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DAVIDSON, JOHN, an eminent
divine, was born, we may suppose, some time about the year 1550, as he was
enrolled a student of St Leonard’s college in the university of St Andrew,
in the year 1567; where he continued until 1570. Being educated for the
ministry, he early displayed much fervour in his piety, and a fearless
boldness and constant zeal in the cause of the reformation in Scotland.
When the regent Morton, in the year 1573, obtained an order in the privy
council, authorizing the union of seven parishes into one, Davidson, then
a regent in St Leonard’s college, expressed his opposition to, and
displeasure at that crying abuse in the church, in poem, which, although
printed without his knowledge, brought him into great trouble. He was
summoned to a justice-ayre held at Haddington, when sentence of
imprisonment was pronounced against him; he was, however, soon after
liberated on bail, in the hope that the leniency thus shown would induce
him to retract what he had written, or at least that his brethren might be
prevailed upon to condemn the poem. But these expectations were
disappointed and Davidson, finding the intercession even of some of the
principal gentry in the country unavailing, and that nothing but a
recantation would save him from punishment, fled to the west of Scotland,
and thence into England, where he remained until the degradation of
the regent, when he returned home. He ultimately attended the earl, along
with other clergymen, when his lordship was about to suffer on the
scaffold, and on that occasion a reconciliation took place between them.
Davidson again involved
himself in difficulties by the active part which he took against Robert
Montgomery, minister of Stirling. Robert Montgomery it appears, had made a
Simoniacal purchase of the archbishopric of Glasgow from the earl of
Lennox; after which, accompanied by a number of soldiers Montgomery came
to Glasgow, and proceeded to the church. He there found the incumbent in
the pulpit, when going up to him he pulled him by the sleeve, and cried
"Come down, sirrah." The minister replied, "He was placed there by the
Kirk, and would give place to none who intruded themselves without
orders." Thereupon much confusion and bloodshed ensued. The presbytery of
Stirling suspended Montgomery, and were supported in their authority by
the General Assembly; but the earl of Lennox, not inclined to submit to
this opposition, obtained a commission from the king, to try and bring the
offenders to justice. Before this court could be held, however, the earl
of Gowrie and other noblemen seized upon the young king, and carried him
to the castle of Ruthven, and there constrained him to revoke the
commission, and to banish the earl of Lennox from the kingdom. But the
king having afterwards made his escape from his rebel nobles, banished all
those who had been engaged in this treasonable enterprise. Montgomery, who
in the meanwhile had made submission to the church, again revived his
claim to the archbishopric of Glasgow, whereon Mr Davidson, then minister
of Libberton, was appointed by the presbytery of Edinburgh to
pronounce sentence of excommunication against him; which duty he performed
with great boldness. He was also appointed one of the commission sent to
Stirling to remonstrate with the king on account of this measure in favour
of Montgomery. In consequence, however, of the faithfulness with
which he had admonished his majesty, Davidson found it expedient to make a
hurried journey into England, where he remained for a considerable time.
Having returned to Scotland, Mr
Davidson signalized himself in the year 1590, by his letter in answer to
Dr Bancroft’s attack on the church of Scotland. In 1596, while minister of
Prestonpans he took an active part in accomplishing the renewal of the
national covenant. He was chosen to mister unto the assemblage of divines
and elders which congregated for confession and prayer in the Little
Church of Edinburgh, as a preparatory step to the introduction of the
overture for that purpose into the general assembly; and on this occasion
"he was so assisted by the spirit working upon their hearts, that within
an hour after they had convened, they began to look with quite another
countenance than at first, and while he was exhorting them, the whole
assembly melted into tears before him." "Before they dismissed, they
solemnly entered into a new League and Covenant, holding up their hands,
with such signs of sincerity as moved all present." And "that afternoon,
the (general) assembly enacted the renewal of the covenant by particular
synods." "There have been many days of humiliation for present judgments
or imminent dangers; but the like for sin and defection was never seen
since the Reformation."—.
Calderwood’s Church History.
In the general assembly,
held at Dundee in the year 1698, it was proposed that the clergy should
vote in Parliament in the name of the church. Davidson, looking upon this
measure as a mere device for the introduction of bishops, opposed it
violently. "Busk, busk, busk him," he exclaimed, "as bonnily as you can,
and fetch him in as fairly as you will, we see him weel enough—we can
discern the horns of his mitre." He concluded by entreating the assembly
not to be rash; for, "brethren," said he, "see you not how readily the
bishops begin to creep up." He would have protested against the
measure—which, notwithstanding the efforts to pack the assembly, was
earned only by a majority of ten—but the king, who was present, interposed
and said, "That shall not be granted: see, if you have voted and reasoned
before." "Never, Sir," said Davidson, "but without prejudice to any
protestation made or to be made." He then tendered his protestation,
which, after having been past from one to another, was at last laid down
before the clerk; whereon the king took it up, and, having showed it to
the moderator and others who were around him, he put it in his pocket. The
consequences of this protest did not, however, end here; Davidson was
charged to appear before the council, and was by Order of the king
committed prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh; but, on account of the
infirm state of his health, the place of his confinement was changed to
his own manse. Afterwards his liberty was extended to the bounds of his
own parish, in which he was allowed to perform the duties of his charge:
and there, after labouring in his vocation for some years, during which be
suffered much from bad health, he died at Prestonpans in the year 1604.
He was a man of sincere
piety, and of an ardent and bold disposition, which fitted him to take a
leading part in the great movements of the period. Davidson is
particularly deserving of notice on account of the exertions which he made
for the religious and literary instruction of his parishioners in
Prestonpans. At his own expense he built the church, the manse, and the
school, and schoolmaster’s house. The school was erected for teaching the
three learned languages, and he bequeathed all his heritable and movable
property for its support. But by much the most extraordinary feature in
his character was his reputation for prophecy. Calderwood tells, that
Davidson "one day seeing Mr John Kerr, the minister of Prestonpans, going
in a scarlet cloak like a courtier, told him to lay aside that abominable
dress, as he (Davidson) was destined to succeed him in his ministry; which
accordingly came to pass." On another occasion, when John Spottiswood,.
minister of Calder, and James Law, minister of Kirkliston, were called
before the synod of Lothian, on the charge of playing at foot-ball on
Sabbath, Davidson, who was acting as moderator, moved that the culprits
should be deposed from their charges. The synod, however, awarded them a
slighter punishment; and when they were ordered in to receive their
sentence, Davidson called out to them, "Come in, you pretty foot-ball men,
the synod ordains you only to be rebuked." Then, addressing the meeting in
his usual earnest and prophetic manner, he said, "And now, brethren, let
me tell you what reward you shall get for your lenity; these two men shall
trample on your necks, and the necks of the whole ministry of Scotland."
The one was afterwards archbishop of St Andrews, and the other of
Glasgow.—We quote the following from Wodrow’s MS. "Lives of Scottish
Clergymen." When Davidson was about to rebuild the church of Prestonpans,
"a place was found most convenient upon the lands of a small heritor of
the parish, called James Pinkerton. Mr Davidson applied to him, and
signified that such a place of his land, and five or six acres were judged
most proper for building the church and churchyard dyke, and he behoved to
sell them." The other said "he would never sell them, but he would freely
gift those acres to so good a use;" which he did. Mr Davidson said,
"James, ye shall be no loser, and ye shall not want a James Pinkerton to
succeed you for many generations:" and hitherto, as I was informed some
years ago, there has been still a James Pinkerton succeeding to that small
heritage in that parish, descending from him; and after several of them
had been in imminent danger when childless. |
