Practical, cautious-hopeful, patient; a most shrewd, observing,
quietly discerning man. In fact, he has very much the type of
character we assign to the Scotch at present: a certain sardonic
taciturnity is in him; insight enough; and a stouter heart than he
himself knows of. He has the power of holding his peace over many
things which do not vitally concern him,--"They? what are they?" But
the thing which does vitally concern him, that thing he will speak of;
and in a tone the whole world shall be made to hear: all the more
emphatic for his long silence.

This Prophet of the Scotch is to me no hateful man!--He had a sore
fight of an existence: wrestling with Popes and Principalities; in
defeat, contention, life-long struggle; rowing as a galley-slave,
wandering as an exile. A sore fight: but he won it. "Have you hope?"
they asked him in his last moment, when he could no longer speak. He
lifted his finger, 'pointed upwards with his finger,' and so died.
Honour to him! His works have not died. The letter of his work dies,
as of all men's; but the spirit of it never.

One word more as to the letter of Knox's work. The unforgivable
offence in him is, that he wished to set-up Priests over the head of
Kings. In other words he strove to make the Government of Scotland a
_Theocracy_. This indeed is properly the sum of his offences, the
essential sin; for which what pardon can there be? It is most true, he
did, at bottom, consciously or unconsciously, mean a Theocracy, or
Government of God. He did mean that Kings and Prime Ministers, and all
manner of persons, in public or private, diplomatising or whatever
else they might be doing, should walk according to the Gospel of
Christ, and understand that this was their Law, supreme over all laws.
He hoped once to see such a thing realised; and the Petition, _Thy
Kingdom come_, no longer an empty word. He was sore grieved when he
saw greedy worldly Barons clutch hold of the Church's property; when
he expostulated that it was not secular property, that it was
spiritual property, and should be turned to _true_ churchly uses,
education, schools, worship;--and the Regent Murray had to answer,
with a shrug of the shoulders, "It is a devout imagination!" This was
Knox's scheme of right and truth; this he zealously endeavoured after,
to realise it. If we think this scheme of truth was too narrow, was
not true, we may rejoice that he could not realise it; that it
remained after two centuries