spised and helpless condition'. When Parliament met at Edinburgh in June, 1592, it was called upon by the assembly to abrogate the acts of 1584, to sanction the provisions of the Second Book of Discipline, to repeal the Act of Annexation, and to prevent holders of ecclesiastical baronies, uncommissioned by the presbyterian church, from sitting any longer in the legislature. The first of these requests was granted so far as to render the act of 1584 inoperative against "the privilege that God has given to spiritual office-bearers in the kirk." The provisions of the Second Book of Discipline were, to a very great extent, made law, and thus presbyterianism was formally established. The Act of Annexation, however, was not repealed, nor were the prelates deprived of their seats in Parliament'. It is plain that James was anxious to concede nothing which he knew how to withhold; and having so far succeeded as to obtain the legal establishment of their own system, the presbyterians were glad enough to forego the immediate prospect of ulterior advantages. They were, in fact, long under apprehension of a total failure. Many of the nobility were utterly averse from their demands, and only agreed to them, at last, under an expectation of their rejection by the crown. Nor would they, probably, have received the royal assent had not James, at that time, been galled and embarrassed

aristocracy were now felt more sensibly, perhaps, than at any other period in the history of Scotland, and universal license and anarchy prevailed to a degree scarce consistent with the preservation of society: while the king, too gentle to punish, or too feeble to act with vigour, suffered all these enormities to pass with impunity." Ibid.

"The juncture for pushing this measure was well chosen." Ibid. 98.

"It is worthy of notice too, that, although the Discipline was ratified, as having, in fact, been for some time introduced and made the rule by which ecclesiastical proceedings were conducted in several parts of the kingdom, there still was a spiritual estate, representing the clergy in parliament, and possessing a share of the power, rank, and patrimony which belonged to

the established church. James would not consent to the petition of the ministers, when they solicited that the different orders of prelates might be deprived of their seats and votes in the legislature. Nor could he be prevailed upon to annul the statute of annexation, by which so large a portion of the sacred property had been vested in the crown, and from whence the wants of the preachers might have been amply supplied. In short, the king limited his concessions to the very narrowest bounds; and while he conferred rather an ungracious assent in favour of the presbyterian form, he seems to have reserved in his hands, the means of bestowing income and honour upon a more acceptable polity. Spotswood remarks that the act passed, but in the most wary terms that could be devised." Russell, ii. 36.

by extreme unpopularity, arising from the inefficiency of his government. Under this pressure, he was persuaded by the chancellor to concede the presbyterian question as an act likely, above all others, to recover him in the estimation of his people. He did not, however, give way until Parliament was upon the very eve of dissolution; so that the commissioners of the general assembly could hardly believe their delighted ears when the act, establishing presbytery, was proclaimed, among others, at the market-cross of Edinburgh'.

§ 27. By this concession to the most intolerant of their enemies, the Romanists, who were still numerous and powerful in the north, were naturally much disgusted and disquieted. As usual with British members of their communion, at that time, they thought of aid from Spain, and entered into a treasonable communication with Philip. More or less of their movements having quickly transpired, the presbyterian party became violently excited. Nor were plots and negociations alone the fruits of this connexion between Scottish and continental Romanism. Philip transmitted a sum of money to the popish lords, and thus enabled them to take the field. James, being quite unprepared to face them there, gave a commission for this purpose to other clans at feud with them. The latter were, however, defeated in October, 1595, at Glenlivat, and the king was obliged to pawn his jewels, and make otherwise such exertions to stay the progress of rebellion, as the insurgent peers had no means of resisting, and they obtained the royal permission to retire abroad'. But notwithstanding the vigour which James displayed upon this occasion, he showed both before and afterwards any thing rather than dislike of the Romish faction. In principle, he was, indeed, a staunch protestant, and he prided himself on his knowledge of reformed polemics. He was, however, partial to many of his own nobility who adhered to the religious creed of their fathers, while, probably, he entertained a dislike for all the leaders of the presbyterian party. He was besides, constantly building upon the English succession, and being fully aware of the difficulties in his way, he would gladly have conciliated those numerous

9 M'Crie's Melville, i. 324.

1 Robertson, iii. 113.

and wealthy families in the southern kingdom, which repudiated the reformation. From these various causes, his administration was distinguished by a leniency towards Romanists, that gave great offence to the presbyterian party. Its preachers, in return, took such liberties with public affairs generally, and with himself in particular, as he bore with great impatience. Instances of this licence occasionally made more noise than usual, and must have offended many serious minds, little regardful of party strife, but anxious for the public tranquillity, and for confining the pulpit to its proper functions'. Advantage of such feelings could not fail of being taken by enemies. to presbyterianism. The Romanist would contrast recent licentiousness with exaggerated pictures of former tranquillity. The episcopalian protestant would consider a fair trial of his own favourite polity likely to have averted existing causes of uneasiness and offence. The latter view was, probably, taken by the court, which seems to have been ever upon the watch to circumscribe the pretensions of general assemblies, restrain the licence of preachers, and provide some effective control over the church by the restoration of bishops. Occasion was taken for accomplishing this last object from a tumult at Edinburgh, on the 17th of December, 1596, in which James was much alarmed by presbyterian violence, and as episcopalian writers represent, was really in considerable danger. The other side will not allow that any thing occurred beyond a vexatious and embarrassing uproar, of no real importance whatsoever. Be this as it may, the court clearly saw an opening for fastening new discredit upon presbytery, and representing a return to something like the old ecclesiastical system, as the most feasible means for bridling an unruly pulpit, and thereby restoring

2 "However powerful the motives might be which influenced the clergy, or however laudable the end they had in view, they conducted their measures with no address, and even with little prudence." Ibid. 120.

3" On no occasion was the life of James exposed to greater jeopardy." Russell, ii. 62.

"Had it not been laid hold of by designing politicians for accomplishing

their measures, it would not now have been known that such an event had even occurred; and were it not that it has been so much misrepresented to the disparagement of the ministers and ecclesiastical polity of Scotland, it would be a waste of time and labour to institute an inquiry into the real state of the facts." M'Crie's Mdville, i. 411.

public tranquillity. The king, accordingly, lost no time in quitting Edinburgh, and immediately after his departure, all official persons were commanded to wait upon him at Linlithgow, and all who were not ordinarily resident in the capital, were ordered to leave it instantly. The tumult was declared to be "a cruel and barbarous attempt against his majesty's royal person, his nobility, and council, at the instigation of certain seditious ministers and barons." The courts of justice were ordered to remove to Perth, and neither general assemblies, provincial synods, nor presbyteries, were henceforth to sit in Edinburgh. Considerable severities against individuals followed, and then appeared a series of fifty-five questions, sanctioned by the king, displaying anew the prominent objections to presbyterianism. These were to be considered in a general assembly and meeting of estates to be holden at Perth, in the end of February. The southern presbyteries began at once upon a resolute resistance: the northern, as usual, stood aloof. Few of their members had ever been seen in the general assemblies. They were too remote and poor: too little also under the influence of motives that swayed their brethren in more stirring scenes. The court now sent a dextrous agent among them, who descanted upon the folly and mischief of suffering a knot of busy men, in and near the capital, to manage all the ecclesiastical affairs in Scotland, according to their own factious humour, and offered pecuniary assistance to such members as could not otherwise attend the assembly, whenever it should meet at an inconvenient distance from their homes. This, however, it became the practice to avoid as

"This measure had been previously resolved upon, and the questions were prepared before the 17th of December, although the publication of them was deferred to this time." (Ibid. ii. 9.) If this be true, and the Calderwood MS. makes it seem so, the Edinburgh tumult must have been a sort of prize to the government, enabling it to make out a much stronger case, than was producible only from the late pulpit broils. Probably, James and his advisers thought themselves quite as much justified in making the most of an unexpected opportunity for dis

crediting the presbyterians, as these latter were in using the royal unpopularity to extort the concessions of 1592.

"The ministers in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, notwithstanding the parity established by the presbyterian government had assumed leading in the church, which filled their brethren with envy." (Robertson, iii. 131.) "The ministers in the northern parts of the kingdom had rarely attended the general assembly, owing to their distance from the place of its meeting, and the deficiency of their incomes. They were compara

much as possible; James finding it an easier, as well as a more reputable, and less onerous course, to neutralize the fiery polemics of Edinburgh and its vicinity, by finding them a vent in places where a sufficiency of tamer spirits was at hand'. Having pretty well secured a majority of the assembly, and gained by persuasion, or less honourable means, a few of the members who had formerly been conspicuous on the popular side, the court was enabled to carry its leading objects at Perth, and Dundee, in the early part of 1597. The clerical body in these places imposed restrictions upon the introduction of political topics and personal aspersions into sermons, pronounced summary excommunications unlawful, agreed to the prohibition by statute of meetings of the general assembly without royal authority, and consented to the nomination of incumbents in large towns by the crown, with consent of the several congregations. Besides gaining these points, which gave facilities, hitherto sternly refused, for dealing with partypolitics in the pulpit, and admitted the superiority of law over clerical assemblies, the court skilfully availed itself of an existing arrangement to prosecute its ulterior views. The general assembly had usually, before separation, nominated a committee of its members to execute particular measures, or merely watch over the interests of religion, until the next meeting. James now proposed that such a committee should be nominated as a sort of ecclesiastical council to himself, which might guide him in preparing measures for a future occasion. In this too he was gratified".

tively unacquainted with its modes of procedure, and strangers to the designs of the courts; not to mention their general inferiority in point of gifts to their brethren of the south." (M'Crie's Melville, ii. 13.) Thus it is confessed by the presbyterian writers that the church had been revolutionised by a small compact body of agitators in and near the capital. As to their superiority to the great mass of their brethren, it is little else than gratuitous assumption. Dr. Russell is equally justified in adopting a counterassumption. As might have been presumed, the wiser and more moderate among the ministers, who lived

66

at a distance from the capital, did not approve the conduct which had just been described;" (the Edinburgh tumult.) ii. 66.

7 M'Crie's Melville, ii. 18.

8 "As, with the exception of an individual or two named to save appearances, they were devoted to the court, he was enabled by their means, to exercise as much power in the church as he did by his privy council in the state. A wedge taken out of the church to rend her with her own forces! says Calderwood: the very needle, says James Melville, which drew in the episcopal thread." Ibid. 24.