Missionary Spirit in the Reformation.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
DURING the darkest period of the Dark Ages there was not much of this spirit in the land. The rulers of the Catholic Church, who in reality ruled the world, were entirely destitute of it. The missionary spirit is, as we have seen, the spirit of Christ, and Christ was known to these people only by name. The whole of Europe was under the sway of the Catholic bishops, and it was unnecessary to keep up even the semblance of missionary enterprise. Their whole attention was directed to strengthening their temporal power; this they did by bribery or by force, among those who were in public positions, and by keeping the mass of the people in the deepest ignorance. It is true that there were during all this time, honest, faithful souls, who worshiped God in spirit and in truth; but they were few in comparison with their enemies, and had little opportunity or power to disseminate the true faith; they were a proscribed people. The saints and laws of God had been given into the hands of "the little horn," papal Rome, and both had been well-nigh banished from the earth. But at the proper time God raised up men who had the desire and the ability to successfully combat the gross errors of the church. Luther and his fellow-reformers set themselves to the task of correcting the abuses that had crept in, and of restoring the primitive faith. They little realized what this would involve, or how great changes would have to be made. God would not appall them by a sight of all the wrongs that must be corrected before the church could be purified unto himself. Since the Christian religion is a missionary religion, it follows that the Reformation was a missionary enterprise. In this article we shall see what the secret of their success was, and shall find that it differed in no respect from that of Paul. Indeed, the difference between all workers for God, is only one of degree; the same principle must be in all. One thing which marked the reformers was their disregard of self. They were willing to lose all the comforts of life, and even life itself, if by this means they could preach the gospel. Thus, when Luther was about to appear before the pope's legate, at Augsburg, he wrote to Melancthon as follows:-- "Instruct the youth of our beloved country in what is right and agreeable to the will of God. As for me, I am going to offer up myself for you and for them, if it be the Lord's will. I prefer death, yea, even what to me would be the greatest misfortune, the loss of your valued society, to retracting what it was my duty to teach, and perhaps ruining by my failure the noble cause to which we are devoted." Again, when in the presence of the Cardinal, he said:-- "I have no will but the Lord's. He will do with me what seemeth good in his sight. But had I a hundred heads, I would rather lose them all than retract the testimony I have borne to the holy Christian faith." Just before the celebrated Diet at Worms, Luther wrote thus to one who feared that he might retract his previous testimony:-- "Never fear that I will retract a single syllable, since the only argument they have to urge against me is that my writings are at variance with the observances of what they call the church. If our Emperor Charles sends for me only to retract, my answer shall be that I will remain here, and it will be all the same as though I had been to Worms and returned again. But if the Emperor chooses then to send for me to put me to death as an enemy to the empire, I shall be ready to obey his summons; for by Christ's help, I will never abandon his word in the day of battle." We know from what followed, and from the whole course of his life, that this was not boasting. It was the utterance of one who knew that he had the truth of God, and who, through love that he took was nothing more than was taken by the other reformers, and indeed by thousands of people whose names have not come down to us. While Tyndale was tutor in the house of a nobleman, some strong language of his against the pope and his laws, came to the ears of the priests. He was at this time engaged in the work of translating the New Testament into English. The historian says:-- "The priests had sworn to stop him in his translation of the Bible. One day he fell in with a troop of monks and curates, who abused him in the grossest manner. 'It's the favor of the gentry of the county that makes you so proud,' said they; 'but notwithstanding your patrons, there will be a talk about you before the long, and in a pretty fashion, too! You shall not always live in a manor-house.' 'Banish me to the obscurest corner of England,' replied Tyndale, 'provided you will permit me to teach children and preach the gospel, and give me ten pounds a year for my support, I shall be satisfied.'" He was soon obliged to leave the place where he then was, and go forth alone, with no friends or money, but with the firm determination to furnish the Scriptures to the people in such form that a plough-boy might know more of them than the priests of Rome. He soon found a place in the house of a rich merchant named Monmouth, where he could pursue his studies unmolested. Here he devoted his whole time to the work, and studied night and day. And here his earnestness and sincerity of purpose were displayed. Wishing to guard his mind against being "overcharged with surfeiting," he refused the delicacies of his patron's table, and confined himself to the simplest and plainest diet. His life was bound up in his labor of love.549Here we have exhibited the true missionary spirit. It is not alone that the reformers denied themselves of the comforts of life, and braved the wrath of kings, that they were true missionaries; other men have done that in order to accomplish a selfish purpose; but it is in the fact that they did so unselfishly, for the purpose of benefiting their fellow-men. The motive which actuated them was love--love to God and his cause, and love to their fellows. This, it must be remembered, is the mainspring of all true missionary effort. The sacrifices which one makes, and the hardships endured, are simply the measure of the love that is in the heart. Wherever you find the record of a true servant of God, there you will find the record of self-denial, and unremitting labor. The record has never been kept on earth, but for each individual it is faithfully kept on high. But there is another feature which characterizes the true missionary of Christ, and that is a constant dependence on God. The reformers were men of prayer. Had they not been, their work could never have been blessed as it was. We quote only one case, that of Luther. All are familiar with the way in which he fasted and prayed and did penance while he was simply a monk, before he understood that "the just shall live by faith." It is true that these works were really of no value, and they failed to bring him the peace which he sought; but they give an insight into his character. After the light of the gospel shone upon him, he learned not to trust in voluntary humiliation, but he leaned wholly on God. On the morning of the day on which he was to appear before the Emperor, and all the dignitaries of church and State, when not only his death, but the overthrow of the Reformation seemed imminent, Luther was in great distress. We take the following account from the "History of the Reformation":-- "On the morning of this 17th of April, he was for a few minutes in deep exercise of mind. God's face seemed to be veiled, and his faith forsook him; his enemies seemed to multiply before him, and his imagination was overcome by the aspect of his dangers. His soul was like a ship driven by a violent tempest, rocked from side to side, to one moment plunged in the abyss, and the next carried up to heaven. In that hour of bitter trial--an hour which to him was as the garden of Gethsemane--he threw himself with his face upon the earth, and uttered those broken cries, which we cannot understand without entering, in thought, into the anguish of those deeps from whence they rose to God. 'O God, Almighty God everlasting! how dreadful is the world? behold how its mouth opens to swallow me up, and how small is my faith in thee! Oh, the weakness of the flesh, and the power of Satan! If I am to depend on the strength of this world, all is over. The knell is struck; sentence is gone forth. O God! O God! O thou my God! help me against all the wisdom of this world. Do this I beseech thee; thou shouldst do this . . . . by thine own mighty power. The work is not mine, but thine. I have no business here. I have nothing to contend for against these great men of the world. I would gladly pass my days in happiness and peace. But the cause is thine, and it is righteous and everlasting. O Lord, help me! O faithful and unchangeable God! I lean not upon man. It were vain! Whatever is of man is tottering, whatever proceeds from him must fail. My God! my God! dost thou not hear? My God! art thou no longer living? Nay, thou canst not die. Thou dost but hide thyself. Thou hast chosen me for this work; I know it. Therefore, O God, accomplish thine own will. Forsake me not, for sake of thy well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, my defense, my buckler, and my stronghold!'" "After a moment of silent struggle, he continued, 'Lord, where art thou? My God where art thou? Come, I pray thee, I am ready. Behold me prepared to lay down my life for thy truth, . . . suffering like a lamb. For the cause is holy; it is thine own. I will not let thee go; no, nor yet for all eternity.'" Here we discover the secret source whence strength and courage were imparted to the humble and despised man who was God's instrument to free the minds of men from the bondage of papal superstition. This was why the work of Luther was attended with such mighty results. Christ, the sinless One, has set us an example of dependence on God. He spent entire nights in prayer. The apostle Paul was one who felt himself to be the weakest of men, yet he felt able to do all things through Christ. Elijah received power to perform his wonderful works by means of prayer. Jas. 5 : 17, 18. David, who was honored of God to an extent scarcely equaled, was one whose frequent devotions were not performed in a lifeless manner. And God is no respecter of persons. He is willing to give his Spirit to any who will ask in true faith. The weakest man in the world may be the strongest if he will but unite with God; and this every Christian must do. "The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." What a power in the land the church of God would be, if all who profess the name of Christ had the prevailing faith of Elijah, of Daniel, of Paul, or of Luther. May the time soon come when the church shall have this power, and when it may be said of us as of Peter and John: "And they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus."