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

LIFE OF JOHN KNOX.
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to request the sanction of the leading members of the
General Assembly.
Without designing to vindicate the latitude which
might be taken by particular preachers at this time, I
may say, in general, that a systematic attempt to restrain
the liberty of speech in the pulpit (farther than the
correction of any occurring excess might require) would
have been a measure fraught with danger to the Protest¬
ant interest. The ministers were the most vigilant and
incorrupt guardians of the public safety. Better it is to
be awaked with rudeness, or even by a false alarm, than
to be allowed to sleep on in the midst of dangers. Who
would muzzle the mouth of the wakeful animal, who
guards the house against thieves, because the inhabitants
are frequently disturbed by his nocturnal vociferation ?
or substitute in his place, a “dumb dog, that cannot
bark, sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber 1” 1
Knox, the freedom and sharpness of whose censures
the courtiers felt most deeply, was the person whom
they chiefly wished to restrain ; but it was no easy
matter either to overawe or reason him into silence. In
a conference which they demanded with the leading
members of the General Assembly, in the month of
June, this subject was discussed; and a long debate
ensued between Maitland and Knox, on the principal
points of his doctrine which gave olfence to the court.
This debate “admirably displays the talents and charac¬
ter of both the disputants; the acuteness of the former,
embellished with learning, but prone to subtility; the
vigorous understanding of the latter, delighting in bold
sentiments, and superior to all fear.” The dispute has
been recorded at large by Knox in his history of the
Reformation. After giving so full a view of some former
disputes in which he was engaged, I must content
myself with a brief account of the leading heads of the
present.
There were two things which Maitland found fault
with in the Reformer’s public services; the mode in