John Scougal(Life time: 1730), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The smell of burning flesh filled the air. It had taken four attempts to get the fire blazing outside St Salvator’s Chapel, even with gunpowder. The large crowd pressed in to see the victim suffer a six-hour torment, as the fire gradually consumed him. ‘Convert, heretic!’ screamed friar Alexander Campbell, ‘Call upon our Lady! Say Salve Regina [Hail Queen]!’ A voice shouted: ‘If you still believe in the doctrines for which you are dying, then give us a sign.’ The victim, with his body half-devoured by the fiery chain, raised the three remaining fingers of his hand in response. Gathering his last strength he cried out: ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! How long shall darkness overwhelm this realm? How long wilt thou suffer this tyranny of men?’ These were the victim’s last words in 1528. The crowd stood, numb and speechless; they had just watched the death of Patrick Hamilton, the Scottish Reformer who had preached the gospel to his last breath.
James Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews, stood there, smug in the knowledge that his will had prevailed in the Church Court in St Andrews Cathedral, and had been carried by the Archbishop of Glasgow, three bishops, five abbots, and a large group of influential clergy. And yet it was being said that the ‘reek of Master Patrick Hamilton infected as many as it blew upon.’ Soon, all over Scotland, questions were being asked: ‘Why was Master Hamilton burnt at the stake? Why should everybody believe and agree with the superstitions of the Church, under the fear of death? Why can the Church not be questioned about its mistakes and deviations, without fear of punishment?’ How on earth could the church have come to this?
It’s the year AD 325 and Constantine the Roman Emperor claimed to have become a Christian. Wishing to help the church stem the tide of heresy he enacted a Roman law against Arius and his followers who preached that Jesus was created, rather than being God. The law stated that ‘if someone should be discovered to have hidden a writing composed by Arius, and not to have immediately brought it forward and destroyed it by fire, his penalty shall be death.’ Thus an unchristian law would become established from Rome which would lead to the cruel suffering of ‘heretics’. Together with this was the worldly way in which Constantine elevated the bishops with thrones and rich rewards. As the centuries rolled on many bishops would increasingly vie with each other for power and wealth, and the authority of the Bible would be replaced by the traditions and tyranny of men.
The Reformation was vital, but it would take brave men and women to stand up and call people back to Christ and his Bible. This would also mean challenging the corruption and abuse of those in power who had usurped the position of bishop for their own self-glory. It was convenient for those bishops to decry a person as a ‘heretic’ if he stood to expose their corrupt teaching and control, but Christ would advance his church, despite the evil of tyrannical men. Jesus is our foundation and he says ‘on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18, NKJV).