ambition by which her brothers, the princes of Lorrain, were fired,
had long formed the design of wresting the regency from the hands of
Arran. After a series of political intrigue, in which she discovered
the most consummate and persevering address, she at last succeeded;
and, on the 10th of April, 1554, the regent resigned his office to her
in the presence of parliament, and retired into private life with the
title of duke of Chastelherault. The dowager had at an early period
made her court to the protestants, whom Arran had alienated from
him by persecution; and, to induce them to favour her pretensions,
she promised to screen them from the violence of the clergy. Having
received their cordial support, and finding it necessary still to
use them as a check upon the clergy, who, under the influence of the
primate, favoured the interest of her rival, the queen regent secretly
countenanced them, and the protestants were emboldened again to avow
their sentiments.
In the meantime, the queen of England was exerting {169} all her
power to crush the Reformation; and had the court of Scotland acted
in concert with her for this purpose, the protestants must, according
to all human probability, have been exterminated in Britain. But the
English queen having married Philip, king of Spain, while the queen
regent was indissolubly attached to France, the rival of Spain, a
coldness was produced between these two princesses, which was soon
after succeeded by an open breach. Among the protestants who fled from
the cruelty of Mary, some took refuge in Scotland, where they were
suffered to remain undisturbed, and even to teach in private, through
the connivance of the new regent, and in consequence of the security
into which the clergy had been lulled by success. Travelling from
place to place, they propagated instruction, and by their example and
their exhortations fanned the latent zeal of those who had formerly
received the knowledge of the truth.
William Harlow, whose zeal and acquaintance with the scriptures
compensated for the defects of his education, was the first preacher
who at this time came to Scotland. Let those who do not know,
or who wish to forget, that the religion which they profess was
first preached by fishermen and tentmakers, labour to conceal the
occupations of some of those men whom providence raised up to spread
the reformed gospel through their native country. Harlow had followed
the trade of a tailor in Edinburgh;[247] {170} but having imbibed
the protestant doctrine, he retired to England, where he was admitted
to deacon’s orders, and employed as a preacher, during the reign of
Edward VI.[248] Upon his return to Scotland, he remained for some time
in Ayrshire, and continued to preach in different parts of the country,
with great fervour and diligence, until the establishment of the
Reformation, when he was admitted minister of St Cuthbert’s, in the
vicinity of Edinburgh.[249]
Some time after him arrived John Willock. This reformer afterwards
became the principal coadjutor of Knox, who never mentions him without
expressions of affection and esteem. The cordiality which subsisted
between them, the harmony of their sentiments, and the combination of
the peculiar talents and qualities by which they were distinguished,
conduced in no small degree to the advancement of the Reformation.
Willock was not inferior to Knox in learning, and, though he did not
equal him in eloquence and intrepidity, surpassed him in affability,
in moderation, and in address:[250] qualities which enabled him
sometimes to maintain his station and to accomplish his {171} purposes,
when his colleague could not act with safety or with success. He was
a native of Ayrshire, and had belonged to the order of Franciscan
friars; but, having embraced the reformed opinions at an early period,
he threw off the monastic habit, and fled to England. During the
persecution for the Six Articles in 1541, he was thrown into the
prison of the Fleet. He afterwards became chaplain to the duke of
Suffolk, the father of lady Jane Grey;[251] and upon the accession of
queen Mary, left England, and took up his residence at Embden. Having
practised there as a physician, he was introduced to Anne, duchess of
Friesland, who patronised the Reformation,[252] and whose opinion of
his talents and integrity induced her to send him to Scotland, in the
summer of 1555, with a commission to the queen regent, to make some
arrangements respecting the trade carried on between the two countries.
The public character with which he was invested gave Willock an
opportunity of cultivating acquaintance with the leading protestants,
and while he resided in Edinburgh, they met with him in private, and
listened to his religious instructions.[253]
{172} Knox received the news of this favourable change in the
situation of his brethren with heartfelt satisfaction. He did not know
what it was to fear danger, and was little accustomed to consult his
own ease, when he had the prospect of being useful in advancing the
interests of truth; but he acknowledges that, on the present occasion,
he was at first averse to a journey into Scotland, notwithstanding
some encouraging circumstances in the intelligence which he had
received from that quarter. He had been so much tossed about of late,
that he felt a peculiar relish in the learned leisure which he at
present enjoyed, and which he was desirous to prolong. His anxiety
to see his wife, after an absence of nearly two years, and the
importunity with which his mother‑in‑law, in her letters, urged him
to visit them, determined him at last to undertake the journey.[254]
Setting out from Geneva in the month of August 1555, he came to
Dieppe, and, sailing from that port, landed on the east coast,
near the boundaries between Scotland and England, about the end
of harvest.[255] He repaired immediately to Berwick, where he had
the satisfaction of finding his wife and her mother in comfortable
circumstances, and enjoying the happiness of religious society with
several individuals in that city, who, like themselves, had not “bowed
the knee” to the established idolatry, nor consented to “receive the
mark” of antichrist.[256]
{173} Having remained some time with them, he set out secretly to
visit the protestants in Edinburgh; intending, after a short stay, to
return to Berwick. But he found employment which detained him beyond
his expectation. He lodged with James Syme, a respectable burgess of
Edinburgh, in whose house the friends of the Reformation assembled, to
attend the instructions of Knox, as soon as they were informed of his
arrival. Few of the inhabitants of the metropolis had as yet embraced
the reformed doctrines, but several persons had repaired to it at
this time, from other parts of the country, to meet with Willock.
Among these were John Erskine of Dun, whom we had formerly occasion to
mention as an early favourer of the new opinions, and a distinguished
patron of literature,[257] and whose great respectability of character,
and approved loyalty and patriotism, had preserved him from the
resentment of the clergy, and the jealousy of the government,
during successive periods of persecution;[258] and William Maitland
of Lethington, a young gentleman of the finest parts, improved
by a superior education, but inclined to subtlety in reasoning,
accommodating in his religious sentiments, and extremely versatile in
his political conduct. Highly gratified with Knox’s discourses, which
were greatly superior to any which they had heard either from popish
or protestant preachers, they brought their acquaintances along with
them to {174} hear him, and his audiences daily increased. Being
confined to a private house, he was obliged to preach to successive
assemblies; and was unremittingly employed, by night as well as by
day, in communicating instruction to persons who demanded it with
extraordinary avidity. The following letter, written by him to Mrs
Bowes, to excuse himself for not returning so soon as he had purposed,
will convey the best idea of his employment and feelings on this
interesting occasion.
“The wayis of man are not in his awn power. Albeit my journey toward
Scotland, belovit mother, was maist contrarious to my awn judgment,
befoir I did interpryse the same; yet this day I prais God for thame
wha was the cause externall of my resort to theis quarteris; that is,
I prais God in yow and for yow, whom hie maid the instrument to draw
me from the den of my awn eas, (you allane did draw me from the rest
of quyet studie,) to contemplat and behald the fervent thirst of our
brethrene, night and day sobbing and gronying for the breide of life.
Gif I had not sene it with my eis, in my awn country, I culd not have
beleveit it! I praisit God, when I was with you, perceaving that,
in the middis of Sodome, God had mo Lottis than one, and mo faithful
douchteris than tua. But the fervencie heir doith fer exceid all
utheris that I have seen. And thairfor ye sall paciently bear, altho’
I spend heir yet sum dayis; for depart I cannot, unto sic tyme as God
quenche thair thirst a litill. Yea, mother, thair fervencie doith sa
ravische me, that I cannot but accus and condemp {175} my sleuthful
coldnes. God grant thame thair hartis desyre; and I pray yow adverteis
[me] of your estait, and of thingis that have occurit sense your last
wrytting. Comfort yourself in Godis promissis, and be assureit that
God steiris up mo friendis than we be war of. My commendation to all
in your company. I commit you to the protectioun of the omnipotent. In
great haist; the 4. of November, 1555. From Scotland. Your sone, Johne
Knox.”[259]
Having executed his commission, Willock returned to Embden; and he
quitted Scotland with the less regret, as he left behind him one who
was so capable of promoting the cause which he had at heart. When he
first arrived in Scotland, Knox found that the friends of the reformed
doctrine continued, in general, to attend the popish worship, and even
the celebration of mass; principally with the view of avoiding the
scandal which they would otherwise incur. Highly disapproving of this
practice, he laboured, in his conversation and sermons, to convince
them of the great impiety of that part of the popish service, and the
criminality of countenancing it by their presence. Doubts being still
entertained on the subject by some, a meeting of the protestants in
the city was held for the express purpose of discussing the question.
Maitland defended the practice with all the ingenuity and learning for
which he was distinguished; but his arguments were so satisfactorily
answered by Knox, that he yielded the point as indefensible, and
{176} agreed, with the rest of his brethren, to abstain for the future
from such temporizing conduct. Thus was a formal separation made from
the popish church in Scotland, which may be justly regarded as an
important step in the Reformation.[260]
Erskine of Dun prevailed on Knox to accompany him to his family
seat in the shire of Angus, where he continued a month, during which
he preached every day. The principal persons in that neighbourhood
attended his sermons. After his return to the south of the Forth, he
resided at Calder‑house,[261] in West Lothian, the seat of Sir James
Sandilands, commonly called Lord St John, because he was chief in
Scotland of the religious order of military knights who went by the
name of Hospitallers, or Knights of St John. This gentleman, who was
now venerable for his grey hairs as well as for his valour, sagacity,
and correct morals, had long been a sincere friend to the reformed
cause, and had contributed to its preservation in that part of the
country.[262] In 1548, he {177} had presented to the parsonage of
Calder, John Spottiswood,[263] afterwards the reformed superintendent
of Lothian, who had imbibed the protestant doctrines from archbishop
Cranmer in England, and who instilled them into the minds of his
parishioners, and of the nobility and gentry that frequented the house
of his patron.[264] Among those who attended Knox’s sermons at Calder,
were three young noblemen, who made a great figure in the public
transactions which followed;――Archibald, lord Lorn, who, succeeding to
the earldom of Argyle at the most critical period of the Reformation,
promoted, with all the ardour of youthful zeal, that cause which
his father had espoused in extreme old age;――John, lord Erskine,
afterwards earl of Mar, who commanded the important fortress of
Edinburgh castle, during the civil war which ensued between the
queen‑regent and the protestants, and died regent of Scotland;――and
lord James Stewart, an illegitimate son of James V., who was
subsequently created earl of Murray, and was the first regent of
the kingdom during the minority of James VI. Being designed for the
church, the last named nobleman had been in his youth made prior of
St Andrews――a title by which he is often mentioned in history; but,
on arriving at manhood, he discovered no inclination to follow the
clerical profession. He was at this time in the twenty‑second year of
his age;[265] and although he had lived for the most part in {178}
retirement from the court, had already given proofs of those superior
talents which he had soon a more favourable opportunity of displaying.
Knox had formerly met with him in London, and his sagacity led him,
even at that time, to form the highest expectations from the talents
and spirit of the youthful prior.[266] The three noblemen were
much gratified with Knox’s doctrine, and his exhortations made an
impression upon their minds, which remained during the succeeding
part of their lives.
In the beginning of the year 1556, he was conducted by Lockhart of
Bar, and Campbell of Kineancleugh, to Kyle, the ancient receptacle of
the Scottish Lollards, where there were a number of adherents to the
reformed doctrine. He preached in the houses of Bar, Kineancleugh,
Carnell, Ochiltree, and Gadgirth, and in the town of Ayr. In several
of these places he also dispensed the sacrament of our Lord’s supper.
A little before Easter, he went to Finlayston, the baronial mansion
of the noble family of Glencairn. William, earl of Glencairn,
having been killed at the battle of Pinkie, had been succeeded by
his son, Alexander, whose superior learning and ability did not
escape the discerning eye of Sir Ralph Sadler, during his embassy
in Scotland.[267] He was an ardent and steady friend to the reformed
religion, and had carefully instructed his family in its principles.
In his house, besides preaching, Knox dispensed the {179} sacrament
of the supper; the earl himself, his countess, and two of their sons,
with a number of their friends and acquaintance, participating of that
sacred feast.[268]
From Finlayston he returned to Calder‑house, and soon after paid
a second visit to Dun, during which he preached more openly than
before. At this time the greater part of the gentlemen of Mearns
made profession of the reformed religion, by sitting down at the
Lord’s table; and entered into a solemn and mutual bond, in which they
renounced the popish communion, and engaged to maintain and promote
the pure preaching of the gospel, as providence should favour them
with opportunities.[269]
This seems to have been the first of those religious bonds or
covenants, by which the confederation of the protestants in Scotland
was so frequently ratified. Although they have been condemned as
unwarranted in a religious point of view, and dangerous in a {180}
political, yet are they completely defensible upon the principles
both of conscience and policy. A mutual agreement, compact, or
covenant, is virtually implied in the constitution of every society,
civil or religious; and the dictates of natural law conspire with
the declarations of revelation in sanctioning the warrantableness
and propriety of explicit engagements, about any lawful and important
matter, and of ratifying these, if circumstances shall require it, by
formal subscription, and by a solemn appeal to the searcher of hearts.
By strengthening the motives to fidelity and constancy, and thus
producing mutual confidence among those who are embarked in the same
cause, they have proved eminently beneficial in the reformation of
churches and nations, and in securing the religious and political
privileges of men. The misapplication of them, when employed in a
bad cause and for mischievous ends, can be no argument against their
use in a legitimate way, and for laudable purposes. And the reasoning
employed to prove that such covenants should not be entered into
without the permission of rulers, would lead to the conclusion, that
subjects ought never to profess a religion to which their superiors
are hostile, nor make any attempts to obtain the reform of abuses,
or the redress of grievances, without the consent and approbation
of those who are interested in their support.
The dangers to which Knox and his friends had been accustomed, taught
them to conduct matters with such secrecy, that he had preached for
a considerable time, and in different quarters of the country, {181}
before the clergy knew that he was in the kingdom. Concealment was,
however, impracticable after his audiences became numerous. His
preaching at Ayr was reported to the court, and formed the topic
of conversation in the presence of the queen regent. Some one in
the company having affirmed that the preacher was an Englishman, “a
prelate, not of the least pride, said, ‘Nay; no Englishman, but it is
Knox, that knave.’” This was Beatoun, archbishop of Glasgow. “It was
my Lord’s pleasure,” says Knox, “so to baptize a poor man; the reason
whereof, if it should be required, his rochet and mitre must stand
for authority. What further liberty he used in defining things alike
uncertain to him, to wit, of my learning and doctrine, at this present
I omit. For what hath my life and conversation been, since it hath
pleased God to call me from the puddle of papistry, let my very
enemies speak; and what learning I have, they may prove when they
please.”[270] Interest was at that time made by the bishops for his
apprehension, but without success.[271]
After his last journey to Angus, the friars flocked from all quarters
to the bishops, and instigated them to adopt speedy and decisive
measures for checking the alarming effects of his preaching. In
consequence of this, he was summoned to appear before a convention of
the clergy, in the church of the Blackfriars at Edinburgh, on the 15th
of May. This diet he resolved {182} to keep, and with that view came
to Edinburgh, before the day appointed, accompanied by Erskine of
Dun, and several other gentlemen. The clergy had never dreamed of his
attendance. Being apprised of his determination, and afraid to bring
matters to extremity, while unassured of the regent’s decided support,
they met beforehand, set aside the summons under pretence of some
informality, and deserted the diet against him. On the day on which
he should have appeared as a culprit, Knox preached in the bishop of
Dunkeld’s large lodging, to a far greater audience than had before
attended him in Edinburgh. During the ten following days, he preached
in the same place, forenoon and afternoon; none of the clergy making
the smallest attempt to disturb him. It was in the midst of these
labours, that he wrote the following hasty lines to Mrs Bowes.
“Belovit mother, with my maist hartlie commendation in the Lord Jesus,
albeit I was fullie purpoisit to have visitit yow before this tyme,
yet hath God laid impedimentis, whilk I culd not avoyd. Thay are suche
as I dout not ar to his glorie, and to the comfort of many heir. The
trumpet blew the ald sound thrie dayis together, till privat houssis
of indifferent largenes culd not conteane the voce of it. God, for
Christ his Sonis sake, grant me to be myndful, that the sobbis of
my hart hath not been in vane, nor neglectit in the presence of his
majestie. O! sweet war the death that suld follow sic fourtie dayis
in Edinburgh, as heir I have had thrie. Rejose, mother; the tyme of
our deliverance approacheth: for, as {183} Sathan rageth, sa dois the
grace of the Halie Spreit abound, and daylie geveth new testymonyis
of the everlasting love of oure mercifull Father. I can wryt na mair
to you at this present. The grace of the Lord Jesus rest with you. In
haste――this Monunday――your sone, John Knox.”[272]
About this time, the Earl Marischal was induced to attend an evening
exhortation delivered by Knox. He was so much pleased with the
discourse, that he joined with Glencairn in urging the preacher to
write a letter to the queen regent, which, they thought, might have
the effect of inclining her to protect the reformed preachers, if not
also to lend a favourable ear to their doctrine. With this request he
was induced to comply.[273]
As a specimen of the manner in which this letter was written, I shall
give the following quotation, in the original language. “I dout not,
that the rumouris, whilk haif cumin to your grace’s earis of me, haif
bene such, that (yf all reportis wer trew) I wer unworthie to live in
the earth. And wonder it is, that the voces of the multitude suld not
so have inflamed your grace’s hart with just hatred of such a one as
I am accuseit to be, that all acces to pitie suld have been schute up.
I am traducit as ane heretick, accusit as a false teacher and seducer
of the pepill, {184} besides other opprobries, whilk (affirmit by men
of warldlie honour and estimation) may easelie kendill the wrath of
majestratis, whair innocencie is not knawin. But blissit be God, the
Father of our Lord Jesus Chryst, who, by the dew of his heavenly grace,
hath so quenchit the fyre of displeasure as yit in your grace’s hart,
(whilk of lait dayis I have understood,) that Sathan is frustrat of
his interpryse and purpois. Whilk is to my heart no small comfort;
not so muche (God is witnes) for any benefit that I can resave in this
miserable lyfe, by protectioun of any earthlie creature, (for the cupe
whilk it behoveth me to drink is apoyntit by the wisdome of him whois
consallis ar not changeable,) as that I am for that benefit whilk I am
assurit your grace sall resave; yf that ye continew in like moderation
and clemencie towardis utheris that maist unjustlie ar and sal be
accusit, as that your grace hath begun towardis me, and my most
desperate cause.” An orator (he continued) might justly require of
her grace a motherly pity towards her subjects, the execution of
justice upon murderers and oppressors, a heart free from avarice and
partiality, a mind studious of the public welfare, with other virtues
which heathen as well as inspired writers required of rulers. But,
in his opinion, it was vain to crave reformation of manners, when
religion was so much corrupted. He could not propose, in the present
letter, to lay open the sources, progress, and extent of those errors
and corruptions which had overspread and inundated the church; but,
if her majesty would grant him opportunity and liberty of speech,
he was ready to undertake {185} this task. In the meantime, he could
not refrain from calling her attention to this important subject, and
pointing out to her the fallacy of some general prejudices, by which
she was in danger of being deluded. She ought to beware of thinking,
that the care of religion did not belong to magistrates, but was
devolved wholly on the clergy; that it was a thing incredible that
religion should be so universally depraved; or that true religion was
to be judged of by the majority of voices, by custom, by the laws and
determinations of men, or by any thing but the infallible dictates of
inspired scripture. He knew that innovations in religion were deemed
hazardous; but the urgent necessity and immense magnitude of the
object ought, in the present case, to swallow up the fear of danger.
He was aware that a public reformation might be thought to exceed her
authority as regent; but she could not be bound to maintain idolatry
and manifest abuses, nor to suffer the clergy to murder innocent men,
merely because they worshipped God according to his word.