A history of England principally in the seventeenth century, Volume 2 (of 6)

by Leopold von Ranke

Neither Charles I nor Archbishop Laud had any such design. But could any one be surprised that they were charged with entertaining it? The toleration which the King allowed the Catholics to enjoy, and from which the Catholic element received fresh life in the neighbouring kingdom of Ireland; his connexion with the Catholic powers; his dilatoriness in the affair of the Palatinate; his inclination to Spain, which was constantly re-appearing; the presence of a Papal envoy at the English court; the authority which men professing Catholicism acquired in the administration of the State,—all these considerations might well supply reasons why this anxiety might be felt without any discredit to those who entertained it; though rumour exaggerated their importance. Further indications were supplied by the book of Canon Law, which gave to the power of the bishops an extension corresponding with Catholic rather than with Protestant ideas; and even if fears were not exactly entertained about the further existence of Protestantism, yet the introduction of Anglican forms into Scotland could not fail to create general excitement. Tidings had just come of the shocking punishments which were inflicted in England upon the opponents of hierarchical tendencies: were men to be exposed to a similar procedure in Scotland? An instance had already been furnished of the lengths to which ecclesiastical tendencies could lead when supported by the laws against high treason, so extraordinarily severe in Scotland. Lord Balmerino had been condemned to death for the share which he had taken in drawing up, or even in merely spreading about, the Puritan address before referred to: he owed his life solely to the mercy of the King.

The introduction of the Canons and of the Liturgy was not due to fondness for ceremonies nor to a passing fancy, but it was the keystone of the system which James I had all his life kept in view without carrying it out. Charles I took steps to bring it into execution. The Liturgy would A.D. 1637. not have had much importance without the Canons: with the latter it completed the edifice of political and ecclesiastical subordination, which for the first time reduced Scotland to complete subjection. Properly speaking the whole country was against it: it was opposed by the Presbyterian element, nowhere stronger than there, by the native government itself, and by the great nobles, who felt themselves specially threatened and alarmed by the precedent established.

Not precisely on Easter Day, but soon afterwards, the introduction of the Liturgy was begun. It did not appear in print till April, when the arrangement by which every parish was to be supplied with two copies, could be carried out. Here and there divine worship after the new form was introduced, for instance in Galloway. Opposition indeed showed itself even during service, but it was treated as a disturbance of outward order, and had no further effect.

As people delayed to purchase copies the Privy Council renewed its ordinances, threatening the refractory with the pains of rebellion. On this the bishops thought that they could no longer delay in the capital, although the murmurs were loudest there. They appointed the last Sunday before the end of the regular session of the courts of justice for introducing the new Liturgy, in the hope that people on their return home would spread over the whole land the tidings of its introduction in the capital, and that this example would be followed. They perceived a sullen movement under their feet which they hoped to put an end to by prompt and consistent action.

But the adversaries of the Liturgy would not allow matters to go so far. The execution of the measure in the capital must have been followed by so great an effect, that they deemed it necessary to resist it.

Immediately before the day appointed, a number of proud nobles and ministers zealous for the faith were seen assembling in Edinburgh. Tradition affirms, although as often happens the statement is not fully attested, that the opposition which was then offered was excited and prepared by them.

On the 23rd of July, 1637, the dignitaries of Church and A.D. 1637. State had assembled in the great church of St. Giles in Edinburgh. The Chancellor-Archbishop, many bishops, among whom the Bishop of Edinburgh did not fail to appear, the members of the Privy Council, although these were not all there, the members of the High Court of Justice, and the magistrates of the town, were there; they wished by their presence to give authority to this solemn proceeding. But the Dean had hardly opened the book when fierce cries arose from the midst of the assembled audience, which were redoubled when, at a signal from the Bishop, he began to read. Abusive epithets were directed against both, giving utterance to the opinion that they were lending themselves to an anti-Christian proceeding, for the sake of their own personal advantage; that the book was papistical, nay Satanic, and that Satan was already introduced into God’s house. The women of the lower class who were present showed that rough impetuosity which characterises them in their personal behaviour: they rose up and threw their stools at the heads of the Bishop and the Dean. It was necessary to remove the tumultuous crowd before the Liturgy could be read or the sermon preached: even then this was done only amid noises at the doors and showers of stones discharged against the windows. The Bishop was attacked on his way home, and was saved only by the escort and protection of a temporal lord[89]. And so lively and powerful was the excitement, that the lawless and seditious proceedings which had taken place could not be punished.

On the 28th of July the Provost and Baillies of the town promised to provide for the peaceful introduction of the Liturgy on the next Sunday, and for the security of the persons concerned in it. The Privy Council wished for an assurance on the part of the citizens, over whom the magistrates had not complete power. The arrangements made for this purpose were thereupon to be proclaimed with beat of drum, but the repugnance to the measure exhibited itself so strongly that no one ventured to stir A.D. 1637. it up to fresh outbreaks. On Saturday, July 29, the Archbishop and Bishops saw reason to propose that the use of the new Book of Common Prayer in Edinburgh should be postponed until the King should make known his pleasure in respect of the punishment of the tumult which had occurred, and should have taken measures for its peaceful execution. Meanwhile neither the old nor the new Liturgy was to be enforced, but only the sermon was to be delivered by obedient and compliant ministers[90]. The Privy Council assented to this.

The civic authorities took a fatal step when they gave way to an outbreak of the seditious feeling of the capital, and claimed the immediate interference of the distant sovereign in its behalf. In order to explain the commotion, people compared the noisy crowd with Balaam’s ass, which was obliged to speak because men held silence: an expression in the Biblical phraseology of the time, which however may intimate the silent agreement of the upper ranks with the masses. They had been told that the Liturgy would destroy the old faith and bring back Popery. But what is more popular among great Protestant peoples than hatred of Popery? The ministers had from the first aimed at teaching the people that in matters of religion no blind obedience was due to the ruling powers, but that God must be obeyed rather than men. And with this doctrine on the present occasion an uprising of the multitude in the town against the magistrates was immediately connected, like those which had accompanied religious excitement on countless occasions, especially in the sixteenth century. The magistrates would have been glad to conform; but the populace held out and carried the day.

The public peace in the kingdom of Great Britain rested upon the undisturbed observance of the ordinances introduced, and on the customary obedience paid to constituted authority: the monarchy as we have seen was without weapons. But if order was to prevail anywhere, it must be disturbed nowhere. If a breach occurred in any one place, as at this time in Edinburgh, it affected the whole country. A.D. 1637. The capital of the second of the two kingdoms had, by throwing aside its spiritual, at the same time thrown aside its temporal obedience.