PERHAPS we should say the completed Reformation; for every true reformation in the congregation of God since Martin Luther, has been built upon the sure foundation principles of the great Reformation of the XVI. Century.
And that must necessarily be the case; for that reform was founded on principles of everlasting truth. They are thus summarized by D’Aubigne, the historian of that great movement:—
The principles contained in this celebrated protest, of the 19th of April, 1529, constitute the very essence of Protestantism. Now this protest opposes two abuses of man in matters of faith: the first is the intrusion of the civil magistrate, and the second is the arbitrary authority of the church. Instead of these two abuses, Protestantism sets up above the magistrate the power of conscience; and above the visible church the authority of the Word of God. It declines, in the first place, the civil power in divine things, and says with the prophets and the apostles, We must obey God rather than man. In presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ. But it goes further: it lays down the principle, that all human teaching should be subordinate to the oracles of God.—Book 13.
The Reformation was accomplished in the name of a spiritual principle. It had proclaimed for its teacher the Word of God; for salvation, Faith; for king, Jesus Christ; for arms, the Holy Ghost; and had by these very means rejected all worldly elements. Rome had been established by the law of a carnal commandment; the Reformation, by the power of an endless life. Book 14.
It does not make against this great movement to say that these principles were not understood in their far-reaching scope. The Reformers did not see how much was comprehended in God’s Word, and how it demanded the absolute excision of all tradition as authority.
Their immediate followers did not understand that the expansive life of the Word could be legitimately written in nothing in this world save in living, growing hearts; and that to endeavor to confine it to human creeds was to crush out its very life. And not knowing it they did that very thing. They endeavored to crystallize the faith of living men of God into creed forms, and demanded from the civil power support for the creed church. Hence came state churches and union of church and state with its consequent intolerance and persecution.
Wedded to their idols, God passes by the great organizations, and calls out His remnant upon the Word and the Word alone. Hence came the Methodists and other dissenters. But as these grew strong in numbers and wealth they either crystallized creeds or rejected a portion of God’s Word.
The last step in the Reformation will be the calling out of the last remnant church. That church will stand upon the solid foundation of the Word of God. She will know no creed save that Word. She will hold that Word for all that it is designed to be in the church. In other words, she will keep ‘the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’ Rev. 14: 12.
These are the divine marks of the true church in the last days. Signs and wonders, marvels and miracles, will be wrought in her and by her children, but these will not be the signs of her genuineness. For Satan will work in these last days, and is working, ‘with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth.’ 2 Thess. 2: 9, 10. ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’ Matt. 24: 24. Other scripture passages are equally strong and explicit. Therefore, signs and wonders and miracles will not be signs of the true church; for their marvelous counterfeits are among deceived ones.
In the true church will be restored the gifts of the Spirit of God; apostleship, prophecy, evangelism, teaching, healing, etc., so that she will ‘come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 1: 7), but these will not be the signs of her genuineness; for there will be false churches who claim all these gifts, and who, deceived to the ultimate, will say in the day of His coming: ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity.’ Matt. 7: 22, 23. Claiming all these things, yet are they lawless, disobedient.
The Spirit of God is in harmony with the law of God. He is not divided against Himself. The principles of His government are not contrary to the life of His government. And therefore, no church can have His Spirit in its plenitude, the hearts of whose children are not yielded to His law and its fulness.
Therefore, in the last great crisis, when the people of this world are divided between the worship of God, and the worship of the beast and his image, God characterizes His own called-out ones, not by saying: ‘Here are they that are numerous, or rich, or popular, or powerful, or have great political prestige;’ no, not any of these; but ‘Here is the patience [the steadfastness] of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’
This characterization is not the vain boasting of man, but the designation of the Most High. Obedience to God, loyalty to principle, faithfulness to duty, confidence in the Word of God, the unswerving faith of Christ Jesus in that Word when all others proved faithless, are the means by which the called-out ones of God may be designated in the last days. This is the remnant church. This is the translatable church. Do you know it, reader? None can bar your entrance into it save the selfishness, the love of sin, in your own heart.