[156] It has been often said, that this will was forged; but for such an assertion I cannot find the slightest evidence, except the declaration of Arran (Sadler's State Papers, Edinburgh, 1809, vol. i. p. 138), and the testimony, if testimony it can be called, of Scotch historians, who do not profess to have examined the handwriting, and who, being themselves Protestants, seem to suppose that the fact of a man being a cardinal, qualifies him for every crime. There is no doubt that Beaton was thoroughly unprincipled, and therefore was capable of the forgery. Still, we have no proof; and the will is such as we might have expected from the king. In regard to Arran, his affirmation is not worth the paper it is written on: for he hated Beaton; he was himself very unscrupulous; and he succeeded to the post which Beaton had to vacate on the ground that the will was forged. If such circumstances do not disqualify a witness, some of the best-established principles of evidence are false. The reader who cares to look further into this subject, may compare, in favour of the will being forged, Buchanan, Rerum Scoticarum Historia, lib. xv. p. 422, Abredoniæ, 1762; Knox's History of the Reformation, edit. Laing, Edinburgh, 1846, vol. i. pp. 91, 92; Irving's History of Dumbartonshire, second edition, 4to, 1860, p. 102; and, in favour of its being genuine, Lyon's History of St. Andrews, Edinburgh, 1843, vol. i. pp. 304, 305. Some other writers on the subject leave it doubtful: Tytler's History of Scotland, 1845, vol. iv. p. 274; Lawson's Roman Church in Scotland, 1836, p. 99; and a note in Keith's Church and State in Scotland, 1844, vol. i. p. 63.
[157] On the 26th of January 1542–3, ‘the said cardinall was put in pressoune in Dalkeith.’ A Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 26. See also, respecting his imprisonment, a letter written, on the 16th of March, by Angus and Douglas, in State Papers of Henry VIII., vol. v. p. 263. He was then in ‘firmance.’
[158] His appointment was confirmed by Parliament on the 12th of March. Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 411: ‘tutor lautfull to the quenis grace and gounour of this realme.’ He excluded the clergy from power. On 20th March, in the same year, Sir Ralph Sadler writes to Henry VIII., that Sir George Douglas ‘brought me into the council-chamber, where I found a great number of noblemen and others at a long board, and divers standing, but not one bishop nor priest among them. At the upper end of the board sat the governour.’ Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 78.
[159] Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 415, 419, 424, 423*; and Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 285.
[160] ‘Had become a convert to its doctrines.’ Tytler's Hist. of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 286. But he, as well as the other nobles, neither knew nor cared much about doctrines; and he was, moreover, very venal. In April 1543, Sir Ralph Sadler writes to Henry VIII.: ‘And the lord Maxwell told me apart, “That, indeed, he lacked silver, and had no way of relief but to your majesty;” which he prayed me to signify unto the same. I asked him what would relieve him? and he said, 300l.; “for the which,” he said, “as your majesty seemed, when he was with your grace, to have him in more trust and credit than the rest of your majesty's prisoners, so he trusted to do you as good service as any of them; and amongst them they will do you such service, as, if the war succeed, ye shall make an easy conquest of this realm; as for his part he shall deliver into your hands, at the entry of your army, the keys of the same on the west marches, being all the strongholds there in his custody.” I offered him presently to write to my lord of Suffolk for 100l. for him if he would; but he said, “he would stay till he heard again from your majesty in that behalf.”’ Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 165.
[161] Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 415, 425. Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 83. Knox, in his History of the Reformation (edit. Laing, vol. i p. 100), archly says, ‘The cleargy hearto long repugned; butt in the end, convicted by reassonis, and by multitud of votes in thare contrare, thei also condiscended; and so, by Act of Parliament, it was maid free to all man and woman to reid the Scriptures in thair awin toung, or in the Engliss toung; and so war all Actes maid in the contrair abolished.’
[162] Or, as Keith calls them, ‘English Lords.’ History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland, vol. i. p. 80.
[163] In May 1544 the English attacked Scotland, Tytler's History, vol. iv. p. 316; and in that same month, the ‘Anglo-Scottish party’ consisted only of the Earls of Lennox and of Glencairn, since even ‘Angus, George Douglas, and their numerous and powerful adherents, joined the cardinal.’ p. 319. As to the part taken by the Scotch clergy, see, in Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 173, a letter to Henry VIII., written on the 1st of May 1543: ‘And as to the kirk-men, I assure your majesty they seek the war by all the means they can, and do daily entertain the noblemen with money and rewards to sustain the wars, rather than there should be any agreement with your majesty; thinking, verily, that if peace and unity succeed, that they shall be reformed, and lose their glory, which they had rather die, and put all this realm in hazard, than they would forego.’ See also p. 184, note.
[164] Buchanan records a very curious conversation between the regent and Douglas, which, as I do not remember to have met with elsewhere, I shall transcribe. The exact date of it is not mentioned, but, from the context, it evidently took place in 1544 or 1545. ‘Ibi cum Prorex suam deploraret solitudinem, et se a nobilitate derelictum quereretur, Duglassius ostendit “id ipsius culpa fieri, non nobilium, qui et fortunas omnes et vitam ad publicam salutem tuendam conferrent, quorum consilio contempto ad sacrificulorum nutum circumageretur, qui foris imbelles, domi seditiosi, omniumque periculorum expertes alieni laboris fructu ad suas voluptates abuterentur. Ex hoc fonte inter te et proceres facta est suspitio, quæ (quòd neutri alteris fidatis) rebus gerendis maxime est impedimento.”’ Rerum Scoticarum Historia, lib. xv. p. 435. Buchanan was, at this time, about thirty-eight years old; and that some such conversation as that which he narrates actually took place, is, I think, highly probable, though the historian may have thrown in some touches of his own. At all events, he was too great a rhetorician to invent what his contemporaries would deem unlikely to happen; so that, from either point of view, the passage is valuable as an evidence of the deep-rooted hostility which the nobles bore towards the Church.
[165] Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 337. ‘The plot is entirely unknown either to our Scottish or English historians; and now, after the lapse of nearly three centuries, has been discovered in the secret correspondence of the State-paper Office.’ The first suggestion of the murder was in April 1544. See State Papers of Henry VIII., vol. v. p. 377, and the end of the Preface to vol. iv. But Mr. Tytler and the editor of the State Papers appear to have overlooked a still earlier indication of the coming crime, in Sadler's Papers. See, in that collection, vol. i. p. 77, a conversation, held in March 1543, between Sir Ralph Sadler and the Earl of Arran; Sadler being conducted by the Earl of Glencairn. On that occasion, the Earl of Arran used an expression concerning Beaton, the meaning of which Sir Ralph evidently understood. ‘“By God,” quoth he, “he shall never come out of prison whilst I may have mine own will, except it be to his farther mischief.” I allowed the same well’ (replied Sadler), ‘and said, “It were pity, but he should receive such reward as his merits did require.”’
[166] State Papers of Henry VIII., vol. v. p. 560. A Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 42. Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 221–223. Lindsay of Pitscottie (Chronicles, vol. ii. p. 484) relates a circumstance respecting the murder, which is too horrible to mention, and of which it is enough to say, that it consisted of an obscene outrage committed on the corpse of the victim. Though such facts cannot now be published, they are so characteristic of the age, that they ought not to be passed over in complete silence.
[167] Respecting which, two Scotch Protestant historians have expressed themselves in the following terms: ‘God admonished men, by this judgement, that he will in end be avenged upon tyranns for their crueltie, howsoever they strenthen themselves.’ Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. i. p. 224. And, whoever considers all the circumstances, ‘must acknowledge it was a stupendous act of the judgment of the Lord, and that the whole was overruled and guided by Divine Providence.’ Stevenson's History of the Church and State of Scotland, p. 38.
[168] Even the editor of M'Crie's Life of Knox, Edinburgh, 1841, p. xxxv., notices ‘the ill-timed merriment he displays in relating the foul deed’ of Beaton's murder.
[169] Shortly before his death, he said, with honest and justifiable pride, ‘What I have bene to my countrie, albeit, this vnthankfull aige will not knowe, yet the aiges to come wilbe compelled to bear witnes to the treuth.’ Bannatyne's Journal, Edinburgh, 1806. p. 119. Bannatyne was Knox's secretary. It is to be regretted that no good life of Knox should have yet been published. That by M'Crie is an undistinguishing and injudicious panegyric, which, by provoking a reaction of opinion, has damaged the reputation of the great reformer. On the other hand, the sect of Episcopalians in Scotland are utterly blind to the real grandeur of the man, and unable to discern his intense love of truth, and the noble fearlessness of his nature.
[170] Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. iv. pp. 374, 375. M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 27, 28. Lawson's Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, p. 154. Presbytery Displayed, 1663, 4to, p. 28. Shields' Hind let loose, 1687, pp. 14, 39, 638. In his History of the Reformation, edit. Laing, vol. i. pp. 177, 180, he calls it a ‘godly fact,’ and says, ‘These ar the workis of our God;’ which, in plain language, is terming the Deity an assassin. But, bad as this is, I agree with M'Crie, that there is no trustworthy evidence for deeming him privy to the murder. Compare, however, A Diurnal of Occurrents p. 42, with Lyon's History of St. Andrews, vol. ii. p. 364.
[171] M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 38, 43, 350. Argyll's Presbytery Examined, 1848, p. 19.
[172] M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 44, 71.
[173] Ibid. p. 99. As to the nobles, who received him, and heard him preach, see p. 102.
[174] ‘Influenced by motives which have never been fully comprehended, he departed to Geneva, where, for a time, he became pastor of a Protestant congregation.’ Russell's History of the Church in Scotland, 1834, vol. i. p. 193. M'Crie, who sees no difficulty, simply says, ‘In the month of July 1556, he left Scotland, and, having arrived at Dieppe, he proceeded with his family to Geneva.’ Life of Knox, p. 107.
[175] Knox, in his savoury diction, likens her appointment to putting a saddle on the back of a cow. ‘She maid Regent in the year of God 1554; and a croune putt upone hir head, als seimlye a sight (yf men had eis), as to putt a sadill upone the back of ane unrewly kow.’ I copy this passage from Mr. Laing's excellent edition of Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. i. p. 242; but in Watson's Historicall Collections of Ecclesiastick Affairs in Scotland, 1657, p. 73, there is a slightly different version. ‘“As seemly a sight,” saith John Knox, in the new gospel language, “as to put the saddle upon the back of an unruly sow.”’
[176] The Duke of Argyll, in his Presbytery Examined, p. 9, calls her ‘ambitious and intriguing.’ Not only, however, is she praised by Lesley (History, pp. 289, 290), which might have been expected, but even Buchanan does justice to her, in a passage unusually gracious for so Protestant and democratic a writer. ‘Mors ejus varie mentes hominum affecit. Nam et apud quosdam eorum, quibuscum armis contendit, non mediocre sui desiderium reliquit. Erat enim singulari ingenio prædita, et animo ad æquitatem admodum propenso.’ Buchanan, Rerum Scoticarum Historia, lib. xvi. p. 487.
[177] History of Scotland, book ii. p. 91, in Robertson's Works, 1831. Tytler's History, vol. v. pp. 22, 23. It appears, from Lesley (History, pp. 254, 255), that some of the nobles were in favour of this scheme, hoping thereby to gain favour. ‘Albeit sum of the lordis of the nobilitie for pleasour of the quene seamed to aggre thairto for the tyme, yit the barronis and gentill men was nathing content thairwith’ … ‘affirming that thair foirfatheris and predicessouris had defendit the samyn’ (i.e. the realm) ‘mony hundreth yeris, vailyeantlie with thair awin handis.’
[178] ‘It completed the almost despotic power of the house of Guise.’ Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. v. p. 27.
[179] This covenant, which marks an important epoch in the history of Scotland, is dated 3rd of December 1557. It is printed in Stevenson's History of the Church of Scotland, p. 47; in Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. i. pp. 326, 327; and in Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. i. pp. 273, 274.
[180] In 1558, ‘the lords of the congregation had sent agents through the kingdom to solicit the subscriptions of those who were friendly to a reformation.’ Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland, London, 1848, vol. i. p. 58.
[181] Keith (Affairs of Church and State in Scotland, vol. iii. p. 82) calls him ‘a trumpeter of rebellion,’ which he undoubtedly was, and very much to his credit too, though the courtly bishop imputes it to him as a fault. The Scotch, if it had not been for their rebellious spirit, would long since have lost their liberties.
[182] ‘He sailed from Dieppe on the 22nd of April 1559, and landed safely at Leith in the beginning of May.’ M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 139. Knox himself says, ‘the secound of Maij.’ History of the Reformation, edit. Laing, vol. i. p. 318. ‘He was called home by the noblemen that enterprised the Reformation.’ Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland, edit. Russell, vol. ii. p. 180.
[183] Penny's Traditions of Perth, p. 310. Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. i. pp. 321–323. Lyon's History of St. Andrews, vol. i. p. 329; and a spirited narrative in Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia, lib. xvi. pp. 471, 472. Some interesting circumstances are also preserved in Lesley's History, pp. 271, 272; but, though Lesley was a contemporary, he erroneously places the riot in 1558. He, moreover, ascribes to Knox language more inflammatory than that which he really used.
[184] Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. v. pp. 59, 62, 63. Of the Earl of Glencairn, Chalmers (Caledonia, vol. iii. p. 485) says, that he was a ‘religious ruffian, who enjoyed pensions from Henry VIII., for injuring the country of his birth, and benefits.’ This, besides being ungrammatical, is foolish. Glencairn, like the other aristocratic leaders of the Reformation, was, no doubt, influenced by sordid motives; but, so far from injuring his country, he rendered it great service.
[185] Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. v. pp. 64–73.
[186] It is stated of the queen-regent, that, in July 1559, ‘shee had sent alreadie to France for more men of warr.’ See the curious pamphlet entitled ‘A Historie of the Estate of Scotland, from July 1558 to April 1560,’ in Miscellany of the Wodrow Society, p. 63, Edinburgh, 1844. All sorts of rumours were circulated; and a letter, dated 12th October 1559, says, ‘Summe thinke the regent will departe secretlie. Summe that she will to Ynchkeith, for that three shippes are a preparing. Summe saye that she is verie sicke. Summe saye the devill cannot kill her.’ Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 499.
[187] Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. v. p. 104. This was on the 22nd of October 1559. Compare Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 512. ‘This Mondaye, the 22 of October, was the douagier deprived from her authoritie by commen consent of all lords and barons here present.’ On this occasion, ‘Johne Willocke,’ the preacher, delivered himself of a discourse in favour of her deposition. Among other arguments, he said, ‘that in deposing of princes, and these that have beene in authoritie, God did not alwayes use his immediat power, but sometimes he used other meanes, which his wisdome thought good, and justice approved. As by Asa, He removed Maacha, his owne mother, from honour and authoritie, which before she had used; by Jehu He destroyed Joram, and the whole posteritie of Achab.’ Therefore ‘he (the orator) could see no reasoun why they, the borne counsellers, the nobilitie and barons of the realme, might not justlie deprive her from all regiment.’ Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. i. pp. 540, 541; and Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. i. pp. 442, 443.
[188] The Diurnal of Occurrents, pp. 55, 272, says, that the fleet arrived on 24th of January, 1559–60; ‘aucht greit schippis of Ingland in the raid of Leith.’ And a letter (in Sadler's State Papers, vol. i. p. 697) dated the 23rd of January, says, ‘the shippes arrived yesterdaye in the Frythe to the nomber of ix. or x., as yet, and the remanent followith.’ The date, therefore, of the 10th of January, given in a note to Keith's Church and State in Scotland, vol. i. p. 255, is evidently erroneous. Important as the event was, its exact date is not mentioned either by Tytler (History of Scotland, vol. v. pp. 114, 115), or by Chalmers (Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 631).
[189] Chalmers' Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 632. Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 57. The Berwick treaty, in February, is printed in Keith's Church and State in Scotland, vol. i. pp. 258–262. So great was the influence of the nobles, that the English troops were well received by the people, in spite of the old and bitter animosity between the two nations. ‘Especially in Fyfe they were thankfully receaved, and well entreated, with such quietnes and gentle entertainement betwixt our nation and them, as no man would have thought that ever there had beine any variance.’ A Historie of the Estate of Scotland, from 1558 to 1560, in Miscellany of the Wodrow Society, p. 78.
[190] ‘Vpoun the vi. day of Julij, it wes concludit and finallie endit betuix the saids ambassatouris, tuitching all debaittis, contraversies and materis concernyng the asseiging of Leith, depairting of the Frenchemen thairfra, and randering of the same; and the said peax daitit this said day.’ A Diurnal of Occurrents, pp. 277, 278. See also p. 60; and Keith's Affairs of Church and State in Scotland, vol. i. p. 295.
[191] ‘That Knox himself was in priest's orders, is a fact which his biographer, the late Dr. M'Crie, has placed beyond dispute; and some of the other leaders were also priests; but the greater number of the preachers, and all those who subsequently became ministers, were totally without any orders whatever, not even such as the superintendents could have given them; for their own supposed call, the election of the people, and the civil ceremony of induction to the living, was all that was then “judged necessary.”’ Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland, 1848, vol. i. pp. 145, 146. ‘A new-fashioned sort of ministry, unknown in the Christian Church for all preceding generations.’ Keith's Church and State in Scotland, vol. iii. p. 204. Compare Argyll's Presbytery Examined, pp. 34–36.
[192] ‘The thre estaitis of parliament hes ānullit and declarit all sik actes maid in tymes bipast not aggreing wt goddis word and now contrair to the confessiouñ of oure fayt according to the said word publist in this parliament. Tobe of nane avale force nor effect. And decornis the said actis and every ane of thame tu haue na effect nor strenth in tyme to cum.’ Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, 1814, folio, vol. ii. p. 535. This was on 24th August 1560.
[193] ‘That na maner of person nor personis say mess nor zit heir mess nor be pñt thairat vnder the pane of confiscatiouñ of all thair gud movable and vnmovable and pvneissing of thair bodeis at the discretiouñ of the magistrat within quhais jurisdictiouñ sik personis happ[=y]nis to be apprehendit ffor the first falt: Banissing of the Realme for the secund falt, and justifying to the deid for the thrid falt.’ Ibid., 24th August 1560, vol. ii. p. 525.
[194] As Robertson says, in his measured, and somewhat feeble, style, ‘Among the Scottish nobility, some hated the persons, and others coveted the wealth, of the dignified clergy; and by abolishing that order of men, the former indulged their resentment, and the latter hoped to gratify their avarice.’ History of Scotland, book iii. p. 116, in Robertson's Works, edit. 1831. The contemporary narrative, in A Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 269, sounds much more vigorous to my ear. ‘In all this tyme’ (1559), ‘all kirkmennis goodis and geir wer spoulzeit and reft fra thame, in euerie place quhair the samyne culd be apprehendit; for euerie man for the maist pairt that culd get any thing pertenyng to any kirkmen, thocht the same as wele won geir.’
[195] ‘Knox never dreamed that the revenues of the Church were to be secularized; but that he and his colleagues were simply to remove the old incumbents, and then take possession of their benefices.’ Stephen's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. i. p. 106. ‘The ecclesiastical revenues, which they never contemplated for a moment were to be seized by the Protestant nobility.’ Lawson's Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, p. 233.
[196] Compare Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. pp. 89–92, with M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 179. Of this document, M'Crie says, ‘There can be no doubt that it received the sanction, if it was not the composition, of the Reformer.’ … ‘It called upon them’ (the nobles) ‘to restore the patrimony of the Church, of which they had unjustly possessed themselves.’
[197] ‘Making no answer to the last point.’ Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. i. p. 327. ‘Without taking any notice.’ Keith's Affairs of Church and State, vol. i. p. 321.
[198] ‘They viewed the Protestant preachers as low-born individuals, not far raised above the condition of mechanics or tradesmen, without influence, authority, or importance.’ Lawson's Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, p. 251. ‘None were more unmercifull to the poore ministers than they that had the greatest share of the kirk rents.’ Calderwood's History of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 42.
[199] In 1561, ‘Notwithstanding the full establishment of the Reformation, the Protestant ministers were in a state of extreme poverty, and dependent upon the precarious assistance of their flocks.’ Tytler's History of Scotland, vol. v. p. 207. Compare a letter, written by Knox, in 1566, ‘on the extreame povertie wherein our ministers are brought.’ Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 542.
[200] ‘The limited authority which the Crown had hitherto possessed, was almost entirely annihilated, and the aristocratical power, which always predominated in the Scottish Government (?), became supreme and incontrollable.’ Russell's History of the Church in Scotland, 1834, vol. i. p. 223.
[201] See the First Book of Discipline, reprinted in A Compendium of the Laws of the Church of Scotland, part i., second edition, Edinburgh, 1837. They summed up their requests in one comprehensive passage (p. 119), that ‘the haill rentis of the Kirk abusit in Papistrie sal be referrit againe to the Kirk.’ In another part (p. 106), they frankly admit that, ‘we doubt not but some of our petitions shall appeare strange unto you at the first sight.’
[202] ‘The form of polity recommended in the First Book of Discipline never obtained the proper sanction of the State, chiefly in consequence of the avarice of the nobility and gentry, who were desirous of securing to themselves the revenues of the Church.’ Miscellany of the Wodrow Society, p. 324. See also Argyll's Presbytery Examined, p. 26. Many of the nobles, however, did sign it (Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 129); but, says Spottiswoode (History of the Church of Scotland, vol. i. p. 373), ‘Most of those that subscribed, getting into their hands the possessions of the Church, could never be induced to part therewith, and turned greater enemies in that point of church patrimony than were the papists, or any other whatsoever.’
[203] M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 204. Knox's History of the Reformation, vol ii. pp. 298–301, 307–309. Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia, lib. xvii. p. 500. The nominal arrangement, which was contrived with considerable art, was, that one-third of the church revenues should be divided into two parts; one part for the government, and another part for the preachers. The remaining two-thirds were gravely assigned to the Catholic priesthood, who, at that very moment, were liable, by Act of Parliament, to the penalty of death, if they performed the rites of their religion. Men, whose lives were in the hands of the government, were not likely to quarrel with the government about money matters; and the result was, that nearly every thing fell into the possession of the nobles.
[204] ‘The Ministeris, evin in the begynnyng, in publict Sermonis opponed thame selves to suche corruptioun, for thei foir saw the purpose of the Devill.’ Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 310.
[205] ‘For it seemeth altogether unreasonable that idle belleis sail devoure and consume the patrimonie of the Kirk, whill the faithfull travellers in the Lord's vineyarde suffer extreme povertie, and the needie members of Christ's bodie are altogether neglected.’ Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. ii. pp. 484, 485. This was in 1569; and, in 1571, the celebrated Ferguson, in one of his sermons, declared that the holders of church property, most of whom were the nobility, were ‘ruffians.’ See an extract from his sermon, in Chalmers' History of Dunfermline, p. 309, Edinburgh, 1844. ‘For this day Christ is spuilzeit amang us, quhil yt quhilk aucht to mantene the Ministerie of the Kirk and the pure, is geuin to prophane men, flattereris in court, ruffianes, and hyrelingis.’
[206] In September 1571, John Row ‘preiched, wha in plane pulpet pronounced to the lordis, for thair covetusnes, and becaus they wold not grant the just petitiones of the Kirk, Godis heastie vengeance to fall upon them; and said, moreover, “I cair not, my lordis, your displeasour; for I speik my conscience befoir God, wha will not suffer sic wickitnes and contempt vnpunished.”’ Bannatyne's Journal, edit. Edinburgh, 1806, p. 257.
[207] In 1576, the General Assembly declared, that their right to ‘the patrimonie of the Kirk’ was ‘ex jure divino.’ Acts of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. i. p. 360, Edinburgh, 1839, 4to. More than a hundred years later, a Scotch divine evinces how deeply the members of his profession felt this spoliation of the Church, by going out of his way to mention it. See Jacob's Vow, by Dr. John Cockburn, Edinburgh, 1696, pp. 422, 423, 425. But this is nothing in comparison to a recent writer, the Reverend Mr. Lyon, who deliberately asserts that, because these and similar acts occurred in the reign of Mary, therefore the queen came to a violent end; such being the just punishment of sacrilege. ‘The practice’ (of saying masses for the dead) ‘ceased, of course, at the Reformation; and the money was transferred by Queen Mary to the civil authorities of the town. This was, undoubtedly, an act of sacrilege; for, though sacrificial masses for the dead was an error, yet the guardians of the money so bequeathed, were under an obligation to apply it to a sacred purpose. This, and other sacrilegious acts on the part of Mary, of a still more decided and extensive character, have been justly considered as the cause of all the calamities which subsequently befell her.’ History of St. Andrews, by the Rev. C. J. Lyon, M.A., Presbyter of the Episcopal Church, St. Andrews, Edinburgh, 1843, vol. i. p. 54. Elsewhere (vol. ii. p. 400) the same divine mentions, that the usual punishment for sacrilege is a failure of male issue. ‘The following examples, selected from the diocese of St. Andrews, according to its boundaries before the Reformation, will corroborate the general doctrine contended for throughout this work, that sacrilege has ever been punished in the present life, and chiefly by the failure of male issue.’ The italics are in the text. See also vol. i. p. 118. For the sake of the future historian of public opinion, it may be well to observe, that the work containing these sentiments is not a reprint of an older book, but was published for the first time in 1843, having apparently been just written.
[208] ‘The General Assemblie of the Kirk of Scotland, convenit at Edinburgh the 25 of December 1566, to the Nobilitie of this Realme that professes the Lord Jesus with them, and hes renouncit that Roman Antichryst, desyre constancie in faith, and the spirit of righteous judgement. Seeing that Sathan, be all our negligence, Right Honourable, hes so farre prevailit within this Realme within these late dayes, that we doe stand in extream danger, not only to lose our temporall possessions, but also to be depryvit of the glorious Evangell,’ &c. Keith's Church and State, vol. iii. pp. 154, 155.
[209] In 1566, in their piteous communication to the English bishops and clergy, they said ‘The days are ill; iniquitie abounds; Christian charity, alas, is waxen cold.’ Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. i. p. 87, Edinburgh, 1839, 4to.
[210] ‘I see twa partis freely gevin to the Devill, and the thrid maun be devided betwix God and the Devill: Weill, bear witnes to me, that this day I say it, or it be long the Devill shall have three partis of the thrid; and judge you then what Goddis portioun shallbe.’ … ‘Who wold have thought, that when Joseph reulled Egypt, that his brethren should have travailled for vittallis, and have returned with empty seckis unto thair families? Men wold rather have thought that Pharao's pose, treasure, and garnallis should have bene diminished, or that the houshold of Jacob should stand in danger to sterve for hungar.’ Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. pp. 310, 311.
[211] In May 1571, ‘This Sonday, Mr. Craig teiched the 130 Psalme; and, in his sermond, he compared the steat of the Kirk of God in this tovne vnto the steat of the Maccabeis; wha were oppressed sumtymes by the Assyrianis and sumtymes by the Egiptianis.’ Bannatyne's Journal, p. 150.
[212] The first instance I have observed of any thing like menace, is in 1567, when ‘the Assembly of the Church being convened at Edinburgh,’ admonished all persons ‘as well noblemen as barons, and those of the other Estates, to meet and give their personal appearance at Edinburgh on the 20th of July, for giving their advice, counsel, and concurrence in matters then to be proponed; especially for purging the realm of popery, the establishing of the policy of the Church, and restoring the patrimony thereof to the just possessors. Assuring those that should happen to absent themselves at the time, due and lawful advertisement being made, that they should be reputed hinderers of the good work intended, and as dissimulate professors be esteemed unworthy of the fellowship of Christ's flock.’ Spottiswoode's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 64. This evidently alludes to the possibility of excommunicating those who would not surrender to the Protestant preachers, the property stolen from the Catholic Church; and, in 1570, we find another step taken in the same direction. Under that year, the following passage occurs in Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, vol. i. p. 181. ‘Q. If those that withold the duty of the Kirk, wherethrough Ministers want their stipends, may be excommunicate? A. All things beand done that the civill ordour requyres of them that withhaldis the duetie of the Kirk, quherby Ministers wants their stipends; the Kirk may proceed to excommunication, for their contempt.’
[213] In 1526, ‘the poore ministers, exhorters, and readers, compleaned at church assembleis, that neither were they able to live upon the stipends allowed, nor gett payment of that small portioun which was allowed.’ Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. ii. p. 172. Compare Acts of the General Assemblies, 1839, 4to, vol. i. p. 53; ‘To requyre payment to ministers of there stipends for the tyme by past, according to the promise made.’ This was in December 1564. In December 1565, the General Assembly said (p. 71), ‘that wher oft and divers tymes promise hes bein made to us, that our saids brethren, travelers and preachers in the Kirk of God, sould not be defraudit of their appointit stipends, neither zet in any wayes sould be molestit in their functioun; zet nottheless universallie they want ther stipends appointit for diverse tymes by past.’ On the state of things in 1566, see ‘The Supplication of the Ministers to the Queen,’ in Knox's History of the Reformation, vol. ii. p. 529. See also, in the Miscellany of the Spalding Club, vol. iv. pp. 92–101, Aberdeen, 1849, 4to, a letter written by John Erskine in December 1571, especially p. 97; ‘the gretest of the nobilitie haifing gretest rentis in possessione, and plaicet of God in maist hie honouris, ceasis nocht, maist wiolentlie blindit with awarice, to spoilye and draw to thame selfis the possessiones of the Kirk.’
[214] ‘The ministers were called proud knaves, and receaved manie injurious words from the lords, speciallie from Morton, who ruled all. He said, he sould lay their pride, and putt order to them.’ Calderwood's History of the Kirk, vol. iii. pp. 137, 138. This was in 1571.
[215] Chambers' Annals of Scotland, vol. i. pp. 79, 80.
[216] ‘The nobilitie wnderwrittin convenit in Edinburgh, and chesit and electit James erle of Mortoun regent.’ A Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 320.
[217] In 1573, ‘when any benefeces of Kirk vaikit, he keapit the proffet of thair rents sa lang in his awin hand, till he was urgit be the Kirk to mak donatioun tharof, and that was not gevin but proffeit for all that.’ The Historie and Life of King James the Sext, edit. Edinburgh, 1825, 4to, p. 147. Even in 1570, when Lennox was regent, ‘the Earle of Mortoun was the chiefe manager of every thing under him;’ and was ‘master of the church rents,’ and made ‘gifts of them to the nobility.’ Wodrow's Collections upon the Lives of the Reformers of the Church of Scotland, vol. i. part i. pp. 27, 126, Glasgow, 1834, 4to.