THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
of an exacting kind he added a large correspondence; and he was constantly engaged in literary work. His publications at Geneva included his First Blast against the Monstrous Regiment [Rule] of Women; and his long and elaborate treatise on predestination (published 1560) was composed in Geneva. With the exception of some months spent at Dieppe (1557—58) when he was contemplating a return to Scotland, he continued to officiate in Geneva (while deeply interested in his native land and in constant communication with the reform party there) till Jan., 1559, when he finally left for home.
He arrived in Edinburgh May 2, 1559. The time was a critical one. During his absence the reform party had become more numerous, more self-reliant and aggressive, and better consolidated. The queen dowager, Mary of Lorraine, acting as regent for her daughter, the young Mary, queen of
7. Organ- Scots, then in France, had become ization of more desirous to crush the Protestants
the Church and determined to use force. Civil in Scotland, war was imminent, but each side shrank from the first step. Knox at once became the leader of the Reformers. He preached against " idolatry " with the greatest boldness, and with the result that what he calls the " rascal multitude " began the " purging " of churches and the destruction of monasteries. Politics and religion were closely intertwined; the Reformers were struggling to keep Scotland free from the yoke of France, and did not hesitate to seek the help of England. Knox negotiated with the English government to secure its support, and he approved of the declaration of the lords of his party in Oct., 1559, suspending their allegiance to the regent. The death of the latter in June, 1560, opened the way to a cessation of hostilities and an agreement leaving the settlement of ecclesiastical questions to the Scottish estates. The doctrine, worship, and government of the Roman Church were overthrown by the parliament of 1560 and Protestantism was established as the national religion. Knox, assisted by five other ministers, formulated the confession of faith adopted at this time (see Scotch Confession of Faith) and drew up the constitution of the new Church — the First Book of Discipline (see the section on the Church of Scotland in the article Presbyterians).
Queen Mary returned to Scotland in Aug., 1561, thoroughly predisposed against Knox; while he and the other Reformers looked upon her with anxiety and suspicion. Fundamental differences of character and training made a keen encoun-
8. Knox ter between the two inevitable. Five and Queen personal interviews between Knox and
Mary. the queen are recorded (each at Mary's invitation). He found her no mean opponent in argument, and had to acknowledge the acuteness of her mind, if he could not commend the qualities of her heart. His attitude for the most part was unyielding and repelling, his language and manner harsh and uncourtierlike. In his preaching and other public utterances he was sometimes even violent. It must be remembered, however, that the momentous issues at stake re-
quired a plain-spoken prophet, not a smoothtongued courtier. Still it might have been wiser as well as more Christlike for Knox, at the outset of their intercourse, to seek to win rather than repel. Perhaps the Reformer feared Mary's wellknown power of fascination and steeled himself against it. Later his heart became wholly hardened toward the adulterous accomplice, as be believed of her husband's murderer.
Knox's life from the time of his return to Scotland in 1559 is a part of the history of his country and its full story is to be sought in the histories of Scotland. Only details which have a more personal interest can be noted here. When the Reformed religion was formally ratified by law in Scotland in 1560 he was appointed minister of the Church of St. Giles, then the great parish church of Edinburgh. He was at this time in the fulness of his powers, as is manifest abundantly in the style of his History of the Reformation — a work 9. Ministry which appears to have been begun
in Edin- about 1559, and completed in the course burgh and of the next six or seven years. The
Private History, if sometimes rough and even Life. coarse in language, and not always commendable in temper and spirit, is written with a force and vigor not surpassed by any of his other writings — of all which it may be said, that, whatever their faults, they are works of true genius, and well worthy in their character, upon the whole, of the great leader and statesman who wrote them. At the very beginning of his labors as minister of Edinburgh, he had the misfortune to lose his much-loved and helpful young wife, whom Calvin described as suavissima. She left two sons, one of whom, Nathanael, died at Cambridge in 1580; the other, Eleazer, became vicar of Clacton Magna in the archdeaconry of Colchester and died in 1591. In 1564 Knox made a second marriage, which was greatly talked of at the time because the bride was remotely connected with the royal family and still more because she was a maiden of seventeen while Knox was three times as old. The young lady was Margaret Stewart, daughter of Andrew, Lord Stewart of Ochiltree. She bore Knox three daughters, of whom the youngest, Elizabeth, became the wife of the famous John Welsh, minister of Ayr. At this time the Reformer lived a very laborious life. He was much engrossed with the public affairs of the national Church, and at the same time devoted to his work as a parish minister, to say nothing of his continual, and perhaps, in his position, unavoidable controversies, more or less personal, with the ecclesiastical and political factions of the day, which he regarded as his country's enemies. He was, however, not without social and family enjoyments. A fair stipend of four hundred marks Scots, equal to about forty-four pounds of English money of that day, enabled him to exercise hospitality and to advance money to a friend in need. He had a good house, which was provided and kept in repair by the municipality. His home, during the greater part of his ministry in Edinburgh, stood on the site now occupied by the City Council Chambers. Another house in Edinburgh, still preserved with little change and known since