whereupon to keep a house and be sustained honestly in all things
necessary, as well for keeping of his house, as clothes, flesh,
fish, books, fuel, and other things necessary. Provision should
be made for this from the rents and treasury of the kirk where he
serveth, at the discretion of the congregation, conform to the
quality of the person and necessity of the time. It is thought
good that every minister should have at least forty bolls meal and
twenty-six bolls malt, to find his house in bread and drink, and so
much more as the discretion of the kirk finds necessary. He should
have, besides, money for buying other provision to his house, and
other necessaries, and the modification of this is referred to the
judgment of the kirk, to be made every year at the choosing of the
elders and deacons of the kirk; providing always that there be
advanced to every minister sufficient provision of all things for a
quarter of a year beforehand.[248]
[248] This paragraph was an _additio_ of the Lords of the
Congregation.
For those that travel from place to place, whom we call
Superintendents, who remain a month or less in one place for the
establishing of the Kirk, and thereafter, for the same purpose,
change to another place, further consideration must be had. To each
Superintendent there should be allowed, we think, six chalders[249]
bear,[250] nine chalders meal, three chalders oats for his horse,
and five hundred marks of money. This shall be eked and pared at the
discretion of the prince and council of the realm, and be paid to
him yearly.
[249] A measure of about 90 bushels, roughly.
[250] Barley.
The children of the ministers must have the liberties of the cities
next adjacent the place of their father's labours, freely granted.
They must have the privileges in schools, and bursaries in colleges;
that is, they shall be sustained at learning, if they be found apt
thereto, and failing thereof, they shall be put to some handicraft,
or exercised in some virtuous industry, whereby they may become
profitable members of the commonwealth.[251]
[251] We require the same for their daughters; to wit, that they be
virtuously brought up, and honestly doted when they come to maturity
of years, at the discretion of the Kirk. (_Additio._)
In God's presence we bear witness that we require these provisions
not so much for ourselves, or for any that to us appertain, as
for the increase of virtue and learning, and for the profit of
the posterity to come. It is not to be supposed that any man will
dedicate himself and his children to God, and so serve His Kirk that
he will look for no worldly commodity. This cankered nature which we
bear is provoked to follow virtue when it seeth honour and profit
annexed to the same, as, contrarily, virtue is despised of many when
virtuous and godly men live without honour. And, too, we should
be sorry that poverty should discourage men from study and from
following the way of virtue, whereby they might edify the Kirk and
flock of Christ Jesus.
We have not spoken of the stipend of readers, because, if they
can do nothing but read, they can be neither called nor judged
true ministers. And yet regard must be had to their labours; but
only that they may be spurred forward to virtue, and not by a
stipend appointed for their reading be retained permanently in
that estate. For a reader that is lately entered, we think forty
marks, more or less, as the parishioners and readers can agree,
should be sufficient. He must teach the children of the parish,
besides reading the Common Prayers and the books of the New and
Old Testaments. If from reading he begin to exhort and explain the
Scriptures, then ought his stipend to be augmented, until, finally,
he come to the honour of a minister. But if he be found unable after
two years, then must he be removed from office, and discharged of
all stipend, in order that another may be proven as long. It is
always to be avoided, that any reader who is judged unable to come
at any time to some reasonable knowledge, whereby he may edify
the Kirk, shall perpetually be nourished upon the charge of the
Kirk. Further, it must be avoided that any child, or person within
twenty-one years of age, be admitted to the office of a reader.
Readers ought to be endowed with gravity, wit, and discretion,
lest by their lightness the Prayers or Scriptures read be of less
price and estimation. The readers shall be put in by the Kirk, and
admitted by the Superintendent.
For the other sort of readers who have long continued in godliness,
have some gift of exhortation, are in hope to attain to the degree
of a minister, and teach the children, we think a hundred marks, or
more at the discretion of the Kirk, may be appointed; difference
being made betwixt them and the ministers that openly preach the
word and minister the Sacraments.
There still remain other two sorts of people to be provided for,
from that which is called the patrimony of the Kirk, to wit, the
poor and the teachers of youth. Every several kirk must provide for
the poor within itself; for fearful and horrible it is that the poor
(whom not only God the Father in His law, but Christ Jesus in His
Evangel, and the Holy Spirit speaking by St. Paul, have so earnestly
commended to our care) are universally so contemned and despised.
We are not patrons for stubborn and idle beggars, who, running
from place to place, make a craft of their begging. Them the civil
magistrate ought to punish; but God commandeth His people to be
careful for the widow and fatherless, the aged, impotent, or lamed,
who neither can nor may travail for their sustentation. For these
latter, as also for persons of honesty fallen into decay and penury,
such provision ought to be made, that of our abundance should their
indigence be relieved.
How, most conveniently and most easily, this may be done in every
city, and in other parts of this realm, God shall show you wisdom
and the means, if your minds shall godly thereto be inclined. All
must not be suffered to beg that gladly so would do; neither yet
must beggars remain where they choose; but the stout and strong
beggar must be compelled to work, and every person that may not work
must be compelled to repair to the place where he or she was born
(unless of long continuance he or she have remained in one place),
and there reasonable provision must be made, as the Church shall
appoint. The order nor sums, in our judgment, cannot be particularly
appointed, until such time as the poor of every city, town, or
parish be compelled to repair to the places where they were born,
or to the place of their residence. There their names and number
must be taken and put in roll; and then may the wisdom of the kirk
appoint stipends accordingly.
VI. Of the Superintendents.[252]
[252] The Sections are numbered in this edition as in the edition
of 1722. Originally the Book of Discipline had nine "heads" with
sundry sub-headings, numbered in some cases and not in others. The
numbering coincides up to this point.--ED.
1. Because we have appointed a larger stipend to these that shall be
Superintendents than to the rest of the ministers, we have thought
good to signify such reasons as moved us to make difference betwixt
preachers at this time; as also how many Superintendents we think
necessary, with their bounds, office, the manner of their election,
and causes that may deserve deposition from that charge.
We consider that, if the ministers whom God hath endowed with
His singular graces amongst us should be appointed to several
and certain places, there to make their continual residence, the
greatest part of this realm should be destitute of all doctrine.
This would not only give occasion for great murmuring, but would be
dangerous to the salvation of many. Therefore we have thought it
a thing most expedient for this time that, from the whole number
of godly and learned men now presently in this realm, there be
selected twelve or ten (for into so many provinces have we divided
the whole) to whom charge and commandment shall be given to plant
and erect churches, and to set order and appoint ministers, as the
former order prescribeth, to the districts that shall be appointed
to their care, where none are now. By these means your love and
common care over all the inhabitants of this realm, to whom ye are
equal debtors, shall evidently appear; and the simple and ignorant,
who perchance have never heard Jesus Christ truly preached, shall
come to some knowledge. Many that now be dead in superstition
and ignorance shall attain to some feeling of godliness, and may
be provoked to search and seek further knowledge of God, and of
His true religion and worshipping. On the contrary, if they be
neglected, they shall not only grudge, but also they shall seek
the means whereby they may continue in their blindness, or return
to their accustomed idolatry. Therefore nothing desire we more
earnestly than that Christ Jesus be universally once preached
throughout this realm; and this shall not suddenly be, unless men be
appointed and compelled faithfully to travel in such provinces as to
them shall be assigned.
2. _The Names of the Places of Residence, and several Dioceses of
the Superintendents._--(1) The Superintendent of Orkney; whose
diocese shall be the Isles of Orkney, Shetland, Caithness, and
Strathnaver. His residence to be in the town of Kirkwall.
(2) The Superintendent of Ross; whose diocese shall comprehend Ross,
Sutherland, Moray, with the North Isles of Skye, and the Lewis, with
their adjacents. His residence to be in Chanonry of Ross.
(3) The Superintendent of Argyll; whose diocese shall comprehend
Argyll, Kintyre, Lorne, the South Isles, Arran, and Bute, with their
adjacents, with Lochaber. His residence to be in Argyll.
(4) The Superintendent of Aberdeen; whose diocese is betwixt Dee and
Spey, containing the sheriffdom of Aberdeen and Banff. His residence
to be in Old Aberdeen.
(5) The Superintendent of Brechin; whose diocese shall be the whole
sheriffdoms of Mearns and Angus, and the Brae of Mar to Dee. His
residence to be in Brechin.
(6) The Superintendent of St. Andrews; whose diocese shall
comprehend the whole sheriffdom of Fife and Fotheringham to
Stirling; and the whole sheriffdom of Perth. His residence to be in
St. Andrews.
(7) The Superintendent of Edinburgh; whose diocese shall comprehend
the whole sheriffdoms of Lothian, and Stirling on the south side of
the Water of Forth; and thereto is added, by consent of the whole
Church, Merse, Lauderdale, and Wedale.[253] His residence to be in
Edinburgh.
[253] The tract of country drained by the Gala Water and Caden
Water. It comprised an ecclesiastical district in the unreformed
Church, and subsequently a parish, of which the town of Stow formed
the central point.--ED.
(8) The Superintendent of Jedburgh; whose diocese shall comprehend
Teviotdale, Tweeddale, Liddesdale, with the Forest of Ettrick. His
residence to be Jedburgh.
(9) The Superintendent of Glasgow; whose diocese shall comprehend
Clydesdale, Renfrew, Monteith, Lennox, Kyle, and Cunningham. His
residence to be in Glasgow.
(10) The Superintendent of Dumfries; whose diocese shall comprehend
Galloway, Carrick, Nithsdale, Annandale, with the rest of the Dales
in the west. His residence to be in Dumfries.
Those men must not be suffered to live as your idle bishops have
done heretofore; neither must they remain where gladly they would.
They must be preachers themselves, and such as may make no long
residence in any one place, until their churches be planted and
provided with ministers, or at the least with readers.
Charge must be given to them that they remain in no one place
above twenty or thirty days in their visitation, until they have
passed through their whole bounds. They must preach thrice every
week, at the least; and when they return to their principal town
and residence they must be likewise exercised in preaching and in
edification of the Church there; and yet they must not be suffered
to continue there so long, as that they seem to neglect their other
churches. After they have remained in their chief town three or
four months at most, they shall be compelled, unless by sickness
they be detained, to re-enter upon visitation. They shall not only
preach, but also shall examine the life, diligence, and behaviour
of the ministers, the order of their churches, and the manners of
the people. They must further consider how the poor are provided
for, and how the youth are instructed; they must admonish where
admonition is needed, restore order where by good counsel they are
able to appease; and, finally, they must note such crimes as are
heinous, that by the censure of the Church the same may be corrected.
If the Superintendent be found negligent in any of these chief
points of his office, and especially if he be noted negligent in
preaching of the Word, and in visitation of his churches; or if he
be convicted of any of those crimes which in the common ministers
are condemned, he must be deposed, without respect to his person or
office.
3. _Of the Election of Superintendents._--In this present necessity,
the nomination, examination, and admission of Superintendents cannot
be so strait as we require, and as afterwards it must be. For the
present, therefore, we think sufficient that either your honours, by
yourselves, nominate so many as may serve the forewritten provinces;
or that ye give commission to men in whom ye suppose the fear of God
to be, to do the same; these men, being called into your presence,
shall be by you, and by such as your honours may please to call unto
you for consultation in that case, appointed to their provinces. We
think it expedient and necessary, that the gentlemen, as well as the
burgesses of every diocese, be made privy at the same time to the
election of the Superintendent, both to bring the Church into some
practice of her liberty, and to make the pastor better favoured of
the flock whom themselves have chosen.
If your honours cannot find for the present so many able men as the
necessity requireth, then, on our judgments, it is more profitable
that those provinces remain vacant until God provide better, rather
than that men unable to edify and govern the Church be suddenly
placed in that charge. For experience hath taught us what pestilence
hath been engendered in the Church by men unable to discharge their
offices.
When, therefore, after three years, any Superintendent shall depart,
or chance to be deposed, the chief town within that province, to
wit, the ministers, elders, and deacons, with the magistrate and
council of the same town, shall nominate, and by public edicts
proclaim, as well to the Superintendent, as to two or three
provinces next adjacent, two or three of the most learned and most
godly ministers within the whole realm, that from amongst them, one
with public consent may be elected and appointed to the office then
vacant. The chief town shall be bound to do this within the term of
twenty days. If this period expire and no man be presented, then
shall three of the next adjacent provinces, with consent of their
Superintendents, ministers, and elders, enter into the right and
privileges of the chief town, and shall present every one of them
one, or two if they list, to the chief town, to be examined as the
order requireth. It shall also be lawful for all the churches of the
diocese to nominate within the same time such persons as they think
worthy to stand in election; and this must be put in edict.
After the nominations are made, public edicts must be sent, first
warning all men that have any objection against the persons
nominated, or against any one of them, to be present in the chief
town at day and place appointed, to object what they can against the
election. Thirty days we think sufficient to be assigned thereto;
thirty days, we mean, after the nomination shall be made.
The day of election being come, the whole ministers of that
province, with three or more of the Superintendents next adjacent,
or thereto named, shall examine not only the learning, but also the
manners, prudence, and ability to govern the Church, of all those
that are nominated; that he who shall be found most worthy may be
burdened with the charge. If the ministers of the whole province
should bring with them the votes of those that were committed to
their care, the election should be the more free; but, always, the
votes of all those that convene must be required. The examinations
must be publicly made; those that stand in election must publicly
preach; and men must be charged in the name of God, to vote
according to conscience, and not after affection. If anything be
objected against any that stand in election, the Superintendents
and ministers must consider whether the objection be made of
conscience or of malice, and they must answer accordingly. Other
ceremonies than sharp examination, approbation of the ministers and
Superintendents, with the public consent of the elders and people
then present, we cannot allow. The Superintendent being elected,
and appointed to his charge, must be subjected to the censure and
correction of the ministers and elders, not only of his chief town,
but also of the whole province over which he is appointed overseer.
If his offences be known, and the ministers and elders of his
province be negligent in correcting him, the next one or two
Superintendents, with their ministers and elders, may convene
him, and the ministers and elders of his chief town, within his
own province or chief town; and they may accuse and correct the
Superintendent in those things that are worthy of correction, as
well as the ministers and elders for their negligence and their
ungodly tolerance of his offences. Whatsoever crime deserves
correction or deposition of any other minister deserveth the same in
the Superintendent, without respect of person.
After the Church is established, and three years be passed, we
require that no man be called to the office of a Superintendent, who
hath not for two years at least, given declaration of his faithful
labours in the ministry of some church.
No Superintendent may be transferred at the pleasure or request of
any one province without the consent of the whole Council of the
Church, and that only for grave causes and considerations.
Of one thing, in the end, we must admonish your honours. In
appointing Superintendents for the present, ye may not disappoint
your chief towns, and places where learning is exercised, of such
ministers, as more may profit by residence in one place than by
continual travel from place to place. For if ye so do, the youth
in those places shall lack the profound interpretation of the
Scriptures; and so shall it be long before your gardens send forth
many plants. On the contrary, if one or two towns be continually
exercised as they may, the Commonwealth shall shortly taste of their
fruit, to the comfort of the godly.
VII. Of Schools and Universities.
As the office and duty of the godly magistrate is not only to purge
the Church of God from all superstition, and to set it at liberty
from bondage of tyrants, but also to provide, to the uttermost of
his power, that it may abide in the same purity to the posterities
following, we cannot but freely communicate our judgments to your
honours in this behalf.
1. _The Necessity of Schools._--Seeing that God hath determined
that His Church here on earth shall be taught not by angels but
by men; and seeing that men are born ignorant of all godliness;
and seeing, also, how God ceaseth to illuminate men miraculously,
suddenly changing them, as He changed His Apostles and others in the
primitive Church: it is necessary that your honours be most careful
for the virtuous education and godly upbringing of the youth of this
realm, if ye now thirst unfeignedly for the advancement of Christ's
glory, or desire the continuance of His benefits to the generation
following. For as the youth must succeed to us, so ought we to be
careful that they have knowledge and erudition, for the profit and
comfort of that which ought to be most dear to us, to wit, the
Church and Spouse of the Lord Jesus.
Therefore we judge it necessary that every several church have a
schoolmaster appointed, such an one as is able, at least, to teach
Grammar and the Latin tongue, if the town be of any reputation. If
it be upaland,[254] where the people convene to doctrine but once
in the week, then must either the reader or the minister there take
care of the children and youth of the parish, instructing them in
their first rudiments, and especially in the Catechism, as we have
it now translated in the Book of our Common Order, called the Order
of Geneva. And, farther, we think it expedient that in every notable
town, and especially in the town of the Superintendent, there be
erected a college, in which the Arts, at least Logic and Rhetoric,
together with the tongues, shall be read by sufficient Masters. For
these honest stipends must be appointed; and provision must be made
for those that are poor, and are not able by themselves, nor by
their friends, to be sustained at letters, especially such as come
from landward.
[254] At a distance from the sea; in the country.
The fruit and commodity hereof shall speedily appear. For, first,
the youths and tender children shall be nourished and brought up
in virtue, in presence of their friends; by whose good care may be
avoided those many inconveniences into which youth commonly falls,
either by too much liberty, which they have in strange and unknown
places while they cannot rule themselves; or else for lack of
good care, and of such necessities as their tender age requireth.
Secondarily, the exercise of the children in every church shall be
great instruction to the aged.
Lastly, the great schools, called Universities, shall be replenished
with those that are apt to learn; for this must be carefully
provided, that no father, of what estate or condition that ever he
be, use his children at his own fantasy, especially in their youth.
All must be compelled to bring up their children in learning and
virtue.
The rich and potent may not be permitted to suffer their children to
spend their youth in vain idleness, as heretofore they have done.
They must be exhorted, and by the censure of the Church compelled
to dedicate their sons, by good exercise, to the profit of the
Church and to the Commonwealth; and this they must do at their own
expense, because they are able. The children of the poor must be
supported and sustained as the charge of the Church, until trial be
taken whether the spirit of docility be found in them or not. If
they be found apt to letters and learning, then may they not (we
mean, neither the sons of the rich, nor yet the sons of the poor)
be permitted to reject learning. They must be charged to continue
their study, so that the Commonwealth may have some comfort by them.
For this purpose must discreet, learned, and grave men be appointed
to visit all schools for the trial of their exercise, profit, and
continuance; to wit, the ministers and elders, with the best learned
in every town, shall every quarter take examination how the youth
have profited.
A certain time must be appointed to reading, and to learning of the
Catechism; a certain time to Grammar, and to the Latin tongue; a
certain time to the Arts, Philosophy, and to the other tongues; and
a certain time to that study in which they intend chiefly to travail
for the profit of the Commonwealth. This time being expired, we
mean in every course, the children must either proceed to farther
knowledge, or else they must be sent to some handicraft, or to some
other profitable exercise. Care must always be taken that first
they have the form of knowledge of Christian religion, to wit,
the knowledge of God's law and commandments; the use and office
of the same; the chief articles of our belief; the right form to
pray unto God; the number, use, and effect of the Sacraments; the
true knowledge of Christ Jesus, of His office and natures, and such
others. Without this knowledge, neither deserveth any man to be
named a Christian, nor ought any to be admitted to the participation
of the Lord's Table; and, therefore, these principles ought to be
taught and must be learned in youth.