RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Melville, Andrew Memorials and Sacred Stones
all doctors or regents teaching theology or philosophy, not being pastors, were forbidden to- sit in any of these courts under pain of deprivation and rebellion. Prelates were declared by Parliament to have ever represented an estate of the realm; and, when the assembly met, the king would not allow it to proceed until Melville retired; and ultimately he was forced to quit the town. James protested that he did not intend to restore bishops, but only wished some of the wisest ministers, as commissioners of the kirk, to have a place in the privy council and Parliament to judge in their own affairs. To this the assembly by a small majority agreed. The king would not permit Melville to sit in the assembly of 1600, and, by acceding to many caveats, he induced the members to comply with his plan. When the Scottish Parliament restored the bishops to their ancient privileges, in 1606, Melville, who was sent by St. Andrew's presbytery, protested. As the bishops had as yet no spiritual power, Melville and seven other ministers were summoned to London, nominally to confer with the king on church affairs, really to deprive their brethren of their aid and counsel in opposing the changes contemplated. The English nobles were astonished at Melville's talents and courage. On a highly ritualistic service which he had been made to witness in the Chapel Royal he wrote a Latin epigram, which one of the court spies set to watch him conveyed to the king. For this Melville was tried by the English privy council Nov. 30, and though he had given out no copy, was found guilty of scandalum magnatum. In April he was sent to the Tower, where for ten months he was treated with great severity. Pen, ink, and paper were taken from him; and none saw him save the person who brought his food. But his spirit was free and unbroken, and he covered the walls of his cells with verses beautifully engraved with the tongue of his shoe-buckle. By means of packed assemblies and bribery, prelacy was established in Scotland when he and other faithful men were far away. Though the Protestants of Rochelle were eager to have Melville as professor of divinity, James would not consent; but, after four years' captivity, he, at the request of Du Plessis-Mornay (q.v.), allowed him to go to Sedan to share with Tilenus the professorship of divinity. There his last years were spent, the bitterness of his exile being alleviated by the kindness of some Scottish professors and students. Among these last were John Durie (q.v.), and perhaps Alexander Colville, destined so long to carry on his work in St. Mary's College. The contest in which he took so prominent a part affected not only the government of the church but also the cause of civil and religious liberty. "Scotland," says his nephew James, " never received a greater benefit at the hands of God than this man." " If," says Dr. McCrie, " the love of pure religion, rational liberty, and polite letters, forms the basis of national virtue and happiness, I know no individual, after her Reformer, from whom Scotland has received greater benefits, and to whom she owes a deeper debt of gratitude and respect, than Andrew Melville. " He was full of spirits, vigorous and courageous, quick-tempered but kindly, of great and varied
learning, but more of a scholar than a popular orator. His chief work was in the universities and church courts rather than in the pulpit; and that, perhaps, was the reason why, with all his influence among his brethren, he never gained such sway over the nobles and people as Knox and Henderson attained. The hard measure meted out to him by King James was one of the greatest blots on that reign. D. Hay Fleming.
Bibliography: The principal sources are: J. Melvill, Autobiography and Diary, with Continuation, ed. R. Pitcairn, Edinburgh, 1842; J. Row, Hist, of the Kirk of Scotland, ed. D. Laing, ib., 1842; W Scot, An Apologetical Narration of the State and Government of the Kirk of Scotland since the Reformation, ed. D. Laing, ib. 1846; J. Spottiswoode, Hist, of the Church of Scotland, ed. M. Russell, ib. 1851; D. Calderwood, Hist, of the Kirk of Scotland, ed. T. Thomson, 8 vols., ib. 1842-49; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, ed. D. Masson, vols, iii.-iv., ib., 1880-81. The one life of importance is by T. McCrie, 2 vols., ib. 1819, also in his works, ed., his son, the younger McCrie, ib. 1856, reissued, 1899. Consult also DNB, xxvii. 230; H. Cowan, Influence of the Scottish Church in Christendom, London, 1896.