MINISTRY IN BERWICK-ON-TWEED, 1549-1550.
By what means Knox obtained his release from the galling servitude in
which he had been held by the French, we have not been able to
discover; but it is believed that he was indebted for it to the
intercession of England, and it is certain that in the early part of
the year 1549, he was employed by the Privy Council of that country as
one of the ministers whom its members commissioned to preach the
doctrines of the Reformation throughout the kingdom. The probability
is that he arrived in London about the month of February, and it is
conjectured that as Henry Balnaves was in that city as a commissioner
from the besieged in St. Andrews, at the time of the death of Henry
VIII., Knox, who had just then entered upon his ministry, may have been
beholden to his friend for bringing his name to the favourable notice
of the English Reformers. But however that may have been, we come upon
authentic and reliable information, when we find in the register of the
Privy Council, under date April 7th, 1549, an entry authorizing the
payment of five pounds "to {30} John Knox, preacher, by way of reward."
Besides this, his name occurs as the sixty-fourth in a list of eighty
who obtained licence to preach in England during the reign of Edward
the Sixth. He himself informs us in his History, that "he was first
appointed preacher to Berwick, then to Newcastle; last he was called to
London and to the southern parts of England, where he remained till the
death of Edward the Sixth." This is all that he has said directly in
that work concerning his residence in England; but so much new light
has been shed on this part of the Reformer's career by the painstaking
and elaborate monogram of Dr. Lorimer, that we are now able to follow
his steps with something like minuteness.
He was settled first at the border town of Berwick-on-Tweed, which in
those days was "the focus of a long and bloody war between the two
kingdoms, which had begun with the tremendous slaughter of the Scots at
Pinkey in the autumn of 1547, and in which the Scots, having received
large assistance from France, were still able to maintain so vigorous a
defence that there was no near prospect of a return of peace."[1] Thus
it happened that its garrison was larger than ordinary, and everything
about the place was volcanic. Quarrels among the soldiers were common,
and the civilians themselves were not over peaceful, so that the
chronic state of the town was one of disorder. John Brende, "master of
the musters," reports to the Protector Somerset concerning {31} it:
"There is better order among the Tartars than in this town; the whole
picture of the place is one of social disorder and the worst
police."[2] Besides all this, the great majority of the people were as
yet probably papists, for the doctrines of the Reformation had made
little progress thus far in the northern counties, and matters
ecclesiastical were very unsettled. In March of that year the first
Prayer-Book of Edward VI. was sanctioned by Parliament and published
for the use of the Church. The new liturgy still retained much of the
leaven of sacerdotalism and sacramentarianism, but it was decidedly in
advance of anything which could have been issued in the days of Henry
VIII. It was thoroughly approved by but a portion of the bishops, and
there were several counties in the remoter parts of the kingdom where
it was never introduced at all. Tunstall, then Bishop of Durham, who
was no friend to the cause of reform, was in no haste to give effect to
the new legislation; and the council of the north, to which was
committed the care of public affairs in that then distant corner of the
realm, probably thought it advisable to refrain from enforcing it upon
the people, until they were prepared, by the instructions of some
eminent preacher, for receiving and obeying it. Thus we account for
the fact that, all the time he was in Berwick, Knox was left very much
to his own discretion as to the doctrines which he preached, and the
methods {32} which he adopted for the conduct of Divine service and the
administration of the sacraments.
Already in his preface to Balnaves's treatise on Justification, the
first of his printed productions so far as can be traced, he had
written a summary of his belief on that great central doctrine; and in
his disputation with Arbuckle in St. Andrews, he had been truly charged
with holding the following opinions--viz. first, man may neither make
nor devise a religion that is acceptable to God, but is bound to
observe and keep the religion that from God is received without
chopping or changing thereof; second, the sacraments of the New
Testament ought to be ministered as they were instituted by Christ
Jesus and practised by the apostles, nothing ought to be added to them,
nothing ought to be diminished from them; third, the mass is abominable
idolatry, blasphemous to the death of Christ, and a profanation of the
Lord's Supper. When therefore he began his labours at Berwick he set
himself to the proclamation of the great truths which radiate from the
priesthood of Christ; and in his dispensation of the supper he followed
an order of his own, which was not improbably the same as he had
adopted in the Castle of St. Andrews. This is put beyond dispute by
his letter to the congregation of Berwick, written probably about the
close of 1552, and the fragment entitled "The Practice of the Lord's
Supper used in Berwick-upon-Tweed by John Knox, preacher to the
congregation of the Church there," both of which are to be found in
{33} Dr. Lorimer's Appendix. The matter is of more than mere
antiquarian interest, and we may therefore make one or two extracts
from the more important of these documents.
In regard to his preaching he thus writes: "As for the variety and
diversity of opinions touching the doctrine and chief points of
religion which ye have received, God I take to witness, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, before whom at once shall all flesh appear, that I never
taught unto you, nor unto any others my auditory, that doctrine as
necessary to be believed which I did not find written in God's holy law
and testament. And, therefore, in that case with Paul I will say, 'If
an angel from heaven shall teach unto you another gospel than ye have
heard and externally received, let him be accursed.'" Then after
stating in a positive form what he understands by the gospel he adds:
"If in any of these chief and principal points any man vary from that
doctrine which ye have professed, let him be accursed:[3] (1) as if any
man teach any other cause moving God to elect and choose us than His
own infinite goodness and mere mercy; (2) any other name in heaven or
under the heaven wherein salvation stands, but only the name of Jesus;
(3) any other means whereby we are justified and absolved from wrath
and damnation that our sins deserve, than by faith only; (4) any other
cause or end of good works than that first we are made good trees, and
thereafter bring {34} forth fruits accordingly, to witness that we are
lively members of Christ's holy and most sanctified body, prepared
vessels to the honour and praise of our Father's glory; (5) if any
teach prayers to be made to other than God above; (6) if any Mediator
betwixt God and man, but only our Lord Jesus; (7) if more or other
sacraments be affirmed or required to be used than Christ Jesus left
ordinary in His Church, to wit, Baptism and the Lord's Table, or
mystical supper; (8) if any deny remission of sins, resurrection of the
flesh and life everlasting to appertain to us in Christ's blood, which,
sprinkled in our hearts by faith, doth purge us from all sin; so that
we need no more nor other sacrifices than that oblation once offered
for all, by the which God's elect be fully sanctified and made perfect;
if any I say, require any other sacrifice to be made for sins than
Christ's death, which once He suffered, or any other manner whereby
Christ's death may be applied to man, than by faith only, which also is
the gift of God, so that man hath no cause to glory in works; and yet,
if any deny good works to be profitable as not necessary to a true
Christian profession, let the affirmers, teachers, or maintainers of
such a doctrine be accursed of you, as they are of God unless they
repent." In these articles we are struck with the absence of all
reference to the Holy Spirit and regeneration; but we have many
allusions to these subjects elsewhere, some, indeed, in this very
document, and we may suppose that as it was specifically the
mediatorial work of Christ that was then in controversy, {35} he
designedly restricted himself to that. But from this summary, brief as
it is, we learn that even at this early date, long before he had
visited Geneva, or met Calvin, Knox had found his own way by the study
of the Scriptures to those views of gospel truth which are now
associated with the name of the great Frenchman; and that they formed
the chief themes of his public discourse at Berwick is evident from the
solemn words with which he has here introduced their enumeration.
Nor was his proclamation of them there in vain; for in his vindication
of himself, at a later date before Queen Mary of Scotland, from the
charge of causing great sedition and slaughter in England, and securing
his ends by necromancy, he said among other things, "I shame not
further to affirm that God so blessed my weak labours, that in Berwick,
where commonly before there used to be slaughter by reason of quarrels
that used to arise among the soldiers, there was as great quietness all
the time that I remained there, as there is this day in Edinburgh."[4]
Besides this, there is in the letter from which we have quoted abundant
evidence that his biographer was not wrong when he affirmed that during
his two years in Berwick numbers were converted and a visible
reformation was produced upon the soldiers of the garrison who had been
notorious for turbulence and licentiousness.
But his procedure in regard to the Lord's Supper was even more
remarkable for its independence, than {36} the tenour of his discourses
was for its adherence to the Pauline theology. In the Book of Common
Prayer issued by the joint authorization of Convocation and Parliament
in 1549, the rubric for the Lord's Supper provided that bread
"unleavened and round as it was afore" should be used. But in regard
to that Knox took the bold course of ignoring the authoritative
rubrics. He substituted common bread for the wafer, and he
administered the "elements" to the people while they sat, according to
the form still followed in the nonconforming churches of England, and
the Presbyterian churches in all parts of the world. It may seem to
some that this was a defiance of the law; and perhaps in strictest
construction so it was; but it is to be remembered that, as yet, the
law had not become operative in the district to which Berwick belonged,
and that therefore it was open meanwhile for Knox to take the course
which he believed to be best. Thus he writes:[5] "Kneeling at the
Lord's Supper I have proved by doctrine (teaching) to be no convenient
gesture for a table; (a gesture) which hath been given in that action
to such a presence of Christ, as no place of God's Scripture doth teach
unto us. And therefore, _kneeling in that action_, appearing to be
joined with certain dangers, no less in maintaining superstition than
in using Christ's holy institution with other gestures than either He
used or commanded to be used, _I thought good amongst you to avoid and
to {37} use sitting at the Lord's Table_; which ye did not refuse, but
with all reverence and thanksgiving to God for His truth knowing, as I
suppose, ye confirmed the doctrine with your gestures and confession."
The order which he observed[6] began with a sermon on the benefits
given us by God through Jesus Christ; this was followed by prayer,
after which was read the account of the institution of the ordinance
from 1 Corinthians xi. 20-30. Then a declaration of "what persons be
unworthy to be partakers" was made; after which "common prayer was
offered in the form of confession." At the conclusion of this prayer,
some notable passage in which God's mercy is most evidently declared
was read from the gospel, and thereafter the minister pronounced
absolution to such as unfeignedly repent and believe in Jesus Christ.
After this came prayer for the congregation and for the sovereign.
At this point the fragment which we have been following breaks off, but
there is every reason to believe that the remainder of the service was
the same as that afterwards adopted in Scotland; and any one at all
conversant with the ecclesiastical ritual of the Presbyterian churches
in that country may see in the portion which we have given the origin
of the "action" sermon, the "fencing of the tables;" and the frequent
if not invariable use of the passage from first Corinthians as the
"warrant" for the observance of the Supper, {38} which characterize a
communion "occasion" in that country. But the singular thing about the
matter is that this Puritan and Presbyterian form of administering the
ordinance of the Lord's Supper was observed in England by John Knox
when he was labouring at Berwick as a recognised minister of the Church
of England, and acting under the authority, or perhaps, to put it more
correctly, with the permission, of the government. This was at a date
anterior by ten years to the time when it was introduced into Scotland
with the sanction of its Parliament.
But it deserves notice that although Knox was thus conscientiously
opposed to kneeling at the Lord's Table, he was not so intolerant as to
declare that the taking of that posture at that table was necessarily
sinful. The reader of the letter addressed to the congregation at
Berwick cannot fail to be struck with the broad Pauline spirit
manifested by the Reformer in his treatment of this subject. He is
advising his friends as to what they should do if, now that he had
ceased to have the oversight of them, the practice of kneeling at the
communion table should be insisted upon; and he affirms that he neither
recants nor repents his former teaching, but still prefers sitting to
any other posture; yet he adds[7] "because I am but one having in my
contrair, magistrates, common order, and judgments of many learned, I
am not minded for maintenance of that one thing to gainstand the
magistrates in all and {39} other chief points of religion agreeing
with Christ, and His true doctrine, nor yet to break nor trouble common
Order, thought meet to be kept for unity and peace in the congregations
for a time. And least of all do I intend to condemn or lightly regard
the grave judgments of such men as unfeignedly I fear (reverence), love
and will obey, in all things judged expedient to promote God's glory,
_these subsequents granted to me_." Then follow three conditions which
may be summarized thus,--first, that the magistrates make known that
kneeling is not required for any superstitious reasons or for any
adoration of Christ's natural body believed to be there present, but
only for the sake of uniform Order and that for a time; second, that
kneeling is not imposed as a thing essential to the right observance of
the ordinance, or required by Christ, but enjoined only as a ceremony
thought seemly by men; and third, that the brethren shall have regard
to his conscience, and not bring any uncharitable accusation against
him, because he seeks to follow what Christ has commanded rather than
what men have required. With these concessions granted, he declares
that he would be satisfied; and that there may be no breach of charity,
he recommends his former flock, should these conditions be complied
with, to conform to the requirements of the Prayer-Book if those in
authority should insist on their so doing. We have been the more
particular in bringing out this fact at this particular time, because
of its bearing on his conduct in connection with the {40} issue of the
revised Prayer-Book in 1552, of which we shall have to speak more
particularly by-and-by.
So much for the Reformer's public work in Berwick; but before we
accompany him to Newcastle, we must pause to mention that it was during
his residence at this time in the border town that he made the
acquaintance of and was engaged to the lady who afterwards became his
wife. Her name was Marjory Bowes, and she was the daughter of Richard
Bowes, youngest son of Sir Ralph Bowes, of Streatham. Her mother was
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Aske, of Aske. The father, probably
on account of Knox's religious opinions, was opposed to the marriage,
and so the union was deferred for some years. But the mother was
friendly to the Reformer, and with her he kept up a constant
correspondence in which many of the softer traits of his character come
beautifully out. Mrs. Bowes was subject to religious melancholy, and
the tender manner in which he often seeks in his letters to bind up her
bruised spirit shows that, when occasion needed, he could be a "son of
consolation" as well as a "son of thunder." Sometimes too, as when his
heart was stirred with solicitude for the spiritual interests of those
among whom he had laboured, or when he was required to confront the
possible issue of his uncompromising adherence to what he believed to
be right, he rises to a strain of heroism which reminds us of the
greatest of the apostles. One example of this occurs in his letter to
his Berwick friends, and we may fitly {41} close this chapter by
reproducing it here. "If any man be offended with me that I, willing
to avoid God's wrath and vengeance threatened against such as having no
necessity despise His ordinances, do purpose and intend to obey God,
embracing such as He has offered unto me (rather) than to please and
flatter man that unjustly held the same from me; if any, I say, for
this cause be offended and will seek my displeasure or trouble, let the
same understand, that as I have a body, which only they may hurt, and
not unless God so permit; so have they bodies and souls which both
shall God punish in fire inextinguishably with the devil and his
angels, unless suddenly they repent and cease to malign against God and
His holy ordinance. With life and death, dear brethren, I am at
point,--they before me in equal balances. Transitory life is not so
sweet to me that for defence thereof I will jeopard to lose the life
everlasting. Nor yet is corporeal death to me so fearful that albeit
most certainly I understood the same shortly to follow my godly
purpose, I would therefore depone myself to die in God's wrath and
anger for ever and ever, which no doubt I should do, if for man's
pleasure I refused God's perfect ordinance."[8] There is no mistaking
the ring of such words as these; and lie who wrote them takes his place
in the honourable company of the heroes of conscience to whom the world
no less than the Church has owed so much.
[1] Lorimer, p. 17.
[2] Lorimer, p. 18
[3] Lorimer, pp. 257-8.
[4] Lorimer, p. 16.
[5] Lorimer, p. 261.
[6] Lorimer, p. 290.
[7] Lorimer, pp. 261-2.
[8] Lorimer, p. 260.
{42}