(This excerpt from the Moderator’s Address on the subject “Is the Spirit of the Lord Straightened?” at the 1982 General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland deals especially with the Reformation, often commemorated in October. It is reprinted from the Free Church’s July/August Monthly Record.)
Now, we have no hesitation in asserting that the glory of the (Divine) Presence in His manifestation in the Church is directly related to the attitude of the church in respect to the word of God—the voice of the Spirit.
It is in the measure in which the church has demonstrated her loyalty and devotion to the Bible as the sword of the Spirit that she has had the glory of the Presence manifested in her ministrations. When this unique production of the Spirit is disregarded and disallowed, and mere human compositions substituted for it, it properly follows that the manifestations of the Presence will be largely withdrawn and withheld.
There is thus the most intimate relation between the Spirit and the word. He is not only the Author of that word, but He also authenticates, interprets, and applies it to his church and people, and it is in the measure in which the church has responded positively to this activity down the ages, by demonstrating her total commitment and loyalty to the word, that the glory of the divine Presence has manifested itself in her work and witness. Where the word has been rejected and repudiated as the supreme rule of the faith and conduct of the church, she has lost her credibility and authority, for the Spirit was offended and grieved, and consequently withdrew the manifestations of His glory in her ministrations.
Thus there followed a long dark night of spiritual eclipse while men groped around searching for the light, but were unable to find it. Isolated voices were raised in protest against the prostitution of the gospel, with its consequent obscuring of the Presence and glory of the Spirit, but these were quickly dealt with and silenced.
By the early 16th century, however, there was a new spirit abroad in western society. Things were stirring everywhere. Holy men of God unctioned by the Spirit of Christ were emerging from the shadows, and standing fearlessly on the rock-bed of scripture. We have no hesitation in saying that this, under God, accounted for the success of the reforming movement—the insistence on giving the Bible its rightful place. From the outset the Reformation was grounded on holy scripture, receiving, as it developed, its momentum and impetus from the word the voice of the Spirit. Sola Scriptura was the cardinal principle on which the reforming movement was based, and this alone explains its tremendous energy. Every doctrine, every practice, every precept, was brought to the touchstone of the word, and subjected to intense scrutiny at that point. The authority of the divine word was once again discovered, and godly men were determined that the whole process of thought and action should be subordinated to it.
J. C. Ryle, commenting on the effect which there discovery of biblical truth had on the Reformation movement, says, “It was doctrine in the apostolic age which emptied the heathen temples, and shook Greece and Rome. It was doctrine that awoke Christendom from its slumbers at the time of the Reformation, and spoiled the Pope of one third of his subjects . . . It is doctrine which gives power to every successful mission, whether at home or abroad. It is doctrine—clear ringing doctrine—which, like. the rams’ horns at Jericho, casts down the opposition of the devil and sin.” Thus it was the clear sounding, and fearless preaching, of the doctrines of grace which were at length to breach the walls of papal darkness and superstition, and bring to dishonour the medieval dogmas of human works.
The Reformation era, then, was the greatest single revival of the gospel since the days of the apostles, and their immediate successors. And the cause is not far to seek. The Reformers proclaimed the whole counsel of God, and they proclaimed it with the conviction of men who had in their possession an inspired and infallible rule of faith. As a result the glory of the Divine Presence was once again manifested in the ministrations of the church. His grace was mightily demonstrated in the lives of high and low alike and wrought a radical transformation in those nations which were principally affected by it.
