THE term "that woman Jezebel," as used in the book of Revelation, applies to the Roman Catholic power. But because much is written in Scripture against the practices of the Church of Rome, it must not be for a moment supposed that the God of heaven is devoid of love and compassion for her. In fact, the love of God as manifested in calling the Church of Rome to repentance is one of the most wonderful examples of divine affection and forbearance in all the Scriptures.
God had a love for the church of Jezebel; and in spite of all her heart wanderings, He would have saved her and redeemed her, had it been possible for divine mercy to do so. God would have healed even Rome if He could; but she would have none of His healing. In the same scripture in which He calls her "that woman Jezebel," it is written: "And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and they that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds." Rev. 2: 21, 22.
Had "Space to Repent"
THIS is a wonderful scripture. In terms most concise, yet pregnant with deepest love, God tells how He gave the Church of Rome "space to repent," and how she repented not. And He warns her how He will cast her and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, "except they repent of their deeds."
The great Reformation of the sixteenth century, in the days of Martin Luther and Melanchthon, has been studied, and much has been written in reference to it. With its fundamental principles, many are very familiar. But with the call of God to the Catholic Church which preceded the days of "the monk of Wittenberg," few are familiar. Yet there is no more instructive and comforting lesson in church history than this one which lies hidden and buried amongst other events of the time, of only passing and superficial value in comparison with it.
God Called the Church of Rome
FOR more than a hundred years before the Reformation of the sixteenth century began, God called the Church of Rome, and especially her dignitaries and princes, to repentance. For far more than one hundred years, He gave her space to repent. This plea of heaven in which God called the apostate church to better ways and a purer life began under Wycliffe, and continued under Mathias of Janow, Conrad of Waldhausen, Militz of Prague, Huss, Jerome, and a host of others.
The labors of these men were, in many respects, primarily devoted toward the salvation of the Church of Rome and of men in the Church of Rome. Theirs was an endeavor to persuade the church to adopt a new walk in life, together with sanctified practices and policies, instead of the evil and perverted ones which infested her. Theirs was an attempt to have her abandon devious and tortuous paths, to let affairs of state alone, and to confine herself to spiritual matters.
Called to Abandon Her
BUT when Martin Luther, the doctor of Wittenberg, began his great career, a different plea rang out in clarion tones. He called for the regeneration of the individual through the gospel of justification by faith. This is not saying that the teachings of the pre-Reformation evangelists were not designed, under the hand of God, to bring salvation to the individual soul; but it is to emphasize that Martin Luther called men to abandon the church, and to leave her to her ruin. His was not an attempt to reform her, or to reform men in her, but to wreck her, and to reform men outside of her. No one can carefully read the history of the earlier and the later reformatory movements without being struck by this fundamental difference in the work of the two groups of reformers.
The reason is found in the Scriptures: God was giving "that woman Jezebel" "space to repent." If the Church of Rome had only heeded the pleadings of these noble spirits who arose in her own fold, the history of later years would have been altogether different. She never would have received the "deadly wound" elsewhere mentioned in the Scriptures; for under the hand of God and these His faithful servants, she would have cleansed her life, and stanched the streams that were sapping her vitality. She would voluntarily have relinquished her temporal power; and that episode in her history wherein it was rudely snatched from her hand, first by the generals of the great Napoleon, and later by Victor Emmanuel, would never have been written.
England Rejects the Pope
THE movement to save the church by pointing her to better paths, began in England. In the year 1365, Pope Urban V demanded that England pay the annual tribute of one thousand marks which Pope Innocent III had levied on King John. This had not been paid for five and thirty years.
King Edward, therefore, assembled the Parliament of the realm of England in 1366, and laid before that body the letter of the pope, and requested the members to take counsel, and determine what answer should be given. Parliament asked for one day to "think the matter over." The next day, that great body reassembled, and returned to the sovereign its memorable answer.
The first member to arise spoke thus:
"The kingdom of England was won by the sword, and by the sword has been defended. Julius Caesar exacted tribute by force; force gives no perpetual right. Let the pope then gird on his sword, and come and try to exact his tribute by force. I, for one, am ready to resist him."
Quoth the second speaker:
"He only is entitled to secular tribute who legitimately exercises secular rule and is able to give secular protection. The pope cannot legitimately do either. He is a minister of the gospel, and not a temporal ruler. His duty is to give ghostly counsel, not corporal protection. He should follow the example of Christ, who refused all civil dominion. The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air their nests; but He had not where to lay His head. Let us see that the pope abide within the limits of his spiritual office, where we shall obey him. But if he shall choose to transgress these limits, he must take the consequences. Let us boldly oppose all his claims to civil power."
Spoke the next:
"On what grounds was this tribute originally demanded? Was it not for absolving King John, and relieving the king from interdict? But to bestow spiritual benefits for money is sheer simony; it is a piece of ecclesiastical swindling! Let the lords, spiritual and temporal, wash their hands of a transaction so disgraceful. But if it is as feudal superior to the kingdom that the pope demands this tribute, why ask a thousand marks? Why not ask the throne, the soil, the people of England? If his title be good for three thousand marks, it is good for a great deal more. The pope, on the same principle, may declare the throne vacant, and fill it with whomsoever he pleases."
The Parliament gave the following unanimous decision:
"For as much as neither King John, nor any other king, could bring his realm and kingdom into such thralldom and subjection, but by common assent of Parliament, the which was not given, therefore that which he did was against his oath and his coronation, besides many other causes. If, therefore, the pope should attempt anything against the king, by process, or other matters indeed, the king with all his subjects should with all their force and power resist the same."
Now from these speeches, and the unanimous decision of the Parliament, it is quite plain that there was a general repudiation of the doctrine of the temporal power of the pope, and of his infallibility, and of his being the vicar of Christ. The members of the House also made it very plain that the doctrine of the union of church and state is wrong, and has no foundation in Holy Writ. The papacy saw and heard these doctrines, which constituted a clear call to her to amend her way and live. She was urged to leave the civil power to itself, to give "ghostly counsel," and "not corporal protection," and to quit wooing, wedding, and lording it over earthly kingdoms.
Nothing can be plainer than that the court of Rome held Wycliffe responsible for the11doctrines the Parliament had put forth. In this, Rome was absolutely right. Wycliffe was the king's chaplain at this very time. As he studied the Scriptures, he saw what the papacy really is, and fearlessly he told the king and the nobles of the difference between it and Christianity.
Wycliffe understood perfectly that he was accused of firing the action of Parliament. Said he: "Inasmuch as I am the king's peculiar clerk, I the more willingly take the office of defending and counseling that the king exerciseth his just rule in the realm of England when he refuses tribute to the Roman pontiff." As the basis of his defense, he set forth "the natural rights of man, the laws of the realm of England, and the precepts of Holy Writ." He declared that "already a third and more of England is in the hands of the pope. There cannot be two temporal sovereigns in one country. Either Edward is king or Urban is king. We make our choice. We accept Edward of England, and refuse Urban of Rome."
The Pope Would Take All
"He spoke and wrote against the worldly spirit of the papacy, and its harmful influence. He was wont to call the pope Antichrist, 'the proud, worldly priest of Rome,' 'the most cursed of purse-carvers.' He says in one of his papers: 'The pope and his collectors draw from our country what should serve for the support of the poor, and many thousand marks from the king's treasury for sacrament and spiritual things. And certainly though our realm had a huge hill of gold, and no man took therefrom but this proud priest-collector, in process of time the hill would be spent; for he is ever taking money out of the land, and sends nothing back but God's curse for simony, and some accursed clerk of Antichrist to rob the land still more for wrongful privileges, or else leave to do God's will, that which men would do without his leave, and buying and selling.'"
It will be clear, from all the above, that the abuses in the church at which Wycliffe struck were fundamental tenets of her policy — temporal sovereignty, union of church and state, the placing of civil rulers in subjection to herself, etc. Had Rome heeded Wycliffe's doctrine and exhortations, and reformed on these things, she would have answered God's call to repent; for the work of Wycliffe was God calling her to repentance, during that time of which He says, "I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."
