John Knox Books: His History, Sermons and the First Blast Explained

Church HistorySermonsBiography

John Knox (c. 1514–1572) led the Reformation in Scotland, and most of what he wrote came out of that struggle: sermons, letters and tracts to persecuted Protestants, the plan for a reformed church, and a long History of the Reformation in Scotland that he wrote while the events were still fresh. TheWay Library has four books with his writings, all free to read. Two of them are the first volumes of David Laing's great nineteenth-century edition of his Works, and they need a word of explanation before you open them. For his life story, see who was John Knox.

Where to start

Start with The Pulpit of the Reformation. It's short, it's in modern spelling, and it has Knox's most famous surviving sermon. Then, if you want the story of the Scottish Reformation from the man at its center, go to his History in the two volumes of the Works. Read The First Blast of the Trumpet when you want to see the famous tract in its original form.

A note on spelling: the Works print Knox in the Scots of the 1500s ("quhilk" for "which," "thair" for "their," "Kirk" for "church"), and the First Blast keeps its old English printing, with u and v swapped. Reading aloud helps a great deal. Volume 2 ends with a glossary.

The Pulpit of the Reformation

A small collection of Reformation sermons first printed in four numbers. Only two pieces are by Knox; the rest are by other preachers:

• John Welch, the son-in-law of Knox, on the last judgment.
• Hugh Latimer, the English bishop and martyr, in three pieces: on the day of judgment, on the laborers in the vineyard, and on the wheat and the tares.
• John Knox, A Sermon on Isaiah 26. Knox preached it in St. Giles' in August 1565 with Lord Darnley, the queen's new husband, in the congregation. Darnley took offense, and Knox was called before the council the same afternoon. He wrote the sermon out afterward so people could judge for themselves. It's about God's people under oppression, the limits God sets on the power of kings, and the hope of the resurrection.
• John Knox, "It Is I, Be Not Afraid", a short passage from his Admonition to England of 1554, comforting persecuted Protestants with Christ's words on the stormy sea.

Only let us cleave to his truth, and study to conform our lives to the same, and he shall multiply his knowledge, and increase his people.

The Pulpit of the Reformation, A Sermon On Isaiah XXVI. By John Knox

Read The Pulpit of the Reformation.

The Works of John Knox, Volume 1

This is the first volume of Laing's edition, and it holds the first two of the five books of Knox's History of the Reformation in Scotland. In this digital copy the section titles don't match what's inside them, so here's what the volume actually holds, in order:

• Chronological Notes: a timeline of Knox's life, followed by Laing's account of the manuscripts and the printed editions of the History.
• The section labeled "Preface" is really Book First of the History. It opens with Knox's own preface to the reader, then traces the Scottish Reformation from the Lollards of the 1400s through the burning of Patrick Hamilton, the preaching and martyrdom of George Wishart, the killing of Cardinal Beaton, Knox's call to preach in St. Andrews Castle, his time in the French galleys, his years in England and Geneva, and his return visits to Scotland up to 1558. This is the most readable and moving part of the whole History.
• The section labeled "Prefatio" is really Book Second of the History, covering 1558 and 1559: the Protestant lords' bonds, petitions and letters, and their armed struggle with the Queen Regent, Mary of Guise. Knox quotes many documents in full.
• The section labeled "Appendix" and the one labeled "Book Second" together hold Appendix No. I: a long list of the changes and additions in David Buchanan's 1644 printing of the History, keyed to page and line.
• Nos. II to XVIII are Laing's notes on people and events: the Lollards, Patrick Hamilton, the royal pilgrimages to St. Duthac's shrine, Henry Forrest and other martyrs, the Protestant exiles, George Wishart, John Rough, Walter Myln, the St. Giles' Day riot of 1558, a letter of Mary Queen of Scots, David Forrest and others. The last section, No. XVIII, runs on into the volume's footnotes.

Thair was none found who begane not to inquyre, Whairfoir was Maistir Patrik Hammyltoun brunt?

The Works of John Knox, Volume 1, Book First of the History

Read The Works of John Knox, Volume 1.

The Works of John Knox, Volume 2

The second volume continues the History, with the church's plan of 1560 placed in the middle. Laing's volume began with Book Third (1559 and 1560), but that book's text isn't in this digital copy; only its list of variant readings survives in the appendix. Here's what the volume actually holds:

• The section labeled "The Preface" holds two works. First comes the First Book of Discipline of 1560, which Knox wrote with five other ministers for the Great Council of Scotland. It sets out the reformed church's order under heads such as doctrine, sacraments, ministers, elders, schools, universities and care for the poor. Then comes Book Fourth of the History, from 1561 to 1564: Mary Queen of Scots' arrival, the Mass in her chapel, Knox's famous interviews with her, the General Assemblies, and his long debate with the queen's secretary, Maitland of Lethington, over whether subjects may resist their rulers.
• The section labeled "Introductory Notice to Book Fifth" holds Laing's notice and then Book Fifth itself, which carries the story from 1564 to Mary's abdication in 1567. It was first printed by David Buchanan in 1644, and scholars have long doubted that Knox wrote it in its present form.
• The Appendix lists variant readings for Books Third and Fourth. Nos. II to VI are notes on Spottiswood's edition of the Book of Discipline, the funeral of Mary of Guise, Friar John Black, David Riccio and the abbots of Culross and Lindores.
• The Glossary explains old Scots words, and it's useful for both volumes.

Madam, in Goddis presence I speak: I never delyted in the weaping of any of Goddis creatures

The Works of John Knox, Volume 2, Book Fourth of the History

Read The Works of John Knox, Volume 2.

The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women

Knox's notorious tract of 1558, printed without his name in Geneva. "Regiment" means rule. He argued from nature, Scripture and the church fathers that it was against God's order for a woman to rule a nation. He wrote it against the Catholic queens then persecuting Protestants, chiefly Mary Tudor, but it appeared just before Elizabeth came to the English throne, and it cost him her favor.

This is Edward Arber's 1878 edition, in the original spelling. It contains a bibliography; an introduction on the five women who held the fate of Protestant Europe in their hands; extracts from Laing on the uproar the tract caused; Knox's preface, which rebukes England's exiled preachers for their silence; the treatise itself; Knox's note to the reader, with the points he meant to argue in a second blast; and an appendix of his letters to William Cecil and Queen Elizabeth explaining himself. It's a book for students of the period more than for devotional reading.

Read The First Blast of the Trumpet.

A modern-English portrait

If you'd like an introduction to Knox before you tackle his Scots, read James Stalker's John Knox: His Ideas and Ideals, a short and warm study by a later Scottish minister. See also our guide to James Stalker's books.

Why read Knox today

Knox shows what it costs to preach the Word of God when rulers don't want to hear it. His History is a firsthand account of a whole nation turning to the gospel, and his sermon on Isaiah 26 still comforts a church under pressure. Start with The Pulpit of the Reformation, and see our collection of John Knox quotes for his best lines. All his books are on the John Knox author page.