Page:Life of John Knox (3).pdf/19

19 the 5th January 1560, by which liberty of conscience was secured, Popery was not to be established again where it had been suppressed, the reformers were not to be hindered from preaching wherever they might happen to be, and no garrison was to be stationed within the city. These terms were preserved till she received the expected reinforcements, when she fortified Leith, from which all the efforts of the reformers were unable to dislodge her troops. A mutiny also breaking out among their soldiers for want of pay, and having been defeated in two skirmishes with the French troops, it was resolved, by a majority of the lords of the congregation, to retire to Stirling. This rash step was productive of great terror and confusion, and contrary to the advice of Knox; who notwithstanding, followed the fortunes of his friends, animating and reviving them by his discourses, and exhorting them to constancy in the good cause.

At a meeting held shortly after their arrival at Stirling, it was resolved, to dispatch William Maitland, who had lately deserted the Queen's party, to England, to implore the assistance of Queen Elizabeth; and a treaty was at last concluded by which a body of troops was sent to their assistance. These being joined by most of the Scottish nobility, a peace was established on the 8th July, 1560, by which the reformed religion was fully established in Scotland.

On the abolition of Popery, the form of church government established in Scotland was upon the model of the church at Geneva, warmly recommended to his countrymen by Knox, as being farthest removed from all similarity to the Romish church; and at his suggestion, likewise, the country was divided into twelve districts, for the more