REFORMATION is the name generally given to the great schism which took place in the Western Church in the first half of the 16th century, and by which a large part of the population of Europe has become separated from the Church of Rome ; besides which, the great majority of the people of the United States of North America, as well as of the English and Dutch colonies, follow the same mode of faith.
In order to understand correctly the history of the Reformation, it is necessary to be acquainted with the social, political, and intellectual state of Europe in the 15th century; and for this purpose the histories of the councils of Constance and of Basel, and the' Historia Bohemica,' by sEneas Sylvius Piecolomini, are of great service. [Plus IL, in Broo. Div.] Previous to the Reformation the see of Rome claimed of divine right, and asserted, with the assistance of the lay power of the various states of Europe, an absolute authority over the whole Christian Church ; indeed, a universal authority, as exemplified by the gifts of the Western world, the inhabitants being heathens, to the monarchs of Spain and Portugal ; while the Greek Church was denounced as here tical By virtue of this supreme authority, the Roman pontiff decided absolutely all doubts and disputes which might arise, whether in matters of doctrine, jurisdiction, or discipline : his decisions were con sidered as infallible; and whoever resisted or gainsayed them was con sidered a heretic, and as such liable to canonical censures, and also to the temporal penalties awarded by the canon law against heretics. The government of the Church was therefore absolute ; and the Church, or rather the bishop of Rome, as head of the Church, assumed also a supremacy even in temporal matters, although the exercise of this last supremacy was resisted by various princes. [GREGORY VII.; INNOCENT 111.; INNOCENT IV.; GREGORY IX., in BIOG. Div.] The vreat object of the Reformers of tke 16th century was • to over throw the principle of absolutism in the govennuent of the Church, by contesting the infallibility and supremacy of the bishop of Rome. This had been already contested, and indeed set aside by the councils of Constance and of !keel; but the point of contention had never been finally and permanently settled. The Reformers of the 16th century, however, went much farther : they denied the absolute authority even of the councils, and they leaned towards the popular or democratic principle in religious matters, by allowing the right of individual interpretation of the Scriptures, and cliacarding all tradition and human authority in matters of faith ; and as in the course of their struggle they were met by several dogmas or doctrinal tenets derived either from paasages of the Scriptures as interpreted by the Roman Church, or from tradition, or from decisions of the councils or decretals of the popes, which were urged in opposition to them, they set about translating and commenting on the Scriptures, substituting s different interpretation of the disputed passages, and thus sapping the very foundations of the whole fabric of Church authority.
It has been maintained by several writers that the principles asserted by Luther and other reformers were those of the early ages of the Church ; but all that can be proved seems to be that in almost every age since the apostolic times there has been here and there a display of opposition to the absolute system in the Church; that some peculiar doctrines of Luther and Calvin had been asserted by others long before them ; and that the Valdenses especially, and their neighbours of the valleys of Dauphin6, had retained from time immemorial a system of Church discipline similar to that established by the Reformation in the churches of Switzerland and Scotland.
The progress of the Reformation in Germany and Switzerland has been related in the Bioo. DIY. under the names of the chief actors in that great movement. [Luria:It ; BUCF:It ; ; ZwINGLI ; CALVIN; CHARLES V.; FERDINAND L; 3launxca, Duke of Saxony ; and others.] The Reformation in England sprung from among the people and the clergy. It had begun with Wycliffe ; it spread from England to Germany among the Lollards and the Hussites, and was carried back from the Continent to the shores of Britain with a fresh impulse from the preaching of Luther, Bucer, and the Swiss reformers. The schism of Henry VIII. paved the way, but it did not originate, nor promote, nor establish the doctrines of the Reformation; they made their way rather in spite of, than by the favour of, that capricious king. It was only under his successor, Edward VI., that the Reformation became established by authority. Still the origin of the Church of England as a body independent of Rome dates from the wayward deeds of Henry VIII., and when that Church afterwards adopted the reformed doctrines, there was a great admixture of political and state reasons in the final establishment of it, especially under Elizabeth, and conse quently much severity and harshness were exhibited towards those who adhered to the old religion, which threw for a time a dubious light over the ascendancy of the Reformation in England.
For its progress and final settlemeut, we must refer to the histories of this country, and the articles BUCER ; CRAMMER; CROMWELL, THOMAS;