John Knox was in Ormiston, Scotland, on the fateful evening in 1546 when Cardinal Beaton arrested George Wishart. John tried to defend his friend with steel, but Wishart plucked the sword out of his hand. He would burn for preaching reform in Scotland but John need not. Wishart's death helped map John's future.

Others besides John Knox admired Wishart. Certain reform-minded Scots were so outraged by his execution that they assassinated Beaton in his castle at St. Andrews and holed up within its walls.

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When a roundup of Wishart supporters began, John fled to St. Andrews for protection. His teaching so impressed the assassins that they asked him to become their pastor. John said no. The rebels argued that he was refusing the call of God. John finally gave in. "Yet how small was my learning, and how weak I was of judgment when Christ Jesus called me..." he later wrote.

John preached in the castle and in nearby towns, despite danger to himself. Like Wishart, he would boldly preach the Scriptures.

Pull that oar!
French galleys attacked St. Andrews to avenge Beaton's death. After a short resistance, the men in the castle saw that they would have to surrender and cut a deal with the French. Promised their freedom, they were instead made slaves in the galleys. John, one of these slaves, was chained to a bench and forced to pull a heavy oar.

He became so ill that no one expected him to live. Yet, one day, in sight of St. Andrews he prophesied, "...I see the steeple of that place where God first opened my mouth in public to his glory, and I am fully persuaded, however weak I appear, that I shall not depart this life till my tongue shall glorify His godly name in the same place." He recovered.

Interlude in Edward's England
When he was freed, John went to England. King Edward VI loved him and made him a royal chaplain. John preached a scalding sermon against treachery. Edward's lords knew he was rebuking the advantage they took of their young king, and they hated John for it.

Edward died and Mary Tudor became queen. John had to leave his wife and flee to Switzerland and John Calvin's Geneva for safety because Catholic Mary burned outspoken Protestants.

Later, when John returned to England to fetch his wife, he found that reform ideas were still bubbling in Scotland. He crossed over from England to preach. The Black Friars summoned him to Edinburgh to answer charges of heresy. Powerful lords supported John, and the friars backed down. He returned again to Geneva safely with his family.

Nearly captured and burned
John wrote letters home, encouraging reform. Scottish lords begged him to return. He agreed. Word of his arrival thrilled Scotland. John printed his ideas for a new kind of church of free men under Christ. Many Scots followed him. The Catholic rulers faltered.

But the mood changed. John was nearly captured and punished as a second Wishart. In the nick of time, friends rescued him. The situation soured for the reformers, and they were ready to give up until John stirred up their courage and hope.

The tide finally turned when Elizabeth took the English throne. England and Scotland signed a treaty that freed John to build the Kirk (Church). Under John, no one was burned or tortured for faith in Scotland.