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The next meeting of the
Scottish Estates did not take place till January of the following
year. Knox in the interval was not idle. Along with the same men who
had assisted him in preparing the Confession of Faith he was busy
drawing up what is known as the First Book of Discipline. This task,
we have seen, had been allotted to him in April of 1560 by the
Protestant Lords, and the commission had been renewed and the work
completed by the autumn of that year.
The events which
marked the period that lapsed between the close of the first
Parliament of Protestant Scotland and the second could not have been
altogether of a reassuring nature to Knox. Mary and Francis steadily
refused to ratify the Acts of the Parliament to set up the Reformed
religion. Knox did not, however, attach much importance to this, for
the Parliament was a free and properly constituted one; and,
besides, it mattered not to him whether the Queen assented or not,
for the new faith he believed to be the true doctrine of God, and it
was the Creed of the people. Queen Elizabeth, although outwardly
friendly, was unwilling to form a closer alliance between Scotland
and England than what existed, for she refused to marry the Earl of
Arran, a union on which the Scottish nobles had set their heart.
The sudden death of
Francis ii., the husband of Queen Mary, lifted a load off Knox's
mind, for he had the fear that she was only waiting until she
returned to Scotland in order to overthrow Protestantism and
re-establish the Romish Church; but with the death of Francis,
Mary's power in France would cease, and with it would vanish the
influence of the House of Guise. The danger then from that quarter
was not so imminent, but an event of a more personal and domestic
nature happened to Knox at this time, in the death of his wife,
Marjory Bowes. We have only occasional glimpses of her, but these
are all of a favourable character, and we can well believe him when
he says that he was in "no small heaviness" by reason of her death.
Little time was given him to mourn his loss, for the preachers, he
remarks, "vehemently exhorted us to establish the Book of Discipline
by an Act and public law." The Church had got its creed, but it was
without a policy. The ministers were permitted to preach, but they
were without assured sustenance. Something must be done, and done
speedily, for they affirmed that "if they suffered things to hing in
suspense, when God had given unto them sufficient power in their
hands, after they should sob for it but should not get it."
The Book of
Discipline is admitted by competent authorities to be the most
important production of the Reformation time in Scotland. Compared
with the Confession of Faith it is more of a native growth, and
bears the stamp of original conception. Books dealing with the
government and policy of the Reformed Church had seen the light in
Germany, France, Switzerland, and England. Knox and his colleagues
had these books before them, and made use of such parts as suited
their purpose. But their work, all the same, has many special
features for which they themselves were responsible. They give an
outline of their views regarding the future of the Church which is
broad and judicious, and which, if carried out, would have put a new
face on Scottish religious and national life. The Book of Discipline
consists altogether of nine heads, but we think it better in place
of following these in detail to arrange their contents according to
subjects. Though the book as a whole possesses a unity of
conception, the arrangement is not altogether such as one could
desire.
The first three heads
deal with topics, such as the Sacraments, that are fully discussed
in the Confession of Faith, and it is not necessary to refer to them
in this connection. The first main subject treated is the government
of the Church. The Reformers make it perfectly clear that to their
mind presbyter and bishop, as used in Scripture, are convertible
terms; and although Presbyterianism, as we know it, was of later
growth, the lines originally laid down in the Book of Discipline
inevitably led up to it. The office-bearers of a permanent
character, recognised by Knox, were the pastor, the doctor, the
elder, and the deacon. The chief place, of course, was given to the
first, and his main function was preaching. The elder and deacon
were to be chosen annually from the most godly men in the Church,
and the duty of the former was to assist the minister in the
exercise of discipline, and, generally, in the management of the
affairs of the Church. But it would seem that he was to keep an eye
not only on the flock, but on the pastor himself, and was even
enjoined to reason with him if he failed in his duty.
It is probable that
in this we see a reaction against the Roman Catholic Church, where
the clergy were altogether independent, and being without any check
on the part of the laity they sank to the lowest level. The duty of
the deacons was to collect and distribute the funds for the poor.
Other two classes of office-bearers find a place in the Book of
Discipline, but it is perfectly clear that their office was only of
a temporary nature. These were the readers and superintendents. The
need for both arose from the ecclesiastical conditions of the time.
There were only a few Reformed ministers for the hundreds of
parishes that existed, and it was accordingly impossible to find a
pastor for every cure. Knox and his colleagues could not contemplate
the idea of the majority of parishes being without some spiritual
guide, so they instituted these two orders until such time as a
sufficient number of ministers could be reared to meet the spiritual
wants of the whole country. To those parishes where there were no
minister a reader was appointed, and his duty was to read the Common
Prayers and the Scriptures in the parish church. He very often acted
as schoolmaster, and he might in time develop into a minister by
taking advantage of the weekly meetings which were held in those
districts which afterwards became Presbyteries, and at which the
Scriptures and the doctrines of the Church were freely discussed and
handled. The
superintendents were also appointed because of the exigencies of the
time. It would hardly have done to have left a vast number of
parishes to the spiritual care of the readers, who were not educated
men or fully qualified to act in all things on their own
responsibility. They could not preach, nor administer the
Sacraments, but it occurred to Knox that he might adopt a system
which was first of all recommended by John Alasco, and appoint
superintendents for each of the ten or twelve districts, or
provinces, into which the country was divided. These men, while
nominally stationary in one town, were appointed to preach as often
as possible in every parish kirk within their province, to see to
the exercise of discipline, the administration of the Sacrament,
preside at meetings and Synods and at the examination and admission
of readers and ministers, and generally to supervise the religious
and ecclesiastical life of their district. They did not hold a
position above their brethren, for an ordinary minister could
discharge their duties, and they might, like the rest of their
brethren, be taken under discipline and, if necessary, deposed. Like
the readers, their office ceased whenever a sufficient number of
ministers was forthcoming to take charge of every parish in the
land. It has
been remarked that in the Book of Discipline the one court which is
conspicuous by its absence is the Presbytery. The General Assembly,
the Synod, and the Session were recognised by Knox, and although the
Presbytery had not as yet taken shape, we have seen how it gradually
sprung into being. It was a gradual and necessary creation, and in
1581 Scotland was divided into Presbyteries. It is now, next to the
General Assembly, the chief court of the Church, and the Synod,
which in the days of Knox was of so much importance, has shrunk
almost into a shadow. The Kirk Session in later times became the
governing body in the parish. It has been stripped of many of its
original functions, but it still holds an honoured place in the
constitution of the Church. The General Assembly is the one court
that has never varied in popularity and power. Not only is it the
last court of appeal, but it is the legislative body from which
spring all ecclesiastical enactments. Its representative character
has kept it in favour with the people, and its free and open
discussion of the important questions which come before it has
enabled it to maintain its high position.
The next main subject discussed is the
discipline and organisation of the Church. This, in some respects,
is the most significant and characteristic part of the whole
document, and the lines laid down were more perfectly followed than
those of other parts of the book. It was the aim of Knox to recreate
in Scotland the primitive Church, in doctrine, in worship, in
government, and in discipline. In all these respects the Roman
Catholic Church had sunk to a very low level. No impartial observer,
on comparing the Apostolic with the Romish Church, could see much,
if any, resemblance between them. Knox was perhaps deficient in
historical perspective, and failed to appreciate the causes which
led to such degeneracy. He may also have overlooked the good which
the pre-Reformation Church had done during those long centuries, how
it had kept religion alive and imparted the spirit of Christianity
to the nations of Western Europe.
It is easy for us to think of all these
things now. We stand at so great a distance from the time of Knox,
and are able to take a full view, but we must remember the state of
matters which faced him. If we were brought into actual contact with
similar religious corruptions our attitude could not be very
different from his. We have seen from our review of the Confession
of Faith that the exercise of discipline is regarded as one of the
marks of a true Kirk. It had existed in the Early Church; in the
Romish Church of Knox's day it was unknown. The Reformer's idea of
the Church was the same as the politician's conception of the State.
It must be an orderly institution, and there can be no order without
discipline. Laxity in the ecclesiastical is as fatal as in the
political sphere; and it was quite in keeping with Knox's
thoroughness and statesmanlike qualities that he should determine
that the Reformed Church of Scotland should be a well-governed and
disciplined body. r1he regulations he laid down had for their aim
the preservation of the Church from the intrusion of the vicious,
the preventing of the evil from contaminating the good, and the
bringing sinners to repentance.
The Kirk Session and Presbytery records
have been ransacked, to discover the methods which were employed by
the Church to effect these ends. Choice extracts have been culled,
and delicious tit-bits of discipline published, for the delectation,
chiefly, of English readers; and stern Presbyters have been held up
to scorn for their narrowness and for the superstition which made
them parties to the infliction of grotesque penances and the burning
of witches. Here, again, we have to reason with those whose chief
delight it would seem to be to make capital out of the practices of
their forefathers. No one can defend the burning of witches any more
than one can defend many of the absurd and inhuman practices of
earlier and later times, but it would be folly to expect that the
Church should be so much ahead of the times as to anticipate the
gentler code which regulates our conduct. The belief in witchcraft
was popular and widespread, and was held by the Romish Church as
strongly as by the Protestant. It was a superstition of the times.
The surprising thing is that the Reformation Church should, almost
at a bound, have outgrown so many of the gross superstitions of the
Romish Church, and should have displayed so great enlightenment and
attained to so great freedom. The age of Knox is indeed a new heaven
and a new earth compared to the previous century, and it is surely
the most perverted criticism to condemn him and his immediate
successors for not having fully realised the-measure of truth and
charity of which we now boast. It is not at all unlikely that the
unhistorical student of a coming age, may turn round on ours, and
condemn us, for what we may regard with complacency and even
approval. Such
critics ought to consider what the condition of Scotland would have
been if Knox had not put into force his Church discipline. Are they
prepared to advocate that the laxity which prevailed before the
Reformation should have been permitted to continue ? Do they believe
that the nation would have reformed itself without the warnings,
checks, and incitement which the discipline of the Church gave? If
they are not prepared to take up this position they have no case.
Besides, as a matter of fact, we know what the ecclesiastical
discipline of the Reformed Church has accomplished for Scotland, and
if that discipline can now be relaxed it is a sign that it has done
its work. When that work is fully completed, and we have a perfect
Church in a perfect State, but not till then, can it be entirely
abolished. If
the discipline of the Church seems to us in some respects to have
been severe, there were compensations. Greater liberty was given to
the members than they now possess, and they enjoyed privileges which
are denied to the laity of our day. They chose their own minister,
and they had the opportunity at the weekly meetings of airing their
gifts and giving voice to their opinions. Basing his policy in this
particular instance on a certain passage on prophesying in St.
Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians, the members of the Reformed
Church were, with their ministers, invited to meet once a week to
discuss the questions which then agitated the religious mind. "Every
man," it is stated, "shall have liberty to utter and declare his
mind and knowledge to the comfort and consolation of the Kirk." May
we not see in these early conferences the beginning of that interest
in, and knowledge of, theological subjects which for generations
characterised the Scottish nation. Latent talent would be revealed,
the doctrines of the Church would be spread, and the most capable
men among the laity would be discovered and their services utilised
for the benefit of the Church. The very fact of these meetings and
discussions is also an answer to those who maintain that Calvinism
was forced upon the people. Much more likely is it that the
particular form of the Protestant Faith which became the note of the
Scottish Church was freely accepted by the people. They chose it of
their own accord, and the task of Knox and his colleagues was to
interpret it to the popular mind.
The late Dr. John Service, one of the
most original thinkers that the Church of Scotland produced during
the last century, held that the privileges which the Church of
Knox's day enjoyed ought to be restored to its members. He did not
approve of the custom, which now universally prevails, of the laity
sitting at all the services in silence. lie believed that at one
diet of worship, at least, the opportunity should be granted of
expressing their opinions, discussing the sermon, revealing their
doubts, and asking for that guidance in their difficulties which the
minister or some other member of the church might be able to afford.
This was regarded as an original suggestion on the part of Dr.
Service, but we have seen that it emanated first from the brain of
the Apostle Paul, and was, after the lapse of centuries, caught up
by John Knox and embodied in his policy of the Church. We seriously
think that it might be revived in our day with very great advantage
to all concerned. Inside the churches there are many to whom the
privileges of such a meeting would be of inestimable value; and
outside the churches there are men belonging to all ranks, classes,
and professions, who are earnest-minded, sober, and upright, but who
shrink from becoming members of the Church because of certain doubts
and difficulties that might be dissipated and dispelled if, on the
floor of the church, they were allowed to thrash out, in a
respectful and serious manner, the views and the questions that
disturb them. The great cry of our day is the lapsing from the
Church and the refusal of others to join it. It seems to us that if
the Church trusted the people more, and granted them those
privileges which are theirs by right, the relation between it and
the whole body of the people would be closer.
That part of the Book
of Discipline for which Knox has received the greatest praise is the
one which deals with education. The leaders of the Reformed Church
on the Continent and in England were equally interested in the
subject, and had devised means by which it might be furthered; but
none of them reached the high ideal which Knox conceived, for his
scheme embraced the whole nation, and provided training for the
young from their earliest years until such time as they were ready
to take their place as fully educated members of the Commonwealth.
Beginning with elementary schools, which
should be found in every parish, he arranged for secondary schools
in every town and cathedral city; and these in turn were to lead up
to the Universities, which were to be so equipped as to prepare the
students for the learned professions and the highest offices in the
State. After the rudiments of education were taught the pupil passed
on to the study of grammar and the Latin tongue, and in the
higher-class schools or colleges to logic, rhetoric, Latin and
Greek. These higher grade schools, as they might be called, prepared
the pupil for the University, where his education would be
completed. The wealthier parents were to pay the expenses of the
education of. their sons, and funds in the shape of bursaries and
scholarships were to provide for the education of poorer. children.
No parent could dispose of his children as he liked. Education was
to be compulsory.
"All must be compelled to bring up their
children in learning and virtue." The schools were to be inspected
every quarter by competent examiners, and the sharper boys were to
be selected and made to continue their education, so that "the
Commonwealth may have some comfort of them." Three of our four
Universities, St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, were then in
existence, but their resources were limited. Provision, however, was
to be made for their full equipment, and a detailed scheme of study
for each College and Faculty was drawn up.
We have travelled a long way in many
things from the days of Knox, but the scheme of education which he
conceived for the nation has not yet been fully carried out. The
resources which he thought would be at his disposal were denied him,
and for that reason the plan broke down; but the very fact of the
conception was in itself an inspiration, and the love for knowledge,
of which the Scottish people had never been destitute, was fired by
the new religion and the proposals and zeal of the Reformer. The
Church did its best, and it is owing to it that the parish schools
of Scotland became famous, that the young of the nation were taught,
and that the people were known all the world over for their
intelligence and enterprise. In these days of boasted enlightenment
and rapid strides in the institution of educational agencies, it
might be well to reflect on the simple, consistent, and noble scheme
of Knox. The
last part of the Book of Discipline which we have to consider is the
provision that was to be made for the poor. Fancy pictures have been
drawn of the easy and comfortable life which the less-favoured
members of the Commonwealth enjoyed under the Romish Church. It is
popularly supposed that their existence was one of peace and plenty.
"The Beggars' Summonds," which has already been referred to, is
proof sufficient of the absurdity of such notions; and the poems of
Sir David Lindsay, in which the exactions of the Church are exposed
and the tyranny of the priest satirised, confirm the main charges
which that revolutionary manifesto made against the Romish clergy.
If there is one part of all Knox's writings, or a single act in his
whole life, which reveals the innate humanity of the man, it is his
single-minded concern for his poorer brethren; and the policy which
he devised for their relief is perhaps his most lasting monument. It
is no wonder that the peasants and commons of Scotland rallied round
the new religion, for they perceived that its spirit was one of
divine charity, and human brotherhood, and that it aspired to carry
out in practice the tender compassion of the Master for the infirm
and destitute. Knox would make no terms with the sturdy beggar, he
would compel him to work, but every poor person who was unable to
labour was to be provided for by the Church of his own parish. The
proprietors of the laird were also invoked to deal with their
tenants in a more lenient fashion than had been the wont of the
Papists, who "spoiled and oppressed them"; and the rumour that some
of these lay proprietors were no better than their clerical
predecessors kindled Knox's indignation. It reflects the highest
honour on the ministers of the Reformed Church that in their policy
they thought not so much of themselves as of the youth and the poor
of the nation. Their patriotism was equal to their religious
devotion, and their ambition was to see in their native land a
Christian Commonwealth.
The first question that will occur to
most minds is, What means had Knox at his disposal for carrying out
the great scheme which the Book of Discipline contained? A national
Church, a national system of education, and ample provision for the
poor, meant a large annual expenditure, and Scotland of itself was
too poor at that time to provide for all these schemes. But Knox was
no visionary. He saw where the money was to come from, and up to the
last he believed that it would be forthcoming. The revenues of the
Disestablished Church were enormous. Competent authorities maintain
that it possessed half the wealth of the country, and Knox and those
who acted with him believed that this wealth would be nationalised
and devoted to the great purposes which he sketched in his policy of
the Kirk.
Unfortunately only a fraction of what he reasonably calculated on
was ultimately granted, and the major part of his proposals
necessarily fell to the ground. Indications of the manner in which
the scheme would be accepted by the Estates were given before their
meeting on the 15th of January 1561. The Book was ready before that
time, and was privately examined by many of the nobles and others
interested. "Some approved it," says Knox, "and willed the same to
be set forth by a law. Others, perceiving their carnal liberty and
worldly commodity somewhat to be impaired thereby, grudged insomuch
that the name of the Book of Discipline became odious unto them.
Everything that was repugnant to their corrupt affections was termed
in their mockage `devout imaginations." Accordingly when the book
came before the Convention it was "vehemently debated," and never
became law. Several of the nobles subscribed it on condition that
the clergy of the old Church were to retain their benefices,
provided they maintained Protestant ministers in their respective
districts. As a
matter of fact the nobles, Protestant as well as Catholic, saw in
Knox's scheme the frustration of all their hopes. There is no doubt
whatsoever that many of them favoured the Reformation because of the
promise which it gave of adding very materially to their rent rolls.
Even previous to the Reformation the authorities of the Church,
seeing what was impending, disposed of much of the Church lands,
which they held in trust, to their own relatives and friends; and
when these lands after the Reformation passed to the Crown, they
were freely gifted to greedy barons, some of whom had already laid
hands on them, and an Act of Parliament was passed by the interested
parties themselves ratifying the legal theft. To have agreed to the
Book of Discipline would be sounding their own death-knell as large
and wealthy proprietors, and their concern for themselves being much
greater than for religion or education, or the poor, they determined
to grab what they could, and not to let go their hold. Knox was
greviously disappointed and indignant. He thundered from the pulpit
against "the merciless devourers of the patrimony of the Church."
"Nothing," he cried, "can suffice a wreche"; and again, "the belly
has no ears"; and he declared that there "were none within the realm
more unmerciful to the poor ministers than they were who had
greatest rents of the Church."
There are those who think that Knox's
whole policy was a failure because he was not able to carry out the
great scheme adumbrated in the Book of Discipline, and to transfer
for the noble purposes sketched therein the wealth of the ancient
Church. But let it be remembered that the Parliament of that day was
not the representative body which it now is. It was composed chiefly
of interested parties, of the noble and powerful, whose hearts for a
long time had been set on the patrimony of the Church, and the last
thing they contemplated was the giving up of what they had already
seized or being denied what they had their eyes on. Knox fought
valiantly in the interests of the nation, but he had no voice in the
deliberations of the highest court in the realm, and he was only one
man against many. It has been suggested that he ought to have
appealed to the people, that he should have thrown himself upon
their sympathy and support and threshed out the great cause in their
hearing. He was quite capable of doing this, for it was mainly by
popular preaching up and down the country that he stirred the people
and accomplished the Reformation. But it ought to be remembered that
although he might have secured the support of the nation it would
have availed him nothing, for the people had not the power of
sending representatives to Parliament, and to have moved them
greatly would have meant a second revolution. It is not difficult to
foresee what the results of such a movement would have been. We can
only conceive it as national chaos. |
