HOW CAME
THE REFORMATION?
The Reformation did not and does not consist
in exposure and denunciation of the iniquities of the Roman
Catholic church. That is included in
the Reformation, as an incident: because it is of the essence of Christianity
to hate iniquity, as it is to love righteousness.
It was the iniquities, enormities, and desolation, wrought by the Roman
church, that caused the universal desire and the pressing demand that there
should be a reformation.
Yet, the Reformation was not wrought by magnifying
or dwelling upon those things. The Reformation springs
from another principle, lives in another atmosphere,
and works in another field than that.
Consider the darkness and depravity of the church which thinks to change the Law of God, which requires masses of men and women to bow and humiliate themselves before other men to receive the forgiveness that comes from God alone, and which claims to create, command, capture, and contain the Creator of the universe within in a tiny wafer...if exposure and denunciation of these iniquities and of ever so many more of that church could have wrought reformation, then the Reformation would have been in the world more than five hundred years before it was. The quotations and many scathing words of denunciation and exposure of the Roman church on her own part, and of the papacy as a whole, and all by men of standing in that church itself, are sufficient to show that if such could work reformation there was enough of it to have accomplished the most complete and perfect reformation. Yet all that is only a little of what could just as easily be quoted. And all of it said by men who lived all their days and died in full and honored membership in that church: some of them now saints of that church.
The men whose preaching made the Reformation could have said all that they ever said and more, in denunciation of the iniquity in that church, and the enormities of the Popes: and, yet, could have remained in good standing in that church all their days: if they had still held that church to be the only and true Church, and have held themselves in conformity with her accordingly.
All men saw the iniquities practiced. They actually felt them on every side. Nobles, kings, emperors, priests, bishops, cardinals, and councils called for reformation. Even Popes confessed the sore need of it. They condemned the evil practices, but justified the system by which alone it was possible that those practices could not only be perpetuated, but could even exist. The times were evil, but “the church”, which made the times what they were, was “righteous”! Church-men were bad; but “the church”, whose members and the expression of whose life those church-men essentially were, was “good”! Customs were pernicious: but “the church”, whose the customs essentially were, was “the abode of sanctity”! Practices were abominable: but “the church”, which invented many and profited by all of these practices, was “holy”! Popes were demoniac, but “the church”, of which the Popes were “the head”, the acting will, the guiding mind---was “divine”! See the grand churches and magnificent cathedrals! Hear the “heavenly” music of the “divine” chants! Feel the awe of the “solemn” services, as the richly-robed ecclesiastics minister at the “altar”, kneel before the “host”, and move in “holy” procession! Think of the wide extent of their “missions”. Behold her “perfect organization”, by which she executes as by one man the wonders of her will, holds empires in awe, and rules the world! Isn’t that the true and only holy Church? The church is “the ark of God”, the “ship of salvation”. The pilot, the captain, and the crew, might all be pirates, and use every motion of the ship only for piratical purposes, and load her to the sinking point with piratical plunder, and keep her ever headed straight toward perdition, yet “the grand old ship” herself was all right and would come safely to the heavenly port. Therefore, “cling to the ark”, “stand by the old ship”, and you will be safe and will land at last on the heavenly shore. So long as this delusion was systematically inculcated, blindly received, and fondly hugged, of course reformation was impossible. But as soon as there arose men with the courage of conviction and the confidence of truth who spoke out plainly and flatly that the Roman system is not the Church at all in any feature or in any sense, that it is not the Church that proceeded and came from the apostles of Jesus Christ, but is the church that began several hundred years later with the falling away from the only true God and from His Love and Authority, then the Reformation had begun. The true Church (where two or three are gathered in the name of Jesus Christ) during the ascendancy and dark ages of this fallen church (and because of it) went into the closets, the valleys, the hills, and the mountains to worship for almost thirteen hundred years. And several hundred years ago it was only by those brave men having, teaching, and living the love of the Truth as it is in Jesus that the purposes of satan were exposed to the world. Today, it is only by having, teaching, and living the love of Truth and the truth of Love that satan's purposes will be defeated in any individual's life and the Reformation, so dearly purchased with the blood of so many true martyrs, will be continued. "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, SAYS THE LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." 2 Cor. 6:17. The LORD says, "You must be born again." John 3:7. We are born in sin every day, unless we are born again daily, and that requires death to self. We must take up our cross daily and follow the Lover of our souls to Calvary. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot serve the LORD and, at the same time, serve any church that denies His Word, His Example or His Teachings and claims itself to be the final authority.
"God is love; and he that dwells in Love dwells in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4:16,17. God is not "worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed any thing" Acts 17:25. When the heart is serving idols and the hands are polluted with iniquity, no magnificence of outward display can please God or show one's love for Him. The Holy Spirit will unite with all those who, with contrition of heart, return to rest and walk humbly with God in quietness, in confidence, in Love. Men and women are to serve God out of love for Him, not expecting God to serve their own ideas as they maintain a self-sufficient, masterly spirit, in which their human mind and their selves are put first and their human inventions continue to be brought into a worship of the only true God that, in actuality, leads away from Him.
"Love never fails"(1 Cor. 13:8) for Love is the greatest of all things. Jesus tells us His true followers will "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest Commandment. And the second is like unto it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." Mathew 22:37-39. Here is where Christian men and women have had trouble for so many years ~ for knowing how to love yourself has always been subject to human interpretation for the many professed Christians who haven't taken up their cross and followed Christ to Calvary ~ but if we follow on to see and hear our Saviour and Lord at the Last Supper, just before giving His all on that cruel cross, we will see and hear Jesus tell His disciples down through the ages how to Love themselves: "A new Commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. " John 13:34. It is only in understanding and dwelling upon HOW Jesus loved us that we can really know and understand how to Love ourselves and Love others because of that knowledge. This is what knowing Jesus means. To know Him is to Love Him. To know Him is to know Love because "God is love". To know Him, then, is to have eternal life because in Him is our love perfected for "as He is, so are we in this world" 1 John 4:17. Even though they may have been devout in their faith, one day, very soon, Jesus will say "I know you not" to ever so many who knew their church very well, but never knew Him and His Love.
The majority of the above first four paragraphs
was written by Alonzo T. Jones sometime in the late 1800's and it and this
article was adapted for today by Jon Zwayer.