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The Scottish Reformation
Chapter I.—The
Hamilton Period, a. d. 1515—1543.
Section 10. Death of James V., and the First
Reforming Parliament. 1542—1543 |
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The king's withering rebuke had the effect of putting
a stop, for a few months, to the violent proceedings of Beaton and the
other bishops. But the clergy only delayed the execution of their
designs; they did not abandon them; and they still had influence enough
with the parliament which met in March, 1541, to procure the passing of
several acts against heresy, which were greatly more oppressive and
severe than any which preceded them. By these new laws, all discussion
on matters of religion was prohibited; all persons were
discharged from arguing against the authority of the pope, upon pain of
death and confiscation of goods; and all persons who were so much as
suspected of heresy, were declared incapable of holding any office in
the state. With these new statutes of the realm' to back him, and
expecting to be soon armed besides with all the plenary powers of
Legatus a latere, Beaton did not yet despair of the safety of the
church.
But neither did Henry yet despair of defeating the
cardinal by gaining over the king. Towards the end of 1541, Sir Ralph
Sadler was again at Holyrood, upon the same mission as before. The
instructions upon which he acted are still extant, and reveal the nature
of the appeals which were now addressed to the reluctant monarch.
Formerly, Henry had endeavoured to rouse his nephew's jealousy of
Beaton's power, and to excite his cupidity by the prospect of enriching
himself with the church's superfluous wealth; but on the present
occasion, he addressed himself to feelings and sentiments still stronger
than these—to the sensibilities and self-respect of the man, rather than
of the prince. Sadler was instructed to urge upon him, "Not to think
himself"—on subjects of religion—"as perchance sundry of his clergy
would have him to do, as a brute or as a stock; or to mistrust that his
wits, which he had received from God, were not able to perceive Christ's
word, which his grace hath left to us common, to be understood by all
christian men, as well as by such as be learned in the Latin tongue and
heathen authors. The king did not doubt but his good nephew, endowed
with such reason and wit, may as well understand the effect of
the true doctrine, and know the truth of things, as the most of the
clergy, who are commonly led by the affection they have to their
maintenance out of their prince's hand, and to the continuance of their
authority in pomp and pride. Let his nephew, for his better knowledge of
the Bishop of Rome and his clergy, no less mark and give credence to
their works and deeds, than to their fair painted words; and observing
these, his highness had no doubt but he should find much ease and
perfection of knowledge of the very truth of the same; for that should
induce him to lean unto the pure Word of God, and to pass light upon
dreams of men, abused by superstition to blind princes and other persons
of much simplicity."
There was much skill evinced in representations such
as these, addressed to a young prince of superior talents and culture;
and they were not without some effect In one point at least, Sadler had
better success now than he had had before. James gave his consent to the
long-desired* interview, and came under a promise to meet his uncle at
York, in the autumn of 154 2. Now then at last there was a gleam of hope
that Beaton's influence over the king would be destroyed, and that Henry
would be able to induce his nephew to imitate his example as an
ecclesiastical reformer.
But it was only a gleam. Sadler was no sooner gone
than the clergy once more recovered all their former influence in the
king's councils. They had a powerful ally, it is to be remembered, in
the young queen—the accomplished Mary of Lorraine, sister of the Duke of
Guise; a princess as able to sway the mind of her royal husband, by her
talents and address, as she was deeply devoted to the service of the
church of Rome. The absent Henry was too weak a rival to cope with such
a queen as Mary of Guise, and such a prime minister as David Beaton.
James relapsed once more, and finally, into his old policy of making
common cause at any hazard with his clergy— a policy which had been the
bane of his whole administration; and which was now to entail upon him
disaster, humiliation, and ruin.
The series of events which followed in 1542—the
king's breach of promise to meet Henry at York, after the latter had
proceeded thither with his whole court; Henry's high resentment at this
affront, and declaration of war; the invasion of Scotland, and the
refusal of the nobles at Fala to revenge this invasion by a raid into
England; James's deep disgust at this refusal, and his still deeper
chagrin at the disgraceful rout of Solway-Moss, which shortly after
ensued; his profound and settled melancholy under these disasters, which
was increased rather than diminished by the tidings of the birth of a
princess as the heir of the throne ; and finally his death soon after,
at Falkland, on the 16th of December; all these tragical events are well
known to every reader of Scottish history, and need not be dwelt upon
here. But they furnished a sadly true commentary upon the words which
Sadler had been instructed to whisper into his ear the last time he was
at Holyrood, "that the Bishop of Rome and his faction of cardinal and
adherents cared not whether both uncle and nephew should consume each
other, so that the holy father and his apostles might have their
purpose. They loved him not, but only loved the commodity and profit
which they might take of him; they fed him with false confidences
for their own purpose, to his great loss, disquiet and damage, and for a
reward procured his destruction."
The premature death of the king could not fail to
prove an event of the highest consequence to the nation, in the existing
condition of religious and political parties. A new scene of national
life immediately opened; a new struggle of parties instantly began. Who
should be regent during the long minority of the crown? should it be
Beaton, who exhibited the king's testament appointing him to the
regency, along with a council of three of the nobles, including the
young Earl of Arran, heir presumptive to the crown 1 or should it be the
Earl of Arran himself, in virtue of his claim of hereditary right, and
conformably to the laws and ancient usages of the kingdom.
The conflict was sharp and short Beaton's testament
was pronounced a forgery by an assembly of the nobles hastily convened
in Edinburgh in the interest of Arran; and Arran was declared and
proclaimed sole regent of the kingdom, as early as the 22d of December,
1542. The officers of the deceased king immediately delivered up to him
the king's palaces, treasure, jewels, and plate. His regency was already
an accomplished fact, and for once the cardinal, with all his
promptitude and energy, was compelled to give way before a more
fortunate rival, and to bide his time for remedy and redress. The
success of Arran was owing to his popularity with a strong party of the
nobles and gentry, and this popularity was due to his being a professed
reformer. It was known that the cardinal had inscribed his name first
upon the scroll of proscription, which the bishops had a second time
proffered to the king shortly before his death; and to the numerous
party who were zealous for reform, this high distinction conferred by
his rival seemed a title to the regency of almost equal consideration
with his ancestral rank as premier peer of the realm. His success was
hailed by the whole of this party as a glorious triumph. The hope of a
happy era dawned brightly upon the nation, now that a professed reformer
was placed at the head of affairs. Congratulations, thanksgivings, and
sanguine expectations ran through thousands of hearts in all parts of
the kingdom.
The Regent's first acts gave promise of an early
fulfilment of these sanguine hopes. Many of those whom he called to his
councils and kept about his person—men like Sir William Kirkaldy of
Grange, Sir James Learmonth of Balcomy, Henry Balnaves of Halhill,
Thomas Bellenden of Auchinoul, and Sir David Lindsay of the Mount—were
men of earnest religious feeling and enlightened patriotism, and all in
the highest degree solicitous to turn the present crisis to account for
the interests both of the church and the state. Opening his ears to the
wise counsel of such advisers, the Regent chose for his court-chaplains
Thomas Guilliam and John Rough, both evangelical preachers, and whose
frequent sermons in the Church of Holyrood were "in doctrine so
wholesome, and against superstition so vehement," that the Grey Friars,
and other lovers of the old darkness, "rowped as they had been ravens,"
crying out "heresy, heresy; Guilliam and Rough will carry the governor
to the devil." He summoned the Estates of the realm to meet on an early
day, and prepared measures to submit to them in the interest of
religious liberty and reform; and having learned that the disappointed
cardinal had commenced intrigues with France to obtain assistance for
the suppression of his government, he suddenly apprehended his powerful
rival, and committed him to custody in the Castle of Dalkeith, and
afterwards in Blackness—a bold stroke, which inspired his enemies with a
wholesome opinion of his resolution and energy. What a revolution! The
cardinal-primate in prison, the gospel in the pulpit of Holyrood,
reformers all round the council-table, and a parliament summoned which
is expected to begin the great work of the Reformation of the Church!
The Three Estates assembled at Edinburgh on the 12th
of March, 1543. They met as usual in the Tolbooth—an ancient building
which stood clo^e to the west side of the church of St Giles. Sir George
Douglas, brother of the Earl of Angus, who had hastened down from London
to be present, spoke of the meeting "as the most substantial parliament
that ever was seen in Scotland in any man's remembrance, and best
furnished with all the Three Estates." The only man of eminent rank who
was absent was the Earl of Argyle, who was "sore sick." It was felt that
a national crisis had come, and men of all ranks and parties hurried to
the field of legislative contest High questions of state came up first
for decision—the confirmation of Arran's regency, the appointment of
tutors for the infant queen, the appointment of an embassy to Henry
VIII. to negotiate touching a projected
marriage between Prince Edward and the infant Queen Mary, the recall and
re-habilitation in his estates and honours of the long-banished Earl of
Angus. On these measures we cannot dwell We must confine ourselves to
the ecclesiastical deliberations of this important parliament Foremost
among the champions of religious liberty stood Lord Maxwell. His
frequent intercourse, as warden of the West Marches, with the ministers
and commissioners of Henry VIII., and his
recent sojourn in London as one of the prisoners of Solway-Moss, had
predisposed him in favour of the "Heresies of England;" and his name is
honourably recorded in the rolls of parliament as the nobleman who
submitted to "the Lords of the Articles,,, the draft of an act to
make it lawful to all the lieges to possess and to read the Word of God
in their mother tongue. The proposal excited long and animated
discussions, and of these Knox has given us so graphic and lively an
account, that no words can better depict them to the reader.
"Question was raised in
the Parliament, of the abolishing of certain tyrannical acts made
before, at devotion of the prelates, for maintaining of their kingdom of
darkness—to wit, That under pain of heresy no man should read any part
of the Scriptures in the English, tongue, neither yet any tractate or
exposition of any place of Scripture. Such articles began to come in
question, we say, and men began to inquire if it was not as lawful to
men that understood no Latin, to use the word of their salvation in the
tongue they understood, as it was for Latin men to have it in Latin, and
Grecians or Hebrews to have it in their tongues ? It was answered that
the kirk first had forbidden all tongues but these three. But men
demanded when that inhibition was given, and what council had ordained
it; considering that in the days of Chrysostom he complains that the
people used not the Psalms and other holy books in their own tongues.
And if ye will say they were Greeks and understood the Greek tongue, we
answer that Christ Jesus commanded his word to be preached to all
nations; and if it ought to be preached to all nations, it must be
preached in the tongue they understand. Now, if it be lawful to preach
it, and to hear it preached in all tongues, why shall it not be lawful
to read it, and to hear it read in all tongues ? to the end that the
people may try the spirits according to the commandment of the Apostle.
Beaten with these and other reasons, they denied not but it may be read
in the vulgar tongue, provided that the translation were true. It was
demanded what could be reprehended in it? And when much searching was
made, nothing could be found but that love, say they, was put in the
place of charity. When the question was asked what difference was
betwixt the one and the other, and if they understood the nature of the
Greek term ' agape/ they were dumb. Reasoned for the party of the
seculars the Lord Ruthven, a stout and discreet man in the cause of God,
and maister Henry Balnaves, an old professor. For the party of the
clergy, the Dean of Restalrig, and certain old bosses with him. The
conclusion was, that the commissioners of Burghs, and a part of the
nobility, required of the Parliament that it might be enacted, That it
should be lawful to every man to use the benefit of the translation
which then they had of the Bible and New Testament, together with the
benefit of other treatises containing wholesome doctrine, until such
time as the prelates and kirk-men should give and set forth unto them a
translation more correct The clergy long repugned hereto; but in the
end, convicted by reasons and by multitude of votes opposed to them,
they also condescended; and so, by Act of Parliament, it was made free
to every man and woman to read the Scriptures in their own tongue, or in
the English tongue, and so were all Acts made to the contrary
abolished."
"This," continues Knox,
"was no small victory of Christ Jesus, fighting against the conjured
enemies of his verity, and no small comfort to such as before were
holden in such bondage that they durst not have read the Lord's prayer,
the ten commandments, nor the articles of flieir faith in the English
tongue, but they should have been accused of heresy. Then might have
been seen the bible lying almost upon every gentleman's table. The New
Testament was borne about in niany men's hands. We grant that some,
alas! profaned that blessed word, for some that perchance had never read
ten sentences in it, had it maist common in "their hand; they would chop
their familiars on the cheek with it, and say, 'This has lain hid under
my bed-feet these ten years.' Others would glory, 'O, how oft have I
been in danger for this book. How secretly have I stolen from my wife at
midnight to read upon it!' And this was done of many to make court
thereby, for all men esteemed the governor to have been the most fervent
Protestant that was in Europe. Albeit, we say, that many abused that
liberty granted of God miraculously; yet thereby did the knowledge of
God wondrously increase, and God gave his Holy Spirit to simple men in
great abundance. Then were set forth works in our awin tongue, besides
those that came from England, that did disclose the pride, the craft,
the tyranny, and abuses of that Roman Antichrist."
On the 19th day of March, 1543, appeared the
following proclamation of the Regent of the kingdom.
GUBERNATOR.
Clerk of Register. It is our will and we charge you,
that ye gar proclaim this day at the mercat cross of Edinburgh, the Acts
made in our Sovereign lady's Parliament, that should be proclaimed and
given forth to her lieges; and in special, the Act made for having of
the New Testament in vulgar tongue, with certain additions, and
thereafter give forth the copies thereof authentic, as effeiris, to all
them that will desire the samyn, and insert this our command and charge
in the books of Parliament for your warrant. Subscrivit with our own
hand at Edinburgh, the 19th day of March, the year of God 1543 years.
JAMES G.
Thus happily closed the Hamilton period of the
Reformation. The blood of the first noble martyr, and of so many other
good men, had not been shed in vain; nor in vain had the
truth by so many different agencies been introduced and disseminated
throughout the realm. The success obtained in this Parliament seemed to
men almost miraculous. The truth of God was at length in the ascendant
in the councils of the nation, and legislation began to flow in
Reformation channels.
The cheering prospect which was thus opened was
indeed soon overcast The cardinal still lived to oppose the good cause,
and the Regent was soon to prove himself no match against Beaton's
powers of obstruction and intrigue. A few months sufficed to change the
whole aspect of public affairs, and to cover the ecclesiastical
firmament again with storm-clouds. Still, much of what was now gained to
the cause of religious liberty, was never again lost. However low the
outward fortunes of the Reformation afterwards fell, the strong hold
which its principles now obtained upon the national mind, could never
again be seriously relaxed; nor could it ever be deprived of two capital
advantages now gained for it;—the virtual recognition, by Act of
Parliament, of the fundamental principle of the Reformation, that the
Word of God is the supreme standard of religious truth; and the
concession by statute of the fundamental Protestant right, that every
man, woman, and child in the kingdom, should be free to possess, and to
make use of the vernacular Bible. |
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