tting forth the doctrines of the Reformers; and in 1897, for
the same Society, 'The Gude and Godlie Ballads,' reprinted from the
edition of 1567, with a full and most interesting Introduction. For the
Scottish History Society he also edited in 1892 and 1896, along with the
writer of this sketch, two volumes of 'The Records of the Commissions of
the General Assembly,' covering the period 1646-1650, from the original
manuscript in the Assembly library, with an introduction, notes, and
appendices by himself. To these must be added the present volume of the
Baird Lecture, 'The Scottish Reformation.'
The Baird Lecture on the Westminster Assembly was received with great
favour in America as well as in this country, and a new edition of it
was published at Philadelphia in 1897, in a notice of which in the
'Presbyterian and Reformed Review' the following statement occurs: "The
book at once took its rank as the most trustworthy and sympathetic
account of the Westminster Standards in existence, and rapidly ran out
of print. The public is to be congratulated that Dr Mitchell has
permitted himself to be persuaded by the [Presbyterian] Board to revise
the text and allow a new edition to be issued to meet the present
demand. The revision does not much alter the text. A phrase is more
felicitously turned here or rendered a shade more exact or emphatic
there; a few additional references are added in the notes; and a few
additional citations and remarks incorporated in them: that is about
all. But so good a book needed only these little touches of betterment."
The Professor also contributed to various journals and encyclopaedias
many important articles, chiefly on historical topics relating to
Scotland, which, if collected, would form a volume of miscellaneous
papers of great interest and value. The most important of these are
included in the subjoined list: In the 'British and Foreign Evangelical
Review,' January 1872, "Our Scottish Reformation: Its Distinctive
Characteristics and Present-Day Lessons," pp. 87-128; October 1875, "Dr
Merle D'Aubigne on the Reformation in Scotland," pp. 736-760; October
1876, "Killen's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," pp. 713-741: in the
'Catholic Presbyterian,' March 1879, "Calvin and the Psalmody of the
Reformed Churches": in the 'Scottish Church,' November 1886, "St Andrews
in Covenanting Times": in the 'Year-Book of the Church of Scotland,'
1886, "Brief Sketch of the History of the Reformed Churc
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