A History of the Reformation in the 16th
Century
Preface and Book 1 - State of
Europe before the Reformation
History Of The Reformation
Of The Sixteenth Century: Preface
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 1
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 2
True Christianity had declared grace through faith, where the
papacy molded ecclesiastical grace in their own image over the oppressed
people of the Catholic Church. Popery turned salvation into works made by men.
The British monk Pelagius threw the church into disarray by his
errors, exemplifying the highest regard for such a system. Faith
became a “mere submission to authority” through acts of penance
rather than the transforming grace of Christ by His work through
the instrumental power of the Spirit.
The Reformation would bring back justification by faith alone,
where the popes has set up a capitalistic endeavor to make faith
something to be bought, and achieved by works.
The indulgence rapidly affected the superstitious that had
already been familiar to a submission of their will under the Vicar of
Christ on earth. The clergy
had become the conduits by which the grace of God, or the favor of the
popes, was to be dispensed. The
works of bygones saints, even the supererogatory merits of Jesus Christ,
could be bought for a price in order to secure the salvation of the
buyer, or aid in the release of those already captive to the purging of
sin in purgatory. Financial
advantage to the Roman Church did not go unnoticed, and purgatory became
one of the chief doctrines to validate indulgences in the thirteenth
century, and to furnish the livelihood of the Pope.
The Reformation brought man face to face with God rather than
having popery “interpose the Church between God and man.”
Popery separates men from God and hides the Gospel from them,
where the Reformation, through the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and
justification by faith alone, will unite men to God.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 3
The
tyrannical suppression of biblical Christianity lead the clergy of the
Roman Church to become spiritual apprentices of the physical and moral
corruption of absolute power. The
church had given itself over to a man-centered religion filled with
relics, indulgences and moral debauchery.
Priests not only took advantage of the financial gain bound up in
the spiritual whoredom of popery, but engaged in illicit relationships
with women they sustained, with their new progeny, on tithes and
offerings from the people under this immoral oppression.
Consequently, their theological prowess was that of Bunyan’s Ignorance.
Such a state within the church cried out in silence for
Reformation.
The
powerful inducement of a sold indulgence propagated the spiritual evils
in the lives of the people – they depended on the clergy for these
indulgences believing they were partaking in the welfare of their own
souls. This caused those
who sold them to make the “wares” as attractive as they could in
seducing people to buy such counterfeit graces in spiritual ignorance.
Erasmus
relates the disposition of the clergy in relation to propagating sexual
sin. In one year eleven
thousand priests presented themselves before him in order to partake in
the regular tax they could pay to the church for sleeping with a woman.
They also paid this tax for any children they may have had as a
result of the union, while “simultaneously” abiding by their vow of
celibacy. Such an intricate web of corruption sustained these acts of
immorality since Christ was portrayed by the priest as a cruel Judge,
ready to condemn all to hell unless they partook of indulgences and
penance.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 4
It
is impossible that Christianity would ever be ultimately overthrown, for
that would quench the decrees of God – something even more impossible
to accomplish. Above and
beyond the devices of corrupt men, even within the man-made mist of
superstition, ignorance and the corruption of moral virtues exemplified
by the clergy of Rome, the true Gospel of Jesus Christ remained.
In the process of time, God’s providences manifested the
practical outworking of a revival by setting the stage of Gospel
proclamation within the now political Church of Rome. Political turmoil and power struggles eclipsed the spiritual
nature of the Roman Church.
God’s
stratagem and preparation for Reformation permeated three spheres of
life: the political, the ecclesiastical and the literary.
Though all of these, especially the literary world, were used for
the transformation of the entire world through the Reformation, one
small seed was planted as the catalyst for the spark of the Reformation
to take place – the elector Frederick of Saxony, surnamed Frederick
the Wise. He had immense
influence, great wealth, and exercised both with liberality above any
other before him. This
gained him favor in every court, with commoners, clergy and the
nation’s politics.
Frederick
was also personally moved by the power of the Word of God.
In response, Frederick placed a high value on good preaching from
God’s Word. He was the
prince that God would use to raise the Reformer, and spark the
Reformation of the church, as well as secure the protection of the
movement as it unfolded under his “wise” rule.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 5
The state of Europe at the beginning of the sixteenth century
varied from country to country because of
ecclesiastical and political ramifications.
The reception of the Gospel in each of the countries surrounding
the central locale of the country Germany, and the uprising of the
Reformation from Germany, fluctuated based on conditions peculiar to
each nation and its economic system.
For example, the intellectual and spiritual life of the Middle
Ages had flourished readily in France and heightened its sensitivity to
the Reformation. Bernard
had taught piety, and Abelard heightened theological study through the
rational principle. The
university of Paris stood up against the Church, and had no fear in its
opposition to her. Like
France, every country in its own providence was primed for revival.
Germany
was more fine-tuned than the other countries before the Reformer slowly
engaged the scene. Germany
was a confederate based country, and the revival about to embark could
have been more popular in one side of the country, or one confederacy,
over another. It was more
probable that in such a confederacy the Reformation would not be
quenched as if the country was based on a dictatorship, or monarchy,
such as in England. The
university structure that arose within the free cities of each
confederacy allowed the accessibility of information to become a
free-flowing conduit to the people.
Because the country was being molded in many ways to begin
thinking, rather than simply a slave to superstition, it was likely that
Reformation would not be quenched in such an environment.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 6
The
preparations of the Reformation were extensive, in contrast to the new
religious additions made by the last two popes to Catholic doctrine. God
raised up men to attest to the truth of His Word in counter to the
Catholic superstition prominent of the day.
Pierre Valdo, John Wickliffe, John Huss, a monk named Arnoldi and
Jerome Savanarola were some of these reformation precursors.
There
were more and more sparks of light attesting to the truth as the
Reformation drew near, though Luther would bring the torch.
In primitive manner the Reformation existed quite some time
before the formal Reformation of the church exploded in the hands of
Luther. John of Goch
extolled the virtue of Christian Liberty as the “essence of every
virtue.” He even said
that the prevailing doctrines within the Catholic Church were in fact
Pelagianism reborn, even denouncing Thomas Aquinas as “the prince of
error.” John Wessel
taught justification by faith alone, and Luther says that he wished he
had read this man’s works sooner than he did, for it would have helped
him greatly in his endeavors for understanding the truth.
Just
before the time that Luther was put in motion by God’s providence and
was in the midst of his own transformation, men like Nicholas Kuss were
preaching openly against the Pope, and John Hilten wrote vigorously
against the abuses of monastic life. Hilten exasperated his fellow Franciscan monk to the point
that they threw him into prison. And
Andrew Proles (an Augustinian provincial leader of which would have
authority over Luther who would become an Augustinian monk)
“prophesied” that reformation was just around the corner and that it
was “already approaching.”
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 7
The scholastics and the theologians of the church were working in
their own individual spheres to providentially set the stage for the
Reformation that would take place soon under the torch of Luther,
Zwingli and Calvin. Even
the poet Dante said that faith renders us citizens of heaven, which was
the same message the reformers would soon shout from the rooftops.
Later, Laurentius Valla applied scholastic study to the Roman
church in a more critical method. Men of great thinking arose to redefine a new way in which
the church would approach academics – such as Rodolph Agricola in
Italy, Wessel and Reuchlin.
Reuchlin was an academic genius of sorts.
At twenty he was teaching Greek and later he was invited to teach
at the University in Tubingen. He
was known as one of the best orators of France and Italy.
He spent considerable time learning Greek and Hebrew and spent
his money on acquiring the best texts to study.
He wrote a Latin dictionary, a Greek grammar, translated and
commented on the Penitential Psalms, corrected the Vulgate and was the
first to publish a Hebrew grammar and dictionary.
Reuchlin’s practical claim to fame was in teaching Schwarzerd,
his cousin, whom he named later, Melancthon.
Melancthon would later befriend Luther and be used mightily in
the cause for the Lutheran Reformation.
Reuchlin came under attack when Cologne slanderers (Pfefferkorn
and Hochstraten) rose up to chose out of his writings certain passages
to pervert their meaning in order to overthrow, or simply retaliate,
against his decision to give the Jews their books back.
These books had been collected with the intention of having them
burned, and instead, Reuchlin thought it would be better to have
theologians taught Hebrew in order to wrestle academically with the
Jews, than, by force, to burn their books.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 8
Erasmus of Rotterdam was the most prominent precursor to the
Reformation. He pursued his
studies though he lived in extreme poverty after his mother died.
He was attentive of the ancients, and this study placed him above
the contemporaries of his day.
His influence on the Reformation was varied.
He was no reformer, and could never become one based on his
attachment to Rome. However, his sarcasms were strewn into every theological
circle of the day. He wrote
against the monks, the clergy and the schoolmen, and yet still coupled
his sarcasm in the teachings of science, philosophy and language (Greek
and Latin). He spoke out
against the church-regulations of dress, fasting, feast-days, vows,
marriage and confession. Though
he saw these abuses, he did not see them through the spectacles of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. This,
said Luther, demonstrates that he does not know how to teach the truth
though he may be very capable at exposing error.
In any case, his main maxim was “Give light, and darkness will
disappear of itself.” However, this is only half the battle. For when the wicked rise up to take the light from Erasmus’
hand, his courage failed him. He
was grounded in his flesh rather than in the Spirit of the Lord.
Though the pen of Erasmus aided the cause of the preparation for
Reformation, when it actually came upon him, and overwhelmed the world,
Erasmus did not take kindly too it.
He was confused as to the direction he should take, whether to go
with the Reformation, or to stay with Rome.
His Diatribe, though, sets him in the camp of those
opposed to the light. Yes,
Erasmus laid the egg of the Reformation, so to speak, but as the saying
goes, “it was Luther who hatched it” bears testimony to the torch of
the truth.
History
Of The Reformation Of The Sixteenth Century: Book 1, Chapter 9
As much as we have seen so far that God raised up monks,
schoolmen and clergy to fight for the truth, so we must also look
towards the nobles, knights and warriors for regenerated men who love
the truth of Christ. There
were various small reformations going on in the midst of the nobles as
much as the schoolmen. Ulrich
of Hutten was the link that united the knights and the schoolmen. Not only was he famous as advancing himself with his sword,
but also by his writings. Though
he was set aside to be a monk, he ran away at age sixteen to the
university of Cologne in order to study literature and poetry.
He wrote against the papal court and its corruptions, and
consequently was sought by the Inquisition.
He desired the protection of Charles V, who, at that time, was in
opposition to the Pope. He
took refuge in the castle of Ebernburg where he sought asylum.
Here he wrote to the nobles of his country in order to take up
arms for the Reformation and for the Gospel.
The same fervor may be seen in Francis of Sickingen, a friend of
Hutten. He was a genuine
adversary of Rome, loved the Word of God and study of the schoolmen.
Many reformers took refuge in the castle of Sickingen – men
such as Hutten himself, Bucer, Aquila, Schwebel and Oecolampadius.
(Even at that time Oecolampadius had the honorable duty of
preaching in the castle each day.)
He declared war against the Archbishop of Treves but wound up
mortally wounded.
Another knight, Harmut of Cronberg, was a friend to both Hutten
and Sickingen, and had a profound knowledge and love of the truth.
He wrote letters to Leo X exhorting him to allow the Emperor his
rightful power over the lands, and even explained the Gospel to him in
those letters.
In each of these instances, and more, foundations for the
Reformation were laid. These
did not advance the Reformation, for that task would be given to the
monk, Martin Luther, and the generational reformers that would follow.
However, though these nobles, and other scholastics, laid a
simple foundation, it is by God’s providence that they helped in
setting the stage for Luther to arise.
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