PATRICK HAMILTON.
It has not been very clearly ascertained how or when the opinions and
writings of Luther were first introduced into Scotland. M. de la Tour,
who in 1527 suffered in Paris for heresy, was accused of having vented
various Lutheran opinions while in Edinburgh in attendance on the Duke
of Albany. This, of course, must have been before 1523. On the 9th June
1523, the same day that John Major was received as Principal of the
Pædagogium, or St Mary's College,[14] Patrick Hamilton was incorporated
into the University of St Andrews;[15] and on 3rd October 1524 he was
admitted as a member of the Faculty of Arts. If he did not from the
latter date act as a regent in the University, he probably took charge
of some of the young noblemen or gentlemen attending the classes. At
that date he was probably more Erasmian than Lutheran, though of that
more earnest school who were ultimately to outgrow their teacher, and
find their congenial home in a new church.
[Sidenote: His Studies.]
Patrick Hamilton was born in 1503 or 1504 at Stonehouse in Lanarkshire,
or at Kincavel near Linlithgow. His father, a natural son of the first
Lord Hamilton, had been knighted for his bravery, and rewarded by his
sovereign with the above lands and barony. His mother was a daughter of
Alexander, Duke of Albany, the second son of James II., so that he had
in his veins the noblest blood in the land. His cousins, John and James
Hamilton, were in due time raised to episcopal rank in the unreformed
church of Scotland, and several others of his relations received high
ecclesiastical promotion. Marked out for a similar destiny, Patrick was
carefully educated, and, according to the corrupt custom of the time,
was in his fourteenth year appointed to the Abbacy of Ferne in
Ross-shire, to enable him to maintain himself in comfort while
continuing his studies abroad. Like many of his aristocratic countrymen
he went first to the University of Paris, and probably to the College of
Montaigu, where Major, the great Scottish scholastic doctor, was then
teaching with much _eclat_, and gathering round him there, as afterwards
at St Andrews, an ardent band of youthful admirers, several of whom in
the end were to advance beyond their preceptor, and to lend the
influence of their learning and piety to the side of Luther and the
reformers. Before the close of 1520 he took the degree of M.A. at the
University of Paris, and soon after left Paris for Louvain, to avail
himself of the facilities for linguistic studies provided there, or to
enjoy personal intercourse with Erasmus, the patron of the new learning.
He is said while there to have made great progress in the languages and
in philosophy, and to have been specially attracted towards the
philosophy of Plato. With the Sophists of Louvain, as Luther terms them,
he could have had no sympathy. But there were some there, as well as at
Paris, whose hearts God had touched, to whom he could not fail to be
drawn. He may even have met with those Augustinian monks of Antwerp whom
these Sophists so soon after his departure sent to heaven in a chariot
of fire, and whose martyrdom unsealed in Luther's breast the fount of
sacred song. In the autumn of 1522, or the spring of 1523, he returned
to Scotland, and, after a brief visit to his relatives in
Linlithgowshire, appears to have come on to St Andrews. Probably, along
with Alesius, Buchanan, and John Wedderburn, he there heard those
lectures on the Gospels which Major afterwards published in Paris and
dedicated to the Archbishop of St Andrews and other prominent churchmen
in Scotland. But his sympathies were more with the young canons of the
Augustinian priory than with the Old Scholastic; and probably it was
that he might take a place among the teachers of their daughter college
of St Leonard's that he was received as a member of the Faculty of Arts.
Skilled in the art of sacred music, which the _alumni_ of that college
were bound specially to cultivate, he composed what the musicians call a
mass, arranged in parts for nine voices, and acted himself as leader of
the choir when it was sung in the cathedral. He is said to have taken on
him the priesthood about this time, that he might be formally admitted
"to preach the word of God." But he was not then of age for priests'
orders, and Dr David Laing is doubtful if he was in orders at all, and
certainly no mention is made of his degradation from orders before his
martyrdom, and the final summons of Betoun seems to imply that he had
never been authorised to preach at all.
[Sidenote: Parliament and Heresy.]
The years 1525 and 1526 were very unquiet years in Scotland, various
factions contending with varying success for the possession of the
person of the young king. It was on the 17th July of the former year
that his Parliament passed its first Act against the new opinions, in
which, after asserting that the realm had ever been clean "of all sic
filth and vice," it enacted, "that na maner of persoun strangear that
hapnis to arrife with their schippis within ony part of this realm bring
with thaim ony bukis or werkis of the said Lutheris his discipillis or
servandis, desputt or rehers his heresyis or opunyeouns bot geif
[_i.e._, unless] it be to the confusioun therof, and that be clerkis in
the sculis alanerlie, under the pane of escheting of ther schippis and
gudis and putting of ther persouns in presoun."[16] In consequence of a
letter from the pope, urging the young king to keep his realm free from
stain of heresy, the scope of the Act was extended in 1527 by the
chancellor and Lords of Council so that it might apply to natives of the
kingdom as well as to strangers resorting to it for purposes of
commerce.[17]
[Sidenote: James Betoun's Motives.]
In 1526 the primate, Archbishop James Betoun, uncle of the cardinal,
having taken a keen part in the political contentions of the day with
the faction which lost, had to escape for a time from St Andrews, and,
disguised as a shepherd, to tend a flock of sheep for three months on
the hills of Fife, on the high grounds of Kennoway, immediately to the
east of where the railway now reaches its summit level.[18] It was at
this juncture that copies of the New Testament of Tyndale's translation
were brought over from the Low Countries by the Scottish traders to the
seaports of Aberdeen, Montrose, St Andrews, and Leith. Most of them are
said to have been taken to St Andrews and put in circulation there in
the absence of the archbishop. One was present there at that time who
had long treasured the precious saying of Erasmus, "Let us eagerly read
the Gospel, but let us not only read, but live the Gospel"; and who
seized the golden opportunity to impress the saying on others, and
invite longing souls to quench their thirst at those wells of living
water which had so marvellously been opened to them for a season. During
the months when the primate was in concealment, and in those which
followed his return, Patrick Hamilton came out more earnestly than he
had done before as an evangelist and an advocate of the great truths,
for which ultimately he was to be called to lay down his life. His
conduct could not long escape the notice of the returned archbishop. I
do not suppose that he was naturally cruel, nor after his recent
misfortunes likely, without consideration, to embroil himself with the
Hamiltons, with whom in the tortuous politics of the times he had often
acted. But he had those about him who were less timid and more cruel,
especially his nephew, the future cardinal. He was himself ambitious and
crafty, and about this very time was exerting all his influence to
obtain special favours from the pope without the sanction of the
king.[19] He knew that the holy father had written the sovereign
requiring him to keep his realm free from heresy, and no doubt he and
his scheming nephew thought that by their zeal in this matter they would
discredit the opposition of the king and his advisers to their ambitious
schemes at the papal court. Still, he was anxious to perform the
ungrateful task in the way least offensive to the Hamiltons. So while
issuing his summons against the reformer to appear and answer the
charges which had been brought against him, he did not attempt at once
to restrain his personal liberty; he would rather, if he could, rid the
kingdom of his presence without imbruing his hands in his blood. And
that was the result actually attained.
[Sidenote: Final Return to Scotland.]
Some of Hamilton's opponents even, touched by his youth, his illustrious
descent, his engaging manners and noble character, joined with his
friends in urging him to avoid by flight the danger which impended. He
yielded to their counsels, and, along with two friends and a servant,
made his escape to the Continent. The story of his residence there has
been graphically told by Principal Lorimer and Dr Merle D'Aubigné; and
the latter has the merit of explaining why Hamilton did not carry out
his original intention of visiting Luther and Melanchthon at Wittenberg,
as well as Frith, Tyndale, and Lambert at Marbourg. At the very time he
arrived on the Continent, the plague was raging in Wittenberg. "Two
persons died of it in Melanchthon's house." Luther himself was suddenly
taken ill. "All who could do so, and especially the students, quitted
the town."[20] Thus the absence of documents bearing on his alleged
sojourn at the Saxon university is naturally explained. He went to the
younger University of Marbourg in Hesse, and prepared there, and
publicly disputed, those theses that most fully and systematically set
forth the doctrines which he mainly taught, and for which at last he
suffered. He was warmly beloved by Lambert of Avignon, who was then the
most distinguished theological professor in the infant university, as
well as by others with whom he was brought into contact; and he would
have been gladly retained by them, could he have been persuaded to
remain in Germany: but his heart yearned to return to his native land,
and once more proclaim there the truths which had now become to him more
precious and engrossing than before. His faith had been confirmed, and
his spirit quickened, by living for a time among earnest and decided
Christians; and in the autumn of 1527 he set out once more for Scotland,
prepared for any fate that might await him, not counting even life dear
unto him if he might finish his course with joy, and bear faithful
witness to his Master's truth, where before he had shrunk back from an
ordeal so terrible. He appears first to have resorted to his native
district, and made known to relatives, friends, and neighbours about
Linlithgow that Gospel of the grace of God which gave strength and peace
to his own spirit. In his discourses and conversations he dwelt chiefly
on the great and fundamental truths which had been brought into
prominence by the reformers, and avoided subjects of doubtful
disputation. His own gentle bearing gained favour for his opinions and
success in his labours, and it won for him the heart of a young lady of
noble birth, to whom he united himself in marriage, following in this
the example of Luther and others of the German reformers.
[Sidenote: In St Andrews.]
Archbishop Betoun being then on the other side of the Forth, in the
neighbouring abbey of Dunfermline, could not fail to hear of his doings
or to desire to silence him. But neither could he fail, in the state of
the political parties in Scotland at the time, to recognise "that a
heretic with the power of the Hamiltons at his back was more to be
dreaded than Luther himself," and must be dealt with very cautiously. It
was long supposed that, if not at the king's express desire, as Bishop
Lesley seems to suggest,[21] then certainly from his own wariness, the
archbishop did not at first venture formally to renew his old summons,
but invited the reformer to St Andrews to a friendly conference with
himself and other chiefs of the church on such points as might seem to
stand in need of reform, and that Hamilton accepted the invitation. At
first, it has been said, he was well received: "All of them displayed a
conciliatory spirit; all appeared to recognise the evils in the church;
some of them seemed even to share on some points the sentiments of
Hamilton."[22] He left the conference not without hope of some other
than the sad issue he had at first anticipated. He was permitted for
nearly a month to move about with freedom in the city, to dispute in the
schools of the university, and privately to confer with all who chose to
resort to him at the lodging which had been provided for him. It was
evidently the intention of those who were deepest in the plot against
him, that he should have ample time allowed him to express his
sentiments fully and unmistakably, and even should be tempted by
dissemblers, like Friar Campbell, to unbosom himself in private on
matters as to which he refrained from saying much in public--the many
alterations required in doctrine and in the administration of the
sacraments and accustomed rites.
It is said that the archbishop still desired that he should again save
himself by flight, and there is nothing in the summons flatly
inconsistent with this;[23] but he and his friends took the credit of
the terrible deed as promptly as if they had planned and intended it
from the first. They also assembled their armed retainers, that when the
days of truce had expired they might be able to hold their prisoner
against all attempts to rescue him. The reformer refused to flee,
affirming that he had come to the city for the very purpose of
confirming, if need be, by the sacrifice of his life, the doctrines he
had taught. He even anticipated the time fixed for his appearance, and
had one more conference with the archbishop and his doctors, who even
then had come to a formal decision that the articles charged against him
were heretical. The same evening he was seized and imprisoned in the
castle, and next day was brought out for public trial and condemnation
in the Abbey Church or cathedral of St Andrews.
[Sidenote: His Martyrdom.]
[Sidenote: Effects of his Constancy.]
Among the articles with which he was charged, and the truth of which he
admitted and maintained, the most important were: "That a man is not
justified by works, but by faith alone;" "That faith, hope, and charity
are so linked together, that he who hath one of them hath all, and he
that lacketh one lacketh all;" and "That good works make not a good man,
but that a good man doth good works."[24] On being challenged by his
accuser with having avowed other heretical opinions, he affirmed it was
not lawful to worship images or to pray to the saints; and maintained
that "it is reason and leisome to all men that have a soul to read the
Word of God, and that they may understand the same, and in special the
latter-will and testament of Christ Jesus."[25] These truths, which have
been the source of life and strength to many, were to him the cause of
condemnation and death; and on the last day of February 1527-28, the
same day the sentence was passed, it was remorselessly executed before
the gates of St Salvator's College. "Nobly," as I have said elsewhere,
"did the martyr confirm the minds of the many godly youths he had
gathered round him, by his resolute bearing, his gentleness and
patience, his steadfast adherence to the truths he had taught, and his
heroic endurance of the fiery ordeal through which he had to pass to
his rest and reward." The harrowing details of his six long hours of
torture have been preserved for us by his friend Alesius, himself a
sorrowing witness of the fearful tragedy. "He was rather roasted than
burned," he tells us. It may be that his persecutors had not
deliberately planned thus horribly to protract his sufferings--though
such cruelty was not unknown in France, either then or in much later
times. They were as yet but novices at such revolting work, and all
things seemed to conspire against them. The execution had been hurried
on before a sufficiency of dry wood had been provided for the fire. The
fury of the storm, which had prevented the martyr's brother from
crossing the Forth with troops to rescue him, was not yet spent. With a
fierce wind from the east sweeping up North Street, it would be a
difficult matter in such a spot to kindle the pile and keep it burning,
or to prevent the flames, when fierce, from being so blown aside as to
be almost as dangerous to the surrounding crowd as to the tortured
victim. They did so endanger his accuser, the traitor Campbell, and "set
fire to his cowl, and put him in such a fray, that he never came to his
right mind." But, through all his excruciating sufferings, the martyr
held fast his confidence in God and in his Saviour, and the faith of
many in the truths he taught was only the more confirmed by witnessing
their mighty power on him.[26]
FOOTNOTES:
[14] See Appendix A.
[15] [The entry in the Register of the University occurs at the bottom
of a page, and is preceded and followed by entries of 1521, as if it had
been inserted there to save space. The entries of 1521 are distinct and
easily read, but in this of 1523 the ink is very faint, and the surface
of the vellum has a rubbed appearance. It runs thus: "Die nono mensis
Junii anno Domini I^{m} V^{c} xxiij incorporatus erat venerabilis vir
Magister noster Magister Johannes Major doctor theologus in Parisiensis
et thesaurarius capelle regis. Eodem die incorporati sunt Magister
Patricius Hamilton et Magister Robertus Laudar in nostra Universite"
(_sic_).]
[16] Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, ii. 295.
[17] [The Act as thus extended was ratified on the 12th of June 1535
(Ibid., ii. 342).]
[18] Pitscottie's History, 1778, p. 216; Lesley's History, p. 136.
[19] Soliciting legatine powers over the whole of Scotland, instead of
over his own province of the archdiocese, so as to render nugatory the
exemption granted to the king's old tutor and favourite prelate the
Archbishop of Glasgow.
[20] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 42, 43.
[21] [The only passage, so far as I know, in which Lesley speaks of the
king in connection with the martyr is the following: "Suae pertinaciae,
ac flagitii poenas igni luebat, adhortante magno Catholicae Religionis
protectore Rege ipso, quem et sanguinis propinquitate attigerat"
(Lesley's 'De Origine,' 1578, p. 427; 1675, p. 407). This is rendered by
Dalrymple: "For his obstinacie and wickednes committed, he is burnte at
command of the king selfe gret Catholik protectour, to quhom Ferne als
was neir of kin and bluid" (Dalrymple's Lesley, Scot. Text Soc., ii.
215, 216).]
[22] D'Aubigné's Reformation in the Time of Calvin, vi. 57.
[23] In an old manuscript book of forms used in ecclesiastical processes
by the archbishops of St Andrews before the Reformation, I found and
have been able to decipher the recorded copy of the summons issued by
Archbishop James Betoun against Hamilton after his return from Germany.
It is addressed specially to the Dean of the Lothians, and refers only
to the preaching of the reformer in West Lothian, so that there can no
longer be any doubt that his compearance in St Andrews before the date
appointed in the summons must be regarded as a resolute avowal of his
determination to defend his teaching at all hazards. The summons is
inserted at length in Appendix B. [For an account of the manuscript
Formulare see Robertson's 'Concilia Scotiæ,' vol. i. pp. cxcv, cxcvi.]
[24] Spottiswoode's History, i. 124, 125.
[25] Pitscottie's History, 1778, p. 206.
[26] The older sources for the facts of Patrick Hamilton's career and
martyrdom are the references to them by his friend Alesius in two or
three of his works, and especially in his 'Commentary on the First Book
of Psalms,' under Psalm xxxvii.; by Lambert in his 'Commentary on the
Apocalypse'; and by Gau in the latter part of his treatise on 'The Richt
Vay to the Kingdom of Heuine'; and after those by Foxe, Knox,
Calderwood, Pitscottie, and Spottiswoode in their histories. The only
satisfactory formal biography of him is that by Principal Lorimer
entitled, 'Patrick Hamilton, the first Preacher and Martyr of the
Scottish Reformation.' His story has also been told by Dr Merle
D'Aubigné, in his own dramatic way; and still more recently it has been
made the subject of a veritable drama by the Rev. T. P. Johnston,
minister of Carnbee.