JOHN KNOX:
TRUMPET OF THE REFORMATION

John Knox was probably born at the villageof Gifford (20 miles east of Edinburgh), in the year1514, five years after Calvin and three years before Luther posted his 95Theses. At that time, Scotlandwas still staunchly Roman Catholic. In 1433, Paul Craw, a disciple of Wycliff,was burned at the stake at St. Andrews Cathedral with a brass ball in his mouthto prevent him from exhorting onlookers. When the Reformation begun, moreProtestants were martyred. In particular, a youth of royal descent, PatrickHamilton, was burned at the stake in February 1528; and George Wishart, aone-time schoolmaster, was martyred in 1546.

Knox’s Conversion

Providentially, the Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Glasgow Universitywhere Knox was enrolled, a man by the name of John Mair, was not an extremeRoman Catholic. He spoke against the temporal supremacy of the Pope andcriticised the clergy for their moral abuses. Although he was not a Protestant,his criticism of the outward abuse of the church must have caused Knox toponder about the authority and teachings of the Church, especially since he waspreparing to enter the Roman Catholic priesthood. This became evident whenshortly after his ordination in 1539, Knox began to study the Scriptures ratherthan the scholastic works only. By 1544, at age 40, it became clear that he hadbecome a Protestant. He was pronounced a heretic and stripped of hispriesthood. That year, the Protestant scholar, George Wishart, from Montrosearrived in Scotland,and Knox began to serve him as a servant and bodyguard. Wishart was martyredthe next year. It is said that had it not been for Wishart’s influence andtragic death, Knox would never have stepped to the front. Such is the mysteryof the Providence of God.

Knox’s Call and Capture

Ironically, at about the same time, an Act was passed by the Regent making itlegal to read the Bible in the common language of the people. This helped thecause of Reformation tremendously, so that by 1547, the number of Protestantshad grown so rapidly that a group of Protestants seized the castle of St. Andrew’sand established it as a refuge for Protestants. Knox went there for refuge tooand was soon invited to be the minister to the parish church attached to thecastle. Knox at first refused, citing his inadequacy for such an onerous task.But when it was pressed upon him, he took up the call with much tears andtrepidation. Once on the pulpit, however, Knox preached fearlessly. Such wasKnox’s fear of the Lord. Unlike many today who view preaching lightly, Knoxdared not take to the pulpit until he was sure it was the Lord’s call. And whenhe was on the pulpit, he feared the Lord too much to accommodate man andminimise sin. He struck out against the papacy as being unscriptural anderroneous; and pronounced the Pope to be the Antichrist. This immediatelycaused a stir and Knox was at once called to defend his views before acommittee of learned men, which he did ably—driving his opponents to thelogical conclusion of their doctrines: that the Apostles were uninspired whenthey wrote the Scriptures.

The authorities desired to silence him, but were unable to do so because theProtestants had control of St. Andrew’s Castle. A few months later, however, aFrench Fleet, together with a considerable army, appeared at St. Andrew’s tohelp the Scottish government force the castle into submission.

Knox, together with many other Protestants, was captured and chained in theFrench war galleys to work at the oars like condemned criminals and slaves.Knox was on the galley for nine months and was often very sick and it wasthought that he would die. But on one occasion, he saw St. Andrew’s castle andsaid, “Yes, I know it well; for I see the steeple of that place where God firstopened my mouth in public to His glory; and I am fully persuaded, how weaksoever I now appear, that I shall not depart this life till that my tongueshall glorify His goodly name in the same place.”

Knox’s English Tour

In February, 1549, Knox was released, and went at once to England where theyoung Protestant Edwards VI was king under a Regency and Cranmer was Archbishopof Canterbury. Knox was sent by Cranmer to Berwick where he ministered for fouryears, during which time he met Miss Majory Bowes, his future wife. It was alsoat this time he was arraigned before the Bishop of Durham for preaching thatthe doctrine of the Mass was idolatrous, and so had the opportunity to defendthe Reformed doctrine of the Lord’s Supper before a great assembly of churchmen.

In 1551, Knox moved to Newcastle after he was appointed a chaplain to KingEdwards VI. It was there that he was consulted in an attempt to revise theEnglish “Book of Common Prayer.” Particularly attributed to his advice was theremoval of the doctrine of the bodily presence in the Lord’s Supper as well asthe idolatrous act of kneeling to receive the bread and wine. King Edwards VIwas especially appreciative of Knox’s ministry and offered him a bisphoric. ButKnox refused as he felt that the church was not sufficiently reformed yet.

Knox’s Training in Geneva

On July 6, 1553, Edwards VI died. Mary Tudor was proclaimed Queen because HenryVIII had no other sons. Mary Tudor was known as a hardened Roman Catholic andso when the inhabitants of London celebrated her ascension to the throne withmuch joy, Knox reckoned that the progress of the Reformed Faith was about to behindered greatly. He was right. Persecution of Protestants soon begun and morethan 300 Protestants, including Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and ThomasCranmer, were burned at the stake. More than 800 fled to the Continent. OnJanuary 28, 1554, Knox was persuaded by his friends to flee when some of hisletters were intercepted and seized to be used as evidence against him. He fledto Dieppe, France, and later to Geneva where he became acquainted with Calvinand studied under him. Knox was later to declare Geneva to be “the most perfectschool of Christ that ever was in the earth since the days of the apostles.” Heexplains: “In other places I confess Christ to be truly preached, but mannersand religion so truly reformed, I have not seen in any other place.”

In November 1554, Knox was called to an English pastorate in Frankford-on-Main,which he accepted upon Calvin’s urgings. He did not stay long, however, as thecongregation soon dispersed due to some disagreements (no fault of his). Knoxthen returned to Berwick to visit his wife, whom he had not seen for two years.From there, he went on to Edinburgh, when he began preaching at the home of oneof the nobles. At first, Knox preached secretly, but in 1556, the RomanCatholic clergy became aware of his presence and summoned him to appear beforean assembly of clergy to answer for heresy charges. The clergy had not expectedhim to turn up and had assumed that they could excommunicate him in absentia,but when they realised that he was firmly committed to attending, theycancelled the meeting, fearing what a public debate with Knox might do for theProtestant cause. Knox went nevertheless, and there he preached to a hugecongregation twice a day for the next ten days!

In July that year, Knox received letters from Geneva asking him to return topastor the English congregation there. Knox acceded to the request and leftwith his wife and mother-in-law. The Roman Catholic clergy seized theopportunity and pronounced him a heretic and condemned him to death in hisabsence. Knox had done much during his short visit to Edinburgh and hecontinued to assist in the work of Reformation in Scotland by writing to adviseand encourage his fellow Reformers.

In 1558, Knox together with other Protestants in exile in Geneva translated theGeneva Bible. This Bible became the most popular Bible of the Puritans. Twoyears later, in response to the evils which had resulted from the reigns of thetwo Marys, Knox wrote his famous “The First Blast of the Trumpet against theMonstrous Regime of Women,” in which he strongly attacked the practice ofallowing women to rule the country.

Knox’s Return to Scotland

Mary Tudor died that same year and Elizabeth I came on the throne in England.At the same time, the Queen Regent in Scotland (Mary of Guise) had feignedlyacceded to the request of the Protestant leaders for religious liberty. KingJames V had died 16 years ago, leaving the crown to his daughter, Mary (Queenof Scot) who was born only weeks before his death. As she was too young, hermother, Mary of Guise, acted as Regent. Mary of Guise did not like Mary Tudor,and when the persecution started, she persuaded some of the English exiles tocome to Scotland. Thus, when Knox heard the news of her accession, heimmediately prepared to return home. He arrived in January, 1559. Upon hisarrival, however, Knox learned that the Queen Regent did not keep her words andwas preparing to crush the Reformation with force. Providentially, theopportunity for her came, when a riot broke out in Perth when a Roman Catholicpriest attempted to celebrate Mass immediately after one of Knox’s sermons.This ended in the altars, images and ornaments of the Church, as well as twomonast-eries being destroyed. Though the actions were not inspired by Knox, theQueen Regent blamed him and the Reformers for the rebellion and immediatelysent an army to attack them. The Reformers were forced to fortify the town todefend themselves. But they did not need to fight. The Queen Regent fearing adefeat decided to negotiate with them instead and the Protestant army disbandedupon certain promises given by her.

After this, the Protestant lords decided to introduce the Reformed Faith toScotland in those places where they had control. Knox was sent on a preachingtour, and for two months he preached in Kelso, Jedburgh, Dumfries, Ayr,Stirling, Perth, Brechin, Montrose and Dundee. But this was not sufficient fora thorough reformation. On October 21, 1559, an assembly of Protestant lordsmet in Edinburgh and suspended the Queen Regent from her authority and electeda council to administer the country until a free Parliament should meet. Butthe Queen Regent would not give up easily. She fought against the Protestantswith the help of French troops. It was only in March 1560, when she died, thatthe French troops withdrew and the Reformed Faith began to spread peacefullyand rapidly throughout Scotland.

On August 1, 1560, the Parliament met to legally sanction the change from RomanCatholic worship to Reformed worship. On the 17th of the same month, theScottishConfession was drawn up by Knox and his fellow Reformers. This wasaccepted by the Parliament as the Confession for Scottish Churches until it wasreplaced in 1648 by the Westminster Confession of Faith. Knox alsodrew up theFirst Book of Discipline and later, in 1561, the Bookof Common Order. The Scottish Church was organised in a Presbyterian systemwith minister, doctors or teachers, ruling elders and deacons.

Knox’s Encounters ofQueen Mary of Scot

The story of the Reformation in Scotlanddid not end there. Mary Queen of Scot was married to King Francis II of France (and stayed in Francewhile her mother ruled Scotland).In 1561, when King Francis II died, the Protestant nobility of Scotland invited her to return to Scotland. Thisshe did on August 19, 1561. But Mary was a confirmed Roman Catholic and theReformation in Scotlandwas again exposed to grave danger. Shortly after her return, she summoned Knoxto appear before her in order to accuse him of sedition. During the interview,the Queen reportedly said, “I will defend the Church of Rome, for it is, Ithink, the true Church of God.” Knox replied,“Your will, madam, is no reason; neither doth your thought make the Romanharlot to be the true immaculate spouse of Jesus Christ. Wonder not, madam,that I call Romean harlot, for that church is altogether polluted with all kinds of spiritualfornication, both in doctrine and manners.” “My conscience is not so,” said theQueen. “Conscience, madam, requires knowledge, and I fear that right knowledgeyou have none,” replied Knox.

After that interview, Knox perceived that Mary was proud, crafty andobstinately committed to Roman Catholicism. He began to warn against herdevices in his sermons and letters; and whenever he prayed for her, he wouldsay, “Illuminate her heart, if Thy good pleasure be.” This infuriated the Queenand she sought on many occasions to accuse Knox of punishable offences so thatshe could silence him.

In May 1562, Knox cited the Queen in his sermon when it became known that shehad called for a dance in celebration of a massacre of Protestants in France. Whenthe Queen heard about it, she summoned him to accuse him of rebellion, but Knoxdefended himself ably. On another occasion, the Queen summoned Knox to appearbefore her for warning about the danger of her marrying a Roman Catholic.During the interview the Queen wept in anger and accused him of being ruthless,merciless and unkind, and after she had dismissed him she immediately discussedwith her advisors on how to have him tried for his remarks.

Knox’s assessment of Mary was not wrong. History showed that she was indeed acrafty and scheming woman. For example, she had declared that all the Actspertaining to the Reformation were illegal since they were not ratified by asovereign, but she gave the impression that it did not matter, and evenpretended to side with the Reformers by arresting some leading Catholics. TheParliament, therefore, did not pursue the matter. This loophole allowed her torestore a Roman Catholic Archbishop to St. Andrew’s on December 23, 1566.

On February 9, 1567, a gun-powder explosion killed Mary’s second husband, LordDarnley. All evidences pointed to the fact that Mary had plotted his murderafter she fell in love with the Earl of Bothwell. After this event, the noblesof Scotland quickly capturedMary and imprisoned her in order to protect the infant prince (James I of Scotland, later James VI of England). TheEarl of Murray, a firmly Reformed man, was appointed Regent of Scotland. Under Murray, the Reformationof Scotland was very firmly established and legalised.

Knox’s Departure

Sadly, Murraywas later murdered by a man who was charged for treason, but was released byhim as an act of mercy at Knox’s request. Knox grieved by this event andpressured by the political confusion that followed, suffered a stroke inOctober 1570, which affected his speech considerably. Knox preached his lastsermon on November 9, 1572, it being the inaugural service for James Lawson,his successor. As he walked home that evening, the street was lined withsupporters, but Knox was a worn-out man, leaning heavily on his stick. He neverwent out again and gradually grew weaker until he died on November 24, 1572.

Knox was only 58 years old when he died. But the permanent marks of his labourslast until this day. Not only are many Reformed churches in Scotland and aroundthe world today still adhering to the biblical doctrines and worship taught byKnox, but practically all Presbyterian churches in all shapes and sizes aroundthe world will acknowledge him as the founder of Presbyterianism (though Knoxwould certainly be ashamed of the many churches which have denied the Scriptureor departed from it by unbiblical practices, such as ordination of women andidolatrous worship). Knox’s fidelity to the Scripture, his courage in thedefence of the truth, and his fearless attacks against errors continue toinspire many a Reformed man to “earnestly contend for the faith which was oncedelivered unto the saints” (Jude 3). Though the word “love” is seldom attachedto Knox, we have no doubt that his labours were constrained solely by his lovefor the absolutely sovereign Lord whom he served. The words of the new Regentat his burial testify of this singular devotion: “There lies he, who neverfeared the face of man” (cf. Gal 1:10).

—J.J. Lim