John Knox: Exposing Roman Catholicism

This is a book report on John Knox - The Apostle of the Scottish Reformation
By G. Barnett Smith – rewritten by Dorothy Martin

This book is about the life and works of John Knox – how he became a part of the Reformation and what he did to encourage the growth of Protestantism and the abolishment of Catholicism.  John Knox, a native of Scotland, was born in the early 1500s.  He was involved with the Catholic Church for a while before realizing how it was wrong, and then threw himself into the Reformation.  He began preaching in St. Andrews and was taken prisoner by the French for two years, doing hard labor on a galley.  Afterward, he continued preaching and spreading the news of the Gospel and how Catholicism was not scripturally based. Knox got married and had two sons; later, after his first wife died, he married again and had three daughters.

Throughout all this, he was an important leader in the Reformation and started several churches within Scotland, England, and Switzerland, the three countries in which he often traveled and preached in.  When conditions were unsafe in one or more of the three countries, Knox lived in another.  While in Geneva, Knox befriended John Calvin, another respected leader of the Reformation.

Knox, who had friends in high places and was often in high places himself, came in contact with much royalty, such as Edward VI, a young protestant king, Queen Elizabeth, and especially Queen Mary of Scotland.  Queen Mary hated Knox, because she was a catholic and he was helping to make Scotland a protestant nation.  She tried many times to get him imprisoned, but each time Knox spoke the truth and was not condemned by the nobles.  Knox preached on many subjects, such as on the idolatry of Mass and how to avoid idolatry, superstition, and ways of worship not taught by the Bible.  He taught how even godly kings can be deceived by ungodly counselors.  He had many talks with Queen Mary and once said, “No one can remain in doubt, save those who remain obstinately ignorant.” She once got so angry at him, though he said nothing untruthful, that she wept angrily.  At one of Knox’s trials, she said, “This man has made me weep and yet never wept a tear himself.  I will see if I can cause him to weep.”  It seemed, though, that nothing could stand in the way of Knox spreading the Gospel.

He preached up until his death in Edinburgh on November 24, 1572, at age 67.