Part 36

179 ― MS. Letters, p. 318. Archibald Hamilton has trumped up a ridiculous story, respecting Knox’s flight from England. He says, that by teaching the unlawfulness of female government, he had excited a dangerous rebellion against queen Mary. But the queen, having marched against the rebels, defeated them with great slaughter; upon which Knox, stained with their blood, fled to Geneva, carrying along with him a rich noblewoman! Dialog. de Confus. Calv. Sect. p. 65.

180 ― MS. Letters, p. 70, 71, 107, 108.

181 ― MS. Letters, p. 308, 309.

182 ― MS. Letters, p. 165‒167. Admonition, p. 46‒48.

183 ― If.

184 ― Sun.

185 ― Much more.

186 ― Wit.

187 ― Hope.

188 ― Letter to the Faithful in London, &c. in MS. Letters, p. 149‒151, 156.

189 ― His Exposition of the sixth Psalm concludes with these words: “Upon the very point of my journey, the last of February, 1553.” MS. Letters, p. 109. The reader will recollect, that in our reformer’s time, they did not begin the year until the 25th of March; so that “February 1553,” according to the old reckoning, is “February 1554,” according to the modern.

190 ― His Letter to the Faithful in London, &c. concludes thus:――“From ane sore trubillit hart, upon my departure from Diep, 1553, _whither God knaweth_. In God is my trust through Jesus Chryst his sone; and thairfor I feir not the tyrannie of man, nether yet what the devill can invent against me. Rejoice, ye faithfull; for in joy shall we meit, wher deth may not dissever us.” MS. Letters, p. 157, 158.

191 ― In a letter, dated Dieppe, May 10, 1554, he says, “My awin estait is this: since the 28 of Januar,” counting from the time he came to France, “I have travellit throughout all the congregations of Helvetia, and has reasonit with all the pastoris and many other excellentlie learnit men, upon sic matters as now I cannot comit to wrytting.” MS. Letters, p. 318.

192 ― MS. Letters, p. 313‒315.

193 ― Ibid. p. 311.

194 ― MS. Letters, p. 106.

195 ― Ibid. p. 319.

196 ― Ibid. p. 310.

197 ― Strype’s Cranmer, p. 413. Calvini Epist. et Respons. p. 179, 245, 248, Hanov. 1597.

198 ― One of his letters to Mrs Bowes, is dated “At Diep the 20 of July, 1554, after I had visited Geneva and uther partis, and returned to Diep to learn the estait of Ingland and Scotland.” MS. Letters, p. 255, 256. This is the letter which was published by Knox, along with his answer to Tyrie, in 1572, after the death of Mrs Bowes.

199 ― In the letter mentioned in last note, he refers his mother‑in‑law to “a general letter written,” says he, “be me in greit anguiss of hart, to the congregationis of whome I heir say a greit part, under pretence that thai may keip faith secreitt in the hart, and yet do as idolaters do, beginnis now to fall before that idoll. But O, alas! blindit and desavit ar thai; as they sall knaw in the Lordis visitatioun, whilk, sa assuredlie as our God liveth, sall shortlie apprehend thai backstarteris amangis the middis of idolateris.” MS. Letters, p. 252. On the margin of the printed copy is his note: “Frequent letters written by Johne Knox to decline from idolatrie.”

200 ― MS. Letters, p. 251‒253.

201 ― Collier, Eccles. History, ii. 441.

202 ― MS. Letters, p. 322. Davidson’s Brief Commendatioun of Uprichtnes; reprinted in the Supplement.

203 ― MS. Letters, p. 256.

204 ― MS. Letters, 344, 373.

205 ― It is painful to observe, that many of the Lutherans, at this time, disgraced themselves by their illiberal inhospitality, refusing, in different instances, to admit those who fled from England into their harbours and towns, because they differed from them in their sentiments on the sacramental controversy. Melch. Adami Vitæ Exter. Theolog. p. 20. Strype’s Cranmer, p. 353, 361. Gerdesii Hist. Reform. tom. iii. 235‒7.

206 ― The English exiles were greatly indebted for this favour to the friendly services of the French pastors. One of these, Valerandus Polanus, was a native of Flanders, and had been minister of a congregation in Strasburg. During the confusions produced in Germany by the Interim, he had retired along with his congregation to England, and obtained a settlement at Glastonbury. Upon the death of Edward VI. he went to Frankfort. Strype’s Memor. of the Reform. ii. 242.

207 ― See Note V.

208 ― Knox, Historie, p. 85.

209 ― Brieff Discours off the Troubles begonne at Franckford in Germany, Anno Domini 1554. Abowte the booke off Common Prayer, p. xviii‒xxiv. Printed in 1575. This work contains a full account of the transactions of the English church at Frankfort, confirmed by original papers. The author was a non‑conformist, but his narrative was allowed to be accurate by the opposite party. To save repetition, I may mention once for all, that, when no authority is referred to, my statement of these transactions is taken from this book. It was reprinted in 1642, and is also to be found in the second volume of the Phenix, or a Revival of Scarce and Valuable Pieces. Lond. 1707‒8. But I have made use of the first edition.

210 ― This was the order of worship used by the church of Geneva, of which Calvin was minister. It had been lately translated into English.

211 ― Calvini Epist. p. 28: Oper. tom. ix. Amstælodami. anno 1667.

212 ― Previous to the appointment of this committee, Knox, Whittingham, Fox, Gilby, and T. Cole, had composed (what was afterwards called) The Order of Geneva, but it did not meet the views of all concerned. This was different from the order of the Genevan church, already referred to; and obtained its name from the circumstance of its having been first used by the English church at Geneva. It was afterwards used in the church of Scotland under the name of the Book of Common Order, and is sometimes called Knox’s Liturgy.

213 ― Cald. MS. i. 249.

214 ― Cald. MS. i. 252.

215 ― Collier (ii. 395) says that Knox manifested in this instance “a _surprising_ compliance.” But it appears, even from the account given by that historian, that, in the whole of the Frankfort affair, our Reformer displayed the greatest moderation and forbearance, while the conduct of his opponents was marked throughout with violence and want of charity.

216 ― Cald. MS. i. 254. Upon his return to Geneva, Knox committed to writing a narrative of the causes of his retiring from Frankfort. This he intended to publish in his own defence; but on mature deliberation, he resolved to suppress it, and to leave his own character to suffer, rather than expose his brethren and the common cause in which they were engaged. His narrative was preserved by Calderwood, and has furnished me with several facts. It contains the names of the persons who accused him to the senate of Frankfort, and of their advisers, which I have omitted, after the example of Knox, in the notice which he has taken of the affair, in his Historie of the Reformation, p. 85.

217 ― See above, p. 113.

218 ― See Note W.

219 ― Cald, MS. i. 255. Mr Strype has not discovered his usual impartiality or accuracy in the short account he has given of this affair. He says that Knox had “published some dangerous principles about government,” and that the informers “thought it fit for their own security to make an open complaint against him.” Memor. of the Reform. iii. 242. Knox had, at that time, published nothing on the subject of government; and Collier himself does not pretend such an excuse for the actors.

220 ― Cox was afterwards made to feel a little the galling yoke which he strove to impose on his brethren. Upon the accession of Elizabeth, that stately princess, still fonder of pompous and popish equipage than her clergy, kept a crucifix in her chapel, and ordered her chaplains to perform divine service before it. Dr Cox was the only one of the refugees who complied with this order, but his conscience afterwards remonstrating against it, he wrote a letter to the queen, requesting to be excused from continuing the practice. It is observable, that in this letter he employs the great argument which Knox had used against other ceremonies, while he prostrates himself before his haughty mistress with a submission to which our Reformer would never have stooped. “I ought,” says he, “to do nothing touching religion, which may appear doubtful whether it pleaseth God or not; for our religion ought to be certain, and grounded upon God’s word and will. Tender my sute, I beseech you, _in visceribus Jesu Christi_, my dear sovereign, and most gracious queen Elizabeth.” Burnet, ii. Append. 294. The crucifix was removed at this time, but was again introduced about 1570. Strype’s Parker, p. 310. Dr Cox afterwards fell under the displeasure of his “dear sovereign,” for maintaining rather stiffly his right to some of the revenues of his bishopric. Strype’s Annals, ii. 579. It is but justice, however, to this learned man to say, that I do not find him taking a very active part against the non‑conformists, after his return to England; he even made some attempts for the removal of the obnoxious ceremonies.

221 ― Calvini Epistolæ, p. 98, ut supra. This letter is addressed “_Cnoxo_” (by mistake of the publisher, instead of _Coxo_,) “et Gregalibus. Pridie Idus Junii, 1555.” Knox was at Geneva when Calvin wrote that letter.

222 ― See above, p. 91, 93.

223 ― MS. Letters, p. 255‒6.

224 ― The following lines were commonly repeated at this time, in allusion to Normand Leslie, who headed the conspirators against cardinal Beatoun:

Priestis, content you now, priestis, content you now; For Normand, and his companie, hes fillit the gallayis fow.

225 ― MS. Letters, p. 435, 438.

226 ― Knox, Historie, p. 78. Hume of Godscroft’s History, ii. 128.

227 ― Knox, Historie, p. 80.

228 ― Buchanani Oper. i. 302. Knox, Historie, p. 82. The following tribute to the memory of this patriot occurs in a work of one of our Latin poets, which is rarely to be met with:

JOHANNES MALVILLUS RETHIUS,

Nobilis Fifanus, Jacobo V. regi olim familiarissimus, summa vitæ innocentia, ob puræ relligionis studium, in suspicione falsi criminis, iniquissimo judicio sublatus est Aº Christi 1548.

Quidnam ego commerui, quæ tanta injuria facti, Hostis ut in nostrum sæviat ense caput? Idem hostis, judexque simul. Pro crimine, Christi Relligio, et fædo crimine pura manus. O secla! O mores: scelerum sic tollere pœnas Ut virtus sceleri debita damna luat. Joh. Jonstoni Heroes, pp. 28, 29.

229 ― Knox, Historie, p. 87, 88. Spotswood, 90, 91. Bezæ Icones, Ff. ij.

230 ― Winchester’s brother‑in‑law, William Arthur of Cairnes, obtained his property; and by a disposition, dated 27th August, 1555, “out of pity to Christian Martine,” (wife of George Winchester,) “and her eight fatherless children, disponed to her in liferent the fore‑tenement and the tacks of Kinglassie and Polduff, sometime pertaining to the said George, with his haill moveables, fallen in escheat, upon her paying to him the composition that he paid therefor.” MS. Genealogical Collections of Martin of Clermont, vol. i. p. 583‒5.

231 ― Act. Parl. Scot. ii. 488‒9.

232 ― This council assembled at Linlithgow, but was transferred to Edinburgh. Wilkins, Concil. tom. iv. 46. conf. p. 209.

233 ― Proem. Concil. apud Wilkins, iv. 46.

234 ― Canon 1. Ibid. p. 47.

235 ― Can. 2. Ibid. p. 48.

236 ― Can. 5. Ibid. p. 48.

237 ― Can. 15, 20. Ibid. p. 50‒1.

238 ― Can. 42, 45. Ibid. 56‒7.

239 ― Can. 43, 44, 47. Ibid. p. 57‒8.

240 ― Ibid. 69‒73.

241 ― Can. 16. Ibid. p. 72‒3.

242 ― Ibid. p. 73.

243 ― See Note X.

244 ― Wilkins, iv. 207, 209, 210. Keith, pref. p. xiv.

245 ― See Note Y.

246 ― Wilkins, iv. 72.

247 ― Keith, Append. p. 90. Episcopal writers have sometimes upbraided the Scottish church, as reformed by tradesmen and mechanics. They have, however, no reason to talk in this strain; for, in the first place, a sensible, pious tradesman, is surely better qualified for communicating religious instruction than an ignorant, superstitious priest; and, secondly, the church of England herself, after trying those of the latter class, was glad to betake herself to the former. See Strype’s Annals, i. 176, 177.

248 ― Cald. MS. i. 256.

249 ― Keith, History, p. 498.

250 ― Smetonii Respons. ad. Arch. Hamiltoni Dialog, p. 93. Edinburgh, 1579.

251 ― Parkhurst, bishop of Norwich, celebrates Willock among the chaplains of the duke, in the following lines:

Quid memorem quanta Wilocus, Skinerus et Haddon, Ælmerusque tuos ornârint luce penates? O! Deus, O! quales juvenes? Quo principe digni? His tua luminibus splendet domus. Strype’s Annals, ii. Append, p. 46.

252 ― Gerdesii Hist. Reform, iii. 147‒8.

253 ― Spotswood, p. 93. Knox, 90.

254 ― MS. Letters, p. 342.

255 ― Discours of the Troubles at Franckford, p. lv. lix. Knox, Historie, p. 90.

256 ― MS. Letters, p. 343.

257 ― See above, p. 6, 35.

258 ― Buchanani Oper. i. 301. Keith Append. p. 57.

259 ― MS. Letters, p. 342, 343.

260 ― Knox, Historie, p. 91.

261 ― On the back of a picture of our Reformer, which hangs in one of the rooms of Lord Torphichen’s house at Calder, is this inscription: “The Rev. John Knox.――The first sacrament of the supper given in Scotland after the Reformation, was dispensed in this hall.” The commencement of the Reformation is here dated from the present visit of Knox to Scotland; for we have already seen that he administered the ordinance in the castle of St Andrews, in 1547. The account given by Knox in his History of the Reformation, (p. 92,) seems to imply that he performed this service in the west country, before he did it in Calder‑house.

262 ― Knox, Historie, p. 91, 118.

263 ― Keith, p. 530.

264 ― Spotswood, p. 90.

265 ― Chalmers’s Caledonia, i. 848.

266 ― Knox, Historie, p. 91, 331.

267 ― Sadler’s State Papers, i. 83. Hume of Godscroft’s Hist. ii. 128.

268 ― The silver cups which were used on that occasion were till of late carefully preserved by the family of Glencairn at Finlayston; and the parish of Kilmalcolm was regularly favoured with the use of them at the time of dispensing the sacrament. “The people,” says the minister, in his account of that parish, “respect them much for their antiquity, as well as for the solemnity attending them in former and later times.” Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 279. This writer thinks they had been originally candlesticks, and converted to this use on the emergent occasion; the hollow bottom reversed forming the mouth of the cup, and the middle, after the socket was screwed out, being converted into the foot. But it is not very likely that the family of Glencairn were obliged to have recourse to this expedient.

269 ― Knox, Historie, p. 92.

270 ― Letter to Mary, regent of Scotland, apud Historie, p. 417.

271 ― Ibid. p. 416, 417.

272 ― MS. Letters, p. 343, 344.

273 ― Knox, Historie, p. 92. Another hearer of Knox at this time was Henry Drummond of Riccartowne, who was married to a niece of Robert Creighton, bishop of Dunkeld. Lord Strathallan’s Account of the House of Drummond, MS. in Advocates’ Library.

274 ― This is more evident from the letter in its original language, which is now before me in manuscript. In the copies of it which have been published along with his History, and even in the edition of 1732, freedoms have been used, and the style is not a little injured by the insertion of unnecessary and enfeebling expletives.

275 ― Historie, p. 92, 425.

276 ― Letter, &c. apud Historie, p. 425, 426.

277 ― This congregation, (which consisted of those who had withdrawn from Frankfort,) as early as September 1555, “chose Knox and Goodman for their pastors, and Gilby requested to supplie the rome till Knox returned owte of France.” Troubles at Franckford, p. lix.

278 ― A piece of sloping ground on the south side of the castle is still pointed out as the spot on which Knox preached.

279 ― Knox, Historie, p. 92‒3, 108.

280 ― Appellation, &c. apud Historie, p. 428.

281 ― MS. Letters, p. 352‒359.

282 ― See Note Z.

283 ― Among the questions proposed were the following: Whether the baptism administered by the popish priests was valid, and did not require repetition? Whether all the things prohibited in the decree of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem (Acts, xv.) were still unlawful? Whether the prohibition in 2d John, verse 10, extended to the _common_ salutation of those who taught erroneous doctrine? How are the directions respecting dress, in 2d Peter, iii. 3, to be obeyed? In what sense is God said to repent?

284 ― The congregation appear to have delayed the final settlement of their form of worship and discipline until Knox’s arrival; for the preface to The Order of Geneva, is dated “the 10th of February, anno 1556.” Dunlop’s Collection of Confessions, ii. 401. If this date was according to the old method of reckoning, Knox must have been present at the time. But I am not sure but that the new mode of beginning the year in January was introduced in Geneva as early as 1556.

285 ― MS. Letters, p. 377.

286 ― MS. Letters, p. 408.

287 ― Ibid. p. 378.

288 ― Knox, Historie, p. 97, 98.

289 ― See Note AA.

290 ― Knox, Historie, p. 98‒100.

291 ― I find him, about this time, addressing a letter to one of his correspondents from Lyons. MS. Letters, p. 346. This letter is subscribed John Sinclair. See above, Footnote 4.

292 ― Histoire des Martyrs, p. 425, 426. Anno 1597. Folio. Beza, Vita Calvini, ad ann. 1557. The cardinal of Lorrain, uncle to Mary the young queen of Scotland, was industrious in propagating these vile calumnies; a circumstance which increased Knox’s bad opinion of that determined enemy of the Reformation. This is mentioned by him in his preface to the Parisian Apology. “This was not bruited be the rude and ignorant pepil; but a cardinall (whais ipocrisie nevertheless is not abil to cover his awn filthiness) eschamit not openlie at his tabill to affirm that maist impudent and manifest lie; adding moreover (to the further declaratioun whais sone he was) that, in the hous whair thay wer apprehendit, 8 bedis wer preparit. When in verie deed, in that place whair they did convene, (except a table for the Lord’s supper to have been ministered, a chayr for the preicher, and bankis and stullis for the easement of the auditors,) no preparation nor furniture was abill to be proved, not even by the verie enemyis.” MS. Letters, p. 445, 446.

293 ― MS. Letters, p. 442‒500. The apology of the Parisian protestants was published; but I do not think that the English translation, with Knox’s additions, ever appeared in print. The writer of the Life of Knox, prefixed to the edition of his History, 1732, p. xxi., has fallen into several blunders on this subject. There are no letters to the French protestants in the MS. to which he refers. The apology was written by the Parisians themselves, and Knox informs us, that a part of the translation only was done by him――“the former and maist part was translatit by another, because of my other labors.” Ut supra, p. 446.

294 ― “Having particularly declared to me,” says Row, “by those who heard him say, when he was in Rochel, in France, that within two or three years he hoped to preach the gospel publicly in St Giles in Edinburgh. But the persons who heard him say it, being papists for the time, and yet persuaded by a nobleman to hear him preach privately, and see him baptise a bairn that was carried many miles to him for that purpose, thought that such a thing could never come to pass, and hated him for so speaking; yet, coming home to Scotland, and through stress of weather likely to perish, they began to think of his preaching, and allowed of every part of it, and vowed to God, if he would preserve their lives, that they would forsake papistry, and follow the calling of God; whilk they did, and saw and heard John Knox preach openly in the kirk of Edinburgh, at the time whereof he spoke to them.” Row’s Historie, MS. p. 8, 9. The same fact is mentioned by Pierre de la Roque, a French author, in Recueil des Dernieres Heures Edifiantes: Wodrow, MSS. No. 15. Advocates’ Library.

295 ― Annuaire, ou Repertoire Ecclesiastique, à l’usage des Eglises reformées et protestantes de l’empire Français, par M. Rabaut le Jeune, p. 273, 274. A Paris, 1807.

The pastor of Dieppe was a member of the first National Synod of the reformed churches of France, held at Paris in 1559. Quick’s Synodicon, 1, 2, 7. In 1630, there were upwards of 5000 communicants in the church of Dieppe. Diary of Mr Robert Trail, minister of Greyfriars, Edinburgh, p. 22, 23. MS. in the possession of the Rev. Dr Trail.

296 ― MS. Letters, p. 349.

297 ― The Careles by Necessitie, as reprinted in Knox’s Answer to an Anabaptist, in 1560. Spanhemii (Patris) Disput. Theol. Miscell. Genevæ, 1652. Spanhemii (Fillii) Opera, tom. iii. p. 771‒798.――It is scarcely necessary to state, that the greater part of those who, in the present day, oppose the baptism of infants, do not hold a number of the tenets specified above. They are decidedly hostile to Pelagianism, and friendly to the doctrine of grace. So far from denying the lawfulness of magistracy among christians, they have in general (at least in Scotland) adopted the principle of non‑resistance to civil rulers in all cases.

298 ― Knox, Answer to the Blasphemous Cavillations written by an Anabaptist, p. 405, 407. Anno 1560.

299 ― This he afterwards accomplished in the book referred to in the preceding note.

300 ― MS. Letters, p. 403‒424.

301 ― MS. Letters, p. 424‒438.