We confess and acknowledge one God alone, to whom alone we must cleave, whom alone we must serve, whom only we must worship, and in whom alone we put our trust. 

The Scottish Confession by John Knox

It’s that time of year again where I run short on time to write, so for a while I’ll switch to the monthly theme as opposed to the weekly theme. The March monthly theme is ‘worship’. I was initially looking at writing about Catholic worship to close out my Merrie Ole Englande series but as I was researching, I found a subject even better. The famous Reformation minister, Reverend John KNOX – after whom one of our grandsons is named. Initially, I thought we were directly related to John but as I began digging I realized we can only connect to him through his wives since his ancestral lineage is not reliable beyond his parents. John’s first wife, Margery BOWES, is my mom’s 5th cousin 15 times removed. Margery BOWES connects to us through my mom’s RITER line. John’s second wife, Margaret STEWART, is my dad’s 5th cousin 13 times removed. Margaret STEWART descended from James 1 King of Scotland as does my Dad’s DRAKE line.

The Stubbornly Independent Church

In a Masters thesis written by Tristan Rimmer from Louisiana State University, the reformed church was described as “a stubbornly independent Church”. I love that description. As Christians we are called to be stubbornly independent of this world in order to remain truly faithful to Christ. Plus, I’m just sort of partial to “stubbornly independent” having been that myself, having raised stubbornly independent children, and now having dachshunds which are most assuredly “stubbornly independent”!! I do highly recommend reading the entire thesis if you’re able. Tristan does a great job of describing the times of John Knox and events that were in play during his lifetime. You can find the Masters thesis at LSU Digital Commons. The reformed church was not just stubbornly independent. They were a full-on revolution in and of themselves. I’m sure it was an amazing and exciting time to be living (and those dresses!! Who wouldn’t want to wear one of those for a day?!). John KNOX was a leader in the movement, seemingly ‘stubbornly independent’ and a revolution in and of himself. He worked to spread the Gospel from his youth right up until he died.

John Knox

John KNOX was described as “a rather small man, with a well-knit body; he had a powerful face, with dark blue eyes under a ridge of eyebrow, high cheek-bones, and a long black beard which latterly turned gray.” This description was given later in John’s life in 1579 by his contemporary, Peter YOUNG. He was always a hard worker and preached 2 sermons on Sunday and three during the week. He had a strong sense of humor and a healthy does of sarcasm. He was eloquent. He described himself as “oppressed with melancholy”. (https://www.nndb.com/people/588/000094306/) An interesting side note: John used an alias when he was in danger or needed to stay incognito. He used the alias John SINCLAIR. SINCLAIR was his mother’s maiden name. (Britannica)

Little is known of John KNOX’s early years. However, in his school years John was academically inclined. In his time period this left him only one vocation – the priesthood. As a young man, he desired a quiet and studious life and future. What he got was quite the opposite. Given the stands he took as an adult, it may surprise you to learn that Knox was initially ordained as a Catholic priest in 1536. He worked as a Notary-Priest in the Diocese of St. Andrews in Scotland. In 1543 he was still working for the Diocese in this capacity. Rather than take up the traditional role of a priest in the Diocese, he became a tutor to the sons of Hugh DOUGLAS and also to the son of John COCKBURN. Both DOUGLAS and COCKBURN were both Reformers by this time so KNOX was being exposed to the faith when he was in their homes. There is no record of KNOX’s change of faith, only a change of heart and of life-direction. John met Reformation leader George WISHART shortly before WISHART was executed for his Reformist faith. By that time, WISHART was someone whom John admired greatly. (John was also influenced by Reformation leader Patrick HAMILTON).

Beginning in December of 1543, the Queen Mother Mary of Guise on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots (who was an infant at this time), along with the Catholic Cardinal David BEATON, decided to purge Scotland of the Protestant Reformists. The Protestants were seen as dangerous traitors who sided with England. I’m sure the religious aspect did not sit well with them either as they favored the Catholic faith. Also by this time, John KNOX had become WISHART’s bodyguard and traveled with him. In December of 1545, WISHART was seized and taken to the Castle of St. Andrew’s on David BEATON’s orders. KNOX was present and was prepared to defend and follow WISHART into his imprisonment but WISHART wouldn’t let him. KNOX avoided arrest because of WISHART’s advice to him to go back to tutoring. John took shelter with the DOUGLAS family for whom he had previously tutored.

After being imprisoned, George WISHART was burned on a stake in front of the castle wall on March 1st of 1546. If you ever make it to this castle, look for the brick with George’s initials on it. The brick marks the spot where George died. There is also now a plaque there to honor George WISHART.

Referring to the castle’s “bottle dungeon” John KNOX wrote, “Many of God’s children were imprisoned here.” After the death of George, George’s compatriots and supporters began to conspire against Cardinal David BEATON. On 26 May 1546 the Reformist conspirators gained entry into the castle by pretending they were there to help with the ongoing work being done on the castle. Once inside the castle, they hunted down the Cardinal, murdered him, and hung his naked body from his window at the front of the castle.

To be clear, John KNOX was not involved in the plotting nor in the murder. And lest you think Cardinal BEATON an innocent man of the cloth, George WISHART was not the first Protestant BEATON had captured and murdered for his faith. Additionally, Cardinal BEATON was not very popular because he was not a very moral person. He had fathered quite a few illegitimate children and had a long-standing affair at the time of his death. She was not his first affair either. He had 8 illegitimate children with his long-standing lover plus other illegitimate children with other women. He spent large amounts of the Church’s money as if it were his own. He obtained his power via his even-more-powerful uncle and made sure his children got all the best appointments in turn. People viewed him as the eiptome of all that was corrupt within the church. (Historic Environment Scotland blog)

After murdering BEATON, the Reformists took control of the castle and began the first Scottish Protestant congregation there. During the long siege, tunnels were dug beneath the castle by both the Crown and the Reformists. These tunnels are open to the public today.

John KNOX was not among the Protestant Reformers who initially took over the castle. He didn’t enter the castle until an armistice in April of 1547 at which point he served as the preacher of the garrison congregation. It was here that he preached his first sermons and began to be noticed for his excellence in this area. Not long after John became the garrison preacher, a French fleet arrived by sea and within 6 hours they’d destroyed the castle and taken the congregation as prisoners. KNOX was among the prisoners consigned to the galleys, meaning he was taken aboard a ship and kept as a prisoner there. As a galley prisoner, he became a slave. All day long he sat chained to a bench and he helped row the boat. An officer stood over the prisoners, whip in hand, ready to beat them at the slightest provocation. KNOX was well aware that taking on the mantle of Christ as a Protestant Reformer likely meant a difficult life ended by a gruesome death. He was willing to make the sacrifice.

KNOX was prone to tell personal anecdotes in the third person so the following story he told may well be a story about himself. The incident happened while he was a galley prisoner/slave:

A prisoner/slave was required by officers ‘to show devotion to a picture of the Virgin Mary. The prisoner was told to give it a kiss of veneration. He refused and when the picture was pushed up to his face, the prisoner seized the picture and threw it into the sea, saying, ‘Let our Lady now save herself: she is light enough: let her learn to swim.’

Wikipedia, quoting from Geddes MacGregor’s book The Thundering Scot.

John was released from the galley-prison in February 1549 after 19 months of imprisonment there. After his release he took refuge in England. Later in 1549 he was licensed to work with the Church of England. Here he met his first wife, Margery BOWES. In 1551 he was appointed as one of 6 royal chaplains serving the King. In 1554, due to increasing persecution, John traveled to Geneva, Switzerland where he met John CALVIN. He questioned CALVIN in regard to some issues where politics and religion intersected and CALVIN seemed guarded in his answers. Soon after, John was invited to Germany to pastor and he went. There was immediate conflict in regard to religious theology. John sought CALVIN’s advice and the advice was to avoid conflict, so John did just that. However, the next influx of refugees into Frankfurt brought more conflict and within 6 months of arriving, John was asked to leave. Shortly after that John returned to his wife, Margery, in Scotland. He found Scotland to be different from what it was when he was captured and taken prisoner. He moved around the country and preached Reformed doctrine and was welcomed, even by nobility. He did, however, draw the attention of the Catholic authorities. They summoned him to appear in Edinburgh for trial. He was accompanied to the trial by so many influential people that the Catholic authorities decided to call off the trial.

Far be it from John to stay out of trouble, though. In 1558 he wrote a treatise regarding the abomination of wicked female rulers. (You can read it online here.) Because this piece would be considered seditious, he published it anonymously. Now in danger of a show trial followed by immediate execution, KNOX found himself a fugitive from his home country when he was deemed an outlaw and his treatise condemned. He preached a sermon there anyway. The sermon incited a riot which in turn brought the army into town. The sermon that grew into a riot, then grew into a war which spread over Scotland and grew into a revolution. The sudden death of the queen in 1560 opened a path for a peace treaty. By December of that year, John’s first wife was also dead leaving him with two small children to care for. He eventually remarried to a much younger Margaret STEWART which caused upheaval in the Church. He continued to have disagreements with Queen Mary and was called before her at least 4 times and there was at least one time where a Council voted on whether he had committed treason or sedition.

His own actions put him in a position similar to Paul the Apostle where he had opportunity to speak with the Queen about what was godly. It also did not endear him to the governing body.

Amen

Arise, O Lord, and let thine enemies be confounded; let them flee from thy presence that hate thy godly Name. Give thy servants strength to speak thy Word with boldness, and let all nations cleave to the true knowledge of thee. Amen.

The Scottish Confession by John Knox

When my son Derek was alive I never asked him why he named his son after John KNOX. There was a lot going on at the time and then my son passed away suddenly when his son was about 6 months old. I asked my daughter-in-law if she could tell me why they chose that name. She’s very busy homeschooling the boys but she mentioned something about an axe and a sermon. After doing multiple online searches, here is the best I can come up with for that.

One of the common themes throughout John KNOX’s ministry was that of justification by faith. John said “it was the axe which he laid to the root of the Roman tree so as to demolish it, rather than just lopping off the branches by attacking the errors in doctrine and practice which sprang from that root.” The axe and roots analogy references Matthew 3:10 and Isaiah 10:33. You can read this and more about the topic at Banner of Truth. John also once described himself to his first wife like this, “I don’t anticipate a smooth life in the future, and I’ll never be popular, because God has made me like an ax to chop down the trees before finer tools – other servants of God – can more artfully craft their wood.” (BibleTruthPublishers.com)There is much about John KNOX’s life that would have appealed to Derek and it’s no surprise to me that he chose to use John’s name when naming his own son. In fact, I saw a lot of John’s boldness and Christ-centeredness in Derek.

Upon John’s death, it was said of him, “Here lies one who never feared any flesh.” He was described by several with phrases such as “one who had neither flattered nor feared any flesh”. Shortly before his death John himself wrote, “What I have been to my country, though this unthankful age will not know, yet the ages to come will be compelled to bear witness to the truth.” Nobility were not so much afraid of John in his lifetime as they were afraid of his ideas. In the end, his ideas won although it would take over 100 more years for Reformed theology to be solidly established in Scotland.

Covenanter has links to several letters John wrote and some published pieces he wrote, in case you’re interested in reading what John wrote. If you wish to know more about John, Christian History Institute has an entire issue devoted to John KNOX. It doesn’t seem to be a very positive issue from the bits that I’ve read, but it’s out there and it never hurts to get multiple perspectives. Just click on the titles of each article and it will take you to the article so you can read it.

I am thankful that John Wilkinson took the time to research and write a medical history of John KNOX. If you’re interested in family medical history, this is the piece for you! You can find it in Volume 28 of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh’s journal or at their website. It’s a professional journal so the article is very well documented and well written. At some point this article became part of a larger book entitled, The Medical History of the Reformers in case you’re interested in trying to find a print copy.

On his deathbed, John asked his wife to read a portion of the Bible he called “where I cast my first anchor” which consisted of John chapters 14-17. I will end with a “bookends” quote from John 14-17 because the passages are poignant and I love them and because I know my son loved these passages as well and he is the one who first introduced us to the Reformers.

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.

Jesus speaking to his disciples, The Holy Bible, John 14:1-4, English Standard Version

…Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent…O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

Jesus praying “The High Priestly Prayer”, The Holy Bible, John 17:1-3, 25-26, English Standard Version

Peace and love to you, my friends.

Until next time,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Resources

• The King of Witchcraft: Scotland’s Witchcraft Crisis and Religious Politics Under King James VI Masters thesis by Tristan Rimmer
• Genealogical Memoirs of John Knox and of the Family of Knox by Reverend Charles Rogers, LLD
• Ancestry.com
• FamilySearch.com
• Geni.com
• Wikitree.com
• A Puritan’s Mind website
• Britannica online
• Wikipedia
• Wishart.org
• The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, 1558 by John Knox
• NNDB biographical database
• Banner of Truth
• https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5601a55fe4b0ea691116fe55/t/57423c1c62cd940234712b73/1463958556303/JKSR02.pdf
• BibleTruthPublishers.com
• Christian History Institute
• Historic Environment Scotland blog
• ArtwareFineArt.com
• George S. Stuart Historical Figures
• Museum of Ventura County, California
• Wikimedia
• ArtUK.com
• Covenanter.org
• Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh journal
• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version