To this time also belongs his treatise on Predestination, in answer to an anonymous writer who called his work "The Careless of Necessity." It is the most elaborate of all the Reformer's productions, and goes into the Augustinian controversy, on the side of the great ecclesiastical father, with much vigour of logic, great clearness of language, and apt and extended references to Scripture. Nowhere else, as it seems to us, does Knox indulge in such closely compacted argument, or write in such a nervous style. He is very careful to keep himself from misrepresentation, and all he states may be accepted as true; but there is another side to the shield to which he rarely refers, and which must be admitted as implicitly as that to which he has restricted {112} his attention. It is not, of course, equal to the great work of Mozley on the same subject; but they who would master the literature of the controversy cannot afford to overlook this valuable contribution to its documents. Knox continued at Geneva until the month of January, 1559, when, in response to a request sent to him by those who had signed the "Godly Band," which was backed by letters of a more recent date, informing him of the state of things in Scotland, he left his wife and family behind him and set out for his native land. Mary, the English queen, had now gone to her account, and her sister Elizabeth had succeeded to the throne, so that the Protestant refugees on the continent could safely return to their own country, and it was, therefore, no longer necessary for him to retain his position as pastor. Before the breaking up of the congregation, however, its members met to give thanks to God, and agreed to send one of their number with letters to their brethren in Frankfort and other places, congratulating them on the happy change which had come about at home, and requesting them to forget all past unpleasantness, while they co-operated as brethren to procure such a settlement of religion in England as would be well-pleasing to all the friends of the Reformation. Having received favourable replies to these letters, they went in a body to the council of the city, and William Whittingham, in their name, expressed to the seigneurie the gratitude which they felt for the good reception given to them during {113} their exile, presenting them at the same time as a lasting memorial of their names the "Livre des Anglois," which is still preserved among the archives of Geneva, and from which we have quoted an interesting entry. They then left the city in which they had found so safe an asylum, and Knox sent letters with them to some of his former acquaintances in England, desiring that they would obtain permission for him to travel through England on his way to Scotland. Naturally enough he wished to see some of those among whom he had formerly laboured; but there is reason to believe that his principal motive in asking this favour, at this time, was that he might disclose