was reached. If Bullinger and the Zurichers had been "Zwinglians," in the sense in which that name is now often understood, Calvin could never have had any hope of drawing them into a joint confession of Eucharistic faith, and as little would they have listened to any overtures proceeding from Calvin with that design.

The conclusion which we deduce from all these premises is, that as it is impossible to draw any doctrinal distinction between Cranmer and Knox in their definitions of the Eucharist as these stand in the Articles of the Church of England and the National Confession of the Church of Scotland, it is equally hopeless to set up any distinction in their relations to the Theologies of Zurich and Geneva-inasmuch as in the Doctrine of the Sacraments these schools declared themselves to be at one, and had always been so from the first, though not always fully and clearly conscious of their agreement.

L

CHAPTER IV.

OFFER AND DECLINATURE of the See of Rochester-EPISTLE TO THE CONGREGATION OF BERWICK.

KNOX continued in London till nearly the end of 1552, and was, no doubt, closely engaged all that time in preaching, either at Court or in the City, or both, although no memorials remain of his ministry during that time.

To a man of so much shrewdness of observation, and so much faithfulness in judging and correcting his own mental habits of thought and feeling, of hope and fear, of forecast and reflection, a sojourn of several months in the Court and capital could not fail to be highly instructive and suggestive, and to originate currents of sentiment and feeling which were as various and contending as they were fresh and unaccustomed. He had then a nearer view of men and things in England than ever he had had before, and a view of them, besides, in the highest places, and on the broadest surface.

On every occasion of his preaching alternately with his colleague chaplain before the King, he had opportunity to read with his own eyes the great men who crowded the Court, and filled the Council chamber; and every day in the great city he mixed with all classes of society, and noted their fashions and ways of speech and life. And it was, no doubt, anything but an accidental coincidence that, from this time forward, we can discern in his preachings and writings a prevailing tendency to forecast the near future which was awaiting the English Church and nation, and can see that, along with an open eye to all that was encouraging and worthy of thankfulness in the state of religion and morals, both among high and low, rich and poor, he was often found in a less buoyant and more presaging mood; often ready to fear and foretell that evil days were at hand, and that a short sunshiny day, such as

had succeeded the long night of Henry VIII.'s despotic reign, would soon set again in a night of still darker gloom, and still crueller oppression to the friends of truth and reformation.

It was probably during this visit to London that he first made the acquaintance of two religious families of high standing in the city-the Lockes and the Hickmans-of the class of wealthy merchants.

Among his "Familiar Epistles" are found several addressed, a few years later, from Dieppe and Geneva, to Mrs. Locke and Mrs. Hickman, "merchandis wyffis in Londoun," and from these we can gather what was the tone and mood of his early intercourse with them in matters of religion and the Church :

"When I consider and call to mind how God, I doubt not, brought us into such familiar acquaintance that your hearts were incensed and kindled with a special care over me, as the mother useth to be over her natural child, and how my heart was opened and compelled, in your presence, to be more plain in such matters as after have come to pass, than ever I was to any-for, ye remember, as I suppose, how, after great anguish and sorrow of heart, which many days I sustained, at last I was compelled with weeping tears to open unto you that which almost no man I could have believed. Ye remember my judgment, and what communication we had upon the same. God grant that ye remain in the same mind that then I found you, which was that ye little regarded the rest of the world, or yet the law of your country, in respect of that life to come, and that ye rather would leave possessions and friends, nor that ye should admit idolatry. When all these things I call to mind, and how often I have exhorted you to take example of me, who was a stranger [foreigner], and yet, by God's grace, had found favour, not only in your eyes, but also before many (howbeit with none I was so familiar); and when I remember that commonly I used to admonish you to be of good comfort, albeit ye should be compelled, for Christ's sake, to leave your native country, for God should never leave you comfortless, but should always provide for you, even as He had done for other, his elect, before you, and as ye presently saw his mercy shewed unto me. And when I remember that all such admonitions I used when no appearance there was of such troubles as after have ensued, and more abundantly shall ensue

when all these things I call to mind, I can no otherwise judge but that God used our familiarity and communication for that present as a preparative for a sharper medicine."

The letter is signed,—

"Your brother, that shewed this vision unto you when no such thing was suspected,

"JOHNE KNOX."

So, then, even in those days of apparent high promise and hope, immediately after his own successful exertions at Court and with the Privy Council, Knox had his "visioun " of "years drawing nigh," when " he and many more should say they had no pleasure in them." There was something in the aspect and feeling of the time which sunk his strong spirits in spite of himself, and in spite even of his own joyful acknowledgment, when addressing the Privy Council in his "Confession," that "Christ's religion in this realm, all praise and honour be unto God, was now tending to perfection and maturity." And that "something" must have been somewhat that he had never seen anywhere else before-something, therefore, most probably, that he had discovered in the highest places of the land, and in the characters and lives of the men in highest office, who stood nearest to the Throne.

No man knew better than Knox how much the prosperity of religion and the Church depended upon the wise counsels and the godly example of the nation's heads and rulers; and his first visit to the young King's Court would seem to have brought home to him a foreboding impression, which we know that his second visit in the following spring did a great deal to deepen and confirm, that there was "something rotten in the state of England," even under her pious and gifted young King; that, in short, the Prince was ill served by his most trusted servants; that not a few of his most influential councillors were not men honestly "fearing God and hating covetousness;" that, ever since the judicial murder of Somerset, the Popish leaven which had all along been left in the King's Council, had been working and steadily gathering force; and that nothing but the life of a Prince of delicate constitution, and without promise of long life, stood between the Kingdom and the succession of a bigoted Romish Princess.

Public incidents bearing this sinister significancy were of frequent occurrence during the ensuing months, and gradually grew deeper

in portent, till at last the worst-and more than the worst-of all his forecastings were realized in the condition of an oppressed kingdom and a recaptured and re-enslaved Church.

Since the fall and execution of the Duke of Somerset, the most powerful statesman of the kingdom was Somerset's relative and rival, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. His recent appointment to the Wardenry of the Borders had brought him into closer relations than before with the King's chaplain at Newcastle. He had resided there, as we have seen, for some time in the summer of that year, 1552; had heard Knox preach at St. Nicholas' and elsewhere, and though not approving in all points of his mode of conducting public worship, had formed a high opinion of his character and pulpit power, and, indeed, of his fitness to hold high place and office in the Church.

During his stay in the North, he had had it in his power either materially to strengthen or weaken Knox's influence and authority in the province, and the Reformer had had no reason to complain of the line he had taken in that respect. In fact, the relations between the statesman and the preacher had been so close and cordial in public estimation, that when Knox came up to London to preach at Court, he passed as the Duke's chaplain with many who had not previously heard of him as one of the King's chaplains.

It is not surprising, then, to find that a proposal to make Knox a bishop, which dates from this period of his chaplaincy, should have originated with Northumberland; a fact which, along with several other curious particulars of this remarkable incident of Knox's life, was discovered by the late Mr. Tytler, who was the first to publish to the world the following letters from the Duke to Cecil. These letters, preserved among the State papers of this reign, were not known to Dr. M'Crie, and may be fitly introduced here in full, on account of the important light which they throw not only upon this particular affair, but also upon a change which began to take place about this time in the relations of this powerful and unprincipled nobleman to Knox and other Reformers.

The first letter is dated 27 October, 1552:

"I would to God it might please the King's Majesty to appoint Mr. Knox to the office of Rochester bishoprick; which, for three purposes, should do very well. The first, he would not only be a