o the ministry was,
with the counsel of Sir David Lindsay,[87] publicly addressed to him
from the pulpit by Rough, in the name of the rest, and he was solemnly
adjured not to despise the voice of God speaking to him. Thus honourably
called to assume the office of a public preacher in that reformed
congregation, he at last entered on the work with all his heart, and
made full proof of his ministry before the assembled citizens in their
parish church, as well as before the rude garrison in the castle
chapel. He administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in the simple
form he always used, and continued the public catechising of his pupils,
which the people of the town heard repeated till they had the substance
of his teaching by heart, and thus was spread a knowledge of Gospel
truth even among those who could not read. A very graphic account is
given in his History of the sermons, catechisings, and disputations he
held with the popish champions, by means of which the new doctrines
gained a hold on the minds of the citizens of St Andrews which they
never wholly lost. But times of trial were to come ere the cause should
finally triumph in that city, or in his native land; and the earnest
preacher, whose mouth God had opened in that old parish church, was to
be taught by sad experience how hard it is to leave all and simply
follow Christ, ere he was to be privileged to see the full fruit of his
labours.

[Sidenote: A Galley-slave.]

Those who had presumed to take into their hands "the sword of God" as
they called it, and to mete out to the tyrant cardinal the punishment
which human justice was too weak to award, were made to feel that they
who take the sword must expect to suffer from the sword. They had been
able to withstand the power of the regent and the attacks of his
unskilful captains; but help and skill at last came to the aid of these
from their co-religionists abroad--chief among them being a militant
ecclesiastic entitled Prior of Capua--and the succour promised to the
garrison by England having been again and again delayed, they were
obliged to surrender the castle to the representative of the French
king.[88] The occupants of the castle--those who had come to it for
shelter, as well as those who were really guilty of the murder--were
deprived of liberty, and dealt with as criminals of the worst class. For
nineteen months[89] our reformer had to work as a chained slave on board
the French galleys, generally