Chapter I: Part 1

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Engraved by J. Cochran.

JOHN KNOX

FROM THE ORIGINAL PICTURE IN THE POSSESSION OF

LORD TORPHICHEN.

_Published by W. Blackwood, Edinburgh, April 10, 1831._

{i}
LIFE

OF

JOHN KNOX:

CONTAINING

ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE HISTORY OF

THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND.

WITH BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE PRINCIPAL REFORMERS,
AND SKETCHES OF THE PROGRESS OF LITERATURE IN
SCOTLAND DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY;

AND

AN APPENDIX,

CONSISTING OF ORIGINAL PAPERS.

BY

THOMAS M‘CRIE, D.D.

THE FIFTH EDITION.

VOL. I.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH; AND
T. CADELL, STRAND, LONDON.
MDCCCXXXI.

{ii}
EDINBURGH:
PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY,
PAUL’S WORK, CANONGATE.

{iii}
PREFACE
TO THE
FIRST EDITION.

The Reformation from Popery marks an epoch unquestionably the most important in the History of modern Europe. The effects of the change which it produced, in religion, in manners, in politics, and in literature, continue to be felt at the present day. Nothing, surely, can be more interesting than an investigation of the history of that period, and of those men who were the instruments, under Providence, of accomplishing a revolution which has proved so beneficial to mankind.

Though many able writers have employed their talents in tracing the causes and consequences of the Reformation, and though the leading facts respecting its progress in Scotland have been repeatedly stated, it occurred to me that the subject was by no means {iv} exhausted. I was confirmed in this opinion by a more minute examination of the ecclesiastical history of this country, which I began, for my own satisfaction, several years ago. While I was pleased at finding that there existed such ample materials for illustrating the history of the Scottish Reformation, I could not but regret that no one had undertaken to digest and exhibit the information on this subject which lay hid in manuscripts, and in books which are now little known or consulted. Not presuming, however, that I had the ability or the leisure requisite for executing a task of such difficulty and extent, I formed the design of drawing up memorials of our national Reformer, in which his personal history might be combined with illustrations of the progress of that great undertaking, in the advancement of which he acted so conspicuous a part.

A work of this kind seemed to be wanting. The name of KNOX, indeed, often occurs in the general histories of the period, and some of our historians have drawn, with their usual ability, the leading traits of a character with which they could not fail to be struck; but it was foreign to their object to detail the events of his life, and it was not to be {v} expected that they would bestow that minute and critical attention on his history which is necessary to form a complete and accurate idea of his character. Memoirs of his life have been prefixed to editions of some of his works, and inserted in biographical collections, and periodical publications; but in many instances their authors were destitute of proper information, and in others they were precluded, by the limits to which they were confined, from entering into those minute statements, which are so useful for illustrating individual character, and which render biography both pleasing and instructive. Nor can it escape observation, that a number of writers have been guilty of great injustice to the memory of our Reformer, and from prejudice, from ignorance, or from inattention, have exhibited a distorted caricature, instead of a genuine portrait.

I was encouraged to prosecute my design, in consequence of my possessing a manuscript volume of Knox’s Letters, which throw considerable light upon his character and history. The advantages which I have derived from this volume will appear in the course of the work, where it is quoted under the general title of _MS. Letters_.[1]

{vi} The other manuscripts which I have chiefly made use of are Calderwood’s large History of the Church of Scotland, Row’s History, and Wodrow’s Collections. Calderwood’s History, besides much valuable information respecting the early period of the Reformation, contains a collection of letters written by Knox between 1559 and 1572, which, together with those in my possession, extend over twenty years of the most active period of his life. I have carefully consulted this history as far as it relates to the period of which I write. The copy which I most frequently quote belongs to the Church of Scotland. In the Advocates’ Library, besides a complete copy of that work, there is a folio volume of it, reaching to the end of the year 1572. It was written in 1634, and has a number of interlineations and marginal alterations, differing from the other copies, which, if not made by the author’s own hand, were most probably done under his eye. I have sometimes quoted this copy. The reader will easily discern when this is the case, as the references to it are made merely by the year under which the transaction is recorded, the volume not being paged.

Row, in composing the early part of his Historie of the Kirk, had the assistance of Memoirs written {vii} by David Ferguson, his father‑in‑law, who was admitted minister of Dunfermline at the establishment of the Reformation. Copies of this History seem to have been taken before the author had put the finishing hand to it, which may account for the additional matter to be found in some of them. I have occasionally quoted the copy which belongs to the Divinity Library in Edinburgh, but more frequently a copy transcribed in 1726, which is more full than any other that I have had access to see.

The industrious Wodrow had amassed a valuable collection of manuscripts relating to the ecclesiastical history of Scotland, the greater part of which is now deposited in our public libraries. In the library of the University of Glasgow, there is a number of volumes in folio, containing collections which he had made for illustrating the lives of the Scottish reformers and divines of the sixteenth century. These have supplied me with some interesting facts; and are quoted under the name of Wodrow MSS. in Bibl. Coll. Glas.

For the transactions of the General Assembly, I have consulted the Register commonly called the Book of the Universal Kirk. There are several copies of {viii} this manuscript in the country; but that which is followed in this work, and which is the oldest that I have examined, belongs to the Advocates’ Library.

I have endeavoured to avail myself of the printed histories of the period, and of books published in the age of the Reformation, which often incidentally mention facts that are not recorded by historians. In the Advocates’ Library, which contains an invaluable treasure of information respecting Scottish affairs, I had an opportunity of examining the original editions of most of the Reformer’s works. The rarest of all his tracts is the narrative of his Disputation with the Abbot of Crossraguel, which scarcely any writer since Knox’s time seems to have seen. After I had given up all hopes of procuring a sight of this curious tract, I was accidentally informed that a copy of it was in the library of Alexander Boswell, Esq. of Auchinleck, who very politely communicated it to me.

In pointing out the sources which I have consulted, I wish not to be understood as intimating that the reader may expect in the following work, much information which is absolutely new. He who engages in researches of this kind, must lay his account with finding the result of his discoveries reduced {ix} within a small compass, and should be prepared to expect that many of his readers will pass over with a cursory eye, what he has procured with great, perhaps with unnecessary labour. The principal facts respecting the Reformation and the Reformer, are already known. I flatter myself, however, that I have been able to place some of these facts in a new and more just light, and to bring forward others which have not hitherto been generally known.

The reader will find the authorities, upon which I have proceeded in the statement of facts, carefully marked; but my object was rather to be select than numerous in my references. When I had occasion to introduce facts which have been often repeated in histories, and are already established and unquestionable, I did not reckon it necessary to be so particular in producing the authorities.

After so many writers of biography have incurred the charge either of uninteresting generality, or of tedious prolixity, it would betray great arrogance were I to presume that I had approached the due medium. I have particularly felt the difficulty, in writing the life of a public character, of observing the line which divides biography from general history. {x} Desirous of giving unity to the narrative, and at the same time anxious to convey information respecting the ecclesiastical and literary history of the period, I have separated a number of facts and illustrations of this description, and placed them in notes at the end of the Life. I am not without apprehensions that I may have exceeded in the number or length of these notes, and that some readers may think, that, in attempting to relieve one part of the work, I have overloaded another.

No apology will, I trust, be deemed necessary for the freedom with which I have expressed my sentiments on the public questions which naturally occurred in the course of the narrative. Some of these are at variance with opinions which are popular in the present age; but it does not follow from this that they are false, or that they should have been suppressed. I have not become the indiscriminate panegyrist of the Reformer, nor have I concealed or thrown into shade his faults; but, on the other hand, the apprehension of incurring these charges has not deterred me from vindicating him wherever I considered his conduct to be justifiable, or from apologizing for him against uncandid and exaggerated censures. The attacks which have been made on his {xi} character from so many quarters, and the attempts to wound the Reformation through him, must be my excuse for having so often adopted the language of apology.

In the Appendix, I have inserted a number of Knox’s letters, and other papers relative to that period, none of which, as far as I know, have formerly been published. Several others, intended for insertion in the same place, have been kept back, as the work has swelled to a greater size than was expected. A very scarce Poem, written in commendation of the Reformer, and published in the year after his death, is reprinted in the Supplement.

The prefixed portrait of Knox is engraved from a painting in the possession of the Right Honourable Lord Torphichen, with the use of which his Lordship, in the most obliging manner, favoured the publishers. There is every reason to think that it is a genuine likeness, as it strikingly agrees with the print of our Reformer, which Beza, who was personally acquainted with him, published in his _Icones_. There is a small brass medal, which has on one side a bust of Knox, and on the other the following inscription:――JOANNES KNOXUS SCOTUS THEOLOGUS {xii} ECCLESIÆ EDIMBURGENSIS PASTOR. OBIIT EDIMBURGI AN. 1572. ÆT. 57. It appears to have been executed at a period much later than the Reformer’s death. There is an error of ten years as to his age; and as Beza has fallen into the same mistake, it is not improbable that the inscription was copied from his _Icones_, and that the medal was struck on the continent.

_EDINBURGH,_
_November 14, 1811._

{xiii}
PREFACE
TO THE
SECOND EDITION.

In preparing this work for a second impression, I have endeavoured carefully to correct mistakes which had escaped me in the first, both as to matter and language. I have introduced accounts of the principal public transactions of the period, which a desire of being concise induced me formerly to exclude, but which serve to throw light on the exertions of the Reformer, and ought to be known by those who read his Life. And I have entered into a more full detail of several parts of his conduct than was practicable within the limits of a single volume. Such additional authorities, printed or manuscript, as I have had access to, since the publication of the former edition, have been diligently consulted; and I flatter myself that the alterations and additions which these have enabled me to make, will be considered as improvements.

I have added to the Supplement a number of original Latin Poems on the principal characters mentioned in the course of the work, which may not be unacceptable to the learned reader.

_EDINBURGH,_
_March 1, 1813._

{xv}
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE
FIFTH EDITION.

Besides the additional matter introduced into the Fourth Edition, the present contains a variety of new facts and documents, the most interesting of which will be found in the Note concerning Scottish Martyrs, at the end of the first volume. The portrait of the Regent Murray, now prefixed to the second volume, is taken from the original in Holyrood Palace.

_EDINBURGH,_
_February 14, 1831._

{xvi}

{xvii}
CONTENTS
OF
VOLUME FIRST.

PERIOD FIRST.

Birth and parentage of Knox――his education――state of literature
in Scotland――introduction of Greek language――political and
ecclesiastical opinions of John Major――their probable influence
on Knox and Buchanan――Knox teaches scholastic philosophy
at St Andrew’s――is admitted to clerical orders――change
in his studies and sentiments――state of religion in
Scotland――urgent necessity of a reformation――gratitude
due to the reformers――introduction of reformed opinions
into Scotland――Patrick Hamilton――martyrs――exiles for
religion――reformation promoted by the circulation of the
scriptures――by poetry――embraced by persons of rank――its
critical state at the death of James V., Page 1

PERIOD SECOND.

Knox retires from St Andrew’s, and joins himself to the
reformed――is degraded from the priesthood――reformation favoured
by Regent Arran――Scottish Parliament authorize the use of
the Scriptures in the vulgar language――the Regent abjures
the reformed religion――Thomas Guillaume――George Wishart――Knox
enters the family of Langniddrie as a tutor――Cardinal Beatoun
assassinated――Knox persecuted by Archbishop Hamilton――averse to
go to England――takes refuge in the Castle of St Andrew’s――his
sentiments respecting the assassination of Beatoun――Sir David
Lindsay of the Mount――Henry Balnaves of Halhill――John
Rough――Knox’s call to the ministry――his reluctance to comply
with it――reflections on this――his first sermon――his disputation
{xviii} before a convention of the clergy――the clergy begin to
preach at St Andrew’s――success of Knox’s labours――castle taken,
and Knox confined in the French galleys――his health injured――his
fortitude of mind――writes a confession of faith――extract from
his dedication to a treatise of Balnaves――his humane advice to
his fellow‑prisoners――his liberation, Page 37

PERIOD THIRD.

Knox arrives in England――state of the Reformation in that
kingdom――Knox sent by the privy council to preach at Berwick――his
great exertions――character of Bishop Tonstal――Knox defends his
doctrine before him――is removed to Newcastle――made chaplain
to Edward VI.――consulted in the revisal of the liturgy and
articles――makes proposals of marriage to Marjory Bowes――receives
marks of approbation from the privy council――incurs the
displeasure of Earl of Northumberland――is honourably acquitted
by the privy council――bad state of his health――preaches in
London――declines accepting a benefice――refuses a bishopric――his
objections to the worship and government of the church of
England――private sentiments of English reformers similar
to his――plan of Edward VI. for improving the church of
England――state of his court――boldness and honesty of the royal
chaplains――Knox’s sermons at court――his distress at the death
of Edward――he retires to the north of England on the accession
of Mary――returns to the south――his prayer for the queen――marries
Marjory Bowes――displeasure of some of her relations at
this――Roman Catholic religion restored by parliament――Knox
continues to preach――his letters are intercepted――he is forced
to abscond――and retires to Dieppe in France, Page 78

PERIOD FOURTH.

Knox’s uneasy reflections on his flight――letters to his friends
in England――his eloquent exhortation to religious constancy――he
visits Switzerland――returns to Dieppe with the intention of
venturing into England――visits Geneva――forms an intimate
friendship {xix} with Calvin――returns to Dieppe――distressing
tidings from England――writes his Admonition――apology for
the severity of its language――devotes himself to study at
Geneva――his means of subsistence――called to be minister to the
English exiles at Frankfort――dissensions among them about the
liturgy――moderation with which Knox acted in these――harmony
restored――disorderly conduct of the sticklers for the
liturgy――rebuked by Knox――he is accused of high treason――retires
to Geneva――turns his thoughts to his native country――retrospect
of ecclesiastical transactions in Scotland from the time he
left it――triumph of the popish clergy――execution of Melville
of Raith――martyrdom of Adam Wallace――provincial councils of the
clergy――canons enacted by them for reforming abuses――catechism
in the vulgar language――Queen Dowager made Regent――she privately
favours the protestants――violence of English Queen drives
preachers into Scotland――William Harlow――John Willock――Knox
visits his wife at Berwick――preaches privately in Edinburgh――John
Erskine of Dun――William Maitland of Lethington――Knox’s letter
to Mrs Bowes――he prevails on the protestants to abstain from
hearing mass――preaches at Dun――at Calder house――Sir James
Sandilands――John Spotswood――Lord Lorn――Lord Erskine――The Prior
of St Andrew’s――Knox dispenses the sacrament of the supper
in Ayrshire――Earl of Glencairn――first religious covenant in
Scotland――conversation at court about Knox――he is summoned
before a convention of the clergy――appears――preaches publicly
in Edinburgh――his letter to Mrs Bowes――his letter to the queen
regent――he receives a call from the English congregation at
Geneva――leaves Scotland――clergy condemn him as a heretic,
and burn his effigy――summary of the doctrine which he had
taught――estimate of the advantages which accrued to the
Reformation from this visit――letter of instruction which he
left behind him, Page 121

PERIOD FIFTH.

Knox arrives at Geneva――happiness which he enjoyed in that
city――his passionate desire to preach the gospel in his native
country――he {xx} receives an invitation from the protestant
nobles in Scotland――leaves Geneva――receives letters at Dieppe
dissuading him from prosecuting the journey――his animated letter
to the nobility――persecution of the protestants in France――Knox
preaches in Rochelle――and at Dieppe――reasons which induced
him not to proceed to Scotland――he writes to the protestants
of Scotland――warns them against the Anabaptists――writes to
the nobility――his prudent advice respecting resistance to
the government――he returns to Geneva――assists in an English
translation of the Bible――publishes his letter to the queen
regent――and his Appellation from the sentence of the clergy――and
his First Blast of the Trumpet――reasons which led to this
publication against female government――Aylmer’s answer to
it――Knox receives a second invitation from the protestant
nobility of Scotland――progress which the Reformation had
made――formation of private congregations――resolutions of a
general meeting――protestant preachers taken into the families
of the nobility――correspondence between the Archbishop
of St Andrew’s and Earl of Argyle――martyrdom of Walter
Mill――important effects of this――protestants present a petition
to the regent――her fair promises to them――death of Queen Mary
of England and accession of Elizabeth――Knox leaves Geneva for
Scotland――is refused a passage through England――grounds of
this refusal――Knox’s reflections on it――reason for his wishing
to visit England――he writes to Cecil from Dieppe――arrives in
Scotland, Page 194

PERIOD SIXTH.

Critical situation in which Knox found matters at his
arrival――dissimulation of the Queen Regent――differences between
her and Archbishop Hamilton accommodated――a provincial council of
the clergy――reconciliation of the two archbishops――remonstrance
presented by some members of the popish church――canons of the
council――treaty between the regent and clergy for suppressing
the Reformation――proclamation by the queen against the
protestants――the preachers summoned to stand trial――Knox’s
letter to Mrs Locke――clergy alarmed at his arrival――he is
outlawed――he {xxi} repairs to Dundee――protestants of the
north resolve to attend the trial of their preachers――send
information of this to the Regent――her duplicity――Knox preaches
at Perth――demolition of the monasteries in that town――unjustly
imputed to Knox――Regent threatens the destruction of
Perth――protestants resolve to defend themselves――a treaty――Knox’s
interview with Argyle and Prior――treaty violated by the
Regent――the name of the Congregation given to the protestant
association――Lords of the Congregation invite Knox to preach
at St Andrew’s――archbishop opposes this by arms――intrepidity of
Knox――he preaches at St Andrew’s――magistrates and inhabitants
agree to demolish the monasteries and images, and to set up the
reformed worship――their example followed in other parts of the
kingdom――apology for the destruction of the monasteries――Lords
of the Congregation take possession of Edinburgh――Knox is
chosen minister of that city――Willock supplies his place
after the capital was given up to the Regent――archbishop
Hamilton preaches――Knox undertakes a tour of preaching through
the kingdom――his family arrive in Scotland――Christopher
Goodman――settlement of protestant ministers in principal
towns――French troops come to the assistance of the Regent――Knox
persuades the Congregation to seek assistance from the court
of England――apologizes to Elizabeth for his book against
female government――undertakes a journey to Berwick――succeeds
in the negotiation――reasons for his taking a part in
political managements――embarrassments in which this involved
him――prejudices of the English court against him――their
confidence in his honesty――his activity and danger――Lords of
Congregation consult on the deposition of the Regent――Knox
advises her suspension――influence of the reformation on
civil liberty――political principles of Knox――resistance to
tyrants not forbidden in the New Testament――disasters of
the Congregation――their courage revived by the eloquence
of Knox――his exertions in Fife――treaty between Elizabeth
and Congregation――expedition of the French troops against
Glasgow――English army enter Scotland――death of the
Queen Regent――intrigues of the French court――civil war
concluded――exertions of protestant preachers during
the war――increase of their number――conduct of popish
clergy――their pretended {xxii} miracle at Musselburgh――meeting
of parliament――petition of Protestants――Protestant Confession
of Faith ratified by parliament――retrospective view of the
advancement of the Reformation, Page 245

NOTES. Page 335

{1}
THE LIFE
OF
JOHN KNOX.

PERIOD I.

FROM THE YEAR 1505, IN WHICH HE WAS BORN, TO THE YEAR 1542,
WHEN HE EMBRACED THE REFORMED RELIGION.

JOHN KNOX was born in the year one thousand five hundred and five. The place of his nativity has been disputed. That he was born at Gifford, a village in East Lothian, has long been the prevailing opinion; but some late writers, relying upon popular tradition, have fixed his birth‑place at Haddington, the principal town of the county. The house in which he is said to have been born is still shewn by the inhabitants, in one of the suburbs of the town, called the Gifford‑gate. This house, with some adjoining acres of land, continued to be possessed, until about fifty years ago, by a family of the name of Knox, who claimed affinity with the Reformer. I am inclined, however, to prefer the opinion of the {2} oldest and most credible writers, that he was born in the village of Gifford.[2]

His father was descended from an ancient and respectable family, who possessed the lands of Knock, Ranferly, and Craigends, in the shire of Renfrew. The descendants of this family have been accustomed to enumerate among the honours of their house, that it gave birth to the Scottish Reformer, a bishop of Raphoe, and a bishop of the Isles.[3] At what particular period his paternal ancestors removed from their original seat, and settled in Lothian, I have not been able exactly to ascertain. His mother’s name was Sinclair.[4]

Obscurity of parentage can reflect no dishonour upon the man who has raised himself to distinction by his virtues and talents. But though our Reformer’s parents were neither great nor opulent, the assertion of some writers that they were in poor circumstances, is contradicted by facts.[5] They were able to give their son a liberal education, which, in that age, was far from being common. In his youth, {3} he was put to the grammar‑school of Haddington; and, after he had acquired the principles of the Latin language, his father sent him, in the year 1521, to the university of Glasgow.[6]

The state of learning in Scotland at that period, and the progress which it made in the subsequent part of the century, have not been examined with the attention which they deserve, and which has been bestowed on contemporaneous objects of inferior importance. There were unquestionably learned Scotsmen in the early part of the sixteenth century; but most of them owed their chief acquirements to the advantage of a foreign education. Those improvements, which the revival of literature had introduced into the schools of Italy and France, were long in reaching the universities of Scotland, though originally formed upon their model; and, when they did arrive, they were regarded with a suspicious eye, and discountenanced by the clergy. The principal branches cultivated in our universities were the Aristotelian philosophy, scholastic theology, and canon law.[7]

{4} Even in the darkest ages, Scotland was never altogether destitute of schools for teaching the Latin language.[8] It is probable that these were at first attached to monasteries; and it was long a common practice among the barons to board their children with the monks for their education.[9] When the regular clergy had degenerated, and learning was no longer confined to them, grammar‑schools were erected in the principal towns, and taught by persons who had qualified themselves for this task in the best manner that the circumstances of the country admitted. The schools of Aberdeen, Perth, Stirling, Dumbarton, Killearn, and Haddington, are particularly mentioned in writings about the beginning of the sixteenth century. The two first of these acquired the greatest celebrity, owing to the skill of the masters who presided over them. In the year 1520, John Vaus was rector of the school of Aberdeen, and is commended by Hector Boece, the learned principal of the university, {5} for his knowledge of the Latin tongue, and his success in the education of youth.[10] At a period somewhat later, Andrew Simson acted as master of the school of Perth, where he taught Latin with applause. He had sometimes three hundred boys under his charge at once, including sons of the principal nobility and gentry; and from his school proceeded many of those who afterwards distinguished themselves both in church and state.[11]

These schools afforded the means of instruction in the Latin tongue, the knowledge of which, in some degree, was requisite for enabling the clergy to perform the religious service. But the Greek language, long after it had been enthusiastically studied on the continent, and after it had become a fixed branch of education in the neighbouring kingdom, continued to be almost unknown in Scotland. Individuals acquired the knowledge of it abroad; but the first attempts {6} to teach it in this country were of a private nature, and exposed their authors to the suspicion of heresy. The town of Montrose is distinguished by being the first place, as far as I have been able to discover, in which Greek was taught in Scotland; and John Erskine of Dun is entitled to the honour of being regarded as the first of his countrymen who patronised the study of that elegant and useful language. As early as the year 1534, this enlightened and public‑spirited baron, on returning from his travels, brought with him a Frenchman skilled in the Greek tongue, whom he settled in Montrose; and, upon his removal, he liberally encouraged others to come from France and succeed to his place. From this private seminary many Greek scholars proceeded, and the knowledge of the language was gradually diffused over the kingdom.[12] After this statement, I need scarcely add, that the Oriental tongues were at that time utterly unknown in Scotland. I shall afterwards have occasion to notice the introduction of the study of Hebrew.

Knox acquired the Greek language before he arrived at middle age; but we find him acknowledging, as late as the year 1550, that he was ignorant of Hebrew,[13] a defect in his education which he exceedingly {7} lamented, and which he afterwards got supplied during his exile on the continent.

John Mair, better known by his Latin name, Major, was professor of philosophy and theology at Glasgow, when Knox attended the university. The minds of young men, and their future train of thinking, often receive an important direction from the master under whom they are educated, especially if his reputation be high. Major was at that time deemed an oracle in the sciences which he taught; and as he was the preceptor of Knox, and of the celebrated scholar Buchanan,[14] it may be proper to advert to some of his opinions. He had received the greater part of his education in France, and acted for some time as a professor in the university of Paris, where he acquired a more liberal habit of thinking and expressing himself on certain subjects, than was yet to be met with in his native country, and in other parts of Europe. He had imbibed the sentiments concerning ecclesiastical polity, maintained by John Gerson and Peter D’Ailly, who so ably defended the decrees of the Council of Constance, and the liberties of the Gallican church, against the advocates for the uncontrollable authority of the Sovereign Pontiff. He taught that a General Council was superior to {8} the pope, and might judge, rebuke, restrain, and even depose him from his dignity; denied the temporal supremacy of the bishop of Rome, and his right to inaugurate or dethrone princes; maintained that ecclesiastical censures, and even papal excommunications, had no force, if pronounced on irrelevant or invalid grounds; he held that tithes were not of divine right, but merely of human appointment; censured the avarice, ambition, and secular pomp of the court of Rome, and of the Episcopal order; was no warm friend of the regular clergy; and advised the reduction of monasteries and holidays.[15]

His opinions respecting civil governments were analogous to those which he held as to ecclesiastical polity. He taught that the authority of kings and princes was originally derived from the people; that the former are not superior to the latter, collectively considered; that if rulers become tyrannical, or employ their power for the destruction of their subjects, they may lawfully be controlled by them, and proving incorrigible, may be deposed by the community as the superior power; and that tyrants may be judicially proceeded against, even to capital punishments.[16]

The affinity between these sentiments, and the political principles afterwards avowed by Knox, and defended by the classic pen of Buchanan, is too {9} striking to require illustration. Some of them, indeed, had been taught by at least one Scottish author, who flourished before the time of Major; but it is most probable that the oral instructions and writings of their master first suggested to them the sentiments which they so readily adopted, and which were afterwards confirmed by mature reflection, and more extensive reading; and that, consequently, the important changes which these contributed to accomplish, should be traced in a certain measure to this distinguished professor. Nor, in such circumstances, could his ecclesiastical opinions fail to have a proportionate share of influence on their habits of thinking with respect to religion and the church.

But though, in these respects, the opinions of Major were more free and rational than those generally entertained at that time, it must be confessed, that the portion of instruction which his scholars could derive from him was extremely small, if we allow his publications to be a fair specimen of his academical prelections. Many of the questions which he discusses are utterly useless and trifling; the rest are rendered disgusting by the most servile adherence to all the minutiæ of the scholastic mode of reasoning. The reader of his works must be content with painfully picking a grain of truth from the rubbish of many pages; nor will the drudgery be compensated by those discoveries of inventive genius and acute discrimination, for which the writings of Aquinas, and some others of that subtle school, may still deserve to be consulted. Major is entitled to praise, for exposing to {10} his countrymen several of the more glaring errors and abuses of his time; but his mind was deeply tinctured with superstition , and he defended some of the absurdest tenets of popery by the most ridiculous and puerile arguments.[17] His talents were moderate; with the writings of the ancients, he appears to have been acquainted only through the medium of the collectors of the middle ages; nor does he ever hazard an opinion, or pursue a speculation, beyond the limits which had been marked out by some approved doctor of the church. Add to this, that his style is, to an uncommon degree, harsh and forbidding; “exile, aridum, conscissum, ac minutum.”

Knox and Buchanan soon became disgusted with such studies, and began to seek entertainment more gratifying to their ardent and inquisitive minds. Having set out in search of knowledge, they released themselves from the trammels, and overleaped the boundaries, prescribed to them by their timid conductor. Each following the native bent of his genius and inclination, they separated in the prosecution of {11} their studies. Buchanan, indulging in a more excursive range, explored the extensive fields of literature, and wandered in the flowery mead of poesy; while Knox, passing through the avenues of secular learning, devoted himself to the study of divine truth, and the labours of the sacred ministry. Both, however, kept uniformly in view the advancement of true religion and liberty, with the love of which they were equally smitten; and as, during their lives, they suffered a long and painful exile, and were exposed to many dangers, for adherence to this kindred cause, so their memories have not been divided, in the profuse but honourable obloquy with which they have been aspersed by its enemies, and in the deserved and grateful recollections of its genuine friends.[18]

But we must not suppose, that Knox was able at once to divest himself of the prejudices of his education and of the times. Barren and repulsive as the scholastic studies appear to our minds, there was something in the intricate and subtle sophistry then in vogue, calculated to fascinate the youthful and {12} ingenious mind. It had a shew of wisdom; it exercised, although it did not enrich, the understanding; it even gave play to the imagination, while it served to flatter the pride of the learned adept. Once involved in the mazy labyrinth, it was no easy task to break through it, and to escape into the open field of rational and free inquiry. Accordingly, Knox continued for some time captivated with these studies, and prosecuted them with great success. After he was created Master of Arts, he taught philosophy, most probably as a regent of one of the classes in the university.[19] His class became celebrated; and he was considered as equalling, if not excelling his master, in the subtleties of the dialectic art.[20] About the same time, although he had no interest but what was procured by his own merit, he was advanced to clerical orders, and was ordained a priest, before he reached the age fixed by the canons of the church.[21] This must have taken place previous to the year {13} 1530, at which time he had arrived at his twenty‑fifth year, the canonical age for receiving ordination.

It was not long, however, till his studies received a new direction, which led to a complete revolution in his religious sentiments, and had an important influence on the whole of his future life. Not satisfied with the excerpts from ancient authors, which he found in the writings of the scholastic divines and canonists, he resolved to have recourse to the original works. In them he found a method of investigating and communicating truth, to which he had hitherto been a stranger, and the simplicity of which recommended itself to his mind, in spite of the prejudices of education, and the pride of superior attainments in his own favourite art. Among the fathers of the Christian Church, Jerom and Augustine attracted his particular attention. By the writings of the former, he was led to the Scriptures as the only pure fountain of Divine truth, and instructed in the utility of studying them in the original languages. In the works of the latter, he found religious sentiments very opposite to those taught in the Romish church, who, while she retained his name as a saint in her calendar, had banished his doctrine, as heretical, from her pulpits. From this time, he renounced the study of scholastic theology; and although not yet completely emancipated from superstition, his mind was fitted for improving the means which Providence had prepared, for leading him to a fuller and more comprehensive view of the system of evangelical religion. It was about the year 1535, when this {14} favourable change commenced;[22] but, it does not appear that he professed himself a protestant before the year 1542.

As I am now to enter upon that period of Knox’s life at which he renounced the Roman Catholic communion, and commenced Reformer, it may not be improper to take a survey of the state of religion in Scotland at that time. Without an adequate knowledge of this, it is impossible to form a just estimate of the necessity and importance of that reformation, in the advancement of which he laboured with so great zeal; and nothing has contributed so much to give currency, among Protestants, to prejudices against his character, as ignorance, or a superficial consideration of the enormous and almost incredible abuses which then prevailed in the church. This must be my apology for a digression which might otherwise be deemed superfluous or disproportionate.

* * * * *

The corruptions by which the Christian religion was universally disfigured, before the Reformation, had grown to a greater height in Scotland, than in any other nation within the pale of the Western Church. Superstition and religious imposture, in their grossest forms, gained an easy admission among a rude and ignorant people. By means of these, the clergy attained to an exorbitant degree of opulence and power; which were accompanied, as they always have been, {15} with the corruption of their order, and of the whole system of religion.

The full half of the wealth of the nation belonged to the clergy; and the greater part of this was in the hands of a few individuals, who had the command of the whole body. Avarice, ambition, and the love of secular pomp, reigned among the superior orders. Bishops and abbots rivalled the first nobility in magnificence, and preceded them in honours: they were Privy‑Councillors, and Lords of Session, as well as of Parliament, and had long engrossed the principal offices of state. A vacant bishopric or abbacy called forth powerful competitors, who contended for it as for a principality or petty kingdom; it was obtained by similar arts, and not unfrequently taken possession of by the same weapons.[23] Inferior benefices were openly put to sale, or bestowed on the illiterate and unworthy minions of courtiers; on dice‑players, strolling bards, and the bastards of bishops.[24] Pluralities were multiplied without bounds, and benefices, given _in commendam_, were kept vacant, during the {16} life of the commendator, nay, sometimes during several lives;[25] so that extensive parishes were frequently deprived for a long course of years, of all religious service,――if a deprivation it could be called, at a time when the cure of souls was no longer regarded as attached to livings originally endowed for that purpose. The bishops never, on any occasion, condescended to preach; indeed, I scarcely recollect an instance of it, mentioned in history, from the erection of the regular Scottish Episcopacy, down to the era of the Reformation.[26] The practice had even gone into desuetude among all the secular clergy, and was {17} wholly devolved on the mendicant monks, who employed it for the most mercenary purposes.[27]

The lives of the clergy, exempted from secular jurisdiction, and corrupted by wealth and idleness, were become a scandal to religion, and an outrage on decency. While they professed chastity, and prohibited, under the severest penalties, any of the ecclesiastical order from contracting lawful wedlock, the bishops set an example of the most shameless profligacy before the inferior clergy; avowedly kept their harlots; provided their natural sons with benefices; and gave their daughters in marriage to the sons of the nobility and principal gentry, many of whom were so mean as to contaminate the blood of their families by such base alliances, for the sake of the rich doweries which they brought.[28]

Through the blind devotion and munificence of princes and nobles, monasteries, those nurseries of {18} superstition and idleness, had greatly multiplied in the nation; and though they had universally degenerated, and were notoriously become the haunts of lewdness and debauchery, it was deemed impious and sacrilegious to reduce their number, abridge their privileges, or alienate their funds.[29] The kingdom swarmed with ignorant, idle, luxurious monks, who, like locusts, devoured the fruits of the earth, and filled the air with pestilential infection; with friars, white, black, and grey; canons regular, and of St Anthony, Carmelites, Carthusians, Cordeliers, Dominicans, Franciscan Conventuals and Observantines, Jacobins, Premonstratensians, monks of Tyrone, and of Vallis Caulium, and Hospitallers, or Holy Knights of St John of Jerusalem; nuns of St Austin, St Clair, St Scholastica, and St Catherine of Sienna, with canonesses of various clans.[30]

The ignorance of the clergy respecting religion was as gross as the dissoluteness of their morals. Even bishops were not ashamed to confess that they were {19} unacquainted with the canon of their faith, and had never read any part of the sacred scriptures, except what they met with in their missals.[31] Under such pastors the people perished for lack of knowledge. That book, which was able to make them wise unto salvation, and intended to be equally accessible to “Jew and Greek, Barbarian and Scythian, bond and free,” was locked up from them, and the use of it, in their own tongue, prohibited under the heaviest penalties. The religious service was mumbled over in a dead language, which many of the priests did not understand, and some of them could scarcely read; and the greatest care was taken to prevent even catechisms, {20} composed and approved by the clergy, from coming into the hands of the laity.[32]

Scotland, from her local situation, had been less exposed to disturbance from the encroaching ambition, the vexatious exactions, and fulminating anathemas of the Vatican court, than the countries in the immediate vicinity of Rome. But, from the same cause, it was more easy for the domestic clergy to keep up on the minds of the people that excessive veneration for the Holy See, which could not be long felt by those who had the opportunity of witnessing its vices and worldly politics.[33] The burdens which attended a state of dependence upon a remote foreign jurisdiction were severely felt. Though the popes did not enjoy the power of presenting to the Scottish prelacies, they wanted not numerous pretexts for interfering with them. The most important causes of a civil nature, which the ecclesiastical courts had contrived to bring within their jurisdiction, were frequently carried to Rome. Large sums of money were annually exported out of the kingdom, for the confirmation of benefices, the conducting of appeals, {21} and many other purposes; in exchange for which, were received leaden bulls, woollen palls, wooden images, old bones, and similar articles of precious consecrated mummery.[34]

Of the doctrine of Christianity almost nothing remained but the name. Instead of being directed to offer up their adorations to one God, the people were taught to divide them among an innumerable company of inferior divinities. A plurality of mediators shared the honour of procuring the divine favour with the “One Mediator between God and man;” and more petitions were presented to the Virgin Mary and other saints, than to “Him whom the Father heareth always.” The sacrifice of the mass was represented as procuring forgiveness of sins to the living and the dead, to the infinite disparagement of the sacrifice by which Jesus Christ expiated sin and procured everlasting redemption; and the consciences of men were withdrawn from faith in the merits of their Saviour, to a delusive reliance upon priestly {22} absolutions, papal pardons, and voluntary penances. Instead of being instructed to demonstrate the sincerity of their faith and repentance, by forsaking their sins, and to testify their love to God and man, by practising the duties of morality, and observing the ordinances of worship authorized by scripture, they were taught, that, if they regularly said their _aves_ and _credos_, confessed themselves to a priest, punctually paid their tithes and church‑offerings, purchased a mass, went in pilgrimage to the shrine of some celebrated saint, refrained from flesh on Fridays, or performed some other prescribed act of bodily mortification, their salvation was infallibly secured in due time: while those who were so rich and so pious as to build a chapel or an altar, and to endow it for the support of a priest, to perform masses, obits, and diriges, procured a relaxation of the pains of purgatory for themselves or their relations, in proportion to the extent of their liberality. It is difficult for us to conceive how empty, ridiculous, and wretched, those harangues were which the monks delivered for sermons. Legendary tales concerning the founder of some religious order, his wonderful sanctity, the miracles which he performed, his combats with the devil, his watchings, fastings, flagellations; the virtues of holy water, chrism, crossing, and exorcism; the horrors of purgatory, and the numbers released from it by the intercession of some powerful saint; these, with low jests, table‑talk, and fireside scandal, formed the favourite topics of the preachers, and were {23} served up to the people instead of the pure, salutary, and sublime doctrines of the Bible.[35]

The beds of the dying were besieged, and their last moments disturbed, by avaricious priests, who laboured to extort bequests to themselves or to the church. Not satisfied with exacting tithes from the living, a demand was made upon the dead; no sooner had a poor husbandman breathed his last, than the rapacious vicar came and carried off his corpse‑present, which he repeated as often as death visited the family.[36] Ecclesiastical censures were fulminated against those who were reluctant in making these payments, or who showed themselves disobedient to the clergy; and, for a little money, they were prostituted on the most trifling occasions.[37] Divine service was neglected; and, except on festival days, the churches, in many parts of the country, were no longer employed for sacred purposes, but served as sanctuaries for malefactors, places of traffic, or resorts for pastime.[38]

Persecution, and the suppression of free inquiry, were the only weapons by which its interested supporters were able to defend this system of corruption and imposture. Every avenue by which truth might enter was carefully guarded. Learning was branded as the parent of heresy. The most frightful pictures were drawn of those who had separated from the {24} Romish church, and held up before the eyes of the people, to deter them from imitating their example. If any person, who had attained a degree of illumination amidst the general darkness, began to hint dissatisfaction with the conduct of churchmen, and to propose the correction of abuses, he was immediately stigmatized as a heretic, and, if he did not secure his safety by flight, was immured in a dungeon, or committed to the flames. And when at last, in spite of all their precautions, the light which was shining around did break in and spread through the nation, the clergy prepared to adopt the most desperate and bloody measures for its extinction.

From this imperfect sketch of the state of religion in this country, we may see how false the representation is which some persons would impose on us; as if popery were a system, erroneous, indeed, but purely speculative, superstitious but harmless, provided it had not been accidentally accompanied with intolerance and cruelty. The very reverse is the truth. It may be safely said, that there is not one of its erroneous tenets, or of its superstitious practices, which was not either originally contrived, or afterwards accommodated, to advance and support some practical abuse; to aggrandize the ecclesiastical order, secure to them immunity from civil jurisdiction, sanctify their encroachments upon secular authorities, vindicate their usurpations upon the consciences of men, cherish implicit obedience to the decisions of the church, and extinguish free inquiry and liberal science.

It was a system not more repugnant to the religion {25} of the Bible, than incompatible with the legitimate rights of princes, and the independence, liberty, and prosperity of kingdoms; not more destructive to the souls of men, than to domestic and social happiness, and the principles of sound morality. Considerations from every quarter combined in calling aloud for a radical and complete reform. The exertions of every description of persons, of the man of letters, the patriot, the prince, as well as the Christian, each acting in his own sphere for his own interests, with the joint concurrence of all as in a common cause, were urgently required for extirpating abuses, of which all had reason to complain, and for effectuating a revolution, in the advantages of which all would participate. There was, however, no reasonable prospect of accomplishing this, without exposing, in the first place, the falsehood of those notions which have been called speculative. It was principally by means of these that superstition had established its empire over the minds of men; behind them the Romish ecclesiastics had intrenched themselves, and defended their usurped prerogatives and possessions; and had any prince or legislature endeavoured to deprive them of these, while the great body of the people remained unenlightened, it would soon have been found that the attempt was premature in itself, and replete with danger to those by whom it was made. To the revival of the primitive doctrines and institutions of Christianity, by the preaching and writings of the reformers, and to those controversies by which the popish errors were confuted from scripture, (for {26} which many modern philosophers seem to have a thorough contempt,) we are chiefly indebted for the overthrow of superstition, ignorance, and despotism; and, in fact, all the blessings, political and religious, which we enjoy, may be traced to the Reformation from popery.

How grateful should we be to divine providence for this happy revolution! For those persons do but “sport with their own imaginations,” who flatter themselves that it must have taken place in the ordinary course of human affairs, and overlook the many convincing proofs of the superintending direction of superior wisdom in the whole combination of circumstances which contributed to bring about the Reformation in this country, as well as throughout Europe. How much are we indebted to those men, who, under God, were the instruments in effecting it, men who cheerfully hazarded their lives to achieve a design which involved the felicity of millions unborn; who boldly attacked the system of error and corruption, though fortified by popular credulity, by custom, and by laws, fenced with the most dreadful penalties; and who, having forced the stronghold of superstition, and penetrated the recesses of its temple, tore aside the veil that concealed the monstrous idol which the world had so long ignorantly worshipped, dissolved the spell by which the human mind was bound, and restored it to liberty! How criminal must those be, who, sitting at ease under the vines and fig‑trees, planted by the labours and watered with the blood of these patriots, discover their disesteem of the invaluable {27} privileges which they inherit, or their ignorance of the expense at which they were purchased, by the most unworthy treatment of those to whom they owe them――misrepresent their actions, calumniate their motives, and load their memories with every species of abuse![39]