Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

pointed out to them that till such assent was given
they had no law on their side; that they held their
religion at the mere pleasure of their sovereign, that
they might any day be commanded to go to mass,
and that it was indispensable that these
uncertainties and fears should be set at rest. The
nobles, however, found the matter displeasing to
the queen, and agreed not to press it. Knox learned
their resolve with consternation.
He could not have believed, unless he had seen
it, that the men who had summoned him from
Geneva, and carried their cause to the battle-field,
and who had entered into a solemn bond, pledging
themselves to God and to one another, to sacrifice
goods and life in the cause if need were, could have
so woefully declined in zeal and courage, and
could so prefer the good-will of their sovereign and
their own selfish interests to the defense of their
religion, and the welfare of their country. This
exhibition of faithlessness and servility well-nigh
broke his heart, and would have made him abandon
the cause in despair but for his faith in God. The
Parliament had not yet ended, and in the pulpit of
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