by Herbert J. Pugmire
c Atomic preacher o f the
J ohn Knox did not begin preach ing until his 42nd year; yet his sermons rocked a nation, caused the crowned heads to quake, and his name to become a watchword with the Scots. It has been said that when he had finished preaching his sermon “ Cleansing the Temple” at St. An drews Cathedral, the Scottish Ref ormation was begun then and there. At the close of that oration the con gregation rose en masse and tore the statuaries and relics from the walls. Actually this was but the be ginning of the real struggle that finally reformed Scotland. John Knox, Christ-honoring and Spirit-filled, was the chief instru ment used of God in that place and that day. Bom in 1505, he was en rolled at the University of Glasgow in 1522, and after completing his education, he seems to have entered the priesthood of the Roman Cath olic Church and to have continued in it up to at least 1543, for his name is found as notary affixed to a document which is still extant and bears that date. His first r e c o r d e d stand for Protestantism took place in 1546 when armed with a large two- handed sword, he accompanied George Wishart (the martyr) to Haddington to protect him from assault. He was occupied as a teacher of young men and was dwelling with his students at the Castle of St. Andrews which had been captured by the Protestants and was being used as their head quarters and place of protection. Up until that time he had not en tered the Protestant ministry nor had he any plans in that direction. Henry Balnaves, a distinguished Scottish priest, and many others, had urged Knox to enter the minis try of the gospel; but he always put them off saying, “ I will not run where God has not called me.” His friends did not give up how ever, and on a certain day John Rough, pastor of the Castle Church,
carried out a pre-arranged plan to give Knox a public call to the min istry. After preaching a sermon on the election of ministers, John Rough, in the presence of all the congregation, turned to Knox and said, “ Brother, ye shall not be of fended, albeit that I speak unto you that which I have in charge, even from all those that are here present, which is this: in the name of God and of his Son Jesus Christ, and in the name of those that pres ently call you by my mouth, I charge you that ye refuse not this holy vocation, but. that, as ye ten der the glory of God, the increase of Christ’s kingdom, the edification of your brethren and the comfort of me, whom ye understand well enough to be oppressed by the mul titude of labors, that ye take upon you the public office and charge of preaching, even as ye look to avoid God’s heavy displeasure and desire that He shall multiply His graces with you.” Then turning to the congregation he said, “Was not this your charge to me?” They answered, “ It was, and we approve it.” John Knox was completely brok en by the solemnity and suddeness of the call and fled the room in tears. He stayed secluded in his own room a number of days while seeking assurance of God’s will. Finally he agreed to their wishes and from the acceptance of that call he never laid down the sword of preaching until his death. It would seem the effectiveness of John Knox’s preaching was his love of God’s Word. On one occa sion, when summoned to stand before Queen Mary for interroga tion, he made it quite clear to her that he was not happy at being dis turbed in his study of the Word. Said he to the queen, “ Albeit I am here now at your Grace’s com mand, yet cannot I tell what other men shall judge of me, that at this time of day am absent from my
book and waiting upon court.” To him the Bible was more important t h a n t he w h i m s o f Scotland’s sovereign. Knox had an excellent knowl edge of Greek and he learned Hebrew after he was 50. His min istry was interrupted shortly after its beginning, when the French fleet landed and took the Castle occupants captive. His short term as a galley slave must have been in the plan of the Almighty as it ended in his journeying to Geneva where he spent some time with Theologian J o hn C a l v i n . This further prepared him for his part in the liberation of Scotland. He possessed a marvelous mem ory and never wrote out his ser mons except to exonerate himself when charged by the enemy. His sermon outlines consisted of a few notes written on the margin of his Bible. His sermons were expository in form, setting the pattern fol lowed by Scots clergymen for gen erations. A firm believer in continuous v e r s e b y v e r s e exposition, he wrote in the First Book o f Disci pline, “W e think it most expedient that Scriptures be read in order — that is that some one book of the Old or the New Testament be begun and orderly read to the end. And the same we judge of preach ing, where the minister for the most part remaineth in one place; for this skipping and divagation from place to place, be it reading or be it in preaching, we judge not so profitable to edify the church as the continual following of one text.” His humor is exhibited in a state ment from a sermon on idols in which he attacked the Roman doc trine of transubstantiation. Refer ring to the “ Wafer God” he says, “ Yea that god is a prey, if he be not well kept, to rats and mice, for they will desire no better dinner than white round gods enow. But oh, then, what becometh of Christ’s
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