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A UNITED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, ENGLAND, 
 AND IRELAND ADVOCATED. 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED 
 
 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS DESIGNED TO FORM A MANUAL 
 OF REFORMATION FACTS AND PRINCIPLES. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHAELES WOEDSWORTH, D.C.L. 
 
 BISHOP OF ST. ANDREWS, ETC. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS. 
 
 HDCCCLXI, 
 
EDINBURGH : PRINTED BY THOMAS CONSTABLE 
 
 EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS. 
 
 LONDON .... HAMLLTON, ADAMS, & CO. 
 CAMBRIDGE . .« MACMLLLAN 8c CO. 
 DUBLIN . . . . W. ROBERTSON. 
 GLASGOW. . . . JAMES MACLEHOSE. 
 
 -5CS *'3/3 
 
TO 
 
 THE MINISTERS AND ELDERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN COMMUNITIES 
 
 THROUGHOUT SCOTLAND, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING DISCOURSE 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
 
 WITH THE AUTHOR'S EARNEST PRAYER, 
 
 THAT WHAT HE VENTURES TO OEEER 
 
 IN A SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM AND CHRISTIAN LOVE, 
 
 MAY BE RECEIVED AND JUDGED 
 
 IN THE SAME SPIRIT. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The two main objects of the Author in the fol- 
 lowing Discourse, 1 are : — 
 
 First, To do justice, so far as in him lies, to the 
 occasion which calls it forth, viz., the general ob 
 servance of the Tercentenary of the Eeformation 
 of 1560. 
 
 Secondly, To advocate a Union between the 
 Church Establishments of Scotland and England, 
 in other words, throughout the United Kingdom, 
 upon Scriptural and Eeformation principles, in the 
 interests of the Truth and Peace, with a view to 
 domestic, social, and national benefits, and without 
 the sacrifice of national independence. 
 
 In executing this design, the Author has not 
 attempted to draw attention to the great Scottish 
 rera of 1560 in its political aspects. Not that he 
 undervalues the advantages which have accrued 
 from the Eeformation in that respect ; but because 
 
 1 Delivered at St. Andrews. December 18 ; at Dunfermline,. De- 
 cember 19 ; and at Perth, December 22, 1860. 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 it would have carried him beyond the duty which 
 he proposed to himself as a preacher of the Gospel, 
 if he had undertaken to treat of that portion of the 
 subject. In the view which he has taken, he has 
 endeavoured to condense all the more essential 
 elements of the Keligious Movement, which was 
 brought to a crisis by the alternative — virtually 
 presented to our Reformers by the last Provincial 
 Council in 1559 — of being put to the stake, or of sub- 
 mitting to the Decrees of Trent ; and which, having 
 given birth to the Confession of Faith and Booh of m 
 Discipline, reached its consummation in the first 
 meeting of the General Assembly, held at Edin- 
 burgh on the 20th of December 1560. 
 
 The second portion of Contents, entitled Proofs 
 and Illustrations, will be found to contain various 
 matters, which, though necessary or desirable to 
 substantiate the Author's argument, and to justify 
 his views, were unavoidably excluded, if not by the 
 character, by the limits of a " Discourse. " 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A DISCOURSE ON THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION, ... 1 
 
 PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS, ETC. ETC. 
 
 1. APPEAL OF REFORMERS TO HOLT SCRIPTURE — RESISTANCE 
 
 TO THIS APPEAL ON THE PART OF THEIR OPPONENTS, 49 
 
 2. the last provincial council, 1559, .... 54 
 
 3. appeal of reformers to primitive antiquity, . . 73 
 
 4. reformers' appeal to scripture wherein misdirected 
 
 — origin of puritanism, 95 
 
 5. knox and the english reformers, . . . .107 
 
 6. defects of reformation due origlnally to excesses 
 
 of popery, 127 
 
 7. evils of national disunion in ecclesiastical affairs, 143 
 
Calvin on Popery. 
 
 " It is you [the adherents of the Pope] who have fallen away from 
 the customs of the Primitive Bishops. You have changed the ancient 
 and holy Order. The Fathers never countenanced, nor would they 
 tolerate this shameless usurpation of one Bishop over all the rest." 
 — De necessitate Reformandce Ecclesice.—Calv. Op. vni. 60. 
 
 Calvin on Episcopacy. 
 
 " If they would shew us an Hierarchy, in which the pre-eminence 
 of Bishops should be placed upon such a footing, that they would not 
 refuse to be subject unto Christ, and to depend upon Him as their 
 only Head" — in allusion to the assumed Headship of the Bishop of 
 Rome— " and in which they would so cultivate a mutual Brotherhood, 
 as to acknowledge no other bond of union than the Truth of God ; 
 then, indeed, if there be any who would not reverence such an Hier- 
 archy, and pay it the most entire obedience, they would be worthy, 
 [ confess, of every possible anathema." — Ibid. 
 
 For the opinion of Luther, see below, p. 29, note. 
 
DISCOURSE 
 
 THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION. 
 
 " The Word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying, 
 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, . . . Love the truth and 
 peace."— Zech. viii. 18, 19. 
 
 This is one of those short but emphatic and 
 comprehensive precepts of universal duty with 
 which the Word of God abounds. The more we 
 meditate upon it, the more the lessons which it con- 
 tains appear to be inexhaustible. It is not said 
 merely, " Speak the Truth/' or, " Do the Truth," but 
 love it Again, it is not said, * Seek Peace," or 
 " Ensue Peace," but love Peace. And the order of 
 these rules is no less pregnant with Divine instruc- 
 tion than the rules themselves. We are first to love 
 the Truth, and then to love Peace. There are many 
 who would persuade us to invert this order. Nay, 
 there are many who would teach us to be indifferent 
 to the Truth, and require us to be zealous only in 
 the cause of Peace. But what God hath joined to- 
 
 A x 
 
'2 Love the Truth and Peace. 
 
 gether, let not man put asunder. The Truth and 
 Peace is the union which He has made. The Truth 
 before Peace is the precedence which He has given. 
 So speaks the Prophet, or rather God, by the Pro- 
 phet's mouth, in the text. So, too, writes the great 
 Apostle, or rather the Spirit, by the pen of the 
 Apostle, in his Epistle to the Philippians — " And 
 this I pray, that your lore may abound yet more and 
 more" — first, in what ? — " in knowledge and in all 
 judgment, that ye may approve things that are ex- 
 cellent ;"in other words, that ye may love the Truth ; 
 — and next, " that ye may be sincere and without 
 offence ;' ?1 in other words, that ye may love Peace. 
 
 And this, my Brethren, is the great twofold com- 
 mandment which we have all to learn and to obey, 
 not only separately in our individual capacity, but 
 collectively as a Church. It was thus, at the begin- 
 ning of the Gospel, with the Apostles and first dis- 
 ciples of Christianity. They had to establish, — they 
 had to establish, in a world of discord, the great 
 principle, " Love Peace ; " but first, in a world of 
 error, they had to establish the still greater principle, 
 u Love the Truth." It was through the Truth that 
 Peace was to be sought, and not, conversely, the 
 Truth through Peace. And the enterprise they were 
 engaged in would have been utterly hopeless unless 
 they had been assisted in many marvellous ways, both 
 visibly and audibly, by the power of God. It would 
 have been utterly hopeless, bothonother accounts, and 
 by reason of the innumerable and infinitely diversi- 
 
 1 Phil. i. 9. 10. 
 

 The Church's Bide from the first. 3 
 
 fied forms of error with which they had to contend. 
 Looking to the record of the New Testament, we see 
 how the matter stood from the very first. No sooner 
 had the little band of followers of the Trnth received 
 from their Divine Master the command to " go and 
 preach the Gospel to every creature" — no sooner 
 had this command been given, than the Prince of 
 Discord and Untruth summoned his own forces to 
 the field. Not only was the Gospel battle to be 
 fought wdth the undigested mass of popular Heathen- 
 ism which everywhere prevailed, and with the dis- 
 cordant schools of philosophical unbelief which 
 flourished in the metropolis and other chief cities of 
 the Eoman Empire, but God's own Eevelation of the 
 elder Covenant was made to assume an attitude of 
 hostility, of the most determined and rancorous 
 hostility, to His more perfect message of Eedemption 
 and Grace ; and even among the Preachers of the 
 Gospel itself there arose " men speaking perverse 
 things to draw away disciples after them." l Nay, 
 it may be said, that at no period in the history of 
 the Church have there been found Teachers of false 
 doctrine more presumptuous or more corrupt than 
 those which sprang up in the very earliest age, and 
 ventured to oppose and to defy even the chiefest of 
 the Apostles. And what was the course which St. 
 Paul, which St. Peter, which St. John, which St. 
 James, which St. Jude pursued and taught in regard 
 to such ? Did they teach their disciples to be in- 
 different to the Truth ? Did they hold that, among 
 
 1 Acts xx. 30. 
 
4 Love the Truth and Peace. 
 
 so many varieties of opinion, error was unavoidable, 
 unity was impossible ; and, this being so, that dis- 
 sensions and separations were to be esteemed of small 
 account ? Far from it ; they foresaw indeed, and 
 anticipated sueh results, from the craft and subtlety 
 of our great enemy, and the corruption of our fallen 
 nature ; but they did not denounce them the less 
 earnestly because they were to be expected. Xot 
 only did they teach that the Truth was possible to 
 be ascertained, and Peace and Unity possible to be 
 kept, but they regarded these things as duties, the 
 fulfilment of which they enjoined on all men, and 
 the violation of which they reprimanded and con- 
 demned, as irreconcilable with our Christian calling, 
 and as fatal to our Christian hopes. In a word, they 
 exhibited and urged the commandment of the text 
 in every form and variety of speech, but never so as 
 to lead us to suppose that where the Truth is not, 
 Peace can be really and lastingly secured. 
 
 And so, at the era of the Eeformation, the restorers 
 of His word, and the purifiers of His Church, whom 
 God raised up in this and other countries of Europe 
 — these men had again to establish, if it might be, 
 the same great principles, " Love the Truth and 
 Peace." And if they succeeded in their glorious 
 enterprise still less perfectly than the Apostles had 
 done ; if of the Truth they recovered not altogether, 
 at least in some quarters, that full and perfect pat- 
 tern which the Apostles taught ; and if for Peace, in 
 still greater measure, we have yet to seek : — let us 
 remember, in their defence, that no direct interfer- 
 

 A Principle of the Reformation. 5 
 
 ence of supernatural aid was vouchsafed in their 
 behalf ; that in a conflict, the difficulties of which 
 it is scarcely possible to over-estimate, they had no 
 inspired guidance on which they could depend, no 
 miraculous agency to which they could appeal, and 
 by which they might assure both themselves and 
 others that they were struggling in the cause of 
 God. 1 That God was with them in much that they 
 did, and more that tliey desired to do, we need not, 
 we cannot doubt. That they were instruments in 
 His hands to inflict punishment upon Church autho- 
 rities which had justly forfeited His favour and pro- 
 tection, I am well convinced. That the chief of 
 those to whom I now refer did love the Truth, love 
 it fervently, love it for its own sake, love it so that 
 they were prepared to surrender all things, even 
 Peace itself, rather than not obtain it, no one, I 
 think, will venture to deny, who lias studied the 
 authentic records of that important period with strict 
 impartiality, and with the diligence and attention 
 which they so eminently deserve. 
 
 The prime evidence which the Eeformers gave of 
 their devotion to the Truth was the supremacy which 
 they ascribed at all times to the Word of God. They 
 knew that fifteen centuries had elapsed since the 
 Gospel was first preached ; and further, they knew 
 that, subject as everything in this world is to change 
 and to clecav, nothing but continual recurrence to an 
 
 1 It is scarcely necessary to Knox. See Row's History, p. 
 notice the spirit of Prophecy at- 9-11. Calderwood, 1. 186. M'Crie's 
 tribiited both to Wishart " and Life of Knox, p. 291. 
 
6 Parallel in Jewish History. 
 
 unchangeable standard can secure men from falling 
 into dangerous errors both of faith and life. God 
 has given such a standard in His written Word, but 
 partly through ignorance, partly through design, it 
 had been withdrawn from sight. And the conse- 
 quences were such as might have been anticipated. 
 An age of darkness and superstition had intervened, 
 similar to that of which we hear in the History of 
 the Jews, when the reading of God's law T had ceased 
 from among the people. In proportion to the igno- 
 rance of the Law had been the idolatry and corrup- 
 tion which had overspread the land. But when the 
 sacred Volume, which had been lost, was discovered 1 
 and brought to light, the consciences of many were 
 struck with a sense of guilt, and a Eeformation en- 
 sued. Happily there was then a king upon the 
 throne — the young King Josiah — " whose heart was 
 tender," so that when he heard the words of the 
 Law, he humbled himself before God and rent his 
 clothes and wept." 2 Happily, too, there was then a 
 man in the office of High Priest, I mean Hilkiah, 
 who did not attempt to hide the book which he had 
 found, nor to oppose the measures which were ne- 
 cessary in order to bring back the nation to the 
 standard of God's law. And so it was in England at 
 the time of the Eeformation. They had a Sovereign 
 the very counterpart of good Josiah, in the young 
 King Edward vi. ; they had a Prelate, the counter- 
 part of the loyal and devoted Hilkiah, in the Arch- 
 
 1 2 Kings xxii. 8 ; 2 Chron. ■ 2 Cliron. xxxiv. 27 ; 2 Kings 
 
 xxxiv. 15. xxii. 19. 
 
English and Scotch Reformation. 7 
 
 bishop Cranmer, who then occupied the see of 
 Canterbury. But it was not so, unhappily, in this 
 country. The Sovereign who should have led the 
 movement, and the Archbishop who should have 
 been prepared to guide and assist it in its course, 
 arrayed themselves against it. Yes ; and thus it 
 was left to Knox and his associates to make known 
 those deeply-needed lessons of a purer faith, which 
 the Primate and his brethren should have been the 
 first to teach, but which they were determined by 
 all means, righteous or unrighteous, to stifle and 
 suppress. 
 
 Meanwhile, the appeal, as I have said, on the part 
 of our Eeformers, was to the Word of God} In that 
 beautiful and affecting Letter of wholesome Counsel, 
 which Knox wrote [1556] when for a season he was 
 about to leave those among whom he had laboured 
 in this country, he show r ed the value which he at- 
 tached to the Holy Scriptures, not only as the so]e 
 authority in matters of faith, but as the most needful 
 and effectual instrument of a godly life : — 
 
 "To you, dear Brethren, I write my knowledge, 
 and do speak my conscience, that, so necessary as 
 the use of meat and drink is to the preservation of 
 life corporal, and so necessary as the heat and bright- 
 ness of the sun is to the quickening of herbs and to 
 expel darkness ; so necessary is also for the life ever- 
 lasting, and to the illumination and light of the soul, 
 the perpetual meditation, exercise, and use of God's 
 Holy Word. And therefore, dear Brethren, if that 
 
 1 See Proofs and Illustrations, chap. i. p. 49-51. 
 
8 Our Reformers Love of the Truth 
 
 ye look for a life to come, of necessity it is that ye 
 exercise yourselves in the Book of the Lord your 
 God. Let no day slip or want (without) some com- 
 fort from the mouth of God. Open your ears and 
 He will speak even pleasant things to your heart. 
 Close not your eyes, but diligently let them behold 
 what portion of substance is left to you within your 
 Father's Testament." 1 
 
 Noble, heart-stirring words ! Such was the testi- 
 mony which our Reformers gave of the love which 
 they bare to the Truth. But how was love for the 
 truth shown upon the other side ? For many years 
 the Clergy had been wont not only to discourage, hut 
 to forhicl to the Laity the reading of Holy Scripture;' 1 
 and when in 15-12 an Act of Parliament was pro- 
 posed and afterwards passed, to authorize the use of 
 the Old and New Testaments in the Vulgar tongue 
 among all the subjects of this realm, the Archbishop 
 of Glasgow, Chancellor of the Kingdom (Cardinal 
 Beaton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, being then in 
 prison) did what he could to oppose the measure ; 
 dissenting not onlv for himself, but in the name of 
 all the other Prelates who were present, and " crav- 
 ing delay until a Provincial Council might be had 
 of all the Clergy to advise and conclude thereon." 3 
 And afterwards, when such Councils were held, first 
 
 1 Knox's Works, iv. 136. New Testaments. The Procla- 
 
 2 See Proofs and Illustrations, mation afterwards issued by 
 chap. i. pp. 51-53. order of the Regent (Earl of 
 
 3 See Knox's History, I. 98, seq. Arran) mentions only the New. 
 Keith, i. 89, seq. The Act which See the late Principal Lee's Zee- 
 passed specifies both the Old and fares, i. 80, seq. 
 
shown by Appeal to God's Word 9 
 
 in 1549, again in 1551, and lastly in 1559, the wish 
 of the Eeformers for the performance of Divine Ser- 
 vice, including the Eeading of Scripture, in the 
 vulgar tongue, was not only not complied with, but 
 obstinately refused. Thus they endeavoured to fore- 
 close the way which alone could lead to discovery of 
 the Truth ; and by so doing they gave but too good 
 ground for the presumption that the Truth, when 
 known, would be seen to be against them. 1 
 
 And so, for the most part, it was seen. On all the 
 higher points of controversy that arose, the answer 
 which the Bible gave spoke plainly in behalf of the 
 Eeformers. The supreme, universal authority and 
 infallibility of the Bishop of Eome, upon which the 
 whole then-existing system was made to rest, was 
 found not only to have no sufficient support in the 
 Word of God, but to be irreconcilable with many of 
 its express statements, and subversive of the Consti- 
 tution which the Apostles had ordained and insti- 
 tuted in the Church. TVell might they declare, as 
 was set forth by the Lords of the Congregation in 
 1559, " Xow the question is not of the slaughter of 
 one Cardinal," in allusion to the assassination of 
 Cardinal Beaton, " but of the just abolishing of all 
 that tyranny which that Eoman Antichrist has 
 usurped above us." 2 In like manner they proceeded 
 to bring to the light of Scripture, and, guided by that 
 light, to condemn, the traditional teaching by which 
 the great fundamental doctrine of our Justification 
 
 1 See Knox's Letter to the Cora- Works, it. 525. 
 monalty of Scotland, in 1558 ; 2 Knox's History, I. 430. 
 
10 Itesults of Appeal to Scripture. 
 
 through the one atoning and all-sufficient Sacrifice 
 once made upon the Cross, had been corrupted and 
 overlaid. They saw that the very Rulers, even the 
 boasted successors of St. Peter (as we know was the 
 case with St. Peter himself on one occasion) " walked 
 not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel." 1 
 They would not allow that righteousness should be 
 supposed to come any otherwise than it had come 
 to Abraham, i.e., by faith in the Son of God. They 
 vindicated the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper 
 from the superstition and idolatry with which it was 
 profaned. They restored the Cup to the Laity. 
 They won back for the Clergy the lawfulness of a 
 married life. They repudiated the doctrine of Pur- 
 gatory, and the practice of prayer to any other but 
 God alone. They claimed the free use of the Holy 
 Scriptures ; and that the worship of God, and espe- 
 cially the administration of the Sacraments, should 
 be performed in the vulgar tongue. 
 
 In a word, to use their own language, their whole 
 purpose and intent was, that " Christ's Eeligion 
 should be restored to the original purity." 2 But 
 there was little disposition on the part of the, su- 
 preme powers, either in Church or State, to concur 
 in such a design ; nor, indeed, so long as they were 
 determined to uphold the authority and infallibility 
 of the Pope, was it possible for them to concur in it. 
 
 1 Gal. ii. 14. tation made in Parliament the 
 
 same year. " We protest that 
 
 2 See First Oration of the Pro- these our requests ... do tend 
 testants of Scotland to the Queen to no other end but to the Refor- 
 Regent, 1558. Knox's History, motion of abuses in Religion 
 i. 306 ; II. 264 ; also the Protes- only." Ibid. I. 314. 
 
Difficulties of the Reformation. 11 
 
 And thus the grand issue was again raised ; the 
 same which the Apostles had raised when they were 
 threatened by the Jewish Council, and " commanded 
 not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of 
 Jesus :" 1 — the grand issue, whether of the two was 
 to be obeyed — God or Man ? 
 
 To this solemn question there could be but one 
 answer on the part of those who loved the Truth. 
 And yet the case was not so simple as it might seem 
 at first, and as some, perhaps, would seek to repre- 
 sent it. True, the Word of God forbade the errone- 
 ous doctrines which the enemies of the Eeformation 
 were determined to uphold. But it also forbade the 
 resistance of constituted authorities. It forbade in- 
 subordination. Yes, we must not forget the solemn 
 injunction of our Lord Himself, which was given in 
 behalf even of the Scribes and Pharisees, whom He 
 had so often denounced as the enemies both of God 
 and man : — " The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses' 
 seat, all therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, 
 that observe and do." 2 And there can be no doubt 
 that our Eeformers did recognise (as they were bound 
 to do) this obligation ; they did feel the constraint 
 under which they were laid in this respect. Hear 
 the words of Knox addressed, in December 1557, To 
 
 1 Acts iv. 18, 19. Compare There is an unhappy passage in 
 George Wishart, in Knox's His- the Confession of Faith, c. xviii. 
 tori/, i. 156. which appears to be contrary to 
 
 2 Matt, xxiii. 2, 3. For the our Lord's own words in the 
 limitations with which this text above text, and at the same time 
 is to be understood, see Leslie's inconsistent with another pas- 
 Discourse of Private Judgment sage of the same Confession, c. 
 and Authority in matters of xxv. See also Knox's Works, iv. 
 Faith. Works, I. 400, seq. 266. 
 
12 Principles of the Reformers 
 
 the Lords and others professing the truth in Scot- 
 land : — " My conscience will not suffer me to keep 
 back from you my counsel, yea my judgment and 
 commandment, which I communicate with you in 
 God's fear, and with the assurance of His truth, 
 which is, that none of you that seek to promote the 
 glory of Christ, do suddenly disobey or displease the 
 established authority in things lawful ; neither yet 
 that ye assist or fortify such as, for their own parti- 
 cular cause and worldly promotion, would trouble 
 the same," 1 
 
 Do we inquire, then, how our Reformers reconciled 
 the twofold obligation thus laid upon them ? I 
 answer — 
 
 1. First, they reconciled it by considering the pre- 
 cedence which is elite to love of the Truth. God has 
 commanded us to love and obey our Parents. But 
 He has also said, " He that loveth Father or Mother 
 more than Me is not worthy of Me." 
 
 When God claims our obedience directly for Him- 
 self, all lower claims of duty, though founded upon 
 His own word, are required to give place. This was 
 the meaning of the Apostles' answer when they said, 
 " Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken 
 unto you more than unto God, judge ye," l They 
 did not doubt that it was their duty, in all ordinary 
 cases, to obey those whom God had set over them. 
 But this was no ordinary case. Christ Himself had 
 commanded them, plainly and expressly, to " go and 
 preach the Gospel to every creature." And if any 
 
 1 Kuox's Works, iv. 284. ' Acts iv. 19. 
 
in overcoming their Difficulties. 13 
 
 one, however high in office and authority over them, 
 should presume to gainsay Christ's command, they 
 rightly judged that in this particular such an one 
 was not to be obeyed. Thus they asserted the prin- 
 ciple, that every Christian is boun'd, not only to 
 search the Scriptures for himself, but to exercise his 
 own reason, to use his own judgment, as the ultimate 
 resource, in order to determine the path which he 
 ought to take in reference to all matters of religious 
 duty. I do not say that, upon every case of a pre- 
 tended conscientious scruple, we are at liberty to 
 plead the will of God. " Conscience, Madam," said 
 Knox in his first conference with Queen Mary, 
 " Conscience, Madam, requires knowledge." 1 No ; 
 the matter in question must be plain and manifest, 
 in proportion as the responsibility of disobedience to 
 lawful authority is great and fearful. And the Ee- 
 formers had such a case. They could plead, in some 
 particulars at least, the will and the word of God, 
 with no less certainty than the Apostles pleaded it, 
 when they refused to obey the command of their 
 ungodly Eulers, " to preach no more in the name of 
 Jesus." 
 
 2. Again, in the strait to which our Eeformers 
 were reduced, they would bear in mind the case 
 which the Bible itself contemplates, as an exception 
 to the law of Peace. " If it be possible, as much as 
 lieth in you, live peaceably with all men." 2 With 
 opposition such as they had to encounter, Peace was 
 not possible. To remain passive, was to make not 
 
 1 Knox's Works, n. 284. 2 Rom. xii. IS. 
 
14 The Duty of Obedience 
 
 only "themselves," but the Truth, "a prey." 1 Early 
 in the struggle (1540-41) an Act was passed which 
 forbade all discussion on matters of Religion, and 
 
 especially all argument against the Pope's authority, 
 under pain of death and confiscation of goods. 1 ' 
 AVhat was said (in 1554) regarding England, was un- 
 happily but too true also of this country, viz., that 
 " most part of those who first blew the Lord's trum - 
 pet, gave their blood in a testimony that their doc- 
 trine was the same, which by blood was planted, by 
 blood was kept in mind, and by blood did increase 
 and fructify." 3 And therefore, it was not without 
 reason that the great Leader of our Eeformation, to 
 his former counsel and command of obedience in all 
 things lawful, added words like these : " In the 
 bowels of Christ Jesus I exhort you, that with all 
 simplicity and lawful obedience, joined with boldness 
 in God, and with open confession of your faith, ye 
 seek the favours of the Authority, that by it (if pos- 
 sible be) the cause in which ye labour may be pro- 
 moted, or ed the leeist not persecuted ; which thing, 
 after all humble request, if ye cannot obtain, then, 
 with open and solemn protestation of your obedience 
 to be given to the Authority in all things not plainly 
 repvejning to God, ye lawfully may attempt the ex- 
 tremity ; which is, to provide (whether the Authority 
 will consent or no) that Christ's Gospel may be truly 
 preached, and His Holy Sacraments rightly minis- 
 tered, unto you and to your brethren, the subjects 
 
 1 Is. lix. 15. s Knox's Godly Letter to the 
 
 * See Proofs and Illustrations, Faithful in London, Works, in. 
 chap. i. p. 52, seq. 205. 
 
recognised in things lawful. 15 
 
 of this realm. And further, ye lawfully may, yea, 
 and thereto are bound, to defend your Brethren from 
 persecution and tyranny, be it against Princes or 
 Emperors, to the uttermost of your power ; provid- 
 ing always, as I have said, that neither ye yourselves 
 deny lawful obedience, neither yet that ye assist nor 
 promote those that seek authority and pre-eminence 
 out of worldly glory, yea, for the oppression and de- 
 struction of others." 1 
 
 But when terms like these could not be obtained ; 
 when the authorities of the Church, supported more 
 or less by the civil power, were determined to main- 
 tain their cause by " fire and sword;" 2 when, in 
 1556, the sentence of death had been pronounced, 
 in his absence, against Knox himself, and he had 
 been burnt in effigy and excommunicated ; 3 when, 
 on the one hand, the chains of Papal usurpation and 
 of Papal doctrine had been riveted afresh by the 
 
 1 Knox's Works, rv. 285. See Appellation to the Nobility. 
 also Ballinger's Answers, Ibid. " The Religion, which amongst 
 in. 224. you is maintained by fire and 
 
 2 See First Oration of Protes- sword." Works, rv. 519. Letter 
 tants to Queen Regent. — " Your to the Commonalty. " That Re- 
 Grace cannot be ignorant . . . ligion, which amongst you is this 
 how the Clergy usurp to them- day defended by fire and sword." 
 selves such empire above the con- Ibid. pp. 523-533. It is sufficient 
 sciences of men, that whatsoever to refer to the case of W r alter 
 they command must be obeyed, Miln, called by Archbishop Spot- 
 and whatsoever they forbid must tiswoode " the last of the mar- 
 be avoided, without further re- tyrs," who suffered in April 1558, 
 spect had to God's pleasure, being in his 82d year. See Spot- 
 commandment, or will revealed tiswoode, 1. 191; Tytler's History, 
 to us in His most Holy Word ; Yi. 102. A list of Scottish Mar- 
 or else there abideth nothing for tyrs is given by M'Crie, Note H. 
 us but faggot, fire, and, svjord ; 3 See Knox's Works, I. 254 ; iv. 
 by the which many of our bre- 468. The cowardice shown by 
 thren most cruelly and most un- the Ecclesiastical authorities in 
 justly have been stricken of late the case of Knox seems to have 
 3 r ears within this realm." Knox's been equal to their cruelty in the 
 History, I. 302 and 330. Knox's case of Miln. 
 
1G Corruptions of the Ecclesiastical State. 
 
 Canons of the Provincial Council which met in 
 Edinburgh, 1559 ;* and when, on the other hand, 
 the whole body of the Reforming ministers were 
 pronounced outlaws by the Queen Regent ; 2 then, 
 not without cause, began to be raised the further 
 question, whether the authority, whose lawful com- 
 mands they had been prepared to obey, was in itself 
 legitimate; a question which, on the part of the un- 
 reforming Clergy, it was the height of infatuation 
 to provoke. It was, I say, the height of infatuation 
 on the part of the Clergy to provoke this question, 
 because the obedience which they claimed, and the 
 authority which they exercised, were liable to excep- 
 tion upon two accounts. First, over and above the 
 accusations brought against them upon the ground 
 of the idolatrous worship which they practised, and 
 the false doctrines which they taught, a large pro- 
 portion of them, and not least those in the highest 
 rank, had virtually forfeited their office and juris- 
 diction by the notorious ungodliness in which they 
 lived; 3 while yet, as the law then stood, however 
 heinous their offences, however scandalous their lives, 
 it was not possible for the civil magistrate to, call 
 them to account. 4 And secondly, it could not but 
 
 i See Proofs and Illustrations, corruptela ac mice prof ana ob- 
 
 chap. ii. p. 63, seq. scenitas, turn bonarum literanim 
 
 2 See Knox's History, I. 319. artium que crassa ignorantia." — 
 
 3 It is sufficient to produce Wilkms,' Concilia, iv. 46 (quoted 
 their own confession. The Pre- by LordHailes). See also Canon 
 amble of the Acts of the Provin- 44 and Canon 9 of the same 
 cial Council held in 1549, assigns Council.— Ibid. p. 49. 
 
 two principal causes, " malorum 
 
 quaetantas nobis txirh&s hceresium- 4 On the claim of the Clergy to 
 
 que occasiones excitavere," name- be exempt from Civil Jurisdic- 
 
 ly, " in Personis Ecclesiasticis tion, see Knox's Appellation to 
 
 omnium fere graduum morum Nobility. — Works, iv. 508, seq. 
 
Its Authority founded on Usurpation. 17 
 
 tend to reconcile the Reformers to the painful straggle 
 which was now become unavoidable, when they con- 
 sidered that the authority against which they strove, 
 so far as it depended upon the Church of Rome for 
 its sanction and support, had no proper claim to their 
 obedience. It was founded upon usurpation on the 
 one side, and upon an unjustifiable surrender of na- 
 tional rights and liberties on the other. This, there- 
 fore, was a contest which concerned them not only 
 as Churchmen and as Christians, but as citizens, as 
 patriots, as Scotsmen. 
 
 And now, let us observe how, in entering upon the 
 contest, they took for their position the very ground 
 which their adversaries had challenged them to 
 occupy, and from which, when they had occupied it, 
 it was not possible to dislodge them. They appealed 
 not only to the authority of Scripture, but to the 
 ancient testimonies of the Church itself. Thus, in 
 their First Petition to the Queen Regent , in 1558, 
 u We are content," they said, " not only that the pre- 
 cepts and rules of the New Testament, but also the 
 writings of the ancient Fathers, and the godly approved 
 laws of Justinian the Emperor, decide the contest 'be- 
 tween us and them!' l And again, in the Appeal made 
 in the same year by Knox to the Nobility, " from the 
 cruel and most unjust sentence pronounced against 
 him by the false Bishops and Clergy of Scotland," he 
 thus whites : — " Let God, I say, speak by His law r , 
 by His Prophets, by Christ Jesus, or by His Apostles, 
 and so let Him pronounce what religion He approveth - h 
 
 1 Knox's History, I. 305. 
 B 
 
18 Appeal to Primitive Antiquity 
 
 and then, be my enemies never so many, and appear 
 they never so strong and so learned, no more do I 
 fear victory than did Helias, being but one man 
 against the multitude of Baal's Priests. And if they 
 {i.e., his opponents) think to have advantage by their 
 Councils and Doctors, this I further offer, to admit 
 the one and the other as witnesses in all matters de- 
 batable ; these things (which justly cannot be denied) 
 being granted unto me : — First, that the most ancient 
 Councils nighest to the Primitive Church in which the 
 learned and godly Fathers did examine all matters by 
 God's Word, may be holden of most authority" (Ob- 
 serve, my brethren, our great Eeformer does not teach 
 us to regard either the ancient Councils of the 
 Church, or the ancient Fathers, with contempt, but 
 refers to them as witnesses, whom in all matters of 
 controversy we are bound to respect.) " Secondarily" 
 he proceeds, " that no determination of Councils, nor 
 man, be admitted against the determination of those 
 four chief Councils, whose authority hath been and 
 is holden by them equal with the authority of the 
 four Evangelists. And last, that to no Doctor be 
 given greater authority than Augustine requireth to 
 be given to his writings ; to wit, if he plainly prove 
 not his affirmation by God's infallible Word, then that 
 his sentence be rejected and imputed to the error of 
 a man. These things granted and admitted, / shall 
 no more refuse the testimonies of Councils and Doctors 
 than shall my Adversaries" l 
 
 Such were the sound and charitable principles, 
 
 1 Knox's Works, iv. 518, seq. 
 
not adhered to by Reformers, 19 
 
 such the broad and all-sufficient basis, upon which 
 our Scottish Eeformers originally took their stand. 
 They were no other than those upon which the Ee- 
 formation in England was undertaken and carried 
 through. Would to God that the same work of 
 Eeformation in this country, as it was undertaken, 
 so it had been followed up and completed on the 
 same basis, the same principles ! 
 
 Our Eeformers, brethren, as we have seen, did not 
 decline the testimony of the Primitive Church. Pro- 
 vided that testimony were not repugnant to the Word 
 of God, they were willing to receive it ; nay, they 
 appealed to it to decide between themselves and their 
 opponents, whether of the two could more justly claim 
 the true interpretation and support of God's Word. 
 
 Thus they submitted themselves to the law not 
 only of the love of the Truth, but of the love of Peace. 
 It was, however — alas ! that we must say so — it was 
 in profession only. 1 Under the pressure of a crisis, 
 than which, as I before said, it is scarcely possible 
 to conceive any more difficult and perplexing, or 
 more fearful, they were tempted to forget or disre- 
 gard the test which they had themselves allowed. 
 Xo one, who is a competent judge of such questions, 
 will now venture to affirm that Church government 
 by Bishops (as distinct from the usurpations of 
 Popery) is repugnant to the Word of God. And 
 where is there a Council or a Doctor of the ancient 
 Church who does not bear witness to the same 
 government, as truly and legitimately deduced from 
 
 1 See Proofs and Illustrationa, chap. iii. pp. 73-94. 
 
20 Appeal to Primitive Antiquity 
 
 the right interpretation of that "Word ? No one will 
 
 now affirm that the Ordinance of Confirmation, or 
 the practice of Liturgical worship, is repugnant to 
 the Word of God ; and where, I ask again, where is 
 there to be found a Council or a Doctor of the 
 Primitive Church who does not regard these obser- 
 vances as edifying in themselves, and conformable 
 to the inspired Word ? No one w T ho has any 
 knowledge of the " godly and approved laws of 
 the Emperor Justinian," l to w^hich, as you have 
 heard, our Reformers appealed only tw r o years before 
 their Confession of Faith and Book of Discipline 
 were drawn up ; — no one who knows anything what- 
 ever of those Four chief Councils of the Universal 
 Church, in which, to use the words of Knox, written 
 in the same year, " the learned and godly Fathers 
 did examine all matters by God's Word," will doubt 
 for a moment that, while those authorities would 
 have been found to condemn the Papal system, they 
 would equally have disallowed the course w T hich 
 Knox and his associates, when they had the power 
 to establish their own system, were satisfied to 
 adopt, 2 And therefore, I say that our Reformers, 
 when, from whatever cause, they allowed themselves 
 
 1 See Proofs and Illustrations, that the Ancient Custom of the 
 p. 89, note 1. Church had been to give them 
 
 such pre-eminence ; but no syl- 
 
 2 See, e.g., Canons 6 and 7 of lable whereby any man should 
 the first of " those Four Coun- conjecture that those Fathers 
 cils," a.D. 325 ; upon which did honour the superiority which 
 Hooker remarks : " In the Ni- Bishops have over other Pastors 
 cene Council there are confirmed only upon ancient custom, and 
 certain prerogatives and dignities not as a true Apostolical, hea- 
 belonging unto Primates or Arch- venly, and Divine ordinance."— 
 bishops ; and of them it is said, Eccl. Pol. Book vii. ch. xi. 7. 
 
not adhered to by Reformers. 
 
 21 
 
 first to gainsay the necessity of Ordination, and then 
 to place it upon a footing which the Church from 
 the beginning had never known ; 1 when they aban- 
 doned Episcopacy ; when, Episcopacy being aban- 
 doned, they suffered Confirmation, though a scriptural 
 ordinance, to "fall to the ground ;" when they aban- 
 doned the Congregational use of forms of worship, 2 
 and of Confessions of Faith ; when they abandoned 
 these things, they did in fact abandon the broad and 
 catholic basis upon which they had professed to 
 take their stand. And further, I must add, that 
 when, in order to make short work 3 with the super- 
 stitious ceremonies and overgrown ritual of their 
 opponents, they laid down, all too rigidly, the prin- 
 
 1 See Book of Discipline, chap. 
 
 ir. 3. " Albeit the Apostles 
 used Imposition of Hands, yet, 
 seeing the miracle is ceased, the 
 using of the ceremony we judge 
 not necessary ; " and in chap, 
 vi. iii. 9, "we cannot allow" 
 See also chap. xvi. 3. Laying 
 on of hands was restored in 
 1578. 
 
 2 The Genevan Book of Com- 
 mon Order was not formally 
 adopted till 1564 ; but after full 
 examination of the question, I 
 am inclined to agree with the 
 late Dr. Lee {Lectures, i. 160), 
 and Dr. Tulloch, p. 377, that the 
 above-named Book, and not the 
 English Book of Common Prayer 
 is intended to be referred to in 
 the Book of Discipline, if not in 
 the Heads concerning Religion 
 agreed upon in 1558. See Knox's 
 History, i. 275, and editor's note ; 
 Calderwood, I. 328 ; Keith, I. 
 155; Cook, ir. 36; M'Crie, pp. 
 112, 354-57 : Tvtler's History, \i. 
 99, 136,138 ; Cunningham, I. 362 ; 
 Lorimer, p. 261 ; Cumming's 
 
 Liturgy of Church of Scotland, 
 p. iv. The Book of Common 
 Order did not restrict the mini- 
 ster to the use of the very words 
 of the Prayers, and therefore, 
 was preparing the way for its 
 own abrogation. Hardwick's 
 Reformation, p. 153. 
 
 3 This was the common source 
 of Knox's mistakes. Provided 
 an argument or a stratagem that 
 came to hand gave him an imme- 
 diate advantage, he did not 
 sufficiently consider ulterior con- 
 sequences. Thus Aylmer objects 
 to him, with regard to his Blast 
 against the Regiment of Women, 
 that " his error rose not of malice, 
 but of zeal, and by looking more 
 to the present cruelty that then 
 [under Queen Mary] was used, 
 than to the inconvenience that 
 after m igh t follow.* 1 — Strype's 
 Life of Aylmer, p. 153. See 
 below, p. 121 ; Tytler, ti. 406, 
 admits that he was " unscrupu- 
 lous as to means ;" and M'Crie, 
 p. 42, that "his motto was 
 spare no arrears." 
 
22 Causes of Defects in the Reformation. 
 
 ciple that nothing is to be admitted in the Public 
 worship of God, for which we cannot produce the 
 express warrant of His own Word ; l when, I say, 
 having rashly asserted, they obstinately contended 
 for this principle, in all its nakedness and all its 
 breadth, they committed themselves and their cause 
 to a position, which (as we now find) the voice even 
 of an enlightened and consistent common sense will 
 not sustain. For example, weighed in the balances 
 of the Booh of Discipline, which abolished the obser- 
 vance of Christmas and other Festivals instituted to 
 the honour of our Lord Himself, 2 the celebration 
 which is now kept in honour of the Reformers must 
 much more be regarded as forbidden by themselves. 
 How painfully less defensible the movement after- 
 wards became, when rites and ceremonies, which at 
 first had been needlessly or mistakenly objected to, 
 as not authorized by Scripture, were in course of 
 time denounced as diabolical, as anti-Scriptural, and 
 anti- Christian, I forbear to mention, nor indeed is it 
 necessary in a just retrospect of the period which we 
 now commemorate. 3 
 
 And whence, then, arose the error into which our 
 Reformers fell ? 
 
 First, it arose out of the 'perplexing and inveterate 
 character of the corruptions of the system which they 
 
 1 See Proofs and Illustrations, 
 chap. iv. pp. 95-98. 
 
 2 In the Book of Discipline, 
 chap. i. 2, and again, in the 
 Short Summary of that Book, 31, 
 we find these Festivals classed 
 among " abominations," the 
 maintainers of which "should be 
 mini shed with the civil sword." 
 
 The observance of Holydays was 
 retained by the Lutherans, and 
 also by Calvin at Geneva, and 
 in other Swiss Churches. See 
 Knox's Hist. n. 534; M'Crie, p. 
 50, note. 
 
 3 But see Proofs and Illustra- 
 tions, chap. v. p. 97, seq. 
 
Inveterate Character of Previous Abuses. 23 
 
 had to reform} It arose out of the fact, that all these 
 things which I have mentioned — Diocesan Episco- 
 pacy, Confirmation, Ordination, Liturgical worship — 
 had been not only grievously abused for centuries, 
 under the Papal system, but the true use and origin 
 of them as Divine or Apostolical Ordinances, had been 
 greatly obscured, if not altogether lost. It has been 
 justly said, that, " whosoever would write the true 
 history of Presbyterianism, must begin at Eome and 
 not at Geneva." 2 And why ? Because it had been 
 the policy of the Popes to destroy the independent 
 authority of the local Bishops, and this they had 
 contrived to effect in various ways. They began by 
 denying their title to be regarded as a distinct Order 
 in the Church. Though the Eomish Church has 
 seven Orders, the Episcopate, be it remembered, is not 
 one of them. They then proceeded to dispense with 
 the exercise of their office in many instances, and 
 committed the performance of Episcopal acts to men 
 who were not Bishops. Thus they prepared the way 
 for the introduction of a system, which should be 
 first non-Episcopal and then anti-Episcopal It was 
 asked and answered two centuries ago : " Who did 
 first invest Presbyters with Episcopal jurisdiction, 
 and the power of Ordaining and Confirming, but the 
 Court of Eome by their Commissions and Delesfa- 
 tions for avaricious ends ? . . . These avaricious prac- 
 tices of that Court (though it be not commonly 
 observed) were the first source of the present con- 
 
 1 See Proofs and Illustrations, 2 Leslie's Discourse on Qualift- 
 
 chap. vi. pp. 127-142. cations requisite to administer the 
 
 Sacraments, Works, vir. 127. 
 
24 Undue Self-Confidence of Reformers. 
 
 troversies about Episcopacy and Ecclesiastical Dis- 
 cipline, which do now so much disturb the Peace of 
 the Church/' l And again, what was it that opened 
 the pulpits, often in unlicensed and irregular ways, 
 which would not be possible at the present clay, to 
 the preaching of the Reformers ? It was the indo- 
 lence and ignorance of the Instituted Clergy, which 
 had previously called in the assistance of the preach- 
 ing Friars. Thus, by a righteous judgment, the 
 usurpation which the Popes had practised towards 
 others, and the sloth and self-indulgence to which 
 the Clergy of all orders had given way, were made 
 to recoil upon their own heads. 
 
 But the error of our Reformers, it must not be 
 denied, was due also in part to another cause. They 
 were misled, not only by the evil influences under 
 which they had been born, and in the midst of which 
 they had so long lived, but by the overweening 
 confidence which they were disposed to place in 
 themselves, and especially in their great Leader. 
 Eager and enthusiastic, but self-willed and undis- 
 ciplined in their zeal and love for the Truth, the}' 
 too much overlooked what is due to the love of 
 Peace, which is indeed an essential portion of the 
 Truth. It has been made a matter of pride* and 
 boasting in their behalf that, in the preparation of 
 their Book of Discipline, the Reforming Ministers 
 " took not their pattern from any Kirk in the world, 
 no, not from Geneva itself, but laying God's Word 
 before them, made Reformation according there- 
 
 i Bramhall's Replication to the Bishoj) of ' Chalcedon— Works, n. 71. 
 
Consequent Disregard of the Love of Peace. 25 
 
 unto." 1 And when the work, thus done, was sub- 
 mitted to the judgment of the " Great Council," they 
 claimed of them " to repudiate nothing which they 
 were not able to improve (disprove) by God's written 
 and revealed Word." 8 That is, they threw upon 
 this body the responsibility of interpreting God's 
 Word in regard to those points on which they them- 
 selves had departed from the example of even- 
 Church in the world, and trusted only to their own 
 understanding of Holy Writ. Surely, my brethren, to 
 proceed thus was not consistent with the due love 
 of Peace and Unity ; of Peace and Unity which 
 they were bound to keep, in all tilings lawful, with 
 the fifteen centuries of Christians who had lived 
 before them — among whom, be it remembered, were 
 their own forefathers — and with their Christian 
 brethren then living throughout the world — among 
 whom, be it remembered, were men who, though their 
 opponents, were still fellow-countrymen. 3 Xay, it was 
 
 1 Bow's History, p. 12, quoted be true ; but it may be urged 
 by Dr. Lorimer in bis elegant both ways. Is there any suffi- 
 and genial Historical Sketch, p. cient proof that the authors of 
 253 ; M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. the Book of Discipline contem- 
 50, 165. Compare the boast in plated eventually/ a downward 
 Knox's History, n. 261. rather than an upward move- 
 It must be remembered that rnent ? See Cook, n. 379. 381. 
 no attempt is made in this Book 2 Knox's History, ii. 151. 
 of Discipline to defend a non- s The following are the words 
 Episcopal system. See below, of Hooker, who died a.d. 1600 : 
 p. 28, and note 3. " A thousand five hundred years 
 On the Imparity between the and upward the Church of Christ 
 Superintendents and Ministers, hath now continued under the sa- 
 see Bishop Sage, Works, I. 181- cred regiment of Bishops. Neither 
 195. Dr. Lee (Lectures, I. 159, for so long hath Christianity been 
 169) objects to Bishop Sage's ar- ever planted in any kingdom, but 
 gument, that '"'the system of with this kind of government 
 Superintendents was only a tern- alone." — Ecc. Pol. Book vii. eh. 
 porary expedient." This may i. 1. 
 
26 The Reformation Settlement too precipitate, 
 
 not consistent with the first and simplest precepts of 
 that revealed Word which they professed to follow, 
 as set forth, not only in our text, but, I may say, 
 throughout the Old and New Testament ; precepts 
 which command us to shun all uncharitableness, all 
 pride, and arrogance, and self-sufficiency ; precepts, 
 too, which they had virtually professed to regard, 
 when they had declared themselves not unwilling to 
 take counsel of other judgments besides their own, 
 and especially of the godly and learned of the Pri- 
 mitive Church. Nor can it, I fear, be maintained in 
 their defence, that the difficulties which surrounded 
 them, however great, afforded a sufficient justifica- 
 tion for the course they took. On the contrary, the 
 events of 1560, the all but unanimous reception of 
 the Confession of Faith by the Three Estates of 
 Parliament, and the unanimous passing of the Act 
 which immediately followed for abolishing the Juris- 
 diction of the Pope ; — these events are enough to 
 show that a larger share of moderation, of patience, 
 and forbearance, was alone required in order to carry 
 out our Eeformation upon a plan, not such as should 
 make the Church of Scotland like no other Church 
 in the world, but such as should bring it into agree- 
 ment not only with the Reformed Sister Church in 
 England, but with all the Churches of Christendom 
 in the Primitive and purest ages, when Popery and 
 Presbyterianism were alike unknown. 
 
 After all, we must admit, it is not easy to deter- 
 mine how much of the error and inconsistency which 
 we notice in the Reformers' course, was due to the 
 
Reformers themselves bear Witness to this. 27 
 
 pressure or temptation of circumstances, and how 
 much to actual conviction and their own deliberate 
 choice. That Knox himself was not ill pleased 
 to see a change carried further than that which 
 had taken place in England, there can be little 
 doubt. Of this, his conduct at Frankfort (1555) is 
 perhaps a sufficient proof. 1 At the same time, we 
 must remember the counsel and admonition which 
 he received, not only from the holy Bishop Eidley, 
 just before his martyrdom, but from Calvin also, on 
 that account. The former, deploring his captious 
 and innovating spirit, asked why he will not follow 
 "the sentence of the old ancient writers," adding 
 " from whom to dissent I cannot think it any godly 
 wisdom." 2 The latter wrote to him in 1561: "I 
 trust that you will moderate your rigour in regard 
 to ceremonies. . . . You know that we must bear 
 with some things of which we may not altoge- 
 ther approve." 3 But, at all events, the facts them- 
 selves remain as they were. It remains, that Knox 
 and our Eeformers, in two several and most impor- 
 tant documents, declarative of their views and prin- 
 ciples as entertained in 1558, appealed to the Judg- 
 ment of Primitive Antiquity. It remains that in 
 January 1559, Knox, in his Exhortation to England, 
 when professing to reduce the Eeformation there to 
 
 i See Proofs and Illustrations, Life of Grindal, p. 29. There 
 
 chap. v. p. 116. I have said "per- can be no doubt that the contents 
 
 haps,'" because the origin of the of the letter would be communi- 
 
 troubles at Frankfort was of a cated to Knox. See also Knox's 
 
 mixed character, and Knox, Works, rv. 61. 
 
 especially, had reason to be in- 3 See Calvin, Epist. et Resp. p. 
 
 tiuenced by mixed motives. 328, " qnaedam etsi minus proben- 
 
 2 Letter to Grindal, in Strype's tur, toleranda esse non ignoras." 
 
28 Facts which show the Mind of our Reformers. 
 
 the exact " rule and line" of God's Word, did not 
 recommend the extinction of Episcopacy, but a sub- 
 division of the Bishoprics, as being too cumbrous 
 and extensive for the charge of one man. 1 It re- 
 mains, that in the same year (1559), our Eeformers 
 presented to the Queen-Regent, and (through her) to 
 the Provincial Council, then sitting, four preliminary 
 Articles of Reformation, in one of which they pro- 
 posed "that in time coming Bishops be admitted 
 with the assent of the Barons of the Diocese/' 2 It 
 remains, that the Confession of Faith and Book of 
 Discipline, 1560, though they take no account of 
 Episcopacy or of Confirmation, do not disavow them, 3 
 do not denounce them. It remains that, in 1564, 
 three Commissioners, of whom Knox was one, in a 
 letter which they wrote, by order of the General 
 Assembly, to the then Archbishops of Canterbury 
 and York (Parker and Young) subscribed themselves 
 as " Your loving Brethren in Christ Jesus, and Fel- 
 low Servants in His Holy Evangile." 4 It remains, 
 that again, in 1566, the General Assembly, under 
 Knox's guidance, and in his own words, addressed 
 " the Bishops of God's Church in England" as 
 " Brethren, who possessed with them the truth of 
 Jesus Christ " b And, on the other hand, if they did 
 embrace this new system as a whole, purely from 
 deliberate choice, and from their own private inter- 
 
 1 See Proofs and Illustrations, non-Episcopal system from Scrip- 
 chap, v. p. 125. ture. See above, p. 25, note 1. 
 
 2 See Proofs and Illustrations, 4 See Parker Correspondence, 
 cliap. ii. p. 62. P. Soc. pp. 205-7. Strvpe's Life 
 
 3 It was, in fact, an after- of Parker, I. 297. 
 
 thought, which did not occur to 5 Knox's History, ii. 5±5. See 
 
 our first Reformers, to defend a also Ibid. I. 332. 
 
Our Reformation not free from Singularity. 29 
 
 pretation of the written Word, then, it remains, that 
 they were singular; — and singularity in divine things 
 is tantamount to untruth : — then, we are sure that 
 they read the Word of God differently not only from 
 Primitive Antiquity, to which they had appealed, 
 but from all other Churches of all ages ; from whence 
 it may be presumed that they read it not correctly ; 
 then, we must conclude that their principles were in 
 harmony neither with those of their English brethren, 
 nor yet with those of the Continental Reformers, who 
 confessed, again and again, that they had departed 
 from the Polity of the Universal Church, not from 
 choice or from conviction, but from the exigency of 
 their position ; in other words, from necessity alone. 
 Nothing is more certain than that both Luther and 
 Calvin would gladly have retained Episcopal ordi- 
 nation, if they could have obtained it from Reform- 
 ing Bishops. 1 And as regards Liturgical worship, in 
 
 i See Augsburgh Confession Hist. Luther, II. 531. See also 
 
 (1530), Pars ii. § 7. Hase, p. 44. Ibid. p. 535. Luther's last pub- 
 
 Melanchthon, Epist. Lib. iv. 104, lication was his Commentary on 
 
 p. 684, and Ibid. 106, p. 686. Hosea, in 1545, the year before 
 
 Apol. Con/ess. § 7- Hase, p. his death. It contains the fol- 
 
 204. Seckendorf, Historic Luthe- lowing remarkable words : — 
 
 ranismi, lib. ii. c. lxviii. p. 179. "Let the Bishops cease to per- 
 
 Lutheri Opera, vn, 184; vm. secute and blaspheme the gospel ; 
 
 1-11. The ultimatum of Luther let them provide for the Churches 
 
 and the Divines of Wittemberg, true Teachers ; let them put away 
 
 as presented to the Elector of forms of worship which are ini- 
 
 Saxony, Jan. 14, 1545, contains pious and idolatrous, and restore 
 
 the following words :— " In short, such as are pure and true; and 
 
 there is no other way to a, holy con- then the duty which we oioe to 
 
 cord but this : that the Bishops them shall be fully paid ; then 
 
 should embrace the true doctrine will we acknowledge them as our 
 
 of the gospel, and the right use Parents indeed ; then we will 
 
 of the sacraments, and that we gladly submit ourselves to their 
 
 should obey them as the gover- authority, which we see to be 
 
 nors of the Church, to which we thoroughly fortified by the 
 
 pledge ourselves." — Seckendorf, Word of God (quam verbo Dei 
 
30 Reformers intolerant, but not in Deeds. 
 
 some Protestant countries, I believe, it was never 
 abolished ; in many, I know, it is now restored. 
 
 Upon the great question of Toleration, it is not 
 necessary to speak. It is too well known that the 
 rights of conscience, which our Reformers claimed 
 for themselves, they were not prepared, any more than 
 their opponents, to grant freely to others. Though 
 they could feel the utmost sympathy for the " ten- 
 derness of a scrupulous conscience" in a case where 
 " surplice, corner cap, and tippet" were concerned, 1 
 they did not hesitate to denounce as blasphemous or 
 idolatrous whatever was at variance with their own 
 convictions. 2 And yet there was in this respect also, 
 the widest difference between them and the enemies 
 of Reformation, inasmuch as their intolerance was 
 shown rather in word than in deed. It is recorded 
 to their honour by a contemporary Historian, and a 
 most unexceptionable witness (Bishop Lesley), that in 
 those tumultuary scenes, amid all that popular heat, 
 the humanity which they exercised was " remark- 
 able ;" the more remarkable, I may add, when we 
 consider the cruel and bloodthirsty treatment which 
 many of their own party had received. In a word, 
 we are assured that " for the matter of Religion,, they 
 
 videmus commmiitam"). — Luth. 
 Op. viii. 591, seq. Seckendorf, 
 II. 553. 
 
 That Calvin's opinions (irre- 
 spective of the exigency of his 
 own position) agreed with this, is 
 evident from his Tract, l)e ne- 
 cessitate Reform* f.nch'j Ecclesue, 
 which contains the famous pas- 
 sage, " Talem nobis Hierarchiam 
 si exhibeant, etc. etc., nullo non 
 
 anathemate dignos fatear." — Op. 
 viii. 60, seq. t and his Letter to 
 the King of Poland, Dec. 1554, 
 Mp. et Rasp. 187-191. 
 
 1 See Knox's History, II. 545. 
 - It may suffice to quote one 
 short sentence. " We are per- 
 suaded that oil which our adver- 
 saries do, is Diabolical." — Knox, 
 Godly Letter to the Faithful, etc. 
 Works, in. 198. 
 
Strength and Weakness of our Reformation. 31 
 
 visited few of their Adversaries with banishment, 
 fewer with imprisonment, none with death." 1 
 
 So far then, my Brethren, we have seen wherein 
 the glory and the strength, and wherein the weakness 
 of our Reformation lay. Its strength lay in its ardent 
 love of the Truth — that love of the Truth which 
 appealed fearlessly to the Word of God, and thereby 
 proved that the distinguishing points of belief and 
 practice, which the influence of the Church of Borne 
 had introduced into this country, were erroneous and 
 corrupt. Its weakness lay in the disregard which 
 (from whatever cause) it showed to that second great 
 principle of the Christian life, the love of Peace. In 
 other words, it lay in those points wherein the appeal 
 to the Word of God was misconducted, or pushed to 
 an extent which not only the example of the universal 
 Church, but natural feeling and common sense itself 
 are sufficient to condemn. 
 
 And if this be so, while we acknowledge and thank 
 God for the good which our Eeformers did, we see, 
 moreover, that which they have left to us to do. They 
 have left to us to occupy the position which they 
 wisely chose, but failed to maintain. They have left 
 to us to reconcile the love of the Truth with the love of 
 Peace. 
 
 I grant that if our Presbyterian Brethren object to 
 the Threefold Ministry, object to Confirmation, object 
 to Liturgical worship, object, in a word, to the Con- 
 stitution of the Church which exists in England, as 
 repugnant to the Word of God, so long as they remain 
 
 1 Quoted by Burnet, History of Reformation, in. 510. 
 
32 Our Duty in regard to Love of Peace. 
 
 of this mind, they ought not to be expected to accept 
 that Constitution. Love of the Truth, however mis- 
 taken, paramount as it is to the love of Peace, would 
 forbid them so to act. And there was a time when, 
 among a party of little or no learning, and infinitely 
 small in comparison with the whole Body of Chris- 
 tians reformed and unreformed, — there w T as a time 
 when, among that party, it was attempted to main- 
 tain such a view ; when Prelacy, notwithstanding its 
 universal and exclusive acceptance in the Church for 
 fifteen centuries, w^as held by them to be contrary to 
 the Word of God. But it is not so now. The utmost 
 that is now maintained, at least by its ablest and 
 most esteemed supporters, in favour of the Presby- 
 terian system, upon those points wherein it differs 
 from ours, is that that system is not forbidden in 
 Gods Word, and that no other is prescribed. l 
 
 Falling back upon the principle,— or rather, must 
 I not say, the assumption '? — of the first Book of Disci- 
 pline, which extends to the polity of the Church what 
 is doubtless true (within certain limits) of rites and 
 ceremonies, they are content to hold that, as in states 
 so also in the Church, no one Policy " can be ap- 
 pointed for all ages, times, and places." 2 I will not 
 argue upon the point. I will not even urge that, if 
 the visible Church be " one Body," then, to apply the 
 words of Knox, " of one Body, there must be one 
 law/' 3 I will not urge what appears to us, that both 
 
 1 See Hill's Institutes, p. 181. Illustrations, Chap. far. p. 99, 
 Principal Tulloch's Leaders of seq. 
 
 Reformation, p. 239. 3 See Godly Letter. Works. 
 
 2 Chap. xx. See Proofs and in. 191. 
 
Arguments for Episcopacy not insisted on. 33 
 
 tlie revealed Word and the Providence of God have 
 placed a wide distinction between Civil and Eccle- 
 siastical Government in this, as unquestionably they 
 have doue so, in many other respects. I will not 
 urge the solemn words of the Church of England, as 
 put forth by her in 1552, eight years before the Book 
 of Discipline was drawn up : — " It is evident unto 
 all men diligently reading Holy Scripture and ancient 
 Authors, that from the Apostles' time there have 
 been these three Orders of Ministers in Christ's 
 Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons." I will not 
 urge the logical Demonstration of our great common 
 champion, Chillingworth (author of The Religion of 
 Protestants), that the Church Polity which was (con - 
 fessedly) universal in, or presently after, the Apostles' 
 time, must be of Apostolic authority. 1 I will not 
 urge, in confirmation of the same argument, that an 
 eminent scholar, who is universally regarded as the 
 most learned and trustworthy interpreter of ancient 
 chronology, I mean the late Mr. Fynes Clinton, has 
 actually registered the names and succession of Bi- 
 shops, from the first century, not only at Jerusalem, 
 but in. each of the metropolitan cities of the three 
 then known Divisions of the inhabited world — Pome, 
 Alexandria, and Antioch— with no less certainty and 
 precision than he has chronicled the lists of the 
 Poman Consuls, or the Athenian Archons. 2 I will not 
 
 1 Chillingworth's Works, in. has failed to do justice to this 
 
 485-491. Compare Hill's Insti- argument. Vol. I. p. 65. See 
 
 tides, p. 166. It is to be regretted Proofs and Illustrations, chap, 
 
 that our latest Church historian, iii. p. 83-39. 
 and one so generally candid and 
 
 trustworthy as Air. Cunningham, 2 See Clinton's Fasti Romani. 
 
 C 
 
34 Author's Appeal not to Argument. 
 
 urge that the incidental notices of St. James the Less 
 in Holy Scripture, i.e., in the Acts and in two of St. 
 Paul's Epistles, are utterly inexplicable, 1 and that the 
 Epistles to Timothy and Titus are comparatively un- 
 meaning, except upon the theory of a Diocesan Prelacy. 
 I will not urge how the necessarily slow and gradual 
 up-growth of such a Prelacy in the first period of the 
 Church was strikingly illustrated, in the progress of 
 our Eeformation, by the fact that, after the lapse of 
 more than thirty years from the commencement of 
 the movement, the Eeforming ministers, when they 
 had newly subdivided the whole country into ten 
 different Stations or Dioceses, and designed to pro- 
 vide a Superintendent for each, were unable to find 
 more t\i&nfive persons from among their Body willing 
 and competent to be promoted to the office. I will 
 not urge that Confirmation appears to be spoken of 
 in the Word of God, viz., in the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, in immediate connexion with, and in its 
 natural sequence after, Eepentance, Faith, and Bap- 
 tism, as one of the first and fundamental " principles 
 of the doctrine of Christ." I will not urge that 
 whereas extemporaneous worship is nowhere pre- 
 scribed in Holy Scripture, an unchangeable forjn of 
 words is expressly ordered to be said, when we pray, 
 by our Lord himself. 
 
 No ! I will not now argue upon these points with 
 our Presbyterian Brethren ; but, all controversy set 
 aside, may we not appeal to their love of peace, their 
 
 II. 534-558 ; and compare Bishop J Upon this and the following 
 
 Pearson's Minor Theological points, see Proofs and Illustra- 
 Works, II. 296-572. tions, chap. iii. pp. 76, 84, 86, 80. 
 
but to Love of Peace, Charity, and Gratitude. 35 
 
 love of Peace both at home and abroad, to withdraw 
 or amend those elements of discord, which now sepa- 
 rate us from each other ? And, moreover, may we 
 not appeal to their charity, charity to us who cannot 
 be persuaded to think of our system as they think of 
 theirs, not because we attach an undue weight to our 
 own judgment, but because we are unwilling to dis- 
 regard the judgment both of Primitive Antiquity and 
 of the Universal Church ? And, once more, may we 
 not appeal to their gratitude ? It is not argument, 
 it is sentiment — the noble sentiment of gratitude 
 (mixed, indeed, with antipathies for which towards 
 Episcopacy at the present day, there is, I trust, no oc- 
 casion), — it is, I repeat, the nolle sentiment of gratitude 
 that furnishes the basis on which the Presbyterian 
 Establishment of this country now rests. " Pieformed 
 from Popery by Presbyters,'' it was claimed in 1689, 
 that the Polity of the Church should again be made 
 Presbyterian. Is not the time at length come, when 
 the power of the same sentiment may no less justly 
 extend itself yet farther ? May it not be remembered 
 how large a share in the triumphant issue of the 
 struggle over which we are now invited to rejoice, was 
 due not only to the sympathy, but to the moral and 
 material assistance, which, in the very crisis of their 
 cause, our Reformers in this country received from 
 England ?* The meeting of our Parliament, and their 
 important Acts of 1560, would (humanly speaking) 
 never have been accomplished without the advan- 
 tages, which the English, under the government of 
 1 See Tytler's History, yi. 159, 162, 177, 183 seq., 198, 201. 
 
36 Gratitude to England demands Union. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, had enabled them to gain in 1559. 
 May it not be remembered how, from the effect of 
 those advantages, the whole fabric of the unreformed 
 Religion, which in 1559 had appeared so strong and 
 so secure, collapsed suddenly into a ruinous heap ? 
 How the Bishops and Clergy, who, in their last great 
 Council of that same year, could not be prevailed on 
 to yield anything to the Eeformers, but only offered 
 them the alternative of Death or the Decides of Trent, 
 before the close of another year had no longer any 
 thing within their power either to grant, or to re- 
 fuse ? Ought we not then, at a time when we pro r 
 fess to celebrate, with joy and thankfulness to God, 
 the commemoration of those great events, ought we 
 not to seek to make common cause with England, in 
 support and propagation of the Truth which we 
 both alike profess ? Ought we not to endeavour to 
 strengthen her hands, whereby, without sacrifice of 
 principle, an accession of strength may likewise be 
 received to our own ? 
 
 In a doctrinal point of view, there is little or 
 nothing in the Scotch Confession of Faith of 1560, the 
 work of Knox and his companions, to which any 
 one who has signed the Articles of the Church of Eng- 
 land could reasonably object ; x while on the other 
 hand, one who accepts the Scotch Confession of Faith, 
 might accept, I imagine, without difficulty, as Knox 
 himself had done, 2 the Articles of the Church of 
 
 1 See Bishop Russell's Appen- been the received standard of doc- 
 
 dix to Keith's Catalogue of trine to both" (Presbyterians and 
 
 Bishops, p. 42. " The old Con- Episcopalians.) Tytler, vi. 212. 
 
 fession of Faith, drawn up by the 2 That is, the Articles (42) of 
 
 first Reformers, had all along 1552, which Knox must have 
 
No doctrinal Differences to forbid it. 37 
 
 England. And I have already reminded you that the 
 General Assembly, under Knox's guidance in 156G, 
 recognised the English Bishops and Clergy as " pro- 
 fessing with them the truth of Jesus Christ. ,, Cer- 
 tain it is, that the Scotch Confession, like the English 
 Articles, is not disfigured by the more distinctive 
 and obnoxious features of Calvinism ; and that it 
 sets forth no less clearly and faithfully the true doc- 
 trine of the Sacraments, 1 free from the perversions 
 of Eomanism on the one hand, and of Zuinglianism 
 on the other. 
 
 But I have a further plea for the Communion 
 which the Church of this country ought to hold 
 with the Church of England; as there is another 
 anniversary which it well becomes us to celebrate at 
 the present time. I mean the anniversary of that- 
 great work, the translation of the Bible which we all 
 use, and which w r as published two centuries and a 
 half ago ; a work executed not by Presbyters, acting 
 without Bishops, but by Bishops and Presbyters, at 
 the command of a King who first inherited in his 
 own person the union of the English and the Scottish 
 crowns. 2 Would to God that upon that English Bible 
 
 signed, if not in England, yet at Hardwick, History of Reforma- 
 
 Frankfort. See Hard wick's Re- Hon, p. 155, seq. A full analysis 
 
 formation, p. 156, and Original of the Confession is given by Dr. 
 
 Letters, P. Soc. n. 756-762, Lee, Lecture v. 
 Knox's Works, iv. 56. 
 
 1 See on the one hand Cran- 2 It is right, however, to men- 
 
 mer's Doctrine of the Sacrament tion that this is also the actual 
 
 of the Lord's Supper, commended Tercentenary of the Genevan 
 
 by Knox, Works, ill. 279 ; and, Bible, in which Knox had taken 
 
 on the other hand, the sacra- part (with Coverdale, Whitting- 
 
 mental doctrine of the Confession ham, and Silby) before he left 
 
 of Faith, commended by Collier, Geneva, and the first edition of 
 
 History of Church, n. 467 ; and which was published in 1560. 
 
38 Disadvantages of present Disunion. 
 
 might be sworn the consummation of the Union 
 then commenced/ arid that nations whom nature 
 made to become one, whom worldly Policy or inter- 
 course have allied and associated as one, might also 
 mutually embrace and confederate as one in the 
 sight of God, and in the communion of the Body of 
 Jesus Christ ! 
 
 And what is there to forbid this union ? Knox, 
 besides a self-w T illed and intractable disposition, had 
 his own personal causes for difference with England; 2 
 we have none. Our Eeformers, as a body, had na- 
 tional feelings of hereditary animosity and suspicion 
 towards England ; we all, I trust, entertain feelings 
 towards our sister country the reverse of these. 
 What is there then to justify the separation which 
 exists between the two ecclesiastical establishments ; 
 a separation which substitutes weakness in the place 
 of strength, and too often mutual distrust and op- 
 position in the place of mutual confidence and co- 
 operation, and edification, and support, and love ; 
 a separation which the political union of the two 
 countries has rendered at once less justifiable, and to 
 the Church of England, more especially, through in- 
 fluence of various kinds, more injurious? An oc- 
 casion like this invites us to look back over the 
 interval which has elapsed during the last 300 years. 
 In making that retrospect, we shall find but little, I 
 fear, upon which, in regard to the triumphs or re- 
 verses of Ecclesiastical conflict, either party can re- 
 flect with much content. And still less, collectively, 
 
 1 See Knox, n. 46. 2 See Proofs and Illustrations, p. 114-123. 
 
Our Condition, as it is, not satisfactory. 39 
 
 as a Christian people, can we honestly congratulate 
 ourselves upon our religious condition at the present 
 day. The dissociation, as regards Christian fellow • 
 ship, of the Upper from the Middle and Lower 
 Classes, so that, for the most part, they meet not to- 
 gether at the worship of the God who made, and at 
 the Table of the Saviour who redeemed us all ; the 
 consequent weakening or withdrawal of the influence 
 which the one ought to exercise over the other for 
 the common good ; the absence of religious harmony 
 in domestic intercourse ; the fallen, shattered posture 
 of our Parochial system, and the constantly recurring 
 feud to which the question of Education of the poor, 
 without even the excuse of doctrinal disagreement, 
 continues to give rise ; the dangers which all men see 
 to threaten the Establishment, reduced as it now is 
 to a minority, not only of property and influence, 
 but of numbers also ; and, meanwhile, the unhappy 
 testimony which is afforded by statistical returns of 
 various kinds, to the immoral condition of a large 
 proportion of our community not only among the 
 crowded populations of towns and cities, but in rural 
 districts ; these things, alas ! are more than sufficient 
 to stop our mouths, if we would venture to boast of 
 ourselves as a people who have been rightly and 
 thoroughly reformed. And if any one is of opinion 
 that divided and discordant action (contrary as it is 
 to the Word of God) is not, in part, the cause of 
 these evils, or is competent to provide for them an 
 effectual remedy — with such an one, the appeal, 
 which I would make, can have no weight. But to 
 
40 A United Church for the United Kingdom. 
 
 all who are not so minded, to all who would desire 
 to act in obedience to the Word, and in dependence 
 upon the blessing of Almighty God : to all such I 
 would venture to say, let not this memorable occa- 
 sion be allowed to pass unimproved ; let it awaken 
 in us a desire to fulfil the twofold law of loving the 
 Truth and loving Peace ; so that we may look for- 
 ward to the future with a better hope when our hands 
 are strengthened by united action, as of fellow- 
 countrymen and fellow- Christians in a common 
 cause, and when our hearts are warmed with brotherly 
 love one towards another. Consider how many con- 
 scientious Presbyterians at the present time attend 
 without scruple the Services of the Church of Eng- 
 land ; and then, who can justify the continuance of 
 a state of tilings by which the common Enemy is a 
 gainer, and we all together incur loss ? Whereas 
 who cannot see how much our happiness isaight be 
 increased in our domestic, in our social, and even 
 in our political and national relations ; w T ho cannot 
 imagine what a glorious front of opposition we might 
 present against sin and irreligion, not only at home, 
 but throughout the world, 1 if the resources and the 
 energies which w^e now possess, and too often mis- 
 spend apart, were once legitimately and cordially 
 combined ? 
 
 For my own part, holding, as I do, the principle 
 and the expediency of a Church Establishment no 
 less firmly than Dr. Chalmers did, I cannot look upon 
 the prospect of its overthrow without dismay. And 
 
 1 See Proofs and Illustrations, chap. vii. p. 144, seq. 
 
All Parties interested in such a liesult. 41 
 
 surely the time is come when She herself must feel 
 that it may be said to her, in the words of the Pro- 
 phet, without offence, "Enlarge the place of thy 
 tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine 
 habitations ; spare not ; lengthen thy cords, and 
 strengthen thy stakes." l Let the matter be weighed 
 as in the sight of God, with a due sense of responsi- 
 bility on the part of all ; and with a desire, on the 
 part of all, not to seek our own things, but only 
 the things that are Jesus Christ's. Let no one ask, 
 what, if conceded, would afterwards be found in- 
 jurious to his own edification, and to the Truth 
 itself. 2 The question is not, who shall give way 
 most, or which party shall come over to the other, 
 but hov: all may come over to the cause of the Truth, 
 and Peace, and National Unity. It will be for the 
 leading members of the Presbyterian communities, 
 and especially of the Establishment, if they shall see 
 fit, to inaugurate such a movement. That in any 
 such attempt they would receive the hearty co- 
 operation of the great Body of the Episcopalian 
 Laity, and of ourselves, the Clergy, I can have no 
 doubt. That with full time, and ample opportuni- 
 ties for explanation, they would carry with them the 
 religious and intelligent of the population at large, 
 I see no sufficient reason to disbelieve. That the 
 Sovereign of these kingdoms would regard such a 
 change with satisfaction and encouragement, it is at 
 least not unreasonable to anticipate, when w r e con- 
 sider the embarrassing position in which the Consti- 
 
 i Isa. liv. 2. 2 See Rom. xv. 2. 
 
42 Knox a great bid not all-sufficient Champion. 
 
 tution, as it now exists, places the successor to the 
 Throne in relation to the two disunited Establish- 
 ments ; — a position which many of ourselves would be 
 loath to occupy, and which, therefore, to impose upon 
 another is scarcely consistent with fairness and libera- 
 lity — still less with the loyalty and the love which 
 subjects so blessed as we are, should rejoice to pay. 
 
 In the meantime, I for one will not withhold my 
 voice from the testimony which this country has 
 agreed to give to the chief of our Eeformers, as " a 
 great and heroic man ; " l a man upon whose heart 
 was stamped in imperishable characters the love of 
 God, and of His truth ; " a man/' to repeat the words 
 of Archbishop Spottiswoode, "endued with rare 
 gifts, and a chief instrument that God used for the 
 work of those times." 2 But it was too much to look 
 for in any single champion, however good and great, 
 that he should have been all that was required at 
 such a crisis ; and what he lacked, there was no 
 other at all equal to him to supply. Grant to him 
 the zeal and honesty of Latimer, and more than even 
 Latimer's energy and intrepidity; still we have to 
 seek for the holy calmness and deep learning of a 
 Ridley, 3 for the modest self-distrust, and the judi- 
 cious caution of a Cranmer ; while, unhappily, there 
 
 i Principal Tullocli's Leaders mony to the "lenity, sincere 
 
 of Reformation , p. 402. doctrine, pure life, godly conver- 
 
 2 Spottiswoode'si/is£0ry,ii.l84. sation, and discreet counsel of 
 
 3 Knox himself speaks of him, these three," viz., Cranmer, Lati- 
 
 in his Faithful Admonition, a.d. mer, and Ridley. — Works, in. 
 
 1554, as " that most learned and 299. Next to Knox, the two most 
 
 discreet man, Doctor Ridley, eminent of our Reformers were 
 
 true Bishop of London ; " and, John Willock and John Erskine 
 
 in the same place, bears testi- of Dun. 
 
Our Church^ Establishment not truly National, 43 
 
 was also wanting the official station and legitimate 
 authority of them all. Hence the movement, while 
 it faithfully represented at once the vigour, the vehe- 
 mence, and the sternness of its hero's character, was 
 defective in those qualities of a broad and compre- 
 hensive Catholicity, of which now, more perhaps 
 than at any former period, we feel the need. A 
 Presbyterian writer, distinguished alike by his posi- 
 tion and ability, who has recently drawn the charac- 
 ter of our Eeformation with exemplary faithfulness, 
 and with no common skill, admits that developed, 
 or, to use his own expression, " hardened," as it soon 
 became, into " a Calvinistic Creed and Presbyterian 
 ritual;' it was not destined "to penetrate the old His- 
 torical Families of the kingdom;" consequently, it 
 has failed " to mould the nation, people, barons, and 
 nobles into a religious unity." l The removal first of 
 the Court, and then of our Parliament to England, 
 has caused this failure to be at once less keenly felt 
 (especially by the Barons and Xobles), and more 
 difficult to remedy ; but still it is felt — as every 
 faithful Minister of the Gospel is bound to testify ; 
 felt most injuriously ; felt in ways which should 
 make a heart, a Christian heart, a patriotic heart, a 
 heart such as Knox's was, ache to the very core. 
 
 ■ Principal Tulloch, Leaders and artistic culture." On the 
 of Reformation, p. 406. A simi- other hand, Dean Trench, in his 
 lar and, unhappily, no less just Sermon on the Tercentenary Cele- 
 remark occurs at p. 334. " The bration, etc., speaks of the Eng- 
 Scottish Eeformation, ... as has lish Church as having " con- 
 been long too sadly apparent, tinued to shape and mould 
 [had] no sympathetic expansive- for good the whole character of 
 ness for moulding into religious this English People." — Sermon? 
 unity classes widely separated in preaxhed in Westminster Abbey, 
 material rank, and in intellectual p. 14. 
 
44 Remedies hitherto suggested Delusive. 
 
 And, though I will not deny it may be difficult to 
 remedy, it is not, I trust, irremediable. Otherwise 
 let us abandon this Commemoration as a cause of 
 joy, and let us celebrate it only with lamentation 
 and despair. The establishment of a national reli- 
 gious system which has not power to adapt itself 
 to all classes of the community, is not a matter 
 for a Christian people to rejoice over, but to re- 
 consider, and, if it may be, by God's help, to 
 amend. Let it be reconsidered then, at least, in 
 this respect. Let it be made more comprehensive, 
 more national, more catholic, more scriptural. Let 
 the bands which now unite us to England, be 
 tightened by the strongest of all ties — religious 
 unity. Love of the Truth requires us to do this. 
 Love of Peace requires us to do it. Let us not ex- 
 pect to remedy our disorders by efforts which leave 
 everything out of sight but antagonism to the Church 
 of Eome, thus sacrificing peace to love, but partial 
 and defective love, of the Truth ; or by an alliance 
 which would merge all difference among Protestants, 
 however heterodox, thus sacrificing the truth to love, 
 yet a visionary and unreal love, of peace. Neither 
 let us be content to throw over the naked deformity 
 of our unhallowed separations the flimsy and de- 
 ceptive veil of ministerial communion, thus confess- 
 ing, withont seeking to amend, what we see to be 
 amiss in our present state. Let us not have recourse 
 to the devices of men, but only to the Word of God. 
 In so doing we shall best give the honour due to the 
 memory of our Eeformers, by following their ex- 
 
Concluding Appeal to Scottish People. 45 
 
 ample, and we shall only cease to follow that example 
 where they themselves at once fell away from their 
 own professions, and forsook the Guide wdiom God 
 hath given to assist both them and us in the inter- 
 pretation of His own Word, 
 
 And therefore, in the name of our Eeformers 
 themselves ; in the name of all that we owe to Eng- 
 land, and she owes to us ; in the name of benefits 
 already given and received between us for the cause 
 of Christ, from the dayspring of Iona to the present 
 hour ; and in the hope of other benefits still greater, 
 which are yet to come, from full and free inter- 
 communion (benefits for the promotion of education 
 and learning, as w-ell as of piety and true religion) ; 
 in the name and remembrance of common dangers 
 and of common deaths, when both Nations were 
 called to pass through the fire of persecution for 
 the Truth's sake ; in the forgiveness and oblivion of 
 mutual dissensions and of mutual wrongs ; — in the 
 name and in behalf of all these, I would respectfully 
 submit what has now been said to the consideration 
 of the Scottish people ; of their Ministers and Eld- 
 ers ; of their Kirk-Sessions, Presbyteries, Provincial 
 Synods, and General Assemblies : I would solemnly 
 entreat them, in the name of the Truth and Peace 
 which we are taught to love, to give to a matter so 
 important the attention which it deserves : and I 
 humbly and devoutly pray that God in His mercy 
 may move and guide us all, through the illumination 
 of His Spirit, to seek His glory and the common 
 salvation in the way most pleasing and acceptable 
 to Himself, for Jesus Christ's sake ! Amen. 
 
" A day [in July 1560] was statute [appointed], when the whole 
 Nobility, and the greatest part of the Congregation, assembled in St. 
 Giles' Church in Edinburgh ; where, after the Sermon made for that 
 purpose, Public Thanks were given unto God for His merciful deli- 
 verance, in form as follows : — 
 
 ■"Seeing that nothing is more odious in Thy presence, Lord, 
 than is Ingratitude ; . . . and seeing that Thou hast made our Con- 
 federates of England the Instruments by whom we are now set at 
 this liberty, to whom we in Thy Name have promised mutual faith 
 again ; let us never fall to that unkindness, Lord, that either we 
 declare ourselves unthankful to them, or profaners of Thy Holy Name. 
 .... Retain Thou us so firmly together by the power of Thy Holy 
 Spirit : , that Satan have never power to set us again at variance nor 
 discord. Give us Thy grace to live in that Christian Charity which 
 Thy Son, our Lord Jesus, has so earnestly commanded to all the 
 Members of His Body ; that other Nations, provoked by our example, 
 may set aside all ungodly war, contention, and strife, and study to 
 live in tranquillity and peace, as it becomes the sheep of Thy pasture, 
 and the people that daily look for our final deliverance, by the com- 
 ing again of our Lord Jesus ; to Whom, with Thee and the Holy 
 Spirit, be all honour, glory, and praise, now and ever. Amen."— 
 Knox's History, n. 84-87. * . ..- 
 
PROOFS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 DESIGNED TO FORM 
 
 A MANUAL OF REFORMATION FACTS AND 
 PRINCIPLES. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 APPEAL OF REFORMERS TO SCRIPTURE — RESISTANCE TO 
 THIS APPEAL ON THE PART OF THEIR OPPONENTS. 
 
 It may seem almost superfluous to produce evi- 
 dence in proof of the former of the two propositions 
 which come under our notice in this chapter. But 
 the stress which has been laid upon it in the fore- 
 going Discourse (pp. 5-8) requires, perhaps, that I 
 should exhibit here a few instances, out of many that 
 might be quoted, to show the supreme regard and 
 deference which our Reformers paid to the Word of 
 God. 
 
 George Wishart, at his last examination in 1546. 
 — " Verily that which I have heard and read in the 
 Word of God, I taught openly and in no corners ; 
 and now ye shall witness the same, if your Lord- 
 ships will hear me : except it stand by the Word of 
 God, I dare not he so bold to affirm anything. These 
 sayings he rehearsed diverse times/' — Knox's History, 
 i. 163. See also Ibid. 156, 165. 
 
 When brought to the stake, March 28, after prayer 
 to God, he turned to the people, and said these 
 words : " I beseech you, Christian Brethren and 
 
 D 
 
50 Reformers Appeal to Scripture 
 
 Sisters, that ye be not offended at the Word of God, 
 for the affliction and torments that ye see already 
 prepared for me. But I exhort you that ye love the 
 Word of God, your Salvation, and suffer patiently, 
 and with a comfortable heart for the Word's sake, 
 which is your undoubted salvation, and everlasting 
 comfort. Moreover, I pray you, show my Brethren 
 and Sisters, which have heard me oft before, that 
 they cease not nor leave off to learn the Word of God, 
 etc. etc." And last of all he said to the people on 
 this manner : " I beseech you, Brethren and Sisters, 
 to exhort your Prelates to the learning of the Woixl of 
 God, that they at the least may be ashamed to do 
 evil, and learn to do good." — Ibid. 169, 170. 
 
 Henry Balnaves. — u Christ teacheth us to search 
 the Scriptures, for they bear witness of Him. And 
 St. Paul saith, ' All things which are written, they 
 are written to our learning, that through patience and 
 consolation of the Scriptures, we may have hope/ 
 that is, of eternal life. The which is the mark at 
 which shoot all the faithful ; for in the Scriptures of 
 God all things are contained necessary for our salva- 
 tion." 1 — Treatise on Justification by Faith, 1548. 
 Reprinted in Knox s Works. See iv. 533. 
 
 John Knox. — " Wheresoever God's Word hath 
 supreme authority ; where Christ Jesus is affirmed, 
 preached, and received to be the only Saviour of the 
 World ; where his Sacraments are truly ministered ; 
 and finally, where His Word ruleth, and not the vain 
 fantasy of man, there is the true Church of Christ 
 
 1 Compare English Article VL, Scots Confession, c. xviii. 
 
opposed by Non- Reforming Clergy. 51 
 
 Jesus." — Letter to his Brethren in Scotland, 1557. 
 Works, iv. 2 67. 
 
 To pass on to the second point to be noticed here, 
 viz., the opposition which these appeals to Scripture 
 met with on the part of the non-reforming Clergy. 
 
 Knox, in his History (i. 95) speaks of " certain 
 tyrannical Acts, made at the devotion of the Pre- 
 lates, for maintaining of their kingdom of dark- 
 ness, to wit, that under pain of heresy, no man should 
 read any part of the Scriptures in the English tongue, 
 neither get any tractate or exposition of any place of 
 Scripture." But this would appear to be overstated ; 
 for in the original draught of the Act of Parliament 
 of 1542 (referred to in the foregoing Discourse, p. 8), 
 for authorizing the use of the Old and New Testa- 
 ments, we read, " The Lords of Articles being advised 
 with the said writing, find the same reasonable . . . 
 because there was no law shown, nor produced to the 
 contrary" 1 At the same time, a document preserved 
 in the State Paper Office, dated March 16, 1542-3, 
 of which an extract was first published by Tytler, 2 
 sufficiently shows how determined the Ecclesiastical 
 Authorities were to prevent, if possible, the reading of 
 the New Testament, and to enlist the arm of the civil 
 power in that profane attempt. We cannot therefore 
 doubt that the complaint made by Balnaves, in 1548, 
 in regard to the Bishops and other Clergy, is sub- 
 stantially true. " Alas ! think ye not shame (which 
 
 1 See Act. Pari. Scot. II. 415 ; 2 History of Scotland, V. 323 ; 
 
 Keith, 1. 89. compare Buchanan, 1. 291. 
 
52 Bedding of Scripture discouraged. 
 
 are bound and obliged, under the pain of eternal 
 damnation, to teach your flocks this manner of doc- 
 trine) to inhibit and forbid them to look upon the 
 Scriptures, either to hear or read them." — Treatise on 
 Justification, chap. xxvi. The same statement is re- 
 peated by Knox in his Brief Summary of that Trea- 
 tise, 1548. The tyrants in these days forbidding men 
 to read the Scriptures. l As an instance of the Bishops 
 discouraging even their Clergy from the study of the 
 Bible, the story told of Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld, 
 is well known. 2 
 
 Moreover, there is proof that one of the charges 
 brought against Sir John Borthwick, who was ac- 
 cused of heresy, in 1540, but escaped to England, 
 consisted in his " having the New Testament printed 
 in English, QEcolampadius, Melanchthon, and di- 
 verse treatises of Erasmus, and other condemned 
 Heretics/' 3 Knox, however, in his History, I. 99, 
 admits that the Clergy " denied not but the Scrip- 
 ture may be read in the Vulgar Tongue, provided 
 that the Translation were true" 
 
 At the same time we know that Acts of Parlia- 
 ment were passed, in 1525 and 1535, " against those 
 who hold, dispute, or rehearse the damnable opinions 
 of the great heretic Luther, his disciples and followers," 
 etc., with the additional enactment, in the latter year, 
 forbidding any stranger to import " any books of the 
 said Luther's disciples, etc., under pain of imprison- 
 
 1 Works, in. 26. ments, n. 613 ; Lee's Lectures, I. 
 
 2 See Tytler's History, v. 270, 31, 330, and the additional evi- 
 seq. dence given Ibid. p. 37 and p. 81, 
 
 s See Foxe's Acts and Monu- note. 
 
Appeal made to it, disallowed. 53 
 
 merit, and of escheating of their ships and goods'" and 
 that " none of the king's lieges have, use, keep, or 
 conceal any books of the said heretics, or containing 
 their doctrine and opinions." 1 And an Act still more 
 severe, in March 1540-41, to the effect " that no 
 manner of persons argue nor, impugn the Pope's au- 
 thority under the pain of death, and confiscation of all 
 their goods, movable and immovable. 2 
 
 The following passage exemplifies both the pro- 
 positions which have been now illustrated — the 
 desire of the Eeformers, and the refusal of their 
 opponents, to submit all questions between them to 
 the arbitration of the "Word of God. It relates to 
 the year 1558 : — 
 
 "The Prelates were highly incensed, and .... 
 carrying themselves more imperiously than before, 
 answered that 'they would not depart one jot from 
 the Decrees of Trent! Afterwards, being a little 
 calmed, they made offer to commit the cause to 
 dispute, which by those of the Congregation (this 
 was the title given commonly to the Eeformers) was 
 accepted upon two conditions ; one that the Con- 
 troversies in Religion might he decided by the Scrip- 
 ture ; the other . . . Both the conditions were denied, 
 for neither would they admit any other Judge but 
 the Canon Law and Councils, nor," etc. etc. 3 
 
 1 See Keith, I. 27. Compare 3 Spottiswoode'si77sfo?'2/,i. 267. 
 Canon 48 of the Council of 1549. Compare Knox's History, I. 306 ; 
 Wilkins' Concilia, iv. 58. n. 142, 339, 515, 518. 
 
 2 Keith, ib. p. 29. Tytler, v. 284. 
 
CHAPTEE II 
 
 THE LAST PROVINCIAL COUNCIL, 1559. 
 
 The three events to which, in an ecclesiastical, 
 point of view, we owe (humanly speaking) the some- 
 what precipitate 1 Reformation crisis of 1560, were, 
 first, the condemnation of Knox, in his absence, 
 after his opponents had shrunk from meeting him 
 on the day which they had appointed for bringing 
 him to trial, in 1556 ; secondly, the execution of 
 Walter Miln, in April 1558 ; and, thirdly, the pro- 
 ceedings of the Provincial Council summoned by 
 Archbishop Hamilton at Edinburgh, in March, and 
 continued to April 1559. These, together with the 
 barbarities practised some fifteen years before by 
 Cardinal Beaton at Perth, the remembrance of which 
 could never be effaced, were all of them acts such 
 as signally to fulfil the saying, 
 
 " Qnos Dens vnlt perdere, dementat prius." 
 
 And of these three striking instances of infatuation, 
 the last is that which affords, perhaps, the broadest 
 and firmest standing-ground for those who would 
 defend whatever there was of hardship and irregu- 
 
 1 Calvin in his letter to Knox, p. 442. Hard wick "a gigantic 
 
 November 8, 1559, calls it "in- march of revolution and reform." 
 
 credibilem successnm tarn brevi — History of Reformation, p. 152. 
 
 temporisspatio." — Epist.etResp. See also Tytler, ti. 214. 
 
Historical Importance of this Council 55 
 
 Unity in the conduct of the Reformers in 15G0. Or, 
 at all events, it may be said, that no one is competent 
 to form a strictly fair and accurate estimate of the 
 relative position and merits of the two parties in 
 that crisis who has not given his attention to the 
 Canons of the Council to which I refer. And yet 
 it is remarkable how small and comparatively un- 
 important a space the proceedings of this Council 
 have been made to occupy in the view of the Re- 
 formation which has been hitherto presented by, I 
 believe I may say, all our Church historians. 1 It 
 may be doubted, indeed, whether any of our earlier 
 writers, Knox, Buchanan, Lesley, Row, Spottiswoode, 
 Petrie, or Calderwood, had ever seen the Canons 
 which the Council passed. Certain it is that they 
 have done nothing to preserve them either in whole 
 or in part. Bishop Keith, to whom we are indebted 
 for so much other valuable information of the same 
 kind, was, I believe, the first who discovered that 
 an autograph copy of them was still preserved in the 
 Library of the Scotch College at Paris. Writing in 
 1735, after his historical work was completed, but 
 before it issued from the press, he mentioned the 
 existence of the MS., and expressed a hope that it 
 would be published either by Dr. AYilkins, who was 
 then engaged upon his great collection of British 
 Councils, or in a supplement to the more general 
 work of Father Labbe. 2 Accordingly it appeared 
 
 1 Tytler's Histoi^y of Scotland tisement to the Reader, I. p. cviii. 
 does not even mention the meet- and compare p. 184. Also Keith's 
 ing of the Council. Scottish Bishops, p. 260. 
 
 2 See Keith's History. Adver- 
 
56 Friendly Remonstrance 
 
 in the last volume of Wilkins' Concilia, published in 
 1737, pp. 267-70. Lord Hailes, in composing his 
 Historical Memorials concerning the Provincial Sy- 
 nods of the Scottish Church (1772), though he had 
 Wilkins' publication before him, scarcely gives us 
 so much insight into the acts of the Council as might 
 have been expected. He remarks, indeed, that " had 
 Keith ever seen the Canons of this Council, he would 
 have acknowledged that they (the members of the 
 Council) did not avoid entering upon the controverted 
 points ; and, if he had reason to praise their wisdom 
 and moderation in 1551, he must have found another 
 name for their conduct in 1559." 1 This is certainly 
 true. But besides the acts of this Council, and the 
 two mandates for summoning it (rival mandates we 
 may almost call them, one from the Archbishop of 
 St. Andrews, and another from the Archbishop of 
 Glasgow), Wilkins also published, from the same 
 Library at Paris, a most import-ant document, of 
 which (as Dr. M'Crie has pointed out 2 ) it is still 
 more surprising that so keen and accurate an inves- 
 tigator as Lord Hailes should have taken no notice. 
 It is in the shape of " a Eemonstrance," consisting 
 of thirteen articles, which was " presented to the 
 Prelates, and other Churchmen assembled'' in the 
 Council, " craving redress of several grievances com- 
 plained of in the Ecclesiastical Administration of 
 Scotland." This Eemonstrance proceeded, as Wil- 
 tons suggests, " either from the Lords of Session, 
 whereof one half and the President were ecclesiastics, 
 
 1 Hailes' Annals, in. oQ9, note. 2 Life of Knox, 1. 124, note. 
 
presented to the Council 57 
 
 or from some other men of distinction, zealous for 
 preserving the (then) Established Church." As no 
 one of our writers (so far as I am aware) has called 
 attention to this important document, 1 except Dr. 
 M'Crie, and his notice of it does not exceed ten or 
 twelve lines, and as Dr. "Wilkins' Concilia, always 
 a very costly book, is now become so rare as scarcely 
 to be obtained at any price, I think it desirable for 
 the interests of the truth, to lay the said document, 
 or at least all the main and more interesting parts 
 of it, before my reader : — 
 
 " I. In the first, remembering that our Sovereign 
 Lord of good memory that last deceased (James v.), 
 in his late acts of Parliament for the common 
 weal of this realm, thought necessary to make a 
 public Exhortation' 2 unto my Lords the Prelates and 
 rest of the Spiritual Estate, for reforming of their 
 lives, and for avoiding of the open slander (disrepute) 
 that is given to the whole estates through the said 
 Spiritual Men's ungodly and dissolute lives ; And sic- 
 like (also), remembering in divers of the late provin- 
 cial Councils holden within this realm, that point 
 
 1 The parties from whom it vocation of Saints, and admit 
 
 came, and the document itself, prayers for the Dead, they should 
 
 are probably the same as those be allowed to pray and admini- 
 
 alluded to by Spottiswoode in strata the Sacraments in a known 
 
 the following terms : — "Some of language. But those conditions 
 
 them that affected quietness pro- were held so ridiculous and ab- 
 
 posed other conditions of recon- surd as they were not vouchsafed 
 
 cilement, namely, that if the any answer." — Spottiswoode's 
 
 Congregation would suffer the History, i. 267. 
 Mass to be held in the wonted 
 
 reverence, if they would acknow- 2 On March 14, 1540-41. See 
 
 ledge Purgatory, confess the In- Keith's History, i. 29. 
 
58 Friendly Remonstrance 
 
 has been treated of, and sundry statutes synodal 
 made thereupon, 1 of the which, nevertheless, there has 
 followed none or little fruit as yet, but rather the said 
 Estate is deteriorated, nor emends hj any such per- 
 suasion as has been hitherto used ; And since the said 
 Estate is mirror and lantern to the rest, it is most 
 expedient, that they presently condescend to seek 
 reformation of their lives, and for executing duly of 
 their offices, every one of them effeiring (attending) 
 to their own vocation and care committed unto 
 them to do, and namely, that open and manifest sins, 
 and notorious offences be forborne and abstained 
 from in time to come, etc. etc. 
 
 " II. Item, That they provide for preachings and 
 declarings of God's Word, sincerely and truly to be 
 made in every Parish Kirk of this realm upon all 
 Sundays and other holidays, at the least on Yule, 
 Pasche, "Whitsunday, and every third or fourth 
 Sunday, etc. etc. 
 
 "III. That all Preachers of the Word of God, 
 before they be admitted to preach the same publickly 
 to the people, be first examined duly, etc. etc. 
 
 " IV. Item, That there be no Curates or Vicars of 
 Parish Kirks made in times to come, but such as are 
 sufficiently qualified to minister the Sacraments of 
 holy Kirk in such form and order as after follows, 
 and that they can distinctly and plainly read the 
 
 1 See especially in the Acts of Stewart (natural son of King 
 
 the Provincial Council held in James v., and afterwards Earl of 
 
 1549, Wilkins' Concilia, iv. 46, Murray), having been made Prior 
 
 seq. It may be mentioned, as of St. Andrews when five years 
 
 an instance of the abuses of old, sat as such in that Council 
 
 those times, that Lord James at the age of sixteen ! 
 
presented to the Council. 59 
 
 Catechism and other directions that shall be directed 
 unto them by their Ordinaries, unto the people, 
 etc. etc. 
 
 " V. Forsomuch as there is nothing that can move 
 men more to worship God, nor (than) to know the 
 effect, cause, and strength of the Sacraments of holy 
 Kirk, nor nothing that can move men to dishonour 
 the said sacraments more than the ignorance and mis- 
 knowledge thereof ; therefore seeing that all Chris- 
 tian men and women, before they be admitted to the 
 using and receiving of the said Sacraments, should 
 know the vigour and strength of the same, for what 
 causes the same were instituted by God Almighty, 
 how profitable and necessary they are for every 
 Christian Man and Woman, that duly and reverently 
 are participants thereof; therefore, that there be a 
 godly and fruitful Declaration set forth in English 
 tongue to be first shown to the people at all times ; 
 when the Sacrament of the blessed Body and Blood 
 of Jesus Christ is exhibited and distributed, and 
 sick like (also) when Baptism and Marriage are 
 solemnized in face of holy Kirk ? and that it be de - 
 clared to them that assist at the sacraments, what is 
 the effect thereof, and that it be spirit at (inquired 
 of) them by the Priest ministring, if they be ready 
 to receive the same, etc. 
 
 " VI. That the Common Prayers with Litanies in 
 our vulgar tongue be said in every parish Kirk upon 
 Sundays and other holy days after the Divine Service 
 of the Mass, and that the evening prayers be said 
 eftemein (afterwards) in likewise. 
 
60 Friendly Remonstrance. 
 
 " VII. [This Article 1 is against the compulsory 
 exaction of sundry payments and offerings to the 
 Clergy ; which ' gives occasion to the poor to murmur 
 greatly against the State Ecclesiastic/ etc.] 
 
 " VIII. Item, Because the lieges of this realm are 
 heavily hurt by the long process of the Consistorial 
 Judgment, as has been at more length declared and 
 shown unto my Lords of the Spirituality ; and that 
 poor men having just cause ofttimes are constrained 
 to fall from their righteous action through lengthen- 
 ing of the said process and exorbitant expenses that 
 they are drawn into, as well in the first instant, as 
 by appellation from place to place, from judge to 
 judge, and last of all to the Court of Rome ; albeit 
 the matter were never so small, and albeit men ob- 
 tain sentences never so many by the ordinary Judges 
 of this realm, yet all in vain, and no execution shall 
 follow thereupon, while the Appellation he discussed 
 in Rome, etc., therefore it is necessary that provision 
 be made for shortening of the Process Consistorial, 
 for relieving of parties from exorbitant expenses, and 
 that it be considered what matters shall pass to Rome 
 by Appellation, of what avail, worth, and quantity 
 they should be of, and that the Appellation unto 
 Ronie should not suspend the execution of sentences 
 given here within this realm. 
 
 " IX. X. [These two Articles contain complaints 
 of sundry Papal clSims that ' hurt the privileges of 
 the Crown and the Common-weal of this realm/ etc.] 
 
 " XI. Item, That no manner of person within this 
 
 1 See M'Crie's Life of Knox, Notes G. and X. 
 
Articles of Reformation. 61 
 
 realm pretend to usurp such hardiment as to dis- 
 honour or speak irreverently of the Sacrament of the 
 blessed Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 but that the same be holden in such reverence, 
 honour, and worship, as becomes Christian men to 
 do, and is commanded by the law of God and holy 
 Kirk, and that none dishonour the Divine service of 
 the Mass, nor speak injuriously nor irreverently 
 thereof. 
 
 " XII. Item, That no man pretend to use the 
 Sacraments and Ceremonies of Marriage, Baptism, 
 and blessed Body and Blood forsaid, nor suffer the 
 same to be ministered, but in such manner, as is 
 aforesaid ; and by such persons as that are admitted 
 duly, and ordained to the administration thereof. 
 
 " XIII. Item, That no manner of persons be so 
 bold as to burn, spoil, or destroy Kirks, Chapels, or 
 religious places and ornaments thereof, nor attempt 
 anything by way of deed to the hurt and injuring 
 thereof, or for deforming or innovating the louable 
 (laudable) ceremonies and rites thereof used in holy 
 Kirk, but that they be used as aforetime, and while 
 (until) further order be taken by the Prince and 
 Ministers of holy Kirk, having power, and the same 
 duly insinuated (committed) to them." 
 
 In addition to this friendly Eemonstrance, there 
 were delivered to the Council from the Queen-Eegent, 
 through the hands of the Earl of Huntly, Chancellor 
 of the kingdom, certain preliminary " Articles of Pie- 
 formation," which " the Congregation " had presented 
 
62 How the Council dealt with these Documents. 
 
 to her Grace. These Articles, four in number, are to 
 be seen in Lesley's De Rebus Scotorum, p. 504, and 
 after liim in Keith, I. 185, and Lord Hailes, in. 267. 
 The first Article is : " That public Prayers be con- 
 ceived and the Sacraments administered in the vulgar 
 tongue." The rest relate to matters of discipline. The 
 Second Article shows that there was no wish on the 
 part of the Eeformers at that time (less than two 
 years before they gained the ascendency) to do away 
 with Diocesan Episcopacy. 1 It is as follows : " That 
 in time coming Bishoi^s be admitted with the assent of 
 the Barons of the Diocese, and Parish Priests with the 
 assent of the Parishioners." 
 
 And, with these two documents before them, and 
 with the knowledge of the progress which the Re- 
 formed Doctrines had made during the thirty years 
 previous in this country, while Queen Elizabeth was 
 now upon the throne in England, and ten years had 
 passed since the publication of the first Reformed 
 Prayer-Book of King Edward vl, what was the 
 course pursued by the Council, which the Queen- 
 Regent had convened, "of cdl the Ecclesiastics in the 
 kingdom thai were hnovrn to be men of learning and 
 capacity, that they might fall upon some method to 
 heal the present sores that had infected the Body of 
 the Church ?" 2 In the first place, in the Preamble 
 to its Acts, the Council commits itself to the Tradi- 
 tion and Custom of the Catholic Church, "rejectis 
 vanis novitatibus et suspectis opinionibus." Next, in 
 
 i See above, p. 28. 2 Keith's History, I. 184. 
 
A dopts Decrees of Council of Trent. 63 
 
 a preliminary Act, it "ratifies, approves, and con- 
 firms " (unless otherwise specified) all " the Decrees, 
 Constitutions, and Statutes " of the previous Councils 
 held in 1549, 1551, and 1552. Of the two former 
 of these Councils the Canons (in number 57 and 17 
 respectively) have been preserved in the Boyal 
 Library at Paris, and are published by Wilkins, 
 IV. 46-60, and 69-73. Of the third, 1 the only re- 
 maining record is given by Bishop Lesley (p. 476), 
 who informs us that, besides decrees for repressing 
 Heresy, establishing the authority of the Catholic 
 Faith, and thoroughly purging the manners of the 
 Clergy, it was declared in full Assembly, that all 
 tilings which had been determined in the Council of 
 Trent, lender the auspices of Paul ill., were to be 
 held "justa, rata, ac TANQUAM Dei impekio fixa!" 
 The Council of 1549 had also shown its servile ad- 
 herence to the Decrees of Trent, in its 39th Canon, 
 in which, on the question of Pluralities, it is content 
 to refer itself "ordinatis seu ordinandis in Concilio 
 Tridentino nondurn dissoluto" 
 
 It is well known that the Council of Trent sat 
 (with more or less of interruption) from the begin- 
 ning of 1546 to the beginning of 1552, and then, 
 after a suspension of ten years, sat again from Jan. 
 7, 1562, to the end of the following year. It is with 
 the former of these periods (comprehending the six- 
 
 1 Bishop Lesley, and so, after held in Edinburgh. It might 
 him, Lord Hailes speaks of this have been adjourned from Lin- 
 Council as held at Linlithgow; lithgow to Edinburgh, as the 
 but the first Act of the Council Council of 1519 was. 
 of 1559 mentions it expressly as 
 
64 Decrees of Trent adopted by the Council. 
 
 teen first* Sessions) that we are now concerned. We 
 have seen that our Scottish Council of 1552 adopted 
 all the Tridentine Decrees of that period " as fixed 
 by the Command of God ;" and that our last Council, 
 of 1559, solemnly confirmed that adoption. It con- 
 cerns us then to know what were the matters of Faith 
 and Practice which were thus to be bound upon the 
 consciences of the Eeformers. They were to be obliged 
 to receive and hold under pain of anathema : — 
 
 1. That the Traditions of the Church are to be 
 equally esteemed and venerated as the Holy Scrip- 
 tures. (Session 4.) 
 
 2. That the greater portion of the Apocryphal 
 Books (including the Book of Baruch, never before 
 canonized) are to be regarded in the same class, as 
 Sacred and Canonical, with the other Books of Holy 
 Scripture. (The same.) 
 
 3. That they who fall into sin after Baptism can- 
 not be again justified without the Sacrament of 
 Penance. (Session 6.) 
 
 4. That after grace has been given to repent, the 
 guilt of sin is not remitted without undergoing tem- 
 poral punishment, either in this world, or, after this 
 life, in Purgatory. (The same.) 
 
 5. That the Sacraments are neither more nor less 
 than seven, and that they were all instituted by 
 Christ. (Session 7.) 
 
 So far the Council had proceeded, when Pope 
 Paul in. died, November 1549, and was succeeded 
 by Julius in., who, as Cardinal del Monte, had been 
 President of the Council. 
 
Disciplinary Canons of the Council. 65 
 
 6. That in the Sacrament of the Eucharist there is 
 contained, truly, really, and substantially, the Body 
 and Blood of Christ, together with His Sonship, 
 Divinity, and therefore Whole Christ, (Session 13.) 
 
 7. That there is such a marvellous conversion, 
 most fitly called Transubstantiation, of the Elements 
 into Christ's Body and Blood, that the natural Sub- 
 stances of Bread and Wine do not remain. (The same.) 
 
 8. That whole Christ is contained in either Ele- 
 ment, and that not only during use, but before and 
 after. (The same.) 
 
 9. That Christ is to be adored as contained in the 
 Sacrament, and that it is not Idolatry so to adore 
 Him. (The same.) 
 
 1 0. That Confession to a Priest is necessary jure 
 divino, and that all Christians are obliged to confess 
 once a year. (Session 14.) 
 
 We may now return to our own Council of 1559. 
 Besides the preliminary Act, already mentioned, the 
 Council passed thirty-four Canons, almost all of a 
 disciplinary character, such as had been enacted at 
 the previous Councils, and of which, as the friendly 
 Remonstrance testifies, " there had followed none or 
 little fruit." Thus the first four Canons relate to 
 Clerical Concubinage (which is again forbidden), 
 and to the unhappy offspring of such alliances ; but 
 nothing is said as to any relaxation of the law, 
 from which such evils arose ; and, for anything that 
 appears to the contrary, marriage, which Scripture 
 pronounces to be " honourable in all men," was still 
 to be forbidden to the Clergy. 
 
66 Effect of the Remonstrance. 
 
 The fifth Canon forbids the Clergy to entertain, or 
 hold familiar intercourse with any persons whatever 
 who were suspected of heresy, or who refused to he 
 present at the Sacrifice of the Mass, etc. etc. 
 
 The thirteenth Canon provides that the assistance 
 of the Secular arm be called in against any of the 
 Laity who neglected to perform the penances im- 
 posed upon them for offences committed against the 
 Ecclesiastical Laws. 
 
 Other Canons were drawn up evidently with a 
 view to propitiate the Friends who had presented 
 the " Keinonstrance," as may be seen by comparing 
 their Article 2 with Canons 14 and 15 ; l Articles 3 
 and 4 with Canons 1 G and 1 9 ; Article 5 with Canon 
 17; Article 7 with Canons 21 and 31 ; Article 8 
 with Canon 24 ; and Article 12 with Canons 33 and 
 34. But nothing is provided in compliance with 
 the application, made in Article 6, for " Common 
 Prayers and Litanies to be said in our vulgar tongue," 
 still less with the larger demand of " the Congrega- 
 tion" to the same effect ; — nothing in answer to the 
 complaint, made in Articles 8, 9, and 1 0, against the 
 grievance of Appeals to Eome, and of the sundry 
 exactions of the Papal Court. Upon the former 
 point, indeed, we are informed by Bishop Lesley that 
 the Council returned answer, "that they could on 
 no account dispense with the using of any other 
 
 iThe Article asked for ''preach- times a year, which had been 
 
 ings upon all Sundays," or " at prescribed in the former Council, 
 
 the least every third or fourth but only order it to be n fre- 
 
 Sunday." The Canons are not quentius." 
 satisfied v/ith preaching four 
 
Doctrine j>rcscribcd by the Council. 67 
 
 language than the Latin in the public Prayers, etc., 
 
 as having been so long in use, and as being ap- 
 pointed by the Church under the most severe pen 
 alties." 1 
 
 It remains to speak of the 1 6th Canon — the only 
 one which enters expressly upon points of doctrine. 
 It is headed De uniformi doctvind per singxdos Prce- 
 diccdores observandci, that is, it was to provide for the 
 universal observance of uniformity of doctrine, espe- 
 cially in regard to the Articles folloiuing : — 
 
 1. That not only the express teachings of Scrip- 
 ture, but the Traditions, Eules, and Ordinances of 
 the Church are binding upon Christians both in 
 public and private. 
 
 2. That it is right to venerate the Saints, and to 
 call upon them to pray for us, inasmuch as Christ 
 bestows many blessings through their prayers and 
 intercession. 
 
 3. That it is lawful to use images of Christ, and 
 of the Saints, " ad eorunclem repnesentationem et 
 imitationem." 
 
 4. That we must firmly believe in a Purgatory for 
 Souls after this life, wherein they pay the penalty 
 yet due for their sins ; from which, however, they 
 may be released more speedily through the good 
 works of the Living. 
 
 5. That in the Eucharist there is really the true 
 Body of our Lord, His true Flesh and true Blood — 
 "immo totus Christus ;" — wherefore it is not Bread 
 and Wine, but our Crucified Lord Jesus Christ whom 
 
 i De Rebus Seotorum, p. 504. Keith's History, I. 185. 
 
68 Knoxs Account of the Council 
 
 we rightly worship, whether during Mass, or where- 
 ever the Eucharist is reserved or carried about. 
 
 6. That, inasmuch as we are to believe that 
 " Whole Christ" is received under one Element 
 only, Communion in both kinds is not necessary for 
 the Laity, but is sufficient in the Bread only, " juxta 
 legitimam Ecclesiae sanctioneni." 1 
 
 7. That the Sacrifice of the Mass, instituted for 
 the remembrance of Christ's Passion, is profitable, 
 through the virtue of the same Passion, both for the 
 Living and Dead. 
 
 8. That no one but a lawfully ordained Priest has 
 power to consecrate the Eucharist. 
 
 I have dwelt at so much length upon the Acts of 
 this Council, for the reasons which I stated at the 
 commencement of this chapter. I have now only to 
 add one remark, which serves to illustrate, somewhat 
 curiously, how little accurate attention the history of 
 the Council has hitherto received (as before remark- 
 ed), either from our earlier or more recent writers. 
 The fullest original report is to be found, I believe, 
 in Knox's History ; it is in these words : 2 — 
 
 " The Bishops continued in their Provincial Coun- 
 cil even unto that day that John Knox arrived in 
 Scotland (from Geneva). And that they might give 
 some show to the people that they minded Eeforma- 
 tion, they spread abroad a rumour thereof, and set 
 
 i Compare Archbishop Hamil- 2 The same account is copied 
 
 ton's Catechism, as quoted by verbatim, by Calderwood, I. 438. 
 Lord Hailes, ni. 264, seq. note. 
 
censured by Lord Hailes. 69 
 
 forth somewhat in print, which of the people was 
 called ' the Twa penny Fayth.' 1 
 
 " 1. Amongst these Acts, there w T as much ado for 
 caps, shaven crowns, tippets, long gowns, and such 
 other trifles. 
 
 " 2. Item, That none should enjoy office or benefice 
 ecclesiastical except a Priest. 
 
 " 3. Item, That no kirkman should nurse his own 
 bairns in his own company ; but that every one 
 should hold the children of others. 
 
 " 4. That none should put his own son [into any 
 Ecclesiastical office] in his own benefice. 
 
 " 5. That if any were found in open adultery, for 
 the first fault he should lose the third of his benefice, 
 for the second crime, half, and for the third, the 
 whole benefice." 2 
 
 Upon this passage Lord Hailes remarks as follows : 
 
 " The account of those canons, as given in Knox's 
 History, is exceedingly partial and erroneous." And 
 in a note he adds :— 
 
 " This is a strong charge, but / will make it good ; 
 whether the passage here censured be the work of an 
 interpolator, or of Knox himself, is nothing to me. I 
 seek truth where I can find it ; if I am successful in 
 
 1 Lord Hailes' severe remarks all this it may be concluded that 
 
 upon Bishop Keith for (inter the thing called in derision " the 
 
 alia) confounding " the Twapen- Twapenny Faith," must have 
 
 ny Faith" with the Catechism, been totally distinct from Arch- 
 
 vhich was authorized by the bishop Hamilton's Catechism." 
 
 Council of 1551 (eight years be- But what it was, he docs not 
 
 tore), and which goes by the attempt to explain. A few words 
 
 name of Archbishop Hamilton's, upon the point will be found at 
 
 are, on the whole, just. He sums the end of this chapter, 
 
 up the long note to which I refer 2 Knox's History, I. 110. Com- 
 
 (p. 265), in these words : — " From pare Lee's Lectures, t. 73. 
 
70 Inaccuracy of both Parties. 
 
 my search, I am happy ; if not, unfortunate. I am 
 willing to admit that Knox was zealous in a good 
 cause, but no zeal can justify a man for misrepresent- 
 ing an adversary. My freedom may offend, but if 
 we are to be governed by names and authorities of 
 man, why did we leave the Church of Rome, where 
 there are as good names and authorities of man ? 
 
 " The words in Knox s History are : ' Among their 
 Acts there was much ado for caps, shaven crowns, 
 tippets, long gowns, and such other trifles/ 
 
 " This I admit, and it shows that the author knew 
 the contents of the canons, and did not take them from 
 the worst of all information, popular report. 
 
 " I cannot blame the historian for considering those 
 matters as trifles, for at first I viewed them in the 
 same light. But it will appear upon examination, 
 that the canons concerning the garb of ecclesiastics 
 were necessary and proper/' 1 
 
 It will scarcely be believed, after all this, 
 
 (1.) That, whereas Knox is professing to describe 
 the Acts of the Council of 1559, Lord Hailes has 
 fallen into the mistake of supposing him to speak of 
 the Council of 1549, and accordingly has been so 
 " unfortunate" as to found the whole of this " free" 
 criticism upon a mere blunder. 
 
 (2.) That, so far from Knox or his interpolator 
 having " shown that he knew the contents of the 
 canons," the truth is, he is even more unfair and in- 
 
 1 Hailes' .4 nnals, in. 260. Lord in the second clause of Knox's 
 
 Hailes goes on to show that there third count, or in any portion of 
 
 is also nothing in the canons to the fifth count. Compare canons 
 
 justify the statements contained 2, 3. 
 
Origin of" The Twopenny Fayth." 71 
 
 correct than Lord Hailes has stated or could have 
 supposed : for in these canons (of 1559) there is not 
 only no word about the punishment of kirhnen for 
 adultery, or about their " holding the children of 
 others ;" but so far from there being " much ado for 
 caps, shaven crowns, etc.," there is merely one short 
 canon, the seventh, Be Habitibus, which orders the 
 regulations of the former Council " de tonsura et 
 habitibus," to be carried into effect, and exhorts "all 
 Archbishops and Bishops to appear in their Episcopal 
 dress at all proper times ;" whereas of the canons of 
 1549, of which Lord Hailes is speaking, there are two 
 which deal with clerical dress; the 4th, rather a 
 long one, " De vestibus Clericorum," and the 7th, "De 
 gravitate habituum Clericorum." 
 
 Had not Lord Hailes fallen into this mistake, he 
 would probably have been led to discover what the 
 writer in Knox s History meant by " the Twapenny 
 Fayth." I have no doubt that he refers to a Tract 
 put forth by this Council in compliance with the 
 suggestion made in the 5th Article of the Friendly 
 Remonstrance, to the effect " that there be a godly 
 and fruitful Declaration set forth in the English 
 Tongue, to be first shown to the People at all times, 
 when the Sacrament, etc. etc." (see above, p. 59). I 
 am led to this conclusion by the following words of 
 Canon 17, De Exhort edionibus ante Ministerium 
 iiaer anient or urn : — 
 
 " Insuper ut populus Christianus Sacramentorum 
 Ecclesise verum effectum, vim, ac usum facilius ac 
 Commodius intelligere valeat, statuit hoc presens 
 
72 " The Ticapenny Fayth" explained. 
 
 Concilium quasdam Catholicas Exlwrtationes, easque 
 sv.ccinctas declarationes Sacrarncntoriim, etc etc, auc- 
 toritate hujus Concilii edendas, et inferius inseren- 
 das, quas singuli Paroclii . . . ipsa Sacramenta 
 mmistraturi . . . publice et distincte recitent, 
 etc. etc. Et idem observent Episcopi in niinistra- 
 tione Sacramenti Confirniationis, etc. etc, quce quidem 
 exhortationes in calce hujus Consilii inscribuntur" 
 
 Dr. Wilkins adds in a note — " Declarationes et 
 exhortationes hae in MS. Baluziano" — from which he 
 published the Canons of the Council — " oniissre 
 sunt." 
 
 It is not probable that any copy of them is now 
 in existence. But they agreed, no doubt, in point of 
 doctrine with the corresponding portions of Arch- 
 bishop Hamilton's Catechism. 1 
 
 1 For information respecting I. 149 ; Hailes, in. 263 ; M'Crie, 
 this Catechism, see Knox's Works. p. 245. Note Y; Lee's Lectures, 
 r. 124, 291, Editor's Notes : Keith! I. 75. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 OUR reformers' appeal to primitive antiquity. 
 
 Let it first be clearly stated what the appeal to 
 antiquity implied. Eightly understood, it implied 
 no derogation whatever from Holy Scripture, as the 
 supreme and sole original authority in matters of 
 faith and of religious controversy ; but merely a con- 
 cession, that in the interpretation of Scripture upon 
 controverted points — where the reason and private 
 judgment of one man, or one set of men, are opposed 
 to the reason and private judgment of another, 
 equally qualified, perhaps, in all appearance, to pro- 
 nounce upon the question — an umpire is required, 
 in order to avoid endless disputes and un- Christian 
 divisions and separations, which are expressly for- 
 bidden in the New Testament ; and that the best 
 umpire we can have is the clear, certain, and unani- 
 mous voice of Primitive Antiquity. 
 
 I have said in the foregoing Discourse (p. 21) that 
 our Eeformers, when they first constructed their own 
 system, in 1560, and from that time forward, did, 
 from whatever cause, overlook or disregard the um- 
 pire to which, in 1558, they had themselves appealed.. 
 
74 Appeal to Primitive Antiquity. 
 
 Let it be admitted at once what is stated in the Con- 
 fession of Faith, chap, xviii, entitled " Of the Notes 
 by which the true Kirk is discerned from the false, 
 and who shall be Judge of the Doctrine ;" where w^e 
 read, " "When controversy happens, for the right 
 understanding of any place or sentence of Scripture, 
 or for the Reformation of any abuse within the Kirk of 
 God, we ought not so much to look what men before us 
 have said or done, as unto that which the Holy Ghost 
 uniformly speaks within the Body of the Scripture, 
 and to that which Christ Jesus Himself did and. com- 
 manded be done. For this is one thing universally 
 granted that the Spirit of God, which is the Spirit of 
 Unity, is in nothing contrarious unto Himself." l It 
 is, I say, admitted that we ought not to look to 
 what men before us have said or done, so much as 
 we ought to look to that which the Holy Ghost uni- 
 formly speaks. And as against certain portions of 
 the Romish doctrine, for instance, the worship of the 
 Virgin Mary, the Denial of the Cup to the Laity, the 
 doctrine of Purgatory, etc. etc., inasmuch as we de- 
 cline to acknowledge, with Eomanists, the authority 
 of Tradition as co-ordinate with the Word of God, 
 we think it sufficient not to look at all beyond the 
 
 1 Knox uses the same language one place, the Holy Ghost, which 
 
 in his first interview with Queen is never contrarious to Himself, 
 
 Mary, in the year after the Con- explains the same more clearly in 
 
 fession of Faith was drawn up ; other places ; so that there can 
 
 only on that occasion he argues remain no doubt, but unto such 
 
 that we are to look not at all "to as obstinately remain ignorant." 
 
 what men before us have said and — History, n. 254. No wonder 
 
 done," because u the Word of the Queen was not satisfied with 
 
 God is plain in itself ; and if such a statement, 
 there appear any obscurity in 
 
Principle on which this Appeal rests. 7~) 
 
 pages of Holy Scripture for the determination of 
 these questions. 
 
 But we know how this principle fails us— how it 
 may mislead us — upon other points of controversy, 
 where the command of Christ, or the voice, or, if 
 it be so, the silence of the Spirit in Holy Scripture 
 is less clear and express. Not that God has left us 
 without sufficient and most conclusive means — means 
 which we regard as amply satisfactory in all matters 
 of civil and secular investigation — in order that we 
 may ascertain His apparent will, in regard to the 
 points to which I refer, by the knowledge which, 
 through patient inquiry, He enables us to gain of the 
 teaching and practice of the Primitive Church. 1 Here 
 then is the controversial field, which would seem, no 
 doubt, comparatively of minor consideration in the 
 eyes of our Eeformers of 1560, but which is to us in 
 the present day of the greatest practical importance ; 
 the field in which opposite parties, equally desirous 
 to do honour to the Word of God, and to exclude all 
 other authority as original or co-ordinate, have been 
 led to form different conclusions, and consequently 
 to fall asunder into un-Christian separation. And 
 here it is, I say, that w r e require those other helps 
 which God has given us, to assist us in the interpre- 
 tation of His word, and the discovery of His will — 
 
 1 If it be thought that matters eluded the canon of Holy Scrip- 
 
 which God has left to be fully tare itself, the observance of the 
 
 ascertained in this manner, with- Lord's day, the Baptism of In- 
 
 out the express precept of His fants, and even the Doctrine of the 
 
 written Word, must therefore be Trinity — matters not merely of 
 
 of less and inconsiderable im- form or discipline, but most ne- 
 
 portance, let it be remembered cessary Faith. 
 that amonp; such matters are in- 
 
7G Scriptural Basis of Confirmation. 
 
 helps which our Reformers, as we have seen, pro- 
 fessed that they were prepared to recognise, but of 
 which, unhappily, they neglected to make use. 
 
 1. Let me exemplify this first, in the case of Con- 
 firmation. 
 
 Our unreformed Council of 1559 had adopted the 
 Decrees of the Council of Trent, and by so doing, had 
 again pronounced Confirmation to be one of the seven 
 Sacraments, and to have been ordained by Christ 
 Himself. 
 
 It is sufficient to appeal to Scripture against such 
 a determination. 
 
 But is Scripture silent, as oar Reformers were, about 
 the use and necessity of Confirmation altogether ? 
 
 The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
 vi. 1, 2, speaks plainly of "the laying on of hands" as 
 one of " the principles of the doctrine of Christ," and 
 as part of the very " foundation" of all Christian 
 teaching. It is, therefore, something very important. 
 We examine the passage carefully. We observe the 
 order in which the six so-called " principles" are 
 arranged: — 1. " Bepentance." 2. " Faith" (both 
 w^hich we know were always required as preparatory 
 to baptism). 3. " Baptism." 4. " Laying on of 
 hands." To wdiich are added the two grand motives 
 of all our actions as Christians. 5. " Besurrection of 
 the Dead." 6. " Eternal Judgment." The only ques- 
 tion here is about the fourth of these principles. We 
 cannot think that it refers to something temporary 
 and extraordinary, as were the supernatural gifts, or 
 
Confirmation Scriptural and Primitive. 77 
 
 to something partial and applicable only to a parti- 
 cular body or exceptional case among Christians, as 
 Ordination of Clergy, or Absolution of Penitents, be- 
 cause the five other principles here mentioned, being 
 plainly such as refer to all Christians of all times, it 
 is reasonable to conclude that the remaining one is 
 equally extensive and universal in its application. 
 In short, we suppose it to be the same as that which 
 we now more commonly call Confirmation. 
 
 And our faith is strengthened in this interpreta- 
 tion by what we read in Acts viii., concerning the 
 conversion of the Samaritans, the first missionary 
 enterprise undertaken by the Church. It seems to 
 us that the Apostles Peter and John are there exhi- 
 bited as putting in practice this first " principle of 
 the doctrine of Christ," by confirming those whom 
 Philip the Deacon had before baptized. 
 
 Taking these two passages together, as mutually 
 illustrating and corroborating each other (not to 
 mention one or two more to the same effect), we 
 think that the interpretation which we put upon 
 them is perfectly legitimate, and we are quite sure 
 that there is nothing in Scripture which is sufficient 
 to disprove that interpretation. Still, if a controversy 
 is to be raised upon the point, we are not soriy to 
 have recourse to other judgments besides our own, 
 and especially to those who lived " nighest to the 
 Primitive Church." 
 
 Let us see then what several of the chief and 
 " most learned of the ancient Fathers" have to say 
 upon this question. 
 
78 Testimony of the Fathers 
 
 St. Cyprian understood the passage of the Acts to 
 refer to Confirmation. " They who believed in Sa- 
 maria were baptized by Philip the Deacon, and 
 therefore had no occasion to be rebaptized ; but only 
 that which was wanting to them was supplied by 
 Peter and John ; so that by their prayer and impo- 
 sition of hands, the Holy Spirit was invoked and 
 poured forth upon them. The same is now practised 
 also among us. They who are baptized, are brought 
 to the chief Pastors of the Church, that by our prayer" 
 — Cyprian being a Bishop— "and imposition of 
 hands, they may receive the Holy Ghost, and be com- 
 pleted with the seal of the Lord." — Epist. lxxiii. c. 9. 
 
 So, too, the anonymous author of the treatise, De 
 Re-baptismate, who opposed Cyrian on the question of 
 re-baptizing Heretics : — " By the laying on of the 
 hand of the Bishop the Holy Spirit is given to every 
 one who believes." — Mignes Patrologia, in. 1187. 
 
 St. Jerome also interprets the passage of the Acts 
 in th^same manner as St. Cyprian. "Are you igno- 
 rant that this is the custom of the Churches, that 
 hands are laid on those who are baptized, and the 
 Holy Spirit invoked over them ? Bo you ask where 
 this is written t It is in the Acts of the Apostles" 
 And he adds these remarkable words : " Even if it 
 were not founded upon the authority of Scripture, 
 
 THE CONSENT OF THE WHOLE WORLD UPON THE POINT 
 
 would have the force of a (Divine) precept." And 
 that Confirmation was administered only by the 
 Bishop, appears from what follows shortly after in 
 the same place. " I am aware that this is the cus^ 
 
in support of Confirmation. 1\) 
 
 torn of the Churches, that in the case of those who 
 have been baptized by Priests and Deacons, at a 
 distance from the greater cities, the Bishop goes 
 forth in order to lay his hands upon them, and pray 
 that they may receive the Holy Ghost." — Advers. 
 Lucifer, chap. 8, seq. II. 1G4. 
 
 St. Augustix. — u Xo one of Christ's Disciples 
 gave the Holy Ghost. They prayed, however, that 
 He might come upon those on whom they laid their 
 hands. . . . Which practice the Church still observes 
 through her chief Pastors." — Be Trin, lib. xv. chap. 
 46, viii. 1509. And he thus anticipates the objec- 
 tion that in the Apostles' time too supernatural gifts 
 were conveyed by the laying on of hands, whereas 
 now in Confirmation nothing of the kind occurs, or is 
 to be expected. " At the first, the Holy Ghost fell 
 on those that believed, and they spake in languages 
 which they had not learnt, as the Spirit gave them 
 utterance, which miracles were suitable for that 
 time. . . . But when now hands are laid on persons 
 in order that they may receive the Holy Ghost, is it 
 expected that they should speak with tongues ? or, 
 when it is seen that they do not so speak, is any of 
 you so perverse as to say, those perso r ns have not re- 
 ceived the Holy Glwst ?" — In Epist. Joann, Tract, vi. 
 chap. 10, ill. 2542, seq. And, again, in another work 
 to the same effect : " In our times the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost is not attested by occasional and sen- 
 sible miracles as it was formerly, to recommend the 
 nevj Faith, and to enlarge the newly -planted Churcli. 
 For who now expects that they on whom hands are 
 
SO Symbolical Character of Confirmation. 
 
 laid, in order that they may receive the Holy Ghost, 
 should suddenly begin to speak with tongues ?" — 
 De Bapt. adv. Boned, lib. iii. chap. 21, IX. 209. 
 
 It is upon testimony such as this that the Church 
 of England, in her 60th Canon, declares, " It hath 
 been a solemn, ancient, and laudable custom in the 
 Church of God, continued from the Apostles time, that 
 all Bishops should lay their hands upon children 
 baptized and instructed in the Catechism of the 
 Christian Eeligion, praying over them and blessing 
 them, which we commonly call Confirmation." 
 
 It may be remarked that the administration of 
 this holy ordinance appears from the beginning to 
 have been reserved to Bishops, not so much to add 
 dignity to the chief Pastors of the Flock, as to afford 
 an opportunity for bringing them into connexion 
 with every member of it, and, more particularly, 
 through the fatherly Benediction bestowed on each, 
 to symbolize, as indeed the outward sign in Confir- 
 mation very beautifully does, the brotherly unity 
 which ought to exist among all Christians. Upon 
 this point the author requests to be allowed to insert 
 here a passage from a Sermon which he was appointed 
 to preach before the University of Oxford in 1857. 
 
 " It is this holy rite (viz., Confirmation) by which, 
 over and above the strengthening and protecting 
 grace bestowed upon the individual who receives it 
 worthily, the uniting and concentrating power of the 
 Holy Ghost in respect to the body of the Church at 
 large, is especially symbolized and conveyed. Many 
 a hand administers Baptism, many a hand admini- 
 
Confirmation a Bond of Unify, 81 
 
 sters the consecrated tokens of Christ's Body and 
 Blood; one only hand throughout each district of the 
 fold of Christ administers Confirmation. Why is tit is I 
 It is, my brethren, in order that every head, so soon 
 as it becomes of age to will and to do, may be brought 
 under that one hand, and so be taught to will and 
 to do nothing of itself alone, but all in dutiful unison 
 and conformity with Christ's law of child-like humi- 
 lity and God-like love. It implies the gathering 
 not only of each individual lamb, but of all the flock 
 wider the hand of the one good Shepherd (according 
 to the Church's prayer, ' Let Thy Fatherly Hand, we 
 beseech Thee, ever be over them'), and herein the de- 
 scent of the same Holy Spirit, with his sevenfold gifts, 
 Who descended upon Jesus after Baptism. Hence 
 it is that the Scripture speaks of it as among ' the 
 principles of the doctrine of Christ/ and places it, 
 together with Repentance, and Faith, and Holy Bap- 
 tism, and belief in the Resurrection of the dead, and 
 eternal judgment, at the very ' foundation' of our 
 Christian life and Christian hope. Hence it was 
 that when the people of Samaria had received the 
 Word, and had been baptized, while as yet the 
 gospel had not been communicated to the Gentiles — 
 so deep in the first missionary practice, as in the first 
 teaching of the Church, does this ordinance lie — 
 the Apostles who were at Jerusalem sent to them, 
 out of their own body, Peter and John — a master 
 fisherman and a mender of the nets — in order that 
 they might complete, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
 through the laying on of hands, what Philip had 
 
 F 
 
82 Appeal to Primitive Antiquity. 
 
 begun by the preaching of Faith, and Eepentance, 
 and the administration of Holy Baptism. And such 
 being the place accorded to it in Scripture and in 
 Apostolic use, it is unnecessary that I should remind 
 you, how the same Ordinance received a full and 
 continuous testimony in the subsequent practice 
 of the primitive Church, so that, in the words of St. 
 Jerome, ' Etiam si Scripturae auctoritas non subesset, 
 
 TOTIUS ORBIS IX HANC PARTEM CONSENSUS instar 
 
 prsecepti obtineret.'" 1 
 
 I have observed that the Confession of Faith of 
 1560 is silent upon the subject of Confirmation. The 
 same, unhappily, cannot be said of the Acts of the 
 General Assembly for 1638, among which we read 
 the following words: 2 " Concerning Confirmation, 
 the Assembly findeth it to be comprehended in the 
 clause of the Confession, where the five bastard Sac- 
 raments are condemned. 3 And seeing Episcopacy is 
 condemned, Imposition of hands by Bishops falleth to 
 the ground ! u 
 
 Thus, we are tempted to remark, one false step 
 leads to another ; 4 if it be, as we believe, that Con- 
 firmation is one of the six "foundation-principles 
 
 1 " Mending of the Nets, being also makes no mention of Con- 
 the Oxford Ramsden Sermon for firmation. 
 
 1857, upon Church Extension in 4 The Lutherans have been 
 
 the Colonies and Dependencies more bold, for they have retained 
 
 of the British Empire," pp. 9-11. Confirmation, but then they have 
 
 2 P. 20. also retained, at least in many 
 
 3 I have looked in vain for any places, the form of Episcopacy, 
 such clause. The Confession (c. Compare upon this subject the 
 21), speaks very properly of the complaint of the learned Luthe- 
 " Two chief Sacraments," but ran, Delitzsch, in his commentary 
 makes no mention, that I can find, upon Hebrews vi. 2, quoted in 
 of any others, real or pretended. Dr. Wordsworth's New Testa- 
 The ^ Vestm i aster Confession, 1617, ment. 
 
Application of it to Episcopacy. 83 
 
 of the Doctrine of Christ." But, seeing that the 
 discontinuance of Confirmation is made to rest upon 
 the abolition of Episcopacy, let us now go on to 
 apply to this latter question the same process of 
 argument, viz., the teaching of Scripture interpreted 
 or illustrated upon a controverted point by the aid of 
 Primitive Antiquity. 
 
 2. It is known that we are content to waive all 
 dispute respecting the Scriptural use of the names 
 1 Bishop' and ' Bishopric/ We are willing to grant, 
 if desired, that these names might be applied, at 
 first, very loosely and promiscuously. 1 All that we 
 contend for is the office itself, involving a disparity 
 in the ministry, and the subordination of Priests and 
 Deacons. Let the reader consider how laxly and 
 indefinitely similar designations, such as overseer 
 and superintendent, would be likely to be used at 
 first with reference to oversight or superintendence 
 over a smaller or a larger number in an infant 
 society, especially in a society whose original organi- 
 zation, being in many places confessedly and neces- 
 sarily imperfect, was supplemented for a time by 
 extraordinary officers, such as inspired Prophets and 
 Evangelists. In this respect (as was observed in the 
 foregoing Discourse), we may compare what took 
 place among our own Eeformers. The Beformation 
 doctrines had been held and preached in Scotland 
 more or less for thirty years and upwards, and yet, 
 
 i The same is equally true of the Scriptural use of the name 
 Deacon. 
 
 
84 Episcopacy based on Scripture. 
 
 in 1560, the Reformers were unable to find more 
 than five of their number who were competent and 
 willing to fill the office of " Superintendent," though 
 they wished and designed to appoint ten, according 
 to the ten stations or dioceses into which they had 
 portioned out the whole country. 1 In like manner 
 the up -growth and full development of the regu- 
 larly organized threefold ministry in the first age 
 of the Church, was necessarily and designedly (see 
 1 Tim. iii. 6, " not a novice") slow and gradual. At 
 Jerusalem, indeed, as being then the headquarters 
 and (for a time) almost the only sphere of Evangeli- 
 cal operations, the regular ministry appears to have 
 been organized almost immediately after our Lord's 
 Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Ghost, that 
 is, from the very first. And here it is that we must 
 begin to raise the question of the right interpretation 
 of Holy Scripture. At Jerusalem during this early 
 period, a.d. 33-43, we find the existence of Deacons 
 (Acts vi.) and of Elders or Presbyters (Acts xi. 30). 
 We also find St. James, the " Brother" of our Lord, 
 mentioned in a way, and with marks of distinction, 
 for which the previous notices of his name, as it 
 occurs in the gospels, had not prepared us. , See 
 Acts xii. 17, and Gal. i. 18. Again, about a.d. 48, 
 we see the same pre-eminence given to St. James at 
 Jerusalem, Gal. ii. 9, and still more in Acts xv. 13- 
 19, where he appears as President of the Council, 
 though St. Peter and St. Paul, as well as other 
 Apostles, were also present. See also Gal. ii. 12. 
 
 1 See above, p. 34; Principal Lee's Lectures, i. 171, 185. 
 
St. James Bishop of Jerusalem. 85 
 
 Again in a.d. 56, we find St. James, as before, resi- 
 dent at Jerusalem, with all his Presbyters around 
 him, prepared to receive St Paul on his return 
 thither, after his third and last Apostolic Journey 
 (Acts xxi. 1 8). Once more, antecedently to all these 
 events, we are told by St. Paul (1 Cor. xv. 7), that 
 our Lord, after His Resurrection, vouchsafed to 
 show Himself, specially and alone, to this same 
 St. James. 
 
 Here then are seven distinct passages of Holy 
 Scripture ; and we desire to know how we are to 
 account for the remarkable position which this par- 
 ticular Apostle is seen to occupy in these several 
 passages, a position which is nowhere expressly 
 explained, or noticed in the New Testament ; in 
 other words, we desire to know how to interpret, in 
 a rational and satisfactory manner, these several 
 passages of God's Word. 
 
 The answer to the inquiry is found, in a manner 
 which admits of no dispute, by reference to a suc- 
 cession of competent witnesses, among the ancient 
 Fathers, viz. — Papias (a Disciple of St. John), Hege- 
 sippus, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Cyril 
 of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Jerome, Augustin, and 
 Chrysostom, — who all testify 1 that this St. James 
 was not only one of the twelve Apostles, but a 
 Bishop, a Diocesan Bishop — being appointed, some 
 
 1 I forbear to quote the pas- having carefully examined all 
 
 sages here referred to, or even to the authorities, amounting to no 
 
 give the references. But I am less than thirty-three distinct 
 
 able to vouch for the perfect ac- pieces of historical evidence, in 
 
 curacy of what is stated above, the originals. — See Knox, in. 44. 
 
86 Appeal to Primitive Antiquity. 
 
 of them say, by our Lord Himself, others, by the 
 Apostolic Body, to be the 'first Bishop of Jerusalem. 
 With the help of this recorded fact, the passages of 
 Scripture which required explanation, are easily 
 accounted for, and satisfactorily interpreted. But 
 can they be accounted for, can they be interpreted 
 upon any other supposition ? 
 
 And if it be objected that we have no mention of 
 St. James' appointment as Bishop in the New Testa- 
 ment, let it be remembered that we have likewise no 
 mention of the appointment of Presbyters at Jeru- 
 salem, of whom, nevertheless, we read in Acts xi. 30 ; 
 xv. 6 ; xxi. 1 8, and elsewhere. 
 
 So much then, for the interpretation of these pas- 
 sages of Scripture, and for the form of Government 
 instituted in the first fully organized Christian 
 Church, viz., that of Jerusalem and the surrounding 
 district. 
 
 We may apply the same process, and we shall 
 obtain the same result, with reference to whole 
 portions of Scripture which bear upon the same 
 question : I allude particularly to the Epistles which 
 St. Paul addressed to Timothy as Bishop of Ephesus, 
 and to Titus as Bishop of Crete, and to that part 
 of the Apocalypse which contains the letters written 
 by St. John to the Angels or Bishops of the Churches 
 of Asia Minor. Let it be remembered that these 
 Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul and St. John carry us 
 on not only into the Government of Churches of the 
 Gentiles, but to tivo distinct periods of the Apostolic 
 age, the latter of which is more than thirty years in 
 
Its Result in regard to Episcopacy, 87 
 
 advance of the former. We place the martyrdom of 
 St. Paul in A.D. 65, and the death of St. John in a.d. 
 100. Of the long interval between these two events 
 we have no inspired record. Yet it was during this 
 interval for the most part that the foundations of the 
 Church were laid throughout the world. And upon 
 what principles were they laid ? We can only 
 answer this question by looking to the known His- 
 torical result, a result acknowledged and recorded 
 by writers who were subject to no Ecclesiastical bias. 
 When an author like Mr. Fynes Clinton, the greatest 
 chronologist who has appeared since the days of 
 Scaliger, records the succession of Bishops in the 
 four principal Apostolic Sees, with as much preci- 
 sion and certainty as he records the succession of 
 Archons at Athens and of Consuls at Eome, we may 
 feel sure that the facts rest upon a basis which no 
 incredulity can suffice to shake. And what is the 
 result ? That the succession commenced, not only at 
 Jerusalem, but at Antioch, at Eome, and at Alex- 
 andria, — i.e., in the capitals of the three then known 
 quarters of the globe — before the death of St. John. 1 
 And it is equally certain that what was begun so 
 early in these and other principal cities of the 
 Eoman Empire, was in the course of another period 
 of thirty or fifty years established universally else- 
 where ; and so continued universal throughout the 
 Church, equally in the East and West, North and 
 South, without interruption till the period of the 
 Eeformation, that is, during fifteen centuries. And 
 
 * See Fasti Romani, n. 535-558. 
 
88 Appeal to Primitive Antiquity. 
 
 still the vast majority of Christians, reformed and 
 unreformed, retain the same organization. 
 
 It was in reliance upon a course of reasoning such 
 as that which I have now exemplified, that the Ee- 
 formers of the Church of England solemnly declared, 
 in 1552, eight years before the Scotch Booh of Dis- 
 cipline was drawn up, as follows : — 
 
 " It is evident unto all men, diligently reading 
 Holy Scripture and Ancient Authors, that from the 
 Apostles' time there have been these orders of 
 ministers in Christ's Church — Bishops, Priests, and 
 Deacons/' — Preface to Ordination Services. 
 
 And the judicious Hooker wrote, fifty years later — 
 
 " It clearly appeareth out of Holy Scripture that 
 Churches Apostolic did know" but three Degrees in 
 the power of Ecclesiastical Order, at the first, 
 Apostles, Presbyters, and Deacons ; and afterwards, 
 instead of Apostles, Bishops." — Eccles. Pol. Book v. 
 c. lxxviii. 9. 
 
 And again : " I may securely therefore conclude 
 that there are at this day in the Church of England 
 no other than the same degrees of Ecclesiastical 
 order, namely, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, which 
 had their beginning from Christ and His Blessed 
 Apostles themselves." — Ibid. sect. 12. See further 
 testimonies below, chap. iv. p. 101. 
 
 If then, our Eeformers had abided by the appeal 
 which they made to Primitive Antiquity as an um- 
 pire in the Interpretation of Scripture ; if they had 
 consulted, as they proposed, " the determination of 
 the first four General Councils, in which the learned 
 
Its Result as regards Public Worship. 89 
 
 and godly Fathers did examine all matters by God's 
 Word," or " the writings of the Ancient Fathers," or 
 " the godly approved laws of Justinian the Em- 
 peror" 1 — which brings the appeal down to A.D. 535 — 
 it is certain they would have found enough to con- 
 vince them that both Confirmation and Episcopacy 
 were Scriptural and Apostolic Ordinances (if, in- 
 deed, they ever doubted of this fact), and little or 
 nothing to support them either in substituting for 
 the latter a new system of Church Polity, or in 
 allowing the former to " fall to the ground." 
 
 3. Let us proceed to apply the same line of argu- 
 ment with reference to the Public "Wokship of 
 Almighty God. 
 
 The principal passages which relate to Congrega- 
 tional Worship in the New Testament are the fol- 
 lowing : — 
 
 Luke xi. 2. — " When ye pray, say, Our Father," 
 etc. etc., that is, say a certain prepared form of 
 prayer. As the learned Bishop Pearson has observed 
 " Our Lord gives His Disciples not a Directory, but 
 a form ; He tells them not hoxc, but what they are 
 to say." 2 
 
 Matt, xviii. 19, 20. — " I say unto you, That if two 
 of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that 
 they shall ask," etc, etc. Here the Greek word trans- 
 lated " agree," properly means shall u agree vocally." 
 
 1 It is sufficient to refer to No- Decrees of the first four General 
 
 veil. 137, " De creatione Epis- Councils, 
 coporum," and to Constitute 120 
 
 and 134. The former adopts the 2 Minor Theol. Works, II. 103. 
 
 i 
 
90 Appeal to Primitive Antiquity. 
 
 1 Cor. xiv. 1G. — " Else, when thou shalt bless 
 with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the 
 room of the unlearned say Amen" — in the original 
 it is, say the Amen, i.e., the well-known customary 
 Amen — " at the giving of thanks." 
 
 These passages would lead us to suppose that Con- 
 gregational worship among Christians was designed, 
 and ordered from the beginning, to consist of pre- 
 scribed forms, in which the Congregations might 
 " with one mind and one month glorify God" (Eom. 
 xv. 6) ; and because the voices of many speaking 
 together for any length of time would be apt to mar 
 the solemnity of the Service, and interfere too much 
 with the office of God's appointed minister, the use 
 of the responsive Amen was the authorized method 
 by which the people were to signify their vocal as 
 well as mental agreement in the several acts of 
 Divine worship. 
 
 This is the interpretation which we put upon those 
 passages of the New Testament, and we are quite 
 sure that there is no word in the whole of Scrip- 
 ture to contradict that interpretation. Still, others, 
 we know, have taken a different view ; and we, 
 therefore, appeal to the testimony of primitive anti- 
 quity to see how the same passages were understood 
 and acted on in those early times. 
 
 The known existence from the earliest times of 
 written and prescribed Liturgies is the shortest and 
 best answer that can be given to this inquiry. Ac- 
 cordingly, it is asserted by one whose great theo- 
 logical learning will not be disputed, that " in all 
 
Its Result as regards Public Worship. 91 
 
 the churches of Christ over the world, however dis- 
 tant from each other, we find set forms of public 
 prayers. . . . Indeed, the exercise of the public wor- 
 ship of God in set and prescribed forms of prayer 
 hath been the practice of all settled churches of God, 
 not only ever since Christianity, but also before our 
 Saviour's coming into the world. . . . The same order 
 which St. Paul gives to Timothy (1 Tim. ii. 1,2) was 
 observed in the same manner in the Catholic Church 
 throughout all succeeding ages, the exercise of the 
 public worship being never in any age of the Church 
 (before this latter age of innovation) permitted and 
 intrusted to the discretion and abilities of every 
 private minister." 1 
 
 If this be so, well might another great Episcopal 
 divine (whose admirable Exposition of the Creed is 
 used, I believe, as a text-book by many Presbyterian 
 students in theology), exclaim, with reference to the 
 practice of public extemporaneous prayer, " Nbn ad- 
 mittimus Spiritum orationis adversus Spiritum unita- 
 tis." 2 I venture to add the following striking remarks 
 translated from the same Latin Discourse : — "What is 
 it that gives such great power to our Public Prayers ? 
 What is it that renders them so pleasing to God 
 and so efficacious ? Is it not the union of numbers 
 of men conscious of the same wants, consenting to 
 the same petitions, and importuning the Divine 
 Goodness with the same entreaty ? And if this be 
 so in regard to each separate congregation, must it 
 
 1 Bishop Bull, I. 329, 334, 340. 
 
 2 Bishop Pearson, Minor Theological Works, I. 409. 
 
92 The Will of God, when revealed, 
 
 not hold good much more in the case of all ? How 
 can we suppose that our most merciful Father, Who 
 has assured us that He is present in the midst of 
 us where two or three are gathered together — how, 
 I ask, can we suppose that it would be possible for 
 Him to deny those favours which are asked by all 
 His children throughout the whole Church, in every 
 congregation, on the same day, at the same hour, 
 with one mind, and in the same words ?" 1 
 
 And, let it be remembered, that this practice, too, 
 is still retained by the vast majority of Christian 
 communities, not only unreformed but reformed. 
 
 I know this matter is sometimes argued as if it 
 were merely a question of expediency, or of taste, 
 arising out of the temperament, or supposed edifica- 
 tion of the individual worshippers. But, in answer 
 to such a notion, let me quote the just and weighty 
 words of Knox himself : " AVe may not think us so 
 free nor wise that we may do unto God and unto 
 His honour what we think expedient."' 2 And again, 
 in another place, " Mark, brethren, that many make 
 an idol of their own wisdom or fancy, more trusting 
 to that which they think good than unto God, who 
 plainly saith, not the things which seem good in thy 
 eyes do unto thy God, but what thy Lord God hath 
 commanded thee." 3 Yes, truly, the question is not 
 of our will and pleasure, but of God's will and of 
 His glory. And we need to be assured that His 
 
 1 Bishop Pearson, Minor Thco- that the Mass is Idolatry, Works, 
 logical Works, I. 408. in. 37. 
 
 3 A Godly Letter to the Faith- 
 
 2 Vindication of the Doctrine ful in London, Works, in. 196. 
 
our only Bute of Edification. 93 
 
 glory is better promoted, and His will more obeyed 
 by unwritten and unprescribed addresses (involving 
 among other consequences the violation of unity 
 in public worship, and separation from the universal 
 practice of the Church), before we should be war- 
 ranted in adopting them in preference to Liturgical 
 Forms. 
 
 Let it be remembered all along that the first peti- 
 tion of our Eeformers, and the object which they 
 repeatedly professed, was " that the reverent face 
 of the Primitive and Apostolic Church should be 
 reduced again to the eyes and knowledge of men." l 
 And this the author of Knox s History, at the com- 
 mencement of his fourth Book, boasts that they had 
 done. " In that point," he writes, " our God hath 
 strengthened us, till that the work was finished, as 
 the world may see." What, however, they really 
 did, as well as the causes which prevented them from 
 doing what they had originally proposed, will be 
 found more accurately described in the following 
 eloquent passage, written in 1669 : — 
 
 " Ex Ecclesiis Eeformatis vidimus nonnullas lau- 
 dahili potuis conatu ad id, quod optimum putabant, 
 collinedsse, quam eventu exoptato, quod fieri debuit, 
 effecisse. Enimvero homines, pristino corruptelaruni 
 statu exacerbati, et incredibili omnia renovandi ardore 
 accensi, et swvissimd simul adversariorum immanitate 
 lacessiti, modum servare difiicillime potuerunt. Quare 
 dum idololatriam extirparent, vix reverentiam 
 
 i Knox's History, i. 306 ; II. 264. 
 
94 Defects and Excesses of Reformation. 
 
 Divini Nominis cultui necessariam retinuerunt ; 
 traditiones humanas dum ejicerent, vereor ne et 
 Apostolicas expulerint ; dum ceerernoniarum nimium 
 apparatum excuterent, metuo ne Ecclesiam penitus 
 denudarint ; et dum auctoritatem hominum in fidei 
 negotio rejicerent, SS. Patrum inconcussa dogmata, 
 et Conciliorum firmissima decreta" — the very things 
 to which our own Eeformers had appealed — "suis 
 placitis postposuerint." 1 
 
 1 Bishop Pearson, Orat. vi. Minor Theol. Works, i. 434. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OUR reformers' appeal to scripture wherein 
 
 MISDIRECTED— ORIGIN OF PURITANISM. 
 
 It is stated in Balnaves' Treatise on Justification, 
 of which Knox drew up his Brief Summary in 1548, 
 that " nothing from the beginning of the world hath 
 ever been so displeasant in the sight of God, as to 
 invent any manner of worshipping Him which He 
 hath not commanded." And the instance which he 
 alleges in confirmation of this statement is somewhat 
 curious, when we consider how many of the Re- 
 formers allowed themselves to enter upon the work 
 of the ministry in irregular ways. " For this cause 
 king Saul was ejected, and his posterity lost and fell 
 from the kingdom. In the which example ye shall 
 consider that the works wrought by king Saul were 
 right excellent in the sight of man, and also done by 
 him of a good intent and for a good cause. He offered 
 sacrifice for fear that the people should [not] pass 
 from him, he being then prepared for battle against 
 
 the enemies of God Was this not a good zeal 
 
 and intention ? But ye may read the great punish- 
 ment God laid upon him, which shall remain for an 
 example in all ages to come/' 1 
 
 1 Knox's Works, in. 531, in the Summary, p. 26. 
 
96 Unwritten u Order' recognised in Scripture. 
 
 In the previous year, Knox in his disputation at 
 St. Andrews, had entered upon the same matter, and 
 first broached the fallacy which afterwards led to 
 such miserable turmoil and confusion in the Church 
 both in this country and in England. The Sub-Prior 
 had asked, " Why may not the Kirk for good causes 
 devise ceremonies to decore the sacraments, and other 
 [parts of] God's service ?" And the answer of Knox 
 came, again and again, to this : u The said John an- 
 swered oftener than once. That the spouse of Christ 
 hath neither power nor authority against the Word of 
 God." 1 But the question was not of power to order any 
 thing against the Word of God, which his opponent 
 probably would not have maintained, but rather of 
 the method of carrying out the injunction of Scripture 
 itself, that " all things" in the worship of God are to 
 be done "decently and according to order," 2 — order 
 which, nevertheless, in the Scriptures themselves, is 
 not, and therein is repeatedly acknowledged 3 not to 
 be, fully specified. 
 
 The same fallacy is to be found, only carried to a 
 still greater extreme, in the apology which Knox de- 
 livered at Newcastle, April 1550, when " the Bishop 
 of Durham (Tonstall) and his Doctors were present," 
 in Vindication of Ms doctrine that the mass is Idolatry. 
 On that occasion, having laid down the general pro- 
 position that " that is principal Idolatry when our 
 own inventions we defend to be righteous in the si^ht 
 
 i Knox's Works, i. 195, 200. rest will I thoroughly set in order 
 
 2 1 Cor. xiy. 40. when I come." 2 Thess. ii. 15 ; 
 
 8 See 1 Cor. xi. 2, 34, " The in. 6. 
 
Justified by Christ and His Apostles. ( J7 
 
 of God, because we think them good, laudable, and 
 pleasant," he goes on to apply it even to " rites and 
 ceremonies," and so comes to the conclusion " that 
 all worshipping, honoring, or service of God, invented 
 by the brain of man, in the Eeligion of God, without 
 his own express commandment, is Idolatry." 1 
 
 Ten years afterwards, we find the same conclusion 
 introduced in the Book of Discipline, — u By Idolatry 
 we understand the Mass, Invocation of Saints, Adora- 
 tion of Images, and finally, cdl honouring of God not 
 contained in his holy Word." — Chap. iii. 3. 
 
 It did not occur to Knox and our Eeformers, that 
 by such an argument they were condemning as 
 idolatrous the conduct of our blessed Lord and his 
 Apostles. We know that our Lord himself acknow- 
 ledged in the Church a power of decreeing rites, and 
 of changing those rites and ceremonies, " according 
 to the diversities of countries, times, and mens 
 manners, so that nothing be ordained against God's 
 Word." 2 This, I say, we know, because in the eating 
 of the Passover, He gave his sanction to several par- 
 ticulars which formed no part of the original Divine 
 and Scriptural Institution — such as the recumbent 
 posture, the drinking of wine, and the singing of an 
 Hymn. The truth is, that both our reason and our 
 sense of reverence are to be consulted in regard to all 
 
 1 Knox's Works, in. 37 seq., 47. soever God (in matters of Reli- 
 
 Compare his Brief Exhortation to gion) hath not sanctified by His 
 
 England, 15.59: "Let God's W T ord expressed word, the same, I say, 
 
 alone be the rule and line to remaineth execrable, polluted, and 
 
 measure His Religion. What it defiled." Works, v. 516. See 
 
 commandeth, let that be obeyed ; also in the next page, note 3. 
 
 what it commandeth not, let that 2 Article 31 of the Church of 
 
 be execrable." And again, " What- England. 
 
 G 
 
98 Evil Result of contrary principle. 
 
 such matters ;* and these will make all whose office 
 it is to order the Church's Eitual, not only very con- 
 siderate as to what they add, and how they add to 
 the necessary accidents of Divine worship, but also 
 very cautious not to place any such addition upon 
 the same footing of obligation with the essentials 
 which have been prescribed by God himself. 2 
 
 It is lamentable to think that it was mainly owing 
 to the non-perception or non-observance of this 
 truth (a truth which is now, I believe, generally 
 admitted by intelligent Presbyterians), and to the 
 opposite views which Knox in particular had early 
 imbibed, and too hastily advocated, 3 that a union was 
 not effected in the year 1560 between the Eeformed 
 Churches of this country and of England. At least 
 so we are informed by Bishop Lesley, who thus writes 
 concerning the Articles then agreed upon between 
 the French and English Commissioners, the latter 
 being Sir William Cecil, and Dr. Nicholas Wotton : — 
 
 "Here is necessary to be remembered the cause why 
 in this treaty there was nothing agreed touching Re- 
 ligion ; because the Commissioners of England would 
 have wished the Congregation of Scotland to have 
 received the Discipline and Ceremonies conform to 
 
 1 See Hooker, Ecc, Pol. , Book ii. seq. See in last page, note 1. In 
 
 passim. his Letter to Mrs. Anne Locke, 
 
 « See. Bishop Sanderson, Ser- April }5®, where we read " I can 
 
 „ion v. ad (forum. Wnh*, II. d ° " otllln g »** h ° ld aud affil ™ 
 
 -txQlxQ all tilings polluted, yea execrable 
 
 and accursed, which God by His 
 
 3 E.g. in his Sermon at Frank- Word hath not sanctified in his 
 
 fort, March 1555. See M'Crie's Religion." Caldenvood, I. 433. 
 
 Life, p. 73. In his Exhortation See also Knox's Works, TV. 223, 
 
 to England, 1558, Works, v. 515, 231, 468. 
 
Reformers Inconsistency in this respect. 99 
 
 the order established lately before in their Parliament 
 of England ; so that both tJie realms might have been 
 uniform in Religion and Ceremonies ; but the Ministers 
 and Congregation of Scotland, thinking their own 
 profession, after the order and Discipline of Geneva, 
 to be more pure, as containing no other ceremonies 
 than arc expressly mentioned in the Scripture, therefore 
 would not receive or admit any other ; and the Com- 
 missioners from France would nut approve none of the 
 two; and therefore that matter was delayed." 1 
 
 And yet, in order to justify their own proceedings 
 in this country, our Eeformers in their Confession of 
 Faith published the same year, expressed themselves 
 as follows : — 
 
 " The other (cause of General Councils) was for 
 good policy and order to be constituted and observed 
 in the Kirk, in which, as in the House of God, it 
 becomes all things to be done decently and in wder. 
 Not that we think that one Policy and one order in 
 ceremonies can be appointed for all ages, times, and 
 places, for as ceremonies such as men have dexisecT- - 
 which, be it remembered, Knox had proved to be 
 Idolatijy ! — " are but temporal, so may and ought 
 they to be changed, when they rather foster super- 
 stition than that they edify the Church" — not, 
 therefore, an impossible supposition — " using the 
 same." — Chap. xx. 
 
 Sound and moderate sentiments, precisely similar 
 to those expressed' in the English Article (34), if we 
 except only the words, " good policy," and " one 
 
 1 Lesley's History, p. 292. 
 
100 The Church's Polity not variable. 
 
 Policy," thrown in, as I have said, by our Beformers 
 to meet the necessities of the position which they 
 were then about to assume. I have already dealt 
 with this subject in the preceding chapter, and w T ill 
 not resume it in detail. Only, as this has now become 
 the favourite view in regard to the question of Church 
 Policy — a view well suited to the laxity and latitu- 
 dinarianism of the present age — to imagine that, as 
 God hath instituted no particular form of govern- 
 ment for states, so neither has He done so for His 
 Church, I would wish to ask, can it ever be proved 
 that a Policy, which was universal throughout the 
 Church at the time of St. John's death, or within 
 fifty years after it, was intended to admit of a re- 
 volutionary change ? And, if this can not be proved, 
 can it ever tend to edification to change that Policy, 
 considering that thereby unity is liable to be broken, 
 and many may be reasonably offended at what they 
 will consider an unjustifiable deviation from a Divine 
 or at least an Apostolic ordinance ? 
 
 I am well aware that Hooker, in aiming to esta- 
 blish his grand argument in defence of the English 
 Church, upon a basis of law which should be all- 
 sufficient and co-extensive with the Puritan errors 
 which he desired to refute, has been content to place 
 the source of ecclesiastical power originally in the 
 whole body of the Church, as of civil power in the 
 whole body of the State, and that he has been much 
 commended by modern authors of eminence (for 
 instance, by Mr. Hallam) for the liberality of his 
 sentiments in this respect. But even in this view, 
 
Hooker's Opinion on this subject. 101 
 
 which waives 1 the express authority of Holy Scrip 
 ture, and therewith all claim of Divine right for any 
 one particular form of Church Polity, his statements, 
 as based (if it be so) only upon natural reason and 
 historical records, are sufficient to secure all that 
 is required. According to Mr. Hallam, a it was 
 maintained by this great writer not only that ritual 
 observances are variable, but that no certain form of 
 Polity is set down in Scripture as generally indis- 
 pensable for a Christian Church." 2 And yet even 
 in Hooker, of whom this may be said with apparent 
 truth (upon the ground, especially, of a passage which 
 Mr. Hallam there quotes, and which occurs in Book 
 iii. chap. x. 8 of the Ecclesiastical Polity), we find 
 besides the testimonies before produced, p. 25, note 3, 
 and p. §§, such expressions of opinion as these : — 
 
 " What need we to seek far for proofs, that the 
 Apostles, who began this order of regiment of Bishops, 
 did it not but hy Divine instinct, when without such 
 direction, things of far less weight and moment they 
 attempted not ? . . . Before Timothy was employed 
 in those Episcopal affairs of the Church about which 
 the Apostle St. Paul used him, the Holy Ghost gave 
 special charge for his Ordination, and prophetical 
 intelligence more than once what success the same 
 would have. And shall we think that James was 
 made Bishop of Jerusalem, Enodias, Bishop of the 
 Church of Antioclif the Angels in the Churches of 
 
 i But see Eccl. Pol., Book iii. 3 See Fynes Clinton's Fasti 
 
 chap. iv. and chap. xi. 20. Romani, 11. 535, who gives 43 
 
 2 Hallam's Constitutional Ills- a.d. as the probable date of 
 
 tariff i. 294. Enodias, first bishop of Ant inch. 
 
102 The Church's Polity not variable. 
 
 Asia, Bishops, that Bishops everywhere were ap- 
 pointed to take away factions, contentions, and 
 schisms, without some divine instigation and direc- 
 tion of the Holy Ghost ? Let us not fear to be 
 herein bold and peremptory, that if anything in the 
 Church's government, surely the first institution of 
 Bishops was from Heaven, was even of God ; the 
 Holy Ghost w r as the author of it." — Eccles. Pol, 
 Book vii. chap. v. 60. 
 
 Again : " That so the ancient Fathers did think 
 of Episcopal Eegiment, that they held this order as 
 a thing received from the Blessed Apostles them- 
 selves, and authorized even from Heaven, we may, 
 perhaps, more easily prove than obtain that they 
 all shall grant it who see it proved." — Ibid. 3. 
 
 And with regard to the w r hole of Hookers ar- 
 gument in his third Book, »and in particular, there- 
 fore, to the passage quoted by Mr. Hallam, it must 
 be borne in mind that in the seventh Book (from 
 which both the foregoing extracts are taken) Hooker 
 himself avows that a change had taken place in Iris 
 opinions upon this question, in the interval, as we 
 may suppose, since the four first Books were pub- 
 lished. His w r ords are these : — 
 
 " Now although we should leave the general re- 
 ceived persuasion held from the first beginning; that 
 the Apostles themselves left Bishops invested with 
 power above other pastors ; although, I say, we should 
 give over this opinion, and embrace that other con- 
 jecture w\hich so many have thought good to follow, 
 and which myself did sometimes judge a great deal 
 
Hooker's Judgment a sufficient Guide. 103 
 
 mure probable than nov: I do, merely that after the 
 Apostles were deceased, churches did agree amongst 
 themselves, for preservation of peace and order, to 
 make one Presbyter in each, chief over the rest, etc. 
 etc. . . . this order, taken by the Church itself 
 (for so let us suppose that the Apostles did neither 
 by word nor deed appoint it), were, notwithstanding, 
 more warrantable than that it should give place and 
 be abrogated, because the ministry of the Gospel and 
 the functions thereof ought to be from heaven." — 
 Eccl. Polity, Book vii. chap. xi. 8. 
 
 This, I say, supplies all that is required when it 
 is pleaded, as in the foregoing Discourse, that in 
 seeking to obtain peace and unity, the Episcopacy 
 of Scotland should not be required to " give place." 
 
 But further, in extenuation of this (lower, and, 
 as the present author cannot but believe, less correct) 
 view, as certainly entertained by many in Hooker's 
 time, and, probably, by some of the Beformers pre- 
 viously, let me be allowed to quote the following 
 remarks from the distinguished pen of the last editor 
 of Hooker's works — remarks which, I am persuaded, 
 are as just and true as they are charitable : — 
 
 " Should it be asked how such accomplished 
 divines, as Jewel and others of his class undoubtedly 
 were, could permit themselves, for any present be- 
 nefit to the Church, so to waver in so capital a 
 point, with the full evidence of antiquity before their 
 eyes, it may be replied, first of all, that in some 
 sort they wanted that fidl evidence ivith ivhich later 
 generations have been favoured. The works of the 
 
104 Patristical Testimony now become clearer. 
 
 Fathers had not yet been critically sifted, so that 
 in regard of almost every one of them men were 
 more or less embarrassed, during the whole of that 
 age, with vague suspicions of interpolation. The 
 effect of this is apparent in various degrees through- 
 out the controversies of the time ; but on no ques- 
 tion would it be more felt than on this, of the 
 Apostolical succession and the frame of the visible 
 Church, because that was a subject on which, more 
 continually perhaps than on any other, temptations to 
 forgery had arisen; and also because the remains of Si. 
 Ignatius, in particular, for a single writer the most 
 decisive of all who have borne witness to Apostolical 
 principles, were all that time under ei cloud of doubt 
 which was providentially dispelled in the next age by 
 the discovery of a copy unquestionably genuine. This 
 consideration, as it accounts (among other things) 
 for the little stress which Hooker seems to lay on 
 quotations from St. Ignatius, to us most important 
 and decisive, so it must in the nature of things have 
 placed his predecessors, of whom we are now speak- 
 ing, under a considerable disadvantage, as compared 
 with the writers of the following century, and in all 
 candour should be taken into account ; on the one 
 hand, by those who would take advantage of the 
 silence of the Eeformers to disparage the Apostolical 
 succession ; on the other hand, by the advocates of 
 that doctrine to prevent their judging too hardly 
 of the Eeformers themselves for their comparative 
 omission of it." 1 
 
 i Keble's Preface to Hooker, same writer adds : " Hooker, in 
 i. 61. See also p. 77, where the common with most of his con- 
 
The Puritanical Principle Inconsistent. 105 
 
 To return to the more immediate subject of this 
 chapter. 
 
 The Puritan principle with regard to rites and 
 ceremonies, will always betray its unsound and 
 impracticable character, by the inconsistency and 
 apparent caprice with which it is carried out. To 
 be consistent, it ought neither to add nor omit other- 
 wise than the Scripture expressly sanctions. It has, 
 notoriously, done both. The Catholic system, which 
 justifies, within certain limits, the use of our reason 
 in all such matters, has also done both, but it has 
 done so consistently. For example, it has prescribed 
 the use of a surplice, and it has discontinued the kiss 
 of charity. After all, the Puritan system has taken 
 greater liberties with the letter of Scripture. It has 
 discontinued not only the kiss of charity, which is 
 expressly ordered in Scripture, 1 but also the use of 
 Confirmation, of frequent Communion, and, to some 
 extent, of the Lord's Prayer, all which may plead 
 Scriptural sanction, mor^ or less direct. With re- 
 gard to the second of these, instead of the frequent 
 "breaking of bread," of which we read in the Acts 
 of the Apostles, the Booh of Discipline ;has declared as 
 follows : — "Four times in the yeart^ think sufficient 
 to the Administration of the Table," chap. xi. 5. 
 
 temporaries, shrunk from the of the genuine remains of Igna- 
 
 legitimate result of his own pre- tins." Ignatius is reckoned by 
 
 mises, the rather, as the fulness Fynes Clinton as succeeding Eu- 
 
 of Apostolical authority on this odias in the see of Antioch about 
 
 point had never come within his a.d. 70. 
 cognizance, whereas the next 
 
 generation of divines entered on l Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 20 ; 
 
 the subject, as was before ob- 2 Cor. xiii. 12 ; 1 Thess. v. 26 ; 
 
 served, fresh from the discovery 1 Pet. v. 14. 
 
106 A further Error in Appeal to Scripture. 
 
 This is another instance of a deviation from Scrip- 
 ture, which our Eeformers unconsciously derived 
 from the corrupt practices of Popery, not indeed in 
 regard to the Priesthood, but to the Laity of the 
 Church. 1 
 
 In conclusion, I must not omit to notice one other 
 point, in regard to which our Eeformers' appeal to 
 the Word of God was obviously at fault ; I mean 
 their attempt to assert the obligation of the Judicial 
 law of Moses, at least in criminal cases, and conse- 
 quently " the duty of putting Idolaters (that is, 
 Papists), Adulterers, Witches and Demoniacs, Sab- 
 bath-breakers, and several other classes of offenders, 
 to death." 2 It is not necessary to specify instances. 
 They will occur to every one who is familiar with 
 the writings, and the career of Knox. 
 
 1 We shall see in the next of day at which it is admini- 
 
 chapter that Knox objected to the stered ? The Catholic system has 
 
 changing of the posture in which ordered both points consistently, 
 
 the Holy Communion was, appa- See Bishop of Oxford's Charge, 
 
 rently, received at its first institu- 1860, p. 14, sea. 
 
 tion. Ought he not also to have • 2 Hallam's Constitutional His- 
 
 objected to the change in the time tory, i. 282, 292. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 KNOX AND THE ENGLISH REFORMERS. 
 
 Jn order to appreciate thoroughly the grounds of 
 the conclusions exhibited in the foregoing chapter, 
 it is necessary to trace the somewhat ruffled course 
 of Knox's relations with the English Eeformers. 
 
 That course at its commencement was, for the most 
 part, honourable and beneficial to both parties. Im- 
 mediately upon his release from the French galleys 
 in the spring of 1549, Knox, thinking it unsafe, or 
 undesirable, to return to this country, landed in 
 England, where he was appointed Preacher by the 
 Privy Council under King Edward vi., first at Ber- 
 wick, and afterwards at Newcastle. In December 
 1551, he was made one of the King's (six) chaplains; 
 and as such, in October 1552, was with the rest con- 
 sulted by Cranmer respecting the Articles of Eeligion, 
 previously to their ratification by Parliament. In 
 the same month the Duke of Northumberland, writ- 
 ing to Secretary Sir William Cecil, recommended 
 him for the Bishopric of Eochester, then vacant. 1 
 It is believed, mainly on the authority of Beza, that 
 
 } Tytlefs England under Edward, etc., n. 142. 
 
108 Knoxs Ministrations in England. 
 
 the offer was made and declined. 1 At Newcastle, it 
 appears that he gave offence by his preaching, and 
 was brought into trouble in several influential quar- 
 ters. Notwithstanding these complaints, however, 
 he continued to be supported by the King and Privy 
 Council, who, designing to remove him to London, 
 procured for him from Cranmer the offer of the liv- 
 ing of All-hallows, Broad Street. But this also he 
 declined ; which (together, probably, with certain 
 rumours concerning his proceedings in the North 2 ), 
 induced the Council to summon him before them. 
 This was in February 1553. The occasion is a very 
 important one, as it enables us to ascertain what 
 Knox's real feelings were at this time towards the 
 English Beformation, and especially towards the 
 English Liturgy. We find the particulars in an 
 abstract, which both Calderwood and Strype have 
 given, of a letter written by Knox himself, under 
 date April 14, of that same year. 3 From the exami- 
 nation he underwent before the Privy Council, it 
 appears that " his refusal to accept the benefice pro- 
 vided for him," arose not from disinclination to use 
 the English Prayer-Book, but because his " conscience 
 did witness that he might profit more in some other 
 place than in London ;" thus indicating his willing- 
 ness to accept a benefice elsewhere : and further, it 
 would seem that, in avowing his opinion that " many 
 things at that time were worthy of reformation in 
 
 i Tytler's England under Ed- - See in the next page, note 2. 
 
 ward, etc., n. 141; M'Crie, p. 49, 3 Calderwood, I. 280 ; Strype's 
 
 seq. 469. Memorials, n. Part ii. 72. 
 
His Examination by the Privy Council. 101> 
 
 the ministry of England," lie alluded 1 rather to prac- 
 tical abuses {e.g. Pluralities and non- residence in 
 the Clergy), than either to the Episcopal Polity, or 
 to worship and Ceremonies ; for the instance which 
 lie gave, had reference to the want of discipline, and 
 " authority to separate the lepers from the whole,"- — 
 a desideratum which the Church of England herself 
 admitted, and still admits and deplores, in the Office 
 of Gomminatioii. The only other objection which he 
 specified, was, when questioned about kneeling at 
 the Holy Communion. He regarded it as " man's 
 addition and invention," and therefore not so satis- 
 factory as Christ's own " action and example." 2 
 
 Altogether, I am inclined to infer from this 
 examination, and from Knox's conduct generally 
 throughout the period during which he ministered 
 in England {i.e., from the Spring of 1549 to the 
 
 1 For confirmation of the opi- 
 nion here expressed, see his 
 Godly Letter to the Faithful in 
 
 London, 1554, in which he draws 
 a frightful picture of the sins and 
 disorders prevalent in King Ed- 
 ward's time, even among those 
 who favoured the Reformation, 
 Works, in. 175, seq., and his Con- 
 fession, Ibid. p. 106 ; but, espe- 
 cially, the Sermon which he 
 preached at Frankfort, March 
 1555, where, in order to prove 
 that Religion in England had not, 
 during that reign, been "brought 
 to perfection," he specifies "the 
 want of discipline," and com- 
 plains that " one man was per- 
 mitted to have three, four, or five 
 benefices." Troubles at Frankfort, 
 p. 39 ; Knox's Works, TV. 83. See 
 also his Brief Exhortation to 
 England, 1559 ; Ibid. v. 516-518. 
 
 2 In his Epistle to the Inhabi- 
 tants of Xeic castle, dated Novem- 
 ber 10, 1555, a week before Queen 
 Mary's death, and when, as will 
 be shown in this chapter, a great 
 change had come over Knox's 
 sentiments towards the English 
 Reformation, he boasts that he 
 had " ministered (to them) in all 
 simplicity, not as man hath de- 
 vised, neither as the Kincfs pro- 
 ceedings dial allow, the Lord's 
 Table."— Works, v. 480. I would 
 rather suppose that he alludes 
 only to kneeling, and therefore 
 expresses himself too largely, 
 than suspect that he acted with- 
 out his accustomed openness to- 
 wards the Privy Council. But 
 compare the Duke of Northum- 
 berland's letter, referred to above, 
 p. 107. 
 
110 Knox's Opinion of the English Liturgy. 
 
 Autumn of 1553, nearly five years), that the writers 
 who speak x of his " consistent hatred of the English 
 Ritual," of his having " always evinced strong aver- 
 sion to the English Service Book," and of " his con- 
 scientious scruples as to the Divine authority of the 
 Episcopal order, leading him to reject promotion in 
 the Sister Church," have drawn their conclusions 
 somewhat too hastily, and under the influence of 
 an anachronism which has ascribed to him senti- 
 ments at this period such as he undoubtedly enter- 
 tained afterwards, from the effect, as I believe, of 
 disappointment and of provocations which were due 
 in great measure to his own injudicious and intem- 
 perate conduct. Of this I shall speak presently. In 
 the meantime, in order to show r that he did not 
 " always evince strong a version to the English Ser- 
 vice Book," we have only to produce his own words, 
 spoken at Frankfort in March 1555, and recorded 
 by himself. " I had oxce a good opinion of the 
 book ; but . . . afterwards, by the stubbornness of 
 such men as would defend the whole, and the deeper 
 consideration of the damage that might ensue thereof, 
 and by contemplation of our estate which requireth 
 all OUR doings to have open defence of the Scrip- 
 tures (especially in God's Service to admit nothing 
 ivithout God's Word), I w r as driven away from my 
 first opinion." 2 In like manner, to explain his non- 
 
 i See Harchvick's Reformation, misled upon Knox's opinion re- 
 
 p. 149. Editor of Knox's Works, specting Episcopacy than Tytler. 
 
 in. 79. Principal Tulloch, p. See his History, Vi. 151," 296, 
 
 348, 350, 362. M'Crie, p. 27, 49, 325 ; and compare Cook, n. 379. 
 
 263. No writer has been more > Works, in. 43. 
 
Why he refused Preferment in England. 1 1 1 
 
 acceptance of preferment in England, we have also 
 his own express assurance, which is infinitely more 
 trustworthy than the suspicious statement of Beza, 
 published many years afterwards. In a treatise ad- 
 dressed to Mrs. Bowes, in February 1554, speaking 
 of the dismal reverse after King Edward's death, he 
 then reveals his true motive : — 
 
 " How oft have you and I talked of these present 
 days, till neither of us both could refrain tears, when 
 no such appearance then was seen of man ! How oft 
 have I said unto you that I looked daily for trouble, 
 and that I wondered at it, that so long I should 
 escape it! What moved me to refuse (and that with 
 displeasure of all men, even of those that best loved 
 me) those high promotions that were offered by him 
 whom God hath taken from us for our offences ? 
 Assuredly the foresight of trouble to come. 
 How oft have I said unto you, that the time would 
 not be long that England would give me bread." 1 
 Here we find a strong presentiment, under which, as 
 on other critical occasions, Knox confesses that he 
 shaped his course ; but we discover no ground ivhat- 
 ever for the assertion that " conscientious scruples as 
 to the divine authority of the Episcopal order, and 
 his general dissatisfaction with the state of Ecclesi- 
 
 1 See M'Crie, p. 55. He, and Knox of his anticipating, in King 
 
 others who have followed him. Edward's time, that " supersti- 
 
 have scarcely done justice to thi^ tion, lies, and idolatry would 
 
 testimony. His reference is as prevail and have the upper hand," 
 
 follows : — " MS. Letters, p. 73, and the Gospel be again with- 
 
 74, also p. 250." The passage drawn, and foreign tyranny set 
 
 occurs in Knox's Exposition of up, are to be found elsewhere. 
 
 the 6th Psalm of David. Works, See Works, v. 479-489 ; m. 288, 
 
 in. 122. Similar declarations by 321, 326, 356, 371 ; iv. 220. 
 
112 Knox withdraws to the Continent. 
 
 astical affairs in England, led him to reject this (a 
 Bishopric) as well as any other promotion in the 
 Sister Church." * 
 
 After Mary's accession, in July 1553, Knox re- 
 mained in England rather more than six months ; 
 liberty having been granted to retain the Eeformed 
 worship till the 20 th of December. He continued 
 to preach, chiefly in Buckinghamshire, till the be- 
 ginning of November. No sooner had he quitted 
 England, for Dieppe, January 20, 1554, than he 
 began to write and publish addresses, more or less 
 elaborate, in the form of Warnings and Exhortations, 
 to those whom he had left "behind ; not without in- 
 curring much bitter self-reproach, for that, as he 
 confessed, "in the beginning of this battle he had 
 appeared to play the faint-hearted and feeble soldier." 2 
 His first address was A Godly Letter to the Faithful 
 in London, Newcastle, and Berwick, and to all others 
 within the realm of England that love the coming of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ; and bears date, in the first 
 edition, May 8, 1554. The main purport of this 
 letter was to deter the faithful from being present 
 at, or in any way countenancing the Mass, — now set 
 
 1 It may be added that the Re- "prating knaves." Works, in. 
 
 forming Preachers appear to have 177 ; compare Ibid. p. 280, seq. 
 
 spoken in their public discourses 2 See Exposition of . Sb th 
 
 somewhat too sharply, and much Psalm. Works, in. 154. At a 
 
 too personally — and none more later period, however, when he 
 
 so than Knox ; till at length the wrote so severely to those who 
 
 Council would bear it no longer. had fallen back in Queen Mary's 
 
 This we are told by Knox him- time, he did not scruple to justify 
 
 self. " The whole Council said his own course. See Works, v. 
 
 they would hear no more of their 514. " I do ever except such as 
 
 sermons ; they were but in differ- ... by avoiding the realm . . . 
 
 ent fellows ; yea, and some of did give testimony," etc. etc. See 
 
 them eschewed not to call them also it. 247. 
 
His Epistles to the Brethren in England. 113 
 
 up again — on the ground of its Idolatry. This was 
 speedily followed by two shorter addresses, viz., An 
 Epistle to his Afflicted Brethren in England, dated 
 May 10, 1554, and A Comfortable Epistle sent to 
 the Afflicted Church of Christ, and which is in part 
 a repetition of its predecessor, though considerably 
 enlarged. It is dated May 31st, of the same year. 
 Towards the conclusion of the former, there had oc- 
 curred the following significant hints : — " If I thought 
 that I might have your presence, and the presence 
 of some other assured men, I would jeopard my own 
 life to let men see what may be done with a safe con- 
 science in these dolorous and dangerous days, but 
 seeing that it cannot he done instantly without danger 
 to others than to me, I will abide the time that God 
 shall appoint. But hereof be assured, that all is not 
 lawful nor just that is statute by civil law, neither 
 yet is everything Sin before God which ungodly 
 persons allege to be Treason!' 1 Whether it was his 
 own conscience, or the expostulation of friends, 
 which brought him to see that writing such as this 
 was not defensible, we may probably attribute the 
 appearance, so soon after, of the second version of 
 the Epistle to his desire to cancel and recall the 
 former; for, instead of any such language as that 
 just now quoted, we find in the latter address the 
 following truly Christian advice : — " In the mean 
 season, Beloved Brethren, two things ye must avoid. 
 The former that ye presume not to be revengers of 
 your own cause, but that ye resign over vengeance 
 
 1 Works, in. 235, scq. 
 H 
 
114 Knox writes the " Faithful Admonition" 
 
 unto Him who only is able to requite them accord- 
 ing to their malicious minds. Secondly, that ye 
 hate not with any carnal hatred those blind, cruel, 
 and malicious tyrants, but that ye learn of Christ to 
 pray for your persecutors ; lamenting and bewailing 
 that the Devil should so prevail against them, that 
 headlong they should run, body and soul, to perpe- 
 tual perdition." 1 
 
 But this wiser and more temperate mood was but 
 of short duration. It gave place to an explosion 
 coarser, more violent, and more offensive to the high- 
 est authorities, both civil and ecclesiastical, than any 
 which had preceded it. I allude to A faithful Ad- 
 monition made by John Knox unto the Professors of 
 God's Truth in England, which appeared July 20th, 
 1554, and of which one main object was to point out 
 the danger that must arise from the projected mar- 
 riage of Queen Mary with Philip of Spain, which was 
 solemnized only five days afterwards. It has been 
 frankly admitted, even by so friendly a witness as 
 the learned Editor of Knox's Works, that this pub- 
 lication was attended with the most unhappy con- 
 sequences. Mr. Laing's words are these : " There 
 can be no hesitation in believing that the obnoxious 
 terms applied (in this Admonition) to Queen Mary 2 
 and to her husband, as well as to Gardiner, Bonner, 
 and the Marquis of Winchester, may have contri- 
 
 1 Ibid. p. 244. flatterers and the maintainers of 
 
 2 To give one, and by no means her abominations shall drink the 
 the most offensive specimen : — enp of God's wrath with her."— 
 " Jezebel herself shall not escape Faithful Admonition, etc, Knox's 
 the vengeance and plagues that Works, m. 329. 
 
 are prepared for her portion. The 
 
Fatal consequences to which it led. 115 
 
 buted, in no small degree, to evoke that spirit of 
 persecution 1 which has so indelibly stamped the 
 character of blood on her reign." 
 
 It is sad indeed to think that such may have been 
 the fact. And whether it was really so or not, it is 
 certain that such an impression had gone abroad. In 
 a letter addressed to Calvin by Whitehead (Pastor), 
 Cox, Becon, and others of the English congregation 
 at Frankfort, of date September 20, 1555, we read as 
 follows : — " This we can assure you, that that outra- 
 geous pamphlet of Knox's (The Faithful Admoni- 
 tion) added much oil to the flame of persecution in 
 England. For before the publication of that book 
 not one of our brethren had suffered death ; but us 
 soon as it came forth, we doubt not but that you 
 are well aware of the number of excellent men 
 who have perished in the flames ; to say nothing of 
 how many other godly men besides have been ex- 
 posed to the risk of all their property, and even life 
 itself, upon the sole ground of having either had this 
 hook in their possession or having read it"' 2 
 
 Nor was this the only baneful result. Other 
 leaders of the English Eeformation began to feel — if 
 not, that Knox was taking too much upon himself — 
 yet, at least, that he was mismanaging their cause. 
 In that same letter written from Frankfort, it appears 
 that such persons were now unwilling to be seen in 
 
 1 Cranmer, Ridley, and Lati- 2 Original Letters, P. Soc. n. 
 
 mer were condemned for heresy 761. Cox had been King Ed- 
 
 on the 20th of April 1554, but ward's preceptor ; Becon, Gran- 
 
 the sentence was not executed till mer's chaplain. 
 October 16, 1555. 
 
1 ] 6 Origin of the Troubles at Frankfort 
 
 Knox's company from fear of consequences. " They 
 considered it neither profitable nor safe to ourselves 
 that Knox should be received with favour by our 
 Church." 1 He had been invited from Geneva (whi- 
 ther he had removed from Dieppe towards the end 
 of July 1554) to become one of their ministers, by 
 the English exiles at Frankfort, and had arrived there 
 accordingly in October. It was stipulated by the. 
 Magistrates, wlio allowed to these English the joint use 
 of the French Protestant Church in that city, " that 
 the service should be conducted as nearly as possible 
 after the manner of the French Church, which corre- 
 sponded closely with the forms practised at Geneva." 
 On consulting, however, with their fellow-country- 
 men, but now fellow- exiles, at Zurich, Strasbourg, 
 and elsewhere, the Frankfort Congregation were 
 strongly dissuaded from adopting any other forms of 
 worship than those which had been set forth in the 
 English Prayer-Book. Hence controversy arose, and 
 the party of Knox and Whittingham, 2 who, being 
 less favourable to the use of the Liturgy, were 
 naturally more inclined to insist upon the require- 
 ment of the Magistrates? desired to refer the dispute 
 to Calvin. With this view they transmitted to him 
 a descriptive Summary of the Prayer-Book, which 
 
 1 Ibid. p. 760. ally and impartially in the mat- 
 
 2 The influence of Whitting- ter. The English were not so 
 ham, and still more of Goodman, bound down to the ritual of the 
 with whom Knox was associated French, but that if the latter al- 
 at Geneva, appears to have had lowed of what was done by the 
 an injurious effect upon the mind former, it was sufficient. It was 
 of our Reformer, this liberality which opened the 
 
 3 The Magistrates, however, door for the contention of the 
 appear to have acted very liber- exiles among themselves. 
 
Appeal to Calvin against the Prayer-Booh. 117 
 
 they had prepared, in Latin. In executing this task, 
 however, it will be admitted by any one who has 
 examined the draft which they sent, they did not act 
 with. perfect good faith. For example, the Litany is 
 described as " certain suffrages, devised of Pope 
 Gregory, which begin after this manner, God tin 
 Father of Heaven, etc., God the Son, etc., only leav- 
 ing out the Invocation of Saints ; otherwise we use 
 a certain conjuring of God, by the mystery of His In- 
 carnation, by Hisholy Nativity and Cirev.mdsion, etc. ; 
 yea, it comprehendeth in plain words a prayer to be 
 delivered from sudden death ; the people answering to 
 the end of every clause, either Spare us, good Lord, 
 or else, Good Lord, deliver us, or, We beseech thee to 
 
 hear us, good. Lord Passing over some things, 
 
 lest we should seem to sift all those drosses which re- 
 main still anions us." There are other instances of 
 similar and even worse disparagement, evidently de- 
 signed to prejudice Calvin s mind. For instance : 
 " To these is joined their manner of marriage, of 
 which, that we pass over many petty ceremonies, 
 these follies who can suffer t The husband layeth 
 down a ring, etc. etc." The answer of Calvin is 
 well known. " In Anglicana Liturgia, qualem de- 
 scribitis, multas video fuisse toleredjiles ineptias" 1 
 Had it been described to him in a fairer and more 
 impartial manner, he might have expressed himself 
 otherwise. 
 
 1 The reader will observe that spondents. They had said " these 
 
 these last ^YO^ds convey not so follies who can tolerate I" He an- 
 
 much an expression of Calvin's severs by speaking of them as 
 
 own judgment against the Prayer quite " tolerable." 
 Book, as a rebuke to his corre- 
 
118 Knox required to leave Frankfort. 
 
 Meanwhile the controversy was mixed up with 
 personal jealousies and disagreements, which tended 
 to aggravate what there was of real differences of 
 opinion. And of these causes of mutual animosity 
 there was probably none which had a more injurious 
 effect than that to which I have already referred, 
 viz., the publication by Knox of his Admonition, 
 and the consequences in England to which it was 
 supposed to have led, and which must by this time 
 — the beginning of 1555 — have been well known at 
 Frankfort, The chief party among the Exiles at 
 first endeavoured to persuade Knox to withdraw. 
 But this he declined to do. To give the words of 
 then 1 own relation, written to Calvin, " Not succeed- 
 ing in this, our friends, having more closely consi- 
 dered the danger which without doubt was hanging 
 over them, thought it right to proceed in a different 
 way. The matter was at last brought before the 
 Magistrates, with no other view than that Knox 
 might be ordered to quit the place. When the Magi- 
 strate was made acquainted with the case, and had 
 also discovered that the Emperor was defamed in that 
 Pamphlet, considering that a man of this kind might 
 easily occasion danger, not only to our Church, but 
 also to his State, he ordered him to leave the city/' 1 
 Accordingly, he did so, on March 26, and returned 
 to Geneva. 
 
 It is easy to imagine that treatment such as this 
 must have caused no slight or transient offence to a 
 
 i Original Letters, P. Soc. p. Pt. i. 406, seq. See also Knox's 
 760. Strype's Memorials, vol. m. Works, i. 232 ; it. 38, 46-49, 63. 
 
Consequent ill effect on his own mind, 11!) 
 
 man of Knox's magisterial temperament ; nor would 
 he be likely to reflect, in any penitential mood, that 
 he had, in great measure, brought it upon himself. 
 Among those who joined in the complaint made 
 against him to the Magistrates was not only Cox, 
 afterwards Bishop of Ely, but the still more eminent 
 future Bishop of Salisbury, — Jewell. In short, his 
 rupture with the leading English Reformers began 
 from this time, and was never afterwards completely 
 healed 1 It had the unhappy effect of throwing him 
 more into the arms first of Calvin, and afterwards of 
 Beza, And worse than this ; it led him to regard 
 the English Eeformation and the English Liturgy 
 with far less sympathy and admiration, and certain 
 things in both w T ith far more dislike and bitterness, 
 than he had formerly done. There is indeed a strik- 
 ing and painful contrast to be traced between the 
 terms in which he spoke on these subjects in 1554, 
 before the Frankfort Troubles, and the language 
 which he used the following year, shortly previous 
 to his leaving that city ; and still more the language 
 which he used in the beginning of 1559, about four 
 years afterwards. In his Admonition, written (July 
 1554) before he went to Frankfort, speaking of King 
 Edward's reign, he had admitted that "God gave 
 boldness and knowledge to the Court of Parliament 
 to take away the most part of superstitions (kneeling 
 at the Lord's Supper excepted) which before pro- 
 faned Christ's true Eeligion." 2 Here it would seem 
 
 1 See the Diary of Bishop tony, ill. 143, quoted by the 
 Lesley, while a prisoner in Eng- Editor of Knox's Works, v. 3. 
 land, 1571. Bannatyne Miscel- 2 Works, in. 279. 
 
123 Change of Sentiment towards the Prayer-Booh. 
 
 that with one exception — the same which Knox had 
 objected to when he was in England 1 — there was 
 little to complain of in the English Prayer-Book. 
 So far then all is consistent, — but certainly not 
 "consistent hatred of the English ritual." Let us 
 now see how he expressed himself, in a Sermon 
 which he preached the next year (March 1555), a 
 fortnight before he left Frankfort. " I do find in the 
 English Book . . . things superstitions, impure, un- 
 clean, and imperfect!' 2 But a greater change still 
 had taken place, not in the book itself, for it re- 
 mained the same, but in Knox's sentiments regard- 
 ing it, on the last occasion to which I just now 
 referred. " A portion of the mark of the Beast are 
 all those dregs of Papistry which were left in your 
 great Book of England, one jot whereof will I never 
 counsel any man to use : one jot, I say, of these 
 Diabolical inventions, viz., crossing in Baptism, 
 kneeling at the Lord's Table, mummelling or singing 
 of the Litany, etc. The whole order of your Booh 
 appeareth rather to be devised for upholding of mass- 
 ing Priests than for any good instruction which the 
 simple People can thereof receive." 3 Thus he wrote 
 
 1 See above, p. 109. has since been remedied by the 
 
 2 Troubles at Frankfort, p. 38. addition not only of the General 
 Knox's Works, TV. 32 seq., 44. Thanksgiving, but of the four, 
 "With regard to the "imperfect- and when Parliament sits, five 
 ness" which Knox complained of, previous Collects of Intercession. 
 it must be remembered that one Before these additions were made, 
 of the chief objections then felt the service (except when the 
 against the Prayer-Book, — viz., Litany was used) might well have 
 the want of longer and more sub- appeared meagre in the depart - 
 stantive prayers, in comparison ment of direct and sustained sup- 
 with other and especially the re- plication. 
 
 sponsive parts of the service, — 3 Caldcriuood, I. 431, seq. 
 
Knox's "Blast against Regiments of Women!' 121 
 
 (April 6, 1559) to Mrs. Anne Locke, an English 
 lady, " from a mind," as Strype observes, " suffi- 
 ciently embittered against the English Reformation." 
 And yet not so much embittered against the English 
 Reformation as on other accounts. Quoting a por- 
 tion of the same letter afterwards, Strype adds, " This 
 is enough to show the hot spirit of this man, and the 
 prejudice he had, for some cause or other, conceived 
 against this Church and Kingdom, where he had 
 once been kindly harboured." 1 
 
 The " cause " indeed is sufficiently obvious. About 
 a year before this letter was written, Knox had com- 
 mitted another, and still more obnoxious and un- 
 happy blunder, than the Epistle to his Afflicted 
 Brethren, or even than the Faithful Admonition. 
 Early in 1558 he had published, at Geneva, his First 
 Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment 
 of Women, This publication was directed against 
 the reigning Queen Mary of England, and the Eegent 
 Queen-Dowager (Mary of Loraine) of Scotland. The 
 former died Nov. 1 7th of the same year. The latter, 
 June 10th, 1560. Could Knox have foreseen these 
 events, and especially the first, which made way for 
 the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the English 
 throne, as the second did for the return of Maiy 
 Queen of Scots from France, there is little doubt 
 that the work, as it never was completed, so it would 
 never have been undertaken. Unhappily 
 
 " Nescit vox raissa reverti ; " 
 
 and Knox was not a man, as I have said, frankly 
 
 1 Strype, Annals, i. Part i. 177. 
 
122 Knox not allowed to pass through England. 
 
 to confess an error, however he might see and regret 
 the difficulties into which it brought him. In the 
 present case the difficulties were, for a time, of the 
 most serious kind; and though willing, as he showed 
 himself on several subsequent occasions (as in his 
 letter to Queen Elizabeth, July 20, 1559, and in his 
 first interview with Queen Mary, August 26, 1561) 
 to make something like concessions, 1 he never con- 
 sented to do what was necessary in order fully to 
 extricate himself from the consequences of this dis- 
 astrous step. If his Admonition had compelled the 
 English exiles at Frankfort to separate themselves 
 from his company, and to procure his banishment 
 from that city, his Blast of the Trumpet had alienated 
 them still farther, now that they were, by God's 
 blessing, returned home. This appears plainly by 
 his own confession in the letter before quoted. " It 
 is written to me," he says to his correspondent, 
 "that my first Blast hath blown from me all my 
 Friends in England." And again, in his letter to 
 Cecil, written from Perth, June 28, 1559, his own 
 words are, that he had made " Queen Elizabeth, and 
 the Faithful in England, his enemies." 2 So much 
 indeed was this the case, that when, in January 
 1559, he had applied to the English Government for 
 permission to pass through the country, with the 
 
 1 Works, ii. 28, 277 ; Calder- inconsidered affirmations, which 
 
 wood, I. 435. In writing (May may appear rather to proceed 
 
 15, 1555) to John Fox who " in from choler than of zeal and 
 
 a loving and friendly letter" had reason." See Works, TV. 352 ; 
 
 expostulated with him on the im- v. 5. 
 
 propriety of the publication, he 2 Tytler, ti. 131 ; compare 151. 
 
 admits, "his rude vehemency and seq. 
 
His last Addresses to the English Brethren. 123 
 
 intention of visiting his Friends at Newcastle and 
 Berwick, on his way to Scotland, his request was 
 peremptorily refused ! The subject is a painful one, 
 and I will not dwell upon it. That there was suffi- 
 cient ground for the offence taken cannot be denied. 1 
 Even Calvin and Beza both highly disapproved of 
 Knox's publication. The former condemns it as 
 "the thoughtless arrogance of one individual." 2 The 
 latter informs us that it was not permitted to be sold 
 at Geneva. 3 
 
 After circumstances such as I have explained, 
 it is not wonderful that Knox — when called upon 
 in 1660 to take the leading part in reconstructing 
 the Church of this country — should have been in- 
 clined to look for the model of his procedure any- 
 where rather than to England. Nor shall we now 
 perhaps feel so much surprise at the more than 
 questionable boast that " our Eeformers took not 
 their pattern from any Kirk in the world, no, not 
 from Geneva itself"*' 
 
 It remains to mention the two last English ad- 
 dresses of Knox — viz., his Epistle to the Inhabitants 
 of Newcastle and Berwick, and unto all other who 
 sometime in the realm of England professed, Christ 
 Jesus, and now he returned to the bondage of Idolatry, 
 dated November 10, 1558 ; and his Brief Exhorta- 
 tion to the Realm of England, and to all Estates 
 
 1 See Strype's Life of Aylmer, disowned and abhorred by them." 
 
 p. 150. "they (the Papists) con- 2 Zurich Letters, 2d Series, 
 
 tinned industriously to make a P. Soc. p. 35. 
 
 noise against the whole body of 3 Rid. p. 131. Strype's An- 
 
 the English Protestants, for that nals, I. Pt. i. 173. 
 
 single book of Knox's, however * See above, p. 24, seq. 
 
124 The latter corrective of the former. 
 
 within the same, for the speedy embracing of Christ s 
 Gospel, dated January 12, 1559. As in the case of 
 his first two publications of this kind — The Godly 
 Letter and the Comfortable Epistle of 1554 — the over- 
 hasty, ill-judged, and, as the event proved, most 
 untimely utterances of the former of these addresses, 
 rendered the appearance of the latter, so soon after, 
 necessary for the author s credit ; his predictions of 
 all manner of evil to England having been so signally 
 falsified by Queen Mary's death (on November 1 7th), 
 within a week after they had been given to the 
 world. For example : " If ye be not more than 
 blind, ye may evidently see the potent hand of God 
 displayed and stretched out against you." And 
 again : " Seeing that God's Judgments ye cannot 
 escape, humble yourselves betimes, before that his 
 vengeance be armed to your destruction/' 1 After 
 expressions such as these, well might he avow in his 
 Brief Exhortation to England, " In very deed, when 
 in dolour of heart I wrote the former letter, I neither 
 looked nor could believe that the Lord Jesus would 
 so suddenly knock at thy gate." And so he proceeds 
 shortly after : " When I did more deeply weigh that 
 such is the infinite goodness of God, etc. etc. etc., I 
 was in judgment somewhat reformed." 2. 
 
 There is one important passage in the Brief Ex- 
 hortation, which has been already partly quoted in 
 the foregoing Discourse. 3 It proves, I think, indis- 
 putably, the observation made at the commencement 
 of this chapter, 4 viz., that writers who speak of 
 
 1 Knox's Works, v. 490, 492. 3 See above, p. 27, seq. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 503, seq. * See above, p. 110. 
 
Its Testimony for Episcopacy. 125 
 
 Knox as conscientiously objecting to Episcopal Gar- 
 ment have drawn their conclusions too hastily. Had 
 he entertained any such objection, we may feel quite 
 sure that nothing would have prevented him from 
 expressing it at a time when so much had occurred 
 to alienate him from the English Eeformers, and in 
 an address, of which the main object was to urge 
 the carrying out of Preformation in England upon 
 principles of uncompromising Discipline, and of the 
 strictest adherence to the letter of Holy Scripture. 
 Knox was now in his fifty-fourth year. He had 
 ministered for five years, continuously, in England, 
 and, after that, for the same period, with only one in- 
 terruption, of nine or ten months, 1 on the Continent. 
 And what is the result of his study and of his expe- 
 rience during all this time ? Having laid down as 
 ike first thing requisite, "that the Religion and true 
 honouring of God may be at once brought to that 
 purity which His Word requireth," what does he 
 recommend? That Episcopacy be abolished as Popish 
 and un- Scriptural, and that Presbyterianism, as re- 
 quired by the Word of God, be set up in its stead ? 
 No ! His words are these : — 
 
 " Let no man be charged in preaching of Christ 
 Jesus above that which one man may do ; I mean 
 that your Bishoprics be so divided, that of every one 
 as they be now (for the most part) be made ten. 
 , . . For your proud Prelates' great dominions, and 
 charges impossible by one man to be discharged, are 
 no part of Christ's ministry, but are the maintenance 
 
 1 Viz., in 1555-56, when he visited Scotland. 
 
126 The Counter-statement o/JBeza not warranted. 
 
 of the tyranny first invented and yet retained by the 
 Eoman Antichrist." 1 
 
 It is well known that great efforts are being made 
 at the present time in England to bring about a 
 subdivision of Dioceses, not indeed to such an extent 
 as Knox here proposes, but upon the very same 
 principle; that no Bishop be charged above that which 
 one man may do who desires faithfully to fulfil his 
 "part of Christ's ministry!' 
 
 I have already mentioned that the chief authority 
 upon which it is stated, by Dr. M'Crie and others, 
 that Knox refused an English Bishopric, is Beza, 
 who, in his I cones, published in 1580, has the follow- 
 ing passage : — " Quum Episcopatus quidam offer- 
 retur, tantum abest ut ilium receperit, ut etiam in 
 tot am illam vere Satanicani potestatem graviter sit 
 invectus." 
 
 I leave it to the impartial reader now to deter- 
 mine how much weight is to be attached to this 
 assertion. 
 
 I will only add to these notices, that whatever 
 degree of alienation sprang up unhappily between 
 Knox and the English Beformers, it did not prevent 
 his two sons from being educated at Cambridge, and 
 ordained to the ministry of the English Church. 
 
 1 Worts n y. 515, 518, seq. 
 
( HAPTEB VT 
 
 hi : . n<'N DU1 
 
 Thsbs i- nothing \\ Inch tends to throw mora lighl 
 upon the v, b Le Reformat ion mow men! than 
 subjed \\ hid to be bro in 
 
 andei the n mh.i 
 
 introduce it better than by the follow 
 from the I I 
 
 by Paolo 8 : Father Paul, of whom, though he 
 
 continued a ] tion 
 
 entertained amoi 
 
 the testimonies h hit b low. J 
 
 The histori o 
 I louncil in the j • 
 
 then existing relations of] fl 
 
 on the «'iif hand, and to the Pope on tl 
 first broached : — 
 
 •• In t: the Led on 
 
 ■ 
 
 mankind for general 
 
 I 
 Paulo ; ■ man « 
 
 i die, till 1 bine and 
 
 
 
 
 
 /. 
 
 ' 
 
128 Popes the first Anti-Episcopalians. 
 
 was a general complaint of [by] the Bishops, espe- 
 cially Spanish, that Christ having commanded that 
 His doctrine should be taught, which is exercised 
 in the Church by preaching, and reading [Lectures] 
 to the more capacious, that they may be fit to teach 
 the people, the care to superintend over all that 
 exercise these functions, ought to be proper to the 
 Bishop. That the Apostles have so instituted, and 
 the Holy Fathers so practised. That now this office 
 is absolutely taken from the Bishops by privileges [of 
 the Pope and others] so that no jot thereof remaineth. 
 That this is the cause why all is out of order, because 
 the order instituted by Christ is changed. The Uni- 
 versities are withdrawn with exemptions, that the 
 Bishop cannot know what they teach ; the Sermons 
 are by privilege given to the Friars, who by no means 
 acknowledge the Bishop nor suffer him to meddle, so 
 that the office of a Pastor is quite taken from the 
 Bishops. And on the contrary, those who anciently 
 were appointed to weep for sins [Monks and Friars], 
 and expressly and severely forbid to preach and 
 teach, have assumed this power unto them, or, at 
 the least, it is given them for their proper functions. 
 And so the flock remaineth without either Shepherd 
 or hireling, because these ambulatory Preachers, 
 who to-day are in one city, to-morrow in another, 
 know neither the need nor the capacity of the peo- 
 ple, and least of all the occasions to teach and edify 
 them as cloth the proper Pastor, who liveth always 
 with the flock, and knoweth the necessities and in- 
 firmities of it. Besides, the end of those Preachers 
 
Arguments held at Council of Trent. 129 
 
 is not to edify but to take alms either for themselves 
 or their cloisters, which, that they may the better 
 obtain, they aim not to benefit the soul, but to de- 
 light the ear, and soothe men in their pleasures, that 
 thereby they may draw more profit ; and the people, 
 instead of learning the doctrine of Christ, learneth 
 either novity or vanity at the least. That the abuse 
 of the Pardoners was the more manifest, who go 
 about preaching indidgences, whose scandals, formerly 
 given, cannot be related without tears. That it is 
 a clear case, that they exhort the people to nothing 
 but to give money. The only remedy for these dis- 
 orders is to take away all the privileges [i.e., given 
 to and by the Pope] and restore to the Bishops the 
 charge to teach and preach, and to elect those for 
 their fellow-labourers whom they shall know worthy 
 of that ministry, and disposed to exercise it with 
 charity. 1 
 
 "On the contrary side, the Generals of the Regulars 
 and others said, that the Bishops and Curates having 
 wholly abandoned the office of a Pastor, so that for 
 many hundreds of years the people remained with- 
 out sermons in the Church and without the doctrine 
 of Divinity in Schools, God hath raised the begging 
 Orders to supply these necessary ministries, into 
 which notwithstanding they intruded not them- 
 selves, but entered by the grant of the supreme 
 Pastor [i.e., the Pope] ; unto whom it principally 
 
 i In further confirmation and ordered intermeddling, . . . their 
 
 illustration of these complaints, usurpation, intrusion, and pre- 
 
 see Field, Of the Church, Book judicing the rights and liberty of 
 
 v. c. 55. " Of the .Popes' dis- others." 
 
130 Pleading of Begulars against Bishops. 
 
 appertaining to feed all the flock of Christ, it cannot 
 be said that men deputed by him, to supply the 
 defects of him that had the care of the flock and did 
 abandon it, have usurped the office of another. But 
 it may be said that if they had not used that charity, 
 there had now remained no sign of Christianity. 
 Now that they have applied themselves more than 
 three hundred years to that holy work, with such fruit 
 as appeareth, they have prescribed [i.e., obtained a 
 prescriptive right to] those functions and made them 
 their own, by a lawful title, given by the chief 
 Pastor, the Bishop of Borne ; and that the Bishops 
 have no lawful right unto them, nor can allege the 
 use of antiquity to regain that office, which so many 
 hundred years since they have forsaken. That they 
 have a desire of gaining for themselves, or their 
 monasteries, is a mere calumny, because the alms 
 are gathered only for their necessary food and ap- 
 parel, and the residue being spent for the worship 
 of God, in Masses, buildings and ornaments of 
 Churches, turneth to the benefit and edification of 
 the people, and not to their own profit ; that the ser- 
 vices done by their Orders to the holy Church, and 
 doctrine of Divinity (which is nowhere to be found 
 but in their cloisters) deserve the continuance of that 
 charge which others are not able to exercise. 
 
 " The [Papal] Legates, importuned by both parties, 
 by the counsel of their most inward friends resolved 
 to relate to Borne, and expect an answer. The ■ 
 Pope referred it to the Congregation [of Cardinals] ; 
 where presently it was seen whither the pretence of 
 
The Friars Cause maintained by the Pope. 131 
 
 the Bishops tended ; that is, to make themselves so 
 many Popes in their Dioceses. For when the Pope's 
 privilege and exemption should be removed, and 
 every one should depend on them, and none on the 
 Pope, all cause of going to Rome loould cease. They 
 considered that the Popes have anciently had for a 
 principal secret to preserve the Primacy given them 
 by Christ, to exempt the Bishops from the Arch- 
 bishop, the Abbots from the Bishops, and so to oblige 
 men to defend him [the Pope]. That it is a clear 
 case, that after the six hundreth year, the Primacy 
 of the Apostolic See hath been upheld by the Bene- 
 dictine monks exempted, and after, by the Congrega- 
 tions of Gluny and Cistcrcium, and other monastical 
 assemblies, until God raised the mendicant Orders, 
 by which it hath been maintained until now. 
 Wherefore to take away their privileges were directly 
 to oppugn the Papacy, and not those Orders ; to re- 
 move the exemptions were a manifest depression of 
 the Court of Rome, because they should want means 
 to keep a Bishop within compass that he exalt not 
 himself too high. Therefore, that the Pope and 
 Court were compelled by necessity to maintain the 
 Friars' cause. But to do these things smoothly, they 
 considered also that it was necessary to conceal this 
 reason; and they resolved to answer the Legates 
 that by all means they should preserve the state of 
 the Eegulars, and cause the Bishops to surcease, set- 
 ting before them the excessive number of Friars, and 
 the credit which they have with the people, and 
 advise them to take a moderate course, and not 
 
132 Usurpations of the Court of Rome. 
 
 make a Schism, by desiring too much. That it was 
 just they should receive some satisfaction, but they 
 should also be content to give it ; and when they 
 came to the point, they should grant anything con- 
 cerning the Pardoners, but should do nothing con- 
 cerning the Friars, without communicating it to the 
 Generals, and should give the Bishops some satisfac- 
 tion, which might not take away the privileges. 
 That they should do the like for the Universities, 
 because it was necessary that both these and those 
 should depend on the Pope and NOT on the Bishops!' 
 —Brett's Translation, p. 158-160. 
 
 In the following year, 1547, the same matter was 
 again brought before the Council, upon the question 
 of Residence. 
 
 " In this it was not so easy to agree, because the 
 Legates and their adherents had contrary ends to the 
 other Bishops. These [the Bishops] began to hope 
 and to aim, almost all, but especially the Spaniards, 
 to regain the Episcopal Authority, which anciently 
 every one did exercise in his own Diocese, when the 
 reservations of Benefices, of Cases, or of Absolutions, 
 Dispensations, and the like, were unknown; which 
 they were wont to say in private discourse, when 
 few were present, that ambition and avarice had 
 made proper to the Court of Borne, under a feigned 
 colour to manage them better and more to the public 
 service of God and the Church, throughout all 
 Christendom, than the Bishops could do in their own 
 cities, in regard of their imperfection and ignorance. 
 But it was not so, because dissolution and ignorance 
 
Responsibility of Bishops inalienable. 133 
 
 did not enter into the Episcopal order until they 
 were compelled to go as servants to Eome. But if 
 bad government were then seen in the Bishops, 
 which caused their authority to be taken away, now 
 it may be seen to be worst of all in the Court of 
 Eome ; so that by the same reason, that management 
 ought to be taken away, which is not proper to it 
 but much abused by it. 
 
 " The decree, that residency was required by the 
 law of God, was esteemed by these Prelates the best 
 remedy for the disease past and preservative against 
 it hereafter. For if God hath commanded Bishops 
 to reside perpetually with the flock, it followeth 
 necessarily that He hath also prescribed them the 
 charge, and given them power to exercise it well. 
 Therefore the Pope cannot call them, or busie them 
 in ought else, nor dispense with them, nor restrain 
 their authority given them by God. Therefore they 
 desired to proceed to the determination, saying, it 
 was necessary to resolve the article, because it was 
 sufficiently discussed. The Cardinal of Monte hav- 
 ing premeditated before, let them speak who were 
 most earnest, that part of the heat might exhale ; 
 then he opposed himself dexterously" etc. — Ibid. p. 
 217. 
 
 In consequence of this opposition by the Pope's 
 Legate, John Maria di Monte, afterwards Pope Julius 
 iil, nothing was determined at that time. But in 
 1551, the matter was resumed, with reference, again,, 
 to the question of residence. 
 
 " Afterwards thev discoursed of the Reformation ; 
 
134 Hoiu the Arguments icere brought to an end. 
 
 which because it was to take away the cause why 
 Bishops do not reside, many [things] were repeated, 
 some proposed before in Trent and Bolonia, and 
 some then first spoken of. Finally, they insisted on 
 Jurisdiction, saying that the Bishops were wholly de- 
 prived of it, partly by avocation of Causes, and partly 
 by Appeals, but especially by Exemptions ; yea, that 
 more often jurisdiction icas exercised over and against 
 them by their subjects, either by special commission 
 from Borne, or by virtue of Conservatories, than by 
 them over their subjects. And Fathers were elected 
 to frame the articles concerning this matter." — Ibid. 
 p. 304. See also p. 550, seq., concerning what passed 
 in 1562. 
 
 These extracts enable us to understand the readi- 
 ness with which our Eeformers suffered themselves 
 to set aside the authority of their local Bishops, 
 from the previous aggressions to which it had been 
 exposed, and from the general ignorance which pre- 
 vailed respecting it. The following passage from a 
 Discourse of the learned and acute Charles Leslie, 
 will inform us that the design of the Pope's party, 
 however dexterously managed, was not altogether 
 successful. The fact is, the Spanish Bishops, though 
 they ultimately yielded, did so with the understand- 
 ing that the words of the Decree of the Council 
 should be so chosen as to leave them at liberty to 
 reproduce their arguments at any future time. 1 The 
 
 1 See Harchviek's Reformation, never arrived. " The claims ad- 
 
 p. 320. The " future time," so vanced by the Cisalpine School 
 
 far as regards any settlement of have never been, and never will 
 
 the chief matter in dispute, has be decided : whether (to use the 
 
Popery the Enemy of Episcopacy. 135 
 
 decree as it now stands — Canons vii. viii. De Online 
 — ultimately passed at the 23d Session of the Coun- 
 cil, 15th of July 1668. 1 
 
 " Episcopacy has none so great an enemy as the 
 Papacy, which would engross the whole Episcopal 
 power into the single see of Borne, by making all 
 other Bishops absolutely dependent upon that which 
 only they call the Apostolical Chair. And no longer 
 since than the Council of Trent, the Pope endeavoured, 
 with all his interest, to have Episcopacy, except only 
 that of the Bishop of Borne, to be declared not to be 
 jure clivino ; by which no other Bishops coidd claim 
 any other power bid what they had from him? But 
 that Council was not so quite degenerated as to 
 suffer this to pass. 
 
 " And the Jesuits and others who disputed there 
 on the Pope's part, used those same arguments 
 against the Divine right of Episcopacy, which from 
 
 phrase of the Trent Disputants) l See Father Paul's History, p. 
 
 Bishops be jure Divino, or jure 690, seq. 
 
 Pontificio ; whether they have 2 Among the reasons given why 
 
 their commission from God or the Reformers were slow to act- 
 
 from the Pope ; whether, in fine, mit the doctrine of Apostolical 
 
 the Pope be not the only true Succession, the recent Editor of 
 
 Bishop in the world, employing Hooker's works reckons the fol- 
 
 all others as his Deputies or Vi- lowing : — " Add to this, what the 
 
 cars ; these are questions to which Papacy itself had done and was 
 
 the Roman Catholic Church, not- daily doing to weaken all no- 
 
 withstanding her store of infal- tions of independent authority in 
 
 lible traditions, must not dare to Bishops ; of which policy the full 
 
 give an answer. Virtually, and development may be seen in the 
 
 in practice, though not in terms, proceedings of the Italian p>arty 
 
 the questions have been decided at Trent, and their efforts to ob- 
 
 by the Pope, and, of course, in tain an express declaration from 
 
 his own favour." — Digest of Evi- the Council that no Prelate had 
 
 dence before Parliament, on the any power in the Church, ezccept 
 
 State of Ireland, 1824-1825, by what he received through the Sue- 
 
 Phelan and O'Sullivan. Part ii. cessors of St. Peter. 1 " — Preface to 
 
 p. 103. Hooker," i. p. lx. 
 
136 Issue of the Discussions at Trent 
 
 them, and the Popish Canonists and Schoolmen, 
 have been taken up by our Dissenters. 
 
 " When the Pope could not carry his cause against 
 Episcopacy in the Council of Trent, he took another 
 method, and that was, to set up a vast number of 
 Presbyterian Priests, that is, the Eegulars, whom he 
 exempted from the jurisdiction of their respective 
 Bishops, and framed them into a method and dis-. 
 cipline of their own, accountable to Superiors of his 
 and their own contriving. 
 
 " These usurpations upon the Episcopal authority 
 made the famous Archbishop of Spalatro quit his 
 great preferments in the Church of Eome, and travel 
 into England, in the reign of James I., to seek for a 
 more primitive and independent Episcopacy. Him- 
 self, in his Consilium Profectionis, gives these same 
 reasons for it ; and that this shameful depression 
 and prostitution of Episcopacy in the Church of 
 Eome was the cause of his leaving her. 
 
 " He observed truly, that the further we search 
 upward in antiquity there is still more to be found 
 of the Episcopal, and less of the Papal Eminency. 
 
 " St. Ignatius is full in every line almost of the 
 high authority of the Bishop, next and immediately 
 under Christ, as all the other Writers in those 
 primitive times ; but there is a profound silence in 
 them all of that Supremacy in the Bishop of Eome 
 which is now claimed over all the other Bishops of 
 the Catholic Church, which could not be if it had 
 been then known in the world. This had been a 
 short and effectual method whereby St. Paul and 
 
Papal Policy, how far successful 137 
 
 St. Clement might have quieted the great schism of 
 the Corinthians against which they both wrote in 
 their Epistles to them, to bid them refer their diffi- 
 culties to the infallible judge of controversy, the 
 supreme Pastor at Borne. But not a word like this ; 
 especially considering that St. Peter was « one for 
 whom some of these Corinthians strove (1 Cor. i. 12) 
 against those who preferred others before him. . . . 
 
 " So very groundless as well as malicious is that 
 popular clamour of Episcopacy having any relation 
 to Popery. They are so utterly irreconcilable, that 
 it is impossible they can stand together ; for that 
 moment that Episcopacy were restored to its primi- 
 tive independency, the Papacy, that is, that Supre- 
 macy which does now distinguish it, must ipso facto 
 cease." — Works, vn. 125-127. 
 
 In the meantime, however, it is to be observed, 
 the policy of the Popes, by the aid first of the School- 
 men, and afterwards of the Jesuits, had so far suc- 
 ceeded, that the doubts which they had raised 
 respecting the Episcopate as a distinct Order in the 
 Ministry, do not seem to have been thoroughly cleared 
 up till the discovery of the genuine Epistles of 
 Ignatius towards the middle of the sixteenth century. 
 Hence it is that we find English Divines, previous 
 to that time, such as Hooker, Field, and Mede, 
 speaking of the Clergy as being of only two Orders, 
 though of three Degrees} And this perhaps will help 
 
 1 See Hooker, Eccles. Pol. Book the pretended distinction between 
 
 v. c. lxxviii. 2, 9, 12. Field, Of Order and Degree was not found- 
 
 the Church, Bookv. c. xxvii. Mede, ed in Scripture or the Fathers. 
 
 Disc. v. Works, p. 26. Bishop Opusc. Posth. p. 183. And Bram- 
 
 Andrewes, however, showed that hall thought it a matter of indif- 
 
138 Three Orders of Clergy maintained 
 
 to account for the arrangement laid down in the 
 first Book of Discipline of Superintendents and Mini- 
 sters ; as it is certain there are other things in that 
 Book which may receive explanation from the fore- 
 going narrative of Father Paul. 1 But since the time 
 just now specified, the great English Theologians 
 have never hesitated to speak of the Three Orders of 
 Clergy with the same precision which, by a wonder- 
 ful Providence, their Beformers of the preceding Cen- 
 tury used in the Preface to the offices of Ordination ; 
 though in the offices themselves they so far betray 
 the influence of the Papal and Scholastic arguments 
 as to employ the term Ordering (for Ordaining) only 
 of Deacons and Priests, and the term Consecration' 1 
 of Bishops : and the Beader who desires to see the 
 whole matter argued, may consult the Theological 
 Determination which the most eminent of the Post- 
 Bestoration Divines, Bishop Pearson, delivered upon 
 the point as Margaret Professor at Cambridge ; in 
 which he proves, against the arguments of the School- 
 men, " Ordinem esse Episcopalem ab aliis Ordini- 
 bus distinctum." I quote a few words from the 
 commencement of the argument, in justification 
 
 ference. " It is not at all material x For example, we may see the 
 whether Episcopacy and Priest- reason why the Principals of the 
 hood be two distinct Orders, or Universities were made account- 
 distinct Degrees of the same Or- able to the Superintendents in the 
 der, the one subordinate to the Book of Discipline, ch. vn. sect, 
 other ; whether Episcopal Ordi- iv. 18. 
 nation do introduce a new charac- 
 ter or extend the old." — Works, 2 "SiConsecrationis nomine de- 
 li. 71. For the discussion on the lectentur [Pontificii] fruantur 
 subject at the Council of Trent, sane. Olim aliter locuta est vel 
 see Father Paul's History, p. 552, Ecclesia ipsa Romana."— Bishop 
 seq. 686. Andrewes, Opusc. Posth. p. 182. 
 
by Church of England against Borne. 139 
 
 of the title which I have prefixed to these re- 
 marks : — 
 
 " Nihil certius est quam omnem diminvMonem 
 Ordinis Episcopalis originem trahere ab usurpatione 
 Papali ; x nihilque aliud mihi videtur Papa Ko- 
 manus quam unus homo vindicans sibi omnem 
 auctoritatem concessam Episcopis per totum Orbem 
 diffusis, et ex ilia auctoritate sibi soli arrogata, Eegi- 
 bus, Kebus-publicis, Ecclesiis Christianis minas in- 
 
 tentans Primb itaque Scholastici, Eomano 
 
 Pontifici adblandientes, duplex hoc fundamentum 
 negandi distinctionem Ordinis excogitarunt. Ponunt 
 enim Sacramentum Eucharistiae in definitione Or- 
 dinis, cumque hoc Sacramento limitant atque deter- 
 minant. Ita tandem apud Pontificios septem distincti 
 ordines sunt : Ostiarius, Lector, Exorcista, Acolythus, 
 Sub-diaconus, Diaconus, Presbyter. Inter Ordines 
 
 Sacros Episcopus nullibi est Secundb, .... 
 
 volunt nihil aliud Episcopos esse quam Presbyteros 
 a Presbyteris promotos, atque ideo cum fiunt Epis- 
 copi, non Ordinatos sed Consecratos dici." Having 
 answered both these arguments, he sums up the 
 Determination thus : — " Constans itaque Patrum Sen- 
 tentia est, omxes Episcopos fuisse Apostolorum 
 omnium Successores. Et quod de distinctione Or- 
 
 1 Compare Bramhall, Works, I. ing to Abbots and other mere 
 
 252, seq., aud Jeremy Taylor, VL Priests special graces to exercise 
 
 809. Bishop Pearson appears to some essential offices of Episco- 
 
 have had the following words of pacy, have made this Sacred Or- 
 
 the latter in his eye. " I shall der to be cheap, and apt to be . 
 
 say one thing more, which is in- invaded." See also the able and 
 
 deed a great truth, that the dimi- just remarks of Bishop Russell, 
 
 nution of Episcopacy v: as first History of Church in Scotland, I. 
 
 introduced by Popery ; and the 163-167. 
 Popes of Rome, by communicat- 
 
140 A Prelacy in the Christian Ministry 
 
 dinis observavimus, idem et de hac successione ob- 
 servanduni; nempe, Usurpatiois t em Papalem esse 
 
 VERUM FUNDAMENTUM NEGANDI APOSTOLICAM SlJC- 
 CESSIONEM EPISCOPORUM." 1 
 
 I am unwilling to close this subject without add- 
 ing the practical lessons which are contained in the 
 following commentary on St. Matthew xxiii. 8, 9. 
 
 " ' Be not ye called Rabbi ; for One is your Master, 
 even Christ, and all ye are Brethren. And call no 
 man your Father on the earth, for One is your Father 
 which is in Heaven. ' . . . Here our Lord lays down 
 the great principle on which all precedence in His 
 Eternal Kingdom will be regulated, and on which 
 all Christian graces now are formed, and all this 
 arising from some peculiar efficacy in the humilia- 
 tions of Christ. Nor is it only the foundation of the 
 Christian character in each individual, but the prin- 
 ciple to be developed also in the history of the 
 Church, according to the observance of which its 
 strength and welfare would depend. Thus it is to 
 be observed that the Church Catholic is known 
 under no name but that of Christ, whereas all sects 
 are distinguished by the name of some one whom 
 they call their Father and Master. 
 
 " It may be the case in the Church itself; were 
 individual influence much to prevail, the effect 
 would not be Catholic, but peculiar, and stamped 
 with human error. Again, there may be something 
 of prophecy in this, as in many of our Lord's com- 
 
 1 Minor Theol, Works. I. 274-286. See also Ibid. p. 434. 
 
not at variance with our Lord's Teaching. 141 
 
 mands ; for in the Church Catholic itself, Unity lias 
 been broken whenever this principle has been de- 
 parted from ; for to the Apostolic Body it has been 
 said emphatically, ' all ye are Brethren.' 
 
 " But the Bishop of Borne has not been content 
 with the precedence of an elder brother in the See 
 of St. Peter, but has claimed that of a Master and 
 Father; and this command of our Lord being 
 broken, the unity and strength of the Church has 
 been lost. But it may be asked, Does not this com- 
 mand militate against the authority of individual 
 Bishops over their flocks altogether? It will be 
 found on consideration that it does not do so ; on 
 the contrary, that this divinely commissioned autho- 
 rity is the only remedy against the ambition which 
 breaks up societies. That this command, like every 
 other, is not to be taken in the letter, but in the 
 spirit, is evident ; for, in the first place, we have 
 natural Parents, and we have Masters to whom 
 these appellations of reverence are due ; and also in 
 some sense Spiritual Fathers, for St. Paul, on more 
 occasions than one, takes to himself the title of 
 Father, and St. Peter also. But of course our Lord's 
 caution is against what St. Paul condemns in those 
 who said, " I am of Paul and I of Apollos." That 
 the divinely delegated authority is to be regarded as 
 such, is implied in the command of our Lord to obey 
 those who " sit in Moses' seat ;" but even in this 
 case, if men are not content with yielding obedience 
 to the authority, but give weight to the personal 
 opinion even of any Bishop, as distinguished, from 
 
142 Fruits of Popery in our Reformation. 
 
 that of the Church, it would be to sin against this 
 command." — Williams' Holy IJWj, p. 216, seq. 
 
 I have confined the proofs and illustrations of this 
 chapter to a single point, namely, the connexion of a 
 non-Episcopal system with the previously existing 
 usurpation and aggressions of the Papacy. It would 
 be no less easy to show that other defects of our 
 Reformation mentioned in the foregoing Discourse, 
 such as the Disuse of Confirmation and of Liturgical 
 worship? are to be traced originally to excesses and 
 corruptions derived from the same source. 
 
 1 See M'Crie, p. 10 ; Knox, appropriate vehicle of public de- 
 
 iii. 67. Principal Tulloch has votion, was one quite unknown 
 
 remarked, that "the idea of to the Reformation.' ' — P. 377. 
 
 extemporaneous Prayer as an But compare above, p. 21, note 2. 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 EVILS OF NATIONAL DISUNION IN ECCLESIASTICAL 
 AFFAIRS. 
 
 I must be content here, also, as in the preceding 
 chapter, to notice so vast a subject only from a single 
 point of view ; and that shall be one upon which 
 there can exist, I hope, no difference of opinion : I 
 mean the solemn responsibility which attaches to us 
 all to propagate among the Heathen, and, still more, 
 to maintain in our own Colonial Dependencies, the 
 pure gospel of Christ, upon Scriptural and Reforma- 
 tion principles, and to do both, as far as possible, in 
 the true Christian spirit, not of jealousies and of 
 divisions, but of Love and Unity. I can imagine 
 few things more painful than when (speaking gene- 
 rally) a Scotchman and an Englishman, who have 
 gone forth as Missionaries from the same Island, 
 bearing with them, in some sort, the authority and 
 the prestige of the same kingdom and nation, speak- 
 ing the same tongue, carrying in their hands the same 
 Bible, and professing to teach the same way of salva 
 tion, are called on (as must often be the case) to ex- 
 plain why it is, and how it is, that they who have 
 
144 Evils of Ecclesiastical Disunion 
 
 come to teach others are not yet agreed among them - 
 selves as to the message which they have to deliver, 
 or, at least, as to the circumstances under which it is 
 their duty to deliver it — a non- agreement which, in 
 the eyes of the unenlightened Heathen, must be 
 almost equally scandalous and embarrassing, whether 
 it shall be represented to them as arising from 
 matters of great, of little, or of no importance. 
 
 Upon this subject, however, I shall leave it alto- 
 gether to others to speak, and especially to those who 
 will be able to do so with most authority, as laying 
 before us the results of actual experience. 
 
 First, then, to give the testimony of the great 
 Orientalist of the seventeenth century, Dr. Edward 
 Pocock : — "Upon this occasion, these two learned men 
 (Pocock and Grotius) entered into a long discourse 
 concerning the state of things in the East, and the 
 reasons why the holy Eeligion of Jesus Christ was so 
 far from gaining ground in those countries that it was 
 treated there by unbelievers with great contempt. Mr. 
 Pocock mentioned several things which he observed 
 to be thus fatally mischievous ; but amongst them 
 all, he told him there was nothing more so than the 
 many schisms and divisions of those that own the 
 name of Christ, who ought to be l as one fold under 
 one Shepherd.'" — Twell's Life of Pocock, p. 78. 
 
 There are some valuable remarks in the Colonial 
 Church Chronicle,Ma.Tck 1857, pp. 98-100, by a writer 
 who is evidently well acquainted with the present 
 state of India, which show that the evils of Eeligious 
 Disunion there felt are only yet in their commence- 
 

 as seen in India and North America. 145 
 
 ment, or rather are held for the present comparatively 
 
 in suspense, because the various missionary Bodies, 
 who are not in communion with each other, have 
 hitherto been anxious to avoid collision, and there 
 k has been ample space, without mutual interference, 
 for them all. What a melancholy consideration to 
 think, as evangelization spreads throughout our great 
 Eastern Empire — now become equally, as placed in 
 the hands of our common Sovereign, the property 
 both of Scotch and English — our " unhappy divi- 
 sions" must grow more apparent and more baneful! 
 What an appeal to all Christians at home to recon- 
 sider the grounds of their own position ! l 
 
 To pass from East to West, the following remarks, 
 the result of many years' experience in the United 
 States and Canada, are full of salutary warning : — 
 " Consequences pernicious and destructive even to 
 the mother country, result from the early neglect of 
 its Colonial offspring. America exhibits, on a large 
 scale, some remarkable effects consequent on sectarian 
 division. Dissent has, in a fuller measure than in 
 this country, worked out its legitimate results, and 
 these results are not those which might be expected 
 from the Christianity of the Bible. The first effect 
 of religious division seems to be mutual animosity 
 and bitterness, and a general breaking-up of what 
 ought to be the harmonious structure of society. 
 Different bodies become jealous of the influence of 
 one another, and seek opportunities for diminishing 
 
 i See also Colonial Church — February 1861 — "On Presby- 
 Chronicle for the present month terianism in India," p. 46. 
 
 K 
 
146 Evils of Ecclesiastical Disunion. 
 
 that influence by various demoralizing contrivances. 
 If these bodies are pretty equally represented or 
 patronized in the Legislature, the Government, almost 
 as a matter of course, will become first impartial, and 
 secondly indifferent. The next effect will be an in- * 
 tolerant liberalism, first forbidding (when it has the 
 power) the inculcation of doctrine in connexion with 
 Scripture, and next, when this prohibition has proved 
 absurd, extending it to the Scriptures themselves : 
 the public mind, at the same time, is undergoing a 
 similar process ; and men at length cease to quarrel 
 about Eeligion, because little definite Eeligion re- 
 mains to occasion animosity. 
 
 "But where is the cure to be found which can reach 
 the source of this extensive and spreading malady ? 
 "It appears that to give the Scriptures their proper 
 place in the Christian scheme, and thereby to make 
 them effectual to the promotion of liberty, we must 
 connect them with the Doctrine and the Authority 
 which existed at the time of their first promulgation. 
 When this is accomplished, the Bible will not be 
 overshadowed either by Boman additions to the 
 faith, or by the equally injurious devices of modern 
 Sectarian Theology. Xow it is a fact that the Be- 
 formed Church in England and in America retains 
 an embodiment of the doctrine of the primitive 
 Church in its Creeds and in its Liturgies. It is also 
 a fact that it possesses the authority of the Early 
 Church conveyed from Christ through the imposi- 
 tion of hands. It is unnecessary to trace the steps 
 of this succession, since it is enough to show that 
 
By ivhat means they may be remedied. 147 
 
 from the time of the Apostles there have always 
 been Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, and that Conse- 
 cration and Ordination have been, as a matter of 
 history, constantly practised. As our descent from 
 Adam is proved by the unvarying law of parentage, 
 so in like manner, the constant regulations of the 
 Church demonstrate our ecclesiastical descent from, 
 and our connexion with, those who were commis- 
 sioned to teach all nations to the end of the world. 
 
 " It would seem therefore, that so far as the Church 
 acts in her original character, so far she fulfils the 
 office of maintaining the Scriptures in their true 
 position. And in proportion as she extends herself 
 upon her Apostolic foundations, she more manifestly 
 becomes a centre of Unity for the scattered sheep of 
 Christ" — Caswall's American Church, p. 383, seq., 
 387, seq. 
 
 In connexion with this extract, it must be surely 
 a matter of interest to all Scotchmen that the 
 Church of the United States, which is in Com- 
 munion with the Church of England, derived the 
 first germ of its now widely- diffused and numerous 
 Episcopate from the Bishops of this Country in 
 1784. 
 
 The only complete History which we have of the 
 Colonial Church thus draws our attention to one 
 source of the evils in question, as they have existed, 
 and unhappily still exist, not only in America, but 
 throughout the world: — 
 
 " It is obvious that the removal of the Episcopal 
 Church in Scotland from the position which she once 
 
148 Ecclesiastical Disunion in South Africa. 
 
 occupied in that country, — a position identical with 
 that occupied by the National Church of our own, 
 — and her depressed condition for nearly the whole 
 of the last century, must have acted as a sore dis- 
 couragement ctnel hindrance to the Church of England, 
 in every foreign and domestic work throughout the 
 same period. It was not merely the withdrawal from 
 her channels of usefulness of a large portion of the 
 vigorous intellect and sturdy diligence and fervid 
 piety which have ever been the heritage of the Scot- 
 tish People ; but the renewal also, and often with 
 increased strength, of the self-same evils abroad 
 which have acted with such destructive force at 
 home. The importance of these facts, and the little 
 regard paid to them in many quarters, have led me 
 to direct attention to them." — Anderson's Histcrry of 
 the Golonicd Church, n. 536. 
 
 Passing now from America to Afkica, it appears 
 that our Colonists there are placed at disadvantage 
 in comparison with the Dutch, on account of Ee- 
 ligious Disunion. 
 
 "I was glad, however, to balance this seeming 
 disparagement of Christianity or missionary' zeal 
 among the Dutch, by pointing out to my Com- 
 panions, what has apparently not struck them 
 before, that the Dutch Church, by its unity, was 
 able to promote the social wellbeing of the country 
 in founding new towns, which an English popidation 
 of five times the amount cannot do, and seem in this 
 land rarely to attempt, without a forced military 
 expenditure, calling into activity most of the 
 
Our Disadvantage, compared with the Dutch. 149 
 
 elements of which a town is constituted. To this 
 latter cause King William's Town, Fort Beaufort, 
 and Fort Peddie (the last two proclaiming their birth 
 by the appendage of 'Fort' to each of them), and, in 
 no small degree, Grahamstown itself, are indebted for 
 their existence. "Whereas the Dutch can point in 
 the same brief space of time to the rise of Burghers- 
 dorp, Humansdorp, Colesberg, Bloemfontein, besides 
 Biversdale in the west, and perhaps to many other 
 places, whose origin, and growth into a town or 
 village, is entirely owing to the one Dutch Church to 
 which all Dutchmen resort, and near to which aged 
 Boers like to settle, without having their attention 
 and their alms alike distracted, by maintaining seve- 
 ral religious bodies as we English needs must do, 
 even in such towns as Uitenhage, Somerset, and 
 Cradock, where the Dutch Church still forms the 
 principal religious feature of the place. 
 
 " Would that the idea of the value of unity in re- 
 ligious matters, could by any arguments, secular or 
 spiritual, be forced upon the minds of our country- 
 men !"-— Merriman's Journal, p. 166, seq. 
 
 " Here is another instance of what I have remarked 
 upon before, this superiority of the Dutch to our- 
 selves, in one at least of the great functions of our 
 social and civilized life, viz., the founding of towns, 
 arising entirely from the strength and unity of their 
 Church. Ten times the number of English, in con- 
 sequence of their religious divisions, could not do 
 what the Dutch so easily achieve." — Ibid. p. 178. 
 
 The interesting Memoir of the late lamented Bishop 
 
150 Evils of Ecclesiastical Disunion. 
 
 Armstrong supplies the following observation, appli- 
 cable to the same region : — 
 
 " As I approached the town, I could not but be 
 saddened by the thought of our religious divisions. 
 No less than three places of worship were visible, 
 besides the Church of England. This, in the midst 
 of a population of some 700 people, was' indeed a 
 melancholy spectacle. What a waste of men, of zeal, 
 of means for their support, when this 700 is split up 
 into four divisions, each division requiring its own 
 teacher. One earnest, faithful pastor might easily 
 supply all the wants of the place." — Carter's Life of 
 Bishop Armstrong, p. 347. 
 
 In regard to Australasia, it will be universally 
 admitted that we could not produce a witness more 
 entitled to be heard than Bishop Selwyn. In the 
 sermons which he preached before the University of 
 Cambridge, when he was last in England, in 1854, 
 that Apostolic Missionary delivered the following 
 testimony, concerning the evils of Disunion in gene- 
 ral, and especially those of which he himself was 
 cognisant in the extreme South : — 
 
 " I leave it to you to judge of the effects of divisions 
 here at home. Some may think that zeal is quickened, 
 and that therefore good is done, by the rivalry of reli- 
 gious opinions : and they quote that passage in the 
 Epistle to the Philippians, where St. Paul rejoices, that 
 in every way Christ is preached. But though St. Paul 
 there rejoices that Christ is preached, even though it 
 were ' of envy and strife/ ; of contention/ and c in 
 pretence ' — must we not believe that he would have 
 
Testimony of Bis! top o/Neiv Zealand. 151 
 
 rejoiced infinitely more if he could have seen all men 
 agreeing to preach Christ ' of goodwill/ and ' of love/ 
 ' sincerely/ and ' in truth ' ? It is one thing to rejoice 
 in the overruling Providence of God, which brings 
 good out of evil ; and it is another and a widely 
 different thing to acquiesce in the evil, because by 
 God's Providence it has been made the means of 
 good. The same Lord, who prayed that ' all might 
 be one/ foretold that His Gospel should ( not bring 
 peace on earth, but rather division/ And yet there 
 is no one of us who doubts on which side is the mind 
 of Christ, or whether His example points to peace or 
 to division, to the olive branch or to the sword ? Per- 
 haps even on this lower ground of practice and ex- 
 perience, if we were to go below the surface, we should 
 find a "cast amount of unsuspected evil, resulting di- 
 rectly from the speculative and controversial manner 
 in which Religion is taught. If it could be proved 
 that the crowded congregations of our Churches and 
 Chapels of all religious persuasions, represent fairly 
 and fully the state of Pieligion in the mass of the 
 people, we might then rejoice with St Paul, even in 
 the midst of much strife and contention, that in any 
 way Christ is preached. But if we have reason to 
 suspect, or rather to know, that under this fair and 
 visible surface of Eeligion, agitated indeed by waves 
 but sparkling with sunbeams from Heaven, there lies 
 a dark and stagnant and unfathomable depth of Infi- 
 delity — millions who believe nothing — and if we have 
 reason to think that their Unbelief is caused by our 
 Divisions, and that they would have been brought 
 
152 Evils of Ecclesiastical Disunion. 
 
 home to Christ if they had seen us more loving and 
 united in ourselves, then indeed, if this be so, we 
 may well tremble, lest these controversies which we 
 excuse as incentives to zeal should be found to have 
 been stumbling-blocks to our Brethren, and we the 
 men by whom the offence came. I speak, of course, 
 with diffidence of anything that relates to the state 
 of religion in England, but / am bold to speak of that 
 which I have heard and seen in the Mission field. 
 There, I assert, without fear of contradiction, schism 
 is looked upon as an acknowledged evil. There may 
 be the utmost Charity and brotherly-kindness among 
 the Missionaries themselves ; but that is not enough : 
 no inward and spiritual unity can act as an outward 
 evidence ; the keen- sighted native Convert soon de- 
 tects a difference of system, and thus Eeligion brings 
 Disunion instead of Harmony and Peace." — Bishop 
 of New Zealand's Four Sermons, p. 59, seq. 
 
 As an echo to the foregoing, the following from 
 the extreme North was received in a letter written 
 by the first Bishop of the last new Colonial Diocese 
 —British Columbia — six months ago, July 1860 : — 
 
 " I was present at a meeting at the latter -place 
 (Yale) on my way, when an address was presented 
 to me, and the Chairman, an American and Presby- 
 terian, called upon all present in this new land to 
 forget the past differences, and to adopt the Church 
 of England for their religion, as a Church in which 
 they could have confidence, which had a broad basis, 
 and which was at work among them." — See English 
 Churchman, No. 939, p. 1259. 
 
Testimony of an Eastern Traveller. 153 
 
 To return once more to the East, I venture, in 
 conclusion, to submit to the Eeader two passages 
 from Dr. Wolff's Travels to Bokhara : — 
 
 u I may say, without fear of any imputation of 
 vanity, that I have now seen and made myself ac- 
 quainted with all the branches of the Catholic 
 Church, and with all the sects now existing on earth ; 
 and I have not shunned to sit at the feet of the 
 Bishops in the Boman Catholic Church, in the Ar- 
 menian Church, in the Greek Church, in the Chal- 
 dean and Abyssinian Church, with "Wesleyans, Inde- 
 pendents, and learned Baptists ; and the result of my 
 investigations is, that the Church of England is the 
 pearl of price and jewel of the earth, and the mightiest 
 masterpiece of Bible illustration, which the world 
 has witnessed since it fell under the yoke of sin." — 
 Vol. i. p. 67, seq. 
 
 And yet the author of this statement is no enemy 
 to Presbyterianisni : — 
 
 " I am always rejoiced to learn that Episcopalians 
 send out Missionaries, but in the meantime, as long 
 as this is not done, the state of the Eastern Churches 
 is in such a sad condition, that modest, 'prudent, and 
 zealous Presbyterians might be rendered useful to 
 them ; and these very Presbyterian Missionaries 
 would perceive, from the state of the East, that Episco- 
 pacy is a primitive condition of the Church, and Congre- 
 gationalism an anomaly. And thus, while it cannot 
 be denied that they enlighten the East, it will also 
 follow that they take back with them to their own 
 country a portion of its light, to the benefit of the 
 
154 Episcopacy universal in the East. 
 
 country from which tliey were sent forth." — Ibid. 
 p. 189. 
 
 I have added this last quotation for the informa- 
 tion of those who imagine that Episcopacy is not, 
 and has not been from the beginning, as universal 
 throughout the East (without any alliance with, but 
 rather in the most determined opposition to, Popery) 
 as it has been, and still is, for the most part, through- 
 out Western Christendom. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Wiile the pages of Chapter II. \oere in the Press, 
 tlu Author discovered that in his conjecture, p. 71, 
 respecting the origin of " tJie Tivapenny Fayth" he 
 lias been anticipated by Dr. IPCric, Life of Knox, 
 Supplementary Xote Y, p. 348, seq. 
 
 EDINBURGH I T. CONSTABLE, 
 PRINTER TO THE QUEEN, AND TO THE UNIVERSITY. 
 


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