Life of John Knox - M'Crie - XII - Period 7 commenced

Required reading
The life of John Knox by Thomas M'Crie (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Period 7 by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'During the time that Knox was in England, that tragedy, so well known in Scottish history, was acted, which led to a complete revolution in the government of the kingdom...'.

My summary
Knox continues to struggle with Queen of Scotland.  But at the beginning of today's reading, we also find out that Knox's first wife has died and he now takes a second wife.

Knox is then critiqued for:
(i) the mode in which he prayed for her majesty;
(ii) the doctrine which he taught as to the authority of the princes and duty of their subjects.

Then we see trouble erupt from Mary's marriage to a king 'who could be either papist, or protestant as it suited'.  Attempts are even made to stop Knox from preaching when the royals are in town.

Then Roman Catholicism begins to be unashamedly introduced but is 'blasted' when a prominent Roman Catholic is assassinated - without Knox's involvement.

But Knox ends up leaving Edinburgh and finishes today's reading in England trying to supplicate yet another queen, Elizabeth.

What grabbed me
I was not surprised that the royals were offended with Knox's prayers: 'Knox repeated his usual prayer for the queen, and desired to know what was faulty in it.  Maitland said, that he prayed for her conversion conditionally, thereby infusing doubts into the minds of the people as to the probability of that event; and he spake of her as under the bondage of Satan, which was an irreverend expression, not fit to be applied to princes.  The Reformer replied, that the conduct of her majesty gave just grounds to doubt of any change, and that his strongest expressions were warranted by the plain language of Scripture.'

The guy is unflinching!

Next week's reading
Conclude Period 7.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.