urgency, they were justified to leave the communion of their fathers; or rather, they did not leave
it, but were cast out by the ruling hierarchy.
The Reformation went back to first principles in order to go forward. It struck its roots deep
in the past and bore rich fruits for the future. It sprang forth almost simultaneously from different
parts of Europe and was enthusiastically hailed by the leading minds of the age in church and state.
No great movement in history—except Christianity itself—was so widely and thoroughly prepared
as the Protestant Reformation.
The reformatory Councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basel; the conflict of the Emperors with
the Popes; the contemplative piety of the mystics with their thirst after direct communion with God;
the revival of classical literature; the general intellectual awakening; the biblical studies of Reuchlin,
and Erasmus; the rising spirit of national independence; Wiclif, and the Lollards in England; Hus,
and the Hussites in Bohemia; John von Goch, John von Wesel, and Johann Wessel in Germany
and the Netherlands; Savonarola in Italy; the Brethren of the Common Life, the Waldenses, the
Friends of God,—contributed their share towards the great change and paved the way for a new
era of Christianity. The innermost life of the church was pressing forward to a new era. There is
scarcely a principle or doctrine of the Reformation which was not anticipated and advocated in the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Luther made the remark that his opponents might charge him
with having borrowed everything from John Wessel if he had known his writings earlier. The fuel
was abundant all over Europe, but it required the spark which would set it ablaze.
Violent passions, political intrigues, the ambition and avarice of princes, and all sorts of
selfish and worldly motives were mixed up with the war against the papacy. But they were at work
likewise in the introduction of Christianity among the heathen barbarians. "Wherever God builds
a church, the devil builds a chapel close by." Human nature is terribly corrupt and leaves its stains
on the noblest movements in history.
But, after all, the religious leaders of the Reformation, while not free from faults, were men
of the purest motives and highest aims, and there is no nation which has not been benefited by the
change they introduced.
§ 5. The Genius and Aim of the Reformation.
Is. Aug. Dorner: On the formal, and the material Principle of the Reformation. Two essays, first
published in 1841 and 1857, and reprinted in his Gesammelte Schriften, Berlin, 1883, p. 48–187.
Also his History of Protestant Theology, Engl. trans. 1871, 2 vols.
Phil. Schaff: The Principle of Protestantism, Chambersburg, Penn., 1845 (German and English);
Protestantism and Romanism, and the Principles of the Reformation, two essays in his "Christ
and Christianity," N. York, 1885. p. 124–134. Also Creeds of Christendom, Vol. I. 203–219.
Dan. Schenkel: Das Princip des Protestantimus. Schaffhausen, 1852 (92 pages). This is the
concluding section of his larger work, Das Wesen des Protestantismus, in 3 vols.
K. F. A. Kahnis: Ueber die Principien des Protestatismus. Leipzig, 1865. Also his Zeugniss von
den Grundwahrheiten des Protestantismus gegen Dr. Hengstenberg. Leipzig, 1862.
Charles Beard: The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century in its relation to Modern Thought and
Knowledge. Hibbert Lectures for 1883. London, 1883. A Unitarian view, written with ample
learning and in excellent spirit.