Brief Exhortation to England for the speedy embracing of
Christ’s gospel, printed at Geneva, anno 1559, and at the
end of his History, Edinburgh, 1644, 4to; and from his
letters to Mrs Locke, dated 6th April, and 15th October,
1559, in Cald. MS. i. p. 380, 491.
159 ― See Note R.
160 ― See Note S.
161 ― “We had,” says he in his Letter to the Faithful in London,
Newcastle, and Berwick, “ane king of sa godlie disposition
towardis vertew, and the treuth of God, that nane frome
the beginning passit him, and (to my knawledge) none of
his yeiris did ever mache him in that behalf; gif hie
myght haif bene lord of his awn will.” MS. Letters, p. 119.
He has passed a fuller encomium on this prince, in his
Historie, p. 89.
162 ― See Note T.
163 ― MS. Letters, p. 175‒177, and Admonition, p. 52, 54, apud
History, Edin. 1644, 4to.
164 ― One of his letters to Mrs Bowes is dated London,
22d June, 1553. MS. Letters, p. 249. And from other
letters it appears that he was there in the following
month.
165 ― We have already seen (p. 101‒103) that this was not his
sole reason for refusing preferment in the English church.
166 ― MS. Letters, p. 73, 74, also p. 250.
167 ― In his “Letter to the Faithful in London,” &c. he puts
them in mind of the premonitions which he had given on
different occasions, and, among others, of “what was
spoken in Londone in ma places nor ane, when fyreis of
joy and ryatous banketting wer at the proclamation of
Marie your quene.” MS. Letters, 112, 113.
168 ― One of his letters is dated Carlisle, 26th July, 1553. MS.
Letters, p. 270.
169 ― See Note U.
170 ― Fox, 718, 748‒9, 751‒766. Knox, Admonition, p. 67, appendix
to History, Edin. 1644, 4to.
171 ― MS. Letters, p. 289, 291.
172 ― His wife.
173 ― MS. Letters, p. 290, 291.
174 ― Ibid. p. 196.
175 ― MS. Letters, p. 293, 294.
176 ― Ibid. p. 265.
177 ― MS. Letters, p. 265.
178 ― MS. Letters, p. 284.
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.
302 ― Strype’s Mem. of Parker, p. 205. This translation was
often reprinted in Britain. The freedom of remark used
in the notes gave offence to queen Elizabeth, and her
successor James; the last of whom said, that it was the
worst translation which he had seen. Notwithstanding
this expression of disapprobation, it is evident that the
translators appointed by his authority made great use of
it; and if they had followed it still more, the version
which they have given us would, upon the whole, have been
improved. The late Dr Geddes had a very different opinion
of it from the royal critic.