In 1573 there appeared from his pen Ane Breif Commendation of Uprightness, a poem in praise of Knox, with accompanying verses on the Reformer's death.

On his liberation, he lay hid for a time at Kinzeaneleugh, Ayrshire, the residence of his friend Robert Campbell.

He was summoned before King James at Holyrood, and committed to Edinburgh Castle, but released, and allowed to return home, though interdicted from going beyond the bounds of his parish.

[4] John Davidson (1549?–1603), church leader, was born about 1549 at Dunfermline in Fifeshire, where his parents owned some property in houses and lands.

In June 1581, when Morton was under sentence of death and on the eve of ignominious execution, Davidson and another minister went to him, but found him, to their surprise and joy, at one with them in his religious experience and hopes.

[6] In 1582, when Montgomery, bishop of Glasgow, was ordered by the general assembly to be deposed, Davidson was appointed to pronounce sentence of excommunication upon him, which he did in his own church at Liberton.

The Earl of Gowne was executed on 2 May for his alleged involvement in the failed coup, although he appears to have been doing his best to leave the country via Dundee at the time.

[7] Going for a time to London, via Newcastle in 1584, he became known at the English court, and from the earnest style of his preaching was called the thunderer.

[6][7] King James passed the Black Acts in 1584, putting the Church of Scotland under royal control with two bishops.

This met vigorous opposition and he was forced to concede that the General Assembly should continue to run the church, but Presbyterians reacting against the formal liturgy were opposed by an Episcopalian faction.

He continued the same bold course, but, the king having commanded the provost of Edinburgh to prohibit his preaching again in the city, he made a kind of apology.

[4] Davidson erected a church at his own expense, and likewise a manse, which stood for more than a hundred and fifty years and was the birthplace of Dr. Alexander Carlyle.

[6] In 1595 the terror of Philip II of Spain, which had subsided for a time after the destruction of his armada, began to spread anew over the country.

On the motion of Davidson a resolution was passed by the assembly that humiliation for sin was the first and best preparation against a hostile invasion of the country.

Davidson opposed the scheme as an insidious attempt to introduce prelacy, saying, in words that became famous afterwards, ‘Busk him, busk him, as bonnily as ye can, and bring him in as fairly as ye will, we see him well enough, we see the horns of his mitre.’[6] The contest with the king was carried on on various subsequent occasions, Davidson making himself obnoxious to James by his firm protests against the royal measures.

Unable to attend the general assembly at Burntisland in 1601, he wrote a letter warning his brethren against the devices of Delilah and the recent execution of James Wood of Boniton.

Various attempts were made to get this interdict removed, especially when the king, after succeeding to the English throne, was passing through Prestonpans on his way to England on 5 April 1603.

‘I may be gracious,’ said the king, ‘but I will be also righteous, and until he confesses his fault he may lie and rot there.’[6] Davidson died soon after, about the end of August 1603.