The Select Practical Writings of John Knox
Book Description
You are holding in your hands a rare and precious book. It contains the choicest practical writings of a man whom God used to transform his native country and bring it into the light and under the blessing of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that in spite of constant opposition and grave personal danger.
The Works of John Knox, preserved in six large volumes, are virtually closed to all but the most scholarly students of history. However, thanks to the endeavours of the Rev. Thomas Thomson and the Free Church of Scotland Board of Publications, this book was compiled so that Knox might be put back into the hands of the people. Unabridged and unaltered, except for the updating of the ‘antiquated orthography’, one can read some of the most enduring of Knox’s practical writings. These include such works as his treatise on prayer, his ‘Fort for the Afflicted’- an exposition of the Sixth Psalm, his sermon on Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, and his notorious sermon on Isaiah 26: 13-20. Fifteen of Knox’s letters are also included at the end of the volume, twelve of which were addressed to his mother-in-law, Mrs. Elizabeth Bowes. In them the temper and character of Knox the pastor are clearly exhibited.
Author
John Knox was born in Haddington, near Edinburgh around 1514. In 1536 he graduated from St Andrews University and was ordained a priest. He became a notary and tutor, but in 1543 was converted to Christ and embraced the Reformed faith. He was much influenced by the preacher George Wishart, and became his bodyguard.
After Wishart was martyred in St Andrews in 1546, and Cardinal Beaton was murdered in retaliation, the Protestants took refuge in St Andrews Castle, which was besieged. Having been Wishart’s bodyguard meant that Knox himself was now in danger, and after being harried around Scotland for a while he ended up joining the group in St Andrews Castle in 1547. Knox was officially appointed preacher, and preached his first sermon there on Daniel 7:24-25. With the help of the French – summoned by the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise – the castle fell, and Knox became a galley slave in France for 19 months.
Released in 1549, he preached in Berwick and Newcastle, England with much power and success. Refusing the bishopric of Rochester, he was forced into hiding when Catholic Mary Tudor was crowned. Knox fled to France, then Zurich and Calvin’s Geneva; he then pastored an English congregation in Frankfurt. Forced out by liturgical disputes in 1555, Knox returned to Geneva and pastored an English congregation there. The same year he returned secretly to Scotland, married Marjory Bowes and preached widely. Condemned for heresy in Scotland, he returned to Geneva with his wife and mother-in-law (Elizabeth Bowes), from where he penned in 1558 his famous The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, advocating rebellion against ungodly rulers.
With the death of Mary Tudor the following year, Knox was again able to return to Scotland, where he preached a sermon condemning ‘idolatry’, and this led to rebellion. In 1560, the Reformation Parliament adopted the Protestant Scots Confession. Knox’s first wife, Marjory died the same year, after bearing him two sons. Knox helped to write the First Book of Discipline in 1561.
Catholic Mary Queen of Scots returned from France, and Knox had the first of several interviews with her. From this time until his death the pulpit of St Giles became his platform. He married again – Margaret Stewart – in 1564; she was to bear him three daughters. In 1564 he penned much of his History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland. John Knox died in Edinburgh in 1572 and was buried at St Giles’s Cathedral.
[See also John Howie, The Scots Worthies (Banner of Truth, 1995), pp. 48-66, and Chapter 1 (‘John Knox and “the Battle”‘) in Iain H. Murray, A Scottish Christian Heritage (Banner of Truth, 2006).]
Endorsements
"The Select Practical Writings of John Knox were first published by the Free Church of Scotland in 1845. This reprint has not altered the original edition significantly but rather enhanced it through fresh typesetting, supplementary notes and a very attractive cover and binding.
Thomson, the original editor, speaks of Knox’s ‘rich and impressive style’ evidenced in this book and says that ‘as a writer of the old rich English tongue, he had few equals, and certainly no superior, during his own day’ (p xxx). In comparison with the writings of the English Reformers, Knox is not at all difficult to read. As Thomson observed: ‘Knox is a writer for all time, and will be intelligible in every age and especially to those who prize the language of the Bible’. We are sure that those who give careful study to this volume will express agreement with Principal Smeton, a contemporary of Knox: ‘Certain I am, that it will be difficult to find one in whom the gifts of the Holy Spirit shone so bright to the comfort of the Church of Scotland’."
Matthew Vogan
"Knox can be wordy at times. Occasionally his rugged language grates compared to our more genteel times, but do not let that put you off. This book is a rare gem and worth reading. If we catch a small portion of his passion for the true Gospel then we will be the better for it."
Alan Hill
Additional Information
Cover: Hardcover
Number of Pages: 295
Publisher: Banner of Truth
Publication Date: June 1, 2011