" Nevertheless, (says James Melville) er the nixt assemblle he
was selsit hard hard and fast on the blschoprik, wharby all
gossoprie ged upe betwln him and my uncle Mr Andro." Diary,
p. 46. — Spots wood says, that Adamson answered " that he was
discharged by the Regent to accept the office otherwise than was
appointed by mutual consent of the Church and Estate." (Hist«
p. 277.) But he appears to have confounded the answers re*
turned at two different times by Adamson. (Buik of Universal
Kirk, p. 66. comp. p. 68.) In the MS. copy of Spotswood's
History, immediately after the above quotation, it is added, —
** in the bishoprick, wherein if it should please the king and
Estates to make any reformation, he should consent with the
first thereunto.*" (Wodrow's Life of ai-chbishop Adamson, p. 15.
MSS. Bibl. Ctsll. Glas. vol. iv.) This also refers to the subse-
quent dealings of the church with Adamson •, as to which James
Melville says: " As he was wounderfull craftle he offerit to lay
down all at the feit of the brethering, and be ordourit at the
pleasure of the assemblie, whowsone the sam was throuche 'and
at a point with the mater of the policie, and sa w* fear promise>i
drifted and pat off till he gat his tyme." Diary, p. 47.
♦ Melville's Diary, p. 46.



192 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.

relate, Adamson submitted to the determinations of
the General Assembly, and subscribed to all the
leading articles in the book of discipline concerning
episcopacy and ecclesiastical government; but it
^vas too apparent from the whole of his conduct that
his professions were illusory and hypocritical *.
AVhen Adamson was made archbishop of St An-
drews, Cunninghame became chaplain to the Regent,
and was soon after advanced to the bishopric of
Aberdeen f .

The same arts of corruption by which the court
detached Adamson and Cunninghame from the cause
of presbytery, were tried on JNIelville. We have
already seen the advances made and the prospects
held out to him on the part of the Regent, at his
arrival in Scotland t. Upon the death of Douglas,
the archbishopric of St Andrews was intended for
him, and it was not until all hopes of his complying
with the court-measures had failed, that it was be-
stowed on Adamson J. He was next offered the rich
benefice of Govan, on the condition of his dropping
all opposition to the bishops. This offer he rejected,
but as the parish lay in the vicinity of Glasgow and
could be served by one of the professors, he used all

* Bulk of the Univ. Kirk, pp. 69, 90, 100. Cald. MS. voli
ii. pp. 510, 565, 585, 636. Melville's Diary, p. 49. A great
part of the procedure of the Assembly respecting the bishops is
awanting in the records, in consequence of the leaves having been
torn out hy Arran and Adamson during their administration.
Cald. ii. 540, 566, 630, 636.

t Melville's Diary, p. 46. t See above, p. 58.

* Mdville's l)i:iry, p. -rs.



LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 193

his influence to have its rents bestowed on the Uni-
versity. The Regent kept the living in his own
hands for two years, giving out that the Principal,
" by his new opinions and over-sea dreams," de-
frauded the College of this valuable addition to its
slender revenue. Nor Were tliere wanting indivi*
duals, of whom his colleague Blackburn was one, who
murmured against his conduct on this account, and
wounded his feelings by their injurious and illiberal
reflections. But as his independence of mind had
prompted him to reject personal favours, so his
firtnness and conscious integrity enabled him to
disregard such unmerited imputations, and he con-
tinued steadily to pursue what he conceived to be
the line of his duty *.

In October 1577, the Regent sent a message to
the General Assembly, informing them that the
protestants of Germany intended to hold a General
Council at Magdeburgh for establishing the Augs-
burg Confession, at which they wished deputies
from the different protestant countries to be pre-
sent ; desiring the Assembly to name such indivi-
duals as they judged most proper for that employ-
ment ; and promising that he would provide for the
expences of their journey. The Assembly nominated
eight of their number, and left it to the Regent to
select from them such as he thought most fit for the
embassy. He accordingly fixed on Melville, Ar-

* Melville's Diary, p. 43 — 4.
VOL. I. N



194 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE'.

butlinot, and George Hay*. But whether he
grudged the pecuniary charges, or merely wished
to pay a compliment to the church and the indi-
viduals selected, it is certain that Morton, although
urged by the Assembly, took no farther step in the
affair f .

When he saw that he could not accomplish his
purpose by mercenary enticements, the Regent
next attempted to overawe Melville by his authority,
and to work on his fears by threatening to proceed
against him as a disturber of the public peace.
While the Assembly were taking some measures
that were disagTecable to him, he one day sent for
Melville to his chamber. After discoursing for
some time on the importance of preserving the
peace of the church and kingdom, he began to com-
plain that this was in danger of being disturbed by
certain persons who sought to introduce their private
conceits, and foreign laws, on points of ecclesiastical
government. Melville explained by telling his
Grace, that he and his brethren took the Scriptures,
and not their own fancies or the model of any
foreign church, for the rule and standard of the dis-
cipline which they defended. Morton said that the
General Assembly was a convocation of the King's
lieges, and that it was treasonable for them to meet

* The otlier Individuals named by the Assembly, and who on
this account may be be considered as the most able among the
ministers, were Adamson, Cunninghame, Robert Pont, Wil-
liam Christison, and David Lindsay.

1 Biiik of the Univ. Kirk, p. *7'2, Melville's Diary, p. 45.



LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 195

without his allowance. To this INIelville answered,
that, upon such a supposition, Christ and his apos-
tles must have been guilty of treason, for they con-
vocated hundreds and thousands, and taught and
governed them, without asking the pennission of
magistrates ; and yet they were obedient subjects,
and commanded the people to give what was due
unto Cesar. Having appealed in proof of this
to the Acts of the Apostles, the Hegent replied
scornfully, " Read ye ever of such an Act as we
did at St Johnston ?" referring to the armed re-
sistance which the Lords of the Congregation made
to the Queen Regent at Perth in the beginning of
the Reformation. " My Lord," answered Melville,
" if ye be ashamed of that act, Christ will be
ashamed of you." He added, that in a great
emergency the conduct of men was not to be rigidly
scanned by common rules, and actions which in or-
dinary cases would be highly censurable may be
excused and even approved ; as our Saviour did
not condemn but virtually justified those, who, from
eagerness to obtain the cure of a palsied invalid,
broke open the roof of a house to admit him without
waiting the permission of the owner. At that time
the kingdom of heaven suffered violence, and all
men pressed into it, without asking the leave of
prince or emperor. The Regent exclaimed in a tone
of menacing irritation, which few who were acquaint-
ed with his temper could hear without apprehension :
" There will never be quietness in this country till
half-a-dozen of you be hanged or banished the

N 2



196 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.

country." — " Tush, Sir ; (replied Melville) threaten
your courtiers after that manner. It is the same
to me whether I rot in the air or in the ground.
The earth is the Lord's. Patria est uhicunque est
bene, I have been ready to give my life where it
would not have been half so well wared *, at the
pleasure of my God. I have lived out of your
country ten years as well as in it. Let God be
glorified : it will not be in your power to hang or
exile his truth f ."

The wisest of men are apt to become intoxicated
with power. JNIorton possessed great political saga-
city; yet he overlooked the critical situation in
which he stood as entrusted with delegated and
temporary authority. The nobles envied his great-
ness, and were irritated at the severe impartiality
with which he often repressed their turbulence ; the
commons felt oppressed by the monopolies in trade
which he had granted in order to avoid the neces-
sity of having recourse to direct taxation ; the at-
tachment of the ministers of the church to his
administration was cooled by his austere and super-
cilious treatment of them ; and he had neglected to
secure the fidelity of those who were placed about
the person of the young King. In these circum^

* expended, or bestowed.

t Melville's Diary, p. 52. Keferring to Morton's threats
against him, his nephew says ; " Manle siclyk hes he hard, and
far raa reported in mair ferfull form, hot for all never jarged a
jot ather from the substance of the cause, or forme of proceidiug
tbarin." ib.



LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 197

stances a party of discontented nobles having gained
access to the prince, persuaded him, although only
in the twelfth year of his age, to assume the govern-
ment ; and so strongly did public opinion incline to
the change, that INIorton judged it prudent to give
way to it, and formally resigned the regency *. It
was not long till the new counsellors became unpo-
pular, and Morton, taking advantage of this sudden
turn of public feeling, returned to court, and, mth-
out the invidious title of regent, regained his former
influence. But, after what had happened, it could
not be stable or permanent, and his adversaries, by
insinuating themselves into the royal favour, under-
mined his authority and precipitated his fall.

These revolutions in the political administration
of the kingdom w ere so far favourable to the church.
Had INIor ton's authority remained undisturbed, or
had the adverse faction not felt the necessity of
strengthening themselves against him, it is not im-
probable that force would have been employed to
stop those ecclesiastical proceedings to which both
parties were equally averse. The King, by the
advice of his covmsellors, returned a very gracious
answer to the General Assembly, when they pre-

* He resigned the regency on the 6th of March 157^? " ^^
heing wearie of ye hurding thairof^ and he his earnest cair and
travell takin thairin. As also he ressoun of his great age, being
now past threscoir ane zeiris. And y'with being in his persoun
seiklie and vnhabill," &;c. (Record of Privy Seal, vol. 45. fol.
56.) In Sept. 11, 1578, he obtained a licence to seek '* in
foreign countries" a remedy for his " infirmities and diseases."
(Ibid. fol. 79.)



198 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.

seuted the book of discipline to him upon his as-
sumption of the government ; and at a conference
held at Edinburgh between commissioners from the
privy couiiCi] and the church, ail the heads of the
book were agreed to with the exception of four,
whicli were subsequently explained by the Assem-
bly *. But, at the ensuing meeting of Parliament,
its ratification was evaded, and a committee appoint-
ed to re-examine it, by whose proceedings the whole
subject was thrown loose, and points formerly con-
ceded were again brought into debate f. After the
reconciliation of the two political parties, which the
ministers of the church were active in bringing
about 1, the General Assembly received a letter
from the King couched in language very different
from the reply which he had at first returned to
their deputies §,

In the midst of these changes, the country suf-
fered a severe loss by the death of the Chancellor
Glammis, who was casually slain in one of those
aflPrays which were then so frequent among the re-

* Bulk of the Univ. Kirk, p. 76, 77. Melville's Diary, p. 49.
The minutes of the conference which was held at Edinburgh,
June 23, 1578, were torn out of the register of the General As-
sembly. Cald. MS. vol. ii. pp. 539— .541.

t Cald. MS. vol. II. pp. 545 — 6. The whole proceedings of
this committee, which met at Stirling, Dec. 22 — 29, 1578, are
inserted Cald. ut sup. pp. 569—577. In Spotswood's History,
(pp. 289 — 301.) their opinion of the several propositions in the
Book of Discipline is printed on the margin, but inaccurately in
several instances.

t Cald. ii. 549. § Ibid. p. 579. Spotsw. 308.



LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 199

tainers of the nobility. He ^vas a nobleman of
great wisdom and integrity, a patron of learning,
and a sincere friend to the reformed church *. With
the view of bringing the disputes on church govern-
ment to an amicable termination, he had carried on
an epistolary correspondence with Beza, who com-
posed a short treatise in answer to the queries which
his lordship proposed to him on that subject. These
queries form a very important document. They
clearly shew that the opposers of the presbyterian
polity did not merely object to some of the distin-
guishing features and subordinate parts of the
system, but that they were in reality averse to the
whole discipline and jurisdiction of the church, and
aimed at subjecting the freedom of her assemblies,
and the validity of her sentences, to the arbitrary
will and determination of the court. Beza proved
himself a true friend to the church of Scotland on
this occasion. His judgment on all the questions
submitted to him was decidedly in favour of the
principles laid down in the book of discipline ; and
as his treatise was printed and soon after translated
into English, the authority of his name and the
force of his arguments had great influence on the
public mind f .

* The following epitaph was composed by Melville on the
Chancellor, whose name was Lyon :

Tu, Leo magne, jaces inglorius : ergo manebunt
Qualia fata canes ? qualia fata sues ?

Melville's Di^ry, p. 47.
t See Note X.



200 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.

" During these contentions in the state, (says
Spotswood) Mr Andrew JNIelvil held the church
busied with the matter of policy." The letters
which he wrote about this time certainly shew that
he was neither idle nor indifferent about this busi-
ness. In a letter addressed to John Row he ex-
presses great anxiety to learn the particulars of the
conference, or " archiepiscopal skirmishing," as he
calls it, at Stirling *. In another letter, addressed
to Alexander Arbuthnot, he adverts, in his lively
manner, to the continual bustle in which he and liis
brethren had been kept by attending to this affair.
-* AMiat shall I say on the subject of the ecclesias-
tical discipline, in which we have laboured so sedu-
lously, but with so little success ? Shall I tell you
what we have done during this and the preceding
year, when called sometimes to Stirling and some-
times to Edinburgh, now by letters from the king
and then by letters from the council, at one time
by an order from the estates and at another by
appointment of the assemblies of the church ?
Or shall I write of our doings in August last,
during the whole of October, and in the current
month t ?" To his friend Beza J he gives a more
precise account of the sentiments of their opponents,
and the true causes which hindered the establish-
ment of the discipline. " Those who have grown

* 15 Cal. Feb. 1578. MS. Advocates Library, M. 6. 9.
+ 4 Sep. 1579. MS. ut supra.

X Melville received letters from Beza about this time, thougb
.1 ):avc Dot m€t with any of them. Diary, p. 42.



LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 201

rich by sacrilege and loaded themselves with the
spoils of Christ, deny that ecclesiastical discipline
is to be derived from the word of God and to be ex-
ecuted by the interpreters of Scripture. They wish
to have it moulded entirely according to the dic-
tates of human reason, and transferred to the cogniz-
ance of the civil magistrate. They insist that the
work of framing an ecclesiastical polity shall be com-
mitted to wrangling lawyers, and to persons that
are illiterate, or at least unskilful in divine things.
And merely because they belong to the church, they
maintain that such persons have authority and
power, not only to agree to what has been rightly
done by presbyteries constituted according to the
w^ord of God, but also to sit themselves as judges in
sacred causes, and to rescind at their pleasure the sen-
tences and constitutions of the doctors and pastors."
In another letter to the same individual, he says :
" For R\e years we have now maintained a warfare
against pseudo-episcopacy, and have not ceased to
urge the adoption of a strict discipline. We have
presented to his Majesty and the three estates of
the kingdom at different times, and recently at the
parliament which is now sitting, a form of discipline
to be enacted and confirmed by public authority.
The king is favourably inclined to us : almost all
the nobility are averse. They complain that if
pseudo-episcopacy be abolished the state of the
kingdom will be overturned ; if presbyteries be esta-
blished the royal authority will be diminished ; if
the ecclesiastical goods are restored to their legiti-



^02 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.

mate use, the royal treasury will be exhausted.
They plead that bishops, with abbots and priors,
form the third estate in parliament, that all juris-
diction, ecclesiastical as well as civil, pertains solely
to the king and his council, and that all the ecclesi-
astical property should go into the exchequer. In
many this way of speaking and thinking may be
imputed to ignorance ; in more to a flagitious life
and bad morals ; in almost all to a desire of seizing
such of the church property as yet remains, and the
dread of losing what they have already got into their
possession. They also insist that the sentence of
excommunication shall not be held valid until it
has been approved by the king's council after taking
cognizance of the cause. For, being conscious of
their own vices, they are afraid of the sentence of the
presbytery, not so much from the awe in which they
stand of the divine judgment, as from terror of the
civil penalties, which, according to the laws and cus-
tom of our country, accompany the sentence of ex-
communication. In fine, while they judge accord-
ing to the dictates of the carnal mind instead of the
revealed will of God, they desire to have every thing
done by the authority of a single bishop and perpetual
overseer of the churches, rather than by the com-
mon sentence of presbyters possessing equal autho-
rity. May God shew mercy to his church, and re-
move these evils * "



* A. M. Th. Bezae, Cal. Octob. 1578 j and Id. Novemb. 1579,
MS. ut supra.



LIFE OF ANDREAV MELVILLE. 203

From the manner in which ISIelville mentions
the civil penalties that accompanied excommunica-
tion, it is evident that he did not look upon them
as forming any part of the ecclesiastical discipline,
or even as a necessary appendage to it. The laws
enacting them were allowed to remain in force at
the time of the Reformation, and they afforded the
most plausible pretext for the control which the
court claimed over the sentences of the church. It
was, however, only a pretext ; for the government
suspended the execution of them when they pleased,
and the legislature had it in their power at any time
to abrogate them entirely. Some of the ministers
would have been pleased with their abrogation*. Such
of them as wished for their continuance were chiefly
influenced by two reasons ; first, the government was
extremely remiss and partial in proceeding against
certain vices and crimes which merited civil punish-
ment, and of which the church-courts took regular
cognizance as scandals; and, secondly, they reck-
oned them necessary as a protection against the at-
tempts of the papists, whom the court were fre-
quently disposed to favour. There can be no doubt
that they were one principal means of saving the
country from the popish conspiracies about the time
of the Spanish Armada ; but still they were radi-
cally wrong, capable of being made an engine of the
grossest persecution, and consequently were wisely
and happily abolished at a subsequent period.

* Calderwood. Altare Damasc. pp. 312 — 13. Edit 2.



^J04i LIFE OF ANDREAV MELVILLE.

Amidst tlicir occupations, the General Assembly
found leisure to attend to the interests of learning.
In March 1575, they enacted that no individual
v.'ho was not acquainted with the Latin language,
should afterwards ho admitted to the ministry, un-
less lie was distinguished by a more than ordinary
degree of natural gifts and of piety. And at the fol-
lowing meeting they petitioned the llegent to en-
courage the seminaries of education, and to make
provision for such young men of talents as the church
should think proper to send to foreign universities
to complete their education. Being informed, most
probably by IMelville, that a learned printer, who
had been obliged to leave France for the sake of
religion, was willing to settle in Scotland, and pro-
mised to procure a regular supply of all books printed
in France and Germany, they warmly recommended
it to the Regent to grant him the pension which
he demanded. It is probable that Andreas We-
chelius was the individual referred to, and there can
be no doubt that bis establishment in the country
would have been highly favourable to its literature.
But there is reason to think that the parsimony of
Morton defeated the success of this proposal. Some
years after we find them applying to the king, to
procure Vaultrollier, another printer, who accordingly
came and remained for a short time in the country. It
was also under the patronage and special direction
©f the General Assembly that the first edition of the



LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE. 205

Bible printed in Scotland was undertaken, and made
its appearance in the year 1579 *.

Another important object which engaged the
Assembly's attention at this time was the reforma-
tion and new-modelling of the universities. Mel-
ville had contemplated this measure ever since his
settlement at Glasgow. In the year 1575, he had
a meeting with Arbuthnot, when they agreed on
a new constitution for the colleges of Glasgow and
Aberdeen f. We have already noticed its esta-
blishment in the former of these seminaries. In the
latter it met with much opposition. The altera-
tions made on the University of St Andrews ori-
ginated in consultations between Melville and
Smeton. Among other changes they planned the
conversion of one of the colleges into a seminary of
divinity, in which a complete course of theological
education should be given. This was intended as
an antidote to the seminaries which the Jesuits had
lately erected on the continent, and to which they
allured the youth of different countries j:. IVIelville
exerted all his influence with the General Assembly
and the Court to accomplish this favourite design ;

* See Note Y.

t " Efter the Assemblie Vfe past to Anguss in com panic i\^
Mr Alex*^. Arbuthnot, a man of singular gifts of lerning, ivisdome,
godliness and sweitnes of nature, then piincipall of the college of
Aberdin, whom withe Mr Andro communicat anent ye ordor of
his college in doctrine and discipline j and aggreit as y'^efter was
sett down in the new reformation of ye said College of Glasgow
and Aberdein." Melville's Diary, p. 43.

t Tbid. p. 5S.



206 LIFE OF ANDREW MELVILLE.

and he had the satisfaction to see the new constitu-
tion of the University of St Andrews, of which we
shall give an account in the following chapter,
ratified by parliament.

There was but one opinion as to the person who
was best qualified for being placed at the head of
the new theological college; and, accordingly, it
was resolved that Melville should be translated to
it, and that Smeton should be placed in his room as
principal of the College of Glasgow. In October
1580 the King directed a letter to the General
Assembly, informing them that this was his inten-
tion, and requesting their concurrence. Consider-
able opposition was made to this proposal. The
translation of Melville was warmly opposed by the
University of Glasgow. He was himself averse to
leave a seminary which had flourished so greatly
under his care, and to disappoint and grieve indivi-
duals who had treated him with the utmost kind-
ness, and who were willing to do every thing in
their power to make his situation easy and comfort-
able. Nor could he be altogether regardless of the
difficulties w^hich he might expect to meet with at
St Andrews*. Smeton's appointment to be his