pressing claim upon his services. But the whole tenor of his life warrants the belief that he was actuated by no unworthy or selfish motives; and in the absence of definite information, some insight into the nature of his feelings may probably be gained from a letter addressed to some friends in Edinburgh, in March, 1557. “Assure of that, that whenever a greater number among you shall call upon me than now hath bound me to serve them, by His grace it shall not be the fear of punishment, neither yet of the death temporal, that shall impede my coming to you.” He quitted Scotland in July, 1556. During this absence Knox maintained a frequent correspondence with his brethren in Scotland, and both by exhortation and by his advice upon difficult questions submitted to his judgment, was still of material service in keeping alive their spirit. Two of his works composed during this period require mention; his share in the English translation of the Scriptures, commonly called the ‘Geneva Bible,’ and the ‘Blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous Regimen of Women,’ a treatise expressly directed against the government of Mary of England, but containing a bold and unqualified enunciation of the principle, that to admit a woman to sovereignty is contrary to nature, justice, and the revealed will of God. In January, 1559, at the invitation of the leading persons of the Protestant congregation, he again returned to Scotland. Matters at this time were drawing to a crisis. The Queen Regent, after temporising while the support of a large and powerful party was essential to her, had thrown off disguise, and openly avowed her determination to use force for the suppression of heresy: while the leading Protestants avowed as plainly their resolution of protecting their preachers; and becoming more and more sensible of their own increasing strength, resolved to abolish the Roman, and set up the Reformed method of worship in those places to which their influence or feudal power extended. St. Andrew’s was fixed on for the commencement of the experiment; and under the protection of the Earl of Argyle and Lord James Stuart, Prior of St. Andrew’s, Knox, who on his landing had been proclaimed a rebel and outlaw, undertook to preach publicly in the cathedral of that city. The archbishop sent word that he should be fired upon if he ventured to appear in the pulpit, and as that prelate was supported by a stronger force than the retinue of the Protestant noblemen, they thought it best that he should abstain at this time from thus exposing his life. Knox remained firm to his purpose. After reminding them that he had first preached the Gospel in that church, of the sufferings of his captivity, and of the confident hope which he had expressed to many that he should again perform his high mission in that same church, he besought them not to stand in the way when Providence had brought him to the spot. The archbishop’s proved to be an empty threat. Knox preached for four