John Knox

August 2 we visited John Knox's house in Edinburgh. It is believed he lived in this house for a few months and may have died here. Some believe it was claimed to be his home so that it could be kept as a historical site. Either way it is a meaningful memorial to a man who made a lasting difference in religion, politics and society. There was great division and bloodshed in the 16th century over his ideas; it's sad to think about now looking back. Many aspects of his theology are still argued over, others we take for granted. On the walls were plaques with paragraphs that described the impact of his life (italics) and some of his quotes:

The Protestant Reformers had ambitious plans for education. Each church was to have a primary or elementary school. Each town would have a schoolmaster "as is able at least to teach Grammar and the Latin tongue." The universities were to be reorganized and "replenished with those that are apt to learn."

Seeing that God hath determined that His church here on earth shall be taught not by angels but by men, it is necessary to be most careful for the virtuous education and godly upbringing of the youth of this realm. John Knox

The Reformers attacked oppression of the poor by the landed aristocracy and the Church. A system of poor relief was proposed for those unable to work or care for themselves, but vagrancy and begging, both rife in Scotland, were punished. "Every serval kirk," states the first book of discipline, "must provide for the poor within itself, for foul and horrible it is that the poor are universally so condemned and despised. We are not patrons for stubborn and idale beggars who running from place to place make a craft of their begging. Them the civil magistrate ought to punish. But God commands his people to be careful for the widow and fatherless, the aged, impotent or lamed, who neither can nor may travail for their substance."

In the name of the eternal God and of His son Christ Jesus have respect to your poor brethren, the labourers and manurers of the ground. These have been so oppressed that their living has been dolorous and bitter. Ye must have compassion upon your brethren. John Knox

In 1560 the Scottish Parliament rejected the authority of the Pope over the Scottish Church. Parliament also approved the Protestant "Scots Confession" as a national statement of belief. The Scots Confession put the authority of the Bible before that of the Church. Through the "Word of God" people should experience directly "God's free grace and mercy offered unto the penitent in Christ Jesus."

Let Christ's evangel be truly and openly preached in every kirk and assembly of this realm, and let all doctrine repugnant to the same be utterly suppressed. John Knox

John Knox died in Edinburgh on 24^th November 1572 as the siege of Edinburgh Castle was entering its last phase. Although he lived to see the Protestant religion established in Scotland, Knox's vision of a reformed society was not carried through. The nobility that supported the revolution of 1560 believed the Protestant Church should be subordinate to the monarchy and to parliament. They refused to endorse Knox's "First Book of Discipline." Knox regarded this as hypocrisy and as a "treacherous defection. Two-thirds of the Catholic Church's wealth was retained by the former clergy and the nobility, and the remaining third was divided between the Queen and the new Church. Know described this settlement as "two parts freely given to the devil, and the third divided between God and the devil." In the long run many of John Knox's ideas were taken up, though in changed historical circumstances. This has led to numerous misunderstandings about Knox's own life and ideas. No one in Scottish history has received so much hero-worship and so much denigration as John Knox.

And so I end. Rendering my troubled and sorrowful spirit in the hands of the 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. John Knox