Book Review
Trumpeter of God. A Biography of John Knox. by W. Stanford Reid. 1974. paperback edition by Baker Book House 1982. 353 pp. $8.95.
After the Reformed Fellowship began a third of a century ago its periodical for most of the first two decades was called Torch and Trumpet; then, perhaps because the old name was considered too flamboyant. it was changed to the present. less colorful. Outlook. Some have questioned the wisdom of that change. and we have continued to use the motif of the torch and trumpet on our covers. The symbols. recalling the story ofGideon and his tiny group of followers. pitted. on the orders of and in the strength of God, against the overwhelmingly large pagan hosts of Midian. appealed and continue to appeal to those who would be Bible–believing. Reformed Christians in our similarly difficult times.
Considering especially our present problems. many readers may find Trumpeter of God. the life story of Scotland’s famous Calvinistic Reformer, of much more than passing interest. Our attention has recently been drawn to Knox’s book. The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, occasioned by the bitter opposition of ruling queens against the cause of church Reformation (December Outlook). His use of the trumpet illustration in this case must not be understood as an extraordinary expression of opposition to women’s rule. It was rather a favorite expression which Knox used throughout his career for his calling as a preacher of the Gospel to “blow his Master’s trumpet.” Reid, the Canadian church historian‘s designation of him as the “Trumpeter of God” seems singularly appropriate. Although Knox was criticized by these who did not share His faith and convictions, for being stubborn. abrasive, and contrary, just as others who share those Biblical convictions right up to the present often are, he felt compelled to hold the position that he did, because he saw that as the Lord’s order. If God had spoken, neither he nor anyone else had any right to contradict it. Changing fashions or cultural conditions did not change what the Christian must say and do. This firm conviction was not always easy to hold in practice. It at times put him in opposition to highly-placed politicians, including some who for a while favored church reform and later succumbed to bribery or pressure to change their position. At times Knox was compelled to stand almost alone against apparently overwhelming odds. By the grace of God he stood and so became the leader of the Scotch Reformation. All this Reid traces for us in careful, painstaking detail. Reading the book with a sense of our own confrontation with essentially similar problems makes it unusually interesting and profitable.
Knox’s life-story is probably unfamiliar to most of our readers. It is sprinkled with interesting and colorful detail. He was one of the body–guard selected to protect !he early Reformation preacher, George Wishart. After Wishart was martyred for his preaching. Knox found himself called somewhat as Elisha was to take up the prophetic task of Elijah (p. 30). Caught in the political and religious turmoil of the country after St. Andrews Castle fell to the French. Knox spent 19 months chained at the oar of a French galley. Although his health suffered , his convictions became the stronger through this hard experience. “His sense of calling and mission from this time on was directed not just to an academic desire to refute Romani sm. but to destroy it as the Israelites did when they blew the trumpets around the walls of Jericho” (p. 69). Upon his release he served for a time as a Reformation preacher in England and then spent some time in Germany and Geneva where Calvin led what Knox called the “most perfect school of Christ.” Following this training in Calvin’s “school” he was able to return with ever firmer conviction to lead the struggle for Reformation to his homeland.
We cannot here trace the ups and downs of that com plicated struggle. Although Knox was adamantly and militantly committed to reform according to the Bible, he was patient and kind as a pastor and was not inclined, as some of his fellow-countrymen were, to engage in battles over secondary matters such as details of liturgy.
Although not much is known about Knox’s private and personal life, his first wife was Marjory Bowes. who was praised by Calvin during Knox’s pastorate in Geneva. When she died after about 5 years he was left with two small sons. Three years later the 50-year old Knox married 17-year old Margaret Stewart, a fact which infuriated the queen to whom the bride was related. (The queen’s reaction, Reid suggests, may have amused Knox.)
It would be an appropriate ending to Knox’s story if after a prolonged struggle he would have been able to see the triumph of the Protestant cause in his old age. As occurs often in the experience of God’s people. events did not move in that way. Because of the internal strife between political leaders Knox was compelled to leave his pulpit in Edinburgh for the north and he was able to return to Edinburgh only shortly before his death. Although the Lord’s cause ultimately triumphs. Knox saw more of the struggles than of the triumphs in his lifetime. Some of Reid’s comments seem especially appropriate. “Ever conscious of his calling to blow his master’s trumpet, he recognized that soft words would achieve little in the Scotland of his day.” He had labored, in his own words “to utter . . . intrepidly whatever the Lord put into my mouth. without any respect of persons. Therefore, I profess before God and his holy angels. that I never made gain of the sacred word ofGod. that I never studied to please men, never indulged my own private passions or those of others, but faithfully distributed the talent entrusted to my care for the edification of the church over which I did watch . . . .” (p. 280).
How desperately the increasingly confused church of our time also needs that kind of Reformed leaders and Reformation. May this book help us to seek, pray for and appreciate them. “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of li fe and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:7, 8).
PDJ
