50 



MELVILLE. 



MtUillr, appears to have been passionately fond of innovation ; 



Andrew. an j to rational discernment of the defects ot the Aris- 



^~" v ""'' totelian philosophy, he added an undue admiration of 



the writings of Ramus, whose lectures he had attended 



*. I I ,1 i\. ,.!. I*L.?t.m-l 



On occasion of the queen's coronation, Melville, who 

 was invited as one of the guests only two days before, 

 pronounced a Latin poem, which was received with so 

 much applause, that the king publicly declared that he 



Melville, 

 Andrew. 



in This youth,~ancl whose spirit he had freely imbibed, and the country had that day received such honour as 

 T.- of_: ._4.: ,;,,, i;c nfthf nrnfessors in St. Sal- could never be requited. This poem, entitled Step/ta- 



The Peripatetic prejudices of the professors in St. Sal 

 valor's and .St. Leonard's college were roused to fury 

 by the attacks upon their favourite author; and, for 

 some time, their indignation could scarcely be appeased. 

 Yet such was the address and superior intelligence of 

 the principal, that he not only disarmed their animosi- 

 ty, but speedily converted the most obtinate among 

 them to his own peculiar views. 



In addition to his academical charge at St. Andrew's, 

 Melville, during the first two or three years of his resi- 

 dence, generally performed divine service, and took a 

 share of the other ministerial duties of the parish. His 

 gratuitous labours were highly gratifying to the inha- 

 bitants in general ; but the freedom and fidelity with 

 which he reproved vice, exposed him to the resentment 

 of several leading individuals; and the most atrocious 

 calumnies against Melville were conveyed to the king, 

 whose mind was predisposed to receive any insinua- 

 tion to his disadvantage. He was accordingly sum- 

 moned to appear before the privy council, on a charge 

 of treasonable expressions uttered in one of his ser- 

 mons ; and though he produced the most explicit pr ofs 

 of his innocence, he was sentenced to imprisonment in 

 the castle of Blackness, for having declined the juris- 

 diction of the council, and for having conducted him- 

 self' proudly and contemptuously in their presence. 

 Melville, however, contrived to make his escape to 

 England ; whence he returned twenty months after- 

 wards, in company with the banished noblemen, wno 

 had been denounced as traitors on account of the affair 

 of Ruthven, and who appeared before the gates of Stir- 

 ling castle, with such a numerous force, that the king 

 was glad to re-admit to his councils the men who, only 

 two years before, had fled from his vengeance. 



After being reinstated in his office at St. Andrew's, 

 Melville and his nephew took an active part in the 

 proceedings of the synod of Fife, which terminated in 

 the excommunication of Archbishop Adamsoti, for hav- 

 ing dictated and defended the laws subversive of eccle- 

 siastical discipline. When Adamson was relaxed from 

 censure, and restored to his see, Melville was charged 

 to retire to the north of the Tay, and was not permit- 

 ted to return to his post, till the college had reluctant- 

 ly consented to oblige one of the king's menial servants, 

 by renewing a lease, to the great diminution of the 

 rental. Not long afterwards, the king, accompanied 

 by Du Bartas the poet, on a visit to St. Andrew's, had 

 an opportunity of hearing from Melville a most spirit- 

 ed and learned, though extemporaneous refutation of 

 an elaborate lecture by Adamson, in favour of his views 

 of royal prerogative. 



In the year 1588, Melville, who had been modera- 

 tor of the preceding General Assembly, summoned an 

 extraordrnjay meeting, to concert measures for avert- 

 ing the dangers apprehended from the Spanish armada ; 

 and, at his suggestion, a deputation of the ministers, 

 barons, and burge?ses, waited on his majesty with the 

 result of their deliberations, proffering their lives and 

 their fortunes in defence of the religion and govern- 

 ment of the kingdom. The. king was offended with 

 the officious loyalty of his faithful subjects, but was 

 pleaded to appoint a committee of the privy council to 

 co-operate with them, in devising means for frustrating 

 the designs of the enemy. 



Kion, was printed next day, and was received with 

 the highest expressions of admiration by the first scho- 

 lars of the age. Lipsius exclaimed, Revera Andreas 

 Melvinas est serio doctns ; and Scaliger, with far more 

 liberal praise than he was accustomed to render, was 

 not ashamed to say, nos talia non possttmtis. 



Soon after the death of Archbishop Adamson, in 

 1.592, an act of parliament was passed, ratifying the go- 

 vernment of the church by general assemblies, provin- 

 cial synods, presbyteries, and kirk sessions, and ex- 

 plaining away, or rescinding the most offensive of the 

 acts of the year 1584. This important statute is consi. 

 dered to this day as the legal foundation of the Pres- 

 byterian government ; and it was regarded by Melville 

 as an ample reward for his laborious efforts. 



A tumult which took place at Edinburgh on the 1 7th 

 of December, 1596", was seized by the court as a han- 

 dle for the purpose of effecting a change in the consti- 

 tution of the church ; and Melville's influence with the 

 synod of Fife, and with the leading ministers, was most 

 strenuously exerted to counteract the projected mea- 

 sures. A General Assembly was summoned by the 

 king to meet at Leith ; and as it was composed chiefly 

 of ministers from the north, who were studiously in- 

 fected with prejudices against their southern brethren, 

 the adherents of Melville were left in the minority. 

 The next Assembly at Dundee was not quite so tract- 

 able, owing to the presence of Melville. To annihilate, 

 or at least to depress this ascendancy, the king pro- 

 ceeded in person, accompanied by his council, to St. 

 Andrew's, to hold a royal visitation of the university ; 

 and there, after searching in vain foi matter of accusa- 

 tion against Melville, it was ordained that all professors 

 of theology or philosophy, not being actual pastors, 

 should thenceforth be precluded from sitting in sessions, 

 presbyteries, synods, or assemblies, and from teaching 

 in congregations. Preparation was now made for re- 

 storing the order of bishops, and the first approach to 

 this measure, was to induce the commissioners of the 

 General Assembly to solicit that the ministers and el- 

 ders of the church might be represented in parliament. 

 A statute was accordingly passed, declaring prelacy to 

 be the third estate, and asserting the right of such mi- 

 nisters as should be advanced to the episcopal dignity 

 to the same legislative privileges which had been en- 

 joyed by the former prelates. When the Assembly met 

 at Dundee, the king did not venture to introduce the 

 business, till he had commanded Melville and his col- 

 league Johnstone to retire from the town ; and the 

 measure was at last carried by a majority of ten. In a 

 conference at Falkland, Melville, in presence of his 

 majesty, maintained his sentiments with his accustom- 

 ed fearlessness and vehemence, and the king judged it 

 prudent to refer all the matters which were still intend- 

 ed to be adjusted to an assembly which met at Mon- 

 trose in Maich lCi/0. Melville appeared as a commis- 

 sioner from his presbytery, and though not suffered to 

 take his seat, his counsels and his unconquerable zeal 

 served to animate and confirm the resolution of his 

 brethren ; and the assembly was with great difficulty 

 prevailed upon to adopt the scheme of the court, under 

 certain modifications. 



Melville was a member of the assembly at Burnt- 

 1 



