236 



CALDERWOOD. 



Calder- e d that Mr Calderwood Was alive and disclaimed the 

 wood. recantation, the infamous Scott, whether instigated 

 by the king or not, cannot be known, went over to 

 Holland, and sought for the innocent object of his 

 vengeance, with an intention to assassinate him. In 

 this diabolical purpose, however, he failed ; for Mr 

 Calderwood had, in the mean time, privately returned 

 to his native country. 



Mr Calderwood was the author of several works 

 besides those which we have mentioned, on the trans- 

 actions and controversies of the times. Of these, 

 we cannot pretend to give a complete list ; but the 

 following may be considered as the greatest part of 

 them : The Speech of the Kirk to her beloved Chil- 

 dren ; the Confutation of Dr Mitchekon' s Reasons 

 for Kneeling ; The Course of Conformity ; An Epis- 

 tle to a Christian Brother ; A Dispute against Com- 

 municating where there was Kveling, confusion of 

 Gestures and Actions ; The Antithesis between the 

 Pastor and the Prelate; A Defence of the Arguments 

 against Kneeling at the Sacrament ; Queries concern- 

 ing the State of the Church of Scotland ; An Ex- 

 hortation of the particular Kirks of Christ in Scot- 

 land, to their Sister Kirk in Edinburgh ; De Regi- 

 mine Ecclexice Scoticanee brevif Relatio, or Hierony- 

 mi Philaddphi De Rc^imine Scolicance Ecclesice E- 

 pistola ; Ejusdem Vindicice contra Calumnias Juh. 

 Spotswoodi ; The Solution of Dr Resolutus's Reso- 

 lutions of Queries and Exhortations. Several of these 

 works were printed in Holland ; and when they were 

 about to be imported into Scotland, a proclamation 

 was made at the cross of Edinburgh, bearing, that 

 certain persons were attempting to bring into the 

 kingdom a number of seditious and treasonable books, 

 and commanding ajl ships coming from the low 

 countries to be carefully and diligently searched, that 

 the said books might be examined and condemned. 

 This attempt, however, to accomplish by violence 

 what could not be so easily obtained by argument, 

 fortunately did not succeed ; for Mr Calderwood's 

 books were safely landed some days before the vessel 

 containing them could be searched. 



Mr Calderwood employed himself with great dili- 

 gence and success in collecting and digesting, accord- 

 ing to the order of time, all the memorials which 

 could be procured relating to the ecclesiastical af- 

 fairs of Scotland, from the beginning of the Re- 

 formation down to the death of King James VI. 

 We are told by Baillie, that a great part of a ses- 

 ion of the assembly in 1648 was spent in encoura- 

 ging Mr Calderwood to perfect his church history, 

 and that they agreed to give him out of their funds 

 no less than L.800 Scots yearly, to enable him to 

 proceed with it. This valuable work is still in ma- 

 nuscript. There are four copies of it. One of them 

 is in the college-library of Glasgow ; another is in 

 the advocate's library of Edinburgh ; a third is in 

 the possession of General Calderwood Durham of 

 Largo, who is the representative both of the family 

 of Mr Calderwood, and of that of the pious Mi- 

 James Durham, minister of Glasgow ; and the 

 fourth belongs to the General Assembly of the 

 Church of Scotland, to whom it was presented by 

 Mr Wodrow, having been carefully transcribed from 

 ihe original manuscript under his own eye. 



Every person who is at all acquainted with the 



productions of those who have written on the Scot- 

 tish Reformation, must be aware of the importance 

 and utility of Calderwood's manuscript volumes ; 

 and it is matter of regret, that the expences neces- 

 sarily attending the publication of them would be 

 so heavy as to render that a very difficult and ha- 

 zardous undertaking. We cannot refrain from sug- 

 gesting, that enterprises of greater risk have been 

 attempted in the literary world by subscription, and 

 have succeeded. From this large work an extract 

 has been published, under the title of The true His- 

 tory of the Church of Scotland. The matter is im- 

 portant, but the style ib homely and uncouth. It 

 must be observed, however, that this was not drawn 

 up, as is generally believed, by Mr Calderwood 

 himself, whose compositions are quite superior in 

 every respect ; it is the production of one of the 

 ministers who lived in the time of the persecutions 

 which took place under the reign of Charles II. 

 Many copies of the work, indeed, will be found 

 with the date 1701 : but this is a device of the pub- 

 lishers, who were accustomed at that period to reno- 

 vate a book merely by giving it a new title page. 

 The title page, too, it should be noticed, bear?, that 

 the work was written at the appointment, and re- 

 ceived the countenance of the General Assembly ; 

 whereas this applies not to the printed, but the ma- 

 nuscript history of Mr Calderwood. 



The exact period at which Mr Calderwood return- 

 ed from Holland is not ascertained. It is probable 

 that he did not return till towards the year 16'36, no 

 mention being made of him in any record of eccle- 

 siastical transactions in this country previous to that 

 date. He lived for some time as privately as possi- 

 ble. His residence was chiefly in Edinburgh, where 

 he equally opposed sectarianism, and encouraged non- 

 conformity. Though he was not a member of the 

 General Assembly held that year at Glasgow in 

 1638, when Episcopacy and the late innovations 

 were condemned, yet it appears that he took a part 

 in its proceedings, lodging secretly beside the mode- 

 rator's chamber, and writing papers, which were af- 

 terwards read in court, in defence of the rights of 

 ruling-elders to sit as members of Assembly. He 

 also appeared in the Assembly in 164*1 ; and, though 

 no member, delivered his opinions upon the business 

 with so much freedom and keenness, that the com- 

 missioner commanded him to be silent. The mode- 

 rator, however, took occasion to mention his great 

 services to the church to regret that he had been 

 so long neglected and to recommend him to the 

 " first commodious room." Mr Baillie remarks, 

 that his promotion was not likely to take place soon, 

 because he had, by his misconduct on this occasion, 

 given great offence to his former benefactors and pa- 

 trons. It was not very long, however, after thi, 

 that he received the church of Pencaitland, in East 

 Lothian ; but at what precise date, cannot be deter- 

 mined. The authors of the Biographia Britannica af- 

 firm, that he was minister there in 1638 ; and, in proof 

 of this, refer to the preface to the last edition of hi 

 Altare Damascenum. But neither in that preface, 

 nor in any other printed document, is there any 

 allusion whatever to the fact. Mr Calderwood 

 was nominated, along with Mr Henderson and 

 Mr Dickson, by the Assembly, 1643, to prepare 



