HAMILTON’S THESES.
In the midst of all these labors, however, Hamilton was thinking of Scotland. It was not of the benefices which had been conferred on him, not of St. Andrews, nor of the misty lochs or picturesque glens; it was not even of his family, or of his friends that he thought the most. What occupied his mind night and day was the ignorance and superstition in which his countrymen were living. What powerfully appealed to him was the necessity of giving glory to God and of doing good to his own people. And yet would it not be madness to return to them? Had he not seen the animosity of the Scottish clergy? Did he not know well the power of the primate Beatoun? Had he not, only six or seven months before, left his country in all haste? Why then these thoughts of returning? There was good reason for them. Hamilton had been fortified in spirit during his sojourn at Marburg; his faith and his courage had increased; by living with decided Christians, who were ready to give their lives for the Gospel, he had been tempered like steel and had become stronger. It could not be doubted that extreme peril awaited him in Scotland; his two friends, John Hamilton and Wynram, did not understand his impatience and were resolved to wait. But neither their example nor the urgency of Lambert could quench the ardor of the young hero. He felt the sorrow of parting with Lambert and of finally giving up the hope of seeing Luther and Melanchthon; but he had heard God’s call; his one duty was to answer to it. About the end of autumn 1527 he embarked with his faithful servant and sailed towards the shores of Caledonia.
CHAPTER IV.
EVANGELIZATION, TRIBULATIONS, AND SUCCESS OF HAMILTON IN SCOTLAND.
(End of 1527 to the end of February 1528.)
The Church of Rome, in the sixteenth century, especially in Scotland, was far from being apostolic, although it assumed that title: nothing was less like St. John or St. Peter than its primates and its prelates, worldlings and sometimes warriors as they were. The real successors of the apostles were those reformers, who taught the doctrines of the apostles, labored as they did, and like them were persecuted and put to death. The theocratic and political elements combined in Rome have, with certain exceptions, substituted the law, that is, outward worship, ceremonial ordinances, pilgrimages and the exercises of ascetic life for the Gospel. The Reformation was a powerful reaction of the evangelical and moral element against the legal, sacerdotal, ascetic and ritualistic elements which had invaded the Church. This reaction was about to display its energy in Scotland, and Hamilton was to be at first its principal organ.
Already, before his return, the sacred books had arrived in large numbers in the principal ports of the kingdom. Attention had been awakened; but at the same time ignorance, dishonesty, and fanaticism had risen in revolt against the Evangelical Scriptures. The priests said that the Old Testament was the only true one, and pretended that the New had been recently invented by Martin Luther.[60] Consequently, in August 1527, the earl of Angus, at the instigation of Dunbar, bishop of Aberdeen, had confirmed the ordinance of 1525, and had decreed that the king’s subjects who circulated the sacred books should be visited with the same penalties as people from abroad. If, therefore, a vessel arrived at Leith, Dundee, St. Andrews, or Aberdeen, the king’s officers immediately went on board, and if any copies of the New Testament were found there, the ship and the cargo were confiscated and the captain was imprisoned.