May - the Free Presbyterian church of Scotland

Scottish Reformers’ View of Romanism 143
their baptism. (3) That no man is without sin as long as he lives. (4) That
good works make not a good man, but that a good man doeth good works,
and that an ill man doeth ill works; yet the same ill works truly repented of
make not an ill man. (5) That a man is not justified by works but by faith
only. (9) That it is a devilish doctrine to teach that, by any actual penance,
remission of sins is purchased. (10) That auricular confession is not essential
to salvation. (11) That there is no purgatory. (13) That the Pope is Antichrist,
and that every priest hath as much power as the Pope.”
These articles are more doctrinal, and more closely related to the way of
salvation, than those against the Lollards of Kyle. To these articles, Hamilton
replied that “he held the first seven to be undoubtedly true; the rest were disputable
points, but such as he could not condemn, unless he saw better reasons
than yet he had heard.” This reply is puzzling. One would have expected him
to accept articles 9-11 above as undoubtedly true. Article 9 relates to the
atonement, and whether human works add anything to it. Article 10 touches
on the place of the Church in salvation (perhaps a statement like, “He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mk 16:16), was confusing him).
But there is some uncertainty over the articles – John Foxe’s Acts and
Monuments gives a rather different list and significantly alters article 9 (“It
is a devilish doctrine to enjoin any sinner actual penance, for sin”) – so we
cannot make too much of this point. Foxe’s list contains several articles on
the Pope’s spiritual and temporal authority which Spottiswoode omitted.
Like the Lollards before him, Hamilton was strongly inclined to identify the
Papacy with the Antichrist: at the very least he regarded the Pope as exceedingly
wicked. It is interesting to note his essentially Presbyterian doctrine
in article 13: that all priests (ministers) are equal. In Foxe’s list, it was also
charged against Hamilton that he maintained that “Master Patrick Hamilton
was a bishop” – one can see why the Episcopalian Spottiswoode might have
omitted this article.
One other source of information about Hamilton is Archbishop Beaton’s
“Citation” against him in 1527. This mentions some of the usual Romish
beliefs and practices which Hamilton rejected – worshipping of images, salvation
through good works, prayers for the dead – and also charges him with
teaching that “the sacraments of the Church were not to be believed” and “that
those who trusted in them had died in an evil and wicked belief and been
buried in hell”. This was a repudiation of the sacrifice of the mass, and possibly
also of transubstantiation, which was not otherwise mentioned. He was
also allegedly teaching that “churches are not to be frequented”. If this charge
was correct, then already the idea of separation from the Church of Rome
was receiving prominence.