Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- A note on the texts
- Further reading
- Principal events in Knox's life
- Biographical notes
- Abbreviations and references
- Glossary
- Part I The 1558 Tracts
- Part II Knox and Scotland 1557–1564
- Knox and the Protestant nobility, March–December 1557
- Knox to the Protestant nobility, 17 December 1557
- Letters to the regent and nobility, 22 May 1559
- The regent and the Congregation, August 1559
- The suspension of the regent, October 1559
- Knox and Mary Queen of Scots, September 1561
- The debate at the General Assembly, June 1564
- Index of scriptural citations
- Index of proper names
- Index of subjects
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
Knox to the Protestant nobility, 17 December 1557
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction
- A note on the texts
- Further reading
- Principal events in Knox's life
- Biographical notes
- Abbreviations and references
- Glossary
- Part I The 1558 Tracts
- Part II Knox and Scotland 1557–1564
- Knox and the Protestant nobility, March–December 1557
- Knox to the Protestant nobility, 17 December 1557
- Letters to the regent and nobility, 22 May 1559
- The regent and the Congregation, August 1559
- The suspension of the regent, October 1559
- Knox and Mary Queen of Scots, September 1561
- The debate at the General Assembly, June 1564
- Index of scriptural citations
- Index of proper names
- Index of subjects
- Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought
Summary
[Knox remained in Dieppe for some months before returning to Geneva in the spring of 1558. He presumably did not know of the drawing up of the First Band when he penned the following letter (Laing, vol. IV, pp. 276–86) two weeks later on 17 December 1557.]
To the Lords and Others Professing the Truth in Scotland.
The secrets of the Lord are revealed to those that fear Him.
The Holy Ghost, by the mouth of David and Solomon (Right Honourable Lords), for two reasons calleth ‘the fear of the Lord the beginning of all wisdom’. First, because without the same, all that appeareth to be wisdom perisheth, and most commonly turneth to the perdition of those that are esteemed and do esteem themselves most wise. For wisdom natural, not ruled nor bridled by the fear of God, as it is but extreme foolishness, so is it a poison and venom most deadly, which in the end commonly bringeth the worldly wise to worldly confusion, as the experience of all ages has taught us; where, by the contrary, the fear of the Lord preserveth His servants in their greatest extremities even before the world. But this is not the chief cause why the fear of the Lord hath the forenamed title.
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- Knox: On Rebellion , pp. 140 - 148Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1994
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