;,i iiiii mi Iss H:[itiik^nt}iitft^:*tfi I isiiilii.,, .:„„ iiiiiiiP" mm. PUP i « ■llii liiliiiii^'^ .j.!?!>:?{>i;t?:i?>5 •:w®;KKi::i »; t -*•*•% ,a^> '1' II E M A G D x\ L E N E CHAFE E, OS sc-cii from the Marfi/rs Monument in the Greif/iiars' Chi(rfhi/(ir(/. /^^?>1 Or PBlUCf TER-CENTENARY I ,J an 121911 THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION, AS COMMEMORATED AT EDINBURGH, AUGUST 1860. WITH INTRODUCTION BY REV. JAMES BEGG, D.D. EDITED BY EEV. J. A.'WYLIE, LL.D. EDIKBtJBGH: JOHK MACLAREJS^ LONDON : HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO. MDCCCLX. PREFACE. The materials furnished to the Editor for the composition of the present volume, consisted of the papers read, and the speeches delivered at the recent National Commemoration of the Scottish Reformation. These materials were so ample that the Editor would have found it a much easier task to compile from them two, or even three volumes of the present size than one. It was essential, however, to include all in one volume, and that a volume of moderate size. Careful selection and rigorous condensation alone could enable the Editor to accomplish this. He foresaw that the task would be both difficult and invidious, and it was with some reluctance that he undertook it. Having undertaken it, how- ever, he has discharged it to the best of his ability. The rule he laid down to himself in dealing with his materials, was that of preserving those facts and principles that bore upon the great object of the meeting, and of dropping what, though valuable in itself, might be regarded as only amplification and illustration. Almost every paper and speech has been abridged more or less. The same remark applies to the masterly and eloquent Sermons of Drs. Guthrie and Syming- ton, also embraced in the volume. Notwithstanding this curtailment, the Editor believes that, by adherence to his rule, he has been able to preserve in the volume now in the hands of the reader, all that was of main or permanent value in what was said and done at the recent National, or perhaps he ought to say, Catholic Convention. The papers composing the First Part were selected, not as being of superior merit to the rest, but on the principle of iv PKEFACE. forming a continuous historic line illustrative of the Eeforma- tion in both its events and its principles. The Editor may he permitted to say, (not because his own opinion is of the least weight, but because he has been brought into close contact with its subject-matter,) that the present volume he deems one of no ordinary value. Its various papers and speeches will be found to contain much curious, original, and valuable historical information, the fruit of much labori- ous and painstaking research. The reader will here find the second greatest event of the world's history looked at by a great multitude of minds, and from many different stand- points, and exhibited under so great a variety of lights, both theoretic and practical, both retrospective and prospective, that under the divine blessing, this volume can scarce fail of being serviceable — let us trust eminently serviceable — to the cause of the Reformation. By two leading qualities is this volume characterized ; profound earnestness, and perfect agreement in sentiment. When we think that the men whose opinions and views are here recorded, came from almost every land of the civilized earth, and are representative of almost every Church in Christen- dom, and yet, that on no one point of importance do they differ, the volume may be truly regarded as a monument of the LIFE and UNITY which, after three centuries, still animate the Church of the Eeformation. Edinburgh, \6th October 1860. CONTENTS PACK Preface, by Editor, .... iv Introduction, by Rev. James Begg, D.D., . . vii-xx Sermon by Rev. Thos. Guthrie, D.D., .... 1 PART I. Papers Read at Ter-Centenart Meetings. The Culdees, by Rev. W. L. Alexander, D.D., . . .13 The Romish Establishment in Scotland at the Reformation, by Rev, Robert Gault, . . . . . .23 The Precursors of Knox, by Rev. Peter Lorimer, D.D., . 30 The "Common," or " Godlie" Band of 1557, by Rev, James Young, ....... 44 John Knox, by Rev. J. A. Wylie, LL.D , . . .55 The Scottish Parliament of 1560, by Rev. Thos. M'Crie, D.D., LL.D., ....... 75 The Church Discipline of the Sciottish Reformation, by Rev. W. Binnie, ...... 100 The Principles of the Reformation not the Cause of Sects and Heresies, by Rev. Principal Cunningham, . .108 Story of the Reformation as told by Knox, by Rev. John Gem- mel, A.M., ....... 123 The Influence of the Reformation on Literature and Education. by A. E. Macknight, Esq., ..... 130 The Hand of God in the Reformation, by Rev. W. D. Killen, D.D., 140 On the Learning and Enlightened Views of the Reformers, by Rev. Peter Lorimer, D.D., . . . . .148 The Errors of the Age of the Reformation, by Rev. John G. Lorimer, D.D., . . . . . .168 h VI CONTENTS. PAGE Toleration; or, The Lnw of Religious Liberty, by Eev. W. M. Hetherington, D.D., LL.D., . . . .173 The Protestantism of the British Constitution, by G. R. Bade- noch, Esq., . . . . . > .189 PART II. PliOOEEDOGS AT TeR-CeNTENARY MEETINGS, . . . 195 PART III. Laying Foundation Stone of Protestant Institute of Scotland. Sermon by Rev. William Symington, D.D., . . • . 307 ^rE:MORIALt^ OF THE REFORMATION, .... 326 List of Members, . . . . . . 33 1 Index, ....... 337 INTEODUCTION. BY THE KEV. JAMES BEGG, D.D. l^EXT to the advent of our blessed Saviour, the Eeformation from Popery is the most remarkable and glorious event recorded in modern history. The momentous consequences which have resulted from it to unnumbered multitudes can only be read in the annals of eternity. The nations which have partaken of the heavenly boon are now in the van of moral and social pro- gress — those which still remain under the grim dominion of Rome are grovelling in moral and social debasement, some of them, after centuries of darkness and suffering, making bloody efforts to break their chains. Of all the nations of Europe, Scotland has probably in many respects most cause to bless God for the Reformation from Popery. The well-known contrast which Macaulay has drawn between the former and present state of Rome and Edmburgh respectively, as illustrative of the opposite results of Popery and Protestantism, may be applied to the two na- tions of which these cities are the capitals — the one contain- ing the citadel of the Pope, and sinking from the highest emi- nence to the lowest degradation — the other, poor by nature but set free in 1560, by the Word and Spirit of God, from the thraldom of priests, and rising from extreme barbarism to the highest intellectual and moral eminence. Yet it is singular that this great event in Providence, to which Scotland owes so much, should never till now have received anything like a formal national acknowledgment. In 1660, when the iirst hundred years of the Reformation had passed away, no notice was taken of that event, the country being involved in a virtual Vm INTRODUCTION. revolution by the restoration of Charles II. In 1760, when another eventful hundred years had finished their course, Scotland was sunk in profound torpor under the ecclesiastical dominion of men who have never at any period indicated much sympathy with the spirit of John Knox. ISTow, how- ever, that 1860 has come, that a new spirit has breathed through the land, and that Rome is making determined efforts to regain her former ascendancy in Scotland, it is matter of earnest thank- fulness to God that in a variety of ways the Reformation has been, and is likely to be, worthily commemorated, and the kingdom stirred up on the subject of its dangers and duties to its utmost depths. In anticipation of the approaching period of 1860, big with such momentous recollections, efforts were made to rouse the different ecclesiastical bodies in Scotland to a sense of their duty. These efforts were suggested first very approj)riately by the theological students in London and Edinburgh, and they were cordially and readily responded to by the Scottish Reformation Society. Committees of preparation were ap- pointed by nearly all the churches at thek meetings in 1859. The recurrence of the ter-centenary of the Reformation was com- memorated in May last by appropriate services at the different meetings of the Supreme Ecclesiastical Courts. Services in the several congregations, were also appointed by the different churches to be held on the 20th of December next, the three hundredth anniversary of the day on which the first General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met, when our noble Reformers constituted the Church under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, as her sole King and spiritual Head. The special programme, however, thus so far suggested by the Re- formation Society, was still incomplete. It was remembered that the Reformation from Popery became a national event in Scotland on the 17th of August 1560, and it was obviously important that such a day should not pass unnoticed — that, in addition to all the sectional commemorations already referred to, something on a national scale should be attempted — that a wide platform should be erected at Edinburgh, upon which INTRODUCTION. IX men of all parties could meet, along with expatriated Scotch- men and friends from other lands, to join their thanksgivings together for an event in which every Protestant in the world has an undoubted interest, and to consult in regard to common dangers and duties in the present eventful times. Hence the great and eminently successful Convention, the proceedings at which it is the object of this volume to record. The Scottish Eeformation Society, as a committee ready- made and representing all classes of earnest Protestants, was requested to undertake the labour and pecuniary responsibiUty of getting up this great convocation. They began their labours at an early period, by a very extensive system of correspon- dence ; sending a circular of invitation to every Protestant minister in Scotland — to every nobleman, chief magistrate, and convener of a county, and to the mass of Scotch minis- ters in all the colonies, setting forth the importance of the occasion, and calling upon them to join in the celebration. In addition to this the approaching meeting was widely adver- tised in the public prints; and eminent men, who were known to take a prominent interest in the Protestant cause throughout the world, were invited to be present by special letter or personal application. A series of appropriate topics for essays or speeches on such an occasion, was also circu- lated, and some men specially qualified were requested to undertake the exposition of particular subjects. An effort was made besides, which, by the kind help of Mr. Watson, the well-known antiquarian in Princes Street, Mr. David Laing, the eminent editor of the works of John Knox, the Eev. James Young, and others, turned out to be very suc- cessful, to collect, as a temporary museum, a number of the most remarkable memorials still preserved of the period of the Reformation, and of the subsequent struggles of Scotland in behalf of Reformation principles. Above all, a special call was widely circulated to cordial and united prayer by the society for that purpose. These various efforts to accomplish a suitable national com- memoration of the Reformation met, as was anticipated in the X INTRODUCTION-. first instance, with various success. Many responded with great cordiahty to the appeal; others were callous and un- concerned, but the grand result was in the end, by the bless- ing of God, successful beyond precedent, and beyond the most sanguine anticipations of those who had exerted themselves most to promote the great meeting. The unexplained absence of some of the ministers in Scotland, although much to be re- gretted, scarcely gave rise to disappointment, as an unaccount- able apathy has lately seized upon not a few of the w^atchmen of our Sion in regard to the urgent duty of contending ear- nestly for Protestant truth and liberty. This we should have scarcely alluded to but for awkward attempts at subsequent exj^lanation. N^ow that the meetings have been, by the bless- ing of God, triumj)hantly successful, it is easy to say something in the way ofexcuse for absence ; but to any one actively engaged in the Protestant struggle, the real cause, however sad, is perfectly Avell understood. The apathy of the people of Scotland, so far as it exists on the subject of Eomanism, is mainly to be traced to the want of zeal on the part of many ministers ; and it is pretty evident that were the Reformation to be achieved now, some of them w^ould not be found in the van of the struggle. " If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, how wouldst thou contend with horses ; and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they have wearied thee, what wouldst thou do in the dwellings of Jor- dan?" Their absence, however, was more than compen- sated by the devoted cordiality and zeal of others as well as by the crowd of earnest and faithful servants of Christ Avho mustered from England, Ireland, the Continent and all the colonies of Britain. In addition to these distinguished Protestants from a distance, some of whom came hundreds and thousands of miles to be present, many sent letters, expressing their deep regret because of their unavoidable absence. Our space will not allow us to publish these, and it may be invi- dious to select, but we could not help regretting the necessary absence of such men as Dr. Cooke of Belfast, Dr. Candlish, Mr. Spurgeon, Dr. Buchanan, the Rev. Wm. Arthur, and others; INTRODUCTION. XI and there is one man so eminent in- connection with continental Protestantism that we cannot avoid giving his excellent letter. We refer to Dr. Merle D'Aubigne of Geneva : — Alisbrun, Zurich, 8th August 1860. To the Committee of the Ter-centenary Commemoration of the Scottish Keformation, Edinburgh. Dear Sirs and Brethren, — Your Committee were kind enough to invite me to attend your Commemoration. Various circumstances prevent my having the gratification of visiting at present j^our much-loved country, amongst others my health, which is not strong, has obliged me to come to a bathing place, from which 1 now write to you. There is no city which should feel such an interest in your jubilee, as Geneva, and I may say no one in Geneva more than I. The Keformation of Scotland is considered by many as a daughter of the Reformation of Geneva — yes, a daughter, but also a mother, for Hamilton had given his life as a martyr before the Gospel had achieved its triumphs in our city. The great spirit of Calvin, however, made a profound impression on the Scottish mind; and Knox, returning from his refuge on the shores of our lake, carried back to your Church many precious doctrines and some im- portant principles of ecclesiastical order. We salute you, therefore, our Scottish brethren — fellow-sufferers and fellow-soldiers of the Cross of Christ. May the Lord bless your Commemo- ration, bring the hearts of the fathers unto the children, give an effusion of His Holy Sj)irit on your land, and kindle a light which shall extend even to the remotest parts of the earth. I do not write to you from Geneva, but from the cantons of Zurich — from the battle-field of Cappel — a stone's-throw from the spot where, on the 11th of October 1531, Zwinglius fell, for the truth and the liberty of the Gospel, exclaiming, " They may kill the body: the soul they cannot kill." On the 14th and 15th of this month the General Assembly of Swiss pastors is to meet at Zurich, where, it is probable, that another battle will be fought — that of Eevelation against the negation of everything supernatural. If my health permit, I trust, God willing, to be present, and lift, if possible, my feeble voice in defence of the truth. I am, Dear Sirs, with many good wishes, your brother in Christ, and fellow-citizen. Merle D'Aubigne. In the absence of the whole noblemen of Scotland, one or two, we have reason to believe, unwillingly, a few of the most eminent noblemen of England and Ireland had intended to honour the meeting with their presence. By the arrangements of Providence they also were prevented from being with us. The letter of the Earl of Cavan, explaining the cause of his absence, was so Christian and touching that we cannot refrain from inserting it : — XU INTKODUCTION. " Weston jS. Mare, Aug. 13, 1860. " Dear Sir, — It has pleased our heavenly Father to call to Himself this morning the spirit of our dear boy. The past week has been one of much suffering and trial to us all ; but all is wisety ordered. Infinite Love has arranged every matter in this bereavement for the furtherance of His glory and for our profit, and, thanks be to His name, to our comfort, in the evi- dent tokens the child gave of a simple dependence in the blood and righteous- ness of our dear Eedeemer. I truly grieve being absent from the Commemo- ration. May there be much of the presence of our blessed Lord experienced there. I trust to be with our brethren in spirit — Believe me, truly yours in tlie bonds of the Gospel, " Cavan. " G. E. Badenoch, Esq." The numbers who did come, however, afforded an ample and worthy representation of the Protestantism of Scotland and the world. Every inch of available room was required. So many servants of Christ, engaged in the great Protestant struggle over the world, and to a great extent unknown by face to each other, never probably met before in our day. A number of the most respectable county gentlemen of Scotland also, of various denominations; a fair sprinkling of magistrates, and a number of distinguished military and literary men formed part of the enthusiastic assembly, which embraced, besides, a large portion of the very cream of Scottish piety. The 14th of August turnsd out to be a splendid day during an unusually wet season. The place fixed for the convention was the new Assembly Hall, kindly granted for the purpose — a place of great capacity, and yet admirably adapted in every respect for a deliberative meeting, as well as surrounded with all sorts of convenient and suitable committee rooms, the whole being situated in the very centre of Edinburgh. Erom the towers of the New College, in front of the hall, there waved a noble blue flag, prepared for the occasion, exhibiting on an ex- panded groundwork an open Bible, on one leaf of which was the inscription, " Search the Scriptures," on the other, " By grace are ye saved," with the burning bush above and the old motto of the Scottish Church, "Nee tamen consumebatur," whilst in the four corners were the insignia of Hamilton and Knox, as representing the great Reforming Ministers of Scot- land, and Argyle and Erskine of Dun as representing the INTRODUCTION. XUl great Eeforming laymen. Nearly 500 had been enrolled as members of the convocation, who occupied the centre of the hall, the rest of the seats being reserved for the general public, and the Committee could have sold of such tickets to spectators twice the number that the great hall could accommodate. At the last there was a perfect rush for admission, and many were disappointed. When Dr. Guthrie entered the hall at twelve o'clock, to commence the opening sermon, every available corner was crowded to the utter- most by a most imposing multitude, and a similar state of things continued during all the great meetings of the entire four days of the Commemoration until late on the night of Friday the 1 7th, the vast assembly broke up amidst una- bated enthusiasm, and with earnest gratitude to God. It was, indeed, " a time long to be remembered" — a time of special refreshing from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power. A high key-note was struck in the opening sermon, and it was most powerfully maintained. Probably no one pre- sent ever witnessed a whole series of meetings so wonderfully sustained throughout with earnest spiritual feeling and lofty eloquence, whilst the text of Dr. Guthrie, at the opening — " The truth shall make you free," and that of Dr. Symington, " Come out of her, my people," received at the close their most wonderful modern illustration in the living presence and graphic and powerful story of the Eev. C. Chiniquy of Illinois, lately one of the most influential priests of Lower Canada, but now a Protestant minister at the head of 6,000 people, con- verted from Eome through his instrumentality, and who had come 4,000 miles to attend the Commemoration. The plan of the meetings had been arranged so as to secure as much variety as possible, and yet to exhaust as well as might be within such space all the topics suitable for such an occasion. With this view a programme had been carefully prepared. It had been printed beforehand in proof, to save time and labour, but, of course, subject to any alterations; but it met with the unanimous approbation of the large business committee appointed by the assembled convocation. In addi- Xiv INTRODUCTION. tion to the two sermons appointed to be preached, one at the opening of the meeting, and another in connection Avith the laying of the foundation-stone of the Protestant Institute of Scotland— the latter duty admirably discharged by Dr. Syming- ton — the morning assemblies were devoted to the reading of papers, so arranged as to throw light upon the history, prin- ciples, and entire bearings of the Scottish Eeformation struggle. As much as possible of these papers, some of which were peculiarly valuable, will be found in the present volume. The task of selection and abridgment, on the part of my friend Dr. Wylie, has been peculiarly difficult. The evenings, on the other hand, were devoted to devotional exercises and speeches. On the first two evenings these speeches were of a more general kind, having reference to the past, present, and future of the Eeformation struggle in Britain and the world, whilst the evening of the third clay was specially de- voted to the recent blessed work of revival by the Spirit of God, as that which can alone eff"ectually arrest the progress of superstition, and make the Reformation of true value, wdiilst the evening of the fourth day w^as devoted to the special efforts which are being made to promote missions to Ro- manists in various parts of the United Kingdom. On these subjects men spoke who were well known to have been inti- mately connected with these several gracious operations, and who could say " What we have seen and heard declare we unto you." Their addresses were deeply interesting. Besides these exercises, there were special prayer meetings every morn- ing, numerously attended. A spirit of praise and prayer, in- deed, prevailed at all the meetings. If to all this is added that there was a conference in regard to the Protestant press, that on one evening Mr. Hatley, so well known for his personal excellence and thorough skill in the psalmody of Scotland, gave, by means, of a well-trained choir, some selec- tions from the very tunes sung by the Scottish Reformers ; wdiilst, on another day (Friday the 17th), the anniversary of the national act of Scotland in abolishing, through her Parliament, the Popish system, the members of the convoca- INTRODUCTION. XV tion marched in procession to lay the foimdation-stone of the Protestant Institute of Scotland, a pretty distinct idea will be given of the way in which the four days of the Commemora- tion were spent. It may be right, however, to mention as a subordinate mat- ter, that the sustained interest of the meetings was greatly promoted, without doubt, by the adoption of two regula- tions which were prominently exhibited on the front of the Programme. The one was that no one should be held respon- sible for any sentiments but those uttered by himself, the other that a fixed time should be allotted to each speaker, and that the expiry of the time should be indicated by a bell rung by the chairman. The first rule set the members of the con- vocation at perfect liberty as amongst themselves, although the result indicated most strikingly the real unity of true Protestants, although from different lands and of widely differ- ent denominations. The other entirely assured the audience. Men who meet on such occasions are not always adepts at con- densation, and if the audience imagines that any man not re- markably interesting has it also in his power to become inter- minable, there will speedily arise a tendency to break up, especially if the sittings are protracted from day to day. But if the audience knows from the first the worst that any indi- vidual man can do, and that by enforcing the authority of the chairman with his inexorable bell, they can within a definite time summon a new man upon the stage, it is astonishing ho^j^ patient they will become. The same plan also does good to the sjDeakers themselves, by forcing them to leave off unneces- sary prefaces, and come at once and keep to the point. We should strongly advise the introduction of this method into all public assemblies. The most important business of the meeting, however, it will generally be admitted — that which is likely to be most per- manent and advantageous to the country and the world — was the laying of the foundation stone of the Protestant In- stitute of Scotland, as an appropriate monument to John Knox, and an effectual means of handing down to generations Xvi INTRODUCTION, to come a knowledge of Eeformation principles. That such an institution is much required in Scotland, will be admitted hy all who are competent to judge — that, when finished, it will be capable, by the Divine blessing, of training our youth in the knowledge of the Eomish controversy, has been already abundantly demonstrated by the training classes of the last two or three years — that an admirable locality for the erec- tion of such an Institute has been secured on ground of his- toric interest, and half-way between the two colleges, is matter of cordial congratulation and thankfulness to God, and now all that remains, humanly speaking, is to secure the balance of the necessary funds. One would have imagined that the raising of funds for such an object would have been the easiest thing possible in such a country as Scotland. Nay, one would have supposed that not only might one amply equipped and endowed Protestant Institute have been easily established at Edinburgh, but that similar institutions would have sprung up spontaneously, in the present state of the country, in all our provincial towns, and especially at all our university seats. It has been well said, " if the Eeformation was w^orth achieving it was worth maintaining," and we can hardly imagine a more worthy ob- ject for individual donations and bequests, as well as for general contributions. Hitherto, however, it has been found a matter of comparative difficulty to rouse men to a sense of 4hese obvious truths, although it is earnestly to be desired that the late meetings, and the present volume, may do much to awaken and animate the Protestant spirit of Scotland. A most impotent meeting it would have been which ended merely in talk ; but it must not be. In addition to other opportuni- ties of contributing, an important commemoration of the events of 1560 will yet take place before the present year expires. We refer to the sermons to be preached in nearly all the Presbyterian Churches connected with Britain, and perhaps with the Colonies, on the 20th of December next, as the ter-centenary of the very day on which the first General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland INTRODUCTION. XVll met, an event most worthy to be had in remembrance. If on that day, as is most fitting, a collection is everywhere made in behalf of this Protestant Institute of Scotland, enough will be obtained to build and endow one of the most import- ant monuments to Eeformation principles in the world. Meantime, all subscriptions will be acceptable, and they are coming slowly in. Short of securing this object, the recent Commemoration will most lamentably fail of its appropriate design, and Eomanists will afford to regard it with indiffer- ence or contempt. They do not go about their matters in a way so unpractical. But it will be sad, indeed, if, whilst Popery can raise, as is supposed, £100,000, to erect and endow buildings in and about Edinburgh alone, to overtlirow this Reformation, it should be found impossible to erect one central agency in the capital of Scotland to resist its efforts, which are incessant and universal. Before an opportunity shall occur after the close of 1860, of commemorating another centenary of the Scottish Eeforma- tion, all the present generation shaU have gone to their graves. Looking back over the period that has elapsed since the great struggle of Knox, every intelligent and Christian Scotchman must experience very miugled feelings. ISTo sooner was our land freed from the enormous incubus of the Eomish system, than a struggle for spiritual Kberty commenced with our kings, and only terminated with the final overthrow of the infatuated race of Stuarts in 1688. Abundant evidence had been afforded even during that struggle, of the heavenly power of the Gospel to heal a nation's woes, and convert a land of bleak moun- tains and inauspicious climate into a garden of the Lord. But still Cliristianity fought as in an intrenchment, against foes without, and traitors within. The great spoils of the Eomish Church had been swallowed up by an unscrupulous aristo- cracy, and the whole schemes of Knox in behalf of a lofty and universal education had never been realized. Even after the expulsion of the bloody Stuarts, the difficulties of Scotland were only beginning. Our union with England, productive as it has been, in many respects, of temporal blessings, had subjected XVlil INTRODUCTION. our aifairs to an iminformed and unsympathising Parliament, and been the means of tearing our Church to pieces. Our noble people have been partly driven out, and partly degraded by a non-resident proprietory, whose greata im seems to be to increase their rents, and Scotland, great in talent, and shrewd and enduring to a proverb, is found, after three hundred years from the Reformation, no doubt greatly enriched and exalted in many respects by religion and liberty, but torn by unneces- sary divisions, and borne down by accumulating social evils, partly a great hunting-field, and partly a hewer of wood and drawer of water for her inconsiderate aristocracy. A growing state of social neglect is too clearly indicated by our increasing vice, crime, and pauperism, and by a deep-seated general dissa- tisfaction. A new feature also has lately startled reflecting men. Several of our aristocratic families are going over to E,ome, and not only still retaining the spoils of the Popish Church, but directly conniving at the support of Pome by the public money of Britain. This state of matters is surely deserving of serious consideration. If our nobility are now convinced that Popery is as good as Protestantism, and that the policy of the Reform- ation was a mistake, they ought in all reason to abandon the property wJiicli they obtained under an opposite impression. The nation may perhaps think it better to consent to a restoration of Church lauds than allow Pome to plunder the British treasury, whilst Pome herself regards her claim to such restoration as complete and indefeasible, and will enforce it upon the first opportunity. The battle with Pome is by no means terminated. The spiritual position of the Pope may only be strengthened by the suspension of his temporal sovereignty — an event not new in the history of Euro|»e— it cannot be destroyed by any mere physical attack, and at all events, when in concert with the Tractarians of England, we see Popery everywhere strengthening its outposts in Britain, it is mere infatuation on the part of the Protestants of Britain to " say peace, peace, when there is no peace." The man must be blind indeed, who does not see that a great struggle is probably awaiting Scotland. We refer not INTRODUCTION. XIX merely to the fact that some of our aristocracy are going over to Eome, whilst scarcely one of them took the least interest in the late commemorative meeting — we refer not to the crowd of Irish Papists to be found in all our great cities, and even in our rural districts ; we refer especially to the general and rapid demoralization which, by the infatuated policy of our landlords, is spreading in the rural districts of Scotland, and threatening to destroy the very basis of the social frame- work, to the active support of Popery by our rulers, to our many divisions and the ominous apathy in regard to distinctive Pro- testantism which pervades too many of our pulpits. These various causes, unless a better spirit is speedily awakened, are infallible symptoms of approaching evil. And yet, on the other side, there is the late glorious revival and other gratify- ing proofs that God has not forsaken us, and that the old spirit is far from dead. We shall prove ourselves most un- worthy descendants of the great Eeformers and of God's great mercies, if we do not seek by every means to stay ?the plague of evil. Let us especially pray that God himself, with whom is the residue of the Spirit, and who has been so gracious to our land in ages past, making it the source of unnumbered blessings to the world, may not hide His face from us now, notwithstanding our great unworthiness, but may bring back our captivity like the streams of the south, cause us to see good according to the days in which we have been afflicted, and the number of the months in which we have seen evil, and make our latter end to be more glorious than the beginning. " Eeturn, Lord, for thy servants' sake, the tribes of thine inheritance." GOD'S TRUTH AND MAN'S FEEEDOM ; A Sermon BY THE REV. THOMAS GUTHRIE, D.D. Preached at the Opening of the Ter-Centenary of the Scottish Reformation. "The truth shall make you free."— John viii. 32. Nothing lies so near man's present and future welfare as truth. All sin, wrongs, oppression, cruelties, crimes of every kind, stand on falsehood. The fall of man was wrought by a lie; our first mother, like thousands of her daughters, having been seduced from the paths of virtue. Tyranny rests on a lie ! — that kings have a divine right to reign, and subjects are under a divine obligation to obey. Slavery rests on a lie ! — that man can hold property in man, and buy and sell his brother. Persecution rests on a lie ! — that man has no right of private judgment, and is answerable for his faith to other than God. Intemperance rests on a lie! — that stimulants, which intoxicate, are a necessity to health and happiness. All vice rests on this lie, that it ministers more than virtue to our happiness ; and by such lies as these — God is all mercy or has none, — it is too late or too early to seek salvation, — the greater number of lost souls are ruined. Too cunning to shew the naked iron, Satan baits the barb ; and with gay, attractive falsehoods dresses all his lures. Called by our Master the father of lies, he catches his prey by these ; and by these holds them. They are the foundation of the devil's power — the weapons he fights with, the tools he works with, the chains by which he binds his crowd of captives and drags them do^vn to hell. And as the only thing that can destroy falsehood is truth, therefore our Lord says, in words which I proceed to illustrate, " The truth shall make you free !" god's truth and man's freedom. I. To the Truth we oive our Spiritual Freedom. The tnitk shall make you free — and it does so. For ex- ample : — a man thinks lightly of sin, and thinking, as many do, that there is little ill in sin, he continues in it ; by that the devil holds him. Kow, Truth comes iii to shew that sin is exceeding sinful ; that, while one sin was enough to ruin, nothing less than the blood of God's Son was sufficient to redeem, the world. Convinced of that, Satan's captive is free ; and hasting to Jesus, falls at his feet to cry, " Lord save me, I perish!" Another, again, flatters himself that "God will not require," and therefore he continues in sin. But Truth raises the curtain; and there, before the astonished man, stand an assembled world, a great white throne, the Judge of all, and at the bar, — who ? himself, giving an account of all the deeds done in the body, whether they were good or evil ! Another, again, says, as many say — or rather, perhaps, believes as many do — that God is too merciful not to overlook our offences. Did not he give us our appetites ? Has not he placed us in the circumstances which expose us to temj^tation ? Will he not, in consideration of the weaknesses of humanity, overlook what precise men too severely censure 1 Does not even the Bible itself say, that he "knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are dust?" and thus lending a too ready ear to Satan's sojjhistry, the man continues in sin. But truth brushes aAvay these cobwebs; telling him that " God is not tempted of sin, neither tempteth he any man;" that as he tempts none, he excuses none ; and that the only answer his law gives to such pleas, is, walking up to its debtor, to take him by the throat, and say, "Pay me that thou owest." The spell of these falsehoods broken, the man is free ; and, alarmed for liis soul, as a bird to the mountain, he flees to the refuge set before him in the gospel. The truth lias made him free. While thus seeking by lies to detain some from Christ, by these also Satan seeks to deter others ; going off on the other god's truth and man's freedom. 3 tack, whom he cannot detain, he tries to deter. There is no hope for you — you are too old, or too bad to be saved — your apphcation is too late — you have sinned against the Holy Ghost — others may be forgiven, but for you, hope is none — the door is shut; and thus, like Peter bound between two soldiers, barred and buried in the inmost dungeon — the sinner, pour soul! "sits in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron." But now, like the apostle's angel. Truth steps in, and the prison is filled with light — it shines upon a cross — the Lamb of God dying for the chief of sinners ; and proving in the thief he plucks from the very edge of hell, and carries in triumph to the skies, how he can save even to the very uttermost. The man believes, and is no longer bound ; the fetters fall from his limbs ; and truth his guide, he walks forth to breathe the air of heaven, to live, like the just, by faith, and enjoy the gladsome liberty of a son of God. Accompanied by the power and demonstration of the Spirit, the truth has made him free. J^ow tliis truth of God, which proclaims salvation by faitli and not by works, salvation from bad and independent of good works, salvation by God and not man, salvation througli Christ and not the Church, salvation by the Spirit and not the sacraments, salvation by the Word and not by its inter- preters, — a salvation that deposes ministers, as such, from the priesthood, to make the humblest saint a king and priest to God, — to crown a beggar, and put the priestly ephod on a little child, — this truth is the only instrumentality to shake Satan's kingdom and emancipate the world. You never will persuade men to love God until you first convmce them that God loves them. It is the Cross, and nothing else that is tc! conquer the world — a gospel that shews the Spirit brooding on the waters of a new creation in the gentle form of a dove, and Christ entering our hearts at their second birth, as he entered the world that night he was born, not amid the flashes of angry thunders, but under skies serenely calm, with a train of angels and songs of peace. These saving, spirit-stirring, soul emancipating and kaig 4 GOD S TRUTH AND MAN S FREEDOM. forgotten truths — it was the gloiy of the Eeformation to bring out of prison, as she came forth, with the Bible in her hand, blazing like a torch of light ; and it was the wisdom and glory of our fathers, clearing God's temple of many useless, and worse than useless ceremonies, to restore the pulpit with its open Bible, mother tongue, living preacher, and earnest looks. Thus the Reformation set free thousands and milhons that lay in chains of darkness — God's Spirit, by God's truth, giving them s]Diritual eternal freedom. To its standard, unfurled often by burning stake and on bloody scaffold, the gathering nations came. Blown by the breath of Martin Luther, blown by the breath of John Calvin, blown loud and long, by the brave breath of John Knox, the trumpet of salvation, as it echoed among Scotland's mountains, and rang from shore to shore, sounded, like the trump of the last day — graves were opened; the dead came forth — not dead bodies, but spirits that had been long dead. The event which we are met to commemorate was life from the dead ; light to the blind ; liberty to slaves ; a revolution that threw open the doors of dungeons; a resurrection to the "spirits that were in prison." Then religion, bathing herself in the celestial light, renewed her age like an eagle, and, with her eye on the sun, soared to the height of her earliest flights; in men whose memories cling to our city walls, whose heads, withering in the wind, were spiked upon our city gates, and whose honoured dust now sleeps in our churchyards — in these stout-hearted men, God in heaven met the old powers of persecution mth the old spirit of martyrdom. The truth made them free. They lived freemen, and though they died in dungeon chains, or bound to the stake — they died freemen; and now from their graves, near by, they seem to call us to follow them as they followed Christ. II. To the Truth we owe Secular Freedom. The pillar that rose from the desert sands, guiding the host of Israel to the land of promise, was at the same time a wil- god's truth and man's freedom. 5 derness blessing — a cloud by day, it screened their heads from the glaring sun, and it lighted their tents by night. And, as a devout Israelite, lying on wakeful couch, looked out on that mysterious radiance, and listened to the voice of the stream, that, gushing from its rocky fountain, went murmuring through the camp, I can fancy how he recognized God's care for the present as well as future Avelfare of his people. Like that pillar, the Gospel, guide of my pilgrim steps to a better world, sheds many precious blessings on this one. I believe it was intended to do so. This is no accident ; ' tis the purpose of Him who, our pattern as well as propitiation, divided his time between the interests of this world and the next ; taught us to care for men's bodies as well as for their souls, to carry a loaf of bread as well as a Bible to the houses of the poor ; and who, with the very hand that had been opening the gates of Paradise, dried the cheek of grief, bound up bleeding hearts, gave a brother to a sister's arms, and lighted with joy the dark abodes of sorrow. What Christ was in temporal things to a narrow circle, Christianity has been to a wide one. What country has she ever entered without a troop of earthly bless- ings in her train 1 Christianity is not all for the next world. We are too apt to forget this — ministers as well as people ; and I am not the servant of Jesus I should be, unless I walk in the footsteps of Him who spent his strength and passed his time as well in blessing men's bodies as in saving their souls. Let not the Church forget her duty to the world. Let not the world forget what she owes to the Church ; nor, in perse- cuting religion, be the senseless infant that, ignorant of what it owes a mother, beats the kind breast it hangs on. JS'ot only has the Church of Christ blessed the world in a thousand temporal ways, but for her the world itself is spared ; the tares stand till the wheat is ripe ; and vengeance, staying her hand till the last Lot is gone forth from Sodom, says with the angel, " I cannot do anything till thou be come thither." In illustration of these remarks, so far as the blessings of freedom are concerned, I say. First, To the Truth we owe Mental Freedom, 6 god's truth and man's freedom. XTntil the advent of Christianity, and during the long dark ages that preceded the Eeformation, the mind of man was in a profound slumber. I am not speaking of Plato, and Solon, and Socrates, and Cicero, and such other rare and remarkable lights. I speak of the great mass of mankind; and so far as they were concerned, the range of human thought was limited to the cbcle of these wants, "What shall I eat, what shall I drink, and wherewithal shall I be clothed?" Bead our ballad literature, and see how the great object of admiration in man was muscle, brute force, and brute braver}^ ; and in a woman, personal beauty— what the worm feeds on; but as to mind, the liigher faculties and nobler principles of man, its cultivation, like the green patches around the lonely house of some upland glen, that form such a contrast to the far-spreadmg and sur- rounding wilderness of brown moor and rugged hill, did not pass beyond the narrowest limits. I want to know where literature was 1 I want to know where free thought was ? I want to know where science was 1 I want to know where ix»htics were — where the arts were in this land before John Knox was with his compatriots, the great and noble men that fought at his side, or followed his steps? Let the world answer that ! So far as the masses were concerned, these had no existence. The human mind ran in the rut of a contracted circle. Men believed what their fathers did — no more, no less ; and followed their leaders to whatever field they con- ducted them, with the stupidity, and more than the patience, of sheep. The word of God broke in upon this state of tfiings. With its gT:and truths, its heart-stirring thoughts, it woke a sleeping world. It set all the wheels of man's mind in motion, and called him from low, sensual, animal pleasures, to employ his faculties on the loftiest subjects, and rise on the wings of thought even to the tlirone of God. The education of the masses, the diffusion of knowledge, the progress of science, the advances of art, the greater blessings of peace, and the dimin- isiied horrors of war, to what are these due, but to the activity and liberty of thought which cume into the world with the Word GOD S TRUTH AND MAN S FREEDOM. 7 of God. Meet it was that tlie first book that issued from the press should have been a Bible — the book that, preparing men's minds for the influence of the press, and purifying its thousand streams, has proved in every country the guardian of its freedom, and the best guide of its incalculable power. Calling us to think, to think freely and independently on matters of the highest moment, the truth of God emancipated the human mind, and sent man to expatiate on bold, free wing, in- to every other region of thought — the eye that had gazed upon the sun, was not to be dazzled by lesser lights. Eeligion. having set men a-thinking, the mind that was set in motion on the Sabbath, like a great wheel moved by some powerful cause, continued to revolve throughout the week, nor lost the old impulse till a new one was ready. Taught in matters of religion to think for himself, man took the liberty to think for himself in all things else. A free thinker in the right sense of the word, the devout and intelligent student of his Bible cannot be a bigot, or one who wont think — a slave, or one that dare not think — a fool, or one that cannot think. "The testimony of the Lord is sure, making mse the simple." "In thy light shall we see light.'' "The truth shall make you free." Second, To the Truth we owe Social Freedom. Tlie Bible inculcates principles and precepts that appear to me as incompatible with slavery, as sin is with prayer. It has been well said, that prayer will either put an end to sin, or sin will put an end to prayer ; and is it not as true that the Gospel will either put down slavery, or slavery will put down the Gospel? What saith the Lord — that is the question; and "he that hath ears to hear let bim hear." God hath made of one hlood all nations. Do unto others as ye would have others do unto you. Love thy neighhour as thyself. Love one another as I have loved you. 1 vnll not sit in harsh judgment on others ! Still, speaking for myself, I hardly think that the devil liimself has sophistry enough to make any man — not given over to believe a lie — believe that these most kind, tender, loving, gi'acious, glorious, 8 god's truth and man's freedom. celestial trutlis are compatible with slavery: a system that, as the inevitable and incurable source of oppression, cruelty, robbery, uncleanness, adulter}^, murder, is, to use John "Wesley's immortal words, "the sum of all human villanies." With such crimes I do not charge all slaveholders ; but where has this system not borne such fruits, and who can deny that these are its natural tendencies 1 And what doth God require of us ? Is it to support or put down a system that bears such fruits? "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" And what but pride, or passion, or self-interest, can blind men to this, that these duties are incompatible mth slavery — that there is as plainly sin in slavery as there is slavery in sin. Take the last M^ords I have quoted of our blessed Lord, — "Love one another, as I have loved you." By his most illustrious and divine example, by his glorious name — Eedeemer, by the bloody cross of Calvary, he teaches me not to make the free, a bondsman, but the bondsman, free, — not to steal another's liberty, but rather to give mine for his, — not to betray or hunt a fugitive on his flight from chains and slavery, but to "bring the poor that are cast out to my house," and wash the feet the fetters have wounded. See him in yonder chamber where he has stooped to wash the circle of wondering disciples, stand up to say, "I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you." Tliird, To the Truth we owe Political Freedom. Liberty was born that night that Christ was born — true liberty in all its shapes and forms. I challenge all men to shew me a nation that, till Christianity appeared to bless this world, enjoyed a constitution like our own. God be thanked for it, thanked for the Sovereign that fills the throne, thanked for the loyalty of her people, and thanked for our calm but resolute determination — as this city lately saw — to stand by the liberties and protect the privileges which came down to us from battles which our fathers fought, and scaffolds where they fell. Many years ago, I heard Gay Lussac, the great French god's truth and man's freedom. 9 philosopher, expatiating in the college of the Sorbonne, on the cause of Britain's greatness. He attributed it to our inex- haustible mines of coal and iron, lying not at great distances from each other, but in neighbouring strata within the same rock or field. Coal and iron ! 'Twas all he knew about it. Coal and iron ! what had they done to make Britain Great Britain — a mother of nations and the mistress of the seas — the home of freedom, and an asylum for the oppressed, with- out the mind that has evoked their powers, without a peaceful, intelligent, religious people, inspired with the love of liberty, and animated by bravery to defend shores which the sea, not man, may invade? It is our freedom, our mental, social, political, religious freedom — which has made us great; and these, with God's blessing, we owe to his word. The Bible has been the source of our liberties. The Bible and the Shorter Catechism, read and studied by Scotchmen, these have toughened their intellects, and set all the wheels of their minds in motion. Talk of Liberty ! liberty without the Bible is either dead or delirious. Look at France, where they would have liberty divorced from religion ! He who governs her, like a man in a morass, only keeps hunself from sinking by ever shifting his position ; beneath his feet the ice is bending — and he avoids his fate by constant motion. With a brave, a clever, a gener- ous, a gallant people, still France, without a Bible, is just like a top — it keeps itself up by perpetual revolutions. Other nations envy Britain's fortune : if they would have her for- tune, let them seek her faith. There are but two ways of it — rulers and people have no other choice : — the bayonet or the Bible — the fear of man or the fear of God. Who suffers for his country wins admiration ; yet the Christian is the truest patriot — the best subject of a good government, but the most formidable enemy of a bad one. Would to God that the patriots of Europe knew this ! for we s^mipathize with their aspirations, and -will cheer them on to plant the tree of liberty wherever they can. I have seen it as it stood in France, but it was withered — standing up against the blue sky, neither 10 god's truth and man's freedom. green leaf nor blessed fruit on its skeleton axms. that France would learn that if she would grow that tree, she must plant it in a soil nourished by the waters of the sanctuary. Then there is Italy, down-trodden, priest-cursed Italy ; I feel the deepest sympathy with her patriots. The God of the oppressed cro^^Ti their arms mth success ! But had I voice to reach these brave Italians, it would tell them that their swords are drawn and their blood is shed in vain in Freedom's fight un- less the ground, thus roughly ploughed and richly manured, receive into its furrows the seeds of truth. No political rege- neration has ever stood, or will ever stand, unless it is pre- ceded, accompanied, or followed by a spiritual awakening. In our case, there was no failure. The Argyles, and Guth- ries, and CargiUs of other days — Knox, witli his indomitable spirit and bold endurance, the martyrs who sleep in the Grey- friars' churchyard, and those who lie on Scotland's hills, with nothing to mark their graves but a weathered stone, with its rude sketch of an open Bible, and a naked sword, they neither prayed, ijor laboured, nor bled, nor died in vain. And why 1 Why, but because they laid the foundations of our liberties deep in the Word of God. Therefore, we have a sovereign, but no slaves in this land ; we have authority, but no oppres- sion ; we have rulers, but no tyrants ; we have liberty without license, and religion without superstition: free trade, a free parliament, free justice, free thought; liberty, not the false, wliich is every man doing what he ivill, but the true, which is every man doing what he ought. '' He is the Freeman whom the Truth makes free." I art I PAPERS READ AT THE TER-CENTEMRY OE THE SCOTTISH REEORMATION OF 1560. THE OULDEES. BY THE EEV. W. L. ALEXANDER. D.D. It forms no part of my present design to sketch the history of the Culdees. It must suffice on this part of the subject simply to state that, founded by Columba in the latter half of the sixth century, they spread themselves over the southern parts of IScotland, and established colleges on the model of the parent institution at lona in many places, from which as centres they diffused the blessings of education, social culture, and religion, among the surrounding population, and despatched mission- aries to carry the same to more distant regions ; and that after continuing for nearly seven centuries, i\\Q>j were violently sup- pressed by David I,, to make way for the Romish priests, whom he and his Saxon queen were bent on establishing as the only religious teachers of the people. Leaving the held of narrative and description, I shall confine myself to a brief investigation of the substantial pretensions and constitution of the Culdees, and the religious opinions and usages of which they were the advocates and promoters. It is not unusual to speak of the Culdees as monks ; and the latest writer on the subject has declared that they un- doubtedly were so, and that the life and institutions of Columba abundantly attest this. I cannot but regard the application of this designation to them as erroneous, and as calculated to mislead with respect to the real character and organisation of the societies which they composed. Putting aside all those absurd and repulsive qualities which the corruptions of the monastic institute in later times have done so much to incor- porate with the popular notions of monkery, and taking as our standard the ideal of that institute as it presented itself to the 14 THE CULDEES. imagination of a Benedict or a Francis, we must still maintain that, under no just acceptation of the term, were the followers of Columba monks. They were not only free from " the vices of monasticism," as the writer to whom I have referred asserts, but they wanted the essential constitutive elements of monas- ticism. Can there be a monastic order without a rule, and without a monastic vow ? These two have been conditions of all the monastic orders the world has hitherto recognised as such, and we need not hesitate to say that they are indispens- able to the very idea of the monastic institute. The mere use of the term " Regular," to designate a monk, as distinguished from the secular or parochial clergy who mingled wdth the world, is sufficient to show how intimately the supposition of a rule by which all its members are solemnly bound enters into the idea of a monastic order. 'No less essential to monasti- cism is the imposition on all who profess it of the three vows of cehbacy, poverty, and obedience. It is not enough that these are practised ; these do not constitute a man a monk in the proper acceptation of the term ; it is the solemn abjura- tion and renunciation of his subsequent liberty in respect of these, that comprises what is essential to the monastic estate. Where this is wanting, the distinctive differential quahty of monasticism is absent, but individuals live as they please. ISTow, no facts are more satisfactorily ascertained concerning the Culdees than that they had no rule to wliich they were bound, so that they did not take on them the three vows of the monastic orders. That a certain order, arrangement, and subordination must have been observed by them is undeniable, for this is involved in affirming that they lived in society ; and that they must have yielded obedience to a certain extent to their superior in each of their estabUshments is also certain, for without this their institutions would have been speedily overwhelmed in confusion; but it by no means follows from this that they were subject to monastic rule, or were under the monastic vow. To live according to a simple order is not to be bound hand and foot by a rigid and minutely determined rule ; and to THE CULDEES. 15 render such obedience to a chief as is necessary for the orderly conducting of a society over Avliich he presides, is a very dif- ferent thing from having taken a vow to render bhnd and im- plicit submission to whatever a superior may ordain. It is true that the biographer of Columba speaks of him on two occasions as having imposed upon candidates for admission into the society the votum monasticum ; but before much stress is laid on this, it would be well to consider on the one hand, that the writer simply uses the expression without telling us in what the vow consisted, and on the other that he was a person who affected ultramontane notions and modes of speech, and was, on account of his ultramontane tendency, generally so distrusted by his brethren that the community at lona over which he presided, ultimately deprived him of his superioritj^, and expelled him from their society, so that one has always to take his language with some caution when it has an ultra- montane savour. It is probable that what Adonnan calls the monastic vow, was nothing more than a promise of submission to the order of the college, such as all students in our univer- sities were wont, even mthin our own memory, to be required to make. But on this subject we are not restricted to mere hypothesis or mere negative evi