1 The first part of this Conference paper appeared last month. The following points were covered: (1.) The man who preached, (2.) His call to preach, (3.) His view of preaching.
4. The content of his preaching.
The common view of his preaching is that it was occupied with condemnation of Romanism and of all and everyone who did not accept his views, and also with instruction to the authorities of the day as to how they should conduct their affairs. Knox’s position and the situation of Church and state in his time did necessitate that, as a faithful witness to the truth of God, he should show the application of Biblical principles to current events and significant personages, and urge their adoption. The idea that this was the staple of his preaching may be encouraged by the fact that most of the sermons of which there is a report were preached on public occasions at critical points in the affairs of Church and nation. When there is opportunity to compare reports of even these sermons with what he actually said, as in the account he gave to Queen Mary of a sermon whose report enraged her and made her summon him to Holyrood-house, it is clear that his statements were well reasoned and calm, however energetically presented, and far from the fanatical rants full of personal attacks which they were reputed to be.
As declared in The Scots Confession, he accepted all Scripture as inspired of God and profitable to instruct, reprove and exhort. That he regarded the Word of God as the abundant resource upon which his preaching should draw is illustrated by remarks in his Letter to the Protestants of Scotland during his absence: “For as the Word of God is the beginning of life, spiritual, without which all flesh is dead in God’s presence, and the lantern to our feet, without the brightness whereof all the posterity of Adam doth walk in darkness, and as it is the foundation of faith, without which no man understandeth the good will of God, so it is also the only organ and instrument which God uses to strengthen the weak, to comfort the afflicted, to reduce to mercy by repentance such as have slidden, and finally to preserve and keep the very life of the soul in all assaults and temptations, and therefore if that you desire your knowledge to be increased, your faith to be confirmed, your consciences to be quieted and comforted, and finally your soul to be preserved in life, let your exercise be frequent in the law of your God”.
With his colleagues in the writing of The Scots Confession he wished his beliefs and preaching to be in accordance with the Word of God, “protesting that if any man will note in our Confession any chapter or sentence contrary to God’s Holy Word, that it would please him of his gentleness and for Christian charity’s sake to inform us of it in writing, and we, upon our honour, do promise him that by God’s grace we shall give him satisfaction from the mouth of God, that is, from Holy Scripture, or else we shall alter whatever he can prove to be wrong”.
It was Knox’s concern to preach the whole counsel of God. It is clear from his writings and from The Scots Confession, which was intended to set forth the doctrine believed and preached by Knox and his colleagues, that his understanding of the truth of the Bible was that which has become known as Calvinistic. He had come to this understanding of the truth before he went to Geneva, and no doubt was much indebted to the teaching of George Wishart, who was probably the first significant Reformed (as distinct from Lutheran) preacher in Scotland. His sojourn in Geneva would certainly have confirmed him in his beliefs.
Knox’s utterances make it clear that he had a systematic grasp of Biblical theology and that he would subscribe fully to the contention of a much more recent theologian, B B Warfield, who described Calvinism in the following terms: “Theism comes to its rights only in a teleological conception of the universe, (A teleological conception of the universe” – the belief that there is intelligent purpose, design and a final cause coming to expression in all that exists and occurs in creation.) which perceives in the entire course of events the orderly outworking of the plan of God, who is the author, preserver and governor of all things, whose will is consequently the ultimate cause of all. The religious relation attains its purity only when an attitude of absolute dependence on God is not merely temporarily assumed in the act, say, of prayer, but is sustained through all the activities of life, intellectual, emotional, executive. And evangelical religion reaches stability only when the sinful soul rests in humble, self-emptying trust purely on the God of grace as the immediate and sole source of all the efficiency which enters into its salvation. And these things are the formative principles of Calvinism.”
In the Preface to his little work on Predestination, Knox wrote that “the doctrine of God’s eternal predestination is so necessary to the Church of God that, without the same, can faith neither be truly taught, neither surely established; man can never be brought to true humility and knowledge of himself, neither yet can he be ravished in admiration of God’s eternal goodness, and so moved to praise Him as appertaineth”. He wrote again: “For as our God in His own nature is immutable, so remaineth His love toward His elect always unchangeable (Eph 1); for as in Christ He hath chosen His Church before the beginning of all ages, so by Him will He maintain and preserve the same unto the end” (Works, vol 6, p 267.).
The main aim of his preaching, as of Scripture itself, was to set forth Christ in all the glory of His Person, offices and work, and in relation to the various conditions of sinners, with all the implications for their lives. In his summary of the doctrine he preached before having to leave Scotland in 1556 he says that “he taught that there is no other name by which men can be saved but that of Jesus, and that all reliance on the merits of others is vain and delusive; that the Saviour having by His own sacrifice sanctified and reconciled to God those who should inherit the promised kingdom, all other sacrifices which men pretend to offer for sin are blasphemous; that all men ought to hate sin, which is so odious before God that no sacrifice but the death of His Son could satisfy for it; that they ought to magnify their heavenly Father, who did not spare Him who is the substance of His glory, but gave Him up to suffer the ignominious death of the cross for us; and that those who have been washed from their former sins are bound to lead a new life, fighting against the lusts of the flesh, and studying to glorify God by good works”.
During the last weeks of his life he preached on the crucifixion of Christ from Matthew 27, “a theme”, says M’Crie, “with which he had often expressed a wish to close his ministry”. Ten days before his death, when he was too weak even to sit in a chair, he insisted on getting out of bed, thinking it was the Sabbath, intending to go to the church to preach on the resurrection of Christ, which would have been his next subject and on which he had been meditating throughout the night.
The doctrine of justification by faith was prominent in his preaching from the beginning and, as he said himself, it was the axe which he laid to the root of the Roman tree so as to demolish it, rather than just lopping off the branches by attacking the errors in doctrine and practice which sprang from that root. He did, of course, lop off the branches as well, as these were so dishonouring to God and destructive to souls.
He sums up his doctrine on this point in his Epistle to His Brethren in Scotland: “If therefore the doctrine or persuasion of any man tend to the exaltation and advancement of any righteousness or perfection, except of Christ Jesus alone; if any affirm that Christian righteousness which is available before God be any other perfection than remission of our sins, which we have by faith only in Christ’s blood, or if any promise such perfection in this life that unfeignedly we need not say, ‘Remit to us our offences, for we are unprofitable servants,’ and finally, if any persuade that our merits, good works or obedience be any cause either of our justification, or yet of our election, let him be accursed, suppose that he were an angel from heaven; for he preacheth to us another evangel than the Son of God hath revealed to the world, and the Holy Spirit hath sent up to us by the mouths and writings of the apostles, which plainly affirmeth that there is no other name given to men under the heaven in which they may be saved except in the name, that is, in the power and virtues of Jesus crucified, who is made to us from God righteousness, wisdom, sanctification and redemption; by which alone we have access to the throne of God’s mercy, as by one only propitiator and obtainer of grace, to us that of nature be sinful; the flesh (even after our regeneration) ever rebelling against the spirit, during the travail of this life, in such sort that, with the apostle Paul, the rest of God’s children are compelled to confess that in them, that is, in their flesh, there remaineth no good”.
Contrary to later popular opinion, the loving and sympathetic pastoral care of the flock was a prominent feature in his preaching. This is illustrated in some of his correspondence with his mother-in-law, Mrs Bowes, who was subject to frequent depressions and doubts concerning her Christian state, on account of the trouble she had with sin. It is quite obvious that some of these lengthy communications are largely transcripts of sermons which he had preached. Although Knox did not write out his sermons in advance there is evidence that he could remember them verbatim even years later.
One example of this is his exposition of Psalm 6, published as A Fort for the Afflicted. There is also a sermon, On Christ’s Temptation in the Wilderness, which he introduces with these words: “The causes moving me to entreat this place of Scripture is that such as, by the inscrutable providence of God, do fall into diverse temptations judge not themselves, by reason thereof, less acceptable in God’s presence; but contrariwise, having the way prepared to victory by Jesus Christ, shall not fear above measure the crafty assaults of that subtle serpent, Satan; but with joy and bold courage, having such a guide as is here painted forth, such a champion, and such weapons as here are to be found (if with obedience we will hear, and with unfeigned faith believe,) may assure ourselves of God’s present favour, and of final victory, by the means of Him who, for our safeguard and deliverance, hath entered into the battle, and triumphed over His adversary, and all His raging fury”.
That he was comforting others with the comfort by which he himself was comforted by God appears from the prayer with which he concluded the 1565 sermon, on Isaiah 26:13ff, which had him banned from preaching for a time: “Give us, O Lord, hearts to visit Thee in the time of our affliction, and albeit we see none end of our dolours, that yet our faith and hope may conduct us to the assured hope of that joyful resurrection, in the which we shall possess the fruit of that for which now we travail. And in the mean season, grant us, O Lord, to repose ourselves in the sanctuary of Thy promise, that in Thee we may find comfort, till this Thy great indignation begun amongst us may pass over and Thou Thyself appear to the comfort of the afflicted, and to the terror of Thine enemies.”
This aspect of his preaching was carried into his personal pastoral dealings. Knox himself tells of Elizabeth Adamson, wife of Edinburgh Dean of Guild James Barroun, “who, by reason that she had a troubled conscience, delighted much in the company of the said John Knox, because he, according to the grace given unto him, opened more fully the fountain of God’s mercies than did the common sort of teachers that she had heard before; for she had heard none except friars”.
He also gave much place to the practice of the Christian life, as we see for example in his Treatise on Prayer, described as A Declaration what true prayer is, how we should pray, and for what we should pray, set forth by John Knox, Preacher of God’s Holy Word, unto the small and dispersed flock of Jesus Christ. He deals with practical subjects in a practical way: “Prayer is an earnest and familiar talking with God, to whom we declare our miseries, whose support and help we implore and desire in our adversities, and whom we laud and praise for our benefits received. So that prayer containeth the exposition of our dolours, the desire of God’s defence, and the praising of His magnificent name, as the Psalms of David clearly do teach.”