76 FAMOUS SCOTS 



which has coloured ever since the stream of its existence. 

 Calvinism, in every one of its forms, exaggerated or 

 diluted, has this double side. It is felt in this way. 

 To a nation believing that the divine decree of election 

 has singled out the individual, the claims of a church 

 with the greatest of histories and the most unbroken 

 of descents are of slight value. To the individual 

 believing it is God's own immutable decree that has 

 made his calling and election sure, the whole retinue of 

 priests and priestly paraphernalia appears but an idle 

 pageant. To the nation, and to the individual alike, 

 regarding itself or himself as fellow-workers with God 

 in the furtherance of His immutable decrees, thrones, 

 dominions, principalities and powers have for ever lost 

 their awe or a power to coerce. Wherever the belief 

 has been carried these results have been seen. There 

 has been, what Buckle failed completely to see, a rooted 

 aversion to ecclesiasticism, and a no less rooted aversion 

 to tyranny. And in no better words could the doctrinal 

 and political principles be laid down than in the famous 

 words of Andrew Melville which we have set at the 

 head of this chapter. 



Again, when Knox laid hold of the nation his schemes 

 in their very first draft embraced the people as a whole. 

 It was not a merely piecemeal or monarchical business 

 as in England. The Reformers were not content with 

 merely formulating an Act like Henry \ they proceeded 

 to carry out in detail their plans for a national system 

 of education. They had no idea of setting up a church 



