Blair Collection > Book of Common Order, commonly called John Knox's Liturgy

Notices of Bishop Carswell. xv
merits. It is hardly possible to conceive that the Earl of
Argyll would appoint, especially to the office of private
chaplain, a man who was not of the same views on great
public questions with himself, or who was not in point of
intellect and acquirements likely to be a credit to the
house. The Earl of Argyll of Carswell's day was Archi-
bald the fifth Earl, of whom Douglas says, that ' He
' was the first of his quality who embraced the Protestant
' religion, of which he was a most zealous and sincere pro-
' fessor, and recommended the promotion thereof and the
' suppression of Popish superstitions to his son on his
4 deathbed.' Carswell's testimony to his zeal for the
Protestant faith, in his dedicatory epistle in this book,
is very emphatic.
In addition to the above offices, Carswell was
Chancellor of the Chapel Royal in Stirling.
In the early Scottish Reformed Church, the offices
recognised as of Divine authority were the elder, the
deacon, and the doctor, and the church was organized
in accordance with this view. It became evident,
however, at once that arrangements of a special kind
were essential to meet the requirements of the country
at the time. Ministers were few, and to a large extent
confined to one section of the country, and it was im-
possible that in such circumstances ordained men could
be appointed to conduct worship and administer ordin-
ances in all the parishes of Scotland. It was this state
of things that gave rise to the order of superintendents,
which was instituted in 1560, — an order possessed of no
distinct jurisdiction or separate ecclesiastical office, but
consisting of ordinary ministers invested with authority