TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE This book was published in 1839 and was compiled from manuscripts and printed records from 1560 to 1616 regarding the early history of the Reformed Church in Scotland. The language was ‘Middle Scots’ and the spelling was not at all consistent, but it was a careful reproduction of the source records. This etext maintains that integrity and no spelling changes have been made to the 1839 text. During this period (1560 to 1616) documents used the Julian calendar for dates, where the new year did not begin until March 25th. In this book dates on some documents before that date show both the Julian year, and the Gregorian year in ( ), for example the Twenty-Seventh General Assembly was held on ‘the 6th of March 1572(3)’. The yogh character ȝ appears occasionally, though more often z is used in its place, which was a common printing practice at that time. The text for example has both ȝit and zit (yet), failȝie and failzie (failure or default), ȝeirlie and zeirlie (yearly), ȝouth and zouth (youth). The character ł (letter l with stroke) is used on page 119. Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. A superscript is denoted by ^x or ^{xx}, for example y^e or 1^{ma}. Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have been placed at the end of the book. There are six ‘thought breaks’ in this etext, indicated by a line of five asterisks, not to be confused with missing text asterisks present in the original text of the book (see below). Where the text had blank space, the etext inserts {blank space}. Where the text had multiple spaced dots (eg . . . . .) to indicate missing text, the etext inserts ... (an ellipsis). There were no ellipses in the original text. Where the text had three or more asterisks (eg * * *) to indicate missing text, the etext inserts {missing text indicated by asterisks}. Where the text had a phrase marked by the editor, in brackets [ ], the etext leaves that unchanged. Footnote [14] explains the reason for these [notations]. Some other minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. THE BOOKE OF THE UNIVERSALL KIRK OF SCOTLAND. THE BOOKE OF THE UNIVERSALL KIRK OF SCOTLAND: WHEREIN THE HEADIS AND CONCLUSIONIS DEVYSIT BE THE MINISTERS AND COMMISSIONARIS OF THE PARTICULAR KIRKS THEREOF, ARE SPECIALLY EXPRESSED AND CONTAINED. EDITED BY ALEXANDER PETERKIN, ESQ. LATE SHERIFF-SUBSTITUTE OF ORKNEY. EDINBURGH: THE EDINBURGH PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO.; AND WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.