842 
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fled him for the hazardous and difficult poft which he oc¬ 
cupied. His integrity was above the fufpicion of corrup¬ 
tion; his firmnefs proof equally againft the folieitations 
of friends and the threats of enemies. Though his im- 
petuofity and courage led him frequently to expofe him- 
felf to danger, tve never find him negledting to take pru¬ 
dent precautions for his fafety. The opinion which his 
countrymen entertained of his fagacity, as well as hon'efty, 
is evident from the confidence which they repofed in him. 
The meafures taken for advancing the reformation were 
cither adopted at his fuggeftion, or fubmitted to his ad¬ 
vice; and we muft pronounce them to have been as wifely 
planned as they were boldly executed. 
His minifterial functions were difeharged with the great- 
eft aftiduity, fidelity, and fervour. No avocation or infir¬ 
mity prevented him from appearing in the pulpit. Preach¬ 
ing was an employment in which he delighted, and for 
which he was qualified, by an extenfive acquaintance with 
the feriptures, and the happy art of applying them, in the 
moft ftriking manner, to the exifting circumftances of 
the church, and of his hearers. His powers of alarming 
the confcience, and arouiing the pallions, have been 
frequently mentioned ; but he excelled alfo in opening 
up the confolations of the Gofpel, and calming the breafts 
of thofe who were agitated with a fenfe of their fins. 
When he difeourfed of the griefs and joys, the conflicts 
and triumphs, of genuine Chriltians, he declared what he 
himfelf had known and felt. The letters which he wrote 
to his familiar acquaintances breathe the moft ardent 
piety. The religious meditations in which he fpent 
his laft ficknefs were not confined to that period of his 
life; they had been his habitual employment from the 
time that he was brought to the knowledge of the truth, 
and his folace amidft all the hardfhips and perils through 
which he palled. 
With his brethren in the miniftry he lived in the ut- 
xnoft cordiality. We never read of the flighted: variance 
between him and any of his colleagues. While he was 
dreaded and hated by the licentious and profane, whofe 
vices he never fpared, the religious and fober part of his 
congregation and countrymen felt a veneration for him, 
which was founded on his unblemifhed reputation, as well 
as his popular talents as a preacher. In private life, he 
was both beloved and revered by his friends and do- 
meftics. He was fubjetft to the occafional lapfes of me¬ 
lancholy, and deprefiion of fpirits, arifing partly from na¬ 
tural conftitution, and partly from the maladies which 
had long preyed upon his health ; which made him (to 
ufe his own expreflion) churlifk, and lefs capable of pleafing 
and gratifying his friends than he was otherwife difpofed 
to be. This he confefied, and requefted them to excufe ; 
but his friendfliip was fincere, affectionate, and fteady. 
When free from this morofe affection, he reliflied the plea- 
lures of fociety, and, among his acquaintances, was ac- 
cuftomed to unbend his mind from feverer cares, by in¬ 
dulging in innocent recreation, and the Tallies of wit and 
humour, to which he had a ftrong propenfity, notwith- 
ftanding the grave tone of his general character. 
Moft of his faults may be traced to bis natural tempe¬ 
rament, and the character of the age and country in which 
he lived. His paflions were ftrong; he felt with the ut- 
inolt keennefs on every fubjeCt which interefted him ; and 
as he felt he expreffed himfelf, without difguife or affec¬ 
tation. The warmth of his zeal was apt to betray him 
into intemperate language ; his inflexible adherence to his 
opinions inclined to obltinacy ; and his independence of 
mind occafionally affumed the appearance of haughtinefs 
and difdain. A ftranger to complimentary or fmooth lan¬ 
guage, little concerned about the manner in which his 
reproofs were received, provided they were merited, too 
much impreffed with the evil of the offence, to think of 
the rank or character of the offender, he often uttered his 
admonitions with an acrimony and vehemence more apt 
to irritate than to reclaim. But he protefted, at a time 
when perfons are lealt in danger of deception, and in a 
O X. 
manner which fhould bamfh fufpicions of the purity of 
his motives, that, in his fharpeft rebukes, he was influ¬ 
enced by hatred of the vices, not the perfons, of the vi¬ 
cious, and that his aim was always to difeharge his own 
duty, and, if poflible, to reclaim the guilty. 
Thofe who have charged him with infenfibility and in¬ 
humanity, have fallen into a miftake very common with 
luperficial thinkers, who, in judging of the characters of 
perfons who lived in a ftate of fociety very different from 
their own, have pronounced upon their moral qualities 
from the mere afpeCt of their exterior manners. He was 
ftern, not lavage; auftere, notunfeeling; vehement, not 
vindictive. There is not an inftanceof his employing his 
influence to revenge any perfonal injury which he had re¬ 
ceived. Rigid as his maxims as to the execution of juftice 
were, there are more inftances on record of his interced¬ 
ing for the pardon of criminals, than perhaps of any mail 
of his time; and, unlefs when crimes were atrocious, or 
the fafety of the ftate was at ftake, he never exhorted the 
executive authority to the exercife of feverity. The bold- 
nefs and ardour of his mind, called forth by the peculiar 
circumftances of the time, led him to pufh his fentiments 
on fome fubjeCts to an extreme, and no confideration 
could induce him to retraCt an opinion of which he con¬ 
tinued to be perfuaded ; but his behaviour after his pub¬ 
lication againft female government, proves that he was 
was not difpofed to improve them to the difturbance of 
the public peace. His conduCt at Frankfort evinced hi* 
moderation in religious differences among brethren of the 
fame faith, and that he was difpofed to make all rcafon- 
able allowances for thofe who could not go to the fame 
length with him in reformation, provided they abftained 
from impoiing upon the confciences of others. The li¬ 
berties which he took in cenfuring from the pulpit the ac¬ 
tions of individuals of the higheft rank and llation, ap¬ 
pear the more ftrange and intolerable to us, when con- 
trafted with the filence of modern times; but we fhould 
recollect that they were then common, and that they were 
not without their utility, in an age when the licentioufnefs 
and oppreftion of the great and powerful often fet at defi¬ 
ance the ordinary reftraintsof law. 
In contemplating fuch a character as that of Knox, it 
is not the man, fo much as the reformer , that ought to en¬ 
gage our attention. The admirable wifdom of Providence 
in railing up perfons endued with qualities fuited to the 
work allotted them to perform for the benefit of mankind, 
demands our particular confideration. The auftere and 
rough reformer, whofe voice once cried in the wildernefs of 
Judea ; who was clothed with camel's hair, and girt about the 
loins with a leathern girdle ; who came neither eating nor drink - 
ing ; who, laying the axe to the root of every tree, warned a ge¬ 
neration of vipers to feefrom the wrath to come, faying even to 
the tyrant upon the throne, It is not lawful for thee-, he (I 
fay) was fitted for ferving the will of God in his generation 5 
and Wifdom was jufiifcd in him, according to his rank and 
place, as well as in his Divine Mafter, whofe advent he 
announced, who did not frive, nor cry , nor caufe his voice to 
be heard in the freets ; nor break the bruifed reed, nor quenck 
the frnohing fax. To thofe who complain, that they are 
difappointed at not finding, in our national reformer, a 
mild demeanor, courteous manners, and a winning ad- 
drefs, we may fay, that thofe talents which fit a perfon for 
aCting with propriety and ufefulnefs in one age and fitu- 
ation, would altogether unfit him for another. Before 
the reformation, fuperftition, fliielded by ignorance, and 
armed with power, governed with gigantic fway. Men of 
mild fpirits and gentle manners would have been as un¬ 
fit for taking the field againft this enemy, as a dwarf or a 
child for encountering a giant. What did Erafmus in 
the, days of Luther ? What would Lowth have done in 
the days of Wickliffe, or Blair in thofe of Knox ? It has 
been juftly obferved concerning our reformer, by Dr. Ro- 
bertfon, that “ thofe very qualities, which now render his 
character lefs amiable, fitted him to be the inftrument of 
Providence for advancing the reformation among a fierce 
people. 
