workes: That fayth, hope, and charitie, are so knit, that he that hath the one, hath the rest, and he that wanteth the one of them, wanteth the rest. &c. wyth diuers other heresies and detestable opinions: and hath persisted so obstinate in the same, that by no counsaile nor perswasion, he may be drawen therefrom, to the way of our right fayth. MarginaliaWolues in Lambes skinnes. All these premisses being considered, we hauing God & the integritie of our fayth before our eyes, and followyng the coūsaile and aduise of the professours of the holy Scripture, men of law, and others assisting vs, for the tyme: do pronounce, determine, and declare, the sayd M. Patrike Hamelton, for his affirmyng, confessing, and maintayning of the foresayd heresies, and hys pertinacitie (they beyng condemned already by the Church, generall Councells, and most famous Vniuersities) to be an hereticke, and to haue an euil opinion of the fayth, and therfore to be condemned and punished, like as we condemne, and define hym to be punished, by this our sentence definitiue, depriuyng and sentencyng him, to be depriued of all dignities, honours, orders, offices, and benefices of the Church: and therfore do iudge and pronoūce him to MarginaliaM. Patricke geuen to the secular power. be deliuered ouer to the secular power, to be punished, and his goodes to be confiscate. This our sentence definitiue, was geuen and read at our Metropolitan Churche of S. Andrewes, the last day of the moneth of February. an. 1527  

. beyng present, the most reuerēd fathers in Christ, and Lordes, Gawand Bishop of Glasgow, George Byshop of Dunkelden. Iohn, Byshop of Brecham. William, Byshop of Dunblane. Patrike, Prior of Saint Andrew. Dauid, Abbot of Abirbrothok. George, Abbot of Dunfermelyng. Alexander, Abbot of Caunbuskyneth. Henry Abbot of Lendors. Iohn Prior of Pittyrweme. The Deane, and Subdeane of Glasgow. M. Hew Spens. Thomas Ramsay. Allane Meldrun, &c. In the presence of the Clergy and the people.

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After the condemnation and Martyrdome of this true Saint of God was dispatched, by the Byshops and Doctours of Scotland, the rulers and Doctours of the Vniuersitie of Louane hearyng therof, receaued such ioye & consolation, at the shedyng of that innocent bloud, that for the aboundaunce of hart, they could not stay their penne, to vtter condigne thankes, applaudyng and triumphyng in their letters, sent to the foresayd Byshop of S. Andrewes, & Doctours of Scotland, at the worthy & famous deseruynges of their atchieued enterprise, in that behalfe: as by the tenour of their sayd letter may appeare, which here foloweth.

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MarginaliaA letter of thankes, sent from Louane, to them of Scotland for shedding the bloud of Patrike Hamelton. Y Our excellent vertue (most honourable Bishop) hath so deserued, that albeit we be farre distant, both by sea and land, without cōiunction of familiaritie, yet we desire with all our hartes, to thanke you for your worthy deede, by whose workes, that true faith which, not lōg ago, was tainted with heresie, not onely remaineth vnhurt, but also is more confirmed. For as our deare frend M. Alexander Galoway, Chanon of Aberdon, hath shewed vs, the presumptiō of the wicked hereticke Patrike Hameltō, which is expressed in this your example, in that you haue cut him of, when there was no hope of amendement. &c.

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MarginaliaWhat ioy the papistes make in spiling the bloud of Christians. The which thyng, as it is thought commendable to vs, so the maner of the procedyng was no lesse pleasaunt, that the matter was performed by so great consent of so many estates, as of the Clergy, nobilitie, and vulgare people, not rashely, but most prudently, the order of law beyng in all poyntes obserued. We haue sene the sentence which ye pronounced, and alway do approue the same, not doubtyng but that the Articles which be inserted, are erroneous: so that whosoeuer will defend for a truth, any one of the same, with pertinacitie, should be esteemed an enemy to the fayth, and MarginaliaIf ye coulde shew to what place of the scripture, we would gladly heare you. an aduersary to the holy * Scripture. And albeit one or two of them appeare to be without errour, to them that will cōsider onely the bare wordes: as (for example) good workes make not a good mā, but a good mā worketh good workes, yet there is no doubt, but they conteine a Lutheran sense, which, in a maner, they signifie: to witte, that workes done after fayth, and iustification, make not a man the better, nor are worthy of any reward before God. Beleue not, that this example shall haue place onely among you, for there shalbe among externe nations, which shall imitate the same. &c.

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Certeinly, ye haue geuen vs great courage, so that now we acknowledge your Vniuersitie, which was founded accordyng to the example of our Vniuersitie of Louane, to be equall to ours, or ells aboue: and would God occasion were offered of MarginaliaThe vniuersitie of S. Andrewes was founded about the yeare of our Lord 1416  

. in the reigne of kyng Iames the first, who brought into Scotland, out of other countreyes, 8. Doctors of Diuinitie, and 8. Doctours of Decrees, wyth diuers other. Hect. boet. lib. 16. cap. 17.   testifying our myndes toward you. In the meane tyme, let vs labour with one consent, that the rauenyng Wolues may be expelled frō the shepefold of Christ, while we haue tyme. Let vs study to preach to the people more learnedly hereafter, and more wisely. Let vs haue Inquisitours, and espyers of bookes, containyng that doctrine, especially that is brought in from farre countreys, whether by apostatiue Monkes, or by Marchauntes, the most suspected kynde of men in these dayes. It is sayd  

Commentary     Close

This was indeed a truism amongst Scots, unshaken by the (admittedly marginal) presence of Lollardy in fifteenth-century Scotland: see, for example, The Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, vol. II (1814), p. 295.

, that since Scotland first embraced the Christiā fayth, it was neuer defiled with any heresie. Perseuer therfore, beyng moued thereunto by the example of Englād, your next neighbour, which in this most troublous tyme, is not chaunged, partly by the workyng of the Byshops, among Marginalia* He meaneth Fysher B. of Rochester, who wrote agaynst Oecolampadius and Luther, and at length was beheaded for treason. the which * Roffensis hath shewed hymselfe an Euangelicall Phœnix, and partly of the kyng, declaryng hymselfe to be an other Mathias of the new law: pretermittyng nothyngMarginaliaK. Henry. 8. is here a Matthias, when he maketh wyth you, but when he put downe the pope and hys Abbeyes, then ye make hym an hereticke. that may defend the law of his realme. The which, of your most renowmed kyng of Scotland will follow, he shall purchase to himselfe eternal glory. Further, as touchyng the condigne commēdation, due for your part (most reuerend Byshop) in this behalfe, it shal not be the least part of your prayse, that these heresies haue bene extinct sometymes in Scotland, you beyng Primate of Scotland and principal authour therof: Albeit that they also which haue assisted you, are not to be defrauded of their deserued prayse, as the Reuerend Byshop of Glasgow, of whose eruditiō, we haue here geuen vs partly to vnderstād, and also the reuerend Byshop of Aberden, a stoute defender of the fayth, together with the rest of the Prelates, Abbotts, Priors, and professours of holy Scripture. Let your reuerend fatherhode take this litle testificate of our duety toward you, in good part, whom we wish long and happely well to fare in Christ. From Louane, an. 1528. April. 21.

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By the Maisters and professors of Theo-
logie in the Vniuersitie of Louane, yours
to commaunde.

In this Epistle of the Louaniane Doctours, I shall not neede (gentle Reader) to note vnto thee, what a pernicious thyng in a common wealth, is blynd ignoraunce, whē it falleth into cruell hartes. Which may well be compared to a sword put in the hādes of one, that is both blynd and mad. For as the blynd man, hauyng no sense to see and iudge knoweth not whom he striketh: so the madde man, beyng cruell and furious, hath no cōpassion in sparyng any. Wherupon it happeneth many tymes with these men, as it dyd with the blynd furious Phariseis, that as they hauyng the sword of authoritie in their handes, in stede of malefactours and false Prophetes, slue the true Prophetes of God, and at last crucified the kyng of glory: so these Catholicke Louanians and folowers of their Messias of Rome, take in their handes the sworde of iurisdiction, who neither seyng what to spare, nor caryng whom they smite, vnder the stile and pretense of heretiques, murther and blaspheme without mercy, the true preachers of the Gospell, & the holy annoynted of the Lord.

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But to returne to the matter agayne of M. Hamelton, here is moreouer to be obserued, as a note worthy of memory, that in the yeare of the Lord. 1564. in the which yeare this present history was collected in Scotland, there were certaine faythfull men of credite then alyue, who beyng present the same tyme, when M. Patrike Hamelton was in the fire, heard him to cite and appeale the blacke Frier called Campbel  

, that accused him, to appeare before the hygh God, as generall iudge of all men, to aunswere to the innocency of his death, and whether his accusation was iust or not, betwene that, and a certaine day of the next moneth, which he there named. Moreouer by the same witnes it is testified, that þ^e sayd FrierMarginaliaA maruelous example of Gods iust punishment vpon the accuser & persecuter of M. Hamelton. dyed immediatly before the sayd day came, without remorse of conscience, that he had persecuted the Innocent. By the example wherof diuers of the people the same tyme, much mused, and firmely beleued the doctrine of the foresayd M. Hamelton, to be good and iust.

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MarginaliaA treatise of M. Patrike Hamelton, called Patrikes places. Hereunto I thought good to adioyne a certaine godly and profitable treatise  

of the sayd M. Patrike Hamelton, writen first by him in Latine, and afterward translated by Iohn Frith into English, which he names Patrikes Places, not vnprofitable in my mynde, to be sene and read of all men, for the pure and comfortable doctrine conteined in the same, as not onely by þ^e treatise it self may appeare, but also by the preface of the sayd Iohn Frith, prefixed before, which also I thought not inconuenient to insert with the same as here foloweth.

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