from England; a journey which he repeated at intervals as long as he
remained on the continent. The kind reception which he had met with,
and the agreeable company which he enjoyed, during his short residence
in Switzerland, had helped to dissipate the cloud which hung upon his
spirits when he landed in France, and to open his {133} mind to more
pleasing prospects as to the issue of the present afflicting events.
This appears from a letter written by him at this time, and addressed
“To his afflicted brethren.” After discoursing of the situation of the
disciples of Christ during the time that he lay in the grave, and of
the sudden transition which they experienced, upon the reappearance of
their master, from the depth of sorrow to the summit of joy, he adds:
“The remembrance thereof is unto my heart great matter of consolation.
For yet my good hope is, that one day or other, Christ Jesus, that now
is crucified in England, shall rise again, in despite of his enemies,
and shall appear to his weak and sore troubled disciples (for yet some
he hath in that wretched and miserable realm); to whom he shall say,
‘Peace be unto you; it is I, be not afraid.’”[192]
His spirit was also refreshed at this time, by the information that he
received of the constancy with which his mother‑in‑law adhered to the
protestant faith. Her husband, it appears, took it for granted that
she and the rest of the family had consciences equally accommodating
with his own. It was not until she had evinced, in the most determined
manner, her resolution to forsake friends and native country,
rather than sacrifice her religion, that she was released from his
importunities to comply with the Roman catholic religion.[193] Before
he went to Switzerland, Knox had signified his intention, if his
life was {134} spared, of visiting his friends at Berwick.[194] When
he returned to Dieppe, he had not relinquished the thoughts of this
enterprise.[195] It is likely that his friends had, in their letters,
dissuaded him from it; and, after cool consideration, he resolved to
postpone an attempt, by which he must have risked his life, without
the prospect of doing any good.[196]
Wherefore, setting out again from Dieppe, he repaired to Geneva.
The celebrated Calvin was then in the zenith of his reputation and
usefulness in that city, and having completed its ecclesiastical
establishment, and surmounted the opposition raised by those
who envied his authority, or disliked his system of doctrine and
discipline, was securely seated in the affections of the citizens. His
writings were already translated into most of the languages of Europe;
and Geneva was thronged with strangers from England, France, Germany,
Poland, Hungary, and even from Spain and Italy, who came to consult
him about the advancement of the Reformation, or to find shelter from
the persecutions to which they were exposed, in their native countries.
The name of Calvin was respected by none more than the protestants of
England; and, at the desire of archbishop Cranmer, he had imparted to
the protector Somerset, and to Edward VI., his advice as to the best
method of advancing the Reformation in that kingdom.[197] Knox was
affectionately received by him as a refugee from {135} England, and
an intimate friendship was soon formed between them, which subsisted
until the death of Calvin in 1564. They were nearly of the same age;
and there was a striking similarity in their sentiments, and in the
more prominent features of their character. The Genevan reformer
was highly pleased with the piety and talents of Knox, who, in his
turn, entertained a greater esteem and deference for Calvin than for
any other of the reformers. As Geneva was an eligible situation for
prosecuting study, and as he approved much of the religious order
established in that city, he resolved to make it the ordinary place
of his residence during the continuance of his exile.
But no prospect of personal safety or accommodation could banish
from his mind the thoughts of his persecuted countrymen. In the month
of July he undertook another journey to Dieppe, to inform himself
accurately of their situation, and to learn if he could do any thing
for their comfort.[198] The tidings he received on this occasion tore
open those wounds which had begun to close. In Scotland, every thing
was dark and discouraging. The severities used against the protestants
of England daily increased; and, what was still more afflicting to
him, many of those who had embraced the truth under his ministry {136}
had been induced to return to the communion of the popish church.
In the agony of his spirit, he wrote to them, setting before them
the destruction to which they exposed their immortal souls by such
cowardly desertion, and earnestly calling them to repentance.[199]
Under his present impressions, he repeated his former admonitions to
his mother‑in‑law, and to his wife; over whose religious constancy
he was tenderly jealous. “By pen will I write (because the bodies are
put asunder to meet again at God’s pleasure) that which, by mouth, and
face to face, ye have heard, that if man or angel labour to bring you
back from the confession that once you have given, let them in that
behalf be accursed. If any trouble you above measure, whether they be
magistrates or carnal friends, they shall bear their just condemnation,
unless they speedily repent. But now, mother, comfort you my heart
(God grant ye may) in this my great affliction and dolorous pilgrimage;
continue stoutly to the end, and bow you never before that idol, and
so will the rest of worldly troubles be unto me more tolerable. With
my own heart I often commune, yea, {137} and, as it were comforting
myself, I appear to triumph, that God shall never suffer you to fall
in that rebuke. Sure I am that both ye would fear and eschame to
commit that abomination in my presence, who am but a wretched man,
subject to sin and misery like to yourself. But, O mother! though
no earthly creature should be offended with you, yet fear ye the
presence and offence of him, who, present in all places, searcheth
the very heart and reins, whose indignation, once kindled against the
inobedient, (and no sin more inflameth his wrath than idolatry doth,)
no creature in heaven nor in earth is able to appease.”[200]
He was in this state of mind when he composed the Admonition to
England, which was published about the end of this year. Those who
have censured him, as indulging in an excessive vehemence of spirit
and bitterness of language, usually refer to this tract in support of
their charge.[201] It is true, that he there paints the persecuting
papists in the blackest colours, and holds them up as objects
of human execration and divine vengeance. I do not now stop to
enquire, whether he was chargeable with transgressing the bounds of
moderation prescribed by reason and religion, in the expression of
his indignation and zeal; or whether the censures pronounced by his
accusers, and the principles upon which they proceed, do not involve
a condemnation of the temper and language of the most righteous men
mentioned in scripture, and even of our Saviour himself. But, I may
ask, is {138} there no apology for his severity to be found in the
character of the persons against whom he wrote, and in the state
of his own feelings, lacerated, not by personal sufferings, but by
sympathy with his suffering brethren, who were driven into prisons
by their unnatural countrymen, “as sheep for the slaughter,” to
be brought forth and barbarously immolated to appease the Roman
Moloch? Who could suppress indignation in speaking of the conduct
of men, who, having raised themselves to honour and affluence by
the warmest professions of friendship to the reformed religion under
the preceding reign, now abetted the most violent measures against
their former brethren and benefactors? What terms were too strong
for stigmatizing the execrable system of persecution coolly projected
by the dissembling, vindictive Gardiner, the brutal barbarity of the
bloody Bonner, or the unrelenting, insatiable cruelty of Mary, who,
having extinguished the feelings of humanity, and divested herself of
the tenderness which characterises her sex, continued to urge to fresh
severities the willing instruments of her cruelty, after they were
sated with blood, and to issue orders for the murder of her subjects,
until her own husband, bigoted and unfeeling as he was, turned with
disgust from the spectacle?
On such a theme ’tis impious to be calm;
Passion is reason, transport temper here.
Oppression makes a wise man mad; but (to use the words of a modern
orator, with a more just application) “the distemper is still the
madness of the wise, {139} which is better than the sobriety of fools.
Their cry is the voice of sacred misery, exalted, not into wild raving,
but into the sanctified frenzy of prophecy and inspiration.”
Knox returned to Geneva, and applied himself to study with all the
ardour of youth, although his age now bordered upon fifty. It seems
to have been at this time that he made himself master of the Hebrew
language, which he had no opportunity of acquiring in early life.[202]
It is natural to enquire, by what funds he was supported during his
exile. However much inclined his mother‑in‑law was to relieve his
necessities, the disposition of her husband appears to have put
it greatly out of her power. Any small sums which his friends had
advanced to him, before his sudden departure from England, were
exhausted; and he was at this time very much straitened for money.
Being unwilling to burden strangers, he looked for assistance to the
voluntary contributions of those among whom he had laboured. In a
letter to Mrs Bowes, he says, “My own estate I cannot well declare;
but God shall guide the footsteps of him that is wilsome, and will
feed him in trouble that never greatly solicited for the world. If
any collection might be made among the faithful, it were no shame for
me to receive that which Paul refused not in the time of his trouble.
But all I remit to his providence that ever careth for his own.”[203]
I find that remittances {140} were made to him by particular friends,
both in England and Scotland, during his residence on the
continent.[204]
Meanwhile, the persecution growing hot in England, great numbers
of protestants had made their escape from that kingdom. Before the
close of the year 1554, there were on the continent several hundred
Englishmen of good education, besides others of different ranks, who
had preferred religion to country, and voluntarily encountered all
the hardships of exile, that they might hold fast the profession of
the protestant faith. The foreign reformed churches exhibited, on
this occasion, an amiable proof of the spirit of their religion, and
amply recompensed the kindness which England had shown to strangers
during the reign of Edward. They emulated one another in exertions
to accommodate the unfortunate refugees who were dispersed among them,
and endeavoured, with the most affectionate solicitude, to supply
their wants and alleviate their sufferings.[205] The principal places
in which the English exiles obtained settlements, were Zurich, Basle,
Geneva, Arrow, Embden, Wesel, Strasburg, Duysburg, and Frankfort.
Frankfort on the Maine was a rich imperial city of {141} Germany,
which, at an early period, had embraced the Reformation, and
befriended protestant refugees from all countries, so far as this
could be done without coming to an open breach with the emperor, by
whom their conduct was watched with a jealous eye. There was already
a church of French protestants in that city. On the 14th of July, 1554,
the English who had come to Frankfort obtained from the magistrates
the joint use of the place of worship allotted to the French, with
liberty to perform religious service in their own language.[206]
This was granted upon the condition of their conforming, as nearly as
possible, to the mode of worship used by the French church; a prudent
precaution dictated by the political situation in which the city was
placed. The offer was gratefully accepted by the English, who came to
a unanimous agreement, that they would omit the use of the surplice,
the litany, the audible responses, and some other ceremonies
prescribed by the English liturgy, which, “in those reformed churches,
would seem more than strange,” or which were “superstitious and
superfluous.” Having settled this point in the most harmonious manner,
elected deacons and a temporary pastor, and agreed upon certain rules
of {142} discipline, they wrote a circular letter to their brethren
who were scattered through different places, informing them of the
agreeable settlement which they had obtained, and inviting them to
participate in their accommodations at Frankfort, and unite with
them in prayers for the afflicted church of England. The exiles at
Strasburg, in their reply to this letter, recommended to them certain
persons as well qualified for filling the offices of superintendent
and pastor; a recommendation not asked by the congregation at
Frankfort, who did not think a superintendent necessary in their
situation, and who intended to put themselves under the inspection of
two or three pastors invested with equal authority. They, accordingly,
proceeded to make choice of three persons to this office. One of
these was Knox, who received information of his election by a
letter written in the name of the congregation, and subscribed by
its principal members.[207]
The deputation which waited on him with this invitation found him
engaged in the prosecution of his studies at Geneva. From aversion to
sacrifice the advantages which he enjoyed, or from the apprehension
of difficulties that he might meet with at Frankfort, he would gladly
have excused himself from accepting the invitation. But the deputies
having employed the powerful intercession of Calvin,[208] he was
induced to comply, and repairing to Frankfort in the month of
November, commenced his ministry with {143} the universal consent
and approbation of the church. Previous to his arrival, however, the
harmony which at first subsisted among that people had been disturbed.
In reply to the letter addressed to them, the exiles at Zurich had
signified that they would not come to Frankfort, unless they obtained
security that the church there would “use the same order of service
concerning religion, which was, in England, last set forth by
king Edward;” for they were fully determined “to admit and use no
other.” They alleged, that, by varying from that service, they would
give occasion to their adversaries to charge their religion with
imperfection and mutability, and would condemn their brethren who were
sealing it with their blood in England. To these representations the
brethren at Frankfort replied, that they had obtained the liberty of a
place of worship, upon condition of their accommodating themselves as
much as possible to the forms used by the French church; that there
were a number of things in the English service‑book which would be
offensive to the protestants among whom they resided, and which had
been occasion of scruple to conscientious persons at home; that, by
the variations which they had introduced, they were very far from
meaning to throw any reflection upon the regulations of their late
sovereign and his council, who had themselves altered many things,
and had resolved on still greater alterations, without thinking that
they gave any handle to their popish adversaries; and still less did
they mean to detract from the credit of the martyrs, who, they were
persuaded, {144} shed their blood in confirmation of more important
things than mutable ceremonies of human appointment. This reply had
the effect of lowering the tone of the exiles at Zurich, but it did
not satisfy them; and, instead of desisting from the controversy, and
contenting themselves with remaining where they were, they instigated
their brethren at Strasburg to urge the same request, and, by
letters and messengers, fomented dissension in the congregation at
Frankfort.[209]
When Knox arrived, he found that the seeds of animosity had already
sprung up among them. From what we already know of his sentiments
respecting the English service‑book, we may be sure that the eagerness
manifested by those who wished to impose it was very displeasing
to him. But so sensible was he of the pernicious and discreditable
effects of division among brethren exiled for the same faith, that he
resolved to act as a moderator between the two parties, and to avoid,
as far as possible, every thing which might have a tendency to widen
or continue the breach. Accordingly, when the congregation had {145}
agreed to adopt the order of the Genevan church,[210] and requested
him to proceed to administer the communion according to it, although
he approved of that form, he declined carrying it into practice, until
their learned brethren in other places were consulted. At the same
time, he signified that he had not freedom to dispense the sacraments
agreeably to the English liturgy. If he could not be allowed to
perform this service in a manner more consonant to scripture, he
requested that some other person might be employed in this part of
duty, in which case he would willingly confine himself to preaching;
and if neither of these could be granted, he besought them to release
him altogether from his charge. To this last request they would by no
means consent.
Fearing that, if these differences were not speedily accommodated,
they would burst into a flame, Knox, and some other members of the
congregation, drew up a summary of the Book of Common Prayer, and,
having translated it into Latin, sent it to Calvin for his opinion
and advice. In a reply, dated January 20, 1555, Calvin stated, that he
was grieved to hear of the unseemly contentions which prevailed among
them; that, although he had always recommended moderation respecting
external ceremonies, yet he could not but condemn the obstinacy of
those who would consent to no change of old customs; that in {146} the
liturgy of England he had found many tolerable fooleries, (tolerabiles
ineptias,)――practices which might be tolerated at the beginning of a
reformation, but ought to be removed as soon as possible; that, in his
opinion, the present condition of the English exiles warranted them to
attempt this, and to agree upon an order more conducive to edification;
and that, for his part, he could not understand what those persons
meant who discovered such fondness for popish dregs.[211]
This letter, when read to the congregation, had a great effect in
repressing the keenness of such as had urged the unlimited use of the
liturgy; and a committee was appointed to draw up a form which might
put an end to all differences.[212] When this committee met, Knox told
them that he was convinced it was necessary for one of the parties
to relent before they could come to an amicable settlement; and that
he would therefore state what he judged most proper to be done, and
having exonerated himself, would allow them, without opposition,
to determine as they should answer to God and the church. They
accordingly agreed upon a form of worship, in which the English {147}
liturgy was followed, so far as their circumstances and the general
ends of edification, permitted. This was to continue in force until
the end of April next; and if any dispute arose in the interval, it
was to be referred to five of the most celebrated foreign divines.
The agreement was subscribed by all the members of the congregation;
thanks were publicly returned to God for the restoration of harmony;
and the communion was received as a pledge of union, and of the burial
of all past offences.
But this agreement was soon after violated, and the peace of that
unhappy congregation again broken, in the most wanton and inexcusable
manner. On the 13th of March, 1555, Dr Cox, who had been preceptor to
Edward VI., came from England to Frankfort, with some others in his
company. The first day on which they attended public worship after
their arrival, they broke through the established order, by answering
aloud after the minister in the time of divine service. Being
admonished by some of the elders to refrain from that practice, they
insolently replied, “that they would do as they had done in England;
and they would have the face of an English church.”――“The Lord grant
it to have the face of Christ’s church,” says Knox, in an account
which he drew up of these transactions; “and therefore I would have
had it agreeable, in outward rites and ceremonies, with Christian
churches reformed.”[213]
On the following Sabbath, one of their number, {148} having intruded
himself into the pulpit, without the consent of the pastors or
the congregation, read the litany, while Cox and his accomplices
echoed the responses. This offensive behaviour was aggravated by the
consideration, that some of them had, before leaving England, been
guilty of compliances with popery, for which they had not yet given
satisfaction to their brethren.
Such an infraction of public order, as well as insult upon the whole
body, could not be passed over in silence. It was Knox’s turn to
preach on the afternoon of the Sabbath when this occurred. In his
ordinary course of lecturing through the book of Genesis, he had
occasion to discourse of the manner in which offences committed by
professors of religion ought to be treated. Having mentioned that
there were infirmities in their conduct over which a veil should be
thrown, he proceeded to remark, that offences which openly dishonoured
God and disturbed the peace of the church, ought to be disclosed and
publicly rebuked. He then reminded them of the contention which had
existed in the congregation, and of the happy manner in which, after
long and painful labour, it had been ended, to the joy of all, by the
solemn agreement which had that day been so flagrantly violated. This,
he said, it became not the proudest of them to have attempted. Nothing
which was destitute of a divine warrant ought to be obtruded upon
any Christian church. In that book for which some entertained such
an overweening fondness, he would undertake to prove publicly, that
there were things {149} imperfect, impure, and superstitious; and if
any should go about to burden a free congregation with such things, he
would not fail, as often as he occupied that place, provided his text
afforded occasion, to oppose their design. As he had been forced to
enter upon that subject, he would say further, that, in his judgment,
slackness in reforming religion, when time and opportunity were
granted for this purpose, was one cause of the divine displeasure
against England. He adverted also to the trouble which bishop Hooper
had suffered for refusing to comply with some of the ceremonies, to
the want of discipline, and to the well‑known fact, that three, four,
or five benefices had been held by one man, to the depriving of the
flock of Christ of their necessary food.