ercy.' Sometimes he was
conscious of those around, and seemed to address them. 'O serve the Lord
in fear, and death shall not be terrible to you. Nay, blessed shall
death be to those who have felt the power of the death of the only
begotten Son of God.'

On his last Sabbath a more remarkable scene occurred. He had been lying
quiet during the afternoon, and suddenly exclaimed, 'If any be present
let them come and see the work of God.' His friend, Johnston of
Elphinstone, was summoned from the adjacent church, and on his arrival
Knox burst out, 'I have been these two last nights in meditation on the
troubled Church of God, the spouse of Jesus Christ, despised of the
world, but precious in His sight. I have called to God for her, and have
committed her to her head, Jesus Christ. I have been fighting against
Satan, who is ever ready to assault. Yea, I have fought against
spiritual wickedness in heavenly things, and have prevailed. I have been
in heaven and have possession. I have tasted of the heavenly joys where
presently I am.' Gradually this rapture of retrospection and assurance
wore itself down, with the help of recitation by the dying man of the
Creed and the Lord's Prayer--Knox pausing over the clause 'Our Father,'
to ejaculate, 'Who can pronounce so holy words?'

Next day, Monday, 24 November, 1572, was his last on earth. His three
most intimate friends sat by his bedside. Campbell of Kinyeancleugh
asked him if he had any pain. 'It is no painful pain,' he said; 'but
such a pain as shall soon, I trust, put an end to the battle.' To this
friend he left in charge his wife, whom later of the day he asked to
read him the fifteenth chapter to the Corinthians. When it was finished,
'Now for the last [time],' he said, 'I commend my soul, spirit, and
body' (and as he spoke he touched three of his fingers) 'into Thy hands,
O Lord.' Later of the day he called to his wife again, 'Go read where I
cast my first anchor!' She turned to the seventeenth chapter of John,
and followed it up with part of a sermon of Calvin on the Epistle to the
Ephesians. It seems to have been after this that he fell into a moaning
slumber. All watched around him. Suddenly he woke, and being asked why
he sighed, said that he had been sustaining a last 'assault of Satan.'
Often before had he tempted him with allurements, and urged him to
despair. Now he had sought to make him feel as if he had merited heaven
by his faithful ministry. 'But what have I th