The Burning of the Bibles

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. Revelation 11:3

"The first English transltion of the New Testament, 12 mo., from the original Greek was printed in Antwerp, (1,500 copies) in 1526.

 Bishop Tunstall and Wolsey, 

went abroad to destroy the nest, as they thought, 

of this viper's brood. 

At Antwerp, an English merchant offered them all they wished to buy, even to the last copy. The Bishop caught at the bait. "Gentle Mr. Packington," he replied, "do your diligence, and get them; and with all my heart I will pay for them, whatever they cost you; for the books are naught, and I intend surely to burn them at St. Paul's Cross." 

Packington's speech to Tyndale is equally quaint. "William, I know thou art a poor man, and hast a heap of books by thee; for which

thou hast endangered thy friends and beggared thyself; and I have gotten thee a merchant, which with ready money shall despatch thee of all thou hast." - "who is he?" - "The Bishop of London." - "O, that because he will burn them." - "Yes." - "I am the gladder," said Tyndale, "for these two benefits; I shall get money to bring myself out of debt, and the whole world will cry out against the burning God's Word; and the overplus of money shall make me more studious to correct the said New Testament, and newly to imprint the same; and I trust the second will much better like you than the first." 

So the books were burned in great quantities at St. Paul's Cross the same year. But a single copy of this edition is believed to be extant, and that in the Baptist Library in Bristol, England. 

In 1529-30 other copies were printed which found their way into England to such an extent that Dr. Stokesly, then Bishop of London, caused all the New Testaments and many others of Tyndale's works which he bought up should be brought to St. Paul's Churchyard and there burned, which was done in May, 1531. 

In 1531 Tyndale had prepared and printed in Antwerp a second enlarged and more perfect edition of the New Testament, 8vo. A copy of this edition is now in the British Museum. In 1538 Coverdale and the English printer Richard Grafton, had 2,500 copies the Bible, printed in France in the English language; the whole edition was seized and condemned to the flames, a few copies only being saved." BLB

SDA Issues: Where the Reformation stopped.....

And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people....And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.
Revelation 14:6/Zechariah 6:7

"But the Reformation stopped short of other important Bible truths,

such as that the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment is Saturday, the seventh day of the week, not Sunday, that there will be a pre-advent judgment, that the dead are unconscious in the grave, and that there will be a resurrection of the dead at the Second Coming of Christ, and that Christ mediates for us in the heavenly sanctuary. 

It is our urgent goal to share these truths with other Christians not of the SDA denomination." 

F.D. Nichol

Luther on "Enemies of the Cross of Christ"

Brethren, join in imitating me, and mark those who so live as you have an example in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 

--Their end is destruction, 

--their god is the belly, 

--and they glory in their shame, 

--with minds set on earthly things. 

But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him even to subject all things to Himself. Philippians 3:17-21

"Of the sensual papistical dolts at Rome, cardinals, bishops, priests

and the like, it is not necessary to speak here. Their works are manifest. 

All honorable secular authorities must confess they are simply abandoned knaves, living shameless lives of open scandal, avarice, arrogance, unchastity, vanity, robbery and wickedness of every kind. Not only are they guilty of such living, but shamelessly endeavor to defend their conduct. They must, then, be regarded enemies of Christ and of all honesty and virtue. 

Hence every respectable man is justly antagonistic toward them. 

But, as before said, Paul is not here referring to this class, but to eminent, godly individuals, whose lives are beyond reproach. These very ones, when Christians are encountered, are hostile and heinous enough to be able to forget all their own faults in the sight of God, and to magnify to huge beams the motes we Christians have. In fact, they must style the Gospel heresy and satanic doctrine for the purpose of exalting their own holiness and zeal for God.
The apostle makes his accusation yet more galling with the words “whose god is their belly.” Thus you hear how human righteousness, even at its best, extends no higher than to service of the sensual appetites." 

Martin Luther

LUTHER on Christ as HIGH PRIEST

But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 

And for this cause He is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. Hebrews 9:11-15

"Christ Our Great High Priest:
1.Briefly, the epistle treats of a twofold priesthood. The former priesthood was a material one, with material adornment, tabernacle, sacrifices and with pardon couched in ritual; material were all its

appointments. The new order is a spiritual priesthood, with spiritual adornments, spiritual tabernacle and sacrifices—spiritual in all that pertains to it. Christ, in the exercise of His priestly office, in the sacrifice on the cross, was not adorned with silk and gold and precious stones, but with divine love, wisdom, patience, obedience and all virtues.

2. Christ sacrificed not goats nor calves nor birds; not bread; not blood nor flesh, as did Aaron and his posterity: He offered His own body and blood, and the manner of the sacrifice was spiritual; for it took place through the Holy Spirit, as here stated. Though the body and blood of Christ were visible the same as any other material object, the fact that he offered them as a sacrifice was not apparent. It was not a visible sacrifice, as in the case of offerings at the hands of Aaron. Christ offered Himself in the heart before God.

3. Again, in the new order, the tabernacle or house is spiritual; for it

is heaven, or the presence of God. Christ hung upon a cross; He was not offered in a temple. He was offered before the eyes of God, and there He still abides. The cross is an altar in a spiritual sense. The material cross was indeed visible, but none knew it as Christ’s altar. Again, His prayer, His sprinkled blood, His burnt incense, were all spiritual, for it was all wrought through His spirit.

4. Concerning the water of separation and the ashes of the red heifer, read Numbers 19; and concerning the blood of bulls and goats, Leviticus 16:14-15. According to Paul, these were formal and temporal purifications, as I stated above. But Christ, in God’s sight, purifies the conscience of dead works; that is, of sins meriting death, and of works performed in sin and therefore dead. Christ purifies from these, that we may serve the living God by living works." Martin Luther

Calvin on Christ as High Priest

"Regarding the priestly office, Calvin highlights the twofold work of Jesus as outlined in Hebrews - namely, the reconciliation and intercession of Jesus. 

First, “as has been said, we or our prayers have no access to God

unless Christ, as our High Priest, having washed away our sins, sanctifies us and obtains for us that grace from which the uncleanness of our transgressions and vices debars us. Thus we see that we must begin from the death of Christ in order that the efficacy and benefit of his priesthood may reach us. It follows that He is an everlasting intercessor: through His pleading we obtain favor” (Calvin, p. 502). 

Christ inaugurated a new covenant wherein He is both priest and sacrifice: Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sins, and then for the sins of the people. 

He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered Himself (Hebrews 7.27). 

The mediatorial work of the Levitical priesthood, in itself insufficient to atone for sins in an ultimate way, anticipated the final work of salvation completed by Jesus’ perfect sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9.26). 

Jesus’ sacrifice fulfilled God’s righteous demands: But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which He is mediator is superior to the old one, and it is founded on better promises (Hebrews 8.6).
For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 

Nor was it to offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not His own, for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. 

But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 

In the Jewish temple there were no chairs because the priest’s work was never done. By contrast, the author of Hebrews informs us that when Jesus finished His work He sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10.12)." 

MyEvenSong

Anne Askew Blown Up At The Stake

If the world hate you, 

ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. 

John 15:18

"Anne Askew’s life (c. 1521-1546) was one of many made famous by John Foxe in his book of Martyrs in 1563, though at the time of her death in 1546 the crowd that came to see her was so large that it had to be forced back to make space for her to burn.

Anne had been relatively well educated, and could certainly read, and so she read, and she read the Bible. And what she read their turned her mind to the teachings of evangelicals. Anne was not of the shy and retiring type, she shared her views with her neighbors and husband. Neither were happy with her talk.

There in the Cathedral she quietly read their Bible – though the Act in Advancement of Religion in 1543 had laid down that women should only read the Bible in private.

For Master Kyme, Anne rebellion was too much – and he threw his wife out. Anne responded by demanding a divorce; of her two children, by the way there is no sign, so it may be they died in infancy. Anne had no hope of gaining a divorce from the Bishop of Lincoln, and so she took herself to London, to the court of Chancery where she might have a better chance. She was a well connected noblewoman; her brother Edward was cup-bearer to the king, and her half-brother Christopher had been a gentleman of the privy chamber. Edward had served Archbishop Cranmer; and critically Anne’s sister Jane was married to George St Poll, a lawyer in the service of the duke and duchess of Suffolk, Catherine Willoughby, a member of the Queen’s household. This connection to the queen’s household would have consequences.

But Anne attracted attention in London and it was probably March 1545 when she first got into trouble. She was hauled in front of the Bishop of London Edmund Bonner and interrogated. Eventually Bonner went away and wrote a document, a confession of faith and demanded she agree to it. Anne’s statement though was equivocal: “I Anne Askew do believe all manner of things contained in the faith of the Catholic church”.
This sounds innocuous enough, but Anne had managed to distance herself from the Roman church, and claimed the proper catholic church was of her own, the reformers. But for now, Anne was released as her family and connections fought her cause. In June 1545 Anne Askew was arraigned again before a jury for denying the mass; but no witness came forward and so the jury released her.

Gardiner tried to charm her – he was her friend, he said, he only wanted to save her soul. Anne firmly and contemptuously pushed this away; these were the kind of weasel words of Judas she spat. The Council got nowhere, neither in persuading her that she was in error, or in eliciting any names. Time and again they pressed her about her connection to the Countess of Hertford, Lady Denny, the Duchess of Suffolk – all women of Catherine Parr’s household. Eventually the Council gave up. The recorder of the session concluded wearily that
seeing no persuasion of good reason could take place, she was sent to Newgate, to remain there to answer to the law.

In Newgate prison, Anne started writing of her experience, and composing her ballad. But her ordeal had only just started.
She flatly rejected the existence of any priestly miracle in the eucharist:

“As for that ye call your God, it is a piece of bread. For a more proof thereof… let it but lie in the box three months and it will be mouldy.”

But Stephen Gardiner, Thomas Wriothesley, and Richard Rich were

no less determined to break Anne, to get the information they needed to bring down the Queen and secure England’s future for traditional religion. Anne was taken secretly to the Tower. Gardiner ordered Kingston, the Constable of the Tower to have Anne racked. Extraordinarily, two members of the Privy Council took part in this by hand. Wriothesley and Rich met her there, and again pressed her for her connections at court, and in the presence of Anthony Kingston, they threatened her with the rack. This was quite illegal; torture was not allowed for anyone under the legal process without express permission of the king; noblemen were protected and it was unthinkable to torture a woman. Still Anne would not yield.

Essentially, Wriothesley and Rich ordered Kingston to put Anne to the rack. She as stripped to her shift, and she climbed onto the rack and was tied, hands and feet and the wheel turned to tighten the ropes. Anthony Kingston was clearly horrified, and once again Anne refused to talk. So Wriothesley and Rich demanded she be racked again, and much harder.
Still Anne would not tell them what they wanted to know. She would admit that some men had come to give her some money in prison to help her, and that they had said they’d come from Lady Denny and Countess Hertford, but that was all.

Anne was taken quietly and secretly to a private house to recover from her torture – but the violence visited on her body was too hideous, her joints were dislocated, she could not walk. Rich and Wriothesley had to face the music of the Council, horrified at what had been done – but the kind of music we are talking about here is a good old traditional establishment cover up.

Anne was once more given a chance to recant, and once more refused, and was returned to Newgate, there to write her story. The date for her execution was set as 12th July 1546. She would not die alone – three others, John Lascelles, John Hadlam, and John Hemley were also to be burned. There was a huge crowd, and both Wriothesley and Norfolk were there to see all was done. All three men were tied to stakes with faggots around them as normal, but Anne’s case was different – she was too broken to walk. Pushing through the crowd and the noise came the serjeants, bringing between them a chair on which Anne was carried. She could not stand at the stake to be burned, and so a small chair was set at the bottom of the stake and she was tied by ankles, wrist, chest and neck to the stake where she sat. Then through the crowd came her torturer Thomas Wriothesley, and he cried out that they could still recant and be pardoned. Anne replied for them all that when she replied that she ‘came not hither to deny my Lord and Master!’.
Anne had to be carried to the stake on a chair. She was then tied with chains to a separate chair which was attached to the woodpile, which was then set alight. As if this wasn’t enough, the fire was set to burn slowly, ensuring that Anne endured as much pain in her

last moments as the men could cause.

Somebody who took pity on Anne, covered her in gunpowder to ensure a swift end.

At the time of Anne’s execution, a thunderstorm rolled into London. It was believed that this was a display of Gods wrath at the murder of innocents."
TheTudorilist

Calvin on the Law

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Romans 7:7
"The law has sustained no diminution of its authority, but ought always to receive from us the same veneration and obedience." 

Calvin

Luther on the Law

What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Romans 6:15

"He who pulls down the law, pulls down at the same time the whole
frame-work of human polity and society. 

If the law be thrust out of the church, there will no longer be anything recognized as a sin in the world, since the gospel defines and punishes sin only by recurring to the law.

I never rejected the law." 

Luther

Protestantism VS. Roman Church

"The Roman Church evolved the concept (little by little) that the

freedom of members to be individuals, to judge, to decide, to choose, and to have freedom of conscience, was a dangerous and evil thing for the unity and tranquility of the church. It is easy to see that if the pope were in God’s place, he would have taken steps to prevent the rebellion in heaven in the first place. 

He would not have been as “foolish” as God, but would have taken steps to insure that creatures did not have a “power akin to that of the Creator.” 

The noontide of the Papacy was the midnight of the world.

When the human spirit was robbed of its individuality by the Roman system, mankind ceased to advance. The creative instinct of the human spirit was killed. 

Christendom was welded together in the great feudal society of the Dark Ages. 

Protestantism, on the other hand, insisted on restoring that right to every member of the body of Christ. Is not this a risky thing for the church to do? Yes, it is! Look at all the divisions that arose among Protestantism! 

Yet Protestantism, while recognizing that many will misuse the right of every believer to be a priest, maintains that such basic freedom is the principle of heaven.

Hebrews 8:11 They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. 

From the pen of Inspiration, we read the following: Education, p. 17: Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator,—individuality, power to think and to do...It is the work of true education [which is the gospel] to develop this power."

RB

What happened at Zwickau?

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

1 Timothy 4:1,2

"Nicolas Storch, a weaver, publicly declared that the angel Gabriel had appeared to him by night, and after revealing to him matters he was not allowed to divulge, had uttered the words, “You shall sit on my throne!” 

A senior student of Wittemberg, named Mark Stubner, joined Storch, and forthwith abandoned his studies,—for, according to his own statement, he had received immediately from God the ability to interpret holy Scripture. 

Mark Thomas, also a weaver, associated himself with them; and

another of the initiated, by name Thomas Munzer, a man of fanatical turn of mind, gave to the new sect a regular organization.

Resolving to act according to the example of Christ, Storch chose from among his followers twelve apostles and seventy disciples.

But scarcely had this heresy, which had shown itself of old in the days of Montanism, and again in the middle ages, drawn together a handful of separatists, when it encountered in the Reformation a strong opposing power. 

Nicholas Haussman, to whom Luther gave that noble testimony—“What we teach, he acts,” was at this time the pastor of Zwickau. This good man was not led away by the pretensions of the false prophets. Supported by his two deacons, he successfully resisted the innovations Storch and his followers were seeking to introduce.

The fanatics, repelled by the pastors of the church, fell into another extravagance; they formed meetings, in which doctrines subversive of order were publicly preached. 

The people caught the infection, and disturbances were the consequence; the priest bearing the sacrament, was pelted with stones, and the civil authority interfering, committed the most violent of the party to prison. 

Indignant at this treatment, and intent upon justifying themselves and obtaining redress, Storch, Mark Thomas, and Stubner, repaired to Wittemberg. 

Making sure of co-operation, they waited upon the University Professors, to receive their sanction. “We,” said they, “are sent by God to teach the people. The Lord has favored us with special communications from himself; we have the knowledge of things which are coming upon the earth. In a word, we are apostles and prophets, and we appeal, for the truth of what we say, to Doctor Luther.”

The Professors were amazed. “Who commissioned you to preach?” inquired Melancthon of Stubner, who had formerly studied under him, and whom he now received at his table. “The Lord our God.” “Have you committed anything to writing?” “The Lord our God has forbidden me to do so.” Melancthon drew back, alarmed and astonished.

Men’s minds were diverted from the Gospel, or prejudiced against it: the school was almost broken up; the demoralized students burst the bands of discipline.

The most noted of the prophets were not at Wittemberg when Luther arrived there. Nicolas Storch was on a progress through the country.
Stubner exhorted them to stand firm. “Let him come forth,” interposed Cellarius; “let him give us the meeting; let him only afford us opportunity to declare our doctrine, and then we shall see…” Luther had but little wish to meet them. He knew them to be men of violent, hasty, and haughty temper, who would not endure even kind admonition.
Nevertheless, as an interview was requested, Luther could not decline it. Besides it might be doing service to the weak of the flock to unmask the imposture of the prophets. 

Accordingly the meeting took place. Stubner opened the conversation. 

He showed how he proposed to restore the Church and reform the world. 

Luther listened to him with great calmness. “Of all you have been saying,” replied he, at last, gravely, “there is nothing that I see to be based upon Scripture. It is a mere tissue of fiction.” 

At these words Cellarius lost all self-possession. Raising his voice like one out of his mind, he trembled from head to foot, and striking the table with his fist, in a violent passion, exclaimed against Luther’s speech as an insult offered to a man of God. 

On this Luther remarked, “Paul declared that the signs of an apostle were wrought among the Corinthians, in signs and mighty deeds. Do you likewise prove your apostleship by miracles?” “We will do so,” rejoined the prophets. “The God whom I serve,” answered Luther, “will know how to bridle your gods.” 

Stubner, who had hitherto preserved an imperturbable silence, now fixing his eyes on the Reformer, said, in a solemn tone, “Martin Luther, hear me while I declare what is passing at this moment in your soul. You are beginning to see that my doctrine is true.” Luther was silent for a few moments, and then replied, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan.” Instantly the prophets lost all self command. They shouted aloud, “The Spirit, the Spirit.”.

The result was, that the pretended prophets abandoned the field, and that very day they left Wittemberg.
The most noted of these enthusiasts was Thomas Munzer; he was not

without talent; had read his Bible, was of a zealous temperament, and might have done good, if he had been able to gather up his agitated thoughts, and attain to settled peace of conscience. 

But with little knowledge of his own heart, and wanting in true humility, he was taken up with the desire of reforming the world, and, like the generality of enthusiasts, forgot that it was with himself he should begin. 

Certain mystical writings, which he had read in his youth, had given a false direction to his thoughts. He made his first appearance in public at Zwickau;— quitted Wittemberg on Luther’s return thither, not satisfied to hold a secondary place in the general esteem, and became pastor of the small town of Alstadt, in Thuringia.

He considered himself as called of God to remedy this great evil. The Revelations of the Spirit, according to him, were the means by which the Reformation he was charged with should be effected. “He who has the Spirit,” said he, has true faith, although he should never once in all his life, see the Holy Scriptures.

The fanatics, unrestrained, ran into the greatest excesses; 

revolt was encouraged, 

blood was shed, 

and towns were pillaged; 

and the mercy of God alone preserved His cause. 

But the firmness with which Luther, and those whom God had made foremost in the work, met and protested against those delusions, showed to the world that the Reformation was entirely distinct from the fanaticism of those spirits." 

Sylvester Bliss

Rome's traffic in immortal bliss

And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write;...Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Revelation 2:18,20

"At the date of the Reformation, the beginning of the sixteenth century, the papacy had, from Gregory the Great, through Azcharias and Stephen III., Hildebrand and Innocent III., Alexander VI and Leo X., reached that pinnacle of abusive power where she held the sway over this world and the world to come, and over the eternal destinies of the human race; and where she could traffic in immortal bliss, selling it for money,–where, in the energetic words of another, "The church was omnipotent, and Leo was the church." 

In the exercise of that omnipotency, Leo proceeds to the sale of

indulgences, covering both worlds for the past, present, and future. And now begins the Reformation. Luther resists the sale of indulgences, and the claims upon which they are sold. 

It is plain that if both sides stand firmly to their principles, nothing else can come out of it but renunciation of the church of Rome, on the part of Luther, the adoption of Christ as Head of the church instead of the pope, and justification by faith instead of by money in the purchase of indulgences." 

A.T. Jones

What Stunted the Reformation?

"Luther and all the other reformers stood upon the platform of "The word of God, the whole word of God, and nothing but the word of God." 

They abandoned the sophistries of the schools, and rested solely upon this declaration, which must be the basis of every true reform in all ages. 

And just so far as that principle is abandoned, so much will the work be retarded. 

While this principle was adhered to, the Reformation succeeded gloriously; 

when the principle was abandoned, 

the Reformation suffered accordingly. 

In the word of God, lies the strength of the work of God. 

In this position there was another great advantage that the Reformers

held over their papal antagonists. As long as they stood by the word of God alone, they occupied a field with which the papists were wholly unacquainted; and the more the Reformers studied and applied the word of God, the more easily they could defeat their adversaries. 

Their adversaries knew it, and therefore they employed every artifice to draw the Reformers into the scholastic field; for there the papists had every advantage which the Protestants had in the other. 

While the leaders of the Reformation lived, the papists were unsuccessful in every attempt in this direction, and so the Reformation was successful everywhere; but when these leaders were removed from the world, and their faith and zeal were not inherited by their successors, and when to the craftiness of the papists were added the zeal and artfulness of Loyola and his order, the Protestants were finally corrupted by the arts and stratagems of their opponents and induced to revive the subtleties of the schools in defending and illustrating religious truth. 

So it may be said with truth that, while the Protestants imbibed scholasticism from the Catholics, they allowed the Catholics to steal from them their zeal." 

A.T. Jones

The many manifestations of the Reformation

And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. Daniel 11:33

“One man, Martin Luther, took a stand that literally shredded the fabric of Europe. 

--It changed theology,

--it changed politics, 

--it changed society 

--and it changed political boundaries. 

It gave us a revolution in education, in literacy. 

There are  many manifestations of the Reformation.”
Tom Rassieur, curator, “Martin Luther: Art and the Reformation”

The Clothed

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6

"We shall never be clothed with the righteousness of Christ except that we first know assuredly that we have no righteousness of our own." 

Calvin

What Luther asked for

And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. Daniel 11:33

Actual Portrait of Luther

"From the beginning of my Reformation 

---I have asked God to send me neither dreams, nor visions, nor angels, 

---but to give me the right understanding of His Word, the Holy Scriptures; for as long as I have God's Word, I know that I am walking in His way and that I shall not fall into any error or delusion." 

Martin Luther

Zwingli on the Gospel

For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. 1 Corinthians 4:15

"This is the gospel, 

---that sins are remitted in the name of Christ, 

---and no heart ever received tidings more glad." 

Zwingli

Luther on the Bible

In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. 

John 7:37

"The Bible is a remarkable fountain: 

---The more one draws and drinks of it, 

---the more it stimulates thirst." 

Martin Luther

Education & the REFORMATION

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6 NIV

"In 1528 Melanchthon drew up the 'Saxony School Plan,' which served as the basis of organization for many schools throughout Germany.

This plan dealt with the question of a "multiplicity of studies that were not only unfruitful but even hurtful... The teacher should not burden the children with too many books." (Painter, p. 152). 

These reformers realized that the strength of the Papal church lay in its educational system, and they struck a crushing blow at this system and, wounding it, brought the Papal church to her knees. 

The reformers established a system of Christian schools that made Protestants of the children. This wonderful revolution in education and religion was accomplished in one generation, in the brief space of one man's life. To give an idea of the power in that great Christian educational movement, the historian, speaking of several European countries, says: "The nobility of that country studied in Wittenberg--all the colleges of the land were filled with Protestants... Not more than the thirtieth part of the population remained Catholic... They withheld their children, too, from the Catholic schools. The inhabitants of Maniz did not hesitate to send their children to Protestant schools. The Protestant notions extended their vivifying energies to the most remote and most forgotten corners of Europe. What an immense domain had they conquered within the space of forty years..."

After the death of Luther and Melanchthon, the theologians, into

whose hands the work of the Reformation fell, instead of multiplying Christian schools, became absorbed in the mere technicalities of theology, and passed by the greatest work of the age. They sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. 

When the successors of Luther and Melanchthon failed to continue that constructive work, which centered largely in the education of the youth, who were to be the future missionaries and pillars of the church, internal dissension arose. Their time was spent very largely in criticizing the views of some of their colaborers who differed with them on some unimportant points of theology.

Protestantism degenerated into dead orthodoxy, and they broke up into opposing factions. The Protestant church, thus weakened, could not resist the great power of rejuvenated Papal education."
E. A. Sutherland

Puritan Corner - Pastor's 2 Voices

 “The pastor ought to have two voices; One for gathering the sheep;

and another for driving away wolves.”

by John Calvin (1509-1564)

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Matthew 7:15

Forgotten 200 year Bitter Dispute of the Reformation

"There are many great doctrinal debates in the Reformation. 

Perhaps the greatest one is what on earth Jesus meant when, at the Last Supper, he said, ‘This is My body,’ and then exhorted his disciples to ‘Do this in remembrance of Me’ (Luke 22:19). 

It’s been semi-jokingly said that the Reformation is a bitter, 200-year-long dispute about the exact meaning of each of those four words: this, is, my, and body." PeterMarshall