laudable Practice

We haue abjured Episcopall gouernment, and therefore we cannot lawfully admit Episcopall Confirmation ... it is damnable presumption, [for bishops] to appropriate vnto themselues the dutie that belongs to all Pastors. Having considered at some length the defence given by David Lindsay, Bishop of Brechin (1619-34 and Bishop of Edinburgh 1634-38) - in his 1621 account of the 1618 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Perth - of the provision in the Articles of Perth for kneeling to receive the holy Sacrament, we now turn to its provision for Confirmation administered by bishops: it is thought good, that the minister in every parish, should catechise all young children of eight years of age, and see that they have the knowledge, and be able to make rehearsal of the Lord's Prayer, Belief, and Ten Commandments, with answers to the questions of the small catechism, used in our church, and that every bishop in his visitation, shall censure the minister who shall be found re...

As touching the Government of the Church, I am verily persuaded that the Government Episcopal is the only Right and Apostolick Form. So declared John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of Saint Andrews 1615-39, in his last will and testament at his death in 1639.  It is, of course, what we would expect of a Laudian.  The words were quoted in the life of Spottiswoode, prefacing The History of the Church of Scotland . Again we would expect these words to be quoted as the author of the life was another Laudian, Brian Duppa (Bishop of Salisbury 1641-60, Bishop of Winchester 1660-62). Before, however, regarding this as a high-flying Laudian view of episcopacy contrasting with Hooker's caution and moderation - and thus another example of supposed Laudian innovation - we should take care to read both Spottiswoode and Duppa on the post-Reformation Church of Scotland.  Consider Spottiswoode's defence of the restoration of episcopacy in Scotland under James VI: For did men understand how thi...

In 1618, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland accepted the Five Articles of Perth , proposed by James VI/I. These Articles restored to the Scottish Church practices quite common elsewhere in Churches of the Reformation: kneeling to receive the holy Sacrament; administering holy Communion to the sick in the home; administering the Sacrament of Baptism, when necessary, in the home; Confirmation administered by bishops; and observance of the festivals of our Lord. Contrary to the populist polemics found in Presbyterian histories, these Articles were not 'imposed' on the Scottish Church. No, the Church of Scotland acceded to the direction of the magistrate who had a concern for the good order of the ecclesiastical estate.  As the preacher at the Perth Assembly noted, such a synodical process was right and proper, "for what Christian king did euer determine in ecclesiasticall matters any thing without aduice of his clergie?". The preacher was John Spottiswoode, A...