XVI. SECT. I.

eloquence was persuasive, and whose fortitude CENT. was invincible [h]. This resolute reformer set out from Geneva for Scotland, in the year 1559, and. in a very short space of time, inspired the people, by his private exhortations and his public discourses, with such a violent aversion to the superstitions of Rome, that the greatest part of the Scotch nation abandoned them entirely, and aimed at nothing less than the total extirpation of popery [i]. From this period to the present times, the form of doctrine, worship, and discipline that had been established at Geneva by the ministry of Calvin, has been maintained in Scotland with invincible obstinacy and zeal, and every attempt to introduce into that kingdom the rites and government of the church of England has proved impotent aud unsuccessful [k].

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XI. The

"ried application to study and to business, as well as by the frequency and fervour of his public discourses, he had worn ❝out a constitution naturally strong. During a lingering illness, he discovered the utmost fortitude, and met the ap"proaches of death with a magnanimity inseparable from his "character. He was constantly employed in acts of devotion, and comforted himself with those prospects of immortality, which not only preserve good men from desponding, "but fill them with exultation in their last moments."

[h] The earl of Morton, who was present at his funeral, pronounced his eulogium in a few words, the more honourable for Knox, as they came from one whom he had often censured with peculiar severity; "There lies He who never feared the face of man."

[] See Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. i. p. 165, 232, 234, 569.-Calderwood's History of Scotland's Reformation, published in folio at London, in the year 1680.-Georg. Buchanani Rerum Scoticar Hist. lib. xvi. p. 313. edit. Rudimann. folio.-Melvil's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 73.

[] The indignation of the people, which had been excited by the vices of the clergy, was soon transferred to their persons, and settled at last, by a transition not unusual, upon the offices they enjoyed; and thus the effects of the reformation extended, not only to the doctrine, but also to the government of the popish church. But in Germany, England, and

the

CENT.

XI. The cause of the reformation underwent, XVI. in Ireland, the same vicissitudes and revolutions

SECT. I.

that

In Ireland. the northern kingdoms, its operations were checked by the power and policy of their princes, and episcopal hierarchy (which appears to be the most conformable to the practice of the church, since Christianity became the established religion of the Roman empire,) was still continued in these countries, under certain limitations. The ecclesiastical government was copied after the civil; and the dioceses and jurisdiction of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, corresponded with the division and constitution of the empire. In Switzerland and the Low Countries, the nature and spirit of a republican policy

gave fuller scope to the reformers; and thus all pre-eminence

of order in the church was destroyed, and that form of ecclesiastical government established, which has been since called Presbyterian. The situation of the primitive church (oppressed by continual persecutions, and obliged by their sufferings to be contented with a form of government extremely simple, and with a parity of rank for want of ambition to propose, or power to support a subordination) suggested, without doubt, the idea of this latter system; though it would be unfair to allege this consideration as a victorious argument in favour of Presbyterianism; because a change of circumstances will sometimes justify a change in the methods and plans of government. Be that as it may, the church of Geneva, which received the decisions of Calvin with an amazing docility, restored this presbyterian or republican form of ecclesiastical policy; Knox studied, admired and recommended it to his countrymen, and he was seconded by many of the Scotch nobles, of whom some hated the persons, while others coveted the wealth of the dignified clergy. But, in introducing this system, the Scottish reformer did not deem it expedient to depart altogether from the ancient form; but, instead of bishops, proposed the establishment of ten superintendents, to inspect the life and doctrine of the other clergy, to preside in the inferior judicatories of the church, without pretending to claim either a seat in parliament, or the revenues and dignity of the former bishops. This proposal was drawn up, and presented to a convention of estates which was held in the year 1561; and what it contained, in relation to ecclesiastical jurisdiction and discipline, would have easily obtained the sanction of that assembly, had not a design to recover the patrimony of the church, in order to apply it to the advancement of religion and learning been insinuated in it. After this, at certain periods, the name of bishops was revived, but without the prerogatives, jurisdiction, or revenues that were formerly appropriated to that order. They were made subject to the general assemblies of

the

XVI.

SECT. I.

that had attended it in England. When Henry CENT. VIII. after the abolition of the papal authority, was declared supreme head upon earth, of the church of England, George Brown, a native of England, and a monk of the Augustine order, whom that monarch had created, in the year 1535, archbishop of Dublin, began to act with the utmost vigour in consequence of this change in the hierarchy. He purged the churches of his diocese from superstition in all its various forms, pulled down images, destroyed relics, abolished absurd and idolatrous rites, and by the influence, as well as authority he had in Ireland, caused the king's supremacy to be acknowledged in that nation [7]. Henry shewed soon after, that this supremacy was not a vain title; for he banished the monks out of that kingdom, confiscated their revenues, and destroyed their convents. In the reign of Edward VI. still farther progress was

made

the clergy, and their power was diminished from day today, until their name, as well as their order, was abolished at the revolution in 1688, and presbyterianism established in Scotland by the laws of the state. See Robertson's History of Scotland, passim.

[1] The learned and pious primate Usher, in his memoirs of the ecclesiastical affairs of Ireland, speaks of Bishop Brown in the following manner; George Brown was a man of a cheerful countenance, in his acts and deeds plain downright; to the poor, merciful and compassionate, pitying the state and condition of the souls of the people, and advising them, when he was provincial of the Augustine order in England, to make their application solely to Christ; which advice coming to the ears of Henry VIII. he became a favourite, and was made archbishop of Dublin. Within five years after he enjoyed that see, he caused all superstitious relics and images to be removed out of the two cathedrals in Dublin, and out of all the churches in his diocese; and caused the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, and the Creed, to be placed in gilded frames about the altars. He was the first that turned from the Romish religion of the clergy here in Ireland, to embrace the reformation of the church of England." See a very curious pamphlet in the fifth volume of the Harleian Miscellany, p. 558. intitled, Historical Collections of the Church of Ireland, &c.

CENT. made in the removal of popish superstitions, by XVI. the zealous labours of Bishop Brown, and the

SECT. I.

auspicious encouragement he granted to all who exerted themselves in the cause of the reformation. But the death of this excellent prince, and the accession of his sister to the throne, changed the face of things in Ireland, as it had done in England [m]. Mary pursued with fire and sword, and

[m] Here Dr. Mosheim has fallen into a mistake, by not distinguishing between the designs of the queen, which were indeed cruel, and their execution, which was happily and providentially prevented. This appears from a very singular and comical adventure, of which the account, as it has been copied from the papers of Richard, earl of Cork, and is to be found among the manuscripts of Sir James Ware, is as follows:

"Queen Mary having dealt severely with the protestants in "England, about the latter end of her reign signed a commission "for to take the same course with them in Ireland; and to ex◄ "ecute the same with greater force, she nominates Dr. Cole one "of the commissioners. This Doctor coming with the commis"sion to Chester on his journey, the mayor of that city, hearing "that her majesty was sending a messenger into Ireland, and "he being a churchman, waited on the doctor, who in discourse "with the mayor, taketh out of a cloke-bag a leather box, saying unto him, "Here is a commission that shall lash the he"retics of Ireland," (calling the protestants by that title.) The good woman of the house, being well affected to the protes"tant religion, and also having a brother named John Edmonds, "of the same, then a citizen in Dublin, was much troubled at "the doctor's words; but watching her convenient time while "the mayor took his leave, and the doctor complimented him "down the stairs, she opens the box, takes the commission out, "and places in lieu thereof, a sheet of paper, with a pack of "cards wrapt up therein, the knave of clubs being faced up"permost. The doctor coming up to his chamber, suspecting "nothing of what had been done, put up the box as formerly. "The next day, going to the water side, wind and weather serving him, he sails towards Ireland, and landed on the 7th "of October, 1558, at Dublin. Then coming to the castle, "the lord Fitz-Walters, being lord-deputy, sent for him to come before him and the privy-council; who, coming in, "after he had made a speech relating upon what account he came over, he presents the box unto the Lord-deputy, who "causing it to be opened, that the secretary might read the

66

66

com

and all the marks of unrelenting vengeance, the promoters of a pure and rational religion, and deprived Brown and other protestant bishops of their dignities in the church. But the reign of Elizabeth gave a new and a deadly blow to popery, which was again recovering its force, and arming itself anew with the authority of the throne; and the Irish were obliged again to submit to the form of worship and discipline established in England [n].

CENT.

XVI

SECT. I.

takes place

provinces.

XII. The Reformation had not been long esta- The Refor blished in Britain, when the Belgic provinces, mation united by a respectable confederacy, which still in the subsists, withdrew from their spiritual allegiance United to the Roman pontiff. Philip II. king of Spain, apprehending the danger to which the religion of Rome was exposed from that spirit of liberty and independence which reigned in the inhabitants of the Low Countries, took the most violent measures to dispel it. For this purpose he augmented the number of the bishops, enacted the most severe

66

and

"commission, there was nothing save a pack of cards with the "knave of clubs uppermost; which not only startled the lorddeputy and council, but the doctor, who assured them he had a commission, but knew not how it was gone; then the lord-deputy made answer, "Let us have another commission, and we will shuffle the cards in the mean while." The "doctor being troubled in his mind, went away, and returned "into England; and coming to the court, obtained another "commission; but staying for a wind on the water side, news came to him that the queen was dead; and thus God pre"served the protestants of Ireland.”

Queen Elizabeth was so delighted with this story, which was related to her by Lord Fitz Walter on his return to England, that she sent for Elizabeth Edmonds, whose husband's name was Mattershad, and gave her a pension of forty pounds during her life. See Cox, Hibernia Anglicana, or History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 308.-Harleian Miscellany, vol. v. p. 568. [n] See the life of Dr. George Brown, Archbishop of Dublin, published at London in 4to, in the year 1681, and which has been reprinted in the fifth volume of the Harleian Miscellany, No. LXXIX,