She afforded efficient aid to the Protestant interest on the continent; especially to the Hugonots in France, the Reformers in Holland, and the Protestants in Scotland and in Germany; at the same time she would not tolerate that religion at home, which she supported abroad! She understood not the rights of conscience, and therefore was a persecutor of conscientious and virtuous men. More sanguinary laws were made in her reign than in that of any of her predecessors; and her hands were stained with the blood of both Papists and Puritans; the former for denying her supremacy, and the latter for nonconformity.

Dr. Warner, an episcopal historian, remarks, "The severity with which she treated her Protestant subjects by her high commission court, was against law, against liberty, and against the rights of human nature she understood her prerogative, which was as dear to her as her crown and life: but she understood nothing of the rights of conscience in matters of religion; and, like the absurd king her father, she would have no opinion in religion, acknowledged at least, but her own. She restored the Reformation, it is true, and I believe restored it upon principle: but where her interest called upon her to neglect the reformed religion, she did it without scruple. She differed from her sister in this, that she would not part with her supremacy upon any terms; and as she had much greater abilities for governing, so she applied herself more to promote the strength and glory of her dominion, than Mary did; but she had as much of the bigot and tyrant in her as her sister, though the object of that bigotry was prerogative, and not religion*.”

Elizabeth's reign derived glory from the destruction of the "Spanish Armada," which the Pope had blessed and pronounced "Invincible." This consisted of a fleet of 160 ships, carrying 8,000 sailors, and 20,000 soldiers, to invade England. Providence manifestly interposed; and the instruments for torturing the English, as taken from the captured vessels, may still be seen in the Tower of London, evidences of the superstitious barbarity of the Romish religion.

* Warner's Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii, p. 474, 475.

CHAPTER III.

SCOTLAND, TO THE REFORMATION.

Progress of Popery Corruption of the Church - Patrick Hamilton-Other martyrs Reformers-John Knox - Wishart martyred — Knox called to the ministry- His captivity-Labours in England - Persecutions at Frankfort - Retires to Geneva-Solemn Covenant-Walter Mill martyred - Knox returns- Establishes the Reformation-Its principles -Knox dies- His character Policy of James VI.

SCOTLAND, for many years, retained a considerable measure of scriptural knowledge, after England was brought under the Romish hierarchy. But ecclesiastical ambition prevailing in England, the same principles at length triumphed in the north; and "about the year 904, King Gregory, in a convention of the states at Forfar, granted to the clergy exemption from all taxes, from service in war, and from subjection to civil courts; besides authority to exact tithes, enact ecclesiastical canons, and to be judges in matrimonial and testamentary causes *.' From this period to the close of the fifteenth century, the religion of Scotland seemed to consist in the mere performance of the popish ceremonies; while the priests" spent their strength in fierce contentions about pre-eminencet.”

Dr. M'Crie states, "The corruptions by which the Christian religion was universally depraved before the Reformation, had grown to a greater height in Scotland than in any other nation in 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. 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 honour, having long engrossed all the principal offices of state. The bishops never on any occasion conde* Brown's History of the Church of Scotland, vol. i, p. 7. + Ibid. p. 9..

scended to preach; indeed, I scarcely recollect an instance of it mentioned in history, from the erection of the regular Scottish episcopacy down to the era of the Reformation. Monasteries, those nurseries of superstition and idleness, were notoriously become the haunts of lewdness and debanchery, and it was deemed impious and sacrilegious to reduce their number, abridge their privileges, or alienate their funds. The ignorance of the clergy was as gross as the dissoluteness of their morals. Even bishops were not ashamed to confess that they had never read any part of the sacred Scriptures, except what they met with in their missals. Learning was branded as the parent of heresy; and if any person began to hint dissatisfaction with the conduct of the clergy, he was stigmatized as a heretic; and unless he secured his safety by flight, he was immured in a dungeon or committed to the flames *."

Evangelical light, however, derived from the German reformers, penetrated the darkness of Scotland. "Patrick Hamilton, a youth of royal lineage, obtained the honour, not conferred upon many of his rank, of first announcing its glad tidings to his countrymen, and sealing them with his blood+." Born in the year 1504, he was designed for the church, and made abbot of Ferne while yet a child. As early as 1526, divine truth, by some theology imported from Germany, penetrated his mind, when he set out to confer with the famous Luther. By the recommendation of him and Melancthon, he repaired to Marpurg, to prosecute his studies under Francis Lambert, an eminent divine of that university; and thus receiving the knowledge of the Scriptures, he determined on returning, to preach the gospel to his countrymen, notwithstanding the danger of death.

Hamilton's zeal was soon rewarded according to the true spirit of popery. Decoyed by the clergy to St. Andrew's, under pretence of a conference, in a consistory of bishops and abbots, with archbishop Beatoun at their head, he was summoned, condemned, and burnt, on the same day, Feb. 28, 1528! Though not twenty-four years of age, he was a Chris

* Life of Knox, vol. i, p. 14-24.

+ Ibid. p. 30.

tian of rare piety and uncommon attainments, as appears by his theological writings, published since his martyrdom.

Hamilton was reputed a martyr for Christ, and many cherished the principles for which he died. "Strict inquisition was made after heretics; the flames of persecution were kindled in all quarters of the country; and, from 1530 to 1540, many innocent and excellent men suffered the most inhuman death. Henry Forrest, David Straiton, Norman Gourlay, Jerom Russel, Kennedy, Kyllor, Beveridge, Duncan Sympson, Robert Forrester, and Thomas Forrest, were the names of these early martyrs, whose sufferings deserve a more conspicuous place than can be given to them in these pages *."

The good seed of divine truth had thus been effectually sown in Scotland; and the writings of the reformers, and copies of the Scriptures, were imported and circulated. "One copy of the Bible, or the New Testament," says Dr. M'Crie, "supplied several families. At the dead hour of night, while others were asleep, they assembled in one house. The sacred volume was brought from its concealment, and while one read, the rest listened with mute attention. In this way the knowledge of the Scriptures was diffused, at a period when it doth not appear that there were any public preachers of the truth in Scotlandt." Several noblemen of piety and zeal now arose, affording protection to those who embraced the reformed doctrine. Among these was the famous John Knox, whom the priests sentenced as a heretic in 1542, and pronounced his degradation from the priesthood: but he was preserved in the family of Douglas, as tutor, and in this situation his labours were useful in forming the characters of several men of future fame. The earl of Arran, being appointed regent to the infant queen Mary, consented to a translation of the Scriptures, by means of which the gospel became extensively known.

George Wishart, a brother of the laird of Pittarow in Mearns, was an eminent instrument in diffusing the knowledge of Christ. He was banished by the bishop of Brechin, for teaching the Greek Testament in Montrose, and he resided

"Sel

for some years at Cambridge; but returned in 1544. dom do we meet, in ecclesiastical history, with a character so amiable and interesting as that of George Wishart. Excelling all his countrymen at that period in learning, of the most persuasive eloquence, irreproachable in life, courteous and affable in manners; his fervent piety, zeal, and courage in the cause of truth, were tempered with uncommon meekness, modesty, patience, prudence, and charity. In his tour of preaching through Scotland, he was usually accompanied by some of the principal gentry; and the people, who flocked to hear him, were ravished with his discourses

Wishart was soon apprehended, loaded with irons, and thrown into prison; and in a manner the most brutal, he was condemned by David Beatoun, archbishop of St. Andrew's, and burnt at the stake in 1546 before his window; the prelate, who was also a cardinal, beholding the sufferings of this servant of Christ. But this turbulent priest fell a victim to the revenge of several gentlemen, who had been vexed with his tyranny, and his carcass was thrown from the same window, and lay unburied for some months.

Evangelical truth still continued to prevail by the circulation of the Scriptures and the writings of the reformers, though every possible effort was made for its suppression. Knox entered upon the work of tuition in the castle of St. Andrew's at Easter 1547, where he found Sir David Lindsay, Henry Balnaves†, and John Rough, men of distinguished influence in promoting the reformation, and at whose urgent request he commenced public preaching, and was solemnly called to the ministry by the elders in the midst of a large congregation. Knox triumphed in a public disputation with the popish clergy, denouncing the pope as antichrist, and maintaining “ that in the worship of God, and especially in the administration of the sacraments, the rule prescribed in the Scriptures is to be observed, without addition or diminution; and that the church has no right to devise religious ceremonies, and impose significations upon them §."

* Ibid. p. 41, 42.

† See British Reformers, by Tract Society. § 1bid. p. 62.

M'Crie's Knox, vol. i, p. 52–58.