A History of the Articles of Religion: To which is added a Series of Documents from A.D. 1536 to A.D. 1615; Together with Illustrations from Contemporary Sources. Author: Charles Hardwick (Philadelphia: Herman Hooker, S.W. Corner Chestnut and Eighth Streets, 1852). Hardwick published this from St. Catherine’s Hall, Cambridge, 19 Mar 1851.
Part Three.
Some observations on the background to the English Reformation.
First, we call attention to Von der Hartdt referred to above who collected all the sermons given during the years 1414-1418. One such man was an Oxford man, Hottric Abendon, who preached his sermon on 28 October 1415. Hardwick tells us that even a “most cursory perusal of these sermons will demonstrate the general corruption of the Church, and also the very ardent desire which was then manifested in all quarters for an immediate and effectual remedy.”[1]
Second, Gerson, the Chancellor of the University of Paris, produced a list of Roman abuses needing correction, including the Curia. Hardwick asserts that Gerson’s list concerned mostly “temporal and disciplinary matters,” but that with further consideration they would have led to deeper analyses “de Fide.”[2]
Third, remarkably and notably, during this Council of date 15 June 1415, a committee was formed under the title the “Reformation College.” This is a wonderful name. It consisted of three cardinals and deputies from every nation, together with leading divines and civilians. Unfortunately, we must wait through the generations until another Reformation would come.
Fourth, from a Roman and stoutly anti-Protestant source, this quote sums it up well.
“It had come about that, whichever of the three claimants of the papacy was the legitimate successor of Peter. There reigned throughout the Church a universal uncertainty and an intolerable confusion, so that saints and scholars and upright souls were to be found in all three obediences. On the principle that a doubtful pope is no pope, the Apostolic See appeared really vacant, and under the circumstances could not possibly be otherwise filled than by the action of a general council.
“The canonical irregularities of the council seem less blameworthy when to this practical vacancy of the papal chair we add the universal disgust and weariness at the continuance of the so-called schism, despite all imaginable efforts to restore to the Church its unity of headship, the justified fear of new complications, the imminent peril of Catholic doctrine and discipline amid the temporary wreckage of the traditional authority of the Apostolic See, and the rapid growth of false teachings equally ruinous to Church and State.”[3]
This Roman description accords well with Hardwick’s and our contentions about the state of the Church in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. As in the life of Christ and the apostles, Satan, hell and demons were nefariously at work. They always will be. The Reformation was the recovery the True Churches of Christ from the false Gospel.
We must pause to insert the Battle Hymn of the Reformation, Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott, penned by a later Reformer, Martin Luther, on the basis of Psalm 46.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgpMcwNImww"
And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
"That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.
Another good rendering of Psalm 46 comes from the 1650 Scottish Psalter. See:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGzuUfQD-G4
Yes, Satan, hell, her demons and her human pawns were at work in the Church of Christ--she'd been corrupted in doctrine and life.
Fifth, Wycliffe was condemned. His writing had been condemned in Rome (1412-1413) under John XXIII. Forty-five propositions of Wycliffe were condemned at this Council, something already declared by the Universities of Paris and Prague. A list of 260 errors was crafted. All his writings were ordered to be burned. His body was exhumed, dug up, the bones burned and the ashes cast into the Severn River—from thence, metaphorically, Wycliffe’s influence would spread to the nations in a very literal sense.[4] In 1418, Martin V in his Bull, “Inter Cunctas,” approved of the action. We wonder whether Benedict XVI continues to support a predecessor, Martin V. Infallible?
Sixth, Jan Hus was condemned. His errors included: the Church consists only of the elect and predestined (invisible church), the role of the Pope, the rule of Faith (sola scriptura), Communion under both kinds, the un-necessary role of auricular confession, and Civil Authority dependent upon Christian Churchmen, not Rome.
We bring Part Three to a close for now, with amplifications in our next post on Wycliffe and Huss, precursors to Martin Luther and the English Reformation.
Using one prayer from the Reformed Anglican Church, 1662 BCP, "The Third Collect, for Aid Against All Perils:
"Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Saviour. Amen."
The war has not ended with the Reformation, unless you're at ease in Zion.
[1] Hardwick, op.cit, 10.
[2] Hardwick, op.cit, 10. Hardwick also refers to Bishop John Jewel’s note from Epistola de Concilio Tridentio (Works VIII, 86, ed. Jelf). The Bishop of Salisbury, John Jewel, states that there were seventy-five issues on the list. We do not have access to them here; it is noteworthy that a leader like Gerson penned these many criticisms of the Romish Church for Reformation. This continues to give to the Roman lie of unity...popular these days for Romish fabricators and apologists.
[3] http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04288a.htm of date 22 July 2009.
[4] It must be re-asserted for this younger generation that reading the Bible by the laity has been relaxed in the last forty years. I, my father, and grandparents well remember the day of Latin Masses and the prohibition against reading the Bible. Many others will remember that also; older Roman followers remember that as well. Their response is, literally and have heard it, “Why worry? The infallible church lets us know what we need to know.”
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