During the short regency of Murray, Knox had the satisfaction, not only of being freed from the personal disquietudes which had been his portion almost through life, but of seeing the interests of the Church, if not maintained to the full extent which he could wish, at least treated with respect, and advocated as far as the crooked course of state-policy would permit. The murder of that distinguished nobleman, January 23, 1570, affected Knox doubly, as the premature decease of a loved and esteemed friend, and as a public calamity to church and state.
In the following October he suffered a slight fit of apoplexy, from which however he soon recovered so far as to resume his Sunday preachings. But the troubled times which followed on the death of the Regent Murray denied to him in Edinburgh that repose which his infirmities demanded, and in May, 1571, he was reluctantly induced to retire from his ministry and again to seek a refuge in St. Andrew’s. Nor was his residence in that city one of peace or ease, for he was troubled by a party favourable to the Queen’s interests, especially by that Archibald Hamilton who afterwards apostatised to the Roman Catholic Church and became his bitter calumniator; and he was placed in opposition to the Regent Morton with respect to the filling up of vacant bishoprics and the disposal of church property, which, far from being applied to the maintenance of religion and the diffusion of education, was still in great measure monopolised by the nobility. In August, 1572, his health being rapidly declining, he returned to Edinburgh at the earnest request of his congregation, who longed to hear his voice in the pulpit once more. He felt death to be nigh at hand, and was above all things anxious to witness the appointment of a zealous and able successor to the important station in the ministry which he filled. This was done to his satisfaction. On Sunday, November 9, he preached and presided at the installation of his successor, James Lawson, and he never after quitted his own house. He sickened on the 11th, and expired November 24, 1572, after a fortnight’s illness, in which he displayed unmixed tranquillity, and assured trust in a happy futurity, through the promises of the Gospel which he had preached. It is the more necessary to state this, because his calumniators dared to assert that his death was accompanied by horrid prodigies, and visible marks of divine reprobation. The same tales have been related of Luther and Calvin.
Knox’s moral character we may safely pronounce to have been unblemished, notwithstanding the outrageous charges of dissolute conversation which have been brought by some writers against him,—calumnies equally levelled against Beza, Calvin, and other fathers of the Reformation, and which bear their own refutation in their extravagance. As a preacher, he was energetic and effective, and uncommonly powerful in awakening the negligent or the hardened conscience. As a Reformer and leader of the Church, he was fitted for the stormy times and the turbulent and resolute people among whom his lot was cast, by the very qualities which have been made a reproach to him in a more polished age, and by a less zealous generation. He was possessed of strong natural talents, and a determined will which shunned neither danger nor labour. He was of middle age when he began the study of Greek, and it was still later in life when he acquired the Hebrew language,—tasks of no small difficulty when we consider the harassed and laborious tenor of his life. No considerations of temporising prudence could seduce him into the compromise of an important principle; no thought of personal danger could make him shrink when called to confront it. His deep sense and resolute discharge of duty, coupled with a natural fire and impetuosity of temper, sometimes led him into severity. But that his disposition was deeply affectionate is proved by his private correspondence; and that his severity proceeded from no acerbity of temper may be inferred from his having employed his powerful influence as a mediator for those who had borne arms against his party, and from his having never used it to avenge an injury. The best apology for his occasional harshness is that contained in the words of his own dying address to the elders of his church as quoted by Dr. M’Crie. “I know that many have frequently complained, and do still loudly complain, of my too great severity; but God knows that my mind was always void of hatred to the persons of those against whom I thundered the severest judgments. I cannot deny but that I felt the greatest abhorrence at the sins in which they indulged; but still I kept this one thing in view, that, if possible, I might gain them to the Lord. What influenced me to utter whatever the Lord put into my mouth so boldly, and without respect of persons, was a reverential fear of my God, who called and of His grace appointed me to be a steward of divine mysteries, and a belief that He will demand an account of the manner in which I have discharged the trust committed to me, when I shall at last stand before His tribunal.”
A list of Knox’s printed works, nineteen in number, is given by Dr. M’Crie at the end of his notes. They consist chiefly of short religious pieces, exhortations, and sermons. In addition to those more important books which we have already noticed, his ‘History of the Church of Scotland’ requires mention. The best edition is that printed at Edinburgh in 1732, which contains a life of the author, the ‘Regimen of Women,’ and some other pieces. Dr. M’Crie’s admirable ‘Life of Knox’ will direct the reader to the original sources of the history of this period.
[Knox’s House in the Canongate, Edinburgh.]
Engraved by W. Holl.
ADAM SMITH.
From a Medallion executed in the life time of A. Smith, by Tafsiel.
Under the Superintendance of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.
London, Published by Charles Knight, Ludgate Street.
