The Missionary by S. N. Haskell

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 21, 1881

The Missionary.

By S. N. Haskell

KNOX IN ENGLAND.

BY ELD. S. N. HASKELL.

THE Reformation made greater and more permanent progress in England in the time of John Knox than in Scotland, although it was not so radical. In England, the Crown favored the Protestants, while the mass of the people were sunken in ignorance and superstition. The country was burdened by a large number of monks who, having been driven from the monasteries, were both unwilling and unable to aid in the work of instructing the people. To remedy this, and to provide for a future supply of useful preachers, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were furnished with learned Protestant professors from Germany. As an immediate remedy, efficient ministers were employed. These labored where the people were the most superstitious. This gave permanency to the throne of England, and established the Reformation on a basis not easily subverted.

During his captivity, John Knox had experienced that mental support which the truth always gives its adherents, and his love for it had greatly increased, as well as his zeal against popery. His late sufferings, together with his former reputation while at St. Andrews, recommended him to Archbishop Cranmer and the Council, and soon after his arrival in England he was sent to preach in Berwick. Here he spared neither time nor bodily strength in his efforts to instruct and reform the people. Regarding the worship of the popish church as grossly idolatrous, and its doctrines as damnable, he attacked both with great fervor, "exerting himself," says his biographer, "with as much eagerness to turn his hearers away from them as he would have done from a devouring flame or flood." Seeming to have a presentiment that the time for labor in England would be short, he was almost indefatigable in his labors and studies, preaching regularly on week days, frequently every day in the week. The beneficial results of his labors reached even the soldiers of the garrison, who had formerly been noted for their immorality. His success and popularity were very galling to the clergy in that quarter who were bigoted Papists. Finally a charge was made against him to the bishop of the diocese, to the effect that he taught that the sacrifice of the mass was idolatrous, and a day was appointed for him to publicly assign his reasons for this opinion. Accordingly, on the 4th of April, 1550, a great assembly convened at Newcastle, among which were many learned and distinguished men, together with many from the illiterate classes.

"Spare no arrows," was John Knox's motto, and upon this occasion he fully carried it into effect. The authority of the Scriptures, the force of reasoning, grave reproof, and pointed irony were all in their turn employed by him while he boldly assailed this fabric of idolatry, the mass, declaring that "in its most high degree and most honest garments, it was an idol, struck from the inventive brain of superstition, which had supplanted the sacrament, and engrossed the honors due to Jesus Christ. He proposed his arguments in the syllogistic form, according to the practice of the schools, but illustrated them with a plainness which could be comprehended by the meanest capacity among his hearers.

This defense had the effect of extending the influence of Knox, and silencing his enemies. Not long after this, he removed to Newcastle and was appointed one of King Edward's six chaplains, of whom four were to labor in different parts of the kingdom, and two were to remain with the king, each receiving a salary of forty pounds per year.

About this time several prominent and lucrative positions were offered Knox, among others, a bishopric. Although through his influence the English church had rejected some of the papal forms and ceremonies which it had retained, still too many remained for Knox to thus connect himself with it. Even at this period, agencies were at work which effectually checked the Reformation in England, so that at the present time, of all the papal daughters, this church most resembles its parent, the Roman Catholic church.

The death of Edward VI., in 1553, brought unspeakable grief to all the lovers of learning, virtue, and the Protestant faith. Knox having been personally acquainted with this prince, speaks of him in the highest terms. The papal element, however, was prominent in the English court, and on the accession of Mary to the throne, Protestantism was suppressed. During the persecution which followed, in which Latimer, Cranmer, and other distinguished men suffered, Knox, at the solicitation of his friends, retired into France.