Anonymous

“ Knox had now reached that point from which he could take a calm view of the struggle in which he had been engaged. True religion was now established, and he cherished the hope of retiring to that privacy from which the Reformation had drawn him, but he was destined to endure further trials. From the time that the Earl of Murray was appointed regent, a number of the nobility, headed by the house of Hamilton, stood aloof, and refused to acknowledge any other than the Queen's authority. ”

“ I profess, therefore, before God, and before his holy angels, that I never made merchandise of the sacred word of God, never studied to please men, never indulged my own private passions or those of others, but faithfully distributed the talent intrusted to me, for the edification of the church over which I watched. ”

“ Andrews, restoring him to his ancient jurisdiction, which had been abolished by act of Parliament in 1560, Knox became alarmed, and he addressed a letter to the principal Protestants in the kingdom, requesting their immediate advice on the means to be adopted on the occasion. After referring to this daring measure, he says, “How that any such assignation, or any promise made thereof, can stand in any stable assurance, when that Roman antichrist, by just laws once banished from this realm, shall be intrusted above us, we can no ways understand. ”

“ This extraordinary man died in the sixty-seventh year of his age; not so much oppressed with years, as worn out by his labours of body, and anxiety of mind. Very few men underwent so many hardships, or were exposed to more dangers, for, from the time he embraced the Protestant religion, till his latest hour, he seldom enjoyed a respite, and he emerged from one difficulty, only to be plunged into another. Forced to fly from St. Andrews, to escape the persecution of Cardinal Beatoun, he went to East Lothian ”

“ Yea, farther, we cannot see what assurance can any within this realm, that hath professed the Lord Jesus, have of life, or inheritance, if the lead of that odious beast be cured among us." Having enforced, his request, he adds: “as from the beginning we have neither spared substance nor life, so mind we not to faint unto the end, to maintain the same, so long as we can find the concurrence of brethren; of whom (as God forbid) , if we be destitute, yet are we determined never to be subject to the Roman antichrist, neither yet to his usurped tyranny ”

“ By the end of November, Parliament had repealed all the laws in favour of the Reformation, and restored the Roman Catholic religion, but liberty was allowed to such as pleased to observe the Protestant worship, until the 20th of December, after which they were to be exposed to the pains decrced against hereties. Knox, however, could not prevail on himself to leave the kingdom, till he found that he could no longer clude the pursuit of his enemies, if he continued to preach in England, so he set sail in a vessel which landed him safely at Dieppe, on 28th Jannary, 1554. ”

“ The wound having proved mortal, the Regent died on the same evening, and the melancholy intelligence was conveyed to Edinburgh the following morning. It is impossible to describe the feelings of Knox on the occasion. An intimate friendship had long subsisted between them, and of all the Scottish nobility, he had the greatest confidence in Murray's attachment to religion. ”

“ In the course of his journeys through France he discovered that a plan was projected by the princes of Lorrain, brothers of the queen regent of Scotland, to set up the claim of the young Queen of Scots to the crown of England; to attack Elizabeth, and wrest the sceptre from her hands as a bastard, and that they were to begin by suppressing the Reformation. ”

“ The death of Beatoun, however, did not free Knox from persecution, for he was frequently obliged to conceal himself, and to fly from place to place, to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies. At last, wearied of persecution, he determined to leave Scotland and visit Germany; but the lairds of Langniddrie and Ormiston prevailed on him to take refuge, along with their sons, in the castle of St. Andrews, which was still held by the conspirators. He accordingly entered the castle, and conducted the education of his pupils in his usual way. ”

“ The scriptures however were read to him during the whole time of his illness. He was anxious once more to meet with the session, and bid them fare well, and in compliance with his wish, his colleague, the elders and deacons, with David Lindsay, one of the ministers of Leith, assembled in his room on the 17th, when he addressed them as follows:- "The day now approaches, and is before the door, for which I have frequently and vehemently thirsted, when I shall be released from my great labours and innumerable sorrows, and shall be with Christ. ”

“ Knox, from regard to the public pence, used his influence to allay the tuumlt, but he was not less alarmed than his brethren, for in his sermon on the following Sabbath, he said, that "one mass is more fearful to me, than if ten thousand armed enemies were landed in any part of the realm, of purpose to suppress the whole religion." ”

“ Before the funeral, Knox preached a sermon from these words, “ Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord," and while he described the Regent's virtues, and bewailed his loss, upwards of three thousand persons were dissolved in tears. ”

“ The confusion which he had augured from the death of the Regent, soon broke out, and spread civil discord through the nation. The Hamiltons raised the Queen's standard; and Kircaldy of Grange, governor of Edinburgh Castle, declared himself on the same side. Knox, however, persisted in warning his hearers from joining with those who sought to overthrow the king's authority, and the Reformed religion. ”

“ In the month of August, 1555, he came to Dieppe, and, sailing from that port, arrived in Scotland about the end of harvest. After remaining some time with his friends in Berwick, he secretly visited Edinburgh, and as soon as his arrival was known, the Protestants there immediately repaired to attend his instructions. Among these was John Erskine of Dun, who prevailed on Knox to accompany him to his family seat in Angus, where he preached every day for a month,-the principal persons in that neighbourhood attending his sermons. ”

“ With this view, he wrote to Secretary Cecil; but despairing of the success of his application, he sailed for Scotland on the 22d of April, and landed at Leith in the beginning of May. On his arrival, he found matters in the most critical state. The Protestant leaders had frequently supplicated the Regent and the clergy, to use their influence in removing those corruptions in religion which could no longer be concealed, but without success. They therefore resolved to abolish Popish superstition, and set up the Protestant worship wherever their influence extended. ”

“ After the proclamation of peaee, Knox resumed his station as minister of Edinburgh, and employed himself in composing the Confession of Faith. Abont this time the Protestant nobility invited their young Queen to assume the reins of government, and on the 19th of August, 1561, she arrived in Seotland. Edueated in the Roman Catholie religion, she determined to give her subjects an early proof of her attachment to it. Mary gave instructions to celebrate mass in the chapel of Holyrood, on the first Sunday after her arrival. ”

“ On the death of Mary, Queen of England, and the accession of Elizabeth, the Protestant refugees hastened to return to their native country, and Knox wrote some of his former acquaintances, who were now in the court of Elizabeth, requesting permission to travel through England on his way to Scotland ”