Ringan Gilhaize, or, The Covenanters

by John Galt

  CHAPTER XIX

  John Knox, among all the ministers who remained at Perth after theCongregation of the Reformed had dispersed, was the only one, mygrandfather has been heard to say, that expressed no joy nor exultationat the assurances of the Queen Regent. "We shall see, we shall see," wasall he said to those among them who gloried in the victory; adding, "Butif there is truth in the Word of God, it is not in the nature of theBeast to do otherwise than evil," and his words of discernment and ofwisdom were soon verified.

  Erskine of Dun, while he remained at Stirling, had his eyes and earsopen; and in their porches he placed for sentinels, Distrust andSuspicion. He knew the fluctuating nature of woman; how every succeedingwave of feeling washes away the deepest traces that are traced on thequicksands of her unstable humours; and the danger having passed, hejealoused that the Queen Regent would forget her terrors, and giveherself up to the headlong councils of the adversaries, whom, from herknown adherence to the Romish ritual, he justly feared she was inclinedto favour. Nor was he left long in doubt.

  On the evening before the day which had been appointed for the trial, noproclamation or other token was promulged to appease the anxiety of thecited preachers. He, therefore, thought it needful to be prepared forthe worst; so, accordingly, he ordered his two serving-men to have hishorses in readiness forth the town in the morning, and there to abidehis orders.

  Without giving any other about him the slightest inkling of what he hadconceited, he went up betimes to the castle, having learnt that theQueen Regent was that day to hold a council. And being a man held ingreat veneration by all parties, and well known to the household of thecourt, he obtained access to the ante-chamber after the council was met;and standing there, he was soon surprised by her Highness coming out,leaning on the arm of the Lord Wintoun, and seemingly much disturbed. Onseeing him she was startled, and paused for a moment, but sooncollecting all her pride, she dropped the Lord Wintoun's arm, and walkedstraight through the apartment without noticing any one, and holdingherself aloft with an air of resolute dignity.

  Dun augured no good from this; but following till the Lord Wintoun hadattended her to the end of the long painted gallery, where she stoppedat the door that opened to her private apartments, he there awaited thatnobleman's return, and inquired of him if the process against theprotestant ministers had been rescinded.

  "No," said Wintoun, peevishly; "the summons have been called over, andthey have not appeared, either in person or by agents."

  "Say you so, my Lord?" cried Dun; "and what is the result?"

  "Outlawry, for non-appearance, is pronounced against them," repliedWintoun, haughtily, and went straight back into the council-chamber.

  Dun thought it unnecessary to inquire farther; so, without making moreado, he instanter left the castle, and, going down the town, went to thespot where his horses stood ready, and, mounting, rode off with thetidings to Perth, grieving sorely at the gross perfidy and sad deceitwhich the Queen Regent had been so practised on, by the heads of thepapist faction, to commit.

  It happened on the same day, that John Knox, who remained at Perth, awakeful warder on a post of peril, was moved by the Spirit of God topreach a sermon, in which he exposed the idolatry of the mass and thedepravity of image-worship. My grandfather was present, and he oftensaid that preaching was an era and epoch worthy to be held ineverlasting remembrance. It took place in the Greyfriars church. Therewas an understanding among the people that it was to be there; but manyfearing the monks might attempt to prevent it, a vast concourse, chieflymen, assembled at the ordinary mass hour, and remained in the churchtill the Reformer came, so that, had the friars tried to keep him out,they could not have shut the doors.

  A lane was made through the midst of the crowd to admit the preacher tothe pulpit; and when he was seen advancing, aged and feeble, and leaningon his staff, many were moved with compassion, and doubted if it couldbe the wonderful man of whom every tongue spoke. But when he hadascended and began, he seemed to undergo a great transfiguration. Hisabject mien and his sickly visage became majestic and glorious. His eyeslightened; his countenance shone as with the radiance of a spirit thatblazed within; and his voice dirled to the heart like vehement thunder.

  Sometimes he spoke to the understandings of those who heard him, of thatinsane doctrine which represented the mission of the Redeemer to consistof believing, in despite of sight, and smell, and touch, and taste, thatwafers and wine were actually the flesh and blood of a man that wascrucified, with nails driven through his feet and hands, many hundredyears ago. Then, rising into the contemplation of the divinity of theSaviour, he trampled under the feet of his eloquence a belief socontrary to the instincts and senses with which Infinite Wisdom hasgifted his creatures; and bursting into ecstasy at the thought of thisidolatrous invention, he called on the people to look at the images andthe effigies in the building around them, and believe, if they could,that such things, the handy-works of carpenters and masons, were endowedwith miraculous energies far above the faculties of man. Kindling into astill higher mood, he preached to those very images, and demanded ofthem, and those they represented, to show any proof that they wereentitled to reverence. "God forgive my idolatry!" he exclaimed. "Iforget myself--these things are but stocks and stones."

  Not one of all who heard him that day ever gave ear again to papistry.

  When he had made an end, and retired from the church, many stilllingered, discoursing of his marvellous lecture, and among others, mygrandfather.

  An imprudent priest belonging to the convent, little aware of the greatconversion which had been wrought, began to prepare for the celebrationof the mass, and a callan who was standing near, encouraged by thecontempt which some of those around expressed at this folly, jibed thepriest, and he drove him away. The boy, however, returned, and levellinga stone at a crucifix on the altar, shattered it to pieces. In aninstant, as if caught by a whirlwind, the whole papistical trumpery wastorn down and dashed into fragments. The cry of "Down with the idols!"became universal: hundreds on hundreds came rushing to the spot. Themagistrates and the ministers came flying to beseech order and to soothethe multitude; but a Divine ire was upon the people, who heard no voicebut only the cry of "Down with the idols!" and their answer was, "Burn,burn, and destroy!"

  The monasteries of the Black and the Grey Friars were sacked andrendered desolate, and the gorgeous edifice of the Carthusian monkslevelled to the ground.

  So dreadful a tumult had never before been heard of within the realm.Many of the best of the Reformed deplored the handle it would give tothe blasphemies of their foes. Even my grandfather was smitten withconsternation and grief; for he could not but think that such a temporaloutrage would be followed by a terrible temporal revenge as ruthless andcomplete. Sober minds shuddered at the sudden and sacrilegiousoverthrow of such venerable structures; and many that stood on thethreshold of the house of papistical bondage, and were on the point ofleaving it, retired in again, and barred the doors against the light,and hugged their errors as blameless compared with such enormities. Tono one did the event give pleasure but to John Knox. "The work," saidhe, "has been done, it is true, by the rascal multitude; but when thenests are destroyed the rooks will fly away."

  The thing, however, most considered at that time was the panic whichthis intemperance would cause to the Queen Regent; and my grandfather,seeing it had changed the complexion of his mission, resolved to returnthe same evening by the Queensferry to the Lord James Stuart atEdinburgh. For the people no sooner cooled and came to a sense ofreflection, than they discerned that they had committed a heinousoffence against the laws, and, apprehending punishment, prepared todefend themselves.

  Thus, by the irresolute and promise-breaking policy of the Queen was thepeople maddened into grievous excesses, and many of those who submittedquietly in the faith of her assurances, and had returned to theirrespective homes, considered the trumpet as sounded, and began to girdthemselves for battle.