the Abbey. On the 7th of July, the principal citizens met in the Tolbooth, and chose him for their minister. Meanwhile the Regent lay at Dunbar with her French army, neglecting no means to disunite the lords of the Congregation, till watching her opportunity, she advanced suddenly on Edinburgh. Her army consisted of five thousand men; but though the Congregation could not muster more than fifteen hundred, they resolved to oppose her entrance: the inhabitants of Leith, however, opened their gates, and Lord Erskine, who commanded the Castle, threatening to fire upon them, they were forced to conclude a treaty, by which they agreed to leave Edinburgh. They stipulated, nevertheless, that the citizens should be left at liberty to use that form of worship which was most acceptable to them. Knox would have remained at his post; but the nobles advised him to retire, and give place to Willock, a faithful but less obnoxious minister. He therefore undertook a preaching tour; and in less than two months proclaimed the pure doctrine of the Gospel at some principal places over the greater part of Scotland, ending at St. Andrew's. Thus far (says he, in a letter from St. Andrews, June 23) hath God advanced the glory of his dear Son among us. O that my heart could be thankful for the super-excellent benefit of my God! The long thirst of my wretched heart is satisfied in abundance, that is, above my expectation; for now forty days and more hath God used my tongue in my native country, to the manifestation of his glory, Whatsoever now shall follow as touching my own carcase, his holy name be praised. The thirst of the poor people, as well as of the nobility, here is wondrous great; which putteth me in comfort, that Christ Jesus shall triumph here in the north and extreme parts of the earth for a space." In another letter, dated Sept. 2, he observes, "Time to me is so precious, that with great difficulty can I steal one hour in eight days, either to satisfy myself, or to gratify my friends. I have been in continual travel since the day of appointment; (or agreement between the Regent and the Congregation) and notwithstanding the fevers have vexed me, yet have I travelled through the most part of the realm, where (all praise to his blessed Majesty!) men of all sorts and conditions embrace the truth. Enemies we have many, by reason of the Frenchmen who lately arrived, of whom our papists hope golden hills. As we be not able to resist, we do nothing but go about Jericho, blowing with trumpets, as God giveth strength, hoping victory by his power alone." Soon after his arrival in Scotland, he wrote for his wife and family, whom he had left behind him at Geneva. On the 13th of June, Mrs. Knox and her mother were at Paris, and applied to Sir Nicholas Throkmorton, the English ambassador, who gave them a passport to England, and also wrote to Queen Elizabeth and Cecil, recommending oblivion of his offensive publication, and kind treatment of his wife. The arrival of his family was the more gratifying, as they were accompanied by Christopher Goodman, his late colleague at Geneva, who became minister of Ayr, and was afterwards translated to St. Andrews. The Protestants being obliged to apply to England for assistance, Knox opened a correspondence with Cecil, and a message was at length sent to him, desiring him to meet Sir Henry Percy at Alnwick, and Cecil himself came down to Stamford for the sake of a personal interview; but his journey being retarded by the danger of passing near the French at Dunbar, he was afterwards deputed, with Robert Hamilton another minister, to wait on Sir James Croft, the governor of Berwick, who undertook to manage their business for them, and advised them to return home. Cecil sent an answer to the Lords of the Congregation conceived in such general terms, that they were disinclined to further negociation; but Knox obtained permission to write again to the Secretary, who returned a speedy answer, desiring that some persons of credit might be appointed to confer with the English at Berwick, and assuring them that immediate pecuniary assistance would be afforded. Balnaves, a man well respected in both kingdoms, was sent to Berwick, who soon returned with a sum of money, which defrayed the public expense till November; when Cockburne of Ormiston was despatched for a second remittance, but he fell into the hands of Earl Bothwell, who took the money from him. Knox was indefatigable in his service to the Congregation, and a reward was publicly offered to any one who should seize or kill him; but this did not deter him from travelling and preaching. He was at length called to share in a delicate and important measure. When the Lords first appealed to arms, they had no intention of making any alteration in the government; but finding that the Regent was fully bent on executing her schemes, they deliberated, on a principle of pure patriotism, on the expediency of opposing her administration. They inquired, if the same parliamentary authority which had appointed her Majesty to the Regency, might not deprive her of it? A numerous assembly of nobles, barons, and representatives of boroughs met at Edinburgh on the 21st of October, to which Knox and Willock were called; the latter declared it to be his judgment, founded on scripture and reason, that she might be deprived; but the former went more at large into the question, stating: First that they did not suffer the misconduct of the Regent to alienate their affections from due allegiance to their sovereigns: second, that they were not actuated in the measure by private hatred or envy of the Queen Dowager, but by regard to the safety of the commonwealth: and third, that any sentence which they might at that time pronounce should not preclude her re-admission to office, if eligible. They then suspended her from her office, till the meeting of a free parliament, and elected a council for the management of public affairs during the interval. When the council had occasion to treat of matters connected with religion, four of the ministers were appointed to assist in their deliberations. These were Knox, Willock, Goodman, and Alexander Gordon, bishop of Galloway, who had embraced the Reformation. The troops of the Congregation were soon after repulsed in a premature assault upon the fortifications of Leith, and worsted in a skirmish with the French, when they came to the resolution of abandoning Edinburgh, and retreated to Stirling. The next day the Reformer addressed them in a manner calculated to revive their spirits. 66 were "Their faces," he said, confounded, their enemies triumphed, their hearts had quaked for fear, and still remained oppressed with sorrow and shame. What was the cause for which God had thus dejected them? The situation of their affairs required plain language, and he would use it. In the present distressed state of their minds, they were in danger of attributing these misfortunes to a wrong cause, and of imagining that they had offended in taking the sword of selfdefence into their hands; just as the tribes of Israel did, when twice discomfited in the war which they undertook, by divine direction, against their brethren the Benjamites. Having divided the Con gregation into two classes, those who had been embarked in this cause from the beginning, and those who had lately acceded to it, he proceeded to point out what he considered as blamable in the conduct of each. The former (he said) had laid aside that humility and dependence upon Divine Providence which they had discovered when their number was small; and since they were joined by the Hamiltons, had become elated, secure, and selfconfident. "But wherein" (alluding to the former Regent, now Duke of Chatelheraut, who with his son, the Earl of Arran, had become disgusted with the princes of Lorraine, and had united with the Congregation) "have my Lord Duke and his friends offended? I am uncertain if my Lord's Grace hath unfeignedly repented of his assistance to these murderers, unjustly pursuing us. Yea, I am uncertain if he has repented of that innocent blood of Christ's blessed martyrs, which was shed in his default. But let it be that so he has done, as I hear that he has confessed his fault before the Lords and brethren of the Congregation; yet I am assured that neither he, nor yet his friends did feel before this time, the anguish and grief of heart which we felt, when in their blind fury they pursued us. And therefore God hath justly permitted both them and us to fall into this fearful confusion at once; us, for that we put our trust and confidence in man, and them, because they should feel in their own hearts how bitter was the cup which they made others drink before them." After exhorting all to amendment of life, prayer, and works of charity, he said, "God often suffered the wicked to triumph for a while, and exposed his chosen congregation to mockery, danger, and apparent destruction, in order to abase their self-confidence, and induce them to look to Him for deliverance and victory. If they turned unfeignedly to the Eternal, he no more doubted that their present distress would be converted into joy, and followed by success, than he doubted that Israel was finally victorious over the Benjamites, after being twice repulsed with ignominy. The cause in which they were engaged would, in spite of all opposition, prevail in Scotland. It was the eternal truth of the eternal God which they maintained; it might be oppressed for а time, but would ultimately triumph." In the afternoon the council met, and after Knox had supplicated divine direction, agreed to send William Maitland of Lethington to London for more effectual assistance; and in the mean time, that one half of them should remain at Glasgow, and the other at St. Andrews, Knox being appointed chaplain and secretary to the latter. The disaster which obliged the protestant army to raise the siege of Leith, and evacuate Edinburgh, induced the English court to abandon its cautious policy. Maitland's embassy was successful; and on the 27th of February 1560, Elizabeth concluded a formal treaty with the Lords of the Congregation, by which she engaged to send an army into Scotland, to assist them in expelling the French forces. The Queen Regent then hastened two thousand French foot, and three hundred horse, to disperse the troops at Glasgow under Chatelheraut, before the English could arrive. The Duke retiring, they reduced the episcopal castle, and prepared to advance to Hamilton; but hearing of the approach of the English, returned to Leith, where they were invested both by sea and land by the joint forces of Elizabeth and the Congregation. The Queen Regent, in a declining state of health, was received by Lord Erskine into the castle of Edinburgh, where she soon after departed this life. In France, the husband of Mary had succeeded to the throne, by the title of Francis II, and the administration had fallen into the hands of the Duke of Guise and Cardinal of Lorraine, who when they saw Elizabeth assisting the Scotch in earnest, the armament which they had prepared dispersed by a storm, and some of the French nobility displeased at their measures, sent plenipotentiaries to Edinburgh, who concluded a treaty with the English, by which the Scottish differences were also adjusted: an amnesty was to be granted to all who had been engaged in the late resistance to the Regent, a free parliament held, and a council chosen partly by Francis and Mary, and partly by the estates of the nation. The treaty was signed on the 7th of July; on the 16th the French embarked, and the English began their return; and on the 19th, the Congregation assembled in St. Giles's church, and gave thanks for the restoration of peace. When the parliament met, many lords attached to popery absented themselves. A petition was presented by a number of protestants, in which after rehearsing their former endeavours at reformation, they besought that the popish doctrine should be discarded, means used to restore pure worship, and primitive discipline, and the great ecclesiastical revenues applied to the promotion of learning and relief of the poor. In answer to the first demand the ministers were required to draw up a summary of the doctrine which they desired to have established, who accordingly presented a Confession of Faith, agreeing with the other reformed churches. When this came before the house, the only temporal lords. who dissented were Athol, Somerville, and Borthwick, while the prelates of St. Andrews, Dunblane, and Dunkeld, were silent, and the parliament voted the establishment of the reformed religion. LINES ON THE DEATH OF A FRIEND. "There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest." JOB iii. 17. Why weep for her whose spirit freed from every clog that bound it, Why weep for her, "whose lines had fallen" oh not "in pleasant places, Weep not for her, but lift the eye of faith to yonder Heaven, Weep not for her.-The word has past, by that eternal token, J. S. JULY 1826. 2 K FRIENDLY HINTS TO THE VISITORS AT LEAMINGTON. The soul was form'd to mount sublime, Beyond the narrow bounds of time, To everlasting things. MAN was created for immortality and great as is the change which sin has produced in his state, in his character, in his enjoyments, and in his hopes, it has not subtracted a single day from his existence. On earth, it is true, he is only a sojourner, he is of few days and full of trouble: he cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow and continueth not, but his soul is stamped with the broad seal of eternity, and whether his portion be happiness or misery, it will be for ever and ever. spirits of the just made perfect, and the Angels, who having left their first estate are reserved in chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day, alike attest the solemn truth; but, as the evidence of both lies beyond the reach of sublunary observation, it is either little regarded or contemptuously rejected. The Time is a great revealer of secrets, and it requires the lapse but of a few years to convince every human being that his eternal destiny will be irreversibly fixed by the sentence of an unchangeable God, who has declared his own word of truth to be the rule of judgment.Here, the same individual may be the subject of great changeschanges as rapid and unexpected, as they are marked in the scale of worldly honour or worldly degradation but the gulf that lies between the inheritors of the kingdom of Heaven, and those who have forfeited its bliss, is fixed and impassable--they cannot, if they would, exchange situations. Convinced of this fact, and influenced by an anxiety to make known to you the way by which you may not only become acquainted with the malignity but also the cure of the inveterate dis : race ease which afflicts the whole of our -I have taken up my pen to address to you a few friendly hints, which, if they are taken as they are intended, may, by the divine blessing, be found profitable to some who have reflected but little upon their privileges and responsibility; and may also stimulate others who have been made sensible of both, to act, especially at seasons and in places where temptations abound, in such a way as to let their light shine before men, and to prove that they are consistent followers of him who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. The numerous assemblage of persons at a watering place, from various quarters and in various circumstances, is calculated to remind us of the solemn day when an assembled world shall stand before the bar of God. There we shall meet and associate with those whom we never knew or saw before. The equally numerous departures may bring to our minds the solemn thought, that one after another we shall leave this transitory world, and while the body returns to the dust from whence it came, the spirit will return to him who gave it.— But, do all who visit a watering place return to their homes-to their estates-to their business-to their social circles? O No! How many have entered Leamington with the most ardent expectation of renovated health-and have flattered themselves that its sanative waters would prolong life by removing disease-who were cut off in a moment, when they imagined all was safety-and whose remains were either conveyed to the family cemetery, or left to mingle their dust with that of strangers? How many, in the bloom of youth or vigour of health, having accompanied hither a beloved relative or friend oppressed by pain, or sickness, or |