'To his Beloved Brethren
the Commonalty of Scotland.' To these subjects born within the same,
their brother John Knox wishes in it 'the spirit of righteous judgment;'
and that in a tone of independence which must have sounded to Scottish
peasants and burghers like a call to a new life. For in this treatise,
unlike the last, each private Scottish man is urged to judge of what
claimed to be the original truth, even against an admittedly ancient
system. And 'If that system was an error in the beginning, so it is in
the end, and the longer that it be followed, and the more that do
receive it, it is the more pestilent, and more to be avoided.'

'Neither would I that ye should esteem the Reformation and care
of religion less to appertain to you, because ye are no kings,
rulers, judges, nobles, nor in authority. Beloved brethren, ye
are God's creatures, created and formed to His own image and
similitude, for whose redemption was shed the most precious
blood of the only beloved Son of God.... For albeit God hath put
and ordained distinction and difference between the king and
subjects, between the rulers and the common people, in the
regimen and administration of civil policies, yet in the hope of
the life to come He hath made all equal.... And this is the
equality which is between the king and subjects, the most rich
or noble, and between the poorest and men of lowest estate; to
wit, that as the one is obliged to believe in heart, and with
mouth to confess, the Lord Jesus to be the only Saviour of the
world, so also is the other.'

And by this time Knox has reasoned out for himself the right of the
people to maintain the true Church, and to band in defence of it--though
that right he even now recognises only when they cannot do better.

'And if in this point your superiors be negligent, or yet
pretend to maintain tyrants in their tyranny, most justly ye may
provide true teachers for yourselves, be it in your cities,
towns, or villages: them ye may maintain and defend against all
that shall persecute them, and by that means shall labour to
defraud you of that most comfortable food of your souls,
Christ's evangel truly preached. Ye may, moreover, withhold the
fruits and profits which your false Bishops and clergy most
unjustly receive of you, unto such time as they be compelled
faithfully to do their charge and duties.'

Thes