James Guthrie (c. 1612 – 1 June 1661), was a Scottish Presbyterian minister. Cromwell called him "the short man who would not bow."^[2] He was theologically and politically aligned with Archibald Johnston, whose illuminating 3 volume diaries were lost until 1896, and not fully published until 1940.^[3] He was exempted from the general pardon at the restoration of the monarchy, tried on 6 charges,^[4] and hanged in Edinburgh.^[5]

James Guthrie was born about 1612 and said to be son of Guthrie of that ilk. He graduated with an M.A. from St. Andrew's University. He subsequently became a regent in St Leonard's College, St Andrews. He was one of those whom the Assembly, 16 December 1638, found ready to supply vacancies. He was not ordained until a few years later when he was called to Lauder in 1642, where he stayed for 7 years. He was selected with three others to wait upon Charles I at Newcastle in 1646 with a letter from the Assembly. He preached before Parliament on 10 January 1649, and was thanked by it. He was appointed a commissioner for visiting the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh that year. He was translated and admitted to the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling in November 1650. He took an active and leading part in the business of the Church, and by a small majority in the Assembly got General John Middleton, afterwards the Earl of Middleton, excommunicated, announcing the sentence from his own pulpit, notwithstanding an appeal by the King. He and Bennett, his colleague, were required by His Majesty and the Committee of Estates to repair to Perth, 19 February 1651, to answer for preaching against the Public Resolutions agreed to by Church and State in order to a levy, but they refused.^[6]

He was deposed by the Assembly, 30 July following, for having joined in the Protestation against the lawfulness of that Assembly. He and others holding similar views thereupon formed a separate Church under the protection of Cromwell. Along with others of the Protesting brethren, having met in Edinburgh to draw up a congratulatory address and supplication to Charles II, he was seized and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle 23 August 1660. His stipend was sequestrated 25 September, and he was removed to the prison of Dundee 20 October, from thence to Stirling and again to Edinburgh, where he was tried before Parliament, 25 May 1661, found guilty of treason, sentenced to death 28th, hanged at the Cross of Edinburgh on 1 June 1661. His head was placed on the Netherbow Port. The sentence of forfeiture was rescinded by Parliament 22 July 1690, and his skull, after being a public spectacle for about twenty-eight years, was removed by Alexander Hamilton, then a student at the university, who afterwards succeeded the Holy Rude Church in Stirling. From his determined support of Presbyterian principles, Guthrie was named siccar foot (the Scots term for a sure-footed person), the avowed leader of the Protesters, and their secretary and champion. He married Jane (buried in Greyfriars, 15 March 1673), who was the daughter of Ramsay of Sheilhill, and had issue – William, died on the eve of being licensed at Edinburgh April 1674; Sophia, who, along with her mother, was in 1666 banished to a lonely prison in Shetland for having in their possession a copy of John Brown's Apologeticall Relation of the Particular Sufferings of the Faithful Ministers and Professors of the Church of Scotland.^[7]

Guthrie, the eldest son of the laird of Guthrie, Forfarshire, was born about 1612. He was educated at St. Leonard's College, St. Andrews, where he graduated with an MA, and became one of the regents, distinguished for his lectures on philosophy.^[10]

At this time Guthrie was an episcopalian, and is said to have been zealous for prelacy and the ceremonies. Yet on 16 December 1638 the strongly antiprelatic assembly at Glasgow put him in the list of those ready for ecclesiastical vacancies. In January 1639 Samuel Rutherford was made divinity professor at the University of St Andrews, and under his influence Guthrie became a Presbyterian.

In 1642 he was ordained minister of Lauder, Berwickshire, and soon distinguished himself in the cause of the National Covenant. He was a member of the General Assembly from 1644 to 1651; in the first year he received (15 May) £15 towards the expenses of his attendance from the Kirk session of Stow, Midlothian. In 1646 he was one of seven commissioners appointed by the Committee of Estates to wait on Charles I at Newcastle-on-Tyne with a letter from the general assembly whose purport was, according to Kilpatrick, to press on Charles Presbyterianism and the Solemn League and Covenant.^[11] He preached before the Scottish Parliament on 10 January 1649, and on 16 January before the parliamentary commission for the visitation of the University of St. Andrews. Next month a movement was made for his removal to Edinburgh. He preached on 13 July before the parliamentary commission for the visitation of the University of Edinburgh. In November he was translated to the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling where he remained for ten years.^[12]

From the first, Guthrie ranged himself amongst the Protesters, and, indeed, was generally regarded as one of their principal leaders.^[23] By this time he had been translated to Stirling, where he had, as his colleague, Mr. Bennett, a man of kindred spirit, with whom, on the questions of the day, he was generally in agreement. Hew Scott's later edition says Guthrie came to Stirling around November 1650 although Kilpatrick discusses 1649.^[6][24] Not satisfied with expressing in a letter to the Commission of Assembly their dissatisfaction with the aforesaid Resolutions, they continued to preach against them and to denounce them as involving the nation in sin. For this they were cited to appear before the Committee of Estates at Perth, where Charles II was now holding his Court, and, having done so, they refused to acknowledge the King's right to interfere with them in the discharge of their ministerial functions.^[25]

"This our protestation' they said, "we make, not from any disrespect to the King's Majesty or your Lordships' authority, nor from any purpose to decline or disobey the same in anything civil, but from the tender regard which we have and owe unto the liberties and privileges of the Church of Jesus Christ, which both the King's Majesty and your Lordships and we are in so solemn a way bound to maintain and preserve inviolable."^[26]

In 1650 Guthrie treated General John Middleton with a high-handedness which sealed his own fate. Middleton, who joined Charles II immediately on his landing on 23 June, took the lead in a project for a royalist army in the north. On 17 October Guthrie, by the "Western Remonstrance", withdrew from the royalist cause; on 14 December he sent a letter to the general assembly at Perth denouncing Middleton as an enemy of the Covenant, and proposing his excommunication.^[27] Guthrie was appointed to pronounce the sentence next Sunday, and, despite a letter from the assembly bidding him delay the act, carried out the original order. At the next meeting of the commission (2 January 1651) Middleton was loosed from the sentence after public penance. He never forgave the affront.^[28]

The same meeting of commission which ordered Middleton's excommunication had passed a unanimous resolution authorising the acceptance of the military services of all but "obstinate" enemies of the covenant. Guthrie and his colleague, David Bennett, preached against this resolution. Summoned (19 February and 28 February) to Perth by the Committee of Estates to answer to the king for their conduct, they appeared, but, while acknowledging the king's civil authority, protested against his ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and declined to submit to what they called "a heighe prowoking the eiyes of the Lord's glorie".^[28][29] The attack on the resolution was led at the next meeting of the General Assembly at St. Andrews (16 July) by John Menzies, divinity professor in the Marischal College, Aberdeen, Guthrie strongly supported him. The assembly met by adjournment at Dundee (22 July), when a protestation against the action of the commission was read, those who had signed it absenting themselves, as from an unlawful assembly. The church was now divided into "resolutioners" and "protesters".^[29] Guthrie and two others were deposed by the assembly on 30 July; but for the alarm of Oliver Cromwell's approach, which dispersed the assembly, other "protesters" would have been similarly dealt with. A rupture took place in nearly every presbytery; the "protesters" met by themselves, and held their own synod in Edinburgh. They even turned for protection to Cromwell. On 8 August 1654 Guthrie was appointed by the English Privy Council one of the 'triers' and a visitor for the universities.^[28]

A conference between "resolutioners" and "protesters" at Edinburgh was rendered abortive by the attitude of Guthrie and Warriston. At a riot in Stirling on the election (1656) of a successor to Bennett, Guthrie was attacked with stones by "resolutioners". Kirk Session records from the time still survive.^[30] Both parties appealed to Cromwell in London in 1656. The champion of the "resolutioners" was James Sharp, afterwards archbishop, whose arguments led Cromwell to refuse the plea of the "protesters" for a commission in their favour. Cromwell assured the "protesters" that he was "for monarchical government, and that in the person of the king";^[28] yet there is no doubt that Guthrie's insistence on the king's rights injured his chances. The cause of the "protesters" was further weakened by the defection of some of them (including Menzies) to independency, a development which increased Guthrie's opposition to Cromwell's government.^[28]

The Restoration rendered the prospects of the "protesters" hopeless. Guthrie and nine others met in Edinburgh (23 August 1660) and drew up a "humble petition" to the king setting forth their loyalty, and reminding him of his obligations as a covenanter. The meeting was ordered to disperse, and as the warning was unheeded arrests were made. Guthrie was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. On 25 September his stipend was sequestrated. He was transferred to Dundee on 20 October, and thence to Stirling, where he remained till his trial. On 20 February 1661 he was arraigned for high treason before the parliament, Middleton presiding as commissioner. The indictment had six counts.^[28]

The charges against Guthrie were six in number: (1) His contriving, consenting to, and exhibiting before the Committee of Estates the paper called The Western Remonstrance. (2) His contriving, writing, and publishing the abominable pamphlet called "The Causes of God's wrath."^[31] (3) His contriving, writing and subscribing the paper called "The Humble Petition," of the 23 of August last, when he was apprehended. (4) His convocating of the King's lieges at several times, without warrant or authority, to the disturbance of the peace of the State and of the Church. (5) His refusal, by appeal and protest presented at Perth, to acknowledge the King as judge in certain matters. (6) Some treasonable expressions alleged to have been used by him in a meeting, in 1650 or 1651.^[32]

On 20 February 1661, his indictment being read, Guthrie delivered an excellent speech, which may be found in Wodrow's History.^[33] Expressing the hope that the Lord Commissioner (Middleton, who was known to have a grudge against him) would "patiently and without interruption" hear him, he reminded his judges that the law of God, referred to in the indictment, is the supreme law, not only of religion, but also of righteousness, and that all laws and Acts of Parliament are to be understood and expounded in the light of our solemn vows and covenants.^[34]

The contriving of the "western remonstrance" and the rejection of the king's ecclesiastical authority were, from a legal point of view, the most formidable charges. In the preparation of his defence he surprised his counsel by the accuracy of his knowledge of Scots law. The trial was not concluded until 11 April. Guthrie's closing appeal made a strong impression. Several members withdrew; but only Tweeddale spoke in his favour, proposing banishment in place of the extreme penalty. On 28 May parliament ordered him to be hanged at the cross of Edinburgh on 1 June, in company with William Govan, an obscure deserter.^[28] Robert Traill, at the age of nineteen, stood beside Guthrie, his father's friend, on the scaffold.^[35] Guthrie's farewell letter (1 June 1661) to his wife shows great strength of character. At eleven o'clock the same day he signed a paper to dispose of the rumour that he was willing to retract. At dinner he called for cheese, saying his physicians had forbidden it, but he was beyond the need of such precautions. He spoke at the scaffold for about an hour, leaving a copy of his speech to be given to his son when he came of age. He is also reported to have left his ring with his niece.^[36] Opportunities of escape, he said, he had rejected, as flight might be taken as an admission of guilt. At the last moment he "raised the napkin from his eyes",^[28] and lifted up his voice for the covenants. His head was fixed on the Nether Bow port.^[37]

The legend runs that, a few weeks later, drops of blood fell from it on to Middleton's coach, making a new cover necessary, as "all the art of man could not wash out" the indelible stains.^[37] In 1688 Alexander Hamilton, a divinity student (died 29 January 1738, minister of Stirling), removed the head and buried it. The headless trunk was laid out by "ladies of quality",^[37] who dipped their handkerchiefs in the blood, George Stirling pouring "a phial of fragrant ointment" on the corpse;^[37] it was interred in the aisle of St. Giles' Church.^[37]

Guthrie's age at death was "about 49".^[40] He is celebrated as one of the first of the martyrs of the covenant, James Renwick being one of the last. The two are thus commemorated in the inscription upon the 'martyrs' monument' in the Greyfriars' churchyard, Edinburgh, the Westminster Abbey of Scotland:

But as for them, no cause was to be found

Worthy of death but only they were found,

Constant and steadfast, zealous witnessing

For the Prerogatives of CHRIST their KING

Which Truths were seal'd by famous Guthrie's head,

And all along to Mr. Renwick's blood,

They did endure the wrath of enemies

Reproaches, torments, deaths and injuries

But yet they're those who from such troubles came

And now triumph in glory with the LAMB.

The monument marks Renwick's burial-place, being fixed to the wall close to the spot where criminals were interred.^[41]

The Scottish parliament reversed the attainder on 22 July 1690. His name ("famous Guthrie's head") is commemorated in the rude lines on the "martyrs' monument" in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh. By his party he was called "Sickerfoot" ("Sure-foot").^[37]

Guthrie published:^[37]

1. The Causes of the Lord's Wrath, 1653
2. Protesters no Subverters, Edinburgh, 1658, 4to.
3. Some Considerations contributing unto the Discoverie of the Dangers that threaten Religion, Edinburgh, 1660, 12mo; reprinted, Glasgow, 1738, 8vo.
4. Sermon (his last) at Stirling (Matt. xiv. 22), 1660 (not seen); reprinted as A Cry from the Dead, &c., Glasgow, 1738, 8vo.

Posthumous publications of his work:^[37]

1. Two Speeches … before the Parliament, 1661, 4to.
2. True and Perfect Speech … before his Execution, 1661, 4to.
3. A Treatise of Ruling Elders and Deacons, Edinburgh, 1699, 24mo.
4. A Cry from the Dead Glasgow, 1738
5. The Great Danger of Backsliding … from Covenanted Reformation-Principles: a Sermon dated 21 April 1660, with Guthrie's speech before Parliament, Edinburgh, 1739.
6. Sermons, Edinburgh, 1846, 12mo.

• Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scoticanæ^[42]
• Howie's Biographia Scoticana (1775), edition of 1862 (Scots Worthies), pp. 397 sq. (portrait);
• Roe's Supplement to Life of Blair (1754), edition of 1844, p. 122;
• Laing's Hist. of Scotland, 1804, iv. 18;
• Life by Thomson, 1846;^[43]
• Grub's Eccl. Hist. of Scotland, 1861, vol. iii.;^[44]
• Anderson's Ladies of the Covenant, 1862, pp. 44 sq.;^[45]
• Anderson's Scottish Nation, 1872, ii. 388 sq.;^[46]
• Kerr's Sermons in Times of Persecution, 1880, p. 264.
• Greyfriars Burials;
• Baillie's Lett. ;
• Acts of Pari., vi. ii. 641, 642, 644, 647, 648, vii. app. 15, 34–60, 74, 416, ix. 217 ;
• Lamont's Diary, 11, 45, 126, 131, 137;
• Nicol's Diary;
• Reg. Sec. Sig., 8 Feb. 1666 ;
• Dictionary of National Biography.;
• Hewison's Covenanters, ii., 189 ;
• Wodrow's Hist., i. (portrait), 159-196 ;
• Thomson's Lauderdale, 100-6 ;
• Watson's The Two Guthries.

Guthrie married Jane, daughter of Ramsay of Shielhill, who survived him, with an only son, William (who died on the eve of his license for the ministry) and a daughter, Sophia. The widow and daughter after being brought before the privy council on 8 February 1666, on a charge of possessing a treasonable book, and sentenced to banishment, were permitted, on 15 January 1669, to return to Edinburgh for a month, in consequence of the son's illness.^[37]