. Twisse. Before it, on 
 the ground, stand two chairs for the two Mr. Asses- 
 sors, Dr. Burgess, and Mr. White. Before these two 
 chairs, through the length of the room, stands a table, 
 at which sit the two scribes, Mr. Byfield and Mr. 
 Roborough. The house is all well hung, and has a 
 good fire, which is some dainties at London. For- 
 anent the table, upon the prolocutor's right hand, 
 
1643.] WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. 287 
 
 there are three or four ranks of forms ; on the lowest 
 we five do sit; upon the others, at our backs, the 
 members of parliament deputed to the assembly. 
 On the forms foranent us, on the prolocutor's left 
 hand, are four or five stages of forms, ranged round 
 the room, whereupon their divines sit as they please. 
 We meet every day of the week but Saturday. We 
 sit commonly from nine to one or two afternoon. 
 The prolocutor, at the beginning and end, has a 
 short prayer. Ordinarily there will be present above 
 three score of their divines. After the prayer, the 
 scribe reads the proposition and scriptures, where- 
 upon the assembly debates in a most grave and 
 orderly way."* 
 
 The Scottish commissioners soon found ample 
 employment. After the labours of the day in the 
 assembly, they were engaged in committees, or in 
 writing letters and pamphlets, till the midnight chimes 
 at Westminster rung them to bed. They had no 
 conception that they would have been so long de- 
 tained in London, for the assembly continued to sit, 
 with little intermission, for nearly Jive years. The 
 chief burden of the debates fell upon our divines, 
 who were harassed by them night and day. Many 
 an anxious look did they cast towards home; and 
 often did they plead that they might be allowed to 
 return to their quiet duties in their own parishes; 
 but duty to the church and nation forbade it. 
 " Many a perplexed night have we of it," says 
 Baillie; "if our neighbours at Edinburgh tasted 
 the sauce wherein we dip our venison, their teeth 
 would not water so fast to be here as some of them 
 do."" 
 
 * Baillie's Letters and Journals, ii. 107, 108. 
 
288 WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY. [1643. 
 
 The first subject that came before the assembly, 
 and which occupied the greater part of their time, 
 was the thorny question of church government. 
 Our Scots ministers soon found, to their high satis- 
 faction, that the great body of the assembly was 
 favourably disposed to the presbyterian discipline. 
 And had the matter been left to the mere force of 
 numbers, little time would have sufficed to decide it. 
 Out of an assembly *>f seventy or eighty members, 
 there were only five independents, and one or two 
 erastians. In this insignificant minority, however, 
 there were two or three possessed of considerable 
 talents for public speaking and ingenuity in debate, 
 and they continued to take up the assembly's time, 
 by pertinaciously disputing every point, and pro- 
 testing against every decision. The assembly, anxi- 
 ous for unanimity, bore all this with astonishing 
 patience. The independents occupied them no less 
 than three weeks in debating the point of sitting at a 
 communion table. " The unhappy independents," 
 says Baillie, " would mangle that sacrament. No 
 catechising nor preparation before; no thanksgiving 
 after; no sacramental doctrine or chapters in the 
 day of celebration ; no coming up to any table, but a 
 carrying of the elements to all in their seats athort 
 the church: yet all this, with God's help, we have 
 carried over them to our practice. We must dis- 
 pute every inch of ground. Great need had we of 
 the prayers of all God's people." This obstinacy 
 was the less justifiable in the independents, as the 
 Scottish ministers had agreed to drop several of 
 their ancient practices in order to please them. 
 
 Many days were spent on the question of ruling 
 elders. But the most important and lengthened de- 
 
1643.] GEORGE GILLESPIE. 289 
 
 bate in this assembly was regarding the divine right 
 of presbyterial government. The question was, 
 Whether many congregations may, and by divine 
 institution ought, to be under one presbyterial go- 
 vernment? After a debate which occupied thirty 
 days, the divine right of presbytery was carried by 
 an overwhelming majority. Five independents* 
 entered their dissent, and, as is usual with the losing 
 party, complained of unfair usage. But never was 
 the charge made with less feasibility. The length 
 of time during which the discussion was protracted 
 shows that ample opportunity had been given them 
 to bring forward their objections; and the debate 
 which was afterwards published at length, proves 
 how ably and fairly they had been met. It is re- 
 markable that, notwithstanding the earnest desires 
 of the assembly, and their own promises, the inde- 
 pendents, though they were constantly finding fault 
 with the presbyterial form, would never present any 
 model of their own in its place, -f 
 
 In these debates our countrymen took an active 
 and important share. To the masterly management 
 and sagacious counsels of Henderson, the assembly 
 owed, in a great measure, the happy unanimity 
 which prevailed among them. To the services of 
 George Gillespie, who was then in the prime of life, 
 his colleague, Mr. Baillie, bears repeated testimony. 
 
 * The names of " the dissenting brethren " were Mes3rs. Goodwin, 
 Nye, Simpson, Burroughs, and Bridge. 
 
 f Baillie's Letters, ii. 27, 33, 172, &c. Reasons presented by the Dissent- 
 ing Brethren (Independents) against Presbyterial Government, 1648. 
 Answer of the Assembly of Divines to the Reasons, &c., 1648. Papers for 
 Accommodation, 1644, printed 1648. Reasons by the Dissenting Brethren 
 for not giving in a Model of their way. Answer of the Assembly to said 
 Reasons, 1645. Answer to the Apologetical Narration, &c. 
 
290 GEORGE GILLESPIE. [1643. 
 
 " None in all the assembly did reason more perti- 
 nently than Mr. Gillespie ; he is an excellent youth ; 
 my heart blesses God in his behalf. I admire his 
 gifts, and bless God, as for all my colleagues, so for 
 him in particular, as equal in these to the first in 
 the assembly." On arriving in London, Gillespie 
 went straight to the assembly, and stood behind the 
 crowd, while Goodwin was pleading the cause of 
 independency. He was observed by Henderson, 
 who mentioned his arrival to the prolocutor ; and 
 Gillespie was requested to come forward and reply. 
 In vain he pleaded to be excused he was obliged 
 to come forward, making his way through the crowd 
 in his travelling boots ; and, deeply blushing, he com- 
 menced a speech which occupied an hour and a half, 
 and ended in a triumphant demolition of the inde- 
 pendents logic. On another occasion, when the 
 parliament and assembly had met for conference on 
 the much-contested question of church order, an 
 elaborate discourse was delivered by the learned 
 Selden in favour of erastianism, which subjects the 
 church to the state in the administration of disci- 
 pline a doctrine highly pleasing to the parliament 
 at that time. Mr. Gillespie, who appeared busily 
 engaged in taking notes of the speech, was requested 
 by his brethren, who well knew his talents, to stand 
 up and answer it. He at first modestly refused. 
 " Rise, George," said one of his friends; " rise up and 
 defend the right of the Lord Jesus Christ to govern, 
 by his own laws, the church which he has purchased 
 with his blood." He complied, and, after giving a 
 summary of the arguments of his antagonist, he 
 confuted them, to the admiration of all present. 
 Selden himself is said to have observed, in as- 
 
1647.] WESTMINSTER STANDARDS. 291 
 
 tonishment, " This young man, by his single speech, 
 has swept away the learning and labour of my life." 
 On looking at Gillespie's notes, it was found that he 
 had written nothing but "Da lucem Domine Lord, 
 give light," and similar brief petitions for divine di- 
 rection.* 
 
 The same modest and devout spirit characterized 
 his last moments. Mr. Gillespie died in 1 648, in his 
 thirty-sixth year. During his last sickness he enjoyed 
 little sensible assurance, but was strong in " the faith 
 of adherence," clinging to the promises of God. When 
 asked if he felt comfort, he replied " No; but though 
 the Lord has not allowed me comfort, I shall yet be- 
 lieve that ' my beloved is mine, and I am his.' " 
 " Brother," said one of the ministers who stood 
 around his bed, " you are taken away from evil 
 times ; what advice have you to give to us who are 
 left behind?" He replied, that he had little experi- 
 ence in the ministry, having been only nine years a 
 minister; "but," he added, "I have this to say, 
 that I have got infinitely more in my work from 
 prayer than from study, and know much more help 
 from the assistance of the Spirit than from books. 1 ' 
 " And yet it is well known," says Wodrow, " that 
 he was an indefatigable student."-f- 
 
 Having finished the discussion as to government, 
 and the Directory for Worship, the Confession of 
 Faith and the Catechisms next occupied the atten- 
 tion of the assembly. These, however, though they 
 cost much labour, excited less controversy. The 
 first draught of the Confession was prepared chiefly 
 by our Scots commissioners, but it is hardly possi- 
 ble now to state what share individuals had in it. 
 
 * "\Vodrow's Analecta, Adv. Lib. f Ibid. 
 
292 WESTMINSTER STANDARDS. [1647- 
 
 It is generally believed that the Shorter Catechism 
 was drawn up by Dr. Arrowsmith. The following 
 character of this distinguished man is given by one 
 who appears to have been well acquainted with him : 
 " He was a burning and a shining light, who, by his 
 indefatigable study of the sublime mysteries of the 
 gospel, spent himself to the utmost to explicate the 
 darkest places of scripture. He was a holy and 
 learned divine; firm and zealous in his attachment 
 to the cause of Christ, from which no worldly allure- 
 ments would shake his faith, or move his confidence. 
 He was a man of a thousand. His soul aspired 
 after more than his weak and sickly body was able 
 to perform. 11 * 
 
 When the Confession of Faith and the Cate- 
 chisms were agreed to, the Scottish commissioners 
 took leave of the Westminster assembly, and, after 
 an absence of about four years, returned to Scot- 
 land, and gave an account of their proceedings to 
 the general assembly which met in August 1647. 
 This assembly, of which Mr. Robert Douglas was 
 moderator, is memorable in our history for having 
 received the Westminster Confession of Faith as a 
 part of the uniformity of religion to which the three 
 kingdoms had become bound in the solemn league. 
 The only reservation which they made in approving 
 of this Confession, was in regard to the authority of 
 the magistrate in calling assemblies, ascribed to him 
 in the 31st chapter, which they understood " only of 
 churches not settled in point of government ;"assert- 
 
 * Brook's Lives of the Puritans, iii. 317. Baillie informs us that Dr. 
 Arrow-smith was " a man with a glass eye, in place of that which was 
 put out by an arrow ; a learned divine, on whom the assembly put the 
 writing against the antinomians." (Vol. i., 414.) 
 
1647.] PRESBYTERIANISM IN ENGLAND. 293 
 
 ing their freedom " to assemble together synodically, 
 as well pro re nata as at the ordinary times, upon 
 delegation from the churches, by the intrinsical power 
 received from Christ, as often as it is necessary for 
 the good of the church so to assemble." This ex- 
 planation was necessary, in consequence of the eras- 
 tian principles which had now begun to prevail in 
 the English parliament, and to hinder them from 
 settling the discipline of the church. Whatever 
 construction might be put upon those parts of the 
 Confession by the rulers, the assembly thus declared 
 the sense in which they " understood" them. This 
 act still remains in force, and is prefixed to all our 
 copies of the Confession a standing memorial of 
 the jealousy with which the church of Scotland 
 watched over her spiritual independence as a church 
 of Christ.* We may here state, once for all, that 
 the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, Propositions for 
 Church Government, and the Directory for Public 
 Worship, which had been drawn up by the West- 
 minster assembly, in conjunction with the commis- 
 sioners from the church of Scotland, were also re- 
 ceived, approved, and ratified by the general assem- 
 bly, in several acts relating to them, as " parts of 
 the covenanted uniformity." These acts of appro- 
 bation by the church were afterwards ratified by the 
 estates in parliament; and thus, so far as Scotland 
 was concerned, the stipulations of the solemn league 
 were cordially and honourably fulfilled. 
 
 Presbyterianism may be now said to have gained 
 
 * The famous Hundred and Eleven Propositions, drawn up by order of 
 the general assembly in 1645, in which the respective powers about reli- 
 gious matters belonging to magistrates and ministers are defined with 
 admirable clearness and precision, must be studied in order to under- 
 stand those parts of the Confession of Faith which refer to this subject. 
 
294 PRESBYTERIANISM IN ENGLAND. [1647. 
 
 the ascendency, not only in Scotland, but in Eng- 
 land and Ireland. The assembly of divines, called 
 by the English parliament to settle a platform of 
 doctrine, worship, and government, in which all the 
 three kingdoms might unite, had, with a few excep- 
 tions, agreed to a set of standards which met with 
 the entire and cordial approbation of the church of 
 Scotland. The presbyterians had a powerful party 
 in the English parliament; and the vast body of the 
 English clergy had become decidedly presbyterian 
 in their sentiments. There cannot be a stronger 
 proof of this than the fact, that on the restoration 
 of Charles II., no fewer than two thousand ministers, 
 most of whom had previously been episcopal, were 
 in one day ejected from their charges, and silenced 
 for nonconformity; and when so many were found 
 willing to suffer for conscience' sake, we may con- 
 ceive that there would be a still greater number who, 
 though they conformed to the episcopal government, 
 would have remained contented with the presby- 
 terian, had it become the established religion. 
 
 In 1646, the parliament, urged on by the West- 
 minster assembly, by petitions from various parts 
 of England, and the strenuous exhortations of the 
 Scottish church, granted a partial establishment to 
 presbytery. The church of England, instead of so 
 many dioceses, was now divided into provinces, each 
 of which was to hold a provincial assembly, made 
 up of representatives from the several presbyteries 
 or classes, as they were called, within the boundary; 
 and a proper subordination of judicatories was 
 arranged, the supreme court being a national assem- 
 bly, to be formed of deputies from the various 
 provincial assemblies. It is true, indeed, that this 
 
1647.] PRESBYTERIANISM IN ENGLAND. 295 
 
 arrangement took full effect only in London and Lan- 
 cashire; and that, though the ministers held meet- 
 ings for church affairs in various other counties, they 
 did not enjoy the civil sanction.* Most of the pul- 
 pits, however, were filled with presbyterian ministers, 
 who alone enjoyed the benefices, and continued to 
 do so till the restoration ; they also held the chief 
 places in the universities; and, in short, presbyte- 
 rianism was considered the established form of reli- 
 gion in England. 
 
 The same success attended the cause of presbytery 
 in Ireland. In 1644, the solemn league had been 
 administered to the protestants in that country by 
 four ministers deputed by the general assembly of 
 the church of Scotland. The manner in which these 
 ministers executed their commission was highly 
 praiseworthy. Not the shadow of constraint was 
 employed. The officers and soldiers, and the Irish 
 inhabitants in general, with all the enthusiasm of the 
 national character, welcomed the covenant. It was 
 carefully explained to them, before they were ad- 
 mitted to swear it; and the only complaint was, that 
 the ministers were " over scrupulous"" in admitting 
 persons to subscribe. " The covenant was taken in all 
 places," says an Irish writer of these times, " with 
 great affection: partly sorrow for former judgments, 
 and sins, and miseries; partly joy, in the hopes of 
 laying a foundation for the work of God in the land, 
 and overthrowing popery and prelacy, which had 
 been the bane and ruin of that poor church. Sighs 
 and tears were joined together. Indeed, they were 
 assisted with more than the ordinary presence of 
 God in that work in every place they went to ; so 
 
 * Baxter's History of liis Life and Times, abridged by Calamy. i, 85. 
 
296 ERASTIANISM. [1647. 
 
 that all the hearers did bear them witness that God 
 was with them. Yea, even the malignants, who were 
 against the covenant, durst not appear on the con- 
 trary; for the people generally held these ministers 
 as servants of God, and coming with a blessed mes- 
 sage and errand to them.* 
 
 The first symptoms of a defection from these 
 sacred engagements were manifested, we are sorry 
 to say, by the English parliament. In this parlia- 
 ment many of the members were now become either 
 erastians or independents. The erastians are so 
 called from Erastus, a German physician, who first 
 broached the opinion that all church authority is 
 derived from the state, or civil government of the 
 country. The erastians maintained, therefore, that 
 the church was the creature of the state, or at least 
 dependent on it in the exercise of her judicial autho- 
 rity precisely the opposite extreme of the popish 
 principle, which is, that the state is dependent on 
 the church. Between these two extremes the church 
 of Scotland endeavoured to steer a middle course : 
 while she acknowledged the jurisdiction of the state 
 in all civil matters, she claimed a jurisdiction inde- 
 pendent of the state in all spiritual matters. Re- 
 cognising no other head of spiritual authority but 
 the Lord Jesus Christ, the king of Zion, she had to 
 contend for his divine prerogatives, as we have 
 seen, almost from the commencement of her history. 
 During the reign of James, she maintained a con- 
 stant struggle on this point. In this warfare she 
 triumphed under the reign of Charles I.; and now, 
 when presbyterianism had obtained a footing in 
 
 * See quot. in Reid's History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, 
 ii. 29. 
 
1647.] ERASTIANISM. 297 
 
 England, she found herself, strange to say. engaged 
 in the same contest with the long parliament. 
 
 The grand point which the English presbyterians 
 sought to gain in this parliament was a civil sanction 
 to the divine right of presbyterial government; in 
 other words, an acknowledgment that it was the 
 government appointed by Christ in his word. By 
 maintaining, in this sense, the divine right of their 
 form of polity, the presbyterians did no more than 
 what both prelatists and independents did in behalf 
 of their respective models. It was not the subordi- 
 nate arrangements, but the grand essential principles 
 of presbytery, that they held to be of divine appoint- 
 ment. Their great object was, to prevail on the 
 parliament to sanction some certain form of church 
 government; and though presbyterianism appeared 
 to them the most scriptural, many would have pre- 
 ferred a moderate episcopacy to the anarchy and 
 confusion in which the church then stood.* But 
 the parliament saw that, if they sanctioned this 
 principle without any modification, they would strip 
 themselves of all control over the church ; for it was 
 an essential principle of presbytery that the church 
 possessed intrinsic powers wholly independent of 
 the state. They determined, therefore, to oppose 
 the presbyterians in this matter. The independents 
 and other sectaries, afraid that, if the independence 
 of the church were sanctioned by the state, they 
 would not obtain toleration, concurred with the 
 erastians in refusing to acknowledge the principle. 
 The lawyers, who, if not the most numerous, were 
 the most active and loquacious portion of this par- 
 liament, were almost to a man, as might be expected 
 
 * Calamy's Abridgment of Baxter's Life, i. SI. 
 VOL. T. U 
 
298 MISREPRESENTATIONS. [1647. 
 
 from their profession, against acknowledging the 
 intrinsic authority of the church. 
 
 It is worth while, in passing, to vindicate the 
 English presbyterians from the misrepresentation 
 and abuse with which they have been assailed, from 
 almost every quarter, for their conduct, or rather 
 their designs, at this period of their history. " The 
 presbyterians," says Neal, in his " History of the 
 Puritans," " were now in the height of their power, 
 the hierarchy being destroyed, and the best, if not 
 all the livings in the kingdom, being distributed 
 among them; yet still they were dissatisfied for want 
 of the top-stone to their new building, which was 
 church poicer; the pulpits and conversation of the 
 city were filled with invectives against the men in 
 power, because they would not leave the church in- 
 dependent on the state." Again: " The presbyteriun 
 hierarchy was as narrow as the prelatical ; and as it 
 did not allow a liberty of conscience, claiming a civil 
 as well as ecclesiastical authority over men's persons 
 and properties, it was equally, if not more intolerable." 
 Similar charges pervade the whole of Neal's History, 
 and they hav.e been repeated by writers of all differ- 
 ent persuasions prelatical, infidel, and sectarian. 
 " Presbyterianism, 11 says another writer, " displayed 
 the same intolerance as episcopacy had done. Reli- 
 gious tyranny subsists in various degrees. Popery 
 is the consummation of it, and presbyterianism a 
 weak degree of it. But the latter has in it the 
 essence of the former, and differs from it only as a 
 musket differs from a cannon. 11 * 
 
 * Toulmin, in his edition of Neal. It is ivith regret that we are com- 
 pelled to class with these writers, our historiographer, Mr. Brodie, who, 
 while he adyocates latitudinarian views of church government, with a 
 leaning to independency, joins m the sweeping censures of other histo- 
 
1647.] INTRINSIC POWER OF THE CHURCH. 299 
 
 Now, what was this church power which the pres- 
 byterians were so anxious to secure, and which Neal 
 would represent as " a civil authority over men's 
 persons and properties?" Will it be believed, that 
 it was neither more nor less than the power of keep- 
 ing lack scandalous and unworthy persons from the ordi- 
 nances of baptism and the Lord's supper? This was, 
 in fact, the great point in dispute between them and 
 the parliament; for the parliament had insisted on 
 having the supreme power in ecclesiastical matters, 
 and had passed a law to the effect that if any person 
 was refused admission to sealing ordinances by the 
 church courts, he could appeal to parliament, which 
 might, by virtue of its authority, compel the church 
 courts to receive him, whatever his character might 
 
 ' 
 
 be. The presbyterians, as Neal himself admits, 
 " were dissatisfied with the men in power, because 
 they would not leave the church independent on the 
 state." And would Mr. Neal, himself an independent, 
 have had the church to be dependent on the state? 
 Would he have had the presbyterians tamely submit 
 the royal prerogatives of Christ to a parliament, after 
 they had succeeded in wresting them from a monarch, 
 against whom, for this very reason, the nation had long 
 been engaged in a hazardous and sanguinary war?* 
 But the real intentions of the presbyterians must be 
 
 rians on the presbyterians. (Hist, of the British Empire, iii. 501-513.) Mr. 
 Brodie considers it sufficient to state as his authority: " For all, see 
 Baillie's Letters, vol. ii.," without quoting any particular passage, or 
 appearing to have compared the several passages with each other. 
 
 * Neal asserts that " the independents claimed a like power" (the same 
 power of the keys, or of church government, as the presbyterians) " for 
 the brotherhood of every particular congregation, but without any civil 
 sanctions or penalties, annexed." (Hist, of Puritans, iii. 260, ToulrmVs 
 edit.) We have seen that the claim of the presbyterians to a divine 
 right had nothing to do with civil pains or penalties ; but let the indepen- 
 dents speak for themselves : " To the magistrate's power we give as much 
 
300 INTRINSIC POWER OF THE CHURCH. [1647. 
 
 judged of from their own writings, with some of which 
 Neal seems to have been unacquainted, and to others 
 of which he had no access.* " In the assembly," 1 ' says 
 Baillie, writing in 1646, " we are fallen on a faschious 
 proposition, that has kept us divers days to oppose 
 the erastian heresy, which in this land is very strong, 
 especially among the lawyers, unhappy members 
 of this parliament. We find it necessary to say, ' that 
 Christ, in the New Testament, has institute a church 
 government distinct from the civil, to be exercised 
 by the officers of the church, without commission 
 from the magistrate. 1 None in the assembly (West- 
 minster) has any doubt of this truth but one Colman, 
 a professed erastian a man reasonably learned, but 
 stupid and inconsiderate, half a pleasant (half-crazy), 
 and of small estimation. But the lawyers in the 
 parliament, making it their work to spoil our pres- 
 bytery, not so much upon conscience, as upon fear that 
 the presbytery spoil their market, and take up most of 
 the country pleas without law, did blow up the poor 
 man with much vanity, so he is become their cham- 
 pion. We give him a free and fair hearing; albeit we 
 fear, when we have answered all, the houses, when it 
 comes to them, shall scrape it out of the Confession; 
 for this point is their idol. The pope and king were 
 never more earnest for the headship of the church 
 than the plurality of this parliament. Although 
 they are like for a time by violence to carry it, yet 
 almost all the ministry are zealous for the preroga- 
 tive of Christ." In another letter (1645), he says: 
 
 and, as we think, MORE than the principles of the presbyterian govern- 
 ment will suffer them to yield." (Apologelical Narration by ike Five 
 Dissenting Brethren, p. 1.0.) 
 
 * Baillie's Letters hud not been published when Neal wrote his history. 
 
1647.] INTRINSIC POWER OF THE CHURCH. SOI 
 
 " The most part of the house of commons, especially 
 the lawyers, are either half or whole erastians, be- 
 lieving no church government to be of divine right, 
 but all to be a human constitution, depending on the 
 will of the magistrate. About this matter we have 
 had, at divers times, much bickering with them. 
 Our advice to them" (i.e., the advice of the Scots to 
 the English ministers) " was, that they would go on 
 to set up their presbyteries and synods with so much 
 pow'er as they could get; and after they were once 
 settled, they might then strive to obtain their full 
 due power. But the synod (Westminster assembly) 
 was in another mind, and at last they framed a most 
 zealous, clear, and peremptory paper, wherein they 
 held out plainly the church's divine right to keep off 
 from the sacrament all who were scandalous ; and if 
 they cannot obtain the free exercise of THAT POWER 
 which Christ hath given them, they will lay doicn 
 their charges, and will rather choose all afflictions, than 
 to sin by profaning the holy tailed* 
 
 And these are the men who are represented as 
 dissatisfied because they could not get the civil power 
 into their hands! To sneer at such men for not 
 being contented with having obtained the English 
 " livings,"" would only show a mind too sordid to 
 appreciate the sacred, the noble, the elevated ground 
 on which they had taken their stand. Indeed, to say 
 a word more in their vindication would be super- 
 fluous; and if it should be thought that we have 
 dwelt too largely, or spoken too warmly, on the sub- 
 ject, let it be remembered that the memory of these 
 noble champions of the royal prerogatives of Christ 
 has been now lying under an accumulated mass of ca- 
 
 * Baillie's Letters, ii. 150, 195. 
 
302 SECTARIANISM. [1647. 
 
 lurany for nearly two hundred years ; and that, whilst 
 almost every sect has had its eulogists and defenders, 
 few or none have appeared to vindicate the maligned 
 presby terians of England.* From this part of the his- 
 tory we learn one lesson, which cannot be too deeply 
 stamped on the mind That the government of Christ, 
 as well as the doctrine of Christ, is the object of the 
 unrelenting dislike and hatred of the carnal heart : 
 it is part of " the offence of the cross," which has not 
 " ceased ;" and hence it is that worldly politicians, 
 of all different shades of politics, down to the present 
 day, unite their efforts, like the independents and 
 erastians in the days of Cromwell, to rob the church 
 of her independence, and reduce her " very much to 
 a level with any ordinary corporation."" 
 
 Another cause which hindered the full establish- 
 ment of presbytery, and frustrated the objects of the 
 covenant in England, was the rapid and unprece- 
 dented growth of sectarianism. When the West- 
 minster assembly sat down, there were very few dis- 
 senters in England and these were chiefly indepen- 
 dents, who had no regular churches, but went about 
 the country disseminating their opinions; but in the 
 course of a few years, during the civil war, they 
 sprang up and multiplied in most appalling numbers. 
 The mere enumeration of these sectaries would be a 
 difficult task. Besides papists and prelatists, the 
 only opponents with whom our Scots presbyterians 
 had to contend, there arose in England independents 
 and Brownists of all degrees, millenarians, antino- 
 mians, anabaptists, libertines, farnilists, seekers, 
 perfectists, socinians, arians, antiscripturists, fifth 
 monarchy men, ranters, behminists, quakcrs, and a 
 
 * V'ide Appendix to M'Crie's Discourses on Unity, p. \5'2. 
 
1647.] SECTARIANISM. 303 
 
 host of other sects, nameless and numberless. Errors 
 of every possible shade, heresies the most monstrous, 
 and blasphemies the most revolting, were daily pro- 
 pagated; and the kingdom was convulsed in a reli- 
 gious fully as much as in a political sense.* The 
 prolific nest in which these sectaries were engendered 
 was the parliamentary army. No regular chaplains 
 had been provided for them the bishops would 
 ordain none but those who would use the liturgy; 
 and thus an immense body of men, who had enlisted in 
 the cause from religious principle, whose passions were 
 excited to frenzy by their struggles for liberty, and 
 who, having recently escaped from episcopal thral- 
 dom, were not inclined to submit to any government 
 
 * We must not confound the puritans with the sectaries. The 
 presbyterians and good men in the English church were the true 
 puritans; the sectaries were the spawn of the civil war. Those 
 who are disposed to join in the cuckoo cry of intolerance against the 
 presbyterians of this period, would do well to peruse the Gangrcena, 
 of Thomas Edwards, which contains a full account of the heresies, 
 blasphemies, and evil practices of the sectaries. He enumerates no 
 less than one hundred and seventy-six errors and heresies which 
 prevailed at that time. Mr. Baxter's account of them is still more 
 worthy of attention, as, from his well-known liberality, he cannot be 
 justly suspected of partiality. " These are they," he says, " who 
 have been most addicted to church divisions and separations, and sid- 
 ings and parties, and have refused all terms of concord and unity; who, 
 though many of them were weak and raw, were yet prone to be puffed 
 up with high thoughts of themselves, and to overvalue their little degrees 
 of knowledge and parts, which set them not above the pity of under- 
 standing men. The sectaries (especially the anabaptists, seekers, and 
 quakers) chose out the most able, zealous ministers, to make them the 
 marks of their reproach and obloquy and all because they stood in the 
 way of their designs, and hindered them in the propagation of their 
 opinions. They set against the same men as the drunkards and swear- 
 ers set against, and much after the same manner, only they did it more 
 profanely than the profane, in that they said, ' Let the Lord be magni- 
 fied' ' Let the gospel be propagated.' And all this began but in unwar- 
 rantable separation, and too much aggravating the faults of the churches, 
 &c. They thought that whatever needed amendment required their 
 obstinate separation, and that they were allowed to make odious any 
 thing that was amiss," &c. (Calamus Alridg. of Baxter's Life, i. 94.) 
 
304 SECTARIANISM. [164-7. 
 
 whatever, were left abandoned to all the excesses of 
 religious enthusiasm. In Scotland, where there was 
 a regular ministry and church discipline, no such 
 fanaticism appeared, even during the stormiest pe- 
 riod of her struggles everything was conducted 
 quietly, and orderly; but in England, deprived of 
 these advantages, every one who deemed himself 
 qualified, assumed the office of preacher; the regu- 
 lar ministry was despised, the pulpits were invaded, 
 and the doctrine taught in them openly impugned 
 by illiterate fanatics and booted apostles. 
 
 Alarmed at this prodigious increase of sects and 
 heresies, the presbyterians implored the parliament 
 to use means to arrest the current, by a formal con- 
 demnation of them ; and, above all, by erecting the 
 discipline of the church, with full power to proceed 
 against them according to the laws of Christ. With- 
 out this sanction, their authority would have been 
 disregarded, and the sentences of their courts might 
 have been reversed by an appeal to parliament, which 
 claimed the supreme jurisdiction. The parliament, 
 however, now under the influence of the independent 
 leaders, refused to adopt any such measures; and 
 the only effect of the proposal was, that all parties 
 joined against the presbyterians. This coalition form- 
 ed the only bond of union among the motley swarm 
 of the sectaries, and the motto inscribed on their 
 banner was Toleration and liberty of conscience. Dis- 
 agreeing about everything else, they all united in de- 
 siring full liberty to preach and propagate their own 
 opinions ; though even about this there were differ- 
 ences of opinion. The independents would only ex- 
 tend liberty of conscience to what they called the 
 fundamentals of religion; and Dr. Owen drew up a 
 
1647.] TOLERATION. 305 
 
 list of sixteen fundamentals, according to which, not 
 only deists, socinians, and papists, but arians, anti- 
 nomians, quakers, and even arminians, were excluded 
 from all benefit of toleration.* Others, however, 
 went farther, and advanced the principle, that " it 
 is the will and command of God., that, since the com- 
 ing of his Son, a permission of the most paganish, 
 Jewish, Turkish, or antichristian consciences and 
 worships be granted to all men in all nations." *f- 
 
 The presbyterians were shocked at such a princi- 
 ple, which seemed eversive of all religion, and some 
 of them, in their zeal against it, condemned the doc- 
 trine of toleration itself, in terms which now appear 
 to us overstrained and indefensible; but the more 
 moderate contented themselves with protesting 
 against the government giving a positive and judicial 
 sanction to the prevailing heresies. These latter 
 did not require their discipline to be enforced at the 
 point of the sword ; nor did they insist that the in- 
 dependents and others should be proceeded against 
 for holding separate meetings, as being guilty of any 
 illegal act; but they scrupled to grant what these 
 persons demanded a law directly sanctioning error, 
 or recognising the existence of their heretical sects. 
 They argued that it was one thing not to compel 
 men to come in, and another thing to open the door 
 for the encouragement of error, and to inscribe over 
 it " All kinds of heresies, schisms, and blasphemies, 
 publicly allowed and tolerated here !" They justly 
 considered it a glaring inconsistency, and a violation 
 of solemn vows, for a Christian nation, the one day 
 
 * NeaPs Hist, of the Puritans, vol. iii. Calamy's Abridgment of 
 Baxter, i. 120. 
 f Preface to The Bloody Tenet. 
 
306 TOLERATION. [1647. 
 
 to engage to God and one another, under a solemn 
 oath, to endeavour the extirpation of heresy, schism, 
 blasphemy, and profaneness; and the next day to 
 declare, by a law of the land, a formal toleration of 
 all these evils: and though entertaining a tender re- 
 spect for the legitimate rights of conscience, for which 
 they themselves had pleaded and suffered, they could 
 not allow this to blind them to the grievous dishon- 
 our done to Christ and his truth, by these intermin- 
 able heresies and schisms, which were exposing the 
 protestant religion to the scoffs of papists, eating 
 out, like a canker, the very life of godliness, and sub- 
 jecting the nation to the judgments of Heaven. Both 
 parties were solicitous for peace; but while the sec- 
 taries sought peace with error and division, the pres- 
 byterians sought peace with truth and unity.* 
 
 * Whatever may be thought of the principles of the presbyterians on 
 the subject of toleration, it is undeniable that their practice, when in 
 power, was marked by the most exemplary forbearance. " The pres- 
 byterian party," says Edwards " (though the assembly of divines, the re- 
 presentative body of the city, the court of common council, the ministry of 
 the kingdom, thousands and ten thousands of godly well-affected persons, 
 the kingdom of Scotland, yea, all the reformed churches, own that way), 
 in their love and forbearance to the sectaries, hath been admirable. When 
 the independents were but few, and other sectaries a small number, some 
 half-a-score or dozen ministers, with three hundred or four hundred peo- 
 ple, the presbyterians gave them the right hand of fellowship, admitted 
 them to their meetings, opened their pulpit doors to them, showed all 
 brotherly respect to them, even more than to most of their own way ; and 
 notwithstanding breach of agreements, drawing away their people, and 
 many high and strange carriages, yet still using all fairness and love, hop- 
 ing, by brotherly-kindness, forbearance, and a thorough reformation in 
 the church (wherein they have been willing, upon all occasions, to gra- 
 tify and have respect unto their consciences), at last to have gained 
 them." After recording various instances of the liberality of presbyte- 
 rians to the sectaries, he adds : " For mine own part, I am confidently 
 persuaded, and so I believe are all wise men that have observed the ways 
 of the sectaries, that if they had been in the place of the presbyterians, 
 having had their power, number, authority, and the presbyterians had 
 been a small number as they were, and should have offered to have done 
 but the twentieth part of that in preaching, writing, &c., against them, 
 
1647.] TOLERATION. 307 
 
 The sentiment of our Scottish divines on this 
 point may be seen from the following extracts: 
 " As for the church of Scotland," says Baillie, " that 
 it did ever intermeddle to trouble any in their goods, 
 liberties, or persons, it's very false. What civil 
 penalties the parliament of a kingdom thinks meet . 
 to inflict upon those who are refractory and unamen- 
 able by the censures of a church, the state, from 
 whom alone these punishments do come, is answer- 
 able, and not the church. That excommunication 
 in Scotland is inflicted on those who cannot assent 
 to every point of religion determined in their Con- 
 fession, there is nothing more untrue; for we know 
 it well, that never any person in Scotland was ex- 
 communicate only for his difference of opinion in a 
 theological tenet. Excommunication there is a very 
 dreadful sentence, and therefore very rare. These 
 last forty years, so far as I have either seen or heard, 
 there has noi>e at all been excommunicate in Scot- 
 land but some few trafficking papists, and some very 
 few notoriously flagitious persons, and five or six of 
 you the prelates., for your obstinate impenitence, 
 after your overturning the foundations both of our 
 church and state." * In another work, published 
 about the same time, he says : " If once the govern- 
 ment of Christ were set up amongst us, as it is in 
 the rest of the reformed churches, we know not 
 
 which the sectaries have done against the presbyterians, they would have 
 trod them down as mire in the street, casting them out with scorn before 
 this time of day, nor have suffered a presbyterian to preach among us, 
 or to have been in any place or office, military or civil, but all would have 
 been shut up in prisons, banished, or else hiding themselves in holes and 
 corners; many godly persons, in some places, having much ado now to 
 hold up their heads to live by them, to preach quietly, to go safely in the 
 streets, or to be quiet in their houses." (Ganyrcena, i. 50, 53.) 
 * Baillie "s Historical Vindication of the Church of Scotland, p. 58. 
 
308 TOLERATION. [1647. 
 
 what would impede it, by the sword of God alone, 
 without any secular violence, to banish out of the land 
 these spirits of error in all meekness, humility, and 
 love, by the force of truth, convincing and satisfying 
 the minds of the seduced. Put these holy and di- 
 vine instruments into the hand of the church of 
 England, by the blessing of God thereupon, the sore 
 and great evil of so many heresies and schisms shall 
 quickly be cured, which now not only troubles the 
 peace and welfare, but hazards the very subsistence, 
 both of church and kingdom; without this mean, the 
 state will toil itself in vain about the cure of such spiri- 
 tual diseases,''''* 
 
 These unhappy contests about toleration created 
 jealousies between the parliament and the presbyte- 
 rian party, which ultimately issued in the overthrow 
 of the covenanted cause in England; the sectaries 
 prevailed in defeating all the attempts of the pres- 
 byterians to promote unity and peace; and the 
 English presbyterians fell in the noble but fruitless 
 attempt to stem the torrent of errors and divisions 
 which still overspread that country, and which, 
 having found their way into Scotland, continue to 
 distract our peace, to disgrace the cause of protes- 
 tantism, and to threaten the ruin of our national 
 prosperity. So much for our not adhering to the 
 reformation so auspiciously begun, and violating that 
 solemn compact by which the three nations were 
 bound to prosecute it ! 
 
 * Baillie's Dissuasive from the Errors of the Time, prcf., pp. 7, &. 
 
APPENDIX TO VOL. I. 
 
 NOTE A, p. 88. 
 
 MR. TYTLER'S CHARGE AGAINST JOHN KNOX. 
 
 MR. P. FRASER TYTLER, in his " History of Scotland," has advanced a 
 very serious charge against Knox, of having been guilty of accession to 
 the murder of David Riccio. This extraordinary charge is founded on 
 an unsubscribed and unauthenticated list of the conspirators, which 
 Mr. Tytler found attached by a pin to a document in the state-paper 
 office, and in which list was included the name of John Knox. The 
 proof furnished by this list, though contradicted not only by all we know 
 of the reformer's character, but by another list discovered in the same 
 office, which is well authenticated, and does not contain the name of 
 Knox, and by the explicit disavowal of the conspirators themselves, 
 Mr. Tytler attempts to confirm by conjectures drawn from the supposed 
 sentiments and feelings of the reformer, and his connection with those 
 engaged in the conspiracy. In reply to this charge, the author of the 
 foregoing pages inserted a letter in the Witness, which appeared in 
 other newspapers at the time, and which led to a correspondence with 
 Mr. Tytler. That correspondence the author has been urgently re- 
 quested to subjoin to the present work a request with which he the 
 more willingly complies, as, besides the importance of the subject, it 
 may serve to show how much truth there is in the assertion, which has 
 been made in certain periodicals, that Mr. Tytler's charge has never 
 been answered. It has been answered by others, as well as in the fol- 
 lowing communication, in which the author has every reason to believe 
 he merely gave expression to the feelings and convictions of the presby- 
 terians of Scotland. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE WITNESS. 
 
 SIR, In the seventh volume of his History of Scotland, lately pub- 
 lished, Mr. P. Fraser Tytler has broadly charged the protestant mini- 
 sters, and particularly John Knox, with having been privy to the mur- 
 der of David Riccio. The importance which he himself attaches to 
 his discovery of " this fact, now stated," as he affirms rather hastily, 
 " for the first time," appears from his formal announcement of it in his 
 preface, and the space which he has devoted, in his proofs and illustra- 
 tions, to the confirmation of the charge. As it has been quoted with no 
 small triumph in some newspapers, and none have come forward in 
 defence of the reformer, I hope you will grant me the privilege of your 
 columns for a few remarks on what I consider a most groundless and 
 unwarranted aspersion. 
 
 Mr. Tytler begins by stating " the popular belief on this point," in 
 
310 APPENDIX. 
 
 the language of Dr. M'Crie : " There is no reason to think that he 
 ( Knox) was privy to the conspiracy which proved fatal to Riccio : but 
 it is probable that he had expressed his satisfaction at an event which 
 contributed to the safety of religion and of the commonwealth, if not also 
 his approbation of the conduct of the conspirators." This is quoted 
 from "the Life of Knox, edited by Dr. Crichton," which, it is well 
 known, is merely a reprint of the first edition, with some notes taken 
 from subsequent editions. The second edition of Knox, from the nume- 
 rous additions and amendments made in the text, might be said to be 
 almost a new work. I must suppose that Mr. Tytler was not aware of 
 this fact when quoting, as he does throughout the whole of this dis- 
 cussion, from Dr. Crichton's edition ; for it is not generally held to be 
 courteous dealing in the literary world to quote from a brother author's 
 first edition, more especially in a historical work which has reached the 
 sixth. The consequence is, as we shall see, that the author's latest dis- 
 coveries and conclusions are not fairly given. Meantime, I may state, 
 that in the fifth edition of the Life of Knox, the last published under 
 the author's own eye, the latter part of the sentence quoted above rung 
 thus : " If not also his approbation of the objtct of the conspiracy.' 1 '' 
 (Vol. ii. 146, sixth edition, p. 294.) What this " object" was, of which 
 Knox approved, will afterwards appear. 
 
 The only piece of evidence really original, on which Mr. Tytler founds 
 his charge, that Knox " was precognizant of the intended murder," 
 is a stray slip of paper which he found " pinned to" a letter of Randolph 
 to Cecil, in the state-paper office, purporting to be a list of " such as 
 were consenting to the death of David," or " privy thereunto," and 
 containing, among other names, those of " John Knox and John Craig, 
 preachers." This list he supposes to be in the handwriting of a clerk 
 employed by the earl of Bedford, then at Berwick ; and having further, 
 as he thinks, discovered that Bedford and Randolph were made ac- 
 quainted with the conspiracy against Riccio, he concludes that this was 
 an authentic list of those implicated in the murder. This is the first 
 time, I believe, that the public was ever required to credit a charge so 
 seriously affecting the character of any individual, on the faith of a bit 
 of paper, without seal or signature, tacked by a pin to another 
 document. But, granting that Mr. Tytler is as correct as he is con- 
 fident in asserting the genuineness of this list, I beg to observe 1. That 
 the list bears internal evidence of having been drawn up in haste, and 
 without correct knowledge of the particulars. It concludes with these 
 words : " All these were at the death of Davy, and privy thereunto, 
 and are now in displeasure with the Q., and their houses taken and 
 spoiled." On which Mr. Tytler remarks: "It is certain that this 
 cannot mean that all whose names are to be found in the list were 
 personally present at the act of the murder ; it should l>e understood 
 to mean, that all these were at the murder of Davy, or privy thereto." 
 Now, allowing this to be quite " certain," I ask, was it true that John 
 Craig was "in displeasure with the queen," or that his "house was 
 taken and spoiled ? " So far from this, we know that Craig was rather 
 a favourite with the queen that he remained in town quietly dis- 
 charging his duties, and suffered no molestation from her. Must we 
 then insert another convenient or, and suppose that this bungling clerk 
 of the pin meant to say, " or are now in displeasure with the queen," 
 &c., intending still that Craig was privy to the murder of Davy ? If so, 
 I have just as good reason to contend that the last clause should be 
 interpreted in favour of Knox, and to allege that " it should be under- 
 stood to mean," that "all these were either privy to the murder, or 
 are now in displeasure with the queen ;" which last supposition 
 certainly was true so far as Knox was concerned. Mr. Tytler seems 
 to have overlooked the purpose for which he himself has said this 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 document was promised ; he would represent it as a confidential list of 
 the conspirators, prepared by Randolph from his previous knowledge of, 
 or communication with, the parties ; whereas it appears, from Bedford's 
 previous letter to Cecil, that what they promised to send him was an 
 account of " such as be now gone abroad;" i.e., fled to different parts, 
 on the queen's approach to Edinburgh. Knox, we know, was one of 
 these ; and there can be little doubt that this circumstance alone, con- 
 veyed to them by report, induced Randolph, or the clerk, to add his 
 name and that of Craig, as fugitives, to the list of those implicated in 
 the plot; though, fron^the distance at which they lived from the scene, 
 their information was, in one point at least, incorrect. This is further 
 confirmed by the fact, that the list is far from being a complete one. 
 It contains only sixteen names; whereas, in the " charge on the persons 
 delated for the slaughter of Riccio," issued 19th March, there are no 
 less than seventy-one, including lords, knights, and servants, all of whom 
 had fallen " in displeasure with the queen," and were " gone abroad" 
 though neither Knox nor Craig are mentioned among them. (Keith, 
 App. 150.) Randolph's letter is written on the 21st March, and yet 
 even then the writer of this is ignorant of the real state of matters. So 
 much for the pinned list. 
 
 2. Mr. Tytler has discovered another list of those implicated in the 
 plot, in which no mention is made of Knox or Craig. One would sup- 
 pose that this might have satisfied him that the former one was incorrect; 
 but with a singular pertinacity, which I leave the reader to characterize, 
 he labours to prove that the pinned document was the genuine list, and 
 the other a corrected copy. For this preference he has given us no rea- 
 son but his own conjectures founded on the circumstances that the first 
 was sent to Cecil confidentially, while the other was to be submitted to 
 the council of England; and that Morton and Ruthven, in sending their 
 account of the matter, desired Cecil to " amend and qualify anything he 
 thought extreme or rudely handled;" from which very natural request, 
 Mr. Tytler infers it to be likely that they would provide him with an 
 amended list of the conspirators! They would, says he, " have an espe- 
 cial object in keeping the names of Knox and Craig out of the list." 
 And of this object we are required to judge from the following sen- 
 tence: "It- is come to our knowledge," they say to Cecil, "that some 
 papists have bruited that these our proceedings have been at the insti- 
 gation of the ministers of Scotland. We assure your lordship, however, 
 upon our honour, that there were none of them art nor part of that deed, 
 nor were participate thereof." Words could not be more precise; and, 
 let it be observed, they occur, not in a letter sent to the council of Eng- 
 land, but to Cecil, their confidential correspondent. And yet, though 
 Mr. Tytler takes advantage of this distinction to charge these noblemen 
 with having garbled the list, when his object was to inculpate Knox and 
 the ministers, he will allow no weight to it in this case where the effect 
 would be to exculpate them. On the contrary, he actually supposes 
 that, writing to their friend Cecil, they attempted to palm upon him a 
 deliberate falsehood; and he quotes it as only affording an evidence that 
 they had an object in keeping the names of the ministers out of the list! 
 Not content with this, he attempts to find an equivocation in the words 
 " art and part;" because, forsooth, Morton, before his execution, four- 
 teen years after, denied he was guilty art and part in Darnley's murder, 
 although he subsequently confessed he foreknew and concealed it ! I 
 may safely leave it to all unbiassed readers to say, if such an interpreta- 
 tion can, with any fairness or feasibility, be put on the language of a 
 private and confidential letter, so solemnly denying that the ministers 
 had used any influence to instigate the proceedings against Riccio, or 
 hail any share or participation in them. 
 
 3. Mr, Tytler, like all the partisans of Mary, would fain make it ap- 
 
312 APPENDIX. 
 
 pear that the murder of Riccio, with all its horrible accompaniments, 
 had been deliberately planned long before; whereas, he must surely be 
 aware, that there is the strongest evidence for believing that the con- 
 spirators intended only to bring him to public execution, and that the 
 scene in the queen's chamber was entirely owing to the hot-headed king, 
 whose jealousy and hatred of the wretched minion would admit of no 
 delay, and hurried the matter to a premature issue. Spotswoode tells 
 us that the slaughter of Riccio was committed in the outer chamber 
 or gallery of the palace, by the retainers of the nobles, " who had no 
 commandment from the contrivers so to kill him, it being their purpose 
 to have brought him to public execution, which they knew would have been 
 to all people a most grateful spectacle.-" The same account is given by 
 Knex, Buchanan, and all except those whose object it was to exaggerate 
 matters. Ruthven " takes God to record, that none of these horrid 
 things were meant or done" which the queen and her friends published 
 on the subject; he desired his accomplices only to " carry the man down 
 to the king's chamber." And Dr. M'Crie has added, in a note, which 
 Mr. Tytler might have seen, had he consulted any other than the first 
 edition of the " Life of Knox," that " Douglas of Lochleven, who was 
 engaged in the combination against Riccio, says that it was their pur- 
 pose to have ' punished him by order of justice, but men proponit, and 
 God disponit othcrways, by sic extraordinar means, quhilk truly my own 
 heart abhorred when I saw him; for I never consented that he should 
 have seen used by (besides) justice, neither was it in any nobleman his 
 mind. 11 " (Vol. ii. p. 140 not in first edition.) This seems to prove dis- 
 tinctly that there was no original intention, even among the conspirators, 
 to assassinate Riccio ; nor is this contradicted either by the articles of 
 agreement with the king, or the bond of assurance, as might easily be 
 shown. How much less reason have we for imagining that the ministers 
 of Edinburgh contemplated such a deed ! The real object of the con- 
 spiracy was, to secure the restoration of the banished lords, and, in this 
 way, the establishment of the protestant religion against the plot which 
 had been formed for its extirpation an object which the contrivers, it 
 appears, thought they could not accomplish without the execution of 
 Riccio. Although, therefore, it should be granted, in the absence of 
 all positive evidence, and merely on the presumptions stated by Mr. 
 Tytler, that Knox was apprized by some of his friends of the existence 
 of such a conspiracy, he may be supposed to have approved of its ulti- 
 mate object without being charged with foreknowledge of what he him- 
 self calls the " marvellous tragedy," which even some of the actual 
 conspirators never contemplated, and which took the whole nation by 
 surprise. In the same light it was, doubtless, regarded by Randolph and 
 Cecil, by Murray, and the other banished noblemen. But unwilling to 
 occupy a single inch of space in your paper beyond what is requisite for 
 the present purpose, I forbear to say more on this point. With regard 
 to Knox's sentiments on the delicate subject of tyrannicide, on which 
 his accuser builds so much, I shall add nothing to what my father has 
 said; only one cannot help smiling to see the use which Mr. Tytler 
 makes of the admission, that Knox might have approved of the slaughter 
 of Riccio " so far as it was the work of God," by insinuating that he 
 " gave a silent consent to it, so far as he considered it the work of God," 
 before the work was done ! This is certainly an odd way of approving 
 of the divine procedure in providence. Besides, even Knox's approba- 
 tion of the deed when done, would afford no ground for Mr. Tytler 's 
 allegation. Because Mr. Chalmers in his " Caledonia," and Sir Walter 
 Scott in his " Minstrelsy," have expressed their high admiration of the 
 dastardly Hamilton, who assassinated " the good regent" Murray, am I 
 warranted to conclude that these gentlemen were quite capable of being 
 privy to suck a diabolicaljiiurder? 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 4. The interpretation which Mr. Tytler puts on the fast which hap- 
 pened to be held at Edinburgh at the time of Riccio's death, is nothing 
 new; he has been anticipated here by poor Walter Goodall, who pre- 
 tended to see no other design in the lessons and prayers which were 
 ordered to be used on that occasion than to prepare for the murder of 
 " Seignor Davie." The fact, however, is, that this fast was appointed 
 in December of the preceding year, when no such event was contemp- 
 lated. The ministers did not conceal their objects in appointing this 
 service. They boldly avowed that their desire was to have the banished 
 lords restored ; and when it is considered that a bloody plot had been 
 devised by the Guises, and signed by queen Mary, having for its object 
 the extirpation of all protestwts, it is not easy to say where they could 
 have found passages of scripture more suited to their circumstances 
 than those which spoke of the plots and cruelties of the ancient enemies 
 of Israel. I shall only add, that it seems passing strange, that Mr. 
 Tytler should have adverted so slightingly as he has done to one plot with 
 the queen at its head, which, if it had succeeded, according to the 
 designs of the conspirators, would have involved Scotland and England 
 in one mass of carnage and should have reserved all his indignation for 
 another plot, with the king at its head, which issued only in the bar- 
 barous execution of a despicable menial of the court. 
 
 5. The last, and indeed the only thing in the shape of evidence ad- 
 duced by Mr. Tytler, is the fact, that Knox, on the approach of the 
 queen to Edinburgh, retired to Kyle. This is no new charge. It was 
 first stated by Keith (p. 333), and it is repeated by Goodall (i. 257), 
 that Knox " hid himself in the west country, thereby plainly taking 
 upon him to have been one of the contrivers (at least abettors) of the 
 ungodly deed." It is rather fatal, however, to the hypothesis of these 
 writers, that it is not supported by a single contemporary authority. 
 Neither sir James Melville, nor lord Herries, nor the author of Me- 
 moirs of James the Sext, nor sir James Balfour, nor Buchanan, nor 
 Spotswoode, nor any writer of the period whom I have met with, many 
 of them sufficiently willing to tell, had it been suspected, have hazarded 
 such a conjecture, Knox himself gives a sufficient reason for his flight 
 on the approach of the incensed queen: " All that knew of her cruel pre- 
 tence and hatred towards them flew here and there." Mr. Tytler says, 
 he " fled in extreme agony of spirit ; " and refers, in proof of this, to 
 "his prayer added [prefixed] to his answer to Tyrie." It is plain he 
 never saw more of that prayer than what is quoted in the Life of Kuox, 
 and doubtful, if he did, whether he might not have misunderstood it. 
 The sins over which Knox there mourns, are " chiefly those whereof the 
 warld," he says, " are not able to accuse me." The prayer breathes 
 the spirit of Christian resignation, and that ardent desire to be released 
 from the troubles of this life, which he so often expressed. What Mr. 
 Tytler sneeringly calls his " extreme agony of spirit," was grief for the 
 situation of his flock, his wife, and children. " Tyrie, in his reply, scofi's 
 at this amiable expression of piety," says Dr. M'Crie, " and in so doing, 
 the Jesuit discovers that he was as great a stranger to conjugal and 
 parental feelings as he was to the rules of logic." (Vol. ii. 209 not in 
 iirst edition.) 
 
 I must not intrude longer on the patience of your readers by adducing 
 the contrary evidence which might be luruished against this charge, 
 but cannot refrain from quoting the testimony of his secretary " good 
 godly Richard Bannatyne" who may be supposed to have known his 
 master's character better than Mr. Tytler. When Knox was accused 
 by Robert Hamilton of St. Andrews, of being " as great a murtherer :<s 
 any Hamilton in Scotland, ;>nd, therefore, suld not cry out so fast agains: 
 inurtherers, he being privy to an attempt to assassinate Darnley at 
 Perth," 1 the reformer no sooner heard of the charge, than, he challenged 
 VOL. I. x 
 
ol-t APPENDIX. 
 
 the defamer to make it good, and Hamilton was glad to retract. (Jpon 
 which Bannatyne said to him, " Gif I knew my maister to be sic a man, 
 I would not serve him for all the geir in Sanct Andrews." (Ban. Me- 
 morials, p. 201.) Of the character of Mr. Tytler's attempt to fix this 
 stigma on our illustrious reformer, I shall say nothing. It seems very 
 much of a piece with his charge against the martyr Wishart, which 
 proved a complete failure. And I am much deceived if this renewed 
 attack on our reformers will redound much more to his credit. I am 
 yours, &c., 
 
 THOMAS M'CRIE. 
 George Square, Dec. 2, 1840. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY. 
 
 SIR, In the Caledonian Mercury of the 14th December 1840, which 
 has been sent to me here, I find a letter from Mr. Thomas M'Crie, the 
 son of the late learned biographer of Knox, in which, in answer to some 
 remarks I had made in the seventh volume of my History of Scotland, 
 on the accession of Knox to the conspiracy for the murder of David 
 Riccio, he accuses me of having sneered at the reformer's grief, and 
 bcofied at his amiable expressions of piety. Such is the only sense that 
 I can attach to the following passage: " Mr. Tytler says, he (Knox) 
 ' fled in extreme agony of spirit ;' and refers, in proof of this, to his 
 ' prayer added [prefixed] to his answer to Tyrie.' It is plain he never 
 saw more of that prayer than is quoted in the Life of Knox, and doubt- 
 ful, if he did, whether he might not have misunderstood it. The sins 
 over which Knox there mourns, are chiefly those ' whereof the warld,' 
 he says, ' are not able to accuse me.' The prayer breathes the spirit of 
 Christian resignation, and that ardent desire to be released from the 
 troubles of this life which he so often expressed. What Mr. Tytler 
 sneeringly calls his ' extreme agony of Spirit,' was grief for the situa- 
 tion of his flock, his wife, and children. ' Tyrie, in his reply (saya Dr. 
 M'Crie) scoffs at this amiable expression of piety, and in so doing, the 
 Jesuit discovers that he was as great a stranger to conjugal and parental 
 feelings as he was to the rules of logie.' " 
 
 In reply to this strange passage, I beg to assure Mr. M'Crie, that I 
 read the prayer of Knox to which he alludes, and which was first 
 pointed out to me by his father's work, in the original; that I weighed 
 it with attention, and on its evidence stated that Knox fled from Edin- 
 burgh in great agony of spirit. There is not in the sentence in which 
 I have mentioned this fact, nor in the whole historical remarks on the 
 assassination of Riccio, one word which can by any ingenuity be strained 
 into a sneer or a scoff against the reformer. Indeed, it was not possible 
 there should be; for I can say, with great sincerity, that these remarks, 
 and the whole narrative regarding the accession of the protestants to 
 this conspiracy, were written with a single eye to the discovery of the 
 truth, under a feeling of deep responsibility in bringing forward evidence 
 which implicated a great man, and with a wish to weigh all in the 
 balance of impartiality and charity. 
 
 I am quite aware that I am in no way entitled to complain that my 
 arguments should have failed in convincing Mr. M'Crie, or any one else; 
 but I hace a right to complain when a gentleman who is, if I am not 
 mistaken, a minister of the church of Scotland, comes forward, and in 
 a public paper represents me as a sneerer and scoffer upon subjects 
 which I hold as sacred as he does himself. 
 
 I call upon Mr. M'Crie, therefore, by the name he bears a name 
 which I have never alluded to without respect to retract, as publicly 
 as it has been made, an expression which has, no doubt, hastily escuped 
 
APPENDIX. SI 5 
 
 him; and when this is done, I promise to show him that he has been 
 equally hurried in his defence of the reformer, and that the main argu- 
 ment upon which he relies is erroneous and untenable. 1 am, sir, your 
 very obedient servant, 
 
 PATRICK FRASER TYTI.ER. 
 Devonshire Place, London, 
 December 21, 1840. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY. 
 
 SIR, In your paper of Thursday last, I observe a letter from Mr. 
 Patrick Fraser Tytler, iu which, referring to mine, which lately appeared 
 in your columns, that gentleman complains that I have accused him 
 " of having sneered at the reformer's (John Knox's) grief, and scoffed 
 sit his amiable expressions of piety," and concludes by " calling upon 
 Mr. M'Crie to retract, as publicly as it has been made, an expression 
 which has no doubt hastily escaped him;" adding, " When this is done, 
 I promise to show him that he has been equally hurried in his defence 
 of the reformer." Granting, sir, that I had been guilty of the piece of 
 indiscretion here complained of, it appears somewhat extraordinary 
 that Mr. Tytler should suspend his reply to a vindication of Knox from 
 a charge so deeply affecting not only the honour of the reformer, but 
 indirectly that of the protestant cause, upon such a condition. But 
 waiving this, I beg to say, that I never represented, nor meant to repre- 
 sent, Mr. Tytler " as a sneerer and scoffer upon sacred subjects." My 
 words were, " What Mr. Tytler sneeringly calls ' his extreme agony 
 of spirit,' was grief for the situation of his flock, his wife, and children." 
 And then followed a quotation from the Life of Knox, referring to 
 Tyrie the Jesuit, whom Dr. M''Crie accuses of " scoffing at this amiable 
 expression of piety" my object in introducing which was to show that 
 this same prayer, to which Mr. Tytler alludes, had been misunderstood 
 before, and that Dr. M'Crie considered that the grief therein expressed 
 might be easily accounted for by the " conjugal and parental feelings " 
 of the reformer. Though I cannot see that my language properly ad- 
 mits of the sense which Mr. Tytler says is " the only sense " he can 
 attach to it, I regret that the brevity requisite in such communications 
 should have led him to such a conclusion. Indeed, it could hardly have 
 been my intention to charge him with " having sneered or scoffed at 
 expressions of piety," occurring in a prayer of which I had just stated 
 that I had reason to believe Mr. Tytler " never saw more than is 
 quoted in the Life of Knox;" and to tell the truth, my impression was, 
 from his referring to the notes in the Life, as his sole authority, that 
 he had at the time seen no more of it than what is there quoted, which 
 is, " Now, Lord, put an end to my miserie." I cannot, therefore, be 
 expected to retract a charge which I never intended to bring. 
 
 What I did charge Mr. Tytler with, was his having alluded sneering- 
 ly, not to the piety, but to the grief expressed by Knox in that prayer. 
 And considering that, when Mr. Tytler spoke of the reformer as having 
 " fled in extreme agony of spirit" from Edinburgh to Kyle, he intended 
 to represent him in the light of a criminal fleeing from justice, I still 
 hold that I was entitled to view his language in the light of a sneer, in- 
 dicating contempt of the feelings of distress which he expresses in that 
 prayer, and insinuating that the "miserie," which he prayed God to 
 " put an end to," arose, not from causes such as those assigned in the 
 prayer, for which every pious mind must feel respect, but from remorse, 
 or a cowardly sense of conscious but unconfessed guilt as a murderer. 
 If, however, Mr. Tytler means to deny that this was his intention, in 
 using the words, as I must suppose from his declaring that, in all he has 
 
Slfi APPENDIX. 
 
 said, there is " not one word which can, by any ingenuity, be strained into 
 a sneer or scoff against the reformer," I am bound to acknowledge my 
 mistake ; and rather than stand in the way of his promised demonstra- 
 tion, willingly express my regret that I should have so understood his 
 meaning. 
 
 I may be allowed to add, that I carefully endeavoured to avoid, in 
 my letter, the least expression of personal disrespect for Mr. Tytler, not 
 less from regard for his own character, and the uniform respect with 
 which he alludes to the name of my father, than from aversion to mingle 
 with this question the asperities of private controversy. Mr. Tytler's 
 " impartiality and charity," as a writer, are fair subjects of dispute, and 
 must be tried by another standard than his own professions. Mean- 
 while, before again bringing, or attempting to substantiate such serious 
 charges against our reformers, he may learn, perhaps, to improve still 
 more in these cardinal virtues of the historian, by finding how easily a 
 charge may be brought against himself, of which he is consciously inno- 
 cent; and how deeply he feels himself aggrieved by being even sus- 
 pected of sneering at the piety of the man whom he charges with accession 
 to a barbarous murder. I am, sir, your most obedient servant, 
 
 THOMAS M'CniE. 
 
 George Square, Dec. 25, 1840. 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY. 
 
 SIR, I have read last night, in the Caledonian Mercury of the 
 2Gth December, Mr. Marie's second letter on the subject of Knox and 
 Riccio. He there states that he never meant to accuse me of sneering 
 at the reformer's " piety," but at his " grief, 1 " and adds, that if this was 
 not my intention, he willingly expresses his regret for having misunder- 
 stood my meaning. This explanation I readily accept. I beg agarn to 
 affirm, that I had not the slightest intention of conveying a sneer either 
 at the piety or the grief of the reformer, and that, having carefully read 
 over the passage in question, with a wish to alter, in a subsequent edition, 
 any words to which this meaning might be attached, I am unable to mid 
 them. 
 
 And now, sir, having had an opportunity of distinctly disclaiming a 
 groundless imputation, I must be permitted to close the public part of 
 this correspondence. I have promised to show Mr. M'Crie that he has 
 been hurried in his defence of the reformer, and that the main argument 
 upon which he relies is erroneous. This, however, I purpose to do, not 
 by entering into a newspaper controversy, a method ill adapted for the 
 discovery of truth, and quite uncongenial to my habits, but by communi- 
 cating to him some additional remarks and extracts, which, probably, 
 I shall afterwards publish. 
 
 I have, in conclusion, sir, only to express my best thanks to you for 
 the insertion of my letters, and to subscribe myself your very obedient 
 servant, 
 
 PATRICK FRASRR TYTLER. 
 
 London, 34, Devon.shire Place, 
 Dec. 30, 1840. 
 
 TO TIIF, EDITOR OF THE CALEDONIAN MERCURY. 
 
 SIR, Mr. Patrick Fraser Tytler has transmitted to me, according to 
 lus promise, some remarks on my defence of Knox, with the view of 
 convincing me that I have been " hurried" in that attempt ; and as this 
 promise was publicly given, I consider it my duty to state, with equal 
 
APPENDIX. 317 
 
 publicity, and without saying any more at present, that so far from con- 
 vincing me, Mr. Tytler has not touched the main points on which I re- 
 lied, and has only confirmed me in the persuasion that his charge against 
 Knox is unsupported by any evidence worthy of credit. I remain, yours, 
 &c., THOMAS M'CRIE. 
 
 George Square, Felt. 8, 1841. 
 
 Here ends the published correspondence. With regard to the private 
 communication referred to in the last letter, as Mr. Tytler did not ap- 
 pear to wish or expect its publication by me (whatever use he may intend 
 to make of it in his second edition), I shall refrain from publishing 
 it here. His courtesy in the whole of this correspondence I most grate- 
 fully acknowledge. But after Mr. Tytler having apprized the public of 
 his intention to transmit to me documents which would convince me 
 that I had been " hurried" in my defence of Knox, and that my " main 
 argument is erroneous and untenable," it would be leaving him an unfair 
 advantage in the controversy, were I to say nothing more than that he 
 had failed in convincing my mind. I shall, therefore, take the liberty 
 of giving the purport of his communication, and the substance of my 
 reply to it. 
 
 The documents which Mr. Tytler sent me referred exclusively to one 
 of my statements namely, that, ev^n granting that Knox was apprized 
 beforehand of the conspiracy against Riccio (of which there is not the 
 slightest credible or satisfactory proof), it did not follow that he con- 
 sented to the murder of that person, inasmuch as there was strong 
 evidence that the conspirators themselves did not originally, or unani- 
 mously, contemplate his murder at all. In opposition to this, which the 
 reader will perceive was a mere subordinate part of the defence, but 
 which Mr. Tytler is pleased to call my " main argument," the extracts 
 which he sent were intended to show that Kuthven and Morton, with 
 the other conspirators, had resolved, some time before, on the assassination 
 of Riccio; and that their resolution was known to Randolph and Cecil. 
 This is the sole purport of Mr. Tytler's private communication. 
 
 In reply to this, after expressing my regret that, the charge against 
 the reformer being public, Mr. Tytler should have contented himself 
 with a private answer to the defence, and my fears that such a method 
 would neither do justice to the memory of the reformer, nor give satis- 
 faction to the public there being many besides myself who required to be 
 convinced of the truth of his allegation I remarked, in substance, that 
 his documents still left room for the supposition, which rests on the best 
 authority, that the conspirators did not at first contemplate the murder 
 of Riccio. The reports of the murderous designs of the king against 
 Riccio had no doubt reached the ears of the English diplomatists, for he 
 took very little pains to conceal them; but that even Ruthven, the 
 chief person to whom the king communicated his purpose, neither wished 
 nor projected the tragical result, appears from his own account : " The 
 said lord Ruthven counselled him to the contrary, and thought it not 
 decent that he should put hand on such a mean person ;" but the king 
 persisting in his design, " Ruthven affixed a day whereon David should be 
 slain, though he would have him rather to be judged by the nobility.' 1 '' 
 (Keith, App. 121.) That the other conspirators (if such they can be 
 called) were taken by surprise, appears very evident from the language 
 of Douglas of Lochleven, who was one of them. I give the whole 
 passage relating to the subject from the original manuscript. It is a 
 striking passage, and exhibits the light in which good men at the time 
 viewed the event, both as the doing of man, and as the " disponing" of 
 Providence : in the former point of view distinctly condemning it, and 
 in the latter acknowledging the influence of the prayers of the church 
 
318 APPENDIX. 
 
 in effecting the deliverance which followed, in terms so simple and de- 
 vout, that he must be singularly prejudiced indeed who would construe 
 them into an approbation of the crime which was overruled for good : 
 "The king, the queen's husband, noways content with him (Riccio) that 
 he should pretend to rule, [and] that he could get nothing donne for him 
 at the queen's hand, took purpose, by [advice] of som other lords of the 
 religion, as the earl of Morton, the lord Ruthven, Lindsay, the secre- 
 tary, and divers barons, and was of purpose to have given him [his 
 trial], and punished him by order of justice. But men proponit and 
 God disponit otherways, by some extraordinar means, which truly my 
 own heart abhorrit, when I saw him; for / never consentit that he should 
 be used by [beside or against ] justice, neither was it in any nobleman his 
 mind. But always [nevertheless] it stayed the forfeiture of the noblemen 
 of the religion at that time; and the fasts and prayers of the kirk were 
 heard, which never returnit fra God in vain." (Lochleven Papers, in 
 possession of the earl of Morton.) 
 
 To this I may now add the testimony of David Hume of Godscroft, 
 who may be almost termed a contemporary historian, and possessed the 
 best means of information. He tells us. that the noblemen had deter- 
 mined that Riccio " should be carried to the city, and have his trial by 
 assize, and so legally and formally (for they had matter enough against 
 him) condemned and executed at the market-cross of Edinburgh." On 
 apprehending him, however, at the palace, which they were obliged to 
 do by the king's orders, their attendants, hearing the noise of scuffling 
 made by Huntly and Bothwell in the court below, and " not knowing 
 what it might import, but fearing that he might be rescued from them, 
 fell upon him and stabbed him with their daggers, sore against the trill, 
 and beside the intention of Morton and the rest of the noblemen, who 
 thought to have caused execute him upon the scaffold, so to have grati- 
 fied the common people, to whom it would have been a most acceptable 
 and pleasant sight." (Hume's History of the House of Douglas and Angus, 
 vol. ii. pp. 1.59-161.) Speaking of Hume, Mr. Pinkerton says: "This writer, 
 who composed his work about the year 1630, has often original and 
 authentic information." (Hist, of Scotland, vol. i. p. '216.) " It is true," 
 says Dr. M'Crie, " that Hume lived nearly to the year 1630, and might 
 finish his history in his old age; but he was born between 1550 and 1560. 
 Being the confidential adviser and agent, as well as the kinsman, of 
 Archibald (the third of that name) earl of Angus, he had access to the 
 family papers of that nobleman, and to other valuable sources of intelli- 
 gence." (Life of Melville, vol. ii. p. 436.) Writing of him. Andrew Mel- 
 ville says : " I love the sincere zeal and undaunted spirit of that excellent 
 man, and upright friend. Would to Orod that the equestrian, not to say 
 the ecclesiastical order, could boast of many Godscrofts !" 1 take the 
 liberty of saying, that the testimony of such a writer is infinitely more 
 worthy of confidence, and more likely to contain the truth, than any 
 flying reports, which, caught up by a stranger, and hastily transmitted 
 to his correspondents without much examination, may have found their 
 way into the state-paper office. 
 
 With all the facts on both sides before him, every reader may form 
 his own theory of the matter. To us it appears very plain, that the 
 king alone was bent on murder; that some of the lords, rather than not 
 compass their ends the removal of Riccio, and the return of their 
 friends were willing to humour him, though their wishes pointed an- 
 other way; that these, knowing the king's temper, and not being sure 
 what might happen in the scufile, took the precaution of getting a docu- 
 ment under the king's hand, which might secure them in any event; 
 that some others of them, owing to circumstances or known character, 
 were not intrusted with the secret of a bloody chance at all; that, 
 fortiori, the ministers and Knox were in this last predicament ; that, if 
 
APPENDIX. SI 9 
 
 apprized of any such design at all, it is highly improbable they -were let 
 deeper into the mystery than that a plot was in agitation, which was to 
 issue in the seizure of the favourite, and his being dealt with according 
 to law ; but that afterwards, people who knew little of the minute his- 
 tory of the event, and cared little for the character of the implicated 
 parties, above all, who had no objection to attach astigma to the minis- 
 ters, ascribed the crime of the few to all who were suspected of being 
 cognizant of any part of the plot, or who had any interest, near or re- 
 mote, in its issues. 
 
 But even granting what Mr. Tytler is so anxious to prove, that there 
 had been a formed and fixed purpose that Riccio should be assassinated, 
 this does not affect the " main argument " in my vindication, which rests 
 on the glaring invalidity and inconclusiveness of the only piece of evi- 
 dence upon which Mr. Tytler attempts to implicate Knox in the guilt of 
 accession to the murder. That evidence, we repeat, does not go beyond 
 the miserable scrap of paper which he found pinned (by some person 
 unknown) to a document in the state-paper office, in which paper is a 
 list (written by some person unknown) containing the names of Knox 
 and Craig among the conspirators who had fled. The incorrectness of 
 this unsubscribed and suspicious paper has been shown, from its con- 
 taining the name of Craig, who was never suspected of the plot, and 
 never left the city. It is disproved by an authenticated list of the con- 
 spirators, in which no mention is made either of Knox or Craig, and by 
 the official lists of the proscribed individuals, published after the whole 
 plot had been revealed by the king to Mary, who would have glad-y 
 availed herself of the slightest pretext to have involved John Knox in 
 the odium and guilt of the conspiracy. And it is distinctly contradicted 
 by the conspirators themselves, who declare Chat the ministers had no 
 share whatever in aiding or abbetting the transaction. Beyond this, in 
 all that Mr. Tytler says, there is an entire want, not only of proof, but 
 of an attempt at proof, that the lords made Knox cognizant of their de- 
 signs. And yet, without attempting to support the authority of this 
 unautheuticated, disproved, and contradicted document, Mr. Tytler 
 contents himself with attaching a mere collateral statement, to which 
 the advocate of Knox might have had recourse, on the supposition that 
 his accuser had proved him to have been cognizant of the conspiracy, 
 but which, properly speaking, forms no necessary part of his defence 
 1'rom the charge. The reader is left to draw his own conclusions. 
 
 The conjectures drawn from Knox's sentiments, interests, and connec- 
 tions, by which Mr. Tytler attempts to support his charge, are unworthy 
 of further notice. Mr. Tytler may entertain the opinion that murder 
 was not so alien to Knox's principles, but that he might know of the 
 purpose to slaughter Riccio. But that is merely Mr. Tytler' s opinion; 
 and the opinion that a man of Knox's piety, prudence, and intelligence 
 was not likely to be a party to such a proceeding, is at least equally de- 
 serving of credit. That there exists in the breasts of some in our day, 
 as there certainly did in his own day, an anms-against the reformer, 
 which prepares them for believing, on the slightest evidence, or what has 
 the appearance of evidence, that he was capable of the most monstrous 
 crimes, we have no doubt. But we beg to hold Mr. Tytler to the point. 
 Before advancing such a serious charge against the reformer, in an his- 
 torical work laying any claim to impartiality, he ought to have produced 
 the clearest, the most direct, and the best authenticated proof. Instead 
 of this, his charge hangs by nothing more than the slip of paper already 
 characterized, which, in the opinion of the best judges, has been pro- 
 nounced as worthless as the pin by which it was preserved from annihi- 
 lation. It has been justly asked by the talented editor of the Witness, 
 in his ingenious reflections on this controversy, " What would be thought 
 of a similar accusation in any justiciary court in the kingdom ? or where 
 
320 APPENDIX. 
 
 could a jury be found of twelve men, of plain sense, who would not at 
 once dismiss it as frivolous and unfounded, without so much as entering 
 the jury-box?" 
 
 If this be a specimen of the spirit in which Mr. Tytler means to con- 
 tinue his History, we venture to predict, that it will stamp a character 
 on his work which will cast suspicion on every other statement which it 
 contains. Posterity will pay but little regard to charges so slightly sup- 
 ported, even though they may receive the passing smile of party-spirited 
 reviewers. Meanwhile, however, we cannot but regret the injury which 
 must be done to the cause of truth and righteousness, by the revival of 
 such aspersions ; not to speak of our historical literature, which is in immi- 
 nent danger of suffering damage from a trifling and delusive antiqua- 
 rianism, which leads its votaries to over-estimate old manuscripts, and 
 to place them above the most accredited documents of history, especially 
 if they happen to be found in the charter chest or a state-paper office. 
 
 I shall only add, that several gentlemen of the higl'est name in the lite- 
 rary world, and critically versed in our national history, to whom I have 
 submitted the whole of this correspondence, published and unpublished, 
 entirely agree with me in concluding that Mr. Tytler has completely 
 failed in his attempt to implicate Knox in this conspiracy, and that the 
 evidence on which he suspends his charge is not entitled to the smallest 
 consideration. Should he return to that charge in a second edition, it 
 may be found advisable to enter into more detail, and to have recourse 
 to some more widely known medium of defence. 
 
 Note to Second Edition. Since the first edition of these Sketches was 
 published, the second edition of Mr. Tytler's History has appeared. 
 Will the reader believe that, notwithstanding the exposure which has 
 been made, in the public prints, of the falsity of his charge against the 
 character of our reformer, Mr. Tytler has reprinted his Appendix on 
 this point word for word as in the first edition, without the slightest 
 acknowledgment of mistake; without even hinting that his historical 
 veracity had been called in question ; nay, without changing his quota- 
 tions from the first edition of the Life of Knox published by Dr. Crich- 
 ton, though he was told, in the letter which he read, that the state- 
 ments to which he referred had been considerably altered in the subse- 
 quent editions of that work ? This may be aristocratic prudery, or it 
 may be puseyite bigotry ; but I leave it with my readers to say how far 
 it is consistent either with literary courtesy or with common candour. 
 Henceforth the public will judge what degree of weight is to be at- 
 tached to any of Mr. Ty tier's statements which, in the slightest degree 
 affect the moral and religious reputation of our protestant reformers, or 
 the glorious cause of the reformation. 
 
 OF VOLUME I. 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 SCOTTISH CHURCH HISTORY: 
 
 EMBRACING THE PERIOD FROM THE 
 
 REFORMATION TO THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 REV. THOMAS M'CRIE, 
 
 AUTHOR OF THE " LIFE OF DR. M'CRIE," ETC. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 $ Htinn. 
 
 BLACKIE AND SON: 
 
 GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, LONDON, AND NEW YORK. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. II. 
 
 PAGE 
 CHAPTER I. From 1643 to 1660, . ' 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. From 1660 to 1663, 
 
 CHAPTER III From 1663 to 1666, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. From 1666 to 1677, 
 
 CHAPTER V. From 1677 to 1679, 
 
 CHAPTER VI. From 1679 to 1685, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. From 1685 to 1688, 
 CHAPTER VITI. From 1688 to 1689, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. From 1689 to 1690, 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NOTE A. Extremes regarding the Indulgence, . 303 
 
 NOTE B. Semi-Popery of Scottish Prelacy, . 304 
 
 NOTE C. Analogy between Past and Present Times, 305 
 
 NOTE D. The Forged Letter of Claverhouse, . 307 
 
SKETCHES, Ac. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Montrose and the Covenanters Charles I. comes to the Scots army 
 His discussion with Alexander Henderson Death of Henderson Dis- 
 posal of the king's person Duke of Hamilton's engagement Execution 
 of Charles I. State of religion in Scotland Abolition of patronage 
 Negotiations with Charles II. His coronation Resolutioners and 
 protesters Cromwell and the English army in Scotland Anecdotes 
 of Blair, Rutherford, and Douglas. 
 
 WHILE the civil war was raging in England, the 
 state of Scotland, especially in the year 1645, was 
 most deplorable. The kingdom was involved in the 
 combined miseries of war, famine, and pestilence. 
 It is well known that the passions of men are never 
 more inflamed, never wreak themselves in deeds of 
 greater cruelty, than during a civil war; and of all 
 civil wars, those in which religion is concerned are 
 the most bitter and inveterate. But in Scotland, 
 besides these elements of discord, the feudal anti- 
 pathies of the rival chieftains, who held sway over 
 different parts of the country, contributed greatly to 
 imbitter the strife, and led to numerous atrocities, 
 the bare recital of which makes the heart thrill with 
 horror, while it should inspire us with gratitude to 
 God that our lot has been cast in happier days. The 
 person to whom Scotland owed a large share of her 
 
f) MONTROSE AND THE COVENANTERS. [1643. 
 
 miseries at this time, was the marquis of Montrose, 
 who had now raised the royal standard, and, at the 
 head of a rude and savage band of " Highland kernes 
 and Irish runnagates," was spreading devastation 
 over the country. The close connection in which 
 this nobleman once stood to the covenanters, and the 
 fierce hostility which he subsequently displayed 
 against them, demand a brief notice of his charac- 
 ter and history. 
 
 At the commencement of the contests between 
 the court and the covenanters, we find Montrose 
 among the keenest partisans of the covenant. He 
 was a member of the famous Glasgow assembly of 
 16'o8; he was among the first to take up arms, 
 and having been sent to the north, as we have seen, 
 without any orders to that effect, he forced the au- 
 thorities of Aberdeen to take the covenant. When 
 the Scottish army invaded England, the lot of his 
 regiment being first to cross the Tweed, he was the 
 foremost person to plunge into the river, which lie 
 did most courageously, to the admiration of all. 
 Soon after this exploit, however, having been admit- 
 ted to an interview with the king, he began to show 
 a disposition to desert to the royalists. Naturally 
 haughty, jealous, and conceited anxious to distin- 
 guish himself, and impatient of all rivalship, superio- 
 rity, or control it is supposed, on authority which 
 lias never yet been disproved, that he was induced to 
 change sides from seeing Argyle preferred before 
 him in the council, and general Leslie in the field, 
 hi 10'40, he was detected in a clandestine corres- 
 pondence with the king, at a very critical conjunc- 
 ture; but having craved pardon for the offence, he 
 was generously forgiven. In the following year he 
 
1643.] CHARACTER OF MONTROSE. 7 
 
 was accused of complicity in a plot to assassinate the 
 earls of Argyle and Hamilton, generally known by 
 the name of The Incident, which is still involved in 
 considerable mystery. In 1 643, he threw off the 
 mask, openly joined the king's party, and raised an 
 army for the purpose of ruining the cause which he 
 had so solemnly pledged himself to maintain. 
 
 The character of Montrose, as might be expected 
 from the prominent part which he took in defence of 
 the king, is variously estimated by historians, ac- 
 cording to their political leanings and predilections. 
 In the eyes of the admirers of Charles and arbitrary 
 power, who are animated by anything but a charit- 
 able feeling towards the covenanters, Montrose ap- 
 pears in a character little inferior to that of the most 
 illustrious heroes of antiquity invested with all the 
 dazzling interest of romance " a high-spirited gen- 
 tleman, accomplished in mind and body his heart 
 overflowing with lofty and generous sentiments;" and 
 they dwell with rapture on the splendid victories 
 which he achieved over his countrymen, while they 
 bewail his untimely fate as that of a martyr, and can 
 hardly find epithets sufficiently strong to express 
 their detestation of the " bigots and barbarians" by 
 whom it was inflicted. By others, again, he is re- 
 presented as a mean-spirited, vindictive, and ruth- 
 less bravado as the blackest criminal, destitute of 
 either public or private principle the chief of a law- 
 less banditti committing murder and devastation in 
 the spirit of cold-blooded, indiscriminate, unmanly 
 vengeance; and justly meriting, on these accounts, 
 the ignominious end to which he was brought. It is 
 extremely difficult, in drawing the character and 
 tracing the history of such a man as Montrose, to 
 
8 CHARACTER OF MONTROSE. [1643. 
 
 avoid extremes; and that both of these pictures are 
 extremes can hardly be denied. Mindful of the 
 ancient adage, that " No man ever became most 
 depraved all at once," we are unwilling to believe 
 that this nobleman, when he first took up arms in 
 the cause of Charles, contemplated the atrocities in- 
 to which he was afterwards led, by placing himself 
 at the head of a barbarous and disgusting horde, 
 who had no feelings in common with his countrymen, 
 and whose sole object in following him was pillage 
 and plunder; and he may have persuaded himself 
 that, in perpetrating these atrocities he was actuated 
 by a pure regard for the interests of his sovereign. 
 But it is vain to deny, and indeed impossible to 
 explain his conduct without admitting, that there 
 were mingled with this romantic and mistaken feel- 
 ing, motives of private animosity against Argyle and 
 the other chieftains of the covenant; and that, hav- 
 ing forfeited the forgiveness, and roused the resent- 
 ment of the nation, by imbruing his hands so deeply 
 in the blood of his countrymen, he became equally 
 reckless and daring determined, apparently, to ele- 
 vate himself on the ruins of his country, and gain 
 the darling object of his heart, though he should 
 convert Scotland into a field of slaughter and deso- 
 lation. His humanity and discretion while acting 
 under the banner of the covenant, were such as to 
 elicit the warm commendations of Baillie and his 
 party, who dreaded nothing so much as tarnishing 
 the honour of their victories with deeds of needless 
 severity. To what extent his character may have 
 been altered by becoming a renegade from his reli- 
 gion and a traitor to his country, we shall not say; 
 but tiie change which marked his conduct may be es- 
 
1644.] CRUELTIES OF MONTROSE. 9 
 
 timated from the following brief recital of his sub- 
 sequent career. 
 
 The regular troops of Scotland being then en- 
 gaged under general Leslie in England, Montrose 
 suddenly appeared in Perthshire, in September 1644, 
 at the head of an army composed of Highlanders 
 and wild Irishmen, most of the latter of whom had 
 been engaged in the bloody scenes of the Irish mas- 
 sacre, and he gained an easy victory at Tibbermuir 
 over the raw and undisciplined recruits who were 
 hastily called out against him. Having made him- 
 self master of Perth, he advanced northward to 
 Aberdeen, flushed with success. Here, also, the 
 troops of the covenanters, unprepared for such 
 treachery, were taken by surprise; and after a brave 
 resistance of two hours, were compelled to retreat. 
 A drummer, who had accompanied a commissioner 
 sent to summon the town to surrender, having got 
 drunk, and been unhappily killed on his return, 
 Montrose irritated by their refusal to submit, made 
 this incident a pretext for indiscriminate slaughter, 
 and gave the inhuman " charge to his men to kill, 
 and pardon none."* Orders so congenial to the 
 savage dispositions of his soldiery were promptly 
 fulfilled to the letter. The scene which followed is 
 given in the homely language of Spalding, a contem- 
 porary, and a townsman of Aberdeen, whose account 
 being that of a stanch loyalist and an admirer of 
 Montrose, cannot for a moment be suspected of ex- 
 aggeration: "The livetennand (Montrose) followis 
 the chase in to Abirdene, his men hewing and cutting 
 down all manner of man they could overtak within 
 the toune, upon the streits, or in their houses, and 
 
 * Spalding's Hist, of the Troubles, ii. 264, Bannatyne edit. 
 
10 CRUELTIES OF MONTROSE. [1644. 
 
 round about the toun as our men wes fleeing, with 
 brode swords, but (without) mercy or remeid. Thir 
 cruell Irishis, seeing a man weill cled, would first tyr 
 him (that is, strip him), and save the clothes on- 
 spoyled, and syne kill the man. Montrois followis 
 the chase in to Abirdene, leaving the body of his army 
 standing close unbroken till his returne, except such 
 Irishis as faucht the field. He had promesit to them 
 the plundering of the toun for their good service. 
 Alvvaies (yet) the livetennand (Montrose) stayit not, 
 bot returnit bak fra Abirdene to the camp this sa- 
 men Frydday at nicht^ leaving the Irishis killing, 
 robbing, and plundering of this toune at their pie- 
 sour. And nothing heard bot pitiful houling, crying, 
 weeping, murning, through all the streitts. Thus 
 thir Irishis continewit Frydday, Satterday, Sonday, 
 Mononday." The conduct of these monsters to the 
 unhappy women whom they found in the town can- 
 not be rehearsed. But to complete the picture, the 
 same historian (too faithful to be quoted in this part 
 of his narrative by the panegyrists of Montrose) 
 adds, " It is lamentable to hear how thir Irishis, who 
 had gotten the spoyl of the town, did abuse the 
 same. The men that they killed they would not 
 suffer to be bureit, bot tirrit them of their clothes, 
 syne left their nakit bodies lying above the ground. 
 The wyf durst not cry nor weep at her husband's 
 slauchter befoir her eyes, nor the mother for the son, 
 nor the dochter for the father; which, if thay war 
 heard (doing), then war thay presently slayne 
 also. 11 * 
 
 This horrible scene of carnage, lust, and rapine, 
 was perpetrated in the presence, under the autho- 
 
 * Spalding's Hist, of the Troubles, vol. i., Bannatyne edit. 
 
1644.] CRUELTIES OF MONTROSE. 11 
 
 rity, and by the express orders, of " the gallant 
 Montrose," who was lodged in the town, and kept 
 the main body of his troops in the neighbourhood, 
 that his Irish followers might revel at pleasure, and 
 reap the full reward he had promised them " for 
 their good service;'" and the next day he marched 
 off with the rest of his army, leaving the city at the 
 mercy of the inhuman instruments of his vengeance. 
 And yet this reckless and infatuated man could so 
 far forget himself as to declare, before his execution, 
 that he " did all that lay in him to keep back his 
 soldiers from spoiling the country; and for blood- 
 shed, if it could have been thereby prevented, he 
 would rather it had all come out of his own veins." 
 If the remembrance of his former behaviour, in forc- 
 ing the inhabitants of this town to embrace the 
 covenant, could make no impression on his sense of 
 shame, we might have thought that their well-known 
 partiality to the cause of Charles might have recom- 
 mended them to his mercy; and the army of the 
 covenanters, by whom alone resistance had been 
 made, having fled, his conduct in giving up the un- 
 offending and unarmed to pillage and massacre is 
 deprived even of the feeble defence of his taking re- 
 prisals upon the enemies of the king. But next to 
 the guilt of being accessory to such atrocious pro- 
 ceedings, which have at least the palliation of being 
 done in civil war, is that of attempting to vindicate 
 them; and when we hear Dr. Wishart, the panegy- 
 rist of Montrose, coolly describing the scene, by 
 telling us that "he entered the city and allowed his 
 men two days to refresh themselves ;"" and a later his- 
 torian, who surveys it in the nineteenth century, 
 callously declaring that Montrose " stands as com- 
 
12 DEFEAT AT INVERLOCHY. [1644. 
 
 pletely exonerated as any general under whose com- 
 mand blood ever flowed or misery followed,"* we are 
 almost tempted to say that his conduct, bad as it 
 was, was not so inexcusable as the spirit which dic- 
 tated such vindications. 
 
 For four days did this monstrous cruelty con- 
 tinue, and it ceased only then, because the approach 
 of Argyle obliged the rebels to evacuate the town. 
 As Montrose was not in a situation to cope with 
 Argyle, he retreated northward, and having gained 
 fresh adherents, he penetrated, in the midst of 
 winter, into Argyleshire, and, in the absence of its 
 chief, overran that district with a vindictive barba- 
 rity of which only the ferocious Irish of that age 
 and the savages of the mountains could have been 
 found capable. The houses and the corn were 
 burned, the cattle destroyed, and all the males fit 
 to bear arms who fell into their hands massacred in 
 cold blood. -f- Argyle, resenting this invasion as a 
 personal wrong, hastened to the scene; but his 
 soldiers, being mostly raw recruits from the Low- 
 lands, were easily routed by Montrose at Inverlochy. 
 The conduct of Argyle on this occasion, in taking to 
 his boat on the lake instead of leading his men, has 
 given occasion to his enemies to reproach him with 
 pusillanimity. Baillie vindicates him from this, by 
 informing us that, " having a hurt in his arm and 
 face, gotten by a casual fall from his horse, whereby 
 he was disabled to use either sword or pistol, he was 
 compelled by his friends to go aboard his barge."" 
 Be this as it may, it should be remembered that 
 Argyle was a senator, not a soldier; he never pro- 
 
 * Napier's Montrose and the Covenanters, 
 t Brodie's Hist, of the British Empire, iii. 534; Spalding's Troubles, &c. 
 
] TROUBLES OF THE COUNTRY. 13 
 
 fessed to excel in that martial daring which, in the 
 eyes of some men, is deemed almost sufficient to 
 atone for the absence of every moral and religious 
 qualification. His firmness as a patriot, his fidelity 
 to his country at this awful crisis, and the services 
 he rendered to the cause of the covenant by the 
 wisdom of his counsels and the energy of his mea- 
 sures, exposed him to the slanders of the cavalier 
 party, who, while they ridiculed his religious prin- 
 ciples, which they were incapable of appreciating, 
 were too glad of an occasion to exaggerate his de- 
 ficiency in point of mere animal courage a quality 
 in which it was their chief glory to excel. These 
 slanders, transmitted by successive historians, con- 
 tinue to be repeated to the present day; and the 
 memory of this nobleman lies under a cloud, which 
 is only beginning to clear away, as the principles 
 for which he contended are beginning to be better 
 understood. 
 
 Meanwhile the troubles of the country continued 
 to increase. Almost every man who could bear arms 
 having been called to serve in the wars, agricultural 
 operations were suspended, and the consequence was, 
 that famine, and its general attendant, pestilence, 
 soon made their appearance. It might truly have 
 been said, in the language of the prophet, " The 
 sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine 
 within; he that is in the field shall die with the 
 s \vord, and he that is in the city, famine and pesti- 
 lence shall devour him."* The plague, which spread 
 quickly through the southern parts of the country, 
 had slain its thousands. The greatest alarm pre- 
 vailed in consequence of the excesses of Montrose, 
 * Ezek. vii. 15. 
 
14 ZEAL OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH. [1645 
 
 whose hands were by this time deeply dyed in the 
 blood of his countrymen; and who, elated by his 
 successes, conceived himself already master of the 
 whole kingdom. " Only give me leave, 11 wrote this 
 vain-glorious man to the king, " after I have reduced 
 this country to your majesty's obedience, and con- 
 quered from Dan to Beersheba. to say to your ma- 
 jesty then, as David's general did to his master, 
 ' Come thou thyself, lest this country be called by 
 my name." 1 * The savages, under the conduct of 
 this leader, and of one Alaster Macdonald, a popish 
 outlaw, exercised everywhere the most " horrid and 
 unheard-of cruelties," so that the inhabitants fled in 
 all directions at the slightest notice of their approach ; 
 and nothing was heard but the cries of women and 
 children, wailing over the loss of husbands, fathers, 
 and brothers. 
 
 In these circumstances, the country may be said 
 to have been saved from absolute ruin by the firmness 
 of the Scottish Church. At an extraordinary meeting 
 held in February 1645, the general assembly ad- 
 dressed a spirited remonstrance to the Scottish 
 parliament, urging them to execute exemplary pun- 
 ishment on the authors and abettors of the civil war. 
 They also addressed " a solemn and seasonable warn- 
 ing" to all classes, and to the armies both in England 
 
 O C3 
 
 and Scotland, pointing out the various sins of which 
 they had been guilty, and which they viewed as the 
 causes of God's wrath against the land, and urging 
 
 * The letter in which this bravado occurs was found among Montrose's 
 papers after his defeat at Philiphaugh. (Bnrnefs Hist., i. 52.) Welwood 
 states that this letter " had as ill effects as the worst of king Charles' 
 enemies could have wished, for it dashed out in a moment all the impres- 
 sions his best friends had been making upon him for a considerable time, 
 towards a full settlement with his people." (WelwoocFs Memoirs, p. 65.) 
 
1645.] DEFEAT OF MONTROSE. 15 
 
 them to the duties of fasting, repentance, and prayer. 
 In this paper, after having described the prevailing 
 miseries, sins, and dangers of the country, they say : 
 " Unless men will blot out of their hearts the love of 
 religion and the cause of God, and cast off all care 
 of their country, laws, liberties, and estates, yea, all 
 natural affection of themselves, their wives, children, 
 and friends, and whatsoever is dearest to them under 
 the sun, they must now or never appear actively, 
 each one stretching himself to, yea, beyond his power. 
 It is no time to dally, or go about the business by 
 halves. If we have been so forward to assist our 
 neighbour kingdoms, shall we neglect to defend our 
 own? or shall the enemies of God be more active 
 against his cause than his people for it? God forbid. 
 If the work, being so far carried on, shall now mis- 
 carry and fail in our hands, our own consciences shall 
 condemn us, and posterity shall curse us; but if we 
 stand stoutly and stedfastly to it, all generations shall 
 call us blessed." The effect of these exhortations, 
 which were echoed through all the pulpits of the 
 land, was highly encouraging. " The covenanters." 
 as one observes, " betook themselves to their old shift 
 of fasting and prayer." The minds of the people, 
 instead of yielding to despair, were roused to more 
 vigorous exertion. Shortly afterwards, the country 
 was delivered from its fears by the defeat of the 
 royal forces at Naseby in England; and this per- 
 mitting the return of the regular troops under lieu- 
 tenant-general David Leslie, the marquis of Mon- 
 trose was speedily discomfited at Philiphaugh; from 
 which time it may be considered that the strength 
 of the king's cause was broken, and " none of his 
 men of midit could find their hands." 
 
16 EXECUTION AT DUNAVERTIE. [1645- 
 
 Much has been written of the severity of the co- 
 venanters to the prisoners after this victory; and, 
 particularly, in putting to death a number of the 
 rebels, who were some time afterwards compelled to 
 surrender at discretion at Dunavertie in the High- 
 lands.* It is impossible for a Christian mind to 
 contemplate these horrors of war without shuddering, 
 nor will we undertake to vindicate all the measures 
 of the presbyterians at this trying period; but cer- 
 tainly, if ever severity was justifiable, it was in the 
 case adverted to. What can be more preposterous 
 than to gloat, as some writers have done, with evi- 
 dent delight, over the massacre of six thousand trem- 
 bling fugitives after the battle of Kilsyth a feat 
 which Montrose and his savages accomplished in 
 their shirts, with " the sleeves tucked up, like a 
 butcher going to kill cattle;" and yet to affect the 
 utmost horror at the military and judicial execution 
 of some two or three hundred rebels, chiefly Irish, 
 taken with arms in their hands, and reeking with the 
 blood of our country men ?-f- Blinded by prejudice, 
 such writers can see no distinction between the cry 
 for justice against these murderers, which rose from 
 every quarter of the country, and a base thirst for 
 private revenge; nor will they condescend to make 
 the smallest allowance for the outraged feelings of a 
 people smarting under the threefold scourge of war, 
 famine, and pestilence, towards those whom they 
 regarded as the authors of all their miseries, and in 
 whom they often recognised the very ruffians who 
 
 * Sir James Turner, who was on the spot, and no friend to the cove- 
 ranters, distinctly refutes bishop Guthrie's account of this affair ; and 
 declares that no quarter was promised to these prisoners. (Turner's 
 Mfmoirs, p. 74.) 
 
 t Napier's Montroae and the Corenanters, ii. 422-473. 
 
1646.] DIFFICULTIES OF THE CHURCH. 17 
 
 had been engaged in the murderous scenes of the 
 Irish rebellion.* Cruelty, in every form, is justly 
 an object of detestation; but it betrays a strange 
 perversion of mind to sympathize in its perpetration, 
 and only to revolt at its punishment. 
 
 The period which we now approach was, without 
 exception, the most ti'ying and perplexing in the 
 whole history of the Scottish church. When we 
 consider the circumstances in which our ancestors 
 were then placed by the course of events, we will 
 make great allowances for them, and not hastily 
 condemn them for measures which we cannot fully 
 approve. Distracted between the conscientious duty 
 they owed to the great Head of the church, and the 
 allegiance they owed to their earthly sovereign 
 earnestly desirous to see Charles on the throne, and 
 yet unwilling to offend the English parliament, to 
 which they looked for protection against his despotic 
 encroachments dreading sectarianism on the one 
 hand, and prelacy on the other never had the rulers 
 of the church found more difficulty in steering the 
 sacred vessel. Though events did not answer their 
 expectations (and we must not judge of their actions 
 by the events) it is impossible for any well-consti- 
 tuted mind not to admire the straightforward, con- 
 sistent principles with which they prosecuted their 
 course during this stormy epoch, manifesting the 
 most devoted loyalty to their unhappy prince, and 
 at the same time a steady adherence to the cause 
 
 * Such was the impression produced by the atrocious conduct of the 
 Irish papists, that they were regarded, in England as well as Scotland, 
 as having placed themselves beyond the rules of civilized warfare. In 
 1644, the English parliament passed an ordinance, that no quarter should 
 be given to the Irish who were found in arms against them. (OldmixoiCs 
 England, i. 269.) 
 
18 CHARLES IN THE SCOTS ARMY. [1646. 
 
 of liberty, and to their religious engagements a 
 course that affords a striking contrast to that pur- 
 sued by the other two parties. Indeed, one of the 
 strongest attestations to the general rectitude of 
 their conduct appears in the fact, that by the friends 
 of both of these parties they have been equally 
 blamed, of old and of late, for opposite extremes; 
 the republican party sneered at their excess of 
 loyalty, while the royalist party denounced them as 
 the most base and disloyal of demagogues. 
 
 The king, after his defeat by Cromwell, had be- 
 taken himself, in the spring of 1646, to the Scottish 
 army, at that time lying in the north of England, 
 obviously with the design of inducing them to take 
 part with him against the English parliament. This 
 unexpected step placed the Scots in a situation of 
 extreme embarrassment. Their army had been levied 
 and sent into England expressly to aid the parlia- 
 ment against the royal forces: they were supported 
 by the money of the parliament, and considered them- 
 selves solemnly bound, by the brotherly covenant, 
 to advance its cause. At the same time, they had 
 begun to suspect that some of the parliamentary 
 leaders entertained designs against the king's per- 
 son; and to refuse him the "shelter and defence" 
 for which he professed to have thrown himself into 
 their hands, seemed as inconsistent with their en- 
 gagements in the covenant, which bound them to 
 " preserve and defend the king's majesty's person 
 and authority, in the preservation and defence of 
 the true religion and liberties of the kingdom," as it 
 was repugnant to every feeling of honour and gene- 
 rosity. He was received with every mark of respect; 
 and had he complied with the only terms on which 
 
1646.] CHARLES IN THE SCOTS ARMY. 19 
 
 they could engage to support him, there can be little 
 doubt that he would have escaped all his subsequent 
 calamities. These terms were That he should dis- 
 miss his popishly affected counsellors, and subscribe 
 the solemn league. The Scottish commissioners were 
 fully aware of the advantage to their cause by the 
 accession of such a convert; but, from the state of 
 feeling in the country, they were equally convinced of 
 the impracticability of success on any other terms. 
 They entreated him, on their knees, and with tears 
 in their eyes, to comply with conditions so essential 
 to both nations, as well as to his own interests; assur- 
 ing him, that, in the event of his compliance, not 
 only would the whole Scottish people prove faithful 
 to him, but that the great body of the English would 
 join in replacing him securely on the throne of his 
 ancestors. To all these solicitations, Charles, who 
 was buoyed up with false hopes by his prelates, turned 
 a deaf ear. His only answer was, that he was bound, 
 by his coronation oath, to defend the prelacy and the 
 ceremonies of the English church ; and that, ere he 
 wronged his conscience by violating that oath, he 
 would forfeit his crown and his life. It may appear 
 to have been harsh to insist on the king taking a 
 covenant which bound him to extirpate prelacy, 
 while he professed to believe it to be a form of divine 
 institution; but when we consider that this form 
 had been already abjured and abrogated by the 
 three kingdoms, it does not seem too much, that 
 the sovereign should have been required to adopt 
 the national faith. The interests of a whole nation 
 were not to be sacrificed to the personal scruples of 
 the monarch; especially when these related merely to 
 a form of ecclesiastical government, which could not 
 VOL. II. B 
 
20 CHARLES IN THE SCOTS ARMY. [1646. 
 
 be shown to have any foundation in Scripture, and 
 the divine right of which had only of late been as- 
 serted, for political purposes. His majesty's pro- 
 fessions of regard to his coronation oath, after the 
 specimens he had given of his duplicity, and after 
 so often violating that oath, in regard to the civil 
 liberties of his subjects, met with little credit. They 
 did not impose even uponBaillie, who says: "As to his 
 conscience, none would believe him, though he were 
 to swear it, that he had any conscience on the sub- 
 ject." The real grounds of his refusal to comply were, 
 as has been amply shown by others, purely of a poli- 
 tical kind. We shall merely add, for the sake of 
 anticipating another objection, that although " cove- 
 nanting,' 1 as it has been practised by churches, is a 
 religious duty, requiring certain religious qualifica- 
 tions for the right performance of it, yet the solemn 
 league, as well as the national covenant of Scotland, 
 were properly national and public deeds, binding, 
 indeed, to the external support of a certain profes- 
 sion of religion, but not necessarily implying spiritual 
 qualifications in those who entered into them. Reli- 
 gious vowing is, in its own nature, a moral duty, 
 founded on the law of nature, and competent to 
 nations as well as individuals; and our covenants 
 may be vindicated on the same principle as the oaths 
 which Britain still exacts from those who hold the 
 highest official stations. The real source of all the 
 prejudice against these deeds has been, that they 
 were sworn in support of presbyterianism. 
 
 That no means might be left untried to relieve the 
 royal mind from scruple, Alexander Henderson was, 
 by the king's special request, appointed to confer 
 with him at Newcastle, on the points of difference 
 
1 646.] THE KING'S DISCUSSION WITH HENDERSON. 2 1 
 
 between prelacy and presbytery. Henderson de- 
 clined a public disputation with his majesty's divines, 
 on the ground that he had seldom found any good 
 result from such controversies. " All that I intend- 
 ed," said he, " was a free yet modest expression of 
 my motives and inducements, which drew my mind 
 to the dislike of episcopal government, wherein I 
 was bred in my younger years in the university." 
 Instead, however, of a familiar conference, the points 
 in dispute were discussed in a series of papers which 
 passed privately between his majesty and Mr. Hen- 
 derson. The result may be imagined. His ma- 
 jesty, in his answers, carefully evaded the main argu- 
 ment. Henderson quoted Scripture, and Charles the 
 Fathers; and the time was consumed in a heroic 
 but hopeless attempt, by this most unsatisfactory of 
 all modes of discussion, to convince the king on 
 points where neither his pride nor his policy would 
 yield. These papers are eight in number five by 
 his majesty, and three by Henderson. " After per- 
 using them," says one who was well versed in the 
 controversy, " it is difficult to read without a smile 
 the panegyrics which the episcopalian writers have 
 bestowed on the incomparable wisdom of his majesty, 
 and the triumph which he obtained over Mr. Hen- 
 derson in the controversy." * 
 
 Grieved and heart-broken by the infatuation of 
 the king, whom he perceived to be obstinate to all 
 means of extrication, this devoted servant of Christ, 
 who was labouring at the same time under a severe 
 distemper, which he was persuaded would prove 
 mortal, returned by sea to Edinburgh, on the 1 1th 
 of August 164-6. Though sick and exhausted, he 
 
 * Life of Henderson by Dr. M'Crie, Miscel. Writings, p. 5o. 
 
22 DEATH OF HENDERSON. 
 
 enjoyed great peace of mind, and conversed much to 
 the comfort of his brethren who visited him. Hav- 
 ing revived a little, he was one day so unusually 
 cheerful, that his friend sir James Stuart could 
 not refrain from congratulating him on the change. 
 " Well," said Henderson, " I will tell you the reason. 
 I am near the end of my race, hasting home, and I 
 am as glad of it as a school-boy, when sent home 
 from the school to his father's house. In a few 
 days I will sicken and die. In my sickness I will 
 be much out of ease to speak of any thing; but I 
 desire that you may be with me as much as you can, 
 and you shall see that all shall end well. 11 Soon 
 after this, as he foretold, he departed in peace. His 
 body was interred in the Greyfriars" 1 church-yard, and a 
 monument was erected over his remains with a suit- 
 able inscription. After the restoration, this monu- 
 ment was defaced by orders from the government; 
 but it was afterwards repaired, and still remains in 
 a very perfect state. Not satisfied with their ven- 
 geance on his tomb-stone, his enemies attempted to 
 blast his reputation. Laying hold of his having 
 died soon after his conference with the king, they 
 circulated the report that he had become a convert 
 to their cause, and that his death had been hastened 
 by remorse for the part he had acted against his 
 sovereign ! They had even the effrontery to publish 
 a forged document, purporting to be his death-bed 
 declaration, in which they put into his mouth senti- 
 ments which he would have sooner died than avowed. 
 This disgraceful and unprincipled trick, which re- 
 sembles those so often resorted to by papists, was 
 exposed at the time by the general assembly, who, 
 immediately upon its appearance, appointed a com- 
 
1646.] SLANDER AGAINST HENDERSON. 23 
 
 mittee to examine the pamphlet, and afterwards 
 published a declaration of its falsehood and forgery ; 
 in which, " out of the tender respect which they 
 bear to his name, they declare that, after duesearch 
 and trial, they do find that their worthy brother, 
 Mr. Alexander Henderson, did, from the time of his 
 coming from London to Newcastle, till the last mo- 
 ment of his departure out of this life, manifest the 
 constancy of his judgment touching the work of re- 
 formation in these kingdoms as divers reverend 
 brethren who visited him have declared to this as- 
 sembly, particularly two brethren, who constantly 
 attended him from the time he came home till his 
 breath expired."* This was certainly sufficient; 
 and yet this base slander, which has been refuted by 
 our best historians.^ and which has done more dis- 
 credit to the cause of prelacy than anything that 
 Henderson ever said against it, continues to be re- 
 tailed by writers of that party down to the present 
 day ! 
 
 The next scene which occurs in this dramatic por- 
 tion of our history, is the surrender of the king's 
 person into the hands of the English. It must be 
 gratifying to every lover of his country to know, that 
 late investigations have freed the memory of our 
 Scottish ancestors from the stigma which was so 
 long attached to their conduct in this transaction. 
 It is hardly worth while to notice the ridiculous 
 story of the Scots having sold their king, which was 
 got up at the time, in consequence of some arrears 
 having been paid to the Scots army for their assis- 
 tance. Instead of being given as a bribe, this 
 
 * Acts of Assembly, p. 422, edit. 1682. 
 f Laing's History of Scotland, ii. 327. 
 
21) DISPOSAL OF THE KING'S PERSON. [1646. 
 
 money was reluctantly paid by the parliament as 
 a debt for past services; and this matter was ad- 
 justed in August 1646, five months before the ques- 
 tion as to the disposal of the king's person was 
 settled, with which, in fact, it had no connection. 
 The money was payable simply on the condition of 
 their delivering up the fortresses on the borders, and 
 marching into Scotland with no stipulation, on 
 either side, as to the king's person.* But the trans- 
 action, though thus stripped of its mercenary cha- 
 racter, may soem still to reflect on the generosity of 
 our countrymen. Even in this point of view, it is 
 capable of a complete vindication; and, had our 
 space permitted, it could be demonstrated that the 
 Scottish leaders acted, on this trying occasion, in 
 the most upright and honourable manner. To 
 carry the king with them to Scotland, while he re- 
 fused all terms of accommodation with his parlia- 
 ment, would have been to renew the civil war in 
 their own country, under circumstances more unfa- 
 vourable than ever. His consenting to the esta- 
 blishment of presbytery in Scotland, while he re- 
 tained his designs of subverting the reformation in 
 England, afforded no rational prospect of peace; 
 and the Scottish church, with a noble firmness, 
 which is condemned by many who are loud in their 
 praises of the firmness of Charles, would not accept 
 of a boon, which, in the circumstances, was nothing 
 better than a bribe, and which would have involved 
 them in a compromise of their sacred engagements 
 with England. On the other hand, to deliver 
 him up unconditionally to the pleasure of the Eng- 
 
 * Wiiitelocke, '219. Answer of the Commons to the Scots Commis- 
 sioners' Tupcrs, ID. 
 
1646.] DISPOSAL OF THE KING'S PERSON. 25 
 
 lish pcirliament, as the English demanded, was an 
 alternative to which they would not listen; and 
 months were spent in negotiations, in the course of 
 which the pertinacity of the Scots on their right to 
 be consulted in the disposal of the king's person, 
 threatened to issue in an open rupture with the par- 
 liament. The speeches of the Scots commissioners, 
 who went to London to treat this delicate question, 
 on being sent to press, were seized and suppressed 
 by order of parliament, and the printer was impri- 
 soned. They were published, however, in Scotland; 
 and, breathing as they did the most devoted loyalty, 
 they created a sensation in behalf of the unfortunate 
 monarch, which his subsequent fate roused into uni- 
 versal indignation. 
 
 The point for which the Scots commissioners con- 
 tended was, that the king should, in accordance with 
 his own earnest and repeatedly expressed desire, be 
 permitted to return to some of his palaces in the 
 neighbourhood of London, " with honour, safety, and 
 freedom." " We do hold," said lord Loudoun, 
 " that the disposing of the king's person doth not 
 properly belong to any one of the kingdoms, but 
 jointly to both. And after Scotland hath suffered 
 the heat of the day and winter's cold, have forsaken 
 their own peace for love of their brethren, have set 
 their own house on fire to quench theirs; after we 
 have gone along with you in all the hardship of this 
 war, and (without vanity be it spoken) have been so 
 useful in the cause; and that the king hath cast 
 himself into the hands of the Scottish army, and that, 
 by the blessing of God, we are come to the harbour 
 of a peace we cannot expect that the honourable 
 house will think it agreeable with the conscience 
 
26 DISPOSAL OF THE KING'S PERSON. [1646. 
 
 or honour, that the person of the king should be dis- 
 posed of by them as they think fit, or by any one of the 
 kingdoms alone. The king doth, with all earnestness, 
 desire to be joined with you. Nor can there be a 
 more real testimony of our respect and affection to 
 England, than that we desire he may bo with you, 
 and be advised by you; neither can you have any 
 greater honour, than that his majesty is willing to 
 return to you. And if so kind an offer should be 
 refused, and the king driven to despair, it is to be 
 feared these kingdoms will be involved in greater dif- 
 ficulties than ever. For though Scotland be most 
 willing and desirous that the king should return to 
 his parliament with honour, safety, and freedom ; yet, 
 if any such course should be taken, or any demand 
 made for rendering of his person, which cannot stand 
 with his honour and safety, or which cannot consist 
 with our duty, allegiance, and covenant, nor with the 
 honour of that army to whom, in the time of his ex- 
 treme danger, he had his recourse for safety, it cannot 
 be expected that we can be capable of so base an act. And 
 whatever hath been moved by us concerning the king, 
 we desire it may be rightly constructed, as proceed- 
 ing from such as have not wavered from their first 
 principles; for when the king was in the height of 
 his power, we did not, and, I hope, never shall, flat- 
 ter him ; and when the enemy was in the height of 
 their pride and strength, Scotland did fear no colours! 
 And now, when the king is at his lowest ebb, and 
 hath cast himself into our army for safety, we hope 
 your lordships will pardon us, from our sense of 
 honour and duty, to be very tender of the person 
 and posterity of the king, to whom we have so many 
 near relations, and not like the worse of us, that wo 
 
1646.] DISPOSAL OF THE KING'S PERSON. 27 
 
 cannot so far forget our allegiance and duty, as not 
 to have an antipathy against the change of a mon- 
 archical government, in which we have lived through 
 the descent of so many kings, and under which both 
 kingdoms have been governed so many ages, and 
 flourished in all happiness."* 
 
 In their reply to these truly loyal and patriotic 
 sentiments, the parliament expressed great indigna- 
 tion at the suspicions which the Scots seemed to 
 entertain of their intentions. " Let not your expres- 
 sions obliquely infer," said they, " that the parlia- 
 ment of England will not do what becometh them to 
 the king, since all the world doth know that this 
 kingdom hath in all times showed as great affection 
 to their kings as any other nation." The English 
 house of peers, who were inclined to befriend Charles, 
 and considered his presence in London necessary to 
 prosecute their designs in his favour, and against the 
 sectarian army, now became as anxious as the com- 
 mons for the removal of the Scottish army out of 
 England. Embarrassed by these conflicting claims 
 despairing of being able to conquer the obstinacy 
 of Charles, whose last message, when presented to 
 the house of peers, " made all," as Burnet informs 
 us, " even those that were best affected, hang their 
 heads, and send it down to the house of commons 
 without a word" and perceiving no other course 
 which they could pursue with safety or success, the 
 parliament of Scotland at length, considering that, 
 " as his majesty has frequently expressed his desire 
 to be near his two houses of parliament, and that 
 
 * Several Speeches spoken by the Right Honourable the Earleof Lou- 
 doun, Lord High Chancellor of Scotland, at a Conference, &c. Oct. 
 1646, 
 
28 DISPOSAL OF THE KING'S PERSON. [1646. 
 
 these houses had desired he might come to Holmby 
 House, promising the safety and preservation of his 
 royal person, in the preservation and defence of the 
 true religion and liberties of the kingdom, according 
 to the covenant, they declare their concurrence for 
 his majesty going to Holmby House, or some other 
 of his majesty's houses in or about London, there to 
 remain till he give satisfaction to both kingdoms in 
 the propositions of peace; and that, in the mean- 
 time, there shall be no harm, prejudice, injury, or 
 violence done to his royal person that there shall 
 be no change of government other than has been for 
 three years preceding and that his posterity shall 
 in no wise be prejudiced in their lawful succession to 
 the throne and government of these kingdoms." 
 Who could have anticipated, that within three 
 years after, the English, to whose honour and fidelity 
 the Scots committed the person of their common 
 sovereign, would have brought him to their bar as a 
 criminal, and to the scaffold as a traitor? When 
 Charles returned to his parliament, there was no 
 human probability of such a catastrophe; his affairs 
 were in a better train than ever, had it not been for 
 what has been well termed his own " perverse fata- 
 lity;" and before we can condemn the Scots as ac- 
 cessory to his death, we must suppose them to have 
 possessed a sagacity which foresaw the issue of the 
 most complicated negotiations, to have calculated on 
 the obstinacy of the king resisting every proposal, 
 and to have anticipated the bloody termination of the 
 conflict a catastrophe which took the whole nation 
 by surprise, and filled Europe with astonishment.* 
 
 * In a treatise published by the committee of estates, 1G.50, in answer 
 to Mont rose's declaration, they vindicate themselves, and the Scottish 
 
1648.J THE ENGAGEMENT. 29 
 
 The year 1648 was distinguished by the famous 
 engagement projected by the duke of Hamilton, the 
 professed object of which was to rescue Charles from 
 the English army, now under the command of Crom- 
 well, and which had obtained, by force, possession 
 of the king's person. This ill-fated expedition was 
 condemned by the Scottish presbyterians, because 
 no provision was made, in the event of its success, 
 that the king should secure the liberties of the na- 
 tion according to the terms of the covenant. These 
 terms, indeed, bound them to " stand to the defence 
 
 nation, with unanswerable force, from the charges above referred to. 
 " Our chief study and endeavour," say they, " hath been to render unto 
 God the things that are God's, and to Ctesar the things that are Caesar's, 
 and to our neighbours the things that are theirs. We hope it is made 
 clear and evident to all that will judge impartially, that there was no 
 treaty betwixt this kingdom, their committees or armies, with the king, 
 before his coming to our army, nor after his coming, but with the advice 
 and consent of both houses of parliament; and that it is a malicious and 
 v.-icked device, and manifest untruth, that we should have sold our king. 
 We abhor the very thoughts of it." After stating that " the agreement 
 for paying their arrears was made five months before the king, with con- 
 sent of both kingdoms, went from Newcastle to Holmby," they proceed 
 to vindicate themselves from disloyalty and imprudence in giving consent 
 to his majesty's going to the parliament. " Who would, at that time, 
 have foreseen that an army, raised by the parliament for their own de- 
 fence, and which, in profession, so highly esteemed and magnified the 
 authority of parliament, would not only disobey their orders, but also 
 attempt such horrid things as they have since adventured upon ? Surely, 
 when the Scots army came out of England, it would have seemed not 
 only improbable but incredible. The kingdom of Scotland did intrust 
 his majesty's person to the honourable houses of parliament of England, 
 who were as deeply engaged by duty, oaths covenants, and solemn pro- 
 fessions, for his majesty's preservation, as the kingdom of Scotland; and, 
 no question, they would have preserved his majesty's person from all vio- 
 lence or injury whatsoever, had they not met with the unexpected vio- 
 lence against their own persons; for until the army did, by the power of 
 the sword, imprison and seclude the far greater part of the house of 
 commons, and make void the power of the house of peers, they durst not 
 attempt anything against his majesty's person. And what wonder if we, 
 who were strangers, could not perceive the depth of such designs (if at 
 that time there was any framed design of that kind, which we very much 
 question), when the houses of parliament did not foresee their own rum ?" 
 
30 THE ENGAGEMENT. [1648. 
 
 of our dread sovereign the king's majesty, his person, 
 and authority;" but at the same time, " to the de- 
 fence of the liberties and laws of the kingdom;" and 
 the reason assigned for this was, that " some among 
 themselves had laboured to put into the hands of 
 the king an arbitrary and unlimited power, destruc- 
 tive to the privileges of parliaments and the liber- 
 ties of the subject." So that, as has been justly 
 remarked, " in proof of the regard of our fathers to 
 civil liberty, we may appeal to those very covenants 
 which have been so absurdly decried by ignorant 
 and prejudiced moderns, but which, in reality, con- 
 stituted at that time the only magnet, charta of 
 Scottish freedom."* The covenanters, with equal 
 sagacity and regard to liberty, protested against the 
 admission, into places of power and trust in this 
 army, of those who were termed malignants that 
 is, persons notoriously hostile to the cause of civil 
 and religious freedom, and inclined to favour the 
 arbitrary measures of the court. It was perceived 
 at once that to suffer this, in the circumstances of 
 the country, was equivalent to delivering up the 
 military into the hands of the king, and abandoning 
 all that they had been contending for. But though 
 the church protested against the enterprise, it was 
 sanctioned by the estates; the command was intrust- 
 ed to notorious malignants, and Hamilton dragged 
 a reluctant army of fifteen thousand men into Eng- 
 land, where, as might have been expected, from the 
 total want of spirit and mutual confidence among 
 them, they were easily routed by the English army, 
 under Cromwell, near Preston, with the loss of two 
 thousand killed, and eight thousand prisoners. 
 
 * Preliminary Dissertation to Wodrow's History by Dr. Burns. 
 
1649.] EXECUTION OF CHARLES I. 31 
 
 The battle, fatal to so many of our countrymen, 
 proved fatal also to the infatuated monarch. The 
 sectarian army, or, as Cromwell called them, his 
 "obedient lambs,"" elated by their successes, repaired 
 to London, and took the administration into their 
 own hands. Their first step was to purge the house 
 of commons, by excluding all the presbyterian mem- 
 bers, which was done by a guard of soldiers under 
 the command of colonel Pride. The commons thus 
 reduced to sectaries, commonly called the rump par- 
 liament, appointed what they termed a high court 
 of justice; and Charles, on being arraigned before 
 this nondescript tribunal, and refusing to own their 
 jurisdiction, was condemned as a traitor, and sen- 
 tenced to be beheaded. The awful sentence was 
 executed on the 30th of January 1649, before an 
 immense concourse of spectators. Cannons were 
 planted at all the avenues leading to the place of 
 execution, in case of tumult; and when the axe fell, 
 and the executioner exposed the bleeding head to 
 public view, one dismal universal groan burst from 
 the horror-stricken crowd, who were immediately 
 dispersed in all directions by troops of dragoons. 
 
 The behaviour of Charles at his death presents 
 his character in a light much more favourable than 
 any of the public actions of his life. That cold re- 
 serve and inflexible obstinacy which distinguished 
 his whole conduct, assumed, in his last moments, 
 the sublimer aspect of chastened and tranquil mag- 
 nanimity. His private virtues have been acknow- 
 ledged by all; but such were the imperfections of 
 his character, that these virtues were unprofitable 
 to the public, and, by their abuse, proved pernicious 
 to himself. His bigotry, his stubbornness, and, 
 
32 PROCLAMATION OF CHARLES II. [1649. 
 
 above all, his ambition of inordinate power, which he 
 refused to share with any but the prelates, brought 
 misery upon his country, and ruin upon himself. 
 His life was a series of political blunders; and his 
 death, though little better than a judicial murder, 
 may warn princes, to the end of time, against abus- 
 ing the power with which they are intrusted, not 
 for their own exclusive benefit, but the welfare of 
 the community. 
 
 When the news of the execution of Charles I. 
 reached Edinburgh, on Sabbath, February 4, 1 649, 
 it is impossible to describe the mingled feelings of 
 astonishment, horror, and indignation, which filled 
 all ranks of persons;* and if anything were wanting 
 to prove the devoted and disinterested loyalty of the 
 Scottish presbyterians, the step they instantly took 
 places it beyond all question. The very next day, 
 without calculating the consequences, Charles II.. 
 the son of the deceased monarch, was proclaimed 
 king, at the cross of Edinburgh, by the committee 
 of estates. The proclamation, however, was guarded 
 by the proviso, that " before being admitted to the 
 exercise of his royal power, he shall give satisfaction 
 to this kingdom in those things that concern the 
 security of religion, according to the national cove- 
 nant, and the solemn league and covenant 1 '' the 
 only terms on which the Scots considered themselves 
 warranted, in consistency with their engagements to 
 England, and from regard to their own civil and re- 
 ligious liberties, to invite him to the throne. As a 
 
 * While the episcopal clergy timidly stood aloof, the English presby- 
 terians boldly protested against the execution of Charles, and condemned 
 it in every possible way. (BenneVs Memorial, p. 223; Loyalty of J'rcf- 
 lijteriuns, pp. 241, 245.) 
 
1G49.} STATE OF THE CHURCH. S3 
 
 . proof of his sincerity in prosecuting the ends of these 
 covenants, he was to be required to dismiss from his 
 councils, and from places of trust, all who were 
 suspected of disaffection to the covenanted cause. 
 Commissioners were immediately despatched to 
 Charles, who was then at the Hague in Holland, to 
 treat with him on these terms; but at first, imitat- 
 ing the policy of his father, he refused to listen to 
 any stipulations; in consequence of which the com- 
 missioners returned, without accomplishing their ob- 
 ject. The negotiations were renewed with better 
 success the following year; but meanwhile, let us 
 attend to the proceedings of the church during the 
 intervening period. 
 
 During the whole of this period of civil convulsion, 
 the church prospered and improved in no ordinary 
 degree. The minds of men were kept on the alert, 
 and led to serious inquiry, by being compelled to 
 contend, amidst almost perpetual changes, perils, 
 and alarms, for their religious principles and privi- 
 leges. The constant practice of catechising the 
 young and old, left few ignorant of the doctrines of 
 religion, or of the profession for which they were 
 contending. All felt personally interested in the 
 public struggle. The ministers, though not without 
 their faults and extravagances, were distinguished, 
 as a body, for their theological learning, their piety, 
 and assiduity in their functions. Bishop Burnet, 
 who is sufficiently ready to depreciate them, is obliged 
 to own, " They had an appearance that created re- 
 spect. They were related to the chief families in the 
 country, either by blood or marriage, and had lived 
 in so decent a manner, that the gentry paid great 
 respect to them. They used to visit their parishes 
 
34 STATE OF THE CHURCH. [1649. 
 
 much; and had brought the people to such a degree , 
 of knowledge, that cottagers and servants would 
 have prayed extempore. As they lived in great 
 familiarity with their people, and used to pray and 
 talk oft with them in private, so it can hardly be 
 imagined to what degree they were loved and re- 
 verenced by them." * Great efforts were made, during 
 this stormy period, to purify the church from un- 
 worthy ministers; a step which was followed by the 
 revival of religion, and a visible reformation of man- 
 ners, in several parishes. Many excellent acts were 
 passed by the general assembly. To this period, also, 
 we are indebted for the full establishment of paro- 
 chial schools, which have contributed so much to 
 elevate Scotland above other nations in point of 
 general intelligence; and which, being originally de- 
 signed as nurseries for the church of Christ, as well 
 as seminaries for useful learning, were placed under 
 the superintendence of presbyteries, and conducted 
 on religious principles. This valuable institution, 
 which was projected by the reformers, and brought 
 into extensive operation long before it received the 
 support of the government, we entirely owe to the 
 efforts of the church courts; and indeed, their care 
 to promote the interests both of common education 
 in the Highlands and Lowlands, and of classical 
 learning, manifested in numerous acts regarding 
 schools and universities, reflects the highest credit 
 on their enlarged and enlightened views, at a time 
 when our ancestors are generally charged with the 
 most narrow-minded bigotry. Making allowances 
 for the peculiar circumstances in which they were 
 placed, and by which they were occasionally driven 
 
 * Burnet's History, i. "J25. 
 
1649.] PATRONAGE. 35 
 
 into extreme measures, the estimate of Kirkton can- 
 not be considered beyond the truth, when he says of 
 this period (1649), " Now the ministry was notably 
 purified, the magistracy altered, and the people 
 strangely refined. Scotland hath been, even by 
 emulous foreigners, called Philadelphia; and now she 
 seemed to be in her flower." 
 
 In these exertions for the good of their country, 
 the church had the co-operation of the ruling powers, 
 who passed several acts contributing to the advance- 
 ment of religion. Among these we cannot omit the 
 celebrated act passed in 1649, for the total abolition 
 of patronage. Without entering into the much liti- 
 gated question of patronage, we shall state a few 
 facts in illustration of its history in the church of 
 Scotland. The opinion of the first reformers on the 
 subject may be gathered from the fact, that they 
 held the election of the people essential for the pas- 
 toral relation between a minister and a congregation. 
 In the First Book of Discipline, which continued to 
 be the rule of the church for many years, and the 
 authority of which was not superseded by the Second 
 Book, it is laid down as a principle, that " it apper- 
 taineth to the people, and to every several congrega- 
 tion, to elect their minister;" and that " altogether 
 this is to be avoided, that any man be violently 
 intruded or thrust in upon any congregation." It 
 would appear they did not at first perceive that 
 patronage was incompatible with this principle; and, 
 for some time, they went on harmoniously together 
 in practice.* 
 
 * In 1561, Knox admitted John Spotswoode as superintendent of 
 Lothian, and the form of procedure, which was published in a treatise 
 at the time, muy serve to illustrate this point. Thn Bunion being 
 VOL. II. C 
 
36 PATRONAGE. [1649. 
 
 In the year 1565, queen Mary, having suspected 
 that the general assembly, by certain articles which 
 they presented to her majesty, intended to interfere 
 with her right of presentation, the assembly replied, 
 " Our mind is not that her majesty, or any other 
 patron of this realm, should be defrauded of their 
 just patronages; but as the presentation of benefices 
 pertains to the patron, so ought the collation thereof, 
 by law and reason, pertain to the kirk." Her majesty 
 had misunderstood them; whatever they might think 
 of patronage, they did not intend, 5?/ these articles, 
 to interfere with the rights of the queen, far less to 
 "defraud" the patrons; the struggle, at that time, 
 was for the right of collation. Still the form of 
 electing by the congregation was continued in one 
 shape or another; and such was the care of the 
 clergy to preserve the liberties of the people, that 
 during the presbyterian administration, no com- 
 plaints of intrusion were ever heard.* They soon, 
 
 finished, Knox declared, " That the lords of secret councill had given 
 charge and power to the churches of Lothian to chu?e Mr. John Spots- 
 woode, superintendent," &c. " When no objection was moved, the 
 people present were asked if there was any other they desired to be put 
 in election with the said Mr. John; and next, if they would have him to 
 be their superintendent; if they would honour and obey him as Christ's 
 minister, and comfort and assist him in everything pertaining to his 
 charge? It was answered, by some appointed for that purpose, ' We 
 will; and do promise to him such obedience as becoineth the sheep to 
 give unto their pastor, so long as he remaineth faithful in his oSu'e.' 
 The people's consent being thus declared, Mr. Knox proposed the follow- 
 ing questions to Mr. Spotswoode," &;c. This treatise, entitled " The 
 Form and Order of the Election of the Superintendent, which may serve 
 in the election of all other Ministers," may be found in Dunlop's Con- 
 fessions, vol. ii., and in Wodrow's Biographical Collections, Maitland 
 edit., vol. i., part 1, p. 75. 
 
 * In 15G3, Robert Ramsay is suspended by the assembly, " for entering 
 in the ministrie within the superintendent of Angus his bound?, wiffumt 
 election or his admission." (Hooke of the UnmraaL Kirk, part i. p. 44, 
 Ban. edit.) Even the bishops, introduced by Morton, wore " chosen 
 
1 649.] ABOLITION OP PATRONAGE. 37 
 
 however, discovered that patronage in its exercise 
 interfered with the freedom of election; and accord- 
 ingly, in the Second Book of Discipline, begun in 
 1573, and finally agreed to in 1578, among " certain 
 special heads of reformation which we crave," th^y 
 mention the abolition of patronage.* If it should 
 be asked, how the church of Scotland could con- 
 tinue to enjoy her benefices under a system which 
 she declared to be " contrary to the word of God, 
 and to the liberty of election?" we reply, That she 
 did so under a solemn protest against it; that it was 
 not in her power to rescind the law, this being the 
 province of the state; and that she was constantly 
 looking for deliverance from it as a yoke. In 1582, 
 when an act was passed to prevent some abuses of 
 patronage, it was declared that its provisions " should 
 no ways be prejudicial to the laic patrons and their 
 
 by the flock then present," anno 1574. (Uriel., p. 349.) Indeed, the 
 parliament of lt>'40 declare it as a well known fact, that it had been 
 the practice of the church of Scotland to settle parishes " on the sute 
 and calling of the congregation, ever since the reformation." (Act Parl. 
 Scot., v. 299. 
 
 * " The libertie of the election of persons called to the ecclesiastical 
 function, and observed without interruption so long as the kirke was 
 not corrupted by antichrist, we desire to be restored and retained 
 within this realm. So that none be intrused upon any congregation, 
 either by the prince, or any inferior person, without lawful election, 
 and the assent of the people over whom the person is placed, as the 
 practice of the apostolical and primitive kirk, and good order craves. 
 And, because this order which God's word craves, cannot stand with 
 patronages and presentation to benefices, used in the pope's kirk, we 
 desire all them that truly fear God earnestly to consider that, foras- 
 much as the names of patronages and benefices, together with the effect 
 thereof, have flowed from the pope and corruption of the canon law 
 only, in so far as thereby any person was intrused, or placed over 
 kirks having the care of souls; and forasmuch as that manner of pro- 
 ceeding hath no ground in the word of God, but is contrary to the same, 
 and to the said liberty of election, they [patronages] ought not now to 
 have place in this light of reformation." (Second Book of Discipline, 
 ch. 12.) 
 
38 ABOLITION OF PATRONAGE. [1649. 
 
 presentations, until the time the laws be reformed 
 according to the word of God."* In 1596, the assem- 
 bly ordained, that " because by presentations many 
 are forcibly thrust into the ministry, and upon con- 
 gregations that utter thereafter that they were not 
 called of God, it would be provided that none seek 
 presentations to benefices without advice of the pres- 
 bytery." They also ordained, " That the trial of per- 
 sons to be admitted to the ministry hereafter consist 
 not only in their learning and ability to preach, but 
 also in conscience and feeling and spiritual wisdom; 
 and such as are not qualified in these points, to be 
 delayed to further trial, and till they be found quali- 
 fied." The events which followed soon after, with 
 the introduction of prelacy, rendered all attempts of 
 this nature hopeless ; but no sooner did the civil 
 power become favourable, than the church renewed 
 her exertions to shake off the burden. The famous 
 assembly at Glasgow, in 1638, not only ratified the 
 Second Book of Discipline, in which patronage is so 
 explicitly condemned, and the foresaid act of assem- 
 bly 1596, but enacted, " That no person be intruded 
 in any office of the kirk contrary to the will of the 
 congregation to which they are appointed." With 
 these principles, the practice of the church of Scot- 
 land at that time fully corresponded; " so that," 
 says Henderson, in a treatise published in 1641, "no 
 man is here obtruded upon the people against their 
 open or tacit consent and approbation. "} In 1646, 
 we find the assembly " recommending to several 
 presbyteries and provincial assemblies to consider 
 
 * Culderwood, p. 124; Booke of the Universal Kirk, p. 247, Peterkin'd 
 edit. 
 
 f The Government and Order of the Cliurch of Scotland. 
 
1649.] ABOLITION OF PATRONAGE. 39 
 
 the interests of particular congregations in the call- 
 ing and admission of ministers;" and at length, in 
 compliance with the urgent desires of the church, 
 the parliament, March 1 649, cordially and completely 
 abolished patronage, leaving it to the general assem- 
 bly to fix upon such a plan of admission to the 
 sacred office as they in their wisdom might see fit. 
 The preamble of this act, as expressing the views of 
 our reforming ancestors, deserves attention: " Con- 
 sidering that patronages and presentations of kirks 
 is an evil and bondage under which the Lord^s people 
 and ministers of this land have long groaned, and 
 that it hath no warrand in God's word, but is founded 
 only on the canon law, and is a custom merely popish, 
 brought into the kirk in time of ignorance and super- 
 stition; and that the same is contrary to the Second 
 Book of Discipline, in which, upon solid and good 
 ground, it is reckoned among abuses that are desired 
 to be reformed, and unto several acts of general as- 
 semblies; and that it is prejudicial to the liberty of 
 the people and planting of kirks, and unto the free 
 calling and entries of ministers unto their charge: 
 and the said estates being willing and desirous to 
 promote and advance the reformation aforesaid, that 
 everything in the house of God may be ordered ac- 
 cording to his will and commandment do discharge 
 for ever hereafter all presentations of kirks, whether 
 belonging to the king or any laic patron, presby- 
 teries, or others within this kingdom. 1 '' The general 
 assembly, in July following, " highly commend the 
 piety and zeal of the estates of parliament in pro- 
 moting so necessary a point of reformation ; r and, 
 with some variety of opinion as to the particular 
 mode in which elections should be conducted, they 
 
40 CHARLES SWEARS THE COVENANT. [1650. 
 
 agreed on a plan which, though imperfect, and only 
 intended to be temporary, was attended with the 
 best effects. According to this, the election was 
 placed in the session, with consent of the congrega- 
 tion, who might obtain a hearing of any preachers 
 they chose, by petitioning the presbytery. In the 
 case of dissent by the major part of the congrega- 
 tion from the person agreed upon by the session, the 
 matter was to be remitted to the judgment of the 
 presbytery, who, " if they do not find their dissent 
 .to be grounded on causeless prejudices, are to appoint 
 a new election."* 
 
 But, to return to our narrative: in the following 
 year the Scots renewed their negotiations with Charles 
 at Breda; and upon hearing that Montrose had failed 
 in his foolhardy expedition against the covenanters, 
 and been executed as a traitor, he thought proper to 
 comply with their proposals; and setting sail with 
 
 * Sir James Balfour informs us that " the current was carried for the 
 church way, in respect Argyle, the chancellor, and Archibald Johnston, 
 durst doe no utherwayes, lest the leaders of the church should desert 
 them, and leave them to stand on their auen feeitt, which without the 
 church none of them could weill do." (Histor. TForfo, vol. iii. ad. an. 
 1049.) This is, at least, a testimony to the zeal of the church in the 
 matter; but sir James had no ground for accusing the nobles, as a body, 
 oi insincerity. 
 
 The chief dispute in the assembly 1649, regarding the mode of elec- 
 tion, turned on the question, Whether the part which the congregation 
 had in the election was that of nomination or consent ? The progress of 
 independency in England filled many with a dread of everything that 
 seemed to favour the views of that sect, who ascribed to the people the 
 whole power of admission to the sacred office. Calderwood, "who, in the 
 time of his exile, had seen the wild follies of the English Broivnists in 
 Arnheim and Amsterdam" (Outline's Memoirs, p. 79), Baillie, and others, 
 who had been engaged in the independent controversy, were averse to 
 admit that the people possessed the right of election; but all agreed that 
 the right of election should be within the church that patronage was, in 
 every form, hostile to the liberty of election and the independence of the 
 church and that no minister should be intruded into any congregation 
 aguliiot their will. 
 
1650.] CHARLES' DUPLICITY. 41 
 
 the commissioners, landed in Scotland, at the mouth 
 of the Spey, on the 23d of June 1650. It would be 
 well for the credit both of his majesty and of our 
 venerable ancestors, if historical truth would allow 
 us to draw a veil over the transactions which fol- 
 lowed. Before Charles landed on the Scottish shore, 
 he agreed to swear and subscribe the covenant. Mr. 
 Livingstone, who accompanied the embassy, and was 
 very jealous of the king's sincerity, would have de- 
 ferred this ceremony till he was brought to a better 
 state of mind; but he was overruled by the rest, 
 and prevailed on reluctantly to administer the solemn 
 test. In August following, finding that the church 
 still entertained strong suspicions of his insincerity, 
 the king subscribed a declaration at Dunfermline, 
 in which he professed to lament the opposition his 
 father had made to the work of reformation, and 
 solemnly declared that he renounced popery and 
 prelacy, and " would have no enemies but the ene- 
 mies of the covenant no friends but the friends of 
 the covenant." Mr. Gillespie, the minister who put 
 the pen into Charles' hand to subscribe this decla- 
 ration, assured him, " that if he was not satisfied in 
 his soul and conscience, beyond all hesitation, of 
 the righteousness of the subscription, lie was so far 
 from over-driving him to do it, that he obtested him, 
 and charged him, in his Master's name, not to sub- 
 scribe that declaration, no, not for the three king- 
 doms." " Mr. Gillespie," answered the king, " Mr. 
 Gillespie, I am satisfied, and therefore will subscribe 
 it."* The truth is, that in religious matters, Charles 
 would subscribe anything. It was afterwards dis- 
 covered that, before he left the continent, he had 
 
 * Life of Mr. Jolin Livingstone. 
 
42 CONDUCT OF THE PRESBYTERIANS. [1 6-50. 
 
 I 
 
 embraced popery, and in this religion, if he can be 
 
 said to have had any religion, he continued till his 
 death, though on his restoration he subscribed the 
 articles of the church of England; thus juggling in 
 sacred things to the last, and imposing on the Eng- 
 lish church, as he now did on the Scottish, by false 
 professions.* Even at this time, while coming under 
 the most sacred engagements to support presbytery, 
 he was secretly concerting measures to ruin that 
 cause, by introducing its enemies into the army and 
 legislature, and dividing the presbyterians. The 
 stern obstinacy of his father appears virtue itself, 
 when contrasted with the cool perjury of his profli- 
 gate and unprincipled son. 
 
 It is impossible, on the other hand, to vindicate 
 the conduct of the leaders among the presbyterians, 
 in accepting or requiring these protestations from 
 such a man as Charles, under the circumstances of 
 the case. The truth is, that these tests were exacted 
 by a party in the church and state the moderate 
 party, as it may be termed who were most friendly 
 to Charles, and were driven to these measures to 
 silence the scruples of their brethren, and secure the 
 co-operation of the country in restoring the king to 
 his throne. With the same views, and hopeful that 
 his majesty would prove faithful to his engagements, 
 which were absolutely necessary to his success, they 
 prevailed on the commissioners to " forbear men- 
 tioning in the assembly (July 1G50) anything which 
 might make the king or his way odious, in the entry 
 of his frovernment." And thus were laid the foun- 
 
 o 
 
 dations of that lamentable schism between the reso- 
 
 * Burnet, i. lol, ii. 457. 
 
1650.] DEFEAT AT DUNBAR. 43 
 
 lutioners and protesters, which was not healed even 
 at the period of the restoration.* 
 
 The people of Scotland, ignorant of the real cha- 
 racter of Charles, and confiding in his professions, 
 were overjoyed at the arrival of their prince. " In 
 a special manner at Edinburgh,"" says Nicol, in his 
 Diary, " by setting furth of bailfyres, ringing of bells, 
 sounding of trumpets, and dancing all that night 
 through the streets. The puir kaill-wy fifes at the 
 Trone sacrificed their creells, and the very stools 
 they sat upon, to the fire." These rejoicings were 
 soon interrupted by the approach of Cromwell, and 
 the shameful defeat at Dunbar, when no less than 
 three thousand Scots fell on the field of battle, among 
 whom were several ministers, who, being viewed with 
 an evil eye by the sectaries,, found no mercy at their 
 hands. If we may believe a historian who is far from 
 favouring the covenanters, the English owed this 
 victory as much to the lenity of the Scottish leaders 
 as to their presumption. Sir Edward Walker tells 
 us, that the committee of war would not allow the 
 attack to be made on Cromwell when they might 
 have routed him, " saying it were pity to destroy so 
 many of their brethren; but seeing that next day 
 they were like to fall into their hands, it were better 
 to get a dry victory, and send them back with shame 
 for their breach of covenant." -f- The unfortunate cove- 
 
 * Row's Supplement to Life of Blair, MS., p. 82; Burnet's History of 
 his Own Times, i. 102; Hind let Loose, pp. 87, 88; Cruickshank's In- 
 trod., i. 38. 
 
 f Sir Edward Walker's Journal, Disc., p. 180. Much misapprehension 
 exists as to the share which the ministers had in provoking David Leslie 
 to engage. Some of them, no doubt, were too forward; their notion of 
 purging the army, even of private soldiers suspected of malignancy, was 
 sufficiently absurd; and their expectation of supernatural success to their 
 army, because thus purified (the error of the age), was equally unwar- 
 
44 THE START. [1G50. 
 
 nanters, who were sincere, at least, however far they 
 might be mistaken in their attempts to serve the 
 monarch for whom they shed their blood, met with 
 little sympathy; and it is with no ordinary feelings 
 of disgust that we learn, from Clarendon, ihat Charles 
 rejoiced at their defeat. " Never," says that cold- 
 hearted historian, " was victory obtained with less 
 lamentation; for, as Cromwell had great argument 
 of triumph, so the king was glad of it, as the greatest 
 happiness that could befall him, in the loss of so 
 strong a body of his enemies ! " 
 
 Charles, indeed, soon gave evidence that he looked 
 on the presbyterians as his " enemies." One Satur- 
 day morning, when at Perth, shortly after the battle 
 of Dunbar, and while Cromwell lay in Edinburgh, 
 his majesty, on pretence of hawking, left the town 
 on horseback, attended by a few domestics, and set 
 off at full speed to the hills. Here he was met by the 
 earl of Buchan, not, as he expected, at the head of an 
 army prepared to deliver him out of the hands of the 
 covenanters, but with a miserable escort of some sixty 
 or seventy Highlanders. He was led to a wretched 
 hovel, where, throwing himself on an old bolster and 
 some rushes, he was found by a party sent in pur- 
 suit of him, and brought back next day to Perth in 
 time to hear the afternoon sermon. This ill-timed 
 flight, which was called the start, filled the minds of 
 all his friends with the deepest grief. ' To my own 
 heart," says Baillie, " it brought one of the most 
 sensible sorrows that in all my life I had felt." Jea- 
 lous as many of the stricter presbyterians were of 
 
 ranted. But it was Leslie's own conceit to draw down the army from 
 the hill at night which proved its ruin; and none were more indignant at 
 him than the protesting ministers. (Pamphlets, Adv. Lilt. A A A. 3, 
 22; JJuillie, ii. 350.) 
 
1651.] CORONATION OF CHARLESII. 45 
 
 him before, when he " took the start," they lost all 
 confidence in him. And, in October 1650, a long 
 and pointed remonstrance was addressed to the 
 committee of estates, signed by a number of gentle- 
 men, officers, and ministers, connected with the 
 forces in the west country, complaining of their 
 rashness in admitting the king to swear the cove- 
 nant, and charging them, in very severe terms, with 
 having " turned aside, forgotten their late vows, and 
 brought the calamities of war upon the nation by 
 their unfaithful conduct."" 
 
 In the midst of all these disorders of church and 
 state, Charles was solemnly crowned at Scoon, on 
 the 1st of January 1651. The sermon before the 
 ceremony was preached by Mr. Robert Douglas, one 
 of the ministers of Edinburgh. He chose for his 
 text those strikingly appropriate words, 2 Kings xi. 
 12, 17: " And he brought forth the king's son, and 
 put the crown upon him, and gave him the testi- 
 mony; and they made him king, and anointed him; 
 and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the 
 king. And Jehoiada made a covenant between the 
 Lord and the king and the people, that they should 
 be the Lord's people; between the king also and the 
 people." This sermon has been printed, and it is 
 certainly an ingenious, able, and faithful discourse. 
 " Many doubt of your reality in the covenant,' 1 '' said 
 the preacher, addressing his majesty; " let your sin- 
 cerity be evidenced by your stedfastness and con- 
 stancy; for many, like your ancestor, have begun well, 
 but have not been constant. Take warning from the 
 example before you; let it be laid to heart; requite 
 not men's faithful kindness with persecution; yea, 
 requite not the Lord so, who has preserved you to 
 
46 THE ACT OF CLASSES RESCINDED. [1651. 
 
 this time, and is setting a crown upon your head." 
 After sermon, the national covenant and solemn 
 league were distinctly read, and the king solemnly 
 swore them. Thereafter, the oath to defend and 
 support the church of Scotland was administered to 
 the king, who, kneeling, and holding up his right 
 hand, used these awfully solemn words : " J3y the 
 eternal and almighty God, who liveth and reigneth 
 for ever, J shall observe and keep all that is con- 
 tained in this oath." The whole ceremonial was 
 gone about with as much formality as circumstances 
 admitted; but the dangers with which they were 
 environed threw a gloom over the scene, and the 
 mournful forebodings of the more faithful of the 
 clergy were speedily confirmed. 
 
 The shameful defeat at Dunbar proved hardly 
 less disastrous to the church of Scotland than to the 
 Scottish army. The successes of Cromwell, who now 
 threatened to overrun the whole country, emboldened 
 Charles and his courtiers to press for the removal 
 of those restraints which were laid on the royal party 
 by the act of classes, passed in 1649. This act, so 
 called from its dividing the malignants into different 
 classes, according to their degrees of disaffection to 
 the covenant, excluded many of Charles'* friends from 
 the army and civil judicatorics. To have some pre- 
 text for repealing this obnoxious statute, which 
 guarded the privileges of the church as well as the 
 liberties of the nation, it was deemed of importance 
 to obtain the approbation of the general assembly. 
 This, however, was not easily obtained. A large 
 party in the church had, as we have already seen, 
 become justly suspicious of the sincerity of Charles, 
 and severely blamed their brethren of the royal or 
 
1651.] THE PUBLIC RESOLUTIONS. 47 
 
 moderate party, for precipitance in exacting from 
 him professions which were contradicted by all that 
 they knew of his principles and conduct. As proofs 
 of his insincerity, they referred to the fact, that while 
 in treaty with the Scots covenanters, he had secretly 
 confirmed a peace with the Irish rebels, and sent a 
 commission to Montrose to invade Scotland which 
 was found among the papers of the latter after his 
 defeat. And, in their remonstrance, they protested 
 against the Dunfermline declaration, which the mo- 
 derate party had drawn up, as " teaching his majesty 
 dissimulation and outward compliance, rather than 
 any cordial conjunction with the cause and cove- 
 nant."* These remonstrances gave great offence 
 to the ruling party in the church, and the breach 
 was widened by their subsequent procedure. A few 
 members of the commission of the assembly, favour- 
 able to the royal party, having met at Perth in 
 December 1650, the parliament submitted to their 
 judgment the following question: "What persons 
 are to be admitted to rise in arms, and to join with 
 the forces of the kingdom, and in what capacity, for 
 defence thereof, against the armies of the sectaries, 
 who, contrary to the solemn league and cove- 
 nant and treaties, have most unjustly invaded and 
 are destroying the kingdom?" In answer to this 
 ensnaring question, so plausibly worded, the com- 
 mission passed two resolutions, favourable, under 
 certain limitations, to the admission of all fencible 
 persons in the land. No sooner had these been 
 obtained, than the parliament, without paying any 
 regard to their limitations, rescinded the act of 
 classes; and the consequence was, that the most 
 
 * Westland Remonstrance, apud sir J. Balfour's Works, iv. 143. 
 
48 RESOLUTIONERS AND PROTESTERS. |1651. 
 
 notorious malignants, some of whom had served 
 under Montrose, and all of whom were enemies to 
 the second reformation, were nominated to the high- 
 est posts in the army, and to places of power and 
 trust in the state. In consequence of these resolu- 
 tions, a sad division took place in the assembly which 
 met at St. Andrews and Dundee, July 1651. Those 
 who adhered to the resolutions or answers given by 
 the commission, were called Resolution ers; those who 
 joined in a protest against them, were denominated 
 Protesters. The debates between the parties, as 
 might be expected from the spirit of the time, were 
 violent, tedious, and involved; each side professing 
 to be actuated by regard to the reformation, and 
 mutually charging each other with marring it. The 
 resolutioners, who formed the majority in this assem- 
 bly, went so far as to depose three of the most emi- 
 nent and active of the protesters, namely, James 
 Guthrie, minister of Stirling (who was afterwards 
 martyred), Patrick Gillespie of Glasgow, and James 
 Simpson of Airth. The protesters, on the other 
 hand, asserted the nullity of this assembly, and pro- 
 tested against all their proceedings.* 
 
 Such was the origin of the first schism that had 
 taken place in the church of Scotland since the 
 reformation. The controversy involved a number 
 of questions, casuistical and political, of which we 
 cannot afford room even for an abstract. Much 
 may be said on both sides. Great allowances must 
 be made for the resolutioners who contended for the 
 necessity of enrolling all that were capable of bear- 
 
 * Nullity of the Pretended Assembly at St. Andrews and Dundee, &o. 
 Printed 1 (>,V2. Vindication of the Freedom and Lawfulness, and so of the 
 Authority, of the late General Assembly, kc. Printed l(i,V2. 
 
1651.] CROMWELL IN SCOTLAND. 49 
 
 ino- arms. But it is not difficult for us, who have 
 
 C? * 
 
 the light of subsequent history, to see that the pro 
 testers, as their brethren were afterwards compelled 
 to acknowledge, " had their eyes open, while the re- 
 solutioners were blind." The perfidious conduct of 
 Charles at the restoration, and twenty-eight years of 
 bloody persecution, furnish a melancholy comment- 
 ary on the truth of this conclusion. " I must con- 
 fess, madam," said Mr. Dickson to a lady who came 
 to visit him on his death-bed, " that the protestors 
 have been much truer prophets than we were. 1 "* It 
 is needless to speculate on what might have been 
 the result, had the church acted otherwise; it was 
 the will of Providence that she should be subjected 
 to a long period of trial; and in a little time, as 
 Wodrow expresses it, "the whole honest presbyterian 
 ministers were struck at, and sent to the furnace to 
 unite them." 
 
 By the advice of his new counsellors, Charles un- 
 dertook an expedition into England, the result of 
 which is matter of well-known history. His defeat 
 at Worcester, in September 1651, which Cromwell, 
 in his despatches, called " a crowning mercy," was 
 not such matter of congratulation to tho king as 
 that at Dunbar; it completely ruined his hopes; and, 
 after many narrow escapes, he effected a passage 
 to France, leaving the whole country at the mercy 
 of the conqueror. It is hard to say whether our 
 worthy fathers were more alarmed at the secular 
 weapons of Cromwell's soldiers, or at the monstrous 
 heresies which they imported. They beheld, with 
 dismay, an army of sectaries, impregnated with all 
 the errors of the times, and quite as ready to coni- 
 
 * Wodrow's Anal. M.S. 
 
50 CROMWELL IN EDINBURGH. [1650. 
 
 bat the pastor in the pulpit, as to meet his people in 
 the battle-field. Cromwell himself, who delighted 
 as much as even James VI. in a theological debate, 
 entered into a curious controversy with the clergy 
 who had taken refuge in the castle of Edinburgh, 
 which held out after the city was captured. While 
 his soldiers battered the ramparts with their artil- 
 lery, the general attempted to storm the minds of 
 the besieged theologians with his Independent mis- 
 sives, which were met, on their part, by regular and 
 firm rejoinders. Meanwhile their pulpits were usurp- 
 ed by the gifted lay-preachers of the army, holding 
 forth in buff and bandoleers to crowded and as- 
 tonished auditories. " General Lambert," says 
 Nicholl, " having urgit the toun of Edinburgh coun- 
 cel to appropriate to him the East Kirk, being the 
 best kirk in the toun for his exercise at sermound, 
 the same was rendered to him for that use; wherein 
 there was divers and sundrie sermounds preached, 
 asweill by captanes, and lievtenants, and troupers of 
 his army, as by ordinar pastors and English minis- 
 ters; which captancs, commanders, and troupers, 
 when they enteiit the pulpits, did not observe our 
 Scots forms, bot when they ascended, they enterit 
 the pulpits with their swords hung at their sides, and 
 some carrying pistolls up with them; and after their 
 entry, laid asyde within the pulpits their swords till 
 they had ended their sermounds. It was thocht," 
 adds our simple annalist, " that these men war weill 
 giftit, yet were not ordourlie callit according to the 
 discipline observit within this kingdom of Scot- 
 land."* 
 
 In various places throughout the country, Crom- 
 
 * Nicholl's Diary, ad. an. 1651 ; Bannatyne edit. 
 
1650.] CROMWELL IN GLASGOW. 51 
 
 well's soldiers behaved very rudely. They would 
 come into the churches during the time of service, 
 take up their seat, by way of contempt, on the stool 
 of repentance, and after sermon publicly challenge 
 the minister to dispute with them on the doctrine 
 which he had been preaching.* But the ministers 
 generally got the advantage of these intruders, and 
 even before Cromwell showed a becoming spirit. 
 Though a proclamation had been issued, prohibit- 
 ing any to pray for king Charles, many of them con- 
 tinued to do so, in spite of the prohibition, and eveu 
 in the face of the soldiers, who threatened to fire on 
 them if they attempted it. When Cromwell came 
 to Glasgow, the magistrates and some of the minis- 
 ters fled at the first news of his approach. Among 
 those who remained was Mr. Zachary Boyd, famous 
 for his extraordinary translation of the Bible 'into 
 metre. This divine, nothing daunted by the pre- 
 sence of Cromwell and his soldiers, who came to 
 hear him, " railed on them all to their face in the 
 High Church." Tradition informs us that Cromwell's 
 secretary was so annoyed with the plainness of the 
 worthy paraphrast, that he asked leave, in a whisper, 
 " to pistol the scoundrel." " No, no," said the pro- 
 tector, " we will manage him in another way." In 
 the evening he asked the clergy to sup with him, and 
 concluded the entertainment, it is said, with an in- 
 credibly long prayer.f Cromwell, it would appear, 
 could stand a sermon levelled at his civil authority 
 better than a reflection on his powers as a theological 
 disputant. Marching into a meeting of the ministers 
 
 * Lament's Diary, p. 5ft. 
 
 + MSS. in Adv. Lib.; Brown's History of Glasgow, p. 104; Baillie, 
 ii. S,59. 
 
 VOL. II. D 
 
52 CROMWELL DISSOLVES THE ASSEMBLY. [1653 
 
 in Edinburgh on one occasion, he made a harangue 
 to them nearly an hour in length, in his usual style 
 of rhapsody, and copiously interlarded with quotations 
 from Scripture. The members looked at each other in 
 bewildered amazement, till at length an old minister, 
 Mr. John Semple of Carsphairn, rose up and said : 
 " Moderator, I hardly know what the gentleman wald 
 be at in this long discourse; but one thing I am sure 
 of, he was perverting the Scripture." For this speech 
 the honest minister was punished by six months' 
 imprisonment.* 
 
 The general assembly, however, was a court too free 
 in its constitution to suit the temper of Cromwell, 
 any more than that of James or Charles. The success- 
 ful dictator, who had dissolved the long parliament, 
 and openly scoffed at Magna Charta, was not likely 
 to suffer the continuance of an assembly, the mem- 
 bers of which had been so active for the king. Ac- 
 cordingly, on the 20th of July 1653, when the ge- 
 neral assembly had convened in Edinburgh, and the 
 clerk was beginning to call the roll, the church in 
 which they met was surrounded by a troop of horse, 
 under the command of lieutenant-colonel Cottrel, 
 who, with another officer, entered the assembly, and 
 standing upon a bench, demanded to know by whose 
 authority they had met whether by authority of the 
 late pai'liament, or of their late king, or of the pro- 
 tector ? Mr. David Dickson, the moderator, replied 
 that they were an ecclesiastical synod, a spiritual 
 court of Christ, which meddled not with anything 
 civil, and that their authority was from God, and 
 confirmed by the laws of the land yet unrepealed. 
 The colonel then demanded a list of the members, 
 
 * Wodrow's Anal. MS. 
 
1655.] CROMWELL AND THE PROTESTERS. 53 
 
 which the moderator told him he should get, if he 
 would have a little patience till they had called the 
 roll; but Cottrel declared this would be too tedious 
 an affair, and ordered them to be gone, otherwise 
 he had instructions how to proceed. Upon this, the 
 moderator, in the name of the assembly, protested 
 against such unexampled violence, and was proceed- 
 ing to dissolve the meeting with prayer, when he was 
 rudely interrupted, and ordered to the door; a man- 
 date with which he and the rest of the assembly at 
 last complied.* " He led us all through the whole 
 streets,"" says Baillie, " a mile out of the town, en- 
 compassing us with foot companions of musketeers 
 and horsemen all the people gazing and mourning 
 as at the saddest spectacle they had ever seen. 
 When he had led us a mile without the town, he then 
 declared what further he had in commission; That 
 we should not dare to meet any more above three in 
 number; and that, against eight o'clock to-morrow, 
 we should depart the town, under pain of being 
 guilty of breaking the public peace; and the day fol- 
 lowing we were commanded off the town, under the 
 pain of present imprisonment. Thus," adds Baillie, 
 " our general assembly, the glory and strength of 
 our church upon earth, is by your soldiery crushed 
 and trode under foot, without the least provocation 
 from us, at this time, in word or deed."-f- 
 
 This unconstitutional encroachment, though it came 
 with a bad grace from one who boasted himself the 
 patron of toleration and liberty of conscience, was, 
 after all, the less to be regretted at this period, as 
 the meetings of the church courts were chiefly occu- 
 pied with unseemly discussions between the resolu- 
 
 * Lament's Diary, p. G9. *( Baillie's Letters, ii. 369. 
 
54 CROMWELL AND THE PROTESTERS. [1655. 
 
 tioners and protesters. The melancholy conse- 
 quences of this breach in the Scottish church soon 
 became apparent after the defeat of Charles had sub- 
 jected the whole of Scotland to the arms of Crom- 
 well. The English conquerors, as was natural, were 
 partial to the protesters, who had been opposed to 
 the party that brought over the king; and Crom- 
 well endeavoured, by all the arts of his masterly po- 
 licy, to gain them over to his interests. He succeed- 
 ed in inducing some of them to take the tender, which 
 was an acknowledgment of his authority and that of 
 t he English commonwealth without a king or house of 
 lords. With great difficulty he prevailed upon them, 
 and ultimately on the resolutioners also, to cease pray- 
 ing for king Charles; but Mr. Patrick Gillespie was 
 the first, and we believe the only minister in Scotland, 
 who publicly prayed for the protector. Mr. Gillespie 
 was, it may be presumed, a great favourite with the 
 usurper, and he, with some of his brethren, received 
 a commission in 1655, empowering them to settle 
 the affairs of the kirk. In this document, it is some- 
 what curious to find that Cromwell declares himself 
 clearly in favour of an established church. " Being 
 thoroughly sensible," his highness says, " that what- 
 soever union of nations is made where the true reli- 
 gion is not the foundation thereof, it will prove tot- 
 tering and unstable, he hath therefore expressly com- 
 manded his council here to endeavour the promoting 
 the preaching of the gospel, and the power of true 
 religion and holiness; and to take care that the 
 usual maintenance here be received and enjoyed by 
 such ministers as are of a holy and unblamable con- 
 versation, disposed to live peaceably under the pre- 
 sent government, are able and fit to preach the gos- 
 
1655.] CROMWELL AND THE PROTESTERS. 55 
 
 pel, and shall be approved according to an ordinance 
 of his highness of the 8th of August 1 654."* It 
 appears from this commission that Cromwell was de- 
 termined to be patron-general to the whole church 
 of Scotland ; it is obviously so framed as to admit 
 only such as were protesters; and what is very curi- 
 ous, in the ordinance to which he refers, with the 
 view of securing his own men, it is expressly pro- 
 vided that, in the induction of ministers, " respect 
 shall be had to the choice of the more sober and 
 godly sort of the people, although the same should not 
 prove to be the greater part" a somewhat arbitrary 
 and invidious distinction, which, it must be allowed, 
 left ample discretion to those who were intrusted 
 with the administration. 
 
 It does not appear that the protesters availed 
 themselves of the power with which this commission 
 invested them;-f- though it is certain that very un- 
 seemly contests happened at various settlements 
 about this period, particularly in the west country, 
 where the protesting party mustered very strong. 
 Baillie has given some very lamentable accounts of 
 the intrusion of ministers upon congregations by that 
 party, with the aid of the English soldiery; but it 
 must be remembered that this writer was a bitter 
 opponent of the protesters, and he is chargeable 
 with having not only exaggerated their conduct, but 
 resorted to very unworthy means to defeat the nego- 
 tiations which were set on foot for healing the breach 
 between them and their brethren the resolutioners. 
 It is but justice to add, that the great body of the 
 
 * Nicholl's Diary, pp. 1G3-1GC. 
 
 f" A considerable party among the protesters, including Warriston 
 and James Guthrie, were opposed to this ordinance ; and very few settle- 
 ments took place under it. (Baillie's Letters, and Mac-ward's Papers. ) 
 
56 DISSENSIONS. [1655. 
 
 protesters were far from being favourable to repub- 
 licanism or to the usurpation of Cromwell. Lament 
 informs us, in his Diary, that at a communion 
 at Sconie in Fife, where Alexander Moncrieff 
 and Samuel Rutherford officiated, " all that had 
 taken the tender were debarred from the table, as 
 also the English." The same scrupulosity was not 
 felt by Mr. James Sharp, who afterwards, as 
 archbishop of St. Andrews, rendered himself in- 
 famous in history for the persecution of his brethren ; 
 he swallowed the tender, and paid his court to the 
 usurper, with the same ease that he afterwards re- 
 nounced the covenant, and truckled to the king. 
 James Guthrie, on the other hand, whose death 
 he had a share in procuring, though a protester, 
 not only refused the tender, but incurred consider- 
 able risk in maintaining his loyalty. " I have it from 
 good hands," says Wodrow, " that Mr. Guthrie defend- 
 ed the king's right in public debate with Hugh Peters, 
 Oliver's chaplain, and from the pulpit he asserted the 
 king's title in the hearing of the English officers."* 
 These dissensions among the ministers must have 
 been unfavourable to the interests of religion. The 
 protesters, who had been deposed, continued to ex- 
 ercise their ministry, and each party held commu- 
 nion exclusively with those of their own sentiments. 
 On too many occasions the pulpit was converted into 
 an arena of contention; and the people beheld 
 the spectacle, hitherto unknown in Scotland, of 
 ministers preaching, and even praying, against each 
 other. In September 1655, Patrick Gillespie, who 
 was principal of Glasgow college, having come to 
 Edinburgh, was invited by Mr. Stirling, a protester, 
 
 * Wodrow's Hist., i. 1G3, Burns' edit. 
 
1655.] DISSENSIONS. 57 
 
 to preach for him in the West Kirk. The rest of the 
 ministers, hearing of it, refused to countenance him 
 with their presence. " Mr. Patrick," says honest 
 Nicholl, " at his coming to the pulpit, was interuptit 
 by ane of the late king^s servants, called captane 
 Melvill, wha, sitting near to the pulpitt, did ryse 
 and call to him, saying, ' Mr. Gillespy, how dar ye 
 cum thair to the pulpitt to teach and preach? Ye 
 aught not to cum thair, because ye are deposed from 
 the ministrie by the general assemblie, and ye have 
 been ane enymie and traitour both to kirk and king- 
 dome !' and sum more to that purpose; and with 
 that he raise and went out of the church, and sindry 
 uthers with him, alleging, that he aucht not to be 
 heard in pulpitt, being a deposed minister. Yet, 
 Mr. Patrick Gillespy, not being much dasched, pro- 
 ceedit, and after a short prayer, read his text, 
 quhilk was the 29th verse of the 26 chap tour of the 
 Acts of the Apostles, in these words: 'And Paul 
 said, I wald to God that not only thow, but also all 
 that heir me this day, both war almost and altogid- 
 der such as I am, except these bands. 11 '* 
 
 This was no doubt sufficiently deplorable. But 
 each party was disposed to exaggerate the public 
 evils. Nicholl, who is a stanch loyalist, complains 
 grievously of the increase of crime in Scotland dur- 
 ing this period; but indeed little weight can be 
 attached to the opinions of this writer, who betrays 
 great weakness of mind. The following specimens 
 of his lugubrious reflections are rather amusing. He 
 complains bitterly of the taxes levied in Edinburgh 
 for the support of the English army, especially the 
 plack laid on the pint of ale for the imposition of 
 
 * Nicholl's Diary, ad. an. 1656. 
 
58 COMPLAINTS. [1655-60. 
 
 which, he seriously considers a storm of wind and 
 rain which happened, as a judgment on the city ! 
 " And then," says he, " thair wyne, aill, and beir, 
 were all sophisticat drawn over and kirned with 
 milk, brimstone, and uther ingrediants; the aill 
 jnade strong and heidy with hemp seed, coriander 
 seed, Turkie pepper, sutc, salt, and uther sophistica- 
 tions. Whairwith the magistrates of Edinburgh did 
 take no ordour; nather yit with blown mutton, cor- 
 Tupt veill and flesche; nor yit with fusted breid and 
 lycht loaves, and with fals missoures and wechts. 1 " 1 
 *' Mairover," he adds, " befoir the English airmy 
 came into Scotland, there was a lecture every day 
 in the afternune, at the ringing of the four hour bell, 
 quhilk did much good both to the soull and body; the 
 soull being edifeit and fed by the word, and the body 
 withheld in from unnecessary bibbing, quhilk at that 
 hour of the day was in use and custome." But what 
 distressed him most of all was, that notwithstanding 
 of all these burdens, the ladies dressed as fine as 
 ever: " The moir poverty, the pryde of men much 
 moir aboundit; for at this time it was daylie seen 
 that gentill-women and burgessis wyffes haid moir 
 gold and silver about thair gown and wylicoat tails, 
 than thair husbands had in thair purses and cof 
 fers !"* 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding some public grievances, 
 which, after all, were not more than might have 
 been expected in a country occupied by a victorious 
 enemy,f and notwithstanding the prevalent heats 
 
 * Nich oil's Diary, pp. 168, 170, 189. 
 
 f-It is generally allowed that public justice was never more impartially 
 executed than during Cromwell's government in Scotland; and it is even 
 said that the decisions of the English judges whom he set up were more 
 agreeable to the spirit and principles of the Scots law than the nrevious 
 
1 655-GO.j PROSPERITY OF RELIGION. 59 
 
 and divisions which must have frustrated to a great 
 degree the good effects of the reformation, it appears, 
 from the most indubitable evidence, that religion 
 prospered in no ordinary measure during the time of 
 this invasion. " It is true," says Kirkton, " that 
 they did not permit the general assembly to sit (and 
 in this I believe they did no bad office, for both the 
 authority of that meeting was denied by the protes- 
 ters, and the assembly seemed to be more set upon 
 establishing themselves than promoting religion); 
 also, the division of the church betwixt protesters 
 and resolvers continued for six or seven years with 
 far more heat than became them; and errors in 
 some places infected some few; yet were all these 
 losses inconsiderable in regard of the great success 
 the word preached had in sanctifying the people of 
 the nation ; and I verily believe there were more souls 
 converted to Christ in that short period of time than 
 in any season since the reformation, though of triple 
 its duration. Nor was there ever greater purity 
 and plenty of the means of grace. Ministers were 
 painful, people were diligent. So, truly, religion 
 was at that time in very good case, and the Lord 
 present in Scotland, though in a cloud."" Again, re- 
 ferring to the state of Scotland before the restora- 
 tion, he has these remarkable words: "At the 
 king^s return, every parish had a minister, every vil- 
 lage had a school, every family almost had a Bible 
 yea, in most of the country all the children of age 
 could read the Scriptures, and were provided of 
 
 decisions of our native judges had been. A young lawyer making this 
 observation to a Scots judge, who died many years ago. received this 
 singular reply: " No thanks to them ! they had neither kith nor kin in 
 the country: take that out of the way, and I think I could be a good 
 judge myself." {Brown's Hist, of Gla, tyow, p. 114.) 
 
60 REFORMATION ON MANNERS. [1655-60. 
 
 13ibJes either by their parents or ministers. Everj 
 minister was a very full professor of the reformed 
 religion, according to the large Confession of Faith 
 framed at Westminster. None of them might be 
 scandalous in their conversation, or negligent in 
 their office, so long as a presbyterie stood. I have 
 lived many years in a parish where I never heard an 
 oath; and you might have ridden many miles before 
 you heard any. Also, you could not, for a great part 
 of the country, have lodged in a family where the 
 Lord was not worshipped, by reading, singing, and 
 public prayer. Nobody complained more of our 
 church government than our taverners: whose ordi- 
 nary lamentation was their trade was broke, people 
 were become so sober!""* 
 
 This high testimony is fully borne out by that of 
 other witnesses, as unimpeachable as honest Kirk- 
 ton. They tell us what fell under their own observa- 
 tion; and those must have been no mean attainments, 
 either in piety or morality, which came up to the 
 standard required by the presbyterians of these 
 times. ~|* No doubt, many hypocrites may have been 
 concealed under the mask of rigorous devotion; but, 
 whatever might be the case in England during the 
 same period, it is certain that hypocrisy was not 
 then the reigning vice in Scotland. We grant that 
 crimes and outbreakings of a very flagrant nature 
 
 Kirkton's Hist, of the Church of Scotland, pp. 63, 64. 
 
 + " Old Mr. Hutcheson, minister at Killellan, used to say to Mr. 
 Wodrow, ' When I compare the times before the restoration with the 
 times since the revolution, I must own that the young ministers preach 
 accurately and methodically, but there was far more of the power and 
 efficacy of the Spirit and the grace of God went along with sermons in 
 those days than now; and, for my part (all the glory be to God!) I sel- 
 dom set my foot in a pulpit in those times but I had notice of some blessed 
 effects of the word.' " (Gillies' 1 Hist. ColUclions, i. 315.) 
 
1655-60.] BLAIR, RUTHERFORD, AND DICKSON. 61 
 
 were occasionally taking place, which some, not con- 
 sidering the rude state of society at the time, would 
 set down as a proof of its general demoralization. 
 It is certain, too, that immediately before the resto- 
 ration, a sad declension became apparent, which was 
 the more remarked from its contrast with the pre- 
 vious prosperity. But there can be no question that 
 the piety of that period was both more intense and 
 more widely diffused than it has ever since been in Scot- 
 land. It is not by looking into the records of church 
 courts, which indeed almost supplied the place of 
 courts of police, nor into the " Acknowledgments of 
 Sins," published about that period, that we can 
 form a proper estimate of the moral state of the 
 country. Such documents only serve to show that, 
 in those days, the discipline of the church was ad- 
 ministered with a fidelity which is now too little 
 known, though not a whit less needed, and that our 
 fathers were affected by the existence of public evils, 
 which are no longer so candidly acknowledged, only 
 because they are not so deeply laid to heart. 
 
 An English merchant, who had occasion to visit 
 Scotland in the way of business about the year 1650, 
 happened to hear three of the most eminent of the 
 Scottish ministers of that age Robert Blair, Samuel 
 Rutherford, and David Dickson. Being asked, on 
 his return, what news he had brought from Scotland, 
 the gentleman, who had never shown any sense of 
 religion before, replied, "Great and good news! I 
 went to St. Andrews, where I heard a sweet ma- 
 jestic-looking man (Blair) ; and he showed me the 
 majesty of God, After him, I heard a little fair man 
 (Rutherford); and he showed me the loveliness of 
 Christ. \ then went to Irvine, where I heard a well- 
 
62 ROBERT BLAIR. [1655-60. 
 
 favoured proper old man, with along beard (Dick- 
 son) ; and that man showed me all my heart.' 1 '' " The 
 whole general assembly," says Wodrow, " could not 
 have given a better character of the three men." * 
 
 Robert Blair we had occasion to notice before. 
 He was a man of mild and amiable temper, and was 
 exceedingly active in endeavouring to heal the un- 
 happy dissensions between the resolutioners and 
 protesters, in which he professed to be neutral. Mr. 
 Blair was originally settled at Bangor, in Ireland, on 
 which occasion, as he refused to be ordained after 
 the prelatie form, the bishop of the diocese agreed 
 to be present with the other ministers only in the 
 character of a presbyter. Driven by a less chari- 
 table bishop from Ireland, he took refuge in his na- 
 tive country, where he was first settled at Ayr, and 
 afterwards translated to St. Andrews. Polite and 
 affable in his manners, he was chosen by Charles I., 
 after the death of Henderson, as his chaplain in 
 Scotland; an office which he discharged with the 
 most scrupulous fidelity. He was a shrewd observer 
 of character. When Cromwell came to Edinburgh, 
 he and Guthrie and Dickson, were deputed to hold 
 a conference with the general. Blair, who was 
 best acquainted with him, begged him to answer 
 three questions. " What was his opinion of mo- 
 narchical government? 1 ' Oliver replied that he was 
 favourable to monarchy. " What did he think anent 
 toleration? 1 ' He answered as confidently, that he 
 was against toleration. " What was his judgment 
 about the government of the church? 1 ' " Ah, now, 
 Mr. Blair," said Cromwell, " you article me too 
 severely; you must pardon me that I give you not 
 
 * Wodrow's MSS., Adv. Lib. 
 
1655-60.] SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 63 
 
 a present answer to that question." On retiring, 
 Mr. Dickson said, " I am glad to hear this man 
 speak no worse;" to which Blair replied, "If you 
 knew him as well as I, you would not believe one 
 word he says ; for he is an egregious dissembler."* 
 
 Samuel Rutherford is one of those characters 
 whom every one thinks he should know by his writ- 
 ings as familiarly as if he had seen him face to face. 
 Eager, ethereal, and imaginative, ever soaring and 
 singing, the high notes of his devotion fall down on 
 the ear with a singular effect, as if the music came 
 from heaven rather than from earth.-}- Rutherford 
 was the most popular preacher of his day; but it is 
 not so generally known that he was as much distin- 
 guished for his learning and metaphysical attain- 
 ments as for his eloquence and devotion. He re- 
 ceived invitations to the chair of philosophy in more 
 than one of the foreign universities; but such was 
 his love to his native country, that he would not 
 desert her in the midst of her troubles. The follow- 
 ing anecdote of his infancy, though it approaches 
 the marvellous, is so characteristic of the future 
 man, and the age in which he lived, that it deserves 
 to be preserved. While amusing himself with some 
 of his companions, Samuel, then a mere child, fell 
 into a deep well: the rest of the children ran off to 
 alarm his parents, who, on reaching the spot, were 
 astonished to find him seated on an adjoining 
 hillock, cold and dripping. On being questioned how 
 he had got there, he replied, that " a bonnie white 
 
 * Memoirs of Blair, p. 107. 
 
 f His Letters, with all their faults, which are those of the age, have 
 excellences which must be felt to the eud of time. " Hold off the Bible," 
 said Richard Baxter, " such a, book the world never saw the like." 
 
64 SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. [1655-60. 
 
 man came and drew him out of the well." The 
 minutest particulars concerning such a person are 
 interesting; the following are curious: "I have 
 known many great and good ministers in this 
 church," said an aged contemporary pastor who sur- 
 vived the revolution, " but for such a piece of clay 
 as Mr. Rutherford was, I never knew one in Scotland 
 like him, to whom so many great gifts were given ; 
 for he seemed to be altogether taken up with every 
 thing good, and excellent, and useful. He seemed 
 to be always praying, always preaching, always visit- 
 ing the sick, always catechising, always writing and 
 studying. He had two quick eyes, and when he 
 walked, it was observed that he held aye his face 
 upward. He had a strange utterance in the pulpit, 
 a kind of sJcreigh that I never heard the like. Many 
 times I thought he would have flown out of the pul- 
 pit when he came to speak of Jesus Christ. He was 
 never in his right element but when he was com- 
 mending him. He would have fallen asleep in bed 
 speaking of Christ."* Rutherford was a stanch 
 protester; but controversy, though he excelled in it, 
 seemed to be alien to his nature. " One day, when 
 preaching in Edinburgh, after dwelling for some 
 time on the differences of the day, he broke out with 
 'Woe is unto us for these sad divisions, that make 
 us lose the fair scent of the Rose of Sharon!" and 
 then he went on commending Christ, going over all 
 his precious styles and titles about a quarter of an 
 hour; upon which the laird of Glanderston said, in 
 a loud whisper, Ay, now you are right hold you 
 there P ""I* Rutherford died in 1661, shortly after 
 
 * Patrick Simpson, apitd Wodrow's MSS. 
 f Wodrow's Analecta, MS. iv. 
 
3655-60.] SAMUEL RUTHERFORD. 65 
 
 his book called Lex Hex was burnt by the hangman 
 at Edinburgh, and at the gates of the new college 
 of St. Andrews, where he was regent and professor 
 of divinity.* He departed just in time to avoid an 
 ignominious death; for though everybody knew he 
 was dying, the council had, with impotent malice, 
 summoned him to appear before them at Edinburgh 
 on a charge of high treason. When the citation 
 came, he said, " Tell them I have got a summons 
 already before a superior judge and judicatory, and 
 I behove to answer my first summons; and ere your 
 day arrive, I will be where few kings and great folks 
 come." When they returned, and reported that he 
 was dying, the parliament, with a few dissenting 
 voices, voted that he should not be allowed to die in 
 the college ! Upon this Lord Burleigh said, " Ye 
 have voted that honest man out of his college, but 
 ye cannot vote him out of heaven." Some of them 
 profanely remarked, " he would never win there; 
 hellnvas too good for him." " I wish I were as sure 
 of heaven as he is," replied Burleigh; " I would think 
 myself happy to get a gripe of his sleeve to haul me in"^ 
 Among his brethren who came to pray with him on 
 his death-bed, were Mr. Wood, a resolutioner, but an 
 excellent man, and Mr. Honeyman, who afterwards 
 was made a bishop, and distinguished himself for 
 his opposition to the cause of God. It was observed 
 that, when Mr. Wood prayed, the dying man was 
 not much affected, but when Honeyman was engaged, 
 
 * " It was much easier to burn the book than to answer it," says Wod- 
 row. When Charles II. read Lex Rex, he said, with his native shrewd- 
 ness, that it would scarcely ever get an answer ; and his words have 
 proved true. 
 
 f- Walker's Remains, p. 171; Reid's Memoirs of the Divines in the 
 Assembly at Westminster. 
 
66 DAVID DICKSON. [1655-60. 
 
 he wept all the time of the prayer. Being afterwards 
 asked his reason for this, he replied, " Mr. Wood 
 and I will meet again, though we be now to part; 
 but alas for poor Honeyman! he and I will never 
 meet again in another world; and this made me 
 weep."* When dying, he frequently repeated, "Oh 
 for arms to embrace Him ! oh, for a well-tuned harp ! 
 I hear him saying to me, Come up hither !" And 
 thus, says Howie, | " the renowned eagle took its 
 flight into the mountains of spices." 
 
 David Dick or Dickson was a very different charac- 
 ter, yet almost equally eminent. We have already 
 seen the success which accompanied his ministra- 
 tions when at Irvine. He was afterwards translated, 
 first to Glasgow, and afterwards to Edinburgh; in 
 both of which cities he officiated as professor of 
 divinity. His contemporaries have preserved many 
 of his remarkable sayings, which show him to have 
 been a man of great shrewdness and sagacity, mixed 
 with a peculiar vein of humour. He was singularly 
 successful in dissecting the human heart, and winning 
 souls to the Redeemer. Mr. Dickson took an active 
 share in the disputes between the resolutionors and 
 protesters, in which he supported the former party, 
 though he lived to see and confess that they had 
 been completely deceived. He was a man of strong 
 nerve and undaunted resolution in the discharge of his 
 duty, of which the following anecdote may serve as 
 an illustration: On one occasion, when riding be- 
 tween Edinburgh and Glasgow, he was attacked by 
 robbers. Instead of giving way to his fears, Dickson 
 
 * Wodrow'3 MSS. 
 
 f 1 Using an expression of Burgess in his funeral sermon on Robert 
 Fleming. 
 
1655-60.] ROBERT DOUGLAS. 67 
 
 boldly admonished them of their danger in regard 
 to their souls, and concluded by earnestly exhorting 
 them to try some other profession more safe and 
 creditable than that in which they were engaged. 
 Some years after this, when quietly seated in the 
 college of Edinburgh, he was surprised by receiving 
 the present of a pipe of wine, accompanied with a 
 message that the gentleman who sent it requested 
 the pleasure of drinking a glass of the wine with 
 him next evening in his study. The request was 
 granted; and, in the course of conversation, the 
 gentleman, after finding that the minister retained 
 no recollection of having seen him before, informed 
 him that he was one of the robbers who had attacked 
 him that he had been seriously impressed by his 
 admonition and that, having adopted his advice, 
 he had prospered in foreign trade, and now came to 
 thank his benefactor. 
 
 But, perhaps, one of the noblest characters of the 
 period, though less known, was Mr. Robert Douglas, 
 minister of Edinburgh. He had formerly been a 
 chaplain in the army of Gustavus Adolphus; and 
 when leaving his service, that celebrated prince and 
 warrior pronounced the following eulogium on his 
 character: " There goes a man who, for wisdom and 
 prudence, might be a counsellor to any king in 
 Europe; who, for gravity, might be a moderator to 
 any assembly in the world; and who, for his skill in 
 military affairs, might be the general of any army." 
 Like many of the ministers of this period, he was 
 connected by birth with some of the best families in 
 the land. Majestic in his appearance, and princely 
 in his bearing, there was something so authoritative 
 about him, that one has said he never could look at 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
68 ROBERT DOUGLAS. [1655-60- 
 
 him without a sensation of awe. Though a reso- 
 lutioner, he took an active part in endeavouring to 
 secure the liberties of the church of Scotland after 
 the restoration, and carried on a correspondence 
 with James Sharp, when in London, in which the 
 designs of that unhappy apostate were artfully 
 covered over with high professions of regard to the 
 presbyterian interest. Mr. Douglas, though de- 
 ceived for a time by Sharp's duplicity, at length dis- 
 covered his real character. We are informed, that 
 when Sharp returned to Scotland, affecting no am- 
 bition for the prelacy, he pressed the acceptance of 
 the see of St. Andrews upon Mr. Douglas. He told 
 him he clearly perceived that the king was deter- 
 mined on introducing episcopacy, and that he knew 
 none fitter for the primacy than Mr. Douglas, who 
 had better accept, lest a worse should be appointed. 
 The honest presbyterian saw into the secret soul of 
 the hypocrite; and when he had given his own de- 
 cided refusal, demanded of his former friend what 
 he would do himself were the offer made to him. 
 Sharp hesitated, and rose to take leave. Douglas ac- 
 companied him to the door. " James," said he, " I 
 perceive you are clear I see you will engage you 
 will be archbishop of St. Andrews : take it, then," 11 he 
 added, laying his hand on Sharp's shoulder, ''and 
 the curse of God with it!" * 
 
 " The subject," says sir Walter Scott, relating 
 this scene, " might suit a painter." We may add, 
 with equal truth, that the subject affords matter of 
 solemn warning to the Christian minister, and of 
 serious reflection to all. " Wherefore, let him that 
 thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall." 
 
 Kirkton, p. 134. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Restoration of Charles The reformation overturned by the act rescissory 
 Trial and martyrdom of the marquis of Argyle Martyrdom of James 
 Guthrie Re-establishment of episcopacy Treachery of Sharp 
 Consecration of the Scottish bishops Ejection of the presbyterian 
 ministers Introduction of the curates Execution of lord Warriston. 
 
 WE have now reached the period of the Restora- 
 tion, when the church of Scotland was thrown into 
 the furnace of persecution when she was stripped 
 of the glory of her reformation, and subjected, for 
 a long series of years, like the church of ancient 
 Israel, to captivity and bondage. The restoration 
 of Charles took place on the 29th of May 1660. 
 Never did a more rapid, more complete, or more 
 melancholy change pass over the character of a 
 people, than that which Scotland underwent at this 
 era. " With the restoration of the king," says 
 bishop Burnet, " a spirit of extravagant joy spread 
 over the nation, that brought on with it the throw- 
 ing off the very profession of virtue and piety : all 
 ended in entertainments and' drunkenness, which 
 overran the three kingdoms to such a degree, that 
 it very much corrupted all their morals. Under 
 the colour of drinking the king's health, there were 
 great disorders and much riot everywhere. Those 
 
70 ACT OP SUPREMACY. [1661. 
 
 who had been concerned in the former transactions, 
 thought they could not redeem themselves from the 
 censures and jealousies that these brought on them, 
 by any method that was more sure and more easy 
 than by going into the stream, and laughing at all 
 religion telling or making stories to expose both 
 themselves and their party, as impious and ridi- 
 culous."* 
 
 Charles was not long seated on the throne, when, 
 abandoning himself to pleasure and debauchery, he 
 proceeded to overturn the whole work of reformation, 
 civil and ecclesiastical, which he had solemnly sworn 
 to support. The first Scottish parliament, usually 
 called Middleton 1 parliament, from the name of the 
 commissioner, the earl of Middleton, a dissipated 
 and unprincipled character, sat down in January 
 1661. The most shameless bribery and illegal in- 
 fluence were employed to pack this parliament with 
 members favourable to the designs of the ruling 
 powers. The first step for the subversion of the 
 civil and religious liberties of Scotland, and which 
 laid the foundation of all the persecutions that fol- 
 lowed, was the passing, early in the year 1661, of 
 the act of supremacy, for securing what was termed 
 the royal prerogative, in other words, for making 
 the king supreme judge in all matters civil and eccle- 
 siastical. To this was afterwards added the oath of 
 allegiance, which bound the subject to acknowledge 
 the supreme power of the king, in all matters civil 
 or religious, and made it high treason to deny it. 
 Wodrow has justly observed, that " slavish prin- 
 ciples as to civil rights and liberty, still lead the van 
 to persecution for conscience' sake." By these acts, 
 
 * Burners History of his Own Times, i. 130. 
 
166J.] TRIAL OF ARC YLE. 71 
 
 the servile parliament laid the civil liberties of the 
 nation at the feet of a despot; but it is easy to see 
 that they must have fallen with peculiar severity on 
 the conscientious, who had always contended for the 
 supremacy of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only 
 king of his church. At last, tired of annulling acts 
 of parliament passed during the previous period of 
 the reformation, the Scottish councillors, in the same 
 year, passed a sweeping act, annulling the parlia- 
 ments themselves. By this measure, which was 
 called the act rescissory, all the proceedings for re- 
 formation between 1638 and 1650 were declared 
 rebellious and treasonable; the national covenant 
 and solemn league were condemned as unlawful 
 oaths; the Glasgow assembly of 1638 denounced as 
 an unlawful and seditious meeting; and the order- 
 ing of the government of the church was declared 
 to be an inherent right of the crown. In short, all 
 that had been done for religion and the reformation 
 of the church during the second reformation, was 
 completely annulled. " It was a maddening time, 1 '' 
 says Burnet, " when the men of affairs were perpe- 
 tually drunk." Middleton himself seldom came sober 
 to the house; and it is well known that this infa- 
 mous act, which still stands unrepealed in our statute- 
 book, and which no modern reformer has ever pro- 
 posed to repeal, was proposed by the miserable junto 
 at a debauch, and carried in the midst of drunken 
 acclamations. 
 
 It was not enough, however, that the work of re- 
 formation should be buried under legal enactments; 
 its grave must be moistened with the blood of the 
 noblest and best of its supporters. The first victim 
 selected was the marquis of Argyle. This nobleman 
 
72 MARTYRDOM OF ARGYLE. [1661. 
 
 had protested against the execution of Charles I.; 
 he was among the first who invited Charles II. to 
 Scotland, and he had placed the crown upon his head; 
 but all this could not atone for the active share 
 he had taken, during the civil wars, in guiding the 
 affairs of the nation, and opposing the court. Charles 
 held him in mortal aversion, for the liberty he had 
 taken in privately warning him against malignants, 
 and for heading the presbyterians in imposing on 
 him the covenant as the condition of their submis- 
 sion. Accordingly, on going up to London to con- 
 gratulate the king on his restoration, Argyle was 
 thrown into the Tower, and afterwards transported 
 by sea to Edinburgh, to stand trial for high treason. 
 No less than fourteen charges were brought against 
 him, all of which he so satisfactorily disproved, that 
 his judges were on the point of sending to the king, 
 to state the difficulty of finding any plausible ground 
 for his condemnation, when they were relieved from 
 their embarrassment by an act of the basest descrip- 
 tion. A rude knocking was heard at the parliament 
 door, and a packet was handed in, containing a 
 number of confidential letters which had passed be- 
 tween Argyle and Monk, and which the latter had 
 sent to be produced at the trial. This cold-blooded 
 treachery sealed the doom of the marquis. Monk, 
 who had been the active agent of Cromwell, was 
 made duke of Albemarle ; and Argyle, who had only 
 yielded to the usurper after resistance was vain, was 
 sentenced to be beheaded ! 
 
 The marquis received his sentence with great 
 serenity; and, on its being pronounced, said, " I 
 had the honour to set the crown upon the king's 
 head, and now he hastens me to a better crown than 
 
1661.] MARTYRDOM OF ARGYLE. 73 
 
 his own!" On arriving at the tolbooth, he found 
 his excellent lady waiting for him. " They have 
 given me till Monday to be with you, my dear," said 
 he, " therefore let us make for it." The afflicted 
 wife, throwing herself into his arms, could not refrain 
 from expressing her indignation at the unjust sen- 
 tence. " The Lord will require it!" she cried, " the 
 Lord will require it ! " " Forbear, forbear," said the 
 marquis, seeing his friends dissolved in tears around 
 him; "truly I pity them; they know not what they 
 are doing. They may shut me in where they please, 
 but they cannot shut out God from me. 1 am as 
 content to be here as I was in the Tower; was 
 as content there as I was when at liberty; and 
 hope to be as content on the scaffold as any of them 
 all." 
 
 The marquis was constitutionally timorous; but in 
 prison, referring to this, he desired those about him 
 to observe that the Lord had heard his prayers, and 
 delivered him from all his fears; and, indeed, the 
 efforts of his friends were chiefly needed to repress 
 his ardent longing for dissolution. The night before 
 his execution, being engaged in settling some of his 
 worldly affairs, his heart became so overpowered with 
 a sense of the love of God, that he could not conceal 
 his emotions. " I thought," said he, " to have con- 
 cealed the Lord's goodness but it will not do. I am 
 now ordering my worldly affairs, and God is sealing 
 my charter to a better inheritance, and just now say- 
 ing to me, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven 
 thee" On repeating these words he burst into tears, 
 and retired to the window to weep there; he then 
 drew near the fire, and made as if he would stir it a 
 little, to conceal his emotions but all would not 
 
74 MARTYRDOM OF ARGYLE. [1661. 
 
 do; and, coming up to Mr. Hutchison, his chap- 
 lain, he said, " I think His kindness overcomes 
 me; but God is good to me, that he lets not out 
 too much of it here, for he knows I could not bear 
 it." 
 
 Taking leave of his friends to go to the scaffold, 
 the noble martyr said, " I could die like a Roman, 
 but choose rather to die as a Christian. Come away, 
 gentlemen; he that goes first goes cleanliest." On his 
 way out of prison he requested an interview with Mr. 
 Guthrie, and embraced him in the most affectionate 
 manner. " My lord," said Guthrie, " God hath been 
 with you, he is with you, and will be with you; and 
 such is my respect for your lordship, that, if I were 
 not under sentence of death myself, I could cheer- 
 fully die for your lordship ! " When on the scaffold, 
 he showed the same composure, and spoke at some 
 length with great pertinency. He forgave all his 
 enemies, and said he would condemn none. " God," 
 said he, " hath laid engagements on Scotland. We 
 are tied by covenants to religion and reformation; 
 those who were then unborn are yet engaged; and 
 it passeth the power of all the magistrates under 
 heaven to absolve from the oath of God. These 
 times are like to be either very sinning or suffering 
 times; and let Christians make their choice: there 
 is a sad dilemma in the business, SIN or SUFFER ; and 
 surely he that will choose the better part will choose 
 to suffer. Others that will choose to sin will not 
 escape suffering; they shall suffer, but perhaps not 
 as I do (pointing to the maiden, the instrument of 
 execution), but worse. Mine is but temporal, theirs 
 shall be eternal. When I shall be singing, they shall 
 be howling. I have no more to say but to beg the 
 
1 661 .] TRIAL OF JAMES GUTHRIE. 75 
 
 Lord, that when I go away, he would bless every 
 one that stayeth behind." 
 
 On approaching the maiden, Mr. Hutchison said, 
 " My lord, now hold your grip sicker" meaning 
 that he should hold fast his confidence in Christ. 
 Argyle answered, " Mr. Hutchison, you know what 
 I said: I am not afraid to be surprised by fear." 
 At this awful moment, his physician having touched 
 his pulse, found it beating at its usual rate calm 
 and strong. He knelt down cheerfully, and having 
 given the signal by lifting up his hand, the loaded 
 knife of the maiden fell, and struck off his head, 
 which was affixed to the west end of the tolbooth. 
 
 Thus fell, on the 27th of May 1661, the marquis 
 of Argyle, whose name and memory still bear the 
 obloquy of the cause in which he suffered. Fain 
 would we stay our narrative, to wipe off the foul 
 slanders that have been heaped on him. We have 
 only room to say, and we do it on the best autho- 
 rity in the words of honest Howie of Lochgoin 
 " That he had piety for a Christian, sense for 
 a councillor, courage for a martyr, and a soul for a 
 king. If ever any was, he might be said to be a true 
 Scotsman."* 
 
 James Guthrie, minister of Stirling, was the next 
 victim. He was a son of the laird of Guthrie, and 
 descended of an ancient and honourable family. 
 " Perhaps," says Wodrow, " he had the greatest 
 mixture of fervent zeal and sweet calmness in his 
 temper, of any man in his time." When every one 
 about him was excited, he remained unruffled ; and 
 it was usual with him, on such occasions, to say, 
 " Enough of this; let us go to some other subject; 
 
 * Scots Worthies, art. Marquis of Argyle. 
 
76 TRIAL OF JAMES GUTHRIE. [1661. 
 
 we are warm, and can dispute no longer with advan- 
 tage." His great crime in the eyes of the govern- 
 ment, was in reality the same as that for which 
 Argyle had suffered his eminent zeal in the cause 
 of the covenanted reformation. He had been an 
 active promoter of the measures of the protesters; 
 but what sealed his doom, was his having been se- 
 lected in 1650 to pronounce the sentence of excom- 
 munication against the earl of Middleton, now the 
 king's commissioner. A story is told, though with 
 some variations, of a message having been sent to 
 Mr. Guthrie by the king (some say by a nobleman), 
 to delay pronouncing that sentence. The messen- 
 ger arrived on Sabbath morning, as he was putting 
 on his cloak to go to church; and the last bell having 
 been rung, Mr. Guthrie was perplexed, not knowing 
 how to act on such a short notice. " My heart," 
 said his wife, "what the Lord gives you light and clear- 
 ness to do, that do, without giving any positive answer 
 to the messenger." He went, and to the messenger's 
 astonishment, pronounced the sentence of excommu- 
 nication. Though the commission of the church re- 
 
 o 
 
 laxed Middleton from it shortly after, yet it is believed 
 he never forgave nor forgot what Mr. Guthrie did 
 that day, and that this worthy man fell a sacrifice to 
 his personal revenge, as well as to Sharp's ambition. 
 His indictment charged him with various offences, 
 amounting, in the eyes of his adversaries, to the 
 charge of high treason; and, among the rest, his 
 being the author of a pamphlet, entitled " The Causes 
 of the Lord's Wrath,"* and his accession to the 
 
 * For a full account of this and other works of the protesters, see 
 Seattle's " History of the Church of Scotland during the Common- 
 wealth." 
 
1661.] MARTYRDOM OF JAMES CUTHRIE. 77 
 
 Westland remonstrance, formerly mentioned. Mr. 
 Guthrie's speech in his own defence was a most elo- 
 quent and triumphant vindication; but neither the 
 acknowledged piety of the man, the innocence of his 
 character, nor the eloquence of his address, had any 
 weight on his judges, who were determined that he 
 should suffer, to strike terror into the rest, and pave 
 the way for the innovations which they contemplated. 
 He was condemned to be hanged at the cross of 
 Edinburgh as a traitor, on the 1st of June 1661, and 
 thereafter his head to be struck off, and affixed on 
 the Netherbow ; his estate to be confiscated, his coat- 
 of-arms torn and reversed, and his children declared 
 incapable, in all time coming, to enjoy any office, dig- 
 nities, possessions, lands or goods, movable or im- 
 movable, or anything within this kingdom." This 
 dreadful doom he received with the utmost composure, 
 saying, " My lords, let never this sentence affect 
 you more than it does me; and let never my blood 
 be required of the king's family." 
 
 This good man seems to have laid his account 
 with suffering in the cause long before there was 
 any appearance of it ; for it is told of him, that on 
 coming into Edinburgh, to subscribe the covenant, 
 he met the executioner of the city as he was entering 
 at the West Port, a circumstance which, incidental 
 as it was, made such an impression on his mind, 
 that he was heard to say, " he took the covenant 
 with the resolution to suffer for the things contained 
 in it, if the Lord should call him thereto." On the 
 night before his execution, when sealing some letters, 
 he was observed to stamp the wax crosswise, thus 
 marring the impression. " I have no more to do," 
 said he, " with coats-of-arms." At supper with his 
 
78 MARTYRDOM OF JAMES GUTHRIE. [16G1. 
 
 friends that night, he was cheerful even to pleasantry. 
 On his way to the scaffold, his arms being pinioned, 
 he requested that one of them might be slackened 
 so far as to allow him to support his tottering frame 
 on a staff, while walking down the street to the 
 place of execution. On the fatal ladder " he spoke 
 an hour," says Burnet, who saw him suffer, " with 
 the composedness of one who was delivering a ser- 
 mon, rather than his last words." Referring to the 
 covenants he said, " These sacred, solemn, public 
 oaths of God, I believe, can be loosed or dispensed 
 by no person, party, or power upon earth, but are 
 still binding upon these kingdoms, and will be so for 
 ever hereafter; and are ratified and sealed by the 
 conversion of many thousand souls since our entering 
 thereinto. I take God to record upon my soul," he 
 added, " I would not exchange this scaffold with the 
 palace or mitre of the greatest prelate in Britain."" 
 He forewarned all of the wrath of God upon Scot- 
 land, and of the sufferings they might expect, if 
 they continued faithful; and just before he was turned 
 over, lifting the napkin from his face, he cried, " The 
 covenants, the covenants shall yet be Scotland's 
 reviving!"* 
 
 It would be improper to omit noticing the well- 
 known anecdote, which is said to rest on good au- 
 thority, that a considerable time after the death of 
 Mr. Guthrie, when the earl of Middleton was passing 
 the Netherbow, a few drops of blood fell from the 
 head of the martyr on the carriage, and that the 
 marks could never be effaced. But the following 
 is better deserving of attention, as an illustration of 
 the profound respect in which the faithful clergy of 
 * "VVodrovr, book i., sect. iv. Burnet, vol. i., p. 181. 
 
1661. MARTYRDOM OF JAMES GUTHRIE.. 79 
 
 Scotland were then held by the people. The head- 
 less corpse of Mr. Guthrie was put into a coffin and 
 carried into the Old Kirk aisle, where it was decently 
 prepared for interment by a number of ladies of 
 high respectability. Some of them having been ob- 
 served to dip their napkins in the blood of the 
 martyr, sir Archibald Primrose challenged them for 
 doing so, representing it as a piece of popish supersti- 
 tion; when one of them, who was afterwards married to 
 sir Thomas Burnet, replied, " We intend not to abuse 
 it to superstition or idolatry, but to hold that bloody 
 napkin up to heaven, with our address that the 
 Lord would remember the innocent blood that is 
 spilt." While thus employed, a genteel young man* 
 approached, and poured on the body a phial of rich 
 perfume, the odour of which filled the whole church. 
 On observing this, one of the ladies exclaimed, " God 
 bless you, sir, for this labour of love which you have 
 shown to the slain body of a servant of Jesus Christ !" 
 The young man, without speaking a word, made a 
 low bow and retired.-f- 
 
 * It was afterwards discovered that this was Mr. George Stirling, who 
 became eminent as a surgeon in Edinburgh. 
 
 t Wodrow's Analecta, MS. iv. In a " Tale of the Times of the Mar- 
 tyrs," written by the late celebrated Edward Irving, which appeared in 
 " The Anniversary for 1829," there is an interesting account, given on 
 the authority of a venerable old lady in Glasgow, of the manner in which 
 James Guthrie's head was taken down from the pole to which it was 
 affixed, and buried beside his body. According to Mr. Irving's account, 
 this daring exploit was performed by a nephew of James Guthrie, who 
 was affianced to the daughter of the provost of Edinburgh, a violent 
 enemy of the covenanters, and who was obliged to flee the country in 
 consequence of the provost seeking his life as the forfeit of his noble 
 conduct. The tale has certainly some foundation in fact ; but both the 
 dates and persons must have been confounded by tradition ; for we have 
 every reason to believe that Guthrie's head remained on the Netherbow 
 port for twenty-seven years, when it was taken down by Alexander 
 Hamilton, then a student in Edinburgh, and afterwards Guthrie's suc- 
 cessor in Stirling. (Scots Worthies, i. 248, M^Gavin^s edit.) 
 
80 RE- ESTABLISHMENT OF PRELACY. [1661. 
 
 Having thus removed out of the way two of the 
 most active and influential supporters of presbytery, 
 the court proceeded with its design of re-establishing 
 episcopacy. Though Charles had sworn, only about 
 a year before, to maintain the presbyterian discip- 
 line, he sent a letter in August 1661 to the Scottish 
 council, in which, after reciting the inconveniences 
 of that form of government, and asserting its incon- 
 sistency with monarchy, he says, " Wherefore we 
 declare our firm resolution to interpose our royal 
 authority for restoring the church of Scotland to its 
 right government by bishops, as it was before the 
 late troubles." A parliament was called, which, 
 through intimidation, and various other means, was 
 induced to approve of this resolution; and a pro- 
 clamation was immediately issued, announcing the 
 restoration of the bishops, prohibiting meetings of 
 synods and assemblies, and forbidding all preaching 
 against the change, on pain of imprisonment. And 
 thus, by the mere will and mandate of the king, and 
 without consulting the church in any form, prelacy 
 was again established in a land which had al- 
 ways opposed it, and where the former attempt to 
 plant it had been followed with the most disastrous 
 consequences. 
 
 Nothing leaves a darker blot on the history of our 
 country, than the ease and despatch with which this 
 change was effected. When, in the beginning of the 
 following year, presbyteries, and even sessions, were 
 discharged from meeting, until authorized by the 
 bishops, the greater part of the presbyteries, instead 
 of making a stand for their religious liberties, tamely 
 submitted to the proclamation; so that the presby- 
 terians justly exposed themselves to the taunt which 
 
1662.] TREACHERY OF SHARP. 81 
 
 an English historian casts on them, that " presby- 
 tery fell without the honour of a dissolution."" It 
 would be a great mistake, however, to suppose, be- 
 cause prelacy met with so little resistance at its 
 first introduction, that the body of the people were 
 favourable to the change, or indifferent to their 
 ancient polity. Many, no doubt, especially among 
 the nobility, had become wearied of Christ's yoke; 
 many, too, worn out with intestine discords, were 
 disposed to hail peace on almost any terms; and 
 the general licentiousness of manners introduced 
 with the restoration, contributed greatly to foster 
 these dispositions. But it was not to such causes 
 that prelacy was indebted for its triumph. It was 
 brought in partly by stratagem, and partly by the 
 force of royal proclamations, fenced with the terrors 
 of imprisonment, confiscation, and the gibbet. The 
 secret history of the time reveals the real source of 
 these proclamations, in the plottings of a set of un- 
 principled courtiers, whose sole object was to enrich 
 themselves by the fines and confiscations of those 
 who had taken an active share in the previous re- 
 forming period. For this purpose, Scotland was 
 excluded from the act of indemnity, long after its 
 benefits had been extended to England; and our 
 country was left at the mercy of a succession of 
 harpies, who first preyed upon her vitals, and then 
 upon one another. 
 
 The treachery of James Sharp has been already 
 adverted to. To this person, who was at first 
 minister of Grail, and afterwards promoted to the 
 see of St. Andrews, the church of Scotland had un- 
 happily intrusted the management of her cause at 
 court, about the time of the restoration, and he was 
 
82 DEATH OF EMINENT PRESBYTERIANS. [1662. 
 
 sent to London for the express purpose of securing 
 the preservation and liberty of the presbyterian 
 establishment. While thus employed, he was se- 
 cretly gained over by some of the English high 
 church politicians, to enter into their measures for 
 the re-establishment of prelacy, and engaged to 
 betray the church which confided in him; expect- 
 ing, as the reward of his treachery, to be made 
 primate of all Scotland. With a deep dissimula- 
 tion, seldom equalled in the history of ecclesiastical 
 crime, he carried on a correspondence with his 
 brethren, in which he artfully concealed the inten- 
 tions of government, lulled their suspicions, and 
 prevented them from using any means to avoid the 
 catastrophe, all under professions of the warmest 
 devotion to the cause of presbytery and the cove- 
 nant.* When he came down to Scotland, he prac- 
 tised the same deception so successfully, that his 
 brethren never suspected his design till it was ripe 
 for execution. 
 
 It is doubtful, however, whether all these causes 
 combined would have succeeded in prostrating the 
 liberties of the church, had they not been aided by 
 the lamentable dissension between the resolutioners 
 and protesters within her own pale. This breach 
 remained still unhealed; and it was the policy of 
 Sharp and others to prevent the two parties from 
 coalescing. 13y their mutual jealousies they were 
 prevented from joining in any common measure for 
 the safety of the church. In addition to all this, 
 most of the eminent men who had guided her coun- 
 
 * This correspondence is preserved in the introduction to Wodrow's 
 History, where it will stand a monument of Sharp's infamy to the latest 
 posterity. 
 
1662.] DEATH OF EMINENT PRESBYTERIANS. 83 
 
 cils during the reforming period, were now in the 
 dust, or sinking under the weight of years. The earl 
 of Loudoun, the most eloquent and courageous of 
 the champions of the covenant, died in March 1662. 
 He knew that, next to the marquis of Argyle, none 
 was more obnoxious than he to the present rulers, and 
 often entreated his excellent lady to pray that he 
 might be removed by death before the next session 
 of parliament; and his request was granted. Many 
 of the old ministers died from pure grief at seeing 
 the goodly fabric which had cost Scotland so much 
 to rear, and which was hallowed in their eyes by so 
 many sacred associations, threatened with destruc- 
 tion. Among these we may notice Robert Baillie, 
 principal of the university of Glasgow, to whose 
 Letters we owe so much of our information regarding 
 the preceding period. This excellent man, who was 
 distinguished for his learning, and had done much 
 for the advancement of the second reformation, be- 
 came latterly a keen partisan on the side of the 
 resolutioners; and his prejudice against the pro- 
 testers has given a strong tinge to all his repre- 
 sentations of them and their proceedings. But he 
 lived to see the error into which his party had been 
 led by their extreme loyalty. We are assured, on 
 unquestionable authority, that " he died under a 
 rooted aversion to prelacy in this church. 1 "* And 
 he himself, in the last of his Letters, expresses this 
 sentiment in the most feeling manner: " We are 
 in the most hard taking we have seen at any time. 
 It is the matter of my daily grief, and I think it has 
 brought all my bodily trouble on me, and I fear it 
 shall do me more harm. 1 ^ This was written in May 
 
 * Wodrow, i. 12!!, fol. -f- Baillie's Letters, ii. 462. 
 
 VOL. II. F 
 
84 PRELACY INTRUDED ON SCOTLAND. [ 1 G62. 
 
 X 
 
 1662, and in July of the samo year his earthly 
 troubles were ended. 
 
 Still, however, with the exception of a few in the 
 northern counties, the great body of the people were 
 attached to presbyterianism; a great proportion of 
 the nobility and gentry were on its side ; and as to 
 the ministers, they were so decidedly presbyterian, 
 that out of all the presbyteries and synods of Scot- 
 land, not one, with the exception of the synod of 
 Aberdeen, disgraced itself by petitioning in favour 
 of prelacy. The defeat of presbytery was owing, 
 not so much to the fainting of the standard-bearers 
 in the day of battle, as to their want of union, 
 and their being outmanoeuvred by their opponents, 
 who showed themselves greater adepts in policy and 
 worldly wisdom qualities which, however useful in 
 their place, are not very becoming in the ministers 
 of Christ, in whom we rather admire that simplicity 
 of purpose which may often render them the dupes 
 of worldly politicians, or even betray them into 
 perilous positions. And when we consider that the 
 system of prelacy was thus intruded on the nation, 
 without asking the consent of a single church court, 
 that its foundations were laid in blood, and that 
 the country continued to struggle against it dur- 
 ing all the twenty-eight years of its iil-omened 
 existence, it is preposterous to allege that prelacy 
 was ever acknowledged by the Scottish people. 
 Not the shadow of such an acknowledgment was 
 ever made by the church not even such as was 
 extorted during the reign of James VI. And 
 without such an acknowledgment, the mere act of 
 government, in thrusting prelacy on the nation, did 
 not, and could not, make it the act of the church. 
 
1G62.] CONSECRATION OF THE SCOTTISH BISHOPS. 85 
 
 Whatever Erastians may say, the state could no 
 more undo than it could create the presbyterian 
 church of Scotland; which remained unaffected in 
 her identity, though under a cloud, and in tem- 
 porary captivity, till the revolution, when " the 
 captive daughter of Zion shook herself from the 
 dust, and loosed herself from the bands of her 
 neck." 
 
 Prelacy having been established by law, it be- 
 came necessary to provide Scotland with bishops. 
 Of the old prelates, none remained but one Sydserf, 
 and he, it seems, was not deemed of sufficient dig- 
 nity to confer episcopal ordination, a " flower," says 
 Kirkton, " not to be found in a Scottish garden;" 
 so that four of the ministers chosen for this office, 
 viz., Sharp, Fairfoul, Hamilton, and Leighton, were 
 summoned to London, where the ceremony of ordi- 
 nation was performed in Westminster abbey. To 
 crown the disgrace of their defection, the English 
 bishops insisted on their acknowledging the nullity 
 of their presbyterian orders, by submitting to bo 
 ordained first deacons, then presbyters, and lastly, 
 bishops. Sharp pretended at first to scruple at 
 this degradation; but he soon submitted with the 
 rest; on which the bishop of London observed, 
 that " it seemed to be Scots fashion to scruple at 
 everything, and to swallow everything." If the 
 bishop formed his opinion of our nation from the 
 present sample, it was very natural so to express 
 himself; for, with the exception of Leighton, every 
 one of them had formerly professed great opposi- 
 tion to that form of government in which they now 
 assumed such a conspicuous share. Sharp, who was 
 made archbishop of St. Andrews, it is needless to 
 
86 BISHOP LEIGHTON. [1662. 
 
 characterize. Burnet informs us, that Fairfonl, 
 who was made archbishop of Glasgow, was a " face- 
 tious man, insinuating and crafty; but he was a 
 better physician than a divine. His life was scarce 
 free from scandal; and he was eminent in nothing 
 that belonged to his own function. He had not 
 only sworn the covenant, but had persuaded others 
 to do it. And when one objected to him, that it 
 went against his conscience, he answered, there were 
 some very good medicines that could not be chewed, 
 but were to be swallowed down.' 1 Hamilton, who 
 was made bishop of Galloway, had equally distin- 
 guished himself for his zeal in the cause of the cove- 
 nant. Leighton, who was appointed to the diocese 
 of Dunblane, was a character in every respect dif- 
 ferent from the rest. Evangelical in his doctrine, 
 and latitudinarian in his ecclesiastical views, "he did 
 not think that the forms of government were settled 
 by such positive laws as were unalterable, but looked 
 on episcopacy as the best form." The sanctity of 
 his character, and amiableness of his manners, which 
 have been quoted as the redeeming qualities of 
 Scottish prelacy, were in fact its exceptions; for 
 on these very accounts, he was disliked and sus- 
 pected by Sharp and his associates, as a tool unfit 
 for their purposes. Leighton condemned and de- 
 plored the measures which were taken for obtruding 
 prelacy upon Scotland: and when the bishops re- 
 turned to Edinburgh in a sort of triumphal proces- 
 sion, he left them in disgust before reaching the 
 city, and entered it as privately as possible.* 
 
 * " Leighton often said to me," says Unmet, " that in the whole pro- 
 press of that affair, there appeared such cross characters of an angry 
 Providence, that how fully soever he was satisfied in his own mind as 
 to episcopacy itself, yet it seemed that God was against them, and that 
 
1662. | THE COVENANTS CONDEMNED. 87 
 
 On the day after the arrival of the bishops, May 
 8, 1662, the parliament passed an act restoring them 
 to all their ancient prerogatives, spiritual and tem- 
 poral; another restoring patronage, and ordering all 
 entrants to take collation from the bishop; and, not 
 to burden the reader's memory with other acts root- 
 ing out every vestige of the previous reformation, 
 they passed the following declaration, which all 
 persons in public trust were required to subscribe, 
 and which became a convenient engine of persecu- 
 tion: " I do sincerely affirm and declare, that I judge 
 it unlawful for subjects, under pretext of reforma- 
 tion, or any other pretext whatsoever, to enter into 
 leagues and covenants, or to take up arms against 
 the king, or those commissioned by him, and all those 
 gatherings, petitions, &c , that were used in the 
 beginning and carrying on of the late troubles, were 
 unlawful and seditious. And particularly, that these 
 oaths, whereof the one was commonly called the 
 national covenant (as it was sworn and subscribed 
 in the year 1638, and thereafter), and the other 
 entitled a solemn league and covenant, were, and are 
 in themselves, unlawful oaths; and that there lieth 
 no obligation upon me, or any of the subjects, from the 
 said oaths, to endeavour any alteration of the govern- 
 ment in church or state, as it is now established by 
 the laws of the kingdom." It was absurd enough to 
 require a person, not only to declare himself not 
 
 they were not like to be the men to build up his church ; so that the strug- 
 gling about it seemed to him like a fighting against God. He who had 
 the greatest hand in it (Sharp) proceeded with so much dissimulation; 
 and the rest of the order were so mean and selfish; and the earl of Mid- 
 dleton, with the other secular men that conducted it, were so openly 
 impious and vicious, that it did cast a reproach on everything relating 
 to religion, to see it managed by such instruments." (History of his Own, 
 Times, i. 201.) 
 
88 THE COVENANTS BURNT. [1662. 
 
 bound by these covenants, but to pronounce absolu- 
 tion on all who had taken them. But the matter 
 assumes a graver aspect, when it is considered that 
 God was a party in these engagements, and that by 
 this shameful act not only were these sacred deed? 
 condemned by the law of the land, but the subjects 
 were compelled to perjure themselves by formally 
 renouncing a solemn obligation, which, if the matter 
 of these covenants was lawful, unquestionably lay 
 both on themselves and on the whole nation. 
 
 The spirit of the ruling party was not long con- 
 fined to parliamentary enactments. The 29th of May 
 1662, being the anniversary of the king's restora- 
 tion, was ordered to be kept as a day of public thanks- 
 giving, or, as they profanely termed it, " a holiday 
 to the Lord." On this day the covenants were torn 
 in pieces at the cross of Edinburgh by the hands of 
 the common hangman. The town of Linlithgow, at 
 the same time* signalized itself by an act of wanton 
 insult on these sacred bonds still more revolting. 
 After divine service the streets were filled with bon- 
 fires, and the fountain in the centre of the town was 
 made to flow with wine. At the cross was erected an 
 arch upon four pillars, on one side of which appeared 
 the figure of an old hag with the covenant in her hand, 
 and the inscription, " A glorious reformation/ 1 On 
 the top was another figure representing the devil, 
 with this libel in his mouth, " Stand to the cause." 
 On the king's health being drunk, fire was applied 
 to the frame, and the whole was reduced to ashes, 
 amidst the shouts of a mob inflamed with liquor. This 
 ignominious burning of the covenants was got up by 
 the provost and minister of the place, both of whom 
 had been covenanters. By the more respectable class 
 
1662.] EJECTION OF PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS. 89 
 
 of the inhabitants it was witnessed with horror, as 
 a daring affront to the God of heaven. 
 
 Still, though the church courts, the official public 
 organs of the church's voice, had been closed, the 
 ministers were allowed to occupy their pulpits; and 
 it was deemed intolerable by Sharp and his asso- 
 ciates, that they should do so without acknowledging 
 their authority. Diocesan meetings were therefore 
 appointed in the different districts assigned to the 
 bishops; but these, except in the north, were very 
 ill attended. At length the parliament ordained 
 that all ministers should wait upon these episcopal 
 courts, on pain of being held contemners of royal 
 authority. To enforce this act, the earl of Middle- 
 ton and his commission made a tour to the west 
 country. The scenes of prodigality, debauchery, and 
 profaneness which took place, during this circuit, 
 were of such a kind as could not be rehearsed here, 
 without exciting feelings of intense disgust. On 
 arriving at Glasgow, Fairfoul, the archbishop, com- 
 plained to Middleton, that, notwithstanding the act 
 of parliament, not one of the ministers had owned 
 him as their bishop, and suggested to him the pro- 
 priety of passing an act and proclamation, banishing 
 all those ministers from their manses, parishes, and 
 dioceses, who had been admitted since 1649, when 
 patronage was abolished, unless they obtain a pre- 
 sentation from the lawful patron, and collation from 
 the bishop of the diocese before the 1st of November. 
 This was the first step toward the persecution; and 
 it will be observed that it commenced under pretence 
 of enforcing the old obnoxious law of patronage. 
 Those who had been admitted since 1649 were, of 
 course, young persons; they were men of piety, zeal, 
 
90 EJECTION OF PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS. [1662. 
 
 and popular talents; and having been admitted to 
 their charges by the free call of the people, they were 
 greatly esteemed and beloved. The council agreed 
 to issue the proclamation on the 4th of October, 
 thus giving them less than a month's warning. 
 " Duke Hamilton told me," says Burnet, " they were 
 all so drunk that day, that they were not capable of 
 considering anything that was laid before them, and 
 would hear of nothing but executing the law, with- 
 out any relenting or delay." And indeed it is diffi- 
 cult to conceive how any set of men in their sober 
 senses could have adopted a course so infatuated, or 
 so plainly fitted to alienate from any government the 
 best men of the country, and enlist against them 
 the best feelings of our nature. The military were 
 ordered to pull the ministers out of their pulpits, if 
 they should presume to go on with their functions. 
 Sir James Lockhart of Lee alone protested against 
 this mad step, as calculated only to augment the 
 public odium against the bishops, and asserted that 
 the young ministers, before they would acknowledge 
 episcopacy, would suffer more than the loss of their 
 stipends. The archbishop maintained that there 
 would not be ten in all his diocese who uould refuse 
 to comply. Middleton, who had no idea of men 
 throwing themselves and their families on the wide 
 world, for the sake of a good conscience, sneered at 
 the bare supposition. To his utter amazement, and 
 to the unspeakable mortification of the bishops, 
 nearly four hundred ministers chose to be ejected 
 from their charges rather than comply. Turned out 
 of their homes in the depth of winter, and deprived 
 of all maintenance, they exhibited to their congrega- 
 tions a firmness of principle, which elevated and 
 
1662.] EJECTION OF WELSH. 91 
 
 endeared them more than ever; while the sudden and 
 simultaneous shutting up of four hundred churches 
 in one day, by which almost the whole of the west, 
 and a great part of the south of Scotland, were de- 
 prived of their pastors, and a third of the ministers 
 of the church silenced, did more to seal the doom of 
 prelacy, than any other plan that could have been 
 devised. " The honest people," says Kirkton, " en- 
 couraged their ministers to enter upon the course of 
 suffering; and many in Scotland rejoiced to see their 
 ministers give that proof of their sincerity ; for there 
 were some who affirmed that not twenty ministers in 
 Scotland would lose their stipends for refusing to 
 sit with a bishop."' 
 
 " Scotland," says Wodrow, " was never witness 
 to such a Sabbath as the last on which those minis- 
 ters preached ; and I know no parallel to it, save the 
 1 7th of August, to the presbyterians in England."* 
 The people were dissolved in tears, and, at intervals, 
 as the minister proceeded, there were loud wailings 
 and involuntary bursts of sorrow. As an instance, 
 we may refer to the parish of Irongray, of which 
 John Welsh was minister a faithful and courageous 
 champion of the covenant. An order was sent to 
 apprehend him, which was executed by one Maxwell, 
 a papist. The whole parish assembled to convey their 
 minister a little on his way, and the mournful pro- 
 cession followed him with tears and lamentations, 
 till he came to the water of Cluden, where he was to 
 take horse. There he was beset by his affectionate 
 parishioners, who clung to him on all sides, and re- 
 
 * St. Bartholomew's day, when two thousand ministers were ejected 
 for nonconformity a stroke of policy from which the church of Eng- 
 land has not recovered down to this day and, perhaps, never will. 
 
92 EJECTION OF BLACKADER. [1662. 
 
 fused to part with him. With a heart almost broken, 
 but resolved not to be detained, Mr. Welsh, after 
 some of the ministers had knelt down and prayed, 
 mounted his horse, the people still holding him. In 
 order to extricate himself, he dashed into the water, 
 and rode quickly away; but multitudes, both of men 
 and women, rushed into the stream, and followed him 
 on the other side as long as he was in sight, rending 
 the air with their cries and lamentations.* 
 
 Another eminent minister expelled from his charge 
 atthistime,andwhodistinguished himself for the bold- 
 ness with which he continued to preach in the fields, 
 was John Blackader of Troqueer. One of his 
 sons, then a mere child, relates, with much simplicity, 
 what happened on this occasion : " A party of the 
 king^s guard of horse, called Blew-benders, came from 
 Dumfries to Troqueer, to search for and apprehend 
 my father, but found him not; for what occasion I 
 know not. So soon as the party entered the close, 
 and came into the house, with cursing and swearing, 
 we that were children were frightened out of our 
 little wits, and ran up stairs, and I among them; 
 who, when I heard them all roaring in the room be- 
 low, like so many breathing devils, I had the child- 
 ish curiosity to get down upon my belly, and peep 
 through a hole in the floor above them, for to see 
 what monsters of creatures they were; and it seems 
 they were monsters, indeed, for cruelty; for one of 
 them perceiving what I was doing, immediately drew 
 his sword, and thrust it up where I was peeping, so 
 that the mark of the point was scarce an inch from 
 the hole, though no thanks to the murdering ruffian, 
 who designed to run it up through my eye. Tmme- 
 
 * Memoirs of John Blackader, p. 105. 
 
] 663.] OPPOSITION TO THE CURATES. 93 
 
 diately after, we were forced to pack up, bag and 
 baggage, and remove to Glencairn, ten miles from 
 Troqueer. We who were the children were put in- 
 to cadgers 1 creels, where one of us cried out, coming 
 through the Bridge-end of Dumfries, ' I'm banisht, 
 I'm banisht !' One happened to ask, who has banish- 
 ed ye, my bairn? He answered, ' Bite-the-sheep has 
 banisht me." 1 "* 
 
 The next point with the bishops was to supply the 
 vacant pulpits; but this was not so easily accomplish- 
 ed as the emptying of them had been. Few or none 
 in the south could be induced to enter them, and the 
 prelates were obliged to have recourse to the north 
 country, where, ever since the days when James VI. 
 summoned his " northern men" to outvote the assem- 
 bly, there has been a general accommodation to des- 
 potic measures, whether it might be to obey the 
 king, or to " please the laird." There they procur- 
 ed a number of raw young lads and hungry expect- 
 ants, " unstudied and unbred," says Kirkton, " who 
 had all the properties of Jeroboam's priests, misera- 
 ble in the world, and unable to subsist, which made 
 them so much long for a stipend. So they went to 
 their churches with the same intention as a shep- 
 herd contracts for herding a flock of cattle. A gen- 
 tleman in the north, it is said, cursed the presbyte- 
 rian ministers, because, said he, ' since they left their 
 churches, we cannot get a lad to keep our cows; 
 they turn all ministers.''" " They were the worst 
 preachers I ever heard," says bishop Burnet; " they 
 were ignorant to a reproach, and many of them were 
 openly vicious. They were a disgrace to their orders 
 and the sacred function; and were, indeed, tke dreg.; 
 
 * Memoirs of John Blackader, p. 106. 
 
4 OPPOSITION TO THE CURATES. [1663. 
 
 and refuse of the northern parts. Those of them 
 who arose above contempt or scandal, were men of 
 such violent tempers that they were as much hated 
 as the others were despised." In short, the patrons 
 themselves were ashamed to present such creatures, 
 and they were generally thrust in by the bishops. 
 
 These were not the men likely to reconcile the 
 people to the loss of their favourite pastors. We 
 need not be surprised to hear, that in different 
 churches attempts were made to resist their entrance; 
 these, however, were chiefly by women and boys. 
 At Irongray, the women, headed by one Margaret 
 Smith, opposed the military who were guarding the 
 curate, entrenching themselves behind the kirk-dyke, 
 and fairly beating them off with stones. For this feat 
 Margaret was brought into Edinburgh, and condemn- 
 ed to banishment; but she told her tale so innocently, 
 that she was allowed to escape. Other women, who 
 followed the same course in many other places, were 
 condemned to do penance, by having papers stuck on 
 their heads, and afterwards being severely whipped. 
 These, Kirkton tells us, were " ordinarily the actions 
 of the profane and ignorant, not approved by the 
 sober and judicious presbyterians;" 1 and we may 
 judge how strong the feeling was against the in- 
 truders, when further informed that careless fellows 
 thought there was no " surer way of atoning for the 
 excesses of the last night, than by insulting a curate 
 the next morning." It was chiefly, too, by small an- 
 noyances that they showed their contempt for the 
 curates, as they called them. Some would steal the 
 tongue of the kirk-bell; others would barricade the 
 door, so as to oblige the intruder to climb up literally 
 by the window. A shepherd boy, having found a 
 
1663.J PERSECUTION OF MINISTERS. 95 
 
 nest of ants, emptied them one day into the curate's 
 large boots, as he was going to the pulpit; and then 
 the sport of the mischievous urchins was to behold 
 the reverend gentleman, after exhibiting a variety 
 of antics, under the torture- of the insects, obliged to 
 bring his service to an abrupt conclusion.* Another 
 instance of the same contempt for these worthless 
 underlings may be recorded: A. curate in the west 
 country, deeply mortified at the extreme thinness of 
 his audience, sent a threatening message to the 
 women, that if they did not make their appearance 
 at the church next day, he would inform against 
 them. The women obeyed the mandate, but each 
 came with a child in her arms; and the curate had 
 not long proceeded in his service, when first one child 
 began to cry, then another, till the whole joined in 
 the chorus, and the voice of the preacher was drown- 
 ed in a universal squall. It was in vain that he 
 stormed and cursed at the women; they told him 
 it was his own fault, and that they could, on no 
 account, leave their children at home.*f 
 
 Matters, however, soon assumed a more serious 
 aspect. At Edinburgh the ministers were required 
 either to comply with the present order of things, or 
 desist from preaching, and retire from the city. The 
 whole of them submitted to the sentence, except 
 one Robert Lawrie, who, being the only minister 
 left behind, as a sort of nucleus to the new race of 
 ministers, was designated by the people the nest-egg. 
 Prosecutions were next set on foot against some of 
 the ministers who had dared to preach against the 
 defections of the times among whom were Mr. 
 
 * Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland, pp. 260, 2G1. 
 f Wodrow's Auaiecta, MS. 
 
96 APPREHENSION OF WARRISTON. [1663. 
 
 Donald Cargill, Mr. Thomas Wylie, Mr. M'Kail, 
 and Mr. John Brown of Wamphray, whose names 
 are well known in the succeeding history. Many of 
 the ministers escaped death by a voluntary banish- 
 ment.* 
 
 The fate of Archibald Johnston, lord Warriston, 
 who suffered about this time, deserves more than a 
 passing notice. Besides affording a striking illus- 
 tration of the instability of human greatness, it sets 
 in a very strong light the spirit which animated the 
 rulers of that dark period. Archibald Johnston 
 makes his first appearance on the stage of public 
 life in the famous Glasgow assembly of 1638, when 
 
 * Among others banished at this time was Mr. John Livingstone, 
 minister of Ancrum, who soon afterwards died in Holland. The reader 
 will recollect that it was he who was honoured as the chief instrument of 
 the wonderful revival at the Kirk of Shotts in 1630. The case of this 
 worthy man affords a striking illustration of the remark, which has 
 beeu often verified, that true piety will generally lead even those who 
 have taken no prominent share in ecclesiastical discussions, to act a con- 
 scientious part in public matters which involve religious principle. In 
 a letter which he wrote to his parishioners, whom he was not permitted 
 to revisit before his departure, he says : " I have often told you that, for 
 my part, I could never make it a chief part of my work to insist upon 
 the particular debates of the time, as being assured, that if a man drink in 
 the knowledge and the main foundations of the Christian religion, and have 
 the work of God's Spirit in his heart, to make him walk with God, and 
 make conscience of his ways, such an one (except he be giddy with 
 self-conceit) shall not readily mistake Christ's quarrel, to join either 
 with a profane atheist party, or a fanatic atheist party; but the secret 
 of the Lord will be with them that fear him, and he will show them his 
 covenant. And I have thought it not far from a sure argument that a 
 course is not approval of Ood, when generally all they that are godly, and 
 all profane men turning penitent, scunner at it, and it may be cannot tell 
 why : and generally all the profane, at the first sight, and all that had a 
 profession of piety, when they turn loose, embrace it, and it may be cannot 
 tell why. There may bo diversity of judgment, and sometimes sharp 
 debates among them that are going to heaven; but certainly one spirit 
 guidea the seed of the woman, and another spirit the seed of the serpent : 
 and blessed are they that know their Master's will, and do it; blessed are 
 they that endure to the end." 
 
1663.] APPREHENSION OF WARR1STON. 97 
 
 he was chosen clerk. A profound and accomplished 
 lawyer, an eloquent speaker, and of the most active 
 business habits, he took a prominent share in all the 
 subsequent proceedings of the covenanters, and was 
 among the chief leaders in promoting the league be- 
 tween Scotland and England. His zeal in this 
 cause, and his success in thwarting all the machina- 
 tions of the royal party, and bringing some of them, 
 particularly Montrose, to deserved punishment, dur- 
 ing the civil war, exposed him to the special vengeance 
 of the government at the restoration. Their enmity 
 to his person on these accounts knew no bounds, 
 though they attempted to conceal it under the pre- 
 text of an indictment, charging him with having served 
 under Cromwell, who had made him clerk-register, 
 and advanced him to the bench. Convinced that 
 nothing would satisfy them but his blood, Warriston 
 retreated to the continent, where he lived for some 
 time in concealment. His enemies, however, with 
 the slow but sure determination of the blood-hound, 
 tracked him out; and at last one of their emissaries, 
 a worthless creature of the name of Murray, usually 
 called " crooked Murray," discovered the good old 
 man at an exercise in which he always took much 
 delight at his prayers. Before this time, in addi- 
 tion to the infirmities of old age, he had been shame- 
 fully treated, during an attack of illness at Hamburg, 
 by Dr. Bates, one the king's physicians, " who," says 
 a writer that must have been acquainted with the 
 facts, " intending to kill him, did prescribe unto him 
 poison for physic, and then caused to draw from this 
 melancholy patient sixty ounces of blood, whereby 
 he was brought near unto the gates of death, and 
 made in a manner no man, having lost his memory, 
 
98 TRIAL OF WARRISTON. [J663. 
 
 so that he could not remember what he had done or 
 said a quarter of an hour before; in which condition 
 he continued till his dying day." * In this melan- 
 choly condition, he was dragged on board ship, 
 conducted from Leith bare-headed and on foot, and 
 lodged in the tolbooth of Edinburgh. On being 
 first brought before the council, the poor old man, 
 broken with disease, and bewildered with his situa- 
 tion, began to supplicate his judges in the most 
 moving tones for mercy; at which Sharp and the 
 other bishops who were present raised an inhuman 
 laugh, and insulted the superannuated prisoner to 
 his face. The scene had a different effect on the 
 rest of the audience; for, says sir George Mackenzie, 
 " it moved all the spectators with a deep melancholy; 
 and the chancellor, reflecting upon the man's great 
 parts, former esteem, and the great share he had in 
 all the late revolutions, could not deny some tears to 
 the frailty of silly mankind."" -f- Warriston, how- 
 ever, afterwards recovered his self-possession, apolo- 
 gized to the court, on the grounds already mentioned, 
 for his obvious weakness, and submitted with resig- 
 nation to the sentence of death. While in prison, 
 the tenderness and spirituality of his frame, and the 
 thankfulness with which he received any little atten- 
 tion, gained the hearts even of those that had for- 
 merly hated him. His great concern was that he 
 might be supported, and not left to faint in the hour 
 of trial. On his way to the scaffold, he frequently 
 said to the people standing by, " Your prayers, your 
 prayers." He delivered his last words on the scaffold 
 
 * Preface to the Apologetical Relation, published in 166'5. Burnet 
 says, " he was so disordered in body and mind, that it was a reproach 
 to a government to proceed against him." (Hist., i. 297.) 
 
 H Mackenzie's Hist, of Scotland, p. 134. 
 
1663.] EXECUTION OF WARR1STON. 99 
 
 with the utmost composure, using a paper to aid his 
 shattered memory. On ascending the ladder, in 
 doing which his tottering frame was assisted by 
 some friends in deep mourning, he cried with great 
 fervour, " I beseech you all who are the people of 
 God, not to scare at sufferings for the sake of Christ, 
 or stumble at anything of this kind falling out in 
 these days, but be encouraged to suffer for him ; for 
 I assure you, in the name of the Lord, he will bear 
 your charges. 11 While they were adjusting the 
 rope around his neck, he added, " The Lord hath 
 graciously comforted me. 1 ' He then prayed, " Abba, 
 Father, accept this thy poor sinful servant, coming 
 unto thee through the merits of Jesus Christ.' 1 
 And crying out, " pray, pray ! praise, praise f he 
 was turned over, and expired without a struggle, 
 with his hands lifted up to heaven. 
 
 Thus died Archibald Johnston, lord Warriston, 
 July 22, 1663. We consider it due to the memory 
 of this excellent man, to have dwelt thus long on the 
 last scene of his life ; for as there was no man who 
 did more in his day for the advancement of the re- 
 formation, so there is none whose character has 
 been so grossly insulted and misrepresented; while 
 his sufferings, at the close of his eventful life, have, 
 of late, very much in the spirit of those who inflicted 
 them, been made the subject of cruel mockery and 
 heartless triumph. But " the triumphing of the 
 wicked is short; 11 and the time, we trust, has now 
 come, when the attempt to revive such calumnies 
 against our persecuted ancestors, will only prove the 
 signal for the raising of a hundred voices to vindi- 
 cate their memory. 
 
 To form a fair estimate of the character of Archi- 
 
 VOL. II. G 
 
100 CHARACTER OF WARRISTON. [1663. 
 
 bald Johnston, we must view it apart from the pecu- 
 liar complexion of his religious and political creed. 
 Grrafiting the goodness of the cause he espoused, which 
 rests on surer grounds than the merits or demerits of 
 its supporters, he cannot be justly charged with having 
 acted either dishonourably or with unbecoming vio- 
 lence in the prosecution of his measures. The sole 
 offence with which his enemies could charge him, 
 was his having accepted office under the usurper: a 
 crime, if crime it was, shared by many besides him, 
 and which was confessed and regretted by none more 
 cordially than himself. But Warriston belonged to 
 a class rarely to be met with now: he was a religious 
 politician. The standard of his policy was the word 
 of God; his great and governing aim, the divine 
 glory. And, on this account, his name has suffered 
 obloquy from a quarter where all who would follow 
 his steps may expect similar treatment, so long as 
 society is composed, as it still is to such an alarming 
 extent, of the godless and unbelieving. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 Field-meetings in Fife The bishops 1 drag-net High commission 
 court William Guthrie of Fenwick Oppressions of the soldiery 
 Rising in the west Skirmish at Pentland Tortures and executions 
 Hugh M'Kail The executioner of Irvine. 
 
 IN our last chapter we noticed the commencement, 
 in 1663, of those field-meetings, or conventicles, as 
 they were called by their enemies, which gave so 
 much offence to the prelates. At first these meet- 
 ings were very rare, being held chiefly in the west 
 and south country. The people, having been se- 
 cretly apprized of the place of meeting, assembled 
 in some remote sequestered glen, unarmed and un- 
 offending, and after hearing the gospel from the 
 lips of their beloved pastors endeared to them the 
 more by their having suffered for the truth which 
 they preached peaceably dispersed, and returned 
 to their homes. One of these sacred " trysting- 
 places." celebrated for many meetings of this nature, 
 was Glenvale, a beautiful sequestered valley in Fife, 
 lying between West Lomond and Bishophill, and 
 opening to the west. About the middle of the val- 
 ley it expands into a fine amphitheatre on the south, 
 capable of containing many thousand persons; on 
 the north side is a large projecting rock, which is 
 
102 FIELD-MEETINGS IN FIFE. [1G63. 
 
 said to have been occupied by the ejected ministers 
 as a pulpit. In this splendid temple, " not made 
 with hands," many assembled from the surrounding 
 country, to worship the God of their fathers; and 
 anecdotes connected with these scenes are still pre- 
 served by the older natives of the district. On one 
 occasion, it is said they were surprised by a small 
 party of the king's troops, who came upon them from 
 the west, and looking down, saw the whole congre- 
 gation lying in the valley below, hanging entranced 
 on the lips of the minister, who was then in the 
 midst of his sermon, and unconscious of the approach 
 of the enemy. The soldiers were preparing to at- 
 tack them, when they were dissuaded from the at- 
 tempt by Crawford of Powmill, who observed, " Take 
 care what ye do I see Bilton among ^ them" (a fa- 
 mous marksman) ; " if you meddle with them, he is 
 certain to make some of you sleep in your shoes."* 
 
 On another occasion, when a meeting was held in 
 the parish of Kinglassie, a gentleman of the name of 
 Baleddie came upon them with a few followers. But 
 they observed him at a distance, and before his ar- 
 rival, they had the minister concealed among them 
 in disguise. When Baleddie came and found himself 
 disappointed in his object, which was to apprehend 
 the minister, he rode around the multitude in high 
 wrath, cursing, and threatening to fine the whole of 
 
 * Crawford of Powmill, though a rude, prolane man, and by no means 
 friendly to the prcsbyterians, sometimes interfered for their protection. 
 A party of soldiers having one day come to apprehend a neighhbour of 
 his, a tenant at Pittendriech, the poor man, who was building a stuck at 
 the time, threw down his fork and ran to Po'wmill, and meeting with 
 the laird, implored him for shelter, crying, "O laird, where shall I run?" 
 " O never fear," replied Powmill, " run into the house, and get into my 
 bed; they'll never think of seeking a saint in hell." (Memoirs of Veitch 
 aiut Jjr>/sjon, p. - 2.')5.) 
 
1663.] THE BISHOPS* DRAG-NET. 103 
 
 them. While thus employed, one of his aunts, who 
 was present, a woman of determined spirit, and pos- 
 sessed of great influence in the country side, rose up 
 and said, " Baleddie, begone, and do not molest these 
 honest people, who are met peaceably to hear the 
 gospel ; or, if you do not, I will lay you by the heels." 
 t; O, aunt Mary," said Baleddie, "are you there?" 1 " 1 
 and turning his horse's head, he rode off. After 
 this the minister resumed his place, and the people 
 dispersed without further molestation.* 
 
 How long matters might have continued in this 
 comparatively peaceful state, had these meetings 
 been tolerated, it is hard to say. Incensed, however, 
 at finding their curates despised and deserted, the 
 bishops procured " an act for separation and disobe- 
 dience to ecclesiastick authority," ordaining that all 
 ministers who ventured to preach without the sanc- 
 tion of the bishops, should be punished as seditious 
 persons, and that every one who absented himself 
 from public worship in his own parish church, should 
 be subjected to certain pains and penalties. This act, 
 which was called the bishops 1 drag-net, was followed 
 by the most vexatious oppressions. In the end of 
 1663, and beginning of the following year, troops 
 wore sent into the west, under the command of sir 
 James Turner, a mercenary and unprincipled soldier, 
 who had formerly fought under the banner of the 
 covenant, but who now found a more lucrative -ir- 
 vice under the bishops, in plundering the presbyte- 
 rians. The process adopted by this officer was very 
 simple and summary. The curate, after sermon, 
 read a roll of the parishioners, and handed over the 
 names of the absentees to Turner, who was at once 
 
 * Traditional. 
 
104 HIGH COMMISSION COURT. [1664.' 
 
 the judge of the party, and the executioner of the 
 sentence. Vast sums were levied under the pretext 
 of fines for non-attendance at church; and if the 
 tenant was unwilling or unable to pay the money on 
 the spot, the soldiers were sent to quarter upon him, 
 till the poor man was " eaten up;" his cattle were 
 disposed of for a mere trifle; the bread was torn 
 from the mouths of his children, and thrown to the 
 officers 1 dogs; and whole families, reduced from 
 comfort to beggary, were compelled to wander about 
 the country for subsistence. Those who travelled 
 to a distance to hear such of the presbyterian minis- 
 ters as were still permitted to occupy their pulpits, 
 met with no better treatment. A party of soldiers 
 would sit carousing in the ale-house till the service 
 was concluded, when they went armed to the church 
 door, and questioned each individual, as he came out, 
 whether he belonged to the parish. If they did not, 
 and were unprepared to pay the fine, the men's coats 
 and the women's plaids were taken from them ; and 
 it was no uncommon spectacle to see the soldiers 
 returning from these expeditions on the Lord's-day, 
 laden with spoil, as if they had been stripping the 
 slain on the field of battle. 
 
 These oppressive measures, however, proving in- 
 sufficient to suppress the practice, the bishops soon 
 found more active work for their military assistants. 
 In the beginning of 1664, a new court was erected by 
 the advice of Sharp, composed of bishops and lay- 
 men, termed the high commission court, the chief 
 object of which was, to carry into effect the ecclesi- 
 astical laws, and punish all who opposed the govern- 
 ment of the church by bishops. The powers con- 
 ferred on this court were so extraordinary, that the 
 
1G64.] HIGH COMMISSION COURT. 105 
 
 chancellor and other noblemen became justly sus- 
 picious of the growing authority of the bishops, and 
 after continuing for two years it was abolished. But 
 during these two years it was not idle. Ministers 
 were banished or imprisoned; women were publicly 
 whipped; and even boys, after being scourged and 
 branded, were sold as slaves, and sent to Barbadoes. 
 Among other proclamations against the presbyte- 
 rians at this time, too tedious to mention, there was 
 one making it sedition to give charity, or collect any 
 contributions for the support of the poor ejected 
 ministers; and another for dragooning people to the 
 church, by imposing fines, or quartering soldiers upon 
 them until they complied. * 
 
 As a specimen of the spirit of the times, we may 
 notice the case of William Guthrie, minister of 
 Fenwick, and author of that excellent little trea- 
 tise, "The Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ." He 
 was cousin to James Guthrie, whose martyrdom we 
 have recorded. Affable in manners, and facetious 
 in conversation, as well as diligent and devout in 
 his office, Mr. Guthrie was universally beloved and 
 respected. When he first came to Fenwick, the 
 people were so rude and irreligious, that many of 
 them never came to church, and did not even know 
 the face of their pastor; and various were the ex- 
 pedients he tried to overcome their prejudices. Dis- 
 guising himself, sometimes as a traveller, at other 
 times as a sportsman, he would solicit from them a 
 night's lodgings; and by the humour of his conversa- 
 tion, and joining in their amusements, " he gained 
 some to a religious life, whom he could have little 
 influence upon in a minister's gown." * By various 
 
 * Memoirs of Mr. W. Guthrie, prefixed to hi* Works, edit. 1771, p. i). 
 
J06 MR. GUTITRIE OF FENWICK. [1664. 
 
 arts he succeeded in inducing them all to come to 
 church; and the pulpit was the first place which dis- 
 covered to thenr who it was that had allured them 
 to the house of prayer. In one of these excursions, 
 he peremptorily insisted on the goodman of the house 
 performing family worship, and would not allow him 
 to go to bed without his at least making the attempt. 
 The man, after many ineffectual excuses, at last be- 
 gan, " O Lord, this man will have me to pray, but 
 thou knowest that I cannot pray." " Stop," said 
 Mr. Guthrie, " you have done well enough; I could 
 not pray a better prayer myself.''' 1 Having prayed 
 with the family, he made them promise to attend 
 church the rifext Sabbath, when they discovered their 
 strange guest in the person of their parish minister; 
 a discovery which ultimately issued in their becoming 
 exemplary in their attendance at church.* 
 
 Mr. Guthrie's extraordinary reputation pointed 
 him out as a special object of dislike to the arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow, who could not prevail upon him 
 in any way to acknowledge his authority. The earl 
 of Glencairn, then chancellor, being on a visit to 
 the archbishop, asked him, as a particular favour, 
 that Mr. Guthrie might be overlooked; the prelate, 
 however, refused, saying, with a disdainful air, "That 
 shall not be done it cannot be; he is a ringleader 
 
 * On one occasion, at a meeting of his brethren, Mr. Guthrie, who had 
 been more than ordinarily gay and cheerful, was asked to pray; which he 
 did in such a solemn and affecting manner, that the grave Mr. Durham 
 could not help expressing his amazement, telling him that if he had 
 laughed half so much he could not have prayed for a long time after. Mr 
 Guthrie replied, that were it not for his laughing, his disease would 
 soon make him sad enough. But, said Mr. Durham, " are your people 
 not offended at your joining in their plays and sports ?" " No," said the 
 goodman, " they are rather blithe to see me doit." (Wodrow''s Ana- 
 Ucta, MS.) 
 
1664.] MR. GUTIIRIE OF FENWICK. 107 
 
 and keeper up of sedition in my diocese." 1 The 
 chancellor said little, but when he came down 
 stairs, his attendants observed him agitated to such 
 a degree that " the buttons were springing off his 
 coat and vest." Being asked the reason, he re- 
 plied, " Woes me ! we have advanced these men 
 to be bishops, and they will trample upon us 
 all.** 
 
 In July 1664, Mr. Guthrie was suspended; but 
 the archbishop could not prevail on any of his cu- 
 rates to intimate the sentence; " there was such an 
 awe upon their spirits," says Wodrow, " which 
 scared them from meddling with that great man. 1 ' 1 
 At last one of them, the curate of Calder, was in- 
 duced, by a bribe of five pounds sterling, to exe- 
 cute the will of the prelate. With great difficulty 
 Mr. Guthrie prevailed on his people to refrain from 
 violently opposing the party who were sent with 
 the curate; for they were quite prepared to sacrifice 
 their lives in the cause of their beloved pastor. The 
 miserable curate who had sold himself to this work 
 of iniquity, preached to his own party without dis- 
 turbance; but, we are assured, never preached 
 again. -f- " He died in a few days, 11 it is said, '* in 
 great torment, of an iliac passion ; and his wife and 
 children died all in a year or thereby. His reward 
 of five pounds was dearly bought; it was the price 
 of blood, the blood of souls. 1 '^ 
 
 * Wodrow's Anal. MS., ii. 145; Hist. Account of Senators of Justice, 
 p. m 
 
 f Mr. Guthrie, proceeding, no doubt, on the general ground, that 
 Providence seldom fails to put a mark, in this world, on the instruments 
 employed in afflicting his public servants, forewarned him that he might 
 soon expect some judicial stroke. 
 
 J Scots Worthies, p. 294. 
 
108 PIETY OF THE COVENANTERS. (166'5. 
 
 Here we cannot refrain from adverting to the decid- 
 ed piety of those who suffered at this period in the 
 cause of the covenant. Without a single exception, 
 they were men of conscience, men of prayer, many 
 of them of deep-toned devotion; and all of them, 
 either previous to their being singled out for suffer- 
 ing, or before they died, gave remarkable evidence of 
 their being sustained and comforted by the hopes of 
 the gospel.* This, in the case of the ministers, had 
 not only a vast influence in securing them the sym- 
 pathies of the people, who were not blind to the 
 contrast between them and the careless, irreligious 
 curates who supplanted them, but even gained them 
 the involuntary respect of their enemies. The earl 
 of G-lencairn, who died about this time, earnestly 
 sought, on his death-bed, the services of a presbyte- 
 rian pastor. The earl of Rothes, and the earl of 
 Annandale, both bitter persecutors of the presbyte- 
 rian ministers during their lives, were equally anxious 
 to have their attendance, and actually obtained it, 
 during their last moments. Such instances made 
 the duke of York one day observe, that " he believed 
 that Scotsmen, be they what they would in their life- 
 time, were all presbyterians at their death."! 
 
 Meanwhile, during the year 1665, the oppressions 
 of the soldiery became perfectly intolerable, particu- 
 larly in the west, where sir James Turner and sir 
 William Bannatyne vied with each other in plunder- 
 ing and harassing the unhappy peasantry. A faint 
 
 * " There was never a presbyterian troubled in his conscience on his 
 death-bed, because he kepthia covenant, and disowned bishops; but many 
 a poor curate was sore tormented for what he had done." (Kirkiuii, 
 
 P. iy.5.) 
 
 f \Vodrow, i. -19. 
 
1666.] OPPRESSIONS OF THE MILITARY. 109 
 
 idea of these exactions may be formed, when we 
 state, that, within a few weeks, the curates and sol- 
 diers gathered upwards of 50,000 pounds Scots from 
 the west country, purely for nonconformity. In 
 Galloway and Dumfriesshire they levied a still larger 
 sum, in addition to the fines imposed by the state on 
 landed proprietors, which amounted to many hun- 
 dreds of thousands.* To crown the whole, after 
 committing these outrages, the soldiers would com- 
 pel the poor people to sign a declaration that they 
 had been used by them with the greatest tenderness 
 and civility !"} It seemed as if government intended 
 to try the utmost limits to which the endurance of the 
 people would go. In the course of five years they had 
 seen the legal securities for their beloved reformation 
 one after another rescinded, their civil liberties laid 
 low, their ministers scattered, and a set of men in- 
 truded into their churches, whose practice, not to 
 speak of their principles, made them little better 
 than public nuisances. And now, simply because 
 they would not consent, at the command of their 
 rulers, to renounce their religion, they found them- 
 selves placed under a barbarous military execution; 
 while all liberty of petitioning, or addressing the 
 throne, for redress of their grievances, was dis- 
 charged under the highest penalties. Few people 
 in any other country would have submitted so long, 
 under such circumstances, as they did, silently and 
 without a murmur, still hoping that Providence 
 would open a door of relief, and that the cry of their 
 oppression might come up to heaven. 
 
 But oppression, long continued, will make even 
 wise men mad. A circumstance, purely accidental, 
 
 * See Wodrow's Lists. -j- Kirktou, p. 281. 
 
110 RISING IN THE WEST. [1666. 
 
 which took place in November 1666, led to a par- 
 tial and ill-advised rising in the west country, 
 which was followed by the most disastrous conse- 
 quences, not only to those immediately engaged in 
 it, but to the whole body of the presbyterians 
 through the country. While the brutal soldiery of 
 sir James Turner were at the height of their in- 
 solence, and a great part of the west had been laid 
 waste by their devastations, many families, even of 
 the best rank, being forced to hide themselves in 
 moors and mountains four fugitive countrymen 
 passed through the village of Dairy, in Dumfriesshire. 
 A party of soldiers had seized a poor old man, who 
 could not pay his church fines, and were threaten- 
 ing to strip him naked, and roast him on a red-hot 
 gridiron. The countrymen interfered, and were 
 pleading with them to desist, when the soldiers fell 
 upon them with their swords, and a scuffle ensued, 
 which ended in one of the soldiers being wounded, 
 and the rest compelled to deliver up their prisoner.* 
 On this the countrymen, knowing what they might 
 expect for this act of humanity, resolved, as a first 
 measure of security, to seize on a party of soldiers 
 stationed in the neighbourhood. This, with the aid 
 of some of their companions, they accomplished, one 
 of the soldiers only being killed on attempting re- 
 sistance. Subsequently they were joined by some 
 of the gentlemen of the country, who, raising a small 
 force, surprised sir James Turner in his bed at 
 Dumfries, making him prisoner, and disarming his 
 soldiers. "f- The news of this rising struck a terrible 
 
 * \Vodrow, i. 241 ; Kirkton, p. 229; Blackad. Mem., p. 136; Turner's 
 Memoirs. 
 
 f- " On arriving at Dumfries, they marched to the cross, and drank the 
 
1666.] RISING IN THE WEST. Ill 
 
 panic into the bishops, and those at the head of 
 affairs in Edinburgh, who immediately ordered 
 general Dalziel to inarch to Glasgow, despatched an 
 exaggerated account to London, and issued a pro- 
 clamation ordering all to lay down their arms, and 
 submit within twenty-four hours. This, however, 
 being without any promise of indemnity, amounted 
 to little more than a summons to the gallows. The 
 insurgents, therefore, only thought of increasing their 
 numbers and fighting it out. On reaching Lanark, 
 they were nearly three thousand horse and foot, but 
 ill-accoutred and undisciplined. Here the leaders of 
 the party drew up a short declaration, stating the 
 design of their appearance in arms, which they de- 
 clared to be simply " sinless self-defence," in the way 
 of adhering to their solemn covenant, and deliver- 
 ance from their manifold grievances, " the just sense 
 of which (they say) made us choose rather to betake 
 ourselves to the fields for self-defence, than to stay 
 at home burdened daily with the calamities of others, 
 and tortured with the fears of our own approaching 
 misery." In token of their cause being a religious 
 one, they joined in renewing the covenant, confessing 
 the late heinous violations of it, and pledging them- 
 selves to stand to its defence. But oppressed as the 
 presbyterians in the west had been, they were not 
 prepared for an expedition which they regarded as 
 premature and hopeless. The devoted little band, 
 instead of finding new accessions as they advanced, 
 had the mortification to see their numbers daily 
 dropping away. Colonel Wallace, a brave and en- 
 terprising officer, who had taken the command, used 
 
 king's health, a labour they might well have spared, for they had cruel 
 thanks." (Kirkton, p. 232.) 
 
112 DEFEAT AT PENTLAND. [16G6. 
 
 all his efforts to keep them together; but on ap- 
 proaching Edinburgh, from which they were led to 
 expect great support, they found the whole city in 
 arms against them.* Harassed with long marching 
 in the midst of a severe winter, surrounded by their 
 enemies behind and before, half-drowned and half- 
 starved, " they looked," says Kirkton, " rather like 
 dying men than soldiers going to conquer." Yet in 
 this pitiable plight, reduced to nine hundred men, they 
 resolved to stand their ground; and at the Pentland 
 Hills, on a spot named Bullion Green, the conflict 
 began by an attack of a body of horse under the 
 command of Dalziel. This attack was nobly met; 
 the royal troops were repelled by major Learmont, 
 at the head of a body of the covenanters, among 
 whom were two Irish ministers, Mr. Crookshanks 
 and Mr. M'Cormack, who had been active in en- 
 couraging the people to this undertaking, and bravely 
 fell in the first onset. It is said, that had they fol- 
 lowed up their advantage, the covenanters might 
 have gained the victory: -f- but their horses being 
 untrained, and themselves spent with fatigue, 
 superior numbers and discipline prevailed ; and after 
 a desperate conflict, they were defeated, with the loss 
 of fifty killed, and as many taken prisoners. The rest 
 made their escape in the darkness of the night. 
 This skirmish was fought on the 28th of November 
 1666. It is allowed, even by sir James Turner, 
 who was present, having been kept a prisoner among 
 the presbyterians, and who has written a minute 
 though rather disingenuous account of the whole 
 
 * See an interesting Narrative of the Rising nt Pentland, by Colonel 
 Wallace; Mem. of Veitch and Brysson, p. 388, et seq. 
 t \Vodrow, i. 251, on the information of a minister who was present. 
 
IG66.] THE COVENANTERS NOT REBELS. 113 
 
 affair, that " the rebels, for their numbers, fought 
 desperately enough." * 
 
 Thus ended this most unfortunate, ill-concerted, 
 and ill-timed rising an attempt which was disap- 
 proved of and lamented by the great body of the 
 Presbyterians, and which can only be justified by 
 the oppressive conduct of the bishops and their un- 
 derlings, clerical and military, who goaded the poor 
 people to such a pitch of irritation, that the wonder 
 is how they bore it so long. To brand it, however, 
 by the odious name of rebellion, would be an abuse 
 of terms, and a libel on the worthy men who were 
 engaged in it, all of whom disclaimed seditious 
 motives, or any design to overturn the government. 
 All of them, without exception, at this period, owned 
 the king's authority, and submitted to everything 
 save episcopacy; and this they could not do with- 
 out renouncing that covenant which, they conscien- 
 tiously believed, was obligatory on themselves and 
 on the whole land. Their simple object was to free 
 themselves and their countrymen from the horrible 
 oppression under which they were crushed, and to 
 lay their grievances at the foot of the throne, to 
 which they had no ordinary means of access. They 
 cannot be condemned for this, without condemning 
 the very principles upon which our ancestors acted, 
 with more success, at the period of the revolution. 
 And had they succeeded, there can be no doubt that, 
 
 * At one time he tells us, that he had not " seen less of divine worship 
 an v-.vhere than he saw in that army of theirs." " I am sure," he says, 
 " in my quarters my guards neither prayed nor praised for any thing I 
 ever heard;" and yet, in the same breath, he complains of the tedious- 
 ness of their graces before and after meat, which gave him even more 
 annoyance than the scarceness and bad quality of his victuals, the main 
 theme of his lamentations. (Turner's Memoirs.) 
 
THE COVENANTERS NOT REBELS. [1666. 
 
 instead of being stigmatized as rebels, they would 
 have earned the praise of patriots. But while the 
 tyranny under which they suffered is sufficient to 
 justify their resistance, and vindicate them from the 
 charge of rebellion, the end for which they suffered, 
 and the spirit in which they died, entitle them to the 
 honour of martyrdom. This distinction is so well 
 stated by one of themselves in his " dying testi- 
 mony," and is so necessary to the right understanding 
 of the quarrel, that it may be here introduced: 
 " Although the insupportable oppressions under 
 which I and many others did groan, were enough to 
 justify our preserving and defending of ourselves by 
 arms, yet know that the cause was not ours, but the 
 Lord's ; for we suffered all our grievous oppressions, 
 not for evil doing, but because we could not in con- 
 science acknowledge, comply with, and obey prelacy, 
 and submit unto the ministry of ignorant, light, and 
 profane men, who were irregularly and violently 
 thrust upon us ; neither did we only or mainly de- 
 sign our civil liberties, but the liberty of the gospel, 
 the extirpation of prelacy, the restoration of our 
 faithful pastors, the suppression of profanity, pro- 
 moting of piety, the saving of ourselves from unjust 
 violence, until we had presented our grievances and 
 desires; and, in a word, the recovering of the 
 once glorious, but now ruined work of reformation, 
 in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, 
 according to the national covenant and solemn 
 league and covenant, to which I declare my adher- 
 ence, and through grace shall seal the same with 
 my blood." * 
 
 * The Testimony of John Ncilson of Corsack, who died at Edinburgh, 
 December 14, IGGti. (A'ap/Uali, p. o'23.) Some have blamed them because 
 
1666.] THE COVENANTERS NOT REBELS. 115 
 
 We may conclude this brief defence of our fathers 
 with the words of a worthy minister, who survived 
 the dangers of this period, and lived to see the re- 
 volution : " It is easy to lie always under the sun- 
 blinks of royal favour, and to scandalize others as 
 enemies to the king and to authority; whereas, if 
 themselves were but far less and shorter while cross- 
 ed and crushed in their interests, as we have seen 
 examples enough to give us a taste of this" 11 (referring 
 to the rebellions of the Jacobites), " they would be 
 much more impatient, and readier to cry out against 
 their sovereign and rulers ; and, it may be, readier to 
 put their hand to the hilt of their sword, than most of 
 the presbyterians."* 
 
 All who were engaged in, or suspected of being ac- 
 cessory to, this ill-fated enterprise, were treated with 
 
 they made the defence of the gospel one of their declared objects ; and 
 among others, Mr. M'Gavin, in his notes to his edition of the Soots 
 Worthies, condemns this, while, at the same time, he owns, that " in a 
 civil and political view, they suffered enough to provoke resistance." 
 He would have allowed them to fight for an object purely civil and 
 political; but because religion was mixed up in the quarrel, he con- 
 ceives that they ought to have suffered " with the meekness of lambs 
 led to the slaughter," in which case, "their murderers might have 
 become ashamed or tired of their work ! " (Scots Worthies, p. 294.) 
 We question much whether this is the language either of nature or of 
 revelation. It obviously proceeds upon a fallacy. The sword of per- 
 secution can only reach religion through the side of our civil freedom ; 
 and therefore, although the presbyterians at Pentland, being religious 
 men, professed it as their chief object to defend themselves in the 
 enjoyment of their religion, on which they placed most value, they 
 may be vindicated for doing so on the simple ground, that before 
 their enemies could have laid their hands on the sacred ark of reli- 
 gious freedom, they must have first trampled on all their civil and 
 natural rights as free-born Britons. It is to be regretted that Mr. 
 M'Gavin should have meddled with the Scots Worthies at all. He has 
 spoiled the simplicity of Howie's style by attempting to modernize it, 
 and done little more than betrayed his own presumption by the comments 
 he has made on the text. 
 
 * Patrick Simpson, minister of Renfrew, MS. P.S. against Hack- 
 ion's Ghost, p. 73. 
 
 VOL. II. H 
 
116 EXECUTION OF THE PRISONERS. [1666. 
 
 the most unrelenting severity. With regard to the 
 poor prisoners, " very quick despatch was made with 
 them/ 1 They were crowded, like so many cattle, 
 into a dungeon; and though they had been taken 
 prisoners in battle, upon quarter asked and given, 
 the greater part of them were brought to trial, and 
 condemned as traitors and rebels.* " It was a mov- 
 ing sight," says Burnet, " to see ten of these prison- 
 ers hanged upon one gibbet."" They all declared 
 their innocence of the crime of treason or rebellion. 
 " We are condemned by men," they said, " and 
 esteemed by many as rebels against the king, whose 
 authority we acknowledge. But this is our rejoicing, 
 the testimony of our conscience, that we suffer not 
 as evil-doers, but for righteousness, for the word of 
 God and testimony of Jesus Christ, and particu- 
 larly for our renewing the covenants, and, in pur- 
 suance thereof, defending and preserving ourselves 
 by arms against the usurpation and insupportable 
 tyranny of the prelates, and against the most un- 
 christian and inhuman oppression and persecution 
 that ever was enjoined and practised by unjust rulers 
 upon free, innocent, and peaceable subjects."^ Again, 
 " we declare, in the presence of God, before whom 
 we are now ready to appear, that we did not intend 
 to rebel against the king and his just authority, 
 whom we acknowledge for our lairful sovereign.' 1 '' " I 
 am condemned," said another, "I shall not say how un- 
 justly, as a rebel against man; but the Lord God of 
 gods he knoweth, and all Israel shall know, that it 
 
 * Out of the fifty prisoner?, thirty-five were brought to the scaffold, 
 of whom twenty were executed at Edinburgh, seven at Ayr, and the rest 
 in different parts of the country. 
 
 f Joint Testimony of the ten who were executed December 7, lfi6C: 
 Naphtali, pp. 3(W, 311. 
 
1666.] ALEXANDER ROBERTSON. 117 
 
 is not for rebellion against God, but for endeavour- 
 ing to recover the blessed work of reformation, and 
 for renewing of the covenant, from the obligation 
 whereof (seeing I made my vow and promise to the 
 Lord) neither I myself nor any human authority 
 can absolve me. And if any account this rebellion, 
 I do plainly confess that after the way which they 
 call heresy, I worship the God of my fathers."* All 
 of them, indeed, laid their blood at the door of the pre- 
 lates, and expressed their confidence that if the king 
 only knew the cause in which they suffered, he would 
 never consent to their death. But all access to the 
 royal ear was carefully barred; and even on the 
 scaffold, when, for their own vindication, they said 
 anything reflecting on the bishops or the defection 
 of the times, their voice was drowned by the beating 
 of drums. 
 
 One of those who suffered was Mr. Alexander 
 Robertson, a preacher. He was a man of great bold- 
 ness and resolution, was among the first in Edin- 
 burgh who proposed joining the insurgents in the 
 west, and it was in his chamber that the consulta- 
 tions were held on this subject. He acted as a cap- 
 tain in the army that fought at Pentland, though 
 he, with others, attempted to dissuade colonel Wal- 
 lace from persevering in the attempt, after finding 
 that so few came forward to join them. This mar- 
 tyr, as well as his companions, solemnly disclaimed, 
 in his dying speech, any rebellious purpose against 
 the government : " I do solemnly declare, as a dying 
 man, that t had no worse design than the restoring 
 of the glorious work of reformation according to the 
 covenant, and more particularly the extirpation of 
 
 * Testimony of Neilson of Corsack, in Naphtali, p. 323. 
 
1 1 8 NEILSON OF CORSACK. [ 1 666. 
 
 prelacy, to which his majesty and all his subjects are 
 as much obliged as I. And let that be removed, and 
 the work of reformation be restored, and I dare die 
 in saying, that his majesty shall not have in all 
 his dominions more loving, loyal, and peaceable sub- 
 jects, than those who, for their non-compliance with 
 prelacy, are loaded with reproaches of fanaticism and 
 rebellion.' 1 ''* 
 
 The firmness with which these sufferers endured 
 not only an ignominious death, but the tortures 
 which often preceded it, astonished their adver- 
 saries, and left a strong impression on the multitude. 
 The two persons, however, who were most distin- 
 guished both for their high character and their 
 extraordinary sufferings on this occasion, were John 
 Neilson of Corsack, and Mr. Hugh Mackail, preacher 
 of the gospel. Neilson was a gentleman of property, 
 remarkable for the mildness and generosity of his 
 disposition. He was the means of saving the life of 
 sir James Turner; for he not only gave him quarter, 
 but on some of the party having offered to shoot 
 him, Corsack interfered, saying, " You shall as soon 
 kill me, sir; for I have given him quarter." -f- Mr. 
 Mackail was a young man of twenty-six years of age; 
 and having been licensed at the very time when prelacy 
 was introduced, he gave mortal offence to the rulers 
 by the first sermon he preached in Edinburgh, in 
 which he declared that " the church of Scotland had 
 
 * His last speech is to be found in Naphtali. I have quoted the above, 
 however, from a copy of it in my possession, written by his own hand, 
 and dated on the very day of his execution. It could only be for their 
 non-compliance with prelacy that they were put to death; for they dis- 
 tinctly tell us they were offered their lives, if they would have subscrib- 
 ed the declaration acknowledging the bishops. 
 
 + Crichton's Memoirs of Blackader, p. 138. 
 
1 666.] HUGH MACKAIL. 1 ] 9 
 
 been persecuted by a Pharaoh on the throne, a 
 Haman in the state, and a Judas in the church."* 
 This was the real source of their enmity against him, 
 for he had very little to do with the rising at Pent- 
 land. Both these worthy gentlemen were sub- 
 jected at their trial to the diabolical torture of the 
 boots an instrument of cruelty which had not been 
 used in Scotland for upwards of forty years before, 
 and the very appearance of which the people had 
 forgotten; but the bishops had taken care that 
 a new pair should be made for the occasion, and they 
 were brought into frequent use during the subse- 
 quent years. This instrument was made of four 
 pieces of narrow boards nailed together, of a com- 
 petent size for the leg- Into this case, after the 
 criminal's leg was enclosed, wedges were driven down 
 with a hammer, which caused intolerable pain, and 
 frequently mangled the limb in a shocking manner, 
 compressing the flesh, and even forcing the marrow 
 from the bone. The two martyrs bore this horrible 
 torture with the most surprising fortitude, though 
 poor Corsack, the " meek and generous gentleman," 
 as he is described by those who knew him, was so 
 cruelly tormented, that he shrieked enough to move 
 a heart of stone; while the unfeelingEothes frequently 
 called out to the executioner to "give him the other 
 touch."*f Mackail was treated in the same manner, 
 and received ten or eleven strokes of the hammer, 
 
 * Mackail was at first chaplain to sir James Stuart of Kirkfield. Wod- 
 row describes him as " universally beloved, singularly pious, and of very 
 considerable learning." After giving offence by the sermon referred to, 
 he went to the continent, where he improved himself by travelling. He 
 seems to have had a turn for elegant literature, as appears from the Latin 
 verses which he composed in prison. 
 
 f Wodrow, i. 2i8, 259, fol. 
 
120 EXECUTION OF HUGH MACKAIL. [1666. 
 
 without any expression of impatience. The object 
 of all this cruelty was to ascertain the secret causes 
 and agents of this rebellion, as they called it; but it 
 was in vain; torture itself could not extract more 
 from them than what they knew; and before receiv- 
 ing the last stroke, Mackail solemnly protested, in 
 the sight of God, that he could say no more, though 
 all the joints in his body were in as great torture as 
 that poor leg; and that, to the best of his know- 
 ledge, the rising in the west was purely accidental, 
 arising from a discontent between the people there 
 and sir James Turner. 
 
 The behaviour of this excellent young man in 
 prison after condemnation, was equally remarkable 
 for Christian fortitude, humility, and faith. His 
 cheerfulness never forsook him. Some having asked 
 how his shattered limb was, he replied, " The fear of 
 my neck now makes me forget my leg." He prayed 
 with and encouraged his fellow-sufferers, frequently 
 exclaiming, " What, Lord, shall be the end of these 
 wonders?" His appearance on the scaffold, Satur- 
 day, December 22, excited " such a lamentation, 
 says Kirkton, " as was never known in Scotland 
 before; not one dry cheek upon all the street, or in all 
 the numberless windows in the market-place." The 
 extreme youthfulncss and delicacy of his appear- 
 ance, the comeliness and composure of his coun- 
 tenance, struck every beholder a thrill of mingled 
 pity and horror ran through the crowd; and while 
 those addicted to swearing cursed the bishops, others 
 were fervently praying for the youthful martyr. 
 After delivering his last speech, and on taking 
 hold of the ladder to go up, ho said, in an audible 
 voice, " I care no more to go up this ladder, and 
 
1666.] EXECUTION OF HUGH MACKAIL. 121 
 
 over it, than if I were going to my father's house."" 
 Then turning to his fgllow- sufferers, he cried, 
 " Friends, be not afraid; every step in this ladder is 
 a degree nearer to heaven. 1 ' Before being turned 
 over, he removed the napkin from his face, saying, 
 " I hope you perceive no alteration or discourage- 
 ment in my countenance and carriage; and as it 
 may be your wonder, so I profess it is a wonder to 
 myself; and I will tell you the reason of it: Besides 
 the justice of my cause, this is my comfort, what was 
 said of Lazarus when he died, that the angels did 
 carry his soul to Abraham's bosom ; so that, as there 
 is a great solemnity here, of a confluence of people, 
 a scaffold, a gallows, and people looking out of win- 
 dows; so there is a greater and more solemn pre- 
 paration of angels to carry my soul to Christ's 
 bosom." He then ended with that noble burst of 
 Christian eloquence, so much admired and so often 
 imitated : " And now I leave off to speak any more 
 to creatures, and begin my intercourse with God, 
 which shall never be broken off. Farewell, father 
 and mother, friends and relations; farewell, the 
 world and all delights; farewell, meat and drink; 
 farewell, sun, moon, and stars! Welcome Cod and 
 Father; welcome sweet Jesus Christ, the mediator 
 of the new covenant; welcome blessed Spirit of grace, 
 the God of all consolation; welcome glory; welcome 
 eternal life; and welcome death!" 
 
 These were atrocious scenes; but they derive a 
 darker shade from the fact, which rests on the 
 best authority, that before these executions were 
 finished, a letter had come down from the king, ad- 
 dressed to Sharp, as president of the council, dis- 
 charging them from taking any more lives; and that 
 
122 THE GORDONS OF KNOCKBRECK. [1666.X 
 
 this letter, instead of being instantly communicated 
 to the council, was kept back by the archbishop, till 
 all who had been condemned were executed. From 
 other sources, it seems probable that this letter ar- 
 rived before the execution of Mackail; in which case 
 the death of that youth must be viewed as the 
 personal act of the infatuated Sharp, who never 
 forgave him for that word " a Judas in the church.""* 
 
 Though we have already dwelt sufficiently long on 
 these details, we cannot help noticing the fate of 
 two young gentlemen, the Gordons of Knockbreck, 
 in Galloway, who were executed at this time. These 
 youths, who were distinguished for piety, learning, 
 and talents, as well as for ardent attachment to each 
 other, had suffered much from the rapacity of the 
 soldiers. As they were pleasant in their lives, so 
 in their deaths they were not divided; for when on 
 the point of being turned over, they clasped each 
 other with affectionate ardour, and endured the pangs 
 of death in each other's arms. 
 
 In the west country numbers were executed for 
 the same cause. But there, so convinced were all 
 classes of the innocence and moral worth of those 
 who suffered, that no executioner could be prevailed 
 upon to carry the sentence into effect. At last, one 
 of the prisoners, bribed and dragged into service, 
 executed his companions, but soon afterwards died 
 himself in despair. In Irvine, the hangman, a poor 
 simple Highlander, named William Sutherland, pe- 
 remptorily refused to execute the good men merely for 
 
 * This fact was not forgotten by those who assassinated him; for when 
 he cried pitifully for mercy, he was told, that " as he had never showed 
 mercy to any, so mercy he should have none himself." ( Wodrow; Kirlc- 
 ton, p. 255.) 
 
1666.] THE HANGMAN OF IRVINE. 123 
 
 opposing the bishops, whom, he said, " he had never 
 liked since he knew how to read his Bible." Solici- 
 tations, promises, and threats, were all used with 
 him, but in vain. They threatened him with the 
 boots. " You may bring the boots and the spurs too," 
 said William, " you shall not prevail." They swore 
 they would pour melted lead on him they would 
 roll him in a barrel full of spikes; but the Highlander 
 stood firm. They then put him in the stocks, and 
 the soldiers having charged their pieces, and blind- 
 folded him, rushed on him with frightful shouts and 
 imprecations; but all in vain. Confounded at his 
 fortitude, they declared "that the devil surely was 
 in him." " If the devil be in me," said William, 
 " he is an unnatural devil, for if he were like the 
 rest, he would bid me take as many lives as I could; 
 but the Spirit that is in me will not suffer me to 
 take good men's lives." " Tell me," 1 said one of the 
 judges, "who put these words into your mouth T 
 " Even He who made BalaanVs ass to speak and re- 
 prove the madness of the prophet," replied William. 
 At length, finding that they could make nothing more 
 of him, they allowed him to escape. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 General Dalziel Anecdotes of the persecution Mitchell's attempt to 
 assassinate Sharp The indulgence The bishop's evangelists Leigh- 
 ton's accommodation Fielding-meetings Description of a Scottish 
 covenanters' communion. 
 
 OUR last chapter concluded with an account of the 
 executions which followed on the defeat at Pentland. 
 These, however, afford a very imperfect idea of the 
 sufferings entailed on the prebyterians, particularly 
 in the west of Scotland, in consequence of that ill- 
 timed insurrection. The enemies of the church are 
 seldom at a loss for want of instruments in their 
 persecuting measures; and at this period they found 
 one remarkably well qualified in the person of gene- 
 ral Dalziel, who was sent with a body of troops into 
 the west. 
 
 Thomas Dalziel of Binns was a rigid veteran, who 
 had served under the czar of Muscovy against the 
 Turks and Tartars, and in that barbarous warfare 
 had become inured to blood, pillage, and torture, 
 and hardened against all feelings of humanity. His 
 beard, which he had never shaved since the execu- 
 tion of Charles I., -hung down, white and bushy, al- 
 most to his girdle; and his whole appearance was as 
 savage as his manners. Such was the bigot, who, 
 
1666.] GENERAL DALZIEL. 125 
 
 Ignorant of everything but martial law, blinded by 
 prejudice and heated by habitual intemperance, was 
 commissioned to rectify the disorders which religious 
 oppression had created, and reconcile a free people 
 to civil and ecclesiastical bondage. 
 
 As a specimen of his doings in the west country, 
 it- may be mentioned, that a sergeant having appre- 
 hended a man named Finlay, who had acknowledged 
 that he was accidentally at Lanark when colonel 
 Wallace and his men passed through on their way 
 to Pentland, brought him before Dalziel; and simply 
 because he would not, or rather could not, give any 
 satisfactory account of the rich whigs he had seen 
 there, the general ordered him to be instantly taken 
 out and shot. When the poor man was carried out, 
 neither he nor the lieutenant who was to execute the 
 sentence believed the general to be in earnest; and 
 he so earnestly begged " one night's time to prepare 
 for eternity," that the lieutenant returned to Dal- 
 ziel, and entreated that he might be spared till the 
 next day. The brutal commander repeated his 
 order, saying to the officer, " I'll teach you, sir, to 
 obey without scruple." The poor man was instantly 
 shot, stripped naked, and left lying on the ground. 
 The sergeant who had conveyed the prisoner from 
 his own house, and who had gone to sleep, no sooner 
 beheld this bloody spectacle next morning, than he 
 sickened at heart, refused all sustenance, and died 
 in a few days.* 
 
 On another occasion, one of the wMqs, as they were 
 
 * This deed, which was too much for the heart of the unsophisticated 
 soldier, is vindicated by a modern commentator on our history, who 
 merely observes of it, that " General Dalziel was a very strict discipli- 
 narian in military matters. " (Note to KirktoiCs History by Sharpe, p. 
 236.) 
 
126 GENERAL DALZIKL. [16G6. 
 
 called, being hotly pursued, ran into the house of a 
 poor country woman, escaped by another door, and 
 threw himself into a ditch, where he concealed him- 
 self so effectually under the water, that the soldiers 
 could not discover his hiding-place. Incensed at 
 missingtheir prey, they seized on the poor woman, who 
 could give no other account of the matter than that 
 she saw a man run through the house; and dragging 
 her to head-quarters at Kilmarnock, they threw her 
 into a dungeon full of toads and other reptiles, where 
 the shrieks of the poor creature were heard by the 
 whole neighbourhood, not one of whom durst come 
 to her relief, for fear of sharing the same fate. 
 Another woman, whom they charged with being ac- 
 cessory to her husband's escape in female clothes, 
 they tortured, by binding her and putting lighted 
 matches between her fingers for several hours, till 
 she lost one of her hands, and died in a few days, from 
 the effects of the barbarous treatment. 
 
 But it would occupy too much space to recount 
 the various tortures and oppressions which were 
 employed on the wretched tenantry. " Sir James 
 Turner and sir William Bannatyne had, by their 
 cruelties, driven the poor people of Galloway into 
 despair, but they were saints compared to Tom 
 Dalyell and his soldiers. Meantime the poor whigs 
 either wandered in a strange land, or lurked, 
 under dissembled names, in remote places of the 
 country, or hid themselves in caves or coal-pits; and 
 indeed it was a sad winter, the first time ever Scot- 
 land endured so much tyranny.""* " Dalziel acted 
 the Muscovite too grossly," says Burnet. " He 
 threatened to spit men, and to roast them; and he 
 
 * Kirkton. 
 
1666.] THE PRELATIC CLERGY. 127 
 
 killed some in cold blood, or rather in hot blood; for 
 he was then drunk, when he ordered one to be hanged 
 because he would not tell where his father was, for 
 whom he was in search. By this means all people 
 were struck with such terror, that they came regu- 
 larly to church; and the clergy were so delighted 
 with it, that they used to speak of that time as the 
 poets do of the golden age. They never interceded 
 for any compassion to their people; nor did they take 
 care to live more regularly, or to labour more care- 
 fully. They looked on the soldiery as their patrons; 
 they were ever in their company, complying with 
 them in their excesses; and (if they were not much 
 wronged) they rather led them into them, than 
 checked them for them.""* 
 
 It is very difficult for us to form an idea of the 
 state of things from general descriptions. We shall 
 select a particular example. A son of the Rev. 
 John Blackader gives the following artless but 
 graphic account of one of these scenes, which took 
 place when he was a boy of ten years of age: " About 
 this time (the end of winter 1666), Turner and a 
 party of sodgers from Galloway came to search for 
 my father, who had gone to Edinburgh. These ras- 
 cally ruffians beset our house round, about two o'clock 
 in the morning, cursing on us to open the door. 
 Upon which we all got up, young and old, excepting 
 my sister, with the nurse and the child at her breast. 
 When they came in the fire was gone out: they 
 roared out again, ' Light a candle immediately, and 
 on with a fire quickly, or else we'll roast nurse and 
 bairn and all in the fire, and mak a bra 1 bleeze. 1 
 When the candle was lighted, they drew out their 
 * Bui-net" s Hist., i. 349. 
 
128 ANECDOTES OF THE PERSECUTION. [1G66. 
 
 swords, and went to the stools and chairs, and clove 
 them down to make the fire withall; and they made 
 me hold the candle to them, trembling all along, and 
 fearing every moment to be thrown quick into the 
 fire. They then went to search the house for my 
 father, running their swords down through the beds 
 and bed-clothes; and among the rest they came 
 where my sister was, then a child, and as yet fast 
 asleep, and with their swords stabbed down through 
 the bed, where she was lying, crying, ' Come out, 
 rebell dog. 1 They made narrow search for him in all 
 corners of the house, ransacking presses, chests, and 
 flesh-stands. Then they went and threw down all 
 his books from the press upon the floor, and caused 
 poor me hold the candle all this while, till they 
 had examined his books; and all they thought 
 whiggish, as they termed it, (and brave judges they 
 were!) they put into a great horse-creel and took 
 away. Then they ordered one of their fellow-ruf- 
 fians to climb up to the hen-bauks, where the cocks 
 and hens were; and as they came to one, threw 
 about its neck, and down to the floor wTt; and so 
 on, till they had destroyed them all. Then they 
 went to the meat-amry, and took out what was there ; 
 then to the meal and beef barrels, and left little or 
 nothing there. All this I was an eye-witness to, 
 trembling and shivering all the while, having no- 
 thing but my short shirt upon me. So soon as I 
 was relieved of my office, I begins to think, if pos- 
 sible, of making my escape, rather than to be burnt 
 quick, as I thought, and they threatened. I goes to 
 the door, where there was a sentry on every side, 
 standing with their swords drawn; for watches were 
 sat round to prevent escape. I approached nearer 
 
1667.] ANECDOTES OF THE PERSECUTION. 129 
 
 and nearer, by small degrees, making as if I were 
 playing myself. At last I gets out there, making 
 still as if I were playing, till I came to the gate of 
 the house; then, with all the speed I had (looking 
 behind me now and then, to see if they were pur- 
 suing after me), I run the length of half-a-mile in 
 the dark night, naked to the shirt. I got to a neigh- 
 bouring toune, called the Brigend of Mennihyvie; 
 where, thinking to creep into some house to savo 
 my life, I found all the doors shut, and the people 
 sleeping. Upon which I went to the cross of the 
 toune, and got up to the uppermost step of it; and 
 there I sat me down, and fell fast asleep till the 
 morning. Between five and six, a door opens, and 
 an old woman comes out, and seeing a white thing 
 upon the cross, comes near it; and when she found 
 it was a little boy, cries out, ' Save us ! what art 
 thouT With that I awaked, and answered her, ' I'm 
 Mr. Blackader's son.' ' O my puir bairn! what 
 brought thee heref I answers, ' There's a hantle of 
 fearfull men, with red coats, has burnt all our house, 
 my breether and sister, and all the family.' ' O 
 puir thing,' says she, ' come in and lye down in my 
 warm bed;' which I did; and it was the sweetest 
 bed that I ever met with."* 
 
 All this time the Jinlngs were imposed with in- 
 creased severity; and it enhances, in no small de- 
 gree, our disgust when we are informed that the 
 persecutors were incited as much by avarice as by 
 cruelty, in their measures. The rising at Pentland 
 was a rich harvest to the soldiery, and a perfect 
 windfall to debauched and impoverished country gen- 
 tlemen. These, no doubt, were actuated, in a great 
 
 * Memoirs of Rev. J. Blackader, pp. 130-133. 
 
ISO DUKE OF LAUDERDALE. [1667. 
 
 measure, by hostility to the principles of the pres- 
 byterians, but still more by the motive which was 
 avowed by sir William Bannatyne, who, on one oc- 
 casion, when a farmer asked him for what he was 
 fined, honestly replied, " Because you have gear, and 
 I must have a part of it." 
 
 The year 1667 brought a temporary respite, in 
 consequence of a change in the administration. The 
 duke of Lauderdale supplanted the cruel earl of 
 Kothes in the royal favour, and, though in London, 
 took on him the management of affairs in Scotland. 
 Lauderdale had been once a presbyterian, and it is 
 said retained his attachment to that form of govern- 
 ment even after it had been subverted. He was 
 now, however, a courtier; and being anxious to 
 please the king, while, at the same time, he was unwill- 
 ing to press matters with the presby terians, his great 
 policy, for some time at least, was to effect an accom- 
 modation between them and the prelatic party. 
 Violent in his passions, coarse in his manners, and 
 devoid of all religious principle, he was not the per- 
 son best fitted for accomplishing such an object. 
 But his measures at first showed at least a desire to 
 do so. The standing army, much to the discontent 
 of the officers, and of the council, who had shared 
 the plunder between them, was disbanded; an in- 
 demnity was passed in favour of such as had been at 
 Pentland, provided they signed a bond of peace; 
 TurnerandBannatynewere called to account for their 
 extortions and misdemeanours, and dismissed his ma- 
 jesty's service; and archbishop Sharp was disgrac- 
 ed, in consequence of the king having discovered his 
 duplicity, from two letters he sent to court, one of 
 which, directed to Lauderdale, affirmed that all wus 
 
1668.] OBNOXIOUS CHARACTER OF SHARP. lul 
 
 going on well in Scotland; while the other, addressed 
 to another nobleman, gave quite an opposite account. 
 There was even some talk of allowing liberty to 
 presbyterian ministers to exercise their ministry 
 without any dependence on the bishops. 
 
 This favourable turn of affairs, however, received 
 a considerable check by an incident which occurred 
 the following year (1668). It is hardly possible to 
 exaggerate the odium into which archbishop Sharp 
 had fallen throughout Scotland. He was regarded 
 as at once a traitor to his country, an apostate from 
 his religion, a persecutor, a hypocrite, and a profli- 
 gate. Without giving implicit credit to all the re- 
 ports which were propagated against his private cha- 
 racter, his public conduct was unquestionably enough 
 to brand him with infamy. As abject in adversity as 
 he was arrogant in prosperity fawning and obsequi- 
 ous to those in power, insolent and supercilious to all 
 others grasping and ambitious, but ready to stoop 
 to the lowest artifices for gaining his objects it is no 
 wonder he should have been alike despised by the 
 nobility, whom he aped, and obnoxious to the com- 
 mon people, who regarded him as the prime mover 
 of all their oppressions. The wonder is, how, in such 
 an age, when the passions of men ran so high, with- 
 out the artificial embankments, or the regular chan- 
 nels which, in modern times, restrain them, or afford 
 them legitimate vent, he should have escaped so long 
 without some personal injury. Of this, indeed, he 
 himself professed to entertain some alarm; and at 
 one time the provost of Edinburgh appointed a guard 
 to secure his lodging. The soldiers employed in this 
 duty, as if they had been tainted with the popular 
 feeling, or ashamed of their office, determined that if 
 
 VOL. II. I 
 
132 OBNOXIOUS CHARACTER OF SHARP. [1668. 
 
 they must keep the prelate safe, he should get no 
 sound sleep : every half hour they gave him a false 
 alarm; one sentinel crying, Stand! and another, Pre- 
 sent^Jire! as if some were coming to assault him; till 
 he was obliged, for the sake of rest, to retreat into 
 the castle.* 
 
 His apprehensions, so far as the great body of the 
 people were concerned, were perfectly unfounded ; but 
 who can answer, in such circumstances, for the way- 
 ward conduct of individuals? One James Mitchell, " a 
 weak scholar," who had been involved in the insur- 
 rection at Pentland, and had been excluded from the 
 indemnity, took it into his head to be avenged on 
 the archbishop, whom he regarded, not only as the 
 instigator of the sanguinary persecutions against his 
 brethren, but as actuated by a particular malice to- 
 wards himself, and as having used every means to 
 prevent him from obtaining mercy at the hands of 
 government. Whatever might be his views or mo- 
 tives, it is certain that his enterprise was entirely his 
 own act, projected and perpetrated without advice or 
 concert with any other person. He seems to have 
 been a zealous and conscientious man; though, if we 
 may judge from this action, his zeal was neither en- 
 lightened by knowledge, nor tempered by moderation. 
 In June 1668, having armed himself for the purpose, 
 he watched the archbishop in Edinburgh, and on his 
 entering his couch, discharged a pistol at him loaded 
 with three balls. The archbishop escaped unharmed, 
 but one of the balls struck the wrist of Honeyman, 
 bishop of Orkney, who was in the act of entering the 
 carnage at his back. After this, Mitchell coolly 
 walked to his lodgings, changed his clothes, and re- 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 254. 
 
1668.J MITCHELL'S ATTEMPT ON SHARP. 133 
 
 turning to the street, mingled with the crowd. 
 " The cry arose, that a man was killed; the peo- 
 pled answer was, It"s but a bishop! and so there 
 was no more noise."* Notwithstanding all the 
 exertions of the council to discover the assassin, 
 he could not be found till six years afterwards, 
 when we shall have occasion to notice his fate. 
 Honeyman lived some years after, though his wound 
 never seems to have been properly healed. As to 
 Sharp, we are informed that at first he took it very 
 devoutly. Burnet says, that when he called on him 
 he observed, with a very serious look, " My times are 
 wholly in thy hand, thou God of my life f 1 
 " This," adds the bishop, " was the single expression 
 savouring of piety that ever fell from him, in all the 
 conversation that passed between him and me."f 
 
 This fanatical and foolhardy attempt furnish- 
 ed a pretext to the council for molesting the peace- 
 able presbyterians, whom, without the slightest 
 evidence, they charged with having been privy to 
 the design of Mitchell. Nothing, indeed, is more 
 characteristic of the malice that animated the 
 rulers of these times, than the disingenuous and dis- 
 graceful policy by which, on this and many other 
 occasions, the crime of one, or of a few individuals, 
 was made the crime of the whole party. But if there 
 was little public sympathy with the act, there was 
 still less with the eagerness shown to bring the actor 
 to justice. It was remarked as very surprising, that 
 though a strict search was made in Edinburgh for 
 the aggressor on the bishops though the town was 
 at that time full of those who were lurking in con- 
 sequence of their share in the rising at Pentland 
 
 * Kirkton, 279. t Buraet, i. 400. 
 
134 THE INDULGENCE. [1669. 
 
 yet few, if any, were apprehended. Among the 
 narrow escapes which were made, none was more 
 singular than that of Maxwell of Moncrieff, a gentle- 
 man of extensive property. On the hue and cry 
 being raised, this gentleman betook himself for 
 shelter to the house of his stabler, who kept an inn. 
 The landlord told him very coldly that he had no 
 place to put him in, but pointing to a large empty 
 meal-barrel which stood in the public drinking room, 
 said that if he chose, he might hide himself under 
 that. He had hardly got into this strange recep- 
 tacle, when the constable and his men came in to 
 search the house, and sat down to drink in the very 
 room, with the barrel at the end of their table. " I 
 know," said one of the fellows, " there are a great 
 many whigs in town, and may be some of them not 
 very far off." " I would not wonder," said another 
 of them, with an oath, and striking on the top of the 
 barrel, " but there may be one of them under that" 
 At this the rest laughed, as a good jest; and they 
 went away, leaving the gentleman to escape, after 
 having tasted, it may be supposed, the bitterness of 
 death. 
 
 The year 1669 is remarkable for the famous act 
 of Indulgence, granted by the king on the 7th of 
 June, and which professed to give relief, on certain 
 conditions, to those ministers who could not conform 
 to the established order. It is needless here to enter 
 into a history of this act, which, whatever might be 
 the intentions of its original projectors (the earls of 
 Tweeddale and Lauderdale), became in reality the 
 occasion of a most lamentable division among the 
 presbyterians. The two great objections which were 
 made against it were, 1st, That it implied an acknow- 
 
1669.J THE INDULGENCE. 13-5 
 
 ledgment of the erastian supremacy claimed by the 
 king and the government over the church. 2(7, That 
 it imposed restrictions on ministerial liberty, by 
 confining the ministers within certain bounds, and 
 forbidding, under the name of sedition, all condem- 
 nation of the late innovations in church and state. 
 Several of the ministers, anxious to resume their 
 labours, were induced to accept it, declaring, that 
 they held themselves responsible for the exercise of 
 their ministry, not to the king, but to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, from whom they received it; and promising 
 to behave themselves in the exercise of it with all 
 becoming prudence. They argued, that this ac- 
 ceptance was merely embracing the liberty to preach, 
 which belonged to them of right, and no more im- 
 plied a recognition of the supremacy claimed by the 
 civil powers who granted it, than a prisoner's walk- 
 ing out of his cell to the liberty of which he had 
 been unjustly deprived, implied an acknowledgment 
 of the authority by which he had been imprisoned. 
 They were less successful, however, in reconciling 
 with their former vows their submission to the re- 
 strictions imposed on their ministry. We should 
 judge charitably as to their motives, considering the 
 circumstances; but it is much to be questioned how 
 far their compliance was consistent with the prin- 
 ciples of presbyterianism, and how far they could be 
 justified in accepting of this boon, while their breth- 
 ren who refused were exposed to severe hardships 
 in consequence of their compliance. There can be 
 no doubt that the example of those who accepted 
 became a powerful argument with the persecutors, 
 against all who conscientiously refused the indul- 
 gence, and who were stigmatized thenceforth on this 
 
136 THE BISHOPS 1 EVANGELISTS. [1670. 
 
 account, as impracticable bigots, condemned even 
 by their own brethren. 
 
 With respect to the indulgence itself, it was 
 neither calculated to reconcile the divisions of the 
 country, the elements of which still raged in the form 
 of bitter antipathies between the supporters of pres- 
 bytery and episcopacy nor was the measure agree- 
 able to either of the parties. The bishops dro:aded 
 it as the forerunner of their downfal, and were only 
 reconciled to it by the artifices of Sharp, who pro- 
 mised to have it so clogged with restrictions, from 
 time to time, as to convert it into " a snare and a 
 bone of contention to the presbyterians." In this 
 he succeeded so well, that within a few years a com- 
 plete breach took place between the indulged and 
 non-indulged, the latter of whom charged the former 
 with defection and perjury, and became almost as 
 much alienated from '" the king^s curates,"" as tiiey 
 called them, as from " the bishops 1 curates." 
 
 In the same spirit of accommodation, another plan 
 was attempted, with as little success, in the follow- 
 ing year (1670). Finding that the people, notwith- 
 standing all the laws passed against deserting their 
 parish churches, still preferred the services of the 
 non-indulged presbyterians, the council resolved to 
 send a deputation to the west, composed of the ablest 
 and subtlest of the episcopal clergymen, to try if 
 they could effect by reasoning and cajolery, what 
 they had failed to do by force of arms. Leighton, 
 now archbishop of Glasgow, took an active part in 
 this negotiation, being anxious to employ lenient 
 measures, with the view of uniting the presbyterians 
 and episcopalians. The deputation consisted of six 
 members, among whom the chief personage who figur- 
 
1670.] THE BISHOPS 1 EVANGELISTS. 137 
 
 ed in the debates which ensued was Gilbert Burnet, 
 afterwards bishop of Salisbury; another was Mr. 
 James Aird, commonly called bishop Leighton's ape, 
 " because he could imitate his shrug and grimace, 
 but never more of him;"* the rest were obscure cha- 
 racters, of whom nobody had ever heard before. The 
 common people called them " the bishops 1 evange- 
 lists. 11 There never was a more complete failure 
 than this attempt to convert the presbyterians. They 
 could never gather a congregation, and never pre- 
 tended to have made a single proselyte. The people, 
 familiarized with the points of the controversy, were 
 able to answer all the arguments which " the bishops 1 
 evangelists 11 could produce, and stood firm to their 
 principles, unabashed by the presence of the noble- 
 men who accompanied the deputation, and steadily 
 refusing the offers of money by which they attempt- 
 ed to bribe the poorer classes to hear the curates. 
 " The poor of the country, 11 says Burnet, " came 
 generally to hear us, though not in great crowds. 
 We were indeed amazed to see a poor commonalty 
 so capable to argue upon points of government, and 
 on the bounds to be set to the power of princes in 
 matters of religion : upon all these topics they had 
 texts of Scripture at hand, and were ready with 
 their answers to anything that was said to them. 
 This measure of knowledge was spread even among 
 the meanest of them, their cottagers and their ser- 
 vants. 11 ^ " So, 11 says another, " they return disap- 
 pointed of that senseless wyle, the like of which they 
 never essayed, first or last, but only this once 
 force and cruelty being their ordinary arguments. 11 ]: 
 
 * Kirkton, p. '294. f Hist., i. 451. 
 
 J Memoirs of Blackader, p. 16'9. 
 
138 THE ACCOMMODATION. [1670. 
 
 Disappointed in this obj'ect, archbishop Leigh- 
 ton, in the end of this year, introduced his famous 
 Accommodation, the object of which was to reconcile 
 presbyterianism with a moderate episcopacy. The 
 meetings of presbytery were to be kept up, as they 
 had been previous to 1638; the bishop was to be 
 constant president or moderator, but to waive the 
 right of putting a negative on their proceedings; in 
 other respects, the form of episcopacy was to be main- 
 tained, and no minister was to be ordained or in- 
 ducted without his presence. In short, the bishop 
 was to govern the church, in conjunction with infe- 
 rior presbyters in presbyteries and synods. It was 
 easily seen, from the very first, that this was a mere 
 snare to entrap the presbyterians into subjection to 
 the bishops ; it was materially the same with the 
 old device of constant moderator, by which king James 
 formerly introduced episcopacy; and submission to 
 it, after prelacy had been so solemnly condemned 
 and abjured by the church of Scotland, would have 
 involved them in a shameful breach of vows, for 
 which no example could bo drawn from the prac- 
 tice of their fathers. Long conferences were held with 
 the ministers on this subject, but without success; nor 
 can we, after all that has been said about the stiff- 
 ness and bigotry of the presbyterians, either wonder 
 at or wail over the result. Such compromising mea- 
 sures are seldom conceived in good faith, or follow- 
 ed with happy consequences. Episcopalians there 
 have been, and there are, like archbishop Lcighton, 
 with whom we would delight to live in fellowship, 
 and for whom we " would even dare to die." But, as 
 systems of policy, prelacy and presbytery arc plainly 
 incapable of amalgamation; the genius of the one is 
 
1670.J THE ACCOMMODATION. 139 
 
 directly opposed to that of the other; and any plan 
 of accommodation must necessarily involve the sacri- 
 fice, on one side or on the other, of principles essential 
 to their proper efficiency. . Besides, the real design 
 of the accommodation was not union, but the extinc- 
 tion of presbytery; and had our ancestors yielded 
 to it, prelacy would certainly have triumphed. The 
 motives of Leighton we are not disposed to suspect: 
 it would appear that he was actuated by a sincere de- 
 sire to produce peace: but it is equally undeniable 
 that, with all his readiness to concede, he was a keen 
 supporter of episcopal authority, and contemplated, 
 as the result of his measure, its ultimate ascendency. 
 Burnet speaks highly in praise of the part which the 
 archbishop and he acted in this affair; but he adds : 
 " Thus was their treaty broke off, to the amazement 
 of all sober and dispassionate people, and to the 
 great joy of Sharp, and the rest of the bishops, who 
 now, for a while, seemed even pleased with us (that is, 
 Leighton and Burnet), because we had all along as- 
 serted episcopacy, and had pleaded for it in a high and 
 positive strain" How could he then find fault with the 
 opposite party for asserting presbytery, and pleading 
 for it in as " high and positive a strain ?" And what 
 peace could be expected from a union, in which both 
 parties were allowed to hold such conflicting opinions ! 
 " The reproaches," says one of the presbyterian 
 ministers employed in this conference, which was 
 managed by them with the utmost candour and good 
 temper " the reproaches of ungovernable and un- 
 peaceable may indeed be bitter unto ingenuous spirits, 
 let be sincere lovers of the Prince of peace; and the 
 persecution of men may possibly proceed to afflict 
 and vex; but seeing that, through Satan's and the 
 
140 INCREASE OF FIELD-MEETINGS. [1670. 
 
 world's known enmity against the Lord and all his 
 followers, these things are, in place of the oppro- 
 brium, become rather the badge of truth, only let 
 our conversation be as becometh the gospel, and let 
 us stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving 
 together for the pure ordinances of God's house once 
 given unto us, nothing terrified by our adversaries. 
 There is, I confess, one temptation, which doth more 
 speciously insinuate, and that is, the loss of the 
 liberty of the gospel, which men may possibly, in 
 their displeasure, abridge or totally take from us. 
 But as this solicitude is not more praiseworthy, when 
 devolved on our Lord and Master, than subtilely 
 deceitful, when its application is, Spare thyself; so 
 let none of these things move us, neither let us reckon 
 our lives dear unto ourselves, so that we may finish 
 our course with joy, and the ministry which we have 
 received of the Lord Jesus. Let, therefore, truth, 
 simplicity, and godly sincerity be our main study, 
 and faith and entire submission our only establish- 
 ment; knowing, and on this resting, that not only 
 our peace here shall be our portion, and the end 
 everlasting life; but that God can as easily of our 
 ashes raise up ministers to himself, as of stones child- 
 ren to Abraham. 1 ' 1 * 
 
 The effects of the indulgence, so coolly anticipated 
 by Sharp, soon began to appear. Before this time, 
 field-meetings had been very rare, and were held, 
 for the most part, in private houses or barns; now, 
 however, they began to be held in the open fields, 
 and were resorted to by great multitudes from all 
 quarters. The ministers who officiated were those 
 who had refused the indulgence, or to whom, from 
 * Case of the Accommodation Examined, p. 96. 
 
1670.] ARMED CONVENTICLES. 141 
 
 their known hostility to the prelatic government, 
 the benefits of that act were not extended. In 
 those times, few gentlemen rode to any distance 
 unarmed, and as many of them brought their weapons 
 to the field-meetings, though merely for personal 
 defence, the bishops began to represent them as 
 tumultuary assemblages, and " rendezvouses for re- 
 bellion." Among the first " armed conventicles," as 
 they were termed, was one kept by Mr. Blackader 
 and Mr. Dickson at Beath Hill, above Dunfermline, 
 on the 18th of June 1670. An immense multitude 
 had assembled. While the minister was preaching, 
 a lieutenant of militia came up on horseback, evi- 
 dently with the view of reconnoitring, and was in 
 the act of riding off to bring up his troops, when 
 some of the gentlemen told him very civilly to wait 
 till the service was over. The officer began to 
 bluster, when one of the gentlemen, drawing his 
 pistol, told him, that unless he remained quiet, he 
 would shoot him on the spot; so that he found him- 
 self obliged to sit peaceably on his horse, until public 
 worship was concluded, when he was set at liberty. 
 Exaggerated accounts of this " horrid insult " were 
 speedily conveyed to Edinburgh; the ruling powers 
 took the alarm, and immediately the severest edicts 
 were passed against " conventicles." All field-meet- 
 ings were made treasonable, and in the case of the 
 ministers, it was declared capital if any were pre- 
 sent at them a piece of blood-thirsty legislation, 
 which the king is said to have condemned, and which 
 was not, for some time at least, carried into execu- 
 tion. 
 
 Instead of repressing conventicles, all the efforts 
 employed by government only seemed to augment 
 
142 COVENANTERS' COMMUNION. [1677. 
 
 their number, and increase the boldness of those who 
 frequented them. Ever since the severities exercised 
 on those who w,ere at Pentland, the cause of prelacy 
 had been on the decline; the people, who were almost 
 to a man against the indulgence, began to leave the 
 churches empty, and follow the proscribed preachers, 
 whom they admired for the zeal, the fidelity, and the 
 freedom with which they delivered their message. 
 They still disclaimed all designs except self-defence 
 in the enjoyment of their religious privileges; but 
 they met in such numbers and array, as to set the 
 militia at defiance. On one occasion, a very large 
 meeting was held within sight of the palace of arch- 
 bishop Sharp. The effect of these services was very 
 remarkable; the ministers were visibly countenanced 
 in their labours, and instances are on record of the 
 most abandoned characters, and even of the troopers 
 themselves, who had come to disturb the meeting, 
 having been suddenly struck with conviction, and 
 brought to repentance. 
 
 In course of time they began to celebrate the 
 communion also in the open fields; and these were 
 indeed, to the weary wanderers, many of whom had 
 suffered for their love to the gospel, "times of re- 
 freshing from the presence of the Lord." The fol- 
 lowing account of one of these communions, held at 
 East Nisbet in the Merse, is drawn by Mr. John 
 Blackader, who was a leading minister on the occa- 
 sion which he describes, and will afford a better idea 
 of the scenes to which we refer than any ideal pic- 
 ture: 
 
 "Meantime, the communion elements had been pre- 
 pared, and the people in Tcviotdale advertised. Mr. 
 Welsh and Mr. Riddell had reached the place on 
 
1677.] COVENANTERS' COMMUNION. 143 
 
 Saturday. When Mr. Blackader arrived, he found 
 a great assembly, and still gathering from all airts. 
 The people from the east brought reports that caused 
 great alarm. It was rumoured that the earl of 
 Hume, as ramp a youth as any in the country, in- 
 tended to assault the meeting with his men and mi- 
 litia, and that parties of the regulars were coming 
 to assist him. He had profanely threatened to make 
 their horses drink the communion wine, and trample the 
 sacred elements underfoot. Most of the gentry there, 
 and even the commonalty, were ill-set. Upon this 
 we drew hastily together about seven or eight score 
 of horse, on the Saturday, equipped with such furni- 
 ture as they had. Pickets of twelve or sixteen men 
 were appointed to reconnoitre and ride towards the 
 suspected parts. Single horsemen were despatched 
 to greater distances, to view the country and give 
 warning in case of attack. The remainder of the 
 horse were drawn round, to be a defence, at such 
 distance as they might hear sermon, and be ready to 
 act, if need be. Every means was taken to compose 
 the multitude from needless alarm, and prevent, 
 in a harmless defensive way, any affront that might 
 be offered to so solemn and sacred a work. Though 
 many, of their own accord, had provided for their 
 safety and this was the more necessary when they 
 had to stay three together, sojourning by the lions' 1 
 dens, and the mountains of leopards yet none had 
 come armed with hostile intentions. 
 
 " We entered on the administration of the holy 
 ordinance, committing it and ourselves to the invisi- 
 ble protection of the Lord of hosts, in whose name 
 we were met together. Our trust was in the arm 
 of Jehovah, which was better than weapons of 
 
144 COVENANTERS 1 COMMUNION. [1677. 
 
 war, or the strength of hills. The place where we 
 convened was every way commodious, and seemed 
 to have been formed on purpose. It was a green 
 and pleasant haugh, fast by the water side (the 
 Whittader). On either hand there was a spa- 
 cious brae, in form of a half round, covered with de- 
 lightful pasture, and rising with a gentle slope to a 
 goodly height. Above us was the clear blue sky, 
 for it was a sweet and calm Sabbath morning, pro- 
 mising to be indeed one of the days of the Son of 
 man. There was a solemnity in the place befitting 
 the occasion, and elevating the whole soul to a pure 
 and holy frame. The communion tables were spread 
 on the green by the water, and around them the 
 people had arranged themselves in decent order. 
 But the far greater multitude sat on the brae face, 
 which was crowded from top to bottom full as 
 pleasant a sight as ever was seen of that sort. 
 Each day at the congregation's dismissing, the minis- 
 ters with their guards, and as many of the people as 
 could, retired to their quarters in three several 
 country towns, where they might be provided with 
 necessaries. The horsemen drew up in a body till 
 the people left the place, and then marched in goodly 
 array behind at a little distance, until all were safely 
 lodged in their quarters. In the morning, when the 
 people returned to the meeting, the horsemen accom- 
 panied them: all the three parties met a mile from the 
 spot, and marched in a full body to the consecrated 
 ground. The congregation being all fairly settled 
 in their places, the guardsmen took their several 
 stations, as formerly. These accidental volunteers 
 seemed to have been the gift of Providence, and they 
 secured the peace and quiet of the audience; for 
 
1677.] COVENANTERS'" COMMUNION. 145 
 
 from Saturday morning, when the work began, until 
 Monday afternoon, we suffered not the least affront or 
 molestation from enemies; which appeared wonderful. 
 At first there was some apprehension, but the people 
 sat undisturbed, and the whole was closed in as 
 orderly a way as it had been in the time of Scot- 
 land's brightest noon. And truly the spectacle of so 
 many grave, composed, and devout faces, must have 
 struck the adversaries with awe, and been more 
 formidable than any outward ability of fierce looks 
 and warlike array. We desired not the countenance 
 of earthly kings ; there was a spiritual and divine 
 Majesty shining on the work, and sensible evidence 
 that the great Master of assemblies was present in 
 the midst. It was indeed the doing of the Lord, who 
 covered us a table in the wilderness, in presence of 
 our foes; and reared a pillar of glory between us and 
 the enemy, like the fiery cloud of old that separated 
 between the camp of Israel and the Egyptians en- 
 couraging to the one, but dark and terrible to the 
 other. Though our vows were not offered within 
 the courts of God's house, they wanted not sincerity 
 of heart, which is better than the reverence of sanc- 
 tuaries. Amidst the lonely mountains we remem- 
 bered the words of our Lord, that true worship was 
 not peculiar to Jerusalem or Samaria that the 
 beauty of holiness consisted not in consecrated build- 
 ings or material temples. We remembered the ark 
 of the Israelites which had sojourned for years in 
 the desert, with no dwelling-place but the taber- 
 nacle of the plain. We thought of Abraham and 
 the ancient patriarchs who laid their victims on the 
 rocks for an altar, and burnt sweet incense under 
 the shade of the green tree 
 
1 46 COVENANTERS'" COMMUNION. [1 677. 
 
 " The ordinance of the last supper, that memo- 
 rial of His dying love till his second coming, was 
 signally countenanced and backed with power and 
 refreshing influence from above. Blessed be God, 
 for he hath visited and confirmed his heritage when 
 it was weary. In that day Zion put on the beauty 
 of Sharon and Carmel ; the mountains broke forth 
 into singing, and the desert place was made to bud 
 and blossom as the rose. Few such days were seen 
 in the desolate church of Scotland; and few will ever 
 witness the like. There was a rich eifusion of the 
 Spirit shed abroad in many hearts; their souls, filled 
 with heavenly transports, seemed to breathe in a 
 diviner element, and to burn upwards, as with the 
 fire of a pure and holy devotion. The ministers 
 were visibly assisted to speak home to the conscience 
 of the hearers. It seemed as if God had touched 
 their lips with a live coal from off his altar; for they 
 who witnessed declared, they carried more like am- 
 br ssadors from the court of heaven, than men cast 
 in earthly mould. 
 
 " The tables were served by some gentlemen and 
 persons of the gravest deportment. None were ad- 
 mitted without tokens, as usual, which were distri- 
 buted on the Saturday, but only to such as were 
 known to some of the ministers, or persons of trust, 
 to be free of public scandals. All the regular forms 
 were gone through. The communicants entered at 
 one end, and retired at the other, a way being kept 
 clear to take their seats again on the hill-side. Mr. 
 Welsh preached the action sermon and served the 
 first two tables, as he was ordinarily put to do, on 
 such occasions. The other four ministers, Mr. 
 Blackader, Mr. Dickson, Mr. Riddell, and Mr. Rae, 
 
1677.] COVENANTERS 1 COMMUNION. H7 
 
 exhorted the rest in their turn; the table service 
 was closed by Mr. Welsh with solemn thanksgiving; 
 and solemn it was, and sweet and edifying, to see the 
 gravity and composure of all present, as well as of 
 all parts of the service. The communion was peace- 
 ably concluded, all the people heartily offering up 
 their gratitude, and singing with a joyful voice to 
 the Rock of their salvation. It was pleasant, as 
 the night fell, to hear their melody swelling in full 
 unison along the hill ; the whole congregation joining 
 with one accord, and praising God with the voice 
 of psalms. 
 
 " There were two long tables, and one short, across 
 the head, with seats on each side. About a 
 hundred sat at every table. There were sixteen 
 tables in all, so that about three thousand two hun- 
 dred communicated that day."* 
 
 We are unwilling to injure, by any reflections of 
 ours, the impression which this beautiful and au- 
 thentic description of a Scottish covenanters' coftt- 
 numion is fitted to leave on the reader. But we 
 cannot conclude the present chapter without observ- 
 ing how much their enemies have belied these brave, 
 pious, and much-enduring men, when they represent 
 them as animated by the spirit of the gloomiest 
 bigotry and the wildest fanaticism enemies to all 
 civil order, and strangers to everything that can 
 humanize and exalt mankind. We have seen how 
 peaceful, how holy, how harmless, their intentions 
 were; and after reading such a description from 
 the pen of an old presbyterian minister, can we 
 suppose they were really men of coarse and vulgar 
 
 * Blackader's Mem., MSS. Adv. Lib. ; Cricliton's Memoirs of Black- 
 ader, pp. 198-205. 
 
 VOL. II. K 
 
1 48 REFLECTIONS. 
 
 m'nds, so incapable of relishing the beauties of exter- 
 nal nature, or entering into the finer feelings of the 
 heart, as they have been represented ? Even in a 
 literary point of view, it is exquisitely fine, and pre- 
 sents a striking contrast to the rant and extrava- 
 gance usually put into the mouths of the covenanters. 
 And on contemplating such a scene as that now de- 
 scribed, the reflection is apt to rise Were these the 
 men who, in a few years afterwards, were trampled on 
 by the dragoons of the bloody Claverhouse, shot in the 
 fields, or dragged as felons to attest, by a more igno- 
 minious death on the scaffold, how dearly they loved, 
 and how deeply they feared, the God of their fathers? 
 If, in after years, some were driven by oppression 
 almost literally mad if, hunted from mountain to 
 moor, and from moor to mountain, they gave way 
 to excesses, with which, in the hour of cool reflec- 
 tion, and in the day of peace, we cannot sympathize, 
 these certainly cannot be traced either to the cha- 
 racter of the men or the religion they professed ; but 
 to the ruthless violence and tyranny of their enemies, 
 who were thus rendered responsible, not only for 
 the blood they shed, but for those very excesses 
 which they made the pretext for shedding it. 
 
 It may be interesting to state here, that of the five 
 ministers who officiated at this communion, and who 
 held frequent meetings of the same kind, four were 
 afterwards imprisoned on the Bass rock, namely, 
 Messrs. Blackader, Dickson, lliddell, and llae; the 
 other, Mr. John Welsh, though the most active at 
 these conventicles, they could never catch. Mr. 
 Blackader, the amiable, the undaunted, and the 
 faithful minister who drew the above description, 
 died in the Bass, in his seventieth year, of a dis- 
 
REFLECTIONS. 149 
 
 temper, contracted in that damp and unwholesome 
 prison. His only crime was, that he had preached 
 at these conventicles, and that he would not submit 
 to any restrictions on his ministerial freedom. And 
 yet none of these men advocated extreme measures. 
 They belonged to what was termed " the moderate 
 party" among the presby terians ; and declined to 
 take part with those who threw, off all allegiance to 
 the government and all communion with those who 
 accepted the indulgence. When sir Robert Hamil- 
 ton, who headed the small party afterwards known 
 as Cameronians, ordered them to preach against the 
 indulgence, Mr. Rae, in name of the rest, replied, 
 " that he had been wrestling against Erastianism in 
 the magistrate for many years, and he would never 
 truckle to the worst kind of JErastianism in the com- 
 mon people that he would receive no instructions 
 from him nor any of them as to the matter of his 
 sermons; and wished Hamilton might mind what 
 belonged to him, and not go beyond his sphere and 
 
 station."* 
 
 * Wodrow, vol. iii., p. 93. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 The blinks Trial and execution of Mitchell Assassination of arch- 
 bishop Sharp Severe proceedings against the presbyterians Sir 
 George Mackenzie Graham .of Claverhouse The Highland host 
 The Cess The skirmish at Drumclog Battle of Bothwell Bridge. 
 
 THE interval between 1669, when the indulgence was 
 introduced, and 1679, the year immediately preced- 
 ing that on which we now enter, was a period of 
 comparative quiet to the presbyterians, who, though 
 still molested in various ways for their nonconformity, 
 continued, notwithstanding the severe edicts passed 
 against them from time to time, to convene in large 
 numbers for public worship in the open fields. Many 
 of the landed proprietors and tenantry suffered 
 severely from the fines imposed on them for this 
 offence, but they took joyfully the spoiling of their 
 goods; and the brief intervals of peace, during 
 which they were permitted to enjoy the precious or- 
 dinances of religion, and which were emphatically 
 termed, in rustic phrase, the blinks, amply compen- 
 sated for the passing storms that preceded and fol- 
 lowed them. Hitherto these meetings, or conventicles, 
 as they were called, though held in wild and unfre- 
 quented parts of the country, and attended by some 
 
1674.] TRIAL OF MITCHELL. 151 
 
 in arms for self-defence, had been conducted with 
 all the decorum of a worshipping assembly collected 
 within the walls of a chapel. As we advance, how- 
 ever, the scene assumes a sterner aspect. Through 
 the unrelenting violence of persecution, these decent 
 congregations were transformed into what their per- 
 secutors had at first, either from terror or in malice, 
 falsely represented them to be battalions of armed 
 men, resolved to defy opposition, and prepared to 
 take the field against their aggressors. 
 
 Several causes concurred to produce this change. 
 By a series of oppressive measures, the minds of the 
 people at large had become soured against the go- 
 vernment, and particularly against the bishops, whom 
 they regarded as the chief instigators of all these 
 proceedings. But certain incidents, originating in 
 the imbittered feelings of individuals, prepared for 
 the explosion. Among these may be mentioned, 
 the cruel treatment and execution of James Mit- 
 chell, the preacher, who, some years before, had 
 attempted the life of archbishop Sharp. How he 
 had contrived to elude his pursuers since that dar- 
 ing exploit, we are not informed; but in 1674, he 
 was recognised at a minister's funeral, and appre- 
 hended. Sharp, it is said, retained a lively recollec- 
 tion of the features of the man, but there was no 
 other proof; and though Mitchell freely confessed 
 his accession to the rising at Pentland, he would not 
 acknowledge that he was the person who made the 
 attempt on the archbishop, until he obtained an 
 assurance of his life. This was given him by the 
 chancellor, in these solemn words: " Upon my great 
 oath and reputation, if I be chancellor, I will save 
 your life." Sharp, also, is said to have sworn, with 
 
152 TRIAL OF MITCHELL. [1674. 
 
 uplifted hand, that no harm should come to him, if 
 he made a full discovery.* Upon these assurances 
 Mitchell made a full confession. Having thus in- 
 duced him to become his own accuser, the council 
 consulted what should be done with him. Some 
 were for cutting off his right hand; others, alleging 
 that he might learn to practise with his left, pro- 
 posed that both hands should be amputated ; others, 
 that he should be sent to the Bass rock, now used as 
 a place of confinement for the covenanters. Previous 
 to this, however, it was thought necessary to make 
 him repeat his confession in a court of judicature. 
 On being brought up for this purpose, the judge, who 
 was no friend to Sharp, whispered to the prisoner 
 in passing to the bench, " Confess nothing, unless 
 you are sure of your limbs as well as your life." 
 Alarmed at this suggestion, and knowing that his 
 former confession, being extrajudicial, could not be 
 legal evidence against him, Mitchell refused to re- 
 peat or judicially subscribe it. The council pre- 
 tended to take offence at this, and passed an act, in 
 which, after stating the fact that the prisoner " did 
 confess upon his knees that he was the person, upon 
 assurance given him by one of the committee as to his 
 life, who had warrant from the lord commissioner and 
 secret council to give the same? they declare that since 
 he had retracted his confession, they likewise recalled 
 their promise of pardon; "the meaning of which," 1 
 says Burnet, " was this, that if any other evidence 
 was brought against him, the promise should not 
 cover him; but it was still understood, that this 
 promise secured him from any ill effect by his own 
 confession. "-f- 
 
 * Bui-net's Hist., i. 17G. t Ib., i. 177. 
 
1676.J TORTURE OF MITCHELL. 153 
 
 Whatever the understanding of the council might 
 be, Mitchell was sent to the tolbooth, where he lay 
 for two years, forgotten by all but Sharp, who could 
 not rest in peace so long as his enemy was in life. 
 In 1676, he was again brought before the council, to 
 be examined by torture concerning his share in the 
 Pentland insurrection. The firmness with which 
 the prisoner bore this shocking and disgraceful 
 treatment, invested his character with an impor- 
 tance which did not otherwise belong to it. He 
 boldly refused to become his own accuser. " Sir," 
 cried the president, pointing to the loots lying on 
 the table before him, " we will cause a sharper 
 thing make you confess you see what is on the 
 table !" " My lord," said Mitchell, " I confess that 
 by torture you may cause me to blaspheme God, as 
 Saul did compel the saints; but if you shall, my lord, 
 put me to it, I here protest before God and your 
 lordships, that nothing thus extorted from me shall 
 be made use of against me in judgment. To be 
 plain with you, my lords, I am so much of a Chris- 
 tian, that whatever your lordships shall legally prove 
 against me, if it be a truth I shall not deny it; but. 
 on the other hand, I am so much of a man and a 
 Scotsman, that I can never hold myself obliged bv 
 the law of God, nature, or the nation, to become 
 mine own accuser/ 1 The executioner was called, and 
 having bound the prisoner in an arm-chair, he asked 
 which of the legs he should put in the boot. They 
 said he might take any of them he pleased ; and he 
 was about to select the left one, when Mitchell said, 
 " Since the judges have not determined, take the 
 best of the two, for I freely bestow it in the cause," 
 and put his right leg in the engine. " My lords," 
 
154 EXECUTION OF MITCHELL. [1678. 
 
 he then said, " not knowing that I shall escape this 
 torture with my life, I beseech you to remember, he 
 who showeth no mercy shall have judgment without 
 mercy. And I do entreat that God may never lay 
 it to the charge of any of you, as I beg that he may 
 be pleased, for his Son Christ's sake, to blot out my 
 sins, and never lay them to my charge, here or here- 
 after." Nine strokes were given to the wedges of tho 
 horrid instrument, and after every stroke, to the 
 question if he had any more to say, he replied, " No 
 more, my lord." At the ninth he fainted, through 
 agony, and the executioner exclaimed, " Alas ! my 
 lord, he is gone, he is gone;" upon which he was car- 
 ried to prison in the chair in which he had suffered. 
 He was afterwards sent to the Bass; and two 
 years longer did this maimed prisoner, against whom 
 nothing had as yet been legally proved, lie in con- 
 finement, till, Sharp being determined to have his life, 
 he was brought to trial in January 1678. The 
 prisoner's counsel pleaded in his behalf the promise 
 of life which had been given him; but, to the asto- 
 nishment of the whole country, it was confidently 
 denied by Rothes, the chancellor, and the other lords 
 of council, that any such promise had been made. 
 Sharp, likewise, solemnly denied that he had given 
 any such assurance, and that, too, in the face of the 
 deposition of the person to whom he had made it. 
 It was then proposed to examine the registers of the 
 council, to ascertain the fact; but Lauderdale said 
 he was sure it was not possible, and would not give 
 himself the trouble to look for it. Mitchell was 
 condemned to suffer death; and as soon as the court 
 broke up, their lordships went up stairs, where, to 
 be sure, they found the act recorded, and signed by 
 
1678.] EXECUTION OF MITCHELL. 155 
 
 Rothes, as president of the council. Some proposals 
 were then made for a reprieve; but Sharp insisted 
 that the sentence should be fulfilled, on the ground 
 that if favour were shown to such an assassin, it 
 would be, in effect, exposing his person to any man 
 who would attempt to murder him." " Then," said 
 Lauderdale, with his usual coarseness, " let Mitchell 
 glorify God in the Grassmarket."* And there, ac- 
 cordingly, he was executed on the 18th of January, 
 submitting to his fate with the utmost heroism and 
 resignation.-f* 
 
 We cannot be expected to vindicate the crime 
 with which this person stood charged. Had it been 
 legally proved against him, his ignominious end was 
 no more than what the law demanded, and little 
 more could have been said, than that this was an- 
 other added to the list, if not of martyrs to the truth, 
 at least of victims to the tyranny by which the truth 
 was oppressed. With the exception of this one rash 
 act, perpetrated under mistaken notions of duty, 
 the character of the man seems to have been irre- 
 proachable, notwithstanding the aspersions of those 
 who have attempted to vindicate the judges by black- 
 ening the reputation of the criminal. I But even 
 had Mitchell been as unprincipled as they would re- 
 present him, this could never justify the shameful 
 breach of public faith and perversion of justice mani- 
 fested in his treatment. 
 
 * Burnet, i. 181. 
 
 f Wodrow, i. 375-377, and 510-513, fol. ; Naphtali, App. 
 
 We allude to Dr. Hicks, Lauderdale's chaplain, and to the writer of 
 a scurrilous pamphlet, published after the revolution, which was filled 
 with such notorious falsehoods, that even Hicks disclaimed it publicly, 
 but which falsehoods have been repeated ~by Mr. C. K. Sharpe, in his 
 edition of Kirkton's History. (See Wodrow, ii. 454.) 
 
 g " And thus," says Fountainhall, " they hunted this poor man to 
 
156 ASSASSINATION OP SHARP. [1679. 
 
 On this tale of perfidy and cruelty we would not 
 have dwelt so long, had it not been closely connected 
 with another deadly tragedy. We refer to the 
 assassination of archbishop Sharp. The details of 
 this transaction are too well known; for it has been 
 the policy of the enemies of our presbyterian ances- 
 tors to paint it in the most hideous colours, and 
 bring it forward on all occasions, as quite sufficient 
 to justify all the severities they suffered, and verify 
 all the calumnies heaped upon them. The circum- 
 stances of the case, in which the accounts on both 
 sides materially agree, were briefly and simply these: 
 A fellow of the name of Carmichael, a bankrupt 
 merchant, and once a bailie in Edinburgh, had long 
 acted in Fifeshire as a subordinate agent of Sharp, 
 in prosecuting the nonconformists. Jn this office 
 Carmichael recommended himself by his extreme 
 
 death, a prey not worthy of so much pains, trouble, and obloquy, as they 
 incurred by it; and some of their own friends and well-wishers desired 
 they had never dipt in it, but only kept him in perpetual imprisonment ; 
 for it made a wonderful noise in the country, who generally believed the 
 law was stretched to get his neck stretched, and they feared prepara- 
 tives; and satires and bitter verses immediately flew abroad like hornets 
 in great swarms, which were caressed and pleasantly received, speaking 
 much acrimony, and an almost universal discontent. He was but a 
 simple melancholy man, and owns the fact, in the papers he left behind 
 him, as an impulse of the Spirit of (rod, and justifies it from Phinehas 
 killing Cosbi and Zimri, and from that law in Deuteronomy command- 
 ing to kill false prophets that seduced the people from the true God. 
 This is a dangerous principle, and asserted Jiy no sober presbyterian. On 
 the scaffold they beat drums when he began to touch the chancellor. 
 They say major Johnston undertook to stab him, if he had attempted to 
 escape, or any had offered to rescue him. The secret council would 
 have given him ane Teprieviill, if the archbishop would have consented." 
 (FovntainhalTs Historical Xntic.es of Scottish Affairs, MS., p. 184.) This 
 work is now in course of publication by the Bannatyne Club. All the 
 facts stated in the text are confirmed by Fountainhall, who represents the 
 conduct of Sharp and the council in a light still more odious than is 
 done in the text. (Hist. Notices, p. 182, etseq. See also his Historical 
 Oliserves, App. No. 3.) 
 
]679.] ASSASSINATION OF SHARP. 157 
 
 severity, harassing, fining, torturing, and imprison- 
 ing men, women, and children. From these oppres- 
 sions it was vain to seek redress ; they were inflicted 
 under the sanction of that very law to which, in 
 other circumstances, the sufferers would have had 
 recourse for protection; and, with their spirits fretted 
 and chafed by the atrocities of this minion of op- 
 pression, they were driven to adopt a mode of relief 
 which can never be vindicated, and from which they 
 themselves would, in better times, have recoiled. 
 On the 3d of May 1679, twelve persons, including 
 some gentlemen of good family, met together, and 
 resolved to rid themselves of Carmichael by putting 
 him to death, or at least by frightening him from 
 that part of the country.* While watching for their 
 victim, they were unexpectedly apprized that the 
 archbishop himself was in the neighourhood, and 
 would shortly pass that way. In their excited and 
 enthusiastic state, they looked upon this substitu- 
 tion as a sort of providential call upon them to free 
 the country from one whom they justly regarded as 
 the principal cause of all the bloodshed and oppres- 
 sions of their brethren. " It seems," said they, 
 abusing the language of scripture, " that the Lord 
 hath delivered him into our hands." During the 
 hurried consultation which ensued, about mid-day, 
 in a place called Magus Moor, near St. Andrews, 
 
 * Among these the principal persons were David Hackston of 
 Rathillet, and John Balfour, or Burley, as he was sometimes called 
 both brave men though it does not appear that Balfour was a religious 
 character, which Hackston certainly was. James Russell, another of 
 the conspirators, who afterwards drew up an account of the transaction, 
 was " a man of a hot and fiery spirit," and appears to have been the 
 chief instigator of the attack on the archbishop. The whole of them 
 may be justly termed enthusiasts, and no fair specimen of the sober and 
 serious portion of the presbyterian population. 
 
158 ASSASSINATION OF SHARP. [1679. 
 
 the carriage of the archbishop drove up. He was 
 on his return from Edinburgh, where he had only 
 two days before succeeded, after a great struggle, 
 in prevailing on the council to agree to a severe 
 proclamation against conventicles, making it treason 
 for any to be found at field-meetings in arms; and 
 on the following week he was to have taken a journey 
 to court, to use his interest for more vigorous and 
 stringent measures against the presbyterians. The 
 bishop was accompanied by his daughter, and no 
 sooner saw the approach of the conspirators than 
 he took the alarm, and ordered the coachman to 
 drive with all possible speed. The carriage, how- 
 ever, was soon stopped the servants disarmed, and 
 the prelate sternly ordered to come out, and pre- 
 pare for death. " I take God to witness," said the 
 leader of the party, " that it is not out of any hatred 
 of your person, nor from any prejudice you have 
 done, or could do to me, that I intend now to 
 take your life ; but because you have been, and still 
 continue, an avowed opposer of the gospel and king- 
 dom of Christ, and a murderer of his saints, whose 
 blood you have shed like water." He was then re- 
 minded of his perjury and cruelty, particularly in 
 the case of James Mitchell. To all this, Sharp only 
 replied by abject entreaties for mercy. He pro- 
 mised them indemnity he offered them money he 
 even engaged to lay down his episcopal function, if 
 they would spare his life. But the conspirators had 
 gone too far to recede. They remembered his past 
 perfidy, and paid no respect to his promises; they 
 remembered his inhumanity, and told him that as 
 he had shown no mercy to others, he was to expect 
 none from them. They earnestly and repeatedly 
 
1079.] ASSASSINATION OF SHARP. 159 
 
 called on him to pray, and prepare for death; and 
 upon his refusing to do so, one of them fired upon 
 him in the coach. The wretched man was at length 
 compelled to come out, and on his knees he repeated 
 his cries for mercy, appealing particularly to Hack- 
 ston, who stood aloof, refusing to lay hands on him, 
 but declining to interfere in his behalf. One only of 
 their number pleaded for his life; the rest, after in 
 vain attempting to prevail on him to prepare for his 
 fate, fell upon him with their swords, and, in spite of 
 the frantic outcries of his daughter, despatched him 
 with numerous wounds. 
 
 It is impossible to justify this bloody and cruel 
 action on any sound principles; and the great body 
 of the presbyterians, though they regarded it with 
 awe, as the judgment of Heaven, yet viewing it as 
 the deed of man, condemned and disclaimed it. The 
 mind revolts from contemplating such a scene, and 
 the horror which it inspires is enhanced rather 
 than abated by the reflection, that the wretched 
 victim too well deserved his fate, and was hurried 
 into eternity without manifesting any signs of repen- 
 tance for his past life. From all accounts, it appears 
 that the whole affair was unpremeditated, unthought 
 of till within a few minutes of its execution; that 
 it was the deed of a few desperate and hard-driven 
 men, who acted without any concert with their 
 brethren; and that it arose from their proceeding 
 on the indefensible principle, that, the doors of 
 public justice being shut, it became the duty of pri- 
 vate individuals to execute the vengeance of God on 
 notorious oppressors of the church. At the same 
 time, it is impossible not to feel indignant at the 
 attempt of government at the time to fasten this 
 
160 ASSASSINATION OF SHARP. [1679- 
 
 crime on the whole body of Scottish presbyte- 
 rians. In a proclamation issued on the day after 
 the assassination of Sharp, after describing the 
 offence in the most exaggerated terms, it is added, 
 " Daily instances whereof we are to expect, whilst 
 field-conventicles, those rendezvouses of rebellion, 
 and forgers of all bloody and Jesuitical principles, 
 are so frequented and followed." " These field-con- 
 venticles," says Wodrow, " were hitherto as free of 
 any such doctrine as the churches were, and neither 
 taught nor vindicated this attempt upon the bishop; 
 and if we shall judge of principles from incidental 
 actions of some in a society, we know where to lodge 
 many murders in cold blood, for one alleged upon 
 the frequenters of conventicles. And as in the 
 whole of these twenty-eight years I am describing, 
 there are but four or five instances of anything like 
 assassinations attempted that I mind of, and none of 
 them ever defended i\\&i I know of; so, in a few months' 
 time, we shall find twenty times that number cut off, 
 without any process or ground, by people upon the 
 other side."* There can be no question that the 
 period was characterized by a striking disregard of 
 human life. Allowances must bo made for this on 
 both sides. But when we hear the waitings of certain 
 modern writers over the death of archbishop Sharp, 
 and the execrations which they launch, not only 
 against the actual perpetrators, but the whole of 
 the presbyterians of these times, we are tempted to 
 inquire why so much indignation should be expended 
 on this deed, while not a drop of sympathy is allowed 
 for the hundreds of poor people who were slain in 
 fields, and in cold blood, by a ruthless soldiery, for 
 
 Wodrow, i. 35, fol. 
 
1679.] ASSASSINATION OF SHARP. 161 
 
 no other crime than a bare suspicion that they were 
 whigs, or because they would not answer the en- 
 snaring questions put to them in such a way as to 
 please their military judges and executioners ? If it 
 is alleged that these persons were put to death at 
 least under the sanction of law we might answer in 
 the words of the patriotic Lord Russel, who suffered 
 shortly after this, that " killing by forms of law is 
 the worst sort of murder." And if it is because the 
 deed assumed the form of assassination, that their 
 sympathies for Sharp are so powerfully awakened, 
 we are entitled to ask, why are they not prepared to 
 manifest the same virtuous abhorrence of the same 
 crime in all similar cases?* 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that, notwithstanding all 
 
 * Where is their sympathy for Dr. Dorislaus, who, because he had 
 acted as assistant counsel against Charles I., was assassinated by twelve 
 individuals under the employment of the marquis of Montrose, while 
 he was unsuspiciously seated at table iu his lodgings at the Hague ? 
 Where is their sympathy for Ascham and others, who were shortly 
 after assassinated by the royalists ? Where is their indignation at the 
 assassination of colonel Rainsborough, with regard to which Mrs. Mac- 
 aulay remarks, that Clarendon, " to his eternal infamy, applauds every 
 circumstance of the foul, unmanly deed." (Erodie,iv. 137, 264.) And 
 what presbyterian writer has ever spoken of the death of archbishop 
 Sharp in any way approaching to the following by a royalist writer, 
 describing the assassination of captain Manning, the spy? " His treachery 
 being discovered, he was, by his majesty's command, sent to a strong 
 castle. But his perfidiousness was so highly resented at court, that one 
 of his majesty's servants (though contrary to order) pistolled him as he 
 was lighting out of the coach at the castle gate, which, though it came 
 far short of his desert, yet was not so well done, in sending the devil his 
 due before his time, and wronging the hangman of his labour." (Eng- 
 land's Triumph, p. 52.) It is Gibbon, we think, who declares he is 
 more shocked and disgusted by reading the accounts of the execution of 
 Servetus at Geneva, and the murder of archbishop Sharp, than by all 
 the tales of persecution, heathen or Christian. This frank acknowledg- 
 ment of the infidel betrays the real truth, and leaves us no room to 
 doubt that hatred to true piety, and not mere disgust at its perverted 
 form, was the real source of the feeling expressed. 
 
1 62 SEVERITIES AGAINST THE PRESBYTERIANS. [1 679. 
 
 the efforts made by the government for apprehend- 
 ing the actors in the assassination of Sharp, none 
 of those actively concerned was ever discovered. 
 Hackston, indeed, afterwards suffered; but it was for 
 his appearance in arms, not for his share in this 
 transaction. The only individual executed ex- 
 pressly for the archbishop's death, was a poor weaver 
 named Andrew Guillan, whose only share in the 
 affair was that he was called out of his house to 
 hold the horses of the actors; and even he was dis- 
 covered merely by a trick of the advocate at his trial. 
 At one of his examinations, the lawyer was aggra- 
 vating the crime, and looking to Andrew, observed 
 how shocking it was to murder the bishop when he 
 was on his knees praying. The simple man was so 
 struck with the falsehood of this, that, forgetting his 
 situation, he lifted up his hands and cried out, " O 
 dreadful! he would not pray one word for all that 
 could be said to him." This sealed his doom. But 
 the fact that such a deed should have been com- 
 mitted in open day, by such a number, and yet not 
 one of the actual perpetrators discovered, affords a 
 striking proof of the universal detestation into which 
 Sharp had fallen. 
 
 If any of the presbyterians expected the fall of 
 the archbishop to free them from persecution, they 
 were grievously mistaken. Indeed, if we may judge 
 from the consequences, we should say that Provi- 
 dence intended to teach them that it is not by such 
 methods that his church is to look for deliverance. 
 The death of Sharp occasioned more bloodshed than 
 ever he had effected during his life. For several 
 years after, the first question put to any suspected 
 of presbyterianism, was, " Do you think the death 
 
1679.] SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE. 163 
 
 of archbishop Sharp was murder?"" a question which 
 many had no hesitation in answering in the affirma- 
 tive, though others scrupled to answer it at all, 
 while some boldly declared that in their opinion it 
 could not be called murder. Those who declined 
 answering, did so partly from being indignant at 
 questions about a deed with which they had no 
 concern ; and partly because, though they themselves 
 would have had no freedom to engage in it, they 
 could not bring themselves to condemn the motives 
 of the actors, or to rank them with common mur- 
 derers.* This, however, did not avail them; their 
 silence was taken as consent to the murder, and 
 they were executed accordingly. The annals of the 
 inquisition itself may in vain be searched for intole- 
 rance equal to this that men should be condemned 
 to death, not for any crime they had done, but for 
 the thoughts they entertained, or rather for the 
 thoughts their judges presumed them to entertain, 
 about a crime committed by others! 
 
 The place of Sharp at the council board was soon 
 supplied by others animated by the same spirit, and 
 determined to prosecute the same measures with a 
 rancour heightened by revenge. Sir George Macken- 
 zie of Eosehaugh, who had been made king's advo- 
 cate the preceding year, was a person in all points 
 qualified to execute the designs of the prelates. 
 
 * Sir Walter Scott's latest opinion as to Sharp's death is as follows: 
 " Such was the progress of a violent and wicked deed, committed by 
 blinded and desperate men. It brought much scandal on the presby- 
 terians, though unjustly; for the moderate persons of that persuasion, 
 comprehending the most numerous, and by far the most respectable of 
 the body, disowned so cruel an action, although they might be at the 
 same time of opinion that the archbishop, who had been the cause of 
 many men's violent death, merited some such conclusion to his own." 
 (Tales of a Grandfather, ii. 295.) 
 VOL. II L 
 
164 SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE. | 1679. 
 
 Harsh, haughty, and tyrannical in his disposition, 
 mean and unscrupulous in his measures, and ingeni- 
 ous only in glossing over their atrocity, he was the 
 fittest instrument that could have been found to 
 execute the cruel laws under which he attempted to 
 hide and justify the malignity of his nature. Burnet 
 calls him "a slight and superficial man;" a very im- 
 perfect description of one whose errors were those of 
 the heart rather than of the head, and who is more 
 justly characterized in the indignant lines of the 
 author of " The Sabbath:" 
 
 " Whose favourite art was lying with address, 
 Whose hollow promise helped the princely hand 
 To screw confession from the tortured lips. 
 Base hypocrite ! thy character, portrayed 
 By modern history's too lenient touch, 
 Truth loves to blazon with her real tints ; 
 To limn of new thy half-forgotten name, 
 Inscribe with infamy thy time-worn tomb, 
 And make the memory hated as the man." 
 
 It may be thought strange, considering the little 
 sympathy towards the rulers at this time, how they 
 could succeed in procuring so many convictions. 
 But this is easily explained. In the first place, they 
 took special care to select the jury from such classes 
 of society or parts of the country as were most 
 favourable to their measures. Thus, at the trial of 
 Mitchell, the jury was mostly composed of disbanded 
 soldiers. Then, if any of the jurymen, as was fre- 
 quently the case, showed a reluctance to convict, 
 they were brow-beaten by the court, or threatened 
 by the king's advocate with an assize of error. This 
 relic of barbarous times was a power intrusted to 
 the public prosecutor, to bring any of the jurymen, 
 or a majority of them, to trial, for not having de- 
 
1678.] THE HIGHLAND HOST. 165 
 
 cided according to the law as laid down to them. Of 
 this absurd and tyrannical engine to intimidate the 
 jury, Mackenzie made ample use; he no sooner ob- 
 served any symptoms of hesitation, or a desire to 
 befriend the prisoners at the bar, than, with a terrific 
 frown, he would swear that if they did not give their 
 verdict according to law, he knew what to do with 
 them ! 
 
 The sacred seat of justice being thus polluted and 
 converted into an engine of tyranny, the prelates 
 found another instrument equally well adapted for 
 their purpose in the open field. We refer to John 
 Graham of Claverhouse, a name, the very sound of 
 which, till of late years, sent a shudder through 
 every Scottish breast. Later attempts to invest 
 it with the best attributes of the hero, have only 
 revived that infamy under which it will certainly de- 
 scend to the latest posterity. We shall not attempt 
 to describe the character of this person. The un- 
 varnished account of the actions of his life a life 
 spent in the pursuit of a military renown, acquired 
 by massacring, in cold blood, the helpless, unarmed, 
 and unoffending peasantry of his country will fur- 
 nish the best commentary on his character, as indeed 
 it is the only picture of the man that has been handed 
 down to us by genuine history. 
 
 Among other schemes devised by the rulers of this 
 period for provoking the presbyterians to rebellion, 
 we must not omit the invasion of the Highland host, 
 as it was called, which had taken place the preceding 
 year. The duke of York and his friends, being 
 anxious to find, or to create, some pretext for keeping 
 up a standing army in England, with the view of 
 advancing their design to restore popery, it was 
 
166 THE HIGHLAND HOST. [1678. 
 
 agreed that a body of troops, levied in the Highlands, 
 should be sent to quarter on the west country, where 
 the strongest opposition had been manifested to 
 prelacy, and where it was expected that the plunder- 
 ing habits of these half-cultivated mountaineers would 
 be sure to "stir up an insurrection. This nefarious 
 design was readily acceded to by our Scottish coun- 
 cillors, who hoped to divide among themselves the 
 estates that might be confiscated. " On Valentine's 
 day," we are told, " instead of drawing mistresses 
 they drew estates, and great joy appeared in their 
 looks upon a false alarm that was brought them of 
 an insurrection.' 1 * The more surely to effect their 
 purpose, they prepared a bond, by which all noble- 
 men, barons, and heritors, were to hold themselves 
 obliged, under the heaviest penalties, not only to 
 abstain from all conventicles themselves, but to pre- 
 vent their " tenants, wives, bairns, and servants,'' 1 
 from attending them ; and in the event of their con- 
 travening this order, -to apprehend them and bring 
 them to justice. Some of the Ayrshire nobles and 
 gentry, regarding this measure as levelled at them, 
 went up to Edinburgh to remonstrate against it; 
 which, says Burnet, " put duke Lauderdale into such 
 a frenzy, that, at the council table, he made bare his 
 arms above the elbows, and swore by Jehovah he 
 would make them enter into these bonds." Hearing 
 that they intended to represent the state of matters 
 to his majesty at London, an order was passed pro- 
 hibiting any gentleman from leaving the country with- 
 out permission from the council. Having thus made 
 their preparations, the Highland host, to the number 
 of eight thousand men, was mustered in January, 
 
 * Burnet ii. 184. 
 
1678.] THE HIGHLAND HOST. 167 
 
 1 678. Composed of " the very scum of that uncivil- 
 ized country," squalid and half-clad, and carrying with 
 them, besides the ordinary implements of war, " a 
 good store of shackles, as if they were to lead back 
 a vast number of slaves, and of thumb-locks to make 
 their examinations with," 1 they descended, like locusts, 
 into the western shires, exciting everywhere mingled 
 disgust and alarm. Being quartered upon the lieges, 
 they laid hands on all portable goods within their 
 reach, and committed every species of outrage short 
 of murder, making no distinction in their exactions 
 between those that had taken and those that had 
 refused the bond. At length, the rulers, finding their 
 object defeated, and that the people bore all without 
 showing any symptoms of insurrection, dismissed the 
 Highlanders, after a campaign of about three months, 
 laden with spoil. " When this goodly army returned 
 homeward," says Kirkton, " you would have thought, 
 by their baggage, they had been at the sack of a be- 
 sieged city; and, therefore, when they passed Stirling 
 bridge, every man drew his sword, to show the world 
 they had returned conquerors from their enemy 1 s 
 land; but they might as well have shown the pots, 
 pans, girdles, shoes, and other bodily and household 
 furniture with which they were loaded."* Those 
 who passed through Glasgow could not boast even of 
 these trophies; for, on approaching the bridge, they 
 found it blockaded by the students of the university, 
 who compelled them to disgorge their prey, and al- 
 lowed them to pass, forty at a time, as bare as they 
 had come from their native hills.-f 
 
 It will be necessary, however, to return to the west 
 country, where the invasion of the Highland host 
 
 * Kirkton, p. 390. f Wodrow, ii. 413. 
 
1G8 THE CESS. [1679. 
 
 was succeeded by oppressions, which at length exas- 
 perated the country people to resistance. Among 
 these we may notice the imposition of the cess, as it 
 was termed, a tax raised expressly for maintaining 
 the army intended to put down field-conventicles. 
 A more odious tax can hardly be conceived. 
 That they should not only be severely fined and 
 punished for attending these meetings, but com- 
 pelled to pay for the means of suppressing them, 
 was such an outrage on the feelings of the people, 
 that we might be prepared to hear it would be al- 
 most universally resisted. Yet the greater part 
 submitted to the tax, contenting themselves with a 
 protest against its use; thus declaring their readi- 
 ness to suffer for religion, if they should be called to 
 account, and at the same time avoiding even the 
 appearance of evil, by refusing the magistrate's 
 just right to levy cess and custom on the subjects. 
 This, however, proved another " bone of conten- 
 tion;" the stricter and more rigid of the presby- 
 terians considering that, by paying the cess, they 
 shared in the guilt of the purpose to which it was 
 avowedly applied. The ministers who were banished 
 to Holland loudly inveighed against the practice; and 
 it was no doubt very easy for them, placed at a dis- 
 tance from the scene of oppression, as it may be for 
 us, who are free from all such exactions, to protest 
 against those who yielded to them. But much may 
 be said in behalf of those who submitted, against 
 their will, to an imposition which they could not 
 resist, and which, had they resisted, would have 
 been wrested from them with the loss of all they 
 possessed. On the other hand, the principles upon 
 which some of the presbyterians afterwards resisted 
 
1679.] PARTIAL RISING IN THE WEST. 169 
 
 the impost, and which are vindicated at great length 
 in the " Hind let Loose," were founded on the tyran- 
 nical character of the governors, and necessarily led 
 to the casting off all allegiance or submission to 
 the civil government. 
 
 Meanwhile, the severe edicts passed against all 
 who appeared at conventicles, had only the effect of 
 inducing them to meet in greater numbers. On the 
 29th of May 1679, the day appointed for celebrat- 
 ing the restoration of Charles, a body of them amount- 
 ing to eighty armed men, under the guidance of sir 
 Robert Hamilton, came to Rutherglen, where they 
 extinguished the bonfires kindled in honour of the 
 day, and affixed a declaration to the cross, condemn- 
 ing all the proceedings of government since the 
 restoration; in confirmation of which testimony, they 
 publicly burnt at the cross all the acts which had 
 been emitted against the work of the reformation. 
 " as our enemies," said they, " perfidiously and 
 blasphemously have burnt our holy covenants through 
 several cities of these covenanted kingdoms." With- 
 out stopping to inquire how far this decisive step 
 was consistent with prudence, we cannot fail to 
 admire its honesty and boldness. The country, how- 
 ever, was not prepared for a general rising, and no 
 due means had been taken to follow up the move- 
 ment, or to meet the consequences. The govern- 
 ment took the alarm, and Claverhousewas despatched 
 to the west with a body of dragoons, having un- 
 limited power to kill and destroy all whom he found 
 in arms. On his way, he came suddenly upon the 
 town of Hamilton, where he seized Mr. John King, 
 chaplain to lord Cardross, with about fourteen 
 others, and carried them away prisoners, bound two 
 
170 BATTLE OF DRUMCLOG. [1679. 
 
 and two, his men driving them before them like so 
 many sheep. 
 
 On Sabbath morning, the 1st of June 1679, intel- 
 ligence was brought -to a large field-meeting held 
 that day at Loudonhill, of the approach of Claver- 
 house and his dragoons; upon which all who were 
 armed resolved to leave the meeting, face the sol- 
 diers, and, if possible relieve the prisoners. Accord- 
 ingly, about forty horse and one hundred and fifty 
 or two hundred foot, came up with Claverhouse and 
 his party near Drumclog, in the parish of Evandale, 
 about a mile east from Loudonhill. 
 
 The particulars of the skirmish which followed are 
 well known, having furnished matter for fictitious 
 as well as authentic narratives, by writers of oppo- 
 site parties, coloured according to their principles 
 or prejudices.* The following are the simple facts, 
 in which all authentic accounts agree. After a short 
 and very warm engagement, Balfour of Burley, with 
 some horse, and colonel Cleland, with some of the 
 infantry, boldly crossed the morass which lay be- 
 tween the combatants, and attacked the dragoons 
 of Claverhouse with such impetuosity, that they were 
 soon put to flight, leaving about forty killed on the 
 field. Claverhouse's horse was shot under him, and 
 he himself narrowly escaped. Before commencing 
 
 * 4. very animated and graphic account of the battles of Drumclog and 
 Bothwell Bridge appeared some years ago in an American work, and is 
 reprinted in the last edition of the Scots Worthies. It is said to have 
 been taken from the lips of the laird of Torfoot, a veteran covenanter, 
 who had emigrated to America. The laird's description of the manly 
 prowess, the generosity, and cheerful devotion of the covenanters, pre- 
 sents a most striking contrast to sir Walter Scott's picture in his tale of 
 Old Mortality. Both descriptions are highly coloured; but while the 
 main facts are the same, there appears much more verisimilitude in the 
 tale as told by the covenanter than in that of the novelist. The integrity 
 of the American editor seems to be placed beyond all question. 
 
1679.] BATTLE OF DRUMCLOG. 171 
 
 the engagement, he had given the word, " No 'quar- 
 ter, 11 and ordered those who guarded King and the 
 other persons to shoot them, in the event of his 
 troops being worsted; but the soldiers were soon 
 compelled to flee for their own safety, and the pri- 
 soners escaped. The dragoons taken by the cove- 
 nanters received quarter, and were dismissed without 
 harm, much to the displeasure of Hamilton, who 
 insisted on their being dealt with as they intended 
 to have dealt with the covenanters. 
 
 Panic-struck, and filled with rage at his defeat, 
 Claverhouse fled from the field of Drumclog. and 
 never slackened rein till he reached Glasgow. Thither 
 he was pursued by Hamilton, who made an attempt 
 to take the city; but the inhabitants not only re- 
 fused to rise, but shamefully maltreated some of his 
 soldiers, who fell wounded in their streets. At this 
 time, sir Robert's troops amounted, according to his 
 own account, to about six thousand horse and foot. 
 They consisted, it is true, chiefly of raw undisciplined 
 countrymen, ill supplied with arms or ammunition; 
 but had they been properly managed, such was their 
 courage and determination, that they might have 
 kept the royal troops in check, and procured, if not 
 victory, at least honourable terms. Unhappily, 
 however, a spirit of disunion began to appear among 
 their leaders, who, instead of combining against the 
 common enemy, spent their time in hot disputes 
 about points in which the most hearty and genuine 
 friends of the presbyterian cause differed fro-m each 
 other. 
 
 These disputes referred to the indulgence; and it 
 may appear strange that there should have been any 
 controversy about a subject with regard to the sin- 
 
172 STATEMENT OF THE CONTROVERSY. [1679. 
 
 fulness of which all of them were agreed. The ques- 
 tion agitated was not, whether the indulgence was 
 lawful, but whether the acceptance of it should be 
 expressly condemned in the proclamation to be made 
 by those who were in arms, and numbered among 
 their causes of fasting. This was opposed by some 
 as inexpedient, because it would hinder many from 
 joining them who were cordial friends to presbytery; 
 and it was proposed that this point should be re- 
 served for the determination of a free general assem- 
 bly.* At the head of this party was Mr. John 
 Welsh, whose expulsion from Irongray was formerly 
 noticed, and who was not only, in his own judgment, 
 opposed to the indulgence, but had been intercom- 
 muned for preaching in the fields for many years. 
 Among all the eighteen ministers present, there was 
 not one who had accepted the indulgence, or who 
 approved of it. Sixteen of these ministers, while 
 they condemned the Erastianism of the indulgence, 
 and deplored the conduct of their brethren who had 
 accepted it, were not prepared to exclude them from 
 their ranks, or refuse aid from them in the common 
 cause. Though they themselves could not con- 
 scientiously submit to the restrictions, or the acknow- 
 ledgments implied in that insidious measure, they 
 were disposed to make allowances for such of their 
 brethren as had yielded under strong temptation 
 or plausible arguments; and they argued, that what- 
 ever ecclesiastical censure their conduct might after- 
 wards be found to deserve, to deny them, in the 
 meantime, the opportunity of vindicating their rights 
 and liberties, civil and religious, by excluding them 
 from the armVi would be no loss presumptuous and 
 
 * M'Cric's Miscellaneous Writings, Review of Tales, &.C., p. 437. 
 
1679.] STATEMENT OF THE CONTROVERSY. 173 
 
 unjust in principle, than it was preposterous in the 
 present circumstances of the country. 
 
 This liberal view of the -subject was opposed by 
 only two of the ministers, namely, Mr. Cargill and 
 Mr. Douglas ; but these were supported by a consi- 
 derable number of the lay leaders of the army, at 
 the head of whom was sir Robert Hamilton.* Ha- 
 milton appears to have been a pious man, and of 
 good intentions; but of narrow views, severe in his 
 temper, and altogether unqualified, by want of mili- 
 tary talents and experience, for the command which 
 he assumed. He is charged, and apparently not 
 without reason, with having been active in pushing 
 Cargill, Cameron, -j- and some other ministers, to 
 those extremes which produced a breach between 
 them and their brethren, with whom they had, until 
 of late, acted in concert.* This party now began 
 to maintain that the king, by assuming an Erastiari 
 power over the church, had forfeited all right to the 
 civil obedience of his subjects; a principle which had 
 never been known in the church of Scotland before, 
 and which was afterwards carried to a great extent 
 
 * He is generally styled sir Robert in the accounts of this period. He 
 was a gentleman of good family, being brother to sir William Hamilton 
 of Preston, to whose title and estates he would have succeeded had he 
 not disowned the authority of William and Mary. (M'Crie's Mem. of 
 Veitch, &c., p. 452.) 
 
 ) Richard Cameron was not present at Bothwell, being at that time 
 in Holland; but he returned to Scotland shortly after. He declared to 
 the ministers who licensed him, " that he would be a bone of contention 
 among them; for if ever he preached against a national sin in Scotland, 
 it should be against the indulgence, and for separation from the indulged." 
 (P. Walker's Biograph. Presbyter, i. 292.) 
 
 M'Crie's Mem. of Veitch, &c., Notices of James Ure, p. 452. I am 
 sorry I cannot retract the judgment here pronounced on the character 
 of Hamilton, the correctness of which has been challenged by some, but 
 which is borne out by the whole of his history, and refers entirely to 
 his public management, without any reflection either on his piety, his 
 integrity, or his courage. 
 
174 BATTLE OF BOTHWELL BRIDGE. [1679. 
 
 by Richard Cameron and his followers, who from 
 him were termed Cameronians. On the present occa- 
 sion, they insisted that there should be inserted in 
 the statement of their quarrel a decided condemnation 
 of those who had taken the benefit of the indulgence; 
 and proceeding on a mistaken view of the principles 
 advocated by the church of Scotland in the time of 
 the Engagement, and by the Protesters in their con- 
 tendings against the public resolutions, they refused 
 to admit any into their ranks but those who would 
 condemn and testify against the indulgence.* 
 
 The violence, pertinacity, and extravagance of 
 this party, prevailed over the more sober counsels of 
 their brethren; and the consequence was, that several 
 of the latter left the army in disgust. Still, how- 
 ever, the great body of the people remained, and 
 though placed in the most unfavourable circum- 
 stances for meeting the enemy, they drew up with 
 determined front at Bothwell Bridge, where they 
 awaited their approach. The covenanters behaved 
 with the utmost gallantry, but, overpowered by 
 superior numbers, they soon gave way, and the royal 
 army obtained an easy victory over troops divided 
 and disheartened by the cond/rt of their leaders. 
 The dragoons of Claverhouse, burning with revenge 
 for their recent defeat, pursued the fugitives, and 
 more were killed in the flight than in the field. Four 
 hundred fell in battle; twelve hundred surrendered 
 themselves prisoners, many of whom were reserved 
 to suffer a more ignominious death on the scaffold. 
 
 * M'Crie's Memoirs of Veitch, &c., p. 453; Wilson's Relation of 
 the Rising at Bothwell Bridge, p. 13, et seq. This writer's account is 
 tinged with much party prejudice, and requires to be compared with 
 other authorities. He lays the whole blame of the failure at Bothwell 
 on Mr. Welsh and his friends, whom he terms the Erastian party! 
 
1679.] EXECUTION OP KING AND KID. 175 
 
 A system of indiscriminate carnage 'took place after 
 the fight, on all in the neighbourhood whom the 
 soldiers suspected of being presbyterians, whether 
 they had been on the field or not; so that multi- 
 tudes perished, of whom no account was taken, and 
 no record has been preserved. This, however, was 
 but " the beginning of sorrows."" Scotland was 
 placed under martial law, or rather at the mercy of 
 military executioners; and many who never had 
 been near the field of battle, nor taken part in the 
 rising, were slaughtered in the" fields or public roads, 
 while engaged at their usual labour, on the -bare 
 suspicion of their being inclined to favour the cause 
 in which their countrymen had fallen. 
 
 The conduct of the government towards the pri- 
 soners was characterized by the most disgraceful 
 inhumanity. An act of indemnity, indeed, was 
 passed, but with so many limitations, that the 
 governors were left at ample liberty to select as 
 many victims as they chose, to glut their vengeance, 
 and appease the manes of Sharp. The two mini- 
 sters, King and Kid, who had been rescued by the 
 covenanters at Drumclog, were afterwards appre- 
 hended and brought to trial. These gentlemen proved 
 most satisfactorily that, though found among the 
 insurgents, they had taken no share in their pro- 
 ceedings; that they were, in fact, detained among 
 them by force; that they had refused to preach to 
 them, and so far from encouraging them to rebellion, 
 had used every argument to persuade them to re- 
 turn to their former loyalty and obedience; and that 
 they had seized the first opportunity of escaping 
 before the battle at Bothwell Bridge.* Notwith- 
 
 * Petition of Messrs. John King and Kid, Wodrow,iii. 133; Burns' edit. 
 
176 EXECUTION OF KING AND KID. [1679- 
 
 standing these proofs, they were first tortured with 
 the boots, and though nothing more could be elicited 
 from them, they were condemned to die. On the 
 afternoon of the same day (August 14, 1679) on 
 which the king's indemnity had been published by 
 the magistrates of Edinburgh amidst the sound of 
 trumpets and ringing of bells, these two innocent 
 men were led forth to execution. As they ap- 
 proached the gibbet, walking hand in hand, Mr. Kid 
 remarked to his companion with a smile, " I have 
 often heard and read of a kid sacrifice." On the 
 scaffold they behaved with a serenity and fortitude 
 becoming the cause in which they suffered. Both of 
 them bore faithful witness to the covenanted reforma- 
 tion, as attained between 1638 and 1650, testifying 
 against the public resolutions, the act rescissory, 
 and other defections from that cause; but solemnly 
 disclaiming the charge of rebellion under which they 
 suffered, and vindicating themselves from the im- 
 putation of Jesuitism with which their enemies 
 attempted to blacken their characters. " For that 
 clause in my indictment," said Mr. Kid, " upon 
 which my sentence of death is founded, viz., personal 
 presence twice or thrice with that party whom they 
 called rebels; for my own part, I never judged them, 
 nor called them such. I acknowledge, and do be- 
 lieve, there were a great many there that came in 
 the simplicity of their own hearts, like those that 
 followed Absalom long ago. I am as sure, on the 
 other hand, that there was a great party there, 
 that had nothing before them but the repairing of 
 the Lord's fallen work, and the restoring of the 
 breach, which is wide as the sea; and I am apt 
 to think that such of these who were most branded 
 
1679.] EXECUTION OF KING AND KID. 177 
 
 with mistakes will be found to have been most 
 single. But for rebellion against his majesty's per- 
 son or lawful authority, 1 " he added, " the Lord 
 knows my soul abhorreth it, name and thing. Loyal 
 I have been, and wills every Christian to be so; and 
 I was ever of this judgment, to give to Coesar 'the 
 things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that 
 are God's." " I thank God," said Mr. King, " my 
 heart doth not condemn me of any disloyalty. I 
 have been loyal, and do recommend to all to be 
 obedient to the higher powers in the Lord. And 
 that 1 preached at field-meetings, which is the other 
 ground of my sentence, I am so far from acknow- 
 ledging that the gospel preached that way was a 
 rendezvousing in rebellion, as it is termed, that I 
 bless the Lord that ever counted me worthy to be a 
 witness to such meetings, which have been so won- 
 derfully countenanced and owned, not only to the 
 conviction, but even to the conversion of many thou- 
 sands. That I preached up rebellion and rising in 
 arms against authority, I bless the Lord my con- 
 science doth not condemn me in this, it never being 
 my design; if I could have preached Christ, and 
 salvation in his name, that was my work; and herein 
 have I walked according to the light and rule of the 
 word of God, and as it did become (though one of 
 the meanest) a minister of the gospel/"* Having 
 made these solemn declarations of their principles, 
 the two ministers were strangled to death, and their 
 heads and arms having been cut off on another 
 scaffold, were affixed beside the withered remains of 
 James Guthrie. 
 
 Five of the common prisoners were then selected 
 
 * Naphtali, pp, 427, 437, 438. 
 
178 FATE. OF THE PRISONERS. [1679. 
 
 for execution, and though not one of them had been 
 implicated in the death of Sharp, of which they were 
 accused, though never convicted, they were sent to be 
 executed on Magus Moor, and their bodies were hung 
 in chains on the spot where the primate was killed. 
 No reason can be assigned for this shameful act of 
 the government, but that, in their rage at not dis- 
 covering the real perpetrators of that outrage, they 
 determined, in spite of all proof, to throw the odium 
 of it on the whole body of the presbyterians. 
 
 The fate of the rest of the prisoners was hardly 
 less deplorable. Twelve hundred were huddled to- 
 gether into the Greyfriars'' churchyard, with no other 
 lodging than the cold earth, and no covering to shel- 
 ter them from the weather exposed to the brutal 
 insults of the soldiers who guarded them, and who, 
 if any of them attempted to lift a hand or a head to 
 relieve their posture, shot at them without mercy. 
 In this condition they were confined for five months. 
 A few of them contrived to make their escape over 
 the wall ; some were set free upon signing a bond, 
 obliging themselves never again to take up arms 
 against his majesty ; and out of four hundred 
 who remained, some died in prison, others, worn 
 out with hunger and suffering, were freed on peti- 
 tioning for liberty to sign the bond. The rest, 
 to the number of two hundred and fifty-seven, 
 were banished as slaves to Barbadoes. Early in the 
 morning (November 15, 1679), these poor prisoners, 
 many of whom were labouring under diseases pro- 
 duced by their barbarous confinement, were taken 
 out of the churchyard, and, without any previous 
 warning, were put on board a ship in Leith roads, 
 under the command of one Paterson, a papist, who 
 
1679.J VINDICATION OF THE COVENANTERS. 179 
 
 had contracted with government to transport them. 
 There the two hundred and fifty-seven were stowed 
 into a place hardly capable of containing a hundred 
 persons, so closely packed that the greater part 
 were obliged to stand, in order to make room for 
 their sick and dying companions to stretch them- 
 selves; many of them fainted, or were suffocated 
 from want of air ; and the seamen, as if the spirit 
 of persecution had infected their usually generous 
 natures, treated them with cruelty too shocking 
 to be described. At length, the vessel was overtaken 
 by a storm on the coast of Orkney, and foundered 
 on the rocks. All might have easily escaped ; but, 
 after securing the crew, the inhuman captain order- 
 ed the hatches to be locked upon the prisoners. 
 Some forty or fifty contrived to save themselves 
 by clinging to the boards of the ship, but two 
 hundred met with a watery grave. The wretch who 
 was guilty of this cold-blooded murder was never 
 called to account. But the fate of those who per- 
 ished was merciful, when compared with that of 
 their companions who escaped this martyrdom. 
 These were banished as slaves to the plantations in 
 Jamaica and New Jersey, where they were compel- 
 led to labour under a burning sun, in the same gang 
 with the negroes ; and of two hundred and sixty 
 who were so disposed of at different times during 
 the persecution, very few remained to be released 
 from their bondage at the revolution. 
 
 The rising at Bothwell may be vindicated on the 
 same principles as that at 1-Yntland, and on princi- 
 ples somewhat different from those on which several 
 who were actually engaged in the attempt, and suf- 
 fered for it, were inclined to vindicate themselves. 
 
 VOL. II. M 
 
180 VINDICATION OF THE COVENATERS. [1679- 
 
 Some of these excellent men now went the length of 
 disowning the authority of the king and government 
 altogether. They contended that, by overturning 
 the true religion, by setting up prelacy and erasti- 
 anism, by ruining the covenanted work of reforma- 
 tion, and by persecuting to the death its faithful 
 adherents, Charles had perfidiously violated the con- 
 ditions of his coronation oath, and forfeited all right 
 to their allegiance. Another party, however, much 
 more numerous, though less conspicuous, because 
 less violent and extreme, defended their appearance 
 in arms on other grounds. While they condemned 
 the proceedings of the government as arbitrary and 
 tyrannical, they were not prepared to renounce their 
 allegiance to it in civil matters; they held, with the 
 compilers of our Confession, that " infidelity or dif- 
 ference in religion doth not make void the magis- 
 trate's just and legal authority, nor free the people 
 from their due obedience to him ;" and though they 
 lamented as much as their brethren the general de- 
 fection of all classes from the engagements of the 
 covenant, they could not see how this denuded the 
 sovereign of his authority, which they were ready to 
 acknowledge so long as he was, by the common con- 
 sent of the nation, recognised as its ruler. At the 
 same time, they considered themselves warranted to 
 assume the attitude of self-defence, against the in- 
 tolerable oppressions and illegal encroachments 
 which had, " contrary to all law and humanity," been 
 practised on them; and the reasons on which they 
 justified their appearing in arms were chiefly these 
 that all other modes of redress had been closed 
 against them; and that they found it necessary for 
 the defence of the protestant religion and presbyte- 
 
1679.] VINDICATION OF THE COVENANTERS. 181 
 
 rian government, and for the preservation of his 
 majesty's person and throne from the projects of 
 popish adversaries. A declaration embodying these 
 views was prepared and presented at the council of 
 war, before the battle of Both well Bridge; but 
 through the opposition of the more violent leaders, 
 it was unhappily rejected.* There is reason to be- 
 lieve that this paper contained the sentiments of the 
 most judicious, as well as of the great majority of 
 the suffering presbyterians; and that, had it been 
 adopted, it might have recommended their cause 
 more to the country at large, procured greater ac- 
 cessions to their numbers, and perhaps have insured 
 success at an earlier period of the contest. 
 
 In venturing these remarks, we are far, very far. 
 from allowing that those of the covenanters who 
 openly cast off allegiance to Charles suffered justly. 
 However much they might be mistaken in stating the 
 grounds of their appearance in arms, they were per- 
 fectly justified in the eye of reason, by the monstrous 
 tyranny under which they groaned, in making that 
 appearance. We shall soon see that they would have 
 suffered with equal certainty, though they had never 
 disowned their allegiance in civil matters. It is not 
 surprising to hear the charge of rebellion, under which 
 they died, still repeated by the high church tory, or 
 the Scottish Jacobite; it is entirely in unison with the 
 whole professions and practices of the party. But 
 when the same calumny is brought against our an- 
 cestors by those who profess to be the friends of civil 
 and religious liberty, we are entitled to regard their 
 professions with suspicion, and to view their policy 
 with contempt. At the bar of Heaven, the rulers of 
 
 * This declaration is given in Wodrow's Hist., iii. 96. 
 
182 VINDICATION OF THE COVENANTERS. [1679. 
 
 that period not only stood charged with apostasy from 
 their solemn engagements they were waging war 
 with the essential principles of justice, and undermin- 
 ing the liberties of the country. The patriot who lifts 
 his arm prematurely to vindicate these liberties, may 
 perish, and involve others, more feeble or less for- 
 ward, in his fall. But, as in the case before us, the 
 cry which he raised, ere his voice was stifled in death, 
 like the alarm-shot of the faithful sentinel, for which 
 he pays the forfeit of his life, serves to awaken the 
 slumbering garrison ; and after years of ominous 
 silence and long-suffering, it will find its echo in the 
 thunder of a nation's wrath against the merciless 
 tyrants.* 
 
 * " They did not disown the king until they were persuaded that, by 
 violating his oaths and engagements, he had forfeited all claim to their 
 allegiance. And if they called Charles Stuart a tyrant, it was not until 
 they had some reason to think him so. The presbyterians, in general, 
 had 110 factious design to overturn the throne, or trample royalty con- 
 temptuously under their feet; they wished only to reduce its preroga- 
 tives within safe and reasonable limits. The allegation that the ancient 
 leaders of our Church were republicans or democrats, needs no other 
 refutation than referring to the standards of the Church, to her confes- 
 sions and apologies, and even to the solemn league and covenant itself." 
 (Cricftton's Memoirs of Hlackader, p. 319.) 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sketches of celebrated field-preachersJohn Blackader John Welsh 
 Archibald Riddel Martyrdom of Mr. Hume Richard Cameron 
 Hackston of Rathillet The gibbites The Society people Barbari- 
 ties of the persecutors Martyrdom of Isabel Alison and Marion 
 Harvie True grounds of the sufferings of our martyrs -Martyrdom 
 of Margaret Wilson -Military executions John Brown of Priesthill 
 Westerraw and Lagg Retaliations Enterkin path Patience of 
 the sufferers Death of persecutors. 
 
 ONE object of these Sketches being to afford the 
 reader a correct idea of the most distinguished 
 characters who appeared in the history of our 
 church, as well as of the scenes in which they acted, 
 we may take occasion here to notice some of the 
 field-preachers, who rendered themselves the special 
 objects of the vengeance of the government at this 
 period. And we shall commence with those who, 
 though neither indulged nor approving of the indul- 
 gence, did not disown the authority of government, 
 or refuse allegiance in civil matters ; but who, loyal 
 as they were, suffered for resisting the erastian en- 
 croachments made by the civil rulers on the royal 
 prerogatives of the King of Zion. 
 
 Among these a chief place is due to Mr. John 
 Blackader, to whom we have had occasion already 
 to refer. Bold in spirit, stedfast in the faith, and 
 
184 JOHN BLACKADER. [1662-81. 
 
 dauntless in the exercise of his office, he was one of 
 those denominated the three first worthies, because 
 he, with Mr. Welsh and Mr. Semple, was among the 
 first to unfurl the banner of the covenant in the 
 Lomonds, and preach the gospel in the fields of 
 Galloway and Nithsdale.* The sufferings he under- 
 went, and the hazards he encountered in the course 
 of his eventful life, would furnish materials for the 
 most interesting romance. His eloquent and power- 
 ful discourses in the fields and fastnesses of Teviot- 
 dale were blessed, not only for the refreshment of 
 the persecuted presbyterians who flocked from all 
 quarters to hear him, but for the conversion of many 
 of the inhabitants of these neglected districts, who, 
 living in ignorance of the gospel, had hitherto been 
 addicted to rapine and every species of outrage. 
 Possessing a cultivated and well-balanced mind, 
 warm-hearted but cool-headed and sagacious,^ he 
 lamented the excesses into which some of his bre- 
 thren were driven, and used all his efforts to pre- 
 vent those divisions and irritations which he foresaw 
 would lead to the most disastrous results. | This 
 excellent man, who was allied to a family of rank, 
 though disclaiming all rebellious sentiments and 
 practices, was at last apprehended ; and because he 
 would not bind himself to refrain from preaching 
 wherever Providence might call him, was sent to 
 the Bass, in the unhealthy dungeon of which, after a 
 
 * Blackader's Sufferings, Adr. Lib. ; Crichton's Memoirs, p. 314. 
 j* " Grace formed him in the Christian hero's mould. 
 
 Meek in his own concerns in's Master's bold; 
 
 Passions, to reason chained, prudence did lead; 
 
 Zeal warm'd his breast, and reason cool'd his head." 
 
 (Epitaph on Mr. lUackader' 's Tomb, Memoirs, p. 310.) 
 See letter of Mr. Blackudcr to Mr. Ward, in the Appendix. 
 
1662-81.] JOHN WELSH. 185i 
 
 long imprisonment, he contracted a disease which' 
 terminated his useful life. 
 
 Mr. John Welsh was the son of Josias Welsh, 
 minister of Temple-patrick in Ireland, who was de- 
 signated " the cock of the north, 11 and grandson to 
 the celebrated John Welsh of Ayr. He was conse- 
 quently, great-grandson of the illustrious reformer 
 John Knox ; and he seems to have inherited from 
 this line of truly noble ancestry, the piety, the 
 zeal, and the indomitable fortitude which distin- 
 guished them. He was settled in the parish of 
 Irongray ; and the reader cannot have forgotten 
 the affecting scene which took place when he was 
 ejected from his charge in 1662. But though com- 
 pelled thus to leave the scene of his pastoral labours. 
 Mr. Welsh did not remain idle ; he was constantly 
 engaged in preaching at field-meetings, and fre- 
 quently, notwithstanding all the edicts passed against 
 him, he returned and preached, sometimes once a- 
 week, in his old parish, and baptized all the children. 
 Nothing is more remarkable than the escapes which 
 this faithful and undaunted minister met with on 
 these occasions. He was present at Pentland and 
 at Bothwell Bridge ; and at the latter place he 
 took an active but unsuccessful part in endeavouring 
 to allay the animosities about the indulgence, and 
 counselling the younger and more violent leaders to 
 adopt moderate measures. " He was," says Kirkton, 
 " a godly, meek, humble man, and a good popular 
 preacher ; but the boldest undertaker (adventurer) 
 that ever I knew a minister in Christ's church, old 
 or late; for notwithstanding all the threatenings of 
 the state, the great price of 500 set upon his 
 head, the spite of bishops, the diligence of all blood- 
 
186 JOHN WELSH. 1662-81. 
 
 hounds, he maintained his difficult task of preaching 
 upon the mountains of Scotland many times to 
 many thousands, for near twenty years, and yet 
 was kept always out of his enemies' 1 hands. It is 
 well known that bloody Claverhouse, upon intelli- 
 gence that he was lurking in some secret place, 
 would ride forty miles in a winter night ; yet when 
 he came to the place he always missed his prey. I 
 have known Mr. Welsh ride three days and two 
 nights without sleep, and preach upon a mountain 
 at midnight on one of the nights. He had for some 
 time a dwelling-house near Tweedside ; and some- 
 times, when Tweed was strongly frozen, he preached 
 in the middle of the river, that either ho might 
 shun the offence of both nations, or that two king- 
 doms might dispute his crime."* After nil his 
 dangers, he died peaceably in his bed in London, 
 on the 9th of January 1681. 
 
 The intrepidity and self-possession of this worthy 
 minister, to which, no doubt, under Providence, lie 
 owed many of his escapes, are illustrated by the fol- 
 lowing anecdote: On one occasion, being pursued 
 with unrelenting rigour, he was quite at a loss where 
 to flee, but depending on Scottish hospitality, he 
 called at the house of a gentleman of known hostility 
 to field-preachers in general, and to himself in par- 
 ticular, though he had never seen Mr. Welsh before. 
 He was kindly received. In the course of conversa- 
 tion, Welsh was mentioned, and the difficulty of get- 
 ting hold of him. " I am sent,"" said Welsh, " to 
 apprehend rebels ; I know where he is to preach to- 
 morrow, and will give you the rebel by the hand. 1 ' 
 The gentleman, overjoyed at this news, agreed to 
 
 * Kirkton's History of the Church of Scotland. 
 
1680.] ARCHIBALD RIDDEL. 187 
 
 accompany his informant next morning. When 
 they arrived, the congregation made way for the mi- 
 nister and his host. He desired the gentleman to 
 sit clown on the chair, at which, to his utter aston- 
 ishment, his guest of the previous night stood and 
 preached. During the sermon, the gentleman seem- 
 ed much affected; and, at the close, when Mr. Welsh, 
 according to promise, gave him his hand, he said, 
 " You said you were sent to apprehend rebels, and I, 
 a rebellious sinner, have been apprehended this 
 day." 
 
 There is only one instance recorded in which 
 Welsh spoke in a prophetic or foreboding strain; but 
 it is one of the most remarkable we have met with. 
 A profligate youth at the university of St. Andrews, 
 who had come to hear Mr. Welsh preach, threw some 
 missile at him in mockery, which struck him. Mr. 
 Welsh paused, and before the whole multitude, 
 which was very large, said, " I know not who has put 
 this public affront on a servant of Jesus Christ; but 
 be he who he may, I am persuaded there will be more 
 present at his death, than are hearing me preach this 
 day !" It turned out to be a son of sir James Stam- 
 field of Newmilns, near Haddington; and, strange to 
 say, some years after, this unhappy youth was exe- 
 cuted for the murder of his own father.* 
 
 As a specimen of the manner in which peaceable 
 presbyterians who suffered at this period vindicated 
 themselves, we might refer to the case of Mr. Archi- 
 bald Riddel, brother to the laird of Riddel, who was 
 charged, in 1680, with preaching at conventicles. 
 Mr. Riddel denied that he had been preaching in 
 the fields, but allowed that he had done so in pri- 
 
 * Kirkton; AVodrow. 
 
188 ARCHIBALD RIDDEL. [1680. 
 
 vate houses, while the people stood without doors. 
 Preaching, even in private houses, without the con- 
 sent of the incumbent of the parish, was now account- 
 ed high treason, as well as preaching in the fields. 
 " Will you be content, 11 said the lord advocate, " to 
 engage not to preach in the fields after this f 1 " My 
 lord, excuse me," said Riddel, " for I dare not come 
 under any such engagement. 11 " This is strange, 11 ob- 
 served the advocate, " that Mr. Riddel, who has had 
 so much respect to authority as not to preach in the 
 fields since the indemnity, will not, out of the same 
 respect, be content to engage to behave hereafter as 
 he has behaved heretofore." " My lord advocate, 
 I can answer somewhat for the time past, but not for 
 the time to come; I have not, since the indemnity, 
 judged myself under a necessity to preach out of a 
 house, but I know not but He who has called me so 
 to preach, may, before I go out of the world, call me to 
 preach upon tops of mountains, yea, upon the seas, 
 and I dare not come under any engagements to dis- 
 obey his calls. 11 " If I were of Mr. Riddel's princi- 
 ples, 11 said the advocate, " and did judge in my con- 
 science that the laws of the land were contrary to 
 the laws of God, and that I could not conform to 
 them, I would judge it my duty rather to go out 
 of the nation and live elsewhere, than disturb the 
 peace of the land by acting contrary to its laws. 11 
 " My lord, 11 replied Mr. Riddel, " if I do anything 
 contrary to the laws, I am liable to the punishment 
 due by the law." " That is not sufficient, 11 said the 
 advocate; "a subject that regards the public good 
 of the land, should, for the peace and welfare thereof, 
 either conform to the law or go out of the land. 11 
 The reply of Mr. Riddel to this reasoning, which 
 
1682.] ALEXANDER HUME. ] 89 
 
 has been the convenient logic of persecuting govern- 
 ments at all times, is worthy of notice: " My lord, 
 I doubt that argument would militate against Christ 
 and his apostles as much as against us ; for they both 
 preached and acted otherwise against the laws of 
 the land; and not only did not judge it their duty to 
 go out of the land, but the apostles, on the contrary, 
 reasoned with the rulers Whether it le letter to obey 
 God or man, judge ye? " Will you promise not -to 
 preach in the open fields?" cried the judge from the 
 bench. " My lord, I am willing to undergo what 
 sufferings your lordship will be pleased to inflict 
 on me, rather than come under such an engage- 
 ment."* 
 
 Another case of the same kind is that of Alex- 
 ander Hume of Hume, in 1682. This worthy gen- 
 tleman, whose only real offence consisted in his 
 having attended conventicles, was accused, without 
 any proof, of having had intercourse with some of 
 "the rebels;" and indeed it was part of the cruel 
 mockery of justice then in vogue, to insert as a 
 preamble in every indictment against the presby- 
 terians, all the insurrections that had taken place, 
 with the murder of archbishop Sharp, though they 
 had nothing more to do with these acts than the 
 judges who sat on the bench before them a prac- 
 tice resembling that of the bloody inquisitors of 
 Spain, who clothed the victims whom they con- 
 demned to the fire for heresy with cloaks, on which 
 hideous likenesses of monsters and devils were 
 painted, to inflame the bigotry and repress the sym- 
 pathy of the spectators. It is said that a remission 
 of Mr. Hume's sentence came down from London 
 
 * Wodrow, iii. 198, 199. 
 
190 ALEXANDER HUME. [1682. 
 
 several days before his execution, but was kept up 
 by the earl of Perth, a bigoted papist and persecu- 
 tor; and that when his lady, Isobel Hume, fell on her 
 knees before lady Perth to entreat for her husband's 
 life, urging that she had five small children, she was 
 repulsed in the most insulting manner, and in terms 
 which cannot be here repeated. On the scaffold, 
 this pious and excellent sufferer vindicated his cha- 
 racter from the aspersions of those who had thirsted 
 for his, blood. " The world represents me as sedi- 
 tious and disloyal,'" he said; " but God is my witness, 
 and my own conscience, of my innocency in this 
 matter. I am loyal, and did ever judge obedience 
 unto lawful authority my duty, and the duty of all 
 Christians. I was never against the king's just 
 power and greatness; but all a Christian doth must 
 be of faith, for what clasheth with the command of 
 God cannot be our duty; and I wish the Lord may 
 help the king to do his duty to the people, and the 
 people to do their duty to the king." He then added, 
 " My conscience bears me witness, I ever studied the 
 good of my country. I hope I shall be no loser that 
 I have gone so young a man off the stage of this 
 world, seeing I am to make so blessed an exchange 
 as to receive eternal life, the crown of glory. I bless 
 His name he made me willing to take share with his 
 persecuted people; for I hope I shall also share with 
 them in their consolations. Farewell, all earthly en- 
 joyments: farewell, my dear wife and children dear 
 indeed unto me, though not so dear as Christ, for 
 whom I now suffer the loss of all things; I leave them 
 on the tender mercies of Christ. And now, Father, 
 into thy hand I commend my spirit. Lord Jesus, 
 receive mv soul!" The fatal cord having been ad- 
 
1680.] RICHARD CAMERON. 191 
 
 justed, he concluded by singing the last verse of the 
 17th psalm : 
 
 " But as for me, I thine own face 
 
 In righteousness will see ; 
 And with thy likeness, when I wake, 
 I satisfied shall be."* 
 
 These instances sufficiently prove that there were 
 many among the presbyterians who suffered at this 
 period perfectly unimpeachable in their loyalty, and 
 whose only crime, even in the judgment of their 
 accusers, was, that they would not, and could not, 
 comply with the dictates of human authority when 
 these conflicted with the divine. And they show the 
 falsehood of the pretence set up by the persecutors, 
 that none were condemned during this period for 
 their religion, but simply for sedition and rebellion. 
 It is certain that there were some who went the 
 length of disowning Charles and his government, and 
 did not scruple to do so in the face of their perse- 
 cutors; but the examples we have given (and many 
 more might have been added) are sufficient to prove 
 that, even in the case of those who went this length, 
 it was not simply because they refused allegiance to 
 the tyrant that they were condemned to die; but 
 that they would have suffered with equal certainty, 
 though they had professed the utmost loyalty, pro- 
 vided they qualified that profession by declaring 
 that they could not obey him in matters of religion. 
 
 At the head of those who set the authority of the 
 government at defiance, and disowned all allegiance 
 to the civil rulers, stood Richard Cameron. He was 
 originally of the episcopal persuasion, but having 
 been led to hear the gospel preached in the fields, 
 
 * Wodrow, iii. 418-420. 
 
192 RICHARD CAMERON. [1680. 
 
 he forsook the curates, and took license from the 
 outed ministers. He entered on his labours with 
 all the ardour of a new convert, who, tracing his first 
 serious impressions to field-preachings, could not 
 bring himself to think with patience of those who 
 availed themselves of the indulgence. Finding that 
 he could not help preaching against it, though he 
 had come under a promise to refrain from it, he re- 
 tired for a time to Holland, but returned in 1680, 
 after the stipulated period, burning with a desire to 
 disburden his conscience. His sermons were filled 
 with predictions of the fall of the Stuarts, and the 
 sufferings of Scotland which would precede it. But 
 his course was brief; for in July of that same year, 
 Bruce of Earlshall, a violent persecutor, came upon 
 him and his followers with a troop of dragoons, at 
 a meeting held in a desert place called Ayrsmoss. 
 On seeing the enemy approach, and no way of escape, 
 the people gathered close around their minister, when 
 he offered up a short prayer, repeating thrice the 
 memorable words " Lord, spare the green, and take 
 the ripe!" 1 * He then turned to his brother Michael, 
 saying, " Come, let us fight it to the last ; for this 
 is the day that I have longed for, and the death that 
 I have prayed for to die fighting against our Lord's 
 avowed enemies ; and this is the day we will get the 
 crown." And there, accordingly, he died, fighting 
 manfully back to back with his brother. The enemy, 
 foiled in their object, which was to bring him to an 
 ignominious end, wreaked their vengeance on the in- 
 animate body of the hero. They cut off his head 
 and hands, and carried them to his father, who was 
 then confined in the tolbooth of Edinburgh, taunt- 
 ingly inquiring if ho knew to whom they belonged. 
 
1680. j HACKSTON OF RATHILLET. 193 
 
 " I know, I know them," 1 said the poor old man, 
 taking them and affectionately kissing them; " they 
 are my son's, my dear sons. Good is the will of the 
 Lord, who cannot wrong me nor mine, but has made 
 goodness and mercy to follow us all our days." They 
 were then fixed upon one of the ports of the city, the 
 hands being placed close to the head, with the fin- 
 gers upwards, as if in the posture of prayer. 
 u There," said one of his persecutors, " there^s the 
 head and hands that lived praying and preaching, 
 and died praying and fighting. 1 '' * 
 
 In the same skirmish at which Cameron fell, David 
 Hackston of Eathillet was taken prisoner. Having 
 been one of those present, though passive, at the 
 death of archbishop Sharp, a large reward was 
 offered for his apprehension; and having fallen into 
 the hands of his enemies, they determined to pour 
 upon him all the vials of their revenge. Upon his 
 trial, he boldly refused to own that the bishop^s 
 death was murder; and he was the first of those 
 who, at the bar, openly declined the king's autho- 
 rity, as a usurper of the prerogatives of Jesus Christ. 
 Being brought to the scaffold, first his right hand 
 was struck off, and then his left; he was next drawn 
 by a pulley to the top of the gallows, and suffered to 
 fall with all his weight three times; while yet alive, 
 his heart was torn out of his body, and then but 
 we refrain from adding more. Even at this distance 
 of time, the flesh creeps, and the blood runs cold, at 
 the bare recital of the cruelties perpetrated, under 
 the sacred name of justice, on this unhappy gentle- 
 man. 
 
 Had our space permitted, we might have spoken 
 
 * Biograph. Presbyter., i. 205; Wodrow, iii. 220. 
 
194 CARG1LL AND PEDEN. {1680. 
 
 of Donald Cargill, who was executed about the same 
 time; Alexander Peden, and other remarkable cha- 
 racters of the period.* We shall only observe re- 
 garding them, that as the persecution waxed hotter, 
 they became more distinguished for that prophetic 
 spirit which has furnished as much ground of pro- 
 fane ridicule to their enemies, as matter of supersti- 
 tious veneration to some of their indiscriminate 
 admirers. Here, also, the middle course appears to 
 be the safest and the most rational. That they were 
 men of God cannot be questioned, for they were men 
 of prayer; and that they were favoured with very 
 extraordinary pre-impressions of what was to come, 
 which were actually verified in many instances, can- 
 not be denied, without questioning facts which have 
 been amply attested. But in the case of some of 
 them, it is equally vain to deny that much must be 
 ascribed to the workings of imagination, excited 
 almost to frenzy by the incessant watchings, tur- 
 moils, and apprehensions of a life irabittered by 
 persecution, and spent in lonely caves and gloomy 
 deserts. Placed in such circumstances, they were 
 exceedingly prone, if not to create ideal pictures of 
 coming misery, at least to exaggerate the reality. If 
 the remains of some of these worthies appear to us 
 sometimes rhapsodical, and at other times even bor- 
 dering on irreverent familiarity, we must remember 
 that, not only were the younger ministers of that 
 
 * Peden's character has been much exaggerated by f riends as well as 
 foes. Though enthusiastic, it does not appear that he was chargeable 
 with one-half of the stories which have been told of him. Wodrow de- 
 nies, on the best authority, the genuineness of the strange book, entitled 
 Peden's Prophecies. (Vol. iv. 397.) It is certain, however, that many of 
 hia prognostications were remarkably verified. The most striking of 
 them was his announcement of the death of Charles II. ( Walkers 
 Jjioyrap/i. Presbyter. f i. 57.) 
 
1680.] THE GIBBITES. 195 
 
 period deprived by persecution of the advantages of 
 a liberal education, or at least of leisure for study, 
 but that, to appreciate their eloquence, we must 
 have been born in the same century, and stationed 
 on the same spot, and environed with the same perils 
 as their hearers ; and we ought not to criticise with 
 the nicety of modern taste, productions which, homely 
 enough as they came from the lips of the speaker, 
 must have become still more so, after passing from 
 mouth to mouth in the traditions of a devout but 
 unlettered peasantry.* 
 
 It would be equally unjust and ungenerous, how- 
 ever, to confound the high-toned and regulated en- 
 thusiasm of such men with the wild dreams and 
 frantic extravagances of fanaticism. About the 
 close of the persecution, a small sect arose, named 
 the Gibbites or Sweet Singers, whose opinions and 
 practices were highly extravagant and even impious. 
 They derived that name from John Gibb, a sailor in 
 Borrowstounness, who seems to have been labouring 
 under insanity, but who prevailed on about thirty per- 
 sons, chiefly women, to adopt his ridiculous notions. 
 They denounced all besides themselves as back- 
 sliders, protested against all kinds of toll, custom, 
 and tribute, and not only abstained from the use of 
 ale, tobacco, and other excisable articles, but, that 
 they might be placed beyond the reach of all such 
 temptations, undertook a pilgrimage to the Pent- 
 land hills, where they remained for some days, with 
 a resolution to sit till they saw the smoke of the de- 
 solation of Edinburgh, which their mad leader had 
 predicted. Like all other fanatics, they soon began 
 
 * We refer particularly to the Lives of Patrick Walker, now col- 
 lected in the Bioyraphia Presbyteriana, and similar works, of which the 
 enemies of presbyterians have taken so much advantage. 
 VOL. II. N 
 
196 THE SOCIETY PEOPLE. [1680. 
 
 to renounce the authority of Scripture, and some of 
 them actually burnt their Bibles. Against this sect 
 none opposed themselves more zealously than Cargill 
 and his followers, who regarded the ravings of Gibb 
 as an impious caricature of their principles. The 
 duke of York and our Scottish rulers heard of them 
 with undisguised satisfaction, as opportunely fur- 
 nishing a pretext for exciting odium against the 
 covenanters. The Gibbites, as well as the Quakers, 
 were gently dealt with, connived at, and even en- 
 couraged, while the faithful witnesses, with whom 
 they were identified, were persecuted without re- 
 morse.* 
 
 The truth of history, however, requires that we 
 should state here some of the steps taken by that 
 party of the presbyterians usually called Society 
 people or Cameronians. One Henry Hall of Haugh- 
 head, in Teviotdale, a gentleman who was intimate 
 with Mr. Cargill, and had suffered great persecution, 
 was apprehended at Queensferry, with a paper in 
 his possession disowning the government, and con- 
 taining some very strong and exceptionable senti- 
 ments. This paper, it appears, was merely a scroll 
 drawn up by Hall and Cargill, and more like a mani- 
 festo for a general rising of the people, than fitted 
 for a suffering and subdued handful. It was never 
 sanctioned by any meeting; but having fallen into 
 the hands of the governors, it was held as indi- 
 cating the sentiments and designs of all the presby- 
 terians. The Queensferry paper, as it was called, 
 was thenceforth quoted and used against all suspect- 
 ed of presbyterianism. Shortly after this, Cameron 
 
 * Wodrow, iii. .'548, &c.; Life of D. Cargill, in Walker's Biotjraph. 
 Presbyter., ii. IG-'Jl. 
 
1680.] THE TORWOOD EXCOMMUNICATION. 197 
 
 and Cargill, with some others, having broken off 
 from the rest of the presbyterian ministers, pub- 
 lished a declaration at Sanquhar, differing a little 
 from, but in the same strain with, the Queensferry 
 paper. The Sanquhar declaration openly declared 
 war against Charles as a tyrant and usurper. This 
 was followed up by one of the most singular scenes, 
 perhaps, recorded in the history of the times the 
 Torwood excommunication. In a meeting held at 
 Torwood, in Stirlingshire, in September 1680, Mr. 
 Cargill, after divine service, pronounced, with all 
 solemnity and formality, the highest sentence of 
 excommunication against king Charles, the duke of 
 York, the dukes of Monmouth, Lauderdale, and 
 Rothes, general Dalziel, and the advocate, sir George 
 Mackenzie; in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 casting them out of the church, and delivering them 
 up unto Satan.* 
 
 These proceedings, we may well believe, irritated 
 the ruling powers more than ever; and though un- 
 shared in and unapproved of by the rest of the 
 presbyterian ministers, they were eagerly laid hold 
 of as pretexts for still greater severities against the 
 whole of them. The furnace was " heated one seven 
 times more than it was wont to be heated." Into 
 the history of the persecutions which followed we 
 cannot minutely enter. It would, indeed, be a task 
 as superfluous as disagreeable; for the subsequent 
 period down to 1688, exhibits little more than a 
 series of executions, civil and military, differing from 
 
 * Torwood Excommunication : being the Lecture and Discourse going 
 before, and the Afternoon Sermon following after; with the Action of 
 Excommunication itself. Pronounced at Torwood, Sept., 1680. By that 
 iiiithfal minister and martyr of Jesus Christ, Mr. Dcmald Car^iii. 1741. 
 
198 BARBARITIES OF THE PERSECUTORS. [1680-82. 
 
 each other only in their degrees of horror and atro- 
 city. Conceiving that they had now at length ob- 
 tained what bishop Burnet declares they had long 
 thirsted for a feasible pretence for laying the whole 
 country under martial law, and fattening on the 
 spoils of a population driven to despair by their 
 oppressions burning with rage, under a guilty con- 
 sciousness that the charges brought against them 
 by the society people were perfectly true and what 
 is equally certain, smarting under the very excom- 
 munication which they pretended to despise they 
 " cried Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war." Sta- 
 tutes and proclamations, fiercer than ever, were level- 
 led at the heads of ministers who preached, and all 
 who attended, at conventicles letters of intercom- 
 muning were passed against many of the most ob- 
 noxious, by which all were prohibited, under pain of 
 death, from having any intercourse with the pro- 
 scribed individuals all suspected of these practices 
 were dragged to the circuit courts and strictly ques- 
 tioned the prisoners were tried super inquirendis, 
 that is, on the evidence extorted from their own 
 lips by insidious questions, or the application of the 
 torture, by the boots, by the thumbkins, or by lighted 
 matches tied between the fingers, until they burned 
 the flesh to the bone; and upon the evidence thus 
 procured, without a single witness to bring home the 
 crime, many were condemned. No rank, no sex, no 
 age, was exempted from these inquisitorial proceed- 
 ings. The father was compelled, by torture, to bear 
 evidence against the son, the son against the father, 
 the wife against the husband, the husband against 
 the wife; and, loyal as they might be themselves, if 
 found guilty of sheltering, or even of speaking with an 
 
3680-82.] BARBARITIES OF THE PERSECUTORS. 199 
 
 iutercommuned fugitive, even though the dearest re- 
 lative, without informing against him, they were held 
 guilty of his crime, and liable to suffer death. 
 
 The cruelties of this period, it has been justly, 
 and not too strongly remarked, " were savage, worthy 
 of cannibals; they were refined, worthy of fiends."* 
 By degrees, the whole frame of government seemed 
 converted into one vast court of inquisition, in 
 which the episcopal clergy of all ranks held a con- 
 spicuous place, as informers, witnesses, or judges. 
 The infliction of death seemed to be regarded by 
 these inquisitors as too easy a punishment; the 
 poor victims were insulted in the court, and even 
 struck, when awaiting their doom, on the scaffold. 
 " When James Robertson (who was executed with 
 two others in ]682) offered to speak upon the 
 scaffold, he was interrupted by the ruffling of drums; 
 and when complaining of this, Johnston, the town- 
 major, beat him with his cane at the foot of the 
 ladder, in a most barbarous manner." -f- Even 
 mere children did not escape from the malignity of 
 the persecutors. " A party of the enemy," says one 
 who himself shared in the sufferings he describes, 
 " came to search for some of the persecuted party. 
 When the people of the house saw the enemy coming, 
 they fled out of the way; but the cruel enemy got my 
 dear brother into their hands. They examined him 
 concerning the persecuted people where they haunted; 
 but he would not open his mouth to speak one word 
 to them. They flattered him, they offered him money 
 to tell where the whigs were, but he would not speak; 
 they held the point of a drawn sword to his naked 
 
 * Lorimer'e Hist, of Prot Church of France, p. 324. 
 f- Wodrow, iii. 415. 
 
200 ISABEL ALISON AND MARION HARVIE. [IC81- 
 
 breast; they fired a pistol over his head ; they set him 
 on horseback behind one of themselves, to be taken 
 away and hanged; they tied a cloth on his face, and 
 set him on his knees to be shot to death ; they beat 
 him with their swords and with their fists; they 
 kicked him several times to the ground with their 
 feet; yet, after they had used all the cruelty they 
 could, he would not open his mouth to speak one 
 word to them; and although he was a comely proper 
 child, going in ten years of age, yet they called him 
 a vile, ugly, dumb devil, and beat him very sore, and 
 then went on their way, leaving him lying on the 
 ground, sore bleeding in the open fields."* 
 
 Nothing, however, presents the government in a 
 more odious and despicable light than their treat- 
 ment of the tender sex. The cruel usage of " comely 
 proper children going in ten years of age" may be 
 ascribed to the indiscriminate fury of a ruthless and 
 unreflecting soldiery; but when we see simple un- 
 lettered females dragged from the duties of the 
 kitchen or the farm-yard, to answer for their religious 
 belief before learned chr.ncellors and mitred digni- 
 taries, and sent to expiate their errors on the 
 scaffold, we cannot reflect on the conduct of their 
 persecutors without feelings of mingled indignation 
 and contempt. The trial and execution of Isabel 
 Alison, a young unmarried woman in Perth, and 
 another young female, Marion Harvie, may, as 
 Wodcow has remarked, be well regarded as " a 
 flaming proof of the iniquity of the period." Isabel 
 had occasionally heard Mr. Cargill and others preach 
 in the fields; and having, in her simplicity, acknow-' 
 
 * Memoirs of the First Years of James Nisbet, Son of John Nisbet of 
 Hardball, written by himself, p. 7". 
 
1881.] ISABEL/.ALISON AND MARION HARVIE. 201 
 
 ledged that she held converse with some who had 
 been declared rebels, a party of soldiers was forth- 
 with sent to carry her to Edinburgh. When brought 
 before the council, the most ensnaring questions 
 were put to her, and she was induced, by threats 
 and promises, to acknowledge that she had con- 
 versed with Hathillet, Balfour, and other characters 
 obnoxious to the government, to express her appro- 
 bation of the Sanquhar declaration, and disown the 
 authority of her judges. Marion Harvie, it would 
 appear, was still more humble in station than her 
 companion. She was a servant girl, onlyabout twenty 
 years of age, and belonging toBorrowstounness. They 
 had nothing to lay to her charge but what she owned, 
 namely, her being present at field-conventicles. 
 When interrogated as to the Sanquhar declaration, 
 and other papers, she declared she knew nothing 
 about them. Some of the councillors told her that 
 " a rock, a cod, and bobbins, would set her better 
 than these debates." "And yet," 1 says Wodrow, 
 " they cast them up to her, and murder her upon 
 them." After being examined before the council, 
 these two poor women were brought before the cri- 
 minal court. " This was the constant practice at 
 this time, the one day to bring such as fell into 
 their hands before the council, and there engage 
 them by captious questions into a confession of sta- 
 tutory crime, and next day to pannel them before 
 the justiciary, where, if they were silent, they were 
 asked if they would quit the testimony they had 
 given yesterday." The answers given by these females 
 to the interrogatories of their judges, which are re- 
 corded by themselves with great simplicity, manifest 
 much good sense and quickness, with a mixture of 
 
202 ISABEL ALISON AND MARION HARVIE. [1683. 
 
 those mistaken views as to the civil government into 
 which it was very natural for such persons to fall. 
 Both of the women were condemned to be hanged in 
 the Grassmarket, and the bloody sentence was exe- 
 cuted on the 26th of January 1(581. Just when they 
 were going out to the place of execution, bishop 
 Paterson, whose character, if we may believe the uni- 
 form testimony of the time, was stained with vices of 
 the lowest description, had the insolence to come into 
 the prison and interrupt their devotions. " Marion, 11 
 he began, " you said you would never hear a curate; 
 now you shall be forced to hear one before you die; 1 ' 
 upon which he ordered one of his curates to pray. 
 As soon as he began, she said to her fellow-pri- 
 soner, " Come, Isabel, let us sing the 23d psalm."" 
 They did so, and drowned the voice of the curate. 
 But this was not the only circumstance calculated 
 to disturb and annoy these humble sufferers in their 
 dying hour. They were executed in company with 
 five profligate women who had been found guilty of 
 murdering their own children, and railed on by one 
 of the episcopal functionaries, who assured them 
 "they were on the road to damnation; while, with- 
 out any evidence of their penitence, he was sending 
 the other wicked wretches straight to heaven. How- 
 ever, 11 it is added, " they were not commoved, but 
 sang some suitable psalms on the scaffold, and pray- 
 ed; and thus died with much composure and joy." 
 Marion was remarkably supported. " Behold," she 
 cried, " I hear my Beloved saying unto me, * Arise, 
 my love, my fair one, and come away. 1 I am not 
 come here for murder! I am about twenty years 
 of age. At fourteen or fifteen I was a hearer of the 
 curates and indulged, and then I was a blasphemer 
 
1681.] THE TRUE GROUNDS OF SUFFERING. 203 
 
 and a Sabbath breaker, and a chapter of the Bible 
 was a burden to me; but since I heard this perse- 
 cuted gospel, I durst not blaspheme, nor break the 
 Sabbath, and the Bible became my delight. 11 Upon 
 this the major called to the executioner to cast her 
 over, and "the murderer presently choked her. 11 * 
 
 If we are asked, What were the grounds of all this 
 suffering ? we would reply, in general, that the main 
 cause in which our martyrs suffered and died, was 
 that of the covenanted reformation. In other words, 
 they died for approving of the various steps of refor- 
 mation which the church and nation of Scotland had 
 been led to take, during both the first and second 
 reforming periods, and particularly between the years 
 1638 and 1650; they died for their adherence, not 
 only to the protestant religion, but to presbyterian- 
 ism in opposition to prelacy and independency ; they 
 died for their adherence to the Confession of Faith, 
 and the other Westminster standards, as the stand- 
 ards of that uniformity agreed upon and sworn to by 
 Scotland, England, and Ireland; they died for main- 
 taining the continued obligation of the national cove- 
 nant and the solemn league, and for condemning the 
 sad defections from these attainments, and the glar- 
 ing violations of these engagements with which all 
 ranks and classes were chargeable. These were the 
 main and real grounds on which they endured so 
 much, in the forms of torture, banishment, imprison- 
 ment, and death. It is plain, that had they not held 
 
 Cloud of Witnesses, Scots Worthies, ii. 299-317; Wod., iii. 275, 
 270. Fountainhall's Histor. Observes, pp. 26, 27. This last writer 
 observes, very coolly, " Some thought the threatening to drown them 
 privately in the North Loch, without giving them the credit of a public 
 suffering, would have more effectually reclaimed them nor (than) any 
 arguments which were used," How true is it that " the tender mercies 
 of the wicked are cruel 1" 
 
20 1 THE HEADSHIP OP CHRIST. [1681. 
 
 these principles, or had they been less faithful in main- 
 taining them, they would never have writhed underthe 
 rack, nor dyed the scaffolds and the fields with their 
 blood. Of all the martyrs during the period of the 
 persecution, from the first to the last from the 
 coroneted head of Argyle down to the courageous 
 and devoted Renwick from " the lyart veteran," 
 down to the mere child, who was hardly capable of 
 understanding the points of quarrel, though he could 
 deeply feel the injustice of his persecutors not one 
 suffered without owning this cause. Here there was 
 no wavering, no faltering, no symptom of disunion 
 or disagreement among the band of sufferers. With 
 one mind and one mouth they bore their testimony 
 to the same work, and gloried in sealing it with their 
 blood. 
 
 It generally happens, however, that the testimony 
 of the church is made to bear upon some single 
 point, essentially involving the whole cause of truth, 
 and testing the fidelity of its followers. And at this 
 period, that point was the royal prerogatives of the 
 Lord Jesns Christ, as the only king and head of his 
 church. It should never be forgotten, that the over- 
 throw of the reformation at the period of the restora- 
 tion of Charles, with the scenes of bloody persecu- 
 tion which followed, are to bo traced to tho act 
 of supremacy, by which the king was declared su- 
 preme in all matters and causes, ecclesiastical as 
 well as civil. Against this gross erastian usur- 
 pation the presbyterians protested from the begin- 
 ning; and as the whole series of persecuting measures 
 afterwards adopted by the government proceeded on 
 this impious assumption of tho powers of Christ, it 
 is easy to see how the whole coutendings of the 
 
1681.] THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST. 205 
 
 faithful party in the land were reduced to the point 
 of asserting His sole headship over his church. 
 This became, with them, " the word of Christ's 
 patience;" and nobly did they " keep it in the hour 
 of temptation." They justly deemed it worthy of 
 all the sufferings they could endure ; and they shrank 
 from uttering the slightest word which might com- 
 promise the truth, or indicate the least relaxation 
 of their testimony in its behalf. 
 
 Seldom have the rulers of this world been brought 
 to acknowledge cordially, thoroughly, and practically, 
 that the church has a Head in heaven, to whom she 
 is bound to pay implicit and undivided homage. 
 And too often has the recognition of this principle, 
 which is so honourable to Christ, and which forms 
 the highest element in every well-constituted estab- 
 lishment of Christianity, been clogged with limita- 
 tions, enabling the civil powers, when so disposed, to 
 assume the spiritual prerogative, and assail the in- 
 dependence of the church. It ia equally true, how- 
 ever, that this has seldom, if ever, been attempted 
 avoicedly in opposition to the sacred rights of the 
 Redeemer. Those who suffer for resisting the en- 
 croachment, are uniformly represented as rebels, and 
 charged with factious opposition to the will of the 
 monarch, or the law of the land. 
 
 None were more sensible of the real cause for which 
 the covenanters suffered, or felt more bitterly con- 
 scious of its importance, than those who were most 
 active in conducting the persecution. But, with the 
 meanness and malignity which are the invariable 
 characteristics of the persecutor, they attempted, by 
 various stratagems, to shift the odium from them- 
 selves to their victims, and represent them as suffer- 
 
206 AMBIGUOUS TESTS. [1685. 
 
 ing for any other cause than the true one. Among 
 these stratagems were the " ensnaring questions" 
 which they put to the prisoners, such as, " Was the 
 rising at Both well rebellion, or not?" " Will you 
 pray for the king?" By these questions, which they 
 well knew many of them would not answer, or would 
 answer in such a way as to betray their condemna- 
 tion of the government, they attempted, in the absence 
 of .all evidence, to fix upon them the stigma of rebel- 
 lion ; while, in reality, their offence consisted in refus- 
 ing to hear the curates, or having attended field-meet- 
 ings. It was not uncommon to offer the poor people 
 their lives, provided they would simply say, God save 
 the king. Many refused to do this; and when we 
 consider the construction put upon the phrase by 
 their persecutors, we need not wonder at it; for by 
 uttering the salutation, they meant them to acknow- 
 ledge not only the civil authority, but the ecclesias- 
 tical supremacy of the king. When the prisoner at 
 the bar asked the meaning in which they put the 
 words, he was told they meant owning his person and 
 government, and approving all his titles as head of 
 the church and state. Sir George Mackenzie has 
 had the hypocrisy to assert that none suffered during 
 this reign who would say, God save the king.* This 
 is most certainly a falsehood, for many suffered 
 who were quite ready to say it. But when we con- 
 sider, not only that the poor people who refused to 
 do so looked upon it as a virtual renunciation of all 
 their principles, but that their persecutors regarded 
 it in the same light, it is hardly possible to conceive 
 a piece of more shocking and ingenious cruelty. 
 This test, though really intended to elicit a renun- 
 
 * Vindication of the Government during the Reign of Charles IL 
 
1685.J MARGARET WILSON. 207 
 
 ciation of their religious profession, was, at the same 
 time, so plausibly worded as to make the refusal of 
 it appear little better than mere obstinacy, and to 
 represent those who refused it as a set of fools, dying 
 under a frantic delusion, fitted to excite derision 
 rather than pity. But it was like the grain of incense 
 which the early Christians were required, by their 
 persecutors, to let fall on the altars of the pagan 
 deities the slightest token, indeed, but still a token 
 quite intelligible and well understood, of their re- 
 nouncing the Christian faith. The following case 
 will show how far these innocent sufferers were from 
 being unwilling to use the terms prescribed, provided 
 they were not understood in a sense completely ever- 
 sive of their principles or, in other words, meant to 
 involve them in perjury. 
 
 Gilbert Wilson was a farmer in good circum- 
 stances in Wigtonshire. He and his wife were both 
 conformists to prelacy ; but their children having 
 imbibed better principles, refused to hear the epis- 
 copal incumbent. For this reason, though yet 
 scarcely of the age to make them obnoxious to the 
 law, they were pursued, and driven to bogs, hills, 
 and caves for shelter. At last, Gilbert's two daugh- 
 ters, Margaret and Agnes, the one eighteen years 
 old, the other a mere child about thirteen, were 
 apprehended, and both of them, by their merciless 
 judges, were condemned to death. By going up to 
 Edinburgh and paying a large sum of money, the 
 father succeeded in purchasing the life of Agnes, his 
 youngest daughter; but Margaret, along with an old 
 woman of sixty-three, was adjudged to suffer death, 
 by being bound to stakes planted in the sea within 
 flood-mark, n^ar Wigton. Margaret's relations used 
 
208 MARGARET WILSON. [1685. 
 
 all means to prevail upon her to take the oath, and 
 promise to hear the curate; but she stood fast in her 
 integrity, and was not to be shaken. She and her 
 aged companion were tied to the stakes, in the pre- 
 sence of an immense crowd, and surrounded with 
 soldiers. The old woman's stake being a good way 
 beyond the other, she was the first that suffered; 
 and while she was struggling in the water, some one 
 asked Margaret, what she thought of her friend 
 now. " What do I see," she replied, " but Christ 
 in one of his members wrestling there ? Think you 
 that we are the sufferers? No; it is Christ in us. 
 for he sends none a warfare upon their own charges." 
 The water covered her while she was engaged in 
 prayer; but before life was gone, they pulled her up 
 till she recovered the power of speech, when she 
 was asked by major Windram, who commanded, if 
 she would pray for the king. She replied, that 
 " she wished the salvation of all men, and the dam- 
 nation of none." " Dear Margaret," said one of tli^ 
 bystanders, deeply affected, " say God save the Jdny? 
 She answered with great steadiness, " God save him, 
 if he will, for it is his salvation I desire." " Sir," 
 they cried to the major, " she has said it ! she has 
 said it !" The major, approaching her on hearing 
 this, offered her the abjuration oath, charging her 
 instantly to swear it, otherwise to return to the 
 water. The poor young woman, thus cruelly deluded 
 with the hope of life, firmly replied, " I will not ; I 
 am one of Christ's children ! let me go." Upon which 
 she was again thrust into the water, and drowned.* 
 Thus died these two women, simply because they 
 would not take the abjuration oath, which bound the 
 
 * Wodrow, Cloud of Witnesses, &c. 
 
1684-85.] JOHN BROWN OF PRIESTHILL. 209 
 
 swearers never to take up arms against the king on 
 any pretext whatsoever, and called on them to " ab- 
 hor, renounce, and disown," all who had done so. 
 What possible danger the government could appre- 
 hend from old women of sixty-three, and girls of 
 eighteen, taking up arms against the king, it is hard 
 to say. Every feeling of humanity rises up to exe- 
 crate an administration which could have recourse 
 to such gratuitous and unmanly cruelties in support 
 of its authority. 
 
 These, however, bad as they were, were the most 
 decent of the proceedings of this period they were 
 conducted with at least the forms and the semblance 
 of justice. The year 1684 introduced a practice more 
 barbarous and revolting, when the common soldiers 
 were empowered, without indictment or process, to 
 put to death any suspicious persons they might meet 
 with, upon their refusing to take the oaths, or answer 
 the questions they put, to their satisfaction. To 
 enumerate the cruelties and murders exercised under 
 this barbarous law would be a vain attempt. The 
 case of John Brown, the carrier, whom Claverhouse 
 shot before his own door, and in the presence of 
 his wife, is too well known to be more than advert- 
 ed to. " Go to your prayers immediately," cried 
 Claverhouse, "for you must die." Poor Brown pray- 
 ed, then kissed his wife and children; " God bless 
 you all," he said " may all purchased and promis- 
 ed blessings be multiplied." " No more," vociferated 
 Claverhouse : " You six there," counting six soldiers, 
 " shoot him instantly." The men, hardened as they 
 were, had been so much affected by Brown's prayer, 
 that they hesitated to obey the order; upon which 
 Claverhouse, drawing his pistol, shot him dead with 
 
210 MILITARY EXECUTIONS. [1684-85. 
 
 his own hand. " What thinkest thou of thy husband 
 now, woman ?" fiercely demanded the ruffian. " I 
 ever thought much good of him, 1 " sobbed the poor 
 widow; "and now more than ever." "Wretch!"' 
 said Claverhouse, " it were but just to lay thee be- 
 side him." " If you were permitted, I doubt not 
 but your cruelty would go that far," cried the poor 
 woman; "but how will you answer for this morn- 
 ing's work ?" 
 
 " To man I can be answerable," said the remorse- 
 less Claverhouse, " and as for God, I will take him 
 into my own hand !" 
 
 He then marched away, leaving the poor widow 
 with her husband's mangled corpse ! She set the 
 children on the ground ; she gathered up the scatter- 
 ed brains, and covering his body with her plaid, she 
 sat down and wept over him. 
 
 The duke of York had declared " there would 
 never be peace in Scotland till the whole of the 
 country south of the Forth was turned into a hunting 
 field." And in the years 1684 and 1685, there was 
 every appearance that his threatening would be re- 
 alized. During this, the hottest period of the perse- 
 cution, and emphatically termed by the people killing 
 time, the lives of the lieges were left at the mercy of 
 military executioners, who scoured the country, hunt- 
 ing in all directions in search of fugitive presbyte- 
 rians. Blood-hounds were employed to discover the 
 retreats of " the wanderers," as they were called, 
 who, on being found, were immediately brought out 
 and shot, without any proof, process, or - inquiry. 
 The slightest pretext was sufficient. If the person 
 whom they met could not produce a pass if he 
 made the least scruple to swallow the oath or if, 
 
1684-85.] MILITARY EXECUTIONS. 211 
 
 after doing so, the soldiers should still suspect him, 
 he was instantly deprived of life. If a countryman 
 was seen running across the road, or walking more 
 hastily than usual through a field, he was shot at as 
 a suspected person. 
 
 A specimen or two of these doings may suffice.* 
 A lieutenant and three soldiers passing along the 
 road, found a poor man sleeping on a bank, with a 
 small pocket Bible lying near him. This circumstance 
 having roused their suspicions, they awoke the man, 
 and asked him if he would pray for the king ? He 
 replied that he would with all his heart. The lieu- 
 tenant was about to let him go, when one of the 
 soldiers said " But, sir, will you renounce the cove- 
 nant f The man hesitated a moment; but on the 
 question being repeated, he firmly replied: " Indeed, 
 sir, Fll as soon renounce my baptism/'' Upon this, 
 without further ceremony, they shot the poor man 
 on the spot. On another occasion, some soldiers 
 perceived a countryman lying in a field engaged in 
 reading. They called to him, but the man being 
 deaf, and not making any reply, they fired at him, 
 on which he started to his feet.. Again they cried 
 to him, and before he could recover from his amaze- 
 ment, a second shot laid him dead on the field. Five 
 of the wanderers had taken refuge in a cave near 
 Ingliston, in the parish of Glencairn. Their place 
 of concealment was discovered to the enemy by a 
 base " intelligencer," who had formerly associated 
 with them, pretending to be one of the sufferers. 
 When the soldiers came up, they first fired into the 
 
 * The instances he.YO adduced are selected chiefly from Wodrow, 
 who was at great pains to ascertain, by written attestations, the truth 
 of the information he collected. The first is taken from Defoe's Me- 
 moirs. 
 
 VOL. II. O 
 
212 JOHNSTON OF WESTERRAW. [1684-85- 
 
 cave, and then rushing in, brought them forth to 
 execution. Without question put, or offer of mercy, 
 the whole five were immediately shot, by orders 
 of the commanding officer. One of them being ob- 
 served to be still alive, a wretch drew his sword and 
 thrust him through the body. The dying man 
 raised himself, and, weltering in his own blood and 
 that of his companions, cried out, with his last 
 breath " Though every hair of my head were a man, 
 I would die all those deaths for Christ and his 
 
 cause ! 
 
 In the bloody proceedings of this period, the names 
 of Johnston of Westerraw, and Grierson of Lagg, 
 vie with that of Claverhouse in infamous notoriety. 
 Westerraw was an apostate from presbyterianism, 
 and, like all apostates, more bitter and unrelenting 
 in his hatred to his former brethren than the worst 
 of their old oppressors. Claverhouse having appre- 
 hended a young man named Andrew Hislop, whose 
 only crime was, that one of the wanderers had per- 
 mission to die in his mother's house, brought him 
 to Westerraw, on whose property the alleged crime 
 was committed, and who, to signalize his loyalty, 
 instantly passed sentence of death on him. Claver- 
 house, who seems" to have had some relentings from 
 reflecting on the murder of Brown, urged delay; but 
 Westerraw insisting, he yielded, saying, " The blood 
 of this poor man be upon you, Westerraw; I am 
 free of it." He then ordered the captain of a High- 
 land company who were travelling with him, to exe- 
 cute the sentence. This the gentleman peremptorily 
 refused, and drawing off his men to some distance, 
 swore he would fight Claverhouse and his dragoons 
 rather than comply. Claverhouse then ordered three 
 
1684-85.] GRIERSON OF LAGG. 213 
 
 of his own men to do it. When they were ready to 
 fire, they desired Andrew to draw down his cap over 
 his eyes. " No !" said the undaunted youth, " I can 
 look ray death-bringers in the face without fear, and 
 I have nothing whereof I am ashamed;" and holding 
 up his Bible, and charging them to answer for what 
 they were to do at the great day, when they would 
 be judged by that look, he received the murderous 
 fire without shrinking. 
 
 Grierson of Lagg was, if possible, a still more 
 revolting character. The cruelties which others 
 inflicted merely under the impulse of passion and 
 malice, seem to have afforded this monster absolute 
 delight. He would jeer at the victims whom he 
 butchered in cold blood, and exult over their agonies 
 with a kind of fiendish glee. When they requested 
 a few moments to prepare for death, " What ! " he 
 would exclaim, with oaths and imprecations, " have 
 you not had time enough to prepare since BothwelH" 
 Having been challenged by one of his companions 
 for cruelty to one whom he knew to be a gentleman, 
 and particularly for not allowing his dead body to 
 be buried, Lagg answered, with an oath, " Take 
 him if you will, and salt him in your beef-barrel ! " 
 It was quite customary with this hero and his com- 
 panions, in their drunken orgies, to personate devils, 
 and lash one another with whips, in jesting imita- 
 tion of hell! 
 
 " Wonderful," says Wodrovv, " were the preserva- 
 tions of the persecuted about this time. The sol- 
 diers frequently got their clothes and cloaks, and 
 yet missed themselves. They would have gone by 
 the mouths of the caves and dens in which they were 
 lurking, and the dogs would snook and smell about 
 
214 RESCUE AT ENTERKIN PATH. [1681.' 
 
 the stones under which they were hid, and yet they 
 remained undiscovered."" But the reader may be 
 more inclined to wonder at the patience of these suf- 
 ferers, and at the fact that, notwithstanding the extra- 
 ordinary provocation they received, there is not one 
 well-authenticated instance of their having taken 
 revenge on their persecutors.* The only instance 
 in which they even attempted, after the defeat at 
 Bothwell, to oppose force to force, took place at 
 Enterkin path, where a small body of countrymen 
 succeeded in rescuing some prisoners from a detach- 
 ment of dragoons. Enterkin path is a steep and 
 dangerous ascent on a mountain of that name in 
 Dumfriesshire, with a tremendous precipice beneath. 
 Along this path the dragoons were conveying to 
 Edinburgh nine prisoners, bound together in couples 
 upon horses, when their progress was arrested by a 
 voice from the hill above. " It was misty," says 
 Defoe, in his account of this affair, " as indeed it is 
 seldom otherwise on the height of that mountain, so 
 that nobody was seen at first; but the commanding 
 officer, hearing somebody call, halted, and cried 
 aloud, ' What do you want, and who are ye?' He 
 had no sooner spoken, than twelve men came in sight 
 upon the side of the hill above them. One of the 
 twelve answered by giving the word of command to 
 his men, ' Make ready ! ' and then calling to the 
 officer, said, ' Sir, will you deliver up our minister?' 1 
 The officer answered with an oath, ' No, sir.' At 
 which the leader of the countrymen fired imme- 
 diately, and aimed so true that he shot him through 
 
 * Two soldiers found killed at Swine Abbey, and a curate, named 
 Peirson, who lost his life in a scuffle, are the only cases resembling reta- 
 liation which were adduced against the covenanters at this time, and in 
 neither of these could it be shown that the sufferers had any share. 
 
]6S4.] DECLARATION ANENT INFORMERS. 215 
 
 the head, and immediately he fell from his horse ; the 
 horse, fluttering a little with the fall of the rider, fell 
 over the precipice, rolling to the bottom, and was dash- 
 ed to pieces. The rest of the twelve men were stooping 
 to give fire upon the body, when the next commanding 
 officer called to them to hold their hands, and de- 
 sired a truce. It was apparent that the whole body 
 was in a dreadful consternation; not a man of 
 them durst stir, or offer to fire a shot. ' Go, sir,' 
 said he to the minister, ' you owe your life to this 
 
 d mountain.' ' Bather, sir,' said the minister, 
 
 ' to the God that made this mountain.' When the 
 minister was come to them, their leader called again 
 to the officer, ' Sir. we want yet the other prisoners. 1 
 They were also delivered. * Well, sir, but," 1 says 
 the officer, ' I expect you will call off those fellows 
 you have posted at the head of the way.' 'They 
 belong not to us,' says the honest man ; ' they are 
 unarmed people, waiting till you pass by.' ' Say you 
 soT said the officer; ' had I known that, you had not 
 gotten your men so cheap.' Says the countryman, 
 ' An 1 ye are for battle ; we'll quit the truce, if you 
 like. 1 ' No,' says the officer, ' I think ye be brave 
 fellows; e'en gang your gate. 1 "* 
 
 Such is the only instance in which the severities 
 of this time can be said to have roused these perse- 
 cuted people to forcible resistance. " The society 
 people,' 1 indeed, who were now the special objects of 
 the vengeance of government, being the only class 
 who still persisted in holding field-conventicles, pub- 
 lished, in October 1684, " A declaration anent intel- 
 
 * Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, part iii. pp. 189-195. Defoe 
 had either heard another version of this story, or improved on what he 
 heard. \Vodrow states that the soldiers fired first on the countrymen. 
 (Vol. iv. p. 173.) 
 
216 PATIENCE OF THE SUFFERERS. [1684-85. 
 
 li^encers and informers," in which they not only 
 declared war against Charles, but solemnly warned 
 all who chose, " either with bloody Doeg to shed 
 their blood, or with the flattering Ziphites to inform 
 persecutors where they were to be found," that they 
 would not let them pass unpunished. " Call to your 
 remembrance, 11 they said, " all that is in peril is not 
 lost, and all that is delayed is not forgiven!' 1 '' AVhile 
 we must disapprove of this step, as unwarranted by 
 Scripture, and affording too much countenance to 
 the dangerous principle of the infliction of justice by 
 private individuals, we cannot blame its authors with 
 much severity, when we reflect that they were de- 
 prived of the protection of law, and hunted like 
 wild beasts in the caverns and on the mountains to 
 which they fled for shelter. The threat was never 
 carried into execution; and yet it gained its object, 
 by intimidating for a while the spies and traitors 
 who made a traffic of their blood. It was the cry 
 of the oppressed, wrung from them by extremity 
 the instinctive raising of the hand to protect the head 
 the language of human passion, wound up to the 
 desperate calmness of defiance, which imparts dignity 
 to the sufferer, while it makes the persecutor pause 
 and tremble. 
 
 Yet it would be wrong to suppose that this was a 
 general feeling among the persecuted. On the con- 
 trary, never perhaps was the gentle, forgiving, and 
 long-suffering spirit of the gospel more strikingly 
 illustrated than in the sufferings of this period. 
 " They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, 
 knowing that they had in heaven a better and an 
 enduring substance."" On the scaffold they forgave 
 their enemies, and prayed for their executioners. 
 
1684-85.] JUDGMENTS ON PERSECUTORS. 217 
 
 Some of them carried submission even to an excess ; 
 and nothing conveys a more affecting idea of the 
 %t great fight of afflictions'" they endured, than the 
 simple fact, attested by Wodrow, that many of them, 
 seeing their friends cut down around them in such 
 numbers, and their own lives in such constant jeo- 
 pardy, were seized by a tcedium mice a weariness 
 of life which made them careless of danger, and 
 induced them even to court the crown of martyrdom. 
 The brutal judges, aware of this, instead of sending 
 them directly from the bar to the gibbet, would remit 
 them to jail, scoffingly informing them that they 
 would not be admitted to the joys of martyrdom so 
 soon as they expected ! On one occasion a poor half- 
 witted countryman, being present at an execution, 
 was so much horrified that he could not forbear 
 railing aloud against the hangman, calling him " a 
 murdering dog." He was immediately seized by the 
 soldiers, and some time after brought before the coun- 
 cil. Being interrogated if he had been at Bothwell 
 Bridge, he replied " Ay, that I was ! " " Had you a 
 sword about you?" Ay," said said he, " and pistols 
 too." A child, it is said, might have beaten this 
 champion, and taken all from him. Some of the 
 more humane of the councillors, perceiving his weak- 
 ness, proposed to " send him away, and not trouble 
 themselves with such a mad fellow;" but others pro- 
 ceeding to pose him with questions about the king's 
 authority, which he denied point blank, the poor 
 creature was condemned and executed.* 
 
 But though the,?e persecutors escaped the human 
 vengeance which they provoked though not one of 
 
 * Vindication of the Presbyterians in Scotland from the malicious as 
 persions cast on them in a late pamphlet by sir G. Mackenzie, p. 24. 
 
218 JUDGMENTS ON PERSECUTORS. [1684-85. 
 
 them was called to account, or suffered death, or 
 even any personal hardship worth mentioning, at 
 the revolution, it was remarked, that few of them 
 escaped the judgments of Heaven. Of those who 
 took the most active share in these bloody persecu- 
 tions, very few came to an ordinary or peaceful death. 
 The duke of Rothes was seized with such remorse on 
 his death-bed, that, as we remarked before, he was 
 fain to send for some of the persecuted ministers to 
 comfort him. They came, but the wretched man 
 was beyond the reach of consolation; their prayers 
 were drowned in the groans he uttered under the 
 horrors of a guilty conscience. His friends, shocked 
 at the scene, were compelled to leave him; and the 
 duke of Hamilton, on taking his departure, said, in 
 tears, " We banish these men from us, and yet, when 
 dying, we call for them: this is melancholy work.' 1 " 
 Cruel and bloody as were the deaths of our martyred 
 fathers, they were enviable compared with those of 
 their murderers. Over the grave of the martyr we 
 bend with a pleasing melancholy; for there was 
 " hope in his death." From the death-bed of the 
 persecutor we recoil, hopeless and horrified, and 
 instinctively breathing the prayer, " Gather not my 
 soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men ! " 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Tesi^-Trial of the earl of Argyle Sir Hugh Campbell Mr. 
 William Carstairs Baillie of Jerviswood Hume of Polwart Exe- 
 cution of Argyle Prisoners in Dunottar castle James' indulgence 
 Execution of Renwick Character of Scottish prelacy Alarm of 
 the country The revolution. 
 
 To understand the following part of our history, we 
 must revert for a little to the famous test, enacted 
 in August 1681. This engagement, which was in 
 the form of a long complex oath, bound the swearer 
 to acknowledge the supremacy of the king in all 
 causes, ecclesiastical as well as civil to renounce 
 the covenants to condemn all assemblies as illegal 
 which were held without the royal sanction, and on 
 no pretext to attempt the alteration of the govern- 
 ment in church or state. At the same time, with 
 glaring inconsistency, it included a profession of the 
 true protestant religion contained in the old Scots 
 Confession of 1567- a clause introduced, it is said, 
 much against the will of the duke of York, whose 
 main design in imposing the oath was to extirpate 
 presbyterianism, and thus prepare the way for 
 popery. He knew very well that no honest presby- 
 
220 THE TEST. [1681. 
 
 terian would submit to such an oath, and he took 
 care, in the act enjoining it, to exempt himself and 
 the papists from the necessity of swearing it. 
 
 Nothing gives a darker picture of the time, than 
 the history of this self-contradictory test. Though 
 at first proposed only for persons in public trust, it 
 was soon converted into a general test of loyalty, 
 and imposed on all, even the simplest rustics. Few 
 had sufficient firmness of principle to refuse it, so 
 much had all sense of religion been worn off from the 
 minds of men by the numerous oaths that had been 
 imposed, and by which conscience was debauched, 
 and a spirit of atheism engendered. Some outcry 
 was made against it at first; but, after all, not one 
 of the councillors refused it, except the earl of 
 Argyle. The prelatic clergy, with very few excep- 
 tions, and the bishops, without one exception, swal- 
 lowed the oath. The divines of Aberdeen, after 
 publishing their objections against it, which closely 
 resembled those of the presbyterians,* tamely sub- 
 mitted with the rest. 
 
 In the midst of this shameful degeneracy, the earl 
 of Argyle, son of the marquis of Argyle, who was 
 martyred in 1661, distinguished himself by his pa- 
 triotic firmness and fidelity. When called upon, 
 as a member of privy council, to take the test, he 
 made the following declaration: " I take it, in as 
 far as it is consistent with itself and the protestant 
 
 * For example, the following is one of their exceptions : " How can I 
 swear that I believe the king's majesty to be the only supreme governor 
 over all persons, and in all causes, when the forementioned Confession 
 obliges me to believe Jesus Christ to be the only head of the Church; 
 and when I believe all ecclesiastic authority to be derived from Christ, 
 and not from secular princes; and when I believe the king's power to be 
 cumulative, and not destructive of the intrinsic power of the church?" 
 &c. ( Wodrow, lii. p. 304.) 
 
1681.] TRIAL OF THE EARL OF ARGYLE. 221 
 
 religion; and I do declare, I mean not to bind up 
 myself, in my station and in a lawful way, to endea- 
 vour any alteration I think to the advantage of the 
 church or state, not repugnant to the protestant 
 religion and my loyalty." With this explication, he 
 was allowed to take the test; but the duke of York, 
 determined to get rid of this patriotic nobleman, 
 whom he disliked for his father's sake, and for his 
 sound protestant principles, made it the pretext of 
 a prosecution against him for high treason! After a 
 trial remarkable for the greatest mockery of justice 
 and perversion of law which ever disgraced our civil 
 judicature, the earl was brought in guilty, and com- 
 mitted to the castle. Finding that the duke of 
 York, his inveterate enemy, was resolved on his 
 destruction, he was induced by his friends to avail 
 himself of the means of escape; and, on the 20th of 
 December, about nine o'clock at night, he stole out 
 of the castle, in the disguise of a page, holding up 
 the train of his step-daughter, the lady Sophia Lind- 
 say.* 
 
 At this time, the prospect of the accession of the 
 duke of York, his well-known devotedness to the 
 Romish church, and the obvious tendency of his 
 policy, filled the country with a dread of the restor- 
 ation of popery. This feeling pervaded all classes, 
 of which, perhaps, there cannot be a better proof 
 than the fact, that it descended even to schoolboys 
 and apprentices. On Christmas ] 681, a fewdays after 
 the escape of Argyle, they publicly burnt the pope in 
 effigy at the cross of Edinburgh. The students at 
 
 * Fountainhall's Decisions, i. 167. A minute account of the manner 
 in -which he effected his escape to Holland, with the aid of Mr. Veitch, 
 is given in M'Crie's Memoirs of Veitch, &c., p. 127, et. seq. 
 
222 POPULAR FEELING AGAINST POPERY. [1681. 
 
 the university having been severely punished for this 
 the preceding year, the preparations were on this 
 occasion conducted so quietly that none suspected 
 the design. Having fixed a chair on the spot where 
 the gallows stood, they tucked up his holiness in a 
 red gown and mitre, with two keys over his arm, a 
 crucifix in the one hand, and the test in the other; 
 and having applied fire to the figure, " it brunt 
 lenty at first till it came to the powder, at which he 
 blew up in the air."* The boys at Heriot's hospi- 
 tal adopted a more ingenious mode of testifying their 
 sentiments. Finding that the dog which guarded 
 the outer gate of the hospital held " a public office, 1 " 
 they voted that he ought to take the test, or be 
 hanged. They offered him the paper, which he 
 absolutely refused; they then rubbed it over with 
 butter, which they called " the explication of the 
 test;' 1 and when again presented, he licked off the 
 butter, but rejected the paper; upon which, after a 
 long trial, in ridicule of the absurd reasoning of the 
 crown lawyers on Argyle's case, they found the dog 
 guilty of leising making, and actually hanged him.-f- 
 In Glasgow the same spirit was manifested in a diffe- 
 rent manner. The students put on favours and 
 coloured ribbons, in token of their being protestants. 
 For this some of their leaders were arrested, and, 
 among others, the young marquis of Annandale, who 
 briskly defended himself and his companions. In 
 addressing the bishop who sat as their judge, he had 
 called him only " sir." " William,"" said his regent, 
 " you do not understand whom you are speaking to; 
 
 * Fountainhall's Hist. Obs., p. 55. 
 
 f Hid. p. 56. In this work a curious account of the trial of the dog is 
 inserted, p. 303. 
 
1684.] CAMPBELL OF CESNOCK. 223 
 
 he is a greater person than yourself." " I know," 
 said Annandale, " that the king has made him a 
 spiritual lord; but I know likewise that my father's 
 son is not to be compared with the son of the piper 
 of Arbroath."* 
 
 It has been often said, and generally supposed, 
 that the presbyterians who suffered during this pe- 
 riod were chiefly persons in the lower ranks of life. 
 This, however, is an error which may easily be recti- 
 fied by a glance at the annals of the persecution, 
 and the lists of proscribed individuals. These will 
 be found to comprehend some of the highest of the 
 nobility, and the greater part of the gentry and sub- 
 stantial yeomanry of the country. The poorest classes 
 were in general hostile to the covenanters, and too 
 often lent themselves as informers against them. 
 
 Among the gentlemen who suffered at this period 
 we may briefly notice sir Hugh Campbell of Cesnock, 
 the Rev. William Carstairs, Robert Baillie of Jervis- 
 wood, and sir Patrick Hume of Polwart, who were 
 all brought into trouble in consequence of being sus- 
 pected of accession to the Ryehouse plot, in 1684, 
 for their supposed share in which those illustrious 
 patriots, lord Russel and Algernon Sidney, had 
 suffered death. Sir Hugh Campbell was brought 
 to trial on this charge; but finding no evidence to 
 implicate him in the plot, they determined to ruin 
 him by a charge of accession to the rising at Both- 
 well, and permitting conventicles to meet on his 
 estate. Sir Hugh proved his innocence of these 
 crimes beyond all doubt; but one witness remained, 
 named Ingram, who had been heard to swear that he 
 would be revenged on him for some supposed injury, 
 
 * Wodrow, iii. 345. 
 
224 WILLIAM CARSTAIRS. [1684. 
 
 and on whoso evidence his prosecutors depended. 
 Ingram held up his hand to take the oath. " Take 
 heed what you are about to do," said sir Hugh, 
 looking him steadily in the face, " and damn not 
 your own soul by perjury; for, as I shall answer to 
 God, I never saw you in the face before, nor spoke 
 to you." The man was staggered by this appeal, 
 and refused to depone the promised falsehood. A 
 loud shout of applause proclaimed the delight of the 
 audience at this failure of the proof. The disap- 
 pointed judges were incensed; and sir George Mac 
 kenzie, the lord advocate, declared, in a passion, 
 that " he never heard of such a protestant roar, ex- 
 cept in the trial of Shaftesbury." The jury, having 
 brought in a verdict of " Not guilty," were insulted, 
 and threatened with imprisonment for joining in the 
 applause; the witnesses were kept in confinement; 
 and sir Hugh himself, though he escaped with 
 life, was committed a prisoner to the Bass, and de- 
 prived of his estate, which was given to one of his 
 judges. 
 
 The Rev. William Carstairs, afterwards principal 
 of the university of Edinburgh, and well known as 
 the confidential correspondent of king William, was 
 suspected of the same plot; and refusing to betray 
 any of his friends, was subjected, about the same 
 time, to the torture of the thumbklns an instrument 
 newly introduced, which enclosed the fingers, and, 
 by means of a screw, was made to compress the 
 joints, so as to produce the most exquisite pain.* 
 
 * After the revolution, Mr. Carstairs procured the instrument by 
 which he had been tortured, which is still in the possession of his de- 
 scendants. It is said that king William, being curious to see it, inserted 
 his royal fingers in the tlmmbkins; and Carstairs, at his desire, haviug 
 
1684.J BAILLIE OF JERVISWOOD. 225 
 
 The minister endured this torture with the greatest 
 fortitude, steadily refusing to answer any questions 
 which might implicate his friends. After some time, 
 however, worn out by rigorous confinement, he agreed 
 to make some disclosures, upon receiving a solemn 
 promise from government, that " nothing he said 
 should be brought, directly or indirectly, against 
 any man in trial." His evidence involved Robert 
 Baillie of Jerviswood, as one who had met with others 
 to consult what steps should be taken for the sup- 
 port of the protestant religion, in the event of the 
 duke of York succeeding to the crown. To the 
 disgrace of the government, as well as his own 
 unspeakable distress, this evidence was not only 
 published and hawked about the streets, but adduced 
 by the king's advocate as "an adminicle of proof" 
 against that worthy gentleman. Mr. Carstairs lived 
 to take a prominent part in the revolution. He was 
 more distinguished as a politician than as a clergy- 
 man; and from the influence he possessed over king 
 William in the management of the civil affairs of 
 Scotland, he was generally known at court by the 
 name of " Cardinal Carstairs?" 1 * 
 
 Robert Baillie of J erviswood was one of the most 
 amiable and engaging characters of this dark period 
 of our history. Gentle in disposition, and bland in 
 manners, yet firm and faithful to his religious prin- 
 ciples, pious and learned, he united accomplishments 
 rarely to be found among the gentlemen of his age, 
 with the virtues of the patriot and the martyr. At 
 
 given the screw a turn, his majesty exclaimed, " Hold, hold, principal; 
 another turn, and I would confess anything." 
 
 * The character of this worthy and much-respected minister has suf- 
 fered from the misrepresentations of it in the very moderate account of 
 his life drawn up by Dr. M'Cormick, and prefixed to his state papers. 
 
226 BAILLIE OP JERVISWOOD. [1684. 
 
 tached to the cause of liberty and protestantism, 
 his well-tried loyalty could not shield him from the 
 malice of a government bent on subjecting the nation 
 to popery and despotism. He was thrown into 
 prison, where he contracted an illness which brought 
 him to the gates of death. His enemies, eager to 
 obtain possession of his property, and afraid he 
 might die in their hands before his attainder enabled 
 them to reach it, made sure, in the first place, of 
 ^5,000, by fining him to that amount; and when to 
 all appearance a dying man, and unable to stand, 
 they dragged him from his sick-bed to the bar on 
 an impeachment of high treason. He appeared in 
 his night-gown, attended by his sister, who admi- 
 nistered cordials, to prevent him from sinking during 
 the trial. His pretended crime was " intercom- 
 muning with rebels" in other words, having har- 
 boured or conversed with fugitive presbyterians; 
 along with which they attempted to combine a charge 
 of accession to the Ryehouse plot, by shamefully 
 producing against him the evidence they had pro- 
 cured from Carstairs.* The evidence completely 
 failed; even the judges were satisfied of his inno- 
 cence; but the council had determined he should 
 die. In vain he appealed to their sense of justice. 
 " Did you not," he said, addressing Mackenzie, who 
 acted as king's advocate, " did you not own to me 
 privately in prison that you were satisfied of my 
 innocence? And are you now convinced in your con- 
 science that I am more guilty than before?" The 
 
 * Jerviswood had been arrested on this charge in England, and was 
 offered his life if he would consent to turn king's evidence. He replied 
 to this, with a smile, " They who can make such a proposal to me, know 
 neither me nor my country." (Dalrymple*s Memoirs of Greoi. Britain, 
 i. 89.) 
 
1684.] BAILLIE OF JERVISWOOD. 227 
 
 whole audience fixed their eyes on the person thus 
 addressed, who appeared in no small confusion, and 
 replied, " Jerviswood, I own what you say; but my 
 thoughts there were as a private man: what I say 
 here is by special direction of the privy council;" 
 and, pointing to the clerk, he added, " He knows 
 my orders."" " Well," said Jerviswood, on hearing 
 this unprincipled avowal, " if your lordship have one 
 conscience for yourself, and another for the council, 
 I pray God forgive you; I do."" Then, turning to 
 the justice-general, he said, " My lord, I trouble 
 your lordships no longer." 
 
 The trial concluded at one o'clock in the morning, 
 December 24, 1684; and his sentence was, to be 
 taken that same day (no time could be lost), between 
 two and four o'clock, to the market-cross of Edin- 
 burgh, there to be hanged on a gibbet till dead, and 
 thereafter his head to be struck off, and his body 
 quartered. When this doom was pronounced, he 
 said, " My lords, the time is short, the sentence is 
 sharp; but I thank my God who hath made me as 
 fit to die as ye are to live." 
 
 When sent back to prison, " he leaned over the 
 bed and fell into a wonderful rapture of joy, from 
 the assurance he had that in a few hours he should 
 be inconceivably happy." Being asked how he was, 
 he answei'ed, " Never better, and in a few hours Til 
 be well beyond conception ! They are going to send 
 me in pieces and quarters through the country; they 
 may hack and hew my body as they please, but I 
 know assuredly nothing shall be lost, but all these 
 my members shall be wonderfully gathered, and 
 made like Christ's glorious body." On the scaffold, 
 he behaved with the utmost serenity, though unable, 
 
 VOL. II. P 
 
228 HUME OF POLWART. [1684. 
 
 from bodily exhaustion, to go up the ladder without 
 support. He began to say, " My faint zeal for the 
 protestant religion has brought me to this end"- 
 vvhen the drums were ordered to beat, and he re- 
 signed himself to the executioner. " Their spite 
 against the dead body of this saint was very great ; 
 and I am told,"" says Wodrow, " the quarters of it 
 lay in the thievesMiole for three weeks, before they 
 were placed as in the sentence."* " And thus," says 
 bishop Burnet, u a learned and worthy gentleman, 
 after twenty months 1 hard usage, was brought to 
 such a death in a way so full, in all the steps of it, 
 of the spirit and practice of the courts of the inqui- 
 sition, that one is tempted to think that the steps 
 taken in it were suggested by one well studied, if 
 not practised, in them." It is gratifying to reflect, 
 that while the names of his persecutors have been 
 forgotten, or are only remembered with execration, 
 the memory of this excellent gentleman is still em- 
 balmed in the memory of Scotland, and in the hearts 
 of all good men, and that his descendants have risen 
 to opulence and honour in the country. -f- 
 
 Baillie's friend and companion in tribulation, sir 
 Patrick Hume of Polwart, escaped from prison, and 
 lay for a long time in a place of concealment so re- 
 markable, that it is not surprising he should have 
 eluded all the efforts of his pursuers. With the as- 
 sistance of a faithful domestic, to whom alone the 
 
 * Wodrow, iv. 104-112, and Addenda. " Mr. Baillie of Jerviswood 
 had his life taken from him at the cross; and everbody was sorry* 
 though they durst not show it." (Lady Murray* s Memoirt, p. 41.) 
 
 f- Among his illustrious descendants, is the present marchioness of 
 Breadalbane. " You have truly men of great spirits in Scotland," said 
 Dr. Owen to a friend; " there is for a gentleman, Mir. Baillie of JervU- 
 wood, a person of the greatest abilities I ever almost met with." 
 
1684.] HUME OF POLWART. 229 
 
 secret was imparted, his wife and daughter conveyed 
 a bed during night to the family burying-place, in 
 a vault under ground at Polwart church, where sir 
 Patrick remained safe during a whole month, with 
 no light except what was admitted through a small 
 aperture at the one end of the vault. As night ap- 
 proached, his noble and amiable daughter, Grisell, 
 afterwards lady Grisell Baillie,* repaired to this 
 gloomy receptacle with his victuals, and remained 
 with him till daybreak. The following interesting 
 account of these midnight interviews is given by lady 
 Murray, the daughter of theyouthful heroine : " Lady 
 Grisell had at that time a terror for a churchyard, 
 especially in the dark, as is not uncommon at that 
 age, by idle nursery stories; but when engaged by 
 concern for her father, she stumbled over the 
 graves every night alone without fear of any kind 
 entering her thoughts, but for soldiers and parties 
 in search of him. which the least noise or motion of 
 a leaf put her in terror for. The minister's house 
 was near the church; the first night she went, his 
 dogs kept such a barking as put her in the utmost 
 fear of a discovery; my grandmother (the wife of 
 sir Patrick) sent for the minister next day, and upon 
 pretence of a mad dog, got him to hang all his dogs. 
 There was also difficulty of getting victuals to carry 
 him, without the servants suspecting; the only way 
 it was done was by stealing it oft' her plate at dinner 
 into her lap. Many a diverting story she has told 
 about this and other things of a like nature. Her 
 
 * She was married to George Baillie, son of the martyred Jerviswood, 
 between whom and lady Grisell a mutual attachment had been formed 
 in the prison where they had been accustomed to meet while their fathers 
 were in confinement. 
 
230 ACCESSION OF JAMES VII. [1685- 
 
 father liked sheep's head; and while the children were 
 eating their broth, she had conveyed most of one into 
 her lap: when her brother Sandy, the late lord 
 Marchmont, had done, he looked up with astonish- 
 ment, and said, ' Mother, will you look at Grisell; 
 while we have been eating our broth, she has ate 
 up the whole sheep's head!' This occasioned so 
 much mirth amongst them, that her father, at night, 
 was greatly entertained by it, and desired Sandy 
 might have a share of the next. His great comfort, 
 and constant entertainment (for he had no light to 
 read by), was repeating Buchanan's psalms, which 
 he had by heart from beginning to end, and retained 
 them to his dying day."* Sir Patrick Hume ulti- 
 mately escaped out of the country, and after the 
 revolution was created earl of Marchmont, and 
 chancellor of Scotland. The good old presbyterian 
 retained the same composure and cheerfulness of 
 mind till his death, which was at the age of eighty- 
 four. 
 
 In February 1685, died Charles II., and was suc- 
 ceeded by his brother, the duke of York, tinder the 
 title of James VII. of Scotland, and II. of England. 
 The accession of an avowed papist to the throne, in 
 itself a flagrant breach of the constitution, was fol- 
 lowed by other steps paving the way for popish 
 ascendency. The Scottish parliament, more ready 
 than the English to favour the projects of James, 
 without even requiring him to take the coronation 
 oath, vowed the most slavish submission to his will. 
 Several unsuccessful attempts were made to avert 
 
 * Memoirs of George Baillie of Jerviswood, and of lady Griaell Buiilie, 
 by their daughter, lady Murray of Stanhope, p. 36-38. 
 
1685.] EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF ARGYLE. 231 
 
 the catastrophe. Among these was the invasion of 
 the earl of Argyle, the progress and issue of which 
 are matters of civil history. The last moments of 
 this unfortunate nobleman come more properly within 
 our province. His whole demeanour, after his ap- 
 prehension, was marked by a calm fortitude and Chris- 
 tian resignation becoming the son of the proto- 
 martyr of the covenant. His last Sabbath on earth 
 was spent with the most heavenly devotion. To his 
 sister, the lady Lothian, who was much affected on 
 taking farewell of him, he said, " I am now loosed from 
 you and all earthly satisfactions, and long to be with 
 Christ, which is far better. It seems the Lord 
 thought me not fit to be an instrument in his work; 
 but I die in the faith of it, that it will advance, and 
 that the Lord will appear for it. I hear they can- 
 not agree about the manner of my death; but I am 
 assured of my salvation; as for my body, I care not 
 what they do with it. Sister," he added, while his 
 heart filled at the thought of his afflicted wife, " be 
 kind to my Jeanie." 1 " 1 About an hour before his exe- 
 cution, he dined with great cheerfulness, and having 
 been accustomed to sleep a little after meals, he lay 
 down, and took his usual repose. An officer of state, 
 coming to visit him at this time, would not believe 
 that he was asleep, till the door of the apartment 
 was softly opened, and he was permitted to look in. 
 He instantly rushed home in a state bordering on 
 distraction. " Argyle within an hour of eternity, and 
 sleeping as pleasantly as a child ! " His conscience 
 smote him, when he thought how differently he would 
 have felt in the same circumstances. On the scaf- 
 fold, the earl's deportment was equally becoming. 
 Having addressed the multitude, prayed, and for- 
 
232 DUNOTTAR CASTLE. [1685. 
 
 given hia enemies, the episcopal clergyman who 
 attended, said aloud, " This nobleman dies a pro- 
 testant." Argyle stepped forward and said, " 1 die 
 not only a protestant, but with a heart-hatred of 
 popery, prelacy, and all superstition whatsoever." 
 lie then laid his head on the block, and saying, 
 " Lord Jesus, receive me into thy glory ! " he gave 
 the fatal sign by raising his hand, and the axe 
 severed his head from his body. 
 
 Though the earl of Argyle had been for several 
 years a member of the government, and in this capa- 
 city may be said, in one sense, to have participated 
 in the guilt of their procedure, yet he seems to have 
 been all along animated by a genuine love to liberty 
 and religion. His unsuccessful effort to free his 
 country from the chains of despotism, entitles him to 
 our gratitude as a patriot ; and the manner of his 
 death ranks him in the list of our martyrs. 
 
 The unfortunate attempt of Argyle led to still 
 greater severities against the presbyterians. The 
 jails of Edinburgh being filled with prisoners, it was 
 resolved, on hearing the first news of the invasion 
 to transport a number of them to Dunottar castle, 
 a fortified place on the east coast of Scotland, near 
 the village of Stonehaven, the ruins of which still 
 
 o 
 
 remain. Some of them were allowed to escape on 
 taking the oath of supremacy. The rest, who stood 
 faithful, to the number of one hundred and sixty- 
 seven persons, men and women, after being driven like 
 cattle through Fife and along the coast of Angus, 
 were thrust promiscuously into a dark vault under 
 ground, full of mire, and with only one window look- 
 ing to the sea. In this horrid situation they were 
 pent up during the whole summer. Many of them 
 
1687.] THE INDULGENCES. 233 
 
 died from disease, and the lives of the rest were 
 made bitter by the barbarity of their keepers. It 
 seemed to be the policy of government to compel 
 these poor people to forswear themselves, by pushing 
 them to the utmost verge of human endurance; and 
 their inflexible fidelity had only the effect, uniformly 
 observed in the history of persecution, of inflaming 
 the rage and malignity of their persecutors. Twenty- 
 five of the prisoners made their escape one day down 
 the rocks on which the castle was built; but fifteen 
 of these, betrayed by the low people of the neigh- 
 bourhood, were apprehended, and cruelly tortured. 
 They were bound hand and foot on a form, with a 
 fiery match betwixt every finger, six soldiers waiting 
 on by turns to keep the matches alive. Some of 
 them expired under this diabolical treatment, while 
 others were shockingly mutilated, the very bones of 
 their fingers being burnt to ashes. 
 
 Soon after this, a change took place, which gave 
 a temporary respite to the suffering presbyterians. 
 James, having awakened the jealousy of the nation 
 by the dissolution of his parliaments, and the admis- 
 sion of papists to places of power and trust, found 
 it necessary, for the accomplishment of his darling 
 purpose, to ingratiate himself with the dissenters. 
 With this view, he published, in 1687, various acts 
 of indulgence, professedly with the view of, giving 
 " liberty of conscience," and " allaying the heats 
 and animosities among the several professors of the 
 Christian religion," but really in order to rescind all 
 penal statutes and disabilities affecting the papists. 
 In the very act of granting these indulgences, James 
 challenged a dispensing and absolute power, directly 
 at variance with all civil and religious liberty. " We 
 
234 THE INDULGENCES. [1687. 
 
 have thought fit to grant," said he, in one of hi? 
 proclamations, " and by our sovereign authority, pre- 
 rogative royal, and absolute power, which all our sub- 
 jects are to obey without reserve, do hereby give and 
 grant our royal toleration." Besides this unconsti- 
 tutional stretch of authority, the indulgences were 
 at first clogged with various restrictions. The tole- 
 ration was only extended to " moderate presbyte- 
 rians," and to such as were willing to accept of the 
 boon, permitting them to meet in private houses, 
 but discharging them to meet in barns or meeting- 
 houses, and with a renewal of all the former severi- 
 ties against preaching in the fields. In this shape, not 
 one of the presbyterians accepted of the indulgence. 
 In April of the same year, however, James published 
 his " Declaration for Liberty of Conscience," in which 
 still farther concessions were made; and this was fol- 
 lowed in July by a third toleration, abolishing all penal 
 statutes against nonconformity to the religion estab- 
 lished by law, and taking off all the former restric- 
 tions, except the prohibition of field meetings. Of 
 the benefit of the indulgence in this form, many of 
 the presbyterian ministers deemed it their duty to 
 accept. 
 
 " The Cameronians," says Dr. Cook, " who had re- 
 nounced their allegiance to a tyrannical sovereign, 
 acted consistently when the indulgence was offered 
 to them, and they boldly refused to take advantage 
 of what had flowed from so polluted a source."* 
 It is impossible not to admire the heroism of these 
 men, who ventured, in their individual capacities, to 
 anticipate the judgment uttered in the following year 
 by the voice of the three kingdoms. Though with 
 
 * Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, iii. 431. 
 
1687.] THE INDULGENCES. 235 
 
 some of their principles of opposition to government 
 we do not agree, yet it cannot be denied that the 
 daring fidelity of this persecuted remnant, presents 
 a striking and honourable contrast to the pusillani- 
 mity of the nation in submitting so long to a tyrant, 
 who, by casting off all regard to the constitution, 
 had given the signal of defiance to all the friends of 
 civil and religious liberty. Nor can we justify the 
 conduct of those presbyterian ministers who accepted 
 of the indulgence, and particularly of some who went 
 so far as to thank the king for the insidious measure, 
 as " a gracious and surprising favour." To exercise 
 their ministry without molestation, was no more 
 than to resume those rights of which they had been 
 wrongfully deprived; but to do so in the way of 
 pledging their loyalty, without protesting against 
 the monstrous usurpation of power from which the 
 indulgence flowed, and the design for which it was 
 obviously granted the establishment of popery 
 was a recognition of spiritual tyranny in the act of 
 accepting religious liberty. The readiness with which 
 they grasped at this dangerous boon, indicated a 
 spirit worn out by long persecution, and which mani- 
 fested itself, after the revolution, in too tamely sub- 
 mitting to encroachments on their spiritual inde- 
 pendence. But it is easier for us to censure them for 
 what they did, than to say how we would have acted 
 in the same trying circumstances. Meanwhile the 
 ministers did all in their power to gather up the scat- 
 tered fragments of their constitution. On the 30th 
 of August 1687, the synod of Glasgow and Ayr met 
 in a house at Glasgow, and resolved on measures for 
 the licensing of preachers and the settlement of con- 
 gregations. They were thus prepared, in some mea- 
 
236 CHARACTER OF SCOTTISH PRELACY. [1678. 
 
 sure, for what providence intended to do for the 
 deliverance of their beloved church. 
 
 Prelacy had now ruled over the church of Scot- 
 land for nearly twenty-eight years, during which time 
 its reign had been traced in blood, and upheld by 
 oppression. It is a curious fact, that during all this 
 time no attempt was made to introduce the cere- 
 monies of the English church. The form of worship 
 differed very little from that practised by the pres- 
 byterians. Our prelatic clergy had no liturgy, no 
 ceremonies, no surplice, no altars, no crossing in 
 baptism.* What is more remarkable, they had no 
 confession of faith, no standard of doctrine or disci- 
 pline, no rule to guide their practice, except the will 
 of the bishops, which, again, was regulated by the will 
 of the king. A more nondescript church, perhaps, 
 never appeared on earth; it was neither popery, pre- 
 lacy, nor presbytery, but a strange jumble of all the 
 three the king being pope, his council the cardinals, 
 the bishops moderators, and the dragoons of Dalziel 
 and Claverhouse, what Mackenzie once called them, 
 the " ruling elders." The king, as supreme head of 
 the church, deposed ministers, set aside bishops, 
 and gave directions both as to the matter and man- 
 ner of preaching, In 1670, a law was actually 
 passed condemning the practice of lecturing! The 
 minister might preach as long as he chose, from 
 a single verse; but was forbidden, on pain of trea- 
 son, to select two or more for the purpose of expo- 
 sition. 
 
 From the days of archbishop Laud, the pre- 
 latists (we deny their exclusive claim to the title 
 of episcopalians) of Scotland (with the exception 
 
 * Sir G. Mackenzie's Vindication, p. 7. 
 
1688.] ' JAMES RENWICK. 237 
 
 of Leighton, who retired in disgust at their pro- 
 ceedings, and Charteris, with a few others, who 
 refused the test) were not only Arminian in their 
 doctrine, but quite prepared to symbolize and coal- 
 esce with popery, had James succeeded in his designs 
 not so much from conviction, as from absolute 
 lack of all principle, and exclusive devotion to their 
 benefices.* Scottish prelacy, indeed, has ever 
 betrayed a strong leaning towards popery; and as 
 this proved its ruin at the revolution, so it is one 
 of the most hopeful symptoms of its being destined 
 never to rise again, that its efforts to do so, in 
 modern times, have been marked by the same fatal 
 predilection.f Our danger unquestionably lies in 
 the plausible pretensions of a " moderate episco- 
 pacy." 
 
 As the termination of its reign approached, pre- 
 lacy again dipped its hands in blood. After all 
 others had ceased to hold field-meetings, contented 
 with the liberty they enjoyed, or unwilling to expose 
 their people to almost certain destruction, by an un- 
 equal war with the royal forces, one individual alone 
 continued to outbrave the government by persevering 
 in the practice. This was Mr. James Eenwick. 
 Born of poor but pious parents, he was early devoted 
 to the work of the ministry, and after finishing his 
 course at the university, he went abroad, and received 
 license in the United Provinces. In September 1683, 
 he returned to Scotland, and joining himself to the 
 society people, became their minister. With the 
 ardour of youth, and the zeal of a martyr, he en- 
 
 * See Letter of the Scots Bishops to the King, Nov. 3, IGfiB, in Wod- 
 row, iv. p. 408; Cook's Hist., iii. pp. 436, 437. 
 
 f See Appendix, Note B. Scmi-Popcry of Scottish Prelacy. 
 
238 EXECUTION OF REN WICK. [16S8. 
 
 tered into all the extreme measures of his party; he 
 penned the Sanquhar declaration, and preached with 
 great keenness against all who accepted the various 
 indulgences and tolerations of the period. It may 
 be easily conceived that such a character would be 
 obnoxious to the government. Young as he was, 
 they thirsted for his blood, and set a high price upon 
 his head. After a variety of hair-breadth escapes, 
 he was at last apprehended in the beginning of 
 February 1 688. When brought before the council, 
 he boldly avowed his principles, disowning the autho- 
 rity of the king, and acknowledging that he taught 
 his people that it was unlawful to pay cess, and law- 
 ful to come in arms to the field-meetings to defend 
 themselves against the king's forces. The council, 
 struck with his ingenuousness and extreme youth, 
 employed various methods to induce him to qualify 
 or retract these sentiments, but in vain. He stood 
 firm, and was brought to the scaffold. There he dis- 
 played the same noble intrepidity of mind, mingled 
 with a spirit of cheerful and elevated devotion. 
 '* Lord," he said, in his last prayer, " I die in the 
 faith that thou wilt not leave Scotland, but that 
 thou wilt make the blood of thy witnesses to be the 
 seed of thy church, and return again and be glori- 
 ous in this land. Now, Lord, I am ready; the 
 bride, the Lamb's wife, hath made herself ready!" 
 He died, February 18, 1 688, in the twenty-sixth year 
 of his age.* 
 
 We are told that " the drums beat all the time, 
 from his first ascending the scaffold, till he was cast 
 over, without intermission." The government were 
 
 * Life and Death of James llenwick, by Shields; Biograph. PresLy., 
 vol. li.; Wodrow, if. 445. 
 
1688.] SUMMARY OF THE PERSECUTION. 230 
 
 too conscious of the injustice of their cause, and too 
 much afraid of the impression likely to be produced 
 by the home truths which came from the lips of this 
 faithful witness, to allow him to be heard. But they 
 failed to stifle his testimony; and his death may be 
 said to have sealed their doom, fie was the last 
 that suffered martyrdom in Scotland. God grant 
 he may be the last that ever will ! 
 
 Duringthese twenty-eight years of persecution, it is 
 computed that not less than eighteen thousand people 
 suffered death, or the utmost hardships and extremi- 
 ties, on account of religion. Of these, about one 
 thousand seven hundred were banished to the plan- 
 tations; and of this number, two hundred were lost 
 in shipwreck, by the carelessness, or rather, as it 
 appears, the cruelty of the seamen. About seven 
 hundred and fifty were banished to the northern 
 islands, and doomed to wear out a miserable exis- 
 tence on these then unpeopled shores. Those in 
 addition who suffered imprisonment, and the priva- 
 tions accompanying it, are computed at above two 
 thousand eight hundred. Those killed in the seve- 
 ral skirmishes and insurrections, are reckoned at six 
 hundred and eighty, and those who went into volun- 
 tary banishment about seven thousand. About four 
 hundred and ninety-eight were murdered in cold 
 blood; three hundred and sixty-two were executed 
 by form of law. The number of those who perished 
 through cold, hunger, and other privations, in prison, 
 or in their wanderings upon the mountains, and their 
 residence in caves, cannot be well calculated, but will 
 certainly make up the sum total to the number 
 above specified.* 
 
 * Scots Worthies, Supplement, p. 5G8. The above is given as the full- 
 
240 SUMMARY OF THE PERSECUTION. [1688. 
 
 But, as De Foe has beautifully remarked, " it 
 would be endless to enumerate the names of the 
 sufferers; and it has not been possible to come at 
 the certain number of those ministers, or others, 
 who died in prison and banishment there being no 
 record preserved of their prosecution in any court 
 of justice; nor could any roll of their names be pre- 
 served in those times of confusion anywhere, but 
 under the altar, and about the throne of the Lamb, 
 where their heads are crowned, and their white robes 
 seen, and where an exact account of their number 
 will at last be found."* 
 
 The time, however, was fast approaching when this 
 system of ecclesiastical tyranny, with the civil des- 
 potism to which it owed its existence, was doomed 
 to fall; and when hope was at the lowest, and the 
 cloud at the darkest, it pleased Divine Providence 
 to send deliverance. In January 1689, the tyrant 
 James fled from the country, and was succeeded on 
 the throne by king William, amidst the acclamations 
 
 est summary I have met with of the sufferings of this period. The 
 computation, though probably well-founded, is higher than that in 
 other accounts. That given in the " Answer to Presbyterian Elo- 
 quence," p. 26, is confessedly imperfect. In a pamphlet, entitled 
 " Short Memorial of the Sufferings and Grievances of the Presbyte- 
 rians," printed in 1G90, pp. 33-38, the numbers are given as follows : 
 " Banished as slaves, since 16'7!i, seven hundred. (This does not include 
 those banished before and after the affair at Pentland.) Slain in the seve- 
 ral skirmishes about four hundred some odds. Executed on scaffolds, 
 under colour of law, one hundred and forty." This, however, does not ap- 
 pear to include those executed by the assizes held in different parts of the 
 country, and by private gentlemen acting under commission. " As for 
 the number of such as have been forced to voluntary exile to foreign 
 countries," this writer says, " we think it impossible to come to any 
 reckoning of them." Wodrow, who had the best means of information, 
 seems to have despaired of drawing out a complete list of the numbers 
 who suffered during the persecution. 
 
 * Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, p. 158. 
 
]688.] THE REVOLUTION. 241 
 
 of an emancipated people. Presbytery was restored 
 to the church, and liberty to the nation, of Scotland; 
 and the sufferings of a twenty-eight years* persecu- 
 tion were terminated by a bloodless and glorious 
 REVOLUTION. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 State of Scotland before the Revolution Countenance shown to Popery 
 Riots in Edinburgh- Causes which led to the revolution Character 
 of James II. Alarm of the English clergy Conduct of the Scottish 
 bishops The revolution in Scotland The Cameronians Rabbling 
 of the curates. 
 
 THE state of Scotland, as the hour of deliverance 
 approached, was, in the last degree, gloomy and pojr- 
 tentous. For some time previous to the revolution, 
 everything promised fair for the re-establishment of 
 popery, the darling object of the bigoted and infatu- 
 ated James. The highest places of power and trust 
 were filled by avowed papists, or men devoted to the 
 court. The earl of Perth, who had become a convert 
 to Romanism, was now chancellor of the kingdom. 
 By the king's express orders, some of the Scottish 
 prelates were turned out, and others, who promised 
 to be more compliant, were substituted in their place. 
 The indulgences which had been granted to the 
 presbyterians, as we have already observed, had 
 been too tamely submitted to by many of the mini- 
 sters, who, worn out by a long course of persecution, 
 were too glad, even at the risk of appearing to own 
 the erastian power claimed by the monarch in dis- 
 
1688.] STATE OF SCOTLAND. 243 
 
 pensing the crafty boon, to embrace the opportunity 
 of a breathing time to visit their flocks and admi- 
 nister to them the ordinances of religion.* The 
 death of the heroic Renwick had deprived the 
 Cameronians of their head, and seemed to have 
 stifled the last voice that had dared openly to as- 
 sert the cause of religious freedom. The country, 
 overawed by an unprincipled soldiery, levied from 
 the refuse of society, may be said to have been 
 placed under martial law. The prisons were liter- 
 ally crowded with persons suspected of disaffection 
 to the government, and all who refused on oath to re- 
 nounce the covenant. To such a degree had suspicion 
 seized on the minds of the prelatic clergy, that the 
 slightest appearance of disrespect exposed a man to 
 danger. Mr. Gordon, minister of the Scotch church 
 at Campvere, who had come over to visit his friends, 
 happening to pass the archbishop of Glasgow on the 
 streets of Edinburgh without lifting his hat, his 
 grace, in high wrath, thus accosted him: " What 
 are you, sir?" " Why do you inquirer 1 replied 
 Gordon. " Why do you look with so thrawn a 
 countenance ?" pursued the archbishop. " My coun- 
 tenance is not thrawn, sir," said the minister; " I 
 look as I ordinarily used to do." " If your counte- 
 nance be ordinarily so," said the archbishop, " it" is 
 a very thrawn countenance!" " Sir, I have the 
 same countenance that God has given me." " You 
 
 * It admits of being questioned, whether the indulgences of James 
 might not in the end have defeated their object, and proved the means 
 of reviving, instead of destroying, the strength of presbytery. It is 
 certain, that the Scottish parliament was opposed to them, and that 
 the prelatic clergy dreaded they would have the effect, as they said, 
 " of bringing back the fanatic party, then almost entirely ruined and 
 scattered through the world." (alcarras Mem., p. 8; Memoirs of Ker, 
 p. 10.) 
 
 VOL. II. Q 
 
244 POPERY IN EDINBURGH. [1688. 
 
 should not look uncivilly upon gentlemen,"" replied 
 the prelate, abruptly leaving him. Shortly after 
 this strange interlude, Mr. Gordon was summoned 
 before the chancellor, was imprisoned in the castle, 
 and narrowly escaped with his life. 
 
 Meanwhile, popery was receiving every kind of fa- 
 vour and encouragement. The children of the nobility 
 were, in some instances by force, taken from their 
 relatives, and sent abroad to be educated in Jesuit 
 colleges. Schools under the care of popish priests, 
 in which the poor were educated gratuitously, were 
 erected in different parts, particularly at Holy- 
 rood-house, where a printing press was also esta- 
 blished for the publication of popish tracts. Romish 
 ecclesiastics, of various shades, transported in shoals 
 from the continent, walked about the streets in 
 their canonicals, and Edinburgh promised fair to 
 assume, what James boasted of having effected with 
 the English metropolis " the appearance of a Ca- 
 tholic city." At the same time, as a fair specimen 
 of the toleration which might be expected under 
 popish ascendency, all attempts to enlighten the 
 country by publications on the errors of Romanism 
 were strictly suppressed, under pretext of their being 
 " insulting to the king's religion." Booksellers' shops 
 were ransacked by orders of the chancellor, and all 
 such works were seized and committed to tho flames.* 
 One James Glen, bolder than the rest, got himself 
 into trouble by declaring to the macers of the court, 
 on their coming to search his premises, that he had 
 
 * " Feb. 8, 1688. Alexander Ogstoun, bookseller in Edinburgh, is 
 threatened for selling Usher's Sermons against the Papists, and the His- 
 tory of the French Prosecutions; and all the copies are taken from h in. 
 though pouish books were publicly printed and sold." (Foun 
 s, \. t!'b.) 
 
] 688.] RIOTS IN EDINBURGH. 
 
 one book in his shop more severe against popery 
 than all other books in the world; and on being 
 required to show it, producing to them a copy of 
 the Bible.* 
 
 This preposterous attempt to suppress public 
 opinion produced its usual effects. Intestine dis- 
 satisfaction daily increased, and found utterance in 
 pasquinades and riots. The following characteristic 
 scene may be given as an illustration of the popular 
 feeling some time before the revolution: "Feb. 1, 
 1688. There was a tumult and riot in the town of 
 Edinburgh, being a convocation of the apprentices 
 and the rabble against the avowed and public meet- 
 ings for saying of mass, and other popish worship; 
 who disturbed the chancellor's lady and others at 
 their skailing, by throwing dirt, and otherwise affront- 
 ing them. This was taken so ill that some of the 
 boys being apprehended, the privy council met this 
 day, and ordained a baxter (baker) lad to be whip- 
 ped through the Canongate. While the hangman 
 is going about it, the boys again rose, beat the hang- 
 man, rescued the lad, and so continued all night 
 making disorder. The council called in to the assis- 
 tance of Graham's company, Major White's men in 
 the castle, and likewise the king's foot guards ; and 
 the soldiers being drunk, they shot with ball among 
 the boys, and killed a woman and a man, and Robert 
 Mein, the postmaster's apprentice, though he was in 
 no confluence at all ; which some called a murder. 
 Then all were commanded off the streets, and all 
 ordained to hang out Oowets^ (lanterns) ; and some 
 
 * Fountainhall, i. 398. 
 
 f- " The bowets that were formerly ordered by the common council to 
 be hung out for illuminating the streets by night, not answering, it 
 
246 CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. [1688. 
 
 being apprehended, the next day a woman and two 
 men were scourged; but to show how afraid they 
 were of the common people's inclinations, they had 
 them guarded all the way betwixt two files of mus- 
 keteers and pikemen, for fear of being deforced 
 again." 11 * 
 
 A minute investigation of the causes which led 
 to the revolution does not come within our pro- 
 vince. Historians are generally agreed in trac- 
 ing that event mainly to the infatuated policy of 
 the monarch. From the day of his coronation, 
 when he refused to take the oath to maintain the 
 protestant religion, to the day of his abdication, 
 when, in his flight to France, he threw the great 
 seal into the Thames, the administration of James 
 II. was a medley of outrages on the constitution, 
 and of political blunders, only to be explained by the 
 intense bigotry, that blinded him to every other 
 consideration save that of reviving popery. With- 
 out capacity or energy, he was consistent only 
 in his fanaticism, and obstinate only in his infatuu- 
 tion.-f His gloomy reign was marked by many 
 deeds of cruelty, unredeemed by an act of clemency, 
 or even by those warlike achievements which shed 
 a fictitious splendour over the atrocities of other 
 
 seems, a new order was made at this time (October 1G84), for a lantern 
 and candle to be hung out at the first storey of every tenement or land, 
 at five of the clock in the evening, to burn till ten, from the '29th of 
 October to the 1st of March, on the penalty of five merks Scots for 
 every omission." (Maitland^x Hist, of Edinburgh, p. 105.) 
 
 * Fountaiuhall, Decis., i. 3!)!). 
 
 + Tn point of consistency in his religion, as well as correctness of 
 moral conduct, James had certainly the advantage of his brother Charles 
 II., who, though professing himself a member of the church of England, 
 was a papist at heart, and received the rites of the Romish communion 
 the day before his death. (Ellis' 1 Orij. LMera, -'d ser. vol. iv. 76. T.'te 
 I'/itnix, vol. i. 50'G. ) 
 
1 688.J CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 24-7 
 
 despots. Had he been content to rule according 
 to the laws of the land, and enjoy the exercise 
 without aiming at the ascendency of his religion, 
 no reign promised to be more prosperous. But 
 the sacrifices which the god of this world exacts 
 from his slaves are often far more costly than those 
 required from the servants of Christ. When the 
 interests of antichrist appear to require it, the dear- 
 est ties of nature must give way; the man must 
 risk his life, and the monarch his crown. To secure 
 the triumph of Popery, James yielded to the ghostly 
 advices of his confessors, and rushed blindly on 
 his own ruin. His last indulgence, by showing too 
 plainly his design, brought matters to a crisis. 
 
 The bishops and clergy of England were the first 
 to sound the alarm. The popular dread of popery, 
 never altogether extinguished since the days of 
 bloody Mary, was revived by the prospect of its 
 restoration. The popish controversy was resumed; 
 and, as the natural effect, the English clergy were 
 not only led to adopt the weapons they had formerly 
 employed against dissent, but to abate in their hos- 
 tility towards evangelical dissenters. They promis- 
 ed them full toleration, and even proposed "an uni- 
 versal blessed union of all the reformed churches, 
 both at home and abroad, against our common ene- 
 mies."" * This undesigned approximation to the 
 main object of the solemn league of 1643, brought 
 about by the similarity of circumstances, was attend- 
 ed with other coincidences equally striking. We 
 see the same stringent application of the royal su- 
 premacy, met by a similar resistance on the part of 
 the church; we see the same claim of independence 
 
 * Calamy's Life of Baxter, p. 365. 
 
24-3 CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. [1688. 
 
 made by the clergy, met by the same charge of re- 
 bellion on the part of the crown. In the trial of the 
 bishops before the court of commission, under the 
 presidency of the infamous Jeffreys, we witness the 
 unseemly spectacle of ecclesiastical judges summoned 
 to appear before the civil, and shut up to deny the 
 competency of the court. One of the bishops, desiring 
 to know the commission by which the court sat, we 
 hear Jeffreys bawling at the top of his voice : " What 
 commission have you to be so impudent in court? 
 This man ought to be kept in a dark room. Why 
 do you suffer him without a guardian f And 
 " among the deputies at the bar, and probably un- 
 distinguished from the rest by the ignorant and arro- 
 gant chancellor, who looked down upon them all with 
 like scorn, we see sir Isaac Newton, professor of 
 mathematics in the university.""* And, in short, 
 we feel as if we were transported back to the kirk 
 of St. Giles in 1637, when we learn that "Sprat 
 himself chose to officiate as dean in Westminster 
 Abbey; where, as soon as he gave orders for read- 
 ing the declaration (of indulgence), so great a mur- 
 mur arose that nobody could hear it; but before it 
 was finished, no one was left in the church but a few 
 prebendaries, the choristers, and the Westminster 
 scholars ; and he himself could hardly hold the pro- 
 clamation in his hands for trembling."-f- 
 
 Thus, with few exceptions, the English clergy 
 a class the most devoted to monarchy, and who 
 might otherwise have kept the whole country in 
 submission to the house of Stuart were hopelessly 
 alienated by an encroachment on the spiritual juris- 
 
 * Sir James Macintosh, History of the Revolution, p. 138. 
 f Macintosh, ib., p. '2o2. 
 
1688.] CAUSES OF THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 diction of the church, so glaring that, even as men 
 of honour, they were compelled to assume the atti- 
 tude of resistance. We say compelled; for sad 
 must have been the dilemma, and sore the struggle, 
 before such a step could be taken by men who had 
 been accustomed to preach the indefeasible right of 
 kings, who had treated all that doubted with the 
 fiercest scurrility, and had boasted of it, perhaps 
 with reason, as the peculiar characteristic of the 
 church of England.* James himself was astonished 
 to see these men lifting up the heel against him. 
 liut he forgot that though their theory may sound 
 well, so long as it favours its supporters, it becomes 
 a very different matter when turned against them; 
 and that nothing tends so effectually to discover the 
 fallacy of the argument as to feel its edge. Had 
 his majesty been less precipitate, he might have 
 been more fortunate; but by seeking too much, he 
 lost both substance and shadow. The clergy be- 
 came alarmed, and not being prepared to change 
 their creed in a day, they gladly hailed any change 
 that might save at once their consciences and their 
 livings. Even as it was. the revolution came upon 
 the English church entirely by surprise. The prince 
 of Orange met at first with a very cold reception ; 
 many of the clergy " ran away at his approach, and 
 were ashamed to make so quick a turn."-f- Little 
 credit, after all, is due to their having opposed a 
 course of policy so utterly reckless as that of James, 
 a policy against which some of his best friends re- 
 peatedly warned him, at which even the pope is said 
 to have been astonished, and which exposed him to 
 the well-known taunt of the cardinal, on seeing the 
 
 * Macintosh, Hist. Rev., p. 153. f Burnet, Hist., an. 1688. 
 
250 CAUSES OP THE REVOLUTION. [1688, 
 
 dethroned monarch at Versailles : " There goes a 
 man who has lost three kingdoms for a mass !" 
 
 The alarm of the English clergy, in the prospect 
 of the restoration of popery, was not without founda- 
 tion. Nothing, indeed, strikes the devout student of 
 this portion of our history with more thorough con- 
 viction, than the wonderful escape which, under the 
 special providence of God, our country made, at the 
 revolution, from being again brought under the do- 
 minion of the pope. Our historians have not, in 
 general, attached sufficient weight to the accommo- 
 dating genius of popery, or to the predisposing 
 causes which operated in its favour.* Public 
 morals had been debauched, and religious principle 
 undermined, by the unblushing profligacy which dis- 
 graced the reign of the second Charles. In Eng- 
 land, the last spark of patriotism and public spirit 
 seemed to have been quenched in the blood of Rus- 
 sell and Sidney. Ignorance pervaded the mass of 
 the population, who were prepared for almost any 
 form of religion the government chose to prescribe. 
 The hardiest and best portion of the dissenters, 
 through dint of persecution, had been gradually 
 wasted away, or drained oft' to the New World ;-f- 
 while the rest, crushed in spirit, and split into 
 congregational fragments, without any common 
 bond of union, were incapable of acting in con- 
 cert, and presented an easy conquest to the enemy. 
 With the exception of a few presbyterians, they 
 
 * Brace's Free Thoughts on Popery, p. 316, &c. 
 
 f By the lowest computation, " in England alone, from the restora- 
 tion of Charles, in 1G60, to the first indulgence of James, above fifteen 
 thousand families had been ruined, and more than five thousand persons 
 had died in bonds for mere matters of conscience to God." (Alacin- 
 togh, Hist, Rev., pp. 107, 175; Ilogue aiul, Kennel, Hist. Dissent., i. 100.) 
 
1688.] CONDUCT OF THE SCOTTISH PRELATES. 251 
 
 tamely licked the hand of the tyrant, thankful for 
 the "indulgence,"" which allowed them to preach 
 the gospel, and careless about the encroachments of 
 that arbitrary power which would soon have ban- 
 ished them and the gospel out of the land.* 
 When to all this we add, that James had a power- 
 ful ally in Louis XIV., whose dragoonades for the 
 extirpation of protestantism from France he heart- 
 ily applauded, and on whose assistance he con- 
 fidently relied; that the other popish powers of the 
 continent were ready to support him ; arid that he 
 could boast of having already reduced Ireland to 
 the pope our deliverance must appear little short 
 of a miracle. The country was saved through the in- 
 fatuation of a single man saved through the inter- 
 vention of another, the prince of the pettiest state 
 in Europe saved in spite of the most powerful 
 combination of enemies, who seemed smitten at the 
 critical hour by a sudden paralysis and saved by 
 the instrumentality of a church which had always 
 been the fast friend of despotism, and the leaders 
 of which shrank in dismay from the revolution they 
 were employed to accomplish. 
 
 At this eventful crisis of our history, which 
 brought the real principles of men to the test, the 
 coiuluct of our Scottish prelates offers a striking 
 contrast to that of their brethren in England. 
 While the English clergy, forgetting, in their 
 alarm for the safety of the protestant religion, their 
 high notions about passive obedience, were pre- 
 senting a firm front to the usurpations of James, 
 our Scotch bishops were crouching at his feet. 
 No sooner did they hear of the proposal of the 
 
 * Clarkson's Life of Penn. 
 
252 ARRIVAL OF WILLIAM. [1688. 
 
 prince of Orange to come over and deliver these 
 realms from the gripe of popery and arbitrary 
 power, than they addressed a letter to king James, 
 dated November 3, 1668 (by which time the 
 prince had sailed from Holland); in which, after ad- 
 dressing the tyrant in a strain of the most fulsome 
 adulation, they assure him of their "firm and un- 
 shaken loyalty;" praying "that his enemies may 
 be clothed with shame, and that on his royal head 
 the crown may flourish;" not doubting, they add, 
 "that God, in his great mercy, will still preserve 
 and deliver your majesty, by giving you the hearts 
 of your subjects and the necks of your enemies." 1 * 
 This letter may be reckoned a genuine sample of 
 the spirit of Scottish prelacy, from the reformation 
 down to the present period ; and " when it is recol- 
 lected that it was addressed to a sovereign who had 
 unambiguously shown his intention to subvert the 
 freedom and the religion of Britain, and that it was 
 meant to defeat the enterprise of a prince who had 
 emblazoned on his banners. The protestant religion 
 and liberties of England, there can be little hesita- 
 tion as to the light in which it is to be regarded." -f" 
 But the hour of deliverance had come. On the 
 4th of November 1688, William, prince of Orange, 
 landed on the shores of England. He immediately 
 published a declaration, in which, after detailing the 
 causes of his expedition, he announced, that neither 
 he nor his princess (the daughter of James), in- 
 tended to claim the crown, but to leave the succes- 
 sion to be decided by parliament, and that their 
 sole object was to deliver the nation from the 
 
 * Letter of the Scots bishops to the king; Wodrow, vol. iv. 4G8, 
 f Cook's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. iii. 435. 
 
1689.] PROCEEDINGS IN SCOTLAND. 253 
 
 threatened mischiefs of popery and arbitrary power. 
 This declaration was received everywhere with ex- 
 traordinary enthusiasm. The coincidence of the 
 period 1688 with that of 1588, in the preceding 
 century, which had witnessed the destruction of the 
 Spanish Armada, contributed to enhance the expec- 
 tations of all the friends of protestanism. The 
 nation appeared to "awake" as from a troubled 
 dream; to " shake herself from the dust" of her 
 prostration, and, in one day, to "put on her 
 strength " for the struggle, and " her beautiful gar- 
 ments," for celebrating the victory. 
 
 The news of the prince's arrival, and of the 
 flight of James, soon reached Scotland, spreading 
 dismay among the friends of the late government, 
 who were quite unprepared for the event. In the 
 absence of the regular troops, which had been or- 
 dered to England, the privy council issued hasty 
 orders for a levy of all fencible men, from sixteen 
 to sixty.* The orders were answered by shouts for 
 the prince of Orange. The metropolis became the 
 centre of resort from all places of the kingdom, 
 and it was quickly seen that the authority of the 
 late king was at an end. The power of the council 
 and the bishops dwindled into contempt. The sym- 
 bols of office dropped from their hands, and they who 
 had ruled with a rod of iron began to consult for 
 their own safety. It is a striking illustration at 
 once of their guilt and their cowardice, that among 
 the last acts of their expiring power, was an at- 
 tempt to obliterate, as far as possible, the remaining 
 vestiges of their despotism. They hastened to set 
 at liberty those whom Claverhouse had imprisoned 
 
 * Balcarras. pp. 28, 32; Wcdrow, iv. 467. 
 
254 PROCEEDINGS IN SCOTLAND. [1689. 
 
 for refusing to renounce the covenant, and to take 
 down and bury out of sight the heads of the mar- 
 tyrs some of which had remained bleaching in the 
 sun for twenty-eight years on the gates and market- 
 crosses of the town lest the horrid spectacles might 
 be appealed to as monuments of their cruelty, and 
 "might occasion the question to be moved, by 
 whom, and for what, they were set up there?" 51 
 
 Let it not be supposed, however, that this arose 
 from any relenting in behalf of the presbyterians. 
 On the contrary, up to the last moment, " till they 
 saw the cloud hovering and the storm ready to 
 break upon their heads," our prelatic rulers main- 
 tained their character as persecutors. It was 
 not till the trumpets of the prince of Orange 
 were heard, pealing the signal of the nation's 
 redemption, that the sword of persecution was 
 sheathed. The jailer heard it, and reluctantly un- 
 barred his dungeon. The dragoons of Claverhouse 
 heard it, when their victims were kneeling before 
 them, with muffled faces, ready to receive the fatal 
 shot, and their fingers were withdrawn from the 
 trigger. -f- Persecutors and persecuted were alike 
 astonished at the suddenness of the change. They 
 were like men that dreamed. But they awakened to 
 very opposite feelings. The persecutor slunk away, 
 rankling with disappointed rage; while the church 
 of Scotland, after twenty-eight years 1 oppression, rose 
 from the earth, unmuffled and unmanacled, to hail 
 the dawn of a glorious revolution ! 
 
 * Sufferings and Grievances of Presbyterians in Scotland, particu- 
 larly of those of them called, by nick-name, Cameronians, p. -8. 
 f Sufferings and Grievances, &c., p. '29. 
 J " This," says Defoe, " puts me in mind of a brief story \vith- 
 
1689.J PROCEEDINGS IN SCOTLAND. 255 
 
 The events which led to the establishment of 
 the revolution in Scotland, interesting as they are, 
 belong rather to civil than ecclesiastical history; 
 and we may now suppose them to pass in rapid 
 review before us. The earl of Perth, justly afraid 
 of his personal safety, flees from Edinburgh in the 
 disguise of a fisherman; is detected in Fife, and 
 thrown into the jail of Kirkaldy. The adminis- 
 tration falls into the hands of the friends of Wil- 
 liam. The castle of Edinburgh, under the duke of 
 Gordon, a papist, still holds out for the king. The 
 citizens of Edinburgh, being alarmed by a report 
 that a number of papists had got into the town, 
 and designed to burn it that night, the whole turn 
 out of their houses into the streets mothers are 
 seen running with their children, "crying out they 
 would all be murdered by the Irishes ! " Finding no 
 appearance of the enemy, the mob is easily induced to 
 march in the direction of Holyrood-house. Irritated 
 by the opposition of the few soldiers left to guard 
 the palace, under captain Wallace, who fire on them, 
 and kill some of the crowd, they burst open the 
 gates, take reprisals on the soldiers, gut the chapel 
 of its ornaments, popish books, and all monuments 
 of idolatry, and make a bonfire of them. In fine, 
 
 in the compass of my own knowledge, of a gentleman who was set 
 upon by a furious mastiff dog : the gentleman defended himself with a 
 sword for some time, but the mastiff, after being very much wounded, 
 got within his point and fastened on his arm. The gentleman being in 
 great distress, and fearing every moment that he would quit his arm and 
 fasten upon his throat, had no other way to master this great dog, but 
 being a large heavy man, he cast himself flat down upon the dog, with his 
 other ellow lying on the dog's breast, and thus with the weight of hia 
 body crushed the beast to death; and upon this he observed, that as the 
 dog died gradually under him, so fast and no fV.ster his teeth loosened ia 
 his arm; his fury ended with his life, and both ended together." {Mtm. 
 ojiLe Church of Scotland, p. 289.) 
 
256 THE CAMERONIANS. [1689. 
 
 the convention of estates, summoned by William to 
 settle the affairs of government, meet on the 14th of 
 March, 1689, and declare, " That James VIL, being 
 a professed papist, did assume the royal power, and 
 acted as king, without ever taking the oath required 
 by law; and had, by the advice of evil counsellors, 
 invaded the fundamental constitution of the kingdom, 
 and altered it from a legal limited monarchy to an 
 arbitrary, despotic power ; and hath exerted the same 
 to the subversion of the protestant religion, and viola- 
 tion of the laws and liberties of the kingdom; whereby 
 he hath forfaulted his right to the crown, and the 
 throne has become vacant." * 
 
 At this period, the party which took the most 
 prominent share in helping on the revolution, was that 
 known, by the name of Cameronians so called from 
 their following the principles of Richard Cameron, 
 who was the first among the presbyterians that 
 openly threw off his allegiance to the reigning mo- 
 narch, on the ground of his open tyranny and usur- 
 pation of the rights of Jesus Christ. This class of 
 presbyterians, who may be viewed as forming at that 
 time a political party, as well as a religious sect, 
 were distinguished from their brethren by making 
 their views of civil government a religious ques- 
 tion, and acting upon these views to the extent of 
 openly declaring war against the tyrant on the throne. 
 They had thus the start of the rest of the nation ; and 
 whatever may be thought of the arguments on which 
 they rested, or of the prudence and expediency of such 
 
 * "The Scots were as unanimous for the dethroning king James as the 
 English were for abdicating him. They were not satisfied with the soft 
 word abdication; they resolved roundly that he had furfaulted (forfeit- 
 ed) the crown." (Oldmiseon'i Memoirs, p. 28.) 
 
1689.] THE CAMERONIANS. 257 
 
 a small minority in the nation assuming the attitude 
 of resistance, there can be no question that the po- 
 litical principles which they professed were adopted 
 and acted upon by the nation at large when the 
 tyrant was hurled from the throne at the revolution. 
 Compared with those who tamely submitted to the 
 will of the government, it is impossible to deny them 
 the palm of superior courage and consistency. Com- 
 posed, for the most part, of the respectable yeomen 
 and humbler classes of society, they numbered in their 
 ranks a few of the landed gentlemen of the country ; 
 and in the societies which they kept up for social 
 worship and consultation, in the absence, or after 
 the removal, of their pastors, they maintained a 
 character for an ardent piety, and a strictness of 
 discipline, corresponding to the high principles of 
 their profession. " Their standing on the mountains 
 of Scotland,"' says an eloquent divine, " indicated to 
 the vigilant eye of William that the nation was ripen- 
 ing for a change. They expressed what others 
 thought, uttering the indignation and groans of a 
 spirited and oppressed people. While lord Russell, 
 and Sidney, and other enlightened patriots in Eng- 
 land, were plotting against Charles, from a conviction 
 that his right was forfeited, the Cameronians in 
 Scotland, under the same conviction, had the courage 
 to declare war against him. Both the plotters and 
 the warriors fell; but their blood watered the plant 
 of renown, and succeeding ages have eaten the plea- 
 sant fruit/' 1 * 
 
 As this class had suffered more than any other 
 from the persecutions of the preceding reign, we need 
 not wonder to find them among the first to hail the 
 
 * Charters" Sermons, p. 277. 
 
258 THE CAMERONIANS. [1689. 
 
 prince of Orange as their deliverer. " Now it was 
 seen," says Defoe, " and made plain to the world, 
 that the suffering people in Scotland acted upon no 
 principles of enthusiasm, blind zeal, or religious 
 frenzy, as their enemies suggested; that they were 
 no enemies to monarchy, civil government, order of 
 society, and the like, as had been scandalously said ; 
 but that they kept strictly to the rule of God's word, 
 adhered to an honest cause, and acted upon just 
 principles."* This is partly borne out by the public 
 declarations, as well as actings, of the Cameronians 
 at the present period. In one of their papers pre- 
 sented to king William, they say, " We have given 
 as good evidence of our being willing to be subjects 
 to king William, as we gave proof before of our being 
 unwilling to be slaves to king James. Before we 
 offered to be soldiers, we first made an offer to be 
 subjects." -J- This offer was made in their petition, 
 addressed to the meeting of the estates, in which, 
 after beseeching them by all that is holy and just, 
 and by the blood of their murdered brethren, to de- 
 clare the crown vacant, they say, " We cry and crave 
 that king William, now of England, may be chosen 
 and proclaimed king of Scotland, and that the regal 
 authority be devolved upon him, with such necessary 
 conditions of compact as may give just and legal 
 securities of the peace and purity of our religion, 
 stability of our laws, privileges of our parliaments, 
 and subjects 1 liberties, civil and ecclesiastic, and 
 make our subjection both a clear duty and a com- 
 fortable happiness. And because kings are but men, 
 mortal, mutable, and fallible, particularly we crave, 
 
 f Memoirs of the Church of Scotland, p. 301. 
 Sufferings and Grievances, &c., p. 41. 
 
1689.] THE CAMERONIANS. 259 
 
 that he be bound in his royal oath, not only to 
 govern according to the will and command of God, 
 ancient laws, &c., but, above all, that he and his 
 successors profess, and maintain the true protestant 
 religion, abolish popery and all false religion, heresy, 
 idolatry, and superstition; revive the penal laws 
 against the same; re-establish and redintegrate 
 the ancient covenanted work of reformation of this 
 church, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern- 
 ment, according to the Word of God, Confession of 
 Faith, covenants, national and solemn league, upon 
 its old foundations, as established from the year 
 1638 to 1650 : and that he restore and confirm, by 
 his princely sanction, the due privileges of the church, 
 granted to her by Jesus Christ, her only head and 
 supreme, and never assume to himself an Erastian 
 supremacy over the church in causes ecclesiastic, or 
 unbounded prerogative in civils above law; but as 
 the keeper of both tables of the law of God, in a way 
 competent to civil authority, interpose his power for 
 the ejecting out of the church the prelates, the main 
 instruments of the church's and nation's miseries, and 
 from all administration of the power and trust in 
 state such malignant enemies as have promoted the 
 ruin thereof. Upon these, or the like terms, we tender 
 our allegiance to king William, and hope to give 
 more pregnant proof of our loyalty to his majesty, in 
 adverse as well as prosperous providences, than they 
 have done, or can do, who profess implicit subjection 
 to absolute authority, so long only as Providence 
 preserves its grandeur."* 
 
 It may be thought that this high profession of 
 
 * Sufferings and Grievances, 43. 44. 
 VOL. II. R 
 
260 THE CAMERONIANS. [1689. 
 
 loyalty is considerably qualified by the conditions 
 on which it is tendered conditions which seem 
 to limit civil allegiance by religious qualifications, 
 and some of which savour of intolerance. But it will 
 be granted by all who are friendly to the ancient 
 principles of the church of Scotland, that this party 
 insisted for no more, in substance, than what it was the 
 duty of the nation to exact, and of the king to grant ; 
 andthat it wonld have been well for the countryandthe 
 church had such been the terms on which the govern- 
 ment was settled; in which case many of the calami- 
 ties and corruptions which followed might have been 
 prevented. It may be remarked, too, that though 
 the principles laid down in this petition must have 
 led, if carried out, to an entire change in the consti- 
 tution of the English church, yet the petitioners do 
 not directly insist on this as a condition of their 
 allegiance, but appear to confine their demands to 
 Scotland; and by saying, " On these, or the like 
 terms, 11 they reserve a liberty for themselves to judge 
 of the expediency of their continuing their allegiance 
 to William's government, in the event of their not 
 obtaining the full realization of their desires a 
 liberty of which many of them afterwards availed 
 themselves, though some dissented from the revolu- 
 
 w 
 
 tion settlement, and dissociated themselves both 
 from church and state. 
 
 We may now advert to the share taken in public 
 affairs by the class of prcsbyterians to whom we have 
 referred. And here it may be proper to give some 
 account of a transaction in which they were the chief 
 actors, and which was not only eagerly improved at 
 the time by the enemies of the revolution, but which 
 is to this day grosslv misrepresented by historians of 
 
1689.] RABBLING OF THE CURATES. 261 
 
 high church principles we allude to what was called 
 the rabbling of the curates. 
 
 Soon after the convention of estates had declared 
 the throne vacant, and before William had been pro- 
 claimed king of Scotland, the country may be said to 
 have been in a state of anarchy. " There was no 
 king in Israel, and every man did that which was 
 right in his own eyes." It is remarkable, that dur- 
 ing this interval, this " surcease of justice,"* there 
 was no insurrection against the local authorities, no 
 lives sacrificed, no outbreaks of any importance, or 
 leading to any serious results. When it is considered 
 that the nation had teen groaning for such a length 
 of time under the most unprovoked oppression, it is 
 astonishing that no reprisals were attempted on 
 those who had been the instruments of tyranny, 
 and that the recoil of the nation on its ancient 
 abutments was not accompanied by any disrup- 
 tion of social order. In one point only the people 
 considered themselves entitled to improve the oppor- 
 tunity of this interregnum. The curates, as they 
 called the prelatic incumbents (for they would not 
 allow them the name of ministers), were of all others 
 the most obnoxious to the common people. They 
 were the living monuments of the usurpations of pre- 
 lacy. All of them had been thrust in by the bishops, 
 under the law of patronage, against the inclinations 
 of the people. In many cases they had acted the 
 part of spies and informers to the government, and 
 aided the soldiers in the harassing and bloody perse- 
 cution; few of them preached the gospel, and not a 
 few of them had disgraced their profession by their 
 
 * " We may count it a surcease of justice from August 1GD8, to the 1 st 
 of November 1089." (Fwnainhall, i. IIS.) 
 
262 RABBLING OF TIIK CURATES. [168.0. 
 
 lives. They were regarded, therefore, in the light 
 of hirelings and intruders, filling the place, and eat- 
 ing the bread, of those faithful ministers whom they 
 had driven into the wilderness, and whose blood was 
 to be found in their skirts. No class of men had 
 more reason to dread retribution, now that the 
 tyrant was deposed and the military withdrawn ; 
 and the wonder is that they did not fall sacrifices to 
 the popular fury. Nothing, however, worthy of the 
 name of persecution awaited them. On Christinas 
 day, 1688, several of these curates, particularly in 
 the west of Scotland, were ejected from their churches 
 and manses, chiefly through the agency of those called 
 Cameronians or Hill-men. The example was followed 
 in different parts of the country. The plan taken 
 for effecting these measures, displays a solemn ear- 
 nestness and high feeling of conscientiousness, cha- 
 racteristic of the party. Regarding themselves as 
 specially called to perform this act of justice, by 
 the circumstances in which Providence had placed 
 them, and even by the vows under which they lay for 
 the extirpation of prelacy, the covenanters brought 
 out the obnoxious incumbent to the church-yard, the 
 cross, or some place of public resort. He was then 
 solemnly charged with his former misconduct. Not a 
 drop of his blood was spilt, not a sixpence worth of his 
 property was touched,* excepting his fringed gown (a 
 clerical vestment, which, being worn at that time by 
 the curates, was regarded by the people as the badge 
 of prelacy, and was on that account, from that time 
 till very lately, obnoxious to all presbyterians). His 
 gown was taken from his shoulders, torn over his 
 head, and trampled under foot. This ceremony be- 
 
 * Sufferings and Grievances of the Presbyterians. 
 
1()89.] RABBLING OF THE CURATES. 2Go 
 
 ing ended, the disrobed curate was paraded to the 
 boundaries of the parish, and dismissed with an 
 emphatic warning never to return. 
 
 The curates, it appears, were sadly alarmed on 
 these occasions, expecting nothing else but to be 
 murdered in cold blood. We learn this from Pat- 
 rick Walker, the eccentric pedler^ who published 
 lives of Cameron, Peden, and other covenanters. 
 Patrick candidly confesses that he himself was pre- 
 sent at fifteen of these rabblings; and so far from 
 being ashamed of his share in them, he records it 
 with evident satisfaction.* " The time of their fall 
 was now come,"" says he, " which many longed for, 
 even for long twenty-eight years. Faintness was 
 entered into their hearts, insomuch that the greater 
 part of them could not speak sense, but stood trem- 
 bling and sweating, though we spoke with all calmness 
 to them. I inquired at them what made them to 
 tremble; they that had been teachers and defenders of 
 the prelatical principles, and active and instrumental 
 in many of our national mischiefs ? How would they 
 tremble and sweat if they were in the Grassmarket 
 going up the ladder, with the rope before them, 
 and the lad with the pyoted coat at their tail ! 
 But they were speechless objects of pity. 1 '^ This 
 rabbling, as it was called, continued till April of 
 the year following, and during this time upwards of 
 three hundred curates are said to have been ejected. | 
 It may be easily conceived what an outcry these per- 
 
 * " There was never any public work that I put my hand to, wherein 
 I took so much delight.'' (Patrick Walker.) 
 
 f Remarkable Passages in the Life of Richard Cameron, &c., apud 
 Biograph. Preslyteriana. 
 
 J Account of the late Establishment of Presbyterian Government, 
 anno 16SO; p. 65. London, 1693. 
 
264- RABBLING OF THE CL'RATES. [1689. 
 
 sons would make after recovering from their panic, 
 and finding themselves dispossessed of their livings. 
 The most exaggerated reports of their treatment by 
 the rabble were transmitted by them to Edinburgh, 
 where they were collected by Dr. Munro (himself 
 smarting under his expulsion from the university of 
 Edinburgh), and published under the title of " The 
 Case of the present afflicted Episcopal clergy in 
 Scotland truly represented." This highly-coloured 
 caricature was sent up to London, to prejudice the 
 presbyterian cause. That in some cases there 
 may have been rudeness and incivility, is not to bo 
 wondered at. Walker admits, that " there were 
 some loose men, brought up under their own wings, 
 who were very rude, in eating, drinking, and spoiling 
 of their houses ;" and complains of this being laid in 
 the names of the covenanters, who were entirely 
 innocent of such transactions. But judging even 
 from their own representations of " the case of the 
 afflicted clergy,"" it appears perfectly ridiculous to 
 dignify the annoyances and hardships of which they 
 complain with the name of persecution. We are 
 informed, for example, that " with tongue and hands 
 they committed all outrages imaginable against the 
 ministers, their wives, and children;" 11 but when we 
 come to learn the particulars, it only appears that, 
 " having eat and drunk plentifully, at parting they 
 carry the minister out of his house to the church- 
 yard, and there expose him to the people as a con- 
 demned malefactor, gave him a strict charge never to 
 preach more in that place; and, for the conclusion of 
 all this tragedy, they caused his gown to be torn over 
 his head in a hundred pieces!" A conclusion worthy 
 of the tragedy indeed! One Mr. William Bullo of 
 
] 689.] RABBLING OF THE CURATES. 265 
 
 Stobo seems to have run the greatest risk of mar- 
 tyrdom. "A number of the rabble," he says, "offered 
 to stob him;" and on his remonstrating with them, 
 
 " they said, ' You rogue, do you take on you to 
 
 admonish us? We'll shoot you presently through 
 the head." 1 ' Then," said he, ' since you will do it, 
 God have mercy on my soul.' Then they laid many 
 strokes on him with the broad side of their drawn 
 swords, and told him they would forbear his execu- 
 tion that night.'" Of course, execution was delayed 
 sine die. Another of the curates, Mr. John Little, 
 seems to have nearly fallen a victim to a regiment of 
 fifty women, armed with cudgels, " who," he says, 
 " after tearing his coat off, compassed him about, 
 four at each arm; others of them beating his head 
 and shoulders with their fists; others of them scratch- 
 ing and nipping his back.' 1 ''* Such was " the case of 
 the afflicted episcopal clergy of Scotland truly repre- 
 sented !" And such were the martyrs for whom some 
 episcopal writers of the present day still demand our 
 commiseration! " The moral and moderate clergy," 
 says Wodrow, " were very civilly used ; and if the pro- 
 fane, the firebrands and instigators of all the barbari- 
 ties so fresh in the people's memories, met with some 
 wholesome severities, it is not much to be wondered 
 at; and considering the confusion of the time, and 
 the hand that persons that never joined with presby- 
 terians might have in it, it may be matter of admira- 
 tion that the provoked people ran not a far greater 
 length."^ It is worthy of remark, too, that none 
 
 * Case of the Afflicted Clergy, pp. 5, 56, 59. Mr. Little could not 
 have been very materially damaged by this treatment, when, as he tells 
 us, he said to the women, that " if they would let him into the kirk, he 
 would preach a sermon to them." 
 
 f "Wodrow's Correspondence, vol. i. p. 208. 
 
266 RABBLING OF THE CURATES. [1689. 
 
 complained of these pretended severities but the 
 outed curates themselves; nor does it appear that, 
 among the whole number who were thus summarily 
 turned off, any solitary individual had either excited 
 an affectionate wish for his detention, or was accom- 
 panied by the regret of his flock at his departure. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Cameronian guard and regiment Colonels Clehtnd and Black- 
 ader Viscount Dundee Battle of Killiecrankie Skirmish at Dun- 
 keld Revolution settlement of the church of Scotland Difficulties 
 of William Scottish episcopacy abolished Factions in parliament 
 Earl of Craufurd's measures Revolution settlement of the church 
 of Scotland Its character and defects. 
 
 No sooner was it known that the convention of 
 estates was to meet in March 1689, than the cove- 
 nanters of the west resolved on repairing in a body 
 to Edinburgh, to aid in protecting the meeting from 
 the apprehended attack of the Jacobites. Their as- 
 sistance was far from being unnecessary; but for 
 some time, to avoid suspicion, they were secretly 
 lodged about the town. On the alarm being given, 
 they issued from their lurking-places, "bearing," says 
 a modern writer, "beneath their blue bonnets, faces 
 <>ither sullen with the recollection of wrongs, or 
 beaming with expectation of revenge, and carrying 
 under their grey plaids, for the work they were called 
 upon, the swords and pistols which they had used 
 against the house of Stuart at Pentland and Both- 
 well."* This description of the covenanters is 
 
 * Chambers' History of the Rebellions, Constable's Miscellany, vol. 
 xlii. p. 33. 
 
268 CAMERONIAN GUARD. [1689. 
 
 chargeable with the prejudice and exaggeration 
 common to the Jacobitical school, to which the 
 writer belongs. That these much-injured and 
 long-suffering men complained, and had reason to 
 complain, of the ill-judged lenity of the government 
 at the revolution to their murderers and oppressors, 
 is perfectly true; but to insinuate that they were 
 actuated by a spirit of personal revenge, is incon- 
 sistent not only with their avowed intentions, but 
 with the whole of their character and history. Two 
 individuals, it is true, were now sitting in that con- 
 vention, who had good reason to dread the vengeance 
 of the covenanters, had such a spirit existed; and 
 who, conscious of their misdeeds, were now trembling 
 for their safety. These were, the infamous sir George 
 Mackenzie, long known in Scotland by the name of 
 "Bluidy Mackenzie," and the not less notorious 
 Claverhotise, now viscount Dundee; who, the one 
 by his judicial murders, and the other by his mili- 
 tary butcheries, committed on helpless old men and 
 women, had certainly earned no title to the tender 
 mercies of their countrymen. Neither of them 
 was long in making his escape. Sir George fled to 
 England, where he soon after died miserably. 
 Dundee, whose hand was too deeply dyed in the 
 blood of Scotland to expect much favour from the 
 government of William, to whom he had offered his 
 services without success, and, fretting under the 
 disgrace of being superseded in his command, was 
 now plotting the restoration of the infatuated James, 
 under whose sanguinary and bigoted rule alone he 
 felt that his wishes could be gratified or his merits 
 appreciated. "The wicked fleeth," it is said, "when 
 no man pursueth." Surrounded by a Cameronian 
 
1689.] THE CAMEROWAN REGIMENT. 2G9 
 
 guard, Claverhouse, no doubt, felt himself less at his 
 ease than when boldly riding up, in the midst of his 
 dragoons, to attack an unarmed conventicle. It is 
 reported that he had one day a casual rencounter on 
 the street with colonel Cleland, the gallant leader of 
 the covenanters, who is supposed to have challenged 
 him to single combat.* However this may have 
 been, he pretended that he was in daily danger of 
 his life, and insisted on the Cameronians being dis- 
 missed. Meeting with no sympathy in the conven- 
 tion, and expecting as little in the civilized parts 
 of Scotland, Claverhouse betook himself to the 
 Highlands, where, having been denounced as a rebel, 
 he openly raised the standard of James VII. 
 
 The sudden rising of Dundee having led to mea- 
 sures for the defence of the country, those of the 
 covenanters known by the name of Cameronians, 
 chiefly in the neighbourhood of Douglas, raised a 
 regiment of eight hundred men, without beat of drum 
 or expense of levy, under the command of the earl 
 of Angus, a nobleman hardly twenty years of age, 
 and only son of the marquis of Douglas. Such 
 was the origin of the Cameronian regiment;^ and 
 never, perhaps, was a body of troops so organ- 
 ized. Composed exclusively of those holding the 
 extreme views of the covenanters, who had dis- 
 owned the tyrannical government of James, and 
 who were almost alike inimical to the prelatical and 
 the indulged clergy, every man in the ranks was a 
 religious enthusiast, in the best sense of that term 
 fired with zeal, based on stern and uncompromising 
 
 * Somers' Tracts, apud Life and Diary of Colonel Blackader, p. 17. 
 f This regiment is now the '26th in the British infantry, and known 
 stiil by the name of "The Cameronians." 
 
270 THE CAMERONIAN REGIMENT. [1689. 
 
 principle, and aiming not merely to free his country 
 from civil thraldom, but mainly to restore the reign 
 of presbytery and the covenant, and put down all 
 their opposers. The same zeal, however, which had 
 succeeded so well in filling up the ranks of the regi- 
 ment, was not found so favourable to its unanimity 
 or subordination. The men insisted on their right 
 to choose their own officers; elders were appointed 
 to superintend the moral and religious behaviour of 
 the corps; and rules were laid down, more applicable, 
 it must be owned, to a church than a regiment. 
 Discussions ensued, of a kind similar to those which 
 had divided the counsels of the covenanters at Both- 
 well. It was keenly debated among them, whether 
 it was not a "sinful association"" to enlist under the 
 same banner with other regiments, composed of those 
 who had been malignants and abettors of tyranny, 
 or who had not cleared themselves from the scandal 
 of unlawful engagements. Owing to their pertinacity 
 in these unreasonable scruples, colonel Cleland, on 
 whom the command of the regiment was devolved, 
 very nearly lost temper, and he refused to accede to 
 their demands, as subversive of all military discipline. 
 But the matter was finally compromised by their 
 agreeing on a brief general declaration, drawn up 
 by sir Patrick Hume of Polwart, and explained by 
 Mr. Alexander Shields, who "backed it with some 
 persuasives, going from company to company." It 
 was to the effect that they "appeared in his majesty's 
 service in defence of the nation, recovery and preser- 
 vation of the protestant religion, and, in particular, 
 the work of reformation in Scotland, in opposition 
 to popery, prelacy, and arbitrary power, in all its 
 branches and steps, until the government of church 
 
1689.] COLONEL CLELAND. 271 
 
 and state be brought back to their lustre and in- 
 tegrity, established in the best and purest times." 
 These terms, it might be supposed, were sufficiently 
 guarded; but though the majority were induced to 
 comply with them, there were still some, including 
 Howie of Lochgoin and sir Robert Hamilton, who 
 continued long after to protest against "Angus 1 
 regiment" as an association with malignants.* 
 
 The Cameronian regiment was particularly for- 
 tunate in the officers who first commanded it. Two 
 of the most distinguished of these were, lieutenant- 
 colonel William Cleland, and captain (afterwards 
 colonel) Blackader. Colonel Cleland was the son of 
 the factor of the earl of Douglas, -f and lived much 
 in the castle with Lord Angus, who had a great at- 
 tachment to him. He received a liberal education 
 in the university of St. Andrews, and distinguished 
 himself very early in life by his poetical talents.]: 
 Brave, even to excess, chivalrous, and fond of en- 
 terprise, imbued with sound religious principle, and 
 with what, in that age. was its inseparable adjunct, 
 a sound hatred of civil and religious despotism, he 
 was raised, before completing his seventeenth year, 
 to the rank of an officer among the suffering presby- 
 
 * Shields' Memoirs, apud Wodrow's Analecta, Ban. edit., vol. i. 
 The Declaration of a poor, wasted, misrepresented, remnant of the suffer- 
 ing Anti-popish, Anti-prelatic, &c., true Presbyterian Church of Christ 
 in Scotland. 1692. 
 
 t Wodrow's History, vol. ii. p. 481, where Cleland's father is called 
 " garner-keeper," which is misprinted " game-keeper " in Dr. M'Crie's 
 Memoirs of Veitch, &c., p. 108. 
 
 A collection of his poems was published in 1697, containing "Hol- 
 low my Fancie," " A Mock Poem upon the Expedition of the Highland 
 Host in 1678," &c. "These poems," says Dr. M'Crie, "are chiefly in 
 the Hudibrastic style, and discover considerable talent." (Mem. of 
 Veitch, &c., p. 108.) This is admitted by sir Walter Scott in his 
 " .Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," vol. i. 
 
 " Extremely brave," says the earl of Balcarras. (Memoirs, p. 114.) 
 
272 COLONEL CLELAND. [1689. 
 
 terians. Thenceforth his career was a succession of 
 hairbreadth escapes and adventures, of which the 
 unhappy distractions of the times have prevented 
 us from obtaining any definite accounts; and it is 
 only occasionally, as he dashes on through the 
 smoke and turmoil of battle, that we can catch a 
 glimpse of him. The first is at a conventicle at 
 Divan, in Fife, riding down the hill with another 
 gentleman, to meet the military, who were advancing 
 to disturb the meeting, when he was with difficulty pre- 
 vented by Mr. Blackader from "breaking after them;"" 
 and the royal troops, alarmed at the preparation made 
 for their reception, "fled to Cupar, without looking 
 over their shoulder, in a dismal fear."* His next 
 appearance is at Drumclog, ordering his men to fall 
 flat on the ground, as soon as the enemy presented 
 their pieces a manoeuvre to which the success of the 
 covenanters on that occasion was mainly ascribed. 
 We next find him fighting with great desperation at 
 Both well, after which he flies to Holland. Again he 
 is in Scotland, along with the ill-fated expedition of 
 Argyle, in 1685,1* and is recognised by a friendly- 
 covenanter, sitting along with some brother offi- 
 cers, in an inn at Burntisland, waiting for a pas- 
 sage back to Holland, "singing and making as merry 
 as they could, that they might not be discovered."* 
 And now he is back once more to old Scotland, in 
 company with the heroes of the revolution, to 
 deliver her from the grasp of popery and arbitrary 
 power. Though Cleland's name appears among the 
 officers who sided with Robert Hamilton at JJoth- 
 
 * Memoirs of Rev. John Blackaclcr, p. 212. 
 
 f Wodro\v, vol. iv. pp. 2!!4, 292. 
 
 + Life of James Nimrao, MS., p. 127; Memoirs of Veitcli, p. 45G. 
 
1689.] COLONEL BLACKADER. 273 
 
 well, there is reason to think that he afterwards left 
 that party; and, though still a zealous presbyterian 
 and covenanter, his principles did not hinder him 
 from joining with the government at the revolu- 
 tion. It must be allowed, that he seems to have 
 entertained a grudge at, and some contempt for, 
 the Highlanders feelings common at that time 
 in the Lowlands of Scotland, towards a race only 
 known for their savage appearance, and their pre- 
 datory invasions on the property of their neighbours. 
 And it is somewhat remarkable, that the last en- 
 gagement in which he conquered and fell, was with 
 those very "redshank squires," as he calls them in 
 his poem*, whose meanness and servility, added to 
 their cruelties and excesses, had left such a strong 
 impression on his youthful imagination. How much 
 is it to be regretted, that so little more is known 
 concerning one who united in his character the 
 gentleman, the poet, the patriot, the soldier, and 
 the Christian ! 
 
 The other officer in the Cameronian regiment 
 whom we have noticed lieutenant-colonel John 
 Blackader is better known from his published 
 Diary and Life. He was the son of the famous John 
 Blackader, one of the proscribed ministers, who, after 
 a long persecution, died in the Bass; and he was, 
 like his father, a stanch presbyterian, though dis- 
 posed to moderate measures; a lover of the gospel 
 and of good men, and, at the same time, a valiant 
 and successful soldier, having served with distin- 
 guished honour, under the great duke of Marlbo- 
 rough, in most of his engagements. He is one 
 among the very few who deserve the inscription that 
 has been put on his monument that he was "a brave 
 
274 VISCOUNT DUNDEE. [1689. 
 
 soldier and devout Christian." As a specimen of 
 this, the following is worthy of being recorded: At 
 one period of his military life, colonel Blackader 
 received a challenge, which he refused to accept. 
 His adversary threatened to post him as a coward; 
 to which he is said to have coolly replied, "that he 
 was not afraid of his reputation being impaired by 
 that." Knowing that, at that very time, an attempt 
 was determined on against the enemy, of a kind so 
 very desperate that the duke of Marlborough hesi- 
 tated to what officer he should assign the command, 
 and had resolved to decide it by throwing the dice, 
 the colonel went to him and volunteered to under- 
 take the duty. His offer was accepted, and, by the 
 providence of God, he came off, with great loss of 
 men, but without any personal injury, and with the 
 complete establishment of his character, not only 
 as a brave man and an able officer, but also with 
 general estimation as a consistent Christian.* 
 
 We now return to our history. And here it may 
 be proper to premise, that the historians of this 
 period, down to our own times, are for the most part 
 either avowed Jacobites, or so tinctured with Jaco- 
 bite prejudices, as to give, unconsciously perhaps, a 
 colouring to their narratives, injurious to the cause 
 of the revolution, and the principal characters en- 
 gaged in promoting it. This renders it necessary to 
 devote more attention to this part of our subject than 
 it would otherwise demand of us. Fired with ambi- 
 tion to emulate the dashing exploits of Montrose, 
 to whose family ho was related, Claverhouso had 
 strained every nerve to collect an army, and at length 
 found himself at the head of a large and motley band 
 
 * Memoirs of Itcv. John UlackaJer, p. 344. 
 
1689.] DUNDEE'S HIGHLANDERS. 275 
 
 of Highlanders and Irish. Loudly have our Jacobite 
 writers boasted of the romantic admiration enter- 
 tained for Dundee by these roving mountaineers; and 
 loftily have they talked of their devoted loyalty to 
 James, and their chivalrous love of war. The sober 
 truth of history, however, compels us to divest these 
 descriptions of the captivating air thrown over 
 them by romance, poetry, and political partiality. 
 As for the Highland chiefs, " it was neither out 
 of love to king James nor hatred for king Wil- 
 liam," says general Mackay, " that made them 
 rise at least the wisest of them, as Lochiel of 
 the Camerons, whose cunning engaged others that 
 were not so much interested in his quarrel; but it 
 was out of apprehension of the earl of Argyle's ap- 
 parent restoration and favour, because he had some 
 of his forfeited estates, and several combined High- 
 landers held lands of the earl's. " The bravery and 
 nobleness natural to the Highland character, and 
 which have been elicited in later times, through the 
 influence of education and Christianity, were then 
 undeveloped. And to suppose that the poor serfs 
 "the miserable inhabitants of a Highland barony'" 
 at the command of " a barbarous Highland chief, 
 exercising a sway over his vassals as absolute as that 
 of a Norman baron of the tenth century"* were 
 animated with the refined and heroic sentiments 
 which have been so largely ascribed to them, is 
 rather too absurd for belief. Pelf and plunder, 
 on a scale somewhat humbler, though not less ha- 
 rassing, than that of their masters, had, for them, 
 more captivating charms than lofty ideas about he- 
 reditary right, or even the chivalrous sport of " glo- 
 
 * Chambers' History of Rebellions, p. 190. 
 VOL. II. S 
 
276 BATTLE OF KILLIECRANKIE. [1689. 
 
 rious war." All the efforts of their leader failed 
 to keep their thievish propensities within decent 
 bounds. " They were marching off every night, by 
 forties and fifties, with droves o cattle, and laden 
 with spoils.""* In spite of all his influence, the army 
 of Dundee, at first six thousand strong, had dwindled 
 away, by repeated desertions, to two thousand High- 
 landers, and five hundred Irish, the whole force with 
 which, according to the Jacobite statements, he en- 
 countered the army of general Mackay, at the pass 
 of Killiecrankie. 
 
 This celebrated fight took place on the 1 7th of July, 
 1689. Mackay, the royalist general, had, no doubt, 
 a slight advantage in point of numbers, having at the 
 most about three thousand foot and a few companies 
 of horse; but his army was mostly composed of raw 
 recruits, and all of them were total strangers to the 
 wild mode of warfare peculiar to their opponents. -f- 
 The Highlanders rushed lown the hill with their 
 wonted impetuosity, barefooted and stript to the 
 shirt, and uttering the most unearthly yells. Mac- 
 kay^s troops, thus assailed by what appeared to 
 them a band of ferocious savages, were struck with 
 a sudden panic; some of them gave way, the whole 
 fell into confusion, and their brave general, finding- 
 it impossible to rally them, was compelled to re- 
 treat. As he spurred his charger, single-handed, 
 through the thickest of the enemy, they made 
 way wherever he went; upon which ho remarks in 
 his Memoirs, " that if he had had but fifty reso- 
 lute horse, such as Colchester's, with him, he had 
 
 * MTherson, p. 3.57. 
 
 f Life of Lieutenant-general Mackay, by John Mackay, Esq. of Hock- 
 field, p. 4'2, where the gross exaggerations of Jacobite writers, as to the 
 uuiubers of Mackay 's troops, are fully exposed. 
 
1689.] BATTLE OF KILLIECRANKIE. 277 
 
 certainly, to all human appearance, recovered the 
 day.*" The whole was the work of a few minutes. 
 Marvellous are the stories told of the prowess dis- 
 played by the Highlanders in mowing down the 
 fugitives; but night coming on, they soon fell upon 
 the baggage, and gave up all further thoughts of 
 pursuit. And thus terminated the battle of Killie- 
 crankie if battle it can be called in which there 
 was no time for evolutions, no attempt at resistance, 
 and hardly the appearance of conflict. The following 
 sensible reflections of Mackay upon his defeat are 
 worthy of the high name which he bore for unfeigned 
 piety and unshaken courage : " Resolution and pre- 
 sence of mind in battle being certainly a singular 
 mercy of God, he denieth and giveth it when and to 
 whom he will ; for there are seasons when the most 
 firm and stout-hearted quake for fear. And though 
 all sincere Christians be not resolu'te, it is because it 
 is not their vocation ; for I dare be bold to affirm 
 that no sincere Christian, trusting in God for support, 
 going about his lawful calling, shall be forsaken of 
 him. Not that sure victory shall always attend good 
 men, or that they shall always escape with their 
 lives for experience doth teach the contrary; but 
 that God, upon whom they cast their burdens, shall 
 so care for them, that they shall be preserved from 
 shame and confusion; and that they have his pro- 
 mise (by whom are the issues against death, and 
 innumerable means, inconceivable to us, to redress 
 the disorder of our affairs) to support their hope in 
 the greatest difficulties.-f-'" 
 
 But the victory was dearly purchased by the rebels, 
 in the death of their leader, Claverhouse, viscount 
 
 * Mackay 's ?tIcir.Qirs, p. 56'. t Ibid. 
 
278 DEATH OF CLAVERHOUSE. [1689. 
 
 Dundee. He fell early in the action, pierced by a 
 musket ball, which entered at an opening of his coat- 
 of-mail, beneath the arm. The Jacobite writers, 
 anxious to make the most of this, the first and the 
 last victory achieved by their favourite hero, have 
 persisted, down to the present day, notwithstand- 
 ing the clearest evidence to the contrary, in giving 
 the most fabulous accounts of his dying moments. 
 According to them, after receiving his fatal wound, 
 he was carried to a house in the neighbourhood, 
 where, says one of them, " amidst the bustle con- 
 sequent upon his victory, and the painful sensations 
 arising from his personal condition, he commanded 
 his mind sufficiently to write a dignified account 
 of the battle to his royal master." And then 
 follows the letter in which this "dignified account" 
 is given,* Alas for the honour of Claverhouse, and 
 the comfort of his admirers! there is not a word of 
 truth in the story. It has been proved, beyond all 
 dispute, that Dundee fell at the commencement of 
 the action, and died on the field; so that the letter 
 describing the engagement, and announcing the vic- 
 tory, can only be regarded as a clumsy forgery .-j- 
 But more humiliating still, it has been proved not 
 only that Claverhouse expired on the spot where 
 he fell, but that he was soon after stripped and 
 plundered by his own party by those very High- 
 
 * Chambers' History of the Rebellions in Scotland. 
 
 f- See this matter placed beyond all controversy in the Letters of Lord 
 Dundee (printed by the Bannatyne Club), pp. 82-84. Balcarras, the 
 friend of Claverhouse, confirms what we have above stated. (Account, 
 pp. 105-10!!.) And the account given by James VII. himself shows the 
 falsity of the story referred to, which had evidently been got up by the 
 prelatical clergy, or some unscrupulous partisans, to serve the political 
 purposes of the day. See Appendix to this volume, note D. -Tkcforytd 
 Letter of Claverliotise. 
 
1689.] DEATH OF CLAVERHOUSE. 279 
 
 landers who are said to have almost worshipped 
 him! When his friends went to search for his body, 
 says an eye-witness of the scene, " it was at first 
 with much difficulty distinguished from the rest of 
 the bodies that fell that day; for he, dying of his 
 wounds in a very little time after the engagement, 
 his body was presently stript by Ms own party, and left 
 naked among the rest in the field"* 
 
 With regard to Dundee, who has been so long 
 the idol of the Jacobites, if we except his unsuc- 
 cessful attempt to retrieve the fortunes of James 
 at Killiecrankie, it is difficult to discover what 
 claims he had to be regarded by any party with 
 such admiration. Let him receive his due meed 
 of praise as a man of high spirit and unshaken fide- 
 lity to his master; let it even be granted that he 
 showed an honesty of purpose not always exempli- 
 fied by his associates, or even by the silly and in- 
 fatuated prince in whose cause he fell; still enough 
 remains to blight his character in the eyes of impar- 
 tial posterity; and every renewed attempt to vindi- 
 cate his atrocities only serves to show, as in the 
 case before us, that it were truer wisdom on the 
 part of his admirers to let his name fall, if possible, 
 into oblivion. 
 
 After the death of Dundee, the command of the re- 
 bel army devolved on colonel Canon, an Irish officer, 
 who, on hearing that the Cameronian regiment were 
 stationed in Dunkeld, remote from succour, resolved 
 to attack them, in the hope of cutting them off to a 
 man. " The enemy," says Mackay, "had not such 
 
 * Proceedings in Scotland, 7th September. Life of Colonel Blackader, 
 p. 78. Balcarras, p. 108. See also Letters of Dundee, as formerly re- 
 ferred to, where the evidence is collected. 
 
280 ENGAGEMENT AT DUNKELD. [1689. 
 
 prejudice at any of the forces as at this regiment, 
 whose opposition against all such as were not of 
 their sentiments made them generally hated and 
 feared in the northern counties." The shameful 
 manner in which this valiant little band was treat- 
 ed, by being left in the heart of the Highlands, to 
 brave the combined forces of the rebels, by being 
 denied all supplies when threatened with an attack, 
 excepting a barrel of figs sent to them instead of 
 powder, and by having a troop actually withdrawn 
 from them after the attack had commenced, affords 
 too good ground for the suspicion which they after- 
 wards expressed, " that they were sent to Dun- 
 keld, as would seem, on design, by some, to be be- 
 trayed and destroyed."* We cordially exempt 
 general Mack ay from having had any share in this 
 shameful piece of policy, which, had it proved suc- 
 cessful, would evidently have excited little indig- 
 nation in the breasts of some, whose sympathies 
 being all on one side, required to be kept in re- 
 servo for the massacre of Glencoe.'f But their 
 betrayers, as well as their enemies, were destined 
 to be disappointed. Whatever may be thought 
 of their principles, the heroic spirit of the Came- 
 ronian regiment on this occasion has extorted praise 
 even from the most bigoted partisans, as it led them 
 to " perform one of the most unexceptionably bril- 
 liant exploits which occurred throughout the whole 
 of this war." J 
 
 On Saturday night, 17th August 1689, this regi- 
 ment, or rather a portion of them, amounting only 
 to seven or eight hundred men, arrived at Dun- 
 
 * Grievances of the Cameronia.ns, p. 56. 
 
 f Chambers' History of the Rebellions, p. 121. Ibid. 
 
1689.] ENGAGEMENT AT DUNKELD. 281 
 
 keld, under the command of lieutenant-colonel Cle- 
 land. The next day the enemy approached, and 
 sent a threatening message calling on them to 
 surrender at discretion; to which the gallant 
 colonel replied: " We are faithful subjects to king 
 William and queen Mary, and enemies to their ene- 
 mies; and if you shall make any hostile appearance, 
 we will burn all that belongs to you, and otherwise 
 chastise you as you deserve. 1 ' 1 When the morning 
 of Wednesday dawned, it revealed the spectacle 
 of between four and five thousand men, drawn up 
 on the surrounding hills, which appeared literally 
 covered with armed troops. The Cameronians 
 vseemed devoted to destruction, and some of them, 
 despairing of success, had collected their baggage 
 and prepared to retreat; but, encouraged by the 
 exhortations of their pastor, and the example of 
 their dauntless leader, they entrenched themselves 
 behind the houses, and succeeded in boldly repelling 
 the repeated attacks of the enemy. "Their powder 
 was almost spent," 11 says one account, "and their 
 bullets had been spent long before, which they sup- 
 plied by the diligence of a good number of men who 
 were employed, all the time of the action, in cutting 
 lead off the house (Dunkeld house), and melting it 
 in little furrows in the ground, and cutting the 
 pieces into slugs to serve for bullets. They agreed, 
 that in case the enemy got over their dikes, they 
 should retire to the house, and if they should find 
 themselves overpowered there, to burn it and bury 
 themselves in the ashes." * The Highlanders fought 
 
 * Exact Narrative of the Conflict at Dunkeld, betwixt the Earl of 
 Angus' 1 Regiment and the Rebels, collected from several officers of that 
 regiment. 
 
282 DEATH OF COLONEL CLELAND. [1689. 
 
 hard to dislodge them from their post; but at 
 length, wearied with repeated assaults, in which 
 they suffered much loss without gaining any advan- 
 tage, they retreated from the scene of action. The 
 CamerOnians beat their drums, flourished their 
 colours, and shouted after them with expressions of 
 contempt and defiance; but in vain. The High- 
 landers could not be induced by their officers to 
 renew the contest. " They could fight," they said, 
 " against men, but they had no notion of fighting 
 any more against devils." 1 The engagement lasted 
 from seven in the morning till eleven at night; and 
 when all was over, the conquerors sang psalms, and 
 offered thanksgivings to the Almighty, to whom 
 alone they ascribed their deliverance. Comparatively 
 few of them had fallen; but they had to deplore 
 the loss of their youthful and valiant leader, colonel 
 Cleland, who, in the act of urging on his men, was 
 shot by two bullets at the same moment, one pass- 
 ing through his head and the other through his 
 liver. His last act showed the spirit of the hero. 
 Feeling himself mortally struck, he attempted to 
 get into the house, that the soldiers might not be 
 discouraged by the sight of his dead body; but he 
 fell before reaching the threshold. 
 
 This victory decided the campaign, and may be 
 said to have secured the success of the revolution 
 in Scotland. The Cameronians offered to raise 
 two or three other regiments in king William's 
 service; but the offer was declined by Mackay, 
 who considered their peculiar views inconsistent 
 with due military subordination. It did not accord 
 with the policy of the new government to revive 
 
1689.] DIFFICULTIES OF WILLIAM. 283 
 
 the darling object of the Cameronians the cove- 
 nanted reformation; and they, no doubt, dreaded 
 the consequences which might have resulted from 
 having to deal with a few more regiments animated 
 by such a spirit, and capable of such achievements 
 as the victory at Dunkeld. What these conse- 
 quences might have been it is needless now to con- 
 jecture; but it is quite possible that, in such a 
 case, William might not have found it so easy as he 
 did to dictate terms to the church of Scotland the 
 Union might not have taken place and the pres- 
 byterian establishment might have been placed on 
 a basis more scriptural and more secure than that 
 on which it stands in our day. 
 
 The prince of Orange was well apprized, in Hol- 
 land, that he could expect no support from the 
 episcopalians of Scotland, and that his best, and 
 indeed his only friends, in that country, were the 
 presbyterians. His " declaration for the kingdom 
 of Scotland" gave every assurance of his readiness 
 to redress the grievances of the presbyterians; 
 and being himself of that persuasion, the highest 
 expectations were formed of what he would do for 
 the church of Scotland. Accordingly, in the Claim 
 of Right, which was the basis of the revolution 
 settlement, the convention of estates inserted a clause 
 to the following effect: " That prelacy, and the supe- 
 riority of any office in the church above presbyters, 
 is, and hath been, a great and insupportable grievance 
 and trouble to this nation, and contrary to the in- 
 clinations of the generality of the people, ever since the 
 reformation, they having been reformed from popery 
 by presbyters ; and therefore ought to be abolished." 
 That William was at first sincerely desirous to gra- 
 
284 DIFFICULTIES OF WILLIAM. [1689. 
 
 tify the presbyterians in this matter, there is little 
 room to doubt; but on coming to the throne, he 
 found it would not be so easy as he had been led to 
 suppose. The difficulties with which he was en- 
 vironed were, it must be allowed, of no ordinary 
 description. On the one hand, there was the church 
 of England, at all times a powerful body, and which, 
 as it had been mainly instrumental in bringing him 
 over, it would be dangerous to offend, by severe 
 measures against the Scottish episcopalians. On 
 the other hand, the parishes of Scotland, amount- 
 ing to nearly nine hundred, were occupied by pre- 
 latical incumbents; and the question was, how were 
 these to be disposed of? If they were to be ejected 
 at one blow from their benefices, not only would 
 the inevitable consequence be, their entire aliena- 
 tion from the government, but it would be found 
 extremely difficult to fill up their places. Of up- 
 wards of four hundred ministers who had been 
 ejected after the restoration, to make room for 
 prelacy, only about ninety had survived to witness 
 the restoration of presbytery. The old race of 
 presbyterian pastors had thus become almost ex- 
 tinct; and the colleges were filled with students 
 who had studied under prelacy, and were resolved 
 to submit to that form of government had it con- 
 tinued.* Episcopalian writers have always denied, 
 with great confidence, that prelacy was contrary to 
 the inclinations of the generality of the people at 
 the revolution ; presbyterian writers have as stoutly 
 maintained that it was. Both may have had some 
 foundation for their calculations. Presbytery, there 
 can be no doubt, was the choice of the great 
 
 * Wodrow's Analecta, vol. ii. p. 2GD. 
 
1689.] DIFFICULTIES OF WILLIAM. 285 
 
 body of the intelligent and religious portion of the 
 nation, especially in the south; while prelacy was 
 more congenial to many of our gentry, and generally 
 submitted to in the north. And if we may credit 
 Keith's account of the proposal made to Ross, the 
 bishop of Edinburgh, when he went up to Lon- 
 don, immediately after the revolution, Scotland 
 owes its presbyterian establishment neither to the 
 good faith nor the gratitude of William, but to the 
 infatuated attachment of the Scottish prelatists to 
 the house of Stuart. " The bishop of London," says 
 Ross, " directing his discourse to me, said, ' My 
 lord, you see that the king (William) having thrown 
 himself upon the water, must keep himself a-swim- 
 ming with one hand. The presbyterians have joined 
 him closely, and offer to support him ; and therefore he 
 cannot cast them off, unless he could see how other- 
 wise he can be served. And the king bids me tell 
 you, that he now knows the state of Scotland much 
 better than he did when he was in Holland; for 
 while there he was made believe that Scotland gene- 
 rally all over was presbyterian; but now he sees that 
 the great body of the nobility and gentry are for 
 episcopacy, and 'tis the trading and inferior sort that 
 are for presbytery; wherefore he bids me tell you that 
 if you will undertake to serve him to the purpose 
 that he is served here in England, he'll take you by 
 the hand, support the church and order, and throw 
 off the presbyterians.' To this proposal the honest 
 bishop replied, by saying, that he would not promise 
 either for himself or his brother prelates, that they 
 would follow the example of England; they were 
 determined to adhere to their rightful king, James 
 II. ' And so,' said the bishop of London, ' the 
 
286 SCOTTISH PRELACY ABOLISHED. [16S9. 
 
 king must be excused for standing by the presby- 
 terians.""* 
 
 Without entirely crediting this story, there can 
 be little doubt that the circumstances to which we 
 have adverted must have added to the embarrass- 
 ments of William, and contributed to strengthen him 
 in his desire that Scotland would embrace at least a 
 modified episcopacy, or some compromise between 
 prelacy and presbytery, and thus not only unite the 
 twocontendingparties, but lead to that union between 
 England and Scotland which he regarded as of 
 essential importance for the furtherance of his gene- 
 ral policy. That he did attempt to gain this object 
 is evident from the measures pursued by his commis- 
 sioner, the duke of Hamilton. But he soon found 
 that he had to contend with an opposition too 
 powerful to be overcome. 
 
 The convention having been converted into a 
 parliament, in which the earl of Craufurd acted as 
 president, one of its first measures was an act passed 
 on the 22d of July, for the abolition of episcopacy, 
 and another carried next session for rescinding the 
 act of supremacy, passed in the reign of Charles II. 
 The former passed without a dissentient voice. 
 " There was not one single person among us," says 
 Craufurd, " that had the confidence to urge anything 
 for prelacy, and they were but a handful that spoke 
 of restricting presbytery ."f This does not look like 
 
 * Keith's Catalogue of Scottish Bishops, pp. 43, 44. 
 
 f- Earl Craufurd to Lord Melville, July 6, 1G'89. Leven and Melville 
 Papers, p. 145. "As it was left to the nation," says Defoe, "by the 
 prince of Orange, to settle religion in such a manner as was most desired 
 by the people, not a dog wagged his tongue against the presbyterian es- 
 tablishment, not a mouth gave a vote for episcopacy." (Memoirs of Church 
 oj Scotland, p. '.'99.) 
 
1689.] FACTIONS IN PARLIAMENT. 287 
 
 very great zeal on the part of the Scottish nobility 
 and gentry for the prelatic government. These acts 
 afterwards received the royal sanction, but it was 
 found impossible, on various accounts, to proceed 
 further with the settlement of the church during this 
 session of parliament. The delay was owing, in a 
 great measure, to the manoeuvres of the duke of 
 Hamilton, who pressed very pertinaciously for some 
 sort of mongrel episcopacy. But there were other 
 causes that contributed to the delay, and the private 
 correspondence of the principal actors brings out 
 curious disclosures of the various motives that were 
 at work. 
 
 The Scottish parliament was divided into three 
 great factions; the first composed of the Jacobite 
 party, still very strong in the country, and waiting 
 their opportunity ; the second, of the high presby- 
 terian party, headed by sir Patrick Hume of Pol- 
 wart, and denominated the Club ; and the third, of 
 the moderate presbyterians, to whom belonged lord 
 Melville, the secretary of state, and earl Craufurd, 
 the president of parliament. The policy of the 
 Jacobites was to embroil matters, and keep up the 
 discontent of the country ; for which purpose they 
 sided sometimes with the episcopalians, and at other 
 times with the extreme section of the presbyterians. 
 Polwart^s party, or the club, was sincerely desirous 
 to see presbytery restored to its original purity ; and 
 some of them, if not all, contended for the divine 
 right of that form of government, and the obligation 
 of the national covenants. The moderate party, 
 again, were content to have the presbyterian govern- 
 ment set up by authority, without any reference to 
 
288 EARL OF CRAUFURD. [1689. 
 
 its divine right, or to the attainments and engage- 
 ments of the second reformation. 
 
 Amidst these contending factions, each aiming 
 at its respective designs, it was no easy matter for 
 those at the helm of affairs to steer their way. The 
 earl of Craufurd, an excellent old man, whose sincere 
 piety appears in his correspondence, was extremely 
 anxious to have his beloved presbytery established in 
 its purity, "upon such foundations," said he, " as shall 
 give the magistrate his full due, without parting with 
 what is essential to that government." " I hope the 
 Lord," says he, " in his own time, will dissipate those 
 fogs that blind some of us, and enable us to erect a 
 second temple, the glory of which shall outshine 
 what was our first in our purest times. Sure I am 
 there is a great concern for this on the spirits of many 
 godly persons and sincere well-wishers to our king." * 
 
 The good old president, however, finds it a most 
 "crushing" employment to manage the refractory 
 spirits in the parliament. " The matter of patron- 
 ages is iniproven by some with great cunning, to 
 mar our present establishment, and all the misfor- 
 tunes of the late times, and the stretches of violent 
 men acting beyond their principles, adduced as argu- 
 ments for clogging of pure presbytery." Then the 
 club, with their sturdy presbyterianism, demand- 
 ing why their grievances were not redressed, annoy 
 him no less on the other side. He hears reports 
 out of doors, that the king intends to establish 
 episcopacy, at which the Jacobites are rejoicing, 
 while the presbyterians, were it not for fear of these 
 same Jacobites, are ready to cast off the authority 
 of William. " We have nothing but heats, de- 
 
 * Leveu and Melville Pitpers, p. 137. 
 
1689.] CRAUFURD'S" PURGE." 289 
 
 bates, jealousies, and divisions amongst us." He is 
 ready to sink under his " continual concern for still- 
 ing of members both in and without our house, and 
 his unsuccessfulness in it." " It does exceedingly 
 alter my health, insomuch, that if duty to my king, 
 and faithfulness to my country, did not fix me here, 
 I would retire to the meanest cottage, and be re- 
 stricted to the narrowest diet, before I lived so much 
 in the midst of flames as I now do." * 
 
 But the tough old earl perseveres, and finally car- 
 ries the day in spite of them all. The scheme which 
 he adopted, regarding it apart from its intrinsic de- 
 merits, and merely as a piece of policy, was certainly 
 ingenious. The episcopal clergy of the synod of 
 Aberdeen, who had conformed to the government, 
 had presented an address to parliament, craving 
 them to call a national synod or assembly; and 
 Hamilton, the commissioner, favoured the petition. 
 But no ; the sagacious Craufurd detected the trick. 
 He saw that if they obtained the sanction of govern- 
 ment to such a meeting, they would far out-number 
 the honest presbyterians, and that the very first step 
 they would take would be to depose them, to re- 
 place the rabbled curates, and petition for the re- 
 storation of prelacy. His first object, therefore, was, 
 as he expresses it, to u purge the church,"" by ridding 
 it of those who, on pretence of conforming to the 
 government, really sought to undermine it ; and for 
 this purpose, lie proposed to test their lojalty by 
 issuing a proclamation against the owning of king 
 James, and appointing public prayers for William 
 and Mary, as king and queen of Scotland; with cer- 
 tification that those who refused should be deprived 
 
 * Levcn and Melville Papers, p. 156. 
 
290 CRAUFURD'S POLICY. [16S9. 
 
 of their benefices. His next proposal was, that, to 
 secure the presbyterian government without offending 
 the prejudices of the episcopalians, they should re- 
 cur to the act 1592, usually called the charter of 
 presbytery, making no mention of the second refor- 
 mation period from 1638 to 1650. The next thing 
 was to get quit of patronage. " There will be a 
 necessity of taking off patronages," says he ; " for 
 though those that daily pray for the king (James) 
 were laid aside, many in this nation would present to 
 churches such as were not of our party. Then ac- 
 cording to the tenor of the king^s declaration, such 
 ministers as are alive would be restored to their own 
 churches ; and after these preliminaries, the constitu- 
 tion 1592 may come well in; but if we begin there, 
 I should conclude our interest for the time buried."* 
 From this it appears that, in the opinion of this 
 sagacious politician, since prelacy had been abolished, 
 and the supremacy was likely to follow, there was 
 sufficient security, in the event of the church being 
 purged of Jacobites, and thereafter placed under the 
 healthier regimen of popular election, for the estab- 
 lishment of " pure presbytery/ 1 and for all the sub- 
 stantial rights of the church of Scotland. The plan, 
 no doubt, implied the entire omission of all the acts 
 passed in favour of presbytery during the second 
 reforming period, together with the national covenant 
 as sworn in 1638, and the solemn league in 1643, 
 
 *Craufurd to Melville, July 16, 1689. Lev. and Mel. Papers, p. 172. 
 " I am sorry that the business of patronages should be so much contended 
 for by some few. If we design not simony, I see no advantage to any in 
 point of interest, and it seems evidently to be a heavier yoke upon the 
 church, and the matter of calls might be so adjusted as there needs no 
 complaining upon that side, they being restricted to persons that are fix- 
 edly in parodies, and under the inspection and regulation of presbyteries. 
 The sume to the same, July '23, IC89," p. 187. 
 
1G89.] CRAUFURD'S POLICY. 291 
 
 thus leaving all these acts and deeds under the 
 stigma of rebellion affixed to them by the act re- 
 scissory passed under the second Charles ; but in 
 the existing state of parties and temper of men's 
 minds, it was deemed wholly impracticable to obtain 
 more than a simple recognition of presbytery as it 
 had been granted by James VI. The most indus- 
 trious efforts were made by the episcopal party to 
 poison the minds of William and his English coun- 
 cillors against the presbyterians, by falsely repre- 
 senting them as enemies to monarchy, and as bound 
 by the solemn league to extirpate all the supporters 
 of episcopacy and the liturgy with fire and sword.* 
 Some handle, it is to be feared, was given to these 
 accusations by the injudicious violence and language 
 of the rabble in the west country .-f- At the same 
 time, some of the treatises which had been put forth 
 by the Cameronian party, during the persecuting 
 period, such as Sheilds' " Hind Let Loose," the 
 Queensferry Paper, &c., in which the principles of the 
 covenanters had been driven, under the pressure of 
 persecution, to an extravagant length, were repub- 
 lished by the prelatists, and widely circulated in 
 England, to prejudice the public mind against 
 
 * " King William would likewise consider how many thousands of them 
 have and do own, that the covenant (which is again voted the standard 
 of all pure religion) is the fundamental contract 'twist God, king, and 
 the people. And because king Charles II. broke it, therefore they de- 
 clared that he had fallen from his right to the crown; and because king 
 James II. never took it, that therefore he had no right to the crown; and 
 by public proclamations declared it lawful to kill them, and all who ad- 
 hered to them, &c. ; and accordingly killed several of their soldiers and 
 servants in this quarrel. From all which, the query naturally arises, 
 What measure king William must expect if he will not take the cove- 
 nant? and consequently swear to root out episcopacy in England." 
 (Case of the Afflicted Clergy in Scotland, 1690, p. 107.) 
 
 f Ibid., pp. 34, 35. 
 
 VOL. II. T 
 
292 CRAUFURD'S POLICY. [1689. 
 
 what was called Scotch presbytery. The English 
 clergy were becoming alarmed. What was to be 
 done? " Let bygones be bygones," was the maxim 
 of the earl of Craufurd. Let them give up pre- 
 lacy, let them grant us our beloved presbytery, and 
 we will say nothing of the covenants. Let them 
 yield up what they acquired by the king-craft of 
 James VI., and we will surrender what we acquired 
 by the sword-craft of the Long Parliament. 
 
 His plan met the approval of Lord Melville. " As 
 for the settlement of church government," writes his 
 lordship to Craufurd, " I see so many difficulties in it 
 as things presently stand, what from one party and 
 another, that I cannot see through it. Men must 
 take what they can have in a cleanly way^ when they 
 cannot have all they would. I should think it were 
 not amiss that they should be at pains to draw up 
 somewhat, for removing the aspersions cast on them 
 and their way, and show what are their principles 
 and demands, and the soberer the better. I am 
 afraid our divisions and management may do great 
 hurt to the public settlement, and may endanger 
 the bringing that on about which men seem to fear; 
 for it is scarce to be imagined that some men's 
 way and procedure, if as related, can be accept- 
 able." The threat thrown out at the close of 
 this extract evidently refers to the establishment 
 of episcopacy; and the danger of this was, as we 
 have seen, by no means problematical. But suffice 
 it here to state, that every thing went on as Crau- 
 furd and Melville had preconcerted. Many of the 
 Jacobite clergy fell into the snare laid for them by 
 the crafty president. They neither read his procla- 
 mation, nor prayed for William and Mary, nor kept 
 
1689.] CRAUFURD'S POLICY. 293 
 
 the day of thanksgiving for the deliverance of the 
 nation. Some of them were discovered to be in 
 correspondence with the exiled king, and abetting 
 his friends in arms. Prosecutions were instituted 
 against the delinquents before the privy council, 
 after the adjournment of parliament; and one hun- 
 dred and seventy-nine of them were speedily deprived 
 of their benefices. Loud was their outcry when 
 they felt the lash of old Craufurd. They complained 
 of persecution, and attempted to lay the whole blame 
 on the intolerant spirit of presbytery. The com- 
 plaint and the charge were, as we have seen, alike 
 unfounded. The presbyterian ministers were hap- 
 pily never consulted in the matter; and the presi- 
 dent had always his answer ready. " I shall once 
 more repeat, that no episcopal man since the happy 
 revolution, whether laic or of the clergy, hath suf- 
 fered by the council upon account of his opinions in 
 church matters, but allenarly (solely) for their dis- 
 owning the civil authority, and setting up for a cross 
 interest. If I make not this good, I shall willingly 
 forfault my credit with his majesty and all good 
 men."* To this, of course, it was impossible either 
 for them, or his majesty, or any other party, to make 
 any satisfactory reply. It is hardly necessary, at 
 this time of day, to say a word in reply to the charge 
 of persecution brought against his policy. " The 
 
 "Lev. and Mel. Pap., 21st Jan. 1690, pp. 376, 377. The trials of the ejec- 
 ted clergy occupy a large share of the privy council records. Here was a 
 just retribution, could these men have but seen it, for the mode in which 
 they were accustomed to vindicate their persecution of the presbyterians. 
 All the executions, confiscations, and sufferings inflicted on the covenan- 
 ters, are vindicated by sir George Mackenzie, on the same ground which 
 Craufurd here alleges for the ejection of the episcopal clergy " allen- 
 arly for their disowning the civil authority ;" and yet it was only a 
 party among the covenanters who really did disown the civil authority. 
 
294 REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. [1690. 
 
 observation," it has been well said, " is ill-timed. 
 The atrocious orders issued in the two preceding 
 reigns, under the guise of episcopacy, remain record- 
 ed and undisputed; and the equally atrocious exe- 
 cutions of them are written in characters of blood 
 never to be effaced. But where is to be found a 
 single order issued by the presbyterians for perse- 
 cuting the episcopalians ? Which of the episcopal 
 clergy suffered from the presbyterian authorities be- 
 yond deprivation ? or which of their laity ever suffer- 
 ed at all ? That those who openly prayed for 
 king James, or refused to pray for William and 
 Mary, after their recognition by parliament and the 
 nation, should be deprived, excites neither surprise 
 nor regret; but even many of them were continu- 
 ed."* 
 
 After the administration of this purge, the parlia- 
 ment, which met in April 1690, proceeded to the 
 settlement of presbytery. An act was passed for- 
 mally rescinding the act of supremacy; that act 
 which had been the fruitful source of all the perse- 
 cutions for conscience 1 sake under the late unhappy 
 reigns. This was followed by another restoring to 
 their churches all the surviving presbyterian mini- 
 sters ejected from January 1661, and ordering the 
 removal of the prelatic incumbents who occupied 
 their old parishes. At the same time some justice 
 was done to those who suffered under the persecution 
 by rescinding their fines and forfeitures; and the 
 tyrannical laws of the late administration against 
 conventicles and nonconformity, and its oppressive 
 tests and oaths, and the penalties imposed on all who 
 
 * Preface to Leven and Melville Papers, by the Hon. William Leslie 
 Melville, p. xxx. 
 
1690.] REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. 295 
 
 took the covenants, or owned theirobligation, were re- 
 pealed. And at length, on the 7th of June, came the 
 important act " ratifying the Confession of Faith, and 
 settling presbyterian church government." In this 
 act, after repeating that prelacy is an insupportable 
 grievance, and contrary to the inclinations of the 
 generality of the people^ the presbyterian form is 
 characterized as " the government of Christ's church 
 within this nation, agreeable to the word of God, 
 and most conducive to the advancement of true piety 
 and godliness, and the establishing of peace and tran- 
 quillity within this realm." The act then ratifies the 
 Confession of Faith, " now read in their presence, 
 and voted and approved by them as the public and 
 avowed Confession of this church; 11 and establishes the 
 presbyterian form of church government as establish- 
 ed by the act 1592, reviving that act in all its heads, 
 excepting that part of it relating to patronages, 
 which is hereafter to be taken into consideration ; and 
 declaring that the church government be established 
 in the hands and exercised by those presbyterian 
 ministers who were outed since the 1st of January 
 1661, and such ministers and elders as they might 
 receive. On the 19th of July an act was passed 
 completely abolishing patronage, and declaring that 
 in the case of the vacancy of any parish, "the heritors 
 of the said parish, being protestants, and the elders, 
 are to name and propose the person to the whole 
 congregation, to be either approven or disapproven 
 by them, their reasons, if they disapproved, to be 
 judged of by the presbytery." And as a compensa- 
 tion for relinquishing the right to present, the pa- 
 trons, besides being empowered to raise three hun- 
 dred merks from the parish, received those teinds to 
 
296 REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. [1690. 
 
 which none could show an heritable title, and which 
 had been always considered the proper patrimony of 
 the church. Such were the legislative enactments 
 for the re- establishment of the presbyterian church. 
 Its government was committed into the hands of 
 the surviving presbyterian ministers, with such as 
 they might assume into connection with them. And 
 that these measures might take full effect, a meet- 
 ing of the general assembly was appointed to be held 
 in Edinburgh on the 16th of October 1690. 
 
 Much has been said both for and against the re- 
 volution settlement ; and in fact it is just one of 
 those things for and against which much may be 
 said. Without looking to the results, and placing 
 ourselves in the situation of our presbyterian fathers 
 at the time, it may be regarded, in many respects, 
 in the light in which they received it as a great boon. 
 Newly delivered from the fires of persecution, and 
 anticipating nothing but the gloomy reign of popery, 
 it was no small matter of gratitude to find themselves 
 safe under the wing of a protestant government, and 
 no small matter of wonder to see themselves, though 
 reduced to ninety, recognised as the only true and law- 
 ful representatives of the church of Scotland. Such an 
 establishment, let it come as it might, was a triumph 
 of presbytery over prelacy, and it inflicted a stigma on 
 the whole proceedings of the foregoing reigns. The 
 securities obtained were no doubt valuable, so far as 
 they went ; and, as has been well observed, u these 
 acts gave nothing to the church which she did not 
 previously possess ; they did not even pretend to 
 restore what had been taken away ; but they broke 
 the fetters which had been forcibly imposed, and 
 allowed the church to resume the exercise of her own 
 
1 690.] REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. 297 
 
 indestructible energies and inalienable rights, derived 
 from her own divine and only Head and King." * 
 And certainly, had the church done her duty, the 
 defects of her settlement might have proved less in- 
 jurious. The abolition of patronage was of itself a 
 great acquisition to the church; and though the act 
 was faulty, both in giving the right of nomination to 
 the heritors as such, a mere civil qualification, and 
 in limiting the rights of the people to the mere 
 making of objections to the choice of the heritors 
 and elders, yet, in point of practical working, the 
 people enjoyed substantially the right of election, 
 and not a single instance of intrusion occurred. 
 Nothing can be more absurd than to say that the 
 patronage was merely transferred to the heritors and 
 elders. The act of 1 690 proposes expressly to " cass, 
 annul, and make void, the power heretofore exercised 
 by any patron, of presenting ministers to any 
 kirk now vacant." It was drawn up by presbyte- 
 rians, who were opposed to patronage ; and all 
 that was granted to the heritors and elders was 
 merely a right to propose the man to the choice of 
 the congregation. 
 
 The defects of the revolution settlement unhappily 
 bear a full proportion to iis advantages. The West- 
 minster Confession was indeed ratified as the public 
 and avowed Confession of this church ; but without 
 any reference to the act of the general assembly of 
 ] 647, by which the inherent right of the church to 
 call her own assemblies was explicitly asserted a 
 fatal omission, as soon appeared, when the king 
 claimed the power of calling and dissolving the as- 
 semblies at pleasure. Though presbytery was es- 
 
 * Hetherington's History of the Church of Scotland, p. 555. 
 
298 REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. [1690. 
 
 tablished as "agreeable to the word of God," prelacy 
 was abolished simply because it was "contrary to 
 the inclinations of the people" a strange compromise, 
 and very different from the bold condemnation of 
 prelacy in former times. Even in the manner of 
 ratifying the Confession there was too much the ap- 
 pearance of enacting it, or giving it a sanction which 
 it never had before; so unwilling were they even to 
 seem to acknowledge anything as part of the cove- 
 nanted uniformity. Nor did they ratify the Cate- 
 chisms or the Directory; though it would appear that 
 this was thought unnecessary.* 
 
 But the main error in the whole settlement lay in 
 the entire overlooking of the securities granted to 
 the church during the second reforming period of her 
 history, together with the solemn engagements come 
 under by the whole land, and more especially by the 
 kingdom of Scotland; and leaving the whole of the 
 attainments of that period, with the exception of the 
 Confession, buried under the infamous " act rescis- 
 sory,"" which, standing as it does in the statute-book 
 to this day, brands them with the charge of rebellion. 
 Besides the dishonour thus done to the work and the 
 
 * The only explanation I can find of this matter is In an episcopal account 
 of that period, in which it is stated that " after the Confession had been 
 approved, it was moved that the Catechisms might be read over also ; but 
 the Confession had worn out some three or four hours to them, and 
 most part were wearied with it, and beginning to discover, some by 
 looks, some by whispers, that they were no way willing at that time to 
 hear any more such long lectures, and so it was moved by the duke of 
 Hamilton, that the Catechism and Directory might be forborne; for, as 
 he said, they had now voted the Confession of Faith, and that was a suf- 
 ficient standard, and so they might leave the rest to the ministers, to be 
 managed according to their discretion." His proposal, after some demur 
 on the part of the ministers, was agreed to. (Account of the late Esta- 
 blishment of Presbyterian Government, Ifi90, p. 43.) Melville's instruc- 
 tions contain only " the Confession of IG'44. 1 " 
 
1690.] REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. 299 
 
 oath of God, the church of Scotland was deprived of 
 valuable securities which she might have pleaded in 
 law, and which might have served to place her more 
 effectually and decidedly above the reach of the 
 arbitrary power of the crown. 
 
 Anxious to conciliate the episcopalians of Scotland, 
 who were powerful as a political party, WillianVs 
 concessions to the presbyterians were made with a 
 bad grace, and had all the appearance of being 
 wrested from him by necessity. He appears to have 
 been extremely jealous of the royal prerogative, and 
 afraid of yielding up too much to the presbyterian 
 clergy.* His line of policy has been ascribed by some 
 to the violence of the presbyterians; by others, to 
 his love of power; and by others, again, to his fa- 
 vourite design of uniting the two kingdoms under one 
 ecclesiastical government. "f It may, with more jus- 
 tice, be traced to his educational and Erastian pre- 
 judices, which led him to regard no form of church 
 government as of divine right, and all forms to be 
 alike under the control of the state ; to the misre- 
 presentations of the presbyterian party, conveyed to 
 him by the Jacobites ; and, above all, to the circum- 
 stances in which he was placed, by having established 
 episcopacy in England a step which put it out of 
 his power, without glaring inconsistency, to do full 
 justice to the church of Scotland. The consequence 
 was, the adoption of a middle course, which, while it 
 fell short of what was due to the cause of truth, can 
 hardly be said to have given satisfaction to any party, 
 either in church or state. The presbyterians com- 
 
 * This appears particularly from his instructions sent to his commis- 
 sioner, and his remarks on the act 1690. 
 f M'Cormick's Life of Carstares, pp. 43, 44. 
 
300 REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. [1690. 
 
 plained of it as an equivocal and partial concession 
 of their claims ; while the episcopalians, denounced 
 it as an act of positive injustice, sharpened by the 
 insult offered to their religion, as " an insupportable 
 grievance" to the nation. None, save a few time- 
 serving politicians, received it as a satisfactory 
 arrangement. 
 
 The whole scheme, indeed, was one of mere expedi- 
 ency, and, as might have been expected from the vari- 
 ous conflicting interests that had to be consulted in 
 its formation, it was a piece of compromise from begin- 
 ning to end. Accordingly, it was full of self-incon- 
 sistencies; and it might be easily shown, that while, 
 in one sense, it gave up all to the presbyterians, it 
 was so worded, that in another sense it gave up all to 
 the government. Such a composition of piebald and 
 patch-work policy may have been very ingeniously 
 adapted to the exigency of the times; but experi- 
 ence has shown how dangerous it is to deal thus in 
 the matters of God. To the radical defects of the 
 revolution settlement we can easily trace all the sub- 
 sequent corruptions and declension of the church of 
 Scotland ; and late events have read to us an impres- 
 sive commentary on the same subject, in the reckless 
 encroachments which have been made on the constitu- 
 tion of that church. Above all, when we view it in 
 the light of scriptural principle, we see no excuse 
 that can justify so manifest a falling away from the 
 high Christian principle and lofty views of duty 
 which guided our rulers both in church and state 
 during the times of the covenant. Expediency has a 
 thousand reasons to suggest why it must have been 
 so, and could not have been otherwise; but Chris- 
 tianity, looking down from a loftier sphere, condemns 
 
1 690.] REVOLUTION SETTLEMENT. 301 
 
 all alike for bringing themselves into circumstances 
 where their policy, in order to be acceptable or suc- 
 cessful, must be so anomalous and equivocal con- 
 demns England for having receded from her engage- 
 ments and setting up prelacy and condemns Scot- 
 land for having submitted, without protest, to an 
 establishment so far short of what the Word of God 
 and her own pledges required. And it will not be 
 till Christian principle obtains the ascendency in the 
 hearts of men and in the councils of the church and 
 state, that we shall see the disorders introduced by 
 human policy rectified, and the church established 
 on a settled and safe foundation. 
 
APPENDIX TO VOL. II. 
 
 NOTE A, p. 184. 
 
 EXTREMES REGARDING THE INDULGENCE. 
 
 From Mr. John Blaclcader to Mr. M' Ward, Dec. 27, 1679. 
 Wodrow MSS., fol. 59, 129. 
 
 " I MUST crave leave to repeat that I am more and more convinced, 
 from unquestionable authority, that as there hath been indeed a griev- 
 ous defection and stepping aside by complying with these indulgences, 
 first and last, and yet like to be worse and worse ; so there are some of 
 late that have both spoken and practised so insolidly and inconsiderately 
 (to say no worse) in venting themselves against the same, as have tended 
 more to the strengthening of the opposite party, than to convincing 
 and reclaiming them from their error, as is ever usual by the like practices. 
 That holy and necessary duty of faithful and zealous bearing testimony 
 to the truth and ways of God, and against error and sinful courses, is 
 such a duty as needs to be managed with as much solidity, circumspec- 
 tion, fear, and trembling, as any I know. For herein the truth is much 
 concerned, especially when we have to contend with such, of whom 
 several are, and otherwise have been eminent and pious, as will not be 
 denied in our case. I say, the carriage of some (within these two years), 
 of whom I shall not doubt but they are pious and well-meaning, hath 
 been such in diverse things, as have more irritate and stirred up strife 
 than edified, whereby the former beauty and blessed success of the gos- 
 pel at these meetings called conventicles, hath been observed to be 
 much marred and eclipsed, and the indulged there-through to rest more 
 secure, and put farther from resenting their course and practice ; as 
 others, also, who once appeared zealous against the same, have been 
 tempted to turn cool, and some of them stoutly to plead in the behalf 
 of that indulgence ; and others, who, I hope, will be found continuing 
 stedfast in their zeal against that course, are much weakened in what 
 weight and authority they might have had in following those more solid 
 means and ways they have used, and were yet intending to use more, in 
 witnessing against that evil, being looked upon by the indulged as ap- 
 provers of all the extravagant courses of others against them ; and, on 
 the other hand, they are branded as unstedfast and unfaithful cloakers 
 of, and connivers at, the indulgence and indulged, because they do not 
 insist and dwell ad nauseam upon this woful subject, and at the same 
 rate they themselves do, and because they have sometimes freely admon- 
 ished them to carry with more godly prudence and caution, more con- 
 ducible to their intended scope. You know it hath been incident to the 
 church in former times, and will be, so long as she is militant, and 
 labouring with many imperfections and byassed inclinations, that in such 
 
304 APPENDIX. 
 
 tunes of tryall she hath had, and readily will have, some that, either 
 out of ignorance, inadvertence, or worse, do precipitate themselves upon 
 extremes and excesses upon the right as well as the left hand. We know, 
 and no doubt yourself also cannot but know, that there is great need, in 
 our days also, to take heed that the way of God (which is strait and 
 lyeth in the just mids), and that which is our good, be not evil spoken 
 of. I will not particularly dip into these differences and debates which 
 i'ell out amongst that party, before the late disaster at Hamilton (Both- 
 well Bridge), any farther than to tell you, that, to the best of my in- 
 formation and judgment which I can pass thereupon, these debates 
 were so ill and imprudently managed, and with such furious, hot, per- 
 emptory, and needless contentions, by some few on both sides, that it 
 will be hard to give a determinate decision which of the two had most 
 influence on that miscarriage and sad result, wherein the Lord is to be 
 adored in all submission ; and all of us have cause to lie in the dust 
 before him upon many accounts." 
 
 NOTE B, p. 237. 
 
 SEMI-POPERY OF SCOTTISH PRELACY. 
 
 In ascribing to Scottish prelatists a decided leaning to the church of 
 Rome, I have stated a truth which, there is reason to think, none of 
 them will question, and with which few of them will be otfended. It 
 has always been the boast of this section of the episcopal church, that 
 they approach nearer, in their forms and doctrines, to the church of 
 Rome than any other communion. And from the days of James VI., 
 who acknowledged the church of Rome to be his "mother church, 
 though denied with some infirmities and corruptions," they have cer- 
 tainly shown a strong disposition, as he expressed it, to " meet her in 
 the midway." An attempt of this kind was made by William Forbes, 
 first bishop of Edinburgh, who died in 1634, in a work which, having been 
 published after his death, in 1658, by bishop Sydserf, with high appro- 
 bation, may be fairly viewed as expressing the sentiments of the Scottish 
 prelatists of that period. This work is entitled " Considerationes Mod- 
 estae et Pacificae Controversiarum, Justificatione, Purgatorio, Invoca- 
 tione Sanctorum, Christo Mediatore, et Eucharistia." The general 
 character of this work is thus most justly described by Dr. Irving : 
 "Any honest plan for promoting peace may seem to merit praise; but 
 it is a very indifferent method of securing the peace of the protestant 
 church, by offering to meet the papists half way. This is reforming 
 backwards." (Liven of Scottish Writers, vol. ii. p. 6.) On the point of 
 justification, the doctrine advocated by bishop Forbes is Arminianism 
 in its grossest form. With regard to prayers for the dead, he holds the 
 practice to be " not only lawful, but in some sort useful to the dead" (p. 
 256) ; and though, with some papists, he disclaims an expiatory purga- 
 tory, he insists there must be "some middle state, not in heaven, but in 
 some place in the heavens known only to God, where the souls of the 
 departed are perfecting themselves by sad sighs for the full fruition of 
 God. The ancient practice of prayers and offerings for the dead ought 
 not, therefore, to be discarded by protestants as altogether useless." (Pp. 
 266, 267.) On the intercession of angels and saints, "whatever the more 
 rigid protestants may have taught," the bishop thinks that "the blessed 
 martyrs and saints are pleading for the church, and their prayers are 
 far from being useless;" there ought, therefore, to be "a calling unto, 
 rather than a calling upon them advocationem.potiwsquaminvocationem.'" 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 (Pp. 275, 300.) " In the supper, by the admirable power of the Holy Spirit, 
 we communicate invisibly with the substance of the body of Christ, not 
 otherwise (haud secus) than if we visibly did eat and drink his flesh and 
 blood." (P. 386.) In fine, "the sacrifice offered in the supper is not 
 only eucharistical, but also, in a sound sense, propitiatory, and may be 
 beneficial, not only to the living but to the dead." (P. 466.) 
 
 From this brief'account of bishop Forbes' work, the reader will per- 
 ceive that he and his friends were prepared to meet the papists some- 
 what more than mid way. It is exactly of a piece with the attempts of 
 Thorndyke and others, in the church of England, to explain away the 
 doctrinal articles of the church of Rome. The ahum, silentium which 
 he maintains on the power of the pope, and other points, tells its own 
 tale. Those who have been paying any attention to the signs of the 
 times will not be surprised to learn that this specimen of the Puseyism 
 of the seventeenth century, after lying in oblivion for nearly two hun- 
 dred years, has been lately Drought into notice by our Scottish prelatists; 
 and that an advertisement has just appeared, announcing a new edition 
 of the " Considerations," under the auspices of a presbyter of the church 
 of England, who assigns as his reason for republishing this work of " the 
 first bishop of Edinburgh after the desolation of the church," " the re- 
 vival in some of a hope, distant and slender, of healing the mournful 
 schism which has, for three hundred years, rent the western church ! " 
 This is, in fact, nothing more than was to be expected from the repeated 
 attacks lately made by that party on the character of our reform- 
 ers, and the venom poured on all who attempt to follow their example. 
 Every new step in the course of events seems to be preparing for 
 another and a desperate because final struggle with the man of sin. 
 
 NOTE C. 
 
 ANALOGY BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT TIMES. 
 
 I have not thought it necessary to do more than advert, in passing, to 
 the numerous analogies and coincidences between the preceding history 
 of the church of Scotland, and the present position and prospects of 
 that church. Every reader will be able to perceive them, and must 
 draw his own conclusions. But appearing, as this little work does, on 
 the very eve of a crisis which threatens a renewal of the scenes we have 
 been describing, we cannot conclude without noticing the striking par- 
 allel between the present times and those particularly of 1662, when, 
 by the act of the privy council at Glasgow, between three and four 
 hundred ministers were ejected from their charges for non-com- 
 pliance with the law of the land re-establishing prelacy,. (Vol. ii. p. 83.) 
 It is impossible to take up any treatise written about that period, with- 
 out observing, in the first place, the similarity between the arguments 
 then used by the persecutors, and those now employed against the church. 
 The following, from a very rare pamphlet, remarkable for its ability 
 and moderation, which was published in 1677, entitled, " An Apology 
 for, or Vindication of, the Oppressed and Persecuted Ministers and 
 Professors of the Presbyterian Reformed Religion in the Church of 
 Scotland, 1 "* may give some idea of what we allude to : 
 
 * This tract was written by Mr. Hugh Smith, minister of Eastwood, assisted by 
 some of his brethren, and particularly by Mr. Alexander Jamieson of Govan," who, 
 says Wodrow, "was justly reckoned one of theacutest philosophers and most solid 
 
306 APPENDIX. 
 
 "But many place the demerit of these severe punishments in the 
 disobedience of the laws establishing prelacy the now great cry of 
 those engaged in the present course for justifying of all enormities com- 
 mitted in the administration of government. A ns. To this we say, first, 
 that all divines and lawyers assert, if non-obedience be separated from 
 contempt of authority (as in many cases it may be), that the demerit of 
 disobedience is not rigorously to be pursued with punishments." "/ 
 it not a sad matter in this case, that ice meet with no other thing from any, 
 for satisfying of our consciences, and bringing us the length of cheerful 
 obedience to thit thing, but the cry, Law, law! which, in the matters of 
 God, can be no sure bottom to our consciences, seeing we, as Christians, 
 are under a law antecedent and superior to that of men's?" (Pp. 8, 9.) 
 " We shall consider, next, some of these exceptions, most commonly used 
 against us, with which we are publicly and privately branded, for ren- 
 dering us odious and hateful to all. 1. That we refuse to give that 
 obedience to the magistrate, his laws and commands, that, under pain 
 of damnation, is enjoined to all subjects in the Word of God," &c. (P. 
 50.) " The true state of the question is, whether a church constituted 
 according to the rules of the Word, provided and settled with ministers 
 regularly called and submitted to, should yield to the magistrates and 
 prelates violently ejecting their ministers, and tl<rustin<j in other ministers 
 upon her, not only without, but against, her consent ?" (P. 74.) "All 
 power of the prelates and their creatures in the church, is by law foun- 
 tained in, and derived from, the magistrate, and in its exercise subor- 
 dinated to him (as is evident from the Act of Restitution, Parl. Carl. II., 
 sess. 1). 1. They are expressly made to have a dependence upon, and 
 subordination to, the king, as supreme to them in their church judica- 
 tories and administrations. 2. The government of the church, in its 
 ordering and disposing, is annexed to the crown as one royal prerogative 
 thereof. 3. The giving of church power to church officers is supposed 
 to be the effect and deed of his laws and acts, without which all power in 
 the church is declared to be null and void."" (Pp. 79,81.) "In the Act 
 against unlawful Ordinations (as they call them), the ordination of 
 persons to the ministry by ministers of Jesus Christ that have not 
 conformed to prelacy, is, by the sole authority of the magistrate, made 
 void; and all ministerial acts and church benefits depending thereon, 
 declared to be null.'"'' (P. 165.) 
 
 These old acts may probably be found of some use shortly : it seems 
 quite unnecessary to have recourse to new acts of parliament to accom- 
 plish the same work. What part the church of Scotland may be led to 
 take, in the event of such legislation being revived, remains to be seen. 
 Meanwhile, if the enemies of the church are to renew the acts which 
 led to the persecution and issued in the revolution, it becomes her friends 
 to imitate the fidelity of '' the oppressed and persecuted ministers and 
 professors of the presbyterian reformed religion in the church of Scot- 
 land," and to avoid their mistakes. In this pamphlet there is one tiling 
 condemned and lamented in the conduct of ministers and congregations 
 at the crisis of 1 66'2, which deserves attention. The author, while he 
 makes all allowances for the suddenness of the act, and the good inten- 
 tions of the sufferers, says, "Yet we judge it the infirmity and sin of 
 congregations and ministers, that they did not cleave to one another as 
 pastors and flocks. We do not plead for ministers keeping to the accessories 
 of the ministry as kirks, stipends, manses, glebes, <fcc., which were, by 
 divine precept, their ri/iht, bat not in their power to hold; but we assert 
 it was sin, that they continued not in the exercise of the ministry, pas- 
 toral oversight of the flocks, and keeping up the government of the 
 
 d ; vines at this time in Scotland." (Life of James Wodrow, by his son Robert 
 H'odroto, p. 54.) 
 
APPENDIX. 307 
 
 church, we had been in the possession of; and people's not adhering to 
 their ministers in hearing and receiving of ordinances from them, and 
 not afiording them all due encouragement and maintenance; all which 
 was done by ministers and churches in times of sorer persecution than 
 ours." (P. 28.) 
 
 It is our earnest prayer and hope that the church of Scotland may be 
 enabled to act a faithful part in this time of trial, of which it may be so 
 truly said, she ought "not to think it strange, as though some strange 
 thing had happened to her." Her safety obviously lies in returning to 
 the old ground occupied by the martyrs and confessors during the period 
 which forms the latter portion of our history, from 1638 to the revolu- 
 tion. On no other ground can she surely, successfully, and consistently 
 advocate or suffer for the principles which she is now endeavouring to 
 defend. From that period down to the present, there has been a grad- 
 ual declension, from which she is beginning to emerge; and, next to the 
 success of the plots of her enemies, we should deplore her taking her 
 stand on the profession made subsequently to the revolution.* Let us 
 close these sheets with the eloquent conclusion of the pamphlet which 
 we have referred to : 
 
 '' Oh that all engaged in this war against the Lord and his Anointed, 
 \vould read and consider the second psalm, and vet hearken to what is 
 there foretold anent the issue of it, which will be sad and heavy to them 
 that obstinately set themselves in opposition to Christ and hia kingdom. 
 Let none that side with Christ in this quarrel be afraid or ashamed to 
 appear in its defence auainst all sorts of opponents; for as we have the 
 full light and evidence of the Word of God to justify its righteousness 
 from the reproaches of men, so we have the righteous and almighty 
 (iod to take our part, who, on the account of his justice and supreme 
 dominion, is engaged to own them that own Him in this cause. In con- 
 tending for these, we contend not for honours, dignities, and the riches 
 of this world; but only for the laws, ordinances, and servants of Christ 
 Jesus, and that obedience and subjection to him in them that he requires 
 of all in his Word; yea. fur the royal dignities and super-eminent prero- 
 gatives of his righteous and glorious crown, which the Father hath placed 
 on his head, giving him a name above all names that at the name of 
 this JESUS all knees should bow, yea, shall bow. Who need to be afraid 
 who own such a King, and have him on their side, who in his own per- 
 son overcame and triumphed over all his enemies, and yet again will 
 do so in the persoi.a of his weak, contemned, and persecuted servants 
 and people ? The Lord build up the walls of Jerusalem, and make her 
 a peaceable habitation ! Amen." 
 
 Note D, p. 278. 
 
 THE FORGED LETTER OF CLA.VF.KHOUSE. 
 
 That the author of the " History of the Rebellions in Scotland" should 
 have suppressed all mention of the stripping scene, described in the text, 
 was perhaps to be expected; but it is truly surprising that, after the pub- 
 lication of the evidence to which we have referred, and with which he 
 might, at least, have made himself acquainted, he should have repeated the 
 old legend ol the letter, as gravely as if it had been a piece of history. It is 
 
 * Since the above was written the disruption has taken place in tl e Church of 
 Scotland an event which has completely altered the position of both of the parties 
 into which that church has been rent, in relation to the civil government. It is 
 considered proper, however, to allow ihe above reflections to r< main unaltered. 
 as a record of the author's sentiments at the time they were wriUo:>, which he has 
 seen no reason to modify. 
 
 VOL. II. U 
 
308 APPENDIX. 
 
 equally strange that he should have repeated, with apparent seriousness, 
 the speech said to have been delivered by Dundee to his soldiers before the 
 action, and which is now only considered " curious as a contemporary 
 forgery."* If the striking contrast which this speech affords, in its 
 literary merits, to the authentic letters of Dundee, which are even be- 
 neath the times in point of vulgarity, did not stagger his faith in its 
 genuineness, it might be supposed that its frequent references to 
 "religion" and "the church of Scotland," might have led him to sus- 
 pect that some more "clerical" hand than that of Claverhouse had 
 been concerned in its concoction. But Mr. Chambers has a theory of 
 his own on the character of Claverhouse, which serves to account for 
 his blindness in this matter. "Dundee," says he, "was inspired with 
 as high a degree of religious fervour in his bloody deeds as ever possessed 
 the mind of the wildest enthusiast that sat for years amidst the wilds of 
 Tweeddale." Nay more, " He had laid it down to himself that the 
 episcopalian mode of worship was the only one by which the Deity could 
 properly be honoured. It was his wish, above all tilings, that the rude 
 and licentious formula of the presbyterians should be changed for the 
 decent ritual of the episcopalians !"-f- Here is certainly a new discovery. 
 The " bloody Claverse" was, it seems, a religious enthusiast ! When he 
 was wading to the boot-tops in the gore of a slaughtered peasantry, it 
 was because he had " laid it down" that episcopacy was the only religion 
 "by which the Deity could properly be honoured;" when, with his own 
 pistol, he scattered the brains of poor John Brown, the Ayrshire carrier, in 
 the faces of his imploring wife and wondering biibes, he was giving his 
 testimony against "the rude and licentious formula of the presby- 
 terians," and showing, "ABOVE ALL THINGS," his pious wish that it 
 should be exchanged for " the decent ritual of episcopacy !" Shade of 
 Dundee ! what an outrage on thy true character ! In support of this 
 desperate attempt to whitewash the Ethiopian this miserable effort to 
 conceal, and even to consecrate, his atrocities under the guise of religion 
 Air. Chambers has not brought, and cannot bring, a tittle of evidence. 
 Unfortunately for him, it so happens that, during the whole reign of 
 prelacy in Scotland, the episcopalian form of worship was never intro- 
 duced; and that it was not till many years after the death of Claver- 
 house, and even then with great difficulty, that the Scottish episcopalians 
 could be induced to use the liturgy.t We are compelled, therefore, to 
 conclude that Mr. Chambers, in trying to account for the excesses of 
 Claverhouse, by imputing to him such a motive, was drawing from the 
 stores of his own fancy; that the wish was father to the thought; and 
 that, conceiving how he himself might have felt in the circumstances, 
 he has transferred his own sentiments to the breast of his hero. He has 
 thus, unexpectedly, perhaps, given the people of Scotland to know, that 
 whatever Dundee may have thought, Mr. Robert Chambers deems the 
 
 Eresbyterian worship " a rude and licentious formula," and charitably 
 elieves that " the episcopalian mode is the only one by which the Deity 
 can properly be honoured." 
 4 
 
 * Letters of Dundee, p. 81. 
 
 t C'hambeis' History of the Rebellions. 
 
 t " The reader will be astonished," says sir George Mackenzie, "when we in- 
 form him that the wait of worship in our church diffi-rrd nothing from what the 
 presbyteriatu themselves practised." < ('indication, \>. 9.) " In the church, as now 
 established by law under eniscopacy among us, we have no ceremonies ft all no. 
 not so much as ant/ form of prai/er; no music but singing in the churches," &c. 
 i Memorial for t/u; Prince of Orange, 168^', by tu.o pirsuns (f quality, p. 8.) 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Vol. ?. 
 
 Aberdeen, assembly of . . i. 
 
 members imprisoned and brought to trial . u 
 
 they are banished . . /> 1 4.5 
 
 citizens compelled to subscribe the covenant 257 
 
 town of, taken by the marquis of Montrose . n. 9 
 
 town of, atrocities committed by his soldiers in ib. 
 
 town of, its attachment to prelacy . K4 
 
 Accommodation, the, introduced by archbishop Leighton 138 
 
 its failure . . n ib. 
 
 Act of Glasgow passed . . 
 
 its consequences . . . 90 
 
 Act of supremacy, nature and consequences of . n 
 
 rescinded by parliament . . 287 
 
 A damson, archbishop of St. Andrews, account of . I. 115 
 
 Alison, Isabel, her trial and execution . . u. '200 
 
 Annaiidale, marquis of, his bold defence . . 222 
 
 A rgyle, earl of, takes the test with a qualification . n 220 
 
 prosecuted, and escapes . . 221 
 
 behaviour in his last moments) . n 231 
 
 Argyle, marquis of, his character . 13 
 
 selected for destruction . . . n 
 
 tried and sentenced . . r, 
 
 conduct in prison . . . n 
 
 execution . . . 74 
 
 Assembly of 1039, and its proceedings . . I. 254 
 
 1643 . . . 277 
 1()43, solemn league formed between the three 
 
 kingdoms there . ib. 
 
 1653 dissolved by Cromwell's soldiers . IF. 52 
 
 Assembly, Westminster . . . 1. 285 
 
 description of its sittings . >i 286 
 
 its proceedings . . / 288 
 
 agrees to the Confession of Faith 
 
 and Catechbois . . i'.'JiJ 
 
310 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Pajfe. 
 
 Buillie of Jerviswood, his character . . n. 225 
 
 his trial . . 226 
 
 his behaviour in prison . 227 
 
 his execution . . t, 228 
 
 Balf our of Burley, a chief actor in Sharp's murder . n 157 
 has a command at Drumclog . 170 
 Beaton, archbishop, procures the death of Hamilton . i. 21 
 Beaton, cardinal, designs to extirpate the Scottish Protes- 
 tants . . . .'52 
 procures the death of \Vishart . * 36 
 he is assassinated . 41 
 Bishops, English, their resistance to James VII. . n. 247 
 Bishops 1 evangelists, the . . n 136 
 failure of their mission . 137 
 iiishops, four Scottish, consecrated in England . ,, 85 
 Bishops' war, the . . . I. 244 
 drag-net, the . . u. 103 
 Bishops, Scottish, ordained in England . . i. 151 
 character of those of Jaines VI. . . ., 154 
 Black, David, prosecution of . . . n 131 
 declines the civil jurisdiction . n ib. 
 Blackader, colonel, account of . . n. 273 
 Blackader, John, minister of Troqueer, ejected by the 
 
 Glasgow act . n 92 
 
 cruel circumstances of his ejection . n ib. 
 
 his house visited by soldiers . 127 
 
 singular escape of his son . . 128 
 
 presides at an armed conventicle . * 141 
 
 his description of one . . 142 
 
 dies in the Bass . * 148 
 
 character of . . . <> 183 
 
 Blair, Robert, account of . . i. 179 
 
 description of, by an Englishman . 11. 61 
 
 anecdotes of . 62 
 
 Blinks, the, or intervals of persecution . . n 150 
 
 Bond among the reformers for protection of religion . I. 48 
 
 Both well Bridge, battle of . . .u. 174 
 
 cruelties on the prisoners after the 
 
 battle . . 177 
 
 rising at, vindication of ... 179 
 
 Boyd, Robert, of Trochrig, account of . i. 183 
 
 Zachary, preaches against Cromwell . .11. 51 
 
 Brown, John, shot by Claverhouse . . 209 
 
 Bruce, Robert, preaches against the king's favour to the 
 
 popish lords . . i. 123 
 
 remonstrates again upon the subject . 129 
 banished for doubting about the Gowrie 
 
 conspiracy . . 136 
 
 his early life and studies . . ib. 
 
 anecdotes of . 177 
 
 his death . 178 
 
 Bullo, William (a curate), rabbled by the mob . n. 265 
 
INDEX. 311 
 
 Vol. Pnge. 
 
 Calderwood, David, trial of, before James VI. . i. 161 
 Cameron, Richard, opposed to those who accepted the in- 
 dulgence . . .11. 173 
 his followers called Cameronians . 174 
 account of him . . 191 
 his brave conduct at Ayrsmoss . 192 
 publishes the Sanquhar declaration . 197 
 his death . . ib. 
 Cameronian regiment . . 269 
 its gallant conduct at Dunkeld . ., 280 
 
 Cameronians, whence the name of . . 174 
 Cameronians publish the Sanquhar declaration . 197 
 declare war against the king . . 215 
 refuse the indulgence of James VII. . 234 
 their conduct at the revolution . . 256 
 their declaration to king William . 258 
 Campbell of Kinyeancleuch warns against Mary's bland- 
 ishments . , I. 81 
 protects Davidson of Prestonpans n 98 
 his death . 99 
 
 Campbell, sir Hugh, tried on a false charge . . 11. 223 
 
 imprisoned and fined . . 224 
 
 Cargill, Donald, on the prophetic character of . 194 
 
 his share in the Queensferry paper . ,. 196 
 
 publishes the Sanquhar declaration . 197 
 
 Carmichael, his cruelties as agent of Sharp . , 156 
 
 Carstairs, principal, tortured . . . 224 
 
 his influence with king William . . 225 
 
 Cathkin, James, bookseller, his examination before the king I. 173 
 
 Cess, oppressive, levied for the suppression of conventicles II. 168 
 
 Chalmers of Gathgirth's unceremonious visit to the palace I. 52 
 
 Charles I., accession of, and character . . 197 
 
 coronation in Scotland . . 198 
 
 arrogant behaviour to the nobles . 199 
 
 state of parties in Scotland at his accession . 212 
 
 his treacherous instructions against the covenanters n 226 
 
 invades Scotland . . . 244 
 
 his treaty at Dunse Law . . n 252 
 
 tries to over-reach the covenanters . 254 
 
 sanctioas a meeting of assembly in 1639 . 255 
 
 his rage at its proceedings . 261 
 
 orders the earl of Loudoun to be privately 
 
 executed . . n ib. 
 
 again invades Scotland . . 264 
 
 takes refuge with the Scottish army . n. 18 
 
 refuses their terms . . * 19 
 
 Henderson sent to confer with him . 20 
 
 controversy with Henderson . . 21 
 
 surrendered to the English . . 23 
 
 justification of this surrender . * ib. 
 
 his trial and execution . . n 31 
 
 his character . . ib. 
 
 Charles II. proclaimed king in Scotland . . n 
 
 arrives from Breda . . n 4<l 
 
 subscribes the covenant . n 41 
 
 is defeated at Dunbar . . 43 
 
 endeavours to escape from the Scottish army 44 
 
312 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 Charles II. his coronation at Scoon . n. 45 
 
 undertakes an expedition into England . n 49 
 
 is defeated at Worcester . . ib. 
 
 restored to the throne in 1660 . . 69 
 
 restores prelacy in Scotland . . 80 
 
 excommunicated by the Cameronians . 197 
 
 dies . . . . fl 230 
 
 Christmas-day held in Edinburgh . . i. 170 
 
 Church, Scottish, state of, at the death of Charles I. . n. 33 
 
 Church of Scotland, order and discipline established in . i. 74 
 
 Claim of right, settlement of . . .n. 285 
 
 Claverhouse see Graham. 
 
 Cleland, colonel, account of . << 271 
 
 challenges Claverhouse to single combat 268 
 
 resists the Highland army at Dnnkeld . * 280 
 
 his heroic death . . 282 
 
 Commissioners, English, attend the assembly of 1643 . I. 278 
 
 Scottish, their attendance at Westminster 
 
 assembly . . 287 
 
 Communion, kneeling at the, arguments upon . 172 
 
 Conventicles commence in' 1663 . . .II. 101 
 
 anecdotes of them . . 102 
 
 multiplied by the indulgence . . 140 
 
 origin of armed conventicles . . 141 
 
 description of one at East Nisbet . 142 
 
 tax levied to suppress them . n 168 
 
 trial of Riddel for preaching at . 187 
 
 trial of Hume of Hume for attending . n 189 
 
 Court of high commission, establishment of . . I. 157 
 
 Covenant, national, nature of the . . 105 
 
 solemnly subscribed at Edinburgh . . 209 
 
 Covenanters, piety of the . . n. 108 
 
 their oppression by the military . 109 
 
 they rise in arms in the west . . 110 
 
 are defeated at Rullion Green . 1 12 
 
 their resistance not rebellion . . 113 
 
 severities against those taken at Rullion Green 116 
 
 persecutions they sustained from Dalziel . 124 
 
 women tortured . . 125 
 
 heavy fines levied . . " 
 
 their acquaintanceship with Scripture * . >, 137 
 
 severities increased against them after Sharp's 
 
 murder . . . 
 
 taxed tor the suppression of their own principles 168 
 cruelties inflicted on them after the battle of 
 
 Both well Bridge . . . ., 177 
 
 banished to the plantations . 178 
 
 barbarities inflicted on them . " 199 
 
 grounds on which they suffered . 203 
 soldiers commissioned to proceed against 
 
 them without indictment . . ib. 
 
 hunted with bloodhounds . . 210 
 
 their wonderful escapes . . " 213 
 
 severities increased after the Argyle invasion 232 
 
 their release from persecution . . 253 
 
 they protect the sitting of convention . 
 
 Craulbrd, earl of, presides in the Scottish parliament . 287 
 
INDEX. 
 
 313 
 
 Craufurd, earl of, his character . . .11. 289 
 
 purges the church . . 2f 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, gains a victory at Preston . . 30 
 
 at Dunbar . . 43 
 
 at Worcester . 49 
 
 debates with the clergy at Edinburgh . 50 
 
 wild behaviour of his military theologians ib. 
 
 his strange conduct at a meeting of ministers 51 
 
 dissolves the general assembly . 52 
 
 Curates, rabbling of the, at the revolution . . 261 
 
 account of it by Patrick Walker 263 
 
 Dalziel, general, account of . 124 
 
 causes a man to be shot . 125 
 
 his cruelties . . 126 
 
 Davidson of Prestonpans writes against regent Morton . i. 98 
 
 protected by Kinyeancleuch . ib. 
 
 excommunicates the bishop of 
 
 Glasgow . 108 
 preaches at the renewal of the 
 
 covenant . . 127 
 
 opposes the establishment of prelates 133 
 
 Dickson, David, minister of Irvine, account of . 190 
 
 is moderator of the assembly of 1653 . 11. 52 
 
 his death-bed opinion of the Protesters . 49 
 
 description of him by an p]nglishman . 61 
 
 his adventure with a highwayman . n 66 
 
 Discipline, First Book of, account of .1. 74 
 
 Second Book of . . 101 
 
 Douglas, Robert, preaches at the coronation of Charles II. n. 45 
 
 account of him . n 67 
 
 his interview with Sharp . 68 
 
 Dun, Erskine of, instructs Stratton in religious truth . I. 24 
 
 Dunavertie, executions by the covenanters at . II. 16 
 
 Dunbar, George, his coolness under banishment . I. 182 
 
 Duncan, Andrew, minister of Crail, account of . 181 
 
 Dunkeld, gallant affair at . . n. 279 
 
 Dunottar castle, sufferings of the prisoners in . n 232 
 
 Durise Law, encampment of the Scots at .1. 248 
 
 treaty of . . , 252 
 
 Dury, John, banishment and triumphant return of . HI 
 
 Edinburgh, riots in, before the revolution . . n. 245 
 
 Knterkin path, covenanters rescued at . 214 
 
 Episcopacy abolished by the Scottish parliament . 287 
 
 Erastianism in the English parliament . . I. 296 
 
 Erskine, lord, his affecting speech at the Glasgow assembly 232 
 
 Executioner refuses to hang the covenanters . n. 122 
 
514 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. PK*. 
 
 Fergusson, minister of Dunfermline, facetious humour of i. 118 
 
 opposes the introduc- 
 tion of Prelacy 133 
 
 Fife, synod of, latitudinarian conclusions at . 152 
 
 Forrest, dean Thomas, account of . 16 
 
 Fraud, pious, attempted by the popish priests . * 4l> 
 
 General assembly, first meeting of . fiR 
 
 Gibbites, account of . . . .11. 195 
 
 Gibb, John, founds the sect of the Gibbites . ib. 
 
 Giles, saint, riot on his feast-day . . i. 44 
 
 Gillespie, George, sent to the Westminster assembly . 286 
 
 his remarkable services there . n 2<39 
 
 account of his death . . 291 
 
 Gladstanes, archbishop, of St. Andrews, his imperious behaviour 1 52 
 
 his character . 155 
 
 Glasgow, assembly at . . . . n 149 
 
 bribery of the members of . n 150 
 tumult in, from attempts to introduce 
 
 the liturgy . . 206 
 
 famous assembly of . n 224 
 
 its proceedings . . 225 
 is continued, though dissolved by 
 
 the royal commissioner . 229 
 character of its proceedings . 237 
 Gordon, Mr., imprisoned for not lifting his hat to an arch- 
 bishop . . . . it. 243 
 Gordons of Knockbreck executed . . J22 
 Gowrie conspiracy . . . I. 134 
 Graham of Claverhouse, commences his persecutions . n. 165 
 sent to suppress the rising in the west 169 
 defeated at Drumclog . 170 
 flies to Glasgow . . 171 
 murders John Brown . 209 
 his uncomfortable state at the 
 
 revolution . . 268 
 
 collects an army in the Highlands 274 
 
 killed at Killiecrankie . 277 
 false statements about his dying 
 
 moments . . 278 
 
 the forged letter of . 307 
 
 Guillan, Andrew, tried as accessory to Sharp's murder . n 1G2 
 Guthrie, James, minister of Stirling, his last interview 
 
 with Argyle . 74 
 
 account of him . 75 
 
 his trial . ,. 76 
 
 execution . 78 
 
 Guthrie, William, minister at Fenwick, account of . n 105 
 
 is suspended by the bishops . * 107 
 
INDEX. SI 5 
 
 Vol. Pagf. 
 
 Haekston of Rathillet. present at Sharp's murder . ji. 157 
 
 refuses to share in the deed . t. 159 
 taken prisoner at the skirmish of 
 
 Ayrsmoss . 193 
 his cruel execution . . ifc. 
 Hall, Henry, of Haugh-head, apprehended with the Queens- 
 ferry paper . . . 196 
 Hamilton, archbishop of St. Andrews, his flattering let- 
 ter to Argyle . . .1. 50 
 Hamilton, duke of, endeavours to continue episcopacy in 
 
 Scotland . . n. 288 
 Hamilton, marquis of, appointed royal commissioner . i. 221 
 his entry into Edinburgh . n 222 
 endeavours to gain over the cove- 
 nanters . . .n 223 
 presides at the Glasgow assembly 225 . 
 dissolves the assembly . 229 
 conducts the invasion of Scotland 247 
 his mother's zeal for the covenant n ib. 
 attempts the king's rescue . n. 29 
 is routed by Cromwell near Preston 30 
 
 Hamilton, Patrick, account of . i. 20 
 
 effects of his martyrdom . . r 23 
 Hamilton, sir Robert, desires the indulgence to be preached 
 
 against . . II. 149 
 
 heads the rising in the west . 169 
 
 attempts to take Glasgow . n 171 
 
 unfitness to command . . 173 
 
 Hampton court conference . . i. 139 
 
 Harvie, Marion, her trial and execution . . n. 200 
 
 Headship of Christ contended for by the covenanters . 204 
 
 Henderson, Alexander, minister of Leuchars, account of I. 218 
 
 ismoderator of the Glasgow assembly 227 
 
 sent to London on a treaty . 264 
 
 his speech before the English parliament 276 
 
 is moderator of the assembly of 1643 n 277 
 
 effects a religious union between the 
 
 three kingdoms . . n 279 
 preaches in the church of St. Mar- 
 garet, Westminster . 280 
 attends the Westminster assembly 284 
 sent to confer with the king at New- 
 castle . . .11. 20 
 last sickness and death . 21 
 impudent forgery published of him 22 
 
 High commission court . . 104 
 abolished . . . n 105 
 Highland host brought down against the covenanters . 165 
 their proceedings in the Lowlands . 167 
 Ilislop, Andrew, butchered by the soldiers . . 212 
 Hume, Alexander, of Hume, tried and executed for attend- 
 ing conventicles . . 189 
 Hume, sir Patrick, of Polwart, escapes from prison . 228 
 his strange place of concealment 229 
 anecdotes ot ,, ib. 
 
316 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. PM*. 
 
 Independents attend at the assembly of 1643 . i. 277 
 
 their behaviour at the Westminster assembly 288 
 
 their predominance in the English parliament 304 
 
 Indulgence, act of, granted in 1669 . .11. 134 
 
 arguments adduced for and against it . ib. 
 
 designed to produce divisions . 
 
 conventicles multiplied in consequence of it 140 
 disputes it occasioned among the armed 
 
 insurgents . . 171 
 
 Ireland, covenant subscribed in . . i. 295 
 
 Irish massacre, the . . . . 269 
 
 James V., his rebuke to the covetous prelates . 72 
 
 James VI., accession of . . 103 
 
 triumphal entry into Edinburgh . . * 104 
 
 subscribes the national covenant . 1 07 
 
 made prisoner by his nobles . * 110 
 
 his puJpit debate with Balcanqual . 114 
 
 with a congregation in favour of his prelate . .. 115 
 
 his sentiments in favour of presbyterianism . 120 
 opposed by the ministers for favouring the 
 
 popish lords . . 
 
 opposed by Andrew Melville . . 124 
 
 encroaches upon the liberty of preaching . 131 
 
 introduces prelacy into the church . 
 
 succeeds to the throne of England . 139 
 
 presides at the Hampton court conference . * ib. 
 
 visits Scotland . . . 15!) 
 
 introduces innovations in the church . 160 
 
 enraged at the Scottish bishops . 164 
 
 James VII., his accession . . . H. 230 
 
 proclaims the indulgence . . 233 
 
 his flight . . . - 240 
 
 errors of his reign . . 246 
 proclaimed to have forfeited his right to the 
 
 throne . . * 2,56 
 
 Jeffreys, judge, brutal conduct of, on the bench . * 248 
 
 Johnston of Warriston, account of . n 96 
 
 treacherous apprehension of . * 97 
 
 his trial and execution . 98 
 
 his character . 99 
 
 Kennedy, Alexander, martyrdom of . . I. 26 
 
 Kid, Mr., rescued by the covenanters at Drumclog . 11. 175 
 
 executed . . . 176 
 
 Killiecrankie, battle of . . 276 
 
 King, Mr. John, apprehended by Claverhouse . 169 
 
 made prisoner at Bothwell Bridge . 1 75 
 
 executed . . 176 
 
 arrives in Scotland . 54 
 
 preaches at Perth . 56 
 
INDEX. 317 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 Knox, John, preaches at St. Andrews . i. 59 
 
 his sentiments on the liberty of the church . n 69 
 
 disappointment at its scanty endowment . 73 
 
 preaches against the queen's mass . > 82 
 
 interview with Mary on that occasion . ib 
 
 second interview with the queen . n 85 
 
 personal appearance in old age . 91 
 
 his death . . 92 
 
 character . . 94 
 vindicated from all share in Riccio's murder 
 
 (appendix) . . 309 
 
 Lagg, Grierson of, account of . .IT. 213 
 
 Lamb, Robert, martyrdom of . . i. 27 
 
 Laud at the coronation of Charles I. in Edinburgh . 198 
 
 prepares a liturgy for Scotland . . 202 
 
 liis interview with the king's fool . . ./ 209 
 
 his oppressive proceedings . . 266 
 
 Lauderdale, duke of, obtains the management of Scottish 
 
 affairs . . .11. 130 
 brutal conduct at Mitchell's trial . 155 
 frantic oath at the council board . n 166 
 Loudoun, earl of, imprisoned, and ordered to be executed i. 261 
 heroic behaviour of his countess . . 262 
 pleads for the king, when the latter was prisoner n. 25 
 League, solemn, adopted by the English parliament . i. 279 
 terms of the league . 281 
 condemned by parliament in 1 662 . n. 87 
 Leighton, Dr. Alexander, cruelly tortured . . i. 267 
 Leighton consecrated bishop of Dunblane . .II. 86 
 his character . . . n ib. 
 appointed archbishop of Glasgow . 136 
 tries lenient measures with the covenanters . n ib. 
 tries to reconcile presbyterianism with a mode- 
 rate episcopacy . . ] 38 
 Leslie, general, appointed to command the covenanters . i. 245 
 his influence with the army . . ., 250 
 defeats Montrose at Philiphaugh . n. 15 
 Linlithgow, profane anniversary at . 88 
 Liturgy, attempt to introduce it into Scotland . i . 202 
 riots in Edinburgh in consequence . . 203 
 protest against its introduction . . n 207 
 Livingstone, John, preacher at the Kirk of Shotts . 193 
 effects of his preaching . ,, 194 
 Long parliament, character of the . . 272 
 Lords of the covenant unite and arm ,, 58 
 
 Mackail, Hugh, his first sermon in Edinburgh . n. 118 
 
 tortured by the boots . . n 119 
 
 behaviour on the scaffold . . 120 
 
 his last speech . . 121 
 
318 INDEX. 
 
 VoL Pag*. 
 
 Mackenzie, sir George, appointed king's advocate . n. 163 
 
 his character . . ib. 
 
 unjust mode of conducting trials . * ib. 
 iniquitous conduct at Jerviswood's 
 
 trial . . 22fi 
 
 flies to England at the revolution 268 
 Mackay, general, commands the covenanters at Killie- 
 
 crankie . . n '276 
 his remarks on it . . .. 277 
 Mary of Guise opposes the reformation . . j. 53 
 thwarted by lord Ruthven . 57 
 Mary Stuart arrives in Scotland . . 80 
 her ingratiating reception of the nobles . n 81 
 her altercation with Knox . 82 
 quarrels his liberty in the pulpit . ,, 85 
 joins the league for the extirpation of pro- 
 testantism . 87 
 her flight into England . ,, 88 
 Alaxwell of Moncriefl', narrow escape of . n. 134 
 Meetings, private, religious debate on . . I. 263 
 Melville, Andrew, account of . . 101 
 his sermon against absolute power . n 10!' 
 flies to England . . ., 112 
 his sharp remonstrance with the king . 124 
 banished for a Latin epigram . 1 46' 
 Middleton'g parliament . . .11. 70 
 their mad proceedings . n 71 
 
 Middleton, earl of, appointed commissioner . 70 
 
 his intemperate conduct . 7 1 
 
 excommunicated by Guthrie . 7<> 
 blood drops from the martyr's head 
 
 upon his carriage . n 78 
 
 makes a tour to enforce conformity . 8!l 
 
 passes the act of Glasgow . . n ib. 
 
 Military executions of the covenanters . n 211 
 
 Mill, Walter, his trial and martyrdom . . I. 4."> 
 
 Ministers, four hundred, ejected" by the Glasgow act . n. J!0 
 
 character of their successors . * &3 
 
 annoyances with which these curates were 
 
 welcomed . . !>4 
 
 the ejected, banished from Edinburgh . .9.5 
 
 Mitchell, James, attempts the assassination of Sharp . n 132 
 
 escapes undetected . . 133 
 
 apprehended after a long interval . 151 
 
 confesses, on assurance of life . 152 
 
 put to the torture . . n 153 
 
 his execution . . . 154 
 
 Moderators constant, proposed by James VI. . I. I4fi 
 
 Monasteries, apology for their demolition . 61 
 
 Montgomery, bishop of Glasgow, his violent conduct > 108 
 
 excommunicated . n ib. 
 
 chased out of Edinburgh ' n 10!) 
 
 Montrose, marquis of. imposes the covenant on Aberdeen * 257 
 
 envious at the preference of Argyle and Leslie 11. (> 
 
 joins the king's party . 1 
 
 his character . . . ib 
 
 savage conduct of, at Aberdeen . . 
 
INDEX. 319 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 Moatrose, ravages Argyleshire . . n. 12 
 
 gains a victory at Inverlochy . . ib. 
 
 his boastful hope to reduce Scotland to the king 14 
 
 defeated at Philiphaugh . 1 5 
 
 Morton, earl of, his innovations in the church . i. 95 
 
 Murray, earl of, his services in behalf of the reformation n 89 
 
 Neilson of Corsack, account of . . n. 118 
 
 tortured by the boots . 1 19 
 
 Orange, prince of, lands in England . . 252 
 
 Orkney, bishop of, wounded by James Mitchell . * 132 
 
 covenanting prisoners wrecked on the coast of 179 
 
 Paternoster controversy . . i. 43 
 
 Patronage, history of, in the Scottish church . n. 35 
 
 abolished by parliament in 1649 . 39 
 
 I'eden, Alexander, on the prophetic character of . 194 
 
 Pentland, battle of . . . 112 
 
 Persecution, Scottish, summary of . 239 
 
 religious, discountenanced by the Scottish 
 
 reformation . . i. 66 
 
 Persecutors, relentings of, in their last moments . n. 108 
 
 attempts of, to shift the blame on the persecuted 205 
 
 judgments on . n 217 
 
 Perth, extraordinary events at the synod of . i. 146 
 
 five articles of . . n 164 
 
 portents attending the meeting . 169 
 
 Pope burnt in effigy in Edinburgh . .11. 221 
 
 Popery cherished before the revolution . . n 244 
 
 nature of . . i. 12 
 
 abolished in Scotland . . * 65 
 
 Popes, arrogance of . . n 9 
 
 Popish lords conspire to overthrow protestantism in Scotland 123 
 
 Prelacy, introduction of, by James VI. . n 132 
 
 its overthrow at the Glasgow assembly . n 233 
 
 restored by Charles II. . . II. 80 
 
 abolished by the Scottish parliament . 287 
 
 Prulatic clergy, their arrogance . . 243 
 
 their abject subserviency to James VII. 253 
 
 opposed to William . . 284 
 
 their numbers in Scotland at the revolution 285 
 
 discountenanced by William . 286 
 
 out-manoeuvred by the earl of Craufurd 290 
 
 detected corresponding with James VII. 293 
 
 deprived of their benefices . . 294 
 
 worship, form of, in Scotland . . 236 
 
 doctrine, character of, in Scotland . . 237 
 
320 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Pe. 
 
 Presbyterians, English, defence of . i. 298 
 
 they petition parliament against the sectaries 304 
 
 falsely represented to king William . n. 292 
 
 Presbyterianism formally restored by parliament . i. 121 
 
 established in the three kingdoms . '293 
 
 its ascendency in England . . 294 
 
 decay under Erastianism . . , 29(i 
 
 and sectarianism . . 302 
 
 Protestantism established in Scotland . 65 
 
 Puritans, character of . . 273 
 
 form a union in religion with the Scots . ib. 
 
 Queensferry paper . . .11. IDG 
 
 Rae, Mr., officiates at an armed conventicle . . n 146 
 
 refuses to preach against the indulgence . 14.9 
 
 Raid of Ruthven. . . . 1. 110 
 
 Reformation, character of, at the commencement . 18 
 
 difference between the Scottish and English 64 
 
 Religion, state of, in Scotland, during the beginning of 
 
 the seventeenth century . . 186 
 
 Renwick, James, account of . . .II. 237 
 
 pens the Sanquhar declaration . 238 
 
 trial and execution of ib. 
 
 Resolutioners and Protesters, commencement of . 42 
 
 grounds of their controversy n 46 
 
 unfortunate effects of their 
 
 divisions . . 53 
 
 Restoration, dissoluteness at the . . 69 
 
 Revolution of 16"!8 . . . 240 
 
 causes of it . . 246 
 
 Revolution settlement, benefits of the . . " 297 
 
 its defects . . .. 298 
 
 Riddel, Archibald, his trial for preaching at conventicles 187 
 Robertson, Alexander, executed for his share in the rising 
 
 at Pentland . . . n 1 1 7 
 
 Row, William, presides at the synod of Perth . i. 146 
 
 outwits lord Scoon . . 147 
 
 Russel, Jerome, martyrdom of . . 26 
 
 Rutherford, Samuel, description of, by an Englishman . n. 61 
 
 anecdotes of him . . n 63 
 
 his affecting death . . 64 
 
 Sanquhar declaration, account of the . . 197 
 
 Schools, parochial, establishment of, in Scotland . * 34 
 
 Scoon, lord, his arrogance at the synod of Perth . i. 146 
 
 Scotland, state of religion before the reformation in . n 13 
 
 condition of during the civil war . 11. 5 
 
 saved by the firmness of the Scottish church . 14 
 
 state of, during its occupation by Cromwell . ->7 
 
INDEX. 321 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 Scotland, state of, at the revolution . . n. 242 
 
 Scottish dialect, apology for . . I. 51 
 
 Scrimgeour, John, minister of Kinghorn, account of . ,, 184 
 
 Sectaries, English, of the Commonwealth . . 302 
 
 their extravagances in Scotland . n. 49 
 
 Sharp, James, truckles to Cromwell . . 56 
 
 betrays the church at the restoration . 81 
 
 rewarded with the archbishopric of St. 
 
 Andrews . . . 85 
 
 erects the high commission court . 104 
 
 withholds the king's letter recommending 
 
 mercy towards the covenanters . 121 
 
 disgraced in consequence . . n 1 30 
 
 his character . . n 1 31 
 
 apprehensive of assassination . . ib. 
 
 his life attempted by James Mitchell . 132 
 makes the act of indulgence a snare to the 
 
 covenanters . . n 136 
 rejoices at the failure of Leighton's heal- 
 ing measures . . 1 39 
 behaviour on the trial of Mitchell . n 151 
 killed at Magus Moor . n 157 
 persecutions and bloodshed occasioned by 
 
 his death . . . n 162 
 
 Shotts, Kirk of, revival at . i. 191 
 
 Simpson, Patrick, account of . . 180 
 
 Spotswoode, archbishop of St. Andrews, character of 156 
 
 his arrogant behaviour at the assembly of 
 
 Perth . . n 168 
 
 Stewarton, revival at . . 189 
 
 Stratton, Mr. David, account of . . '24 
 
 Supremacy, act of . . .11. '204 
 
 Sutherland, William, executioner of Irvine, refuses to 
 
 hang the covenanters . 1'22 
 
 defies the torture . . 123 
 
 Sweet Singers, or Gibbites, account of . n 105 
 
 Tables, formation of the four, against episcopacy . I. 209 
 
 Test enacted in 1681 . . .II. 219 
 
 its inconsistency . . ib. 
 
 A rgyle, earl of, his qualification of it . n 220 
 
 administered to a dog . . 222 
 
 Toleration, debates on, in the English parliament . i. 304 
 
 proclaimed by James VII. . . n. 233 
 
 Torwood excommunication, the . . 197 
 
 Traquair, earl of, his treacherous dealing with the 
 
 assembly of 1639 . . . i. 255 
 Tulchan bishops, wherefore so called . 96 
 Turner, sir James, his oppressive treatment of the co- 
 venanters . . ii. 103 
 taken prisoner by them at Dumfries n 110 
 his life saved by Neilson of Corsack . 118 
 
322 INDEX. 
 
 Vol. Page. 
 
 War, defensive, for religion, remarks on . . 1, 250 
 Welch, John, account of . . n 175 
 Welsh, John, minister of Irongray, ejected by the Glas- 
 gow act . . . u. 91 
 preaches at the armed conventicle of East 
 
 Nisbet . . 142 
 
 refuses to condemn those who had accepted 
 
 the indulgence . . . 1 72 
 
 account of him . . ..];;.'> 
 
 Westerraw, Johnston of, a merciless persecutor . '212 
 
 William, prince of Orange, lands in England . ., 252 
 
 his cold reception on landing 241) 
 
 wishes a modified episcopacy 
 
 for Scotland . . 287 
 
 Wilson, Margaret, sentenced to be drowned . 207 
 
 her affecting martyrdom . * 208 
 
 Wishart, George, his labours in Scotland . i. 
 
 trial and martyrdom . a 36 
 
 aspersions thrown upon his memory . 39 
 
 Witchcraft, trials for . . 187 
 
 Worship, public, manner of conducting it in Scotland . * 238 
 
 York, duke of, excommunicated at Torwood . n. 197 
 
 his savage denunciation of Scotland . n 210 
 
 persecutes the earl of Argyle . 221 
 
 succeeds to the crown . . 230 
 
 proclaims acts of indulgence . 233 
 
 his flight . . . 240 
 
 errors of his reign . . 246 
 declared to have forfeited his right to the 
 
 throne . 256 
 
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