It may be added here, that "The Book of Common Order" makes mention of still another class of office-bearers, called Teachers or Doctors, who were to be men of learning for the exposition of God's word, and whose nearest modern equivalent seems to us to be the professors in theological seminaries, but it is said "for lack of opportunity we cannot well have the use thereof."
In regard to the sacraments the "Book of Discipline" lays down that the Lord's Supper should be observed after the manner already described by us when we were treating of Knox's ministry in Berwick. In great towns it was recommended that it should be observed four times in the year, and in order to keep off Easter, the first Sundays in March, June, September, and December are suggested, because "we study to suppress superstition." It was also specified that in large towns there should be daily sermon, or else common prayer, with some exercise of reading the Scriptures; and in smaller places there should be at least one day besides the Sunday appointed for sermon and prayer. Baptism might be administered wherever the word was preached, but it is alleged to be more expedient that it be on the Sunday, and never in private unless accompanied by the preaching of the word; for as the Book of Common Order says, "The sacraments are not ordained of God to be used in private corners as charms or sorceries, but left to the congregation and necessarily annexed to God's word as seals of the same." We admit the clause about "charms," but with the household baptisms of the Scriptures before us, and the other baptisms, which were administered—as it were "extempore"—by the apostles in the house of the jailer and the house of Cornelius, we are not quite so sure about the rest of "the rubric." Marriages were not to be entered into secretly, but in open face and audience of the church; the place for their celebration, therefore, was the church, and the time recommended was Sunday before sermon. It was suggested that there should be no service of any sort at funerals; but it is added, "Yet we are not so precise but that we are content that particular kirks use services in that behalf, with the consent of the ministry of the same, as they shall answer to God, and to the assembly of the Church gathered within the realm."
But the most interesting portion of the Book of Discipline, perhaps, to us in these days, is that which refers to education, contemplating as it did the erection of a school in every parish for the instruction of the young in the grammar of their own language, in the Latin tongue, and in the principles of religion; the setting up in every notable town of a "college" for the teaching of "the arts, at least, logic and rhetoric, and the tongues;" and finally the establishment in the "towns accustomed,"—that is Aberdeen, St. Andrews, and Glasgow,—of Universities with full appointments which are minutely described. These were to be supported, stipends were to be furnished for the superintendents, ministers, and readers, and suitable provision made for ministers' widows, and orphan children, out of the confiscated revenues of the Church, the bishops, and the cathedral establishments, together with the rents arising from the endowments of monasteries and other religious foundations.
The "Common Prayer" so frequently referred to was no doubt "the order of Geneva which is now used in some of our kirks," as the words within inverted commas quoted from the Book of Discipline make clear. That book had been prepared for the English congregation of Geneva during Knox's pastorate there; and with such changes as the difference of circumstances made necessary, it came to be adopted by the Scottish General Assembly in 1564. Our reference to it here, therefore, is a little premature, as we are now writing of events that occurred in 1560; but it may be convenient, as we are treating of the organization of the Scottish Church, to dispose of the matter, once for all, in this place. As we have already incidentally recorded, it was agreed by those who entered into the "Godly Band," that "common prayers" be read in the parish churches on Sundays by the curates if they consented, or if they refused, by such persons within the bounds as were best qualified to do so. This probably was meant to specify the second Prayer-Book of King Edward VI., yet as Dr. Laing remarks, and the reasoning of Dr. McCrie on the subject tends to confirm his statement, "the adoption of that book could only have been to a partial extent, and of no long continuance." He proceeds thus: "But this, after all, is a question of very little importance, although it has been keenly disputed, for it is well to remember that at this period there were no settled parish churches, and as there were no special congregations either in Edinburgh or in any of the principal towns throughout the country, no ministers had been appointed. The lords of the congregation and their adherents were much too seriously concerned in defending themselves from the Queen Regent and her French auxiliaries, and more intent for that purpose on obtaining the necessary aid from England, than to be at all concerned about points of ritual importance. In the following year, when the French troops were expelled from Scotland, and the Protestant cause was ultimately triumphant, we may conjecture that, in some measure swayed by the avowed dislike of Knox to the English service book, the preference was given to the forms of Geneva. We hear at least no more word of the English Prayer-Book, and in the "Book of Discipline," prepared in December, 1560, the only form mentioned is "Our Book of Common Order," and "The Book of our Common Order, called the Order of Geneva." There is also in existence a copy of an edition of that book printed in Edinburgh in 1562, which shows its actual use at that time. Afterwards it was found needful to have it enlarged, and the metrical version of the Psalms, taken in large proportion from Sternhold and Hopkins, and accompanied with appropriate tunes, was appended to it. We cannot go into all the details of each part of the service here, but will content ourselves with giving the order which it follows. It begins with a confession of faith of considerable extent, but following the lines of the Apostles' Creed of which it is an expansion; then come sections in the order in which we name them, and respectively entitled—Of the Ministers and their Election, Of the Elders and as Touching their Office and Election; Of the Weekly Assembly of the Ministers, Elders and Deacons; Of the Interpretation of the Scriptures. After these comes the sanctuary service proper, consisting first of a prayer of confession, of which a choice of one or other of three forms is given, or perhaps it may have been intended that all three should be used, for the book is not so explicit here as elsewhere; second, a psalm to a plain tune sung by the people; third, a prayer by the minister for the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, for which no form is given, and the minister is to offer it as the Holy Spirit shall move his heart; fourth, the sermon; fifth, a prayer for the whole state of Christ's Church, and for the Queen and her council, and the whole body of the commonwealth; sixth, the Apostles' Creed; seventh, a psalm sung by the people; eighth, the Benediction, after one or other of two forms, to wit, that of Aaron and his sons, or that of the apostle at the end of the first Epistle to the Corinthians, but in both instances "us" is substituted for "you;" and so the congregation departeth. To this are appended the Genevan form of prayer after sermon; and another form to be used after sermon, on the week-day appointed for common prayer; prayers used in the churches of Scotland during the time of their persecution by the French; the thanksgiving after their departure; and a prayer for the general assemblies of the Church. It will be observed that nothing is here said of the reading of the Scriptures, but this was not because that was under-valued, but because the reader, who was in many cases the minister's assistant, had already, before the commencement of the service proper, attended to that duty in the hearing of the people. So far were Knox and his friends from slurring over that exercise, that in the Book of Discipline this characteristic passage occurs: "Further, we think it a thing most expedient and necessary that every church have a Bible in English, and that the people be commanded to convene to hear the plain reading or interpretation of the Scriptures as the Church shall appoint, that by frequent reading this gross ignorance, which in the accursed papistry hath overflown all, may partly be removed. We think it most expedient that the Scriptures be read in order, that is, that some one book of the Old and the New Testament be begun and orderly read to the end. And the same we judge of preaching, where the minister for the most part remaineth in one place; for this skipping and divagation from place to place, be it in reading, be it in preaching, we judge not so profitable to edify the Church, as the continual following of one text."
The order for baptism follows: the father, or in his absence the godfather, is to rehearse the articles of his faith (this mention of the godfather is interesting, and some may be surprised to learn, that at the baptisms in Geneva of Knox's two sons, who were born there, Whittingham was godfather to the one and Miles Coverdale to the other); the minister follows with an exposition of the Creed; after that comes a prayer; then the minister taketh water in his hand, layeth it on the child's forehead, repeating the words of the formula of baptism, and closes with an offering of thanks. The Book of Discipline had already disallowed the sign of the cross, all anointings, and the like. This is followed by "the manner of the Lord's Supper," into which we need not go, as that has been already described. Then there is a single sentence on burial, discouraging services at the grave; but after burial "the minister, if he be present and required, goeth to the church if it be not far off, and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the people touching death and resurrection." The book concludes with "The Order of Ecclesiastical Discipline," pointing out the three causes of discipline—the two kinds of discipline private and public, and the like. There is in it no form for marriage; but that could be supplied from the "Order of Geneva," which in this respect follows the lines of other ecclesiastical books.
This "Book of Common Order" has often been called "John Knox's Liturgy," and within due limitations it is not inaccurately so denominated; but the term is apt to be misleading, and it needs to be added that the forms contained in it are not prescribed for constant and exclusive use, but are given more in the way of a directory to ministers as to the conduct of the service. The "Readers" of course were restricted to them; but ministers were left free to use them or not at their discretion. Thus we find in what we may call the "rubrics" such expressions as these: "When the congregation is assembled at the hour appointed, the minister useth one of these two confessions, or like in effect;" "the minister after the sermon useth this prayer following, or such like." Similar liberty is given as to the prayers in the forms for baptism and the Lord's Supper; and at the end of the form for the service on the Sunday we have this general statement: "It shall not be necessary for the minister daily to repeat all these things before mentioned; but beginning with some manner of confession, to proceed to the sermon, which ended, he useth either the prayer for all estates before mentioned, or else prayeth as the Spirit of God shall move his heart, framing the same according to the time and manner which he hath entreated of." Thus the position of the book, as concerns the debate between liturgy proper and free prayer, is one of liberty, furnishing forms to those who wished to use them, and leaving those who did not to pray as the Spirit moved them; but showing to both alike what order was to be observed in the service as a whole, what subjects were to be introduced into the prayers, and in what order and connection they were to be brought into them. It ought to be noted also that this book gave a great impulse to congregational singing of psalms, which was adopted instead of that of choral anthems; and the fashion now so universal, of printing the tunes in connection with the Psalms, was followed, if not indeed introduced, so far as Scotland is concerned by it. But though Knox had undoubtedly a hand in the preparation and sanction of this so-called Liturgy, Dr. Laing has unqualifiedly affirmed "that in no instance do we find himself using set forms of prayer." The importance of the subject in itself, and the general interest now felt in it by most of the Presbyterian and Congregational Churches alike in Great Britain and America, must be our apology for going so fully into this interesting history, and for setting, as far as we may, the exact truth about it before the reader.
But we must now resume the thread of our narrative. The Book of Discipline never was so ratified as to become the law of the land. Its general outlines, indeed, were followed in the organization of the Church; but though it received the signatures of many members of the Privy Council, it was bitterly opposed by others—by some because they were unwilling to disgorge the share of the Church's patrimony of which they had taken possession, and by others because of their aversion to the strict moral surveillance to which it would have subjected them. Knox puts the matter in a nutshell when he says: "Everything that impugned to their corrupt affections was called in their mockage a 'devout imagination.' The cause we have already declared: some were licentious; some had greedily gripped to the possessions of the Kirk; and others thought that they would not lack their part of Christ's coat, and that before ever He was hanged, as by the preachers they were oft rebuked." The final arrangement of the temporalities was made later, when the ecclesiastical revenues were divided into three parts, two of which were given to the ejected popish clergy for their lives; and the other was divided between the court and the Protestant ministers.
As to the conduct of public worship the General Assembly of the Church passed an Act in December, 1562, which enacted that "one uniform order shall be taken in the administration of the sacraments, solemnization of marriages, and burial of the dead, according to the Book of Geneva"; and in December, 1564, it was ordained by the same body "that minister, exhorter, and reader shall have one of the psalm books lately printed in Edinburgh and use the order contained therein, in prayers, marriage, and ministration of the sacraments."
In the latter part of 1560 Knox entered upon his ministry in Edinburgh, with the Cathedral of St. Giles as his parish church, and John Cairns as his assistant or reader. The city council provided for his lodging a house at the Netherbow Port, which had been that of the Abbot of Dunfermline, and which is now the property of the Free Church of Scotland, by whom it is preserved as a memorial of the Reformer. The council assigned him at first a stipend of £200, besides discharging his house rent. After the settlement by the Privy Council above alluded to, he received at least a part of his stipend from the common fund of the ministers—for there was an "equal dividend" of the portion given to the Protestant clergy—and the city council added to that what was necessary to bring it up to the sum originally given. An interesting illustration of their care for his comfort is furnished in the Act of council of date 30th October, 1561, which runs thus: "The same day the provost, bailies, and council ordains the Dean of Guild with all diligence to make a warm study of deals to the minister John Knox, within his house above the hall of the same, with light and windows thereunto, and all other necessaries." But before that time a dark shadow had fallen upon his dwelling, for toward the end of December, 1560, his wife died, leaving him with his two boys to mourn her loss.
Public affairs just then also had a threatening aspect. Mary and her husband, the King of France, persistently refused either to ratify the Treaty of Leith, or to confirm the settlement of the Reformed Church, and were preparing a French army for the invasion of Scotland; while agents of the Roman Catholic Church were sent over to rally the adherents of the old faith. But "man proposes and God disposes," for before the projected invasion could be carried out Francis II. died (on December 5th, 1560), and Lord James Stuart was sent by a convention of the nobility to France, not, as some have alleged, to invite Mary to Scotland, but as Lord James himself wrote to Cecil, "for declaration of our duty and devotion to her highness." Before his departure he was—we quote from Knox's "History"'—"plainly premonished that if ever he condescended that she should have mass publicly or privately said within the realm of Scotland, that then betrayed he the cause of God, and exposed the religion even to the uttermost danger that he could do. That she should have mass publicly, he affirmed that he never should consent, but to have it secretly in her chamber, who could stop her? The danger was shown, and so he departed." He left Edinburgh on the 18th of March, and on the 19th of August, 1561, Mary arrived in Scotland, where she was received with every demonstration of enthusiastic welcome.