Reformations and Learned Men.
By D. M. Canright
IN 1505, Martin Luther entered a convent as a humble monk. He went there to find salvation. But he soon discovered that it was not to be obtained by observing the ceremonies of the church. After a long and severe struggle he found "Christ the hope of salvation." He learned that "the just shall live by faith" and not by worshiping popes, saints, relics, &c., &c. Luther began to preach faith in Christ, the sufficiency of the Bible, &c. He attacked the indulgences which the pope sold to the people for money. These indulgences pretended to remit, without faith, repentance, or any other act on the part of the receiver, all the sins of the purchaser; and even gave license to kill, steal, or commit any wickedness, if they would only give their money. By preaching against this, Luther attacked the clergy's purses. The monks raised a cry of alarm against him. But it availed nothing. One error after another, he boldly exposed. At first the dignitaries of the church despised him as a poor monk not able to accomplish any thing. But God was with him. The sound of his voice soon reached Rome and made the throne of the "holy father" tremble. A "pope's bull" came thundering over the Alps, demanding the death of Luther and the punishment of all his followers. Luther faltered not. He had the truth, and it made him strong. But it was by degrees he received it. After he opposed the corruptions of the church for many years, he still acknowledged the existence of purgatory. Had he died then, doubtless we should hear our Protestant divines as gravely contending for purgatory as they now do for the Sunday Sabbath. Luther was cited before the pope's legate. He went. His arguments from the Bible, they opposed by quotations from the "fathers;" weapons which modern Protestants so much love to use. After Luther had overthrown their arguments, their only answer was "Recant, recant." This he would not do. The papists would have gladly put him to death, but he was furnished with an imperial safe-conduct which they dare not violate. He returned home in safety; yet as he says, it seemed as though the whole world was up in arms against the truth. The priests enraged to see their prey escape them, declared that whoever should kill Luther would do God's service. They called him a witch possessed of the Devil; accused him of violence and pride for condemning the opinions of others; "a reproach," says D'Aubigne, "to which those persons are generally exposed who have that strength of conviction which is produced by the word of God." To their accusations Luther replied: "If humility herself attempted anything now, those of a different opinion would exclaim, that she was proud. Why was Christ and all the martyrs put to death? Because they appeared proud despisers of the wisdom of the time in which they lived; and because they brought forward new truths without first having humbly consulted the oracles of the old opinion." But, as D'Aubigne says, the revolution of the 16th century was to be no more indebted for support, to the heads of the church, than that of the first century had been to the sanhedrim and the synagogue. The dignified priesthood was again, in the sixteenth century, opposed to Luther, the Reformation, and its ministers, as it had formerly been to Jesus Christ, the Gospel, and his apostles; and as it usually is in all periods to the truth. Soon after this, Luther was cited before the Emperor Charles V., the greatest monarch of Europe. This was at the celebrated diet of Worms. "Thus all earthly powers, legates, princes, popes, and emperors, were put in motion against the humble friar of Erfurth." He met that august assembly as Peter & John did the sanhedrim, and bore witness to the truth—examples worthy of imitation. Although he was in fact condemned, yet he came away triumphantly. The fury of the monks and the churchmen knew no bounds. But, as is always the case, persecutions only served to spread the truth. From this time witnesses for God were raised up in all parts. Zwingle had done a great work in Switzerland, and had received the same opposition, from the heads of the church, that Luther had in Germany. Rome now seized the torch as the most effectual argument against heretics. In Germany, Switzerland, & France, piles were fired on which the lovers of truth were martyred. Thus there are three parts to each reformation: 1. The popular church instructed by its ministers and leading men, reject those whom God has appointed to do his work; 2. It ridicules them as beneath its notice; 3. It persecutes them even unto death. This was so with Christ and his apostles, with Luther and his followers, and so it will ever be. When ungodly men cannot support their doctrine by arguments they will have recourse to force. But, with all its persecutions, Rome was not able to keep down the truth. It spread from town to town, and from kingdom to kingdom, until old Rome had to conclude a treaty of peace with it. So in spite of priests, popes or emperors, Protestantism was established; God's word was honored; and the Lord glorified. But, after a time, this church also became popular. Wicked men were admitted into it; and it began to lose its life, growing worse and worse to the present time. What a church, or churches, now! Their members have become like the world, so that there is no difference between them. They are characterized by pride and hypocrisy. They decry works, and profess a great deal of faith, but have none. The ministers preach smooth things, crying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. They do not preach from the Bible, but go to the fathers, to philosophy, to politics, to every thing but the word of God. It is according to the proverb: There are three parts to a popular sermon: first, the minister takes his text, second, he leaves it, and third, he never returns to it. So far as my observation goes, I have found this to be the case. They turn away the ears of the people from hearing the truth, and turn them unto fables. 2 Tim. iv. A man becoming interested in the truth goes to the preacher and asks his opinion of it. The minister tells him it is all a humbug; that he must keep away from those heretics; that the fathers never believed or taught any such thing, &c. If obliged to confront the Bible, they will spiritualize it all away, and thus they as effectually deprive the people of the Scriptures as the priests did in Luther's time. They profess what the world profess, teach what it teaches, and live as it lives. Behold their costly churches, rivaling those of popish pride! and which virtually shut out the poor; for if they go, it is only to be laughed at by their rich neighbors. Besides, they cannot attend unless they buy a pew. Listen to a sermon in one of these churches, and what do you hear? The gospel? Christ? Repentance? No; only as they are all mingled with fables. The preacher ascends the pulpit, and sees his congregation composed of the most gay and worldly. They are the ones that pay him. If he preaches against their sins, his fat salary is gone. This will not do. So he carefully walks all around them, and talks about the wicked Jews, or the good times coming. When a minister is to be hired, the question is, not whether he is a godly man, but, "Is he smart?" A minister measures himself by the salary he gets, not the sinners he converts. Meeting a deacon, I asked him how his son-in-law, who was a minister, was prospering. "O first rate," said he, "he gets three hundred dollars and two donations a year!" The conversion of sinners seems to have nothing to150do with the success of a minister now-a-days. It is no uncommon thing to see preachers engaged in trade and speculation with all the eagerness of worldlings. “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.” 2 Tim. ii, 4. They have more sagacity in foreseeing the rise and fall in the value of money, stocks, &c., than they have in understanding the signs of the times as predicted by the prophets. They profess to be watchmen on the walls of Zion; but ask them, “Watchmen, what of the night?” and you will find them as described in Isa. lvi, 11. They know not whether peace or the sword is coming; they are asleep and blinded by the love of the world. Indeed, Christianity has sunk so low that professors have become a by-word and a laughingstock to the world. Talk to a man about becoming a Christian, and he will ask you if you want him to become a hypocrite! This speaks volumes for the churches. It shows that they have become an effectual instrument in the hands of the Devil to keep souls out of the kingdom of heaven. These corruptions are apparent to every one. Infidels laugh at it; the honest ones mourn over it; and the preachers try to smooth it over. Who shall reform these abuses? Popular ministers? It would be something new under the sun if they did; for such a thing has never yet been seen. Still the people look to them for a reformation. But the reformation of the nineteenth century will be no more indebted for support to the priesthood, than that of the first was to the sanhedrim, or that of the sixteenth to the pope. The clergy were opposed to the truth then, and they are opposed to it now. To justify themselves, when they see others doing what they ought to have done, they will oppose it. A reformation must be wrought by them, or not wrought at all. But as well might the sinner wash away his own sins, or the leopard change his spots, as a corrupt church attempt to reform itself. Speaking of the power which God communicates to his servants, when he is about to do some great work for the church, D'Aubigne says, “Not often, indeed, in the world's history, has such a power been exerted; it was displayed however in the infancy of Christianity; at the period of the reformation it was exhibited again; and it shall be witnessed once more in the latter days.” Prophetic words! now being fulfilled, for that time has come. God has heard the cry of his faithful ones, and has set his hand to the work. He has raised up humble men to correct the mighty of the earth, men who are pointing us to God's word, to his broken and neglected law, to the awful judgments that are coming on a guilty world. This has commenced, as all other reformations have, by calling men to repentance, directing them to Jesus, and away from the traditions of men. Again, the voice of the priesthood is raised against it because it condemns them. But shall we reject it because they do, because it is unpopular, because the great and the learned oppose it? It is the lot of the truth to be condemned by the great, the learned, and the popular. “It is their part to persecute the truth, as every age has witnessed.” Shall we reject it because its advocates are few? Says Luther, “Moses was alone when the Israelites were led out of Egypt; Elijah was alone in the time of king Ahab; Ezekiel was alone at Babylon. God has never chosen for his prophet either the high priest or any other person of exalted rank; he has generally chosen men of a mean and low condition—in the instance of Amos, even a simple shepherd. The saints of every age have been called to rebuke the great of this world—kings and princes, priests and scholars—and to fulfill their office at the peril of their lives.” “I say that they have the more reason to fear, because I am alone and they are many. Of this I am sure, that the word of God is with me, and that it is not with them.” So it is now; they have custom, tradition, and popular favor on their side. On our side we have the word of God. They accuse us, as the priests did Luther, of bringing forward new doctrine, and very confidently ask how it is that all Christians have been so long in error? Let Luther answer me: “I affirm that the doctrines of Christianity have been lost sight of by those whose special duty it was to preserve them—by the learned, by bishops. I doubt not indeed that the truth has still found an abode in some hearts, were it only with infants in the cradle. Poor husbandmen and simple children, in these days, understand more of Jesus Christ than the Pope, the bishops, or the doctors.” This is just as true now as it was three centuries ago. Religion is to be found not with preachers, bishops, doctors of divinity, but with the poor and the humble. We are scoffed at because we are few in number, and accused of creating a disturbance in society. Says the reformer, “Do not the Scriptures clearly show that the majority has always been on the side of falsehood, and the minority only on the side of truth? It is the fate of truth to occasion an outcry.” Amen. Let it make a disturbance. The people are asleep; nothing else will awake them. The Devil is at work, and shall we keep silence? God's word is laid aside, and his holy law is trampled in the dust. The great day of the Lord is at hand. God's wrath is about to be poured upon Babylon, and its watchmen are asleep! The devil is binding the inhabitants fast in his chains and they know it not! The time has come for the true watchmen to “cry aloud and spare not.” The people have been lulled to sleep by mild language. Something else is required to arouse them. The man freezing to death, says, “Let me alone; I am doing well enough.” But let him alone and he will perish. We must handle him roughly, and incur his anger, before he will awake; but then he will thank us for our perseverance. “Too much imprudence displeases men; but too much prudence is displeasing to God.” “It is impossible to make a stand for the gospel without creating some disturbance and offense.” Every age has its error, and every man his bias. Do you claim, dear reader, that the churches of this age are free from all errors, and that you have no prejudice? Stop and consider. Is it not just possible that you may be wrong? that you may be condemning God's truth? Look at the example of all past ages and see how the multitude has always been wrong, and has rejected the truth, and persecuted God's “little flock.” You say if you had lived then, you would not have done as those wicked men did; but how is it now? Are you not doing just as they did then, viz., going with the multitude? The Pharisees said, “If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets;” and yet those very men crucified the Son of God. You think just as they did; and is there not danger that you may commit a like error? O, may God help you to consider these things, and open your eyes to see your true position. Do as did those noble Bereans, who “searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” May the Lord enable us, dear brethren and sisters, to feel the solemnity of the truth we profess, and the times in which we live, that we may “sigh and cry for all the abominations that be done in the land,” till God shall save his people from the corruptions of this apostate generation.