In 1544 we find him acting as tutor to the sons of
Douglas of Lorgniddry and Cockburn of Ormiston--families, it is to be
noted, both favorably disposed to the new opinions in religion now
making their way in Scotland. Through these families he was brought into
contact with George Wishart, who had lately returned from travelling in
Germany and England, with the burning zeal to gain his country to the
Lutheran reformation. From this period the future direction of Knox's
life was decided, and thenceforward, with an intensity and self-devotion
never surpassed, he is the apostle of the cause with which his name is
forever identified--the establishment in Scotland of what he deemed the
only true conception of the primitive church as based on the teaching of
Christ and the apostles. We have reason to believe that, even before
this date, his sympathies were on the side of reform in religion, but
the teaching and example of Wishart seem first to have brought to him
the clear consciousness of his mission. Knox identified himself with
Wishart with all the impetuosity of his character, and was in the habit,
he tells us, of carrying a two-handed sword before the preacher. When
Wishart was seized by the emissaries of Cardinal Beaton, Knox would
willingly have attended him to the last; but Wishart, who knew the fate
in store for him, rejected the offer. "Return to your bairns" (meaning
Knox's pupils), he said, "and God bless you. One is sufficient for one
sacrifice."

Wishart was burned in St. Andrews in March, 1546, and in May of the same
year Cardinal Beaton was murdered. The cardinal's murderers held
possession of the castle of St. Andrews; and, as Knox was known to be
the enemy of Beaton (though he had no share in his assassination), he
was forced (1547) for his own safety to join them with his pupils. Here
his zeal and theological attainments made him so conspicuous that, at
the instance of the leaders of the reforming party (Sir David Lyndsay
among the rest), he was formally called to the ministry, and preached
with much acceptance in the castle and parish church of St. Andrews. A
few months later the castle surrendered to the French; and, in the teeth
of the express terms of capitulation, the more prominent of the besieged
party were sent as prisoners on board the French galleys. For eighteen
months Knox remained a captive, his first winter being spent in a galley
on the Loire, the second in prison in Rouen. His constitution was