Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/278

20 subject of the service book, it was introduced into Scotland without having been submitted to presbyteries, and without the sanction of the General Assembly.

The consequence of the introduction of the liturgy, aggravated as it was by the manner of its introduction, was, as might have been expected, in the last degree serious and important The country rose nearly to a man against the popish innovation. In Edinburgh the bishops who presided at the ceremony of its first introduction were mobbed and maltreated: and the ministers everywhere carefully prepared their congregations to resist the obnoxious volume. The whole land, in short, was agitated by one violent commotion, and the minds of men were roused into a state of feverish excitement, which threatened the most serious results. It was at this critical moment that Henderson came again upon the stage. In the same predicament with other clergymen, Henderson was charged to purchase two copies of the liturgy for the use of his parish within fifteen days, under the pain of rebellion. On receiving the charge, Henderson immediately proceeded to Edinburgh and presented a petition to the privy council, representing that the service book had not received the sanction of the General Assembly nor was authorized by any act of parliament; that the church of Scotland was free and independent, and ought not to be dictated to except through her own pastors, who were the proper and the best judges of what was for her benefit ; that the form of worship received at the Reformation was still sanctioned by the legislature and the supreme ecclesiastical judicatory, and could not be invaded excepting by the same authority; that some of the ceremonies enjoined by the book had occasioned great divisions, and were extremely obnoxious to the people, who had been taught to hold them in abhorrence. This bold statement Henderson concluded by soliciting a suspension of the charge. What hope Henderson entertained that this supplication or rather remonstrance would be formally listened to by the privy council, cannot now be ascertained. There is no reason, however, to conclude, that he possessed any secret intelligence regarding the real dispositions of that body. The credit, therefore, must be awarded him of having come forward on this perilous occasion trusting to the strength of his cause alone, and fully prepared to meet the consequences, whatever they might be, of the step which he had taken. The result was more favourable than probably either Henderson or the country expected. The council granted the suspension required, until the king's further pleasure should be known; but, for the remuneration of the king's printer, ordained by an express act, as the decision in Henderson's case was of course understood to apply to the whole kingdom, that each parish should provide itself with two copies of the book, but without any injunction to make use of them. The order for reading the liturgy was also suspended, until new instructions on the subject should be received from his majesty. The king's answer, however, to the representations of the privy council, at once overturned all hopes of concession in the matter of the liturgy. Instead of giving way to the general feeling, he repeated, in a still more peremptory manner than at first, his commands that the service book should be read, and farther ordered that no burgh should choose a magistrate which did not conform. This uncompromising and decided conduct on the part of the king was met by a similar spirit on the part of the people, and the path which Henderson had first taken was soon crowded by the highest and mightiest in the land, all pushing onward with the utmost eagerness and zeal to solicit the recall of the obnoxious liturgy, and discovering on each repulse and on the appearance of each successive obstacle to their wishes, a stronger and stronger disposition to have recourse to violence to accomplish their object, if supplication should fail. On the receipt of the king's last communication on the all-engrossing subject of the service book, the nobility, barons, ministers, and