John
Knox (c.1505-1572) was the leader of the Scottish Reformation. He was born
near Haddington, of respectable parents, and received a broad education. As
a Roman priest he began studying Fathers such as Augustine of Hippo, and he
came to a saving knowledge of Christ while still in his youth. He became strongly attached to
George Wishart, whose early martyrdom did not daunt him but rather stirred
him to continue steadfast in the faith. After a time of preaching in the
castle
of St Andrews, Knox was captured by the
French (1547) and used as a galley-slave until his release in 1549. He
preached in England under Edward VI until the
accession of 'Bloody Mary' in 1553, when he fled for his life to Europe. In Geneva
he came into contact with the
Frenchman John Calvin, and helped to translate the Geneva
Bible. Receiving a call from
Scotland he returned in 1559, where, by
the grace of God, he saw the emergence of a Protestant nation. Knox's
boldness and influence were unsurpassed, and he was not ashamed to speak the
truth before hostile rulers. He had a great love for Jesus Christ and His
infallible Word, his doctrine being warmly evangelical and imprinted with a
firm knowledge that truth cannot reign safely alongside error. Today John
Knox is widely known not only as a Reformer, but also for his controversial
treatise, "The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous
Regiment of Women", in which he opposes the woman usurping authority
over the man.
