Charles Rogers

Memoir of George Wishart, the Scottish Martyr. with his Translation of the Helvetian Confession, and a Genealogical History of the Family of Wishart

An inquiry into the life of George Wishart presented few attractions. Believing that he claimed the gift of prophecy, Mr Hill Burton describes him as “a visionary.” Mr Froude charges him with preaching without authority and with illegally assuming the priestly office. Professor Lorimer alleges that, in his early ministry, he denied the doctrine of the Atonement. Mr Tytler has sought to prove that he intended murder, by conspiring against the life of Cardinal Beaton. Having ventured on the elucidation of his history, I have investigated the charges brought against him, with care and, I trust, impartiality. The result will be found in these pages. Meanwhile I may summarise my deductions, and say that the martyr has, from the inquiry, come forth unstained. He did not claim prophetic powers; he preached with canonical sanction; he did not act as a priest or ordained clergyman; he taught the doctrine of the Atonement throughout his whole ministry; he did not conspire against Beaton, and if he knew of the conspiracy he condemned it.

Register of the Collegiate Church of Crail, Fifeshire. With Historical Remarks

Crail is a royal burgh situated on the eastern coast of Fife-shire, near the apex of that peninsula familiarly known as the East Neuk . Anciently written Carrail, Caryl , and Karaite , the name is derived from caer , a fortified place, and ail , a corner. A castle belonging to the Scottish kings occupied the rock which overhangs the present harbour, of which some vestiges remain. This structure was probably of ancient origin. Constantine, King of Scotland, while unsuccessfully contending with invading Norsemen, fell in battle among the rocks at Balcomie near Crail in 877. He may have occupied the castle as a principal seat. To Sir Robert Sibbald, writing in 1710, it appeared as “the ruins of a strong castle.” It was a favourite hunting-seat of David I. in the twelfth century, when he followed the chase in the adjoining territory of Kingsmuir. By a royal charter granted to the collegiate church of Crail, dated 24th November 1526, James V. de-scribes the site of the church as “an ancient borough where sundry princes, his predecessors, had made their residence and dwelling-place, and as he and his successors might do in time to come as reasonable causes and occasions should befall.” These expressions would imply that the castle was inhabitable in the sixteenth century. The royal demesne of Crail was frequently included in the jointure lands of the Scottish queens.

Rehearsal of Events which occurred in the North of Scotland from 1635 to 1645, in Relation to the National Covenant

A belief in his divine right, with the acceptance of Archbishop Lauds doctrine that the concomitant of religious unity was uniformity in worship, led Charles I. to provoke those hostilities which brought him to the scaffold. At the Reformation the Scottish Church adopted the Genevan system of government, which dispensed with bishops and a liturgy. Upon it James VI. ingrafted a modified episcopacy, and Charles determined to complete its uniformity with the Anglican establishment by forcing on it canons and a liturgy.

Three Poets of the Scottish Reformation: Alexander Cunningham, Fifth Earl of Glencairn, Henry Balnaves of Halhill, and John Davidson, Minister At Prestonpans.

The Earl of Glencairn, Henry Balnaves and John Davidson merit commemoration apart from their poetry. While denouncing in a poetical pasquinade the illegal traffic of the Church of Rome, Lord Glencairn protested against the rapacity of the Reforming nobles. As a statesman he rendered invaluable aid to the Protestant cause by resisting the attempts of Mary of Guise to check the spread of the Reformed doctrines. In opposing the efforts of Queen Mary to crush the Reformed preachers, and in supporting her dethronement, he occupied a foremost place. He conspicuously upheld the government of the infant King James.

The Poetical Remains of King James the First of Scotland, with a Memoir, and an Introduction to His Poetry

James the First of Scotland has, as a poet, been associated with Chaucer, Gower, and Lydgate; and, on competent authority, has been ranked with the more distinguished musicians. In the present memoir, we shall advert to his claims as a sovereign, as well as to his personal accomplishments.