CHAPTER II.

1603-4.

Accession of James I.-State of parties at that period-Religious feeling-Conduct of James-Remarks on his life—The Presbyterians-Insolence of their ministers-The Scottish Episcopal Church-Review of the Puritan objections to Episcopacy-The Hampton Court Conference-Its objects and results-Remarks on the Articles-Concluding observations.

THE eyes of the English nation were now turned on James; the princes of Europe beheld his accession to the English throne with no ordinary interest. More fortunate than any of his ancestors who had swayed the Scottish sceptre, and destined to be happier than any of his descendants, his singular good fortune was the source of envy to many continental princes, who beheld him called from the government of a small and feeble state, to become the monarch of three consolidated powerful kingdoms. Nor was the enthusiasm of the English nation on his accession the less excited,-though afterwards that very people, whose joy was so universal, were destined to exhibit many vicissitudes before the close of the seventeenth century. The beginning of that era saw the royal House of Stuart welcomed to the throne of Britain by every indi

vidual: its close beheld those princes driven from the throne, exiled, and their station among the princes of Europe occupied by others.

I design to examine briefly the causes of this wonderful revolution in public opinion; in the mean time, it is necessary to offer a few general remarks upon the state of parties at this eventful period of our history. I have already noted the progress of Puritanism, more especially in the University of Oxford, during Laud's residence there, and the influence which the Puritan leaders possessed over the minds of the students. It must be confessed that they were great men, although led away by an extravagant zeal: but hitherto, although both Oxford and Cambridge were well supplied by those ecclesiastical malcontents, by the vigorous administration of Elizabeth, and the salutary restraints imposed by the primates, this faction had not in its early progress assumed a regular form, nor had it become united as one grand opposing body. The leaders and partizans were detached, and even in dispute among themselves: at all events, many of them, though raising a clamour about a second reformation, as they called it, were by no means anxious to leave the Church. But on James' accession, they had become more united: and they clearly saw the necessity of co-operation. The genius of Laud had excited their alarm, and his sentiments in the lectures he delivered were not to be passed over in silence. He was, in fact, no common opponent: he was not to be put down by the sophisms of

Calvin, or the tenets of Genevan theology: and, armed as he was with an intimate knowledge of every argument of the Papists on the one hand, and of the Puritans on the other, they already anticipated this man in his rise to power, which they foresaw was inevitable. They could indeed boast of great men among their own adherents, whose learning was profound, and not surpassed by Laud himself, but unfortunately, however, having deeply imbibed the opinions of Calvin, they rejected the practice of the apostles and the authority of the primitive Church, in their anxiety to comprehend and expound the Institutes of that Reformer. But here was a man who was under no such restraints: who valued no more the opinion of Calvin than he did that of the Bishop of Rome, and who was resolved to uphold and defend that Church whose ordination he had received, according to her Articles, and to the canons passed in her most solemn Convocations'.

'The famous Thomas Cartwright died the year before James' accession. Whitgift had all along treated him with lenity, thinking that when his enthusiasm subsided, he would become well affected towards the Church, and was not disappointed in the expectations he had formed of him. Cartwright, who had contributed his full share towards the spread of Calvinism, and the fomenting of the religious disputes, after being admitted to bail, through the kindness of the Archbishop, died expressing his good inclinations towards the Established Church. He always acknowledged with gratitude the primate's kindness, as appears from several of his letters to the primate.-Sir George Paul's Life of Whitgift, p. 71, 72. Strype's Annals, chap. xxviii.

The accession of James was hailed by men of all ranks, and in that perilous age, when religious disputes engaged the attention of almost every man, each party beheld it with jealous and interested feelings. Surrounded by the stern reformers of the north, who, by the excitement of their frenzy had marched over the country, carrying with them fire, sword, and sedition, and committing the most ruthless and furious devastations1: educated by the celebrated George Buchanan, a philosopher in principle, and a zealous votary of Geneva in religion3, who defended the excesses of his reforming friends, and traduced the memory of the hapless Mary, his first benefactress; it was supposed by the Calvinists of the north, and their brethren the Puritans of the south, that they would have now a king after their own heart, more especially as the former had compelled James, during his minority, to sign all

Sir Henry Yelverton, in his Epistle to the Reader before Morton's Episcopacy Justified. "His last words on his death-bed were, that he sorely lamented the unnecessary troubles he had caused in the Church, by the schism he had been the great fomenter of, and wished he was to begin his life again, that he might testify to the world the dislike he had of his former ways."

'Knox's History, p. 136, 147, &c. Spottiswoode's Hist. p. 121-126. Stuart's Hist. of Scottish Reformation, p. 113, 114. 203, 204. Dalyell's Cursory Remarks on Scottish Poems of the Sixteenth Century, vol. i. in the account of the Earl of Moray, p. 52, 53.

* Nevertheless, Buchanan says of himself, that he was a Lutheran. Vita scrip. ipso.-Dr. Irving's Memoirs.

their covenants, confessions, and leagues, of every description. Accordingly, although James, when he assumed the reins of government, had given in→ dications that he was not so pliable as they imagined, and, moreover, being more learned than the Presbyterian ministers, was easily able to confound them in their positions, yet the Puritans, and those who favoured their doctrines, presuming on his Presbyterian education, or, at least, upon his favour and connivance, began to raise their desponding minds, and to augur much from this new combination of circumstances'. The Roman Catholics, who looked on the enthusiasm of the Puritans with perfect contempt, and who, in truth, were animated with less hatred towards them than towards the Established Church, (although the Puritans clamoured the more violently against them,) beheld James' accession with the greatest exultation, and naturally expected favour from a monarch whose mother they considered to have died a martyr for their cause. The supporters of the Reformed Church by law established, were not the less animated by hope; for, the Church being an integral part of the constitution, the king was bound to defend it against Popery and Puritanism, the two extremes between which the Church of England was placed.

Nevertheless, Archbishop Whitgift was not without fears concering James's real intentions. That excellent primate had been entrusted by Elizabeth with

Neal's History of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 3, 4.