and some others of his disciples, were for a time
reluctant to separate from her, if her rulers could have been persuaded
seriously to set about repairing acknowledged evils and defects. But
Wishart, and those who came under his influence, seem to have abandoned
this struggle, and to have striven for the formation of a new
organisation apart from the old one. He formed kirks or
congregations--at least in Montrose and Dundee; the former consisting
probably mainly of the lesser gentry in the adjacent districts of Angus
and Mearns, and the latter chiefly of the substantial burghers of the
town of Dundee. I suppose that some forms of discipline began to be put
in practice in the Dundee congregation, and that it was on that account,
as well as from the remarkable revival which had taken place under his
ministrations, that the town came to be spoken of as "the Scottish
Geneva." The New Testament of Tyndale's translation had been introduced
both there and in Montrose as early as 1526; and by this time the
subsequent editions had been largely imported, and since 1543 might be
openly read.[76] John Wedderburn was then in his native city, and I
suppose by that date had published, in its most rudimentary form, his
'Psalms and Spiritual Songs,' largely translated from the German. John
Scott, the printer, was also there, and under suspicion of the
authorities in Edinburgh. Of the psalms and hymns, one, as I have
already mentioned, bears unmistakable reference to the _pest_ then
infesting the town of Dundee; another was sung by Wishart that evening
on which he was apprehended in East Lothian; a third is certainly
referred to in the 'Complaynt of Scotland,' which, being published as
early as 1549, is a guarantee for the earlier existence of the hymn.[77]
This rudimentary collection of 'Psalms and Spiritual Songs' was the book
of praise in family and social gatherings of the reformed until the
'Genevan Psalter' came into use.[78] The earliest editions of it have
perished. A nearly complete copy of the edition of 1567 has, however,
been preserved, and now at last reprinted.[79]

[Sidenote: Helvetic Confession and Communion Office.]

The translation of the First Helvetic Confession, which Wishart made,
was no doubt meant as the Confession of the churches he formed, though
it may only have been extant then in manuscript, and not published till
1548. That fragment of the Communion Office which was used by Knox in
the administration of the