by a scriptural test exclusively. Thus they all retained
what the early councils had defined on the essence of the Godhead and the person of Christ. Gradually other parties amse which demanded a greater prominence for the necessity ofthe scriptural affirmative proof, and that not too great a stress should be laid upon the testimony ofthe early Church. Hence many doctrines which the greal Reformed churches of the L6th century agreed in continuing in their creeds were by other Christian in- quirers declared to lack the foundation of a clear script- ural proof, and on that ground either rejected or held as indifferent on which Bible Christians had a right to dis- agree. All these parties, however, h< Id fasl to the fun- damental principle thai the Bible was the supreme authority for the believer in Christ. Other sects and parties have made a distinction between the written Scripture and the Word or Spirit of Christ, and placed the latter above the former; others, again, have found a hidden sense in the Bible besides the literal: yet all these parties concur in recognising the central principle ofthe Reformation. A total change ofthe hasis ofthe Reformation was attempted by the Rationalists ofthe 18th and 19th centuries, who wanted to have the Bible regarded and interpreted as any other hook, recognising w hat appeared to agree with sound reason, and claiming the right to reject all the remainder. The divergence between this view and the central principle of the Ref- ormation is so apparent, and so radical that the long- continued coexistence of both views in many of the Eu- ropean State churches can only be explained from the facl that the churches were enslaved by the State, ami treated not as forms of religion, but as a division ofthe Stale administration. The introduction of self-govern- ment into these churches rapidly develops a tendency towards the complete separation between the Rational- istic and the Biblical concept ion of < Ihristianity.
Theologians have sometimes called this principle the formal principle of the Reformation, or the principium cognoscendi. They have distinguished from ii the ma- terial principle, or principium essendi, which proclaims the justification ofthe sinner by faith alone. Both are intimately connected. When the Church is no longer viewed as the infallible teacher of the true Christian
doctrine, but the inquirer after Christian truth is point- ed to .the Bible and to Christ himself, the soul's salvation can only he found in a direct relation between < Ihrist and the Christian soul. The doctrine occupies however, a somewhat differenl position in the doctrinal systems oJ different Protestanl churches. See .Ii stu h vtion.
XIII. The Reformation's Place in tin- History ofthe Christian Church and in the History ofthe World. Ii on all sides, and not even denied by the Cath- olics, that the Reformation is f the greal turning- points in the Christian Church, ami that with ii I" gins an entirely new sera. The compulsory uniformity of the Church was forever at an end. Church history. henceforth, has not to deal only with one predominant and all-powerful Church, but with a number of rival churches, the number of which has steadily increased. For a time, the leading reformatory churches in close al- liance with the governments of th< un tries in which
they prevailed endeavored likewise to enforce conform- ity with their doctrines and laws; but tins course was
gradually recognised to lie untenable, and religious tok (■ration, and subsequently the freedom of religious con- fession, has become one ofthe characteristic features of the Reformed countries. The Catholic < ihurch continues up to the present day to brand the principle of r< ligious liberty a- a heresy id' modern times; hut it is a notable facl that marly all the Catholic countries which nomi- nally continue to adhere to the doctrine of the Church entirely disregard whai their Church declares to he the Catholic principle, and have introduced the Protestant principles of religious freedom into their legislation.
In universal history, the Reformation is by all histo- rians designated as one of the great movements which mark the transition from the .Middle Ages to modern times. A characteristic feature ofthe countries which adopted the Reformation is the progress towards polit- ical free, |,, m. ami the separation between Church and State. The ( latholic • ihurch in the Middle Ages claimed a far-reaching influence upon civil legislation. It claimed the sole right of legislating on marriage atlairs. exempted priests and monk- from civil jurisdiction, and accumulated within iis hand a very large proportion of the nation '8 wealth. Though the Reformed State church- es pursued different courses in reforming the civil codes, the tendency to make all citizens equal before the law
j can be directly traced to the Reformation.
Although the Catholic church still hasa larger mem- bership than all the Reformed churches combined, the power and the commanding influence upon the destinies of mankind are more and more passing into the hands
I of states the governments of which are separated from Rome. In the New World, the ascendency ofthe United States and British America, in both of which Protestant- ism prevails, over the states of Spanish and Pi America is not disputed even by Catholics. In Europe, England has become the greatest world-power, and in its wide dominions new great Protestant countries are springing into existence, especially in Australia and South Africa. In Germany, the supreme power has passed from the declining Catholic house of Ilapsburg to the Protestant house of Hohenzollern, and the new Protestant German Empire marks an addition of the greatest importance to the aggregate power ofthe Prot- estant world. The combined influence ofthe three gr< at Teutonic peoples— the United States, Greal Britain, and Germany— continues to be cast in a steadily increasing ratio for the defence of that freedom from the dictation