Not a Bad Eulogy

“God gave His Holy Spirit to ordinary men in great abundance.” – John Knox’s explanation for how the Protestant Reformation started

John Knox was born in Giffordgate, Haddington, Scotland in the year 1514 (or thereabouts, the records are unclear). However, we can definitely say that he died in Edinburgh on November 24, 1572.

Knox’s father was a merchant, and his mother passed away when he was a child. Faced with a choice of going into agriculture, business, or academia, Knox chose the latter and attended either the University of Edinburgh or the University of Glasgow. Once again, the records are unclear.

Knox studied under John Major, one of the greatest scholars at the time, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1536. However, rather than taking up parochial duties in a parish, he chose to work as a tutor. During this time, Knox was greatly influenced by Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart, the latter of whom was burned at the stake for preaching against the veneration of the Virgin Mary.

Eventually, Knox was appointed pastor of the parish church at the Castle of St. Andrews and in his first sermon, he preached from the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel and compared the Pope to the Antichrist. His message also promoted the Bible as his sole authority and the doctrine of justification by faith alone. A few days later, Know engaged in a debate in which he publicly denounced the Mass, Purgatory, and prayers for the dead.

As you can imagine, these positions made Knox a marked man in Catholic circles and so, after serving 19 months as a galley-slave aboard French vessels, he was exiled to England. There, he met and married his first wife before departing for Geneva, where he served alongside John Calvin for several years. Knox also preached in Frankfort, Germany before returning to Geneva and eventually, back to Scotland.

No longer a Catholic and disaffected with the Church of England, Knox became the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. During the latter part of his life, he often locked horns with Mary Guise, the Dowager Queen of Scotland, and her daughter Mary, Queen of Scots. Four years after his wife Margery died in 1560, the 50-year-old Knox married Margaret Stewart, a woman 33 years his junior who bore him three children in addition to the two he had from his first marriage.

At his graveside service, James Douglas, the 4th Earl of Morton, said of Knox, “Here lies one who never feared any flesh." Not a bad eulogy and not a bad epitaph.

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

“The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” Psalm 118:6 (NIV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President