Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/705

SCOTLAND.] PRESBYTERIANISM 681 assembly of August 1572 was not strong enough to resist. The effect of this arrangement, however, was to rob Episco pacy, as a system, of all title to respect. It soon became the earnest belief of all who were truthful and independent in the nation that the Presbyterian system was the one divinely appointed mode of church government, from which it was sinful to deviate in the slightest degree, udrew In 1574 Andrew Melville appeared on the scene, and, by elville. steady persistence and firm defiance of Morton s violence, gave fresh life to the church. The Second Book of Disci pline, sanctioned by the general assembly in April 1578, and ordered in 1581 to be registered in the acts of the church, represents her determination to repel the aggres sions of the nobility. It was decreed that no more bishops should be appointed, that the existing ones should be called by their own names, not by their titles, and that they should submit to the general assembly for disposal. The First Book of Discipline occupied itself chiefly with the congregation, the Second Book with the dependence of the congregation upon higher courts. It did away with superintendents and established complete parity among ministers, transferring discipline and authority from indi viduals to bodies of men. These were four. ( 1 ) The kirk session, which in 1587 was ordered to be subject to the presbytery. (2) The presbytery or eldership, which had the oversight of a number of neighbouring congregations, and consisted of all the ministers of the district, and as many olders as congregations, so that clergy and laity were equally represented. It had authority to control the kirk session, try candidates, ordain or depose ministers. It constituted, in fact, the prominent feature of the system. (3) The provincial synod, composed of all the members of the presbyteries in its district, had jurisdiction of appeal over these presbyteries. (4) The general assembly, con sisting of ministers and elders, chosen, be it observed, not from the provincial synod, but from the presbytery. Thus the presbytery took the same commanding position in Scot land as, it will be seen, the provincial synod did in France. The importance of these church courts politically, in the organization which they effected of the middle classes against the aristocracy, cannot be overrated. The ruling elder was now to hold office for life, an important limitation of the power of the congregation. The general tendency henceforward, natural in a complex society, was towards centralization ; the rights of the con gregation were gradually diminished, those of the presbytery increased. This tendency was strengthened as time went on by the passionate hatred of the Presbyterians for the congregational system. Thus in 1639 Baillie declares that if the congregation is to have a veto upon the appointment of the minister it is "sheer Brownism" (vol. i. p. 241); and on 30th July 1643, although "William Rigg and the people " were against an appointment, the intruder was de- cerned by the general assembly to be admitted, since the patron, presbytery, and provincial synod were in favour of it. As the position of elder increased relatively to that of simple members of the congregation, so the position of minister increased relatively to that of elder. The supre macy of ministers and the subordination of the elders reached their height after the great rising of 1638. The contest which was waged during 1582-84 between the kirk and the crown was chiefly concerned with the denial by Melville of the primary jurisdiction of the privy council over ministers summoned for offences committed in their ministerial capacity. He demanded in his own case to be tried, in the first instance, by the ecclesiastical courts. A more important case of the same claim, because connected with less important persons, occurred in 1591, and the de mand of the church was allowed so far that the offender was tried in both courts concurrently. In May 1584 the par liament met secretly and, having been thoroughly corrupted by the court, passed the " Black Acts." Act 2 declared Melville s claim to be treason ; Act 4 forbade presbyteries, synods, and assemblies, as being not allowed by parliament ; Act 20 re-established Episcopacy and made it treason to speak against any of the three estates (e.y., bishops). The king was made supreme in all cases and over all persons, while none were to presume " to meddle with the affairs of his Highness and estate." The course of events from 1584 to 1592, the fear of Catholic Spain, the league with England, and especially the ability of Robert Bruce led to a settlement, by which in May 1592 Presbyterianism was restored and ratified by parliament. It was of course a compromise, as is shown in the provision that, if a presby tery refuse to admit a qualified minister, the patron may retain the income. The quarrel, however, was not to be settled. For re- Struggle jecting the bill of attainder against the popish lords the with the synod of Fife excommunicated James and convened a crown - meeting from the whole kingdom to complain of his con duct. A little later Andrew Melville, when sent on a deputation, called James " God s silly vassal," and told him that there were two kings and two kingdoms in Scot land, King James the head of the commonwealth and Christ Jesus the head of the church, whose subject he was. James, however, was strong enough to remain inflexible and to secure a victory on the question of the church courts, which, in the case of David Black, one of the ministers of St Andrews, who had in a sermon reflected upon the queen and Church of England, had arisen in its most acute form. Two alternative steps were now suggested for prevent ing future strife, the establishment of Episcopacy or the admission into parliament of representatives of the church without any title or jurisdiction derived from the crown. In a general assembly opened at Perth on 29th February 1597, and packed with ministers from the remote northern presbyteries, where the democratic spirit of the High Presbyterians of the South was unknown, James obtained leave to suggest in a future assembly alterations in the existing government of the church, a disapproval of the discussion of state questions and of the denunciation of individuals from the pulpit, and the forbidding of extra ordinary conventions. Ministers were also to confine their discourses strictly to their own congregations, and summary excommunication was abolished. He had previously with a high hand put down the opposition of the Edinburgh ministers, Bruce and others seeking safety in flight. In April, at Dundee, an assembly similar to that of Perth consented that commissioners should be appointed to advise the king on church affairs, which step in a great degree freed him from the general assembly. These com missioners were easily induced to petition that the church might be represented in parliament. Parliament thereupon passed an Act allowing those to sit there who might be ap pointed l>y the king, as bishop, abbot, or other prelate, the duties of their offices to be determined in conference with % the assembly. At the second assembly of Dundee, how ever, which met on 7th March 1598, and at which Andrew Melville was refused admittance by James on frivolous though legal grounds, it was resolved that fifty-one repre sentatives of the church, chosen partly by the king and partly by the church, should vote in parliament. At a convention held at Falkland on 25th July, at which three representatives of each synod and six doctors of the universities were present, it was decided that the repre sentatives should be nominated by the king out of a list of six as vacancies occurred. They were to be respon sible to the general assembly, and were to propose nothing unless instructed to do so by the church. Of these two

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