to a high pitch, and the palace‑yard and avenues were crowded with
people, who waited to learn the result. The Reformer was conducted to
the chamber in which the lords were already assembled, and engaged in
consultation. When the queen had taken her seat, and perceived Knox
standing uncovered at the foot of the table, she burst into a loud
fit of laughter. “That man,” said she, “made me weep, and shed never
a tear himself: I will now see if I can make him weep.” The secretary
opened the proceedings with greater gravity, by stating, in a speech
addressed to the Reformer, the reasons why the queen had convened him
before her nobility. “Let him acknowledge his own handwriting,” said
the queen, “and then we shall judge of the contents of the letter.”
A copy of the circular letter being handed to him, he looked at the
subscription, and owned that it was his; adding, that though he had
subscribed a number of blanks, he had such confidence in the fidelity
of the scribe, that he was ready to acknowledge the contents as well
as the subscription. “You have done more than I would have done,” said
Maitland. “Charity is not suspicious,” {100} replied the Reformer.
“Well, well,” said the queen, “read your own letter, and then answer
to such things as shall be demanded of you.”――“I will do the best
I can,” said he; and having read the letter with an audible voice,
returned it to the queen’s advocate, who was commanded to accuse him.
“Heard you ever, my lords, a more despiteful and treasonable letter?”
said the queen, looking round the table. “Mr Knox, are you not sorry
from your heart, and do you not repent that such a letter has passed
your pen, and from you has come to the knowledge of others?” said
Maitland. “My lord secretary, before I repent, I must be taught my
offence.”――“Offence! if there were no more but the convocation of the
queen’s lieges, the offence cannot be denied.”――“Remember yourself,
my lord; there is a difference between a lawful convocation and an
unlawful. If I have been guilty in this, I offended oft since I came
last into Scotland; for what convocation of the brethren has ever been
to this hour, unto which my pen served not?”――“Then was then, and now
is now,” said the secretary; “we have no need of such convocations as
sometimes we have had.”――“The time that has been is even now before
my eyes,” rejoined the Reformer; “for I see the poor flock in no
less danger than it has been at any time before, except that the
devil has got a vizor upon his face. Before, he came in with his own
face, discovered by open tyranny, seeking the destruction of all that
refused idolatry; and then, I think, you will confess the brethren
lawfully assembled themselves for defence of their lives; {101} and
now the devil comes under the cloak of justice, to do that which God
would not suffer him to do by strength”――――
“What is this?” interrupted her majesty, who was offended that he
should be allowed such liberty of speech, and thought that she could
bring him more closely to the question than any of her counsellors.
“What is this? Methinks you trifle with him. Who gave him authority
to make convocation of my lieges? Is not that treason?”――“No, madam,”
replied lord Ruthven, displeased at the keenness which the queen
showed in the cause; “for he makes convocation of the people to hear
prayers and sermon almost daily; and whatever your grace or others
will think thereof, we think it no treason.”――“Hold your peace,” said
the queen; “and let him make answer for himself.”――“I began, madam,”
resumed Knox, “to reason with the secretary (whom I take to be a
better dialectician than your grace) that all convocations are not
unlawful; and now my lord Ruthven has given the instance.”――“I will
say nothing against your religion, nor against your convening to your
sermons; but what authority have you to convocate my subjects when you
will, without my commandment?” He answered, that at his own will he
had never convened four persons in Scotland, but at the orders of his
brethren he had given many advertisements, and great multitudes had
assembled in consequence of them; and if her grace complained that
this had been done without her command, he begged leave to answer,
that the same objection might be made to {102} all that had been done
respecting the reformation of religion in this kingdom. He had never,
he said, loved to stir up tumults――never been a preacher of rebellion;
on the contrary, he had always taught the people to obey princes and
magistrates in all their lawful commands. If he had been more active
than the rest of his brethren in calling extraordinary assemblies
of the protestants, it was owing to a charge which he had received
from the church to do so, as often as he saw a necessity for such
meetings, and especially when religion was exposed to danger; and
he had repeatedly requested to be exonerated from this irksome and
invidious charge, but could not obtain his wish. He must, therefore,
be convicted by a just law, before he would profess sorrow for what
he had done: he thought he had done no wrong.
“You shall not escape so,” said the queen. “Is it not treason,
my lords, to accuse a prince of cruelty? I think there be acts of
parliament against such whisperers.” Several of their lordships said
that there were such laws. “But wherein can I be accused of this?”
asked Knox. “Read this part of your own bill,” said the queen, who
showed herself an acute prosecutor. She then ordered the following
sentence to be read from his letter:――“This fearful summons is
directed against them, [the two persons who were indicted,] to make
no doubt a preparative on a few, that a door may be opened to execute
cruelty upon a greater multitude.”――“Lo!” exclaimed the queen,
exultingly; “what say you to that?” The eyes of the assembly were
fixed on the Reformer, and {103} all were anxious to know what answer
he would make to this charge.
“Is it lawful for me, madam, to answer for myself? or, shall I be
condemned unheard?”――“Say what you can; for I think you have enough
to do,” said the queen. “I will first then desire of your grace, madam,
and of this most honourable audience, whether your grace knows not,
that the obstinate papists are deadly enemies to all such as profess
the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that they most earnestly desire
the extermination of them, and of the true doctrine that is taught
within this realm?” Mary was silent; but the lords, with one voice,
exclaimed, “God forbid, that ever the lives of the faithful, or yet
the staying of the doctrine, stood in the power of the papists! for
just experience has taught us what cruelty lies in their hearts.”――“I
must proceed, then,” said the Reformer. “Seeing that I perceive
that all will grant, that it was a barbarous thing to destroy such
a multitude as profess the gospel of Christ within this realm, which
oftener than once or twice they have attempted to do by force,――they,
by God and by his providence being disappointed, have invented more
crafty and dangerous practices, to wit, to make the prince a party
under colour of law; and so what they could not do by open force, they
shall perform by crafty deceit. For who thinks, my lords, that the
insatiable cruelty of the papists (within this realm I mean) shall
end in the murdering of these two brethren, now unjustly summoned, and
more unjustly to {104} be accused?――And therefore, madam, cast up,
when you list, the acts of your parliament, I have offended nothing
against them; for I accuse not, in my letter, your grace, nor yet
your nature, of cruelty. But I affirm yet again, that the pestilent
papists, who have inflamed your grace against those poor men at
this present, are the sons of the devil, and therefore must obey
the desires of their father, who has been a liar and manslayer
from the beginning.”――“You forget yourself! you are not now in the
pulpit,” said the chancellor. “I am in the place where I am demanded
of conscience to speak the truth; and therefore the truth I speak,
impugn it whoso list.” He added, again addressing the queen, that
persons who appeared to be of honest, gentle, and meek natures, had
often been corrupted by wicked counsel; and that the papists, who had
her ear, were dangerous counsellors, and such her mother had found
them to be.
Mary, perceiving that nothing was to be gained by reasoning, began
now to upbraid him with his harsh behaviour to her, at their last
interview. He spake “fair enough” at present before the lords, she
said; but on that occasion he caused her to shed many salt tears, and
said, “he set not by her weeping.” This drew from him a vindication
of his conduct, in the course of which he gave a narrative of that
conference. After this, the secretary, having spoken with the queen,
told Knox that he was at liberty to return home for that night. “I
thank God and the queen’s majesty,” said he, and retired.
{105} When Knox had withdrawn, the judgment of the nobility was
taken respecting his conduct. All of them, with the exception of the
immediate dependents of the court, gave it as their opinion, that he
had not been guilty of any breach of the laws. The secretary, who had
assured the queen of his condemnation, was enraged at this decision.
He brought her majesty, who had retired, again into the room, and
proceeded to call the votes a second time. This attempt to overawe
them incensed the nobility. “What!” said they, “shall the laird of
Lethington have power to control us? or, shall the presence of a woman
cause us to offend God, and to condemn an innocent man, against our
consciences?” They then repeated the vote which they had already given,
absolving him from all offence, and, at the same time, praising his
modest appearance, and the judicious manner in which he had conducted
his defence.
Mary was unable to conceal the mortification and displeasure which
she felt at this unexpected acquittal. When the bishop of Ross, who
had been the informer, gave his vote on the same side with the rest,
she taunted him openly in the presence of the court. “Trouble not the
child!” said she; “I pray you trouble him not! for he is newly wakened
out of his sleep. Why should not the old fool follow the footsteps
of those that have passed before him?” The bishop replied coldly,
that her majesty might easily know, that his vote was not influenced
by partiality to the person accused.――“That nicht was nyther {106}
dancing nor fiddeling in the court; for madam was disappoynted of hir
purpose, whilk was to have had Johne Knox in hir will, by vote of her
nobility.”[119]
{107}
PERIOD VIII.
FROM DECEMBER 1563, WHEN HE WAS ACQUITTED FROM A CHARGE OF
TREASON, TO THE YEAR 1570, WHEN HE WAS STRUCK WITH APOPLEXY.
The indignation of the queen at the Reformer’s escape from punishment
did not soon abate;[120] and the effects of it fell upon the
courtiers who had voted for his exculpation, and upon those who had
been unsuccessful in opposing it. The Earl of Murray was among the
former,[121] Maitland among the latter. In order to appease her wrath,
they again attempted to persuade Knox to soothe her by some voluntary
submission; and they engaged that, if he would only agree to go within
the walls of the castle, he should be allowed to return immediately
to his own house. To this he refused to yield, being convinced that
by such a compliance he would throw discredit on the judgment of the
nobility who had acquitted him, and confess himself to have been a
mover of sedition. Disappointed in their object, they endeavoured
to injure him by whispers and detraction; circulating that he had
no authority from his brethren for what {108} he had done, and that
he arrogated a papal power over the Scottish church, by issuing his
letters at pleasure, and exacting an implicit obedience to them. These
charges were very groundless and unjust; for there never was, perhaps,
an individual who possessed as much influence, and at the same time
was so careful to avoid all appearance of assuming superiority over
his brethren, or of acting by his own private authority, in matters
of public and common concern.
At the meeting of the General Assembly, held in the close of this
year, he declined taking any share in the deliberations; but after
the public business had been disposed of, he requested liberty to
speak on an affair which concerned himself. He stated what he had
done in writing the late circular letter, the proceedings to which
it had given rise, and the surmises which were still circulating to
his prejudice; and he insisted that the church should now examine
his conduct in that matter, and particularly that they should declare
whether or not they had given him a commission to advertise the
brethren, when he foresaw any danger threatening their religion,
or any difficult case which required their advice. The courtiers
strenuously opposed the discussion of this question; but it was taken
up, and the assembly, by a great majority, found that he had been
charged with such a commission, and that, in the advertisement which
he had lately given, he had not exceeded his powers.[122]
{109} Knox had remained a widower upwards of three years. But in March
1564, he contracted a second marriage with Margaret Stewart, daughter
of lord Ochiltree, a nobleman of amiable dispositions, who had been
long familiar with our Reformer, and had steadily adhered to him when
he was deserted by his other friends.[123] She continued to discharge
the duties of a wife to him, with the most pious and affectionate
assiduity, until the time of his death. The popish writers, who envied
the honours of the Scottish Reformer, have represented this marriage
as a proof of his great ambition, and, in the excess of their spleen,
have ridiculously imputed to him the project of aiming to raise his
progeny to the throne of Scotland; because the family of Ochiltree
was of the blood royal! They are quite clear, too, that he gained the
heart of the young lady by means of {110} sorcery, and the assistance
of the devil. But it seems, that, powerfully as he was seconded, he
could not succeed in another attempt which he had previously made; for
the same writers inform us, that he paid his addresses to lady Barbara
Hamilton, eldest daughter of the duke of Chastelherault, and widow of
Lord Fleming, by whom he was repulsed. The account of the appearance
that he made at the time of his marriage, which shall be inserted
in the notes, the reader will receive according to the degree of its
probability, and the credit he may think due to the authorities upon
which it rests.[124]
The country continued in a state of quietness during the year 1564;
but the same jealousies still subsisted between the court and the
church.[125] Her majesty’s prejudices against the reformed religion
were unabated, and she maintained a correspondence with its sworn
enemies on the continent, which could not altogether escape the
vigilance of her protestant subjects.[126] The preachers, on their
side, did {111} not relax in their zealous warnings against popery,
and as to the dangers which they apprehended; while they complained of
the beggary to which the greater part of their own number was reduced,
and of the growing lukewarmness of the protestant courtiers. The
latter felt uneasy under these reproaches, and, in concert with the
queen, were anxious to restrain the license of the pulpit. They began
by addressing themselves privately to the more moderate and complying
of the ministers, whom they gained over, by their persuasions, to a
partial approbation of their measures; and having so far succeeded,
they ventured to propose the matter in public, and to request the
sanction of the leading members of the General Assembly.
Without intending to vindicate the latitude which was taken by
particular preachers at that time, it may be said, in general, that
a systematic attempt to restrain the liberty of speech in the pulpit,
farther than the correction of occasional excesses might require,
would have been a measure fraught with danger to the protestant
interest. The reformed preachers were the most vigilant and incorrupt
guardians of national liberty; an honourable distinction which their
successors maintained during the remainder of that century. It is
better to be awaked with rudeness, or even by a false alarm, than
to be allowed to sleep on in the midst of dangers. Who would muzzle
{112} the mouth of the wakeful animal which guards the house against
thieves, because the inmates are sometimes disturbed by his nocturnal
vociferation? or substitute in his place a “dumb dog, that cannot
bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber?”
Knox, the freedom and sharpness of whose censures the courtiers felt
most deeply, was the person whom they chiefly wished to restrain;
but it was no easy matter either to overawe him by authority, or
by reasoning to procure his acquiescence in their proposals. In the
month of June, a conference was held between the principal statesmen
and ministers of the church, when this subject was discussed; and in
an elaborate debate with Maitland, Knox defended the leading points
of his doctrine which had given offence to the court. This debate
“admirably displays the talents and character of both the disputants;
the acuteness of the former, embellished with learning, but prone to
subtlety; the vigorous understanding of the latter, delighting in bold
sentiments, and superior to all fear.”[127]
Maitland opened the conference with a plausible speech. He set forth
the benefits which they had enjoyed under her Majesty’s government,
and dwelt on the liberty which she had granted them in religious
matters; he urged the great importance of the ministers of the church
cultivating her friendship by every good office in their power, and
endeavouring to inspire the people with a favourable opinion of {113}
her person and administration; and pointed out the hurtful effects of
their being observed to disagree in their form of prayer for her, and
in their doctrine concerning the duty of subjects. Addressing himself
particularly to Knox, he told him, with much politeness and address,
that it was the earnest wish of the council that he should study
greater caution, when he had occasion to speak of her majesty from
the pulpit: not that they were afraid of his saying any thing very
improper, but because the liberty which he used would be taken by
persons less modest and prudent. Knox replied to the secretary’s
speech. He drew a very different picture of the state of affairs since
the queen came to the country; stated the grievances under which the
church laboured, and which were daily increasing, instead of being
redressed; and added, that, in these circumstances, the courtiers
ought not to be surprised at the complaints of the ministers, and
the liberties which they took in rebuking sins, which were openly
committed, and persisted in notwithstanding all due admonition. At the
same time, he professed his readiness to account for any part of his
own conduct which had given offence, and to listen to the objections
which might be urged against it.
Maitland specified the mode in which the Reformer usually prayed for
her majesty, as one thing which gave offence to him and his colleagues.
Prayers and tears, it has often been alleged, are the only arms
which Christians ought to employ against injuries. But those who have
deprived them of other {114} weapons, have usually envied them the
use of these also; and if their prayers have not been smoothed down to
the temper of their adversaries, so as to become mere compliments to
princes under colour of an address to the Almighty, they have often
been pronounced to be seditious and treasonable.[128] Knox repeated
his common form of prayer for the queen, and requested to be informed
in what respects it was deserving of reprehension. “Ye pray for
the queen’s majesty with a condition,” replied Maitland, “saying,
‘Illuminate her heart, if thy good pleasure be.’ Where have ye example
of such prayer?”――“Wherever the examples are,” rejoined Knox, “I
am assured of the rule, ‘If we shall ask any thing according to his
will, he will hear us;’ and Christ commanded us to pray, ‘Thy will be
done.’”――“But in so doing ye put a doubt in the people’s head of her
conversion,” said Maitland.――“Not I, my lord; but her own obstinate
rebellion causes more than me to doubt of her conversion.”――“Wherein
rebels she against God?”――“In all the actions of her life, but in
these two heads especially: that she will not hear the preaching of
the blessed evangel of Jesus Christ, and that she maintains that idol
the mass.”――“She thinks not that rebellion, but good religion.”――“So
{115} thought they who offered their children to Moloch, and yet the
spirit of God affirms, that they offered them unto devils, and not
unto God.”――“But yet ye can produce the example of none that has so
prayed before you,” said the secretary, pressing his former objection.
“Well then,” said Knox; “Peter said these words to Simon Magus,
‘Repent of this thy wickedness, and pray to God, that, if it be
possible, the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.’ And
think ye not, my lord secretary, that the same doubt may touch my
heart as touching the queen’s conversion, that then touched the heart
of the apostle?”――“I would never hear you or any other call that
in doubt,” replied Maitland.――“But your will is no assurance to my
conscience.”――“Why say ye that she refuses admonitions?” said Maitland;
“she will gladly hear any man.”――“But what obedience ensues? Or, when
shall she be seen to give her presence to the public preaching?”――“I
think never, so long as she is thus entreated,” replied the secretary.
“And so long,” rejoined the Reformer, “ye and all others must be
content that I pray so as I may be assured to be heard of my God,
either in making her comfortable to his church, or, if he has
appointed her to be a scourge to the same, that we may have patience,
and she may be bridled.”
“Well then,” said the secretary, “let us come to the second head.
Where find ye that the scripture calls any ‘the bond slaves of
Satan?’ or, that the prophets spake so irreverently of kings and
princes?”――“If the sharpness of the term offend you,” replied {116}
the Reformer, “I have not invented that phrase of speaking, but have
learned it out of God’s scriptures; for these words I find spoken unto
Paul, ‘Behold, I send thee unto the Gentiles, to open their eyes, that
they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto
God.’ Mark thir words, my lord, and stur not at the speaking of the
Holy Ghost.”
The secretary, who, during the greater part of the dispute, had
leaned on the master of Maxwell’s breast, said that he was fatigued,
and desired some other person to reason with Knox on the point which
remained to be discussed, respecting the authority of magistrates
and the duty of subjects. Chancellor Morton ordered George Hay to
perform this part. Knox was aware, that the object of the court was,
if possible, to divide the ministers, and that they would improve any
appearance of diversity of opinion among them, to the prejudice of
the common cause. He therefore told Hay, that he had no objections
to reason with him, knowing him to be a man of learning and modesty;
but he should be sorry to think that they opposed each other, like
two scholars of Pythagoras, to show the quickness of their parts by
supporting either side of a question; and as he, for his own part,
protested that he durst no more support a proposition which he knew
to be untrue, than he durst teach false doctrine in the pulpit, so
he hoped that his brother would, on the present occasion, advance or
maintain nothing but what he was persuaded of in his conscience. This
caution had the desired effect, and Hay declared, before the {117}
whole assembly, that his judgment exactly coincided with Knox’s on
the subject proposed for discussion. “Marry,” said the disappointed
secretary, “ye are the well worst of the two; for I remember our
reasoning when the queen was in Carrick.”