In 1559 the Queen Regent took active steps for repressing the
Congregation, as the whole body of Scotch Protestants were called,
and in the same year Knox returned once more to Scotland, there to
perform a work which made his name perhaps second only to that of
Luther among the personal forces of the Reformation.
The first of the following accounts shows Knox and his followers
in the midst of their warfare against the Regent's repressive
policy. In the second we have one of Carlyle's most fervent
eulogies, for to him Knox is the priestly hero enacting a glorious
part.
P. HUME BROWN
The year 1559 began ominously for the success of the Queen Regent's
policy of suppression. To this point national feeling and religious
conviction had been the driving-forces of the coming revolution. But, as
is the case in all national upheavals, there were likewise economic
forces at work which were none the less potent because they were obscured
behind the dramatic development of sensational events. A remarkable
document, the author of which is unknown, gave striking expression to
this aspect of the Scottish Reformation. It was entitled the _Beggars'
Summons_, and purported to come from "all cities, towns, and villages of
Scotland.
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