This was the beginning of that demolition of Roman Catholic edifices for which Knox has been so grievously a.s.sailed. But, without entering minutely into the merits of the question, and cheerfully admitting that--owing to human imperfection--a work like that in which our Reformer was engaged could not be carried through without the doing of some things of which men in less troublous times must disapprove, we must be permitted to advance the following considerations. First, the outbreak at Perth was in a manner accidental, and was not either premeditated or instigated by Knox. Second, when the work of purifying the churches was systematically entered upon, special instructions were given to those entrusted with it to guard against any injury to the fabrics themselves; for in a doc.u.ment enjoining the purgation of the Cathedral of Dunkeld and subscribed by Argyle and Ruthven on the 12th August, 1560, the parties commissioned are thus addressed: "Fail not ye, but that ye take good heed that neither the desks, {122} windows, nor doors be anywise burnt or broken, either gla.s.s-work or iron-work."
Third, the work of absolute destruction was reserved for the monasteries. Now we can clearly see the reason for such a distinction.
The churches were the property of the people, and after being cleansed were preserved for the people"s use; but the monasteries, as Burton candidly admits, were in a manner "fortresses of the enemy," and as such were demolished. Yet even for the destruction of them Knox and his brethren are not solely to be blamed; for as the historian just named has said[1]: "In the history of the invasions directed by King Henry and Somerset we have seen enough to account for large items in the ruin that overcame ecclesiastical buildings in Scotland. For Melrose, Kelso, Jedburgh, and the many other buildings torn down in these inroads, the Scots Reformers have no censure beyond that of neutrality or pa.s.siveness. The ruined edifices were not restored as they naturally would have been had the old Church remained predominant." When all these things are taken into account, it will be seen that there is very little foundation for the common outcry against Knox in this matter.
In the present instance the demolition of the monasteries by the mob in Perth seriously complicated the situation, and gave the Regent an advantage which she was not slow to improve. For in an address to the n.o.bility in Stirling, she so employed it as to succeed in getting their a.s.sistance in advancing against Perth", _with {123} an army_, for the purpose of putting down what she chose to call a dangerous rebellion.
The Reformers wrote to her disclaiming all such intention; but finding her inflexible, they prepared to defend themselves, and were a.s.sisted by the opportune arrival of Glencairn from Ayrshire, with 2,500 volunteers. When therefore she reached Perth she discovered that her force was greatly outnumbered by theirs, and she was obliged to accept an "appointment," by which she engaged to leave the citizens unmolested in the exercise of their religion, and they pledged themselves to return to their homes. This agreement she violated in many ways, and so finally lost the confidence and support of Argyle and Lord James Stuart, both of whom had been thus far politically on her side, but now cast in their lot whole-heartedly with the congregation. After this experience the leaders determined to take a step in advance and set up Protestant worship in those places where their own personal influence or the adherence of the people promised success, and it was resolved to begin at St. Andrews. They therefore set a day for Knox to meet them in that city, where he arrived on the 9th of July. When the archbishop learned that he intended to preach in the cathedral he sent a message to his friends to the effect that, "In case John Knox presented himself at the preaching-place in his town and princ.i.p.al church, he should make him be saluted with a dozen of culverings, whereof the most part would light upon his nose." This threat somewhat daunted those by whom he was {124} accompanied, and they endeavoured to dissuade him from preaching; but the reply of the Reformer takes its place beside Luther"s words on the way to Worms, for he said, "As for the fear of danger that may come to me let no man be solicitous, for my life is in the custody of Him whose glory I seek, and therefore I cannot so fear their boast or tyranny that I will cease from doing my duty, when of His mercy He offereth me the occasion. I desire the hand or weapon of no man to defend me. I only crave audience, which if it be denied me here I must seek further where I may have it." There was no resisting such a determination, and the result justified his courage, for remembering doubtless his own words years before, while a slave in the French galley, he preached on the Sunday, nor on that day alone, but also on the four next following, without seeing anything either of the archbishop or his culverings; and such was the effect of his discourses that the provost, magistrates, and inhabitants agreed to set up the Reformed worship forthwith, and proceeded at once to strip the church of its images and to pull down the monasteries.
The report of all this taken to the Queen Regent in the palace of Falkland by the archbishop, led to the affair of Cupar Muir, which Carlyle has thus described after his own manner: "Not itself a fight, but the prologue or foreshadow of all the fighting that followed. The Queen Regent and her Frenchmen had marched in triumphant humour out of Falkland, with their artillery ahead, soon after midnight, trusting to find at St. Andrews {125} the two chief lords of the congregation, the Earl of Argyle and Lord James Stuart (afterwards Regent Murray), with scarcely a hundred men about them,--found suddenly that the hundred men, by good industry over-night, had risen to an army; and that the congregation itself, under these two lords, was here, as if by _tryst_, at mid-distance, skilfully posted, and ready for battle either in the way of cannon or of spear. Sudden halt of the triumphant Falklanders in consequence; and after that a multifarious manoeuvring, circling, and wheeling, now in clear light, now hidden in clouds of mist; Scots standing steadfast on their ground, and answering message-trumpets in an inflexible manner, till, after many hours, the thing had to end in an "appointment," truce, or offer of peace, and a retreat to Falkland of the Queen Regent and her Frenchmen, as from an enterprise unexpectedly impossible."[2]
From this place Knox accompanied the forces of the congregation to Perth, and thence to Edinburgh, where on the 7th of July the Protestants of the city chose him to be their minister, and then for the first time his voice sounded through the cathedral of St. Giles in ringing notes of trumpet power. But soon after the lords of the congregation, having been compelled to conclude a treaty with the Regent, by the terms of which they agreed to quit Edinburgh and deliver it up to her, judged it unsafe that he, being so obnoxious to her, {126} should remain there without their protection, and so, putting the less objectionable John Willock for the time into his place, they set him free for a preaching excursion through different parts of the kingdom.
How he wrought on that occasion, and where, he has himself described in one of his letters thus: "I have been in continual travel since the day of appointment (_i.e._ the treaty with the Regent), and notwithstanding the fevers have vexed me the s.p.a.ce of a month, yet have I travelled through the most part of this realm, where all praise be to his blessed Majesty, men of all sorts and conditions embrace the truth. Enemies we have many, by reason of the Frenchmen who are lately arrived, of whom all parties hope golden hills and such support as we are not able to resist. We do nothing but go about Jericho, blowing with trumpets as G.o.d giveth strength, hoping victory by His laws alone. Christ Jesus is preached even in Edinburgh, and His blessed sacraments rightly ministered in all congregations where the ministry is established; and they be these, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Dundee, Perth, Brechin, Montrose, Stirling, and Ayr. And now Christ Jesus is begun to be preached upon the south borders in Jedburgh and Kelso, so that the trumpet soundeth over all, blessed be our G.o.d."
This was written on the 2nd September, 1559, and on the 20th, his wife, having obtained through the influence of Throckmorton, the English amba.s.sador at Paris, that permission to pa.s.s through England which had been denied to her husband, reached Scotland in safety. Her {127} mother came with her as far as Northumberland, and after remaining a short time with her friends there, took up her abode in Knox"s household, and continued a member of his family, at least till the death of her daughter, though some believe that even after that she remained with him, with but a brief interval, till her own decease.
Mrs. Knox was accompanied by Christopher Goodman, who had been the colleague of her husband in Geneva, and who continued to labour in Scotland, first at Ayr and afterwards at St. Andrews, until his return to England in 1565.
But the work in Scotland was too great to be successfully carried out by its own people, even if they had been united among themselves, which, unhappily, they were not. The Reformers there had to contend not only with the adherents of the papacy in their own land, but also with the power and diplomacy of France, and therefore it was of the utmost consequence that a.s.sistance from England should be secured. It was, fortunately, also quite important for England that France should be prevented from securing a permanent hold on Scotland; but it was some time before the English queen could be induced to commit herself in any way to the cause of the Scottish congregation; and many negotiations were required before that result was obtained. Neither into the details of these, nor into the particulars of the civil war, which lasted at this time in Scotland for about a year, can we enter here. They will be found at length in the pages of the historians; and it may suffice in this {128} place to say that at last, as the fruit of the mission of the younger Maitland to the English Court, Elizabeth consented to send a fleet into the Firth of Forth, and an array across the border; and that the ultimate issue was a treaty entered upon during the siege of Leith, on the 7th July, 1560, which secured that the French troops should be immediately removed from Scotland; that an amnesty should be granted to all who had been engaged in the late resistance to the Queen Regent; that the princ.i.p.al grievances in the civil administration should be redressed; and that a Free Parliament should be held to settle the affairs of the kingdom.
Before this turn was given to matters, and at midnight between the 10th and 11th of June, the Queen Regent, Mary of Lorraine, the mother of the Queen of Scots, had pa.s.sed away from the earth, and thus the stage was as it were cleared for the important things which were so soon to be achieved. The one Mary had gone to her account; the other had not yet come from France to take personal possession of the throne of her native land, and in the interval many things otherwise--humanly speaking at least--unattainable were obtained. "The stars in their courses" were fighting for the Reformation; the providence of G.o.d was on its side, and blind indeed must the historian be who sees no indication of that fact. But because we fully recognise His hand, it is the more important that we distinctly note also the obliquities which characterized the conduct of many of the human actors in these transactions; and it is with a {129} sense of something like mortification that we confess that even Knox did not stand the ordeal without deterioration. He was, as Laing remarks, "a chief instigator and agent" in the negotiations with England; and, for the most part, he manifested the strictest integrity. But there is one letter extant which prevents us from being able to say that he never lent his countenance to deceit. He is writing to Sir James Croft requesting that men should be sent by him to the help of the Reformers; and in answer to the objection that the league between England and France made it impossible to do that without offending France, he says,[3] "If ye list to craft with them, the sending of a thousand men to us can break no league nor point of peace contracted between you and France; for it is free for your subjects to serve in war any prince or nation for their wages; and if you fear that such excuses shall not prevail, you may declare them rebels to your realm, when ye shall be a.s.sured that they are in our company." We mention it that we may not be accused of concealing any portion of the truth concerning him. We do not extenuate it; we cannot vindicate it. We say only that it is, so far as we know, the solitary instance of the kind in the extensive correspondence of our Reformer; that it is a clear exception to the general outspoken, and in some cases even indiscreet, frankness by which he was characterized; and that, perhaps, he caught the infection from those with whom he was treating, for Froude says of Elizabeth at {130} this time, "It is certain only that on the one hand she was distinctly doing, what as distinctly she said she was not doing; and on the other, that she was holding out hopes which, if she could help it, she never meant to fulfil;"[4] and even Cecil, as the same author proves, was a master in the same kind of craft, so that his indignant reference to Knox"s proposal reads to us now like an ill.u.s.tration of "Satan reproving sin." It was in truth, as Laing has said, "an age of dissimulation;" but Knox knew better; he was before his age in other things, and should have been above it in this.
But enough, we gladly turn from censure to praise, and wish to direct attention at this point to Knox"s views concerning civil government.
There was an a.s.sembly of n.o.bles, barons, and representatives of burghs held at Edinburgh on the 21st of October, 1559, at which the propriety or lawfulness of depriving the Queen Regent of her authority (which was afterwards resolved upon) was debated; and before which John Willock and Knox were asked to give their opinion on the question. Willock alleged that the power of rulers is limited, that they might be deprived of it on valid grounds; and that the fortification of Leith, and the introduction of foreign troops into the kingdom, was a good reason why the Regent should be divested of her authority. Knox, while agreeing with what he had said, added that the a.s.sembly might safely proceed on these principles, provided only that they did not suffer the misconduct of {131} the Regent to alienate them from their allegiance to their own proper sovereigns, Francis and Mary; that they were not actuated by any private hatred of the Regent herself; and that any sentence which they should now p.r.o.nounce should not preclude her re-admission to office if she afterwards acknowledged her error, and agreed to submit to the estates of the realm. These sentiments, considering the circ.u.mstances in which the Reformers were then placed, were moderate and wise. They show how very far from revolutionary Knox and his a.s.sociates were; and it is no small praise to him to say that in a struggle which strained everything to the utmost, he sought to maintain law while striving after liberty, and was careful to discriminate between condemnation of the manner in which an office was filled, and repudiation of the office itself. The relation of the Reformation from popery to civil liberty is a theme which might furnish materials for a goodly volume, and s.p.a.ce will not allow us to enlarge upon it here; but it might be well in these days if more attention were directed to the opinions of the Reformers regarding political government, and the share which these have had in laying the foundation of freedom, as it is now enjoyed in Great Britain and the United States. So far as Knox is concerned, we could have no better summary of his views on the subject than that which is given by his great biographer, from which we quote the following sentence,[5] each clause of which is amply confirmed by {132} McCrie in the learned and elaborate note which he has appended to his statement:--"He held that rulers, supreme as well as subordinate, were invested with authority for the public good; that obedience was not due to them in anything contrary to the Divine law, natural or revealed; that in every free and well-const.i.tuted government, the law of the land was superior to the will of the prince; that inferior magistrates and subjects might restrain the supreme magistrate from particular illegal acts, without throwing off their allegiance, or being guilty of rebellion; that no cla.s.s of men have an original, inherent, and indefeasible right to rule over a people, independently of their will and consent; that every nation is ent.i.tled to provide and require that they shall be ruled by laws which are agreeable to the Divine law, and calculated to promote their welfare; that there is a mutual compact, tacit and implied, if not formal and explicit, between rulers and their subjects; and if the former shall flagrantly violate this, employ that power for the destruction of the commonwealth which was committed to them for its preservation and benefit, or, in one word, if they shall become habitual tyrants and notorious oppressors, that the people are absolved from allegiance, and have a right to resist them, formally to depose them from their place, and to elect others in their room." It may surprise some of our readers to discover how fully Knox in these particulars was abreast of many of the views of the most enlightened Liberals of our generation; but even Major, the princ.i.p.al of the {133} Glasgow University when Knox became a student, had struck out in the same direction, and in one of his works[6] has declared that "a free people first gives strength to a king, whose power depends on the whole people;" and that "a people can discard or depose a king and his children for misconduct just as it appointed him at first;" and similar sentiments might be cited from the pages of Buchanan. Major taught them in the cla.s.s, and Buchanan wrote them in his works; but Knox gave them utterance, and that too with such force, that they were widely diffused among the people, so that in due season the divine-right nonsense of the Stuarts was exploded, and the beginning of a new order of things introduced.
But even in this matter, advanced as he was, Knox was not entirely above the narrowness of his age. In common with all the Reformers, and the most of the Puritans, he held that the theocracy of the Jews was the ideal state, and as a consequence, that it was the duty of the civil government to punish idolatry with death, to set up and maintain the true religion by all the means at its disposal, and to put down heresy as rebellion. {134} Neither the statesmen nor the divines of that age seem to have perceived that the true a.n.a.logue to the Jewish theocracy is the spiritual Church of Christ, and so we account for the fact that they continually referred to the Old Testament as their warrant for seeking to advance what they believed to be the truth, and to put down what they considered to be error by force. They did not remember that in the Jewish state G.o.d was in no mere figurative sense, but really and absolutely the King, so that in it to fear G.o.d and to honour the king was virtually the same thing, and sin in every form was also _ipso facto_ crime, was indeed treason, as committed against the head of the government, and so was punishable by civil pains and penalties. Forgetting or not perceiving _that_, the Reformers took the Jewish for the model const.i.tution. In all the states which they sought to remodel, they lost sight of the distinction between a theocracy and an ordinary government, and confounded crime with sin, and sin with crime. More especially they made the crime of crimes to be, the resisting or not conforming to what they themselves believed to be the true religion as revealed by G.o.d, and as such they punished that with all severity. There is no instance indeed on record of Knox himself being in any way mixed up with persecution, understanding by that word merely the putting of one to death for religious practices or opinions.
No such controversy can be raised over him as that which has been held regarding Calvin and the prosecution of Servetus. But they all alike held {135} that it was the duty of the government to establish and maintain, as a government, and that means by enactments enforced by penalties, the true religion; and from that persecution follows; rather let us say, in that persecution is involved. To this error, which, however, was the common opinion of their times, may be traced most of the difficulties in which they were involved in the prosecution of their work. The world has been slow to come to it, but no perfect liberty either in Church or in state is possible save through the separation of the one from the other, and the restriction of each to its own proper domain. When this shall be attained in Scotland and England, then shall be the beginning of another era, as strongly marked as that which began in the overthrow of the Papal Church three hundred years ago. The course of our narrative takes us now into parliamentary debates, and royal closets, fully as often as into a.s.semblies of the Church, and therefore before we enter upon this section of the history, we deem it right to indicate once for all the views which we ourselves hold upon the subject. It is the province of the biographer to narrate, and he must not be held as endorsing everything which he records.
[1] "History of Scotland," vol. iii. p. 354.
[2] "An Essay on the Portraits of John Knox," pp. 139-140. "Works,"
vol. xii.
[3] "Works," vol. vi. p. 90.
[4] Froude"s "History of England," vol. vi. p. 273.
[5] McCrie"s "Works," vol. i. p. 149.
[6] "De Historia Gentis Scotorum," book iv. chap. 22. I am indebted for these citations to my late friend, Dr. J. M. Ross, whose researches into the literature of Scotland have been recently published, and whose early death is mourned by all who knew his worth. His work on the Pre-reformation Literature of Scotland is a perfect thesaurus of precious things, and has attracted the widest attention.
{136}
CHAPTER X.
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SCOTTISH CHURCH, 1560.
The meeting of Parliament, provided for in the Treaty of Leith, was opened with great ceremony on the 1st of August, 1560, and was attended by an unusually large number of members. Knox "improved" the occasion by preaching from the cathedral pulpit a series of expository sermons on the prophecies of Haggai, with special application to the circ.u.mstances of the country at the time. On his own showing he was "vehement," and as he inveighed strongly against those who had been enriched with the revenues of the Church, his words gave great offence to many. Maitland sneeringly said, "What! we must now forget ourselves and bear the barrow to build the house of G.o.d,"--words which already showed that spirit of insincerity which afterwards took him into the opposite camp. The great matter before this Parliament, after it had approved the articles of the treaty, was the settlement of religion, and as a preliminary to that the ministers were requested to draw up a summary statement of "that doctrine which they would maintain as wholesome and true, and only {137} necessary to be believed." This work was done by them in four days, at the end of which they produced the Confession which Knox has given at full length in his history. It is all but certain that he had a considerable hand in its preparation, and it has been described by the younger McCrie as "remarkably free from metaphysical distinctions and minutiae," and as "running in an easy style, and in fact reading like a good sermon in old Scotch." It is, of course, Calvinistic, but in the article on election, there is nothing of either reprobation or preterition. In that on the Lord"s Supper it repudiates alike the doctrine of transubstantiation, and that of those who believe it to be "nothing else but a naked and bare sign,"
insisting on some mystical influence as connected with it, but yet confessing that such influence is given "neither at that only time, nor yet by the proper power of the sacraments only," so that it is exceedingly difficult to get from it a definite statement of what precisely the "grace" in the sacrament is; but that difficulty is felt, in our judgment, as seriously by those who desire to reduce to plain language the words of the Westminster standards on the same subject.
In the section which treats of the authority of Scripture, there is no attempt to formulate any theory of inspiration, but simply a declaration that "in those books which of the ancients have been reputed canonical, all things necessary to be believed for the salvation of mankind are sufficiently expressed," and an affirmation that "such as allege the Scriptures to have no other authority, but that which is received from {138} the Kirk (Church) are blasphemous against G.o.d, and injurious to the true Kirk, which always heareth and obeyeth the voice of her own spouse and pastor, and taketh not on her to be mistress of the same." On the subject of the civil magistrate its words run thus: "That to kings, princes, rulers, and magistrates, we affirm that chiefly and most princ.i.p.ally the reformation and purgation of the religion appertains; so that not only they are appointed for civil policy, but also for maintenance of the true religion, and for suppressing of idolatry and superst.i.tion, as in David, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and others highly commended for their zeal, in that case may be espied," a statement which amply confirms what we have just said regarding the position taken by the Reformers on this matter. We ought to add, however, that according to Randolph, the representative of the English Court, who was present on the occasion of the ratification of the Confession, the section on the civil magistrate had been expunged by Maitland, to whose revision, as well as that of the Lord James Stuart, it had been submitted, and by whom certain strong phrases in other parts of the doc.u.ment had been softened. In Knox"s history we have no word of anything like that, but simply the Confession as it was actually ratified, and in that a paragraph on the civil magistrate stands with the rest. But as there is in that paragraph a good deal about the prerogatives of rulers, and the duty of obedience to them, while there is no word of the limits of allegiance to them, and the right of {139} resisting them when they violate either the laws of the realm or the dictates of conscience, on both of which points we know that Knox and his brethren held strong convictions, it is probable that at first the article contained some things on these aspects of the question, which were afterwards stricken out, by the two men whom we have named, as being likely if retained to imperil the acceptance of the doc.u.ment as a whole. This is only a conjecture of our own, but it is not inherently improbable, and it serves to harmonize the statement of Randolph with the appearance in Knox"s history of a chapter on the civil magistrate in the Confession as adopted.
This summary of doctrine was laid before Parliament, and carefully read over article by article. Then, that no one should have a pretext for complaining of undue haste, its further consideration was adjourned to another day, the 17th of August, on which it was almost unanimously accepted, and "ratified by the three estates of the realm." This was followed on the 24th of the same month by the pa.s.sing of Acts abolishing the jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland, repealing all former statutes pa.s.sed in favour of the Roman Catholic Church, and ordaining that all who said ma.s.s, or heard ma.s.s, should for the first offence be punished with confiscation of goods, for the second with banishment, and for the third with death. Thus on the very threshold of their undertaking they manifested the same intolerance from which they had themselves suffered so much.
{140}
With a view to the proper organization of the Protestant Church, the Lords of the Privy Council appointed Knox, along with five other ministers, to draw up a plan of reconstruction which in their judgment should be both agreeable to Scripture and practicable in the circ.u.mstances of the country at the time. The outcome of their labours was that scheme of Church government and order, which is known in Scottish ecclesiastical history as "The First Book of Discipline." It specifies the officers of the Church, permanent and temporary, describes the manner of their election and appointment, particularizes their duties, and gives principles for guidance as to general discipline, while it also furnishes directions as to the celebration of marriages and the conducting of funerals. At the same time it outlines with great fulness a magnificent system of national education, such as Scotland is only now beginning to realize, though for centuries it has enjoyed something of an approximation to it.
This "Book" is one of extreme interest, and is worthy of far more attention from the ma.s.s of the people in these days than it has received, or perhaps is likely to receive; but to whet the appet.i.tes of our readers for the enjoyment of the work itself, we shall give some general notion of its contents. The permanent officers in the Church were ministers, elders, and deacons. The ministers were to be elected by the people, but in case they neglected to do that duty within forty days the Church of the superintendent with his council was to {141} "present" to them a man whom they judged apt to feed the flock, yet it was always to be avoided "that any man be violently intruded or thrust in upon any congregation." Thus Knox and his brethren were "non-intrusionists;" yet we doubt if in the famous controversy which ended in 1843, they would have come up to the party standard, for the "Book" says: "But violent intrusion we call not, when the council of the Kirk, in the fear of G.o.d, and for the salvation of the people, offereth unto them a sufficient man to instruct them, whom they shall not be forced to admit before examination." Then elsewhere it is said, "If his doctrine is wholesome and able to instruct the simple, and if the Kirk can justly reprehend nothing in his life, doctrine, or utterance, then we judge the Kirk which before was dest.i.tute unreasonable if they refuse him whom the Kirk did offer, and _they should be compelled by the censure of the council and Kirk_, to receive the person appointed and approved by the judgment of the G.o.dly and learned." Where was "the veto without reasons" then? And on whose side was the First Book of Discipline? or was it on both sides? The minister so chosen or appointed was to give proof of his gifts by interpreting before the men of soundest judgment in the neighbourhood, some place of Scripture selected by his brethren in office. He was also to be examined openly "before all that list to hear," by the ministers and elders of the Kirk, "in all the chief points that now lie in controversy betwixt us and the Papists, {142} Anabaptists, Arians, or other such enemies of the Christian religion." Next he was to preach to the congregation calling him, that in open audience of his flock he might give confession of his faith in full. Then public "edict" was to be proclaimed, not only in the church where he was to serve, but also in other places, especially in those in which he had formerly lived, that if there was known any reason why he should not be appointed to the ministry it should be shown. If everything were satisfactory, the manner of his installation to office was to consist in the consent of the people to whom he was appointed and the approbation of the learned ministers by whom he was examined. The admission was to be "in open audience." After a sermon by some "especial minister" on the duty and office of ministers, exhortations were to be given to minister and people, and this paragraph follows: "Other ceremony than the public approbation of the people and declaration of the chief minister, that the person there presented is appointed to serve that Kirk, we cannot approve; for albeit the apostles used the imposition of hands, yet seeing the miracle is ceased, the using of the ceremony we judge is not necessary." Most evidently John Knox believed in "_order_," but just as evidently he did not believe in "_orders_," and there is no place here for the doctrine of "succession."
The elders and deacons were to be chosen by the people _annually_, from among a list given by the minister, and if Churches be of smaller number than that such {143} office-bearers can be chosen from among them, they may be joined to the next adjacent Church. We have here therefore the "rotatory" eldership, as it has been called by some in America, recognised in principle, and the reason given for it is "lest that by long continuance of such officials men presume upon the liberty of the Church." Those holding the office were eligible for re-election, but they must be appointed yearly "by common and free election." In another place he says: "This order has been ever observed since that time in the Kirk of Edinburgh, that is that the old session before their departure nominate twenty-four in election for elders, of whom twelve are to be chosen, and thirty-two for deacons, of whom sixteen are to be elected, which persons are publicly proclaimed in the audience of the whole Kirk, upon a Sunday before noon, after sermon, with admonition to the Kirk, that if any man know any notorious crime or cause that might unfit any of these persons to enter in such vocation they should notify the same unto the session the next Thursday; or if any know any persons more able for that charge, they should notify the same unto the session, to the end that no man, either present or absent, being one of the Kirk, should complain that he was spoiled of his liberty in election." The duty of the elders was to a.s.sist the minister in the oversight and discipline of the flock; and that of the deacons was to superintend the revenues of the Church and to take care of the poor.
Besides these permanent offices, two others were {144} recommended for the meeting of present emergencies. There were first a cla.s.s of men called Readers, whose duty it was to read the Common Prayers and the Scriptures, in places still dest.i.tute of properly qualified ministers, and which otherwise would have had no service of any sort for public worship or instruction. They were restricted to the function of reading, and hence their name; but they were encouraged to prosecute their studies, and if they advanced satisfactorily they were permitted, after examination, to append some exhortations to their readings, and then they were called Exhorters. In addition to these, and at the other end of the scale, the Book recommended the appointment of ten Superintendents, each of whom was to have the supervision of a district over which he was required regularly to travel for the purpose of preaching, planting Churches, and inspecting the conduct of ministers, exhorters, and readers. Some have maintained that in this there was a recognition of Episcopacy, but as Dr. Laing has shown, the office was merely temporary, and the number never exceeded the five who were first appointed. Like other ministers the superintendent was subject to the a.s.sembly, and might be censured, superseded, or deprived of his office by its decision. These office-bearers were to be appointed in the first instance by the Privy Council, or by a commission appointed by that body for the purpose; but, afterwards, by the whole ministers of the district to be superintended, from a list of names already proclaimed by the ministers, elders, {145} and deacons with the magistrates and council of the chief town in the province; and for his installation a form is given, with a list of the questions to be proposed to him, and the answers to be given by him. It is added that "the superintendent being elected and appointed to his charge, must be subjected to the censure and correction of the ministers and elders, not only of his chief town, but also of the whole province over the which he is appointed overseer."
It may be added here, that "The Book of Common Order" makes mention of still another cla.s.s of office-bearers, called Teachers or Doctors, who were to be men of learning for the exposition of G.o.d"s word, and whose nearest modern equivalent seems to us to be the professors in theological seminaries, but it is said "for lack of opportunity we cannot well have the use thereof."
In regard to the sacraments the "Book of Discipline" lays down that the Lord"s Supper should be observed after the manner already described by us when we were treating of Knox"s ministry in Berwick. In great towns it was recommended that it should be observed four times in the year, and in order to keep off Easter, the first Sundays in March, June, September, and December are suggested, because "we study to suppress superst.i.tion." It was also specified that in large towns there should be daily sermon, or else common prayer, with some exercise of reading the Scriptures; and in smaller places there should be at least one day besides the {146} Sunday appointed for sermon and prayer. Baptism might be administered wherever the word was preached, but it is alleged to be more expedient that it be on the Sunday, and never in private unless accompanied by the preaching of the word; for as the Book of Common Order says, "The sacraments are not ordained of G.o.d to be used in private corners as charms or sorceries, but left to the congregation and necessarily annexed to G.o.d"s word as seals of the same." We admit the clause about "charms," but with the household baptisms of the Scriptures before us, and the other baptisms, which were administered--as it were "extempore"--by the apostles in the house of the jailer and the house of Cornelius, we are not quite so sure about the rest of "the rubric." Marriages were not to be entered into secretly, but in open face and audience of the church; the place for their celebration, therefore, was the church, and the time recommended was Sunday before sermon. It was suggested that there should be no service of any sort at funerals; but it is added, "Yet we are not so precise but that we are content that particular kirks use services in that behalf, with the consent of the ministry of the same, as they shall answer to G.o.d, and to the a.s.sembly of the Church gathered within the realm."
But the most interesting portion of the Book of Discipline, perhaps, to us in these days, is that which refers to education, contemplating as it did the erection of a school in every parish for the instruction of the {147} young in the grammar of their own language, in the Latin tongue, and in the principles of religion; the setting up in every notable town of a "college" for the teaching of "the arts, at least, logic and rhetoric, and the tongues;" and finally the establishment in the "towns accustomed,"--that is Aberdeen, St. Andrews, and Glasgow,--of Universities with full appointments which are minutely described. These were to be supported, stipends were to be furnished for the superintendents, ministers, and readers, and suitable provision made for ministers" widows, and orphan children, out of the confiscated revenues of the Church, the bishops, and the cathedral establishments, together with the rents arising from the endowments of monasteries and other religious foundations.
The "Common Prayer" so frequently referred to was no doubt "the order of Geneva which is now used in some of our kirks," as the words within inverted commas quoted from the Book of Discipline make clear. That book had been prepared for the English congregation of Geneva during Knox"s pastorate there; and with such changes as the difference of circ.u.mstances made necessary, it came to be adopted by the Scottish General a.s.sembly in 1564. Our reference to it here, therefore, is a little premature, as we are now writing of events that occurred in 1560; but it may be convenient, as we are treating of the organization of the Scottish Church, to dispose of the matter, once for all, in this place. As we have already incidentally {148} recorded, it was agreed by those who entered into the "G.o.dly Band," that "common prayers" be read in the parish churches on Sundays by the curates if they consented, or if they refused, by such persons within the bounds as were best qualified to do so. This probably was meant to specify the second Prayer-Book of King Edward VI., yet as Dr. Laing remarks, and the reasoning of Dr. McCrie on the subject tends to confirm his statement, "the adoption of that book could only have been to a partial extent, and of no long continuance." He proceeds thus: "But this, after all, is a question of very little importance, although it has been keenly disputed, for it is well to remember that at this period there were no settled parish churches, and as there were no special congregations either in Edinburgh or in any of the princ.i.p.al towns throughout the country, no ministers had been appointed. The lords of the congregation and their adherents were much too seriously concerned in defending themselves from the Queen Regent and her French auxiliaries, and more intent for that purpose on obtaining the necessary aid from England, than to be at all concerned about points of ritual importance. In the following year, when the French troops were expelled from Scotland, and the Protestant cause was ultimately triumphant, we may conjecture that, in some measure swayed by the avowed dislike of Knox to the English service book, the preference was given to the forms of Geneva. We hear at least no more word of the English Prayer-Book, and {149} in the "Book of Discipline," prepared in December, 1560, the only form mentioned is "Our Book of Common Order,"
and "The Book of our Common Order, called the Order of Geneva." There is also in existence a copy of an edition of that book printed in Edinburgh in 1562, which shows its actual use at that time. Afterwards it was found needful to have it enlarged, and the metrical version of the Psalms, taken in large proportion from Sternhold and Hopkins, and accompanied with appropriate tunes, was appended to it. We cannot go into all the details of each part of the service here, but will content ourselves with giving the order which it follows. It begins with a confession of faith of considerable extent, but following the lines of the Apostles" Creed of which it is an expansion; then come sections in the order in which we name them, and respectively ent.i.tled--Of the Ministers and their Election, Of the Elders and as Touching their Office and Election; Of the Weekly a.s.sembly of the Ministers, Elders and Deacons; Of the Interpretation of the Scriptures. After these comes the sanctuary service proper, consisting first of a prayer of confession, of which a choice of one or other of three forms is given, or perhaps it may have been intended that all three should be used, for the book is not so explicit here as elsewhere; second, a psalm to a plain tune sung by the people; third, a prayer by the minister for the a.s.sistance of G.o.d"s Holy Spirit, for which no form is given, and the minister is to offer it as the Holy Spirit shall move his heart; fourth, the {150} sermon; fifth, a prayer for the whole state of Christ"s Church, and for the Queen and her council, and the whole body of the commonwealth; sixth, the Apostles" Creed; seventh, a psalm sung by the people; eighth, the Benediction, after one or other of two forms, to wit, that of Aaron and his sons, or that of the apostle at the end of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, but in both instances "us" is subst.i.tuted for "you;" and so the congregation departeth. To this are appended the Genevan form of prayer after sermon; and another form to be used after sermon, on the week-day appointed for common prayer; prayers used in the churches of Scotland during the time of their persecution by the French; the thanksgiving after their departure; and a prayer for the general a.s.semblies of the Church. It will be observed that nothing is here said of the reading of the Scriptures, but this was not because that was under-valued, but because the reader, who was in many cases the minister"s a.s.sistant, had already, before the commencement of the service proper, attended to that duty in the hearing of the people. So far were Knox and his friends from slurring over that exercise, that in the Book of Discipline this characteristic pa.s.sage occurs: "Further, we think it a thing most expedient and necessary that every church have a Bible in English, and that the people be commanded to convene to hear the plain reading or interpretation of the Scriptures as the Church shall appoint, that by frequent reading this gross ignorance, which in the {151} accursed papistry hath overflown all, may partly be removed. We think it most expedient that the Scriptures be read in order, that is, that some one book of the Old and the New Testament be begun and orderly read to the end. And the same we judge of preaching, where the minister for the most part remaineth in one place; for this skipping and divagation from place to place, be it in reading, be it in preaching, we judge not so profitable to edify the Church, as the continual following of one text."
The order for baptism follows: the father, or in his absence the G.o.dfather, is to rehea.r.s.e the articles of his faith (this mention of the G.o.dfather is interesting, and some may be surprised to learn, that at the baptisms in Geneva of Knox"s two sons, who were born there, Whittingham was G.o.dfather to the one and Miles Coverdale to the other); the minister follows with an exposition of the Creed; after that comes a prayer; then the minister taketh water in his hand, layeth it on the child"s forehead, repeating the words of the formula of baptism, and closes with an offering of thanks. The Book of Discipline had already disallowed the sign of the cross, all anointings, and the like. This is followed by "the manner of the Lord"s Supper," into which we need not go, as that has been already described. Then there is a single sentence on burial, discouraging services at the grave; but after burial "the minister, if he be present and required, goeth to the church if it be not far off, and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the {152} people touching death and resurrection." The book concludes with "The Order of Ecclesiastical Discipline," pointing out the three causes of discipline--the two kinds of discipline private and public, and the like. There is in it no form for marriage; but that could be supplied from the "Order of Geneva," which in this respect follows the lines of other ecclesiastical books.
This "Book of Common Order" has often been called "John Knox"s Liturgy," and within due limitations it is not inaccurately so denominated; but the term is apt to be misleading, and it needs to be added that the forms contained in it are not prescribed for constant and exclusive use, but are given more in the way of a directory to ministers as to the conduct of the service. The "Readers" of course were restricted to them; but ministers were left free to use them or not at their discretion. Thus we find in what we may call the "rubrics" such expressions as these: "When the congregation is a.s.sembled at the hour appointed, the minister useth one of these two confessions, _or like in effect_;" "the minister after the sermon useth this prayer following, or _such like_." Similar liberty is given as to the prayers in the forms for baptism and the Lord"s Supper; and at the end of the form for the service on the Sunday we have this general statement: "It shall not be necessary for the minister daily to repeat all these things before mentioned; but beginning with some manner of confession, to proceed to the sermon, which ended, he useth either the prayer for all estates before mentioned, or else {153} prayeth as the Spirit of G.o.d shall move his heart, framing the same according to the time and manner which he hath entreated of." Thus the position of the book, as concerns the debate between liturgy proper and free prayer, is one of liberty, furnishing forms to those who wished to use them, and leaving those who did not to pray as the Spirit moved them; but showing to both alike what order was to be observed in the service as a whole, what subjects were to be introduced into the prayers, and in what order and connection they were to be brought into them. It ought to be noted also that this book gave a great impulse to congregational singing of psalms, which was adopted instead of that of choral anthems; and the fashion now so universal, of printing the tunes in connection with the Psalms, was followed, if not indeed introduced, so far as Scotland is concerned by it. But though Knox had undoubtedly a hand in the preparation and sanction of this so-called Liturgy, Dr. Laing has unqualifiedly affirmed "that in no instance do we find himself using set forms of prayer." The importance of the subject in itself, and the general interest now felt in it by most of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches alike in Great Britain and America, must be our apology for going so fully into this interesting history, and for setting, as far as we may, the exact truth about it before the reader.
But we must now resume the thread of our narrative. The Book of Discipline never was so ratified as to become the law of the land. Its general outlines, {154} indeed, were followed in the organization of the Church; but though it received the signatures of many members of the Privy Council, it was bitterly opposed by others--by some because they were unwilling to disgorge the share of the Church"s patrimony of which they had taken possession, and by others because of their aversion to the strict moral _surveillance_ to which it would have subjected them. Knox puts the matter in a nutsh.e.l.l when he says: "Everything that impugned to their corrupt affections was called in their mockage a "devout imagination." The cause we have already declared: some were licentious; some had greedily gripped to the possessions of the Kirk; and others thought that they would not lack their part of Christ"s coat, and that before ever He was hanged, as by the preachers they were oft rebuked." The final arrangement of the temporalities was made later, when the ecclesiastical revenues were divided into three parts, two of which were given to the ejected popish clergy for their lives; and the other was divided between the court and the Protestant ministers.
As to the conduct of public worship the General a.s.sembly of the Church pa.s.sed an Act in December, 1562, which enacted that "one uniform order shall be taken in the administration of the sacraments, solemnization of marriages, and burial of the dead, according to the Book of Geneva"; and in December, 1564, it was ordained by the same body "that minister, exhorter, and reader shall have one of the psalm books lately printed in Edinburgh and use the order contained {155} therein, in prayers, marriage, and ministration of the sacraments."
In the latter part of 1560 Knox entered upon his ministry in Edinburgh, with the Cathedral of St. Giles as his parish church, and John Cairns as his a.s.sistant or reader. The city council provided for his lodging a house at the Netherbow Port, which had been that of the Abbot of Dunfermline, and which is now the property of the Free Church of Scotland, by whom it is preserved as a memorial of the Reformer. The council a.s.signed him at first a stipend of 200, besides discharging his house rent. After the settlement by the Privy Council above alluded to, he received at least a part of his stipend from the common fund of the ministers--for there was an "equal dividend" of the portion given to the Protestant clergy--and the city council added to that what was necessary to bring it up to the sum originally given. An interesting ill.u.s.tration of their care for his comfort is furnished in the Act of council of date 30th October, 1561, which runs thus: "The same day the provost, bailies, and council ordains the Dean of Guild with all diligence to make a warm study of deals to the minister John Knox, within his house above the hall of the same, with light and windows thereunto, and all other necessaries." But before that time a dark shadow had fallen upon his dwelling, for toward the end of December, 1560, his wife died, leaving him with his two boys to mourn her loss.
Public affairs just then also had a threatening aspect. {156} Mary and her husband, the King of France, persistently refused either to ratify the Treaty of Leith, or to confirm the settlement of the Reformed Church, and were preparing a French army for the invasion of Scotland; while agents of the Roman Catholic Church were sent over to rally the adherents of the old faith. But "man proposes and G.o.d disposes," for before the projected invasion could be carried out Francis II. died (on December 5th, 1560), and Lord James Stuart was sent by a convention of the n.o.bility to France, not, as some have alleged, to invite Mary to Scotland, but as Lord James himself wrote to Cecil, "for declaration of our duty and devotion to her highness." Before his departure he was--we quote from Knox"s "History""--"plainly premonished that if ever he condescended that she should have ma.s.s publicly or privately said within the realm of Scotland, that then betrayed he the cause of G.o.d, and exposed the religion even to the uttermost danger that he could do.
That she should have ma.s.s publicly, he affirmed that he never should consent, but to have it secretly in her chamber, who could stop her?
The danger was shown, and so he departed." He left Edinburgh on the 18th of March, and on the 19th of August, 1561, Mary arrived in Scotland, where she was received with every demonstration of enthusiastic welcome.
{157}
CHAPTER XI.
KNOX AND QUEEN MARY STUART, 1561-1563.
Beautiful in person, attractive in manner, able, acute, brilliant even, in intellect, Mary Stuart had many qualities which might have been turned to good account for the welfare of her country. But, brought up in a French court, her moral code was neither of the highest nor the purest; educated under the supervision of her uncles of Lorraine, she was taught to believe that the one great object of her life was to advance the interests of the Roman Catholic Church; and sister-in-law to him whose name is for ever blackened by the ma.s.sacre of St.