er please him to assist, that
albeit we see his church so diminished, that it appears to be brought, as
it were, to utter extermination, we may be assured, that in our God there
is great power and will, to increase the number of his chosen, until they
are enlarged to the uttermost parts of the earth. Give us, O Lord! hearts
to visit thee in time of affliction; and albeit we see no end of our
dolours, yet our faith and hope may conduct us to the assured hope of that
joyful resurrection, in which we shall possess the fruit of that for which
we now labour. In the mean time, grant unto us, O Lord! to repose
ourselves in the sanctuary of thy promise, that in thee we may find
comfort, till this thy great indignation, begun amongst us, may pass over,
and thou thyself appear to the comfort of thine afflicted, and to the
terror of thine and our enemies.

_Let us pray with heart and mouth,_

Almighty God, and merciful Father, &c. Lord, into thy hands I commend my
spirit; for the terrible roaring of guns,(12) and the noise of armour, do
so pierce my heart, that my soul thirsteth to depart.

-------------------------------------

_The last day of August, 1565, at four of the clock in the
afternoon, written indigestedly, but yet truly so far as memory
would serve, of those things that in public I spake on Sunday,
August 19; for which I was discharged_(_13_)_ to preach for a
time._

Be merciful to thy flock, O Lord! and at thy good pleasure put an end to
my misery.

JOHN KNOX.

"IT IS I, BE NOT AFRAID."
EXTRACTED FROM KNOX'S ADMONITION TO ENGLAND.

"Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good comfort, it is I, be not
afraid." The natural man that cannot understand the power of God, would
have desired some other present comfort in so great a danger; as, either
to have had the heavens opened, to show unto them such light in that
darkness, that Christ might have been fully known by his own face; or
else, that the winds and raging waves of the seas suddenly should have
ceased; or some other miracle which had been subject to all their senses,
whereby they might have perfectly known that they were delivered from all
danger. And truly, it had been the same to Christ Jesus to have done any
of these, or any greater work, as to have said, "It is I, be not afraid:"
but willing to teach us the dignity and effectual power of his most holy
word, he uses no other instrument to pacify the g