CHAPTER III.
HAMILTON PREPARES HIMSELF IN GERMANY FOR THE REFORMATION OF SCOTLAND.
(Spring, Summer, Autumn, 1527.)
At the time of Hamilton’s arrival on the Continent, the germ of the Reformation of Scotland already lay in his heart. His association with the doctors of Germany would prove the identity of this great spiritual movement, which everywhere was overthrowing the same abuses, and bringing anew to the surface the same truths. In which direction should the young Christian hero of Scotland now turn his footsteps? All his ambition was to go to Wittenberg, to hear Luther, Melanchthon, and the other reformers; but circumstances led him to go first to Marburg. This town lay on his way, and a renowned printer, Hans Luft, was then publishing there the works of Tyndale. In fact, on May 8, 1527, at the moment of Patrick’s arrival on the Continent, there appeared at Marburg the Parable of the Wicked Mammon; and seven months later, December 11, Luft published The Veritable Obedience of a Christian Man. But Hamilton flattered himself that he should find at Marburg something more than Tyndale’s writings—Tyndale himself. English evangelical works had at that time to get printed in Germany, and, as far as possible, under the eye of the author. The young Scotchman had hopes then of meeting at Marburg the translator of the New Testament, the reformer of England, and even Fryth, who might be with him. One reason more positive still influenced Hamilton. He was aware that Lambert d’Avignon, the one man of all the reformers whose views most nearly approached those which prevailed afterwards in Scotland, had been called to Marburg by the landgrave. Philip of Hesse himself was the most determined, the most courageous of all the Protestant princes. How many motives were there inclining him to stay in that town! An extraordinary circumstance decided the young Scotchman. The landgrave, defender of piety and of letters,[39] was about to found there the first evangelical university, ‘for the restoration of the liberal sciences.’[40] Its inauguration was fixed to take place on May 30. Hamilton and his friends might arrive in time. They bent their course towards Hesse, and reached the banks of the Lahn.
UNIVERSITY OF MARBURG.
At the time of their arrival the little town was full of unaccustomed movement. Undiverted by this stir, Hamilton hastened to find out the Frenchman whose name had been mentioned to him and other learned men who were likely also to be at Marburg. He found the sprightly, pious, and resolute Lambert, an opponent, like the landgrave, of half-measures, and a man determined to take action in such wise that the Reformation should not be checked halfway. The young abbot of the North and the aged monk of the South thus met, understood each other, and soon lived together in great familiarity.[41] Lambert said to him that the hidden things had been revealed by Jesus Christ; that what distinguishes our religion from all others is the fact that God has spoken to us; that the Scriptures are sufficient to make us perfect. He did not philosophize much, persuaded that by dint of philosophizing one swerves from the truth. He set aside with equal energy the superstition which invents a marvellous mythology, and the incredulity which denies divine and supernatural action. ‘Everything which has been perverted [déformé] must be reformed [réformé],’ said Lambert, ‘and all reform which proceeds otherwise than according to the Word of God, is nothing.[42] All the inventions of human reason are, in the matter of religion, nothing but trifling and rubbish.’
The commotion which then prevailed amongst the population of Marburg was occasioned by the approaching inauguration of the university founded by the landgrave. On May 30 the chancellor presided at that ceremony. No school of learning had ever been founded on such a basis; one must suppose that the union which ought to exist between science and faith was in this case unrecognized. There is nothing in Hamilton’s writings to show that in this matter he shared the opinions of Lambert. With great evangelical simplicity as to the faith, the Scotchman had rather, in his manner of setting it forth, a metaphysical, speculative tendency, which is a marked feature of the Scottish mind. The principles which were to characterize the new university were these: ‘The Holy Scriptures,’ says a document of Marburg which has been preserved, ‘ought to be purely and piously interpreted, and no one who fails to do so is to teach in the school. From the science of law must be cut off everything which is either unchristian or impious.[43] It is not mere scholars who are to be appointed in the faculties of law, of medicine, of the sciences, and of letters, but men who shall combine with science the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and piety.’
SCIENCE AND FAITH.