The Reformation from Popery in the sixteenth century was the greatest event,
or series of events, that has occurred since the close of the Canon of
Scripture; and the men who are really entitled to be called the "Leaders of
the Reformation" have a claim to more respect and gratitude than any other
body of uninspired men that have ever influenced or adorned the church. The
Reformation was closely connected in various ways with the different
influences which about that period were affecting for good the general
condition of Europe, and, in combination with them, it aided largely in
introducing and establishing great improvements in all matters affecting
literature, civilisation, liberty, and social order. The movement, however,
was primarily and fundamentally a religious one, and all the most important
questions that may be started about its character and consequences, should
be decided by tests and considerations properly applicable to the subject of
true religion. The Reformers claimed to be regarded as being engaged in a
religious work, which was in accordance with God's revealed will, and fitted
to promote the spiritual welfare of men; and we are at once entitled and
bound to judge of them and their work, by investigating and ascertaining the
validity of this claim.
There are two leading aspects in which the Reformation, viewed as a whole,
may be regarded; the one more external and negative, and the other more
intrinsic and positive. In the first aspect it was a great revolt against
the see of Rome, and against the authority of the church and of churchmen in
religious matters, combined with an assertion of the exclusive authority of
the Bible, and of the right of all men to examine and interpret it for
themselves. In the second and more important positive aspect, the
Reformation was the proclamation and inculcation, upon the alleged authority
of Scripture, of certain views in regard to the substance of Christianity or
the way of salvation, and in regard to the organization and ordinances of
the Christian church. Many men have approved and commended the Reformation,
viewed merely as a repudiation of human authority in religion, and an
assertion of the right of private judgment, and of the exclusive supremacy
of the Scriptures as the rule of faith, who have not concurred in the
leading views of the Reformers in regard to Christian theology and church
organization. In this sense, rationalists and latitudinarians have generally
professed to adopt and act upon what they call the principles of the
Reformation, while they reject all the leading doctrines of the Reformers.
Men of this class usually attempt to pay off the Reformers with the credit
of having emancipated mankind from ecclesiastical thraldom, established the
right of private judgment, and done something to encourage the practice of
free enquiry. But while giving the Reformers credit for these things, they
have often rejected the leading doctrines of the Reformation upon
theological and ecclesiastical subjects, and have been in the habit of
claiming to themselves the credit of having succeeded, by following out the
principles of the Reformation, in educing, either from Scripture or from
their own speculations, more accurate and enlightened doctrinal views than
the Reformers ever attained to. There has been a great deal of this sort of
thing put forth both by rationalists and latitudinarians who professed to
admit the authority of the Christian revelation, and by infidels who denied
it. Dr Robertson in his life of Charles V. spoke of some
doctrinal discussions of that period in such terms as justly to lay himself
open to the following rebuke of Scott, the son of the commentator, in his
excellent continuation of Milner's "History of the Church of Christ."
"It is manifest what is the character that Dr Robertson here affects, which
is that of the philosopher and the statesman, in preference, if not to the
disparagement, of that of the Christian divine. This is entirely to the
taste of modern times, and will be sure to secure to him the praise of large
and liberal views among those who regard a high sense of the importance of
revealed truth, and all 'contending earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints,' as the infallible mark of narrow-mindedness and bigotry"
[Vol. 1, p270].
William
Cunningham (1805-1861) was one of the leading lights of the Christian church
in his day. Renowned for a rare combination of spiritual strength and
intellectual prowess, his extraordinary abilities were put to good use in
the early years of the Free Church of Scotland.
Reference
The
Reformers; and the Theology of the Reformation (Edinburgh: T. and T.
Clark, 38 George Street, 1862), pp1-3.
