Public-domain ebook
by John Knox
Language: en3,980 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Biographies·History - British·History - Religious
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #21938.
This first volume of John Knox’s collected works presents the historian’s own account of the Scottish Reformation, beginning with a preface that explains the editor’s plan to issue the series in five parts. The opening pages outline the intended order of the books, note the inclusion of chronological notices of Knox’s life, and describe the effort to provide a reliable portrait of the reformer, citing early wood‑cut images from Theodore Beza and Verheiden. The editor also records the practical circumstances of the 1846 limited printing for the Bannatyne Club, giving readers a sense of the scholarly care behind the edition before the narrative itself commences.
Knox’s voice is that of a 16th‑century Protestant theologian and chronicler, marked by a sober, declarative style that interweaves personal experience with broader political events. The text is dense with dates, names, and ecclesiastical references, making it especially rewarding for scholars of Reformation history, students of early modern theology, and readers who appreciate primary sources that illuminate Scotland’s religious transformation.
The opening · free to read
$ADVERTISEMENT$.
This publication of the Works of JOHN KNOX, it is supposed, will extend to Five Volumes. It was thought advisable to commence the series with his History of the Reformation in Scotland, as the work of greatest importance. The next volume will thus contain the Third and Fourth Books, which continue the History to the year 1564; at which period his historical labours may be considered to terminate. But the Fifth Book, forming a sequel to the History, and published under his name in 1644, will also be included. His Letters and Miscellaneous Writings will be arranged in the subsequent volumes, as nearly as possible in chronological order; each portion being introduced by a separate notice, respecting the manuscript or printed copies from which they have been taken.
It may perhaps be expected that a Life of the Author should have been prefixed to this volume. The Life of Knox, by DR. M'CRIE, is however a work so universally known, and of so much historical value, as to supersede any attempt that might be made for a detailed biography; and none of the earlier sketches of his life is sufficiently minute or accurate to answer the purpose intended. In order to obviate the necessity of the reader having recourse to other authorities, I have added some chronological notices of the leading events in his life; reserving to the conclusion of the work any remarks, in connexion with this publication, that may seem to be requisite.
I was very desirous of obtaining a Portrait of the Reformer, to accompany this volume. Hitherto all my inquiries have failed to discover any undoubted original painting, among several which have either been so described, or engraved as such.[1] In the meantime, a tolerably accurate fac-simile is given of the wood-cut portrait of Knox,[2] included by Theodore Beza, in his volume entitled "ICONES, id est, Verae Imagines Virorum Doctrina simul et Pietate illustrium," &c., published at Geneva, in the year 1580, 4to. It is the earliest of the engraved portraits, and, so far as we can judge, it ought to serve as a kind of test by which other portraits must be tried. A similar head engraved on copper, is to be found in Verheiden's "Praestantium aliquot Theologorum, &c., Effigies," published at the Hague, in 1602, folio; but this, I apprehend, is merely an improved copy from Beza, and not taken from an original painting. It does not retain the expressive character of the ruder engraving, although the late Sir David Wilkie, whose opinion in such matters was second to none, was inclined to prefer this of Verheiden to any at least of the later portraits of the Reformer.[3]
It may not here be superfluous to mention, that this publication was projected by the Editor many years ago, and that some arrangements had been entered into for having it printed in England. When the WODROW SOCIETY, therefore, expressed a willingness to undertake the work, I proposed as a necessary condition, that I should have the privilege of causing a limited impression to be thrown off, for sale, chiefly in England; and the Council, in the most liberal manner, at once acquiesced in this proposal. Instead however of availing myself to the full extent of their liberality, which some circumstances rendered less desirable, but in order to avoid throwing, either upon the Society or the Editor, the extra expenses which have been incurred in various matters connected with the publication, it was finally arranged that a much more limited impression than was first proposed, should be thrown off on paper to be furnished by the BANNATYNE CLUB, for the use of the Members of that Institution.
NOVEMBER, 1846.
$CHRONOLOGICAL NOTES$.
IOANNES CNOXVS.
Knox was born this year, at the village of Gifford, near the town of Haddington, in East-Lothian. His father is said to have been descended from the Knoxes of Ranferly, in the county of Renfrew; and the name of his mother was Sinclair. Knox himself, in describing an interview with the Earl of Bothwell, in 1562, mentions that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, had all served his Lordship's predecessors, and that some of them had died under their standards; which implies that they must have been settled for a considerable period in East-Lothian, where the Hepburns, Earls of Bothwell, had their chief residence.
[SN: 1522.]
After being educated at Haddington, Knox was sent to the University of Glasgow; where John Major was Principal Regent or Professor of Philosophy and Divinity. The name "Joh[=a]nes Knox," occurs in the Registers of the University, among those of the students who were incorporated in the year 1522. There is no evidence to shew that he afterwards proceeded to St. Andrews, as is usually stated, either to complete his academical education, or publicly to teach philosophy, for which he had not qualified himself by taking his degree of Master of Arts. If he ever taught philosophy, it must have been in the way of private tuition.
[Sidenote 1530.]
About this time Knox took priest's orders; and he was probably connected, for upwards of ten years, with one of the religious establishments in the neighbourhood of Haddington. It is generally supposed, that between the years 1535 and 1540, in the course of his private studies, the perusal of the writings of Augustine and other ancient Fathers, led him to renounce scholastic theology, and that he was thus prepared, at a mature period of life, to profess his adherence to the Protestant faith.
[SN: 1541.]
March 8. The name of "Schir John Knox" occurs among the witnesses to a deed concerning Rannelton Law, in a Protocol-book belonging to the borough of Haddington; and there is no reason to doubt that this was the Reformer.
[SN: 1544.]
Knox entered the family of Hugh Douglas of Longniddry, as tutor of his sons Francis and George Douglas; and also of Alexander Cockburn, son of John Cockburn of Ormiston.
[SN: 1545.]
In this year he attached himself as an avowed adherent of George Wishart, from the time of his first visit to East-Lothian.
[SN: 1546.]
George Wishart suffered martyrdom at St. Andrews, on the 1st of March 1545-6; and on the 29th of May that year, Cardinal Beaton was murdered.
[SN: 1547.]
April 10. Knox, with his young pupils, entered the Castle of St. Andrews, as a place of safety from the persecution of the Popish clergy.
May. At the end of this month, or early in June, he received a public call to the ministry, which he obeyed with great reluctance; but having undertaken the office, he continued, along with John Rough, to preach both in the parish Church, and in the Castle until its surrender.
June. The French fleet appeared in St. Andrews Bay, to lay siege to the Castle, which surrendered on the 30th of July; but in defiance of the terms of capitulation, the chief persons in the place were sent as prisoners on board the French galleys.
During this winter, the vessel on board of which Knox was confined, remained in the river Loire.
[SN: 1548.]
The vessel returned to Scotland, about the time of the siege of Haddington in June; and when within sight of St. Andrews, Knox uttered his memorable prediction, that he would yet survive to preach in that place where God had opened his mouth for the ministry.
During this winter, he was kept prisoner at Rouen, where he wrote a Preface to Balnaves's Treatise of Justification, which was sent to Scotland, and until some years after his death, was supposed to be lost.
[SN: 1549.]
February. Knox obtained his liberty, after an imprisonment of nineteen months. He came to England, and soon afterwards was appointed by the English Council to be a preacher in the town of Berwick.
[SN: 1550.]
April 4. Knox was summoned to appear at Newcastle before Dr. Tonstall, Bishop of Durham, to give an account of his doctrine.
At the close of this year he was removed from Berwick to Newcastle, where he continued his ministerial labours.
[SN: 1551.]
December. Knox was appointed by the Privy Council of England one of six Chaplains to Edward the Sixth. This led to his occasional residence in London during 1552 and 1553.
[SN: 1552.]
October. He received an offer of the Bishopric of Rochester; but this preferment he declined.
[SN: 1553.]
In or about February, Knox was summoned before the Privy Council of England, upon complaints made by the Duke of Northumberland; but was acquitted.
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
