John Knox and Queen Mary of England
John Knox (1505- 1572) was) was a Scottish minister, theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country’s Reformation. In 1557, Knox had found himself confronted with a Queen of England, a Queen of Scotland, and a Queen-Regent in Scotland—all of them ladies immersed in Catholicism, and each in a position which, in his view, implied the duty of selecting religion for all her lieges.
Knox thought he found a mitigation in the view (held by thinkers and publicists at the time) that women should not be entrusted with such a power.
According to his view, women would not be sovereigns at all. But, in truth, this was but one branch of the general grievance of arbitrary power in that age. The Reformation took place, we must always remember, at a time when the hereditary authority of kings was greater than either before or since.
And this arbitrary power of one man became, if possible, a little more absurd when it happened to be the power of one woman-Catherine of Aragon aka Queen Mary though we’ve come to know her by her nickname–Blood Mary.
The pulpit in those days could sometimes combine the functions of free Parliament and free press. And in one of the great sermons before the assembled lords, he offended Queen Mary who was a staunch Catholic by driving right at heart of the situation: divorcing England from the Roman Catholic Church by any means possible and her marriage to Philip II of Spain. In fact when Queen Mary heard that he had preaching against her proposed marriage to Philip, Mary began scolding Knox, and then she burst into tears:
“I have borne with you; she said most truly, “in all your rigorous manner of speaking; I have sought your favour by all possible means.” ”True it is, madam,” he answered, “your Grace and I have been at divers controversies, in which I never perceived your Grace to be offended at me.” “What has this got to do with my marriage?” she asked, and “What about this commonwealth? “A subject born within the same, Madam,” Knox replied.
Knox noted that though he was not of noble birth, he had the same duty as any subject to warn of dangers to the realm. When Mary started to cry again, he said, “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.”
He added that he would rather endure her tears, however, than remain silent and “betray my Commonwealth”. At this, Mary ordered him out of the room.
But apart from political and religious views, John Knox was a man famous for his power in prayer, so that Queen Mary of England used to say that she feared his prayers more than all the armies of Europe. And events showed that she had reason to do it. He used to be in such agony for the deliverance of his country, that he could not sleep. He had a place in his garden where he used to go to pray.
One night he and several friends were praying together, and as they prayed, Knox spoke and said that deliverance had come. He could not tell what had happened, but he felt something had taken place, for God had heard their prayers. What was it? Why, the next news they had was, that Mary was dead!
God has intervened in many instances in English history in order to ensure that the Protestant Christian position in England should continue to be maintained. There had been plot after plot in England to overthrow her protestant Queen and to reintroduce the Roman Catholic faith in the realm, and all these attempts had been encouraged by King Phillip himself, by the Pope, and by English Roman Catholic exiles operating against England from the Continent. But God in His mercy gave England the victory.
In America, the Pilgrims knew that they would face all kinds of challenges in their pilgrimage, therefore they had to rely on the Lord’s mercy and faithfulness in shaping the destiny of the nation. So they set aside special days of pouring out prayers and fasting to the Lord with great fervency and abundance of tears.
Both spiritually and politically, they “raised up the foundations of many generations” (see Isaiah 58:12). Four centuries later, the people of the United States are still building on the foundations that the Pilgrims laid.
The same spiritual principles of prayer and fasting that we have proved in Russia, Kenya, England, America and many other nations still work in our world today.
However, we need to be reminded that the spiritual condition of the church determines the political, economic, and social condition in the nation in which that church exists. There are no solutions for a nation in critical decline outside of Christ and the Word of God.
Without faith, repentance, and a return to God in submission to His Laws in politicians and people, neither appealing “charismatic” politicians nor referendums by the people have any substance. So long as the church of Jesus Christ worldwide is from backslidden to apostate, I don’t think there are any workable answers to the road to serfdom that we are on today.
We need to declare sacred and solemn assemblies of repentance and corporate fasting in our respective nations— a time set aside for rending our hearts before the Lord.
For the Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness; and He revokes His sentence of evil when His conditions are met. Who knows but what He will turn, revoke our sentence of evil, and leave a blessing behind Him giving us the means with which to serve Him, even a cereal or meal offering and a drink offering for the Lord, our God (see Joel 2:13-14).
Until next time…The Lord willing.
