nication and Public Repentance, sanctioned by the
General Assembly in 1569, long continued to be used as a directory in
the administration of discipline. It was compiled by Knox, or rather
abridged by him from Alasco's 'Modus ac Ritus Excommunicationis' and his
'Forma ac Ratio Publicae Penitentiae,' used with the approbation of
Edward VI. in the Church of the Foreigners in London. It breathes
throughout a spirit of tender regard for erring brethren and earnest
longing for their recovery, quite as strongly as it manifests a spirit
of holy zeal for the glory of God and the purity of His church. In all
save the most notorious and urgent cases, the offender was to be dealt
with repeatedly both in private and in public to confess his aggravated
offence before the extreme penalty was inflicted on him. If these
dealings and admonitions proved ineffectual, the minister was once more
to explain the nature of his offence, and the frequency of the public
and private admonitions addressed to him, was then to appeal to the
elders and deacons to confirm the truth of what he said, and finally was
to ask of the whole church if they thought such a contempt should be
suffered amongst them, and only in the event of no man making further
intercession for the erring and obstinate was the minister to proceed to
pronounce the fearful sentence.[208]

[Sidenote: Discipline under Prelacy.]

In the times of declension which arose after James VI. took the
government into his own hands, the strict exercise of such discipline
became specially odious to the king and his gay courtiers, and incessant
efforts were made to relax its rigour. These, however, were in general
directed to effect this object rather by means of than in spite of the
church, by securing that cases involving the sentence of excommunication
should be reserved for the determination of the higher courts of the
church, on which the king and his friends could bring their influence to
bear with most effect. Even during the domination of the Second
Episcopacy it is well known, from records still extant, that
kirk-sessions and presbyteries were continued, and were allowed, with
the sanction of the bishop, to maintain a discipline which in the
present day would not be generally accounted lax. The grotesque penances
so often resorted to in the times immediately succeeding the
Reformation, and for the use of which our forefathers have been
subjected to so much abuse and ridicule, were by no