LUTHERAN   WRITINGS  IN   SCOTLAND  279

taught  hj  preachers  who  had  been  to  Wittenberg,  or  who
had  studied  the  writings  of  Luther  and  other  Beformers,
or  who  had  learned  from  private  perusal  of  the  Scriptures
what  it  was  to  be  in  earnest  about  pardon  of  sin  and
salvation  of  souL

Some  of  the  towns  on  the  East  Coast  were  centres  of
trade  with  the  Continent,  and  Leith  had  once  been  an
obscure  member  of  the  great  Hanseatic  League.  Lutheran
and  other  tracts  were  smuggled  into  Scotlimd  from  Camp-
vere  by  way  of  Leith,  Dundee,  and  Montros&  The  authori-
ties were  on  the  alert,  and  tried  to  put  an  end  to  the
practice.  In  1525,  Parliament  forbade  strangers  bringing
Lutheran  books  into  Scotland  on  pain  of  imprisonment  and
forfeitui-e  of  their  goods  and  ships  ;  ^  and  in  the  same  year
the  Government  were  informed  that  '*  sundry  strangers  and
others  within  the  diocese  of  Aberdeen  were  possessed  of
Luther's  books,  and  favoured  his  en*ors  and  false  opiniona"
Two  years  later  (1527),  the  Act  was  made  to  include  those
who  assisted  in  spreading  Lutheran  views.  An  agent  of
Wolsey  informed  the  Cardinal  that  Scottish  merchants
were  purchasing  copies  of  Tindale's  New  Testament
in  the  Low  Countries  and  sending  them  to  Scotland.*
The  efforts  of  the  Government  do  not  seem  to  have  been
very  successful.  Another  Act  of  Parliament  in  1535
declared  that  none  but  the  clergy  were  to  be  allowed  to
purchase  heretical  books ;  all  others  possessing  such  were
required  to  give  them  up  within  forty  days.*  This  legisla-
tion clearly  shows  the  spread  of  Beformed  writings  among
the  people  of  Scotland.
