Archbishop of St Andrews

“ Sir George Mackenzie states, "These irreligious and heterodox books, called Naphthali and Jus Populi, had made the killing of all dissenters from Presbytery seem not only lawful, but a duty among many of that profession: and in a postscript to Jus Populi, it was told that the sending of the Archbishop of St Andrews' head to the king would be the best present that could be made to Jesus Christ." ”

“ For besides the open erecting of Idolatry in divers parts of this Realme, and besides the extreame povertie wherein our Ministers are brought, (by reason that idle bellies are fed upon that which justly appertaineth to such as truely preach Jesus Christ, and rightly and by order minister his blessed Sacraments,) that cruell murtherer of our brethren, falsly called Archbishop of Saint Andrews, most unjustly, and against all law, hath presumed to his former tyrannie, as a signature past for his restitution to his ancient jurisdiction (as it is termed) more fully doth proport. ”

“ Andrews in 1611 by the archbishop of Glasgow and the bishops of Galloway and Brechin. He supported the cause of the people of Orkney against the oppression of Earl Patrick Stewart, and succeeded in getting the lands and jurisdiction of the bishopric separated from those of the earldom. Through the influence of Archbishop Spottiswood, 'his old companion at football and condiscipulus,' he was promoted to the archbishopric of Glasgow in 1615, where he completed the leaden roof of the cathedral. ”

“ Andrews, which had been vacant since the death of Fothad, the last Celtic bishop, in 1093, with the approbation of clergy and people he made choice of Turgot. This raised the question of the supremacy of the archbishop of York over the Scottish church, which at the council of Windsor held in 1072 had been allowed to belong to the northern metropolitan and his successors. ”

“ For no steps were afterwards taken to give those indulgences by law that were promised; but the papists stirring themselves with great activity, and foreign matters and concerns coming in aid of their stratagems, long before a year passed the mind of the Queen and government was fomented into hostility against the protestants. She called into her favour and councils the Archbishop of St Andrews, with whom she had been at variance ”

“ Andrews, Bishop of Ely, touching the consecration of the Scottish bishops, who, as he said, must first be ordained presbyters, as having received no ordination from a bishop. The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr. Bancroft) , who was by, maintained "that thereof there was no necessity, seeing where bishops could not be had, the ordination given by presbyters must be esteemed lawful, otherwise that it might be doubted if there were any lawful vocation in most of the Reformed Churches." ”

“ Antisthenes being asked of one what learning was most necessary for man's life? answered; "To unlearn that which is naught."
240. There was a politic sermon, that had no divinity in it, was preached before the king. The king, as he came forth, said to Bishop Andrews; "Call you this a sermon?" The bishop answered, "And it please your majesty, by a charitable construction, it may be a sermon."
241. Bishop Andrews was asked at the first coming over of the Archbishop of Spalato, whether he were a protestant or no? He answered, "Truly I know not: but he is a detestant of divers opinions of Rome." ”

“ To the sons of our Holy Mother, the Church, under whose notice, these present letters shall come, William, by Divine permission, Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of all England, and Legate of the Apostolic See, wishes eternal health in the Lord. We esteem it a service pleasant and acceptable to God, whensoever, by the alluring gifts of indulgences, we stir up the minds of the faithful to a greater readiness in contributing their gifts to such works as concern the honour of the Divine Name. ”

“ In St Andrews the reformer was sure to be free from personal danger, and on the whole to have the sympathy of the citizens; though it was not to be supposed that—in the city and university where the late Archbishop Hamilton had been long supreme, and had recently been claiming to exercise the authority of Chancellor of the University, and new founder of St Mary's College, [226] and where he had left behind several relations and dependents more compliant with the new order of things than himself—there were not to be found in this crisis several in [Pg 189] fluential His preaching in St Andrews. ”

“ He loved Lausdree, and during sleep he came and paid us that visit. Queer, isn’t it? Ten days after, he died. He wanted to see the old castle before he died, and his force of will power brought his [51] double self, or astral body, to visit us. It is not so uncommon as people think.
“Numbers of people are seen in two places at once far apart. Look at Archbishop Sharpe of St Andrews. He was in Edinburgh, at Holyrood I think, and sent his servant over post haste to St Andrews to bring back some papers he had forgotten there. ”

“ His Worship soon waxed warm, declaring that he had only done his duty in maintaining the rights of his fellow-townsmen. The prelate insisted that the [Pg 41] Mayor was in the wrong, and that it was his intention to enforce the payment of his dues. The Mayor soon shewed signs of his displeasure, and seeing one His Grace’s men mocking him, he, without ceremony, snatched from the Archbishop his crosier, and struck the man. This was the commencement of a free fight, in which the prelate and his people suffered a severe defeat. ”

“ It will be gathered from the foregoing that prelates were granted privileges which enabled them to exercise much power amongst the people. Some of the rights enjoyed at Hull by the Archbishop of York were oppressive to the inhabitants of the town, and gave rise to much strife. It was the practice, exercised according to ancient custom, of the Archbishop of York to claim prisage from every vessel of twenty tons burden entering the river Hull. ”

“ A burnished head, gleaming in the sunshine like the gilded ball on a church steeple, rose suddenly out of the waves of dry grass, and a pink-ginghamed figure, radiant with joy and good-will, confronted him. The Bishop's temper, roughly waked up by the unwilling and unepiscopal war-dance just executed, fell back into its chains.
"Did you tie that string across the path?"
"Yes," The shining head nodded. "Too bad you didn't fell 'way down. I'm sorry. But you kicked awf'ly."
"Oh! I did, did I?" asked the Bishop. "You're an unrepentant young sinner. Suppose I'd broken my leg?" ”

“ But if we admit Bishop Andrews' gloss, then why doth the Apostle, after he hath given good “reason for the veiling of women, subjoin, if any man seem to be contentious,” &c. The Bishop resolveth us, that the apostles saw that a wrangling wit would elude these reasons which he had given, and he had no other reasons to give, therefore he resolves all into the church's practice,—enough of itself to suffice any that will be wise to sobriety. Ans. If any seem to be blasphemous, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God. ”

“ It was by such advice as this that he exhorted Churchmen to give the Puritans no cause to complain of them.
Other things for which the Bishop especially pleaded, in his time, were the preservation of the doctrine of the Church of England, a higher standard of living among the clergy, and a warmer pastoral spirit. He says of clerical neglect: [5] "If you attend not to the flock, the flock will attend to you. ... While you are neglectful of the people, be sure that the people has its eye on you."
One side of Andrewes' character we must not pass over. ”

“ How could she help it?” The bishop’s sidewise smile came swiftly, without bitterness, only sadly. “He was brilliant, winning, and a great, splendid picture of a man. And I was—as you see—small and ugly.”
A glance of surprise flashed from the young eyes. “I don’t see, sir,” he said bluntly, and stared at the figure in the chair, a strong note in deep black of clothes and sharp white of collar, against the softness of the summer setting.
It is said that in another life the bodies we shall wear—not of flesh and blood, but as real—will be the close expression of personality ”

“ I’m glad.”
“So am I,” the lad smiled, and waited in an agony now of anxiety to know what it all meant. A minute, two minutes, and he still waited.
“Let me think,” the bishop crossed his legs with deliberation, and puffed a cloud of smoke and gazed at it, absorbed, as it rolled toward the hollyhocks. “Let me think.”
“Yes, sir,” and the lad shut his lips, as it might be to shut in something which kicked and struggled. The bees hummed; the bishop smoked as if hours were nothing, nor yet a young man exploding with curiosity. At length he put the pipe down on the table and pushed it from him. ”

“ In the same year King David granted a charter to the prior and canons of St. Andrews, in which he provided that they shall receive the Keledei of Kilrimont into the canonry, with all their possessions and revenues, if they were willing to become canons-regular; but, if they refused, those who are now alive are to retain the property during their lives, and, after their death, as many canons-regular are to be instituted in the church of St. Andrews as there are now Keledei, and all their possessions are to be appropriated to the use of the canons. ”

“ They represented what had originally been a society of Anchorites or Hermits, but now presented all the features of Secular canons, as they became modified in Ireland on the introduction of the canonical rule. The state of the church of St. Andrews, as we find it here pictured, is almost an exact reproduction of what we find at Armagh at the same time. Here, prior to 1126, the abbacy was in the hands of laymen, and there is no appearance of any of the usual officers of a great monastery. The only clergy who are mentioned in connection with the houses of prayer are the Cele De. Dr. ”

“ But most of us don’t. We mostly pull the same old wool back over our eyes and begin bumping about again. A few don’t—they’re the saints. They live on earth, [Pg 275] and after, in the kingdom of heaven. Mighty few—but—I think—some.” The bishop’s eyes were as if they took in things not present. “Most of us fall back; and that’s what sin is—to walk in darkness deliberately. However—this is a shame—I’m preaching at you, and taking advantage.” His smile flashed. “But that illumination of sight which can’t be described any more than you can describe love or hunger happened to me. ”

“ Restored by a visit to South Africa, Wilkinson was on 9 Feb. 1893 elected to succeed Charles Wordsworth [q. v.] as bishop of St. Andrews, Dunkeld, and Dunblane, and was enthroned in St. Ninian's Cathedral, Perth, on 27 April. In 1904 the bishops of the Scottish episcopal church elected him primus. He created a bishop of St. Andrews fund for church extension; raised 14,000l. ”

“ Andrews, he had been truly charged with holding the following opinions—viz. first, man may neither make nor devise a religion that is acceptable to God, but is bound to observe and keep the religion that from God is received without chopping or changing thereof; second, the sacraments of the New Testament ought to be ministered as they were instituted by Christ Jesus and practised by the apostles, nothing ought to be added to them, nothing ought to be diminished from them; third, the mass is abominable idolatry, blasphemous to the death of Christ, and a profanation of the Lord's Supper. ”

“ But whoever surveys the world must see many things that give him pain. The kindness of the professors did not contribute to abate the uneasy remembrance of an university declining, a college alienated, and a church profaned and hastening to the ground.
St. Andrews indeed has formerly suffered more atrocious ravages and more extensive destruction, but recent evils affect with greater force. We were reconciled to the sight of archiepiscopal ruins. The distance of a calamity from the present time seems to preclude the mind from contact or sympathy. Events long past are barely known ”

“ When not taken by surprise, on his table usually lay open a great Bible, with Bishop Andrews's folio Sermons, which often gave him an opportunity of railing at the covetousness of the clergy; declaring their religion was "a mere preach," and that "the time would never be well till we had Queen Elizabeth's Protestants again in fashion." He was aware of all the evils arising out of a population beyond the means of subsistence, and dreaded an inundation of men, spreading like the spawn of cod. Hence he considered marriage, with a modern political economist, as very dangerous ”

“ That great pontiff, who never forgot that the head of the Church was a temporal prince, Leo X., had just ascended the throne, and found that it would be convenient to have this archbishopric of Bourges for his nephew, Cardinal Abo. By good luck the see of St Andrews, the primacy of Scotland, was then vacant, and was given as an equivalent for the French dignity. Such a promotion was a symbolically appropriate reward for the services of Forman; his predecessor fell at Flodden, and thus, in his services to the King of France, he had made a vacancy for himself. ”

“ As I said before, Andrewes was in his element in the seclusion of the study. He preferred that to taking an active part in the political troubles of his days. And he has influenced for good through the study far more people than he did in his political work. He is chiefly known for his sermons on the Incarnation, delivered in successive years before King James, and for his profound works on meditation and his soul-stirring prayers. Churchmen of succeeding years have thanked him for these benefits. By such publications he has helped to build up the spiritual life of hundreds of his successors. ”