======================================================================== THE CHURCH IN HISTORY by Bk Kuiper ======================================================================== Kuiper's survey of church history tracing the development of Christianity from the apostolic era through subsequent centuries, examining the major events, movements, and figures that shaped the life of the church across the ages. Chapters: 64 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00.4. Preface 2. 00.5. Acknowledgments 3. 01. Part One: When the Christian Church Was Young 4. 02. Chapter 1: The New Testament Church is Born, A.D. 33 5. 03. Chapter 2: The Church Grows Outwardly, 33-313 6. 04. Chapter 3: The Church Grows Inwardly, 33-325 7. 05. Chapter 4: The Church Is Tempered, 33-313 8. 06. Chapter 5: The Church Is Victorious, 313 9. 07. Chapter 6: The Church Consolidates, 325-451 10. 08. Chapter 7: The Church Deteriorates, 100-461 11. 09. Chapter 8: The Church Survives and Grows Again, 376-754 12. 10. Part Two: The Church in the Middle Ages 13. 11. Chapter 9: The Church Loses Territory, 632-732 14. 12. Chapter 10: The Church Is Divided, 1054 15. 13. Chapter 11: The Church Forms an Alliance, 751 - 800 16. 14. Chapter 12: The Church Develops Its Organization, 461 -1073 17. 15. Chapter 13: The Church in Bondage to the State, 885-1049 18. 16. Chapter 14: The Church Develops Monasticism 19. 17. Chapter 15: The Church Makes Efforts to Free Itself, 1049-1058 20. 18. Chapter 16: The Church Continues Efforts to Free Itself, 1059-1073 21. 19. Chapter 17: The Church Faces a Great Struggle, 1073 22. 20. Chapter 18: The Church Is Forced to Compromise, 1073-1122 23. 21. Chapter 19: The Church Inspires the Crusades, 1096-1291 24. 22. Chapter 20: The Church Rises to the Greatest Height of Its Power, 1198-1216 25. 23. Chapter 21: The Church Declines in Power, 1294-1417 26. 24. Chapter 22: The Church Is Stirred, 1200-1517 27. 25. Part Three: The Church in Reformation 28. 26. Chapter 23: The Church Is Shaken, October 31, 1517 29. 27. Chapter 24: The Church Is Convulsed, 1517-1521 30. 28. Chapter 25: The Church Is Reformed in Germany and Scandinavia, 1520-1530 31. 29. Chapter 26: The Church Is Reformed in German Switzerland, 1523-1529 32. 30. Chapter 27: The Church Is Reformed in French Switzerland, 1541-1555 33. 31. Chapter 28: The Church Is Reformed in France, 1541-1559, and in the Netherlands, 1561-1571 34. 32. Chapter 29: The Church Is Reformed in Scotland, 1557-1570 35. 33. Chapter 30: The Church Is Reformed in England, 1534-1563 36. 34. Chapter 31: The Roman Church Undertakes Reform, 1545-1563 37. 35. Chapter 32: The Protestant Churches Fight for Their Life, 1546-1648 38. 36. Part Four: The Church After The Reformation 39. 37. Chapter 33: The Church in the Post-Reformation Era 40. 38. Chapter 34: The Church in England Continues to Ferment, 1558-1689 41. 39. Chapter 35: The Conflict Between Catholics and Protestants Continues, 1667-1690 42. 40. Chapter 36: The Rise and Growth of the Congregationalists 43. 41. Chapter 37: The Rise and Growth of the Baptists 44. 42. Chapter 38: Serious Departures from Historic Protestantism 45. 43. Chapter 39: More Moderate Departures from Historic Protestantism 46. 44. Chapter 40: The Origin and Development of Methodism 47. 45. Chapter 41: Modernism's Break with Historic Christianity 48. 46. Chapter 42: The Eastern and the Roman Church since the Reformation, 1648 to the Present 49. 47. Chapter 43: Controversy Continues in Germany and England 50. 48. Chapter 44: The Reformed Churches Survive Persecution 51. 49. Chapter 45: The Church Grows Once More, 7500 to the Present 52. 50. Part Five: The Church In The United States 53. 51. Chapter 46: The Church Is Extended into the New World 54. 52. Chapter 47: The Church Experiences a Great Awakening 55. 53. Chapter 48: The Church and the War for Independence 56. 54. Chapter 49: The Churches in the New National Period 57. 55. Chapter 50: The Church Moves West 58. 56. Chapter 51: The Church Experiences a Second Awakening 59. 57. Chapter 52: The Church in a Time of Turmoil 60. 58. Chapter 53: The Civil War and Reconstruction Periods 61. 59. Chapter 54: The Church Faces Modern Problems 62. 60. Chapter 55: The Church Seeks to Preserve the Faith 63. 61. Chapter 56: The Churches Seek Co-operation and Union 64. 62. Chapter 57: A Look Backward and Forward ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00.4. PREFACE ======================================================================== PREFACE The story of the beginning and progress of the Christian Church is intensely interesting. It deals with some of the most dramatic episodes in history. For the child of God it is also instructive and inspiring. He regards it as a heritage that should be passed on to his children. In recognition of this the Board of the National Union of Christian Schools, through its Educational Committee, requested Mr. B. K. Kuiper to write a manuscript that could be used for a textbook in church history. He complied, and The Church in History is the gratifying result. Mr. Kuiper is well known for his all-absorbing interest in church history, his lifetime of study and research in this field, and his outstand­ing ability as a teacher of history. He drew from a rich background as he wrote this book. Yet he constantly kept in mind the needs of the stu­dent and the general reader for whom he was writing. The Church in History was prepared specifically for use as a text­book. The original manuscript was submitted for critical evaluation to several teachers of church history. Many of their suggestions and recommendations were incorporated in the final preparation and arrange­ment of the material. Great care was exercised to make the book conform to the best educational practices. It is divided into five sections. Each section begins with an appropriate introduction and outline. These are designed to give the reader a preview of the material to follow and to stimulate his interest in reading it. Each chapter also begins with an outline. These chapter outlines enable the reader to obtain at a glance a survey of the entire chapter. Throughout the book carefully selected illustrations enliven the pages. The time lines and the excellent maps should serve as aids to the teacher as well as to the students. The vocabulary is readily within the comprehension of students in secondary schools, and the interesting narrative style makes the book one which may be read with enjoyment by young and old alike. It is our fervent hope that those who read this book may learn to love not only church history but also the Church itself, for it is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. John A. Van Bruggen, Educational Director THE NATIONAL UNION OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 00.5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ======================================================================== ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is well nigh impossible to list the names of all those who have contributed to the preparation of this book. To those who checked the manuscript for historical accuracy, to the many teachers who gave their reactions to the material and offered suggestions, to the members of the committees that gave guidance in the preparation of this volume, and to those who assisted in other ways we express our sincere appreciation. Every one of them has had an important part in the publishing of this church history. We also wish to express our appreciation to the Concordia Publishing House for the use of several maps and prints, to the Houghton Mifflin Company for the use of a map, and to the following organizations and individuals who loaned or contributed pictures: The American Bible Society, Brethren Missionary Herald Company, Inc., Christian Reformed Board of Missions, The Church Herald, Methodist Information, Nether­lands Information Bureau, Northwest Iowa Newspaper Association, Presbyterian Historical Society, Anita Vissia, and Christine Voss. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01. PART ONE: WHEN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS YOUNG ======================================================================== Part One WHEN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS YOUNG (From Pentecost to Gregory the Great, 33-604) The New Testament Church Is Born on the Day of Pentecost The Church Grows Outwardly in Extent and Numbers The Church Grows Inwardly in Knowl­edge of the Truth and Spiritual Strength The Church Is Tempered The Church Is Victorious over the Hea­then World into Which It Was Born The Church Consolidates in Doctrine and Organization The Church Deteriorates The Church Survives the Barbarian Invasion and Grows Again TIME LINE - PART I - WHEN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS YOUNG: PEOPLE TIME LINE - PART I - WHEN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS YOUNG: EVENTS PART ONE WHEN THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS YOUNG In this first part of our book we are going to observe the early growth of the Christian Church. We shall see it develop from one small congregation in Jerusalem to a giant organization reaching into many lands. As the Church grew in numbers and in territory it also grew in its understanding of the truth, and issued carefully worded statements of belief. Not long after the Church’s beginning it began to suffer perse­cution, first at the hands of the Jews and then at the hands of the pagans. We shall see how the Church was delivered from this perse­cution and how Christianity became the approved religion of the State. In this early period, too, the Church had to withstand .a great invasion of barbarians from the North, who plundered the towns and cities of the great Roman Empire and overthrew the government. As the first section of our book closes we find the Church carrying on the stupendous task of Christianizing and educating the newly established barbarian kingdoms. When beginning our reading of each new chapter it will be well for us to take note of the dates given in the heading; for often a new chapter will take us over the same period of time covered in the previous chapter. If we bear this in mind and compare the dates we shall know just where we are in point of time. And that will help us to gain a clear picture of the story of the Christian Church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 02. CHAPTER 1: THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH IS BORN, A.D. 33 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1 The New Testament Church Is Born, A.D. 33 The Setting The Church Is Born God Is the Creator and Keeper of the Church 1. The Setting At the time when the New Tes­tament Church was born, there were between five and six times as many Jews living outside of Palestine as there were living in­side of that little country. Jews were to be found at this time in Parthia, Media, Elam, Mesopotamia, and Arabia to the east of Palestine; in Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, and Pam­phylia in Asia Minor, in the island of Crete, and even in Rome to the west of Palestine; and in Egypt, Libya, and Cyrene in Africa to the south of Palestine. (See maps pp. 32, 33.) The Jews living outside of Pales­tine in the many different coun­tries mentioned above were said to be living in the Dispersion, because they were "dispersed" or "scat­tered." These Jews of the Disper­sion had learned to speak the lan­guages of the various countries in which they had settled, and from those countries they received their names, such as Parthians, Medes, Cretes, and Arabians. Thousands upon thousands of these Jews from the various coun­tries of the Dispersion, together with other thousands of Jews from all over Palestine, had crowded in­to the city of Jerusalem to cele­brate the great feast of Pentecost. 2. The Church Is Born It was still early in the morning. The inhabitants of Jerusalem and the visitors had been awake only a short time, when suddenly all over the city a terrific noise was heard. It sounded like a mighty rushing wind. The people dashed out of their houses and ran as fast as they could to the spot from which the noise seemed to come, to find out what was going on. THE CRADLE OF THE CHURCH The lighter area in front center shows where the Church was born and the location of the countries of the Dispersion. A strange spectacle met their eyes. There they saw the one hun­dred twenty disciples, and on the head of every one of them they saw a cloven (divided) tongue as of fire. What was stranger still, although these disciples were unlearned Galileans, the visitors in Jerusalem heard them speak in the languages of the various coun­tries from which they had come. The thousands of people who had gathered together were amazed. They marveled and were puz­zled. Some started to mock and make fun of the disciples. They said, "They are full of wine." Then one of the disciples, Peter, stood up and defended his fellow-disciples. He said: "These are not drunk, but are filled with the Spirit. This is the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy concerning the out­pouring of the Holy Spirit." The Word is the sword of the Spirit. Peter on that Pentecostal morning was a strong and skillful swordsman. He handled the sword of the Spirit well and pricked the hearers in their hearts. Those who came to believe in the Lord that day were three thousand. These were baptized. It was thus that in Jerusalem on that day of Pentecost the Christian Church was born. 3. God Is the Creator and Keeper of the Church The outpouring of the Holy Spir­it was accompanied by a mighty rushing wind and by tongues of fire. The wind and fire were the visible signs or symbols of the Holy Spirit. And they are fitting signs indeed. Wind and fire are among the greatest forces in na­ture. The stormwind sweeps every­thing irresistibly before it. Fire sets things ablaze. When the Christian Church was born there entered into the world a new and mighty force. The Holy Spirit is a force so mighty that it cannot be resisted by anyone upon whom God wishes to bestow it, and it sets him aflame for God’s kingdom. This story of the birth of the Christian Church shows that the Church is of divine origin. First of all, the birth of the Church was the result of the joint work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of Christ. Furthermore, the apostles were appointed by God to their positions as office-bearers in the Church. The story of the Church’s birth shows another important fact. Al­though the Church is of divine origin, God made use of human beings when He formed the Church. The Church came into existence through the work of the Holy Spirit, but also through the activ­ity of man. That activity of man was the preaching of the Word. COUNTRIES OF THE DISPERSION From these countries the Jews came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. Philip Gendreau THE VIA DOLOROSA, IN JERUSALEM This is the road over which Jesus passed on His way to Golgotha and the cruci­fixion. The name is Latin and means, "Way of Pain." From childhood we have heard preaching. We hear preaching every Sunday. We have become so used to preaching, that to us it has become something very common and ordinary. But actually preach­ing is something tremendous. There is nothing that has brought about so many and such great changes in the world as has the preaching of the Word of God. In fact, preaching has transformed the world. For a proper insight into and understanding of the his­tory of the Church it is necessary to understand clearly from the very beginning, and to keep in mind to the very end, that preach­ing has been of fundamental im­portance throughout the entire course of the Church’s develop­ment. It is preaching that has more than anything else molded and given direction to the history of the Church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 03. CHAPTER 2: THE CHURCH GROWS OUTWARDLY, 33-313 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2 The Church Grows Outwardly, 33-313 1. The Young Church Is Beautiful The newly born Church in Jeru­salem at once began to grow. A Church can grow in two respects. It can grow outwardly — in extent and in numbers. It can grow in­wardly — in knowledge of the truth and in spiritual strength. Those who had become members of the Church continued steadfast­ly in the apostles’ doctrine and fel­lowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayer; and the Lord daily added to the Church such as should be saved. Here we see both inward and outward growth. The Young Church Is Beautiful Ifs Beauty Is Marred It Weathers a Crisis The First Turning Point in the History of the Church Saul Becomes an Apostle of Jesus Christ The Second Turning Point in the His­tory of the Church The Way Is Prepared Beforehand for the Outward Growth of the Church The Church Experiences Unparalleled Growth The new Church, small in num­bers as yet, did not have a church building of its own. The members met in the temple and in each other’s houses. Their form of wor­ship was simple. But the preach­ing was powerful, their prayers were fervent, and their praises were warm. They preached and prayed and sang not merely with their lips but from their hearts. That first Church was united by a wonderful love. All that believed were together, and had all things in common. They were of one heart and of one soul. Not one of them said that any of the things which he possessed was his own. There was none among them that lacked. As many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them. Then they brought the money they re­ceived for the things that were sold, and gave it to the apostles, and distribution was made to every man according to his need. (See Acts 4:32-37.) Religious News Service ST. STEPHEN BEING STONED After a drawing by Gustave Dore The life of the Jerusalem Church in the earliest stage of its history presents a picture of spiritual beauty. 2. Its Beauty Is Marred How soon that beauty was marred! Two people, a man and his wife, named Ananias and Sapphira, joined the Church. They did not actually have the love that the other members had, but they pre­tended that they had. They sold their possessions and brought only part of the money to Peter claim­ing that this was the full amount they had received. You know the tragic result of their sin. (See Acts 5:1-11.) If Ananias and Sap­phira had repented under Peter’s stern rebuke, they would not have been punished so severely. 3. It Weathers a Crisis These were days full of action and startling events. More sermons were preached. Miracles were per­formed almost every day. There were daily additions to the Church. These church members lived such happy and beautiful lives that the whole city talked about it. But opposition arose and con­tinued to increase. There were numerous arrests, court trials, at­tempts at browbeatings, threats, floggings, and jailings. But there were also reports of prison doors miraculously opened. In spite of the opposition the Church con­tinued to grow by leaps and bounds. Stephen, the most prominent of the seven men holding the newly created office of deacon, was stoned to death by a frenzied mob. Having tasted the first Christian blood the enemy now thirsted for more, and a general persecution followed. The cause and kingdom of Christ were at stake. The faith­ful followers of Christ were as a small flock of helpless sheep set upon by a pack of hungry wolves. The church at Jerusalem was broken up; its members were scattered in every direction. It was an appalling crisis. The pros­pects were dark and gloomy. GATE AT JERUSALEM Philip Gendreau This is one of the main gates in the wall around Jerusalem. Suddenly there was a complete change in the picture. New churches sprang up here, there, and everywhere, all over Palestine. And the church at Jerusalem was preserved. Let us see how this sudden change came about. 4. The First Turning Point in the History of the Church When Stephen was stoned he saw the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. We cannot see Jesus the way Stephen did, but we can see Christ in the history of the Church. The Church is the army which Christ has organized for establish­ing His kingdom. Just before leav­ing the earth, Christ had laid out for His disciples the plan for a world-wide campaign. He had com­missioned them to be His witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the ut­termost parts of the earth. The disciples immediately made a be­ginning with the campaign in Jeru­salem, but for a time they did not go beyond that city. How long they would have confined the cam­paign within the narrow walls of Jerusalem if nothing had happened to disturb them, we cannot tell. We do know that eaglets are in­clined to remain in the nest as long as the parent birds do not stir them up. Perhaps the same would have been true of the disciples. A PART OF THE HOLY LAND Christ’s Army. Marches Out of Jerusalem Christ himself forced His little army, the Church, to march forth from the walls of Jerusalem. He overruled the design of the enemy to destroy the Church, and used it for the advancement of His cause and kingdom. The enemy, by try­ing to put out the gospel fire, scat­tered it. The death of Stephen had been the signal for a general per­secution. Christ used that persecu­tion to force the Church to carry the gospel campaign into all Judea and Samaria. The scattered Christians did their work well. A church, the second in the world, was founded in Samaria, of all places! A very high Ethiopian of­ficial from far-away Africa, and a pagan Roman military officer were converted. When the Church issued forth from Jerusalem, it took the first turn down the long road of its history. THE CHURCH IS EXTENDED BEYOND PALESTINE Adapted from The Church Through the Ages, Courtesy Concordia Publishing House There have been many turn­ing points since in the history of the Church. But all the later turn­ing points have resulted from, and have been determined by this first turning point. Ever since the Church marched forth from the gates of Jerusa­lem, it has been engaged in the great world-wide gospel campaign. At times there have been long halts. At times the Church has suffered defeats. Upon occasions it has lost territory it had conquered. But never has its Captain allowed the Church to beat a general re­treat. After every defeat He has rallied His army. Always it has gone forward again. Always it has resumed its march to final victory. It is still on the march with the blood-red banner of the cross going on before. 5. Saul Becomes an Apostle of Jesus Christ Soon after Christ’s army marched out of the city of Jerusalem, it carried the campaign beyond Judea and Samaria. Certain un­named disciples, preaching as they traveled, established churches out­side the borders of Palestine in gen­tile lands as far from Jerusalem as the territory of Phenice, and the island of Cyprus, and the city of Antioch. The news that a church had been established in Antioch came to the ears of the mother church in Jeru­salem. That church then sent a man named Barnabas to look after the Antioch field. His labors there were abundantly blessed and the church grew rapidly. The work soon became too much for Barna­bas. So he went to Tarsus, and succeeded in persuading a certain young man by the name of Saul, who lived in that city, to come with him to Antioch as his assistant. (See Acts 11:25-26.) Who was Saul? Saul was a young Jew of a very good and well-to-do family, and a recent convert to Christianity. He was a native of Tarsus, a city in Asia Minor. Like Antioch, Tarsus also was a very beautiful city and a center of Greek culture. Saul’s father was a strict orthodox Jew, who had given his son a thorough education in the ancient Jewish Old Testament re­ligion. Growing up as he did in Tarsus, Saul had also become ac­quainted with the pagan Greek cul­ture. At an early age he had shown himself to be a very bright lad, and his father decided to give him a higher education. There were many very good schools in Tarsus, but they were pagan schools. So Saul’s father, who was a man of means, sent his very promising son to Jerusalem, where he studied the Old Testament and the traditions of the Jews under the greatest masters of the law. While Saul was a student in Jerusalem, the stoning of Stephen took place. Saul was present at the event. He highly approved of the death of Stephen. Saul was an ex­ceedingly fine young man and had lived a very clean life. Like the rich young ruler he could say that he had kept all the commandments. But he hated Christianity! When the general persecution of the Christians broke out after the death of Stephen, Saul at once be­came one of the ringleaders — for he was a young man of a very ardent nature, strong convictions, and enormous energy. He went right into the houses of the Chris­tians, arrested them, and had them thrown into jail. It did not matter to him whether they were men or women, young or old. When the Christians fled from Jerusalem and scattered in every direction, he did not give up. The Church never had a fiercer and more dangerous enemy. He was satisfied with noth­ing short of the complete destruc­tion of the little Christian Church. and for a time it looked as if he might succeed. Saul went after the Christians wherever he could find them. Some Christians fled as far as Damascus in Syria, and he even pursued them there. Yet all this time Saul had been "kicking against the goads," as the Bible puts it. This means that he was opposing the will of God. Saul had heard Stephen say that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. That, he had thought, was Stephen’s imagination. He did not believe that Christ had risen. He believed that Christ was dead, and that His body lay moldering in the grave. But the words of Stephen’s eloquent defense, his white face stained with red, his brave mar­tyrdom, and his prayer for his enemies Saul could not get out of his mind. One day as Saul approached Damascus, a dazzling light, bright­er than the blazing Syrian sun at noon, suddenly shone around him. There came a voice saying, "I am Jesus." What ! Then it was true after all that Jesus was not dead, but that He was living! Stephen had said that he saw Jesus. Saul now heard Him, and was converted. (See Acts 9:1-22.) From now on Saul became as zealous a proclaimer of the Gospel as he had been its persecutor. At once he preached Christ in the syn­agogue in Damascus. The perse­cutor now became the persecuted. His former friends sought to kill him. But during the night his new friends let him down in a basket over the wall of the city, and he escaped. He hurried to Jerusalem, the birthplace of the Church, ex­pecting as a new convert a warm welcome from the Christians at that place. But the members of the church at Jerusalem were all afraid of him. They did not trust him and gave him the cold shoul­der. There was, however, one church member who was convinced of Saul’s sincerity and the genuine­ness of his conversion. That was Barnabas. We do not know when and where Barnabas first met Saul, but he now sponsored him as a true disciple. Saul did not remain long in Jeru­salem. He learned that a plot was being formed to kill him, and he went home to Tarsus. He had gone from Tarsus to Jerusalem a haughty young Pharisee and a merciless enemy of the Church; he returned to Tarsus a humble Chris­tian and a devoted servant of Jesus Christ. At about the same time that Saul left Jerusalem for Tar­sus, Barnabas was sent from Jeru­salem to look after the church at Antioch. Now Barnabas brought Saul from Tarsus to Antioch to help him in his work. Is it any wonder that Barnabas wanted Saul for his assistant? Here was a man who was young and courageous, of fine character and spotless life, with a brilliant mind and inexhaustible energy. He had a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament as well as a wide acquaintance with pagan life. His conversion had been a tremen­dous experience, and he was now on fire with love for Christ and His Church. Barnabas felt that Saul was just the man to help him in Antioch. Saul’s home town of Tarsus was a city very similar to Antioch. Both were splendid, highly cultured pagan cities with large Jewish colonies. Being used to life in Tar­sus, Saul would not be overawed by the fashionable life in glamorous Antioch, and he would know how to preach to both Jews and Gen­tiles. THE ROMAN EMPIRE THE WORLD HAD BEEN PREPARED BY GOD FOR THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. Adapted from The Church Through the Ages, Courtesy Concordia Publishing House 6. The Second Turning Point in the History of the Church The Church had now come to an exceedingly important milestone in its history. It stood at the begin­ning of the second decisive turn in the long road that lay ahead. Palestine was a very small country and Israel was a very small nation. For centuries, since the time of Moses, the knowledge of the only true God had been confined almost entirely to that small nation in that small country. Palestine was, as it were, a small island in the vast ocean of paganism. All the people in all the countries in the great world outside of Palestine were pagans. In all the pagan cities there were large and beau­tiful temples for the great host of pagan gods. In every temple, in the city squares, along the country roads, and in every home were images of the pagan gods. When the Church went forth to carry the knowledge of the only true God out of little Jewish Palestine into the great pagan world, it took the sec­ond turn on the road of its eventful history. The Church now stood on the threshold of its great and rapid expansion, and God had prepared the way. PAUL’S ESCAPE FROM DAMASCUS Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions 7. The Way Is Prepared Before­hand for the Outward Growth of the Church God had prepared the world, the men, and the place. God had prepared the world for the expansion of the Church. The whole civilized world of that time was under the one government of Rome. That government had se­cured world-wide peace and order. Excellent military roads leading from every corner of the Empire to the city of Rome, and the count­less ships that plied the great Mediterranean Sea in every direc­tion provided the means of travel. There was at that time one world language. Into that universal lan­guage, the Greek, the Old Testa-meat had been translated. All these conditions were such as to aid the rapid spread of the Gospel. THE MISSIONARY JOURNEYS OF THE APOSTLE PAUL Copyright 1998, Matthew McGee. God had also provided the men: Peter, Stephen, Barnabas, and Saul. It was through the preaching of Peter that on the day of Pentecost the Christian Church was born in the city of Jerusalem and that in the city of Caesarea the first church among the gentiles came into existence in the house of the Roman centurion. Considering the fact that Ste­phen’s ministry was so very brief, his contribution to the development of the Church was in certain re­spects even more striking than Peter’s. It was his murder which became the signal for the persecu­tion that pushed the Church out of its cradle in Jerusalem into all Judea and Samaria and beyond the boundaries of Palestine as far as Antioch; and, no less impor­tant, it was his testimony and death which had prepared the way for the conversion of Saul. In the Bible record Saul is called Paul during most of the period of his Christian ministry. Paul was the greatest thinker and mission­ary the Church has ever known. God had endowed him with marvel­ous gifts, and had so ordered his entire background, experience, and training that, as God’s chosen ves­sel, he would be able to bear the name of Jesus before the gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. Through his agency the Church was now about to make a beginning with the new and larger task of preaching the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Barnabas was possibly a man of not much more than ordinary abil­ity. But Christ put it into his heart to go to Tarsus, secure Paul for the Christian ministry, and bring him to Antioch. In the church in that place the youthful Saul labored for a whole year as assistant to Barna­bas, the older man. Neither one of these two men had at that time the slightest idea of the stupendous task to which Christ was about to call them. But this year of joint labor among Jews and gentiles in one of the great pagan cities was for them a period of valuable training for that task. When their training was completed, the Holy Spirit, whom Christ had sent down into the Church, gave them the order to begin the task. (See Acts 13:2.) God had also selected the place from which the Church was to make its great advance. The chosen place was Antioch. It was admira­bly situated for this purpose. It was located in Syria on the river Orontes, not far from the Mediter­ranean. That made the church in Antioch the farthermost outpost of Christ’s army. It was three hun­dred miles closer than Jerusalem to the lands which that army was now about to invade. Three hun­dred miles, when land travel was done on foot, meant a great deal. Those lands could best be reached by sea, and Antioch had a seaport. From this advanced base of Anti­och, Christ’s army, under the guid­ance of the great Captain of its faith, launched its all-out offensive against the great pagan world. CHURCHES FOUNDED AND VISITED BY THE APOSTLE PAUL Adapted from Tke Church Through the Ages, Courtesy Concordia Publishing House 8. The Church Experiences Unpar­alleled Growth Barnabas and Paul set out from Antioch upon their first missionary journey. We shall not follow them step by step. (You will find an ac­count of this journey in the book of Acts, chapters 13 and 14. See, too, the map showing where Paul traveled to carry the Gospel.) By about the year 58, through Paul’s missionary activity of only some twenty years, churches had been founded in Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece. In some way not known to us, a church had also been founded in Rome. That church was destined to play an important and unique role in the history of the Church and the world. You will hear much about the church at Rome. After the death of the apostle Paul, which occurred probably in the year 64, God raised up other leaders, and Christ’s army went marching on victoriously. Only two hundred fifty years later, by the year 313, there were Christian churches throughout the entire world of that day. That was a mar­velous growth! In the whole his­tory of the Church there is no other period of equal length which can show such extensive and rapid growth. Even in our day, one thousand six hundred years later, the Church has not yet reached to the uttermost parts of the earth. How did that remarkable growth come to pass ? We cannot under­stand it. As Jesus said, a man planted a seed and it grew he knew not how. In general we can say that this growth took place through the believers, a few famous but most of them unknown — through their fearless preaching and testimony, their Christian life, and martyred death. But more particularly, it was God’s work. And God’s ways are always beyond our comprehen­sion. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 04. CHAPTER 3: THE CHURCH GROWS INWARDLY, 33-325 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3 The Church Grows Inwardly, 33-325 1. What Is Meant by the Church’s Inward Growth From the above dates you will see that the things to be discussed in this chapter happened in the same period of time as the things treated in the second chapter. The inward growth of the Church has to do with its doctrine, or be­liefs, and its organization. This is vitally important, for it concerns the truth of God and the system of government within the Church. Gifted men spent their lives searching out the truths in the What Is Meant by the Church’s In- ward Growth Is Doctrine Important? The Apostolic Fathers Search for Truth The Apologists Study and Defend the Truth New and False Ideas Arise A Creed and a Canon Emerge An Organization Develops The Church Fathers Clarify and Pub­lish the Truth The Nicene Creed Proclaims the Deity of Christ Scriptures and defending these truths against the false teachings of the day. In doing this they per­formed a great service for God and His Church. Certainly we want to know something about these men and about the doctrines, or beliefs, which they championed. We also want to see how the Church de­veloped a system of organization and government. 2. Is Doctrine Important? Many people today do not like doctrine. They say differences of opinion about doctrine have caused much debate and controversy. They say that the many divisions in the Church have been caused by de­bates about doctrine. Doctrine is not so important after all. What is important is a good Christian life. So runs their argument. The effect of this kind of talk has been very bad. In many churches ministers teach the peo­ple and the children very little doctrine. The result is great ig­norance of Christian truth. Whenever someone says that doctrine, or a system of truth, is not important, you must be on your guard. The chances are that this person does not mean what he says. It may be that it is not doctrine that he dislikes, but sound Chris­tian doctrine. The theory that doc­trine is not important is not only shallow and foolish, it is also crafty. It is one of the devil’s best tricks. The history of the controversies about doctrine is a very important part of the history of the Church. When we discuss these things we shall want to be very attentive. 3. The Apostolic Fathers Search for Truth After the time of the apostles the foremost leaders in the Church were the Apostolic Fathers. They were called Apostolic Fathers be­cause they are said to have been taught personally by the apostles. They lived in the first half of the second century. We know the names of five of them. They were Clement and Hermas of Rome; Ignatius of Antioch; Polycarp of Smyrna; and Barnabas, probably of Alexandria. There were two others whose names we do not know. IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions You will remember that there was much in the teaching of Christ which for a long time the disciples did not understand. From the writ­ings of the Apostolic Fathers we can tell that, more than a hundred years after Christ, they had not as yet penetrated very deeply into the truth revealed in the Bible. Their conception of Christianity was very simple. They thought of Christ chiefly as the revealer of the knowledge of the one true God, and the proclaimer of a law of high and strict morality. JUSTIN MARTYR SchoenfeldCollection from Three Lions But it is important to note that the Apostolic Fathers wanted to know the truth about Christ. They thought and wrote about Him. 4. The Apologists Study and De­fend the Truth The heathen attacked and perse­cuted the Christians. They told many false stories about the Chris­tians, accused them of many ter­rible crimes, and misrepresented the teachings of Christianity. In response some Christians wrote books. Because in these books these writers defended Christian­ity against the attacks of the heathen they are called Apologists. An apologist is one who defends what he believes to be the truth. In order to explain Christianity to the educated and cultured heathen and in order to defend it against attacks, they were compelled to make a deeper study of the Bible. In that way the Church made prog­ress in the understanding of Christian truth. The foremost of these Apologists was Justin. He was born in the ancient town of Shechem in the province of Samaria. There at She­chem was the well of the patriarch Jacob, where Jesus had talked to the Samaritan woman. Justin’s father and mother were both heathen. Justin was an educated man. He studied philosophy and even after he had become a Chris­tian he continued to wear the mantle of a philosopher. While living in Ephesus he was converted by the study of the Old Testament prophets. "Straightway," he wrote in one of his books, "a flame was kindled in my soul, and a love of the prophets and of those men who are friends of Christ. Theirs is the oldest and truest explanation of the beginning and end of things and of those matters which the philosopher ought to know, because they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They glorified the Creator, the God and Father of all things, and proclaimed His Son, the Christ. I found this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable." About the year 153, while in Rome, Justin wrote his famous Apology. In that same city, per­haps in the year 165, he was beheaded for his faith. For that rea­son he is called Justin Martyr. Celsus was not one of the Apolo­gists. He was a heathen who was well acquainted with the teachings of Christianity, but he never be­came a Christian. On the contrary, in the year 177 he wrote a book, A True Discourse, against Chris­tianity. Celsus was a man with a very keen mind. He brought all his learning and wit to bear, and used many of the arguments still used by unbelievers today. His was the ablest criticism of Christianity produced by heathenism. It was not until seventy years later that Celsus was answered. But when at last the answer did come, it was overwhelming and crushing. This brilliant apology of Christianity was written by Origen in his book, Against Celsus. You will presently hear more about the Apologist Origen. 5. New and False Ideas Arise In the last half of the second century two heresies (departures from the truth) became a serious menace. They were Gnosticism and Montanism. Gnosticism went so far as to maintain that Christ nev­er dwelt on this earth in human form. Montanism taught that Christ’s promise of the Comforter had not been fulfilled in the upper room on Pentecost, but that the coming of the Holy Spirit was now at hand and that the end of the world was near. Both of these doc­trines were gaining a foothold in the Church. These ideas were entirely contrary to Christian truth. If these heretical ideas had gained the upper hand in the Church, Christianity would certainly have been destroyed. So the last half of the second century was a time of tremendous crisis for the Church. In this time the Church was en­gaged in a life and death struggle. How keenly the Church felt the deadly nature of these heresies you can tell from the following incident. One of the leading Gnostics was a certain Marcion. He lived in Constantinople, where he was engaged in the shipping busi­ness. After he made his fortune in that business he moved to Rome. He became a big man in the church in Rome. He gave many thousands of dollars to charity, but he also made strong propaganda for his Gnostic ideas, and gained many followers among the members of the church in Rome. Polycarp, bishop of the church in Smyrna, at one time made a visit to Rome. ­Marcion and Polycarp had known each other very well back East. When Polycarp happened to come across Marcion on the street, he was going to pass on without speaking. Marcion stopped him and said, "Don’t you know me any more, Polycarp?" "Yes," answered Polycarp, "I know who you are. You are the first-born of Satan." 6. A Creed and a Canon Emerge Out of the Church’s struggle with the heresies of Gnosticism and Montanism came three things: a creed, a canon, and an organiza­tion. All three of these things have been of very great and lasting significance for the Church from that time on down to the present. THE WORLD IN WHICH THE CHURCH DEVELOPED ITS DOCTRINE The word creed comes from the Latin word credo, meaning "I be­lieve." A creed is a statement of belief. The creed that came out of the Church’s struggle with Gnos­ticism and Montanism is known as the Apostles’ Creed. It is so called not because it was composed by the apostles, but because it is a sum­mary of the apostles’ teachings. No doubt you know that creed by heart. It is the oldest creed of the Church. We still use it today. Now you know its origin. You also know what a creed is. The Church adopt­ed the Apostles’ Creed in order that everybody might know what the Church believed to be true Christian doctrine, in distinction from the false and heretical doc­trines of the Gnostics and Monta­nists. The word canon has many mean­ings. As we are using it here it means "a list." The canon that came out of the above-mentioned struggle is the canon of the New Testament, that is, a list of the books that belong in the New Tes­tament. In its controversies with the Gnostics and Montanists the Church always appealed to Scrip­ture. But already at that time there were many Christian writ­ings. So it was necessary to know which of those writings possessed absolute authority as inspired writ­ings. Out of all the Christian writ­ings then in existence the Church recognized as inspired those which now make up the New Testament. THE CANONICAL BOOKS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT MatthewI Timothy MarkII Timothy LukeTitus JohnPhilemon The ActsHebrews RomansJames I CorinthiansI Peter II CorinthiansII Peter GalatiansI John EphesiansII John PhilippiansIII John ColossiansJude I ThessaloniansRevelation II Thessalonians 7. An Organization Develops The organization that came out of the struggle with the Gnostics and Montanists is the episcopal form of church government. This is a matter of tremendous impor­tance. How important it is you will learn more and more as we go on with our study of the history of the Church. But it should be noted here that the Church from this point down to the time of the Ref­ormation had the episcopal form of government; and that there are several churches today which have this form, such as the Roman Cath­olic, the Greek Orthodox, the Epis­copal, and the Methodist churches. At first the organization of the Church was very simple. The of­ficers were the elders and deacons. The elders were known as presby­ters, since presbyter is the Greek word for "elder." In the early Church the presby­ters, as we shall now call the elders, were all of the same rank. But it was natural that in each congregation one of the presbyters should take the lead. He would be president of the board of presby­ters, and he would lead in worship and do the preaching. The presby­ters were also called overseers. The Greek word for "overseer" is episcopal, from which we get our word "bishop." The title of bishop was given to the presbyter who in course of time became leader of the board of presbyters. So the other presbyters gradually became sub­ordinate to the presbyter who was their overseer, or bishop, and the bishop came to rule the church alone. The Greek word for a man who rules alone is "monarch." For that reason these bishops, who came to have all the authority in a church, were called monarchical bishops. Churches were first established in the cities. From the cities Chris­tianity spread among the heathen, or pagans, in the country. The con­verts from the country would at­tend church in the city. The city with its surrounding country dis­trict was called a diocese. Then the man who at first was bishop only of the city church became bishop of the diocese, and was called a diocesan bishop. You may wonder why all these terms (presbyter, bishop, mon­archical bishop, diocese, diocesan bishop, and episcopal) are taken from the Greek language. It is be­ cause Christianity first spread in the eastern part of the Roman Em­pire, and there Greek was the lan­guage generally used. Just exactly when the Church came to have bishops we do not know. The development of the episcopal form of church organi­zation or government came about gradually. It was a growth. It came about in some cities sooner than in others. Churches in certain cities had monarchical bishops be­fore the church in Rome had such a bishop. Around the year 110 the church in Antioch, from which city Barnabas and Paul had set out on their first missionary journey, had a bishop by the name of Ignatius, and Smyrna had Polycarp as its bishop. Both of these men are said to have been personal disciples of the apostles, and both of them are reckoned among the Apostolic Fa­thers. The first bishop of Rome seems to have been a man by the name of Anicetus. He was bishop of Rome from 154 to 165. By the middle of the second century prac­tically all churches had monar­chical bishops. The bishops were supposed to be the successors of the apostles. That idea helped immensely to clothe the bishops with great au­thority. Ignatius considered the bishop to be the great bond of church unity and the great defense against heresy. To the church in Philadelphia he wrote, "Do ye all follow your bishop as Jesus Christ followed the Father. Do nothing without the bishop." For a long time the churches in the various cities were only very loosely connected with each other. By the year 200 they had become welded into one compact whole. The struggle of the churches with the Gnostic and Montanist heretics had done much to bring this about. In the same way that a number of nations may unite against a common enemy, the churches had united against the heretics. All the churches now had in common the Apostles’ Creed, the canon of the New Testament as authoritative Scripture, and the episcopal form of church government. The here­tics were, of course, outside the Church. They had formed little churches of their own. But the big church was henceforth known as the Catholic (or Universal) Church, and also as the Old Cath­olic Church. Later we shall hear of the Roman Catholic Church. The man who better than anyone else expressed the ideas about the Church which had come to prevail around this time was Cyprian. He was born in Carthage in North Africa around the year 200, and lived in that city all his life. A rich and well educated man, he became famous as a teacher of rhetoric, or speech. In 246 he was converted. Two years later he be­came bishop, and in 258 he was beheaded as a Christian martyr. He wrote, "There is one God, and Christ is one; and there is one Church and one Chair." (By one chair he meant "one center of au­thority.") He continued: "He who is not in the Church of Christ is not a Christian. He can no longer have God for his Father who has not the Church for his mother. There is no salvation out of the Church. The Church is based on the unity of the bishops. The bishop is in the Church, and the Church is in the bishop. If anyone is not with the bishop, he is not in the Church." 8. The Church Fathers Clarify and Publish the Truth The struggle of the Church against Gnosticism and Montanism may be compared with our War for Independence. The controversies inside the Church about doctrine may be compared with our Civil War. The first great doctrinal con­troversy in the Church was about the person of Christ. We know that Christ is the eter­nal Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, himself God. But at first this was not so clear to the Church. It took the leaders in the Church a great deal of hard study, thought, and discussion to come to a right understanding of the per­son of Christ. That we have the right view today we owe to the long and intense labors of the great Church Fathers. Outstanding among these Church Fathers were Irenaeus and Tertullian in the western, and Clement and Origen in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Irenaeus was born sometime between 115 and 142 somewhere in Asia Minor. He was reared in Smyrna. There he saw Polycarp and heard him preach. From Smyrna he moved to Lyons in Gaul, now France, in the church of which city he became bishop. In the year 200 he suffered a mar­tyr’s death. Irenaeus gave much thought to the Scriptural teaching about Christ. The beginnings of a sound doctrine about Christ are to be found in his book Against Heresies Tertullian was born sometime between the year 150 and 155 in North Africa in the city of Car­thage. This was the city where Cyp­rian lived. Tertullian studied law and practised in Rome. After his conversion he returned to Car­thage, and became a presbyter in the church of his native city. He was a great student of philosophy and history, and had an excellent legal mind. In his understanding of Christ he did not advance much beyond Justin and Irenaeus, but he was very gifted in the use of lan­guage and so was able to state the true doctrine about Christ more clearly and precisely than anyone before him had done. He died be­tween the years 222 and 225. Clement of Alexandria (not to be confused with the Apostolic Fa­ther, Clement of Rome, who lived a hundred years earlier) was a very able teacher in the theological school in Alexandria. Clement was born in Alexandria between the years 182 and 185, and he died in the year 251 as the result of the tortures he was made to suffer be­cause he was a Christian. Origen, a pupil of Clement, be­came far more famous than his teacher. He was by far the great­est scholar the Church had pro­duced. A deep and original thinker, he wrote many large and tremen­dously learned books. Both these men, Clement and his pupil Origen, did much through their writings to lead the Church to a better understanding of the person of Christ. 9. The Nicene Creed Proclaims the Deity of Christ The great question which occu­pied the mind of the Church for some three hundred years was whether Christ, the Son, was as truly and fully God as the Father. The two champions in the great struggle about this question were Arius and Athanasius. Both these men were presbyters in the church in Alexandria. At the time when the fierce con­troversy was fast coming to a cli­max Athanasius was still a young man, but Arius was already far ad­vanced in years. Arius was tall and thin; he dressed very plainly. His expression was melancholy and austere, but he always spoke gently. He was a pious man of blameless life and an able preacher. The heathen believe in many gods. Arius thought that to be­lieve that the Son is God as well as that the Father is God would mean that there are two Gods, and that therefore the Christians would be falling back into heathenism. So he taught that Christ, although He is somewhat like God, is after all not fully God. According to Arius, Christ is the first and highest of all created beings. He does not exist from eternity, and is not of the same substance or essence with the Father. On the other hand Atha­nasius taught that Christ is very God. It should not be thought that this controversy concerning the person of Christ was a debate about an unimportant matter. A question of vital and lasting im­portance was at stake. What was at stake was nothing less than man’s salvation. The two big things about Christ are His work and His person, and these two are inseparably connected. Christ was not a general, a statesman, an artist, a scientist, an engineer, or a big businessman. His work was defined by the angel when he an­nounced: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins," (Matthew 1:21). The value of Christ’s saving work depends entirely upon what kind of person He is. Man’s condition is so utterly hopeless that he cannot save himself. Only God can save him. If Christ is not God, He can­not be our Savior. It was Athana­sius who felt this very deeply. He said, "Jesus whom I know as my Redeemer, cannot be less than God." The Arian controversy raged for a long time and with great violence and bitterness. At last the emperor Constantine called a general council to settle the dispute. This council met in the year 325 in Nicaea, a small town in Asia Minor on the shores of the Bosporus some twenty miles from Constantinople. More than three hundred bishops were present. They met in a great hall in the emperor’s palace in a setting of pomp and splendor. Among the bishops there were those who bore in their bodies the marks of the tortures they had undergone for the sake of their faith during the severe persecu­tions. The emperor sat at the head of the hall. THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA Religious News Service The outcome of the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea was that the views of Arius were condemned as heresy. A statement of the true doctrine of the person of Christ was adopted as the faith of the Church. That statement is known as the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed is the first written creed of the Church. In this creed the Church confesses that Christ is very God of very God: begotten, not created; co-substantial with the Father. (Co-substantial means that the Son is of the same substance or essence or being as the Father.) Thus the Church confessed its belief in the most fundamental article of the Christian faith: the deity of Christ. Ever since Nicaea this has been the faith of all Chris­tians. It is the faith today of the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church and of the churches of the Reformation. The Council of Nicaea, because it gave utterance to the most fun­damental article of the Christian faith, is the most important coun­cil in the history of the Church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 05. CHAPTER 4: THE CHURCH IS TEMPERED, 33-313 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4 The Church Is Tempered, 33-313 The Heroic Age of the Church Peter, John, Stephen, and James Are the First to Be Persecuted Paul Suffers for His Faith Nero, the First Emperor to Persecute Christians Ignatius, Justin, and Polycarp Suffer Martyrdom Persecution Is Continued under Mar­cus Aurelius There Is a Lull in the Storm Determined Efforts Are Made to De­stroy the Church Galerius Calls a Halt 1. The Heroic Age of the Church This chapter does not carry the story forward in point of time. The things described in this chap­ter took place during the same time that the events of the two previous chapters were going on. Christ had forewarned His dis­ciples: "They have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." Throughout the first three hun­dred years of its existence the Church was tempered in the fires of persecution. This period has been called the heroic age of the Church. The things told about in chapters two and three happened in the midst of fierce persecution. 2. Peter, John, Stephen, and James Are the First to Be Persecuted The first man to preach the Gos­pel was Peter. He and John were the first Christians to be perse­cuted. This happened almost im­mediately after the Church had come into existence. Peter healed a lame man, and explained to the people that he had performed this miracle through the power of the risen Christ. Because Peter and John preached the resurrection of Christ, they were arrested and put in jail. After having spent a night in jail they were brought before the Jewish Council. The Council threatened them with punishment if they continued to preach Christ. Peter and John asked whether it would be right to obey men rather than God, and declared that they could not but speak the things they had seen and heard. Again the Council warned them that it would inflict severe punishment upon them if they did not stop preach­ing. Then the Council let them go. Peter and John went straight to the company of the disciples, and told what the Council had said. Then the whole company joined in prayer. They asked for boldness to keep on preaching in the face of danger. When the apostles performed many more miracles and the Church grew rapidly, they were arrested and jailed a second time. During the night an angel opened the prison doors for them, and told them to go to the temple and preach. They did so early in the morning. When the officers came to get them and bring them before the Council, they found the doors of the jail properly locked, but there were no apostles within. They reported this to the Council. The Council did not know what to think of it. Then someone came and said, "The men you put in jail last night are in the temple preaching." A captain with a squad of officers was dispatched. They brought the men quietly before the Council. The apostles again said that they felt they should obey God rather than men. The Council went into secret ses­sion and discussed how best to put these men to death. But Gamaliel, one of the members, made a speech advising the Council to let the apos­tles alone; as a result the plan to put the apostles to death was aban­doned. But this time they were given a beating, and once more, under threats of more severe pun­ishment, they were commanded not to preach in the name of Jesus. The apostles left the council cham­ber rejoicing that they had been deemed worthy to suffer dishonor for His name. The next man to be arrested and brought before the Council was the deacon Stephen. Before he could finish his defense he was dragged outside the city and cruelly stoned to death. Stephen was the first Christian martyr, the first one to suffer death for the cause of Christ. Stephen’s death was followed by a general persecution. Saul ar­rested many men and women and had them thrown into jail. After Saul was converted the Church in the whole of Palestine, in Judea and Galilee and Samaria, had rest. There was a brief flare-up of persecution when Herod put the apostle James, son of Zebedee and brother of the apostle John, to death with the sword. He planned to put Peter to death also, but dur­ing the night an angel opened the prison doors for Peter and he escaped. During this first period of per­secution, therefore, at least two men died as martyrs—Stephen and James. 3. Paul Suffers for His Faith The apostle Paul during his mis­sionary journeys was often per­secuted by mobs. These persecu­tions were usually stirred up by Jews. When upon his return to Jerusalem from his third mission­ary journey his life was threatened in the temple by a Jewish mob, he was taken into protective custody by a Roman captain and his guard. Two Roman governors of Pales­tine, Felix and Festus, refused to condemn him; but he still remained a prisoner. Paul then appealed to Caesar. As a prisoner in Rome, Paul was treated with great consideration. He was allowed to hire a house of his own. There he lived under guard of a Roman soldier, and en­joyed certain privileges. He could receive anybody who cared to visit him, and he was allowed to carry on correspondence. He used this opportunity to write letters to various churches. Some of these letters you can find in the New Testament. At the end of two years he was released from prison. 4. Nero, the First Emperor to Per­secute Christians When Paul was in Corinth he had at one time been dragged by a Jewish mob into the court of the Roman governor Gallio. This gov­ernor would have nothing to do with the case and brusquely told the Jews to run along. When the Jews continued to press their charges against Paul, the gover­nor had attendants drive them out of the courthouse. In course of time, however, the attitude of the Roman government toward the Christians underwent a change. Sometime in the month of July in the year 64 in the reign of Em­peror Nero, fire broke out in Rome. For six days and nights the fire burned. The greater part of the city was laid in ashes. The rumor got around that Nero himself had caused the city to be set on fire. This aroused great hatred in the people of Rome against the emperor. To turn this hatred away from himself Nero accused the Christians of having set fire to Rome. This certainly was not true, but large numbers of Christians were arrested and a terrible persecution followed. Many Christians were even cru­cified. Some were sewed up in the skins of wild beasts; then big dogs were let loose upon them, and they were torn to pieces. Women were tied to mad bulls and dragged to death. After nightfall Christians were burned at the stake in Nero’s garden. The Roman people who hated the Christians were free to come into the garden, and Nero drove around in his chariot wick­edly enjoying the horrible scene. NERO AMID THE RUINS OF ROME Bettmann Archive It was at this time that, accord­ing to tradition, the apostles Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in Rome. It is related that Peter was crucified with his head down. This was done at his own request. He said he was not worthy to be cru­cified in the same manner as his Master. Paul, being a Roman citi­zen, was beheaded. The slaughter of Christians at this time was confined to the city of Rome. It was not a general per­secution throughout the whole of the Empire. 5. Ignatius, Justin, and Polycarp Suffer Martyrdom For the next one hundred years (from 68 to 161) there were no general persecutions, but in dif­ferent parts of the Empire many Christians were put to death. Out­standing among the martyrs of this period were Ignatius, bishop of Antioch; Justin, the apologist who had written boldly and very ably in defense of the Christians; and Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. All three of these men were men­tioned in the previous chapter. Ignatius was brought from An­tioch to Rome, and thrown to the lions. Justin was beheaded. Polycarp was the last one of those who had been personally taught by the apostles. He was arrested and brought into the am­phitheater in Smyrna, which was filled with an immense multitude. Since there were no images of gods in the houses of worship of the Christians, the heathen rightly concluded that the Christians did not believe in the existence of the gods; and so they accused them of being atheists (people who believe there is no God). The proconsul reminded Polycarp of his great age, and urged him to show his peni­tence by joining in the cry, "Away with the atheists !" Polycarp looked straight at the excited crowd, pointed his finger at them, and cried, "Away with the atheists !" Then the proconsul said, "Revile Christ, and I will release you." But Polycarp answered, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has never done me wrong; how can I blaspheme Him, my King, who has saved me? I am a Christian." To the crowd the proconsul then proclaimed, "Polycarp has con­fessed himself to be a Christian." The crowds yelled, "Let him be burned !" Wood was collected and made into a pile. Polycarp asked not to be fastened to the stake. "Leave me thus," he said. "He who strengthens me to endure the flames, will also enable me to stand firm at the stake without being fastened with nails." The wood pile was lighted. While Polycarp prayed with a loud voice, "Lord God Almighty, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I praise thee that thou hast judged me worthy of this day and of this hour, to par­ticipate in the number of thy wit­nesses, and in the cup of thy Christ," the flames consumed him. Polycarp’s martyr death took place in the year 155. 6. Persecution Is Continued under Marcus Aurelius- The emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180) decreed that the prop­erty of Christians should be given to their accusers. It is not difficult to see what would be the effect of this decree. Everywhere there were people who were eager to have the property of the Chris­tians. These came forward with ac­cusations. Persecution became well-nigh universal. Christians every­where were sought out, brought to trial, and often executed with the greatest cruelty, while their prop­erty was taken from them and given to their accusers. What happened to the Church in Lyons and Vienne in southern Gaul, now France, can give us some idea of the severity of the perse­cution under Marcus Aurelius. The persecutors began by insulting the Christians; they threw stones at them and plundered their homes. And finally, by the most horrible tortures, they sought to make the Christians deny their faith. All day long they tormented them, until they had to give up because of utter exhaustion. A CHRISTIAN MOTHER EXHORTING HER DAUGHTER TO MARTYRDOM Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Engraving after a painting by Louis Sauzay To all questions Blandina, a lovely young girl, replied only, "I am a Christian." She repeated this answer until, worn and ill, she scarcely could breathe. Ponticus, a boy of only fifteen, bore all tortures without flinching while his sister stood by encouraging him to re­main true to his faith. The bishop of the church in Lyons, Pothinus, a man over ninety, was tortured so severely that two days afterwards he died in prison. When at last the persecutors became convinced that no amount of torture would make the Christians deny their faith, they beheaded those Christians who were Roman citizens, and the others they threw to the wild beasts in the arena of the amphi­theater. From far and near the heathen flocked to the amphitheater to see this spectacle. All the condemned met their death with great joy. The last to die was Blandina. She had been a spectator of the death of all the others, and she had con­stantly encouraged and exhorted them to remain steadfast to the end. With joy and thanksgiving she entered the arena. A net was thrown over her. Then she was exposed to the fury of a wild bull. Several times the bull took her upon his horns and tossed her into the air. At last she was dead. The bodies of the martyrs were burned, and the ashes were thrown into the river Rhone. The heathen said mockingly, "Now we shall see whether there will be a resurrec­tion of their bodies." 7. There Is a Lull in the Storm With the death of Marcus Aure­lius this period of persecution came to a close. For some seventy years the Church on the whole enjoyed rest, with the exception of the per­secution under Septimius Severus from 200-211. For a time this persecution raged with great violence in Alexandria in Egypt. Along with many others the father of Origen was put to death. Origen, who later became the greatest scholar the Church had produced, was at the time of his father’s death a young boy. It was only with the great­est difficulty that his mother re­strained him from offering himself for martyrdom. A maiden by the name of Potamiaena and her mother Marcella were burned to death. A few years later a number of Christians in Carthage in North Africa suffered martyrdom. Among them were two young women, Perpetua and Felicitas. They were catechumens and received baptism while in prison. Along with many others they were condemned to be thrown to the wild beasts. CHRISTIAN MARTYRS IN THE AMPHITHEATER ReligiousNews Service Another to suffer a martyr’s death during this period was Ire­naeus, the Church Father who had written the brilliant defense, Against Heresies. 8. Determined Efforts Are Made to Destroy the Church The first emperor who ordered a general persecution with the definite purpose of destroying the Church was Decius. Happily his reign lasted only two years, from 249 to 251. After a brief respite of seven years the Church suffered persecution under Valerian. There­after the Church was granted an­other period of tranquility, which lasted forty years. In the year 303 the emperor Diocletian started a persecution which was continued by his successor Galerius until the year 311. The tortures which were in­flicted upon the Christians during these persecutions were so grue­some that it is not fit to describe them. Besides this, church build­ings were demolished and Bibles were burned. These persecutions far surpassed, in the number of Christians who were martyred and in cruelty, anything the Christians had been made to suffer up to this time. These persecutions were a determined and systematic attempt to uproot Christianity completely, and wipe the Church off the face of the earth. An outstanding Christian who suffered martyrdom in these persecutions was Cyprian. Origen also died as the result of the tortures inflicted upon him at this time. Many Christians in the city of Rome found a place of refuge in the catacombs, which were under­ground passageways. The ground upon which Rome is built consists of comparatively soft stone. Bury­ing people within the city limits was not permitted. So in many places just outside the city, long, narrow passages or tunnels were dug out of the soft stone for this purpose. There are so many of them that if they were all laid end to end they would be some five hundred miles long. They wind and cross each other in every direction so as to form a regular maze. Many of these subterranean passages are thirty or more feet below the surface. They are pitch dark. In the sides of these galleries or pas­sageways excavations were made row upon row. In these excava­tions the dead were laid to rest. It was in these catacombs that many Christians hid themselves in times of persecution. There they also laid to rest the mangled remains of their fellow believers who had died as martyrs. The persecution under Diocletian and Galerius was the most severe of all. But it was also the last. Heathendom had finally exhausted its strength and spent its fury. 9. Galerius Calls a Halt Emperor Galerius became ill and suffered unspeakable torments. His disease was dreadful and incurable. From his sickbed, which became his deathbed, he issued in the year 311 an edict which granted to the Christians permission to hold their assemblies again. He asked for their prayers in behalf of the em­peror and the Empire. CHRISTIANS HUNTED DOWN IN THE CATACOMBS Religious News Service The edict of Galerius was not a complete victory. What Galerius had granted was only a half­hearted toleration. Nevertheless the complete victory for the Church was near at hand. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 06. CHAPTER 5: THE CHURCH IS VICTORIOUS, 313 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5 The Church Is Victorious, 313 "In This Sign, Conquer" The Edict of Milan Grants Equality The Church’s Victory Is a Marvel The Third Turning Point in the History of the Church The World Invades the Church The Problem of the Relation between Church and State Has Its Beginning Here Julian Fails to Revive Heathenism 1. "In This Sign, Conquer" In the year 306 the Roman army in Britain proclaimed Constantine emperor. That gave him the rule over Britain, Gaul (now France), and Spain. Maxentius ruled over Italy and North Africa, but he wanted to be emperor over the entire western part of the Roman Empire. More and more openly he showed his hostility to Constan­tine. He ordered all the statues of Constantine in Italy to be thrown down. Constantine decided to get ahead of Maxentius. Before Max­entius had made preparations for war, Constantine marched into It­aly at the head of an army of forty thousand men. At Saxa Rubra, ten miles from Rome and a little north of it, the armies of Maxentius and Constantine met. Between Rome and the army of Maxentius was the Tiber River and, crossing it, the Milvian Bridge. The army of Max­entius was three times as large as that of Constantine, and it con­tained the Praetorian Guards, the flower of all the Roman armies. Night fell. What the outcome of the battle would be the next day was doubtful. Constantine found himself in an extremely dangerous situation. He felt the need of supernatural help. He was a worshipper of Mithra, as his father before him had been. Mithra was the Persian sun-god, said to be a great fighter and champion of truth and justice. Mith­raism, the worship of Mithra, was a religion which at this time had a great many followers in the Roman Empire. Mithra was worshipped es­pecially by the army, in all the mili­tary camps in every part of the Empire. Mithra was most of all a soldier’s god. On the evening before the battle, so the story goes, Constantine saw a cross above the sun as it was setting in the west. In letters of light the cross bore the words: Hoc Signo Vinces, which means, "In this sign, conquer." The next day, October 28 in the year 312, the battle was joined. It was a furious battle. The Prae­torian Guards fought like lions. They never gave ground, but their ranks were cut down where they stood. The army of Maxentius was completely defeated. Maxentius himself, attempting to escape over the Milvian Bridge across the Tiber River, was drowned. The Edict of Milan Grants Equality The battle of the Milvian Bridge was one of the great decisive bat­tles in the history of the world. It made Constantine master of the entire western part of the Roman Empire. But it had another and far more important result. Con­stantine felt that he had won the battle because he had received help from the God of the Christians, and he became a Christian. He who had been a worshipper of the sun-god Mithra now embraced the religion of Him who is the true light of the world. VISION OF CONSTANTINE Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions The cross above the sun, seen by the emperor the evening before the bat­tle near the Milvian Bridge. In the city of Milan, Constantine in the year 313 issued an edict concerning religion. This edict did not set up Christianity as the only and official religion of the Empire. It did not forbid the practice of heathen religions. But it did more than merely grant toleration to the Christian religion as the decree of Galerius in the year 311 had done. The Edict of Milan put a stop to the persecutions, and proclaimed absolute freedom of conscience. It placed Christianity upon a footing of equality, before the law, with the other religions in the Empire. THE BAPTISM OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT BY POPE SYLVESTER I Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions After a painting by Raphael in the Vatican 3. The Church’s Victory Is a Marvel The Edict of Milan marks the victory of the Church over hea­thenism. This victory of the Church is one of the most marvelous things in all history. The Church had had its beginning as a very small organization only three hundred years before. It was composed of people who belonged to the small and despised Jewish nation. The members of this organization were poor people without education or prestige. The message which the Church brought was to many who heard it either a stumbling block or foolishness. Arrayed against the Church were overwhelming numbers, money, learning, culture, social prestige, political and mili­tary power: the whole world of that time, Jews and gentiles, the mighty Roman Empire. Not infre­quently the Church was disgraced by serious moral lapses of some of its members. It was rent asunder over questions of church discipline. It was harassed from without by strange doctrines and deadly here­sies. It was distressed within by heated and bitter controversies over questions touching the very heart of its message. In the midst of these unfavorable conditions, which one would think would have stopped all growth, the Church for three hundred years was subjected to fierce and bloody persecutions. How was it possible for the Church to emerge victorious from all these conflicts? Many things can be mentioned in explanation. One thing is that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. It has always been true that the more martyr-blood there is shed, the more the Church grows and flourishes. But there is only one complete, all-comprehensive an­swer, and that is Christ. 4. The Third Turning Point in the History of the Church The year 313 marks the third and a very decisive turning point in the history of the Church. For, as we learned in section 2, it was in this year that the Edict of Milan granted Christians the same rights that the followers of other reli­gions had. In other words, Chris­tians now enjoyed freedom of religion. There now sat upon the throne of the Empire a man who was a Christian. Instead of persecuting the Church, he showered favors upon it. The Christian clergy were relieved of certain unpleasant civil duties. Constantine gave large grants of money to the clergy. In Constantinople, Jerusalem, Bethle­hem, and other places he erected magnificent church buildings. One of the outstanding features of Christianity is the observance of the Sabbath, its weekly sacred day; Constantine now forbade Sun­day work. 5. The World Invades the Church The Edict of Milan proved to have a very definite disadvantage. It was now no longer a shame, but an honor to be a Christian. The Christian name now secured many and great material advantages. The Christian name had become a passport to political, military, and social promotion. As a result, thou­sands upon thousands of heathen joined the Church. Unfortunately many of these were Christians in name only. The Christianity of Emperor Constan­tine himself was, if not of a doubt­ful, at least not of a very high character. What the Church gained in quantity it lost in quality. Constantine’s edict of 313, which signalized a great victory for the Church, at the same time opened the floodgates through which a mighty stream of corruption poured into the Church. The emblem of the Roman armies had been the eagle. The eagle was now replaced by the cross. At the end of a conflict ex­tending over three hundred years the Church had at last won the victory over heathenism — not by fighting, but by enduring suffer­ing. But from this time on Chris­tians under the banner of the cross fought many wars. 6. The Problem of the Relation be­tween Church and State Has Its Beginning Here There is one result of Constan­tine’s conversion which should re­ceive our very special attention. Constantine had granted the Church freedom of religion and many favors. In turn he demanded that the Church should allow him to have a good deal to say about its affairs. The close connection be­tween State and Church, which has deeply colored and to a very large extent given direction to the his­tory of the Church, even down to our own times, dates from the year 313. Many a page in this book will be devoted to the problem of the relation between Church and State. That problem has been the occasion for much disagreement, strife, and even bloodshed. It remains un­solved to this very day. 7. Julian Fails to Revive Heathen­ism In the year 361 Julian, a nephew of the great Constantine, became emperor. He had been brought up as a Christian, but had remained a pagan at heart. Now he made it known that he was a heathen. Once more the Roman Empire had a heathen emperor. Because he forsook Christianity and returned to heathenism he is known as Jul­ian the Apostate. (An apostate is one who forsakes his religion.) Although he indulged in a certain amount of persecution (Athanasius had said: "It is only a little cloud; it will pass"), he at­tacked Christianity chiefly by means of his clever pen dipped in biting satire and ridicule. He did his best to breathe new life into heathenism, but in that he failed. The heathen temples stood for­saken, and the heathen altars smoked no more. Heathenism was dead. In the year 363, fifty years after Constantine the Great had an­nounced the famous Edict of Milan, Julian the Apostate fell in battle against the Persians, mortally wounded in the thigh by a spear. As the story goes, the dying man caught some of the spurting blood in his hand, threw it toward heaven, and exclaimed, "So thou halt conquered after all Galilean !" ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 07. CHAPTER 6: THE CHURCH CONSOLIDATES, 325-451 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6 The Church Consolidates, 325-451 The Role of Church Councils A Review of the Council of Nicaea The Council of Constantinople De­clares the Deity of the Holy Spirit The Council of Chalcedon Confesses that Christ Is Human and Divine Ambrose Defends the Truth and Pro­motes Christian Living Jerome Serves the Church "A Son of So Many Prayers Cannot Be Lost" Augustine Defends and Expounds the Teachings of Scripture The Papacy Develops 1. The Role of Church Councils In the course of the Church’s history many councils have been held. These are meetings of church leaders where important questions are discussed and advice is care­fully given. The first council ever held was the Council of the Apos­tles in Jerusalem. You will possi­bly remember that it was called to consider problems which arose as a result of the extension of the Church to the gentiles. There were various kinds of councils. Some represented a larger number of churches than others. A provincial council was a council in which the churches of only one province were represented. In a national council the churches of one entire country were represent­ed. A general council was one in which all churches of all countries were represented. Such a council was also called an "ecumenical council." The Council of Nicaea in 325 was the first general or ecu­menical council. No agency has done more to con­solidate and unify the Church than have the various general church councils. We will take particular note of four of them: the Council of Nicaea (325), the Council of Constantinople (381), the Council of Ephesus (431), and the Council of Chalcedon (451). These four great councils stand out as just so many signposts along the road of church consolidation. FOUR IMPORTANT CHURCH COUNCILS 2. A Review of the Council of Ni­caea We have already discussed this council in considerable detail. It would be well for you to re-read that discussion at this time (ch. 3, sec. 9). It was a general council called by Emperor Constantine to decide the all-important question of the deity of Christ. Arius and his followers declared that Christ is not fully God; Athanasius held that if Christ is not God, He can­not be our Savior. It was at this council that there was drawn up and adopted the Nicene Creed. This creed declares that Christ is co-equal with, and of the same sub­stance and essence with, the Fa­ther. Since that date this has been the common faith of all Christians. 3. The Council of Constantinople Declares the Deity of the Holy Spirit The Nicene Council failed to end the Arian controversy. Arius him­self and a few other bishops re­fused to sign the Nicene Creed. There was still a large party of Arians and semi-Arians in the Church, which received strong sup­port from some of the emperors and certain members of the impe­rial court. Until the day of his death, Athanasius had to battle continuously for the doctrine of the deity of Christ as expressed in the Nicene Creed. After the death of Athanasius the leadership in the struggle for orthodoxy (historic Christian truth) was taken over by three men, who are known as "the three great Cappadocians." They are so called because they came from the province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor and because these three were among the most outstanding men of the ancient Church. They were Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa. These three men stood firm and strong in defense of the teachings of Scripture. The Nicene Creed had said noth­ing about the deity of the Holy Spirit. A second ecumenical coun­cil was held in the year 381 in Con­stantinople. This council reaffirmed the belief of the Church as ex­pressed in the Nicene Creed, and also declared its belief in the deity of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the Trinity is a fundamental article of the Christian faith. The belief of the Church in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as the triune God, was now fully established. This was the complete and final rejection of Arianism by the Church. From this time on Arianism disappeared. 4. The Council of Chalcedon Con­fesses that Christ Is Human and Divine Even so the Church had not yet fully expressed its understanding of the person of Christ. The Scrip­tures reveal Christ as being not only God but also man. In order that Christ may be our Savior, His full and complete humanity is just as important and necessary as His full and complete deity. As there had been many differ­ent views in the Church about the deity of Christ, so there were many differences of opinion concerning His humanity, and concerning His two natures and their relation to each other. It required much hard study and deep thinking to arrive at a common and clear understand­ing on these points. Long and severe controversies concerning the doctrine of Christ developed. BANNERS OF TRUTH At last in the year 451 a council was held in Chalcedon near Nicaea. This was the fourth ecumenical council. (The third one, the Coun­cil of Ephesus, we will discuss at a later point in this chapter.) Some six hundred bishops were present. In the creed formulated by this council, which stands on the same level of importance as the Creed of Nicaea, the Church reasserted its belief in the full and complete deity of Christ, but now also con­fessed its belief in His equally full and complete humanity. Further­more the Church confessed the existence of two natures in Christ: the human and the divine. Con­cerning the relation of these two natures to each other the Church confessed that they exist in Christ without confusion, change, divi­sion, or separation. Finally the Church confessed that while Christ has two natures, He is one person, not two persons. The two Creeds of Nicaea and Chalcedon are the expression of the most fundamental articles of the Christian faith. The Reforma­tion in the seventeenth century shattered forever the unity of the Church in the West. But it did not reject these creeds, nor did it make any changes in them. These two creeds remain today as the expres­sion of the faith of the Greek, Ro­man Catholic, and most Protestant churches. 5. Ambrose Defends the Truth and Promotes Christian Living In the latter part of the fourth and the first part of the fifth cen­tury there were three great leaders in the western part of the Church. They were Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine. These three men played an important part in the consolidation of the Church. Ambrose was born in Trier, lo­cated in the western part of Ger­many. His father held a high of­fice there in the Roman govern­ment. He was educated in Rome, and early displayed great talents. While still very young he was ap­pointed governor of a large part of northern Italy. His residence was in the city of Milan, where some sixty years before Constantine the Great had issued his famous edict. In the days of Ambrose there were still many Arians in the Church of Milan. When the Bishop of Milan died both the Arians and the orthodox were determined to elect a man of their belief as his successor. The meeting held to elect the new bishop became very disorderly. The young governor Ambrose entered the church to restore order. Suddenly a child’s voice was heard above the uproar crying, "Ambrose Bishop !" Am­brose was not a member of the Church, and had not been baptized. Nevertheless he was elected bishop. He considered this a call of God, gave all his money to the poor, received baptism, and was conse­crated as bishop. This happened in the year 374. Ambrose was a strong supporter of the Nicene Creed. He wrote many books, and he is classed among the Doctors or great teach­ers of the Church. He also did much to promote Christian hym­nology. He was a very able admin­istrator, and was fearless in up­holding a high standard of Chris­tian living. This is shown in the way he disciplined his emperor. Emperor Theodosius was a hot-tempered man. Because the people of the city of Thessalonica had murdered his governor, he had thousands of the inhabitants mas­sacred. Ambrose would not permit the emperor to take communion until he had publicly acknowledged his guilt and declared his repent­ance. The emperor submitted to the discipline of the Church. The happy outcome of this affair was a great credit to both bishop and em­peror. Ambrose died in the year 397. 6. Jerome Serves the Church Jerome, another great leader in the Church, was born in Dalmatia around the year 340. Like Am­brose, he received his education in Rome. Jerome liked to travel. He made many trips to various parts of the large Roman Empire. The last years of his life he spent in Beth­lehem, the birthplace of Christ. AMBROSE REBUKES THEODOSIUS Ewing Galloway There he lived as a monk (a man who withdraws from the world in order to devote himself entirely to meditation and religious exercise). He lived in a cave next to the cave in which Christ was supposed to have been born. He lived there from 386 until his death in 420. Some two hundred years before Christ the Old Testament had been translated in Alexandria from He­brew into Greek. This translation is called the Septuagint, because according to an old tradition it was made by seventy men. The Greek New Testament and this Greek translation of the Old Testament had been done into Latin. This translation of the Bible into Latin was not very good. Jerome was about the only west­ern churchman who knew Hebrew, having learned Hebrew from Jewish rabbis when he lived in Antioch and Bethlehem. Jerome proceeded to make a new Latin translation of the Bible. He translated the Old Testament not from the Greek Septuagint but from the original Hebrew. This Latin translation of the Bible by Jerome is known as the Vulgate. It was Jerome’s no­blest achievement and to this very day it is the official Bible of the Roman Catholic Church. JEROME TRANSLATES THE BIBLE Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions 7. "A Son of So Many Prayers Can­not Be Lost" The greatest of the Church Fa­thers was Augustine. He was born in Tagaste in North Africa in the year 354. Africa had already given two other great leaders to the Church: Tertullian and Cyprian. The name of Augustine’s father was Patricius. He held a good posi­tion, but was not wealthy. He was a heathen and did not become a Christian until late in life. Monica, Augustine’s mother, was a Christian and is one of the fa­mous mothers of history. Augustine at an early age showed unusual ability. His parents wanted him to become a great man and, although they had to sacrifice to do so, provided him with the best of educational opportunities. Rut Augustine did not make as good use of these opportunities as he might have done. As a boy he was very lively, and often neg­lected his studies in order to play. One result was that he did not learn Greek when he had the op­portunity. Later when he became older and wiser he regretted this deeply. There were many books which, when he had become a man, Augustine wanted very much to read in the original Greek. Among these was the New Testament. But he could not read them in Greek because he had let his chance to learn that language go by. He had to depend on Latin translations. When Augustine was about six­teen his parents sent him to school in Carthage. This was the largest city in North Africa, and the best schools were there. Carthage was a very wicked city, full of tempta­tions. Augustine studied hard, but he also plunged into a life of wick­edness. All this time Monica was pray­ing for the conversion of her son. Notwithstanding the tearful en­treaties of his mother Augustine left Africa and went to Rome. He got away by deceiving his mother. As his ship sailed away he left her standing on the dock stretching out imploring arms in vain. Some­times Monica almost despaired. She was greatly comforted by a Christian friend who said to her, "A son of so many prayers cannot be lost." Notwithstanding his immoral life Augustine was always search­ing for the truth. He started to read the Bible but did not find it at all interesting. He liked the books of the great heathen poets and philosophers much better. At this time Manicheism, the philosophical system of Manes, a Persian, had many followers throughout the Empire. It was a strange mixture of heathen and Christian thoughts. For nine years Augustine was a Manichean. He still lived an im­pure life. When Augustine had been in Rome one year, he received the appointment to a government posi­tion as professor of rhetoric and public speaking in Milan. At this time Ambrose (sec. 5) was bishop in that city. Augustine was very fond of oratory, and was himself a fine orator. Often he would go to hear Ambrose preach. At first he was not interested in what Am­brose said, but he went to observe how he used his hands and to ad­mire his oratory. At this time his mother, Monica, and his bosom friend Alypius joined him in Milan. A great change in the meanwhile was taking place in Augustine’s views. He was com­ing to see the errors of Manicheism and was now inclined to pay se­rious attention to the teachings of Christianity. He listened to the sermons of Ambrose with a new attitude. A certain Potitianus who had been to Egypt told Augustine about the thousands of monks in that country and what holy lives they were leading. The majority of these monks were ignorant men. Augustine felt ashamed that while these uneducated men had mas­tered their passions he, a learned man, had not been able to do so. He rushed out into the little garden behind the house. The copy of Paul’s epistles which he was carry­ing he laid on the bench beside him. His soul was profoundly agi­tated. He got up from the bench and flung himself down on the grass beneath a fig tree. As he was lying there he heard a child next door sing the ditty: Tolle, lege; tolle, lege, which means, "Take up and read, take up and read." He got up, returned to the bench, picked up the copy of Paul’s epis­tles, and read: "Let us walk hon­estly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chamber­ing and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Romans 13:13-14). This was the turning point in Augustine’s life. It was his con­version. From this moment on he was a changed man. The learned professor and accomplished public speaker enrolled as a humble cate­chumen to be instructed by the Bishop of Milan in the Christian religion. This happened in the late summer of the year 386. On Easter Sunday of the next year he was baptized. Soon thereafter he and his party undertook the homeward journey. While they were waiting in Rome’s seaport for their ship, Monica died. The death of his mother made Augustine change his plans. For a whole year he took up his abode in Rome. The year 388 saw him back in his birthplace, Tagaste. 8. Augustine Defends and Ex­pounds the Teachings of Scripture Augustine in course of time be­came bishop of Hippo in his native country of North Africa. From then on until his death in 430, he devoted himself heart and soul to the service of the Church. He preached, shepherded his flock, took part in the larger affairs of the Church, and founded the first monastery (home for monks) in North Africa. In public debate and with his pen he defended the teach­ings of the Church against here­tics and those who would cause schism, or division, in the church. The controversies which occu­pied so much of Augustine’s time and energy were with the Mani­cheans, the Donatists, and the Pelagians. We made mention of the Mani­cheans in the previous section, when we traced the steps in Augus­tine’s life. The Donatists were so called after their leader, Donatus. They were not heretics. In doctrine they were entirely orthodox. But they were schismatics, that is, they caused a division in the Church. During the severe perse­cution by Diocletian many Chris­tians had lapsed; that is to say, they had denied the faith. The Donatists thought that the lapsed should not be re-admitted to the Church. Some bishops had sur­rendered their copies of the Bible to the government officials to be burned by them. The Donatists believed that such bishops were not worthy to administer the sacraments or ordain others as bishops. They withdrew and or­ganized churches of their own. There were many Donatist church­es in North Africa. You will recall from our study of the organization of the Church (ch. 3, sec. 7) that when heretics began breaking away and forming churches of their own, the great Church from which they sepa­rated took the name of the Catho­lic, or Universal, Church. Now in Hippo, in North Africa, there were more Donatists than Catholics. Against them Augus­tine developed his doctrine of the Church and sacraments. He taught that the Catholic Church is the only church. To the Church he ascribed great authority. Said he: "I should not have believed the Gospel except as moved by the au­thority of the Catholic Church." In the controversies with Arius and others the true doctrine con­cerning Christ had been worked out. The final result had been the establishment of the doctrine of the Trinity. In his controversy with Pelagius, Augustine worked out the true doctrine concerning man and the manner of his salva­tion. Pelagianism derives its name from its founder, Pelagius. He was a British monk who denied that the human race had fallen in Adam. He denied original sin, the total depravity of man, and pre­destination. Pelagius taught that man is not born corrupt. Babies, he said, are innocent. They be­come bad when they grow up, through the bad example of others. Against him Augustine taught that every man is conceived and born in sin, and can be saved only through the grace of God according to His divine good pleasure. This brings us to the Council of Eph­esus, referred to in sections 1 and 4 of this chapter. The teachings of Pelagius were condemned as heresy by the Gen­eral Council of Ephesus in 431. In 529 the Synod of Orange con­demned the teachings of the Semi­-Pelagians — that it is up to the in­dividual to accept or refuse God’s offer of grace. The teachings of Augustine largely dominated the Roman Catholic Church of the Middle Ages, and from this greatest of all Church Fathers Luther and the other Reformers also received their inspiration (ch. 23, sec. 6). ST. AUGUSTINE Bettmann Archive After a painting by Botticelli The two most famous works of Augustine are his Confessions and The City of God. In his Confes­sions Augustine lays bare the se­crets of his early life and the in­nermost depths of his mind and heart. In The City of God he gives his philosophy of history. 9. The Papacy Develops There was also in the period cov­ered in this chapter a further and extremely important development in the organization of the Church. We have learned, in chapter three, how the system of monarchical episcopal government became gen­eral throughout the Church. Every church, or perhaps it would be bet­ter to say every diocese, had its bishop. At first all bishops were of the same rank. No bishop had any judicial power over any other bishops. You will recall that one presbyter gradually, step by step, acquired power over the other pres­byters, and thus became bishop. In the same way, gradually and step by step, one bishop, the bishop of Rome, acquired power over other bishops and in that way be­came pope. Let us see how that development came about. First of all the bishops of big churches in the large cities came to be looked upon as being of higher rank than the bishops of smaller churches. They came to be called metropolitan bishops. Then in course of time the churches of five of the cities came to be regarded as having very spe­cial importance. These cities were Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome. The bishops of the churches in these cities came to be called patriarchs. The first four cities were all in the eastern and Greek part of the Em­pire. Rome alone was in the west­ern and Latin part of the Empire. Now the bishop of Rome began gradually to have more influence than the other four. It is interest­ing to note how this came about. All the churches naturally held the church in Jerusalem in very high regard. That church was lo­cated in the city where Christ had been crucified, had died and risen again, and whence He had gone back to heaven. There the Holy Spirit had been poured out, and the Church had been born. There all the apostles had been assembled on that memorable Pentecostal day. There Peter and later James, the brother of the Lord, had been at the head of the Church. A church had been there when as yet there was no church anywhere else. For some time it was the only church. That church was the mother church. There the Christians had first been persecuted. There the first church council had been held. The church in Jerusalem had some­thing no other church had. It was among all the churches unique. Gradually, however, the church in Jerusalem was eclipsed by new churches established in other cities. Especially after the de­struction of Jerusalem by the Ro­mans under Titus in the year 70, and again under Hadrian in the years 132 and 135, the church in that city, as well as all the churches of Jewish Christians in Palestine, declined. The church in Jerusalem continued to exist for a number of centuries, although in a very much weakened condition. Nevertheless, because of ancient hallowed associations going back to the very beginning of the Church, the title of patriarch was accorded to its bishop. Entirely different was the case of the church in Antioch. There the followers of Jesus had first been called Christians. There as well as in Jerusalem an apostle, Paul, had labored. There the work of missions among the gentiles had its beginnings. The center of gravity in the Church had shifted from Jerusalem to Antioch. The church in Jerusalem had become a grandmother, but the church in Antioch was the mother of a multi­tude of churches in Asia Minor and Greece. Antioch had many notable bishops, and it had become the seat of an important school of theological thought. Besides, whereas Jerusalem was a small provincial town in an out-of-the-way corner, Antioch was next to Alexandria the largest and most important city in the East, and the third city in size and importance in the Empire. THE PAPACY DEVELOPS Cities of the five leading bishops, or patriarchs Although the church in Alex­andria could not claim apostolic origin, the evangelist Mark, ac­cording to an old tradition, had been active in its founding. It was the second city in the Empire, the greatest seat of learning and cul­ture, and for centuries far more splendid than Rome itself. There, too, flourished a famous theologi­cal school, in which Origen, the greatest scholar of the Church up to that time, had taught. Constantinople had originally been called Byzantium. Byzantium was an ancient town situated on the Bosporus; it had been founded as a Greek colony. Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, had changed his residence from Rome to Byzantium. Then the town was renamed in his honor and called Constantinople. The church there could claim neither apostolic origin nor great antiq­uity. It owed its importance en­tirely to the fact that it was located in the city which had become the residence of the emperor. Rome was the first city in the Empire. Not only had Paul labored there, but according to tradition the church in Rome had been founded by the apostle Peter. To that apostle Christ had entrusted the keys, and it was claimed that Peter had transmitted the power of the keys to the bishops of Rome. In almost every controversy the churches — east as well as west ­had appealed to the bishop at Rome. In the great controversies about the person and nature of Christ, orthodoxy had gained the victory because of the influence of the West under the leadership of the bishop of Rome. As we have seen, the church at Jerusalem was no longer a leader among the churches; and so its voice bore little weight in these controversies. Between the patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople there was ever the keenest rivalry for supremacy, and none of them was willing to acknowledge the supremacy of the bishop of Rome. But in their rivalry for supremacy they often sought the support of the bishop of Rome. The same Council of Chalcedon which per­manently crippled the power of the patriarch of Alexandria, adopted a canon which declared the patriarch of Constantinople to be of the same dignity as the bishop of Rome. In all the western part of the Empire there was no church that could even begin to think of rivaling the church in Rome. As far back as around the year 185 Irenaeus had written in his book, Against Heresies, that every church must agree with the church in Rome. There was strenuous op­position sometimes to the claim of the bishop of Rome, but in the end the churches in the West acknowl­edged his supremacy. With this acknowledgment the papacy had come into existence. The bishop of Rome came to be called pope, a title derived from the Latin word papa, meaning "father"; and the church over which the pope ruled as supreme head came to be known as the Roman Catholic Church. The significance of the develop­ment of the papacy for the further history of the Church can hardly be exaggerated. Against the canon of the Coun­cil of Chalcedon, which declared the patriarch of Constantinople to be of equal dignity with the bishop of Rome, Pope Leo I vainly pro­tested. Leo I, who died in 461, has been called the last of the ancient and the first of the medieval popes. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 08. CHAPTER 7: THE CHURCH DETERIORATES, 100-461 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7 The Church Deteriorates, 100-461 Many Evils Were Present Signs of Deterioration Can Be De­tected from the Very Beginning The Causes of Deterioration Are Many Heathenism Influences the Early Church Monasticism Develops The Church Begins to Persecute Her­etics 1. Many Evils Were Present From the above dates you will notice that in this chapter we shall again go through a part of the same period of time already cov­ered in the previous chapters. What has been told you so far is not all that happened during the first five hundred years of the Church’s existence. The history of the Church is not a simple but a very complicated story. Many dif­ferent things happened at the same time. What we have learned about the history of the Church so far is, for the most part, very good and in­spiring. We saw the Church, heaven-born on the day of Pentecost, growing both outwardly and in­wardly. We saw it emerge from bloody persecutions, victorious over heathenism and firmly estab­lishing its position. But in this same time also many things happened which are not so pleasant and inspiring. We shall learn about those things in this chapter. The story we tell about the Church should be a true story. We should face the facts as they are. What we learned in the pre­vious chapters is true, but it is not the whole truth. It is a true pic­ture, but it is not a complete pic­ture. 2. Signs of Deterioration Can Be Detected from the Very Be­ginning In the epistles of the apostles, and in the letters to the seven churches in Asia which Christ him­self dictated to John on Patmos, we can already detect references to the first faint beginnings of deterioration. The Apostolic Age came to a close around the year 100. The apostles were followed by the Apostolic Fathers (ch. 3, sec. 3). From their writings we can see that, in the time immediately fol­lowing the death of the apostles, the signs of deterioration were be­coming more noticeable. In the course of the next four hundred years that deterioration increased steadily. By the year 500, that is, toward the end of the time we have studied so far, we find strange and wide departures from the teach­ings of God’s Word, in both doc­trine and practice. Toward the end of the fifth century the following unscriptural ideas and practices had become deeply rooted in the Church: Exor­cism (expelling of evil spirits); prayers for the dead; a belief in purgatory (place in which souls are purified after death before they can enter heaven); the forty-day Lenten season; the view that the Lord’s supper is a sacrifice, and that its administrators are priests; a sharp division of the members of the church into clergy (officers of the church) and laity (ordinary church members); the veneration (adoration) of martyrs and saints, and above all the adoration of Mary; the burning of tapers or candles in their honor; veneration of the relics of martyrs and saints; the ascription of magical powers to these relics; pictures, images, and altars in the churches; gor­geous vestments for the clergy; more and more elaborate and splendid ritual (form of worship); less and less preaching: pilgrim­ages to holy places (ch. 19, sec. 2); monasticism (sec. 5); worldliness; persecution of heathen and here­tics. 3. The Causes of Deterioration Are Many You may wonder at this great and sad deterioration of the Church. You will soon cease to wonder when you take notice of certain things thus far touched on only very lightly. Without tracing the origin and development of these deteriorations in detail, let us together consider some of the causes that were at work to bring them about. The snow freshly fallen from heaven is pure white. Soon it is soiled with the dirt of earth. The heaven-born Church was soon polluted when it came into contact with a sinful world. First of all there were the Chris­tians themselves. Every Christian is a saint, but every saint is a sinner. Even when regenerated, the sinner still has an inborn tend­ency to commit sin and error. Next, there is the Bible. In a way the Bible is plain. But because it is the Word of God it is also very deep. It took the Church centuries to study out the meaning of the Bible, and that task is not yet finished. The ancient Church mis­understood and misinterpreted certain teachings of the Old Tes­tament, of Christ, and of the apostles. Finally, there was he heathen environment (surroundings). For centuries heathenism continued to exist. The Church grew and de­veloped in a heathen world. The whole life of the people was sat­urated with heathen ideas. When Constantine the Great gave the Christians freedom of religion, and when he showered favors upon the Church, thousands upon thousands of heathen flocked into the Church without having become true Chris­tians. A flood of worldliness en­gulfed the Church. It was over­whelmed, and could not handle the situation. So many heathen clam­ored for admission that the Church was not able to instruct them all properly in the Christian religion. They took their heathen ideas along with them into the Church. The moment of the Church’s vic­tory over heathenism became the hour of the Church’s greatest dan­ger from heathenism. 4.Heathenism Influences the Early Church All heathen religions had their sacrifices, their priests, and their altars. Soon the Church had its sacrifice, its priests, and its altars. The heathen had gods innumera­ble, and their images were to be seen on every hand. Soon martyrs and saints took the place of the old heathen gods, and their images and those of Christ and of Mary appeared in the churches. Hea­thendom was full of superstition. Soon that superstition was trans­ferred to pieces of the cross, and to the relics of saints and martyrs, such as bones and hair and frag­ments of clothing. Emperor Julian the Apostate called the Christians bone worshippers. In many lands among the heathen there were monks. Before long many Chris­tians became monks and nuns. 5. Monasticism Develops Christian monasticism began in Egypt. Its founder was Anthony of Thebes. About the year 270 he took up the life of a monk in his native village. After some fifteen years he went to live alone in a cave in the desert, and thus be­came what is known as a hermit — one who withdraws from the world and lives alone. Many followed his example. Others lived together in large houses called monasteries, in which each monk had his cell. From Egypt monasticism spread rapidly over the entire East. Some­times it took very queer forms. In Syria a certain Simon lived for thirty years, until the very day of his death, on top of a pillar or stylus. He built several pillars, each one higher than the one before. His last pillar was sixty feet high and the top four feet square. He is known as Simon Stylites. Between the fifth and the twelfth centuries there were many pillar saints in Syria. On a trip to Rome, Athanasius introduced monasti­cism into the West. Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine (ch. 6, sec. 5, 6, and 7) did much to promote it. Monasticism was to be one of the outstanding features of the life of the Middle Ages. MONKS IN THE DINING ROOM OF THEIR MONASTERY Religious News Service Why did people become monks and nuns? They did so for various reasons, but the original motive was to flee from a world that was wicked in order to lead a holy life. 6. The Church Begins to Persecute Heretics Almost as soon as the heathen stopped persecution of the Church, the Church began to persecute the heathen and also the heretics. The Church at this time did not tor­ture or put persons to death (ch. 22, sec. 5). But the emperors who were now Christians forbade heathen worship, and banished many of the leading heretics. Sometimes Christians persecuted each other. Through the scheming of Theophilus, bishop of Alexan­dria, the greatest preacher of the Church was banished to a far dis­tant, miserable little village. This preacher was Chrysostom, bishop of Constantinople. The name Chry­sostom means golden mouth. This name had been given to him be­cause he was the most eloquent preacher the ancient Church pro­duced. Now an old man, he was forced to march barefooted through the hot sand and bare­headed under a blazing sun. He died on the way. Augustine advocated persecu­tion on the basis of a statement in one of the parables of Jesus: "Compel them to come in" (Luke 14:23). This idea was to bear bitter fruit in the persecutions of the Middle Ages and of the time of the Reformation (ch. 22. sec. 5; ch. 30, sec. 6). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 09. CHAPTER 8: THE CHURCH SURVIVES AND GROWS AGAIN, 376-754 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8 The Church Survives and Grows Again, 376-754 A Summary of the Growth of the Ancient Church Rome Is the Center of a Great Empire German Tribes Invade the Empire The Empire Falls but the Church Survives The Distribution of Peoples after the Barbarian Con. quests The Church Faces a Twofold Task The Ancient Civilization Is Preserved and Transmitted The Franks Are Converted Ireland, Scotland, and England Are Christianized Germany and the Netherlands Are Evangelized A Summary of the Conquests of the Church Pope Gregory the Great Symbolizes the Medieval Church 1. A Summary of the Growth of the Ancient Church The road of the Church’s history is a long road. It is almost two thousand years long. By now we have traveled quite a distance. We have walked some five hundred years down that road. We started in Jerusalem. The day of Pentecost now lies far behind us. There have been three big turns in that road, The first turn came when the Church, Christ’s army, driven out of its original camp in Jerusalem, marched forth into Judea and Samaria and as far as Antioch in Syria. The second turn came when that army under the leadership of Paul invaded the great gentile world of the Roman Empire. The third turn came when that army, after a bloody war of three hun­dred years, in 313 gained the vic­tory over heathenism in the Edict of Milan. We have followed the victorious march of Christ’s army from Jeru­salem to Spain in the western part of the Roman Empire, that is, fromthe eastern to the western end of the Mediterranean. We have been in many lands: Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Persia, Macedonia, Greece, Italy, Gaul, Egypt, and North Africa. We have been in many cities: Jerusalem, Samaria, Caesarea, Antioch, Smyrna, Ni­caea, Chalcedon, Constantinople, Rome, Milan, Bethlehem, Lyons, Alexandria, Carthage, Tagaste, and Hippo. We have crossed moun­tains, plains, and seas. We have been in the studies of learned scholars, in caves in the desert, in the cells of monks, in dungeons, in amphitheaters with wild beasts, in the catacombs, in gardens, in churches, in imperial palaces, in the houses of bishops. We have witnessed a great variety of scenes. We have become acquainted with many people. (See map p. 52.) 2. Rome Is the Center of a Great Empire The Roman Empire and the Christian Church came into exist­ence at about the same time. Both the Empire and the Church have now existed for about five hundred years. But now the Empire in the West is about to fall, while the Christian Church continues. But the fall of the Empire in the West will have a profound effect upon the whole history of the Church from this time on. It will mark an­other important turn in the road of the Church’s history. Before we go down that new turn in the road, let us take a look at the Roman Empire as it existed at this time. The city of Rome had extended its power over Italy, Sicily, North Africa, and Spain. Then its legions turned east and conquered many of the territories of Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Later Rome conquered Gaul (now France), what is now Belgium and the Netherlands, and Britain. Thus the Roman Empire was bounded by the Sahara Desert on the south, by the Atlantic Ocean on the west; by the Rhine and Danube rivers on the north, and by the Euphrates River on the east. (See maps pp. 42, 52.) From the western waters of the Atlantic and the southern sands of the Sahara, Rome had nothing to fear. East of the Euphrates were the Parthians and the Persians. They often threatened the Roman Empire, but the Romans were al­ways able to hold these enemies in check. Along the northern fron­tier, however, it was a different story. 3. German Tribes Invade the Em­pire East of the Rhine and north of the Danube were German tribes. Behind the German tribes were the Mongolian Huns. The Huns crowd­ed the German tribes. The Ger­mans were barbarians but the Huns were worse. They were fierce horsemen, hideous to look upon. In mortal dread of the Huns, a Ger­man tribe, the Visigoths (West Goths) in 376 crossed the lower Danube. It was the first tribe of barbarians to enter the Empire. Soon they were joined by the Ostrogoths (East Goths). The Ro­man emperor Valens, in the year 378, gave them battle near the city of Adrianople. The Roman army was annihilated, and Valens was killed. His successor was Theo­dosius. (This is the emperor who in Milan submitted to the discipline of the Church at the hands of Bishop Ambrose, and who was the last to rule over the whole of the Roman Empire.) An able states­man and general, he subdued the Goths. Thereafter the barbarians left the eastern part of the Empire alone. It continued to exist as the Eastern or Byzantine Empire throughout the entire Middle Ages up to the year 1453, when Con­stantinople was captured by the Turks. The Turks have held that city down to the present day. Having failed in the East, the Goths, together with other German tribes, attacked the western part of the Roman Empire. The Empire was decaying, but it was large and still had some strength left. It took the barbarians one hundred years, from the crossing of the Danube by the Visigoths in 376 to the fall of Rome in 476, to conquer the western part of the Empire. These last hundred years of the Empire in the West were a time of great suffering and disaster. It was in those dark days that Am­brose, Jerome, and Augustine lived. Hosts of barbarians slashed their way through the Empire, leaving a gory trail wherever they went. Matrons, virgins, bishops, and priests were insulted and slain. Churches were destroyed and horses stabled at their altars. The relics of martyrs were dug up. Monasteries were laid waste. Rivers were dyed red with blood. Crowds of men and women were dragged away into captivity. The Roman world was rushing to ruin. 4. The Empire Falls but the Church Survives In 410 Rome was laid waste by the Goths under Alaric. The bar­barians broke into the city by night. The inhabitants were awak­ened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet. For six days and nights the barbarians trooped through the city. Soon the streets were wet with blood. At night the flames of the burning buildings cast upon the sky a reflection of lurid red. The palace of the em­perors and the residences of the wealthy citizens were stripped of their costly furniture, their pre­cious plate and jewels, their silken and velvet hangings, and their beautiful objects of art. The city which had plundered the world was now itself plundered. When at last the army of the Goths withdrew, there followed in its train thou­sands of oxcarts groaning under the weight of the spoils. The awful calamity that had be­fallen the "Mistress of the World" shocked pagans and Christians alike. Jerome was sitting in his cave in Bethlehem, writing his Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel, when he heard the news. He was paralyzed with horror. He could hardly recall his own name for thinking of the frightful scenes which were enacted in the sack of the "Eternal City." To Principia he wrote: "My voice is choked, and sobs interrupt my words as I dic­tate. The city is taken, which took the whole world. It perished by famine before it fell by the sword. The rage of the famished broke into infamous feeding. Men tore each other’s limbs. Mothers did not spare their suckling children." Jerome was overwhelmed with anguish and consternation. He be­lieved that the antichrist was at hand. He said: "The world is rush­ing to ruin. The glorious city, the capital of the Roman Empire, has been swallowed up in one confla­gration. Churches once hallowed have sunk into ashes. Virgins of God have been seized, maltreated, and murdered." He was so struck with horror that he could scarcely pick up courage to work. In his in­troduction to his commentary on Ezekiel he wrote: "Who could have believed it that Rome, founded on triumphs over the whole world, could fall to ruin; and that she, the mother of nations, should also be their grave ? Rome, once the capi­tal of the world, has become the sepulcher of the Roman people. Who could have believed it that into the holy city of Bethlehem illustrious and noble men and women, who once lived in lordli­ness and abundance, would stream as beggars !" He could do nothing to help them. He could only mingle his tears with theirs. The pagans who still remained in the Roman Empire believed that the ancient gods had made Rome great. They blamed the Christians, who had forsaken those gods, for the calamities that had befallen Rome. In answer Augustine, amid the tremors and rumblings of the stricken Empire, wrote The City of God, his greatest book, and Chris­tianity’s most brilliant apology. Eventually the barbarians con­quered every province of the west­ern part of the Empire: Italy, North Africa, Spain, Gaul includ­ing the Netherlands, and Britain. (See map below.) The Empire fell, but the Church survived. When the smoke and dust cleared away there stood intact among the blackened ruins of the Empire the Church, ready to bless and educate the barbarians who had caused this ruin. 5. The Distribution of Peoples after the Barbarian Conquests With their invasion of the west­ern part of the Roman Empire and their conquest of Rome in 476, the barbarians brought Ancient His­tory to an end and ushered in the Middle Ages, which were to con­tinue for almost a thousand years until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. For the understanding of the history of the Church which now follows it is necessary to know what peoples lived in each of the countries at this time. LOCATION OF TRIBES AFTER THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS Adapted from The Church Through the Ages, Courtesy Concordia Publishing House Let us begin with the eastern part of the Empire. It was this part of the Roman Empire that was not conquered and occupied by the barbarians. It embraced the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. It is known as the Eastern or Byzantine Empire. Its capital was Constan­tinople. In this Eastern Empire there were still some pagans. But the emperors and the great ma­jority of its citizens were Chris­tians in name, at least. They were also highly advanced in the arts and in human thought. The Greeks, when they were still heathen, had written many wonderful books. After they became Christians they wrote other great books. All these treasures of civilization were throughout the Middle Ages pre­served in the Eastern Empire, and especially in Constantinople. Now let us take a look at the population in the various provinces of what until recently had been the western part of the Roman Em­pire. First of all there was Italy. Orig­inally Italy had been inhabited by a great many different tribes. After Rome conquered all of Italy its inhabitants were Romanized. They learned to speak Latin, the language of the Romans. In Italy also the great majority of people confessed the Christian religion. After the invasion by the bar­barians, the Ostrogoths settled in Italy among the native popula­tion. The Goths, both the Ostro­goths and the Visigoths, had been converted to Christianity before they invaded the Empire. This had come about through the preaching and teaching of Ulfilas, a bishop who also translated a large part of the Bible into Gothic. The southern part of Gaul (France) and the northern half of Spain were occupied by the Visi­goths. Like their kinsmen, the Os­trogoths in Italy, they had ac­cepted Christianity. There were besides the Goths many other German tribes who had a part in the invasion. The Bur­gundians settled down in eastern Gaul. They were Christians. The Vandals who conquered southern Spain and North Africa also were Christians. However, the Goths, the Burgundians, and the Vandals were Arian Christians. In Northern Gaul, in what is now Belgium and the Netherlands, and in Britain the situation was different. The Franks who took northern Gaul, Belgium, and the southern Netherlands; the Frisians who lived in the northwestern part of the Netherlands; the Saxons who settled in the eastern part of the Netherlands; and the Anglo-Saxons who conquered Britain, were all still heathen. Then there were the people who lived in countries which never had been part of the Roman Empire: the Celts in Ireland; the Scandi­navians in what is now Denmark, Norway, and Sweden; the many German tribes east of the Rhine; and beyond them still farther east the tribes in what is now Russia. All these teeming millions scat­tered over all these vast territories were heathen. 6. The Church Faces a Twofold Task The Church at the beginning of the Middle Ages differed greatly from what it had been at the be­ginning of its existence. The con­ditions which the Church had now to face were also vastly different from those which it had encoun­tered in its early years. At its beginning the Church was very small and weak, but the peo­ple to whom Paul and the other missionaries brought the Gospel were civilized. Those people lived in the Roman Empire. The Roman government maintained peace and order throughout the Empire, and that Empire was covered with a network of excellent roads for travel. At this later period the Church, although in many ways seriously deteriorated, was large, strongly organized under its bishops, and in possession of a well-worked-out body of doctrines. But the Church now lacked the protection of the one Roman government. In its place had been set up a number of barbarian kingdoms. Some of these kingdoms, like that of the Franks in Gaul and those of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, were heathen. The tribes living outside the for­mer territories of the Empire were also heathen, and the country in which they lived was wild, unculti­vated, and without roads. Besides, all these nations and tribes were barbarous, ignorant, uneducated, and uncultured. The Church once more, as in its beginning, faced a heathen world. However, there was a difference. The heathen to whom it now had to bring the Gospel were not civi­lized, but barbarous. And so the Church, standing at the beginning of the Middle Ages, saw set before it a twofold task: that of Chris­tianizing and that of educating the new nations. The accomplishing of this task, however imperfectly, within the next thousand years was a remark­able achievement on the part of the Church. In the five hundred years following the invasion of the Ro­man Empire by the barbarians, that is, by the year 1000, all the new nations of Europe had been Christianized. By the end of the next five hundred years, that is, by the year 1500, the new nations of western Europe had become edu­cated, and had fully developed the wonderful medieval civilization. 7. The Ancient Civilization Is Pre­served and Transmitted The barbarians were ignorant but not stupid. Stupidity is incur­able; ignorance can be cured by education. But the barbarians were not totally ignorant. In fact, they knew many things. They had a religion and a mythology — stories and ideas about their imaginary gods. They had laws and a system of government. They knew how to make a living. They knew how to raise and prepare food and make drinks. They had horses and cattle. They knew how to make clothing, wagons, and weapons. They knew how to make war well enough to defeat the Romans. They knew how to make songs and stories. But they did not know how to read or write. Their ignorance was ig­norance of books. When the barbarians invaded the Empire they did not destroy everything. They destroyed many but not all the books. Thousands upon thousands of the inhabitants of the Empire were killed, but many more were not. Among those who were not killed were a good many educated people. Some of the learned men who survived the in­vasion of the barbarians wrote books in which they handed on to the Middle Ages much of the learn­ing of the ancient world. And this is where the monks played an important part. Many of them were educated and could read and write. There were no printed books at this time; all books were written by hand. These manuscripts, or hand-written cop­ies, would wear out, and the only way to replace them was to make copies of them. That is what the monks did as they sat in their cells. By doing this they rendered an invaluable service to civilization. During the first three hundred years after the invasion very few barbarians took an interest in books. These were the Dark Ages. But the monks, by their patient drudgery and persistent industry in copying manuscripts, main­tained a supply of books. In this way they provided the means for the education of the new nations at a time when they would be ready for it. 8. The Franks Are Converted The Franks, under the leader­ship of their king, Clovis, gradually extended their rule over all Gaul. From that time on Gaul was called France. The Franks were the first Germanic tribe to adopt Christian­ity after the invasion. The story told about the conversion of Clovis is very similar to the story told about the conversion of Emperor Constantine. In the heat of a des­perate battle Clovis saw the sign of the cross in the sky. He vowed that he would become a Christian if he won the battle. After the vic­tory was gained he was baptized, together with three thousand of his warriors, on Christmas day of the year 496, in the city of Rheims. Heretofore people had accepted Christianity individually. From this time on whole tribes became Christians when their king be­came a Christian. Whereas the other German tribes who had accepted Christianity were Arians, the Franks adopted the orthodox Christianity of the Nicene Creed. From the start, therefore, they were in agreement with the Catholic Church, which had prevailed in the Empire, while the other converted German tribes were heretics. THE BAPTISM OF CLOVIS The baptism of Clovis in Rheims in 496. Painting by François-Louis Dejuinne . The conversion of the Franks to orthodox Christianity was an event of the greatest importance. It was to have tremendous consequences for the future history of the Church. But at the time no one realized how important this event really was. More than two hundred years were to pass by before the consequences would unfold. 9. Ireland, Scotland, and England Are Christianized Before the fall of the Empire in the West, Christianity was intro­duced into Britain by Christian Roman soldiers. In the last years of the Empire in the West, a British monk, St. Patrick, became "the Apostle of Ireland." By the time of his death in 461 the Church was firmly established in that country. The Irish monasteries be­came famous centers of learning; but they owed their greatest fame to their missionary activities. INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY INTO BRITAIN DURING THE ROMAN PERIOD Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions About a hundred years after the death of St. Patrick, an Irish monk by the name of Columba founded a monastery on the island of Iona. From there he set out with a num­ber of companions to do missionary work in Scotland. His labors were blessed, and the Church was planted in Scotland. Other Irish monks brought the Gospel to the Germans east of the Rhine. One year before the death of Columba in 597, Pope Gregory the Great sent the monk Augustine with forty other monks to Eng­land, which in Roman times had been known as Britain. Since the conquest of Britain by the Angles and Saxons it had become known as Angleland or England. The Angles and Saxons were fierce heathen. When they conquered Britain in the fifth century they erased every trace of Christianity in the island, and made of it a heathen country again. Now more than one hundred years later Pope Gregory’s attention, as he walked through the slave-market in Rome, had been attracted to some fair haired, blue-eyed youths. On being told that they were Angles he said: "Not Angles, but Angels." It was then that he decided to send mission­aries to England to regain that country for Christ. It took more than a hundred years to re-estab­lish Christianity in England and drive out heathenism. EUROPE IS CHRISTIANIZED 10. Germany and the Netherlands Are Evangelized After they were converted, the English became great missionaries. They labored among the heathen in the northern part of the Euro­pean continent. The greatest of these missionaries was Boniface. He first preached to the Frisians, but without success. Then he crossed the Rhine into Germany, and there he won many converts. One of the greatest gods of the German heathen was Thor. Boni-face cut down a big oak which was believed to be sacred to that god. The heathen looked on with awe, expecting that Thor, the god of thunder, would strike him down with lightning. When nothing hap­pened to him the heathen gave up their belief in Thor, and accepted Christianity. Of the wood of the oak the missionary built a chapel. BONIFACE CUTS DOWN THE OAK BELIEVED TO BE SACRED TO THE HEATHEN GOD THOR To this day Boniface is known as "the Apostle of Germany." Later Boniface returned to his first field of labor among the Frisians. He was already seventy-three years old at that time. He made some converts, and was just lifting his hands in blessing over the heads of the newly baptized when he and fifty-three of his com­panions were knocked down and murdered by the clubs of the Frisians, near what is now the little city of Dokkum. That was in the year 754. Another English monk who la­bored in the Netherlands, from 690 to 739, was Willibrord. The Saint Willibrord Well in the prov­ince of North Holland near Heilo is a memorial to him. His labors resulted in the establishment of the Archbishopric of Utrecht. That city is even now the head­quarters of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands. By the year 1000 the Chris­tianization of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia had also made good progress. Thus we see that within the five hundred years immediately follow­ing the fall of the Empire in the West, the Church did grow again marvelously. (See map above.) 11. A Summary of the Conquests of the Church The Church within five hundred years from its birth conquered the highly civilized heathenism of the Roman Empire. In the course of the next five hundred years, after the fall of the Empire in the West, it conquered the barbarous hea­thenism of northern Europe. While engaged in this strenuous, large-scale gospel campaign with its many fierce battles, the Church itself underwent certain great changes, as we shall learn in the following chapters. 12. Pope Gregory the Great Sym­bolizes the Medieval Church The most important pope in the days when the new barbarian king­doms were being built up on the ruins of the Empire in the West was Gregory the Great. He was the first monk to become pope, and ruled from 590 to 604. He called himself "the servant of the serv­ants of God," a title used by popes down to the present day. He had more power in Italy than had the emperors, although legally and in theory Italy still belonged to the Eastern Empire. Now the strongest man in Italy, Gregory was able to keep the Lombards, who had con­quered northern Italy, at bay. He strongly upheld the claim of the bishops of Rome to power over the entire Church as succes­sors of the apostle Peter. It was Pope Gregory whose work in be­half of missions, as we saw just a while back, had such far-reaching results. To him has been ascribed the style of church music known as the Gregorian chant. Gregory taught (1) that the Lord’s Supper is a repetition of the sacrifice of Christ, (2) that the saints can be of help to us, and (3) that there is a purgatory. The saints referred to here were men and women who were considered to have been persons of extraordi­nary piety during their life on earth, and who after their death were declared officially by the Church to be saints. Pope Gregory the Great stood for all the things which form the most distinctive traits of the Church of the Middle Ages. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 10. PART TWO: THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES ======================================================================== Part Two THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES (From Pope Gregory the Great to the Reformation, 604-1517) Church Loses Territory Church Is Divided into Two Parts Church Forms an Alliance with the Franks Church Develops Its Organization Church Comes into Bondage to the The Church Develops Monasticism The Church Makes Efforts to Free Itself The Church Continues Efforts to Free Itself The Church Faces a Great Struggle The Church Is Forced to Compromise The Church Inspires the Crusades The Church Rises to the Greatest Height of Its Power The Church Declines in Power The Church Is Stirred TIME LINE - PART II - THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES PART TWO THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE AGES In this second part of our book we are going to follow the Church’s history from the time of the Mohammedan conquest to the dawn of the Reformation. During this period, known as the Middle Ages, the Church divided into two parts — an eastern and a western church. From that point on our attention focuses on the Latin Western Church. To the great distress of its leaders, the Church with its huge organization came under the control of the civil government. Re­peatedly it tried to free itself and gain control over the State. Popes and emperors schemed for power, and many a dramatic scene took place as the one or the other bowed in defeat. Another striking series of events were the Crusades, or holy wars, in which the Western Church sent armies of volunteers against the Turks in the East to fight for possession of the Holy Land. The contacts thus made with the ancient and rich civilizations of the East stimulated thought and study in the West. The popes became more interested in pagan culture than in Christian truth. People began to question the teachings and practices of the Church. Some began to spread non-Christian ideas. Others, who were steadfast in the faith, clamored for reform. The time was growing ripe for a tremendous upheaval in the Church and in the entire western world. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 11. CHAPTER 9: THE CHURCH LOSES TERRITORY, 632-732 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9 The Church Loses Territory, 632-732 The Curtain Opens on a Scene of Disaster Mohammed Founds a New Religion The Mohammedans Conquer Many Imperial Provinces The Cross Faces the Crescent in the Battle of Tours The Conversion of Clovis Has Far-reaching Consequences The Losses Sustained by the Church Are Many and Serious The Causes for Defeat 1. The Curtain Opens on a Scene of Disaster The eastern part of the Empire escaped the barbarian deluge and for a time enjoyed comparative peace. But for fifty years after the destruction of the Empire in the West, the eastern part had to fight for its life. At first it was kept busy beating off the attacks of the German tribes who tried to cross its borders from the north. After this had been done, the emperor Justinian was even able to recon­quer Italy from the Ostrogoths and North Africa from the Vandais, and regain those provinces for the Empire in the East. Another fifty years passed. Then the emperor Heraclius had to wage a desperate war with the Persians. In the terrible battle of Nineveh in the year 627 the Persian army was annihilated, and the Empire in the East was saved. However, this security lasted only a short time. Then calamity befell also the east­ern part of the Empire. It was not completely destroyed as had been the western part, but some of its provinces were taken from it. They were never regained. This chapter is the story of that calamity. The German tribes that con­quered the western part of the Empire had come from the North. They were of the same Aryan or Indo-European race as the inhabi­tants of the Empire, and for the most part confessed the same Christian religion. The Arabs who conquered some of the provinces of the eastern part of the Empire came from the South. They were of a race and religion different from that of the inhabitants of the Empire. The Arab conquerors were Semitic by race and Mohammedan in religion. In the foregoing chapter we saw that the Church in the West not only survived the invasion by the German tribes, but thereafter en­joyed a wonderful growth and ex­tension. In this chapter we shall see that the invasion of the east­ern part of the Empire by the Arabs was for the Church in that part of the world nothing short of disaster. 2. Mohammed Founds a New Re­ligion The inhabitants of Arabia are de­scendants of Ishmael, son of Abra­ham and half-brother of Isaac. They were heathen, worshiping idols and believing in many gods. In this heathen country of Arabia there was born in the city of Mecca in the year 570 a boy to whom was given the name Moham­med. In his youth he was a shep­herd. Later he became a merchant, and with his caravan of camels he traveled to various countries. In his travels he came in contact with Jews and Christians, and learned something of their religion. He liked to retire to a solitary place for meditation. There he claimed to have received revelations from the angel Gabriel. The result of his observations and meditations was a new and false religion named after him, Mohammedanism. The teachings of Mohammed were later collected and written in a book called the Koran which is the sacred book of the Mohammedans to this day. His fundamental teach­ing is: There is but one God, and Mohammed is his prophet. The Arabian name for God is Allah. The Mohammedans sum up their religion in the saying: Allah is great, and Mohammed is his prophet. MOHAMMED’S FLIGHT FROM MECCA Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Mohammed gained a few con­verts, but most of the people of Mecca, who believed in many gods, did not like his teachings. The opposition became so strong that in the year 622 he and his followers had to flee to the city of Medina. There his teachings were warmly received, and with the help of his converts in ten years time he made himself master of Arabia. 3. The Mohammedans Conquer Many Imperial Provinces Mohammed died in 632, but his influence did not die with him. In the next one hundred years his fol­lowers, large hosts of fierce horse­men, swept out of the hot deserts of Arabia, conquered Persia, pene­trated into India, overran the im­perial province of Asia Minor, twice laid siege, although in vain, to Constantinople itself, and took away from the Eastern Empire the provinces of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa. The Arabs did not stop in North Africa. They went on, crossed the straits of Gibraltar, and in the years 711 to 718 conquered Spain. Neither did the Arabs stop in Spain. They crossed the Pyrenees, and penetrated into the center of what for four hundred years had been the Roman province of Gaul, but had now for some two hun­dred years belonged to the Franks. The emblem of Mohammedanism is the crescent (the shape of the moon as it appears at first quar­ter). This crescent now lay across northern Africa with one point resting on Asia Minor and the other on France. It seemed as if the moon might become full, and that all Europe might become Mo­hammedan. The moment was one of the great crises in the history of the Church and the world. 4. The Cross Faces the Crescent in the Battle of Tours Once before in 451 Europe had been threatened with a terrible danger. This was even before the fall of Rome. Then Attila and his barbaric Huns were defeated in the battle of Chalons, which is also located in France. Now once more, almost three hundred years later, the whole future of Europe, of the Church, and therefore of the world was at stake. Mohammedanism seemed ready to engulf Christian­ity. At this point you must recall something told you in the previous chapter, section 8. You were told that the conversion of Clovis, king of the Franks, back in 496, and the adoption of Christianity by the heathen Franks was an event of the utmost importance. Now after more than two hundred years the importance of that event was going to become partially evident. The Franks now came forward as the champions of Christianity. The leader of the Franks was one Charles. He sent out a call for every man able to bear arms in all the Frankish lands to come to his aid. There was a general sense of the greatness of the danger threat­ening all that men held dear. Even Frisians and tribes across the Rhine responded to the call. A great Christian army under the command of Charles met the countless Mohammedan hosts on the plain of Tours in the year 732. Both sides felt that tremendous issues would be decided by the one single battle that was impending. For seven days the two armies faced each other. Neither side dared to begin the attack. At last on a Saturday in October the bat­tle lines were formed. The Arab army was composed mainly of cavalry; the Frankish army of foot soldiers. The hosts of Islam (as Mohammedanism is also called) had behind them one long and un­broken series of victories extend­ing over a hundred years. They had conquered country after coun­try in that time. Why should they not likewise win this battle! The Franks drew up their army in close order. Nowhere was there a gap in their ranks. All day long, in charge after charge, the wild and expert Arab horsemen swept down headlong and furiously upon the Frankish army. Over their heads fluttered the crescent ban­ners of Islam. It was becoming evident that the crescent was destined not to become full. Help­lessly the charges of the Arab horsemen broke against the Frank­ish army as against a wall. The banners of the cross continued to wave defiantly. When night fell both sides retired exhausted to their camps. Heaps of dead cov­ered the bloody field of Tours. But the most furious attacks of the Arabs had been baffled. As the Franks left the battlefield they still brandished their swords. Early the next morning the Franks again drew up in battle ar­ray, but no Arab horsemen ap­peared. Fearing an ambush, the Franks sent out searching parties. For miles around no enemy was to be seen. In the deserted Arab camp they found piles of plunder from many lands. The Arabs had retreated behind the Pyrenees into Spain. 5. The Conversion of Clovis Has Far-reaching Consequences Never before in all the one hun­dred years since the hosts of Mo­hammedan Arabs had swept out of their desert wastes upon their fiery Arabian steeds had they met with a major defeat. Tours was the high water mark of the Mo­hammedan tide. The once heathen and barbarian tribe of the Ger­man Franks had saved western Europe for Christianity. The con­version of the Frankish king Clovis in 496 had proved itself to be one of the greatest events in the his­tory of the Church and of the world. CHARLES MARTEL HALTS THE MOSLEM INVASION AT TOURS Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions To Charles, the Frankish com­mander in the battle of Tours, was given the title of Martel, which means "hammer." He is known to history as Charles Martel, or Charles the Hammer. 6. The Losses Sustained by the Church Are Many and Serious The hosts of Islam had been stopped dead at Tours, but in the wake of their conquests they left behind them the wreckage of many churches in many lands. By the conquests of Islam the Christian Church was deprived of possible mission fields among many heathen nations. In India today there are many millions of Moham­medans. Persia became entirely Mohammedan. In addition to that, the Arabs had cast up a Moham­medan barrier across the road from Christian Europe to the heathen nations of the Orient ­walls which for many centuries remained insurmountable. THE CONQUESTS OF MOHAMMEDANISM (A.D. 632-732) Adapted from The Church Through the Ages, Courtesy Concordia Publishing House The Church itself had been sadly torn. (It would be well to use your map, p. 112, in studying this para­graph.) The provinces of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa, which were wrested by the Arabs from the Eastern Empire, had been the seat of numerous and flourishing Christian churches. Spain, too, had been a Christian land. Consider, for a moment, the long list of casualties: Jerusalem in Palestine had been the cradle of the Church. In Bethlehem Jerome, the greatest scholar of the Church in the West, had given to the Church his translation of the Bible into Latin. Antioch in Syria had been the gateway through which Christianity, in the person of Paul, had come into the Roman Empire. It had also been the scene of the marvelous eloquence of Chrysos­tom, the greatest preacher of the ancient Church. Alexandria in Egypt had been the home of Clement; of Origen, the greatest scholar of the Church in the East; and of Athanasius — the father and fearless champion of ortho­doxy, and the inspirer of the Creed of Nicaea. In Carthage and in Hippo in North Africa, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Augustine, the great­est of the fathers of the ancient Church, had taught. In Seville in Spain, Isidore, the head of the Spanish Church, had labored mightily and with vast learning to pass on the knowledge of the highly cultured Greeks and Ro­mans of the ancient world to the barbarous German tribes of the Middle Ages. This he accomplished by means of his Book of Sentences and his Origins or Etymologies. Syria, Palestine, and Egypt to this day remain overwhelmingly Mohammedan. The few weak Chris­tian churches remaining in those countries lead but a feeble exist­ence. Cairo in Egypt is today the seat of a great Mohammedan uni­versity, the intellectual citadel of Islam. Christian missions in those lands seem to be plowing upon rock. In North Africa the Church was for hundreds of years completely wiped out. No trace of it remained. It is only within the past century that the Church has been re-intro­duced into North Africa through the colonizing activities of the Spaniards, French, and Italians; but it is a very small, weak, and deformed church. Mohammedan­ism at the same time remains the religion of the natives. The de­scendants of the Arabs in North Africa and Spain became known as Moors. In the continent of Africa Chris­tian missions among the heathen Negro tribes are meeting with strong competition from Moham­medan missions, and Islam is still spreading. The Spanish peninsula has again been a Christian land, in the broad sense of the word, for more than four hundred years. But it took eight hundred years to recover that territory. The last Moorish stronghold in Spain was Granada. It was not until the year 1492 that the crescent upon its ramparts was replaced by the cross. 7. The Causes for Defeat The story of the violence done to the Church by the Mohamme­dans is a black chapter in its his­tory. Christ’s army in the seventh century suffered its first great de­feat, and that defeat was stagger­ing. What were the causes of this inglorious defeat of the Church? Civilization had softened the Christian inhabitants of the Em­pire, while wild desert life had hardened the Mohammedan Arabs. Monasticism had robbed the Em­pire of thousands who might have been its defenders. Mohammedan­ism promised to men who fell in battle while fighting for the faith, special privileges and pleasures in the next world. This inspired the fierce Arab horsemen. They fought with reckless courage and without fear of death. But most important, the salt of the Christianity of that day in the eastern part of the Empire had largely lost its savor. (See Matthew 5:13.) It was roughly trodden under the hoofs of the Moham­medan steeds. With reference to this, read the warnings of Christ to the seven churches recorded in chapters two and three of the book of Revela­tion. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 12. CHAPTER 10: THE CHURCH IS DIVIDED, 1054 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10 The Church Is Divided, 1054 The Church Is Divided, 1054 Europe in the Year 1000 The Fourth Turning Point in the History of the Church The Church in the East Remains Un­changed The Church Separates into Two Parts —the Greek Eastern and the Latin Western Church The Eastern Church Is Quiescent; the Western Church Enters an Eventful Period 1. Europe in the Year 1000 The Empire in the West died, but the Church survived and grew (ch. 8). However, as we have already seen, in the seventh century the Church in the West lost North Africa permanently and Spain for hundreds of years (ch. 9, sec. 6). This loss to Mohammedanism in the South was made up by the gains the Church made from heathenism in northwestern Eu­rope (ch. 8, sec. 8-10). We should at this time take a brief look at the conditions in Europe in the year 1000. (Your map will help you. See p. 99.) In the West the Church by the year 1000 was to be found in Italy, France, the Netherlands, England, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Nor­way, Sweden, Ireland, Scotland, and Russia. In Italy, which had been the core of the Empire, German tribes set­tled among the original popula­tion and mingled with it through marriage, but the old Roman stock continued predominant. In Gaul, a former province of the Empire, German tribes set­tled among and mingled with the Romanized Celts and the Romans. In that territory the upper hand was gained by the Germanic tribe of the Franks. Then Gaul came to be spoken of as France. CHRISTIANITY IS BROUGHT INTO RUSSIA Schoenfeld Collection fromThree Lions With the baptism of Olga, widow of Igor, who had been emperor of Russia, Chris­tianity was made known among the Russians. In the Netherlands, after the Romans departed without leaving behind much trace of their occupa­tion, the population consisted of Franks in the south, Saxons in the east, and Frisians in the north and west. All three of these tribes be­longed to the Germanic race. In England, after the departure of the Romans, the Romanized Celts were replaced by the Ger­manic Angles and Saxons. Under Roman occupation this country was called Britannia. Now it came to be called England after the Angles. Germany, Austria, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden never had been part of the Empire. The pop­ulation of these countries was purely Germanic. Ireland and Scotland never had belonged to the Empire. The Celts of Ireland and the Picts of Scot­land were non-Germanic. Russia was Christianized by missionaries from Constantinople, who established the Greek Ortho­dox Church in that country. 2. The Fourth Turning Point in the History of the Church As you can see by a glance at the foregoing section, the Church in the West had become largely Germanic. It had its origin among the Latin speaking Romans, but had been passed on to the invad­ing German tribes. The Germanic tribes had no civilization. Through the Church, Rome also passed on to the un­civilized German tribes its Latin language, literature, and civiliza­tion (ch. 8, sec. 6 and 7). For that reason the Church in the West, although its membership was now largely Germanic, came to be called the Latin Church. So at the entrance to the Middle Ages we have a most remarkable condition of affairs. There now was in the West a Church with a Latin language and literature, but with the majority of its members be­longing to the Germanic race. The Germanizing of the Church marks a fourth turn in the Church’s history, and a very im­portant one. For in a Church so made up of different elements, a process of fermentation (like the action of yeast on dough) was sure to set in. That fermentation in the centuries to come was going to produce great results (ch. 22- 30) . 3. The Church in the East Remains Unchanged In the East the situation was entirely different. There the Em­pire did not fall under the blows of the German barbarians, but re­mained standing for another thou­sand years. It is true, as related in the preceding chapter, the Empire in the East lost Syria, Pal­estine, and Egypt to the Moham­medan Arabs. The Church in those provinces was reduced to a most feeble state. But in that part of the Eastern Empire which re­mained standing, in Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula, the Church remained intact. The lan­guage of the Church in the East was Greek. 4. The Church Separates into Two Parts—the Greek Eastern and the Latin Western Church We have now come about half way along the almost two thou­sand mile road of the Church’s his­tory. As we traveled we noticed four major turns in the road. At the first turn the Christian Church marched forth from the city of Je­rusalem into the whole of Palestine and Samaria. The second occurred when the Church went forth to carry the knowledge of the only true God out of little Jewish Palestine into the great pagan world. The third turning point came when, in 313, as a result of the Edict of Milan, Christianity was publicly placed on an equal footing before the law with other religions. The fourth was the Germanizing of the Church in the West. We have come not merely to another decisive turn, but to a fork in the road. This is some­thing entirely new in the history of the Church. Up to this time the Church had been one. Now, after having been one for a thousand years, the Church in 1054 is di­vided. In that year the two parts of the Church, the Greek Eastern part and the Latin Western part, separated from each other. THE CHURCH IS DIVIDED INTO THE LATIN WESTERN AND GREEK EASTERN CHURCHES (1054) This separation could have been foreseen and predicted. In the long period of a thousand years since the founding of the Church on Pentecost Day, many points of difference between the two parts of the Church had cropped up. On the whole the differences were trivial and unimportant. But the difference in the character of the people who made up the two parts of the Church, and the difference in the languages they used were not trivial. They were profound. These differences were the real underlying cause of the separation. You will learn the immediate causes of this separation in a later chapter (ch. 15, sec. 4). You may want to satisfy your curiosity by reading that section at this time. 5. The Eastern Church Is Quies­cent; the Western Church En­ters an Eventful Period The Greek speaking Church in the East had produced, as we have seen, many great theologians, such as Clement of Alexandria, Atha­nasius, and Origen. The last great theologian of the Eastern Church was John, surnamed Damascenus after the city in which he was born. In his book, The Fountain of Knowledge, he summed up in a neat and comprehensive manner the whole preceding development of theology in the Eastern Church. This great work of John of Da­mascus was translated into Latin. Thus knowledge of the theology of the Greek Church in the East was passed on to the Latin Church in the West. But the Greek Eastern Church of the eleventh century was com­posed of an old and exhausted people. It became like a stagnant pool, and after this it drops almost entirely from sight. From now on we shall concen­trate our attention upon the Latin Western Church. We shall find that the Church in the West was far from stagnant. In this Latin Church, composed so largely of the young and virile Germanic peoples, we shall find during the Middle Ages now opening before us a life full of vigor. There we shall find plenty of excitement. There we shall find not a stagnant pool, but a sea — the waters of which are often lashed by roaring storm winds into mountainous and raging foam-capped waves. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 13. CHAPTER 11: THE CHURCH FORMS AN ALLIANCE, 751 - 800 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11 The Church Forms an Alliance, 751 - 800 The Lombards Drive the Popes into the Arms of the Franks The Conversion of Clovis Proves to Have Further Significance A King Asks Sanction of a Pope and Opens a Long Struggle The Pope Becomes a Temporal Ruler Charles Becomes Charlemagne Charlemagne Accomplishes Much by Hard Work There Are Three Great Empires at the Time of Charlemagne’s Death The Alliance between the Church and the Franks Has Very Important Con­sequences 1. The Lombards Drive the Popes into the Arms of the Franks In telling the story of the Latin Church in the West we now go back to the year 751, and pick up the thread of our narrative where we dropped it in Chapter 8. Only fourteen years after Jus­tinian regained Italy from the Ostrogoths, the Po Valley in the northern part of Italy was again taken away from the Empire. This was in the year 568. The members of the German tribe that inflicted this new loss upon the Empire were called the Lombards (mean­ing "Longbeards"). That part of Italy is known even today as Lom­bardy. The rest of the Italian pen­insula continued at least nominally as part of the Empire. When the Lombards came into Italy they had already been con­verted from heathenism to the teachings of Arius; later they were to be won over to the orthodox Christianity of the Nicene Creed. Pope Gregory I, eager for their good will, bestowed a crown upon their king. It was called the Iron Crown, because into it had been put what was believed to be one of the nails of the cross. Here we have a striking illustration of the unlikely things people in those times were easily led to believe. The establishment of the Lom­bard Kingdom in northern Italy was going to have important re­sults. The history of the Church, and especially of the papacy, now became intertwined with the his­tory of the Lombards and the Franks. The presence of the Lombards in Italy was a constant threat to the popes. At no time were they cer­tain of their safety. The emperors in Constantinople were not in a position to protect the popes against the Lombards. They were far away, and they had their hands more than full defending them­selves and the Empire against the Arabs. Moreover, considerable friction had developed between the popes in Rome and the emperors in Constantinople. So the popes, when they were being hard pressed by the Lombards, in their hour of danger turned for help to the Franks. It was the Lombards who drove the popes into the protective arms of the Franks. 2. The Conversion of Clovis Proves to Have Further Significance Something of the importance of the conversion in 496 of the Frank­ish king Clovis from heathenism to Christianity was revealed to us, when we saw the Franks save Eu­rope from Mohammedanism. But that did not exhaust the signif­icance of the conversion of Clovis and the Franks. We shall now see what further important re­sults for the history of the Church the conversion of Clovis had, through the alliance which the Church at this time formed with the Franks. 3. A King Asks Sanction of a Pope and Opens a Long Struggle Clovis belonged to the Mero­vingian family of Frankish kings and was a strong and influential ruler. The later Merovingians were weak, do-nothing kings. Most of them were king only in name, while the actual ruling was done by an outstanding officer. Charles Martel, the hero of the battle of Tours, was not king of the Franks. He was the highest office-holder under one of these weak Mero­vingian kings; however, in reality he had the power of a king. The son of Charles Martel, Pip­pin the Short, obtained the same high office his father had held. But he was not satisfied with that. He deposed the last of the Merovin­gian kings, the feeble Childeric. He put him in a monastery and placed himself upon the throne. But he felt that for this act he should have the sanction, or approval, of the pope. Pope Zacharias readily gave his approval, saying that it was only right that he who held the power of king should also have the title. In 751 Pippin was anointed and crowned king. What had taken place must at the time have seemed something very simple. After all, was it not perfectly natural for Pippin to ask the approval of one as important as the pope? But it was to have far-reaching consequences. From it was drawn the conclusion in later times that the pope had the right to take away and to give kingdoms. It was also a first step toward the re-establishment of the Empire in the West. Out of that grew the tremendous struggle be­tween the papacy and the Empire, which was to make up so large a part of the history of the Middle Ages. CHARLEMAGNE IS CROWNED EMPEROR, A. D. 800 Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions In a way it was the most impor­tant event in medieval history. 4. The Pope Becomes a Temporal Ruler One good turn deserves another; so reasoned Pope Zacharias. He now asked Pippin that he in turn render him a service by helping him against the Lombards, who continued as a constant threat to his power and safety. To prepare the way for this act of favor, the pope first went to Pippin, and in 754 in the Church of St. Denis near Paris anointed and crowned him and his sons, Carlo-man and Charles, anew. Pippin then marched with an army into Italy, fought and de­feated the Lombards, and com­pelled them to surrender part of their territory to the pope. In that way began the "States of the Church." The pope now held not only ecclesiastical office; he also had become a temporal ruler. The popes continued to hold temporal power until 1870, when the new Kingdom of Italy was established, and the "States of the Church" were made a part of it. 5. Charles Becomes Charlemagne Upon the death of Pippin the Short in 768 his two sons, Carlo-man and Charles, succeeded him. Carloman died in 771. Then Charles ruled alone, and his real reign began. On Christmas day of the year 800 Charles was kneeling in the St. Peter’s Church in Rome. The pope stole up to him, and placed upon his head the imperial crown. By that act the pope made Charles emperor. It appeared entirely appropriate that Charles should be made em­peror. Why? Because he stood for the same three things for which the Roman Empire had stood. Those three things were law and order, civilization or culture, and Chris­tianity. CHARLEMAGNE EXAMINES THE PUPILS IN HIS PALACE SCHOOL AT AACHEN Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Those three things are the greatest things in the world. Law and order means peace, the safety of person and property, the assur­ance that your life and your pos­sessions will not be taken away from you. Civilization means knowledge, the refinement of the spirit, the enrichment and adorn­ment of gracious living. Christian­ity means the true religion. The age of Charles was a time of lawlessness. Murder and rob­bery were the order of the day. It was a time of barbarism, igno­rance, and rudeness. It was also a time when Christianity in western Europe was in a precarious condi­tion. The realm of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, was a Chris­tian island in an ocean of heathen­ism and Mohammedanism. The man who on Christmas day of the year 800 was crowned em­peror succeeded in securing for the people of western Europe this in­valuable triple blessing of (1) law and order, (2) civilization, and (3) Christianity. That is why he de­serves the name Charlemagne. 6. Charlemagne Accomplishes Much by Hard Work Charlemagne had to fight for these things all his life. He established security and or­der by making wise laws, and by seeing to it that the laws were en­forced. He fostered civilization and learning by promoting schools throughout his wide domain. But the barbarians as conquerors of the civilized Romans looked down with proud disdain upon learning and culture as something effemi­nate. Charlemagne established a school in his own residence, the palace school. He set an example by becoming a pupil in that school. He tried to learn to write, but his mighty fist had wielded his hefty battle-axe for so long that his fingers never could learn to handle a pen. Charlemagne was engaged in war nearly all his life. First he fought the Lombards. He made an end of their kingdom in 777 and set the Iron Crown of Lom­bardy upon his own head. Next he made a beginning of the work of liberating Spain from the Moham­medan Arabs. He pushed them back from the Pyrenees to the Ebro River. Through the greater part of his reign Charlemagne also carried on war with the Saxons. They were a large and powerful Germanic tribe who occupied the northern part of Germany. Their country at that time was all forest and swamp. The Saxons were fierce, untamed, heathen warriors who had never yet felt the conqueror’s yoke, and it was only after many hard campaigns that Charlemagne was able to subdue them. He added their territory to his domain and forced them at the point of the sword to accept Christianity. CHARLEMAGNE WITH HIS CIRCLE OF SCHOLARS AND CHURCHMEN Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions 7. There Are Three Great Empires at the Time of Charlemagne’s Death When Charlemagne died in 814, there were three great powers or empires in the world. The oldest, but also the weakest, was the East­ern Empire. It embraced the Bal­kans, Asia Minor, and southern Italy. The largest of the three was the Empire of the Mohammedan Arabs. It stretched from India through Persia, Syria, and Pales­tine in Asia, and over all northern Africa up to the Ebro River in Europe. The youngest and the strongest of the three was the Empire of Charlemagne. At his death it consisted of the northern half of Italy; the northeast corner of Spain; all of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands; and a large part of Germany and Austria. The realm of Charlemagne was truly imperial in size. Since the fall of Rome no such extensive territory had been under one govern­ment in western Europe. Charle­magne was easily the greatest ruler between Justinian and Charles V (ch. 24, sec. 13). He towers above the Middle Ages, and casts his shadow over all the me­dieval centuries. Charlemagne’s favorite reading was The City of God by Augustine. He loved to think of his empire as the Kingdom of God upon earth. The Arab Empire was Moham­medan. The Eastern Empire was Christian but comparatively small and weak. Of the three empires that of Charlemagne certainly held the best and brightest promises for the future of the Church and mankind. 8. The Alliance between the Church and the Franks Has Very Important Consequences Pippin, by giving some of the lands of the Lombards to the pope, laid the foundation of the "States of the Church." He made the pope a temporal ruler. Charlemagne freed the popes forever from the fear of the Lom­bards; brought order out of the chaotic conditions of his time; be­gan the expulsion of the Moham­medans from western Europe ; brought the heathen Saxons with­in the pale of Christendom; and promoted learning and culture. The pope by crowning Charle­magne emperor restored the Em­pire in the West. By doing that he set the stage for the gigantic and momentous struggle between Em­pire and papacy. The alliance which the Church made with the Franks had borne rich and abundant fruit. All these results can be traced back to the conversion of Clovis. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 14. CHAPTER 12: THE CHURCH DEVELOPS ITS ORGANIZATION, 461 -1073 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12 The Church Develops Its Organization, 461 -1073 A Review of the Organization of Church The Position of the Pope Was Strengthened by the Course of The Establishment of the Papacy Is Aided by Deceit Pope Nicholas I Makes Great Claims for the Papacy 1. A Review of the Organization of the Church We have seen how the episcopal form of church organization grew out of the Church’s struggle with Gnosticism and Montanism (ch. 3, sec. 7). In chapter six (sec. 9) we learned that the bishops in the large cities came to be called met­ropolitan bishops, and that the bishops of the five most important cities in the Empire acquired the title of patriarch. Those five cities were Jerusalem, Alexandria, An­tioch, Constantinople, and Rome. The bishop in Rome gradually came to be recognized by all the other bishops in the West as their superior. By the year 461, the year in which Leo I died, the papacy had become fully established. As the centuries rolled on there were further developments in the organization or government of the Church. In the time of Charle­magne it became the custom to call the metropolitan bishops, arch­bishops. This title the Roman Catholic clergy of that rank still bear today. The archbishops have jurisdiction over the bishops in their territory. In many denominations, includ­ing the Reformed and Presbyte­rian churches, a minister of a large city church has no power over a minister of a small country church. All ministers are of absolutely the same rank. Yet even today people are inclined to think that the man who holds the pastorate in a prom­inent city church is perhaps, be­cause of his position, just a little more important than his fellow-minister in the country. It was some such feeling as this that gave the first impulse to the development of the papacy. In all the Roman Empire there was no city that could compare with the city of Rome. It was the city of the Caesars. It was the seat of the Empire. Rome was the ac­knowledged mistress of the an­cient world. The enormous and un­equalled prestige of the city of Rome shed upon the man who was bishop of the church there a lus­ter such as no other bishop had. Besides, the church in Rome was the largest church. Gradually the other bishops got into the habit of appealing to the bishop of Rome for a decision when controversies arose. So it came about that after a while the bish­ops of Rome began to put forth claims to authority over the other bishops and over the entire Church. They appealed to history to prove that they had long been regarded as the final court of appeal. They even claimed to have Scripture on their side. The belief grew that the church in Rome had been founded by the apostle Peter. Had not Christ said to Peter: "Feed my sheep, feed my lambs," there­by putting Peter in charge of the entire flock ? To Peter moreover He had entrusted the power of the keys of the kingdom. That Peter was first in importance among the apostles was generally believed at that time, and the idea grew that the bishops of Rome were the successors of Peter, who was fa­bled to have been the first pope. This was the foundation of the pa­pacy. The papal throne is often referred to by the Roman Catholic Church as "the chair of St. Peter." 2. The Position of the Pope Was Strengthened by the Course of History Circumstances in a remarkable way favored the growth of papal power. The whole chain of histor­ical events of that time seemed to lead to a gathering of authority in the bishopric at Rome. Notice carefully the several steps in the development of papal power. First of all, the barbarians who invaded Italy had come under the spell of Rome. They had accepted Christianity and stood in awe of the bishops of Rome. When the emperor was unable to protect the people, the unarmed bishop of Rome had been able to shield them to a certain extent from the worst excesses of the barbarians. Pope Leo I had been able to restrain, in a measure at least, the fierce At­tila and the wrath of the Vandal Geiseric. Rome’s extremity had proved to be the pope’s opportu­nity. The destruction of the Roman Empire by the Germanic invaders gave a tremendous boost to papal prestige. There was no longer an emperor in Rome to overshadow its bishop. The bishop of Rome now held the most important office in the entire West. Through the work of mission­aries sent out from Rome, churches were founded among many tribes in the north of Europe. The great missionary Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, had stood in very close relation to the bishop of Rome, and had carried on his mis­sion work in his name. A person who is converted under the preach­ing of a certain pastor will always hold that minister in special esteem. The churches founded through the labors of the Roman missionaries naturally regarded with gratitude amounting to ven­eration the head of the church in Rome, which had sent these mis­sionaries to them. The Mohammedan conquest of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt re­moved forever the patriarchs of Antioch, Jerusalem, and Alexan­dria as rivals to the bishop of Rome. The Mohammedan conquest of North Africa removed the bish­op of Carthage as a possible rival in the West to the bishop of Rome. The Church had suffered some grave disasters, but those very disasters brought increasing power and authority to the head of the church in Rome., They all had the tendency to elevate, in the eyes of men, the bishops of the church in Rome to the headship of the entire Church. 3. The Establishment of the Papacy Is Aided by Deceit We have seen how the develop­ment of the papacy was aided by the events of history. It was also aided by the scheming efforts of men who, through deceit and fraud, succeeded in strengthening the pope’s position and authority. Two instances will show how deceit was used to accomplish this. Around the time of Charlemagne there appeared a strange docu­ment. It is called the "Donation of Constantine." It tells that the emperor Constantine was cured of leprosy by the prayers of Pope Sylvester. Thereupon Constantine out of gratitude to the pope de­cided to remove his residence from Rome to Byzantium on the Bos­porus, the city later called Con­stantinople. His object in doing this was that the secular govern­ment of the emperor might not cramp the spiritual government of the pope. On leaving Rome Con­stantine, according to this docu­ment, ordered all office-holders in the Church to be subject to Pope Sylvester and to his successors upon the papal throne. Further­more he transferred to the popes the city of Rome and all the prov­inces, districts, and cities of Italy and of the western regions. So, according to this document, Con­stantine bestowed upon the popes sovereignty over the western half of the Empire. Then somewhere around the middle of the ninth century there appeared a second mysterious docu­ment. It is called the "Isidorian Decretals," because these decre­tals, or decisions, were claimed to have been collected by Isidore of Seville (ch. 9, sec. 6). This docu­ment consists of decisions of popes and councils from Clement of Rome in the first century to Greg­ory Il in the eighth. Bishops, ac­cording to this document, can ap­peal directly to the pope, and neither bishops nor popes are sub­ject to the control of secular gov­ernments. The "Donation of Constantine" was included in these decretals. The whole hierarchical system (a series of rulers, each subject to the one immediately above) was the result of a growth extending over several centuries (ch. 3, sec. 7; ch. 6, sec. 9; sec. 1-3 of this chapter). But this document, the "Isidorian Decretals," represents it as something complete and un­changeable from the beginning. The great purpose of this docu­ment was to show that all the rights claimed by the popes in the ninth century had been exercised by the popes from the earliest times. For hundreds of years these doc­uments were accepted at face value and regarded as genuine. Nicholas de Cusa in 1433 was the first one to suggest that the decretals were a forgery. After that they came to be called the "Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals." (Pseudo means "false," or "pretended.") In 1440 Lorenzo Valla proved that the "Donation of Constantine" was a forgery. Today Catholic scholars agree with Protestant scholars that both docu­ments are spurious, or false. Fictitious documents were noth­ing new. But these two are the most colossal frauds ever carried out. However, the time when they were foisted upon the world was an age of extreme ignorance, and throughout the medieval centuries they were generally accepted as genuine. This gave the papacy sufficient time to establish and en­trench itself. These two fraudulent documents, tie "Donation of Constantine" and the "Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals," did more than anything else to raise and strengthen the power of the papacy. When in 1054 the Eastern and the Western parts of the Church formally separated (ch. 10, sec. 4), the patriarch of Constantinople and the bishop of Rome could no longer be considered rivals. The bishop of Rome, now known as the pope, was supreme in the West. The patriarch of Constantinople was supreme in the East. 4. Pope Nicholas I Makes Great Claims for the Papacy Nicholas I, who occupied the papal throne from 858 to 867, did much to lay the foundation of papal power and prestige in following centuries. The writings of St. Augustine had great influence throughout the Middle Ages. His book The City of God was the inspiration of the emperor Charlemagne (ch. 11, sec. 7). It had likewise made a deep impression upon the mind of Pope Nicholas I. It was his ambition to apply its ideas to the life of his day. He believed that the bishops are the agents of the pope, that the pope is the ruler of the entire Church, and that the Church is superior to all earthly powers. Nicholas I was able to make good his claims for the papacy only to a very limited extent. But he left these claims behind as an ideal after which later popes were to strive. The popes who came closest to fulfilling them were Gregory VD` (ch. 18) and Innocent III (ch. 20). But no pope ever made greater claims to papal power than did Nicholas I. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 15. CHAPTER 13: THE CHURCH IN BONDAGE TO THE STATE, 885-1049 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13 The Church in Bondage to the State, 885-1049 1. The Norsemen Plunge Europe into Disorder In 843 the Empire of Charle­magne was divided among his three grandsons. One of them ob­tained the land east of the Rhine known in history as the East Frankish Kingdom; this was the beginning of Germany. Another obtained the land west of the Meuse and the Rhone; this was known as the West Frankish Kingdom and included, roughly, what is now France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The third ob­tained the long but narrow strip of land in between the other two territories. It included Italy and was called the Middle Kingdom. The Norsemen Plunge Europe into Dis­order Feudalism Develops The Normans Make Themselves at Home The Popes Become the Football of the Italian Feudal Lords The Popes Become Dependent upon the German Emperors The Papal Office Is Sold Charlemagne had created order out of chaos. But his successors did not succeed in protecting their people from new enemies who now appeared. The Slays and Hungar­ians upon their fleet horses at­tacked from the East. From Scan­dinavia in the North came the wild Norsemen in their swift ships. They sailed up the rivers and made landings in the Netherlands and France. Being heathen they took special delight in plundering and burning churches and monasteries. They also murdered many of the inhabitants. For three hundred years there rose from the Chris­tian lands of Europe the prayer: "Lord, deliver us from the Norse­men." Europe was again plunged into disorder. Out of the disorder of these times arose feudalism. 2. Feudalism Develops A Knowledge of feudalism is necessary for the understanding of the history of the Church in the Middle Ages, because for a large part of that period the people of western Europe lived their lives under that system. Due to the invasion of the barbarians there were in the early Middle Ages no large cities. Most people lived in the country; and land was the chief form of wealth. Feudalism was a system based upon a peculiar way of holding land. Let us see how it came into existence. The kings who succeeded Charle­magne soon discovered that they were not able to protect them­selves and their kingdoms against the invading barbarians. As a se­curity measure each of these kings divided his kingdom among his leading warriors, on the condition that they give him military aid whenever called upon to do so. Up­on this same condition each of these newly-made kings or princes divided his estate among lesser nobles. These nobles in turn granted sections of land to still lesser tenants, and so on down. Those who received land upon the condition of military aid and service were called vassals. A vas­sal might in turn give some of the land he had received to others on the same terms. The lands which were held upon these conditions were called fiefs. It frequently happened that pious people gave land to churches or monasteries. Bishops, archbish­ops, and heads of monasteries (called abbots) in that way became landowners. This also brought them into the feudal system. At last everybody in Europe was in the feudal system. Emperors looked upon the popes as their vas­sals — a fact which foreshadowed serious trouble for the Church. At the top of the feudal system were the men who were nobody’s vassals; they were lords only. At the bottom of the system were the men who were not lords over any­body; they were simply vassals. In the middle of the system were men who were both lords and vassals. They were lords to those below them, and vassals to those above them. Lords were under obligation to give protection to their vassals, and vassals were obliged to give service, especially in war, to their lords. So feudalism was in effect a system of mutual aid. The political result of feudalism was decentralization. There were no countries unified under a strong central government. Every country of western Europe was broken up into a large number of small principalities ruled over by nobles. These noble lords had the power of a king, each in his own domain. That made a king weak. The king was only the chief noble or lord among many. If a number of lords or nobles combined, they might be stronger than the king. A number of nobles did sometimes combine and fight the king, but more often they fought each other. It is not surprising that the Norse invaders had comparatively easy going in this disorganized territory. WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY, CALLED WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR Bettmann Archive Lithograph 3. The Normans Make Them­selves at Home Many of the Norsemen did not go back from their marauding ex­peditions to their homes in Den­mark and Norway. Large bands of them made permanent settlements in northwestern France. They very quickly adopted the language, cus­toms, and religion of the country in which they settled. The Norse­men who settled in northwestern France came to be called Normans, and that part of France to this day is called Normandy. The Normans soon set out on military expeditions of their own. William, duke of Normandy, in­vaded England in 1066, defeated the English in the battle of Has­tings, and conquered their land. The Normans also conquered south­ern Italy. 4. The Popes Become the Football of the Italian feudal Lords Italy, like the other countries of Europe in which feudalism came to prevail, instead of having one cen­tral government ruling over the entire country, was split up into a large number of small principali­ties, each one ruled over by some lord or noble. These Italian feudal lords were continually fighting each other for supremacy. The popes became their football. Whichever noble family gained control of Rome for a time, dictated the appointment of the pope, for the popes were elected by the clergy and people of that city. Often very wicked men, entirely unfit for office in the Church, were elected popes. This was especially true during the tenth century. It was then that the papacy touched its lowest point. The Church was in bondage to secular rulers. A few of the incidents which took place at that time will give us an idea of the confusion of the pe­riod. Stephen V, who was pope from 885 to 891, was compelled by the Italian lord Guido, duke of Spoleto, to grant him the title of emperor. The next pope, Formosus, was forced to crown Guido’s son, Lam­bert, emperor. In former times the popes, when hard pressed by the Lombards, had appealed for help to the kings of the Franks (ch. 11, sec. 1). Now Pope Formosus in despair turned to Arnulf, king of the Germans. Arnulf came across the Alps and captured Rome. In return for his aid Formosus crowned him em­peror. But this proved to be no more than an empty gesture. Only a few months later Lambert re­gained Rome. In the meanwhile Pope Formosus had died and Lam­bert made Stephen VI pope. Stephen had the body of Formosus dug up and condemned by a synod which he had called. Then he caused the body of the late pope to be shamefully treated. But a riot broke out in Rome and Pope Stephen VI was thrown into prison. There he was strangled. The Roman nobles continued to struggle for the mastery of Rome. Now one noble family, then another would get the upper hand. The noble who won out deposed the pope elevated to the office by the noble who had been in control be­fore. Then he would put a new man on the papal throne. In this way one pope followed another in rapid succession. Between the death of Stephen VI in 897 and the accession of John XII in 955 there were no less than seventeen popes. This was indeed a time of shame, disgrace, and confusion for the Church. 5. The Popes Become Dependent upon the German Emperors Once more the pope looked long­ingly beyond the Alps for aid. This time it was Pope John XII, who called to his aid Otto I, king of the Germans. This Otto was a strong man. Many of the dukes of Ger­many acted as independent sover­eigns, but Otto made them his vas­sals. He accomplished this with the help of the bishops and the abbots of the large monasteries. These bishops and abbots con­trolled extensive landed estates. Their forces joined to those of the king were strong enough to put down any combination of dukes. Down to the time of Napoleon the bishops and abbots of the Catholic Church in Germany were not only office-holders in the Church, but also temporal rulers. Otto’s power as king rested upon his control over the appointment of bishops and abbots. Naturally he always appointed as bishops and abbots men who were willing to support him. This Otto came to the rescue of Pope John XII. The pope showed his appreciation by crowning Otto emperor on February 2, 962. Thus was restored the Empire in the West, which had collapsed under the weak successors of Charle­magne. From that time on it was known as the Holy Roman Empire. The Empire was henceforth con­nected with Germany. It continued to exist until 1806, when Napoleon made an end of it (ch. 22, sec. 1). By calling Otto I, king of Ger­many, to his aid John XII opened a new era in the history of the papacy. Until this time the popes had all been Italian. Now this tradi­tion was broken. Otto III placed his tutor, Gerbert, archbishop of Rheims, upon the papal throne in 999. He was the first French pope, and the most learned man of his time. Gregory V, who had pre­ceded him, was the first German pope. 6. The Papal Office Is Sold Now the Church was once more to be plunged into the depths of disgrace. The Italian party, the nobles of the Tuscan family, which happened to be in control at the time, made John XIX pope, and after him Benedict IX. This Bene­dict was only twelve years old at the time, and he turned out to be one of the worst characters ever to occupy the papal seat. His con­duct was so bad that the nobles of the Crescenzio family, who were rivals of the Tuscan party, were able in the year 1044 to drive him out of Rome. In his place they made Sylvester III pope. Soon, however, Benedict came back and resumed the papal office. But after a time he grew tired of it and brazenly sold the office of pope for one thousand pounds of silver to a man who now became Gregory VI. News of this shameful transaction leaked out. There was a loud out­cry. As a result Benedict refused to surrender the papal office which he had sold. There were now three popes—Sylvester III, Benedict IX, and Gregory VI. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 16. CHAPTER 14: THE CHURCH DEVELOPS MONASTICISM ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14 The Church Develops Monasticism 1. The Spiritual Life of the Church Is Marred by Sin Thus far we have said very little about the inner religious or spirit­ual life of the Church. Because of the presence of sin in the hearts of all men, the inner life of the Church has not been altogether true and perfect. In the earliest days imperfec­tions began to creep in. How soon the spiritual beauty of the first Christian church, the one in Jeru­salem, was marred by Ananias and Sapphira! In the second Christian church, the one in Samaria, there was Simon the Sorcerer to whom religion was a racket. From his attempt to buy the gift of the Spirit for money the name simony has come to mean: the obtaining of a church office by means of money or any other improper means. This practice became very common, especially in the Church of the Middle Ages. The epistles in the New Testament and the letters dictated to John on Patmos by Christ himself and addressed to the seven churches in Asia tell us of serious moral lapses in the Church. The Spiritual Life of the Church Is Marred by Sin Decay of Religious Life Gives Rise to Asceticism and Monasticism Monasticism Is Based on Error The Monastery at Cluny Stresses Re­form Because of the shortcomings of the Church, people both inside and outside have always found much fault with it. Much of the criti­cism is unintelligent and unfair. Every Christian is a saint, but every saint to the end of his life remains a sinner. Besides, there always have been many church members who were not actually Christians. At times the spiritual life of the Church did sink to a very low level. But always the life of Christ, which dwells in the Church, has reasserted itself. 2. Decay of Religious Life Gives Rise to Asceticism and Mo­nasticism Already in the days of the Apos­tolic Fathers the Christian life was beginning to show signs of deterioration. Some members were satisfied to follow only the outward forms, rather than enter into the true spirit of the Church. It is safe to assume that during the persecutions none but true Chris­tians made profession of faith in Christ. However, during the long periods of rest between persecu­tions, and especially after the con­version of Constantine, the hea­then crowded into the Church in droves. With them worldliness en­tered the Church. It was the general misery of the times and the low point to which religious life in the Church had fallen, which caused men to seek spiritual satisfaction and which gave rise to a revival of religion. Unfortunately it was not a healthy revival. People did not return to the pure teachings of Scripture. Instead they turned to asceticism. Asceticism means "extreme self-denial." In practising asceticism the Christians denied themselves the comforts and pleasures of life, and turned to religious meditation and the performance of religious forms and rituals. This asceticism found expression in monasticism, or living away from the world. The world is full of sin. It was thought that it was very hard to lead a holy life, as the Christian should, if one lived in that sinful world. If one wished to lead a holy life, the best thing to do was to flee the world and enter a monastery or a convent. In their monasteries and con­vents the monks and nuns prac­tised asceticism. They abstained from the possession of earthly goods. On entering a monastery a man gave up his possessions. He gave them to the poor. The monk did not eat and drink more than was absolutely necessary. Many monks ate nothing but bread, and drank only water. Frequently monks fasted; that is, for a period of time they did not eat at all. Monks also chastised themselves by beating themselves with whips or scourges. All monks and nuns abstained from marriage. And while leading such a life of as­ceticism the monks and nuns de­voted their time to praying, read­ing religious books, and meditating on what they had read. 3. Monasticism Is Based on Error The monks of the Middle Ages rendered great services to the cause of civilization. Amidst the tide of barbarism that flooded the western part of the Empire, the monasteries stood as islands of refuge. They served as inns for the weary traveler and as hospitals for the sick. They were centers of agriculture and learning. But monasticism was based up­on the recognition by the Church of a higher and lower morality. If one wished to be a Christian in a higher sense one should become a monk or nun. Monks and nuns were called "the religious." This differentiation between a higher and a lower morality is a false dis­tinction. The Church believed that it was enough for the ordinary Christian to observe certain outward cere­monies prescribed by the Church. He should learn the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed. He should confess his sins to the priest in a special booth provided for that purpose, called the confessional. The priest would then grant ab­solution, or forgiveness of sins upon condition that the sinner would do penance. Penance con­sisted in doing something to show sorrow for sin. Then, too, all were to observe the Lord’s Supper, which was thought to impart grace in a magical manner. In order that the masses of people might the more diligently observe the outward forms and ceremonies, the Church held before them the fear of hell and purgatory. Purga­tory, according to the Church at that time and the Roman Catholic Church of today, is a place to which those who are to enter heav­en are assigned for a period of cleansing by fire before they are fit for entrance. The more faith­fully the believer went through the rites and ceremonies, the shorter would be his time of suf­fering in purgatory. The Christianity of the great masses since the victory of the Church in the time of Constantine was largely on the surface. It was mainly a matter of outwardly per­forming certain acts prescribed by the Church. Observing these forms and practices was considered sufficient for the common Chris­tian. But monks and nuns, so it was thought, could go far beyond this. The trouble with monasticism as a method of attaining holiness is that when a man flees from the world into a monastery, he takes his sinful heart with him. In the ninth century in many monasteries the monks no longer observed the rules of asceticism. These mon­asteries shared in the general de­cay of the times and became breed­ing places of wickedness. However, in every age there have been true Christians. There were many true Christians even in the dark tenth century. The spiritual decline of the Church filled their hearts with sadness. One of them, William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine, founded a new monastery at Cluny in eastern France in 910. In this monastery the rules of asceticism were strict­ly observed. The Cluny movement spread far and wide to other mon­asteries. For the next two hun­dred years the great Cluny re­form was a powerful force in the improvement of the religious life of the Church. The principles and methods of monasticism are wrong, but its motives were truly religious. The Cluny movement, although it took an erroneous form, was nevertheless an expres­sion of a genuine spiritual awaken­ing. It was this Cluny movement which produced the great Hilde­brand, who as pope became known as Gregory VII (ch. 16, sec. 5; ch. 18). We shall hear much about him, for through him Cluny had a tremendous influence on the Church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 17. CHAPTER 15: THE CHURCH MAKES EFFORTS TO FREE ITSELF, 1049-1058 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15 The Church Makes Efforts to Free Itself, 1049-1058 A Review of Four Stages in the Ro­man Church The Cluny Reformers Enlist the Aid of Emperor Henry 111 Pope Leo IX Frees the Church from Bondage to the Italian Nobles Pope Leo IX and the Schism between East and West The Cluny Reformers Face a Dilemma Pope Stephen IX Side-steps an Op­portunity for Reform Hildebrand Becomes the Power be­hind the Papal Throne 1. A Review of Four Stages in the Roman Church Before we go on with the story of the Church we should recall four things: It was early apparent that the church in Rome was to take a place of special im­portance in the history of the Church. The gradual rise and growth of the papacy took place through the bishopric of Rome. During the tenth and the first half of the eleventh century the papacy was brought into bondage to the State, and became utterly corrupt. As a reaction to the low spiritual conditions in the Church, there took place a religious revival. This re­vival had its beginning in the year 910 with the founding of the monastery at Cluny. 2. The Cluny Reformers Enlist the Aid of Emperor Henry III The Cluny movement aimed at a reform of the clergy, the monks, and the papacy. This reform move­ment spread far and wide. It reached into many monasteries in every country of western Europe. It stirred the hearts and minds not only of thousands of monks, priests, and bishops, but also of numerous laymen. In fact, it was a layman, the Duke of Aquitaine, who had founded the Cluny mon­astery. It will be interesting to see how the Cluny reform movement gained control of the papacy, and then broke the bonds in which the Church was held by the Italian nobles (ch. 13, sec. 4). We shall discover, too, that this reform movement was only partly suc­cessful in its grim effort to break also the bonds in which the Church was held by the German em­perors (ch. 13, sec. 5). As you will remember, three men at one and the same time tried to occupy the papal throne. One of them was the wicked and utterly unworthy Benedict IX, who had sold his office for money. To make an end of this scandal, and to restore the papacy, the Cluny reformers now called in the help of the German emperor Henry III, the head of the Holy Roman Empire. This emperor was one of the thousands of laymen who had come under the spell of Cluny. He was a truly religious man. A synod held under his leadership deposed Sylvester III. It also compelled Gregory VI to resign, and ban­ished him to Germany. Another synod deposed Benedict IX. There was not room on the papal seat for three men at once.. Trying to sit on that chair at one and the same time, all three fell off. To get away from the Italian corruption in Rome, Henry then had a German bishop chosen as pope under the name of Clement II. This pope and also the next one died soon. Henry then ap­pointed his cousin Bruno, bishop of Toul, to be pope as Leo IX. 3. Pope Leo IX Frees the Church from Bondage to the Italian Nobles Leo IX, who was pope from 1049 to 1054, was a leading supporter of Cluny. It was for this reason that the emperor had appointed him. He was full of reformatory zeal, and he got busy at once. The first thing he did was to bring about a great change in the college of cardinals. From early times there had been in Rome lead­ing or cardinal bishops, cardinal priests, and cardinal deacons. This threefold differentiation in the col­lege of cardinals has continued down to the present day. The car­dinals are the personal assistants and advisers of the pope. In many ways the college of cardinals is to the popes what the cabinet is to our presidents. When Leo IX became pope, he found that the college of cardinals was made up entirely of Romans. These cardinals represented the Roman noble families, who for so long had kicked the popes around like a football. They had controlled and corrupted the papacy for years, and were entirely out of sympathy with the Cluny reform movement. The new pope ap­pointed to the college of cardinals men who were in hearty accord with Cluny — men who hated the corruption in the Church and the papacy, and were sincerely desir­ous of bringing about a reform. Moreover, he chose the new cardi­nals from various parts of the Church. Thus he surrounded him­self with advisers whom he could trust, and who represented not merely the one church in Rome but all the churches throughout Chris­tian Europe. In many other ways the new pope vigorously promoted reform. He traveled through France and Germany, held synods, and every­where enforced papal authority. In all he did he had the cordial co­operation of Hugo, who was abbot of Cluny. There were three things on which he laid special stress. He forbade priests to marry, and to practise simony — the giving of the appointment to a church office, or the obtaining of the appoint­ment to a church office, for money. Leo also insisted that no one should obtain a church office with­out the choice of the clergy and people. 4. Pope Leo IX and the Schism be­tween East and West But Leo’s term as pope, which began so gloriously, had also its troublous side. You will remember that, although the eastern and the western parts of the Church had for a long time been drifting apart, they were up to this time still united. It was while Leo was pope that the two parts of the Church separated from each other. Pope Leo IX of Rome became involved in trouble with Michael Cerularius, the patriarch of Constantinople. In 1054 he sent representatives to Constantinople with a letter, which they laid upon the high altar of the St. Sophia Church. In that letter Pope Leo IX excommuni­cated Cerularius. The patriarch in turn excommunicated the pope. That was the schism, or division, of the Church (mentioned in chap­ter 10), the division of the one Church into two — the Greek Eastern and the Latin Western Church. You will recall (ch. 13, sec. 3) that the Normans made them­selves masters of southern Italy. Leo now claimed that territory as his possession, and went to war with the Normans. The army of the pope was utterly defeated, and the pope himself was made a pris­oner of war. Although he was soon released, he survived this misfor­tune only a short time. He died in the year of the Schism between East and West (1054). THE CHURCH OF ST. SOPHIA, NOW A MOHAMMEDAN MOSQUE 5. The Cluny Reformers Face a Di­lemma Emperor Henry III appointed another German to succeed Leo IX. This man took the name of Victor II. He was pope for only two years, from 1055 to 1057. In 1056 Henry III died unexpectedly. Vic­tor II was an adherent of the Cluny reform party, but at the same time he had been very much devoted to Emperor Henry III. At the time of the emperor’s death his son was a boy of only six. Vic­tor brought about the acceptance of this boy as successor to the im­perial throne under the regency of his empress mother, Agnes. The Cluny reform party now saw itself placed before a dilemma. It had succeeded in breaking the bonds in which the papacy had been held by the Roman nobles. But it had been able to do so only with the help of the German em­peror. In reality the papacy had only exchanged masters. In the place of the Church’s bondage to the Roman nobles had come its bondage to the German emperors. For the time being the Cluny re­formers had tolerated the imperial bondage for two reasons. (1) It seemed to be the only way to break the bonds in which the Ital­ian nobles had held the papacy. (2) They much preferred the im­perial bonds. The popes had been the dupes of the constant strife of the Italian nobles among each other. Those nobles had pushed the popes around, corrupted the papacy, and disgraced the Church. Emperor Henry III had, it is true, dominated the papacy as com­pletely as the Roman nobles had done before him. But the latter had been bitterly hostile to reform, whereas the emperor had promoted it. Now, however, the Holy Roman Empire had at its head the em­press mother Agnes as regent. She was weak. Her strong husband, Henry III, was dead. Her son, who one day would ascend the German imperial throne as Henry IV, was as yet only a little six-year-old boy. The Cluny reformers believed that circumstances were now fa­vorable for breaking also the im­perial bonds. 6. Pope Stephen IX Side-steps an Opportunity for Reform The reform party was now in control also in Rome. And a new pope, Stephen IX, was chosen by the Roman clergy under the lead­ership of the Cluny reformers, without imperial dictation or in­fluence. The mother regent, Agnes, was not even consulted. Stephen himself was a strong reformer. He declared that ap­pointment to church office, in order to be official and valid, must be made by the Church, not by lay­men. He expressed very firmly his disapproval of la investiture. (In­vestiture was the giving to a man who was elected bishop a ring and a staff as symbols of his office. When a layman -- a man who had not the authority of the Church ­gave someone these symbols and made him bishop, the act was called lay investiture.) The power of the German em­peror rested, as we have seen (ch. 13, sec. 5), upon his right to ap­point and invest bishops favorable to him. If the right of appoint­ment and investiture should be taken away from the emperor, his power would be greatly weakened. It could not be expected that the emperor would give up this right without offering strong opposition. If the pope should try to carry out the policy he had announced, it would surely result in a great con­flict between pope and emperor. Pope Stephen IX was a brother of Godfrey, duke of Lorraine. This Godfrey was married to Beatrice, countess of Tuscany. That made him the most powerful noble in northern Italy. And Godfrey was an enemy of the imperial family. Here indeed was a situation loaded with dynamite: a pope who on principle was opposed to the appointment and investiture of bishops by the emperor: and to spur him on to put his principles into practice, his influential brother, Duke Godfrey, an enemy of the emperor. The dynamite failed to explode. The pope did not bring the impend­ing conflict to an issue. He was afraid to do so. Instead he asked the regent mother, the empress Agnes, to give her approval of his occupancy of the papal throne. He obtained her approval, but almost immediately thereafter he died. 7. Hildebrand Becomes the Power Behind the Papal Throne Upon the death of Pope Stephen IX a situation of great difficulty arose for the Cluny reform party. The Roman nobles tried to regain their power over the papacy. Only a week after the death of Stephen they elected one of their own num­ber pope with the title of Benedict X. Benedict had also been the name of the infamous pope who had been the last man the Roman nobles had put into the papal office (ch. 13, sec. 6), and who had been deposed by Emperor Henry III (ch. 15, sec. 2). The reform cardinals (ch. 15, sec. 3) had to leave Rome and seek safety in flight. The outlook for the Cluny party was very dark. It looked as if the conditions that had prevailed in the tenth century and in the days of Benedict IX might return. But help came in an unexpected way. Leo IX, before he had even be­gun his rule as, pope, did some­thing which no one noticed partic­ularly at the time, and to which the pope himself did not attach any unusual significance. No one could have known its importance at the time. When Pope Gregory VI was ban­ished to Germany, he was accom­panied into exile by a young man named Hildebrand. When Leo, having been appointed pope by the emperor Henry III (sec. 3), jour­neyed to Rome to occupy the papal throne, he took this Hildebrand back with him from Germany to Rome, made him sub-deacon, and put him in charge of the financial affairs of the papacy. It was this Hildebrand who, in this black hour when all seemed lost, stepped into the breach and saved the day. First of all he looked around for a man who, as a sympathizer with the Cluny movement, would in his opinion make a good pope. He picked the Bishop of Florence as his candidate. Next he lined up the Duke of Tuscany and a part of the people of Rome to back his candidate. However, he succeeded in interesting only a minority of the people. But a representative of this minority party succeeded in gaining the consent of the re­gent empress Agnes to the election of Hildebrand’s candidate. Then Hildebrand rallied the re­form cardinals, who had fled. They chose the Florentine bishop, Hilde­brand’s candidate, as pope. The new pope assumed the title of Nicholas II. The soldiers of Duke Godfrey of Tuscany made Nicholas master of Rome, and established him firmly upon the papal throne. But from now on the real power behind that throne was Hilde­brand ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 18. CHAPTER 16: THE CHURCH CONTINUES EFFORTS TO FREE ITSELF, 1059-1073 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16 The Church Continues Efforts to Free Itself, 1059-1073 Hildebrand Practises Clever Diplomacy A New Method Is Drawn Up for Electing a Pope Pope Alexander II Strengthens the Papal Position A Dispute Arises between Pope and Em­peror Hildebrand Becomes Pope 1. Hildebrand Practises Clever Di­plomacy Hildebrand had been successful in stealing a march on the Roman nobles by putting a reform pope on the papal throne. But a difficult problem still remained. The papacy had been freed from bondage to the Roman nobles, but not from the German emperor. Now Hilde­brand wished to free the papacy and the Church also from this bondage. But he felt that the pa­pacy could not get along without the support of some government. The problem was to find a govern­ment able and willing to support and protect the papacy without wishing to control it. Hildebrand cast about him. There was Duke Godfrey of Tus­cany. He could be counted on. God­frey’s wife, Beatrice, and her daughter Matilda were also zealous partisans. But Tuscany’s strength was not enough. In southern Italy were the Normans. But Pope Leo IX had been in disagreement with them. Disputes about possessions in southern Italy between them and Leo IX had even led to war, in which Leo had been defeated and made a prisoner (ch. 15, sec. 4). However, the clever diplomacy of Hildebrand won them over. Upon his advice Pope Nicholas II recognized their conquests in south­ern Italy. They in turn became the pope’s vassals. That put them under the feudal obligation to render protection to the pope. Hildebrand also gained for the pope the sup­port of the democratic party in northern Italy. Hildebrand felt that the pope, bolstered by these governments, could now afford to take a firm stand on the all-important question of the day. In a synod held in Rome in 1059 Nicholas II definitely forbade lay investiture. 2. A New Method Is Drawn Up for Electing a Pope The most important thing to take place while Nicholas II was pope was the establishment of a new method of electing men to the pa­pacy. The new method was decreed at the Synod of 1059. With certain changes it is still in use today. The object of this new method was to take the election of popes, and therewith the control of the papacy, out of the hands of the Italian nobles and also out of the hands of the emperors. The new method was to be as follows. On the death of a pope the cardinal bishops were to nomi­nate his successor. Then the cardi­nal bishops were to consult the other cardinals — the cardinal priests and the cardinal deacons (ch. 15, sec. 3). Only after the car­dinals had thus made their selec­tion were they to seek the ap­proval of the clergy and people of Rome. The decree in vague language spoke of "the honor and reverence due our beloved son Henry." (This Henry was none other than the young Henry IV.) But these were only polite words. The decree said nothing about the participation of the emperor in the election. What it amounted to was that according to the new method, the cardinals — in the first place the cardinal bishops — elect the pope. The decree also laid down the rule that a pope may be chosen from any part of the Church; that if necessary the election may be held in some place other than Rome; and that no matter where the man elected pope may be at the time, he will at once come into pos­session of all the powers of his office. 3. Pope Alexander II Strengthens the Papal Position The change in the method of electing popes brought about by this decree was revolutionary. The decree was designed to free the papacy and the Church from all political control. To the extent to which this new method of electing popes was actually carried out in practice, this decree broke the bonds in which Church and papacy had heretofore been held by the State. Soon after the adoption of the decree, Pope Nicholas II died. Would it be possible to put into practice the new method of elec­tion? Hildebrand was now the recog­nized leader of the Cluny reform party. He brought about the elec­tion of Alexander II to succeed Nicholas II. But the bishops in Germany and in Lombardy, and of course the Italian nobles, did not like the new method. Their com­bined influence secured from the empress-regent the appointment of the Bishop of Parma under the title of Honorius II. Honorius came close to winning out in the contest that followed. What saved the day for Hildebrand and the Cluny reform party this time was an upset in Germany in 1062. Anno, archbishop of Cologne, kidnapped Henry IV and was made his guardian in the place of his mother, the empress Agnes. This man Anno was very ambitious. He estimated that the reform party would best serve his purpose. So he recognized Alexander as the rightful pope. Again Hildebrand had won. The new pope in many ways made good his claim to power, but it was Hildebrand standing behind the papal throne who inspired his actions. Alexander succeeded in making two of the most powerful archbishops in Germany do pen­ance for simony. He would not allow Henry IV to get a divorce from his queen. Duke William of Normandy was contemplating an enterprise which was to result in the Norman conquest of England (ch. 13, sec. 3) . Before launching his attack upon England he asked the pope for his approval. Alexan­der gave his sanction to the enter­prise, and also to the activities of the Normans in southern Italy, which eventually resulted in their conquest of Sicily. In this way Alexander strengthened his posi­tion. 4. A Dispute Arises between Pope and Emperor An event of the greatest impor­tance in the meanwhile took place on the other side of the Alps. In 1065 Henry IV came of age and assumed the throne in his own right. Pope Alexander II very soon be­came involved in a dispute with the new emperor. The archbishop­ric of Milan had become vacant, and the emperor appointed God­frey of Castiglione to the vacancy. But the pope had accused this man of simony. The democratic party in Milan, whose support Hilde­brand had gained for the pope, chose a man by the name of Atto as archbishop. The pope recognized him as the legitimate holder of the office. But the emperor in 1073 secured the consecration of God­frey. The pope felt that the emperor was not to blame. He regarded him as well-intentioned but inex­perienced by reason of his youth. He blamed Henry’s advisers. So he excommunicated not the emperor but his advisers on grounds of simony (ch. 15, sec. 3) . When a few days later Alexan­der II died the dispute between pope and emperor was still hanging fire. 5. Hildebrand Becomes Pope For twenty-four years, under six successive popes, Hildebrand had been the power behind the throne — the heart and the brains of the papacy. Now, in these tremen­dously critical circumstances, he himself was made pope in 1073. This came about as a complete sur­prise, and took place in a highly irregular manner. Hildebrand was conducting the funeral services of Alexander II in the Church of St. John Lateran. By acclamation the crowd suddenly and unexpectedly proclaimed him pope. Amidst scenes of the wildest enthusiasm the people carried him to the Church of St. Peter in Chains. There he was consecrated and placed upon the papal throne, without having been elected by the cardinals according to the decree of 1059. He took the title of Gregory VII. When Hildebrand took his place on the papal chair the struggle between Church and State was far from settled. The smoldering embers were about to burst into open flame. HILDEBRAND, POPE GREGORY VII Ewing Galloway ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 19. CHAPTER 17: THE CHURCH FACES A GREAT STRUGGLE, 1073 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17 The Church Faces a Great Struggle, 1073 A Review of Four Important Turning Points The Conversion of Constantine Has Three Significant Results The Problem Arises of the Proper Relation between Church and State There Are Three Possible Solutions The Stage Is Set for a Terrific Struggle 1. A Review of Four Important Turning Points At the time when Christ’s very small and weak army fled from Jerusalem (ch. 2, sec. 4), the whole of the almost two thousand mile long road of the Church’s history lay ahead of us. The conversion of Constantine and the victory of the Church in 313 (ch. 5) was then still far in the future. Now in the year 1073 the con­version of Constantine lies far be­hind us. We have covered a little more than half of the road of the Church’s history. In the part of the road that now lies behind us there were four im­portant turning points: The flight of Christ’s army from Jerusalem, about the year 40 (ch. 2, sec. 4) ; The invasion a little later of the Roman Empire by that army (ch. 2, sec. 6-8) ; The conversion of Constan­tine, and the victory of that army over the civilized heathenism of the Roman Empire in 313 (ch. 5, sec. 1-4); also the Edict of Mi­lan, giving Christians equal rights with followers of other religions (ch. 5, sec. 2); The Germanizing of the Church as a result of that army’s invasion of the northern countries of Eu­rope, and the Church’s vic­tory over barbarian hea­thenism from 500 to 1000 (ch. 8 and ch. 10, sec. 1-2). There was also a fork in that road: the separation in 1054 of the Eastern Greek and the Western Latin part of the Church (ch. 10, sec. 4 and ch. 15, sec. 4). We are now following almost ex­clusively the Western Latin-Ger­manic branch of the road. That is the main highway. 2. The Conversion of Constantine Has Three Significant Results The conversion of Constantine was one of the most outstanding events in the history of the Church. Two of its results have already been discussed: (1) the radical change in the position of the Church from its being a persecuted to its having become a favored in­stitution; and (2) the flow of worldliness into the Church (ch. 5). We have also indicated a third result. That was the rising of the problem of the proper relation be­tween Church and State (ch. 5, sec. 6). The time has now come that we must pay special attention to that very important problem. It is a problem with which people have struggled ever since the conversion of Constantine. 3. The Problem Arises of the Prop­er Relation between Church and State Up to the time of the conversion of Constantine there was no such problem as that of the relation of Church and State. There have always been a Church and a State. Among heathen na­tions the relation between kings and priests was not a problem. In practice the kings usually domi­nated the priests; sometimes the priests dominated the kings. Among Israel the Church was not a separate institution; Church and State were intertwined. The Church came into existence as a separate institution on the day of Pentecost. But from that day un­til the conversion of Constantine the Church was a persecuted insti­tution. Constantine’s conversion completely changed the situation. The Church became recognized by the State as a separate institution. At the time when the entire Roman Empire became at least in name Christian. Church and State were really two parallel institutions. Then there arose in course of time the problem of the proper relation between the two. 4. There Are Three Possible Solu­tions There are three possible solu­tions to the problem of the proper relation between Church and State: (1) Church and State should be on the same level, (2) the State should be above the Church. or (3) the Church should be above the State. In the East the second solution came to be adopted. The emperors of the Eastern Empire obtained complete control over the patri­archs of Constantinople and the Eastern Greek Church. That sort of relation is known as Caesaro­papacy. It is the system under which the emperor or "Caesar" of the State is actually also head or pope of the Church. Whereas in the East the second solution was adopted without much opposition, in the West the problem caused the most violent clashes of opinion between those who wished the State to be above the Church, and those who wanted the Church to be above the State. Only a few wanted the two institutions to be on the same level. Here we observe one of the out­standing differences between the Eastern and the Western Church. Here lies also partly the reason why the history of the Eastern Church is comparatively dull, while the history of the Western Church is lively and exciting. 5. The Stage Is Set for a Terrific Struggle In the West also the Church for a time came under the control of secular rulers: Italian nobles and German emperors (ch. 13, sec. 4-6). Control over the Church by the emperors in fact goes back to Charlemagne and the very first Christian emperor, Constantine himself. However, as we have seen, the Cluny reform party put forth strong efforts to free the Church and the papacy from their bondage to the State, and scored consider­able success (ch. 15 and 16). But the popes were not satisfied with freeing the Church from its bondage to the State. They wanted to go still further — to put the State into bondage to the Church (ch. 12, sec. 4). The next chapter will show how this situation developed into a ter­rific struggle between Pope Greg­ory VII and Emperor Henry IV. This struggle is going to be in the highest degree epic and dramatic. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 20. CHAPTER 18: THE CHURCH IS FORCED TO COMPROMISE, 1073-1122 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18 The Church Is Forced to Compromise, 1073-1122 Hildebrand’s Early Life Cluny Reform Ideas Are Hildebrand’s Inspiration The Struggle for the Right of Investiture Is a Battle for Survival Emperor Henry IV Challenges Pope Greg­ory VII Actual Hostilities Are Opened by the Pope The Emperor Responds in Kind The Pope Excommunicates the Emperor The Emperor Pretends Submission The Emperor Sets Out for Italy to Seek Absolution The Emperor Waits in the Courtyard of Canossa The Pope and Emperor Meet The Real Drama of Canossa Lay Beneath the Surface The Struggle Continues and Confusion Reigns The Struggle Ends in Compromise in the Concordat of Worms 1. Hildebrand’s Early Life Hildebrand, who in 1073 became Pope Gregory VII (ch. 16, sec. 5) , is one of the outstanding men of history. Hildebrand’s name would seem to indicate that he was of German descent. But he was born in Italy around the year 1020. His family was poor, and lived in very humble circumstances. An uncle of Hildebrand was abbot of the Cluny Monastery of St. Mary on the Aventine Hill in Rome. In that monastery Hildebrand acquired his education. You will remember that Benedict IX sold the papacy to a man who as pope took the name of Gregory VI (ch. 13, sec. 6) . This Gregory VI was one of the very few able clerics living in Rome at that time. His buying the papacy was an act of simony forbidden by church law (ch. 15, sec. 3) . He knew it was unlawful to buy a church office, and especially to buy the highest church office. But he did it to rid the Church of a very bad pope. This Gregory VI took the young Cluny monk Hildebrand into his papal service. When Gregory was banished to Germany (ch. 15, sec. 2) for his act of simony, Hilde­brand out of loyalty to his bene­factor accompanied him into exile. While in the Rhine country he gained first-hand knowledge of the evils afflicting the Church in Ger­many. He learned that secular rulers quite openly appointed to church offices men who paid the highest price, even though they might be entirely unfit. He saw how in that way the Church was corrupted. During his stay in Germany Hildebrand became acquainted with Bruno, bishop of Toul, who was cousin to the emperor Henry III. When the emperor elevated his cousin to the papal office as Leo IX, the new pope took Hilde­brand back with him from Ger­many to Rome (ch. 15, sec. 7). The Cluny monk now became the main­spring of papal policy (ch. 15, sec. 7; ch. 16). When in 1073 Hildebrand was made pope (ch. 16, sec. 5), he chose Gregory VII as his papal name to express his gratitude to his earliest benefactor, Pope Gregory VI. He also desired to testify to his belief that Gregory VI, in spite of the act of simony whereby he had attained the papal office, had been a lawful pope. 2. Cluny Reform Ideas Are Hilde­brand’s Inspiration No one on seeing Hildebrand would have gotten the idea that he was an unusual man. His figure was very small, his voice weak, and his whole appearance unim­pressive. Yet he was one of the most remarkable characters of all the Middle Ages. He had a power­ful mind, an inflexible will, daunt­less courage, and a fiery soul. Like Pope Nicholas I (ch. 12, sec. 4) , and so many other aspiring men of medieval times, Hildebrand had come under the spell of St. Augustine’s greatest book, The City of God. In the monastery in Rome he had become imbued with the Cluny reform ideas. Through­out his life the ideas and ideals derived from these sources were his inspiration. They aroused in him all the tremendous energies which lay hidden within his nature. The highest ideal of his life was derived from Augustine’s City of God. That ideal was the establish­ment of the Kingdom of God on earth. Hildebrand believed that the divinely prepared and appointed agency for the realization of this ideal is the Church. He furthermore believed that the head of the Church on earth is the pope as Christ’s vicar (representative) . In his view the pope is above all ­above princes, kings, and emperors. Everybody is subject to him. The pope himself is answerable only to God. For the realization of these ideas Hildebrand had already been work­ing for more than twenty years as the power behind the throne of six popes. Now that he himself had become pope he continued to use all his marvelous energies and pow­ers in working for the realization of these ideas. In doing this he was not moved by self-interest. Money had no at­traction for him. He could not be bribed or bought, as could so many bishops and other church digni­taries of his day. Hildebrand was not moved by ambition or vain­glory. No doubt his motives were not always entirely pure. Whose are? Sometimes he was unscrupu­lous in the use of means; that is, he was determined to gain his end, even if he had to employ a wrong method in order to accomplish what he believed to be a good thing. It is also true that he loved to rule. It was in his blood. But funda­mentally he was moved by a sincere and strong desire to serve God and the Church, and thus promote the cause of God’s Kingdom in this world. The popes have vast treasures at their disposal. Hildebrand could have lived a life of self-indulgence, luxury, and idleness — as some popes before and after him did do. Instead of that he was always im­mersed in hard and fatiguing labors. He lived very simply and was a real ascetic (ch. 14, sec. 2). He gave up eating onions because he liked the taste. If Hildebrand had wished, he could have become pope before, but he had heretofore declined the honor. At last the people of Rome thrust the papal office upon him by surprise (ch. 16, sec. 5) , but even then he took his seat upon the papal chair only reluctantly. And no wonder, for the times were diffi­cult. He foresaw that his duty as pope, as he understood that duty, might involve him in severe strug­gles. As the story of his pontificate which follows will show, he saw correctly. 3. The Struggle for the Right of Investiture Is a Battle for Sur­vival In order that the Church might be a fit agency for the establish­ment of God’s Kingdom on earth, the Church and the clergy, Hilde­brand felt, should be reformed according to Cluniac standards. In order to clear the way for reform the Church had to be freed from its bondage to the State, and the State had to be made subject to the Church. That meant that the right of in­vestiture (ch. 15, sec. 6) would have to be taken away from the emperors, and be lodged in the popes. This would have to be the very first step in the pathway to reform, before any further steps could be taken. As long as emperors and other secular rulers could appoint men to church office, and invest their appointees to bishoprics with the symbols of holy office, the Church could not expect that only such men would be appointed who would build the Church rather than cor­rupt it. Past experience was all against such expectation (sec. 1) . On the other hand the emperors could not give up their power of investiture without very seriously undermining and weakening their position. We should remember that at this time the feudal system pre­vailed (ch. 13, sec. 2) . Like other countries, Germany was divided into many parts ruled over by dukes, counts, and other nobles. Often these nobles came in conflict with the emperor. If a number of them combined, they might be more powerful than the emperor. The bishops and abbots in Germany were also great feudal lords. With their help the emperor could hope to keep the nobles in check. If the right of the investiture of bishops were taken away from the emperor he would lose his control over them, and he would no longer be able to count on their support. Deprived of their help he might lose his throne and crown to the nobles. For both popes and emperors the right of investiture was therefore a matter of life and death. But they could not both have it at the same time. One or the other would have to have it to the exclusion of the other. For if the pope did not have it exclusively, he could not hope to reform the Church. But if, on the other hand, the emperor did not have it exclusively, he would run great risk of losing his throne. So here was an irreconcilable dif­ference of interests between pa­pacy and empire. The struggle be­tween papacy and empire had been smoldering a long time. It was precisely over the question of the right of investiture that the bitter struggle between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV now burst into flame. 4. Emperor Henry IV Challenges Pope Gregory VII During the first two years of Gregory’s pontificate, Henry IV maintained friendly relations with the pope, at least on the surface. This was because rebellious nobles caused him great difficulties and made his position as king of Ger­many very weak. The pope, em­boldened by Henry’s weakness, in 1075 again forbade investiture by laymen. But later in that same year Henry gained a brilliant victory over his enemies. This changed the picture. Henry now felt strong enough to defy Gregory. Directly in violation of the decree against lay investiture he conferred inves­titure upon three bishops. What would the pope do now? Would he overlook Henry’s viola­tion of the decree? On more than one occasion Greg­ory had shown that he was not a man to be trifled with. He could be very stern. When he was yet holding only a minor position on the staff of Gregory VI, he had marched at the head of an army against rebellious Italian nobles, and subdued them. Later it had happened that the abbot of the monastery at Trimiti had inflicted brutal punishment upon four monks for an offense they had committed. He caused the eyes of three of them to be put out, and the tongue of the fourth one to be torn away. The abbot was deposed. But Hildebrand de­clared that the abbot had done his duty. He put him at the head of another monastery, and later made him bishop. Would Hildebrand now display the same boldness in dealing with Emperor Henry? 5. Actual Hostilities Are Opened by the Pope In December of the year 1075 Gregory sent Henry a letter in which he poured out all his fury. The message dictated final terms, and opened the hostilities between pope and emperor. The letter began: "Bishop Greg­ory, servant of the servants of God, to King Henry, greeting and apos­tolic benediction, that is if he be obedient to the Apostolic Chair as beseems a Christian king. Consid­ering and carefully weighing with what strict judgment we shall have to render account for the ministry entrusted to us by St. Peter, chief of the apostles, it is with hesitation that we have sent unto thee the apostolic benediction." The pope continued by pointing out to the emperor his sins. He reminded him that he was entirely under the authority of St. Peter and St. Peter’s successor, the pope. Gregory admonished Henry not to be puffed up because of his recent victory. He should keep in mind what happened to Saul after his victory over the Amalekites, when he was disobedient to Samuel, the prophet; and on the other hand what great blessings were be­stowed upon David for his humility in the midst of victory. Gregory told Henry that because of his offenses he deserved to be excommunicated (cut off from membership in the Church) , and deposed from his office as king. Unless he repented he would be punished. 6. The Emperor Responds in Kind At the time the emperor received the pope’s letter he was flushed with victory. He was young, proud, and headstrong. As he read the letter he became more and more angry. By the time he finished reading he was thoroughly aroused. The emperor called a council of bishops. It met in Worms on the 24th of January, 1076. Upon the bidding of the emperor the council declared that it no longer recog­nized Gregory as pope. This deci­sion of the council was announced to the pope by letter. HENRY IV AT THE COUNCIL OF BISHOPS, 1076 Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lion The emperor declares that Gregory VII must come down from the papal throne. The letter began: "Henry, king not through usurpation but through the ordination of God, to Hilde­brand, at present not pope but false monk." The thrust of this sentence was that Hildebrand had obtained the papacy by illegal means and force. This was a conclusion drawn from the way in which he had become pope. You will remember that he had not been elected pope accord­ing to the decree of 1059 by the cardinals (ch. 16, sec. 2) , but through a spontaneous and tumul­tuous acclamation by the people of Rome (ch. 16, sec. 5) . The facts are these: Usually upon the death of a pope there was great commotion among the people of Rome. Various factions would pull for various men to be made the next pope. But upon the death of Pope Alexander II there was no commotion at all. Everything was quiet. So the cardinals, although they were thinking of electing Hildebrand as the next pope, felt that there was no hurry. They planned on going about his election in a very solemn and leisurely way. They decided that before proceed­ing to the election they would call upon God in prayer, accompanied by fasting, for the guidance of his Spirit. The action of the people at the funeral of Alexander II, their sudden, spontaneous, and insistent outcry for Hildebrand, took the cardinals totally by surprise. Later, however, they made Hildebrand’s irregular election by the people technically correct by formally electing him pope in the prescribed way. It was therefore not true that Hildebrand, as Henry implied, had become pope by usurpation. The emperor’s letter continued: "Thou, therefore, condemned by the judgment of all our bishops and by our own, descend and re­linquish the Apostolic Chair which thou hast usurped. Let another as­cend the throne of St. Peter who shall not practise violence under the cloak of religion, but shall teach the sound doctrine of St. Peter." The letter ended in a most vio­lent strain: "I, Henry, king by the grace of God, do say unto thee, to­gether with all our bishops: Come down, come down from the throne, and be damned throughout the ages." 7. The Pope Excommunicates the Emperor As can well be imagined, Greg­ory was not slow in countering the emperor’s blow. In a council held in Rome on the 14th of February he issued a solemn sentence depos­ing the emperor. Said the pope in the sentence: "Blessed Peter, prince of the apos­tles, lend me, I pray thee, a favoring ear. It is because I am thy representative that thy grace has descended upon me, and this grace is the power granted by God to bind and loose in heaven and in earth. Strong in this faith, for the honor and defense of thy Church, on behalf of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by virtue of thy power and authority I deprive Henry son of the emperor Henry (Henry III), who has opposed thy Church with unheard of insolence, of the government of the whole kingdom of Germany and of Italy; I release all Christians from the oath which they have made to him or that they shall make to him. I forbid everyone to obey him as king." 8. The Emperor Pretends Submis­sion The emperor sent an appeal to the people of Rome urging them in the most vehement language to banish the "monk Hildebrand" from their city. The pope sent a message to the people of Germany telling them to choose someone else as king unless Henry repented. The emperor’s appeal was com­pletely ignored by the people of Rome. The pope’s appeal on the other hand met with a strong re­sponse in Germany. The great feu­dal lords were glad that they now had a pretext for discontinuing their obedience to the emperor. The mass of the people in Germany hated Henry because he had ruled very oppressively. In October, 1076, the German nobles held a meeting. There they discussed what to do with Henry. Many wanted to depose him as king at once. All wanted to humble him. At last the nobles decided that another meeting should be held in Augsburg on the second of Febru­ary of the next year, under the presidency of the pope. There they would give Henry a chance to clear himself of the things of which he was accused. If within one year Gregory had not freed him from the ban of excommunication, Henry was to forfeit the throne. In the meanwhile he was to live under guard in the city of Spires as a private citizen. He was further­more compelled to submit to the pope. Henry’s position was desperate. He felt his crown slipping. He was willing to agree to anything to save it. To the pope he wrote: "In ac­cordance with the advice of my subjects, I hereby promise to show henceforth fitting reverence and obedience to the apostolic office and to you, Pope Gregory. I further promise to make suitable repara­tion for any loss of honor which you or your office may have suf­fered through me. And since I have been accused of certain grave crimes, I will either clear myself by presenting proof of my inno­cence or by undergoing the ordeal, or else I will do such penance as you may decide to be adequate for my fault." 9. The Emperor Sets Out for Italy to Seek Absolution At the same time that the em­peror thus humbled himself before the people of Germany and the pope, he was busily scheming how he might regain his former posi­tion. To be excommunicated meant to be cut off from the membership of the Church. When a king was ex­communicated his people were no longer under obligation to obey him. He lost his kingdom. To have the ban (decree) of excommunica­tion removed and to be restored to membership, a man had to receive absolution of his sins from the proper church officer. Before the church officer could grant absolu­tion the man had to do penance, and give proof of repentance. The doing of penance was a com­mon thing in the Middle Ages. There was a definite form for do­ing penance fixed by custom. The penitent had to be dressed in a certain way, and he had to fast while doing penance. Just as today the richest and most highly-placed men in our churches are subject to the ordi­nances of the Church, so Henry was subject to the ordinances of the medieval Church, even though he was emperor. It was absolutely necessary for Henry to obtain the pope’s abso­lution and to be freed from the ban of excommunication before the year was over. He contrived to es­cape from Spires, and with his wife, Bertha, his little son, and a few faithful followers he set out for Italy. It was in the dead of winter. The air was bitterly cold, and the passes of the Alps were choked with snow. After a journey full of hardships and dangers the little party surmounted the crest of the Alps and proceeded south­ward into Italy. EMPEROR HENRY IV AT THE GATE OF CANOSSA Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions In the meanwhile the pope had started out upon his northward journey to attend the meeting which was to be held in Augsburg. As he was traveling through Tus­cany rumors reached him that Henry was approaching at the head of an armed force. Gregory turned aside, and took refuge with­in the strong walls of the castle of Canossa, located on the top of a hill. This castle belonged to Ma­tilda, countess of Tuscany, a great friend and powerful supporter of the pope (ch. 16, sec. 1). 10. The Emperor Waits in the Courtyard of Canossa On the morning of the twenty-fifth day of January, 1077, Henry climbed the hill to the castle of Canossa, and knocked at its outer gate. The gate was opened to him, and he was led through the gates of the first and the second walls. But the gate in the third wall re­mained closed. There he stood all day long in the courtyard before that third gate as a penitent. All day long he fasted. Over his ordi­nary clothes he wore the garb of a penitent, a coarse woolen robe. He was bareheaded and barefooted. Thus he stood in that courtyard in the cold and the snow. The shades of night were falling, and still the inner gate remained closed. There would be no opportunity any more that day to see the pope. Soon he would be retiring. It was useless to stay longer. With cold feet and leaden steps Henry slowly trudged back through the second and first gates and down the hill again to his lodging. What went on in Henry’s soul all that long day and during the night? Nobody knows. The next morning Henry ap­peared again. Again he stood all day long barefoot in the snow. By nightfall the gate in the third wall was still closed, and once more Henry returned to his lodging, a miserable lodging for an emperor. The next morning saw Henry standing again as a penitent in the courtyard of Canossa. The long weary hours dragged on. The noon hour struck. Still nothing hap­pened. Then, when the afternoon was drawing to a close, on the twenty-seventh day of January, 1077, the inner gate slowly opened, and Henry was told to enter. 11. The Pope and Emperor Meet There in the farther end of the room sat Hildebrand, once a poor boy, born of a lowly family, now a little, wizened old man, insignificant in appearance. But he was Pope Gregory VII. There entered Henry. He was young, tall, powerfully built, im­pressive even in the penitent’s garb. He was Emperor Henry IV. Here was drama. In tears the emperor prostrated himself to the ground. He kissed the pope’s foot and implored his forgiveness. Gregory granted Henry absolution, and lifted the ban of excommunication. 12. The Real Drama of Canossa Lay Beneath the Surface Why did the pope keep the em­peror standing for three days bare­foot in the snow? Was it to hu­miliate him to the utmost limit? That is the way the ever memora­ble scene at Canossa has often been represented. The expression "to go to Canossa" has become prover­bial for submitting to the deepest humiliation. But that representa­tion rests upon an entirely wrong conception of what happened at Canossa. Henry’s kingdom was at stake. If he had waited, and appeared be­fore the council in Augsburg (sec. 9) with the ban of excommunica­tion hanging over his head, he would have been lost. So he risked everything, and at the peril of his life crossed the wintry Alps and headed off the pope on his way to Augsburg. Next, when Henry appeared not at the head of an armed force as had been rumored (sec. 9), but as a penitent, Gregory did not know what to do. When a man comes as a penitent, absolution must be granted. The word of Christ and the ordinances of the Church demand it. Gregory was torn between his Christian and ecclesiastical duty and political considerations. That is why he kept Henry waiting. For three whole days Gregory hesitated. A mighty struggle was going on inside him during those three days. The em­peror had put the pope "on the spot." The real drama of Canossa was enacted not outside in the courtyard, but inside the castle in the mind and soul of Gregory. In the end Henry literally wrung absolution from Gregory, and therewith the restoration of his kingdom. By humbling himself be­fore the pope the emperor gained a great diplomatic victory over the German nobles. Emperor Henry had "stooped to conquer." 13. The Struggle Continues and Confusion Reigns Canossa was not the end of the fierce struggle between Henry and Gregory. It was only the most spec­tacular act in the drama. Confusion now reigned. Ger­many and Italy were divided into two warring camps. Henry’s oppo­nents in Germany in 1077 elected Rudolph of Swabia to be king. So now there were two kings, or a king and an anti-king. In 1080 Gregory again put Henry under the ban, as the decree of excommuni­cation is called. But this time it had little or no effect. The tide had turned against the pope. Most of the bishops declared Gregory deposed, and elected another pope, known as an anti-pope. In the same year, in a battle between Henry and Rudolph, the latter was wounded and bled to death. Civil war continued to rage. Unspeak­able cruelties were committed on both sides. Germany was overrun and laid waste. Now that Henry’s rival Rudolph was dead, Henry gathered an army, marched into Italy, besieged Rome, and took it. He installed the anti­pope of his own choice, who then crowned him emperor. When Greg­ory heard of Henry’s approach, he fled into the castle of St. Angelo on the left bank of the Tiber, and sent a call for help to the Normans in southern Italy. They came, and Henry fled. In revenge against the Romans for having surrendered the city to the enemies of the pope, the Normans plundered Rome and committed fearful excesses. The pope was not responsible for this, but it filled the hearts of the Ro­mans with hatred for him. This made his further residence in Rome impossible. When the Normans re­turned to southern Italy, Gregory went with them. He died on the way, in Salerno in 1085, a broken man. His last words were: "I have loved right­eousness and hated iniquity; there­fore I die in exile." 14. The Struggle Ends in Compro­mise in the Concordat of Worms After the death of Gregory the struggle about investiture contin­ued for some thirty-five years. In 1093 Henry’s wife and his oldest son, Conrad, turned against him. Conrad died, and the second son, Henry, who had been made king by his father, also deserted him. Again Germany was plunged into civil war. At last Henry IV was forced to give up his throne, and soon thereafter, in 1106, he died. In 1122 the contestants, weary with the long drawn-out struggle, came to an agreement known as the Concordat of Worms. It was a compromise. According to the terms of this Concordat the popes from this time on were to invest the bishops with the symbols of their spiritual office, and the em­perors were to bestow upon them their feudal estates by a touch with the scepter. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 21. CHAPTER 19: THE CHURCH INSPIRES THE CRUSADES, 1096-1291 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19 The Church Inspires the Crusades, 1096-1291 The World Setting for the Crusades The Turks Are Hostile toward the Pilgrims Pope Urban II Initiates the First Crusade Results of the Crusades Are Far-reaching Rather Than Immediate The Motive of the Crusades Is Based on Error 1. The World Setting for the Cru­sades The Church had its origin in the East. There during the first cen­turies of its existence it developed its greatest strength (ch. 2). There it established the great fundamen­tal Christian doctrines in the Creeds of the Ecumenical Councils (ch. 3, sec. 9; ch. 6, sec. 1-4, 8). From the East the Church ex­panded into the West. For more than a thousand years all orthodox Christians lived together in one Church, united in the bonds of a common faith. Then in 1054 the Church was divided into the Greek Eastern and the Latin Western Church (ch. 10, sec. 4). When in 1073 Hildebrand became pope as Gregory VII, the deep wound dealt the Church by the Schism between East and West was still fresh and bleeding. It was the fondest wish of Gregory VII to heal the wound. Not only was the Church divided; it was also torn by war, and thou­sands of its members were con­quered (ch. 9). Mohammedanism, like Christianity, had its origin in the East (ch. 9, sec. 2) . The Mo­hammedan Arabs took away from the Eastern Empire the provinces of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa. From Africa they swept victoriously with the speed of a whirlwind through Spain into the heart of France. There at Tours their impetuous advance was checked in 732 by Charles Martel, and they retreated behind the Py­renees. Charlemagne drove them back behind the Ebro. The lands conquered by the Mo­hammedans were Christian. So as a result of the Mohammedan con­quests the Church lost immense territory. In Spain and North Africa the descendants of the Arabs came to be called Moors. In Spain the Christians pushed the Moors back, step by step, until at last in 1492 all of Spain was freed from Mo­hammedanism and restored to Christianity. But in North Africa the Church was completely wiped out, and the Moors held unbroken sway until the nineteenth century. In Egypt, Palestine, and Syria the Church was not destroyed, but its life languished. With the passing of the centuries the Arabs lost their strength. They were supplanted in the East by the Turks. These also were Moham­medans. By 1070 they had taken over from the Arabs Palestine and Syria, had invaded Asia Minor, and were very seriously threaten­ing Constantinople itself and what there was left of the Eastern Em­pire and Church. Here was a most remarkable combination of events. The Schism between East and West had taken place in 1054. The Turks were threatening Constantinople by 1070. Gregory became pope in 1073. Gregory was anxious to heal the schism. He was gravely concerned about the Eastern Empire and Church because they were hard pressed by the Turks. In his hour of need the eastern emperor appealed to Gregory for help against the Mohammedan Turks. The emperor, who ruled the Eastern Church (ch. 17, sec. 4), promised that if the pope would help him he would put an end to the schism brought about by Patri­arch Michael Cerularius (ch. 15, sec. 4). The appeal of the eastern emper­or stirred the pope mightily. It set him on fire. Here was an oppor­tunity such as seldom in the course of history presents itself to any man. Pope Gregory thought he might be able to accomplish three things of major importance at one and the same time. He might be able to save the Eastern Church from its deadly enemies, the Mo­hammedans; heal the grievous wound of the schism by re-uniting the Eastern and Western churches; and then establish the universal, world-wide rule of the papacy. It was a bold and magnificent plan. Pope Gregory VII, the ecclesias­tical Napoleon of the Middle Ages, was ready to march in person at the head of an army of fifty thou­sand soldiers, and lead them "against the enemies of God, even to the tomb of Jesus Christ." But this was not to be. Gregory became involved in the struggle with Henry IV about investiture, and he was thereby prevented from carrying out his plan. However, Gregory was the first man to conceive of a crusade, or "war of the cross." No pope ever led a crusade personally, but all those that were undertaken later were inspired by the popes. 2. The Turks Are Hostile toward the Pilgrims The Christianity of the masses after the conversion of Constan­tine, and even more so in the Middle Ages, appears to have been largely formal. As we have seen, it consisted in learning the Apos­tles’ Creed, the Ten Command­ments, and the Lord’s Prayer; in a belief in the magical power of the sacraments, a life of asceticism, the veneration of saints and their relics, and in pilgrimages to their shrines. Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and its sacred places were espe­cially popular. Away back in the fifth century Jerome had made his home in Bethlehem (ch. 6, sec. 6). The great majority of the Chris­tians in western Europe were not much concerned over what the Mohammedans did to the Eastern Church, from which they were now separated. But the thought that the Holy Land with its sacred places was in possession of infidels was a thorn in their flesh. They felt it an unbearable insult to the Christian Church. It rankled in their bosoms, and filled them with deep resentment. The Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land had always gotten along well with the Arabs. The attitude of the Arabs toward the pilgrims was much the same as that of to­day’s resort owners toward tour­ists. To the Arabs, Christian money was just as good as Moham­medan money. They did a very profitable business with the pil­grims. When the Turks took the Holy Land away from the Arabs the sit­uation changed. The Turks were fanatics in religion. They hated the Christians because they were Christians. They would have noth­ing to do with the pilgrims. They did not want their money. They made it difficult for them to visit the sacred places. Not infrequently they insulted and maltreated them. Pilgrims upon their return told about their bad treatment at the hands of the Turks. Their reports fanned into flame the resentment which had long been smoldering in the hearts of the Christians of western Europe. And this state of popular sentiment opened the way for Pope Urban II to launch the first Crusade. 3. Pope Urban II Initiates the First Crusade Urban II, who was pope from 1088 to 1099, was a man altogether different from Gregory VII. Gregory came from a poor and very humble family; he was small, in­significant and unprepossessing in appearance, weak of voice, and not a public speaker at all. Urban came from a rich and very prominent family; he was tall, very handsome and impressive in appearance, and a great orator. He was not a man to lead armies, but he was a master of mass psychology. He had a gift for using catchy phrases that had the power to arouse the emotions of a crowd to the highest pitch of enthusiasm. In the fall of 1095 Urban went to Clermont in France. He let it be known that he was going to speak about the Holy Land and the Turks. When he ascended the plat­form he saw before him a sea of eager and expectant faces. His powerful and eloquent voice held the multitude spellbound. He spoke to them of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. He pictured to them Jesus growing up, being baptized, going up and down the Holy Land teaching and doing good. He made them see the arrest of Jesus, His crucifixion, death, and burial in the tomb. Feelingly he spoke of all the scenes and places in the Holy Land rendered sacred by the so­journ there of the Savior. He force­fully denounced the desecration of those places by the infidels, and the ill treatment of the pilgrims. The huge multitude began to boil with anger. The pope made the great mass of people before him feel the shame and disgrace heaped upon the Church and the name of Christ by the Turks. He went on and whipped the crowd into a frenzy. He called upon them to go to the Holy Land and rescue Jerusalem and the tomb of Christ from the hands of the Turks. To all those who would go he promised a greatly reduced pe­riod of time in purgatory. (Purga­tory is an imagined place of suffer­ing, where the Catholics believe souls must go to be purified before they can enter heaven.) To all those who should die while serving in the war against the Turks, Ur­ban promised heaven. The vast multitude was electri­fied. It was as if a spark leaped from one to the other. The thou­sands assembled at Clermont on that day exclaimed and chanted in wild enthusiasm: "God wills it ! God wills it !" The pope had red cloth cut up into little strips. These strips were sewn together in the form of a cross. The cross was affixed to the sleeve of every one who said he would take part in the undertak­ing. The Latin word for "cross" is crux. That is why the undertaking was called a "crusade," and the participants "crusaders." The Crusades were military ex­peditions engaged in by the Chris­tians of western Europe with the purpose of wresting the Holy Land The men who led the first Crusade, 1096-1099, were Godfrey of Bouillon, Raymond IV of Toulouse, Bohemond of Tarentum, and Tancred of Hautevine and its sacred places from the hands of the Mohammedans. The wars engaged in by the Mo­hammedan Arabs and Turks for the purpose of spreading their reli­gion were to them holy wars. Now the Christians of western Europe engaged in the Crusades. To them they were holy wars because they were inspired by the Church, and had a religious motive. POPE URBAN II AT CLERMONT Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions The pope calls upon the people to rescue the Holy Land from the hands of the Turks. LEADERS OF THE FIRST CRUSADE Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions 4. Results of the Crusades Are Far-reaching Rather Than Immedi­ate The first Crusade got under way in the year 1096. Most historians count eight Crusades and a tragic and pathetic children’s Crusade. With intervals they continued over a period of two hundred years. Some successes were scored, but they were only temporary. In the end the Crusades were total fail­ures from the point of view of the purpose for which they were un­dertaken. For two hundred years the crusaders shed rivers of blood all in vain. At the end of that time and down to the beginning of the present century the Holy Land re­mained in possession of the Turks. It was not until the First World War that the English, under the leadership of General Allenby, took Palestine away from the Turks. However, in spite of their utter failure as military expeditions the Crusades had many results, entire­ly unintended and unlooked for, but tremendously important and far-reaching. We shall leave the discussion of these results for a later chapter (ch. 22, sec. 2). 5. The Motive of the Crusades Is Based on Error The motive of the crusaders was religious; but that religious motive was false, and even foolish. The religious esteem in which the Christians of the Middle Ages held the Holy Land and its so-called sa­cred places can be likened to their veneration of the relics of saints. To be sure, for every Christian Palestine will always abound in sacred memories. But Palestine is no longer the Holy Land. Since the death of Christ there are no more places here upon earth especially holy. The tomb of Christ over which crusaders and Mohammedans fought so savagely for two hundred years is empty. He is not there. He is risen. He has ascended. He is in heaven. But he is also every­where on earth where two or three are gathered in His name. Not the tomb, but such places are sacred. Sacred is every heart in which Christ dwells. THE CRUSADERS WAR AGAINST THE MOHAMMEDANS Drawing by Allan McNab Religious News Service ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 22. CHAPTER 20: THE CHURCH RISES TO THE GREATEST HEIGHT OF ITS POWER, 1198-1216 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20 The Church Rises to the Greatest Height of Its Power, 1198-1216 Another Emperor Humbles Himself Innocent III Makes Great Claims for the Papacy Five Things Favor Innocent’s Rise to Power The Papacy Reaches Its Greatest Height of Temporal Power The Lateran Council Declares for Church Reform There Is Indeed Need for Reform The Dominican Order Is Founded The Franciscan Order Is Established The Mendicant Orders Go About Doing Good A Revival of Culture Begins 1. Another Emperor Humbles Him­self All the efforts of Gregory VII to establish the supremacy of the papacy over kings and emperors had failed. Even Gregory’s victory over Henry IV at Canossa was empty (ch. 18, sec. 12-14) . Yet the scene at Canossa was ever in the minds of succeeding popes. In their mind’s eye they saw Emperor Henry bowing in deep humiliation before Pope Gregory. This scene stimulated them to constant at­tempts to attain the ideal to which Gregory had devoted his life. The Church rose to great heights of power under Pope Alexander III. With this pope the mighty emperor Frederick Barbarossa, or Frederick Redbeard, carried on a bitter conflict. At last the emperor had to give in to the pope. When on the twenty-fourth of July, 1177, the emperor came into the presence of the pope under the porch of the Cathedral of St. Mark in Venice, he spread his cloak upon the pave­ment, kneeled upon it, and kissed the pope’s foot. Alexander made Frederick rise, and gave him the kiss of peace. On the seventh day of August the two met again, this time in Anagni, Italy. The emperor Fred­erick now solemnly renounced the anti-pope whom he had installed in Rome, and recognized Alexander as the lawful pope. When Alexan­der mounted his horse the emperor held the stirrup, and he walked alongside the horse for some dis­tance holding the bridle. History does seem to repeat it­self. Exactly one hundred years after his great-grandfather, the emperor Henry IV, had humbled himself before Pope Gregory VII at Canossa, the emperor Frederick Barbarossa humbled himself before Pope Alexander HI in Venice and Anagni. 2. Innocent III Makes Great Claims for the Papacy The Church rose to her greatest height of power under Innocent III, who was pope from 1198 to 1216. This pope’s personal name was Lothario Conti. He belonged to a very outstanding Roman family. His education had been of the best. In Paris he had studied languages and in Bologna law. He was an eloquent speaker and an excellent musician and singer. At the youth­ful age of twenty-nine he was made a cardinal, and when only thirty-seven years old, in 1198, Lothario Conti was elected to the papacy. He was installed as Pope Innocent III. When the tiara, the triple papel crown, was placed upon his head, the arch-deacon who per­formed the ceremony said: "Take the tiara, and know that thou art the father of princes and kings, the ruler of the world, the vicar on earth of our savior, Jesus Christ, whose honor and glory shall endure through all eternity." Pope Innocent had a most ex­alted idea of the papacy. In a letter to the Patriarch of Jerusalem an­nouncing his ascension to the papal throne, he wrote: "God has caused me to obtain the most glorious pos­session to be found among men, the throne of Peter." In other letters he said: "The Lord gave Peter the rule not only over the universal Church, but also the rule over the whole world." "No king can rule rightly unless he devoutly serves Christ’s vicar." "The priesthood is the sun, the kingdom the moon. Kings rule over their respective kingdoms, but Peter rules over the whole earth." These quotations give us some idea of the claims which Pope In­nocent III made for the papacy. 3. Five Things Favor Innocent’s Rise to Power Innocent III came closer than any other pope before or after him to making good the claims of the papacy to universal rule. His term as pope marks the greatest height of temporal power ever reached by the Church. There were five things that helped Innocent to realize so nearly the papal ideal: the example of Gregory VII (ch. 18, sec. 5-12); the "Donation of Constantine" (ch. 12, sec. 3); the Crusades (ch. 19); the principle of ratione peccati; and favorable political circum­stances in the Europe of his day. Let us look at each of these in turn. Although the gigantic efforts of Gregory VII to establish the power of the Church over the State had ended in failure, he left his mighty example behind as an incentive to following popes. Although the "Donation of Con­stantine" was a false document, it was for centuries accepted as gen­uine, and it thus furnished Inno­cent with a strong legal basis for his claims of papal power. The Crusades were a manifesta­tion of the unity of Christian Eu­rope against the Mohammedans. All the Crusades were inspired by the popes. The popes bade the kings and emperors to lead these Crusades, and they obeyed him. Thus the pope appeared in the eyes of the world as the head of all Christendom. Ratione peccati is Latin, and means "by reason of sin." The popes admitted that kings and emperors are supreme in the purely political sphere. But they main­tained that they, the popes, are supreme in the religious and moral sphere. Now the popes claimed that if temporal rulers engaged in political actions which were mor­ally wrong, the popes had not only the right but also the duty to in­terfere and call these temporal rulers to account. But since every political action has a moral side, the principle of ratione peccati gave the popes supreme power also in the political field. It made them dictators over kings and emperors. As to the political circumstances of the time, they, too, were favor­able to Innocent. They made it possible for him to enforce his claims to universal power. 4. The Papacy Reaches Its Great­est Height of Temporal Power When Innocent became pope the temporal power of the papacy had been almost completely destroyed. Innocent was not one to allow this state of affairs to continue. First of all he restored to the papacy the patrimony of St. Peter, as the Papal States were called. He has been called "the founder of the Papal States." For the next six hundred years the boundaries of the Papal States or States of the Church (ch. 11, sec. 4) remained what Pope Innocent III made them. The pope lost no time in pro­claiming to the world that he would tolerate no opposition from tempo­ral powers. John Lackland, king of England, dared to oppose Innocent. In 1208 the pope placed England under an interdict. That meant that in all England no church serv­ice could be held. The next year King John was excommunicated. His subjects were no longer rerequired to obey him. He was de­prived of his throne. In 1213 he submitted to the pope. He had a legal document drawn up, which in a solemn ceremony he handed over to Rudolph, the legate or rep­resentative of the pope. The docu­ment read: "We grant to God, to his holy apostles Peter and Paul, to our mother the Holy Roman Church, and to our Lord Innocent and to his Catholic successors . . . our kingdoms of England and Ire­land, with all their rights and de­pendencies, in order to receive them anew, as a vassal of God and of the Roman Church. In testimony whereof we take the oath of vas­salage before Rudolph . . . and our heirs will always be obliged to take the same oath. And as a sign of our being vassals, we and our suc­cessors will pay annually to the Holy See, besides the denarius of St. Peter (Peter’s pence), seven hundred marks for England and three hundred marks for Ireland, derived from the royal revenues." Thereupon King John committed his crown and scepter to Rudolph. After keeping them for five days as a sign of sovereignty Rudolph returned them to the king. Eng­land was now a self-acknowledged vassal of the pope. One after another the emperor and all the kings, lords, and princes of Europe acknowledged the pope as spiritual lord. And all but the King of France acknowledged him also as feudal and temporal lord. They declared themselves to be his vassals and held their kingdoms as fiefs of the Church (ch. 13, sec. 2). For a time even the Eastern Em­pire became a fief of the Roman Church. The object of the Cru­sades was to take the Holy Land away from the Mohammedan Turks. But the fourth Crusade was deflected from this purpose. In­stead of taking Jerusalem, the cru­saders on their way to the Holy Land captured Constantinople, and set up what is known as the Latin Kingdom. The rulers of this Latin Kingdom acknowledged themselves to be vassals of the pope. The majority of the princes of Christendom became vassals of the Church. Thus it was that during the rule of Innocent III, from 1198 to 1216, the Church rose to its greatest height of temporal power. 5. The Lateran Council Declarei for Church Reform But the ideals of Pope Innocent III went beyond the desire for tem­poral power. In 1215 he held an ecumenical council in the Lateran Church in Rome. In summoning this council Innocent declared: "Two things I have especially at heart, the re-conquest of the Holy Land, and the reform of the Church universal." More than four hundred bishops, eight hundred abbots and priors, and a great host both of the clergy and of the laity were present at the meeting. Seventy-one primates, the highest ranking clergy, were also present. They included the patri­archs of Constantinople and Jerusalem, envoys from Emperor Fred­erick and from the kings of France, England, Aragon, Hungary, Jeru­salem, and Cyprus, and represent­atives of Italian cities. "The whole world seemed to be there." The Council determined on a new crusade, which the pope offered to lead in person. The Waldensian and Albigensian heresies, of which we shall hear more a little later (ch. 22, sec. 3 and 4) , were con­demned. Punishment of all unre­pentant heretics was prescribed (ch. 22, sec. 5) . It was decreed that the granting of indulgences (ch. 23, sec. 3) should be restricted. Bishops were instructed to appoint competent men to preach, and to provide free instruction in gram­mar and theology for poor schol­ars. It was ordered that Jews and Saracens should wear a distinctive costume. No Jews were to hold public office which would give them authority over Christians. This Lateran Council of the year 1215 marked the high point in the rule of the most powerful of the popes, Innocent III. The following year he died. 6. There Is Indeed Need for Re­form Innocent had declared that one of the purposes for which he had called the Lateran Council was to reform the Church. There was in­deed great need of reform. To the Christian mind of that time reform of the Church meant chiefly reform of the clergy and the monks. The religious and spiritual condition of a very large proportion of the clergy was deplorable. To many of the clergy a church office was nothing but an easy and pleasant way of making a living. Bishops enjoyed fat incomes. A bishopric was a rich plum. Many utterly worldly men managed to become bishops, and after having become bishops they lived wicked lives. A clerk at Paris said: "I can believe everything, but I cannot believe that any German bishop can be saved." A monk said: "The state of the Church has come to this, that it is not worthy to be ruled except by reprobate bishops." Pope Innocent wrote: "The prelates in southern France are the laughing stock of the laity." The Church in the course of time had accumulated enormous wealth. This provoked very severe criti­cism from the side of the lay mem­bers. For it must not be thought that there were no good and sin­cere Christians in these dark days of the Church. The many hymns that were written during the Mid­dle Ages testify to a deep spiritual life. One of these hymns, familiar to most of us, is the beautiful "0 Sacred Head, Now Wounded," written by the monk Bernard of Clairvaux. To the pope Bernard wrote: "Who will permit me to see before I die the Church of God so ordered as it was in the old days, when the apostles cast their nets to fish for souls and not for gold and silver ?" Some of the things he wrote were later of great help to Martin Luther in finding peace for his heart. The feeling that the Church was in need of a general reformation was shared by all the more earnest Christians. It was this feeling that gave rise to many new monastic orders. These new monastic orders were a condemnation of the laxity that had gradually crept into the old orders. Some of the new orders were the Camaldoli, the Carthusians, the Cistercians, and the Pre­monstratensians. The number of monks and nuns increased rapidly. Peter the Ven­erable, abbot of Cluny, said: "The innumerable multitude of monks covers almost all the lands. It fills the cities, castles, and fortified places. What a variety of garbs and customs in this army of the Lord which has taken an oath to live according to the rule, in the name of faith and charity !" The Templars and the Hospitalers were two military monastic orders established in Palestine. Their purpose was to protect the pilgrims traveling to the sacred shrines in the Holy Land, and to care for them when sick. The two most important new re­ligious orders were those of the Franciscans and the Dominicans. 7. The Dominican Order Is Founded Dominic was a monk who had been born and educated in Spain. Accompanying his bishop to south­ern France, he began to preach in order to bring back into the Roman Catholic Church those who had withdrawn and were teaching other doctrines. It is claimed that he performed several miracles. With the aid of the Bishop of Toulouse he established a nunnery at Prouille, where converts to the Roman Church could find a shelter, end poor girls of noble blood could re­ceive an education. At the Lateran Council of 1215 he sought from Pope Innocent III recognition of a fraternity which he had established. At that time the fraternity counted only sixteen members. But these were picked men from different countries. Six were Spaniards. The others came from Toulouse, Provence, Navarre, England, Normandy, northern France, and Lorraine. Pope Inno­cent readily granted the recogni­tion. The Dominicans adopted the name of "Preaching Friars." This was the name Innocent had used in speaking of them. This name denoted their ideals. They were to preach. In order to be able to do this they were to be friars, a name derived from the word (rater, or brother. They were not to be monks. They were to live not se­cluded in a cloister, but in the midst of the bustle and hustle of men. The world was to be their cloister. When in 1217 Dominic sent these preaching Friars forth upon their mission, he told them: "You are still a little flock, but already I have formed in my heart the project of dispersing you abroad. You will no longer abide in the sanctu­ary of Prouille. The world hence­forth is your home, and the work God has created for you is teaching and preaching. Go you, therefore, into the whole world, and teach all nations. Preach to them the glad tidings of their redemption. Have confidence in God, for the field of your labors will one day widen to the uttermost ends of the earth." The success of the Dominican Friars was very rapid. Dominic died four years after he had sent them out. By that time the Order was already organized in eight provinces: Spain, Provence, France, England, Germany, Hun­gary, Lombardy, and Romagnuola, and it had established sixty con­vents. The Dominicans adopted the vow of poverty. They became a mendi­cant order, which means that they were an order of begging Friars. In course of time the Dominicans acquired a great reputation for learning. The university towns were the special fields of their ac­tivity. Soon Dominicans were teaching as professors in all the leading universities of western Eu­rope. Their most illustrious schol­ars were Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Vincent of Beau­vais, likewise a Dominican, wrote an encyclopedia. Because of their learning the Dominicans came into control of the Inquisition, a court established to root out heresy. We shall hear more about the Inquisi­tion in a later chapter (ch. 22, sec. 5). 8. The Franciscan Order Is Establish Francis of Assisi was born in Italy in the year 1182. His father was a rich merchant, and Francis gave himself over to a life of pleas­ure. When he was about twenty years old he fell dangerously ill, and was converted. From that time on he devoted himself to poverty and charity. Other men of like mind joined with him. When they were twelve in all they, too, as Dominic had done, applied to Pope Innocent III at the Lateran Council of 1215 for approval of their or­ganization. The pope granted their request, and the Minorites or Friars Minor (lesser), as they called themselves in their humility, began their work. Francis insisted upon absolute poverty. The brethren were to la­bor with their hands, but were not allowed to receive wages in money. They were not to take thought for the morrow, and they were to give to the poor all that was not abso­lutely necessary for the day. Their rule said: "The brethren shall ap­propriate to themselves nothing, neither house, nor place, nor other things, but shall live in the world as strangers and pilgrims, and shall go confidently after alms. In this they shall feel no shame, since the Lord for our sake made himself poor in the world. It is this perfec­tion of poverty which has made you, dearest brethren, heirs and kings of the Kingdom of heaven. Having this, you should wish to have nought else under heaven." Francis of Assisi tried to follow the precepts of Christ and to imi­tate his life. He delighted in sacri­fice for the poor and especially for the lepers, who were the outcasts of society. He loved all created things, and would preach to the birds. He was always cheerful and at times even playful. He was patient and hum­ble; he possessed an original and well-balanced mind, extraordinary common sense, an iron will, and unyielding courage. He adopted "My Lady Poverty" as his mis­tress, and sang her praises. He was very eloquent, and by his preaching swayed the minds and hearts of men. The Order of the Franciscans, or Minorites, grew with astonishing rapidity. It soon spread through­out the civilized world and num­bered its members by the thou­sands. 9. The Mendicant Orders Go About Doing Good In many ways the two mendicant orders of Dominican and Francis­can. Friars were similar, and they were both very popular. The Friars wandered all over Europe under the burning sun or in chilling blasts. They rejected alms in money, but received thank­fully whatever coarse food might be offered them or endured hunger uncomplainingly. They took no thought for the morrow, but busied themselves untiringly in the work of snatching souls from Satan and lifting men up from the sordid cares of daily life. They ministered to their infirmities, and showed to their darkened souls a glimpse of heavenly light. The Dominican and Franciscan Friars also engaged in missionary work among the heathen, schisma­tic Christians in the East, heretics, and Mohammedans. They emphasized the dignity of manual labor, the duty of Chris­tians to care for those who are in want, and the need of reform in the lives of the clergy. Both these orders exist today. They are strong and active. 10. A Revival of Culture Begins During the period of the Cru­sades thousands of people of west­ern Europe traveled to many distant lands. The people of the Eastern Empire and the Mohammedans of Spain and of the eastern countries were far more civilized than the people of western Europe. Contact with the Orient through the Crusades immensely stimulated the mental life of the people in the various countries of western Europe cn, sec. 2). From the twelfth century on the medieval arkness of western Europe was gradually being dispelled. Many universities sprang up in Italy, Germany, France, and England. These universities could boast of teachers of great learning and mental acumen, such as Anselm, Abelard, Peter the Lombard, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. Medieval men also built many wonderful cathedrals. Some of the most illustrious are those of Milan, Rheims, and Cologne. This cultural revival did also affect the Church. The Church is in the world, and any major change in the world is sooner or later felt in the Church. A SERMON BY ABELARD Pierre Abelard, French philosopher and teacher who became a monk, was widely known for his brilliance and learning. At the monastery which he built after his retirement in Champagne, he often lectured in theology to very attentive audiences. He lived from 1079 to 1142. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 23. CHAPTER 21: THE CHURCH DECLINES IN POWER, 1294-1417 ======================================================================== Chapter 21 The Church Declines in Power, 1294-1417 Papal Power Declines under Pope Boniface VIII The Fifth Turning Point in the History of the Church The "Babylonian Captivity," 1309-1376 The Papacy Is Torn by the Great Schism, 1378-1417 1. Papal Power Declines under Pope Boniface VIII Generally speaking the popes from Innocent III to Boniface VIII, that is for a period of nearly one hundred years, throughout the thirteenth century, were successful in maintaining the temporal power of the Church. A rapid decline began with the rule of Boniface VIII. Here we have an example of how the character and personality of a leader may influence the course of history. Boniface was a man of considerable learning and over­bearing arrogance. His installation as pope was attended with great pomp. As he mounted his horse a king held one of the stirrups, and a second king held the other stir­rup. This man was pope from 1294 to 1303. Boniface soon got into trouble with Philip the Fair, king of France, about taxation of the clergy. King Philip imposed a heavy tax upon the clergy in France. The pope forbade the clergy to pay this tax. The king retaliated by forbidding the expor­tation from his kingdom of gold, silver, and precious stones. In that way the king cut off the revenue the pope had been receiving from France. The pope issued several bulls A bull is an official papal pronounce­ment or declaration. It is called a bull because to such a papal document there was always affixed a round leaden seal, called in Latin a bulla. Papal bulls are always written in Latin. These papal bulls are named after their opening words. In the bull Ausculta fili ("Kiss the Son," quoted from Psalms 2), addressed to King Philip, Pope Boniface declared: "The Vicar of Jesus Christ is placed above kings and kingdoms to uproot, destroy, ruin, scatter, build up, and plant. Therefore, my dear son, be not per­suaded by anyone that you have no superior on earth, and that you are not subject to the head of the eccle­siastical hierarchy. Whoever has that idea is mad." In the bull Unam sanctum (One holy) the pope said: "...the Church has two swords at its com­mand, the spiritual and the tem­poral ... Each of these is the power of the Church, but the former should be drawn by the Church and by the hand of the Pontiff (or pope); the latter by the hand of kings and soldiers, but on behalf of the Church, at the command and with the authorization of the Pontiff. One of these swords must be subordinate to the other, that is to say, the temporal power must be subordinate to the spiritual power. It belongs to the spiritual power to establish the temporal power and to judge it if it goes astray ... It is necessary for salva­tion for every human creature to submit to the Roman Pontiff." For Scriptural roof of his right to universal dominion the pope cited Jeremiah 1:10 : "Behold, I have set thee over nations and kingdoms." Pope Boniface hurled the ban of excommunication at King Philip of France as Pope Gregory VII had hurled the ban at Emperor Henry IV. By that means Gregory had brought the emperor to terms: but the ban hurled by Boniface did not have the desired effect. How should one account for it that the same means did not in both cases have the same effect? The times had changed. In the time of Gregory feudalism prevailed, and the nobles were strong. They often rebelled against their king. Henry’s excommunication fur­nished them with an excuse for withdrawing their obedience. In that way the emperor was ren­dered helpless. There was nothing for him to do but submit himself to the pope. In the time of Boni-face, as one of the many results of the Crusades (ch. 19, sec. 4; ch. 22, sec. 2), feudalism had fallen into decay, the nobles had lost much of their power, and a strong spirit of nationalism had sprung up in the hearts of the people of France. When Pope Boniface ex­communicated their king, they did not withdraw their allegiance and forsake him. They loyally clung to him and backed him up, so that King Philip the Fair of France was in a position to defy Boniface. That is why in the case of King Philip of France the pope’s ban fell flat. In any struggle between pope and king the effectiveness of the ban of excommunication depended upon the attitude of the people. If they supported the pope it was a weapon of well-nigh irresistible power. But if the people sided with their king that weapon lost all its power. It was at Anagni in Italy that the emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1177 had humbled himself be­fore Pope Alexander III. It was in that same town of Anagni that Pope Boniface in 1303 was treated with great indignity by the soldiers of King Philip of France. The king sent two representatives with a band of soldiers to Anagni to ar­rest the pope. The populace of Anagni rose up in defense of the pope. The soldiers beat and buf­feted him, but they could not ar­rest him. He returned to Rome only to have new insults heaped upon him there. Boniface was an old man of eighty-seven. The com­plete defeat he had suffered at the hands of King Philip, and the physical maltreatment that had been inflicted upon him, were too much for him. A few days after his return to Rome, in the year 1303, he died of a broken heart. 2. The Fifth Turning Point in the History of the Church No pope had ever stated the papal claims to power in such ex­travagant form as the arrogant Boniface VIII had done in his various bulls. No pope ever suffered so complete and humiliating a de­feat. But it was not only his defeat. It also marked the beginning of the decline of the power of the Church. It ushered in a new era and marks the fifth turning point in the his­tory of the Church. POPE BONIFACE AND THE SOLDIERS OF KING PHILIP AT ANAGNI Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Boniface had entirely failed to understand and estimate correctly the strength of the new spirit of nationalism. The States-General of France, composed of the three estates of the realm — the nobles, the clergy, and the commons, — de­clared that in civil matters the pope had no authority, and that the king had no superior but God. 3. The "Babylonian Captivity," 1309-1376 In 1309 the papal seat was re­moved from Rome to Avignon in Provence, immediately adjacent to France. Here the popes resided until 1376. This period of residence of the popes in Avignon is known as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy." It is called a captivity because during this time the popes were completely under the domina­tion of the French kings. It is called the Babylonian captivity be­cause it lasted just about seventy years, as did the captivity of the Israelites in Babylon in Old Testa­ment times. During this period all the popes were Frenchmen. King Philip the Fair of France had dealt the papacy a heavy blow. The Babylonian Captivity further undermined the prestige of the papacy. Because the popes in Avi­gnon had to dance to the tunes played by the French kings, the people in other countries lost re­spect for them. The condition of the papacy in this time resembled its condition in the tenth century, when the popes were under the domination of the Italian nobles (ch. 13, sec. 4). Besides, national­ism was rearing its head also in other countries. Certain princes in Germany had the right to elect the king. They declared that the German emperor derived all his powers through them from God and not from the pope. The principle that the Ger­man emperors are independent of the papacy, as far as their election and exercise of their governmental powers is concerned, became a part of the German constitution. In England in 1366 during the reign of Edward III Parliament put an end to English vassalage to Rome. It repudiated the claims of the popes upon England as a fief to the Roman Church. The English refused to pay the tribute pledged by King John to Pope Innocent III (ch. 20, sec. 4). Many of the popes of the Baby­lonian Captivity led wicked lives. While in Avignon they maintained a very luxurious court. This cost a great deal of money. To obtain the money the popes brazenly and in the most scandalous manner sold the office of bishop and in­dulgences, and in many other ways exacted a heavy toll from the mem­bers of the Church. This came to be felt as an unbearable burden in all the countries of western Eu­rope. Many people began to say that the pope was the antichrist. In all these ways the Babylonian Captivity caused the papacy to lose a great deal of prestige. But worse was still to come. 4. The Papacy Is Torn by the Great Schism, 1378-1417 The Italians were greatly dissatisfied with the residence of the popes in Avignon. They wanted Rome to become again the seat of the papacy. This resulted in an open rupture in 1378 between the Italian and the French party. Each party elected a pope. Now there were two popes: one in Rome and one in Avignon. This is known as the Great Schism, which lasted from 1378 to 1417. The popes denounced, excom­municated, and anathematized (pronounced curses upon) each other. To all true and sincere Christians it was a sad spectacle. The reverence in which the papacy had been generally held received a rude shock, from which it never fully recovered. In 1409 a council was held in Pisa to heal the Schism. The Council deposed both popes, and elected Alexander V as the new pope. Neither of the deposed popes would give up his office. Now there were three popes. Under these confusing circum­stances none of the three was fully recognized as pope. At last in 1417 the Council of Constance elected an Italian cardinal pope as Martin V. The other three popes, weary of the troublesome state of affairs, gave Martin their support. And so the Church in western Europe once more had one head, and the Great Schism was healed. But the wounds which the papacy and the Church had suffered in conse­quence of the Babylonian Captivity and the Great Schism continued to throb for a long time. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 24. CHAPTER 22: THE CHURCH IS STIRRED, 1200-1517 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22 The Church Is Stirred, 1200-1517 The Struggle for Supremacy Ends The Crusades Affect the Church The Albigenses Spread Their Heretical Ideas The Waldenses Seek to Lead the Church’ Back to Simple Christianity The Church Resorts to Persecution to Sup­press Heresy Wycliffe Teaches the Need for Reform Huss Preaches Reform in Bohemia Wycliffe’s Bones Are Burned Three General Church Councils Fail to Bring About Reform The Renaissance Has Both Good and Bad Effects The Brethren of the Common Life Attempt Reform in the Netherlands A Review of Influences That Have Stirred the Church The Church Stands on the Threshold of the Reformation 1. The Struggle for Supremacy Ends The epic struggle between papacy and empire was the great drama of the Middle Ages (ch. 17, sec. 5). It ended with the fading out of the Empire, when in 1268 the last legitimate male of the imperial family perished on the scaffold in Naples. Thereafter the Empire was only a shadow until in 1806 Napoleon waved his magic wand, and it vanished into thin air (ch. 13, sec. 5). In the struggle the papacy also received serious wounds. The Me­dieval Church was a vast and mighty structure. But its frame­work was severely shaken when in 1303 at Anagni King Philip of France inflicted deep humiliation upon the pompous and arrogant Boniface VIII (ch. 21, sec. 1); when from 1309 to 1376 the Church suffered the disgrace of the Babylonian Captivity of its popes (ch. 21, sec. 3); and when the Church from 1378 to 1417 was dreadfully scandalized by the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4). However, it was not only the framework of the Church that during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was severely shaken. That after all was mostly on the outside. At the same time there was much going on also inside the Church. The life of the Church within its trembling and creaking walls was also strangely stirred. 2. The Crusades Affect the Church All of western Europe from the twelfth century on underwent ex­tensive and profound changes. It would be going too far to ascribe all these changes exclusively to the Crusades. But no other single cause was so productive of changes (ch. 19, sec. 4). For centuries the people of western Europe had lived their lives within the framework of feudalism (ch. 13, sec. 2). The Crusades did much to break down the feudal system. Above all, the Crusades stimulated the economic and intellectual life of the West by bringing its people, who were still crude and uncultured and com­paratively poor, into direct contact with the ancient and rich civiliza­tions of the Greeks and Arabs of the East. As was inevitable the Church also was deeply affected by these enormous changes. In all the lands of western Europe there came into existence groups of peo­ple who began to hold and spread ideas which were in conflict with the doctrine and government of the Church. 3. The Albigenses Spread Their Heretical Ideas You will remember that Mani­cheism had its origin in Persia and spread from there through the Roman Empire, and that for a time the great Church Father Augus­tine came under its influence (ch. 6, sec 7). Later Augustine gave up the teachings of the Mani­cheans, and combatted them. His opposition did much to eradicate Manicheism from the West; but in the East it lingered on. During the Crusades, Manichean ideas came back into western Europe through Bulgaria along the new trade routes opened by the cru­saders. These ideas sprouted abundant­ly, especially in southern France. There the town of Albi became a hotbed of these ideas, and the peo­ple who held these ideas came to be called Albienses after the name of that town. Like the Micheans the Albi­genses wer dualists. This means that they believed that there is a good and an evil god. The visible world, the world of matter, is the work of the evil god. In this ma­terial world souls are held in bond­age as prisoners from the kingdom of the good God. The Albigenses believed that salvation could be obtained by re­pentance, asceticism (ch. 14, sec. 2), and the "consolation." Among the Albigenses the "consolation" took the place which baptism has in the Church. It consisted in the laying on of hands, and placing the Gospel of John on the person’s head. Through it forgiveness of sins and restoration to the king­dom of the good God was obtained. One who had received the "con­solation" must not marry, must never swear an oath, must not take part in war, must not acquire prop­erty, and must not use meat, milk, or eggs. The souls of people who died without having received the "consolation," according to the Al­bigenses, would enter another hu­man or even animal body, until at last they too would be saved. The Albigenses translated Scrip­ture, in which they claimed to find their teachings. But some rejected the Old Testament. They consid­ered it to be the work of the evil god. Others accepted the Psalms and the Prophets. All believed that the New Testament came from the good God. Since they believed that all material things are evil, they thought that Christ did not have a real body, and that He did not die a real death. They did not rev­erence the cross because it is a ma­terial thing. They rejected the sacraments, because their elements are material. They did not have PETER WALDO From the Luther Monument at Worms, Germany Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions church buildings, because they are built of material things. 4. The Waldenses Seek to Lead the Church Back to Simple Christianity The Albigenses were definitely hostile to the Church. That cannot be said of the Waldenses. They were followers of Peter Waldo, a rich merchant of Lyons. He be­lieved that the Bible and especially the New Testament should be the only rule of faith and life for the Christian. He sold all his goods, and gave his money to the poor. He and his followers learned large portions of the New Testament by heart. Two by two, dressed in simple woolen garments and bare­footed, they went about preaching. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fri­days they fasted. They would not swear an oath or shed blood. They used only the Lord’s Prayer. They did not believe in prayers and masses for the dead or in purga­tory. They considered prayers offered in a house or in a stable just as effective as those offered in a church. They practised lay preaching by both men and women. 5. The Church Resorts to Persecu­tion to Suppress Heresy The Albigenses and the entirely different Waldenses grew so nu­merous that in the areas in which they lived they became a real threat to the very existence of the Roman Catholic Church. Their presence had a great effect upon the Church. The Church pro­nounced them to be heretics. It was largely to oppose their preaching that the Dominican and Francis­can Orders of Preaching Friars were organized (ch. 20, sec. 7-9). As these two orders grew very rapidly they acquired a place of the utmost importance during the later Middle Ages. They became the armies of the popes. The preaching of the Dominican and Franciscan Friars had some but not a very great success in winning the heretics back to the Church. And so various church councils decided, in no small meas­ure under the influence of the teachings of Augustine (ch. 7, sec. 6), to use methods of force. The Church began to persecute here­tics. The Inquisition was intro­duced with the Dominicans in charge of it. The Inquisition was a Roman Catholic court whose business it was to root out heresy. Anybody suspected of heresy was brought before this tribunal conducted by Dominican Friars. The Friars would question the suspected one. If they discovered that he held heretical ideas they would ask him to recant or deny his heretical be­liefs. If he recanted he would go free. If he would not recant, but steadfastly persisted in his hereti­cal opinions, he was abandoned by the Church to the officers of the civil government. That is, he was surrendered to the civil govern­ment to be punished, for "the Church does not shed blood" (ch. 7, sec. 6). Punishment most fre­quently took the form of death by fire. The heretic was burned at the stake. If a man accused of heresy would not answer the questions put to him by the Dominican examin­ers, he would be tortured until he confessed or died as a result of the torture. Many Albigenses and Waldenses fell victims to the Inquisition. But their number in southern France was so great that the task of de­stroying them was too big for the Inquisition. Then the popes re­sorted to other measures. They preached a crusade against the heretics. Some of the nobles re­sponded to the call of the popes. They marched at the head of their armies into southern France. For twenty years "blood flowed like water." The country was devas­tated by war of the most savage kind. What had been the fairest province of France was turned into a wilderness, and its cities into ruins. The Albigenses were rooted out. The Waldenses found a place of refuge in the high valleys of the Alps. They still live there today. At the time of the Reformation they accepted its teachings and be­came Protestants (ch. 27, sec. 2). Of the Christians who broke away from the Roman Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, they are the only group that has survived to the present time. They are car­rying on evangelistic work in Italy today with considerable success. 6. Wycliffe Teaches the Need for Reform In the latter part of the Middle Ages there arose many individuals who criticized the doctrine and government of the Roman Church. The two who were by far the most important are John Wycliffe and John Huss. Wycliffe was born in England in the year 1320. He studied at the University of Oxford, and later be­came professor in that institution. In 1376 he began to criticize the clergy. He said that wealth and political power had so corrupted the Church that a radical reform was necessary. The Church, he said, should return to the poverty and simplicity of apostolic times. The pope he called the antichrist. He declared that the Bible rather than the Church should be the only rule of faith. But the Bible in gen­eral use in the Catholic Church was written in Latin and could not be read by the people. It was the translation made from the Hebrew and the Greek into Latin by Je­rome, known as the Vulgate (ch. 6, sec. 6). In order that Christians in England might be able to read the Bible for themselves, Wycliffe translated it into the English lan­guage. He also wrote many books. Wycliffe’s followers carried his teachings and the newly translated Bible into many parts of England. Naturally the pope and the clergy were uneasy about this. They did all they could to destroy Wycliffe. But a large portion of the English people and among them many powerful nobles were in hearty sympathy with the reformer. These nobles protected him so that he did not fall into the hands of his perse­cutors. Wycliffe died in peace on the last day of the year 1384. He was buried in the sacred burial ground of his church in Lutter­worth. The teachings of Wycliffe con­tinued to be spread over England after his death, not only by means of his writings, but also by the preaching of his disciples, who came to be known as Lollards. The number of the followers of Wy­cliffe increased day by day. They were people who denounced the pope and his clergy, practised poverty, and acknowledged the Bible as the only standard of doctrine. JOHN WYCLIFFE SENDS FORTH HIS FOLLOWERS Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions After a painting by W. F. Yeames As the followers of Wycliffe in­creased in influence, the opposi­tion of the clergy likewise in­creased. At last the bishops suc­ceeded in getting a law passed which condemned heretics to be burned. From one end of England to the other the Lollards perished as martyrs in the flames. But it was difficult to uproot them entire­ly. In the fifteenth century fires were still kindled. Gradually, how­ever, the growth of Lollardism was checked. Thinner and thinner grew the ranks. Finally those who were left were driven into hiding. But Lollardism lingered on in secret to the time of the Reformation. 7. Huss Preaches Reform in Bohernia The teachings of Wycliffe spread far beyond the shores of England. In Bohemia John Huss accepted them with enthusiasm. Huss, who was born around 1369, had been trained for the priesthood. He be­came dean of the theological facul­ty at the University of Prague, in the capital of Bohemia, and later was made head of that institution. When Huss became acquainted with the writings of Wycliffe he began to preach with boldness against the corruption of the clergy. Long before the birth of Huss strong opposition to the Roman Church had developed in Bohemia. The Waldenses were especially numerous in that coun­try. So the preaching of Huss met with a hearty response among both the common people and the nobil­ity. Huss won almost the whole of Bohemia to his views. JOHN HUSS PREACHING TO HIS FOLLOWERS Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Huss taught many ideas which later became the main teachings of the Reformers. He taught that the holy Catholic Church consists of the total number of the predesti­nated. He distinguished between being in the Church and being of the Church. He taught that one could be in the Church and yet not be a real member of it. Of the uni­versal Church Christ alone is the head. Popes and cardinals are not necessary to the government of the Church. It should be remembered that this was the time of the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4). The bitter conflict caused by it in the Church was now at its height. The two popes at this time were John XXIII in Avignon, and Gregory XII in Rome. Pope John XXIII was hard pressed by the King of Naples, who was the protector of Pope Gregory XII. John promised indulgences to all who would come to his aid against the King of Naples. Before this Huss had been a strong believer in indulgences. On one occasion he had spent his last cent to buy one. Now he con­demned the selling of indulgences as an abominable practice contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Immediately Pope John excom­municated Huss. The latter treated his excommunication with con­tempt, declared it to be null and void, and appealed from the pope to the Council. EXECUTION OF JOHN HUSS (Burned at the Stake) Bettmann Archive After a painting by Hellquist, 1887 Late in the year 1414 a general council assembled in Constance. It had been called by the emperor Sigismund for the purpose of mak­ing an end of the Schism and bringing about the necessary re­forms in the Church. The emperor invited Huss to attend the Council, and promised him a safe-conduct. Relying upon the emperor’s prom­ise of safety Huss accepted the in­vitation. He arrived in Constance on the second of November, 1414. A few weeks later he was put into prison by Pope John XXIII for heresy. Huss, supported by the Bohem­ians and the emperor himself, pro­tested vehemently against his ar­rest. The answer was that his arrest was entirely canonical, that is to say, it was in accordance with the canons, or rules, of the Church. That was only too true. According to canonical law of the Roman Catholic Church, heretics have no rights. To deceive heretics and be­tray them is a pious act. Promises made to heretics need not be kept. Huss was left to languish in prison for more than eight months. Then, without having been given an opportunity to defend himself, he was brought from the dungeon to the cathedral in Constance. There, on the sixth of July, 1415, in the presence of the bishops and the emperor he was degraded. First he was dressed in the vest­ments of a priest. Then one by one every article of priestly attire was removed with curses that were considered appropriate. Thereupon a paper cone was placed upon his head. Upon this paper cap three ugly devils had been painted. The cap bore the inscription: "Here is the Heresiarch." Huss was led forth from the cathedral to a place before one of the city’s gates. There a high stake had been erected and surrounded with firewood. He was tied to the stake with cords which had been thoroughly soaked in water. The wood was kindled. Flames licked his body and Huss died a martyr’s death. A crusade was organized against the followers of Huss, and for many years Bohemia was ravaged by war. But the spirit of reform lived on, and when the Reforma­tion began in Germany, opposition to the Roman Church was still strong in the land of Huss. 8. Wycliffe’s Bones Are Burned The same Council of Constance that burned Huss alive also ordered that the writings of Wycliffe should be burned, and that his body should be dug up and burned. Throughout England whatever books of Wycliffe could be found were consigned to the flames im­mediately after the close of the Council. But it was not until four­teen years later that the order of the Council in regard to the body of Wycliffe was carried out. For forty-four years his body had rested in the churchyard of Lutterworth. Then in 1428 the grave was opened. Only a few bones were found. With great ceremony these bones of the "notorious and obsti­nate archheretic whose name and memory is cursed," were burned. The ashes were strewn upon the waters of the Severn River, which carried them out to sea. 9. Three General Church Coun­cils Fail to Bring About Re­form In the period from 1409 to 1449 three general church councils were held: in Pisa in the year 1409, in Constance from 1414 to 1418, and in Basel from 1431 to 1449. The threefold purpose of these coun­cils was (1) to heal the Great Schism, (2) to bring about re­forms in the Church, and (3) to suppress heresy. The Council of Pisa was in the end a failure. It accomplished nothing that proved to be effective (ch. 21, sec. 4). We have already seen how the Council of Constance, by appoint­ing Martin V as the legal pope, was successful in healing the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4). We have also seen how this same council condemned Huss as a heretic and burned him alive; and how it condemned Wycliffe as the archheretic and ordered his dead body to be burned. You will also recall that the burning of Huss did not stop the Hussite movement in Bohemia. Crusades against the Hussites, in­volving terrible slaughter and bloodshed, also failed. One of the main objects of the Council of Basel was to restore the unity of the Church in Bohemia. The Hussites were invited to send representatives to the Council to talk things over. In 1436 an agree­ment was reached known as the Compactata. This agreement pro­vided (1) that all the members of the Church in Bohemia who so de­sired would be allowed to partake not only of the bread but also of the wine in communion, (2) that attempts should be made to reform the lives of the clergy, (3) that a certain freedom of preaching should be allowed, and (4) that certain grievances in regard to the holding and administration of church property should be re­moved. The Council had negotiated with heretics on equal terms, and had granted special privileges to those who had openly defied the authority of the Church. While the Council of Basel was in session the Greeks sent repre­sentatives to implore the Chris­tians in the West to send them help against the Mohammedan Turks, who were threatening the very ex­igence of the Eastern Empire and Church. The situation was desper­ate. In order to get help the Greek representatives were willing to go to any lengths. The Eastern Church and Empire had delegated their foremost men as their repre­sentatives: the emperor himself, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who was the head of the Eastern Church, and several bishops. After lengthy discussions the Greek rep­resentatives agreed in exchange for help to accept the doctrines of the Western Church. They even agreed to acknowledge the suprem­acy of the pope of Rome over the Eastern Church. It seemed that the Schism of the year 1054 was healed. It appeared that the two great parts of the Church, the Greek Eastern and the Latin Western parts, would be re­united; that again in all the world there would be only one church. But so it seemed for only a short time. When reports of the agreements made at the Council of Basel reached the East there arose from every side a loud and bitter pro­test. Opposition to the concessions made by the Greek representatives was fierce and determined. The patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria called the Council of Basel a "council of robbers." They denounced the Patriarch of Constantinople as a matricide — a murderer of his mother, the East­ern Church — and a heretic. Ten years later, in 1453, the Turks captured Constantinople, the seat of the head of the Eastern Empire and of the head of the Eastern Church. That put an end to all further attempts at re-union of the Eastern and Western churches. 10. The Renaissance Has Both Good and Bad Effects When the German barbarians overran and conquered the western provinces of the Roman Empire, the ancient Graeco-Roman civiliza­tion was well-nigh trampled out in the West. But the barbarians did not conquer the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire (ch. 9, sec. 1; ch. 10, sec. 3). For a thousand years (from 476 to 1453), that is, all through the Middle Ages, while western Europe became steeped in ignorance and barbarism, the an­cient civilization was preserved in the Eastern or Byzantine Empire. It is true that in the West the lamp of learning occasionally re­ceived a meager supply of oil. In the time of Charlemagne there had occurred a revival of learning (ch. 11, sec. 6 and 8). Then also men coming back from the Crusades, through their contact with the Greeks in the East and also through their contact with the Arabs in Spain, had brought with them to the countries of western Europe some knowledge of ancient civilization. But the real revival of learning, called the Renaissance, came about in the following manner. With the fall of Constantinople into the hands of the Turks (1453) many Greek scholars fled the doomed city, carrying with them to Italy precious manuscripts containing the writings of the ancient Greek literary masters. Men began to study these manuscripts and Italy became the scene of a wonderful literary and artistic revival. From Italy the Renaissance spread across the Alps into the countries of northwestern Europe. Many of the popes of the second half of the fifteenth century be­came very liberal patrons, or sup­porters, of the Renaissance. They supplied students of Greek and Latin literature, writers, archi­tects, and painters with funds so that they could devote themselves to literature and art without finan­cial worries. It was during this period of the Renaissance popes that the Vatican was built in Rome. The Vatican is the palatial resi­dence of the popes, with its beauti­ful gardens, its famous Vatican Li­brary and Sistine Chapel, and the magnificent St. Peter’s Church. The ancient Greek and Latin scholars whose writings were now again studied for the first time in centuries and with unbounded en­thusiasm, were pagans. A study of their works resulted in a revival of paganism. The popes of this period were more interested in this revived paganism of the Renais­sance than in Christianity. Many of them, especially Alexander VI, were very wicked men. Their splendid and luxurious court, their patronage of art and literature, and their great building projects cost immense sums of money. By various schemes they managed to make great amounts of gold flow into the papal treasury from the several countries of western Eu­rope. The irreligion and the luxu­rious manner of life of the popes, and their heavy exactions of money caused great dissatisfaction with the papacy and the Church, espe­cially in the countries north of the Alps. SAVONAROLA PREACHES AGAINST LUXURY IN FLORENCE Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Painting by Ludwig von Langenmantel In Florence, Italy, a priest by the name of Savonarola preached boldly against the wickedness of his time. He did not spare Pope Alexander VI. He was, however, in no sense a reformer of the Church. He did not attack the Cath­olic system, but only the moral abuses of his day. In 1498 he was hanged, and his body was burned. 11. The Brethren of the Common Life Attempt Reform in the Netherlands About the middle of the four­teenth century, during the "Baby­lonian Captivity," there arose in the Netherlands another attempt to reform the Church. This movement was that of the Brethren of the Common Life. It was founded by Gerhard Groote, under the influ­ence and with the help of John Ruysbroek. Groote preached to large multitudes of eager listeners, and the result was a great revival of religion. The Brethren of the Common Life were strong believers in Christian education, They hoped to bring about reform in the Church by means of education. In many places in the Netherlands and northern Germany they established excellent schools. From these schools came many men who did much to promote learning and piety. Luther attended one of their schools in Magdeburg for one year (ch. 23, sec. 5). Two other pupils of the Brethren of the Common Life who deserve special mention are John of Wessel and Erasmus. John of Wessel received his first education in a school of the Breth­ren of the Common Life. He was one of the leading scholars and thinkers of his time. From 1445 to 1456 he was a professor in the University of Erfurt in Germany, from which school forty-nine years later Luther received his degree of Master of Arts. Many called John of Wessel "the light of the world." He attacked indulgences. He clearly taught the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He said, "He who thinks to be justi­fied through his own works does not know what it is to be saved." He also taught the closely related doctrine that the elect are saved by grace alone, and wrote, "Whom God wishes to save He would save by giving him grace, if all the priests should wish to damn and excommunicate him." He did not accept the Roman Catholic doc­trine of transubstantiation — the belief that when the priest pro­nounces the sacramental words, the bread and wine are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. Of him Luther later said, "If I had read the works of Wessel beforehand, it might well have seemed that I derived all my ideas from him." Of course, the Roman Catholic Church did not approve of John of Wessel. He was tried for heresy before the Archbishop of Mainz. After having attempted to defend himself, he recanted. But he was cast into prison, where he died in October, 1489. The most famous pupil of the Brethren of the Common Life was Erasmus. He lived at the same time Luther did. He used his great learning and sharp pen to ridicule the ignorance of the monks and the many abuses in the Church. But that is as far as he went. He never joined Luther in the great Reformation movement. It was said: "Erasmus laid the egg [of the Reformation] and Luther hatched it." Another man who was deeply in­fluenced by the spirit of this great movement was Thomas a Kempis. He lived in the Netherlands near the city of Zwolle, and he wrote The Imitation of Christ. This little book has held its place in the front rank of devotional literature down to our own day. It is one of the famous books of the world. Whereas in Italy the Renais­sance was very much pagan in character, the revived knowledge of the Greek and Latin classics in northern Europe was taken into the service of an awakening Chris­tianity. 12. A Review of Influences That Have Stirred the Church For more than three hundred years the Church was strangely stirred. There had been the Albigenses and the Waldenses. In the four­teenth century Pope Boniface VIII was humbled, his successors were captives for seventy years, and then the papacy was rent by schism. In England Wycliffe and the Lollards caused great commo­tion, as did John Huss and the Hus­sites in Bohemia. Dominicans and Franciscans became a power in the Church. The Inquisition was intro­duced. Heretics were burned, and their lands were devastated. In the first half of the fifteenth century three general councils were held. The Turks conquered the Eastern Empire and captured its capital, Constantinople. The gorgeous Christian Church of St. Sophia was made over into a Mohammedan mosque, the cross on its dome was replaced with the crescent, and the Greek Orthodox Church was forced to pass under the yoke of the False Prophet, as Mohammed was called. In the second half of the fifteenth century the paganizing Renais­sance greatly gained momentum in the south of Europe, and captured the papacy. The Brethren of the Common Life, starting in the Netherlands, sounded a ringing scriptural note that was heard throughout all of northern Europe. Wessel held and taught many views which were soon to be more widely and more effectively pro­claimed by Luther. The biting sa­tire from the witty pen of Erasmus, the Dutchman from Rot­terdam, made all Europe laugh over the ignorance of fat and indolent monks. ERASMUS Painting by Holbein. The Louvre 13. The Church Stands on the Threshold of the Reforma­tion The life of the Church continued to be stirred. The time had come when new wine would be poured into the old bottle, and the bottle would break. The Church presented the pic­ture of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. Well might one have asked: Can these dry bones live? The answer would soon be forth­coming. The time was at hand when a man would appear at whose mighty voice of prophecy the dry bones would stir. There would be a noise and a shaking. Bone would come to bone. Upon them would appear sinews and flesh and skin. Then the Spirit of the Lord would blow over that valley. The slain would live and stand upon their feet, an exceeding great army. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 25. PART THREE: THE CHURCH IN REFORMATION ======================================================================== Part 3 THE CHURCH IN REFORMATION (From the Posting of the Ninety-five Theses to the Peace of Westphalia, 1517-1648) The Church Is Shaken The Church Is Convulsed The Church Is Reformed in Germany and Scandinavia The Church Is Reformed in German Switzerland The Church Is Reformed in French Switzerland The Church Is Reformed in France and in the Netherlands The Church Is Reformed in Scotland The Church Is Reformed in England The Roman Church Undertakes Reform The Protestant Churches Fight for Their Life TIME LINE - PART III - THE REFORMATION PART THREE THE CHURCH IN THE REFORMATION We have come to a high point in the history of the Church. In 1517 and the years that followed an event occurred which ushered in a new era in world history. In that period the power of Rome over the Christian Church was challenged, men broke away from its tyr­anny, and Christian liberty was at last restored. The men who led the way in this great reformation were men of strong faith and convictions, high intelligence, and great moral and physical courage. They had fire in their blood and steel in their spines. They risked their lives and sacrificed all ordinary pleasures to work untiringly for the purity and freedom of the Church of Jesus Christ. The period of the Reformation is an exciting and heroic one. The people were no less courageous than their leaders. War and perse­cution did not turn them aside. It was a time of high thinking and peril­ous living. In spite of all opposition from the Catholic Church, the Reforma­tion spread — through Germany, Switzerland, France, the Nether­lands, England, Scotland, Norway, and Sweden. The fetters that had bound the people to a religion of superstition and fear had at last been broken, and the Church was once more free to worship God "in spirit and in truth." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 26. CHAPTER 23: THE CHURCH IS SHAKEN, OCTOBER 31, 1517 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23 The Church Is Shaken, October 31, 1517 A New Era Opens The Sacrament of Penance Becomes Central in the Catholic Religion The Practice of Indulgences Arises The System of Indulgences Gives General Satisfaction Luther’s Early Life Luther’s Conversion Luther Posts the Ninety-five Theses Luther Is Already a Man of High Attain­ments He Is Still a Catholic in Good Standing Posting of Theses Is a Common Practice The Ninety-five Theses Are Published and Widely Read The Theses Have an Immediate Effect Their Real Significance Is Recognized by the Church 1. A New Era Opens We have come to the Reforma­tion, the sixth turning point in the Church’s history (ch. 2, sec. 4 and 6; ch. 5, sec. 4; ch. 10, sec. 2; ch. 21, sec. 2). We shall now enter that period in the long history of the Church which was the most important since its founding on Pentecost (ch. 1, sec. 2) and its extension into the pagan world of the Roman Empire (ch. 2, sec. 6, 7, and 8). He who was called of God to be the man at whose voice the dry bones of the Church would stir was Martin Luther. MARTIN LUTHER The shaking of the Church began with Luther’s talking about indulgences (sec. 3, this chap; ch. 20, sec. 5). This was the first step in a movement which ran its course over several years, and which finally came to a climax in the Protestant Reformation. 2. The Sacrament of Penance Be­comes Central in the Catholic Religion The Church in medieval times put great emphasis on sin and its punishment in purgatory and hell. According to the Roman Catholic Church there are three sacraments which particularly deal with the forgiving and removal of sin and the cancellation of its punishment. These are baptism, the mass, and penance. You know something about the sacrament of baptism. Mass has also been described in a previous chapter. It remains for us to explain the so-called sacra­ment of penance. In reality the sacrament of pen­ance in Luther’s day was the center of Catholic religious practice. It consisted in four things: (1) con­trition, (2) confession to a priest, (3) satisfaction, and (4) absolu­tion (forgiveness of sin and release from the penalty of sin). After hearing the expression of contrition and the confession of sins, the priest decided what satis­faction the sinner should make. Satisfaction always consisted in something the sinner should do. It took a great variety of forms, but it was always in the nature of a penalty for sin committed. Fre­quently the satisfaction involved pain. The story is told that once upon a time a certain priest de­manded that the penitent should walk for a whole week with dried peas in his shoes. (The penitent did so, but he first boiled the peas.) Usually satisfaction was made by the saying of a prescribed number of prayers, by fasting, by the giv­ing of alms, by going on a pil­grimage to some shrine, or by tak­ing part in a crusade. Only after contrition, confession, and the giving of proof of contri­tion by making the required sat­isfaction, would the priest grant absolution. It was the word of absolution spoken by the priest which declared to the penitent sin­ner the forgiveness of his sin and release from its punishment. LETTER OF INDULGENCE This papal ticket is written in official document in medieval Latin. Notice the seals that make it an official document. 3. The Practice of Indulgences Arises In process of time a certain de­velopment took place in this sys­tem. It is to this particular devel­opment that we shall turn our attention here, because it is of the greatest importance. Without a knowledge of it you will be unable to understand how Luther shook the Church. This development had to do with the third stage in the sacrament of penance, namely the satisfaction. The development consisted in this, that the Church permitted the penitent to substitute the payment of a sum of money for other forms of penalty or satisfaction. The Church would issue to the penitent an official statement that he had received release from other penal­ties through payment of money. Such a document or papal ticket was called an indulgence. Money thus paid in place of other penalties amounted to what we would call a fine. Not only could one buy indulgences for one’s self. One could also buy indulgences for relatives and friends who had died and passed into purgatory, and in this way shorten the time they would otherwise have to spend in the place of purification (ch. 14, sec. 3; ch. 19, sec. 3). The practice of granting indul­gences was based on the Catholic doctrine of works of supereroga­tion. Works of supererogation were works done beyond the demands of God’s law. These works earned a reward. Christ by his life of per­fect holiness had done more than was necessary for the salvation of man. In that way Christ had earned what amounted to a rich treasury of merits laid up in heaven. The saints had added much to this fund of merits. The Church taught that the Gospel not only imposes commands upon man, but that it also comes to us with coun­sels of perfection. It based this teaching upon the story of the rich young ruler. He said that he had observed all the commandments. "Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven" (Matthew 19:21). The Church taught that if he had heeded Jesus’ admo­nition, he would have performed a work of supererogation, and would have merited great reward. The saints had done just that. They had sold their goods and given them to the poor or to the Church. All these were added to the treas­ury of merits stored up in heaven. The fund of merits earned by works of supererogation was in charge of the pope as Christ’s vicar on earth. Much as we draw a check against our account in the bank, so the pope, for the benefit of sin­ners who were short of merits, could grant indulgences by draw­ing upon this fund of merits in heaven. 4. The System of Indulgences Gives General Satisfaction This system worked out to the great satisfaction of all concerned. It pleased the people. They found it easier to buy an indulgence than to undergo other penalties. And they preferred paying a sum of money for the soul of a dear one in purgatory to saying many pray­ers for that soul. To shorten the soul’s sojourn in purgatory to any worthwhile degree took an enor­mous number of prayers. It was a great chore to say so many pray­ers. The same thing could be ac­complished much more easily, in much less time and on a much larger scale, by buying an indul­gence. The system pleased the Church. The sale of indulgences was a source of huge income. It kept money flowing into the pope’s cof­fers in a steady stream. More and more frequently the popes issued indulgences. Although they raised the price, the people bought them in ever greater quan­tities. As the indulgence business grew, abuses attendant upon it also grew. At the time of which we are now speaking, Tetzel, an elo­quent Dominican Friar and high pressure salesman, was peddling indulgences in an unusually scan­dalous manner near the Saxony border in the neighborhood of Wit­tenberg. In his sales talk he said, "The moment you hear your money drop in the box, the soul of your mother will jump out of purga­tory." TETZEL SELLING INDULGENCES Religious News Service It was Tetzel’s conduct that made Luther speak up concerning in­dulgences. How did this come about? The story will have to be delayed until we get acquainted with Luther, the man who was to kindle the fires of the Reformation. 5. Luther’s Early Life Martin Luther was born in Eis­leben in Electoral Saxony (ch. 11, sec. 6) in the heart of Germany, on November 10, 1483. When Mar­tin was still a baby half a year old, the family moved to Mansfeld on the eastern edge of the Harz Mountains. The parents were pious people; they were poor, but the father was industrious. He slaved and saved in order to make it possible for his promising son to have an educa­tion. Martin received his elementary education in Mansfeld. He at­tended high school in Magdeburg (ch. 22, sec. 11) and Eisenach (ch. 24, sec. 19), and college in Erfurt (ch. 22, sec. 11) . From the Uni­versity of Erfurt he obtained his Master’s degree in 1505. His father was very happy on this occasion. He felt proud that his Martin, the son of poor parents, had gained that much-coveted scholastic dis­tinction. In accordance with the wishes of his father Luther now took up the study of law in the same university. Half a year later he suddenly dropped that study and entered the Augustinian monastery in Erfurt. Luther’s father was a man of strong will and fiery temper. To see his son a famous lawyer had been the great ambition of his life. With that end in view he had sac­rificed, slaved, and saved. Now his son, whom he dearly loved, had in gross ingratitude, as he thought, disappointed his fondest hopes and long-cherished expectations. He was not only disappointed; he was furious. But Martin was equally strong willed. He might have retraced his steps. But in spite of his father’s terrible anger he persisted in his course, and after a trial period of half a year he took the vow. Broth­er Martin was now a monk. He fully believed at this time that he would be a monk for life. Instead of law Luther now stud­ied theology, and in 1507 he was ordained as priest. The next year he was sent from Erfurt to Witten­berg to become a tutor in the uni­versity in that place. While there he obtained his first degree in the­ology, that of Bachelor of Bible. After one year in Wittenberg Luther was suddenly transferred back to Erfurt. There he received his second degree in theology, that of Sententiarius. He was called upon to teach the Sentences of Pe­ter Lombard. At the youthful age of only twenty-six years, Luther occupied an important position. The Sentences of the Lombard was the standard textbook of theology. To teach it was considered a highly responsible task. While teaching in Erfurt, Luther was sent to Rome as companion to an older brother on business for his monastic order. While the other brother attended to the business, Luther roamed the city which had once been the capital of the ancient Roman Empire, and which at this time was the capital of the Roman Church. He visited all the famous shrines. On his knees he climbed the Scala Santa, the stairway which was said to be the one which Jesus had climbed to reach Pilate’s judgment hall. This stairway was supposed to have been brought from Jerusalem to Rome. There is a story that when half way up the stairway Luther heard a voice with­in him say, "The just shall live by faith." He got up from his knees and walked down. It has been said by many that this was Luther’s conversion, but that is not correct. Luther’s conversion took place late in 1512 in his own cell in the tower of the Black Cloister in Witten­berg, not in 1511 on the steps of the Scala Santa in Rome. Religious and moral conditions were very bad in Rome at that time. Much of what Luther saw and heard there shocked his moral sense and wounded his piety. Years later his memories of his visit to Rome did much to stiffen him in his opposition to the hierarchy. But at this time his faith in the Roman Church remained unshaken. He came back still a loyal Catholic. Soon after his return from Rome, Luther a second time it Erfurt for Wittenberg. That town now became his permanent resi­dence. For the rest of his life he lectured on the Bible in the uni­versity at Wittenberg. He also be­gan to preach, and the degree of Doctor of Theology was conferred upon him. From 1512 to 1517 he did what every professor does, he studied and lectured. He also made trips to Cologne and Leipzig. He was elected prior or head of his monastery in Wittenberg, and dis­trict vicar, which imposed upon him the oversight of eleven other monasteries. 6. Luther’s Conversion Such in short had been Luther’s outward career up to 1517. What had been his inner development during this time? Luther was of a deeply religious nature, and from childhood on he had absorbed the teaching of the Church of his day. He had been taught about sin and the eternal punishment of the sinner in hell. He was greatly concerned about the salvation of his soul. Under the influence of the Church’s teaching he came to the conclusion that the best way to gain salvation was to flee the world (ch. 7, sec. 5; ch. 14, sec. 2) . That is why, in spite of the bitter grief and anger of his father, he had entered the monas­tery. Deliberately, against the vio­lent opposition of his father, and notwithstanding the great pain he caused him whom he loved with all his heart, he had turned his back upon a brilliant career in the world as a lawyer, buried himself in a cloister (a residence for monks or nuns) and become a monk. In the monastery he lived a life of strictest asceticism (ch. 14, sec. 2) . With all his might he tried to earn salvation by his own good works. He cheerfully performed the humblest tasks. He swept the floor; he cleaned the cells of the other monks; he dusted, and wound the clock. He prayed and fasted and chastised himself even beyond the strictest monastic rules. He wasted away till he looked like a skeleton. His cell, even in the se­verest cold of winter, was un­heated. When he slept he slept on a mat, but often he spent the night in vigils. More than once he was found on the cold stone floor of his cell in a dead faint. Frequently he groaned, "My sin, my sin, my sin !" He was oppressed with a terrible sense of his utter sinfulness and lost condition, and this cast him into the deepest gloom of black despair. Always he thought of Christ as an angry judge ready to cast him into hell. No matter how hard he tried, never, it seemed to him, had he done enough to earn salvation. In a letter he wrote to the pope after his conversion he said: "I often endured an agony so hellish in violence, that if those spells had lasted a minute longer I must have died then and there." But from time to time rays of light fell into the darkness of his soul. He found some comfort in the writings of Bernard of Clair­vaux (ch. 20, sec. 6) The vicar of Luther’s monastic order, Johann Von Staupitz, spoke to him many a word of cheer. Some of the writ­ings of Augustine helped him (ch. 6, sec. 8). Above all he began to study the Bible. It was toward the end of the year 1512. Luther was sitting in his cell in the tower of the Black Cloister in Wittenberg, with his Bible open before him. He had be­gun to study Paul’s letter to the Romans. Coming to verse 17 he read, "The just shall live by faith." He paused. He pondered. Then joy unspeakable flooded his heart. The burden of his soul rolled away. Up until now he had tried to earn sal­vation by his own good works, but never had he been able to feel that he had done enough. Now God had spoken to him. Luther had learned that man is saved not by works but by faith.Romans 1:17 had become to him the "gate to Paradise." That was Luther’s conversion. 7. Luther Posts the Ninety-five Theses It will be easy for you now to understand how Tetzel’s conduct led Luther to talk about indul­gences. Luther’s soul was now filled with peace and joyful hope, instead of with torturing fears and dark de­spair. A new note rang in his lec­tures to the students. He began to look at life round about him and at the Church with new eyes. He began to see the many abuses in the Church, and more and more clearly and boldly he spoke out against them. The traffic in indulgences had long been the cause of great scan­dal. Now Tetzel was hawking in­dulgences at the very gates of Wittenberg in a most shameless manner. In droves people went to him to buy them. But Luther knew now that salvation was not to be found in that way. He saw the people being deceived for eternity. Luther’s indignation was aroused. He felt a righteous anger against the irreverent peddler of indulgences, who was trifling with the eternal welfare of men’s im­mortal souls; and he felt pity for the people who were being led astray. His anger and his pity moved him to action. He went up to his cell in the tower of the Black Cloister, where he had suffered the tortures of hell but where he had also enjoyed the raptures of heaven. There he sat down at the table, took his pen, and wrote out his views about in­dulgences in ninety-five theses, that is, in ninety-five statements or propositions. Then around noon on the thirty-first day of October, 1517, he went out and nailed these ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, In this way he made his views about indul­gences known to the public. LUTHER NAILS HIS NINETY-FIVE THESES TO THE CASTLE CHURCH DOOR This act of Luther was not the Reformation. But it was the first in a series of acts which were to lead up to the Reformation. 8. Luther Is Already a Man of High Attainments Luther is often spoken of as be­ing at this time only a simple and obscure monk. This is by no means true to fact. He held an important position, had wide experience, and was mature beyond his age. To be sure, he was a monk, but he was not simple, and he was ob­scure only as far as the world at large was concerned. In his own professional circle he was by now a man of distinction. Surely, Luther was young at this time. He was only thirty-four years old. But he was experienced and accomplished far beyond most young men of his age. Since his fourteenth year he had been away from home. He had lived in Mag­deburg, Eisenach, and Erfurt. He had been to Cologne, and to Leip­zig, and had crossed the Alps and traveled to Rome. He had met a great number and a great variety of people. In Rome he had seen Pope Julius II. He had read and studied the writings of many great men. He was prior of his monastery and district vicar over eleven other monasteries. He had to look after the material interests of these mon­asteries. He had to visit and in­spect them personally. When Stau­pitz, the vicar general of the Augustinian Order, was away on a trip it was Luther’s responsibility to fill his place. He then had to visit and inspect forty monasteries. He had to appoint and remove priors; he had to instruct, counsel, and comfort brother monks beset with temptations, and discipline those who misbehaved. He had to attend to the repair of buildings and the auditing of accounts. He had to take care of legal matters pertaining to these monasteries. He even had to supervise the fishpond at Leitskau. He could sing and play the lute. He was a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Theology. He was a great preacher and very popular. He was one of the great preachers of all times. By now he had been teach­ing for nine years, and had gained a high reputation as a teacher. He was one of the first theological pro­fessors in Germany to base his lec­tures in the Old and New Testa­ments on the original Hebrew and Greek texts instead of on the Latin Vulgate translation of Jerome (ch. 6, sec. 6) , as had been customary for centuries. He was also one of the first professors in Germany to lecture in the German language in­stead of in Latin, the customary language of scholars. His alma mater, the University of Erfurt, was one of the oldest institutions for higher learning in Germany, and for a long time the most famous. Luther was always proud of the fact that he was an alumnus of that great university. Wittenberg University, where Lu­ther taught, was the youngest uni­versity in Germany. It had been founded only six years before Lu­ther came to Wittenberg for the first time. It had only a very small number of students and no build­ings of its own. Classes were held in the Black Cloister. But Luther’s growing fame as a professor at­tracted a rapidly increasing num­ber of students. After Luther had learned from Romans 1:17 the true way of salvation, and began to lec­ture on that epistle, the students heard something really and star­tlingly new in the classroom. Large numbers of enthusiastic young men crowded his classroom, and Lu­ther’s old alma mater began to grow jealous of the swiftly rising fame of the young university at Wittenberg. Luther was favorably known to his prince, the elector Frederick the Wise, and he carried on corres­pondence with some of the most prominent men of his time. Out­standing among these were John Eck, with whom Luther two years later held a history-making debate (ch. 24, sec. 5 and 6); and Eras­mus, the man of European fame. No, Luther at this time was neither a simple monk, nor ob­scure! 9. He Is Still a Catholic in Good Standing It should be borne in mind that when Luther published his ninety-five theses, he was a member in good standing of the Roman Catho­lic Church. His parents were Cath­olics. All his relatives and friends were Catholics. He counted among his friends many monks and priests. Everybody he knew was a Catholic. All people in western Europe at this time were regarded as Catholics. Luther himself was baptized, brought up, and confirmed in the Catholic Church. He attended its services, went to mass, made con­fession regularly and often, bought indulgences, visited shrines, re­vered relics. He prayed to the saints and to Mary. He believed that they could intercede for him, and also that they had power to work mircles. THE CASTLE CHURCH, WITTENBERG American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Luther was a monk, an ordained priest, a preacher, and a professor in the Roman Catholic Church. 10. Posting of Theses Is a Com­mon Practice When on October 31, 1517, Lu­ther nailed his theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg he did nothing unusual. It was a common practice. The door of the Castle Church served as the Uni­versity bulletin board. In posting these theses he invited any doctor of theology who might so wish, for the purpose of clarify­ing the truth, to debate with him publicly on the value of indul­gences. In those days it was an ordinary thing for professors to hold a disputation, or debate, on some point of doctrine. In his ninety-five theses Luther had set forth his ideas on indulgences. These ideas he offered to debate in a public disputation. 11. The Ninety-five Theses Are Published and Widely Read When Luther published his ninety-five theses he did not say to himself, "Now I am going to start the Reformation." No such thing ever entered his mind. No man was more surprised than Luther him­self at the results of his action. Never did he expect that things would turn out as they did. In the first place no debate was held at this time. No one accepted Luther’s challenge. It was not until two years later that an opponent presented himself. What did happen? That is a long but extremely interesting story. Wittenberg was located in Saxony (ch. 11, sec. 6) , one of the many countries which were held together in the loose confederacy known as the German Empire. The ruler of Saxony at this time was the elector Frederick the Wise. There were seven electors in Germany, and they chose the emperor. Frederick was a very pious Cath­olic. He set great store by relics (ch. 7, sec. 2) . He had collected more than five thousand of them from all over Christendom. It was believed that these sacred relics were graced with enormous value as indulgences to release sinners from purgatory. To house these relics Frederick had built the Cas­tle Church. The day after Luther had nailed his theses to the door of the Castle Church was All Saints’ Day. On that day, as was customary, the relics in the Castle Church were solemnly displayed. From far and near people came to see them, and to be benefited by the graces at­tached to them. As these people approached the church they naturally saw the large sheet of paper which Luther had tacked to the door, and they stopped to read it. When they came home they told their neighbors what they had read. These told others. In this way the news spread like wildfire. It was not long before the theses of Luther were being widely read. Printing had recently been in­vented. The theses, which had been written in Latin, were translated into many languages, printed, and carried with unbelievable speed as "on angels’ wings" to every coun­try of western Europe. This was the second in a series of events leading up to the Refor­mation. 12. The Theses Have an Immedi­ate Effect Within two weeks the theses of Luther became known throughout Germany. Four weeks after their publication they were read all over western Europe. They had a tre­mendous and immediate effect. They almost stopped the sale of in­dulgences. The Archbishop of Mainz, who was to receive a share of the pro­ceeds from the sale of indulgences by Tetzel, naturally did not like this. He sent a copy of the theses to Pope Leo X in Rome. The pope at first did not think it was a serious matter. He looked upon the theses only as something written by a drunken German, who would see his error when he so­bered up. Only a short time had passed since Luther had kindled the flame. It was as yet only a very little flame. The pope thought it would be easily put out. So he sim­ply asked the general of Luther’s monastic order to advise that monk in Wittenberg to keep quiet. He did not realize that one might as well ask an erupting volcano to keep quiet. Tetzel with the assistance of a friend published a set of theses defending the sale of indulgences. Mazzolini, a Dominican monk and inquisitor in Rome, strongly disap­proved of Luther’s theses. He wrote a book in which he severely criti­cized the conclusions of Martin Luther, and in which he defended the power of the pope to grant indulgences. Eck, a theological professor in the University of Ingolstadt, an­swered Luther in a pamphlet which he called Obelisks. Obelisks are lit­tle dagger marks used to call atten­tion to footnotes at the bottom of a page. Luther soon published his answer in a pamphlet under the title of Asterisks. Asterisks are little star figures, and have the same use as obelisks. Most of Luther’s friends said nothing. They thought he had been too rash. This made Luther feel bad. In April, 1518, the monasteries connected with the Augustinian Order held their annual meeting in Heidelberg. Staupitz, the district vicar, in accordance with the direc­tion of the pope requested Luther to keep quiet about indulgences. But instead, Luther defended his views. He found the opposition much stronger than he had ex­pected. However, the discussion was frank and friendly, and this put Luther into a happier frame of mind. Upon his return from Heidelberg to Wittenberg he wrote a general answer to all his opponents. This book bore the title Resolutions. It was very carefully written and was addressed to the pope. In it Luther defended his theses point by point. 13. Their Real Significance Is Recognized by the Church In his theses Luther did not at­tack indulgences themselves, but only the abuses connected with their sale (ch. 24, sec. 7) . These had long been a scandal in the Church. Already Wycliffe and Huss had protested against these abuses (ch. 22, sec. 6 and 7) . But the Church was quick to see that the thrust of Luther’s pro­test was more far reaching. By raising the question of indulgences, Luther, guided by the Spirit of God, had laid his finger on the most sensitive spot in the whole Catholic system of his day. It was from the sale of indul­gences that the Church and its head, the pope, received an im­mense income. And furthermore, the Catholic system had declined to the point where it placed all importance on the sacraments and the priests. The Roman Catholic Church held that only the priest could administer the sacraments; and without the sacrament of penance, without absolution and indul­gences, there was no salvation. Man’s salvation, his eternal weal or woe, lay in the hands of the priest. And so the Church, through the priests, had a strangle hold on the people. That is why, by raising the ques­tion of indulgences, Luther shook the Church. What he said in his theses had the tendency to loosen the priests’ hold on the people. Now the Church was not merely stirred. It was shaken to its very foundations. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 27. CHAPTER 24: THE CHURCH IS CONVULSED, 1517-1521 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24 The Church Is Convulsed, 1517-1521 The Spotlight Turns on Luther Luther Is Summoned to Rome Cajetan Fails to Silence Luther Von Miltitz Is Seemingly More Successful The Pope Dawdles and Eck Challenges Luther to a Debate Luther Denies the Infallibility of the Church The Leipzig Debate Has Several Important Results The Storm Gathers Two Books Influence Luther The Storm Breaks Luther Issues Three Great Reformation Treatises Luther Burns the Pope’s Bull Luther Is Summoned by the Emperor Luther Journeys to Worms Luther Appears before the Diet of Worms The Political Question Is Settled but the Religious Question Remains Luther Makes a Second Appearance before the Diet Luther Stands Firm Luther Is Carried Off to Wartburg Castle 1. The Spotlight Turns on Luther Up to the time that Luther pub­lished his ninety-five theses, the most famous man in western Eu­rope was Erasmus (ch. 22, sec. 11 and 12). In every country of Europe his books sold in the thou­sands. After Luther published his theses Erasmus complained that there was a demand only for books written by, for, or against Luther. Now the spotlight was on Luther. Suddenly the man who up to this time had been a relatively obscure monk-professor, in a small university located in a little town off the highways of travel, had become the most famous man in Europe. Eras­mus was totally eclipsed. From this time on Luther lived in a glass house. Everything he did or said was watched with eagle eyes by friend and foe. Luther was a great talker. Much of his con­versation at meal times was writ­ten down by admiring students. and later published as Luther’s Table Talk. 2. Luther Is Summoned to Rome Luther’s theses struck the pope some hard blows in two tender spots: his power and his purse. When therefore the pope learned that the General of the Augus­tinian Order had completely failed to silence Luther, he decided to take matters into his own hands. In July, 1518, he issued a summons to Luther to appear before him in Rome. If Luther had gone to Rome it would have meant his certain death. Heresy was taken very se­riously in those times. It was held to be a crime. It was the greatest of all crimes. A heretic deserved death by fire. Luther would have been burned at the stake, as Huss was (ch. 22, sec. 7). But Luther had a faithful, wise, and powerful friend in his prince, Elector Frederick the Wise. For many years the German people had had many and great grievances against the curia, or papal govern­ment. They groaned under the heavy exactions of money by Rome. The elector Frederick had forbid­den Tetzel to peddle indulgences in Saxony. He did not wish money from his country to go into the coffers of the pope. Moreover, Lu­ther had posted his theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wit­tenberg, which served as a bulletin board for the university. That uni­versity was the elector’s very spe­cial pet, and Luther was its most famous and popular professor. The elector felt every attack on Luther as an attack on his pet, the uni­versity. For these reasons the elec­tor did not wish to see Luther in the power of the pope. So he brought all his influence to bear in Rome to have the papal summons cancelled. Under ordinary circumstances the pope might not have listened to Frederick. But circumstances at the time were in Frederick’s favor. Emperor Maximilian was old and sickly. It was evident that a new emperor would have to be chosen soon. There were three candidates: Charles king of Spain; Francis, king of France; and Frederick, elector of Saxony. The pope wanted Frederick to become emperor, be­cause he thought that he would be able to manage Frederick much more easily than either of the other two. So the pope listened to Fred­erick, and cancelled the summons for Luther to come to Rome. 3. Cajetan Fails to Silence Luther At this time a legate, or delegate, of the pope, Cajetan, was in Ger­many to attend a diet in Augsburg. (A diet was a national meeting of all the princes, the prelates, and other leading men in Germany.) Cajetan saw what a large following Luther had acquired in a short time, and how his theses and other writings had stirred the entire German nation. Luther had also preached a sermon in which he had said that papal bans were flying around like bats, and that they should not be feared any more than those harmless little creatures. Caj­etan informed the pope of the seri­ous state of affairs in Germany, and said that the impudent monk should be taught what a terrible thing a ban is. Then the pope sent Cajetan a letter empowering him to order Luther to appear before him in Augsburg. Cajetan was to hear him and demand that he recant. If Luther would not recant he should be sent bound to Rome. If Cajetan should fail to arrest Luther, he should put him and his followers under the ban. Up to this time the pope had said only that Luther was suspected of heresy. Now he de­clared him to be a notorious her­etic. To go to Augsburg would there­fore be very dangerous for Luther. But again his prince came to his aid. Although only with the great­est difficulty, he obtained from the aged emperor Maximilian a safe-conduct for Luther. Luther had three interviews with Cajetan in Augsburg on October 12, 13, and 14. The discussion be­came hot and furious at times. The two men tried to outshout each other. Close friends of Luther tried to persuade him to settle things peaceably by giving in. But Luther proved himself to be made of sterner stuff. He was in great danger. Safe-conducts to heretics had been broken before (ch. 22, sec. 7) . However, Luther stood like a rock against both the threats of his enemies and the supplica­tions of his friends. He refused to recant. He left Augsburg secretly by night. Cajetan wrote to the elector to arrest Luther and send him to Rome. Frederick answered very diplomatically that he was not con­vinced that Luther was a heretic, and that he could not compromise his university by sending an uncon­demned man to Rome. Cajetan, finding himself unable to handle the situation, now re­quested the pope to settle the points in dispute once for all by an official pronouncement. The pope did so by issuing a bull (ch. 21, sec. 1) in which he declared, without men­tioning names, that certain state­ments which certain monks had made about indulgences were he­retical. That meant that from then on Luther could no longer claim that those questions had not been decided officially by the Church. 4. Von Miltitz Is Seemingly More Successful The general of the Augustinian Order had failed. Cajetan had failed. The pope next decided to send a special representative into Germany for the purpose of arrest­ing Luther. By now Pope Leo had come to realize that this could not be done unless he had the co-opera­tion of Luther’s faithful friend, Frederick the Wise, elector of Sax­ony. With this in mind he was very careful in the selection of his mes­senger. He chose a man who he thought would be most acceptable to Frederick. His name was Charles von Miltitz. This man was himself a Saxon and a nobleman; that would please Frederick. He was a close acquaintance of Spalatin, the elector’s private secretary. He was a papal chamberlain; that would give him a degree of importance. Besides, von Miltitz was Freder­ick’s own agent at the papal court in Rome. CITIES OF THE REFORMATION The pope equipped von Miltitz with very flattering letters to the elector, to Spalatin, to some of the councilors of Saxony, and to the magistrates of Wittenberg. In these letters Luther was painted as a child of the devil. Besides, in order to make it even more sure that Frederick would be favorably dis­posed, the pope sent him by the hand of von Miltitz an anointed golden rose. It was a very special honor to receive the golden rose from the pope. This honor was greatly coveted, and as you will re­member, Frederick was a very pious and devout Catholic (ch. 23, sec. 11) . But in case the elector should not respond to these flatter­ing attentions, the papal messenger von Miltitz was empowered to place Saxony under the interdict (ch. 20, sec. 4) . He was also fur­nished with the ban against Luther. The pope thought he had made sure that he would not fail this time. But when von Miltitz ar­rived in Germany he discovered a state of affairs of which the curia, the papal government in Rome, had not the slightest understanding. He himself was a German, and he un­derstood the Germans. As he vis­ited with friends and relatives in various parts of Germany, he found that three out of five people in that land were on the side of Luther. He realized that he had to deal not with a single monk, but with an entire nation. So he discarded the instructions of the pope. He de­cided to take matters into his own hands and try to settle the difficulty by peaceful means. Before presenting his credentials to Frederick, he sought a private in­terview with Luther and Tetzel. He could not get to see Tetzel. That unfortunate man did not dare to show himself in public. If he should come out of his monastery he would be in danger of the vio­lence of the people. But von Miltitz did have a talk with Luther. The result of it all was that Lu­ther promised not to speak about indulgences any more, if his oppo­nents would agree not to do so. He also promised to write a submis­sive letter to the pope. The pope was so well pleased with the letter that on March 29, 1519, he sent Luther a very friendly letter in re­turn. He quite forgot that he had called Luther a child of the devil. He now called him his dear son, invited him to come to Rome to make his confession, and offered to pay the expenses of the journey. 5. The Pope Dawdles and Eck Challenges Luther to a Debate If the pope had supported von Miltitz, and if both sides had re­mained still, there is no telling how far the reconciliation of Luther with the Roman Church might have gone. But at this time the pope’s atten­tion was distracted from his differ­ences with Luther. He had become deeply absorbed in another matter. In January, 1519, the emperor Maximilian died. A new emperor had to be elected and the pope was greatly concerned. He very much wanted the elector Frederick the Wise to be the next emperor. But as we have seen, there were two other strong candidates: Charles of Spain and Francis of France. The pope dreaded the prospect of either one of them acquiring the imperial power. He was very much afraid that Charles or Francis, if elected, might cause him a great deal of trouble. The pope knew the elector Frederick to be a very pious Catho­lic and devoted son of the Church. Besides, he considered him a man of mild character, whom he would be able to manage with ease. Both Charles and Francis were eager for the imperial crown, and they did all they could to win the votes of the seven German electors (ch. 23, sec. 11) . So the pope had to work hard for the election of Frederick. The election campaign occupied his mind entirely to the exclusion of everything else. For fourteen months he failed to push the charge of heresy against Luther. Mean­ while, the two opposing sides in Germany did not remain silent. One of Luther’s fellow professors of theology at Wittenberg Univer­sity, Andreas Rudolph Carlstadt, came out with a set of theses against Eck (ch. 23, sec. 8 and 12) . Eck answered with some counter theses in which he advanced an ex­treme view of papal supremacy. Carlstadt, since he was receiving financial support from a fund di­rectly under the pope’s control, did not dare answer Eck on that point. Luther then took up the cudgels, and published twelve theses. In the twelfth he declared that the claim of the Roman Church to supremacy over all other churches (ch. 6, sec. 9; ch. 12) rested only on weak papal decrees of the last four hun­dred years, but that in all the eleven hundred years before no such supremacy had existed. An attack like that on the author­ity of the pope had never before been heard. It caused a tremen­dous sensation. Eck could not pos­sibly ignore it. Nor did he wish to do so. He was a man who loved to debate, and he loved fame. Only recently he had won great fame as a debater, and he hoped to add to this fame by debating with Luther. He challenged Luther to debate with him on the question of the supremacy of the pope. The supremacy of the pope had been one of Luther’s earliest and most cherished beliefs. His mother had taught him as a little boy that the Church is the pope’s house, in which the pope is the house-father. THE LEIPZIG DEBATE Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions After a painting by Huebner The nine months between the Augs­burg interview with Cajetan in Oc­tober, 1518, and the debate with Eck in July, 1519, Luther spent in hard study. He had to find argu­ments against many things he had always held to be true, and which he had only recently found to be false. He plunged into the study of church history and canon law. Canon law consists of the decretals or decisions of popes and general councils. Luther was dismayed to find that many decretals are for­geries. Thus he saw another pillar of the Roman Catholic system cracking before his eyes. 6. Luther Denies the Infallibility of the Church The disputation of Luther with Eck was to be held in Leipzig. This city in Saxony was at that time still overwhelmingly Catholic. So Lu­ther was to enter enemy territory. It was quite a procession that moved along the road to Leipzig. Three of Luther’s colleagues at Wittenberg University, Philipp Melanchthon, Nikolaus von Ams­dorf, and Justus Jonas, accompa­nied him. Two hundred Wittenberg students went along as a body­guard. They were armed with hel­mets and halberds, and as they walked they surrounded the car­riage in which Luther sat. In Leipzig the atmosphere was tense. A company of armed burgh­ers stood guard at the duke’s pal­ace where the disputation was to be held. In the inns at meal time an armed guard was posted at every table to keep the Leipzig and Wittenberg students from fighting. On the fourth of July, 1519, Eck and Luther faced each other. It was the first time that Luther met an opponent of European fame. What a contrast there was be­tween the two opponents! Eck had a huge square body and a strong voice, and he looked more like a butcher than like a theologian. He was a man of considerable learning and a very cunning debater. Lu­ther was of middle height. His body was so thin from study and cares that one could almost count his bones. But his voice was clear and distinct, and the audience ad­mired his fluency of speech and the aptness of his Latin diction. No matter how hard his opponent pressed him Luther always main­tained his calmness and good na­ture, although he sometimes used bitter words. He held a bunch of flowers in his hand, and when the discussion became heated he looked at it and smelled it. As far as the learning and speak­ing ability of the two opponents was concerned the debate was just about a tie. But Eck out-maneu­vered Luther. He drove him into a corner, and finally got him to say that some of the teachings of Huss had been unjustly condemned by the Council of Constance. As soon as Luther made this statement Eck had achieved his purpose. He had made Luther take his stand openly on the side of a man officially con­demned by the Church as a heretic. Remember that only one hundred years before, Huss had been burned as a heretic (ch. 22, sec. 7) , and the memory of the event was still very vivid in the minds of the people of that time. Remember also that the land of Bohemia was not so far away, and that there was still strong opposition to Rome in the land of Huss (ch. 22, sec. 7). When Luther admitted that he did not think Huss wrong in all re­spects, a wave of excitement swept over the audience. Duke George of Saxony said so loud that everyone could hear it, "God help us; that is the pestilence !" Then he wagged his head and placed his arms akimbo. Luther’s arguments had been historical. He called to mind that the Eastern Greek Church is a part of the Church of Christ, and that it had never acknowledged the su­premacy of the bishop of Rome. The great councils of the early Christian centuries (ch. 3, sec. 9; ch. 6, sec. 2, 3, 4, and 8) knew nothing of papal supremacy. But no reasoning on Luther’s part could save him after he had taken his stand on the side of the condemned heretic, Huss. 7. The Leipzig Debate Has Several Important Results One result of the Leipzig debate was that Luther greatly strength­ened his cause among his followers. He made them feel certain that their position was right. Luther also won many new followers, one of whom was Martin Bucer, who became an important leader of the Reformation, and who helped to shape the views of John Calvin (ch. 27, sec. 7). As is usually the case, neither debater was able to change his op­ponent’s views. However, the de­bate did much to clarify Luther’s ideas for himself. This was un­doubtedly the most important re­sult. At the time that Luther published his ninety-five theses he thought that he was merely attack­ing certain abuses connected with the sale of indulgences (ch. 23, sec. 13). The Leipzig debate made him see that his theses had aimed a deadly blow at the very heart of the Catholic system. He had pushed the priest aside, and he had thereby opened the way for every believer to enter immediately into the very presence of God. The great Leipzig debate of July, 1519, was an ex­ceedingly important stage in Lu­ther’s development. This debate was also an enor­mously important stage in the Ref­ormation movement. It made it clear to everybody that reconcilia­tion between Luther and the Ro­man Catholic Church would be impossible. 8. The Storm Gathers Luther had rejected the suprem­acy of the pope and the infallibility of councils. His break with the Ro­man hierarchical system was now complete. Luther was in the thick of the battle. From now on it was to be a life and death struggle be­tween him and the Roman Church. Soon after the Leipzig debate Eck went to Rome to ask Pope Leo to issue a bull excommunicating Luther. The pope was more than willing. He appointed Eck to serve on a committee of three to draw up the bull. From the bull itself it is quite evident that Eck did most of the work and relished it to the last degree. Luther went back to his bare and comfortless cell in the Black Cloister at Wittenberg to prepare himself for the storm which would soon be howling around his devoted head. The first thing Luther did was to publish an account of the Leipzig debate. Soon pamphlets and letters followed in great abundance. Everything that came from Lu­er’s pen was eagerly bought and read. In May, 1520, he published a pam­phlet with the title, On Good Works. This was only a little book, but it had a far-reaching effect. In it he applied to practical, everyday life his newly won conviction that man is saved by faith alone. "The noblest of all good works," he said, "is to believe in Jesus Christ." To flee from the world into a convent and do nothing but pray and fast and meditate and contemplate and chastise one’s self and give alms is not doing good works. We must serve God in the midst of the world by faithfully performing the tasks of our daily occupations. Shoemak­ers, carpenters, housekeepers, cooks, farmers, and businessmen, if they do their work to the glory of God, are more pleasing to Him than monks and nuns. This was one of Luther’s most important and fundamental teach­ings. It was also the widest pos­sible departure from ancient and medieval asceticism (ch. 14, sec. 2), and it became one of the most distinctive traits of Protestant Christianity. 9. Two Books Influence Luther The period between the Leipzig debate in July, 1519, and the Diet of Worms in April, 1521, was a hectic time for Luther. Every in­cident that took place, every friend he made, every book he read car­ried him forward from one position to another. Two books especially which he read at this time influenced him powerfully. During his early stay in the cloister he had read a book by Huss. He had then wondered how a heretic could write in so Christian a fashion. In preparing for the debate with Eck, he had come to the conclusion that many of the ideas of Huss which the Council of Constance had con­demned as heretical (ch. 22, sec 7) were evangelical and orthodox. In the course of the debate he had boldly said so. Several Hussites had been present at the debate. Two of them, after that memorable meet­ing, had written to him and sent him one of the works of Huss. He had not time to read it just then, but when early in 1520 he read it, he learned that Huss had taught the same things that he, Luther, had come to believe, and he avowed himself to be a disciple of the Bo­hemian. He regarded it a judgment of God that these books, in which the plain gospel truth was taught, had been publicly burned and for a hundred years, now, been consid­ered damnable. The other book which influenced Luther profoundly at this time was a work by the brilliant Italian hu­manist Lorenzo Valla, who proved beyond the possibility of contradic­tion that the "Donation of Constan­tine" (ch. 12, sec. 3) was a forgery. This discovery roused Luther to such a passion that he scarcely doubted any longer that the pope is the Antichrist. He marveled that such crass and impudent lies had prevailed for so many centuries, and that they had been incorpo­rated into the canon law and had become as articles of faith. 10. The Storm Breaks On June 15, 1520, Pope Leo rati­fied and signed the bull excommuni­cating Luther. The bull began with the words: "Arise, 0 Lord, plead thine own cause; remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily; the foxes are wasting thy vineyard, which thou hast given to thy vicar Peter; the boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it." These opening words are quota­tions from the Psalms and the Song of Solomon. The bull went on to say that the errors of the Greeks and of the Bohemians were now being revived in Germany, hitherto so faithful to the Holy See. Then it mentioned forty-one propositions, which it said were Luther’s, and which it condemned as "heretical or scan­dalous, or false or offensive topious ears, or seducing to simple minds, and standing in the way of the Catholic faith." The bull called upon all faithful people to burn Luther’s books. It forbade Luther to preach. He and all that followed him were ordered to recant publicly within sixty days. If they did not, they were to be treated as heretics. The bull ordered the government to seize and imprison Luther and everyone who followed him. All towns or districts that sheltered them would be placed under the interdict. The publication of the bull in Germany was entrusted to Eck. He soon found out that it was easier to prepare the bull than to get it published. He could get permission to do so in only a comparatively few places. At Erfurt the students seized all the copies they could and threw them into the river. Luther came out with a tract: Against the Execrable Bull of Antichrist 11. Luther Issues Three Great Ref­ormation Treatises All Germany hung breathless on Luther’s every word. His books circulated far and wide and were eagerly bought and read. The eyes of all Christendom were upon him. This one man was a whole army, terrible with banners. If Luther were living today he would be one of the greatest of journalists. But in his day there were no newspapers. So he poured out small books or pamphlets, which were like editorials or magazine articles. Luther was the first man in the world to hit upon the idea of using the press as a means of appealing to public opinion, and of molding it in that way. It was chiefly by means of the press, that Luther gained the support of vast numbers of followers, not only in his own country of Germany but also far beyond its borders. To cushion the shock of the papal bull, and to rally the German na­tion around the standard of revolt against the Roman hierarchy, Lu­ther published three works in the latter half of the year 1520. They are known as "The Three Great Reformation Treatises." The first, To the Christian Nobil­ity of Germany, was a trumpet call to do away with the abuses fos­tered by Rome. In the second, The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther exposed the falsity of the Church’s claim that men could be saved only through the priest and the Roman system of sacraments (ch. 23, sec. 13). The third, The Liberty of a Christian Man, is a very small work of only thirty pages, but it contains the whole sum of the Christian life. The effect of these three treatises, especially of the first, was instan­taneous and overwhelming. It sent an electric shock through the people of Germany. 12. Luther Burns the Pope’s Bull Writing against Rome, however, did not satisfy Luther. He decided to do something more. If the pope ordered his writings to be burned, he would burn the pope’s writings. Early in the morning of December 10, 1520, he posted a notice where only three years before he had posted his ninety-five theses. The notice read: "Let whosoever adheres to the truth of the Gospel be present at nine o’clock at the Church of the Holy Cross outside the walls, where the impious books of papal decrees and of scholastic theology will be burned according to ancient and apostolic usage, in­asmuch as the boldness of the ene­mies of the Gospel has waxed so great that they daily burn the evangelic books of Luther. Come, pious and zealous youth, to this pious and religious spectacle, for perchance now is the time when the Antichrist must be revealed." A large crowd of students, pro­fessors, and citizens assembled out­side the Elster Gate between the walls of the city of Wittenberg and the Elbe River. One of the profes­sors kindled the pile. Luther placed the books of canon law (church law) on the burning wood. The flames began to scorch them. Then amid solemn silence Luther placed a copy of the bull on the fire, and said: "As thou hast wasted the Holy One of God, so may the eter­nal flames waste thee." He waited until the books and the bull were consumed. Then with his friends and colleagues he returned to the town. Some hundreds of students re­mained behind. Under the spell of the solemnity of the occasion they sang, as they stood around the dy­ing fire, the Te Deum (We Praise Thee, O God). Then youthful mis­chievousness got the upper hand, and they sang funeral dirges in honor of the burnt papal decretals and bull. CHARLES V 13. Luther Is Summoned by the Emperor Pope Leo was almost at the end of his rope. He had exhausted all ecclesiastical means to bring Luther to his knees. There was only one thing left that he could do. He turned for help to the highest secular authority, the em­peror. The pope had been unsuccessful in his efforts to have Frederick the Wise elected emperor (sec. 5). Frederick himself, feeling that he could not afford the expenses inci­dental to the imperial office, had thrown his weight in favor of Charles, king of Spain. During the days of the Leipzig Debate Charles was elected emperor. This Charles, known to history as Charles V, had inherited the Austrian domains and Spain. As king of Spain he also ruled over the Netherlands, a large part of Italy, and the parts of America dis­covered only twenty-nine years be­fore by Columbus. Now that he had been elected also emperor of Ger­many, he ruled over a larger terri­tory than any man since Charle­magne (ch. 11, sec. 7). To this powerful monarch Pope Leo appealed for help in an at­tempt to bring Luther either to obedience or to the stake. Charles V was a devout Catholic, and Leo prevailed upon him to summon Luther before the diet — the coun­cil of German rulers — which was to be held the next year in the city of Worms. 14. Luther Journeys to Worms Protected by the safe-conduct of the emperor, Luther started for Worms on April 2, 1521. The city of Wittenberg bore the expense and supplied a peasant’s cart, horses, and a driver. Luther sat in the straw which half filled the cart. Luther believed that he was going to his death. To Melanch­thon, one of his colleagues at the university, he said at parting, "My dear brother, if I do not come back, if my enemies put me to death, you will go on teaching and standing fast in the truth; if you live, my death will matter little." When his friends did their utmost to per­suade him not to go he answered, "I am going even if there should be as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the roofs." His journey was like a victory parade. Everywhere he went crowds lined the roads and streets to see the man who had dared to stand up for Germany against the pope, and who, so they thought, was going to his death for his faith. They pressed into the inns where he stopped, and often found him soothing himself by playing his lute. When he entered Worms, crowds so dense that it was almost impossible for the cart to proceed, filled the streets. Out of every win­dow people hung to catch a glimpse of the monk under the papal ban for heresy. 15. Luther Appears before the Diet of Worms At four o’clock in the afternoon of Wednesday, April 17, Luther ap­peared before the Diet. The large, magnificently deco­rated hall of the Bishop’s Palace was filled. All the important men of Germany were there: the nobles of various ranks; the lords of the realm, both secular and spiritual; wealthy burghers from the great cities; and foremost of all the em­peror, Charles V. In the midst of this scene of pomp and splendor, before the throne of an emperor who was the most powerful to appear in many centuries, stood a poor and power­less priest, offspring of peasant parents. Charles V and Martin Luther saw each other for the first time. Charles was at this time a youth of twenty-one. His face was with­out expression. Luther, now thirty-seven years old, was a man in the prime of life. He had a strong face. His look was piercing. He wore the black robe of an Augustinian monk. The crown of his head was newly shaven, according to the custom of priests, and was fringed with short thick hair. The eyes of all those present were on Luther rather than on the emperor. Near the place where Luther stood, a small table held a number of books. At Luther’s side stood his legal coun­sel, Jerome Schurf. The task of conducting the meet­ing had been assigned to the offi­cial of Trier. Pointing to the books on the little table, the official asked Luther: "Are those your writings; and do you wish to retract them, or do you adhere to them and con­tinue to assert them?" Luther’s counsel called out: "Let the titles be read !" The notary Siebenberger stepped forward, picked up the books one by one, read the titles, and briefly described the contents of each book. Then Luther spoke. With pre­cision he first repeated the two questions. Thereupon he answered the first question in the affirmative. The second question he answered by begging the emperor graciously to allow him time to think it over, in order that he might answer the question without injury to the Word of God and without peril to his soul. The members of the Diet went into conference. After a short con­sultation it was announced that the emperor had decided to grant Luther’s request. He was to give his answer in twenty-four hours. Then the meeting was adjourned. The proceedings of the first day were over. They had taken about an hour. The herald conducted Luther back to his lodgings. 16. The Political Question Is Set­tled but the Religious Question Remains Luther’s first appearance before the Diet had been brief and simple. But its historical significance was stupendous. The papacy during the last two hundred years had suffered many severe defeats in its struggle with the secular powers (ch. 21). Pope Leo X now wished the Diet of Worms to handle Luther’s case in such a way that the old papal claim — that the spiritual (papal) au­thority is superior to the secular (royal and imperial) authority — would be recognized. In other words, Pope Leo X tried to bring down two birds with one stone. He tried to manipulate the handling of Luther’s case by the Diet of Worms in such a way that suppression of heresy by the Diet would at the same time elevate papal authority above imperial authority. LUTHER BEFORE THE DIET OF WORMS The pope had excommunicated Luther. He wanted the Diet, that is to say really the emperor, to con­demn and to punish Luther as a heretic without any further ado. He wanted the emperor, the secular ruler, to be merely a tool of the spiritual ruler, the pope. He wanted the emperor merely to exe­cute the pope’s orders without ask­ing any questions. On the other hand, if the Diet first heard Luther, even if it then did condemn him ­and it was a foregone conclusion that it would — it would then do so not because the pope said so, but because the Diet itself decreed his condemnation. That is why the papal party did not want the em­peror to give Luther a hearing. Luther’s request for time to think it over seemed reasonable and also entirely innocent. But it was far from innocent. His request for time involved the request to be heard the next day by the Diet. And that request was momentous. It conjured up the ghost of the old struggle between pope and em­peror, and caused it to haunt the Bishop’s Palace in Worms. The Diet had been in session a long time before Luther’s appearance. The Papal Party, under the leadership of the very skillful and crafty papal nuncio Aleander, had been working day and night, and had left no stone unturned to prevent Luther from being heard by the Diet. When the Diet decided to grant Luther’s request the pope lost his game. On the political question, the question whether the pope or the emperor should be supreme, the Catholic emperor and all the Ger­man princes, also the Catholic princes, sided with Luther against the pope. Thus for one brief moment Martin Luther, a poor man, risen from total obscurity, and a heretic excommunicated by the pope, stood forth as the champion of the emperor and of a united German Empire against the for­eign Italian pope. On the day of Luther’s first ap­pearance before the Diet the politi­cal question had been settled. The religious question remained. Luther had answered the ques­tions put to him in a voice so low that many had not been able to understand him. From that lowness of voice many were drawing the conclusion that Luther had begun to weaken. The talk went around that he would give in and recant. The Catholics fervently hoped that he would, for they were more frightened than he. But they were going to be disappointed. That same evening, from the midst of the "tumult," as Luther called it, he wrote a letter to a friend, in which he declared: "With Christ’s aid I shall never recant one jot or tittle." 17. Luther Makes a Second Ap­pearance before the Diet The following day, Thursday, April 18, Luther had little time to consider what he would say before the Diet. In the morning friends came to see him. Nobles called on him at noon. They shook hands with him heartily and said: "Herr Doktor, how are you? People say you are going to be burned, but that will never do. It would ruin everything." Others came over in the afternoon and had much edi­fying conversation with him. Everyone was impressed with his calmness and serenity. A little after four o’clock in the afternoon the herald came to con­duct Luther for a second time to the assembly hall. It was six o’clock before the emperor, accompanied by the electors and the other princes, entered the hall. For an hour and a half Luther had been kept waiting in the palace court, where he was pushed around and bruised by the milling crowd. The hall was crammed. The princes had difficulty in getting to their seats, and when they did they found themselves uncomfortably crowded. Luther finally reached the door, but again he had to wait. The princes were still struggling to get to their places. It would have been a breach of etiquette for Luther to enter before all the members of the Diet were seated. At last Luther appeared before the Diet for the second time. Dusk was gathering. Torches were lit. Their flames cast weird shadows in the now gloomy hall. As Luther once more stood face to face with the emperor, the members of the Diet were struck with his wonder­fully cheerful expression. Many of those present took notes on what Luther said that day. But we have not a single complete ac­count of Luther’s address. All the accounts we have are only sum­maries. First Luther spoke in Latin. Then he was asked to repeat in German. The hall was packed. The flam­ing torches gave out their heat. The ventilation was poor. The air was getting to be almost unbear­ably close. Perspiration was running down Luther’s face. He looked wan and exhausted. Friends feared that further effort would be too much for him. Somebody in the audience disregarding all rules of etiquette said loudly, "If you cannot do it, you have done enough, Herr Dok­tor." But Luther went on, and re­peated his address in German. It was a great oration. 18. Luther Stands Firm When Luther had finished, the official told him that he had not spoken to the point. The question was whether he would recant or not. The emperor demanded a plain answer. Then Luther said, "If the em­peror desires a plain answer, I will give it to him. It is impossible for me to recant unless I am proved to be wrong by the testimony of Scripture. My conscience is bound to the Word of God. It is neither safe nor honest to act against one’s conscience. Here I stand. God help me. I cannot do otherwise." The torches had burned down. They smoked. The hall was getting dark. The emperor gave a sign that the meeting was over. He left his throne and went to his private apartments. The other members of the Diet also went to their lodgings. Luther turned and left the tri­bunal. A number of Spaniards broke out into hootings. They fol­lowed Luther with prolonged howlings. Then many of the Ger­man nobles and delegates from the towns formed a circle around Luther, and escorted him back to his lodgings. Having arrived there he shouted gleefully, "I am through; I am through." Several conferences were held with Luther during the next few days, but it was found impossible to come to an agreement. 19. Luther Is Carried Off to Wart­burg Castle Luther was ordered to leave Worms and to return to Witten­berg. He was forbidden to preach. It was planned that after the safe-conduct expired he would be seized and put to death as a pestilent heretic. There is a very small gate in the walls of Worms. By that gate Luther left the city on the night of April 26. It is pointed out to tour­ists today as Luther’s gate. After a few days rumors spread that Luther had suddenly disap­peared. Nobody seemed to know what had become of him. Luther’s enemies rejoiced, but among his friends there was consternation. On the fourteenth of May a letter reached Worms saying that Luther’s body had been found in a silver mine, pierced with a dagger. The great painter Albrecht Durer of Nuremberg wrote in his diary: "Luther, the God-inspired man, has been slain by the pope and his priests as our Lord was put to death by the priests in Jerusalem. 0 God, if Luther is dead, who can expound the Holy Gospel to us?" Friends wrote to Wittenberg im­ploring Luther to let them know if he was alive, and, if possible, whether he had been imprisoned. In Worms excitement ran high. The imperial court was in an up­roar. Aleander, the papal nuncio, was told he would be murdered even if he were clinging to the emperor’s bosom. This is the true story of Luther’s disappearance: On April 28 Luther reached Frankfort on the Main. From there he wrote his friend, the painter Lucas Cranach in Wit­tenberg, that he was going into hiding, but that he did not yet know where. "We must suffer and keep silence a little time. A little while and ye shall not see me, and again a little while and ye shall see me. At least I hope so, but God’s will be done. Please thank the town council for providing the carriage. God keep you against the Roman wolves and serpents." On May 1 he reached Hersfeld, where he preached. On May 2 he entered his dear old Eisenach, the birth­place of his mother, where twenty years before he had attended Gym­nasium, or high school. The next day he preached there. On May 3 he rode through the beautiful forests of Mehra, the district his father came from, and visited his uncle, Heinz Luther. On the morn­ing of May 4 he preached in the open air. After dinner he continued his journey. And then, in the heart of the forest, five masked riders suddenly swept down upon him, lifted him out of the cart, and rode off with him back in the di­rection of Eisenach. This was done by order of Luther’s prince, the elector Frederick the Wise. Frederick had ordered the riders to take Luther to the safe hiding place of his castle, the Wartburg, which from its wooded rocky heights over­looked the pretty little town of Eisenach. Here Luther stayed for ten months while the storm quieted. THE WARTBURG Here the elector Frederick the Wise kept Luther in safe hiding when his life was being sought, immediately after his appearance before the Diet of Worms. Luther was a volcano whose eruptions from 1517 to 1521 caused the quakes which convulsed the Church, first in Germany but soon also in many other countries of western Europe. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 28. CHAPTER 25: THE CHURCH IS REFORMED IN GERMANY AND SCANDINAVIA, 1520-1530 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: The Church Is Reformed in Germany and Scandinavia, 1520-1530 The Reformation Is Also an Influence Out­side the Church The Time Was Ripe for Reformation Luther Restores Christian Liberty Luther Develops a Form of Church Government Luther Provides the People with Materials for Study and Worship Luther Has Many Helpers The Church in the Scandinavian Countries Is Reformed 1. The Reformation Is Also an In­fluence Outside the Church You have now learned quite a bit about Luther and his life from the time he was born in Eisleben up to the time when he appeared be­fore the Diet of Worms in 1521. It was, as you must have noticed, a stormy life, marked by many a se­vere crisis in both his inner de­velopment and outer career. His was an unusually colorful life, thickly dotted with spectacular events of world historic signifi­cance. At the end of the Diet of Worms, Luther was easily the most notable figure on the European scene. The events we have observed so far, centering around Luther’s life, were, however, not the Reforma­tion. They were things that led up to and paved the way for the Ref­ormation. What, then, was the Reforma­tion? It was first of all a reforma­tion of the Church. What did that Reformation con­sist of? It consisted of changes for the better made in the Church. Every church teaches certain doc­trines, and has certain forms of government, of worship, and of life. The changes for the better had to do with every one of these various aspects of the Church. But it was not only a change in the Church. The Reformation brought about certain changes also outside the Church. The Church deals with what is most funda­mental in life. Men carry their re­ligious convictions with them and reflect them in every phase of life. Consequently, what was first of all a reformation in the Church, also wrought changes in the political, economic, social, and cultural life of the nations which accepted its principles. The result has been that right down to our own day there is a vast difference in almost every way between Catholic and Protes­tant nations. 2. The Time Was Ripe for Ref­ormation If Paul could have revisited the earth around the year 1500, he would have been utterly amazed at what he saw and heard in Rome, the city to which he sent his great­est letter, and where he was a prisoner and suffered a martyr’s death. Peter, too, who according to a Romanist fable was the founder of the church in Rome and its first bishop or pope (ch. 12, sec. 1), and who was crucified there head down (ch. 4, sec. 4), would have been amazed. These two founders of the Church would not have been able to recognize the Church of the year 1500, so different had it become from the Church they had planted. They would have looked at each other questioningly with lifted brow, and would have shaken their heads in dumb astonishment. They would have been very sad. But they would also have learned that for the past three hundred years and more there had been in many countries of western Europe great dissatisfaction with the con­dition of the Church (ch. 22, sec. 3, 4, 6, and 7); and that especially during the last one hundred years there had arisen all over western Europe a great clamor for a thoroughgoing reform of the Church. In response to this three general councils had been held (ch. 22, sec. 9), Erasmus had sharpened his pen (ch. 22, sec. 12), and the Brethren of the Common Life had founded their schools (ch. 22, sec. 11). They would furthermore have learned that so far all attempts at reform had either died out or had been smothered in blood and smoke (ch. 22, sec. 5, 6, and 7). One thing they could not have learned, because it was still hidden from the eyes of men. That was that God at this very time was preparing a leader who in the as­tonishingly brief space of a few short years would dispel the dark­ness and usher in the great and blessed Reformation. That leader was Luther. 3. Luther Restores Christian Liberty Luther’s character was made up of strangely contradictory traits. He was at the same time very radi­cal (inclined to change things) and very conservative (inclined to keep things as they were). Luther was the man who was to bring about a tremendous change in the Church; but he was very slow in discarding the old and substituting the new. At first he made only a few changes. In this he showed great wisdom and tact. Luther’s followers were not al­ways as wise as he was. While he was in hiding in the Wartburg Cas­tle, some of his more important fol­lowers in Wittenberg were trying to make many and radical changes. This led to confusion, conflict, and disorder. As a result Luther left his hiding place, against the advice of his prince and protector, the elector Frederick the Wise; and in spite of the fact that he was under the sentence of death, he returned to Wittenberg. For eight successive days he preached, and thereby re­stored order. Step by step many important changes were introduced. The pa­pacy was rejected. The distinction between clergy and laity (ch. 7, sec. 2) was discarded. Said Luther: "All believers are priests. There are only two and not seven sacra­ments. The sacraments are not in­dispensable to salvation." Thus Luther rang the death knell of what is the very heart of the Roman system. He broke the yoke of Rome under which believers had groaned for centuries, and estab­lished Christian liberty. For us who have never been under the yoke of Rome it is impossible to realize what this meant for the Christians of Luther’s day. Pray­ing to the saints and to Mary was done away with, as were also the worship of images, the veneration of relics, pilgrimages, religious processions, holy water, outward asceticism, monasticism, prayers for the dead, and belief in purga­tory (ch. 7, sec. 2). While Luther changed many things, his conservative nature led him to adopt the principle that everything in the old church that is not directly forbidden in the Bible should be retained. For ex­ample, the side altars and the images were removed, but the Lutheran Church kept the main altar with candles and picture of Christ. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrifice, and that to offer a sacri­fice a priest is required. It teaches that when the priest pronounces the sacramental words, the bread and wine are miraculously changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. This is called the doctrine of transubstantiation (a change in substance). The priests alone are allowed to partake of the wine, for fear the laity might spill some of it and shed Christ’s precious blood anew. The laity is allowed to re­ceive only the bread, in the form of a wafer called the host, which is placed upon the tongue by the priest. Luther denied the sacrificial character of the Lord’s Supper. He denied that every time the Supper is celebrated Christ is offered anew upon a thousand altars as a sacrifice flee. He taught that Christ was offered once for all as a sacrifice upon the cross. There was there­fore no place in the Church for priests. Since Luther’s day Protes­tant churches have had ministers of the Word, rather than priests; and at the Lord’s Supper all mem­bers partake of both the bread and the wine. Although Luther denied that the bread is changed into the body of Christ, he nevertheless taught that Christ’s body is present in the Lord’s Supper because, said he, since Christ’s ascension, His body, like His Godhead, is present every­where. 4. Luther Develops a Form of Church Government Luther was not greatly con­cerned about the form of church organization or government. The form of government which he did adopt was not first of all based upon the teachings of Scripture, but was developed to meet the con­ditions within the Church at that time. Luther introduced a system of church visitors. When these visi­tors inspected the various churches it became evident to everybody that there was an urgent need for ref­ormation. The Roman clergy had shamefully neglected their duties. Both people and priests were al­most unbelievably ignorant of re­ligious truth. Most priests were totally unable to preach. They could only mumble masses. As a result of church inspection by the visitors, a set of Regulations was drawn up for the guidance of church life. The Lutheran Church does not have bishops. It has officers who are called superintendents. They exercise somewhat the same func­tions as bishops. The most characteristic feature of Lutheran church government is the place it gives to the State. Luther to a great extent adopted the principle that the State should be above the Church. He did that largely under the influence of cir­cumstances. His own personal safety he owed, humanly speaking, entirely to the protection of his prince, the Elector of Saxony. Like­wise it was possible for the Protes­tant Church to exist only in those German lands which were ruled by princes who had accepted Protes­tantism. Due to this circumstance Luther gave these Protestant princes a great deal of authority in the affairs of the Church. For a short time Luther hoped that there would arise in Germany a national Protestant Church embracing all the German people. That hope, however, was never realized. Some German lands remained Roman Catholic. Even the Protestant Church in Germany was divided into a number of territorial churches. In the end there were as many Protestant territorial churches in Germany as there were territories ruled over by Protestant princes. 5. Luther Provides the People with Materials for Study and Wor­ship While Luther was in hiding in the Wartburg for ten months—from May 4, 1521, to March 3, 1522 — he did not spend his time in idleness. He translated the Bible into the German language, the language of his people. In the Roman Catholic Church the Bible was studied only by the church leaders and scholars. Luther held that every man has the right and the duty to read and study the Bible for himself. By his transla­tion of the Bible into German, Luther made that possible for his countrymen. In the church services the Latin language was replaced by the German. This meant that public worship from then on was con­ducted in the language the people could understand. Luther also did a great deal for, tolerance of the people he labored tirelessly for the establishment of schools everywhere. In order that the children might become thor­oughly grounded in evangelical doctrine, Luther wrote his Shorter Catechism. It was only a very small book; yet it is one of the great Re­former’s most important works. Luther’s Shorter Catechism is the doctrinal dish on which generation after generation of Lutheran chil­dren were reared. The new Church also needed a new hymn book. One of the most remarkable things about this very extraordinary man Luther is that in the midst of his terrific combat with Rome and when he was already forty years old, he blossomed forth as a poet and wrote many of the hymns for the new hymn book. A large num­ber of Luther’s hymns have no great poetic beauty. But he wrote one hymn that will live forever. That is "Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott," known to us as "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." A well loved Christmas song believed to have been written by Luther for his own children is "So Arm in der Krippe." The English title is "Away in a Manger." Along with many other things, Luther retained the idea that there is only one true visible Church. He did not think of himself and his followers as having left the Church. The Romanists were the ones who had departed from the New Testament Church. Luther did not feel that he had established a new church. All that he had done was to reform the Church that had become deformed. LUTHER TRANSLATES THE BIBLE INTO GERMAN Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions While in the Wartburg Luther worked on a translation of the New Testament, which was published in 1522. Ten years later he completed his German translation of the entire Bible. It was considered desirable that the Lutheran Church should pre­sent to the world an official state­ment in which it declared its faith. Such a statement was drawn up, and handed in to the Diet of Augs­burg in 1530. This statement of the Lutheran has faith become known as the Augsbur Con ession. It was the first confession or creed to be formulated since the ancient Church formulated the Christian faith in the creeds of the Ecumeni­cal Councils (ch. 6, sec. 1). The Medieval Church had not produced a single creed. The Augsburg Confession did not replace the creeds of the an­cient Church. The Lutheran Church believed wholeheartedly in the doctrines of the ancient Church as formulated in the Apostles’ Creed (ch. 3, sec 6), and in the Creeds of Nicaea (ch. 3, sec. 9) and Chalcedon (ch. 6, sec. 4). The Augsburg Confession was based upon and included them, but at the same time it enlarged upon and ex­panded them. The Lutheran Church now stood alongside and over against the Roman Church as a reformation of the same, with its own doctrine and creed, its own form of organiza­tion and government, and its own form of worship, all in the lan­guage of its people. 6. Luther Has Many Helpers Luther soon had many helpers. His closest friend and most helpful co-worker was Philip Melanch­thon. In 1518, at the extremely youthful age of twenty-one, he had become a professor of Greek in Wittenberg University. He was therefore associated with the Ref­ormation movement practically from the beginning. While Luther was in the Wartburg, Melanchthon published the first systematic pres­entation of Luther’s ideas under the title of Loci Communes. He was the most learned man of his day, and was called the Preceptor of Germany. Another friend and valuable as­sistant was Spalatin, the private secretary of the Elector of Saxony. Surprisingly, in spite of Prince Frederick’s high regard and friend­ship for Luther, the prince and Luther never met. Spalatin acted as intermediary between the two. On June 13, 1525, Luther re­ceived a very special helper. For on that day he married Catherine von Bora. She had been a nun. Luther had been a monk-priest. On becoming a monk or a nun a person must take the vow not to marry. For more than three hun­dred years it had been one of the greatest laws in the Roman Church that a priest must not marry. This practice among priests of refrain­ing from marrying is known as celibacy of the clergy. When Luther married, many priests, monks, and nuns followed his example; thus another big step was taken in the Reformation movement away from Rome. LUTHER TEACHING HIS CHILDREN REFORMATION HYMNS Luther continued to live in the Black Cloister, and the monastery became a parsonage. It was his home to the end of his life. 7. The Church in the Scandinavian Countries Is Reformed In various ways and under vary­ing circumstances the Church in the course of the sixteenth century was reformed also in the Scandi­navian countries of Denmark, Nor­way, and Sweden. In these coun­tries the Church adopted the Lutheran type of Reformation. The victory of the Reformation in Denmark and especially in Swe­den was going to be of decisive importance in the wars of religion which followed the Reformation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 29. CHAPTER 26: THE CHURCH IS REFORMED IN GERMAN SWITZERLAND, 1523-1529 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26 The Church Is Reformed in German Switzerland, 1523-1529 Zwingli Comes under the Influence of Luther Zwingli Reforms the Church in Switzerland Zwingli Differs from Luther Zwingli Meets an Early Death 1. Zwingli Comes under the Influ­ence of Luther On January 1, 1484, there was born in Wildhaus in the German speaking part of Switzerland a boy who was to become known to his­tory as Ulrich Zwingli. His father was a prosperous farmer. Zwingli’s experience differed greatly from that of Luther. He never lived as a monk in a convent. He did not have Luther’s deep con­sciousness of sin, and he knew nothing of Luther’s fearful spirit­ual struggle to gain salvation (ch. 23, sec. 6). Luther emerged out of the darkness of medievalism, and had been educated in scholastic theology (ch. 20, sec. 10); he studied the great writings of the Church Fathers and other works written under the influence of the Medieval Church. Zwingli received his education under the influence of the Renaissance, that is, under the influence of the new interest in the ancient writings of the Greeks and Romans, which had recently been brought to the west­ern world (ch. 22, sec. 10). These Greeks and Romans had lived be­fore the time of Christ and had possessed no knowledge of the Word of God. Zwingli studied in Basel, Bern, and Vienna. In 1506 he received the degree of Master of Arts. Thereupon he entered the service of the Church. In 1519 he became pastor of the church of Zurich, the most important city in that part of Switzerland. He was also chaplain in the army of the city of Zurich. At first Zwingli stood strongly under the influence of Erasmus, with whom he became personally acquainted. He made a thorough study of the New Testament and of the Church Fathers. Originally he had no intention of attacking the Roman Church. Like Erasmus, he hoped to bring about improve­ments gradually through educa­tion. He first arrived at certain reformatory ideas independent of Luther. Later he came under Luther’s influence, and moved further and further away from the position of Erasmus. 2. Zwingli Reforms the Church in Switzerland In 1518 Zwingli attacked in­dulgences. The stand Luther took in the Leipzig Debate (ch. 24, sec. 6), and his burning of the papal bull (ch. 24, sec. 12) inspired Zwingli to make a systematic at­tack on the Roman Church. Images were removed from the church buildings in Zurich. The mass was abolished. Altars, relics, and processions were discarded. The government of the Church and the care of the poor were placed in the hands of the city council. The school system was reformed. From Zurich the Reformation of the Church spread to several of the Swiss cantons; but many cantons remained Catholic. 3. Zwingli Differs from Luther Zwingli differed from Luther in his idea of the Lord’s Supper. As we have seen (ch. 25, sec. 3), Luther took the words, "This is my body," literally. He taught that the body of Christ, having become everywhere present at His ascen­sion, is actually present in the bread and wine. Zwingli taught that the body of Christ is now only in heaven, and that the words "This is my body" mean: "This signifies my body." According to Zwingli the bread and the wine are only symbols of the body and blood of Christ, and the Supper is only a memorial ceremony. In October, 1529, Luther and Zwingli held a conference in Mar­burg, but the two leaders of the Reformation could not come to an agreement. CONFERENCE AT MARBURG At this conference Luther and Zwingli failed to come to an agreement in their ideas concerning the Lord’s Supper. For a time Zwingli had consider­able influence in southern Ger­many. But after his death the Protestants in that region inclined more and more toward Luther, and the Zwinglian movement became confined to German-speaking Switzerland. 4. Zwingli Meets an Early Death Zwingli’s death took place on October 11, 1531. War had broken out between the Catholic and the Protestant cantons. As chaplain, Zwingli accompanied the Protes­tant army. It was defeated in a battle near Kappel, and Zwingli was killed. His body was dismem­bered and burned. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 30. CHAPTER 27: THE CHURCH IS REFORMED IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND, 1541-1555 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27 The Church Is Reformed in French Switzerland, 1541-1555 Calvin’s Early Life and Education Fare! Brings the Reformation to Geneva At This Time Almost All Protestants Are Lutherans Calvin Works with Fare! in Geneva Calvin Enjoys Three Years of Peace in Strassburg Calvin Returns to Geneva His Great Work in Geneva Influences All Europe How Calvin and Luther Differed Calvin and Luther Can Be Numbered among the Heroes of Faith 1. Calvin’s Early Life and Educa­tion The third Reformer was John Calvin. It was as a result of his work that the Church in French Switzerland was reformed. He was born July 10, 1509, in Noyon, a little town in northern France, sixty-seven miles northeast of Paris. His father, a man of some means, was secretary to the bishop. His mother, a beautiful and pious woman, died when he was still very young. Calvin was brought up in the house of a noble­man in the neighborhood. Here he received his elementary education, and in his close association with the sons of this nobleman he ab­sorbed the manners of the aris­tocracy. When Calvin was a boy of thirteen his father sent him to Paris to continue his education. There he took up the study of the classical Greek and Roman writers, and theology. Later he studied law in Orleans and Bourges, and then returned to Paris. The convulsions of the Church in Germany caused by Luther were soon felt also by the Church in France. Many people in France followed Luther’s career and read his writings with the deepest in­terest. Calvin, like Luther, was born and brought up in the Roman Catholic Church. For several years after he became acquainted with the reformatory movement in Ger­many, he continued to cling to the movement in France. It was not long before the Lu­therans in France were being fiercely persecuted. Some were even put to death. Calvin fled to Basel in Switzerland. There, in the spring of 1536, he published his In­stitutes of the Christian Religion. This work is the greatest exposi­tion of evangelical truth produced by the Reformation. Calvin was only twenty-six years of age when he wrote this famous book. It has remained to the present time one of the great works in Reformed doc­trine. After some time Calvin decided to go to Strassburg in southwest­ern Germany, there to pursue the quiet life of a scholar. Because of the alarms of war he took a round­about route. It was a frail young Frenchman, with pallid face but lustrous eyes and a refined and scholarly air, who, toward evening on a warm day in August, 1536, walked through the gates of Ge­neva. Little did he dream of the important task to which God was about to call him. 2. Farel Brings the Reformation to Geneva Geneva is located on the western tip of beautiful Lake Geneva in the French speaking part of Switzer­land. The Alpine scenery is sub­lime at this place. Within full view of the city rises lofty snow-capped Mont Blanc. Near by, through a pass in the Alps, runs an important trade route connecting Italy, Ger­many, and France. To this city of Geneva the French evangelical preacher Guil­laume Farel had first come in Oc­tober, 1532. Farel was a zealous and influential promoter of the Reformation. As a result of his visit to a synod of the Waldenses in one of the high valleys of the Alps, many of those people ac­cepted the principles of the Ref­ormation (ch. 22, sec. 4 and 5). Before that he had helped to bring about the Reformation in Bern and Neuchatel, and in some of the smaller towns and surrounding dis­tricts. On the occasion of his first visit to Geneva, Farel had failed to get a foothold there. But he was not one to give up. He had returned to Geneva in December, 1533, and this time he was more successful. When Farel came to Geneva the Catholics were still in the majority. But during the following months the fiery preaching of Farel turned the tide in favor of the Reforma­tion. In the summer of 1535 Farel seized the Church of La Madeleine and the Cathedral of St. Peter. Then an iconoclastic (image de­stroying) riot swept the city. In all the churches the images were demolished, the mass was abol­ished, and the monks and nuns were driven out. On May 21, 1536, the General Assembly of the citi­zens voted in favor of the Ref­ormation, and made Protestantism the official religion of Geneva. JOHN CALVIN Credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: cph 3b19375) All through this time Geneva was in revolt against its bishop, and against its lord, the Duke of Savoy. The waves of political and religious turmoil were running high. Farel was of a fiery temper, and gifted with eloquence and a powerful voice. But he was getting very old, and did not feel himself equal to the task of bringing peace and order to the distracted city. Then he heard that Calvin had come to Geneva. It came to Farel as a revelation that this young Frenchman of twenty-seven was just the man for the place. Farel hurried to the inn where Calvin was stopping for the night. When Calvin entered Geneva he did not think anyone in that city knew of him. He himself was a total stranger there, and of the situation in Geneva he knew little or nothing. He was therefore greatly surprised when Farel came to see him. He had not expected callers. But the fame of his Insti­tutes had preceded him. The first edition of that work was only a small book, but in the few months that had passed since its publica­tion it had made him, young as he was, a man of European renown. Farel told the stranger what was on his mind. Calvin shook his head as he moved uneasily in his chair. But he asked Farel to give him a complete picture of the situation in Geneva, and to tell him in detail just exactly what he wanted him to do. The longer Calvin listened to Farel, the less inclined he felt to fall in with his plans. He real­ized that if he should yield to Farel’s entreaties, it would mean that he would become involved in a critical situation full of the great­est difficulties. His timid nature shrank from the hurly-burly of fierce and prolonged struggles. GUILLAUME FAREL The Print Collector/Heritage-Images What attracted Calvin was not public life with its unavoidable con­flicts and all the grief connected therewith, but the quiet life of the scholar. He had his mind set on going to Strassburg. There in that haven of safety he would in peace­ful seclusion devote all his time to studying and writing. He did not need a job. His father left him money enough to supply his mod­est wants. When he entered Ge­neva that evening he had no idea of staying. It was accident that had brought him. All he wanted there was sleep. Then betimes next morning he would be off again on his way to Strassburg. Little did he dream when he was writing his Institutes, itself the product of quiet and secluded study, that thereby he was making the secluded life of a scholar im­possible for himself. Farel insisted that Calvin stay in Geneva. He needed his help in establishing the work of the Refor­mation more firmly in that city. Calvin went on resisting the old preacher’s passionate pleadings. Here, in this Geneva inn that summer night of the year 1536, high drama was being enacted. Here was a clashing of two de­termined wills. Upon the outcome of the tense conflict between these two wills would turn much of the future history of the world. The outcome of this contest would have its influence on the world’s history down to the end of time. The out­come has most verily shaped the history of our Calvinistic churches, and the life of each one of us. At last Calvin pleaded as his reason for declining Farel’s re­quest, his youth, his inexperience in practical affairs, his general un­fitness for the work, and his need of more study. He told Farel that this was his last word, and that he considered the discussion closed. Then the old man rose from his chair, and, straightening himself out to his full height as his long beard swept his chest, he directed his piercing look full at the young man before him and thundered: "May God curse your studies if now in her time of need you re­fuse to lend your aid to His Church." Hearing these words, Calvin was struck with terror, as he himself said later. He was visibly shaken. His whole body trembled. In Farel’s voice of thunder he heard the voice of God. Then and there he ceased struggling and yielded to Farel’s pleadings. Calvin con­sented to stay in Geneva. FAREL ENTREATS CALVIN TO STAY IN GENEVA Religious News Service This is another instance of a man of ordinary ability enlisting a man of genius in the service of the Master. As Barnabas brought Paul (ch. 2, sec. 5), so Farel brought Calvin into the service of the Church. 3. At This Time Almost All Protes­tants Are Lutherans As Wittenberg was the city of Luther, and Zurich of Zwingli, so Geneva became the city of Calvin. When Calvin began his work in Geneva in 1536 almost all the people of northern Europe were either Catholic or Lutherans. Nineteen years had passed since Luther posted his ninety-five theses in Wittenberg. Luther was now past the height of his great career and was to live just ten years longer. The Reformation in Ger­many after this time did not gain much more ground. Roughly speak­ing southern Germany remained Catholic, although there were many Protestants there; and northern Germany became Protes­tant, although many of its people remained Catholic. After the death of Zwingli many of his followers, especially in southern Germany, went over to the teachings of Luther, and practically the entire population of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark embraced Lutheran­ism. In the other countries, too, Protestants during the early years of the Reformation were called Lutherans. One important exception must be noted. Soon after the Reformation began, a group of people known as Anabaptists spread their teachings in various countries of Europe. 4. Calvin Works with Farel in Geneva Calvin’s life from the time that he came to Geneva to the time of his death falls into three parts: his first stay in Geneva from Au­gust, 1536, to April, 1538; his stay in Strassburg from May, 1538, to September, 1541; and his second stay in Geneva from September, 1541, until his death in May, 1564. Calvin began his work in Geneva in a very modest way as assistant to Farel. The next year he was ap­pointed one of the preachers. Then Calvin and Farel laid be­fore the city council three pro­posals which had been formulated by Calvin: (1) the Lord’s Supper should be administered monthly, and every person not leading a good Christian life should be disci­plined — if necessary, to the point of excommunication; (2) a Cate­chism which had been composed by Calvin should be adopted; and (3) every citizen should subscribe to a recommended creed, which had probably been drawn up by Farel. The first proposal was Calvin’s first attempt to make of Geneva a model community, a "city of God," and to secure the freedom of the Church from the State. The proposals soon aroused bitter opposition. Then Calvin’s op­ponents won the city election, and they decided to bring matters to a head. The form of worship in the neighboring city of Bern differed somewhat from that in use in Ge­neva. For some time past Bern had wished to have it adopted in Geneva. Now the city council in­sisted on introducing this form of worship. Calvin and Farel did not think that the differences were very important. But they refused to introduce the liturgy of Bern, because it was being imposed upon the Geneva church by the civil government without consultation with the church officers. This they regarded as an improper curtail­ment of the independence and lib­erty of the Church from the State. When they would not give in they were banished from the city. Their banishment took place on the twenty-third of April, 1538. It seemed as if Calvin’s work in Geneva, so reluctantly begun less than two years before, had come to a sudden end in complete failure before it had gotten well under way. 5. Calvin Enjoys Three Years of Peace in Strassburg Farel went to Neuchatel, where a few years before he had helped to introduce the Reformation. From this time until his death he served the church in that city as pastor. CALVIN CONFERS WITH THE GENEVA COUNCIL Religious News Service Martin Bucer, who had been won for the Reformation by Luther during the great Leipzig Debate (ch. 24, sec. 6), invited Calvin to Strassburg. Calvin gladly accepted this invitation. It brought him to the city where he had been so eager to go in the first place. After the eighteen months of struggle and conflict in Geneva, Calvin enjoyed three years of peace in Strassburg. Here he married Idelette van Buren, a woman from the southern Netherlands. In this city, too, Calvin had the opportun­ity to become acquainted at first hand with the followers of both Luther and Zwingli, who had pre­ceded him in the great work of the Reformation. He became pastor of the church of the French refugees, followers of Luther in France who had fled to Strassburg to escape persecution. He also gave lectures in theology. So for three years Cal­vin in large measure realized his ideal, the quiet life of a scholar. At the same time, as pastor of a church he gained practical experi­ence. These three years in Strassburg were for Calvin very fruitful years. He had a good deal of time for studying and writing, and he grew much in intellectual and theo­logical stature. He prepared a greatly enlarged edition of the In­stitutes. He also wrote a Commen­tary on Romans. This work at once placed him in the front rank of in­terpreters of Scripture. At this time the emperor Charles V in Germany (ch. 24, sec. 13-18) was putting forth efforts to bring the Protestants and the Catholics together in order to restore the unity of the Church. Under his di­rection a number of conferences were held. Strassburg sent Calvin as one of its representatives. Nothing came of these conferences, but they served to make Calvin personally acquainted with many of the leading Lutherans. Calvin and Luther never met, but Calvin and Melanchthon became warm friends. 6. Calvin Returns to Geneva After the departure of Calvin from Geneva all was confusion and disorder there. Cardinal Sadoleto, a very able man, thought there might be good fishing in troubled waters. In elegant Latin he wrote a clever address in which he tried to persuade the people of Geneva to return to the fold of the old mother Church. To offset this ap­peal of the cardinal, Calvin, setting aside all hard feeling against the Genevans, in no less polished Latin wrote a brilliant Reply to Sadoleto. This Reply held Geneva steady for the Reformation. However, things were going from bad to worse. The party that had secured the expulsion of Calvin made a treaty in 1539 whereby it surrendered the independence of Geneva to the city of Bern. In the election of the following year this party was defeated, and the men who had negotiated the treaty with Bern were condemned as traitors. The party which was friendly to Calvin was again in power, and Geneva asked Calvin to return. He had no desire to leave peace­ful Strassburg for stormy Geneva. It was only with the greatest diffi­culty that he was at last prevailed upon to do so. Amid great rejoicing and an enthusiastic ovation Calvin entered Geneva a second time, on September 13, 1541. Calvin’s first stay in Geneva had seemed at the time to be entirely without results. But if he had gone right on to Strassburg according to his plan, it appears likely that he would never have come to Ge­neva. Without his first stay in Ge­neva there would not have been a second. We can see the wonderful provi­dence of God in the fact that of all places in the world, Electoral Saxony was the birthplace of Martin Luther, and it was there that he grew up and did his work. There alone, under the friendly elector Frederick the Wise, was to be found the protection so neces­sary to Luther’s work. We can similarly see the wonderful provi­dence of God in bringing John Cal­vin to Geneva. This free and inde­pendent city with its democratic institutions was at that time, of all the places in the world, the most admirably fitted to be the scene of the great reformatory labors of Calvin. 7. His Great Work in Geneva In­fluences All Europe Like other great men in the his­tory of the Church, John Calvin had to serve a long and difficult period of training for his life’s work. His entire life up to this time was one long preparation for the task which was now awaiting him in Geneva, and which was to be of world-wide significance. Upon his return to Geneva Cal­vin drew up a Church Order, a set of rules for the governing of the church. This Order was readily adopted. It was based upon the teaching of Scripture that Christ has ordained four offices in the Church: pastors, teachers or pro­fessors, elders, and deacons. The cornerstone of Calvin’s form of church government is the office of elder. Elders are chosen from among the members of the church. Together with the minister or pastor they form the consistory. The elders’ office is to watch over the purity of the minister’s doc­trine and life, over the purity of the doctrine and life of each other, and together with the minister to watch over the purity of doctrine and life of the members of the church. To the consistory Calvin as­signed the right of discipline of the members of the church to the point of excommunication. If a case demanded any further penalty, it was to be turned over to the civil magistrate. Luther, under the force of cir­cumstances, had allowed the Ger­man territorial princes a great deal of power in the affairs of the Church (ch. 25, sec. 4). Calvin’s ideal, on the other hand, was a Church free and independent from the State. For Calvin the freedom of the Church was concentrated in the Church’s right of excommuni­cation without outside interfer­ence. For that right he fought his hardest battles. In defense of that right he was ready at any time to lay down his life. SITE OF CALVIN’S HOME IN GENEVA Religious News Service John Calvin lived here at what is now No. 11 Rue Jean Calvin until his death in 1564. The original house was destroyed by fire in 1706. Upon one occasion, certain citi­zens of Geneva whom the consis­tory had excommunicated came into the church armed. Their plan was to force admission to the com­munion table. They threatened Calvin’s life if he should refuse to administer the sacrament to them. Protectingly Calvin stretched out his hands over the bread and wine, and declared that they would be able to take of it only over his dead body. By sheer moral courage and strength he made them desist from their attempt to gain admittance by force to the communion table. Bitter opposition often arose against the strict discipline of the Church over the moral life of the members. More than once it looked as if Calvin would be expelled a second time from Geneva. What in the end saved the day for Calvin was the influx into Geneva of refu­gees from other countries and the case of Servetus. Servetus was a learned Spanish physician who had published a book attacking the doctrine of the Trinity. He came to Geneva and was arrested. He was tried, found guilty, condemned as a heretic, and burned to death on October 27, 1553. All the leading Protestant theologians, even the mild and soft­hearted Melanchthon, fell in with the common practice of the Roman Catholic Church of that time, and approved of his death. Calvin’s op­ponents had done all they could to hinder the trial of Servetus. Be­cause they had tried to protect a man whom everybody condemned as a great heretic, they were now thoroughly discredited. Their power of opposition was broken. Men suffering persecution for the sake of their Protestant re­ligion fled from many countries to Geneva. They were all staunch sup­porters of Calvin. When they were made citizens of Geneva Calvin was able to count on a government heartily loyal to him. From 1555 on Calvin was master of Geneva. Under his leadership the con­sistory of the church in Geneva passed rules and laws designed to control completely the lives of the citizens of Geneva, and to make of that city a Christian city, a "city of God." The civil government of Geneva could be relied on to put into effect the rules made by the consistory. In 1559 Calvin published the third and final edition of the Insti­tutes. It was five times as large as the first edition of 1536. In the same year he founded a university. From France, the Netherlands, Germany, England, and Scotland men flocked to Geneva to study in this school. By means of the men trained in his university; by means of his pat­tern of church government; through his writings, foremost among which were his Institutes and his Commentaries on the Bible; and by means of his cor­respondence which he carried on with leading men in all European countries, Calvin gained followers everywhere. His influence extended even into Italy, Hungary, Poland, and western Germany. CATHEDRAL OF ST. PIERRE, GENEVA Religious News Service This was one of the main centers of Calvin’s preaching career. The cathedral stands on the site of an ancient Roman temple in the oldest part of the city. Completed in 1034 as a Roman Catholic church, the building was remodeled in the 12th and 13th centuries. At the time of the Reformation it became a Re­formed church. The spire was added long after Calvin’s time — in 1899. It is 223 feet high. This man, who was simply a minister of the Gospel and theo­logical professor, acquired an in­fluence which was and remains in­ternational in extent. Through him the light of the Gospel radiated from the little city of Geneva into every corner of Europe. Calvin was the only international Reformer. That Calvin could do so enor­mous a work is all the more amaz­ing because he was frail of body, and much of the time suffered ex­ceedingly from a complication of painful diseases. But his will tri­umphed over all difficulties and ob­stacles, God working with him. Worn out with his difficult and extensive labors, Calvin died May 27, 1564. He was not quite fifty-five years old. His coat-of-arms was a hand holding a flaming heart. His motto was: "Cor meum tibi offero Do-mine prompte et sincere." Freely translated this means: "My heart for thy cause I offer thee, Lord, promptly and sincerely." Calvin’s life was in keeping with his motto. 8. How Calvin and Luther Differed Luther and Calvin were in agree­ment on the doctrine of predestina­tion, that God has from eternity chosen those who are to inherit eternal life. They both derived this doctrine from Augustine, and through him from Paul. Calvin differed from Luther in the matter of form of worship. Luther retained as much as pos­sible of the form of worship of the Roman Church. He retained every­thing that is not expressly forbid­den by the Bible. Calvin departed as far as possible from the form of worship of the Roman Church. He permitted only what is expressly commanded by the Bible. Both, however, made the sermon the main thing in the church service. Both provided for congregational singing; but Luther stressed hymns while Calvin emphasized the Psalms. Calvin differed from Luther in the form of church government. Luther allowed the State a great deal of power over the Church. Calvin denied to the State any power over the Church. He actually gave to the Church power over the State. Calvin laid much more stress on church discipline than did Luther. Both provided for the care of the poor through the deaconate. Luther and Calvin both believed that everyone has the right and the duty to read and study the Bible for himself. And to make this pos­sible for the people Luther trans­lated the Bible into German; Cal­vin translated it into French. Both were great masters of language, and each by his Bible translation did much to mold his own native language. Both Luther and Calvin set great store by education. Luther was first of all a professor at Wittenberg University, but he also preached. Calvin was first of all a minister and preacher in the Geneva church, but toward the end of his life he also became a professor in the Uni­versity of Geneva, of which he was the founder. Both were deeply con­vinced that the members of the Church should be thoroughly grounded in doctrine. To provide for this training they both wrote catechisms. Calvin differed from both Luther and Zwingli in the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. With Zwingli he denied the bodily presence of Christ in the bread and wine as taught by Luther. But to Calvin the Lord’s Supper was much more than a mere memorial ceremony, as taught by Zwingli. Calvin taught that Christ is actually and really present in the bread and wine, and is by faith actually and really partaken of by the communi­cant, not bodily but spiritually. Both Luther and Calvin believed in predestination and in salvation by faith alone. For Luther the doc­trine of salvation by faith alone was the doctrine with which the Church stands or falls. For Calvin the doctrine of predestination was the heart of the Church. Luther put all emphasis on the salvation of man; Calvin, on the glory of God. 9. Calvin and Luther Can Be Num­bered among the Heroes of Faith Paul, Origen, Augustine, Aqui­nas, Luther, and Calvin are among the great men in the history of the Church. Every one of these men had a very strong character. Each one’s personality was altogether different from that of the others. Each one’s life history was differ­ent from that of the others. They lived in countries, times, and cir­cumstances that differed widely. Yet all these men had certain things in common. They were all giants. There have been many other very great men in the history of the Church, but none of them can begin to compare with these. In the entire spacious landscape of the Church’s history these men are the highest peaks. All these men had wonderful minds, and they all had a superior education. They had iron wills. They had passionate, deeply emo­tional natures. They were all noble men. They all had a marvelous com­mand of language. Each one of these men was a king. They all held royal sway in this world by means of their tongue and their pen. They all led simple, austere lives. Often they lived in want and poverty. None of them had many good times. They had a good time all the time, but they had no time to have what is generally called "a good time." They were all indus­trious students and hard workers. All these men were deeply re­ligious, God-fearing men. Fearing God, they feared no man. They were all men of strong faith, of un­shakable steadfastness, of sublime courage. They all were heroes of faith. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 31. CHAPTER 28: THE CHURCH IS REFORMED IN FRANCE, 1541-1559, AND IN THE NETHERLANDS, 1561-1571 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28 The Church Is Reformed in France, 1541-1559, and in the Netherlands, 1561-1571 The Reformation Had Its Roots in the Past Le Fevre Prepares the Way in France Luther Has Wide Influence in France Calvin Provides the Necessary Leadership The Reformation in France Comes to Maturity The Way Has Been Prepared for the Ref­ormation in the Netherlands Calvin Becomes the Main Influence Also in the Netherlands 1. The Reformation Had Its Roots in the Past Like all great movements the Reformation had its roots far back in history. The preparation for the Reformation stretched over many centuries. The same forces that were at work in other countries of western Europe were at work also in France to prepare the soil for the seed of the Reformation. Among these were: the Babylonian Cap­tivity (ch. 21, sec. 3); the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4); dissatis­faction of the earnest members of the Church with the many abuses existing in the Church, which led to the calling of the three General Councils (ch. 22, sec. 9); the Ren­aissance (ch. 22, sec. 10); and the writings of Erasmus (ch. 22, sec. 11 and 12). Then there was a preparation in France peculiar to that land. In the southern part of France the influ­ence of the Albigenses and the Wal­denses still lingered (ch. 22, sec. 3-5). Finally there was an immediate preparation by Le Fevre, Luther, and Calvin. 2. Le Fevre Prepares the Way in France Jacques Le Fevre of Etaples was a student of the ancient Greek and Roman writings. He was also a Bible scholar. In 1512 he published in Latin a Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, in which he denied that good works can earn salvation. He taught that man is justified by faith. He wished the people to know the Bible, and so he translated most of the New Testament into French. He was especially interested in reaching the common people. He wanted the Church to preach Christ in a simple way. Le Fevre has some­times been called "the little Luther." However, Le Fevre and his fol­lowers would never have brought about the Reformation in France. They had no intention of breaking with Rome. They wished to keep most of the old forms and beliefs, and bring about a reform simply by correcting the most glaring abuses. 3. Luther Has Wide Influence in France A certain Jean Bouchet summed up the situation in France very neatly and also very exactly when he said: "The key of heresy in France was made of the fine iron of Germany." The Reformation in France was a result of what had happened in Germany. Luther gave the impetus to the Reformation in France first by means of his writings. A book con­taining nearly all that Luther had published up to October, 1518, was imported into France. This book aroused wide-spread interest. Two years later a student in Paris said that no books were bought more than those of Luther. Writings of Luther kept pouring in from Frankfort, Strassburg, and Basel. They were written in Latin and could be read only by the learned. But soon they made their appear­ance in French translations. A Roman Catholic bishop said that the common people were led astray by the lively style of the heretic. The Catholic theologians in France became alarmed. They started to publish tracts to counter­act the reformatory movement. The Greek New Testament of Erasmus and Le Fevre’s transla­tion into French were condemned as blasphemies against Jerome (ch. 6, sec. 6) and the Holy Ghost. But the reformatory movement could not be stopped. It found fol­lowers first of all in the cities. The early recruits of the Reformation in France were merchants and artisans. But the reading of the Bible and the books of Luther soon became a practice among the mid­dle and higher classes. Under the inspiration of Margaret, the king’s sister, small, private groups were organized at the royal court to read the Bible in secret. Many short tracts which made propa­ganda for Luther’s ideas continued to be published. The "Lutheran contagion" con­tinued to spread. It found advocates among all classes except among the great nobles. No exact figures are available, but in 1534 it was estimated that there were thirty thousand followers of Luther in Paris alone. So far it was chiefly Luther who inspired the reformatory move­ment in France. But Zwingli and other German and Swiss Re­formers also exercised some influ­ence. Protestantism in France was still weak. As yet it was not more than a protest against the deforma­tion of the Roman Church. The fol­lowers of Luther lacked all organi­zation, and there was no unified leadership. For a while it seemed as if Farel (ch. 27, sec. 2) might supply the much-needed leadership. He was learned, eloquent, and full of fiery zeal. He persuaded Olivetan, a rela­tive of Calvin and an excellent Greek scholar, to make a French translation of the New Testament. This translation was a great help. Nevertheless the reformatory movement in France remained con­fused. Suddenly the year 1536 saw a great change. 4. Calvin Provides the Necessary Leadership In 1536 Erasmus and Le Fevre died. Their death spelled the end of the Christian Renaissance move­ment, the aim of which had been reform but not a reformation of the Church. But also in the same year, 1536, Calvin published his Institutes (ch. 27, sec. 1), and began his labors in Geneva (ch. 27, sec. 3). As we have seen, the publication of the Institutes was an event of highest importance in the history of the Reformation. With the publication of this small volume Calvin, the French refugee in Basel, in one leap took his place at the head of the reformatory movement. With the publication of the Institutes the reformatory movement in France received in Calvin its leader and organizer. 5. The Reformation in France Comes to Maturity If an idea is to gain followers, it must be well presented. If the followers are to become a power, they must be well organized. Up to 1536 the Reformation in France had gained numerous followers through the writings of Luther and others. But not until Calvin settled in Geneva and began to write in French, were the ideas of the Ref­ormation presented in a form that appealed especially to Frenchmen. Calvin gave a better presentation of the cause than any of those be­fore him. He also furnished a defi­nite organization. He supplied a clear statement of doctrine, a form of public worship, and a system of church government. Calvin was a born leader of men. He followed up his books with per­sonal appeals. He carried on a very extensive correspondence with Protestants in France. He took great pains with the composition of his letters, and displayed great skill in using this means of im­pressing his ideas more firmly upon the minds of his followers. It was not long before there was a well organized church in Paris. To avoid persecution, its members met secretly in small groups in pri­vate houses. By 1559 there were many Protestant churches through­out the land, and it has been quite reliably estimated that by this time one-sixth of the population of France had become Protestant. Some of the foremost men of France joined the Reformation movement. In May, 1559 the Protestant churches of France held a synod in Paris. This synod adopted a creed known as the Gallic Confes­sion. This synod also organized the Protestant churches in France on a national scale. Here again Calvin provided the model. The country was divided into districts. At stated times the churches within a district were to hold meetings to which each church in the dis­trict was to send as its representa­tives a minister and an elder. Then there was to be a national synod to which every church in the coun­try was to send a minister and an elder. It was also around this time that the Protestants in France came to be called by the name by which they are known to history. Up to this time they were called Luther­ans, and sometimes Calvinists. From this time on they were called Huguenots. The Reformation in France under the leadership of John Cal­vin had come to maturity and was now firmly established. 6. The Way Has Been Prepared for the Reformation in the Netherlands The same forces that prepared the way for the Reformation in Germany and in France (ch. 22) were at work also in the Nether­lands. But there was besides these an activity peculiar to the Nether­lands, namely, that of the Brethren of the Common Life (ch. 22, sec. 11). You will recall how the Breth­ren in their work to reform the church preached to great multi­tudes and also established excel­lent schools where Christian train­ing was given. John of Wessel, who received his early training in one of these schools, attacked indul­gences and taught that justifica­tion comes by faith alone, just as Luther did later on. The writings of Luther and his heroic example became known in the Netherlands at an early date, and the number of his followers in the Low Countries multiplied rapidly. But the reformatory movement in the Netherlands was for a long time even more con­fused than it had been in France. Of those that joined the Reforma­tion some were Lutherans, some were Zwinglians, and others were Anabaptists (ch. 32, sec. 2). In the Netherlands, as in France, there was for a long time no uni­fied leadership. TOWER OF ST. JACOB’S CHURCH, THE HAGUE Netherlands Information Bureau Records show that this church was built prior to 1311. It was burned down in 1402 and rebuilt in 1434. Originally Roman Catholic, it was one of the earliest churches to be surrendered to the followers of the Reformation. The wedding of Princess (now Queen) Juliana and Prince Bernhard took place in this Hervormde (Reformed) State Church. 7. Calvin Becomes the Main Influ­ence Also in the Netherlands The man who with his clear mind and organizing ability brought order out of chaos in France, did the same thing in the Netherlands. Naturally the influ­ence of this greatest of the Re­formers was felt in the Nether­lands later than in France. A change occurred almost im­mediately in France, upon the pub­lication of the Institutes in 1536. It was not until about 1550 that the people of the Netherlands be­gan to feel the impact of Calvin’s superior mind. But when once Cal­vin’s ideas became known they achieved a swift victory. Before long Luther and Zwingli and the Anabaptists receded into the back­ground. At first many students from the Netherlands had gone to Luther’s university at Wittenberg, but after this they went to Geneva. All Protestants of the Reformed faith will always love and revere Luther for his heroic initiative in the mighty struggle for freedom from Rome; but they see their spiritual father not in Luther but in Calvin. The Church in the Netherlands also gave written expression to its faith. In 1561 Guido De Bres drew up a confession of faith, which is known as the Bel is Con ession and also as the ’Net erlandish Confession" or the "Thirty-seven Articles." Two years later Dathe­nus translated into Dutch the Hei­delberg Catechism, which had first been published in the German lan­guage. This, too, became one of the creeds of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands. Dathenus also published a psalter, which was long used in the Reformed Church of the Netherlands. All this time Charles V (ch. 24, sec. 13), who was lord of the Netherlands, was persecuting the Protestants (ch. 32, sec. 6). The persecution was so fierce that it was not safe to hold synodical meetings in the Netherlands. For Built in the fifteenth century, this church is older than its name (New Church) would lead you to think. It became a Protestant house of worship at the beginning of the Reformation, and is one of the Hervormde or Reformed churches. The elaborate choir en­trance and organ front were built around 1650. Notice the high, vaulted ceiling and the great sounding board over the pulpit. this purpose they had to leave their own country. In 1571 a synod was held in Emden in East Friesland just across the border in Germany. Here a church order was adopted after the model of that of Geneva. INTERIOR, NIEUWE KERK, AMSTERDAM With the adoption of creeds, psalter, and church order the or­ganization of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands was for the most part completed, and that Church was firmly established. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 32. CHAPTER 29: THE CHURCH IS REFORMED IN SCOTLAND, 1557-1570 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29 The Church Is Reformed in Scotland, 1557-1570 The Way Is Prepared for the Reformation in Scotland Calvin Influences Scotland through Knox The Preaching of Knox Revolutionizes Scotland The Church in Scotland Is Organized The Church Is Firmly Established 1. The Way Is Prepared for the Reformation in Scotland In the Reformation era Italy and France were foremost in civili­zation and culture, but not far be­hind were Switzerland, southern and central Germany, the Nether­lands, and England. In the coun­tries along the outer rim, however — in Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, northern Germany, Ire­land, and Scotland—the light of the new day had not yet fully dawned. Those countries were still partly shrouded in the shadows of the Middle Ages. Scotland at this time was a poor country, ruled over by a weak king and feudal lords who were con­stantly fighting one another. The clergy was perhaps more corrupt than in any other country. During the fifteenth century universities had been founded in St. Andrews, Glasgow, and Aberdeen; but they could not compare in scholarship with the great universities on the continent. Rumors of the great and strange new things going forward in Ger­many reached Scotland. Several young Scotchmen visited Luther’s university at Wittenberg. When they returned they sowed the seed of Luther’s doctrines in the soil of their native country. Others also imported and distributed some of Luther’s writings. Tyndale’s and Coverdale’s English translations of the Bible (ch. 30, sec. 2) were cir­culated. The first Bible printed in Scotland was published in 1579. It was the work of Alexander Ar­buthnot, and was based on the Ge­neva Bible, an English Bible pub­lished in Geneva in 1560. The early Protestants in Scotland met for worship and instruction in private houses. 2. Calvin Influences Scotland through Knox Gradually, as in France and in the Netherlands, the influence of Calvin overshadowed that of Luther also in Scotland. The tran­sition from Lutheranism to Calvin­ism in Scotland took place under George Wishart. However, not Wishart but John Knox was des­tined to be the great Reformer of Scotland. John Knox was born in Scotland some time between 1505 and 1515. He received a university education and was ordained a priest. When in 1547 the French fleet captured St. Andrews, Knox, together with others, was made prisoner. For nineteen months he toiled as a gal­ley-slave. Day after day he had to ply the oars in the hot, smelly hold of a French ship. Sometimes he was made to feel the lash, and con­stantly he was pestered with sug­gestions that he should pray to the image of Mary. After his release from the row­ing bench Knox went to England, where he stayed five years. He then went to Geneva. He was much impressed with the teachings of Calvin, and adopted his system. In August, 1555, Knox paid a short visit to his native Scotland, and preached with great feeling against the mass. To Mary of Lor­raine, who was at this time regent of Scotland, he sent a letter urging her to favor the Gospel. Mary, who was a strong Catholic, took the letter as a joke. She soon learned that Knox was far from joking — that he was in dead earnest. By the time she realized this, Knox had left Scotland again and re­turned to Geneva. She sentenced him to death and burned him in effigy, that is, she burned an image of him. The Reformed party was slowly making headway in Scotland. From Geneva, Knox served his fel­low believers with advice. In 1557 the leaders of the Protestant party drew up a "Common Band," known as the First Scottish Covenant. They pledged themselves to do all in their power to further "the most blessed Word of God and His Con­gregation." Under the protection of the "Band," or Bond, Reformed churches were established openly. "The Lords of the Congregation" felt that they needed the help of Knox, and they requested him to return from Geneva. On May 2, 1559, Knox came back to Scotland. JOHN KNOX 3. The Preaching of Knox Revolu­tionizes Scotland After Knox returned to Scotland the Reformation in that land swept forward. The preaching of Knox was powerful. His style was direct, vigorous, and plain. Frequently he employed sparkling wit and cutting satire. Of his preaching it was said: "Others lop off branches, but this man strikes at the root." In the pulpit he was so energetic that he seemed likely to pound it to pieces and fly out of it. The preaching of Knox was like a spark in a keg of gunpowder. Wherever he preached there fol­lowed an iconoclastic explosion. Images were broken and monas­teries stormed by the mob. He wrote: "The places of idolatry were made level with the ground, the monuments of idolatry con­sumed with fire, and priests were commanded under pain of death to desist from their blasphemous mass." In 1560 the Scottish Parliament decreed a change of religion. Protestantism instead of Catholicism was made the religion of the coun­try. On August 17 a Calvinistic confession of faith, largely the work of Knox, was adopted. A week later the pope’s authority and all jurisdiction by Catholic prel­ates was abolished, and the cele­bration of the mass was forbidden. The penalty for the third offense was death. ICONOCLASTS AT WORK IN A CHURCH Bettmann Archive Followers of the Reformation destroyed the images and altar pieces and other symbols in the churches. Engraving by Hogenberg in 1579 Maintenance of the true religion was declared to be the prime duty of government. Ministers were paid by the State. The Church was not to take a hand in politics unless it concerned some matter touching upon religious life or practice. Under this plan of Knox the re­lation of Church and State re­mained practically what it had been under the popes—the Church was considered supreme in spirit­ual matters, and the State in civil affairs. The only real change was this: that for the pope, Knox was substituted; and the Church which the Catholic Church had tried to suppress, now suppressed it. This idea of the relation of Church and State also underlies the original form of Article 36 of the Belgic or Netherlandish Confession. 4. The Church in Scotland Is Organized In December, 1560, a meeting was held which is regarded as the first Scottish General Assembly. This body, in January of the next year, presented to Parliament the First Book of Discipline. This was a Church Order. The Book of Discipline applied to the churches of the entire coun­try of Scotland, the system which Calvin had worked out for the one church in the city of Geneva. In each parish or local church the minister, together with elders chosen from the members of the church, constituted what was called a session. Meetings in which the churches of a limited area were represented by delegated ministers and elders were called presby­teries. Meetings in which larger groups of churches were repre­sented by delegated ministers and elders were called synods. And meetings in which all the churches of the country were represented by delegated ministers and elders were called general assemblies. For the conduct of public wor­ship Knox prepared a Book of Common Order. To a great extent this order of worship was based on the form for public worship used by the church of English refugees in Geneva. That in turn was based on the form designed by Calvin. This form of worship consisted in prayer, reading of Scripture, the sermon, congregational singing, and the taking up of an offering. The Book of Common Order con­tained prayers for special occa­sions. They were models and their use was not compulsory. Ample room was left for entirely free prayer. The Church organized by Calvin in Geneva was extremely influen­tial. It became the pattern for the Huguenot Church in France, the Reformed Church in the Nether­lands, and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. 5. The Church Is Firmly Established Mary, queen of the Scots, was an unyielding Catholic. She was a woman of ability and of great per­sonal charm. In the first three years of her reign she made con­siderable progress in regaining for the Roman Church the ground that had been lost. But the cause of the Reformation was saved in the end by Queen Mary’s mistakes. Her unwise acts and immoral life threw Scotland into confusion and the Roman Catholic Church into disrepute. The leaders as well as the people in general turned to Protestantism. By the year 1570 the Presbyterian Church was firm­ly established in Scotland. Two years later, on November 24, John Knox died. Knox’s career had been stormy; but he had shown himself to be a great fighter, a man of dauntless courage. He had reformed the Church in Scotland. And further­more, by reforming the Scottish Church John Knox, more than any other man, molded the character of the Scottish nation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 33. CHAPTER 30: THE CHURCH IS REFORMED IN ENGLAND, 1534-1563 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30 The Church Is Reformed in England,1534-1563 Wycliffe Had Early Prepared England for Reform Tyndale Translates the Bible for the English Henry VIII Declares the King Head of the Church of England Henry Makes Other Changes in the Church The Reformation Makes Progress under Edward VI There Is Strong Catholic Reaction under Bloody Mary The Reformation Becomes Victorious under Elizabeth 1. Wycliffe Had Early Prepared England for Reform The Reformation in England ran a course different from that in any other country, and the out­come was different. It went through a number of stages under four successive rulers: Henry VIII, 1509-1547; Edward VI, 1547-1553; Mary, 1553-1558; and Elizabeth, 1558-1603. The stirring in the Church during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries had in a general way prepared England for the Ref­ormation as it had other countries. But on this island there had been a very special preparation such as, outside of Bohemia (ch. 22, sec. 7), no other country had experi­enced. It was over England that the morning star of the Reforma­tion had risen in the person of Wycliffe. The Council of Constance had condemned Wycliffe as the arch-heretic. It had ordered his body dug up out of its grave in the peaceful churchyard of Lutter­worth, his bones to be burned, and the ashes to be strewn over the waters of the Severn River. The river had carried Wycliffe’s ashes out to sea, but his ideas continued to work as a leaven. Lollardism (ch. 22, sec. 6) lived on in Eng­land. JOHN WYCLIFFE The Council of Constance had also ordered Wycliffe’s writings to be burned. Hundreds of his books had been burned, but they had not all been destroyed. Many of the men who became leaders in the re­formatory movement in England were acquainted with his writings. When at last the Reformation broke through in England, it fol­lowed in some respects the lines laid out by Wycliffe. In the early years of the reign of Henry VIII (from 1511 to 1514), Erasmus had lectured at Cambridge University. He had made many friends in England, and his writings, with their biting criticism of the abuses in the Roman Church, were widely read. In England as in other countries, the Reformation received its direct impulse through the writings and the bold stand of Luther. Four months after Luther published his theses Erasmus sent them to his English friends John Colet and Sir Thomas More. Thereafter many of Luther’s books were imported into England. A man in London in 1520 wrote to his son, "There be here­tics here which take Luther’s opinions." Lutheran doctrine in­vaded the two great English uni­versities of Oxford and Cambridge. At Cambridge a number of young men met regularly in the White Horse Tavern to discuss the new ideas. The tavern acquired the name "Germany," and the students who met there for discussion were called "Germans." Several of these students later became leaders in the reformatory movement in Eng­land. From year to year the num­ber of Englishmen who embraced the teachings of Luther increased. 2. Tyndale Translates the Bible for the English From the beginning the Word and the Spirit of God have been the two greatest factors in the his­tory of the Church, (ch. 1, sec. 3). The preaching of Jesus and the apostles was rooted in the Old Tes­tament. Later the Old and New Testaments came to be the one source of knowledge of Christian truth, the only rule for faith and conduct. The translation of the Bible into various languages has been one of the most important things in the history of the Church. Even today missionaries, as soon as they are able to do so, translate the Bible into the language of the people to whom they bring the Gospel. The Seventy translated the Old Testa­ment from Hebrew into Greek (ch. 6, sec. 6) about three centuries before the birth of Christ, and pro­duced the Septuagint. Jerome translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, and produced what is known as the Vulgate. Wycliffe translated the Bible into the English of his day. Transla­tions of the Bible were among the most powerful agencies for the pro­motion of the Reformation. Luther translated the Bible into German; Calvin made a French translation. The translation of the Bible into Dutch was a great help to the Ref­ormation in the Netherlands. Now Tyndale set to work to translate the Bible into English. William Tyndale was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. He be­came acquainted first with the ideas of Erasmus, then with those of Luther, and at last also with those of Zwingli. He decided to place the Bible within reach of the people of England. The common people could not, of course, read the Latin Bible. Copies of Wycliffe’s translation into English were not numerous, and besides, in the course of two centuries the English language had undergone such great changes that his trans­lation was no longer understood. Tyndale could not get his trans­lation published in England. He went to the continent, visited Luther, and finally in 1525 had it published in the city of Worms. It was a very excellent translation of the New Testament from the origi­nal Greek, not from the Latin Vul­gate as Wycliffe’s had been. The first edition was six thousand copies. In the ten years following, seven editions appeared. Next he translated parts of the Old Testa­ment. These were published in Co­logne and Antwerp. Tyndale ac­complished all this in the face of fierce opposition and bitter perse­cution. Finally his enemies caught up with him, and on October 6, 1536, Tyndale suffered a martyr’s death near the city of Brussels. Many copies of his translation were smuggled into England. This translation did much to further the cause of the Reformation in England and also in Scotland. God’s Word again proved to be more powerful than the sword. In 1535 another English version — this time of the whole Bible ­was published. This translation was the work of Miles Coverdale. WILLIAM TYNDALE TRANSLATING THE SCRIPTURES Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions 3. Henry VIII Declares the King Head of the Church of Eng­land The Reformation in England had many peculiarities. One of them was that, as in France and the Netherlands, there was in England no single, great, outstanding leader. England had no Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, or Knox. Another peculiarity of the English Ref­ormation was this, that changes were made in the Church in Eng­land not by an officer of the Church but by the king. In the course of history a strong national feeling had developed in England. The people were against any domination by a foreigner. The pope was an Italian. More­over, during the Renaissance the papacy had become secularized, that is, it had become more and more interested in the things of this world. To the English people, therefore, the pope appeared to be little more than a foreign prince. Consequently, although the great majority of the English people were still good Catholics, they were beginning to resent more and more the rule of the pope over the Church in England. In addition, they did not like to send to Rome all the money that the pope de­manded. However, even though there was a strong feeling against the pope, and although more and more people in England were accepting the ideas of Luther, it is probable that for many years no changes would have been made in the Church in England if it had not been for the king, and for the fact that he wanted a divorce. HENRY VIII Painting by Holbein, Warwick Castle Henry VIII applied to the pope for a divorce from his wife, Cath­erine. He wanted to marry Anne Boleyn. Much time passed and still the pope did not give his decision. At last the king’s patience grew thin. He made up his mind to take things into his own hands. He was a very powerful king, able to con­trol Parliament. In 1534 he had Parliament pass a law which de­creed that the king "justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the Church of England." This law is called the Act of Supremacy. Reformation of the Church means changes for the better in the doctrine, worship, government, and life of the Church (ch. 25, sec. 1). The Act of Supremacy intro­duced an important change in the Church of England. It was a change in the Church in only one respect — not in doctrine or form of worship, but in the government of the Church (sec. 4). And it was a change in the government of the Church only in this one particular, that the pope as head of the Church was replaced by the king. It was a big change, but it could not be called a Reformation. Henry VIII regarded Luther as a heretic. As early as 1518 Henry had written a book against heretics entitled, The Seven Sacraments. For that service the pope had be­stowed upon him the title of "De­fender of the Faith." When Henry VIII made himself head of the Church in England in place of the pope, he did not feel that he had ceased to be a good orthodox Catholic. Powerful king that he was, Henry could not have pushed the pope aside if he had not had the support of the nation. The Catho­lics felt as the king did. They be­lieved that in spite of the change that had been made they could still be good Catholics. Those who favored the ideas of Luther, on the other hand, looked upon the change as a first feeble step in the direc­tion of the Reformation. But not all Englishmen were willing to submit to the Act of Supremacy. The king had expected that this would be the case. So he had another law passed, the Law of Treason and Heresy. This law stated that to hold any doctrines other than those of the Catholic Church was heresy, and to refuse to acknowledge the king as head of the Church in England was treason. Under the Law of Treason and Heresy a number of persons were put to death. Monks were executed for denying the supremacy of the king. Two very prominent men: John Fisher, bishop of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More, one of Eng­land’s most illustrious scholars, were also executed. Both had re­fused to take the oath of suprem­acy. For his opposition to the Act of Supremacy the pope had re­warded Bishop Fisher by making him a cardinal. A cardinal wears a certain kind of red hat. In a fit of fury the king exclaimed that he would send the bishop’s head to Rome to get the hat. The seventy-six year old bishop was beheaded in June, 1535. Sir Thomas More had been a zealous Catholic and had caused many English Luther­ans to be sent to the stake. Now the tables were turned. In July More was beheaded. 4. Henry Makes Other Changes in the Church The first change made in the Church in England, a change in its government, is the only change that was ever made in its organiza­tion. When the king became the supreme head of the Church, the rest of its organization remained what it had been when the pope was supreme head. The Church of England, or the Anglican Church, as it is also called, has ever re­mained a church governed by bishops, under the king as supreme head. Hence the Church of Eng­land or the Anglican Church is also called the Episcopal Church. Episcopal comes from the Greek word episcopos, which, you will re­member, means "bishop" (ch. 3, sec. 7). Later in the reign of Henry VIII some changes were also in­troduced in doctrine, form of wor­ship, and certain practices. Two changes made in the general prac­tice of the Church became perma­nent. Monasteries were discon­tinued; and relics were no longer displayed or regarded as sacred. There were many small monas­teries and a few large ones in Eng­land. Together they possessed im­mense wealth in land and in jewels and gold. That land the king par­celled out among his favorites. By doing this he created a new landed aristocracy, which was very loyal to him. The relics were gross frauds. Among the things that were claimed to have been preserved were — a part of Peter’s hair and beard, stones with which Stephen was stoned, the hair shirt and bones of Thomas, an angel with one wing, who had brought to Eng­land the spearhead with which the side of Jesus had been pierced, the ear of Malchus that Peter had cut off, and a foot of Philip covered with gold and precious stones. At Maidstone there was a crucifix which could turn its head, roll its eyes, move its lips, foam at the mouth, and shed tears. When it was removed a mechanism was dis­covered inside, which the priests had used to manipulate it. It was found that the blood of Christ was a piece of red silk in a thick glass. Scattered all over England were pieces of wood said to be frag­ments of the cross. There were enough of these to fill three carts. The removal and destruction of these things during the reign of Henry VIII was a heavy blow at medieval superstition. England was not a Protestant nation at the close of the reign of Henry VIII. It is perhaps safe to say that in London and the south­eastern part of England the ma­jority of the people were Luther­ans. But the west and north of England were still almost solidly Catholic. That included probably about three-fourths of the popula­tion. 5. The Reformation Makes Prog­ress under Edward VI Upon the death of Henry VIII in 1547 his son Edward VI suc­ceeded to the throne. Since Edward was a boy of only nine years of age, his uncle, the Duke of Somer­set, was made regent with the title of Protector. Throughout the reign of Henry VIII sentiment in favor of the Reformation had been steadily grow­ing in England. The protector Somerset and his new government leaned toward the Reformation. So during the brief reign of Edward VI the Reformation made consider­able progress in England. No further changes were made in the form of government of the Church of England, but changes were made in its doctrine and form of wor­ship. Almost at once, in 1547, Parlia­ment passed a law which provided that all communicants should be allowed to partake of the wine as well as of the bread. Early the next year it was decreed that images should be removed from the churches. A year later celibacy of the clergy was done away with, and marriage for priests and the higher clergy was declared lawful. In 1549 Parliament passed the Act of Uniformity. This Act made the use of the Book of Common Prayer compulsory in church serv­ices. It is known as the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. This Prayer Book substituted the use of the English language in the service of the Episcopal Church for the Latin used in the Roman Church. More changes were made later on, as we shall soon see. But funda­mentally it is still today the Prayer Book of the Church of England. The First Prayer Book of Ed­ward VI, introduced in 1549, did not satisfy anyone. Those who con­tinued to cling to Catholicism did not like the changes that had been made. For those who wanted a Reformation the changes did not go far enough. In 1552 Parliament passed a new Act of Uniformity. The First Prayer Book was re­vised. Most of the Catholic prac­tices in worship were now dis­carded. Prayers for the dead were dropped. A communion table took the place of the altar.. In the Lord’s Supper common bread was used in­stead of the wafer. Exorcism (casting out of evil spirits) and anointing went out of use. Special vestments or ceremonial garments of the clergy were discarded, with the exception of the surplice, an outer white linen garment. The form used in the administration of the Lord’s Supper was based upon Zwingli’s belief that the bread and wine are symbols of Christ’s body and blood. The Reformation made progress also in the matter of doctrine. A new creed was formulated by Cranmer, archbishop of Canter­bury. With the help of six other theologians, of whom Knox was one, it was put into final shape, and then adopted as the creed of the Church of England under the name of the Forty-two Articles. In general this creed was even more definitely Protestant than the Prayer Book. The Reformation in England seemed to have complete victory within its grasp. Then suddenly its triumphal march was halted, and Catholicism regained much of the ground it had lost since the reign of Henry VIII. 6. There Is Strong Catholic Reac­tion under Bloody Mary Edward was always frail and sickly. He died of tuberculosis in 1553, when he was only sixteen years old. His sister Mary suc­ceeded him to the throne of Eng­land. Mary was strongly Catholic. She proceeded to set the clock of the Reformation in England back at least twenty-five years. The laws regarding the Church which Par­liament had passed during the pre­vious reign were repealed. The form of worship in use during the last year of Henry VIII was re­stored. Bishops and all the lower clergy who were known to favor the Reformation were removed from office. Many leading Protes­tants fled to the continent, where they were warmly received by Cal­vin. Among the Lutherans they met with a chilly reception, because they did not believe in Christ’s bodily presence in the, Lord’s Supper. Cardinal Pole, who had fled to the continent during Henry’s reign, returned to England. Parliament voted the restoration of the author­ity of the pope over the Church in England. It re-enacted the laws against heresy, and repealed the legislation of Henry VIII with ref­erence to the Church. The clock had been set back. The work of the Reformation in England had been incomplete. Now it was entirely undone. The Church was again as it had been before 1534 (sec. 3), with one exception. The property that had belonged to the mon­asteries was allowed to remain in the hands of the new possessors. MARY TUDOR, KNOWN AS"BLOODY MARY" At once persecution began. The first victim was John Rogers, who was prebendary of St. Paul’s Church in London. He was burned at the stake on February 4, 1555. On his way to his death he was openly cheered by the people. The Reformation in England was sup­pressed, but it was by no means dead. The year 1555 was a terrifying year for the Protestants in Eng­land. Before the year was over, seventy-five persons in various parts of the land were put to death by fire. The most notable victims of Mary’s persecution were the two bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. As the flames curled around their bodies Latimer spoke courage and comfort to his fellow martyr: "This day we shall light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out." Another bishop burned at the stake in the same year was John Hooper. CRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AT THE TRAITOR’S GATE Religious News Service Even the dead were not allowed to rest in their graves. The bodies of the two reformers Martin Bucer (ch. 27, sec. 5) and Paul Fagius were dug up and burned. The body of the wife of Peter Martyr was also dug up. Mary was not yet satisfied. Her next victim was Cranmer. As arch­bishop of Canterbury he held the highest office in the Church of England. He was known to hold Lutheran views, and late in the year 1555 he was excommunicated in Rome. Cardinal Pole was ap­pointed to the office which had thus fallen vacant. Cranmer now weakened. He declared that he rec­ognized the authority of the pope over the Church in England as it had recently been restored by law. But Mary was bent on Cranmer’s death. Knowing Cranmer’s weak­ness she hoped that he might be made to renounce Protestantism publicly before he died. It was be­lieved that this would do great harm to the cause of the Reforma­tion. Cranmer did sign a statement in which he denied Protestantism. The time of his execution in Oxford was set for March 21, 1556. Just before he was to die he re­nounced his denial, and once more and in the strongest terms declared his Protestant faith. In dramatic fashion he showed how he felt about his denial of the principles of the Reformation. The hand which had signed the denial he held in the flames until it was burned to a crisp. Then the flames scorched his body, and he died the death of a martyr and a hero. Mary continued her persecution until the day of her death on No­vember 17, 1558. She had caused almost three hundred people to be burned. Her persecutions earned her the name of Bloody Mary. 7. The Reformation Becomes Vic­torious under Elizabeth Mary was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth. Under Mary her life had been in danger, and she had outwardly observed the Catho­lic ritual. But Elizabeth had been educated under the supervision of Cranmer and was a Protestant at heart. It was now possible for her to make the Reformation victorious in England. The persecutions of Mary had been aimed at the total destruction of Protestantism, but they had done more to arouse anti-Roman sentiment than all previous legislative enactments of Parlia­ment. Here again the blood of the martyrs proved to be the seed of the Church. Against strong opposition Par­liament on April 29, 1559, passed a new Supremacy Act. For a second time, and now for good, the govern­ment rejected all authority of the pope over the Church of England. To the Catholics still remaining in England, the title of Supreme Head of the Church of England for the English sovereign was ex­tremely distasteful. And so to lessen their anger the title Su­preme Governor was adopted. It really meant the same thing, but it was less offensive to the Catho­lics. QUEEN ELIZABETH After a 16th century painting Next the Second Prayer Book of Edward VI was revised. The prayer against the pope was dropped. The matter of the bodily presence in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, one of the principal doctrines of the Catholic Church, was left an open question. The earlier Prayer Book had defi­nitely stated that kneeling at the Lord’s Supper did not imply adora­tion of the host (as the Catholics call the wafer used in commun­ion); this declaration was now dropped to please the Catholics. These compromises seemed wise at the time, but were the source of much dissatisfaction and conflict in later years. In a new Act of Uniformity, Parliament demanded that after June 24, 1559, all public worship in England should be conducted in accordance with the liturgy pre­scribed in the Revised Prayer Book. In 1563 there was a slight change in the creed. The Forty-two Articles (sec. 5) were reduced to thirty-nine. These now famous Thirty-nine Articles are the official creed of the Church of England today. Changes had now been made in the doctrine, the worship, and the government of the Church in Eng­land. The adoption of these changes is known as the Elizabethan Set­tlement. Therewith the Reforma­tion in England came temporarily to a halt, but as we shall see in chapter thirty-four, it was later continued — and in a far more radical fashion. The Catholics were now a small minority. On the surface it would seem that the Reformation in England was the work of the government, of kings and queens. It appears to have been political rather than re­ligious in its interests. Yet the kings and queens could never have carried the Reformation through, if there had not been a powerful religious undercurrent in the life of the English nation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 34. CHAPTER 31: THE ROMAN CHURCH UNDERTAKES REFORM, 1545-1563 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31 The Roman Church Undertakes Reform, 1545-1563 Reform Is Universally Desired Ximenes Works a Reform in Spain Charles V Chooses between Luther and Aleander Pope Adrian VI Attempts to Reform the Church Adrian’s Rule Was Not without Influence The Council of Trent Attempts an Inner Reform 1. Reform Is Universally Desired The disgrace of the Babylonian Captivity (ch. 21, sec. 3), the scandal of the Great Schism (ch. 21, sec. 4), and the many and gross abuses which disfigured the life of the Church had been a sore grief to all true Christians. From every country of western Europe there arose loud and insistent cries for a thoroughgoing reform. The answer to these cries for reform had been the three general councils of Pisa, Constance, and Basel (ch. 22, sec. 9). These gen­eral councils were a bitter disap­pointment to all upright Chris­tians. They accomplished nothing in the way of reform. On the con­trary, the situation became worse. All the evils and abuses that afflicted the Church were centered in the curia, that is, the papal gov­ernment. Soon after the Baby­lonian Captivity and the Great Schism, the papacy came under the influence of the paganizing Renaissance. The popes became worldly Italian princes, patrons of art and literature (ch. 22, sec. 10). Pope Leo X was an elegant gentle­man, highly polished, deeply inter­ested in the paganizing culture of the Renaissance. Leo was a man of blameless moral life, but he was thoroughly worldly, without inter­est in religion. After he had been ordained pope he said, "Now let us enjoy the papacy." His great project was the building of the splendid St. Peter’s Church in Rome. The project required im­mense sums of money. To raise that money he organized the sale of indulgences on a huge scale. One of his agents in Germany was Tet­zel (ch. 23, sec. 4 and 7). It was at this time that Luther lifted up his mighty voice. And it was because of the widespread and passionate desire for reform that Luther’s action met with such tre­mendous and instantaneous re­sponse. For more than two hundred years the desire for reform had been rising like the waters of a flood. For all that long time Rome had been successful in casting up a dam to hold that flood in check. The higher the popes built the dam, the higher the waters rose. At last Luther broke the dike and the mighty waters of the Reforma­tion flooded western Europe. 2. Ximenes Works a Reform in Spain A generation before Luther started the Reformation in Ger­many, Ximenes had accomplished a reform in Spain. For seven hundred years the Christians in Spain fought to drive out the Mohammedan Arabs, or Moors. Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, was finally taken from them in 1492 (ch. 9, sec. 6). This centuries-long struggle of the Spanish Christians against the Mohammedans had bred in them a spirit fanatically religious and patriotic. This spirit was particularly strong in Ferdi­nand and Isabella, by whose mar­riage Spain had been united into one kingdom. Queen Isabella undertook to bring about a reform in the Church in Spain. She entrusted this work to the three leading churchmen. One of these was Ximenes, a Fran­ciscan monk who later became archbishop of Toledo. He it was who really planned the reform and carried it to a successful con­clusion. The reform was a reform of the clergy and of the monks. In all the monasteries Ximenes enforced strict discipline. The priests were likewise forced ’to live up to high moral standards. Those who lacked ability or were hopelessly ignorant were removed from office. For the others he established new schools for the study of theology. All those who opposed Ximenes were swept out of his way by the secu­lar power of the queen. Isabella also protected Ximenes from inter­ference by the pope. The outcome was that the Church in Spain ac­quired a devoted and able clergy. But for the rest everything re­mained the same in the Church in Spain. The pope continued to be acknowledged as the head of the Church. The hierarchy remained. The Catholic conceptions of priest­hood and sacraments remained. The sacred ceremonies, decrees, ordinances, and sacred usages were left untouched. Catholic doctrine was left unchanged. The monasteries did not dissolve as in Ger­many, nor were they suppressed as in England. They remained. Abuses had been abolished but the Catholic system in all its essen­tials remained. Catholicism in Spain had not been changed one whit. It had been intensified. What Ximenes had brought about in Spain was a reform, not a reformation. 3. Charles V Chooses between Luther and Aleander At the Diet in Worms in 1521 (ch. 24, sec. 15) the three out­standing persons were Charles V, Luther, and Aleander. Charles was the grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. He had been brought up in the strict Ca­tholicism of his grandmother. He was king of Spain and emperor of Germany. Aleander was the representative of the unreformed papacy. For a short time Charles hoped to use Luther to bring about a re­form in the entire Church, as his grandmother Isabella had used Ximenes to bring about reform in the Church in Spain. Charles knew that Luther, in his fight against the abuses in the Church, had vio­lently attacked the papacy as an institution, and had ruthlessly torn to pieces the Catholic system of priests and sacraments (ch. 23, sec. 13; ch. 24, sec. 11). Charles hoped that Luther would forsake this extreme position. But at the Diet of Worms, Luther repeated with even greater force what he had said to Eck in the Leipzig De­bate (ch. 24, sec. 6 and 7). He maintained that church councils could err and had erred, and that he could prove it. Upon hearing this Charles waved his hand as a sign that the session of the Diet was closed. Luther had chosen. His break with Rome was beyond repair. From that moment on Charles set his face like flint against Luther and the Reformation. He made up his mind to ally himself with Aleander as the representative of the papacy. His first move would be to crush Luther and the Ref­ormation. Then, having crushed Luther and the Reformation with the help of the papacy, he would turn against his ally, make him­self master of it, and impose the Spanish reform upon the entire Church. 4. Pope Adrian VI Attempts to Re­form the Church Soon after the close of the Diet of Worms the opportunity pre­sented itself to Charles to try to work out his plan. Pope Leo X died. The cardinals who met to elect a new pope were deadlocked for a long time. It appeared that the only way to break the dead­lock was to accept the candidate offered by the emperor Charles. This they finally did, and the em­peror’s man became pope under the title of Adrian VI. Charles hoped to work out his reform plan through this new pope. Pope Adrian was a Dutchman from Utrecht in the Netherlands and had been Charles’ tutor. He was a pious and strict Catholic, in thorough agreement with Ximenes and in full sympathy with his re­form activities. He became known as the Dutch Ximenes. Pope Adrian tried, according to the emperor’s wishes and his own ardent desire, to introduce the Spanish reform in Rome. But he failed miserably in his attempt. There were several reasons for his failure. He did not feel at home among the Italians, did not know their ways, and did not understand their language. They in turn did not understand him. Adrian was a good but simple man. He thought it would be easy to introduce the Spanish reform in Rome. Until he came to Rome he had no idea how deep-seated and far-spread the cor­ruption of the papacy actually was. To do away with the abuses con­nected with the sale of indulgences would cut off millions every year from the pope’s revenue. The papal court was a vast machine with thousands of employees and hang­ers-on. To introduce the Spanish reform would deprive all these thousands of their jobs and income. Had Adrian understood the situa­tion, he would have expected strong opposition. Pope Adrian found himself in what could be likened to a narrow enclosure surrounded by high walls of rough stone. Scale those walls or break through them he could not. At every turn he made, he faced unexpected obstacles and sly opposition. The smooth Italian papal courtiers laughed behind his back at the pious but simple Dutch­man. In Rome there was no Isa­bella to sweep away opponents as there had been for Ximenes in Spain (sec. 2). After a brief rule of twenty months Adrian, ex­hausted by his fruitless struggles, sank into his grave. On his tombstone the cardinals caused these words to be chiseled: "Here lies Adrian VI whose su­preme misfortune in life was that he was called upon to rule." 5. Adrian’s Rule Was Not without Influence Luther’s onslaught had been so sudden and so furious that it had left the Roman Church dazed. When he exposed the papal govern­ment as the source of corruption in the Church, the worldly Renais­sance popes tried to cover things up, and they dismissed from their minds the significance of Luther’s protests. These Renaissance popes, Leo X and Clement VII, did not realize the seriousness of the situ­ation. They were pre-occupied with the new art and literature, with their magnificent building projects, and with petty Italian politics. Pope Adrian VI, whose rule fell between that of these two popes, tried to bring the Roman Church out of its daze and reform it, but his time in office was too short, and the indifference he met with was too great. It seemed that he had accomplished nothing. However, his efforts were not to be entirely in vain. Pope Adrian did something un­usual during his tenure. He com­missioned one of his messengers to go to Germany and admit that the papal government in Rome was the chief source of corruption in the Church. As could be expected, this admission was ridiculed by the papal court at Rome. But it was a great act on the part of the honest and simple Dutch Adrian. And it was important, because it was done by him in his official capacity as pope. This act of Adrian went unno­ticed at the time, and history re­corded his rule as a total failure. Nevertheless it marks the begin­ning of a reform in the Roman Church. There were at that time a few spiritually minded men occu­pying high positions in the papal court. The example of Pope Adrian VI and his efforts to reform the Roman Church awakened in them a new zeal for reform. This desire for reform began to bear fruit at the time of the Council of Trent, as we shall see in the next section. 6. The Council of Trent Attempts an Inner Reform Meanwhile, abuses continued to flourish in the Roman Church, and the Reformation spread. It spread from Germany into Denmark, Nor­way, Sweden, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland, and even into Poland, Hungary, Italy, and Spain. Emperor Charles was anxious to reunite the Protestants and the Catholics. He arranged a number of conferences in which leading Protestant and Catholic theolo­gians took part. They discussed their differences, but could not reach an agreement. Earnest Christians in the Roman Church continued to clamor for reform. Finally Pope Paul III sum­moned a council. It met in Trent from 1545 to 1563. This council did not meet continuously. There were two interruptions of several years. The Council of Trent is a milestone in the history of the Ro­man Catholic Church, for it marks a triumph for the papacy. The Protestant churches in Ger­many, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, England, and Scot­land had formulated creeds in which they declared their faith. Now the Council which met in Trent formulated a creed for the Roman Church. A catechism was also adopted. Many of the abuses that had caused so much trouble were corrected. Provision was made for the better education of the Roman clergy. The supremacy of the papacy was established more firmly than ever. A great reform had been brought about in the Roman Church, but that Church had not changed its essential character. Over against Protestantism the Roman Church in the Council of Trent had defi­nitely and strongly upheld and re­asserted its Catholic system. This self-reform of the Roman Church is often called the Counter Ref or­mation. For a number of years the heat of the Reformation had rendered the religious condition of the Church fluid. Now it had become solidified, and the lines were hard set. The churches of the Reformation now found arrayed against them a reformed and revived Roman Church. A terrific struggle was about to take place between Prot­estantism and Catholicism. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 35. CHAPTER 32: THE PROTESTANT CHURCHES FIGHT FOR THEIR LIFE, 1546-1648 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32 The Protestant Churches Fight for Their Life, 1546-1648 Charles V Tries to Uproot the Reformation The Reformation Movement Comes to a Stand-still Other Forces Affect Protestantism Protestantism Fights for Its Life in France, 1562-1629 The Protestants in the Netherlands Revolt against Spain, 1568-1609 German Protestants Wage War for Thirty Years, 1618-1648 The Wars of the Reformation Carve Out Territory for Protestantism 1. Charles V Tries to Uproot the Reformation As we begin this chapter we shall have to review some of the things we already know. That will be necessary if we are to under­stand the bitter struggle which is about to take place between the Catholics and the Protestants. Luther was a great talker. The emperor Charles never said much. Once Luther said, "I talk more in a day than the emperor in a whole year." Luther wore his heart on his sleeve. He would blurt out whatever was in his mind. The emperor was always very cautious. He would think carefully before he spoke. But once, and perhaps only once in his life, he spoke right from the heart. That was immediately after the Diet of Worms, where Luther had defied the pope and em­peror. Then the emperor vowed, "To root out heresy I shall stake my crown and my life." He kept his vow. The emperor issued against Lu­ther the edict of Worms. That edict ordered his arrest and death. Lu­ther would have been burned at the stake, as so many heretics before him had been, had not his prince, the elector Frederick the Wise, protected him (ch. 24, sec. 19). Immediately after the Diet of Worms the Reformation move­ment was still only a small and tender sapling. If the emperor had had his hands free he could have pulled it up by the roots. But he had a war with France on his hands. Later he had to defend the Empire against the Turks. At last, having defeated all his enemies, Charles was free to give his attention to the followers of Luther in Germany. In 1546, the year that Luther died, Charles launched his attack on the Protes­tants. But twenty-five years had passed since the Diet of Worms, and the Reformation had had time to grow. The sapling had become a tree. It would require lusty blows with an axe, now, to cut it down. At first the emperor won some vic­tories. It looked very dark for the cause of the Reformation. Charles even captured Wittenberg, the place where Luther had started the Reformation, and where he had lived and labored. Some members of the emperor’s party urged him to have the body of Luther, which was buried in the Castle Church, dug up and burned. But the em­peror would not hear of it, even though this had been done to the bodies of many heretics. Just as the emperor was begin­ning to make progress against the Lutherans he suffered a sudden change of fortune. Maurice of Sax­ony, who was at first one of his staunchest supporters, turned against him. He might have made the emperor prisoner, but he let him escape. Asked why he did that, Maurice answered, "I did not have a cage good enough for so fine a bird." In 1555 the emperor found him­self in such straits that he was forced to make the Peace of Augs­burg with the Lutherans. The Ger­man Empire consisted of a large number of countries ruled over by princes. By the Peace of Augsburg each prince in Germany received the right to choose between Luther­anism and Catholicism. The people in each country had to accept the religion chosen by their prince. 2. The Reformation Movement Comes to a Stand-still For a time Protestantism swept everything before it. This was in large part due to the furious head­long attack of Luther, aided by Zwingli, Calvin, and a host of less­er Reformers and also by the care­lessness of the popes and the con­tinuing corruption of the Roman Church. As a result the gigantic old edifice of the Roman Church was rocking on its foundations. For a while it seemed that it might collapse in utter ruin. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the Reformation move­ment was brought to a dead stand­still. There were several causes for this. The first was Luther’s stand in e Peasants’ War of 1525. The peasants in Germany were heavily oppressed by the nobles and higher clergy. They rose up in protest in the name of "God’s justice." They had a right to protest, and Luther was in sympathy with them. But when under the leadership of fana­tics they began to kill and destroy, Luther turned against them and urged the government to put down their uprising with a firm hand. From that moment the lower classes turned their backs upon Lu­ther and the Reformation. There­after the Reformation was confined to the middle and upper classes in Germany. The second cause was the ap­pearance of the sect of the Ana­baptists. Many of the early Ana­baptists were fanatics. They went much further in their opposition to Catholic doctrine and practice than either Luther or Calvin. They suddenly appeared in almost every country of western Europe. Soon they threatened to upset not only the old ecclesiastical order, but also the social and political order. The Romanists were not slow to see their opportunity. They said that the doctrines of the Reforma­tion would upset all order and au­thority not only in the Church but in the State and society as well. This caused many of the upper classes to remain in the Roman Church. A third cause was the division among the Protestants. Again the Romanists were not slow to take advantage of this development. To choose intelligently and sincerely between Luther, Zwingli, and Cal­vin required prayerful study and thinking. The Romanists induced many who were too lazy and in­different or unable to think for themselves to stay in the Roman Church, and let the Church do the thinking for them. A fourth cause was the misap­plication of Luther’s central doc­trine of justification by faith alone without good works. This misap­plication led to moral conditions even worse than they had been under Rome. Many turned the "liberty of a Christian man" (ch. 25, sec. 3) into license. They reasoned that if salvation was not earned by good works there was no need to live a good life. The Romanists used this sad develop­ment as an argument against Luther’s doctrine. This develop­ment was a bitter disappointment to Luther himself. It was one of the things that saddened his last years. This development in the land of Luther may have been one of the things that steeled Calvin’s hand when he introduced his strict church discipline in Geneva. His reason for doing this may partly have been his desire to prevent German conditions in Geneva, and thereby ward off moral reproach against the Reformation (ch. 27, sec. 6). 3. Other Forces Affect Protestant­ism The Peace of Augsburg in 1555 and the Council of Trent from 1545 to 1563 (from one year be­fore the death of Luther to one year before the death of Calvin) profoundly affected the Protestant position. As a result the Protestant position was tremendously weak­ened. The Protestants in France, the Netherlands, and Scotland were doctrinally united. What united them was their Calvinistic creeds or confessions. But Scotland was a poor and weak country, and in the days of slow and uncertain sailing vessels it was geographically far separated from France and the Netherlands. England, as an island and because of its peculiar position with regard to doctrine and church government and liturgy, was also set off from France and the Neth­erlands. The Lutheran Protestants were doctrinally separated from the Calvinistic Protestants. Now the Peace of Augsburg (sec. 1) separated the Lutheran Protestants also politically from the Calvinistic Protestants. That Peace Treaty applied only to the Lutheran Protestants in Germany. It left the Calvinistic Protestants in other countries out in the cold. The Council of Trent had re­formed and revitalized the Roman Church. This Church was once more ready to move forward. It had equipped itself with three new and powerful weapons: the Span­ish Inquisition, the Index, and the Order of Jesuits, organized by the Spaniard Ignatius Loyola. Divided and inwardly weakened Protestantism was now opposed by this unified Catholicism which had recovered from the shock of the Reformation movement. The In­quisition quickly put out the feeble sparks of Protestantism in Italy and Spain. The missionary zeal and skillful tactics of the Jesuits re­gained Poland, Austria, and parts of southern Germany for Rome. In the early days of the Reformation Luther’s and Calvin’s writings had circulated freely throughout Eu­rope, and had made many converts to Protestantism. Now Protestant writings were put on the Index of forbidden books. In this way Catholics were shut off from Prot­estant propaganda and the spread of Protestantism was brought to a complete standstill. The Roman Church now set about regaining what it had lost. The protecting shield of the Peace of Augsburg covered only the Lutheran Protestants in Ger­many. It did not cover the Calvin­istic Protestants in France and the Netherlands. These now had to bear the brunt of Catholic attack. And Calvin, their great and in­spiring leader, was dead. 4. Protestantism Fights for Its Life in France, 1562-1629 France, like Germany, was di­vided between Catholics and Prot­estants. The Huguenots formed a strong party, but they were in the minority. Civil war broke out be­tween the two religious parties in 1562. The Huguenots defended themselves with varying success. In the early morning of August 24, 1572, they were dealt a heavy blow. This was the date secretly set for the massacre of St. Bar­tholomew. A little past the hour of midnight a bell tolled in the city of Paris. It was the signal for the massacre to begin. For three days and nights the massacre went on in Paris. It was extended to other cities in France, and thousands of Huguenots were killed. One of the first victims was the noble leader of the Huguenots, Gaspard de Co­ligny. It was one of the foulest crimes recorded in history. WILLIAM, PRINCE OF ORANGE "THE LILY AMONG THE THORNS" The Church Herald A symbol used by the Reformed Church in the 16th century. The quotation around the margin is from the Song of Solomon. With intermissions the war went on until 1629, when the capture of La Rochelle, the last Protestant stronghold, broke the political power of the Huguenots in France. The Huguenots continued to exist, however, as a religious Protestant body. 5. The Protestants in the Nether­lands Revolt against Spain, 1568-1609 Protestants were burned at the stake as heretics in Italy, Spain, France, England, and Scotland. But in no country did so many persons suffer a martyr’s death for their faith as in the Netherlands. Charles V, emperor of Germany, was also king of Spain and lord of the Netherlands. In his reign and the first years of the reign of his son Philip II, king of Spain, more than 18,000 persons in the Netherlands fell victim to the Spanish Inquisition. In an attempt to force them to a confession of heresy both men and women were horribly tortured. Then the men were burned, the women were drowned or buried alive. The tyranny and cruelty of King Philip II of Spain became unbear­able. Spain was at that time the most powerful country in Europe. Holland was a very small country. But at last in 1568 the people of the Netherlands under the leader­ship of one of the greatest heroes of the Reformation, William the Silent, prince of Orange, rose in revolt against Spain. The Calvin­ists of Holland became the cham­pions of Protestantism for all the world. Through long dark days the Dutch went on fighting in the face of terrific odds. In 1584 William the Silent fell victim to an assassin’s bullet. Elizabeth, queen of England, was friendly to the Protestant cause (ch. 30, sec. 7). Without declaring war against Spain, she had been lending aid to the Dutch. The Catholics laid many plots to assas­sinate her, but all were in vain. Now King Philip II of Spain formed a grandiose plan. He built an enormous fleet, which the Span­iards called the "Invincible Arma­da." With this fleet Philip would invade England. And with that country conquered, so he thought, it would be easy to put down the rebellion in the Netherlands. But the English with the help of the Dutch defeated the Spanish Ar­mada. Most of what was left of it was wrecked by storms on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Only a miserable remnant of the once proud Armada returned to the ports of Spain. The power of Spain had suffered a terrible blow. The Dutch under Prince Maurice, son of William the Silent, continued the war until 1609 when Spain, in a Twelve Years Truce, practically acknowl­edged the independence of the Northern Netherlands, the Dutch Republic. 6. German Protestants Wage War for Thirty Years, 1618-1648 Since 1555 Germany, under the terms of the Peace of Augsburg, had been enjoying comparative peace. Then, in 1618, the Peace of Augsburg was broken. More than once the struggle looked hopeless for the Protestants. At the most critical moment Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, another great hero of the Reformation, stepped in to save the day for Prot­estantism. After thirty years of the most savage fighting the Peace of Westphalia was concluded in 1648. The terms of this treaty were much like those of the Peace of Augsburg, except that religious toleration in Germany was now ex­tended to include the Calvinists as well as the Lutherans. As under the former treaty, each ruler was to determine the religion of his own realm. It had been a devastating war, and at the end Germany lay bleeding from a thousand wounds. 7. The Wars of the Reformation Carve Out Territory for Prot­estantism As we look back over the period we have just studied, we see that the churches of the Reformation passed through a period of bloody martyrdom between the years 1520 and 1562. And following that, from 1562 to 1648, the Protestants had to wage war for their very existence. Martyrdom was suffered mainly by the Calvinistic Protes­tants, and it was they who from 1562 to 1618 bore the brunt of the war against the Catholics. Then from 1618 to 1648 the Lutherans were also forced into war. During these years German, Danish, and Swedish Lutherans and the Dutch Calvinists defended the Protestant cause. Individual Englishmen fought with Scotchmen and Germans as volunteers in the Netherlands alongside the Dutch in their war against Spain. As a nation England took part in the wars of the Ref­ormation only in defeating the Spanish Armada; but that was a very important action. When the wars between Catho­lics and Protestants came to an end with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the geographical extent of the Roman and Protestant churches had become fairly well fixed. There have been no major changes since, and the boundaries are today pretty much what they became at that time. (See map.) Entirely Catholic were Poland, Austria, Italy, Spain, the Southern Netherlands (now Belgium), and Ireland. In France the majority of the people were Catholic. Entirely Protestant were the three Scandinavian countries, Den­mark, Norway, and Sweden. Prot­estants were in the majority in Switzerland, Germany, Hungary, the Northern Netherlands (the Dutch Republic), England, and Scotland. At this time little was heard of the Church in the East. Under the Turks the members of the Greek Church in Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula (ch. 22, sec. 9) were heavily oppressed. In spite of persecution, however, which was met with heroic resistance (ch. 42, sec. 2), the church continued to exist in the Balkan countries through the centuries and down to the present time. But although the Greek Orthodox Church was heavily oppressed in the countries of its origin, in Russia it grew un­til it embraced nearly the entire population. The storm of the Reformation which lashed the waters of the Latin Church in the West into angry mountainous waves, caused not even a ripple on the surface of the waters of the Greek Church in the East. The Church continued to stagnate (ch. 10, sec. 5). The Reformation did not affect it at all. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 36. PART FOUR: THE CHURCH AFTER THE REFORMATION ======================================================================== Part Four THE CHURCH AFTER THE REFORMATION (The Church in Europe from the Reformation to the Present, 1558-1950) Church in the Post-Reformation Era Church in England Continues to Ferment Conflict between Catholics and Protestants Continues The Rise and Growth of the Baptists Serious Departures from Historic Prot­estantism More Moderate Departures from His­toric Protestantism The Origin and Development of Meth­odism Modernism’s Break With Historic Christianity The Eastern and the Roman Church since the Reformation Controversy Continues in Germany and England The Reformed Churches Survive Persecu­tion The Church Grows Once More TIME LINE - PART IV - AFTER THE REFORMATION: PEOPLE PART FOUR THE CHURCH AFTER THE REFORMATION In England the Reformation continued long after the Protestant churches on the continent had established themselves. The influence of Calvin was felt much later in England than in the other countries. In this section of our book we shall meet the illustrious Oliver Cromwell, Puritan statesman and military genius whose invincible troop of cavalrymen were called "Cromwell’s Ironsides." During this period the superb translation known as the King James Bible was written. We shall see the rise of the Congregational, Baptist, and Metho­dist churches, and the followers of John Huss establishing the Moravian Church. The beginning of Protestant mission activity falls in this era, and also, on the other hand, the emergence of a false theology called Modernism, or Liberalism, which sprang from the rational spirit of modern science and philosophy. Throughout the century following the Reformation bitterness between Protestants and Roman Catholics continued, and in France after a period of freedom the Reformed Church was again the victim of ruthless persecution. The Reformed Church in France and in other countries, including the Netherlands, was constantly menaced by the subtle and prevailing spirit of liberalism. In the Netherlands the Secession of 1834 and the movement under Abraham Kuyper awakened the Reformed Church to a new vitality. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 37. CHAPTER 33: THE CHURCH IN THE POST-REFORMATION ERA ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33 The Church in the Post-Reformation Era Western Europe Is Still Disquieted The Word Always Has Been and Remains Basic Differences in Explaining the Word Give Rise to Reform and Separation The Church Develops along Four Distinct Lines A Preview of Post-Reformation Develop­ments 1. Western Europe Is Still Disquieted The Reformation was a tre­mendous upheaval. It was the big­gest thing since the overturning of the Roman Empire by the new Ger­man tribes (ch. 8). It was an up­heaval not only in the Church but also in the State, in economics, in education, and culture (ch. 25, sec. 1). Long after a storm has blown itself out, the waves continue to run high. Long after the storm of the Reformation had blown itself out, the countries of western Eu­rope continued to feel the effects of the struggle. The age of the Ref­ormation was the sixteenth century. But all through the seven­teenth century, as we shall see in chapter 34, the life of the Church of England continued to ferment; and the feeling of bitter hostility between Catholics and Protestants continued to have its effect on in­ternational affairs. 2. The Word Always Has Been and Remains Basic At the beginning of our book, in chapter 1, section 3, we learned that the two fundamental things in the history of the Church have been the Word and the Spirit of God. The Christian Church had its origin in the city of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, through the outpouring of the Spirit and the preaching of the Word by the apostle Peter (ch. 1, sec. 2). The Word and the Spirit have ever been basic, throughout the entire history of the Church from the very beginning down to the present day. They will ever be so to the very end of time. The outstanding preacher of the ancient Church was Chrysostom (ch. 7, sec. 6). Another great preacher of the ancient Church was Ambrose (ch. 6, sec. 5). In the medieval Church Bernard of Clairvaux (ch. 20, sec. 6) was highly gifted in this work. The Do­minicans were a monastic order of preachers (ch. 20, sec. 7). Luther and Calvin at times preached daily. Throughout the centuries there has been a veritable host of preachers of widely varying talents. Preaching has always been of prime importance in maintain­ing and building the Church. The one great means of extending the Church among the heathen is the preaching of the missionaries. But it was not only through preaching to congregations in churches that the Word of God did its work. The Word was the main factor in the proceedings of church councils and in the forma­tion of creeds. Again, the Word was made effective through pro­fessors lecturing in theological schools, through theological books, and books written to give spiritual help for daily life. Since the middle of the past century, teachings from the Word have been spread more and more through the medium of religious papers and magazines, and in recent times through radio. 3. Differences in Explaining the Word Give Rise to Reform and Separation We come now to a point of the utmost importance, to which we shall want to pay very close at­tention. The Word of God, as we have seen, is of fundamental significance in the history of the Church. But what is the Word of God? It is the Bible. All Christians believe the Bible. However, when a man tells you that he believes the Bible he really has not yet told you exactly what he believes. All Christians claim that they derive their teach­ings from the Bible, and yet there are many great differences in the teachings of Christians. How can we account for that? These differences are due to differ­ences in understanding and ex­plaining the Bible. The final ques­tion is therefore: What does one think is the meaning of the Bible? The false teachings and practices in the Roman Church in ancient and medieval times were due in part to the influence of the sur­rounding heathenism. But many of the developments in the Roman Church were due to faulty explana­tions of the meaning of the Bible that came to be accepted by that Church. On the other hand, the Reformation was also due in part to the influence of the times, but in still larger part to explanations of the meaning of the Bible different from those taught in the Roman Church. 4. The Church Develops along Four Distinct Lines In the history of the Church we have now come to the time since the Reformation. It is the period in which we ourselves are living today, a period filled with new de­velopments and also deteriorations. As we study this period we shall discover that there have been four distinct lines along which the his­tory of the Church since the Ref­ormation has moved. That is, vari­ous branches of the Church have moved along one or the other of these four lines: 1. Holding to the explanation of the meaning of the Bible taught by the Roman Church in its confession and catechism as formulated by the Council of Trent (ch. 31, sec. 6). 2. Holding to the explanation of the meaning of the Bible taught by the great Reformers, and formulated in the confessions of the great historic Protestant churches (ch. 25-30). 3. Departing more or less from these explanations (ch. 36-40). 4. Giving up of the Bible as the infallible Word of God (ch. 41). 5. A Preview of Post-Reformation Developments In the coming chapters we shall learn first of all about further changes and developments in the Church of England, and the con­tinued struggle between Protes­tants and Catholics. Next, following the third and fourth lines of development, we shall watch the rise of the Congre­gationalists, the Baptists, the So­cinians, the Arminians, the Quak­ers, the Pietists, the Moravians, the Methodists, and the Modernists. Then, following the first and second lines of development, we shall briefly trace the history of the Roman, the Lutheran, and the Reformed churches, and of the Church in England, from the Ref­ormation down to our own times. Finally, we shall stand amazed as we see the Church once more, and now for the third and last time, grow again; and this time on a scale more tremendous than ever before in the history of the Church. This growth includes the history of the Church in our own country, the United States of America. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 38. CHAPTER 34: THE CHURCH IN ENGLAND CONTINUES TO FERMENT, 1558-1689 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34 The Church in England Continues to Ferment, 1558-1689 The Reformation in England Is Prolonged The Influence of Calvin Is Felt in England The Puritans Desire to Reform the Church of England The Separatists or Congregationalists Leave the Church of England The Puritans Gain the Upper Hand The Westminster Assembly Does Its Work Well Puritan Domination Ends The Restoration Brings Suffering to Puritans and Dissenters 1. The Reformation in England Is Prolonged We have seen that the history of the Church in England presents certain peculiarities (ch. 30, sec. 7). One of these is that the Ref­ormation in England was more po­litical than religious, and stressed organization more than doctrine. The continued unrest and change in the Church of England, after the life of the other churches of the Reformation had become more or less settled, is another peculiar­ity. This peculiarity is due to the fact that the mighty influence of Calvin came to be felt strongly in the Church of England a good deal later than in the churches in France, the Netherlands, and Scot­land. 2. The Influence of Calvin Is Felt in England The Elizabethan Settlement of 1563 (ch. 30, sec. 7) did not settle the affairs of the Church in Eng­land. During the persecutions of Bloody Mary many Protestants had fled to Geneva (ch. 30, sec. 6). There these English refugees came under the spell of Calvin. When in 1558 Elizabeth succeeded Mary to the throne of England, they returned, fired with enthusiasm for the ideas and ideals of the great French Reformer. So almost from the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign, voices were heard advocating a much more thoroughgoing refor­mation. The Settlement of 1563 did not satisfy them at all. Because they wished to see the Church puri­fied much more thoroughly, these members of the Church of England were called Puritans. 3. The Puritans Desire to Reform the Church of England The Puritans wished to see in­stalled in every parish an earnest and spiritually minded pastor able to preach. They demanded the abolition of the clerical dress then in vogue; of kneeling at the Lord’s Supper; of the ring ceremony at weddings; and of the use of the sign of the cross at baptism. In the clerical dress then in use they saw the claim of the clergy to powers which reminded them of the power of Catholic priests. In kneeling at the Lord’s Supper they saw adoration of the physical pres­ence of Christ as taught in the Catholic doctrine of transubstan­tiation. The ring ceremony at wed­dings signified to them the claim of Catholics that marriage is a sacra­ment. The sign of the cross at bap­tism was to them a Catholic super­stition. They wished to see the Church purified of this old leaven of Catholicism. Before long they went even further in their demands for the purification of the Church. They wished to see in each parish, elders chosen to exercise discipline. They wished to have the ministers chosen by the people, and the office of bishop abolished. All ministers, they believed, should be on an equal footing. This amounted to a de­mand for the presbyterian form of church government in place of the episcopalian. The leader of the Puritan move­ment was Thomas Cartwright. He was a theological professor in the University of Cambridge. The chief opponent of Puritanism in its early stages was John Whitgift, and through his influence Cart­wright was deprived of his pro­fessorship. Thereafter Cartwright led a wandering and persecuted life, but he continued to labor tire­lessly for the cause of Presbyterian Puritanism. Although the Puritans objected strongly to the episcopal form of church government and to many of the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, they were strongly opposed to separation from that Church. They wished to stay in that Church and to reform it from within, molding it after the pattern of Calvin’s church in Geneva. 4. The Separatists or Congrega­tionalists Leave the Church of England The Separatists were also Puri­tans, but they were radical. They saw that the process of reforming the Episcopal Church of England from within would at best be long and tedious, if not entirely hopeless. They therefore separated themselves from the Church of England and became known as Separatists or Dissenters. In the matter of church government they believed not only that each local church or congregation is a com­plete church in itself; but also that no church should have anything to say about any other church. Be­cause they believed that all local churches should be independent of each other, they were called Con­gregationalists or Independents. All Puritans, both those who re­mained in the Church of England and those who separated from it, were Calvinists in doctrine. 5. The Puritans Gain the Upper Hand For almost forty years after the death of Queen Elizabeth the Puri­tans were oppressed and perse­cuted. But in the "Long Parlia­ment" which met in 1640 the Pres­byterian Puritans finally found themselves in the majority. They immediately set themselves the task of "cleaning house." The two chief oppressors of the Puritans — the Earl of Strafford and Arch­bishop Laud — were brought to trial, condemned, and executed by beheading. King Charles did not like the turn of events. He decided to seize on a charge of high treason the five members of Parliament who were the leaders of the opposition. The House of Commons refused to give them up. The queen then urged Charles to take those five members by force, saying, "Go, coward, pull those rogues out by the ears." The next day the king, attended by an armed force, went to the House of Parliament. The five members had been forewarned, and had left the House and concealed themselves in the city. The king left the soldiers at the door and entered the House alone. He looked around and saw that the five members were not there. "I see the birds have flown," he said, and left. OLIVER CROMWELL The king now resolved to use military force to compel Parlia­ment to submit. He left London and raised the royal flag at Not­tingham. With this act he plunged England into civil war. On the side of the king were the majority of the nobles and the country gentlemen. Because of their daring horsemanship the king’s men were called Cavaliers. On the side of Parliament were the shopkeepers, small farmers, and a few men of high rank. Because the king’s Cavaliers wore long flowing locks, those opposing them wore their hair closely cropped so that it showed the shape of the head. For that reason they were, in ridi­cule, called Roundheads. The course of the war at first favored the king. One of the gentle­men farmers in the army of Parlia­ment was Oliver Cromwell. With the eye of genius he saw at a glance what was the trouble. Said he to Hampden, who was a Puritan and a member of Parliament, "A set of poor tapsters and town appren­tices cannot fight men of honor successfully." Cromwell is one of the great characters of history. As colonel of a troop of cavalry he showed great skill and courage. His regi­ment became famous as Cromwell’s Ironsides. It was never defeated. It was composed entirely of "men of religion." They did not swear or drink. They trusted in God and kept their powder dry. They advanced to the charge singing psalms. An army of twenty-one thousand men, patterned after the Ironsides, was organized. It was called the New Model. It was a body of re­ligious enthusiasts such as the world had not seen since the days of the Crusades (ch. 19) . Most of the soldiers of this army were fervent, God-fearing, psalm-singing Puritans. When not fight­ing they studied the Bible, prayed, and sang hymns. The Cavaliers were scattered as chaff before the wind in the Battle of Naseby. The king surrendered; he was tried and found guilty as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and pub­lic enemy, and was condemned to death. On January 30, 1649, Charles I ascended the scaffold in front of the royal palace of White­hall in London, where a great mul­titude had assembled to witness the execution. 6. The Westminster Assembly Does Its Work Well While the war was running its course, Parliament set itself the task of making changes in the Church. In 1643 it abolished the episcopal form of church govern­ment. It called an assembly of one hundred twenty-one clergymen and thirty laymen to provide a new creed and form of church govern­ment. This Westminster Assembly (so called because it met in West­minster) contained a few Episco­palians and Congregationalists, but the overwhelming majority were Presbyterian Puritans. Since the Scotch were giving aid in the war, a number of Scottish commission­ers were given a seat in the West­minster Assembly; they had no vote, but they exercised a strong influence. The Westminster Assembly turned out to be one of the history making assemblies of the Church. It prepared a Directory of Worship to replace the Episcopal Prayer Book. This order of worship is still used in orthodox Presbyterian and Congregational churches today. The Assembly drew up the confes­sion which has become famous as the Westminster Confession. It was the last of the great creeds of Prot­estantism to come out of the Refor­mation. The Assembly also pre­pared a Larger Catechism, for pul­pit exposition, and a Shorter Cate­chism, for the teaching of children. The Westminster Assembly did its work thoroughly and well. The Westminster Confession and the two Westminster Catechisms are an excellent presentation of Calvin­istic or Reformed doctrine. By 1648 Parliament had accepted these various documents—although certain modifications were made in the Westminster Confession. The Confession was also adopted by the General Assembly of Scotland. The work of reforming the Church in England in the Calvinistic sense was completed in the same year that the Thirty Years War on the continent came to an end with the Peace of Westphalia. 7. Puritan Domination Ends After its victory at Naseby and the death of Charles I, the army was supreme. It was composed mostly of Independents. Cromwell himself was sympathetic toward Congregationalism. Parliament had decreed that the form of gov­ernment of the Church of England should be presbyterian. But due to the pressure of the army the full establishment of Presbyterianism in England was not possible. KING CHARLES II LANDS AT DOVER Religious News Service From 1649-1653 England was a commonwealth or republic. Then Cromwell was made Lord Protec­tor, and England had practically a military dictatorship. Under Crom­well’s rule there was a large meas­ure of religious liberty for all re­ligious bodies, especially for all Non-conformists and Dissenters. Cromwell even befriended the Quakers, who were, generally speaking, hated of all men. Since the beginning of the Civil War, however, some two thousand mem­bers of the Episcopal clergy had been deprived of their means of livelihood and had suffered great hardship. 8. The Restoration Brings Suffering to Puritans and Dissenters On September 3, 1658, Cromwell died. His son Richard could not fill his father’s shoes. The great mass of the English people were dissatisfied under the yoke of rigid Puritanism, and the son of Charles I was brought back to England and crowned king as Charles II. This return of the House of Stuart to the throne of England is known as the Restoration of 1660. The first act of the Parliament chosen after the Restoration was to proclaim a pardon to all who had fought against King Charles I in the Civil War. The only persons excepted were the members of the High Court of Justice which had sent Charles I to the block. Of these, ten were executed and nine­teen imprisoned for life. Most of the others had already fled the country, or made their escape soon after. The body of Cromwell was dug up from its grave in Westminster Abbey and hanged in chains at Ty­burn. This was at the northeast entrance to Hyde Park in London and for centuries was the chief place for the public execution of criminals. After having been thus publicly exhibited, Cromwell’s body was buried at the foot of the gal­lows, along with the moldering re­mains of highway robbers and all other kinds of criminals of the low­est sort. In May, 1662, Parliament, now strongly Anglican, passed a new Act of Uniformity. Some six hun­dred changes were made in the Di­rectory of Worship or Prayer Book, all in the direction away from Pur­itanism. The use of any form of church service other than that pre­scribed in this newly revised Pray­er Book was forbidden. Those who refused to obey were heavily pun­ished. In one single day two thou­sand Presbyterian clergymen who had refused to conform were driven from their parishes and reduced to poverty. The able-bodied among them picked up a scant living by hard labor. The old and the weak soon found rest in the grave. The Scottish Parliament vied with that of England in persecu­tion of the Dissenters. The Cove­nanters, as the Scottish Protes­tants were called, were hunted with bugles and bloodhounds over hills and dales, like so many deer. Those who gathered secretly in glens and caves to worship God were hanged and drowned without mercy. Among the multitude who suf­fered in England for the sake of their faith was a poor tinker named John Bunyan. He had served against the king in the civil wars. Later he was converted to Puri­tanism, and became a traveling preacher. He was arrested and convicted of having "abstained from coming to church," and was thrown into Bedford jail—a "squalid Denn." While lingering in that jail for twelve years he wrote his famous Pilgrim’s Progress. Another Puritan, a man of high rank, excellent education, and rare gifts, was John Milton. In blind­ness, loneliness, and poverty he wrote Paradise Lost, the great Christian epic poem. As a result of persecution the Puritans now became a party out­side the Church of England. They had been a group who wished to stay in the Church of England and reform it. Now they were forced into the position which had been taken by the Separatists. They too had become Dissenters. During his entire life Charles II swayed between unbelief and su­perstitious Catholicism, but on his death-bed in 1685 he professed the Roman Catholic faith. He was suc­ceeded by his brother James II, who was a professed and earnest Catholic. The new king’s great ob­ject was to restore England to Catholicism. This brings us to the continua­tion of the struggle between Catho­lics and Protestants. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 39. CHAPTER 35: THE CONFLICT BETWEEN CATHOLICS AND PROTESTANTS CONTINUES, 1667-1690 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35 The Conflict Between Catholics and Protestants Continues, 1667-1690 Political Motives Are Now Uppermost Louis XIV Persecutes the Huguenots William III Comes to the Rescue of England England Enjoys a Measure of Religious Toleration 1. Political Motives Are Now Up­permost The various wars which raged in Europe between 1555 and 1648 were religious wars. Although po­litical motives had by no means been lacking, the main issue in these wars was the religious issue between Catholics and Protestants. The wars after 1648 were politi­cal wars, because from that time on political motives were uppermost. However, the religious issue be­tween Catholics and Protestants was still very much alive. 2. Louis XIV Persecutes the Hugue­nots By 1648 Spain had lost its place as the most powerful country in Europe. The Dutch Republic was enjoying its golden age, and the Dutch and English were keen rivals for supremacy in commerce and sea power. Germany was exhaust­ed by its Thirty Years War. The foremost power in Europe at this time was France. France, a Catholic country, had in Louis XIV an unusually ambi­tious king. It was Louis’s life-long aim to extend the boundaries of France. He wanted especially to add to his realm Spain, the Nether­lands, and the lower Rhine valley belonging to Germany. He also wished to humble England. As a despotic ruler Louis XIV hated Protestantism, particularly Calvinism. He realized that Cal­vinism is the strongest bulwark of religious and political liberty. King Henry IV had granted free­dom of religion to the Huguenots in the Edict of Nantes. In 1685 Louis revoked the Edict and a frightful persecution of the Protestants in France followed. Thou­sands of Huguenot families fled to Holland, Germany, England, and America. There they were received with open arms and did much to strengthen Calvinism in these coun­tries. We shall read more about the French Huguenots in chapter 44. 3. William III Comes to the Rescue of England In the same year that Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, James II became king of England. He was a Catholic, and, as we have seen, it was his highest ambition to bring England back into the fold of the Roman Church. James plotted with Louis XIV to bring this about. The future of Protes­tantism hung in the balance. Reli­gious and political liberty were at stake. In the previous century Wil­liam I of the Netherlands, known to history as William the Silent, had been the champion of Protes­tantism and liberty against the ty­rant Philip II of Spain (ch. 32, sec. 5) . Now in this dark hour William III of the Netherlands came for­ward as the champion of Protes­tantism against Louis XIV of France. His wife, Mary was the daughter of James II. In their dis­tress the English appealed to Wil­liam. Accompanied by an army he crossed the sea from Holland in 1688 and drove out his father-in-law, James II. He and Mary were crowned king and queen of Eng­land. The next year James made an attempt to regain his throne. He landed in Ireland supported by a French army. The people of south­ern Ireland, the majority of whom were Catholics, took the side of James. The people in northern Ire­land were Protestants and stood by William. Because of this they were called Orangemen. In 1690 the de­cisive battle of the Boyne took place. James waited on a hill, watching the battle from a safe distance. When he saw that his army was utterly defeated he rushed pell-mell down the hill and fled to France. William, on the other hand, showed great courage and leadership. Although wounded, he led his soldiers in person. An Irish officer cried to one of Wil­liam’s soldiers, "Change kings with us and we’ll fight you over again." As a result of his brave and de­termined stand Dutch William had saved Holland, England, and Amer­ica for Protestantism and liberty against the Catholicism and des­potism of Louis XIV of France and James II of England. After this there were no more wars in which the religious differences be­tween Protestants and Catholics were the main issue. 4. England Enjoys a Measure of Religious Toleration When William and Mary were crowned king and queen of Eng­land, four hundred members of the clergy of the Church of England, among them seven bishops, refused the oath of allegiance to the new sovereigns. They were deprived of their office. Religious toleration was now granted to all Protestant Dissent­ers. By the Toleration Act of 1689 freedom of worship was granted to those who were willing to: (1) swear the oath of allegiance to Wil­liam and Mary; (2) reject the ju­risdiction of the pope, transubstan­tiation, the mass, the invocation of the Virgin and saints; and (3) sub­scribe to the doctrinal portions of the Thirty-nine Articles. Various denominations of Protestant Dis­senters could exist freely and open­ly alongside the established and endowed Episcopal Church of Eng­land. The Dissenters — Presbyte­rians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Quakers — formed about one-tenth of the population of England at this time. The Act of Toleration did not cover the Roman Catholics or those who denied the Trinity. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 40. CHAPTER 36: THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE CONGREGATIONALISTS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36 The Rise and Growth of the Congregationalists The Rise and Growth of the Congregationalists Robert Browne Spreads Congregational Ideas Congregationalism Grows in the Face of Opposition A New English Bible Is Obtained through Puritan Effort Smyth, Brewster, and Robinson Advance Congregationalism Cromwell Favors Congregationalism The Congregationalists Adopt the West­minster Confession They Share in Persecution and Struggle for Freedom Congregational Churches Decline and Grow Strong Again 1. Robert Browne Spreads Congre­gational Ideas The Congregationalists, or Inde­pendents, had their origin, as we have seen, in England during the Puritan movement (ch. 34, sec. 4). Of all the new denominations that arose since the Reformation they departed the least from historic Protestantism. In doctrine and worship they were Calvinists. Their departure was in the matter of church government. In order to trace the history of this important group we shall have to go back to the period of time covered in chapter 34, that is, to the sixteenth century. The first one who really spread the Congregational ideas in Eng­land was Robert Browne. In 1581, during the reign of Queen Eliza­beth, he organized a Congregation­al church in Norwich, and was cast into prison. When he was set free, he and the majority of his congre­gation fled to Middelburg in the Netherlands. That little country was a haven of refuge for all the persecuted of Europe. In course of time many other groups of English Separatists found safety there. While he was in Middelburg, Browne published A Booke Which Sheweth the Life and Manners of All True Christians. In this work Browne gave an exposition of Con­gregational principles. The princi­ples of church government ex­pressed and explained by Browne are held by the Congregationalists to this day. Briefly stated, the main ideas of Congregationalism are these: Each local church is self governing. It chooses its own pastor, teacher, elders, and deacons. Churches have no authority over each other, but it is their privilege and duty to help each other. It is highly desirable that from time to time they hold assemblies in which all the churches are represented, and in which mat­ters of concern to all are carefully considered and discussed. The churches, however, are not required to adopt the decisions of the assem­blies. The decisions are made for the purpose of guiding the churches, not ruling them. Trouble arose in the Congrega­tional Church in Middelburg. After a short stay there Browne left Hol­land, went to Scotland, and then returned to England. There he be­came a member of the Episcopal Church, and the remainder of his long life he spent in the ministry in the Church of England. 2. Congregationalism Grows in the Face of Opposition Archbishop Gr in d al was very lenient toward Dissenters, but when Whitgift became archbishop of Canterbury Congregationalists, together with other Dissenters, lost much of their freedom. Many Non­conformists were thrown into prison. But history has proved again and again that imprisonment is a means of encouraging rather than stop­ping a movement. In 1587 Henry Barrowe, a London lawyer, and John Greenwood, a clergyman, were imprisoned for holding Sepa­ratist meetings in London. While they were in prison they wrote cer­tain treatises in which they at­tacked both Anglicans and Puri­tans, and set forth the principles of Congregationalism. These trea­tises were smuggled into Holland, where they were printed. By means of these, the principles of Congre­gationalism were spread and a number of followers were gained. One of those converted to Con­gregationalism by the writings of Barrowe and Greenwood was a Puritan minister, Francis Johnson. In 1592 a Congregational Church was organized in London; Johnson was chosen to be its pastor, and Greenwood its teacher. In the spring of the following year Bar­rowe and Greenwood were hanged for denying the supremacy of Queen Elizabeth in church affairs. Parliament then passed a statute decreeing banishment for all who would not submit to the supremacy of the queen’s authority over the Church, refused to attend services in the established Episcopal Church, or attended religious meet­ings where a form of worship other than that prescribed by the Prayer Book was used. Most of the London Congregationalists now fled to Amsterdam, where Johnson contin­ued as their pastor. 3. A New English Bible Is Ob­tained through Puritan Effort In 1603 James I succeeded Eliza­beth upon the throne of England. At once the Puritans addressed to the new king a petition in which they set forth some very moderate requests. A conference between bishops and Puritans was held in the presence of the king. No changes in the affairs of the Church desired by the Puritans were granted. But one thing of very great importance was granted — a new translation of the Bible. The result was the King James Bible, published in 1611. This Bible is the translation which has until recent times been in universal use among all English-speaking people. The Conference between the An­glican bishops and the Puritans ended in a great victory for the Anglicans. The Puritans and Sep­aratists were ordered to conform. 4. Smyth, Brewster, and Robinson Advance Congregationalism In 1602, the last year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth, there arose a Separatist movement which had a small and humble beginning, but which was destined to have far-reaching results of great impor­tance. John Smyth had been a clergy­man in the Church of England. He adopted Separatist principles, and gathered a congregation in Gains-borough. Soon members were gained in neighboring rural dis­tricts, and a second congregation gathered in the home of William Brewster at Scrooby. Around the year 1604 the learned and lovable John Robinson became the pastor of the Scrooby congregation. Rob­inson too had been a clergyman in the Church of England, but he also had adopted Separatist principles. The hand of oppression was heavy upon the Gainsborough con­gregation. Probably in the year 1607 this congregation sought ref­uge in Amsterdam. In 1609 the Scrooby congregation, under the leadership of Robinson and Brew­ster, removed to Leyden in the Netherlands. The importance of this Congregational church in Ley­den will become apparent when we consider the history of the Church in our own country (ch. 46, sec. 2). 5. Cromwell Favors Congregation­alism Cromwell did not belong to any church, but, as we have seen (ch. 34, sec. 7) ,he leaned heavily toward Congregationalism. When he came into power he strongly favored the Congregationalists. He made John Owen, the ablest theologian among the Congregationalists of his day, dean of Christ Church and vice-chancellor of the University of Ox­ford. Thomas Goodwin, who had been a Congregational member of the Westminster Assembly (ch. 34, sec. 6), was appointed president of Magdalen College at the University of Cambridge. Many other Congre­gationalists were elevated to high positions. 6. The Congregationalists Adopt the Westminster Confession Under Cromwell’s patronage Congregationalism greatly in­creased in importance, but up to this time the Congregationalists were not organized as a denomina­tion. An assembly of Congrega­tional elders was now summoned to prepare a confession of faith. Twenty-six days after Cromwell’s death the Assembly met in the Savoy Palace in London on Septem­ber 29, 1658. This synod adopted a Declaration of Faith and Order (of church government) Owned and Practised in the Congregation­al Churches. Almost all the leading members of this synod had been members of the Westminster As­sembly. So they adopted the Cal­vinistic Westminster Confession al­most bodily as their confession. The Savoy Declaration includes a section which deals with the "Insti­tution of Churches and the Order Appointed in them by Jesus Christ." This section declares in favor of the distinctly Congrega­tional form of church organization. The Declaration also recognizes the value of advisory councils, or as­semblies (sec. 1). 7. They Share in Persecution and Struggle for Freedom You will recall from our study of the Puritans, chapter 34, that under Cromwell Congregationalism rode the crest of the waves. This brief period of triumph was fol­lowed by the Restoration and a longer period of renewed persecu­tion under Charles II and James II. The Congregationalists shared in this persecution together with Pres­byterians, Baptists, and Quakers. These bodies of Dissenters took a prominent part in overthrowing James II, and bringing William and Mary to the throne (ch. 35, sec. 3). Together they reaped the benefits of a large measure of religious lib­erty secured to them by the Tolera­tion Act of 1689 (ch. 35, sec. 4). From this time on the Congrega­tionalists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and Quakers in England continued to labor shoulder to shoulder for complete religious freedom and equality. After a prolonged strug­gle which extended well into the nineteenth century, their united ef­forts were at last crowned with success. In 1828 the special laws against Dissenters were repealed, and the universities and all civil and military offices were opened to Protestant Dissenters. Congrega­tionalists and all other Dissenters enjoyed all the rights which it is possible for Dissenters to enjoy in a country where the established and endowed Episcopal Church of Eng­land is still the State Church; whose bishops are ex-officio (by virtue of office) members of the House of Lords; which continues to possess vast endowments and the right to tax all citizens for its support; and which is in control of the universities and to a large ex­tent of popular education. All these things combined give to the mem­bers of the Church of England overwhelming advantages. English Dissenters are even to­day still striving for complete reli­gious equality. They feel that the only way this can be achieved is by disestablishing the Episcopal Church as a State Church. 8. Congregational Churches De­cline and Grow Strong Again During the eighteenth century religious life in England suffered from serious errors which were de­structive of church life. Congrega­tional churches dwindled. Some died out altogether. But then there took place the great Methodist revival. Together with all other denominations, the Congregational churches profited greatly by the new spiritual im­pulse supplied by this movement. Membership greatly increased. Dy­ing churches gained renewed life, and many new churches were es­tablished. A new interest was awakened in home and foreign mis­sions, in Sunday School work, the circulation of the Scriptures and religious literature, and in various works of charity. In 1832 the Con­gregational churches of England and Wales formed a union. The Congregationalists of Eng­land and Wales are a numerous, wealthy, and very influential body. They have a large number of learned and able ministers, well equipped educational institutions, many societies for denominational work, and well conducted periodi­cals. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 41. CHAPTER 37: THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE BAPTISTS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37 The Rise and Growthofthe Baptists The Anabaptists Are Dissatisfied with the Reformers Many Practise Community of Goods Fanatics Cause Confusion and Conflict Melchior Hofmann Influences Multitudes Jan Matthys Becomes Leader The Munster Kingdom Is a Sad Failure Some Essential Doctrines of the Ana­baptists The Anabaptists Stand for Liberty of Re­ligion The Mennonites Continue the Anabaptist Tradition The Baptists Divide into General and Par­ticular Baptists Some Similarities between Congregation­alists and Baptists 1. The Anabaptists Are Dissatis­fied with the Reformers In our chapters on the Reforma­tion the Anabaptists were men­tioned. This group appeared almost immediately after the Reformation started. Many of them at first hailed Luther and Zwingli with great enthusiasm. But they were, after all, not followers of the Re­formers, and before long they be­came their bitter opponents. Who were these Anabaptists? Where did they come from? What explains their changing attitude toward the Reformers? Some think that they were an entirely new sect, which in no way existed before the Reformation. But it is unlikely that an entirely new sect, without any previous background, would suddenly spring into being. Others think that they had already formed their opinions before the time of the Reformation. It is a known fact that all through medieval times there were within the Catholic Church in various parts of Europe, people who had ideas different from those of the Church. But they lived for the most part unnoticed. It might be said that they were the "underground" of medieval times. They had no complete, carefully worked-out sys­tem of thought, and they did not all hold the same ideas. So it seems likely that the kind of people who have become known to history as Anabaptists were there when the Reformation started. Since they were in oppo­sition to Rome, it is entirely nat­ural that they should heartily ap­prove of Luther’s and Zwingli’s bold attacks on the Catholic Church. The reason they changed so soon into strenuous opponents of the Reformers was that they felt sadly disappointed in them. They thought that Luther and Zwingli did not go far enough in their opposition to Rome. The Anabaptists were radi­cals, or extremists. 2. Many Practise Community of Goods The Reformation, through the printing press, put the Bible into the hands of the common man. Men without education or formal train­ing began to interpret the Bible for themselves. When the Anabaptists found that the first Christian church in Jerusalem practised com­munity of goods, many of them adopted it as a Christian require­ment. They freely shared with one another whatever they possessed, so that all would be equally pro­vided for and no one would be in want. This naturally appealed very much to the poorer people. Conse­quently it was among those who had little of this world’s goods that Anabaptism gained a tremendous following, especially in Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. 3. Fanatics Cause Confusion and Conflict Many of the Anabaptists, al­though by no means all, were fana­tics. Some of their leaders claimed that they were prophets. One of these self-styled prophets was a certain Thomas Munzer . At first Munzer thought highly of Luther. Through Luther’s influ­ence he was appointed a preacher in Zwickau not far from Witten­berg. But he soon became dissat­isfied with what he considered Luther’s half-way measures of re­form. He demanded that pure churches be set up immediately, re­gardless of consequences, and he denounced Luther as one who al­lowed people to continue in their old sins. He believed in the author­ity of the Bible, but he taught that the Spirit imparts truth to true believers not only through the Scriptures, but also directly to their hearts, apart from Scripture. In Zwickau, Munzer encouraged a certain Storch to organize a church of professed believers. Storch then considered himself ap­pointed by God to set up the King­dom of Christ on earth. While Luther was in the Wartburg (ch. 24, sec. 19) , Storch, together with certain other leaders, went to Wit­tenberg and tried to win over the professors there to their way of thinking. They had considerable success. They proclaimed them­selves to be prophets who talked familiarly with God, foresaw the future, and received revelations di­rectly from the Spirit. Carlstadt, who was rector of Wittenberg Uni­versity, was especially impressed. He at once attempted to stop all unscriptural practices in university and church. He laid aside his professorial dress, put on the clothes of a peasant, and renounced his doctor’s degree, belittling all learn­ing and exalting the understanding of babes and sucklings. Even Melanchthon was greatly impressed with the prophetic claims of these men, and was unable to answer their arguments. They stirred up great commotion in Wittenberg, and there was serious danger that the Reformation movement in its very beginning would come under the control of these fanatics. It was then that Luther at the risk of los­ing his life came out of hiding in the Wartburg, and by his vigorous preaching removed the threat which had been raised by the Zwickau prophets. THE BIBLE IN PRINT Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Johann Gutenberg shows his partner, Johann Fust, a proof from their press. Guten­berg (1400? to 1468) is believed to have been the first European to print with movable type cast in molds. He lived in Mainz, Germany. His famous first Bible, often called the Mazarin Bible, is known also as the 42-line Bible, because most of the pages are 42 lines long. It was printed in 3 volumes. The Library of Congress has a complete set of this rare and treasured publication. Munzer, after having been ex­pelled from Zwickau, settled in the little Saxon town of Allstedt. He soon won followers. Images were broken, infant baptism was abol­ished, dreams were cultivated as a means of communication with God, laws were passed reducing interest and cancelling debts, and the right to hold private property was ques­tioned. Munzer began to preach a campaign of fire and sword against the "godless," Catholics and Lu­therans alike. Luther wrote a letter to the elector Frederick, urging him to put down the "Satan of Allstedt." The elector summoned Munzer to a conference with Lu­ther, but Munzer was afraid to obey the summons. He fled to Mulhausen, reviling Luther as that "arch-heathen, arch-rascal, Wittenberg pope, snake, and basi­lisk." Not long after this the Peasants’ War broke out. The princes of Germany were caught entirely un­prepared. Many of the castles of the nobles were captured by the peasants and burned. The nobles and their families were killed. Munzer thought that his hour of triumph had struck. He called upon his followers to root out the "god­less" without mercy, as the people of Israel had destroyed the Canaan­ites. Luther saw the whole of Ger­many threatened with anarchy, and the cause of the Reformation in danger. In the most violent lan­guage he called upon the princes to put down the rebellion. The peas­ants were defeated in a decisive battle on May 15, 1525; Munzer was captured and put to death, and the cause of the Reformation was saved. The Peasants’ War was the se­verest crisis through which the young Protestant Church had to pass. Had not Luther’s iron fist held the helm, the frail bark of the Reformation might well have foun­dered. 4. Melchior Hofmann Influences Multitudes Melchior Hofmann, a furrier by trade, was at first an enthusiastic follower of Luther. In course of time he worked out a weird system of interpretation of Scripture, whereby he astonished the un­learned and gained a reputation for possessing the key to the divine mysteries. From Bible prophecy he estimated that Christ would return to earth in the year 1533. Coming to the Netherlands as an Anabaptist he claimed that the end of the world would take place within three years. He influenced multitudes of people, and every­where groups of his followers ex­pected the speedy establishment of the Kingdom of Christ upon earth. The plight of the Anabaptists in the meanwhile was fast becoming desperate. As enemies not only of the Church but also of the State, they were fiercely persecuted by both Catholics and Protestants. The Catholics blamed the Reforma­tion for the excesses of the Ana­baptists. That made the Protes­tants especially bitter against them. Most of the early leaders of the Anabaptists had been put to death. Those that survived, women as well as men, were subjected to the most cruel persecution. Living under these conditions, they began to look for the speedy return of Christ to bring to an end their unbearable sufferings. From the Netherlands Hofmann went to Strassburg. This city was a hotbed of Anabaptists. Hofmann was put into prison, and after lan­guishing there for ten years he died. But he had not given up his hope for the speedy return of Christ. He had stirred great mul­titudes to a state of tremendous ex­citement, and this made them an easy prey to the extreme ideas of Jan Matthys. 5. Jan Matthys Becomes Leader Jan Matthys was a baker in the city of Haarlem. He now became the fiery leader of the Anabaptists. He hated the upper classes as the oppressors of the poor people of God, and felt that true believers were to be the instruments in God’s hand to destroy them. Hofmann had predicted that just before the return of Christ the prophet Enoch would appear. Matthys declared that he was the prophet Enoch. The oppressed masses every­where were ready to receive the new gospel. Anabaptist ideas grew more and more popular. 6. The Minster Kingdom Is a Sad Failure In the year 1533 the Anabaptists made themselves master of the city of Munster in Germany. Early the next year two men sent by Jan Matthys announced to the people of Munster that Enoch had ap­peared in the person of Matthys, that the thousand year reign of Christ was at hand, and that hence­forth the baptized saints — under the rule of Christ — should lead a blessed life with community of goods, and without law. A few days later John of Leyden, a tailor, ar­rived, and in the name of Matthys took charge of the Munster move­ment. The entire wealth of the city was soon in the hands of the fana­tics. Polygamy, the practice of having more than one wife, was introduced. Hofmann had declared that Strassburg was going to be the seat of Christ’s reign on earth, the new Jerusalem. But Matthys pro­claimed now that Strassburg be­cause of its sins had forfeited that honor, and that Minster was going to be the new Jerusalem. From dif­ferent parts of Germany and from the Netherlands many thousands streamed into Munster. Matthys soon arrived in the city and placed himself at its head. Now Munster was besieged by an army of Catholics and Lu­therans. A reign of terror developed within the city. All those suspected of being out of sympathy with the Anabaptists were killed without mercy. Matthys was killed in battle in April, 1534. John of Levden next took charge. It was revealed to him that the new Jerusalem was to have a king who would have power over the whole earth, and that he was that king. In the meanwhile the siege went on. For more than a year the Ana­baptists defended themselves with fanatical courage. Toward the end of the siege their sufferings were indescribable. At last on June 24, 1535, the city was taken. A terrible massacre followed. The leaders were horribly tortured. The body of John of Leyden was exhibited for three days in an iron cage. 7. Some Essential Doctrines of the Anabaptists Most people at that time thought that the extreme ideas expressed at Munster were the necessary out­come of Anabaptist doctrine. In England and America the oppo­nents of the Baptist movement con­tinued for a long time to point to Minster as a warning. In Germany and other countries of Europe the reproach of Munster still clings to the Baptist name. However, fanat­icism and belief in Christ’s reign upon earth for a thousand years were not a real part of Anabaptist doctrine. One of the essential doctrines of the Anabaptists was believers’ bap­tism. They taught that only believers should be baptized and belong to the Church. They rejected in­fant baptism, because infants can­not believe. They baptized only adults after they had made confes­sion of faith. Even if a person had been baptized in infancy in the Catholic, Reformed, or Lutheran Church, the Anabaptists required that he be baptized again upon con­fession of faith. Because of this they were called Anabaptists, or Rebaptizers. The Anabaptists also introduced a change in the manner of baptism. They substituted immersion for sprinkling. This, however, is of minor importance. The important thing is not the manner but the subjects of baptism. The Reformed churches teach that infants of be­lievers not only may but ought to be baptized. The Anabaptists ­and their successors, the Baptists—just as firmly reject infant bap­tism, and teach that only those who do actually believe, that is, adults, may be baptized. The Anabaptists differed in still another respect from the Catholics, the Lutherans, and the Calvinists. That was in regard to the relation of Church and State. In the East­ern and the Lutheran Church the State more or less dominated the Church. According to the Catholic theory the Church should dominate the State. Calvin made the State an instrument of the Church in Ge­neva. The Anabaptists advocated complete separation of Church and State. This and believers’ baptism are two essential and distinguish­ing Anabaptist doctrines. 8. The Anabaptists Stand for Liberty of Religion When Church and State are closely connected, false doctrine or heresy is an offense not only against the Church but also against the State. Heresy is then a crime and should be punished by the govern­ment with the utmost severity. This is the view that was held not only by Catholics, but by Protestants as well. The Anabaptists, because of their doctrine of separation of Church and State, stood for liberty of religion. The Anabaptists taught that Christians, as much as is possible, should keep themselves separate from the world. They admitted that in this present life some kind of government is necessary. But they taught that believers should not have anything to do with it. Con­sequently, according to them, a Christian should not hold govern­ment office, should not be a soldier, should not take an oath, and should not own private property. You can see that the Anabaptists were radi­cals in their day. But as a result of fierce persecu­tion and a more sober way of think­ing, they gradually became less ex­treme in their ideas. The objections to office holding, arms bearing, oath taking, and private property were given up. But their fundamental principles of believers’ baptism, separation of Church and State, and complete liberty of religion for every individual survive today in the Baptists. The name "Baptists" is mislead­ing. Christians who baptize infants are also Baptists or Baptizers. A better name would be Adult-only Baptizers. The term "believers’ baptism" is also misleading. It assumes that only adults can believe. But that is exactly what some other Christians deny. A more appropriate term would be adult believers’ baptism. Because of the disgrace attached to the name Anabaptist, it was dropped, and those who held these views became known as Baptists. But there was after all some accu­racy in the name Anabaptist. 9. The Mennonites Continue the Anabaptist Tradition Menno Simons had been a Catho­lic priest in Witmarsum in the Dutch province of Friesland. After the Munster collapse he became the leader of the Anabaptists in the Netherlands. He traveled widely throughout the Netherlands and neighboring parts of Germany, everywhere organizing his follow­ers into churches, and teaching and exhorting them with mouth and pen. In course of time the name Men­nonites instead of Anabaptists came to be applied to these people. They became peaceful, industrious, prosperous, and highly respected citizens. In later years the Mennonites, torn by frequent dissentions, divid­ed and subdivided. Their ranks were also invaded by Arminianism and Socinianism (ch. 38, sec. 1-5). 10. The Baptists Divide into Gen­eral and Particular Baptists John Smyth, who with his Con­gregational church of Gainsbor­ough had sought refuge in Amster­dam (ch. 36, sec. 4) , became ac­quainted with the Mennonites. Under their influence he adopted Baptist principles. A portion of his church returned to England, and in 1611 or 1612 established in Lon­don the first permanent Baptist church in England. In the Nether­lands the Baptists also had been influenced by Arminianism, which rejected the doctrine of election. The Baptists who adopted Armini­anism received the name of General Baptists. Congregationalism was perma­nently replanted in England when Henry Jacob, who had belonged to the Congregational church of Rob­inson in Leyden (ch. 36, sec. 4) established a Congregational church in Southwark. A portion of this church seceded in 1633, and its members received the name of Par­ticular Baptists. They were in many ways Calvinists, but they be­lieved in adult baptism. Presbyterians and Congregation­alists sang rimed versions of the Psalms in their church services. The Baptists were the first to in­troduce the singing of hymns. 11. Some Similarities between Congregationalists and Bap­tists The Congregationalists and Bap­tists have much in common. Both believe in the independence of local churches. And neither the Congre­gationalists nor the Baptists think much of creeds. The Baptists go even further than the Congrega­tionalists in rejecting the authority and the binding character of creeds. Like the Congregationalists, the Baptists during the eighteenth cen­tury underwent the weakening effects of serious errors in doctrine. But they also experienced the re­viving effects of Methodism, which will be explained in chapter 40. During the last years of the eighteenth and the first years of the nineteenth century the Baptist preacher Robert Hall was Eng­land’s greatest pulpit orator. And during the second half of the nine­teenth century there were very few preachers in all the world who could compare with Charles Had­don Spurgeon. In only one respect was Spurgeon a Baptist; he re­jected infant baptism. Aside from that he was a thorough Calvinist. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 42. CHAPTER 38: SERIOUS DEPARTURES FROM HISTORIC PROTESTANTISM ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38 Serious Departures from Historic Protestantism Socinianism Denies the Trinity Socinianism Becomes Unitarianism Arminius Denies Election and Other His­toric Doctrines The Synod of Dort Rejects Arminian Doctrines Arminianism Lives On George Fox, Founder of Quakerism Fox’s Teachings The Quakers Increase in Numbers You will recall that the Congre­gationalists departed from historic Protestantism in their system of church organization and govern­ment, and that the Baptists de­parted in their doctrine of adult baptism. We come now to a study of other departures from the Christianity of the historic creeds. One of them, Socinianism, is a truly fatal error, for it denies the deity of Christ. Another, Quakerism, teaches that in addition to His revelation in His Word as recorded in the Bible, God still grants revelation today to in­dividual believers. And a third, Arminianism, while maintaining the doctrine of salvation by faith alone, stresses man’s will at the expense of God’s sovereignty. 1. Socinianism Denies the Trinity Socinianism receives its name from two Italians, Laelius Socinus and his nephew, Faustus Socinus. Although outwardly they con­formed to the Catholic Church, they were nevertheless responsible for errors in doctrine which con­tradicted some of the basic truths held by that church. Laelius gave up the study of law for that of theology. From 1550 to 1551 he lived in Wittenberg, where he enjoyed the friendship of Melanchthon. He traveled in France, Holland, and Poland, and spent the last ten years of his life in Zurich, Switzerland. The death of Servetus at the stake (ch. 27, sec. 7) caused Laelius Socinus to give serious thought to the doctrine of the Trinity. For his own satisfaction he wrote down his ideas on the subject. His ideas differed radically from the teach­ings of the historic church, and he did not publish his notes. It is probable that fear of a fate similar to that of Servetus kept him from doing so. The method which Laelius So­cinus used in making propaganda for his erroneous views was pe­culiar. He did not openly and frankly proclaim them, but tried to open the way for their accept­ance by undermining belief in true doctrine by means of clever ques­tions. While the nephew, Faustus, was studying the Scriptures at Basel, in Switzerland, the unpublished manuscripts of his uncle came into his hands. They greatly influenced his thought. In 1579 Faustus So­cinus went to Poland and began to publish his unorthodox views on the Trinity. As a result he became involved in many controversies. In 1605, a year after the death of Faustus Socinus, there was pub­lished in the city of Rakow in Poland the Racovian Catechism. It was largely the work of Faustus Socinus, and set forth the basic teachings of Socinianism. Laelius and Faustus Socinus denied the deity of Christ. They taught that Christ is only a man, though He is the best man who ever lived. They also attacked the doctrine that Christ’s death on the cross was an atonement for man’s sins. They likewise denied the doctrine of total depravity (that man by na­ture is totally corrupt). The fol­lowers of Faustus Socinus in Po­land caused to be inscribed on his tomb: "Lofty Babylon (by this they meant the Catholic Church) lies prostrate. Luther destroyed its roofs, Calvin its wall, but Socinus its foundations." His writings were widely read, and had great influence in the Netherlands, England, and Amer­ica. 2. Socinianism Becomes Unitarian­ism In England during the eight­eenth century Socinianism came to be called Unitarianism. Theophilus Lindsey, a Socinian clergyman in the Episcopal Church of England, circulated a petition that clergymen might be relieved from the obligation to subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles (ch. 30, sec. 5 and 7), and pledge their fidelity to the Bible only. You can readily understand the motive back of this petition. Socinian clergymen could not honestly subscribe to the Thirty-nine Articles, for this docu­ment teaches the deity of Christ. But they could interpret the Bible to suit their purpose. The petition received some two hundred and fifty signatures. It was presented to Parliament in 1772, but Parlia­ment refused to receive it. Lindsey then did the honest thing. He withdrew from the Epis­copal Church and in 1774 organ­ized a Unitarian Church in London. In 1779 the English Parliament did what it had refused to do in 1772. It amended the Toleration Act by accepting as satisfactory the profession of faith in the Scrip­tures instead of subscription to the Thirty-nine Articles. This set the door of the Established Anglican Church wide open for every kind of heresy. Later Parliament re­moved all penal acts against those who denied the Trinity. English Unitarianism insisted on salvation by character rather than through the atoning blood of Christ, and claimed to reject "all creeds of human composition." But it had, of course, its own creed. That was unavoidable. Unitarianism made heavy in­roads among the Presbyterians and the General Baptists. It was a blight upon their religious life, and their churches declined greatly. On the other hand the Congregation­alists and the Particular Baptists (ch. 37, sec. 10) were influenced only a little. Their numbers in­creased, and their churches flour­ished. At the time of the Toleration Act (ch. 35, sec. 4) the Presby­terians had been the most numer­ous of the non-conformist groups. Now the Congregationalists and Particular Baptists outnumbered them. 3. Arminius Denies Election and Other Historic Doctrines The Socinians and Unitarians, in denying the deity of Christ, placed themselves really outside the Church. The departure of the Arminians was of a different na­ture. They retained their belief in the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and salvation by faith in Christ’s aton­ing work on the cross. Arminianism receives its name from a man named Arminius, who was born in Oudewater, the Neth­erlands, in 1560. When Jacobus Arminius was very young the Spaniards came and destroyed his native town, depriving him of par­ents and relatives. A number of kind-hearted Dutch people took him under their care and later had him educated at the University of Leyden, where he showed unusual ability. Because of his talent the burgomasters of Amsterdam sup­plied him with means for studying abroad. In Geneva he won the high esteem of Beza, the successor of Calvin in the Genevan church and university. He also studied in Italy. Upon his return to his native country in 1588 he became pastor of the Reformed Church in Amster­dam. He was recognized as a very able and learned minister; his sermons were clear, eloquent, and well delivered, and they attracted large audiences. Gradually, how­ever, it was noticed that he no longer seemed to be in full agree­ment with Reformed doctrine. Nevertheless he was installed as professor of theology in the Uni­versity of Leyden. In his lectures his departure from historic Calvin­ism became more and more notice­able. Pelagius, you will remember, had taught the essential goodness of man. Against him Augustine had defended the doctrine of man’s total depravity. Arminius held some ideas which remind us of Pe­lagius. He denied the total inability and depravity of man. Arminius did not deny the doc­trine of election outright. But he taught that God had elected those who He had foreseen would believe. His teaching was a somewhat subtle and indirect denial of elec­tion. He made God’s election de­pend on the action of man. In that way, while seemingly holding to the doctrine of election, he actually denied and destroyed it. He also taught that Christ died for all men, and that it is possible to fall from grace. He denied that the work of the Spirit is irresistible. The young ministers whom Ar­minius had trained brought his teachings into the churches. Before long the whole country resounded with theological controversy. In 1609, in the midst of the uproar which he had caused, Arminius died. 4. The Synod of Dort Rejects Arminian Doctrines To settle the questions in dispute a synod was held in Dort from November 13, 1618, to May 9, 1619. The Synod of Dort was the great­est synod of Reformed Churches ever held. Present were delegates not only from the Reformed churches in the Netherlands, but also from the Reformed churches in England; in the Palatinate, Hesse, and Bremen in Germany; and in Switzerland. Delegates from France and from other parts of Germany had also been invited but were unable to attend. The Synod unanimously rejected and very positively condemned the teachings of the Arminians, and stated the true Reformed doctrine in the Canons of Dort. The form­ulation of the Canons of Dort is the high water mark in the creed making of the Reformed churches. The Belgic Confession, the Heid­elberg Catechism, and these Canons of Dort are to this day the creeds or doctrinal standards of the Re­formed churches in the Nether­lands and America. 5. Arminianism Lives On There is still today a small group of Arminian (or Remonstrant, as they were also called) churches in the Netherlands, with a seminary in Amsterdam. However, Armin­ianism acquired a far greater in­fluence in England. It invaded the Anglican Church and nearly all the dissenting denominations. John Wesley adopted Arminianism, and it became the creed of the Wes­leyan Methodists. Today it has be­come the accepted doctrine in most of the churches in America. DEPARTURES FROM HISTORIC PROTESTANTISM 339 THE SYNOD OF DORT, 1618 Bettmann Archive Copper engraving by Visseher This historic gathering of Reformed Church delegates was held in a large recreation hall in Dort. 6. George Fox, Founder of Quak­erism In England the seventeenth cen­tury was a time of unrest and change. This period produced some remarkable characters, one of whom was George Fox, the origi­nator of Quakerism. Fox was the son of a weaver. He himself became a shoemaker. Practically the only book he knew anything about was the Bible. In the England of that day there was much religious insincerity and un­reality among church people. So it happened that at the age of nine­teen Fox was invited by a number of church members to a drinking party. Young Fox was downright distressed at their lack of integrity. They professed to be Christians, but they acted like worldlings. The soul of Fox thirsted for truth and sincerity in religion. 7. Fox’s Teachings Fox was a deeply serious, re­ligious man. He believed in the Bible. But he also believed that the Bible remains a closed book unless the mind of man is illumined by the Holy Spirit. Fox called this illumination by the Spirit the In­ner Light. The first name of the people who accepted the teachings of Fox was "Children of Truth." But later they were called "Chil­dren of Light." They believed that something within them told them what is right and what is wrong. That something within them drew them away from the false to the true, from the low to the high, from the impure to the pure. They called it "Christ’s Light." Not only did it give illumination to mind and heart; it also gave life and power and joy. Therefore they called it the "Seed of God." Fox had no use whatsoever for any of the existing churches, nor for their creeds or their theology. He did not believe in theological schools, in formal training for the ministry, or in engaging profes­sional ministers. Because in the first days of en­thusiasm the followers of Fox trembled with emotion when they were assembled in their meeting-houses, especially when they prayed, their opponents nicknamed them Quakers. But they resent that name. They love the text in the Gospel of John: "I have called you friends," and by the name of Friends they wish to be known and addressed. Their organization is not called a church, but the Society of Friends. Their meeting-houses are ex­ceedingly plain. There is no pulpit. They do not sing. There are no musical instruments. They sit down and wait in silence for the Spirit to move them. If there is no moving by the Spirit within a certain length of time, they leave without a word having been spoken. But the Spirit may move one of the Friends present, be he man or woman, and He may move several. Then those so moved get up and give their message. Between mes­sages a considerable time of com­plete and sometimes painful silence may elapse. The Friends do not believe in oaths or war. They abhor slavery. 8. The Quakers Increase in Num­bers The followers of Fox increased rapidly in numbers, for there were many people in England who were disgusted with the lukewarm and worldly churches. In 1654 there were sixty Quakers. Four years later there were thirty thousand! They were severely persecuted, but their numbers continued to grow. Possessed of an ardent mis­sionary zeal, they swarmed over Europe, Africa, and America, everywhere proclaiming the ideas of George Fox. They distinguish themselves by a peculiar mode of dress. You will recall seeing pic­tures of the Quaker dress which was common in the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania. Today there are approximately twenty-two thousand Friends, or Quakers, in England, two thousand in Ireland, and one hundred fifteen thousand in America. Herbert Hoover, a former president of the United States, came from a Quaker family. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 43. CHAPTER 39: MORE MODERATE DEPARTURES FROM HISTORIC PROTESTANTISM ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39 More Moderate Departures from Historic Protestantism Pietism Is a New Movement in the Luther­an Church Spener Believes Christianity Is a Life Spener Meets Opposition August Francke Takes Over Francke Proves to Be an Able Organizer Francke Encourages the Work of Missions Pietism Has Serious Defects Followers of Huss Organize the "Unity of the Brethren" A Pietist Youth Witnesses for Christ The Brethren Establish Herrnhut and Are Called Moravians The Moravians Organize as a Church The Moravians Lead the Way in the Work of Missions 1. Pietism Is a New Movement in the Lutheran Church The father of Pietism was Philip Jacob Spener. He was born in western Germany on January 13, 1635, and was therefore a con­temporary of Bunyan and Fox in England. He belonged to the Lu­theran Church. In Spener’s time dead orthodoxy had come to prevail in the Luther­an Church. All emphasis was on purity of doctrine, and defense against any departure from Lu­theran doctrine. There was no ap­peal to the emotions — no call to conversion and Christian service and a devoted Christian life. All that was expected of church mem­bers was that they should know their Catechism, attend church service, listen to doctrinal sermons, and partake of the sacraments. They were not asked to take part in church work. Nothing was ever said about the inner Christian life and warm religious experience. Some members of the clergy did not lead lives worthy of their sacred office. Many of them were not converted men. Among the members of the Church there was much drunkenness and immorality. Such was the religious atmos­phere in which Spener grew up. But in his early years influences of another nature began to mold him. He read a book called True Christianity, written by the Ger­man mystic Johann Arndt. The im­pression produced by this book was deepened by the study of de­votional works of certain English Puritans, notable among them Richard Baxter. While a student in Strassburg Spener became ac­quainted with church discipline and a system of catechetical in­struction such as were not found in the Lutheran church. For a time he lived in Geneva and other Swiss cities, where he associated with ministers of the Reformed Church. All this time he remained a loyal Lutheran, however. At the age of thirty-one years Spener became chief pastor in Frankfort. He soon made improve­ments in catechetical instruction. When he had been pastor there for four years he introduced something new. In his own house he gathered a small group of people who, like himself, were not satisfied with merely formal religion. In these meetings they read and studied the Bible, prayed, and discussed the sermon Spener had preached the previous Sunday. The purpose of these meetings was to foster a deeper and warmer spiritual life. To these meetings was given the name collegia pietatis, or gather­ings for the purpose of fostering piety. Because of that name the movement in the Lutheran Church started by Spener became known as Pietism. 2. Spener Believes Christianity Is a Life As a means of promoting a warmer and more spiritual Chris­tianity, Spener proposed the estab­lishment of ecclesiolae in ecclesia, little churches within the church. These were to be circles of people in the local churches for the study of the Bible and for watching over each other and helping each other. Christianity, he taught, is more a life than an intellectual knowledge. Doctrinal controversy is unprofit­able. The training of ministers should be improved. He wanted ministers who personally had Christian experience, and who lived in a way befitting their high call­ing. Preaching should not be doc­trinal or controversial, but should be designed to build up the Chris­tian life of the hearers. Only that Christianity is genuine which re­veals itself in a life of devotion and service. It has its beginning in a conscious new birth and con­version. Like the English Puritans, Spener also was against theater going, dancing, and card playing, while the Lutherans generally looked upon these practices as be­longing to the "indifferent things." He also favored moderation in eat­ing and drinking and in dress. 3. Spener Meets Opposition Spener’s activities called atten­tion to the unwholesome conditions prevailing in the Lutheran Church of that day. He met bitter opposi­tion. So he was glad to accept a call to Dresden as court preacher. But there too his path was not strewn with roses. The other minis­ters gave him a cold reception. The universities of Leipzig and Wit­tenberg opposed him. The elector took offense when Spener, as his pastor, reproved him for his drunk­enness. When therefore the Elector of Brandenburg invited him to come to Berlin, he did not hesitate to accept the invitation. There he labored until the day of his death, February 5, 1705. The last years of his life were the happiest. 4. August Francke Takes Over At this time one of the younger instructors in the University of Leipzig was August Hermann Francke. In 1687, when he was twenty-four, he experienced what he regarded as a new birth. He went to Dresden, spent two months with Spener, and joined the Pietist movement. In 1689 Francke went to Leipzig and began to lecture to the students and townspeople. He soon had a large following. But trouble started. The students began to neglect their regular studies and started criticizing the other pro­fessors and the local ministers. Op­position made Leipzig an uncom­fortable place for Francke. He moved to Erfurt, where he also ran into trouble. Spener then se­cured for him an appointment to the newly founded university at Halle. Francke now made the Uni­versity of Halle a center of Pie­tism. There he labored until the day of his death in 1727. 5. Francke Proves to Be an Able Organizer Francke was a man of tremen­dous energy who had also a talent for organization. In 1695 he founded a school for poor children, to be conducted in the spirit of Pietism. He also established a home for orphans. Francke had no money, but he believed in answers to prayer. It was not long before donations be­gan to pour in from every part of Germany. Although Francke de­pended on prayer, he did not neg­lect means. He used every means of publicity, and knew how to in­terest others in his enterprises. His school soon became known, and from a small beginning it grew into a large educational institution. Both the school and the orphanage are still functioning today. In 1710 Francke induced a friend to establish a Bible Institute for the publication of Bibles in inex­pensive form. This work, too, is still being carried on. 6. Francke Encourages the Work of Missions From the beginning the Protes­tant churches did not entirely neg­lect the work of missions. Yet for the first two hundred years after the Reformation their strength was consumed largely in the struggle with Catholicism and the Wars of Religion. With the dawn of the eighteenth century a new era opened in the history of Protestant missions. Frederick IV, king of Denmark, wished to establish mission posts in his colony in India. Pietism with its interest in the salvation of souls naturally was favorable to the work of missions. Francke as pro­fessor in the University of Halle had aroused missionary zeal in the hearts of many of his students. So when the Danish king looked around for missionaries to send out to his colony in India he found them among Francke’s students in Halle. The young men who went to India were Bartholomew Zie­genbalg and Heinrich Pluitchau. During the eighteenth century no fewer than sixty missionaries went forth from the University of Halle to the foreign field. The most famous of these was Christian Friedrich Schwartz. He preached the Gospel in India from 1750 to the end of his life in 1798. 7. Pietism Has Serious Defects When Francke died in 1727 Pie­tism had reached its height. After that no leaders equal to Spener and Francke appeared. The pietists did not separate from the Lu­theran Church; consequently we do not know how large their number was. Without question, however, the movement did much to arouse the Lutheran Church in Germany from its spiritual coldness. Although Pietism in many ways was a blessing to the Church in Germany, it had certain serious defects. Before the appearance of Pietism, Lutheranism suffered from a one-sided intellectualism (emphasis on knowledge). Pietism was a reaction against this cold and inactive religion. But Pietism too was one-sided. It was ascetic, and emphasized severe self-denial. Francke allowed the children in his institutions very little opportunity for play. Pietism was critical and uncharitable; it condemned as ir­religious everyone who was not a Pietist. It denied the name of Christian to all those who could not tell a story of conscious conver­sion through an intense struggle. Pietism had but little regard for doctrine. The Lutheran Church of the seventeenth century laid one-sided emphasis on doctrine; Pie­tism laid one-sided emphasis on life. By under-estimating the value of sound doctrine, it helped to ease the way for Liberalism and Mod­ernism. 8. Followers of Huss Organize the "Unity of the Brethren" Persecution in Bohemia had driven the Hussites into hiding, but had not completely destroyed them (ch. 22, sec. 7). They sepa­rated from the national Church, and deep in the dense forests of their native land they formed an organization for which they adopted the name Unitas Fratrum, which means "Unity of the Breth­ren." They increased rapidly. When Luther appeared the Unitas Fratrum had grown to number four hundred churches with 200,000 members. This church in Bohemia engaged in evangelism and education. In 1501 it adopted a hymnal; it was the first church to do so. The leaders of the Unitas Fratrum made contact with Luther and Calvin, and as a result their doctrinal views became more clear and sound. Through the Counter Reforma­tion (ch. 31, sec. 6) and the Thirty Years War this church was almost wiped out. Only a remnant sur­vived. The last bishop of the origi­nal Unitas Fratrum, Comenius, who is famous in the history of education, called this remnant the "Hidden Seed." And such it later proved to be. 9. A Pietist Youth Witnesses for Christ Nikolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, descendant of an ancient Austrian noble family, was born in Dresden in the year 1700. His father was a high court official in Saxony and a close friend of Spener, who be­came the boy’s godfather. The father died early, and the son was brought up by his grand­mother, the baroness von Gersdorf, who was an ardent Pietist. As a child von Zinzendorf showed strong religious feeling. A picture of Christ on the cross, with the words, "This I did for you. What do you do for me?" made a profound and lasting impression on him. His en­tire life was controlled by love for Jesus and a burning desire to save souls by winning them for Christ. When he was ten years old he was sent to Francke’s school in Halle. Here he soon displayed gifts of leadership. He organized among the boys a club which he called "The Order of the Grain of Mus­tard Seed." The purpose of this club was the promotion of personal piety and the evangelization of the world. Even before he came to Francke’s school, when he was a boy nine years old, he had read a missionary paper about the East Indies. "Then and there," he told later, "the first missionary impulse arose in my soul." When he was fifteen years old, he and some of his schoolmates made a solemn promise that they would on every occasion confess Christ, and seek the conversion of all sorts and con­ditions of men. But his family did not wish him to become a missionary. They wanted him to enter the service of the government. In obedience to their wishes he studied law at Wit­tenberg University from 1716 to 1719. He was a decided Pietist, but while in Wittenberg he learned to appreciate the orthodox Luther­ans. After he had left the univer­sity and had returned from two years of travel, Francke offered him the position of director of the Bible Institute. He reluctantly turned this down and entered the service of the government of Sax­ony. The next year he bought from his grandmother the large estate of Berthelsdorf seventy miles east of Dresden. 10. The Brethren Establish Herrn­hut and Are Called Mora­vians Through all these years a simple carpenter, Christian David, had been doing what he could to keep the remnant of the Unitas Fratrum together. In the meanwhile he had become a Pietist. He now begged Count von Zinzendorf to permit the Hidden Seed to take refuge on his Berthelsdorf estate. The count had only the haziest ideas about the Brethren, as the members of the Unitas Fratrum were also called, but he did know that they were being persecuted for religion’s sake, and this aroused his sym­pathy. In 1722 he gave permission to David to bring two families of the Brethren. By 1727 several hun­dred of the Brethren had come to Berthelsdorf. At this time Zinzen­dorf read a book by Comenius de­scribing the principles and the practices of the Brethren. The reading of this book gave him the conviction that he was called to devote his life to the reorganiza­tion of the ancient Unitas Frat­rum, so that its members might become the agents of a great mis­sionary enterprise. He assigned to the Brethren a corner of his wide estate, where they built up a community which they called Herrnhut, or the "Lord’s Lodge." Zinzendorf re­signed his government post in Dresden, and he himself settled on his Berthelsdorf estate. Because they had come from the province of Moravia next to Huss’s land of Bohemia, the Brethren, a mere remnant of the once flourish­ing and numerous Unitas Fratrum, from this time on became known to history as the Moravians. 11. The Moravians Organize as a Church During a communion service in Herrnhut on August 13, 1727, the Spirit’s power was so strongly felt that that date was accepted as the date of the rebirth of the an­cient Unitas Fratrum under the name of the Moravian Church. Zinzendorf with some of the Mo­ravians developed some strange and unique ideas. He laid extreme emphasis on Christ as the heart of religion. This led to great senti­mentality in sermons and in hymns. The sufferings of Christ occupied the mind of Zinzendorf a great deal. His ideas were often both fanciful and sentimental. This was especially true of his ideas concern­ing Christ’s wounded side. He loved to dwell on the idea that the Church had been drawn from the side of Christ as Eve from Adam’s. He also dwelled much on the fact that men must become as little chil­dren in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. This led him to indulge frequently in many childish expressions. Gradually, however, Zinzen­dorf and the Moravians discarded many of these peculiar ideas. Zinzendorf was a Pietist Lu­theran. He had wanted the Mora­vians to become members of the Lutheran Church on the basis of Spener’s idea of collegia pietatis (sec. 1) and ecclesiolae in ecclesia (sec. 2). In the end, however, the Moravians organized themselves as a separate church with bishops, elders, and deacons. Actually their form of church government became more Presbyterian than Episcopal. The Moravian church today is found in Germany, England, and America. Herrnhut in Saxony re­mains the center of administration. Every ten years a general conven­tion is held there. 12. The Moravians Lead the Way in the Work of Missions Zinzendorf looked upon the mem­bers of the Moravian Church as soldiers of Christ, who were to go out to all parts of the world to conquer it for the King. To the Moravians belongs everlastingly the honor of being the first Prot­estant body to take seriously the great commission. Eventually they established missions in Africa, Asia, Greenland, Lapland, and among the American Indians. They were also very active in home mission work. Their most outstand­ing missionary was perhaps David Zeisberger. When in 1808 he reached the age of eighty-seven, he had labored among the North American Indians for sixty-three years. This is the longest mission­ary career on record. Today the Moravians are carry­ing on mission work in Greenland, Labrador, Alaska, the West Indies, in South and East Africa, Victoria, Queensland, Tibet, and among the North American Indians. The Moravian church at present numbers only 43,000 members. But their influence upon other denomi­nations, especially in the way of arousing them to their responsibil­ity for carrying out Christ’s last commission, has been entirely out of proportion to the smallness of their number. It was the Mora­vians, under the leadership and in­spiration of the Pietist Zinzendorf, who first lighted the torch of Prot­estant missionary zeal. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 44. CHAPTER 40: THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF METHODISM ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40 The Origin and Development of Methodism John Wesley’s Birth and Early Childhood Charles Wesley Establishes a Club In America the Wesleys are Influenced by the Moravians The Wesleys Are Converted Religious Conditions in England Are Deplorable There Are a Few Rays of Light John Wesley Is a Remarkable Preacher Wesley Organizes Methodist Societies The Methodist Church Comes into Existence Wesley Employs Unusual Methods Wesley’s Doctrine Is Arminian His Influence Is Immeasurable 1. John Wesley’s Birth and Early Childhood Samuel Wesley was a minister in the Church of England in the rough country parish of Epworth. His wife was Susanna Annesley, a woman of unusual strength of character and, like her husband, very loyal to the Anglican Episco­pal Church. The careful Christian training Susanna Wesley gave her children was a strong influence in their lives.To this couple there were born nineteen children, eight of whom died in infancy. In this household of thirteen people, hard work and the strictest economy were a necessary rule. The fifteenth child, John, and the eighteenth child, Charles, were destined to become important in the history of the Church. In 1709 the Epworth parsonage burned to the ground. Both John and Charles were saved from death in the flames with only the greatest difficulty. John was then a boy of six. His rescue from a fiery death made an impression upon him which time could not erase. He re­garded himself as "a firebrand plucked out of the burning." 2. Charles Wesley Establishes a Club Both boys were good students, and both entered Christ Church College in Oxford, John in 1720 and Charles six years later. John was such an outstanding student that he was chosen a Fellow of Lincoln College. In order to be a candidate for this honor it was re­quired that one be in holy orders. John was therefore ordained a dea­con in 1725, and three years later he was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church of England. His father, Samuel Wesley, was now getting on in years, and for a time John left Oxford to be his father’s assistant in the parish of Epworth. While John was absent from Ox­ford his brother Charles, together with two other students, Robert Kirkham and William Morgan, formed a club for the promotion of their studies. Soon they were spending a good deal of time in reading books that might be help­ful to their Christian life. When in 1729 John returned to Oxford he became the leader of the club, and other students joined. More and more it became the purpose of the club to realize the ideal of a consecrated Christian life. A MEETING OF THE "HOLY CLUB" AT OXFORD Religious News Service John Wesley and his university friends gather for a Sunday evening discussion. The members of the club began to visit the prisoners in the Oxford Jail. They also began to practise systematic fasting. The other Ox­ford students made fun of John Wesley and his fellow club mem­bers. They called the club the "Holy Club." Most of the students lived wild and irregular lives. The members of the club were known to live very regularly according to a definite method. Some student started to call them Methodists. This nickname stuck. 3. In America the Wesleys are In­fluenced by the Moravians In 1735 Samuel Wesley died. John would have been glad to suc­ceed his father in the Epworth parish, but he was not granted this privilege. It was at this time that Count Oglethorpe issued a call for missionaries to come to America and preach in his newly established colony of Georgia. The widowed mother of John and Charles urged them both to go. Said she, "Had I twenty sons I should rejoice that they were all so employed, though I should never see them more." The two brothers sailed in October, 1735. The voyage was stormy. At times the ship seemed on the point of foundering. Aboard ship was a company of twenty-six Moravians. In the midst of the storm they were calm and even cheerful. They not only prayed for protection, but as sea after sea washed the deck they sang hymns of praise with un­daunted joy. John Wesley felt that these Moravians had a quiet trust in God far beyond his experience. From their behavior and his con­versation with them he learned much. Soon after his arrival in Georgia he met August Spangenberg, who was associated with Zinzendorf in the work, and the leader of the Moravian settlement in the colony. Spangenberg asked Wesley, "Do you know Jesus Christ ?" Wesley answered: "I know He is the Sav­ior of the world." Said Spangen­berg: "True, but do you know He has saved you ?" For three years Spangenberg’s question preyed on John Wesley’s mind. He was not sure of the answer. John and Charles Wesley labored with all their might in Georgia. John was a wonderful linguist; he knew many languages well. He preached in German, French, and Italian, as well as in English. He also founded a small society for the cultivation of a warmer Christian life, undoubtedly patterned after his college club. But he had one serious failing; he lacked tact. The labors of the brothers were most unsuccessful. Charles fell ill, and the year after their arrival he left the colony and returned home. On February 1, 1738, John too was back in England. The return voy­age had also been stormy, and John was often in fear of death. He was bitterly disappointed with himself. He felt that he had only "a fair weather religion." The trip to America was for the Wesleys a failure, as far as mission work was concerned. Yet the Geor­gia episode was of great impor­tance in the life of John Wesley, because of some of his experiences and because of certain people he met. 4. The Wesleys Are Converted Within a week after John’s re­turn, the brothers became ac­quainted with a Peter Bolller, also a Moravian, who was in London awaiting passage to Georgia. Bal­er taught a faith of complete self-surrender, instantaneous conver­sion, and joy in believing. Before he sailed he founded in London the Fetter-Lane Society, of which John Wesley became a charter member. But neither John nor his brother had as yet found peace for their souls. On May 21, 1738, Charles, then suffering from a serious illness, experienced conversion. Three days later that same experience came to John. It was evening. Unwillingly he had gone to a meeting of an Anglican society in Al dersgate street. Luther’s Preface to his Commentary on Romans was being read. Wesley has left a record of his experience at this time: "About a quarter before nine, while I was listening to Luther’s description of the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assur­ance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death." This experience of John Wesley had a far-reaching effect. It deter­mined his idea of how conversion takes place. From this time on he thought of conversion as an instan­taneous experience preceded by a long and hard struggle. He be­lieved that a person should be able to tell the exact circumstances and the time and place of his conver­sion. Yet even after this experi­ence considerable time passed be­fore Wesley came to know complete freedom from fear and full joy in believing. It was only after much communion with God that he at length experienced it for himself. The Moravians had been a great aid to Wesley, and he wanted to know more about them. Less than three weeks after his conversion he went to Germany. He met Count von Zinzendorf and spent two weeks in Herrnhut. Wesley owed much to the Moravians, but he was not entirely satisfied with them. He was too active in his religion and not mystical enough to feel entirely at one with them. The Moravians were thoughtful and meditative, and stressed their dependence upon God. 5. Religious Conditions in England Are Deplorable Wesley’s long life spanned al­most the entire eighteenth century. During this century England en­gaged in a long and bitter contest with France for supremacy among European powers. During this same century England laid the foundations of her vast empire in India, North America, Australia, and South Africa. The Industrial Revolution also took place at this time. England had been an agri­cultural country, but now, with the invention of new machines and the emphasis on manufacturing, large cities sprang up in many places. This new industrial age brought with it great changes in the lives of the English people. Religious conditions in England at this time were deplorable. Both the Established Anglican Church and the dissenting denominations of the Presbyterians, the Congre­gationalists, and the Baptists were shot through with Socinianism and Arminianism. Most of the sermons lacked warmth and enthusiasm. They were dry, cold, colorless talks on morality. With a few praise­worthy exceptions the ministers did no more than was absolutely required of them, and that little they did in a purely routine way. The highly paid church officers had poorly paid helpers, called vicars, to do the work. Many of the clergy­men shamefully neglected their work. They hobnobbed with the land-owning gentry, and were companions of the squires in their fox hunting, drinking, and card playing. Especially in the first part of the eighteenth century moral condi­tions in England were deplorable. Wide-spread unbelief went hand in hand with coarseness and brutality. Public amusements were of a low character. Drunkenness was com­mon among high and low. 6. There Are a Few Rays of Light However, it was not all dark in eighteenth century England. Bishop Berkeley of the Anglican Church, who lived for a short time in the colony of Rhode Island, was filled with missionary zeal. William Law wrote A Serious Call to a De­vout and Holy Life, a book which had a profound influence on John Wesley. Up to this time the Eng­lish speaking people were opposed to singing in their services any­thing but rimed passages from Scripture. Their attitude changed with the publication in 1707 of Isaac Watts’ Hymns, and in 1719 of The Psalms of David, Imitated in the Language of the New Testa­ment. The songs of Isaac Watts give expression to a deep and vital piety. He has very appropriately been called "the founder of modern English hymnody." In many places in England "so­cieties" were organized for prayer, the reading and study of the Bible, and the cultivation of a more ear­nest religious life. Thomas Bray saw the people’s need of Bibles and religious literature, and in 1699 he founded the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. This led in 1701 to the foundation of the Soci­ety for the Propagation of the Gos­pel in Foreign Parts, an organiza­tion which has developed into a great missionary society. Both these societies were strictly Epis­copal Anglican institutions. They have carried on their work with increasing energy to the present day. WESLEY PREACHES IN THE CHURCH YARD AT EPWORTH Wesley wrote in his Journal, "I stood near the east of the Church upon my father’s tombstone and cried, ’The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace and by in the Holy Ghost.’ " It was in this England, growing in wealth and power but religiously stagnant and morally corrupt—an England lighted by only a few stray and feeble gleams—that John Wesley, with the help of his broth­er Charles and their friend George Whitefield, began his mighty work. 7. John Wesley Is a Remarkable Preacher Though most of the pulpits in the Established Church were closed to them, John and Charles Wesley began to preach. The societies which we mentioned in the pre­vious section turned out to be a great help to them. It was in these societies that they found their first opportunity to deliver their mes­sage. In 1739 George Whitefield began to preach in the open fields to the miners in the neighborhood of Bris­tol. Soon he invited the Wesley brothers to join him. Preaching in the open fields instead of in a church was something entirely novel. John Wesley hesitated very much to engage in that kind of preaching. To preach anywhere but in a church seemed to him to be below the dignity of religion. But he learned that these coal min­ers were poor people, who had never been inside a church, and who knew nothing about the Gos­pel. He could not resist the appeal of their need. It also came to his mind that Jesus frequently preached in the great out-of-doors. On April 2, 1739, Wesley preached his first sermon in the open air. This was the beginning of Wes­ley’s remarkable preaching career, which extended over fifty years, and which took him on horseback in every kind of weather many times through England, Scotland, and Ireland. Wesley did not possess Whitefield’s dramatic power. But he was earnest, practical, and fear­less. Few preachers have ever equaled him in popular effective­ness. The effect often showed itself in great bodily excitement on the part of his hearers. 8. Wesley Organizes Methodist Societies Wesley was not only a great preacher; he was also a great or­ganizer. His first Methodist society he founded in Bristol in 1739. On May 12 of that year he began the erection of the first chapel there. In London the Methodists at first joined in the Moravian Fetter-Lane Society (sec. 4). But after a time Wesley and his adherents with­ drew, secured an old foundry as meeting place, and there in July, 1740, established the purely Meth­odist "United Society." Wesley con­tinued on friendly terms with the Moravians, but from this time on Moravians and Methodists led each their own existence. Wesley had no desire or inten­tion of separating from the Estab­lished Episcopal Church in Eng­land. He did not found a new church or denomination until near the end of his long life. Yet at the same time he could not bear the thought of letting the fruit of his work go to seed. He was deter­mined to conserve and develop the religious life of those who had re­sponded to the call of the Gospel. As we have seen, before Wesley launched out on his great preach­ing career there already existed in many parts of England religious "societies" (sec. 6). Wesley now adopted this device and employed it in his work. He gathered the people who had responded to his preaching into such "societies." Anyone who was interested could become a member of the societies that existed before Wesley. But Wesley made it a rule that only converted persons should belong to his societies. The new converts were expected to go out and con­vert others. To the converts Wes­ley issued "society tickets." These tickets had to be renewed quarter­ly. That provision put into Wesley’s hand a simple means for weeding out members whose conversion proved to have been only tempo­rary or not genuine at all. There was a debt on the chapel in Bristol. This led to an even more important arrangement. It was an arrangement which became one of the basic features of Methodist or­ganization. The members of the societies were divided into classes. Each class was made to number about twelve, and had a class lead­er. It was one of the duties of the class leader to collect a penny weekly from each member. In this way considerable sums of money for the work were gathered in. More important even was the means this system provided for the spiritual oversight of the members of the societies. Before long Wesley needed help in his work. He would very much have preferred having all the preaching done by ordained men, but none were to be had. In 1742 Thomas Maxfield became the first lay preacher, (a man who is not trained and ordained as a minis­ter). Soon Wesley employed quite a number of lay preachers. As the work continued to grow other lay officers were used: stewards to care for property, teachers for schools, and visitors of the sick. Originally the societies were al­most all in London and Bristol and neighboring territory, and Wesley visited each one of them personally. As the work expanded this task became too great. In 1744 Wesley for the first time had the preachers meet him in London. That was the beginning of the Annual Confer­ences, which have been called the crown of the Methodist system of organization. Two years later the field was divided into circuits. To each cir­cuit a number of traveling preach­ers were assigned. After a while assistants were appointed, each one of them to have general charge of a circuit. Later these assistants were called superintendents. Because his lay preachers had but scanty intellectual equipment Wesley thought it best that they labor not more than six or eight weeks in one place. Thus began the system of itinerant (traveling) preachers, which has since then be­come an important feature in the life of a number of denominations. Charles Wesley also rode the cir­cuits for many years. His wife, who was a woman of wealth, ac­companied him on his travels, rid­ing behind him on his horse. She led the song services at the meetings her husband conducted. Charles was the hymn writer of Methodism. He wrote hundreds of hymns, many of which have become famous. They are sung even today, not only by Methodists but by all English - speaking Christians. Charles did not have the iron con­stitution of his brother John. After 1756 he seldom traveled. First he labored in Bristol, but from 1771 until his death on March 29, 1788, he preached in London. 9. The Methodist Church Comes into Existence Wesley urged his lay preachers to apply themselves to serious study. He did not establish semi­naries, but he wrote and published material for these men to study at home. John Wesley’s writings were a considerable influence in the in­tellectual development of the lay preachers. JOHN WESLEY Religious News Service After an engraving by J. Fittler published in April, 1792, in London Wesley tried in vain to have these preachers ordained by the bishops of the Anglican Church. Failing in this he remained steadfast in not permitting his lay preachers to administer the sacraments. But the need for ordained ministers became greater and greater. At last Wes­ley could withstand the pressure no longer. He himself was a pres­byter in the Church of England. Only bishops had the authority to ordain, but Wesley had long held the conviction that presbyters and bishops in the Church of New Testament times were of the same order. So on September 1, 1784, in Bristol, Wesley ordained two men. He himself did not think so at the time, but actually this act of his was a break with the Church of England. The Methodist Church had come into existence. What was true of Moses was true of John Wesley. His eye was not dim and his natural force was not abated when in his eighty-sev­enth year he died in London on March 2, 1791. 10. Wesley Employs Unusual Methods Wesley’s methods were not only new; they were revolutionary. In three ways they were a wide de­parture from the usual church practice. First of all, Wesley preached in the open air. That certainly was not the usual thing. It is true, Christ had preached not only in the synagogues but also on the mountain slopes, at the sea-side, in country highways and city streets. After the Christian Church was established preaching had been done for the most part in churches. Preaching in the open was not a matter of principle with Wesley. The closing of the pulpits of the Church of England to him forced that method upon him. Then it became for him a means to an end. When the churches were closed to him, he turned to the unchurched. Preaching in the open was practi­cally the only way to reach them. Next, Wesley preached anywhere that he saw the need for his preaching. That too was unusual. In England, as in other countries, each minister was expected to preach and perform pastoral work only in his own church or parish. Wesley invaded the parishes of other ministers all over England, Scotland, and Ireland. When criti­cized for this he answered, "The world is my parish." Again this method of Wesley was the result of his efforts to reach especially the unchurched. There was a great need for this work. The ministers of the established churches had woefully neglected it. A very large number of them had sadly neg­lected the work among the mem­bers of their own parishes (sec 5). It was Wesley’s passion for saving souls that drove him to invade the parishes of other ministers. He often met with harsh criticism. Third, Wesley engaged unor­dained men to preach. This was contrary to common practice. Only ordained men were allowed to preach in the established churches. Once more it was the crying need of the starving souls of the un­churched and the lack of ordained men to rescue the perishing that drove Wesley to adopt this un­churchly method. And he adopted it only very reluctantly. This is how it came about: While Wesley was busy in Bristol, Thomas Maxfield (sec. 8), a lay­man, began to preach in London. Wesley hastened back to put a stop to this unheard of procedure. His mother talked to him. "John, you cannot suspect me of favoring readily anything of this kind. But take care what you do with respect to that young man, for he is as truly called of God to preach as you are. Examine what have been the fruits of his preaching, and hear him also yourself." Wesley followed the advice of his mother, and exclaimed, "It is the Lord; let Him do what seemeth to Him good !" Thus was introduced the practice of using lay preachers, which is followed in many churches today. Long before the time of Wesley, Article 8 of the Church Order of the Reformed Churches had opened a way for laymen of exceptional gifts to be ordained as ministers. In the Reformed churches this method has been used in rare cases, but Wesley made it common practice. 11. Wesley’s Doctrine Is Arminian Generally speaking Wesley’s the­ology was that of orthodox Protes­tantism. He believed firmly in the deity of Christ, in miracles, and in the supernatural character of reli­gion. In opposition to the Baptists he believed in and practised infant baptism. In one extremely important point he departed theologically from his­toric Protestantism. In the Angli­can Church of his day Arminian-ism was widely accepted. Wesley was an Arminian. He declared it openly and opposed Calvinism. Whitefield (sec. 6 and 7), who was a convinced Calvinist, died in 1770. In the annual conference of that year Wesley took a strong Armin­ian position. As it was his passion for saving souls that had made him break with centuries old church practices, and had led him to introduce en­tirely new methods, so it was that same passion that made him so bitter against Calvinism. He be­lieved with all his heart in the power of sin and in the power of Jesus’ blood. Fearlessly he preached against the many gross sins of his day, especially against drunkenness and gambling, and he sought to bring sinners to con­version. But he felt that Calvin’s doctrine of predestination and elec­tion would stifle the call to repent­ance and conversion. For that reason he rejected Calvinism, and embraced Arminianism with its doctrine of the freedom of the will. He believed that people accepted Christ through their own will or choice. 12. His Influence Is Immeasurable Today there are Methodists in England, Scotland, Ireland, and America. They are divided among many Methodist denominations. The total membership of these de­nominations, huge though it may be, gives only a scant idea of the effects of Wesley’s work. Those effects are stupendous. The England Wesley left behind him was so different from the Eng­land he found (sec. 5) that it was almost unrecognizable. He had transformed it. He had built up a large, entirely new denomination. He had gained many members from the Anglican, Congregation­alist, and Baptist churches. But chiefly he had built up his church out of people who before had not belonged to any church. But that is by no means the whole story. He breathed new life into many of the existing churches. A number of these churches Wes­ley imbued with the spirit of evan­gelism, so that they themselves not only enjoyed a new growth and prosperity, but helped Wesley’s Methodist Church considerably in improving the national life of Eng­land. Much of the ignorance, coarse­ness, brutality, and drunkenness disappeared from English life. Some outstanding people were in­fluenced by Wesley’s work. Among them were John Newton, a hymn writer; William Cowper, the great­est English poet of the latter half of the eighteenth century; William Wilberforce, who helped bring the fight against slavery to a victorious close; John Howard, who did so much for the reform of the un­speakably bad prison conditions; and Robert Raikes, the father of Sunday Schools. The influence of Wesley and the Methodists, particularly in the English speaking world, is indeed immeasurable. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 45. CHAPTER 41: MODERNISM'S BREAK WITH HISTORIC CHRISTIANITY ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41 Modernism’s Break with Historic Christianity Churches Holding to Supernatural Revela­tion Modernism Rejects the Supernatural 1. Churches Holding to Super­natural Revelation We have seen that several Prot­estant bodies departed from his­toric Protestantism. But they did not all depart equally far. The Socinians rejected not only the Scriptural doctrines of original sin, man’s total depravity and in­ability, and the atoning character of the death of Christ — doctrines so ably stated and defended by Augustine. They also denied the deity of Christ. Thus they departed not only from historic Protestant­ism, but broke with historic Chris­tianity itself. The doctrine of the Trinity is the most fundamental of all Christian doctrines. All the religions in the world can be divided into two classes: polytheism and monotheism. Poly­theism is the belief that there are many gods. Monotheism is the be­lief that there is only one God. If you meet a man who believes in many gods, you know at once that he is a heathen. On the other hand, not all mon­otheists are Christians. If you should meet a Jew or a Mohamme­dan and say to him, "Let me tell you something. There is only one God," he would reply, "You are not telling me anything new. I be­lieve that too." So Jews and Mo­hammedans are monotheists just as truly as we are. But if you should continue, and say to the Jew or the Mohammedan, "Let me tell you something else. In the one being of God there are three divine persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit," he would turn his back upon you, and say, "I do not believe that." And with that he would also confess that he was not a Christian; for no person can deny that Christ is God, and still be a Christian. So you see that the doctrine of the Trinity is the most distinctive of all Christian doctrines. It marks Christians off from the polytheistic heathen. It also distinguishes the Christian from the non-Christian monotheists, such as the Jews and Mohammedans. In the Creed of Nicaea (ch. 3, sec. 9) the Church universal con­fessed its belief in the deity of Christ. To that creed subscribe not only all the Protestant churches worthy of the name, but also the Greek Eastern churches and the Roman Catholic Church. But the Socinians rejected the Nicene Creed. In that way the departure of the Socinians was the greatest and most serious of them all. Congregationalists and Calvin­istic Baptists departed the least. Each departed in only one matter. The Congregationalists departed in one point of church government. The Baptists rejected infant bap­tism. The departure of the Baptists was a good deal more serious than that of the Congregationalists. Quakers, Pietists, Moravians, and Methodists departed by plac­ing a one-sided emphasis upon Christian life at the expense of Christian doctrine. The Methodists were Trinitarians, and so they stayed within the pale of universal Christendom. But with their Arminianism they departed from one of the historic doctrines of the Church. Augustine’s and Calvin’s doctrine of predestination and elec­tion means simply that God is really God, that God and not man decides man’s destiny. Arminian-ism with its doctrine of man’s free will teaches that man has a part, the final, deciding part, in his sal­vation. According to the Armini­ans the issue of life and death lies, in the end, not in God’s but in man’s hands (ch. 40, sec. 11). However, all these Protestant bodies believed in a supernatural revelation and in an infallibly in­spired Bible. 2. Modernism Rejects the Super­natural The Protestant bodies mentioned had a tendency to place too much emphasis on human reason. Still, they placed the authority of the Bible above that of human reason. But the Modernists place the mind of man above the Bible, and they place reason above faith. This at­titude is an outgrowth of the spirit of modern science and philosophy. The Modernists do not believe in the supernatural. They do not be­lieve in miracles. Consequently they do not believe in the virgin birth and the deity of Christ. They do not believe in a special revela­tion from God and in an infallibly inspired Bible. They consider the Bible to be not a revelation of God, but a record of man. However, ac­cording to them it is a record not of the entire human race, but only of the religious ideas and experi­ences of the ancient Jews. Modernism is a departure from historic Protestantism. But it is much more. It is a definite break with historic Christianity all along the line. And it has invaded in greater or lesser degree most Prot­estant churches. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 46. CHAPTER 42: THE EASTERN AND THE ROMAN CHURCH SINCE THE REFORMATION, 1648 TO THE PRESENT ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42 The Eastern and the Roman Church since the Reformation, 1648 to the Present The History of the Eastern Church Flows On without Interruption The Eastern Church Resists Mohammedan. ism and Atheism The Roman Church Declares the Infallibility of the Pope 1. The History of the Eastern Church Flows On without In­terruption The Church had its origin in the East, and the eastern Greek Ortho­dox branch is its oldest part. It has had a continuous and unbroken existence down to the present time. Yet to other Christians the Greek Orthodox Church is almost non­existent. It is, however, a very im­portant part of the Church uni­versal, for it represents Christian­ity to some two hundred million people. These Greek Orthodox Christians are to be found mostly in Turkey, Syria, Greece, the Bal­kan countries, and Russia. The eastern Greek Orthodox Church knows nothing of such a tremendous upheaval as the west­ern Latin Church experienced in the Reformation. The current of its life has flowed on without in­terruption from the beginning to the present time. Its theology is that of the ecumenical councils of Nicaea, Constantinople, Chalcedon, and Ephesus (ch. 3 and 6) . 2. The Eastern Church Resists Mo­hammedanism and Atheism For centuries the Greek Ortho­dox Church has held the eastern frontiers against Arab and Turk­ish Mohammedanism. It has been a mighty dam which has prevented the waters of Mohammedanism from flooding western Europe. Mil­lions of Greek Orthodox Christians have lived for centuries under Mo­hammedan rule. Thousands upon thousands of these Christians have sealed their Christian faith with their blood. No other branch of the Church universal has given so many martyrs. For centuries the Greek Orthodox Christians have lived in direct personal contact with people of a non-Christian re­ligion. As a result their belief in the Trinity has come to be more to them than a mere creed. It has entered into their very bone and marrow and become a part of them. They are willing to suffer and die for it. Christianity in its Greek Ortho­dox form was introduced into Russia by missionaries from Constan­tinople. From that time on it was the State religion of Russia until the Revolution of 1917, when re­ligion was declared to be an opium and a hindrance to progress. The churches were closed, and the gov­ernment promoted the teaching of atheism (denial of God) through­out the land. During the course of World War II Stalin declared re­ligious toleration. What this amounts to remains to be seen. And only time will tell what the steady advance of Russian power across Asia and ever deeper into Europe is going to mean for the Christian Church. 3. The Roman Church Declares the Infallibility of the Pope Since the Council of Trent (ch. 31, sec. 6) the Roman Church has steadily pursued its course. There have been scattered conversions of Protestants to Catholicism and of Catholics to Protestantism. In the latter part of the nineteenth cen­tury there was a "Free-from-Rome Movement" of considerable pro­portions, especially in Austria, but that movement has subsided. In Italy, Spain, and France thousands have left the Catholic Church, but they have not become Protestants. They have broken with the Church and religion in every form. They are the bitter enemies of all re­ligion. A great many of them are communists. Modernism has also made inroads into the Roman Church. In the seventeenth century Cor­nelis Jansen, bishop of Ypres in the Southern Netherlands (now Bel­gium), was the leader of a dissent­ing movement. His views attracted followers among the more serious Catholics in France. The nunnery of Port Royal near Paris became the center of this movement. The Jansenists were strongly opposed by the Jesuits. Under the influence of the Jesuits, Louis XIV perse­cuted the Jansenists. In 1710 the buildings of Port Royal were torn down. In the eighteenth century the Jansenist movement resulted in the establishment in the Nether­lands of a small Jansenist Catholic Church. It exists today. But the Jansenist movement caused only a passing wave on the waters of Catholicism. In 1773 Pope Clement XIV abolished the Order of Jesuits. The order was restored by Pope Pius VII in 1814. From that time down to the present the Jesuits have been the power behind the papal throne. Under the influence of the Jes­uits, the Vatican Council of 1870 declared the infallibility of the pope. That is, it declared that the pope, in all his official statements and decisions regarding the Church, is free from error. There­by the claims so insistently made in the fifteenth century, that gen­eral councils are supreme over the popes, were denied once and for all. The most recent doctrinal devel­opment in the Roman Catholic Church took place in November, 1950, when Pope Pius XII, speak­ing ex cathedra, proclaimed the Assumption of Mary to be a Roman Catholic doctrine. This is to say that she body and soul was taken up to heaven. Although the Roman Catholic Church did not accept the Ref­ormation, it nevertheless felt its influence. The Catholic Church after the Reformation, though it retained its essential Roman Catholic character, became in many ways a much better church than it had been before. And the life of both clergy and members of the Roman Church today is on a higher level in strongly Protestant countries than in countries that are entirely or mainly Catholic. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 47. CHAPTER 43: CONTROVERSY CONTINUES IN GERMANY AND ENGLAND ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43 Controversy Continues in Germany and England Doctrinal Differences Disturb the Lutheran Church Modernism Invades the Church and the Universities Socinianism Undermines the Presbyterian Church in England Deism Discredits the Bible The Church of England Has a Low, a High, and a Broad Church Movement Three New Movements Arise among the Non-Conformists 1. Doctrinal Differences Disturb the Lutheran Church Philipp Melanchthon had from the very beginning of the Reforma­tion movement been Luther’s clos­est friend and helper. But he also became acquainted with Zwingli; and with Calvin he formed a warm Friendship. In course of time he came to disagree with Luther on certain points of doctrine. As long as Luther lived he kept these ideas to himself. After Luther’s death, however, he allowed his views to become known, with the result that the first considerable controversy among Lutherans arose. Many years after Melanchthon’s death the Formula of Concord (1577) was drawn up. This was a statement of agreement on most of the essential doctrines of Luther­anism. Later there arose another con­troversy. George Calixtus, a pro­fessor in the University of Helm­stadt, was regarded as one of the foremost theologians of his time. During a trip through Germany and neighboring countries he came in close touch with the leading thinkers of the Lutheran, Re­formed, Anglican, and Catholic churches. He himself was a Luther­an; but by this time the spirit among the leaders had become one of harshness and bitterness in de­fending the Lutheran doctrine. Calixtus disapproved of this spirit, and as a result of his many new contacts and a study of the Church Fathers, he came to regard the differences between the Lutherans, the Reformed, and the Catholics of very small importance. He thought the Church should be satis­fied with the Apostles’ Creed and the Bible. This idea of the great theologian Calixtus showed a sur­prising lack of insight. But Calix­tus gained numerous followers. People were weary of doctrinal controversies and the spirit of bit­terness in which they were carried on. They thought that Christian life and Christian activities should be stressed rather than doctrine. At a conference in Thorn in 1645 Calixtus heard his ideas op­posed by Abraham Calovius, a young and brilliant Lutheran who was a professor in Konigsberg. The controversy that began here continued for many years. Both Calixtus and Calovius had loyal followers, and the dispute went on for many years after the death of Calixtus. At last it wore itself out. 2. Modernism Invades the Church and the Universities In the meanwhile Germany was suffering from the results of the Thirty Years’ War (ch. 32, sec. 6). Time and again armies had swept over Germany in every di­rection. Cities and farms alike had been ruined. The population had been massacred. City and country folk were plunged into poverty and immorality. In these unhappy circumstances people became indifferent to doc­trine. Pietism, with its emphasis on Christian life at the expense of doctrine, found fertile soil. The way was now open for Mod­ernism (ch. 41). Nourished by modern philosophy it spread through the Lutheran Church and the universities in Germany. Lu­ther would not have recognized the Church he founded in deep strug­gles of soul. But orthodoxy in the nineteenth century still had very able de­fenders in men like Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg and Theodor Zahn. These were men of tremendous learning, but they had a firm and simple belief in the Bible as the infallible Word of God. 3. Socinianism Undermines the Presbyterian Church in Eng­land For a short time the Presby­terians in England had hopes of winning a supreme position. In the Long Parliament which assem­bled in 1640 they were in the ma­jority (ch. 34, sec. 5). You will re­call that this parliament called to­gether an assembly of clergymen and laymen in Westminster, and that this assembly framed the Presbyterian Westminster Confes­sion and Catechisms, and a Pres­byterian Church Order (ch. 34, sec. 6). The plan of the Presby­terians was to disestablish the Episcopal Church as the State Church of England, and to impose upon England, Scotland, and Ire­land the Presbyterian Church as the State Church. But in the army of Parliament Baptists and Con­gregationalists or Independents were in the majority. This army emerged victorious from the Civil Wars in England (ch. 34, sec. 7), and when it came into control of affairs Parliament was purged of its Presbyterian members. The plan to make Presbyterianism the State religion turned out to be only a passing dream. Under Cromwell, who now came into power, the Anglican or Epis­copal Church continued to be the State Church of England, but all dissenting bodies — Congregation­alists, Presbyterians, Baptists, and even Quakers were permitted a considerable measure of religious liberty. With the Restoration under Charles II and James II not only did the Episcopal Church continue to be the State Church of Eng­land, but all Dissenters in both England and Scotland were sorely oppressed and persecuted. This persecution came to an end under the reign of William and Mary, and a wide measure of toleration was granted to all Dissenters, ex­cept Catholics and anti-Trinitar­ians. But the Episcopal Church continued as the State Church of England, and has remained so without interruption down to the present day. In the course of the eighteenth century the Trinity-denying So­cinians gained the upper hand in the Presbyterian churches. Those who embraced these Socinian views left the Presbyterian Church and organized Unitarian churches; and Presbyterianism ceased to be an important factor in England. 4. Deism Discredits the Bible We have seen how Arminianism and also the extreme, anti-Chris­tian ideas of Socinianism spread through the churches of England in the eighteenth century. But the prevailing influence in English re­ligious life during this period was Deism. Deism had its origin in Eng­land, but it exerted a profound influence in France, the Nether­lands, and Germany. The Deists do believe in the existence of God, and they believe that He made the world. But they think that God’s relation to the world is like that of a watchmaker to a watch. A watchmaker makes a watch and winds it, and then the watch runs by itself. So God made the world, a most marvelous piece of mecha­nism, and now has nothing more to do with it. It runs by itself ac­cording to certain laws, the laws of nature. Thus Deism denies miracles, the atoning work of Christ, and the regenerating work of the Spirit. Deism discredits the Bible and robs religion of its supernatural char­acter. It is the death of all true religion. The morality, or sense of right and wrong, taught by Deism is of a low order. Over in the English colonies in America Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who were in many ways great men, were Deists. This influence is re­vealed in Franklin’s maxim: "Hon­esty is the best policy," which im­plies that we should be honest be­cause it pays, rather than because it is right and because God com­mands it. 5. The Church of England Has a Low, a High, and a Broad Church Movement It was in this England under the sway of Arminianism, Socin­ianism, and Deism that the Metho­dist movement arose. The Metho­dist movement was a mighty spiritual and religious revival. This revival shook the life both of the Anglican State Church and of many of the Dissenting churches. It brought about a tremendous change in the religious and moral life of England. Under the fervor of this revival the ice of Deism melted. The frozen waters of Eng­lish religious life again began to flow freely. The Methodist movement had two great leaders: John Wesley and George Whitefield. We have learned something of the life and work of John Wesley (ch. 40). The work of Whitefield is also well worth our attention. Wesley and Whitefield in many ways resembled each other, but in some important points they dif­fered. Both were Oxford men, and both were ministers in the Estab­lished Anglican Church. Both men were fired with a zeal for saving souls. Neither Wesley nor White-field confined himself to just one parish. Both men sought especially the unchurched, and they preached to them everywhere throughout England in the open air. They both were great preachers, but White-field was the more magnetic of the two. Wesley was an Arminian. White-field was a Calvinist. Wesley had a genius for organizing. Whitefield lacked all talent for organizing. The outcome was that Wesley left behind him a great church, the Methodist Church. Whitefield pow­erfully influenced thousands of people, but they never formed a church. They remained in the An­glican Church, and there they formed the Low Church or Evan­gelical party. In their views these Evangelicals or Low Church people were mod­erate Calvinists. They were op­posed to elaborate ritual in church services. They were filled with re­ligious zeal, and they lived lives of strict piety. If Whitefield had possessed the organizing genius of Wesley, Calvinism might have been today a far greater power in Eng­land than it is. The trend of events in the Angli­can Church soon became a cause for deep concern. The great Meth­odist revival led by the Wesleys had resulted in the withdrawal of thousands from the Anglican Church. The Low Church party under the leadership of Whitefield was moving away from the tradi­tional Anglican practices. Dissent­ers, Catholics, and the Low Church party were all working for repeal of the laws which gave the Angli­can Church many advantages over the other churches. It began to look as though the Anglican Church might soon cease to be the State Church of England. As a result, many leaders in the Anglican Church became frantic with alarm. A number of them met to consider what could be done to stop this trend. They and their supporters became known as the High Church party. In the first half of the nineteenth century the High Church party represented a movement back in the direction of the Roman Catho­lic Church. The foremost leaders were John Keble, John Henry New­man, and Edward Pusey. Because these men were affiliated with Ox­ford University, the movement came to be known as the Oxford movement. The High Church party empha­sized those features in the Church of England which were a continua­tion of Roman Catholic tradition and practice. They held that their priests had the power to forgive sin. They were distressed that the Church should be under the author­ity of the State. The movement was formally started by Keble when he preached a sermon in Oxford on "The National Apostasy." In the same month the publication of a series of tracts was begun. In all, ninety tracts appeared, most of them writ­ten by John Henry Newman. These tracts gave to the movement an­other name—the Tractarian move­ment. To Newman the Church of Eng­land was the golden mean between Protestantism and Catholicism. But as the series of tracts pro­gressed, the writings became more and more Roman Catholic in the principles they set forth, until finally the Bishop of Oxford or­dered that their publication be stopped. On October 9, 1845, Newman joined the Catholic Church. Thou­sands followed him. But the ma­jority of the High Church party remained in the Church of Eng­land, and there they continued to exercise their influence. The ritual in the church service became more and more elaborate, after the Ro­man fashion. The High Church movement is still a growing force in the Anglican Church. A Broad Church party also arose in the Church of England. It de­veloped under the influence of Ger­man thought. The man who intro­duced the new ideas from Germany into England was the poet Cole­ridge. The Broad Church party strongly believed in having a State Church. Members of this party considered the Church to be a department of the State, like the army and the navy. Believing as they do in a State Church they would like to see every citizen a member of it. In order that this may be possible they wish to see every form of belief tolerated in the State Church. There should be no creeds with binding force. Everyone should be free to believe whatever he pleases. That is why this group is called the Broad Church party. The members of this movement have become more and more liberal in their doctrinal views. They do not realize that truth and error, light and darkness, faith and un­belief cannot exist side by side in the same organization. 6. Three New Movements Arise among the Non-Conformists Step by step during the nine­teenth century the Non-Conformist or Dissenting bodies in England achieved more nearly a status of equality with the Episcopal or Anglican Church. The number of Non-Conformists has grown stead­ily until at the present time they make up at least half of the popu­lation of England. They are found mostly among the middle class. These churches possess many great preachers and a number of schol­ars; however, in scholarship and in work among the unchurched they do not equal the Anglican State Church. Among the Non-Conformists in England during the past century three new movements of varying importance arose. The first of these movements began when Edward Irving, a Presbyterian minister, began to preach that the gifts of the apostolic age (speaking in tongues, prophesying, and healing the sick) would be restored if people only had enough faith. He soon came to believe that some of the members of his church had re­ceived these "gifts." He was de­posed as a Presbyterian minister but continued his preaching. After some time, twelve members of his church were designated as "apos­tles." The "apostles" were believed to be organs of the Holy Spirit. The people who held the views of Edward Irving took the name of the Catholic Apostolic Church and adopted an elaborate ritual. This Church expected the speedy return of the Lord. The last apostle died in 1901 but the Apostolic Church carries on to this day. A second movement arose as a reaction against the lack of spiritu­ality and warmth in the Angli­can Church. Groups of Brethren sprang up in Ireland and western England. They claimed faith and Christian love to be their only bond of union. The great increase in the num­ber of Brethren was due to the labors of John Nelson Darby, who had been a minister in the neigh­borhood of Plymouth, England. Be­cause of him the Brethren received the name of Darbyites or Plymouth Brethren. Darby worked hard to spread his ideas. He organized churches of the Brethren in Swit­zerland, France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. Because the Bible teaches that all believers are priests the Breth­ren do not believe in ordained ministers. They are against creeds. They hold that the Holy Spirit guides all true believers, and unites them in faith and worship after the apostolic model. They claim to re­ject all denominationalism. But early in their history they were compelled to adopt certain acts of discipline. Today they are divided into six groups. One of the outstanding members of the early Brethren group in England was George Muller of Bristol. Inspired by the example of August Francke (ch. 39, sec. 5) , he established an orphanage which became famous as a work of faith. A third movement, the Salvation Army, was founded by William Booth, a former Methodist minis­ter. He first carried on a success­ful revival in Cardiff, Wales. Later he began a similar work in London. Out of this there developed (in 1878) an organization in military form which soon received the name of the Salvation Army. It is found today in all English speaking coun­tries and in countries of continen­tal Europe and the Orient. The Salvation Army engages in street preaching and in works of mercy. It is not a church. In al­most every city it maintains a service center, where the lonely and homeless can find help and where evangelistic services are regularly held. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 48. CHAPTER 44: THE REFORMED CHURCHES SURVIVE PERSECUTION ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44 The Reformed Churches Survive Persecution The Reformed Church in Switzerland Re­vives and Wanes The Huguenots in France Survive Horrible Persecution Antoine Court and Paul Rabaut Guide the Persecuted Church The Reformed Church Survives the French Revolution The Reformed Church in Germany Grows and Then Declines Lay-Patronage Divides the Presbyterian Church in Scotland The Reformed Church in the Netherlands Deteriorates and Revives Abraham Kuyper Is Converted Kuyper Gives a Half Century of Strong Leadership Kuyper’s Method of Reform Is Different 1. The Reformed Church in Swit­zerland Revives and Wanes The Reformed Churches in Swit­zerland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland also fell prey to Modernism and unbelief. In Switzerland a great revival took place in the early part of the nineteenth century, under the min­istry of Cesar Malan, Alexandre Vinet, and Frederic Godet. Once again the great truths of Calvinism were being taught in the pulpits. But soon Malan was forbidden to preach, and he and his followers left the State Church and organ­ized the Free Church. Gradually, however, Modernism became domi­nant in this church also. Today the Free Church in Switzerland num­bers only about ten thousand mem­bers. 2. The Huguenots in France Sur­vive Horrible Persecution The Edict of Nantes in 1598 secured to the Huguenots — the French Calvinists — a considerable measure of freedom. From that time until the revocation of that Edict in 1685 there were about a million Huguenots in France, with eight hundred churches and about that number of ministers. These Huguenots were found among all classes of society: nobles, gentry, craftsmen, professional men, and farmers. But the bulk of them be­longed to the middle class. They were the leaders in business, bank­ing, manufacturing, and the pro­fessions. In many communities in which the Huguenots were only a small minority they yet were the most influential element. "Rich as a Huguenot" became a common saying. The meeting-houses of the Hu­guenots were for the most part plain wooden structures. Some of them were very large. They had a seating capacity of seven to eight thousand, and they were always filled with eager hearers. Often four long sermons were preached on a Sunday. The Huguenots were very liberal in their financial sup­port of the work at home and of the persecuted abroad. Strict church discipline was maintained. Sabbath desecration and frivolous conduct of every sort were severely discouraged. The Huguenots at this time had four great institutions of learning — at Sedan, Montauban, Nimes, and Saumur. These schools had a large enrollment of students, and their faculties counted among their members some of the foremost scholars of the time. In 1685 Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, (ch. 35, sec. 2) which since 1598 had protected the French Protestants. Persecution was renewed. Thou­sands of members of the French Reformed Church suffered martyr­dom. Hundreds of thousands re­nounced their faith. Between five and eight hundred thousand Hu­guenots fled to Germany, the Neth­erlands, England, and America. The French Reformed Church lost nearly all its members. The feeble remnant of only a few thou­sand reorganized themselves. What now follows is one of the most heroic episodes in the whole history of the Church. This remnant retreated to the fastnesses of the wild mountain country of the Cevennes known as the Desert. A government order decreed the massacre of the Hugue­nots. Women were not excepted. Nearly all of the few ministers who remained were killed. Of those who had fled into other countries some recrossed the border to visit the scattered flocks, and were re­ceived with inexpressible joy. Even without ministers the Huguenots continued to hold their meetings at the peril of their lives. One of the bravest ministers was Brousson. He crossed and recrossed the bor­der many times, and had many marvelous and narrow escapes. But at last he was captured and exe­cuted in the presence of a crowd of ten thousand persons. They wept in sympathy with his courageous witness-bearing. Many Catholics were converted by his example of heroic faith. At last the fearful persecution drove the Huguenots to desperation and fanaticism. From 1702 to 1710 they carried on a terrible guerilla warfare against their persecutors. They themselves suffered severe losses. 3. Antoine Court and Paul Rabaut Guide the Persecuted Church After the death of King Louis XIV in 1715 there was a let-up in persecution, but in 1724 it broke out again with new vigor. Men attending Protestant services were made galley-slaves, women were imprisoned for life. Parents who did not send their children to a Roman Catholic school were heav­ily fined. Entire communities were fined for permitting Protestant services to be held. In spite of persecution the churches in the Desert began to grow again. But their church life had become entirely disorganized. The man who did much to bring about better conditions was An­toine Court. He is known as "the Restorer of the Reformed Church in France." He was born in 1695. When he was five years old his father died. His mother, a woman of heroic character, trained him carefully in the faith of his fathers. When he was still a young child she took him to the secret Hugue­not meetings. From infancy the fear of God dwelled in his heart, and when he arrived at young man­hood he resolved to devote himself to the preaching of the Gospel. Court visited many of the scat­tered groups of Huguenots, and observed their disorganized and confused condition. In August, 1715, when he was only twenty years old, he called together a synod. He had no college educa­tion, but through much reading he had educated himself. He had acquired a firm and thorough grasp of the system of Reformed doc­trine. In spite of his extreme youth, his great natural ability and powers of persuasion soon made him a recognized leader among the Huguenots. His address before the Synod put new courage and en­thusiasm into them. Persecution had deprived the poor and oppressed Reformed Church of France of all its or­dained ministers. The French Re­formed Church, true to its Calvin­istic tradition, would have nothing of lay preachers. As a temporary measure preaching by candidates, students who had successfully com­pleted their theological course, was resorted to. But the Reformed rule that preaching should be done by ordained men only was maintained. It was agreed among the members of the French Reformed Church of the Desert that there were among them two who were qualified for the ministry: Court and Corteiz. Corteiz was the older of the two. He was sent to Switzerland to ob­tain ordination. Upon his return he ordained Court. The need of a school for the training of ministers led Court in 1730 to found a seminary in Lau­sanne in Switzerland. There it was beyond the reach of the perse­cuting government of France. The place where the seminary met was exceedingly humble. A room on a second floor served as a lecture room. Many gifted and devoted young men were trained for the ministry of the Gospel in that small and simple room. That Lausanne seminary became known as "a school of death." Most of the men trained there for the ministry of the French Reformed Church sooner or later lost their lives as victims of persecution. Paul Rabaut was twenty-three years younger than Court. When he was twenty years old he conse­crated himself to the cause of the Reformed Church in France. Court once defined the spirit of the "Des­ert" as "a spirit of mortification, a spirit of reflection, of great wis­dom, and especially of martyrdom, which, as it teaches us to die daily to ourselves, to conquer and over­come our passions with their lusts, prepares and disposes us to lose our life courageously amid tortures and on the gallows, if Providence calls us thereto." Paul Rabaut was the embodiment of that spirit. Rabaut studied for a time in the seminary established by Court in Lausanne. He was full of zeal and a gifted speaker, endowed with a high degree of personal magnet­ism. For fifty-six years he labored in behalf of the French Reformed Church. He suffered untold hard­ships. His life was constantly in danger, but with the wisdom of the serpent he always managed to elude arrest. He abundantly earned the title of "Apostle of the Desert." 4. The Reformed Church Survives the French Revolution Philosophers and leaders in France were promoting a spirit of tolerance, and Anne Robert Tur­got, one of the influential thinkers of the day, induced the young king Louis XVI to decide against perse­cuting Protestants. Consequently after ninety years of persecution the Huguenots were recognized by the government. Lafayette returned from Ameri­ca, where he had given help to Washington in the War for Inde­pendence. Filled with the spirit of civil and religious liberty, he used his influence to have all the laws against the Protestants removed. This was accomplished with the Edict of Toleration in 1787. Two years later the French Revolution brought a new govern­ment into power. The newly formed National Assembly granted the Reformed liberty of worship and restoration of property. But in 1793 the atheists secured control of the government. They hated all religion and persecuted Catholics and Protestants alike. So complete was the horror of the period from 1793 to 1794 that it is called the Reign of Terror. Many Huguenots who had escaped the Catholic persecution fell victim to the athe­ists. The old and venerable Paul Rabaut was cast into prison. It is not possible to say how many Prot­estants as well as Catholics re­nounced their faith at this time, but the number was large. When the storm of the French Revolution had blown itself out the Reformed reorganized their churches, which had been scattered and wasted. Napoleon, who at this time became master of France, granted the Reformed and Luther­ans equality before the law with the Catholics. The government pro­vided all churches alike with finan­cial support. In return it demanded a large measure of control over the churches and their educational in­stitutions. Of the 700,000 Protestants in France today, about 620,000 are Reformed. The rest are Lutheran. Modernism has also invaded the ranks of the Reformed Church in France. Only a few churches are thoroughly Reformed in the his­torical sense. 5. The Reformed Church in Ger­many Grows and Then De­clines The Treaty of the Peace of West­phalia in 1648 (ch. 32, sec. 6) gave to the Reformed in Germany the same rights and privileges en­joyed by the Lutherans. The Re­formed were a large and important element in the population of the Rhine provinces and in the prov­ince of Brandenburg, now known as Prussia. After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 thou­sands of Huguenots or French Re­formed found refuge in Branden­burg. The province of the Palatinate on the upper Rhine probably con­tained the largest number of Re­formed people in Germany. In this province is located the city of Heidelberg with its renowned uni­versity. Here in the sixteenth cen­tury two professors, Ursinus and Olevianus, wrote the Heidelberg Catechism — one of the clearest and most complete expressions of Reformed interpretation of the Bible. It was published in 1563. The University of Heidelberg was the stronghold and educational center for the Reformed in Ger­many. By the Peace of Westphalia it was guaranteed to the Reformed as their university. But the Jesuits wormed their way in and cunning­ly began to undermine the position of the Reformed professors. In 1719 a new edition of the Heidel­berg Catechism was published. This Catechism contains the ex­pression that "the Popish mass is an accursed idolatry." The Jesuits used all their influence to have this new edition suppressed. In this they were unsuccessful, but the Re­formed were robbed of the largest of the two Heidelberg churches that were left to them. In process of time Modernism crept in and increased its influence among the Reformed in Germany. The University of Heidelberg, once a nursing mother of Calvinism, by the beginning of the nineteenth century had become one of the chief centers of Rationalism in that country. In 1817 the King of Prussia by royal decree forced the union of the Lutheran and Reformed churches. The weakened Reformed Church offered but feeble resist­ance. Since this union the Re­formed Church has practically ceased to exist in Germany, except in two small districts bordering on the Netherlands. 6. Lay-Patronage Divides the Pres­byterian Church in Scotland During the reign of William and Mary the Presbyterian Church be­came the State Church of Scotland. Under their successor, Queen Anne, Parliament passed a law which was to cause endless diffi­culty. It was the act restoring the principle of lay-patronage, which gave to the king and lords the right to appoint ministers of their own choosing to the pulpits of Scotland whenever they became vacant. Often ministers were ap­pointed whom the congregations did not want. In this way the act caused an immense amount of trouble, and to a large extent shaped the history thereafter of the Presbyterian Church in Scot­land. The first rupture in the Scottish Church took place when Ebenezer Erskine and several other minis­ters were deposed because they boldly denounced lay-patronage (1740). Another secession took place as the result of the refusal of Thomas Gillespie to take part in the installation of a minister ap­pointed according to the principle of lay-patronage. The various secessions received strong support especially among those who took their religion seri­ously. In 1847 the groups that had withdrawn joined to form the United Presbyterian Church. The State Church through these withdrawals was tapped of much of its spiritual strength. Besides, Liberalism crept into Scotland also, and resulted in what was called Moderatism. The system of lay-patronage favored the appoint­ment of ministers who were Mod­erates, or Liberals, even though the congregations wanted men who were true to the historical faith. Rather than submit to this system, some 474 ministers under the lead­ership of Thomas Chalmers with­drew from the Presbyterian State Church in 1843 and organized the Free Church of Scotland. Chalmers, a true champion of the historical faith in Scotland, was outstanding as a preacher, so­cial reformer, theological teacher, and leader. The most religious and devoted element had now left the State Church. In all about one third of the membership had withdrawn. But it was not all to the disad­vantage of the State Church. The spirit and enthusiasm of the Se­ceders in time aroused new zeal in the State Church itself. And in 1874 the system of lay-patronage was finally abolished. In 1900 the Free Church of Scot­land and the United Presbyterian Church joined to form the United Free Church of Scotland. 7. The Reformed Church in the Netherlands Deteriorates and Revives The Synod of Dort, held in the Netherlands in the years 1618 and 1619, condemned Arminianism and clearly set forth the Reformed Doc­trine in a statement of faith called the Canons of Dort. These Canons together with the Heidelberg Cate­chism and the Belgic Confession form the doctrinal standards of the Reformed Church in the Neth­erlands (ch. 38, sec. 4). But the Synod of Dort was not able to remove Arminianism from the Netherlands, nor was it able to prevent the rise of new depar­tures from historic Protestantism. When the nineteenth century opened, the life of the Reformed Church was at a very low ebb. Re­formed doctrine was ridiculed as old fashioned and out of date. However, before the nineteenth century was many years old, signs of new life began to appear, and by the time it drew to a close the situation had changed completely. There were many influences affect­ing the Church at this time. First of all there was the influ­ence of Cesar Malan and Alex­andre Vinet (ch. 44, sec. 1), which made itself felt also in the Nether­lands and resulted in an important revival of religion among the higher classes in that country. "DE LANGE JAN," MIDDELBURG Like so many old churches in the Nether­lands, this structure, now belonging to the Reformed Church, was in its beginning a Roman Catholic cathe­dral. It was occupied by the follow­ers of the Reformation as early as 1574. The stately tower, almost 300 feet high, is familiarly known as the "Lange Jan," or "Tall John." It was damaged during World War II but is being restored. Then there were a few ministers in the Reformed State Church and thousands of its members, especial­ly among the lower and middle classes, who had remained true to the faith of the fathers. These tried to make the Church again live up to its Creed and Church Order; but they met with strong opposi­tion from authorities in the State and Church. In 1834 a large se­cession from the State Church took place. In spite of persecution by the authorities and by mobs, the Seceders organized themselves as the Christian Reformed Church and in 1854 founded a theological school in Kampen for the training of their ministers. This Secession Movement of 1834 in the Nether­lands and its theological school of Kampen became of importance for the history of the Church not only in that country but also in the United States. But God’s great instrument for bringing about a very remarkable revival of historic Calvinism in the Netherlands was Abraham Kuyper. 8. Abraham Kuyper Is Converted Abraham Kuyper was born on October 29, 1837, in the little town of Maassluis. The child’s head was enormously large and the parents were worried. They took him to a famous specialist in Germany. After the specialist had carefully examined the child he turned to the anxious parents and said, "You need not worry; it’s all brains." As a student he attended the University of Leyden, Here a book which he wrote in Latin won the first prize in a nation-wide contest. Meanwhile in the university he im­bibed the principles of Modernism. Upon graduation Kuyper became minister in the country church of Beesd. In this church there were many members who clung stead­fastly to the old Reformed truth. In talking over the Sunday ser­mons with him they were not afraid to contradict their learned university-trained pastor. Espe­cially his frequent conversations with one old lady of the church made a deep impression upon the young minister. He now turned to the works of Calvin and made a serious study of them in the origin­al Latin. This study changed the young Kuyper from a Modernist to a convinced Calvinist. From that time on to the end of his life he was the great champion of a re­vived Calvinism. 9. Kuyper Gives a Half Century of Strong Leadership Fired with a deep religious zeal and enthusiasm, and consumed with a desire to restore the Re­formed Church of the fathers, that it might again bless the nation of Holland, Kuyper began an activity which was to stretch over half a century and amaze both friend and foe. As St. Augustine’s City of God had inspired Charlemagne, Pope Gregory VII, and Calvin, so it inspired Kuyper. He entered upon his tremendous labors not only to restore the Church, but to apply the principles of Christianity to every domain of life: the po­litical, the social, the industrial, and the cultural, as well as the ec­clesiastical. From the little country church of Beesd he went to the big city church of Utrecht, and from there to the still larger church of Am­sterdam. He organized a Christian political party, and entered the Dutch Parliament. In 1880 he founded in Amsterdam the Free University based upon Reformed principles. It was given this name because it was free from the con­trol of Church and State. Kuyper became the leading professor. In 1886 he led a second large secession from the State Church of the Netherlands. And in 1892 he was foremost in helping to bring about in the Synod of Am­sterdam the union of the Christian Reformed Church with this new seceding group, under the name of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. This new denomina­tion consisted of seven hundred churches and three hundred thou­sand members. From 1901 to 1905 he was prime minister of the Netherlands. Kuyper preached, lectured, taught, took part in the debates of the Dutch Parliament, and wrote. He was great as a speaker, but he was even greater as a writer. He is­sued pamphlet after pamphlet. He also wrote many books, besides edi­torials for weekly and daily papers. There were thousands who heard his voice. In 1898 he made a speak­ing tour through the United States. There were hundreds of thousands — in the Netherlands, in Germany, France, Switzerland, England, Scotland, the United States, Cana­da, South Africa, and the East Indies — who read his writings. Many of Kuyper’s works have been translated into English. Several Americans have learned Dutch in order to be able to read Kuyper’s books in the original. Kuyper possessed in a very high degree the marvelous gift of expressing deep thoughts in a clear, simple, and interesting way. He was a great scholar of enormous learning, a keen and profound thinker, and a superlative stylist. ABRAHAM KUYPER 10. Kuyper’s Method of Reform Is Different Since the Reformation there had been many departures from his­toric Protestant doctrine. A num­ber of these departures had three things in common. In the first place, the Baptist, Quaker, Pietist, Moravian, and Methodist move­ments all originated in a reaction against the deadness and inactivity of the historic Protestant churches. In the second place, they adhered to the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. In the third place, they tried to cure the admittedly bad conditions in the historic Prot­estant churches by unchurchly methods. Kuyper’s work was also a reac­tion against the conditions of the times, but to make that reaction effective he employed an entirely different method. In the first place, he returned to historic Protestant­ism. He battled against ancient and more recent heresies. And while none of the groups that had departed from historic Protestant­ism did much or anything to stem the rising tide of Modernism, Kuyper opposed it with all his might. In the second place, he fought persistently against the bad condi­tions in the Church by laboring to reform the Church itself; and ­this is the important thing — in doing so he employed churchly methods. In the third place, he devoted himself untiringly to arousing the Church from its deadness; he spurred the members on to an ac­tivity far surpassing Methodist zeal. He inspired them not only to carry on home and foreign mission work, but to carry the banner of the cross also into the fields of edu­cation, politics, social reform, and labor. He did not, as did the other groups, slight doctrine; he knew that the life and growth of the Church depends upon a steady, systematic teaching of Scriptural truth in all its breadth and depth and richness. In striving to carry the banner of the cross into all spheres of life, Abraham Kuyper avoided the mis­take of trying to accomplish this by having the Church dictate to the State. Instead he came forward with an entirely new solution. He accepted the Baptist demand of separation of Church and State but he would not, as they did, separate religion from politics. He organ­ized a Christian political party. This party was to work out a Christian political program with­out interference or dictation by the Church. Kuyper had many co-laborers. Some of them, as for example L. F. Rutgers and Herman Bavinck, were men of extraordinary ability. But Kuyper stands alone as the pioneering genius. Nowhere else in the world did such a wonderful re­vival of historic Protestantism take place as in the little country of Holland. In the revival of a sound and active Christianity, his influence is felt today far beyond the narrow boundaries of his small native land — in South Africa, in the East Indies, in certain parts of South America, in Canada, and in the United States of America. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 49. CHAPTER 45: THE CHURCH GROWS ONCE MORE, 7500 TO THE PRESENT ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45 The Church Grows Once More, 7500 to the Present Earlier Periods of Growth The Growth of the Church Is Checked Voyages of Discovery Open the World to the Church The Catholics Do Mission Work The Protestants Carry the Gospel to Other Lands Missionary Results 1. Earlier Periods of Growth The first period of great growth of the Church was from the year 1 to 400, from Pentecost to Au­gustine. In that period the Church, the army of Christ, conquered the civilized heathen Roman Empire around the Mediterranean Sea (ch. 2). The second period of great growth was, roughly speaking, from the year 500 to 1000. In that period the Church conquered the new uncivilized heathen nations of northern Europe (ch. 8). But in this second period of growth the Church lost to the Arab Mohammedans much terri­tory previously conquered, and to this day has reconquered only part of it (ch. 9). In this period the Mohammedans also conquered much heathen territory in India. That territory they still hold. 2. The Growth of the Church Is Checked After the year 1000 the Church lost much additional territory in the East to the Turkish Moham­medans. Spain in the southwestern corner of Europe was regained from the Moorish Mohammedans. That reconquest had important and far-reaching consequences. But it was the only gain made by the Church in this period. From 1000 to 1500, roughly speaking, the Church made no new conquests. It could not, for it was fenced in. To the north there was nothing further to conquer. To the west lay the Atlantic Ocean, and to the south and east the wall of Mohammedanism formed an im­passable barrier. 3. Voyages of Discovery Open the World to the Church The voyages of discovery radi­cally altered the entire situation. They changed the oceans from bar­riers into highways. And that change made it possible for the Church to get around the Moham­medan barrier. Moreover, the further advance of the Turkish Mohammedans into western Europe was decisively checked in 1683 before the walls of Vienna, by the Polish hero John Sobieski. After that Hungary and the Balkan countries were regained from the Mohammedans for Christendom. Still, although the voyages of discovery enabled the Church to circumvent the Mohammedan bar­rier, all attempts to take that line itself have so far met with only indifferent success. The Moham­medans, on the other hand, have in the meanwhile gained consider­able heathen territory in Africa. To the present day the great mass of Jews also remain enemies of the cross, and in many cases they are very active and dangerous oppo­nents of the Church. However, the great fact remains that the voy­ages of discovery opened up all the world to the Church for the first time in history, and gave the Church access to all the remaining and as yet unconquered heathen nations. The way was now open for the third, and what apparently will be the final, period of great growth of the Church. 4. The Catholics Do Mission Work From 1500 to 1600 the voyages of discovery were conducted mostly by the Portuguese and the Span­iards. These were Roman Catho­lics. The Reformation started in 1517. Up to the Peace of West­phalia in 1648 the Protestants were completely occupied with their struggle with the Catholics. So for the first 150 years of the new missionary era the Roman Catholic Church had the newly opened mission fields all to itself. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Order of Jesuits, was the man who aroused the Catholic Church to a sense of its missionary duty and opportunity. The Catholics were stirred with zeal for winning the heathen in the newly dis­covered lands for the Church. In this way the Catholic Church would make up for the losses it had suffered as a result of the Ref­ormation. Inspired by Loyola, Francis Xavier became the first great Catholic missionary of the new era. In 1542 Xavier reached Goa in India, where he labored until 1549, when he went to Japan. There his work gained many converts. In 1552, as he was about to begin work in China, Xavier died. His work was taken up by other mis­sionaries. Spanish missionaries won the Philippines, South and Central America, and Mexico for the Cath­olic Church. French Jesuits estab­lished the Catholic Church in the province of Quebec in Canada, around the Great Lakes, and down the Mississippi River into Louisi­ana. Spanish missionaries also built up Catholic churches in Flor­ida and along the coast in Cali­fornia. Today Catholic mission work is being carried on in Ceylon, India, China, Manchuria, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Africa, Australia, the is­lands of the Pacific, and among the North American Indians. Catholic missions are conducted almost en­tirely by the monks of the different orders. 5. The Protestants Carry the Gos­pel to Other Lands The first great impulse to the work of missions by Protestants in the new era was given by August Francke (ch. 39, sec. 6) and the Pietists. Their greatest missionary was Christian Schwartz, who from 1750 until his death in 1798 labored in India. From 1732 to the present day Moravian missionaries (ch. 39, sec. 11) have carried on missionary work with utmost devotion in every part of the world. Today all Protestant Churches participate in the work of missions. In our day the great missionary command of Christ to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth is at last being obeyed. The Christian Church is being planted in Africa, India, China, Korea, Japan, South Ameri­ca, and the islands of the Pacific. 6. Missionary Results The work of missions strictly speaking consists in nothing else but in the preaching of the Gospel. But in speaking of missionary re­sults we think of the effect of the preaching of the Gospel. We ask the question: To what extent are the heathen being truly Christian­ized as a result of the preaching of the Gospel? The results are often meager as to the number who accept the Gos­pel and live transformed lives. The results are often so discouraging that many ask the question: Is it worth while? To judge fairly the results that have been achieved we must under­stand what difficulties and ob­stacles stand in the way. First of all, many missionaries have lacked the necessary qualifications. There was a time when it was thought that men who lacked the ability to become good minis­ters could nevertheless work suc­cessfully on the mission field. To­day it is realized that a missionary must have fully as much knowledge and ability as a minister, besides specialized knowledge and talents not required of the minister who works in his home land. The mis­sionary must learn to understand the people to whom he brings the Gospel; especially must he know their language, their history, their customs, and above all their reli­gion. Other obstacles to successful mission work are these: The vast majority of heathen to whom the missionaries preach are extremely ignorant. They cannot read or write. They are superstitious. Then, too, like people the world over, the heathen have a dislike for foreigners; and missionaries are usually foreigners in the lands where they work. DAVID LIVINGSTONE David Livingstone was a young doctor of twenty-seven when in 1841 he left Scotland to serve as a missionary in Africa. His devoted service to the people of that continent is a thrilling chapter in the history of missions. WILLIAM CAREY In 1793 William Carey left his home country, England, to carry the Gospel to India. His great pioneer work there, especially in the field of trans­lation, opened the way for the spread of the Word in that needful land. We must also remember that the heathen, like us, want to cling to the religion of their fathers. We love to sing, "Faith of our fathers, we will be true to thee till death." We are not willing to give up the faith that our fathers have taught us. So, too, the heathen are not readily willing to give up the re­ligious beliefs that their fathers have taught them. Only the work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts can cause them to give up their heathen superstitions and accept the Gospel of salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Another difficulty is this: The heathen often gain wrong ideas re­garding Christianity by observing so-called Christians from Christian lands, who are really not Chris­tian; and by coming to our uni­versities and learning the religion of the Modernists who falsely claim to be preaching the Gospel of Christ. Also there are many mission­aries out on the foreign fields who are Modernists and who under the name of Christian missions are spreading their false gospel among the heathen. When all these things are kept in mind, it can be said that mis­sionary results are simply marvelous. The results obtained in the face of the many and great ob­stacles can be explained only by the fact that Christ, who founded the Church and whose it is, has been constantly active from heaven from age to age, maintaining and extending His Church. He is doing this in our day in spite of all ob­stacles and all the weaknesses and sins of His Church. He will con­tinue to do so to the end of time. The missionaries in heathen lands are in the thick of the battle, and that battle between Christ and the Devil is hard. The heralds of the Gospel sense and experience the power of both these captains. The battle for the Truth in the home land is of first importance, for without a proper base of opera­tions Christ’s army, the Church, cannot wage war successfully in the foreign field. The list of great missionaries is a long one. You must all have heard of Carey, Brainerd, Living­stone, Taylor, Zwemer, Huizenga, and many others. Dr. Huizenga, an American medical mis­sionary to China, specialized in work among the lepers. During World War II he was taken prisoner by the Jap­anese and died in a concentration camp. His work in China won the high regard of medical authorities as well as the deep gratitude of his pa­tients. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 50. PART FIVE: THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES ======================================================================== Part Five THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES (From the Settling of Jamestown to the Present, 1607-1950) The Church Is Extended into the New World The Church Experiences a Great Awakening The Church and the War for Independ­ence The Churches in the New National Pe­riod The Church Experiences a Second Awak­ening The Church in a Time of Turmoil The Civil War and Reconstruction Periods The Church Faces Modern Problems The Church Seeks to Preserve the Faith The Churches Seek Co-operation and Union Looking Backward and Forward PART FIVE THE CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES In this final section we shall see the Church establishing itself with the first white settlers in the wilderness on the Atlantic Coast, and pushing steadily westward as the frontier advanced. Periods of spiritual decline were followed by periods of awakening and revival under the leadership of such spiritual giants as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield. The War for Independence created a sharp issue for the churches whose origins were English and whose ties with the mother country were still strong. After the Civil War and the Reconstruction period the Church became acutely conscious of social problems — to the ex­tent that it was in danger of losing sight of its central purpose. The increasing wealth of the nation and a new sense of leisure stimulated the building of beautiful churches and the founding of church col­leges. Worship became more and more formal and theology more openly liberal. A reaction set in. Small groups broke away from the established denominations and organized new churches, where the form of worship was simple and the message was the Biblical doctrine of salvation by faith. A new impulse toward co-operation among churches led to a number of international conferences. A tendency developed, especially among the liberals, to wipe out denominational differences and unite on the basis of beliefs held by all. Churches of the orthodox evangelical faith have formed associations of their own, for fellowship and united action in a world imperiled by the forces of evil. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 51. CHAPTER 46: THE CHURCH IS EXTENDED INTO THE NEW WORLD ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46 The Church Is Extended into the New World The Episcopal Church Is the First in America The Congregationalist Church Is Estab­lished in New England The Dutch Reformed Come to New York and New Jersey Roger Williams Founds a Baptist Church The Catholics Experience Slow Growth in the Colonial Era The Quakers Persist in the Face of Perse­cution The German Reformed Settle in Pennsyl­vania The Lutherans Weather a Crisis Various German Groups Make Their Homes in America Presbyterianism Takes Root and Grows Rapidly Methodism Arrives Late in the Colonial Period 1. The Episcopal Church Is the First in America The Episcopal Church was the first church to be introduced into America. This was the Church which the English settlers brought with them to Jamestown in 1607. The Episcopal Church was from the beginning the Established or State Church of Virginia, and re­mained so throughout the colonial period. It also became the Estab­lished Church of Maryland and of all the English colonies south of Virginia, as well as of New York. The leading clergyman in Vir­ginia toward the end of the seven­teenth and during the first half of the eighteenth century was James OLD CHURCH AT JAMESTOWN This ivy-covered church tower dates back to the years when settled by the English. Behind the tower is the restored version of the main sectin of the church. Blair. A Scotchman who had been educated in Edinburgh, he came to Virginia in 1685. It was he who after much difficulty obtained from England a charter for the estab­lishment in 1693 of a college at Williamsburg. The college was named after William and Mary, at that time king and queen of Eng­land. The purpose in founding it was declared to be "for the ad­vance of learning, education of youth, supply of the Ministry, and promotion of piety." Blair served as president of the college for forty-nine years — until he died at eighty-eight. Throughout the first century of colonial history the Episcopal Church made little progress. But a great change for the better came with the opening of the second century of English colonial history in America. In 1701 there was founded in England the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. This society be­came the great missionary organization of the Church of England. Its founding was an event of the first importance for the future of the Episcopal Church throughout the whole world, and particularly for the future of that church in the English colonies in America. Up to that time the Episcopal Church had hardly made a be­ginning outside of Virginia and Maryland. 2. The Congregationalist Church Is Established in New England King James I of England meant business when he threatened that he would make the Puritans con­form, or that else he would "harry them out of the land." He made things so unpleasant for the non­conformists that the congregation of Scrooby in England was forced to seek refuge in Leyden in the Netherlands in 1609. LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS Religious News Service On December 21, 1620, the Pilgrims came ashore on a rocky ledge which was to become known as historic Plymouth Rock. They bowed their heads in gratitude to God for their safe arrival in the New World. These Englishmen did not feel at home in the Netherlands. They found it very hard to make a living in a strange country. What was far worse, they saw their children "being drawn away by evil ex­amples into extravagant and dan­gerous courses, getting the reins off their necks, and departing from their parents, so that they saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and be corrupted." So they decided to seek a new home in America. They sailed from Plymouth in England in the Mayflower and landed on the bleak, rocky coast of Cape Cod on No­vember 11, 1620. They named the spot where they landed Plymouth, after the English city from which they had sailed. You will remember from your study of American his­tory that these English settlers at Plymouth were called the Pilgrims. The settlers at Plymouth were for the most part poor and humble folk. They were looked upon as radical Puritans because they had separated from the Church of Eng­land and held the Congregational theory of church government. In other words, they were Separatists. Most of the Puritans wanted to stay in the Church of England and regarded the Separatists as self-righteous trouble-makers. In fact, the Separatists were despised by all their fellow countrymen. The colony at Plymouth always re­mained small. The great migration of English Puritans to America began in 1628 with the founding of the Massa­chusetts Bay Colony at Salem. This colony flourished from its be­ginning. By 1640 around twenty thousand colonists had found a home in the Salem area. A very large proportion of these colonists were men of wealth, social posi­tion, and ability. These Puritans had no desire to separate from the Church of Eng­land as did the Puritans of Plym­outh. One of the first of the Puri­tan ministers to come to Massa­chusetts Bay was Francis Higgin­son. When from the deck of the ship he saw the shore of England fade away, he said, "We will not say as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving England, `Farewell, Babylon ! Farewell, Rome!’ But we will say, ’Farewell, dear England; Farewell, the Church of God in England and all the Christian friends there!’ We do not go to New England as Sep­aratists from the Church of Eng­land, though we cannot but sepa­rate from the corruption in it." Winthrop and the other Puritan leaders considered it "an honor to call the Church of England from whom we rise, our dear Mother." You would expect this Massa­chusetts Bay Colony with its wealth and numbers to take the lead in directing the church life and government in New England. But it was rather the little band of poor and despised radicals at Plymouth who laid the foundations of New England, and supplied the model of church government for the Bay Colony and all the New England Puritans. Following their example, the far more numerous and influential Puritans at Salem also broke with their "dear Moth­er," and adopted the Congregation­al form of church government. In the course of ten years thirty-three churches sprang up in Mas­sachusetts. They all adopted the Congregational form of govern­ment, though one or two ministers were inclined to Presbyterianism. THE PILGRIMS’ FIRST PUBLIC WORSHIP IN AMERICA Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions On Sunday, January 21, 1621 — just one month after their arrival — the Pilgrims held their first public worship in America in a rough square blockhouse at New Plymouth. Since they had no pastor, they were led in worship by William Brewster, the oldest of the company and an elder of the church. In 1636 the foundation was laid for a college at Cambridge in Mas­sachusetts. It was named Harvard College (now Harvard University) in honor of the Rev. John Harvard, who gave a large sum of money and his library to this institution. In 1701 another college was es­tablished in Connecticut. First lo­cated at Saybrook, it was removed to New Haven in 1716. Two years later it received the name of Yale in honor of Elihu Yale, who gave generously toward its support. With fond reference to Elihu Yale, Yale University is now often spo­ken of as Old Eli. 3. The Dutch Reformed Come to New York and New Jersey The hardy and ambitious Dutch­men were not to be outdone by their English neighbors across the North Sea. In 1623 they estab­lished two trading posts in Ameri­ca: the one at the present site of Albany on the upper Hudson River, in New York, the other near the present site of Camden on the Del­aware River in New Jersey. OLD CHURCH IN THE FORT, ALBANY This was one of the early churches built in New York State by the Dutch Re­formed settlers of the 17th century. They called the Hudson the North River, and the Delaware the South River. Prince Maurice, of the house of Orange-Nassau, was at the head of the Dutch Republic at that time. So the Dutch called the post on the Hudson Fort Orange, and the post on the Dela­ware Fort Nassau. In 1626 Peter Minuit came out as the first gov­ernor. He bought the island of Manhattan in the mouth of the Hudson from the Indians. At the southern tip of that island the Dutch built a third fort, which they called New Amsterdam. They called the entire colony New Netherlands. It was only four years after the famous Synod of Dordt (ch. 38, sec. 4) that the Dutch started their colony in America. The Reformed State Church of the Netherlands was then in full strength and vigor. So it was the Dutch Reformed Church which the Dutch estab­lished in the new world. This Church was under the supervision of the Classis of Amsterdam. The first church was established in 1628 under the leadership of the Rev. Jonas Michaelius. The second minister was Everardus Bogardus, who came in 1633. During his active pastorate two meeting houses were erected in New Am­sterdam. The first was a plain, wooden, barnlike building. The second was built of stone; it was seventy-two feet long and fifty feet wide and cost 2500 guilders (about $1700) — an enormous sum for that time. The most outstanding of the co­lonial ministers in New Nether­lands was John Van Mekelenburg, usually called Megapolensis. He served the Church faithfully, and also took an interest in the Indians. He learned the language of the Mo­hawks and preached to them. It is claimed that he was the first Prot­estant missionary to the Indians. THE COLONISTS BRING THE CHURCH TO THE NEW WORLD Adapted from This Is America’s Story, by Wilder, Ludlum, and Brown. Courtesy Houghton Mifflin Company. In 1664, when Peter Stuyvesant was an elder in the Dutch Re­formed Church of New Amsterdam and governor of the New Nether­lands, this colony was captured by the English and renamed New York. The Dutch Reformed Church was allowed to carry on its work unhindered. Thirty years later there was a great variety of re­ligious faiths in the colony. There were almost as many English Sep­aratists as Dutch Reformed. Be­sides, there was a sprinkling of French Huguenots, Lutherans, Anglicans, and Jews. From that time on the Dutch Reformed Church in America made but little progress until it was awakened to new life by Theodore Frelinghuysen. We shall hear more about him presently (ch. 47, sec. 2). 4. Roger Williams Founds a Baptist Church In the early months of the year 1631 there landed at the port of Boston with his comely wife a young English minister by the name of Roger Williams. The Con­gregational Church was the Estab­lished State Church of the Massa­chusetts colony. But Williams be­lieved in the separation of Church and State. Almost immediately this got him into trouble with the church authorities in Boston. He then became minister of the Pilgrim Church at Plymouth. Here he made friends of the Narragan­sett Indians and learned their lan­guage. This was to be of great use to him later on. In 1634 he was called to the Con­gregational Church in Salem. He served there for two years, and won a number of the members to his view about the separation of Church and State. In the fall of the year 1635 the General Court sentenced him to leave the Massachusetts colony within six weeks. But Williams at this time was in poor health, and the court allowed him to wait until the following spring. Williams at once withdrew from the ministry of the church in Salem; but his friends and followers then gath­ered at his house. There he preached to them on the very points for which he had been censured. This aroused the court to action, and Williams was ordered to leave the colony at once. Williams took a mortgage on his house to raise money, left his wife and two children in Salem, and plunged into the wilderness. It was the dead of winter. For fourteen weeks he wandered about in the deep snows of the forest. Then the Indians, whom he had befriended back in Plymouth, took him in. Late the following summer he pur­chased from them a plot of ground at the mouth of the Mohassuck River. Soon followers of Williams came from Massachusetts, and to­gether they founded the town of Providence. This was the begin­ning of the state of Rhode Island. In 1638 a church was organized at Providence. A Mr. Holliman, who had been a member of the church in Salem, rebaptized Wil­liams. Thereupon Williams rebap­tized Holliman and ten others. The first Baptist church in America had come into being. When in 1647 the government of Rhode Island was set up, it was founded upon the principles advo­cated by Roger Williams: separa­tion of Church and State, church, membership not a requirement for voting, and complete liberty of re­ligion. These principles have be­come fundamental American prin­ciples of government. Baptist views were adopted by quite a number of members of the Congregational churches in the older Puritan colonies. Among them was Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard. The first Baptist church in Mas­sachusetts was organized in 1663 at Rehoboth by a Welsh Baptist minister, John Myles. Later it was removed to a place near the Rhode Island border called Swansea. This church has had an uninterrupted existence down to the present day. It was, however, not in New Eng­land but in the Middle Colonies that Baptist churches flourished most. The first Baptist Association in America, consisting of five churches, met at Philadelphia in 1707. The year 1742 is considered a turning point in the history of the American Baptists. In that year the Baptist Association of Phila­delphia adopted a Confession of Faith which was strongly Calvin­istic. Up to this time Arminian Baptists had been the more numer­ous, especially in New England. From this time on the majority of American Baptists have been Cal­vinistic in their doctrine. The Phil­adelphia Association became and has remained the strongest Bap­tist body. The growth of the Baptist Church in America was not rapid. About a hundred years after Roger Williams landed in Massachusetts there were less than twenty-five Baptist churches in New England, and less than thirty in the middle colonies. The rapid growth of the Baptist Church in the South came in a later period. Roger Williams was not the founder of the Baptist Church in America. The Church he organized in Providence was the first of the Baptist churches in America but not their mother, for not a single Baptist church branched off from it; and the part played by Williams in American Baptist history was exceedingly small. Most American Baptist churches owe their origin to small groups of men and women who were Baptists before they came to America. The greater num­ber of these were of English and Welsh stock. The great significance of Roger Williams lies in the fact that he stood bravely and firmly for com­plete separation of Church and State. This principle of separation was a great contribution on the part of the Baptists to the solving of a problem that had caused trouble ever since the conversion of the emperor Constantine the Great in 312 (ch. 5, sec. 6; ch. 17, sec. 3). The principle of freedom of re­ligion followed naturally from the principle of separation of Church and State. These principles form one of America’s most beautiful ornaments. And those who had the foremost part in the fashioning of that ornament were the Baptists. 5. The Catholics Experience Slow Growth in the Colonial Era The Roman Catholic Church came to America with the founding of the colony of Maryland. In 1632 King Charles I of England granted to George Calvert and his heirs the territory around Chesapeake Bay. This George Calvert was made the first Lord Baltimore by the king. He was a recent convert to Catholicism. He named the territory Maryland after the wife of the king. Soon after having received his grant of territory in America the first Lord Baltimore died. He was succeeded by his son Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, who in 1634 established the first settle­ment in the new colony, which he named St. Mary after the mother of Jesus. It is very interesting that the first English colony in America in which religious toleration was es­tablished by law was founded by a Catholic. The Catholic Church had nothing to do with this. It was entirely the personal idea of the founder of the colony. With Lord Baltimore freedom of religion was not a principle, as it was with Roger Williams, but a matter of policy. In order to make his colony profitable, Lord Balti­more needed settlers to whom he could sell the land. A small number of Roman Catholics were among the first settlers, but the great mass of Catholics in England did not care to come to the new country. So Lord Baltimore had to draw his settlers from the ranks of the Prot­estants. These from the very be­ginning formed the great majority of the colonists. It was to protect his small minority of Catholics that Lord Baltimore decreed re­ligious toleration for all the re­ligious bodies in his colony — ex­cept for people who did not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. Against the latter he decreed death and confiscation of property. In 1649 the Maryland Assembly, at the request of Lord Baltimore, passed the Act of Toleration. Al­though this act was based upon considerations of policy and not of principle, it is nevertheless an im­portant milestone in the history of religious liberty in America. In 1692 the Baltimore family lost its possessions in America. Maryland was made a royal colony, and the Church of England was set up as the Established or State Church. Under the rule of the Baltimores the Catholic Church had grown but slowly. At the time they lost Mary­land the Catholics formed only one fourth of the population. Yet from these small beginnings there was to develop the great expansion of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States which we see today. 6. The Quakers Persist in the Face of Persecution The Quakers were among the most interesting of the religious groups which came to America. They were possessed of a strong missionary spirit. Ten years after George Fox started his work in England (ch. 38, sec. 6-8) some of his followers appeared in America. By the end of the century they could be found in every one of the English colonies. From the beginning many Quak­er women did missionary work. The first Quakers to appear in America were two women, Mary Fisher and Ann Austin. They ar­rived in Boston in 1656; but before they could land, orders were given by the Puritans that they should be kept on board the ship. After that they were put in prison for five weeks. The jail windows were boarded up so that they could neither see out nor be seen. Then they were sent back to Barbados, the place from which they had come. The ship which took the two women was barely out of sight when another vessel entered the port of Boston bringing eight other Quakers. These were imprisoned for eleven weeks, and then they also were sent out of the colony. The Massachusetts colony passed several laws forbidding Quakers to enter. In 1661 a law was passed imposing the death penalty upon Quakers who returned after having been banished. In spite of these severe laws the Quakers con­tinued to come. At last the laws against the Quakers were sus­pended. The story was the same in the other New England colonies. The Quakers appeared in New York at about the same time that they came to New England. For a short time they were persecuted there. Outside of the so-called Quaker colonies — New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania—and with the exception of Rhode Island and the Carolinas, the Quakers were persecuted in every one of the English colonies. The first Monthly Meetings in America were formed at Sandwich and Scituate in Massachusetts be­fore 1660. The New England Year­ly Meeting was established in 1661. It is the oldest Yearly Meeting in America. George Fox visited America in 1672. He made a number of con­verts and established several new meetings. By 1681 more than a thousand colonists had come to New Jersey. Most of them were Quakers. They settled in West Jersey; and Bur­lington on the Delaware, founded in 1677, became for a time the most important Quaker center. In 1681 Pennsylvania was granted to William Penn, and the next year Delaware was added, though later this became a separate colony. No other single Englishman made such a success of his colonial enterprise as did Penn. He not only granted religious freedom, but also advertised his colony in England, Holland, and Germany. As a result a stream of colonists poured into Pennsylvania from all these countries and also from France. While the majority of the early colonists to Pennsylvania were Quakers, Penn estimated in 1685 that only half the population of his colony was English. The number of Friends, as the Quakers are officially called, con­tinued to increase. By 1760 their number was thirty thousand. But as numbers increased the spiritual life declined. Religion among the Friends was described as lifeless and dry. In the nineteenth century the Friends experienced significant revivals. In 1827-28 the Hicksites, so named after liberal leader Elias Hicks, separated from the Ortho­dox branch. The Friends have established many schools and col­leges, and they are very active in missionary work. 7. The German Reformed Settle in Pennsylvania Between 1727 and 1745 a large number of Germans came to Penn­sylvania. For the most part they came without ministers or school­masters; consequently several of the earliest German Reformed churches were formed without pastors. The first German Re­formed church was established in 1719 at Germantown, ten miles north of Philadelphia. By 1725 there were three German Re­formed churches. These churches asked John Philip Boehm, who had been a schoolmaster at Worms, to act as their pastor. He began to preach and to baptize. But there was one difficulty. Boehm had never been ordained as a minister. He and his friends asked the ad­vice of the Dutch Reformed churches in New York, and then of the Classis of Amsterdam. Boehm admitted that he had vio­lated the order of the Reformed church by preaching and baptizing without ordination. The classis stated that under the circum­stances the work of Boehm must be considered lawful, and he was properly ordained as minister in 1729. This was the beginning of a close relationship between the Ger­man Reformed and the Dutch Re­formed churches in America. Many Swiss Reformed settled in that area also, between the Dela­ware and the Schuylkill rivers. Most of the German immigrants to Pennsylvania were poor. On their way to America they passed through the Dutch ports, where they aroused the sympathy of the Reformed Church in the Nether­lands. An appeal was made to this group to take over the care of the German Reformed churches in America, and they consented. Michael Schlatter, a native of Switzerland, heard of this. He went to Holland and presented himself as a candidate for minis­terial work among the German Re­formed in America. The Classis of Amsterdam accepted him, and he set sail in 1746. Schlatter’s chief mission was to organize the German Reformed churches in America into a synod. He was full of energy and zeal. He visited all the larger German Re­formed churches, and the newly organized synod held its first meet­ing in Philadelphia in September, 1747. At the request of this synod he went to Holland, and in a short time raised $48,000 to help the poor German Reformed churches in America. This aid was given on condition that these churches re­main under the Classis of Amster­dam. When he returned to Ameri­ca he brought with him besides the money six young ministers and seven hundred Bibles for free distribution. This greatly strength­ened the German Reformed Church in colonial America. GLORIA DEI CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA This Swedish Lutheran Church on Swan­son Street is the oldest church in Phil­adelphia. It was dedicated in 1700 and is still in daily use. In most respects the German Re­formed and the German Lutherans in America were much alike in worship and doctrine. They worked harmoniously together. In many places the German Reformed and the German Lutherans held serv­ices in the same church building. 8. The Lutherans Weather a Crisis Lutheranism in America had its beginnings among the Dutch on the banks of the Hudson and among the Swedes on the banks of the Delaware. Two churches are still standing as monuments to the early history of Swedish Lutheran­ism in America: Old Gloria Dei Church on the bank of the Dela­ware in South Philadelphia, and Old Swedes Church in Wilmington. Around both churches are grave­yards in which rest the remains of these Swedish Lutherans. In the southern end of the graveyard around Old Swedes Church in Wilmington lies buried the body of Torkillus, the first Lutheran minis­ter in America. But however interesting the his­tory of these Dutch and Swedish Lutheran churches may be, they were historically unimportant in comparison with the German Lu­theran churches. As already noted, swarms of Germans came to Amer­ica between the years 1727 and 1745. Of all the religious groups among these German immigrants, the Lutherans were the most nu­merous. All these Germans were desper­ately poor, and the Lutherans, like the Reformed, came without pas­tors or schoolmasters. As a result they were slow in organizing churches. But after a time a num­ber of German Lutheran ministers came to the colonies, among them Daniel Falckner and Gerhard Henkel. One of the Lutherans, John Christian Schulz, returned to Eu­rope to collect funds and to obtain ministers and teachers. The ap­peal struck a responsive chord in Francke in Halle (ch. 39, sec. 4, 6). Francke began looking for a young man suitable for the work among the German Lutherans in America. Finally his choice fell upon Henry Melchior Miihlenberg. Miihlenberg was well educated and had had experience as a teacher in Francke’s orphanage at Halle. Al­though a Pietist and severely criti­cal of conditions in the Lutheran Church in Germany, he was thor­oughly loyal. He loved the Luther­an Church and was deeply con­cerned about its growth in the new world. The outlook for Lutheranism in America was not altogether en­couraging. The Germans were more numerous than any other non-English inhabitants in the colonies; but they were widely scattered and were divided into many sects — although the Luther­ans were the most numerous. Fur­thermore, at this time Count von Zinzendorf was in America and was working hard to unite all the German religious groups into one body. If his plan should succeed, it would dim the hope of building up in America the Lutheran Church as an independent organi­zation. Muhlenberg responded to the pleas of Francke, and in 1742 set sail for America. His coming opened a new period in the history of American Lutheranism. He had come out as the pastor of three Lutheran churches in the Phila­delphia area. However, he had come unannounced, and when he arrived in Philadelphia in Novem­ber he found the churches in a dis­organized state. The majority of the Philadelphia churches favored Zinzendorf’s plan of union. Many congregations had unworthy men as pastors. But Muhlenberg was an energetic and resourceful man. Within one month he was in com­plete control of the field, and before the end of the year he was installed as pastor of the three German Lu­theran churches—in Philadelphia, New Hanover, and the Old Trappe Church in New Providence. Besides caring for his three con­gregations he labored far and wide to build up the churches that had no pastors. He regularly sent re­ports of his work to the authorities in Halle. This kept the American field before the Lutheran churches in Germany, and as a result money and men were sent for the support of the work in the colony. In 1745 three ministers came out from Halle with funds to build new churches. In each one of these churches a Christian day school was opened for children of the parish. By the year 1748 there were several strong churches and able ministers. New congregations had been organized, and many young men offered themselves as candi­dates for the ministry. In this same year six ministers and twenty-four members representing ten churches met in Philadelphia and organized the first Lutheran Synod of America. There were around seventy Lutheran churches in America at this time. And when the War for Independence broke out the number of German Luther­ans in Pennsylvania alone had reached about seventy-five thou­sand. HOME OF CHRISTOPHER SOWER Brethren Missionary Herald Company This house near Philadelphia was erected in 1731. The German Baptist Brethren held their meetings upstairs. The printing was done in the building at the rear 9. Various German Groups Make Their Homes in America Let us go back, now, to the pre­vious century, and see what other German groups came to America in those early years. William Penn advertised his colony far and wide. He even made a trip to Europe to tell about it. As a result, in 1683 thirteen Ger­man Mennonite (ch. 37, sec. 9) families came to America. They made a settlement ten miles north of Philadelphia and named their colony Germantown. Theirs was the first German settlement in America. A number of Swiss Men­nonites settled in what is now Lan­caster County. Another religious group to come to Pennsylvania were the German Baptists, who arrived in 1719. The other people in the colony gave them the name Dunkers, which comes from the German word tunken, meaning "to dip." They first settled at Germantown, but soon left to make other new settle­ments in that area. From the beginning they held religious serv­ices in their homes. A church was not organized until 1723. Within a few years these German Baptist Brethren, or Dunkers, scattered in all directions. In many respects the Dunkers agreed in doctrine with the Quak­ers and the Mennonites. They were influenced by the Quakers in that they adopted a very plain style of dress. They practised trine im­mersion, that is, three-fold im­mersion in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Adults only were baptized. In their form of church government they were con­gregational. The most important Dunker in colonial times was Christopher Sower. He was the first German printer in America. He was also the first to edit and print a Ger­man newspaper. After his death his son carried on the work. The Sower Bible was of great impor­tance in the religious life of the early German settlers. Published in 1743, it was the first Bible printed in America in a European lan­guage. The Moravians (ch. 39, sec. 10) came to Pennsylvania in 1740 and settled on a tract of five thousand acres at the forks of the Delaware River. Their great object was to do missionary work among the destitute and scattered German settlers in Pennsylvania and among the Indians. In 1741 Count von Zinzendorf himself arrived in Philadelphia. Just before Christ­mas he came to the Moravian set­tlement at the forks of the Delaware, and on Christmas Eve he named the place Bethlehem, mean­ing House of Bread, "in token of his fervent desire and ardent hope that here the true bread of life might be broken for all who hun­gered." Bethlehem, where today the great Bethlehem steel works is located, is still the chief Moravian center in America. 10. Presbyterianism Takes Root and Grows Rapidly As we saw in Part IV of our book, Presbyterianism in England acquired great strength during the seventeenth century. The moment came when this Church was about to be the Established or State Church. Although in England it did not actually reach this position, in Scotland the Presbyterian Church did become the State Church. In America several of the fore­most Puritan leaders, such as John Eliot, the apostle to the Indians, Increase and Cotton Mather, and others, were favorable toward Presbyterianism. In several of the New England churches Presbyte­rian ideas of church organization were put into operation, and in Connecticut the Presbyterian sys­tem was fully adopted. There the names Congregational and Presby­terian came to be used interchange­ably. The Dutch Reformed Church in the colonies of New York and New Jersey was presbyterian in its form of church government. When New England Congregationalist Puritans moved into New York and New Jersey their change to Presbyterianism came about easily. And so these New England Con­gregationalists established in Long Island several churches with the presbyterian form of government. These were the small beginnings of this denomination in America. Then a mass immigration of Scotch Irish took place and greatly increased the growth of the Pres­byterian Church in the new world. The Scotch Irish were really not Irish at all, but Scotchmen who had gone to live in Ireland. They were staunch Presbyterians. Although some came earlier, the mass migra­tion to America began in the early part of the eighteenth century and continued until well past the middle of that century. The earliest parties came to New England, but later groups settled in New York and especially Pennsylvania. From the latter state they gradual­ly made their way into western Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The man who laid the foundation for organized Presbyterianism in America was Francis Makemie, who came to eastern Maryland in 1683 and established preaching stations in the Scotch Irish com­munities there. For several years he went up and down Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, preaching in the scattered settle­ments. Through the work of Makemie and his helpers a number of churches were organized as early as 1706, and by 1716 there were seventeen Presbyterian ministers serving in the colonies. In this year the first synod was held. Throughout the years when the number of ministers was small and requests for preaching services were many, the Church held stead­fast to its rule that only trained, ordained men should serve as min­isters. In 1710 a certain David Evans was preaching among the Welsh settlers in Virginia. He was a gifted young man, whose preach­ing gave spiritual food and guid­ance to his hearers. Yet, the Pres­bytery decided that he "had done very ill," because he was not or­dained. In spite of the great need Evans was told to lay aside all other business for a whole year, and apply himself diligently to learning and study. Once a year the Presbytery examined his progress, and five full years passed before Evans was finally ordained. An important event for Presby­terianism in America was the pass­ing of the Adopting Act by the Synod of 1729. This Act required all Presbyterian ministers to sub­scribe to the Westminster Confes­sion. As the Scotch Irish immigration increased, especially after 1720, the Church grew more and more rapidly, and by the time the War for Independence began these sturdy Presbyterians were to be found in every one of the English colonies. Everywhere they were in sufficient numbers to be of consid­erable influence. 11. Methodism Arrives Late in the Colonial Period Since the Methodist movement in England did not get under way until 1739 (ch. 40, sec. 8), Method­ism was naturally late in making its appearance in America. It was not introduced until almost the end of the colonial period. The man who brought Method­ism to America was Philip Em-bury. He began work in New York in his own private dwelling in the year 1766. At about the same time Robert Strawbridge labored in Maryland. In 1771 John Wesley sent Francis Asbury over from England to further the work. But the Methodist Church was not established in America until after the War for Independence. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 52. CHAPTER 47: THE CHURCH EXPERIENCES A GREAT AWAKENING ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47 The Church Experiences a Great Awakening The Colonies Experience a Spiritual Awakening The Work of Frelinghuysen, Tennent, and Edwards George Whitefield and the Great Awak­ening The Aftermath 1. The Colonies Experience a Spiritual Awakening You may recall that in the eight­eenth century the winds of Deism and Rationalism blew over Eng­land and blighted the religious life of the churches in that country (ch. 43, sec. 4). They likewise chilled much of the religious life of the churches in America into a deep sleep. In the early part of the eighteenth century religious life in America was at a low ebb. The Puritans who had founded the New England colonies were men and women of a deep religious life and strong religious convictions; their grandchildren had lost nearly all religious fervor. Then a tremendous change came over the religious life of the col­onies. It has become known as the Great Awakening. A series of re­ligious revivals took place in vari­ous colonies here, there, and every­where. The Great Awakening in America and the Methodist move­ment in England occurred at the same time. Both of these had for their background the influence of the Moravians and of German Pie­tism, of which Spener and Francke were the leaders and the Univer­sity of Halle became the center (ch. 39, sec. 4). The Methodist movement in England and the Great Awakening in America came together in the person of George Whitefield. Later we shall see how this came about. 2. The Work of Frelinghuysen, Tennent, and Edwards Theodore J. Frelinghuysen, who in the Netherlands had been under German Pietistic influence, arrived in America in 1720 to become the pastor of some Dutch Reformed churches on the frontier in New Jersey, in the valley of the Raritan River. Frelinghuysen was a preach­er of outstanding ability. In his sermons he put all the emphasis on the need of conversion, and his fervent preaching soon bore fruit. Many new members were added to his church. Other churches heard about the remarkable changes brought about by his preaching and requested him to preach to them. In this way the revival spread beyond the valley of the Raritan. William Tennent was the min­ister of a Presbyterian church in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania. He had four sons: Gilbert, William Jr., John, and Charles. The oldest son, Gilbert, had already been educated by his father for the ministry, when William Tennent built in a corner of his large yard a log cabin to be used as a schoolhouse. In this school, which was nicknamed the "Log College," the Reverend W. Tennent trained his three younger sons and in course of time fifteen other young men for the ministry. He trained his students very thor­oughly in Latin, Greek, and He­brew, in logic and in theology. Above all he stirred in them a fer­vent evangelical spirit. All four of his sons became ministers in the Presbyterian Church and carried on in the spirit of their father. In the year in which his father opened his "Log College," Gilbert Tennent became the minister of a Presbyterian church in the neigh­borhood of the Reverend Theodore Frelinghuysen. The latter helped the young Presbyterian minister in every way. He permitted him to hold services in the churches of the Dutch Reformed. Tennent, of course, used the English language, and to this some of the members of the Dutch Reformed Church objected strongly. But through the warm evangelical preaching of Gil­bert Tennent and the graduates of the Log College, a revival got under way which in course of time ran like a forest fire among the Presby­terians from Long Island to Vir­ginia. The name of Jonathan Edwards is inseparably linked with the Great Awakening in New England. In many ways Jonathan Edwards was the outstanding intellectual figure in colonial America, and one of the greatest minds America has ever produced. He was born in 1703 in East Windsor, Connecticut, where his father was minister of the Congregational Church. He was graduated from Yale at the early age of seventeen years, and in 1727, after several years of further study and of preaching and teach­ing, he became minister of the Congregational church in North­ampton in central Massachusetts. The church was in a state of spiritual deadness. In December 1734 Edwards preached a series of sermons on Justification. These sermons were directed against the tendency toward Arminianism, which was then developing in New England. With great vividness the tall, slender, grave young minister pictured the wrath of God, from which he urged sinners to flee. Soon a great change came over the church and the town of Northamp­ton. In the spring and summer which followed the town seemed to be full of the presence of God. There was scarcely a single person, young or old, who was not con­cerned about the eternal things. During the first year of the revival more than three hundred persons professed conversion. JONATHAN EDWARDS Bettmann Archive In the next few years revivals, independent of each other, took place in various parts of New Eng­land. By 1740 the revival move­ment had become general through­out New England. Mass conver­sions were common. Out of a pop­ulation of 300,000 between 25,000 and 50,000 new members were added to the churches. The moral tone of New England was lifted to a higher plane. The revival was attended with strong emotional and physical man­ifestations. Strong men fell as though shot, and women became hysterical. Edwards preached at Enfield, Connecticut, in July, 1741. His subject was: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." He had to stop and request silence that he might be heard, for there was such a deep breathing of distress, and loud weeping. 3. George Whitefield and the Great Awakening George Whitefield had a large share in the Great Awakening. He was born in Gloucester, England, on December 16, 1714. His father was a tavern keeper. The boy grew up in poverty amidst scenes of low morality. But there was in Glouces­ter an endowed school. The young George became a pupil there and prepared himself for college. In 1733 he entered Oxford Univer­sity, where he became a member of the Holy Club. After a serious illness he was converted, and in 1736 he was ordained a minister in the Episcopal Church of Eng­land. You will remember that White-field labored with the Wesleys to spread the Gospel in England (ch. 40, sec. 6, 7, and 11) . But he did his greatest work in America. From 1738 to 1770 he made seven preaching tours to America. In those years he went up and down the American colonies from New England to Georgia, preach­ing. Wherever he preached huge crowds came to hear him. Some­times he spoke to as many as twenty thousand people. Gifted with marvelous eloquence, he was the greatest preacher of the eight­eenth century and one of the great­est of all time. Through his preach­ing thousands were converted, and the spiritual life of many other thousands was quickened. Whitefield died September 30, 1770, in Newburyport, Massachu­setts, where he lies buried under the pulpit of the Old South Pres­byterian Church. 4. The Aftermath In time the interest in spiritual things began to grow less, and the revival called the Great Awaken­ing burned itself out. As early as the years 1744 to 1748 Jonathan Edward’s church in Northampton, according to his own statement, was utterly dead. In those years not a single conversion took place. As the revival faded away cer­tain disagreements arose. The Con­gregational ministers in New Eng­land and the Reformed ministers in New York were divided as to its value. Some favored it, others were against it. The Presbyterian Church was split over the question, though later it reunited. The Great Awakening also brought about the development of the New England theology, which in the end led to a great weakening of historic Cal­vinism among the Congregation­alists, the Reformed, and the Pres­byterians. At the same time a liberal tendency began to show itself, especially in the churches of Boston and vicinity, which in the early nineteenth century resulted in the formation of Unitarian churches. GEORGE WHITEFIELD Religious News Service The Great Awakening power­fully fostered the spirit of revival­ism, which has been until recent years the outstanding feature of the life of the Church in America. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 53. CHAPTER 48: THE CHURCH AND THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48 The Church and the War for Independence The Church and the War for Independence The Great Awakening Promotes Colonial Unity The Churches Oppose the Idea of an An­glican Bishop for America The Episcopalians Are Divided in Their Loyalty Most of the Churches Wholeheartedly Sup­port the War The Churches at the End of the Colonial Period 1. The Great Awakening Promotes Colonial Unity The churches in America did much to promote the desire for in­dependence, and to support the war which was waged to attain it. The Great Awakening had a large significance for the colonies not only religiously but also politi­cally. Originally the thirteen Eng­lish colonies in America were en­tirely separate from each other. They had very little to do with one another. It was through the Great Awakening that they experienced for the first time a common inter­est and a common feeling. The in­habitants of the colonies took a common interest in the leaders of the Great Awakening—Whitetield, Edwards, Tennent, and others ­before the names of Washington and Franklin became for them symbols of a common cause. 2. The Churches Oppose the Idea of an Anglican Bishop for America There was another church mat­ter which became politically impor­tant. It was the long-drawn-out agitation for the appointment of a Church of England bishop for the colonies. Such an appointment would have been a good thing for the Episcopal Church in the colonies, but for that very reason the other churches strongly opposed it. The Reverend Jonathan Mayhew, minister of the West Church in Boston, said that the purpose of appointing a bishop for America was to root out Presbyterianism. He warned that, "People have no security against being unmercifully priest-ridden but by keeping all imperious bishops, and all other clergymen who love to lord it over God’s heritage, from getting their feet in the stirrup." At this time Timothy Cutler, president of Yale, and his whole teaching staff were converted to Episcopalianism. This made the threat of the appointment of an American bishop seem very real. The opposition became even more determined. Bishops were de­nounced as apostolical monarchs or as right reverend and holy mon­archs. It was claimed that if bishops were once established in America, they would introduce canon law, which was regarded as a poison and a pollution. Starting in 1766 the Congrega­tionalists of New England and the Presbyterians of the middle col­onies united in annual conventions to prevent the establishment of an Episcopacy in America. A good many Episcopalians themselves were in opposition. Arthur Lee, an American diplomat and a man prominent in the early history of our country, regarded the idea of a bishop as an attempt to subvert our civil and religious liberties. The cutting of the ecclesiastical bonds which tied the colonies to England was an important step toward the severing of the political bonds. 3. The Episcopalians Are Divided in Their Loyalty When the War for Independence broke out, the majority of both the clergy and the members of the Episcopal Church in New England remained loyal to the mother coun­try. They were known as Loyalists, or Tories. In the southern colonies, especially in Maryland and Vir­ginia, they took their stand on the American side. In the middle col­onies they were about equally di­vided. William White, rector of the Episcopal Church in Philadel­phia, became chaplain of Congress. Two-thirds of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Episcopalians. Six were either sons or grandsons of Episcopal clergymen. Washington, Madison, Franklin, Marshall, Patrick Henry, and Alexander Hamilton were at least nominally members of the Episcopal Church. 4. Most of the Churches Whole­heartedly Support the War With few exceptions the Congre­gationalist ministers of New Eng­land were American trained, grad­uates of either Harvard or Yale. They gave to the American cause all they could give of the approval and support of religion. When the news of the repeal of the Stamp Act came, Charles Chauncy of First Church in Boston preached on the text: "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." On the occasion of the so-called Boston Massacre John Lathrop preached on the sub­ject: "Innocent Blood Crying to God from the Streets of Boston." The New England ministers made resistance and independence a holy cause. KING’S CHAPEL, BOSTON King’s Chapel was the first Protestant Episcopal church in New England. Its organi­zation dates back to 1686. A Bible sent by King James II is still in use in the Chapel. This church was a favorite place of worship among officers of the British army. In 1785 King’s Chapel became the first Unitarian church in America. When actual hostilities began many New England Congregation­alist ministers became "fighting parsons." They acted as chaplains, recruiting agents, officers, and combat soldiers, and they contrib­uted money out of their small sal­aries. The Presbyterians as one man took the side of the colonial patri­ots. Their outstanding leader dur­ing the war was the Reverend John Witherspoon, who had come from Scotland to serve as president of the College of New Jersey. Witherspoon was selected as a del­egate to the Continental Congress, and was the only minister among the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His name is still held in high honor among the Presbyterians, and the building in Philadelphia which houses the of­fices of the northern branch of the Presbyterian Church is named after him. There were other important lead­ers among the Presbyterian clergy. George Duffield, minister of the Third Presbyterian Church of Phil­adelphia, rebuked his congregation because there were so many men present. He said, "Tomorrow there will be one less, and no prayer meeting Wednesday evening." JOHN WITHERSPOON Presbyterian Historical Society Portrait by A. H. Ritchie At the end of the war the Synod of the Presbyterian Church pro­claimed a day of thanksgiving for the establishment of the independ­ence of the United States. The Dutch Reformed, the Ger­man Reformed, and the German Lutheran churches gave their hearty support to the war. Much property of the Dutch Reformed Church was destroyed or damaged. One of their church buildings in New York City was used by the British as a riding school, and an­other as a hospital. The clergy of the Reformed churches did all in their power to help the cause of freedom. At the opening of the war one of the Ger­man Reformed ministers preached on the text: "Better is a poor and wise child, than an old and foolish king." To the Hessian prisoners, Germans who had hired themselves out as soldiers for the British, the German Reformed minister at Lan­caster preached on the text: "Ye have sold yourselves for naught; and ye shall be redeemed without money." A son of the elder Muhl­enberg (ch. 46, sec. 8) received a commission as colonel in a Virginia regiment. Having finished his fare­well sermon, he drew aside his robe and, pointing to his officer’s uni­form underneath, said: "As de­clares Holy Writ, there is a time for all things. There is a time to preach, and there is a time to fight, and now it is time to fight." Then with the roll of drums he stood at the door of his church and enlisted its members. Thereupon he marched off to the war. His broth­er Conrad Muhlenberg, minister of Christ Lutheran Church in New York, was forced to flee at the approach of the British. He was very active and prominent in all the political affairs of the time, and became the first Speaker of the House of the national Congress. The Baptists gave wholehearted support to the war. They used the circumstances of the times to ad­vance their principle of the sepa­ration of Church and State. The Quakers and the Moravians were conscientious objectors to war, but they went as far in its support as their principles allowed. The Methodists, who had but re­cently made their appearance in America, and who were as yet few in number, found themselves in a difficult position. John Wesley, the accepted leader of Methodism, took the side of the English. The result was that the American patriots looked askance at all Methodists in America. When the war began Wesley advised his followers in America to remain free of all parties, and say not one word against one or the other side. All Wesley’s English preachers in America returned to England ex­cept Asbury, who openly took the American side. In Maryland many Methodists were thrown into jail. Some were beaten and tarred and feathered. All the native American Methodist preachers were loyal to the cause of liberty. In spite of all handi­caps, Methodism continued to grow during the war. Their numbers in­creased from less than 4,000 in 1775 to more than 13,000 in 1780. The Catholics at the time of the war were only a small body, but they gave almost complete support to the American cause. One of the signers of the Declaration of Inde­pendence was Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a member of the wealthy Catholic Carroll family of Maryland. He pledged his fortune to the cause of freedom. 5. The Churches at the End of the Colonial Period It has been estimated that at the close of the colonial period there were about 3,105 local churches in America — about 1,000 in each of the three main sections of the coun­try: New England, the middle col­onies, and the southern colonies. The Congregationalists were the most numerous, having 658 churches. Then followed the Pres­byterians, the Baptists, the Episco­palians, the Quakers, the Dutch Reformed and German Reformed, the Lutherans, and the Roman Catholics. You will notice that the small German sects and the Methodists are absent from the list. The small German sects remained small, and their beliefs led them to keep strict­ly to themselves; consequently they had little influence outside their own circles. The Methodists on the other hand were destined to grow very large and exert wide influ­ence. But when the colonial period came to a close they had not yet been organized as a separate church. They still belonged to the Church of England. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 54. CHAPTER 49: THE CHURCHES IN THE NEW NATIONAL PERIOD ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49 The Churches in the New National Period The National Period Brings New Develop­ments The Colonies Disestablish Their State Churches Independent American Churches Organize on a National Scale Other Churches Sever Their European Ties 1. The National Period Brings New Developments Two great periods may be distin­guished in the history of the United States: the colonial period and the period of national inde­pendence. The War for Independ­ence was the transition from the one to the other. In the national period several new and important developments took place. Perhaps the most spec­tacular of these was the tremen­dous increase in the number of religious bodies. At the end of the colonial period there were some­thing like a dozen churches and sects. At the present time there are 213. This increase has come about partly through the rise of new or­ganizations, and partly through the splitting of churches already in existence. The innumerable sects both old and new have all remained small. Many of these small sects have sub­divided into several still smaller branches. There are for example 254,000 Adventists. They are di­vided into five groups. The Men­nonites, numbering in all 149,000, are divided into fifteen branches. One religious organization, still called a church, has placed itself really outside the realm of Chris­tianity, because it denies the doc­trine of the Trinity. It is the Uni­tarian body. It has never flourished, and today it has around 70,000 members. There are three organizations which are counted as religious bodies but which are not Christian churches. They are those of the Mormons, the Christian Scientists, and the Spiritualists. All three had their beginning in America. Another development in the na­tional period is of the utmost im­portance. The tendency of nearly all the large churches in this pe­riod has been, in America as in Europe, away from historic Prot­estantism in the direction of Mod­ernism. 2. The Colonies Disestablish Their State Churches At the end of the colonial period and at the beginning of the na­tional period there were two estab­lished or official churches in Amer­ica: the Congregational Church and the Episcopal Church. The Congre­gational Church was the Estab­lished Church in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. The Episcopal Church was the Es­tablished Church in New York, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro­lina, South Carolina, and Georgia. So there was an established church in nine of the thirteen colonies. An established church is a State church. It is the legally recognized church of the State. All the citi­zens of the State are supposed to belong to the State Church. In the early days people in Massachusetts who did not wish to belong to the Congregational Church were driven out of the colony. This happened to Baptists and Quakers. In the colonies in which the Episcopal Church was established, that church, through the State, hin­dered the work of the other churches. The ministers of the Es­tablished Church were the only ones given authority to perform certain religious acts. All citizens in the colonies where there was an established church had to pay taxes for its support, whether they be­longed to it or not. Other churches in the colonies were of course opposed to the Es­tablished Church. The Lutherans, the Reformed, and the Presbyte­rians each felt that their church should be the State church. The only church that was not in favor of having an established church of any kind was the Baptist Church. The Baptists, as we have seen, be­lieved in the separation of Church and State. The Quakers, or Friends, were like them in this respect. The reason that Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania were without an established church was that in these colonies the Baptists and Quakers were in the majority. The Baptist Church supported by the other dissenting churches led the fight for disestablishment. Naturally the members of the ex­isting established churches did not like to give up their advantages and special privileges. Neverthe­less early in the War for Independ­ence disestablishment came easily in New York, Maryland, and the southernmost colonies. But in Vir­ginia there was a long and hard fight to disestablish the Episcopal Church. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison took part in the action for disestablishment, but neither one of these famous states­men did as much as the simple folk known as Baptists. The disestab­lishment of the Episcopal Church in Virginia was accomplished in 1786. Thus in Virginia the principle of the separation of Church and State, from which complete free­dom of religion naturally follows, had finally triumphed. It soon spread throughout the nation. It was made a part of the first amend­ment to our national Constitution, and thus became a part of the fun­damental law of the land. 3. Independent American Churches Organize on a Na­tional Scale . In some of the churches there was no cutting of organizational ties with churches in Europe. That was because there was no official connection between them and the European churches. In these churches—the Congregational, the Baptist, the Presbyterian, and the Quakers — the process of national­ization was one of reorganization rather than of severing ties with Europe. If you recall the story of the Quakers (ch. 46, sec. 6), you will understand that they were well organized on a national basis be­fore the close of the colonial period. They had held their yearly meet­ings in New England since 1661, in Burlington since 1681, and in Phil­adelphia since 1683. Although these meetings were strongly in­fluenced by what took place in Europe, and particularly by the teachings of George Fox, the Quak­ers in America had no official ties with those in Europe. NEWINGTON CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Religious News Service This church in Newington, New Hampshire, is the oldest Congregational church in continuous use in the country. Worship services have been held there every Sunday since January 21, 1713. Notice the horse stalls behind the building ­remnants of an earlier day. The Congregationalist leaders, at the end of the War for Independ­ence, laid tremendous stress upon the independence of each local church. When the hitherto separate colonies were united as one nation, there arose among the Congrega­tionalists a movement also to unite the separate local Congregational churches in some kind of common bond. It was proposed to organize the local Congregational churches — if not in a nation-wide associa­tion, at least in state-wide associa­tions. This movement was strongly op­posed by the most influential of the Congregationalist leaders. The re­sult was that it failed. This failure of the Congregational churches to organize effectively proved to be a great handicap in their growth. During the colonial period the Con­gregationalists were the most numerous. In the national period they were outstripped by the Pres­byterians, the Episcopalians, the Methodists, and the Baptists. Later the Congregationalists also organ­ized nationally. But they have never been able to overcome the handicap they placed upon them­selves early in our national period. In theory the Baptists believe in the independence of the local church just as much as do the Congregationalists. But in spite of their theory they did organize dur­ing the war and in the years imme­diately following, in order better to carry on the fight for their great principle of the separation of Church and State. Between 1774 and 1789 they organized nineteen associations. These associations were linked together in a General Committee. 4. Other Churches Sever Their European Ties We have seen that several of the churches in America had no official connection with churches in Europe. But there were other churches that did. The Episcopalians were subject to the bishop in London, and the Roman Catholics to the vicar apos­tolic in London. The Methodists were under the control of John Wesley, and the Reformed churches were under the supervision of the Classis of Amsterdam in the Neth­erlands. However, now that the colonies in America had severed their po­litical connection with England and had become an independent nation, the churches that were more or less under the control of churches or persons in Europe likewise severed their ties with them and thus be­came independent American churches—except the Roman Cath­olic Church, which remained sub­ject to the pope in Rome. It was in the early years of the national period that the Methodists in this country established their independence. Up to this time the Methodists had belonged to the Church of England. There were among them men who preached, but none was ordained; and Wesley did not allow unordained men to administer the sacraments. For these the Methodists were depend­ent upon ministers of the Episco­pal Church. In order that the Meth­odists in America might be organ­ized as a church they needed first of all ordained clergymen. Wesley was ready to do all he could to bring this about. As a presbyter in the Church of England he felt that he had the right to ordain. And so, assisted by two clergymen of that church, he ordained Thomas Coke as super­intendent of the Methodist Socie­ties in America. Next he made provision for a creed and liturgy for the American Methodists. He remodeled the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England (ch. 30, sec. 7) by re­ducing them to twenty-four and leaving out everything that con­tained Calvinistic doctrine. He pre­pared a Sunday Service which was an abbreviated form of the English form for worship, and compiled a hymnbook thoroughly Arminian in its sentiments. These, together with a letter, he sent to America by the hands of three men — Coke, What-coat, and Vasey. FRANCIS ASBURY Methodist Information These men arrived in New York late in the fall of 1784. A confer­ence was held in Baltimore on De­cember 24. Fifty preachers were present at this "Christmas Confer­ence." Wesley’s letter was read, and it made a deep impression. The Conference decided to follow Wes­ley’s advice and to organize as an independent church. They adopted the name Methodist Episcopal. Coke and Asbury (ch. 46, sec. 11, ch. 48, sec. 4) were elected as su­perintendents, and a number of men were ordained as ministers. The creed and liturgy provided by Wesley were adopted with but slight alterations. Then the Con­ference adjourned. It had been in session only ten days, but it had accomplished something of tremen­dous importance. It had severed the official connection of the Amer­ican Methodists with their founder, John Wesley in England, and con­stituted them a national American church. This newly organized Methodist Episcopal Church started out in 1784 with some 15,000 members, gathered in since 1766 through the work of lay or unordained preach­ers. The Episcopal Church entered the national period in a rather weakened condition, due in great measure to the fact that its loyal­ties had been divided during the War for Independence. It was still subject to the bishop in London. The leadership that transformed it from a colonial church dependent upon the Church of England into an independent American church came chiefly from the states in which it had not been established. The outstanding Episcopal lead­er in America at the close of the War for Independence was William White, rector of the Episcopal Christ Church in Philadelphia. He was a thorough American, having been born and educated in this country. Toward the end of the war he wrote a pamphlet entitled, The Case of the Episcopal Church Considered. In this pamphlet he outlined a plan for the organization of the Episcopal Church as an American Church, national in char­acter and independent of the Church of England. This plan was later adopted. His proposal to grant the ordinary members of the Church representation in the An­nual Assemblies and in the Nation­al Convention shows the influence of the new American spirit. The second step in the break away from the Church of England was taken when Dr. William Smith called a conference of clergymen and laymen in the state of Mary­land. This took place at the time White’s pamphlet was published. In a document issued by this con­ference in 1780 the name Protest­ant Episcopal Church was first used. A second convention of the Maryland clergy, held in 1783, chose Dr. Smith as bishop-elect for that state. A third step toward reorganiza­tion of the Episcopal Church in America was taken in Connecticut just as the war came to an end. At an informal meeting of ten Episco­pal clergymen of that state, in 1783, Samuel Seabury, Jr., was chosen to go to England to obtain consecration as bishop. Refused in England, he went on to Scotland. There in November, 1784, in the house of John Skinner, coadjutor bishop of Aberdeen, Seabury was consecrated a bishop. Upon his re­turn to America Bishop Seabury held the first assembly of his clergy. In the fall of 1785 a General Convention met in Philadelphia. The all important work of this con­vention was the preparation of the Ecclesiastical Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. This constitution provided that the gov­erning body should be made up of an equal number of laymen and clergymen. It was adopted in 1789, and the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States had come into existence. The Dutch Reformed and the GermanReformed churches sev­ered their official connection with the Classis of Amsterdam soon after the War for Independence. They translated their creeds, cate­chisms, forms of worship, and gov­ernment and discipline from the Dutch and German respectively into English, and had these pub­lished. They also selected names in keeping with their newly estab­lished independent existence. The German Reformed Church in 1793 adopted the name The Reformed Church in the United States. The Dutch Reformed Church became known as the Reformed Church in America. At the time of the outbreak of the War for Independence there were some one hundred Lutheran congregations in the colonies. In 1796 the Lutherans adopted a constitution adapted to the needs of a church now living under the con­ditions of an independent American nation. With the adoption of this constitution the control of the Lu­theran Church in Germany over the Lutheran church in America came to an end. The Roman Catholic Church in America was under the control of the vicar apostolic in London throughout the colonial period. But the vicar was completely inactive with regard to the churches in America. When the colonies be­came an independent nation he de­clared that he considered his juris­diction over the Roman Catholic Church in the United States at an end. In 1784 the pope appointed John Carroll (ch. 48, sec. 4) superior over the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. With this ap­pointment English authority over the Catholic Church in America came formally and officially to an end, though Roman authority con­tinued. Five years later, in 1789, John Carroll was appointed bishop by the pope. He thus became the first Catholic bishop in the United States, and Baltimore, the place of his residence, the first Roman Catholic see. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 55. CHAPTER 50: THE CHURCH MOVES WEST ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50 The Church Moves West The Westward Movement Is a Challenge to the Church The Presbyterians Enter the West The Baptists Work Effectively on the Fron­tier Methodism Has Strong Appeal The Roman Catholics Make Slow but Steady Progress 1. The Westward Movement Is a Challenge to the Church The first general census taken after the United States became an independent nation was that of 1790; it showed that there were four million inhabitants. Out of this reservoir of people there be­gan to flow westward three sepa­rate streams. One from New England moved along the valley of the Mohawk, a second moved through southern Pennsylvania and Maryland, and a third moved through the valley of Virginia and the passes of the Blue Ridge Moun­tains. Endless processions of covered wagons carried the women, the old and feeble, the children and babies, and all the household goods. Men on horseback armed with rifles drove the herds of cattle. One of the great highways into the west­ern country was the Ohio River. Down this river floated huge flat­boats laden with westward moving settlers and all their belongings. A European traveling in this coun­try in 1817 said, "America is breaking up, and moving west­ward." This mass movement of the population from the old settlements along the Atlantic seaboard across the mountains into the western country is one of the great sagas of history. By 1820 this westward move­ment had populated the country both south and north of the Ohio. Twelve new states were added to the Union, ten of them west of the Alleghanies. The people who so rapidly filled the new western country were almost all native Americans; their ancestry was for the most part English, Dutch, Ger­man, and Scotch-Irish. The new western country be­tween the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River, seething with a vigorous, adventurous, and hardy population, presented to the Church a tremendous task. The future of the Church in America and therewith of the American na­tion itself would depend upon the way the churches took care of the spiritual life of these pioneers. The churches foremost in undertaking this all-important but difficult work were the Presbyterian, the Baptist, the Methodist, and the Roman Catholic. 2. The Presbyterians Enter the West The Scotch-Irish were the last Europeans to come to America in large numbers before the end of the colonial era. Naturally they had to find homes along the west­ern frontiers of the colonies. Wher­ever they settled they founded churches, and by 1760 there were Presbyterian churches along the frontier from New England to South Carolina. Consequently the Presbyterians were the most favor­ably located for taking up the work in the new West across the moun­tains; they were closest to it, and they were also most used to fron­tier conditions of life. Thousands of Scotch-Irish Pres­byterians poured from Virginia and North Carolina into the coun­try out of which the states of Ken­tucky and Tennessee were to be carved. They carried the Presby­terian Church with them. By 1802 there were three Presbyteries in Kentucky. These were organized in that year as the Synod of Ken­tucky. The Plan of Union became of very great significance at this time. The Presbyterians and the Congre­gationalists, if they are both true to their Calvinistic confession, differ only in their form of church government. When the westward migration swelled to great num­bers, both churches came to realize how large was the task facing them in the new West. To perform that task more successfully they adopted in 1801 the Plan of Union. Under this Plan of Union the two churches agreed that it would be permissible for Congregational and Presbyterian settlers in the west­ern country to found churches to­gether, and that a church so or­ganized would be free to call a minister of either denomination. If the majority of members were Presbyterians, the church was to be conducted according to Presby­terian rules — even if the minister was a Congregationalist; if most of the members were Congrega­tionalists, their form of church or­ganization would be followed. Under the Plan of Union Congre­gational associations could be or­ganized as well as Presbyterian presbyteries. The Plan of Union came into operation in the western country chiefly in the region north of the Ohio. In this region large numbers of New Englanders had settled, as well as groups of Scotch-Irish from the Middle States. In most localities the Scotch-Irish Presby­terians were in the majority; con­sequently the Plan of Union turned out to the great advantage of the Presbyterians. It has been esti­mated that in central-western New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan two thousand churches which were originally Congregational were transformed into Presbyterian churches. There were other things which gave to Presbyterians an advan­tage over Congregationalists. They had a strong and active denomina­tional spirit, which the Congrega­tionalists lacked. The Congrega­tionalists felt that their loose form of organization was not as well suited to frontier conditions as was the more compact Presbyterian form of organization. The Ameri­can Home Missionary Society, though Congregational in origin, went so far as to advise all Con­gregational young men going out as missionaries to the West to be ordained as Presbyterians. Throughout the new West, Pres­byterians and Congregationalists established schools and colleges. They made by far the greatest con­tribution to the educational and cultural life of the frontier. However, the Baptist and Metho­dist churches grew in membership far more rapidly than did the Pres­byterian and Congregational churches. There were several reasons why the Presbyterians lagged so far behind the Baptists and Methodists. The Presbyterians demanded a well-educated minis­try; the Baptists and Methodists did not. A Presbyterian minister was required to give all his time to the ministry; the Baptist and Methodist ministers were employed in other work during the week, and functioned as ministers only on Sunday. You may not see at once how this favored the Baptists and the Methodists; but it did. It meant that a Presbyterian church could not be organized until there were a sufficient number of members to support a minister. It cost less to support a Baptist or Methodist church than a Presbyterian church. Besides, the frontiersmen felt closer to the Baptist or Methodist minister, who worked with his hands as they themselves did, than to the scholarly Presbyterian min­ister. They felt that a Methodist or Baptist preacher was "one of them." He spoke their language. His more or less crude, highly emo­tional sermon appealed to the rough frontiersmen more than did the scholarly sermon of the Pres­byterian minister. Among the Bap­tists and Methodists there was a deep-seated prejudice against edu­cated and salaried ministers. 3. The Baptists Work Effectively on the Frontier The general run of Baptists were poor and without much education. With self-supporting, uneducated preachers sprung from among the common people, and a purely demo­cratic form of church government, the Baptists were well fitted for the rough conditions of life on the frontier. The first Baptist church in Ken­tucky was organized in 1781 at Severn’s Valley. This church and its earliest records are still in ex­istence. As a rule the Baptists came in groups and brought their ministers with them. That was the case with the Baptist church founded at Gil­bert’s Creek in Kentucky. Its mem­bers came from Virginia in a body with their pastor, Lewis Craig. As these Baptists crossed the moun­tains their pastor preached when­ever they made camp, and several persons were baptized in the clear waters of the mountain streams. It was during their westward march that they heard the news of the surrender of Cornwallis, and they made the mountains echo with the firing of their rifles in joyous celebration. When they arrived at their chosen place of settlement, they gathered for worship around the same old Bible they had used back in Spottsylvania in Virginia. At first the Baptists would gather for worship in the rude cabins of the settlers, with perhaps six to ten members in a group. After a few years they usually built a church of round logs. Later they would build one of hewn logs with a fireplace and chimney of brick. The father of Abraham Lin­coln helped to build such a church in 1819 on Pigeon Creek in Indi­ana. Usually a frame or brick church was not built until fifteen or twenty years after the first set­tlement was made. It was the custom in these Bap­tist churches on the frontier to hold monthly business meetings. These meetings were generally de­voted to matters of discipline for drinking, fighting, malicious gos­sip, lying, stealing, immorality, gambling, and horse racing. Even intimate family relations came under the watchful eye of the church. South of the Ohio River, where many church members held slaves, the Church watched pro­tectingly over the slaves. Slaves could be church members, and they were sometimes permitted to have a voice in church matters. From all this it is clear that the Baptist Church was a powerful factor in maintaining order and decency in the raw western communities. After the local churches were founded, there came the problem of organizing associations. The first association west of the moun­tains was organized in 1785 and consisted of six churches in Ken­tucky; the next year an association of seven churches was formed in Tennessee. By 1801 there were three associations in Kentucky, and in that year they united to form one. As the Baptist churches in­creased in number they formed ad­ditional associations. 4. Methodism Has Strong Appeal Of all the churches the Metho­dist was the most successful in extending itself among the frontiers­men in the new western country. In the earlier days, at least, the Methodists were even more suc­cessful than the Baptists. Their greater measure of success in win­ning men and gathering them into churches was due to two things: their doctrine and their organiza­tion. THE CIRCUIT RIDER Although the official title of this famous statue of Francis Asbury is "Pioneer Methodist Bishop in America," it is popularly known as "The Circuit Rider." The statue is located at 16th and Mount Pleasant Streets, Washington, D. C. Augustus Lukeman was the sculptor. A similar statue has been erected at Drew University in Madi­son, New Jersey. The Presbyterians and Baptists were both Calvinists, though the Baptists preached a milder form of Calvinism than did the Presby­terians. As Calvinists both the Baptists and the Presbyterians preached the doctrine of predesti­nation, of God’s absolute sovereign­ty and electing grace. They preached that man’s destiny lies wholly in the hands of God. The Methodists were Arminians. They preached the doctrine of man’s free will — that man holds his destiny in his own hands. This doctrine had great appeal. The frontiersman felt that he was carv­ing his own destiny out of the west­ern wilderness. The doctrine of man’s free will preached by the Methodists fitted in admirably with frontier conditions. And so externally the Metho­dists were more successful than the Presbyterians and the Baptists. They were able to gain more mem­bers and establish a larger number of churches. But a church is not an end in itself. It is only a means ’ to an end. A small church that preaches sound doctrine is more to be desired than a large church whose doctrine has departed more or less from the truth of Scripture. The form of organization of the Methodists was also better suited to frontier conditions than that of the Presbyterians and the Baptists. Under the Presbyterian and Bap­tist systems the preachers, gen­erally speaking, were confined to their own local church. It was not so with the Methodist preachers. "All the world is my parish," was Wesley’s motto. Actually all Eng­land was his circuit, and in his pursuit of souls he rode that vast circuit throughout his long life. Thus circuit riding became an established Methodist practice. With Methodism, circuit riding was in­troduced into America. Nothing could have been better adapted to frontier conditions. It was just the thing. And the system of circuit riding was aided and fortified by the system of local lay preachers. The Methodist circuit riders traveled on horseback from settle­ment to settlement. Some of these circuits were so large that it took from four to five weeks to make the rounds. The circuit riders preached every day except perhaps on Monday. At various places they established "classes" with "class leaders" (ch. 40, sec. 8). On a cir­cuit of average extent there were from twenty to thirty classes. True to Wesley’s slogan, "The world is my parish," the circuit riders did not wait for a number of Method­ists to move into a settlement to organize a church. The overwhelm­ing number of frontiersmen did not belong to any church. And so the circuit riders rode across the mountains and plunged into the backwoods of the wild West, look­ing everywhere for frontiersmen to whom they could bring the Gos­pel and the Methodist doctrines. As bishop, Francis Asbury was at the head of the Methodist Church throughout the United States. Again and again he crossed the Allegheny Mountains to hold conferences with the preachers and assign them their circuits. He him­self also preached. As a result of the work of the circuit riders and the preaching in the regular churches the Method­ists experienced remarkable growth. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were in the West less than 3,000 Method­ists; by 1830 the membership in that area had grown to over 175,­000. Of these, 2,000 were Indians and more than 15,000 were Ne­groes. The Western Conference in­cluded all the Methodist churches in the entire region west of the mountains. 5. The Roman Catholics Make Slow but Steady Progress Very early there were in the new West a few Catholics who had come from Maryland. From time to time these were visited by priests. Bishop Carroll in Baltimore sup­plied the old French settlements along the Mississippi and around the Great Lakes with priests. Stephen T. Baden was the first priest ordained for Kentucky. His coming marks the real beginning of the Roman Catholic Church in the West. By 1808 Catholic growth was such that a new diocese was organized with Bardstown, Ken­tucky, as its center. Its territory included the vast region of Ken­tucky, Tennessee, and the North­west Territory. In 1815 the dio­cese of Louisiana and Florida was organized, and in 1829 the diocese of Cincinnati. The growth of the Roman Catho­lic Church in the West was not rapid, but it laid the foundation for rapid expansion at a later date. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 56. CHAPTER 51: THE CHURCH EXPERIENCES A SECOND AWAKENING ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51 The Church Experiences a Second Awakening America at a Low Spiritual Level A Second Awakening Begins in the East Revivals and Camp Meetings Sweep through the New West Several New Denominations Are Formed Missionary Societies and Religious Litera­ture Spread the Gospel The American Sunday School Union Is Formed The Churches Establish Colleges and Semi­naries 1. America at a Low Spiritual Level As we have seen in an earlier chapter, the Great Awakening in America was followed by a sharp decline in spiritual life. This was in part the result of English Deism and French Skepticism, both of which had a deep and widespread influence on the people. Many of the leading men in America were Deists. Perhaps the most influen­tial of these was Thomas Paine, who in a pamphlet entitled "The Age of Reason" boldly swept the Christian faith aside. The last years of the eighteenth century and the first years of the nineteenth marked the lowest level of vitality in the history of the Christian Church in America. In the new western country the great mass of frontiersmen were sunk in religious ignorance. The lives of many of them reflected this lack of spiritual knowledge. Quarreling, fighting, hard drink­ing, and the most shocking pro­fanity were the order of the day. Logan County in Kentucky earned for itself the name of "Rogues’ Harbor." It was a place of refuge for escaped murderers, horse thieves, highway robbers, and counterfeiters. 2. A Second Awakening Begins in the East It was at this time that a re­vival of religion started in the East — very quietly and gradually. People began to take a renewed interest in Christian life and faith. The membership of the churches increased, and new churches were organized. One of the influences that brought this about in New England was the coming of Meth­odism with its unique method of evangelization. In 1789 Bishop As­bury appointed the first circuit rider there, and soon all the New England States were covered with a network of circuits. In 1795 Timothy Dwight became president of Yale. He was a grand­son of the great preacher Jonathan Edwards. In a series of lectures and sermons in the college chapel Dwight showed the dangers and evils of Deism, Infidelity, and Ma­terialism. A revival started in 1802, and one third of the students were converted. Dartmouth, Am­herst, Williams, and the College of experienced similar revivals. The religious awakening in the East moved ahead without evange­lists or great emotional excitement. 3. Revivals and Camp Meetings Sweep through the New West In the new West the revivals took an altogether different course. One of the early leaders there was a Presbyterian minister by the name of James McGready. In appearance he was not an attractive man. His eyes were small and piercing, his voice coarse and trem­ulous, and his whole person ex­tremely uncouth. But he had within him the power to move his hearers. In Carolina his preaching had worked so powerfully upon the emotions of the people that he had aroused fierce opposition. His pulpit was torn out of the church and burned, and somebody sent him a threatening letter written in blood. Under these circumstances he decided in 1796 that it would be best for him to go West. There he became pastor of three Presbyte­rian churches in notorious Logan County in Kentucky. Here under his preaching the great western revival began. It became known as the Logan County or Cumberland Revival. McGready was joined by several Presbyterian and Methodist preachers, and in 1800 the Cum­berland Revival reached its climax. In that year a meeting held on Red River was accompanied by great excitement. A Methodist preacher, John McGee, shouted and exhorted with tremendous energy. Numbers were converted. The news spread. The crowds grew larger and larger. The people brought pro­visions with them, and spent sev­eral days on the grounds. This was the beginning of the camp meet­ings which were to become a com­mon practice in American evan­gelism. One meeting lasted four days and nights and a hundred people were said to be converted. A WESTERN CAMP MEETING IN 1819 Bettmann Archive Lithograph The revival spread throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, North and South Carolina, western Pennsyl­vania, and Virginia. The Cain Ridge meeting held in August, 1801, was attended by a crowd of from ten to twenty-five thousand. Camp meetings were held in every section of the West. Especially at night they were a great sight. Camp fires blazed; there were long rows of tents; in the trees hung hundreds of lamps and lanterns. The preachers engaged in impas­sioned exhortations and earnest prayers. Swelling notes of music floated on the night air as the thou­sands joined in the singing of hymns. Persons under conviction of sin sobbed, shrieked, and shouted. The revivals at the beginning of the awakening in the West were largely a result of the work of Presbyterians, but in the end the Presbyterians suffered because of divisions. The Methodists and Bap­tists joined in the revival and added great numbers of converts to their membership rolls. 4. Several New Denominations Are Formed It has been mentioned that one of the developments which should be noted in the course of Ameri­can Church history is the tendency for the Church to divide and sub­divide. In the first half of the nine­teenth century this process had al­ready begun. The Presbyterians were not agreed on the wisdom and value of revival meetings. In 1810 a group in the new West organized themselves as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. They adopted the camp meeting as a regular method of revivalism, and also the circuit system. They preached a greatly weakened Cal­vinism, which however appealed strongly to the people of the fron­tier. Their membership grew rapidly. Another group left the Presby­terian Church because they could not wholeheartedly accept the doc­trines of election and predestina­tion which are at the very center of Calvinism. They formed what they called the Christian Church. Alexander Campbell, a Presby­terian minister, felt that the di­vision of Christians into many churches is all wrong. It was his wish to return to the simplicity of New Testament times when all Christians formed only one body. But his movement, started as a protest against the great number of churches, ended in 1826 in add­ing one more church to those al­ready in existence. This new church was called the Church of the Disciples. In the course of time the Chris­tian Church and the Disciples Church united. The two names were retained and are now used interchangeably. There were divisions also among the Methodists. The first of these was a rebellion against the auto­cratic form of church government which was practised at the time. For a number of years there had been an attempt to secure the ad­mission of laymen into the Method­ist conferences. This was at first strongly opposed by the clergy. When the attempt failed to make headway, those who desired greater democracy withdrew in considerable numbers and in 1830 formed the Methodist Protestant Church. Another body, Methodistic in spirit, came into existence under the leadership of Philip William Otterbein. He had come to America to work as missionary among the German Reformed. His pietistic leanings led him, in company with other like-minded ministers, to or­ganize in 1800 the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. In 1803 another church was or­ganized among the Germans, by Jacob Albright, an exhorter (lay preacher) in the Methodist Church. This became known as the Evangelical Church. Up in New England the Con­gregational Church was experienc­ing a division over a very vital point of doctrine. This division had begun as early as 1785. In that year, under the leadership of James Freeman, who had given up belief in the Trinity, King’s Chapel, the oldest Episcopal church in New England, became the first Unitarian church in America. Another Unitarian leader was Wil­liam Ellery Channing. By 1819 a considerable number of Congrega­tional ministers and members in and around Boston had come to believe that God exists in only one person, not three; and the Unitari­an denomination came into being. The word unitarian comes from the Latin word unitas, meaning "oneness." The birth of the Unitarian Church with its false teachings stirred the orthodox Congregation­alists to action. As a result many new orthodox churches were or­ganized, notably Hanover Street Church in Boston, whose pastor, Lyman Beecher, was a man of out­standing ability. Later on Beecher became leader of a liberal move­ment in the Presbyterian Church. 5. Missionary Societies and Re­ligious Literature Spread the Gospel The new religious zeal aroused by the revivals led to the forma­tion of many missionary societies, the publication of many missionary magazines, and the establishment of many Christian colleges and theological seminaries. In the revivals many churches co-operated, and the missionary so­cieties which were formed were largely interdenominational. Among these was the New York Missionary Society (1796), com­posed of representatives of the Presbyterian, Dutch Reformed, and Baptist churches — an organ­ization which was particularly in­terested in bringing the Gospel to the Indians in the South. Then there were the various de­nominational missionary societies. The Congregationalists established the Missionary Society of Con­necticut ( 1789 ) "to Christianize the heathen in North America, and to support and promote Christian knowledge in the new settlements within the United States." The Presbyterians organized the West­ern Missionary Society (1802) "to carry the Gospel to the Indians and the interior inhabitants." The Methodists followed with the for­mation of the Methodist Mission­ary Society (1819), for the sup­port of the Gospel in new settle­ments, to work among the Indians, and with a view to possible mis­sionary work in foreign countries. Among the Congregationalists there was also formed the Ameri­can Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (1810), which during the first thirty years of its existence sent out 694 missionaries. One of the most notable of its achievements was the Christianiza­tion of the Hawaiian Islands. Particularly dramatic was the beginning of foreign mission or­ganization among the Baptists. It had its roots in the Congregational Church. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis­sions, the Congregational society, had sent out two missionaries to work in India, Luther Rice and Adoniram Judson. They sailed on different ships, but through dili­gent study of the Scriptures both were converted to Baptist princi­ples. Upon arriving in India they and their wives were re-baptized by immersion in the Baptist church at Calcutta. Judson remained to do missionary work in Burma, but Rice hurried back to the United States to awaken the American Baptists to their missionary re­sponsibility. He made an extended tour throughout the United States, establishing missionary societies in all the important Baptist centers. In 1814 he gathered in Philadel­phia thirty-three delegates repre­senting eleven states, to form a missionary society. This society adopted the long and laborious name, General Missionary Conven­tion of the Baptist Denomination of the United States of America for Foreign Missions. ORDINATION OF THE FIRST AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONARIES Schoenfeld Collection from Three Lions Under the sponsorship of the American Board of Foreign Missions, five young men were ordained at Salem, Massachusetts, in February, 1812. They left soon thereafter for India. You will notice that the first mis­sionary societies were interested almost exclusively in bringing the Gospel to the unchurched at home — the Indians and the Negroes. Next the mission activity was ex­tended beyond our national boun­daries to foreign countries. Thus arose the distinction between home missions and foreign missions. Outstanding among the later in­terdenominational societies was the American Home Missionary Society. It was started among the 1820 they have continued as the Missionary Herald. The frontiersmen in the new and raw western country were for the most part without Bibles and re­ligious literature. To supply this want the American Bible Society was founded in 1816, and the American Tract Society in 1825. Serving a similar purpose was the Methodist Book Concern, estab­lished in 1789. The American Bap­tist Publication Society began its work in 1840. Presbyterians, Epis­copalians, Friends, and Lutherans also established publication socie­ties. These societies were an im­mense influence in America. They put out a tremendous amount of Christian reading matter, which found its way into the cabins of the settlers in the remotest back­woods. The American Bible Society carries on a tremendous program for the distri­bution of the Scriptures. Bibles are shipped to all parts of the world and are made available to people in many lands. The society employs scholars to translate the Bible into languages that have never before carried the Word of God in print. During 134 years it has distributed 395,365,426 copies of Bibles, Testa­ments, and portions of the Bible in more than 200 different languages. Presbyterians but later many Con­gregational societies became mem­bers. It was through this organiza­tion that the Plan of Union was put into effect in 1801 (ch. 50, sec. 2). Within nine years this society had over seven hundred agents and missionaries in the field. To stimulate interest in the work of missions several missionary magazines were launched. Most of these were discontinued after a shorter or longer time. Exceptions are the Panoplist and the Massa­chusetts Missionary Magazine. The Panoplist started out in 1805 as an attempt to combat Unitarianism. After three years these two pub­lications were combined, and since 1820 they have continued as the Missionary Herald. The frontiersmen in the new and raw western country were for the most part without Bibles ana religious literature. To supply this want the American Bible Society was founded in 1816, and the American Tract Society in 1825. Serving a similar purpose was the Methodist Book Concern, established in 1789. The American Baptist Publication Society began its work in 1840. Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Friends, and Lutherans also established publication societies. These societies were an immense influence in America. They put out a tremendous amount of Christian reading matter, which found its way into the cabins of the settlers in the remotest backwoods. 6. The American Sunday School Union Is Formed Back in the colonial period there were no Sunday Schools. The Meth­odists were the ones who brought to the United States this appealing way of instructing the children and young people. They began the work in 1786, and were so suc­cessful that thirty years later Sun­day Schools were to be found in every section of the country. In 1824 the American Sunday School Union was organized. It was com­posed of men of nearly all de­nominations. The Board of Manag­ers was made up of laymen, most of whom lived in Philadelphia. The purpose of the Union was to promote the establishment of Sunday Schools, and to publish manuals for use in the Sunday Schools. 7. The Churches Establish Colleges and Seminaries The settling of the West and the Second Awakening created a grow­ing need for ministers and reli­gious leaders. To fill this need many new seminaries for the train­ing of ministers were founded. Al­most every denomination founded one or more schools during this time. The Congregationalists, whose ministers had been receiving their training at Harvard, established Andover Seminary in 1808, after a Unitarian had been appointed theological professor at Harvard. The Dutch Reformed in 1810 founded a seminary in New Bruns­wick, New Jersey. Up to that time many of their young men had gone to the Netherlands to be educated for the ministry at the University of Utrecht. In 1812 the Presbyte­rians founded their seminary in Princeton, New Jer e . The Epis­copalians, t e Baptists, the Ger­man Reformed, the Lutherans, and others as well as the Roman Catho­lics were during this period active in establishing seminaries. Be­tween 1808 and 1840 at least twenty-five such schools were founded. They were all located in the East. Teachers and leaders also were needed in the new, rapidly growing areas. Throughout the West during this time the churches established many colleges. From these small denominational colleges learning and culture radiated in every direc­tion. Their significance for the life of our nation can hardly be over­estimated. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 57. CHAPTER 52: THE CHURCH IN A TIME OF TURMOIL ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52 The Church in a Time of Turmoil Presbyterian Calvinists Separate from Liberals The Episcopal Church Expands and Divides Immigration Strengthens the Orthodox Lu­theran Position Doctrine and Language Divide the Ger­man Reformed Immigration Swells the Rolls of the Catholic Church 1. Presbyterian Calvinists Sepa­rate from Liberals Under the Plan of Union of 1801 a large number of churches were organized in Central New York, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. As you will remem­ber, these churches were made up of two entirely different elements: New England Congregationalists and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. Most of the Presbyterians held to a strict Calvinism; but the Con­gregationalists, influenced by New England liberal theology (ch. 47, sec. 4), were moving more and more away from historic Calvin­ism. The orthodox group was known as the Old School, while the more liberal group was the New School. In 1837 the clash between these two groups brought about a split in the Presbyterian Church. Both groups kept the same name and claimed to be the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Both had the same Confession and form of gov­ernment. This separation of Pres­byterians lasted for thirty-two years. Lyman Beecher, who once de­fended the Christian faith against the new Unitarian doctrine in Boston, had gone to Cincinnati as president of the newly established Lane Seminary. He was also pastor of a Presbyterian church there. He began to sympathize with the New School, and after the split he be­came a leader among the liberals. Albert Barnes was another New School leader. On the other side was Charles Hodge, a professor at Princeton Seminary and a strong and able defender of the Reformed faith. A year before the two groups divided, the liberals established Union Seminary in New York City. This school has remained a fountainhead of liberalism in our country. 2. The Episcopal Church Expands and Divides Because of its divided loyalty during the War for Independence, the Episcopal Church was for a time under a cloud (ch. 48, sec. 3; ch. 49, sec. 4); but by the close of the War of 1812 it was no longer looked upon with suspicion. Under the leadership of Bishop William White the Low Church element held for many years a strong and influential position in this church. You will remember from our study of the Episcopal Church in Eng­land (ch. 43, sec. 5) that the Low Church party was evangelical in spirit and favored simplicity in the church service. Its members had turned away from the elabo­rate, formal ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. Early in the nineteenth century the work of four outstanding American bishops gave rise to a remarkable growth in the Protest­ant Episcopal Church. In 1811 John Henry Hobart was conse­crated bishop of New York. He was a member of the High Church party, and through his leadership this party was to gain in influence. Bishop Hobart greatly extended the Episcopal Church in his area. When he began his work there were twenty-eight clergymen in the diocese of New York; when he died in 1830 there were 127. Three other outstanding bishops were Alexander V. Griswold of New England, Richard Manning Moore of Virginia, and Philander Chase, who spent his period of service on the frontier. Under Bishop Griswold in New England and Bishop Moore in Virginia the Protestant Episcopal Church grew rapidly, as it did in New York under Bishop Hobart. But unlike Hobart these two men were not of the High Church party. Griswold was strongly Low Church, a man of deep and simple piety and a force­ful preacher. Moore was warmly evangelical. Of these four outstanding leaders, Bishop Chase had un­doubtedly the most varied and colorful career. He was of pure New England stock and a Congre­gationalist by training. But while a student at Dartmouth College he became an Episcopalian through study of the Prayer Book. Upon graduation he was ordained and became a missionary in what was then called the western country. His first parish was on the New York frontier. From there he went to New Orleans, where he organ­ized the first Episcopal church in that region. When his health broke down he returned to New Eng­land, but as soon as he recovered he set out, in the middle of winter, for the Western Reserve of Ohio. He found only a few Episcopalians on this frontier, and the people of the other churches were hostile to them; but Bishop Chase knew how to overcome their prejudices. As a result of his pioneering work, there were in due time five Episcopal clergymen in Ohio. A diocese was organized and Chase was elected bishop. On a beautiful ridge in the midst of the Ohio forests Bishop Chase established Kenyon College. It was at the time of its founding a theo­logical seminary; later it became both a college and a seminary. Chase went to England to raise funds for this new school. It is his finest monument. From 1831 to 1835 he carried on mission work in Michigan; then he was called to serve as bishop in Illinois. While there he founded Jubilee College. During the time that the Prot­estant Episcopal Church was fast expanding—in Kentucky and Ten­nessee, in Indiana, Iowa, Minne­sota, and Wisconsin, as well as in the areas previously mentioned, the gap between the high and low church parties was growing wider and deeper. The High Church party in America was strengthened by the Oxford Movement in Eng­land (ch. 43, sec. 5), and the Low Church party became genuinely alarmed. They feared that their church would be led back into the fold of Rome. It began to look as if the Episcopal Church would divide. The man who did more than any­one else to prevent this was Wil­liam A. Muhlenberg, great grand­ son of the first American Muhlen­berg (ch. 46, sec. 8). He stood for a broader system of organization, and for a larger freedom of opinion within the Church. At the General Convention of 1853 these views were accepted by both parties, and a division in the Church was for a time prevented. From that time on the Low Church party lost influence more and more. There was dissatisfac­tion, and about thirty years after the Convention of 1853 a number of the members of this party se­ceded and organized the Reformed Episcopal Church. 3. Immigration Strengthens the Orthodox Lutheran Position Among the German Lutherans a conflict broke out on two points: one group stood for the Ameri­canization of the Lutheran Church and a more liberal interpretation of the Augsburg Confession (ch. 25, sec. 5); the other group wished to maintain the German language and hold closely to orthodox Lu­theranism. The leader of the first group was Samuel S. Smucker. His ideas might have prevailed were it not for the great wave of German im­migration which began about 1830 and continued until about 1870. More than a million Germans came to America in the ten years just before the Civil War. While many of these German immigrants were Catholic, and others were hostile to religion of any kind, the majority were Lutherans. They greatly strengthened the conservative element in the Lutheran Church. Their leader was C. F. W. Walther, who had come from Sax­ony. At this time a number of strictly orthodox synods were or­ganized, among them the well-known Missouri Synod. Walther became pastor of the Lutheran Church in St. Louis in Missouri. In his German periodi­cal Der Lutheraner he ardently in­structed his readers to hold fast to orthodox Lutheranism. He also recommended the establishment of parochial schools for the Christian education of the children. A fine system of Lutheran schools in the Missouri Synod stands today as a monument to Walther and other leaders. The memory of this great Lutheran is preserved in the name of the Walther League — the yout organization among the Missouri Synod Lutherans. In the time preceding the Civil War there was also a large immi­gration of Norwegian and Swedish Lutherans. The latter organized the Augustana Synod and Augus­tana College at Rock Island, Illi­nois. This group was also strictly orthodox. 4. Doctrine and Language Divide the German Reformed Among the German Reformed, also, the language question caused difficulty, especially in Philadel­phia. Those who insisted upon the use of the English language finally withdrew and organized churches of their own. More severe was the controversy about the so-called "Mercersburg Theology." In 1840 Dr. John W. Nevin was appointed a professor in the German Reformed Seminary at Mercersburg. Four years later Dr. Philip Schaff, a young Swiss scholar, was chosen as professor of exegesis and Church history. Both these men were well ac­quainted with the new liberal theo­logical views in Germany (ch. 43, sec. 2), and this was reflected in their teaching. The strictly ortho­dox became greatly disturbed. They attacked the "Mercersburg Theology" in the church papers. The conflict resulted in a secession; but the number of those who with­drew was small. Schaff is remembered for his brilliant and scholarly work on the history of the Church. It is written in a very interesting style, and consists of several large volumes. 5. Immigration Swells the Rolls of the Catholic Church The enormous wave of immigra­tion from 1830 to 1870 caused not only the Lutheran but also the Catholic Church to grow. One third of the German immigrants were Roman Catholic. During these years thousands of Irish as well as German immigrants poured into our country. And the Irish were practically all Roman Catholic. The Irish Catholics were poor. They had all they could do to pay for their transportation across the Atlantic. When they arrived their purses were empty, and they had to settle down where they landed. Consequently Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore be came great Catholic centers. The German Catholics had a little more money, and they were able to travel inland. Most of them settled in the new western country north of the Ohio or west of the Mississippi. Missouri and Wisconsin became great German centers. A large number of Germans settled in Cin­cinnati, Ohio. This was the period during which the Roman Catholic Church became a significant body in the United States. In 1830 the number of Catholics was somewhat over half a million. Thirty years later the number had increased to four and a half million, and nearly every important city in the country had a Catholic bishop. From that time on the Roman Catholic Church has remained a powerful influence in America. It is esti­mated that there are over 25 mil­lion Catholics in the United States today. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 58. CHAPTER 53: THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION PERIODS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53 The Civil War and Reconstruction Periods Anti-Slavery Sentiment Arises The Churches Divide on the Slavery Ques­tion The Churches Work among the Negroes The Westward Movement Continues Immigrants Disregard the Puritan Sabbath The Gospel Is Carried to Those Outside the Church Dwight L. Moody — a Gifted Evangelist Horace Bushnell Criticizes Revivalism 1. Anti-Slavery Sentiment Arises In colonial times slaveholding was general in America. Many of the foremost Congregationalist ministers, including Jonathan Ed­wards, were slave owners. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War there were 6,000 slaves in Massachusetts alone. But although slavery was a practice that was taken for granted, there were those who disapproved. As early as 1769 Samuel Hopkins, a minister at Newport, Rhode Island, preached strongly against slavery. Of all the colonial churches the Episcopal Church did the most in systematic work among the Negro slaves. But that church did not raise its voice against slavery. The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians and the Baptists were for the most part not of the wealthy class, and conse­quently did not own slaves. The Quakers were the only religious body in colonial times to take a definite stand against slavery. Toward the end of the colonial period the general attitude of the people began to change. It was clear that slavery was in conflict with the American principle that "all men are created equal," and that "all men are by nature free and independent." In the South as well as in the North the feeling became widespread that slavery ought to be gradually abolished. The Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist churches passed strong resolutions against slavery. 2. The Churches Divide on the Slavery Question Whitney’s invention of the cot­ton gin in 1792 and the invention of machinery for spinning and weaving cotton brought about a complete change of sentiment to­ward slavery in the South. Cotton became the most important Amer­ican product, and by 1830 southern leaders had become convinced that the welfare of the nation depended upon cotton. Furthermore, it was felt that cotton could not be raised profitably without Negro slave labor. At the same time a radical change in sentiment was taking place in the North. There the atti­tude of an ever increasing number of people against slavery became exceedingly intense and fierce. This was due in large measure to the eloquent preaching against slavery by Wendell Phillips, the anti-slav­ery poems of Whittier, and most of all the fiery anti-slavery propa­ganda of William Lloyd Garrison in his paper The Liberator. With steadily increasing boldness the Northerners demanded the im­mediate abolition of slavery. Bitter antagonism between the North and the South developed over the slavery question, and the members of the churches in the two sections came to share those bitter feelings. This feeling of bit­terness went so far as to divide a number of the churches. The first separation came in the Baptist Church. In May, 1845, the Baptist Missionary Society, meet­ing in Augusta, Georgia, decided to discontinue its co-operation with the Baptists in the North, and or­ganized its own separate mission­ary society. In the same year the southern Methodist churches voted to separate from the northern churches, and adopted the name Methodist Episcopal Church, South. A similar break occurred among the Presbyterians. In 1861 the Episcopalians of the South separated from those in the North; but at the end of the war in 1865 the unity of this church was restored. This early reunion was made possible by the fact that the Protestant Episcopal Church never had taken sides on the slav­ery question. There was no bitter­ness to overcome. The churches both in the South and in the North gave all-out sup­port to their respective govern­ments during the war. They felt that great religious and moral principles were involved in slavery, in the Civil War, and in the prob­lems that faced the nation in the Reconstruction period. 3. The Churches Work among the Negroes In the South as well as in the North the churches felt their obli­gation to the Negroes who had been set free from the bonds of slavery. They opened schools for the freedmen and their children, and provided for their religious instruction and training. As time went on and this education took effect, the Negroes began to or­ganize their own churches. Of all the agencies devoted to the welfare of the colored people, these Negro churches have perhaps had the most important part not only in the religious and moral, but also in the social and intellectu­al progress of the Negro race in America. 4. The Westward Movement Con­tinues Following the Civil War the westward trek was resumed. People crossed the Mississippi and the great plains, and penetrated the Rockies. The churches, partic­ularly the Baptist and Methodist, followed on the heels of the fron­tiersmen. The Methodists were especially helpful. They organized a Church Extension Society which by means of gifts made it possible for the settlers on the frontier to erect church buildings. They also established a loan fund. With the help of loans thousands of church buildings were erected. During this period the Congre­gationalists experienced a new awareness of their own denomina­tion. At their national Convention held in Albany in 1852 they had abandoned the Plan of Union which for many years bound their churches to the Presbyterians. They were now once more inde­pendent in their organization and government. They established a seminary in Chicago, and with the other churches they advanced into the new prairie and Rocky Moun­tain states. True to their educa­tional tradition they founded many colleges in these new regions. 5. Immigrants Disregard the Puri­tan Sabbath After the Civil War immigra­tion from Europe was resumed on a scale larger than ever before. From 1865 to 1884 more than seven million immigrants entered the United States. Nearly half of them came from Ireland and Ger­many. The Irish immigrants were practically all Roman Catholic. The German immigrants were Catholic, Lutheran, or Rationalistic. Up to this time strict Sunday observance was the rule in Amer­ica. All stores were closed, few trains ran, and all places of amuse­ment were closed. No picnics or outings were held on Sunday, and there was no "week-ending." The great majority of the American people went to church regularly on Sunday morning and again in the evening. Americans had inherited their strict Sunday observance from the Calvinistic or Puritan founders of New England. Both Lutheran and Catholic Ger­mans brought with them the so-called "Continental Sabbath." Thousands of these Germans made their home in Chicago. When the newcomers made their influence felt, Chicago on Sunday was de­scribed by someone as "Berlin in the morning, and Paris in the af­ternoon and evening." This meant that people in Chicago went to church in the morning, and went out for pleasure the rest of the day. The new immigrants spoke derisively of the American way of Sunday observance; they called it the "Puritan Sabbath." Through­out the seventies ministers in all American churches preached against the tendency to forsake the traditional American way of observing Sunday. But this ten­dency has made steady progress to the present day. 6. The Gospel Is Carried to Those Outside the Church The immigrants to a very large extent settled in the cities. Most of them were poor. As a result there developed in the large cities vast tenement districts inhabited by "foreigners." A large propor­tion of these immigrants had no church connections. The Methodists, Baptists, Pres­byterians, and Congregationalists saw their need and began to bring them the Word of God. The Bap­tist Home Mission Society in 1867 had forty-nine ordained "foreign­ers" working among Germans, Hol­landers, Frenchmen, Welshmen, Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes. In three of their seminaries the Baptists introduced foreign lan­guage departments so that minis­ters could be trained for this kind of mission work. Today many de­nominations carry on a wide pro­gram of evangelization in the cities of the United States. The constantly advancing white man crowded the red man ever farther back. This resulted in sev­eral Indian wars, until finally the government adopted the policy of placing the Indians on reservations of available land. The churches carried on mission work among the natives of our country with in­creasing energy. At the present time 36 denominations are support­ing 833 missionaries among the Indians. Besides these, mission­aries are also sent out by independ­ent groups. It is estimated that there are 140,000 Indians attending Protestant services, 39,200 of whom are church members. 7. Dwight L. Moody — a Gifted Evangelist Among those who carried on Christian work among the soldiers during the Civil War was Dwight Lyman Moody — a young man who had already made considerable progress in evangelistic work in Chicago. Moody was born in East North­field, Massachusetts. His education was meager, for his father died when he was only four years old and his mother had all she could do to provide the necessary things for her children. When Dwight Moody was eight­een he confessed Christ as his Savior, and a year later he went west to Chicago, where he engaged in business. At Plymouth Church he rented extra pews and invited many young men to come to the service with him. He also opened a Sunday School in one of the poorer sections of the city, gathering the children in from the streets to tell them the truths found in the Scriptures. Soon he gave up his business to devote all his time to Christian work. From 1865 to 1869 he was president of the Chicago Y.M.C.A. He collected money for the first Y.M.C.A. building in America. From 1871 on Moody conducted revival meetings in various places throughout the land. He also toured England and Scotland several times. Ira D. Sankey, a singer, assisted him in conducting the meetings. Sankey led the singing and introduced new hymns to the people. In his preaching Moody stressed the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. The simplicity of his language and the warmth and sin­cerity of his spirit attracted great numbers. Moody and Sankey be­came household names in America. As a result of their ministry thou­sands professed Christ as their Savior; no such scenes as attended the Moody-Sankey meetings had been witnessed since the days of Wesley and Whitefield (ch. 40, sec. 7). Moody’s great ability for organ­izing was again shown in the Christian boarding schools he es­tablished in Massachusetts, and in the founding of the Chicago Bible Institute, later called the Moody Bible Institute. Much of his later life was devoted to building up this institution. He died in Northfield in 1899. Moody’s success as a revivalist produced a large number of imita­tors. The professional evangelist has been peculiar to America; but revivalism seems now to be on the decline. It is possible that radio preaching is taking the place of re­vival meetings and roving evan­gelists. 8. Horace Bushnell Criticizes Re­vivalism In 1846 there appeared a small book entitled Christian Nurture. It was written by Horace Bushnell, a Congregational minister in Con­necticut. In this little book he sharply criticized the churches that believed in Revivalism. He denied that a person in becoming a Chris­tian must necessarily have a conscious emotional experience. He insisted that "a child is to grow up a Christian, and never know himself as being otherwise." He held that this would be possible if the home were truly Christian, and if the child were given his proper place in the church. This book was widely read and went through many editions. It was one of the strongest influences in leading the churches to give more attention to the training of their youth. The publication of Chris­tian Nurture was an important event in the history of the Church in America. Bushnell was, however, far from orthodox. He published a great many other writings, and through them became the leader of the lib­eral movement in religion and the­ology. Henry Ward Beecher and Phillips Brooks, gifted and famous preachers, did a great deal to spread the ideas of Bushnell far and wide throughout the churches of America. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 59. CHAPTER 54: THE CHURCH FACES MODERN PROBLEMS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54 The Church Faces Modern Problems Wealth Influences the Church The Church Emphasizes Social Problems Steps Are Taken to Improve Religious Education The Church Deals with Problems of Peace and War Modernism in Recent Years The Effect of Modernism on Missions 1. Wealth Influences the Church From 1880 on the wealth of the American people increased greatly. This had its effect on the life of the churches. Revivalism continued, and throughout the eighties and nine­ties the churches held their annual series of revival meetings, usually during the winter months. Camp meetings were still held in the rural districts, especially in the South. But here and there changes were noticeable. The camp meeting grounds on Lake Chautauqua in New York showed signs of the increased pros­perity: Cottages replaced tents. The meetings that had always been held out under the trees now took place in a large frame tabernacle. In 1874 lectures and entertainment began to take the place of revival sermons. Lake Chautauqua became widely known for its summer programs, and similar projects combining ed­ucation and entertainment became popular on camp meeting grounds in other parts of the country. They were known as chautauquas. Revivalism received another set­back when, in 1902, a book entitled Primitive Traits in Religious Re­vivals, by Frederick Morgan Dav­enport, came off the press. It was a sharp criticism of Revivalism. With the new industrial age churches began to place great em­phasis on business efficiency. Suc­cessful businessmen were given places on the financial boards of the churches. The increase in wealth brought with it also a desire for more op­portunities in education. Denomi­national colleges increased in num­ber, and their enrollments and incomes multiplied as never before. College presidents became business administrators, and their great aim became the securing of large gifts of money for their schools. Captains of industry gave gener­ously to educational institutions and established many new schools. It was during this period that wealthy men founded, in various parts of the country, the Univer­sity of Chicago, McCormick Semi­nary, Cornell and Leland Stanford universities, and four women’s col­leges — Vassar, Smith, Wellesley, and Bryn Mawr. Many of these centers of learning were estab­lished as Christian institutions, by men who realized that they were only stewards of the wealth God had given them. 2. The Church Emphasizes Social Problems During the period of industrial growth and increasing national wealth many churches came to lay great emphasis on social work in the community. Since the eighties there had been a great movement of population from the country to the cities. Im­migration from Europe continuing on a large scale added its numbers to those already in the cities. Thus there arose crowded conditions. Slum areas developed, and many persons were affected by the cramped, unhealthy conditions. To meet the problems arising from these conditions the so-called insti­tutional church was developed. The originator of the institution­al church was the Episcopal clergy­man William A. Muhlenberg, great-grandson of the organizer of Amer­ican Lutheranism. From 1846 to 1858 he was rector of the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City. Under his inspiration his church sponsored certain social agencies, such as the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion and St. Luke’s Hospital. Thomas K. Beecher, a son of Lyman Beecher and pastor of the First Congregational Church of El­mira, New York, in 1872 equipped his church building with a gymna­sium, lecture rooms, and a library. St. George’s Episcopal Church in New York made a great success with its institutional features, at least from the standpoint of num­bers. When it introduced these fea­tures in 1882 it had 75 communi­cants; in 1897 it had a membership of more than 4,000. Russell H. Conwell in 1891 introduced institu­tional features in his Baptist Tem­ple in Philadelphia. In addition to social clubs he introduced sewing classes, reading rooms, a gymnasi­um, and a night school where volun­teer teachers taught the working people. This night school grew in­to Temple University. Other leaders who stressed the social gospel were Washington Gladden and Josiah Strong, both Congregational ministers in Ohio, and Walter Rauschenbusch, a pro­fessor in Rochester Theological Seminary. Courses in Christian sociology and in social service were offered in many of the seminaries. In 1908 the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America adopted the Social Creed of the Churches. All this activity in the realm of social service had the tendency to make the churches forget their main purpose. In their eagerness to fulfill Christ’s command to do good to their fellow men, they be­gan to neglect the pure gospel of salvation through faith. Social service is a necessity, and Christians must be active in caring for their fellow men. But the cen­tral work of the Church is the preaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments. These should never be neglected or given second place. 3. Steps Are Taken to Improve Re­ligious Education One of the most striking fea­tures of the history of the churches in America since 1880 is the grow­ing preoccupation of those church­es with the problem of religious education. At the beginning of the present century many leaders in various Protestant churches were becom­ing uneasy over the lack of reli­gious education in the public school. Religion had been an important part of all education in colonial days. But gradually the religious content had been removed. Many leaders saw in this a grave danger to the welfare of our nation. And they began to realize that the home and the Sunday School were falling far short of making up for this lack. Some attempts had been made to improve the Sunday School. A sys­tem of Uniform Sunday School Lessons had been adopted in 1872, so that pupils in all the Sunday Schools in our nation would study the same Bible lesson at the same time. A rich variety of Sunday School "lesson helps" were pub­lished. Some churches put up spe­cial buildings especially planned for Sunday School work. Teacher training courses were given. As a result new enthusiasm was aroused, and the Sunday School enjoyed a remarkable growth. But in spite of all the efforts to bring about improvement, the work of the Sun­day School remained unsatisfac­tory. Most of the religious leaders felt that the solution lay in doing more of the same thing. The Religious Education Association was organ­ized to encourage the production of better Sunday School materials and the use of better methods of teaching. Unfortunately this move­ment was in the hands of Liberals. In as far as it had success it turned out to the advancement of Liberal­ism. In 1922 the Interdenominational Council of Religious Education was organized to bring about more co­operation in religious education among Protestant churches. Many of the larger and wealthier church­es appointed directors of religious education. In some states a direc­tor now has charge of the religious education for the entire state. Weekday and summer vacation church schools have been organ­ized. In many communities chil­dren have been dismissed from school for a period each week to attend Bible classes. Departments of religious education have been introduced in denominational col­leges and theological seminaries for the training of teachers. The re­sults of all this effort, however, have been disappointing. The Catholic, Lutheran, Advent­ist, and Reformed people have fol­lowed a different pathway. They are not satisfied with public school instruction for their children. They feel that one hour of religious training a week given by teachers who are more or less inexperienced, cannot offset the non-religious teaching of the public school five days a week by thoroughly trained professional teachers. They feel moreover that the salt of religion should not be given to children in separate doses, but should season all the subjects taught throughout the day. They have therefore es­tablished schools of their own, in which the children are taught five days a week, and in which all the subjects from kindergarten to uni­versity are taught in agreement with the religious doctrines of their churches. Between the Catholic, Lutheran, and Adventist schools on the one hand and the Reformed schools on the other there is a difference in organization. The first are paro­chial or church schools. The second are not parochial or church schools, but parent schools. The Reformed groups, follow­ing in the footsteps of Dr. Abra­ham Kuyper of the Netherlands (ch. 44, sec. 8-10), believe that all of life should be controlled by the Christian religion, but they do not believe that all of life should be controlled by the Church. They be­lieve that the Church’s function is to preach the Gospel and admin­ister the sacraments. They hold that it is not the work of the Church to operate schools, but that its members as Christian parents should establish, maintain, and control their own Christian schools. Associations of Reformed parents maintain around 150 Christian grade and high schools, with over 23,000 pupils and 800 profession­ally trained teachers. From a purely educational point of view these Catholic, Lutheran, Adventist, and Reformed schools compare very favorably with the public schools. Religious education is one of our most important national problems. Without religion a nation is headed for ruin. The American nation, no matter how strong and powerful at present, cannot, with the non-reli­gious education of the public school, escape that fate in the end. As the evil effects of the non-reli­gious education of the public school become more and more noticeable, all Christians in all other churches may well feel the need of establishing Christian schools, as the Lu­therans, Reformed, and others have done. 4. The Church Deals with Problems of Peace and War The suffering and tragedy that are a part of every war, and the ever-present danger of new wars breaking out, have led people throughout American history to band together to preserve peace. Some of these groups, though they work to guard the peace, will, in the event of unavoidable war, an­swer the call to service. Others regard all war as sinful and re­frain from entering into battle. The peace movement in America had its origin in colonial days with the coming of the Quakers, the Moravians, the Mennonites, and the Dunkers. Alongside these pacifist religious groups, there were by 1826 some fifty peace societies in various states. The members of these peace societies were mainly ministers and pious laymen. In 1828 the American Peace Society was formed; the Harbinger of Peace was its official magazine. Under the name of the Advocate of Peace it is the paper of the Peace Society today. During the 1830’s and 1840’s churches often passed resolutions in favor of in­ternational peace. Then came the Civil War, and the peace movement subsided. But with the close of the war it revived. The peace movement was par­ticularly active after the Spanish American War (1898). New peace agencies were organized, one of them the American Association of Ministers. In 1909 the first Hague Conference was held, with twenty-six nations represented. Andrew Carnegie gave millions to promote the cause of peace, and built the Peace Palace in the Hague. More peace sermons were preached than ever before. Most Christian people in America dreamed of the new era of peace and justice that was about to dawn. Then suddenly that dream was shattered by the explosion of World War I. How would the advocates of peace be able to hold to their posi­tion in the midst of a country and world at war? That problem was settled quite simply for most of them. The war was represented as a war to end war; and the advo­cates of peace, the American churches with their ministers and members, felt that to be consistent in promoting peace they would have to support the war with all their might. Those who dared openly to oppose the war were mistreated. In some cases where ministers continued to preach peace, audiences walked out on them. A good many ministers had to resign under pressure. Some were mobbed, whipped, or tarred and feathered. The house of one minister was painted yellow be­cause he refused to participate in a Liberty Loan drive. Fifty-five ministers of various denominations were arrested. One was sentenced to twenty years in prison. A con­vention of Christian pacifists in Los Angeles was broken up by a mob, and three of the leading pacifists were arrested, tried, fined, and jailed. 5. Modernism in Recent Years The years of World War I and those immediately following were boom years in the United States. Business thrived and money was plentiful. Men of wealth gave large gifts of money to their churches, and many costly and beautiful houses of worship were built. Two of the outstanding ex­amples are the Riverside Drive Baptist Church and the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, both in New York City. In keeping with the beauty of the new buildings, worship was made more formal. The preachers put on gowns and the choir mem­bers wore robes. A more dignified type of church music was intro­duced, together with processionals and recessionals, music responses and chorals. While the church service was thus made more elaborate, church attendance was declining, for in many cases the preaching of God’s Word was disappearing. The heart had been removed from the service. The churches had lost sight of their central purpose, to preach the Gos­pel. A liberal theology and a social gospel had taken its place. The Liberalism of the present day, often called Modernism, has led thousands of worshippers toward a vague, unfounded, and unsatisfying faith. Because in its teachings many fine sentiments are included it is apt to be attractive to those who are not well grounded in Scriptural truth. Present day Modernism stands in reverent awe before the eternal mysteries. It has profound respect for Christ as a unique religious genius. It admires the books of the Bible as a marvelous collection of sublime literature. But Modernism denies the virgin birth and the deity of Jesus Christ. It denies the truth that man is al­together sinful, and that Christ died on the cross to atone for man’s sin. The present day Modernist denies practically all the funda­mental doctrines of the Bible. At the bottom of this lies the fact that he does not believe that the Bible is divinely inspired—that it speaks to man with divine, absolute, and final authority. To the Modernist it is simply the record of the reli­gious thoughts, emotions, and ex­periences of the ancient Israelites. The Modernists believe that there is no one certain authority in mat­ters of faith. They have no use for the great creeds of the Church. They differ much among them­selves. They say that every man is entitled to his own opinions. But today Modernists are not so sure of themselves as they used to be. History itself has of late dis­proved some of their favorite ideas. They had placed man in the center instead of God. Under the influ­ence of the theory of evolution they believed that the human race could in time develop to a state of ideal goodness and usefulness and hap­piness. All their hopes were pinned on man. Man had within himself the power to live the good life and to build a better world. Then came the financial crash of 1929, and later World War II with all its horrors and cruelties. It was plain to see that the human race was as sinful and imperfect as it ever had been and was not making steady progress toward a better world. 6. The Effect of Modernism on Missions The War with Spain in 1898 opened up the Philippine Islands and Puerto Rico to Protestant mis­sions. The churches that engaged in mission work on these islands did so in a co-operative spirit, mak­ing an agreement as to the field in which each church would work. Since 1886 the Student Volun­teer Movement had been lending its enthusiasm and support to the cause of missions. John R. Mott became its great leader. In 1906 the Laymen’s Missionary Move­ment was organized. Foreign mis­sion work was going forward among many peoples of the world. Home mission work in the far western states and in Alaska con­tinued to be pushed by all the great churches. The most famous home missionary of these years was a Presbyterian minister, Sheldon Jackson, who traveled many thou­sands of miles and brought about the establishment of hundreds of churches in the Rocky Mountain states. But while missions were extend­ing the Church to the west and in foreign lands, Modernism was seeping in and spreading. You will remember that at the close of Part IV, Modernism was mentioned as one of the great obstacles in the work of evangeliza­tion. The gospel of Modernism is another gospel than that of the Bible. Modernism cuts the very heart out of the true Gospel: man’s need of salvation through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. It destroys the one true and great purpose of Christian missions — to bring the message of this salvation. The only purpose left to the modernist missionary is to bring our western civilization to Africa and the Orient. But the people of India, China, and Japan have a wonderful civilization of their own. And our western civilization is be­ginning to show serious faults. As a result of Modernism in the churches the supply of money and men for missions began to drop at an alarming rate. The Student Vol­unteer Bands, which once flour­ished in all the colleges, disap­peared. John R. Mott’s ideal of the "Evangelization of the World in This Generation" lost its meaning. By 1930 it became clear that the whole missionary enterprise had reached a crisis. A commission of fourteen mem­bers representing seven denomina­tions made a thorough study of missions. The results of this study were published in 1932 in a report entitled, Rethinking Missions. This report recommended that foreign missions be continued and strength­ened; but the purposes and methods were to be in agreement with the ideas of liberalism. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 60. CHAPTER 55: THE CHURCH SEEKS TO PRESERVE THE FAITH ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55 The Church Seeks to Preserve the Faith The Fundamentalists Oppose the Modern­ists Many Fundamentalists Accept Premillenial­ism Holiness Groups Develop in the Churches The Reformed and the Southern Presby­terians Strive to Maintain the Truth Orthodox Presbyterians Form a New Church The Christian Reformed Church 1. The Fundamentalists Oppose the Modernists In the year 1910 a series of twelve small volumes was pub­lished under the title, The Funda­mentals: A Testimony to the Truth. The appearance of these books marked the beginning of the Fun­damentalist Movement, an organ­ized attempt to uphold the teach­ings of the Bible against Modern­ism. The doctrines set forth in these books as fundamental were: (1) The Bible’s freedom from error in every respect, (2) the virgin birth of Christ, (3) the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross (that He suffered and died in our stead to satisfy the wrath of God against sin) , (4) the physical resurrection, and (5) the physical second com­ing of Christ. More than 2,500,000 copies of these books were circulated, and in all the large churches a sharp con­troversy developed between the Fundamentalists and the Modern­ists. It stirred the Methodist, the Episcopalian, and the Disciples churches, but it raged most violent­ly in the Baptist and Presbyterian churches. The struggle began in 1916 and continues to the present day. 2. Many Fundamentalists Accept Premillenialism The horrors of the First World War led many people to believe that the end of the world was at hand. Believing this, they occu­pied themselves with the teaching of the Bible concerning the last things. A vast number of people in the various churches accepted the doctrine that the Jews will re­turn to Palestine, and that Christ will come back to earth to rule in Jerusalem as king for a thousand years. This doctrine is called Pre­millenialism, because it teaches that the second coming of Christ will take place before (pre) the establishment upon earth of a reign of a thousand years (millenial). The people who hold to this doc­trine are called Premillenialists or, more commonly, Premillenarians. A great number of the Funda­mentalists in the large churches accepted the Premillenial views. Thus, although the name Funda­mentalist would be a fitting one for all those who believe the fundamen­tal truths of the Bible, it has in recent years become popularly linked with the Premillenarians. This doctrine of the thousand years reign is held by a number of the small sects and the so-called un­denominational churches, as well as by many of the Fundamentalists in certain branches of the older denominations, such as the Baptist Church. Two of the leading schools where Premillenialism is taught are the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. Several Christian lib­eral arts colleges also uphold this view. Premillenarians believe firmly that the Bible is divinely inspired and true in every respect. But their doctrine concerning the future kingdom arises from an interpreta­tion of Scripture which differs from that of the Reformed church­es. Premillenialism is based upon certain ideas concerning the posi­tion and mission of the Jews in the world, and upon the belief that Christ will reign in Jerusalem for a thousand years. 3. Holiness Groups Develop in the Churches In all the large churches in America there were many people of limited means who began to feel ill at ease among the wealthy and prosperous members. Moreover, with the triumphant progress of Modernism in the more or less fashionable churches, and their formalistic worship, these people felt that heart religion was disap­pearing. Around the year 1880 the "holiness" question came to the fore especially in the Methodist churches. In his day Wesley had taught the possibility of Christian perfection. But to the great mass of members in the Methodist churches, Christian perfection was no longer a goal for which to strive with might and main. Instead a large measure of worldliness had crept in. In many churches Holiness groups came into existence. The members of these groups declared that they were true to the founder of the Methodist Church, Wesley, and that they wanted the Church to return to his doctrine and ideal. But the leading men in the Meth­odist churches looked with disfavor on the Holiness movement. The majority of prominent ministers in the Methodist Church and in other large churches were inclined to ac­cept Modernist views. This filled the orthodox members with alarm. They felt less and less at home in churches that were cold to the de­sire for "holiness." Before long they began to withdraw and form separate religious organizations. Between the years 1880 and 1926 no less than twenty-five Holiness and Pentecostal sects were formed. They were most numerous in the rural districts of the Middle West. In that region the Methodists are especially strong, and it was from the various Methodist bodies that the greatest number of people came who joined the Holiness sects. How-Aver, other churches and other sec­tions of the country also yielded members to these sects. The Church of the Nazarene was formed in 1894 when eight smaller Holiness groups combined. Other Holiness groups are the Assemblies of God, the Church of God, and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ. All are protests against the increasing Modernism in the large churches of America. 4. The Reformed and the Southern Presbyterians Strive to Main­tain the Truth Other churches, both old and new, have taken their stand for the true, historical Christian faith. Large elements in the Reformed and Presbyterian churches resisted the tide of Modernism and pre­served their Creeds. Certain Lu­theran bodies, too, remained loyal to their Confessions—notably the Missouri Synod, besides other, less well-known branches of the Lu­theran Church. You will recall that back in the seventeenth century immigrants from the Netherlands came to America and settled in New York and New Jersey, where they estab­lished the Dutch Reformed Church (ch. 46, sec. 3). Later that church began to grow rapidly, and in time had many congregations, not only in the East but in what at that time was called the new West. Soon after the Civil War the name was changed to "The Reformed Church in America." This church has been greatly instrumental in preserving and spreading the Reformed faith in our own land and in sending out the Gospel to heathen countries. To this day it maintains the Confes­sions of the ancestral church in the Netherlands. But Liberalism, a foe against which no stronghold can afford to feel secure, has made an invasion here also. However, the larger part of the membership of this church remains orthodox, and hundreds of its ministers are proclaiming the true Gospel. The southern branch of the Pres­byterian Church and the United Presbyterian Church have become divided camps because of the lib­eral beliefs of many of their min­isters and members. We should not forget that there are great numbers of true believers in these denominations — people who have been born and bred in the Re­formed faith, and who, under un­favorable conditions, are remaining true to their Confession. The northern branch, called the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., has steadily lost ground to the lib­erals. Although the historic West­minster Confession continues as its official creed, it no longer has the same meaning for all members. The modernists are free to read liberal meanings into the state­ments of the Confession, while the orthodox members hold to the true doctrines which it really contains. Several years ago a group of orthodox members of this large church took a firm and public stand against liberalism. They finally broke away and formed the Ortho­dox Presbyterian Church. We shall read more about this movement in the next section. Other churches, smaller and less known, withstood the tide of Mod­ernism and are today preaching the historic Gospel. Old School Presbyterians carry on in the faith of their Scottish forefathers. The Netherlands Reformed Church is an off-shoot in our country of small groups rising out of the Secession of 1834 in the Netherlands. The Reformed Episcopal Church (ch. 52, sec. 2), though episcopal in or­ganization and church government, is Calvinistic in doctrine and continues as a witness to this faith. And there are others. And so we see that although Modernism has swept in like a tide during the past few decades, there have been and still are those in many denominations who by God’s grace are standing firm and will not be moved. 5. Orthodox Presbyterians Form a New Church A fairly recent church to come out of the struggle between Mod­ernism and the historical Christian faith is the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. For many years the Con­gregational and Presbyterian churches were the chief bearers in America of the Calvinistic banner. When the Congregational Church, under the influence of the New England Theology, lowered that banner, the northern branch of the Presbyterian Church, called the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., continued for many decades to hold it high. Its famous seminary is that at Princeton. Around it clus­ter the illustrious names of the Hodges, of Green, Wilson, Vos, Patton, and Warfield. All these men were great scholars and very able champions of historic Calvin­ism. But at last Modernism made its subtle inroads into Princeton Seminary and, as we have seen, into the Presbyterian Church. Then in 1929, under the heroic leadership of Professor J. Gresham Machen, the Westminster Sem­inary was established in Philadel­phia as a protest against the Modernism at Princeton. A few years later, after a severe struggle fought with rare courage, the de­fenders of the Calvinistic doctrines of the Westminster Confession (ch. 34, sec. 6) suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of the Modern­ists, in the General Assembly of 1935. This victory of the Modern­ists was made possible by the large number of Presbyterian ministers who, although themselves sound in doctrine, played into the hands of the Modernists when they valued peace above truth. Those who were true to the faith of their fathers then organized, in 1936, the Ortho­dox Presbyterian Church. This small but valiant church continues today its bold fight against Modernism. J. GRESHAM MACHEN 6. The Christian Reformed Church With very few exceptions the churches in the United States are immigrant churches. The Christian Reformed Church is no exception. It is one of the very last churches to be planted on the North Ameri­can continent as the result of im­migration from Europe. The immigrants who founded the Christian Reformed Church came from the Netherlands. They estab­lished their first settlement some distance from the east shore of Lake Macatawa in the western part of the state of Michigan, in the year 1847, and called it Holland. At about the same time another group of Dutch immigrants made a settlement in central Iowa, to which they gave the name Pella. Still other groups made themselves homes in Paterson, New Jersey; in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and in Chicago. From there these Dutch immigrants and their de­scendants, together with many who came later, spread throughout nearly all the northern states. But they are most numerous still in western Michigan. Other centers are Paterson and vicinity, Chicago and vicinity, and western Iowa. In late years groups of Christian Re­formed churches have sprung up in California, in the northwest cor­ner of the state of Washington, and across the border in Canada. Today this church is experiencing a considerable growth as a result of the immigration of Netherland­ers to Canada following World War II. The Christian Reformed denomi­nation came into existence in the year 1857. Although it has enjoyed a steady growth, it is still very small. In 1949 it numbered 341 churches with 272 ministers and a total membership of 148,881. In doctrine this denomination is Reformed or Calvinistic. Its creeds are the creeds of the Reformed Church in the Netherlands: the Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordt (ch. 28, sec. 7; ch. 38, sec. 4) . Its officers are called ministers or pastors, elders, and deacons. The form of its government is Presby­terian. Its churches are grouped into nineteen classes, which cor­respond to presbyteries. Each church within a classis sends its minister and one of its elders as delegates to the classical meetings, which are held two, and in some localities three, times a year. Two ministers and two elders from each classis meet as delegates in annual synods. Like all Presbyterian and Re­formed churches, the Christian Reformed Church demands a thor­oughly and broadly educated minis­try. Its schools are Calvin College and Calvin Seminary. These are located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. An appreciable percentage of the membership of this Church came from two districts in Ger­many bordering on the Nether­lands. The Christian Reformed Church has also absorbed a number of people of several nationalities other than Dutch or German, most­ly through intermarriage. In north­ern New Jersey and in the adjacent part of the state of New York there are members who are de­scendants of the original Dutch settlers of the seventeenth century. But the bulk of its membership to­day, as from the beginning, is com­posed of the later immigrants from the Netherlands and their descend­ants. These descendants are now Americans and Canadians — some of the first generation and others all the way down to the fifth. Since World War II thousands of Reformed people from the Neth­erlands have migrated to Can­ada. A very large percentage of these people are being organized into Christian Reformed churches. Like the German Reformed (ch. 52, sec. 4), the Dutch Christian Reformed also met with trouble over the language question. Some of the members desired to have all services conducted in the Dutch language; others felt that it would be wiser to introduce the language of their new country. Today most of the Christian Reformed churches use the American language exclu­sively. But there are churches that hold one Holland service each Sun­day, and others that hold a service in the mother tongue occasionally for the benefit of the older genera­tion. The significant thing about the Christian Reformed Church is its religious background in the Neth­erlands, so well described by Died­rich Kromminga, the late professor of Church History at Calvin Semi­nary, in his book The Christian Reformed Tradition. The Dutch who in 1847 and following years settled in Michigan and Iowa came out of the Secession of 1834. This secession, you will recall, was a protest against worldliness in the Church (ch. 44, sec. 7). Through books, periodicals, and correspond­ence these immigrants and their children kept in close touch with religious and theological develop­ments in the Netherlands. In time they came under the influence of Kuyper, Bavinck, and many other able leaders. Thus there was fos­tered an intelligent and enthusias­tic love for Reformed theology and the Calvinistic view of life. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 61. CHAPTER 56: THE CHURCHES SEEK CO-OPERATION AND UNION ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56 The Churches Seek Co-operation and Union Two Forces in the Church: Separation and Co-operation The Liberals and the Orthodox Form Federations Church Union Should Be Based on Church Unity International Conferences Strive for Unity 1. Two Forces in the Church: Sepa­ration and Co-operation From the very beginning of the Reformation, almost, a tendency to divide showed itself in Protes­tantism. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin did not see eye to eye in all things. But also from the very beginning efforts were made to overcome this tendency. One such effort, though unsuccessful, was the conference between Luther and Zwingli held at Marburg (ch. 26, sec. 3) . John Calvin, through his letters and teaching and by means of conferences, succeeded in bring­ing a degree of unity into the Prot­estant movement. The first effort in modern times to encourage co-operation among Protestant churches was the or­ganization in London, in 1846, of the Evangelical Alliance. Some 50 evangelical bodies in England and America joined this alliance, and branches were established in nine European countries. The Alliance promoted many co-operative activi­ties. But toward the end of the century its enthusiasm died out. As time wore on divisions in the ranks of the Protestants increased. This was the case especially in America with its separation of Church and State and entire free­dom of religion. Today there are in the United States over two hun­dred denominations. American Christians, separated into many churches, began to feel the need of united testimony and action on various questions. This feeling has led to Church Federa­tion and Church Union. By Church Federation we mean the formation of an organization composed of separate denominations, like the Evangelical Alliance, for dealing with problems common to all. By Church Union we mean the uniting of two or more denominations into one. Christians in America have also felt the bond of fellowship with Christians in other lands. This has led to several international church conferences. In some of these movements the Modernists have taken the lead; in others, the Orthodox. 2. The Liberals and the Orthodox Form Federations While the international Evan­gelical Alliance in Europe was dis­solving, a new alliance of churches in America was organized in 1908. It bore the name of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. It was very active in considering and making pro­nouncements on social, economic, and political questions. Some thirty denominations belonged to the Fed­eral Council. The Modernists were in the majority. On November 29, 1950, in Cleve­land, Ohio, the churches which were members of the Federal Council, together with associated groups, joined forces to organize the National Council of the Church­es of Christ in the U.S.A. This new Council, which replaces the Federal Council, embraces 29 Protestant and Eastern Orthodox churches with 31 million communi­cants. It calls itself the dominant voice of Protestantism. There have been a number of denominations that refused to join the Federal Council because of its Modernism. And within the de­nominations that did join, there were large numbers of members who felt that the Federal Council was not giving expression to their faith or striving after the proper goals. These denominations and church members, feeling that co­operation is possible only upon the basis of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible, have federated them­selves in the National Association of Evangelicals. The history of this association goes back to 1941. In that year fifteen men met in Chicago to dis­cuss ways of bringing about closer co-operation among the Orthodox in the various churches of America. Under the inspiration of this small group 170 men met the next year in St. Louis and laid plans for the broadening of the movement. In 1943 more than 500 men met in Chicago. Here the National Asso­ciation of Evangelicals was for­mally organized by the adoption of a Statement of Faith and a Con­stitution. This meeting is counted as the First Annual Convention of the Association. Annual Conven­tions with increasing numbers of delegates have been held regularly since. The Association is composed of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyte­rians, Christian Reformed, Con­gregationalists, Reformed, Pente­costal and Holiness people, Nazarenes, Mennonites, and other small groups. Today about forty denomi­nations are represented in the N A E (as the National Associa­tion of Evangelicals is popularly known) , and over 1,500,000 church members. Some of the major proj­ects of the N A E are: Evangelism, Missions, Radio, Army and Navy Chaplaincies, Industrial Chaplain­cies, Religious Education, and War Relief. The Association has grown very rapidly in membership and influence during the brief period of its existence. The N A E pub­lishes a magazine which appears twice each month and is known as the U E A (United Evangelical Action). Another organization made up of Orthodox groups is the Ameri­can Council of Christian Churches. Its purposes are similar to those of the N A E, but it was formed as a protest against the fact that the N A E did not take a militant atti­tude and action against the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. This organization active­ly opposed the unscriptural state­ments and actions of the Federal Council. The organizational set-up of the American Council also dif­fers from that of the N A E. While the N A E accepts into its mem­bership individuals and churches whose denominations belong to the Federal Council (now National Council) , the American Council refuses to do so. Its membership consists only of complete denomi­nations which are in their entire membership separate from the Federal (National) Council. 3. Church Union Should Be Based on Church Unity On very few subjects do all men think alike. They do not all think alike on the subject of religion. Where there are differences of views on fundamental doctrines or on forms of worship and church government, separation of Chris­tians into different groups is un­avoidable. Nor is this organization of Chris­tians into different churches as great an evil as many think. The Church is not the Kingdom of Christ. It is the army to establish that Kingdom. In the late war we had a vast military set-up. But it was not all one. It was divided into Army, Navy, and Air Force. Each one of these was again sub­divided. We had not one fleet and one army. We had several fleets and several armies. Each army was again sub-divided into corps, divi­sions, regiments, and companies. Without such sub-divisions an army would be cumbersome and unmanageable. But however that may be, in the last forty years many of the lead­ing men in the large denominations have been working for church union. Some have bent their best energies to that task, and with con­siderable success. Since 1906 many church unions have been brought about. One of the largest of these was the union in 1939 of the Methodist Protes­tant Church, the Methodist Episco­pal Church, South, and the Method­ist Episcopal Church. The new body is called the Methodist Church—note that the word Episcopal has been omitted—and has nearly eight million members. There is a serious danger in­volved in these efforts toward church union. Church unity should underlie and precede church union. Many unions have taken place in spite of a serious lack of unity in the uniting churches. Within these churches Modernists and Bible be­lieving Christians have often been united into one organization. In almost every case in recent years the Modernists have taken control of the denomination which resulted from the union. 4. International Conferences Strive for Unity The first international Church conference was that held in Edin­burgh in 1916. A World Conference on Life and Work was held in 1925 at Stockholm. In 1927 a World Conference on Faith and Order met at Lausanne in Switzerland. This Conference faced an ambi­tious program. The subjects of dis­cussion were: the Church’s mes­sage to the world, the nature of the Church, a common confession of faith, the ministry, the sacraments, and the unity of Christendom. Nearly all Protestant churches had sent delegates. Present also were the archbishops of the Eastern Church. The Conference was able to reach a certain measure of agreement only on the first sub­ject: the message of the Church. The archbishops of the Eastern Church withdrew. In 1937 two other world Church conferences were held, to continue the work begun at Stockholm and Lausanne. Life and Work was the theme at the World Conference in Oxford; and at the World Con­ference in Edinburgh, Faith and Order. One hundred twenty-two religious bodies were represented, and nearly all the leaders of the Eastern churches were present. In these two conferences also no defi­nite results were achieved. But the general feeling was that at last the right road had been discovered, which sooner or later would lead to world-wide union of all churches. In the summer of 1948 the churches which had met in 1937 met again, with others, in Amster­dam, and the World Council of Churches was formally estab­lished. The 351 delegates repre­sented 147 churches in 44 different countries. The purpose of the Council is to carry on the work of the two world movements for Faith and Order and for Life and Work, and to encourage co-operation in matters of world-wide concern. This World Council has in its membership churches that are true to the Word of God in their doc­trine and teachings, and also churches that have a strong liberal element within their ministry and membership. Consequently there is little basis for unity, and those liberals who hoped to make of the Council in future years one great world church were disappointed at the few points on which all could agree. The next meeting of the World Council is scheduled for 1953. The year 1948 was a year of many conferences in Europe. The Second Ecumenical Synod of Re­formed Churches was held at Am­sterdam. The National Association of Evangelicals met in Clarens to organize on an international scale, and the American Council of Chris­tian Churches met in Amsterdam for the same purpose. With repre­sentatives from evangelical churches in other countries the American Council organized the International Council of Christian Churches. This Council met again in 1950. It is hoped that through these efforts the testimony of the saving gospel of Jesus Christ will be advanced and the bond of unity among His followers strengthened. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 62. CHAPTER 57: A LOOK BACKWARD AND FORWARD ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57 A Look Backward and Forward A Look Backward A Look Forward 1. A Look Backward In Php 3:12-14 Paul says in effect: Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect, but "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." The Church can make these words of Paul its own. Its service has not been perfect, for it is com­posed of sinners in a sinful world. The Church is not of the world, but it is very much in the world. It has greatly influenced the world; it has been a salt and a savor. But the world has at all times also pro­foundly influenced the Church. At times the salt has almost lost its savor, and frequently the light has been dimmed. From the very beginning the Jews have been the bitter oppo­nents of the Church. The Moham­medans have conquered much ter­ritory over which the banner of the Cross once flew. The Church so far has not been able to win over many of these opponents. The Church has never been over­powered. It did not prevent the fall of the Roman Empire, but it brought within its fold the Ger­manic tribes which destroyed that empire. At times the Church has sunk into error, superstition, cor­ruption, and indifference. But the divine life which is in the Church has always preserved and revived it. Empires and kingdoms have risen and fallen. Systems of politi­cal and social organization have appeared and vanished. As century after century has rolled by, man’s way of living has undergone count­less changes. But the Church, un­der God, has survived. 2. A Look Forward Together we have traveled near­ly two thousand miles of the long road of the Church’s history. The road will continue on. Today we behold the strange spectacle, cause for sorrow and joy, of many in the Church repudiating the Gospel while the heathen in the far corners of the earth are accepting it. From Scripture we know that dark days are in store for the Church and for the world. Black clouds are even now rising in the sky. But we know that the Church will continue upon its career of conquest until the return of our Lord. For the Church is the army of Christ. Jesus Christ is the living Head and the great King of the Church. You have studied the history of the Christian Church. But you must do more. You must help make that history from now on, be your part ever so small. In the bitter warfare that lies ahead, and as the battle mounts, you must prove yourselves loyal and valiant sol­diers of Jesus Christ. Help to make the future history of the Church even more glorious than its past. ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/kuiper-bk-the-church-in-history/ ========================================================================