Scotland/Scots > Life of John Knox ; and, The life of Alexander Henderson

LIFE OF JOHN KNOX.
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lukewarm in the cause ; the zeal of others had already-
suffered a sensible abatement; and it was to be feared,
that the favours of the court, and the blandishments of
an artful and engaging princess would make proselytes
of some, and lull others into a dangerous security, while
designs were carried on pregnant with ruin to the religion
and liberties of the nation. It was in this manner that
some of the most wise persons in the country reasoned,
and, had it not been for the uncommon spirit which at
at that time existed among the reformers, there is every
reason to think that their predictions would have been
verified.
To those who compare the conduct of the Scottish
protestants on this occasion, to the intolerance of Roman
Catholics, I would recommend the following statement
of a sensible French author, who had formed a more just
notion of these transactions than many of our own
writers. “ Mary,” says he, “ was brought up in France
accustomed to see protestants burned to death, and in¬
structed in the maxims of her uncles, the Guises, who
maintained that it was necessary to exterminate, without
mercy, the pretended reformed. With these dispositions
she arrived in Scotland, which was wholly reformed,
with the exception of a few lords. The kingdom receive
her, acknowledge her as their queen, and obey her in all
things according to the laws of the country. I maintain
that, in the state of men’s spirits at that time, if a Hu¬
guenot queen had come to take possession of a Roman
Catholic kingdom, with the equipage with which Mary
came to Scotland, the first thing they would have done
would have been to arrest her; and if she had persever¬
ed in her religion, they would have procured her degra¬
dation by the Pope, thrown her into the Inquisition, and
burned her as a heretic. There is not an honest man
who dare deny this.” After all, it is surely unnecessary
to apologise for the restrictions which our ancestors
were desirious of imposing on queen Mary, to those who
approve of the present constitution of Britain, which