For nine months John Craig had been imprisoned in his cell in the Palazzo dell’ Inquisizone in Rome. At times the River Tiber burst its bank and the water poured into the filthy jail, keeping him awake as it came up to his waist. He was on trial for being a heretic, and he knew that his fateful death by burning would come soon. As he languished in the cell his mind raced back to his early years in Scotland. He had grown up near Aberdeen and had qualified at the University of St Andrews, after which he had been a private tutor, before he joined the order of the Dominicans. After an unsuccessful attempt at trying to obtain a teaching post at the University of Cambridge, he went to Rome. It was here that he personally came to know Cardinal Reginald Pole, who, recognizing Craig’s passion and skill, arranged for him to be promoted to the role of Master of Novices for the Dominicans in Bologna.
It was whilst he was a teacher there that he had access to the Library of the Inquisition. Coming across a copy of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, he read it at first to inform himself about the beliefs of the ‘heretics’ in order to refute them, but as he continued reading, he understood the gospel and was converted to Christ. Being passionate about the revelation of the gospel he could not keep quiet about it, but was soon reported, arrested on the charge of heresy, and imprisoned.
In 1559, on the evening before Craig’s execution, Pope Paul IV died. This man was much hated by the people for his cruelty and avid support of the Inquisition, so when the news spread of his death, a crowd celebrated by ripping down his newly-erected statue, dismembering its head, and dumping it in the River Tiber. Not satisfied with this, they broke into three jails, liberating over 400 prisoners, and then proceeded to ransack the headquarters of the Inquisition, where they freed another 72 prisoners, including Craig.
John Craig travelled as a refugee and escaped convict, hiding by day, and walking by night, seeking a safe haven. He had many adventures on the way, but the most endearing was that of a strange black dog who appeared at a time when he was weak with hunger, having no money, and deposited a bag of gold joins at his feet, then promptly left. It was a story that he would often repeat later as he celebrated God’s miraculous provision. After a time of recuperation in Vienna, he finally reached his home nation via Germany and England, just after Scotland had broken free of Rome and had embraced Protestantism. His learning and zeal for Christ were duly noted by the reformed leaders, and he was appointed as the minister at Holyrood Palace in 1561. Within months Mary, Queen of Scots, settled in the palace, and, as a Roman Catholic, she did not require his services, so he was selected to serve for nine years alongside John Knox as the assistant pastor at St Giles’, the preaching centre of the Scottish Reformation.
Later he served as the chaplain for the Protestant King James VI, and became the key person in drawing up the ‘King’s Confession’ in 1580, a covenant document which exposed the errors of Romanism and promoted the Protestant faith. It was this document that formed the basis of the famous National Covenant in 1638. He was also instrumental in the production of the Second Book of Discipline in 1578, which promoted the Presbyterian form of church government, thus clashing with King James VI.
‘He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps’ (Psalm 40:2, NKJV).
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