After this first step in resistance, a second and more definite one was immediately taken. Some zealous ministers in Fife met the repeated summons to introduce the book by a demand that they might be allowed to prove it first, especially as it had not been laid before the General Assembly, which was the representative body of the Church. The Bishop of Ross replied to them that they were mistaken; that the representation of the Church was in the hands of the bishops. But this question was the great question of the day. The ministers, who insisted upon their old established claims, presented a petition to the Privy Council which, amid all this commotion, thought it expedient to hold a session on August 23, in the middle of the vacation. In this petition they based their request for a suspension of the order issued to them simply on the ground that the Liturgy had not been confirmed either by the General Assembly, which since the Reformation had always, they said, had the management of Church affairs, or by Parliament[91]. ‘This Church,’ they exclaimed, ‘is a free and independent Church, just as the kingdom is a free and independent kingdom.’ They thought that as the patriots should decide what was best for the kingdom, in the same way the pastors should decide what was best for the Church. They held that the Romish Church, to which this book brought them nearer, was just as idolatrous, superstitious, and anti-Christian now as at the moment when they had separated from it. The expressions which the speakers used were echoed back from all parts of the country. The Privy Council remarked with astonishment, that even those who had hitherto obeyed the will and the laws of the King, made common cause with his opponents. The Council thought that it was justified in suspending all further steps for introducing the Liturgy until the King had again taken the matter into consideration, and had expressed his will decisively.
A.D. 1637.
And in truth there could never perhaps have been a more opportune moment for seriously weighing the position of affairs, for investigating the causes of the discontent, and for meditating how to remove them. If any one had called to mind by what means James I had once succeeded in quelling the rebellion of the town of Edinburgh, he would have found that his success had been principally due to the King’s agreement with the nobles of the country. If it had been asked how he had achieved so much in ecclesiastical matters, it would have been seen that the scale was turned in his favour, because among churchmen too he always had a party on his side, and knew how to avoid steps which would excite prejudices universally felt. But on the present occasion there were found, even among the bishops, some who resisted the introduction of the Liturgy, so that the Archbishop of Canterbury himself expressed a wish to learn the objections which were made against certain articles, and showed an inclination to pay heed to them. But it is quite clear that the matter could now no longer be settled in this way. Men’s minds had been seized by anxiety lest their old native Church with which the independence and freedom of the country were bound up, should be brought to an end. This fear could no longer be dispelled by the surrender of one or two controverted points of theology. The King, dissatisfied with the Privy Council, which had not, as he thought, done all that lay in its power to enforce the two books, and extremely incensed by the tumult in the Scottish capital, demanded the punishment of the disorder, and the performance of divine worship according to the prescribed form[92]. He did nothing to calm either the nobles or the clergy; his declaration was not calculated to meet the existing state of affairs, of which the disturbances were symptoms, but rather the symptoms themselves, which he regarded as manifestations of a disobedience which the weight of his authority would soon suppress. But while he entertained this hope, he was forced to learn by experience that the cause of resistance A.D. 1637. and disobedience received almost universal support in Scotland.
Expectations were rife that an answer from the King would shortly be communicated to the people; but at the same time fears were entertained lest an attempt should be made to introduce the Liturgy in Edinburgh by force on the arrival of the Earl of Lennox, who was on his way from his ancestral castle to the English court. At this juncture some of the more eminent among the great nobles, such as the Earls of Sutherland, Rothes, and Dalhousie, a great portion of the gentry, especially from the neighbouring counties, such as Fife, where hardly any remained at home, some deputies from the boroughs, and about a hundred ministers, assembled in Edinburgh in order to prevent the enforcement of any obnoxious measures, and to defend the ministers informed against by giving them free support in the Scottish fashion. When the reasons urged by these ministers had been stated, the assembled body declared that the introduction of the Liturgy would disturb the peace of men’s consciences and the harmony of the country. They called upon the Privy Council to represent to the King the importance of the matter, which they said he ought not to regard as an ordinary tumult, and to prevail upon him not to tamper with the religion they professed. The Privy Council accepted the petition, which had the assent of its lay members; Lord Traquair had himself looked through the petition, and had softened some harsh expressions in it. The Earl of Lennox promised to do everything at court to put the King into a frame of mind favourable to it.
Thus the King’s designs were met by a demonstration on the part of the most distinguished Scots, and indeed of almost the whole country itself; and it is clear into what embarrassment he must have been thrown by it, between the desire to give effect to his will, and the wish to continue at peace with the land of his birth. But from the first moment the opposition between them was too strong to be controlled by such considerations as these.
FOOTNOTES:
[80] We know that the boar’s head, which was eaten, conveyed an allusion to Gullinbursti, the bristly boar who signified the sun. Bede derives Easter from a German goddess Eostra.
[81] According to a notice by Spottiswood 1627. Aiton, Life of Henderson 118.
[82] Calderwood, the author of the history, put this distinction before the King himself, according to his account, vii. 263: ‘We will rather suffer than practice. To suffer is also obedience.’
[83] Grivances and petitions—presented by me, Mr. Thomas Hogge, minister of the evangell, in my aven name, and in name of others of the ministry. Balfour Annales, ii. 207. Among their complaints was one relating to the name Puritans. ‘Pastors and people adhearing to the former professione and practisse are nick-named puritans.’