Andrew Melville

Andrew Melville, by William
Morison

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Andrew Melville, by William
Morison This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and
with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Andrew Melville Famous Scots Series
Author: William Morison
Release Date: July 30, 2007 [EBook #22174]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANDREW
MELVILLE ***

Produced by Jordan, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

ANDREW MELVILLE
BY

WILLIAM MORISON
FAMOUS SCOTS: SERIES
PUBLISHED BY OLIPHANT ANDERSON FERRIER EDINBVRGH
AND LONDON
The designs and ornaments of this volume are by Mr. Joseph Brown,
and the printing from the press of Messrs. T. and A. Constable,
Edinburgh.
Transcriber's notes: Minor typos have been corrected. Footnotes have
been placed at the end of the paragraph to which they refer. Greek has
been changed to Latin letters and placed in brackets.

PREFATORY NOTE
Let it be understood that the quotations in Scots, where the author is not
mentioned, are from the Autobiography and Diary of James Melville.
March 1899.

CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY 9
CHAPTER II
BIRTH--EDUCATION--YEARS ABROAD 15
CHAPTER III

SERVICES TO SCOTTISH EDUCATION--PRINCIPALSHIP OF
GLASGOW AND ST. ANDREWS 23
CHAPTER IV
THE 'DINGING DOWN' OF THE BISHOPS--MELVILLE AND
MORTON 31
CHAPTER V
THE 'BIGGING UP' OF THE BISHOPS UNDER LENNOX AND
ARRAN--MELVILLE'S FLIGHT TO ENGLAND 43
CHAPTER VI
THE KING'S SURRENDER TO THE CHURCH 56
CHAPTER VII
THE POPISH LORDS--MELVILLE AND THE KING AT
FALKLAND PALACE 71
CHAPTER VIII
THE KING'S GREEK GIFT TO THE CHURCH 93
CHAPTER IX
MELVILLE AT HAMPTON COURT 116
CHAPTER X
THE KING'S ASSEMBLIES 134
CHAPTER XI
THE TOWER: SEDAN 140

ANDREW MELVILLE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
While Andrew Melville has other claims on the lasting honour of his
countrymen than the part he took in securing for Scotland the
ecclesiastical system which has been the most powerful factor in her
history, it may be held as certain that where this service which filled his
life is disesteemed, his biography, if read at all, will be read with only a
languid interest. It will be our first endeavour, therefore, to show that
such a prejudice in regard to our subject is mistaken and misleading.
Melville, and all from first to last who joined in the Scottish resistance
to Episcopacy, were persuaded that the controversy in which they were
engaged was one not academic merely but vital, and that, as it was
settled one way or the other, so would the people be left in a position in
which they would be able to develop their religious life with freedom
and effect, or in one which would incalculably cripple it. That is a
contention which history has amply vindicated.
The best justification of the struggle carried on during the period from
Melville to the Revolution (1574-1688) to preserve the Presbyterian
system in the Church is to be found in the benefits which that system
has conferred upon the country. It has penetrated the whole Christian
people with a sense of their individual responsibility in connection with
the principles and government of the Church; it has saved the Church
from being dwarfed into a mere clerical corporation; it has laid for it a
broad and strong basis by winning to it the attachment of its common
members, and by exercising their intelligence, sympathy, and interest in
regard to all its institutions and enterprises. It may be truly said of the
Scottish people that their highest patriotism has been elicited and
exercised over the religious problems of the nation; that they have
shown more sensitiveness concerning their religious rights, liberties,
and duties than concerning any other interest of their life; and that they

have been more readily and deeply touched when the honour and
efficiency of their Church was at stake than by any other cause
whatever. How should an ecclesiastical system better vindicate its
claim? Nothing so ennobles a people as the care of matters of high
concern--such a care as Presbyterianism has laid on the Scottish people.
But it was not only the conviction of the excellence of their own
economy that led the Presbyterians to maintain it at all hazards--it was
also their fear of many tendencies in the rival system. They dreaded
that the imposition of Episcopacy would ultimately undo the work of
the Reformation, and bring the nation once more under the yoke of
Rome. Here, too, history has justified them. Had it not been for the
conjunction of the forces of the Scottish Presbyterians and the English
Puritans during the reign of Charles the First, the designs of that
monarch against the Protestantism