Short History of the Reformation (English Edition)

"The Reformation, like all great historical movements, was of slow and unattractive development. Long in coming into notice, it was equally long in finding its champions. The cause was waiting for its men, and when the need was supreme they appeared, with heroic spirit, great organizing genius, and amazing power of endurance. Protestantism was an oak of young and vigorous growth in the first quarter of the 16th century, but its roots lay deep in the soil of the 14th. The Reformation possessed two characteristics — one national, with all the individuality that might be expected of race and land; the other cosmopolitan, having general fibre and color, always the same, whatever the country or people, from Norway to the Alps, and from Transylvania to the Bay of Biscay. The Reformation has proved to be the chief turning-point in modern history. It is that great religious and intellectual revolution which marks the boundary-line between the Middle Ages and the Modern Period. The call for regeneration was deep and loud. Superstition had become interwoven with the pure doctrine of the Gospel. The morals of the clergy, from the papacy down to the humblest monks, had become corrupt. The highest ecclesiastical offices were reached by vicious means. The common people were purposely kept in ignorance. Against these evils, ruinous at once to intellect and soul, the Reformers made their bold protest, and called upon the people to rally to their standard. Their aim was, at first, a purification of the Church within itself, and by its own servants. This proved a total failure. The next step was to withdraw from the fold, and establish an independent confession and a separate ecclesiastical structure. This succeeded..." - John F. Hurst

Contents - The Heralds of Protestantism. The Humanism of Italy. The Reformatory Councils. The German Reformation: Martin Luther, from his Birth to the Retirement in the Wartburg Castle, 1483-1520. Luther: Further Labors and Personal Character, 1520-1546. Melanchthon and other German Reformers. The Reformation in German Switzerland. The Reformation in French Switzerland. The English Reformation, First Period, 1509-1553. The English Reformation, Second Period, 1553-1603. The Scotch Reformation. The Reformation in the Netherlands. The Reformation in France. The Reformation in Italy. The Reformation in Spain and Portugal. The Reformation in Scandinavia. The Reformation in the Slavic Lands. Survey of Results. The 400th Anniversary of Luther’s Birth.