The Scottish Reformation | Page 2

VI.
THE OLD SCOTTISH CONFESSION OF 1560 99
CHAPTER VII.
THE BOOK OF COMMON ORDER 123
CHAPTER VIII.
THE FIRST BOOK OF DISCIPLINE 144 SECT. I. THE
GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH 145 II. THE DISCIPLINE OF
THE CHURCH 162 III. THE PREROGATIVES AND DUTIES OF
CHURCH MEMBERS 169 IV. EDUCATION OF THE YOUNG AND
UNIVERSITY REFORM 174 V. CARE OF THE POOR 179
CHAPTER IX.
THE LAST DAYS OF JOHN KNOX 184
CHAPTER X.
THE SECOND BOOK OF DISCIPLINE 214
CHAPTER XI.
ALESIUS 239
APPENDICES.
A. THE PÆDAGOGIUM, OR ST MARY'S COLLEGE, ST

ANDREWS 285
B. CITATIO PATRICII HAMILTON 289
C. CARDINAL BETOUN'S INCONTINENCE 292
D. CONDITIONS ON WHICH THE USE OF THE CHURCH OF
THE WHITE LADIES AT FRANKFORT WAS GRANTED TO THE
ENGLISH EXILES 294
E. THE THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL OPINIONS OF
ALESIUS 295
F. THE DREAM OR VISION OF ALESIUS CONCERNING THE
DECAPITATION OF ANNE BOLEYN 297
G. THE DEPARTURE OF ALESIUS FROM ENGLAND 298
H. ALESIUS' INVITATION OF MELANCHTHON TO HIS
DAUGHTER'S WEDDING 300
I. THE WORKS OF ALESIUS 301
* * * * *
ADDENDA 307
INDEX 311

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF
THE VERY REV. ALEXANDER FERRIER MITCHELL, D.D.,
LL.D., PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN ST
MARY'S COLLEGE, ST ANDREWS.
A pathetic and almost melancholy interest attaches to this volume of

the Baird Lectures. Their scholarly and accomplished author may be
said to have entered on the last stage of the malady to which he
succumbed when they were read for him in Blythswood Parish Church,
Glasgow, by his friend and former student, Professor Robertson, the
closing one, indeed, having been delivered but a few days before his
death. In proof of the deep interest which he took in the subject of these
Lectures, and of his desire to present them in as perfect a form as
possible, it may also be mentioned that he employed his time in
revising them while confined to bed during the protracted and painful
illness through which he passed. The editing of them he intrusted to
another friend, Dr Hay Fleming of St Andrews, with whom he had
much in common--similarity of tastes and interest in the same literary
pursuits having led to an intercourse between them which ripened into
mutual confidence and esteem. Had Professor Mitchell lived to see the
work through the press himself, there is hardly room to doubt that, as in
the case of most of his other publications, additional explanatory and
supplementary notes on obscure points would have been appended by
him. As it is, the editor in executing his task has done what he could in
this respect.
When the decease of the venerable Professor took place at St Andrews
towards the end of March of this year, it was felt that the Church of
Scotland had been bereft not only of one of her ablest and most trusted
leaders, but of one of the wisest and warmest friends of her missions;
and the many tributes paid to his memory, both from the pulpit and in
the press, were all expressive of the high regard in which he was held,
and of the sense of public loss caused by his removal. But the loss was
not that of his own Church alone, nor of the University with which his
name had been so long and so honourably associated. There are those
in other communions who had learned to look upon him as "a master of
Israel," and in all Presbyterian Churches especially he was recognised
as one of the ablest and most learned exponents of the principles which
they hold in common, and as one of the most earnest defenders of "the
faith once delivered to the saints."
As many of those who are familiar with Professor Mitchell's writings
may know little or nothing of his personal history, it has been

suggested that a short biographical sketch of him would form an
appropriate introduction to this posthumous volume. The particulars
woven together in the following narrative have been collected from
various sources, some of them having been furnished by members of
his own family.
Alexander Ferrier Mitchell was born on 10th September 1822 in the old
ecclesiastical city of Brechin, with which his ancestors had had an
honourable connection for several generations. His grandfather,
Alexander Mitchell, and his father, David Mitchell, were both known
as Convener Mitchell, probably as having succeeded each other in the
convenership of the local guilds. On the maternal side he was
descended from another Brechin family, some of the members of which
had in their day served in various capacities abroad, one of his
granduncles, Alexander Ferrier, after whom he was named, having
been a doctor in India, and another, Captain David Ferrier, "a brave and
bold sailor,"--in memory of whom there is a tablet on the east door of
the