 He was inducted at St. Andrews on 11 July 1597, James Melville very reluctantly preaching on the occasion.When the king in the following year introduced the proposal that the church should be represented in parliament, he was warmly supported in the assembly by Gladstanes, who was appointed one of three commissioners chosen to sit and vote in parliament in name of the ministry.He became vice-chancellor of the university of St. Andrews in July 1599, and on 14 October 1600 was made bishop of Caithness by the king.