Chapter XXV: The Service Book
The Presbytery itself did not venture to pronounce sentence against him, but referred his case to the ensuing Assembly. This great convention was to meet, not in Edinburgh, but in Glasgow, and all true-blue Presbyterians were preparing for it. It was expected to overthrow for ever all Episcopal power in Scotland. In the Abbey the Presbytery met, and elected their commissioners [17] to this Assembly, and there the members present solemnly swore, with uplifted hands, “that they were neither dealt with, nor would suffer themselves to be dealt with, to be perverted against the covenant, nec prece, pretio, nec minis.” They appointed “a solemn fast through all their churches these two Sabbaths following in the beginning of November the fourth, and Sunday, the eleventh of November, for a happy meeting, a prosperous proceeding, and a gracious success unto the General Assembly ensuing.” They deemed their prayers well answered, for in their minutes they record their approval of all that the Assembly had done, and they endorse its famous declaration at length. It met within the Cathedral of Glasgow, and, as it has been well remarked, must have resembled one of the great (Ecumenical Councils of the East, still so greatly revered, which settled some of the highest mysteries of the faith amid tumult and uproar. [18] It was a curious gathering—noblemen, barons, elders, clergy, jostled one another in the grand old church, to the scandal of the grave historian, who has given the fullest account of the meeting. [19] “Our vassals,” he says, “without shame, in great numbers, make such din and clamours in the house of the true God, that, if they were minded to use the like behaviour in my chamber, I would not be content till they were downstairs. So many bishops were deposed that he almost forgets to note the fate of his cousin from Paisley, who “was sent to give them convoy” and “hold up their train.” He was the first minister deposed. He had gone to the court at London, and sought the King's interference, when he saw the Presbytery set against him. In this he was disappointed, and returned much dejected. According to Baillie, he was “willing to clear himself of many things laid to his charge, and to confess his errors if he might remain at Paisley.” There was no prospect of this. He did not appear at the bar when called, and sentence went against him in his absence. “Mr. John Crichtone, minister at Paisley, being found by witnesses that he was ane professed arminiane and popish champion, him the Assemblie all in one voice deposed,” [20] and the Abbey knew that innovator, his Service Book, and railed-off table, no more.
[17] These were Mr. William Brisbane, Mr. Mathew Brisbane, and Mr. John Hamilton, together with Sir Ludovick Houston of that Ilk, the Laird of Bishopton, and the Goodman of Duchal, commissioners to attend the General Assembly to be holden in Glasgow the twenty-ane day of November next, 1638.
[18] Cunninghame's Hist. of the Ch. of Scot., Vol. II., p. 100.
[19] Baillie's Letters and Journals, Vol. I., p. 123.
[20] Balfour's Annals, Vol. II., p. 308.