Beatoun did not hesitate: this bold preacher was evidently putting to his mouth the trumpet of Hamilton and Alesius. The primate undertook to obtain authority from the king to proceed against his confessor, and it was an easier task than he imagined. Seaton, like John the Baptist, had no dread of incurring the king’s displeasure, and had rebuked him for his licentiousness. James had said nothing at the time, thinking that the confessor was only doing his duty. But when he saw the archbishop denouncing Seaton, ‘Ah,’ said this young prince, who was given up to a loose life,[166] ‘I know more than you do of his audacity;’ and from that time he showed great coolness towards Seaton. The latter perceiving what fate awaited him, quitted the kingdom, and took refuge at Berwick. It was about two years after the Lent sermon preached by him in 1532. He did not remain idle. He had a last duty to discharge to his master the king. ‘The bishops of your kingdom,’ he wrote to him, ‘oppose our teaching the Gospel of Christ. I offer to present myself before your majesty, and to convince the priests of error.’[167] As the king made him no answer, Seaton went to London, where he became chaplain to the duke of Suffolk, brother-in-law of Henry VIII., and preached eloquently to large audiences. The King of England liked well enough to receive the friends of the Gospel who were banished from Scotland. One priest, more enlightened than the rest, Andrew Charteris, had called his colleagues children of the devil; and he said aloud--‘If anyone observes their cunning and their falsehood, and accuses them of impurity, they immediately accuse him of heresy. If Christ himself were in Scotland, our priestly fathers would heap on him more ignominy than the Jews themselves in old time did.’ Henry desired to see the man, talked with him at great length, and was much pleased with him. ‘Verily,’ said the king to him, ‘it is a great pity that you were ever made a priest.’[168] The clergy had now got rid of Hamilton, Seaton, and Alesius; but they were nevertheless disquieted because they knew that the Holy Scriptures were in Scotland. Notice was therefore given in every parish that ‘it is forbidden to sell or to read the New Testament.’ All copies found in the shops were ordered to be burnt.[169] Alesius, who was in Germany at that time, was greatly afflicted, and resolved to speak. [Sidenote: LETTER OF ALESIUS.]