by Rev. John Colquhoun, Glendale
The First Book of Discipline
It goes without saying that the history of the Reformation in Scotland is one of the most interesting in all the annals of literature. It began quietly and imperceptibly among the people, and became deeply rooted in the land before the priesthood of Rome, too busily engaged in prosecuting their immoral way of living, from those who occupied the highest offices to the lowest, were aware that forces were at work which would bring down their power and their pomp, and cause their outward show to crumble in the dust. The Lollards of Kyle are said to have had manuscript copies of the New Testament, and the surreptitious reading of these no doubt kept the torch of truth burning, however dimly, for a long time before the church began to persecute them as heretics. At a later date merchants brought Tyndale’s New Testament home from England and from the Continent, and so the truth was quietly spread, and was doing its own work. Sir David Lindsay of the Mound mercilessly satarised the indolent priests and their vices, so that the common people realised that the Church of Rome was not the Church of Christ. Thus the common people were being educated and prepared for the Reformation which subsequently took place. This awakened the Romish monster, and those who were suspected of heresy began to be persecuted with the consequence that “the blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church.” A number whose names cannot be traced suffered cruel deaths while others whose names stand out on the page of history, as men who, by their lives, teaching, deaths, contended earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints.
In spite of the opposition from those in authority in Church and State the Word of God spread throughout the land so that men began to take steps to deliver the country from the yoke of Rome. On 24th August 1560 the Roman Catholic religion was formally abolished by the Scottish Parliament, legally ordaining “that the Bishop of Rome has no jurisdiction or authority in this realm in all time coming, and that none of our said Sovereign’s subjects shall suit or desire in any time hereafter title or right by the said Bishop of Rome or his sect, to anything within this realm.” In this Parliament, in response to a petition from “a number of Protestant barons, gentlemen, burgesses, and others,” a command was given to the barons and ministers “to draw in plain and several heads the sum of that doctrine which they would maintain, and desire the Parliament to establish.” This, it is said, was done in four days, and the result presented to Parliament. This became the Scotch Confession of Faith, and was jointly the work of six of the Reformers of whom John Knox was one. This does not mean that the Confession was hastily drawn up. As Professor Mitchell of St. Andrews points out that the original charge to frame the First Book of Discipline had been given on 29th April 1560, and, as he says, it can hardly be supposed that that book should have been taken in hand some months before the Parliament met, and that no attempt should have been made in this interval to prepare materials for the Confession of Faith. Besides Knox has not stated that within four days after the charge was formally issued the Confession was prepared, but that it was presented, so that we may hold with Dr. McCrie that the ministers were not unprepared for this task. “Baird Lectures 1899, p. 100.” Though it may have been got up somewhat hastily, yet the men who compiled it were masters of the theology which is to be found in it, and it compares very favourably with other Confessions infrequently in expression and agreement generally in its definitions of doctrine with the Reformed or Calvinistic Confessions (an agreement which its framers explicitly testified by inserting among the subordinate standards of their church, first Calvin’s Catechism, and a few years after the Later Helvetic Confession and the Heidelberg Confession) the Scottish Confession of 1560 had characteristics of its own — a framework rather historical than dogmatic, and a liberal and manly, yet reverent and cautious spirit. It probably contributed to mould the early Scottish Theology into a form somewhat less minute and rigid than the Swiss, yet considerably less vague and indefinite than the English.” Baird Lectures, p. 103. Knox was not without experience in drawing up Confessions of Faith. He had assisted in 1552 in revising the English Articles of Edward VI of England, and had himself compiled a Confession for the English congregation of Geneva, but the Scotch Confession, though betraying an acquaintance with other models, is described as “original, independent, and masterly.” “It is divided into twenty-five sections, treating of the principal subjects with which it is the province of theology to deal. The general scope of the treatment is Calvinistic, as might have been expected from the relationship of Knox and the Reformers generally to the great Genevan doctor; nevertheless, the spirit of the whole is broader, more human, and, if we might use the expression, more modern than that of the Westminster Standards.” St. Giles Lectures, First Series p. 135.
The Church of the Reformation in Scotland had in its Constitution, not only a Confession of Faith, but it had also documents for regulating its worship and polity. At first the Protestants in Scotland made use of the Liturgy of Edward VI., but after the Reformation was established Knox, who saw much in the English Prayer Book to foster those superstitions which were discarded at the Reformation, recommended the introduction of the Swiss Prayer Book, which in four years time became the Service Book of the Scottish Church. This became popularly known as Knox’s Liturgy. This was merely a guide as to how public worship was to be conducted, and gave plenty of scope for extempore prayer. It was largely used where there was not a stated ministry. Lay readers were enjoined to gather the people, daily in large towns and once a week in country places, to read prayers and portions of the Scriptures. This was observed universally in Scotland for seventy years, and in some places for a hundred years, until the number of educated ministers increased, when the custom was discontinued. That there was not a slavish adherence to the prayers in Knox’s Liturgy is clear from various sources. Professor Mitchell says, “From the notices given in his ‘Order and Government of the Church of Scotland,’ and from the specimens of Henderson’s prayers which accompany his printed discourses, it is further evident that he, like Calderwood, habitually used free prayer both before and after sermon. There seems reason to suppose that in not a few cases the readers also before 1638 took the liberty of varying from the forms in Knox’s Book and exercising their own gifts. The charges made against the character of their prayers, in what is called the King’s Declaration, but what was in reality the declaration of some of his prelates, is only intelligible on this supposition. And the Assembly, as I read their deliverance, rather deny that the prayers of the readers were of the particular character charged than affirm they were the identical prayers contained in Knox’s Book.” Baird Lectures, 1899. p. 142.
The main document which was in the Constitution of the Reformed Church of Scotland was the First Book of Discipline. It is made up of the following sections — (1) The Government of the Church. (2) The Discipline of the Church. (3) The Prerogatives and Duties of Church Members. (4) The Education of the Young and University Reform. (5) The Care of the Poor. The First Book of Discipline set forth the whole polity of the Church as distinct from its creed and its order of worship, and was basically Presbyterian. It is true that its requirements could not be carried out at the beginning except on a very small scale. The first General Assembly consisted of but forty-two members of whom only six were ministers, but Knox envisaged a Church which was to grow. His practical common-sense, sanctified by the grace of God, laid the foundation of what he expected, in a few years, would be the case, for in 1567 there were about two hundred and eighty-nine ministers and seven hundred and fifteen readers with five Superintendents. These superintendents, it may be pointed out, were not Bishops in any sense of the term, some were laymen, who had no right to ordain, and they were all subject to the General Assembly. The ecclesiastical discipline was strict and had no respect for the station in life occupied by anyone from the highest to the lowest. On this score the church courts had ample work, for they had to deal with a people who were steeped in all the moral filth which was tolerated in the Church of Rome from its highest dignitaries to the lowest strata of human society. The state of affairs in Scotland was what was true of other countries as well, and all over it was in accordance with the times in which the Reformers lived, but those who now became the spiritual guides of the people did not consult with flesh and blood. They had the Bible and from it they knew what God required of His Church and of the people and they acted accordingly. This brought about a reformation of manners so that Scotland stood very high above the nations of the world. In the realm of education the First Book of Discipline is of great importance as its aim was to educate the children. Knox says, “The commonwealth has a right to assert a paramount claim on every child, and to compel it to be educated. If poor, their expenses are to be paid; but no father, of whatsoever estate or condition, was to use his children at his own phantasy, but must be compelled to bring them up in learning and virtue.” This high ideal has never been realised to the extent that was intended. The nobility and barons were unprincipled and seized upon the patrimony of the ancient church, a portion of which was intended by Knox to be used for the payment of the ministers, and for the furtherance of education and the relief of the poor.
(to be continued)