Part 30

“Not sa mekill to instruct you as to leave with you, dearlie belovit brethren, sum testimony of my love, I have thought gud to communicate with you, in theis few lynis, my weak consall, how I wald ye suld behave yourselves in the middis of this wickit generatioun, tuiching the exercis of Godis maist halie and sacred word, without the whilk, nether sall knawledge incres, godlines apeir, nor fervencie continew amang yow. For as the word of God is the begyning of lyfe spirituall, without whilk all flesche is deid in Godis presence, and the lanterne to our feit, without the bryghtnes whairof all the posteritie of Adame doith walk in darknes, and as it is the fundament of faith, without the whilk na man understandeth the gud will of God, sa is it also the onlie organe and instrument whilk God useth to strenthin the weak, to comfort the afflictit, to reduce to mercie be repentance sic as have sliddin, and {427} finallie to preserve and keip the verie lyfe of the saule in all assaltis and temptationis, and thairfoir yf that ye desyr your knawledge to be incressit, your faith to be confirmit, your consciencis to be quyetit and comfortit, or finallie your saule to be preservit in lyfe, lat your exercis be frequent in the law of your Lord God; despys not that precept whilk Moses, (who, be his awn experience had learnit what comfort lyeth within the word of God) gave to the isralitis in theis wordis: ‘Theis wordis whilk I command the this day salbe in thi hart, and thou sal exercis thi children in thame, thou sal talk of thame when thou art at home in thi hous, and as thou walkest be the way, and when thou lyis doun, and when thou rysis up, and thou sall bind thame for a signe upon thi hand, and thay salbe paperis of rememberance betwene thi eis, and thou sall wryt thame upon the postis of thi hous and upon thi gatis.’ And moses in another place commandis thame to ‘remember the law of the Lord God, to do it, that it may be weill unto thame, and with thair children in the land whilk the Lord sall gif thame;’ meanyng that, lyke as frequent memorie and repetitioun of Godis preceptis is the middis whairby the feir of God, whilk is the begynning of all wisdome and filicitie, is keipit recent in mynd, sa as negligence and oblivioun of Godis benefitis ressavit the first grie of defectioun fra God. Now yf the law, whilk be reasone of our weakness can wirk nathing but wraith and anger, was sa effectuall that, rememberit and rehersit of purpois to do, it brought to the pepill a corporall benedictioun, what sall we say that the glorious gospell of Chryst Jesus doith wirk, so that it be with reverence intreatit! St Paule calleth [it] the sueit odour of lyfe unto thois that suld resaif lyfe, borrowing his similitude fra odoriferous herbis or precious unguementis, whais nature is the mair thay be touchit or moveit to send furth thair odour mair pleasing and delectabill: even sic, deir brethren, is the blissit evangell of oure Lorde Jesus; for the mair that it be intreatit, the mair comfortable and mair plissant is it to sic as do heir, read, and exercis the sam. I am not ignorant that, as the isralitis lothit manna becaus that everie day thay saw and eat but ane thing, sa sum thair be now a dayis (wha will not be haldin of the worst sort) that efter anis reading sum parcellis of the scriptures do convert thame selves altogether to {428} prophane autors and humane letteris, becaus that the varietie of matteris thairin conteaynit doith bring with it a daylie delectatioun, whair contrairwys within the simpill scriptures of God the perpetuall repititioun of a thing is fascheous and werisome. This temptatioun I confess may enter in Godis verie elect for a tyme, but impossibill is it that thairin thay continew to the end: for Godis electioun, besydis othir evident signis, hath this ever joynit with it that Godis elect ar callit from ignorance (I speik of thois that ar cumin to the yeiris of knawledge) to sum taist and feilling of Godis mercie, of whilk thay ar never satisfeit in this lyfe, but fray tyme to tyme thay hunger and thay thrist to eat the breid that descendit fra the heavin, and to drink the watter that springeth into lyfe everlasting, whilk thay can not do but be the meanis of faith, and faith luketh ever to the will of God revealit be his word, sa that faith hath baith her begynning and continewance be the word of God; and sa I say that impossibill it is that Godis chosin children can despys or reiect the word of their salvatioun be any lang continewance, nether yit loth of it to the end. Often it is that Godis elect ar haldin in sic bondage and thraldome that they can not have the breid of lyfe brokin unto thame, neither yit libertie to exercis thame selves in Godis halie word, but then doith not Godis deir children loth but maist gredilie do thay covet the fude of thair saulis; then do they accuse thair former negligence, then lament and bewaill thay the miserable afflictioun of thair brethren, and than cry and call thay in thair hartis (and opinlie whair thay dar) for frie passage to the gospell. This hungir and thrist doith argue and prufe the lyfe of thair saulis. But gif sic men as having libertie to reid and exercis thame selves in Godis halie scripture, and yet do begin to wearie because fra tyme to tyme thay reid but a [one] thing, I ask, why weirie thay not also everie day to drink wyne, to eat bread, everie day to behald the bryghtnes of the sone, and sa to use the rest of Godis creatures whilk everie day do keip thair awn substance, cours, and nature? Thay sall anser, I trust, because sic creatures have a strenth as oft as thay ar usit to expell hungir and quenche thrist, to restoir strenth, and to preserve the lyfe. O miserabill wreachis, wha dar attribut mair power and strenth to the corruptible creatures in nurisching and preserving the mortall {429} karcass, than to the eternall word of God in nurissment of the saule whilk is immortal! To reasone with thair abominable unthankfulnes at this present it is not my purpois. But to yow, deir brethrene, I wryt my knawledge, and do speik my conscience, that sa necessarie as meit and drink is to the preservation of lyfe corporall, and so necessarie as the heit and bryghtnes of the sone is to the quicknyng of the herbis and to expell darknes, sa necessarie is also to lyfe everlasting, and to the illuminatioun and lyght of the saule, the perpetuall meditation, exercis, and use of Godis halie word.

“And thairfoir, deir brethrene, yf that you luke for a lyfe to cum, of necessitie it is that ye exercise yourselves in the buke of the Lord your God. Lat na day slip over without sum comfort ressavit fra the mouth of God. Opin your earis, and hie will speak evin pleasing thingis to your hart. Clois not your eis, but diligentlie let thame behald what portioun of substance is left to yow within your fatheris testament. Let your toungis learne to prais the gracious gudness of him wha of his meir mercie hath callit you fra darknes to lyght and fra deth to lyfe. Neither yit may ye do this sa quyetlie that ye will admit na witnessis; nay, brethren, ye are ordeynit of God to reule and governe your awn housis in his trew feir, and according to his halie word. Within your awn housis, I say, in sum cassis ye are bishopis and kingis, your wyffis, children, and familie ar your bishoprik and charge; of you it sal be requyrit how cairfullie and diligentlie ye have instructit thame in Godis trew knawledge, how that ye have studeit in thame to plant vertew and to repress vyce. And thairfoir, I say, ye must mak thame partakeris in reading, exhortation, and in making commoun prayeris, whilk I wald in everie hous wer usit anis a day at leist. But above all things, deir brethren, studie to practis in lyfe that whilk the Lord commandis, and then be ye assurit that ye sall never heir nor reid the same without frute: and this mekill for the exercises within your housis.

“Considdering that St Paul callis the congregatioun the bodie of Chryst, wheirof everie ane of us is a member, teaching ws thairby that na member is of sufficience to susteane and feide the self {430} without the help and support of any uther, I think it necessarie that for the conferrence of scriptures, assemblies of brethren be had. The order thairin to be observit, is expressit be sanct paule, and thairfoir I neid not to use many wordis in that behalf: onlie willing that when ye convene, (whilk I wald wer anis a week,) that your begynning suld be fra confessing of your offences, and invocatioun of the spreit of the Lord Jesus to assist yow in all your godlie interprysis; and than lat sum place of scripture be planelie and distinctlie red, samekill as sal be thocht sufficient for a day or tyme, whilk endit, gif any brother have exhortation, interpretatioun, or dout, lat him not feir to speik and move the same, sa that he do it with moderatioun, either to edifie or be edifeit. And heirof I dout not but great profit sall schortlie ensew, for first be heiring, reiding, and conferring the scriptures in the assemblie, the haill bodie of the scriptures of God salbecum familiar, the judgement and spreitis of men salbe tryit, thair pacience and modestie salbe knawin, and finallie thair giftis and utterance sall appeir. Multiplicatioun of wordis, perplext interpretatioun, and wilfulnes in reasonyng is to be avoydit at all tymes and in all places, but chieflie in the congregatioun, whair nathing aucht to be respectit except the glorie of God, and comfort or edificatioun of our brethrene. Yf any thing occur within the text, or yit arys in reasonyng, whilk your judgementis can not resolve, or capacities aprehend, let the same be notit and put in wryt befoir ye depart the congregatioun, that when God sall offir unto yow any interpreter your doutis being notit and knawin, may have the mair expedit resolutioun, or els that when ye sall have occasion to wryt to sic as with whome ye wald communicat your judgementis, your letteris may signifie and declair your unfeaned desyre that ye haue of God and of his trew knawledge, and thay, I dout not, according to thair talentis, will indeuour and bestow thair faithfull labors, [to] satisfie your godlie petitionis. Of myself I will speak as I think, I will moir gladlie spend xv houris in communicatting my judgement with yow, in explainyng as God pleasis to oppin to me anyplace of scripture, than half ane hour in any other matter besyd.

“Farther, in reading the scripture I wald ye suld joyne sum {431} bukis of the ald and sum of the new Testament together, as genesis and ane of the evangelistis, exodus with another, and sa furth, euer ending sic bukis as ye begyn, (as the tyme will suffer,) for it sall greitly comfort yow to heir that harmony and weiltunit sang of the halie spreit speiking in oure fatheris frome the begyning. It sall confirme yow in theis dangerous and perrellous dayis, to behald the face of Christ Jesus his loving spous and kirk, from Abell to him self, and frome him self to this day, in all ageis to be ane. Be frequent in the prophetis and in the epistillis of St Paul, for the multitude of matteris maist comfortable thairin conteanit requyreth exercis and gud memorie. Lyke as your assemblis aucht to begyn with confessioun and invocatioun of Godis halie spreit, sa wald I that thay wer never finissit without thanksgiving and commoun prayeris for princes, rulers, and maiestratis, for the libertie and frie passage of Chrystis evangell, for the comfort and delyverance of our afflictit brethrene in all places now persecutit, but maist cruellie now within the realme of France and Ingland, and for sic uther thingis, as the spreit of the Lord Jesus sal teache unto yow to be profitable ether to your selues, or yit to your brethren whairsoeuer thay be. If this, or better, dear brethrene, I sall heir that ye exercise your selues, then will I prais God for your great obedience, as for thame that not onlie haue ressavit the word of grace with gladnes, but that also with cair and diligence do keip the same as a treasure and jewell maist precious. And becaus that I can not expect that ye will do the contrarie, at this present I will vse na threatenyngis, for my gud hoip is, that ye sall walk as the sonis of lyght in the middis of this wickit generatioun, that ye salbe as starris in the nyght ceassone, wha yit ar not changeit into darknes, that ye salbe as wheit amangis the kokill, and yit that ye sall not change your nature whilk ye haue ressavit be grace, through the fellowschip and participatioun whilk we haue with the Lord Jesus in his bodie and blud. And finallie, that ye salbe of the novmber of the prvdent virginis, daylie renewing your lampis with oyle, as thai that pacientlie abyd the glorious aparitioun and cuming of the Lord Jesus, whais omnipotent spreit rule and instruct, illuminat and comfort your hartis and myndis in all assaltis, now and euer. Amen. The grace of the {432} Lord Jesus rest with yow. Remember my weaknes in your daylie prayeris, the 7 of July 1557.

“Your brother vnfeaned Johnne Knox.” MS. Letters, p. 352‒359.

Note AA, Footnote 289.

_William Whittingham_, the successor of Knox at Geneva, was the son of William Whittingham, Esq. of Holmeside, in the county of Chester. He was born anno 1524, and educated at Oxford, where he was held in great reputation for his learning. On the accession of queen Mary, he went first to Frankfort, and afterwards to Geneva, where he married Catherine, the sister of John Calvin. He was one of the translators of the Geneva Bible, and composed several of the metrical psalms published at the same time, which have his initials prefixed to them. He fell under the displeasure of queen Elizabeth, on account of a commendatory preface which he wrote to Christopher Goodman’s book on Obedience to Superior Powers, in which, among other free sentiments, female government was condemned. But he enjoyed the protection of some of her principal courtiers. In 1560, he accompanied the earl of Bedford on an embassy to France, and, in 1562 and 1563, acted as chaplain to the earl of Warwick, during the defence of Havre de Grace. That brave nobleman was at a loss for words to express his high esteem of him. In a letter to Cecil, Nov. 20, 1562, Warwick writes: “I assure yow, we may all here thinck our selves happy in having soch a man amongest us as Mr Whyttingham is, not only for the greate vertues in him, but lykewise for the care he hath to serve our mistris besydes: wherfore, in my opynion, he doth well deserve grete thankes at her majesties handis.” And in a letter written by him, July 24, 1563, when he was in daily expectation of an assault by the French, he says to his brother, lord Robert Dudley, afterwards earl of Leicester; “My deare brother, for that I had, in my letter to the quene’s majesty, forgot my humblest thancks for the behalff of my deare frinde Mr Whittingam, for the great favour it hath pleased her to shew him for my sake: I besetch yow therefore do not forget to render them unto her {433} majesty. Farewell, my deare and loving brother, a thousand tymes, and the Lord send you well to do.” Forbes, State Papers, ii. 207, 418, 487.

In 1563, Whittingham was made dean of Durham, which seems to have been the favour for which Warwick was so grateful to Elizabeth. I have already mentioned (p. 56) that an unsuccessful attempt was made to invalidate the ordination which he had received at Geneva. On that occasion, Dr Hutton, dean of York, told archbishop Sandys, that Whittingham “was ordained in a better manner than even the archbishop himself;” and the lord president said, he could not in conscience agree to “allow of the popish massing priests in our ministry, and to disallow of ministers made in a reformed church.” Whittingham never conformed fully to the English church, and died in 1579. Hutchinson’s History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham, ii. 143‒152, 378.

Note BB, Footnote 318.

_Aylmer’s Sentiments respecting the English Constitution._――The view which Aylmer has given of the English constitution is very different from that which Mr Hume has laboured to establish, by dwelling upon some arbitrary measures of the house of Tudor. As his work is seldom consulted, I may be excused for inserting a few extracts from it on this subject. It will be seen that he carefully distinguishes between the principles of the constitution, and those proceedings which were at variance with them. “But if this be utterly taken from them [women] in this place, what maketh it against their government in a politike weale, where neither the woman nor the man ruleth (if there be no tyrants), but the laws. For, as Plato saith, _Illi civitati paratum est exitium ubi magistratus legibus imperat, et non leges magistratui_: That city is at the pit’s brinke, wherein the magistrate ruleth the lawes, and not the lawes the magistrate.” And a little afterwards: “Well; a woman may not reigne in Englande. Better in Englande, than any where, as it shall wel appere to him that, with out affection, will consider the kind of regimen. Whyle I confer ours with other (as it is in itselfe, and not mained by usurpacion), I can find none either so good or {434} so indifferent. The regemente of Englande is not a mere monarchie, as some for lacke of consideracion thinke, nor a mere oligarchie nor democratie, but a rule mixed of all these, wherein ech one of these have or should have like authoritie. The image whereof, and not the image, but the thinge in dede, is to be sene in the parliament hous, wherein you shall find these 3 estats; the king or quene which representeth the monarche, the noblemen which be the aristocratie, and the burgesses and knights the democratcie.――If the parliament use their privileges, the king can ordain nothing without them: If he do, it is his fault in usurping it, and their fault in permitting it. Wherefore, in my judgment, those that in king Henry the VIII.’s daies would not grant him that his proclamations should have the force of a statute, were good fathers of the countrie, and worthy commendacion in defending their liberty. Wold God that that court of late daies had feared no more the farceness of a woman, than they did the displeasure of such a man. Then should they not have stouped, contrary to their othes and alledgeaunce to the crowne, against the privilege of that house, upon their marye bones to receive the devil’s blessenge brought unto them by Satan’s apostle, the cardinal. God forgeve him for the doing, and them for obeying! But to what purpose is all this? To declare that it is not in England so daungerous a matter to have a woman ruler, as men take it to be.――If, on thother part, the regement were such as all hanged upon the king’s or quene’s wil, and not upon the lawes written; if she might decre and make lawes alone, without her senate; if she judged offences according to her wisdom, and not by limitation of statutes and laws; if she might dispose alone of war and peace; if, to be short, she wer a mer monarch, and not a mixed ruler, you might peradventure make me to fear the matter the more, and the less to defend the cause.” Harborowe for Faithfull and Trew Subjects. H. 2 & 3.

Note CC, Footnote 323.

_Female Supremacy._――“Our countryman, John Knox, has been much censured for want of civility and politeness to the fair sex; and particularly for sounding a first and second ‘blast of the trumpet {435} against the monstrous regiment of women.’ He was indeed no milksop courtier, who can sacrifice the public weal to the punctilios of politeness, or consider the interests of nations as a point of gallantry. His reasons for the abolition of all female government, if they are not entirely convincing, may be allowed at least to be specious; and might well be indulged as a harmless speculative opinion in one who was disposed as he was to make no bad use of it in practice, and to give all dutiful respect to whomsoever the will of God and the commonwealth had assigned the sovereign power. But though the point may be conceded in regard to secular government, in ordering of which the constitutions and customs and mere pleasure of communities may be allowed to establish what is not morally evil; it will not follow that the essential order and positive law of the spiritual kingdom may also be sported with, and subverted.――Let the English, if they please, admit a weak, fickle, freakish, bigoted, gallantish or imperious woman, to sway the sceptre of political dominion over millions of men, and even over her own husband in the crowd, to whom at the altar she had previously vowed obedience, they shall meet with no opposition from the presbyterians; provided they do not also authorize her to lord it, or lady it, over their faith and consciences, as well as over their bodies, goods, and chattels.