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

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LIFE OF ^OHN KNOX.
the church was freed from many of those grievances under
which she had hitherto groaned, and enjoyed the pro¬
spect of obtaining the redress of such as still remained.
The work on which his heart had been so ardently set
for such a long period, and for the success of which he
had so often trembled, had prospered beyond his utmost
expectation. He now congratulated himself on being
released from all burden of public affairs, and spending
the remainder of his days in religious meditation, and
preparation for that event of which his increasing infir¬
mities admonished him. He even secretly cherished the
wish of resigning his charge in Edinburgh, and retiring
to that privacy, from which he had been drawn at the
commencement of the Scottish Reformation.
But “the way of man is not in himself.” Provi¬
dence had allotted to him further trials of a public na¬
ture : he Was yet to see the security of the reformed re¬
ligion endangered, and the country involved in another
civil war, even more distressing than the former, in as
much as the principal persons on each side were profess¬
ed protestants. From the time that the government was
transferred from Mary to her infant son, and the Earl of
Murray appointed to the regency, a number of the no¬
bility, with the house of Hamilton at their head, had
stood aloof, and, from other motives as much as attach¬
ment to the queen, had refused to acknowledge the au¬
thority of the regent. Upon the escape of the queen from
imprisonment, they collected to her standard, and avow¬
ed their design to restore her to the full exercise of the
royal authority. In consequence of the defeat at Lang-
side, Mary was driven from the kingdom, and her party
broken; and the regent, by his vigorous measures, re¬
duced the whole kingdom to a state of obedience to the
king’s authority. Despairing to accomplish their object
during his life, the partisans of Mary resolved to cut him
off by private means.
During the year 1568, two persons were employed to
assassinate him; but the design was discovered. This