PART THREE: WHEN PEOPLE PROTEST
1300-1870
THIRTY-SEVEN: THE CALL "OUT OF HER" BEGINS
The light which manifests itself to many individuals within the church slowly becomes such a burning glow that, combining with the loss of prestige of the Papacy, and the growing political tensions, it can no longer be contained within Babylon proper. Light cannot be comprehended by darkness.
Rome's response? Based on its past philosophy, of course: I quote St. Bernard: " The death of an infidel pleases God."
However, the Holy Spirit says: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." And, "God is not willing that any should perish..."(Psalm 116:15,II Peter 3:9).
Who is able to write off a human soul and claim that it shall never repent? Only God. To whom has been committed eternal judgment? Only God.
Worse, who dares resist the workings of the Holy Spirit when men are grieved by that Spirit? And godly men are grieved when unrighteousness rules the church, when all her holy ways have been perverted by unholy men, her teachings have been buried by the traditions of men. Who dares come against this angry God?
Rome.
Some preliminary thoughts about the Reformation.
1. With the apostles and Jesus we have the fullness of Light. With the later church leaders, we have a gradual clouding of that light. With the Imperial Roman spirit of Babylon infused into the church we have the "mixture", which in God's eyes is darkness, the Dark Ages. With the reformers comes Light again, but not fullness of Light. Let us be patient with these men who have just awakened from the bad dream of Romanism, and not expect them to be fully cleansed from their ways in a day. Later reformers do greater works. And to you and me is committed the task of completing the work of perfection handed down to us by their Spirit-filled energies. Whatever we do, let us not go back the way we came...
2. All Protestants began as Roman Catholics, most as priests, friars, monks. This was not a move of the "rabble," but of the elite. Men upon whom Roman hands had been laid, and therefore by Roman definitions, men in whom great amounts of wisdom dwelt.
3. We who have been raised Protestant cannot imagine the courage it takes to stand against the prevailing doctrines and ways of 1000 years. The guilt, the shock, the pain of suddenly being a castaway, a reject.
4. There have always been those in the church who wanted to follow Christ first. DeRosa, op. cit., pp.118-119:
"Martin Luther was not the first to take onions to Rome and bring back garlic. In fact, the severest critics of the papacy have always been not enemies but friends [De Rosa would include himself in this number], including many saints - and some popes! Their witness goes back a long way."
DeRosa then goes back that trail to Adrian IV (1154-9) and Adrian's friend John of Salisbury, later a Bishop. John suggests that people of his day thought of the church as a "stepmother" rather than a mother, of its leaders as Scribes and Pharisees, and of its Pope as "burdensome and scarcely to be borne."
He travels to the thirteenth century, when one Cardinal Hugo blasts the sitting Pope Innocent IV as most immoral. Cardinal Bonaventure in the same century likens Rome to the harlot of the apocalypse, 300 years before Luther says it! He says that Rome corrupts prelates, who corrupt clergy, who corrupt the people.
Still following DeRosa, we see devout Catholic Dante (1265-1321) assuming that many popes and cardinals are hell-bound, or already there.
Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), hardly a Protestant either, tells Gregory XI (Pope) that, frankly, the Papal administration stinks. Her actual word.
But with John Wycliffe(1320-1384), a new chapter of the church begins. And for nearly 700 years now, voices like his have sounded the warning about Babylon. These voices have all drawn fire from Rome, and many have been silenced. But the protest continues, and must continue until the Lord of the Church comes for His own.
I now follow in these comments about reformers, a very helpful volume put together by the late Harry Emerson Fosdick in 1952, Great Voices of the Reformation, Random House, NY.
Wycliffe, a Catholic Scholar of Oxford University, becomes the most influential preacher of his day in England. He bluntly refers to Roman government as "antichrist," and accuses it of laboring to do away with the Scriptures in his Antichrist's Labour to Destroy Holy Writ. It is obvious why we today honor this man, and have named the great Bible translation organization after him. It is equally obvious why he did not endear himself to Rome, and why in 1414 the Council of Constance orders his bones to be dug up and burned. The ashes are thrown in the Avon River. But as one poet observes:
"The Avon to the Severn runs,
And Severn to the sea;
And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad
Wide as the waters be."
John Huss, priest in Bohemia (later Czechoslovakia), discovers Wycliffe's writings, and defends much of them, suggesting his parishioners feel free to read them also. Rome's philosophy, of course, is that one who condones what she has condemned must likewise be condemned. Huss approaches life a little differently, saying that "only to the Holy Scriptures will I maintain ...reverent obedience." Here he refers to Wycliffe's writings, saying that even a great one like Wycliffe could have been in error in places. As to the Roman hierarchy:
"So far as they are according to the rule of Christ, I intend most certainly to obey them. But if I find them to be at variance, I will not obey them..."
That's simple enough. After all, he continues,
"The pope is not fallible," and "to rebel against an erring pope is to obey Christ."
No, I simply will not obey, "even if you put before my eyes fire for the burning of my body."
Always wanting to oblige a heretic, Rome does just that, by the same Council that digs up Wycliffe's bones in 1414. He is burned at the stake.
John Knox, of whom we will say more later, gives us insight on the nature of the accusations being leveled at believers. In 1494, the Lollards, an earlier group of which are associated with Wycliffe, are accused of 34 articles of their faith. Note which ones would condemn you , dear reader, whether you be Protestant or Catholic, to the flames:
Please understand, these statements are condemned by Rome:
1. images are not to be had, nor yet to be worshipped.
2. the relics of saints are not to be worshipped.
3. Christ ordained no priests to consecrate.
4. After the consecration of the Mass, there remains bread. There is not the natural body of Christ.
5. Every faithful man or woman is a priest.
6. The pope is not the successor of Peter, except where he said, "Go behind me, Satan."
7. The pope exalts himself against God, and above God.
8. Excommunication from the church is not to be feared.
9. Priests may have wives...
10. The pope forgives not sins, but only God.
11. We should not pray to the glorious Virgin Mary, but to God only.
Are you with me? Do you understand that if you believe any one of the above items, and there were many more, you are guilty of heresy, should Rome ever gain power again?
It is clear that Martin Luther , born in 1483, is not the first of the reformers. For over 300 years the pot has been simmering. With Luther, though, one could say it boils over.
Luther begins his career in Erfurt, Germany, as a law student, but later decides, and we are grateful, to give his life to the service of God. To this end he becomes an Augustinian monk.
Luther continues his studies, though, and begins to feel very uncomfortable with the theology he is discovering. In his day, the scholasticism of Aristotle-Aquinas, the systematizing of religious doctrines into a neat science, was wearing thin. This approach to God obviously produces no power for living, and after awhile it also sets itself up against the wisdom of men, and in fact sounds much like it. Thus intelligent men find a way to attack it, even ridicule it.
While most men of his day are laughing, though, Luther weeps, knowing there has to be more then this sterility. Though he continues to rise in the Roman structure, becoming a prior over 11 monasteries, and wearing a few other titles, by 1517 he has made his first formal objection to scholastic theology.
The shock waves don't ripple too high or too far, though, before another issue arises, one which draws enough fire to catapult the "Luther thing" to visibility, but one which in itself is not as critical to Reformation thinking. The issue is the indulgence.
Catholic theology, through its evolution of tradition, has come up with the concept of a place somewhere between here and the presence of God (though the Scripture still says that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, II Corinthians 5:8) called Purgatory. The name comes from the idea of "purging" or "cleansing." Thus it is a place where we go through that final purifying we need so we can stand before a holy God.
Or so goes the story. Well, the less time spent in this awful place, of course, the better. To lessen the time of a loved one gone on, one can obtain an indulgence, a shortening of the sentence, from a qualified Roman agent. In Luther's day, money is always attached to the formula, and indulgences become big business.
Enter one Prince Albert of Hohenzollern, an ambitious young man who wants to add some clerical titles to his array of prestige. He's willing to pay. Leo X, present Pope, is willing to receive, as he has decided to re-do St. Peter's Basilica and raise a monument to himself , that is, to St. Peter, for all future generations to glory in.
The huge fee is assessed, but Albert just doesn't have enough on hand. No fear, Albert, your credit is good, if you don't mind another huge sum of money for interest. And, to repay your debt, just sell this indulgence. Albert agrees and hires the infamous Tetzel to do the salesmanship.
Tetzel. You no doubt remember the little rhyme, which in English says, "As soon as the coin in the coffers rings, a soul from Purgatory springs." Trouble is,he really means it . Worse, the people believe it.
Here is the actual (English) wording of the indulgence for sale:
" I, by virtue of the apostolic power entrusted to me, do absolve thee from all ecclesiastical censures, judgments, and punishments which thou must have merited; besides this, from all excesses, sins, and crimes thou mayest have committed, however great and shameful they may have been, and for whatever cause, even in those cases reserved for our most Holy Father the Pope. I obliterate every taint of unvirtues, all signs of infamy, which thou mayest have received. I release thee from all punishments which thou wouldest have endured in purgatory. I permit thee again to participate in the sacraments of the Church. I incorporate thee again in the community of the sanctified, and replace thee in the state of innocence and purity in which thou wert at the hour of thy baptism. So that in the moment of thy death, the door through which the sinner enters the place of torture and punishment will be closed, and that will be open to thee which leads into the paradise of joys. If thou shouldst not soon die, so shall this grace remain unshakable until the end of thy life. In the name of the Holy Father. Amen."
Note here how Rome sells to the believer what the believer has already been promised by Christ!
As to Pope Leo, with whom Luther will later clash, according to DeRosa(p.113 ff) he is...
"for reasons not at first understood, chaste. That is, he had no mistresses and no "nephews" (or bastards).The reason was probably that he was an adventurous homosexual. Guicciardini said the new pope was excessively devoted to the flesh, especially those pleasures which cannot, with decency, be mentioned... Instead of giving up everything to follow Christ, Leo grabbed all he could in Christ's name for himself. A gambler and a big spender, he was said to obey Jesus in only one thing: he took no thought for the morrow...he was an enthusiastic builder and patron of the arts. The contemporary historian Sarpi said of him, 'He would have been a perfect pope, if to these (artistic) accomplishments he had even the slightest knowledge of religion'."
In Leo's Rome of 50,000 people, 7,000 registered prostitutes live. Syphilis abounds. Priests in particular contract this disease, driven to the whore houses, often convents, by the crying normality of the male of our species, a normality forbidden to servants of the Pope.
Luther, the prophet of his day, speaks out. At first, though, the issue is indulgences. The 95 theses that he nails to that special door are meant to challenge anyone who so desires, to a debate. They are not meant to be laws from God, only Luther's studied opinions. And , shockingly enough, for we who study the Reformation, expecting 20th century fundamentalists in 16th century Europe, Luther is at first very supportive of the Pope and Papal ways. I quote: (from Luther's 95 Theses, Concordia, St. Louis.)
1)...Jesus...intended that the whole life of believers should be penitence.
5)The Pope has neither the will nor the power to remit any penalties except those which he has imposed by his own authority or by that of the canons.
13) The dying pay all penalties by death and are already dead to the canon laws and are by right relieved from them.
27) They preach human doctrine who say that the soul flies out of purgatory as soon as the money thrown into the chest rattles.
28) It is certain that when the money rattles in the chest, avarice and gain may be increased, but the suffrage of the Church depends on the will of God alone.
32) Those who believe that through letters of pardon they are made sure of their own salvation will be eternally damned along with their teachers.
52) Vain is the hope of salvation through letters of indulgence, even if a commissary - nay, the Pope himself - were to pledge his own soul for them.
53) They are enemies of Christ and of the Pope who, in order that indulgences may be preached, condemn the Word of God to utter silence in their churches.
86) Why does not the Pope, whose riches are at this day more ample than those of the wealthiest of the wealthy, build the one Basilica of St. Peter with his own money rather than with that of poor believers?
89) Since it is the salvation of souls, rather than money, that the Pope seeks by granting indulgences, why does he suspend the letters and indulgences granted long ago, since they are equally efficacious?
Those who put together this little document of Luther's theses mention (p.13) that anyone who dared question Tetzel's statements could be threatened with the heretic's death: the stake.
Thus with these kinds of statements, and a growing number of books and lectures and sermons, in some of which he begins to make personal attacks on the Pope and the Papacy in general, Martin Luther is finally called to account for himself in a series of confrontations with the Pope's men. Finally, in Worms, the classic statements that bring about his final separation from Rome. From the trial:
"If...I should recall these books, I should do nothing else than add to the strength of this tyranny, and should open, not windows only, but doors to this tremendous foe of religion....Because I am a man and not God, I cannot shield my practices with any other defense than that with which my Lord Jesus Christ himself vindicated his teaching...'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.'...Whoever can, whether high or low, let him bring forward the proof, let him convince me of errors: let the Scriptures of Prophecy and Gospels triumph, for I will be wholly ready to revoke every error, if I can be persuasively taught; yes, I will be the first to cast my books into the fire.
"Therefore, Your Most Serene Majesty and Your Lordships, since they seek a simple reply, I will give one that is without horns or teeth, and in this fashion: I believe in neither pope nor councils alone; for it is perfectly well established that they have frequently erred, as well as contradicted themselves. Unless then I shall be convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason, I must be bound by those Scriptures which have been brought forward by me; yes, my conscience has been taken captive by these words of God. I cannot revoke anything, nor do I wish to; since to go against one's conscience is neither safe nor right: here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen."
Huldreich Zwingli of Switzerland begins to preach the pure Gospel of Christ "before anyone in (his) locality had so much as heard the name of Luther." Not destined to as much fame, but steering a similar course, Zwingli intends to remain a Catholic, and reform from within. Most of the Reformers were thus minded.
When he begins to "go off course," a nervous hierarchy offers Zwingli promises of ecclesiastical preferment, cash, and outright threats. He gets worse, driving indulgence peddlars from Zurich. Independently of the other Reformers, Zwingli comes to this conclusion (from The First Helvetic Confession):
"Canonic Scripture, the Word of God, given by the Holy Spirit and set forth to the world by the Prophets and Apostles, the most perfect and ancient of all philosophies, alone contains perfectly all piety and the whole rule of life."
This conclusion, plus the implications that follow such a conclusion, plus the energetic reformation of a city, draws the Papal armies to Zurich. In the ensuing battle, Zwingli is killed.
But the call out continues...
