The Collected Prayers of John Knox

By John Knox

Come and take a look inside the prayers of the famous Scottish Reformer John Knox. One of the largest oppositions to his ministry, Queen Mary of the Scots is said to have said, “I fear John Knox’s prayers more than all the assembled armies of Europe." John Knox was one of the Reformation's greatest prayer warriors, famous for crying out to God and praying, “Give me Scotland, Lord, or I die!”. Various prayers of Knox from six varying themes make up this book, with the sections listed below.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: John Knox’s Theology, Spirituality, and Practice of Prayer
Section One: Penitential Prayers
Section Two: Thanksgiving for Deliverance
Section Three: Supplications in Times of Difficulty
Section Four: Prayers for the Needs of the Church
Section Five: Prayers for Sacramental Occasions
Section Six: Prayers for the Routine of Daily Life

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
• Release date: Jan 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9781601786678

John Knox

John Knox first became an observer of American politics during the Perot campaign of 1992. He has held a wide range of working class jobs. John is a lover of history, a fan of classic films, and literature. John wrote his Third House of Congress while watching, as so many Americans, were unable to change federal policies that imposed upon their lives.

Book preview

The Collected Prayers of

JOHN KNOX

Edited and Introduced by

Brian G. Najapfour

Foreword by R. Sherman Isbell

Reformation Heritage Books

Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Collected Prayers of John Knox

© 2019 by Brian G. Najapfour

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Direct your requests to the publisher at the following addresses:

Reformation Heritage Books

2965 Leonard St. NE

Grand Rapids, MI 49525

616-977-0889

[e-mail]

www.heritagebooks.org

Printed in the United States of America

19 20 21 22 23 24/10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Knox, John, approximately 1514-1572, author. | Najapfour, Brian G., editor.

Title: The collected prayers of John Knox / edited and introduced by Brian G. Najapfour ; foreword by R. Sherman Isbell.

Description: Grand Rapids, Michigan : Reformation Heritage Books, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019002501 (print) | LCCN 2019006289 (ebook) | ISBN 9781601786678 (epub) | ISBN 9781601786661 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Prayer—Reformed Church. | Reformed Church—Prayers and devotions. | Prayers.

Classification: LCC BX9427.5.P7 (ebook) | LCC BX9427.5.P7 K56 2019 (print) | DDC 242/.8052—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002501

For additional Reformed literature, request a free book list from Reformation Heritage Books at the above regular or e-mail address.

To

Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin

my teacher in church history and biblical spirituality

with heartfelt thanks

for investing your time in me as your student.

You have taught me more than you will ever know.

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Introduction: John Knox’s Theology, Spirituality, and Practice of Prayer

Penitential Prayers

A Confession

A Confession of Our Sins, Framed to Our Time, Out of the Ninth Chapter of Daniel

Another Confession for All States and Times

Another Confession and Prayer Commonly Used in the Church of Edinburgh on the Day of Common Prayer

A Confession of Sins and Petitions Made unto God in the Time of Our Extreme Troubles, and Yet Commonly Used in the Churches of Scotland before the Sermon

Another Prayer of Confession

A Confession of Our Sins Which We Use in the Time When the Eternal Correcteth Us with Any of His Appointed Scourges for Declining from the Purity of His Word, Whether It Be in Doctrine or Life

A Confession of Sins with Prayer for Remission of the Same to Be Used in These Troublesome Days

Thanksgiving for Deliverance

Thanksgiving for Our Deliverance, with Prayers

A Thanksgiving unto God after Our Deliverance from the Tyranny of the Frenchmen, with Prayers Made for the Continuance of the Peace between the Realms of England and Scotland

Supplications in Times of Difficulty

A Prayer in Time of Affliction

A Prayer Meet to Be Used When God Threateneth His Judgments

A Prayer for Mercy on England and Scotland

A Prayer Used by John Knox after the Regent Murray’s Death

A Prayer for the King

A Complaint of the Tyranny Used against the Saints of God Containing a Confession of Our Sins, and a Prayer for the Deliverance and Preservation of the Church and Confusion of the Enemies

A Prayer on Being Separated from His Congregation

A Prayer of John Knox on His Deathbed

A Prayer to Be Said in Visiting the Sick

A Prayer at the Close of an Exhortation to Seek God’s Mercy

Prayers for the Needs of the Church

A Prayer for the Whole Estate of Christ’s Church

A Prayer Made at the First Assembly of the Congregation When the Confession of Our Faith and Whole Orders of the Church Were There Read and Approved

A Prayer Used in the Assemblies of the Church, as Well Particular as General

The Confession That Shall Go before the Reading of the Law and before Every Exercise

A Confession of Sin after Reading Deuteronomy 27–28 and Spending Time in Self-Examination

The Closing Prayer after an Appointed Fast

A Confession of Sins to Be Used before the Sermon

Another Manner of Prayer after the Sermon

The Prayer for Public Repentance

The Thanksgiving for the Repentance of the Offender

A Prayer for the Obstinate

The Last Prayer before the Excommunication

The Invocation of the Name of Jesus Christ to Excommunicate the Impenitent, Together with the Sentence of Excommunication

Prayer When the Previously Excommunicated Is Received into the Church

A Prayer in Concluding the Reception of the Previously Excommunicated

The Prayer at the Election of Superintendents or Other Ministers

The Prayer in the Election of the Elders and Deacons

A Godly Prayer

Prayer at the End of John Knox’s Sermon on Isaiah 26:13–21

Prayers for Sacramental Occasions

A Prayer Used at Baptism

A Prayer after Baptism

A Prayer Said at the Lord’s Supper

A Prayer of Thanksgiving after the Lord’s Supper

Prayers Used in the Churches of Scotland in the Time of Their Persecution by the Frenchmen, but Principally When the Lord’s Table Was to Be Administered

A Prayer after the Lord’s Supper

Prayers for the Routine of Daily Life

A Form of Prayers to Be Used in Private Houses Every Morning and Evening

A Prayer to Be Said before Meals

Another Thanksgiving before Meals

Another Prayer before Meals

A Thanksgiving after Meals

Another Thanksgiving after Meat

Yet Another Thanksgiving after Meat

A Godly Prayer to Be Said at All Times

A Godly Prayer

A Prayer to Be Said of the Child, before He Study His Lesson

A Prayer to Be Said before a Man Begin His Work

Evening Prayer

FOREWORD

Here for the first time in a single volume are the extant prayers composed by the sixteenth-century Scottish Reformer John Knox. The outward circumstances of their origin reflect a lifetime of tumultuous events and ardent struggle for the advance of Christ’s kingdom in the face of entrenched political and ecclesiastical opposition. Similarly, their inward springs disclose a spirit steeped in the lamentation and confession of sin, hope for mercy, and confident trust in the providence of God that are characteristic of the Psalms, and a heart fixed on the perfect priesthood, sacrifice, and prevailing intercession of the Lord Jesus.

A number of the prayers are presented as the voice of a single individual, but most are in the voice of an assembled Christian congregation. All of them embody the religious outlook and theological affirmations dear to the heart of one of the great Protestant Reformers. Here we see the beliefs that shaped his demeanor and expectation as he entered the presence of God in worship. Here we see his griefs, disappointments, cries for help, submission to God, and perseverance in discipleship. There are prayers designed to accompany each of the ordinances of worship, each step of the church’s nurturing care, and the full range of special providential circumstances through which the people of God will pass. Especially noteworthy is a prayer at the sacrament of baptism, in which God marks our children as those whom He calls to Himself, accompanied by the petition prospectively that the child be defended by God and never allowed to drift out of an acquaintance with Him, lest the child should lose the force of his baptism. A prayer for use when visiting the sick opens the spiritual necessities of the patient and guides us through every possible outcome. Other prayers elevate even the most ordinary tasks of life.

In these prayers we learn something of what the sixteenth-century Reformed tradition intended when it inculcated a life of prayer and the practice of communion with God. Amid so much instructive piety, we may single out three pervasive features. First, there is an adoring reverence and circumspect sobriety when approaching God’s august majesty. The sense that God is so high above us is intensified by a recognition that in all the circumstances of our lives we are in His hands, to receive His mercy or His just displeasure.

Second, we find here that the course of events on the world stage and in our personal histories is regarded as disclosing a titanic conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. We find pleadings that God would remember His covenant with His church and that He would act to shield, protect, and relieve His people from the oppression of Satan, of treacherous foes and marauding armies, and of tyrannizing earthly lords in church and in civil polity.

Third, Knox’s prayers assume that the traits of spirituality in the Old Testament are biblically normative rather than implicitly sub-Christian. Here we find a longing to see God vindicate the divine honor by executing judgment on wickedness. Here we find the cry for God to champion His faithful but maligned servants. Even in moments of thanksgiving after fresh deliverance, there is a wariness of ourselves, lest in the future we fail to guard ourselves with circumspection. There is recognition of God’s chastisement of His people with regard to their sin. Knox also acknowledges that many in the church remain unresponsive to the Word, have only a nominal profession, and are without true faith and repentance, and that the ministry of the Word should address their needy situation. The civil magistrate joins hands with the church in commending to every conscience a communion with God according to His Word as the highest end of a human being. The church, in its devotional posture toward God and in its contemplation of His dealings with us, allows itself to accept guidance from a book in the Old Testament canon, including the use of that book as a song book for the church.

Prayers that originally appeared in settings as diverse as Knox’s History of the Reformation of Religion in Scotland, his letters to beleaguered congregations, or his manuals of worship are here conveniently arranged in a classification according to their theme and their suitable occasions.

The prayers of Knox seem remote from those of the church today. Both should be brought to the bar of Scripture so that we may discover what bears the greatest fidelity to the mind of the Holy Spirit.

R. Sherman Isbell

January 2018

Fairfax, Virginia

PREFACE

This book contains various prayers taken from the writings of the sixteenth-century Scottish Reformer John Knox. These prayers are organized topically into six sections: (1) penitential prayers, (2) thanksgiving for deliverance, (3) supplications in times of difficulty, (4) prayers for the needs of the church, (5) prayers for sacramental occasions, and (6) prayers for the routine of daily life. Perhaps of all his prayers, Give me Scotland, or I die is the most quoted one. This earnest prayer shows his intense desire for the conversion of Scotland; if this were not realized, he would likely die of grief. The apostle Paul expresses similarly his great longing for Israel’s conversion when he says, Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved (Rom. 10:1).

Since Knox wrote in the Scots dialect, I decided to modernize obsolete words found in his prayers. In addition, I standardized the spelling and punctuation to conform them to contemporary convention. For example, the original prayer

O Lord, to quhome all power is gevin in heavin and in eirthe, thow that art the Eternall Sone of the Eternall Father, quho hes not onley so luifit thy Kirk, that for the redepemtioun and purgatioun of the same, thow hes humilled thyself to the deyth of the Croce; and thareupoun hes sched thy most innocent bluid, to prepair to thyself a Spous without spott; bot also, to retein this thy most excellent benefite in memory, hes appointed in thy Kirk, Teichears, Pastores, and Apostles, to instruct, comfort, and admonische the same.

is now

O Lord, to whom all power is given in heaven and in earth, Thou that art the eternal Son of the eternal Father, who hast not only so loved Thy church—that for the redemption and purgation of the same Thou hast humbled Thyself to the death of the cross and thereupon hast shed Thy most innocent blood, to prepare to Thyself a spouse without spot—but also, to retain this Thy most excellent benefit in memory, hast appointed in Thy church teachers, pastors, and apostles to instruct, comfort, and admonish the same.

When necessary, to smooth out the flow of Knox’s thoughts, I also carefully revised his prayers without losing their original intended meaning. Lastly, I supplied titles for Knox’s prayers that have no titles in the