Volume II Part 46 (2/2)
[Sidenote: JOHNE KNOXES DISCHARGE TO THE ERLE OF MURRAY.]
This bill and discharge was so pleasing to the flatteraris of the said Erle, that thei triumphed of it, and war glad to have gotten thair occasioun; for some invyed that so great familiaritie was betwix the said Erle and Johne Knox. And thairfoir fra the tyme that thei gat ones that occasioun to separat thame, thei cea.s.sed nott to cast oyle in the burnyng flambe, which cea.s.sed nott to burne, till that G.o.d by watter of afflictioun, began to slocken it, as we shall after hear.
But least that thei[903] should alltogetther have bein sein to have foirsaikin G.o.d, (as in verray deid boyth G.o.d and his Word was far frome the hearttis of the most parte of the Courteouris in that aige, and a fewe excepted,) thei began a newe schift, to wit, to speak of the punishement of adulterye, of witchcraft, and to seik the rest.i.tutioun of the glebes and manses to the Ministeris of the Kirk, and of the reparatioun of churches: and thairby thei thought to have pleased the G.o.dlye that war hyghtlie offended at thair slackness.
[903] After the words, ”least that they,” in the margin of MS. 1566, there was added, ”Lethingtoun and his Companyons;” but this note was afterwards deleted. At this Parliament, Lethington was not present.
Two or three slight corrections in the text of the MS. also occur in this place.
The Act of Oblivioun pa.s.sed, becaus some of the Lordis had intresse; but the actis against adulterye, and for the mansses and gleibes, war so modifyed, that no law, and such law mycht stand _in eodem predicamento_; to speak plaine, no law and such Actis war boyth alyik.
The Actis ar in prynt:[904] lett wyese men read, and then accuse us, yf without cause we compleane.
[904] The Acts of this Parliament were printed in a separate form at Edinburgh by Robert Lekprewik, 1565, folio,--an edition of great rarity. The Acts of 1563, are twenty-five in number, ”extract.i.t furth of the buikis of Parliament,” by Maister James Makgill, Clerk Register. They are included in the collected edition of the Acts of 1424 to 1564, which issued from the same press in 1566, and in all the subsequent editions.
[Sidenote: JOHNE KNOX HIS SERMON.]
[Sidenote: [905]THE SPEAKAR WAS THE DEANE OF RESTALRIG.]
[905] Mr. John Sinclair, Dean of Restalrig, and afterwards Lord President of the Court of Session.
In the progresse of this corruptioun, and befoir the Parliament dissolved, Johne Knox, in his sermon befoir the most parte of the n.o.bilitie, began to enter in a deape discourse of G.o.ddis mercyes which that Realme had felt, and of that ingrat.i.tude quhilk he espyed almost in the hoill mult.i.tude, which G.o.d had marvelouslie delivered from the boundage and tyrannye boyth of body and saule. ”And now, my Lordis,”
said he, ”I praise my G.o.d, throught Jesus Christ, that in your awin presence I may powre furth the sorowis of my hearte; yea, your selfis shalbe witnesse, yf that I shall maik any ley in thingis that ar bypast. From the begyning of G.o.ddis myghty wirking within this Realme, I have bein with you in your most desperat tentationis. Ask your awin consciences, and lett thame answer you befoir G.o.d, yf that I, (not I, but G.o.ddis Spirite by me,) in your greatest extremitie willed you nott ever to depend upoun your G.o.d, and in his name promissed unto you victorye and preservatioun from your ennemyes, so that ye wold only depend uponn his protectioun, and preferr his glory to your awin lyves and worldlie commoditie. In your most extreame dangearis I have bein with you: Sanct Johnestoun, Cowper Mure, and the Craiggis of Edinburgh, ar yitt recent in my heart; yea, that dark and dolorouse nyght whairin all ye, my Lordis, with schame and feare left this toune,[906] is yitt in my mynd; and G.o.d forbid that ever I forgett it.
What was (I say) my exhortatioun unto you, and what is fallen in vane of all that ever G.o.d promised unto you by my mouth, ye your selfis yitt lyve to testifie. Thair is nott one of you against whom was death and destructioun threatned, perished in that danger: And how many of your ennemyes hes G.o.d plagued befoir your eyis! Shall this be the thankfulness that ye shall render unto your G.o.d, to betray his cause, when ye have it in your awin handis to establesh it as ye please? The Quene, say ye, will not agree with us: Ask ye of hir that which by G.o.ddis word ye may justlie requyre, and yf she will not agree with you in G.o.d, ye ar not bound to agree with hir in the Devill: Lett her plainelie understand so far of your myndis, and steall not from your formar stoutness in G.o.d, and he shall prosper you in your interpryses.
But I can see nothing but such a reculling frome Christ Jesus, as the man that first and most spedelie flyeth from Christis enseignzie, holdeth him self most happy. Yea, I hear that some say, That we have nothing of our Religioun establesshed, neather by Law or Parliament.
Albeit that the malitious wordis of sick can neather hurte the treuth of G.o.d, nor yitt us that thairupoun depend, yitt the speakar for his treasone against G.o.d committed, and against this poore Commounwealth, deserves the gallowes. For oure Religioun being commanded, and so establesshed by G.o.d, is accepted within this Realme in publict Parliament; and yf thei will say that was no Parliament, we man, and will say, and also prove, that that Parliament was also lauchfull as ever any that pa.s.sed befoir it within this Realme. Yea, yf the King then lyving[907] was King, and the Quene now in this Realme be lauchfull Quene, that Parliament can nott be denyed.
[906] After the skirmish of Restalrig, (see vol. i. pp. 460-463,) on Monday the 6th November 1559, ”the said day at evin in the nycht, the Congregatioun depairt.i.t furth of Edinburgh to Lynlithquo, and left thair artailzerie void upon the calsay lyand, and the Toun [of Edinburgh] desolute.” (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 54.)
[907] This refers to Queen Mary's first husband, Francis the Second, who was styled King of France and Scotland.
[Sidenote: JOHNE KNOX HIS AFFIRMATIOUN.]
”And now, my Lordis, to putt end to all, I hear of the Quenis mariage: Duckis, brethren to Emperouris, and Kingis, stryve all for the best game; but this, my Lordis, will I say, (note the day, and beare witnesse efter,) whensoever the n.o.bilitie of Scotland professing the Lord Jesus, consentis that ane infidell (and all Papistis are infidellis) shalbe head to your Soverane, ye do so far as in ye lyeth to banishe Christ Jesus from this Realme; ye bring G.o.ddis vengeance upoun the countrey, a plague upoun your self, and perchaunse ye shall do small conforte to your Soverane.”
These wordis, and this maner of speaking was judged intollerable.
Papistis and Protestantis war both offended; yea, his most familiaris disdained him for that speaking. Placeboes and flatteraris posted to the Courte to geve advertis.e.m.e.nt that Knox had spockin against the Quenis mariage. The Proveist of Lyncluden,[908] Dowgla.s.s of Drumlangrik by surname, was the man that geve the charge that the said Johne should present him self befoir the Quene: quhilk he did sone after dennar. The Lord Ochiltrie, and diverse of the faythfull, bayr him c.u.mpany to the Abbay; but none past in to the Quene with him in the cabinet but Johne Erskine of Dune, then Superintendent of Anguss and Mearnes.[909]
[908] In MS. 1566, it was originally written ”The Persone of Dundrennan,” but this is deleted, and ”Proveist of Lyncluden, Douglas of Drumlanrig by name,” inserted. In the MS. the name Lyncluden appears as if written Glyncluden; and this form of the name is retained in the later MSS., adding an additional blunder, by writing, ”N. Douglas _of Lanerk_ by surname, &c.”--Lincluden was a Priory or Convent of Black Nuns, situated upon the water of Cluden a few miles above Dumfries; but owing to their scandalous lives, the Priory had been changed by the Earl of Douglas, in the reign of Robert the Third, into a College or Provostry. (Keith's Catalogue, pp. 459, 470.)
According to the peerage writers, Mr. Robert Douglas, Provost of Lincluden, (from whom the Dougla.s.ses of Burford are descended,) was the second son of Sir William Douglas of Drumlanrig, who was killed at Floddon in 1513. But Chalmers has shown, that he was the natural son of Sir James Douglas of Drumlanrig, who succeeded to the estates in 1513, and died in 1578. Mr. Robert Douglas obtained letters of legitimation, 8th October 1559, being twelve years after his appointment as Provost of Lincluden, 16th September 1547. (Caledonia, vol. iii. p. 309.) In December 1585, Mr. Robert Douglas still retained his t.i.tle as Provost of Lincluden, and the fruits of the benefice, when a gift of the Provostrie was ratified by an Act of Parliament in favour of William Douglas, lawful son to ---- Douglas of Drumlanrig.
(Acta Parl. Scot. vol. iii. pp. 415, 436.) About the same time he was appointed Collector General and Treasurer of the New Augmentations: he is so styled in deeds and Parliamentary proceedings between 1587 and 1594. William Douglas of Lincluden and Grenelaw, ”the eldest son and apparent heir of William Douglas of Baitford,” was tried and executed at Edinburgh in September 1610. (Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. iii.
p. 90.)
[909] This interview with the Queen must have been at the end of May or beginning of June, as Knox says it was immediately after a sermon he had preached before Parliament was dissolved.
[Sidenote: THE QUENIS FUME AGAINST JOHNE KNOX.]
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