05-4 Theology of the..

Patrick Hamilton (1503–1528)
A Scottish Reformer with a Timeless Confession
IN AN AGE IMMERSED IN THE LATEST FADS and fantasies, there
is a dire need for Lutherans to recover a sense of history, from
which springs a renewed vision informed by Scripture and a
mellowed sense of continuity. Within a climate of ecumenism and
an engaging shallowness of doctrine, evangelical Lutherans are
challenged to reassert the enduring truths of the catholic faith
reasserted by Doctor Luther during the Reformation. The saving
truth of God revealed in Scripture must never be surrendered by
compromise, neglect, or historical amnesia. Within a militant secular
milieu, confessors must remain alert to “guard what was committed
to your trust” (1 Tim 6:20). If our heritage is not to be swallowed
up by a self-focused cult, then our churches must affirm the
past, which motivates vision, hope, and stability.
Within the ancient university town of Saint Andrews in Scotland,
an unpretentious memorial commemorates the sacrifice of
four reformers who died at the stake in the early days of the
Reformation in Britain. One name imprinted in stone is that of
Patrick Hamilton, the titular abbot of Fearn (or Ferne) in Rossshire.
The martyrdom of this young and talented Lutheran confessor
took place outside Saint Salvator’s college, where the simple
“PH” engraved in the cobblestones marks the place of his death
on February 29, 1528. The godly life, piety, writing, and “infectious
smoke” of the youthful scholar and reformer is engaging the
interest of some modern thinkers. Holy Scripture bids faithful
Christians to “Remember your leaders, who spoke the Word of
God to you” (Heb 13:7). Though with Christ, Abbot Patrick
Hamilton continues to speak to God’s Church.
Patrick belongs to that breed of uncommon men whose love
for Christ and the doctrine of grace alone fails to dim with age. As
the proto-martyr of the Lutheran Reformation in Britain, his witness
to God’s truth in Scripture punctures the apathy of the most
complacent. He proved to be the leader of the Saint Andrews
Lutherans, and later beyond, in Denmark and Germany. According
to Professor Gerhard Müller, Hamilton
is to be placed in the entire picture of the German Reformation
of the 1520s and he does enrich it. Moreover he represents
a link between Scotland and Germany, which later
became weaker through Knox, but which historians and
theologians ought not to forget or underestimate. 1
It remains the conviction of this writer that confessional
Lutherans are being called upon in these apostate times to exem-
BRUCE W. ADAMS is a pastor emeritus of the Lutheran Church of Australia,
residing in Glengowrie, South Australia.
Bruce W. Adams
45
plify Hamilton’s commitment to the infallible Word of God with
its doctrine of faith alone and to the blessed sacraments. He
stands for that historic link between the German, Anglo-Saxon,
and Scottish reformers. This unfortunately has been neglected in
modern Lutheran circles.
PRIVILEGES AS RESPONSIBILITIES
Like Saint Columba of Iona (521–597) who was an abbot-prince
of the old Celtic Church and a man of rare talents, Patrick was an
heir to privilege. He was the son of Sir Patrick Hamilton of Kincavel,
a nephew of the Earl of Arran as well as grandson of King
James II of Scotland. His education was meant to prepare him for
some high office in the realm. Like many Scots, he regarded privilege
and learning as grafted to the service of God and man.
Granted an endowment from the Augustinian abbacy at Fearn,
Patrick set out for the University of Paris in 1517. He resided in the
College of Montaigu, a strict religious and monastic community
with an emphasis upon a disciplined life of study and worship.
The morning office starting at four A.M. consisted of a rhythm of
reciting the offices of the church, attending Mass, listening to lectures,
taking part in university life, and retiring to bed at eight
P.M. in winter.
The essays of Erasmus and his publication of the Greek New
Testament had made an impression upon the University of Paris.
But by 1519 another voice was heard that shocked the elite doctors
of the Sorbonne. Luther’s strong arm appeared to be shaking the
gates of the University. Graduating with a Master’s Degree in
1520, the youthful Hamilton journeyed to Louvain, where Robert
Barnes, prior of the Augustinian House in Cambridge and later
eminent English Lutheran, was in residence.
Records of the University of Saint Andrews reveal that Patrick
Hamilton was incorporated there on June 9, 1523, as a postgraduate
student and consequently a tutor. The English reformer John
Frith wrote of Hamilton’s becoming a priest that he might preach
the Word of God in purity. His scholastic gifts found expression
in a composition for nine voices in honor of the angels to be
directed by the composer. It was sung in the great cathedral.
Touched by his study of the Scriptures and moved by the writing
of Martin Luther, Hamilton could no longer be silent.
In 1500 Saint Andrews was a flourishing town of 14,000 people.
It had evolved into the ecclesiastical heart of the Scottish
church, boasting of a magnificent cathedral which housed some
relics of Saint Andrew the apostle, who was martyred in Patras,
Greece, in 69 A.D. A factious man, James Beaton by name, was
both the Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Chancellor of the
kingdom. Hearing of the teaching of the young abbot, Arch-