Chapter XV: Appendix: Knox's Confession (14)

God from heaven, and upon the face of the earth, gave declaration that He was offended at the iniquity that was committed even within this realm; for upon the 20th day of January there fell wet in great abundance, which in falling froze so vehemently, that the earth was but one sheet of ice. The fowls,[228] both great and small, froze, and might not fly: many died, and some were taken and laid beside the fire, that their feathers might resolve. In that same month the sea stood still, as was clearly observed, and neither ebbed nor flowed for the space of twenty-four hours. In the month of February, the 15th and 18th days thereof, there were seen in the firmament battles arrayed, spears and other weapons, and as it had been the joining of two armies. These things were not only observed, but also spoken of and constantly affirmed by men of judgment and credit.

[228] Birds.

[Sidenote: Lavish Entertainments at Court.]

But the Queen and our Court made merry. There was banqueting upon banqueting. The Queen banqueted all the Lords; and that was done upon policy, to remove the suspicion of her displeasure against them, because they would not, at her devotion, condemn John Knox. To remove, we say, that jealousy, she made the banquet to the whole Lords, and thereat she would have the Duke of Chatelherault amongst the rest. It behoved them to banquet her again; and so did banqueting continue till Fastern's-e'en[229] and after. But the poor ministers were mocked, and reputed as monsters; the guard, and the affairs of the kitchen were so griping,[230] that the ministers' stipends could not be paid.

[229] Shrove Tuesday; the day before Lent.

[230] Extortionate.

[Sidenote: The Queen's broken Promises.]

And yet at the Assembly preceding, solemn promise of redress had been made in the Queen's name, by the mouth of Secretary Lethington, in audience of many of the nobility and of the whole Assembly. He had affirmed that he had commandment of her Highness to promise them full contentation[231] of things bygone to all the ministers within the realm; and that, such order would be kept in all times to come, the whole body of the Protestants would have occasion to stand content. The Earl of Moray affirmed the same, and many other fair promises had been given in writing by Lethington himself, as may be seen from the register of the Acts done in the General Assembly. But the world can witness how far that, or any other promise by her, or in her name, to the Kirk of God, was observed.

[231] Satisfaction.

[Sidenote: Secretary Lethington defies the Servants of God.]

The ministers perceiving all things tend to ruin, discharged their conscience in public and private; but they received for their labours hatred and indignation. Amongst others, that worthy servant of God, Mr. John Craig, speaking against the manifest corruption that then declared itself without shame or fear, said, "At one time, hypocrites were known by their disguised habits, and we had men as monks, and women as nuns; but now, all things are so changed that we cannot discern the earl from the abbot, or the nun from such as would be held noblewomen; so that we have got a new order of monks and nuns. But, seeing that ye are not ashamed of that unjust profit, would God that therewith ye had the cowl of the nun, the veil, yea, and the tail joined with all, that so ye might appear in your own colours." Their liberty did so provoke the choler of Lethington, that, in open audience, he gave himself to the Devil, if ever after that day he should regard what became of ministers. He should do what he could that his companions should have a skair[232] with him; "and let them bark and blow," said he, "as loud as they list." That was the second time that he had given his defiance to the servants of God.

[232] Share (?).

[Sidenote: The Courtiers and the Kirk.]

Hereupon rose whispering and complaints by the flatterers of the Court. Men were not charitably handled, said they: "Might not sins be reproved in general, albeit men were not so specially taxed, that all the world might know of whom the preacher spake?" To this the answer was made, "Let men be ashamed to offend publicly, and the ministers shall abstain from specialities; but so long as Protestants are not ashamed manifestly to act against the Evangel of Jesus Christ, so long cannot the ministers of God cease to cry that God will be revenged upon such abusers of His holy Word." Thus had the servants of God a double battle; fighting upon the one side against the idolatry and the rest of the abominations maintained by the Queen; and upon the other part, against the unthankfulness of such as sometime would have been esteemed the chief pillars of the Kirk within the realm. The threatenings of the preachers were fearful; but the Court thought itself in such security that it could not miscarry.

The Queen, after the banqueting, kept a diet by direction of Monsieur la Usurie, Frenchman, who had been acquainted with her malady before, being her physician. And thereafter, for the second time, she made her progresses to the North, and commanded the Earl of Caithness to ward in the castle of Edinburgh, for a murder committed by his servants upon the Earl Marischall's men. He obeyed, but he was speedily relieved; for bloodthirsty men and Papists, such as he is, are best subjects to the Queen. "Thy kingdom come, O Lord; for in this realm there is nothing (amongst such as should punish vice and maintain virtue) but abomination abounding without bridle."

[Sidenote: The Courtiers rouse John Knox: he preaches concerning Idolatry.]

The flatterers of the Court did daily enrage against the poor preachers: happiest was he that could invent the most bitter taunts and disdainful mockings of the ministers. At length they began to jest at the term of idolatry, affirming, "That men wist not what they spake when they called the Mass idolatry." Yea, some proceeded further, and feared not at open tables to affirm, that they would sustain the argument that the Mass was no idolatry. These things coming to the ears of the preachers, were proclaimed in the public pulpit of Edinburgh, with this complaint directed by the speaker to his God. "O Lord, how long shall the wicked prevail against the just! How long shalt Thou suffer Thyself and Thy blessed Evangel to be despised of men; of men, we say, that make themselves defenders of the truth. Of Thy manifest and known enemies we complain not, but of such as unto whom Thou hast revealed Thy light: for now it comes to our ears that men, not Papists, but chief Protestants, will defend the Mass to be no idolatry. If this were so, O Lord, miserably have I been deceived, and miserably, alas, O Lord, have I deceived Thy people; and that Thou knowest, O Lord, I have ever abhorred more than a thousand deaths."

Turning his face towards the room where sat such men as had so affirmed, "If I be not able to prove the Mass to be the most abominable idolatry that ever was used since the beginning of the world, I offer myself to suffer the punishment appointed by God to a false teacher; and it appears to me that the affirmers should be subject to the same law; for it is the truth of God that ye persecute and blaspheme; and it is the invention of the Devil that, obstinately against His Word, ye maintain. Albeit ye now flyrt and flyre,[233] as though all that were spoken were but wind, yet am I as assured, as I am that my God liveth, that some that hear your defection and railing against the truth and the servants of God, shall see a part of God's judgments poured forth upon this realm, and principally upon you that fastest cleave to the favour of the Court, for the abominations that are maintained by you." Such vehemence provoked the tears of some, yet those men that knew themselves guilty said, in a mocking manner, "We must recant, and burn our bill, for the preachers are angry."

[233] Mock and deride.

[Sidenote: The General Assembly: June 1564.]

The General Assembly, held in June 1564, approaching, to this the great part of those of the Nobility that are called Protestants, convened; some for assistance of the ministers, and some to accuse them.... On the first day of the General Assembly, the Courtiers and the Lords that depended upon the Court, did not present themselves in session with their brethren. Many wondering thereat, an ancient and honourable man, the Laird of Lundie, said, "Nay, I wonder not of their present absence; but I wonder that, at our last Assembly, they drew themselves apart, and joined not with us, but drew from us some of our ministers, and willed them to conclude such things as were never proponed in the public Assembly. That appears to me to be very prejudicial to the liberty of the Kirk. My judgment is, therefore, that they be informed of this offence, which the whole brethren have conceived of their former fault; with humble request that, if they be brethren, they will assist their brethren with their presence and counsel, for we never had greater need. If they be minded to fall back from us, it were better we knew it now than afterwards." The whole Assembly agreed to this, and gave commission to certain brethren to signify the minds of the Assembly to the Lords: that was done on the same afternoon.

[Sidenote: The Protestant Courtiers maintain an independent Position.]

At first, the Courtiers seemed not a little offended that they should be suspected of defection: yet, upon the morrow, they joined with the Assembly, and came into it. But they drew themselves apart, as they had done before, and entered the Inner Council House. There were the Duke's Grace, the Earls Argyll, Moray, Morton, Glencairn, Marischall, and Rothes; the Master of Maxwell, Secretary Lethington, the Justice Clerk, the Clerk Register, and the Comptroller, the Laird of Pittarrow.

After a little consultation, they directed a messenger, Mr. George Hay, then called the Minister of the Court, requiring the Superintendents, and some of the learned ministers, to confer with them.

The Assembly answered that they had convened to deliberate upon the common affairs of the Kirk; and therefore, that they could not lack their superintendents and chief ministers, whose judgments were so necessary that, without them, the rest should sit as it were idle. They therefore, as before, willed them that, if they acknowledged themselves members of the Kirk, they would join with the brethren, and propone in public such things as they pleased; and so they should have the assistance of the whole in all things that might conform to God's commandment. Hurt and slander might arise, rather than any profit or comfort to the Kirk, were they to send from themselves a portion of their company. For they feared that all men should not stand content with the conclusion, where the conference and reasons were only heard by a few.

This answer was not given without cause; for no small travail was made to have drawn some ministers to the faction of the courtiers, and to have sustained their arguments and opinions. But when it was perceived by the most politic amongst them that they could not prevail by that means, they proponed the matter in other terms. Purging themselves first that they never meant to divide themselves from the society of their brethren, they said that they had certain heads to confer with certain ministers; and that, to prevent confusion, they thought it more expedient to have the conference before a few, rather than in the public audience. The Assembly did still reply, that they would not admit secret conference upon those heads that must be concluded by a general vote.

The Lords promised that no conclusion should be taken, or yet vote required, until their propositions and the reasons should both be heard and considered by the whole Assembly. Upon that condition, there were directed to them, with express charge to conclude nothing without the knowledge and advice of the Assembly, the Laird of Dun, Superintendent of Angus, the Superintendents of Lothian and Fife, Mr. John Row, Mr. John Craig, William Christison, and Mr. David Lindsay, ministers, with the Rector of St. Andrews, and Mr. George Hay. The Superintendent of Glasgow, Mr. John Willock, was moderator, and John Knox waited upon the scribe. And so they were appointed to sit with the brethren. Because the principal complaint touched John Knox, he was also called for.

[Sidenote: Secretary Lethington defines the Attitude of the Lords of the Court.]

Secretary Lethington began the harangue, which contained these heads: First, how much we were indebted unto God, by whose providence we had liberty of religion under the Queen's Majesty, albeit she was not persuaded in it herself: Secondly, how necessary a thing it was that the Queen's Majesty, by all good offices, so spake he, of the Kirk, and of the ministers principally, should be retained in the constant opinion that they unfeignedly favoured her advancement, and procured her subjects to have a good opinion of her: And, lastly, how dangerous a thing it was that ministers should be noted to disagree one from another, in form of prayer for Her Majesty, or in doctrine concerning obedience to Her Majesty's authority. "And in these two last heads," said he, "we desire you all to be circumspect; but especially we must crave of you, our brother, John Knox, to moderate yourself, as well in form of praying for the Queens Majesty, as in doctrine that ye propone touching her estate and obedience. Neither shall ye take this," said he, "as spoken to your reproach, _quia nevus interdum in corpore pulchro_, but because others by your example may imitate the like liberty, albeit not with the same modesty and foresight; and wise men do foresee the opinion that may engender in the people's heads."

[Sidenote: The Disputation between John Knox and the Secretary.]

_John Knox._ If such as fear God have occasion to praise Him because idolatry is maintained, the servants of God are despised, wicked men are placed again in honour and authority, and, finally, because vice and impiety overflow this whole realm without punishment, then have we occasion to rejoice and to praise God. But if those and the like actions are wont to provoke God's vengeance against realms and nations, then, in my judgment, the godly within Scotland ought to lament and mourn; and so to prevent[234] God's judgments, lest He, finding all in a like security, strike in His hot indignation, perchance beginning at such as think they offend not.

[234] Anticipate.

_Lethington._ That is a head wherein ye and I never agreed; for how are ye able to prove that ever God struck or plagued a nation or people for the iniquity of their prince, if they themselves lived godly?

_Knox._ I looked, my Lord, to have audience, until I had absolved the other two parts; but seeing that it pleases your Lordship to cut me off before the midst, I will answer your question. The Scripture of God teaches me that Jerusalem and Judah were punished for the sin of Manasseh; and if ye will allege that they were punished because they were wicked, and offended with their king, and not because their king was wicked, I answer that, albeit the Spirit of God makes for me, saying in express words, "For the sin of Manasseh," yet will I not be so obstinate as to lay the whole sin, and the plagues that followed, upon the king, and utterly absolve the people. I will grant you that the whole people offended with the king: but how, and in what fashion, I fear that ye and I shall not agree. I doubt not but that the great multitude accompanied him in all the abominations which he did; for idolatry and a false religion have ever been, are, and will be pleasing to the most part of men. To affirm that all Judah committed really the acts of his impiety, is but to affirm that which neither has certainty, nor yet appearance of truth. Who can think it possible that all those of Jerusalem should so shortly turn to external idolatry, considering the notable reformation in the days of Hezekiah, a short time before? But yet, the text says, "Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err." True it is; for the one part willingly followed him in his idolatry, and the other, by reason of his authority, suffered him to defile Jerusalem, and the temple of God, with all abominations. So were they all criminal for his sin; the one by act and deed, the other by suffering and permission. Even so, all Scotland is guilty this day of the Queen's idolatry, and ye, my Lords, especially, above all others.

_Lethington._ Well, that is the chief head wherein we never agreed; but of that we shall speak hereafter. What will ye say as touching the moving of the people to have a good opinion of the Queen's Majesty, and as concerning obedience to be given to her authority, as also of the form of the prayer which commonly ye use, and so on?

_Knox._ My Lord, a good conscience will not suffer me to move the people more earnestly, or to pray otherwise than heretofore I have done. He who knows the secrets of hearts knows that, privately and publicly, I have called to God for the Queen's conversion, and have willed the people to do the same, showing them the dangerous estate wherein not only she herself stands, but also the whole realm, by the reason of her indurate blindness.

_Lethington._ That is exactly wherein we find greatest fault. Your extremity against the Queen's Mass, in particular, passes measure. Ye call her a slave to Satan; ye affirm that God's vengeance hangs over the realm by reason of her impiety; and what is this else but to rouse up the heart of the people against Her Majesty, and against them that serve her?

There was heard an exclamation from the rest of the flatterers that such extremity could not profit. The Master of Maxwell said in plain words, "If I were in the Queen's Majesty's place, I would not suffer such things as I hear."

_Knox._ If the words of preachers shall always be wrested to the worst construction, then will it be hard to speak of anything so circumspectly (provided that the truth be spoken) that it shall not escape the censure of the calumniator. The most vehement, and, as ye put it, excessive manner of prayer that I use in public is this, "O Lord, if it be Thy pleasure, purge the heart of the Queen's Majesty from the venom of idolatry, and deliver her from the bondage and thraldom of Satan in which she has been brought up, and yet remains, for the lack of true doctrine; and let her see, by the illumination of Thy Holy Spirit, that there is no means to please Thee but by Jesus Christ, Thy only Son, and that Jesus Christ cannot be found but in Thy holy Word, nor yet received but as it prescribes; which is, to renounce our own wisdom and preconceived opinion, and worship Thee as Thou commandest; that in so doing she may avoid that eternal damnation which abides all who are obstinate and impenitent unto the end; and that this poor realm may also escape that plague and vengeance which inevitably follow idolatry, maintained against Thy manifest Word and the open light thereof." This, said he, is the form of my common prayer, as yourselves can witness. Now, I would hear what is worthy of reprehension in it.

_Lethington._ There are three things that I never liked. The first is that ye pray for the Queen's Majesty with a condition, saying, "Illuminate her heart, if it be Thy good pleasure." It may appear from these words that ye doubt of her conversion. Where have ye the example of such prayer?

_Knox._ Wheresoever the examples are, I am assured of the rule, which is this, If we shall ask anything according to His will, He shall hear us; and our Master, Christ Jesus, commanded us to pray unto our Father, "Thy will be done."

_Lethington._ But where do ye ever find one of the Prophets so to have prayed?

_Knox._ It sufficeth me, my Lord, that the Master and Teacher of both Prophets and Apostles has taught me so to pray.

_Lethington._ But, in so doing, ye put a doubt in the people's head concerning her conversion.

_Knox._ Not I, my Lord. Her own obstinate rebellion causes more than me to doubt of her conversion.

_Lethington._ Wherein rebels she against God?

_Knox._ In all the actions of her life, but in these two heads especially; firstly, she will not hear the preaching of the blessed Evangel of Jesus Christ; and, secondly, she maintains that idol, the Mass.

_Lethington._ She does not think that rebellion, but good religion.

_Knox._ So thought they that at one time offered their children to Moloch; and yet the Spirit of God affirms that they offered them unto devils, and not unto God. This day the Turks think they have a better religion than that of the Papists. I think ye will excuse neither of them from committing rebellion against God: nor can ye justly excuse the Queen, unless ye make God to be partial.

_Lethington._ But yet, why pray ye not for her, without moving any doubt?

_Knox._ Because I have learned to pray in faith. Now faith, ye know, depends upon the words of God, and the Word teaches me that prayers profit the sons and daughters of God's election. Whether she be one of these or not, I have just cause to doubt; and, therefore, I pray God "illuminate her heart," if it be His good pleasure.

_Lethington._ But yet ye can produce the example of none that so has prayed before you.

_Knox._ I have already answered that; but yet, for further declaration, I will demand a question. Do ye think that the Apostles prayed themselves as they commanded others to pray?

"Who doubts of that?" said the whole company that were present.

_Knox._ Well then, I am assured that Peter said these words to Simon Magus, "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray to God, that, if it be possible, the thought of your heart may be forgiven thee." Here we may plainly see that Peter joins a condition with his commandment that Simon should repent and pray, to wit, if it were possible that his sin might be forgiven; for he was not ignorant that some sins were unto the death, and so without all hope of repentance or remission. Think ye not, my Lord Secretary, there may touch my heart, concerning the Queen's conversion, the same doubt that then touched the heart of the Apostle?

_Lethington._ I would never hear you or any other call that in doubt.

_Knox._ But your will is no assurance to my conscience. And, to speak freely, my Lord, I wonder if ye yourself doubt not of the Queen's conversion; for more evident signs of induration[235] have appeared, and still do appear in her, than outwardly Peter could have espied in Simon Magus. Albeit at one time he had been a sorcerer, he joined with the Apostles, believed, and was baptized; and albeit the venom of avarice remained in his heart, and he would have bought the Holy Ghost, yet, when he heard the fearful threatenings of God pronounced against him, he trembled, desired the assistance of the prayers of the Apostles, and humbled himself like a true penitent, so far as the judgment of man could pierce, and yet we see that Peter doubted of his conversion. Why then may not all the godly justly doubt of the conversion of the Queen, who has practised idolatry (which is no less odious in the sight of God than is the other) and still continues in the same, yea, who despises all threatenings, and refuses all godly admonitions?

[235] Hardening.

_Lethington._ Why say ye that she refuses admonition? She will gladly hear any man.

_Knox._ But what obedience, to God or to His Word, ensues of all that is spoken to her? Or when shall she be seen to give her presence to the public preaching?

_Lethington._ I think never, so long as she is thus treated.

_Knox._ And so long ye and all others must be content that I pray, so that I may be assured of being heard by my God, that His good will may be done, either in making her comfortable to His Kirk, or, if He has appointed her to be a scourge to it, that we may have patience, and she may be bridled.

_Lethington._ Well let us come to the second head. Where find ye that the Scripture calls any the bond slaves to Satan? or that the Prophets of God speak so irreverently of kings and princes?

_Knox._ The Scripture says, that "by nature we are all the sons of wrath." Our Master, Christ Jesus, affirms, that "such as do sin are servants to sin," and that it is the only Son of God that sets men at freedom. Now, what difference there is betwixt the sons of wrath, and the servants of sin, and the slaves to the Devil, I understand not, except I be taught. If the sharpness of the term offend you, I have not invented that phrase of speech, but have learned it out of God's Scripture; for those words I find spoken unto Paul, "Behold, I send thee to the Gentiles, to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." Mark these words, my Lord, and sturr not at the speaking of the Holy Ghost. The same Apostle, writing to his scholar Timothy, says, "Instruct with meekness those that are contrary minded, if God at any time will give them repentance, that they may know the truth, and that they may come to amendment, out of the snare of the Devil, which are taken of him at his will." If your Lordship rightly considers these sentences, ye shall not only find my words to be the words of the Holy Ghost, but also that the condition which I use to add, has the assurance of God's Scriptures.

_Lethington._ But they spake nothing against kings in especial, and yet your continual crying is, "The Queen's idolatry, the Queen's Mass, will provoke God's vengeance!"

_Knox._ In the former sentences I hear not kings and queens excepted, but all unfaithful are pronounced to stand in one rank, and to be in bondage to one tyrant, the Devil. But belike, my Lord, ye little regard the estate wherein they stand, when ye would have them so flattered, that the danger thereof should neither be known nor declared to the poor people.

_Lethington._ Where will ye find that any of the Prophets did so entreat kings and queens, rulers or magistrates?

_Knox._ In more places than one. Ahab was a king, and Jezebel was a queen, and yet of what the Prophet Elijah said to the one and to the other, I suppose ye are not ignorant?

_Lethington._ That was not cried out before the people to make them odious to their subjects.

_Knox._ That Elijah said, "Dogs shall lick the blood of Ahab, and eat the flesh of Jezebel," the Scriptures assure me; but I read not that it was whispered in their own ear, or in a corner. The plain contrary appears to me. That is, both the people and the Court understood well enough what the Prophet had promised; for so witnessed Jehu, after God's vengeance had stricken Jezebel.

_Lethington._ They were singular motions of the Spirit of God, and appertain nothing to this our age.

_Knox._ Then the Scripture has far deceived me, for St. Paul teaches me that, "Whatsoever is written within the Holy Scriptures, is written for our instruction." And my Master said that "Every learned and wise scribe brings forth his treasure, both things old and things new." And the Prophet Jeremiah affirms that "Every realm and every city that likewise offends, as then did Jerusalem, should likewise be punished." Why then, I neither see nor yet can understand that the acts of the ancient Prophets, and the fearful judgments of God executed before us upon the disobedient, appertain not unto this our age. But now, to put an end to this head, my Lord, the Prophets of God have not spared to rebuke wicked kings, as well to their face as before the people and subjects. Elisha feared not to say to King Jehoram, "What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother; for as the Lord of Hosts lives, in whose sight I stand, if it were not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat, the King of Judah, I would not have looked toward thee nor seen thee." It is plain that the Prophet was a subject in the kingdom of Israel, and yet how little reverence he gives to the King. Jeremiah the Prophet was commanded to cry to the King and to the Queen, and to say, "Behave yourselves lawfully; execute justice and judgment; or else your carcases shall be cast to the heat of the day, and unto the frost of the night." Unto Coniah, Shallum, and Zedekiah, he speaks in special, and shows to them, in his public sermons, their miserable ends; and therefore ye ought not to think it strange, my Lord, that the servants of God mark the vice of kings and queens, as well as of other offenders, and that because their sins are more noisome to the commonwealth than are the sins of inferior persons.

For the most part of this reasoning, Secretary Lethington leaned upon the Master of Maxwell's breast, who said, "I am almost weary: I would that some other would reason in the chief head, which is not touched."

The Earl of Morton, Chancellor, commanded Mr. George Hay to reason against John Knox, in the head of obedience due unto magistrates; and he began so to do.

_Knox._ Brother, I am well content that ye reason with me, because I know you to be both a man of learning and of modesty: but that ye shall oppose yourself to a truth of which, I suppose, your own conscience is no less persuaded than is mine, I cannot well approve. I would be sorry that you and I should be reputed to reason as two scholars of Pythagoras, to show the quickness of our imagination. I protest here, before God, that, whatsoever I sustain, I do the same of conscience; yea, I dare no more sustain a proposition known unto myself untrue, than dare I teach false doctrine in the public place. Therefore, Brother, if conscience move you to oppose yourself to that doctrine which ye have heard from my mouth in that matter, do it boldly: it shall never offend me. But it pleases me not that ye be found to oppose yourself to me, if ye are persuaded in the same truth. In that there may be greater inconvenience than either ye or I do consider for the present.

_Hay._ Far be it from me to prove myself willing to impugn or confute that head of doctrine, which not only ye, but many others, yea, and I myself have affirmed; for so should I be found contrarious to myself. My Lord Secretary knows my judgment in that head.

_Lethington._ Marry; ye are well the worse of the two. I remember well your reasoning when the Queen was in Carrick.

_Knox._ Well, seeing, Brother, that God has made you occupy the chair of truth, in which, I am sure, we will agree in all principal heads of doctrine, let it never be said that we disagree in disputation.

John Knox was moved thus to speak, because he understood more of the craft than the other did.

_Lethington._ Well, I am persuaded in this last head somewhat better than I was in the other two. Mr. Knox, yesterday we heard your judgment upon the 13th to the Romans; we heard the mind of the Apostle well opened; we heard the causes why God has established powers upon the earth; we heard the necessity that mankind has of the same; and we heard the duty of magistrates sufficiently declared; but in two things I was offended, and so I think were some more of my Lords that were then present. The one was that ye made difference betwixt the ordinance of God and the persons that were placed in authority; and ye affirmed that men might refuse the persons, and yet not offend against God's ordinance. This is the one; the other ye had no time to explain; but methought ye meant this,--that subjects were not bound to obey their princes if they commanded unlawful things; but that they might resist their princes, and were never bound to suffer.

_Knox._ In very deed ye have rightly both marked my words, and understood my mind; for I have long been of that same judgment, and so I yet remain.

_Lethington._ How will ye prove your division and difference, and that the person placed in authority may be resisted, and God's ordinance not transgressed, seeing that the Apostle says, "He that resists the powers, resisteth the ordinance of God."

_Knox._ My Lord, the plain words of the Apostle make the difference, and the acts of many approved by God prove my affirmative. First, the Apostle affirms that the powers are ordained of God for the preservation of quiet and peaceable men, and for the punishment of malefactors. From this it is plain that the ordinance of God and the power given unto men is one thing, and the person clad with the power or with the authority is another. God's ordinance is the conservation of mankind, the punishment of vice, and the maintaining of virtue, which is in itself holy, just, constant, stable, and perpetual. But men clad with the authority are commonly profane and unjust; yea, they are mutable and transitory, and subject to corruption. God threateneth them by His Prophet David, saying, "I have said ye are gods, and every one of you the sons of the Most Highest; but ye shall die as men, and the princes shall fall like others." Here I am assured that persons, the soul and body of wicked princes, are threatened with death: I think that ye will not affirm that so also are the authority, the ordinance and the power, wherewith God has endued such persons; for, as I have said, as it is holy, so is it the permanent will of God. Now, my Lord, it is evident that the prince may be resisted, and yet the ordinance of God not violated. The people resisted Saul, when he had sworn by the living God that Jonathan should die. The people, I say, swore to the contrary, and delivered Jonathan, so that not a hair of his head fell. Now, Saul was the anointed king, and they were his subjects, and yet they so resisted him that they made him no better than mansworn.[236]

[236] Perjured.

_Lethington._ I doubt if in so doing the people did well.

_Knox._ The Spirit of God accuses them not of any crime, but rather praises them, and condemns the king, as well for his foolish vow and law made without God, as for his cruel mind, that would have punished an innocent man so severely. I shall not stand entirely upon this: what follows shall confirm it. This same Saul commanded Abimelech and the priests of the Lord to be slain, because they had committed treason, as he alleged, for intercommuning with David. His guard and principal servants would not obey his unjust commandment; but Doeg, the flatterer, put the king's cruelty to execution. I will not ask your judgment whether the servants of the king, in not obeying his commandment, resisted God or not; or whether Doeg, in murdering the priests, gave obedience to a just authority. I have the Spirit of God, speaking by the mouth of David, to assure me of the one as well as of the other; for he, in his fifty-second Psalm, condemns that act as a most cruel murder; and affirms that God will punish not only the commander but the merciless executor. I conclude that they who gainstood his commandment resisted not the ordinance of God.

And now, my Lord, to answer to the statement of the Apostle, where he affirms that such as resist the power resist the ordinance of God, I say that the power in that place is not to be understood to be the unjust commandment of men, but the just power wherewith God has armed His magistrates and lieutenants to punish sin and maintain virtue. If any man enterprise to take from the hands of a lawful judge a murderer, an adulterer, or any other malefactor that by God's law deserves death, this same man resists God's ordinance, and procures to himself vengeance and condemnation, because he has stayed God's sword from striking. But this is not the case if men, in the fear of God, oppose themselves to the fury and blind rage of princes; in doing so, they do not resist God, but the Devil, who abuses the sword and authority of God.

_Lethington._ I sufficiently understand what ye mean; and to the one part I will not oppose myself. But I doubt of the other. If the Queen commanded me to slay John Knox, because she is offended at him, I would not obey her. But, were she to command others to do it, or by a colour of justice to take his life from him, I cannot tell if I should be found to defend him against the Queen and against her officers.

_Knox._ Under protestation that the audience think not that I seek favours for myself, my Lord, I say that, if ye be persuaded of my innocency, and if God has given you such power and credit as might deliver me, and yet you suffered me to perish, in so doing you should be criminal, and guilty of my blood.

_Lethington._ Prove that, and win the play.

_Knox._ Well, my Lord, remember your promise, and I shall be short in my probation. The Prophet Jeremiah was apprehended by the priests and prophets, who were a part of the authority within Jerusalem, and by the multitude of the people, and this sentence was pronounced against him, "Thou shalt die the death; for thou hast said, this house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without inhabitant." The princes, hearing the uproar, came from the king's house, and sat down in judgment in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's House, and there the priests and the prophets, before the princes, and before all the people, stated their accusation in these words, "This man is worthy to die, for he has prophesied against this city, as your ears have heard." Jeremiah answered that whatsoever he had spoken proceeded from God; and therefore said he, "As for me, I am in your hands: do with me as ye think good and right. But know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon your souls, and upon this city, and upon the habitations thereof; for of truth the Lord has sent me to you, to speak all these words." Now, my Lord, if the prophets and the whole people should have been guilty of the Prophet's blood, how shall ye or others be judged innocent before God, if ye suffer the blood of such as have not deserved death to be shed when ye may save it?

_Lethington._ The cases are nothing like.

_Knox._ I would like to learn wherein the dissimilitude stands.

_Lethington._ First, the king had not condemned him to death. And next, the false prophets and the priests and the people accused him without a cause, and therefore they could not but be guilty of his blood.

_Knox._ Neither of these fights against my argument; for, albeit the king was neither present, nor yet had condemned him, the princes and chief councillors were there sitting in judgment. They represented the king's person and authority, hearing the accusation laid to the charge of the Prophet. Therefore he forewarns them of the danger, as I have already said, that, if he should be condemned and put to death, the king, the council, and the whole city of Jerusalem should be guilty of his blood, because he had committed no crime worthy of death. If ye think that they should all have been criminal, only because they all accused him, the plain text witnesses the contrary. The princes defended him, and so no doubt did a great part of the people; and yet he boldly affirms that they should be all guilty of his blood if he should be put to death. The Prophet Ezekiel gives the reason why all are guilty of a common corruption. He says, "I sought a man amongst them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none; therefore have I poured my indignation upon them." From this, my Lord, it is plain that God craves not only that a man do no iniquity in his own person, but also that he oppose himself to all iniquity, so far as in him lies.

_Lethington._ Then ye will make subjects control their princes and rulers.

_Knox._ And what harm should the commonwealth receive, if the corrupt affections of ignorant rulers were moderated, and so bridled by the wisdom and discretion of godly subjects that they should do wrong nor violence to no man?

_Lethington._ All this reasoning is not to the purpose; for we reason as if the Queen should become such an enemy to our religion, that she should persecute it, and put innocent men to death. This, I am assured, she never intended, and never will do. If I should see her again of that purpose, yea, if I should suspect any such thing in her, I should be as far forward in that argument as ye or any other within this realm. But there is not such a thing. Our question is, whether we may and ought to suppress the Queen's Mass? Or whether her idolatry shall be laid to our charge?

_Knox._ What ye may do by force, I dispute not; but what ye may and ought to do by God's express commandment, that I can tell. Idolatry ought not only to be suppressed, but the idolater ought to die the death, unless we will accuse God.

_Lethington._ I know that the idolater is commanded to die the death; but by whom?

_Knox._ By the people of God. The commandment was given to Israel, as ye may read, "Hear, Israel, says the Lord, the statutes and the ordinances of the Lord thy God," etc. Yea, a commandment was given, that, if it be heard that idolatry is committed in any one city, inquisition shall be taken; and, if it be found true, the whole body of the people shall then arise and destroy that city, sparing in it neither man, woman, nor child.

_Lethington._ But there is no commandment given to the people to punish their king if he be an idolater.

_Knox._ I find no privilege to offend God's Majesty granted to kings, by God, more than to the people.

_Lethington._ I grant that; but yet the people may not be judges to their king to punish him, albeit he be an idolater.

_Knox._ God is the Universal Judge, as well of the king as of the people. What His Word commands to be punished in the one, is not to be absolved in the other.

_Lethington._ We agree in that; but the people may not execute God's judgment. They must leave it to Himself. He will either punish it by death, by war, by imprisonment, or by some other plagues.

_Knox._ I know the last part of your reason to be true; but for the first, that the people, yea, or a part of the people, may not execute God's judgments against their king, he being an offender, I am assured ye have no other warrant except your own imagination, and the opinion of such as have more fear to offend princes than God.

_Lethington._ Why say ye so? I have the judgments of the most famous men within Europe, and of such as ye yourself will confess both godly and learned.

And with that he called for his papers. When these were produced by Mr. Robert Maitland, he began to read with great gravity the judgments of Luther, and Melanchthon, and the minds of Bucer, Musculus, and Calvin, as to how Christians should behave themselves in time of persecution: yea, the Book of Baruch was not omitted.

_Lethington._ The gathering of these things has cost more travail than I have taken these seven years in the reading of commentaries.

_Knox._ The more pity; and yet, let others judge what ye have profited your own cause. As for my argument, I am assured ye have weakened it in nothing; for your first two witnesses speak against the Anabaptists, who deny that Christians should be subject to magistrates, or that it is lawful for a Christian to be a magistrate. That opinion I no less abhor than ye do, or than does any other that lives. The others speak of Christians subject to tyrants and infidels, so dispersed that they have no other force but only to sob to God for deliverance. That such, indeed, should hazard any further than these godly men direct them, I cannot hastily counsel. But my argument has another ground; for I speak of the people assembled together in one body of one commonwealth, to whom God has given sufficient force, not only to resist, but also to suppress all kind of open idolatry. Such a people, I affirm yet again, are bound to keep their land clean and unpolluted.

That this my division shall not appear strange to you, ye should understand that God required one thing of Abraham and of his seed, when he and they were strangers and pilgrims in Egypt and Canaan; and another thing when they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt, and the possession of the land of Canaan was granted to them. At the first, and during all the time of their bondage, God craved no more than that Abraham should not defile himself with idolatry. Neither was he nor his posterity commanded to destroy the idols that were in Canaan or in Egypt. But when God gave them the possession of the land, He gave them this strait commandment, "Beware lest ye make league or confederacy with the inhabitants of this land: give not thy sons unto their daughters, nor yet give thy daughters unto their sons. But this shall ye do unto them, cut down their groves, destroy their images, break down their altars, and leave thou no kind of remembrance of those abominations, which the inhabitants of the land used before: for thou art a people holy unto the Lord thy God. Defile not thyself, therewith, with their gods."

Ye, my Lords, and all such as have professed the Lord Jesus within this realm, are bound to this same commandment. God has wrought no less miracle upon you, both spiritual and corporal, than He did upon the carnal seed of Abraham. For you yourselves cannot be ignorant in what estate your bodies and this poor realm were, not seven years ago. You and it were both in bondage to a strange nation; and what tyrants reigned over your conscience, God perchance may let you feel, because ye do not rightly acknowledge the benefit received. When our poor brethren before us gave their bodies to the flames of fire for the testimony of the truth, and when scarcely ten that rightly knew God could be found in a country-side, it would have been foolishness to have craved the suppressing of idolatry, either by the Nobility, or by the humble subjects. That would have done nothing but expose the simple sheep as a prey to the wolves. But since God has multiplied knowledge, and has given the victory to His truth, even in the hands of His servants, if ye suffer the land again to be defiled, ye and your Princess shall both drink the cup of God's indignation--she for her obstinate abiding in manifest idolatry in the great light of the Evangel of Jesus Christ, and ye for your permitting and maintaining her in it.

_Lethington._ In that point we will never agree; and where find ye, I pray you, that any of the Prophets or of the Apostles ever taught such a doctrine as that the people should be plagued for the idolatry of the prince; or that the subjects might suppress the idolatry of their rulers, or punish them for the same?

_Knox._ My Lord, we know what was the commission given to the Apostles. It was to preach and plant the Evangel of Jesus Christ where darkness had dominion before; and therefore it behoved them, first, to let them see the light before they should urge them to put to their hands to suppress idolatry. I will not affirm what precepts the Apostles gave to the faithful in particular, other than that they commanded all to flee from idolatry. But I find two things which the faithful did; the one was, they assisted their preachers, even against the rulers and magistrates; the other was, they suppressed idolatry wherever God gave them force, asking no leave of the Emperor, or of his deputies. Read the Ecclesiastical History, and ye shall find sufficient example. As to the doctrine of the Prophets, we know they were interpreters of the law of God; and we know they spake to the kings as well as to the people. I read that neither would hear them; and therefore came the plague of God upon both. But I cannot be persuaded that they flattered kings more than the people.

As I have said, God's laws pronounce sentence of death upon idolatry, without exception of any person. Idolatry is never alone; ever does it corrupt religion, and bring with it a filthy and corrupt life. How the Prophets could rightly interpret the law, and show the causes of God's judgments, which they ever threatened should follow idolatry, and the rest of abominations that accompany it--how they could reprove the vices, and not show the people their duty, I understand not. Therefore, I constantly believe that the doctrine of the Prophets was so sensible that the kings understood their own abominations, and the people understood what they ought to have done in punishing and repressing them. But because the most part of the people were no less rebellious to God than were their princes, the one and the other convened against God and against His servants. And yet, my Lord, the acts of some Prophets are so evident, that we may collect from them what doctrine they taught; for it were no small absurdity to affirm that their acts should repugn to their doctrine.

_Lethington._ I think ye refer to the history of Jehu. What will ye prove thereby?

_Knox._ The chief head that ye deny and I affirm--that the Prophets never taught that it appertained to the people to punish the idolatry of their kings. For the probation, I am ready to produce the act of a Prophet. Ye know, my Lord, that Elisha sent one of the children of the Prophets to anoint Jehu, who gave him commandment to destroy the house of his master Ahab for the idolatry committed by him, and for the innocent blood that Jezebel his wicked wife had shed. He obeyed, and put this into full execution; and for this God promised him the stability of the kingdom, to the fourth generation. Here is the act of one Prophet that proves that subjects were commanded to execute judgments upon their king and prince.

_Lethington._ There is enough to be answered thereto. Jehu was a king before he put anything in execution; and besides, the act is extraordinary, and not to be imitated.