says that he had "reasoned with" pastors and
the learned; he does not say that they agreed with him, and they
certainly did not. Despite the reserve of Bullinger and of Calvin, Knox
was of his new opinions still. These divines never backed his views.

By May, Knox had returned to Dieppe, and published an epistle to the
Faithful. The rebellion of Sir Thomas Wyatt had been put down, a blow to
true religion. We have no evidence that Knox stimulated the rising, but
he alludes once to his exertions in favour of the Princess Elizabeth. The
details are unknown.

In July, apparently, Knox printed his "Faithful Admonition to the
Professors of God's Truth in England," and two editions of the tract were
published in that country. The pamphlet is full of violent language
about "the bloody, butcherly brood" of persecutors, and Knox spoke of
what might have occurred had the Queen "been sent to hell before these
days." The piece presents nothing, perhaps, so plain spoken about the
prophet's right to preach treason as a passage in the manuscript of an
earlier Knoxian epistle of May 1554 to the Faithful. "The prophets of
God sometimes may teach treason against kings, and yet neither he, nor
such as obey the word spoken in the Lord's name by him, offends God."
{48} That sentence contains doctrine not submitted to Bullinger by Knox.
He could not very well announce himself to Bullinger as a "prophet of
God." But the sentence, which occurs in manuscript copies of the letter
of May 1554, does not appear in the black letter printed edition. Either
Knox or the publisher thought it too risky.

In the published "Admonition," however, of July 1554, we find Knox
exclaiming: "God, for His great mercy's sake, stir up some Phineas,
Helias, or Jehu, that the blood of abominable idolaters may pacify God's
wrath, that it consume not the whole multitude. Amen." {49a} This is a
direct appeal to the assassin. If anybody will play the part of Phinehas
against "idolaters"--that is the Queen of England and Philip of
Spain--God's anger will be pacified. "Delay not thy vengeance, O Lord,
but let death devour them in haste . . . For there is no hope of their
amendment, . . . He shall send Jehu to execute his just judgments against
idolaters. Jezebel herself shall not escape the vengeance and plagues
that are prepared for her portion." {49b} These passages are essential.
Professor Hume Brown expresses our own sentiments when he remarks: "In
ca