Spottiswoode Society > History of the affairs of the Church and State of Scotland from the beginning of the reformation to the year 1568 > Volume 1

1542.1 OF CHURCH AND STATE IN SCOTLAND. 89
CHAPTER IV.
CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF CHURCH AFFAIRS FROM THE DEATH
OF KING JAMES V. ANNO 1542, TILL THE MURDER OF CARDI-
NAL BEATON ANNO 1546.
The new doctrines concerning religion had so far prevailed
in Scotland, notwithstanding the severities used against the
professors thereof in the late King's reign by the influence
of the settled clergy, that in the very first Parliament holden
after his death by James Earl of Arran, tutor of the Queen,
and Governor of her kingdom, there was a proposal offered
by the Lord Maxwell, on the 15th day of March 1542-3,
being the fourth of the Parliament, for a liberty of reading
the Bible in the vulgar tongue, which proposal was received
and approved by the Governor and the Lords of the Articles ;
and because this was the first public step towards a re-
formation of religion, perhaps the reader will not be dis-
pleased to see the Act inserted in this History, which is
as followeth : —
" Anent the writing given in by Robert Lord Maxwell, in
presence of my Lord Governor and Lords of Articles, to be
advised by them, if the same be reasonable or not, of the
which the tenor follows : — It is statute and ordained, that it
shall be lawful to all our Sovereign Lady's lieges to have the
Holy Writ, to wit, the New Testament and Old, in the vulgar
tongue, in English or Scotch, of a good and true translation :
and that they shall incur no crimes for the having and
reading of the same, providing always that no man dispute
or hold opinions, under the pains contained in the Acts of
Parliament. The Lords of Articles, being advised with the
said writing, find the same reasonable, and therefore think
that the same may be used amongst all the lieges of this
realm, in our vulgar tongue, of a good, true, and just trans-
lation, because there was no law shewn nor produced in the
contrary; and that none of our Sovereign Lady's lieges
incur any crimes for having or reading of the same in form