The estates
instructed the ministers to draw up a statement of Protestant doctrine,
which might serve at once as a chart for their future guidance and a
justification for their present and their future action. In four days
the task (an easy one for Knox and his brother-ministers) was
accomplished; and under twenty-five heads the estates had before them
what was henceforth to be the creed of the majority of the Scottish
people. Article by article the Confession was read and considered, and,
after a feeble protest by the bishops of St. Andrew's, Dunkeld, and
Dunblane, approved and ratified by an overwhelming majority of the
estates.
The way being thus cleared, the next step was the logical conclusion of
all the past action of the Protestant leaders. In three successive acts,
all passed in one day, it was decreed that the national Church should
cease to exist. The first act abolished the jurisdiction of the Pope;
the second condemned all practices and doctrines contrary to the new
creed; and the third forbade the celebration of mass within the bounds
of Scotland. The penalties attached to the breach of these enactments
were those approved and sanctioned by the example of every country in
Christendom. Confiscation for the first offence, exile for the second,
and death for the third--such were to be the successive punishments for
the saying or hearing of mass.
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