(Laughter and applause.) And it
is very possible, if you look at the struggle that was going on in
England, as I have had to do in my time, you will see that people were
overawed with the immense impediments lying in the way.
A small minority of God-fearing men in the country were flying away
with any ship they could get to New England, rather than take the lion
by the beard. They durstn't confront the powers with their most just
complaint to be delivered from idolatry. They wanted to make the
nation altogether conformable to the Hebrew Bible, which they
understood to be according to the will of God; and there could be no
aim more legitimate. However, they could not have got their desire
fulfilled at all if Knox had not succeeded by the firmness and
nobleness of his mind. For he is also of the select of the earth to
me--John Knox. (Applause.) What he has suffered from the ungrateful
generations that have followed him should really make us humble
ourselves to the dust, to think that the most excellent man our
country has produced, to whom we owe everything that distinguishes
us among modern nations, should have been sneered at and abused by
people.
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