Protestantism in Scotland - James Aitken Wylie

near a view, deepened the detestation he felt for
tyranny, and helped to nerve him in the efforts he
made in subsequent years for the liberties of his
native land.
Surrounded with congenial friends and
occupied in important labors, that land he had all
but forgotten, till it was recalled to his heart by a
visit from two of his countrymen, who, struck with
his great capabilities, urged him to return to
Scotland. Having obtained with difficulty
permission from the Senate and Church of Geneva
to return, he set out on his way homeward, with a
letter from Beza, in which that illustrious man said
that "the Church of Geneva could not have a
stronger token of affection to her sister of Scotland
than by despoiling herself of his services that the
Church of Scotland might therewith be
enriched."[5] Passing through Paris on the very day
that Charles IX died in the Louvre, he arrived in
Edinburgh in July, 1574, after an absence of ten
years from his native country. "He brought with
him," says James Melville, "an inexhaustible
treasury of learning, a vast knowledge both of
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