Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/40

KNOX gate, a suburb of Haddington, in 1505, died in Edinburgh, Nov. 24, 1572. After receiving his preliminary education at the grammar school of Haddington, he was sent about 1524 to the university of St. Andrews, was ordain- ed, and prior to 1530 became a teacher of phi- losophy there. The study of the fathers, es- pecially of Jerome and Augustine, had shaken his religious opinions as early as 1535, but it was not till 1542 that he became an avowed and marked reformer. His reprehension of certain practices of the church caused him to retire from St. Andrews to the south of Scot- land, where he was declared a heretic, degraded from his office, and threatened by assassins. In default of more definite occupation, he be- came tutor to the sons of two noble families, listened to the reformed teachers, and occa- sionally preached to the inhabitants of the sur- rounding country. After the death of his friend George Wishart he remained in retire- ment till, nearly a year after the murder of Cardinal Beaton, he took refuge with many other Protestants (1547) in the castle of St. Andrews, which the regent was vainly* attempt- ing to reduce. There for the first time he ad- ministered publicly both elements of the eu- charist, and became known as a powerful preacher against the papacy. The regent, re- enforced by a French squadron, obliged the garrison to surrender. The terms of the ca- pitulation were violated, and Knox with his comrades was transported to France, where he was imprisoned in the galleys for 19 months. He experienced extreme hardships, and on his release (1549) directed his course to England, where he was appointed to preach at Berwick and at Newcastle, and became one of the chap- lains of Edward VI. For the boldness of his discourses he was several times called to ac- count, but he was able to vindicate himself. A bishopric was offered to him, but he declined it from scruples as to the divine authority of the episcopal order. On the accession of Queen Mary he fled to Dieppe, and passed thence to Geneva. In November, 1554, he took charge of the chapel of the English emigrants in Frank- fort, but resigned soon after because his con- gregation was in favor of retaining the liturgy. He returned to Geneva and thence to Scotland, where he labored for the spread of the refor- mation. Dissatisfied with the slow progress of the movement in his native land, he return- ed to Geneva in 1556, where he became pas- tor of a small English congregation. The 30 months of his residence in Geneva, in the so- ciety of Calvin, Beza, and other learned men, were among the happiest of his life. While in Scotland he had been cited to appear before an assembly of the clergy to be held at Edinburgh, but his opponents avoided the discussion when they found him ready to meet it, supported by persons of influence. But after his return to Geneva the citation was renewed, and he was condemned to be burned as a heretic, and the sentence was executed on his effigy. Against this condemnation he published the "Appella- tion of John Knoxe." He also wrote " A Let- ter to Queen Mary, Regent of Scotland," and a tract entitled " The First Blast of the Trum- pet against the Monstrous Regiment of Wo- men" (1558), a vehement attack on political government by women, at a time when Mary of Guise was regent of Scotland and Mary Tudor queen of England, and the nearest in succession to both thrones were females. In- vited by the Scottish Protestants to resume his labors in his native country, he landed at Leith in 1559, and rejoiced that he had come " even in the brunt of the battle." The queen regent, throwing off all disguise, had laid her plans for the forcible overthrow of the reformation. At a convention of the nobility and clergy in Edinburgh all the demands of the Protestants were refused. Several of the reforming preach- ers were summoned to appear at Stirling for trial, but by the dissimulation of the regent were prevented from attending and then out- lawed for their failure. Knox hastened to meet them at Perth, where the Protestant preach- ers had assembled at the summons of the queen. Soon after his arrival he preached against the idolatry of the mass and the veneration of images. At the conclusion of the service a priest ventured to make preparations for cele- brating mass, which roused the people to im- mediate action. The images in the churches were demolished, the pictures torn from the walls and trampled under foot, the holy re- cesses invaded, and the "rascal multitude," as Knox calls them, did not stop till they had sacked and laid in ruins the houses of the Do- minican and Franciscan friars and the Carthu- sian monastery. The queen regent advanced upon Perth with a considerable army, but, finding the Protestants well prepared for resist- ance, proposed terms of accommodation which were accepted. The Protestants, in order to consolidate their strength, formed a religious bond or covenant, and began to be distin- guished as the congregation, and their leaders as the lords of the congregation. Iconoclasm was a prominent feature in the Scottish refor- mation. Events similar to those at Perth fol- lowed at Stirling, Lindores, Cupar, St. An- drews, and other places. Knox had preached in the cathedral of St. Andrews against the advice of his friends and the threats of the archbish- op, and with such success that the magistrates united with the inhabitants in desolating the churches and monasteries, and in establishing the reformed worship. Meantime civil war raged throughout the kingdom between the regent, assisted by French troops, and the lords of the congregation, who implored the succor of Elizabeth. In political as well as ecclesias- tical affairs Knox was a conspicuous adviser, and took up his residence in Edinburgh after an extensive circuit through the southern and eastern counties. After a contest of 12 months, marked by many atrocities, the vigorous assist- ance rendered by Elizabeth, and the death of