Records of the Kirk of Scotland / containing the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies from 1638 downwards, as authenticated by the clerks of assembly.

by Church of Scotland. General Assembly

[23] The King’s Commission and Letter, here inserted, are not in the print of Acts which is followed in this edition, but are copied from the “Large Declaration” by the King, p. 234, et sequen.—A.P.

[24] Censura propositionum quarundam ex Hibernia per sacram Facultatem Theologiæ Parisiensis facta.

[25] Balfour, vol. ii., p. 207.—Although this document be the first ostensible indication of a movement on the part of the Churchmen with respect to the state of the form of Government, subsequently to the time which we have adopted as the commencement of these collections, yet several years sooner, there were various intimations of King Charles’s views, and of the opposition they were likely to encounter. Spottiswood had in 1624 sent a memorial to King James, recommending the introduction of the English Church forms, canons, &c. This motion, however, the King had not the courage to adopt. In April 1625, King Charles wrote to Spottiswood that he was resolved to enforce all the laws of the former reign, in reference to Church matters. In August following, he issued a proclamation for the enforcement of the Perth Articles. (Wodrow’s Life of Spottiswood, p. 12.) On 12th July 1626, he gave instructions (Balfour, vol. ii., p. 142,) not to enforce these articles against ministers who had been admitted prior to the Assembly 1618, and that such as had been ousted for nonconformity should be reponed on conditions; but conformity was to be enforced on all who had entered after the Perth Assembly. The bishops disliked this, and clamoured for conformity. On 8th February and 3d May 1627, (Balfour, vol. ii., p. 125, 126,) the King agreed to enforce it against Papists, but rebuked the Prelates for want of charity to their brethren; and, indeed, from a paper of Spottiswood on the state of the Church as to conformity, it appears that the Perth Articles were in very rare observance, and some of them not at all. In 1630 the King sent a letter to Spottiswood, intimating that the whole order of the English Church should be adopted in Scotland. In May 1631, the King sent orders for a meeting of bishops and subservient ministers, to advise as to the introduction of organs, surplices, a service book, and King James’s own translation of Psalms. An organ, &c. were introduced into the Chapel Royal; (Baillie’s M.S., p. 3, Row 272,) and considerable uneasiness created by these innovations. And when the petition from the clergy was presented to the King in 1633 at Dalkeith, the day before he entered Edinburgh, the King answered Rothes sternly—“No more of this, I command you!” From this it is evident that the King was inflexibly bent on enforcing the Episcopalian formularies and rites. This is more fully illustrated in the following documents, which are arranged in chronological order from 1636 down to the end of the year 1638. Vide, also, Aiton’s Life of Henderson, p. 125, et sequen, and authorities.

[26] Balfour, vol. ii., p. 224.

[27] Privy Council Record, from 1636 to 1639.

[28] Privy Council Record.

[29] Privy Council Record.

[30] Ibid.

[31] Privy Council Record.

[32] Ibid.