Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Murray, John (1575-1632)
MURRAY or MORAY, JOHN (1575?–1632), Scottish divine, was the fourth son of Robert Moray of Abercairney, Perthshire, by his wife Catherine, daughter of William Murray of Tullibardine. He was a younger brother of Sir David Murray of Gorthy [q. v.] He studied at the university of Edinburgh, where he took the degree of M. A. on 10 Aug. 1595. On 15 Dec. 1597 he was presented to the parish of Borthwick, Midlothian, and in 1603 he was translated to South Leith second charge. When, in 1607, the act regarding the appointment of a permanent moderator was read in the presbytery of Edinburgh, Moray, according to Calderwood, 'proved so evidently that the said act was the overthrow of the liberty of the kirk, that none could confute his reasoning' (History, vi, 628). He was also a strong opponent of episcopacy, and sympathised with the ministers condemned to banishment at Linlithgow; he entertained them at Leith before they sailed to England, and thus incurred the special hostility of the bishops. A synodal sermon preached by him in 1607 on Galatians ii. 1 (ib. p. 690) brought matters to a crisis. Copies of this sermon had been given by him to David Hume (1560?–1630?) [q. v.] and others, and it was printed at London in 1608 without his knowledge or authority. A copy of the printed sermon was given by Bancroft, bishop of London, to the king, who ordered the secretary, Elphinstone, to inquire into the matter. On 25 Feb. 1608 Moray was brought before the council at the instance of the bishops, who presented certain articles of accusation against him (ib. pp. 691-9), but in the end the council' favourably dismissed him, and sent him to his charge' (ib. p. 701). On 10 March the council sent a favourable presentation of his case to the king (Reg. P. C. Scotl. viii. 493); but on the 7th the king had expressed the desire that he should be 'exemplarily punished' (ib. p. 492), and on the 20th he'sent them a severe rebuke for their leniency, and ordered them to forward him with speed ' some advertisement of the punishment of Mr. John Moray' (ib. p. 496). Orders were therefore given on 12 April for his apprehension, on account of his 'impertinent sermon' (ib. p. 72), and he was confined in the castle of Edinburgh, where he remained a prisoner for a year. On 5 March 1609 the king sent a letter to the council authorising his release, but ordering him to be sent to New Abbey in Nithsdale, and to confine himself within five miles of that town (ib. p. 563). At the instance of the bishops, his charge at Leith was also declared vacant, and David Lindsay (1566?–1627) [q. v.] inducted in his stead (Calderwood, vii. 18-20). Moray took up his residence at Dumfries, about four miles from New Abbey, where he stayed about a year and a half, preaching either in Dumfries or the church of Traquair (ib. p. 20), and afterwards, without license from the king or council, he settled with his family at Dysart. Six months afterwards he removed to Salt Preston (Prestonpans), Midlothian, where he preached every Sunday without challenge from the bishops (ib.) In 1614 he was admitted to the second charge of Dunfermline, and as he refused to acknowledge episcopacy or submit to the Articles of Perth, he, until 1618, fulfilled the duties of the charge without remuneration. About 1620 he was removed to the first charge, but on 12 Dec. 1621 he was summoned to answer before the Bishop of St. Andrews for nonconformity to the Articles of Perth (ib. p. 516), and as he failed to appear then or on 3 Jan. he was removed from his charge at Dunfermline, and ordered to confine himself within two miles of Fowlis Wester, his native parish in Strathearn (ib. p. 520). On 24 June 1624 he was summoned to appear before the privy council, but excused his attendance on account of an injury received by a fall from his horse, whereupon he was ordered to confine himself more strictly within the parish of Fowlis (ib. p. 614). His residence at Fowlis was Gorthy, which belonged to his elder brother Sir David. On Sir David's death in 1629 he again removed to Prestonpans. He died there in January 1632. By his first wife, Margaret Leslie, daughter of John, master of Rothes, he had two children, who both died young. By his second wife, Mary Melville, he had a daughter Jean. Besides the sermon above alluded to, Moray was the author of 'A Dialogue between Cosmophilus and Theophilus anent the Urging of New Ceremonials upon the Church of Scotland,' 1620.
[Histories of Row and Calderwood; Livingstone's Remarkable Observations (Wodrow Society); Reg. P. C. Scotl.; Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot. i. 104, 266, ii. 566-7,571; Douglas's Baronage.]