by Rev. D.J. MacDonald, M.A.
At this particular time much is being written and spoken of John Knox. The reason is, of course, that it is 400 years last month since his death. On the 24th of November 1572 there passed from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant one to whom, under the hand of God, we owe so much of the civil and religious liberty we enjoy today. John Knox was the man who, in the hand of the Most High, was largely instrumental in abolishing from our beloved land the idolatry, licentiousness and avarice of the “Anti-Christ”, the Pope of Rome and his minions. The Romeward trend of the National Church in our day shows only too clearly how far that Church has fallen in the last 400 years. No doubt it will be claimed that John Knox was one of the founders of the Church of Scotland, yet that self same Church this year again invited a representative of the “Anti-Christ” to their General Assembly where he was cordially received. How far they have drifted from all that John Knox stood for! Whatever commemoration of the death of Knox there will be in the Church of Scotland, it is only too obvious that that Church is busy undoing much of the work of which the great Reformer laid the foundation and with others built up. As things stand at present, Scotland is in great danger of being swept back under the Roman yoke from which God in His mercy delivered her in the 16th century.
John Knox was born a Roman Catholic and was about thirty years of age before he became an avowed and convinced Protestant, but his Protestantism was more than just a creed. His soul was firmly anchored in the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. This explains to a great extent why he hated Romanism with a perfect hatred. In the Church of Rome then, as now, Christ and the Gospel were lost sight of in the midst of idolatry, superstitions, traditions and much human invention and addition to the true worship of God. As one who had found Christ to be precious he could not but hate a system which hid Christ from the people. To all who have seen Christ as ‘the fairest of ten thousand’ the “Anti-Christ”, the Bishop of Rome must be an “anathema”. This was especially true in the case of John Knox. “I am more afraid of one Mass being said in this country than of 10,000 foreign soldiers landing in any part of this realm.” This quotation from Knox himself gives some idea of the spiritual danger he saw in Popery. How far we as a nation have fallen from that standard! How we have lost sight of the motto of the Roman Church—’Semper idem’! John Knox saw its darkness from the inside, as one taught within its pale, and the soul-destroying grip it had on all who followed its teachings. When he was truly delivered spiritually he saw only too clearly its naked persecution of those whom it chose to brand as ‘heretics’. As Knox came to the forefront in the battle to establish the true religion he saw the Roman Church also as the ruthless enemy of the Gospel of redeeming Grace through faith in Christ alone, which it still is. He recognised that Roman Catholicism was the ruthless and persecuting enemy of the Truth with which no compromise can ever be possible for lovers of the Truth. “Recant or burn”, to quote a Romish leader, was its policy. This insight into what Rome really was, along with his own personal knowledge and conviction that salvation lay in nothing but the true Gospel, shows why he was so suited to be the great Reformer in Scotland. Modern judges may not like his type of eloquence or the way he set about his God-given task but these were exceptional times which required exceptional methods and exceptional men. Among them all John Knox stands out as the Scottish Reformer. Much of Knox determination sprang from his firm belief that he was to be God’s chosen instrument in restoring to Scotland the true religion. This gave him a redoubtable sense of mission and his great concern for wholesome truth being proclaimed no matter how painful to hear, amongst high or low for, in his own words, he “flattered no flesh”.
The details of John Knox’s life should be well enough known to readers from the excellent biography of him written by MacRie and republished in 1960 by the Publications Committee of our own Church. Indeed we feel his life is aptly summarised in the foreward to that edition. “Knox was honoured to be a leader among the God-given instruments who achieved the great Scottish Reformation which had as its chief features and fundamental doctrines:— (1) The Supremacy of the Bible. (2) Justification by Faith. (3) Individual Responsibility and Freedom (within the authority of the Bible) of Conscience and Worship.”
Though 400 years have passed since John Knox’s death there is the same need today of the proclamation of the Gospel of which he was the chief means used to bring it back to Scotland. How true it was of him—”I’ll speak thy Word to kings and I with shame shall not be moved.” What need there is of this spirit in our day, of men who will speak the Truth to high and low without fear or favour. From first to last Knox followed this straight course, consistent, sincere and faithful in his sole objective. Is such a one not to be more admired than the time-serving characters who are the religious leaders in our day, who fear man rather than God, and who are so afraid of offending those in high estate that they have watered down the Gospel so that it is no Gospel? Even in his own day there were such time-servers. As one historian of his own time has said, “Who else in Scotland would have withstood Mary, Queen of Scots, to her face, rebuked her, corrected her and sought to point the error which she stood for?” While credit is due to Knox for his faithfulness and fearlessness we must acknowledge that he did not stand in his own strength. He was but an instrument in the hand of the Lord, Who fitted and prepared him to bring His own counsels to pass. When writing or reading concerning John Knox let us remember the heritage that has been left us. This is the heritage of the Gospel of free and sovereign grace, of the whole counsel of God wherein is brought before us God’s ‘unspeakable gift’. Let us be on the watchtower in view of the many and powerful forces that are at work in our day to erode this heritage and rob us of it. May we by grace see it not primarily as of the Reformers or our forefathers but as proceeding from the God of all grace and value it as such, bearing in mind that he has said, “them that honour me I will honour.”