John Knox (c.1505-1572) was the leader of the Scottish Reformation. He was
born near Haddington, of respectable parents, and received a broad education.
As a Roman priest he began studying Fathers such as Augustine of Hippo, and he
came to a saving knowledge of Christ while still in his youth. He became
strongly attached to George Wishart, whose early martyrdom did not daunt him
but rather stirred him to continue steadfast in the faith. After a time of
preaching in the
castle
of St Andrews, Knox was captured by
the French (1547) and used as a galley-slave until his release in 1549. He
preached in England under
Edward VI until the accession of 'Bloody Mary' in 1553, when he fled for his
life to Europe. In Geneva he
came into contact with the Frenchman John Calvin, and helped to translate the
Geneva Bible. Receiving a
call from Scotland he
returned in 1559, where, by the grace of God, he saw the emergence of a
Protestant nation. Knox's boldness and influence were unsurpassed, and he was
not ashamed to speak the truth before hostile rulers. He had a great love for
Jesus Christ and His infallible Word, his doctrine being warmly evangelical
and imprinted with a firm knowledge that truth cannot reign safely alongside
error. Today John Knox is widely known not only as a Reformer, but also for
his controversial treatise "The First Blast of the Trumpet against the
Monstrous Regiment of Women", in which he opposes the woman usurping authority
over the man.
No sooner did the clergy understand that [John Knox] had quitted the
kingdom, than they, in a dastardly manner, renewed the summons against
him, which they had deserted during his presence, and, upon his
noncompearance, passed sentence against him, adjudging his body to the
flames, and his soul to damnation. As his person was out of their reach,
they caused his effigy to be ignominiously burned at the cross of
Edinburgh. Against this sentence, he drew up his Appellation, which he
afterwards published, with a supplication and exhortation, directed to
the nobility and commonalty of Scotland. It may not be improper here to
subjoin his summary of the doctrine taught by him, during his late visit
to Scotland, which was declared to be so execrable, and subjected the
preacher to such horrible pains. He taught, that there was no other name
by which men could be saved but that of Jesus, and that all reliance on
the merits of any other was vain and delusive; that He, having by his
one sacrifice, sanctified and reconciled to God those who should inherit
the promised kingdom, all other sacrifices which men pretended to offer
for sin were blasphemous; that all men ought to hate sin, which was so
odious before God that no other sacrifice could satisfy for it, except
the death of his Son; that they ought to magnify their heavenly Father,
who did not spare the substance of his glory, but gave him up to suffer
the ignominious and cruel death of the cross for us; and that those who
were washed from their former sins were bound to lead a new life,
fighting against the lusts of the flesh, and studying to glorify God by
good works. In conformity with the certification of his Master, that he
would deny and be ashamed of those who should deny and be ashamed of him
and his words before a wicked generation, he further taught, that it was
incumbent on those who hoped for life everlasting, to avoid idolatry,
superstition, and all vain religion, in one word, every way of worship
which was destitute of authority from the word of God. This doctrine he
did believe so conformable to God's holy scriptures, that he thought no
creature could have been so impudent as to deny any point or article of
it; yet him as an heretic, and his doctrine as heretical, had the false
bishops and ungodly clergy damned, pronouncing against him the sentence
of death, in testification of which, they had burned his picture: from
which sentence he appealed to a lawful and general council, to be held,
agreeably to ancient laws and canons; humbly requiring the nobility and
commons of Scotland, until such time as these controversies were
decided, to take him, and others accused and persecuted, under their
protection, and to regard this his plain appellation as of no less
effect, than if it had been made with greater solemnity and ceremonies.
Reference
Thomas McCrie,
The Life of John Knox (pp. 97-98). Free Presbyterian Publications,
1960.
