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The young reformer was not yet prepared for trial.

was as yet only a novice in the true faith; and there was danger of his making shipwreck if he ventured out. too rashly upon the open sea, in the face of the gathering storm. It was wiser and better to fly from so severe a trial of his constancy than to meet it only half prepared. It was wiser and better to seek first the invigoration of his faith and the improvement of his evangelical knowledge, and to hold himself thereafter prepared for all the will of God. Early in the spring of 1527, he took his departure for Germany,—a temporary flight, that was to be succeeded by an heroic return. For a moment the inflowing wave of life ebbed down from the beach, but only to gather strength and volume for a more abounding reflux. The tide had begun to rise; it was steadily making; but for a time apparent ebb must alternate with the tidal flow before the waves could rise to high-water mark and cover all the strand with a flood of living waters."

With two compagnons de voyage, John Hamilton of Linlithgow and Gilbert Wynram of Edinburgh, Patrick Hamilton went to Wittemberg, where, says Knox, "he became familiar with those lights and notable servants of Christ Jesus at that time, Martin Luther, Philip Melancthon, and Francis Lambert." These, especially Melancthon, took special interest in the studies of Hamilton, and aided much to interest him more deeply in the principles of Protestantism. New light there irradiated. his mind. New phases of the Reformation appeared before him. Romish superstition was gradually departing. Evangelical purity was taking its place.

A new university was then being founded on evangelical

principles at Marburg, by the Landgrave of Hesse, and distinguished divines were selected to fill the chairs. Hamilton joined the illustrious company, and enjoyed their godly and learned society. Here he made the acquaintance of John Frith and William Tyndale, names of note in the English Reformation. The engaging piety, studious diligence, and ripe theological judgment of the young Scotchman, won the affection of all, and one of them, John Frith, preserved the little treatise of Hamilton which had been the theme of discussion at Marburg. It was called "Patrick's Places," and is well known to readers of Fox's "Book of Martyrs," where it is inserted. It contains clear doctrinal statements of the law and the gospel, of which the following is a specimen :

"The law showeth us our sins, the gospel showeth us remedy for it.

"The law showeth us our condemnation, the gospel showeth us our redemption.

"The law is the word of ire, the gospel is the word of grace.

"The law is the word of despair, the gospel is the word of comfort.

"The law is the word of contest, the gospel is the word of peace.

"The law saith to the sinner, Pay thy debt; the gospel saith, Christ hath paid it.

"The law saith, Thou art a sinner, despair, thou shalt be damned; the gospel saith, Thy sins are forgiven thee, be of good comfort, thou shalt be saved.

"The law saith, Make amends for thy sins; the gospel saith, Christ hath made it for thee."

Thus he enunciated the cardinal truths of the Scriptures

in a way most fitted to give them effect in that syllogistic

age.

But Hamilton was now ripe for a work beyond the schools. He could no longer remain hid in the pleasant study of Marburg. The light must shine on his beloved country; therefore, after a six months' residence in Germany, the young reformer landed in Scotland, and began to preach as he had opportunity. At first he preached "privately to them which were of reputation,” and numbered some of his kindred among the disciples of the true faith. Thereafter he taught more publicly, so that the Archbishop of St. Andrews heard of his labours, and felt alarm.

During this period an event occurred which was only lately made public. Professor Lorimer thus narrates it:

"None of our historians have recorded the significant and interesting fact, that the young Abbot of Ferne became a married man. But Alesius tells us that 'shortly before his death he married a young lady of noble rank;' and he assigns the same reason for this step as for the Reformer's never assuming, though an abbot, the monastic habit, namely, his hatred of the hypocrisy of the Romish Church. He seems to have felt on the occasion very much as Luther did in similar circumstances. He wished to show, by deed as well as by word, how entirely he had cast off the usurped and oppressive authority of Rome. He wished to proclaim, in the boldest manner, his resolution to be no longer subject to the tyranny of ecclesiastical laws which made void the supreme legislation of God himself. It is much to be regretted that the name of the lady whom he made his wife has not been recorded;

for she must have been a lady as noble in spirit as she was in rank. Doubtless she had become the preacher's convert before she became his partner. Nothing but the warmest sympathy with his religious views could have induced her to wed one whose life was every moment in danger from the most powerful adversaries.

"The Reformer's marriage is a fact not only interesting in itself, but important as vindicating his memory from a stain which has been recently thrown upon it, by the discovery of an additional fact that he was the parent of a daughter. The name of Isabel Hamilton, described as 'daughter of Umquhill Patrick Hamilton, Abbot of Ferne,' has been found, under the year 1543, in the accounts of the Lord Treasurer; from which record it appears that she was at that time one of the ladies in attendance on the court of the Regent Arran. This discovery naturally led to the inference, as nothing had been said by historians of her father's marriage, that he had left behind him an illegitimate child-a blot 'on his hitherto pure and immaculate character,' which the learned editor of Knox's history could not refer to without reluctance, though constrained, by historical justice, to reveal to the world what his own accurate researches had disclosed. But God has promised to bring forth the good man's judgment as the light, and his righteousness as the noon-day; and the present is a striking instance of the truth of His word. The regretted stain has scarcely been thrown upon the martyr's memory, when a witness of unchallengeable credit is unexpectedly brought forward to wipe it off again."

This is a most important addition to the history of Patrick Hamilton, and worthy of all the diligence and

pains which Professor Lorimer has expended in its discovery and publication.

The Primate of St. Andrews was alarmed when he heard of Hamilton's return, and of his open Lutheranism. Allied as the Reformer was to families of rank, and even to the crown, he was a dangerous preacher. But the archbishop was hurried on by others to take early and decided steps against the life of the incipient Reformer. He invited him to a conference at St. Andrews, to which Patrick Hamilton readily acceded.

While at the university seat, he was allowed considerable liberty; and Alesius, who was a canon of the Augustinian Priory, informs us that "he taught and disputed openly in the university on all the points on which he conceived a reformation to be necessary in the Church's doctrines, and in her administrations of the sacraments and other rites." He was visited at his lodgings by several of the clergy, some of whom learned the truth from his lips. Among these was Alexander Alane, or Alesius, who afterwards became a Protestant, and who preserved the memorials of his father in Christ, which have now occasioned this new and valuable biography of Hamilton by Professor Lorimer.

The day of trial was appointed for the last day of February 1527-28, when the Council of Theologians to whom Hamilton's articles had been referred for judgment were to report. Rumours of an attempt at rescuing the Reformer having reached St. Andrews, his house was surrounded, and himself conducted to prison until the day of judgment. There was a great gathering on that memorable occasion. Clergy and laity flocked to the cathedral. The articles were charged one by one upon

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