Tracts, 1563-1572 #245745

David F ergusson, appointed minister Of Dunfermline in July 1560, was one Of the boldest, most sagacious, and most amiable of the reformers Of the Church of Scotland. He was not a voluminous writer, but he was advantageously known in his own time as the author of a controversial work printed at Edinburgh in 1563, entitled An Answer to ane Epistle, written by Renat Benedict, the French doctor, to John Knox and the rest of the brethren, ministers of God's Word, etc. This book contains much interesting information, and exhibits decided proofs both of ingenuity and learning. The author, nine years afterwards, published a Sermon preached before the Regent and Nobility at Leith, Jan. 13, 1571 during the General Assembly. It related to the provision for the reformed ministers, the schools, and the poor. This Sermon was certainly not a courtly com position; but when the next General Assembly (holden at Perth in August 1572) proposed that it Should be published, it was submitted to the revision of five of the most eminent ministers, all of whom expressed strong approbation, and John Knox, one of the number, then on his death-bed, gave it the following emphatic recommendation: John Knox, with my dead hand but glad heart, praising God that of His mercy He leaves such light to His Kirk in this desolation.