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stant fellow-labourer , and from whose diary most of the particulars respecting th « lives both of the uiicle and * nephew are known . At -thfc request of the General Assembly * he was soon after appointed Principal of the University of Glasgow , into which he introduced
great improvements , being much assisted by his nephew , who was appointed one of the Professors . Here he wrote the best of his Latin poems , a paraphrase of Deut . xxxii ., which may rival any of Buchanan ' s . In 1580 , the General Assembly transferred the Melvilles to the head of the
University of St . Andrew ' s . In this place also they succeeded against great opposition in introducing many excellent reforms . But it was by his exertions in introducing and defending the Presbyterian form of church government , that Melville principally
distinguished himself . By his eloquence and zeal he animated its supporters in the general assemblies and in the nation . " In 1576 , the Assembly directed tHat such bishops as had not taken the charge of a separate
congregation should now make choice of one , and from this time the Assembl y steadily followed up their decision , till they formally abolished the episcopal office / ' Melville was obliged to fly into England on the return of the profligate Arran , the favourite of James ,
to court , after the Raid of Rnthven . Xn his account of this period , Dr . M'Crie hag the following illiberal passage , which is very unworthy of him : " In tUe year 1584 , Robert Brown , the founder of the sect of Brownists , " now , Independents , " in England , came out of ; the Low Countries into
Scotland , with a number of his followers . Haying taken up his residence in the Canongate of Edinburgh , he began to disseminate his peculiar opinions , and to circulate writings , in which all the Reformed Churches were stigmatized as unscriptural t and antichristian societies . The court took . this rigid sectary unider , their protection , and
encouraged him for no other conceivable reason than his exclaiming against the mi n isters , and calling in question their authority . " Surely , Brown had as mwli right as Melvilje to disseminate i his peculiar opinions , and the latter wa $ by his opponents charged with beijxg as rigid a sectary as the former . It ill becomes a seceding-
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minister to employ these words of ca * lumny . < The fault of James was ¦ not in protecting Brown , ibut in \ persecuting-others . On the overthrew of Arrays influ .
ence , in 1585 , Melville returned t 0 Scotland , and again engaged in active exertions for the establishment of Presbyterianism , These were at length crowned with , success in 1592 , when the Parliament established that form
of church government , to which a large majority , both of the ministers and the people , were warmly attached . In the giidst of these controversies , it is gratifying to notice the ' following- display of charity by James Memlle . One of the vessels of the Spanish Armada was driven by the tempest ,
which destroyed a large part of the fleet , into the port of Anstruther , where he was minister . On Don Gomez , her commander , soliciting relief , Melville told him , " that the Scots regarded the attack on England as an attack on themselves , but looked upon
them , in their present situation , as men and fellow-creatures , labouring under suffering , to which themselves were liable . " Every possible relief was given to the commander , who on his return to Spain had an opportunity of testifying his gratitude . A vessel
belonging to Anstruther was arrested in a- Spanish port . Gomez posted to court and obtained her release , invited the company to his house , and did them ail possible service . In 1590 , on the coronation of James ' s queen ,
Andrew Melville wrote an elegant Latin poem . Even on this courtly occasion he nobly maintained thp principles of freedom . The following is the description he gave of a tyrannical king : / .
Est pecus , est pejor pecude , est fei ^ a bellua , soli Qui sibi se natum credit : qui non nfei . in ipso Cogitat imperium imperio : qui denique
secum . , ; Non putaj ipse da > tum se civibus , at sibi cives . From the year 1692 , the court began
to employ . a series of artifices to ovcrtuni JPreebyterianism and establish Episcopacy . In 1 S 93 ,. a conspiracy oj several Popish lords was di $ eove }^ - James was disposed to be lteniei | t »^ wards them . JDr . TWGrie says ; ^'* some he availed himself of the specious
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174 Review . —M * Crie * s Life 0 / Meitotlte *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1820, page 174, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2486/page/46/
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