In the following year he received the living of Guthrie in the presbytery of Arbroath (Angus synod).
In 1610 he was appointed one of the examiners of the Marquess of Huntly, to test the sincerity of his pretended conversion.
[1] He strongly supported the episcopalian schemes of James VI, and was rewarded for his compliance by being appointed one of the new court of high commission for Scotland in 1610, and was continued in it on its reconstruction in 1615 and 1634.
He was granted the opportunity to escape excommunication if he submitted unconditionally by 13 December, and when he failed to do so, the sentence was carried out.
Owing to chronic illness, he was not able for some time to follow his fellow-bishops in flight to England, but in December 1640 he was in London "in great poverty and misery".