D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation.
By Eld. W. H. Littlejohn
BY ELD. W. H. LITTLEJOHN. Having just completed reading this work, we feel impressed with the idea that, while its character is such as to make its perusal eminently profitable to ministers, it is also well calculated to benefit the people generally. The reason why this is peculiarly so, is found in the fact that it records the rise and progress of that which is universally acknowledged to have been a great religious movement, directed by the Spirit of God, and, as such, is one from which we can largely draw instruction in regard to the manner in which a similar movement in our times would be likely to proceed. Nothing is more necessary in the work in which we are engaged than a deep and abiding conviction that it is one over which Heaven has a direct supervision. Such are the crosses, labors, and privations, which are incident to our experience, that without this, sooner or later, the individual believer is destined to surrender to the tremendous pressure of pecuniary interests and social considerations which are brought to bear upon him. With this, like the great apostle, he is ready to suffer all things and endure all things, if he shall only be accounted worthy to be numbered with the faithful few whom God has signally honored by commissioning them to the solemn task of defending his law, and announcing the advent of his Son. Where, then, we inquire, do doubts and fears on the part of any originate? So far as our observation extends, they seldom ever arise from any deficiency of Bible testimony respecting the time, manner, and place, of the rise of those who are to give the message of the third angel found in Rev. 14:9–12; but, on the contrary, from a misapprehension of what may be expected from the people who are to fulfill this prediction. Having once decided that they are to be the chosen instrument of Heaven, the inference almost invariably is, that they will necessarily be exempt from all the follies and frailties of human nature, that their history will be but the record of great triumphs, speedy conquests, miraculous growth, and that their conceptions of truth, instead of being reached by those slow and painful efforts which characterize the acquisition of knowledge by men ordinarily, will be arrived at by a sort of inspiration which will illumine the mind as the sun, breaking through the cloud suddenly and unexpectedly, lights up the horizon. This being the case, whenever vexation and delay mark the progress of the cause, misgivings begin to arise as to the reliability of former views respecting the identity of the denomination with those seen by the revelator. In order, therefore, to obviate this difficulty, one of two things will be necessary: Either a faultless people must be produced; or else those who are looking for such, must be led to see that their conception of God's manner of proceeding with men, is entirely erroneous. In other words, they must be satisfied that as Seventh-day Adventists meet the specifications of prophecy in other respects, it should not be required that they shall be wholly exempt from the weaknesses and foibles of human nature before God can be supposed to be leading them as it is assumed that he is. For this purpose, we might turn to the progressive development of truth in the midst of perils, persecutions, apostasies, and fearful sins, even within the church itself, in the days of the apostles. But the scope of this article will not admit of so extended an examination of the subject. We wish simply to say to those who are troubled with such misgivings, Read the History of the Reformation. The work will be one of no small magnitude, since it will be required that you peruse twelve hundred closely printed, octavo pages. This, however, can be done in a short time, and you will rise from your task with a more just conception of the weakness of man and the majesty of God. Have you hitherto conceived of such men as Luther, Zwingle, Melancthon, and the other leaders of the great movement of the sixteenth century, as men in whom wisdom and grace united in the formation of faultless characters? You will be undeceived. It may cause you pain to be compelled to recognize in them not only imperfections, but also glaring faults; nevertheless the facts will become too plain to admit of disguise. While you look upon the first of these men with all the admiration which the possession of noble qualities of mind and heart demand, you will nevertheless read in the faithful record which the historian has given, indubitable evidence of the weakness of the one and the imperfection of the other. Luther, as he groans in the obscurity of his cell, for long years, in the slow and painful effort of reaching truths which to us at present are become axiomatic, will excite your pity by the anguish of soul which he experienced in the transition from darkness to light, while his feeble and emaciated frame almost gave way under the tremendous pressure of doubts and fears. As he stands before the Diet of Worms, having gained the victory in his own mind over many of the glaring errors of the papacy, he will captivate you with the noble intrepidity with which, alone, single-handed, and armed only with the word of God, he carries confusion into the ranks of error and superstition. But Luther, on the other hand, when in the presence of Philip of Hesse, he is debating with Zwingle at Marburg, will astonish and bewilder you by the dogged pertinacity with which, in the face of overwhelming testimony, he seeks to meet every argument which the noble man of Zurich brings from the book of God to disprove the gross error that the body and blood of Christ is actually in the bread and wine, by a continual repetition, without rhyme or reason, of the single expression, “This is my body.” And later, when he has really been put to rout, and all of his arguments have been shown to be fallacious, you will be thunderstruck to see him unmoved by this array of testimony, standing for a time in the attitude of one claiming the victory, and repelling with cold and uncharitable disdain, the advance of the noble men who, while they were in the right in the discussion, sought in vain for a time with tearful eyes to induce the great reformer to grasp the hand of Christian charity and confidence which they, though victors, had extended. Nor will this occasion only afford you evidence that there was about Luther, at times, an austerity of manner which the mantle of Christian affection cannot cover. Many of his productions are characterized by a spirit which cannot be commended, and marred by expressions whose severity poorly becomes the disciple of Him who, “when he was reviled, reviled not again.” Turning now to Zwingle, you will find in him, also, defects which perhaps while not so numerous as those of the Monk of Wittenburg, nevertheless, are of a marked and decided character. And when you reach the close of his history, you will be saddened by the thought that one who in many respects was so amiable and had so just a conception of the Christian religion, should be left to close his career in the fatal effort to wield the sword of the warrior, which was destined, instead of winning the victories which he desired, to be the instrument of his own death, in the midst of a terrible conflict where the enemies of the truth demonstrated beyond dispute, that the followers of Christ who are invincible while wielding spiritual weapons, are powerless when they resort to carnal ones. Weary with the glaring faults of men of positive character, should you turn to the gentle Melancthon, whose feminine graces promise you an escape from the faults of others of an opposite character, here again you will be doomed to mortification. While he stands by the side of his noble leader, and caresses his fiery spirit into a more patient endurance of wrong, your admiration will be ready to pass beyond all bounds. But, alas! the mild Philip has his weak side. Being compelled to separate from the master spirit of the great movement, and to breast alone the swelling tide of papal opposition, he hesitates, falters, becomes alarmed, and is ready to sacrifice, through fear, the life of the great cause in which he is engaged; so that God, in order to preserve it from the perils into which he has brought it, seems to have been necessitated to commit its interests, for a time, into the hands of statesmen and warriors. So much, then, for the frailty of the great leaders of the sixteenth century. “Like master, like disciple.” In the ranks of the latter the shade of many errors seems to have rested long after the first dawn of the morning light. The transition of the body from superstition to gospel truth was not only slow, but was also marked by excesses for which, after the lapse of two hundred years, we can find no apology. They were men, and as such, manifested at times the depravity of the human heart. Occasionally they were slow; anon, too fast. Now they refuse to walk up to the light; again, in a spasm of zeal they pass beyond it, and do that which is indefensible. The unwearied efforts of the best-balanced minds are found insufficient to hold them at all times within the bounds of propriety. Fanaticism, which never fails to exhibit its maniac form under such circumstances, was by no means absent from the history of rising Protestantism. Some of the Anabaptists of Germany, while having much truth, were characterized occasionally by such irregularities as would disgrace the noblest cause. False prophets had their work of deception to perform. While Luther's heart was rent by continual reports of their sad work, it seemed as if his great soul must perish as he listened to the recital of such enormities as were committed; for example, in the diabolical murder of Leonard Schucker, by his brother Thomas, under the impression that the deed was demanded by the Spirit of God. Yet these dark outlines do not constitute the picture. Notwithstanding the repulsive features we have been considering, there is much which is calculated to afford us the most unalloyed satisfaction. God was in the movement, and the manifestations of his presence were found in the steady progress and final success of a truth which neither the rage of devils, nor the bloody hate of priests, nor the inconsistency of its advocates, was permitted to destroy, though they might for a time mar it. The lesson which Providence designs to teach, by allowing in the history of the church this mixture of that which is worthy of commendation, with that which is undeniably censurable, is the great fact that men are but the imperfect instruments in the accomplishment of his great ends. Let us, therefore, profit by the moral of history; and, as we are assured by the word of God that we stand as the representatives of great and stirring truths which may not be fully developed as yet, let no discouragement which may arise from anything that man can do, take possession of our souls. God forbid that we should ever put the creature in the place of the Creator. Have men in the past apostatized who have once preached the message with power? It is nothing more than Demas did in the days of Paul, and hundreds in those of Luther. Has our history hitherto been marked by mistakes? This has been true of every great movement in the past. Are even the highest and best among us subject to weaknesses? and do they say and do things at times which cannot be defended? Thus it has always been. David committed a terrible sin; Peter denied his Lord; Paul and Barnabas separated after an excited and nervous debate; Luther was sometimes harsh and stubborn; Zwingle erred exceedingly in appealing to the sword; and Melancthon was timid and compromising. The fact is, brethren, we are all human. If, therefore, we look for divine perfection, either within, or outside of, the body, we shall be mistaken. Nevertheless, let us not be so unfortunate as to try to find in these considerations, an excuse for blemishes in our own individual character; but let us look to Jesus, who is the “author and finisher of our faith; and, while we seek earnestly for exemption from everything that is wrong in ourselves, let us look charitably on the faults of others, remembering that while God sometimes condescends to admit into his service men whose lives are not in all respects what they should be, he nevertheless takes special delight in working with unwonted power through those whose hearts are perfect before him.