Lecture given at the Protestant Reformation Society, Regent’s Park College, Oxford, 2007 The Troubles at Frankfurt A Vindication of our Martyrs’ Legacy The tiny enclave that rescued the Reformation in England Readers of Asterix will be familiar with a tiny fortress, a mere dot on the map of the Roman Empire, which was to bring Rome to its knees. So much for fairy-tales. Solid fact are better than airy fiction. The real Frankfurt of 1553-59 was also a tiny bastion on the Roman Catholic map which because of its hospitality to the bulk of the Marian refugees, succeeded, by God’s grace, in providing the doctrinal and spiritual power which brought down a more dangerous Rome in Reformation England. Sadly… Full Article
Posts Tagged John Knox
Cox and Knox
Nov 3
A letter written to the Bible League Quarterly concerning Richard Cox and John Knox. Sir: Writers of biography have always to guard themselves against presenting their subject so that he stands in exaggerated contrast to his fellow-beings. Knox, of course, is of great interest to students of the Reformation but in presenting him, John Brentnall has painted some of those around him in too sombre colours. For instance, Knox is mentioned as opposing Richard Cox as if Cox were in the wrong. Actually, after studying contemporary Latin, Dutch, French, English, Low German and High German sources on the so-called ‘Troubles at Frankfurt’, one can only conclude that Knox’s alleged opposition to Cox, and so-called Coxian opposition… Full Article
Clifford on Schism
Oct 24
This letter was sent to the English Churchman after reading an ill-informed letter of Dr. Alan Clifford defending certain sixteenth and seventeenth century schisms from the English Reformed Church. Sir: Dr Clifford’s habit of ridiculing sound arguments (see Issue 7710) as ‘vendettas’ and ‘pompous’ and contradicting them with fiction, half-truths and wishful-thinking merely fosters division. His astonishment at Robert Law’s views concerning Seceders arises from his insufficient knowledge of our Reformers and pre-Commonwealth Puritans who were strictly against Secession. The Dutch, Swiss, German, Italian, French, Hungarian and Polish Reformed churches viewed the English Church as exemplary as witnessed… Full Article
Contra Knox
Aug 21
Sir, It was refreshing and challenging to read Mr Wilson’s doughty Scot’s support of Knox though he has given both his countryman and myself the wrong-sized shoes. Furthermore, as Andrew Lang in his definitive work on Knox also says of his subject, Mr Wilson sails dangerously close to the wind in his historical analysis. Yet he calls me controversial! In such discussions, we must take into sympathetic account each other’s background. I argue from the very Puritan and Non-Conformist point of view which Knox opposed. So one could hardly expect me to view Knox as my ideal Reformer. Mr Wilson argues from Knox’s merits in ousting Franco-Popish tyranny from Scotland. I do not challenge these merits in the least, however… Full Article
Puritan Papers
Aug 18
Puritan Papers Volume I, 1956-59: A Review Article A Conference downgraded Puritan Papers brought back memories of my early years in England as a new born Christian and the help which I received from the teaching of the Puritan Conference up to 1964 and my continued interest during my later sojourn in Sweden and Germany. When the Puritan Conference ended in 1970, my interest waned. The Westminster Conference became more narrow in spiritual scope but broader in political and denominational tub-thumping. It radically redefined Puritanism. The shutting out of Jim Packer, one of my first mentors in Christ, was a tragic move on the part of John Knox-like Martyn Lloyd Jones. It bordered on an excommunication and forced Jim to find… Full Article
