Women of the Reformation

The Reformation was well under way when the Westminster Confession of Faith was written. October 31, 1517 – Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the church door at Wittenburg . The Westminster Confession of Faith was written over 125 years later. Yet – Scriptural authority, sufficiency, perspicuity and inerrancy had kept the fires of reformation burning. We pause now… in our study of the Confession to look at the Reformation – that precursor to Westminster – to look at the Reformation, and particularly women of the Reformation.

Women reformers in sixteenth-centruy England played a prominent role in furthering the Reformation. They showed by their faithfulness, in the face of death, their determination to help further the spreading of the true message of Scripture. Let me highlight some research shared by Dr. Susan Felch at the Henry H. Meeter Center for Reformation and Calvin studies.

Ann Boleyn – Henry VIII’s second queen is written up in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. She was a steadfast patron of the Protestant movement in England. She encouraged the translation of the Bible and gave money to William Tyndale and Thomas Cranmer. She was later executed.

Anne Vaughan Lock – an 11 year old girl who witnessed the execution of Stephan Cobb. She was being tutored by Stephan Cobb and continued her education with zeal after his execution. Later she became close friends with John Knox, Scotland’s leading reformer. This led her to Geneva where she translated some of Calvin’s works. She went on to write Meditation of the Pentitent Sinner. John Knox respected Anne and her husband. He depended on them for safety and comfort. Knox has written how their support and protection helped the reformation spread throughout Scotland and England.

Lastly, let me highlight Lady Jane Grey. You might know her as the reluctant queen, or the the nine day queen. Let me quote from Historia ecclesiastica (a terrific blog):

Michael Haykin summarizes:

…the heroes of the Reformation are not simply the remarkable cadre of theologians that emerged at that time, men like Martin Luther, Huldreich Zwingli, Heinrich Bullinger, Thomas Cranmer, and John Calvin. But the faith that these Reformers sought to explicate and promote gripped the hearts of many who were not vocational theologians. Jane Grey was such a one. Only a day or so before her death, Jane wrote in her Greek New Testament a letter for her younger sister Katherine, who was fourteen. She was seeking to encourage Katherine to turn from the fleeting pleasures of this worl

d to embrace Christ and find a treasure that is eternal. She wrote:

“I have sent you, good sister Katherine, a book, which although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is more worth than precious stones. It is the book, dear sister, of the laws of the lord: It is His Testament and Last Will, which He bequeathed unto us wretches, which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy, and if you, with a good mind read it, and with an earnest desire, follow it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life. …as touching my death, rejoice as I do and consider that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption, for as I am assured that I shall for losing of a mortal life, find an immortal felicity.”

Here we see the typical Reformation love of the Scriptures: “it is more worth than precious stones.” And central to this love of the Scriptures is Jane’s clear understanding as to why they were given: to lead sinners—those whom Jane calls “us wretches”—“to the path of eternal joy” and “immortal and everlasting life.” Finally, she has an assurance of salvation, a basic datum of New Testament Christian experience that had been recovered by the Reformers.

If we ask why she had such an assurance, a final document that she wrote, also on the eve of her execution, tells us. She wrote the following three sentences in her prayer book, the first in Latin, then one in Greek and the final one in English: “If justice be done with my body, my soul will find mercy with God. Death will give pain to my body for its sins, but the soul will be justified before God. If my faults deserve punishment, my youth at least, and my imprudence, were worthy of excuse; God and posterity will show me favour.” She has assurance of salvation because she stands justified before God, she has been made right with God, and thus is now confident of his favour.

I pray that I may be as steadfast as these women who supported the Reformation. Happy Reformation Day!

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