prevailed; the queen regent herself gave him this testimony, when, upon
a particular occasion, she said, She was more afraid of his prayers than
of an army of ten thousand men. He was likewise warm and pathetic in his
preaching, in which such prophetical expressions as dropt from him, had
the most remarkable accomplishment; as an instance of this, when he was
confined in the castle of St. Andrews, he foretold both the manner of
their surrender, and their deliverance from the French gallies; and when
the lords of the congregation were twice discomfited by the French army,
he assured them, in the mean time, that the Lord would prosper the work
of reformation. Again, when queen Mary refused to come and hear sermon,
he bid them tell her, That she would yet be obliged to hear the word of
God whether she would or not; which came to pass at her arraignment in
England. At another time he thus addressed himself to her husband Henry,
lord Darnly, while in the king's seat in the high church of Edinburgh,
"Have you for the pleasure of that dainty dame cast the psalm book in
the fire; the Lord shall strike both head and tail;" both king and queen
died violent deaths. He likewise said, when the castle of Edinburgh held
out for the queen against the regent, that "the castle should spue out
the captain (meaning the laird of Grange) with shame, and that he should
not come out at the gate, but over the wall, and that the tower called
Davies tower should run like a sand-glass;" which was fulfilled in a
few years after, the same captain being obliged to come over the wall on
a ladder, with a staff in his hand, and the said forework of the castle
running down like a sand brae.
On the 24th of January 1570, Mr. Knox being in the pulpit, a paper was
put into his hands among others, containing the names of the sick people
to be prayed for; the paper contained these words, "Take up the man whom
you accounted another God," (this alluded to the earl of Moray who was
slain the day before). Having read it he put it in his pocket, without
shewing the least discomposure. After sermon, he lamented the loss which
both church and state had met with in the death of that worthy nobleman,
(meaning the regent) shewing, that God takes away good and wise rulers
from a people in his wrath, and, at last, said, "There is one in the
company who maketh that horrible murder, at which all good men have
occasion to be sorrowful, the subject of his mirth; I tell him, h
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