843 
K N 
people, sn<! enabled him to face danger, and fill-mount op- 
pofition, from which a perfon of a more gentle fpirit would 
have been apt to fhrink back.” Viewing his charafter in 
this light, if we cannot regard him as an amiable man, we 
may, without hefitaticn, pronounce him a great re¬ 
former. 
Knox left behind him a widow and five children. His 
two fons, Nathaniel and Eleazar, were borne to him by 
his fij-ft wife, Mrs. Marjory Bowes. About the year 1566, 
they went to England, where their mother’s relations re¬ 
futed. They received their education at St. John’s Col¬ 
lege, Cambridge ; and, after finifhing it, died in the prime 
of life. It appears that they died without iffue, and the 
family of the reformer became extinfl in the male line. 
His other three children were daughters, by his fecond 
wife. Dame Margaret Stewart, his widow, afterwards 
married fir Andrew Ker of Fadounfide, a ftrenuous fup- 
porter of the reformation. One of his daughters was mar¬ 
ried to Mr. Robert Pont, minifter of St. Cuthbert’s ; an¬ 
other of them to Mr. James Flemming, alfo a minifter of 
the church of Scotland ; Elizabeth, the third daughter, 
was married to Mr. John Wellh, minifter of Ayr. Mrs. 
Welfh feems to have inherited a confiderable portion of 
her father’s fpirit, and fhe had her ftiare of hardfhips fimi- 
lar to his. Her hufband was one of tliofe who refitted the 
arbitrary meafures purfued by James VI. for overturning 
the government and' liberties of the prefbyterian church 
of Scotland. For attending a meeting of the general af- 
fembly at Aberdeen, in July 1605, when the king had fent 
diredtions for adjourning it fine die, (in purfuance of a 
fcheme laid for abolilhing that court,) he was imprifoned ; 
and, for afterwards declining the privy council, as not the 
proper judges of that caule, he, along with other five mi- 
nifters, was arraigned, and, by a packed and corrupt jury, 
found guilty, and condemned to the death of traitors. 
Leaving her children at Ayr, Mrs. Welch attended her 
hufband in prifon, and was prefent at Linlithgow, with 
the wives of the other pannels, on the day of trial. When 
informed of the fentence, thefe heroines, inltead of lament¬ 
ing their fate, praifed God w'ho had given their liufbands 
courage to ftand to the caufe of their Mafter; adding that, 
like Him, they had been judged and condemned under 
the covert of night. The lentence having been com¬ 
muted into banifhment, fhe accompanied her hulband to 
France, where they remained for fixteen years. Mr. 
Welch having loft his health, and the phyficians inform¬ 
ing him that the only profpeft which he had of recover¬ 
ing it was by returning to his native country, ventured, 
about the year 1622, to come to London. His wife, by 
means of fome of her mother’s relations at court, obtained 
accefs to the king, to petition for liberty for him to go to 
Scotland for the fake of his health. The following con- 
verfation is faid to have taken place on that occafion. His 
majefty afked her, who was her father. She replied, Mr. 
Knox. “ Knox and Welch !” exclaimed he; “ the devil 
never made fuch a match as that.” “It’s right like, fir,” 
faid fhe; “for we neverfpeired (afked) his advice.” He 
afked her, how many children her father had left, and if 
they were lads or lafles. She faid three, and they were all 
laffes. “ God be thanked !” cried the king, lifting up 
both his hands; “ for, an they had been three lads, I had 
never bruiked (enjoyed) my three kingdoms in peace.” 
She urged her requeft, that he would give her hufband his 
native air. “Give him the devil!” (a word which James 
had often in his mouth.) “Give that to your hungry 
courtiers,” faid fhe, offended at his profanity. He told 
her at laft, that, if fhe would perfuade her hufband to fub- 
mit to the bifhops, he would allow him to return to Scot¬ 
land. Mrs. Welch, lifting up her apron, and holding it 
towards the king, replied, in the true fpirit of her father, 
“Pleafe your majefty, I’d rather receive his head there.” 
The account of our reformer’s publications has been 
partly anticipated in the courfe of the preceding narra¬ 
tive. Though his writings were of great utility, it was 
not by them, but by his perfonal exertions, that he chief- 
0 X. 
Jy advanced the reformation, and tranfmitted his name to 
pofterity. He did not view this as the field in which he 
was called to labour. “That I did not in writing com¬ 
municate my judgment upon the Scripture (fays he), I 
have ever thought myfelf to have molt juft reafon. For, 
confidering myfelf rather called of mv God to inftruct the 
ignorant, comfort the forrowful, confirm the weak, and 
rebuke the proud, by tongue, and lively voice, in thefe 
moft corrupt days, than to compofe books for the age to 
come, (feeing that fo much is written, and by men of moft 
lingular erudition, and yet fo little well-obferved,) I de¬ 
creed to contain myfelf within the bounds of that voca¬ 
tion whereunto I found myfelf efpecially called.” This 
refolution was moft judicioufly formed. His fituation was 
very different from that of the early protelfant reformers. 
They found the whole world in ignorance of the doctrines 
of Chriftianity. Men were either deftitute of books, or 
fuch as they polfeffed were calculated only to miflead. 
The oral initructions of a few individuals could extend 
but a fmall way ; it was principally by means of their 
writings, which circulated with amazing rapidity, that 
they benefited mankind, and became not merely the in- 
ftruCtors of the particular cities and countries where they 
refided and preached, but the reformers of Europe. By 
the time that Knox appeared on the field, their judicious 
commentaries upon the different books of Scripture, and 
their able defences of its doffrines, were laid open to the 
Englifh reader. What was more immediately required of 
him was to ufe the peculiar talent in which he excelled, 
and, “ by tongue and lively voice,” to imprint the doc¬ 
trines of the Bible upon the hearts of his countrymen. 
When he was deprived of an opportunity of doing this, 
during his exile, there could not be a more proper fubfti- 
tute than that which he adopted, by publilhing familiar 
epiftles, exhortations, and admonitions, in which he briefly 
recalled to their minds the truths which they had received, 
and excited them to adhere unto them. Thefe were cir¬ 
culated and read with far more eafe, and to a far greater 
extent, than large treatifes could have been. Of the many 
fermons preached by him during his miniftry, he never 
publifhed but one, which was extorted from him by pecu¬ 
liar circumftances; and that one affords a very favourable 
fpecimen of his talents. If he had applied himfelf to writ¬ 
ing, he was qualified for excelling in that department. 
He had a ready command of language, expreffed himfelf 
with perfpicuity, and with great animation and force. 
Though he defpifed the tinfel of rhetoric, he was acquaint¬ 
ed with the principles of that art; and, when he had lei- 
fure and inclination to polifli his ftyle, wrote both with 
propriety and eloquence. Tliofe who read his letter to 
the queen regent, his anfwer to Tyrie, his papers in the 
account of the difpute with Kennedy, or even his fermon, 
will be fatisfied of this. During his refidence in England, 
he acquired the habit of writing the language according 
to the manner of that country; and, in all his publications 
which appeared during his life-time, the Englifh and not 
the Scottifli orthography and mode of expreffion are ufed. 
In this refpeft there is a very evident difference between 
them and the vernacular writings of Buchanan. His de¬ 
fence of predeftination, the only theological treatife of 
any fize w'hich was publifhed by himfelf, is rare, and has 
been feen by few. It is written with perfpicuity, and 
difcovers his controverfial acutenefs, with becoming cau¬ 
tion, in handling that delicate queftion. 
“ The following catalogue of the reformer’s works will, 
I truft, be found more correct and complete than any one 
which has hitherto appeared. The titles have been accu¬ 
rately copied from the books themfelves, when I could 
poffibly procure them; for fuch as I could not get accefs 
to I have had recourfe to the belt authorities, as marked 
after each article. I have alfo noticed thofe of which 
there are copies in the manufcript volume in my poifef- 
fion. 
1. An Admonition, or Warning, that the faithful Chrif- 
tians in London, Newcaftel, Barwycke, and others, may 
avoid 
