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THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION
THE SCOTTISH REFORMATION
Its Epochs, Episodes, Leaders, and Distinctive Characteristics (Being the Baird Lecture for 1899) BY THE LATE ALEXANDER F. MITCHELL, D.D., LL.D. EMERITUS PROFESSOR OF CHURCH HISTORY IN ST. ANDREWS UNIVERSITY EDITED BY D. HAY FLEMING, LL.D. WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE AUTHOR BY JAMES CHRISTIE, D.D. WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCC...
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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
Few men have shown more indomitable application to an arduous duty, amid physical weakness and bodily pain, than did the author of these Lectures in their preparation and revision. In the MS. there are a goodly number of additions and minute alterations in his own hand—some of them very tremulous, some of them in ink, some of them in pencil. He intended to revise them still more carefully ere they were published; but expressed the desire that, if he were not spared to do so, I would see them thr
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER FERRIER MITCHELL, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in St Mary's College, St Andrews.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER FERRIER MITCHELL, D.D., LL.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in St Mary's College, St Andrews.
A pathetic and almost melancholy interest attaches to this volume of the Baird Lectures. Their scholarly and accomplished author may be said to have entered on the last stage of the malady to which he succumbed when they were read for him in Blythswood Parish Church, Glasgow, by his friend and former student, Professor Robertson, the closing one, indeed, having been delivered but a few days before his death. In proof of the deep interest which he took in the subject of these Lectures, and of his
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CHAPTER I. THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION.
CHAPTER I. THE NATURE AND NEED OF THE REFORMATION.
With the single exception of the period which covers the introduction and first marvellous triumphs of Christianity, the Reformation of the sixteenth century must be owned as perhaps the greatest and most glorious revolution in the history of the human race. And the years of earnest contendings and heroic sufferings which prepared the way for its triumph in many lands and issued in its cruel suppression in others, and the story of the men who by God's grace were enabled to bear the brunt of the
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CHAPTER II. PATRICK HAMILTON.
CHAPTER II. PATRICK HAMILTON.
It has not been very clearly ascertained how or when the opinions and writings of Luther were first introduced into Scotland. M. de la Tour, who in 1527 suffered in Paris for heresy, was accused of having vented various Lutheran opinions while in Edinburgh in attendance on the Duke of Albany. This, of course, must have been before 1523. On the 9th June 1523, the same day that John Major was received as Principal of the Pædagogium, or St Mary's College, [14] Patrick Hamilton was incorporated into
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CHAPTER III. THE OPPRESSED AND THE OPPRESSORS.
CHAPTER III. THE OPPRESSED AND THE OPPRESSORS.
Archbishop Betoun thought that by Patrick Hamilton's death he had extinguished Lutheranism in Scotland. The University of Louvain applauded his deed; and so also, I regret to say, did John Major, the old Scottish Gallican, then resident at Paris, and preparing for the press his Commentary on the Gospels, the first part of which was to be dedicated to his old patron in Scotland, and was emphatically to express his approval of what that patron had done to root out the tares of Lutheranism. [27] Bu
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CHAPTER IV. GEORGE WISHART.
CHAPTER IV. GEORGE WISHART.
It was about this time that a new evangelist arrived in the country, singularly fitted to impress on the hearts of men the lessons of the Holy Book to which they had now access in their native tongue. This was George Wishart, a younger son or nephew of Sir James Wishart, laird of Pittarrow in the Mearns. He appears to have been born about 1512-13, and to have received his university training in King's College, Aberdeen, then presided over by a distinguished humanist skilled both in Latin and Gre
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CHAPTER V. KNOX AS LEADER OF OUR REFORMATION.
CHAPTER V. KNOX AS LEADER OF OUR REFORMATION.
As stated towards the close of my last lecture, the sword-bearer of Wishart stood forth at once "to wield the spiritual sword which had fallen from the master's grasp, and to wield it with a vigour and trenchant execution superior even to his." At this time Knox was full forty years of age, having been born at Giffordgate, in Haddington, in 1505. He probably received the rudiments of his education there, and matriculated at the University of Glasgow in 1522. Some suppose that he may have followe
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CHAPTER VI. THE OLD SCOTTISH CONFESSION OF 1560.
CHAPTER VI. THE OLD SCOTTISH CONFESSION OF 1560.
Knox, in his 'History of the Reformation,' has stated that the preparation of this Confession was entrusted to the same six ministers who were commissioned to draw up the Book of Discipline—viz., Wynram, Spottiswoode, Willock, Douglas, Row, and himself. [102] It has been frequently taken for granted that the Confession was prepared and revised within four days after the formal charge to frame it was issued by the Parliament, and that the Book of Discipline was not ordered to be prepared till aft
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CHAPTER VII. THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER.
CHAPTER VII. THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER.
This, though in point of time the first composed of the symbolical books of the Scottish Reformation, was the last to be formally assigned its honoured place. The title it commonly bore in that age was the Book of Common Order. In the First Book of Discipline it is called "the Order of Geneva" and "the Book of our Common Order." [146] In recent times it has been more generally designated as Knox's Liturgy. It has usually been deemed sufficient to say that it was drawn up and first privately and
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CHAPTER VIII. THE FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE; OR, THE BOOKE OF THE POLICIE OF THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER VIII. THE FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE; OR, THE BOOKE OF THE POLICIE OF THE CHURCH.
I regard the First Book of Discipline as, in several respects, the most thoughtful, judicious, practical, and comprehensive of the documents connected with the organisation of the Reformed Church of Scotland. It was drawn up by the same six men [180] who were subsequently entrusted with the preparation of the Confession of Faith; and it has been said that they first settled the titles of the several chapters, and then apportioned the preparation of so many of them to each. But this is matter of
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CHAPTER IX. THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX.
CHAPTER IX. THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX.
The eighth decade of the sixteenth century was memorable in the history of Protestantism in its Presbyterian or Calvinistic form, and the year 1572 has been termed its annus mirabilis . It marked a crisis in the long and bloody struggle of the Protestants in the Netherlands with their Spanish oppressors,—a struggle which issued in securing the independence of the Dutch people, and settling on a Calvinistic basis the Reformed Church of Holland. It formed the turning-point in the tragic fortunes o
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CHAPTER X. THE SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE.
CHAPTER X. THE SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE.
In a previous lecture I have endeavoured to give a pretty full account of the First Book of Discipline. It remains yet to say a few words about the Second Book of Discipline. Principal John Cunningham has said: "The First Book exhibited a system of polity sagaciously suited to the circumstances of the country and the church: it seemed to grow out of the times." [257] I will add that it was not only suited to the times, but to many of the practical needs of the church of all times. I therefore ho
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CHAPTER XI. ALESIUS.
CHAPTER XI. ALESIUS.
We owe it to the Rev. Christopher Anderson, the author of the 'Annals of the English Bible,' that attention has been once more turned to the deeply interesting story of Alexander Alane, or Alesius. Principal Lorimer, in his 'Scottish Reformation,' has thrown further light on him. And Dr Merle D'Aubigné, who appears to have minutely examined most of his tracts and commentaries, has wrought into his graphic but imaginative narrative much of the information which they have been the chief means of h
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APPENDIX A (p. 19). THE PÆDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.[321]
APPENDIX A (p. 19). THE PÆDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.[321]
St Mary's College, if in one sense the youngest, is in another sense the oldest, college within the University. It occupies the earliest site of the University, and gathers up into itself not only the old Pædagogium , but also a still older college. In January 1418 ... a certain Robertus de Monte Rosarum mortified a site on the south side of South Street, with the buildings thereon, as a college for the study of theology and arts. This was the strip of ground on which the eastern portion of the
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APPENDIX B (p. 30). CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON e Formulari Vetere Andreano.
APPENDIX B (p. 30). CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON e Formulari Vetere Andreano.
Citatio super suspecto de heresi ad faciendum purgationem alias ad videndum [ipsum] hereticum declarari. Jacobus etc., Decano Christianitatis nostre de L[audonia] Universisque et singulis aliis Dominis rectoribus, vicariis perpetuis, capellanis curatis et non curatis per provinciam nostram S[ti Andree] ubilibet constitutis, Illique vel illis ad quem vel ad quos presentes litere pervenerint, Salutem cum benedictione divina: Quia per fidelem inquisitionem aliter de mandato nostro legitime receptam
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APPENDIX C (p. 46). CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE.
APPENDIX C (p. 46). CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE.
"While ... he was possessed," Mr M'Bain tells us, "of eminent qualities, he led, in many respects, anything but a moral life. His favourite mistress was Marion Ogilvie, daughter of Sir James, afterwards Lord, Ogilvie of Airlie, to whom [as Abbot of Arbroath] he granted a liferent lease of the lands of Burnton of Ethie, and other lands near the place, for a small sum of money and other causes . This was on the 22nd of May 1528. On the 20th of July 1530, he granted her a liferent lease of the Kirk
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APPENDIX D (p. 124). CONDITIONS on which the use of the Church of the White Ladies at Frankfort was granted to the English Exiles.
APPENDIX D (p. 124). CONDITIONS on which the use of the Church of the White Ladies at Frankfort was granted to the English Exiles.
"Nun war bey Ankunft der Engelländer eine Kirche in Frankfurt, die einigen französischen Protestanten zum Gebrauch eingeräumt war, welche nun auch zum Behuf der Engelländer in Vorschlag gebracht, und am 14 Julii ihnen wirklich angewiesen wurde. Doch machte der Rath gewisse Ordnungen, und suchte die Sache also einzurichten, das allerlei Disputen, die etwa entstehen mögten, der Weg verlaget wurde. Die vornehmsten waren diese: ( a ) dass die Engelländer und Franzosen einerley Lehre und Ceremonien f
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APPENDIX E (p. 260). THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS.
APPENDIX E (p. 260). THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF ALESIUS.
( From the 'Responsio ad Cochlei Calvmnias.' ) "With all his scribbling, he [ i.e. , Cochlaeus] has never yet, so far as I know, disclosed what are his own opinions about Christian doctrine; and therefore his empty and scurrilous treatises miss their mark, and are justly held in derision by learned men.... But I, renowned monarch, that you may know that my alliance is with the Church of Christ and not with any other factions, do not refuse before you and other good men to give a simple and clear
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[APPENDIX F (p. 267). THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE DECAPITATION OF ANNE BOLEYN.
[APPENDIX F (p. 267). THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE DECAPITATION OF ANNE BOLEYN.
I take to witness Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead, that I am about to speak the truth. On the day upon which the Queen was beheaded, at sunrise between two and three o'clock, there was revealed to me (whether I was asleep or awake I know not) the Queen's neck after her head had been cut off, and this so plainly that I could count the nerves, the veins, and the arteries. Terrified by this dream, or vision, I immediately arose, and, crossing the river Thames, I came to Lambeth (this
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[APPENDIX G (p. 269). THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND.
[APPENDIX G (p. 269). THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND.
As soon as the king [ i.e. , Henry VIII.] began to hate her [ i.e. , Anne Boleyn], laws hostile to the purer doctrine of the Gospel appeared. When I could not bear these with a good conscience, nor could my profession allow me to dissemble them (for I was filling the office of the ordinary reader in the celebrated University of Cambridge by the king's orders), I came to the Court, and asked for my dismissal by means of Crumwell. But he retained me for about three years with empty hopes, until it
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APPENDIX H (p. 281). ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING.
APPENDIX H (p. 281). ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING.
Nockau , 11 August 1557. Alexander Alesius au Melanchthon. S.D. Quod fœlix faustumque sit. Dilectissima filia mea Anna, cui nomen in baptismo indidit bonæ memoriæ primogenita vestra, desponsata est honesto iuveni Martino Luxsolario (nam solem etiam pro insigni habet), doctoris Martini filio, petente id sua matre per cognatos et affines, et suadentibus communibus amicis nostris. Dictus est autem dies nuptiarum ultimus Augusti, circa quod tempus vos ad colloquium profecturum ( sic ) spero. Peto ig
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APPENDIX I (p. 283). THE WORKS OF ALESIUS.
APPENDIX I (p. 283). THE WORKS OF ALESIUS.
The following is a list of the published writings of Alesius, so far as I have been able to trace them:— 1. Epistola contra decretum quoddam Episcoporum in Scotia, 1533. [For a full copy of the title see p. 259 n . No place, date, or printer's name is given on the title-page. This small 8vo consists of only 14 leaves. It begins: "Inclyto Regis Scotorum D. Iacobo Quinto Duci Albaniæ, Principi Hiberniæ & Orchadum Domino suo clementissimo Allexander Alesius S. D." At the end there is the da
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[ADDENDA.
[ADDENDA.
Page 20 . Patrick Hamilton's admission to the Faculty of Arts in St Andrews University. —The entry in the 'Acta Facultatis Artium' runs thus: "Congregatione artium facultatis, in Nouis Scolis eiusdem tenta tercio die mensis Octobris, anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo vigesimo quarto, Magister Johannes Ba[l]four regentium senior Collegij Sancti Saluatoris in quodlibetarium est electus; et Magister Patricius Hamiltone, abbas de Ferne, Rossensis diocesis, in facultatem est receptus." Page 117 . T
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CORRIGENDA.
CORRIGENDA.
P. 119, line 4 from bottom. After contained insert in. P. 240, line 14. For oedibus read aedibus....
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