surmises, his subsequent conduct but too well justified. But Morton had already made his election in favour of John Douglas, who was inducted into the office, notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of John Knox. The conduct of Adamson on this occasion was long after remembered when he would have wished it to be forgot. The week after the induction, and when the greatest concourse of people was expected, he ascended the pulpit and delivered a vehement and sarcastic sermon against the Episcopal office as then exercised in Scotland. "There are three sorts of bishops," he said ; "My lord Bishop, my lord's Bishop, and the Lord's Bishop. My lord Bishop was in the papistry; my lord's Bishop is now, when my lord gets the benefice, and the bishop serves for nothing but to make his title sure; and the Lord's Bishop is the true minister of the gospel." He saw that, for the present at least, he could not be primate of St Andrews, and therefore he turned his attention to the more humble offices of the church. And there, indeed, whatever could satisfy the wishes of a simple presbyter was within his reach; for he was not only in general esteem among his brethren, but highly and justly valued for his scholarship, in consequence of his catechism of Calvin in Latin heroic verse, which he had written in France, and was about to publish in Scotland with the approbation of the General Assembly. He now announced his willingness to resume the duties of the ministry ; but his intimation was coupled with a request that had somewhat of a secular and selfish appearance. It was, that a pension which had been granted to him by the late regent out of the teinds of the parsonage of Glasgow, should be secured to him ; and that the procurators of the Assembly should be commissioned to aid him to that effect. His request was granted, and he once more became a minister. The town of Paisley was his sphere of duty, according to the appointment of the Assembly. In addition to this, he was subsequently appointed commissioner of Galloway, an office which resembled that of a bishop as to its duties, but divested of all its pre-eminence and emolument. Some of the best men of the kirk had undertaken this thankless office with alacrity, and discharged its duties with diligence; but such was not the case with Patrick Adamson; and when his remissness as a commissioner was complained of to the General Assembly, he acknowledged the justice of the accusation, but pleaded in excuse, that no stipend was attached to the office.
Of the labours of Adamson while minister of Paisley, no record has been preserved. His time there, however, was brief, as a new sphere was opened to his ambition. The great subject of anxiety at this period in the church, was the construction of the Book of Policy, otherwise called the Second Book of Discipline, and procuring its ratification by the government; but the chief obstacle in the way was the Earl of Morton, now regent, whose principal aim, besides enriching himself with the ecclesiastical revenues, was to bring the two churches of England and Scotland into as close a conformity as possible, in order to facilitate the future union of the two kingdoms under the reign of his young master, James VI. Here it is that we find Adamson busy. He became an active negotiator for the Book of Policy, and while he managed to secure the confidence of the leading men in the church, he ingratiated himself into the favour of the regent; so that when the latter chose him for his chaplain, the brethren seem to have hoped that the accomplishment of their purpose would be facilitated by having such an advocate at court. But never were ecclesiastics more thoroughly disappointed in their hopes from such a quarter. The archbishopric of St Andrews had again become vacant, and Morton nominated Adamson to the
