On August 19, 1565, Darnley, now Mary’s husband, went to hear Knox preach in St. Giles’s, on the text, “O Lord our God, other lords than Thou have ruled over us.”  “God,” he said, “sets in that room (for the offences and ingratitude of the people) boys and women.”  Ahab also appeared, as usual.  Ahab “had not taken order with that harlot, Jezebel.”  So Book V. says, and “harlot” would be a hit at Mary’s alleged misconduct with Riccio.  A hint in a letter of Randolph’s of August 24, may point to nascent scandal about the pair.  But the printed sermon, from Knox’s written copy, reads, not “harlot” but “idolatrous wife.”  At all events, Darnley was so moved by this sermon that he would not dine. {247a} Knox was called “from his bed” to the Council chamber, where were Atholl, Ruthven, Lethington, the Justice Clerk, and the Queen’s Advocate.  He was attended by a great crowd of notable citizens, but Lethington forbade him to preach for a fortnight or three weeks.  He said that, “If the Church would command him to preach or abstain he would obey, so far as the Word of God would permit him.”

It seems that he would only obey even the Church as far as he chose.

The Town Council protested against the deprivation, and we do not know how long Knox desisted from preaching.  Laing thinks that, till Mary fell, he preached only “at occasional intervals.” {247b} But we shall see that he did presently go on preaching, with Lethington for a listener.  He published his sermon, without name of place or printer.  The preacher informs his audience that “in the Hebrew there is no conjunction copulative” in a certain sentence; probably he knew more Hebrew than most of our pastors.

The sermon is very long, and, wanting the voice and gesture of the preacher, is no great proof of eloquence; in fact, is tedious.  Probably Darnley was mainly vexed by the length, though he may have had intelligence enough to see that he and Mary were subjects of allusions.  Knox wrote the piece from memory, on the last of August, in “the terrible roaring of guns, and the noise of armour.”  The banded Lords, Moray and the rest, had entered Edinburgh, looking for supporters, and finding none.  Erskine, commanding the Castle, fired six or seven shots as a protest, and the noise of these disturbed the prophet at his task.  As a marginal note says, “The Castle of Edinburgh was shooting against the exiled for Christ Jesus’ sake” {248a}—­namely, at Moray and his company.  Knox prayed for them in public, and was accused of so doing, but Lethington testified that he had heard “the sermons,” and found in them no ground of offence. {248b}

[Mary Stuart.  From the portrait in the collection of the Earl of Morton:  knox5.jpg]