Series 5 > Religious Controversy in Scotland 1625-1639

JOHN GUTHRIE, BISHOP OF MORAY,‘LIFE’
215
with the march ofjehu,7 threatning to tread my life down to the earth.There is
a house man8 to be respected, the house of the living God, pitefully disordered in
this land be the craft and malice of our old adversary. Of that house God is the
owner, and it hath pleased him to grace me with some service therein, albeit
most unworthy in myself. It concerns me to give accounts of my stewartship, for
clearing myself to my Lord and master and giveing satisfaction to my fellow
servants, and others of the famely.The service that I have born these sixteen years
has been in episcopacie, which, throughout as many centuries, has been esteemed
a worthy [3] work, but now mightily maligned and loaded with a world of
calumnies, whereby I am forced to speak for myself, being confident that the
reverend prelates of this kirk are more able to plead for themselves and their
integrity against all who have by word or write done what is in them to lay their
honour in the dust. In this I must follow the example of that worthy bishop and
glorious martir St Cyprian, when he had to do with Demetrianus the proconsul
of Aftick, who had imputed to the Christians all the evils whereby the world
was plagued at that time, as of this time all the mischiefs in this land (which are
now come to be far above anything that the inventors imagined) are by them
rolled over upon the bishops. He said, and so do I:‘... It is not fitting that I should
be silent any longer, lest my silence should begin to be attributed to mistrust9
rather than to modesty; and while I am treating the false charges with contempt,
I may seem to be acknowledging the crime.’10 His answer to him and them
whom he had (happily) stirred to all hatered and cursings against the Christians
was for this end, that he might be informed of the truth, hopping that he who
had been moved to ill by seduceing lies might be much more induced to good
by the force of truth.Therefore will I, in as few words as [4] possible I can, make
simple and true relation of my course of fife unto this time, as also of my present
condition and resolution for the time to come, hopping that such as have not
wedded themselves to their own will shall be moved to think that a man may be
a bishop and a good man too,11 and chainge the harsh opinion which they have
concived of us in this kirk.
And for giveing satisfaction anent my course of fife to all whom truth and
reason will satisfie, I shall be glade to have my ways back tryed, even from my
7 2 King? 9-10.
Grammar would have ‘man’ read as ‘much’, though this would be irregular in Scots.‘Man’ means
‘must’, but one must then convert the grammar accordingly.
9 i.e. lack of confidence.
10 Treatise 5, An Address to Demetrianus, in Writings of Cyprian, i, 425.
II In his Speech delivered in the Starr-Chamber, 6, Laud said :‘Our maine Crime is (would they al speak
out, as some of them do) that we are Bishops; were we not so, some of us might be as passable as other