John Knox was born at Haddington, Scotland, in 1513. He was sent as a boy to the Grammar School to learn Latin and proceeded from there to the University of St. Andrews for further study. He became a priest though he was never engaged in regular parish work. He was a notary and he also taught Latin to boys for a period of nine years.

Knox became deeply impressed with his study of the Bible and in particular with the high-priestly prayer of Jesus in the 17th chapter of St. John's Gospel. He believed that this was the key to the solution of the problems that had so long disturbed him. There was born in his mind the notion of the invisible Church known only to God who alone knew who were His children.

The young Scot came under the influence of George Wishart's preaching. It was not until he was thirty that he became identified with the Protestant cause in Scotland. He became chaplain to the garrison in the castle at St. Andrews. When the French captured the castle, Knox was sent to the galleys for nineteen months. He survived this terrible experience with indestructible morale.

Knox found his way to England where he served a church at Berwick and became a chaplain to the boy King Edward VI. When Mary Tudor succeeded to the English throne he was forced to flee to the Continent. During his years of exile he preserved himself for the destiny to which he felt called by God, the leadership of the Reformation in Scotland.

By nature Knox lacked many desirable qualities, but he was a leader of men and his thunderous and inspired preaching helped him to overcome all obstacles. He found himself in open defiance of Mary Queen of Scots, with whom he had five private confrontations in which he was victorious because of an imperturbable faith in the rightness of his cause.

John Knox was no rabble rouser nor was he a great theologian or a distinguished scholar. He was, above all, a preacher and a leader of men. He believed he was a trumpet for the Word of God -- in which he put all his trust -- for he know that God could heal and hallow even the poorest instrument of His choosing. What captivates us chiefly in Knox is his intense sincerity in the role he plays in fascinating dramatic situations.

In the hearts of Scotsmen his place is secure. Geddes Magregor in his splendid portrait of John Knox (John Knox, the Thundering Scot), says: "He was the Moses of the Scots, more indeed, for he was their Amos and their Isaiah, even their Washington and Lincoln, all rolled into one."

The Scottish Parliament established the Reformed Church by law in 1550. Knox spent his last years in retirement, worn out by his hardships and struggles, but by the time of his death in 1572 he was acknowledged, even by those who did not see eye to eye with him, as the greatest figure in Scottish church history. He gave us a history of the Scottish Reformation. He was a fervent and compelling preacher, a shrewd reader of political weather, an able organizer, the first revolutionary of modern times, and a sincere if sometimes misguided believer in his Savior Jesus Christ.