(John), the hero of the reformation in Scotland, was born in 1505, at Gifford near Haddington in East Lothian; and educated at the university of St Andrew's, where he took a degree in arts, and commenced teacher very early in life. At this time the new religion of Martin Luther was but little known. known in Scotland; Mr Knox therefore at first was a zealous Roman-catholic; but, attending the sermons of a certain black-friar, named Guiallum, he began to waver in his opinions; and afterwards converting with the famous Wilhart, who, in 1544, came to Scotland with the commissioners sent by Henry VIII., he renounced the Romish religion, and became a zealous reformer. Being appointed tutor to the sons of the lairds of Ormiston and Langdiddery, he began to instruct them in the principles of the Protestant religion; and, on that account, was so violently persecuted by the bishop of St Andrew's, that, with his two pupils, he was obliged, in the year 1547, to take shelter in the castle of that place. But the castle was besieged and taken by 21 French galleys. He continued a prisoner on board a galley two years, namely, till the latter end of the year 1549; when being set at liberty, he landed in England, and, having obtained a licence, was appointed preacher, first at Berwick, and afterwards at Newcastle. Strype conjectures, that in 1552 he was appointed chaplain to Edward VI. He certainly obtained an annual pension of £10, and was offered the living of All-hallows in London; which he refused, not choosing to conform to the liturgy.

Soon after the accession of queen Mary, he retired to Geneva; whence, at the command of John Calvin, he removed to Frankfort, where he preached to the exiles; but, a difference arising on account of his refusing to read the English liturgy, he went back to Geneva; and from thence, in 1555, returned to Scotland, where the reformation had made considerable progress during his absence. He now travelled from place to place, preaching and exhorting the people with unceasing zeal and resolution. About this time, (1556), he wrote a letter to the queen regent, earnestly intreating her to hear the Protestant doctrine; which letter she treated with contempt. In the same year the English Calvinists at Geneva invited Mr Knox to reside among them. He accepted their invitation. Immediately after his departure from Scotland, the bishops summoned him to appear, and, he not appearing, condemned him to death for heresy, and burnt his effigy at the cross of Edinburgh.

Our reformer continued abroad till the year 1559, during which time he published his "First blast against the monstrous regiment of women." Being now returned to Scotland, he resumed the great work of reformation with his usual ardour, and was appointed minister at Edinburgh. In 1561, queen Mary arrived from France. She, it is well known, was bigotted to the religion in which she had been educated, and, on that account, was exposed to continual insults from her reformed subjects. Mr Knox himself frequently insulted her from the pulpit; and, when admitted to her presence, regardless of her sex, her beauty, and her high rank, behaved to her with a most unjustifiable freedom. In the year 1571 our reformer was obliged to leave Edinburgh, on account of the confusion and danger from the opposition to the earl of Lennox, then regent; but he returned the following year, and resumed his pastoral functions. He died at Edinburgh in November 1572, and was buried in the church-yard of St Giles's in that city.—His history of the Reformation was printed, with his other works, at Edinburgh, in 1584, 1586, 1644, 1732. He published many other pieces; and several more are preserved in Calderwood's history of the Church of Scotland. He left also a considerable number of manuscripts, which in 1732 were in the possession of Mr Woodrow, minister of Eastwood.

As to his character, it is easily understood, notwithstanding the extreme dissimilitude of the two portraits drawn by Popish and Calvinistical pencil. According to the first, he was a devil; in the ideas of the latter, an angel. He was certainly neither. The following character is drawn by Dr Roberton, "Zeal, intrepidity, disinterestedness, were virtues that he possessed in an eminent degree. He was acquainted too with the learning cultivated in that age; and excelled in that species of eloquence which is calculated to rouse and to inflame. His maxims, however, were often too severe, and the impetuosity of his temper excessive. Rigid and uncompromising, he shewed no indulgence to the infirmities of others. Regardless of the distinctions of rank and character, he uttered his admonitions with an acrimony and vehemence, more apt to irritate than to reclaim; and this often betrayed him into indecent expressions, with respect to queen Mary's person and conduct. Those very qualities, however, which now render his character less amiable, fitted him to be the instrument of Providence for advancing the reformation among a fierce people, and enabled him to face dangers, and to surmount opposition, from which a person of a more gentle spirit would have been apt to shrink back. By an unwearied application to study and to business, as well as by the frequency and fervour of his public discourses, he had worn out a constitution naturally strong. During a lingering illness, he discovered the utmost fortitude; and met the approach of death with a magnanimity inseparable from his character. He was constantly employed in acts of devotion, and comforted himself with those prospects of immortality, which not only preserve good men from desponding, but fill them with exultation in their last moments. The earl of Morton, who was present at his funeral, pronounced his eulogium in a few words, the more honourable for Knox, as they came from one whom he had often censured with peculiar severity: "Here lies he who never feared the face of man."