John Knox

"Knox's will disposed of his wordly assets with admirable thoroughness but he also left his achievements, both the reformed Church of Scotland itself and his aspirations for a democratic Scotland in the form of the Book of Discipline. Below his statue in the courtyard of New College, Edinburgh - also the north entrance to the temporary residence of the parliament of Scotland - is inscribed, 'Erected by Scotsmen who are mindful of the benefits conferred by John Knox on their native land.'" "The Scottish Reformation would have taken place without John Knox, but without doubt it would have been longer in its birth pangs and may well have finally appeared in a different form. Knox was at once the Reformation's creator and spiritual leader and he was instrumental, not simply in banishing Catholicism, but in creating the new Church which took its place. This Church and its doctrines he created and refined from the Helvetic Confession preached by Wishart, the Justification of Faith of Balnaves and his own experiences in Frankfurt and Geneva. His first precept throughout all his arguments was a simple one, that the truth was the word of God as found in scripture, and that all of humanity relied on Christ's intercession for salvation, as laid out in the Gospel of St John, chapter 17, his 'anchor'."--Jacket.