John Knox, among all the ministers who remained at Perth after the
Congregation of the Reformed had dispersed, was the only one, my
grandfather has been heard to say, that expressed no joy nor exultation
at the assurances of the Queen Regent. "We shall see, we shall see," was
all he said to those among them who gloried in the victory; adding, "But
if there is truth in the Word of God, it is not in the nature of the
Beast to do otherwise than evil," and his words of discernment and of
wisdom were soon verified.
Erskine of Dun, while he remained at Stirling, had his eyes and ears
open; and in their porches he placed for sentinels, Distrust and
Suspicion. He knew the fluctuating nature of woman; how every succeeding
wave of feeling washes away the deepest traces that are traced on the
quicksands of her unstable humours; and the danger having passed, he
jealoused that the Queen Regent would forget her terrors, and give
herself up to the headlong councils of the adversaries, whom, from her
known adherence to the Romish ritual, he justly feared she was inclined
to favour. Nor was he left long in doubt.
On the evening before the day which had been appointed for the trial, no
proclamation or other token was promulged to appease the anxiety of the
cited preachers. He, therefore, thought it needful to be prepared for
the worst; so, accordingly, he ordered his two serving-men to have his
horses in readiness forth the town in the morning, and there to abide
his orders.
Without giving any other about him the slightest inkling of what he had
conceited, he went up betimes to the castle, having learnt that the
Queen Regent was that day to hold a council. And being a man held in
great veneration by all parties, and well known to the household of the
court, he obtained access to the ante-chamber after the council was met;
and standing there, he was soon surprised by her Highness coming out,
leaning on the arm of the Lord Wintoun, and seemingly much disturbed. On
seeing him she was startled, and paused for a moment, but soon
collecting all her pride, she dropped the Lord Wintoun's arm, and walked
straight through the apartment without noticing any one, and holding
herself aloft with an air of resolute dignity.
Dun augured no good from this; but following till the Lord Wintoun had
attended her to the end of the long painted gallery, where she stopped
at the door that opened to her private apartments, he there awaited that
nobleman's return, and inquired of him if the process against the
protestant ministers had been rescinded.
"No," said Wintoun, peevishly; "the summons have been called over, and
they have not appeared, either in person or by agents."
"Say you so, my Lord?" cried Dun; "and what is the result?"
"Outlawry, for non-appearance, is pronounced against them," replied
Wintoun, haughtily, and went straight back into the council-chamber.
Dun thought it unnecessary to inquire farther; so, without making more
ado, he instanter left the castle, and, going down the town, went to the
spot where his horses stood ready, and, mounting, rode off with the
tidings to Perth, grieving sorely at the gross perfidy and sad deceit
which the Queen Regent had been so practised on, by the heads of the
papist faction, to commit.
It happened on the same day, that John Knox, who remained at Perth, a
wakeful warder on a post of peril, was moved by the Spirit of God to
preach a sermon, in which he exposed the idolatry of the mass and the
depravity of image-worship. My grandfather was present, and he often
said that preaching was an era and epoch worthy to be held in
everlasting remembrance. It took place in the Greyfriars church. There
was an understanding among the people that it was to be there; but many
fearing the monks might attempt to prevent it, a vast concourse, chiefly
men, assembled at the ordinary mass hour, and remained in the church
till the Reformer came, so that, had the friars tried to keep him out,
they could not have shut the doors.
A lane was made through the midst of the crowd to admit the preacher to
the pulpit; and when he was seen advancing, aged and feeble, and leaning
on his staff, many were moved with compassion, and doubted if it could
be the wonderful man of whom every tongue spoke. But when he had
ascended and began, he seemed to undergo a great transfiguration. His
abject mien and his sickly visage became majestic and glorious. His eyes
lightened; his countenance shone as with the radiance of a spirit that
blazed within; and his voice dirled to the heart like vehement thunder.
Sometimes he spoke to the understandings of those who heard him, of that
insane doctrine which represented the mission of the Redeemer to consist
of believing, in despite of sight, and smell, and touch, and taste, that
wafers and wine were actually the flesh and blood of a man that was
crucified, with nails driven through his feet and hands, many hundred
years ago. Then, rising into the contemplation of the divinity of the
Saviour, he trampled under the feet of his eloquence a belief so
contrary to the instincts and senses with which Infinite Wisdom has
gifted his creatures; and bursting into ecstasy at the thought of this
idolatrous invention, he called on the people to look at the images and
the effigies in the building around them, and believe, if they could,
that such things, the handy-works of carpenters and masons, were endowed
with miraculous energies far above the faculties of man. Kindling into a
still higher mood, he preached to those very images, and demanded of
them, and those they represented, to show any proof that they were
entitled to reverence. "God forgive my idolatry!" he exclaimed. "I
forget myself--these things are but stocks and stones."
Not one of all who heard him that day ever gave ear again to papistry.
When he had made an end, and retired from the church, many still
lingered, discoursing of his marvellous lecture, and among others, my
grandfather.
An imprudent priest belonging to the convent, little aware of the great
conversion which had been wrought, began to prepare for the celebration
of the mass, and a callan who was standing near, encouraged by the
contempt which some of those around expressed at this folly, jibed the
priest, and he drove him away. The boy, however, returned, and levelling
a stone at a crucifix on the altar, shattered it to pieces. In an
instant, as if caught by a whirlwind, the whole papistical trumpery was
torn down and dashed into fragments. The cry of "Down with the idols!"
became universal: hundreds on hundreds came rushing to the spot. The
magistrates and the ministers came flying to beseech order and to soothe
the multitude; but a Divine ire was upon the people, who heard no voice
but only the cry of "Down with the idols!" and their answer was, "Burn,
burn, and destroy!"
The monasteries of the Black and the Grey Friars were sacked and
rendered desolate, and the gorgeous edifice of the Carthusian monks
levelled to the ground.
So dreadful a tumult had never before been heard of within the realm.
Many of the best of the Reformed deplored the handle it would give to
the blasphemies of their foes. Even my grandfather was smitten with
consternation and grief; for he could not but think that such a temporal
outrage would be followed by a terrible temporal revenge as ruthless and
complete. Sober minds shuddered at the sudden and sacrilegious
overthrow of such venerable structures; and many that stood on the
threshold of the house of papistical bondage, and were on the point of
leaving it, retired in again, and barred the doors against the light,
and hugged their errors as blameless compared with such enormities. To
no one did the event give pleasure but to John Knox. "The work," said
he, "has been done, it is true, by the rascal multitude; but when the
nests are destroyed the rooks will fly away."
The thing, however, most considered at that time was the panic which
this intemperance would cause to the Queen Regent; and my grandfather,
seeing it had changed the complexion of his mission, resolved to return
the same evening by the Queensferry to the Lord James Stuart at
Edinburgh. For the people no sooner cooled and came to a sense of
reflection, than they discerned that they had committed a heinous
offence against the laws, and, apprehending punishment, prepared to
defend themselves.
Thus, by the irresolute and promise-breaking policy of the Queen was the
people maddened into grievous excesses, and many of those who submitted
quietly in the faith of her assurances, and had returned to their
respective homes, considered the trumpet as sounded, and began to gird
themselves for battle.