Changes

Knox was one of Mary’s chief critics during the controversy over the assassination of her husband, Lord Darnley.<ref> Warnicke, Retha. M, [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415291836/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0415291836&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=5895d801467472265e647472b39f5077 Mary Queen of Scots], (New York: Routledge, 2006), p. 134</ref> He openly denounced the queen when she married the chief suspect the notorious Earl of Boothby. Knox continued to rouse the opposition to Mary and he helped to persuade the Protestant nobles to depose Mary and placed her son, James on the throne. This they eventually did, and Knox was granted the honor of preaching a sermon at the coronation of James, who became James VI of Scotland. <ref>Warnicke, p. 119</ref> With the accession of James, the Reformation in Scotland was secure, and Catholicism was marginalized and confined to the remote Highlands and Islands.

The Scottish reformer decisively shaped the form of the Reformation in the kingdom. Prior to his meeting with Calvin, he was an adherent of the Anglican Church and influenced by its forms of Church governance and theology. He was much influenced by what he saw in Geneva where Calvin had reformed the Church and the City-State. The Scot did not imitate Calvin, but he was deeply impressed by what he saw.<ref>Kyle, Richard G., "John Knox: The Main Themes of His Thought", Princeton Seminary Bulletin 4, no. 2 (1983): 112 </ref> Knox adapted the ideas of Calvin with regard to the Presbyterian form of church government, which is governed by representative assemblies of elders. He believed that this would not only to reform the Church but to ensure that people conformed to the teaching of the scriptures.