Reformation, the term generally applied to the religious revolution in the 16th century which divided the Western Church into the two sections known as the Roman Catholic and the Protestant. Before this era the pope exercised absolute authority over the whole Christian Church with the exception of those countries in which the Greek or Eastern Church had been established. He also claimed supremacy in temporal affairs wherever his spiritual authority was recognized. Various abuses had in process of time sprung up in the Church, and, attention had often been called to these both by laymen and clerics. An important movement in the direction of a reformation was begun by Wickliffe (1324 - 84) in England, movement which, on the Continent, was developed by Huss (1369 - 1415) and Jerome Prague (1360 - 1416) with their Bohemian followers, but the times were not ripe for combined opposition. New and powerful influence however were now at work. The Renaissance increased the number of scholars; the new art of printing diffused knowledge; while the universities gave greater attention to the Greek and Hebrew languages, and grew in numbers Much of the intellectual force and fearlessness brought forth by the Renaissance was turned against the corrupt practices in the church.
In the writings of Erasmus (1467 - 1536), as well as in a host of satires, epigrams, &c., the ecclesiastics of the time were held up to a derision which thoughtful men recognized as just. The condition of the Western Church, indeed, was such that a reformation of some kind was now inevitable. The great movement known as the Reformation was started by Martin Luther, an Augustine monk of Erfurt, professor of theology in the University of Wittenberg and what immediately occasioned it was the sale of indulgences in Germany by a duly accredited agent, Johann Tetzel, a Dominican monk of Leipzig.
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Luther condemned this abuse, first in a sermon and afterwards in
ninety-five theses or questions which he affixed to the door of the great church, October 31st, 1517. This at once
roused public interest and gained him a number of adherents, among them men of influence in church and state. Luther
urged his spiritual superiors and the pope to put a stop to the traffic of Tetzel and to reform the corruptions
of the church in general. A heated controversy now arose, Luther was fiercely assailed, and in 1520 excommunication
was pronounced against him by Pope LeoX. Upon this the reformer appealed to a general council; and when his works
were burned at Mainz Cologne, and Louvain, he publicly committed the bull of excommunication with the papal canons
and decrees to the flames (December, 1520). From this time Luther formally separated from the Roman Church, and many of the principal German nobles - Hutten, Sickingen, Schaumburg, &c., the most eminent scholars, and the University of Wittenberg, publicly declared in favour of the reformed doctrines and discipline. Lather's bold refusal to recant at the Diet of Worms (April 17th, 1521) gave him increased power, while the edict of Worms and the ban of the emperor made his cause a political matter. By his ten months' seclusion in the Wartburg, after the Diet of Worms, Luther was secured from the first consequences of the ban of the empire, and the emperor was so much engaged by French and Spanish affairs that he almost wholly lost sight of the religious ferment in Germany. |
While Luther was publishing his translation of the New Testament, which was soon followed by the translation of the Old; and while Melanchthon was engaged on his Loci Communes (the first exposition of the Lutheran doctrines) serious preparations for the reform of ecclesiastical abuses were made in Pomerania, Silesia in the Saxon cities, in Suabia. &c., and the Reformation made rapid progress in Germany. Luther's Liturgy had no sooner appeared (1522), than it was adopted in Magdeburg and elsewhere. Translations of the Bible into Dutch and French now appeared, and at Meux in France a Lutheran church was organized. In vain did the Sorbonne condemn the principles of Luther, and powers political and ecclesiastical endeavour to stop this movement In 1525 John, the successor of Luther's first patron Frederick in the Saxon electorate, Philip, landgrave of Hesse, and Albert of Brandenburg, duke of Prussia, publicly declared themselves Lutherans. Aided in great measure by the state of political affairs, the movement continued to spread rapidly. In these circumstances the emperor convened the Diet of Augsburg (June 1530), at which Melanchthon read a statement of the reformed doctrine, now known as the Confession of Augsburg.
The Catholic prelates replied to this by requiring the reformers to return to the ancient church within a certain period. The princes who favoured the new movement refused to comply with this demand, and in March of the following year they assembled at Schmalkald and formed the famous league, in terms of which they pledged themselves to uphold the Protestant cause. This decisive step soon attracted powerful support largely because of its political importance, and among others who joined the Schmalkald League were Francis I. of France and Henry VIII. of England. After the death of Luther (1546) war broke out, but at the Peace of Augsburg (1555) the Reformation may he said to have finally triumphed when each prince was permitted to adopt either the Reformed or the Roman Catholic faith, and Protestantism thus received legal recognition.
The doctrines of the German reformer found a willing adherent in Gustavus Vasa, in 1523 became King of Sweden. Gustavus induced the estates of the realm, in the Diet of Westeras (1527), to sanction the confiscation of the monasteries, and declared him self supreme in matters ecclesiastical The last remains of Catholic usages were abolished at a second Diet of Wester as in 1544.
The first systematic measures in favour the Reformation in Denmark were taken by Frederick I., instigated by his son Christian who had studied in Germany and become an enthusiastic Lutheran. At a diet held in 1536, at which no member of the clergy was allowed to be present, the assembly de creed the abolition of the Roman Catholic worship in the Danish dominions.
In Hungary, were numerous Germans had settled, bringing Lutheranism with them, the new faith for short time made rapid progress, especially in the cities and among the nobles. In Poland the Reformation found numerous adherents also. Both in Italy and Spain Protestantism was mostly confined to the higher and cultivated classes, the Reformed faith taking scarcely any hold on the people at large.
In Naples Venice, Florence, and other cities Protestant churches were opened; but Protestantism was extirpated in Italy by the vigorous action of the Inquisition and the instrumentality of the Index Expurgatorius.
In Spain a few Protestant churches were established, and many persons of mark adopted the views of the Reformers. But here also the Inquisition succeeded in arresting the spread of the religious revolution.
In the Swiss states the progress of Protestantism was of much more importance. It found a leader in Ulrich Zwingli, a preacher at Zurich, who, by sermons, pamphlets, and public discussions, induced that city to abolish the old and inaugurate a new Reformed Church. In this course Zurich was followed by Bale, Berne, and other cities. Ultimately this movement was merged in political dissensions between the Reformed and the Roman Chatholic cantons, and Zwingli himself fell in battle (1531).
Between Luther and Zwingli there were differences of opinion, chiefly concerning the Lord's Supper, in which the former, showed considerable acrimony towards his fellow-reformer. The Institute of Calvin's formulated the doctrines of a large body of the reformers, who also accepted his ordinances regarding church discipline. After many tedious contests Calvin's creed was virtually accepted in the Netherlands and elsewhere, and it was introduced into Scotland by John Knox.
In France the Reformation seemed at first to find powerful support. Margaret, Queen of Navarre, sister of King Francis I., and many of the higher ecclesiastics favoured the reformed doctrine. The New Testament was translated into French, churches to the number of 2000 were established by 1558, and the Huguenots, as the Protestants were called, formed a large religious party in the state. Unhappily, however, the religious element was mixed with political and personal hatreds, and in the civil strife's before and after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew (1572) the religious movement declined. The abjuration of Protestantism by Henry IV. (1593) was a blow to the Huguenots, and though they obtained toleration and certain privileges by the Edict of Nantes this was finally revoked in 1685.
The Reformation in England was only indirectly connected with the reform movement in Germany. Wickliffe and the Lollards, the revival of learning, the writings of More, Colet, and Erasmus, the martyrdom of Thomas Bilney, had all combined to render the doctrine and discipline of the church unpopular. This feeling was greatly increased when the writings of Luther and Tyndale's translation of the Bible found eager readers. Then the political element came in to favour the popular reform movement. Henry VIII., in his efforts to obtain a divorce from Catherine, found it necessary to repudiate the papal supremacy and declare himself by act of parliament (1534) the supreme head of the Church of England To this the pope replied by threats of excommunication, which were not, however, immediately executed.
Yet the breach with Rome was complete, so far, at least, as the king was concerned. Under the new laws of supremacy and treason several of the clergy suffered at Tyburn; Sir Thomas More and Fisher, bishop of Rochester, were beheaded at Tower Hill ; and the lesser and greater monasteries were suppressed. At this time there were three chief parties in the state. There was the party who still held the pope to be the supreme head of the church; the king's party, who rejected papal authority but retained the Roman Catholic faith; and there was the reformed party, who rejected both the authority and the doctrine of the Roman Church. The doctrines of the Church of Rome, however, were still the established religion, and in 1589 the Statute of the Six Articles compelled all men, under penalty of burning, to admit six points of the Roman doctrine, of which the chief was the doctrine of transubstantiation. Yet the king (1544) allowed Rome progress to be made in the direction of reform by the publication of the Litany and some forms of prayer in English. This movement was continued and the Reformation effected in all essential points during the reign of Henry's successor, Edward VI. The penal laws against the Lollards were abolished; the Statute of the Six Articles ceased to be enforced; the Protestant ritual and teaching was adopted by the church; all images were removed from churches; a new communion service took the place of the mass; a First Book of Common Prayer was compiled by Cranmer and purged of distinctive Roman doctrine; and in 1549 the First Act of Uniformity enjoined the use of this book in all the churches. Still further, in 1551 the newly established faith of the Reformers was summed up in the Forty-two Articles of Religion, which, in the reign of Elizabeth, became the Thirty nine Articles of the Church of England. By these and other means the Reformation was established gradually throughout England.
In Scotland the movement was more directly connected with the Continent, and in particular with Geneva The first indication of the struggle against the Roman doctrine is found in the martyrdom (1528) of Patrick Hamilton; and this policy of suppression was continued (1539 - 46) with great severity by Cardinal Beaton, until he himself became the victim of popular vengeance. Perhaps the most important result of this persecution, and the martyrdom of George Wishart, which Beaton had brought about, was that it determined John Knox to embrace the new reformed faith. In 1546 - 47 the Scottish reformer established himself as preacher to the Protestant congregation which held the castle of St. Andrews. When the castle was captured by the French fleet Knox was made prisoner and treated as a galley-slave, but regained his liberty after about eighteen months' hardship, and settled in England. During the Marian persecutions he withdrew to the Continent and visited the churches of France and Switzerland, but returned to Scotland in 1559. Here he at once joined the Protestant party; preached in Dundee, Perth, and St Andrews, amid public tumult and the destruction of images, altars, and churches; and finally, under the protection of the Lords of the Congregation, he established himself as a preacher of Protestantism in St. Giles, Edinburgh. From this centre Knox traveled all over Scotland teaching the reformed faith; and such was the roused spirit of the people, that when the Scottish parliament assembled (1560) a popular petition was presented demanding the abolition of popery. This was promptly accomplished, and at the assembling of the new Church of Scotland shortly afterwards Knox presented his reformed system of government under the name of the First Book of Discipline, which was adopted by the Assembly. The position thus secured by the reformer was maintained and the Reformation successfully established in Scotland . However in Ireland the Reformation never made much progress
