remarked later (John xiii. 25), but Knox supposed them to have sat. In a
letter to his Berwick flock, he reminds them of his practice on this
point; but he would not dissent from kneeling if "magistrates make known,
as that they" (would?) "have done if ministers were willing to do their
duties, that kneeling is not retained in the Lord's Supper for
maintenance of any superstition," much less as "adoration of the Lord's
Supper." This, "for a time," would content him: and this he obtained.
{33a} Here Knox appears to make the civil authority--"the
magistrates"--governors of the Church, while at the same time he does not
in practice obey them unless they accept his conditions.

This letter to the Berwick flock must be prior to the autumn of 1552, in
which, as we shall see, Knox obtained his terms as to kneeling. He went
on, in his epistle to the Berwickians, to speak in "a tone of moderation
and modesty," for which, says Dr. Lorimer, not many readers will be
prepared. {33b} In this modest passage, Knox says that, as to "the chief
points of religion," he, with God's help, "will give place to neither man
nor angel teaching the contrary" of his preaching. Yet an angel might be
supposed to be well informed on points of doctrine! "But as to
ceremonies or rites, things of smaller weight, I was not minded to move
contention. . . ." The one point which--"because I am but one, having in
my contrary magistrates, common order, and judgments, and many
learned"--he is prepared to yield, and that for a time, is the practice
of kneeling, but only on three conditions. These being granted, "with
patience will I bear that one thing, daily thirsting and calling unto God
for reformation of that and others." {33c} But he did not bear that one
thing; he would _not_ kneel even after his terms were granted! This is
the sum of Knox's "moderation and modesty"!

Though he is not averse from talking about himself, Knox, in his