the soul."" Then he prayed for them who accused him, saying, 'I beseech thee, Father of heaven, forgive them that have out of ignorance, or of an evil mind, forged lies concerning me. I forgive them with all my heart; and I beseech Christ to forgive them who have this day ignorantly condemned me.' The same magnanimity and astonishing fortitude he manifested at the stake while his members were being consumed in the flames. Such courage combined with meekness and a forgiving temper - such manliness and such charity, the world has never witnessed outside of the pure church of Christ. Deeply were the spectators affected by this melancholy and yet glorious spectacle, and every drop of that blessed martyr's blood became seed for the church. "Seldom," says his biographer* - from whose pages the previous sketch has been compiled "do we meet, in ecclesiastical history, with a character so amiable and interesting as that of George Wishart. Excelling all his countrymen, at that period, in learning, of the most persuasive eloquence, irreproachable in life, courteous and affable in manners; his fervent piety, zeal, and courage, in the cause of truth, were tempered with uncommon meekness, modesty, patience, prudence and charity. In his tour of preaching through Scotland, he was usually accompanied by some of the principal gentry; and the people who flocked to hear him were ravished with his discourses." "God of Israel's faithful three, Who braved the tyrant's ire, Dr. M. Cries. For, while thou my Lord, art nigh, My soul disdains to fear; Sin and Satan I defy, Still impotently near; Earth and hell their wars may wage, Calm I mark their vain design; Unto thee, my help, my hope, And still receive thy power; Blast and scatter with mine eyes; Satan comes; I turn my face; And lo! the tempter flies!" JOHN KNOX. THIS great Scotch reformer was born at Gifford, a village of East Lothian, in the year 1505. His parents were descended from ancient and respectable families, but they were themselves "neither great nor opulent." They gave, however, their son a liberal education, which was not common in those days. He entered college in 1524, and made great proficiency in his studies. He paid also, particular attention to theological science. "He read the fathers of the Christian church, and, among the rest, Jerome 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 * * From a sketch by J. Thornton. 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 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 to improve 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 1535 when this favorable change commenced; but it does not appear that he professed himself a Protestant before the year 1542. Having at this period discovered his views, it was impossible for him to remain any longer in safety at St. Andrews, where he was then residing, and which was wholly under the power of Cardinal Beaton, the most determined supporter of popery, and the enemy of all reform. He left that place, and retired to the south of Scotland, where, within a short time, he avowed his full belief of the Protestant doctrine. Provoked by his defection, and alarmed lest he should draw others after him, the clergy were anxious to rid themselves of such an adversary. Having passed sentence against him as an heretic, and degraded him from the priesthood, the cardinal employed assassins to waylay him, by whom he would have been killed, had not providence placed him under the protection of the laird of Langniddrie." Knox having renounced the Catholic ministry, for a while devoted himself to teaching in the family of Hugh Douglas. His extraordinary powers were soon perceived by his Protestant friends, and they publicly entreated him to become a minister of the gospel; and in fact almost in spite of his determined resistance, forced him to enter, in the name of the Lord, upon the discharge of this important office. His first discourses were characteristic, and exhibited the fearless boldness and majestic presence and power of the man. "He attacked the whole system of superstition with a boldness which excited astonishment. The preachers who had preceded him, not even excepting Wishart, had contented themselves with refuting some of the grosser errors of the established religion: Knox struck at the root of Popery, by boldly pronouncing the Pope to be anti-christ, and the whole system erroneous and anti-scriptural." His labors were eminently successful; a multitude of the inhabitants of the town of St. Andrews, whither he returned upon the violent death of Cardinal Beaton, embraced the Protestant faith, and partook of the Lord's Supper. This was the first time that the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was regularly dispensed after the reformed mode in Scotland. The Scotch Catholics, with the assistance of a French fleet in 1547, reduced the castle of St. Andrews, whither a large number of the Protestants, Knox among them, had taken refuge. The garrison capitulated, on condition that their lives should be spared, and that those who desired it might be conveyed to any country they chose, except Scotland. The articles, however, were violated, and Knox, with others, was carried to France, where, bound in chains, they were confined in galleys. After an imprisonment of nineteen months, he obtained his liberty in 1549. He returned to England, and was requested to preach in Berwick, where great success attended his labors. Here he met with the excellent lady who afterwards became his wife. In the commencement of the reign of the "bloody queen Mary," he was again forced to seek safety on the continent. He went to Switzerland and was cordially received by the brethren of the different Protestant churches. Calvin gave him a warm welcome to Geneva, and treated him with great kindness. They were nearly of the same age, and there was a marked similarity in their sentiments and characters. He remained in Geneva, eagerly pursuing his studies in Hebrew, although now advanced in age, and also faithfully preaching the gospel and writing valuable treatises upon the questions in controversy between the Romanists and Protestants. Affairs assuming a more favorable aspect in his native land, the lords of the Protestant party in Scotland earnestly besought his return. With great reluctance on the part of the church over which he had charge, he was permitted to meet this pressing call of duty, and in 1559 he took his leave of Geneva. "Knox arrived in Scotland at a very critical juncture, for the queen regent had just concerted her plan for the total overthrow of the Reformation. By a mixture of cruelty and perfidy, which the sequel unfolded, the Protestant ministers were outlawed, and devoted to destruction. This intelligence coming when Knox, at Perth, had, in a sermon, just been exposing the idolatry of the mass and image worship, the people, roused to fury, pulled down the monasteries, and other retreats and ensigns of superstition, and set no bounds to their violence. "These ravages of the mob have often, by the admirers of art and antiquity, been charged upon that barbarous Vandal, John Knox, as he is styled, whereas they appear to have sprung from the harsh and perfidious conduct of the queen. From the time that Knox became minister of the congregation in Edinburgh, to the close of his career, we find him so prominently engaged in all the great transactions of Scotland, that a full account of them would be the history of that eventful period. His interviews and rencounters with Mary, a queen equally notorious for her personal charms |