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MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
AT THE REFORMATION

BY THE SAME AUTHOR .

A Little Scottish World
In the Olden Times
Half-Hours at the Manse
M'Cheyne from the Pew
Peden the Prophet
Leisure Hours of a Scottish
Minister

Makers of
The Scottish Church
at the Reformation

By the Rev.
Kirkwood Hewat, M.A., F.S.A. (Scot.)

Prestwkk

Edinburgh
Macniven & Wallace
1920

Printed in Great Britain
by Turnbz&Zl 6* Spears, £dm&u?gfy

PREFACE
I had intended at first to limit myself to the ' Six Johns '
— namely, John Knox, John Willock, John Winram,
John Row, John Spottiswood, and John Douglas —
who drew up the first Confession of Faith, and the first
Book of Discipline ; but I found the life of another
John — John Craig — to be so interesting, and so mixed
up with public affairs, that I felt I must include him
also. Moreover, as Craig lived to a great age, dying
in the year 1600, and as Winram was born in, or about,
the year 1492 — he also living to be a very old man —
the period covered, I found, would embrace practically
a century. Nor perhaps have any other hundred
years been so important in Scottish history.
As the life of John Knox has been so often written,
I had some misgivings as to whether he should appear
here for separate treatment, but it was impossible to
exclude him — the greatest of them all, and incalculably
influencing all the others. I have not, however, in
his case given a biography, but, as stated in the text,
have selected certain incidents in his career, features
in his character, and aspects of truth he emphasised,
which are closely related to the work of reform. I have
also laid stress on his ' modern ' spirit.
There are other lives which perhaps some might
have expected in this book, but, apart from unduly

vi MAKERS OP THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
lengthening it, I have thought it better to confine myself
to Knox's clerical coadjutors. John Erskine of Dun,
for instance, played an important part in those times,
but, though his life is not dealt with separately, a good
deal of information will be found regarding him in these
pages. As for the Earl of Moray, a volume of no mean
size would be required for him, and one wonders how
it is that, apart from encyclopaedias and biographical
dictionaries, no account of the ' Good Regent ' has ever
yet appeared. It certainly cannot be for want of
material. Carlyle, as is well known, laid great stress on the
personal and human element in history, maintaining
indeed that vivid biography was the most pleasant
and profitable of all reading. Whether I have made
the lives in this book vivid, it is not for me to say, but
I have endeavoured to do so. They are closely con
nected with the religious history of Scotland — touching,
or rather moulding, events of capital importance — and
I believe their study will throw much light on sixteenth-
century days, and bring them nearer to us. It will
not fail to be noticed, too, that there is great diversity
in the careers of the men described, and that some of
them had to do with incidents, more or less important,
transpiring far beyond their native land.
In the Preface to his John Knox, Dr Hume Brown
says that ' from materials that have come to hand of
late years, we are led to a conception of the Scottish
Reformation, alike in its essential character and in the
details of its development, which materially differs
from the views presented even by such recent historians

PREFACE vii
as Tytler and Hill Burton.' If I mistake not, the
perusal of the Lives in this work will tend to give a fresh
conception of that time of national transition.
Except by James Scott, minister of Perth, at the
beginning of last century, and by Robert Wodrow,
minister of Eastwood, about a hundred years earlier,
it does not appear that the Scottish Reformers have
been so dealt with before ; but the former's History of
the Lives of Protestant Reformers in Scotland is a slender
volume, and the latter's Collections form just the reverse,
and many documents, reference^, and other valuable
sources of information are now available of which these
writers were not cognisant. At the end of each Life
I have appended a bibliography, and instead of cumber
ing the pages with foot-notes (the authorities being
generally stated in the text;), I have relegated supple
mentary material to the various Appendices. At the
time of the Reformation, and for many years after, the
spelling was perverse and fluctuating, different authors
spelling differently according to their pronunciation,
and even in the course of the same work not spelling
identical words in a uniform manner. In the quotations
or extracts that follow, the spelling and even the gram
matical structure and idiom have, in some cases, been
altered to suit modern usage, but in others the narrators
have been allowed to write in the manner of their times
and speak with their Doric intonation. Thus, it may
be, we can better know them and their age.
To my co-Presbyter, the Rev. John Warrick, M.A.,
Old Cumnock, I have to express my indebtedness for
helpful revision of the manuscript, and to the Rev.

viii MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Charles A. Salmond, D.D., Edinburgh, I am indebted
for assistance in correcting the proof-sheets. To my
neighbour, Wm. Traquair Dickson, Esq., M.A., F.S.A.
(Scot.), W.S.— Vice-President of the Scottish Text
Society — I am under obligation for friendly counsel,
and for generous access to his valuable library of old
Scottish books.
It may be added that the inception and progress of
this work owe much to the kind encouragement of the
Very Rev. Professor Cooper, D.D., D.C.L., and other
members of the Scottish Ecclesiological Society.
K. H.

23 St Bernard's Crescent,
Edinburgh.

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. John Knox ....... i
II. John Knox (continued) ..... 57
III. John Willock ...... 130
IV. John Winram ....... 166
V. John Row ....... 223
VI. John Spottiswood ...... 272
VII. John Douglas ...... 308
VIII. John Craig ....... 350
Index ........ 405

Makers of the Scottish Church
at the Reformation

CHAPTER I
JOHN KNOX
This is not a biography of John Knox, but a selection
of incidents in his hfe — or of topics he emphasised —
which will show the manner of man he was. There
will emerge, we beheve, from this treatment of his career,
features of his character which have stamped themselves,
more or less, upon the Scottish people. John Milton
spoke of him as that ' great man, John Knox, the re
former of a nation,' and this tribute, concise yet com
prehensive, is altogether true. Knox was the most
modern of all his contemporaries, and we beheve that
to all generations he will appear as a true ' modern.'
Before we adduce proof of this, let the following pregnant
sentences be quoted from The Cambridge Modern History,
where, in the Reformation volumes, Dr F. W. Maitland,
Downing Professor of the Laws of England, in deahng
with the Anglican Settlement and the Scottish Re
formation, says, ' Suddenly all far-sighted eyes turned
to a backward country. Eyes at Rome and eyes at
Geneva were fixed on Scotland, and the further they
could peer into the future, the more eager must have
been the gaze. And still we look back intently at that

2 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
wonderful scene, the Scotland of Mary Stewart and
John Knox ; not merely because it is such glorious
tragedy, but also because it is such modern history.
The fate of the Protestant Reformation was being
decided, and the creed of unborn millions in undiscovered
lands was being determined. ... A new nation, a
British nation, was in the making.'
Let us now see how our contention can be substantiated
— that Knox was a true modern.
i. He laid stress on Preaching
We do not say that preaching in itself is an indica
tion of the modern mood or spirit, but when we look at
the kind of preaching Knox's was, our contention, we
believe, will be made good. There were too many
rites and ceremonies in the Romish Church, and the
truths which lay behind them were being hidden from,
or forgotten by, the people. Knox endeavoured to
make the Gospel, and all the great doctrines of the
Bible, plain to all. He would make the sacred volume
a living book. So he revived preaching. Not only in
St Giles', but all over Scotland, he delivered sermons
and opened up the Scriptures. Was he not in this
following his divine Master — the Incarnate Word —
who, in a synagogue at Nazareth, in private houses, by
the lake-side, and on a mountain slope, preached the
Gospel of the Kingdom of God ? Was he not in this
like the Apostles who ' daily in the temple, and in
every house, ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ,' and indeed everywhere — in all sorts of places
in Palestine, and in the regions beyond — ' spoke boldly '
and ' publicly showed by the Scriptures ; what the
great truths of salvation and sanctification were ?
Knox desired to lead men back to the divine sources

JOHN KNOX 3
of Christianity, — and to get the people to know and
understand and appropriate the Evangel (a favourite
word of his), as it came fresh and pure from Jesus Christ
and His Apostles. The salient truths of the New
Testament he had verified in his own experience, under
deep conviction of sin and shortcoming, and he wished
to impress them on others. With great earnestness
he besought men to beheve in the Lord Jesus Christ
with all His pardoning mercy, His atoning death, and
His wondrous efficacious grace ; also he would have
men personally surrender heart and soul to Him, with
resultant growth into His own image by the indwelling
of the Holy Spirit. Knox further felt that God had
appointed him to preach these truths, and that when
they were beheved and practised the reform of the
nation would be accomplished.
If we look at Knox's style, we shall find it decidedly
modern as compared with what went before, and
indeed with much that came after. That it was very
direct, all who heard it bear witness. Though it was
his rule to speak only from a few notes, he prepared
carefully beforehand, our proof of this being a sermon
which had been misreported to Queen Mary. He re
peated the whole of it to her and her attendants, as it
was originally delivered, and those present who had
heard it the first time said that his repetition was
accurate in every respect. This might be only a tribute
to an excellent memory, but surely the sermon must
have been one thought out, planned, with many of the
words even chosen beforehand, if he could remember
it all so well. Though not a learned man like George
Buchanan (who always mentions Knox in terms of
high respect) or Andrew Melville, he, in spite of his
many pubhc duties, was a diligent student, had a
competent knowledge of Greek, and learned Hebrew

4 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
when he was past middle age. He wrote Latin quite
fluently, as we know from a letter of his to Calvin.
Did not he also share in the preparation of the Genevan
version of the English Bible ? Queen Mary thought
him a close student, and rather resented his being ' always
at his book.' In his First Blast of the Trumpet we find
quotations from Aristotle, Julian, Ambrose, the Pandects
and the Digest. That he spoke French with ease, we
know from the fact that he preached at Dieppe in that
language, and it is held by some — among them Hill
Burton — that his interviews with Queen Mary (at
least the first of them) were in that tongue. Bishop
Ridley spoke of him as ' a man of wit and learning.'
But modern though Knox was and notoriously one
who broke with the past, it must be admitted that,
while he had a profound contempt for scholasticism,
there was a good deal of the schoolman's modes of
thought and methods of debate in him, though behind
these modes and methods there was certainly with this
man an intellectual and spiritual force of which the
old schoolmen really knew nothing.
Though only one entire sermon has come down to us,
printed under his supervision (for he had to publish
it, as the Privy Council had asked explanations from
him regarding some utterances therein which had
greatly displeased Lord Darnley), he must have de
livered a great many sermons in his time. Twice every
Sunday he preached in the church of which he was a
minister, namely St Giles', Edinburgh, and three times
at weekly services besides. Then, on a specified day
every week, he met with his elders to discuss matters
connected with the oversight of the congregation. In
addition, there was a weekly assembly of ministers
for ' the exercise in the Scriptures,' in which doubtless
Knox would take a leading part. Besides, he was

JOHN KNOX 5
the preacher for all Scotland, journeying to distant
parts, and within churches, or in the open air, preaching
the Evangel. Ayrshire, with which the present writer
is more closely identified, gave him special welcome
when on these tours, and his sermons in Ayr, at Kirk-
oswald, on Barnweil Hill, and elsewhere, had a wonderful
effect on the people. His pulpits in these places are
venerated spots to-day. To John Knox as to John
Bunyan, the world was a battle-field where divine and
satanic forces waged perpetual warfare. Knox saw
it all as in a picture, but it was all very real to him.
The opposing hosts stood before him, and he heard
their words of command and their battle-cries.
' Behold,' he could say in the words of Holy Scripture,
' the mountains were full of horses and chariots of fire
round about.' But, as onlooker or combatant, he
was not afraid, because he had heard the voice saying —
' Fear not ; for they that be with us are more than
they that be with them.' As with Martin Luther, he
never doubted for a moment that the Lord of Hosts
was on his side. It was a holy war that was being
waged, and the struggle was not with mere shadowy
doctrines, but with the spirit of evil incarnated in
wicked hves and wicked deeds. Stern his theology
might be, but was it not a reflection of the national
character ? To the Scotsman at that time, the idea
of God, as Almighty and All-holy — the God of Mount
Sinai — was congenial, just as the bon Dieu is to
the Frenchman of to-day. It is not strange that
Knox, so strong in Christian doctrines — laying much
stress on ' the Evangel,' and anchoring himself in
St John's Gospel — should have spoken so much
from the old Testament and taken precedents from
it, for he found in those ancient oracles, or thought
he found, divine examples of that government and

6 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
of those laws which all must follow, or at their peril
disobey. He certainly preached to the times. He said himself
on one occasion that his vocation was to teach ' by
tongue and living voice in these most corruptible days
rather than to compose books for the ages to come.'
This man was no creatine of compromise or speaker
of soft words. Had he been so, the Scottish Reforma
tion would not have been accomplished. A harsh and
rude age, words of fire were necessary for it. The
passions were blazing in those stormy times. Knox
may have seen some things out of proportion, but he
was a prophet, and has not failure or hmitation in a
sense of proportion been a weakness — albeit a source
of strength at the time — with all prophets ? Might there
not be said of him what was said of Mirabeau by
Carlyle — that he was ' a man of instincts and of insights,
a man who will glare fiercely on many an object, and
see through it, and conquer it, for he has intellect, he
has will, he has force beyond other men, a man not
with logic-spectacles, but with an eye ! ' , Sins national
and individual — corruptions and abuses in church and
state — he did not spare. He made his texts — frequently
taken from the Old Testament prophets — drag evil
deeds into the light, and in his sermons and expositions,
plainly, pointedly, and sometimes humorously, he taught
high and low, rich and poor, of God's way and God's
kingdom. One day, admitting his directness and
vehemence, he gave this apology, ' To me it is enough to
say that black is not white, and man's tryanny and
foolishness is not God's perfect ordinance.' Nor should
it be forgotten that the crisis through which his country
was passing at the time was as much pohtical as rehgious,
and that the pulpit was the only way open to him, by
which he could impress upon the people the great truths

JOHN KNOX 1
for which he and his fellow-labourers contended, and
which he himself believed to lie at the very foundation
of national stability and progress.
How different was this from the preaching, or rather
non-preaching, of the rehgious guides of the old church.
The Dominican and Franciscan friars used to deliver
excellent sermons, but their zeal, piety, and eloquence
had gone. They did not now take their texts from
Holy Scripture at all, but from a strange book of
wonderful tales, the Gesta Romanorum, which brought
laughter rather than penitent tears. The bishops
were not known to preach, and the parish clergy were
content with hearing confession and formally going
through the service in Latin. The formulae of the
Church had become dead cabalistic signs. Sir David
Lyndsay of the Mount, Lord Lyon King-at-Arms, in
his Kitteis Confession, thus depicts the ministry of the
parish priest : —
' He me absolvit for^ane plack,
Thocht he na pryce with me wald mak,
And mckil La tyne he did mummil
I heard na thing but hummil bummil.
He schew me nocht of Goddis Word,
Which sharper is than ony sword,
And deip intill our hart dois prent
Our syn quhare throw we do repent ;
He put me na thing into feir,
Wharethrow I suld my syn forbeir ;
He schew me nocht the maledictioun
Of God for syn, nor the affectioun . . .
Of Christ's blude na thing he knew
Nor of His promises full trew,
That saivis all that wyll believe
That Sathan sail us never grieve . . .
Of this na thing he cud na tell,
But gave me pennance ilk ane day
And Ave Maria for to say

8 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
And Fridays for na fiche to eit,
But butter and eggis ar better meit,
And with ane plack to buy ane Messe,
Fra drunken Schir Jhone Latynless.'
The extortions of the clergy were notorious, but perhaps
the most odious was that of the corpse-present. Canon
law enacted that ' the most valuable animal of the
deceased shall be paid to the Mother-Church for a
mortuary.' This told heavily on the poor. If the
bereaved household through poverty did not possess
an animal, the ' uppermost ' or largest and best cloth
was taken. Sir David Lyndsay mercilessly satirises
this imposition in a play performed before King
James V. at Linlithgow in the year 1540. The poet
tells of a worthy man who was reduced to poverty. He
possessed a mare and three cows by which he supported
his father, mother, wife and children. First the old
father died, and the mother so mourned his loss that
she died of grief, and then began a series of distresses.
The grey mare was taken by the laird for his ' herezeld,'
or casualty, on the death of his vassal, and the vicar
took one cow for the father and another for the mother
as his corpse-present. The wife grieved so sorely over
their misfortune, that she ' deit for verie sorrow.' The
vicar then reappeared on the scene and ' cleikit ' the
third cow, and his clerk went off with the uppermost
cloth. Thus were this poor man and his bairns ' brocht
into this miserie.' Sir David Lyndsay further alleges
that the clergy would not allow the corpse to be carried
beyond the kirk-style until sufficient security was given
that the usual dues would be paid.
The ' cursings ' of the clergy in those days had their
ridiculous aspect. If an article had gone amissing,
country folk, assuming it to be stolen, would go to the
priest, and, paying a plack, request him to curse the

JOHN KNOX 9
person who had appropriated it. Knox in his History,
gives the following racy description of a friar at this
work. ' The priest, whose duty and office it is to pray
for the people, stands up on Sunday and cries — " Ane
has tint a spurtell (lost a porridge stick) ; thair is a
flail stoun beyond the burne ; the gudewife on the
other side of the gait has tint a home spune ; God's
malison and mine I give to them that knows of this
geir and restores it not." ' There was a poet-priest
at that time, of the name of Rowl, whose poultry-yard
and garden had been robbed, and here is how he breaks
out, calling on ' all the power under God
And now of Rome that beiris the rod '
to injure the thieves.
' Black be their hour — black be their part,
For five fat geese of Sir John Rowlis
With capons, hens, and uthir fowlis,
Baith the holders and concealers,
Resetters and the proved stealers,
And he that sauls, seizes, and damns
Beteich the devil, their guts and gammis
Their tongues, their teeth, their hands, their feet,
And all their body haill complete
That brak his yaird and stole his frute.' 1
But what more serious indictment of the clergy could
there be than that which came from Archibald Hay in
his Panegyricus addressed to Cardinal Beaton in 1540 ?
Hay belonged to the old Church, was Principal of
St Mary's College, St Andrews, and was one of the most
scholarly and enlightened men in the kingdom at that
1 From Laing's Select Remains of the Ancient Popular Poetry of
Scotland.

10 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
time. Here is what he says to the Cardinal in his
epistola, literally rendered from Latin into English : —
' I judge it to be intolerable that an entrance to the
Church hes open to all without selection, and that some
of the entrants bring with them utter ignorance, others
a false pretence of knowledge, some a mind corrupted
by the greatest sins and trained to commit all the
most scandalous excesses, certain others a studied
intention to do harm, so that there is no greater danger
to be feared from the most noxious animals than from
this offscouring of most abandoned men. . . . The
Lord's flock is starved with hunger.' Were he to
mention the awful sins ' which rage,' he says, 'in the
breasts of churchmen, no one would believe that monsters
so savage lurked under a human countenance.' If we
make all allowance for strength of invective in those
days, the terms of censure and condemnation, in this
epistola, quite surpass the diatribes of Luther, Knox
and many other militant Protestants, directed against
the Romish Church. We have something almost equally
strong in the narrative of the Jesuit, Nicola de Gouda,
who was sent by the Pope as envoy to Queen Mary in
1562. He does not mince his words in describing the
Scottish bishops and lesser clergy. ' They live but for
themselves ' Gouda asserts, ' their preachers are few
in number, . . . the lives of the priests and clerics
are scandalous and licentious,' and there is ' absolutely
supine neghgence of the bishops.' ' No wonder,' he
exclaims, ' that with such shepherds the wolves invade
the flock of the Lord and ruin all.'
The nunneries at that time were very bad. In a
petition, or report, of three Cardinals presented to
Pope Paul IV. by Cardinal Sermoneta in the name
of Queen Mary (then a girl in France) in 1556, we have
this terrible passage : ' Moreover, on behalf of the said

JOHN KNOX 11
Queen, it had been declared how all nunneries of every
kind of religious women, and especially those of the
Cistercian order, abbesses, prioresses, and sisters in
cluded, have come to such a pass of boldness, that they
utterly contemn the safeguards of chastity. [For] not
only do they wander outside the monastic enclosure
in shameless fashion through the houses of seculars,
but they even admit all sorts of worthless and wicked
men within the convents, and hold with them unchaste
intercourse. [Thus] they defile the sacred precincts
with the birth of children, and bring up their
progeny about them, go forth abroad surrounded by
their numerous sons, and give their daughters in
marriage endowered with the ample revenues of the
Church.' In much earher days the faults of the Church were
known to, and rebuked by, the Scottish Kings. James I.
had warned the Benedictines against their besetting
sin of indolence, and James V. was much displeased
with the vices of the clergy. Publicly and privately
the latter insisted on their reforming their lives, though
in his case it was certainly like Satan rebuking sin, —
reminding one, too, of a scene in The Fortunes of Nigel,
when James VI. speaks of ' Steenie (the Duke of
Buckingham) lecturing on the turpitude of incontinence.'
The National Provincial Council which met in Edinburgh
in 1559 took up the matter of greater efficiency and
better morals in the Church, but, as naively remarks
Bishop Leshe, the resolutions passed were such ' sharp
statutes ' that they formed ' the principal cause that
a great number of young abbots, priors, deans and
beneficed men assisted to the enterprise and practice
devised for the overthrow of the Catholic rehgion.'
Ninian Wingate, an apologist for the Romish faith,
arraigns the clergy of his Church with a force and irony

12 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
unequalled by Knox himself, and denounces not only
their corrupt lives, but ' their dumb doctrine in exalting
ceremonies only . . . and far more their keeping
in silence the true Word of God necessary to all
men's salvation.' Pictures, images, mystery-plays and
ceremonies were substituted for the circulation of the
Bible, which the invention of printing had now made
easy; and the Virgin Mary and saints departed were
made to share in the office reserved for the One
Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
With regard to the celebration of the Mass, it has been
said, though with possible exaggeration, that the priest,
holding the Host in his hands, might well be saying
in the words of Judas, ' How much will ye give, that I
will dehver Him unto you ? ' Knox and his f ollowers
may have spoken too strongly against corruptions and
abuses connected with this sacred rite, but the words
of Froude in his History of England (vol. vi. p. 221)
may well be pondered over here. This rite, he says,
was no longer with the Scottish people ' a mode of
Christianity which serious persons could defend, but a
Paphian idolatry identified with the coarsest forms of
licentiousness. To plain eyes unjaundiced by theology
it resembled too nearly the abominations of the Amorites
or the accursed rites of Thammuz, and the northern
reformers saw in their first study of the Old Testament
the antitype of their own history. They construed
literally the order to keep no terms with idol worship,
and, in toleration or conformity, they found the rock
on which the chosen people made shipwreck.' We
have also Erasmus saying that ' the stupid monks
say Mass as a cobbler makes a shoe ; they come to the
altar reeking from their filthy pleasures.'
Already we have referred to the Scottish nunneries.
As regards the monasteries, the strictures on them by

JOHN KNOX 13
the Scottish Reformers are serious enough, but they
pale in severity compared with those of Romish digni
taries themselves, especially as regards some English
rehgious houses, notably the Abbey of St Alban's.
There still exists the letter penned by Cardinal-Arch
bishop Morton, in the reign of Henry VIL, detailing
the terrible vices prevailing there under Abbot Wilham,
who himself wallowed in mire and filth. It is indeed
a hideous exposure, and no less sb is that of the Abbey
of Wigmore, near Ludlow, as revealed in the Memorial
which stands to-day in the Rolls Collection. (Rolls
House MS. Miscellaneous Papers, First Series.) A
hst still exists of more than twenty clergymen, in one
diocese, who had obtained licences to keep concubines
(see Tanner MS. 105, Bodleian Library, Oxford).
Assuredly we would not say that all monasteries were
as the two mentioned above, or that all clergymen
were as those in that strange diocese, for there were
the monks of the Charter House, London, who were
virtuous, conscientious, brave and willing to suffer
and die, and did suffer and die, for the old faith. But
we desire to exonerate Knox and others of his Protestant
contemporaries from strictures passed upon them for
too severe condemnation of the old system.
As to the monasteries of Scotland being abodes of
learning and dihgent study, one has only to peruse the
Statuta of the Provincial Council of 1549 to see that the
reverse is the case, for on this and other points they
directly contradict the assertions of Father Forbes
Leith in his Pre-Reformation Scholars in Scotland in
the Sixteenth Century.
Corruptions, abuses, and deficiencies, such as the
above, we have introduced in order to show what
John Knox had to preach against, and to explain in
some measure his^severe tone. Andrew Lang says that

14 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Knox ' never knew the poetry and the mystic charm
which the ceremonies and services of the Roman Church
naturally awaken.' But we look in vain for ' poetry '
or ' mystic charm ' in the Scoto-Roman Church at the
time of, and for many years before, the Reformation.
That the services were conducted in a slovenly and
irreverent manner there is abundant proof. In worship
and in the administration of the Sacraments, a worthy
dignity, an appeahng grace, and the beauty of hohness,
were lamentably absent. As for those who officiated
at the altar, their lives were coarse, licentious, and
shameless, as we have already seen. In short, the
Church had failed, not only to make poetical and
mystical her ceremonies and services, but to dispense
those spiritual gifts which her Divine Head had com
mitted to her. Decay had long ago set in, and her
vigour and spirituality had been lost. Lord Morley
has somewhere said that simplification is the keynote
of the Reformation. What was artificial and con
ventional was thus pierced through to the natural
man and natural hfe. We may indeed predicate this
of every healthy revolution, where we find that move
ment is from the complex to the simple, from the
technical to the vital, from the merely traditionary to
the original springs. Palsied age gives way to the
httle child. Crises - in nations, and in individuals,
arise when of necessity we must get rid of exhausting
encumbrances. Knox felt that clouds of darkness had been hanging
over the land, and he wanted the hght of the sky to be
no longer obscured. There was a veil of imposture
which must be rent asunder, and God's sun be aUowed
to shine out once more. Ceremonial observances and
what indeed was practically idolatry must cease, and
the great and eternal spiritual truths, with resultant

JOHN KNOX 15
integrity of heart and worthy conduct, must be in
sisted on. The inhabitants of Scotland must be told
.that faith in Jesus Christ — saving and sanctifying —
was the one thing needful, and therefrom would come
obedience to the divine voice, the keeping of the com
mandments, and the advancement of the nation in
what was virtuous, lovely, and of good report. As
day foUows night, or as the plant and the flower rise
from the seed, so would these things spring from a true
and heartfelt acceptance of the Gospel of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ.
As with nearly aU in those days, Knox believed in,
drew lessons from, portents — wonders in the heavens
and upon the earth, such as a comet in the sky,1 a great
rainstorm suddenly changed into snow and ice, day
turned into night by a prolonged darkness, extra
ordinary thunder and lightning, the sea seeming to stand
stiU for twenty-four hours without ebb or flow, and
even the birth of a calf with two heads. He interpreted,
and apphed, these portents as conveying warnings to
the unrighteous and frivolous to ponder over their
ways, and hve more unto God and for the eternal things.
As for his so-called ' prophecies,' they were simply the
utterances of a man who saw far, knew men well, and
had intimate, almost special, knowledge of affairs
national and international.
Knox eagerly sought for earnest and duly qualified
men who might create and maintain the rehgious life
of the country by preaching the Word, reading the
Scriptures, and catechising the people. By the year
1574 the parishes were supphed by two hundred and
eighty-nine ministers, and seven hundred and fifteen
' readers.' Bj< that time the ' exhorters ' had dis-
1 So Shakespeare in Henry VI. — ' Comets importing change of
times and States.'

16 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
appeared, probably as being no longer required. Nor
were the children neglected. There was a service every
Sunday afternoon for them. It was mainly a catechising,
and old people as well as young folk took part in it.
Going forward to Holy Communion at an early age
was not discouraged in those days. James MelviUe
in his Diary, says : — ' FinaUy, I received the Com
munion of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
first at Montrose, when I was in my thirteenth year,
with greater reverence and sense in my soul than often
thereafter I could find.'
Knox's language was not vulgar, nor was his accent
even distinctively Scottish. When he is speaking
to us in his History of the Reformation — a book much
of which is written speech — one is struck with the
few purely Scottish words and idioms it contains, the
probable explanation being his long residence on the
Continent of Europe and in England, and his marrying
into an English family. In one sentence of his writings,
he seems almost to say that he liked England better
than Scotland. He appears to have expressed himself
in a kind of Anghcised Scots, and that is why Ninian
Wingate said to him that as he had ' forzet (forgotten)
our auld plaine Scottis' he would have to address him
in Latin — ' for I am nocht,' says Ninian, ' acquent with
your Southeroun.' Another of the old way taunted
other preachers of the reform, and caUed them traitors,
for ' knapping suddrone,' that is, chpping, speaking in
the southern manner. When Knox preached at Ayr,
some thought he was not a Scotsman at aU. The
report to the Queen Regent was as foUows : — ' Divers
men were of divers opinions, some affirming that it
was an Englishman, and some supposing the contrary,
but a prelate, not of the least pride, said, ' Nay, no
Englishman, but it is Knox, that knave.'

JOHN KNOX 17
It has been said that as a writer of the old rich
Enghsh tongue our Reformer has few equals, and no
superior. His prose is stately and full of music.
Avoiding pedantry and classical and scholastic terms,
he is a writer for all times, intelligible in every age,
with an attractive literary excellence.1 In almost
everything he wrote there is a touch of greatness. He
sees events and the course of history with the divine
purposes and judgments as their background. When
he is at creed-making, as in the Confessio Scotica, he
is stirred by the great truths of rehgion into lofty and
tender utterance. The rhythm becomes stately, the
diction noble, and we hear even a sound as of martial
music. Edward Irving had great admiration for this
Confession, and was wont, for a period, to read it twice
a year to his London congregation. ' Its spirit,' he
says, ' is large and liberal.'
Out of the pulpit, and in private, when he spoke,
men hstened eagerly to him. As with Robert Burns,
there was something arresting and telhng in his con
versation. Of this gift or power of Knox's, a French
Catholic said that ' he managed men's souls as he
wished.' And here we may say that, though this great
preacher and leader of the Reform may have pulled
down much, he also built up much. He was a notable
teacher of positive truth, and was, and is to-day, re
cognised as such by the Scottish people, and by many
others. He certainly impressed himself upon the
1 ' The writings of Knox were largely English, and his life shows
how closely the Reformation drew the two nations and their speech
together, with the inevitable result that Scotch gave way to English
as the classical form of the language.- Born and educated in the
Scottish Lowlands, he married an English wife, nearly became an
English bishop, and his two sons were educated in England, and
became, one a fellow of St John's, Cambridge, the other a vicar in
the Church of England.'— Professor M. J. G. Mackay, in his Intro
duction to Pitscottie's Chronicles.

18 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
nation. Robert Louis Stevenson has even said that
he was ' the man who made Scotland over again in his
own image.'
Sir David Wilkie painted a noble picture — unfinished,
alas ! — of Knox dispensing the Communion at Calder
House. He limns well the great Reformer's features
and expression. But in his other picture, Knox
preaching at St Andrews — a masterpiece otherwise,
though with some anachronisms — Wilkie has failed
in his protraiture of the principal figure. There is
nothing inteUectual or powerful in the face there, and
the gestures are rather those of a clown than of a great
preacher. Even James Melville's pen-portrait will not
save it, though the famous Scottish artist can scarcely
have interpreted Melville's words as a certain French
writer did, who said of Knox that, when he preached
' he bestirred himself like a madman ; he broke his pulpit
and jumped into the midst of his auditors (sautait au
milieu des auditeurs), transported by his violent declama
tion, and words still more violent ! ' This would be
written in all earnestness, and not facetiously as was
the case with Mark Twain, who, in acknowledging a
copy of Lord Guthrie's book John Knox and His House,
thanked the donor ' for so much enlarging his know
ledge of Knox, which previously had been confined to
that discreditable incident when he threw a stool at
Jenny Geddes and missed her.' Still much erroneous
information is abroad with regard to John Knox, and
we trust this volume will serve to correct a good many
false impressions.
Our Reformer desired to, and did, popularise Church
services. He wished the people to follow intelligently,
and take part in them. Accordingly, he would have
the Word read to them, and so far as possible by them,
in their own tongue. Moreover, they must join in the

JOHN KNOX 19
singing. Music had a very important place in the old
church, and it had to be re-established, but differently,
in the new. The praise must no longer be that only of
clergy and choir, but also of the congregation. Knox
and his coadjutors had a complete metrical psalter
ready as early as 1564, and the people were carefully
taught to sing these sacred songs. On one occasion
two thousand people sang together the second version
of the 124th Psalm to the very music to which it is
sung to-day. What LongfeUow caUs the grand old
Puritan anthem, ' AU people that on earth do dwell,'
was composed by WiUiam Kethe, a friend of Knox,
and, with its stately old tune, survives aU the changes
of thought and fashion that the progress of four centuries
has witnessed. The Book of Discipline declared that
' men, women, and children must be exhorted to
exercise themselves, in the Psalms, that when the
church convenes, and does sing, they may be the more
able together with common heart and voice to praise
God.' There is an old Scottish Psalter of 1566 — still
in manuscript — with which the Earl of Moray had a
good deal to do, and it exhibits excellent musical taste.
The Earl had his own views on the right adaptation of
music to collective worship, was in touch with some
of the more musical among the clergy of St Andrews,
and with their aid carried through this book of praise.
St Leonard's College always laid stress on music. It
required of its entrants that they be acquainted with
Gregorian song — ' Cantuque Gregoriano sufficienter
instructum ' — and singing formed one of the regular
exercises of the students. The rehgious of the Priory
of St Andrews were particularly celebrated for their
skill in music. Patrick Hamilton, who was speciaUy
associated with the younger canons of the Priory and
the members of St Leonard's College, who were very

20 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
musical, set himself to improve the service of praise,
and composed a chant in nine parts, which was sung
in the Cathedral with great delight to the hearers. We
know from contemporary references that in Glasgow and
at Montrose church music was taught ; and doubtless
in many other places there would be weekly practisings,
or such like, of Church praise.
Preparatory, however, to these Psalters and practis
ings was some fine vernacular poetry enshrined in the
collections of ' Spiritual Sangis ' and ' Gude and Godlie
Ballatis ' by the brothers James, John and Robert
Wedderburn, which included ' the Psalmes of David
with other new plesand Ballatis.' Circulated by printed
sheets, and sung by wandering minstrels, they had
become familiar to the people, and that they were
very helpful to the cause of reform such verses as the
following wiU show : —
' To pray to Peter, James and Johne
Our saulis to saif, power haif they none.
For that belongs to Christ alone,
He deit thairfor, He deit thairfor.'
and — ' Of the fals fyre of Purgatorie
Is nocht left in ane sponk ;
Thairfor sayis Geddie woe is me,
Gone is Priest, Freir, Monk ;
The reik's (smoke) a wounder deir they solde
For money, gold, and landis,
Quhill half the ryches on the molde
Is seasit in their handis.'
The artistic side of musical worship may not have
appealed to Knox and his friends. There may have
been no awakened outburst of song in Scotland as
there was in Germany, and, hymnody being practicaUy
absent, there was no opportunity afforded for the

JOHN KNOX 21
exercise of the musician's skill in free composition as
was the casr in the Lutheran Church. But the Scottish
Church of the sixteenth century wa^ far in advance
of the Scottish Church about a century later, when no
interest whatever was taken in sacred music by the
authorities, and the singing in the churches was de
plorable. The love and altruism of Christian ideals,
of which we see so much in modern hymns, did not
predominate in Reformation times, but rather men's
minds were impressed with the grandeur, mystery, and
power of God, and the battle-notes and rallying cries
of the Church militant were sought for and employed.
There is no evidence, indeed, that any collection of
hymns was used in the Scottish Reformed Church for
at least a decade after 1560. The Assembly of December
1564 ordained ' that everie minister, exhorter, and
reader saU have one of the Psalmes bookes latelie printed
in Edinburgh, and use the order conteaned therein,
in prayer, marriage, and ministration of the Sacraments.'
The said volume had nothing but the Psalms printed
within it, though the same as published in Geneva had
a few spiritual songs added. In the English edition
of the same (1562), about twenty hymns accompany
the Psalms.
As regards instrumental music in public worship, all
that need be said is that Knox, when a Royal chaplain
in England, and preaching before Edward VI. , must
have taken part in many services where organs were
used, and that, in aU his numerous writings, not a word
is to be found in condemnation of them.
2. He dispensed the Sacraments in a simple manner.
Apart from individual cups, and other slight recent
changes in some congregations, there cannot be much

22 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
difference between us moderns, throughout Presbyterian
Christendom, and the followers of Knox in the six
teenth century, so far as the dispensation of the
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is concerned. A
few miles from the author's manse in Ayrshire, stands
the mansion-house of Gadgirth. Formerly an ancient
castle stood on the site overlooking the Water of Ayr,
and there is a tradition that Knox dispensed the Com
munion in that ancient stronghold. That he visited
the place, there is no doubt, for he tells us in his History
that ' he taught in the Barr, in the house of CarneU, in
Kinzeancleuch, in the town of Ayr, and in the houses
of Ochiltree and Gadgirth, and in some of them ministered
the Lord's Table.' He seems to have been speciaUy
intimate with, and had a high opinion of, James
Chalmers, the owner of that fair demesne. The family,
originally named de la Chambre and of ' auld descent,'
gave great help to Knox in the cause of reform. What
more likely then than at Gadgirth he dispensed the
Communion to a company of devoted Protestants ?
But there are other country houses where we know
with certainty that Knox ' ministered the Lord's Table,'
for he teUs us so himself. At Finlayston, for instance,
he dispensed the holy ordinance. He preached, and
' after doctrine ' there foUowed the Communion, at
which were present the Earl and Countess of Glencairn,
two of their sons, and several friends of the family.
The silver cups were carefully preserved, and the use
of them was given at Communion times to the parish
church of Kilmacolm, so long as the Glencairn family
resided at their seat of Finlayston. At Dun too, in
Forfarshire, the seat of John Erskine, the Lord's Supper
was dispensed by Knox, — he, ' teiching them in greater
liberty, the gentlemen required that he should ministrat
likewise the Table of the Lord Jesus, whereof were

JOHN KNOX 23
partakers the most part of the gentlemen of the
Mearns.' One of Knox's earliest supporters and
staunchest friends was Sir James SandUands, one of
whose sons was Preceptor of Torphichen, and head, in
Scotland, of the rehgious order of military knights,
who went by the name of HospitaUers of St John.
The family were raised to the peerage about this time,
their representative taking the title of Baron Torphichen.
Sir James's home was Calder House, in Midlothian,
and there Knox visited more than once. In the great
hall there still hangs an ancient portrait of him. He
would find congenial company in that abode for Sir
James, who was now an old man — venerated for his
grey hairs as weU as for his valour, sagacity, and pure
life — had long been a sincere friend of the reformed
cause, and had contributed to its progress in the
Lothians. Here, then, Knox administered the sacred
rite, ' whare diverse from Edinburgh, and from the
countrey about, convened, as weal for the doctrine as
for the rycht use of the Lord's Table, which befoir thei
had never practised.' Three young noblemen were
present who became prominent leaders in the nation's
affairs, and gave valuable help on the Protestant side — ¦
Lord Erskine, who became Earl of Mar and Regent of
the Kingdom; Lord Lome, who became fifth Earl of
Argyll ; and Lord James Stewart, who became the
Earl of Moray and ' The Good Regent.'
Thus, in a simple manner, very different from the
Mass, was the Lord's Supper dispensed by our Reformer.
We have no record of a Sacramental Sunday in St Giles',
but the holy ordinance would doubtless be celebrated
with simphcity and solemnity, as in the city of Geneva.
AU would understand what was said and done. It
would be a Holy Feast. The effects were not ex opere
operato, but by the working of the Spirit in those who

24 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
by faith received the elements. For a physical or
carnal manducation there was now substituted a
spiritual partaking of the body and blood of our Lord,
such as an earlier and purer church had enjoined and
practised. It should be remembered, however, that
Knox and the other Scottish Protestant ministers held
a high doctrine of the Sacrament. It dared not be
dispensed by an unordained minister, and the Confessio
Scotica says of it that ' in the Supper rightly used
Christ Jesus is so joined to us, that He becomes the
very nourishment and food of our souls . . . the
faithful so do eat the tody and drink the blood of the
Lord Jesus . . . they are so made flesh of His flesh,
and bone of His bone, that as the eternal Godhead hath
given to the flesh of Jesus Christ . . . hfe and im
mortality, so doth Christ Jesus's flesh and blood eaten
and drunken by us, give to us the same prerogatives.'
While repudiating with vehemence the Romish doctrine
of Transubstantiation, and any corporal or carnal
blessing, the Confessio lays stress on ' the operation
of the Holy Ghost, Who by true faith carries us above
aU things that are visible and carnal and earthly,' and
so operates that ' albeit the faithful, oppressed by
neghgence and manly infirmity, doth not profit so
much as they would at the very instant action of the
Supper, yet it shall after bring forth fruit, as hvely
seed sown in good ground ; for the Holy Spirit, which
can never be divided from the right institution of the
Lord Jesus, wiU not frustrate the faithful of the fruit
of the mystical action.' Calvin's view was that ' no
meeting of the Church be held without the dispensation
of the Supper,' and that ' most assuredly the custom
which prescribes Communion once a year is an invention
of the devil.' Knox believed in and practised the
frequency of Communion. From a rubric of the Book

JOHN KNOX 25
of Common Order and Directory for Public Worship 
his ' Liturgy '—it would appear to have been celebrated
at first monthly. In 1562 it was ordered to be observed
at least four times a year in the towns, and twice at
least in country districts. This, however, meant much
more than these stipulated celebrations, for there were
often separate administrations on the same day, and
these extended over several Sundays, as is still the
practice in Holland.
It has been stated by Ninian Wingate — a contem
porary Roman Cathohc writer — that ' sum lordis and
gentilmen ' dispensed the Lord's Supper ' to their own
household servands and tenantis.' He adds, however,
that ' Knox blamed the persons who did it, saying
that they had " gretumlie (greatly) failzet." ' We have
seen no such disclaimer in any of Knox's writings, and
Wingate does not cite any one instance in which the
laity did this. He seems to have mixed up religious
services — such as reading the Scriptures, exhortations,
and prayers — with the dispensation of the Sacrament,
for there were earnest, intelligent, and pious laymen
who held services of that kind in their houses, when
there was a great scarcity of ministers ; but we have
failed to detect any case where they also celebrated the
Lord's Supper without a clergyman officiating.
During Knox's five years' residence in England, he
had considerable influence on its Church, impressing
his personahty on the leaders in Church and State.
He was ' licensed preacher ' at Berwick and Newcastle,
was chaplain to the Duke of Northumberland, and a
royal chaplain. He had the refusal of the bishopric of
Rochester, and also of the vicarage of All-Hallows, in
Bread Street, London. His influence on the practice
and creed of the Church of England was all towards
simplicity. Kneeling at the Lord's Supper he held

26 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
was scripturally wrong. Calderwood teUs us in his
MS. History that when the Privy Council summoned
Knox, and dealt with him, for refusing the London
vicarage, he said he had great objections to kneeling
at the Lord's Table, and the discussion ended charac-
teristicaUy. The Lords of the Council said ' they
were sorry to know him of a contrary mind to the
Common Order, but he answered that he was more
sorry that a Common Order should be contrary to
Christ's institution.' The Second Prayer Book of
Edward VI. was ready for pubhcation, with the rubric
giving its sanction to the kneeling posture. Knox took
exception to it ; Ridley and Peter Martyr supported
him ; the printing of the book was stopped ; a note
was appended in which it was stated that in kneehng
no adoration was intended ; and in subsequent issues
this declaration formed part of the text, and was
henceforth caUed by some the ' Black Rubric' 1 As
regards the Thirty-Nine Articles, Knox, as royal
chaplain, took part in their revision. One of these
articles stated that the ceremonies enjoined were in
accordance with evangehcal liberty. Knox denied that,
and his persistent opposition (for kneehng at the Lord's
Supper would again have been approved) resulted in
the obnoxious clause being omitted. Simplicity — ' no
leavings of popish dregs ' — he always insisted on and
practised. We have no account of Knox's administering the
Sacrament of Baptism, but it would also be done simply,
and in a manner easily understood by the people. In
Book V. of his History, there is an account of the
1 There is nothing sinister in the adjective, the designation ' Black
Rubric ' being simply used to distinguish it from the ' Red Rubric,'
red in printing then being equivalent to italics now. In 1559 the
' Black Rubric ' was dropped, doubtless to please the young Queen
Elizabeth, but in 1661 it was restored.

JOHN KNOX 27
baptism of Queen Mary's son, Prince James, at Stirling,
and though that part of the History cannot be proved
to be by Knox, it is a kindred spirit who describes the
administration of the Sacrament on that occasion.
He says it was done with great pomp in the Romish
fashion, the Archbishop of St Andrews officiating, and
nobles (with reluctance, however), bearing the ' salt,
grease, and candle,' used in connection with the rite.
Knox abohshed such accessories — the use of ' oyle,
salt, wax, spittaU, conjuration or croceing ' — but he
held a high doctrine with regard to this ordinance also.
As with the bread and wine in the Supper, the water
in Baptism was anything but a ' naked and bare sign.'
These elements or symbols did ' seal in their [the parti
cipants'] hearts the assurance of His promise, and of
that most blessed conjunction, union, and society,
which the elect have with their Head, Christ Jesus.'
Baptism, according to Knox, was only to be administered
by a duly qualified minister, and the rite ' appertaineth
as well to the infants of the faithful as to those that
be of age and discretion.' Before either Sacrament
was administered the minister was to instruct the
people plainly, remind them of God's free grace and
mercy offered to the penitent in Christ Jesus, rehearse
the promises of God, and declare the end and use of
the Sacraments in the language of the people that all
may understand, and add nothing or substract nothing,
but do all according to the institution of the Lord Jesus,
and the practice of His holy Apostles. It may be
added that in ' Knox's Liturgy ' it is said that ' the
infant that is to be baptized shall be brought to the
Church on the day appointed to Common Prayer and
Preaching,' and, as a matter of fact, the Church at
first was so strict with regard to this that a minister of
Tranent was suspended, and obliged to repent publicly,

28 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
for baptizing children in private houses. It may be
further stated that in 1565 the General Assembly
acknowledged the validity of Romish baptism, and
ordered that it was not to be repeated. In this con
nection it may not be generaUy known that Calvin's
view was that, in case of necessity, parents should
bring their children to Romish priests for baptism
rather than suffer them to remain unbaptized, as to
neglect or despise the ordinance seemed like con
tempt for Christianity itself. Knox would have the
faithful, in the absence of ministers, edify and confirm
one another in the faith. He laid great stress on
religion in the home. His view was that in their house
holds men were ' bishops and kings ' and ' their wives,
children, servants and family their bishopric and their
charge.' He drew up instructions and helps for such
family worship.
Let a sentence be added here with regard to the so-
caUed ' Liturgy ' of John Knox. In the year 1557 the
Lords of the Congregation adopted the Second Prayer
Book of Edward VI., in the preparation of which Knox
himself assisted. Soon after its issue, however, Knox
proceeded to the Continent, where he adopted the
Prayer Book of the French Reformed (Huguenot)
Church for the use of the congregation of Enghsh
refugees at Frankfort, and it was this manual, known
for a time as the ' Book of Geneva,' that came to be
styled ' John Knox's Liturgy.'
We may say that, in a sense, our Reformer was not a
revolutionary as regards church doctrine and practice.
The Protestants, with him, did not advance opinions
unheard of before. His view would be that of Calvin
as we have it in the Institutes : ' The Reformation does
not invent new opinions ; it only strips off the falsehood,
and makes plain old truths.' The greatness of Knox

JOHN KNOX 29
did not he so much in his intrepidity and firmness in
attacking the errors and corruptions which had de
moralised the church and society, as in his efforts to
build up, and in his success in building up, a reformed
church and a reformed society.
Professor Moffat records that he once heard an
Anglican High Churchman speak contemptuously of
' Reformation.' ' You can talk gf a reformed drunkard,
he sneered, ' but how can you talk of a reformed
Church ? ' ' You can,' said Dr Moffat, ' and if you
are to be true to history, you must. At the time of
Knox the supreme religious interests of the Gospel
demanded such a reformation or reorganisation.'
The Scottish Reformers did not abolish the ancient
Church, and they did not found a new one. It was a
pohcy of reform to which the Scottish Parliament
gave effect, a reform which earlier had been advocated
by Alane (Alesius) and others. We do not think the
word Protestant is used in the Acts of Parliament, for
there were not to be two Churches, one Protestant and
the other Roman Catholic. Such a thing was un
thinkable to Knox and his coadjutors. As Professor
Robert Lee has truly observed : ' It is a remarkable
fact, and may appear to us unaccountable, that they
aU, or nearly all, agreed with the Catholics in holding
that for two Churches to co-exist in the same country
was monstrous, and even impossible, as much as for
two States to co-exist, and that such schism was at
all hazards to be repressed.' (Life, II. p. 301).
Knox wished rehgion to be sincere, pure, and undefiled
— of the kind of which Carlyle, in speaking of Puritanism,
says that it was ' a faith or religion which came forth
as a real business of the heart.' This applied to
Knox's idea cf worship — it must be from, and of, the
heart, and therefore he was ever suspicious of, and

30 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
antagonistic to, postures and posturing. We may say,
then, that as the Reformation gave to the people the Bible
in their own tongue, so also it restored the Eucharist
from the elaborate mystery of the Mass, and Baptism
from its strange accessories, to the affecting simphcity
of the Lord's Supper and the solemn sprinkhng of
water. As all were to understand what the sacred
rites meant, heads of, households were exhorted to
cause their dependants to be instructed in the faith,
and weekly meetings were ordered to be held in the
churches for the opening up of the Scriptures.
It may be observed here that Knox was ahead of
many then as regards his views on the Bible, and the
way in which he handled the sacred oracles. We might
almost say he was a true modern in these respects.
Historical criticism— higher or lower — had not come
into existence, nor had any question been raised touching
the Canon. With Protestants — both in the Scottish
and the English Churches — as with Romanists, the
Bible was regarded as unreservedly true, and its contents
received as the oracles of God. But the book was no
fetish to Knox and his feUow-reformers. Assuredly
they would not have said what was said in after days,
that the Bible was the religion of Protestants. They
had no superstitious or magical theory with regard
to its origin or preservation. They did not dogmatise
concerning it, nor did they obscure its great realities
with gratuitous assumptions of their own. In their
Confession of Faith they declared that the interpreta
tion of Holy Scripture appertained neither to private
nor pu'Llic persons, nor to any Church or Council, but
to ' the Spirit of God by the which also the Scripture
was written.' Knox appealed from the Church to the
Bible. He laid stress on its ' Thus saith the Lord.'
His creed was not the light that iUumined or interpreted

JOHN KNOX 31
the Scriptures, but for him it was the Scriptures which
illumined and interpreted his creed ; and the reformed
Church was only the ground and pillar of the truth
in so far as it listened to the Incarnate Word speaking
in the sacred writings. Knox found its words speak
to the times. It was a very living Book to him. No
warnings, no exhortations, no trumpet-calls were so
completely suited to Scotland for the work of reform
as those contained in the divine writings. And in
modern times are we not learning the same thing, and
using that Book now as the reformers used it ? Knox
and his friends had a stronger and far more practical
belief in the Bible 'than the old Church had, and they
used it as a fan to blow away the chaff and thoroughly
purge the floor of the Church. It was a tool to them
wherewith to build up the City of God in the land.
Though the Scottish Church owes a very great deal
to John Calvin, his influence on it is apt to be exaggerated.
The Scottish people of the Reform did not call him
master. Their Church was to have a scriptural
basis, not necessarily a Genevan one. It was certainly
to have nothing provincial about it. When George
Buchanan returned to Scotland in 1561 he did not
say that he now belonged to the Church of Calvin,
or of Knox, or to a Presbyterian Church, or even to a
Protestant Church. He ' gave in his name to the
Church of the Scots.' He speaks of the ' Lutheran
sect,' but never of the ' Knoxian,' or Scottish, sect.
Nor was it from Geneva that our Church got the order
of ' elders.' Professor MacEwen, in his History, points
out that the French Reformed Church had not a* single
organised congregation till 1555, and that there was
no connection between Scottish and French Protestants
then ; that Calvin's elders were unhke Knox's, both in
method of appointment and in authority exercised ;

34 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
stern hneaments with which the world is familiar.
Calvinism, by the characters which it formed, saved
Protestantism in Europe; and with equal truth it
may be said that Presbyterianism saved Scotland.'
The divine right of Presbytery in conflict with the
divine right of Kings was a strange but necessary
battle. In the end, it might be said that neither side
won, for the Revolution Settlement of 1688 put an end
to both claims ; but no one surely wiU deny that it
was the divine right of Presbyters — or call it the brave
stand made by generations of the foUowers of John
Knox — that brought on that revolution and made
the settlement which foUowed possible.
StiU, there was a breadth in the Church of John
Knox which we see lacking in later days. His mind,
it should be remembered, was made up on aU the great
questions of the time before he even saw Calvin, and
in some respects he was ahead of the great Reformer
of Geneva. Andrew MelviUe rather narrowed the
Church — and perhaps it was necessary then to narrow
the issue in its conflict with King James. But in Knox's
time we perceive a broad outlook — it was ' the univer"l
Kirk ' in sympathy with every reformed Church in
Europe, and desirous more particularly of being on
good terms with the Church of England. There are
those who affirm that Knox's Church was, and could
only be, a narrow Church. Among such is Mr WUliam
Law Mathieson, who, in his Politics and Religion in
Scotland, says : ' The Reformed Church, which took
shape in August 1561, was an institution so exceedingly
limited in scope, that it could accommodate — at aU
events with comfort — only a very smaU minority. . . .
Knox, in fact, was the first dissenter, abjuring and
protesting at every stage of the Church's history. This,
of course, was as far as possible from the end which he

JOHN KNOX 33
challenged the right of any such Assembly to sit. What
was its authority ? ' Has the Queen allowed such
conventions ? ' he demanded. That for him was
the aU-important question. From Knox x came at
once the reply, ' If the hberty of the Kirk should depend
on the Queen's allowance or disallowance, we are afraid
we shall be deprived not only of Assemblies, but of
the public preaching of the Gospel.' ' No such thing,'
exclaimed Maitland. ' Well,' said Knox, ' time will
try ; but I will add, take from us the freedom of
Assembhes and take from us the Evangel.' Thus
at the very outset our Reformer contended for the
freedom of the Church. The Assembly — the Church's
supreme court — met on its own authority. Jesus Christ
alone was its Head and Governor. By His authority —
and guided by His Spirit — it would meet and deliberate
and legislate on matters pertaining to His Kingdom.
No earthly sovereign could intervene, or interfere with
it, so long as it kept within its own jurisdiction. Some
years after Knox's death, the ministers opposed James
VI. when he endeavoured to force his episcopacy and
his absolutism upon them. They may have urged
extreme claims as regards the relations of Church and
State, but they did so because this monarch was assuming
powers, and exercising them by open policy and secret
intrigue, which were of an unprecedented and dangerous
kind. Dr Hume Brown ih his History of Scotland
puts the matter in this way : ' In the twofold dread of
Rome and the ' ' bloody guillie (large knife) of absolute
authority " (Andrew MelviUe's famous phrases), Pres
byterianism came to birth in Scotland, and took the
1 These replies are invariably quoted as made by Knox. He does
not himself say in his History that he is the speaker ; but there can
be no reasonable doubt that it was he, the writer of the history, and
the maker of the history, of those times from whom such memorable
replies came.

36 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Christendom. Look at its branches, or offspring, in
Ireland, Wales, and England ; in the British Colonies
and Dependencies ; and in the United States of America.
Of that last great country, the President, Woodrow
Wilson, is a Presbyterian, and for some years was head
of a notable Presbyterian institution. There may be
at present a re-action against him — Ms break-down
in health has given his enemies much advantage — but
it will surely never be forgotten that he brought America
to the side of Britain and its Allies in the Great War,
and that his insistence on the League of Nations strongly
influenced the formation of the Peace Treaty. It is
related that, after one of the episodes at VersaiUes,
in which Mr Wilson had opposed unlimited indemnities,
M. Clemenceau seizing his hand exclaimed, ' Mr President,
you are not only a good man ; you are a great man,
and you are right.'
There was another Head or President of the above-
mentioned institution — Princeton College, New Jersey —
who more than a century earher, had great influence on
the affairs of the American people. He was great grand-
uncle of Woodrow Wilson. This was the Presbyterian
minister Dr John Witherspoon, a lineal descendant of
John Knox (through his daughter who became the wife
of John Welsh of Ayr), and born like his great ancestor
near Haddington. He, after being parish minister at
Beith, and then at Paisley, accepted an invitation
from America to fill an important post there. Because
of his attainments, and doubtless also because of his
noble presence (in majesty of bearing he was said to be
second only to George Washington), he was received
with great enthusiasm on his arrival in New England,
and his journey from Philadelphia to Princeton was
a triumphal procession. He soon became a member
of the General Congress by which the Constitution of

JOHN KNOX 35
himself had in view. Indeed, the strongest proof of
Knox's failure as an ecclesiastical statesman is the
signal contrast between the permanence of his spirit
and the barrenness of his ideas. . . . Whatever it might
be in form — and it was not till the eighteenth century
that dissent could be openly avowed — the Knoxian
Church was essentially the Church of the minority ;
and thus we are confronted with the singular paradox
that the man whose ideal was a theocracy, a Civitas Dei,
has become a parent of schism, the father of Scottish dis
sent.' Now, it is true that there have been many protests,
dissents, schisms in the Scottish Church — a proof perhaps
of the Scotsman's tendency to think for himself and
his jealousy of any encroachments on his liberty. The
Scot has always had a dread of servility and formalism,
but, after all, divisions have not weakened the Scottish
Church as a whole. It has grown by its virile offshoots,
with the result that, apart from increase to the popula
tion by immigrants, notably Roman Catholics from
Ireland, Scotland is predominantly Presbyterian — in
other words, belongs to the church of John Knox.
**$£ the scattered elements have been gradually coming
together, with the result that to-day the great majority
of the Scottish people belong either to the Established
Church of Scotland or to the United Free Church of
Scotland ; and there is every indication that these two
great Churches will soon unite. Nor can any one doubt
the scholarship, the width of sympathy, and the home
and foreign mission enterprise, of these two Churches.
And is there any other country where the Church has
such a strong popular basis, and where a churchly
feeling is so much in evidence ? Moreover, this church
of Knox has spread to the very ends of the earth— is
by no means ' the Church of a minority ' — and is one
of the largest denominations or churches in Protestant

38 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
of that Book. And so by this system, or channel, they
carried on the faith once delivered to the saints. As
Principal Rainy, in his reply to Dean Stanley, said,
' Presbyterianism is a system for a free people, that
love a regulated and self-respecting freedom. ... It
is a system for strong churches — churches that are not
afraid to let their matters see the light of day — to let
their weakest parts and their worst defects be canvassed
before all men that they may be mended. ... It is
a system for Cathohc Christians, who wish not merely
to cherish private idiosyncrasies, but to feel themselves
identified with the common cause, while they cleave
directly to Him whose cause it is.'
Matthew Arnold says that ' Presbyterianism is born
to division as the sparks fly upward.' But the historian
must admit that, for the most part, it has been some
thing extraneous to Presbyterianism that has caused
so much strife and disunion, namely the civil power,
with its civil magistrate, as we see such busy at work
in the reigns of the last Stewart Kings ; in the days of
Queen Anne when the obnoxious Patronage Act was
passed ; and later in the era of Burgess Oaths ; and
stiU later, when the State, or its Courts, so encroached
on the Church as to cause the Disruption of 1843.
Then, though there be external divisions among
Presbyterians, yet there is wonderful unity in the
Presbyterian Church as a whole, perhaps more than
in the Protestant Episcopal Church, which has its sections
and parties strongly opposed to each other ; perhaps
more than in the Church of Rome, which at its very-
centre — the Vatican — has its strifes and factions ; and
even, perhaps, more than in the Eastern Church, which
outwardly stands — at any rate, till recently did stand
— for all that is stagnant, unchanging, and unvarying.
Far from being local or provincial, Presbyterianism is

JOHN KNOX 37
the United States was framed, was a member of the
most important Government committees, was one of
those who signed the Declaration of Independence ; and
there came from his professorial class-room many of
the early patriots and legislators of the United States
of America, among them James Madison.
President Wilson is an elder of the Presbyterian
Church, and so too are Vice-President Marshall,
Secretary of State Lansing, and other members of the
United States Government. The Secretary of the
U.S.A. Navy is also a Presbyterian. The recent
British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mr
Balfour, who went across to America, and by his
words and deeds cemented closely the two nations,
also belongs to that Church which Mr Law Mathieson
deems narrow and disruptive. By baptism, up
bringing, and conviction, there belongs to it also the
British Commander-in-Chief, Earl Haig of Bemersyde ;
the hero of the Marne, too, Cesaire Joffre, Marshal of
France, is a member of the French Church of that
persuasion ; and the Leader of the House of Commons
in the war days, Mr Bonar Law, is a sturdy Presbyterian.
StiU, with aU its past noble history and present day
eclat, it should be remembered that Presbytery or
Presbyterianism was not a watch-word of John Knox's.
It was not a battle cry or raUying ground. Almost
automatically the Scottish people became Presbyterian,
for the system commended itself to that freedom-
loving nation. A good working system, held to possess
New Testament sanction, it cut away the false notion
that the Church was made up of the clergy or ministers,
and that priests must needs come between the Christian
and Christ. To the mind of the Scottish people, the
Church as Presbyterian preserved a fundamental
principle of the New Testament, and was in the spirit

38 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
of that Book. And so by this system, or channel, they
carried on the faith once delivered to the saints. As
Principal Rainy, in his reply to Dean Stanley, said,
' Presbyterianism is a system for a free people, that
love a regulated and self-respecting freedom. ... It
is a system for strong churches — churches that are not
afraid to let their matters see the light of day — to let
their weakest parts and their worst defects be canvassed
before all men that they may be mended. ... It is
a system for Cathohc Christians, who wish not merely
to cherish private idiosyncrasies, but to feel themselves
identified with the common cause, while they cleave
directly to Him whose cause it is.'
Matthew Arnold says that ' Presbyterianism is born
to division as the sparks fly upward.' But the historian
must admit that, for the most part, it has been some
thing extraneous to Presbyterianism that has caused
so much strife and disunion, namely the civil power,
with its civil magistrate, as we see such busy at work
in the reigns of the last Stewart Kings ; in the days of
Queen Anne when the obnoxious Patronage Act was
passed ; and later in the era of Burgess Oaths ; and
still later, when the State, or its Courts, so encroached
on the Church as to cause the Disruption of 1843.
Then, though there be external divisions among
Presbyterians, yet there is wonderful unity in the
Presbyterian Church as a whole, perhaps more than
in the Protestant Episcopal Church, which has its sections
and parties strongly opposed to each other ; perhaps
more than in the Church of Rome, which at its very
centre — the Vatican — has its strifes and factions ; and
even, perhaps, more than in the Eastern Church, which
outwardly stands — at any rate, till recently did stand
— for all that is stagnant, unchanging, and unvarying.
Far from being local or provincial, Presbyterianism is

JOHN KNOX 39
represented in nearly all the countries of the world,
having thirty million souls within its pale, and nearly
one hundred milhon within the care of its churches ;
for in Scotland and elsewhere it carries imperial re
sponsibilities, and not only ministers to its own people
at home and in the Colonies, but has spread missions
over India, China, Africa, and the Islands of the Sea.
It sends some of its best men and women as preachers,
teachers, and physicians to those regions beyond. There
is a ' divine1 right of Presbytery ' — not to be the only
Church, or to unchurch others, but to be what it is
and do what it does. Flexible and adaptable, per
haps there is no system so ready to co-operate with
others in the common service of the Kingdom of God.
Well does the present writer remember when, at the
induction services of a brother Presbyterian in a
certain Enghsh town, the Venerable Archdeacon of
the diocese kindly graced the proceedings with his
presence; but in his speech the good man said that
while he welcomed cordially Mi  to the town,
and hoped to be associated with him in work for the
betterment of the community, he regretted that, of
course, he and Mr  could not at any time occupy
each other's pulpits. We whispered to our friend, ' In
your reply at the close, say you could at any time have
the Archdeacon in your pulpit, and would be dehghted
to see him there, but it was not your fault that you
could not occupy the Archdeacon's.' And so Mr 
made answer in all courtesy. This was some years
ago, but we are glad that the Anglican Church has
moved since then, and we await with much interest the
result of discussions at Lambeth and other Conferences;
To the Pan-, General, or Cathohc Presbyterian
Council delegates come from aU parts of the world.
It was a universal, not provincial, Kirk of which Knox

40 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
was a member and leader ; but, while he laid stress on
its universality, he also laid stress on its antiquity.
' We therefore say,' he exclaims, ' that our Kirk is no
new-found Kirk . . . but that it is part of that holy
Kirk universal, which is grounded upon the doctrine
of the Prophets and Apostles, having the same antiquity
that the Kirk of the Apostles has, as concerning doctrine,
prayers, administration of the Sacrament, and aU
other tilings, requisite to a particular Kirk.' Indeed,
his view is that the new Church with no real antiquity
is the Romish Church. ' Wheresoever,' he says, ' the
Papists and we shaU come to reckon on the age of our
faith, we doubt nothing but that their faith, in more
principal points nor one or two, shall be found very
young, and but lately invented in respect of that only
true faith, which this day in the Kirks of Scotland is
preferred' (Works, vol. vi. 492). Ours, he would
say, is a historical Church, springing from an ancient
apostohc base, free from later injurious growths, and
consciously aUied with the purity, strength, and joy
of its youth.
Calvinistic this Church may be designated, but not so by
Knox. It has never taken to itself any human name —
nor, with Knox, even the designation Presbyterian —
but with him it is the Cathohc Reformed Church.
Quite independently of the great Reformer of Geneva
— before they had ever met — the great Reformer of
Scotland had arrived at similar conclusions regarding
Protestantism, both deriving them from the same
source, Holy Scripture. Nor is the theology of this
Church narrow. Already we have, spoken of that,
but here let us add what the late Professor Hastie, of
Glasgow University, has said on the subject. This
scholar and thinker had great delight in showing  or
endeavouring to show— that the Scottish Reformed

JOHN KNOX 41
theology was much superior to all other forms of
theology, whether Romish, Lutheran, Anglican,
Arminian, Socinian, or other. He held, in fact, that
it was the only theology with which we could face,
with the hope of complete conquest, aU the spiritual
dangers and terrors of our time ; deep and large enough
and divine enough, rightly understood, to confront
them and do battle with them all in vindication of the
Creator, Preserver and Governor of the Worlds, and
of the Justice and Love of the Divine Personality.1
For Knox the Reformed Church meant what it means
for us to-day, namely, a Church holding the Faith once
delivered to the saints, holding the tradition unbroken
of the Primitive Church, and holding, and ever en
deavouring to realise, the ideal of the eternal City of
God. It is of some significance that in several Scottish
documents, of the time immediately after the great
events of 1555-1560, the Reformed Church of Scotland
is referred to as ' Holy Kirk,' a designation long applied
to the Church of Rome. It should be noted, moreover,
that in the Articles, submitted as a basis for Union by
the Committee of the Church of Scotland to the General
Assembly in 1918, it is stated on the very front that
' the Church of Scotland is part of the Holy Cathohc
or Universal Church ... in historic continuity with
the Church of Scotland which was reformed in 1560,'
and ' is part of the Universal Church wherein the Lord
Jesus Christ has appointed a government in the hands
of Church office-bearers,' etc.
And who are among the great theologians and in
terpreters of Scripture to-day in the English-speaking
world ? Theological Catalogues or Publishers' Lists
1 See Dr Hastie's Croall Lecture, The Theology of the Reformed
Church in its Fundamental Principles.

42 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
would seem to indicate that it is the professors and
ministers of the Scottish and allied Churches — the
Churches which acknowledge and reverence the name
of Knox as their great father and founder — who occupy
the front ranks, or at least are not far therefrom.
These strictures, then, on Mr Mathieson's statement
wiU surely show that the Reformed Church in Scotland,
which took shape in 1561, was not, is not in the present
age, and wiU not be in the coming days, a small, narrow,
and unenlightened Church. What Carlyle said eighty
years ago 'n his Lectures on Heroes, Hero-Worship,
and the Heroic in History, has had considerable support
added to it in the intervening years : ' Knox was Chief
Priest and Founder of the Faith that became Scotland's,
New England's, Ohver CromweU's. History wiU have
something to say about this for some time to come.
. It got itself estabhshed as a Presbyterianism,
and has produced in the world very notable fruit.'
It may be said here that the relations between the
Churches cf England and Scotland in the early days of
the Reformation, and for some time after, were friendly,
and there was considerable intercourse between them.
The Church of England was then not only in sympathy
but in communion with the Reformed Churches every
where. It was later that the Divine Right of Episcopacy
and the Divine Right of Presbytery, respectively, were
asserted. Bishop Bancroft was the first to declare
the former in his famous sermons at Paul's Cross in
1589, and Andrew MelviUe, in defence, contended for
the latter. Archbishop Laud, in later years, further
aired the claims of Anglicanism, and the Scots ministers
had to assert the contrary and claim for their ism still
higher things. But in Knox's time there was no such
high-flying, and the Scottish preachers, with orders
genuine but not hierarchical, were freely recommended

JOHN KNOX 43
and cordially welcomed by the English Church to its
ministry, and even to its highest offices.
While Luther's reformation had mainly to do with
doctrine, and his watchword and rallying cry was
Justification by Faith, and the removal of all doctrines,
dogmas, and practices incompatible therewith, or
injurious to it, Knox was above all things a Church
reformer. He said that was his work. Accordingly,
as we have stated under our second head, the movements
led by him were for purity and simplicity in worship.
Image-worship, and all else akin, he contended must
be swept away. But he, along with his feUow-reformers,
gave great power to the secular arm. It was a sacred
principle with them that kings and magistrates were
appointed not only for civil pohcy, but for the upholding
and furthering of rehgion. They could not have held
otherwise, for it was inconceivable to them that Church
and State could be at variance. Popery, with its canon
law, had been strangling the national hfe, and, from
such entanglement and incubus, the civil power must
give deliverance. Church and State should work
harmoniously for the good of the country. There were
two jurisdictions, but they need not encroach on each
other, Knox never desired that the Church should
be above the civil power, or have contendings with
it at ail. He wished the one to help the other. In
pre-Reformation times, the separate jurisdiction of the
civil and the ecclesiastical authorities had been to a great
extent lost sight of. In Scotland as elsewhere, the
chief offices were held by churchmen, and the Church
determined all civil causes. In the great stained-glass
window of the Parhament House, Edinburgh, it will
be noticed that James V. is represented as seated on
the throne of Scotland, and is handing the Papal BuU,
instituting the Court of Session, to Abbot Alexander

44 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Myln, first President thereof, while the Archbishop of
Glasgow, Chancellor of Scotland, is standing among the
nobles in a prominent position expressing his approval
of these important legal proceedings.
Though, for a few years after the Reformation, the
Scottish ministers were consulted by the Lords of
the Congregation, and had often to act as pohtical
advisers — some of them even sitting as judges in the
Court of Session — it was simply because there were
no others qualified by training and experience whom
the nation could obtain for such purposes. But the
Reformers considered such employment for their
ministers as undesirable and indeed wrong, and, as
soon as they could, insisted on the separation of the
two jurisdictions, and condemned aU words and deeds
that might obhterate or confuse the distinction.
There was nothing priestly in Knox's claim, cr in the
doings of this Reformed Church of Scotland. The
laity predominated in the early Assemblies, the first
consisting of only six ministers, the other members
being thirty-six laymen. And Knox would not have
the meetings of the Assembly in secret. If the Queen
had any suspicion of them, they would be quite willing
to have a representative of the Crown present to hear
their dehberations ; but no such representative or
commissioner could constitute or dissolve the Assembly.
The genius of the Scottish people has always been
totaUy opposed to anything like HUdebrandism. Their
Church has been, and is, perhaps the most democratic
on the face of the earth, with abundant opportunity
for the voice and practical energy of the laity. In
dependency or Congregationahsm may seem more
democratic, but in that system cohesion and government
are lacking. The Scottish, that is the Presbyterian,
Church is a government of the people by the people.

JOHN KNOX 45
Knox gave hberty to the congregation. He attached
the greatest importance to the Lord's people assembled
together. In the First Book of Discipline, which he
had so large a hand in framing, the election of the
minister is vested in the people, though there might be
special cases, through delays or negligence on the part
of the congregation, where ' the Church of the Super
intendent with his counsaU ' or ' the counsall or greater
Church,' could make the presentation. But Church
Courts, or any other body, were not to draw patronage
to themselves. The two Books of Discipline ring with
protests against infringement of a congregation's hberty.
Emphatically says the First Book — and undoubtedly
John Knox speaks in the words — ' The presentation
of the Pepil . . . must be preferred. . . . Altogether
this is to be avoided, that any may be violentlie intrused
or thrust upon any Congregation. But this libertie
with all cair must be reserved till everie severaU Kirk.'
In this Book, as in its successor, we have the principles,
and aids towards the practice, of a church polity which
is for strong men, and a freedom-loving people will
rejoice in it. It is of some significance that Knox's
own election at St Andrews, irregular though it may
have been, was the first occasion in Scotland when the
congregation claimed to choose its spiritual guide.
Allied to, and springing from, or perhaps rather
contributing to, the freedom of the Church is the freedom
of the individual member of the Church. Knox laid
great stress on this latter. Before his time in Scotland,
the individual, as Church member, could only approach
God by submitting to regulations laid down by an
infaUible Church, which Church said that the approach
must be through officials — the priests — of the Church.
But Knox would acknowledge no such regulations and
claims. His view was — and he never ceased to give it

46 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the greatest emphasis — that the individual man has
the right and the duty to approach God, and receive
grace, apart from any ecclesiastical channel. With
him there was only one Mediator between God and
Man — and that was our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
— and His wiU was revealed to us by the Holy Spirit
through the Holy Scriptures. We could trust Jesus
Christ with aU we have been, aU we are, and all that
we hope to be. This Saviour would carry all, and carry
us through aU. He is the Saviour from every sin, our
eternal salvation, and our soul's help in to-day's and the
next day's .difficulties.
Undoubtedly great power is exercised by the courts
of such a Church, a power which many an Anglican
Bishop may weU envy ; but the laity are greatly in
the majority in -ijhese courts — in the Kirk-Session it may
be in the proportion of twenty (or, indeed, many more)
to one ; in the Presbytery for every clergyman there is
a layman, sometime* two (as in the United Free Church
of Scotland., for every congregation whose membership
exceeds four hundred) ; in the Provincial Synod the
same proportion pertains ; and in the General Assembly
ministers and laymen sit and vote in equal numbers.
Yet, probably, Ian Maclaren is right when, in one
of his stories, he says that if the most pious and in-
teUigent elder (lay) dared to administer a Sacrament,
he would be at :once tried and censured for sacrilege.
It should not be forgotten that, differing from the
French and Swiss Churches, the General Assembly was
the first court that was constituted, and that tbe second
was not the Provincial Synod, nor the Presbytery,
but the Kirk-Session. Indeed, the Presbytery, which
gives its name to the church of Knox, was the last of
aU to be instituted. So we have , first of all, the General
Assembly, vindicating the independence and liberty

JOHN KNOX 47
of the Church, and then the Kirk-Session regulating
the rehgious life by its firm and salutary discipline.
It was twenty years after the Reformation before
Presbyteries were formed, or at least became part of
the 'estabhshed polity of the Church.
For many years there was practicaUy no government
in rural districts, but that of the Kirk-Session. It
had to take cognisance of many matters now, and
rightly, relegated to civil authorities. The poor, for
instance, the education of the people, and the reform
of drunkards, fell to be dealt with by this court of the
Church. Indeed, when the Presbyterian Church was
in its infancy in Scotland, the people seem to have
expected far more from it than from Parliament. They
certainly had exalted ideas of their early General
Assemblies, as the foUowing incident wiU show. There
was a want of uniformity as regards the weights and
measures used in ' burgh and land,' and a great
grievance resulted. The burgh merchants had ' ane
wecht to buy with, and ane other to seU with different
in wecht therefrom,' which greatly provoked those
living in country districts. Certen of the aggrieved
parties, nothing doubting that the men whom God had
sent to preach His truth in the land would right such
a wrong, brought the injustice before a meeting of
the General Assembly, praying them to take order with
the evil-doers who made the ephal small and the shekel
great. The Assembly held that the matter was not
for them, and referred the petition to the proper court.
We find also that the Presbytery of St Andrews over-
tured the Synod regarding the unsatisfactory state of
bridges within its boundf ; the Presbytery of Lanark
called upon the Earl of Angus to hasten on with the
building of a certain bridge over the Clyde ; the same
Presbytery .ordained Lord Douglas to make reparation

48 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
to injured and oppressed tenants ; the Kirk-Session of
Humbie, when a plague was raging, forbade com
munications with infected locahties ; and a citizen of
Perth complained to the Kirk-Session that his neighbour
below had a fire but no chimney, and had thus rendered
himself a nuisance, and the said Session forbade the
man hghting any more fires tiU he had procured a
chimney. Knox and his feUow-labourers were social reformers,
as is quite apparent from the Book of Discipline. Their
views on sanitation were far ahead of their times. Look,
for instance, at what that Book says about cemeteries.
It condemns burial in churches ' in respect of diverse
inconvenientis,' and suggests that a ' secret (i.e. se
questered) and convenient place, lying in the most
free air, be appointed for that use ; the which place
ought to be weiU walled and fensed about, and keeped
for that use onlie.' When we take along with this
the injunction of the General Assembly in 1563, that
the dead should be buried ' saxe foote under the eird,'
it is evident that our Scottish Reformers held advanced
views on sanitary matters.
We know how, in later days, the satire of Robert
Burns, and the adverse criticism of some other writers,
have drawn attention to what seems a tyrannical and
pharisaic spirit in Kirk-Session records. But what
Knox and the comphers of the Book of Discipline had
in view was the stemming of a strong tide of licentious
ness then prevailing, and the aiding of the law of the
land in putting down crime ; for the civil law was
certainly weak and men's passions were strong.
Heresy and the breach of Church customs, ceremonies,
and rites, are not much in evidence in these records,
but adultery, fornication, drunkenness are mentioned
with great frequency. Moreover, the Session and the

JOHN KNOX 49
superior courts acted slowly ; gave many opportunities
for repentance ; and upon ministers and elders, as
weU as ordinary members, its censures and punishments
fell. Ministers, indeed, when they lapsed were punished
with special severity, as witness the case of Paul
Methven, who was deposed for committing adultery
with his servant, and was only offered restoration to
the office of the ministry on condition of doing the
following : ' The said Paul upon the two preaching
dayes betwixt Sondayes sail come to the Kirk-door of
Edinburgh, when the second bell rings, clad in sack
cloth, baire-heidit, baire-herdit, and baire-footit, and
there remain whill (until) he be brocht to the sermoun,
and placit in the pubhc spectakill (stool of repentance)
above the peiple in tyme of every sermoun, the said
two dayes, and the Sondaye thereafter saU compeir in
lyke manner, and in the end of the sermoun declare
signes of his inward repentance to the peiple, humbhe
requyring the Kirk's forgiveness ; whilk done he sail
be clad in his awin apparel and receivit in the society
of the Kirk ; this same ordour to be observit in Dundie
and Jedbrucht.' It was at this latter place, Jedburgh,
where Methven was minister, that the offence had been
committed, and it was Knox himself, who, along with
certain Edinburgh elders, had been sent to enquire
into the scandal. The delinquent was no ordinary
man, but had been a leader in the work of reform and
a fervent preacher, and that at a time when loyalty
to the truth was no easy task. But Knox knew his
duty, and, however distasteful on the ground of old
friendship, he had a grim satisfaction in discharging
it. The charge having been found true, the General
Assembly publicly excommunicated Methven, deprived
him of his ministerial functions, and ordered him to
undergo the punishment as stated above. ' For two

50 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
causes,' concludes Knox in his detailed account of the
matter, ' we insert this horrible fact, and the ordour
kept in punishment of the same ; formar, To f orwairne
such as travaiU in that vocation, that, according to
the admonition of the Apostle, " Suche as stand, tack
heed lest thei faU." . . . The other cause is, that
the world may see what difference thair is betwix hght
and darkness, betwix the uprychtness of the Churche
of God, and the corruption that ringes (reigns) in the
synagoge of Sathan, the. Papistical rable.' It may be
added, that the wretched Paul Methven cculd not
go through with it. He tried, but ' could submit no
further, and proceeded to England.'
In exercising discipline the Scottish Reformers were
altogether impartial. The Lord High Treasurer was
as faithfully dealt with as the humblest peasant. So
too was the Countess of ArgyU. Knox was certainly
determined to create a higher pubhc tone in matters
of morality.
But let us hear what an Enghshman says of what
Knox and his Church did for Scotland. ' The chief
CouncU of the Presbyterian Church caUed the General
Assembly,' remarks Mr T. F. Tout, M.A., Professor
of Mediaeval and Modern History in the University of
Manchester, in his volume, An Advanced History of
Great Britain, ' had more influence and better expressed
the wishes of the people than the Scottish Parhament.
From the adoption of Presbyterianism the modern
history of Scotland begins, for in welcoming the new
faith the Scots nation first began to grow conscious
of itself. Never were movements more strongly con
trasted than the short, swift, logical destructive Reforma
tion in Scotland, and the pohtical, compromising, half
hearted Enghsh Reformation imposed on a doubtful
and hesitating people by the authority of the Crown.

JOHN KNOX 51
But the movements had this in common, that in making
Rome the common danger to both countries, it brought
England and Scotland together in a fashion that had
never been possible since Edward l.'s attacks on Scottish
independency. Soon the old hostility began to abate
between English and Scots, so that what had seemed
to Henry VIII. a quite impossible thing — the acceptance
by England of the King of Scots as their ruler — was
peacefully accomplished after Elizabeth's death.' We
may also quote here what Froude says in his History
of England : ' But for Knox, the Reformation would
have been overthrown among ourselves, for the spirit
which he created saved Scotland : and if Scotland
had been Catholic again, neither the wisdom of Elizabeth's
ministers, nor the teaching of her bishops, nor her
own chicaneries would have preserved England from
revolution. . . . But for Knox and Burghley — these
two, but not the one without the other — Elizabeth
would have been hurled from her throne or have gone
back into the Egypt to which she was too often casting
wistful eyes.'
Though certainly intolerant of the contentions of
others for their Churches — which was the usual attitude
of reformers and controversialists — was Knox an in
tolerant man ? He was intolerant of an enemy who
was trying to kill him, for the Roman Catholics had
added to their creed an article entitling them to hang
and burn those who differed from them; he was in
tolerant towards the whole Romish system as it then
manifested itself, declaring that it was of the devil;
and he was intolerant just as the most enlightened
Dutch philosophers became hard and narrow-minded
through sufferings inflicted on them during the ad
ministration of the Duke of Alva. Knox was indeed
more humane than the Scottish legislators at that

52 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
time, and it is a remarkable fact that the latter did
not enforce their harsh and persecuting enactment
against the celebration of the Mass except in one
case in Glasgow in 1574.' The Church, of course,
had nothing to do with the execution of Archbishop
HamUton, nor had the celebration of the Mass. That
prelate was sentenced and hanged for his comphcity
in the murders of Lord Darnley and the Regent
Moray. About half a century after Knox's time, a
priest, John Ogilvie by name (he was a Jesuit mis
sionary), was condemned and hanged at Glasgow,
but this was not done by the Presbyterians. It was
under the rule of Archbishop Spottiswood, and it
was nominaUy for high treason that OgUvie suffered
the death penalty. Perhaps, in later days, the most
wonderful exhibition of the tolerance of Presby
terians is their suffering a grand monument — with
much laudation thereon — to be erected to their great
enemy, Archbishop Sharp, in one of their chief
historic churches, namely, the parish church of St
Andrews. PhUosophers of hberal tendency, and men of high
hterary repute, may find John Knox and his friends
lacking in philosophical ideahsm, mental liberality, and
culture, but from these reforms do not come. PhU-
osophy and pohte letters would never have accomplished
the work John Knox found he had to do. In the realm
of ideas, and in science, the phUosophical and the
learned may lead. But in the material, and much more
in the spiritual progress of mankind — in the onward
march of the race — the people, or men from among the
people, are the leaders. They make the forward steps.
Reformers come from them. The average man, the
man in the street, is more in touch with the reahties
of life, and he is not unwilling to suffer that the progress

JOHN KNOX 53
of the race may ensue. The men of philosophy, learning,
polite letters follow that which the -crowd has discerned
to be the right way, and the former are probably among
the last to take up their beds and walk. There is a
further aspect of the matter, and here we are indebted
to some thoughts finely expressed by Principal Caird
in his lecture, ' The Reformation and its Lessons,'
in his httle volume entitled Essays for Sunday Reading.
Dr Caird lays stress upon the fact that the Reformation
was not a mere chance sound breaking upon the ear
amidst a dissonance of voices, but was a note clear
and loud in a great choral harmony of which the universal
history of man wiU be the completion ; nor was it a
mere purposeless displacement of men and nations,
nor an event to be viewed in isolated aspect, but rather
one definite sweep onwards of a great advancing tide,
part of a divine plan involving the progress of the race.
It was more than a reformation, the clearing away of
corruptions and falsehoods and injurious accretions,
that had gathered around the ancient, pure, beautiful,
and noble fabric of the Church. Knox and his fellow-
reformers did reform and remould the Church, but that
was not all they did. They made advances, or caused
the race to make great advances, in truth and general
well-being. The everlasting hiUs came nearer by their
labours, and we reach these summits more readUy
by what they achieved ; and the more we have of their
spirit, and the more we apply their principles, the
greater shall be our progress in these latter days. In
dividuality in rehgion was one of their great principles
— the unfettering of the instincts of the soul, and the
responsibility of each one of us to God, which are things
no lapse of time or progress of society can ever subvert
or alter. And, as the Principal points out, the Church
of to-day may even reform the Reformation, for at

m MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
that time, perhaps, too much stress was laid on doctrinal
accuracy and an intellectual basis of communism,
while to-day stress is laid, and rightly, on religion,
noble character, the state of the heart, the love and
life that come from Christ Jesus.
Yet these Reformers were most practical men, as is evi
denced, among other things, by their Book of Discipline.
Such a programme, or manifesto, may have its defects,
and to-day its ' Thou shalts ' might be quite impractic
able. There are countries and centuries where its
methods could not be adopted. But what would not
suit this century, or foreign countries, may have suited
Scotland well enough in the sixteenth century and
later. The ideals of the Book were lofty, and Parlia*
mentary sanction of it would have been to the advantage
of the ' commonwealth.' Knox knew his country weU
and its requirements. He may have been a visionary,
but he was much more — certainly a man of the most
practical energy. Scotland, he felt, required this Book,
and1 the Utopia therein was much more realisable than
that of More. As to the Church set up in the realm,
John Richard Green says in his Short History of the
English People, that ' its government by ministers
(has he forgotten the lay elders ?) gave it the look of
ecclesiastical despotism, but no' Church constitution
has proved so democratic as that of Scotland. Its
influence in raising the nation at large to a consciousness
of its power is shown by the change which passes, from
the moment of its final establishment, over the face of
Scottish history.'
Knox had no half measures to propose or recommend,
for he had1 no half convictions. But was he only a
Presbyterian and nothing else ? Was he only a Calvinist
and nothing else ? Was he only a Protestant and
nothing else ? Had he no wider views ? Certainly

JOHN KNOX 55
he had, and thought of other things besides Presbytery,
Geneva, and Augsburg. Look at one of his last letters
to the brethren in Edinburgh. At the time he was
residing in St Andrews, and was an old man — at least,
was very much an invahd, prematurely aged, and his
end was drawing near — and this is what he writes :
' Be faithful and loving to one another, let bitterness and
suspicion be far fom your hearts, and let everyone
watch for the preservation of another without grudging
and murmuring.' About the same time he gives the
following advice to students. The young men had
been drawn to him, and here is what he says to them :
' Use your time weU ; know God and His work in your
country ; stand by the good cause ; and follow the
good examples and good instructions of your masters.'
There is nothing here about Presbytery or Episcopacy,
Cathohcs or Protestants, Mary or the Regent ; but
something of universal significance and of universal
apphcation. Surely this is a man removed from aU
narrowness of thought or vision. Here is one who
sees life steadily, and sees it whole. Truth and goodness
were not limited by his formula.
When we think of the faith and polity of Knox, as
contrasted with that of Mary of Lorraine, the Queen
Regent, the residences in Edinburgh of these two
representatives of different factions, policies, and ideals
come before us symbohcaUy in an arresting manner.
Where once stood the palace of the latter — a short
distance from the Castle — there now stands a series of
great buildings — the Assembly Hall of the United Free
Church of Scotland (on the very site of the palace) ;
the New College, in the quadrangle of which has been
erected a statue of John Knox ; the High Church ; and
the Assembly Hall of the Church of Scotland with its
great lofty spire — buildings all dear to the hearts of

56 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Presbyterians. Not a stone of Mary of Lorraine's palace
remains, while these ecclesiastical edifices, on the other
hand, are very much in evidence in the hfe of the city
and of the nation, and are among the most conspicuous
in the Scottish capital. Moreover, further down this
central ridge, or highway, there stands the manse
of John Knox — the great antagonist of the Queen
Regent and her more famous daughter — a building
intact, arresting to the passer-by, and visited by many.
Is it giving the rein to fancy unduly and unfairly to
behold here, as in symbol, the strength, development
and durability of the belief and system of the Scottish
reformer on the one hand ; and on the other, the weak
ness, decay, and disappearance of the polity of the
French princess ?

CHAPTER II
JOHN KNOX— (Continued)
In the previous chapter we have contended for the
' modernity ' of Knox bj? adducing his preaching, his
dispensing of the Sacraments in a simple manner, and
his struggle for the freedom of the Church ; and when
dealing with these we have given subsidiary reasons.
In this chapter, we shaU submit three further proofs,
and, as before, shall, under each, bring in other con
siderations in support of our contention.
4. He broke down barriers between clergy and laity
It is noticeable in the hfe of Knox that he attracted,
and maintained, the friendship of many laymen. He
had a capacity for friendship, and he seems never to
have betrayed or lost a friend. It was a great grief to
him that Kirkcaldy of Grange and Maitland of Lethington
took up, latterly, the attitude they did ; and, though
we are not aware that their regard for him diminished,
he was pained when they went over to the camp of the
enemy. Though he had many friends among the
Protestant ministers, he, unlike the Romish priests,
drew to the laity, and broke down walls of partition
between them and an official Christian ministry. He
appeared among them as their equal, and was enter
tained by, and entertained, them as one of themselves.
Already we have referred to his friendship with Sir James
Sandilands and James Chalmers of Gadgirth, and his
57

58 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
pleasant and profitable visits to their homes. With
the Laird of Dun he had also much Christian feUowship,
and consulted him on many matters pubhc and private.
Queen Mary had a high opinion of this Forfarshire
gentleman, and said that ' above aU, she would gladly
hear the Superintendent of Angus, for he was a mild,
sweet-natured man with true honesty and uprightness,
John Erskine of Dun.' Buchanan says — ' He was, of
the first reformers, the only one who enjoyed anything
hke court favour, but it was without dereliction in
integrity or any compromise of principle.' Spottiswood
calls him ' wise, learned, and of singular courage, another
Ambrose,' and Knox himself, speaks of him as one
' whom God in those days had marveUously iUuminated,'
' a zealous, prudent, and godly man,' ' of meek and
gentle spirit.' In the year 1555, when Knox visited
Scotland for some months, Erskine of Dun was one of
the first to repair to him in Edinburgh and encourage
him in his work of reform. Shortly after, he stayed
with him for a whole month at his house in Forfarshire,
and there met ' the principal men of that county.'
Later, he visited at Dun again, and, as we have seen,
dispensed the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, " whereof
were partakers the most part of the gentlemen of the
Mearns.' Then, at Edinburgh, we find him at a supper
party in Erskine's house, where he meets for the first
time — at least, in his book for the first time refers to —
him who afterwards became Queen Mary's chief
Secretary — ' Wilham Maitland of Lethington, younger,
a man of good learning and of sharp wit and reasoning.'
So says Knox, which remark may have this of Randolph
to CecU put along side of it — ' Lethington hath a crafty
head and a feU tongue.' It is significant that this
patrician, courtier and cultured gentleman had the
homely nickname of ' MitcheU Wylie,' which had nothing

JOHN KNOX 59
to do with MitcheU or Wyhe or any common name or
surname ; but just as the Thrums weavers called
Robespierre ' Rab Speery,' so the Scots people of the
sixteenth century with their difficulty in pronouncing
foreign words, and perhaps never seeing them in print,
caUed Lethington Mitchell Wyhe when they really
meant MachiaveUi ! As indicating the wide difference
between John Knox and WiUiam Maitland, the ' will
of God ' to the former was the supreme and sohtary
guide, while God to the latter was but ' ane bogiU of the
nursery.' But there was this resemblance between the
two men — both were in their outlook modern, though in
different ways. We have been showing how Knox
was a modern, and Andrew Lang is right when he says
of Maitland of Lethington that ' he was a modern of
the moderns, cool, witty, ironical, subtle, and not
convinced.' x
Erskine was in middle age when the friendship between
him and Knox began. In early days he had wielded
lance and sword for his country, but his was now the
rarer service of fighting the battle of the Evangel.
He was not an unlettered man, but of much culture
and refinement, a proficient in the Greek tongue, which
he had learned abroad, and the study of which he was
the first to introduce into Scotland. He brought over
a Frenchman to teach it in Montrose. He appears,
also, to have been fond of music — at least, he arranged
for Church music being taught in the neighbourhood
of his Forfarshire home.
With another layman Knox was particularly intimate,
and that was an Ayrshire laird, Robert Campbell of
1 It may be interesting to state what a highly-placed contemporary
Roman Catholic thought of WilUam Maitland of Lethington. We
find it in Pollen's Papal Negotiations with Mary, Queen of Scots, where
Vincenzo Laureo, Bishop of Mondovi, Nuncio to Queen Mary, styles
him, ' astute and unprincipled,' and the ' most crafty of men.'

60 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Kinzeancleuch. This good man was an ardent re
former, and was one of the few at Holyrood who could
withstand the blandishments of the Queen and her
courtiers. He saw the danger to Scotland of the royal
doings, and thus addressed Lord Ochiltree : ' My Lord,
now ye are come [to Edinburgh], and almost the last,
and I perceave by your anger that the fyre-edge is nott
off you yit ; but I fear after that the holy water of the
Courte be sprinckled upon you that ye sal become als
temperat as the rest ; for I have been here near fy ve
dayis, and at the first I heird everie man say, " Let us
hang the priest," but after that thai had been twyse
or thrise at the Abbey [Holyrood], aU that fervencie
was past. I think thair be some inchantment whereby
men are bewitched.' Knox's comment on this speech
is — ' And in very deed so it came to pass . . . for
the Queenis flattering words bhnded all men.' Knox
visited this gentleman at his Ayrshire home, and it
may be mentioned that, two and a half centuries after,
there also came to Kinzeancleuch (BaUochmyle) another
great Scotsman — Robert Burns — who has immortalised
the district by his song. In most pathetic circum
stances, towards the end of the year 1572, Robert
Campbell paid a return visit to Knox in Edinburgh.
The Reformer was dying, and CampbeU was one of the
three intimates at his bedside. ' Are you in pain ? '
said Kinzeancleuch. ' It is no particular pain,' rephed
Knox, ' but such a pain as shaU soon, I trust, put an
tnd to the battle.' After a few hours Knox passed
away, committing to CampbeU the care of his wife and
children. It was in a layman's house — ' that notable man of
God, James Syme's ' — and in the company of laymen
— ' John Erskine, the Laird of Dun, David Forrest,
General of the Mint, and certain personages of the

JOHN KNOX 61
town, amongst whom was Elizabeth Adamson, then
spouse to James Barron, Dean of Guild, burgess of
Edinburgh ' — that plans were first laid, or at least
consultations first held, concerning the great work
Knox was to do in Scotland.
When in England, some years before, he must have
impressed the Duke of Northumberland in a wonderful
way, though the Duke's attitude towards him changed
when he would not agree to certain of his proposals.
Knox was certainly in close intimacy with the great
in the land. A royal chaplain, Knox preached more
than once before the court of King Edward VI. He
was certainly busy, and deferred to, in Enghsh pohtical
affairs, many of the State Papers in the Enghsh Records
Office being in his handwriting, and known to have
been of his composition. On a summer day he ap
peared in Edinburgh, accompanied by a band of gentle
men, like a feudal lord with retainers, to answer the
summons of hostile bishops. The Earl cf Moray, the
Earl of Morton, the Earl of Glencairn, the Earl cf Mar,
Lord Ochiltree, and many others of the nobility found
in him a true, steadfast, and wise friend ; and one has
only to read his conversations with, and letters to, them,
to see how different were his relations with them as
compared with the attitude of the clergy of the old
church towards prince and peer. The Earl of Morton
was not a sentimental man, but James .MelviUe says
this strange thing of him : ' He loved John Knox.'
Even Bothwell was deferential to him. He came to
him one day to beg his good offices in reconcihng him
to the Earl of Arran. There was an authoritative dignity
about Knox when the high in the land came to him for
advice or counsel. It might be said that he wa; supreme
in Scotland. Professor Rait, in his Scotland (' Making
of the Nations ' Series), says that ' the return of Knox

62 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
(in the year 1555) to Scotland gave the Regent
(Mary of Guise) a more redoubtable opponent than
any monarch of England, and the Protestants at once
felt the inspiration of a great and noble personality.'
There were some scurrilous verses written in those
days — entitled A Lewd Ballet — by a Roman Cathohc
(name unknown), and in the foUowing hnes, cuUed from
them, the power of Knox is recognised :
' The Subject now commandis the Prince, and Knox is grown
a King :
Quhat he willis obeyit is, that made the Bisshop hing.'
But the humblest citizens also came to' him for advice.
At least we find that on one occasion certain citizens
desired him to intercede on their behalf with the magis
trates. Knox was certainly revered by the people of
Edinburgh as their greatest and best man. He never
faUed them, and they never faUed him. He held the
heart of Midlothian. The Town CouncU would aUow
no slander against him to go unpunished. For example,
on the 8th April 1562, we read in the Burgh Records,
' Ninian M'Crechrane, cuke to Timothie Bancour, grantit
and confest he said yisterday in the hie gait : " Loving
to God, my Lord Arrane and my Lord BothwUle ar
aggreit now ; Knox quarter is run, he is scurgeit throw
the toun " ; with sic uther injurious wordis ; quharfore,
as ane raiUar and sklanderer, wes ordainet to be skurgeit
within the Talbuith, and thairefter to be brankit, and
in case he ever committed the hke injurie in tyme
cuming agains the minister, actit himself of his awin
consent, to be skurgeit throw this toun and baneist
for ever.' A pretty stern lesson to the lieges ! And
so too, with regard to heresy, or reviving of the old
doctrines. On the 18th June 1563, for instance, we

JOHN KNOX 63
find that ' Johnne Grahame, merchant [was] callit before
the bailies and counsaU forsaid, and accusit of divers
injurious and sclanderis wordis spoken be him in
maintenance of the mes and contrair the doctrine now
preichit in the Kirk of God. [He] denyit the same,
and oblist himself in all tymes cuming to keip mesour
in his speaking and behavour under the pane of the
sale of his fredome and farther punishment as the jugis
and counsale sould fynd gude.' When Knox finally
left Geneva for Scotland, it was amid the ' weeping of
brave men ' who venerated and loved him.
As an evidence of the high regard in which Knox
was held by the principal men in Scotland, we have
that trial of his before the Privy Council. Queen Mary
thought that she had at last got him within her power,
because of a circular letter he had written, supposed
by her to be treasonable. She had him summoned
before the Privy Council, and felt sure that he would
be condemned to death, or, at any rate, have some
severe punishment meted out to him ; but the said
Council — with the great nobles, Duke of Chatelherault,
Earl of Moray, Earl of Glencairn, Earl of ArgyU, Lord
Ruthven, and many others present — voted unanimously
in his favour. The Queen stormed at them, and com
manded them to vote again, but once more the unanimous
verdict was ' not guilty.' Knox reported the matter
to the General Assembly of that year. He asked them
if he. had done wrong in writing the letter. The Assembly
voted on the matter, and with one voice found that
he had done no wrong. Moreover, they said that in
writing such letters to summon the brethren, when
danger appeared, the whole Church was on his side.
Was there not something daimonic about this man,
which put fear upon his fellow-beings at times ? For
instance, when on a May morning in 1559 certain

64 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
dignitaries of the old Church were assembled in the
Monastery of the Grey Friars at Edinburgh, and de
liberating on measures to crush the Protestant move
ment, a messenger suddenly entered with anxious look,
and informed them that John Knox had arrived the
previous day at Leith, and was even now resting within
the gates of the Capital, having a good sleep after his
long journey. The clergy were panic-stricken with the
news, and, anticipating now the ruin of aU their plans,
the council broke up in haste and confusion.1
And there was one high in the land who also took
fright at Knox's .arrival. This was the Queen Regent,
then in Glasgow, to whom the momentous news had
been conveyed in hot haste. She at once ordered him
to ' be blown to the horn,' with three blasts from the
the Market Cross of Glasgow, and to be denounced by
the messenger-at-arm9 as a rebel and outlaw.
John Gait, in his Ringan Gilhaize, has a thrilhng
description of the effect of Knox's arrival in Scotland
at this time. There may be exaggeration in the novehst's
language, but his words are noble and eloquent and
show the view taken of this advent by a man of letters
some two and half centuries after the event : ' The
cry rose everywhere, " John Knox is come ! " All the
town came rushing into the streets, — the old and the
young, the lordly and the lowly, were seen minghng and
marvelling together,— all tasks of duty, and servitude,
and pleasure, were forsaken, — the sick-beds of the dying
were deserted, — the priests abandoned their altars and
masses, and stood pale and trembhng at the doors of
their churches,— mothers set down their infants on
the floors, and ran to enquire what had come to pass, —
1 This story is believed by some to be apocryphal, but Dr M'Crie
credits it, and gives his reasons. See his Life of John Knox
(Blackwood's edition, 1873), p. 126, and in particular the foot-note.

JOHN KNOX » 65
funerals were suspended, and the impious and the guilty
stood aghast as if some dreadful apocalypse had been
made, — travellers, with the bridles in their hands,
lingering in profane discourse with their hosts, suddenly
mounted, and speeded into the country with the tidings.
At every cottage door and wayside bield, the inmates
stood in clusters, silent and wondering, as horseman
came foUowing horseman, crying " John Knox is come ! "
Vessels that had departed, when they heard the news,
bore up to tell others that they saw afar at sea. The
shepherds were called in from the hills ; the warders
on the castle when, at the sound of many quickened
feet approaching, they challenged the comers, were
answered, " John Knox is come ! " Studious men
roused from the speUs of their books ; nuns, at their
windows, looked out fearful and enquiring, — and priests
and friars were seen standing by themselves, shunned
like lepers. The whole land was stirred as with the
inspiration of some new element, and the hearts of the
persecutors were withered.'
We would notice here a true remark of a literary
man — Sir George Douglas — in his account of John Gait
in the ' Blackwood Group ' of the Famous Scots Series,
where he says, in speaking of Gait's Ringan Gilhaize,
which deals with one of the most remarkably interesting
periods in Scottish history, that ' though the War of
Independence be the darling theme of Scottish patriotism,
what may be called the War of Religious Liberty enjoys
the two-fold advantage of a wider sympathy and a
deeper intellectual significance.' Further, Sir George
goes on to say that Gait, in this epic of the Scottish
rehgious wars, penetrated farther than Sir Walter
Scott, for he penetrates the crust of dourness and in
tolerance, and while, maintaining the balance of perfect
fairness, compels his readers to sympathise with the

66 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
best of the reformers and covenanters, not only in their
resentment of cruel wrongs but in their most earnestly
cherished and loftiest ideals. 'It is a historical
romance,' he says, ' based on a true philosophy.'
But was Knox always stern and unbending ? Had
he not gentler characteristics ? We shaU answer these
questions when we come to speak more particularly of
his relations with women. But, meanwhile, let it be
said that he certainly had humour. He has ' meary
bourds ' (hvely jests) in his History, and this kindly
humorous way of looking at things distinguishes him
from other reformers, such as Savonarola or Calvin.
When Lethington was debating with him one day,
he said, ' melanchohous reasons wald haif sum myrth
intermixed.' He had supper parties in his house,
when the conversation was bright and cheery. Leaders
of men, in great crises, have not been the last to see
the ludicrous when strange situations caU it forth.
The incongruities of hfe — and Knox saw plenty of
them — may produce deep pathos, but they are also the
source of the highest humour. Laughter and tears are
not so far apart after aU. Knox often wept, but no
one can read his History without noticing that he also
laughed — ' a true, loving, iUuminating laugh,' says
Carlyle, ' one that mounts up over the earnest visage.'
We can fancy him coming away from a certain interview
with Queen Mary — the subject of their talk was dancing
— with a good hearty laugh. It must surely have
tickled him — such talk between a beautiful, hvely girl,
to whom dancing was as natural as the skipping of
lambs or the sporting of butterflies in the sunshine,
and him the staid middle-aged minister of St Giles,
to whom such pastime was altogether ^natural. In
any case, he says himseU that he came away from the
royal presence with a ' reasonably merry countenance. '

JOHN KNOX 67
Surely, too, there was humour — delightful irony — in
connection with the publication of one or two of
his writings when he was resident on the continent of
Europe. Not wishing the place of their printing to be
known, he imprinted on them : ' At Rome, before the
Castel of St Angel, at the signe of Sanct Peter.'
Then how he laughs, and makes us laugh, as he tells
of the extraordinary quarrel that arose between the
Archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow with regard
to precedence in a certain procession. The amusing
story sufficiently shows, without his informing us, that
the one prelate was ' known proude,' and the other
was ' knowin a glorious (boastful) foole.' ' Gukton '
(' Fooltoun ') and ' Glaikstoure ' (' Silly-dust ') show
us that John Knox and Sir David Lyndsay were not so
very far apart. He was greatly displeased with the
' raschaU multitude ' for destroying the Religion Houses
of Perth, and exculpated ' earnest professors ' from
all share in such outrages. Yet it is not without sym
pathetic glee he tells us that ' the store of victualhs
effeir to the Grey-friars monastery of Perth and their
blancattis, beadis, covertouris were such as no Erie
in Scotland hath the better, and their naprie so fine ' ;
and though, perhaps, not such ' lyik aboundance was
in Black-friars, yitt such thair was mair than becam
men professing povertie.' And he laughs heartily as
he describes the substitutes the priests provided for
their sacred furniture which the rabble had destroyed
— such as ' tables for altaris, whereof sume bef oir used
to serve for drunkardis, dysaris, and carteris ; bot thay
war holy eneuch for the priest and his padgeon ' !
When John Lauder, the accuser at Wishart's trial,
' with hoggish voice ' exclaimed, ' Is not my Lord
Cardinall (Beaton) the second person within the realme,
ChanceUar of Scotland, Archbischope of Sanct Androis,

68 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Bischope of Meropose [Mirepoix], Commendatour of
Aberbrothok, Legatus Natus Legatus a Latere,' Knox
sayS — ' And so he recited as many titiUes of his unworthy
honouris as wold have lodin a schip, much sonare an
ass.' Commenting on this, Dr David Patrick in a
foot-note of his Statuta (p. 252) says, ' If one remembers
aU that had been said by Pope and Council on the
necessity of absolute chastity in clergy, it is difficult
to repress a smile when one finds Beaton's titles
rehearsed at length in documents under the Great Seal
connected with his iUegitimate chUdren, seven at least
in number.' Do we not also see Knox's humour come
out when, in speaking of the Cardinal's death, he says —
' In him perished faithfulness to France and comfort to
all gentlewomen, especially to wanton widows ' ? He is
very humorous, too, as he describes the carrying of
' the young Sanct GeUe.' Nor was he averse to harmless
amusement. Did he not play at bowls ? He objected
to, and denounced, the Maypole and Maid Marion —
there is abundant evidence that such dancing and sports
had been working much evU — but he was present at the
marriage of a Mr John Colvin, when, as James MelviUe
in his Diary informs us, a play was acted, the subject
of which was the siege of Edinburgh Castle ; and we can
weU fancy him enjoying the besiegers and the besieged
playing their parts in this mimic warfare. He did not
object to dancing as such, but he objected to it when
it wasted time, or was indulged in when, as if in mock
defiance, God's people were suffering. Moreover, at
that time — and in the palace — dancing was so connected
with immorality that he inserts this in his History :
' What bruit the Maries and the rest of the dansaris of
the Courte had, the baUatis of that age did witness,
quhilk we for modesteis sake omit.' It has been said
that sermons always exaggerate the theoretic side of

JOHN KNOX 69
things, and that the most austere preacher, when he is out
of the pulpit, and is met at the dinner-table, becomes
singularly like other people. For his own part, the
present writer has known ministers, most solemn and
stern in the pulpit, who, when met afterwards in social
intercourse, were the most dehghtful and humorous of
men. Knox's relations with the gentler sex show a kindness
and tenderness which one would scarcely have expected
in our reformer. They were very different from those
of the priest in the Confessional. Here, too, he broke
down barriers. At one of his very first meetings with
friends in Edinburgh, he has far more to say about a
lady — Elizabeth Adamson already mentioned — who was
present and who had ' a troubled conscience,' than of
the great work of reform in Scotland which that meeting
discussed. The lady was attracted to Knox, and
desired spiritual help from him ; and he, ' according to
the grace given unto him opened more fully the fountain
of God's mercies than did the common sort of teachers
that she had heard before ; for she had heard none
except the friars. She did with much greediness drink
thereof, and at her death did express the fruit of her
hearing to the great comfort of aU that did repair to
her.' In the letters he writes to women we see how
tender his heart is, and how sympathetic he can be.
Even Andrew Lang admits that he had a heart rich in
affection, and that, as a private individual, he would
not have hurt a fly. A good sign of a man's kindly
nature is when his servants are attached to him. The
saying that no man is a hero to his valet has its
exception in the case of Knox, who was a great hero
to his faithful ' servitor,' Richard Bannatyne. Away
back in the Geneva days — in 1556 — we find that Knox
has in his family a servant caUed James ; and in 1572,

70 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
in his later days, it is this same James (Campbell), who is
stiU with him. Warm attachment causes many sorrow
ing ones to be with the Reformer when he hes down to
die. Those November days in the Netherbow, it has
been remarked, are hke the last scenes of the Pilgrim's
Progress, where a concourse of pUgrims accompany
Mr Valiant-for-Truth to the riverside. Ruskin says
that the old Douglas motto of ' Tender and True ' may
wisely be taken up again by us aU, for our own, in Art
and in other things ; for Tenderness and Truth are
characteristic of aU great Art, as they are also of truly
great men. With an infinite tenderness there wiU be
associated a disdain of base and false things, and an
appearance of sternness and arrogance in the eyes of
hard and unthinking people.
Vehement in doctrine, Knox is also vehement in
affection, and yearns for the society of absent friends.
He unfolds himself in these letters. A man of inde
pendent spirit and very self-sufficing he might seem
to most ; but that he required to lean on, and receive
benefit from, companionship, appears from some striking
words in a letter to Mrs Locke : ' I have rather need
of aU, than that any have need of me.' To Mrs Bowes,
the mother of his first wife, he wrote many letters, taking
great pains in them to minister to a mind diseased.
AU to whom he wrote greatly prized his letters, as they
resolved doctrinal difficulties and also questions of
conduct. But he impressed upon them aU individual
faith and individual responsibility. They were to go
direct to Christ, and not to any priest. He urged upon
them prayer — prayer for themselves and also for him.
The day after he arrived in Edinburgh for the prosecu
tion of his great work, he sat down and wrote to a
lady in London and asked her prayers for him : ' I
am come,' he writes, ' I praise my God, even in the

JOHN KNOX 71
heart of the battle . . . Assist me, my sister, with
your prayers that now I shrink not when the battle
approacheth.' Nor is there to be forgotten his affection for his con
verts. It is very wonderful and very beautiful. As
with the Apostles, he declares they are his glorying,
his longing, his joy, and his crown. For him life is
a glad thing when they stand fast, but sorrow upon
sorrow comes to him when they fall away. ' Thur
spiritual life,' he says, ' is to my heart more dear than
all the glory, riches, and honour on earth.' Wherever
they may be — in Switzerland, France, England, or
Scotland — his interest and his love for them never
cease. Surely it could not have been a rough and rude man
who attracted to him such women as Marjory Bowes
and Margaret Stewart who were, respectively, his first
and second wives. Both were gentle and refined
ladies. The father of the first was Richard, the youngest
son of Sir Ralph Bowes of Streathan, while her mother
was Ehzabeth, a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Roger
Aske of Aske. Their married life was happy, and
Calvin pays a high tribute to this Mrs Knox, saying
that she was suavissima, and in a letter of condolence
to her husband at her death he wrote, ' Uxorem nactus
eras cui non reperiuntur passim similes.' (' You found
a wife the like of whom is not to be easily found.') They
had two sons both of whom died without issue. Knox's
second wife was the daughter of Lord Ochiltree, and
was of the blood royal. Though she was very much
younger than he — not so young, however, as some
have stated1 — this marriage was also a happy one.
She bore him three daughters. According to Nicol
Burne, a Roman Catholic writer of the sixteenth century,
1 See Dr Hay Fleming's Critical Reviews, p. 178.
F

72 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
our Reformer was also attracted to Lady Fleming —
a daughter of the Duke of Chatelherault (Hamilton) —
and, indeed, proposed marriage to her.
The scene is weU known — the author of the History
narrates it in his best manner — when Knox had some
talk with the Queen's maids of honour at Holyrood.
They were rather afraid of him at first. Swinburne in
his Bothwell introduces the incident, and makes Mary
Seton say :
' What, will the man speak to us ? he looks so hard,
With such fast eyes and sad — I had not thought
His face so great, nor presence.'
But he spoke ' mearihe ' (merrily, in a happy, kindly
way) to them, ' procured their company,' and dehvered
a telling httle sermon to them, which they did not
resent, but apparently took seriously to heart.
But what shall we say of his' First Blast of the Trumpet
against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, and his
conduct towards Mary, Queen of Scots ? As regards
the first, it was written when he was an exUe, and
suffering, along with others, from the regiment (regimen,
rule) of women. Such rule had been ' monstrous '
and ' monstriferus,' and godly men had suffered much
by it. The women he had particularly in view were
the four Queens — Mary of Guise (Queen Regent of
Scotland), Mary (Queen of Scots and Queen of France),
Mary (Queen of England, ' the bloody Mary '), and
Catherine de Medici (Queen of France). As regards the
third of these, it may not be amiss to say that he ex
pressly prayed for Her, and for the suppression of those
who rebeUed against her. It is a pity, however, that
this book of Knox's was ever written, for there was
another Queen, namely Elizabeth of England, very
different from those already mentioned, who might

JOHN KNOX 73
have been his best friend, but who never forgave him
for his ' Blast,' and made the progress of Protestantism
in Scotland by no means easier because of it. Her
' regiment ' brought glory to England, but alas ! Knox
had quite forgotten such a personage. She was only
the Princess Ehzabeth when he penned his treatise,
but within a few months of its pubhcation she ascended
the throne, and became the most powerful aUy of
the Reformers among crowned heads. Ehzabeth felt
personaUy insulted by the book, and would not allow
the writer of it to travel through England. It is curious
to notice the relations — hostihty in amity — of these
two personages to each other ; how both were indis
pensable in the sixteenth century ; and how the one
reaUy helped the other. The matter is succinctly
and well put by Dr F. W. Maitland in The Cambridge
Modern History, when, in dealing with Reformation
times, he says, ' If now and then Knox gave her cross
and candles a wipe, he none the less prayed for Queen
Ehzabeth's everlasting friendship. They did not love
each other ; but she had saved his Scottish Reforma
tion, and he had saved her Anglican settlement.'
The Scottish Reformer inserted in his liturgy a
prayer that there might never more be war between
England and Scotland, and that prayer was answered.
Though there have been wars between British
factions, there has never been, since that rubric of
Knox's was framed, a truly national war between the
two peoples.
The pubhcation of the ' Blast,' then, was a serious
blunder. Knox too hastily generalised. His pro
phetic gaze did not see ' the spacious days of great
Ehzabeth ' ; the noble reign of the wife of the Prince
of Orange, Mary II. ; the wisdom and tact of Queen
Caroline, consort of George II. ; and the long, peaceful,

74 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
and progressive reign of Queen Victoria. The ' Blast '
hurt Knox in other respects than in the eyes of queens,
princesses, and many other women. It estranged
others from him. Knox knew so himself, for he says
in a letter from Dieppe of 6th April 1559, ' My first
Blast hath blown from me aU my friends in England ' ;
but, brave man and no opportunist that he is, he grimly
adds, ' The second Blast, I fear, shall sound somewhat
more sharp ! ' But the time was really out of joint.
Knox was embittered by the situation, and, to use a
modern colloquialism, let himself go.
The notes of the ' Trumpet ' are uncompromising
enough (though Jean Bodin, one of the greatest pohtical
thinkers of that time, held views precisely the same as
Knox) ; yet the man who sounded this terrible ' Blast '
was, as we have seen, much beholden to women, and
women were attracted to him. In theory he may have
despised the sex — at least as invested with supreme
power in the State — but in practice he honoured women
greatly, chose from among them his most intimate
associates, and was fuU of admiration for their courage
when he himseU was faint and down-hearted. As
Robert Louis Stevenson says, ' Here was this great-
voiced, bearded man of God, who might be seen beating
the sohd pulpit every Sunday, and casting abroad his
clamorous denunciations to the terror of aU, and who
on the Monday would sit in their parlours by the hour,
and weep with them over their manifold trials and
temptations.' Knox's was one of those rare natures,
where we find friendship increasing and affection
deepening as the years roU on, tiU, as it was in his case,
his last days on earth — his dying hours — were sweetened
and sanctified by the love and prayers of devoted
friends. As for his interviews with Queen Mary— there were

JOHN KNOX 75
four of them, or five if we include his trial before the
Privy Council, over which Mary presided — was he rude
to her ? We are inclined to think that those who have
urged this charge against him have not read what
actuaUy took place at these interviews ; and when the
said interviews are quoted, they are seldom quoted in
fuU. Let this further be remembered, that in each
case Knox was summoned to the royal presence. He
himself never sought an interview, never wrote a letter
to the Queen, never intruded himself on her. She
refused to go to St Giles' to hear him preach. But she
tried to win him to her side, or at least alter or modify
his attitude towards her measures and her practices.
She did exercise her great gifts of fascination on him.
But was he rude to her ? Nay. In her presence he
is quite deferential, speaks in the language of courts,
and respectfully as a humble subject. He does not
observe the complicated etiquette of the French court,
but, as HiU Burton points out, no more would the Scots
nobles of the day, Protestant or Romish. It is the
case, however, that when the Queen led him to speak
on matters which meant hfe or death for him — for
which he was willing to lay down his hfe, and for which
dastardly plots were hatched against him (' he has
often been threatened with dagge and dagger,' said the
Regent Morton) — then he spoke out bravely, honestly,
with a force and sternness in no may discreditable to
him. In deahng with moral and rehgious matters,
whether in conversation or in preaching, Knox always
spoke with directness. Swinburne rightly puts into
his mouth the following sentiment :
' And seeing if one preach penitence to men
He must needs note the sin he bids depart.
. . This were lost breath,

76 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
To chide the general wrong-doing of the world
And not the very present sin that burns
Here in our eyes offensive ; bid serve God
And say not with what service.'
And the same poet, doubtless with a good deal of truth,
also makes Queen Mary say :
' I do think
I like him better than his creed-fellows
Whose lips are softer towards me ; 'tis some sport
To set my wits to his, and watch with mine
The shrewd and fiery temper of his spirit
For trial of true mastery.'
The Queen outhved Knox for fifteen years, and all
that time was in captivity. She had abundant leisure
in these long sad days of durance to reflect on the days
that were gone, and all their turmoil and pain. Did
her thoughts ever recur to that courageous man who
had never spoken to her anything but the truth, and
with whom was no fawning, nor flattery, as was the
case with many others ?
We may state here what, perhaps, wiU surprise some,
that subjects in those days did at times address their
sovereigns in very plain language — witness, for instance,
what Latimer said to King Henry VIII., and the sermon
which Reginald Pole preached regarding the marriage
of Anne Boleyn. And, after all, was not Knox right
about the Queen of Scots ? Was not his estimate of
the character and designs of this remarkable woman
correct ? Nearly all historians say it was, and any
who may take an opposite view surely cannot have read
her private correspondence, or be aware of what her
co-religionists abroad knew regarding her sinister designs
on Scotland and the Protestant cause. Phihp II. of
Spain said of her : ' She is the one gate through which

JOHN KNOX 77
Rehgion [Roman Catholic], can be restored to England.
All the rest are closed.' Mary knew it, and she wrote
to the Pope, ' With the help of God and your Hohness,
I will leap over a wall.' Queen Ehzabeth, in a sudden
outbreak of fierce candour, wrote to her, ' Your actions
are full of venom, as your words are of honey.'
Strangely enough, however, though Mary has always
been considered a sincere and devout Roman Catholic,
it is possible to doubt, or suspect, such sincerity and
devotion ; for was not her third husband a Protestant,
and were they not married by a Protestant bishop ?
Moreover, there is a curious entry among her Inventories
which throws strange light upon her character, showing
that she did not scruple to turn ecclesiastical robes into
secular clothing. The entry, which is a note from the
custodian, is as follows : ' In March 1567, I dehvered
three of the fairest (of ten pieces of caps, chasubles, and
tunicles), whilk the Queen gave to the Lord BothweU ;
and mair, took for herself ane cap, a chasuble, four
tunicles to make a bed for the King, all broken and cut
in her own presence.' So this daughter of the Church
did not scruple to make out of the sacred vestments
a garment for her lover, and a counterpane for her
chUd. Some years later, when she was a prisoner in
England, we learn from Anderson's Collections (iv. 109,
no), that when a report was submitted to Queen
Ehzabeth regarding her doings, it was stated that
' this Queen [Mary] hath grown to a very good liking
of our Common Prayer, and she hath received an Enghsh
chaplain to her service that is a good preacher ' ; but,
adds Knollys, ' whether this be done bona fide or not,
or whether [it be] the tyrannous subtihty of the
Cardinal Lorayne and the ambitious heads of the house
of Guise,' he will not take upon him to judge. It has
been said that if this pious princess had won the battle

78 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
of Langside she would have become the head of a great
Cathohc league, with most disastrous results for Pro
testantism. Apart from sundry pohtical considerations
which militate against such an assertion, it cannot be
said too emphaticaUy that the Queen who escaped
from Lochleven and passed westward with a somewhat
motley foUowing — part Cathohc, part Protestant — and
who, from the heights above the battlefield, sadly
watched her army fighting there, was certainly not
the pious princess of Fotheringay. Moreover, Father
PoUen has informed us what they thought of her at
Rome, and nothing could have surprised the papal
court more than to have seen the fair young Queen of
Scots, as a devoted daughter of Holy Church, using her
victory — had she gained it — to the sole interests of
that Church.
Before we leave this matter we may say that there
was a certain generosity in Knox's deahngs with Queen
Mary, and with her mother before her, the Queen Regent.
In his remarkable letter to the latter he says, with as
much sincerity as the Apostle Paul, that he would
gladly be accursed from Christ if he could prevail
upon her Majesty not to persecute the Protestants ;
and the same suffering he was willing to endure if only
Mary, Queen of Scots, would give up what he honestly
considered to be her ' idolatry,' and come over to the
side of the Evangel.
In drawing to a close this section of our book —
beginning with the words, He broke down the barriers
between clergy and laity — we may be aUowed to observe
that this attitude, or feature, of Knox's work greatly
helped in building up the Reformed Church. He gave
the laity abundant opportunities for service. In the
first General Assembly, as we have seen, there sat far
more laymen than clergymen, and the names of the

JOHN KNOX 79
former are sufficient guarantee that they would do weU
the work allotted to them. While Knox hved, indeed
as early as 1564, a layman — John Erskine of Dun —
was appointed Moderator of the General Assembly,
and Knox himself opened the proceedings of that
Assembly with prayer. Seven years later the same
layman presided over the deliberations of the Supreme
Court. He was Moderator four, if not five, times.
All over the country, as members of Session or other
wise, laymen greatly helped their ministers. John Row,
of Perth, for instance, had, as one of his elders, Lord
Ruthven, a man of great worth and influence in the
community. Knox's calhng laymen (the term may
quite well be objected to by the captious, but we know
of no other at present suitable) to his aid was like
Moses asking the help of men of practical sagacity —
not in holy orders — f or the carrying on of the great work
God gave him to do. And it resulted in this, that
perhaps no Church in the world — no national Church
with its sisters and daughters all over the world — has
made use of so many laymen for its management and
supervision, as has the Church identified with the name
of Knox, and laymen have given of their best to it.
They have bestowed the benefit of their knowledge of
the world and a more intimate acquaintance with its
business than the clergy can be expected to possess.
No limited or official class can carry on with success
the vast and varied amount of work the Church of
Christ requires, and the clergy and laity combined
form an admirable means for bringing the influence
of the Church and of rehgion to bear on the ordinary
affairs of life, and exercise due effect on all classes of
the community and nation.
The Presbyterian system has been found to suit well
new countries such as the United States of America, the

80 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia,
and other colonies. Professor Rudolph Sohm, of
Leipzig, in his Kirchengeschichte im Grundriss, after
referring to Zwingh's and Calvin's historical importance,
says that Knox greatly extended their influence by
what he did in Scotland and in the Church of England,
and, through these countries, in the New World. There
was a fervour of rehgious hfe in his Church, adds Sohm,
and ' a power for world-wide work in shaping history.'
So has it been, so is it, and so will it be in new countries.
But it appears that in the eyes of some the Presby
terian system merges weU, also, with the ancient systems
of the East, for, at the Synod of the Presbyterian Church
of England in 1918, Principal Mackichan, of Bombay,
then Moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland,
said he sometimes felt that in India man was naturaUy
presbyterian. In going round the Indian villages he
found that every village was regulated by an assembly
of elders who were entrusted with aU administration
and authority within their limits, and consequently
some kind of presbyterian system was weU adapted to
the hfe of the Indian people. We may add to this
that, in point of fact, there is now in that great De
pendency a General Assembly with Synods and Pres
byteries, and that churches organised on Knoxian hnes
flourish there. While Knox then is a true modern in that
his spirit, with his principles and methods, commends
itself to the newest lands, his system also appears to
commend itself to the ancient spirit in ancient lands.
5. He insisted on the Liberties and Rights of the People
We include in this, freedom of speech, and, what we
now caU, the freedom of the press. The hberty of the
subject with him was the liberty of the individual to

JOHN KNOX 81
do as his conscience directed him ; freedom of speech
with him was the liberty not only of prophesying, but
of asserting publicly or privately, in conference or in
conversation, what one deemed to be true and right ;
and the freedom of the press with him was the right to
preach (for preaching then spread intelligence as news
papers do to-day), and to publish what was for the
nation's and the individual's good. Knox printed a
good deal in his time — books, pamphlets, tracts, mani
festoes, exhortations — and we can well fancy that,
like Milton, he would be an advocate for ' liberty of
unlicensed printing.' Professor Ludwig Hausser, in
one of his Lectures at Heidelberg, summed up Knox's
character well when he said that he was a man of blame
less purity of life and had ' an unyielding love of liberty.'
There being nothing corresponding to a modern
newspaper press, the pulpit was the organ of pubhc
opinion, and John Knox did not scruple to use it as
such. Moreover, the ministers and elders were of the
people, moved among the people, and were conversant
with their inner thoughts and expressed opinions. In
the churches, therefore, and from the pulpits of the
churches, the national sentiment found expression ;
and Knox's ringing words were ' half battles of the
free.' The Scottish people had grown weary of false
hood and of faction, had become alarmed and grieved
at national degradation and demoralisation, and were
rising now to their true responsibility and their true
destiny. They must be free ; and as their inspirer,
leader, and hope in this movement for liberty, John
Knox stood out pre-eminent. If the General Assembly
came to exercise the influence that ought to have be
longed to Parliament, that was because Parliament
had become a tool in the hands of the monarch, and
was far from repie.- enting popular feeling and aspiration.

82 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
In a paper which we have no hesitation in ascribing
to Knox (see Laing's Knox, i. 411), it is declared that
the votes and consent of the people are to be required
in aU great and weighty matters of the commonwealth.
Let it be admitted at once that the Church was Knox's
chief concern, but the Church with him was a great
democracy. With its government by Assembhes in
which laymen sat side by side with the clergy, it was
a very different institution from, and indeed better
than, the Scottish Estates and the Enghsh Ccnvocation.
It was a protest against monarchical despotism and
a focus of resistance against arbitrary power. It
exercised a profound influence on pohtics. Popular
protests, in point of fact, assumed an ecclesiastical
aspect. A favourite expression of Kncx's was the
' freedom of the realm,' and by that he meant freedom
from priestcraft and kingcraft. He was aU for freedom,
rehgious and civil, so far as the times permitted. When
in England he saw, and spoke out against, the Crown
becoming the pivot upon which the rehgious future
of the country was to turn. With Knox rose the
hitherto unknown power of the people. TiU he spoke
the commonalty was dumb. He raised his stern and
rugged countrymen into a people over whom neither
king, noble, nor priest could tyrannise again. He
turned ' men of clay into men of steel.' It was his
voice that taught the Scottish peasant that he was a
free man, equal in the sight of Ged with the foremost
in the land. There was to be no slavish dependence
henceforth on the will of a superior. A man made a
great stride towards free citizenship when, in spite of
his master's wishes, and even threatenings, he adopted
the new teaching of Knox and his feUow-reformers.
The Beggars Summons of 1559 was not only a protest
against abuses in the Church, but a cry from the poor

JOHN KNOX 83
and downtrodden in the land, for hberty. The mani
festo in itself — fiery, certainly, and revolutionary in
tone — was a proof that liberty was coming, if it had
not already come.
It may be urged that a reformer of Knox's type would
stamp out every form of thought inimical to his own
theological and pohtical conceptions. That may be
true, or it may not, but the charge does not apply to
the church or system he founded, for it departed from,
and vehemently protested against, the mediaeval con
ception of Church and State as one organisation, with
its carnal weapons against heresy. Toleration for differ
ent creeds, and not a crushing uniformity, was bound
to follow from Knox's teaching and practice. There
thus arose the modern spirit in which truth must not
be strangled, but must be aUowed to grow, and as it
beckons us we must follow it. The legislation of the
Scottish Parhament in 1560 — instigated by Knox —
might be intolerant; but, even so, it was necessary as a
pohcy of self-defence. Moreover, it brought to a nation
fresh life. A new era of freedom thus began.
When studying the times of Knox one cannot but
think of those of Cromwell about a century later. The
two great leader^ had many points of resemblance,
although, in certain respects, the Scottish leader and
the English leader were very different men. In a
brilliant essay on the latter, Mr St Loe Strachey, in
his book From Grave to Gay, points out that the Lord
Protector was much more tolerant than many of his
supporters ; and certainly the Scottish Reformer in
practice was more tolerant than many of his, and even
than his own pubhc addresses and writings indicate.
It is true that Cromwell was fiercely intolerant in
Ireland — a country through which he went as a dread
instrument of destruction — treating its inhabitants

84 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
almost as if they were not human beings ; but the
excuse for such brutality was that his mind was in
fluenced by the atrocities and massacres the inhabitants
of that island had been committing. In aU other
respects Cromwell was tolerant. One of his sayings
was that he who truly loved justice and truth must be
tolerant, and that toleration was not a mere practice
based on convenience, but in itself was a rehgious act.
Knox did not see so far and so truly, but in his practice,
as already stated, he was more tolerant than many of his
.contemporaries, and than his own teaching and preaching
woidd have led us to expect. Mr Strachey points
out that with the Puritans of Cromwell's time — though
not with their great leader himself — depths of rehgious
feeling almost went hand in hand with a fierce intoler
ance, and mtn somehow felt that not to persecute
was to grow feeble in the faith. Doubtless a simUar
feehng prevailed among the Scottish Protestant con
temporaries of Knox. But in much earher times did
not St Bernard beheve that the slaying of an infidel
was a service to God, and much later did not Cardinal
Newman say that a heresiarch should be treated merci
lessly, ' as if he were embodied evil ' ? As showing
the breadth of view of Knox, and his statesmanlike
quahties, contrasted with — or rather, perhaps, placed
alongside of — those of another great Scotsman of the
next generation, Andrew Melville, we may be aUowed
to quote the foUowing from The Scottish Reformation
(Baird Lectures) by Professor MitcheU of St Andrews,
premising that the Professor was a remarkably com
petent and cautious historical student. ' I do not
yield to many,' he says, ' in my admiration of the
courage and calmness of Melville ; but I could no more
think of placing him scholarly and bold, yet calm, as
he generaUy was, nor the Book (the Second Book of

JOHN KNOX 85
Discipline) attributed to him, more logical and more
impassionately didactic though it be, before the eager,
impetuous, yet sagacious Knox, with his wealth of
rude eloquence and thrilling tenderness, and his Book
(the First Book of Discipline), in which these quahties
of head and heart are so closely mirrored, than I would
think of placing Calvin, highly as I honour him, before
Luther, or his Catechism before the Wittenberg hymn-
books. I do not beheve that the principles of the two
Books are so widely different as they have sometimes
been represented to be, or that the grand ideas of Knox_
concerning the laity in the Church, the education of the
young, and the support and kindly treatment of the
aged poor, were meant to be rejected or ignored by his
great successor ; but I do think these matters fall con
siderably into the background. Some of the nobler
conceptions of the earher Book are narrowed and the
whole system stiffened ; and in the contests in which
the Church had then to engage with the young monarch,
in vindication of her independence in her own province,
positions were laid down which were soon pressed to
consequences from which Knox and his associates would
have shrunk.'
Knox did not spare the new lairds, Protestant for
the most part, who had dispossessed the ancient Church.
He charged them with being far more tyrannical and
oppressive than the clergy of the Romish Church had
been. The nobleman, having entered into possession —
and of territory which perhaps he never would have
got had it not been for Knox — had no right to say that
he could do with his own as best pleased him. The
tenant and labourer must also be considered, said our
Reformer. Had not they rights and interests in the
land, asked Knox, equal to the proprietor himself?
So he would nationahse the old Church possessions—

86 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
give them to the people — for the support of rehgion,
education, and the poor. It is surely of some signifi
cance, too, that the Parhament which practicaUy settled
Protestantism in Scotland — and whose meeting was
very much due to Knox's labours — consisted of many
members whose right to vote had long fallen into disuse,
such as lesser barons, small property owners, and
representatives of the burghs. They were there because
of the interest now awakened in national affairs. While
great nobles were present, humble members sat along
with them — the first time for many years — and their
presence indicated the quickening of the hfe of the
commons of Scotland, and the fresh breezes of hberty
that were blowing. In a prayer of thanksgiving
composed by Knox about this time, and with special
reference to the helpful alliance with England, God
was caUed upon to aid the people in proving true to
that ' instrument by which we are now set at this
liberty.' Knox told Sir James Crofts, the Governor of
Berwick, that if England took up the cause of the Con
gregation they would form a mutual league against the
French, and that their reasons for desiring such a league
were two, namely, the reform of rehgion, and the restora
tion of their ancient laws and liberties.
We admit that the language and the enactments of
Parhament and Church then may have been stern and
harsh, but the fight for freedom would have been in
vain without them. Knox himself was vehement in
words, but he was cool and sagacious in conduct.
Moreover, the reformers — revolutiqnaries indeed they
may be caUed — honoured more the breach than the
observance of their harsher laws and decisions.
It is a true word of Principal Lindsay, in his History
of the Reformation, when he says : ' It is curious to see
how this conflict between autocratic power and rehgious

JOHN KNOX 87
rights of the people runs through all the interviews
between Mary and Knox, and was, in truth, the question
of questions between them. Modern democracy came
into being in that answer : ' What have you to do,"
said she, ' with my marriage ? or what are you within
this Commonwealth ? ' 'A subject born within the
same, madam,' said he, ' and albeit I neither be
Earl, nor Baron, within it, yet hath God made me (how
abject that even I be in your eyes) a profitable member
within the same. Yea, madam, to me it appertains
no less to forewarn of such things as may hurt it, if I
foresee them, than it does to any of the nobility ; for
both my vocation and conscience crave plainness of me.'
As regards the government of a country, Knox held
that no one — prince or princess — had any original
interest and indefeasible right to rule over a people
independent of their wiU or consent. The pubhc good
was the main concern, and magistrates, higher and
lower, were in office for that end. The law of the land
must be superior to the wUl of any monarch. He did
not seem to care much whether or not Queen Mary
ratified the Acts of the Scottish Parhament establishing
Protestantism. He said, in that connection, that ' the
sword and sceptre were rather a glorious vain ceremony
than a substantial point of necessity required by a lawful
Parhament.' If the Crown and the nobles oppressed
and persecuted the people, then the people must
strenuously resist them. The civil and the spiritual
rights of the individual must be conserved at all hazards.
Such pohtical individualism might be new and revolu
tionary, but Knox preached and practised it, and he
thereby laid the foundation of Scotland's, and, we might
indeed say, the British Empire's civil and rehgious
liberty. Even Buckle has to admit this, for he says :
• ' At a most hazardous moment the clergy kept ahve the

88 ' MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
spirit of national liberty. What the nobles and the
Crown had put in peril, that did the clergy save. They
were the guardians of Scottish freedom.' Knox
preached aU this in St Giles' and elsewhere, as a pubhcist
would do in his speeches now, or an editor in the columns
of his newspaper. His rehgious views were really his
pohtical opinions.
The Earl of Moray, for a year and a half, would not
speak to Knox. Why ? Because the latter spoke so
fiercely and so uncompromisingly about Queen Mary's
having Mass celebrated at Holyrood. But why did
Knox thus speak ? Because he dreaded it more than
ten thousand armed men landed in the country. And
why ? Not only because it was the symbol of Popery —
and Popery was bloodthirsty at that time — but also
because, if the nobles foUowed their sovereign in this —
and many were inchned to do so — and the people
foUowed them, the old Church would once more assert
itself, and not only would the individual man's freedom
go*, but a coalition between France, Spain, and Scotland
would ensue, Mary would succeed to the throne of
Ehzabeth, and aU the work of Reform would fall to
the ground with grievous disaster to the nations. There
would have been nothing to prevent the Duke of Alva
with his army arriving on the eastern coast of Scotland
— indeed, the conditions were drawn up for its reception
and support — but that bloodthirsty Duke had to wait,
and wait in vain, for ' the day.' Knox, with the Scottish
commons at his back, saved the situation. The Earl
of Moray came to see, and aU others now see, that
Knox was right in the attitude he took up. Our
Reformer wished, and prayed, and laboured, that Mary
might conform to the rehgion of her subjects. He
would make that a condition of her wearing the Scottish
crown. But, however severe and savage may be the

JOHN KNOX 89
criticism directed against Knox for this, it should not
be forgotten — indeed, should be emphasised — that
Knox's ground is that which the British Constitution
takes to-day, that the sovereign of a Protestant nation
should be a Protestant. Other times and other manners
might quite easily have sanctioned that Holyrood Mass ;
but our Reformer had to do what was necessary for his
country at that period. The age was intolerant, and
Protestants had to be intolerant in that matter ; but
the principles Knox and his fellow-labourers laid down
— tinged certainly with the spirit of the age, and accom
modated to a rude and unsettled state of society — made
all ultimately for rehgious liberty. Already it has
been stated in this book that George Buchanan always
mentions Knox in terms of high respect. Would
Buchanan have so respected him, if he had not been a
hberator and a determined foe of all autocracy and
tyranny ? Not only did the great humanist respect
the great reformer, but he gave him all the aid he could
in his reforming work, and in his setting up of the new
Church. Surely he would never have done so if this
new, or rather reconstituted, Church was not to be a
free Church, and the promoter of freedom throughout
the realm. And no man has ever suspected George
Buchanan's liberalism. His famous treatise De Jure
Regni apud Scotos was a great charter of hberalism,
and won for its author the title ' The Father of Liberal
ism.' Spottiswood tells us that, while Andrew Melville's
pupils in St Andrews should have been studying Calvin's
Institutes, they were pondering over and discussing the
contentions of Buchanan's De Jure. And this great
protagonist for free government was Knox's coadjutor
in making a new and free Scotland. The principles as
expounded by these two men were as good seed, scattered
in many lands, which took root, and grew up, and

90 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
yielded rich fruit. To change the figure, we may say
that CromweU and his foUowers, the Enghsh Revolu
tionists of 1688, the constitutional monarchies of the
present day, and the United States of America, can
trace the stream of their history to its fountainhead
in the victory which Knox and his coadjutors won over
absolutism, and their assertion of the universal supremacy
of the divine moral law. The brotherhood of man is
emphasised in the First Book of Discipline. For the
downtrodden ' labouraris and manuraris (i.e. cultivators)
of the ground ' there is great sympathy. They are
our poor brethren. Rank is nothing to the compUers
of that book, and one of the objections therein to funeral
sermons is that ministers are thereby tempted to have
respect of persons, preaching at the burial of the rich
and honourable and keeping silence when the poor and
humble leave this world. Seeing that with God there
is no respect of persons, ' thair ministerie apperteanes
to aU ahke.' Knox venerated government. His Book
of Discipline is a code of laws for an ideal Common
wealth, hberal — for the most part — practical and
statesmanhke. It was meant to guide, transform, and
purify the national life. In his letters we find sober
warnings against fanaticism and rebelhon. He cannot
praise too highly a good governor, and would almost
give him unlimited powers. He admired very much,
for instance, the manner in which Geneva was governed,
and that he himself was a good and highly esteemed
citizen thereof is proved by the fact that, when finaUy
leaving it, he was presented with the freedom of the
city. His words regarding Geneva are : ' Manners and
religion are so sincerely reformed that I have not yet
seen the hke in any other place.' It may be urged that
his opinion was biassed through his friendship with
Calvin, who was practicaUy its Governor, and because

JOHN KNOX 91
the government was a theocracy. John Calvin certainly
did aim at making Geneva a City of God, and all must
admit that, in spite of great opposition and more than
one temporary defeat, he made great and beneficent
changes. Savonarola in Florence attempted the same
by somewhat similar methods, but his success was not
great. The Swiss city, perhaps the most frivolous
and licentious in Europe, became one of the most earnest
and righteous. The taverns were emptied, and sobriety,
diligence, and eagerness for good education prevailed.
The legislation of such a government may seem in
quisitorial and fastidious — to be condemned, too, is
the cruel pile of Servetus — but such things (and
Servetus's dreadful death was approved by the Roman
Cathohc Church as weU as by the Protestant, though
aU are agreed now that it was a crime) were sequela
of the Middle Ages. Even a Roman Cathohc hke
Professor Charles Sarolea accords great praise to the
system of Calvin. In a letter to a Scottish news
paper (The Scotman, Nov. 2nd, 1917), while disparaging
Luther and Lutheranism, he says : ' Whatever may
be urged against Calvin, at any rate the seed of
Calvinism has produced six noble trees of liberty —
Geneva, the Huguenots, the United Netherlands, the
Scottish Covenanters, the English Commonwealth, and
the American Pilgrim Fathers.'
Later, we shaU speak of Knox as an educationist,
and his splendid system of Primary Schools, High or
Grammar Schools, and Universities. Meanwhile, let it
be said that the whole meaning of his great educational
scheme, as declared in a prefatory sentence to the
Book of Discipline, was the love of light and hberty,
and a hatred of superstition and oppression. More
over, the fundamental aim of his educational polity
was ' the comfort and profits of the Commonwealth,'

m MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
such comforts and profits having a prior claim to the
whim of the parent. He discerned that the child had
rights as valid as the father's, and that the Common
wealth had claims upon the child which no father could
be aUowed to ignore. His book recognised every
cultivated mind and every disciplined wiU as an addition
to the nation's well-being, power, and prestige. The
various departments of knowledge he did not consider
as dangerous to Christian faith. This man who broke
the bonds of feudalism would also dispel aU dark clouds
from the human mind. Even writers, strongly con
servative, do not withhold their meed of praise from
this reformer — witness Sir WiUiam Stirhng-MaxweU,
who, in his Miscellaneous Essays and Addresses, says :
' No man in England or Scotland, who values hberty,
national, civil, or rehgious, can speak of Knox without
reverence and gratitude.'
Anarchy was hateful to Knox, and, on learning when
at Geneva that some of the adherents of Reform in
Scotland were thinking of revolution, he wrote a letter
most earnestly dissuading them from spreading or
supporting any such movement. For bad government,
however, and bad rulers he had great detestation, and
for corruption and tyranny he had no mercy. When
he returned to Scotland in 1559 he at once joined those
who were opposed to what might be caUed the evil
French rule in this country, and he issued many mani
festoes making clear the situation to his countrymen,
and exhorting them to stand together to secure good
government. Here is what he says in one of them :
' If it be seditious to speak the truth in all sobriety,
and to complain when they are wounded, or to caU for
help against unjust tyranny before that their throat
is cut, then cannot we deny, but we are criminal and
guilty -of tumult and sedition. For we have said that

JOHN KNOX 93
our Commonwealth is oppressed, that we and our
brethren are hurt by the tyranny of strangers, and that
we fear bondage and slavery, seeing that multitudes of
cruel murderers are daily brought into our country
without our counsel or knowledge and consent. We
dispute not so much whether the bringing in of more
Frenchmen be violating of the appointment (which the
Queen and her faction cannot deny to be manifestly
broken by them in more cases than one) as that we
would know, if the heaping of strangers above us,
without our counsel or consent, be a thing that may
stand with the hberty of our realm and with the profit
of our Commonwealth.'
We do not say that Knox himself might not have
persecuted or curtailed the hberty of the subject — or,
putting it in this other way, that he would not have
objected to his good King or Governor doing such things
— for he approved of the burning of Servetus and of
the assassinations of Cardinal Beaton and David Rizzio 1
(though it would appear that when any man's existence
became obnoxious there was but one method of dealing
with him in that period of Scottish history) ; but, as
with many other hberators then, his eyes were holden,
and he did not see the full nature, with its attendant
charity, of civil and rehgious hberty. Yet, as already
stated, he laid down the principles by which that liberty
was obtained. We do not hesitate to say that John
Knox, more so than John Calvin, was, as regards many
things, in advance of his time. Was he not a Christian
socialist ? His Book of Discipline merges the individual
in the society — precisely as the modern socialist desires.
The combined authority of Church and State compels
every individual to serve the community in the best
manner possible. Such may seem an infringement
1 See Note i.

94 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
on the hberty of the subject, but it is the socialistic
compulsion for the -ultimate realisation of the highest
hberty. In Knox's days, or very shortly after his
death, there was a movement — ' certainly a very
natural one,' says HiU Burton — towards the establish
ment of an ecclesiastical censorship over the press.
Not very much came of it, but the same historian says
that a Committee was appointed to ' oversee ' a certain
book, said Committee being ' remarkable for the eminence
of its members,' and that ' where censorship has existed,
hterature has often taken vengeance on the censors by
sarcasms on their ignorance and their incapacity to
understand what they are castigating ; but here it
was probably the author's grief that he was put into
the hands of masters only too capable of detecting any
deficiency in his attainments.'
But there was considerable toleration among our
Scottish Reformers. It is reaUy wonderful how, when
they did get the upper hand, they perpetrated httle
injustice — not to say cruelty — towards their opponents.
We look in vain in Scotland at that time for chambres
ardentes, edicts like those of Chateaubriand, massacres
hke those of Amboise, or a prolonged and bloody civd
war. It was no Protestant, but a ' most Cathohc
King,' who, in his royal clemency towards his Flemish
subjects, about this time ordered an Edict of Moderation
to be promulgated by which obstinate heretics were
no longer to be burned but only strangled ! In point of
fact, Knox and his fellow-reformers dealt kindly with the
monks and priests of the old Church. The Roman
Cathohc bishops were aUowed to retain their seats in
Parhament, and continued to enjoy their revenues
subject to certain provisions. The very first General
Assembly passed an Act to the effect that all persons
who had borne office in the Romish Church should

JOHN KNOX 95
receive maintenance from the funds of the Reformed
Church. Monks and nuns long remained chanting
their matins and vespers. As late as 1590 ' monks'
portions ' were still being paid out of the revenues of
the Abbey of Arbroath, and even later, in 1592, there
were stiU regulars living the monastic life in the Abbey
of Crossraguel.
As regards the freedom of the press, or rather the
advisability of reporters being present when discussions
of pubhc importance were taking place, we have a curious
.iUustration of Knox's feeling in the matter at the Dis
putation on the Mass which took place at Maybole
between him and the Abbot of Crossraguel. As some
incidents connected therewith throw interesting side
lights on the Reformer and the times in which he hved,
we shall give a brief narrative of what took place. The
venue was the house or ' place ' of Andrew Gray, the
last provost of the CoUegiate Church of Maybole. It
was situated in the Back Vennel, now caUed John Knox
Street. The Maybole people still identify a certain
house in that street as the scene of the famous con
troversy, but the building seems too smaU for the number
of people that were present, the assemblage having
consisted of forty persons on each side. There would
also be many onlookers, for people had flocked to the
scene from all quarters. The town was crowded.
Maybole was reaUy the capital of Carrick then, and a
place of some importance. The present writer knows
the town and neighbourhood weU, and though ' the
capital of Carrick ' has changed much within recent
years, in those remote days it was, as HiU Burton says,
one of the best specimens of those old ' winter hotels
or residences in the head burghs of counties or chief
central towns, around which the chief lord of the district
— here the Earl of Carrick — created a social circle

'96 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
whioh had in it something of the nature of a court.'
It was in September 1562 that the Disputation took place,
and for three days the argument went on, beginning
at eight o'clock in the morning. The main question
was, whether the bread and wine brought by Melchizedek
to Abraham was, or was not, a type of the Mass.
Abbot Kennedy, like a sulking salmon, says one, dived
to the bottom at once, and it required a skilful angler
to move him. Knox did aU he could, but the spirit
and the language of the debate were mediaeval, of as little
significance to us as any scholastic dispute ever held
at Pisa, Paris, or Valladolid. There is a good deal of
truth in the comment of the Rev. Roderick Lawson of
Maybole : ' The question is of a kind that can never be
settled. The Abbot could not prove that Melchizedek's
offering was a type, and Knox could not prove that it
was not, and so the fight ended in what we caU a draw.'
But the Maybole people held that Knox had triumphed,
for at the close of the Disputation the books brought by
the Abbot for reference, amounting to a cartload and
more, were consigned to the flames on the viUage green
as a bonfire in honour of the Reformer. Though the
method of argument may be considered mediaeval,
Knox in other respects was a precursor of modern ways.
In fact, we find in the preliminary wrangle a curious
Ulustration of the contrast between the new system
and the old — Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.
Knox wanted as many present as possible — asked, in
fact, that the debate be held in Ayr — but Kennedy
wanted only a few ; Knox was anxious that the pro
ceedings be opened with prayer, but Kennedy objected
(though he admired the prayer, of which, being ended,
the Abbot said, ' Be my faith, it is weel said ') ; Knox
stipulated that scribes take down the proceedings — or,
as we would say nowadays, that reporters be present —

JOHN KNOX 97
and carried his point. We may add that in this
debate Knox reveals three characteristics, namely,
courtesy, humour, and a practical bent. As Kennedy
was the son of an earl, and of an earl's daughter, in
truth a lordly abbot, Knox is very courteous and ad
dresses him as ' My lord,' but— and this is quite char
acteristic of the Reformer — ' by reason of blood, and
not of office.' Then, as showing how, even in dealing
with the gravest of subjects, his humorous nature comes
into play racy and satirical, he introduces the ' bold and
puissant mouse,' as contrasted with the priest at the
altar and his ' feble and miserable God ' there — the
consecrated wafer. Once more, as showing how practical
and humane Knox is, at the close of the third day's
debate, he suggests that, as ' the noblemen here
assembled are altogether destitute both for hors and
man,' the debate might be adjourned to the town of
Ayr, ' whair better easement might be had for aU estates ' ;
to which proposal the Abbot would not agree — as possibly
he had enough of it — and so the great debate came to
an end.
Abbot Quintin, of the noble house of Cassilis, died
two years after this, and was the last of the long roll
of Abbots who had presided over the once rich and
powerful Abbey of St Mary's, Crossraguel.
A lover of freedom, then, was John Knox. Had he
been in the habit of putting his thoughts into verse, he
¦might well have written in similar strains to Robert
Burns, who wrote some two centuries later :
' Here's freedom to him that wad read,
Here's freedom to him that wad write,
There's nane ever feared that the truth should be heard,
But them wham the truth wad indite.'

98 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

6. He Was a Strenuous Advocate of Education
Scotland for long was (and we trust still is) one of the
best educated countries in Christendom ; and for that,
to a great extent, thanks are due to John Knox. Not
only in the cities and large towns, but throughout the
country districts, a good education could be obtained.
While as late as the beginning of the nineteenth century,
few children of the English, and scarcely any of the
Irish, industrial class, had any chance of receiving
instruction, Scotland, through the masterly scheme of
our great Reformer — though it was not tiU 1696 that it
was fully carried out — had its school in every parish.
For a century or so before the Reformation, Scotland
did not lag behind in the matter of education. The
old Celtic Church and the Romish, which in the days
of Queen Margaret and her son took its place, did a
great deal foi the instruction of the people. In perusing
the early Acts of the Scottish Parliament, one cannot
but notice frequent references to schools and school
masters. Attached to the Cathedrals and Abbeys
were exceUent schools, and from them issued many
studious young men who found their way to continental
seats of learning. They were in the habit of migrating
from college to coUege, going from Louvain to Paris,
and from Padua to Bologna. That they were numerous
is evidenced by the fact that Scotsmen had a ' nation '
to themselves at the third named of these universities.
As a proof of the excellent early training of these northern
scholars, as weU as of their natural abihty and great
diligence, quite a number became professors and rectors
of the University of Paris, and of nine men studying
there during part of the fourteenth century every one
became a Scottish bishop.

JOHN KNOX 99
The wandering Scottish student appears to have been
a personage not to be trifled with. He had a reputation
for courage, and like his native thistle would not allow
himself to be assailed or crushed with impunity. In the
Chronicle of Jocelyn of Brakeland, we are told of an
English monk who, when journeying through Italy
to Rome on a visit to the Pope — though this was long
before the fifteenth or the sixteenth century — for safety's
sake pretended to be a Scotsman. Putting on the
garb and gesture of a Scotsman, this monk — afterwards
Abbot of St Edmondsbury — says, ' I often brandished
my staff in the way they use that weapon called gaveloc
(a pike ?) at those who mocked me, using threatening
language after the manner of the Scots. I did so to
conceal myself and my errand, that I should get to
Rome safer in the guise of a Scotsman.' The ' Scot
abroad ' in the Middle Ages appears to have had
characteristics somewhat different from those usually
credited to him to-day by foreign people. There was
a mediaeval saying, ' Scotus est, piper in naso,' ' He is
a Scot, he has pepper in his nose,' and the French in
those remote days used to say, ' Fier comme un Ecosse,'
both proverbs indicating a hotness of temper, high-
spiritedness, and pride, which made the Scot keen to
detect and swift to avenge any slight cast upon him, or
upon his native land. He was certainly argumentative.
Erasmus in his Praise of Folly, says that the Scots of
his time were known not only for proclaiming the
nobility of their birth, but also for their intellectual
acumen, and John Major avers that foreigners seem to
have inferred their contentiousness from some of them
having heard Scotsmen disputing about benefices before
the Roman Court. Their ' canniness,' however, even then
was in evidence, for the French had a saying, ' The Scot
brings in a small horse first, and afterwards, a big one.'

100 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Scottish students also crossed the Tweed, and pro
ceeded south to study at Oxford and Cambridge, as
the Rotuli Scotice. show, these Rotuli being collections
of safe-conducts issued to Scottish students. We find
that in one year no less than eighty-one such Rotuli
were granted to young Scots, who were anxious to
proceed to Oxford. At this University, we learn,
these young men thought for themselves, for in the
year 1382 (according to the Rotuli Scotice, ii. 45-46)
Richard II. forbade the chanceUor and proctors molesting
Scottish students notwithstanding their damnable ad
herence (damnabiliter adherere) to the Anti-Pope.
It has even been said that it was through these Scottish
students, studying in England, that Wycliffe's tenets
came to be known in the northern kingdom.
For a number of years, however, before the Refor
mation and during its conflicts, education had sadly
ebbed. This is denied by W. Forbes Leith, S.J., in a
recent work entitled Pre-Reformation Scholars in Scotland
in the Sixteenth Century. He contends that the clergy
of the old Church were by no means discreditable. But
Dr Hay Fleming, in a pamphlet criticising the book,
conclusively shows that they were worse than discredit
able, and he gives abundant proof for the unrehableness
of Father Leith's volume. Here is the view of a
Roman Cathohc writer of those days, Abbot Quintin
Kennedy, mentioned above. He says that when " they
(the grasping nobility) have gotten a benefice, if they
have a brother or son, who can neither sing nor say,
nourished in vice all his days, he shall be immediately
mounted on a mule, with a side-gown and a round
bonnet, and then it is a question whether he or his
mule knows best to do his office.' The old Church
at that time had codes or canons in plenty, but in
none of these is discernible the clear ring we find in

JOHN KNOX 101
John Knox's utterances regarding the necessity and
advantages of a good education. Many of the high
schools had ceased to exist, and there was stagnation
and decay in the universities. As at the continental
universities, the students would very likely exercise
their minds in trifling and absurd questions. One,
for instance, wrote to his spiritual father in great mental
agony that he had touched his hat to a Jew by mistake.
He thought the man was a doctor of divinity. Was
this a mortal sin ? Could he, his father, absolve him ?
Could the bishop ? Could the Pope ? At the School
of Logic at Louvain a four days' debate took place
regarding the status of a man who was a member of
ten universities, he having taken his degree at Louvain,
Paris, Oxford, Cambridge, Padua, and five other uni-
sities. Now, a university was a body, and one body
might have many members ; but how could one member
have many bodies ? The member would be the body,
and the universities the members, and surely it would
be scandalous to assert anything of the kind regarding
such grave and learned corporations. The disputants
gave up the problem in despair. Again, we find a
certain professor arguing that Julius Caesar could not
have written Caesar's Commentaries, because that
book is in Latin ; Latin is a difficult language ; and a
soldier ever marching and fighting has certainly no
time to learn Latin. Among the leaders of the old
Church in Scotland one cannot fail to notice an
inteUectual weakness and helplessness. Archbishop
Hamilton promised to furnish the nation with good
preachers, but they never appeared.
There was still, however, a craving for learning in
many of Scotland's sons, and Knox saw that this must
be satisfied. Moreover, the new faith being one which
involved trust in the people — and Presbyterianism

102 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
being so democratic — Knox and his feUow-refoimers
perceived the necessity for the people being weU
educated. So in the Book of Discipline appeared a
hberal and enlightened — indeed, magnificent — scheme of
national education, which recommended — and asked
Parhamentary sanction for — the endowment of a school
in every parish, high schools or coUeges in all the chief
towns, and an increase in the power and influence of
the universities. At once these latter revived, and a
fourth, that of Edinburgh, was founded by royal charter
in 1582. Scottish students came home from seats of
learning on the continent of Europe, and superintended
the new systems. AU was brought into harmony with
the every day hfe of the people. Day, or pubhc, schools
were given a preference over boarding schools, and
learned men of the highest character were employed
as inspectors over districts duly marked out. Knox
would have no voluntary attendance, but urged that
it should be compulsory — at least, on the part of two
classes of society, the upper and the lower. The middle
class he could trust to its own natural desire for a good
education. There would be free education for the
poor, and the sons of the nobility would be required
to pay according to their several degrees. As for
youths of ' pregnant parts,' Knox would have the State
lay hold of such, and assist them at the high schools
and universities, and in that way the whole Common
wealth would be benefited. These Scottish reformers
had no fear of a minister being too learned for preaching
'the Evangel.' On the contrary, they required then-
candidates before beginning Theology, to be trained
in Dialectics, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, Ethics,
Pohtics, and Hebrew. It may be stated here that,
according to Dr Maitland Anderson; in his Handbook
to the City and University of St Andrews, there was a

JOHN KNOX 103
temporary lull at the Reformation period, as regards
matriculation and graduation, but a marked increase
took place in the number of students during the fifty
years that foUowed, as compared with the fifty years'
immediately preceding the Reformation. Knox, in a
letter written in the last year of his life, passed some
severe strictures on the universities, and, partly as the
result of certain painful experiences of his own at that
time in connection with the St Andrews colleges, he
seems to have anticipated dangerous interference with
fhe Church on the part of the universities.
The Book of Discipline, as it unfolds its great scheme,
has running comments on the advantages of learning —
its desirability for its own sake and its great benefit
to the realm — and it closes with this noble appeal to
the Great Council of Scotland to whom the Book is
addressed, and on whom the issue of the matters
therein depended : ' If God shall grant quietness and
give your Wisdoms grace to set forward letters in the
sort prescribed, ye shaU leave wisdom to your posterity,
a treasure more to be esteemed than any earthly
treasures you are able to provide for them, which
without wisdom, are more able to be their ruin and
confusion, than help and comfort. And as this is
most true, so we leave it with the rest of the com
modities (matters) to be weighed by your Honours'
wisdom, and set forward by your authority, to the
most high advancement of this Commonwealth, com
mitted to your charge.'
But the Great Council did not take measures to carry
out the scheme, and why ? Some to-day might say, the
scheme was too much a Church one, and surely it was
not right that the Church should have the entire manage
ment of national education. Apart from the fact that,
with Knox, as with all leaders of opinion then, Romish

104 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
and Protestant, the Church and the nation were in
large measure identical terms, the reply to such a cavU
is, that no other body could then have undertaken the
task. The Church was able to undertake such national
duties, just as it was willing to undertake the care of
the poor throughout the land. Moreover, the funds
reaUy belonged to the Church, and Knox's view was
that the old patrimony of the Church should be devoted
to (i) The Support of Ministers and Superintendents,
(2) Provision for the Poor, and (3) National Education.
A member of his class has informed us that the late
Dr Alexander R. MacEwen, Professor of Church History,
New CoUege, Edinburgh, said in one of his lectures,
when mentioning that Parhament would not ratify
the first Book of Discipline, ' it was better that it did
not.' For this age, and for a century or two earher
that might be true ; but other times other measures,
and we cannot but think that for Scotland in the
sixteenth century Parhament could not have done
better than to give statutory enactment to this
remarkable disciplinary book.
It was not, however, opposition to the Church as
such administering these funds, and devoting part of
them to education, that frustrated Knox's reasonable
and statesmanlike plans, but it was the greed of the
nobility.1 Queen Mary's arrival from France may
have comphcated the situation to a great extent, and
pohtical considerations may have weighed with the
lords in their negative attitude towards the Book of
Discipline with its national scheme of education.
This aspect of the matter has had stress laid upon it
by Professor Hume Brown, in his Life of John Knox,
(vol. ii. page 170), where he says that such a low motive
as greed wiU not adequately account for the conduct of
1 See Note 2.

JOHN KNOX 105
the Protestant lords ; but in page 140 of the same
volume he admits that the new Church's claim to inherit
the wealth of the old Church was what determined
the fate of the Book, for the lords would look askance
at such a claim. There was abundance of money for
Knox's purpose. The wealth of the old Church was very
great, amounting, indeed, to nearly one-half of the
whole wealth of the country. It is true that as the
Reformation approached the old hierarchy began, in
direct opposition to their own canons, to alienate the
temporahties to the lords and lairds around. The
Crown, too, as regards ecclesiastical possessions at its
disposal, did the same, and its favourites thus became
wealthy. The nobles enriched in this way became
hostile to the claims of the Reformed Church, and saw
that, with what had now taken place, they might
become still further enriched. What Hallam asserts
of many of the English nobility was true of their
Scottish confreres, that at that time ' according to the
laws of human nature, they gave a readier reception
to truths which made their estates more secure.'
It may be that the old Church, in its days of power,
had reaUy filched land and money from their ancestors,
and now the nobles had this opportunity of regaining
their possessions. In any case, all that the Reformers
could get was, through an assumption by the Crown,
one-third of the benefices. But, in point of fact, only
a part of that came to the Church, the old possessors
and the Crown getting a large share. Knox said of
this arrangement : ' I see two parts are freely given
to the devil, and the third part must be divided between
God and the devil. It will not be long before the devil
shall have three parts of the third, and judge ye what
God's portion shaU be.' When Lord Erskine, afterwards
Earl of Mar and Regent, led the opposition to Knox's

106 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
scheme of division of the Church's patrimony, the
latter said of this nobleman's attitude : ' No wonder ;
if the poor, the schools, and the ministers had their
own, his kitchen, indeed, would lack two parts, and more
that he unjustly possesses.' Even God's part was
shamefuUy paid, the Church being put to strange straits
to get it. Nor was this only Church money, but, as
Knox and his friends contended, it was money for the
poor. Bitterly was our Reformer disappointed with
the attitude and treatment on the part of the Crown
and the nobles. The matter lay in his mind when he
was dying. Even then, in the death chamber, he could
not but denounce the ' merciless devourers of the
patrimony of the Kirk,' who were also robbers of
that which belonged to the ' poor labourers of the
ground.' But was this great educationist — the deviser of such
hberal things for the improvement of the minds of his
countrymen — also so great an obscurant and so much
a Goth as to destroy some of Scotland's finest buildings,
the very contemplation of which was an education in
itself ? We think not. It is perhaps too late in the
day to say — surely the historic fact is known to aU by
this time — that noble piles such as the Abbeys of
Melrose, Dryburgh, Jedburgh, and Kelso were destroyed
by English invaders a decade at least before Knox
began his work of reform, and indeed when he was
quite an unknown personage in the land. Lawless
borderers, too, had contributed to their ruin. Then,
are those Roman Cathohc writers, who defame John
Knox for destroying rehgious edifices, aware that their
fellow-religionists — the twelfth-century builders of St
Andrews Cathedral — broke to fragments the beautiful
old Celtic cross-slabs that they might serve as common
rubble ? Such vandahsm was probably due to the

JOHN KNOX 107
great dishke of the Romish Church for that of the
Culdees which they were then endeavouring to supplant.
In later days, Cardinal Sermoneta, writing in 1556,
ascribes the ruinous plight of Scottish churches and
monasteries to ' hostile inroads and the avarice and
neglect of those placed in charge of them.' As for the
great Cathedral of St Andrews, it is yet to be proved
— contemporary evidence is entirely lacking — that
the Reformers demohshed it. The edifice had long
shown signs of weakness, and in the course of years
neglect and thieving house-builders brought it to
the ground. Holyrood Abbey was certainly not de
stroyed by the Reformers, and the noblest unmutilated
specimen of Scottish ecclesiastical architecture, Glasgow
Cathedral, owes its splendid preservation to the Pro
testant ministers, magistrates, council, and deacons
of crafts of that city. Even Sir Walter Scott, in his
very beautiful reference to that stately fane (by the
mouth of Andrew Fairservice in Rob Roy — a passage
much admired by Ruskin), faUs into the error that the
Reformers wished to demohsh this pride and ornament
of Glasgow and out of its material build a number of
smaUer churches, but that the trades of the city rose
in tumult to stop the sacrilegious work. It was solely
on the authority of Archbishop Spottiswood that such
a statement was originaUy made, but it has no support
whatever from the records of the Town Council of
Glasgow or of the Privy Council. The documents of
the time bear out that the ministers and magistrates
of Glasgow, so far from wishing to pull down the
Cathedral, were anxious to uphold and repair it, pressed
on the King and Privy Council to do so, and voluntarily
assessed themselves to carry out the work. There was
a good deal ol lead on the roofs of ecclesiastical buildings,
and the State used it for military purposes. In 1568

108 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the lead on Elgin Cathedral was removed for ' the
sustentation of the men at war ' ; and such, too, was
the case with St Machar's at Aberdeen. The clergy
lamented and protested against the ruination of the
churches (witness specially a sermon by David Ferguson,
minister of Dunfermhne, preached in 1572), and the
records of the General Assembly provide many testi
monies to the desire on the part of the Church for the
preservation and good order of the fabrics of the churches.
One of the keenest controversies Knox had with the
Piivy Council was to secure the repair of churches
' in such a manner as appertaineth as weU to the majesty
of the Word of God as unto the ease and commoditie
of the people.' It should be remembered, however,
that even before Knox spoke the people were beginning
to look with hatred and contempt on buildings identified
with so much wealth and luxury and indolence. Dr
Wilham Law Mathieson says that ' the monasteries
were destroyed mainly by disaffected Catholics,' and
the voice for their overthrow may have come from
eleswhere, but ' the hand was Sir David Lindsay's.'
Nor were Knox and his coadjutors destroyers of manu
scripts and books. This has been charged against them,
but the cavil — including Archbishop Spottiswood's
sweeping statement on their iconoclasm — has been
effectively dealt with by Dr Hay Fleming in chapters x.,
xi. of his book, The Reformation in Scotland. Knox
has been particularly blamed for the destruction of the
rich and beautiful religious buildings in Perth and
neighbourhood. True it may be that it was Knox's
voice that gave the signal for the pitiless work that
went on, but, when he saw that the people in their
rage were going too far, he was greatly vexed, and set
out hurriedly to rescue, if possible, the Abbey of Scone,
but, alas ! arrived too late on the scene. He was in

JOHN KNOX 109
time only to save the bishop's girnal. Roundly he
rebuked ' the rascal multitude ' for their conduct, and,
indeed, was so displeased that ' he could not speak
patiently to any man of Perth or Dundee,' for destroying
such a beautiful abbey.
About a hundred years after Knox's time the spirit
of Puritanism greatly destroyed artistic feeling, and
the niggardhness of the heritors in keeping the ancient
buildings in a state of repair, or rather disrepair — in
using indeed their lead, slates, and carved stones
even, for their mansions and farm-houses — did far
greater injury to the churches and abbeys of Scotland
than ever John Knox's preaching did.
The aesthetic sense, we may suppose, was lacking in
our Reformer, but what he desired and strove after
was that excrescences — ' symbols of idolatry ' and the
like — be removed. We cannot find anywhere in his
writings the saying attributed to him, that if the nests
be pulled down the rooks will fly away. Apart from
the fact, in aU likelihood known to Knox, that more
than the pulhng down of nests — even the destruction
of the whole clump of trees — is necessary for the getting
rid of rooks, he was in favour of lawful and orderly
methods for the destruction of things within the buildings,
which he held were fraught with harm to the Scottish
people. We admit that the Lord James Stewart in
the north, and the Earls of Arran and Argyll in the
west, ' pulled down ' certain ecclesiastical ' monu
ments ' which had been too much associated — even
rebelliously so — with the old system. They dreaded
the hold of habit on the minds of the ignorant, and
conceived this the only way of eliminating such super
stitious thoughts and customs. The leaders of Reform
at that time believed that what the country required
was a plain and simple service which all the people

110 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
could follow and from which they could receive benefit.
So for them, and for John Knox in particular, that which
was old, dusty, and moth-eaten, with its dim rehgious hght,
its half-truths and untruths, must depart peremptorily.
Perhaps it may be as well to give here the order of
the Privy Council of Scotland (somewhat modernised)
as to procedure concerning ecclesiastical buildings :
' Our trusty friends after most hearty commendation,
we pray you fail not to pass forthwith to the Church of
(Dunkeld, or as the case may be) and take down the
whole images ¦ thereof, and bring them forth to the
churchyard and burn them publicly. And sirmlarly
cast down the altars and purge the Church of aU kinds
of monuments of idolatry. And this fail not to do
as you wiU (otherwise) do us singular displeasure — and
so (we) commit you to the protection of God.
(Signed) Ar. Argyle,
James Stuart,
Ruthven.
Edinburgh, xzth August- 1560.
' Fail not that you take good heed that neither the
desks, windows, and doors be any way injured or
broken either glazing work or iron work.'
As regards Dunkeld Cathedral, it should be known
that, in 1514, Bishop Gavin Douglas laid siege to it,
and battered it with his cannon, and after the Battle
of Killiecrankie, in 1689, the victorious Highlanders
attacked it, for the troops of King Wilham III. had
sheltered themselves within its walls, and the stately
fane suffered much from the assault.
As regards St Giles' Church, Edinburgh, so much
associated with the ministry of John Knox, the civic
authorities took in hand the displenishing of the building.
With the help of sailors from Leith, who brought with

JOHN KNOX 111
them ropes and ladders, the altars were taken down
and removed. All the gold and silver, and other
valuables, were carefully catalogued and secured, as
may be seen from the existing town-records. As for
the arm-bone of Giles, or Egidius, the patron-saint,
it was stripped of its mountings, and, according to
tradition, was thrown into the adjacent graveyard.
The building was otherwise uninjured though swept of
its Roman Cathohc furniture — a pulpit, perhaps a
reading desk, and a few benches alone remaining. And,
says Dr Donald MacLeod, in his St Giles Lecture on
The Reformation, although " much that was beautiful
and reverent may thereby have been sacrificed, the
principle was the only logical one by which the popular
movement could then have been conducted.' But
were things so very beautiful in the churches of
Scotland in pre- Reformation days ? There are doubts
as to that, and Dr Patrick in his Introduction to the
ancient Statutes of the Scottish Church says that, after
a study of them, he would be a bold man who would
assume simpliciter and insist, as for example Andrew
Lang does, that throughout feudal Scotland, the Church
— by its decorations, vestments, music — provided an
education in things beautiful.
To Knox and his so-caUed ' destruction of the
monasteries ' may well be appUed the following verses
of Whittier entitled ' The Reformer ' :
' All grim and soiled and brown with tan,
I saw a strong one, in his wrath,
Smiting the godless shrines of man,
Along his path.
" Spare," Art implored, " yon holy pile ;
That grand, old, time-worn turret spare '' ;
Meek Reverence, kneeling in the aisle,
Cried out " Forbear ! "

112 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Grey-bearded Use, who, deaf and blind,
Groped for his old accustomed stone.
Leaned on his staff, and wept to find
His tent o'erthrown.
Young Romance raised his dreamy eyes,
O'erhung with paly locks of gold, —
" Why smite," he asked in sad surprise,
" The fair, the old ? "
Yet louder rang the Strong One's stroke,
Yet nearer flashed his axe's gleam,
Shuddering and sick of heart I woke,
As from a dream.
I looked, aside the dust-cloud rolled, —
The Waster seemed the Builder too ;
Up springing from the ruined old,
I saw the New.
'Twas but the ruin of the bad, —
The wasting of the wrong and ill ;
Whate'er of good the old time had,
Was living still.
Calm grew the brows of him I feared ;
The frown which awed me passed away,
And left behind a smile which cheered,
Like breaking day.
The outworn rite, the old abuse.
The pious fraud transparent grown,
The good held captive in the use
Of wrong alone. —
These wait their doom, from that great law
Which makes the past time serve to-day,
And fresher life the world shall draw
From their decay.
Take heart ! — the Waster builds again,
A charmed life old Goodness hath ;
The tares may perish, — but the grain
Is not for death.

JOHN KNOX 113
God works in all things ; all obey
His first propulsion from the night :
Wake then and watch : — the world is gray
With morning light.'
Sir Walter Scott, in The Monastery, puts into the
mouth of that good man ' Henry Warden ' words which
might weU have come from John Knox. Warden, in
addressing the Abbot of Kennaquhair (Melrose) says :
' Peace, William Allan ! for none of these purposes
do I come. I would have these stately shrines deprived
of the idols which, no longer regarded as the effigies of
the good and of the wise, have become the objects of
foul idolatry. I would otherwise have its ornaments
subsist, unless as they are or may be a snare to the
souls of men ; and especially do I condemn those
ravages which have been made by the heady fury of
the people, stung into zeal against will-worship by
bloody persecution. Against such wanton devastations
I lift my testimony.' In The Abbot, Sir Walter intro
duces a chaplain — Ehas Henderson — who comes to
Lochleven and has an interview with the captive
Queen. The description of him is that of a man in the
prime of life, possessed of good natural parts improved
by education, with a faculty of close, terse reasoning,
and with the gift of happy illustration and natural
eloquence. An earnest promoter of the Protestant
faith, there is nothing narrow, boorish, or repellent
about him ; and, though occupying but a small space
in the story, he is one of the most attractive of the
characters in it. We have sometimes thought that the
great romancer has here been drawing our Reformer
on a small scale.
In addition to the six reasons above submitted
for our contention that Knox was a true modern, we
may give this other one — He was a great traveUer.

114 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
With the exception of the more northern part of the
country, he traveUed over nearly the whole of Scotland,
and that on various occasions. He was also in
journeyings oft in England. He must have known
London well. In France we find him at La Rochelle,
at Dieppe, and in other parts of that fair land. He
resided for some years in Switzerland. In Germany
he was located for some months at Frankfort. Few,
if any, of the other Reformers travelled so much as
Knox, which perhaps made him more cosmopohtan
than any of them. Did it not even make him a larger
man than most then ? In a sense we might say that
he combined Luther and Calvin, for while the former
was a German of the Germans, plodding and persistent,
and the latter essentiaUy French, clear in thought and
mentally alert, Knox had both of these characteristics
or elements in his nature. While the first-named, too,
moved among dignitaries and princes, and the second
was more on democratic ground, Knox was on intimate
terms with earls and knights, having audiences with
rulers of kingdoms, and, as weU, was one of the people,
moving freely among them and rousing them to the
most ardent patriotism and religious fervour. Luther,
again, was essentially a man of action, and Calvin
more a thinker, but Knox was both. He pondered
over religious problems and gave his theories practical
apphcation. He thought and wrought out Scotland's
freedom. An estimate of the character and work of John Knox
may be gathered from all that precedes, but, as we
draw these scenes and incidents to a close, we cannot
but say emphatically that courage, determination,
and rehgious ardour were predominant in this Scottish
Reformer, and that his work was great and lasting.
Those who caU him a fanatic have forgotten, or are

JOHN KNOX 115
unaware of, his shrewdness and good sense, his wit,
and his drollery even when situations were serious and
themes discussed were of the loftiest. There was in
him a singular instinct and passion for the great
affairs of a nation, and even of nations. Intensely
patriotic, he was also a citizen of the world, deliberating
and corresponding on questions affecting foreign states
On his deathbed he said, ' I know that many have
complained much and loudly, and do still complain,
of my too great severity ; but God knows that my
mind was always free from hatred to the persons of those
against whom I denounced the heavy judgments of
God. . . . For a certain reverential fear of my
God who caUed me, and was pleased of His grace to
make me a steward of divine mysteries . . . had such
powerful effect as to make me utter so intrepidly
whatever the Lord had put into my mouth, without
any respect of persons.' Egotistic, or egoistic, and
arrogant this may seem ; but, as it has been observed,
egotism and arrogance in this case are to be weighed in
mightier scales than the social frailties expressed by
such terms. This man wore the mantle of a prophet,
and Scotland never before, and never since, has had
another such — so brave, so sincere, so commanding.
He may have committed himself to extreme positions,
and his prejudices may have been many — in those
days, however, who was not extreme or prejudiced ? — he
was self-conscious, self-wiUed, and dogmatic, but that
he was conspicuously brave and sincere surely cannot
be doubted. He " neither feared nor flattered any
flesh ' in doing his great work. It may be known that
after the accession of Mary Tudor to the throne, Knox
continued his work in England when nearly aU his
feUow-labourers had abandoned it ; but not so generaUy
known is the fact that, when Mary entered the capital,

116 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Knox was courageous enough to rebuke the crowd for
their rejoicings as the Sovereign moved along. The
scene is worthy of the artist's brush. Already we have
mentioned the ' dag and dagger ' dangers that beset
him. He was shot at, ' blown to the horn ' (that is
declared an excommunicated outlaw), was condemned
to the flames and burned in effigy in default of the
propria persona, was warned at St Andrews that if he
preached there he would be saluted with culverins,
a reward was offered by Mary of Lorraine to any who
should seize or kill him, and at the very commencement
of his career as a reformer he endured as a slave the
horrors of the gaUeys ; x but unflinchingly he kept at
his task— a ' simple soldier,' as he styles himself —
fighting for his great Captain. Yet though a soldier,
and stern, even hard at times, there are evidences that
he had a heart of tenderness, and could be moved by
the deepest feeling. Queen Mary could not ' gar that
man greet,' though, as we have seen, other women
could draw out the tenderness that was in him. When
he was first laid hold of to preach the Gospel, and
charged with all solemn adjuration that he must do it,
feehng the commission too heavy for him — that he Was
too unworthy to be caUed to such a work — he burst
into tears and withdrew to his chamber. No selfish
aggrandisement can ever be urged against him. The
age was selfish and deceitful, but Knox, though master
and leader of the nation, was altogether unselfish and
honest. Hill Burton says that he was ' a simple-minded
unsuspicious man. Working with greedy selfish men
intent on furthering their own interests, he deemed
them to be as completely as himself under the influence
of an unselfish religious spirit ; and when the evidence
of sordidness was all too flagrant, he turned his honest
1 See Note 3.

JOHN KNOX 117
eyes on it with surprise, hke one who beholds his sober,
sedate friend take suddenly to drinking, or go off in a
fit of acute madness.'
For strength of will and self-confident faith, only one
perhaps in our island story can be named along with
him, and that is Ohver Cromwell. And, like the great
Protector, our Reformer, as a private individual, as a
neighbour, and as husband and father, was beyond
reproach. He was beloved and revered by friends and
neighbours.1 Richard Bannatyne, his faithful servitor
and amanuensis, who knew him well, called him ' the
hght of Scotland, the comfort of the Kirk, the mirror
and example of aU true ministers in purity of life,
soundness in doctrine, and boldness in reproving wicked
ness.' Lest this estimate be considered biassed by
warm friendship, take another. There was a quaint
writer of those days, Robert Lindesay of Pitscottie —
affectionately called ' Auld Pitscottie ' by Sir Walter
Scott — who, if he did not personally know Knox,
(though there is every hkelihood he did), doubtless
heard some of the sermons he preached at St Andrews
and in the east of Fife, where Lindesay's home was.
He was much impressed by the teaching of Knox,
borrowed, it may be, many words and phrases from
him, and when, in his Chronicles, he comes to speak of
the death of the Reformer, says : ' Johne Knox, minister
of Edinburgh, departed of this lyff quhilk was ane
gret los and pitie to aU thame that favourit Chrystis
word. . . . This man was trew feirar (fearer) of
Chrystis EvangeU in aU the process of his lyff ... all
the tyme that he was in this realme he preachit Godis
Word and leivit ane godhe lyff all his dayes and endit
the samyn maner to the glorie of God and to the re-
joysing of all trew Protestants.' One of a different
1 See Note 4.

118 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
type and, perhaps, stiU more detached, namely, Thomas
Smeaton, a man of great learning who became
Principal of Glasgow University, wrote in Latin an
account (published in 1579) of the last iUness and death
of the ' eximius vir, Joannes Knoxius, Scoticanae
Ecclesiae instaurator,' and there says, ' Nescio an
unquam Deus magis pium et maj us ingenium in fragili
et imbecillo corpore collocavit. . . . Certe in iUo rectam
turn vivendi turn moriendi regulam quamvis obloquantur
prophani Deus nobis demonstravit.' (' I know not
if ever God placed in a frail and weak httle body a
godher and greater spirit. . . . Surely whatever oppro
brious persons say, in him hath God set us an example
both of hving well and dying well.') Froude, in his
History of England, says that ' Knox was representative
of aU that was best in Scotland ' ; and does the same
writer exaggerate when he says : ' No grander figure can
be found, in the entire history of the Reformation, than
that of Knox ? ' Not in a boastful spirit, but in defence,
he himself said one day, ' Nane haif I corrupted, nane
haif I defraudit, merchandize haif I not maid ' — and
this when many in those strange times reaped a golden
harvest through what he had accomphshed for his
native land. Not an acre of soil feU to this man,
nor would he have received any if offered him, and as
for loot of Cathedral or Abbey nothing of the kind
would he aUow to come his way.
That his work was great and lasting aU Presbyterian
Christendom bears witness to-day ; and he made
modern Scotland. Wherever he went his influence was
remarkable. It has been said that Knox would not
have been so much now but for his book, his History ;
but that is pre-eminently no book of rules, theories,
ideas, or ideals ; it is Knox himself. It is simply the
man hving himself over again, and coming alongside

JOHN KNOX 119
of every Scotsman, generation after generation. By
his righteous life and his righteous message, he seemed
to change everything in his own day. Queen Mary and
her counsellors knew that he was the one serious force
they had to reckon with. Randolph, in writing to Cecil,
puts it tersely : ' Where your Honour exhorteth us to
stoutness, I assure you the voice of one man (Knox)
is able in one hour to put more lyf in us than
fyve hundreth trumpettes continually blustering in
our eares.' This personal influence we find working
wonders at Geneva, at Dieppe, at Berwick-on-Tweed,
in London, in Fifeshire, in Ayrshire, in the Lothians,
in the Scottish capital. John Knox changed Scotland.
He made modern Scotland, as we have said. He is
stiU making it.
St Columba, when dying, said of Iona and the work
for God done there, that ' unto this place, albeit so
smaU and poor, great homage shall yet be paid, not
only by the king, and peoples of the Scots, but by the
rulers of barbarous and distant nations with their
people also.' Something similar, though with more
personal note, came from the lips of John Knox as his
earthly career was drawing to a close. He said, ' What
I have been to my country, albeit this unthankful age
wiU not know, yet the ages to come will be compelled
to bear witness to the truth,' and the centuries which
have passed since have borne witness that this was a
great and a good man, who did splendid service to his
native land, and, as a result, to many lands beyond.

120 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
APPENDIX NOTE i
THE MURDER OF RIZZIO
Knox's own words on the terrible deed are : ' And to lett
the world understand in plane terms what we meane, that great
abusar of this Commonwealth, that pultron and vyle knave
Davie, was justlie punished, the nynt of Merch, in the year of
God Jm Vc three score fyve, for abusing the Commonwealth,
and for his other villany, which we hst nott to express, by the
counsaU and handis of James Douglas, Earl of Morton, Patrick
Lord Lindesay, and the Lord Ruthven, and otheris assistaris in
thare company, who all, for thare just act, and most worthy of
all praise, ar now unworthely left of there bretherein, and
suffer the bitterness of banishment and exyle.'
Knox thought that these were better men than their suc
cessors at Court, whom Queen Mary was now holding in high
esteem. Behind the plotting and bloodthirstiness of the deed,
he believed that there was a providential judgment, which
doubtless was the general feeling at the time. An anonymous
writer (supposed to be Sir David Lyndesay) has certain lines
referring to the assassination of Cardinal Beaton, and, if we
change the word ' Cardinal ' to ' Seigneur ' we get probably at
what people were thinking then of the Rizzio murder, and what
a good many have thought of it since : —
' As for the Seigneur, I grant,
He was a man we weill culd want
And we'll forget him sune ;
But yet I think the sooth to say
Although the loon is weill away
The deed was foully dune.'
There are those who hold that Knox was an accomplice in
the murder, or at least privy to it, but Dr Hume Brown has
effectively disposed of all such charges in his Life of John Knox
(vol. ii. pp. 230, 231), where he says : ' In the atrocious deed
of the 9th March, Knox in all probability had neither art nor
part. Morton affirmed this, and it was but simple pohcy on
the part of the conspirators that no breath of suspicion should

JOHN KNOX 121
attach to the chief minister of their religion. Of the manner in
which the deed was done we may be certain that Knox would
disapprove as vehemently as any of his contemporaries. From
gratuitous bloodshed he shrank with a keenness of feeling which
assuredly was not common in his age and country. When
Kirkcaldy of Grange asked him if it were permissible to escape
from prison by slaying the gaoler, Knox's answer was a stern
negative. On the other hand, of the original plan of removing
Rizzio by summary trial and execution he would have un
conditionally approved. In his eyes, Rizzio had broken the
highest law of the land in abetting the mass, and labouring to
bring back the Pope. Any trial of him, therefore, could be only
to give the wretched man the opportunity of possible repentance.
In any event the greatest crime would have been to permit him
to live, and imperil the spiritual welfare of the people.' Dr
Hume Brown goes farther into the matter in Appendix D (same
volume), disposes effectively of Fraser Tytler's so-called in
criminating document, and sums up the discussion as follows :
' Vahd evidence there is none that Knox had any knowledge of
a plot to assassinate Rizzio, or that he approved of the deed as
it was actually carried out. But, apart from the question of
detailed evidence, is the larger historical question of Knox's
attitude towards the general spirit of the Rizzio conspiracy.
The aim of Morton and his associates was to remove Rizzio in
some such fashion as Cochrane had been removed in the pre
ceding century, and thus to restore the Protestant ascendancy
in the country. Of both these acts Knox, beyond a doubt,
would have energetically approved. That he had any collusion
whatever in the actual execution of the first is not proved by
any evidence that is yet to hand.'
Hill Burton's remarks on the matter are as follows : —
' It is still less likely, however, that he (Knox) should have
compromised his position as a minister of the Word by either
executing or plotting an assassination. Whether, knowing that
it was to be done, he would have interrupted it, or would have
bidden the perpetrators God-speed, is an idle question, since,
with his usual candour, he has left in his History his thorough
approval of the deed. . . Much of the accusation and defence
wasted on the characters of that age arises from the supposition
that, like a well-principled citizen of the present day, anyone
hearing of an intended crime was expected to go and inform the
pohce. People in the public world had too much anxiety about

122 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
themselves to think of others, and only the strongest personal
motive would prompt one to interfere with any act of violence.
An attempt to thwart a crime by which his cause would profit,
might have justly exposed a man to the charge of insanity or
gross duplicity ' (History of Scotland, vol. iv. pp. 150, 151).
Dr Hay Fleming in his Critical Reviews (p. 179) also effectively
deals with the attempt to implicate Knox in Rizzio 's murder,
and says that ' the mere fact that Knox's name does not occur
in the two long lists of names in the Register of the Privy Council
is enough to show that he could not be charged with the crime.'
His remaining at his post tells in favour of his courage, if not
of his innocence, for it has been urged against him that he him
self leftEdinburgh at the time. The terrible deed, however, having
been committed, Knox did approve of it, and, as we have seen,
tells us so himself. But surely that is not so bad as the case of
the Nuncio of Paris who, in an analagous case, when making
known to the Cardinal of Como the plot formed by the Guises
for the murder of Queen Ehzabeth, writes that he did not intend
to tell it to Gregory XIII., for though he believed ' the Pope
would be glad that God should punish in any way whatever
that enemy of His, still it would be unfitting that His Vicar
should procure it by these means.' NOTE 2
THE COVETOUSNESS OF THE SCOTTISH NOBLES
' There was another aspect of the Reformation of which they
(the nobles) were eagerly receptive. Eight years earlier, in
1543, Arran had complained to Sadler that the nobles were such
firm Papists that they would not admit the Reformation,
" unless the sin of covetousness bring them into it." The " sin
of covetousness " was destined to play a large part in the history
of the Scottish Reformation. Closer diplomatic relations with
the wealthy nobility of England and the magnificent court of
France had made the Scottish nobles of the sixteenth century
bitterly conscious of their poverty. On the question of " teinds "
and the scandalous wealth of Churchmen, they were prepared
to receive the new teaching with open minds. While this is
true of the majority, it is fair to say that there was a minority
whose acceptance of the Reformed teaching was the result of
sincere conviction. . . . Knox was sanguine indeed when he

JOHN KNOX 123
expected that the wealth which had kept the old Church in
idleness and luxury was to be handed over to keep the new in
learning and holiness. Even if the Church's wealth had still
been unappropriated, it is certain that the greedy and poverty-
stricken nobility would have secured their own share before
considering the claims of religion. As it was, much of the
property had already passed into the hands of laymen. Some
had been frankly confiscated during the civil war. . . . With
indignation the Reformers saw them intent on making the
most of their bargains, and pressing the tenants as cruelly as
ever their old masters had done.' — John Knox, by Florence A.
Maccunn. ' In that year (1572) the Church, along with the State, was
entering into a very curious experiment. The object was to
get some arrangement effected, in virtue of which the patrimony
of the Kirk, or some of it, might be applied to religious uses.
The distribution of that patrimony, in moderate incomes, to
the various labourers throughout the country was desired by
the Church ; but difficulties were made by the State. The
great benefices, it was said, must be kept up — ostensibly on
legal and constitutional grounds — really in order that there
might be good fat geese for the nobles to pluck.' — Three Lectures
on the Church of Scotland, by Robert Rainy, D.D.
' The impecuniosity of the Scottish nobles is the simple and
adequate explanation of the devious public career of not a few
of them.' — Scotland in the Time of Queen Mary, by P. Hume
Brown, LL.D.
This continued appropriation of land and revenue on the
part of the nobles was expressively called a ' birsing yont.' In
the posthumous (1898) Historical Sketches of Thomas Carlyle,
edited by Alexander Carlyle, B.A., we have the following :
' Those old church-lands, seized with an unspeakable coolness
by hungry Vicekings or Aristocracy here, when the nation set
about reforming its religion : had the hungry Vicekings before
all men the clear right then ? A cooler stroke of legislator
trade I have not seen anywhere — nor had my friend Knox seen
anywhere. Majesty (James VI. in 1617, while on his visit to
Scotland) thinks the Head King might as well have these lands
back again to himself (and schemes accordingly, and his son
Charles I. carries out the project). So the biter is bit, and
bit. severely.'

124 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
NOTE 3
KNOX AND THE FRENCH GALLEYS
The life, or rather hving death, in the galleys is not realisable
by us now, though there is a faint echo of it in the now meaning
less phrase — ' to work hke a galley-slave.' Massino d' Azeglio, in
the fourteenth chapter of his grave and stately historical novel
Niccolo de' Lapi, gives some indication of its awfulness. A
recent Scottish historian, however, says that Knox's hardships
were not very great in the galleys. It is true that Knox and
his fellow-captives were clearly intended to fill up serious blanks
which the siege of St Andrews had made in the crews. Calder
wood (vol. i. p. 239) says, ' They (that is to say, the French) lost
manie of their rowers, men chained to the galeyes.' Of course the
soldiers on board could not, unless under punishment for grave
offences, be made to take the rowers' places. Now, as men who,
most of them at least, had perhaps never previously handled a
boat oar, much less a galley oar, Knox and his companions
could not, from the nature of the case, have been made to work
hard at first, and the efforts which were made at an early stage
in their confinement to win them over to Roman Catholicism
were obviously incompatible with great rigour ; but the Roman
Catholics of Scotland were plainly of opinion that Knox and
the others were being let off too easily, and Rome was equally
stern. Says Calderwood (vol. i. page 241), ' The Pope gave
thanks to the King of France and our governour for the revenge
of the slaughter of his kinde creature the Cardinall, and desired
them to continue in their severitie, lest the like thing sould be
attempted after. A famous clerk, Mr Johne Hammilton of
Milburne, who had neither Frenche, nor Latine, nor good
Scotish language, was sent to the King of France and the
Cardinall of Lorraine to desire that the captives sould be
sharpelie handled. He was heard with favour, and was dis
patched home againe with letters and great credite.' These
exhortations from Rome and remonstrances from Scotland had
clearly great effect on King Henry the Second and his naval
officers, for Calderwood subsequently says (vol. i. page 242),
' When the galeyes returned to Scotland, and were lying be
twixt Dundie and Sanct Andrewes, Johne Knox being so sicke
that few had anie hope of his recoverie, etc' Calderwood does

JOHN KNOX 125
not seem to exaggerate in the least when he says that Knox
and the rest of the prisoners in the galleys were ' miserably
entreated.' Tytler, when stating that ' others, including the reformer
(Knox) himself, were kept chained on board the galleys, and
treated with the utmost rigour ' refers to Lesley's (a Roman
Cathohc bishop's) History for his authority. It might perhaps
be urged that as Knox had time, as appears to be the case,
during his stay in the galleys to write a treatise in defence of
Protestantism, he could not have been put to any severe or
constant work ; but he could easily have written that treatise
while the galleys were lying in the river Loire during the winter.

NOTE 4
KNOX A PRUDENT HOUSEHOLDER
His Will, among other things, shows this. He was evidently
a good business man, and his Will is drawn up in a business-like
way. He says in it : ' None I have corrupted, none have I
defrauded, merchandize have I not made . of the glorious
Evangel of Jesus Christ.' In the testamentary part we see
exhibited a careful management of secular affairs, the lack of
which in some spiritually-minded people injures themselves
and others. The debts ' owing to the dead ' amounted to £830
Scots (=^166 sterling). The debts 'owing by the dead=none.'
To his sons, Nathanael and Eleazar (at that time students at
Cambridge), he left, as a precious remembrance ' that same
benediction that their dearest mother, Marjorie Bowes, left
unto them . . . that God would make them his true wor
shippers ; whereto, now as then, I from my troubled heart say
Amen.' Their mother's fortune of 100 merks sterling ( = £66,
13s. 4d.), augmented by his care to £500 Scots (=^100), was left
to these two sons, also certain articles of plate, among them two
silver goblets with J. K. M. on one side, and on the other E. B. N.
The rest of his property was left to his wife, Margaret Stewart,
and his three daughters, Martha, Margaret, and Elizabeth ;
including the debts owing to him it amounted to ^1526 Scots
(=£305 sterling), and books valued at£i30 Scots (=-£26 sterling).
There was also a legacy of ' ane hundreth pundis qlk lyis in
wodset ' to a nephew Paul Knox for his education. His wife

126 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
and daughters were appointed executors, and relying on the
tried generosity of the people of Edinburgh, he simply nominates
' the faithful to be oversmen ' (trustees), and they faithfully
carried out the trust. Moreover, the Town Council continued
his stipend to his wife and children for the year foUowing his
death. His stipend had been 200 merks Scots (=£10, 16s. 8d.
sterling) to begin with, but had been graduaUy augmented to
500 merks Scots (£27, is. 8d sterling) — a liberal provision for
those days, and he had a free furnished house. From various
references at the time Knox appears to have hved in kindliness
and friendliness with his neighbours, acting upon that motto
which runs along the frieze over the street floor of his house : —
' LVFE . GOD . ABOVE . AL . AND . Yl . NIGHTBOVR . AS . Yl .
SELF.'
We have seen how the Edinburgh people held him in the
highest esteem and affection, and we have given one or two
extracts from the Burgh Records in proof thereof. Let us now
add the following, showing how the Town Council, as repre
senting the citizens, ministered to his wants : —
' 8th May, 1560. The Provost, Bailies, and CouncU ordain
Alexander Park, their Treasurer, to deliver to John Carins £40
for furnishing to their minister John Knox in his household.'
' 15th May, 1560. The Provost, Bailies, and CouncU ordain
the Treasurer to pay twenty shillings for making the keys of
the Cowgate Port, ane for a lock to John Knox's lodging.'
' 30th October, 1560. The Provost, Bailies, and CouncU ordain
James Barrow to content and pay to John Knox the sum of
six score pounds of the readiest money of the Town being in his
hands, and such-like the sum of £20 for iron and fire work
furnished to his house.' ' 5th November, 1561. The Provost,
Bailies, and Council ordain the Dean of Guild with all diligence
to make a warm study of deals to the minister John Knox,
within his Lodgings, above the hall of the same, with lights and
windows thereunto, and all other necessaries.' ' 19th November,
1568. The Provosts, BaUies, and CouncU ordain the Treasurer
to cause repair the necessaries of John Knox's dwelling-house.'
The above sums are in Scots money.
The foUowing minute shows how unanimously and strongly the
Town CouncU supported Knox in a contest with the Queen :
' 23 August, 1565. The Provost, Council, and Deacons of Crafts
ordain John Sym, David Forester, and Allan Dickson, BaUies,
Master Robert Glen, Treasurer, James Nicholl and William

JOHN KNOX 127
Fowler, of the Council, this afternoon to pass to the King's and
Queen's Majesties (Lord Darnley and Queen Mary) desiring
to be heard of them touching the discharging of John Knox,
minister, of further preaching, and the deposing of Archibald
Douglas, Provost, and to report their answer in the morn.
The same day, afternoon, the BaUies, Council, and Deacons
foresaid, being convened in the Council House, after long
reasoning upon the discharging of John Knox, minister, of
preaching during the King's and Queen's Majesties' being in
this town, all in one voice conclude that they will no manner of
way consent that his mouth be closed in preaching the True
Word, and therefore willeth him at his pleasure, as God should
move his heart, to proceed forward in True Doctrine as he has
been of before, which Doctrine they would approve and abide
at to their life's end.'
In the present writer's John Knox and Ayrshire, there is a
document which also might be inserted here, as it shows the
love and esteem borne to him by another Scottish municipality,
namely, the Town CouncU of Ayr. The document is of six years'
later date than the preceding, and was transmitted to Edinburgh
when Kirkcaldy of Grange held the Castle there, and was
making things uncomfortable for Knox, even threatening his
life. It is a letter of remonstrance to Kirkcaldy :—
' Sir, — After hartlie commendatioune in the Lord ; For sa
meikle as unto this our Assemblie at Ayre, the secund of Januare,
we have hard be report of some, that not only ye have conceived
ane offence against our brother, Johne Knox, but also that are
purposit to injure him be sum way of died (a thing hard to be
believed of us) ; For albeit in materis of civile regiment ye dae
not fullie agrie with us, yit in the actione of relijoine God hes
heirtofore sa far used your labouris to the fartherance thairof,
that ye have not bene a simple professore only, but also a chiefe
defender thairof, with the hasard of your lyfe, landis, and guides :
And, thairfoir, hard it is to persuade us that ye should be movit
to dae ony harme to him in whose protectione and lyfe (to our
judgment) standis the prosperitie and increase of Godis Kirke
and relijione, and so, be the injureing of him, to cast down that
worke which with so grit labouris and manifold dangeris ye have
helpit to build. Yit, nochtheless, the grit cair that we have
of the personage of that man, whom God has made both the
first planter and also the chief waterer of His Kirke among us,
moves us to write these few lynis unto you, protestine that

128 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the death and lyfe of that our said brother is to us so pretious
and deer as is our owin lyves and deathis. Desyrine to have a
plaine declaretioune of your mynd in this matter with this
beirar, whom we have directed unto you with further credite.
And this nocht trubling you with farder anything, we committ
you to the regiment of the Spreit of God. — From Ayre the 3 of
Januare, 15 71.'

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland.
Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland.
Row's History of the Kirk of Scotland.
Spottiswood 's History of the Church of Scotland.
M'Crie's Life of John Knox.
Hume Brown's John Knox.
Dictionary of National Biography. Article, ' John Knox.'
Encyclopedia Britannica. Article, ' John Knox.'
Lord Guthrie's John Knox and his House.
Peter Miller's John Knox and his Manse.
Laing's The Works of John Knox.
Hay Fleming's Mary Queen of Scots.
,, ,, The Reformation in Scotland.
,, ,, Critical Reviews.
Handbook of St Andrews and Neighbourhood.
Hume Brown's Scotland in the Time of Queen Mary.
Mitchell's The Scottish Reformation. Baird Lecture.
Hastie's Theology of the Reformed Church in its Fundamental
Principles. Croall Lecture.
Lindsay's History of the Reformation.
The Memorials of Richard Bannatyne. Bannatyne Club.
Diurnal of Occurrents. Bannatyne Club.
Book of the Universal Kirk. Bannatyne Club.
BucKanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia.
Aikman's Translation of Buchanan's History.
Bishop Leslie's History of Scotland. Scottish Text Society.
Pitscottie's Chronicles of Scotland. Scottish Text Society.
Keith's History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland.
Cunningham's Chuch History of Scotland.
MacEwen's History of the Church in Scotland.
Ninian Hill's Story of the Scottish Church.
Grub's Ecclesiastical History of Scotland.

JOHN KNOX 129
Tytler's History of Scotland.
Hill Burton's History of Scotland.
Andrew Lang's History of Scotland.
Hume Brown's History of Scotland.
Froude's History of England. (Vols, vi.-x.)
,, Influence of the Reformation on the Scottish Character,
in his Short Studies on Great Subjects. (Vol. i.)
Lorimer's John Knox and the Church of England.
The Cambridge Modern History. (Vol. ii., The Reformation).
Catholic Tractates. Scottish Text Society.
Winzet's Certain Tractates. Scottish Text Society.
Mitchell's Gude and Godlie Ballatis. Scottish Text Society.
Marwick's Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh.
Patrick's Statuta. Scottish History Society.
Bain's Calendar of State Papers.
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Sir David Lyndsay's Poetical Works. Edited by David Laing,
LL.D.
Anderson's Collections relating to the history of Mary, Queen of
Scots.
Forbes Leith's Narratives of Scottish Catholics under Mary
Stewart and James I.

Subsidiary
Taylor Innes's Knox ; Maccunn's Knox ; Macmillan's Knox ,
Stalker's Knox ; Glasse's Knox ; Cowan's Knox.

CHAPTER III
JOHN WILLOCK
John Willock, according to Professor Hume Brown,
' seems to have held the next place in name and
authority to Knox among the preachers of the reformed
rehgion in Scotland.' He was a native of Ayrshire,
if not of the town of Ayr. There are families of that
name to-day in the county town who claim descent
from, or at least connection with, him. A member of
one of these was recently Provost of Ayr. We know
nothing of Willock's parentage, but as a youth he was
apparently sent to Glasgow University, and thereafter
we find him as a friar in the Franciscan monastery of
Ayr.1 As he certainly was there previous to the year
1540 — and assuming his age to be about twenty-five
then — he must have been born somewhere about the
year 1516. We can picture his life among the
Franciscans. Not so richly endowed nor so old as
its near neighbour, the monastery of the Dominican or
Black Friars, the Franciscan monastery was pleasantly
situated on the banks of the River Ayr, where the
present old church stands. We have only one trace of
it to-day, namely the ' Friars' Well,' which the church
yard waU now covers, but whence water can stiU be
seen oosing out. John Willock would wear the grey
cloak of his order, and, perhaps, would be seen at times
assisting in the cultivation of the fruit trees and vege
tables which grew in the rich sod of the monastery
1 See Note I.
130

JOHN WILLOCK 131
garden, or casting the fly or hauling the net in the
river below. The Dominicans had the sole right to the
salmon fishings, but doubtless they would extend their
courtesy to the brethren who lived so near them.
That the friars of Ayr were a merry company, de
lighting in hospitality, is evident from the fact that
no item occurs more regularly in the town's accounts
than ' a hogheid of wyne to the Gray Frers.' But
they had their rehgious exercises also, and within the
Franciscan monastery was an image of the Virgin
renowned for wonder-working powers.
To this monastic institution, then, Willock for some
time belonged, but the day came when he left the
convent and cast off the monastic habit for ever. The
new opinions seized hold of him, and he became an
ardent Protestant. That he had been a Franciscan is
noteworthy, for in changing his opinions he proved
an exception to his order. While many of the Augus
tinian canons and Dominican friars warmly espoused
the doctrines of the Reformation, few Franciscans,
Cistercians, Benedictines, or Carmehtes did so. We
have no means of knowing what brought about the
change in WiUock — whether it was by converse with
some earnest soul of the new faith, by reading some
treatise on the subject, or by direct light received from
the Holy Scriptures — but once converted he was not
slow to announce to others the new truths he had
received. He did not do this at first in the town oi
Ayr ; but, anticipating, we may say that when he
began the work of reform in Ayr, his labours were
attended with conspicuous success. Crowds flocked
to hear him in the church of St John, and when they
departed from the sacred building, it was with grim
determination to destroy all semblances and relics of
the old system. They cleared the two monasteries of

132 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
their images and of their friars, but that they were not
altogether ruthless is proved by the fact that, as the town
records inform us, two at least of the friars had annual
pensions bestowed upon them, as had also two of
the former chaplains of St John's Church. Possibly aU
the others had embraced Protestantism. The burghers
were jubilant over their success, and the magistrates
feted John WiUock as the hero of the fight. Among
their disbursements at the time we find — ' wyne to John
WiUock.' In addition to the burghers, Willock had
help from a large band of noblemen and gentlemen of
the shire, who attended him with their servants and
retainers, and pledged themselves to protect him,
greatly to the chagrin of Archbishop Beaton, who would
fain have laid hands on him. When these same noble
men — the Earl of Glencairn, Lord Boyd, Lord OchUtree,
and others— marched from Ayrshire to Perth to assist
the Reformers there, they took WiUock with them.
In referring to this, Knox says, ' With the Earl of
Glencairn came our loving brother, John WiUock.'
Our reformer seems to have gone to England im
mediately on doffing the monastic habit. In aU likeli
hood he felt he would be safer there, for the King,
Henry VIII., had broken with the old church. At first,
however, WiUock had to endure hardness in that
country, for he was thrown into the Fleet prison in
connection with the persecution for the Six Articles.
There had been passed, in the year 1539, ' an Act for
abolishing diversity of opinion in certain Articles of
the Christian Religion,' and this oppressive measure,
known as the Statute of the Six Articles, pressed heavily
on the Protestants. Soon, however, WiUock's ability
and force of character asserted themselves, and when
Edward VI. came to the throne he was appointed
chaplain to the Duke of Suffolk, father of Lady Jane

JOHN WILLOCK 133
Grey. We find him, also, a preacher at St Catherine's
Church, London. Foxe, in his Book of Martyrs,
mentions Willock (though the name is erroneously
printed ' Wilcock ') as connected with the parish of
St Catherine, and speaks of him as suffering persecution.
He says, ' WiUock, a Scottish friar, was prisoner in the
Fleet for preaching against confession, holy water,
against praying to saints, and for souls departed :
against purgatory, and holding priests might have
wives,' etc., and the martyrologist also says that one
of the charges against a William Chnch, of the parish
of St John the Baptist, Walbrook, was for ' burying
his wife without dirge, and causing the Scot of St
Catherine's to preach the next day after the burial.'
WiUock was one of the preachers who held a particular
licence from the Enghsh Government, by which he was
not restricted to any one place, but was empowered
to traverse the country and preach wherever it seemed
good to him. His compatriot, John Knox, had also
this licence, and one day the latter wrote as foUows to
Mrs Bowes : — ' I micht be mair dihgent in going fra
place to place although I suld beg and preache Chryst.'
There is a reference to Willock in Bullinger's dedication,
in Latin, of his Fifth Decade to the Marquis of Dorset,
where he says, ' Your piety needs none of my teaching,
seeing that it is surrounded with most learned and godly
men on all sides, of whom Master Robert Skinner and
Master John Willock, very excellent men, are none of the
least.' In the following lines we have the Reformer's
praise celebrated by Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich : —
' Quid memorem quanta WUocus, Skinerus et Haddon
^Elmerusque tuos ornarint luce penates ?
O Deus ! O quales juvenes ! Quo principe digni !
His tua luminibus splendet domus.'
(Strype's Annals, U., Append., p. 46.)

134 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
This Marquis of Dorset, afterwards Duke of Suffolk,
became very friendly towards Willock and had him
appointed his domestic chaplain for several years at
Bradgate, the family seat, near Leicester. In an
interesting letter from Willock to Bullinger (Zurich
Collection}, written from Oxford on May 12th, 1552,
the writer expresses his grateful feehngs for the kind
words in the dedication, and also refers to his patron,
the Marquis. The letter is as follows : ' Health in Christ.
I came over to Oxford on the nth of May, which as
soon as John ab Ulmis knew, he has never ceased asking
me, most exceUent sir, to send you a letter. I wrote
you soon after Christmas, but knew not whether my
letter had ever reached you, I wiU, therefore, only at
present briefly touch upon the heads of what I then
wrote. First of all, everlasting thanks for the kindness
by which you were induced to make such affectionate
mention of me in your dedicatory preface to our Prince
(the Marquis of Dorset). I have ever admired your
universaUy acknowledged learning and erudition. The
Prince certainly received that little present of yours
with a most grateful and well-disposed mind ; and you
must know that you have not acted more honourably
than usefully and piously ; for, as Socrates says, the
exhortation of great men are as a whip and spur to
happy perseverance in a praiseworthy course of hfe.
Every night, when we were employed on the Scottish
borders, after the book had been received there from
John ab Ulmis, with great difficulty on his part, his
Highness was not satisfied with having a large portion
of your book merely read to him, but would have it
diligently examined, by which I perceived him, endued
as he was with a most excellent disposition, greatly to
improve; and indeed he very often expressed himself
greatly obliged to you for it.'

JOHN WILLOCK 13S
When Willock was in England the Duke of Suffolk :
presented him to the hving of Loughborough, in
Leicestershire, which living he appears to have retained
all through his life ; and, as he afterwards became a
minister of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, he
would have the unique distinction of being, at the
same time, a beneficed clergyman of the Church of
England. The Professor of Ecclesiastical History in
Glasgow University — Dr Cooper— has indeed said
(in a Scottish Review article, 1914), that when Rector of
Loughborough, John WiUock journeyed to Scotland
to be Moderator of four General Assemblies. The
fact, or at least statement, is a remarkable one, and
possibly few readers of Scottish — and also of English —
Church history are aware of it. We are not sure if
WiUock actuaUy ' came down ' from England to preside
at aU these four meetings of the Supreme Court, but
there appears to be no doubt that he actuaUy was
Rector of Loughborough when he occupied the chair
of the Assembly.
On the accession of Mary to the throne of England,
in July 1553, WiUock escaped from that country, and
. crossed over to Emden, in Friesland, where, at an early
stage, ruler and people had eagerly embraced the cause
of Protestantism. We find him practising in that
country as a physician, prospering in his profession,
and rising to a position of influence. Anna, the Duchess
of Friesland, recognised his ability and tact, and ap
pointed him commissioner to Scotland to negotiate on
matters of trade with the Queen-Regent.
Twice he visited Scotland on this mission, in 1555
1 As will be seen from a note in the appendix, the presentation
has been credited to Henry, Earl of Huntingdon, but it may have
been made at the request, or through the influence, of the Duke of
Suffolk.

136 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
and 1556, and then, in 1558, he finally left Emden and
settled in his native land. Knox says, as we shaU see,
that Willock's principal purpose in accepting the
Duchess of Friesland's commission, was to see what
work God had for him to perform in the land of his
birth. He soon attained to a prominent place among
the Scottish reformers ; indeed, one would almost
suppose from a letter written to James Beaton, Arch
bishop of Glasgow, by Quintin Kennedy, that Knox
himself played a secondary part to him. At any rate,
in this letter, written on 7th April 1559, we are told
that the Scottish Protestants had chosen WiUock as
' Primat of their religioun.' This Quintin Kennedy was
himself an Ayrshire man, belonged to the Franciscan
order, and had become Abbot of Crossraguel. In all
likelihood he was personally acquainted with WiUock,
and it was the latter whom he selected in the first
instance to do battle with on points of controversy
between Roman Cathohcism and Protestantism. As
still further indicating the prominent place occupied
by WiUock in the Scottish Reformation, a poem written
in those days may be quoted. It is not to be forgotten
that the fierce struggle between Roman Cathohcism
and Protestantism — with avarice and tyranny among
the nobles, uprisings among the commons, and cor
ruption and immorahty everywhere prevailing —
supphed baUadists and satirists with many themes.
Consequently we have in rhyme rough and ready
pictures of passing events, satirical effusions directed
against men prominent in secular or sacred affairs, and
at times ebuUitions of spite, rancour, and personal
abuse. There were many of these poetical broadsheets
and leaves printed in black letter, and hawked about
the country by chapmen and pedlars. While most of
them are by Protestajits, a few are by Roman Cathohcs,

JOHN WILLOCK 137
and among the latter is one anonymous as regards its
author and printer and the place from which it was
issued, but with the date 1581, and bearing the title
' Ane Admonition To The Antichristian Ministers in
The Deformit Kirk of Scotland.' The following are
the lines referring to Willock, and they indicate the
leading place he occupied among the Scottish Reformers :
' Sen for loun Willox to be zour crounal Strang, (colonel)
Quhais heid and schoulders ar of bouk aneuch, (bulk)
That was in Scotland vyreenin zou amang, (consorting)
Quhen as he drave and Knox held steve the pleuch.' (firmly)
(plough)
Are we to infer from this effusion that John Willock
was a Saul among the prophets, a man of large physical
build ? One would think so.
As is well known Knox was obnoxious to Queen
Elizabeth, and she would never admit him to the royal
presence. But Willock appears to have had that
privUege and honour. It came about in this way.
When the French army in Scotland was annoying and
alarming the reformers — the situation, indeed, was almost
desperate — the leaders of the Congregation dispatched
Maitland of Lethington to London in order to try and
secure assistance from the English statesmen. But
Lethington did not go alone, for the Sadleyr Papers
inform us that he was accompanied by Willock or
Balnaves, or by both. Nor had they only an interview
with Cecil and other ministers of State, but they laid
the matter before Queen Ehzabeth herself. What
precisely their proposals were we do not know, but the
remarkable fact emerges that, as Teulet tells us, the
delegates offered, ' se donner ' to her majesty, and
proposed a union of Scotland with England ' under the
ancient name of Great Britain.'
Knox's first reference to Willock in his History is as

138 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
follows : ' First came a simple man, WilUam Harlaw,
whose erudition, although it excel not, yet for his zeal,
and dihgent plainness in doctrine, is he to this day
worthy of praise, and remains a fruitful member within
the Church of Scotland (as minister of the Parish of
St Cuthbert's Edinburgh). After him came that notabL
man, John WiUock, as one who had some commission
to the Queen-Regent from the Duchess of Emden.
But. his principal purpose was to essay what God would
work by him in his native country. These two did
sometimes, in several companies, assemble the brethren,
who by their exhortations began greatly to be encouraged,
and did show that they had an earnest thirst for godli
ness. Last came John Knox to Scotland, in the end
of the harvest, in the year of God 1555.' Knox then
tells us that there repaired to him (Knox) at his lodgings
in Edinburgh, ' in the house of that notable man of
God, James Syme,' Erskine of Dun and some leading
citizens, when they held conferences on the work of
reform. Had Knox and WiUock met before they
became fellow-workers in Scotland? We think so.
In the letter to the Marquis of Dorset, already given,
Willock refers to his employment on the Scottish borders,
and also to a friend of his named John ab Ulmis. This
latter was a Swiss student, who had been studying at
Oxford, and he informs Bulhnger, in a letter from
London, of the year 1551, that the Marquis of Dorset
' is gone into Scotland with three hundred cavalry,
and some good preachers, with the view of faithfuUy
instructing and enlightening in rehgion that part of
the country which had been subdued during the last
few years. I think of joining them there in a few weeks.'
Ab Ulmis did go to Berwick, and on his return he writes :
' WiUock is preaching the Word of Ged with much
labour on the borders of Scotland.' Now Knox was in

JOHN WILLOCK 139
Berwick at that time as minister of the Protestant
Congregation, preaching also and labouring ' on the
borders of Scotland.' There were important negotia
tions with England taking place at Berwick, in which
many leading Scotsmen took part, and it is inconceivable
that Knox and Willock, for whom these negotiations
meant so much, would not be in that important town
at the same time, and have a good deal of personal
intercourse. They would doubtless also meet in their
preaching tours in the neighbourhood.
Knox's second reference to Willock is as follows.
The year is 1556, and he says : ' At last, at God's good
pleasure, arrived John Willock the second time from
Emden, whose return was so joyful to the brethren
that their zeal and godly courage daily increased.
Albeit he contracted a dangerous sickness, yet he ceased
not from his labours, but taught and exhorted from his
bed. Some of the nobihty — of whom some are fallen
back, among whom the Lord Seton is chief — -with many
barons and gentlemen, were his auditors, and by him
were godly instructed and wondrously comforted.
They kept their conventions, and held counsels with
such gravity and closeness that the enemies trembled.'
And their zeal for the Evangel affected the whole popula
tion, so that ' images ' were removed from churches,
and ' that great idol St Giles was first drowned in the
North Loch, and after burned, which raised no small
trouble in the town. For the friars, rowping (crying
hoarsely) hke ravens upon the bishops, the bishops
ran upon the Queen,' and endeavoured to get her to
stamp out this revolution.
According to Pitscottie, the Regent Moray (then
Lord James Stewart) had a hand in securing the services
of Willock. ' At this time,' he says, ' Lord James with
adwyce of the Congregation brocht Johne Knox out of

140 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Geneve and Johne WiUox out of England, quha war
bayth Scottismen borne, and cunning men in the
Scripture of God and trew preacharis of Chrystis
Evangell, quha was banisit out of Scotland befoir for
the samyn and judgment led in thame be David
Beattoun Cardinall for the tyme quho causit to condamp
thame for arracie and burne thair picturis. Nocht-
withstanding thay was so presarvit be Goddis graice,
and the said Cardinall gat his reward for the said banis-
ment and that be the hand of God for puniching of
his trew servandis.'
Some time after this we find WiUock in Dundee.
He is still in poor health, but in that town, and soon
again in Edinburgh, he works so indefatigably and with
such success that Knox feels mightily encouraged and
strengthened. Knox would even accord him the honour
of starting the Reformation in Scotland, or at least
of giving it a fresh impetus, for he says that it was
through his preaching at Edinburgh and Dundee that
the brethren began to ' deliberate on some pubhc re
formation.' In 1559 an important but dangerous
position was given him, namely, that of minister of
St GUes'. It was thought better that Knox should
retire for a little, partly for the purpose of advancing
the cause of reform in other parts of the country, and
partly for his own safety. It would appear that
Willock had some commendable qualities that were
lacking in the great Reformer. Dr M'Crie, in con
trasting him with Knox, says that he surpassed the
latter in affable address, which enabled him to accom
plish his purposes when his intrepid colleague could not
act with safety or success. Willock, therefore, was
chosen for this important office, though the appoint
ment was evidently intended to be only of a temporary
nature. He had the Duke of Chatelherault at times

JOHN WILLOCK 141
in his audience, and others of high station. He dis
pensed the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in St Giles'
Church, and this is generaUy understood to be the first
time this sacrament was publicly dispensed in Edinburgh
in the Protestant fashion. From a letter of Kirkcaldy
of Grange to Sir Henry Percy we learn that the Service
Book used was the Second Prayer Book of Edward VI.
We also know from the old records of the Town Council
of Edinburgh that there was an ' actour of the morning
prayeris,' elsewhere in the records called ' redar of
the common prayeris.' We know what John WiUock's
stipend was, for in the same records we read :
' 29th August 1560. — The CounsaiU ordains their
treasurer to deliver to John WUlock twenty-two crownes
of the sone (sun) for recompense of the great traveil
sustenit by him this haiU yiere bygane, in preching
and administering the sacramentis within this burgh,
and ordains ane member of the CounsaiU to thank him
for his greit benevolence, and for his greit travaill
forsaid.' They also appear to have paid the minister's
rent or lodgings. Later, in ' The compt. of Sir John
Wyisharte, Knycht Comptroller and Collector-General
of the Thredis of the Benefices of the Realme, 1564,'
we read : ' And to Johne Willock, xviij day of
September, zeir the lxiiij , deliverit the soume of f ourtye
pundis at my Lord Comptrollaris command, in part
of payment of his stipend, as his acquittance beris.'
Here is what Knox says of the minister : —
' For the comfort of the brethren, and continuance
of the Kirk in Edinburgh, was left there our dear brother
John WiUock, who, for his faithful labours and bold
courage in that battle, deserveth immortal praise. For,
when it was found dangerous that John Knox, who
before (on 7th July 1559) was elected minister to that
church, should continue there, the brethren requested

142 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the said John Willock to abide with them, lest that
for lack of ministers, idolatry should be erected up
again. To the which he so gladly consented, that it
might evidently appear that he preferred the company
of his brethren, and the continuance of the church
there, to his own hfe.'
Certainly the dangers were great. The Queen-
Regent was in possession of the city ; the French troops
lay in garrison at Leith, and in the Canongate ; the
royal party were doing all in their power to have the
Mass celebrated again in St Giles' ; the Earl of Huntly
was using his influence for the Queen's party among the
citizens ; and the French soldiers were even disturbing
the Protestant service — ' walking up and down,' says a
later historian, ' behind the hearers with such talking
and noise as disturbed the people very much.' It
should be remembered that in the Church of St Giles
at that time, while stalls within the choir accom
modated clergymen and nobles, the great central area
and the aisles- were unencumbered with gaUeries or
pews, though portable stools, as later in Jenny Geddes's
time, were utilised by the city dames. The French
soldiers accordingly made the area and aisles a place
of promenade during the time of service to the great
annoyance of the congregation. WiUock denounced
these disturbers in no measured terms from the pulpit,
and prayed that 'the land might soon be freed from
such locusts.' Sometimes a Romish churchman would
intrude himself, and Calderwood teUs us that one day,
when Willock was preaching, ' a horned cap was taken
off a proud priest's head, and cut in four quarters
because he said he would wear it in spite of the con
gregation.' Willock did not flinch in carrying on his work. Later,
the Queen had him summoned before the Court of

JOHN WILLOCK 143
Justiciary to stand his trial for heresy, and when he,
and some other preachers, refused to appear, they were
declared rebels, and their cautioners subjected to heavy
fines. But the tables were soon turned, the Lords of
the Congregation prevailed, and WiUock had to pro
nounce sentence on the Queen. The matter arose in
this way. The Queen having broken faith with the
Protestant leaders, and having commenced to fortify
Leith, a convention of the nobility, barons, and burghers
was held in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh to take into
consideration her conduct, and it was WiUock who
was asked first to give his judgment. He gave it as
his opinion that she ' might justly be deprived of the
government.' According to Spottiswood, John WiUock
said : ' That albeit magistracy be God's ordinance,
and that they who bear rule have their authority from
Him, yet their power is not so largely extended, but that
the same is bounded and limited by God in His Word.
And albeit God hath appointed magistrates His lieu
tenants on earth, honouring them with His own title,
and calhng them gods ; yet did He never so establish
any, but for just causes they might be deprived. For
even as subjects are commanded to obey their magis
trates, so -magistrates have direction given them for
their behaviour towards them they rule, and God in
His Word hath defined the duties both of the one and
the other. In deposing princes and those that have
borne authority, God did not always use His immediate
power, but sometimes he used other means, such as in
His Wisdom He thought good. As by Asa He removed
Maacha his own mother from the honour and authority
which before she did exercise ; by Jehu He destroyed
Joram and the whole posterity of Achab ; and by
divers others He deposed from the Government those
whom He had established before by His own Word.

144 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Since the Queen-Regent had denied her chief duty
to the subjects of the realm, which was to minister
justice indifferently, to preserve them from the invasion
of strangers, and to suffer the Word of God to be freely
preached, seeing also she was a minister of superstition,
and despised the counsel of the nobility, he did think
they might deprive her from all regiment and authority
over them.'
There were certain provisos added, and Knox seconded
Willock, with the result that the Queen's authority was
suspended and a council appointed to manage the
affairs of the kingdom until a meeting of Parhament.
Willock was chosen to assist in their deliberations,
and in this way became a Privy CounciUor.
It was not long after this that Mary of Lorraine
sickened unto death. The Earls of Argyll and Glen
cairn, the Earl Marischal, and Lord James Stewart
were summoned to her bedside, and each conversed
with her. They suggested that she should ' send for
a godly, learned man of whom she might receive in
struction, for the ignorant Papists that were about
her understood nothing of the Mystery of the Re
demption,' and it was not John Knox but John Willock
who was sent for. The Queen entered into conversation
with him, and he spoke faithfully, and doubtless also
tenderly to her ; and Knox says ' that she did openly
confess that there was no salvation but in and by the
death of Jesus Christ.' It must have been a strange
scene, this royal death-bed, the Protestant reformer
ministering to the spiritual needs of a prominent Roman
Catholic, who had endeavoured to put down the new
faith and imprison the very man who was now her
spiritual adviser. Many artists have painted scenes
connected with Mary, Queen of Scots, and John Knox,
but surely there is also material for the artist in this

JOHN WILLOCK 145
scene in Edinburgh Castle between her mother and
John Willock.
It may be mentioned that Willock, some five years
later, had an interview also with her famous daughter,
and thus he appears to have been the only one of
' the six Johns ' who had this double honour and
responsibility. But, going back some eight years, there was another
almost royal lady, proclaimed indeed Queen of England,
with whom John Willock was on terms of closest intimacy,
and that was Lady Jane Grey. Bradgate, already
referred to, the seat of the Duke of Suffolk, was her
home, and Willock, who was located there for several
years, was the pastor and teacher of this amiable,
accomplished, and unfortunate lady. It is said that it
was he who, in the first instance, taught her to think
so highly of Bullinger, whose correspondent she became,
and that he influenced her in favour of the Helvetic
type of the reformed faith.
In the year 1560, John Willock, along with several
others, was appointed by the Committee of Parliament
a Superintendent. Ten were originally contemplated
for this office, but there were never more than five.
The part of Scotland Willock was to superintend was
' the West,' which included his native shire of Ayr.
Glasgow was to be his head-quarters. These Super
intendents were necessary for the Presbyterian Church
in its beginnings, and were different from diocesan
bishops, inasmuch as they were answerable for all they
did to the General Assembly, and they had no special
powers such as of ordination. One of them was a layman,
of ancient lineage and wealthy, John Erskine of Dun,
who was appointed Superintendent of Angus and
Mearns. That John Knox meant by this Superintend
ence something quite different from Anglican Episcopacy

146 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
is proved by, among other things, his refusal in 1572
to inaugurate Master John Douglas, who had been
chosen Archbishop of St Andrews ; and just as other
temporary officials such as ' Readers ' and ' Exhorters '
soon passed away, so also did ' Superintendents.' The
induction of Willock to this office must have been con
sidered of State importance, for Thomas Randolph,
the Enghsh Ambassador, writes about it to Secretary
Cecil in London, and he mentions among those present
the Duke of Chatelherault, his son the Earl of Arran,
the Earl of Glencairn, Lord Ruthven, Lord Boyd, and
Lord Ochiltree. He adds that this settlement ' was
little to the contentation ' oi the anti-reform party.
We have another rather curious contemporary reference
to the event in a letter from Thomas Archioald, chamber
lain to the Archbishop of Glasgow, who was then in
Paris. The chamberlain writes : ' John WiUock is
made Bishop of Glasgow now in your lordship's absence,
and is placed in your place at Glasgow.' From the
Register of Ministers, Exhorters, etc ., we cull the
following in reference to WiUock's stipend : ' Super
intendent of the West, having under him Lanark,
Renfrow, Dunbertane, Kyle, Carrik, and Conygham —
Quheit xxiiij bollis, Beir v chalderis, Aitis lx boUis, Meill
iij chalderis, Money Vc merkis.' 1 It may be noted,
however, that Thomas Archibald, chamberlain to the
Archbishop, also says in a letter, ' He (WiUock) gets a
thousand pounds yearly off the bishopric of Glasgow,
1 As payments such as these are mentioned more than once in
this book, we may state that in the year 1563 the boll of wheat in
Scotland averaged £1 ¦ the boll of barley £1, 13s. 4d. ; the boU of
malt £2 ; and the boll of oats ios. With regard to money payments,
it should be remembered that the Scottish coinage w,as not nearly
so debased in the sixteenth century as in later years. At the time of
the Reformation, according to Cochran-Patrick's Records of the Coinage
of Scotland, the comparative values of English and Scots money were
about 1 to 5.

JOHN WILLOCK 147
and dwells in the dean's house.' In the Preface to the
Diocesan Registers of Glasgow (edited by Bain and
Rogers), we are told that Father Innes, in an interesting
letter (of ist May 1738, when Innes was in his seventy-
first year), asserts that the paucity of records — such
as ' protocolla,' or abstracts of important deeds and
transactions — within the diocese of Glasgow, and be
longing to the University (some of which recoids were
saved by Archbishop Beaton), was owing to the
' aversion of the leading men of the city to all our com
munion and character,' and more particularly to the
Friar Willox with ' those of his gang ' who possessed
themselves of the buildings.
The only reference to Willock's engagement as Super
intendent which we have found in contemporary docu
ments is in the Burgh Records of Peebles, a town which
reaUy seems to have been outwith his ' diocese.' 1 But
it fell to him to visit it, and if there were other places
so depraved, the Superintendent's work must have
been arduous and heart-breaking. Peebles, it appears,
adhered to the old faith till the Lords of the Congregation
were powerful enough, or had opportunity, to offer
the town the new. At first Peebles refused, but on
November 20, 1560, ' the bailies and community send
a deputation to the Lords of the Congregation at
Edinburgh to provide ane minister and preacher.'
John Dickson was appointed, and it was ' Johne Willock,
super-attendant in Glasgow,' who inducted him. But
John WUlock must have seen something like paganism
prevaihng at Peebles, for the new incumbent, designated
' exhortare and redare of the commoun prayers,' soon
finds it necessary to address the following petition to
the authorities : —
1 Yet, before the Reformation, Peebl3ssshire was comprised in the
Archbishopric of Glcisgow.

148 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
' Schirris bailhes, counsale and communite of the
burgh of Pebhs, humlie menis to your maisterschippis
your servitor Johne Dikesone, exhortare in our said
kirk of Peblis, desyring your maisterschippis now
present convenit to appoynt elderis to wache our your
said kirk quha has the feir of God afore ye, quhairthrow
that vice may be pvnissit agreeable with the wiU of
God as is reveht in his EvangeU, and our reformit kirk
ordourit as vtheris kirkkis is, that your maisterschippis
obbeying the word of God may haif His blessing and
also your knawlege oppynnit be the instructioun of his
eternal Sprite, and in speciali that punishment may be
put to their persones quha wiU nocht compleit the
band of matrimony quilk in the presens of God is
wickkitnes, and, sua that na correctioun be, your tovne
sal be ane verray Sodome and Gomar, and all because
na correctioun is put thairto be your maisterschippis,
and sua gif ye omit this vndone God wiU pynis yow quha
is hinderaris of the said purpos. And this present is to
exoner me in the presens of God quha hes oft provit
the samin by my writing, requiring your maisterschippis
ansuer, alwayis ye havand the feir of God afore ye,
and for na partialite of ony persone, stay this quhilk
ye knaw is agreeable with the wiU of the Eternale Juge
quha hes set you in authorite.'
This same year, perhaps before entering on his new
duties, Willock returns to England whence he brings
back to Scotland his wife, an English lady. There is
a curious reference to this in the appendix to Keith's
History, where we find a letter to Archbishop Beaton,
of date ioth October 1560, and written from Glasgow,
in which it is said, that ' John WiUock is going to
London, with the ambassadors, to bring home his
wife ' ; and when the ambassadors returned on the
3rd January 1561, we find, from the Diurnal of

JOHN WILLOCK 149
Occurrents, that they ' brocht with them Johne Willok's
wyff.' Besides the controversy arranged for with the Abbot
of Crossraguel, Willock had at least three other dis
putations with stalwarts of the old faith. The one
seems to have occurred when he settled in Glasgow as
Superintendent of the West, and was with John Black,
a Dominican Friar ; the other was with Ninian Winzet
or Wingate, Master of Linhthgow Grammar School ;
while the third was with Robert Maxwell, Master of
the Glasgow Grammar School. Bishop Leshe mentions
these disputations, but gives us no details. This is
what he says (in L)alrymple's Scottish Translation of
his History from the Latin) : ' Quhen Johne Black,
a learned man, with disputatione continual the space
of tua. dayes, culd not bring Willox from defending his
haeresie, nor culd turne him from his obstinacie, tha
gyve over thair disputeng but (i.e. without) ony concord
or kynd of griment. Quhairthrouch the ruid people,
of sik a disputatione sa sharpe a varietie of baith handes,
was wor than afore, and meikle mair doubted, than tha
did : nouther culd be talde quhome to tha suld consent,
or gyve thair vote ... as first with Knox, and schortlie
efter with Spottiswode the Superintendens, Kinlouie the
Minister, the blist sacrament's treuth [was discussed] in
Lythcoi afor the hail court. Thairfor the self same
disputed Mr N. Winzet, and with Willox for the same
contr oversaries in Glasgwe [he and], Robert Maxual
baith scuil maisteris.'
We know little or nothing about the last named ;
the second we have more than once referred to, and
shall refer to again ; but as to the first, Black, we may
state that while Willock might be said to be Mary of
Guise's last spiritual adviser (for she died very shortly
after his solemn interview with her), Black was her

150 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
confessor when the fatal illness first came upon her.
He seems to have been a man fairly well known in
Scotland in Reformation times, and the foUowing
doggerel regarding him has come down to these latter
days : —
' There was a certain Black-friar, always called Black,
And this was no nickname, for black was his work.
Of all the Black-friars he was the blackest clerk,
Born in the Black Friars to be a black mark.'
The man was evidently unpopular, for one winter
day the people stoned him in the streets.
It may be here stated that no works of WiUock have
come down to us, nor is it known with certainty if he
was the author of any. Dempster — a Roman Cathohc
writer who caUs WiUock ' perfidus apostata,' ' nefandus
sectarius,' ' impiissimi coUega Knoxii,' and hurls other
opprobrious epithets at him — alludes to a book by him
entitled Impia qucedam, hb. i., but he adds ' sed non
vidi,' and no one else apparently has seen it. There
are six letters, however, by the Reformer stiU extant
which have reference to the preliminary arrangements
for the abortive Crossraguel disputation, and they are
very interesting as showing how an educated man of the
sixteenth century spoke and wrote the old Scots tongue.
They are to be found, along with their rephes from
Abbot Quintin Kennedy, in Wodrow's Miscellany.
According to Keith, the reason for the disputation not
having taken place was that WiUock came to it attended
by four or five hundred Protestants instead of twelve
as had been agreed upon. Kennedy, fearing a tumult,
would not meet his opponent, and declined a private
conference, entering a legal protest against WiUock for
departing from the agreement. The matter then
dropped. As introductory to a conversation between Knox

JOHN WILLOCK 151
and WiUock on the subject of ordination, we may refer
now to an observation of Grub in his Ecclesiastical
History of Scotland. Writing from the episcopal stand
point, this historian lays stress on the absence of ordina
tion at St Andrews when John Knox was set apart for
the ministry there, and incorrectly says that ' the
circumstances connected with the proceedings show
how entirely the doctrine of holy orders was rejected
by the Scottish reformers ' ; but he is so far correct
when he adds that ' no laying on of hands or other
ceremony was used, and no allusion was made to the
priestly ordination which Knox had already received,
the solemn and deliberate choice of the people being
held to be the only authority requisite for conferring
the ministerial office.' Apart, however, from Knox
having been ordained before, there is every likelihood
that there would be some special prayer on this occasion,
and certainly the preacher's charge to him was of a
very solemn kind, indicating how weighty and sacred
the ministerial function was. Still Knox was not the
man to lay stress on mere external rite or ceremony,
his reformation of religion being, indeed, a protest
against undue attachment to such things. He has
been censured, moreover, by some for admitting an
uneducated, or rather a half-educated, man, WiUiam
Harlaw, to the ministry, and for co-working with him.
But any such censure should also be directed against
the Church of England, for Harlaw had been ordained
in that Church during the reign of Edward VI. Besides,
he was a good man, earnest and brave, who had suffered
and become an exile for his faith. He proved, too, an
exceUent parish minister. Let us give now some
remarks on ordination, as supphed by Nicol Burne,
a Roman Cathohc controversialist contemporary with
the speakers : ' In ane convention haldin be him (Knox),

152 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
ViUox and otheris of their sect, as I undirstude of ane
nobil and honorabil man quha can yit beir vitness gif
I lea or not, ViUox proposed as ane maist vechtie mater
to considder, be quhat vay thai sould admit thair
ministeris ; for, said he, gif ve admit thame be the
impositione of handis or onie uther ceremonie usit in
ordinar calhng, the lyk vii be askit of us, that we sheu
that we war admittit to the ministrie with sik ane
ceremonie be pastoris quha teached in the Kirk of
Scotland befoir us. Johane Knnox ansuerit maist re-
soluthe, Baf, baf, man, we ar anes entered. Let se
quha sal put us out agane ; meining that thair was not
sa monie gunnis and pistollis in the countrey to put him
out, as var to intend him with violence.'' One would
have hked the name of the nobleman who rehearsed this
conversation to Nicol Burne, and, though Knox did lay
stress on ordination he seems, on this occasion, to have
acted on his own advice to Lethington — ' melanchohous
reasons waed haif sum myrth intermixed.'
The above writer has another reference to WiUock,
and it is rather curious. When speaking of magical
powers, he says, ' as for the practeis of magict, I might
object unto you ViUox, quhais sone raised the devil,
your doctor, in Arthuris Seate, quhair ye maid your
first preachingis,' the words being addressed to Knox.
The work as carried on by WiUock must have been
distasteful to Queen Mary, for we find that in 1565
she endeavoured to have him imprisoned in Dumbarton
Castle ; but he was held in great favour by the Pro
testants — now the greater portion of the nation — so
much so that we find he has the unique distinction of
having held the high office of Moderator of the General
Assembly five times certainly, and seven probably,
Knox himself only having held that high office twice.
Indeed, we might say that WiUock was the Moderator

JOHN WILLOCK 153
of the first regular or fully constituted General Assembly
that ever met, namely, that which commenced its
sittings on 25th December 1563, the previous Assembhes
having been somewhat informal. It is curious that
at one of the Assembhes, over which John Willock
presided, there were members present who desired to
censure him. The record i,s — ' Mr Willock being re
moved {i.e. desired to withdraw), it was complained that
he did not use his endeavour for the extirpation of
popery.' On his return to the meeting he was told
of what he had been accused, but ' laid the blame of
more effectual methods on the Duke of Chatelherault
and the Earl of Cassilhs ; and, further, he desired to be
disburthened of the great charge laid upon him (that
of Superintendent), which he had undertaken only for
a time and requested the Assembly to lay no heavier
burthen upon him than he was able to bear.' It is
sometimes said at the present day that meetings of the
General Assembly are at times unruly and attended
with disorder, but these appear to have been early
faults of the Scottish Church, for once when Willock
was approached to be Moderator again, we are informed
by Archbishop Spottiswood that he was reluctant to
accept ' unless some better order were observed than
had been in former times. For even then,' the Arch
bishop (who, however, may have been biassed), says
' the multitudes that convened, and the indiscreet
behaviour of some who loved to appear more zealous
than others, did cause great confusion. Obedience,
however, being promised by the whole number, Mr
Willock assumed the charge.'
Though, as already stated, the work as carried on by
Willock was distasteful to Queen Mary, and she en
deavoured to imprison him for it, yet she granted him
an interview for conversation on matters in dispute

154 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
between them. This occurred at Perth on the 13th
May 1565, and along with John Willock were his brother
Superintendents, John Winram and John Spottiswood.
Knox tells us about it, and says that the Queen
' cherished them with fair words,' and ' although not
persuaded in any rehgion but in that wherein she was
brought up,' she was willing to hear what they had to
say for their faith. Moreover, she undertook to arrange
for a public conference on the ecclesiastical state of
the nation, but untoward circumstances prevented its
being held.
In 1567 Willock was in England, and the General
Assembly sent him a most pressing and touching letter
to return. We give it to our readers that they may
see the high regard in which he was held by the Church
Moreover, it is an important document of the times :¦ —
'.VI DEB AM SAT AN AM SICUT FVLGUR DE COELO
CADENTEM.
' As the Lord our God hath at aU times beene, frome
the beginning of this his worke of reformatioun, and
restitutioun of the puritie of his true worship and re
ligioun within Scotland, loving brother in the Lord,
most beneficiall and bountifull toward this realme,
so hath he now, by this last most miraculous victorie
and overthrow, poured forth in greatest abundance
the richies of his mercie, in that not onlie he hath
driven away the tempest and storme, but also hath
quieted and calmed all surges of persecutioun, as now,
we may thinke weiU our shippe is receaved, and placed
in a most happie and blessed port. Our enemies,
praised be God, are dashed; religioun estabhshed;
sufficient provision made for ministers ; order takin,
and penaltie appointed for aU sort of transgressioun
and transgressors ; and above all, a godhe magistrat,

JOHN WILLOCK 155
whom God, of his eternall and heavenlie providence,
hath reserved to this age, to putt in executioun what
soever He by his law commandeth. Now, then, loving
brother, as your presence was to us all in time of trouble
most comfortable, so it is now of us all universallie
wished ; but most earnestlie craved by your owne
flocke, who continuallie, at all Assemblies, have declared
the force of that conjunctioun, the earnestness of that
love, the pith of that zeale and mutuall care, that
bindeth the pastor with his flocke which nather by
processe of time is diminished, nor by separatioun and
distance of places restringed, nor yitt by anie tyrannie
and feare dissolved. True it is that, at this most earnest
and just petitioun, we have ever still winked this while
past ; nor but that to us all your absence was most
dolorous. But, in respect of troubles, we judged more
meete to await for suche opportunitie as now God,
in this most wonderfull victorie of his Evangell, hath
offered. Therefore, seeing all impediments are removed,
and your flocke still continueth in earnest sute for you,
and now everie where throughout the realme com
missioners and superintendents placed, and one offered
to them, and by them refused altogether, awaiting for
you, we could no longer stay, but agree to this their
desire. In sute whereof, nather through fea.re have they
fainted, nor by charges retarded, nor yitt by any kinde
of offer desisted. And, as we have beene moved to
grant to them that which they have thus humblie and
continualhe suted, we cannot but persuade our selves
but yee wiU satisfie the same. Nather can we thinke
that the sheepheard will refuse his flock, that the father
will reject the just petitioun of his sonne, least of all,
that the faithfuU servant of God will shutt up his ears
at the voice and commandment of the Kirke, or yitt
denie his labours to his owne countrie. The time is

156 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
proper now, to reape with blytheness that which by
you before was sowin in teares, and injoy the fruit of
your most wearisome and painfuU labours. It saU
be no lesse pleasant to you, to see your owne native
countrie at libertie and freedome, which yee left in
mourning and sobbing, under the heavie burthein of
most crueU servitude, than comfortable to behold the
religioun of Jesus Christ throughout aU the realme
flourishing, virtue encreassing, virtuous men in re-
putatioun ; and, finaUie, to embrace these dayes which,
howsoever by your own self have beene most piouslie
desired, yitt could yee never looke to obteane the same.
Now, at last, to conclude : unless yee wiU be an enemie
to your countrie, yee wUl not refuse these requeists.
Unless you vill be stubborne and disobedient, yee wiU
not contemne the commandment of the kirk. Unless
yee vill be carelesse and unthankfull, yee wiU not despise
the humble, continuaU, and earnest sute of your flocke.
And, last of aU, we assure our selves, that ye are not
so astricted and addicted to your owne particular, as
that this generall and common caus should be in anie
wise by you neglected. Now saU yee see the kaip-stone
of that worke whereof ye layed the foundation. Thus
we cannot looke for anie other answere than yee saU
give by your self, and that with all expedition possible.
Our state, yee know, is not so sure, but we ever stand
upon our watches. But that, we know, wiU not stay
you, seeing your compt is so layed. Thus we committ
you to the protectioun of our Lord Jesus. At Edinburgh
in our Generall Assemblie, and seventh sessioun thereof.'
Willock comphed with this request, and returned for
a period to Scotland.
WiUock assisted in drawing up the Confession of
Faith, or ' Confessio Scotica,' which was ratified by
Parhament on 17th August 1560. He seems, also,

JOHN WILLOCK 157
to have played an important part in certain private
negotiations with the nobles and prelates before the
Confession was formally submitted to the whole Parlia
ment, for in a letter written by Cecil in that year we
read : ' Mr Knox and Mr Willock were yesterday before
the lords of the articles with the bishops [and the
archbishop of] St Andrews desired to have a copy of
the confession of their faith.' In the same year he was
one of the ministers- — one of the six Johns who had also
drawn up the Confession of Faith — to whom was assigned
the task of drawing up the First Book of Discipline,
which defined the authority and jurisdiction of the
Churcb as then constituted. Though many of the
reforming nobility and gentlemen approved of the
book, and appended their names to it, there were others
who, having already apprBpriated or marked out for
future appropriation large portions of Church lands
and revenue, could not brook the proposal to aUocate
this wealth towards the preaching of the Gospel, the
education of the people, and the amehoration of the
lot of the poor, or, as they would say, to distribute the
wealth among the ministers, the schoolmasters, and the
poor. Moreover, some of these nobles and gentlemen
were rather free in their living, and dreaded the re
strictions of the Book of Discipline. Consequently,
though this book was finally approved by the General
Assembly of the year 1581, and was placed among the
Acts of the Kirk, it never was formally approved by
Parliament. Willock played a small, though important, part in
connectio.i with the Casket Letters, or, to be more
correct, with the Commission which met to enquire
into the dethroned Queen Mary's conduct. The con
ference with the Scottish Commissioners having been
removed from York to London by Queen Elizabeth's

158 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
orders, assumed a more august shape, as some of
England's greatest nobles were summoned for the special
duty. There appears to have been some particular
agreement come to, or scheme arranged, between the
Regent of Scotland (Moray) and the Duke of Norfolk,
who were both present ; and several people were very
anxious to know what that agreement, or scheme, was.
Queen Ehzabeth herself was one of them. Who could
supply the information ? There was one man, apart
from the principals, who could, and that was John
WiUock. How he came to know the secret we cannot
teU, and it is impossible to believe that he would have
betrayed the Earl of Moray. But somehow the Earl
of Morton knew that WiUock had the information, and
he was determined that Queen Ehzabeth should have it.
So, possibly unaware that it was wanted for so mighty
a personage, WiUock, at Morton's suggestion, imparted
the information to his friend and patron, the Earl of
Huntingdon, who passed it on to the Earl of Leicester,
and he, again, told it to Elizabeth. A narrative of aU
this — and a curious story it is — we have in Sir James
MelviUe's Memoirs
At the time of the Regent Moray's assassination
John Willock was in England, but he wrote to Knox a
letter in detestation of the crime. Bannatyne has it,
'word be word ' as he says in his Memoriales, as foUows : —
' It grieved me so to write, that I cannot write ony-
thing twiching the crueltie of these bloudie beasts (the
Hammiltounes he means), that devised and practised
that abominable and bloudie fact ! The Lord revenge
it ! And I put no doubt but that filthie fact hes
so fiUed thair coupe of the judgmentis of the eternalle
God, that thair restis nothing for thame but drinking
up the same to thair everlasting schame and confusione ;
for the whole Churche of God caUed and cryed, bezides

JOHN WILLOCK 159
the voce of the bloud itself, " V indica Domine Deus
sanguinem innocentis." And lyk as by the just judgment
of God, the Benjamites wer in ane maner routed out,
so hath this cruell fact craved (not only in my judgment
but in the judgment of all upright myndit heir) the
lyke judgment. God work in thame trew repentance,
gif it be possible, when the servantis of God do agrie
in threatning of the wicked ! The wicked, be thai never
so proude, thai have cause to feir.'
Knox was anxious to have his old friend with him at
that time of national grief, but the latter was prevented
from coming to Scotland ; nor does he appear to have
visited again his native land. As he died in 1585, one
wonders why he remained so long absent. We have
seen that his wife belonged to England, and it is to be
remembered Willock was still rector of Loughborough.
Perhaps he may have thought that the Reformation
Church was now firmly established in Scotland, and
that his services could be dispensed with. It may be,
too, that he was tired of strife. At any rate he seems
to have spent the last fifteen years of his life in the quiet
seclusion oi Loughborough. He had one friend at
least in the Enghsh episcopate, namely, Dr Barlow,
Bishop of Chichester, for Willock and he had laboured
together in the Protestant cause at Emden, the latter
having likewise fled to that place from the Marian
persecution. And if in the diocese of Peterborough
there was the same liberty as in that of Chichester —
for Dr Barlow was not rigorous in exacting from his
clergy unlimited conformity to ' the habits and cere
monies ' of the Church — Willock may have found his
situation very agreeable. He died at the rectory of
Loughbourogh on the 4th December 1585, as is attested
by an entry in the parish register. His wife, Catherine,
survived him fourteen years, and was laid to rest beside

160 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
him on the ioth October 1599. We have had con
siderable correspondence with persons in Loughborough
as to any information obtainable regarding WiUock's
life and work in that town, but have been unable to
gain any facts. One of the correspondents, however,
who is a member of the Church of England, writes that
' Loughborough since the time of Willock has always
been noted as a centre of nonconformity and freedom
in religious thought and worship. It is only fair to
surmise that this should have been to a great extent
resultant upon the preaching, work, and example of
WiUock, who was undoubtedly a man of great forceful-
ness and eloquence. Perhaps, after aU, this is the best
tribute to his memory. Henry, the third Earl of
Huntingdon, who presented the hving to WiUock, had
a house here at that time, and, being a very zealous
reformer, would give powerful assistance to WiUock
in his work.' It may be stated that Loughborough,
situated about eleven miles to the north-west of
Leicester, is to-day a town of some twenty thousand
inhabitants. Its parish church, of decorated style
and with perpendicular tower, dates from the four
teenth century. The grammar school also is of date
prior to WiUock's time. Hosiery is the staple trade,
but Loughborough has a reputation for bell founding
as well, the great beU of St Paul's having been cast there.
John Howe was a native of the town, and Lord
ChanceUor Wedderburn took his title from it.
A monstrous calumny has been attached to our
reformer in his old age. He is said to have committed
a robbery, for which he was imprisoned in Leicester
jail. Apart from such a crime being inconceivable in
the case of such a good man, and a man now of ripe
years — ' at an age when robbers (when the gallows
spare them) generally think of retiring from their

JOHN WILLOCK 161
profession ' — the calumny is sufficiently disproved by
the fact that the date of the charge is 1590, while Willock
died in 1585. It is George Chalmers, in his Life of
Ruddiman, who makes the accusation, and bases it on
the following extract from the Records of the State
Paper Office, of date 22nd April 1590 : — ' Twa men,
the ane namyt Johnne Gibsone, Scottishman, preacher,
and the other Johnne WiUokis, now baith lying in prison
at Leicester, were convicted by a jury of robbery.'
It is to be noted that the second convict was not a
preacher, else the designation would have been added
to his name as it is to that of the first ; nor does the
second appear to have been a Scotsman, or surely it
would have been stated, as is done in the case of the
first. But the good rector of Loughborough may have
had a bad son — grace is not hereditary — and it may
be that young scapegrace who is the criminal. Such,
however, is mere supposition, as we know nothing
about this reformer's family.1,
John WiUock's is a name which should not be allowed
to die. As we have seen, he played a most important
part in Scotland's Reformation struggle. Contem
poraries appraised his work and his character very
highly. We have already quoted some of John Knox's
words regarding him. Let us repeat them. He calls
him ' a dear brother,' ' a man godly, learned, grave,'
' of bold courage,' ' deserving of immortal praise,' and
he considers him a gift bestowed by God on Scotland.
We trust that this biography will help to perpetuate
the name and good deeds of this Scots worthy, not only
among Scottish people but among all who hold brave
and noble lives in respect and reverence.2
1 This must be qualified. See Note 2. 2 See Note 3.

162 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

APPENDIX NOTE i
WAS WILLOCK A FRANCISCAN OR DOMINICAN ?
Some writers — Dr Graves Law among their number — tell us
that Willock was a Dominican. Even in Bishop Leslie's History
we have, ' Jhone Willox, quha laitlie had defected from the
dominican ordour.' On the other hand, Archbishop Spottis
wood, whose father must have known WUlock well, says he was
a Franciscan, and so too affirms Bishop Keith ; every reference
to him in Ayrshire documents seems to indicate that he was of the
order of St Francis ; and we have this testimony of John Gibson,
a careful author who, in his History of Glasgow (Glasgow, 1777),
says : ' John Willocks, one of the most popular of the preachers,
was appointed Superintendent of the West, by the commis
sioners of burrows, with some of the nobility and barons, who
were met at Edinburgh. This man had been a Franciscan
friar in the town of Air, and having embraced the doctrines of
the reformation, had fled into England to save himself from
the persecution carrying on, at that time, in Scotland.'
The matter, we fear, must be left in doubt. Possibly those
who claim him as a Dominican have mixed up friars who
preached — all the mendicant orders, whether black, grey, or
white preached — with the official designation of the Dominicans,
' Ordo Fratrum Prasdicatorum.'
We have used the word ' monastery ' with reference to the
religious institution in Ayr, of which Willock was an inmate.
' Convent,' would be more correct, but that term has become
more associated nowadays in Scotland with nunneries, and
even learned historians often apply the word ' monastery ' to
the houses of the friars. In strict accuracy, however, a
monastery is the home of the monks (monachi), whUe a convent
is the abode of friars (fratres). NOTE 2
WILLOCK AT LOUGHBOROUGH, HIS FAMILY, ETC.
To Canon Pitts, the present rector of Loughborough, and
Charles Harris, Esq., sacristan and vestry clerk there, I am
indebted for the following communication : —

JOHN WILLOCK 163
' John Willock was presented to the Rectory of Loughborough
by Henry, Earl of Huntingdon. He died on Deer. 4th, 1585.
The following is entered in the Register of Loughborough :
" Master John Willocks, preacher and parson of this Parish of
Loughborough, departed this Lyfe on the iiij daye of December
and was buried on the vth daye of the same, being Sondaye in
the Year of God 1585."
'In the year 1570 he was overseer, and was witness to
the wUl of Thomas Harley, a member of an ancient Lough
borough family. Descendants of this famUy are still living in
Loughborough. ' Ed. WUlocke (probably his son) was godfather at the baptism
of George, son of Mr John Dawsone, Simon Modd was the other
godfather, and Lady Dorothea Hastings, afterwards Countess
of Huntington, was godmother.
'The Rector's wUl, dated 12th August 1584, was proved on
December nth, 1585, by his widow, Katherine WUlocke. In
it he mentioned his brothers Bartholomew and Wilham ; his
son, Edmund WUlocke, and Grysell his wife, and their children,
John, Katherine, Mary, Bridget, Dorothy, and George. He
also directed that no ringing of bells was to take place after
his death, nor any pomp. He left twenty shillings to the poor
of Loughborough — a considerable sum in those days.
' The John Dawsone previously mentioned was master of the
Grammar School for forty-eight years, and probably was rector
or acting as minister before John Willock was presented to
the rectory.
' There does not appear to be any mention of the surname of
the wife of John WUlock. It was probably Pickavnell. The
following appears in the Register — "Katherine WUlocke late
wife of Mr WUlocke, Parsone of Loughborough, buried ye ioth
day of October 1599."
'Her wiU, dated 22nd October 1597, was proved on 6th
November 1599, at Leicester, by her niece Mary, wife of Thomas
Clarke the younger of Loughborough. She also mentioned her
brother, Stephen Pickavnell, and her nieces, Bridgett Knifeton,
widow, and Dorothy WUlocke.
' There does not appear any further information obtainable
as to the after history of the family, or anything more as to the
life and character of John Willock when rector here.
' Loughborough was at one time in the Diocese of Lincoln,
but at the time of Willock and since it has been part of the

164 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Diocese of Peterborough. Edmund Scambler, chaplain to
Archbishop Parker, was consecrated Bishop of Peterborough
on February 16th, 1561, and was translated to Norwich in
1585. He was succeeded by Richard Howland, Master of
Magdalene and St John's, Cambridge, and Rector of Strathern.
He was consecrated on February 7th, 1585.
' Dr Barlow was nominated to the see of Chichester in 1559.
I do not think he was at any time Bishop of Lincoln. Nicholas
Bullingham was appointed to Lincoln in the following year.
' Mary WUlocke, daughter of Mr Edmund WUlocke, baptized
the 22nd AprU 1577.
' George WUlocke, son of Edmund WUlocke, baptized r3th
April 1579.'

NOTE 3
LINES ON WILLOCK
John Johnston (1570 ?-i6i2). Professor of Theology at St
Andrews, wrote a series of Latin poems on the Scottish Martyrs
and Reformers. The full title of his work is : nEPISTEPANfiN
SIVE DE CORONIS MARTYRUM IN SCOTIA; NECNON
PECULIUM ECCLESLE SCOTICAN.E, and the volume in
manuscript is to be found in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.
He has a poem on Willock, which we now give, with metrical
translation.

JOHANNES WILLOCVS
OBIIT IN ANGLIA
Cum Patriae implessem donis caelestibus urbes,
Mille olim obiiciens mortibus hanc animam,
Ipsa adeo exultat caeli sic luce sereni,
Pene sibi ut caelum, et lux queat esse aliis :
Excessi patria laetus tellure, libensque :
Vt vicina istis cresceret aucta opibus.
Hie etiam sevi c^lestia semina verbi ;
Gensque pia hie nostram plurima sensit opem.
Haec et opes mihi, cumque opibus cumulavit honores ;
Nee secus ac Patria me Anglia civem habuit.
Bis civis gemina in patria : mihi tertia restat ;
Possidet hsredem tertia sola suum.

JOHN WILLOCK 165
JOHN WILLOCK
DIED IN ENGLAND
To Scotland's cities first, though forced to brave
A thousand deaths, the Gospel's boon I gave,
Then, when my native land became so bright,
With wide dispersion of the sacred light,
That, now itself a heaven, it could essay
To show to other lands the heavenward way,
With glad, light heart I southwards turned my helm,
To enrich with gospel truth the neighbour realm.
I sowed the seed divine on English soil,
And many a soul upraised repaid my toil.
Giving me wealth and rank with plenteous hand,
England became my second fatherland.
The third and best awaits me, Christ's fair home.
Its citizens no more desire to roam.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Knox's History.
Calderwood's History.
Row's History.
Spottiswood's History.
Bishop Leslie's Historie of Scotland. The Scottish Text Society.
Foxe's Book of Martyrs.
Pagan's Annals of Ayr, 1560-1692.
Ayrshire and Galloway Archcsological Association's Publications
— The Friars of Ayr.
Diocesan Registers of Glasgow (edite4 by Bain and Rogers).
Satirical Poems of the Reformation. The Scottish Text Society.
Zurich Letters. Parker Society.
Sir James MelviUe's Memoirs of his own Life.
Wodrow's Miscellany.
Wodrow's Collections.
M'Crie's Life of John Knox.
Lorimer's John Knox and the Church of England.
Dictionary of National Biography. Article, ' John WUlock.'
Rankin's Handbook of the Church of Scotland.
Fletcher's Parish Registers of Loughborough.
Nicol's History and Antiquities of Leicestershire.
Strypes' Annals.
Strypes' Memorials.
Fischer's Scents in Germany.

- CHAPTER IV
JOHN WINRAM
There are numerous references to John Winram in
Knox's History of the Reformation of Religion within
the Realm of Scotland. Let us cull the following. After
the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton, Knox says:
' Within St Andrews, yea, almost within the whole
realm (who heard of that fact) there was none found
who began not to enquire, Wherefore was Master
Patrick Hamilton burned ? And when his Articles
were rehearsed, question was holden, if such Articles
were necessary to be beheved under the pain of damna
tion. And so within short space many began to caU in
doubt that which before they held for a certain verity,
in so much that the University of St Andrews, and
St Leonard's CoUege principaUy, by the labours of
Master Gawin Logie,1 and the novices of the Abbey,
by the Sub-prior [Winram], began to smeU somewhat
of the verity, and to espy the vanity of the received
superstition. Yea, within a few years after, began
both Black and Grey Friars pubhcly to preach against
the pride and idle hfe of Bishops, and against the abuses
of the whole ecclesiastical estate.'
Sk>me years earher, in 1546 — when George Wishart
1 ' Mr Gawin Logie instilled into his schollars the truthe secreitlie,
which they, in processe of time, spread through the whole countrie,
whereupon did arise a proverbe. When anie man savoured of true
religioun, it was said to him, " Yee have drunken of Sanct Leonard's
Well." ' — Calderwood's History, i. 83.
166

JOHN WINRAM 16?
was about to be led to the stake — Knox writes in this
way : ' Upon the next morn my Lord Cardinal caused
his servants to dress themselves in their warlike array,
with jack, knapscaU, splent, spear, and axe, more
seeming for the war than for preaching the true Word
of God. And when these armed champions, marching
in warhke order, had conveyed the Bishops into the
Abbey Church, incontinently they sent for Master
George, who was conveyed into the said Church by the
Captain of the Castle, and the number of one hundred
men, dressed in manner foresaid, like a lamb led they
him to sacrifice. . . . And when he came before the
Cardinal, by and by the Sub-prior of the Abbey, called
Dean John Winram, stood up in the pulpit, and made a
sermon to all the congregation there and then assembled.'
The sermon over and the trial finished, when Wishart
was about to be led to his doom, ' they sent for the
Sub-Prior of the Abbey, who came to him [for his
confession] with all diligence.' Fourteen years after this,
when Winram had become a Protestant, we read :
' Hereafter were the Commissioners, with some of the
nobility and Barons, appointed to see the equal dis
tribution of ministers. John Knox was appointed to
Edinburgh, Christopher Goodman to St Andrews,
Adam Heriot to Aberdeen, Master John Row to St
Johnston, Paul Methven to Jedburgh, William Christison
to Dundee, David Ferguson to Dunfermline, and Master
David Lindsay to Leith. There were nominated for
Superintendents — Master John Spottiswood for Lothian,
Master John Winram for Fife, Master John WiUock
for Glasgow, the Laird of Dun for Angus and Mearns,
Master John Carswell for Argyle and the Isles.' This
was in July 1560. On the 17th August of the same
year the Confession of Faith was ratified by Parliament,
and then, later in this year, with reference to the Book
M

168 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
of Discipline, Knox says : ' The Parliament dissolved,
consultation was held, how the Kirk might be estabhshed
in a good and godly pohcy, which by the Papists was
altogether defaced. Commission and charge was given
to Master John Winram Sub-Prior of St Andrews,
Master John Spottiswood, Master John WiUock, Master
John Douglas, Rector of St Andrews, Master John Row,
and John Knox, to draw up in a volume the Pohcy and
Discipline of the Kirk, as well as they had done the
Doctrine [in the Confession of Faith]. This they did
and presented to the Nobihty, who did peruse it many
days.' The History tells that there were other occasions
when Winram came into prominence — notably when
he was selected to enter the hsts in a great doctrinal
tournament with Knox — but to these we shall refer
later ; and towards the close of this chapter we shall
quote again from this vivid record of those stirring
times, showing what was Knox's estimate of his
fellow-reformer. Who, then, was this man who evidently occupied an
important place in the Scottish Church immediately
before and after the Reformation ? John Winram,
Wynram, or Winraham 1 (Latin, Vinramus), was de
scended from a Midlothian family — the Winrams of
Ratho — and in aU likelihood it was in that county he
was born in the year 1492. He is sometimes referred to
as of the ' Winrams of Kirkness,' on the shores of Loch
leven, but there were no Winrams of Kirkness. The
property belonged to the Priory of Portmoak, and
John Winram being for some time Prior there, he was
occasionaUy styled ' of Kirkness.' Whether it was he
who brought other Winrams from Midlothian to the
shires of Fife and Kinross it is impossible to say, but
from the Register of the Kirk-Session of St Andrews
1 James Melville, in his Diary, calls him ' Woundram.'

JOHN WINRAM 169
(1559-1600) it appears that several kinsmen, or at least
persons bearing the same name, were contemporary
with him in those parts of the kingdom. The surname
is unusual, and has almost died out in Scotland. In
the Edinburgh Directory the name occurs three times ;
in that of Glasgow it does not occur at all ; and in the
county Directories we have sought in vain for it. Only
one other of the name attained to any eminence, and
that was George Winram, also of Midlothian, a Scottish
Judge of the seventeenth century with the title of
Lord Liberton, who was one of the Scottish Com
missioners to the Westminster Assembly.1
John Winram was entered as a student at the Uni
versity of St Andrews — St Leonard's College — in the
year 1513. He is classed as of the ' natio Loudoniae.'
In 1515 his name occurs among the Determinants
(i.e. Bachelors of Arts), and he is designated as a pauper,
which means one who paid the lowest rates of fees.
In looking over the hst of students, however, of the
preceding year, his own year, and the year following,
we notice that all of them came under the heading
' pauperes.' It is only a few in after years who have
' dives ' after their names. Contemporary with Winram,
and of the same year, were John Douglas, afterwards
Archbishop of St Andrews, and Alexander Alan or
Alane, better known as Alesius. One or two years
before Winram entered St Leonard's College, there
had been enroUed there — and perhaps at times the
freshman would see them in St Andrews — two young
men whose names afterwards became weU known in
the country, and who played very different parts when
the Reformation was commencing in Scotland, and
these were David Beaton, who became Cardinal Beaton,
and David Lyndsay, who became Sir David Lyndsay
1 See Note 1.

170 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
of the Mount, Lord Lyon King at Arms. Over aU
there presided — though, alas ! he feU at Flodden in the
year that Winram's curriculum commenced—the youth
ful Alexander Stewart, a pupil of Erasmus, who had been
invested with the Archbishopric and ChanceUorship,
was a great benefactor to the Colleges of St Andrews,
and on whose noble character Dean Stanley has written
with feehng and beauty.
As early at least as 1528, Winram was an inmate of
the Augustinian Monastery of St Andrews. In 1532
there is a notice of him under the title of ' canonicus
ac baccalarius in Theologia,' and as one of the Rector's
assessors. Later, as an assessor, he is designated
' magister,' which points to his having taken the degree
of M.A. In a deed dated the same year, he appears
as a Canon Regular of the Monastery. Two years
afterwards he is mentioned as third Prior, and in 1536
as Sub-Prior, in which station he continued tiU the
Reformation. The Lord James Stewart — afterwards
Earl of Moray and Regent of the Kingdom — was Prior
of St Andrews in commendam, which would prevent
Winram holding that office. It may be stated that
the Priory of St Andrews held the foremost place in
rank and wealth of the Religious Houses of Scotland.
Belonging to the Canons Regular of St Augustine, it
was founded, or at least endowed with property of
value, by Robert, Bishop of St Andrews, in 1144, and,
two or three years later, was confirmed in its function
of electoral chapter of the Bishopric by Pope Eusebius
III. It had great prestige, its possessions extending
beyond that of the See — which was a very extensive
one — even to the wild districts of Mar and the Grampians ;
and its Prior, with the ring and mitre and other symbols
of episcopacy, took precedence in Parhament of Abbots
and ah other dignitaries of the regular orders. There

JOHN WINRAM 171
were in the city, besides, monasteries of both the Black
and Grey Friars.
Winram became a Doctor of Theology in i539(-4o),
as we learn from the Rentale Sancti Andree, and that
same volume informs us that Cardinal Beaton on the
occasion presented him with £20. There appears to
have been considerable outlay connected with ' ascend
ing the doctor's chair in Theology ' at St Andrews,
for, apart from fees and entertainment expenses, the
Doctor of Theology was required to provide ' bonnets '
(birettas) for the graduates of the Faculty, and gloves
for the distinguished men who came to hear the in
augural address. So the Cardinal's gift would doubtless
be very welcome to Winram. Sometimes we find the
latter styled Dean Winram. In the University records
we find him designated ' sacrarum literarum professor
eximius.' Winram also held the vicarage of Dow
(DuU). That he was a learned man is evident, not only from
his having attained to these degrees and offices, but
from the testimony of Quintin Kennedy, Abbot of
Crossraguel, who says that he was ' wonderfuUy learned
both in the New Testament and Old Testament and
meikle mair.' But the Abbot adds that he was a
' pestilent precheour,' and one of the ' devil's rachis '
(scenting dogs as distinguished from greyhounds).
This Abbot Kennedy, however, includes Knox, WiUock,
Douglas, Heriot, Spottiswood and indeed all the
preachers of Reform in the same category ; but as
controversialists then did not fight with gloves, or use
rose-water, such epithets are scarcely to be taken at
their face value. In an old Latin document of the
Friars of Ayr ' Joannes Knoxus ' is called ' Diaboli
filius,' ' necromantius,' and ' Presbyter apostata.'
Nicol Burne, a Romish opponent, suggested that he

172 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
should be caUed Nox instead of Knox, a nocendo,
as he had been very ' noysum ' to ' Christis Kirk quha
was his mother,' and he might be ' calht oIttoWvuiv,
per dens.' Knox, moreover, was charged with adultery,
incest, withcraft, and of having been seen in company
with the devil ! Controve sy in those days was not
complete without accusing adversaries of grave moral
lapses and terrible crimes. But Knox himself did not
mince his words when speaking of his enemies. The
language of his History is indeed amazingly, and often
amusingly, pointed and picturesque.
We may gather from our first quotation from the
History that Winram's mind was receptive and en
quiring. He was not satisfied with the sentence passed
on Patrick Hamilton, and he was inclined to beheve
that the martyr had truth on his side. The fact that
he was appointed to preach the sermon in connection
with the opening proceedings of Wishart's trial shows
that he was a man of some standing and abihty. He
took as his text the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares,
and, while maintaining that the Word of God, without
any superadded tradition, was the only and undoubted
foundation for a trial of heresy, he argued that heretics
should be summarily dealt with, a proposition difficult
to reconcile with his text which commands that the
wheat and the tares grew together till harvest.1 Wishart
was drawn to this man. Perhaps he perceived in him
something different from the other monks and priests
around, and there may have been in that sermon a higher
note which appealed to the martyr's heart. Lindsay
of Pitscottie, in his Chronicle, says that the sermon was
done ' maist honourabiUie and clarklie,' and that the
preacher beseeched ' the bishops and kirkmen to leif
rancour and malice out of thair hearts ' towards the
1 See Note 2.

JOHN WINRAM 173
accused and ' to follow Christ in love and charitie . . .
as Christ did gif direction to his appostollis in lyke
maner.' We have seen it stated (but we do not know
on what authority) that Cardinal Beaton upbraided
the Sub-Prior for pleading on Wishart's behalf, and
used the foUowing words : ' WeU, sir, and you, we know
what a man you are, aye seven years ago.' The utter
ance is rather cryptic, and may mean either that Winram
should not thus have acted as for long he had been
considered a stalwart of the old faith, or — and this is
more likely — that he was only doing what was expected
of one who, for some years back, was under the Cardinal's
suspicion of leanings towards the cause of reform.
The sermon certainly displayed unusual toleration. In
any case, Wishart would have nothing to do with the
two friars who were sent to confess him, but asked that
Winram be sent for that solemn purpose. Knox tells
us that he does not know what Wishart confessed, but
Pitscottie affirms that Wishart declared his innocence
and asked the consent of Cardinal Beaton that he
should ' have the Communion,' which was angrily
refused. Another proof of Winram's learning, or at least of
the regard in which he was held as a debater, is supplied
by the Convention of Black and Grey Friars summoned
to discuss certain articles of the reformed faith. As
Sub-Prior — and since Beaton's death Vicar-General of
the diocese — -he had been ordered by John Hamilton,
who was elected, but not yet consecrated, Archbishop,
to call this Convention as a matter of urgency after
Knox's great sermon at St Andrews in the year 1547,
to hear which there were present, as representing the
University, Sub-Prior John Winram, Dean of the
Faculty of Theology, John Major, some canons, and a
number of friars of the two orders. Winram spoke for

174 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the old faith, but was easily discomfited by Knox and,
retiring from the field, left Friar Arbuckle to continue
the debate.1 It may be mentioned that about this
time a regular course of sermons was arranged for to
be delivered in the parish church of St Andrews on
successive Sundays. It was evidently an idea of
Winram's, and the preachers were to be the most
learned men connected with the Rehgion Houses and
the University. The discourses were not to be con
troversial, or such as would give offence to persons of
tender conscience. So careful indeed were the
preachers to b-3 — weighing their words well — that they
all agreed 'to pen their sermons.' Winram began the
course, and the others followed according to rank or
seniority. Knox was thus prevented from occupying
the parish church pulpit on the Sundays ; but he
occupied it on several of the week-days, and he re
gularly attended and listened carefuUy to the Sunday
preachers. He was pleased to hear them preach the
pure Gospel, though they were still in the Romish
Church, and told his hearers at the week-day services
that he praised the Lord for such preaching. So
Winram in this way was sowing the good seed, and
helping on the Reformation. The Rentale Sancti Andree
carries us back to the year 1542, when, from that
venerable document, we find Winram sitting as judge
in a trial for witchcraft, the circumstances being as
foUows. Three women were deemed to be witches,
and, by order of the vicars-general, they were brought
from Edinburgh and Dunfermline and lodged as prisoners
in the Castle of St Andrews. Cardinal Beaton was
absent at the time in France, but he appointed as
judges in the case, John Major, Provost of St Salvator's,
Peter Chaplain, and Martin Balfour, Canons of the
1 See Note 3.

JOHN WINRAM 175
CoUege, and John Winram. The old Rental Book
gives no details of the charges, the witnesses, or the
evidence, but informs us that the death sentence was
pronounced, and duly carried out on the poor creatures.
There was a Convention or Coun;il held at Edinburgh
in 1549, at which Winram was present. In the register
of it he is styled ' ecclesise metrop. primitialis S. Andreae
canonicus regularis, sub-prior, theologiae doctor,' and
at that Council he was employed to draw up the canon
intended to settle a strange dispute which had been
greatly agitating the clergy, as to whether the Pater
Noster should be said to the saints, or to God alone.
It appears that this controversy had originated at
St Andrews, and the following anecdote, in connection
with it, is told by Archbishop Spottiswood of Winram
and his servant. When the question was being debated,
Winram's servant, whose name was Thomas, and who
was considered a simple kind of creature, seeing that
there was some important matter on hand which made
the great doctors so often convene, asked his master
one night as he went to bed what the business might
be. Doctor Winram merrily answered, ' Tom, we
cannot agree to whom the Pater Noster should be said.'
' To whom,' replied Thomas, ' should it be said, but
unto God.' ' But what, then,' asked the Doctor, ' shall
we do with the saints ? ' Thomas's answer came very
much in these words : ' Give them, in the name of the
great enemy, aves and credos enow' (namely, Hail
Mary! Hail St Peter! Hail St Andrew! etc.,) 'for
that may suffice them, but let God have His glory.'
Dr Winram was pleased with his servant's sagacity ;
reported his words to the Council ; and their decision
was that ' Mr Winram should return to St Andrews,
and settle the minds of the people there, by telling
them that the Lord's Prayer ought to be addressed to

176 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
God ; yet so as that the saints also ought to be invoked.'
This was certainly ambiguous, and it was observed
afterwards by many, ' that a simple man had given a
wiser decision than the doctors had done, with all their
learned distinctions.' While our earlier ecclesiastical
historians and biographers— such as Foxe, Calderwood,
Spottkwood, Keith, and, we may add, in later days,
M'Crie— relate that such a controversy took place in
the Scottish Church, Grub, in his History, doubts it,
and holds that the Provincial Council had no matter
of this kind before them. There seems, however, to be
some confusion in Grub's mind as to the exact date or
session of the Council at which Winram's Canon is
understood to have settled the matter. It is of some
significance that Henry Balnaves says there were those
who did address the Pater Noster to saints, and Sir
David Lyndsay asserts the same (see Laing's John
Knox, ih. 518, 519, and Laing's Lyndsay, ih. 27-28).
But, whether the matter came before the Provincial
Council or not, it is quite certain that it was disputed
at St Andrews, and caused there no little ' bruite
and tumult,' which Winram played no smaU part in
allaying. In 1550 a great trial for heresy took place at Edinburgh,
in the Church of the Black Friars. The Archbishop of
St Andrews, the Dean of Glasgow (as representing
Glasgow's Archbishop), several Bishops and other
church dignitaries, were present, with many other
churchmen and doctors, as well as the Earl of ArgyU,
justiciar, his deputy, and several lay lords. According
to a note (p. 134) in Patrick's Statuta, John Winrani
was there. The 'heretic' was Adam WaUace. He
was condemned, and on the day after the trial was
burnt at the stake on the CastlehiU of Edinburgh.
The constitution of this tribunal or assembly, before

JOHN WINRAM 177
which Wallace appeared, seems to have been of a special
nature, composed as it was of churchmen, supported
by the criminal authorities, and certain lay lords ; and
it may have taken the place of the statutory meeting
of the Provincial Council which should have met about
that time.
We cannot say whether Winram was present at the
Provincial Council held at Edinburgh in 1552, which
approved of Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism, but it
is held by some that he was the author of that work.
The object of the pubhcation was to vindicate and
popularise the Romish faith and worship, and the
Council describes it as ' librum quendam vulgari et
Scotico idiomate conscriptum ' — a certain book written
in the vulgar and Scottish dialect. Its title is — ' The
Catechism, that is to say ane comone and catholic
instructioun of the Christen people in matteris of re
ligioun, quhilk na guid Christin man or woman suld
misknaw.' Dr Thomas M'Crie says that the Catechism
is written in a good style, and he is inclined to the
belief that Winram wrote it. It is almost the only book
in which is to be found the doctrinal and devotional
language of Cathohc Scotland, and as a literary pro
duction it is most valuable for the student of early
Scots literature. The Council committed it to Hamilton,
as Primate, to have it printed, and this was done at
his own expense. His name, moreover, appears on
the title-page and colophon ; but M'Crie holds that Arch
bishop Hamilton could never have taken the trouble to
compose such a book, consisting as it did of 411 pages
quarto, even though he had been in other respects
qualified for the task. Lord Hailes affirms that there
is no evidence that the book was written by the Arch
bishop, and Bishop Wordsworth's view is that he ' had
httle or no share in the authorship.' Further, it is

178 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
pointed out by M'Crie that Bale, in his account of Scottish
writers, mentions ' Joannes Wonram vel Wyrem,'
whom he calls ' a canon regular in St Andrews,' and
ascribes to him a ' Cathechismus Fidei ' in the vernacu
lar — ' in vulgari sermone.' M'Crie has no doubt that
this is our John Winram, and thinks it quite possible
that he wrote ' Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism,'
for not only was he one of the last to leave the old
Church — and sometimes he seemed to be on the one
side, and sometimes on the other— but he was a kind
of pacifier, and because of his talents, mediatory in
fluence, and reputation with the people, was employed
frequently by his brother clergymen to diminish the
odium of their obnoxious measures, or to recommend
their partial and inefficient plans of reform. It having
come to our knowledge that in the hst of books be
longing to the University of St Andrews a Catechism
was entered in Winram's name, we wrote to Dr Maitland
Anderson, the Librarian there, and his reply was to
the effect that it was merely an entry in an old Manu
script Catalogue, and that the book was not known
to exist. We may add that M'Crie, in a footnote to his
Life of Andrew Melville, makes some further observations
on the authorship, but his difficulty, as indicated there,
is removed by Dr Anderson's communication, and
also by the views expressed by Professor Mitchell, which
we shaU state presently.
When Mr Gladstone was Rector of Edinburgh Uni
versity, he was shown a copy of Archbishop Hamilton's
Catechism, and was so struck with its great historical
interest that he strongly urged a fresh pubhcation
of the work. Nearly a quarter of a century elapsed,
however, before Professor MitcheU of St Andrews issued
a facsimile black letter reprint, in its initial letters and
woodcuts, with a valuable introduction. About two

JOHN WINRAM 179
years later, in 1884, there was pubhshed by the Oxford
Clarendon Press, with a preface by Mr Gladstone, an
edition in modern type and style under the able editor
ship of Dr Thomas Graves Law, Librarian of the Signet
Library, Edinburgh, whose introductory notes and
glossary give added value to the book. Dr Law says,
with regard to Winram's part in it, that ' whoever
may have been employed in drawing up the ground
work he can hardly to any material degree have coloured
with his own private opinions a book composed under
the direction and supervision of the Primate and Synodal
divines.' Professor Mitchell is inclined to the view
that Winram had a large share in its composition, and
thinks that the entry in the University Library may
have reference to an original draft of the Catechism
MS., or possibly to a printer's copy corrected in accord
ance with it. It is surely a remarkable fact that in
the last quarter of the nineteenth century, and within
a year or two of each other, two reprints of Archbishop
Hamilton's Catechism should be pubhshed — one under
the editorship of the Moderator of the General Assembly
of the Church of Scotland, and the other with an intro
duction by the Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism is not to be con
founded with The Twa-Penny Faith or Godlie Exhorta
tioun, issued by the authority of the Provincial Council
in 1559. This latter was a four-page tractate, and from
Archbishop Hamilton's having allowed it to be sold at
the price of two pennies Scots, it received this popular
designation. It should be remembered that the
Catechism was intended to be a manual for the clergy,
and to be systematically read to the people — half an
hour every Sunday and holy day unless when there was
a sermon — but it was to be read by the people only under
certain precautions. Lord Hailes observes that the

180 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Council which enacted this Catechism ' used as many
precautions to prevent it from coming into the hands
of the laity as if it had been a book replete with the
most pestilent heresy.'
Before we close this matter it may be weU to dispose
of the claims of John Mair (or Major), Provost of St
Salvator's CoUege, to be author or part author of this
important book. He could not possibly have taken
part in its compilation, for the date of the Catechism
is 1552, and to the Council of 1549 Mair had to send a
proxy as he was ' annosus, grandaevus et debilis.' He
died in the foUowing year.
Winram seems to have been somewhat of an Erasmus,
though, unlike the great Dutchman, he took the final
step and became a Protestant. He may appear to some
to have been endeavouring for an inordinate length of
time to find out which was the safe side of the burning
bush, or, to change the igneous metaphor for an aqueous
one, whether it was safer to sail in the barque of St
Peter or in another craft on the Lake of Geneva. But
Wodrow, at least, wiU not have it so. He holds that
this continued consorting with the adherents of Popery
was a necessary bowing down in the house of Rimmon,
and naively remarks — ' There have been and are some
of God's children and hidden ones in Bablyon, who are
to be caUed out of it, and no doubt Mr Winram was
useful even in this period.' We may safely say that
Winram was no Vicar of Bray prepared to attach himself
to either party. For those who lay stress on orders,
apostolic succession, and such hke, the foUowing from
Wodrow may also be quoted : ' Even from his and
some other of our reformers being in Popish orders,
and continuing in them tiU the fuU hght of the Re
formation broke out, and their joining in that great
work from inward conviction of mind, some advantage

JOHN WINRAM 181
arose to us in our debates with the papists about our
ordinations.' In the year 1559 we find Winram attending another
Council of the Scottish Clergy, and in its proceedings
he takes an active part.1 He was nominated one of
the six persons to whose examination and admonition
the Archbishops of St Andrews and Glasgow submitted
their private conduct. Perhaps we should say a httle
more about this. From Patrick's Statutes of the Scottish
Church, and from Acts of Parliament about that time,
we learn that efforts were put forth for the reformation
of clerical morahty. The temporal lords and barons
were anxious that such purification should take place.
' Spirituale men's ungodly and dissolute lyves ' had
become an ' opin sclander.' Concubinage, the bestowing
of ecclesiastical benefices on the sons of prelates and
others of the clergy, and the endowing of their daughters
with church land and money when they married men of
rank, were evils that had to be stopped. Accordingly,
this Council, held at Edinburgh, took up these matters,
passed enactments concerning them, and enjoined the
metropolitans to enforce them on their suffragans, and
the bishops on the lower clergy. That the metropolitans
themselves, that is, the two archbishops already named,
might not escape — and they were more than suspect — it
was suggested that they should submit themselves to 'the
advice, inquisition, and reproof of the bishop of Dun
keld, the bishops-designate of Whithorn and Ross, John
Sinclair, dean of Restalrig, John Greyson, provincial of
the Black Friars, and John Winram, sub-prior of St
Andrews.' It is said that the two prelates 'spontaneously
submitted themselves for the good example of others,'
that they might not ' seem to lay grievous burdens
on their reverend suffragans and lower clergy ' ; but it
1 See Note 4.

182 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
has been suggested that the spontaneity resulted from
a broad, or even imperative, hint that was given them.
After this John Winram passed over to the side of
the reformers. Possibly he had come to the con
clusion that the faith, worship, and morals of the old
Church were irretrievably bad. Two years before this,
according to Foxe, he had been present at the trial
of the aged Walter Mylne, the last of the Scottish
martyrs at that time. ' This Winram,' adds the
martyrologist, ' is now become a godly minister of the
Church of God, and a married man.' It is noteworthy
that at the time he became a Protestant, there were
several other prominent clergymen in Scotland who
acted similarly — among them Alexander Gordon,
Bishop of Galloway (titular Archbishop of Athens),
and John Greyson, Provincial of the Black Friars.
This latter, on the 17th March 1560, made public and
formal recantation in the parish church of St Andrews,
and the account thereof is valuable for the light it
throws on the nature and extent of the change of
opinion that was prevaihng among churchmen of the
Winram type, who desired reform within the Church,
and only left it when they found that reformation from
within was unhkely to take place. In the same church
of St Andrews — the Church of the Holy Trinity, with
its twelve altars, thirty chaplains, and twelve choristers
— Dean John Wilson, formerly Canon of Holyrood,
also recanted, in February of the same year, in presence
of the congregation ' and the Admiral of England.'
It has been affirmed that Winram brought a great
many priests of St Andrews over with him to Knox's
side. There is no positive proof of this, but the fact
remains that at least twenty priests joined the reformed
congregation in that city in 1559-60, and a stiU larger
number were ultimately admitted as Readers in the

JOHN WINRAM 183
Reformed Church. In the same year Knox, in writing
to Mrs Anna Locke, says — ' Diverse channons of Saint
Andrews have given notable confessiouns, and have
declared themselves manifest enemies to the pope, to
the messe, and to all superstitioun.' Eleven years
after the Reformation had received Parliamentary
sanction, fourteen canons of the Priory are mentioned
as Protestants, and twelve of these had become parish
ministers. It is to be noted, moreover, that of twenty-
one men in St Andrews, whom the first General Assembly
deemed qualified ' for ministreing and teaching,' nearly
all had been professors or regents. As for the country
in general, it is recorded in the Book of the Universal
Kirk that, in 1573, the Regent Morton having learned
that most of the canons, monks, and friars within the
realm had made profession of the true faith (i.e. Pro
testantism), suggested that they might now be utilised
as readers. Surely the influence of Winram, who was
Dean and Sub-Prior, and long connected with the place,
had a good deal to do with such a striking change. We
cannot but think that his long delay in adhering to
Protestantism was ultimately of great benefit to the
cause of reform. He must have influenced those who,
like himself doubtless, may have been slow to change
their modes of worship, and depart from articles of the
faith which for many centuries had been regarded as
essential to salvation. It is possible, too, that he,
and they, may have thought that reformation of the
Church tould be effected without what was practically
a national revolution. In any case it can scarcely be
doubted that for many years he must have been usefully
employed in directing enquiries, and moulding the
minds of the inmates of the Augustinian Monastery of
which he was the head, and also of many others in
and arpund the city of St Andrews.

184 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
There is a curious paragraph in the twenty-fifth
chapter of the twenty-second book of Pitscottie's
Chronicles, wherein we find Winram, as late as the year
1558, going on a preaching tour through Fife along with
Archbishop Hamilton, Lord James Stewart, and several
canons, their object being to counteract the work of
the reformers ; but it is very strange to find Lord James
Stewart associated with Archbishop HamUton, stranger
to find him a preacher, and stiU more strange to find him
in that year opposing the Reformation. Auld Pitscottie
must surely be ' nodding ' here.
As Prior of Portmoak, Winram sat in the Scottish
Parhament of 1560, which approved of the Confession
of Faith, and we know from a letter of Thomas Randolph,
the English Ambassador, to Sir WiUiam Cecil (after
wards Lord Burghley), Queen Elizabeth's Secretary of
State, that Winram spoke in its support. He certainly
must have been looked upon as a man of abihty in
Parhament, for not only from the Diurnal of Occurents,
but from the Acts of the Scottish Parliament, we learn
that later he was elected one of the Lords of the
Articles ; and as such we find him appending his name
to a curious document, namely, the letter that was sent
by ' the Commission of the Estates to move Queen
Elizabeth to take the Earl of Arran to her husband.'
Keith prints the entire letter from the original preserved
in the archives of the Duke of Hamilton at Hamilton
Palace, but it need not be given here.
Had Winram a part in compihng the Confession of
Faith ? The chief share in it undoubtedly feU to Knox,
who was well skiUed in such work. The age was creed-
making— very different from to-day, when, on the
one hand, some dismiss creeds as useless, and, on the
other, protracted meetings of General Assembhes— with
months, even years, of committee work beforehand—

JOHN WINRAM 185
appear to be necessary for the revision merely of such
symbols. But the Scottish reformers completed their
task in four days — at any rate it was ' presented ' to
Parhament four days after its preparation had been
enjoined — and, not long before, the Huguenot ministers
had met in Paris and embodied their creed and dis
cipline in a series of eighty articles within the space of
three days. Professor Hume Brown says that the
same six persons — the six Johns, of whom Winram
was one— who were charged to draw up the Book of
Discipline, drafted in all probability the Confession
of Faith ; but Winram had more concern with it than
that. As we have seen in one of our quotations, Knox
says that Winram had to do with ' the doctrine,'
but, from a letter written by Randolph to Cecil on
7th September 1560, it appears that to John
Winram, Lord James Stewart, and William Maitland
of Lethington, the work was submitted for revision,
and they mitigated ' the austeritie of manyie words
and sentences which seemed to proceed of some evil
conceived opinion rather than of any sound judgment.'
But Winram had a further connection with this
matter. We gather from a letter of Cecil himself that
certain private conferences were held with important
personages in the kingdom before the Confession was
finally submitted to the whole Parliament assembled.
There was even an attempt made to get the Archbishop
of St Andrews, the Bishop of Dunkeld, and the Bishop
of Dunblane to agree to the new creed, or at least
not to oppose its Parliamentary sanction. The first
named, John Hamilton, was wiUing to discuss the
matter with Winram and certain others, and this is
what the letter says : ' The Bishop of St Andrews upon
motion that was made to him, was contented to talk
with the Sub-Prior [John Winram], the Rector [John

186 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Douglas], and two others. They have had much
communication without hope. He is stout and bold
enough. He rideth and goeth at large. He came to
the Duke [of Chatelherault] to supper, etc. . . . The
Duke after supper talked long with him. They con
cluded in these words that for his conscience he was
determined in that mind that he was at present to end
his hfe,' etc. It may be added that about this time
Archbishop Hamilton sent John Brand — who had been
a monk in the Abbey of Holyrood, but latterly an
adherent of the reformed party, and the successor of
John Craig as minister of Holyrood — with the foUowing
message to Knox, as given by Keith in his History,
' that howsoever he had introduced another form of
rehgion and reformed the doctrine of the church,
whereof it might be there was some reason, yet he
should do well not to shake loose the order and pohcy
received, which had been the work of many ages, till
he was sure of a better to be settled in place thereof.'
In this Scots Confession of Faith we have a summary
of the evangehcal doctrine, consisting of twenty-five
articles, based solely on Holy Scripture. While em
bodying the teaching of the great (Ecumenical Councils,
it lays emphasis on those doctrines of grace, of pardon,
and of enlightenment through the Holy Spirit, upon
which all the reformers in Great Britain and on the
Continent of Europe laid stress. The age of speculation
had not yet come, and, in revolt against the authority
of popes and councils, the compilers were content with
emphasising a few simple truths of Scripture. The
preface contains not only a chaUenge to anyone to
find within it what may be contrary to Scripture, but
a promise that if such be found a correction wiU be
made. Arranged not so much logically or systematicaUy
as historicaUy, this Scottish Confession is remarkable

JOHN WINRAM 187
for its avoidance of abstract or technical terms, which
in all likelihood is due to the fact that it had to be
presented to an assemblage not of theologians or learned
men, but to a Parliament — the Three Estates of the
Realm — which, while consisting of many nobles and
dignitaries, had also within its membership quite a
number of men who had little learning, if indeed any
education at all. It has been said of this Confession
that the style is so easy that it reads like a good sermon
in Scotch. Still, as was the manner in those days,
there are in it sharp polemical thrusts at adversaries ;
but these also have not been lacking, even in later
days, from good Scottish sermons. An interesting
remark is made by Grub in his History, that ' if
the conjecture (that Winram drew up " Archbishop
Hamilton's Catechism ") be correct, it is singular that
the statement of doctrine put forth by the Roman
Catholic and by the Reformed Church should have
been composed or modified by the same individual.'
In one of the quotations from Knox's History inserted
at the beginning of this chapter, it is stated why the
Book of Discipline was necessary, namely, ' that the
Kirk be established in a good and godly policy,' and
Winram was one of the Committee of Six — one of the
six Johns — appointed to draw it up. In the chapter
on John Willock we have offered some remarks on
the Book, and would only add now that its initiation
did not come from the General Assembly, nor from any
meeting of ministers, but from the Privy Council which
ordered the matter to be taken in hand ; that in less than
a month it was ready ; and that Dr James Walker, in
his Scottish Theology and Theologians, says — ' in its
magnificent comprehensiveness, it is one of the most
remarkable compositions of a great time.' Further,
with regard to the institution of Superintendents — of

188 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
whom Winram was one — to whom the sixth chapter
is devoted, it is quite clear that the difference between
them and preachers was only to be temporary owing
to qualified ministers being few, and that the Super
intendents itinerating could give many places the benefit
of their ministry, while also they could advise and
encourage such ministers as were of limited knowledge
and experience. The number of ministers rapidly
increased ; no successors were appointed to the Super
intendents first chosen ; and the last of them, Erskine
of Dun, Superintendent of Angus and Mearnc, died in
When the first General Assembly met in December
of that remarkable year 1560, Winram was not a
member, but he was one of those declared to be ' pre
pared for ministering and teaching.' The name of his
brother Robert, of Ratho, we find in the hst of lay
members. In the month of April, in the year following,
John Winram was formally chosen Superintendent of
' Fyiff, Forthryck, and Stratherne,' by '' the commowne
consent of lordis, baronis, ministeris, elderis of the
saidis boundis, and others commowne pepiU.' This
indicates popular election, and from th? Register of
the Kirk- Session of St Andrews we learn that the
election took place within the parish church of St
Andrews. One of his duties as Superintendent was connected
with the reversal of the sentence of condemnation which,
in 1540, had been passed on Sir John Borthwick for
heresy. This Sir John, the younger son of Wilham,
third Lord Borthwick, was an accomplished knight,
and a favourite with King James V. He had served
with distinction in the army of France, where he had
risen to be Lieutenant of the French King's guard.
At the Scottish Court, where he was in close attendance

JOHN WINRAM 189
on the person of the King, he was styled Captain
Borthwick. A scholar and a theologian, as well as a
soldier, he possessed a fine library, in which were books
shedding the new light, such as treatises by Erasmus,
(Ecolampadius, and Melanchthon. There was also on
his shelves, or rather on his desk, a copy of the New
Testament in Enghsh. He readily lent his bocks to
others, and was neither ashamed nor afraid to tell of
the new views of truth he had received, and to which
he adhered. It was, therefore, pretty widely known
that he held what were then caUed the ' heresies of
England,' and that he had even been endeavouring to
convert King James to Protestantism. Naturally
Cardinal Beaton was highly displeased, and ordered
Sir John to appear before the primate's tribunal at
St Andrews. The suspect, knowing that this meant his
hfe was in danger, fled to England, but his trial went
on in absentia with much pomp and solemnity ; con
demnation and forfeiture were passed on him ; and
his effigy was ignominiously burned at the market
crosses of St Andrews and Edinburgh. He had re
turned to Scotland in or before 1560, for at the General
Assembly of that year we find that one of the members
was ' presented by Sir John Borthwick to the Kirks
of Aberdour and Torrie,' which by the way looks like
patronage in these early days, though it may be that
' presented ' only means ' recommended.' Winram must
have had curious feelings when the matter of reversing
the sentence came before him, for twenty years previously
he had sat with Cardinal Beaton when the trial at St
Andrews took place. Perhaps even then his sym
pathies were with the accused, but the very man upon
whom the terrible sentence had been passed now comes
before him — one of his old judges — to have that
sentence reversed.

190 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
It may be stated that one of the charges on which
Cardinal Beaton's court condemned Sir John Borthwick,
was that he possessed a copy of the New Testament in
English, and Sir James Melville informs us that, when
the foes of James Kirkcaldy of Grange (father of the
better known Sir Wilham Kirkcaldy) wished to pre
judice the King against him, they said that one of his
offences was that ' he had always a New Testament in
Englis in his poutche.'
When we study the records of the General Assembly,
we find that there were several complaints against
Winram for neghgence in visiting parts of the district
committed to him. But WiUock and others of the
Superintendents were accused of the same, which seems
to show that the districts were too large,1 or that the
people expected too much. Besides, very poor pro
vision had been made for their expenses, and Winram
had to complain of this. Moreover, the people were
rough and rude and difficult to handle.
In addition to the Book of the Universal Kirk — the
Proceedings of the General Assembly — there is a valuable
work which throws hght on many of the duties of
Winram as Superintendent, and that is Volume IV.
of the Pubhcations of the Scottish History Society.
This and its succeeding volume contain the Register
of the Kirk-Session of St Andrews from 1559 to 1600,
transcribed and edited from the original manuscript
with preface and notes by Dr Hay Fleming. An extra
ordinary state of matters is revealed by this Register.
One would scarcely have imagined that the Scottish
people could have fallen so deplorably, and one cannot
but commend the Reformed Church for labouring so
1 Winram's was very large. He had the oversight of ' Fyiff, Perth,
Stratherne, Clakmannan, Kynrose, and Strevellingshire— on the
north syde of Forth with Menteath.'

JOHN WINRAM 191
persistently to lift them up from such depths of im
morality and ignorance. Winram had no easy post
as Superintendent of Fife, and his hands soon became
full. In addition to the records of the Kirk-Session
we have the records of his court preserved in Volume IV.
Before we give one or two extracts to show the tur
bulence he had to .contend with, we may say that this
Register is of great interest for all who are interested
in the domestic affairs of Scotland in bygone days.
Though Church discipline predominates — with stools of
repentance (' uppermost ' and ' of highest degree '),
sack-cloth, white sheets (' quhyt lining ') , paper caps
of ' moitor ' (i.e. mitre shape), bearing the name of the
offence in large letters, culprits ' bare-heidit ' and ' bare-
futtit,' and delinquents with spurious communion
cards (' feingyeit tikatis ') — there are also references
to the piUory (the ' stockis ' and ' jugis '), bluegowns,
and ' lions ' or ' hard-heids ' (a base kind of coinage).
Winram is a conspicious figure in the Register. For
twelve years he and his court had to deal with many
difficult questions and many difficult people. The
divorce cases, and others of a worse description, that
came before him we cannot speak of here, but the
foUowing wiU show the turbulence and impudence
which at times faced him. John MelviUe, a brother of
the famous Andrew, was minister at Crail, and he had
a bitter complaint to make against the rude effrontery
of a parishioner who cried out in the church one day
that he should be ' puUed out of the pulpit by the lugs,'
and caUed upon some of the stalwarts there and then
to do so. One might have thought that the name of
Knox would have been held in some regard, if not
veneration, but a St Andrews man was charged with
saying — ' The devil knock out John Knox's names
(brains) for quhen he wald see him hangit, he wald get

192 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the Sacrament.' A woman, under discipline, exclaimed,
' The devil burn up the Kirk ere she came into it.' But
Winram himself had to bear insults of a grievous kind.
Here is a typical instance. An Alexander Wardlaw,
son of the laird of Torrie, who had been put in charge
at Ballingry before the Reformation, had been dispens
ing the Sacraments without having . been admitted to
do so by the Superintendent. Winram sent a properly
qualified minister — Peter Watson — to administer the
rite of Baptism there, but Wardlaw was very much dis
pleased and declared ' that he wald not be redar to John
Knox nor any other in Scotland.' When the same
minister arrived to celebrate a marriage, Wardlaw
forcibly prevented him, with the result that the Super
intendent had to go himself though he had not much
time to spare, being much engaged with other matters
— with ' otheris gret besiness.' As the church was not
in a good state of repair, the Superintendent admonished
Wardlaw and his parishioners for such neglect, and
ordered them to put the same into a satisfactory state ;
but on the following day at a meeting of the heritors
this defiant incumbent became quite outrageous and
said that ' he wald do nothing in that behalve, nor obey
any admonition or command of that fals, dissaitful,
greedy, and dissembht smaik, for he (Winram),
was one of thaim that most oppressed, and
smoored and held down the Word (Kirk ?) of God,
and now he is come into it, and professing the same
for grediness of gayr (geir) lurkand and watchand,
quhill he may see ane other tyme.' This Ballingry
parson was very iU-tempered and determined, and, in
order that no other minister should officiate in his
church, he actuaUy erected a fence of Jedwood stakes
in the chancel. Winram had to hand this man over
to the jurisdiction of the St Andrews Session—' as to

John winram 19s
the ministrie of the principaU toun of his residence '
— the matter affecting Winram himself. The case was
duly tried, witnesses were summoned, and a procurator
conducted the case for the Superintendent. Wardlaw
was as rude and defiant as ever, stoutly denied the
charges laid to him, and objected to the witnesses
produced, though several of them were his own near
relatives. In the end the Session held that there was
nothing against Winram, and ordered Wardlaw, ' the
pretendit parson of Ballingry,' for his ' blasphemous
speaking againis the Superintendent of Fife,' to confess
pubhcly his fault in the parish church of St Andrews and
ask God's mercy and the Superintendent's forgiveness ;
also, on the foUowing Sunday, to ' compeir in lyke manner
in the parroche Kirk of Ballingry ' and confess, etc. ;
and these things to be done by ' the said Mr Alexander
under the payne of excommunicacion with all severitie.'
We learn from the Register that Winram was fre
quently present at meetings of the Kirk-Session. In
cases pertaining to the parish, the decision come to
runs in the name of the Session ; but in cases pertaining
to Winram's large district, the decisions run in his
name and with his advice. In course of time he became
tired of the office of Superintendent, and asked the
General Assembly to accept of his resignation. After
refusing for some time, they at length consented.
He was reappointed, however, after a short interval ;
and it is of some significance, as pointing to anything
but inefficiency, that, in 1576, when it was thought
expedient to appoint annual visitors and commissioners,
with changes of bounds to prevent ' ambitions and
inconveniences in the Church,' Winram was continued
in his Fife Superintendence. It should also be re
membered that, in most of the complaints against him,
we have not his replies to his defamers. The Assembly

194 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
recognised his merits as a peace-maker, and more than
once he was appointed to reconcile persons and places.
For instance, when a dispute arose, with much bad
feehng, between Dundee and Montrose — ' there happened
a threatening breach between them ' — Winram was
despatched by the General Assembly to pour oil on
the troubled waters. It is to be noted that on more
than one occasion at places visited he is styled ' Lord
Superintendent . '
Winram was a diligent attender of the General
Assembly. In the whole' course of thirty-six of them
he was never once absent. It is surprising, therefore,
that, with all his learning and knowledge of affairs, we
do not find his name in the list of Moderators. We
learn from the Acts of the Scottish Parhament that
in 1563 he was a member of the Commission appointed
to enquire into the state of the University of St Andrews,
and some years later (1578) the Acts also inform us
that he similarly visited the Universities of St Andrews,
Aberdeen, and Glasgow.
At this stage we may say something of Winram's
private or domestic life. He married, on the 12th
July 1564, Margaret Stewart, widow of John Aytoun
of Kinaldy. According to the Lists of the Sons and
Daughters of the Cehbate Clergy recorded to have
been legitimated between the years 1529 and 1559 —
which Lists may still be seen in the MS. Register of the
Privy Seal — she was the daughter of ' quondam the
reverend father in Christ, Alexander, Bishop of Moray
and Commendator of the Monastery of Scone.' In
Pollen's Papal Negotiations, we have the foUowing
reference to the marriage, by Nicholas de Gouda :
' While I was there one of those Superintendents, a
leading man amongst them, a doctor of theology and
a monk, then about seventy years of age, was openly

JOHN WINRAM 195
married. This was done to enforce by example, as
he had often -done by precept, their doctrine of the
unlawfulness of the vow of chastity, which they are
perpetually trumpeting from the pulpit.' Though not
rich, it would appear from her last will and testament
that the lady had a little money of her own. There
were no children of the marriage, but by her previous
husband she had several sons. Mrs Winram predeceased
her second husband, dying on 5th March 1573. The
stepfather and stepsons do not appear to have got on
well. They had disputes about property as we gather
from the Book of the Commissariot of St Andrews.
According to the Register of Ministers, Exhorters, and
Readers, Winram's emoluments, as Superintendent of
Fife, were — ' quheit ij chalderis, beir v chalderis, aitis
iij chalderis, meil ij chalderis, money Vc merkis.'
His home was within the Priory of St Andrews, for
we learn from the Protocol Book of John Scott, a notary
of that town, that in 1565 [-66] ' Mr Jhone Wynram,
Superintendit of Fyff occupeit the little yard quhilk
was caUit the commoun yard of the said abbay at the
eist,' and in 1573 an entry in the same book refers to
' the Superintendentis chalmer within the abbay of
St Androis.' Several of the old canons — some of them
by this time married — also lived within the precincts
of the Priory. The buildings, though hastening to
ruin, were spacious, with girnals, orchards, and dovecots.
The Earl and Countess of Moray resided within the
venerable pile for some time after the Reformation,
and Winram, two years before his death, must have
seen a gay and royal sight, for in the year 1580 no
less a personage than His Majesty King James VI.
came to stay for a little in the hospitium novum of the
Priory. The King's grandmother, Mary of Guise, had
spent her honeymoon in the same hospitium, and it

196 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
was said to have been built for the reception of
James V.'s first Queen, Magdalene, the tradition being
that the physician selected the place as peculiarly
suited for a princess so lovely, but, alas ! so dehcate.
If the Priory was stiU furnished and upholstered as it
was in the Earl of Moray's time — an inventory of which
still remains— and Winram fell heir to some of that
furniture and upholstery for his apartments, he would be
comfortably, though perhaps not sumptuously, housed
in the old Priory.
Nearly all the time that Winram held the office of
Superintendent he was also Prior of Portmoak, more
correctly of St Serf's, Lochleven ; and this apparently
gave him considerable standing, for, as we have seen, it
was as such that he was a member of Parhament in 1560.
We learn, moreover, from the Register of the Privy
Council, that as Prior of Portmoak he was present at
the Perth Convention of 27th July 1569 ; and as late
as 1574, on the 5th March of that year, he, stiU as Prior,
attended a Convention held at Holyrood House, at
which he was one of those nominated to draw up the
Second Book of Discipline. At the same time Parha
ment appointed him a member of the Commission
charged with the duty of carrying into effect the re
formation of the University of St Andrews as then
agreed upon. Winram was evidently an authority on
University affairs, for, before the Reformation, in the
years 1544, 1545, and 1550 respectively, he was a
member of the Committees for visiting St Leonards,
and took an active part in the proceedings. On the
29th July 1580, he conveyed — or he resigned it, and
there was conveyed — the Priory of Portmoak along
with the barony of Kirkness and other properties per
taining to it, to St Leonard's CoUege.1 Winram's
1 See Note 5.

JOHN WINRAM 197
stipend as Superintendent, his marriage with a lady of
the position of Mrs Aytoun — sometimes called Lady
Kinaldy — and the revenues accruing to him from
Portmoak, all point, we think, to the conclusion that
he was a man in comparatively affluent circumstances.
The year 1565 must have been one ever memorable
in the life of John Winram, for in that year there were
interviews between him and Queen Mary. He was
twice in the royal presence. The first occasion was on
the 13th May. Knox tells us about it in his History.
Other two Superintendents accompanied Winram, and
Her Majesty ' cherished them with fair words, assuring
them that she desired nothing more earnestly than the
glory of God, and the satisfying of men's consciences,
and the good of the Commonwealth ; and, albeit she was
not persuaded in any Religion but in that wherein
she was brought up, yet she promised to them that
she would hear conference and disputation on the
Scriptures ; and, likewise, she would be content to hear
public preaching, but always out of the mouths of such
as pleased Her Majesty ; and, above all others, she
said she would gladly hear the Superintendent of Angus
(for he was a mild and sweet-natured man with true
honesty and uprightness), John Erskine of Dun.' The
second interview was in December of the same year,
when the General Assembly was in session. Along with
some others — and ' a certain number of the most able
men ' — Winram was appointed by the General Assembly
to go to Holyrood Palace, and lay the matter of the
paltry stipends of the ministers before the Queen.
Some of them, it appeared, were at starvation point —
' like to perish or leave their ministry.' The deputies
were graciously received — ' easily obtained audience of
their Majesties, Mary and Henry (Darnley) '• — but we
are told that the Queen's answer was ' in the old

198 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
manner,' that is, excuses were pleaded, promises were
made only to be broken, delays interposed, and nothing
in the end was done. Knox, in commenting on the
proceedings, practicaUy says that Queen Mary's thoughts
were elsewhere ; provision for the Protestant clergy
was nothing to her; the ministers might starve, but
there must be plenty of eating and drinking and jollity
in her palace, and with her friends. ' In the meantime,'
he writes, ' the Queen was busied banqueting with
some of the Lords of Session in Edinburgh, and after
with all men of law, having continuaUy in her company
David Rizzio, who sat at table next herself, sometime
more privately than became a man of his condition ' ;
and many banquets a few weeks after were given in
honour of Seigneur de RambouiUet, the French Am
bassador, who came in state in order to bestow the
Order of the Cockle from the King of France upon
' the King [Henry, Darnley], who received the same
at the Masse in the Chapelle of the Palace of Hohrryd-
house.' We would add that from this interview of
Winram with Queen Mary we obtain a notable testimony
to the scholarship and dialectic prowess of the Pro
testant ministers. The deputation having asked the
Queen if she would welcome to her audience-chamber
some of the ministers to a discussion on matters of
Faith and Ritual with some of the Roman Catholic
clergy, she would not consent, saying that 'she would
not jeopard her Rehgion upon such as were there present ;
for she knew well enough that the Protestant ministers
were more learned.'
Winram's attitu.de towards Queen Mary's having
the Mass celebrated at Holyrood was that of Lord
James Stewart, rather than that of John Knox. The
matter troubled the nobility, and a conference took
place between ' the Lords ' and certain representative

JOHN WINRAM 199
ministers. Winram was present, and John Knox as
well ; Maitland of Lethington was also there ; and,
after a good deal of speaking on both sides, Lethington,
addressing the Lord Chancellor, who presided, said —
' My Lord Chancellor, ask ye the votes, and take by
course everyone of the ministers, and every one of us.'
The Rector of St Andrews was ' first commanded to
speak to his conscience,' and said, ' I refer to the Super
intendent of Fife, for I think we are both of one judg
ment, and yet if ye will that I speak first, my conscience
is this. If the Queen opposes herself to our religion,
which is the only true religion, the Nobility and Estates
of this realm, professors of the true doctrine, may justly
oppose themselves to her. But, as concerning her own
Mass, albeit I know it is idolatry, I am not yet resolved,
whether or not we may take it from her by violence.'
The Superintendent of Fife, John Winram, then said,
' That is my conscience.' So also affirmed some of
the nobility. But others ' voted frankly ' and said
that, ' as the Mass was an abomination it was just
and right that it should be suppressed ; and that
in so doing, men did no more wrong to the Queen's
Majesty than would they that should, by force,
take from her a poisoned cup when she was going to
drink it.'1
There was an interview with Kirkcaldy of Grange
and Maitland of Lethington in Edinburgh Castle at
which Winram was present, and on which HiU Burton
in his History of Scotland lays stress, devoting several
pages to it. We are indebted to Bannatyne's Memoriales
for a detailed account of what took place. The year
was 1571, and Knox was in poor health, having had
an apoplectic fit the year before. At that time, too,
he was in great danger from the assassin's dagger. It
1 Knox's History (Laing's edition), vol ii. pp. 455-6.
O

200 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
was in this very year that, one night, a shot was fired into
his house, which only missed its mark by Knox having
for a little risen from the chair in which he usuaUy
sat. But the Reformer feared none of these things,
and frail though he was, roused himself for this meeting
in the Castle with his former fast, now, alas ! doubtful,
friends — Sir Wilham Kirkcaldy of Grange and Wilham
Maitland of Lethington. The object of the visit was,
if possible, to get the Queen's party and the Regent's
to come to some understanding. The errand was
hopeless, but the narrative of the meeting in these old
Memoriales is most interesting. It begins thus : ' At
our entry to the Castle (Knox doubtless is narrator)
we passed to the great hall on the south side, where
soon Sir James Balfour came to us, and incontinent
thereafter the lord duke [Chatelherault], and last
captain of the castle [Kirkcaldy], who desired my lord
duke and us to enter within the chamber within the
said hall, where the lord secretary [Lethington] was
sitting before his bed in a chair.' The last, indeed,
was far from well, suffering from paralysis, but his
intellect was as strong and nimble as ever. Colour
and pathos are given to the picture by the sufferer
having a little dog on his knee which, doubtless, he
would fondle at times. Winram accompanied Knox,
who had also with him John Craig, his colleague in
St Giles'.
When the time came for conferring, it was Winram
who opened the proceedings with the words : ' Per
ceiving the intestine troubles in the Commonwealth'
his brethren ' thought it became them of their duty
to offer their labours and travails, to the end that if
it should please God that thereby the same might be
stanched, for the which we are come here to offer our
travails and labours as said is,' and ' after silence was

JOHN WINRAM 201
kept a certain space ' Knox said that they had better now
proceed to business, and asked ' heads or articles ' as
a ' ground on which they may travail.' We need not
give the arguments and explanations used on each
side, more especially as nothing further from Winram
is recorded, and the whole discussion was futile and
fruitless. Knox showed his old skill in debating, as
also did Lethington. When the latter spoke of the
setting up of the Regency as ' bot ane fetch or shift
to save us from great inconvenientis,' the great Reformer,
knowing his man weU — bis shifting pohcies, his subtle
devices, his hypocrisy — -rephed in these noble words :
' My lord, I cannot tell what fetches or shifts your
lordship has used in these proceedings ; but hereunto
let your own conscience accuse yourself before God,
conscientiam vestram oneramus. But one thing well
I wot, honest men of simple conscience and upright
deahng meant nothing of your shifts and fetches, but
proceeded upon an honest and constant ground, having
the glory of God before their eyes, and the punishment
of horrible crimes.' Yet, in spite of this indignant
and deserved retort, and with sword-thrusts many in
this ' great diplomatic conference,' as Hill Burton
caUs it, there was reaUy little loss of temper, and, at
the conclusion, the whole company ' began to mow
(jest) and, as it were, every ane to lauch upon ane other,
and so we raise.' But it was ultimately a very serious
business for some of that company, especially for one
— the Captain of the Castle, Sir Wilham Kirkcaldy of
Grange. It is well to know what John Knox thought of his
fellow-worker. We have very little to go upon, but it
is so far satisfactory that we have something in a letter
which Knox wrote a few months before his death, in
1572, to the General Assembly then convened at Perth.

202 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
The letter, which Calderwood inserts in his History of
the Kirk of Scotland, is brief, for Knox's poor health
prevented his writing at any length ; but he says in it
that he has ' communicated ' his ' mind ' to ' two
deare brethren ' who will give further information to
the Assembly. The Reformer was troubled over certain
matters affecting the Church, and wished the Assembly
to come to some decision regarding them. The ' two
deare brethren ' are John Winram and Robert Pont,
and they drew up a paper of some length (which
Calderwood also prints in his History) containing
' articles ' and ' questions ' to be submitted to the
Supreme Court. The Assembly ' diligently considered '
them, found them ' reasonable and godlie,' took order
for their furtherance, and sent a reply to their ' deare
brother in the Lord Jesus ' by the hands of Winram,
Pont, Erskine of Dun, and one or two others. What
more immediately concerns us is that the terms of
Knox's letter show that he held Winram in affectionate
esteem, and had full confidence in him. Buchanan,
in his History, speaks of him as ' a venerable super
intendent who laboured long and successfuUy in the
cause of the reformed.'
At the Convention held at Leith in 1572 the Regent
Morton x arranged for the setting up of his tulchan
Bishops. This was a new and very strange ecclesiastical
arrangement — made up of presbytery, episcopacy, and
monasticism— which in some respects might seem
harmless enough, but in others was fraught with the
greatest dangers to the liberties of the Scottish Church.
A scandalous arrangement in origin and intent, the
bishops under it were well named tulchan, in aUusion
to the custom, in Scottish rural districts, of placing a
1 Morton weis not actually Regent till later in the year, but we give
him here his well-known designation.

JOHN WINRAM 203
calf-skin stuffed with straw to induce cows to give their
milk, for so would these curiously made bishops — mere
shams — draw the wealth of the benefices to the court
and the nobles. The part that Winram played in aU
this was as follows. As a Superintendent he was
present at the Leith Convention, and he was instructed
by the General Assembly to inaugurate x John Douglas
as tulchan Archbishop of St Andrews. Professor Hume
Brown says that the Assembly really could not quarrel
with the Regent Morton at that time", for the very
existence of the Church seemed to depend on him. It
fell to Winram as Superintendent of the bounds to
perform the ceremony of inauguration, and, according
to Wodrow, he preached from Titus i., and used the
same form that had been drawn up by Knox, and
appointed by the Assembly twelve years before for the
reception of Superintendents. Noticeable is it that
thereafter (at least, as long as John Douglas lived)
Winram ceases to be Superintendent of Fife, and is only
Superintendent of Strathearn. He is also now spoken
of as Archdeacon of the diocese.
What his feehngs were in connection with this Tulchan
business we have no means of knowing, but at a
meeting of Parliament held about that time at Stirling
he speaks for those who held by the rights and privileges
of the Church. The little King, James VI. — but a
child — was brought into this Parliament, and, noticing
something strange or unusual about it, the infant
Solomon, as a presage of the royal sapience of after-
days, piped out, ' I think there is a hole in this Parlia
ment.' 2 Be that as it may, the Earl of Morton was its
1 ' Inaugurat, as they cald it.' James Melville, in his Diary,
who was present.
a The remark was suggested by the monarch noticing a hole in
the cloth which covered the table.

204 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
master, and introduced the tulchan bishops, demanding
that the new archbishop of St Andrews should, at least,
have a vote. But the ministers present were strongly
opposed to this, and ' Mr Winram, as Superintendent of
Fife, was desired by them to, and accordingly did,
solemnly inhibite Mr John Douglas to sit and vote in
Parhament in the name of the Kirk till he should be
admitted by the Kirk.'
In this same year, at a meeting of the General Assembly
at St Andrews, we find the following incident taking
place as recorded by Wodrow in his Collections. ' At
that same dyet, Mr Rutherfurd, Provost of St Salvator's
College, compleand that the Superintendent of Fife
had disposed of the vicarage of Kilmany, which be
longed to him, the Provost and CoUedge ; and that
Mr Winram had disponed an altarage in the Kirk of
St Andrews which was also their gift, as appeared by
the foundation yet extant.' The Assembly took the
matter into consideration, appointed a committee to
report on it, and, thereafter ' ordered a letter to
be writt to the Lords Senators of the College of
Justice ' informing them what they had done. Ac
cording to Bannatyne's Memoriales, before Knox left
St Andrews for Edinburgh, in 1572, he had a private
meeting at his lodgings, John Winram being present
along with the tulchan Archbishop of St Andrews, the
Bishop of Caithness, the Principal of St Salvator's, and
Mr Archibald Hamilton. Important matters affecting
the Church were discussed and Knox, doubtless
aggrieved and annoyed at the Regent Morton's inter
ference with spiritual offices and usages, uttered a
warning against interference and control from another
quarter. ' I protest,' he said at this meeting, ' that
nather the pulpet at Sanct Androis, nather yit of any
congregation within the realme, be subject to the

JOHN WINRAM 205
censure of the schools, universitie, or facultie within the
same ; but only that it be reserved to God, the Judge
of AU, and to the GeneraU Assemblie gatherit within
the same realme lauchfulhe.'
It may be mentioned that there are three references
to Winram in the Register of the Privy Council. The
first is in 1572 [-73], when he appears in a case connected
with the disposal of a ' donation ' to a student at St
Andrews. Winram thought he had the right to grant
to Robert Wilkie, his cousin, this ' donation ' as it
pertained to the ' chappellaurie ' of St John the Evan
gelist within St Salvator's CoUege, but the Provost of
St Salvator's disputed this, and granted the ' donation '
to James Fiddes, a ' puyr student for some support to
him in claythis and bukis.' The matter was argued
before the Council, and the decision was adverse to
Winram. The second case (year 1575 [-76]) has reference
to the presentation of Thomas Wood to the vicarage of
St Andrews. For some reason Winram had dechned to
' gif and grant admission,' but the Council directed him
to do so. In the third case (year 1579) bis name merely
appears as one of a commission appointed to reform
the University of St Andrews. It is interesting to
note, in these proceedings of the Privy Council, that the
first name in the Sederunt is that of Jacobus Dominus
Regens (i.e. the Earl of Morton).
In 1575 Winram was appointed by the Assembly one
of a committee to ' frame an act anent ministers'
apparrel.' Archbishop Douglas having died, the Regent
Morton, in 1576, acted in a very high-handed manner
in providing an Archbishop for St Andrews who
should have no dependence on the General Assembly.
To that office he appointed Patrick Adamson, a man
learned and talented, bold and ambitious. There

206 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
was no election, no ceremony of admission, no con
sultation with the Assembly. Merely a mandate was
given by the Regent, possession was taken by Adamson,
and he began at once to exercise ecclesiastical juris
diction, especially in Fife. The Church was greatly
displeased. Grave men in the Assembly saw what had
been involved in the appointment of Douglas, and that
the Regent now meant the estabhshment of an unlimited
episcopacy. The Assembly appointed a commission with
powers to deal with Adamson for his conduct, and
Winram was nominated one of the Commissioners. But
the Superintendent was in poor health — he was now
an old man — and the Assembly, aware of his failing
strength, appointed two other ministers to act for him
in the event of his not being able to take part in the
proceedings. A balladist of that time introduces Winram in con
nection with this Adamson affair. The place is St
Andrews, and the poet or rhymster is Robert Sempill.
The title of the poem or ' ballate ' is — ' The Legend or
Discourss of the Lyfe and Conversatione and Qualiteis
of the Tulchene Bishope of Sanctandrois.' SempiU held
Adamson in very low esteem, exposes the craft by
which he accomplished his ambitious projects, and
rails on him for his many vices. He shows him to be
a deceiver and a forger, and among his dupes he places
the aged John Winram. The foUowing hnes — which
exhibit the archbishop as a true tulchan and worse — are
the parts of the ' ballate ' in which reference is made
to Winram : —
' This foirsaid bischope [Douglas] beand deid,
Maister Jhone Wynrome was maid heid,
For sowmes of silver that he had lent them ;
Bot he besoght thame to content them :
He cravit na dignities prophane,
Bot his awin silver hame agane.

JOHN WINRAM 207
Fra Holiglass ' sone hard this thing.
He toned his dussie for a spring,2
And held the Regent .[Morton] so in hand
And maid him weill to understand
That he suld pay the foirsaid sowme
Gif he were enterit in the rowme ;
And mair, as he wald bid him doe,
To give his servants pensiones toe.
Sua with his craft, this carlingis pett
Hes fangit ane grit nsch in his nett.
Bot fra he was a bischope stylit,
Mr Jhone Wynrome was beguylit,
Had he not had a sure probatione
And cald him on his obligatione.'
Sempill then goes on to say that with many ' trickis
and delatouris ' (delays), and by going to a young clerk,
' a simple boy,' who was
' The Regent's awin cubicular (chamberlain)
His servant and his secretare
And him besoght to lat him see
Of missive wrytingis two or thrie,
And hecht (promised) him crownes to accord.'
The lad unsuspectingly handed Adamson the docu
ments, which the latter manipulated and falsely signed
to serve his purpose. Winram was greatly surprised
when the papers came into his hands in this form, and
so too were the members of the Kirk-Session of St
Andrews : —
' To Maister Wynrome they compleaned,
Wha swair that he had never sene it,
And tuik in hand for to impryve it.'
But further details of Archbishop Adamson's shameful
1 Holiglass (i.e. Adamson) =owlglass, a term then used as a synonym
for a crafty knave.
a Equivalent to, He set about accomplishing his end by fawning
and fair promises. Dussie — duschet, a musical instrument (O. Fr.
doucet, Lat. dulcis). Spring, a tune.

208 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
doings, as reported in verse by Robert SempiU,1 need
not be given, more especially as John Winram's name
is not again introduced.
We do not hear much — if anything — of Winram after
this. From a ' decreet of the Lords of Session against
the tenants of Portmoak,' we learn that he died on
the 18th September 1582 — ' umquhil Mr John Winram
... of veritie departed this mortal hfe upon the
XVIIIth September last.' There is probably, however,
a shght mistake in the date, for the 28th September has
been claimed as the day of his death. John Scott, whose
Protocol Book has already been referred to, says in the
notes on current events prefixed to his book, that on
' Fryday, the XXVIII day of September 1582 ane
hon[orable] and worshipfull man Mr Jhonne Wynram,
sum tyme Subpryor of St Androis abbay, Superin
tendent efterwart of Fyff, and Pryor of Portmoak,
departit from this lyff, and was bureit in St Leonardis
Kirk. And the samyn day ane wyis and leirnit man
Mr George Buchanan deid at Edinbrucht.' As we
know that the latter died on the 28th of September
John Scott likely gives the correct date, a figure — one
of the two X's — having probably been omitted per
incuriam by the writer of the ' decreet.' Winram's
wiU is stiU extant, but it is difficult to decipher, and there
appears to be nothing in it of interest to the student of
those times. He left as his principal heirs James
Winram and John Winram of Craigton, sons of Robert
Winram, of Ratho, his brother.2 He was buried within
1 The whole poem will be found in Satirical Poems of the Reforma
tion (Scottish Text Society), vols, iii., iv.
2 ' The abulzimentis of his body, by the airschip, were estimat to
XLfci., the silverwark XLfci., utencUs, and domicilis, LXXXfei., his
haill bukes XXfci., awand for aill XLIXLi., to a flesscheur Xiiijfei., for
saip and vinegar iiijfci. Frie geir, d.d., iiijcXLVjfci xiijs. iiijd.' — Scott's
Fasti.

JOHN WINRAM 209
the chapel of St Leonard's CoUege — tiU recently roofless
and ruinous — where his tombstone can still be seen,
though defaced and diminished by the ravages of time
and weather. In the year 1838, when much rubbish,
around and within the building, was cleared away, the
stone was uncovered and almost the entire inscription
was legible. It was then given as foUows : — Round the
border : m. johani . wynramo . ccenobiarch/E . con-
VERSIS . REBVS . FIFANORVM . EPISCOPO . ANN . ^ETATIS .
sv^e . 90 . occvmbenti . positvm. Above the shield :
[VITA] . PIETATE . [lNSIGN]lS . GENERE . AMPLA . PRO-
PINQUIS . CONSILIO . NVNC . TVMVLI . REPPERIT . ACTA .
modvm. Under the shield : mvlta . cvm . deam-
BVLAVERIS . DEMVM . REDEVNDVM . EST . HAC . CON
DITIONS . INTRA VI . VT . EXIREM.
But there are evidently errors in the above. There
should be a stroke above n in Johani : — j 0 H A n n i,
to indicate that the letter is doubled. Then in No. 2
(above the shield) the transcriber has gone grievously
astray, inasmuch as he has supposed the words to be
prose, whereas they form an elegiac couplet, and might
be restored thus : —
[VITA . FIDE . AC] . PIETATE . [GRAV]lS . GENERE .
AMPLA . PROPINQVIS
CONSILIO . HUNC . TVMVLI . REPPERIT . ACTA . MODVM.
For nunc, in the transcriber's version, we have
substituted hunc, ' hie modus tumuli ' being a poetical
way of expressing ' hie finis mortalis in hoc tumulo. '
With these corrections we would submit the following
as a free translation of the whole. Round the border :
In memory of John Winram (literally, placed to Master
J. W.), Prior, and after the Reformation, Superintendent
of Fife (literally, Bishop of the Fife men), who died in
the ninetieth year of his age. Above the shield : A
life venerable through faith and piety, dignified through

210 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
lineage, lived in wisdom, has here found its end in the
tomb ; or, in verse : —
One known for goodness, faith and wisdom clear,
Sprung from an honourable line, at last hes here.
Under the shield : When thou hast had thy long walk,
thou must return. The condition of my entering
[life] was that I should make an exit.
It may be added that on the shield are a dice-box
and a ram, with evident allusion to what was then
supposed to be the origin of — or it may be a playful
device on — the name of him whom the stone com
memorates ; and within the shield, beneath the dice-
box and ram, is the date 1582.
When Dean Stanley visited St Andrews he was
taken ' a round of the ruins ' — to use the favourite
expression of Dr Chalmers when professor there — and
when Winram's stone was pointed out to him, he was
arrested and somewhat amused by the words ' con-
versis rebus ' on it. Both in his Lectures on the History
of the Church of Scotland and in his Addresses and
Sermons delivered at St Andrews, he refers to the phrase,
and in the latter volume thus morahses : ' It is the
boast on the gravestone of old John Winram, who lies
in the grass-grown cemetery of St Leonard's, that all
through the storms of the Reformation, " conversis
rebus," " under the ruins of a world turned upside down,"
he had remained the Sub-prior of St Andrews. That
same boast may still, in a nobler and wider sense
than these words were used of that stubborn or phant
ecclesiastic, belong to the local genius of St Andrews,
that through all the manifold changes of the Scottish
Church — Culdee, Cathohc, Protestant, Episcopalian,
Presbyterian — its spiritual identity has never been

JOHN WINRAM 211
altogether broken, its historical grandeur never wholly
forfeited.' But did the Dean read the inscription
aright ? In any case, we do not think that John Winram
was ever known, after the Reformation, as Sub-Prior
or Prior of St Andrews ; but the title, or designation,
as given to him in these after years, had reference to
the Priory of Portmoak, or St Serf's, which, as we have
seen, he conveyed — or he resigned it and it was con
veyed — to St Leonard's College in 1580.
No works of Winram have come down to the present
day, unless ' Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism.' We
give in the appendix his sermon at Wishart's trial,
and his part in the debate with Knox at St Andrews.
In a letter by Bishop Sage to a Mr John Guillan, of 9th
March 1702, we find it said : ' George Robertson, our
friend, I remember told me he had seen a MS., a piece
written by Mr John Winram, Superintendent of Fife,
but I have forgot the subject.' One wonders what the
' piece ' was. It is a pity for us that the Bishop's
memory was not better.
It is not easy to characterise this Reformer. Dr
M'Crie says in his Life of Andrew Melville : ' During these
transactions (matters pertaining to Melville) several
distinguished men were removed by death. In the
year 1582, John Winram, Sub-Prior of the Abbey of
St Andrews and Superintendent of Fife, died at an
advanced age. Though inchned to the reformed senti
ments at an early period, he retained his station in the
popish church tiU its overthrow. His timidity and
temporising conduct were often blamed by the Pro
testants, and afforded a topic of invective against him
to the Roman Catholics, when he at last deserted their
communion. He appears to have been a man of mild
dispositions, considerable learning, and great influence.'
In his Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland,

212 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Principal Lee gives a curious and indeed self-con
tradictory estimate of him, at one time praising, at
another dispraising, him. But, doubtless, there is
truth in this observation of the Principal : ' The
conversion of a man who held so high a rank in the
Church of Rome must have made a strong impression
in the country ; and perhaps the Reformers thought
it necessary to make a sacrifice to public opinion, by
assigning one of the chief offices to a man who stood
high in the estimation of the world.'
Perhaps M'Crie's description, ' a man of mild dis
positions,' fitly characterises Winram. He was a
mediating and moderating force. Evidently a lover of
peace, he was neither a John Knox nor an Andrew
Melville. A great friend of the latter, Professor John
Johnston,1 already referred to in the Appendix to the
previous chapter, has a poem on Winram. As very
likely MelviUe was Johnston's ideal, he passes something
like censure on Winram's shrinking from courageous
witness-bearing. His date is wrong, the train of thought
is not very clear, and the verse is rather clumsy ; but
we give the poem, and a translation of it.
JOHANNES VIN-RAMVS
Coenobu Augustinianorum ohm Prsefectus apud Andreanos,
postea inter Christi Ministros : obit senex XXIIX Septemb.
1581. Quo te censu hominum, quo te, Vin-Rame, reponam
In numero ? hie multum est anxia mens animi.
Se prodit Pietas, neque turbida lucis imago est :
Spargit enim de se lumina clara sui.

1 Not to be confounded with another friend of Andrew Melville,
Arthur Johnston, whose Latin verse sheds lustre on Scottish classical
scholarship.

JOHN WINRAM 213
Quin te aperi tandem manifesto in lumine. PeUe
Turbidulos sensus, cumque pudore metus.
Cum pietate etenim postquam se nubila miscet
Mens hominum, lucis deperit ille vigor.
Gaudet agens Pietas manifesta in luce. Nee ilia
Sit Pietas, qua; haud pro scit Pietate mori.

JOHN WINRAM
Formerly Head of the Augustinian Convent at St Andrews,
afterwards among the ministers of Christ, died an old man on
28th September 1581. '
Winram, 'tis hard, I must confess, to find
What rank and class to thee should be assi,gned.
Rehgion hates concealment ; and the hght
That streams from Heaven above so clear and bright,
Should also by reflection shed its rays
From Christ's disciples in their words and ways.
Forth then into the hght ! Far from thee clear
All troubled feelings, all false shame and fear.
If through dense mental clouds Religion's ray
Be filtered, then that hght soon fades away.
True faith loves hght. On all rehgion fie,
That wiU not dare for what it thinks to die !
As to Winram's ' considerable learning ' there is no
doubt. In this chapter, and more particularly in its
earher part, we have given abundant proof that he
was a scholar, was at home with scholarly men, and on
matters scholastic and academic was an authority.
That he was a man of ' great influence ' is shown by the
various offices he held, and the leading part he took in
important transactions of Church and State.

APPENDIX NOTE i
THE NAME WINRAM
One of the foremost authorities on surnames, Professor
Ernest Weekley, has kindly written me as follows : — ¦
' University College,
Nottingham, 22 . ii .'ii.
Dear Sir,
It is impossible to say what is the origin of Winram —
Winraham — unless we know which is the original medieval form.
If the former, it is no doubt formed, like Shake-spear, Make
peace, etc., as a nickname for a man who had won the ram in a
wrestling contest (see Chaucer's Prologue, description of the
Miller) . But Winraham might be local — the ham, or homestead
in the whin-ray, i.e. the corner (ME. wro, wra) where whins
grow. Whinray, Whin-ray, Winnery, etc., is an existing
surname, cf. Thackeray, Thackura, etc. — Yours faithfully,
Ernest Weekley.
The Rev. Kirkwood Hewat, M.A.'

NOTE 2
WINRAM'S SERMON AT THE TRIAL OF GEORGE WISHART
' Dene Johne Wynreme stoode up in the pulpete, and maid a
sermon to aU the congregatioun there then assembled, taking
his mater out of the xiij chaptour of Matthew : whose sermon
was devided into four principal! partes.
' The First was a schorte and breaf declaratioun of the Evan
gelist. The Secound, of the interpretatioun of the good seid,
and becaus he called the Word of God the good seid, and
Heresye the evil seid, he declared what Heresye was, and how
it should be knowin. He defyned it on this maner : " Heresye
214

JOHN WINRAM 215
is a fals opinioun, defended with pertinacie cleirlye repugning
to the Word of God." The Third parte of his sermon was, the
caus of Heresye within that realme, and all other realmes.
" The caus of Heresye (quod he) is the ignorance of thame which
have the care of menis saules, to whom it necessarlie belongeth
to have the trew understanding of the Word of God, that they
may be able to wyn agane the fals doctonris of heresyes, with
the sword of the Spreat, which is the Word of God ; and not
only to wyn agane bot also to owircum : — as sayis the Apostle
Pauli, ' A bishope must be faltles, as becometh the minister of
God, not stubburne, not angrie, no drunkard, no fighter, not
gevin to filthy lucre ; but harberous, one that loveth goodness,
sober-mynded, rychteous, holy, temperat, and such as cleaveth
unto the trew word of the doctrine that he may be able to
exhort with holsome learning, and to improve that which thei
say against him.'" The Fourte parte of his Sermon was, how
Heresye should be known. " Heresyes (quod he) be knawin on
this maner. As the goldsmyth knowith the fyne gold from
the unperfate, by the touchstone, that is, the trew, syncere, and
undefyled Word of God." At the last he added, " That heretikis
should be putt doun in this present lyeff : to the which pro
position the GospeU appeired to repunge whilk he entreated of,
Lett thame boith grow unto the harvist." The harvest is the
end of the world ; nevertheless, he affirmed, that thei should be
putt doun by the CivUe Magistrat and law.
'And when he ended his sermon, incontinent, thei caused
Maister George [Wishart] to ascend into the pulpit, there to
heir his Accusatioun and Articles, for rycht against him stood
up ... a monstre, Johune Lawder [a very different type from
John Winram] ladin fuU of cursingis written in paper, . . .
threatnynges, maledictionis, and wordes of devillesh spyte and
mahce, saying to the innocent Maister George so many cruell
and abominable wordis, and hit him so spytfullie with the Pope's
thunder, that the ignorant people dreded least the earth then
wold have swaUowed him up quick.' — Knox's History (Laing's
edition), vol. i. pp. 150, 151.
Pitscottie also gives the sermon in his Chronicles (Book xxu.
chapter 12) in practicaUy the same words as Knox, and his
remarks on John Lauder are simUar.

216 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

NOTE 3
WINRAM'S DEBATE WITH KNOX ' IN SANCT LEONARDIS
YARDIS,' ST ANDREWS
' The Articles (i.e. certain Teachings) of the Reformers having
been submitted, Sub-Prior Winram said : " The strangeness of
these Articles, which ar gaddered forth of your doctrin, have
moved us to call for you, to hear your awin answeres." John
Knox said, " I for my parte, praise my God that I see so honor
able, and appearandlie so modest and quiet ane auditure.
But because it is long since that I have heard, that ye ar one
that is not ignorant of the treuth, I man crave of you in the
name of God, yea, and I appell to your conscience befoir that
Supreme Judge, that if ye think any Article thare expressed
contrarious unto the treuth of God, that ye oppose yourself
plainlie unto it, and suffer nott the people to be tharewith
deceaved. But, and yf in your conscience ye knaw the doctrine
to be trew, then will I crave your patrocinye thareto ; that, by
your authoritie, the people may be moved the rather to beheve
the trewth, whareof many dowbtes be reasin of your yOwght
(youth, or, perhaps, thought)."
' The Sub-Prior answered. " I came not to hear as a Judge,
but only familiarly to talk ; and thairfor I will neither aUow
nor condempne ; but yf ye list, I wUl reesone. Why may nott
the Kirk (said he) for good causes, devise Ceremonies to decore
the Sacramentis, and other Goddis service ? " John Knox.
'' Because the Kirk awght to do nothing, butt in fayth, and
awght not to go befoir, but is bound to follow the voce of, the
trew Pastor." The Sub-Prior. "It is in fayth that the Cere
monies are commanded, and thei have proper significationis to
help on fayth ; as the hardis in Baptisme signifie the rawchness
[righteousness ?] of the law, and the oyle the softness of Goidis
mercy, and lykwyesse, every ane of the Ceremonyes has a godly
signification, and tharefoir thei boyth proceed frome fayth and
ar done into fayth."
' John Knox. "It is yneucht that man invent a ceremonye,
and then geve it a significatioun, according to his pleasur. For
so mycht the ceremonyes of the Gentiles, and this day the
ceremonyes of Mahomeit, be manteand. But yf that anything
proceed frome fayth, it man have the Word of God for the

JOHN WINRAM 217
assurance, for ye ar nott ignorant that ' fayth cumis by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God.' Now, yf ye will prove that
your ceremonyes proceed from fayth, and do pleas God, ye
man prove that God in expressed wordis hes commanded thame :
or ellis shall ye never prove that they proceed from fayth,
nor yitt that thei please God ; but that thei ar synne, and do
displease him, according to the wordis of the Apostill, ' whatso
ever is nott of fayth is synne.' "
' The Sub-Prior. " Will ye bynd us so strait, that we may do
nothing without the express Word of God ? What ! And I
ask a drink ? think ye that I synne ? and yitt I have not
Goddis Word for one." This answer gave he, as mycht appear,
to shift ower the argument upon the Freare, as that he did.
' John Knox. " I wald we should not jest in so grave a matter ;
neither wold I that ye should begyn to illud the trewth with
sophistrie ; and yf ye do, I will defend me the best that I can.
And first to your drinking, I say, that yf ye eyther eat or drink
without assurance of Goddis Worde, that in so doing ye dis
please God, and ye synne unto your very eatting and drynking.
For sayis nott the Apostle, speaking evin of meatt and drynk,
' That the creatures ar sanctified unto man, evin by the Word
and by prayer.' The Word is this : ' all thingis ar clean to
the clean,' etc. Now, let me hear thus much of your cere
monyes, and I shaU geve you the argument ; bot I wonder that
ye compare thingis profane and holy thingis so indiscreatlie
together. The questioun wes not, nor is it nott of meat or
drynk, whairinto the Kingdom of God consistis nott ; but the
questioun is of Goddis trew wirshipping, without the quhilk
we can have no societie with God. And, here it is dowbited yf
we may tack the same fredome in tbe using of Christis Sacra
mentis, that we may do in eatting and drynking. One meat I
may eatt, another I may refuse, and that without scrupill of
conscience. I may change ane with ane other, evin as oft as I
please. Whether may we do the same in materis of rehgion ?
May we cast away what we please, and receave what we please ?
If I be weill remembered that Moses, in the name of God, sayis
to the people of Israeli, ' All that the Lord thy God commandis
thee to do, that do thow to the Lord thy God ; add nothing to
it ; diminyshe nothing from it.' Be this rewUl, think I that
the Kirk of Christ will measur Goddis religioun, and not by
that which seames good in thare awin eis."
' The Sub-Prior. "Forgevme: I spak it but in mowes (jests),

218 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
and I was dry. And now, Father (said he to the Frear), foUow
the argument. Ye have heard what I have said, and what is
answered unto me agane."
' Friar Arbuckle. " I shall prove plainlye, that Ceremonyes
ar ordeaned by God."
John Knox. " Such as God hes ordayned we allow, and with
reverence we use thame. But the questioun is of those that
God hes nott ordayned, such as, in Baptisme, ar spattill, salt,
candill, cuide (except it be to keep the barne from cald), hardis,
oyle, and the rest of the Papisticall inventionis."
' Friar Arbuckle. " I will even prove these that ye dampne
to be ordeyned of God."
'John Knox. " The pruif I wald glaidly heir " ' . . and from
this Friar John Knox did hear the extraordinary statement,
which dismayed even the Friar's •followers, " That the Apostles
had not received the Holy Ghost when they wrote their
Epistles, but after they received Him, and then they did order
their ceremonies." — Knox's History (Laing's edition), vol. i.
pp. 194-197. NOTE 4
THE PROVINCIAL COUNCILS
When the bull of Pope Honorius III. arrived in Scotland, in
1225, instructing bishops and clergy of the Scottish Church
to meet in CouncU under immediate Apostolic authority,
the meeting of such a Council for the first time was a very
notable event in Scottish history, for the schismatic Church of
Celtic Scotia was recognised as having passed away, and the
bull proclaimed urbi et orbi that a new nation had come into
being in North Britain, and the Church established was hence
forth to rank as substantially a distinct province of Catholic
Christendom. In these later days, might not we see in its
President the prototpye, or authority, for our Moderator of
General Assembly ? The title was markedly non-hierarchical,
and the President was chosen from among the members, held
office only for one year or term — in sharp contrast to the rule
of normal Provincial CouncUs — and was styled Conservator of
the ordinances of the CouncU, which meant not the recorder or
preserver of its decrees, but the person who was to see that the
various decrees were duly executed by all and sundry. It may
be stated that in the vernacular the Council was known as

JOHN WINRAM 219
seinzie or senye, a term which like the English word seene or
cene, and the French sesne or senna, is a softened form not of
synodus but senatus. While, however, the Conservator may
suggest our Moderator, the Council must not be considered as
an analogue of our General Assembly ; but from time to time,
both the Council and the Assembly were engaged in conflict
with the State. There was no precise relation defined between
the spiritual and the civil court : sometimes the Council would
seem to intrude on Parliament or the Estates, while, on the
other hand, the secular authority seemed to intrude on the
spiritual, and thus compromise spiritual independence and the
rights of the Church. But of course things were curiously
complicated then, for in the Estates of Parliament the prelates
— bishops, abbots, priors — sometimes outnumbered the earls
and lesser barons assembled there.
If the clergy in Winram's time attended the Council in the
raiment originally prescribed, and observed the original forms,
then the bishops entered the place of meeting " arrayed in albs
and amices, copes, solemn mitres (i.e. the grandest of a bishop's
three mitres, jewelled and otherwise adorned), gloves, holding
in their hands their pastoral staves ; abbots in surplices and
copes, the mitred abbots in mitres ; deans and archdeacons in
surplices, amices, and copes, and the other clergy in decorous
and becoming raiment. Two candle-bearers, wearing albs and
arnices, with lighted candles, were to go before the deacon,
who was to read the Gospel — " I am the good Shepherd" — and
a sub-deacon was to accompany him. The deacon was to ask
a blessing from the Conservator if present, but if absent from
the senior bishop. When the Gospel had been read, the book
was to be kisssd by the Conservator and each of the bishops.
The Conservator was then to begin the hymn "Veni Creator,"
and at every verse the altar was to be censed by the bishops,
and then the preacher was to deliver the sermon. After
obtaining a blessing from the Conservator, he was to begin his
sermon at the side of the altar.'
At one of the meetings of the Council which we know Winram
attended and in which he took part (that of the year 1549), it
is interesting to note, as we learn from the Statuta, that the
Council " assembled in the Holy Ghost, conformably with this
precept of the Apostle (Acts xx., 28 Vulgate), for the glory of
God to restore tranquUlity and preserve complete unity in the
ecclesiastical estate,' and consisted ' of the most reverend and

220 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
venerable fathers in Christ and lords, the ordinaries, prelates,
and other distinguished and exalted churchmen and clergy
underwritten [the entire list of members is given]. When they
were duly assembled in the Church of the Friars-Preachers at
Edinburgh, on the mandate of the most reverend lord archbishop
primate and legatus natus, who presided, first of all high mass
was sung for the outpouring of divine grace and for the happy
furtherance and success of the business in the present CouncU or
Synod ; and when it was finished, the clergy going out with one
accord, entered the hall or refectory of the said friars. There,
when they had seated themselves in due order, and removed all
who had no right to be present, an address was delivered to
them by [a blank is here, no name given] a reverend and very
learned licentiate in theology, - and when that address or ex
hortation was ended there was read and re-read by the notary
of the synod, word by word, in a distinct and loud voice,' what
we would now call the minutes of the last meeting.
In the narrative preceding the Statuta of 1549, the reason is
given why this Council in Edinburgh was summoned, namely,
that in the main ' two causes and sorts of evils have stirred up
among us great dissensions and occasions of heresies, to wit,
the corruption of morals and profane lewdness of life in church
men of almost all ranks, together with cras ignorance of literature
and of all liberal arts — bonarum literarum et artium omnium
crassa inscitia — and from these two sources principally spring
many abuses, (to which) this holy synod and provincial council has
determined to apply remedies, and put a check on these mischiefs.'
The Statuta of this Council are very valuable, for not only
do they give an account of the pre-Reformation Church as
regards its morals, but they supply us also with a picture, or
series of pictures, of the clergy throughout the land, in their
various vestments, some of them wearing beards and with no
tonsure (both of which practices the Council condemned) ;
some of them fasting, and some indiffeient to fasting ; and
some reading the Scriptures when they sat down to meals that
their " souls be edified to good purpose and unprofitable tales
debarred,' whUe others neglected such reading. We see also
their servants and households, the cultivation of their glebes
and churchlands, and the Ulegal granting of leases and feus
of the same. There also come before us grammar-masters,
lecturers, students, coUectors of alms, parish clerks, testamentary
executors, notaries, procurators, advocates, masters-of-works,

JOHN WINRAM 221
etc., and we notice references to many offices and usages no
longer known to the Church, the Latin designations of which
are quaint, curious, and interesting.
The Statuta of the Scottish Church were translated, with
Introduction and Notes, by Dr David Patrick, under the auspices
of the Scottish History Society, in 1907, and to this pubhcation
the author has to express his great indebtedness for the informa
tion .given above as well as for many details scattered through
this book. The full title of the publication is, Statutes of the
Scottish Church, 1225-1559, Being a Translation of Concilia Scotice :
Ecclesice Scoticance Statuta Tam Provincilia Quam Synodalia Quce
Supersunt. About half a century earlier there appeared the
Statuta Ecclesice Scoticance or Concilia Scotia, edited by Dr
Joseph Robertson, under the auspices of the Bannatyne Club,
and in the two volumes which comprised the work were printed
aU the statutes of the provincial and diocesan councils known
to have been preserved, nearly three hundred in number,
together with a selection of relevant documents and formulas.
Dr Robertson also added appendices, containing many other
valuable documents bearing on ecclesiastical procedure and
history.

NOTE 5

St Serf, or Servanus, was the reputed founder of the ancient
monastery on the ' Inch of Lochleven.' He is understood to
have hved in the earlier part of the sixth century, baptized
and educated St Kentigern, and died at Culross. According to
certain old documents contained in the Register of the Priory
of St Andrews, Brude, son of Dergard, the last of the Pictish
Kings, gave this island of Lochleven to God, St Serf, and the
Culdees ; and Macbeth, with his wife Gruoch (Machbet fihus
Finlach . . . Gruoch filia Bodhe, rex et regina Scotorum),
bestowed Kirkness upon the Culdees of Loch Leven.

222 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland.
Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia.
Aikman's translation of Buchanan's History.
Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland.
Pitscottie's Chronicles.
Booke of the Universall Kirk.
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Mitchell's Archbishop Hamilton's Catechism.
Law's Hay Fleming's Register of the Kirk-Session of St Andrews.
Scottish History Society.
Hannay's Rentale Sancti Andree. Scottish History Society.
Wodrow's Collections.
James Scott's History of the Lives of Protestant Reformers in
Scotland.
M'Crie's Life of John Knox.
Hume Brown's Knox.
Hay Fleming's Reformation in Scotland.
Lee's Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland.
Lorimer's Scottish Reformation.
National Dictionary of Biography. Article ' John Winram.'
Hew Scott's Fasti Ecclesice Scoticance.
Satirical Poems of the Reformation. Scottish Text Society.
Patrick's Statutes.
The College of St Leonard, by John Herkless and Robert K.
Hannay.
The Archbishops of St Andrews, by John Herkless and Robert K.
Hannay.
History of St Andrews, by the Rev. C. J. Lyon, M.A.
Handbook of St Andrews and Neighbourhood, by Dr Hay Fleming.
Pollen's Papal Negotiations with Mary Queen of Scots. Scottish
History Society.
Acts of the Parliament of Scotland.

CHAPTER V
JOHN ROW
In the first General Assembly of the Scottish Church there
sat a member, John Row, whose life-story was no ordinary
one. At the time he was about thirty-five years of age,
and was a great authority on canon law, while his know
ledge of languages, ancient and modern, was exceptional.
He had represented the Scottish clergy at the Vatican,
had been marked out for favour by two Popes, and for a
while was Papal Nuncio. It was about a year before
the meeting of this General Assembly that he became
attracted to the Reformed Church, and the influences
which led to such a great and sudden change in his
opinions and in his career we shall at once state. There
was a chapel dedicated to our Lady of Loretto, near
Musselburgh, which had a great sanctity. Thomas the
Hermit x had hved there, and he had brought to it an
image of the Virgin from Loretto in Italy. For many
years this anchorite had dispensed pardons and in
dulgences at the shrine :
— ' Hermit of Laureit
He put the common pepill in belief
That blynd gat sicht and cruikit gat their feit.'
Pilgrims were wont to kiss ' the clagged tail,' or soiled
border, of his garment. James V., having been driven
back by tempestuous weather, while on a voyage to
1 See Note I. 223

224 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
France previous to his first marriage, made a pilgrimage
on foot from Stirling to this shrine. It was a great
resort for devotional and other purposes. Sir David
Lyndsay says —
' I have sene ane marvellous multitude,
Young men and women flingand on their feit
Under the forme of feinzeit sanctitude,
FortUl adore ane image in Laureit.'
In the year 1559 the friars announced that a great
miracle was to be performed at this place, which would
afford unmistakable proof that theirs was the true faith.
They would restore sight to a young man who had been
born bhnd. On the day appointed a great crowd
assembled to see this done. The youth was placed on
a platform erected outside the chapel, and a large
number of monks and priests stood around. No one
seemed to doubt the man's bhndness, for, sightless,
he had often been seen wandering about, seeking
charity. After an elaborate religious service, the
Virgin of Loretto, along with many saints, was invoked
to cure the poor sufferer, and soon, to the astonishment
of all, the man opened his eyes. After thanking the
friars, and the Virgin and the saints, for the wonderful
cure wrought on him, he descended from the platform
and moved among the people that all might see how
genuine the miracle was, and that he might receive
alms from the astonished multitude.
But it was aU an imposture. One in that crowd,
Robert Colville of Cleish, had his suspicions of the
whole affair, and also of the other so-called cures formerly
effected at Loretto. Determined to sift the matter to
the bottom, Colville, after some talk with the young
man, and giving him a piece of money, persuaded him
to come with him to his house in Edinburgh. Arrived
there he took the lad into a private room, locked the door,

JOHN ROW 225
told him plainly that he believed the whole thing was a
fraud, and waited for an explanation. Then the true
tale was told. When a boy he had been employed by
the nuns of the Sciennes (i.e. of Siena) in the neighbour
hood of Edinburgh to tend their cattle on the slopes of
Arthur Seat, and they had noticed a peculiar faculty
he had of turning up the whites of his eyes as bhnd men
do, and keeping them so for a long time. Some friars
came to know of this, and saw the use they could make
of it for their own purposes. Accordingly, with the
connivance of the nuns, they kept him a long time from
his associates, and then sent him out to beg as a bhnd
pauper, at the same time extracting from him a solemn
vow never to reveal the secret. The lad now, on
Colville's demand, ' played the pavie ' by ' flypping up
the hd of his eyes and casting up the white,' so as to
appear as he was on the platform at Loretto before the
religious ceremonies began.
Squire Meldrum (for such, from his romantic history,
was Colville usually called, in allusion to a person of
that name who had been celebrated by Sir David
Lyndsay) then told the young man that he had behaved
most wickedly, and insisted that the next day he must
publicly repeat the whole story at the Cross of Edinburgh.
The lad said he was afraid to do so, as it would expose
him to the vengeance of the friars, but the Squire said
he would appoint him his servant and protect him.
Accordingly this was done, and, with drawn sword,
ColviUe stood beside him at the Cross as he rehearsed
the tale. When the confession was finished, his pro
tector placed him on the same horse as himseU, and
carried him safely to his house in Fife. AU the country
came to hear of the imposture, and the old faith suffered
much because of it.
It made a deep impression on John Row. He heard
the whole story at first hand from ColviUe himseU, at

226 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
whose house he was visiting, and, in the words of his
son, ' being amazed, and withall ingenuous, would not,
yea, durst not, shoote (shut) out the light holden out to
him, considering the knaverie of the Kirkmen in the
pretendit miracle, and withaU reading and considering
2 Thessalonians ii., it pleased the Lord to convert him
from Popery to the Reformed Rehgion.' Row after
wards went to hear Knox preach, had conversations
with him, as also with Christopher Goodman and others
of the reformers, and then made formal abjuration of
Popery. Says his grandson : ' Ipse nuncius, nassa
evangelii irretitus, ejus pura, pia, pathetica prcvdicatione
inescatus, pontificiis syrtibus, famigerati Knoxi opera,
extr actus est.' ' This same nuncio, caught in the Gospel
net, by the travail of the famous Knox, with his pure,
godly, moving preaching allured, was delivered from
the miry clay of the papacy.'
John Row was born in the year 1525, in the neigh
bourhood of Stirling — ' in a landward roume caUed
Row,' says his son, ' betwixt Stirhne and Dumblane.'
Row was a small property — probably a farm— which,
his son informs us, belonged to the family. He was
educated at the Grammar School of Stirling, and then
proceeded to the University of St Andrews. The name
Johannes Rove, Loudon (i.e. Lothian, embracing then
a great part of the south of Scotland), occurs in the
records of that University among those who matricu
lated at St Leonard's College in the year 1544. When
he had completed his philosophical course he took the
degree of M.A., and then devoted himself to the study
of civil and canon law. Becoming a skilful pleader in
the Consistory Court of St Andrews — ' whilk in those
days was of great resort and renowne ' — he was held in
such regard by his clerical brethren for his theoretical
and practical knowledge of law, that in the year 1550

JOHN ROW 227
they nominated him as their agent for managing their
affairs at the Court of Rome. Row accordingly pro
ceeded to Italy, and remained in that country for about
eight years. An ' aspyring spirit,' says his son, also
prompted him to go abroad. The Pope in the year
1556, seems to have confirmed his appointment as
Scottish agent, or reappointed him. It may here be
stated that there were several divines in the Reformed
Church who were intimately acquainted with the prin
ciples of jurisprudence, and who were qualified by the
course of study they had pursued to give their advice
on questions relating to government and the administra
tion of laws. This may be explained partly by the
attraction of the new learning, which embraced know
ledge of all subjects, partly as a recoil from the dry and
repeUent logic of scholasticism, and partly also from
the feehng which had now arisen that it was the duty
of all subjects or citizens to promote the public good.
The canon law which churchmen had then to study
was an extremely characteristic product of the Middle
Ages, and related to such subjects as validity of marriage,
prohibited degrees of affinity and consanguinity, divorce
and excommunication ; while the civil law, on the other
hand, was connected with the jurisprudence of ancient
Rome, and dealt mainly with such subjects as purchase
and sale, mortgages, loans, servitudes and prescription.
We have considerable information as to Row's em
ployment in Rome from a curious and valuable set of
papers x which have come down to these days, and
which, besides containing papal bulls relating to
bishoprics and benefices in Scotland, have a number of
letters that passed between the Scottish primate and
the Roman Court, together with accounts of receipts and
1 According to Dr Thomas M'Crie they were, when his Life of fohn
Knox was published, ' in the possession of Thomas Thomson, Esq.'

228 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
disbursements by the agent at Rome for the Earl of
Arran, Regent of the Kingdom, and others. John Row
was employed as their procurator, and it is interesting
to find such items as the following. In ' Ane RecoUec
tion of my lord of Sanct Andros missives to my lord of
Kilwinning,' it is stated that it was a matter of ' content
M. Johne Row was put in charge of his (lordship's)
affairs in Rome XI Martii 1554.' In ' Ane Memoir of
aU things left w* M. Johne Row, be Gavin, com
mendator of Kilwinning, at his departing of Rome, 20
Mesis Martii 1555 ' is the following, ' Item, appointed
w' M. Johne Row for the provestrie of Kirkfield, and
caus M. Alexr. Forres send his mandat to ratify the
XX" pension reservit to the said M. Jhone.' In a
variety of letters to the Pope, ' concerning my lord
duckis bairnis, my lord archbishope of Sanct Andros,
bischope Argile, my lord Kilwinning self and utheris
their frends,' to Cardinal Sermoneta ' regni Scotiae pro-
mot ori,' and to other members of the Sacred CoUege,
from John Archbishop of St Andrews, Gavin, co-adjutor
to the Archbishop, James, Earl of Arran, and Mary,
dowager Queen and Regent of the Kingdom, written
during the years 1555 and 1556, and inserted in the
same manuscript, John Row is recognised and recom
mended as procurator for the See of St Andrews. It is
interesting to observe that cipher was used in this
correspondence, for the book closes with a table of
ciphers and their explanations, and the title given is
' Ciphre sent be my L[ord] of Sanct Andros of Edinr.
XIIj May 1555, to M. Johne Row in Rome.'
It appears that one of the chief purposes of Row's
remaining in the Eternal City was to obtain confirma
tion and extension of the powers formerly granted to
the Archbishop of St Andrews as primate and legatus
natus of Scotland, from which Gavin Dunbar, late Arch-

JOHN ROW 229
bishop of Glasgow, had procured an exemption. In
support of his claim, the primate urged that ' there had
always been a great number of heretics in the diocese
of Glasgow,' that being near England there was ' easy
ingress and egress to persons of bad manners and
opinions,' that terrible things had happened such as
' the burning of the images of God and the saints, the
contempt of prelates, the beating of priests and monks,
and eating of forbidden meats.' The primate felt that
the existing arrangement not only prevented him
making an effort to suppress such scandals, but hindered
also the Archbishop of Glasgow in his efforts to keep
his diocese free from such evils. As to how the matter
was settled, we have no information from these papers.
Row was held in esteem by the authorities in Rome.
Cardinal Sforza drew to him, and proved a good friend.
Our Scotsman, moreover, was in favour with Pope
Julius IIL, and afterwards with Pope Paul IV. We
find that on the 20th February 1556 he received the
degree of Licentiate of Laws from the University of
Rome — Insignitus fuit gradu Licentiaturce in utroque
Jure, coram collegio Advocatorum Universitatis almce
Urbis. The higher degree of Doctor of Laws was
conferred upon him by the University of Padua. During
his residence in Italy he made a special study of the
Greek and Hebrew languages, and became proficient
in them. Archbishop Spottiswood says that, had it
not been for a serious breakdown in his health Row
would have attained to great preferment. The Pope
was so concerned about his illness that he sent his own
physicians to attend the sufferer, but the advice they
gave was that, a change of air being desirable, he should
return to his native land. It was accordingly arranged
that Row should go back to Scotland, and the Pontiff,
having heard that the reformed doctrines were making

230 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
progress there, invested him with official authority to
investigate the causes and devise means for preventing
the further progress of the new heresy. It was as
Papal Nuncio,1 or Legate, therefore that he returned
to his native land.
The Coronis (a supplement to Row's History of the
Kirk) says that ' upon the 29th September 1558 he
landed at Haymouth,' that is Eyemouth, on the coast
of Berwickshire. But, as we have seen, instead of him
converting the reformers, the reformers converted him.
He proved a ' corbie messenger,' writes his grandson,
or, as he Latinises it, a corvus legatus ; for, as with
the raven and the ark of Noah, he never returned to
Rome. There must, however, be some mistake here,
or the date of his arrival in Scotland is wrongly given,
for there is extant a letter from John Row, dated Rome,
May 1559. This we now give, as not only is it possibly
the sole document of his which has come down to us,
but in its quaint spelling and pronunciation it is as a
voice from a remote past. The person to whom it is
addressed is Donald CampbeU, Abbot of Cupar, who
was elected Bishop of Brechin, and who was anxious
that the Court of Rome should confirm his appoint
ment — which, however, was not done. Campbell accord
ingly never assumed the title of Bishop of Brechin, but
still sat in Parhament among the Lords Spiritual as
Abbot of Cupar. He died in 1562. Here is the letter :—
' My Lord, — Efter humble commendatioun off service,
17 Apryl, resauit youre Lordship's wrytting be Flanderis,
off Edinburgh vj Februarij, and thereafter ane uder
zoure Lordschip's wrytting be France to the samyn
effect, togidder with ane Memoriall toward the pro-
visioun off the Bishopric of Brechine, desyrand me to
1 This may not have been precisely as that office is understood now,
but Row is so designated by his son and others.

JOHN ROW 231
concurr heirin wyth Mr James Thorntoun x ; conforme
als to the quhilk I resauit ane wrytting fra my lord
provest of Sanctandrois, my maister, to employing
wter dihgence and labors heyranent. Towart the
quhilk besines, your Lordschip pleis vnderstand, Mr
James Thorntoun and I presentit our Quenis Grace
supphcation to our Promotoure, quha thocht the mater
wynderous difficulte to be obtenit be the ressoun off
thir impediments ; the first because the Pope [Paul IV.]
wiU geve nay retentione in commendam off monasteries
that ar brukit in titulum ; the second wes towart the
changeing off zoure Lordship's habitt ; towart the
quhilk pwints, we have informit syndry Cardinallis, off
quhilk we find sum condescendent to our intent, quhar-
throw we ar not aUeterly not off esperans, and saU not
faiU to caus the Promotoure speyk the Pape heyranent,
be the first commodite ; for trewly the Cardinalhs ar in
gret difficulte to get audience off the Pape, and he
makkis warray few consistors. Elwais extreme dili
gence sal be done, to the effect zour Lordship may
obteine zour intent heyrin, or thane the Papis absolutt
wiU sail impresshe the samyn ; for I beheve thair sail
not be maid gret difficulte towart zour habitt, sua the
remanent could be obtenit. .Attour the banchors com-
missioun send heir towart the moving for thes expedition,
commandis to dehver the moving 2 quharone the bulls
ar sped, the quhilk commissioun wald be reformit,
causand the banchors heir oblis thame in euerting
expenses, and to deburce the remanent for the spedding
off the bullis ; for it is our gret ane sowme to tak heir
on creditt, and therefter to seyk the samyn agane at
the banchors, quhane the expeditioun is endit. Towart
this and aU uther thingis, becaus Mr James Thorntoun
1 See Note 2.
2 A moving is what would now be called a motion before the court.
G

232 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
wryttis to zour Lordship at lenthe, I will not fasche
zow wyth langar wrytting, assurand zour Lordship may
command me wyth all thing that lyis in my power. As
to the expensis off the expeditioun in case the samyn
be grantit, Mr James hes causit mak the compt thairof,
quhilk he sends instantly to zour Lordship, quhome
eternall God preserve eternaUy. Romse, XI Maij 1559,
Zour Lordship's serviteure,
Joannes Row.'
Addressed —
' To my Lord of Cowper,
my speciali Lord and Maister,
Scone.'
Whatever may have been the precise date of Row's
final return to Scotland, it seems certain that it was the
Lord James Stewart who, admiring his learning and
character, persuaded him to remain in his native country
and be of service to the cause of religion there ; and he
became an earnest, useful, and trusted leader of the
Protestant Church.
When the Reformation was established, Row became
for a short time minister of Kennoway (not Kilconquhar,
as is sometimes stated), in Fife, and there he married
Margaret Bethune, daughter of John Bethune, or
Beaton, of Balfour. As this laird of Balfour was the
nephew of Cardinal Beaton, it is somewhat singular that
the doughty Protestant John Row should have as his
wife the grandniece of so staunch a Romanist as the
well-known Cardinal. The lands of Kennoway were
' ane barronie of land pertaining to the laird of Balfour.'

JOHN ROW 233
Row also held the vicarage of Kennoway, but demitted
it some time before January 23rd, 1573. In July 1560
he was appointed to the old, now Middle, Church of
Perth, which incumbency he held till his death. In the
quaint wording of these days : ' The commissionaris of
Bruchis, with some of the Nobihtie and Barronis, were
appoyntit to see the equal distribution of ministeris, to
change and transport as the maist pairt sould think
expedient, and sua was . . . Maister Johnne Row to
Sanct Johnstoun [Perth].' Perhaps one of the reasons
for Row's being sent to Perth was that he might use
his gifts of scholarship in the way of imparting instruc
tion to young men, for the reformers found it necessary
to settle scholarly men in towns which were not seats
of a University. In point of fact this minister did
teach Greek and also Hebrew — a language almost
entirely unknown then in Scotland. Row indeed was
the first to teach it. The Grammar School at Perth
had great fame, and county gentlemen were in the habit
of sending their sons to it for their education. Many of
these were boarded with Row, where they were taught
various languages. Latin was spoken by the boys in
the school and in the playing-fields, and nothing but
French was spoken in the minister's house. The Holy
Scriptures were read before and after meals, and that
in the original tongues. Row's son, John, as a mere
child, came to know the Hebrew characters before he
knew his English letters, and at eight years of age was
able to read a Hebrew passage of Scripture with the
family. It is therefore not to be wondered at that,
when this young man entered Edinburgh University,
shortly after its erection, his unusual acquaintance with
that language attracted the attention of Principal
RoUock. The minister of Perth was also the means of
having Greek taught in. the Grammar School there, for

234 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
he gave its master lessons in that tongue, who again
was soon able to teach it to his scholars. Dr Thomas
M'Crie, in his Life of John Knox, puts it well when he
says : ' Some of our Scottish literati, who entertain
such a diminutive idea of the taste and learning of those
times, might have been taken by surprise had they been
set down at the table of one of the Scottish Reformers,
surrounded with a circle of his children and pupils,
when the conversation was all carried on in French,
Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. Such, however, was the
common practice in the house of John Row.' Robert
Colville of Cleish caUed him ' a great clergyman, a great
linguist, and a great lawyer.'
Perhaps a word may be said here about the humanity,
or geniality, of the Scottish reformers. They were not
so stern, so narrow, so opposed to amusements and
pastimes as many have supposed. Professor Aytoun
quotes an Act of Parhament, as instigated by Knox
and his fellow-reformers, forbidding the celebration of
Robin Hood and Little John, the Abbot of Unreason,
and the Queen of May, and says that under such rulers
' 'Twas sin to smUe, 'twas sin to laugh,
'Twas sin to sport or play.'
Not only are such lines untrue, but the Act referred
to was passed in pre-Reformation days, when Knox had
no influence whatever on the legislation of the country.
Knox himself, as we have seen, had a right merry laugh
and, to come to the concrete, did not condemn dancing
as such, but only when its conditions and surroundings
and purposes were unseemly.1 He himseU occasionaUy
indulged in ' recreation and pastyme by exercise of the
body.' Did he not play at bowls ? As Hill Burton has
pointed out, dancing was by no means decorous in
1 See p. 68.

JOHN ROW 235
Knox's time, as the books of Brantome and Margaret
of Navarre sufficiently indicate. Tripping ' on the
light fantastic toe ' had, at that time, a meaning, in
many cases, beyond the mere graceful cadenced exercise.
James Melville, who as a boy boarded at a manse, tells
us in his Diary that he not only learned Latin and French
there, but also archery, golf, fencing, running, leaping,
swimming, and wrestling. Moreover, when he was a
student at St Andrews with the reformed teaching pre
vailing there, he was taught music, instrumental and
vocal, for which he had a great liking. Two or three
of his fellow-students were also musically inclined, one
of them playing on the ' virginals,' another on the ' lute
and githorn,' while the regent himself was devoted to
the ' pinalds.' Later, when MelviUe was a student at
Glasgow University, he used to visit at the house of a
citizen, who was in the habit of entertaining, as his
guests, proficients in singing and playing on instruments.
His own father-in-law — John Durie, minister of Leith
— was an enthusiastic volunteer. ' Na sooner was the
gown af,' says MelviUe, ' and Byble out of hand fra the
Kirk, when on ged the corslet, and fangit was the hagbot,
and to the fields.'
To return to Row and his Semitic studies. Until
Andrew Bruce Davidson was appointed to the Chair
of Hebrew and Oriental Languages in New College,
Edinburgh, there had been practically no progress, and
no literary output, in Scotland, as regards that depart
ment of human learning, unless we except what was done
by that prodigy of linguistic attainment, at the be
ginning of last century, Professor Murray of Edinburgh
University, whose promise was so great, but whose
career, alas ! was so brief. Nor is it to be forgotten that
Boston of Ettrick was a diligent student of Hebrew — •
with fanciful theories on that language's accentuation —

236 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
and after his death there was published at Amsterdam
his Tractatus Stigmologicus, with no influence, however,
on Semitic scholarship. Professor Davidson, in one of
his early lectures, lamented Scotland's poverty in this
connection for the last three centuries or so, and said
that, while our country could claim Latinists, Grecians,
philosophers, and scientific experts, she had no oriental
scholar. It was otherwise, he went on to say, in the
sixteenth century, and he told the story of a scholar at
that time who, on being challenged by the nobles to
produce his commission to preach, unstrung his Hebrew
Bible from his belt, and threw it down among them,
telling them that his commission to preach lay there —
they might read it if they chose. The Professor did not
mention the name of the brave scholar, but it appears to
have been Andrew Melville. The year would be 1584,
but nearly a quarter of a century earher John Row
could have given the same challenge.
It has been said that the effects of the Scottish Re
formation on literature were disastrous. For instance,
in Mr T. F. Henderson's Scottish Vernacular Literature,
a Succinct History, we have the following : ' Secular
poetry came under its pecuhar ban, and indeed almost
every form of secular literature — literature underived
from or uninterlarded with Scripture — as essentially
mundane and frivolous, and therefore sinful.' As a
matter of fact the General Assembly, in March 1574-5,
did take up the matter of plays, tragedies, and comedies,
and strongly condemned the acting of any such as were
founded on Scripture, but others not thus founded
were to be looked into before they were ' proponit
publickhe,' and they were not to be acted on Sundays.
This is surely different from banning practicaUy all
secular literature.
It may be mentioned here that, as we learn from the

JOHN ROW 237
Register of Ministers, John Row's stipend as minister
of Perth was ' 200 pounds, with the Kirk land, and ane
chalder of quhite aittis.' He is said to have been an
eloquent preacher, and, because of his mildness of
temper and pohshed manners — resulting from his long
residence abroad — he was highly acceptable to persons
of aU ranks. We know that he pubhshed at least one
book, for in the testament of Thomas Bassinden, printer
in. Edinburgh, who died on the 18th October 1577,
which testament contains an inventory of his goods,
there occurs the following sentence, ' Item, ane M.
Johne Rowis Signes of the Sacramentis, price xijd.'
But we have no further information anywhere about
this or any other work.
In the city of Perth there is an institution which has
conferred, and stiU confers, much benefit on poor people.
This is King James Vlth's Hospital, and with its founding
and early success John Row evidently had a good deal
to do. It was on the 9th August 1569 that there was
sent, to Master Row and the lay-elders of Perth, the
foundation charter of the Hospital, from the Earl of
Moray, regent for the infant-king. The funds allotted
were derived from the revenues and emoluments which
had belonged to the monasteries, chapels, and altars of
the Romish Church in Perth, and also any sums payable
by the city and neighbourhood to other rehgious houses
in the kingdom. The apphcation of these funds was
now to be for the ' sustenance and hospitahty of the
poor members of Jesus Christ residing and abiding in
the burgh of Perth, and to other pious and divine uses.'
The manner in which the Hospital was to be governed
showed the confidence which the Regent placed in Row,
for the minister and elders were to be the sole managers,
and were to enjoy in their meetings the powers and
privileges of a civil court. The ancient records of this

238 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
institution show that the Rev. John Row and his elders
were determined and untiring in their efforts, in spite
of much opposition, to gain possession for the poor of
the revenues allotted. It is to be observed, however,
that they treated in a generous spirit any of the monks,
friars, and chaplains stiU hving, whom the Reformation
had deprived of their means of livehhood. They granted
to them annual pensions. And so it was throughout
Scotland, as has already been referred to in a previous
chapter. When the monastic buildings were demolished
their inmates were not reduced to utter poverty, but
had yearly allowances granted to them, which were
called ' friars' pensions.' Nor should it be forgotten
that the bishops and other prelates of the Romish Church
were aUowed to possess for life two-thirds of their
revenues, the Reformed Church receiving for her main
tenance the remaining one-third, or what portion thereof
the Crown gave.
In the affairs of the Church our Reformer took an
interested and important part. As already stated he
was a member of the first General Assembly ; and in
the course of the years that foUowed he was four times
its moderator. He was one of the six Johns who drew
up the Confession of Faith and the First Book of Dis
cipline. He had also a part in framing the Second
Book of Discipline, for in the year 1574 he was appointed
one of the Commissioners to ' convene and write the
articles which concern the jurisdiction of the Kirk,'
and in the following year was one of those chosen with
the Commissioners that might be appointed by the
Regent ' upon the jurisdiction and policy of the Kirk.'
The result of these and other Commissions, of which
Row continued to be a member, was the construction
of the Second Book of Discipline. About this time we
find him on a committee appointed to take steps that

JOHN ROW 239
the gift of the third of the benefices, which Queen Mary
had promised, ' might be despatched through the seals.'
Shortly after he subscribes the letter which was sent to
the bishops of England regarding the wearing of the
surplice. This letter, or address, was also signed by
John Winram, among others, and it was Knox who
composed it. We give the letter — summarised and
modernised — from which it wiU be observed that the
leaders of the Scottish Church took a wide, charitable,
and common-sense view of the matter. Had it been
attended to by the leaders of the Enghsh Church much
trouble and sore disaster in later days would have been
avoided. Carlyle, in his Oliver Cromwell, deals in a
trenchantly sarcastic vein with the ' dignified cere
monialism,' ' mimetic dramaturgy,' ' respectable church-
tippets ' — he lingers humorously over the ' four surphces
at AUhaUowtide ' — of James I. and Charles I. with their
ecclesiastical ' fugleman pohcy,' and their ' pulling one
way and England and the Eternal Laws pulhng another,
the rent fast widening tiU no man can heal it.' The
letter, signed by John Row, shows the better way, and
also shows that, in this matter at least, the Church of
Scotland was more advanced in toleration than the
Church of England. The Church of Scotland never
made the Geneva gown an essential of worship or
ceremonial rite, whereas the Church of England did so
with the surplice, losing thereby thousands of their
godly ministers and members — ' cast out of their
parishes,' says Carlyle, ' for genuflexions, white surphces,
and such hke ' ; and as said His Majesty King James
VI. , 'if they wiU not conform I will harry them out of
the country.' They did not conform, and the royal
word was kept, to the injury of England and the ultimate
ruin of the house of Stuart.
Before we give the letter, it may be stated that Row

240 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
appears to have been looked upon as an authority on
vestments and such like, doubtless because of his know
ledge of canon law and church usages. The General
Assembly appointed him along with others ' to revise
and consider Mr William Ramsey's answer to Bullinger's
book On the Habits of Preachers.' The letter, which
does not appear in Knox's History, is inserted by Keith
in his, and is as foUows : ' The Superintendents, ministers,
and commissioners of Kirks within the realm of Scotland,
unto their brethren, the bishops and pastors of England,
who have renounced the Roman antichrist, and are
professing with them the Lord Jesus in sincerity, wish
the perpetual increase of the Holy Spirit. Reverehd
pastors, it has come to our knowledge, both by word
and writ, that divers of our dear brethren, among whom
are some of the best learned men in your realm, have
been deprived of their ecclesiastical function, and for
bidden by you to preach, because their consciences wiU
not suffer them to take upon them such garments as
were used in the time of blindness and idolatry. We
will not enter into the argument, which we understand
is, with greater vehemence than is necessary, agitated
with you, whether such apparel is to be accounted
among the things which are simple and indifferent ;
but, in the bowels of Christ Jesus, we crave that Christian
charity may so far prevail in you, that ye would not
do unto others what ye would not wish that others
should do unto you. You cannot be ignorant how
tender a thing the conscience of man is. AU that have
knowledge are not alike persuaded. Your conscience
reclaims not at the using of such garments j but many
thousands of godly and learned men are of another
mind ; they cannot consent to the surplice, the corner
cap, and tippet, for these things were formerly the
badges of idolatry. Our brethren, who conscientiously

JOHN ROW 241
reject that unprofitable apparel, do neither damn nor
molest you who use such trifles. If ye shall do like to
them, we doubt not but therein ye shaU please God,
and comfort the hearts of many, who are wounded with
your severity to our godly and beloved brethren. We
look that you will not refuse the humble request of us
your brethren, in whom albeit there appears no great
worldly pomp ; yet we suppose, that ye will not so far
despise us, as not to esteem us in the numbers of them
who fight against the Roman antichrist, and travail
that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ may be universally
promoted. To the protection of the Lord Jesus we
heartily commit you. From Edinburgh out of our
General Assembly, and third session thereof, December
27th, 1566 : From your loving brethren and fellow-
preachers in Christ Jesus. Amen.' As in these studies
we have found, and shall find, the Reformed Church of
Scotland having dealings with the Reformed Church of
England, it should be noted that these two Churches
were in much closer relationship in the second half of
the sixteenth century than they were in later days.
Knox himself had no smaU part in moulding the char
acter of the English Church, and WiUock, as we have
seen, held orders simultaneously in both Churches.
There was indeed no hard and fast line between Presby
tery and Episcopacy in those times. Lord Macaulay
points out, in his History, that as late as the year 1603,
the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury solemnly
recognised the Church of Scotland as a branch of the
Holy Cathohc Church of Christ, and that Presbyterian
ministers were entitled to place and voice in GEcumenical
Councils. He also says that many Enghsh benefices
were held by divines who had been admitted to the
ministry in the Calvinistic form used on the Continent,
and that re-ordination by a bishop in such cases was

242 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
not thought necessary or even lawful. Hooker, he
adds, held Calvin in great esteem, and eulogised him,
declaring that he was a man to whom thousands were
indebted for the knowledge of divine truth, but who
was himself indebted to God alone.
On 25th June 1566 an important Assembly was held,
of which George Buchanan was Moderator, and which
played a notable part in the affairs of the nation
at that time. There was cleavage in the ranks of
the nobility, a state of matters which had been ever
recurring since Queen Mary returned from France. The
Earl of Glencairn, with a band of his foUowers, had
gone to the Chapel of Holyrood and broken in pieces
the altars and statues there, a proceeding which had
incensed the Queen's party, and especially the Hamiltons,
who happened at that time to have many of their
supporters in the city. The result was that no agree
ment could be come to among the nobles for the re
dressing of disorders in the Church and in the State.
Civil war seemed imminent. Help was asked from the
General Assembly, and letters were sent from it to
several of the lords. Commissioners were also ap
pointed by it, among whom was John Row, to meet
with the lords who ' either were actually declared for
the Hamiltons or were neuter,' to get them aU to come
together and take steps for the better ordering of the
affairs of the Church. This action of the Assembly
greatly pleased many of the nobles, who profusely
promised to do what was desired, but, as Knox remarks,
' how they performed their promises, God knows.'
In July 1568 Row was appointed by the Assembly
to visit Galloway, the Bishop there being under censure,
and in March 1570 we find him styled Commissioner of
Galloway, though his son styles him Superintendent of
that province. With regard to this there is a curious

JOHN ROW 243
passage in Row's History of the Kirk of Scotland, which
has reference to a period some forty years later, when
a certain Mr Cowper was created Bishop of GaUoway.
' His best apologie,' says the History, was that ' he had
gotten more light than he had before. One answered
merrihe, It is true, for now he has upon his table two
great candles, whereas before he had but one small
candle ; other more hght I know none. He was also
accustomed to say, he had but succeeded Mr John Row,
minister of Perth, and bishop of Galloway. It is true
Mr John Row was minister of Saint Johnstoune [Perth],
and Superintendent of Galloway, but the difference
between the Superintendents and diocesan lordlie
Prelats was vast and many, for Superintendents (I
confess the words in effect are synonyma, seeing that
episcopeisthai is superintendere) were acknowledged to
be necessarie and useful in the infancie of our Kirk,
before presbyteries could be had for the planting of
Kirks, and thus the Apostle employed Timothie, Titus,
and others. The Superintendents were pastors over a
particular flock, an employment too base for my Lord
Bishop. The Superintendents received their commission,
were countable to, and were censurate by, the General
Assembhe. The Superintendents did, with difficulty
and much urging, embrace the office, wherein was to be
seen nothing but onus not honos, povertie and pains, no
preferment and riches, and therefore when they were
requyred to lay that employment aside, they quat it
gladly and cheerfully.'
When the petition of the Church, in reference to
benefices, was rejected by the Parhament of the King's
party held at Stirling in August 1571, we find Row
preaching on the Sunday foUowing in that town, and
denouncing from the pulpit ' judgments against the
lords for their covetousness.' This man, usuaUy so

244 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
mild in manners and speech spoke indignantly thus :
' I care not, my lords, if you will be displeased, for I
speak my conscience before God, who will not suffer
such wickedness and contempt to go unpunished.'
At the Assembly convened at Edinburgh on 6th
March 1573, a complaint was made against the minister
of Perth for having a plurality of benefices. The
minister admitted that he had two vicarages — Twynam
and Terregles in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright — but
maintained that they were of httle or no profit to him;
as for the ' commissionary of Galloway ' he would only
be too glad to be disburthened of it. But there was
another charge laid against him at this Assembly of
which we must make mention, as it throws some curious
hght on those times. The charge or complaint was
that he had solemnised a marriage between the Master
of Crawford (afterwards ninth Earl of Crawford) and
Lilias, a daughter of Lord Drummond, and cousin of
Lord Ruthven, and that no banns had been proclaimed,
nor (though the marriage ceremony had taken place
in the church on Thursday at the evening prayers) had
the law then existing been observed that the marriage
must be ' on the Sabbath forenoon, in the face of the
congregation.' An irregularity such as that, committed
by a man of Row's standing, created much talk, and
the Assembly had to take cognisance of it. Row
pleaded that what he had done was by command of
the Kirk-Session of which WiUiam, Lord Ruthven,
provost of the town, was a member, and that he was
present at the time. The Assembly, however, would
not sustain the plea and ' ordained that the Act made
against ministers solemnising the marriage of other
parishioners, or without proclamation of banns, should
have strength against John Row, and that he should
underly censure during the Church's wiU.' The minister

JOHN ROW 245
of Perth, however, could not have remained very long
under censure — a day perhaps, or only a few hours —
for in that same Assembly he seems to have been
actively engaged thereafter in the business that came
before it. The impression probably was that Lord
Ruthven, afterwards Earl of Gowrie — he was the main
instigator of the Ruthven Raid, and father of the Earl
who was identified with the Gowrie Conspiracy — was
most to blame in the matter, but he was a man held in
much respect by the Perth people, and was an ardent
supporter of the Reformed Church. It may be remarked,
says an old minister — James Scott of Perth — on the
whole incident, ' how very ungenerous it is, when persons
of a superior station, as Lord Ruthven was, take it
upon them to importune ministers, in extraordinary
cases, to do anything which ministers in any degree
reckon to be irregular.' But ministers, however ex
ceUent, should not aUow themselves to be browbeaten
or cajoled into doing what is wrong — even though it be
only ecclesiastical and not moral law that is broken.
It seems rather curious that the rule then was that
marriages, as well as baptisms, be celebrated on Sundays
— ' the parties [to] assemble at the beginning of the
sermon ' — all such celebrated otherwise as on ' ferial '
or ordinary week-days, being deemed irregular and
dealt with as such. The proper time for baptism
comes up before the Assembly in an odd manner, for
in a set of perplexing questions to be solved by that
body, we have this — ' What punishment shaU be for
ane minister that baptises ane murtherer's bairn on ane
Monday, not being ane day of preaching, and without
repentance of the murtherer remaining at the King's
horn ? ' — that is, a fugitive from justice. The answer
is, ' Deservet deposition ' (Book of Universal Kirk, i.
345)-

246 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
John Row was more than once in the royal presence.
In connection with the difficult matter of the provision
of stipends for the ministers, Knox teUs us that after
the Assembly which met in December 1566, ' the
Bishop of Galloway, with the Superintendent of Lothian
and Mr Johne Row, passing to Stirhng, obtained their
demands in an ample manner at the Queen's Majestie's
hand according to their desire, and likewise they ob
tained for every borough a gift or donation of the
altarages, annuals, and obites, which before were given
to the papists, now to be disposed for the main
tenance of the ministers and schools within the boroughs,
and the rest to the poor or hospital.' Knox further
informs us that Row and his fellow-commissioners
' easily obtained audience of the King and Queen [i.e.
of Darnley and Mary], and, after reverence done, Mr
John Row, in name of the rest, opened the matter,
lamenting and bewaihng the miserable state of the poor
ministers.' He also adverted to the change which the
Reformers desired the Queen to make of her rehgion,
and then presented the written address, which, reflecting
Row's temper and style of writing, was singularly
moderate and courteous in tone. It appears that the
next year our reformer had another interview with
Queen Mary, when further emoluments were obtained
for the Protestant clergy. It may be added here that
Row was appointed one of a committee of ministers to
hold a conference with the lords as to the advisability
of ministers moderating their language in their refer
ences to the Queen in their prayers and sermons ; but
nothing resulted from the conference. Still earher,
when 'the Devill, finding his rainzeis lowse, ran fordwarte
in his course, and the Queen took upon her gretter
baldness than sche and Baales' bleating preastis durst
have attempted befoir,' and the Mass was celebrated

JOHN ROW 247
with ' aU myscheivous solempnitie,' a meeting was
' upon this questioun conveined in the house of Mr
James MakgiU, the Lord James, the Erie of Mortoun,
the Erie MerscheU, Secretarie Lethingtoun, the Justice
Cleark, and Cleark Registre, who aU reassoned for the
part of the Queen affirmyng, " That the subjects mycht
not lauchfullie tak the Messe from hir " ; in the contrair
judgement war the principal ministeris, Mr Johne Row,
Maister George Hay, Maister Robert Hammyltoun,
and Johne Knox ' (Knox's History, vol. ii. p. 291) .
Row seems for a time to have been favourable to a
form of prelacy, for in the General Assembly which met
in August 1575, when the question was raised ' whether
bishops as now aUowed in Scotland had their functions
from the Word of God,' he was chosen with three others
to argue in favour of Episcopacy. Andrew MelviUe
made a notable, indeed historical, speech on this occasion,
which greatly impressed the Assembly, and the debate
was a lengthened one. The result was that not only
were diocesan bishops disapproved of, but without one
contradictory or dissenting voice the abolition of
Episcopacy was resolved on. The sequel as regards
John Row, we give in the words of his son : ' At first
he thought the Prelatical government might well enough
stand with Protestant doctrine ; and monarchic being
the best government in the state he thought it looked
hkest to that in the Kirk to be ruled by a prelat ; and
being one of them that was for the affirmative, that
bishops were lawful, after long disputation and examina
tion of that poynt, he and aU they who took part of
the argument yielded, were forced, by strength of
reason and hght holden out from Scripture, to confess
their errour ; and after that he (and all the rest) preached
down prelacie all his days.'
It is somewhat singular that in the Register of the

248 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Privy Council, with reference to an incident that
occurred in 1574, we find John Row designated ' Super
intendent of the North.' Surely the Clerk of the
' Secreit CounsaU ' must have been showing carelessness.
In the year 1576, we find him appointed by the
Assembly one of a commission ' to visit the CoUeges of
the University of St Andrews, and to consider the same
and the manner and state thereof, and what they find
to report to the next General Assembly.'
As throwing some light on the strange times in which
John Row hved, we may notice the curious position
in which he was placed more than once with regard to
the Earl of Atholl. This nobleman, John Stewart, was
a hneal descendant of John Stewart, commonly caUed
' the black knight of Lorn,' and of Queen Jane, the
widow of James I. He of the sixteenth century, as
weU as his countess, had remained a Roman Catholic.
This displeased the General Assembly, and at its meeting
in 1575 a letter was sent to them requiring that they
should ' seek conference with Mr John Row, and any
other three or four ministers, that they might be in
structed in the true rehgion, and have their doubts of
it resolved ; with certification that, if this were not done
by them before Martinmas next, then Mr Row, with
the assistance of the Superintendents of Angus and
Fife, and of the ministers of Dundee and Tibbermuir,
was to excommunicate them in the Church of Dunkeld ;
and, if this should be hindered, he was to do it in the
parish church of Perth.' For some reason or other —
possibly his kindly nature shrank from it — Row did
not carry out this instruction of the Supreme Court.
James Paton, Bishop of Dunkeld, was then appointed
to pronounce the sentence of excommunication, but he
also failed to do so. The matter seems to have dragged
on for three or four years, when the General Assembly,

JOHN ROW 249
in July 1579, refusing to take any excuse from the
bishop — though it appears to have taken one from the
minister of Perth — appointed Row to visit the district
of Dunkeld, demanding the resignation of Paton from
the bishopric, and, on his refusal, to excommunicate him !
This all seems very strange and very intolerant, but at
that time both Churches — protestant and popish — did
strangely intolerant things. This Earl of AthoU also
in his death troubled the Church. He had become
Lord High ChanceUor of the kingdom, and died on
April 24th, 1579, when holding that high office. Having
remained a Roman Cathohc to the end, a great funeral
according to the Romish rites was arranged for him.
The body lay in state for many days, and on July 4th it
was to be interred with much pomp in the south aisle
of St Giles' Church, Edinburgh. But that date happened
to be the opening day of the General Assembly. It was
towards evening when the Earl's burial was to take
place, and lighted torches were to be used. The figure
of a cross, moreover, was to be openly carried. Then
the mortcloth was to be covered with a white paU, and
the mourners were to wear long gowns decorated with
some kind of stripes or fastenings. Thus was popery
to flaunt itself in the face of this protestant Assembly
met in an ultra-protestant city. The members seriously
considered the matter, insisted on the curtailment of
the rites and the trappings, and deputed Mr John Row,
minister of Perth, and Mr John Durie, one of the
ministers of Edinburgh, to go without delay to some of
the peers who had arrived to attend the obsequies, and
acquaint them with the mind of the Assembly. The lords
agreed to a slight modification of the ceremonies, but it
would appear that, as the procession passed along the
streets, other modifications had likewise to be resorted
to. There appears to have been a riot — the city's

250 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
history shows that an Edinburgh mob was not easily
appeased — and no more was heard of the matter.
Row remained minister of Perth till his death which
occurred on October 16th, 1580, when he was fifty-four
years of age. Unlike the two previous Johns — John
WiUock and John Winram — there is some definite in
formation regarding his last days. When we turn to
the Kirk-Session (or, as called then, the Weekly Assembly)
Records of Perth, we find that in the year 1580 on July
31st he dispensed the Communion for the last time.
The names of those present at the Session meeting on
ioth Octobler of that year are not given in the Record,
and consequently we do not know whether he was
present at that meeting. A week or so later he died.
Finding that death was approaching, he dictated, and
subscribed with his own hand, a kindly and generous
letter, addressed to the Weekly Assembly, and to Henry
Elder, town-clerk, on behalf of the ' reader,' Mr James
Smith, whom he regarded as his valuable assistant and
friend, and with whom he wished to leave a parting
testimony of his esteem. The letter is not engrossed
in the minutes, but the substance of it is, and there is
contained in it a request that Mr Smith should enjoy
what he had promised him, or at least had led him to
expect, namely, a salary of ten merks, with the usual
perquisites. The letter was read at the assembly of
the elders on October 31st, a fortnight and a day after
Mr Row's death, and the meeting unanimously resolved
to do what the minister wished.
Our other source of information regarding this Re
former's last days is in the Additions to the Coronis,
where we find his grandson saying : ' There was one
passage remarkable in the tyme of his sickness, a little
before his death. The Master of the Gramer Schoole,
commonlie called Dominie Rind, came to visite bim, to

JOHN ROW 251
whom he sayes, " Sir, yee have many smaU bairnes, and
alas ! yee have little or no geir to leave them ; what wiU
become of them ? I feare they beg through the countrey.
Sir, yee have not been careful to gather geir to them,
as weU ye might, both at Rome, and since ye came to
Scotland." Mr John Row, turning him to the wall, lay
silent a prettie space, pouring out his soule to God ;
thereafter turning himself, sayes, " Dominie, I have
been thinking upon that yee have been saying to me ;
I wiU not justifie myseUe, nor say that I have been
careful enough to gather geir to my bairnes. I think I
might and ought to have done more that way than I
have done ; but, Dominie, I have layd over my bairnes
upon God and the weU-ordered Covenant, and His aU-
sufficient Providence, for we must hppen much to the
old charter, Providebit Dominus (Genesis xxii. 8, 14).
But, Dominie, let me, tyme about, speake to you ; yee
have but one sonne, and yee have great riches to give
him, and yee make a god of your geir ; and yee thinke,
who but your only sonne, my sonne, he wiU have enough !
But, Dominie, it feares me yee have little credite and
farre less comfort by him, yea it may be that when my
bairnes (whom I have layed over upon God's gracious
and all-sufficient Providence) may have competence in
the world, your sonne may have much mister, and be
beholden to some of myne, for it is God's blessing that
maketh rich " (Deuteronomy viii. 18). The event did
speak the fulfilling of this prophesie of the dying servant
of Jesus Christ, for Mr John Row had sixe sonnes and
two daughters,' all of whom prospered, whereas ' Dominie
Rind, his only rich heire, he was minister of Dron, and
was a very profane and dissolute man, given to drunken
ness and many evil vices, so that he became very poore ;
and in his own tyme for povertie was forced to sell his
bookes to Mr John Row, then schoole-master at Perth,

252 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
sonne to Mr John Row, minister at Carnock, the grand-
chylde to him that uttered the prophesie. And after
his death his wife for povertie turned ane gangreU
poore woman, seUing some small wares ; and often was
refreshed with meate and drink in the house of one of
Mr John Row, minister of Carnock, his sonnes, minister
at Seiris in Fyfe.'
In our second chapter certain lines, with reference
to Willock, are quoted from a Roman Catholic satirical
poem of those days. We now give a line from the same
poem as showing that Row must have made considerable
sacrifice by joining the Protestant cause : —
' Rou custe the vsurie hard be the beuch,' x
which means that he threw away his chances of wealth
and preferment. It is further to be noted that whUe
the poem is a long one, and many of the Reformers are
referred to by name, and are made the objects both of
severe animadversions and opprobrious epithets, this
is aU the satirist has to say about John Row, which is
certainly to the credit of the latter.
There are several references to Row in Knox's History,
but we have not found therein any opinion expressed
concerning him, or estimate given of his character and
work. Archbishop Spottiswood (whose father must
have known him weU) says that ' he was a man who
. whilst he hved was weU respected and was much lamented
at his death by the people whom he served.' James
MelviUe in his Diary writes : ' About this time (1580)
rested happihe in the Lord Mr Johne Row, minister of
Saint Johnston, a wise grave father, and of good hterature
according to his time, who, by the information of my
1 Literally, ' Row threw away money-making hard by the bough.'
' Hard by the bough ' is difficult to understand, but may mean,
' when he was well under a rich fruit-bearing branch or tree.'

JOHN ROW 253
uncle, Mr Andro Melville, laid first in a Generall Assembhe,
be doctrine cleirit all the heads of the discipline, to the
grait contentation of the hail Kirk, and therefter
continowit a constant promoter thereof to his end.'
Calderwood says of him that ' he thundered out mightihe
against the estate of the bishops, howbeit in the time
of his bhndness the Pope was to him as an angel of
God.' His own son writes concerning him that ' in
Perth, the second burgh of the kingdom, he lived and
died beloved and regrated by aU good men.' J
We gather the great respect in which the people oz
Perth held their minister from what occurred — as Calder
wood in his History informs us about a quarter of a
century after Row's death — when his son WiUiam was
moderator of the Synod (' the Provincial Assemblie ') of
Perth and Stirhng, which met at Perth. There King
James VI., through his representative Sir David Murray,
threatened severe measures — even to the forcing the
younger Row out of the pulpit — if he disobeyed the
King's orders (which he was hkely to do as he resented
the royal interference with the affairs of the Church).
But when the said Sir David ' dealt with some of the
counsell of the toun and the clerk to travell with him in
that mater,' he was told by the civic authorities that the
moderator's father had been their minister, that they
had great regard for him — his ' memorie was yitt recent '
— that his son also was ' gratious amongst the people,'
and that if any attempt were made to deal harshly with
this moderator, who for his own and his father's sake
was dear to them, ' it could not fail to breed insurrection
or some other inconvenient.'
Professor Johnston's 2 Latin poem on Row is as
foUows, and we append a translation of it :—
1 See Notes 3 and 4.
2 Professor Johnston. See references in preceding chapters.

254 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
JOHANNES ROWIVS
ECCLESIASTES PERTHENSIS, OBIIT XVr VIIIBRIS AN. I580
Consilio prastans, rebus auctor gravis agendis,
Praecipuos inter, lumina prima patres ;
Cognitio varia : immensa experientia rerum.
Omnigenam linguam mens praeit ingenii.
Exactor disciplinas, vindexque severus.
Ipse sibi censor, seque ad amussim habuit.
Sancta domus, castique lares, frons lseta, serena :
Larga manus miseris, mensa benigna bonis.
Vrbis delicium : sancti pia copula amoris
Una fides, fidei publica cura simul.
Clara viris, cultuque decens, pulcherrima Pertha :
Rowivs at Pertha? haud ultima fama fuit.

JOHN ROW
MINISTER IN PERTH ; DIED OCTOBER l6, I580
Well skilled to frame and to achieve a plan,
He shone among his peers a noted man.
Experience joined its wealth to bookish lore :
Full well he spoke, but much he thought before.
If sins of others he would sternly stem,
His own he was the foremost to condemn.
In godly home a happy smile he wore,
And Christian bounty drained his purse and store.
His townsmen loved him, for with accents clear
He taught the sacred truths they held so dear.
If Perth can vaunt her beauty, site, and host
Of worthies, Row is not her meanest boast.
Lord Guthrie, who has carefully studied this period
of Scottish history, gives high praise to this reformer.
In a note to his abridged edition of Knox's History he
says, ' Among the great leaders of the Scottish Reforma
tion whose fame has been unduly overshadowed by that

JOHN ROW 255
of John Knox, one of the most remarkable was the
Paduan Doctor of Laws, John Row.'
As already stated, John Row's wife was Margaret
Bethune, or Beaton, daughter of John Bethune, or
Beaton, of Balfour in Fife, and she bore to him eight
sons and two daughters. These in order were : James,
who became minister of Kilspindie ; William, who
became minister of Forgandenny ; Catherine, who was
married to WiUiam Rigg of Atherney ; Ohver, who
died young ; John, who became minister of Carnock ;
Robert, who appears to have died in infancy ; Archibald,
who became minister of Stobo ; Patrick, who appears to
have died young ; Cohn, who became minister of St
Quivox ; and Mary, who was married to James Rynd,
minister of Longforgan. It is perhaps worth while
noting in connection with the baptism of these children,
that there were two witnesses, styled godfathers, to
each. Among them we observe names such as Lord
Methven, the Bishop of GaUoway, CampbeU of Glenorchy,
and a son of Lord Gray. WiUiam, the second son, is
supposed to have been called after William Lord Ruthven,
the first Earl of Gowrie, and a devoted elder of John
Row's congregation.
Of two of the above, and two grandsons, some detailed
mention should be made.
Willam Row, second son of John Row, was born in
1563. He studied at the University of St Andrews,
where he graduated in 1587. About the year 1589 he
was appointed minister of Forgandenny, not far from
the city of Perth. In connection with the Gowrie
Conspiracy, he was cited to appear at Stirling, before
the King and Council, as he was one of the ministers
who refused to give thanks for the King's escape. The
attitude he took up was that, while the whole affair
was mysterious, there were certain facts that should

256 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
be brought to light. Though told that his hfe was in
danger, if he set out for the meeting of the Council, he
went to Stirling, and there with much courage defended
his position. At various General Assembhes he spoke
as a fearless defender of Presbytery. When in 1607
he occupied the chair as moderator of the Synod held
at Perth, and James VI. sent Lord Scone,1 comptroller
and captain of his guard, along with two other com
missioners, to compel that court of the Church to accept
a permanent moderator, and it was threatened that the
guards would discharge their carbines at Row if he dis
obeyed, he fearlessly preached a sermon of considerable
length, in which he denounced the proposed appoint
ment. Throughout his discourse he wisely avoided
the designation ' constant moderator,' always referring
to such a personage by the learned Latin title of presses
ad vitam. Lord Scone did not know the language of
Cicero and Virgil, and really thought that there was
nothing in the sermon against constant moderators —
indeed fancied that he had cowed the preacher — but
when the Latin words were translated to him his rage
knew no bounds, and he addressed Row and other
members of the Synod in the most shameful and blas
phemous language. When the votes were being counted
for the new moderator, Row held the roll of members
in his hand, at which the comptroller rose in wrath
from his chair, and tried to seize the roll by force ; but
Row, holding it in his left hand, seized the comptroller
with his right and held him firmly in his chdr, which
was next to the moderator's, tiU 'he called all the
names.' William Row was put to the horn for this, and ordered
to appear before the Privy Council. As he refused to
1 This is the Sir David Murray of p. 253. He is sometimes styled
the one way and sometimes the other in the records of the time.

JOHN ROW 257
obey the summons, he was arrested and imprisoned in
Blackness Castle, where he lay for seven years, when he
was released on the petition of the General Assembly.
In 1624 Alexander Lindsay, Bishop of Dunkeld, who
was patron of the parish of Forgandenny, and was an
old fellow-student of Row, managed to have the latter's
son Wilham appointed his father's assistant and
successor. Staunch in his Presbyterianism to the end,
even though the Bishop had shown him this favour, he
would not recognise in him any ecclesiastical superiority,
and, when giving entertainment at the manse, he placed
at the head of the table John Malcolm, their former
regent at the University, then minister of Perth.
Wilham Row died in October 1634.
John Row, the fourth (and third surviving) son, was
born at Perth probably about the end of December
1568. He received his early education under his father's
roof, and must have been a precocious boy. Already
we have referred to his acquaintance, as a mere child,
with the Hebrew language. When seven years of age
he was accustomed to read daily at dinner or supper a
chapter of the Old Testament in the original, and at
the Grammar School he instructed his master in Hebrew,
with the result that the latter was wont to caU him
Magister John Row. After his father's death he, along
with his brother Wilham, enjoyed a friar's pension from
the King's Hospital at Perth. His school education
over, he, went to Kennoway, in Fife, where he taught in
the parish school, and also acted as tutor to his nephews
the Bethunes of Balfour. These he accompanied to
Edinburgh, where he matriculated at the College recently
erected in that city, taking his degree of M.A. there in
1590. For two years thereafter he taught in a school
at Aberdour, and .while there he was also tutor to
Wilham, seventh Earl of Morton, to whom on the

258 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
mother's side he was related. As Aberdour Castle had
the festivity and gaiety of a court, John Row would
become acquainted with the ways of the nobihty. He
was then appointed minister of Carnock, and in 1595
married Grissel, daughter of David Ferguson, minister
of Dunfermhne.
For over half a century he ministered at Carnock
with zeal and success, though more than once tempting
offers were made to him of more extensive and more
lucrative parishes. Unceasingly and vigorously he
opposed all tamperings with Presbytery pure and un
defiled, for which the Privy Council made him suffer.
On ist July 1606 he signed the protest to Parliament
against the introduction of Episcopacy, and he was one
of those who in the same year went to Linhthgow to
show their sympathy with Welsh of Ayr and other
ministers who were being tried in that town for holding
an Assembly at Aberdeen contrary to the royal command.
He was a member of the famous Glasgow Assembly of
1638, took part in its business, and was accorded marked
respect by his fellow-members. He was also a member
of the Assembly which met at Edinburgh in the foUowing
year when, the King's Commissioner having given
warrant that His Majesty King Charles I. would ratify
their proceedings in the approaching Parhament, the
utmost satisfaction was expressed ; and it is recorded
that ' old John Row, being called upon, with tears said,
" I blesse, I glorifie, I magnifie the God of heaven and
earth that has pittied this poore church and given such
matter of joy and consolation ; and the Lord make us
thankfull first to our gracious and loving God, and next
obedient subjects to His Majesty's Commissioner for
his owne part." '
It was during his' later years that he wrote his Historie
of the Kirk of Scotland. For the earlier period he made

JOHN ROW 259
use of papers of his father-in-law, Mr Ferguson of
Dunfermline. At first the work was circulated in
manuscript, and many copies of it were made. In
1842 it was printed for the Wodrow Society, chiefly
from a manuscript in the University of Edinburgh.
An edition of it was also printed in the same year by
the Maitland Club.
John Row died at Carnock on the 26th June 1646,
and the monument erected shortly after his death stiU
stands against the waU of the old church there. As
perhaps indicating that he was a Scot of the Scots as
regards his ecclesiastical views, a thistle surmounts the
monument, and, as suggestive of the Row devotion to
oriental languages, two Hebrew words, Beth Ohlam
(' The Last House '), are carved immediately below the
Scottish emblem. Fittingly, too, the inscription on
the stone is in Latin.
John Row, second son of the foregoing, was born at
Carnock about the year 1598. He studied at St Andrews,
and took his degree of M.A. at St Leonard's College in
July 1617. Like his father he was for some time a
teacher, his location being Kirkcaldy. Afterwards he
became tutor to George, son of the first Earl of Kinnoul,
Lord Chancellor of Scotland, by whom he was appointed
Master of the Grammar School at Perth, at that time
considered ' the most flourishing school in this nation.'
Having qualified himself for the ministry he was, in
1641, elected minister of St Nicholas Church, Aberdeen.
Like his father and grandfather he was an ardent student
of Hebrew, and in 1637 published a Hebrew Grammar
appended to which were commendatory Latin verses by
several eminent divines. Six years later he published
a Hebrew lexicon, which he dedicated to the Town
Council of Aberdeen, receiving from them ' for his
panes four hundreth merks Scots money.' In 1646

260 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the General Assembly passed an Act recommending its
use. The Assembly, in the following year, appointed
him to revise a new metrical translation of some of the
Psalms. In 1650 he revised and supplemented his
father's History of the Kirk. From the Records of the
Presbytery of Aberdeen, it appears that he intended
writing a History of the Times, but the intention does not
appear to have been carried out. Like his father he
was a strong opponent of Episcopacy, and as ' a prime
Covenanter ' proved obnoxious to the royahst and
malignant party in that northern city. During the
Cromwellian regime he was appointed Principal of
King's College, an office which, as admitted by all, he
filled with much credit, maintaining strict disciphne,
adding to the buildings, and by his learning increasing
the reputation of the University. On the approach to
Aberdeen of the Marquis of Montrose with the royalist
forces, Row with Cant and others of the anti-prelatic
party took refuge in the castle of Dunnottar.
In 1651 another work came from his pen, namely,
Praxis Prceceptorum Hebraicce Grammatica, though it is
doubtful if it was ever printed. The only other pubhca
tion by him, of which we know, was a panegyric poem
in Latin, addressed to Charles II. at the Restoration,
which exposed the author to the charge of being a time
serving politician. Perhaps, however, he was unaware
of the true character of the * merry monarch.' Still,
seeing the Protector's party had done so much for him,
it was surely ungenerous for Row in the poem to refer
to Ohver Cromwell as ' trux vilis vermis,' ' a cruel vile
worm.' His expressions of loyalty, in any case, availed
him little for, finding himself likely to lose the Principal-
ship, he resigned the office, betook himself to private
teaching, and henceforth hved in straitened circum
stances. Having been a Covenanter — perhaps even an

JOHN ROW 261
Independent — and some of his utterances having been
hostile to the royal family, his books were taken out of
the College, tied to the Cross of Aberdeen, and burned
by the hand of the common hangman.
Latterly Row became an inmate of the house of his
son-in-law, John Mercer, minister of Kinellar, where he
died about the year 1672. He was interred in the
churchyard there, but, unlike his father at Carnock, no
stone perpetuates the memory of this Principal of
King's College, Aberdeen.
William Row was the youngest son of the minister of
Carnock, and was probably born in 1612. After com
pleting his University course, he helped his brother
John as assistant master in the Grammar School at
Perth, which shows that the teaching aptitude was
strong in the Row family. The minutes of the Kirk-
Session of Carnock inform us that he assisted his father
in the years 1642-43, and in 1644 he was admitted
minister of Ceres, where he continued for twenty years.
His wife was Jean, daughter of Robert Blair, minister
of St Andrews. Like his father and brother he ad
hered to the strictly Presbyterian side in the church's
struggles, and in 1665 was ejected from his Church for
non-conformity. After the Battle of BothweU Bridge,
in 1679, William Row, under the third Indulgence was
aUowed to hold meetings in private, and to preach,
but no nearer than two miles from Ceres. When this
Indulgence was recaUed, he was summoned before the
Privy Council and forbidden in 1680 to preach at all.
He survived to a good old age, and after the Revolution
was restored to his former charge. He died about the
year 1700. Like his brother John, he added some
material to his father's History of the Kirk, but it
is no easy matter to distinguish which parts are
John's and which are Wilham's. The additions are

262 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
contained in the Cor onis and in the Additions to the
Coronis. If we consider John Row, primus, as beginning his
pubhc work in the pre-Reformation Church in 1550,
and his grandson William Row as closing his career in
the Reformed Church in, or about, 1700, we have one
hundred and fifty years of good service rendered by
three generations of the Row family. Moreover, one or
more of their descendants continued this service in the
Scottish Church for some decades longer. It is an
excellent and somewhat unusual record. Among them,
they made and wrote history.
APPENDIX NOTE 1
THE HERMIT OF LORETTO
This was Thomas Douchtie of whom the Diurnal of Occurents
says : ' In this mene tyme (1533) thair come ane heremeit
called Thomas Douchtie, in Scotland, quha had been long
capitaine (captive ?) befoir the Turks, as was aUegit, and brocht
ane ymage of our Lady with him, and fundit the cheppil of
Laureit besyd Musselburgh.' The Earl of Glencairn, in a
satirical poem of that time, calls Thomas, or rather makes
Thomas call himself, ' a cullurane (cullroun, sUly fellow) kythed
throw many a land,' and George Buchanan, in his History,
says that he was an impostor who made great gain by fictitious
miracles. NOTE 2
JAMES THORNTON
This Scotsman appears to have been a man of some importance
in Rome and elsewhere. He was Secretary to the' Archbishop
of Glasgow. Father Pollen, in his Papal Negotiations with
Mary, Queen of Scots, makes mention of him more than once.
In 1559-60 we find Thornton writing two letters of con-

JOHN ROW 263
siderable length to Mary of Guise, Queen Dowager and Regent
of Scotland, dealing with sundry ecclesiastical matters. As
' the Ambassadours of Scotland's Secretaire,' he, in 1565, is
the bearer of certain despatches from Rome to the Cardinal of
Lorraine, in connection with the dispensation for Darnley's
marriage with Mary, and in the same year he carries letters
from Mary to her uncles and others relating to the same subject.
Not long after we find him arriving in Edinburgh evidently on
secret State business, and James Thornton's courier-bag seems
to have contained a good deal of dangerous and treasonable
matter. One wonders if Row and he — old fellow-labourers in
the papal city and both speaking Italian fluently — would meet
again in the home country and have some converse. Their
experiences were certainly very different during six years of
separation. NOTE 3
CHURCH DISCIPLINE IN JOHN ROW'S TIME
The Rev. James Scott, who was minister of Perth at the
beginning of last century, and who wrote A History of the Lives
of the Protestant Reformers in Scotland, made researches into the
Records of the Session of Perth for information regarding the
work of the ministry in Row's time, and we cull the following
from his researches : ' Towards the end of the year 1560, Mr
Row began to reside as a stated pastor with the people of Perth.
The record, now extant, of the discipline of his parish, does not
commence till May 1577, so that it does not certainly appear
what were the earliest methods which he took for instructing
the people, and amending their morals ; but most probably
they were much the same with those which he afterwards made
use of . . . Every Lord's Day he preached both in the forenoon
and afternoon. He preached also a sermon every Thursday,
to which the parishioners of all ranks were strictly enjoined to
resort. It may be noticed, that when he was to catechise the
people, especially before dispensing the Communion, the elders
were required, with the help of the magistrates, to take up the
names of the people, and to be present when the persons
belonging to their several districts were to be examined. He
indeed seemed to think that the assistance of the elders who
bare rule, but did not labour in word and doctrine, was of great
importance ; for when, visiting houses and sick persons, he

264 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
chose to have one or two of them along with him, to add weight
to his ministrations. But these good men also, of their own
accord, frequently visited and prayed with the sick . . . They,
with the church-deacons, united in distributing the funds of
the poor ; but it was the elders only who could vote with the
minister in matters of discipline.
'Two methods, which were found successful, were employed
for exciting the people to be diligent in learning the principles
of religion. No parent could have his child baptized unless
he could repeat the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten
Commandments, and no persons were to be contracted for
marriage, or to have their banns proclaimed, until they had
previously been so well instructed by the "reader" as to be
able to declare to the minister and elders the holy purposes of
the institution. . . . The daily morning prayers began at a
very early hour. The Societies of the Guild and Trades were
bound to provide, during the winter season, lights in the church
for their own and the people's conveniency. . . . Many of the
"readers," having done well in their office, were afterwards
admitted to the holy ministry, and had parishes assigned them.
During the last year of Mr Row's life, Mr James Smith, a man
much appro ven, was "reader" in the church of Perth, and in
1582 became minister of Errol. In Mr Row's time, and in some
succeeding years, Mr John Swenton was "uptaker of the psalm
in the Kirk, and master of the sang-school." He was provided
with a salary, a school buUding, a dwelling-house, and a garden.
The people delighted in church music in all its parts, but the
minister and elders found it necessary to enjoin Mr John
Swenton to keep to the tenor part of the tune himself, when he
was in the desk, lest he "should confuse the people in their
singing." The weekly meeting of the " exercise," or " eldership "
as it was likewise caUed, was another means of public instruction
afforded to the people. It consisted of the minister of the town,
and some other ministers, who met every Wednesday for prayer,
for improving themselves by exercise, in the gift of preaching,
and for counselling and encouraging one another in the business
of their several parishes. Some lay-elders also attended. A
minister present delivered a critical discourse on a text of
Scripture, and another added a practical apphcation. ... At
this period the civil magistrates amicably concurred in enforcing
the acts of the parochial meetings. William, Lord Ruthven,
who was annually chosen provost of the town, and Mr Row,

JOHN ROW 265
who was respected as one of the reformers, and who generally
was invested with the character of an ecclesiastical commissioner
or superintendent, joined their endeavours for the public good.
This Lord Ruthven, who was afterwards created Earl of Gowrie,
was a religious man, a sincere Protestant, and a wise and able
statesman. After he had been beheaded at Stirling, in 1584,
his death was severely felt at Perth, for considerable alterations
immediately took place. Debates arose between the civil and
ecclesiastical rulers, and irritating faults were evidently com
mitted on both sides. But Mr Row did not Uve to see this
change, or to be troubled with the disagreeable occurrences
which foUowed.
' In Mr Row's time, offenders of all kinds, excepting thieves
and murderers, whom the magistrates took into their own
hands, were cited to appear before the weekly assembly.
Besides, being enjoined to " make their repentance in the church,"
that is, to do penance on the repenting stool in presence of the
congregation, civil punishments were ordered, such as fines,
imprisonments in the tolbooth, the disgrace of standing in the
irons at the cross, or on the cuck-stool ; and frequently the
delinquents were sent to an old tower, close adjoining the
church, which then bore, as it still does, the name of " Halker-
stone's Tower," where, for a certain time, they were to have no
other food than bread and water. . . . The seventh command
ment had been shamefully disregarded in Popish times. The
population of the town and parish may be reckoned not much
to have exceeded six thousand ; yet, even during the last three
years of Mr Row's hfe, which was after sixteen years had passed
in strenuous endeavours for reformation, above eighty such
transgressors were annuaUy convicted. Other vices which were
detrimental and disgraceful to society were strictly noticed —
fighting, flyting, and even opprobrious language did not escape
punishment. For instance on May 25th, 1579, "Thomas
Malcom is convicted, before the weekly assembly, of having
called Thomas Broun a " loun carle" (worthless fellow), for
which the assembly ordained him to be put in the tolbooth two
hours, and to pay six shUlings and eight pennies to the poor."
' The licentious pageantry of the old church was sometimes
attempted to be revived. There were plays, or dramatic per
formances, which were caUed "mysteries, moralities, and scur
rilities," in the last of which, especiaUy, not only satire but much
ribaldry was introduced. Here is an entry of July ist, 1577.

266 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
" The weekly assembly regret that certain inhabitants of this
town, against the express command of the civil magistrate,
and the prohibition delivered by the minister from the pulpit,
have played Corpus Christi play upon the sixth day of June
last, which day was wont to be called Corpus Christi's day;
whereby they have offended the Church of God, and dishonoured
this whole town ; the said play being idolatrous and super
stitious." The assembly ordained that the guilty persons
should receive no benefit from the Church tUl they had shown
evidence of their repentance. About fourteen persons, not of
the meanest rank in the town, are mentioned as having been
guilty of this fault. But by my Lord Ruthven's advice, the
chief actor among them came voluntarily to the weekly assembly,
and submitted himself to the pleasure of the church ; and the
minister and elders, having heard his confession and his promise
of not committing the like fault again, agreed to readmit him
to church privUeges. His associates afterwards followed his
example, and were forgiven. . . .
' A similar offence, however, soon occurred. On December
16th, 1577, " it is ordained that the Act against superstition,
November 27th, 1574, shall be pubhshed on Sunday next ;
also, that all persons who were playing Sanctobertis play, on
the tenth of this month, shall be warned to compear this day
eight days." A very great number of persons had been engaged
in this play: On the tenth of December, which was wont to be
called " Sanctobertis eve," they had passed through the town in
disguised dresses, with piping and dancing, and striking a drum.
They had carried in their hands burning torches. One of the
actors was clad in the devil's coat ; another rode upon a horse,
which went in men's shoes. Probably the horse and its rider
represented a part, of the legendary history of the saint. I have
not met with any satisfactory account of St Obert, Berth, or
Bert ; but the personage, whether real or imaginary, seems to
have been a patron saint made choice of by the bakers' corpora
tion, for the offenders were of that trade. Notwithstanding the
penalties inflicted upon them, this play was several times acted
after Mr Row's death ; till, at the beginning of the year 1588,
the baker corporation enacted, in their books, that such persons
as should play, in any time to come, Sanctobertis play, should
be " debarred from all the liberties of the craft, should never
have entry to the same again, and should be banished from the
town for ever." An attested copy of this Act was sent to the

JOHN ROW 267
minister and elders, that it might be inserted also in the book
of the weekly assembly.
' Another specimen of the ancient manners is yet to be men
tioned. Many of the young people of both sexes had been
accustomed to practise in the month of May a pastime which
was reckoned superstitious. It is thus noticed in the record :
" May 2, 1580. It was agreed that an Act should be passed by
the minister Mr John Row, discharging all persons from passing
to the Dragon Hole superstitiously ; also, that the same should
be pubhshed on Thursday next out of the pulpit, and thereafter
given to the bailies to be published at the mercat-cross." . . .
The Dragon Hole was a cave situated on the hill of Kinnoull,
on the east side of the river Tay, and at a short distance from
Perth. The young people of both sexes, in the popish times,
and most probably also in the times of heathenism, resorted to
it in companies at " Belteine " or " Bel-Fire-Time," in the month
of May. By the fall of a rock, the cave is now almost entirely
demolished, or rendered wholly inaccessible. ... I think it
necessary to remark that the prohibition of some pastimes,
which were once practised by the people did not proceed merely
from the austere temper of the Reformed Church, or from a
fear of superstition, but from a conviction of the irregularities
and dangerous quarrels of which they were often the occasion ;
for there is an Act of the Scots Parhament, in 1555, which was
five years prior to the establishment of the Reformation, by
which it was statute and ordained, that no person, in time to
come, shall be chosen to the office of " Robin Hude, Little John,
Abbot of Unreason, and Queen of May ; and that all women
singing about summer trees, thereby giving disturbance to
traveUers, shaU be taken, and put upon the cuck-stool of the
burgh or toun." '
Scott, in the above, says he has ' not met with any satisfactory
account of St Obert, Berth, or Bert,' but a writer of this century,
James M. Mackinlay, M.A., F.S.A., has been more successful,
and from his Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland (vol. ii.,
Non-Scriptural Dedications), we cuU the foUowing : —
St Obert was St Aubert a bishop who lived in the seventh
century and is supposed to have been born at Cambrai. In the
north-east of France and in Belgium he was regarded as the
patron saint of bakers, in whose welfare he is said to have
personaUy interested himself. Accordingly in art he is some
times represented accompanied by an ass bearing panniers full

268 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
of loaves, and having a purse attached to its neck. In Ghent
Cathedral he has a peel or baker's shovel as his special emblem.
His name took various forms in Scotland, such as Obert, Towbert,
and Cobert, but never, as suggested by Scott, Berth or Bert,
and the Scottish bakers considered him their patron saint.
The baxters of Edinburgh, St Andrews and Dundee, had altars
bearing his name in the churches of St GUes', the Holy Trinity,
and St Mary's respectively. Stirling also had an altar dedicated
to him. Though specially zealous in attending to the cultus of
St Aubert, the bakers at Perth seem to have had no chapel or
altar dedicated to him in their city.
We may add that it is well known to Scottish historians that
the annual frolic of Robin Hood and Little John was attended
with horseplay of the coarsest kind and ended in shameful riot
and drunkenness. Public feeling had turned against these un
seemly exhibitions before Knox came to the front. Moreover,
the merchants and craftsmen had become opposed to them
owing to the time and money spent in their preparation and
performance.

NOTE 4
A COMMUNION SUNDAY IN JOHN ROW'S CHURCH
We are also indebted to Mr Scott for the following : ' The
last important action in which I have found Mr Row engaged
was his dispensing the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. The
day of its celebration was the last Sabbath of July, viz. July
31st, 1580. I wish to take the opportunity of giving an account
of the manner in which that divine ordinance was administered
at so early a period of the Reformed Church. A previous meeting
of the weekly assembly was held on Monday, July 25th. From
what passed at that meeting it would appear that the choir,
or east end of the church, where the high altar had formerly
stood, but which was now generally vacant of seats, was that
part of the church of Perth which was to be occupied by the
tables, and seats for the communicants. It seems, on this
occasion, to have been enclosed with a low fence, or vail, in
which were two doors. Two of the magistraes, to prevent in
decency, or any tumult, consented to attend at these two doors,
and other two of them at the outward doors of the church.
' Two of the church-deacons were to receive from the com-

JOHN ROW 269
municants, as they entered, at one or other of the inner doors,
the tickets (tokens for communion), and also the voluntary alms
which they were to offer to the poor. Three deacons were to
bring the wine, as it was needed, from the vestry. Two elders
were to convey the element of bread along the tables ; and
four deacons were to convey the cups. The names of these
respectable men are set down in the record. All the other
elders and deacons were to await in the choir during the whole
time of the service. A person was nominated to prepare the
bread, and the thesaurer (treasurer) was to prepare the tokens
and the napery. . . . According to the record at Perth, in 1580,
" The weekly assembly (session) ordered, that to the first ministra
tion the first beU should ring at four hours in the morning, the
second at half-hour to five, and the third at five ; that to the
second ministration the first bell should ring at half-hour to
nine, the second at nine, and the third at half-hour to ten."
Thus three fuU hours might be spent in the first ministration,
and the second, perhaps, might be of longer continuance. These
hours of communicating were suited to the ancient habits of
the people, ' or rather, it may be said, were so regulated as to
keep up the remembrance that our Saviour's last sufferings
began early in the morning.
' It is probable, that at the time of the evening prayers, more
time than usual would be spent in the reading of the Scriptures ;
and the "reader," Mr James Smith, who also seems to have
been an "exhorter," might engage in suitable exhortations to
the people. When the curfew bell was rung, that is, at eight
every night, it may be supposed that these good people also,
who, from early hours, had been so religiously employed through
the day, would be all quietly resting in their houses.
' It is proper to observe, that no mention is made of the ap
pointment of a fast-day, of a preparatory service on the Saturday,
or of a thanksgiving sermon on the Monday. It was forty
years after this date that these appendages to the Communion
were introduced by some ministers, who reckoned them expedient
on account of the peculiar circumstances of their people. In
Mr Row's time, the minister of a parish, with the help of the
"reader," could administer the Communion, without having
any other minister to assist him.
' I shall describe the form, which is contained in the old Booh
of Common Order, and which, from the beginning, was long
practised by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. On the

270 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Communion Sabbath, the minister was to preach as usual ; but
before he left the pulpit, he was to read the, account which the
Apostle Paul gives of the institution. He was next to address
an exhortation to the people, in the course of which he was to
fence the tables, much in the same way as is now done. Having
come down to the table, he was to take the bread into his hands,
but before he brake it, he and all the congregation were to join
together in a general thanksgiving.
' Our reformers were afraid of seeming to give any countenance
to the idolatrous use which the papists made of this ordinance,
which may have been the reason that, in the thanksgiving,
there is no mention made of the bread and wine, and no petition
is offered. It consists of an ascription of praise for redeeming
love, and a profession of remembering the death of our Saviour,
and of looking through Him for every benefit that we stand in
need of. What was deficient, however, in the old form, was
afterwards supplied by the new directory, in 1645.
' The minister, after breaking the bread, was to give it to the
people, enjoining them to distribute it among themselves, and
the cup, himself partaking of both along with them. No ex
hortation was to be given by the minister to the people when
they were at the table ; but the book says, " Such places of
Scripture, as most lively set forth the death of Christ, are to be
read," (which most probably was done by the " reader " at the
desk), " to the intent that our eyes and senses may not be entirely
occupied in these outward signs of bread and wine, which is
called the visible Word, but that our minds also may be fully
fixed in the contemplation of the Lord's death, which is by this
holy Sacrament represented."
' When the action of communicating was ended, the minister
and people were to pray, thanking God for the great privilege
they had enjoyed, and praying that they might continue mindful
of his saving benefits. Then the hundred and third psalm, or
some other such psalm, or hymn, was to be sung ; and the
blessing having been pronounced (which was either the form
anciently prescribed in Numbers vi. 24-26, or that which is
contained in 2 Corinthians xiu. 14, for both were occasionally
used), " the people were to rise from the tables and to depart." '

JOHN ROW 271

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Knox's History.
Calderwood's History.
Row's History.
Spottiswood 's History.
James Melville's Diary.
Booke of the Universall Kirk.
Wodrow's Analecta.
James Scott's History of the Lives of Protestant Reformers in
Scotland.
Hew Scott's Fasti Ecclesice Scoticance.
M'Crie's John Knox.
M'Crie's Andrew Melville.
M'Crie's (secundus) Story of the Scottish Church.
Dictionary of National Biography. Article, ' John Row.'
Pre-Reformation Scholars in Scotland in the XV Ith Century, by
W.- Forbes Leith.
Grant's History of the Burgh Schools of Scotland.
Lawson's Book of Perth.
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Acts of the Parliament of Scotland.
PoUen's Papdl Negotiations with Mary, Queen of Scots. Scottish
History Society.

CHAPTER VI
JOHN SPOTTISWOOD
It has taken nearly four centuries to make an Episco
palian, or rather it should be said an Archbishop, out
of the Row blood, for the present occupant of the
Episcopal throne at York— the Most Reverend Cosmo
Gordon Lang, D.D., D.C.L. — is a direct descendant of
the minister of Perth ; but in the case of the family to
which the Reformer who now concerns us belongs,
namely, John Spottiswood,1 one generation was sufficient
for the transmutation.
John Spottiswood secundus, who became Archbishop
of St Andrews and Lord Chancellor of Scotland, says
that his father was latterly dissatisfied with Presbytery.
His actual words are — ' In his last days, when he saw
the ministers take such liberty as they did, and heard
of the disorders raised in the Church through that
confused parity which men laboured to introduce, as
likewise the irritations the King received from a sort of
foohsh preachers, he lamented extremely the case of
the Church to those that came to visit him who were
not a few, and of the better sort. He continuaUy fore
told that the ministers by their folhes would bring
1 There is considerable variety in the spelling of this name —
Spotswood, Spotiswood, Spottiswood, and Spottiswoode — but we
think there is most to be said for the above, which is that of the
Dictionary of National Biography. It is well to drop the archaic
spelling of these surnames, as we have already done in the cases of
Winram and Row ; and indeed also in the case of Willock, though
Willocks is a common form in the old documents and histories.
272

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 273
religion in hazard, and, as he feared, provoke the King
to forsake the truth ; therefore he wished some to be
placed in authority over them to keep them in awe.'
We shall make further reference to this, and to other
observations of John Spottiswood primus, at the close
of this chapter ; but meanwhile it may be said, with
regard to the son, that he himself for many years after
his father's death sided with the stricter Presbyterian
party, and it was indeed by supporting their pohcy that
he came into prominence as a church leader. In an
old folio edition before us of Archbishop Spottiswood's
History — printed in London in 1677 1 — there is prefixed
a Life of the author by Bryan (Duppa), Bishop of
Winchester, in which the latter says that the father of
the Archbishop ' exercised the power and discharged
faithfuUy the office of bishop though under another
style,' which remark is certainly inaccurate as, we
think, is clearly evident from what has been already
said in previous chapters on the office of Superintendent ;
and which it would be superfluous to repeat here. In
the Coronis to Row's History, we have the foUowing
entirely different statement : ' I will speak somewhat
more particularly of Mr John Spottiswood, father of
this same Spottiswood, now Archbishop of St Andrews,
Primate of Scotland and High ChanceUor there ; he
would never have consented that his son should have
embraced such an office and unlawful calhng, as is
evident by his grave, wise and holy, humble answers
at his admission.' These answers, an utter negation
of anything hke diocesan Episcopacy, were given in the
year 1560, and John Spottiswood hved for fuUy a quarter
of a century after. He may have changed his views
somewhat in the course of these years, but if so the
Row family would have been likely to know of the
1 The first edition appeared in the year 1655.

274 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
alteration or modification, and the historian, or chronicler,
among them would not have written as above.
Seeing we have referred several times in these biog
raphies to the Superintendents, it may be of interest
here to give the rubric of their admission, more parti
cularly as the only copy we know of is in connection
with the admission of the subject of this chapter. Knox
gives it in full in his History, and it is as foUows : —
' The Forme and Ordour of the Electioun of the
Superintendent, quhilk may serve also in Electioun of
all uther Ministers.
' At Edinburghe, the 9th of Merche 1560 years, Johne
Knox being Minister
' First was made a Sermone, in the quilk thir Heids
war intreated.
' 1. The necessity of Ministers and Superintendents.
2. The crymes and vyces that micht unable thame (of
the Ministrie). The vertues required in thame. And
last, Quhidder sick as by publict consent of the Kyrk
were caUit to sick office, micht refuis the same.
' The Sermone finisched, it was declared be the same
Minister (maker thareof) that the Lords of Secrete
Counceil had given charge and power to the Kirkes of
Louthiane, to chuse Mr John Spottiswoode Super
intendent ; and that sufficient warning was made be
publict edict to the Kirkes of Edinburghe, Linlithgow,
Striveling, Tranent, Haddingtoun and Dunbar ; as
also to Earles, Lords, Barons, Gentilmen, and uthers,
having or quho micht claime to have, voite in Electioun,
to be present that day, at that same hour : And, there
fore inquisitioun was made, Quho wer present and
quho wer absent.
' Efter was caUed the said Mr Johne, quho answering :
the Minister demanded, Gif ony man knew ony cryme
or offence to the said Mr Johne, that micht unabil him
to be called to that office ? And this he demanded

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 275
thryis. Secundhe, Question was moved to the haill
multitude, If thair was any uther quhome they wald
put in Electioun with the said Mr Johne. The pepil
wer asked, If they wald have the said Mr Johne Super
intendent ? If they wald honour and obey him as
Christis Minister ? And comfort and assist him in
everything perteening to his charge ? They answerit,
— We wiU, and we do promeis unto him sic obedience
as becometh the scheip to give unto thair Pastour, sa
lang as he remains faythfull in his office.
' The Answers of the Pepill, and thair consents re-
ceaved, thir Questiouns war proponit unto him that
was to be elected.
' Questioun. — Seeing that ye hear the thrist [trust ?]
and desyre of this people, do ye not think yourself
bound in conscience befoir God to support thaime that
so earnestly caU for your comfort, and for the fruit of
your labours ?
' Answer. — If anything wer in me abil to satisfie thair
desyir, I acknowledge myself bound to obey God calling
by thame.
' Questioun. — Do ye seek to be promoted to this Office
and Charge, for ony respect of warldly commoditie,
riches or glory ?
* Answer. — God knawes the contrarie.
' Questioun. — Beleve ye not that the doctrine of the
Propheits and Apostles, conteined in the buiks of the
Auld and New Testaments, is the only trew and most
absolute foundation of the Universall Kirk of Christ
Jesus, in sa mekiU that in the same Scriptures ar con
teined aU things necessary to be beleved for the salvation
of Mankind ?
' Answer. — I hereby beleve the same, and do abhor
and utterly refuis all Doctrines alleged necessary to
Salvatioun, that is not expressely conteined in the same.
' Questioun. — Is not Christ Jesus Man of man, accord-

276 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
ing to the flesche, to wit, the Sone of David, the Seid of
Abrahame, conceaved by the Holy Ghost, borne of the
Virgin Marie his mother, the only Head and Mediator
of his Kirk ?
' Answer. — He is, and without Him thair is nouther,
Salvation to man, nor lyfe to angell.
' Questioun. — Is not the same Lord Jesus [the] only
trew God, the Eternall Sone of the Eternall Father, in
quhome all that sail be saved wer elected befoir the
foundation of the world was laid ?
' Answer. — I confes and acknawlege Him in unitie
of his Godheid, to be God above all things blessit for
evir. ' Questioun. — Sail not they quhome God in His eternall
councell hes electit, be calht to the knawledge of his
Sone, our Lord Jesus ? And sail not they quhome of
purpois are elected in this lyfe be justified ? , And is not
justification and free remission of sinnes obtained in
this lyfe by free grace ? Sail not this glory of the
sonnes of God follow in the general resurrection, quhen
the Sone of God sail appeir in his glorious majesty ?
'Answer. — I acknawlege this to be doctrine of the
Apostles and the most singular comfort of God's children.
' Questioun. — WiU ye not contein yourself in aU
doctrines within the bounds of this foundation ? Will ye
not study to promote the same, alsweile by your lyfe
as by your doctrine ? Will ye not, according to the
graces and utterance that God sail grant unto you,
profes, instructe and maintene the purity of the doctrine
conteined in the sacred Word of God ? And, to the
uttermost of your powers, will ye not ganestand and
convince the gaynsayers and teichers of mennis in
ventions ?
' Answer. — That I do promeis in the presence of God
and of His congregation heir assembled.

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 277
' Questioun. — Know ye not that the excellency of this
Office to the quhilk God has called yow, requires that
your conversatioun and behaviour be sick, as that ye
may be irreprehensible ; yea, even in the eyes of the
ungodly ?
' Answer. — I unfaynedly acknowledge, and humiUy
desyre the Kirk of God to pray with me, that my lyfe
be not scandalous to the glorious EvangeU of Jesus
Christ. ' Questioun. — Because ye are a man compassed with
infirmity, will ye not charitably, and with lowliness of
Spirit receave admonition of your Brethrein ? And if
ye sail happen to slyde, or offend in any one point, will
ye not be subject to the Discipline of the Kirk, as the
rest of your Brethrein ?
' The Answer of the Superintendent, or Minister, to
be elected — I acknawlege myself to be a man subject to
infirmity, and ane that hes neid of correction and ad
monition ; and thairfor I maist willingly submit and
subject myself to the hailsum discipline of the Kirk ;
yea, to the discipline of the same Kirk by the which
I am now called to this chairge ; and heir in God's
presence and youris do promeis obedience to all ad-
monitiones, secretly or pubUcly given ; unto the quhilk,
if I be found inobedient, I confess myself most worthie
to be ejected not only from this honour, but also from
the Society of the Faythfull, in cais of my stubbornes :
For the vocation of God to bear charge within his Kirk,
maketh men not tyrantes nor lordis, but appoynteth
thame servandis, Watchmen, and Pastoris of the Flock.
' This ended, Questioun now be asked agane of the
multitude. ' Questioun. — Requires ye ony further of this your
Superintendent ?
' If no man answer, let the Minister proceid. WiU ye

278 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
not acknawlege this your Brother, for the Minister of
Christ Jesus. Will ye not reverence the Word of God
that proceids fra his mouthe. Will ye not receave of
him the sermone of exhortation with patience, not
refusing the hailsome medicine of your sauhs, althocht
it be bitter and unpleising to the flesche ? Will ye not,
finally, mantene and comforte him in his ministry
against all sic as wickedly wald rebeU against God and
his holy ordinance ?
' The Peple answereth. — We will, as we will answer to
the Lord Jesus, quho has commandit his Ministeris to
be had in reverence, as his ambassadours, and as men
that cairfully watche for the salvatioun of our saulis.
' Let the Nobility also be urged with this. — Ye have
heard the dewty and professioun of this your Brother,
by your consentis appointed to this charge ; as also the
dewty and obedience quhilk God requireth of us towards
him heir in his ministry. Bot because that neyther of
both are abill to performe onything without the especial
grace of our God in Christ Jesus, quho has promised to
be with us present, even to the consummation of the
world ; with unfayned hairtis let us crave of him his
benedictioun and assistance in this work begun to his
glory, and for the comfort of his Kirk.
' THE PRAYER
' O Lord, to quhome all power is given in heavin and
in eirthe, thow that art the Eternall Sone of the Eternall
Father quho hes not only so luifit thy Church, that for
the redemptioun and purgatioun of the same thow has
humilled thyself to the deyth of the Croce ; and there
upon has sched thy most innocent bluid to prepair
thyself a Spous without spott, but also to retein this
thy most exceUent benefite in memory, has appoynted

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 279
in thy Kirk Teichars, Pastores and Apostles to instruct,
comfort and admonische the same : Luik upon us
mercifully, O Lord, thow that only art King, Teichar
and Hie Priest to thy awin flock ; and send unto this
our Brother, quhome in thy name we have chairged
with the chief cair of thy Kirk, within the bounds of
Louthiane, sick portioun of thy Holy Spreit, as thereby he
may rychtly devyde thy Word to the instructioun of thy
flocke, and to the confutatioun of pernitious erroures, and
damnable superstitiones. Give unto him, gude Lord, a
mouthe and wisdom, quhareby the enemies of thy truthe
may be confounded, the wolfis expeUit, and driven from
thy f auld, thy scheip may be fed in the hailsum pastures
of thy most holy word, the blind and ignorant may be
iUuminated with thy trew knowlege. FinaUy, that the
dregis of superstitioun and idolatry quhilk yit restis
within this Realme, being purged and removed, we may all
not only have occasion to glorifie thee our onely Lord and
Saviour, but also to dayly grow in godhnes and obedience
of thy most holy wiU, to the destructioun of the body of
synne, and to the restitutioun of that image to the quhilk,
efter our faU and defectioun, we are renewed by participa
tion of thy Holy Spreit, quhilk by trew fayth in thee, we do
profess as the blissit of thy Father of whom the perpetual
incres of thy graces we crave, as by thee our Lord and
King and onely Bishope, we are taucht to pray, saying
" Our Father that art in hevin," etc.
' The prayer ended, the rest of our Ministers, if ony be,
our Elders of the Kirk present, in signe of thair consentis,
sail tak the elected by the hand and then the chief
Minister sail giff the benediction as follows : —
' God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, quho hes
commanded his Evangell to be preiched to the comfort
of his Elect, and has called thee to the office of a Watch
man over his people, multiply his graces with thee,
T

280 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
illuminat thee with his Holy Spreit, comfort and
strengthen thee in aU vertewe, governe and guyde thy
ministry to the prayse of his holy Name, to the pro
pagation of Christ's Kingdome, to the comfort of his
Kirk, and finally to the plain dischairge and assurance
of thy awin conscience in the day of the Lord Jesus, to
quhome, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all
honour, prayse, and glory, now and for ever. So be it.
' THE LAST EXHORTATION TO THE ELECTED
' Take heid to thyself, and unto the Flocke committed
to thy chairge ; feid the same cairfuUy, not as it were
of compulsion, bot of very love quhilk thow bearest to
the Lord Jesus. Walk in simplicity and purenes of
lyfe, as it becometh the trew servand and ambassadour
of the Lord Jesus. Usurpe not dominion nor tryannical
impyre over thy brethrein. Be not discouraged in
adversity, but lay before thyself the example of Pro-
pheits, Apostles, and of the Lord Jesus, quho in thair
Ministry sustened contradictioun, contempt, persecu-
tioun and deyth. Feir not to rebuik the warld of sinne,
justice and jugement. If anything succeid prosper
ously in thy vocatioun, be not puft upe with pryde,
neyther yet flatter thyself as that the gude succes
proceid from thy vertew, industry, or cair. Bot let
ever that sentence of the Apostle remane in thy hairt :
" Quhat hes thou, quhilk thou hes not recavit? If
thou hes recavit, quhy gloriest thou ? " Comfort the
afflicted, support the puir, and exhort utheris to support
thame. Be not solist for things of this lyfe, but be
fervent in prayer to God for incress of his Holy Spreit.
And, finaUy, behave thyself in this holy vocatioun
with sick sobriety, as God may be glorified in thy
ministry. And so sail thow shortly obtein the victory,
and sail receave the crown promeised, quhen the Lord

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 281
Jesus sail appeir in his glory, quhois omnipotent Spreit
assist thee unto the end. Amen
' Then sing the 23rd Psalme.'
But now we must proceed to tell the life-story of this
Superintendent who was so solemnly set apart for his
work in the Church. John Spottiswood was born in
the year 1510, and was the second son of William
Spottiswood of that ilk who fell with his king in the
battle of Flodden in 1513. His mother was Ehzabeth,
daughter of Henry Hop-Pringle of Torsonce. The
Spottiswoods were an old family, and can be traced
back to Robert Spottiswood who possessed the Barony
of Spottiswood, Berwickshire, in the reign of Alexander
III. John was left an orphan at the age of three years,
but his son says that he had friends who helped him.
He entered the University of Glasgow in 1534,1 and his
name occurs at that time in the University Records.
There he is designated ' servus domini Rectoris,' which
is a designation we seldom find in the records. There
was no such regularly appointed officer of the University,
but the student who became ' servus domini Rectoris '
would be merely the private servitor of that dignitary,
who was generally one of the prebendaries of Glasgow.
John Spottiswood's name has not been discovered in
the graduation lists of the Faculty of Arts, but the
Archbishop affirms that his father took his M.A. degree
at Glasgow. We have seen it stated that he studied
Divinity under John Major in the western University,
but that is impossible as Major was transferred to St
Andrews in 1523. Spottiswood intended studying for
the Church, but the persecution of heretics in Glasgow
— possibly he witnessed the martyrdom of two young
men of good education and gentle nature, Alexander
Kennedy and Jerome Russell — gave him such a dis-
1 See Note 1.

282 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
taste for Church doctrine and practice, that about the
year 1539 he repaired to London with the intention of
following some other calhng. In that city, however,
he came under the influence of Archbishop Cranmer,
who had become attracted to the young Scotsman, and
admitted him to holy orders. We have no information as
to how Spottiswood was employed during his stay in Eng
land, but it has been conjectured that he resided chiefly
in the Archbishop's family, officiated as chaplain to His
Grace, and assisted him in his public business. He would
thus become fairly well known at the Enghsh Court.
In the year 1543 he returned to Scotland. The
time was opportune, and it was safe and patriotic for
Spottiswood to retrace his steps northward. James V.
had died in the previous year, leaving a daughter seven
days old ; the Earl of' Arran, a reputed Protestant, was
Regent of the Kingdom ; Cardinal Beaton was in dis
grace and a prisoner in Blackness Castle ; and the
Protestants were becoming numerous and influential.
Henry VIII. was very desirous of a marriage between
his son Edward and the infant Scottish Queen, and
was employing various means to accomplish his purpose.
Among these was the sending of an ambassador to Scot
land, and the release of the Scottish noblemen who had
been detained in England as prisoners since the battle of
Solway Moss, on the condition that when they returned
home they should use their endeavours to promote
King Henry's marriage scheme. As this monarch
relied on the Protestant party, he also sent some
preachers from England to promote the cause of
the Reformation. Things indeed seemed wonderfully
bright in Scotland. In this very year, 1543, its Parlia
ment passed an Act rendering it lawful for people to
read the Bible in their mother tongue. Knox says of
this time : ' Then might have been seen the Bible lying

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 283
on almost every gentleman's table ; the New Testa
ment was borne about in many hands ; the knowledge
of God did wonderfuUy increase ; and He gave His Holy
Spirit to simple men in great abundance.' But clouds
soon gathered on the horizon, and dark days followed.
When Spottiswood returned to his native land, it
was in the company of the released noblemen, and
with one of these he was particularly intimate. This
was the Earl of Glencairn, who was ever his steadfast
friend and powerful protector. Spottiswood for a while
resided at Finlayston, the earl's family seat — a meeting
place of Protestants — and doubtless he would officiate
there as chaplain. He would become intimate with the
members of this noble family. There was Alexander,
Lord Kilmaurs, the eldest surviving son, who bore a
high character and was engaged in many public affairs.
Sir Ralph Sadler, in a letter to Henry VIII., says of him :
' In my poor opinion, there are few such men in Scotland
both for wisdom and learning, and for his being so well
addicted to Christ's word and doctrine.' He after
wards became that Earl of Glencairn — the fifth earl —
who was so brave and energetic on the side of reform,
and was so friendly with John Knox, winning from the
latter special applause for his steadfastness and sincerity.
Many years before, this nobleman had shown his
attitude towards the Romish clergy by a stinging satire
upon the Franciscans — to which Knox gives a place in
his History — entitling the piece ' Ane Epistle direct fra
the Holye Armite of Allarit (i.e. the Holy Hermit of
Loretto near Musselburgh) to his Brethrien the Gray
Freires.' Knox certainly owed much to this earl, as
the foUowing incident will show. When the former and
his supporters were in Perth, they were in danger from
the army of the Queen Regent, and this royal lady was
so angry with them that she vowed she would utterly

284 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
destroy St Johnston (Perth), man, woman and child,
burn it with fire and sow it with salt. But away down
in Ayrshire, at the old kirk of Craigie, certain letters
were read one day to the gentlemen of Kyle and
Cunningham assembled there, informing them of the
dire straits in which the Reformer and his foUowers
were placed. Some thought the situation hopeless,
but Alexander, Earl of Glencairn, stepped forward and
said : ' Let every man serve his conscience. I will, by
God's grace, see my brethren in St Johnstone ; yea,
although never a man should accompany me, I wiU go,
if it were but with a pike on my shoulder ; for I had
rather die with that company than live after them.'
These brave words had the effect of raising twelve
hundred mounted men, with as many more on foot,
and nothing would stop that gallant band — no tabard-
clad heralds of the Queen at Glasgow, no bridges broken
down at Forth and Teith, no steep mountain ascents
and descents — till by forced marches they reached
Perth, and relieved Knox and his sore pressed company.
The Queen, in fact, had now to treat with the besieged
on their own terms. The earl's brother, Andrew
Cunningham, was also an ardent Protestant, and would
have been done to death by Cardinal Beaton had he
not managed to escape from prison.
After remaining a year or so with the Glencairn
family — doubtless a happy and helpful period for him —
Spottiswood was given an important piece of work, on
the earl's suggestion, which necessitated his return to
England for a short time. This was the carrying out
of the proposed marriage between Lady Margaret
Douglas, niece of Henry VIII., and Matthew, Earl of
Lennox. The young lady, brought up at the English
Court, was daughter of that Margaret, Henry's sister,
who was the Queen of James IV. of Scotland, and,

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 285
after his death, wife of Archibald Douglas, Earl of
Angus. Her father having referred the matter to
the English King, the Earl of Lennox was desirous of
having suitable persons to act for him at the Court of
England, and the Earl of Glencairn, as we have stated,
recommended Mr John Spottiswood as one likely to
manage the affair weU. The latter accordingly went to
England for the purpose, his mission was entirely
successful, and the marriage took place in the summer
of 1544. He remained with the Earl of Lennox for
some time after the nuptials, and then came back to
his native country with the resolve not to leave it again.
One wonders what John Spottiswood thought in after
days of this episode in his career, for tragedy, or rather
a series of tragedies, resulted from it, so far as the high
contracting parties were concerned. The first-born of
the Earl and Countess of Lennox was no less a person
age than Henry, Lord Darnley, who became the ill-
fated husband of the ill-fated Queen Mary, and was
foully murdered at the Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh, while
his father became the luckless Regent of the Kingdom
and was slain in the streets of Stirling.
On his return to Scotland, Spottiswood found a new
friend who, like the Earl of Glencairn, was in many
ways helpful to him. This was Sir James Sandilands,
Lord St John, afterwards first Lord Torphichen. A
reformer himself, he was brother of that other zealous
reformer, Sir John Sandilands, the Knight of Calder.
Sir James was no unimportant man in the Kingdom.
He it was who had been sent to France to lay the Acts
of the Scottish Parhament before Francis and Mary and
obtain the royal assent needful to give them the force
of statute law. The mission, alas ! was in vain — ' the
Guisians rebuked him sharply,' says Calderwood — and
Sir James came back to tell of the coldness with which

286 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the gay French Court had received him. With these
two brothers, and also with a close friend of theirs the
Lord James Stewart (afterwards Earl of Moray), John
Spottiswood became very intimate. In 1547 he was
presented by Sir James Sandilands to the parish of
Calder — then Calder-Comitis— now divided into the
parishes of Mid-Calder and West Calder. This being
technically a Romish appointment — and made thirteen
years prior to the statutory recognition or establishment
of the Protestant Church in Scotland — John Spottiswood
may be said to be the only one of the six Johns who
was priest or minister of the same parish both in its
Romish and Protestant days. He is now taken away
from his native Border district, and also from the
Glencairn country in the west, and located in Mid-
Lothian, or the Lothians, in which part of Scotland his
life's work is henceforth mainly to be done.
We can picture him as minister at Calder. The Book
of the Baronage of Scotland says that Mr Spottiswood
took great pains in teaching his people the principles
of the Protestant faith. We cannot fancy him other
wise than as a diligent and faithful pastor. There must
have been a priest's house, parsonage or manse, but it
appears from several references to him that he resided
a good deal at Calder House, an ancient abode with
iron-barred windows, rush-strewn floors, and great
cavern fireplaces. There he met many eminent Scots
men, among them the Earl of Argyll, the Earl of Mar,
and, as already stated, the Lord James Stewart. George
Buchanan had been for some time tutor to the last
named, but Spottiswood also appears to have occupied
that office, and the Lord James held him in such regard
that in 1558, when appointed one of the Commissioners
to visit France in order to witness his sister's marriage
to the Dauphin, he selected his old tutor to accompany

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 287
him. More than once there came to Calder House
John Knox, and he dispensed the Sacrament of the
Lord's Supper in the old mansion. Spottiswood
doubtless on these occasions would meet the great
church leader, and we can well fancy how mutually
enjoyable and profitable the conversation of two such
men would be. The minister was frequently absent
from his parish — to the distress of the parishioners — in
connection with his duties as Superintendent, but of
these absences we shall speak again. We know what
the minister of Calder's stipend was, for in the year
1574 it is put down as : ' LXVIIJ Li, VIIJS, IXJd,
with the third of his own Personage, extending to IJ
bollis beir and VllJf bollis aitis.'
As we have seen, he was elected and admitted Super
intendent of the Lothians in 1560. The sphere of his
jurisdiction included a good deal more than that section
ofthe lowlands — Tweeddale, for instance, came under his
oversight — and the work was arduous. He would have
to ' plant kirks,' and provide ministers and readers.
He was not at hberty to remain in any one place more
than twenty days tiU he had passed through his entire
bounds. He had to preach at least thrice weekly, both
when traveUing and when at his principal station,
where he must not stay longer than three or four months
at a time. More than once Spottiswood asked the
Assembly to relieve him of the office, but such relief
was not granted, and John Spottiswood continued
Superintendent till his death. The Calder people
objected strongly to his holding the double office, and
approached the General Assembly on more occasions
than one to let them have their minister to themselves.
They said, moreover, that he had been appointed to the
Superintendency without their having been consulted
in the matter, and it was ' impossible ' they urged, ' for

288 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
one man to brook and exercise two offices without one
or other being neglected ; otherwise we should differ
little from the popish Kirk where one person had
plurality of benefices.' The Assembly, however,
refused the complaint of the parishioners, maintained
that Superintendents were necessary owing to the
scarcity of ministers, and that ' the profit of many
churches was to be prefererd to the profit of one.'
Until the erection of Presbyteries the Superintendents
seem to have moderated in the Synods, and they
reported to the Assembly on matters coming from the
Synods. Accordingly we find in 1573 Spottiswood
giving in some articles in the name of the Synod to the
Assembly, but he signs simply as one of the ministers
within the' bounds, the signatures of the other ministers
being appended also, and John Spottiswood's appears
twelfth on the list. Some years later we find among
the Synod articles one craving ' the Assembly to take
order with Mr John Spotswood for selling the tack
of this benefice without consent of the Assembly,'
but, as by that time, presbyteries were erected the
matter was remitted to the presbytery of the bounds.
John Spottiswood was one of those appointed to
draw up the Confession of Faith and the First Book of
Discipline, but, as these important documents, and
their composition, have already been referred to, they
need not delay us further here. We have testimony
to his qualifications for such work from Quintin Kennedy
who, in his Compendious Ressonying in support of the
Mass, says that Spottiswood was profoundly ' learnit
in the mysteries of the New Testament.'
It is interesting to note that our Reformer had
several interviews with Queen Mary. In the beginning
of the year 1565, letters were received from the ministers
of Kyle informing their brethren in Edinburgh and

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 289
elsewhere that the old church was becoming active
again, and that its priests intended to celebrate Mass
at Easter. These letters had a great effect on the
brethren and caused them to draw up a supplication
praying Her Majesty to ' take heid ' of such designs.
The supplication or complaint was sent at the hands
of the Superintendents of Lothian and Glasgow to the
Secretary of State, who duly replied, in the Queen's
name, that ' thare suld be such provision made as suld
serve their contentment.' Evidently Spottiswood and
his fellow Superintendent had no personal interview
with the sovereign on that occasion. He, however.
was in the royal presence on the occasion — May 1565 —
already referred to in previous chapters when Willock
and Winram were also there, and the Queen ' cherished
the Superintendents with faire words.' In October of
the same year Spottiswood was sent to the Queen on
another matter. He was accompanied by Mr David
Lindsay, minister at Leith. They had with them a
supplication from the ministers within the Super-
intendency of the Lothians, praying for payment of
their stipends out of the thirds of the benefices as
resolved upon by the Privy Council. What came of
this we are not told, but in the following year, just
before the meeting of the General Assembly in June,
the Superintendents ' with the uther ministeris of the
Kirkes ' drew up another supplication of similar im
port which was presented to the Queen in Edinburgh
Castle by John Spottiswood and John Craig, and was
' graciously received,' though it was some six months
before the promised relief came of ' certain victuallis
and monie.' Shortly after this, Spottiswood was again
in the royal presence on a somewhat similar errand, to
which reference has already been made in the hves of
Winram and Raw. In December 1566 the General

290 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Assembly ' appointed the Bishop of Galloway, Mr
Spotswood, and others, to repair to Stirling and to solicit
the extract of said assignation from the Comptroller
and Clerk- Register that letters may be raised thereupon.'
The commissioners did so, saw the Queen, and at her
hand ' obtained their demands in an ample manner.'
Row, as we have seen, was also present on that occasion.
But the most interesting and most memorable of
Spottiswood's interviews with Queen Mary was the
following. When her son Prince James was born in
1566, the General Assembly deputed him to convey
their congratulations to Her Majesty, and at the same
time to express the desire of the Assembly that the
child be ' baptized according to the form used in the
Reformed Church.' The desire was not granted, but a
little scene in the royal apartment, when the infant
prince was presented, is prettily told by the Archbishop,
the Superintendent's son. It is a delightful anecdote
and was evidently cherished by the Spottiswood
family. ' The Queen calling to bring the infant, gave
him into his arms ; and he falling upon his knees and
conceiving a short and pithy prayer was very atten
tively heard by her. The Superintendent upon the
close of his prayer spake to the babe and willed him to
say Amen for himself, which she took in so good a part,
as continually after she called him the Superintendent
her Amen. The story having been told to the prince
when he came to years of understanding, he also called
him after the same manner, and whilst he lived did
respect and reverence him as his spiritual father.' In
the following year, Spottiswood, assisted by the Super
intendent of Angus and the Bishop of Orkney, officiated
at the coronation of the young King at Stirling, placing
the crown on his head.
About this time the General Assembly (1567) gave

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 291
him a somewhat delicate piece of work to do, and that
was the censuring of the Countess of Argyll for giving
her countenance to Prince James's baptism according to
the Romish manner. Here is how the matter appears
in the Assembly minutes : ' The Countess of Argile com
pearing, acknowledged that she had offended God' and
slaundered the Kirk, by assisting the baptisme of the King
in Papisticall manner with her presence. The Assemblie
ordeaned her to make her publict repentance in the
Chapelle Royalle of Stirhne, in time of sermoun, as the
Assemblie sail appoint the Superintendent of Lothiane.'
Spottiswood was frequently employed by the Supreme
Court of the Church for special work. He was one of
those appointed, for instance, to revise the Form and
Order of Excommunication, and also to revise the Acts
of Assembly. As a side-light on those times — and also
as showing the Assembly's strict regard for Church
institutions and ordinances — one ' John Flint, vicar,
pensioner of Ayton, was summoned to compeare (before
the General Assembly of 1570) for abusing the Sacra
ments ; compeared, and was ordeaned to abstain from
all functions within the Kirk tiU the Superintendent of
Lothiane trie his abilitie and learning.' Indeed we may
say that as Superintendent of Lothian and Tweeddale
— a most important part of Scotland, including as it did
the capital — Spottiswood played no small part in the
ecclesiastical affairs of the time. One would have ex
pected to see his name in the list of Moderators of the
Assembly, but that high office did not fall to him.
Scarcely a leader himself, he was rather the representa
tive of other leaders, and more particularly of the
greatest leader of them all, John Knox.
After Queen Mary escaped from Lochleven — with
hopes revived for a little at Hamilton and then shortly
after dashed to the ground at Langside— we find John

292 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Spottiswood writing a letter on public affairs which
seems unusually strong and uncharitable for such a
man. He does not mince his words with regard to
Mary's conduct, and holds that she should have been
executed for her crimes. Some believe that, though the
letter is published under his name, its composition is
that of some one else. Calderwood even says that ' the
letter must have been penned by Mr Knox as appeareth
by the style.' While that may be the case — though
we do not think the letter is quite of the Knoxian style
— it should not be forgotten that Spottiswood had
special regard for the Earl of Lennox and the Earl of
Moray. The latter now led the party opposed to the
Queen, and the former, father of the murdered Darnley,
was Spottiswood's old friend, and the treatment of the
Lennox family by Mary may have roused Spottiswood's
wrath against her. Moreover, from these two earls he
may have had special information regarding the Queen's
doings. He was one of the Commissioners appointed
by the Assembly to meet the Regent Moray's Com
missioners on all important matters relating to the
Church. That the letter was considered of great im
portance we gather from this fact, among others, that
in ' in the next Session of that same Assembly it was
concluded that the Letter directed to the Lords who
have made desertion from the King's Majesty — after
it is returned from the Regent's Grace — shall be
registrate among the Acts of the Kirk, and that it be
printed.' Though for the Lords in particular, it was
for the whole nation. As was to be expected Arch
bishop Spottiswood is silent with regard to this docu
ment, for it would never have done that posterity —
and more particularly members of the royal house —
should read the terrible indictment by his father of
Queen Mary, whose son James VI. is styled ' of blessed

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 293
memory ' and whose grandson Charles I. is styled a
' most religious and blessed prince and martyr ' by the
' grave and reverend prelate and wise Counsellor Lord
Archbishop of St Andrews and Privy Counsellor ' — all of
which stands conspicuous on the title-page of Spottis
wood's History. The letter, then, is not printed there, but
Bishop Keith gives it a place in his History, from which
we now transcribe it, premising that there were evidently
two letters or admonitions, the following being that which
was penned before the battle of Langside was fought, and
when the Queen was at Hamilton gathering her forces.
'Mr John Spotswood, Superintendent of Louthian, to all
that profess or that have professed the Lord Jesus, and
have refused that Roman Antichrist called the Pope,
within the Diocese committed to his charge, desires grace,
mercie and peace, from God the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, together with the Spirit of righteous judgment :
' That fearful sentence pronounced be God Himself
unto His Prophet Ezekiel, against the watchman that
seeth the sword coming, and doeth not blow the trumpet
and plainly warn the people, compelleth me to write
unto you, beloved in the Lord, this my rude letter,
because that my corporal presence and weak voice
cannot be extended to you all in thir dangerous and
most wicked dayes. To you, I say, I am compelled to
cry be my pen, that the sword of God's just judgment
is come, and hath devoured some, according to the
forewarning of his messengers, and alace, I fear is yet
drawn, and yet ready to devour more ; the first part
of this cannot be denyed, and the second also hath
great probabilities, and yet I fear that every man seeth
not, or at least will not confess the very cause neither
of the one nor yet of the other. We see a wicked
woman, whose iniquity known and lawfully convict
deserved more than ten deaths, escaped from prison,

294 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
this is the first ; negligence of the keepers of it is not
to be excused, so may it weU occupy the second place
before men ; practices of deceitfull men together with
her own viUanie, justly may cocupy the third rank in
that wicked fact ; but none of all these should have had
place to work if the mouth of the Lord had been obeyed,
for if she had suffered according as God's law com-
mandeth " murderers and adulterers to die the death,"
the wickedness taken forth from Israel, the plague
should have ceased, which cannot but remain, so long
as that innocent blood traterously shed is not punished
according as God hath commanded ; and so I fear not
to affirm that the reservation of that wicked woman,
against God and against the voices of His servants, is
the first and principaU cause externall which man can
see of the plague and murder lately begun. And yet,
when I confess it to be the first externall cause, I mean
not that it is the only and sole cause of this present
and appearing calamity ; for albeit -that the devil
himself had been loosed (as no doubt he was) in the
person of that most wicked woman, yet could not he
and she greatly have troubled this Commonwealth,
unless that she had been assisted with the presence,
counsell, and force of such as have professed the Lord
Jesus, and be all appearance had renounced that Roman
Antichrist and his damnable superstition. For albeit
all the Papists within the Realm of Scotland had
joyned with her, the danger had not been great, for
although in number the wicked might have exceeded
the faithfull, yet when the servants of God should have
had battle only against the Canaanites, Jebusites,
Amorites, and against the rest of that prophane and
adulterous generation, they could no more have feared
now, than that the httle flock hath feared from the
beginning of this controversie which now, be God's

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 295
power, this nine years they have sustained against all
the pestilent Papists within the same. But alace !
the sword of dolour hath pierced, and yet pierceth,
many hearts to see brethren seek with cruelty the
blood of their brethren, yea to see the hands of such as
were esteemed the principaU within the flock, to arm
themselves against God, against His Son Christ Jesus,
against a just and most lawful authority, and against
the men who asked of them not only quietness and
peace, but also maintenance and defence against all
invasion, domesticall and forraign. The consideration
of this their most treasonable defection from God,
from his truth professed, and from the authority most
lawfully established, causeth the hearts of many godlie
to sob and moan, not only secretly, but also openly to
crave of God the conversion and repentance of such as
have assisted that most wicked woman who ambitiously,
cruelly, and most unjustly hath aspired, and yet
aspireth, to that regiment wherefrom, for impieties
committed, mostly justly and be such order as no law
can reprove, she was deposed. And therefore, in the
bowels of Christ Jesus, I exhort aU in general and such
as are under my charge in speciali, who hath com
municated with her odious impieties, that they deeply
consider their fearfuU defection from God, and from
His lawfuU magistrates be His Word and be good order,
erected within this Realm and that they be the con
demnation and publict confession of their folly travel
speedily to return again to the bosom of the Kirk and
unto the obedience due unto Magistrates, from which
they have most traitorously declined ; assuring such
as shall be deprehended to remain obstinat in their
former wicked enterprise, that in our next letters their
names shall be expressed and proclaimed before aU
congregations wherewith, if they be not moved to

296 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
repentance, then will we (albeit with grief of heart)
be counselled to draw the sword committed to us by
God, and to cut them off from all societie of the body
of Jesus Christ, and for their stubborn rebellion to give
them to the power of Satan, to the destruction of the
flesh, that they, confounded in themselves, be un-
faigned repentance may return again from their wicked
ways, and so escape condemnation in the day of the
Lord Jesus, Whose omnipotent Spirit move the hearts
of all that look for the life everlasting to consider that
His coming approacheth. Amen. Given at Calder.'
At this time — connected more or less with the above
letter — a matter of national importance was taking
place in which we find our Reformer bearing a con
spicuous part. The Earl of Arran, better known,
perhaps, as the Duke of Chatelherault, had returned
from France, and with him a good deal of mischief in
the making. He had particular dislike for the Earl of
Moray, now Regent, and tried to circumvent him.
But that able Governor kept his vigilant eye on him,
and so, too, did John Knox. The Duke had come
back with a large sum of money contributed by the
Roman Catholic princes, and, on his homeward journey,
he had secured an interview with the captive Queen
in England, who gave him full commission to act as
her lieutenant in Scotland. Arrived at Hamilton, he
proceeded to carry out his plans and, among other
things, wrote a letter to the General Assembly in which
he stated that the troubles in his native land had
brought him from France ; that he was a wronged man,
but that the public good overrode private grievances ;
that he would do all in his power to help his country ;
that he wished to help the Reformed Church to carry on
its work ; that he was concerned about the Earl of Moray's
attitude towards him ; that he desired the Assembly to

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 297
make known to the people the purport of his letter ; and
that he was quite willing to receive and confer with any
ministers on these matters. He subscribes himself ' Your
Christian Brother, James Hamiltoun.' The Assembly
took the matter into their consideration, and having
consulted with the Earl of Moray, deputed three of their
number, namely, Mr John Spottiswood, Superintendent
of Lothian ; Mr John Winram, Superintendent of Fife ;
and Mr John Row, minister of Perth, to proceed to
Hamilton and confer with the Duke. The result was
somewhat singular, for instead of the pope converting
them, they converted the pope, their arguments with
the Duke being so effective that he changed his attitude
towards the Regent's Government, and peace reigned
in the Kingdom — not that the Hamilton faction was
satisfied, for they had something like a blood-feud with
the Earl of Moray ; what they could not do openly they
did by secret and foul means ; and by the murderous
hand of Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh they struck down
the good Regent in the streets of Linlithgow.
In the year 1570 we find Spottiswood, at the instance
of Knox, sent by the Kirk-Session of Edinburgh to the
Castle to teU Kirkcaldy of Grange, who held that fortress
for the Queen, of his ' offence against God ' in taking up
the attitude he now did. So Bannatyne in his Memori
ales informs us. Spottiswood seems to have acted as
Moderator of the Session in connection with Kirkcaldy's
' complaint ' against Knox, which ' complaint ' or charge
stirred the righteous wrath of the latter, and caused him to
say to Spottiswood, ' Superintendent, I pray you (for the
matter chiefly toucheth you) be faithful and stout in your
office.' We have no record as to how the Superintendent
bore himself on the occasion, but we can scarcely fancy
that it would be otherwise than in a ' faithful ' and ' stout'
manner, with the indomitable Knox at his very elbow.

298 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
We learn from the Book of the Universal Kirk that
Spottiswood had more than one interview with the
Regent Morton on matters pertaining to the Church.
From the pages of that Book, too, we learn that, as
with the other Superintendents, he was several times
' dilated ' for ' slackness ' in the performance of his
duties. But the work was arduous and expensive.
He tells the Assembly of the ' pains and travells tane
be him these fourteen years bygane in over-seeing and
visiting of the Kirks from Stirling to Berwick ' — verily
a large diocese, or, as it is called in the Book, ' Diocy,'
as also ' Superintendency.' He, with his Consistory
or Session, would have to judge in cases of defamation.
He had also to hand over criminals to the civil magis
trate, for he complains that ' diverse times he had
exhibite to the Justice clerk the names of haynous
offenders, but could find no execution.' He also
mentions dealings he had with the Procurator-Fiscal.
The ' reparation of Kirks ' gave him great trouble.
More than once he goes on ' visitation free and upon
his own charges.' Indeed, he says that ' he had visited
in his own charges now these nyne years.' He had the
greatest difficulty in getting his arrears of stipend, but
at last on 16th December 1580 he obtained £45, 9s. 6d.,
and some chalders of grain for three years, and this
' pension ' x was renewed on 26th November 1583 for
five years. Owing to his growing infirmities — though
he retained the office of Superintendent till his death —
Mr David Lindsay, minister at Leith, and Mr Lawson,
minister at Edinburgh, were appointed to ' support and
aid Mr John ' In his old age his son, afterwards the
Archbishop, was appointed his colleague and successor
at Calder at the remarkably early age of eighteen, which
easily beats the record of Thomas Chalmers, and, indeed,
1 See Note 2.

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 299
we suppose of all other youths of ' pregnant pairts,'
or ' early pairts,' ordained to the holy ministry in the
Scottish Church.
Spottiswood was a member of the fateful convention
which met at Leith in 1572. At the Assembly held in
April 1576 * a complaint was made against him of
having inaugurated the Bishop of Ross in the Abbey
of Holyrood House. He admitted his fault, and the
Assembly proceeded no further in the matter. The
position of Bishops at that time was really peculiar,
and gave rise to curious situations and discussions.
They were so far allowed by the Assembly, but they
had no other functions than those which pertained
to Superintendents, even if they had these. In aU
things they were accountable to the General Assembly.
This Bishop of Ross, Alexander Hepburn, it seems,
should have been inaugurated not at Edinburgh, but in
the principal church of the diocese of Ross. The
Superintendent of Lothian also took seme small part
in the inauguration of the first tulchan Archbishop,
John Douglas, at St Andrews.2 As a member of the
Assembly Spottiswood was one of those who protested
against the titles of archbishop, deans, and the like,
and against designations such as chapters. It was he,
indeed, who struck a strong blow at the civil power and
place of bishops, which was always considered by them
among their dearest privileges. Was it not this very
John Spottiswood who moved and carried in the General
1 In this book sometimes the dates are given in the old style and
sometimes in the new. With, regard to one of the Assemblies John
Row, the historian, says : ' Conveened at Edinburgh, February 25, 1568
(for the yeare then begouth not till March 25, for so is it yit in England
to this day, and the change was not till 1600, at whilk tyme Jame VI. ,
by an Act of Councill, ordained the supputation of the beginning of
the yeare to be from Jannuar 1).'
3 See Note 3.

300 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Assembly of 1573, ' that it was neither agreeable to the'
Word of God, nor to the practice of the primitive
church, for one man to occupy the charges of a minister
of the Gospel and of a civil and criminal judge ' — a
sentiment to which the ambitious clerico-secular career of
his prelatic son offers a most glaring contradiction ?
We have noticed only one reference to the Reformer
in the Register of the Privy Council, but it is interesting
as throwing some light on his duties as Superintendent,
and as indicating that there were then some turbulent
spirits in the realm. It is in the year 1573, when we find
Spottiswood complaining to ' my Lord Regent's Grace
and Lords of the Secret CounsaU,' that when the minister
of Kirkliston had a certain piece of ground allocated to
him for manse and glebe, and the said ground was being
measured out, Lord Seton appeared on the scene ac
companied by a band of servants ' with culveringis and
utheris wappynis,' and declared that the land was his and
on no account would he allow the minister to have it.
The Privy Council, finding that the allocation of the
ground had been quite legal, decided in favour of
Spottiswood, and ordered Lord Seton to be ' put to the
horn ' (outlawed) if he interfered further in the matter.
John Spottiswood died on 5th December 1585, in
the seventy-sixth year of his age. Here it may be
stated that all ' the six Johns ' — with the exception
perhaps of John Douglas — were married. They had
been priests or friars before the Reformation, and the
five who married showed by personal example, like
Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, the new and better views
on marriage which were now being held. TheoreticaUy
the Church of Rome held a high view on the subject,
and death alone was able to dissolve the marriage
union ; but that Church, by its canon law which
extended the Levitical prohibitions, could declare that

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 301
certain so-called marriages were null from the beginning.
Consequently, since bishops and other dignitaries had
so frequently dissolved the marriage tie, the First Book
of Discipline found it necessary to restore to its proper
standing this ' blessed ordinance of God,' as it puts it,
which had been so degraded and weakened that persons
united in matrimony could never be sure if they could
continue therein. And Parliament in 1567 confirmed by
statute the contentions of the reformers. The marriage
rite and tie thus became more rational as well as
scriptural. The celibacy of the clergy, moreover, was
entirely repudiated. John Spottiswood by his wife,
Beatrix, daughter of Patrick Crichton of Lugton and
Gilmerton, had three sons and two daughters. The sons
were John, his successor at Calder, who became the Arch
bishop ; James, who became Bishop of Clogher in Ireland,
and subsequently was nominated to the Archiepiscopal
see of Cashel, upon the duties of which, however, he never
entered ; x and Wilham. The daughters were Rachel, who
was married to James Tennent of Linhouse ; and Judith.
According to Scott's Fasti, at his death ' the utensils of
his house, etc., were estimat at XLfei ; the Frie Geir,
settis deducit, amounted to iiijc LXiiijLi, XIIJs.
iiijd. He left to the poor of the parish of Calder XX
merkis, and giffs to Johne Spotswood in Blakisling and
his bairns, Xfei of that in the hands of Johne Gude-
feUow, minister of Longf organ, for his help at the schulis.
Ninian Spotswood of that ilk was left oversman.'
The Archbishop pays this filial tribute : ' Chosen
Superintendent of the Churches of Lothian, Merse, and
Teviotdale, by the space of twenty [twenty-five] years
he governed them most wisely. His care in teaching,
planting of churches, reducing people and persons of
all sorts into the right way, was great, and so successful,
1 See Note 4.

302 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
as within the bounds of his charge none were found
refractory from the religion professed. ... He was a
man well esteemed for his piety and wisdom, loving,
and beloved of all persons, charitable to the poor and
careful above all things to give no man offence. His
happy life was crowned with a blessed death.'
We have omitted here the sentences already quoted,
at the beginning of this chapter, with regard to the
supposed leanings of John Spottiswood, primus, towards
Episcopacy. The Archbishop, however, further says
that, ' two years before his death as many then alive
could witness,' his father spoke in depreciation of the
system set up by Knox. He even says that among
his utterances was the following : ' the doctrine we
profess is good, but the old policy was undoubtedly
better ; God is my witness, I lie not.' But the Arch
bishop is the only writer of those times who imputes
such views to him. The aged minister of Calder may
have been annoyed at the extravagances of some of the
Presbyterian ministers, and he may have said that
they would be all the better of a bishop to keep them
in order, or something to that effect, just as a Presby
terian minister to-day might make, jocularly or sarcastic
ally, a similar observation with regard to some ministers
he would like to see muzzled ; or even as an Anglican
prelate, harassed by some refractory rector or vicar,
might, over the walnuts and the wine, express his
admiration for, and envy of, the disciplinary powers of
a Scottish presbytery or kirk-session. Was it not
natural, too, for the Archbishop to endeavour to have
his father on his side, so far as possible ? Wodrow says
on this point : ' We could scarce expect but that the
Bishop would stretch himself to the utmost to bring his
parent, who was directly opposite to him in his whole
practice through his life, to come as near him ere he dyed

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 303
as might be ' ; and he adds that (so many changes having
been introduced — some by the civil power on an unwiUing
church — with resultant ill-feeling and disorder, and all
perhaps to the grief of the Superintendent) even if ' we
take it on his son's word, he seems to have been much
confined to his house when it may be things were mis
represented to the old man.' The air of the sickroom is
certainly depressing, and when the candle of life is
burning low — heart and flesh failing — what is less noble
in a man may emerge and yield to sinister influences
around. Who guarded the dying hours of the Emperor
Charles V. ? The Monks of San Yuste, and they declared
that he said certain things regarding his word of honour
to Martin Luther which — if he did say them — were
ignoble, and would not have been uttered by him in
the days of his strength, unsurrounded by influences
such as those which affected him in that Spanish
convent. Perhaps, says an historian, his confessor may
have thrust into his lips the words which he so wished
to hear. But, as already stated, no other writer of
those times has ever hinted that John Spottiswood
changed, or was changing, his views on church polity.
All references to him, outside of his son's book, point
to his having acted to the very close of his life in
obedience to, and in sympathy with, the constitution
of the Presbyterian Church which he had so large a
part in framing. He was a regular attender of the
meetings of the General Assembly, was employed on
many of its important committees and commissions,
and as a diligent member thereof did his part in
strengthening and consolidating the Presbyterian
Church of Scotland.

304 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
APPENDIX NOTE i
SPOTTISWOOD AT GLASGOW UNIVERSITY
The following, from Wodrow's Collections (vol. i. p. 445), we
noticed after this chapter was written : —
• 1534. Incorporat die Sabbatj XXXIj, etc. Dns. JoK
Spottiswood S™5 (i.e. servus) dnj Rectoris.
' T535- Feb- 8 Dnu Joannes Spottiswood proceeded Bachelor.
' 1536. Mfr Joes Spottswood is chosen one of the intrantes
deputati Rectoris.
' 1543. Johanes Spottswood is again elected as above (Ann.
Univ. et Fac. Art — Records, Nos. 1 and 2).'
This would almost indicate that Spottiswood must have
entered the University of Glasgow before the year 1534. Twenty-
four is certainly an unusual age for a student of that time to
matriculate, and possibly the words mean that when he was
approaching the end of his career as a student, he received an
appointment on the staff of the University, namely, as servant
of the Rector. He may have had to look after refractory students
in the ' career ' and drag away offenders to that establishment.
A student could scarcely have been able to take a degree in the
course of a few months. That he was a bachelor in 1535 and a
master in 1536 is not to be wondered at, because in all likelihood
promotion from bachelorship to mastership in Glasgow University
in those times depended, as it has done in other universities in
much later days, not on proof of higher scholarship, but merely
on payment of an extra fee. We understand the entry under
the year 1636 to mean that Spottiswood then received an appoint
ment corresponding to that of proctor at Oxford nowadays,
that is to say, he had to look after the behaviour and morals of the
students. From ' intrantes ' we infer that the Glasgow proctors
of those days had the right to enter the students' lodgings.
Spottiswood, of course, was not at the University all the time
from 1534 till 1543, for, as we have seen in the biography, he
left Glasgow for England in or about the year 1539. He re
turned, however, to Scotland in 1543, and, as he was not ordained
at Calder till 1547, it is possible that he attended classes again
at Glasgow.
NOTE 2
spottiswood's pension, etc.
' Oure Souverane Lord, Understanding the gude and thankfull
service done to his hienes and his predicessouris be his louit Mr

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 305
Johne Spottisswood, persoun of Calder, Ordanis ane letter to
be maid vnder the privie sele in deu frome to the said Mr Johne
Spottiswood, and efter his deceis to James Spottiswood his
lauful sone, off the gift of ane zerlie pension of sevin chalderis
five bollis twa pekis meill, ffoure bollis twa pt. boll quheit, and
fortie five pund nyne schilhngis sex pennyis money zeirlie, to
be vpliftit and uptane be the said Mr Johne and eftir his deceis
be the said James, thair factouris and servitouris in thair names,
off the reddiest of the fruictis, mailles, teindis, proffeittis rentes
and emolumentis of the abbacy of Deir, at twa termes in the
zeir, Witsunday and Mertimes in winter be equall portiounis,
for all the dayis, space and termes of thre zeiris efter the said
Mr Johnnis entres thairto, Qlk is [wes] at the feast of Wit-
sounday last bipast, and of the crop and zeir of God JMV"
fourscore zeiris instant, and for the maist sure payment to be
maid to the said Mr Johnne and eftir his deceis to the said James
of the said pension during the said space, hes assignit and be
the tennor heirof assignis and disponis to thame the saidis four
bollis 2 pt- boll quheit to be tane furt zeirlie of the manis of Deir,
of the teindis and fermes thairof, and the saidis seven chalderis
five bollis ij pcis 2 p<= meill to be uptane zeirlie of the readiest of
the ferme meiU and teind meill of the parochin of Deir, and the
said sowme of fourtie five pundis IXs. vjd. off the readiest of
the thrid of the money of the said abbacy of the said termes ;
With power to the said Mr Johnne, and eftir his deceis to the
said James, To call and persew for the saidis victuallis and
money assignit to thame, as said is, at said termes, acquittances
and dischargis vpon the ressait thairof to gif in all or in pt
salba alsufficient as gif the samin wer gevin be the laufallie
providit commendator thairof ; And the said Letter be extendit,
etc., with command to the Lordis of Session to grant letteris,
etc., Subscrivit at Haliruidhous the XVJ day of December 1580.'
— Register of Presentations of Benefices, II. f. 43.
But pension or no pension, arrears of stipend paid or unpaid,
John Spottiswood does not appear to have been a poor man, for
according to Sir Daniel Wilson, LL.D., in his Memorials of
Edinburgh in the Olden Time, he was the owner of a substantial
and commodious house — one of the best indeed — in the High
Street of Edinburgh. It was well known for many years as ' the
Bishop's Land ' (hence to-day Bishop's Close), it having been the
residence of Archbishop Spottiswood ; but, as appears from the
title deeds, the prelate inherited it from his father, the Super
intendent of Lothian. The date on the edifice was 1578, at

306 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
which time John Spottiswood would be in the sixty-ninth year
of his age. The ground floor of the building was formed of a
deeply-arched piazza, supported by massive stone piers, and
over the main entrance a carved lintel bore the inscription,
Blissit . Be . Ye . Lord . For . all . His . Giftis, with a shield
impaled with two coats of arms. A fine brass balcony projected
from the first floor which, decorated with gay hangings, would,
doubtless, be crowded at times with fair and noble spectators to
witness the Riding of the Parhament and other state pageants.
In later days the Bishop's Land is understood to have been the
residence of the first Lord President Dundas and the birthplace
of the well-known Viscount* Melville. Lady Jane Douglas, of
the famous Douglas cause, also resided in this mansion. The
interesting old building was totally destroyed by fire in 1814.
Even as late as the end of the eighteenth century, it was an aristo
cratic abode, its occupants having their liveried servants.
The Spottiswood mansion was bounded on the east by the
house of James Henderson of Fordel. Though historians gener
ally say that Queen Mary, after her surrender at Carberry Hill,
was lodged in the house of the Provost, Sir Simon Preston, the
Diurnal of Occurrents indicates that it was to Henderson's house
she was taken. If the Diurnal be correct, and the Superin
tendent of Lothian owned his Edinburgh house, and was in re
sidence, at the time, he had unequalled opportunity for seeing the
poor Queen, her fair face soiled with dust and tears, riding up the
street to her temporary prison-house, with the insulting shouts
of the infuriated populace ringing in her ears.
NOTE 3
spottiswood and the tulchans
' Not one of our Superintendents would be Tulchan Bishop,
though I doubt not Mr Spotswood and the Laird of Dun might
have been made the two Tulchan Archbishops, if they had
pleased, bot they wer both better men than to truckle into a
nominal office, to serve designs of the Court, and wer both in
their principle against prelacy in the church,' etc.
Wodrow in his Collections.
\
NOTE 4
JAMES SPOTTISWOOD
The life-story of John, the eldest son, being well-known,
need not be given here, but it may be well to give some informa-

JOHN SPOTTISWOOD 307
tion about the Superintendent's second son, James, who rose
to be a man of some distinction. His education began at home
under a tutor, was continued at the Grammar School of
Linlithgow, and was completed at Glasgow University where he
graduated M.A. He accompanied James VI. as gentleman-usher
on his voyage to Denmark for his bride the Princess Anne, and
some ten years later he again went abroad as Secretary to the
Ambassadors to the King of Denmark and the German princes.
Following his sovereign to England, he entered Anglican orders,
and was presented by James to the rectory of Wells, Norfolk.
For sixteen years he tended carefully his parish, refusing to
attend Court, but in that time he visited as a commissioner of
reform the University of St Andrews, where he obtained the
degree of D.D. In 162 1 he became Bishop of Clogher, and it is
said that some years later he had the refusal of the Archbishopric
of St Andrews, which was then conferred on his brother John.
He was appointed Archbishop of Cashel, but he does not appear
to have entered on the office. He fled from Ireland on the out
break of the rebellion in 1641, died in London in 1644 or 1646,
and was buried in Westminster Abbey beside his brother, the
Scottish Archbishop. He left a son, Sir Henry Spottiswood,
and a daughter Mary who, through marriage with Abraham
Crichton, became ancestress of the Earls of Erne.
(See Dictionary of National Biography, and the authorities
cited there.) BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Histories of Knox, Row, Calderwood, Spottiswood, and Keith.
Memoriales of Richard Bannatyne.
Diurnal of Occurrents.
Wodrow's Collections.
James Scott's History of the Lives of Protestant Reformers in
Scotland.
Hew Scott's Fasti.
M'Crie's Knox.
M'Crie's Melville.
Lee's Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland.
Grub's Ecclesiastical History of Scotland.
Dictionary of National Biography. Article, ' John Spottiswood.'
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland.

CHAPTER VII
JOHN DOUGLAS
Principal Lee, in his Lectures on the History of the
Church of Scotland, says that all the accounts of John
Douglas which he has ever seen in modern histories
abound with errors, and he goes on to state that some
have represented him as having been an obscure
Carmelite friar whom the Earl of Argyll chose to
employ as his chaplain, and for whom the Archbishop
of St Andrews expressed the strongest aversion ;
whereas, says the Principal, he was quite a different
man, belonged to a good family, was the son of Sir
George Douglas of Pinkie, in all likelihood was related
to James Douglas, Earl of Morton, and, like him,
would be connected with the great family of Angus.
But the learned Principal of Edinburgh University is
himself in error here. Dr David Laing asserts that
John Douglas was descended from the Douglasses of
Pittendreich, and it is certain that the Regent Morton
had possession of that place at one time, for we find
him bestowing it upon one of his natural sons. Pro
fessor Mitchell of St Andrews, however, has given us
his real origin. As this Professor of Church History
was working one day in the Register House, Edinburgh,
he found unimpeachable evidence of Douglas's parent
age. This was supplied by the Register of the Privy
Seal, in which there are ' letters of legitimation in favour
of Mr John Douglas, Rector of the University of St
Andrews, of date 2nd January 1563-64,' wherein it is
308

JOHN DOUGLAS 309
stated that he was ' bastard son natural of quondam
Robert Douglas in Langnewtone.' Where this par
ticular Langnewtone was — the place-name and its
prefix are both very common in Scotland — and whether
it and the Robert Douglas ' in ' it were connected with
Pittendreich, it is almost impossible now to say. At
one time there was a parish of Langnewton annexed
to Ancrum in 1684, but we have no information as to
whether John Douglas had any connection with it.
A friend has suggested that he may been have the son
of the priest of that parish.
It appears that there was another John Douglas con
nected with St Andrews when our John Douglas was
there, and this would be the Douglas who had been the
Carmehte or White friar, who certainly became chaplain
to the Earl of Argyll, and was particularly disliked by
Archbishop Hamilton. Keith and other writers have
confused the two men.
John Douglas, son of Robert Douglas in Langnewtone,
was born about the year 1494, was a determinant in
St Leonard's College, St Andrews, in 1515, and became
a licentiate in 1517. He may have lingered on at this
College, as others did after laureation. Supposing
that he did so, and was among the canons of the
CoUege who resolved to lodge a complaint with the
King respecting the harshness and cruelty of their
Superior, Archbishop Hepburn, then he must have
witnessed that remarkable scene, when Hepburn,
mightily enraged, rushed with a band of attendants
into the sacred chapter-house to wreak his vengeance
on the complainants who were assembled there.
Alexander Alane (Alesius) appears to have been pre
siding — he and Douglas had been fellow-students —
and Hepburn ordered him to be seized : yea, the prelate
himself drew his sword and would have killed Alane,

310 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
had not the young man been protected by two of the
canons who diverted the weapon. Hepburn, however,
kicked him with almost fatal force, had him arrested,
and conveyed to a filthy dungeon. Such was the
measure meted out in those days to students who
dared to lodge complaints against those placed over
them — at least against a Superior so irascible and
murderous as Patrick Hepburn, Archbishop and Prior
of St Andrews. Whether this Douglas, too, was of the
Carmelite order can only be left to conjecture. It has
been stated that for some time he served as a priest in
the diocese of Dunblane, but we are not aware on what
authority the statement is based.
It was our impression that Douglas had never been
out of Scotland; but, happening to glance at the Rentale
Sancti Andree (Accounts of the Archbishopric) we
noticed an entry of two lines, from which the important
information emerges that Archbishop James Beaton
in 1537 ordered a certain payment to be made to John
Douglas who was at that time regent in Montaigu
College at Paris. But when he became, or how long he
continued, regent there we have not ascertained. On
ist October 1547 he was elected Provost of St Mary's
College — ' Prepositus Novi CoUegii Mariani,' the said
office being conferred ' perdocto et spectabili viro
Magro Johnni Douglas clerico Dunkeldan dioc ' — and in
1550 he became Rector of the University. To this latter
office he was annuaUy elected, and he held it for the
unusually long period of twenty-three successive years.
When Douglas was instaUed as Rector for the first
time he brought his University into connection with
that of Oxford, for he had, as one of his deputes,
' Richardum Martialum verbi Dei prseconem egregium.'
This ' Richardus Martialis Alb. Theologus' had been
' incorporated ' at St Andrews in the previous year,
when Archbishop Hamilton gave him and another

JOHN DOUGLAS 311
Englishman, Richard Smith, a very cordial reception.
Richard Marshall, D.D., belonged to Christ Church
CoUege, of which he was made Dean in 1550. ' Doctor
Richardus Smythaeus Anglus ' was also of Oxford and
accounted by some the best schoolman of his time, able
even to baffle Peter Martyr.
In the year 1559 Andrew MelviUe entered the Uni
versity of St Andrews as a student. Though already
of great learning, with his short stature and slender
build he looked a mere boy. The Provost of St Mary's
was much interested in this prodigy, and showed him
marked kindness. He used to invite him to his room,
take him betwixt his knees at the fireside, warm his
hands and cheeks, and, blessing him, propose to him
questions connected with his studies. Delighted with
his demeanour and his replies, Provost Douglas ex
claimed one day : ' My silly [delicate] fatherless and
motherless child, it's ill to witt what God may make
of thee yet.' So James MelviUe, the nephew of Andrew,
teUs us in his Diary. The writings of Aristotle formed
then the only text book for aU the ' sciences ' taught
within the Scottish coUeges, and the lectures given by
the professors or teachers were of the nature of com
ments on the Greek philosopher's treatises on logic,
rhetoric, ethics, and physics. But the professors did
not know Greek, and read and commented on them in
Latin translations. Andrew MelviUe, however, to the
astonishment of the University made use of the Greek
text in his studies, of which attainment his teachers did
not appear to be meanly jealous, nor did they throw any
obstacles in the way of his advancement ; but, on the
contrary, they highly commended him for his acquaint
ance with that ancient language, and did all in their
power to encourage such a promising youth. It may
be further stated that another of the students when
Douglas was at the head of the University, and a class-

312 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
fellow with Melville, was James Lawson, who became the
coUeague and successor of Knox in Edinburgh. It
may be mentioned that St Mary's College had ampler
means of instruction than either of the two other St
Andrews Colleges, as it possessed separate classes for
Grammar, Rhetoric, and Law, with special facilities for
students of Philosophy.
Douglas, of course, would be intimate with George
Buchanan, who became Principal of St Leonard's
College in 1566, but earlier than that the great scholar
had been in the habit of paying visits to St Andrews.
There was another scholarly man with whom Douglas
could not but have been on intimate terms, and that
was John Winram. They had been fellow-students,
were about the same age, resided for many years con
temporaneously in St Andrews, lived to be very old
men, and they resembled each other in type of char
acter. It has even been said that Winram was the
instrument, in the hand of God, of Douglas's conver
sion from popery, and, as we shall see later, it was
Winram who presided at Douglas's inauguration as
Archbishop. We can well fancy that these two dis
tinguished citizens of this little city in the kingdom of
Fife would frequently meet in each other's homes or
by the wayside, and have much earnest converse on
affairs ecclesiastical and academic. To us perhaps their
themes would be uninteresting, for the controversies —
and indeed many of the beliefs — of the sixteenth century
are not ours to-day. As Tennyson says : —
' Age to age succeeds,
Blowing a noise of tongues and deeds
A dust of systems and of creeds.'
But these controversies, creeds, and ' noise of tongues
and deeds,' were matters of vast importance — indeed

JOHN DOUGLAS 313
of life and death — to the Douglases, Winrams and
Knoxes of that time ; and we, who followed centuries
after, have benefited by their treatment and settlement
of them.
A prolific writer of these latter days (a syndicate,
not an individual, some have said) — whose books
vary from Ballads connected with Blue China and
a treatise on the Secret of the Totem, to the Life of a
Victorian Parliamentarian and a History of Scotland —
has in a somewhat supercilious and jeering manner
referred to co-workers of John Knox. In his volume
on Historical Mysteries, this writer, when deahng with
' the Mystery of the Kirks,' says that ' one of them
was a baker, and one Harlow was a tailor.' Paul
Methven, we think, was the baker, and he did much
good work at first, though latterly he had a terrible
lapse ; but the tailor was a man held by his contem
poraries in deservedly high regard. Knox is by no
means ashamed of his fellow-labourer, and gives him
prominence in his History. ' First,' he says, ' came a
simple man, William Harlaw, whose erudition although
it excel not, yet for his zeal and diligent plainness in
doctrine is he to this day worthy of praise, and remains
a fruitful member within the Church of Scotland [as
Minister of the parish of St Cuthbert's, Edinburgh]. . . .
Our weak beginning did God so bless that within a
few months the hearts of many were so strengthened
that we sought to have the face of a Church among us
and open crimes to be punished without respect of
persons. For that purpose, by common election, were
elders appointed, to whom the whole brethren promised
obedience. . . . Certain zealous men, William Harlaw,
and others, exhorted their brethren, according to the
gifts and graces granted unto them.' x
1 See other references to Harlaw, p. 151.

314 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
But has our latter-day author forgotten that in
Apostolic times — at the very beginning of the Church's
history — it was the ' unlearned and ignorant men '
who did the great things for Christ and marvellously
extended his Kingdom, and that Holy Scripture says :
' God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise and . . . the weak things ... to
confound the things which are mighty, and base things
and things which are despised,' and that ' not many
wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many
noble are called ' for such great and holy work ? Knox
himself had little patience with ' pohtical heads,' that
is, mere secular statesmanship, and considered such
worldly wisdom as ' mere foolishness before the Lord.'
But there is another side to this. Many of the learned
and of the ' mighty ' were on the side of reform, and
gave Knox great assistance. Among the latter were the
highest in the land — nobles, knights, statesmen — and
as for the former, surely our jeering critic — ' Andrew
of the brindled hair ' — has forgotten that the great
humanist, George Buchanan, was heart and soul with
Knox, and that John Erskine of Dun — proficient in
the Greek language and a far-travelled man of culture
and refinement— was also similarly attached to Knox
and his cause.
Then there are the ' Six Johns.' They were all
endowed with scholarship and other quahties which
caU forth admiration and respect. Take the first and
greatest of them aU, John Knox himself. He was one
of the '. Pope's knights,' ' a priest of the altar,' a royal
chaplain, the refuser of a bishopric, a man who possessed
a competent knowledge of the original languages of
the Old and New Testaments, one who spoke French
fluently and mixed on equal terms with the highest in
the land. And let us recapitulate a few facts regard-

JOHN DOUGLAS 315
ing other four of them. Willock, a learned man and
in orders in the Romish Church, was on friendly terms
with the nobility, was tutor to Lady Jane Grey, and
for many years was a Rector of the Church of England ;
Winram was a Doctor of Theology, a Dean, a Sub-Prior
and a Lord of the Articles ; Row was a Papal Nuncio,
a Doctor of Laws of Padua and a notable linguist ;
Spottiswood was of blue blood, a Romish parish priest,
then a Protestant parish minister, the friend of Arch
bishop Cranmer and of Lords Moray, Glencairn, and
Torphichen ; and Douglas — the sixth John — who, also
with Romish orders, seems scarcely to have breathed
anything else, for the greater part of his hfe, but the
atmosphere of academic groves, was Professor and
Provost of St Mary's College, St Andrews, and Principal
of his University. It may be that in documents of
the time,1 and by later writers, he is not designated
Professor, but as was the case with his two immediate
successors, who were Principals and also Professors, he
doubtless had professorial duties to perform. James
Melville in his Diary, in alluding to Douglas's attitude
towards a certain matter, refers to him and ' uther
maisters and sum of the regentes.' Professor Mitchell
in his Scottish Reformation says : ' He was a man of the
ancient academic type, content to live in single blessed
ness and treat his pupils, who also lived in CoUege,
with the familiarity and affection of a father.' Hill
Burton has put it correctly when he says in his Scot
Abroad that ' the early Reformers and the leaders of
the predominant ecclesiastical party in Scotland for a
considerable period after the Reformation were eminently
learned. The example of a foreign education was set
to them by their political head the Regent Moray, who
1 This stands to be corrected, as further on in this chapter we shall
see Dougl.as does sign himself as a Professor.

316 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
studied at Paris under the renowned Peter Ramus.'
This is very different from the impressions Andrew
Lang's strictures leave on one's mind.
And what of the pioneers of Reform and sufferers
for the truth, such as Patrick Hamilton, Alexander
Alane (Alesius), and George Wishart ? The first -named
was of royal lineage, had studied at Louvain, received
his degree of Master of Arts at Paris, was a Member of
the Arts Faculty at St Andrews, excelled as a student
of the works of Plato and Aristotle, and was a skiUed
musician ; the second named (who, though not suffering
martyrdom, like Hamilton and Wishart, was most
cruelly treated at St Andrews by his ecclesiastical
superiors and had to flee the country), became the
friend of Cranmer, Luther, and Melanchthon, was held
in high respect by Calvin and Beza, laboured success
fully as Professor of Theology at Frankfort-on-the-
Oder and Leipzig, wrote many commentaries on Books
of Scripture, and was honoured and beloved through
out his life of exile on the Continent of Europe ; and
the last named was a younger brother of the Laird
of Pittarrow in the Mearns, studied at Aberdeen,
Cambridge, and Continental seats of learning, was no
mean artist, possessed the accomplishment (rare then
in Scotland) of a knowledge of Greek and was the trans
lator from German into English of the first Helvetic
Confession. There is no doubt whatever that it was
among the choice spirits, earnest scholarly young men
— in the monasteries and among the alumni of the
Universities — that the new teaching took root and
flourished. The commotions in the country disastrously affected
Douglas's University. We see this in the few students
who enroUed when the Reformation struggle was going
on. There is only one entry in the Rector's books for

JOHN DOUGLAS 317
the year 1558, and it is as follows : ' Nonus Rectoratus
Mgri Joanni Douglasii praepositi Novi CoUegii Mariani.
Hoc anno propter tumultus religionis ergo exsertos,
paucissimi scholastici ad hanc Universitatem venerunt.'
There were only three ' incorporati ' in St Mary's
CoUege during that year. In 1559 tbe usual public
graduation ceremonials — ' veteres ritus ' — were dis
pensed with. Later, however, things improved, for we
find, that at St Leonard's at least, in 1563, there were
twelve students enrolled, and in 1569 the number rose
to twenty-four.
Douglas owed his preferment in the University to
the Commendator of the Priory, the Lord James
Stewart, afterwards Earl of Moray, who seems to have
had a liking for him. The Lord James, as Prior, along
with his brethren of the Priory, exercised the patronage
of the University during the vacancy in the Arch
bishopric caused by the assassination of Cardinal
Beaton. Archbishop Hamilton continued Douglas in
his offices, even though the former had altered and
extended the foundation for the purposes of strength
ening the Romish Church. While several of the pro
fessors or masters of St Salvator's CoUege, including
Principal WiUiam Cranston, adhered to the old faith,
and resigned, or had to resign, their appointments,
nearly all the professors or masters of St Mary's and
St Leonard's embraced Reformation principles and
retained their places, these including John Douglas,
who was the Principal of St Mary's or New CoUege,
and John Duncanson, who was Principal of St
Leonard's. Before the Reformation, the Provost or Principal of
St Mary's or New College, besides exercising the ordinary
jurisdiction of the College, and presiding at the theo
logical disputations once a week, had to read a lecture

318 MAKERS OF 'THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
on the Sacred Scriptures or to preach every Monday.
Along with the other Professors, he had also to say
Mass at stated times. The immediate predecessor of
Douglas was Archibald Hay who, in a panegyric he
wrote on Cardinal Beaton when he was elevated to
that high office, censures with much freedom the
ignorance, neghgence, and hypocrisy of the. clergy.
He makes no reference, however, by way of approba
tion or condemnation to the reformed opinions. This
Provost Hay exceeded most of his countrymen at the
time in learning and liberal views. He was a true
child of the Renaissance. In the panegyric or pamphlet
he lays down a plan of teaching for the New CoUege,
and says that it wiU be of far more consequence to
procure teachers capable of instructing the youths in
the three learned languages than to endow a rich but
illiterate CoUege ; he would hke teachers of Chaldee
and Arabic added to the professoriate, and while not
proposing to banish the Peripatetic philosophy from
the Schools, yet would hke to see the study of ' the
divine Plato ' take the place of scholastic arguticB. He
deprecates the neglect of Roman Law and extols the
science of Mathematics.
Whether, after the Reformation, the professors and
students continued to wear the habiliments of the
older days, we know not, but, according to the papal
bull which erected the College, the professors, regents,
and students were to wear caps after the Parisian
manner ; and all the scholars, including the noble
and wealthy, as well as the bursars, were to wear gowns
bound round with a girdle, to which the bursars were
to add a black hood. By the bull of Julius IIL, as
well as that of Paul IIL, the College had the power of
conferring degrees in all the faculties, and the juris
diction over the bursars belonged to the Principal from

JOHN DOUGLAS 319
whom an appeal lay to the Archbishop and the Pope
with exclusion of any other judge. The College was
provided with ample funds. It may be further added
that the curriculum of students of Theology extended
to six sessions or years, and, while that of the students
Qf Philosophy is not stated, they, before their admission,
were to be initiated into grammar and the Latin tongue
so as to be able to express themselves properly in that
language at disputations and examinations. Douglas,
as the successor of the liberal-minded Hay, succeeded
in bridging the passage from the old to the new without
any evident break. Such a piece of work is creditable
to him, and in a quiet way must have greatly helped
the Reformation cause. It is a matter of thankfulness
that a man of his type — academic and moderating —
was at St Andrews at that time to do it.1
Knox in his History has at least three references to
John Douglas — assuming, as is the contention of David
Laing (endorsed also by Hume Brown), that it is the
other Douglas, called also Grant, whom he speaks of
as a heretic in the eyes of Archbishop Hamilton, and
who makes some other appearances in his History.
Knox mentions the subject of this chapter as one of
those who were appointed to draw up the First Book
of Discipline that ' the Kirk mycht be established in a
good and Godlie pohcy,' and he adds that the same six
divines had also 'done the Doctrine,' that is to say, had
drawn up the first Confession of Faith.
With regard to Douglas's share in the Book of Dis
cipline, Mr Hannay, in his Introduction to the Rentale
Sancti Andree, mentions the curious fact that while
Douglas and Winram were working at the said Book
— or about that time — they were also engaged in re
vising the Statutes of the Theologians, and that it is
1 See Notes i and 2.

320 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
through them that there has been preserved for us one
of the most valuable accounts in existence of the old
pre- Reformation ceremonial connected with the in-
staUation of a Doctor of Theology at St Andrews. It
may be stated here, too, that, according to Principal
Lee, the chapter on Schools and Colleges in the Book
of Discipline, which has ehcited so much praise, was
mainly the production of those two St Andrews ' Johns,'
John Douglas and John Winram.
In the year 1564, Douglas appears in Knox's History
as one of those chosen, along with other leading
ministers, to discuss with Lethington and the lords,
the propriety of Queen Mary's having the Mass cele
brated in her private chapel, and also to discuss other
related topics. In 1566, when the lords were anxious
for the help of the General Assembly, after the Queen
had been sent as a captive to Lochleven, and the
Hamiltons were scheming in her favour, Knox tells
us that Douglas was one of the Commissioners ap
pointed to confer with the lords on the situation. There
are some earlier references by Knox to a John Douglas,
preaching in Edinburgh and Leith, and thus helping
on the cause of Reform ; but it is not easy to say
which of the John Douglases it is. Most likely it is
Douglas alias Grant, Chaplain to the Earl of Argyll,
for surely the Provost of St Mary's CoUege, St Andrews,
and Head of the University there, could not have left
these posts at that time to become a preacher of the
new doctrines. He would possibly have risked
immediate deprivation by doing so.
The following letter may here be inserted. The
original is preserved in the archives at Zurich, and the
letter is of considerable interest as showing the kindly
relations subsisting between the Scottish and the Swiss
churches. Among others, the names of the six Johns

JOHN DOUGLAS 321
are adhibited with the exception of that of Willock,
who evidently at that time was in England. Of some
significance is the fact that the first signature is that
of ' John Douglas, rector of the University of St Andrews
and professor of St Mary's College.'
' To the very eminent Servant of Christ
Master Theodore Beza, the most learned
And vigilant Pastor of the
Genevan Church.
Health and peace from the Lord ! We have lately,
most vigilant Christian Pastor, read your letter sent
to our very dear brother John Knox, and it has indeed
affected us in various ways. For in as much as you
state that your Churches are in the enjoyment of great
peace and tranquilhty, this inteUigence was very gratify
ing to us, as it ought to be. But whereas you inform
us that some persons are found in the syncretism x of
Augsburg, whom either ignorance or obstinacy may
excite to raise disturbance among them and for whose
sake there has been appointed a conference of sovereigns,
this is indeed painful and distressing news. But as
we understood from that same letter that you and
your brethren earnestly request of us to signify our
approbation of your Confession, and simple exposition
of the orthodox faith, and Cathohc doctrines of the
pure Christian rehgion, recently set forth in the month
of March, with the unanimous assent of the ministers
of the Church who are in Switzerland, namely, those
of Zurich, Berne, Schaffhausen, St Gall, the Grisons,
and their confederates, Mulhausen and Bienne, to
which the ministers of the Church of Geneva have
1 Plutarch uses the expression, arid it means that opponents, now
reconciled among themselves, have joined their united forces against
a third party.

322 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
joined themselves ; in this we acknowledge and declare
the courtesy towards us, both of yourself and your
brethren, who express so much esteem for the Scots,
a people serving the Lord with the pure worship of
religion in the farthest corners of the earth, as to
consider that their agreement will add much to the
light and splendour of the Christian religion, which
you have embraced in that treatise. Wherefore, that
our diligence might not be wanting to so great courtesy,
and so just a request, as soon as we received your letter,
we all of us, from every town in the neighbourhood,
assembled at St Andrews, the most flourishing city as
to divine and human learning in all Scotland ; and
there, as specially as we could, when we had read over
the book, we considered each chapter by itself and
left nothing unexplored, and diligently examined
everything, respecting God, the sacred laws and rites
of the Church. And it is impossible to express the
exceeding delight we derived from that work, when
one clearly perceived that in your httle book was most
faithfully, holily, piously and indeed divinely ex
plained, and that briefly, whatever we have been
constantly teaching these eight years, and still, by
the grace of God, continue to teach, in our churches, in
the schools and in the pulpit.
' We are therefore altogether compelled, as well by
our consciences as from a sense of duty, to undertake
its patronage and not only to express our approval, but
also our exceeding commendation of every chapter
and every sentence. For that little treatise rests
altogether upon the holy scriptures, which we both
profess, and are prepared to defend at the risk of our
lives, or even to the shedding of blood. And we have
all of us, as many as by reason of the shortness of the
time allowed as were able to be present, both sub-

JOHN DOUGLAS 323
scribed our names, and sealed this letter with the
common seal of the University. But if you should
think that it would be of use to your churches at any
future time, we will send you by the first opportunity
both the public subscription of this Church, and the
formulary of our Confession of Faith, confirmed in
the assembly of the three estates of the realm. This
one thing, however, we can scarcely refrain from
mentioning, with regard to what is written in the
twenty-fourth chapter of the aforesaid Confession
concerning the " festival of our Lord's nativity, circum
cision, passion, resurrection, ascension, and sending
the Holy Ghost upon his disciples," that these festivals
at the present time obtain no place among us ; for we
dare not religiously celebrate any other feast-day than
what the divine oracles have prescribed. Everything
else, as we have said, we teach, approve, and most
willingly embrace. We have written you this letter
as briefly as possible, in consequence of the shortness
of the time, but we earnestly request you not to allow
the friendly correspondence now commenced between
us to die away. If you will diligently do this, we will
endeavour to return you the like favour. May the
Lord Jesus prosper, as long as possible, the pious
exertions of yourself and brethren for the increase of
the Church of Christ ! Farewell.
' St Andrews, Sept. 4, 1566.
' Your most loving brethren in Christ,
John Douglas, rector of the University
of St Andrews, and professor of St
Mary's College.'
(Here follow other names.)
Row, in his History, inf orrtis us that, ' At the thirteenth

324 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Assembly, holden at Edinburgh, Junii 25, 1567, Mr
George Buchanan, Principal of St Leonard's College in
St Androes, Moderator, Perceaving the danger of
religion and reformation by the bloodie decrees of
Trent, and cruell attempts of Papists in France and
Flanders, and aganis Scotland in particulare, plotts
both within and without the land ; and that ministers
have no provision, and the poore members of Christ
are starving on the streets ; and lying as dung may
be regarded ; and seeing a Mutuall Band is requisit in
such cases ; it is appoynted that a Generall Assembhe
conveen againe upon the 20 of Julie next to come, and
to it invites and requyres by common letters to all
Protestant noblemen and barrons, within the kingdome ;
yea, and all others also of what rank soever, to assist
with their counsell and concurrence in so necessare a
work ; for the prosecution of whilk good work, a com
mission was given to a certain number of the Assemblie,
with full and ample power, etc. The letters were direct
and subscryved by these Commissioners, John Erskine
of Dun, Masters John Spottiswood, John Douglas,
John Knox, John Row, John Craig.' Five years later,
the same historian says, ' At the Twenty-fifth Assemblie,
holden at St Androes, March 6, i57i[-72], Mr Robert
Hamilton, Minister of St Androes, Moderator, though
Mr John Douglas, Archbishop of St Androes, wes
present at the Assembhe . . . Ordanis the Super
intendent of Fyfe to use his owin jurisdiction (as of
befor) without any subjection to the Archbishop of
St Androes, and requests him to concur also with the
Archbishop in his visitations, whilk he exerces be
vertue of his Commission tiU the next general Assemblie.'
Then about six months after we have, ' At the Twenty-
sixth Assembhe, holden at Perth, August 6, 1572,
John Erskine of Dun, Moderator, Inacted, whatever

JOHN DOUGLAS 325
member of the Assemblie does speak unorderlie, and
without leave asked and obtained of the Moderator,
he shall be forthwith removed, and not get admittance
to that Assemblie againe. Certain names such as
Archbishop, Bishop, Archdeacon, Dean, Chanceler,
Chapter, etc., being found in sundrie writes, and their
names and designations being thought offensive as
savouring of the Romish hierarchie, the Assemblie
desyres their names changed ; and protests, that in
sometimes using of thir names they be not thought
to agree to any poynt of Poperie. Protests also that
Articles agreed upon be only for an interim, tiU a more
perfyt ordour may be obtained at the hands of the
King and the nobilitie.' Douglas had been nominated
as tulchan Bishop by this time, and was already desig
nated Archbishop. These two last extracts from the
Assembly's proceedings show that the Church already
was looking askance at such an appointment, disliking
both the jurisdiction and the name.
Calderwood has numerous references to Douglas,
but some of them are covered by those of Knox and
Row, while others are of no great importance, with the
exception of one which we shall quote later.
But of Douglas's settlement in his new office we must
speak in some detail. Already in the life of Winram
we have stated how these tulchan or phantom bishops
came to be appointed and have shown how shameful
a thing such an episcopate was. A wit, at that time,
said that these tulchans, or straw-stuffed calves to cause
the milk (the Church's money) to flow to the nobility,
were indeed golden calves that lowed and chewed in
Cathedral stalls. In speaking of the ' consecration ' of
one of them, namely the Bishop of Moray, the late Dr
Dowden, Bishop of Edinburgh, in his volume The
Bishops of Scotland, says that ' from the ecclesiastical

326 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
standpoint none of the consecrators had apparently
been canonically consecrated.' This same Bishop of
Moray was ' delated,' says Calderwood, ' for fornication
with the Lady Ardrosse and was ordained to purge
himself before the Assembly,' but it would appear from
the Book of the Universal Kirk that he eventually
cleared himself of a charge so grave. He was ' put
to the horn,' however, for bankruptcy. Archbishop
Adamson was a man of notoriously crooked, even
wicked, ways ; the Bishop of Dunkeld was deposed
for allowing the dilapidation of benefices ; and, while
Andrew Graham was certainly no Saint Ambrose, he
emulated the great Bishop of Milan by becoming
Bishop of Dunblane, when he was only a layman.
These tulchans indeed formed a bench of Bishops
which men could only ridicule and despise. The
Roman Catholic view is expressed thus by Nicol Burne
in his Disputation (1581) : ' Maister John Douglas vald
nocht say that he succeidit to the bischop of Sanct-
androis, quhilk vas befoir him, nor vald nocht acknow
ledge him as ane lawchful bischop.' The story of the
Scottish Bishops is really both amazing and amusing.
We have seen, or shall see, how the tulchans were
made. Later, we find kings and parliaments making
and unmaking bishops, and General Assembhes casting
them out. The Scots being without apostohc succes
sion of their own, English prelatic hands were called
upon to give it, and that not with the best grace.
John Douglas was seventy-eight years of age when
he Was appointed to the metropohtan see of St Andrews,
rendered vacant through Archbishop Hamilton having
been taken prisoner at Dumbarton and hanged in his
robes at the market cross of Stirling for being privy
to the murders of Darnley and Moray. Douglas was
certainly in his dotage, or surely he would not have

JOHN DOUGLAS 327
consented to take the archi-episcopal title with so
many humihating conditions attached. Nearly all
the revenues were to go to the Earl of Morton. Some
months before his inauguration in 1572, he had been
nominated — practicaUy appointed to the office. He
used the title and had been required to vote as Arch
bishop in the Parhament held at Stirling, but, as we
have seen in our fourth chapter, Winram opposed his
voting as the Assembly had not yet taken cognisance
of the matter, and threatened him with excommunica
tion. Douglas had long enjoyed the quiet of an
academic retreat, his opportunities for mingling with
the world had been few, he was now as we have seen a
frail old man — ' a man,' says Calderwood, ' meeter for
the grave than for the throne of a bishop, unable of
his body to travel and more unable by his tongue to
teach,' and, therefore, surely the last man one would
deem suitable for holding such an exalted rank as
Primate of Scotland ; yet, puppet or not, he received
the royal presentation under the Great Seal to ' all and
haiU the benefice of St Andrews, as well temporality
as spirituality,' and received the style ' Most reverend
Father in God Archbishop of St Andrews.' In one
document, at least, we have seen his signature as
' J. Sanct Androis.' An edict or rescript had been
sent to the dean and chapter of the diocese (now
strangely composed and constituted) to elect the new
prelate, but the Earl of Morton, who was present,
arranged all things for his own nominee being selected.
There has been a strange white-washing recently of
certain historical characters, and the Regent Morton
has partly come under the process. It has been averred
that he was not personaUy avaricious, and Mr T. F.
Henderson, who is inchned to such a view, deals some
what fully with the matter in his article on the Regent

328 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
in the Dictionary of National Biography. Wodrow says
of him that, in creating tulchan bishops, he had other
than private reasons such as his own enrichment, for
he wished to divide the Queen's party. He was anxious,
says this historian, ' to take the cheise of them from
Lethington, the Hamiltons, and others, now masters of
the castle and town of Edinburgh, and who had called
a Parhament to meet in the Queen's name in opposition
to the King and Regent.' So with the baits of the
ecclesiastical revenues he drew to his side the Earls
of Argyll, Cassihs, Eghnton, and Lord Boyd, who
hitherto had leaned to the Queen's side, and probably
also the Earls of Crauford, Errol, and Rothes. By
such ' pretty strong arguments,' Wodrow adds,
' Bishoprics, Priories, Abbayes and the like,' Morton
greatly strengthened his position. But as to Morton's
avarice we shall have something to say later.
Let us now look at the inauguration ceremony. We
have the following from an eye-witness, James MelviUe,
who writes in his Diary : ' I saw Mr Jhone Woundram,
Superintendent, inaugurat (as they caUed it) B. Dowglas
that honourable father of the Universitie, Rector
thereof for the present, a guid upright-hearted man
bot ambitious and simple, nocht knawing wha deit
with him . . . [while he held the Archbishopric] he
haid nather that honour, welth nor helthe as he was
wount tp haiff, ever repenting that he tuk it on.'
Calderwood gives us more details. He belonged to
the next generation, but doubtless would receive his
information from reliable sources. He says, ' Great
debate there was at the election; but in the end
the Rector was chosen, notwithstanding that manie
ministers opponed. George Scott, Minister of Kirkaldie,
tooke instruments that he condescended not . . .
After sermon, the Superintendent of Fife went up to

JOHN DOUGLAS 329
the pulpit, and made an exhortation upon the first
chapter of the Epistle to Titus. The exhortation
being ended, he followed the order which was used in
admission of Superintendents, demanding the same
questions and the Rector answering, having his answers
written in paper and reading them after every question.
Mr Wilham Cocke, Bailiffe of Sanct Andrews, answered
in name of the people ; thereafter the Bishop of Caith-
nesse [Robert Stewart], Mr John Spottiswood Super
intendent of Lothian, and Mr David Lindsay [Minister
of Leith], sitting with the Rector upon a forme before
the pulpit in time of the sermon, layed their hands
upon him, and embraced him in signe of admission to
the Archbishoprick. Being demanded if any simoniacal
paction was made, or was to be made, he answered
" No," but it was not true. Being demanded if he
would be obedient to the Kirk and usurpe no power
over the same, answered, He would claime no greater
power nor the Counsell and Generall Assembhe suld
prescrive.' Knox was greatly displeased at all this,
and pronounced anathema both on the receiver of the
bishopric and on the giver. He said that Douglas would
' be disgraced and wrecked ' by what he had done.
It was deplorable, he urged, that so aged a man should
be burdened with duties which twenty of the best men
in the Church could not, and would not, bear. He
was grieved, too, that the new Archbishop should
retain the offices of Principal and Rector and that the
Assembly should sanction such a plurahty of functions.
There are some, among them Hill Burton, who have
urged that Knox at this time was not an opponent
of the order of Bishops, and that there are other trans
actions of the period which indicate that he was agree
able to the episcopal order being restored. Into that
matter we shall enter shortly, showing precisely what

330 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Knox's attitude was — though we may say here that if
for a time he did agree to an episcopate, it was to a very
modified one — but what was agitating his mind on this
occasion was not the question of bishop or no bishop,
but quite another matter. Consequently he has no
denunciation at the moment for prelacy as such, but
what he strongly denounces is the sort of bishop they
are making, the revenues of the see being appropriated
by Morton, the ministers being duped and a grave
injury done to the Church. Knox preached the sermon,
but firmly refused to take any part in the ceremony of
instaUation. John Rutherfurd, Principal of St Salvator's
CoUege, insinuated that his disappointment arose from
an envious feeling that he himself had been passed
over ; but the great Reformer made short work of an
insinuation so unworthy. On the following Sunday he
preached at St Andrews and, in the course of his sermon
— dehvered with his old fire, though he was in much
bodily frailty — said that he had refused a greater
bishopric than that (Rochester, though some have said
Durham), which he could have had by the favour of
greater men, and that any repining on his part was
for the discharge of his conscience and he stiU had
that repining. He added that the Church of Scotland
should not be subject to the order of Bishops, seeing
that the First Book of Discipline had settled a very
different one which many of the nobihty had approved.
In the General Assembly, which met at St Andrews
in the following month, he not only entered his protest
against the election of Douglas, but also, says James
Melville, ' opponed himself directly, zealoushe, to the
making of bishops.' Moreover, we learn from the Book
of the Universal Kirk that he wrote a letter from Fife
to the Assembly, which met at Stirhng, warning the
members of the dangers of this innovation, predicting a

JOHN DOUGLAS 331
severe and protracted struggle, and counselling courage,
perseverance, and strenuous exertion. Calderwood
prints a letter written later, to the Assembly convened
at Perth, from the first perusal of which one might
be inchned to infer that Knox approved of the new
prelates, but, on further study, it appears to be rather
a sad acquiescence in a state of matters which he,
now feeble in health and nearing the grave, could
no longer prevent. Moreover, if the instructions and
suggestions contained in the letter had been acted upon
— more particularly those with regard to the kind of
men who should be appointed to the ' benefices ' and
their being required to give ' an accompt of their whole
rents and intromissions therewith once a year as the
Kirk saU appoint ' — then the dangerous designs of
Morton on the Church would, in great measure, have
been thwarted.
These sayings and doings of Knox should sufficiently
answer HiU Burton and others.
Knox also dealt plainly and pointedly with Morton
for his part in these transactions. Hume of Godscroft
informs us that he ' rebuked Morton sharply for diverse
things, but specially for his labouring to get up and
maintain the state of bishops,' and when he was dying,
he exhorted with great earnestness that nobleman to
maintain the Church of God and its ministers in a
worthy manner, warning him that if he did not, ' God
would spoU him of all, and his end would be ignominy
and shame ' — a prediction which this strange man of
many parts admitted, before his execution, he had
' fand true indeed.' A poet, or perhaps rather rhymster,
of those days — John Davidson, then a student at St
Andrews, and afterwards minister of Prestonpans — in
his dialogue entitled A Conference between the Clerk
and the Courtier, lamenting the evil resulting from

332 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Morton's policy, expresses the wish that John Knox
had only lived a few years longer to denounce such
shameful doings, and says : —
' Had John Knox not yet been deid
It had not come unto this heid,
Had they myntit tUl sic ane steir
He had made heavin and earth to hear.'
Lord Balfour of Burleigh in his little book on Presby
terianism in Scotland remarks that the Regent Morton
was ' a stout political Protestant, but an Erastian and
was no favourer of the Church's liberties nor respecter
of its ministers ' ; that through him ' odium gathered
round the name and office of bishop ' ; that ' the
Church's chief ministers were the creation of himself
and his friends ' and that ' he needed money for the
public service and to satisfy his private avarice,' and
accordingly ' starved the Church.' But let us hear a
great contemporary of Morton, George Buchanan, who,
in his History, pithily puts it thus : ' In the midst of his
exaltation there was nothing procured him more universal
dislike than his conduct towards the Church, from whose
ministers he extorted the greater part of the slender pit
tance upon which at the best they could scarcely exist.'
Patrick Adamson, at the time a zealous Presbyterian
minister, and not yet corrupted by Court influence,
made an ironical observation when preaching on these
matters on a certain Sunday at that time. He said —
and his words deeply impressed the hearers then, and
do still impress the Scottish people — that there were
three sorts of Bishops — ' My Lord Bishop, My Lord's
Bishop, and the Lord's Bishop. My Lord Bishop,
that was in the time of the Papistry ; My Lord's Bishop,
that is now when my lord gets the benefice, and the
Bishop only serves to make his title sure ; and the

JOHN DOUGLAS 333
Lord's Bishop, that is the true minister of the Gospel.'
We may add that on the Sunday after the inauguration
of Douglas, a poetical satire in Latin — entitled Insom-
nium x — -was posted on the gate of St Mary's CoUege,
and on the church door.2
Roman Catholics and Anglicans may smile and scoff
at such a prelate as John Douglas — or rather perhaps
at a Reformation which resulted in such doings — yet
though this old man should not have accepted such an
office — and we too may weU laugh at such a tulchan —
the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, not so many
years before, had far less worthy men among its digni
taries. Cardinal Beaton was utterly immoral, and
Archbishop HamUton sinned likewise. Both did worse
than live in concubinage. Of course, there were some
sincerely rehgious men holding high ecclesiastical
positions — men earnest, scholarly, wise, prudent — such
as WUliam Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen, but the
foUowing incident, as recorded by David Laing in his
Lyndsay, teUs its own tale. On one occasion, when
James V. was surrounded by a number of nobles, and
a great company of bishops and abbots, Sir David
Lyndsay, humbly saluting the King, looked as if he
intended to make an important request. James asked
what he would have. ' Sir,' said Sir David, ' I have
long served your Grace, and expected to be rewarded
as others are. Now, your master taUor is dead, and I
desire your Grace to bestow this benefice upon me.'
' Why would you be my taUor ? ' demanded the King.
' You can neither shape nor sew.' ' That matters
not,' rephed the Knight. ' You have given bishoprics
and benefices to many standing here though they can
neither preach nor teach.'
1 See Note 3.
' See Note 4 for Pitscottie's remarks,

334 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Before we pass from the appointment of Douglas,
it should be stated that in this strange episode the
Church not only had a struggle for her spiritual in
dependence, but won a notable victory. The State
had endeavoured to alter her constitution, and compel
her to receive the Archbishop against her wiU. She
protested to Parhament against such an encroachment
on her powers and privUeges, would not tolerate Douglas's
acceptance of the office, and threatened to excommuni
cate him if he persisted in the course he was pursuing.
The Earl of Morton, however, supported by Parliament,
insisted that he should take his place in the General
Assembly as Archbishop and vote there. Thus the two
jurisdictions, the civU and the ecclesiastical, came into
conflict. Morton gave way, and the honours were
with the Church. She conserved her independence.
It is said that the credit of this success was due to
Erskine of Dun, who wrote to the Earl of Mar — his
kinsman — at that time Regent, who went to the Earl
of Morton, and persuaded him not to press matters
further. Erskine's letter, which will be found in Calder
wood's History, is a valuable document, deserving
careful perusal, as it shows most clearly the respective
spheres of the two jurisdictions. We are not forgetting
that the Church gave way later, and that Morton had
his victory. The Church, however, soon saw the evUs
of the Regent's system, and began to prepare her new
charter, namely, the Second Book of Discipline. Re
ligious considerations were not to be usurped by political,
the Church was not to become a branch of the State
like the Civil Service, nor was the headship of the
Regent Morton or James VI. to be substituted for that
of Christ. Knox had to fight for the freedom of the
Church to form its own constitution, and be supreme
in spiritual matters ; the time had now come for it to

JOHN DOUGLAS 335
resist the encroachments of the Crown upon its rights
in the choosing of its ministers. If power was given
to the king, the regent, or the nobles, to present ministers
to charges, the spiritual independence of the Church
would be in grave danger, and the very preaching of
the Gospel imperilled. Knox had settled the question
of the divine right of popes ; it rested with Melville
to settle that of the divine right of kings.
Our new Archbishop sat as a member of the Kirk-
Session of St Andrews. In the list of elders and deacons
chosen on 12th October 1571,1 we find among the
' eldars ' the name of ' Mr Johne Dowglass, Archbishop
and Rector of Sanctandr.' But much earlier — long before
he became a prelate— we find from the Register of the
Kirk-Session of St Andrews of date March 21st, 1559,
(when causes of divorce were tried before the Reformed
Church courts, previously to the erection of the
commissary courts, and the particular case was that
of Rantoun against Geddie), the following entry :
'We, the ministers and seniors of this our Christian
congregation within the parochin of Sanctandrois,
judges in the actioun and causs moved — In presence
of Mr Johne Dowglass, Rector of the Universitie of
Sanctandrois, Johne Wynrame, sub-priour, men of
singular eruditioun and understanding of the Scriptures
and Word of God, and Masteris William Skene [after
wards Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Commissary of
Saint Andrews, etc.] and Johne Ruthirfurd [afterwards
Provost of St Salvator's CoUege], men of cunning in
sindrie sciences, with quhome we communicatet the
secretis of the meritis of the said actioun and caus
being to us and them heard and seene,' etc. Douglas
1 It must always be remembered that the style and title are given
to him, and his troubles began, in the year of his nomination, which
was that preceding his formal inauguration.

336 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
appears to have been chosen regularly as an elder for
many years, such office-bearers at that time being
elected annually. Dr Hay Fleming says that, when he
sat as Archbishop, it was by letters in his name that
delinquents from other parishes were summoned, and
at their trials he sat as judge, although the advice and
consent of the Session was taken ; in purely local
cases, on the other hand, he acted with the Session,
the judgment seemingly belonging to it.
There are two curious, if not amusing, entries in the
Register connected with matrimonial quarrels, of which
the Session took cognisance. In one case a certain
jealous husband ' in signe of concord, amitie, and simple
remit of all displesor,' at the request of Mr Douglas,
' kissed and embraced ' his spouse, ' and drank to hyr ' ;
and in the other, a man's wife, who confessed that she
had not been so obedient ' as becam hyr of dewtie
towards hyr husband,' at the desire of Mr Douglas, on
her knees asked him for forgiveness, and her father
became ' cautioner ' that in future she should be ' ane
gud and fythfull wyff and servand ' to him. As regards
the drinking, in the first of these cases, as a sign of
concord and forgiveness, Dr Hay Fleming points out
that such a custom long flourished among the craftsmen
of St Andrews.
Discipline may have been severe, and some of the
punishments may now seem ludicrous, but the Reformed
Church of Scotland did not adopt the pre-Reformation
punishment of making male and female penitents
march at the head of a procession in church clad only
in their shirts, as we learn they did from the Burgh
Records of Stirling and the Council Register of Aberdeen.
Nor were excommunications in the new Church any
thing like those in the old. The latter employed these
excommunications or cursings, not only for trans-

JOHN DOUGLAS 337
gressions of the moral law, but also for the collecting
of teinds, debts, and other purposes. The language
and punishments of the greater excommunication must
have struck terror into the members of the Church.
While the Reformers did not abolish this weapon, they
endeavoured to bring it into harmony with the teaching
of Holy Scripture, on which it was based as regards its
method and purpose. There really should not be so
much censure and ridicule passed on Scottish ecclesi
astical discipline. Was it not as severe in the Church
of England ? At any rate, we find that in the sister
Church penitents were required to appear publicly in
church clad in a distinctive garb. From the Register
of Canterbury we learn that incontinent persons were
' carted,' a man going before them ringing a brazen
basin. But our Scottish Reformers and their like-minded
contemporaries were not so narrow after all, for in the
same Register of St Andrews' Kirk-Session, we read
that games such as golf, football, and throwing the
hammer were objected to only when indulged in on
the Lord's day or during other times of public religious
service. Not only so, but we actually find in these old
records that the elders sometimes found the golf-course
and other places of open-air pastime so alluring that
they neglected the meetings of the Kirk-Session.
A curious charge was made against Douglas in the General
Assembly which convened at Edinburgh in March
1572-3. The minister of Holyrood House, John Brand
by name, alleged that the titular Archbishop had
authorised a popish priest, named Forrest, to administer
the Sacrament of Baptism at Swinton in Berwickshire,
in violation of the injunctions of Spottiswood, the
Superintendent. Douglas answered that ' the foresaid
priest had recanted all Papestrie in the Kirk of St

338 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Andrews, and thereafter he admitted him to administer
the Sacrament of Baptism.'
In the satirical poem — more than once referred to in
this book — on Patrick Adamson, who became second
tulchan Archbishop, John Douglas is introduced.
Adamson was already foUowing devious ways, and the
satirist says : —
' He beggit buikis, he beggit bowis [bowls]
Tacking in earnest, asking in mo wes [jests]
As Maister John Dowglass weill can tell,
How sleahe he deceavit him sell ;
Borrowing ane coffer to keep his claithis
Bot with his baggage hame he gaas.'
Douglas witnessed a pretty sight at Stirling one day.
King James was there — a mere child — and here is the
scene as depicted by Pitscottie : ' Thair was ane Parlia
ment holding at Stirling be my Lord Regent and many
nobUl lordis and barronis war thairat, to wit the Erie
of Angus, Argyle, Glencairne, Morton, Buchan, Mentrois,
Mershell, Mar, with many other lordis and barronis
with the Universities, sic as Archbishop of Sanctandros
with dyveris utheris bischopis, the Kingis Majestie
being brocht furth of the Castell downe to thetolbuith
with gret triumphe, the crowne beand on his heid, the
uther crowne bearand be his guidshir the Regent, baith
borne under ane paill, the cepture and the sword also
befoir thame borne. The King being littiU mair nor
four zeirs or fyve of aige, his Majesty made ane propper
ora tioun in Parliament to the comfort of aU the nobilitie.'
Douglas did not long survive his appointment to the
Archbishopric — only some three years, and they must
have been troublous years to him. The rents received
were insufficient for the new rank he was expected to
sustain ; the University complained against his plurality

JOHN DOUGLAS 339
of offices ; the Assembly took him to task for various
delinquencies, some of which he would not admit whUe
for others he pleaded ignorance and bodily weakness.
He seems to have felt much the Assembly's strictures
on him for not preaching, and, resolving to make an
effort once more, on a day in July 1574 he entered the
pulpit of the parish church of St Andrews and began
to preach, but his strength wholly departing from him,
he fell down dead. He would be in the eighty-first or
eighty-second year of his age.1
In St Leonard's College, there used to be an old
manuscript by Francis Pringle, at one time Professor
of Greek there (1699-1747). The manuscript has been
missing for many years, but Lyon, in his History of
St Andrews published in 1843, says that Douglas was
buried in the pubhc cemetery without any monument,
and bases his statement on the foUowing quotation
from Pringle's MS. : ' In publico cemeterio sub cospete
sine uUa inscriptione vel monumento.'
We need not discuss or summarise Douglas's character,
as the manner of man he was is apparent from what
we have already said regarding him. He was evidently
a likeable man, and made friends readUy. Knox was
drawn to him. However displeased the former may
have been through Douglas's accepting the tulchan
Archbishopric, and though he had to ' speak against
him ' for such conduct, it was done, says James
MelviUe, ' bot sparingly because he loved the man.'
Douglas was probably unmarried. At any rate he is the
only one of the six Johns concerning whom there is no
reference in documents, contemporary or subsequent,
1 His Archbishopric did not enrich him, for the ' Summa of his
Inventor ' amounted only to -£280, 4s. 4d., which estate included
' his L[ordships] liberall [library] of bukis, extending to ane hundred
pundis.'

340 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
or in any of the histories, to a wife or posterity. We
have not been able to discover whether any books
or tractates came from the pen of this learned rector,
principal and archbishop ; if there were any, obhvion,
unmercifully or mercifully, has long covered them.

APPENDIX NOTE i
ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS, IN DOUGLAS'S TIME
Principal Lee, of Edinburgh University, who at one time
was Professor of Divinity and Ecclesiastical History in St
Mary's College, made full enquiry into the matter, and more
particularly into the changes introduced by Archbishop Hamilton,
with the following result : ' Under the new constitution [that
of Archbishop Beaton in 1538] the college was dedicated to
the Virgin Mary and contained two professors of divinity, a
professor of canon law, another of civil law, and four regents
of philosophy. What defects Archbishop Hamilton discovered
in this arrangement of study I do not pretend to know, but
soon after his accession he seems to have resolved to alter it,
and accordingly, in the year 1552, he obtained authority from
Pope Julius III. to carry his plan into execution. The establish
ment which he chose to introduce was by far the most extensive
of any of the academical institutions in this city, comprehending
no fewer than thirty-six founded persons ; but he seems to
have expected that the same funds which Beaton had assigned
to the maintenance of eight masters and six choristers should
be sufficient to support three times the number. His distribu
tion of appointments was very different from that of his pre
decessors in the see — namely, a provost and two other principal
masters, all professors of divinity ; one professor of the sacred
canons, or the pontifical law ; eight priests, who were diligently
to apply to the study of theology during a course of six years
and to qualify themselves to solve all the difficulties which
occur in Holy Writ ; three professors or regents of philosophy,
for teaching logic, ethics, physics, mathematics, and other

JOHN DOUGLAS 341
liberal arts ; a professor of rhetoric or oratory ; and another
of grammar ; and sixteen students of philosophy. These
endowments merit no praise on the ground of liberality, as he
only confirmed what had been granted before, and required it
to be divided among a much greater number. But there is a
great parade of ostentatious and provident kindness manifested
to the tender httle flock (as he calls them) who were to be the
future inmates of these walls, and whom he was most anxious to
defend from the grievous wolves that lay in wait for their
destruction. The object of the whole system evidently was to
train up the candidates for the Church as expert wranglers, and
ready speakers on every point of theological speculation, as
weU as to prepare them by strict discipline for conducting
themselves with exemplary decorum, both in their private
capacities and in their public ministrations. Those who are
described as students of theology were not persons who had
never been in the situation of applying to that study before.
They are designed sacerdotes omnes ; and before their admission
to their six years' course, it was necessary that they should
give proof, by three pubhc examinations, that they were well
grounded in the principles of sacred erudition. Being in priests'
orders, they were regularly to celebrate Mass in their turns —
every one of them in their order — performing the duty on the
successive week-days, and two on the Lord's day. They were
to be constantly present at the lectures of the first, second, and
third master, and in rotation they were to give public exhibi
tions of their skUl in illustrating the text of the Sentences (the
standards of divine learning in those times), every lawful day,
from ist October to the ist March. After accomplishing the
neriod of their studies they were expected to be prepared to
rank as licentiates (the highest rank of graduates except doctors) ,
and to undertake the most important charges in the Church.
Even when they were attending their studies in the coUege
they were considered as being entitled to no slight pre-eminence.
They took precedency of all the other founded persons, except
the teachers of divinity and canon law. The regents of philos
ophy, as weU as the orator and grammarian, were an inferior
order. This appears to have been one of Hamilton's innova
tions, though, before his time, there is reason to think that the
students of theology generally acted as regents, as the same
class of persons did in King's College in Aberdeen, according to
Bishop Elphinston's constitution or character of that University.

342 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
The Archbishop seems to have gone far and near to beat up
for recruits, or else there must have been much canvassing to
gain admission into this seminary of polemics. The primate
had been abbot of Paisley, and, we find, soon after the new
erection of the college, the provost of the coUegiate church of
Bothwell and two monks of Paisley matriculated in the album
among the Incorporati of St Mary's College. In the same year,
two monks of Arbroath are enroUed. Almost every year a
colony of Hamilton's peopled the apartments both of St Mary's
and the other coUeges. Very soon after the Reformation (at
least in 1569), five of the nine professors were HamUtons, namely,
Robert, Archibald, Alexander, James, and John. This John
was a secular priest afterwards, but about this time he was an
elder of the reformed Kirk-Session of St Andrews ; whUe Robert
HamUton, the Principal of the coUege, was minister of the
parish. In 1569, John Hamilton was one of the regents or
teachers of philosophy.
The Archbishop, as chancellor and patron of the University,
had the principal voice in all nominations, and he seems to have
been so short-sighted as to expect that, when he was bestowing
the children's bread on men of his own name and lineage, he was
building up the waUs of the Cathohc Church on a sure foundation,
and mustering around him a legion of united brethren, against
whom the efforts of revolutionary upstarts would never be able
to prevail. In none of his infatuated measures was he ever more
misled. His partiality estranged many who would have been his
firm adherents ; and three or four of these highly-favoured kins
men whom he had fed at his table, and promoted at an early age
to appointments in his college, were among the first who revolted
from his interest. Whether their defection arose from dis
appointment at not being preferred at once to the chief places,
or from some selfish consideration, or from some treacherous
collusion with the primate, whom they stUl continued to regard
as their friend, it is impossible to determine ; but I cannot
beheve that the change in their case arose from principle, as
most of them apostatised many years afterwards, and became
the bitterest enemies of the reformers. So it was, however,
that the New College of St Andrews, instead of proving what
Hamilton intended it to be, a nursery of zealous defenders of
the Roman hierarchy, was the school from which proceeded
the greatest number of persons who were recommended by the
first General Assembly of the reformed church, as being apt

JOHN DOUGLAS 343
and able for ministering and teaching. This perhaps may be
ascribed in a great measure to the influence of Douglas, the
principal of the college, who had been appointed to that station
during the vacancy after Cardinal Beaton's death, by Lord
James Stewart, commendator of the priory, and John Wynram,
sub-prior, and who was continued in his office by HamUton.
Whatever the cause might be, the fact is certain.' — Lectures on
the History of the Church of Scotland.

NOTE 2
STUDENT LIFE AT ST ANDREWS IN PRE-REFORMATION DAYS
Though the following table of College hours on common
days has specific reference to the CoUege of St Leonard's, it
may serve to give a picture of University life in general at St
Andrews when John Douglas was at the head of his College
there. For such interesting information we are indebted to
Principal Sir John Herkless's and Mr Hannay's volume, The
College of St Leonard's, Being Documents wifh Translations,
Notes, and Historical Introductions. The table is compiled by
the authors from the scattered information in the documents.
No precise hours are stated for ordinary lectures and therefore
the hours given below are only conjecture.
TABLE
5 a.m. College awakened and gates opened in summer.
5.30 a.m. CoUege awakened in winter.
6 a.m. High Mass. Gates opened in winter. [First
Mass (without singing) on feast days.]
7 a.m. General lecture by the Principal or a Regent.
Regents or Chaplains having Altarages do
service in summer.
8 a.m. Each student has four ounces of bread. Regents
or Chaplains having Altarages do service in
winter.
9 a.m. Lecture (?). [High Mass on Feast Days.]
10 a.m. Lecture (?).
11 a.m. Regula. On Fridays a general ' capitulum ' for
discipline.

344 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
11.30 a.m. Dinner. A lecture after dinner three days a
week (not on Saturdays).
1 p.m.-3 p.m. Students go ' ad campos ' (once a week). On
Saturday disputations at 2 p.m.
3 p.m. Vesper.
4 p.m. Lecture (?).
5 p.m. Regula.
5.30 p.m. Supper. Daily account heard by Principal
(according to visitation of 1544 it is after Salve).
Repetitions after supper.
7 p.m. Salve (with commemoration of St Andrew and
St Leonard). The bell rings for sUence after
Salve.
8 p.m. The Principal or Regent visits studies. Gates
closed in winter.
9 p.m. Gates closed in summer.
10 p.m. [Outer gate of church closed on feast days :
Visitation of 1544.]

NOTE 3
THE INSOMNIUM
Though this pasquinade was ' affixed upon the New College
Gate and upon the Kirk doore ' when John Douglas was ' con
secrat Bishop,' it appears to refer rather to academic than ecclesi
astical matters. Calderwood says that it ' displeased not a
httle Mr Robert Hamilton, Mr William Skeene, and Mr Archibald
Hamilton, conceaving that it tuiched them speciali.' The first
named was one of the ministers of St Andrews and Provost of
New (St Mary's) CoUege, the second was Commissary for the
University and Professor of Laws, while the third was also a
Professor, but latterly he left Scotland for France where he
made a recantation of Protestantism. The three belonged to a
faction which opposed Knox, and gave him a good deal of
trouble at St Andrews, the two Hamiltons being particularly
unscrupulous in their methods of attack. These three may be
the Fox, Proteus, and Mustafa of the poem, which is evidently
the production of some clever student who wished to pay off
an old score against them. He considered "them haughty men
— ' regales animi ' — and of course pride and stand-offishness
seldom, if ever, commend themselves to students. It is possible,

JOHN DOUGLAS 345
however, in spite of what Calderwood says, that, after all, the
Triumviri lampooned are not these professors, but some
other officials of St Mary's College. The repeated use of the
word ' trias ' (triumviri being unemployable in elegiac verse)
almost seems to indicate this. From all one knows of the
Hamiltons, they were not undeserving of severe castigation,
but the same can. scarcely be said of Skeene, who was an efficient
professor, and in point of fact was popular with the students.
This other question suggests itself here, and it is not without
interest in our study of Douglas's hfe. Had the College a
nickname for their Rector ? One would think so from the
expressions ' cauda ' and ' comua.' Did the students, then,
with youthful irreverence, call the venerable head of their
University the Ox or the Steer ? Douglas may have been a
man of large, powerful make, and of slow movement.
The argument — to use an old-world term — of the Dream is
the diligence and faithfulness of Nature in all her works as
compared with the laziness and worthlessness of the detested
trio. The writing is vigorous, and the versification is good as
regards the mechanical part. The grammar is sometimes
faulty, and though the language becomes distinctly weak
towards the end, it has a good Ovidian ring at the beginning.
For a pasquil, however, the poem is too long. A line or couple
of lines would have sufficed a witty Itahan.
We append this Insomnium in full, with a metrical translation,
premising that the recondite is simplified as much as possible,
an obscene expression has been toned down, and Mustafa has
been given the correct pronunciation. Couplet 4 is omitted
as it repeats the preceding one. The Dreamer was evidently
not sure which was the leader of the two, and somehow the
printer has given us both. It may be added that our copy
teems with printer's errors, and the lines are very badly
punctuated, which defects are herewith removed.
INSOMNIUM
Dum secum aetheream gestans Ariadna coronam
Post Phrebum thecas pellit ad alta truces,
Miranti in somnis sublustri nocte potentis
Munera natura mens agitata fuit.
Intuitus ccelum, cceli est mihi visa moveri
Nutu pollentis machina tota Dei ;

346 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Machina syderiis pulchre varieta figuris
Visa est impositas accelerare vices.
Non aliter distincta suis elementa moventur
Sedibus aethereis sub regione Poll.
Subsidens gravitate solum, domus ampla tegendis
Piscibus oceanus, quam dea noctis agit,
Quadrupedum genus, et scindentibus aera pennis
Praepetibus volucres, quaeque animata vigent
Singula, perficiunt ullo sine murmure partes
Natura impositas, grataque vota canunt.
Lumina dehinc vertens Mariana palatia versus,
Regales animi, celsa virumque trias
Occurrunt Vulpes vellax, vultuque tremendus
Mustaffas, cujus Protea dextra tenet.
Obstupui tria monstra videns, quae terra profundo
Respirans gremio pignora cara tulit ;
Et procul, O rerum que lues devotaque diris
Pectora, quae tantae vos tenuere mora ?
En, triadem vocat horrisonis ululatibus ingens
Tartarus, inque suo clamat adesse sinu ;
Singula namque suas peragunt animantia partes ;
Vos tamen imbelles actio nulla movet,
Vulpes. Muneris immemorem triadem. Dant pinguia mensae,
Fercula visceribus non tribuenda tuis.
An tibi fcemineo sunt haec concessa terendo
Inguine, sic mandant alma statuta Patrum ?
Proteus. An tibi pampinea praslargum Academia lympha
Ms dedit, ut madidis contegerere comis ?
Mustaffe. An tibi tales, quo viscera foeda repleres,
Imperii partes res Mariana tulit ?
Haec pateris, Rector ? num tecum paupere sceptro
Muneris oblitum grandia ferre putem ?
Quin caudam opponis Vulpi, quin cornua Baccho ?
Quin decus adjungens ubera laeta boni,
Efficis ut tandem triadis figmenta patescant,
Nostra quibus longe lumina decipiunt ?
Sic ego, sed fessis Somnus ne linquit ocellis,
Claraque processit nocte abeunte ^ies.

JOHN DOUGLAS 347

A DREAM
The night had come ; the Northern Crown
Rose high in heaven, while, sinking down,
The starry Huntsman sought the west.
Night brought me sleep, but scarcely rest,
For in an agitating dream
I viewed great Nature's wondrous scheme.
Methought I saw each heavenly sphere
Divinely urged in its career,
While under heaven frost, snow and hail,
Storm, rain, cloud laboured without fail.
I saw how every mote and grain
Of solid earth, and how the main
(House roomy for the finny race,
Where moon -born tides keep ceaseless pace),
How every beaist, each creeping thing,
Each mover of the soaring wing,
Without complaint or asking why,
Nay raising songs of thanks on high,
Performed the part to it assigned
Of old by the Eternal Mind.
But now meseemed I turned my eyes
To where St Mary's College lies.
Who are these tall and haughty three
That coming thence conjoined I see ?
The wily Fox is one ; and ha !
See Proteus and grim Mustaffa.
Dismayed I viewed those monsters fell,
The offspring of the lowest hell.
Then I to them, ' Ye social pests,
Ye reprobates, say what arrests
Your journey to your nether home.'
Hell shouts aloud, ' Why farther roam ?
Come, join the fiendish crew below.'
And rightly does Hell call, I trow ;
For other living creatures all
Perform the t.asks that on them fall
By Nature's h.ests, but not so ye,
Effeminate, toil shirking three.
From public treasure in full flow
The coins into your purses go,
Yielding fat meals and, Fox, for you
Enough to pay the harlot's due.

348 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
The College wage that Proteus lifts
Will buy large store of Bacchus' gifts ;
And much of Mustaffa's good pay
Into his maw will find its way.
Such use St Mary's seat of lore
Makes of its basket and its store.
' Ah I Rector, do you suffer this.
Mustafa's talent went amiss
In little things ; and do you now
In greater things his power allow ?
On Master Fox now turn your taU ;
Before your horns let Bacchus quail ;
And, letting well-timed action grace
Your lofty academic place,
Lay bare all that long line of lies
With which these three has dazed our eyes.'
Thus I ; but now sleep left my bed,
The day had come ; the night had fled.

NOTE 4
PITSCOTTIE ON DOUGLAS BECOMING ARCHBISHOP
' Schortlie heirefter in the samyn moneth the x day thairof,
to wit february [1572] the Erie of Mortowne come furth of
Leith, and syne come to Sanctandros and remanit thair ane
quhyll, and schorthe thairefter he disponit the bishopric of
Sanctandros to ane honest and godlie man calht Mr Johne
Dowglas, Rector and Provost of the New Colledge. Quhow
this man had littUl abilitie of toung to preiche the Word of God,
nor execute the office of ane bischope, yit noch withstanding he
was nominat and presentit be him to be a bischope thocht he
was nocht qualified thairfor. Zit [yet] be that way the Erie of
Mortowne tuik up the proffeitt, and so he was but ane strick-
man,1 in that caus.' BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Histories of Knox, Calderwood, Row, Spottiswood, and
Keith.
Booke of the Universall Kirk.
M'Crie's Knox.
1 Strikelight, an instrument which strikes the hght others use.

JOHN DOUGLAS 349
M'Crie's Melville.
Scott's History of the Lives of Protestant Reformers in Scotland.
Lee's Lectures on the History of the Church of Scotland.
Cunningham's Church History of Scotland.
Mitchell's The Scottish Reformation. Baird Lecture.
Hay Fleming's Reformation in Scotland.
Hay Fleming's Handbook of St Andrews and neighbourhood.
Hay Fleming's St Andrew's Kirk-Session Register. Scottish
History Society.
Gordon's Scotichronicon.
Brown's Church and State. Chalmers Lecture.
Zurich Letters (1538-1602). Second Series. Parker Society.
Satirical Poems of the Reformation. Scottish Text Society,
Herkless and Hannay's The College of St Leonard's.
Herkless and Hannay's Archbishops of St Andrews.
Lyon's History of St Andrews.

CHAPTER VIII
JOHN CRAIG
The hfe of this Reformer is full of romance. He was
not one of the ' six Johns ' — that is, he had no part in
drawing up the first Scots Confession and the First
Book of Discipline— but he played a very important
part in the days of the Scottish Reformation. It is
certainly a strange coincidence that so many of the
standard-bearers at that time bore the name of John,
for, in addition to the greatest of them all, and the five
whose lives we have already portrayed, there were
also John Craig, John Rough, and John Erskine of Dun.
Moreover, two at least of the opposite party had this
same Christian name — John Hamilton, the ill-starred
Archbishop of St Andrews, who has been referred to
frequently in this volume, and John Leshe, Bishop of
Ross, who, from the point of view of the old Church,
wrote the history of those stirring times, hved through
them, and took considerable part in them. Besides —
far away, yet profoundly influencing the Scottish
Reformation — was the great John Calvin.
The subject of this biography, who came of the
Craigs of Craigfintray (afterwards Craigton) — an ancient
and affluent Aberdeenshire family — was born in the
year 1512. His father, in the foUowing year, feU on
the field of Flodden, the grave of so many noble Scots
men. Young Craig, in course of time, became a student
of St Andrews University, and, on the completion of
his education there, having taken the degree of Master
350

JOHN CRAIG 351
of Arts, he went to England where he became tutor
in the family of Lord Dacre, a weU-known nobleman
who held the post of English Warden of the North.
Craig, who spent two years with this family, had to
return to his native land on war breaking out between
England and Scotland. He joined the order of the
Dominican friars, but even at this early period we find
him faUing under the suspicion of heresy. About that
time many of the Scottish clergy were drawn to, or at
least were led to make enquiries about, Lutheranism,
and Craig, owing to his having been in England, or
having used some expressions on religious or theological
matters which were deemed too free, was arrested and
thrown into prison. The charge against him, however,
was withdrawn, and he was set at hberty. This was
in the year 1536, and on his release he once more made
his way to England, where he hoped to obtain prefer
ment at Cambridge through Lord Dacre's influence,
but was unsuccessful. He then returned to Scotland,
but, hke several others, he was so dissatisfied with the
ignorance and intolerance of the clergy, that in the
foUowing year he left his native land for France, whence
he proceeded to Italy.
There must have been something arresting about
this young monk, for it was on the recommendation
of one so great and influential as Cardinal Pole that he
was admitted to a place among the Dominicans in the
city of Bologna, where he soon became Master of the
Novices. From Craig's receiving this appointment,
we may infer that he had a reputation for piety and the
gift or power of influencing men. He was also sent on
missions in behalf of his order to various parts of Italy
and to the Levant. For several years he held the
office of Rector of the Dominican College at Bologna,
an Italian city which was a flourishing centre of

352 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Cathohc learning. Craig must have been there in
1547, when the Council of Trent was transferred to
it, one of its sessions being held in the palace of the
Archbishop. An event of much importance for Craig's spiritual
hfe and after career took place in this city, for it was
when looking for certain books in the Library of the
Inquisition attached to the Monastery that he feU upon
a copy of Calvin's Institutes. On his eagerly perusing
the volume, a complete mental and spiritual change
took place in him, and he became a thorough convert
to Protestantism. Not only so, but he felt that he must
convert others, or at least inform them of the new views
of truth he had received. It is weU to remember,
however, that reformed doctrines had penetrated even
into places in Italy that were looked upon as pontifical
strongholds. In this very city of Bologna, there was a
professor, John Molho, who in the University had gone
so far in his lectures towards the theology of the
Reformation that he was summoned to Rome, ordered
henceforth to abstain from expounding St Paul's
Epistles, and was finaUy removed from his chair. Bucer
wrote congratulating the Protestants of this city on
their progress, and it was said that they could boast
of being able to raise, if required, 6000 soldiers to fight
against the Pope.
It was dangerous, however, for Craig to teach the
new views. It might have cost him his hfe, but an
aged father, a feUow-countryman and a kindly man,
warned him of the danger to which he was exposing
himself, and advised him that if he intended to become
a foUower of Calvin, or any other reformer, he had
better, with all speed, find his way to some more tolerant
country. Craig complied to the extent of procuring
his discharge from the monastery, but he did not go
very far from Bologna, as he was able to find a place

JOHN CRAIG 353
of refuge in the family of a neighbouring nobleman
who had embraced similar views. John Row says
that he became tutor to the family of this nobleman,
and was in the habit of teaching his pupils in a httle
wood or park near the castle, whither the instructor
often resorted himself alone for meditation and prayer,
and, ' it being a secret pleasant place,' he could with
greater liberty teach ' the young students ' the new
truths when they ' were with their books.' But the
enemy discovered what he had been doing ; he and his
noble friend were delated for heresy ; they were arrested
by the officers of the Inquisition, and carried off to
Rome as prisoners. In that city they lay for nine
months in the prison of the Inquisition — a vile dungeon
to which the waters of the Tiber penetrated — and then,
along with others, Craig was brought to trial and con
demned to be burnt at the stake on the 20th August
1559. But he escaped the execution of his sentence,
for Paul IV. died in that year, and in connection with
the accession of the new Pope a Jubilee was held. It
so happened that the old Pontiff died not many hours
previous to the very day fixed for the burning of the
heretics, and in accordance with an ancient custom
the prisons in Rome were aU thrown open ; but, while
those who were confined for debt and other civil offences
were hberated, heretics were granted only a partial or
temporary freedom. They had to return to their ceUs.
But Paul IV. had been very unpopular — was hated,
indeed, by the people — and on the night of his death
there was a riot in the city. His statue was dragged
through the streets and thrown into the Tiber, and the
mob broke down the prison doors and set aU the prisoners
unconditionaUy free. In the midst of the turmoil
Craig was able to escape. It may be added that it was
Paul IV. who restored the Inquisition, enlarged its
powers, and authorised the apphcation of torture for

354 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the detection of the accomplices of heretics. When
he was dying he commended this awful, but favourite,
institution of his to the care of the Cardinals.
Along with some others, who were likewise fortunate
in making their escape, Craig made his way to a house
some distance from Rome ; but a company of soldiers
sent in search discovered them and again made them
prisoners. A strange providence now occurred. The
captain of the band looked eagerly at Craig for some
time, and was sure that in that poor captive he re
cognised a friend and benefactor. Taking him aside,
he asked if he remembered once relieving a poor wounded
soldier in a wood not far from Bologna. The captive
at first — excited by all that had taken place — said that
he could not say he remembered the incident. ' But
I remember it,' rephed the captain, ' and I am the man
whom you reheved [it occurred in the neighbourhood
of the nobleman's residence before mentioned, and
Craig now remembered it] and Providence has now put
it in my power to return the kindness which you showed
to a distressed stranger, though I do it at great risk.
You are at liberty ; your companions I must lake
along with me ; but for your sake I shaU show them
every favour in my power.' He then gave Craig some
money to help him on his way, and indicated to him
how he might make his escape.
Not long after, there occurred another remarkable
incident in this Scotsman's strange, almost charmed,
career, the truth of which some may doubt ; but such
will likely also be sceptical of aU such special inter
ventions of Providence. No doubts, however, need be
thrown on the wondrous tale, for Craig himself was wont
to teU it. Both Spottiswood and Row give it, and they
were the contemporaries of the subject of it, though
much younger in years. Their fathers would know Craig

JOHN CRAIG 355
well, and doubtless those seniors got it at first hand.
Spottiswood says that, though ' incredible it seemeth,'
the subject of it ' to many of good place often repeated
it as a singular testimony of God's care of him,' and
Row says that he received the story from several
persons who had heard Craig himself relate it, and that
he was also told it by the reformer's widow, ' Dame
Craig, an honest woman, fide digna,' who survived her
husband for many years. This is the story. After his
escape from Rome through the good graces of the
mihtary officer, Craig avoided as much as possible the
public roads, and taking by-paths and round-about
routes, which occupied much time, he found at length
that his money was all spent. In his distress he prayed
to God. Foot-sore and faint, he noticed that a dog
was persistently foUowing him, and that it was carrying
something in its mouth. As the weary traveUer looked,
he saw that it was a purse. Thinking that there was
some evil-disposed person near, who had seen him,
and who wished to pick a quarrel with him, he tried
to drive away the animal, but it stiU persisted in foUow
ing him and showed itself friendly and affectionate.
Craig then took the purse which his dumb friend seemed
to be offering him, and lo ! when he opened it there
was found a sum of money sufficient to enable him to
continue his journey for many days to come. As the
receiver of the gift himself said, God in His goodness
had sent it to him to be his viaticum.
A Roman Catholic writer, John Hamilton, in his
Facile Traictise, also teUs the story, and takes a curious
view of it, suggesting that the dog, which he says was
of black colour, was an incarnation or emissary of the
Evil Spirit ; but why the Evil One should help a
heretic to elude the vigilance of the Pope he does not
explain. This is what Hamilton, who was a contern-

356 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
porary of Craig, says : ' Frere Jhone Craig, wha cast off
his cowle, gangand throw ane forest in Itahe, as he
vantit himself in sindrie compagnies, becaus ane blak
dog gave to him be the way ane purse of gold ; the
coleur of the dog may declair gif it was send be an guid
spirit or nocht ; for the Hahe Spirit discendit upon
Christ in lykliness of ane whyt dow.' But in much
later days, also, this canine tale was connected with
evil influences, a Professor of Philosophy in the University
of Glasgow, George Sinclair, giving it a place in his
Satan's Invisible World Discovered.
Sir Walter Scott, in his Heart of Midlothian, makes
one of his characters proudly say that money was
formerly so abundant in Edinburgh — or placed so
readily at the service of the State — that bars of silver
were reckoned as if they were just ' muckle sclate
stanes ' ; and the said character — none other than the
redoubtable David Deans — goes on to declare that
his ' father saw them toom the sacks of doUars out of
Provost Dick's window infill the carts that carried them
to the army at Dunse Law,' in proof whereof douce
Davie added, ' if ye winna beheve my father's testi
mony, there is the window itsell stiU standing in the
Luckenbooths ! ' But John Craig could give ampler
proof than that for his remarkable story, because he
could say, ' Here is the dog ; here is the purse ; and
here is some of the money.' According to Row, Craig
and the dog became permanent friends, the reformer
bringing it with him all the way to Edinburgh, with the
purse, and some of the coins he had not used. It may
be added — not of course as additional proof — that within
recent years there has been placed in St Giles' Cathedral
a brass tablet in memory of Craig, on which is repre
sented his faithful canine friend with purse in mouth.
Above the dog are the weU-chosen words, ' My AUy.'

JOHN CRAIG 357
Craig at last reached Vienna, where he preached as a
Dominican (for as yet he had not severed his connection
with the order) and was befriended by Arch-Duke
(afterwards Emperor) Maximilian, who showed some
leaning towards the reformed faith. Craig indeed
became one of the court-chaplains. Pius IV. wrote
demanding that this monk, and another escaped prisoner,
be sent back to Rome, but Maximilian instead gave
him a safe-conduct through Germany to England.
Craig reached the latter country in 1560, and proceeded
to Scotland where the Reformation had just been
accomphshed. Having offered his serviecs to the
church of Knox, and these being accepted, he conducted
services in the Magdalen Chapel, situated in the very
heart of the city of Edinburgh, and still raising its tower
and spire above the meaner roofs. But he had weU-
nigh forgotten his native tongue, for he had been for
twenty-four successive years in foreign lands, and his
sermons were dehvered in Latin, which the learned in
the city highly appreciated. In the foUowing year,
1561, he was appointed minister of Holyrood-house, or,
as it was sometimes styled, Canongate. But his mother
tongue must soon have come back to him with fluency,
for in April 1562 we find Knox requesting that he
become his coUeague in St Giles' Church, the help of the
reader, John Cairns, not being sufficient.
When we turn to the old Burgh Records of Edinburgh
we find some very interesting entries regarding this
part of Craig's ministerial career, his stipend, his labours,
and other matters connected therewith. Here is the
first relative minute. It is of date 8th April 1562.
' The counsale understanding the tedious and havie
lauboris sustenit be thair minister, Johne Knox, in
preiching thris in the oulk and twis on the Sounday,
ordanis with ane consent to solisit and persuade Master

358 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Johne Craig, presentlie minister of Canongait to accept
upoun him the half chargeis of the preaching in the
said Kirk of Edinburgh, for sic guid deid as thai can
aggre on.' From an entry of nth June 1563, we learn
that the stipend or ' sustentation of Master Johne
Craig ' was raised by the voluntary contributions of
the people — ' amangis the faythful quhilks hes com-
municat ' — the same to write their names in a ' roll
with the sowmes grantit.' But in a few years this
voluntary system was so far, if not altogether, departed
from, for in a minute of nth September 1567, we are
informed that payment was to come from certain rents
or burdens on lands and buildings pertaining to the old
Church, which were now vested in the Town Council,
and these were ordered to be coUected for ' the utihtie
and profeit of the ministeris, pure, and hospitaUes of
the Burgh.' Moreover, some months previously, as we
learn from a minute of second March 1567, the Privy
Council had taken the matter up, and the Burgh Records
state that ' the lordis of the secreit Counsale ' directed
the provost and baihes to take order for ' the setting of
a taxt for sustening thair ministeris, makand mention
that her grace [the Queen] had gevyn the annaUis for
that effect,' and, add the Records, the said order of the
Privy Council ' was handed to Master Johne Craig,
minister.' It is interesting to note that the magistrates
would stand no disrespect or impertinence shown to
their minister, for in a minute of 20th June 1567, there
is reference to a George Coutes who was imprisoned
' in the thieves' hole for contempt done to Master
Johne Craig.' Going back a year or two, we learn from
a minute of 18th August 1564, that Knox and Craig
had been appointed by ' command of the kirk to depairt,
the tane to the north, and the uther to the south pairtis
for the preiching of the EvangeU,' and that the Council

JOHN CRAIG 359
had faUen in with the Church's ' command.' They
appointed ' Christopher Gudeman, minister of Sanct
Androis,' to take charge of the congregation in the
absence of the regular ministers, and, as indicating the
kindness and generosity of the city towards its ministers,
the minute goes on to say that Master John Spens, the
Queen's Advocate, is to pass to Master Goodman to
offer him in the name of the Town Council aU honour
able entertainment, and to instruct the steward of
John Knox's house to ' keip table to him ' at their
expense, the treasurer to defray aU expenses weekly.
Craig preached in the Church of St Giles with great
force and courage. The pulpit at that time, as at
Constantinople in the stirring days of Chrysostom,
exercised the functions of the public press of modern
times, and our Scottish reformer, like the great golden-
mouthed preacher, boldly criticised pubhc men and
pubhc affairs. Others of the reformers did the same,
though, unhke modern editors, they were in danger of
exile, or of languishing in some foul dungeon, for the
honest discharge of their duty. In point of fact, the
ministers then, or the courts of their church, set the
earliest example of what became in later days a regular
British and constitutional Opposition to the measures
of arbitrary power. On the one side was a despot or
a despotic court party, and on the other were the people
with no leaders but the ministers. The nobles were not
rehable, being for the most part self-seekers ; the
Scottish Parhament, with its one chamber and its
Lords of the Articles, was anything but an adequate
expression of the national hfe ; the General Assembly,
with its popular constitution, expressed better the
feehng of the people. All through Craig's pubhc career
in Scotland, the work of political agitation had to be
done by the clergy, if it was to be done at all. They
2A

360 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
spoke out against attacks on the liberties of the nation,
and gave the people information on current politico-
religious topics. While doing so from the pulpit on
Sundays as occasion warranted, they had also good
opportunities at their bi-weekly services, and politics
then pre-eminently affected matters of rehgion. One
day Craig denounced, in no measured terms, the nobles
for their rapacity in seizing the revenues of the Church.
Here is what Knox says about it in his History, with
the spelling and idiom modernised. ' That worthy
servant of God, Mr John Craig, speaking against the
manifest corruption that then, without shame or fear,
declared itself, said, " Sometimes there were hypocrites
known by their disguised habits, and we had men to be
monks, and women to be nuns ; but now aU things
are so changed that we cannot discern the earl from
the abbot, nor the nuns from such as would be holden
the noble-woman, so that we have gotten a new order
of monks and nuns. But (said he) seeing ye are ashamed
not of that unjust profit, would God that therewith ye
had the cowl of the monk, the veil of the nun, yea, and aU
the rest, that so ye might appear in your own colours." '
Knox adds that these words made Maitland of Lethington
very angry, and caused him to use threatening and
blasphemous language towards the preachers.
Our reformer was present at the conference between
Lethington, Knox, and others which took place in the
year 1564, and he stoutly supported Knox's contentions.
It was Maitland of Lethington who proposed that
memorable conference, and it was held between certain
deputies from the General Assembly on the one hand
and the ministers of the Crown on the other. Its object
was to restrain the liberty or, as Lethington thought,
licence of preachers in dealing with the conduct of the
Queen ; but the general question of the amount of

JOHN CRAIG 361
obedience due from subjects to their rulers was brought
into free discussion. Craig gave the conference a pre
cedent from his experiences at Bologna. He told them
that ten years before he had been present at a discussion
in the University there, and heard the thesis maintained
that ' AU rulers, be they superior or inferior, may and
ought to be refused or deposed by them by whom they
are chosen, empowered, and admitted to their office, as
oft as they break their promise made by oath to their
subjects, because the prince is no less bound to his
subjects than subjects to their princes.' He said that
this had been applied in the case of a Pope, whose
governor had exceeded his limits and attempted to
alter the law in part of his temporal dominions. It
was urged from Lethington's side that Bologna was
different from Scotland, for it was only a repubhc or
commonwealth, and Scotland was a kingdom. But to
this Craig readily rephed : ' My lord, my judgment is
that every kingdom is or at least should be a common
wealth, albeit that every commonwealth is not a king
dom.' Historians of high repute have given prominence
to the views of the reformer as expressed at this con
ference, for they were founded rather upon common
political principles than upon religious dogma.1
Thenceforward Craig takes a prominent part in pubhc
affairs. There are those who accuse him of comphcity
in Rizzio's murder, and base their accusation on the
fact that his name occurs in the list of persons privy
to the Itahan's death, as sent by the Earl of Bedford
and Randolph to Cecil. But John Knox's name is
also in that list, and it has been proved by Dr Thomas
M'Crie, junr., and Dr Hume Brown that Knox's name
should not be there ; and for the same reasons, as given
by these historians, Craig's name is also a fabrication.
1 Craig's entire speech wUl be found in Note i.

362 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Curiously enough one of the arguments against Knox
is that he hurriedly left Edinburgh at the time, but this
cannot be urged against Craig, for he remained at his post.
Craig's courage is shown in his refusal to publish
the banns of marriage between Mary and BothweU.
Edinburgh was in the hands of Bothwell's followers at
the time, and the refusal might have cost Craig his hfe.
The latter had an interview with that extraordinary
nobleman during a sitting of the Privy Council, at
which he boldly charged the wicked wooer with ' adultery,
ravishing, the suspicion of collusion between him and
his wife, the sudden divorcement and proclaiming
within the space of four days, and last, the suspicion
of the King's death.' As the accuser received no ex
planation on any of these points it may be asked, how
was it then that he consented in the end to proclaim
the banns ? The answer is simple. Craig received a
letter from Queen Mary which changed, or at least
modified, his attitude, for in the letter the Queen declared
that she was under no restraint whatever, and was
indeed acting of her own free will. Accordingly Craig,
after consultation with his session or congregational
court, did make the proclamation but with strong
protestations, declaring, among other things, that 'he
abhorred and detested that marriage.' Some of his
brethren, however, were not satisfied, and brought the
matter before the General Asssembly, but that court
passed a resolution absolving him.1 They suspended,
however, Adam Bothwell, the bishop who performed
the marriage ceremony. It has been said that the
right of proclaiming or withholding these banns of
marriage was vested in Knox, but that he was absent
from the city at the time. This would imply that Mary
was resident within the parish of St Giles. Holyrood,
1 For Craig's statement to the General Assembly see Note 2

JOHN CRAIG 363
however, was in ' Canongate ' ; but she may have been
in the Castle. On the other hand it has been said that
' Canongate ' was the parish church of the Castle. But
there is really no need for us to trouble ourselves with
these surmises and intricacies.
Craig does not appear to have been so bitterly opposed
to the Queen as most of his fellow-reformers were.
At any rate we learn later from the Diurnal of Occurrents
that at a meeting of the General Assembly held at
Stirling when it was ' ordained that na minister should
pray in their sermouns for the Quhene and [they] fand
fault with Alexander, bishope of GaUoway, minister at
Edinburgh, because he prayit for the said Quhene,
aganis the quhilk Johne Craig opponit.' Spottiswood
teUs us that Craig ' gave obedience ' to the request of
King James that prayer be pubhcly offered for his mother.
It is interesting to note that our reformer had at
least one interview with the iU-fated Queen. It was
in June 1566, when, along with John Spottiswood, he
went to Her Majesty, then residing in Edinburgh Castle,
and, by instructions of the General Assembly, presented
to her a supphcation for the payment of ministers'
stipends due to them out of ' the thirds of the benefices.'
He and his fellow-deputy were graciously received, and
the royal answer was favourable, though it was some
time before the promise of ' certaine victualhs and
money ' was implemented.
John Craig is now an important personage, and is
closely associated with Knox and others in church
affairs. His name occurs very frequently in the Book
of the Universal Kirk (Proceedings of the General
Assembly). He is three times Moderator — in 1569-70,
1576, and 1581 — and we find him on many committees
and commissions. But this prominence has its dangers,
for in a letter from Sir John Foster to Cecil it is stated

364 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
that one day, as Craig was sitting in the Church of
St Giles, a soldier of the Queen's party struck at him
with his dagger. Some years later he had a rather
alarming experience after preaching a sermon on the
Sunday following upon the arrest and imprisonment of
the Earl of Morton. Craig had been inveighing against
' false accusations,' and Captain James Stewart, who
had suddenly brought the charges against Morton,
drawing his dagger angrily told the minister that the
pulpit should not protect anyone who slandered him.
We learn from Bain's Calendar of State Papers that,
at least on one occasion, Craig, when preaching in
St Giles', had Lord Darnley among his hearers.
Craig's services were requisitioned not only by the
ecclesiastical authorities but also by the civic. For
instance, in the Burgh Records of Edinburgh we find,
under date 28th April 1571, that the Town Council
sent John Craig along with others to the Castle for the
purpose of asking the Captain, Kirkcaldy of Grange,
to allow all the King's lieges to resort to the town
without danger to their hves from his ' men of weyr.'
Some years before, there is a minute of the Town Council
which informs us that they appointed John Craig to
' leid tryalls in probation of the qualifications and
erudition ' of a certain master of the High School, who
was deemed by some unsuitable for his post. On one
occasion we find Craig coming to a meeting of the Town
Council, and ' presenting to thame our soveranis [Queen
Mary's] wryting underwritten, and desynit the same
to be registrat in the buik of the burgh,' the manuscript
to be duly returned to him. The document in question
was of the nature of a proclamation denouncing certain
vices prevailing among the inhabitants, and arranging
for punishment to be inflicted on the perpetrators.
Before we speak of certain important matters con-

JOHN CRAIG 365
nected with the Church, under the auspices of the
Assembly, in which Craig took part, there is an in
cident in his career which may now be mentioned.
One day a strange document was placed in Craig's
hands as he was conducting the afternoon service in
St Giles', Knox having preached in the forenoon. The
paper was from Kirkcaldy of Grange, and was to the
effect that Knox in his sermon that day had caUed him
a murderer and throat-cutter and had spoken in a
manner impossible to justify, and it was his request
that Craig should read the entire paper to the congrega
tion. Craig could not see his way to comply with this
request, but referred Kirkcaldy to the judicatories of
the Church of which he stiU professed to be a member.
The sequel is beyond the scope of this chapter, but it
may be sufficient to say that Knox denied he had used
such words, and, though he had spoken strongly, he said
that it was more in sorrow than in anger. Between the
shot and sheU of Kirkcaldy in the Castle, and the shot
and sheU (moral and spiritual) of Knox in St Giles', Craig
undoubtedly was in a dilemma, but his conciliatory dis
position was of advantage to the good cause at that
time. Professor Hume Brown in his Life of John Knox,
in referring to the incident, speaks in evident apprecia
tion of Craig, and says that his ' other actions prove
him to have been a prudent person.'
Let us now look at some important church matters,
connected with the Assembly, in which Craig took a
prominent part. In was during his first term as
Moderator that the rule, stiU observed, was laid down
that ' the Moderator of last Assembly should open the
next with exhortation and prayer.' When there was
any special work of a hterary kind, or requiring tactful
and cautious management, Craig seems always to have
been the member of Assembly chosen for it. He was

366 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
very frequently placed on what is now caUed the
' Business Committee,' which, in those strenuous days,
was wont to meet at seven, and sometimes even at six
o'clock, in the morning. Along with Knox he was
appointed to draw up the ' Form and Exercise ' for a
great pubhc fast, ' Robert Likprevick to print it.'
This, which might be caUed a Treatise on Fasting,
contains some fine passages breathing a spirit of justice
and compassion. His is the first signature — he was
Moderator at the time — appended to the General
Assembly's letter to the * Bishops and Pastors of England '
asking them to deal gently with their brethren who
had scruples about wearing surphces and ' uther abulze-
ments.' We find him one of a number of ' generous
and loving brethren ' commissioned by the Assembly
to approach ' the Lord Regent's Grace ' — the Earl of
Mar — on affairs pertaining to the church. Two or
three years earher he was appointed with others to
confer with the Regent Moray on similar matters. He
was also one of the deputies appointed to discuss certain
high matters of state with the Duke of Chatelherault,
Maitland of Lethington, Kirkcaldy of Grange, and Sir
James Balfour — representatives of the Queen's party —
in the Castle of Edinburgh. As this conference has been
referred to in some detail in our chapter on Winram
it need not detain us here ; but it should be said that
in the discussion we see Craig's practical nature and
business tact in bringing the debate, when it was
wandering, back to the main point, and we see him
supporting Knox with much spirit. In the Assembly
of 1575, we find him arguing against diocesan bishops,
and it was on the report of a committee on which he
sat that Episcopacy was abohshed. He also took an
important part in the composition of the Second Book
of Discipline — ' several heads of it were perused by

JOHN CRAIG 367
him,' says Wodrow. As early as the year 1574 a com
mittee of members of Assembly was appointed for the
purpose of making a selection from the Register of the
Acts and Proceedings of the Church of such deliver
ances as were calculated to illustrate and illumine the
Church's constitution, so that no member of the Assembly,
or of the inferior courts, could say that he was un-
instructed in these things. Nothing appears to have
been done in the matter tiU the year 1582, when, as we
learn from the Book of the Universal Kirk, the Assembly
' ordaines Mr [John] Craig to lay an order for collecting
the Acts of the Kirk betwixt [this] and the nixt Assemblie. '
In the two foUowing years diligence is reported, and
reference is made ' to the great travels tane be Mr
Johne Craig ' in the matter ' for the weale of the Kirk '
and with ' singular fruit and profite of the whole brethren.'
' In his labouris,' the minute proceeds, ' God was to be
praised.' From all of which it may be inferred that
Craig was an exceUent church lawyer, and, if our re
former had been clerk himself of that venerable court,
he would doubtless have been, as Robert BaiUie styles
Johnston of Wariston in later days, ' a non-such of a
clerk.' Once at least, in a matter that came before the
house, Craig gave his opinion in Latin, and very likely
such is the only instance of the Assembly being addressed
in that tongue. It was in connection with the case of
Robert Montgomery, titular Archbishop of Glasgow,
and, on a particular point Craig counselled delay, saying,
' Tutius est peccare in lenitatem, quam in aliam partem.'
Like John Winram, John Craig exercised a moderat
ing and mediating influence. Though bold and resolute
enough when necessary, he was willing to compromise,
and advised compromise, on occasions. There were
extreme parties then, which gave him considerable
trouble. One day when preaching in St Giles' from

368 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the 130th Psalm, ' he compared,' says Calderwood
' the estate of the Kirk of God within the town to the
estate of the Jews who were oppressed, sometimes by
the Assyrians, sometimes by the Egyptians. He said
when wicked parties contend and strive for their pride,
ambition, and worldhe honour, the Kirk is always in
trouble. By these speeches he offended many, because
he made the cause of both parties alike. He lamented
there was no neutral man to make agreement betwixt
the two parties, seeing whatsoever party shall be
overthrown, the countrie shall be brought to ruin.'
Among those who thought Craig lukewarm were members
of^the High or St Giles' Church, and a coolness arising
between pastor and people, an agreement was come to
that they should separate ; but as we shall see later
there were strong and oft-renewed attempts to secure
him once more as the town minister.
For the next two years, 1571-73, we find him exercis
ing the office of the Christian ministry at Montrose,
and then he moves farther north to ' illume the dark
places in Mar, Buchan and Aberdeen.' The city of
Aberdeen was his chief residence while he performed
what were practically the duties of ' Superintendent '
in these northern parts for some six years. Not only
was he recognised as an Aberdeen minister — the
Assembly minutes (Book of the Universal Kirk) style
him ' minister of New Aberdeen ' — but he also did
professorial work, delivering lectures to the students
at the University. He may even have been Principal
for some time. Wodrow in his Collections says that,
acccording to some papers in his hands, ' he seems
to have been Principal at Aberdeen.' In any case
he had to do with an important change in the
Principalship, for it feU to him to have the last
Roman Cathohc Principal, Anderson, removed and

JOHN CRAIG 369
to have the first Protestant Principal, Arbuthhot,
inducted.1 Craig's labours in the north came to an end when, in
1579, he was appointed chaplain to the young King
James VI. This necessitated his return to Edinburgh,
and he held the office for over twenty years, until his
death. Row teUs us that when the General Assembly
heard that His Majesty had made choice of Craig they
' blessed the Lord, and praised the King for his zeal.'
According to contemporary documents, the designation
of the royal chaplain at that time was, ' minister of the
king's house,' or ' the King's Grace's minister.' The
office must have brought Craig into close intimacy
with George Buchanan's quondam royal pupil, who
became ' the British Solomon,' and none perhaps knew
better than this chaplain the weaknesses, foibles,
shufflings, strange inconsistencies, and absurdities of
' the Most High and Mighty Prince James.' This King
of Scots often quarreUed with those around him —
courtiers and ministers of religion. A favourite of one
day would be dismissed on the morrow ; but we are
not aware that he ever quarreUed — at least had any
lasting quarrel — with this chaplain of the palace. StiU,
Craig did not hesitate to speak plainly and pointedly
more than once to this ' anointed pedant ' about his
conduct, as we shall see later. The wonder is that a
man of such rectitude, religious fervour, and high
ideals should have continued chaplain in such a court
for so many successive years. Craig now resided for
the most part in Edinburgh ; his position was one of
influence and honour ; he was held in high respect by
the community; and his presence in the capital was
of great advantage to the church.
1 The fact probably is that Craig acted as Principal merely for a
time, without formal induction.

370 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Nowadays the General Assembly — at least of the
United Free Church of Scotland— enjoins, through
Presbyteries, the visitation of congregations to see
that the work of the ministry is efficiently carried on ;
but in those days the work of the royal chaplains was
also passed under review, for, in the year 1591 (as we
learn from Calderwood) three ministers ' went down to
the Palace of Holyrood to visit the King's house to try
what negligence was in pastors [there were two royal
chaplains, John Duncanson being the other] and abuses
in the family.' The King himself was present when
the visitation took place, and the visitors urged the
King to have the Scriptures read at dinner and supper,
and ' wiUed that new elders should be - chosen, the
comptroUer to be left out.' This visitation must have
been very thorough, for it occupied part of two days.
Is there at present such ' oversight ' on the part of the
General Assembly with regard to the Very Reverend
Dr Wallace WiUiamson and his feUow royal chaplains
in Scotland, or such archi-episcopal or episcopal ' over
sight ' in England with regard to the royal chaplains
there ? The Scottish Church certainly did things
thoroughly in the latter part of the sixteenth century.
Possibly by this time Craig's flock in the palace would
aU, or mostly aU, be of 'the true-blue,' but some years
earlier, in 1580, we find a resolution of the Assembly
that ' order be taken with the Papists in the King's
house.' We do not know what Craig's emoluments
were as royal chaplain, but we know that Duncanson
his coUeague retained his incumbency of Stirhng (for
some time at least) along with the vicarage of the Chapel-
Royal, and as sub-dean was entitled to a stipend of
£200 ; but after his death his son stated that for a
course of years no payment had been received by his
father, and he presented to the King a petition for a

JOHN CRAIG 371
grant of the arrears due. We have not ascertained
what the royal reply was, but possibly, as with other
' sifflicators ' in that reign, the crave would not be
granted, or at most only a small part of it.
About this time appeared a stranger at court, who
became a great favourite with the sovereign. This
was Esme Stewart, Lord D'Aubigny, a cousin of King
James's father. Handsome and accomplished, the
young man had been brought up in France, and was to
all intents and purposes a Frenchman. Ostensibly he
had come to Scotland to enquire and make arrange
ments about certain properties, but he was really an
emissary of the Guises, sent by that astute house to
restore, if possible, the French influence in Scotland.
He could tell James how the French King was supreme
and absolute, and instil into his mind the doctrines
of divine right and passive obedience. This Franco-
Scot, a few months after his arrival in Scotland, was
created Earl of Lennox, and subsequently became
Duke of Lennox and Lord High Chamberlain, exercising
great power in the land. The fact that he was a Roman
Cathohc spread alarm among the Scottish people, but
the young nobleman consented to become a pupil of
David Lindsay, Protestant minister of Leith, and so
apt was the novice in his theological studies that soon
he was able to inform the General Assembly that he
had now learned what evangehcal truth was, and that,
as a matter of fact, he had gladly signed the Confession
of Faith in the Chapel-royal at Stirling. Yea, as if this
were not enough, he went to St Giles' Church, Edinburgh,
and there publicly proclaimed his conversion. A con
version, however, to Protestantism, and indeed to
Presbyterianism, so rapid as this could scarcely be
expected to allay public suspicion, and the country
demanded a stronger proof and a stronger pledge of

372 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH *
royal and national Protestantism. Moreover, at this
time the country had been alarmed by certain Popish
missions, leagues, and intrigues — followed in a few years
by ' The Invincible Armada ' — and the cry of ' No
Popery ' became loud and determined.
Hill Burton says that D'Aubigny's resources were
those of the idle ornamental courtier only, not of the
practical statesman, and that the ' frightened clergy '
should not have concluded that he was sent by the
Guises to allure the land back to Popery. But in this
our Scottish historian is mistaken. The clergy were
right and their fears were justified. Dr Graves Law,
in his Introduction to Catholic Tractates of the Sixteenth
Century, says that ' whatever may be thought of Lennox's
character or abihty, the facts, now better known, amply
justify the alarm of the ministers.' Lennox was in a
deep plot, and, among other proofs, Law mentions a
letter from him to Tassis, the Spanish agent in France
at that time, offering his services to restore rehgion
(Roman Cathohc) and to rescue Queen Mary. More
over, at that time, this same nobleman wrote to Mary
herself, as foUows : ' Madam, since my last letters, the
Jesuit, named Crichton, has come to me with letters of
credence from your ambassador. He informs me that
the Pope and the Catholic King had decided to succour
you with an army for the purpose of re-establishing
religion in this island. He says it is purposed that I
should be at the head of said army. I promise you
on my hfe that when I have the army which is promised
me of 15,000 men ... I will land. Courage ! then,
my Majesty.' (Spanish Cal. III. 333.)
The alarm, then, being great and justified, a declara
tion was drawn up in which the most obnoxious tenets
and practices of Romanism were fully stated and
emphatically condemned. The document was to be a

JOHN CRAIG 373
great national ' touch-stone,' says a contemporary. In
this way arose the new Confession or Covenant of 1581,
the drafting of which was entrusted to John Craig.
The first signature appended is that of the sovereign,
then come those of the royal household and of the
Privy Council, the Duke of Lennox appearing among
the signatories. All ministers had to sign, and all
graduates of Universities. In point of fact, it was
subscribed by all ranks and classes of persons in the
realm, the General Assembly stamping it with ecclesi
astical sanction. The name it frequently bore was
' The King's Confession,' but it was also called ' The
Second Confession ' (to distinguish it from that of 1560)
and ' The Negative Confession,' because, while the
earher one contained a positive declaration of the re
formed faith, this latter one disclaimed and repudiated
the errors of the old Romish faith. Most frequently,
however, this Confession has been called ' The National
Covenant ' and it became the basis of the better known
Covenant of 1638, and of the Solemn League and
Covenant of 1643. As embodied in this last, it was sub
scribed by Charles II. both at Speymouth and at Scone.
Along with certain other documents it was, in the year
1851, given a place among the subordinate standards of
the Free Church of Scotland. In the Book of the Universal
Kirk this historical document or symbol, as drawn up
by Craig, bears the title : ' Ane short and general
Confessione of the true Christian Fayth and Religione,
according to God's Worde, and Acts of our Parlement,
subscryved by the Kingis Majestie and his Houshold,
with sindrie otheris, to the glory of God, and good
example of men.'
This new Confession, for in structure and contents
it is really a Confession, sets forth in stately diction its
relation to the ' former large Confession,' and impres-

374 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
sively declares, ' We all and every one of us underwritten
protest, That after long and due examination of our
consciences in matters of true and false religion, we are
now thoroughly resolved in the truth by the Word and
Spirit of God ; and therefore we believe with our hearts,
confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands,
and constantly affirm before God and the whole world
that that only is the true Christian Faith and Rehgion,
pleasing God and bringing Salvation to men, which is
now, by the mercy of God, revealed to the world by
the preaching of the blessed Evangel, and is received,
beheved, and defended by many and sundry notable
kirks and realms, but chiefly by the Kirk of Scotland,
the King's Majesty, and three Estates of this realm, as
God's eternal truth, and only ground of Salvation ;
as more particularly expressed in the Confession of our
Faith, stated and confirmed by sundry Acts of Parha
ment, and now of a long time has been openly professed
by the King's Majesty, and whole body of this realm,
both in burgh and land. To which Confession and
Form of Religion we willingly agree in our consciences
in all points, as unto God's undoubted truth and verity,
grounded upon his written Word.' Dr Charles G.
M'Crie, in his Chalmers Lecture, truly observes with
regard to this Covenant that it is not merely a renewed
adherence to the old Confession, but is an enlargement
and expansion in certain directions, bringing the
symbohc documents of the Scottish Church up to date,
and rendering them the utterances of hving men.
Wodrow, in his Collections, says that there was also a
' Latin version by Mr Craig himself, who was an exact
master of the Latin tongue.' This version was for
circulation on the continent of Europe.
In this same year Craig composed the first Catechism,
which the reformed Church of Scotland issued in the

JOHN CRAIG 375
language of the people. The title-page of the book
has the foUowing upon it : 'A Short e Summe of the
whole Catechisme, gathered by Mr Johne Craig, Minister
of God's Worde to the King's M[ajesty] . . . Imprinted
at Edinburgh by Henrie Charteris. Anno M.D. LXXXI.'
The first edition of this work is one of the rarest of early
printed Scottish books. No copy is to be found in
the British Museum, the Bodleian, or in any Scottish
University Library. The only extant copies, two in
number, are to be found in the Advocates' Library,
and among the bibliographical treasures of a member
of the Gibson-Craig family (which family is coUateraUy
descended from our reformer). In the year 1883 an
exact facsimile was pubhshed, with a valuable intro
duction, by Dr Thomas Graves Law, and even that
issue has become scarce, as only 100 copies were printed
for sale. The title-page is as foUows : ' A Shorte
Summe of the whole Catechisme, wherein the Question
is proposed and answered in a few wordes, for the greater
ease of the commoune people and children. Gathered
by Mr Johne Craig, Minister of God's worde to the King's
M[ajesty]. Johne XVII. This is Lyfe EternaU, to
know thee the only verie God and Jesus Christ Whome
thou hast sent. Imprinted at Edinburgh by Henrie
Charteris. Anno M.D. LXXXI. Cum Privilegio
Regali.' It was during his ministry at Aberdeen that Craig
prepared this work, and it was for his flock there, in
the first instance, it was meant. So he teUs the reader
in the Preface, and in making it ' commoune to otheris '
he in a manner dedicates it to them. The Apostles'
Creed is made the basis of the chief doctrinal teaching
of this Catechism, and, while larger than the Westminster
Shorter Catechism, it is simpler in form and less abstruse
The theology is distinctly Calvinistic. There was
2B

376 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
another work by Craig, namely, Ane Forme of Examina
tion before the Communion, which was prepared by the
direction of the General Assembly in 1590, and ordered
by the Assembly two years after to be ' read in families '
and ' read and leirnit in lector schooles.' This has
frequently been called ' Craig's Catechism,' but it
should not be confounded with the larger work of
which it is an abridgment. It took the place of ' the
httle Catechism,' which was the popular name of a
manual, The Maner to examine Children, printed at
the end of Calvin's Catechism. Of some interest is the
foUowing entry in the Session Records of South Leith,
under date 8th August 1616 : ' Every Sabbath day,
efter the prayers befoir the blessing, thair saU be twa
bairnes, ane frae the Gramar scool, that saU repeit Mr
Craig's carritches openhe in the Kirk, for the instruc-
tioun of the commones ; the quhilk Mr Thomas Hag,
maister of the Gramer scool hes promesit to obey.'
The Catechism certainly became popular in Scotland.
Young people were brought up on it, in longer or
shorter form, and even acquired a facility in composing
catechisms, which accounts for James Vlth's observa
tion at the Hampden Court Conference, ' Every son
of a good woman in Scotland thinks he can write a
Catechism.' Craig's Catechism has won the admiration of many
churchmen. Edward Irving reprinted it, and used it
for the examination of catechumens, preferring it to
that of the Westminster divines. 'The Shorter Cate
chism,' he said, ' is systematic ; Craig's is scriptural
and simple ; the Shorter is inteUectual ; Craig's is
vital ; the whole subject of our union with Christ and
our deriving nourishment from Him in the way of life,
sorely overlooked in the Shorter Catechism, is in Craig's
excellently set forth.'

JOHN CRAIG 377
It appears from the Proceedings of the General
Assembly of the year 1590 that there was an objection
able reply made to the King's Confession or National
Covenant. The minute of August 12th of that year
reads as foUows : ' Ordaines ye brether[en] of the pbrie
of Edin1 to peruse ye ansr sett out be Mr Craig against
a pernicious wrytting put out against the Confession
of Faith, together with the preface made be Mr Johne
Davidsone, and, if they find meitt, the samen be pub
lished that they may be committed to prent.' Dr
M'Crie, in his Life of Andrew Melville, says in a footnote
that he does not know whether the ' answer ' with its
preface was ever published ; but within recent years
the ' pernicious wrytting ' has been printed under
the auspices of the Scottish Text Society with the
title ' Ane Schorte Cathohk Confession.' The story of
the manuscript and its discovery is very interesting.
Cardinal Francis Barberini had been nominated Pro
tector of Scottish Catholics by Pope Urban VIII. in
the year 1623, and exercised that office for more than
fifty years, during which time it was his habit to give
hospitable entertainment to Scottish pilgrims in Rome.
In this way many documents relating to the affairs
of their country came into his hands. The Protector
before him had been Pope Urban VIII. himself, while
stiU Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, and it was in the
Barberini Library at Rome that the manuscript was
discovered, this Library containing many other valuable
papers relating to the Scottish Catholic mission. Dr
BeUesheim, in his Geschichte der Katolischen Kirche in
Schottland, in the year 1883 first called attention to the
work, and some notes upon it were read to the Edinburgh
Bibliographical Society in 1898, communicated by the
Reverend J. Wood Brown, M.A.— an old friend and
fellow-student of the present writer— Mr Wood Brown

878 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
having long made Italy his home. The fuU title of the
work is : ' Ane schorte Catholik confession of the heades
of the religion now controverted in Scotland, answering
against the heretical negative confession set forth be
Johne Craig in his Catechisme.' The name of the
author is not given, nor is there any date affixed, but
from internal evidence it is plain that the work could
not have been written earlier than 1587, and it probably
appeared in 1589, the year before the General Assembly
refers to it. The manuscript is unfinished, and its
first half is written in a different character from that of
the second which is in a smaUer hand. The paper also
of the second half is different. The penmanship of
both writers is good, being the court hand of the later
years of the sixteenth century. Suddenly the writing
stops, with a sentence broken off in the middle. It
may be added that tbe treatise begins with a Cathohc
Confession of Faith in direct opposition to the Scottish
Negative Confession, and then follows what is practi
cally an exposition or defence of this Cathohc Confession,
divided into sections with separate headings. Un
doubtedly this Barberini MS., in quaint old Scots, is
valuable and of interest not only to the student of
creeds, and of controversial theology, but also to the
student of philology.
It may be stated that there was still another Con
fession drawn up at that time ' by the Popish bishops,'
says Wodrow, 'to counter the King's Confession.'
The minister of Eastwood, who cites Calderwood as his
authority, calls it the ' New Confession,' and says that
it was likely framed for Romanising parties to sign so
that they could say they had subscribed the Confession
or Covenant, which was but ' juggle and equivocation,
yet those were their ordinary shifts.' Dr Sprott, in his
Scottish Liturgies, with reference to this ' New Con-

JOHN CRAIG 379
fession ' states that it is more Calvinistic than Knox's
Confession of 1560, which may be true so far, but its
teaching on the priestly office and on the sacraments
is much more developed than Knox's.
Our theologian and reformer appears also to have
been somewhat of a poet, or writer of verse, for from
his pen have come the familiar ' second versions ' of
Psalms 102, 136, 143, and 145. It is generaUy under
stood, too, that he rendered into verse the fifteen Psalms
which are initiaUed I. C. in the Metrical Psalms pubhshed
at Edinburgh in 1565.
Two or three years after the issue of the National
Covenant and of the Catechism, Craig was scurrilously
attacked in a " testament ' by that strange product of
the times, Archbishop Adamson, to whose low char
acter and devious ways we have alluded in one, or more,
of the preceding chapters. There were several letters
written in the same strain by this tulchan prelate, with
the purpose of injuring some of the most prominent
and highly respected men in the Church. These
strange epistles were, as a matter of fact, forgeries, for
they claimed to have been written by the worthy Mr
James Lawson — coUeague and successor of Knox in
St Giles' — who had died shortly before. They are
fuU of bitter satire and baseless calumnies showing the
virulent and mendacious tongue of their writer. In a
manner they remind one of some of the papers — though
not written in the same fine Enghsh style — of another
church dignitary of later days, the very reverend
Jonathan Swift, D.D., Dean of St Patrick's, Dublin.
AU we shall further say about them is to characterise
them in the words of Peter Blackburn, a contem
porary, as 'freakish, wanton, unsupported ... to be
understood by the rule of contraries . . and to
be taken as commendations ' of those who supported

380 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
men and measures ' the bishop had so much spite
against.' Craig's name frequently appears in the Register of
the Privy Council, but the occasions are scarcely note
worthy, apart from certain incidents mentioned or to
be mentioned in this chapter, which are gathered from
other sources. For instance, we find him one day pre
senting himself before the Council as " procurator ; for
the minister of Lauder, who had charged a certain David
Douglas of Ugstoun for grievous offences against both
ecclesiastical and civil law. The accused did not appear,
and was ' denounced rebel.'
In the year 1584 dark clouds gathered round the
Church and she had to pass through deep waters. The
whole Scottish people at that time suffered shameful
encroachment on their rights and liberties ; and had
it not been for the brave stand of many of the ministers
of rehgion, the injury to the nation would have been
still greater. A new, or rather additional, royal favourite
had appeared on the scene, namely, Captain James
Stewart (singularly enough, son of the good Lord Ochil
tree, and brother-in-law of John Knox) who in a brief
space became Earl of Arran, Lord High ChanceUor, and
Lieutenant-General of the kingdom. Moreover, he
was appointed Governor of the castles of Edinburgh,
Blackness, Stirhng, and Dumbarton, the four most
important fortresses in Scotland. He and the other
favourite — though in their hearts they may have hated
each other — hunted in couples (though not in perfect
harmony), seized extraordinary power and patronage,
and drove into exile many of the best men in the
kingdom. Towards the Presbyterian Church and its
ministers they had special antipathy, and they instilled
into the mind of James VI. similar dislike and hatred.
They wished the monarch to become a despot, and for a

JOHN CRAIG 381
while he fulfilled that role. Parhament became servile,
and passed the infamous ' Black Acts,' well named for
their dark inception, and for the darkness in which they
were passed. It was with closed doors that the Scottish
Estates gave their sanction to them. Briefly stated, these
Acts declared to be guilty of treason aU who dechned
the judgment of the King or Council in any manner
whatsoever; all were also considered guilty who im
pugned, or sought to diminish, the power and authority
of the three Estates of Parhament, which now brought
forward the rule of the bishops ; aU conventions except
the ordinary courts were prohibited from deliberating
on civil or ecclesiastical matters without the King's
special hcence (which meant that no church court could
assemble except when convened directly by royal
authority) ; the bishops were commissioned by the
King to make aU ecclesiastical appointments and arrange
ments within their dioceses ; and (here is what nowa
days would be equivalent to placing public meetings
under strict espionage, and indeed silencing the press)
no one should presume in sermons or in pubhc confer
ences to censure the King's conduct or the proceedings
of the Council, under pain of vigorous prosecution as
traitorous offenders. Such were these high-handed,
tyrannical, and oppressive Acts.
Andrew MelviUe and many other ministers had to
flee the country. But for those who remained there
was additional trouble brewing. A bond was devised
by the King and his adroit advisers which had disastrous
results among the clergy, for, requiring to be signed
within forty days, it obhged its subscribers, under pain
of losing their stipends, to submit to the King as supreme
over aU estates, civil and ecclesiastical, and to recognise
the bishops. NaturaUy such a document met with
great opposition, and a majority of the ministers having

382 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
refused to sign it, there was added a clause to the effect
that acceptance of the bond was only to be so far as its
language was ' according to the Word of God.' Trouble
foUowed, for, as with royal and parhamentary bonds,
indulgences, and the hke, in later Covenanting days,
there ensued divisions, recriminations, and heart
burnings throughout the Church. Many now signed;
others would not do so ; and among the former was
John Craig. He was in good company, however, for
the earnest and upright John Dury signed, as did also
that great friend and helper of John Knox, the now
venerable and venerated John Erskine of Dun. Accord
ingly some wise and sincere men now counseUed union
among the ministers, and pled with them to co-operate
in a petition for the repeal of the oppressive laws, and
such a proposal or pohcy was about to be crowned with
success when unfortunately a preacher — by name
James Gibson of Pencaitland, sincere enough it may
be, but not wise — introduced the subject into the pulpit
in Edinburgh, and severely condemned those who had
signed the bond. Craig was indignant, considering
that his honour was affected by such an outburst, and
he too preached a sermon — at Linhthgow — before the
king and the lords of Parhament, in which he not only
vindicated what he had done, but blamed the peregrine
ministers (as he caUed those who had fled from the
country) for much trouble, and defended the royal
prerogative, extending it even unduly. Undoubtedly
Craig went too far in this discourse, but as James
MelviUe says he was ' stirred up ' by the ' bitter invective'
of the Edinburgh minister, and he was also very angry
at some of the other doings of the extreme party. His
text was Psalm 82, verse 1, ' God standeth in the con
gregation of the mighty ; he judgeth among the gods,'
and David Hume of Godscroft, in his History of the

JOHN CRAIG 383
House of Douglas and Angus, records an interesting
conversation between the Earl of Angus and himself
regarding the views expressed in the sermon. Dr
M'Crie, in his Life of Andrew Melville, says that this
incident would have led to consequences fatal to the
Church, had not the same been allayed by the inter
position of wise and moderate men who persuaded the
parties to postpone the adjustment of their differences
to a future period. The obnoxious ' Black Acts ' were
repealed, or at least rendered inoperative, not long
after, and the Church once more breathed freely.
We do not think Craig was weak or vaciUating in aU
this business.1 His attitude was certainly different
from that at the Knox-Lethington conference some
twenty years before, but a different pohcy or piece of
statesmanship seemed now to be required. He wanted
peace in the Church ; he certainly got it ; and it was
through this manoeuvre — if it may be caUed so — that
MelviUe and the other exiles were enabled to return to
Scotland. It may have cost Craig a good deal, but it
was perhaps what Scott of Perth, the author of Lives
of the Reformers, declares it to have been, — ' the boldest
action in his pohtical conduct.'
StiU there were suspicions in many quarters,, even
in the highest, regarding men's words and deeds in
those changeful days. King James himseU had his
doubts about those who were the chief actors in the
shifting scenes, for we are told that one day at Falkland
when he came home from the hunt, he caUed for a
flagon, and, drinking to the hounds gathered around
him, said, addressing a favourite dog : ' TeU-True, I
drink to thee above all the rest of my hounds, for I wiU
give thee more credence nor either the bishop [Adamson]
or Craig.' But Craig was absolutely sincere ; more-
1 See Note 3.

384 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
over, he showed much courage at this time. He said
distinctly that he disapproved of the Black Acts, and
when the Earl of Arran one day angrily shouted, ' Who
dare find fault with Acts of Parliament ? ' Craig fear
lessly answered, ' We do find fault with everything
that is repugnant to the Word of God.'
The Scottish nobles had a rough and ready way of
ridding themselves of those in high places who were
troubhng and injuring the nation. They just kidnapped
the King. More than once they had done so in Scottish
history, and now we find them meting out similar
treatment to King James VI. , to separate him from
reckless and ruthless favourites. So we have the Raid
of Ruthven, which took place a year or two previous
to the events just recorded. By this Raid, they brought
the King a prisoner to the Castle of Ruthven, or Hunting-
tower, near Perth, and caused Esme, Duke of Lennox,
to flee to France, whence he never returned. The raiders
also confined the Earl of Arran to one of his own castles.
Craig thoroughly approved of the Raid of Ruthven,
and shortly after, preaching before the King, took as
his text, ' Be wise, now therefore, O ye Kings,' and
reproved the royal transgressions with great freedom
and point. The King wept and said to the preacher
that he might have told him these things privately.
' You have been often told of them privately, but to
no purpose,' rephed the chaplain ; ' pubhc vice requires
pubhc reproof.' It is rather curious that, when James
recovered his liberty, and the Raid of Ruthven was
declared to have been treasonable, and Andrew MelviUe,
with many others, had to flee to England, Craig, who
had not minced his words in the matter, remained at
his post. On another occasion, too, when danger was
looming for the ministers, this remarkable man does
not seem to have heeded it, though more than once he

JOHN CRAIG 385
was summoned before the Privy Council for his bold
speech and action. In addition to being a brave man, he
was evidently calm and cool in disposition. Two years
before the Raid he had rebuked His Majesty from the
pulpit for issuing a proclamation in which the ministers
were severely consured for their conduct in excom
municating Robert Montgomery, tulchan Archbishop of
Glasgow, which rebuke His Majesty took sorely to heart.
Not long after the events connected with the passing of
the Black Acts, the Earl of Arran — as was the case with
Lennox before him — fell from his high estate. Stripped
of his honours and disgraced, he ultimately feU by the
hand of the assassin. James Melville teUs us of a pro
phecy or judgment John Craig uttered with regard to
him. Arran had used very unbecoming language with
reference to the clergy. He would shave their heads, he
said, and pare their nails, and make them an example
to aU who rebeUed against King and Council. He was
particularly insolent to Craig, and the latter said to
his face, before the King [at Falkland], ' as the Lord is
just He wiU humble you.' Mockingly the Earl said,
' I shaU make thee a false friar a true prophet,' and, so
bending on his knees before him, said ' Now, I am
humbled.' But Craig rebuked him saying, ' No, mock
the servant of God as thou wilt, God wiU not be mocked ;
but will make thee find in earnest when thou shalt be
humbled off the high horse of thy pride.' And, adds
MelviUe, the prediction came true, for in after days
' James Douglas ran him off his horse with a spear,
and slew him, and his carcase was cast in an open krrk
near, and ere it was buried was found later by the
dogs' and swine.' The place where this occurred was
Symington in Lanarkshire, and he who slew Stewart
—the once powerful Earl of Arran— was Sir James
Douglas of Parkhead, nephew of the Regent Morton,

386 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
the murder being committed in revenge for Stewart's
having brought about the trial and execution of the
Regent. Though Craig remained chaplain to the King for
many years, efforts were made more than once to secure
his services again as minister of St Giles'. In the year
1584, when things were so black for Presbytery, we
find from the old Burgh Records of Edinburgh that
the Town Council asked the King to ' nominat and
assign ' out of his four chaplains [His Majesty seems to
have had that number in that year] two, among them
John Craig, to conduct services in " the Kirk of this
burgh, destitute of pastors and teachers through the
absence of their own ministers.' These latter were
Lawson, Balcanquhal, and Pont, who, after pubhcly
protesting against the Black Acts, went into voluntary
exile. Later, in the same year, the Council made the
request to His Majesty to ' spair ' Craig at times for the
same purpose. In the foUowing year the matter was
again before the Council, and they resolved that John
Craig and James Hamilton be appointed ' the twa
ministers of this burgh.' Craig does not appear to have
faUen in with this, but, after the interval of a month
or so, we find that a deputation was appointed to wait
on him with the request that he should preach in the
' Hie Kirk ' on a specified Sunday and ' resauve and
inaugurat Maister Wilham Watson as one of the townis
ministers according to the ordour in sic caissis before.'
In August of the same year they once more send a
deputation to him to ' see if he wiU tak upon him to
teach twyse in wolk in respect the town is presenthe
destitute of ministers.' Moreover, we find them at
this time arranging for his having a house — ' the Council
agreit and consentit that Maister Johne Craig, minister,
haif the possessioun and occupatioun of the lugeing

JOHN CRAIG 387
sum tyme occupeit be umquhill Maister James Lawson,
Minister [formerly Sub-Principal of King's College,
Aberdeen, and later Craig's successor as colleague to
Knox in St Giles'] and ordainis the haveris of the keyis
to delyver the sam unto him.' Perhaps the house or
manse was used as an inducement to get Craig to comply
with their wishes, but he does not appear to have done
so, for as late as 1588 the Council request their com
missioners to the General Assembly to ask the Supreme
Court to give them Craig as their minister. Other
two names are suggested, and it is interesting to note
that one of them is James MelviUe, nephew of the
famous Andrew, and writer of the valuable Diary. It
would appear that Craig was obdurate, persisted in his
declinature, and was never again regular minister of
the High Church of Edinburgh.
StiU he preached there at times, and in the year 1592
a strange scene occurred when he was officiating. It
may not be generally known that just as Queen Mary
had her Bothwell, King James had his also. This latter
was Francis Stewart, a nephew of the notorious Earl,
and an iUegitimate cousin of the King. For a while
he was a royal favourite, and was raised to high office.
But he became a troubler of His Majesty's peace, and
had more than one quarrel with him. He even led an
assault on the royal apartments at Holyrood with fire
and sword — at least with fire and hammers — but a
message having been sent in haste to the Provost, the
town-beU was rung, and the citizens, following the
chief magistrate down to the palace, captured some of
the raiders (who were afterwards hanged), though most
of them, including the Earl of BothweU, made their
escape. The King went to St Giles' to offer pubhc
thanksgiving for his dehverance, but he offered it in a
manner which somehow did not commend itself to the

388 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
church's leaders, and Craig, who was the preacher that
day, pubhcly rebuked the monarch, saying that as a
warning to him (who had recently aUowed certain
murderous outrages, such as that of the Bonnie Earl
of Moray, to go unpunished), 'God in His providence
had made a noise of crying and fire hammers to come to
his own doors.' The King, as was frequently his custom,
rose to answer, and begged the congregation to wait and
hear him, but uproar ensued, and, says Calderwood,
' Mr Craig not hearing what the King said, by reason of
the throng, went his way.' But those who did hear
said that the sapient observation to which this strange
monarch gave utterance was, that ' if he had thought
his fee'd servant would have dealt with him after that
manner, he would not have suffered him so long in his
house.' It is rather curious to find that this BothweU was
looked upon as a supporter of the Presbyterians, and
even of the more zealous among them. In a manner
he represented those who were greatly displeased at
the King's unsatisfactory dealings with conspirators
and murderers ; but if BothweU did aid them, it was
assuredly assistance from a strange quarter, and the
helped must have been very suspicious of the helper,
for this nobleman was utterly lacking in principle and
decorum, and both his private hfe and pubhc conduct
were decidedly blameworthy. In addition to the
above, there were incidents in his career which were
not only daring, but grotesque and theatrical. 'A wild
Scots earl he was, and a very son of mischief. It is
surely very strange that, through the court troubles of
the time — intrigues, conspiracies, murders, crimes in high
places that were unpunished — there came the Magna
Charta of the Church of Scotland. Just as the Earl of
Moray, the 'good Regent,' had given the Church a

JOHN CRAIG 389
strong position, so his son-in-law—' the Bonnie Earl of
Moray '—by his cruel death was in a manner the cause
of the Church obtaining this great Charter. For, as
Calderwood suggests— and he is right— it was the obloquy
that foUowed the unpunished crimes of Huntly, who
slew Moray and thus ' spoilt a better face than his own,'
and the unpunished crimes of other lords, that the King
was constrained to make this wonderful concession to
the Presbyterian Church. But while, a generation
before, it was Maitland of Lethington who frustrated
much of Knox's work, so now it was another Maitland
— Sir John Maitland of Thirlestane, a younger brother
of Queen Mary's former secretary — who aided the com
pletion of Knox's work. This Thirlestane, as Chancellor,
was the King's adviser in the matter, and though, like
his elder brother, he was not at times free from the
same faults which marred the former's career, this
Maitland should be accorded a high place in Scottish
ecclesiastical history.
Craig was now an old man, but up till the year 1590,
at least, there do not appear to have been any signs of
debihty. In that year he officiated with others at the
Coronation of Anne of Denmark, the consort of James,
and, according to Calderwood, it was his son, then a
young boy, who, at the pageant prepared for the Princess's
entry into Edinburgh, made a short oration to her.
Three years after, however, the King was sensible of
infirmities growing on his chaplain, and sent a request
to the Assembly to furnish him with a leet out of which
he might select a new chaplain to ' serve in his house in
respect of Mr Craig's decrepit age.' Two years later, in
June 1595, we learn from the proceedings of the General
Assembly that the sovereign sent intimation to the
brethren assembled that 'Mr Jo11 Craig is awaiting
what houre it sail please God to caU him, and is

390 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
altogether unable to serve any longer,' and His Majesty
desired that ' ane ordinance be maid granting him any
two ministers he sail chuse ' for the chaplaincy. Still
the old man hved for five years more and retained the
status of royal chaplain to the end, for, in 1601, we
read in Row's History that ' in respect of Mr John
Craig his death, ministers are nominat for his Majestie's
and the Queen's hous and for the Prince.' It was on
the 12th day of December in the year 1600 that our
reformer passed away. He was then in the eighty-
ninth year of his age. Spottiswood informs us that,
' when borne down with the weight of years, he retired
from Court, and forebore aU pubUc exercises, Uving
privately at home [in Blackfriars Wynd] and comfort
ing himself with the remembrance of the mercies of
God that he had tasted in his hfe past.'
It is somewhat singular that another royal chaplain,
John Duncanson — who has already been mentioned,
and who was contemporary with our reformer and died
about the same time — also hved to a great age, having
reached nearly his hundredth year. One would almost
think that the office was conducive to longevity, for
in this present year of grace there is a royal chaplain
resident in Edinburgh who is a nonagenarian, and quite
recently was elected Captain of a weU-known Golf Club.
We may now give some facts regarding Craig's
domestic Ufe. After he returned to Scotland, he married
a lady of the name of Marion SmaU or SmaU. A Roman
Cathohc writer of that time — Dr John Hamilton, a
secular priest — says in his Facile Tractise that this lady
was very young when the marriage took place — ' a
young lass of XV yearis auld '—which doubtless is an
exaggeration, as has generaUy been the case when
writers of that Church attack ' renegat priests ' for
taking to themselves wives. Moreover, this same Dr

JOHN CRAIG 391
Hamilton makes Craig to be ' about forescore yearis of
age,' when he married, which is quite untrue, for at
the time of his death he had a grown-up son who was
a professor. But there was considerable disparity be
tween the ages of bridegroom and bride, for the former
would be about fifty years of age when he returned to
Scotland after his long residence on the continent of
Europe, and his widow survived him for many years.
He was certainly married, however, prior to 1575,
for on September 14th, 1579, he left Aberdeen for
Edinburgh ' with this wife, barnis, and haill houssell,'
and we learn from the ' Registry of Births at Aberdeen '
(now in the Register House, Edinburgh) that the
baptism of his son WiUiam is entered under date
October 9th, 1575. From the Sasines and Commissary
Records of Edinburgh we gather that, in addition to
this son, other chUdren were born, but their Christian
names we have not been able to ascertain. ' His hail
bairnes are to remain in household with thair mother
while (tiU) thair marriage with parties honest,' and that
some of these ' bairnes ' were males we know, for in the
Burgh Sasine under date 16th August 1594, WiUiam is
mentioned as 'the eldest son.' The inventory of his
effects amounted to £222, 13s. 4d., and the debts owing
to him at the time of his decease amounted to £1100.
He left aU his books to his son Wilham, and 100 merks
to 'the Hospital of Edinburgh.' The mother and
eldest son were appointed executors of the wiU, but
they were requested to take the advice of their relative
Thomas Craig, advocate. We may say a few words about
this latter. A man of influence in his time, he was held
in the highest esteem. A poet, an accomplished scholar,
a great jurist, he was offered a Knighthood by King
James, but, though he refused the honour, his sovereign
said he was always to be addressed as Sir Thomas, and
2C

392 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH •
he is frequently so styled in documents of the time
and later. As a young man he studied and graduated
B.A. at St Andrews University, and then proceeded for
further study to the Continent, but, on his uncle John
Craig's returning to Scotland in 1560, he put himself in
his hands for further instruction, and between nephew
and uncle there was, for the rest of their hves, the
closest and most confidential relations. Thomas Craig
was a sincere Presbyterian, and gave valuable help to
the Church. William, already mentioned, the son of
the reformer, was a graduate of Edinburgh University
and became a regent there. Crawford, in his History
of that University, characterises him as ' a very able
and gracious boy.' He afterwards became a Professor
of Theology at Saumur. There was close friendship
between him and the great scholar Boyd of Trochrig.
Returning to Scotland, he died at Edinburgh in 1616.
His mother, ' Dame Craig,' survived him by fourteen
years, and she survived her husband by thirty, dying
in the year 1630.
We are glad to say that a portrait exists of the subject
of this biography. It is a painting in oils, and is in
possession of Sir H. T. Gibson-Craig, Bart, of Riccarton.
The portrait conveys the idea of a large man, broad
shouldered and tall. The face is a good one — fuU,
strong, calm, inteUectual — with beard and moustache
somewhat of the Charles I. type. The hair of the
head is abundant, reaching down almost to the shoulders,
and is brushed back, undivided, from the forehead.
The dress is that of a Scottish clergyman of the period
— black robe, wide white-tasseUed collar, and white
cuffs turned over the sleeves of the cassock or jacket
at the wrist. We have also seen a portrait of his nephew
Sir Thomas Craig, prefixed to his Life, and there is a
decided family likeness between the two men. It may

JOHN CRAIG 393
be added that John Craig is the only one of the reformers,
treated of in this volume, of whom a portrait is known
to exist, with the exception, of course, of Knox, whose
' vera imago ' appears in the Icones of Beza.
We close this chapter with the following estimate,
or appreciation, of John Craig in the words of three
weU-known Scotsmen — the first, a man about his
own age, and intimately associated with him at
the commencement of his pubhc career in Scotland ;
the second, a man much younger in years, but
who also knew him, and was intimately acquainted
with the later events of his life ; and the third, a well-
known Scottish historian of last century. The first is
John Knox, and his words (which occur in his History),
brief but pregnant, are : ' that worthy servant of God
Mr John Craig, that worthy minister ' ; the second is
Archbishop Spottiswood, who says, ' This man whilst he
hved was held in good esteem, a great divine and ex
ceUent preacher, of a grave behaviour, sincere, inclining
to no faction, and, which increased his reputation, living
honestly, without ostentation or desire for outward
glory ' ; the third is Patrick Fraser Tytler who, in his
Life of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton, pays a high
tribute to the elder Craig, remarking that he exercised
' a pecuhar influence upon the mind of the youthful
scholar through his profound learning . . . the simplest
manner and a spirit of piety which no personal dangers
could shake ... he was a man of great learning as a
divine, and eloquence as a preacher ; sincere and
vigorous in his opposition to the government which
threatened to injure the real interests of religion, but
refusing his concurrence in designs which were dictated
by a mean and unreasonable jealousy of the throne,
and attempted to be carried out by open defiance of
its authority.'

394 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
John Knox and Andrew MelviUe are the outstanding
names which popularly represent the great times of
struggle between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism;
and Presbytery and Episcopacy, in this Scotland of
ours in the sixteenth century ; but John Craig hved
through both these conflicts and played a prominent
part in them. In no smaU measure we are indebted
to him for those principles and that polity which now
prevail in the Scottish Church. An advocate and a
promoter of truth and hberty, he was a builder and
leader of the Reformed Church ; a good, and we may
say, a great man, he was faithful and eager in duty,
brave and ready in action, wise and temperate in counsel ;
and the career of even John Knox himself was scarcely
more varied, romantic, and eventful. Few lives indeed
have surpassed that of Craig in variety of scene, variety
of important personages wbom it touched — witness the
Emperor Maximilian II. , Mary, Queen of Scots, and
James VI. — and variety of incidents when a nation's
history was being made ; and its romance, its influence,
and its usefulness we have endeavoured to teU in these
pages for the benefit of all who wish to be acquainted
with the noble efforts and undying achievements of
our Scottish Reformers.1 1 See Notes 4 and 5.

APPENDIX NOTE i
CRAIG'S SPEECH AT THE KNOX-LETHrNGTON DEBATE
' At last Mr Johne Craig, fellow-minister with Johne Knox
in the Kirk of Edinburgh, wes requyreit to gif his jugement
and vote, who said, " I will glaidlie schaw unto your Honouris
what I understand ; but I gritlie doubt whidder my knawlege
and conscience sail satisfy you, seeing that ye haif heard so
monie ressounis and ar so lyttil moved be thaime. But yit I
sail nocht conceill from you my jugement, adhering first to
the protestation of my Brother, to wit, That our voitting pre
judge nocht the lybertie of the Generall Assembly. I wes (said
he) in the Universitie of Bononia,1 in the yeir of God 1554,
whair, in the place of the Blak-Freiris of the same toune, I saw
in the tyme of thair Generall Assembhe this conclusion set furth :
This same I heard ressoned, determined, and concludit : —
" CONCLUSIO
" 'Principes omnes, tam supremi, quam inferiores, possunt
et debent reformari, vel deponi per eos, per quos eliguntur,
confirmantur, vel admittuntur ad ofncium, quoties a fide pras-
stita subditis per juramentum deficiunt : Quoniam relatio jura-
menti subditorum et principum mutua est, et utrinque aequo
jure servanda etreformanda, juxta legem etconditionemjuramenti
ab utraque parte facti.' That is ' All Reuleres, be thay supreame
or be thay inferiour, may and aucht to be reformed or deposed
be thame be whom thay ar chosin, confirmed, or admitted to
thair office, as oft as thay brak that promeis maid be the oath to
thair subjects : Becaus that thair Prince is no less bound be
oath to the subjects, then is the subjectis to thair Princeis, and
thairfoir aucht to be keipit and reformed equallie, according
1 The Latin name of Bologna. 396

396 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
to the law and conditioun of the oath that is maid of other
partie.' " This conclusion, my Lordis, I heard sustenit and concludit,
as I haif said, in ane moist notabill auditour. The sustenar
wes ane leirnit man, M. Thomas de Finola, the Rectour of the
Universitie, ane man famous in that cuntrie. Magister Vin-
centius de Placentia, affirmed the Conclusioun to be moist true
and certane, agreable boith with the law of God and man. The
occasioun of this Disputation and Conclusioun, wes ane certane
disordour and tyrannie that wes attempit be the Paipis Gover-
nouris, who began to mak innovationis in the cuntrie agains the
lawis that wer befoir estabhschit, alledging thame selfis nocht
to be subject to sick lawis be ressoune that they wer nocht
institute be the peopill, but be the Paip, who wes King of that
cuntrie ; and thairfoir thay haifing full commissioun and
authoritie of the Paip, mycht alter and change statuteis and
ordinanceis of the cuntrie, without all consent of the peopill.
Agains this [thair] usurped tyrannie, the leirnit and the peopill
opponeit thame selfis opinlie ; and when that all ressounis
whilk the Paipis Governouris could allege wer heard and con
futed, the Paip himself wes fane to tak up the maitter, and to
promeis to keip nocht onlie the libertie of the peopill, but also
that he suld nether abrogat onie law [or] statute, nether yit
mak onie new law without thair awin consent. And thairfoir,
my Lord [said he], my vote and conscience is, that Princes ar
nocht onhe bound to keip lawis and promeissis to thair subjects,
but also, that in cais they faill, thay justlie may be deposeit ;
for the band betwixt the Prince and the Peopill is reciproce ! "
' Then start [up] ane claw-back of that corrupt Court and said,
" Ye wat nocht what ye say ; for ye tell us that wes done in
Bononia ; we ar ane Kingdome and thai ar but ane Commoun-
welth." ' " My Lord," said he, " My jugement is, that everi Kingdom is,
or at leist, sould be ane Commounwelth, albeit that everi Com-
mounwelth be nocht ane Kingdom ; and thairfoir, I think, that
in ane Kingdom no less dylligence aucht to be taikin, that lawis
be nocht violatit, than is [in] ane Commounwelth ; becaus
that the tyrannie of Princeis who continwalhe rule in ane king
dom, is moir hurtfull to the subjectis, than is the misgovernment
of those that from yeir to yeir ar changit in fre Commounwelthis.
But yit, my Lordis, to assure you and all utheris farder, that
heid was disputed be the uttermoist ; and then, in the end, it

JOHN CRAIG 397
was concludit, that they spak nocht of sik thingis as wer done
in diverse kingdomis and natiounis be tyrranie and negligence
of peopill. But we conclude," said thai, " what aucht to be
done in all Kingdomis and Commounwelthis, according to the
law of God, and unto the just lawis of man ; and gif, be the
neghgence of the peopill, or be tyrannie of Princes, contrair
lawis haif bene maid, yit may that same peopill, or thair posteritie,
justlie craif all thingis to be reformed, according to the originall
institution of Kingis and Commounwelthis ; and sik as will
nocht [do] so, deserve to eit the fruit of thair awin folischness." '
— From Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland.

NOTE 2
CRAIG'S DEFENCE TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY IN THE MATTER
OF THE PROCLAMATION OF THE BANNS OF MARRIAGE BETWEEN
QUEEN MARY AND THE EARL OF BOTHWELL
' The General Assembhe of the Kirk, conveneit in Edinburgh,
in the Nether Tolbuith thereof, the 25 of December 1567. In
the quhilk were present Erles, Lords, Barrones, Superintendents,
Ministers, and Commissioners of Townes and Kirks. The in
vocation of God's name was made be Mr Johne Craig, ane of
the Ministers of Edinburgh. For eschewing of confusion, in
reasoning in this present Assemblie, was chosen Mr Johne
Row, minister of St Johnstoun (Perth) to be Moderator.'
It was at ' Sess 4a 30 Decembris ' that Craig was ' bruitit
for proclameing the bands betwixt the Queine and the Erl
Bothwell,' and his ' purgatioun . . . in wryte ' was as foUows : —
' To the end that all that feares God may understand my
proceidings in this matter, I sail shortlie declare what I did, and
what moved me to defend the same, leaving the finall judgement
of all things to the Kirk. First, be the requeist of Mr Thomas
Hepburne, in the Queen's name, to proclame her with my Lord
Bothwell, I plainhe refusit, becaus he had not her hand-wryte ;
and also [because of] the commoun bruite that my Lord had
both ravischt her and keepit her in captivitie. Upon Wedinsday
nixt, the Justice-Clerk brought me ane wrytrng subscryvit with
her hand, bearing in effect, that scho was neither ravischt nor
yitt deteanit in captivitie, and therefor chargit me to proclame.
My answer was, I durst proclame no baunds (and chieflie suche)

398 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
without consent and command of the Kirk. Upon Thurseday
nixt, the Kirk after long reasoning with the Justice-Clerk, and
amangst the brethrein, concludit, that the Quein's mynde
schould be pubhshit to her subjectis, the three nixt preaching
dayes ; but becaus the Generall Assembhe had prohibited all
sic marriages, we protestit, that we wold neither solemnize
nor yitt approve that marriage, but wald onlie declare the
Princes [Princess's] mynde to the counsellors, approvers, and
performers of the mariage. And so, upon Fryday nixt, I
declarit the haill mynde and progresse of the Kirk, desyreing
everie man, in God's name, to discharge his conscience before
the Secreet Counsell ; and to give boldnes to others. I desyrit
of the lords ther present tyme and place to speeke my judge
ment before the parteis ; protesting, if I were not heard and
satisfied, I either wald desist frome proclaiming, or els declare
my mynde publicklie before the Kirk. Therefor, being admittit
after noone before my lord fn the Counsell, I laid to his charge
the law of adulterie, the ordinance of the Kirk, the law of ravisching,
the suspicioun of collusioun betwixt him and his wife, the sudden
divorcement and proclaming within the space of four dayes,
and last, the suspitioun of the King's death, which her marriage
wald confirme. But he ansuerit nothing to my satisfactioun,
quherfor after many exhortatiouns, I protestit that I could not
but declare my mynde publicklie to the Kirk. Thairfor upon
Sonday after I had declared quhat they had done and how they
wald proceed quhether we wald or not, I tooke heavin and earth
to witnes that I abhorrit and detestit that mariage, becaus it
was odious and slanderous to the world ; and, seeing the best
part of the realme did approve it, either be flatterie or be their
silence, I desyrit the faithfull to pray earnestlie that God wald
turn it to the comfort of this realme that thing quhilk they
intended agains reasoun and good conscience, And, becaus I
heard some persons ganging against me, I usit thir reasouns for
my defends — First, I had brokin no law be proclaming of thir
persons at their requeist ; Secundhe, if their marriage was
slanderous and hurtfull, I did weill, forewarning all men of it
in tyme, Thirdlie, as I had of deutie declarit to them the Princes
[Princess's] will, so did I faithfullie teache them, be word and
example, what God craveit of them. But upon Tuesday nixt,
I was callit befor the Counsell, and acuseit, that I had past the
bounds of my commissioun, calling the Princes [Princess] her

JOHN CRAIG 399
marriage odious and slanderous before the world, I ansuerit,
The bounds of my commissioun quhilk was, the Word of God,
guid lawes, and naturall reasoun, were able to prove whatsoever
I spake ; yea, that their awn conscience could not but beare
witnes that sic a mariage wald be odious and scandalous to all
that soulde heare of it, if all the circumstances thereof were
righthe considerit. But quhill I was coming to my probatioun
my Lord put me to silence, and sent me away. And so, upon
Wedinsday, I first repeatit and ratified all things befor spoken,
and after exhortit the brethrein not to accuse me, if that
mariage proceidit, bot rather themselves, who wold not, for
feare, oppone themselves, but rather sharpit their tongues
against me, becaus I admonished them of their duetie, and I
sufferit not the cankerit consciences of hypocrites to sleip at
rest ; protesting at all tymes to them, that it was not my pro
claming, bot rather their silence that gave anie lawfulnesse to
that mariage : For as the proclaming did take all excuse fra
them, so my privie and publick impugnatioun did save my
conscience sufficientile ; And this farre I proceidit in this
mariage, as the Kirk of Edinburgh, Lords, Erles, and Barons,
will beare me witnes.
' Now, seeing I have been shamefullie slaunderit both [in
England and] Scotland, by wrong informatioun, and false
report of them that hatit my ministrie, I desyre, first, the
judgement of the Kirk ; and nixt, the same to be publishit,
that all men may understand quhether I be worthie of sic
ane bruite or not.' — From The Booke of the Universall Kirk
of Scotland.

NOTE 3
CRAIG'S LETTER ON SUBSCRIBING THE BOND, I584
The following is the Letter, as preserved by Calderwood,
and it seems a wise, conciliatory, and brave document. The
appendix, or postscript, shows that it was sent out with the
approval of the King : —
' Brethrein, after my verie heartilie commendatiouns, I
doubt not but ather yee have heard, or will heare shortlie, how
Johne Duncansone and I have subscrived the obhgatioun of
obedience unto the King's Majestie and Commissioners, accord
ing to the Act of Parliament. Wherof, becaus smister reports

400 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
may passe, both of the King's Majestie commanding, and us
obeying, I thought good to make you privie to the samine. It
hath pleased his Majestie to grant to Johne Duncanson and
me, to confer with himself privilie, and therafter with my lords
the Erie of Arran and Secretarie, his Majestie being present in
the cabinet. Where, after reasouns heard and propound on
every side, in end, two heeds were agreed upon : First, that
our subscriptioun was nather sought to be allowance, ather of
the Acts of Parliament, or of the state of the bishops, but to
be" a testimonie of our obedience to his Majestie : Nixt it was
not craved, but according to the Word of God, and, therefore,
our obhgatioun conteaneth nothing but our obedience to the
King's Majestie his lawes and commissioners, according to the
Word of God. Which two heeds are so reasonable, that no
man can refuse the samine, who loveth God or the quietness of
the Kirk or common weale. Therefore, I pray you, to shew
this to the brethrein whom yee may advertise, ather by word
or by writt ; that they being informed of the good meaning of
his Majestie may be conformable to the samine, to the end that
the Evangell, having free passage with quietnesse and peace,
evill affected persons, who of the schisme of the Kirk or commoun-
wealth make their advantage, may be frustrated of their
expecta tioun.'
' Rex,
' We declare by these presents, that this letter within con-
teaned was written with our knowledge, and directed at our
command, to certifie aU men of our good meaning, that none
sould have occasion to doubt of the same.'

NOTE 4
memorial brass tablet in st giles'
' 1512 John Craig 1600
' For many years a Dominican Friar who, in Italy, embraced
the Reformed Faith, and was by the Inquisition at Rome
condemned to be burnt. Escaping to his native country, he
became Assistant to John Knox at St Giles' and Minister of the
King's Household. He was the author of the King's Confession

JOHN CRAIG 401
or National Covenant of 158 1. He died in Edinburgh in his
eighty-ninth year.'
There is also a Memorial Window to Craig (with other
Reformers) in the Banqueting Hall of Edinburgh Castle.

NOTE 5
LATIN EPITAPH
There is to be found in the autograph MS. of unpublished
poems by Professor John Johnston of St Andrews (1570-1612),
the following first rude sketch of an epitaph on Craig : —
Joannes Rupanus sive Craigius
Ecclesiastes primum Abredonensis
Deinde Regius. Cui S.P.Q.
Abredonensis nomine hunc tumulum
Inscripsi — qui Doctor quondam meus
Obiit, 12 Dec. anno Christi 1590 (1600)
Aetatis 89.
The ' Doctor meus,' of course, means ' my teacher.' Principal
Story in his Lecture styles him Dr Craig, but does not mention
why he gives him the doctorate. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Knox's History.
Row's History.
Calderwood's History.
Spottiswood's History.
Leslie's History.
Keith's History.
Bannatyne's Memoriales.
Diurnal of Occurrents.
Booke of the Universall Kirk.
James Melville's Diary.
Sir James Melville's Memoirs.
Law's Craig's Catechism.
Ane Short Catholic Catechisme. Scottish Text Society.
Marwick's Extracts from the Records ofthe Burgh of Edinburgh.
Wodrow's Miscellany.
Tytler's Life of Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton.

402 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH
Hume of Godscroft's History of the House of Douglas and Angus.
Hew Scott's Fasti Ecclesice Scoticance.
Bain's Calendar of State Papers.
Register of the Privy Council of Scotland.
Hay Fleming's Mary Queen of Scots.
M'Crie's Knox.
M'Crie's Melville.
Chambers's Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen.
Anderson's The Scottish Nation.
Grub's Ecclesiastical History of Scotland.
Hume Brown's History of Scotland.
HiU Burton's History of Scotland.
Dictionary of National Biography. Art. ' Craig,' by Prof. IEneas
Mackay, LL.D.
Encyclopcedia Britannica. Art. ' Craig,' by Prof. Albert F. Pollard,
M.A., F.R. Hist. Soe.
Scottish Historical Review, vol. hi. 58, vol. xii. 278-9 and note.
Lecture on John Craig, D.D., by Rev. Robert Herbert Story, D.D.,
Minister of Rosneath (privately printed in 1884).
Sprott's Scottish Liturgies.
Sprott's Book of Common Order (Knox's Liturgy).
Law's Collected Essays and Reviews.

POSTSCRIPTUM
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON JOHN WILLOCK
Besides the six letters of Willock referred to in Chapter IIL,
there are five to be found in Bain's Calendar of State Papers.
Four of these are to Cecil and one to Randolph, and they seem
to indicate the influential position held by this Scottish Reformer,
corresponding as he does with men of such high standing. The
letters deal with the unsettled state of affairs generaUy in Scot
land, and more particularly with ' Irishe ' troubles in the
west country, and the ' stubborne ' attitude of many of the
nobles towards the Regency. But what most concerns us are
two aUusions to Loughborough and the " parsonage ' or ' ad-
vouison ' there. WiUock was anxious to retain the hving,
though non-resident (his duties in Scotland being pressing), and
he asks Cecil to arrange the matter. In the same Calendar of
State Papers we have a letter from Randolph to Cetil, strongly
supporting WiUock's request, the writer hoping that the Enghsh
statesman will be ' a mean to her Majesty [Queen Elizabeth] for
her gracious license to him to enjoy ' the same, Willock being
willing to find ' a sufficient man to discharge his duty.' Ran
dolph further states that WUlock does not wish any of the
emoluments whUe his locum tenens does the work — ' the
revenues ' (doubtless after paying the substitute) to go ' to
Godly uses.' We may be sure the request was granted, as the
alternative s.semed to be ' a papish priest ' getting the living
' to the great slander of the Queen's Godly proceedings.' This
letter of Randolph shows the writer's high regard for WiUock as
friend and patriot. The last of the letters (to Cecil, of date
July 8th, 1568) has an important reference to the EngUsh in
cumbency, for WiUock there says : ' Touching my own state,
I have easilie obteaned license of the whoUe, as weU Regent as
Churche, to returne to my old rowme in Loughborowe, whereof
I praise God.' John WUlock's heart seems to have been there.
In this same letter he thus speaks of the Earl of Moray : ' The
Lord Regent myndeth verrey weU— as weU towardes rehgion as
iustice— God grant him power to performe.'
J 403

INDEX

Aberdeen, 108, 336, 368, 375.
Adamson, Archbishop Patrick, 205,
206, 207, 332, 338, 379.
Adamson, Elizabeth, 61, 69.
Alane (Alesius), 29, 169, 309, 316.
Alva, Duke of, 51, 88.
Andrews, St, 55, 102, 103, 106, 107,
116, 117, 124, 166, 167, 174, 175,
182, 183, 195, 204, 216, 316, 337,
340, 35°-
A ne Forme of Examination, 376.
Arbroath, 95, 342.
Arbuckle, Friar, 174, 218.
Argyll, Countess of, 50, 291.
Argyll, Earl of, 23, 63, 109, 144,
286, 309.
Arnold, Matthew, 38.
Arran, Earl of, 61, 62, 109, 146, 184,
228, 282.
Assembly, First General, 33, 44, 46,
Assembly, Latin spoken in General,
367-
Atholl, Earl of, 248, 249.
Ayr, 22, 96, 127, 130, 131, 145.
Ayrshire, 22, 60, 119, 130, 132.
Aytoun, Professor, 234.
Aytoun of Kinaldy, John, 194.

B

Ballingry, 192-193-
Ballochmyle, 60.
Balnaves, Henry, 137, 176-
Bancroft, Bishop, 42.
Bannatyne, Richard, 69, 117, J58,
199, 204, 297.
Barlow, Bishop, IS9, 164.
Barnweil, 5.

Barr, 22.
Barron, James, 6l.
Bassinden, Thomas, 237.
Beaton, Archbishop, 132, 136, 147,
148, 34C
Beaton, Cardinal, 9, 67, 68, 93, 140,
167, 169, 171, 173, 189, 232, 282,
284, 317, 3l8-
Beggars Summons, 82.
Bernard, Saint, 84.
Berwick, 119, 138.
Beza, Theodore, 316, 321, 393.
Black, Friar John, 149, 150.
' Black Acts, The,' 381-384.
Bodin, Jean, 74.
Bologna, 98, 351, 352, 354, 395.
Borthwick, Sir John, 188-190.
Bothwell, Earl of, 61, 62, 77, 362,
397-
Bothwell, Francis Stewart, Earl of,
387, 388.
Bowes, Mrs, 70, 71, 133.
Bowes, Marjory (wife of John Knox),
71, 125.
Boyd, Lord, 132, 146.
Brand, John, 186, 337.
Brown, Dr Hume, vi, 33, 104, 130,
185, 361.
Bucer, 352.
Buchanan, George, 3, 31, 58, 89,
202, 208, 242, 262, 286, 312, 314,
324. 332-
Buckle, 87.
Bullinger, 133, 134, 138, 145,
240.
Burghley (Cecil), Lord, 51, 58, 1 19,
157. 184. 361, 3^3. 4°3-
Burleigh, Lord Balfour of, 332.
Burne, Nicol, 71, 151, 152, 171, 326.
Burns, Robert, 17, 48, 60, 97.
Burton, Hill, vii, 4, 75, 94, 116,
234. 315- 405

406 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

Caird, Principal, 53.
Calderwood, David, 26, 124, 142,
166, 176, 202, 253, 292, 326, 327,
33i> 388.
Calvin, John, 4, 28, 31, 34, 40, 66,
80, 85, 91, 93, 114, 300, 316, 350,
352.
Campbell of Kinzeancleuch, Robert,
59-
Carberry Hill, 306.
Carlyle, Thomas, vi, 6, 29, 42, 66,
123, 239.
Carnell, 22.
Carsweil, John, 167.
Casket Letters, The, 157.
Cassilis, Earl of, 153.
Catechism, Archbishop Hamilton's,
177, 180-182.
Catechism, Craigs', 374-376.
Cecil (see Lord Burghley).
Chalmers of Gadgirth, James, 22, 57.
Chaplains, Royal, 370.
Charles I., 123, 239, 293.
Charles II., 373.
Chateaubriand, 94.
Chatelherault, Duke of, 63, 72, 140,
146, 153, 186, 200, 296, 366.
Christison, William, 167.
Columba, St, 119.
Colville of Cleish, Robert, 224, 234.
Confession of Faith, 17, 24, 32, 156,
167, 184, 185, 238, 288.
Cooper, Professor, viii, 135.
Covenant, National, or ' King's Con
fession,' 373, 374, 401.
Craig, John, 186, 200, 350-402.
Craig, Thomas, advocate, 391, 392,
393-
Cranmer, Archbishop, 282, 315, 316.
Cranston, Principal William, 317.
Crofts, Sir James, 86.
Cromwell, Oliver, 83, 84, 90, 117,
239-
Crossraguel, 95, 97, 136, 171.
Cuthbert's Church, Saint, Edinburgh,
313-

Dacre, Lord, 351.
Darnley, Lord, 4, 52, 127, 197, 198,
246, 263, 285, 364.

D'Aubigny, Lord (Duke of Lennox,
etc.), 371, 372, 373. 384. 385-
Davidson, Professor A. B., 235, 236.
Davidson, John, 331.
Dieppe, 4, 74, 1 14, 119.
Discipline, First Book of, 19, 32, 45,
48, 54, 85, 90, 91, 93, 102, 103,
104, 157, 167, 185, 187, 238, 288,
301.
Discipline, Second Book of, 45, 84,
238, 334, 366.
Dorset Marquis of, 133, 134, 138.
Douglas, John, 146, 168, 169, 171,
186, 199, 203, 205, 206, 299, 300,
308-349.
Douglas, Sir George, 65.
Dryburgh, 106.
Dunblane, 226, 310.
Duncanson, John, Principal and
Royal Chaplain, 370, 390, 399.
Dundee, 109, 140.
Dunkeld, no, 310.
Durie, John, 235, 249, 382.
E
Ecclesice Scoticance Statuta, 68, in,
176, 181, 221.
Edinburgh, 23, 58, no, 122, 126,
138, 140, 141, 143, 145, 208, 233,
249> 337. 357. 362, 369, 389, 391.
Edward VI. , 21, 61, 132.
Edward VI., Prayer Book of, 26, 28,
141.
Elgin, 108.
Elizabeth, Queen, 51, 72, 73, 77, 122,
137. I57-I58.
Elphinstone, Bishop, 333.
Emden, 135, 138, 159.
Erasmus, 12, 99, 170, 180.
Erskine of Dun, John, 22, 58, 60, 79,
•38, 145. !67, 202, 306, 314, 324,
334, 382.
Eusebius III., Pope, 170.
Exhorters, 146, 269.

Ferguson, David, minister of Dun
fermline, 108, 167
Finlayston, 22.
First Blast of the Trumpet, etc., 4, 72,
74-

INDEX

407

Fleming, Dr Hay, 71 (note), 108,
122, 190, 336.
Fleming, Lady, 72.
Flodden, 281, 350.
Forfarshire, 22.
Forrest, David, 60.
Foxe, John, martyrologist, 133, 176,
182.
Frankfort, 114.
Friesland (Emden), Duchess of, 135,
136-
Froude, 12, 51, 118.

Gadgirth, 22, 57.
Gait, John, 64, 65.
Geneva, I, 21, 55, 90, 91, 119, 140.
Gesta Romanorum, 7.
Giles', Saint, Edinburgh, 23, 75, 1 10,
in, 139. 142, 356, 357, 3^4, 367,
368, 371, 386, 400.
Gladstone, W. E., 178.
Glasgow, 107, 130, 145, 147.
Glencairn, Earl of, 22, 61, 132, 146,
262, 283, 315.
Goodman, Christopher, 167, 226, 359.
Gordon, Bishop Alexander, 182.
Gouda, Nicolas de, 10, 194.
Gowrie Conspiracy, 245.
Green, J. R., 54.
Gregory XIII., Pope, 122.
Grey, Lady Jane, 132, 145.
Greyson, John, 181, 182.
Grab, church historian, 151, 176, 187.
Gude and Godlie Ballatis, 20.
Guthrie, Lord, 18, 254.

H
Hailes, Lord, 177, 179-
Hallam, 105.
Hamilton, Archbishop, 52, 101, 157,
173, 177, 178, 179, 184, 185, 186,
317. 34°, 35°- TJ
Hamilton, Archibald, 344, 345-
Hamilton, John, 355, 390.
Hamilton, Patrick, 19, 166, 172,
316.
Hamilton, Robert, 324, 342, 344,345-
Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, 297.
Harlaw, William, 138, 151, 3*3-
2D

Hastie, Professor, 40.
Hay, Archibald, 9, 318.
Henry VIII., 51, 76, 132.
Hepburn, Archbishop, 309, 310.
Heriot, Adam, 167, 171.
' Hildebrandism,' Presbyterian, 44.
Holyrood, 72, 107, 370.
Howe, John, 160.
Hume of Godscroft, 331, 382.
Huntingdon, Earl of, 135 (note), 158,
160, 163.
Huntly, Earl of, 142, 389.

/cones, Beza's, 393.
Iona, 119.
Irving, Edward, 376.

J

James I., 11.
James IV., 284.
James V., 8, n, 43, 188, 189, 196
223, 282, 333.
James VI., 11, 27, 33, 34, 77, 123,
195, 203, 237, 239, 253, 290, 292,
307, 334, 338, 363, 369, 371, 373,
380, 383, 384, 387, 389.
Jedburgh, 49, 106, 167.
Johnston, Professor, 164, 212, 253,
401,
Julius III., Pope, 229, 318, 340.

K
Keith, Bishop, 148, 150, 176, 184,
240.
Kelso, 106.
Kennedy, Alexander, martyr, 281.
Kennedy, Abbot Quintin, 96, 97,
100, 136, 171, 288.
Kethe, William, 19.
Kilmacolm, 22.
' King's Confession, The ' (National
Covenant), 373, 374-
Kinzeancleuch, 22, 60.
Kirkcaldy of Grange, 57, 121, 127,
141, 190, 199, 200, 201, 297, 364
365, 366.

408 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

Kirkoswald, 5.
Knox, John, 1-129, 133, 137, 138,
139, 140, 141, 150, 151, 154, 157,
158, 161, 167, 168, 171, 172, 174,
183, 186, 201, 226, 234, 239, 242,
247, 274, 282, 283, 296, 297, 314,
332, 339, 357, 359, 362, 365, 393,
395, 400.

Laing, Dr David, 9 (note), 176,
308, 333-
Lambeth Conference, 39.
Lang, Andrew, 13, 59, 69, in,
316.
Langside, Battle of, 78, 291, 293.
La Rochelle, 1 14.
Latimer, Bishop, 76.
Laud, Archbishop, 42.
Lauder, John, 67, 215.
Law, Dr T. Graves, 162, 179, 372,
375-
Lawson, James, 298, 312, 379, 386,
387-
Lee, Principal, 212, 308, 320, 340.
Lee, Professor Robert, 29.
Leicester, Earl of, 158.
Leith, 142, 143, 298, 348, 376.
Leith Convention, 202, 299.
Leith, Father Forbes, 13, 100.
Lennox, Earl of, 284, 285.
Leslie, Bishop, 11, 125, 149, 162,
35°-
Lindsay, David, minister at Leith,
167, 289, 298, 371.
Lindsay, Principal, 86.
Lindesay, Robert (Pitscottie), 117,
139, 172, 215, 338, 348.
Linlithgow, 149, 382.
Liturgy, Knox's, 25, 27, 28.
Locke, Mrs, 70, 183.
Logie, Gavin, 166.
Loretto, 223, 262.
Lorraine, Cardinal of, 77, 263.
Loughborough, 135, 159, 162/403.
Louvain, 98, 316.
Luther, Martin, 5, 10, 21, 31, 43,
85, 91, "4, 3°°, 3°3, 3i6.
Lyndsay, Sir David, 7, 8, 67, 108,
120, 169, 176, 224, 333-

M
Macaulay, Lord, 241.
MacEwen, Professor, 31, 104.
Maclaren, Ian, 46.
M'Crie, Dr Thomas, 64 (note), 140,
176, 177, 178, 211, 212, 227
(note), 234, 377, 383-
M'Crie, Dr Thomas, junior, 361.
M'Crie, Dr Charles G. 374.
Maitland, Dr F. W., I, 73.
Maitland of Lethington, 32, 33, 57,
58, 59 (and note), 66, 137, 185,
199, 201, 247, 360, 366, 389, 395.
Maitland of Thirlestane, Sir John,
389-
Major, John, 99, 173, 180, 281.
Mar, Earl of, 23, 61, 105, 286, 334.
Margaret, Queen, 98.
Marischal, Earl, 144.
Martyr, Peter, 26, 311.
Mary, Queen of Scots, 2, 27, 33, 58,
63, 74, 76, 77, 87, 104, 113, 116,
"9, 144, 152, 153, 197, 239, 242,
246, 282, 285, 288, 291, 292, 306,
362, 372, 397-
Mary of Lorraine, Queen Regent,
16, 55, 56, 62, 64, 72, 78, 116,
135, 142, 143, 144, 145, 149, 195,
263.
Mary I., Queen of England, 72, 115,
135-
Mathieson, Wm. Law, 34, 42, 108.
Maxwell, Robert, master of Glasgow
Grammar School, 149.
Maxwell, Sir Wm. Stirling-, 92.
Maybole, 95.
Medici, Catherine de, 72.
Melanchthon, 189, 316.
Melrose, 106, 113.
Melville, Andrew, 3, 33, 34, 42, 84,
89, 212, 236, 247, 311, 381, 394.
Melville, James, 16, 18, 61, 68, 235,
252,311,315,339,382,387.
Melville, Sir James, 158.
Melville, John, 191.
Methven, Paul, 49 et seq., 167, 313.
Metrical Psalms, 379.
Milton, John, I, 81.
Mitchell, Professor, 84, 178, 179,
308, 315.
Moffat, Professor, 29.
Montrose, 16, 2c, 59.

INDEX

409

Moray, Earl of (Lord James Stewart),
vi, 19, 23, 52, 61, 63, 88, 109,
139, 144, 158, 170, 184, 185, 195,
196, 232, 237, 247, 286, 296, 315,
317, 388, 403.
Moray, The Bonnie Earl of, 388,
389.
Morton, Earl of, 61, 75, 120, 158,
183, 202, 203, 204, 205, 247, 308,
327, 331, 332, 334-*
Myln, Abbot Alexander, 44.
Mylne, Walter, 182. N
Newman, Cardinal, 84.
Norfolk, Duke of, 158.
Northumberland, Duke of, 25, 61.
O
Obert, Saint, 266, 267.
Ochiltree, Lord, 22, 60, 61, 71, 132,
146, 380.
Ogilvie, John, Jesuit missionary, 52.
Orders, ordination, etc., 25, 46, 151,
152, 180, 241.

Parkhurst, Bishop, 133.
Pater Noster Controversy, 175-176.
Patrick, Dr David, 68, in, 176,
181, 221.
Paul III., Pope, 318.
Paul IV., Pope, 10, 229, 353.
Peebles, 147, 148.
Perth, 109, 132, 154, 233, 237, 248,
263, 268, 284, 331.
Philip II. , 76, 372.
Pius IV., Pope, 357.
Pole, Cardinal, 76, 351.
Pollen, Father, 59 (note), 78, 194.
Pont, Robert, 202, 386.
Portmoak, 196, 197, 208.
Provincial Councils, 175, 177, 1°l>

R
Raid of Ruthven, 384.
Rainy, Principal, 38, 123.
Rait, Professor, 61.

Randolph, Thomas, 58, 119, 146,
184, 185, 361, 403.
Readers, 141, 146, 250, 264, 269.
Ridley, Bishop, 4, 26.
Rizzio, David, 93, 120, 198, 361.
Rollock, Principal, 233.
Rotuli Scotia, 100.
Row, John, 79, 167, 168, 223-271,
297, 315-
Row, John, secundus, 32, 230, 233,
243, 257, 299 (note), 354, 390.
Row, John, tertius, 259.
Row, William, 253, 255.
Row, William, secundus, 261.
' Rubric, The Black,' 26.
Ruskin, 70, 107.
Russell, Jerome, martyr, 281.
Rutherfurd, John, Provost and Prin
cipal, 204, 330, 335.
Ruthven, Lord, 63, 79, no, 146,
244, 245, 255, 265.
Ruthven, Raid of, 384.

Sadler [ot Sadleyr) Papers, 137, 283.
Sandilands, Sir James, 23, 57, 285.
Savonarola, 66, 91.
Scholarship of the Reformers, 3-4,
313-316.
Sciennes (Siena), 225.
Scott, Rev James, of Perth, vii, 263,
383.
Scott, Sir Walter, II, 65, 107, 113,
"7,356.
Sempill, Robert, 206.
Serf, Saint, 221.
Sermoneta, Cardinal, 10, 107, 228.
Servetus, 91, 93.
Seton, Lord, 139, 300.
Settlement, Revolution, 34.
Sforza, Cardinal, 229.
Sharp, Archbishop, 52.
Skene, William, 335, 344, 345-
Smeaton, Principal Thomas, 1 18.
Solway Moss, 282.
Spottiswood, John, 149, 154, 167,
171, 272-307, 315.-
Spottiswood, Archbishop, 52, 58, 89,
107, 108, 143, 162, 167, 168, 175,
176, 229, 272, 292, 298, 301, 302,
3°3, 354, 39°, 393-

410 MAKERS OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH

Spottiswood, Bishop, 301, 306.
Stanley, Dean, 38, 170, 210, 211.
Stevenson, R. L., 18, 74.
Stewart, ArchbishopAlexander, 170.
Stewart, Captain James, Earl of
Arran, 364, 380 et seq., 385.
Stewart, Margaret, wife of JohnKnox,
71, 125.
Stirling, 203, 226, 243, 246, 268, 291,
336, 363> 37°, 37 1-
Suffolk, Duke of, 132, 134, 135, 145.
Sunday observance, 32.
Superintendents, 145, 146, 147, 243,
246, 273, 274.
Swinburne, 72, 75.
Syme, James, 60, 138.

Thornton, James, 231, 262.
The Maner to examine Children, 376.
The T-wa-Penny Faith or Godlie Ex
hortatioun, 179.
Torphichen, Lord, 23, 285.
Tout, Professor, 50.
Tytler, vii, 121, 125, 393.

U
Ulmis, John ab, 134, 138.
Union, Church, 35, 41.

United Free Church of Scotland, 35,
46, 55, 37°-
Urban VIII., Pope, 377.
W
Wallace, Adam, martyr, 176.
Wardlaw, Alexander, 192.
Watson, Peter, 192.
Wedderburn, The Brothers, 20.
Welsh, John, 36.
Whittier, in.
Wilkie, Sir David, 18.
Willock, John, 130-165, 167, 168,
171, 190,241, 272, 315, 403.
Wilson, Dean John, 182.
Wilson, President Woodrow, 36, 37.
Wingate (Winzet), Ninian, n, 16,
25, 149-
Winram, John, 154, 166-222, 297,
312, 327, 335, 343.
Winram, George (Lord Liberton),
169.
Wishart, George 166, 172, 173, 214,
316.
Witherspoon, Dr John, 36.
Wodrow, vii, 150, 180, 302, 307,
366, 374, 378.
Wycliffe, 100.

Zwingli, 80, 300.