"This condition of affairs doth not only displease us, but as your Grace's wisdom most prudently doth foresee, for the quieting of this intestine dissension, a public Reformation, in religion as well as in temporal government was most necessary. To this task, as we are informed, ye have most gravely and most godly exhorted as well the clergy as the nobility, to employ their study, diligence, and care. We, therefore, of conscience, dare no longer dissemble in so weighty a matter which concerneth the glory of God and our salvation. Neither now dare we withdraw our presence, or conceal our petitions, lest the adversaries hereafter shall object to us that place was granted to reformation, and yet no man suited for the same; and so should our silence be prejudicial unto us in time to come. Therefore, knowing no other order placed in this realm, but your Grace, in your grave Council, set to amend, as well the disorder ecclesiastical, as the defaults in the temporal regiment, we most humbly prostrate ourselves before your feet, asking your justice, and your gracious help, against them that falsely traduce and accuse us, as if we were heretics and schismatics. Under that colour they seek our destruction; because we seek the amendment of their corrupted lives, and that Christ's religion be restored to its original purity. Further, we crave of your Grace to hear, with open and patient ears, these our subsequent requests; and, to the joy and satisfaction of our troubled consciences, mercifully to grant the same, unless by God's plain Word any be able to prove that justly they ought to be denied.
"First, Humbly we ask that, as we have, by the laws of this realm, after long debate, obtained to read the holy books of the Old and New Testaments in our common tongue, as spiritual food to our souls, so from henceforth it may be lawful that we may convene publicly or privately to our Common Prayers, in our vulgar tongue; to the end that we may increase and grow in knowledge, and be induced, in fervent and oft prayer, to commend to God the Holy Church universal, the Queen our Sovereign, her honourable and gracious husband, the stability of their succession, your Grace Regent, the Nobility, and the whole Estate of this Realm.
"Secondly, If it shall happen in our said conventions that any hard place of Scripture be read, from which no profit ariseth to the conveners, we ask that it shall be lawful to any person qualified in knowledge, being present, to interpret and open up the said hard places, to God's glory and to the profit of the hearers. If any think that this liberty would be occasion of confusion, debate, or heresy, we are content that it be provided that the said interpretation shall underlie the judgment of the most godly and most learned within the realm at this time.
"Thirdly, We seek that the holy Sacrament of Baptism may be used in the vulgar tongue; so that the godfathers and witnesses may not only understand the points of the league and contract made betwixt God and the infant, but also that the Church then assembled may be more gravely informed and instructed of the duties which at all times they owe to God, according to the promise made unto Him, when they were received into His household by the lavachre[129] of spiritual regeneration.
"Fourthly, We desire that the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, or of His most blessed body and blood, may likewise be ministered unto us in the vulgar tongue; and in both kinds, according to the plain institution of our Saviour Christ Jesus.
"Lastly, We most humbly require that the wicked, slanderous, and detestable life of prelates, and of the estate ecclesiastical may be so reformed, that the people may not have occasion (as for many days they have had) to contemn their ministers, and the preaching whereof they should be messengers. If they suspect that we, envying their honours or coveting their riches and possessions rather than zealously desiring their amendment and salvation, do travail and labour for this Reformation; we are content not only that the rules and precepts of the New Testament, but also the writings of the ancient fathers, and the godly approved laws of Justinian the Emperor, decide the controversy between us and them. And if it shall be found that either malevolently or ignorantly we ask more than these three forenamed have required and continually do require of able and true ministers in Christ's Church, we refuse not correction, as your Grace, with right judgment, shall think meet. But if all the forenamed shall damn that which we damn and approve that which we require, then we most earnestly beseech your Grace that, notwithstanding the long consuetude which they have had to live as they list, they be compelled either to desist from ecclesiastical administration, or to discharge their duties as becometh true ministers; so that, the grave and godly face of the primitive Church reduced,[130] ignorance may be expelled and true doctrine and good manners may once again appear in the Church of this realm.
"These things we, as most obedient subjects, require of your Grace, in the name of the Eternal God and of His Son Christ Jesus, in presence of whose throne judicial, ye and all other that here on earth bear authority shall give account of your temporal regiment. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus move your Grace's heart to justice and equity. Amen."
The Papists brag of Disputation: the Articles of Reconciliation.
When these petitions were presented, the Estate Ecclesiastical began to storm and to devise all manner of lies to deface the equity of our cause. They bragged that they would have public disputation. This we most earnestly asked them to arrange, upon two conditions: the one, that the plain and written Scriptures of God should decide all controversy; the other, that our brethren, of whom some were then exiled and by them unjustly condemned, might have free access to the said disputation, and safe conduct to return to their dwelling places, notwithstanding any process which before had been led against them in matters concerning religion. But these preliminary conditions were utterly denied. No judge would they admit but themselves, their Councils, and Canon law. They and their faction began to draw up certain Articles of Reconciliation. These stipulated that we should permit the Mass to remain in reverence and estimation, grant purgatory after this life, confess prayer to saints and for the dead, and suffer them to enjoy their accustomed rents, possession, and honour. Upon these terms, they were prepared to grant us freedom to pray and baptize in the vulgar tongue, if this were done secretly, and not in the open assembly.
The grossness of these articles was such, that with one voice we refused them; and continued to crave justice from the Queen Regent, and a reasonable answer to our former petitions. The Queen Regent, a woman crafty, dissimulate, and false, thinking to make profit of both parties, gave us permission to conduct ourselves in godly manner, according to our desires, provided that we should not make public assemblies in Edinburgh or Leith; and she promised her assistance to our preachers, until some uniform order might be established by a Parliament. To the clergy, she quietly gave signification of her mind, promising that, as soon as opportunity should serve, she should so arrange matters for them that they should have no more trouble. Some say that they gave her a large purse,—40,000 pounds, says the Chronicle gathered by Sir William Bruce, the Laird of Earlshall. Unsuspecting of her doubleness and falsehood, we were fully contented with her answer; and did use ourselves so quietly that, for her pleasure, we put silence to John Douglas. He would have preached publicly in the town of Leith; but in all things we sought the contentment of her mind, so far as we should not offend God by obeying her in things unlawful.