So it seems they can digest the Popes dispensations when they serve their turn The Abbots counsel being observed to make impression in the Governor some of the Courtiers took courage to confront his zealous party and one let flye a desperate speech That neither He nor his friends could ever be at quietness till a dozen of those Knaves that abus'd his Grace were hanged Some of them about him that had deserved it disliked the liberty taken to speak so much truth and secretly withdrew themselves Friar Guilliame being inhibited his licentious preaching went for Engand others had their dismission and the Lord Governour betook himself unto the Cardinal Lords better affected unto the Q. This was call'd renouncing the profession of Christ Iesus holy Gospell as if the Christian Creed were then confined to the Cabinet as since to the Consistory But this impetuous calumnie forc'd not through his resolution nor did his rash oath lately taken to the English Ambassadour oblige him to withstand the counsell of breaking the imperfect League the onely difficulty was how to raise mony for preparations requisite to a defensive warre which they must now expect from King Henry of England whose will in woing though for his Sonne must not be checked without â—evenge Toward this the Clergy upon the motion of the Cardinal who made it a case of conscience in the vindication of Religion raised great contribution and an opportunity of breaking the league offer'd it self when the hostages for the observance of conditions were to be delivered the denial of whom was seconded with the stay in Scotland of some noble personages late prisoners in England who had their liberty but on parole or bail none returning to custody but the Earl of Cassils who stood more upon his honor word passed unto King Henry then his duty to serve his Queen and Country for which singular instance of adhering unto his promise and for the hopes King Henry had that being gratified with his liberty he might gain him to some future service he commended his fidelity rewarded him and sent him home but being deceived in the rest and by the Governour in the contract he seiz'd upon all the Scotish Ships withâ—n his ports and proclaim'd a warre yet made no haste to it that Summeâ— but us'd the prudence and industry of his Ambassadour before he recall'd him and afterward of the party he had in Scotland to regain the Governours faith in the performance of his word In the mean time comes from France the young Earl of Lenox who setting aside the custom the Governour had by the Popes cherishing the divorce was reputed to have a nearâ—r relation unto the Crown and so far said to be justified in his pretences by the deceased King as that he had intended to declare him succâ—ssor in default of heirs Much contrivance is charged on the Queen Dowager and the Cardinal in and after the Earls coming over somewhat whereof may be not improbable to keep the Governour more firm to them to the title of whose estate as well as honour the Earl was rival and ready to step into all if the importunity of that parâ—y he first headed had â—ecovered him from the Court which prevailing not the Earl thereby frustrate of his hopes and the amarous addresses he made to the Queen Dowager not so entertained as to correspond with his ambition of a Royal marriage he takes livery and sâ—isin of what was left him the forlorn party of Reformers joyning his with their counsells and discontents His interest added somewhat to the number they got together out of anger against the Cardinal and now revenge against the Governour whom they took to be a creature of their own making and thought he would have continued to acknowledge their soveraignty while he did wear the badge of honour they bestowed upon him Those who on other reasons were of a faction for England came in to them Having modell'd their Army they send a challenge to the Cardinal at Edenburgh undertaking to give him and whatsoever forces would come out against them battail between that and Leith This the Cardinal seemed not to decline yet prudently judging the medley of those bravadoes could not be kept long together and that he might have a greater necessity ere long to use a better Army against the English than he had yet in readiness put the appointment off from day to day whereupon the more impatient part deserted them and some other by good conference received good sâ—tisfaction to that their General the young Earl became jealous of the remainder and thought it better policy to resign himself and pass over voluntarily than to stay till he were fetched by his enemies or delivered up by his despairing friends Thus perswaded he goes to Edenburgh where he was entertained with a litâ—le more cuâ—tesie in the City than he would have been in the field yet he liked not the complement so well as to trust to it but by the advice of some friends withdrew in the night to Glascow and from thence having garison'd the Bishops Palace to Dunbarton Some offers were made of an accommodation between the Governour and the Earl but the jealousies on both sides were such as could not be concentred in a point of mutual satisfaction and so multiplied into counter designs and perturbations of publick pâ—ace This civil discord hastened King Henries preparations who in the beginning of May 1544. poured forces into Scotland by sea and land which troubled many the great ones there little as Sr. George Douglasse who being taken out of prison upon their approach said in meriment I thank King Henry and my gentle Masters of England And indeed he had so many fellow servants devoted to the English that the Governour and Cardinal could not raise a sufficient power of loyal subjects to make resistance So the Army having sacked and burn'd Edenburgh wrought their pleasure at Leith and other places adjacent returned home After this the Earl of Lenox sends an expresse into France with as advantageous pretenses as he could contrive for his proceedings in Scotland but King Francis who advised his going thâ—ther to some better purpose than upon a private quarrell he had against the Protector to raise a power against the Crown would vouchsafe his Messenger no hearing nor his Letters reading but set such a guard upon him as made him doubt whether he had the liberty of his person at least fear to hazard it by giving intelligence to his Lord about the counsels of that Court This straitned the Earl in the necessity he was reduced to of seeking some protection for himself In the midst of which distraction the Governour after few dayes siege took the Castle of Glascow and left no secure sanctuary for the Earl but England which he soon resolved on having promises of his welcome yet could not
ability of parts according to the learning of that age was much augmented by a constant resolution at his death which put the younger students and novices upon a combination for maintaining his Tenents and the breach they made let out some Friars to rail against the abuses of the Bishops The patronage of Mr. Gawin Logie and Mr. Iohn Maire added some reputation to these actions and a reformation was attempted by some more unworthy instruments upon their credit The light pulpit discourse of Friar Arithe with his gossips catched some slight people in a jest while other graver men by more serious arguments multiplied considerâ—ble proselytes in good earnest insomuch as the Archbishop of S. Andrews according to the rigour of his Religion began to call for more fire and faggots but was stopt a little by the witty advice of Mr. Iohn Lindsey who told him My Lord If ye will burn them let them be burnt in hollow Cellars for the smoak of Mr. Patrick Hamilton hath infected as many as it blew upon some touch of it was thought to have tainted Alexander Seton a black Friar and Confâ—ssor to King Iames the fifth who presuming upon the opportunity of his privacy endeavoured to withdraw the Kings affections from the Bishops and his conscience from some part of his Religion which by more prevalent counsell of Ecclesiastical persons about the Court made him be discharged of his office and his dread of the fire carried him out of the Realme From Berwick by letter he appeals to the King whom notwithstanding he accuseth to himself of weakness and ignorance being very invective against the Churchmen who at that time as well as the Presbyters since waved in many things their due subjection and in the name of Christ took upon themselves the authority of the King I finde no mention of any answer returned but I do of his progresse from thence to London where at S. Pauls Crosse he retracted some of the new divinity he had published After this for ten years space these violent oppositions in Religion were interrupted the civil warres making other disputes and partizans upon temporal principles among the Scots In which time began a reformation in England from King Henry the eights differences with the Pope whether the pillage of Abbies and demolishing other religious places easily invited the Scotish labourers who would alwayes be found at leisure for such work About the year 1534. began a new Inquisition in Scotland wherein was eminent the perverse demeanour of one David Straton an ignorant Gentleman though in the Catalogue of their Martyrs of whom when the Bishop of Murray Prior of S. Andrews demanded the customary Tythe of his Fish his answer was If they would have Tythe of that which his servants wan in the seâ— it were but reason that they should come and receive it where they got the stock and so as it was constantly affirmed he caused his servants to cast the tenth fish into the sea The processe of cursing laid against him by the Church being encountered with his contempt was re-enforced by a summons to answer for his heresie to maintain which having hitherto no pretense but the perversness of his will the Laird of Dun Arskin very lately illuminated in the point lends him his lamp to look out some better reason and because he could not read bids him hearken which he did with more diligence than devotion desirous to meet with what might colour the affectation of his errours to which purpose the Laird of Lawristons field-lecture conduced luckily chancing to be rather out of S. Matthew than the Prophet Malachy where the Pharisaical tything of Mint and Cummin being taxed might serve his turn to slight all Christian Decimations as publican-extortions and no weighty matters of the law Though that was not the text that brought the spirit of prayer upon him but another on which he might have made a better comment by his repentance than unwildy resolution and known that the denial of tenths is the denial of God in his institution before men and may perhaps be retaliated before the holy Angels by his Sonne Sentence of death being passed he asked grace of the King which Knox saith he willingly would have granted but the Bishop proudly answered no more proudly than the Presbyters more than once since then That the Kings hands were bound in that case and that he had no grace to give to such as by their law were condemned Notwithstanding the severity exercised upon him and many other the Reformation for precedents unto which by this time their Merchants and Mariners had traffiqued in forreign parts makes its way into the cloysters and by Friar Killors contrivance which Iohn Knox seems to approve of very well shews it self upon the stage in a Satyrick play and that on a Good-Friday morning the subject whereof was the passion of our Saviour Christ most envious paralels being made between the Iewish Priests and the Scotish Bishops This gave the occasion of a more close search into the Friars opinions which being found such as suited not with the present profession and government of the Church sent him with many other too zealous reforming complices unto the fire Not long after George Buchanan laid his cockatrice egge not onely of Iudaisme which himself hatched in a Lenten meeting at the eating of a Paschal lamb but of Schisme and Rebellion which His Majesty endeavoured to crush upon the first discovery notwithstanding the trust he had reposed in him of instituting some his natural children He was by the Kings special Order as they say committed to prison whence he made an unhappy escape to the ruine almost of that Kingdome by his writing All this while the Royal Reformers in England marched furiously so as King Iames had no minde to meet them at York nor give King Henry there the interview he desired This though imputed to his Clergy was taken as a discourtesie from himself which set the English jealousie on fire and that at last burnt out into a warre King Iames was not so absolute at home as to cement at pleasure the Scotish intestine divisions where the equality of power did so mi-party his thoughts that he knew not wch side to head nor had he alwaieâ— the liberty of his choice His distrust of both made him enter into secret counsel with his Clergy by whose advice and assistance he levied on a suddain a vâ—ry numerous Army the design whereof was scarcely thought of in England when it actualy entred upon the borders But such scruples were scatered by some disaffected persons to the Church and Crown as made most of the Souldiery dispute the justce of the quarrell when they were to handle their armes or without consulting their conscience leave them in the field The loss of this Army so troubled the King that he
cast off all care to recruit it and measuring the shortnesse of his daies by the extremity of his grief he becomes too true a prophet of his death Some six dayes before his Queen was delivered at Linlitquow of a daughter whom Iohn Knox very civâ—lly calls the scourge of that Realm as her mother one that brought continuing plagues upon the same and that hâ—r whole life declared hâ—r to be such No lesse did his brethren spare the deceased King but call'd him Murtherer and rejoyced at the taking away of such an enemy to Gods truth In the Kings last will were four Protectors oâ—Regents of the Kingdome appointed the Cardinall of S. Aâ—drews the Earls of Huntley Arguyle and Murray but these were men especially while in the Cardinals company very unlikely to promote the new Religion or the more unjustifiable ends of the pretended Reformers of the Church The young Earl of Arran was found a fitter subject to work on the facility of his nature rendring him very flexible to their desires and the narrownes of his judgment admitting in no latitude an abilitie to counterplot at any time their designs or a discovery of their purposes but what they laid directly in his sight His pretence of the second place in succession to the Crown gave him colour and the Lord Grange furnished him with courage to claim the government during the minority of the Queen which that faction of the Nobility soon bestowed upon him who had more will to rule with him than reason to suppose that in his hands lay the best security for her person Yet to enable him for that or some other more secret ends were presently delivered up to him the Kings Treasure Jeweâ—ls Plate Horse c. which notwithstanding they scarcely give him liberty to look on before they set him to study controversies in Religion and tutor him as well in the polemick divinity as politicks of that party And to point the bluntness of his nature by some new animosity of spirit they shew him his own name among others in a private Schedule of the K. being a memoriall of such as of whose disaffection to his person government religion good notice being taken as good care might be had to prevent the â—ll effects of that humour which they suggested to be a destination of them unto ruin This was called the bloudy Scroll and the discovery of it a great deliverance of Gods which some godly men as they term'd themselves that is such as whose guilt made them conscious how much concerned they were in it fearing the execution of their ends and intents thereof being left to the Cardinal as a Legacy by the King pressed the Governour to â—ake notice of to betake himself for what puâ—pose God had exalted him to that honour and how great expectation was had of him The principal of their meaning being to depose the Cardinal for their own security he understood not and therefore they put upon him one Guilliame a lapsed Friar with some others to be priviledged in the preaching down Superstition a word of as great extent in those times as since from which was taken as much advantage for a licentious and violent Reformation But the Friars arguments being more powerfull to draw the people into sedition than the Bishops to a dispute one of their servants thought to rime down the ridiculous part of the practice in a ballad for which he had like to have lost his life as the Cardinal his liberty who for some time was their prisoner in Dalkeith and Seaton but this project being advanced and another pass'd the vote in Parliament about a marriage between Prince Edward of England and their Queen whether by command or connivance of the Governour or intercession of the Queen Mother to which they adde the bribing of his keeper the Lâ—rd Seaton and Lethington he was soon after set free About this time they obtained with some difficulty the use of the Bible in the vulgar tongue not to leaâ—n out of it the duty of obedience to the supreme Magistrate not to study the sincere doctrine and sense of the holy word but to have the same advantage with the hereticks of old to wrest the authority of sacred writ out of the hands of the Catholick Church and to serve their purposes at any time rend the letter from the meaning of the holy Spirit For this they cited the pattern of primitive Christians whom they never meant to imitate and the authority of some Fathers who countenanced that indulgence to humble holy men but in canvasing the question I finde not them calling upon Tertullian who spake his minde too freely adjudging them for Hereticks who came short of them in pertinacy and errour and excluded all that were so from any benefit of the Bible in their oppositions unto the Church The first good use they made of it was the garnishing their libells and rebellious Pamphlets and the first fruits of the new amity between England and them was the lâ—berty of getting thence in great numbers the most angry Treatises penned in favour of King Henries fury against the Church The contract of Marriage was made solemnly in the Abbey of Hallirud-house to the confirmation of which howsoever the Governour was prevail'd with to have Christs sacred body bâ—oken between him and Mr. Sadler the Ambassadour from England yet the Queen and Cardinal and what they call the faction of France which was the principal nobility are confessed to have no consent in it upon which the Commissioners were afterward questioned for their proceedings but being maintained by the great politick Patriot the pretended Parliament it mattered not what the Holy spiritual father or natural mother had to say against them the young Queen must be disposed of as they thought fittest and the great Seals of both Kingdomes for a second ratification interchanged But soon after came out of France I. Hamilton the Abbot of Paisly and Mr. David Painter afterward Bishop of Rosse men formerly cried up by the Reformers for their learning life religion and expected by them to become pillars of the new Temple they were building but their private instructions directed them to the Court with new advice to the Governour to consider whither his petty Counsellors were carrying him what the consequences might be of the alterations in religion what commodity in continuing the ancient League with France and what hazzard of his own â—ightful succession to the crown under the displeasure of the Pope who legitimated his birth by favouring the marriage of his mother after the divorcement of his father from Elizabeth Hume then alive although he might have had security as to the last from the Reformers who acknowledged afterward they would with their whole force have fortified him in the place that God had given unto him and would never have called in Question things done in time of darkness
Elizabeth saw and disliked the drifts of these Antimonarchical maxims and practises yet not resolute enough to trust providence with the preservation of her person At the next meeting in the Lord Keepers House persists in one of her principal demands from the Queen of Scots Commissioners to have beside the delivery up of two strong Castles the Duke of Castle Herault the Earles of Huntlâ—y Argile Humes Hâ—ris c. to be Pledges or Hostages for the good behaviour of their Queen This was to change one priâ—oner for more to disarm the Scotch Queen and turn her into a wilderness of wolves or more savage beasts ready every minute to devour her The Bishop of Ross and her other Delegates lookt over Queen Elizabeths shoulder and her Councils to see the black Assembly men vying hard for the honour of this fatal invention returned a modest answer to Her Majesty , That this could not be yielded in Christian prudence nor mercy to their miserable Mistresse wch was repelled by the L. Keeper with that sharp reply which if any thing cut off all mutual confidence in the Queens That the Kingdome Princes Nobles Castles and what soever else was valuable in Scotland could be no considerable pledge for the security of England While matters were thus carried on there both parties in Scotland by Queen Elizabeths order enter into a truce which the Disciplinarians kept according to the articles of their faith putting to the sword what persons of quality they wished out of the way wherein the murder of their late King and a feigned design to poison this now in being served them very plausibly for a disguise They seized upon what Castles and Forts they could get by fraud or stratagem without any great noise of armes among the rest that on Dunbriton frith where the fury of the meaner sort being slacked by customary murder the wrath of the Regent and his sanguinary Chaplains must have a solemn holy sacrifice to appease it which was the Archbishop of St. Andrews whom they found in that Castle He craved the ordinary justice of the law but the fear of Queen Elizabeths mediatory Letters or any other prevalent possibility to save him carried him the shorest way by a Council of war to be as he was dispatched at the Gallows But divine vengeance not â—ong after found the Regent out at Sterlin sitting secure as he thought in his Parliament of Rebolls where by the hands of some on the Queens party he paid the due debt of his bloud to the innocence of that holy Martyr whom he murder'd And now the good Brethren haing divers months since out stript the rebellious precedents of their ancestors by leaping over the letter and all pretentions of Law and authority in the election of their Regent find themselves safe on this side all scrupulous trouble and so without any more addresses into England or home disputes about stating their power commit their cause to the protection of Iohn Erskin Earl of Marre whose first ominous repulse before Edenburgh and mild temper inclining toward a composure together with his impardonable endeavours to bring in again Archbishops and Bishops drew such swarms of contentious Presbyters about him that after thirteen moneths strugling with his own Conscience and their unconscientious proceedings he dyed through extremity of grief In this time by the good managing of the Brethren a proposition was made by the Members of Parliament in England That if the Queen of Scots acted any thing against the known Laws of the Land upon advantage given by her contract of marriage with the Duke of Norfolk she should be proceeded against as a Wife to one of the Peers of the Realm But for Royal Majesties sake Queen Elizabeth interposeth by her power and would not suffer it to be put to the Vote of the House or at least not enacted as a Law After all this jugling and under-hand contrivance the Disciplinarian faction in Scotland perceiving trouble and hazard increasing upon them at home and potent enemies multiplying abroad resolve now to cut up root and branch of all that hindred the growth of their dominion and having but blunt instruments in Scotland make bold with the highest authority and sharpest ax of England to effect it wherein as part of the work is easie with some rotten boughs which having no intrinsecal conjunction nor continuity with that body whereof they had been arms and members were broaken off at pleasure by the hand of Justice so the knotty pieces were not without some difficulty wrought off by the strength of malice and acuteness of subtilty in the too partial industrious Journey-men for the cause The Bishop of Rosse the Queen of Scots greatest agent and advocate fencing under the umbrage of the publick Embassie saved his life but not his liberty to do her service Felion Story Barnes Mather c. were at several times arraigned and executed But these were taken to be at too great a distance to give warning to their captive Queen The Duke of Norfolk was her principal adhearent they aim'd at the most likely Champion to have justified her title who though at his death he protested his chiefest endeavours had been to reestablish the oppressed Queen and suppress the rebellious practises in her Kingdom yet because his Plot was laid in the dark and his complices abroad such as for their own ends kept not within the compass of his designs but wrought the ruine of England into their hopes met with Law enough to condemn him by his Peers and after four moneths reprieve by the Queens singular favour inexorable Justice to behead him upon the Scaffold This much heightened the Assembly men in Scotland who wiping their eyes to behold with much consolation of spirit by what a slender thread their successes had hung the ax over their imprisoned Queen endeared each other by the mutual assurance they gave it could not be long before her Head too must off and then the Discipline they thought would take place with the unquestionable Succession of the King Not ten dayes passed after the Dukes death before they wrought by their Agents that Commissioners were sent Lord de l' Amour Sadler Wilson and Bromley to expostulate with the Queen of Scots about her treasonable practises against the Crown of England and to ring the knell of the Dukes destiny in her ears The French more earnestly than before interceding for her liberty are silenced with instances of their own cashiering their Kings Childerike by Pipin Charls of Lorraign by Hugh Capet imprisoning the Queens of Lewis Philip the Long and Charls the Fair successively The cases of Henry the Second of England Alphonsus of Castile and Charls the fifth of Spain and Scicilie are produced as precedents for taking the Crown their Mothers surviving And the honourable restraint of the Queen of Scots pleaded a favour beyond her desert
his Age nor had they been if preserved applicable to all times according to the variety of which and other circumstances the Decretalls multiplied and so will Ecclesiasticall Canons increase in number or be alterable for necessity or decency unto the end What presseth most in the tenth Article Sir Iohn declineth and therefore no wrong is done him if he be thought imprudently to have said c. That Religion that is to say so much of it as Henry 8. turn'd off was to be abolished and destroyed as then in England where whatsoever good reformation hath since been made a great deal of Murder Rapine and Injustice was acted and countenanc'd by what King and to what purpose the world knowes And the Cardinal with his Clergy had good reason beside private interest to prevent so passionate and sacrilegious a change in Scotland Some moderation Sâ—r Iohn shews in permitting S. Augustines Monks to stand for not whom alone but others of ancient institution as much may be pleaded if S. Basils Rule and the historical passages of S. Hierom and other holy Fathers be duly read whose Convents were made no brothel houses nor swine-sties nor was their worship such as to devote them unto the devill and yet much reverence they gave unto the Reliques of Christian Martyrs They that afterward made counterfeits for gain of proselytes or money may the better sort dispute the point of piâ— fraus with his Knightship and the worse with his hypocriticall corrupted Sectaries who pretend to as great miracles in having Gods Spirit at their call and the power of all his Ancient Prophets in their Night-caps The habits of Monkâ— which he excepts against were in the purest times impos'd upon them and fitter it may be were they for a Cloyster than those by which the tribe of precisians will since be distinguished in the Chuâ—ch Yet am I not so angry with Sr. Iohn Borthwick for his separate singularity in opinion as to justifie the sentence pass'd upon him to be executed in effigie while absent and in person when he could be chatched my portion being not with them that condemn Hereticks to fiâ—e and faggot but if he did as commonly such unquiet spirits do under the pretence of conversion instigate the people against the government of that Kingdome because not of his Religion I referre him to the Laâ— and should no otherwise have wisht his pardon than upon a serious acknowledgement of his fault What folâ—ows in Fox's Acts of a conference between the Bishop of Dunkelden and Dean Thomas a Canon of St. Colmes Inch I cannot judge of finding little or nothing about it in their own Historians nor can I credit one particular of the Bishops stout saying I thank God I never knew what the Old and New Testament was howsoever rise the Proverb which he pretends to be so common in Scotland Ye are like the Bishop of Dunkelden that knew neither New nor Old Law no more than the like in Buchanan That upon a strict enquiry at Dundee after the Readers of the New Testament most of the Priests who sure were licensed profest so much ignorance of the Book as they contentiously averr'd it to be written by Martin Luther thereupon rerejected it and required the Old And somewhat to be suspected is that which comes after That the Dean with six other Friars and a Gentleman were burn'd principally upon these articles of the Deans preaching every Sunday on the Epistles and Gospels and their eating of flesh in Lent for which more moderate penance to my knowledge is inflicted in other Catholick Countryes at this day and that ancient Canon is not wantonly abused upon reasonable causes dispensations without any great difficulty are obtained And therefore another story of like nature countenanc'd by Buchanan and most passionately laid forth by Knox of four hanged in St. Ionhstons for eating one poor Goose on a Friday which could not afford each of them a leg and a wing hath little of my belief and indeed the lesse because I find them conceal what Fox out of no meaning I ghess to deal more impartially inserteth Their hanging up the Image of St. Francis nailing Rams horns to his head and a Cows rump to his tail and some of them interrupting Friar Spense in his Sermon maintaining the established doctrine of those times the necessity of prayer to Saints whereupon followed such a tumult of the people as hazarded his life which murder would have been more unjustifiable before God and man than the hanging up four or four hundred of them for attempting that on the person of one which might and did draw after it the destruction of many not in halters upon a legal sentence but by the sword rebelliously imployed as well agaâ—nst their Prince as their fellow subjects which will appear too evidently in the sequel of this story I shall not follow every little Martyr to the stâ—ke â—et not any of them is there but I shâ—uld heartily commiseraâ—e if I were as we I persâ—aded as some Historians seem to be that he suffered clearly for the tenderâ—ess of his consciâ—nce or by the merciless cruelty of his mâ—licious Judges But when I discover in most theâ—r prâ—aâ—hing praying discâ—ursiâ—g designing câ—unselling such a â—â—irit of virulency agaâ—nst their Romane Adversaries which must â—e censur'd incompetible with that Christian charity which the best patteâ—ns the most exemplary sufferers in the primitive times decâ—â—red principally at their death when very few of them can be so justified in their strictness of Religion as they are most evidently to be condemned for sedition whatsoever indirect proceedings may be observed in their tryalls whatsoever accumulative articles were by mistake or wilfull injury cast upon them I cannot so commend them for their vertues as to flatter posterity by the example into their errours Therefore passing by a multitude of petty Saints whom Knox and Buchanan canonize as they go some of whom may be feared to deserve no other red letters in the Calender than themselves whose names are deeply dyed in the bloud which is not little shed upon the rebellious practices they prescribed I will discuss onely the passages about one more signal than the rest out of whose ashes the Scotish Reformation was raked and beside the murder of the Cardinal a consequent rebellion advanced chiefly upon the reputation of his name though I will not alledge it as apparently founded in his doctrine The man I mean is Mr. George Wisheart of Bâ—nnets Colledge in Cambridge where he is famed to have lived a very studious and religious life yet not without some such singular eccentrick motions from the custome of other honest men in his time as gave some part of his piety the character of Melancholy and the impress of cruelty to some severity in his discipline An instance of the former in his Wearing and sleeping in Canvas which his sheets and shirâ—s freez-mantle