The History of the Reformation of the Church of Scotland

During this his being at Edinburgh, he Preached many excellent Sermons; whereof there be but few that were printed and conserved to Posterity, he not being willing to busy himself with the Press: Yet some of them we have, as this, namely, which he Preached Aug. 19, An. 1564. and for which he was forbidden to Preach for a time: He, to make known to the world what ground there was to deal so with him, took the care to have this Sermon printed, as you will find it at the end of this History.

During this his being at Edinburgh, he Preached many excellent Sermons; whereof there be but few that were printed and conserved to Posterity, he not being willing to busie himself with the Presse: Yet some of them we have, as this, namely, which he Preached Aug. 19, An. 1564. and for which he was forbidden to Preach for a time: He, to make known to the world what ground there was to deal so with him, took the care to have this Sermon printed, as you will finde it at the end of this History.

Here I cannot let slip a remarkable passage; which was this; Anno 1566. the Earle of Murray was slain upon the Saturday: The morrow after, John Knox preached in Edinburgh; where, as he was reading the Papers wherein was written the names of those that desired the Prayers of the Church, he finds a paper with these words, Take up the man whom ye accounted another god: which he passed, without expressing any commotion, and went on with his Prayer and Sermon. At the end of the Sermon, he made moan for the loss that the Church and State of Scotland had, by the death of that virtuous man; and said, That as God in his mercy giveth good and wise Rulers, so taketh he them away from a people in his wrath. Then he added, There is one in this company that maketh the subject of his mirth this horrible murder, whereat all good men have occasion to be sorry: I tell him, That he shall die where there shall be none to lament him. He who had written the aforesaid words in the paper, was Thomas Metellan, a young Gentlemen of most rare parts, but youthful, and bearing small affection to the Earle of Murray; who, when he heard this Commination of John Knox, went home to his lodging, and said to his sister, That John Knox was raving to speak of he knew not whom. His sister replied, with tears in her eyes, If you had followed my advice, ye had not written these words; and withal told him, That none of John Knox his threatenings fell to the ground without effect. And so it fell out in this particular; For shortly thereafter the young Gentleman went beyond Seas to travel, and died in Italy, having no known man to assist him, much less to lament him. Towards the latter days of his age, his body became very infirm, and his voice so weak, that the people could not hear him, Preaching in the ordinary place, wherefore he made choice of another more commodious within