of Episcopacy, and had it not been for such as he, so continued and determined were the efforts of the prelatists, there can be little doubt the rule of the bishops would have been established in Scotland. As it was, the

SEAL AND AUTOGRAPH OF REV. WILLIAM LIVINGSTON, SECOND REFORMED MINISTER AT MONY ABROCH (KILSYTH).

From original Charter at Colzium House, dated 8th June, 1607.

fathers of the Scottish Church stood like rocks in the midst of the waves and repelled every assault. In that war none acquitted himself with greater bravery than William Livingston. He possessed the voice of a Stentor

and a forbidding countenance; and wherever he is found he is seen laying about him to excellent purpose.

King James was largely responsible for the ecclesiastical troubles of Scotland. He was ill-fitted by nature to act the part of a king. A shattered nervous system rendered him physically a coward. He was fond of his book and his bottle. Striving to be a master in theology he was a novice in practical religion. He was a curious compound of wisdom and folly, of vacillation and obstinacy. Now he was strongly Presbyterian, praising "the God who had made him King in such a Kirk as that of Scotland—the sincerest Kirk in the world." And then, again, with his "No Bishop, no King," he was equally strongly Episcopalian. Whatever form of Church government he really loved eventually, there can be no doubt he became the foe of Presbyterianism. He had rude memories of his Scottish life. George Buchanan had warmed his ears as a boy; Andrew Melville had plucked at his sleeve and called him "God's silly vassal," and then the raid of Ruthven was an undoubtedly bitter recollection. Melville was a fitting successor to Knox. He was a man of fixed purpose and determined spirit, and prepared for any emergency, Holyrood or Blackness, the pulpit or the gallows. James thought if he could get quit of Melville his ends would be gained in Scotland. With this view he invited him to London, and clapped him in the Tower. Melville had, however, by this time done his work. He had consolidated the labours of Knox, written the Second Book of Discipline, and given the Church that practical shape which she still retains. Two of his best known fellow-labourers were Welsh and Bruce. When the wife of the former went to London to beg the King to release him, for he also had been imprisoned, the King said he would release him if he would submit to the bishops. Lifting up

her apron and holding it towards the King, the brave woman is reported to have replied-" Please, your Majesty, I'd rather kep his head there." Robert Bruce was the son of the proprietor of Airth and one of the most popular preachers of his day. In the course of his life he became owner of Kinnaird, and was an ancestor of Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller. Because he would not acknowledge the guilt of Gowrie in the affair of the conspiracy, the King persecuted him with relentless hatred. His preaching was full of the richest spiritual matter, and his prayers always short, are spoken of as being like bolts shot up to heaven. His death was characteristic. One morning at breakfast he said to his daughter, who was serving him"Hold, my Master calls me." Asking for the Family Bible, and finding his eyesight gone, he said, "Cast me up the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and place my finger on these words, 'I am persuaded that neither death nor life shall be able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now," he continued to his daughter, "is my finger upon the place?" and being told that it was, he added, "Then God be with you, my children; I have breakfasted with you and shall sup with the Lord Jesus this night," and so saying the good man expired. A cause supported by men like Melville and Livingston, Welsh and Bruce, was both in excellent keeping and

nurture.

Among the chief events of the time were the ordination by English bishops of the three Scottish ministers, Spottiswoode, Lamb, and Hamilton; and the General Assembly held at Perth in 1618, which passed Acts in favour of kneeling at Communion, Confirmation, and the observation of Good Friday, Easter, and Ascension Day. The Scottish people having found it necessary that in the

cause of religion they should present an united front, the National Covenant was signed in Greyfriars Churchyard, on the 1st March, 1638, and the Solemn League and Covenant was formulated five years later. One of the most notable incidents was the riot which took place in St. Giles' Church, Edinburgh, on the 23rd July, 1637. The time having come when Archbishop Laud had determined to foist his liturgy on the Scotch people, at eight in the morning on the day on which it was to be introduced, there was a Presbyterian service, and the minister, with tears in his eyes, took farewell of his flock. When the Dean of Edinburgh entered to perform the service there was an immense crowd, and the excitement was intense. There was considerable clamour amongst the people when the dean began, and the service had not proceeded far when an old woman, named Janet Geddes, who kept a vegetable stall in the High Street, unable further to restrain her wrath, seized the stool on which she was sitting, and hurled it at the head of Episcopalian authority with the words, "Out, thou false thief! dost thou say mass at my lug?" The lawless act was like putting a match to gunpowder. There was a fierce riot, the bishop was nearly torn to pieces, and the influences that radiated from Jenny's strong arm stimulated the Presbyterian cause throughout the whole country.

Amid these scenes and men, William Livingston acted his great part, and resisting alike threats and flatteries, stood true to the national interest and the cause of the Reformed Church. He was born at Monyabroch, in the year 1576. He was educated at Glasgow University, and laureated in 1595. According to the custom of the time, he was ordained at first to preach privately on the 13th January, 1596. He received public license on the 27th January, institution on the 10th July,

and ordination on the 13th July-all of the year 1596. His father neither disputed his deposition nor appealed from the verdict of the presbytery. This acquiescence, on his part, was no doubt because he had good reason to believe that his son would become his successor in Monyabroch. But be this as it may, when his father was deposed, William received temporary charge of the parish. Having fulfilled his duties both to the satisfaction of the people and the presbytery, the former body recommended him to the patron as worthy to be appointed permanent minister for the reasons stated, and "his having the kirk these two years by-gone." In the circumstances Alexander, seventh Lord Livingston, and shortly afterwards created Earl of Linlithgow, issued a presentation in his favour, and he was ordained to Monyabroch, 15th July, 1599.

Liv

William Livingston was a strong man, and he had not been half a dozen years minister of Monyabroch, when his influence began to be felt as a power throughout the whole country. James had ascended the throne of England, but even in that elevated situation he thought with concern of the doings of the young minister. ingston had a tremendous voice, and in denouncing the inroads of Episcopacy, he used it to the best purpose. It was intolerable to the author of the "Basilicon Doron" to have a young rude Scotsman rising out of the obscurity of his native mosses and confronting him after this fashion. The King bit his nails with vexation, not knowing what to do with him. Then having well pondered the matter, on the 18th October, 1607, at his Southern Court at Royston, he fulminated against him his first decree. "Understanding," the King wrote, "of the unquiet and turbulent disposition of Maister William Livingstoun, professing himself rather a fire-brand of dis

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