32. Chapter 29: The Church Is Reformed in Scotland, 1557-1570

CHAPTER 29 The Church Is Reformed in Scotland, 1557-1570

1. The Way Is Prepared for the Reformation in Scotland In the Reformation era Italy and France were foremost in civili­zation and culture, but not far be­hind were Switzerland, southern and central Germany, the Nether­lands, and England. In the coun­tries along the outer rim, however — in Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, northern Germany, Ire­land, and Scotland—the light of the new day had not yet fully dawned. Those countries were still partly shrouded in the shadows of the Middle Ages.

Scotland at this time was a poor country, ruled over by a weak king and feudal lords who were con­stantly fighting one another. The clergy was perhaps more corrupt than in any other country. During the fifteenth century universities had been founded in St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen; but they could not compare in scholarship with the great universities on the continent.

Rumors of the great and strange new things going forward in Ger­many reached Scotland. Several young Scotchmen visited Luther’s university at Wittenberg. When they returned they sowed the seed of Luther’s doctrines in the soil of their native country. Others also imported and distributed some of Luther’s writings. Tyndale’s and Coverdale’s English translations of the Bible (ch. 30, sec. 2) were cir­culated. The first Bible printed in Scotland was published in 1579. It was the work of Alexander Ar­buthnot, and was based on the Ge­neva Bible, an English Bible pub­lished in Geneva in 1560. The early Protestants in Scotland met for worship and instruction in private houses.

2. Calvin Influences Scotland through Knox

Gradually, as in France and in the Netherlands, the influence of Calvin overshadowed that of Luther also in Scotland. The tran­sition from Lutheranism to Calvin­ism in Scotland took place under George Wishart. However, not Wishart but John Knox was des­tined to be the great Reformer of Scotland.

John Knox was born in Scotland some time between 1505 and 1515. He received a university education and was ordained a priest. When in 1547 the French fleet captured St. Andrews, Knox, together with others, was made prisoner. For nineteen months he toiled as a gal­ley-slave. Day after day he had to ply the oars in the hot, smelly hold of a French ship. Sometimes he was made to feel the lash, and con­stantly he was pestered with sug­gestions that he should pray to the image of Mary.

After his release from the row­ing bench Knox went to England, where he stayed five years. He then went to Geneva. He was much impressed with the teachings of Calvin, and adopted his system. In August, 1555, Knox paid a short visit to his native Scotland, and preached with great feeling against the mass. To Mary of Lor­raine, who was at this time regent of Scotland, he sent a letter urging her to favor the Gospel. Mary, who was a strong Catholic, took the letter as a joke. She soon learned that Knox was far from joking — that he was in dead earnest. By the time she realized this, Knox had left Scotland again and re­turned to Geneva. She sentenced him to death and burned him in effigy, that is, she burned an image of him. The Reformed party was slowly making headway in Scotland. From Geneva, Knox served his fel­low believers with advice. In 1557 the leaders of the Protestant party drew up a "Common Band," known as the First Scottish Covenant. They pledged themselves to do all in their power to further "the most blessed Word of God and His Con­gregation." Under the protection of the "Band," or Bond, Reformed churches were established openly. "The Lords of the Congregation" felt that they needed the help of Knox, and they requested him to return from Geneva. On May 2, 1559, Knox came back to Scotland.

JOHN KNOX 3. The Preaching of Knox Revolu­tionizes Scotland

After Knox returned to Scotland the Reformation in that land swept forward. The preaching of Knox was powerful. His style was direct, vigorous, and plain. Frequently he employed sparkling wit and cutting satire. Of his preaching it was said: "Others lop off branches, but this man strikes at the root." In the pulpit he was so energetic that he seemed likely to pound it to pieces and fly out of it. The preaching of Knox was like a spark in a keg of gunpowder. Wherever he preached there fol­lowed an iconoclastic explosion. Images were broken and monas­teries stormed by the mob. He wrote: "The places of idolatry were made level with the ground, the monuments of idolatry con­sumed with fire, and priests were commanded under pain of death to desist from their blasphemous mass." In 1560 the Scottish Parliament decreed a change of religion. Protestantism instead of Catholicism was made the religion of the coun­try. On August 17 a Calvinistic confession of faith, largely the work of Knox, was adopted. A week later the pope’s authority and all jurisdiction by Catholic prel­ates was abolished, and the cele­bration of the mass was forbidden. The penalty for the third offense was death.

ICONOCLASTS AT WORK IN A CHURCH
Bettmann Archive
Followers of the Reformation destroyed the images and altar pieces and other symbols in the churches.
Engraving by Hogenberg in 1579

Maintenance of the true religion was declared to be the prime duty of government. Ministers were paid by the State. The Church was not to take a hand in politics unless it concerned some matter touching upon religious life or practice.

Under this plan of Knox the re­lation of Church and State re­mained practically what it had been under the popes—the Church was considered supreme in spirit­ual matters, and the State in civil affairs. The only real change was this: that for the pope, Knox was substituted; and the Church which the Catholic Church had tried to suppress, now suppressed it. This idea of the relation of Church and State also underlies the original form of Article 36 of the Belgic or Netherlandish Confession.

4. The Church in Scotland Is Organized In December, 1560, a meeting was held which is regarded as the first Scottish General Assembly. This body, in January of the next year, presented to Parliament the First Book of Discipline. This was a Church Order. The Book of Discipline applied to the churches of the entire coun­try of Scotland, the system which Calvin had worked out for the one church in the city of Geneva. In each parish or local church the minister, together with elders chosen from the members of the church, constituted what was called a session. Meetings in which the churches of a limited area were represented by delegated ministers and elders were called presby­teries. Meetings in which larger groups of churches were repre­sented by delegated ministers and elders were called synods. And meetings in which all the churches of the country were represented by delegated ministers and elders were called general assemblies. For the conduct of public wor­ship Knox prepared a Book of Common Order. To a great extent this order of worship was based on the form for public worship used by the church of English refugees in Geneva. That in turn was based on the form designed by Calvin. This form of worship consisted in prayer, reading of Scripture, the sermon, congregational singing, and the taking up of an offering. The Book of Common Order con­tained prayers for special occa­sions. They were models and their use was not compulsory. Ample room was left for entirely free prayer. The Church organized by Calvin in Geneva was extremely influen­tial. It became the pattern for the Huguenot Church in France, the Reformed Church in the Nether­lands, and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland.

5. The Church Is Firmly Established

Mary, queen of the Scots, was an unyielding Catholic. She was a woman of ability and of great per­sonal charm. In the first three years of her reign she made con­siderable progress in regaining for the Roman Church the ground that had been lost. But the cause of the Reformation was saved in the end by Queen Mary’s mistakes. Her unwise acts and immoral life threw Scotland into confusion and the Roman Catholic Church into disrepute. The leaders as well as the people in general turned to Protestantism. By the year 1570 the Presbyterian Church was firm­ly established in Scotland.

Two years later, on November 24, John Knox died.

Knox’s career had been stormy; but he had shown himself to be a great fighter, a man of dauntless courage. He had reformed the Church in Scotland. And further­more, by reforming the Scottish Church John Knox, more than any other man, molded the character of the Scottish nation.