The Scottish Reformation - Part 19
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Part 19

8. [De Argvmento Epistolae ad Romanos Dispvtatio prima, pvblice proposita in celebri Academia Lipsensi, et in ordinaria dispvtatione defensa, praesidente Alexandro Alesio, sacrae theologiae doctore.

Lipsiae in officina Valenttini Papae. anno M.D.XLVII. This small 8vo tract of 8 leaves is printed in italics.]

9. Ordo Distributionis Sacramenti Altaris in Regno Angliae. 1548. [This is a translation of 'The Order of the Communion,' which has been re-printed for the Parker Society in 'The Two Liturgies of Edward VI.'

In the British Museum Catal., it is mentioned that the translator's address to the reader is signed: 'A. A. S. D. Th.'--_i.e._, "Alexander Alesius, Scotus, Doctor Theologiae." See also Coverdale's Remains, Parker Society, p. 525 n.]

10. Epitome Catechismi D. P. Melanchthonis cui addita est expositio symboli et Orationis Dominicae. 1550.

11. Commentarius in Epistolam Primam Si Pauli ad Timotheum. Lipsiae, 1550.

12. Commentarius in Epistolam Secundam Si Pauli ad Timotheum. Lipsiae, 1551. [The exact t.i.tle of this is: "In Alteram ad Timotheum Expositio.

Avtore Alexandro Alesio. D. Lipsiae, excvdebat Georgivs Hantzsch anno M.D.LI."]

13. Ordinatio Ecclesiae in Regno Angliae. 1551. [This is a translation of the 'First Liturgy of Edward VI.' As a translation it is somewhat adversely criticised in the 'Liturgical Services of Queen Elizabeth,'

Parker Society, pp. xxiv-xxvii. The full t.i.tle is: "Ordinatio Ecclesiae, sev Ministerii Ecclesiastici, in Florentissimo Regno Angliae, conscripta sermone patrio, & in Latinam linguam bona fide conuersa, & ad consolationem ecclesiarum Christi, ubicunque locorum ac gentium, his tristissimis temporibus, edita, ab Alexandro Alesio Scoto sacrae theologiae doctore. Lipsiae in officina VVolfgangi Gvnteri. Anno M.D.LI." The copy of this 4to in the Edinburgh University Library belonged to Drummond of Hawthornden. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,'

1619 and 1690 are given as the dates of two 8vo editions.]

14. Commentarius in Epistolam S. Pauli ad t.i.tum. Lipsiae, 1552. [The full t.i.tle of this is: "Epistolae ad t.i.tvm Expositio, in qva pleraque tractantur per quaestiones, ut a pueris facilius percipi, & retineri possint. Nulla est autem sententia in tota Epistola praetermissa, quae non sit explicata: Et de Syntaxi, & Figura sermonis, ac genuina significatione dictionu pa.s.sim disputatur. Praelecta Lipsiae, ab Alexandra Alesio. D. Lipsiae, in officina typographica Georgii Hantzsch.

M.D.LII."]

15. Refutatio errorum Andreae Osiandri de Justificatione. Wittembergae, 1552. [The full t.i.tle is: "Alexandri Alesii Doctoris Theologiae diligens refutatio errorum, quos sparsit nuper Andreas Osiander in libro, cui t.i.tulum fecit: De Vnico Mediatore Christo. Edita VVitebergae ex officina Ioannis Lufftij anno 1552." In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' it is stated that an edition was also printed at Leipsic in 1553.]

16. Commentarius in Evangelium Joannis. Lipsiae, 1552. Basilii, 1553.

[The full t.i.tle is: "Commentarivs in Euangelium Ioannis, praelectvs in celebri Academia Lipsensi, ab Alexandro Alesio D. Theologo, anno Domini 1552. c.u.m locuplete rerum & uerborum memorabilium indice. Basileae, per Ioannem Oporinum." The colophon is: "Basileae, ex officina Ioannis Oporini, anno salutis humanae M.D.LIII. Mense Martio." This volume contains over 600 pages.]

17. Disputatio in XIIII. cap. Rom. Disputt. et Orr. aliquot Francoforti habitae 1540 et 1541. [The full t.i.tle is: "In Capvt XIIII. Epistolae Pavli ad Romanos, Dispvtatio Alexandri Alesii Theologiae D. Lipsiae, M.D.XLVI." This tract of 6 leaves, with the exception of the t.i.tle-page and the heading, is printed in italics.]

18. Omnes Disputationes Alexandri Alesii in Epistolam Si Pauli ad Romanos. Lipsiae, 1553. [The full t.i.tle is: "Omnes Dispvtationes D.

Alexandri Alesii de tota Epistola ad Romanos diversis temporibvs propositae ab ipso in celebri Academia Lipsensi, et a mvltis doctis viris expet.i.tae, iam tandem collectae per Georgivm Hantsch, et editae in gratiam stvdiosorvm. Cvm praefatione Philippi Melanchthonis. M.D.LIII."

In the British Museum Catal. Wittenberg is entered as the supposed place of publication. In the sale catal. of the Makellar Library there is the item: "Alesius (Alex. Scotus) De Paulina Argumentatione, capiti secundo ad Romanos, Ideo inexcusabilis es, o h.o.m.o quis-quis es qui Judicus (_sic_), Disputatio s.e.xta, ... s. l. anno 1549." See also _supra_, Nos.

8 and 17.]

19. Primus Liber Psalmorum Davidis. Lipsiae, 1550, 1554.

20. Disputationes Tres De Mediatore et Justificatione hominis. Lipsiae, 1554.

21. Responsio ad Tapperum de Missa et Cna Domini. Lipsiae. [In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' 1565 is given as the date of publication.]

22. Contra horrendas Serveti Blasphemias Disputationes Tres. Lipsiae, 1554. [These disputations were probably issued separately and were supplemented by a fourth. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' there is the entry: "Contra Michaelem Servetum ejusque blasphemias disp. iii.

Leipsic, 8vo. 1554"; and also this other: "Contra horrendas Serveti blasphemias disputatio quarta. Leipsic, 8^{vo.} 1555."]

23. Disputatio de Perpetuo Consensu Ecclesiae. Lipsiae, 1553(?), 1556.

24. Ad libellum Ludovici Nogarolae comitis De Traditionibus Apostolicis et earum necessitate Responsio Alexandri Alesii D. Lip. 1556. [For the rarity of this tract see _supra_, p. 255 n. In his Introduction to Gau, Dr Mitch.e.l.l gives as the alternate t.i.tle: "Apostolicae inst.i.tutiones a Ludovico Nogarola Com. in parvum libellum collectae et ab Alexandro Alesio in Disputationem propositae in celebri Academia Lipsiensi. Lipsiae, Excudebat Georgius Hantzsch, 1556." 8vo.]

25. Responsio ad Duos et triginta Articulos Theologorum Lovaniensium.

Lipsiae, 1559. [In the sale catalogue of the Makellar Library 1545 is given as the year of publication. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses' 1549 is given.]

26. a.s.sertio Doctrinae Ecclesiae Catholicae de Sancta Trinitate, c.u.m confutatione erroris Valentini Gentilis. 1564 (?). [British Museum Catalogue gives Geneva, 1567.]

27. Edinburgi Regiae Scotorum Urbis Descriptio. Bannatyne Club Miscellany, vol. i. [This description of Edinburgh was sent by Alesius to Sebastian Munster for his "Cosmography," printed at Basle in 1550, and republished in 1572. There are translations of it in Mackenzie's Lives and Characters of Scots Writers, ii. 400, 401; and in Chambers'

Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh; and in Hume Brown's Scotland before 1700.]

28. [Congratulatory letter to Queen Elizabeth, dated at Leipsic, 1st September 1559. The original holograph of twenty pages and a slip is still preserved. A translation of most of it is given in the Calendar of Foreign State Papers, Reign of Elizabeth, i. 524-534.]

[There are copies of Nos. 5, 12, 14, 15, 16 (1553), and 18 in St Andrews University Library; of No. 2 in the Church of Scotland Library, Edinburgh; of No. 16 (1553) in the Signet Library; of No. 8 in the Advocates'; of Nos. 2, 3 (De Rest.i.tuendis Scholis), 5, 13, 16 (1553), and 17 in the Edinburgh University Library; and of Nos. 1, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 (1553), 18, 19 (1554), 23 (1556), and 26 in the British Museum. Nos. 27 and 28 are in all important public libraries. At Laing's sale, No. 1 brought 6, 5s.; No. 2, 17, 17s.; No. 5, 6; No. 6, 4; No.

13, 10; No. 15, 5, 17s. 6d.; No. 16, 5, 10s.; and No. 18 (with which was bound up "Sarcerius de Scholasticae Theologiae Vanitate"), 6. In the 'Athenae Cantabrigienses,' the following six items, which are not in the above list, are mentioned: "Disputatio de Just.i.tia Dei et Just.i.tia hominis coram Deo. Leipsic, 1553." "De utriusque naturae officiis in Christo." "De distincta Christi hypostasi." "Preface to Gardiner upon obedience. Translated from English to Latin." "De Balaei Vocatione.

Translated from English." "Ordinationes Anglorum Ecclesiae per Bucerum.

Translated from English to Latin." In connection with the last, see 'Liturgical Services of Queen Elizabeth,' Parker Society, p. xxv, n. 3.]

[ADDENDA.

Page 20. _Patrick Hamilton's admission to the Faculty of Arts in St Andrews University._--The entry in the 'Acta Facultatis Artium' runs thus: "Congregatione artium facultatis, in Nouis Scolis eiusdem tenta tercio die mensis Octobris, anno Domini millesimo quingentesimo vigesimo quarto, Magister Johannes Ba[l]four regentium senior Collegij Sancti Saluatoris in quodlibetarium est electus; et Magister Patricius Hamiltone, abbas de Ferne, Rossensis diocesis, in facultatem est receptus."

Page 117. _Two sacraments only._--In the Preface to the Book of Common Order it is said that "for the ministration of the two sacraments, our Booke giveth sufficient proofe" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 395; Laing's Knox, iv. 164). In the Confession used in the English congregation at Geneva only two are referred to (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 9; Laing's Knox, iv. 172); in "the Maner to Examine Children" their number is said to be two (Laing's Knox, vi. 344); and in Calvin's Catechism, printed with the Book of Common Order, it is emphatically declared that there are two only (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 233).

Page 121. _The language of Rev. xiv. 11._--In the text of the Confession the pa.s.sage runs thus: "For sik as now delyte in vanity, cruelty, filthynes, superst.i.tion or idolatry, sal be adjudged to the fire unquencheable: in quhilk they sall be tormented for ever, asweill in their awin bodyes, as in their saules, quhilk now they give to serve the devill in all abhomination" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 96, 97). As printed in Laing's Knox (ii. 120) the word "inextinguishable," and in the Acts of Parliament (ii. 534; iii. 22) the word "unstancheabill," is used instead of "unquencheable." In Dunlop, however, there is in addition, at the bottom of the page, in smaller type: "Rev. 14. 10. The same shall drynke the wyne of the wrath of G.o.d, which is poured in the cuppe of hys wrath. And he shall be punyshed in fyre and brymstone before the holy angells, and before the Lambe. And the smooke of theyr torment ascendeth up evermore, and they have no rest daye nor nyght, whyche worshyppe the beast and hys ymage."

Page 153. _Readers or exhorters._--The name _exhorter_ does not occur in the First Book of Discipline; but that "sort of readers" therein mentioned as having "some gift of exhortation" (Dunlop's Confessions, ii. 537; Laing's Knox, ii. 200) soon came to be known as exhorters, and are so named in various Acts of a.s.sembly; see, for example, the Act of 1564 quoted on p. 128. They are distinguished from readers in the 'Register of Ministers, Exhorters, and Readers,' printed for the Maitland Club; but, as David Laing has pointed out, the t.i.tle of exhorter as indicating an advanced cla.s.s seems to have been soon and silently dropped. "On comparing the list of the persons so styled in 1567 with that of 1574, we find some of them had become ministers, but the greater number are entered simply as readers" (Wodrow Miscellany, p.

323).

Page 233. _Conference between the two parties._--Besides the three conferences mentioned in the footnote, there was another held in the early summer of 1578. The results, as recorded in the Booke of the Universall Kirk (ii. 414, 415) and in Calderwood's History (iii. 412, 413), embrace nothing about the kirk-session, beyond the perpetuity of the persons of the elders.

Page 259. _Alesius at Wittenberg._--Through the influence of Luther and Melanchthon, the Elector of Saxony had conferred on Alesius the prebend of Aldenburgh. Being in greats straits for money, and having been disappointed of help otherwise, he was constrained to write from Wittenberg, on the 12th of December 1533, to Spalatinus, requesting him to obtain payment of the moiety of the prebend (Corpus Reformatorum, ii.

690, 691).

Page 261. _The disputatious Cochlaeus._--On the suggestion of Melanchthon, an attack in verse was made on Cochlaeus for his injustice to Alesius; but the timorous author so dreaded Cochlaeus that, instead of writing in his own name, he personated Alesius (Corpus Reformatorum, iv. 1025, 1026).

Page 265. _Erasmus and Cochlaeus._--Summaries of the letters which James V. wrote, on the 1st of July 1534, to Erasmus, to Cochlaeus, and to the King of the Romans, are in the Letters and State Papers of Henry VIII., vol. vii. p. 358.

Page 267. _Alesius as a physician._--"I determined with my self to serve the tyme and to change the preaching of the crosse with the scyence of physic wherin I had a litle sight before, and thus I went unto a very well-lerned phisycian called Doctor Nicolas, which hath practised phisyk in London thes many yeares with high prayse, whose company I dyd use certen yeares, wherby I did both see and lern many things, even the princ.i.p.al poyntes concerning that science. In so moch that at length certen of my frindes did move me to take in hand to practise, which thing I did I trust not unluckyly" (Of the Auctorite of the Word of G.o.d agaynst the Bisshop of London).

Page 268. _Latimer and Cranmer._--For the opinion of Alesius on Latimer and Cranmer, see Dr Mitch.e.l.l's Westminster a.s.sembly, 1883, p. 14 n., and p. 23 n.

Page 268 n. _Ales or Alesius._--Christopher Anderson may be excused for supposing that Ales was the real name of Alesius; but less can be said for those editors of State Papers and compilers of important Library Catalogues who have helped to perpetuate the error long after it was pointed out by Princ.i.p.al Lorimer in his Patrick Hamilton.

Page 269. _John M'Alpine and John Fyffe._--From a correction which Dr Mitch.e.l.l has made in his own copy of the 'Gude and G.o.dlie Ballatis,'

1897, p. cv, it seems that he had come to the conclusion that it was M'Alpine and _Macdowal_, not _Fyffe_, who were protected by Bishop Shaxton. Cf. Lorimer's Patrick Hamilton, pp. 186, 187.]

THE END.