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THE LIFE OF JOHN KNOX.

them. I praise God for that heavenly sound." Shortly after 11 o'clock, he said, “Now it is come," and, sighing twice, expired.

This extraordinary man died in the sixty-seventh year of his age; not so much oppressed with years, as worn out by his labours of body, and anxiety of mind. Very few men underwent so many hardships, or were exposed to more dangers, for, from the time he embraced the Protestant religion, till his latest hour, he seldom enjoyed a respite, and he emerged from one difficulty, only to be plunged into another. Forced to fly from St. Andrews, to escape the persecution of Cardinal Beatoun, he went to East Lothian; but his retreat having been discovered by Archbishop Hamilton, he wandered as an outlaw for several years in daily apprehension of falling into the hands of those who sought his life. The few months' protection he enjoyed in the castle of St. Andrews, were succeeded by a long imprisonment, and, soon after his return to England, he was again driven into banishment to wander as an exile on the Continent for five years. On his return to Scotland, he engaged in a struggle of the most perilous kind, and even after the Reformation was established, he was continually involved in a contest with the court. No wonder, then, that he was weary of the world, and anxious to be called hence, to " rest from his labours." His funeral was attended by the Earl of Morton, the nobility who were at the time in the city, and a vast concourse of people. When his body was laid in the grave, the Regent pronounced the following eulogium: “ There lies he who never feared the face of man, who hath been often threatened with dag and dagger, but yet hath ended his days in peace and honour."