SIR THOMAS DICK LAUDER, BART.

THE EARL OF LAUDERDALE.

VERY REVEREND PRINCIPAL JOHN LEE, D.D.

LORD LINDSAY.

JAMES LOCH, ESQ.

LORD LOVAT.

ALEXANDER MACDONALD, ESQ.

60 HON. J. H. MACKENZIE, LORD MACKENZIE.

JAMES MACKENZIE, ESQ.

JOHN WHITEFOORD MACKENZIE, ESQ.

WILLIAM FORBES MACKENZIE, ESQ.

ALEXANDER MACONOCHIE, ESQ.

JAMES MAIDMENT, ESQ.

THOMAS MAITLAND, ESQ.

THE VISCOUNT MELVILLE.

THE HON. WILLIAM LESLIE MELVILLE.

WILLIAM HENRY MILLER, ESQ.

70 THE EARL OF MINTO.

HON. SIR J. W. MONCREIFF, BART., LORD MONCREIFF.

JAMES PATRICK MUIRHEAD, ESQ.

HON. SIR JOHN A. MURRAY, LORD MURRAY.

WILLIAM MURRAY, ESQ.

MACVEY NAPIER, ESQ.

ROBERT NASMYTH, ESQ.

SIR FRANCIS PALGRAVE.

LORD PANMURE.

SIR THOMAS PHILLIPPS, BART.

80 ROBERT PITCAIRN, ESQ.

ALEXANDER PRINGLE, ESQ.

JOHN RICHARDSON, ESQ.

THE EARL OF ROSEBERY.

THE DUKE OF ROXBURGHE.

ANDREW RUTHERFURD, ESQ.

THE EARL OF SELKIRK.

JAMES SKENE, ESQ.

WILLIAM SMYTHE, ESQ.

THE EARL SPENCER.

90 JOHN SPOTTISWOODE, ESQ.

EDWARD STANLEY, ESQ.

THE HON. CHARLES FRANCIS STUART.

THE DUKE OF SUTHERLAND.

ARCHIBALD SWINTON, ESQ.

ALEXANDER THOMSON, ESQ.

WALTER CALVERLEY TREVELYAN, ESQ.

DAWSON TURNER, ESQ.

PATRICK FRASER TYTLER, ESQ.

ADAM URQUHART, ESQ.

100 RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE WARRENDER, BART.

Ar an Extraordinary General Meeting of the BANNATYNE CLUB, held in the Apartments of the Antiquarian Society, on Friday the 8th of July 1836:

THE PRESIDENT having stated, that the destruction of the early Registers of the Church of Scotland, in the year 1834, being no longer a matter of doubt, it had become highly desirable that measures should be taken for collecting and printing, in addition to the volume known by the title of "The Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland," whatever else could yet be recovered from authentic sources of the recorded proceedings of the General Assemblies, from the era of the Reformation to the period from which the original Registers were still extant. The Meeting approved of the President's recommendation, and he was requested to take such steps as he might judge fit for preparing a specimen of the proposed Work.

AT a Meeting of the COMMITTEE of the BANNATYNE CLUB, held at Edinburgh, in the House of the President, on Monday the 13th day of November 1837:

The PRESIDENT stated, that he expected soon to exhibit a specimen of "The Booke of the Universall Kirk,”—and suggested, that it should be put within the option of the MAITLAND CLUB to secure copies of the Work, by furnishing paper and paying a proportionate share of the expense. The Secretary was directed to make a communication to this effect.

Ar an Extraordinary General Meeting of the BANNATYNE CLUB, held in the Hall of the Antiquarian Society, on Monday the 29th of January 1838 :

In pursuance of the Minute of the Committee on the 13th of November last, and after communicating with the Committee of the Maitland Club, it was RESOLVED, That the printing of "The Booke of the Universall Kirk of Scotland," containing the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Church, from the year M.D.LX., be proceeded with, under the superintendence of THOMAS THOMSON, Esq., President of the Club, at the joint expense, and for the use, of the Members of the BANNATYNE and MAITLAND CLUBS.

DAVID LAING, SECRETARY.

AT an Extraordinary General Meeting of the BANNATYNE CLUB, held at Edinburgh, in the Hall of the Antiquarian Society, on Monday the 15th day of April 1839:—

RESOLVED, That the First Part of "The Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, from the year M.D.LX., collected from the most authentic Manuscripts," and now printing for the Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs, be circulated among the Members.

DAVID LAING, SECRETARY.

THE PREFACE.

In presenting to the Club these remains of the Recorded Proceedings of the Church of Scotland, during the first half century after the Reformation, it may be fit to offer some explanation of the causes of their imperfect state; and not uninteresting to trace the successive dangers and escapes through which the original muniments had passed, down to the period when there is too much reason to believe they were left to perish in the conflagration of the Houses of Parliament in the year 1834.

The duty of recording the proceedings, and framing the Registers of the General Assemblies of the Church, was from the first entrusted to an officer regularly elected; to whom also was committed their ordinary custody.* In these Registers was embodied the most authentic

This officer appears under the various designations of "Scribe" or "Clerk of the Assembly,"-"Common Clerk of the Kirk," and "Clerk of the General Assemblies, and Keeper of the Register of the same." During the period embraced in the following volumes, the office was held by four different persons in succession, whose names have been rendered of some importance, in tracing the subsequent history of these records. The first in order was Mr John Gray, whose appointment was probably coeval with the first General Assembly in 1560. In the Register of Ministers, &c. 1567, (printed for the Maitland Club,) there is the following entry, which shews that his services were not entirely gratuitous :—" Mr John Gray, Keipar of Registre of Ministers thair Stipendis, "Extractor thairof, and Clerk of the Generale Assembleis and Keipar of the Registre

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