Our Reformer’s letter to the protestant lords in Scotland produced its intended effect, in reanimating their drooping courage. At a consultative meeting, held at Edinburgh in December 1557, they unanimously resolved to adhere to one another, and exert themselves in advancing the Reformation. Having subscribed a solemn bond of mutual assurance, they renewed their invitation to Knox; and being afraid that he might hesitate on account of their former irresolution, they wrote to Calvin, to employ his influence to induce him to comply.Their letters did not reach Geneva until November 1558.[326] By the same conveyance, Knox received letters of a later date, communicating the most agreeable intelligence respecting the progress which the reformed cause had made, and the flourishing appearance which it continued to wear, in Scotland.
Through the exertions of our Reformer, during his residence among them in the year 1556, and in pursuance of the instructions which he left behind him, the protestants had formed themselves into congregations, which met in different parts of the country with greater or less privacy, according to the opportunities which they enjoyed. Having come to the resolution of withdrawing from the popish worship, they provided for their religious instruction andmutual edification in the best manner that their circumstances would permit.As there were no ministers among them, they continued for some time to be deprived of the dispensation of the sacraments;[327] but certain intelligent and pious men of their number were chosen to read the scriptures, to exhort, and offer up prayers in their assemblies.Convinced of the necessity of order and discipline in their societies, and desirous to have them organized, as far as was in their power, agreeably to the institution of Christ, they next proceeded to choose elders for the inspection of their manners, to whom they promised subjection, and deacons for the collection and distribution of alms to the poor.[328] Edinburgh was the first place in which this order was established: Dundee the first town in which a reformed church was completely organized,provided with a regular minister, and favoured with the dispensation of the sacraments.
During the war with England, which began in autumn 1556, and continued through the following year, the protestants enjoyed considerable liberty; and they improved it with great zeal and success. The clergy were not indifferent to the progress which the reformed opinions were daily making, and they prevailed with the regent to summon such as had presumed to preach without their authority;but she was obliged to abandon the process against them, in consequence of the arrival of certain gentlemen from the west country, who demanded their release in a tone which declared that they were resolved not to be refused.[329]
At a meeting of the nobles and barons attached to the Reformation, held at Edinburgh in December 1557, two resolutions were adopted for regulating their conduct in the present delicate juncture.It was agreed, in the first place, that they should rest satisfied for the present with requiring that prayers, and the lessons of the Old and New Testament, should be read in English, according to the book of Common Prayer,[330] in every parish, on Sundays and festival days, by the curates of the respective parishes, or, if they were unable or unwilling, by such persons within the bounds as were best qualified. And, secondly, that the reformed preachers should teach in private houses only, till the government should allow themto preach in public.[331] The first resolution has been represented as an unwarrantable assumption of authority by this reforming assembly, and as implying that they had a right to dictate to the whole nation, by setting aside the established worship, and imposing a new form. This construction is, however, irreconcilable with the situation in which they were then placed, and with the moderate and submissive tone in which they continued to urge their claims at a subsequent period. It is rather to be viewed as expressing the opinion of that meeting respecting the degree of reformation which individuals of their body might introduce, in places to which their authority and influence extended.And, accordingly, it was reduced to practice in many parishes where protestant barons resided, and where the people were disposed to imitate their example.[332]
In pursuance of the second resolution agreed on at the general meeting, the earl of Argyle undertook the protection of John Douglas, a carmelite friar, who had embraced the reformed sentiments;[333] and the rest of the preachers were received into the houses of other barons, and employed to preach as their chaplains. This measure alarmed the clergy no less than the former practice of itinerant preaching had done. They saw that it would be vain to commence prosecutions against preachers who were entertained in the families of the principal men in the kingdom; and they resolved to exert all their influence to deprive them ofsuch powerful patronage. Presuming upon the easy temper of the aged earl of Argyle, and upon the friendship which had long subsisted between his family and the Hamiltons, the archbishop of St Andrews wrote a letter to that nobleman in a very insinuating strain, and at the same time sent a relation of his own, Sir David Hamilton, with instructions to represent the danger to which he exposed his noble house by countenancing Douglas, and to intreat him, in the most earnest manner, to withdraw his protection from such a pestilent heretic. Argyle’s reply was temperate and respectful, but at the same time firm and spirited: he not only vindicated the doctrine taught by his chaplain, and refused to dismiss him, but made several shrewd and pointed remarks which the archbishop could not fail to apply to himself. The bishop having written that he felt himself bound “in honour and conscience” to enquire into the heresies of which Douglas was accused, the earl replies: “He preiches against idolatrie, I remit to your lordschip’s conscience gif it be heresie or not;he preiches against adulterie and fornicatioun, I referre that to your lordschip’s conscience;[334] he preiches against hypocrisie, I referre that to your lordschip’s conscience; he preiches against all maner of abuses and corruptioun of Christis sincere religioun, I referre that to your lordschip’s conscience. My lord, I exhort yow, in Christis name, to wey allthir affairis in your conscience, and considder if it be your dewtie also not onlie to thole[335] this, bot in like maner to do the same. This is all, my lord, that I varie in my age, and na uther thing bot that I knew not befoir these offences to be abhominable to God, and now, knawing his will by manifestatioun of his word, abhorres thame.” Referring to the bishop’s offer to send him a learned and catholic teacher, the earl replies,“God Almichtie send us mony of that sorte, that will preiche trewlie, and nathing but ane catholic universall christian fayth; and we Hieland rude pepill hes mister[336] of thame. And if your lordschip wald get and provyde me sic a man, I sould provyde him a corporal leving as to my self, with grit thanks to your lordschip; for trewlie, I and many ma hes grit mister of sic men.And becaus I am abill to sustain ma nor ane of thame, I will requeist your lordschip earnestlie to provyde me sic a man as ye wrait; for the harvest is grit, and thair ar few labouraris.”[337]
Foiled in his attempts to prevail on the nobility to withdraw their protection from the preachers, the archbishop determined to wreak his vengeance upon such of them as were still within his power, and proceeded to revive those cruel measures which had been suspended for several years, by the political circumstances of the country rather than by the clemency and moderation of the clergy. Walter Mill, parish‑priest of Lunan in Angus, having been condemned as aheretic in the time of cardinal Beatoun, had escaped from execution, and continued to preach, sometimes in private, and at other times openly, in different quarters of the kingdom. Being lately discovered by one of the archbishop’s spies, he was brought to trial at St Andrews. He appeared before the court so worn out with age, and the hardships which he had endured, that it was not expected he would be able to answer the questions which might be put to him; but, to the surprise of all, he conducted his defence with great spirit. Such was the compassion excited by his appearance, and the horror which was now felt at the punishment to which he was doomed, that the clergy, after pronouncing him guilty, could not procure a secular judge to pass sentence of death upon him, and the archbishop was at last obliged to employ a worthless servant of his own to perform the odious task. On the 28th of August 1558, Mill expired amidst the flames, uttering these words:“As for me, I am fourscore and two years old, and cannot live long by course of nature; but a hundred better shall rise out of the ashes of my bones. I trust in God, I shall be the last that shall suffer death in Scotland for this cause!”[338]
This barbarous and illegal execution produced effects of the greatest importance. It raised the horror of the nation to an incredible pitch; and as it was believed, at that time, that the regent was not accessoryto the deed, their indignation was directed wholly against the clergy. Throwing aside all fear, and disregarding those restraints which prudence, or respect for established order, had hitherto imposed on them, the people now assembled openly to join in the reformed worship, and avowed their determination to adhere to it at all hazards.Harlow, Douglas, Paul Methven, and some others, were emboldened to break through the regulations to which they had submitted, and began to preach, and administer the sacraments, with greater publicity than formerly.[339] In the month of October,[340] they were joined by John Willock, who returned a second time from Embden.
Meanwhile, the protestant barons, having assembled at Edinburgh in the month of July,[341] had resolved to lay their complaints in a formal manner before the regent. They renewed the request which they had formerly made, that she would, by her authority, and in concurrence with the parliament, restrain theviolence of the clergy, correct the flagrant and insufferable abuses which prevailed in the church, and grant to them and their brethren the liberty of religious instruction and worship, at least according to a restricted plan which they laid before her, and to which they were willing to submit, till their grievances should be deliberately examined and legally redressed.[342] Their petition was presented to the regent, in the palace of Holyroodhouse, by Sir James Sandilands of Calder, in the presence of a number of the nobility and bishops.Her reply was such as to persuade them that she was friendly to their proposals; she promised, that she would take measures for carrying them legally into effect, as soon as it was in her power, and assured them, that, in the meantime, they might depend on her protection.[343]
It did not require many arguments to persuade Knox to comply with an invitation, which was accompanied with such gratifying intelligence; and he began immediately to prepare for his journey to Scotland.The future settlement of the congregation under his charge, occupied him for some time.Information being received of the death of Mary, queen of England,[344] and the accession of Elizabeth, the protestant refugees hastened to return to their native country. The congregation at Geneva, having met to return thanks to God for this deliverance, agreed to send one of their number with letters to their brethren in different places of the continent, and particularly in Frankfort, congratulating them on the late happy change, and requesting a confirmation of the mutual reconciliation which had already been effected, the burial of all past offences, and a brotherly co‑operation, in endeavouring to obtain such a settlement of religion in England as would be agreeable to all the sincere well‑wishers of the Reformation.A favourable return to their letters being obtained,[345] they took leave of the hospitable city, and set out for their native country. By them Knox sent letters to some of his former acquaintances, who were now in the court of Elizabeth, requesting permission to travel through England on his way to Scotland.
In the month of January 1559, our Reformer took his leave of Geneva for the last time.[346] In addition to former marks of respect, the republic, before hisdeparture, conferred on him the freedom of the city.[347] He left his wife and family behind him, until he should ascertain that they could live with safety in Scotland. Upon his arrival at Dieppe, in the middle of March, he received information that the English government had refused to grant him liberty to pass through their dominions.The request had appeared so reasonable to his own mind, considering the station which he had held in that country, and the object of his present journey, that he once thought of proceeding to London without waiting for a formal permission; yet it was with some difficulty that those who presented his letters escaped imprisonment.[348]