A SPIRITUAL VOLCANO:
THE REFORMATION

In the Middle Ages the Church, on the whole, became increasingly corrupt and compromised, with pagan ideas permeating it. Godly scholars and monks began to challenge the system of the day and call for a return to biblical Christianity. John Wycliffe, the scholar martyr (1320–1384) from Oxford University triggered a movement that proclaimed freedom of conscience and a direct faith before God without religious trappings. He translated the Bible into English for the common folk and trained preachers to spread the message of Christ. They were nicknamed ‘the Lollards’. Some of them came up into Scotland but were martyred, such as James Resby of Perth (1407) and Paul Crawer of St Andrews (1431).

Wycliffe’s written works reached Bohemia (Czech Republic) where John Hus (1374–1415) studied them at the University of Prague. He spoke up, and was burnt at the stake. But the preaching spread through Europe and reached the ears of a German monk and Professor, Martin Luther. In 1517 he nailed his famous 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral and the Reformation was born.

The Scottish Reformation

Patrick Hamilton, an abbot from a monastery, had been converted in Germany, and he returned to Britain and began preaching in Scotland. He was burnt at the stake at St Andrews Castle in 1528. With calm assurance he spoke of the forgiveness of sins and eternal life through Christ alone. At his execution he cried out: 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! How long shall darkness overwhelm this Realm? How long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of men?' 1

Hamilton’s death triggered a breakthrough amongst some of the monks called Greyfriars (Franciscans) and Blackfriars (Dominicans) who loved Christ: 'within a few years thereafter, began both Black and Grey Friars publicly to preach against the pride and idle life of the Bishops, and against the abuses of the whole Ecclesiastical Estate.' 2

But it was not only the friars and abbots who began to preach on righteousness and expose sin, but Professors at St Andrews University, too. And there was a price to pay, with the martyrdoms of many monks. In 1534 David Stratton and Norman Gourlay were hanged and burnt at Greenside on Calton Hill in Edinburgh. On 28th February, 1538, six more were executed by burning just outside Edinburgh Castle. Their ‘crime’ had been to preach the message of God through a Passion Play on the Life of Christ, which had a huge impact on the mostly illiterate population.

John Knox (1514 -1572)

'The one Scotchman to whom of all others, his country and the world owe a debt.' (Thomas Carlyle in 1840)

Born near Haddington, just outside Edinburgh, John Knox was ordained as a priest and became a private tutor. He came across the preaching of the Reformers, which began to challenge his thinking. In Scotland the English Bible had been banned and 'The town of Edinburgh, for the most part, was drowned in superstition.' 3

Knox was impressed by the preaching of George Wishart, who came to Scotland in 1544, and he decided to become his bodyguard, standing in front of the pulpit with his double-handed sword! Two years later Wishart was burnt at the stake at St Andrews Castle. In 1547 a band of men besieged and took St Andrews Castle and Knox was made preacher. It was said of him:

'Others lopped the branches of the papistry, but he strikes at the root, to destroy the whole.' 4

The Castle was captured by the French and Knox ended up as a galley slave aboard a French vessel. One day, whilst the ship was just off St Andrews, the fellow slaves passed around a picture of the Virgin Mary to kiss in worship, but he threw it overboard and exclaimed:

'She's light enough; let her learn to swim.'

In 1549 the English ransomed Knox from the French and he ended up preaching before the King of England, the Protestant King Edward VI. When the King died his half-sister, Mary Tudor, came to power in 1553 and Knox wisely fled to Europe, just before Mary went on a rampage, executing hundreds of Protestants, including the four English bishops, Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley and Hooper.

For a short time Knox was in Frankfurt, Germany, before settling in Geneva in Switzerland. This city was the centre of the Reformation at that time, and he learnt much from its leader, John Calvin.

He wrote that Geneva was:

'the most perfect school of Christ that ever was on earth since the days of the Apostles' and 'the most godly reformed church and city of the world.' 5

Whilst Knox was in Geneva, Mary Tudor married Philip II and brought England back under the rule of the Pope. King James V of Scotland was married to Mary de Guise of France and they had a daughter, Mary (Queen of the Scots). Six days after her birth her father died. She had been betrothed to the heir of the English throne, but a French- Scottish government had broken the agreement, which resulted in the English invading Scotland three times (1544, 1545 and 1547). The Scots appealed to the French for help and the French agreed on one condition: that the infant Mary would be betrothed to the heir to the French throne. Thus Mary was sent to France and was married to Francis II.

In 1554 the Queen Mother, Mary de Guise, became the ruler of Scotland. She tolerated the Protestants, so Knox felt safe to return to Edinburgh. He preached fearlessly against corruption in the Church and against the papistry, and the authorities burnt his effigy as a warning.

Four years later he decided to have a go at women rulers and wrote The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment [government] of Women. He aimed to blow his trumpet thrice; instead that first blast blew away most of his friends in England! Before he could blow again, Mary Tudor died and Queen Elizabeth I came to power in England. He had to ruefully admit that Queen Elizabeth I was an exception, like Deborah from the Bible. With her Protestant backing Knox returned again to Scotland in 1559, with his English wife, Marjory Bowes.

Up until that time Knox had been known as a leading Reformer in England, and was even tainted with an English accent! It was the perfect time for him. Scottish Reformers had just nailed a ‘Beggars Summons’ on the door of the Scottish friaries telling them to surrender their properties and wealth to the poor.

In May 1559 Knox gave a series of fiery sermons in Perth. He preached against papistry, idolatry, tyranny and superstition, and promoted free speech and the gospel. It was said that: ‘the voice of one man is able in one hour to put more life in us than five hundred trumpets continually blustering in our ears.’ 6

People were so stirred up by his preaching that they surged forth, ransacking churches and destroying religious artworks, which were seen as idols. The movement gathered pace and Knox was brought to Edinburgh where he was installed as Minister of St Giles’ in 1560.

That year the English made a treaty with the Scots against the French at Berwick and Mary de Guise died. The French were driven out and the Scottish people were left to settle their affairs.

Church leaders, together with dignitaries, sought to rebuild a new society for Scotland. Whilst St Giles’ in the High Street was the preaching base of the Reformation, Magdalen Chapel in the Cowgate became the workshop for the transformation of our culture. This was the meeting place for the First General Assembly, and from here the blueprint for a Scottish culture built on Christian values, democratic Parliament, freedom of speech, education for all from primary school to university, issued forth to impact the world.7

It was here that the University of Edinburgh began with two Professors and a handful of students. John Knox and five other ministers were part of that group of 42 leaders that founded our modern culture. (This chapel was not only the birthplace of democratic Parliament, but also the birthplace of Presbyterianism and the building in which the first Methodist and Baptist churches in Edinburgh were founded. It was also used for preparing the bodies of the Covenant martyrs for burial.)

The huge assets of the Roman Catholic Church were seized (annual revenues in those days amounted to about £400,000, a huge amount!), which had been going to the rich bishops to maintain their lavish palaces, rather than to the poor and needy. Scotland also became free of papal dominion.

Despite Knox’s loud protesting, the new government decided to split the money, with two thirds going to those already in possession of it, and one third being split between the Crown and the Reformed Church, to which Knox replied: ‘two thirds (were) freely given to the devil, while the third must be divided between God and the devil’. 8 He would have preferred it to go to developing education and social welfare, and the spreading of the gospel.

Finally, in 1572, John Knox was laid to rest in the graveyard behind St Giles’ Cathedral. But you wouldn’t know it! When I looked for his grave there I could not find it, so I asked the security guard who told me it is underneath car park lot No. 23. There is not even an inscription. This is how we remember John Knox today, the man who bravely stood up to Mary Queen of Scots and pioneered free speech and democracy! It was said of Mary Queen of Scots that she feared Knox’s prayers more than the combined armies of France and Spain.

Let us instead give thanks to God for this prophet, who cried out to God 'Give me Scotland, or I die!', and remember him with the words of a notable historian:

‘a quick survey of contemporary Scotsmen’s opinion of John Knox would give us a picture of a ranting, vain, dogmatic misogynist. All four accusations are totally untrue ... John Knox was a democrat. The ideal he gave Scotland as a legacy was of a democratic state, caring for its weakest members, with free education available to all, fiercely independent and with its own voice in Europe. Time will tell what we have done with that legacy.’ 9