the miserable shifts of an unprincipled individual, who, having rashly
committed himself by advancing a falsehood, attempts to maintain his
credit by bold assertions and fresh calumnies. For, in the very same
year in which Hamilton’s last work appeared, we find another popish
author writing in the following terms: “Johne Kmnox your first apostel,
quha caused ane young woman in my lord Ochiltreis place fal almaist
dead, because sche saw his maister Satthan in ane black mannis
likenese with him, throuche ane bore of the dure: quha was also ane
manifest adulterare bringand furth of Ingland baith the mother and the
dochter whom he persuadit {325} that it was lesum to leve her housband,
and adhere unto him, making ane fleshe of himself, the mother, and the
dochter, as if he wald conjoyne in ane religione, the auld synagogue
of the Jeuis with the new fundat kirk of the Gentiles.” In another
place he introduces the account of his second marriage with these
words: “That renegat and perjurit priest schir Johane Kmnox, quha
efter the death of his first harlot, quhilk he mareit incurring
eternal damnation be breking his vou and promise of chastitie, quhen
his age requyrit rather that with tearis and lamentations he sould
have chastised his flesh and bewailit the breaking of his vou, as also
the horribil incest with his gudmother in ane killogie of Haddingtoun.”
Burne’s Disputation concerning the Controversit Headdis of Religion,
p. 102, 143. Parise, 1581. But Burne, and even Hamilton, were
outstripped in calumny by that most impudent of all liars, James
Laing, who published in Latin an account of the lives and manners of
the heretics of his time. There are few pages of his book in which he
does not abuse our Reformer; but in (what he calls) his Life, he has
exceeded any thing which was ever dictated either by personal malice,
or by religious rancour. “Statim,” says he, “ab initio suæ pueritiæ
omni genere turpissimi facinoris infectus fuit. Vix excesserat jam ex
ephebis, cum patris sui uxorem violarat, suam novercam vitiarat, et
cum ea, cui reverentia potissimum adhibenda fuerat, nefarium stuprum
fecerat.” His bishop having, forsooth, called him to account for
these crimes, he straightway became inflamed with the utmost hatred
to the catholic religion. “Deinde non modo cum profanis, sed etiam
cum quibuscunque sceleratissimis, perditissimis, et potissimum omnium
hæreticis est versatus, et quo quisque erat immanior, sceleratior,
crudelior, eo ei carior et gratior fuit.――Ne unum quidem diem
sceleratissimus hæreticus sine una et item altera meretrice traducere
potuit.――Continuo cum tribus meretricibus, quæ videbantur posse
sufficere uni sacerdoti, in Scotia convolat.――Ceterum hic lascivus
caper, quem assidue sequebatur lasciva capella, partim perpetuis
crapulis, partim vino, lustrisque ita confectus fuit, ut quotiescunq.
conscendere suggestum ad maledicendum, velim precandum [vel
imprecandum?] suis, opus erat illi duobus aut tribus viris, a quibus
elevandus atq. sustendandus erat.” De Vita et Moribus atque Rebus
Gestis Hæreticorum {326} nostri temporis. Authore Jacobo Laingæo
Scoto Doctore Sorbonico, fol. 113, b. 114, a, b. 115, a. Parisiis,
1581. Cum Privilegio. Nor were such accounts confined to that age.
In the beginning of the following century, they were repeated by John
Hamilton. Facile Traictise, contenand ane infallible reul to discern
trew from fals religion, p. 60. Louvain, 1600. In 1623, an English
writer refers to James Laing’s work for an authentic account of Knox’s
private life. The Image of bothe Churches, Jherusalem and Babell, by
P. D. M. p. 134. Tornay, 1623. And as late as 1628, we find Father
Alexander Baillie retailing, in the English language, all the gross
tales of his predecessors, with additions of his own, in which he
shows a total disregard to the best‑known facts in the Reformer’s life.
“Jhon Knox,” says he, “being chaplane to the laird of Balvurie, and
accused for his vices and leecherie, was found so guiltie and culpable
that to eschevie the just punishment prepared for him he presently
fled away into Ingland.” He afterwards says, that Knox, after the
death of his second wife, [that is, twenty years at least after his
own death,] “shamefully fell in the abominable vice of incestuous
adultery, as Archib. Hamilton and others doe witnesse;” and as a proof
that Knox reckoned this vice no blot, Baillie puts into his mouth
a gross defence of it, in the very words which Sanders, in his book
against the Anglican Schism, had represented Sir Francis Brian as
using in a conversation with Henry VIII. Baillie’s True Information
of the Unhallowed Offspring, Progress, and Impoison’d Fruits of our
Scottish‑Calvinian Gospel and Gospellers, p. 14, 41. Wirtsburgh, 1628.
It is evident that these outrageous and contradictory calumnies have
been all grafted upon the convicted he mentioned in the preceding note,
and on the malignant insinuation of Archibald Hamilton. The characters
of the foreign reformers were traduced in the very same manner by the
popish writers. Those who have seen Bolsec’s Lives of Calvin and Beza,
or others written in the same spirit, must be sufficiently convinced
of this. Will it be believed that, in the middle of the seventeenth
century, a book should have been published under the name of Cardinal
de Richlieu, in which it is asserted that “Calvin being condemned for
acts of incontinency, which he had carried to the utmost extremity of
vice, [ses {327} incontinences, qui le porterent jusques aux dernieres
extremitez du vice,] retired from Noyon (his native city) and from
the Roman church, at the same time?” And that this should have been
published after the cardinal himself had examined the registers of
Noyon, which stated facts totally inconsistent with the supposition
of such a thing having ever been imputed to him? La Defence de Calvin,
par Charles Drelincourt, p. 10, 11, 33. Geneve, 1667. Our countrymen
of the popish persuasion were careful to retail all the calumnies
against the foreign reformers, and they do so in a manner peculiar
to themselves. Nicol Burne most seriously asserts that Luther was
begotten of the devil, as to his carnal as well as his spiritual
generation; and in order to prove that this was not impossible, he
advances the most profane argument that ever proceeded from the mouth
or pen of a Christian. Disputation, p. 141. The same thing is asserted
by James Laing. De Vita Hæretic. fol. 1, b. In a pretended translation
into Scots of a poem written by Beza in his youth, (which the Roman
Catholics, after he left their communion, were careful to preserve
from oblivion,) Burne has unblushingly inserted some scandalous and
disgraceful lines, for which he had not the slightest warrant from the
original. Disputation, p. 103, 104. John Hamilton says, that “Calvin
did ane miracle to mak ane quik man ane deid, quhilk miracle was
done in Geneve to ane Brulæus of Ostune, with whome he contractit for
a piece of money to fenzie himself deid, and to ryse to lyfe at his
prayers, when he sulde chope thryse upon his biere: bot the compagnion
forget to ryse again, whilk come to Calvin’s schame.” Facile Traictise,
p. 412. But the following narrative is still more marvellous, and lest
his readers should doubt its truth, the author prays them to “suspend
thair judgement, quhill they spere [until they enquire at] the maist
affectionat Protestantis of Scotland quha has bene in Geneve. Surelie,”
continues he, “I ressavit the treuth of this be honorable gentilmen
of our countrie, quha confessit to me before gud vitnes, that the
devil gangis familiarlie up and down the town, and speciallie cumis
to pure and indigent men quha sellis thair saullis to him for ten sous,
sum for mair or less. The money is verie plesant quhen they ressave
it; bot putting hand to thair purse, quhen they vald by thair denner,
thay find nathing but uther {328} stane or stick.” Hamilton’s Catholik
and Facile Traictise, fol. 50, b. Paris, 1581. Laing, in his Life
of Calvin, (of which Senebier has justly said “that it would be
impossible to believe that such a libel had been written, if it were
not to be seen in print,”) has raked together all the base aspersions
which had been cast upon that reformer, and has spent a number of
pages in endeavouring to show that he was guilty of stealing a sum of
money. De Vita Hæret. fol. 76, b.‒79, b. Of Buchanan, whom he calls
“homo sacrarum literarum imperitissimus, simulque impudentissimus,”
he relates a number of impieties, of which this is the last, “plurimi
etiam narrant illum miserrimum hominem quandam in sacro fonte, quo
infantes aqua benedicta ablui solent, adsit reverentia dictis, oletum
fecisse.” Ibid. fol. 40, a. One example more, and I have done. “Te
admonerem de quodam impio hæretico sacerdote Davidson, quem audivi
his jam multis annis publice cum quadam meretrice scortatum esse, quam
fertur peperisse prima nocte, qua cum illa dormivit, quod hic doctores
medici pro magno miraculo habent; cum vix mulieres ante nonum mensem,
vel octavum parere soleant.” Ibid. fol. 36, b, 37, a.
Persons must have had their foreheads, as well as their consciences,
“seared with a hot iron,” before they could publish such things to the
world as facts. Yet Laing’s book was approved, and declared worthy of
publication, by two doctors of the university of Paris. Its grossest
slanders against the Scottish reformers were literally copied, and
circulated through the continent as undoubted truths, by Reginaldus,
Spondanus, Julius Breigerus, and many other foreign popish authors.
Each of these added some fabrication of his own; and one of them is so
ridiculously ignorant as to rail against our Reformer by the name of
Noptz. Bayle, Dictionnaire, art. Knox, Note G. Archibald Hamilton’s
two works had the same respectable recommendations with Laing’s
book, and one of them is declared to be “very orthodox, and worthy of
being ushered into the light for the profit of the church.” And John
Hamilton was chosen tutor to two cardinals, appointed professor of
philosophy in the Royal College of Navarre, elected, by the students
of the German nation in Paris, to the cure of the parish of St Cosmus
and Damian, presented to it by the university, and {329} confirmed
in it by the parliament; and, in fine, was chosen rector of the
university of Paris!!! So eager were foreigners to load with honours
the most bigoted and fanatical of our popish refugees. Sketch of the
Life of John Hamilton, p. 2, 3, written by Lord Hailes.
I know that it was common in that age for controversial writers of
all descriptions to indulge themselves in a coarseness of invective
against their antagonists, which would not be tolerated at present:
but this is quite a different thing from what I have given examples of
in this note. With respect to the complaints which protestant writers
made of the profligacy of the popish clergy, the truth of these is
incontestably established by the testimony of Roman Catholic authors,
and by the public documents of their own church. Nor do I wish to
insinuate that all the popish writers were of the same description
with those whom I have quoted, or that there were not many Roman
Catholics, even at that time, who disapproved of the use of these
dishonourable and empoisoned weapons; but the great number of such
publications, the wide circulation which they obtained, and the length
of time during which they continued to issue from the popish presses,
demonstrate the extent to which a spirit of lying and defamation was
carried in the Roman church. Petty dabblers in antiquity, and flippant
orators, who have read a general history of those times, or a modern
Roman catholic pamphlet, must be allowed to repeat the trite maxim, of
faults on both sides, and to conceal their ignorance under the veil of
moderation, by representing these faults as equal; but I aver that no
candid person, who is duly acquainted with the writings of that period,
will pretend to account for the above‑mentioned calumnies, by imputing
them to a spirit of asperity and prejudice common to both parties.
Note T, Footnote 124.
_Popish accounts of Knox’s second marriage._――“Heaving laid aside
al feir of the panis of hel, and regarding na thing the honestie of
the warld, as ane bund sklave of the Devil, being kendillit with an
unquenshible lust and ambition, he durst be sua bauld to enterpryse
{330} the sute of marriage with the maist honorabil ladie, my ladie
Fleming, my lord duke’s eldest dochter, to the end that his seid,
being of the blude royal, and gydit be thair father’s spirit, might
have aspyrit to the croun. And because he receavit ane refusal, it
is notoriouslie knawin how deidlie he haited the hail hous of the
Hamiltonis.――And this maist honest refusal would nather stench his
lust nor ambition; bot a lytel efter he did persew to have allyance
with the honorabill hous of Ochiltrie of the kyng’s M. awin blude;
Rydand thair with ane gret court, on ane trim gelding, nocht lyk ane
prophet or ane auld decrepit priest, as he was, bot lyk as he had
bene ane of the blude royal, with his bendes of taffetie feschnit with
golden ringis, and precious stanes: And as is planelie reportit in the
countrey, be sorcerie and witchcraft did sua allure that puir gentil
woman, that scho could not leve without him; whilk appeiris to be of
gret probabilitie, scho being ane damsel of nobel blud, and he ane
auld decrepit creatur of maist bais degrie of onie that could be found
in the countrey: Sua that sik ane nobil hous could not have degenerat
sua far, except Johann kmnox had interposed the powar of his maister
the Devil, quha as he transfiguris him self sumtymes in an angel
of licht; sua he causit Johann kmnox appeir ane of the maist nobil
and lustie men that could be found in the warld.” Nicol Burne’s
Disputation, p. 143, 144. But the devil outwitted himself in his
design of raising the progeny of the Reformer to the throne of
Scotland, if we may believe another popish writer. “For as the common
and constant brute of the people reported, as writeth Reginaldus [a
most competent witness!] and others, it chanced not long after the
marriage, that she [Knox’s wife] lying in her bed, and perceiving
a blak, uglie, il‑favoured man busily talking with him in the same
chamber, was sodainely amazed, that she took seikness and dyed;”
[nor does the author want honourable witnesses to support this fact,
for he immediately adds,] “as she revealed to two of her friends,
being ladyes, come thither to visite her a little before her decease.”
Father A. Baillie’s True Information, p. 41. It is unfortunate,
however, for the credit of this “True Information,” that the
Reformer’s wife not only lived to bear him several children, but
survived {331} him many years. James owed the safety of his crown
to another cause. See above, p. 274.
Note U, Footnote 161.
_Of Christopher Goodman._――From the intimate and long friendship
which subsisted between him and our Reformer, this divine deserves
more particular notice in this work. The Goodmans were a family
of respectability in Chester, and repeatedly held the office of
magistrates in that city. In a pedigree of the family, preserved in
the British Museum, “Adam Goodman a marchant, and Selay Linge,” have
a son “Christoph. prcher.” Harl. MSS. No. 2038. 32. f. 99. During the
reign of Edward VI. he read lectures on divinity in Oxford. Strype’s
Annals, i. 124. At the accession of queen Mary, he retired first to
Strasburg, and afterwards to Frankfort. When he was at Strasburg, he
joined in a common letter, advising the exiles of Frankfort to alter
as little as possible in the English service; but he became afterwards
so much convinced of the propriety of alterations, and was so much
offended at the conduct of the Coxian party, that he removed from
Frankfort to Geneva, along with those who were of the same sentiments
with himself, and was chosen by them joint minister with Knox.
Troubles at Franckford, p. 22, 23, 54, 55, 59.
In 1558, he published the book which afterwards created him a great
deal of trouble. Its title is, “How superior powers ought to be obeyed:
of their subjects and wherein they may lawfully by God’s worde be
disobeyed and resisted. Wherein also is declared the cause of all this
present miserie in England, and the onely way to remedy the same. By
Christopher Goodman. Printed at Geneva, by John Crispin, MDLVIII.” In
this book he subscribed to the opinion respecting female government,
which his colleague had published a few months before. He maintained
that the power of kings and magistrates was limited, and that they
might lawfully be resisted, deposed, and punished by their subjects,
if they became tyrannical and wicked. These principles he applied
particularly to the government of the English Mary. A copy of verses
by William {332} Kethe (who translated some of the Psalms into English
metre) is added to the work, of which the following is a specimen:――
“Whom fury long fostered by suffrance and awe,
Have right rule subverted, and made will their law.
Whose pride how to temper, this truth will thee tell;
So as thou resist may’st, and yet not rebel.”
Goodman came to England in 1559, but he found queen Elizabeth so much
displeased at his publication, that he kept himself private. Burnet,
iii. Append. 274. On this account, and in compliance with the urgent
request of our Reformer, he came to Scotland. When the lords of the
congregation chose him one of the council for matters of religion, the
earl of Arran endeavoured to appease the resentment which the English
queen still entertained against him. Sadler, i. 510, 511, 532. In 1562,
the earl of Warwick repeatedly interceded for him, and for his being
recalled from Scotland; “of whom,” says he, “I have heard suche good
commendation both of the lord James of Scotland and others, that it
seemeth great pitie, that our countrye suld want so worthy and learned
an instrument.” Forbes’s State Papers, ii. 235. Calvin urged Goodman
not to leave Scotland until the Reformation was completely established.
Epistolæ, p. 566. Hannoviæ, 1597. When he did return to his native
country in 1565, it was with great difficulty that he was received
into favour, notwithstanding the friends he had at court. He was
obliged to make a recantation of the offensive doctrines in his
publication. He protested and professed that “good and godly women
may lawfully govern whole realms and nations;” but he qualified
and explained, rather than recanted, what he had taught respecting
the punishment of tyrants. Strype has inserted the document in his
Annals, i. 126; but he has certainly placed it under the wrong year.
Collier calls it “a lame recantation.” Eccl. Hist. ii. 440. In 1572,
Goodman subscribed, in the presence of the queen’s ecclesiastical
commissioners, a more ample protestation of his obedience to Elizabeth.
Strype’s Annals, ii. 95, 96. He was also harassed on account of his
non‑conformity to the English ceremonies. Life of Grindal, 170. Life
of Parker, {333} 325, 326. Knox corresponded with him after he left
Scotland; and Calderwood has preserved a letter which he wrote to him
in 1571, in which he alludes to the troubles which he understood his
friend was exposed to. MS. ii. 270. Goodman accompanied Sir Henry
Sidney to Ireland when he was sent to subdue the popish rebels in
that country. Troubles at Franckford, p. 196. In 1580, he resided at
Chester, from which he sent his salutations to Buchanan. Buchanani
Epistolæ, 30, 31. Oper. edit. Rud. He died at Chester, in 1601,
according to verses to his memory in Supplement. Goodman’s book was
quoted, but for very different purposes, by Bancroft, (Dangerous
Positions, b. ii. chap. i.) and by Milton, (Tenure of Magistrates:
Prose Works by Symmons, vol. iii. p. 196.)
Goodman was not the only person belonging to the English church who
published free sentiments respecting civil government. About the
same time with his book, there appeared another work on that subject,
entitled, “A Short Treatise of Politique Pouuer, and of the True
Obedience which Subjectes owe to Kynges.” Its author was Dr John
Ponet, bishop, first of Rochester, and afterwards of Winchester, under
Edward VI. Ames, iii. 1594. He discusses the questions respecting the
origin of political authority, its absolute or limited nature, the
limits of obedience, and the deposition and punishment of tyrants.
“This book,” says Strype, “was not over favourable to princes. Their
rigors and persecutions, and the arbitrary proceedings with their
peaceable subjects in those times, put them upon examining the extent
of their power, which some were willing to curtail and straiten as
much as they could.――This book was printed again in the year 1642,
to serve the turn of those times.” Memorials of the Reformation, iii.
328, 329. In the second edition of the work, it is said to have been
originally published in 1556. Collier (who was a keen Tory) calls it
“a most pestilent discourse.” He wished to believe that bishop Ponet
was not the author, but it is evident from what he says, that he
could see no reason for departing from the common opinion. History,
ii. 363. Ponet was a superior scholar. He read the Greek Lecture in
the university of Cambridge about 1525, and was among the first who
adopted the new method of pronouncing that language introduced by
Sir Thomas Smith. He also wrote several {334} books on mathematics
and other subjects, which were greatly esteemed. Strype’s Life of
Sir Thomas Smith, p. 26, 27. Ames, Typ. Antiq. i. 599. ii. 753, 1146.
iii. 1587.
Note V, Footnote 190.
The proceedings of the committee appointed to prepare overtures to the
parliament, Dec. 1567, are to be found in Robertson’s Records of the
Parliament of Scotland, and Act. Parl. Scot. vol. iii. Almost the only
ecclesiastical propositions of the committee which were not adopted by
the parliament, were such as related to the patrimony of the church.
I shall extract one or two respecting the commonwealth, which did not
obtain a parliamentary sanction. “Als it is thocht expedient that in
na tymes cuming ony women salbe admittit to the publict autoritie of
the realme, or function in publict government within ye same.” On the
margin, opposite to this, is written, “Fund gude;” which is expressive,
as I understand it, of the committee’s approbation of the motion. As
Knox, at a period subsequent to this, declared from the pulpit that he
had never “entreated that argument in publict or in privat” since his
last arrival in Scotland, (Bannatyne’s Journal, p. 117,) it appears
that this motion had been made by some other member of the committee.
The late misconduct of queen Mary must have had a great effect
in inclining them to give this advice. The 23d article does great
honour to the enlightened views of the movers. It proposes that all
hereditary jurisdictions throughout the kingdom should be abolished.
On the margin is written, “Apprevit,” and farther down, “Supercedis.”
A long time elapsed, before this measure, so necessary to the salutary
administration of justice, was adopted in Scotland. The 30th article
also is of great importance, as intended to prevent delay of justice,
by shortening processes. The following was a proposed sumptuary law:
“Item, that it be lauchfull to na wemen to weir abone yair estait
except howris.” On the margin of this is written, “This act is verray
gude.” Act. Parl. Scot. vol. iii. p. 38‒40. Robertson’s Rec. of Parl.
p. 795, 798.
The ministers appointed on this committee, were “Maister {335} Johne
Spottiswood, Maister Johne Craig, Johne Knox, Maister Johne Row, and
Maister David Lindsay.” It will be observed that our Reformer is the
only one who has not “Maister” prefixed to his name. This title was
expressive of an academical degree. It was commonly given in that
age to Masters of Arts, as well as Doctors of Law, and in their
subscriptions they put the letter M. or the word “Maister,” before
their names.
Note W, Footnote 209.