JOHN KNOX. — THE REFORMATION. 60 



and bearing the stamp of Divine authority, carried him through his Herculean task 

 with all the honours of a triumph. By his preaching and declamation, he wielded 

 the full strength of popular impulse ; and by convincing the mind, maintained 

 an entire ascendency over the will. Feeling, in all its intensity, the truth and 

 importance of the embassy in which he was engaged, his language was framed 

 with that fi-eedom, force, and even coarseness, which were little relished by 

 courtly ears, but which silenced every antagonist, and consolidated the strength 

 of his own party. That very zeal which at times carried him almost beyond 

 the limits of discretion, was indispensable for the maturing and perfection of 

 his plan. The multitude whom he addressed — long abused by the lukewarm 

 harangues of the feeble or designing — accepted his very violence of speech and 

 gesture, as the test of his sincerity. Every popular leader must, at times, 

 adopt the language of popular prejudice ; and Knox, who was as keen an 

 observer of human nature as he was a conscientious advocate of its best interests, 

 well knew how to excite, restrain, or modify the impulse of popular feehng, 

 so as to make every discordant principle subservient to the great ends of the 

 Reformation. With all the tact and higher qualifications of Luther he knew 

 how to clothe his sentiments in the language of his audience ; he had courage 

 to attack vice in the highest places; and, wherever he made an impression, 

 perseverance to complete the work. Whatever may be objected to him as a 

 man, as a Reformer, he possessed every necessary endowment to fit him for the 

 task. Pungent argument, bitter sarcasm, pointed raillery, and stern rebuke, 

 were the sole arms by which he foiled his enemies, and strengthened the cause 

 of reform. Where a point was to be gained, neither fear of his superiors, nor 

 complaisance towards his friends, nor the threats of his enemies, nor the denun- 

 ciations of the law, could force him to retract or extenuate one word of that 

 evangelical doctrine which he was called on to promulgate. His moral courage 

 was equal to every trial; and where the gentle Melancthon, or the erudite 

 Erasmus, would have shrunk abashed, he resolutely maintained his ground, and 

 obtained, by the mere force of perseverance, what could not be achieved by the 

 force of eloquence. It is not to be denied, however, that excesses were com- 

 mitted with his apparent sanction ; and that several monuments of national 

 grandeur were defaced or even demolished during the reign of popular fury to 

 which his preaching gave rise. But such were unavoidable ; he had called up a 

 spirit which he could not lay ; and still smarting from the spiritual despotism by 

 which they had been enthralled, and excited by the abuses which were daily 

 brought to light, the people argued thus : — Let their temples remain, and 

 they who served vrill again return. It is not sufficient that we have routed 



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