Wishart was a forerunner to the Scottish Reformation. John Knox was once his body guard, but was dismissed by this martyr as the murdering Papists drew near to apprehend him (on the orders of Cardinal Beaton). He was later burned as a heretic.

Wishart "translated into English the first Helvetic Confession of Faith" and "helped popularize the doctrines of the Swiss Reformers in Scotland." "It was probably through Wishart that Knox acquired his sense of prophetic vocation" (Dictionary of Scottish Church History, pp. 465, 877).

The appendix in this volume deals with the life and execution of Cardinal Beaton and contains biographical sketches of Gawin Dunbar and Sir David Lindsay.