John Knox

by William M. Taylor

From Dieppe, after having launched across the channel the thunderbolt of the "Faithful Admonition," Knox retired to Geneva, where he enjoyed the friendship of John Calvin and other Swiss divines, and where, though he was now bordering on fifty years of age, he applied himself to the study of Hebrew with all the ardour of youth. But such a man could not long be permitted to enjoy learned leisure. Accordingly we find that in the end of September, 1554, he was called to be one of the pastors of a congregation of English exiles who had found an asylum in Frankfort-on-the-Maine, a city whose inhabitants had early embraced the principles of the Reformation, and befriended refugees from all countries so far as that could be done by them without coming to an open breach with the Emperor. Already a church of French Protestants was in existence there, and on application to the authorities the English exiles obtained the joint use of the place of worship allotted to that congregation, on condition that they should in their service conform as nearly as possible to the forms observed by the French. This was thankfully accepted by the English, who agreed among themselves, be it observed before Knox appeared among them, to give up the audible responses, the Litany, the surplice, and other things which "in these reformed churches would seem more than strange." It is added in the "Brief Discourse of the Troubles begun at Frankfort" which lies before us as we write, that "as touching the ministration of the sacraments, sundry things were also by common consent omitted as superstitious and superfluous;" and that "after that the congregation had thus concluded and agreed, and had chosen their minister and deacons to serve for a time, they entered their church on the 29th of July."

Having thus secured for themselves religious privileges, the Frankfort exiles by a circular letter invited their brethren in other continental cities to come and share the blessing with them. To this the English residents at Strasburg replied recommending certain persons as well qualified to fill the offices of superintendent or bishop, and pastors, but before receiving that communication the brethren at Frankfort had already chosen three persons, one of whom was Knox, to be their pastors, and to be invested with co-ordinate authority. The invitation was not specially attractive to Knox, both because he was loth to sacrifice the advantages for study which he was enjoying at Geneva, and because he feared the outbreak of such a controversy as ultimately arose. But moved by what McCrie has styled "the powerful intercession of Calvin," he accepted the call and went to Frankfort about the end of October or the beginning of November. Before his arrival there, however, the harmony of the congregation had been disturbed by the reception of a letter from the English residents at Zurich, who declined to come to Frankfort unless they obtained security that the Church would use the Prayer-Book of King Edward VI., on the ground that the rejection or alteration of that form of service would give occasion for the charge against them of fickleness in their religion, and would be a virtual condemnation of those who at that very time were suffering persecution on its account. To this the members of the church at Frankfort replied that they had obtained permission to use their place of worship on the condition of their conforming as closely as possible to the French ritual; that there were some things in the English book which would give offence to the Protestants of the place whose hospitality they were enjoying; that certain ceremonies in that book had been occasion of scruple to conscientious persons at home; that they were very far indeed from pronouncing condemnation of those who had drawn up that book, since they themselves had altered many things; and that the sufferers in England were testifying for more important matters than rites of mere human appointment. This answer, while it somewhat abated the confidence of the friends at Zurich, did not drive them from their purpose, for they instigated their brethren at Strasburg to make the same request both by letter and by deputation, and thus widened the area of the controversy.

This was the state of things when Knox appeared upon the scene, and although his convictions were strongly on the side of those who opposed the adoption of the Book of Common Prayer, he strove to act the part of a peacemaker, as far as he consistently could. For when the congregation agreed to adopt the order of worship followed in Calvin's Church at Geneva, he declined to carry out that determination until their learned brethren in other places should be consulted. He confessed that he could not conscientiously administer the sacraments according to the English book, but he offered to restrict himself solely to the preaching of the word, and let some one else administer the sacraments; and if that freedom could not be granted to him, he desired that he might be altogether released from the pastorate to which he had been chosen. But the congregation would not consent to give him up, and in the hope of preventing future controversy, Knox, who was joined by Whittingham, afterwards Dean of Durham, and others, drew up a fair summary and description of the English Prayer-Book, which they sent to Calvin for his inspection and advice. In his reply the Genevese Reformer bewailed the existence of unseemly contentions among them; claimed that he had always counselled moderation respecting external ceremonies, yet condemned the obstinacy of those who would consent to no change of old customs; declared that in the English liturgy he had found many "tolerabiles ineptias,"—tolerable fooleries,—which might be borne with in the beginning of the Reformation, but ought to be removed as soon as possible; gave it as his opinion that the circumstances of the exiles in Frankfort warranted them to attempt the removal of such blemishes; and rather caustically remarked that "he could not tell what they meant who so greatly delighted in the leavings of popish dregs."

This letter produced considerable effect, and a committee, of which Knox was one, was appointed to draw up a form which might harmonize all parties. When this committee met, Knox acknowledging that there was no hope of peace unless "one party something relented," indicated how far he was willing to go in the direction of compromise; and the result was the drawing up of a form of which "some part was taken from the English Prayer-Book, and other things put to, as the state of the Church required." By the consent of the congregation this order was to continue until the month of April; and if any contention should meanwhile arise, the matter was to be referred for decision to these five learned men, namely, Calvin, Musculus, Martyr, Bullinger, and Vyret. This agreement was put in writing, and subscribed by the members of the congregation amid the joy of all. "Thanks were given to God, brotherly reconciliation followed, great familiarity (was) used, and the former grudges forgotten; yea, the Holy Communion was upon this happy agreement also ministered."

But this peace was not of long continuance, for on the 13th of March Dr. Richard Cox, who had been the preceptor of Edward VI., and who was afterwards a bishop under Queen Elizabeth, arrived in Frankfort with a company like-minded with himself; and on the very first day on which they attended public worship, they broke the concordat by indulging in audible responses. When they were expostulated with by some of the seniors, or elders, of the congregation for their disorderly conduct, they replied that "they would do as they had done in England, and that they would have the face of an English Church;" and on the following Sunday one of their number, without the knowledge or consent of the congregation, entered the pulpit and read the Litany, while the rest answered aloud. This was a still more flagrant breach of the agreement, for Knox and his friends specially objected to the Litany; and therefore on the afternoon, it being his turn to preach, Knox made a public protest against such procedure. He showed how after long trouble and contention among them, a godly agreement had been made, and how it had been ungodly broken, "which thing it became not the proudest of them all to have attempted." He further alleged that as we must seek our warrant for the establishing of religion from the word of God, and without that nothing should be thrust into any Christian congregation; and as in the English Prayer Book there were, as he was prepared to prove, things both superstitious, impure, and imperfect, he would not consent that it should be received in that Church; and he declared that if the attempt should be made, he would not fail to speak against it from that place, as his text might furnish occasion. He also affirmed that, among other things which provoked God's anger against England, slackness to reform religion when time and opportunity were granted was one; and as an instance of that slackness he specified, to the sore wounding of some then present, the allowing of one man to have three, four, or five benefices, to the slander of the gospel, and the defrauding of the people.

This remonstrance brought things to a crisis, and on the following Tuesday the congregation met to take the whole matter into consideration. Cox and his company claimed the right of sitting and voting with the rest, but it was contended that they should not be admitted until they had subscribed the discipline of the Church. This objection would have prevailed, but on the intercession of Knox they were received, and they rewarded his magnanimity by outvoting him, and, at the instigation of Cox, discharging him from preaching and from all interference in the affairs of the congregation. This, however, only made matters worse; and to prevent a disgraceful tumult, the whole case was referred to the senate of the city, from whom they had obtained permission to use the place of worship in which they assembled. That body, after in vain recommending a private accommodation, issued an order requiring the congregation to conform exactly to the French ritual, and threatening if that were disobeyed to shut up the church. With this injunction Cox and his party outwardly complied for the time; but seeing the influence which Knox possessed, and having no hope of carrying their point so long as he should remain among them, they took means of the basest sort to get him out of the way. For two of them went privately to the magistrates of the city and accused Knox of high treason against the emperor, and against Mary, Queen of England, putting forth as the ground of their charge those passages from the Faithful Admonition which we have already quoted. On receipt of this charge the magistrates sent for Whittingham, and asked him concerning the character of Knox, whom he described in his reply as "a learned, grave, and godly man." They then informed him of the charge which had been preferred against him, and requested that he would furnish them with an exact Latin translation of the sentences of his tract, nine in number, which had been brought to their particular attention. They gave orders also that meanwhile Knox should desist from preaching until their pleasure should be known. With this command Knox loyally complied; but when he appeared next day in the church as an ordinary hearer, not thinking that any would be offended at his presence, "some departed from the sermon, protesting with great vehemence that they would not tarry where he was."

The action of the informers was most embarrassing to the magistrates, who abhorred the malice by which they were evidently actuated, but at the same time feared that the matter might come to the ears of the emperor's council then sitting at Augsburg, and that they might be compelled to give Knox up to them or to the Queen of England; and as the best means of extricating themselves from the difficulty, they suggested that he should privately withdraw from the city. Accordingly on the evening of the 25th of March, 1555, he delivered a most consolatory address to about fifty of the members of the Church in his own lodgings; and "the next day," to borrow the words of the author of the Brief Discourse, "he was brought three or four miles on his way by some of these unto whom the night before he had made that exhortation, who, with great heaviness of heart and plenty of tears, committed him to the Lord."

The sequel is soon told. Cox, by falsely representing that the congregation was now unanimous, obtained an order from the senate for the unrestricted use of the English Prayer-Book, and then procured in the Church the abrogation of the code of discipline, and the appointment of a superintendent or bishop over the other pastors. The result was that a considerable number of the members left the city, and the remainder continued a prey to strife, which Cox and his friends did not stay to compose, for they also soon took their departure to other places. The Church was thus virtually broken up; and it is not without significance that, in seeking afterwards to be excused from performing service before a crucifix in the chapel of Queen Elizabeth, Cox employed the very argument which Knox had urged without effect upon himself, for he said, "I ought to do nothing touching religion which may appear doubtful, whether it pleaseth God or not; for our religion ought to be certain, and grounded upon God's word and will."

We have gone thus fully into the "Frankfort troubles," not so much because, as McCrie says, they present in miniature a striking picture of that contentious scene which was afterwards exhibited on a larger scale in England, or because it would not be difficult to find similar divisions on precisely similar points in the days in which we live, but because of the insight which the history gives us into the character of Knox himself. The controversy was keen and bitter; but throughout it all our Reformer shows to great advantage,—evincing what Carlyle has called "a great and unexpected patience," by which we suppose he means a patience which those who know nothing more about him than the usual caricature of his character, which too many have accepted, would hardly have expected. But the readers of his letter to his Berwick friends, on which we have already commented, could have looked for nothing else at his hands; and we commend the study of this episode in his history to all those who have been accustomed to regard him as a dogmatic, domineering, impracticable man, who was determined always to have his way in the scorn of every consequence. The offer to restrict himself solely to preaching, or, if that should not be granted, to go quietly away, stands out to his lasting honour, and shows how eager he was to prevent all strife; while the simple mention by the chronicler of the "plenty of tears" shed by those who accompanied him out of the city, witnesses to the tenderness of his friendship; and by both alike we are reminded of the great apostle whose words were so constantly upon his lips. In reviewing the whole case, he cannot help recalling that his opponents had brought against him the old cry, "He is not Caesar's friend;" but he prays for them thus, "O Lord God, open their hearts that they may see their wickedness, and forgive them for Thy manifold mercies; and I forgive them, O Lord, from the bottom of my heart. But that Thy message sent by my mouth should not be slandered, I am compelled to declare the cause of my departing, and so to utter their folly, to their amendment I trust, and the example of others who, in the same banishment, can have so cruel hearts to persecute their brethren." His opponents tried to excuse themselves, and in a letter to Calvin put the best possible construction on their case; but nothing said by them altered the opinion of the great Reformer, in which we are persuaded all fair-minded men, whatever may be their ecclesiastical opinions will agree, to this effect:—"But certainly this one thing I cannot keep secret, that Mr. Knox was, in my judgment, neither godly nor brotherly dealt withal." It was a hard and bitter experience, and no doubt it had its influence in determining him, when he came to deal with the Reformation of Scotland, to make more thorough work of it than they had done in England.