Series 5 > Religious Controversy in Scotland 1625-1639

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PREFACE
I have known some of these documents for a number of years. I first learned
about the writings ofWedderburn and Guthrie and Baillie—if in fact the author
of‘The Unreasonablenesse of the Service Book’—in January and February 1983
when I visited the repositories in which they reside while a postgraduate stu¬
dent at the University of Guelph writing a thesis about Scottish episcopacy.The
others came within my field of vision in the mid-1990s during which period I
spent many months in Edinburgh preparing my study on Scottish puritanism.
As I completed this latter work I came to the conclusion that a collection of
unpublished manuscripts might be of some use to other scholars in the field, and
I am grateful to the Scottish Flistory Society for sharing my judgement.
Staff at Edinburgh University Library, New College Library, the National
Library of Scodand, Glasgow University Library, the National Archives of Scot¬
land, and the British Library made an enormous contribution to my work by
their unfailing courtesy, often going beyond what one has a right to expect. Dr
Jane Dawson of New College and Dr Hazel Horn of the National Archives of
Scodand helped to identify the author of the report on the Glasgow Assembly,
found in the Breadalbane Papers. Dr Horn and her colleague Ms Jane Brown
answered paleographical questions. Dr Louise Yeoman at the National Library
of Scodand gave generously of her time on more than one occasion to puzzle
over handwriting or to give other advice flowing from her unrivalled knowl¬
edge of the Wodrow Manuscripts. Dr Maureen Meikle gave me a useful pointer
in the NLS that helped with several identifications, and Dr David Shepherd
helped me one morning in New College Library with a query concerning a
Hebrew word. Professor David Stevenson located ‘ Woman s Universe’ and kindly
brought it to my attention. Professor David Wright was most generous in help¬
ing me translate various patristic sources—saving me from many an error—and
Dr Roger Collins translated a Latin phrase in ‘Historic of Church and State’.
Professor Wright led me to the Rev. Angus Morrison who in turn led me to
Professor Allan D. Fitzgerald, O.S.A., ofVillanova University who graciously
supplied several references in the copious writings of Augustine. Dr Julian
Goodare, series editor, gave good advice and generally helped to make this a
better book. His colleague Dr John Finlay, another of the publication secretar¬
ies of the Scottish History Society, gave the proofs a final reading and his sharp
eyes saved me from several blunders. All remaining errors and infelicities of