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In August 1560 the Parliament met at Edinburgh. In addition to the lay
lords and representatives of the lesser nobles and of the cities,
there were present a number of bishops and abbots. Amongst these
latter it is interesting and instructive to note the presence of Lord
James Stuart, the bastard brother of the queen and one of the leaders
of the Congregation, as prior of St. Andrew's, of Lord James Hamilton
son of the Earl of Arran and a follower of Knox as abbot of Arbroath,
of John Stuart abbot of Coldingham, of the son of the Duke of Argyll
as bishop-elect of Brechin, together with a number of other laymen,
who, though holding high office in the Church, were determined to
promote the new movement for the sake of the property that they hoped
to obtain. The discussion opened under the presidency of Maitland,
Lord of Lethington, the Scottish Cecil, a double dealer who was even
more dangerous than an open enemy. A petition was presented
immediately on the part of Knox and his friends that doctrines such as
Transubstantiation, the sacrificial character of the Mass, Purgatory,
prayers for the dead, meritorious works, etc., which had been forced
upon the people by the clergy should be rejected. A confession of
faith was drafted and submitted to the assembly. The Primate and the
Catholic bishops present protested against the discussion of such a
document on the ground that according to the terms of the Treaty of
1560 the religious question should have been submitted previously to
the king and queen, and also because the treaty had never been
confirmed owing to the fact that the French commissioners had exceeded
their instructions. It was no doubt for this reason that a large
number of the ecclesiastical and lay lords who were strongly Catholic
had refused to attend the Parliament. Indeed the supporters of the old
religion, relying on the help of the queen, seemed to think that any
religious settlement made by Parliament was of no importance. Their
refusal to discuss the confession of faith was taken, however, as a
sign of their inability to refute it, and the confession was passed
with but few dissentients. Later on (24th August) three other acts
were formulated with the object of uprooting Catholicism in Scotland.
The jurisdiction of the Pope was abolished, and the bishops were
forbidden to act under his instructions; all previous Acts of
Parliament contrary to God's word or to the confession of faith as now
approved were declared null and void; and all persons were forbidden
to celebrate or to hear Mass under pain of confiscation of their goods
for the first offence, banishment for the second, and death for the
third.[20]

/The Book of Discipline/ which contained an exposition of the
ecclesiastical policy of the Scottish Reformers was compiled by Knox
and his companions. It dealt with the preaching of the Scriptures, the
two sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist, the suppression of religious
houses of all kinds, the election and appointment of ministers, elders
and deacons, and with the means to be provided for their support and
for the maintenance of education. Though the separate congregations
were left more or less free regarding the kind of religious service
that should be followed, the Book of Common Prayer formerly accepted
in Scotland was abolished to make way for the Calvinistic Book of
Common Order. In the general assemblies of the reformed Church
(December 1560-May 1561) decrees were issued for the destruction of
the religious houses and of all signs of idolatry, and individuals
were appointed to see that these decrees were put into immediate
execution.[21]

Both parties in Scotland turned instinctively to their queen. Mary had
been married in 1558, and in 1559 her husband succeeded to the throne
of France under the title of Francis II. A minister was dispatched to
inform her of the proceedings in Parliament, but she refused to
confirm the terms of the treaty with England, or to sanction the
changes that had been decreed. The death of her husband Francis II.
(1560) threw her into great grief and forced her to consider the
question of returning at once to her kingdom. She believed that many
of those who opposed her previously, lest Scotland should become a
French province, might now abandon their league with Elizabeth, and
welcome home their own lawful sovereign. Nor was there anything at
this time to indicate that Mary had any intention of playing the part
of a champion of Catholicism,[22] or of running the risk of forfeiting
her throne in Scotland or her claims to the English crown by
undertaking a campaign against the new religion. Her years of
residence at the French court, where religious interests were only too
often sacrificed to political designs, could not fail to have produced