In the meantime the social structure of Scotland had gradually reached the last stage of developement of which such a system was capable. The feudal system had been superinduced upon the patriarchal or clan system. Those of the great barons who were of Norman extraction, comprising nearly all the Lowland nobility, maintained the feudal system in all its stern inflexible despotism. The sovereign they regarded as but the highest of their own order, to whom they owed a merely nominal or formal allegiance; each other they viewed as rivals, against whom they might wage open war or frame machinations, as seemed the safest policy; and the people they considered as mere serfs, born to obey, and toil, and bleed, as each haughty tyrant might be pleased to command. In the Highlands the system of clanship prevailed; in which, though the system itself was perfectly despotic, yet it was somewhat mitigated by the idea essential to it, that there subsisted a family relationship between the chief and every clansınan; so that, in theory at least, the tie was one of nature's formation, the authority that of a father, and the obedience that of children. In both the feudal and the clan systems the tendency was to divide the nation, or to keep it divided, into a number of jealous and conflicting sections, and to render it a constant scene of strife, anarchy, and blood, such as neither the power of the king, which was little more than nominal, nor the supremacy of the laws, which was scarcely recognised except in theory, was able to restrain. The condition of the body of the people, exposed to the wild violence of factious and implacable nobles, may be more easily imagined than described. Nor is it our purpose to do more than merely suggest the public aspect of affairs in Scotland previous to the Reformation, leaving its minuter delineation to the professedly civil bistorian, to whom that province belongs.

Reference has already been made to the excessive grants of land and other wealth bestowed upon the Romanized clergy by several of the Scottish kings, especially by David I., and the encouragement thereby given to that avaricious class of men. We have also seen that the ruin of the more ancient and purer faith and discipline of the Culdees was effected by the same instrumentality,-prelates, abbots, and church dignitaries of every name and order, alike detesting a system, the simplicity and purity of which formed a strong and manifest condemnation of their own. At the same time, we are not unaware, that although the encourage, ment given to the popish system may have at first arisen in a great measure from religious motives operating on minds comparatively ignorant, there may have been not a little of an influence very different in character, by which the Scottish kings were induced to promote the wealth and power of the clergy. They may have regarded the ecclesiastical body as the most likely counterbalance to the exorbitant power of the feudal nobility, which could be organized. And it must be admitted, that in many instances the prelates of the Church did lend important assistance to the sovereign, and also exercised some influence in imparting civilization to the community. Let it be observed also, that to whatever extent the prelates did counteract the nobility, to that extent they provoked the jealousy of these proud and overbearing men, who were not unlikely to remember past hostilities in a day of retribution, even though that retribution had begun on far other and holier grounds. The enormous wealth which the all-grasping Romish Church had acquired, while it

to increase the bitter hatred of the nobility, who both envied and scorned the wealth and the luxurious indulgence of the pampered priesthood. The existence of this feeling, and its baneful consequences, we shall have ample occasion hereafter to display.

But instead of continuing our own observations, we cannot better conclude this introductory chapter than by copying, from Dr M'Crie's Life of Knox, the following account of the state of religion in Scotland before the Reformation.

"The corruptions by which the Christian religion was universally disfigured before the Reformation, had grown to a greater height in Scotland than in any other nation within the pale of the Western Church. Superstition and religious imposture, in their grossest forms, gained an easy admission among a rude and ignorant people. By means of these, the clergy attained to an exorbitant degree of opulence and power, which were accompanied, as they always have been, with the corruption of their order, and of the whole system of religion.

"The full half of the wealth of the nation belonged to the clergy; and the greater part of this was in the hands of a few individuals, who had the command of the whole body. Avarice, ambition, and the love of secular pomp, reigned among the superior orders. Bishops and abbots rivalled the first nobility in magnificence, and preceded them in honours; they were privy-councillors, and lords of session as well as of parliament, and had long engrossed the principal offices of state. A vacant bishopric or abbacy called forth powerful competitors, who contended for it as for a principality or petty kingdom: it was obtained by similar arts, and not unfrequently taken possession of by the same weapons. Inferior benefices were openly put to sale, or bestowed on the illiterate and unworthy minions of courtiers, on dice-players, strolling bards, and the bastards of bishops. Pluralities were multiplied without bounds; and benefices, given in commendam, were kept vacant during the life of the commendator, nay, sometimes during several lives; so that extensive parishes were frequently deprived, for a long course of years, of all religious services,-if a deprivation it could be called, at a time when the cure of souls was no longer regarded as attached to livings originally endowed for that purpose. The bishops never on any occasion condescended to preach; indeed, scarcely recollect an instance of it mentioned in history, from the erection of the regular Scottish Episcopacy, down to the era of the Reformation. The practice had even gone into desuetude among all the secular clergy, and was devolved wholly on the mendicant monks, who employed it for the most mercenary purposes.

"The lives of the clergy, exempted from secular jurisdiction, and corrupted by wealth and idleness, were become a scandal to religion, and an outrage on decency. While they professed chastity, and prohibited, under the severest penalties, any of the ecclesiastical order from contracting lawful wedlock, the bishops set an example of the most shameless profligacy before the inferior clergy,―avowedly kept their harlots, provided their natural sons with benefices, and gave their daughters in marriage to the sons of the nobility and principal gentry, many of whom were so mean as to contaminate the blood of their families by such base alliances, for the sake of the rich dowries which they brought.

66

Through the blind devotion and munificence of princes and nobles, monasteries, those nurseries of super

stition and idleness, had greatly multiplied in the nation; and though they had universally degenerated, and were notoriously become the haunts of lewdness and debauchery, it was deemed impious and sacrilegious to reduce their number, abridge their privileges, or alienate their funds. The kingdom swarmed with ignorant, idle, luxurious monks, who, like locusts, devoured the fruits of the earth, and filled the air with pestilential infection; with friars, white, black, and gray; canons regular and of St Anthony, Carmelites, Carthusians, Cordeliers, Dominicans, Franciscan Conventuals and Observantines, Jacobins, Premonstratensians, Monks of Tyrone and of Vallis Caulium, and Hospitallers or Holy Knights of St John of Jerusalem; nuns of St Austin, St Clair, St Scholastica, and St Catherine of Sienna; with canonesses of various clans, "The ignorance of the clergy respecting religion was as gross as the dissoluteness of their morals. Even bishops were not ashamed to confess that they were unacquainted with the canon of their faith, and had never read any part of the sacred Scriptures, except what they met with in their missals. Under such masters the people perished for lack of knowledge. That book which was able to make them wise unto salvation, and intended to be equally accessible to 'Jew and Greek, Barbarian and Scythian, bond and free,' was locked up from them, and the use of it in their own tongue prohibited under the heaviest penalties. The religious service was mumbled over in a dead language, which many of the priests did not understand, and some of them could scarcely read; and the greatest care was taken to prevent even catechisms, composed and approved by the clergy, from coming into the hands of the laity.

،، Scotland, from her local situation, had been less exposed to disturbance from the encroaching ambition, the vexatious exactions, and fulminating anathemas of the Vatican court, than the countries in the immediate vicinity of Rome. But from the same cause, it was more easy for the domestic clergy to keep up on the minds of the people that excessive veneration for the holy see, which could not be long felt by those who had the opportunity of witnessing its vices and worldly politics. The burdens which attended a state of dependence upon a remote foreign jurisdiction was severely felt. Though the popes did not enjoy the power of presenting to the Scottish prelacies, they wanted not numerous pretexts for interfering with them. most important causes of a civil nature which the ecclesiastical courts had contrived to bring within their jurisdiction, were frequently carried to Rome. Large sums of money were annually exported out of the kingdom, for the confirmation of benefices, the conducting of appeals, and many other purposes; in exchange for which were received leaden bulls, woollen palls, wooden images, old bones, and similar articles of precious consecrated mummery.

6

The

"Of the doctrine of Christianity almost nothing remained but the name. Instead of being directed to offer up their adorations to one God, the people were taught to divide them among an innumerable company of inferior divinities. A plurality of mediators shared the honour of procuring the Divine favour with the one Mediator between God and man;' and more petitions were presented to the Virgin Mary, and other saints, than to 'Him whom the Father heareth always.' The sacrifice of the mass was represented as procuring forgiveness of sins to the living and the dead, to the infinite disparagement of the sacrifice by which Jesus Christ expiated sin and procured everlasting redemption; and the con

sciences of men were withdrawn from faith in the merits of their Saviour, to a delusive reliance upon priestly absolutions, papal pardons, and voluntary penances. Instead of being instructed to demonstrate the sincerity of their faith and repentance by forsaking their sins, and to testify their love to God and man by practising the duties of morality, and observing the ordinances of worship authorised by Scripture, they were taught that if they regularly said their aves and credos, confessed themselves to a priest, punctually paid their tithes and church-offerings, purchased a mass, went in pilgrimage to the shrine of some celebrated saint, refrained from flesh on Fridays, or performed some other prescribed act of bodily mortification, their salvation was infallibly secured in due time; while those who were so rich and pious as to build a chapel or an altar, and to endow it for the support of a priest, to perform masses, obits, and dirges, procured a relaxation of the pains of purgatory for themselves or their relations, in proportion to the extent of their liberality. It is difficult for us to conceive how empty, ridiculous, and wretched those harangues were which the monks delivered for sermons. Legendary tales concerning the founder of some religious order, his wonderful sanctity, the miracles which he performed, his combats with the devil, his watchings, fastings, flagellations; the virtues of holy water, chrism, crossing, and exorcism; the horrors of purgatory, and the numbers released from it by the intercession of some powerful saint,-these, with low jests, table-talk, and fire-side scandal, formed the favourite topics of the preachers, and were served up to the people instead of the pure, salutary, and sublime doctrines of the

Bible.

“ The beds of the dying were besieged, and their last moments disturbed, by avaricious priests, who laboured to extort bequests to themselves or to the Church. Not satisfied with exacting tithes from the living, a demand was made upon the dead: no sooner had the poor husbandman breathed his last, than the rapacious vicar came and carried off his corpse-present, which he repeated as often as death visited the family. Ecclesiastical censures were fulminated against those who were reluctant in making these payments, or who showed themselves disobedient to the clergy; and for a little money they were prostituted on the most trifling occasions. Divine service was neglected; and, except on festival days, the churches, in many parts of the country were no longer employed for sacred purposes, but served as sanctuaries for malefactors, places of traffic, or resorts for pastime.

،، Persecution, and the suppression of free inquiry, were the only weapons by which its interested supporters were able to defend this system of corruption and imposture. Every avenue by which truth might enter was carefully guarded. Learning was branded as the parent of heresy. The most frightful pictures were drawn of those who had separated from the Romish Church, and held up before the eyes of the people, to deter them from imitating their example. If any person, who had attained a degree of illumination amidst the general darkness, began to hint dissatisfaction with the conduct of churchmen, and to propose the correction of abuses, he was immediately stigmatized as a heretic, and if he did not secure his safety by flight, was immured in a dungeon, or committed to the flames. And when at last, in spite of all their persecutions, the light which was shining around did break in and spread through the nation, the clergy prepared to adopt the most desperate and bloody measures for its extinction.

"From this imperfect sketch of the state of religion

in this country, we may see how false the representation is which some persons would impose on us; as if Popery were a system, erroneous, indeed, but purely speculative, superstitious, but harmless, provided it had not been accidentally accompanied with intolerance and cruelty. The very reverse is the truth. It may be safely said, that there is not one of its erroneous tenets, or of its superstitious practices, which was not either originally contrived, or afterwards accommodated, to advance and support some practical abuse, to aggrandize the ecclesiastical order, secure to them immunity from civil jurisdiction, sanctify their encroachments upon secular authorities, vindicate their usurpations upon the consciences of men, cherish implicit obedience to the decisions of the Church, and extinguish free inquiry and liberal science."*

To this very masterly summary of the state of religion in Scotland before the Reformation nothing need be added; and it must convince every reflecting reader, that such a state of matters could not be much longer endured by a people like the Scottish, who, though held in deep ignorance, were naturally shrewd and sagacious, despisers of idleness and luxury, and filled with an indestructible love of liberty, which even their civil feuds and public wars served in no inconsiderable degree to stimulate and confirm. And the more protracted and severe that the burden of spiritual despotism had been, it was to be expected that it would be followed by a correspondingly mighty and extensive revulsion and recoil. Nor should it be forgotten, that widely as Popery had shed its baleful influence, it had not been able wholly to exterminate the purer faith and simpler system of the ancient Culdees, especially in Ayrshire, and perhaps also in Fife, -the districts adjacent to St Andrews and Iona,-the earliest abodes and the latest retreats of primitive Christianity in Scotland.

CHAPTER II.

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION TO THE MEETING OF THE FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

From the Beginning of the Reformation to the Meeting of the first General Assembly in 1560-State of Affairs in Rome-Introduction of Wickliffe's Opinions-Patronages-Lollards of Kyle -Patrick Hamilton the first Scottish Martyr-Persecutions in St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow-Cardinal Beaton-Barbarous Persecution at Perth-George Wishart-His Preaching, -and Martyrdom-Death of Cardinal Beaton-John Knox in the Castle of St Andrews-His Confinement in the GalleysReturns to Scotland-Proceedings of the Queen-Regent and the Reformers-The First Covenant-The Lords of the Congregation Martyrdom of Walter Mill-Political Intrigues-Final Return of Knox-Destruction of the Monasteries at PerthKnox at St Andrews--Growing Strength of the ReformersConvention of Estates-Siege of Leith-Death of the QueenRegent Meeting of Parliament and Treaty of Peace-First Confession of Faith-First General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.

In the preceding chapter a brief sketch has been presented to the reader of the usurpations of the prelatic and corrupt Church of Rome, and the final suppression of the Culdees, which we may regard as having been accomplished in the year 1297, that being the date of the last documents signed by them as a public body. But though from that time the Culdee form of church government and discipline may be regarded as extinct, there is no reason to believe that their religious tenets *M'Crie's Life of Knox, pp. 9-15, 6th edit.

were consigned to oblivion at the same instant. Indeed, such a result may be regarded as absolutely impossible. All forcible attempts to suppress religion but compel it to burn with increased intensity, and to be retained with increased pertinacity, within the secret heart; unless, indeed, such attempts be carried to the extreme of utterly exterminating the adherents of the persecuted faith, a dire result, which has been several times produced in different nations. There is, besides, evidence, although but slight, to prove that the doctrines of the Culdees continued to survive long after the suppression of their forms of church government. Sir James Dalrymple refers us to a clause in the bull of Pope John XXII. in 1324, conceding to Robert Bruce the title of King of Scotland, and removing the excommunication; in which clause that pontiff makes mention of many heretics, whom he enjoins the king to suppress.* There is every reason to believe that these were the adherents of the Culdees, against whom some of the Scottish Romanized clergy had complained to the pope.

The great schism which happened in the Church of Rome, through the contentions of rival popes, gave occasion, as is well known, to those who had secretly disapproved of papal corruption, of assailing Popery more openly than before, and more boldly demanding some measure of reformation. Wickliffe, the morning star of the Reformation, began then openly both to censure the abuses of the Church of Rome, and to proclaim those great doctrines of Christianity which it had been the policy of that corrupt Church to conceal. It might have been expected that his doctrines would find a ready reception among the adherents of the Culdees of Scotland, if any were still remaining; and accordingly we find, that John Resby, an Englishman, and a scholar of Wickliffe's, was condemned for maintaining that the pope was not the vicar of Christ, and that no man of a wicked life ought to be acknowledged pope.+ For holding and teaching these opinions, with certain others deemed also heretical, he was burned to death in the year 1407. It would appear that this cruel deed had for a time prevented at least the open avowal of similar doctrines in Scotland; as the next victim to popish tyranny was found at the distance of twentyfive years. This victim was Paul Craw, a Bohemian, and a follower of John Huss. It does not appear on what account he had come to Scotland; but having begun to disseminate the opinions of the Bohemian reformer, he was laid hold of by the instigation of Henry Wardlaw, bishop of St Andrews, convicted of denying the doctrines of transubstantiation, auricular confession, and praying to saints, then handed over to the secular powers, and by them committed to the flames, at St Andrews, in the year 1432. That he might not at the stake promulgate his opinions among the spectators by his last dying declaration, his destroyers adopted the barbarous policy of foreing a ball of brass into his mouth, then gazing, as they thought, in safety on the agonies of the voiceless sufferer.

The popish clergy seem to have thought their triumph complete, and themselves at liberty to prosecute with even increased energy their schemes of aggrandisement. One method in which this was prosecuted deserves to be particularly noticed, as intimately connected with a subject to which we shall have repeated occasion to refer in the course of this work, viz., the subject of patronage. It has not been exactly ascertained at what time the system of lay *Sir J. Dalrymple's Historical Collections, p. 52. t Spotswood, p. 56.

patronage was introduced in Scotland. The late Dr M'Crie, whose opinions on all matters of church history are of the very highest authority, held that it could not have been introduced before the tenth century. The first mention of Scottish patronages and presentations with which we are acquainted occurs in the Book of Laws of Malcolm II., who ascended the throne in the year 1004;* and although the critical acumen of Lord Hailes has succeeded in casting considerable doubt upon the genuine antiquity of these laws, this much may at least be said, that no claim more ancient can be pretended for the assumed right of patronage in Scotland, at the same time that by these laws the right of deciding respecting "the advocation of kirks and the right of patronage," pertains to the jurisdiction of the Church. For a time, it would appear, the Scottish clergy followed the usual policy of the papal Church, holding out every inducement to men to bequeath large sums for the erection and endowment of churches, monasteries, &c., as the best mode of securing their salvation; and allowing to such donors, and subsequently to their heirs, the right of presenting to the benefices thus bequeathed. But when they had obtained a very large proportion of the wealth of the kingdom into their own possession, these crafty churchmen became anxious to resume the patronages into their own hands; and putting the same machinery of superstition again to work, they prevailed on the lay patrons to resign the right of presentation to the Church, by annexing it, as it was called, to bishoprics, abbacies, priories, and other religious houses. The benefices thus annexed or appropriated were termed patrimonial, and were no longer subject to the patronage of laymen. The civil power became at length alarmed at the prospect of the lands and wealth of the kingdom being thus placed in the hands of a body of men, who were not only beyond the control of the civil law, but were in fact the subjects of a foreign power. An attempt was therefore made to check this practice of annexation, by a statute in the reign of James III., in the year 1471; but so effectual had the schemes of the clergy been, that at the period of the Reformation there were in Scotland only two hundred and sixty-two non-appropriated benefices out of the whole number, consisting of about nine hundred and forty. Even of these two hundred and sixty-two, a considerable number, though not annexed, were in the hands of bishops, abbots, and the heads of other religious houses; so that the crafty and avaricious popish clergy might deem themselves secure, being possessed of more than half the wealth of the kingdom, and that, too, placed beyond the power of any control, except that of an appeal to Rome, a danger which they might well regard as not very formidable.

[1494.] But while the priesthood were thus strenuously endeavouring to consolidate their power, and to increase their splendour, obtaining the erection of an archbishopric, first at St Andrews, and then at Glasgow, they did not seem to be aware that the spirit of religious reformation was diffusing itself silently but rapidly throughout the kingdom, especially in the western districts of Kyle, Carrick, and Cunningham. At length they began to take alarm, and, shaking off their golden dreams, they prepared to crush their hated antagonists. Robert Blacater, the first archbishop of Glasgow, prevailed on James IV. to summon before the great council about thirty persons, male and female, natives mostly of the above-named western districts; the chief of whom was George Campbell of Cessnock, Adam Reid of Barskimming, John Campbell of New* Regiam Majestatem, pp. 2, 11.

mills, Andrew Schaw of Polkemmet, and the Ladies of Stair and Polkellie.* This memorable trial of the Lollards of Kyle, as they were opprobriously termed, took place in the year 1494. The articles which they were accused of holding have been recorded both by Knox and Spotswood with little variation, except that Knox's account is rather more full than the other. Their main tenor is chiefly in condemnation of the worship of the Virgin Mary, of saints, reliques, images, and the mass; and also of the various arrogant pretensions and licentious abuses of the prelates and the priesthood, without any very clear statement of the leading doctrines of pure Christianity. It appears, indeed, exceedingly probable, that the Lollards of Kyle did little more than revive the old contest between the Culdees and the prelates; and that the designation given to them by their popish enemies was not in consequence of their having actually imbibed the tenets of Lollard the Waldensian, but that it was applied to them partly as a term of reproach, and partly with a view to prejudge their cause. For it has always been the policy of those who were engaged in persecuting religion, to slander, misrepresent, and affix to it a calumnious name, and then to assail it under this maliciously-imposed disguise. Few men have ever persecuted religion avowedly as such; but how often have they called religion fanaticism, and then persecuted its adherents under the calumnious designation of fanatics!

Providentially for the Lollards of Kyle, James IV. himself presided at their trial,-a monarch who, with all his faults, had yet too much of manliness and candour to permit his judgment to be greatly swayed by the malignity of the prelates. Adam Reid appears to have taken the chief part in the defence, and to have answered with such spirit, point, and humour, as to amuse James, and baffle the bishop completely. The result was, that they were dismissed, with an admonition to beware of new doctrines, and to content themselves with the faith of the Church.

No new persecutions for heresy occurred during the reign of James IV.; and after his death on the fatal field of Flodden, the attention of the nobility and the clerical dignitaries was too much occupied with the prosecution of their own selfish and factious designs, to bestow much regard upon the progress of religious opinions. James Beaton had been translated from Glasgow to the archbishopric of St Andrews, and, in conjunction with the Douglas faction, ruled the kingdom with considerable ability during the minority of the young king, James V. According to Spotswood, Beaton "was neither violently set, nor much solicitous, as it was thought, how matters went in the Church.' Still, notwithstanding their political cares, the clergy were aware that the writings of the Continental Protestant divines were beginning to be introduced, as appears from an act of parliament passed in 1525, strictly prohibiting the importation of all such writings, and also forbidding all public disputations about the heresies of Luther, except it be to the confusion thereof, and that by clerks in the schools alenarlie" [alone].+ Nor was their anxiety unfounded. There is great reason to think that some of these Protestant writings had about this time fallen into the hands of a youth whose rank and talents shed lustre on the cause which he espoused.

Patrick Hamilton, a youth of royal lineage, and not less distinguished by the possession of high mental endowments, was the chosen instrument by means of whom " the Father of lights" rekindled in Scotland

Knox's History of the Reformation, p. 2; Spotswood, p. 60. † M'Crie's Life of Knox, p. 23, 6th edit.

the smouldering beacon of eternal truth. Being designed by his relations for the Church, there had been conferred on him, even in infancy, the abbacy of Ferne, -a foretaste of the wealth and honours to which he might aspire, and a stimulus to quicken his ambition. But while his friends were anticipating for him a splendid career of worldly pomp and power, a very different path was preparing for him. The ambitious and worldly, yet ignorant priesthood, by whom he was surrounded, began to mark with jealous eye his altered manner, to note suspiciously the praise he gave to the study of ancient literature in preference to the dry logic of the schools, and the severe terms in which he condemned the abounding corruptions of the Church. Partly, perhaps, to avoid the danger to which he was thus exposing himself, but chiefly to obtain a more complete knowledge of the doctrines of the Reformation, he resolved to visit the Continent in 1526. With this view he naturally directed his course to Wittemberg, where he was speedily honoured with the friendship and esteem of Luther and Melancthon. After enjoying the benefit of their society for a short time, he proceeded to the University of Marbourg, where he obtained the instructions of the celebrated Francis Lambert. But the more that his own mind acquired of the knowledge of divine truth, the more earnestly did he long to return and communicate that knowledge to his beloved countrymen. The return to Scotland of this noble youth at once attracted all eyes, as if a new star had appeared in the heavens. His instructions were listened to with the deepest attention, and the doctrines which he taught began to spread rapidly throughout the kingdom. His high birth, reputation for learning, the attractive elegance of his youthful aspect, and the persuasive graces of his courteous demeanour, rendered his influence almost irresistible; and the popish clergy saw no safety to their cause but in his destruction. They framed their murderous plans with fiendlike ingenuity. Being apprehensive that the young king might not readily be persuaded to sanction the death of one who stood to him in the near relationship of cousin, they contrived to send him on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Dothess, or Duthack, in Ross-shire. They next decoyed Patrick Hamilton to St Andrews, on the pretence of wishing to have a free conference with him on religious subjects. Pursuing their perfidious plot, they caused Alexander Campbell, prior of the Blackfriars, to hold several interviews with him, and even to seem to concede to his opinions so far as to draw from him a full avowal of them. Their measures being now ripe for execution, they caused him to be apprehended under night, and committed to the Castle.

The very next day he was brought before the archbishop, and a large convention of bishops, abbots, priors, and other dignitaries and doctors of the Church, and there charged with maintaining and propagating certain heretical opinions. John Knox declares, that the articles for which he was condemned were merely those of "pilgrimage, purgatory, prayers to saints, and prayers for the dead," although matters of greater importance had been in question. Spotswood, on the other hand, specifies thirteen distinct articles of much graver character, which were condemned as heretical, and he condemned for holding them. The probability is, that both statements are true; that the articles specified by Spotswood are those "matters of greater importance to which Knox alludes; but that in declaring the sentence publicly, no mention was made of any but the four topics stated by Knox, because for his accusers to have done otherwise would have been to have published

tenets themselves, which they wished to consign to oblivion. Such, indeed, has been the policy of persecutors in all ages,-to fix the attention of the public, as far as possible, on the external aspect and the nonessentials of the subject in dispute, thereby to conceal the truth, while they are destroying its defenders. So acted the Romanized English prelates towards the Culdees, as we have already seen; and so, as we shall afterwards see, acted the persecutors of the Church of Scotland in different periods of her history.

[1528.] The sentence of condemnation was pronounced; and, to give it all the weight of authority, every person of name and rank, civil and ecclesiastical, was induced to sign it; amongst whom was the Earl of Cassilis, a boy of thirteen years of age. Arrangements were then made to carry it into effect that very day. The pile was erected in front of the College of St Salvador, and the youthful martyr hurried to the stake. Before being bound to the stake, he divested himself of his outer garments, and gave them to his servant, who had attended him faithfully and affectionately for a number of years, accompanying the gift with these tender and pathetic words:" This stuff will not help me in the fire, and will profit thee. After this you can receive from me no more good, but the example of my death, which, I pray thee, keep in mind; for, albeit it be bitter to the flesh, and fearful in man's judgment, yet it is the entrance into eternal life, which none shall possess that denies Christ Jesus before this wicked generation." A train of gunpowder, laid for the purpose of setting fire to the pile, exploded ineffectually, scorching his left side and face, but leaving the mass unkindled. While they were procuring materials of a more combustible nature, the calm spirit of the scorched sufferer poured itself forth in earnest exhortations and instructions to the pitying spectators. The treacherous Friar Campbell attempted to disturb him by calling on him to recant, and pray to the Virgin Mary, which drew from the dying martyr a severely solemn reproof, ending with an appeal and citation to the judgment-seat of the Lord Jesus. The pile was then effectually kindled; and as the flames blazed up around him, his voice rose calm and clear," How long, O Lord, shall darkness cover this realm? long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of man? Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!"—and with these words his spirit returned to God who gave it.*

How

Thus died Patrick Hamilton, the first Scottish martyr, on the last day of February 1528, and in the twenty-fourth year of his age. He died a victim to the malice and the treachery of the popish priesthood; but his death did more to recommend the cause for which he suffered to the heart of Scotland, than could have been accomplished by a lengthened life,—as a sudden flash of lightning at once rends the gnarled oak of a thousand years, and yields a glimpse of the strong glories of heaven.

[1529.] The report of the martyrdom of this noble youth spread rapidly throughout the kingdom, and men began to inquire why Patrick Hamilton was burned, and what were the opinions which he had held and maintained to the death. When these opinions were related, the public mind was not only excited, but enlightened also; and many began to call in question much which they had never before doubted, and to admit sacred truths with which they had till then been utterly unacquainted. Several even of the friars began to preach and defend doctrines savouring strongly of the Reformation, and, at the same time, to declaim * Knox, p. 6; Spotswood, p. 65.