John Knox’s Theology of Prayer

John Knox’s Theology of Prayer is continued from the previous page

C. Place, Time, and Object of Prayer

1. The Place of Prayer

For Knox, the issue of place, time, object of prayer is of great significance, and “is not to be passed over with silence.”[42] With regard to the station of private prayer, there is no required or specific place, “although Jesus Christ commands when we pray to enter into our chamber, and to close the door, and so to pray unto our Father secretly.” This does not mean that we should only pray inside a closed room when we seek personal communion with God. Knox understands the words of Jesus figuratively—“that we should choose for our prayers such places as might offer least occasion to call us back from prayer; and also that we should expel forth of our minds, in time of our prayer, all vain cogitations.”[43] “For otherwise,” Knox reasons, “Jesus Christ himself does observe no special place of prayer; for we find him sometimes pray in Mount Olivet, sometimes in the desert, sometimes in the temple, and in the garden.”[44] As far as private prayer is concerned, we can pray anywhere. But we should strive to find a place where we can solemnly commune with God.

However, whenever danger or necessity requires us to pray, we should pray wherever we are:

Paul prayed in prison, and was heard by God. Who also commands men to pray in all places, lifting up unto God pure and clean hands; as we find that the prophets and most holy men did, whensoever danger or necessity required.[45]

Knox, on the other hand, believes that insofar as public or common prayer is concerned, there is an appointed place to be kept:

But public and common prayers should be used in [the] place appointed for the assembly, from whence whosoever negligently extracts himself is in no wise excusable. I mean not, that to be absent from that place is sin, because that place is more holy than another; for the whole earth created by God is equally holy. But the promise made, that, “Wheresoever two or three be gathered together in my name, there shall I be in the midst of them,” condemns all such as contemn the congregation gathered in his name. But mark well this word “gathered;” I mean not, to hear piping, singing, or playing; nor to patter upon beads, or books whereof they have no understanding; nor to commit idolatry, honouring that for God which is no god indeed.

Two things may be noted here. First, in public prayer, it is not the place that matters the most, but the promise that Jesus will be present with those who assemble together in his name. The main issue is neglecting the promise that Jesus will be with those who pray corporately in his name. Thus, it is still God’s promise that should motivate us to pray jointly. This again evinces how God’s promise is crucial to Knox’s theology of prayer. Second, obvious here also is Knox’s adverse outlook toward the Roman Catholic Church’s practice of prayer. It must be remembered that when Knox composed his Treatise on Prayer, Queen Mary, a staunch supporter of Roman Catholicism, was already trying to covertly resurrect the popish religion in England. Knox was aware of this, and so he emphatically reminded his readers that they were to gather in order to pray, and not to pipe, sing, play, nor ‘patter upon beads, or books’ such as the Breviary.

2. The Time and Object of Prayer

Beyond affirming that we should pray “for all men, and at all times,”[46] Knox advises that we should pray for: “the household of faith as suffer persecution, and for commonwealths tyrannically oppressed…that God, of his mercy and power, will withstand the violence of such tyrants.”[47] Obviously, as Knox was writing his treatise, he was anticipating a possible persecution from the hand of the newly proclaimed queen Mary.[48] Indeed, by 1554, a few months after the composition of this treatise, all Protestants were accused as heretics. It is with this view in mind that Knox exhorts his readers to seriously pray for the protection of the persecuted as well as for the conversion of the persecutors. Knox himself, at the end of his discourse, prays for this very thing:

Behold our trouble and apparent destruction, and stay the sword of thy vengeance before it devours us. Place above us, O Lord, for thy great mercy’s sake, such as a head, with such rulers and magistrates as feareth thy name, and willeth the glory of Christ Jesus to spread. Take not from us the light of thy evangel, and suffer thou no Papistry to prevail in this realm. Illuminate the heart of our sovereign lady Queen Mary, with pregnant gifts of thy Holy Ghost; and inflame the hearts of her council with thy true fear and love. Repress thou the pride of those that would rebel; and remove from all hearts the contempt of the word. Let not our enemies rejoice at our destruction, but look thou to the honour of thy own name, O Lord; and let thy gospel be preached with boldness in this realm….Mitigate the hearts of those that persecute us; and let us not faint under the cross of our Saviour, but assist us with the Holy Ghost, even to the end.[49]

This prayer tells something about Knox’s political character—“that he was the friend of peace and order, instead of tumult and revolution; and whatever might be his own personal sentiments, he was ready to submit to every constitutional authority, even though it might be impersonated in a ‘female regime.’”[50] This refutes those who put Knox in a negative light.

Knox’s views regarding the time and object of prayer may also be found in The Form of Prayers and Ministration of the Sacraments, etc., used in the English Congregation at Geneva (1556),[51] which Knox himself, along with other four ministers, prepared.[52] This Form, though not solely written by Knox, is essential to understanding his theology of prayer, since he himself, as the title indicates, employed it in his own Congregation at Geneva while he was there. Later in 1564, the Church of Scotland approved and received this same Form with slight alterations and additions;[53] henceforth, it became known as The Book of Common Order (1565).[54] This Book is also a good source for examining Knox’s theology of prayer, though again not entirely penned by him, but “was sanctioned, if not partially prepared by” him.[55]

Here are some of the titles of the prayers in The Book of Common Order which reflect Knox’s sentiment toward the time and object of prayer:

• A Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church
• Another Manner of Prayer after the Sermon
• Prayers Used in the Churches of Scotland, in the Time of Their Persecution by the Frenchmen: but Principally When the Lordes Table was to be Ministered
• A Thanksgiving unto God after our Deliverance from the tyranny of the Frenchmen; with Prayers Made for the Continuance of the Peace betwixt the Realmes of England and Scotland
• A Prayer to be Said in Visiting of the Sicke
• A Forme of Prayers to be Used in Private House Everie Morning and Evening
• A Prayer to be Said of the Childe, before He Studie His Lesson
• A Prayer to be Said before a Man Begin His Worke
• A Prayer in Tyme of Affliction
• A Prayer for the King[56]

Having seen these prayers, perhaps it is good to ask whether these prayers are meant to be read in worship, or used as a pattern only. This issue will be dealt with in the next point.

Brian Golez Najapfour is a Master of Theology student at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. A member of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) and International John Bunyan Society (IJBS), he is originally from the Philippines.