Go, go where I cast my first anchor.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, back in August of 1572,

John Knox had just returned to his beloved Edinburgh.

But that fall he became ill, he was struck with pneumonia and he was bedridden, as the

weeks of November passed, his condition worsened.

On November 24, 1572, he was surrounded by his wife

Margaret and by Richard Bannetine, his longtime friend, they were reading scripture to

Knox and at one point he looked at Margaret and he said to her,

Go, go where I cast my first anchor.

She immediately knew what he was talking about and she turned in her Bible to John chapter 17

and she began reading from that text.

When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said,

Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you.

Since you have given him authority over all flesh to give eternal life to all whom you have given

him, and this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,

whom you have sent. As Margaret continued to read that chapter and she finished,

John Knox turned to her and said, what a comfort that chapter is.

Well, that first anchor served John Knox in life and in death.

Knox was born in either 1514 or 1515.

Some reports have Knox born as early as 1505, so that's highly unlikely.

So whether it was 1514 or 1515, we don't know, but we do know that he lived until 1572.

We also know that by 1536, he was ordained.

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