The 463rd Anniversary of the Scottish Reformation

Did you know that the 17th August has historically been known as the anniversary of Scotland’s Reformation?

It was on the 17th August 1560, that the Scots Confession of Faith, produced by John Knox and five other men all named John, was read in the Scottish Parliament, and ratified and approved, “as wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible word of God.”

As Dr Thomas McCrie writes “This amounted, it will be observed, to a national establishment of the protestant religion. The nation, by its rulers and representatives, passed from Popery to Protestantism; and, in its civil capacity, ratified (not the gospel, indeed, which no acts of parliament can ratify, but) the profession of the gospel, which the people, in their religious capacities, had already embraced.”

Dr James Begg at the 300th anniversary of this event spoke of the importance of remembering this date. He writes “It was remembered that the Reformation from Popery became a national event in Scotland on the 17th of August 1560, and it was obviously important that such a day should not pass unnoticed — that, in addition to all the sectional commemorations already referred to, something on a national scale should be attempted — that a wide platform should be erected at Edinburgh, upon which men of all parties could meet, along with expatriated Scotchmen and friends from other lands, to join their thanksgivings together for an event in which every Protestant in the world has an undoubted interest.”

It was also noted at that anniversary, the many blessings Scotland has enjoyed as a result of that day. It was said “That Reformation was the source of all our present blessings. All the civil and religious privileges we enjoy; our schools, our churches, our purity and simplicity of worship, our peaceful Sabbaths, our happy homes; our prosperous cities and smiling villages; our agriculture, our manufactures, our commerce: In one word, all that has made us great and honourable and blessed amongst the nations of the earth, must be traced upward to this our greatest national deliverance. These blessings demand that we remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. God is, in this celebration, calling upon us to look to the hole of the pit whence we were digged, and, repenting of our guilty silence, to be stirred up by His gracious dealings, to pity, to labour, and to pray for those who — bearing the Christian name — are yet destitute of the knowledge of Christ, — holding the truth in unrighteousness.”