The progress of the gospel revival of the sixteenth century resembles the course of a swiftly running stream coming down the mountainside with impetuous force and finally losing its energy in a marshy plain where its waters move sluggishly along through the muddy flats. At the start, the divine impulse is seen in all its freshness; thirsty souls are refreshed; thousands are cleansed and healed in the waters of life. But ere long, human motives begin to clog the course of the gospel. Many whose hearts had not been touched, who had experienced no real conversion, conformed outwardly or gave a mere mental assent to the truth. Politics began to mingle with the revival; princes and rulers tampered with heavenly things and became lords over God’s heritage. The Church throughout its long history has always been weakened by worldly alliances. Likewise the revival, mingling its strength with politics and self-interest, lost its power. Coming under worldly influence and patronage, its spiritual force ebbed away. Romanism was characterized by its attempt to rule the world; Protestantism by its subservience to the State. Wherever the so-called Reformed Churches were established, it was by, or under the aegis of, the ruling powers. The Protestant princes of Germany, the kings of Scandinavia and the sovereigns of England all played a dominant part in church affairs.
The worst abuses had been removed, some false doctrines had been set aside, vital truths such as justification by faith had been recovered, the Bible was circulated — these were blessings of incalculable value — but the Reformation left the Church and the world in unholy alliance. The Reformation was not completed.
Many intelligent and spiritually minded Christians realized this. With the open Bible before them, they saw clearly that the Reformed Churches did not agree with the Word of God. Superficial thinkers and the advocates of Romanism attribute the divisions of Christendom to the Reformation. The real cause was ignorance of or failure to obey the truth. Indeed, within a short time after the departure of the apostles, sects began to multiply. It is error, not truth, which makes sects. Rome tried to enforce unity by terror and the stake, but even Rome was never more than a part of Christendom, and there were always many outside its pale, among them the most faithful Christians.
When Luther stood up against the embattled ramparts of Rome armed only with the Word of God, he was mightily helped. That was his great work. But another problem faced him, which was beyond his power to solve. What was to be done with the established system of religion which existed in Germany? He could not sweep it away, and if he could, he would not, for what was to fill its place? He knew not what to do. He saw clearly enough from Scripture that the true Church was composed of all the redeemed, hidden, often persecuted and scattered outwardly, but united by the indwelling Spirit. It is said that at one period he thought of gathering true believers together into an inner fellowship within the public Church, as was attempted later by the Methodists. He had not the faith to make a clean break with the public body. He decided it was impracticable. Others, however, did it, notably the much-maligned Anabaptists.
It was a time of confusion; for one thing, a vast amount of Church property was involved. In his dilemma, Luther sought the assistance of the Protestant princes. Gradually the Lutheran Church was organized. It resembled, in many respects, the Anglican, though the princes were regarded rather as patrons and protectors than rulers of the Church, and the bishops were replaced by superintendents.
Luther, moreover, was not prepared to revert to the simplicity that marked the worship of the early Church. Much of the old ritual remained; elaborate altars, crucifixes and rich vestments were retained. In this it differed from the simpler form established by Calvin. Like the Anglican Church, too, it sought to embrace the whole population of the country. This was a fatal weakness, and, as Luther sorrowfully admitted, it lacked an effective discipline.
Calvin attempted to model his system more after the pattern of the early Church — government by elders. Calvin realized that, unless the Church was to be corrupted, some means must be found of excluding the profane and immoral from the Lord’s table. This power was vested in the elders. Into the details of the system we need not go further here, but it gave rise to the various forms of Presbyterianism, and under the title Reformed it became a rival of the Lutheran Church. Though in theory Calvin made a clear distinction between Church and State, in practice the City Council in Geneva had more power than the Consistory.
In practice, all the established Churches resulting from the Reformation suffered from the fatal weakness that they were dependent on or dominated by the State. Yet nothing is clearer in the New Testament than the fact that the Church has no part with the world, belongs to heaven and not to earth, and is responsible to Christ alone as Head. Insofar as it has been free from the world and worldly principles, its testimony has been effective; insofar as it has been controlled or influenced by it, its power has waned and its testimony wilted. Hence, in this history we have sought to trace those unworldly features which are proper to the Church, which, since its first failure, can only be discovered in individuals or groups of individuals whose lives and testimony are characterized by “the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 33Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 3) JND).
The English Church was a compromise largely consequent on the political situation in Elizabeth’s reign. It has been called a via media. Elizabeth feared to make drastic changes lest her Roman Catholic subjects should be incited to rebellion. She liked ritual, and many Romish features were retained. Although the Pope was disowned, the reformed Anglican Church was simply the pre-Reformation Church purged of some of its Romish features. The Anglican Church still traces its episcopacy back to Augustine of Canterbury, who was ordained by Pope Gregory. The queen became the Governor of the Church, though she avoided the term “head” (as belonging only to Christ). She asserted her authority to the full in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. To question her rights in church government was sedition, and some suffered death for it.
There was little change, too, in the clergy. Of the ninety-four hundred parochial clergy in office when Elizabeth came to the throne, only eighty resigned their livings. To prevent their spreading papist views, they were forbidden to preach and permitted only to read the Protestant homilies. This shows how superficial was the change. There were many who were seriously disturbed by the halfhearted character of the reformation of the English Church. Some Protestants, qualified to fill high office, accepted bishoprics in spite of much that they could not approve. Others remained outside the Establishment rather than compromise their consciences. They had a large body of enlightened opinion behind them. Those who desired a further reformation were called Puritans. Many Puritans remained in the Church, hoping to bring about the desired reforms from within. Some wished to see the Presbyterian system of church government adopted.
In 1585 a petition was lodged with Parliament pointing out the unhappy state of affairs. In thousands of parishes the gospel was never preached. There were at that time twelve thousand parishes in the country without pastors. Nothing was done. Suitable men were not available, yet the population was tied to this defective Church, and dissenters were not only discouraged, but persecuted. Such was the evil result of a State-controlled Church.
There were many real Christians who could not conscientiously have any part in a system which they felt was so contrary to the Scriptures. About this time there was in London a company of about two hundred persons, mainly poor and unlearned, who had left the Church for conscientious reasons and who met and worshipped in secret. When discovered, their leaders were jailed, and their pastor, Richard Fitz, died in prison.
In 1571 there was printed “An Appeal to England to Return to God,” signed by twenty-seven persons: It was a touching document in which the following scriptural sentiments were expressed:
“According to the saying of the Almighty, our God, ‘Wherever two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst’ (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)), so we a poor congregation whom God hath separated from the Church of England and from the mingled and false worshipping therein used, out of which assemblies the Lord our only Saviour hath called us and still calleth, saying, ‘Come out from among them, and be separated, saith the Lord’ (2 Cor. 6:1717Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, (2 Corinthians 6:17)). So as God giveth strength at this day, we do serve the Lord every Sabbath in houses, and on the fourth day in the week we meet or come together weekly to use prayer and exercise discipline on them which do deserve it, by the strength and sure warrant of the Lord God’s Word as in Matthew 18:16-1716But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 17And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. (Matthew 18:16‑17) and 1 Corinthians 5:45.”
In 1581 a certain Robert Browne wrote a very strong plea for immediate reformation and return to scriptural practices. A Church was formed in Norwich on these lines, but persecution drove them to Middelburg in Holland. Differences, however, arose among them. Browne, after much persecution, seems to have succumbed and in later years conformed to the Established Church. Christians who followed these simple Scriptural teachings were often called Brownists. For circulating the works of Browne and Harrison, which denied the authority of Queen Elizabeth in the Church of Christ, John Copping, Elias Thacker of Bury St. Edmunds and William Dennis of Thetford were hanged on the gallows.
In 1586 a preacher named Greenwood, who held these views, was arrested while preaching. While Greenwood was in prison, he was visited by a friend named Barrowe, who was himself taken into custody without warrant or authority. Henry Barrowe was born in 1546 and graduated at Cambridge. His early life was careless and worldly, but passing a church one day in London, he entered, and something the preacher said smote his conscience. He was convicted of sin, but before long got peace with God. Thereafter he devoted himself to the study of the Scriptures and led a godly life. His understanding of the truth led him to separate from the State Church. He was averse to the prayer book. “Shall we think,” he asked, “that God had left His people so destitute of His grace that they could not find words in which to express their desires, but had to be taught like children line by line?” Prayer, he said, was “a confident demanding which faith makes through the Holy Spirit according to the will of God.” He was kept in prison for seven years. Together with Greenwood he was brought to trial and charged with publishing seditious books. Both Barrowe and Greenwood were hanged at Tyburn on April 6, 1593. These faithful men suffered because the Church of England was controlled by the Sovereign and therefore to question its constitution was sedition. How vividly this illustrates the fatal weakness of Protestantism, namely the domination of the Church by the State.
Another victim of this evil alliance between Church and State was John Penry of Builth (Brecknockshire). It was the custom for some of the members of Cambridge University to meet weekly for prayer. On one of these occasions, Penry came under conviction of sin. He turned in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, and his heart was filled with evangelical zeal for the conversion of his countrymen in Wales, who still lacked the gospel light which had reached so many other places. In 1587 he made an appeal to the Queen and Parliament for the evangelization of that land. He preached there successfully himself and urged that men might be allowed to preach without ordination. He maintained that every congregation of Christians was the body of Christ and had the right to call upon the services of any of its members for the purposes of instruction, consolation and edification, which he had obviously learned from the plain teaching of 1 Corinthians 14. He was arrested but later released from prison, only to be again imprisoned. Among his private papers, some were found which were construed as seditious. Although these had never been published, he was sentenced to death and, in May 1593, he was hanged. He was a fervent evangelist, and his suffering and death were due to his earnest desire to carry the gospel to the neglected people of Wales.
In 1593 an act was passed making it a crime to be absent from church for a month or attempting to deny the queen’s ecclesiastical supremacy either by the spoken, written or printed word. It was made an offence to persuade anyone to be absent from church or to be present at any unlawful meeting for religious worship. The penalties for non-conformity were, after three months, banishment. For failing to go or returning without permission, the penalty was death by hanging. Many emigrated to Holland. Even so, many of the persecuted still felt it was the duty of rulers to suppress false religion and idolatry. It was this which made the Puritans themselves persecutors when they got into power. Religious toleration was unknown in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Little companies of Dissenters like those we have just noticed began to multiply in spite of persecution from this time onwards. They held that the Church should not be subject to human authority and that no company of Christians in a place could exercise authority over another company elsewhere. They held that each local Church was independent, hence they came in time to be called Independents or Congregationalists. They declined to formulate a system of doctrine, relying solely on the Scriptures and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They do not appear to have begun with any idea of forming a sect, and in their early days they formed no federation of churches. They appear to have arisen spontaneously as a result of a sincere desire to leave the error and confusion of the Reformed Churches and return to the simplicity of apostolic times. We shall meet them again, for they formed an important section of the nonconforming Christians in England throughout the seventeenth century.
Having noticed the Puritans both within and without the Church, it may be appropriate to refer to another movement which also originated during the Reformation era. The Baptists (or Anabaptists) originated on the Continent. They attempted to return to the simplicity of New Testament times, declined all worldly associations and called themselves simply “brethren” or disciples. The first of their congregations appeared at Zurich in 1525, whence the movement spread through central and western Europe. They were generally denominated Anabaptists because they held infant baptism to be unscriptural and insisted on the baptism of believers only. They were persecuted by both the Romish and the Reformed Churches.
The Anabaptist movement was discredited by the rise of a corrupt and fanatical party led by Jan Matthys and John of Leyden. The godly element could have had little in common with these wild extremists who went under the Anabaptist name, but they suffered for the folly of the latter. This fanatical party took possession of the city of Munster and attempted to set up a sort of Christian communistic state. The Bishop of Munster and the neighboring princes attacked the city, and the defenders were massacred with frightful tortures. This was in 1535. There were, however, many true Christians, who were known by this name, who led peaceful and exemplary lives. Thousands of these suffered martyrdom, being beheaded, burned at the stake or drowned. After the Munster affair, many of these gathered around a man named Menno Simons, and a body later known as Mennonites came into existence. In their insistence on the Lord’s deity, some of them appear in time to have developed unsound ideas as to His humanity.
The teaching of both the Romish and Reformed Churches was that a child was saved by baptism, a view which is still sanctioned by the English Prayerbook, for in the baptismal service the Priest says, “This child is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ’s Church.” As this attributes new birth to an outward rite — often performed by an unbelieving and ungodly minister —it is not difficult to see that many godly souls had serious difficulties about it and adopted Baptist views by conviction. Although there are records of Anabaptists being persecuted and put to death in England in the reign of Henry VIII, they do not seem to have survived in any great numbers.
Early in the seventeenth century a record appears of a little body of Christians who had as their minister a certain John Smyth, a Cambridge scholar who had, after much exercise of heart, left the Church of England. In 1608 the whole company was driven to Holland by persecution, where they found other congregations separated from the Church. This little company adopted Baptist opinions, and some of them, under the leadership of Thomas Helwys, returned to London in 1612 and began the first Baptist Church in England.