MELVILLE
G8
MELVILLE
divine service, and he also took a share of the other min- isterial duties of the parish. His gratuitous labors were highly gratifying to the people in general, but the free- dom and litifclity with which he reproved vice ex[)osed him to the resentment of several leading individuals, and the most atrocious calumnies against ^lelville were conveyed to the kii-.g, whose mind was predisposed to receive any insinuations to his disadvantage. A bad matter was made worse in 1582, when Melville was sent to the General Assembly, and was by that body honored with the office of moderator. In this prominent place he had many opportunities to advocate the interests of his pet plans on ecclesiastical government. But even here matters did not rest. He was invited to preach before the assembly, and in his sermon he boldly in- veighed against the tyrannous measures of the court, and against those who had brought into the country the '• bludie gullie" of absolute power. This fearless charge, which the assembly had applauded, and had secuiidc d by a written remonstrance, intrusted to Melville fur presentation at court, led to a citation before the privy council for high-treason, and, though the crime was not proved, he was sentenced to imprisonment for contempt of court, as he had refused to appear, maintaining that whatever a preacher might say in the pulpit, even if it should be called treason, he was not bound to answer for it in a civil court until he had been (irst tried in an ec- clesiastical court. Apprehensive that his life was really in danger, he set out tor London, and did not return to the North till the faction of Arran was dismissed in the year following. After being reinstate4 in his office at St. Andrew's, Melville and his nephew took an active part in the proceedings of the Synod of Fife (q. v.), which terminated in the excommunication of archbishop Adamson, for having dictated and defended the laws subversive of ecclesiastical discipline. When Adamson was relaxed from censure, and restored to his see, Mel- ville was charged to retire to the north of the Tay, and was not permitted to return to his post till the college had reluctantly consented to gratify one of the king's menial servants by renewing a lease, to the great dimi- nution of the rental. Not long afterwards, the king, ac- companied by Du Bartas, the poet, on a visit to St. An- drew's, hail an opportunity of hearing from Melville a most S4)irited and learned, though extemporaneous, ref- utation of an elaborate lecture by Adamson in favor of liis views of royal prerogative, and, upon the decease of Adamson in 1592, Melville had the pleasure of seeing the passage of an act of Parliament ratifying the govern- ment of the Church by general assemblies, provincial synods, presbyteries, and kirk sessions, and explaining away or rescinding the most offensive of the acts of the year 1584 — the black acts, as they were usually called. This important action is considered to this day as the legal foundation of the Presbyterian government, and it was regarded by JMelville as an ample reward for liis laborious efforts. The king, however, was not sin- cerely in favor of these measures, and secretly displayed a strong desire to make the " Kirk" a mere tool of polit- ical power, or to restore episcopacy. Melville strenu- ously resisted every such attempt, whether made in an open or clandestine form.
In 15!)(; a very favorable opportunity seemed to pre- sent itself for the court to effect its purjioses. A tu- mult had taken place at Edinburgh on December K!. and this opjiortunity was seized by the court as a han- dle for tlie purpose of effecting a change in the con- stitution of the Church. MelviUe, and the Synod of Fife, and many leading clergymen, protested. To reach the king's ears, Melville was selected as chairman of a deputation to the king. Upon this occasion Mel- ville displayed the same intrepidity of character that he had exhibited on meeting Morton while in the re- gency. King James seemed to be displeased with the Protestants, and reminded Melville that he was his vas- sal, " Sirrah," retorted Melville, " ye are God's silly vas- sal ; there are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland :
I there is king James, the head of the commonwealth ; and there is Christ Jesus, the king of the Church, whose subject James the Sixth is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, nor a lord, nor a head, but a member." It b not to be wondered at that such plain speaking met the j displeasure of the man who had a peculiar liking for I stratagems, or who was accustomed to look upon the [works of darkness as the essence of "kingcraft." A . general assembly was summoned by the king to meet at Perth ; and as it was composed chiefly of ministers from the north, who were studiously infected with prej- udices against their southern brethren, the adherents of Melville were left in the minority. But the next as- sembly at Dundee, as we shall see presently, was not J quite so tractable, and it became quite clear to king i James that in this way he would not succeed in anni- hilating, nor even lessening, Melville's ascendency. An oppiirtiuiity, however, was not long wanting for such a nefarious attempt. A royal visitation of the university : was determined upon, and king James went to St. An- drew's in person, where, after searching in vain for mat- ter of accusation against Melville, it was ordained that all professors of theology or phildsdjihy, nut being act- ual pastors, should thenceforth be preiluiUd from sitting in sessions, presbyteries, synods, or assemblies, and from teaching in congregations. When the assembly met at Dundee in 1588, Melville made his appearance, notwith- standing the restrictions under which he had just been placed; but, when liis name was called, king James ob- jected, and declared that he would not permit any busi- ness to be done until IMelville had withdrawn. Melville defended himself, and boldly told the king that the objec- tion was invalid ; to prevent difficulty, however, he finally withdrew under protest. Preparation was now made for restoring the order of bishops, and the first approach to this measure was to induce the commissioners of the General Assembly to solicit that the ministers and eld- ers of the Church might be represented in Parliament. A statute w^as accordingly passed, declaring prelacy to be the third estate, and asserting the right of such min- istcrs as should be advanced to the episcopal dignity to I the same legislative privileges which had been enjoyed l)y the former prelates. The next conference, held at Falkland, :Melville attended, and therein presence of iiis I majesty, maintained his sentiments with his accustomed fearlessness and vehemence, and the king judged it jiru- dent to refer all the matters which were still intended to be adjusted to an assembly which met at ^lontrose in March, IGOO. IMelville appeared as a commissioner from his presbytery, and though, by the king's objec- tions, he was not suffered to take his seat, his counsels and his unconquerable zeal served to animate and con- firm the resolution of his brethren; and the assembly was with great dithculty ])revailed upon to adopt the scheme of the court, under certain modilications. In IGOl IMelville, notliing daunted by the fierce opposition of his royal master, attended the assemi)ly at Burnt Isl- and. jMelville's conduct was grossly misrepresented, and James, incensed by the perseverance of his subject, im- mediately set out for St. Andrew's, and there, without even the sanction of his privy council, issueil a Icttre de cachet, charging I^Ielville to confine himself within tlie walls of the college ; the roval mandamus decreeing, at the same time, "if he fail and do in the contrary, that he shall be incontinent thereafter, denounced rebel, and put to tlie law, and all his movable goods escheat to his higliness's use for his contemption." The king's conduct towards tlie Church from this time forward we have alreadv treated in detail in the article Jasies I (q.vO.