The Ultramontane Party — The Abbot of Paisley — Liberation of the Cardinal — His Intrigues — Insults offered to the English Ambassador. PREACHING OF CALVIN AND FAREL IN DEFIANCE OF THE PROHIBITION BY THE COUNCIL — THEIR BANISHMENT.
THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND
PREPARATION OF REFORM
The study of the beginnings of things attracts and interests the mind in the highest degree. But the influence of the Culdees, though really perceptible in the Middle Ages, was very feeble.
THE MOVEMENT OF REFORM BEGINS
The same day, in the morning, the trumpet sounded in the capital, and the chief of the Douglases set forth at the head of his army, dragging after him the young monarch. He landed at the beginning of May in one of the ports of the Netherlands.
HAMILTON PREPARES HIMSELF IN GERMANY FOR THE REFORMATION OF SCOTLAND
I have hardly ever met a man who expresses himself with so much spirituality and truth on the Word of the Lord.’. The attack began, and the defense of the young Master of Arts was as remarkable as his exposition.
EVANGELISATION, TRIBULATIONS, AND SUCCESS OF HAMILTON IN SCOTLAND
No one had a clearer perception of the analogies and the contrasts which characterise the evangelical doctrine. Did Beatoun hope to win him back by such means to the bosom of the Church.
APPEARANCE, CONDEMNATION, MARTYRDOM
At that moment there were knocks at the door: it was the governor of the castle. Beatoun sat on the bench of the inquisitorial court, and all the ecclesiastical judges took their places round him. In the midst of these hypocrites and fanatics sat one man in a state of agitation and distress — the prior of the Dominicans, Alexander Campbell — with his countenance gloomy and fallen.
The latter, determined to defend his faith in the presence of that great assembly, pointed out the sophistry of his accusers, and established the truth by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures. Campbell, unhappy and distressed, inwardly convinced of the doctrine professed by his old friend, could do no more. Young boys — the earl of Cassilis, for example, who was only thirteen — were of the number.
ALESIUS
The young prince seemed to be more alive to the humiliation to which the nobles subjected him than to the cruelty of the priests. He entered the apartment of the royal gaoler, and announced to him that in the course of the night the king had crossed the bridge at Stirling. Sir George, startled at this unlooked-for news, ran to the apartment of the king; he knocked, and as no one answered, he had the door burst open.
One of the canons, Alesius, had been confirmed in the faith of the Gospel by the testimony which Hamilton had borne to the truth during his trial, and by the simple and heroic beauty of his death, which he had witnessed. Some of the nobles, however, who had esteemed Hamilton, were profoundly indignant; and they betook themselves to the king, and implored him to check the intolerable tyranny of the prior. No sooner had the violent Hepburn learnt the flight of the prisoner than he assembled some.
CONFESSORS OF THE GOSPEL AND MARTYRS ARE MULTIPLIED IN SCOTLAND
This princess had rejected the match, and the emperor had proposed to James his niece Dorothea, daughter of the King of Denmark. A monk of the Dominican order, the order so devoted to the Inquisition, Alexander Seaton, confessor to the king — a man of lofty stature,. The state of the Church profoundly grieved him, and therefore, having been appointed to preach in Lent (1532) in the cathedral of St.
The King of England liked well enough to receive the friends of the Gospel who were banished from Scotland. She would not make her escape, but appeared at Holyrood in the presence of the ecclesiastical tribunal and of the king himself. The last-named, known on the continent by the name of Maccabaeus, won the favor of the King of Denmark, and became a professor at the university of Copenhagen.
THE KING OF SCOTLAND BREAKS WITH ENGLAND, AND ALLIES HIMSELF WITH FRANCE
AND THE GUISES
He sent to him at the same time some books against the usurped authority of the pope. Distinguished among them was the son of the master of the stables to King James IV. The discontent of the people with the clergy went on increasing, and at a provincial council which met at Edinburgh in March, 1536, Sir James Hamilton, in the king’s name, demanded various reforms.
It seemed as if the hopes of the Anglican bishop were beginning to be realised. How great a gain for the Reformation if there should be seated on the throne of Scotland a queen who was a lover of the Word of God. Andrews on June 16, 1538, strove to gain the affection of the king and of her mother-in-law.
DAVID BEATOUN ESTABLISHES HIS INFLUENCE
PERSECUTION REVIVES
The piece presented a lively picture of the spirit and the conduct of the Romish clergy. One of the councillors, Ballenden, replied to him with great politeness, ‘The King of Scottes himself, with all his temporail counsaile, was gretely geven to the. The king had now again returned, under the influence of the cardinal, to the side of Rome.
They are always at the king’s ear,’ said Sadler, one of the envoys of Henry VIII. The nobles of Scotland, natural enemies of the priests, urged the king to agree to the interview with his uncle. Are they not in rebellion against the authority of the pope and against the king’s majesty.
WAR BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND DEATH OF JAMES
He had there about twenty thousand men, besides ten thousand more on the frontier, under the command of the earl of Huntley. There, without incurring any danger, he was as near as possible to the scene of the exploits all the honor of which he wished to reap. On the day fixed, at midnight, the trumpets sound, the companies are formed, and the command is given to march forward ‘in the suite of the king,’ who was supposed to be with the expedition.
By what the courtiers said, to put Sinclair at the head of the army was to make victory certain. Not one of them was to have the glory of the expedition; it was to be the achievement of James, to whom the command belonged. He was expecting the tidings of his triumph, when some of the fugitives made known to him the total rout of his army.
PEACE WITH ENGLAND
The cardinal and his partisans resisted with all their might the proposal to commit the govermnent of the realm to the earl of Arran. The earl of Arran and the great majority of the members of the council appeared to be favorable to it; but the cardinal, supported by the queen-mother, strenuously opposed it. The Scottish lords had arrived January 24, and the discussion and exclusion of the cardinal certainly took place on the.
The bishops and the priests as soon as they heard of the extraordinary proceeding were beside themselves. This citation took effect; The earl of Murray, the bishops, and abbots arrived on the eve of the opening of parliament. To the end that the people may try the spirits according to the commandment of the apostle.’.
BEATOUN IS LIBERATED AND RECOVERS HIS POWER. — BREACH OF THE TREATY
FRESH PERSECUTION
He was prodigal of promises to the relations and the friends of the intended hostages, in the hope of inducing them to oppose their delivery to England. The regent promised that the perpetrators of the outrages of which Sadler complained should be punished. He set out for London, in spite of the pressing entreaties of his own circle.
In pursuance of the colloquy of July 6, nobles hostile to the regent assembled some troops;. The abjuration of the regent and the political revolution which accompanied it upset his most cherished plans. They were disgusted at the abuses of the monastic life, and the Franciscans most of all offended them.
WISHART: HIS MINISTRY AND HIS MARTYRDOM
Wishart, left to himself, began to walk about slowly at the back of the high altar. Wishart was removed to the strong castle of Hailes on the banks of the Tyne, the principal mansion of Bothwell in the Lothians. Wishart: ‘My lords, I have read in the Acts of the Apostles that it is not lawful for the threatenings and menaces of men to desist from the preaching of the Evangel.’.
Some pious men who were in the assembly were indignant at the madness of the prelates and affected by the invincible patience of Wishart. On a plot of ground to the west of the castle and not far from the priory;. My heart, do thine office.’ He was then bound with ropes to the stake, and said; ‘Savior of the world, have mercy on me.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST BEATOUN
HIS DEATH
Among those who had served him with the most devotion was Norman Lesley, brother of the earl of Rothes. The right of the strongest was still frequently appealed to in that half barbarian age. They came by various ways, and met in the churchyard of the abbey, not far from the castle.
We have now traced the history of the ministry and the martyrdom of Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart. Assuredly it was not such actions as the capture of the castle and the violent death of the persecutor. Laymen, the deputies of the people, obtained a voice in the presbytery, in the synod, and in the general assembly.
CALVIN AT GENEVA AND IN THE PAYS DE VAUD
The office of pastor would have required him to take part in the government of the Church, and he was not willing to do so. It was not grammatical and etymological explanation of the text; nor was it, on the other hand, a pathetic discourse. The heroism of the Huguenots of Geneva became one of the elements which contributed to the triumph of the Reformation.
An important assembly was going to be held in the chief city of the Pays de Vaud. He preached therefore the ‘glad tidings of great joy,’ and preached them with success, in the church of the convent of St. Commencing with the church of the Magdalene, they removed the images and the altars and broke or burnt them.
