This week in our summer Reformation survey, we look at how God’s saving word came again to England and Scotland in the early 1500s. In our discussion, we’ll mention some more important names from church history: William Tyndale, Henry VIII, Thomas Cranmer, and John Knox. Who were these men, and what part did they play in our Christian history? Why didn’t England go all the way in embracing Reformed Bible teaching? And what surprising assertion do we find in Knox regarding the Christian’s relationship to government? We’ll consider these questions and more.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
coming near the end of our survey of the Reformation the last three weeks we’ve been examining the lives of some of the most important reformers Martin Luther overt swingley and John Calvin now just remember when I talk about these reformers bringing reform into a certain city or area don’t don’t think of that as being this bland neutral just me or getting your doctrinal ducks in a row we’re talking about revival we’re talking about the true gospel we’re talking about actual preaching where people bring before the lady their listeners what the Bible says think about all the abuses that were present in the Catholic Church think about the lack of the Bible just even able to read when reform came to a certain place all of that changed there was true preaching there was going contextually in verse five verse three sections of the Bible there was getting the Bible in people’s hands in their own languages it was the curtailing of the abuses there was a dissolution of monasteries and nunneries lots of very very good thing so just remember when I use the term reformed oh they brought reform and reform it took hold more and more think of that as gospel revival people are getting saved and the Bible is being declared freely anyway so we’ve been looking at those three main reformers and the reform movements that they led in different areas of Europe but what about the British Isles we can’t end our talk about Reformation without talking about what happened in England and Scotland and we have special ties to those places one of the reason America is the way that it is today goes back to the English Reformation but English the Reformation played out a little differently than Reformation on the continent document the dr. Nathan boos Nets in his church history class he calls Reformation in England a Reformation of convenience rather than a reformation of conviction and there’s a lot of truth to that what was this Reformation of can how did Scotland become a bastion of Reformation of the gospel and what happened when the two kingdoms became united under one ruler we’re gonna find those things out today we’re first gonna focus on English Reformation and then we’re gonna backtrack talk about Reformation in Scotland and then make a few comments about what the having the two kingdoms together what kind of spiritual impact it had and what kind of impact on the reform okay with me as we continue although it god I paid you to help me be able to explain well about these great things that happen in the past how you brought revival in England and Scotland and you saved many souls and you raised up men to preach your word and you raise up men and women to declare your word to evangelize we thank you for doing all this in the past because we are the benefits the beneficiaries we get the inheritance of that I pray God that the people will be encouraged today you’d help me be able to teach this well in Jesus name Amen okay well our first look is going to be English Reformation and English Reformation centers around a few well I’m gonna leave centering around a few key individuals wouldn’t in Dale Henry the eighth and Elizabeth the first well we’re gonna talk about each one of them remember back in the 1300s there’s a certain professor from Oxford who was calling for reform in the English churches and when that man was John Wickliffe John Wickliffe had his followers remember they’re the Lollards and he and they were responsible for getting away pamphlets copies of the Wickliffe Bible and getting the Bible to the people in the vernacular Lollards were largely suppressed in the early 1400s but some of them stuck around and they continued to share the gospel where they could in Catholic England they’re kind of an underground movement but they were still there but then in the early hundreds as humanism I’m a Renaissance humanism loved the humanities going back to the ancient texts as humanism became very popular in Europe another English scholar decided that he wanted to get the Bible in the hands of the common people of England and that scholar was William Tyndale born in England studying theology at Cambridge and Oxford William Tyndale the Mon the fact that even at university the English were prevented from studying the Bible Tyndall became a family chaplain in 1521 but some of his fellow Catholic clergy became concerned with Tyndale’s controversial opinions in one conversation with a clergyman another Catholic clergyman urging submission to the Pope is urging Tyndale to submit this clergyman asserted that one should submit even one should submit to the Pope even if that Pope contradicts the Bible and Tyndale reportedly replied quote I defy the Pope and all his laws and if God spared my life ere many years that is before many years I will cause the boy that drive ahthe the plow to know more of the scriptures than thou dust that is then you do you clergymen and one of the people to know it better to know therefore began to study the scriptures more and more and went to Germany so that he could learn Hebrew in 1525 using Luther’s recent German translation and erasmus –is critical greek new testament Tyndale produced the first ever english New Testament translated from the original Greek also unlike Wickliffe 150 years earlier Tyndale had access to a printing press so in Belgium Tyndale printed as many English New Testaments as he could and started to smuggle them into England and Scotland Tyndall’s work was immediately condemned by the Catholic clergy in England and they ordered all copies of his New Testament that they could find to be publicly burned and in 1529 Tyndale was formally denounced as a heretic meaning that if he was caught he would be killed but Tyndale continued his work it translated many parts of the Old Testament they also published a pamphlet that condemned the King of England that is Henry the eighth or what Tyndale knew was Henry’s planned divorce a sinful divorce infuriated Henry the eighth asked Charles the fifth that is the Holy Roman Emperor at the time he asked Charles to hand over to nail to be tried and executed Holy Roman Emperor took his time but in 1535 Tyndale was betrayed to the authorities and him he was doomed he was tried he was condemned as a heretic and sentenced to be burned at the stake now understand that more and more at this time when someone is burned at the stake they’re usually strangled before they’re actually burned and the reason for this is because many martyrs protestant martyrs kept preaching while at the stake and they’re preaching quite powerfully giving testimony of Christ and of his true Word and people are getting converted so Catholic authorities needed to put a stop to that so they killed him actually before they burn them and Tyndale attempted to do the same he when he was tied to the stake heat or before he won before he was burned he wanted to preach he began to speak and so he was going to be killed but one of the last things that Tyndale said and you’ve probably heard of this before being killed in 1536 he said he prayed Lord open the king of England’s eyes and God would answer Tyndale’s dying prayer in just two years the King of England Henry the eighth aloud location and dissemination of the great Bible that is a version of the Bible in the English vernacular that actually ironically heavily relied on Tyndale’s own translation of a New Testament so essentially Tyndale’s Bible was getting out to people even though the King I’ve killed dim Dale for doing just that the later King James Version would draw heavily on Tyndale’s translation as well and really all English translations since this time since the 1500s are indebted to Tim Dale’s first translation of the New Testament but how did the King of England change his mind whoa let’s turn now to talk about Henry the eighth probably heard of Henry the eighth he’s one of the more famous English monarchs or I should say infamous Henry the eighth Tudor was they initially a staunch Catholic in 1521 when Luther refused to recant of the diet of worms Henry the Eighth wrote or more likely ghost wrote a pamphlet attacking Luther and defending Catholicism for this the Pope awarded Henry the title defender of the faith which of course would prove ironic just a decade later now Henry was a very worldly man he had many mistresses but he was politically astute it was expedient for Henry to oppose Protestantism that is until Henry noticed that he had a big problem in 1525 what was that problem no official male heir see Henry’s wife was Catherine of Aragon she had conceived a number of times but she either miscarried or brought forth children who soon died Catherines one surviving child was a daughter named Mary but no male heir meant that there was a strong possibility upon Henry’s death of a disputed succession which could mean civil war in England and the end of the Tudor dynasty that is the end of Henry’s family on the throne and England had just been through a civil war a few decades earlier than the famous War of the Roses now all came about because of a disputed royal succession he wanted to avoid another Civil War but Catherine Henry’s Queen had not produced an heir and she was passing beyond childbearing age so Henry saw only three options for going further he could acknowledge an illegitimate son as his heir but that might provoke a civil war that illegitimate son doesn’t have a strong claim to the throne or choice number two he could marry off his daughter Mary and then name the husband as the new heir but Mary was a small frame and she might not produce a male heir and might do so only after Henry died actually let me read for you vide that I wouldn’t call it the husband to be the heir but the son of their Union Mary and whoever she married he would have his grandson inherit the throne but that might not happen before Henry died a third option would be to divorce Catherine and marry a new younger Queen who could produce an heir and there was this third option that seemed politically safest to Henry and he determined to secure a divorce now Henry had only been able to marry Catherine because he had been given a special papal dispensation you see Catherine had been married to Henry’s brother and Leviticus 2021 says this is from the Bible Leviticus 2021 if there is a man who takes his brother’s wife it was a pourraient he has uncovered his brother’s nakedness they will be childless now if we look at the context of that statement we would realize that that passage is about adultery it is not about marriage you may remember that the Old Testament actually commands that a man marry his brother’s wife if the brother’s wife mother died childless but whatever it’s the law of the Catholic Church you’re not allowed to marry your brother’s wife but Henry had gotten permission from the Pope to marry special permission special dispensation but now many years later things have not really worked out with his wife so Henry wrote to the Pope asking the Pope to dissolve the marriage because the marriage was never legitimate in the first place he basically told the Pope I never should have married my brother’s wife that’s why God has struck me childless but I’m ready to repent now so I just need you wholly Papa to just dissolve the marriage we often say that Henry the eighth wanted a divorce but technically what he wanted was an annulment a declaration the marriage was never real in the first place now even though canon law says you cannot undo something granted by papal dispensation the Pope probably would have under different circumstances agreed to Henry’s request it would have allowed the marriage to be dissolved but political considerations meant that the Pope could not accept Henry’s request because Catherine Catherine of Aragon Henry’s wife was the daughter of the king of Spain and was the aunt of the Holy Roman Emperor so if the Pope granted the annulment to Henry it would bring the wrath of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain down upon the Pope in Italy and the Pope did not want that but the Pope also did not want to alienate Henry and the rest of England from the Catholic Church and their relations had been strained as it was and there’s the Reformation chain throughout Europe we don’t want to lose another country to the Protestants so the Pope just waited it didn’t say yes he didn’t say no by 1529 however it was clear that the Pope would not grant Henry an annulment and was just stalling so with time running out Henry decided to take matters into his own hands either he began to enact a number of measures stripping the Catholic Church of its power in England asserting that obeying the king was more important than obeying the Pope in 1531 when the Archbishop of Canterbury died and reappointed Thomas Cranmer as successor and he knew Cranmer would be more willing to give Henry what Henry wanted 15:32 Henry secretly married and belen and he publicly married her in 1533 later that year Cranmer the archbishop the new archbishop pronounced Henry’s marriage to Catherine null and void and Henry’s new marriage to Anne Boleyn legitimate so one wife is gone and the Church of England is moving away from the Pope and the end of 1533 and gave birth to a child not a son a daughter a daughter named Elizabeth in 1534 England officially broke from the Catholic Church English Parliament passed the act of Supremacy making the King not the Pope the head of the Church of England a church that we also know as the Anglican Church Henry’s break from the Pope and then opened the door for Protestant reform to go forth in England and support for reform for biblical preaching for the gospel it came from various directions the dispersed lollards they pushed for reform they came out from being underground there were certain Protestant leaders who had been meeting at the White Horse Tavern people like Hugh Latimer they had long wanted to see reform in England they went forward with reform and you have Thomas Cranmer the archbishop he was sympathetic to reform as was Henry’s Chief Minister Thomas Cromwell they’re all moving for reform and even Queen Anne Boleyn had Protestant leanings so we’ve got lots of impetuses to reform in England and further Henry’s actions his dissolving the marriage caused quite a scandal throughout the Catholic nations of Europe and Henry realized he needs some allies if any of those case those Catholic nations decide to clear war so who better than the Protestants meet some Protestant allies so Henry began to implement some Protestant reforms in England he abolished clerical celibacy claire earth the clergy can now get married again he discouraged feast days and pilgrimages and got rid of religious icons monasteries were seized and dissolved their wealth taken by the state and the Bible in English and also in Latin began to be printed and sold this is wonderful what a happy day of reform is underway everything’s looking great but these reforms prayers unpopular any people did not want reform in England they were loath to give up the old ways Henry’s policies were actually provoking revolts in different parts of England so what does the politically astute Henry do roll back roll back the reforms in 1539 he brought back many of the things that were previously forbidden like clerical celibacy and religious icons in he had his reform-minded chief minister Thomas Cromwell executed in 1543 Henry restricted bible-reading to only the nobility only the only the nobles are allowed to have the Bible and read it and on top of that Henry began his notorious behavior with his wives and belen did not produce a male heir so in 1536 henry had her convicted of heinous crimes on trumped-up charges and then executed and then mary jane seymour who did give Henry a male heir a son named Edward the sixth but Jane soon after childbirth so Henry married again a married Anne of Cleves and then divorced her and then married Catherine Howard and then had her executed and then he married Catherine Parr and then finally mercifully Henry died yeah so by Henry’s death in 1547 he had produced three children by Royal marriages all from different mothers there was Mary from Catherine of Aragon Elizabeth from Anne Boleyn and Edward the sixth from Jane Seymour and despite breaking away from the Pope and initially bringing Protestant reform into England by his death Henry had swung the other way and had made the Church of England very Catholic again so things weren’t looking so good for English reform but now there was a new king young Edward and he was crowned at nine years old what follows in England over the next few decades is basically a religious seesaw England goes back and forth between catholic catholicism and protestantism with edward vi he became king in 1547 he’s only nine years old and you can’t really rule as the king when you’re only nine he needed a Regency council to help him rule a Council of nobles to assist him to rule partially on his behalf this Council of nobles ended up being led by Edward’s uncle men also named Edward and this council Edward included were mostly made up of people sympathetic to Protestantism so you know what that means reform is coming back in England Protestants back on top let’s get the Bible out there let’s get the gospel out there and let’s get rid of all this Catholic nonsense Cranmer who’s still Archbishop at this time he goes all out to bring about reform he published a Protestant Book of Common Prayer to be used in the Anglican churches he created a new set of 52 sermons to be preached according to the church calendar these would be powerful bible-based Protestant sermons he published the thirty-nine articles a declaration of Anglican Protestant theology reformed theology and he reversed Henry the eighth reversal he made it so that clergy could marry again icons were taken down in the churches altars were replaced with wooden tables and priests were replaced with pastors ah finally the hopes that the English reformers are being realized positivism is finally established in England sure there’s some resistance among the populace but no worries they’ll accept the Bible and Protestant reform in time but then Edward suddenly died after raining for only six years July 1553 he died his death the cause of his death is still debated today they could have been a conspiracy or it may have just been illness but either way it brought about a crisis why because being so young Edward did not have an heir there was no male heir and that means a succession dispute the thing that Henry they have been trying to avoid it finally came to pass who’s going to rule England next well Edward Seymour the uncle who had been ruling with the young King he tried desperately to install Lady Jane Grey young Edwards cousin as next in line to the throne but it didn’t work Jane Grey was clean for only nine days Mary Tudor the daughter of Henry the eighth via Catherine was able to secure support from those who were unhappy with Protestant reforms and she achieved her own ascendancy to the throne and put Jane Grey to death so to the horror of all the happy Protestants catholic mary became ruler of England and what do you think Mary did serious tablished Catholicism now we know mary by a different title today Bloody Mary and you’ll see why Mary married the king of Spain who is also Catholic very Catholic and she basically brought the Spanish Inquisition to England Mary executed about 300 Protestant ministers including Thomas Cranmer he may have heard of Cranmer’s death it’s somewhat dramatic he was forced to watch as two of his bishops two of his pastors Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake and Cranmer was very affected and he recanted he recanted a Protestant ISM he said Catholics were right all along I’ve done wrong just accept me back into the Catholic Church but Mary didn’t like Cranmer and she said you’re gonna be executed anyways even though you’ve her canted so as Cranmer was being put at the stake he recanted of his recanting he said that I shouldn’t have recanted the Bible the gospel of the desert preached by Parsons is true and when the flames when the flames are being put to the stake and into the surrounding fuel Cranmer dramatically thrust his hand into the flames and he said this hand that wrote my reckon tation it will be the first to burn because it almost caused me to deny the truth and to be unfaithful to my lord so Cranmer died number of other men died by being burned at the stake it’s during this period that the english historian john fox wrote and published is excuse me he will published his famous book of martyrs and he was trying to encourage his protestant brethren that were suffering under mary the they were not unlike those of the those early Christian martyrs and even the pre reformers trying to show that yes we may be suffering we may even be dying for our faith we’re in a long line of men and women faithful men and women who have done so it’s actually Fox pardon me actually Fox who gives that Mary the epithet Bloody Mary he’s the one who gave her that term as one historian pointed out though she probably should have been called crispy Mary because she didn’t shed blood she just burned people anyways as a result of Mary’s persecution many English Protestants fled England she’s just taking out pastors right and left they fled England for the continent they looked for safe haven and many of them became even more passionate about reform and about the Bible because they went to bastions of reform like Geneva like Zurich like Strasbourg they got even more fired up while they were on the continent well and looked like now the England was going to go back to Catholicism after all Mary’s Inquisition was gonna kill her exile every English every English Protestant so that there would be none left in England the Ben Mary died she died after only five years of rule and she didn’t have a male heir and the English were never going to allow the crown to pass to Mary’s husband King of Spain who was Spain was it frequently at odds with England so they made it they made sure that the crown would go a different way the throne would pass through a different person the last surviving heir of Henry the eighth his daughter Elizabeth the first and she came to the throne in 1558 now historians say that Elizabeth was one of the most skillful rulers that has ever lived she grew up Protestant but witnessing the execution of her mother and her father’s other wives as well as the religious turmoil that was continually going on between the reform the reforming Protestants and the Catholics in England must have had a profound effect on her she upon her accession was determined to bring stability to England which meant charting religiously a middle course after her ascendancy Elizabeth repealed Mary’s pro-catholic policies and she reestablished the Protestant Church of England which she was declared the supreme governor in 1559 she was kind of a leader of the church but she wasn’t a male so they wouldn’t call her the head of the church she was just a Supreme Governor hex loud English Protestants they came back to England and they were ready to implement reform but the tricks that Elizabeth wanted to create was a hybrid Church one that had reformed theology you know salvation by faith predestination all that but with a very Catholic liturgy and Catholic Church hierarchy even though the mass was forbidden in the land under Elizabeth and church attendance was mandatory Elizabeth was very careful to instruct her clergy to create and use a liturgy that could work for both Catholics and Protestants with language for instance of the Eucharist that allowed for both transubstantiation and the memorial view in essence you were allowed to be Catholic in England as long as you went to the Anglican Church and obeyed Elizabeth over the Pope if you stubbornly held to the Pope a supreme then Elizabeth and her agents were going to hunt you down she was not gonna allow that kind of unrest to fester she arrested many Catholics and executed them as treasonous rebels especially monks and priests but many other Catholics were allowed to continue to practice Catholicism secretly crypto Catholics you’re also allowed to be reformed in England but you had to still go to the Anglican Church and obey Elizabeth over the Bible if you did not submit to Elizabeth and her angry at church her agents were also going to go after you you would be arrested and you would be in prison no I’m not don’t think she really executed those who were reformed so Elizabeth policy in a purely political sense was quite a student and it worked it was helped by the fact that she lived long enough to see it enforced Elizabeth reigned 44 years that is a long time for a ruler Doreen gethype Catholicism was mostly stamped out in England but it continued secretly in various places those who felt like Elizabeth reforms were not going far enough they also continued secret ministry these people these people became known as the separatists they were the predecessors to those who he called the Puritans the separatists and they were persecuted they’re persecuted by Elizabeth’s government so within or I should say this to most people in England though they gradually began to embrace the Anglican middle road so not quite Catholic but not fully reformed within the Anglican Church though there did develop a pro Catholic and a pro reformed split there were two different camps each one was trying to move the state Church in one of those directions the pro Reformed camp those who sought to purify the English church from within they later became known as the Puritans which much like most religious names names of religious groups this was at first a derogatory term a sarcastic term Oh their church isn’t pure enough for you I’m sorry you must be a Puritan so you have this group trying to move the church toward more greater faithfulness to the Bible they become known as the Puritans but you’ve still got the pro Catholic group – there’s a measure of peace and stability in England during Elizabeth’s reign and it’s bolstered by a seemingly miraculous event the Spanish Armada huge fleet was intent on invading England in 1588 bring a whole bunch of soldiers to invade England but it never made it to England because what happened the Protestant wind at least that’s what it was called this massive fleet was going to invade England but it got caught in a storm which severely damaged the fleet disorganized the fleet and after that storm a small English fleet of more maneuverable ships was able to inflict heavy damage on the Spaniards and the invasion was broken Spanish had to flee and people in England began to think God must be with Elizabeth and must be with her church if he would send the wind and storm that decimated the Spanish fleet and prevented the invasion of course that’s not very good exegesis that’s based off of circumstance not the Bible but that’s what many of them thought also English elizabeth simply outlasted many Catholic and reformed partisans one source one historical source puts it this way and there were surely many families throughout England just waiting for the ruler to change again so that their true religion might be firmly established in England but the parents in these families they all died before a change in rule could happen and their kids had grown up in the Anglican Church and acquired a taste for it so that next generation wasn’t as zealous to see the church change Elizabeth never married hence her title the Virgin Queen as she died of illness in 1603 at the age of 70 a remarkably long life and remarkably long reign but once again there is no heir who’s gonna rule England next are we gonna have another Civil War and more importantly when that next ruler takes at the road would he change the moderate Protestantism that Elizabeth worked so hard to create well it turns out that the reigning king of Scotland at this time James the 6th was distantly related to Elizabeth a great-grandmother James of Scotland therefore was given the English crown and James the sixth of Scotland became James the first of England now this had the Puritans and the separatists in England really excited because Scotland was very much reformed surely James would bring that reform to the Church of England take us all the way James but before we see whether that happened wait a minute when it’s Scotland become so reformed well that has to do with a man named John Knox let’s jump back a century talk about Scottish Reformation so we’ve talked about English let’s move over to Scotland huh John Knox lived in one of those fiery reformers it was said that when he preached he basically flew out of the pulpit not literally but that was the kind of intensity that he had he was a very zealous very passionate very bold man maybe even a little too much at times he’s known today not only as a great reformer and the founder of Presbyterianism but he’s also known as the man who made the Queen of Scotland cry who was knocks well Knox was a Scottish Catholic priest who after training at university worked as a private tutor by 1544 at the age of 34 due to certain preachers certain gospel preachers in Scotland Knox had become a true believer Nach actually became the bodyguard of one of those preachers they certain George Wishart that Knox had a two-handed sword ready to for any Catholic who wanted to attack Wishard but Knox could not protect wish it from the law and it was a Catholic government in Scotland wish it was arrested and charged with heresy by a certain Cardinal Cardinal David beaten in 1545 so this Wishard is taken into prison Knox wanted to accompany Wishard into prison but Wishart old Knox they returned to your Barons that is your children and God bless you one is sufficient for a sacrifice Knox followed his mentor’s advice laid low and Wishard was burned at the stake in March of 1546 some of which its other followers however had ideas of revenge just a few months after wish its execution these other followers murdered the Cardinal who had caused the Ector caused which its arrest they murdered this Cardinal and then they holed up with their families in a castle that was by the sea this castle fell under a long siege by the authorities with England Scotland enemy at the time supporting and propping up the rebels who were in the castle Scotland the Scottish armies are besieging the castle but they can’t overcome one besieged the group at the castle sent word to Knox and they asked him hey do you want to join us and be our pastor Knox thought the idea was crazy at first but we eventually agreed we went to the castle and he served as pastor and preacher there for three months asserting publicly for the first time in his ministry the supremacy of the scripture over the Pope and salvation by faith he himself was now a gospel preacher the Scots eventually teamed up with the French using the French Navy to assault the castle and the rebels were defeated in July 1547 Knox while not a murderer was nonetheless seen as complicit in the rebellion and he was sentenced to hard labor serving aboard a French galley no what’s a galley it’s basically a rowboat a rather large one you’ve got a bunch of men manning the wars repelling this maneuverable boat around the ocean one time while aboard this galley so he’s aboard this French naval ship Knox says that the French overseers were conducting the mass and insisting that the prisoners show veneration so one of the resistant prisoners probably knocks himself the overseers member we got taskmasters basically ready to whip you in line make sure you’re doing your job when his overseers thrust an icon of Mary into this one person space demanding that the prisoners show veneration by kissing the icon well the prisoner took the icon and threw it overboard again this is probably Knox and this prisoner said quote let our lady now save herself she is light enough let her learn to swim unquote another notable instance while Knox was serving on the galleys Knox was passing by Scotland on one of his voyages and Knox uttered a famous passionate prayer to God perhaps some of you have heard it he cried to the Lord lord give me Scotland or I die who is zealous to see the people of Scotland saved and given the Bible Knox was released from galleys service after about 16 months but he was not allowed to return to Scotland he instead went to England and this time is Edward the sixth reigning remember he’s the pro Protestant ruler Protestantism is in season and so Knox finds work being a pastor and preaching the Bible preaching reform while in England Knox gets married our first of two marriages he married Margaret both and he became royal chaplain to Edward the 6th himself but as we saw Edward soon died and with Mary coming to the throne Knox knew it was time for him and his family to leave England Knox fled to Europe he traveled to Calvin’s Geneva in 1554 and there he firmly embraced the reformed tradition was mentioned by Calvin understood theology better became very much a reformed preacher he did spend some time also in Frankfurt but most of his time was in Geneva and while there he served as a pastor to other English refugees or to English refugees not to Scotch also while a Geneva knocks made a missionary trip to Scotland and he found the people were very receptive to the gospel there they were hungry for it much more so than when George Wishard first came to preach and Knox was converted so after a time of fruitful preaching Knox returned to Geneva another thing that happened while at Knox was at Geneva he began to publish some pretty bold and controversial works he published for example denunciations of both Mary Tudor the Catholic Queen of England and charles v the catholic holy roman emperor calvin aware of these publications tried to get knox to tone down his words a little bit but knox top compelled to leave them as they were come on these people deserve these denunciations why are you trying to hold me back in 1558 knox published his most famous or perhaps most infamous work which has a quite a provocative title i’ve listed it there on the slide the work was the first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous regiment of women what was that all about well basically in this pamphlet knox asserted that it was evil and unnatural for a woman to rule or have authority over a man now knox is not talking in this pamphlet about how evil women are intrinsically knox is married after all he’s not gonna get away with it but he was specifically condemning female rule over men the modern readers like to label this work as misogynistic but we know what the bible does address this issue well at least in some sense Bible makes clear in first Timothy first Timothy 2 in 1st Corinthians 14 that women are not to teach men in the church or exercise spiritual authority over men this has nothing to do as you know with the ability or worth of women but everything to do with the special roles that God has ordained for male and female but does this principle extend outside the church can women rule nations that have men can women be CEOs can a woman be President of the United States of course this has been an issue in our last two presidential elections can a woman still be submitting to her husband if she technically rules over him as an executive and if she submits to him does that make her husband the de facto ruler so we’ve been dealing with this issue ourselves Knox argued that the Bible’s principle did go beyond the church but he had a bit of a bias he disapproved of the current Queen’s in England and Scotland that’s Mary the first of England and Mary of Gea’s in Scotland soar to Mary’s because they were both Catholic if they weren’t Catholic Knox probably wouldn’t have had as much problem with them even in this work we can see that it’s not they’re being women that bothers them so much but it’s that they are wicked women papist women so we published this pamphlet but Knox knew that Calvin would not approve of this fiery anti-female rule pamphlet so Knox actually published it under a pseudonym thick name the work did cause quite a stir about Europe and Knox and himself in a bit of trouble because Mary died quickly as we saw and who was the next ruler in England another woman Elizabeth the first now Knox was not he didn’t have a problem with Elizabeth because she was Protestant but Elizabeth read Knox’s work and was not happy about it she wouldn’t let Knox into England Knox felt it was time to return to Scotland after Mary’s death and he did so he had to take the long way because it wasn’t allowed to go in England he returned to Scotland in 1559 and began to vigorously preach the Bible stirring up the country bringing about revival causing the society to brace embrace more reform but it was so he was so fiery and so zealous and he was staring up to people so much that he merely caused a revolution almost caused people to rebel under Knox’s influence Scotland thoroughly embraced reformed teaching reformed doctrine and though the current Catholic ruler Mary of Gea’s opposed Knox she soon died herself all the Catholic rulers they just keep on dying next ruler also named Mary Wow what’s with all the Mary’s Mary Queen of Scots she became ruler she was Catholic but she gave toleration to the Scottish Protestants it was this young Mary that Knox made to cry she apparently was young beautiful and charming but she was one of the few Catholics left in Scotland she often sent for Knox to come to her court and she tried to dissuade to prevent Knox from speaking against the Catholics and speaking against her rule but Knox insisted I’ve got to say what the Bible says the Bible condemns your Catholicism and you’re wrong to practice it as a ruler for instance when she expressed a desire to marry the Catholic Prince of Spain knocks her Knox book publicly against it as dangerous to Scotland she tearfully confronted Knox and said what have ye to do with my marriage Knox admitted madam in God’s presence I speak I never delighted in the weeping of any of God’s creatures yea I can scarcely well abide the tears of my own boys whom my own hand corrects much less can I rejoice in your Majesty’s weeping but again Knox insisted that he had a duty before God and Scotland to speak even if it made the maid the queen cry in another interview with Mary Queen of Scots Knox Express something quite radical even for Protestants now listen as I share an excerpt from this interview I remember if I have a slide of it or not no no all right I’ll just have to say it please listen this is a conversation that Knox had with Mary scoffs after marrying accused knocks of inciting people to rebel against Queen Mary she asked the preacher think ye that subjects have having the power may resist their princes that is two people have the right to rebel against their rulers Knox replied if their princes exceed their bounds madam no doubt they may be resisted even by power that is by force where there is neither greater honor nor greater obedience to be given to kings or princes then God hath commanded to be given unto father and mother but the father may be stricken with a frenzy in which he would slay his children the children arise join themselves together apprehend the father take the sword from him bind his hands and keep him in prison till his frenzy be over passed think he madam that children do any wrong or that the children do any wrong it is even so madam with princes that would murder the children of God that are subjects on to them their blind zeal is nothing but a very mad frenzy and therefore to take the sword from them to bind their hands and to cast them into prison till they be brought to a more sober mind is no disobedience against princes but just obedience because it agree with the will of God notice what Knox is saying he is saying that Christians can rebel against their rulers if their rulers do evil in fact such rebellion constitutes obedience to those rulers and to God therefore failure to rebel against such an evil ruler must be what sin if you refuse to rebel against an evil ruler that’s persecuting godly people you’re sinning now one has to question whether Knox’s analogy of a wicked ruler to a frenzied parent it’s actually valid restraining someone’s madness is a little different than armed rebellion against a sober but Catholic ruler and some seems like a neat way to explain away Romans 13 regardless Knox’s assertion was a very bold one and it Kemp to rise his ministry the Queen didn’t even know how to react and not to the statement when he expressed it she just sat stunt so he continues to preach he continues to oppose the Queen the Mary Queen of Scots would soon be removed from the throne of Scotland after a bizarre set of events these events involve murder marriage intrigue Mary was imprisoned but she escaped and fled to England where she lives in house arrest until she was implicated in a plot to assassinate Elizabeth perhaps falsely implicated and Mary Queen of Scots was put to death Scotland meanwhile without the Queen endured a period of civil war kingdom emerged as a Presbyterian one under Mary’s son James the six now when I say Presbyterian I don’t know what that brings to your mind there are some really good Presbyterians out there today we of course disagree with some some of their beliefs not super majorly but Presbyterians at this time we’re talking very very good press with Jane Eagles reformed we’d like the Presbyterians of Scotland they’re very much fellow brethren committed to the gospel committed to the Bible and the sound doctrine so Scotland becomes Presbyterian this is amazing James the sixth comes to the throne and the Scottish Presbyterian Church is completely reformed under James the sixth and he he embraces their reformed doctrine himself Knox each knut to preach until the end of his life though he grew feeble increasingly feeble and his voice became weak he died poor November 24th 1572 and he only had a little to leave behind to his then second what second wife Margaret Stewart his first wife had died in 1560 knock claimed at his death quote none have I corrupted none of I defrauded merchandise I have not made unquote he was buried in the churchyard in st.
Gill’s which today has been turned into a street so if you visit Edinburgh in Scotland and you look for his burial site all that remains is a slab in the street with the letters I K which is Latin for John Knox and that marks where he’s buried a somewhat humble end for Knox but like Calvin you would have preferred it that way when Knox Polk of great preachers during his time he referred to them in this way quote God gave His Holy Spirit to simple men in great abundance unquote and Knox considered himself one of those simple men that God simply used by God’s great holy spirit so what happened to Protestantism in England after James the sixth of Scotland reformed Presbyterian Scotland became James the first of England the two were united under one crown surely the Anglican Church would become fully reformed does King James and yes it’s that King James does King James saved the day alas no King James though we know him for his famous commissioning of a influential Bible translation actually kept intact Elizabeth’s middle road Anglican system in fact once he became the king of England James persecuted the Puritans and she tried to impose the Anglican version of the church on Presbyterian Scotland and this provoked widespread opposition so agitation for a more biblical church continued to exist in both England and Scotland going into the mid 1600s so you see there’s not a really a neat ending to the reform movement in England it doesn’t quite go all the way it just remains a battleground a theological battleground a spiritual battle ground between those who want a compromised Church a Catholic Church or a fully biblical Church so we’ve seen reform – we’ve seen reform we’ve seen the gospel we’ve seen the Bible come to various parts of Europe under bold but persecuted preachers but what can we learn from all this what patterns emerge in the lives and ministries of these men what were the results of the Reformation going forward in Europe and even into America well those are the questions that we’re going to take up again in our last class which will be entitled Reformation aftermath that’s it for today though any questions with our last few minutes questions or comments on today’s lesson yeah yeah that’s interesting that’s a good point I just repeat your comment it doesn’t remind you just a little bit of kings of Judah going back and forth between righteousness and unrighteousness yeah definitely other questions or comments as far as I understand I believe the elders would agree with this the Bible limits the authority of women to limits the authority of women in the church they are not to exercise authority over men in a spiritual way you know the verses from both first Timothy and first Corinthians I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man the other verse that says women are to keep silent in the churches clearly the context there is of the church and how to run the church in both of those instances those the principle extend outside of the church I don’t think so I think the elders would agree I know there some Christians would say even today that that is true and they would not want to vote for a woman of Protestant or oppressive president or even have a queen rule a nation it is interesting though that there were queens in the Old Testament even in Judah we did have some wicked Queens at the light comes to mind but there’s a we don’t have a specific condemnation of having a queen as a ruler so I would not go that far as nächsten do you have any other questions or comments please email me or speak of me in some way but next week we’ll consider we’ll bring everything together make some conclusions see what we can learn from what these men and what they suffered as a whole and talk about what happened next did the Reformation end was the Reformation successful what were the consequences we’ll talk about all of that let me close in prayer Oh God we do thank you again for this history we see that you were we graciously out your word to go forward you allowed the Bible tip to not pass away but to come back into the hands Oh common people and where that tradition has been a benefit to us today because of the Reformation because of the dissemination of the Bible we have the Bible today we can talk about it freely we can preach it thank you for these men and women who came before us who were even willing to suffer to the point of death for your sake Oh God the sake of your son and for the sake of the people whom they wanted to see come to you Lord give us that same passion give us that same boldness protect us God from the fear of persecution from laziness that says Oh somebody else will go no God you’ve attained us to go the fields are white unto harvest but the workers are few reason where workers God raised us up in Jesus name Amen Thank You Calvary I’ll see you next week