To understand the principles of the Orange Institution, we must begin with the Protestant Reformation because it is there that you will find the roots of the biblical principles of Orangeism.

The Protestant Reformation was not the beginning of a new religious movement; it was a re-formation of the church and was an attempt to reform the church of the sixteenth century and return it to its earlier and purer form. Over the centuries, errors had crept into the Roman Catholic Church, so its doctrine, worship, and practice had become slowly corrupted. The Protestant Reformation sought to correct these errors initially from within the Church of Rome, but when this was not possible, it did so from the outside through the creation of new churches.

The five great doctrinal pillars of the Reformation are summarised in five brief Latin statements: –

·       Sola Scriptura – Scripture Alone

·       Solus Christus – Christ Alone

·       Sola Gratia – Grace Alone

·       Sola Fide – Faith Alone

·       Soli Deo Gloria – The Glory of God Alone

In other words, our final authority in religion is in scripture, where it is taught that salvation is through Christ alone, and this is an act of God’s grace alone, which is received by faith alone, and all to the glory of God alone.

The Reformation in England started to progress during the reign of Henry VIII because he wanted a divorce that the Church of Rome wouldn’t give him, and his solution was to establish the Church of England outside of the control of the Church of Rome. Though Henry VIII was always a Roman Catholic, the Church of England was allowed to adopt some of the Reformation principles, including translating the Bible from Latin into English.

With the death of Henry VIII, his son Edward VI became king, and though he was quite young at the time, he was a keen supporter of the Reformation movement and reform within the Church of England started to move more quickly with, for example, the publishing of the Book of Common Prayer and the Articles of Faith.

Unfortunately, Edward VI died at the age of sixteen, and reform was abruptly halted. His successor, Queen Mary, Edward’s half-sister, actively sought to bring the country back to Roman Catholicism. During her reign, two hundred and eight-nine Protestant martyrs were burnt at the stake as heretics, whilst over a hundred more died in prison awaiting their execution.

With the death of Mary in 1558, her younger half-sister became Queen Elizabeth I, and as her sympathies were towards Protestantism, the Church of England began as we know it today. In doctrine, it was reformed, but not in all of its practice, and this, in time led to the start of the Puritans who wanted the Reformation in the Church of England to be more complete than in other European churches.

In the seventeenth century, Reformation theology was developed further with new churches outside of the Church of England, and a number of confessions of faith based on the Church of England’s 39 Articles of Religion were published. These confessions of faith were very similar except for differences with regard to church government and baptism: –

In 1604, King James I permitted a new Bible translation into English, which was completed in 1611. Today, this is known as the Authorised Version or the King James Version, and after over four hundred years in use, it is still the most accurate Bible translation available in English.

During the seventeenth century, attempts to re-introduce Roman Catholicism were finally defeated with the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the arrival of William, Prince of Orange, to become King William III. At the Battle of the Boyne on July 1st 1690, King William III and his Protestant forces defeated the Roman Catholic King James II, so we still enjoy the civil and religious liberties of the Protestant Reformation to this day.