Note 24 — XIII. “He giveth his beloved Sleep.”

Nor was this, as it is well known, the only instance in which Wishart was believed by his contemporaries to have spoken under the influence of prophetic inspiration. John Knox says (and his testimony is remarkable as that of one who had an intimate personal acquaintance with him): “He was not only singularly learned, as well in godly knowledge as in all honest human science, but also he was so clearly illumined with the spirit of prophecy, that he saw not only things pertaining to himself, but also such things as some towns and the whole realm afterwards felt, which he forspake not in secret, but in the audience of many.” But may not the instances of this strange foresight which Knox adduces be resolved into the results of deep thoughtfulness, intense prayerfulness, and very close walking with God?