Reformers to Know- John Knox and Erasmus

DAY 39 4/8/17- DAY 39 REFORMERS TO KNOW- JOHN KNOX, THOMAS CRANMER
Amos answered, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore fig trees. But the Lord took me and said, ‘Go Prophecy to my people.’” (Amos 7:14,15)

John Knox (1513- 11/24/1572) was a Scottish Reformer who both started and formed Presbyterianism in Scotland.  Knox studied at the University of St. Andrews and possibly the University of Glasgow.  He was influenced by Patrick Hamilton and George Wishart.  Wishart had been persecuted for speaking out against the veneration of Mary.  He had been exiled and when he came back to Scotland, Knox became his bodyguard brandishing a two-handled sword.  However, Cardinal Beaton had Wishart arrested and burned at the stake.  While Knox was a fugitive some Protestants assassinated Cardinal Beaton in St. Andrews castle.  Many protestants rallied to them, including Knox.  The French besieged the castle and Knox was made a French Galley slave for 19 months.  In 1549 he was released in exile to England where he had influence upon the writing of the second edition of the Book of Common Prayer and became a chaplain to the young king, Edward VI.  He disputed with Thomas Cranmer over kneeling in communion, so that a caveat was said that kneeling was not for veneration but humility.  When Edward died, Mary Tudor tried to restore Catholicism and Knox went in exile to Geneva where he met Calvin and then to Frankfurt.  When he left Frankfurt he broke all ties with the Church of England.  He returned to Scotland in 1556 where he was put on trial by the bishops in Edinburgh.  But he had so much noble support that the bishops delayed the trial.  He returned to Geneva.  He wrote (1558) “The first Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women” in which he decries women in any position of authority especially Mary Guise, Mary Tudor, and Mary Queen of Scots.  Later he softened his tone before Elizabeth I of England.  1559-1560 saw the Church of Scotland become Protestant and Reformed.  In 1560 Knox’s wife Margery died leaving him two children under five.  In 1561 Knox and five others named John wrote the Scots Confession and the Book of Discipline that promoted a predecessor of Presbyterianism where each congregation could hire but not fire their ministers, and superintendents, not bishops, were put in charge.  However it was not until l689 that Presbyterianism took full root.  In 1562 and 1563 the catholic Queen Mary accused Knox of being irreverent and even treason but he was exonerated.  She supposedly said, “I fear the prayers of Knox more than all the armies of Europe.”  Indeed Knox prayed while in one of his many exiles, “Give me Scotland or I die.”  He was also purported to have said, “One man and God is a majority.”  Knox died and his remains are in a barely marked grave in the parking lot. He taught his followers not to revere him, but to listen to his teachings from the Word of God. 
      Thomas Cranmer (7/2/1489- 3/21/1556) was Archbishop of Canterbury during the time England separated from the Latin Catholic church.  He wrote arguments for the annulment of King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the idea of Royal Supremacy, that the king should be in charge of the churches in his realm.  He was born to a modest family in Nottinghamshire.  He studied at Cambridge and also studied LeFevre and Erasmus, Christian humanist with some reforming ideas.  In 1532 he was appointed ambassador to the Holy Roman Empire and set aside his vows to marry Margarete the niece of a reformer in Nuremberg, Osiander.  Cranmer was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury 3/30/1533 and immediately began working on the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine.  Cranmer later oversaw the annulment of two other marriages at Henry’s convenience. Later it was found that Henry had already secretly married Anne Boleyn.  Cranmer became Henry’s main confidant when Thomas Cromwell was executed.  However, the church made few reforms until after Henry died and the young Edward VI succeeded him.  Then Cranmer was able to write the Book of Common Prayer that had a vast influence on the English language.  He allowed Bucer and Knox to come into England and influence the second edition of the Book of Common Prayer.  When the catholic Mary ascended the throne she declared Cranmer a heretic and treasonous.  Cranmer recanted his Protestantism- but on the day he was executed he recanted his recantations. 

Prayer: Lord, we have horribly offended you.  Have mercy on us and lead us in the way of righteousness this day.  (From Prayers of Knox)