Nuestra recepción argentina de la eclesiología conciliar

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meet in April 1583 for assistance in that matter. His letter to Field begins:

"Grace mercie and peace.

"I thank yow beloved brother for yor gent ill remembrance of me wt yor letter daited the 22 of Juli last, wche as it was moist acceptable unto me so was it comfortable to the brethren of the minis trie in these qwarters who at that tyme wer heavilie trubbled be those adversaries whome the myghtie hand of or god hath now

myghtelie beaten down. God grant that we never forget so myghtie and mervales deliverance.

On the morrow after I resaved yor letter I re­ saved an other frome the (Rothell?) tending to the same end to wit lame(n)ting or timblous state and tharewtall (therewithal) conforting us in or god. It is no small confort brother

(as ye and I have diverse tyme s. spoken in con­ ference) to brethren of one natione to under­ stand the state of the brethren in other nationes and therefore let us practise it as accasione will serve. For my part I sail not be unmynd- full when I may have (meit berars?). Thair is a motions brother in the heads of some brethre(n) heir wherein yor advyce wold do go ode as we

think, to wit that a generall sute be made be or generall assemblie nixt (v/che wilbe the 24 of Aprile nixt be Gods Grace) to the Kings

g(grace), and hole state, that a reqv/east frome thame and the hole generall assemblie be directed to the Quenes maiestie ,wt hir state and yor

churche towching the Reformatioun of some abuses in yor churche and especiallie that sincere men may have, libertie to preache ^vtowt (without) deposing be the " tyranies of the bisboppes. This I thoght goode onelie to move unto yow rudelie for the present to the end yo advyce yr. brethren thare (.) yor furder informatioun in this case may direct us forder, if it shall be thoght ex­ pedient, God grant us the spirit of faytfulnes and wisdome for the using of all lawfull raeanes for the advanceing of Gods gloria and proffeit of his churche, Goode Mr. Bowes doeth goode service heir for the weIlfare of the churche of

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God boy*t thare and heir, in that he travaleth faytfullie arid most dilige(nt)lie to keip these two countreis knit in amitie and trew friend­ ship, for no goode ma(n) can be ignorant how muche or concorde and unitie helpèth the goode caws of Christ wche is not alytill (a little) Invyed be Satan and his instrume( n)ts. The spirit of or lord Jesus Christ remayne wt yow ailwayes. brother to the end and in the end Amen, how my hartie come(n)dationes reme(m)bred to the brethren thare and especiallie to goode Mr. Stubbs Mr. Charke and to him whose 6omendationes caried be me to yow made or fyrst acque(n)tance togyther, wb î'Êc. Brownes half brother Mr. Sac field, not forgetting my

^^yve&

"Yor assured friend to my powar Mr, Johne Davids on''. ^

This promise of backing by those in Scotland naturally delighted the radicals in England, and, from the several endorsements upon the back and bottom of the letter, it seems that it had been circulated amongst one or two of the Classes in England.

Thus at the bottom of the letter is inscribed in a different hand to that which wrote the original :

"Concerning this be answer in generall hearing yt the brethren shall think themselves beholdinge to them if they shalbe so careful".

This is the first endorsement, and may be in Fieldls own hand, who, from the second endorsement, must have despatched the letter elsewhere for in yet another hand

1) Nat .Lib.Scot.ms.6.1.13.f.42. See also Chapter IV p. 205 for a further discussion of this letter.

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ia written:

"Davison to Field whether the synode might tak order for the K. moving her Matie for Reformation. It was liked by ye brethren here".

Not only, therefore, was the Classical movement to seek support in England, Antwerp and the Channel Islands, but the two neighbouring countries were to provide mutual support for one another :

"It is no small confort brother (as ye and I have diverse tymes spoken in conference; to brethren of one natione to understand the state

of the brethren in other nationes and t hare fore let us practise it as occasione will serve..,.." But this was as far as the scheme ever reached, for the Assembly were not as enthusiastic about it as Davidson zealously had led those in England to believe. It was merely suggested at that meeting in April that Elizabeth

should be entreated to enter a league against their common : enemies and that "her Majestic will disburden their

breither of England, of the yoke of ceremonies imposed to them against the libertie of the word". ^

The reason for this failure in Scotland was almost exactly that which hindered the reformation in England. James VI, having freed himself from the Ruthven con­

spirators, determined to weaken the too popular basis 1) Quoted by A.Peherkin, Booke of the Universal Kirk, of

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of the General Assembly, and thus render it more sub­ ordinate to his will. In 1584, when the Scottish

Parliament assembled, the church was shorn, one by one, of the majority of its rights ; whilst Adamson, the Archbishop of St. Andrews, gradually hedged Episcopacy round withnall manner of royal protection so that, it was once more declared to be the basis of the chief jurisdiction of the church. Indeed such was the state in Scotland that many ministers fled into England in that year, and among their number was John Davidson.

.• This change of fortune in the affairs of the

Scottish Kirk, however, cannot be blamed entirely for the failure of this scheme. There is very little doubt that Field and others were altogether too im­ patient to receive a favourable reception in the eyes of the Assembly just as those of the Plummers Hall congregation had been fifteen years earlier.

And yet there were others more extreme, so that Robert Harrison, another of those who had spent some months at Geneva as a Marian exile, in his "Treatise of Reformation without tarrying for any", could write

1) Nat .Lib. Scot .Wodrow ms .45.5.4 f.l of Art. 2. Polios unnum­