Knox

While Knox had served for a time as squire to Wishart, he had never indicated any desire to lead the Protestant movement in Scotland. Just prior to Wishart's capture in 1545, Wishart had persuaded Knox to "return to your pupils...with God's blessing." Apparently, Knox did not seek martyrdom or fame. He left Wishart and returned to Lothian, where he took up the life of a tutor. But this was not the course which God had destined for the young Knox.

The Roman ecclesiastics, however, were not content to leave Knox alone. His name had been associated with Wishart when who had ministered in the Lothian area. Church authorities had captured, tried, and convicted other associates of Wishart for either heresy or for harboring a heretic. Archbishop Beaton was hounding Knox, and Knox knew that his time was short. Knox appeared to be delivered when the Archbishop at St. Andrews Castle was assassinated early in 1546. The man who led in the assassination plot was Norman Leslie, Master of Rothes. Other key conspirators were Norman's brother John, William Kircaldy of Grange, James Melvill and Peter Carmichael. After the Archbishop's death, these men took over the castle and occupied it from May of that year until July of 1547.

Nevertheless, Archbishop Hamilton (successor to Beaton) continued to pursue Knox with full force. Knox's employers, Douglas of Longniddry and Cockburn of Ormiston, advised the young tutor to seek refuge in St. Andrews castle. Those who occupied the castle had come to be called Castillians, a group of approximately 150, which was able to secure support from Henry VIII of England and avoid Scottish authorities. In time, though, even the leaders of the Castillians became divided. While some had entered the conspiracy for religious reasons, others had done so for political reasons. When Knox arrived, along with three of his pupils on April 10, 1547, he was in for a surprise; he found the castle was not a refuge of Christian patriots, but a military garrison with all its attendant evils. Knox was not happy with the situation at the castle or with the connection that the leaders had established with England. The only change that the English had accomplished in their Reformation was the suppression of the Pope's name, while all his laws and corruptions remained. Because of this arrangement, Knox simply retired and catechized his students.

Two men, Master Henry Balnaves and John Rough were impressed with Knox's teaching. Rough was functioning as the protestant preacher of the garrison and hoped to encourage Knox to join him. Balnaves and Rough earnestly solicited Knox to take up preaching, but he refused saying, "he would not run where God had not called him." Balnaves and Rough sought advice from Sir David Lindsey who encouraged them to go ahead and call John Knox publicly to the Gospel ministry. Rough then proceeded to preach a sermon the next Lord's day on the election of ministers, stating it was dangerous to refuse the call of the church. At the end of the sermon, Rough stated, "Brother, ye shall not be offended, albeit that I speak unto you that which I have in charge, even all those here present: -- In the name of God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, and in the name of these that presently call you by my mouth, I charge you, that ye refuse not this holy vocation, but, as ye tender the glory of God, the increase of Christ His Kingdom, the edification of your brethren, and the comfort of me, oppressed by the multitude of labors, that ye take upon you the public office of preaching, even as ye look to avoid God's heavy displeasure, and desire that He shall multiply His graces upon you."

Knox was not happy about this turn of events, since he did not view himself as qualified for the pastoral task. Shortly after his election, Knox was called to his first preaching task. Rough had been in conflict with Dean John Annan, principal of St. Leonard's College. Annan, to use Knox's words, was "a rotten Papist." Knox, under the instigation of Rough, challenged Annan publicly to a debate on the authority of the church. Annan refused to debate. The people of the parish church of St. Andrew's still wanted to hear what Knox wished to say on this subject so they asked him to preach the following Lord's day at their worship service. Knox preached his first sermon from the text Daniel 7:15-24. In this sermon Knox challenged the corruption of the Roman Church and declared the that Roman church was a synagogue of Satan. Needless to say, this sermon stirred tremendous excitement in St. Andrews.

Knox's work at St. Andrews was soon cut short. The Queen had solicited the help of the French to regain control of St. Andews castle. In July of 1547, St. Andrews was forced to surrender, and Knox and many of his companions were destined to become galley slaves in the French Navy.

After Knox was released from nineteen months of tortuous labor, he went to England. He would have been burned as a heretic in Scotland, but he had heard of some further work of Reformation under Thomas Cranmer in England, so he went to lend his hand to this work. Knox was no longer timid about his calling from God. He had learned by experience of the awful dangers that confronted him and his Protestant compatriots from the beast of Rome.

Further Lessons in England
Knox was to remain in England for five years (1549-1553). During his stay, he pastored congregations in Berwick and Newcastle. He often preached at Windsor Hapton court, St James, and Westminister in London. He was appointed Royal Chaplain to Edward VI, and he took part in preparing The Book of Common Prayer and The Articles of the Church of England. Knox was also offered the Bishopric of Rochester and vicarage of All Hollows Church in London, both of which he turned down.
Knox's first charge, the pastorate of Berwick, was a great blessing. Even though Berwick was a garrison town, it afforded him time to study and recuperate from his ordeal in France. During this period Knox gave himself to the study of Scripture, and we learn from correspondence that he studied Chrysostom and Calvin among others. By 1552, Knox had thoroughly espoused the Reformed faith; this is evident from his comments of the Lord's Supper. In a tract on the meaning of the Lord's Supper, written in Berwick, he writes that Christ gives himself to the believer "to be received with faith, and not with mouth, nor yet by transfusion of substance... For in the sacrament we receive Jesus Christ spiritually as did the fathers of the Old Testament, according to St. Paul's saying."

Knox was also to find a wife while he was in England. He was married to a Marjory Bowes. She appears to have been an invaluable wife, and Knox had great confidence in her. At her death in 1560, Calvin wrote "that Knox's departed spouse had no equal." He referred to her as Knox's "most sweet wife."

Knox also faced difficulties in England. There were many who wanted to see Romanism restored, even some Protestants who did not think it necessary to completely rid the church of all Roman practices. Bishop Cranmer and N. Ridley advocated kneeling at the Lord's Supper. Knox opposed this and was compelled to protest his case to the Privy Council. Knox was to lose this battle, thus putting him even further at odds with his enemies. When Knox refused the Bishopric of Rodchester and the appointment to All Hollows Church, he was once again called before the Privy Council. The Council was concerned that Knox maintained that no Christian might serve the Church of England according to its present laws. Knox explained that he believed that the Reformation in England had not gone far enough, and that he refused these positions because he felt he could be more useful to the Lord elsewhere. The council then appointed him to be a royal chaplain in Buckinghamshire to keep him from causing trouble in London.

Edward VI died on July 6, 1553 bringing Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary) to the English throne. It was now time for Knox to leave England, which he did with great sorrow of heart. In an sermon expositing Psalm 6, he writes "some time I have thought that impossible it had been, so to remove my affection from the realm of Scotland, that any realm or nation could have bene equal dear unto me. But God I take to record in my conscience, that the troubles present and appearing to be in the realm of England, are double more dolorous unto my heart, than ever were the troubles of Scotland."

A Call to Frankfurt
Knox travelled to Geneva and was there only a short time when he received a call to Frankfurt to help pastor an English congregation gathered in that city. He accepted the call and left for this new field in September 1554. This congregation had been formed by refugees who had fled the Marion persecution in England. Most of these would have known about Knox because of his work in that country. He also had written a tract called "A Faithful Admonition to England." In this tract, he exhorts the brethren to remain faithful to the Lord. He also admonishes the preachers of England to be zealous in their calling, but, primarily, he castigates the political leaders of England for their idolatry and resistance to the cause of God and truth. In this tract, he refers to Philip II of Spain, husband of Mary, as "the one little inferior to Nero" and Mary as "more cruel than Jezebel." To those who were being forced to flee for their lives, this blast would have been of great encouragement.
When Knox arrived at his new charge, he set about, along with a Mr. Whittingham, the main translator of the Geneva Bible, to draw up an Order of Service for the new congregation. In this order Knox did not openly oppose the The Book of Common prayer, but he also did not follow it. As we know, Knox's view of the Book had brought him at odds with many in England. At first, the congregation accepted the order and was pleased to follow the instruction of their pastor. This did not last. Sometime shortly after the introduction of the new order, some persons in the congregation, under the leadership of Richard Cox, began to oppose the new order. Cox had come to Frankfurt from Strasbourg and joined the church. He had served in England as a tutor to Edward VI and Chancellor of Oxford University. Because of this opposition, Knox was forced to address the issue of the Prayerbook.

In a sermon aimed at this issue, Knox demonstrated his true Puritan spirit by arguing that worship was to be solely regulated by the Word of God. Knox was especially opposed to the "Black Rubric" (the instruction to kneel at the Lord's Supper). This inflamed many of the English leaders. Mr. Isaac and Mr. Parry, two of the most influential men in the congregation, had Knox discharged from preaching. They also accused him of treason to the officials of the city. In support of their claims they used Knox's "Admonition to England" especially his references to Philip II and Mary. The magistrates appear to have warned Knox of the impending danger and encouraged him to leave the city. They realized that if Knox remained in Frankfurt they could be forced to turn him over to the higher authorities, possibly even to Mary herself. Knox left Frankfurt late in 1555 and returned to Geneva seeking the counsel of his close friend, John Calvin. Shortly after his arrival in Geneva, he made a short visit to Scotland.

While in Scotland Knox had close contact with John Erskine of Dun and James Stewart, later to be the Earl of Moray. (James was the half brother of Queen Mary and one of Knox's most powerful supporters). The Queen and her followers attribute much of the success of the Reformation in Scotland to James. Other enemies also recognized that James was very influential in the Reformation work in Scotland. In 1556, a short time after James met with Knox, there was an assassination attempt on James's life. While making a visit to France, he and his companions were poisoned. Everyone died except for James who returned to Scotland.

While at Dun, Knox, Erskine, Stewart and others entered into a covenant together. The covenant, known as the The Covenant of Dun, is the first of a long line of covenants and is the beginning of a movement and people which came to be called "Covenanters." The covenant is simple but expresses the hearts of those entering into it. Most participants in this covenant and later covenants probably knew that they would later seal these agreements with their blood. In their own minds, this was acceptable since the Lord Himself had sealed the Covenant of Grace with His own precious blood. In the covenant they bound themselves together to abstain from the mass, to adhere to the true evangel of Christ, and to help as opportunity arose those who preach the pure Gospel.

About this time, Knox received a letter from the English congregation in Geneva to be its pastor. He accepted the call contrary to the wishes of many in Scotland, and along with his wife and mother-in-law, returned to Geneva. When Knox had gone, his enemies once again tried to take advantage of the situation. The Bishops summoned Knox to a council meeting but since he was on his way to Geneva he could not attend. He was convicted for failing to comply with their request and burned in effigy at the cross in Edinburgh. Knox was now a condemned heretic. Later when Knox heard of this, he wrote appealing to the nobility of Scotland. But for now, all he could do was to wait in Geneva for a reply.

The Most Perfect School of Christ
When Knox arrived back in Geneva in 1556, he found a city that had been largely reformed. Previously, the Libertines had held control of the city's government; it was now mostly in the hands of those who supported Calvin. Knox settled quickly in this new environment and gave himself to his studies and pastoral tasks.
The congregation in Geneva was really an extension of his church in Frankfurt. Many persons in the church had been with Knox in Frankfurt. They believed that even though Knox had been forced to leave Frankfurt, he was still and always would be their pastor. Because of this strong bond, Knox found the transition to his new calling relatively smooth. The form of worship was similar to the order he instituted in the previous church. Knox's Form of Government laid the foundation for presbyterial rule. This move would have wide influence for years to come. Many historians claim that this was the first Puritan church to exist.

Knox now received a letter, dated March 10, 1556, asking him to return once again to Scotland. The letter was delivered to him by a man named James Syme and was signed by four nobles, including James Stewart. The request from Scotland pulled at Knox's heart. Although his work in Scotland was going well, he still had a great desire to labor in Scotland. He had also been concerned about news he had received detailing the course of the Reformation. Calvin advised him to return, declaring "that he could not refuse that vocation, unless he would declare himself rebellious unto his God, and unmerciful to his country." Knox took Calvin's advice and prepared to leave. Immediately, he set out once again for Dieppe to catch the first ship headed for Scotland. When he arrived in Dieppe, there were two letters waiting for him. These letters explained that the circumstances had changed and that it was not now good for him to come to Scotland. Knox sent a speedy reply. He was greatly distressed by the change of events and wanted to know what had happened:

According to my promise, right Honorable, I came to Dieppe, the 24th of October, of full mind, by the good will of God, with the first ship to have visited you. But because of two letters, not very pleasing to the flesh, were there presented to me, I was compelled to stay for a time... which letters when I had considered, I partly was confounded and partly was pierced with anguish and sorrow. Confounded I was, that I had so far travailled in the matter moving the same to the most Godly and the most learned that this day we know to live in Europe, to the effect that I might have their judgements and grave counsels, for assurance as well of your consciences as of mine, in all enterprises... The cause of my dolour and sorrow -- God is witness -- is for nothing pertaining either to my corporal contentment or worldly displeasures; but it is for the grievous plagues and punishment of God, which assuredly shall apprehend not only you, but every inhabitant of that miserable realm and Isle, except the power of God, by the liberty of his evangel, deliver you from bondage.

The years of Knox's preparation for his work in Scotland had now come to an end. In a short time he would begin the work for which God had called Him. For years he had watched and prayed as God took him step-by-step and prepared him for the ensuing events. Since the beginning Knox had greatly reformed his theology. In his ecclesiology he saw that church practice was to be completely determined by consulting God's Word. Nothing short of a complete transformation of the existing church was acceptable. For this view he dons the title "Puritan."[39] Some commentators have rightly considered him the father of the Puritan movement.[40] Knox also knew that he was not to stand alone. He was a part of the Kirk (the Scottish term for church), the body of Christ with Jesus as its supreme head. The body, according to Knox, bound together with covenants, encouraging and strengthening one another in the noble calling of Christ. In this, Knox was one of the founding leaders of the Covenanter movement. Many people, following in Knox's path, would affix their names to these covenants upon pain of death in order to further the cause of Christ in the realm of Scotland.

Establishing A Protestant Nation
John Knox returned to Scotland on May 2, 1559, when the political and religious climate was stormy. War clouds were on the brink of bursting. The town of Perth had become Protestant, and this provoked Mary the Queen Regent (Mary of Guise) to take some ill-advised actions. Mary summoned all the Protestant preachers to appear before her in Sterling on May 10, 1559. The Protestant Lords responded to her demand by assembling an unarmed army of nobles and gentry who marched from Perth to Sterling in support of their preachers. The Protestant Lords also sent Erskine of Dun ahead to Sterling to speak with the Queen Regent about the matter and to assure her that they did not intend any evil.
The Queen Regent, wanting to accomplish her own end, persuaded Erskine to have the Protestant army remain in Perth while she reconsidered the matter. Erskine sent word back to Perth informing the Lords of the Queen's stated intention. The Protestants were divided as to what to do. Some believed the Queen was lying. Others believed that they could not doubt the Queen's promises or show contempt for the Laird of Dun by not following such instructions. The Lords decided to wait to see what further action the Queen would take.

On his arrival in Scotland, Knox heard about the state of affairs in Perth, after just two nights in Edinburgh, travelled to Dundee where he requested of the Lords, "that he might be permitted to assist his brethren, and to give confession of his faith with them." Permission was granted to him, and he then set out for Perth. In a letter written May 2, 1559 to a Mrs. Anna Locke, Knox writes, "I see the battle shall be great; and I am come, I praise my God, even in the brunt of the battle. My fellow-preachers have a day appointed to answer before the Queen Regent, the 10th of this instant, when I intend, if God impede not, also to be present; by life, by death, or else by both, to glorify His Holy Name, who thus mercifully hath heard my long cries. Assist me, sister with your prayers, that now I shrink not when the battle approacheth." When Knox arrived in Perth, Sir James Croft reports that he became the center of the movement, even though he was still not sure what lay ahead; at this time, he was "uncertain as yet what God shall further work in this country, except that I see the battle shall be great, for Satan rageth even to the uttermost." Knox, then, did not hesitate to jump right into the thick of controversy. Within two days of Knox's arrival, the Queen Regent, hearing that Knox had returned to Scotland, put him to the horn (declared him a rebel). When the 10th of May finally arrived, Knox reached Perth. The Queen Regent, realizing that the Protestant preachers did not arrive, as she had demanded, declared them all rebels and under the pain of rebellion, prohibited any man to assist, comfort, receive, or maintain them in any way. Erskine quickly left Sterling and returned to Perth to warn his brethren. The Protestants of Perth were enraged, many felt they had been betrayed and deceived.

The next day Knox preached concerning the idolatry of the Mass. In this sermon, Knox spoke of the odiousness of idolatry to God, of God's commandment to destroy all idols, and of the Mass as an abomination to God. Shortly after Knox finished the sermon, a foolish priest attempted to serve a Mass in Perth, erecting an alter with an image upon it. A young boy, so taken back by the scene, cried, "This is intolerable! When God by His Word hath plainly damned idolatry, shall we stand and see it used in despite?"[7] At this, the priest struck the young boy, who retaliated by throwing a stone and breaking the idol. Thereafter, the enraged crowd began breaking all that had to do with idolatry in the town.

The multitude became so inflamed that the preachers, magistrates, and nobles could not contain them. Knox refers to this mob that destroyed not only the altar but also three Catholic monasteries in Perth as "the Rascal Multitude" Neither Knox nor the leaders in Perth incited the destruction of churches or monasteries. They believed these remnants of idolatries should be peacefully converted and their churches used for the true and proper worship of God.

A few days later on May 31, 1559, the Protestant Lords also entered into a new covenant known as the Perth Covenant. The Lords reaction to the covenant reads: "The whole congregation shall consider, assist, and convene together to the defense of the said congregation or person troubled, or shall not spare labor, goods, substance, bodies, and lives in maintaining the liberties of the whole congregation...." The Queen Regent was infuriated by the action of the multitude in Perth. She vowed to destroy the city and all who lived in it. Then she burned and salted the city as a reminder to all what would happen to those who resisted her authority.

Once again the Protestants sent Erskine to speak with the Queen. He requested that the preachers be allowed to debate with the Catholic clergy on the points of dispute. The Queen's response was to summon all of the Scottish nobility to assist her in putting down such a noxious rebellion. Knox then addressed a letter to the Queen which began, "to the generation of Antichrist, the Restilent Prelates, and their Shavelings within Scotland." In this letter he warned that such continued action would bring only further fighting and destruction of the realm.

In the days which ensued, many nobles began to join the Protestant cause under the leadership of the Earl of Glendairn. Realizing the growing Protestant threat, the Queen sent Lord James Stewart (a Protestant) to try and persuade his brethren to return home. Stewart succeeded in bringing a settlement to the turmoil and secured from the Queen Regent a promise not to garrison French troops in Perth in exchange for the Protestants promise to disband peacefully.

Even after this settlement, Knox sought the freedom "to blow the Master's trumpet." He knew that if God's people had the opportunity to proclaim His Word freely that God would further reform of all of Scotland.

Despite the settlement Stewart received, the Queen Regent very quickly broke her part of the bargain. She claimed she was not bound to keep promises made to heretics. Accordingly, she sent French troops to occupy Perth causing the Lords of the congregation to flee. At this, Lord James Stewart threw in his full support to the Protestants and became their most ardent leader.

After occupying Perth, the Queen turned her attention to St. Andrews. She believed that if she could take this Protestant stronghold, then she would break the backbone of the Protestant rebellion. The Protestants, however, were able to muster enough support to hold the Queen at bay.

During this time Knox continued to preach with vigor. In another letter to Mr. Locke he writes "the long thirst of my wretched heart is satisfied in abundance, that is above my expectation for now forty days and more, hath my God used my tongue in my native countrie, to manifest His glorie...." For some time the fighting continued between Mary of Guise, with her French mercenaries, and the Lords of the Congregation. Knox and others had sought the help of the English, which finally came in January of 1560. A treaty was signed in February 1560 between England and the Lords, in which the English swore to help their neighbors rid themselves of the French. The result was the treaty of Edinburgh in which Mary the Queen Regent agreed to evacuate the French troops from Scotland.

Not too long after this time, the Queen Regent died and final preparations were pursued to evacuate Scotland of French troops. The Estates of Scotland appointed a delegation to settle the question of religion in Scotland. Knox returned to St. Giles Cathedral and began preaching a series of sermons on the book of Haggai. He called for a complete rebuilding of the church in Scotland patterned after the clear direction of the Word of God. Knox had led the church to a great victory, and Scotland could now officially become Protestant and possibly even establish a Reformed church. Yet the war was far from over. Like the children of Israel, the people had crossed the Jordan River but now came the difficult task of uprooting the inhabitants of the land. The treaty of Edinburgh left room for division. Mary, Queen of Scotland (the daughter of Mary of Guise) and her husband, Francis of France, along with several Scottish nobles, did not see the treaty as giving authority to the Scottish Parliament to establish a national religion, but Knox and others did.

The Day Of Thy Watchman Cometh
Mary's husband, Francis, died in the late 1560's. This meant that in all probability Mary would soon be returning to Scotland. Knox was greatly concerned. since he knew the potential danger that Mary's return signified. For that reason, he turned down a request to be a superintendent in the church of Scotland. As the Pastor of the largest church in the capital city of the land, he was close to the government, and believed that he would be in a better position to influence the direction of affairs by his preaching, if he stayed there. Knox believed that God had called him to his post, and he strove to be faithful to that calling. Also this position brought great comfort to others in the Protestant cause. The watchman was at his post, and who better than Knox could discern the impending danger?
When news of Mary's return reached Scotland, about 20,000 of her supporters wanted to meet her at Aberdeen. From there they hoped to take Edinburgh by storm. Parliament was scheduled to convene on May 20, 1561; Mary's supporters believed that with the Queen by their side, they could retake control of the government. When the Protestants got word of this, they gathered and drew up a petition to present to the Lords of the Privy Council. They requested "That God's Evangel may be publicly within this realm preached; the true ministers thereof reasonably sustained; Idolatry suppressed, and the committers thereof punished, according to the Laws of God and Man." The Privy Council passed the Petition and reaffirmed its commitment to Protestantism.

Mary did not want to return to Scotland, and most of the Scottish people did not want her to come. August 19, 1561 was a sad day for both Mary and the people. Mary landed in Leith with a consort of French counselors to help her whip the Scots back into line. Since Mary was now unmarried, some of the Protestant nobility thought that a marriage with one of them might solve all their problems. Knox was appalled by such compromise and spoke against it. This once again divided the Protestants. Mary was able to further divide the Protestants when she made plans to celebrate the Mass in her private chapel. Knox once again sounded a word of warning that such actions would not lerated. Many nobles could not see how private Masses might be harmful, but Knox's keen eyes and wisdom saw the coming danger. He continued to sound the alarm about the dangers of compromise, and this stand finally brought him face to face with Mary.

After his first interview with Mary, Knox was discouraged about the future of the Reformation. He was not discouraged because he saw Mary as such a strong adversary but because of the compromises which were developing. In a letter to Mrs. Locke on October 2, 1651, He writes "that he wished he could die, since there was no hope of stopping this unless we would arme the hands of the people in whome abideth yitt some sparks of God's feare." He also stated, in a letter to Calvin, "not the vehemence of the preachers, but the faint heartedness of the nobles, would destroy the Reformation.... I never felt before how weighty and difficult a matter it is to contend against hypocrisy under the guise of piety." Knox did not realize how mightily the Lord was using him as the Watchman of the nation. A noble named Randolph, writing to a friend just a short time earlier, states, "I assure you the voyce of one man is able in one hower to put more lyf in us than 500 trumpettes contynually blustering our eares." Reid summarizes this period well when he writes that even "Among the middle classes, Knox's constant Blowing of the Master's Trumpet' had had its effect in bringing into existence a reformed church despite aristocratic lukewarmness and opposition."[23] He had armed the people who still feared the Lord. Now his job would be to maintain and extend this great blessing of God.

Blasts from the Master's Trumpet
Although, Queen Mary had denied more than once that she intended to suppress Protestantism and revive Roman Catholicism in Scotland, history reveals that these denials proved false. Mary had grown up in Catholic France under the tutelage of the Catholic Guise family. She continually withheld financial support from the Protestant ministers; she continually encouraged the celebration of the Mass not only in her own private chapel but also in other public locations, in violation of the law; she persuaded the Pope to appoint a new Bishop of Dunblanc; she continually appointed Catholics to positions on her council. There is also evidence that she secretly corresponded with Philip II of Spain and the Pope in order to plot the overthrow of Protestantism in Scotland. The major difficulty in all of this was that most of the Lords and nobles either did not believe this to be the case or knew it to be true but nonetheless sided with the Queen. John Knox was aware of what was transpiring and remained undaunted, even in the face of much criticism.
Knox had the support of the Burgesses and Lairds of Scotland. He also had the support of the Burgh council in Edinburgh. More than once the Burgh council came to Knox's aid by running interference between him and the Queen. The General Assembly showed its support of Knox by appointing a colleague, John Craig, to work with him in his reform work in Edinburgh. Moreover, John Cairns had been appointed as reader in St. Giles, thus making a team of three fully committed men working for the common cause of Christ and the Reformation.

The situation with the Lords and nobles was different. Those who had joined the cause out of conviction were generally on Knox's side, but often stood back because they feared retaliation. Knox's willingness to push forward regardless of consequences intimidated many of the Protestant Lords. In all fairness, some simply disagreed with Knox. This disagreement was probably due to the fact that they did not see the danger as clearly as Knox had. Others, who had joined the cause for selfish gain, would side with the group who promised them the most reward. Queen Mary was able to use this to her advantage. Two notable examples of this situation among the Lords are seen in Lord James of Moray and Lord Maitland of Lethington. Lord James was especially blind to Mary's craftiness. This blindness resulted in his being driven out of Scotland just prior to Mary's abdication. Lord Maitland, on the other hand, was a constant thorn in Knox's side. He fought constantly against the Book of Discipline for financial reasons.

Mary repeatedly used these differences to further her ends. Her true obstacle was John Knox. On a number of occasions, Mary ordered Knox before her for statements he made in sermons. Each time God gave Knox wisdom to answer these accusations, and Mary was left frustrated. She finally prohibited Knox from preaching altogether after he preached a sermon on Isaiah 26:13-21, in which he demonstrated that all political authority was derived from God and warned that those who persecuted the church of Christ misused that authority. Mary and her new husband (Lord Darnley) were angered by those statements and called Knox before them. When Knox refused to rescind his statements, the Queen forbade him from preaching. At this point the Edinburgh Burgh council stepped in and issued a statement in behalf of Knox; it reads that "they will no manner of way consent or grant that his mouth be closed, or he be removed of preaching the true Word, and therefore will it him at his pleasure, as God should move his heart, to proceed forward in the true doctrine as he has been of befor, which doctrine they would all approve and abide at their lif's end." Mary had lost again. Her true defeat came when her husband, Lord Darnley, was murdered, and Mary ran away with the suspected killer, the Earl of Bothwell. Neither Protestants nor Catholics could approve of this. Bothwell was able to escape to the North, but Mary was forced to surrender and was imprisoned at Lockleven Castle. She was forced to sign a letter of abdication on July 24, 1567. She turned the crown over to her young son James and appointed James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent until James was old enough to rule.

Under the Earl of Moray, Parliament was called once again. This time, the Reformed Presbyterian church of Scotland was finally established by law. Knox played a significant role in this and was able to see some fruit of his arduous labors. Knox's remaining years were not quiet. Many Protestants were committed to maintaining political ascendancy in order for their advances to continue including the Earl of Moray who had many enemies, some of whom finally succeeded in assassinating him in 1570. In addition to such threats, Queen Mary was eventually able to escape to England, and even though she was a prisoner under Queen Elizabeth, she was a constant threat to the stability of Scotland. The fight had taken its toll on John Knox. Nearing his end, he wrote in 1570:

And so I end; rendering my troubled and sorrowful spirit in the hands of eternal God, earnestly trusting at his good pleasure; to be freed from the cares of this miserable life, and to rest with Christ Jesus, my only hope and life.
Knox was granted his desire on November 24, 1572. To the day of his passing, he was a man of one heart. God was his only Glory, and God's Kingdom his only home.