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14 - Later English Reformers - The Great Controversy · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen later English reformers. While Luther was opening a
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Speaker 1: closed Bible to the people of Germany, Tyndale was impelled
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Speaker 1: by the spirit of God to do the same for England.
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Speaker 1: Wickliffe's Bible had been translated from the Latin text, which
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Speaker 1: contained many errors. It had never been printed, and the
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Speaker 1: cost of manuscript copies was so great that few but
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Speaker 1: wealthy men or nobles could procure it, and, furthermore, being
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Speaker 1: strictly prescribed by the Church, it had had a comparatively
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Speaker 1: narrow circulation. In fifteen sixteen, a year before the appearance
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Speaker 1: of Luther's Thesies, Erasmus had published his Greek and Latin
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Speaker 1: version of the New Testament. Now, for the first time,
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Speaker 1: the word of God was printed in the original tongue.
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Speaker 1: In this work, many errors of former versions were corrected
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Speaker 1: and the sense was more clearly rendered. It led many
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Speaker 1: among the educated classes to a better knowledge of the
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Speaker 1: truth and gave a new impetus to the work of reform,
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Speaker 1: but the common people were still to a great extent
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Speaker 1: debarred from God's word. Tyndale was to complete the work
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Speaker 1: of Wickliffe in giving the Bible to his countrymen. A
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Speaker 1: diligent student and an earnest seeker for truth. He had
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Speaker 1: received the Gospel from the Greek Testament of Erasmus. He
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Speaker 1: fearlessly preached his convictions, urging that all doctrines be tested
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Speaker 1: by the scriptures. To the papist claim that the Church
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Speaker 1: had given the Bible and the Church alone could explain it,
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Speaker 1: Tyndale responded, do you know who taught the eagles to
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Speaker 1: find their prey? Well, that same God teaches his hungry
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Speaker 1: children to find their father in his word. Far from
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Speaker 1: having given us the scriptures, it is you who have
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Speaker 1: hidden them from us. It is you who burn those
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Speaker 1: who teach them, And if you could, you would burn
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Speaker 1: the scriptures themselves. Tyndale's preaching excited great interest. Many accepted
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Speaker 1: the truth, but the priests were only alert, and no
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Speaker 1: sooner had he left the field, then they, by their
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Speaker 1: threats and misrepresentations, endeavored to destroy his work. Too often
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Speaker 1: they succeeded. What is to be done, he exclaimed, While
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Speaker 1: I am sowing in one place, the enemy ravages the
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Speaker 1: field I have just left, I cannot be everywhere. Oh,
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Speaker 1: if Christians possess the Holy Scriptures in their own tongue,
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Speaker 1: they could of themselves withstand these sophists. Without the Bible,
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Speaker 1: it is impossible to establish the laity in the truth.
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Speaker 1: A new purpose now took possession of his mind. It
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Speaker 1: was in the language of Israel, said he, that the
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Speaker 1: psalms were sung in the temple of Jehovah. And shall
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Speaker 1: not the Gospel speak the language of England. Among us
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Speaker 1: ought the church to have less light at noonday than
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Speaker 1: at the dawn. Christians must read the New Testament in
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Speaker 1: their mother tongue. The doctors and teachers of the church
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Speaker 1: disagreed among themselves. Only by the Bible could men arrive
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Speaker 1: at the truth. One holdeth this doctor another that now
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Speaker 1: each of these authors contradicts the other. How then can
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Speaker 1: we distinguish him who says right from him who says wrong?
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Speaker 1: How verily by God's word. It was not long after
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Speaker 1: that a learned Catholic doctor, engaging in controversy with him, exclaimed,
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Speaker 1: we were better to be without God's laws than the popes.
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Speaker 1: Tyndale replied, I defy the pope and all his laws,
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Speaker 1: and if God spare my life ere many years, I
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Speaker 1: will cause a boy that driveth the plow to know
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Speaker 1: more of the Scripture than you. Do the purpose which
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Speaker 1: he had begun to cherish, of giving to the people
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Speaker 1: the New Testament scriptures in their own language, was now confirmed,
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Speaker 1: and he immediately applied himself to the work. Driven from
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Speaker 1: his home by persecution, he went to London, and therefore
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Speaker 1: a time pursued his labors undisturbed. But again the violence
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Speaker 1: of the papists forced him to flee. All England seemed
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Speaker 1: closed against him, and he resolved to seek shelter in Germany.
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Speaker 1: Here he began the printing of the English New Testament.
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Speaker 1: Twice the work was stopped, but one forbidden to print
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Speaker 1: in one city, he went to another. At last he
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Speaker 1: made his way to Wurms, where a few years before
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Speaker 1: Luther had defended the Gospel before the diet. In that
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Speaker 1: ancient city were many friends of the Reformation, and Tyndale
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Speaker 1: there prosecuted his work without further hindrance. Three thousand copies
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Speaker 1: of the New Testament were soon finished, and another edition
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Speaker 1: followed in the same year. With great earnestness and perseverance,
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Speaker 1: he continued his labors, notwithstanding the English authorities had guarded
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Speaker 1: their ports with the strictest vigilance. The Word of God
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Speaker 1: was in various ways secretly conveyed to London and thence
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Speaker 1: circulated throughout the country. The papists attempted to suppress the truth,
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Speaker 1: but in vain. The Bishop of Durham at one time
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Speaker 1: thought of a bookseller who was a friend of Tyndale,
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Speaker 1: his whole stock of Bibles for the purpose of destroying them,
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Speaker 1: supposing that this would greatly hinder the work. But on
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Speaker 1: the contrary, the money thus furnished purchased material for a
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Speaker 1: new and better edition, which but for this could not
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Speaker 1: have been published. When Tyndale was afterward made a prisoner,
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Speaker 1: his liberty was offered him on condition that he would
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Speaker 1: reveal the names of those who had helped him meet
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Speaker 1: the expense of printing his bibles. He replied that the
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Speaker 1: Bishop of Durham had done more than any other person,
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Speaker 1: for by paying a large price for the books left
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Speaker 1: on hand, he had enabled him to go on with
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Speaker 1: good courage. Tyndale was betrayed into the hands of his enemies,
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Speaker 1: and at one time suffered imprisonment for many months. He
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Speaker 1: finally witnessed for his faith by a martyr's death. But
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Speaker 1: the weapons which he prepared have enabled other soldiers to
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Speaker 1: do battle through all the centuries even to our time.
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Speaker 1: Latimer maintained from the pulpit that the Bible ought to
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Speaker 1: be read in the language of the people. The author
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Speaker 1: of holy Scripture said, he is God himself, and this
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Speaker 1: scripture partakes of the might and eternity of its author.
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Speaker 1: There is no king, emperor, magistrate and ruler, but are
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Speaker 1: bound to obey his holy word. Let us not take
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Speaker 1: any by walks, but let God's word direct us. Let
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Speaker 1: us not walk after our forefathers, nor seek not what
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Speaker 1: they did, but what they should have done. Barnes and Frith,
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Speaker 1: the faithful friends of Tyndale, arose to defend the truth.
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Speaker 1: The Ridleys and Cranmer followed. These leaders in the English
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Speaker 1: Reformation were men of learning, and most of them had
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Speaker 1: been highly esteemed for zeal or piety in the Romish Communion.
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Speaker 1: Their opposition to the papacy was the result of their
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Speaker 1: knowledge of the errors of the Holy See. Their acquaintance
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Speaker 1: with the mysteries of Babylon gave greater power to their
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Speaker 1: testimonies against her. Now I would ask a strange question,
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Speaker 1: said Latimer, who is the most diligent bishop and prelate
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Speaker 1: in all England. I see you listening and hearkening that
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Speaker 1: I should name him. I will tell you it is
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Speaker 1: the devil. He is never out of his diocese. Call
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Speaker 1: for him when you will. He is ever at home,
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Speaker 1: he is ever at his plow. Ye shall never find
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Speaker 1: him idle. I warrant you where the devil is resident there,
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Speaker 1: Away with books and up with candles, Away with bibles,
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Speaker 1: and up with beads, Away with the light of the Gospel,
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Speaker 1: and up with the light of candles, yea at noonday's,
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Speaker 1: Down with Christ's Cross, up with purgatory, pick purse, Away
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Speaker 1: with clothing the naked, the poor and impotent, Up with
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Speaker 1: decking of images and gay garnishing of stocks and stones,
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Speaker 1: Up with Man's traditions and his laws, Down with God's
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Speaker 1: traditions and his most holy word. Oh, that our prelates
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Speaker 1: would be as diligent to sow the corn of good
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Speaker 1: doctrine as Satan is to sow cockle and darnel. The
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Speaker 1: grand principle maintained by these reformers, the same that had
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Speaker 1: been held by the Woldenseys, by Wickliffe, by John hass,
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Speaker 1: by Luther Spingley, and those who united with them, was
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Speaker 1: the infallible authority of the Holy Scriptures as a rule
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Speaker 1: of faith and practice. They denied the right of popes, counsels, fathers,
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Speaker 1: and kings to control the conscience in matters of religion.
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Speaker 1: The Bible was their authority, and by its teaching they
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Speaker 1: tested all doctrines and all claims. Faith in God and
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Speaker 1: his words sustained these holy men as they yielded up
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Speaker 1: their lives at the stake. Be of good comfort, exclaimed
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Speaker 1: Latimer to his fellow martyr, as the flames were about
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Speaker 1: to silence their voices. We shall this day light such
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Speaker 1: a candle, by God's grace in England, as I trust
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Speaker 1: shall never be put out. In Scotland, the seeds of
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Speaker 1: truths scattered by Columba and his co laborers had never
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Speaker 1: been wholly destroyed. For hundreds of years. After the churches
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Speaker 1: of England submitted to Rome, those of Scotland maintained their freedom.
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Speaker 1: In the twelfth century, however, paupery became established here, and
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Speaker 1: in no country did it exercise a more absolute sway.
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Speaker 1: Nowhere was the darkness deeper. Still there came rays of
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Speaker 1: light to pierce the gloom and give promise of the
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Speaker 1: coming day. The Lallards coming from England with the Bible
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Speaker 1: and the teachings of Wickliffe did much to preserve the
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Speaker 1: knowledge of the Gospel, and every century had its witnesses
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Speaker 1: and martyrs. With the opening of the Great Reformation came
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Speaker 1: the writings of Luther, and then Tyndale's English New Testament.
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Speaker 1: Unnoticed by the hierarchy, these messengers silently traversed the mountains
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Speaker 1: and valleys, kindling into new life the torch of truth,
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Speaker 1: so nearly extinguished in Scotland, and undoing the work which Rome,
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Speaker 1: for four centuries of oppression, had done. Then the blood
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Speaker 1: of martyrs gave fresh impetus to the movement. The papist leaders, suddenly,
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Speaker 1: awakening to the danger that threatened their cause, brought to
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Speaker 1: the stake some of the noblest and most honoured of
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Speaker 1: the sons of Scotland. They did but erect a pulpit
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Speaker 1: from which the words of these dying witnesses were heard
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Speaker 1: throughout the land, thrilling the souls of the people, with
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Speaker 1: an undying purpose to cast off the shackles of Rome.
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Speaker 1: Hamilton and Wishart, princely in character as in birth, with
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Speaker 1: a long line of humbler disciples, yielded up their lives
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Speaker 1: at the stake. But from the burning pile of Wishart
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Speaker 1: there came one whom the flames were not to silence,
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Speaker 1: one who, under God was to strike the death knell
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Speaker 1: of popery in Scotland. John Knox had turned away from
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Speaker 1: the traditions and mysticisms of the church to feed upon
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Speaker 1: the truths of God's word, and the teaching of Wishard
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Speaker 1: had confirmed his determination to forsake the Communion of Rome
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Speaker 1: and join himself to the persecuted reformers. Urged by his
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Speaker 1: companions to take the office of preacher, he shrunk with
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Speaker 1: trembling from its responsibility, and it was only after days
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Speaker 1: of seclusion and painful conflict with himself that he consented.
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Speaker 1: But having once accepted the position, he pressed forward with
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Speaker 1: inflexible determination and undaunted courage. As long as life continued,
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Speaker 1: this true hearted reformer feared not the face of man.
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Speaker 1: The fires of martyrdom blazing around him served only to
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Speaker 1: quicken his zeal to greater intensity. With the tyrant's axe
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Speaker 1: held menacingly over his head, he stood his ground, striking
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Speaker 1: sturdy blows on the right hand and on the left,
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Speaker 1: to demolish idolatry. When brought face to face with the
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Speaker 1: Queen of Scotland, in whose presence the zeal of Many,
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Speaker 1: a leader of the Protestants, had abated. John Knox bore
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Speaker 1: unswerving witness for the truth. He was not to be
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Speaker 1: won by caresses. He quailed not before threats. The Queen
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Speaker 1: charged him with heresy. He had taught the people to
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Speaker 1: receive a religion prohibited by the state, she declared, and
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Speaker 1: had thus transgressed God's command in joining subjects to obey
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Speaker 1: their princes. Knox answered firmly, as right, religion took neither
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Speaker 1: original strength nor authority from worldly princes, but from the
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Speaker 1: eternal God alone. So are not subjects bound to frame
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Speaker 1: their religion according to the appetites of their princes. For
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Speaker 1: often it is that princes are the most ignorant of
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Speaker 1: all others in God's true religion. If all the seat
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Speaker 1: of Abraham had been of the religion of Pharaoh, whose
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Speaker 1: subjects they long were, I pray you, madam, what religion
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Speaker 1: would there have been in the world. Or if all
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Speaker 1: men in the days of the Apostles had been of
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Speaker 1: the religion of the Roman emperors, what religion would there
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Speaker 1: have been upon the face of the earth? And so Madam,
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Speaker 1: ye may perceive that subjects are not bound to the
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Speaker 1: religion of their princes, albeit they are commanded to give
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Speaker 1: them obedience, said Mary, Ye interpret the scriptures in one manner,
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Speaker 1: and they the Roman Catholic teachers interpret in another. Whom
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Speaker 1: shall I believe and who shall be judge? Ye shall
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Speaker 1: believe God that plainly speaketh in his word, answered the Reformer,
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Speaker 1: And farther than the word teaches you, ye shall neither
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Speaker 1: believe the one nor the other. The word of God
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Speaker 1: is plain in itself. And if there appear any obscurity
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Speaker 1: in one place, the Holy Ghost, which is never contrary
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Speaker 1: to himself, explains the same more clearly in other places,
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Speaker 1: so that there can remain no doubt. But unto such
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Speaker 1: obstinately remain ignorant. Such were the truths that the fearless Reformer,
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Speaker 1: at the peril of his life, spoke in the ear
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Speaker 1: of royalty with the same undaunted courage. He kept to
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Speaker 1: his purpose, praying and fighting the battles of the Lord,
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Speaker 1: until Scotland was free from popery. In England, the establishment
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Speaker 1: of Protestantism as the national religion diminished but did not
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Speaker 1: wholly stop persecution. While many of the doctrines of Rome
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Speaker 1: had been renounced, not a few of its forms were retained.
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Speaker 1: The supremacy of the pope was rejected, but in his
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Speaker 1: place the monarch was enthroned as the head of the church.
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Speaker 1: In the service of the church, there was still a
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Speaker 1: wide departure from the purity and simplicity of the Gospel.
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Speaker 1: The great principle of religious liberty was not as yet understood,
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Speaker 1: though the horrible cruelties which Rome employed against heresy were
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Speaker 1: resorted to but rarely by Protestant rulers. Yet the right
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Speaker 1: of every man to worship God according to the dictates
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Speaker 1: of his own conscience was not acknowledged. All were required
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Speaker 1: to accept the doctrines and observe the forms of worship
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Speaker 1: prescribed by the established church. Dissenters suffered persecution to a
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Speaker 1: greater or less extent for hundreds of years. In the
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Speaker 1: seventeenth century, thousands of pastors were expelled from their positions.
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Speaker 1: The people were forbidden, on pain of heavy fines, imprisonment,
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Speaker 1: and banishment, to attend any religious meetings, except such as
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Speaker 1: were sanctioned by the church. Those faithful souls who could
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Speaker 1: not refrain from gathering to worship God were compelled to
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Speaker 1: meet in dark alleys, in obscure garrets, and at some
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Speaker 1: seasons in the woods. At midnight, in the sheltering depths
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Speaker 1: of the forest, a temple of God's own building, those
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Speaker 1: scattered and persecuted children of the Lord assembled to pour
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Speaker 1: out their souls in prayer and praise. But despite all
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Speaker 1: their precautions, many suffered for their faith. The jails were crowded,
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Speaker 1: families were broken up, many were banished to foreign lands.
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Speaker 1: Yet God was with his people, and persecution could not
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Speaker 1: prevail to silence their testimony. Many were driven across the
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Speaker 1: ocean to America, and here laid the foundations of civil
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Speaker 1: and religious liberty, which have been the bulwark and glory
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Speaker 1: of this country. Again, as an Apostolic day's persecution turned
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Speaker 1: out to the furtherance of the Gospel. In a loathsome dungeon,
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Speaker 1: crowded with profligates and felons, John Bunyan breathed the very
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Speaker 1: atmosphere of heaven, and there he wrote his wonderful allegory
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Speaker 1: of the Pilgrim's journey from the land of Destruction to
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Speaker 1: the celestial City. For over two hundred years, that voice
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Speaker 1: from Bedford Jail has spoken with thrilling power to the
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Speaker 1: hearts of men. Bunyan's Pilgrim's progress and grace abounding to
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Speaker 1: the chief of sinners have guided many feet into the
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Speaker 1: path of life. Baxter, Flavelle, Alen, and other men of talent,
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Speaker 1: education and deep Christian experience stood up in valiant defense
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Speaker 1: of the faith which was once delivered to the Saints.
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Speaker 1: The work accomplished by these men, proscribed an outlawed by
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Speaker 1: the rulers of this world, can never perish. Flavelle's Fountain
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Speaker 1: of Life and method of Grace have taught thousands how
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Speaker 1: to commit the keeping of their souls to Christ. Baxter's
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Speaker 1: reformed pastor has proved a blessing to many who desire
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Speaker 1: a revival of the work of God and his saints.
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Speaker 1: Everlasting Rest has done its work in leading souls to
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Speaker 1: the rest that remaineth for the people of God. A
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Speaker 1: hundred years later, in a day of great spiritual darkness,
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Speaker 1: Whitefield and the Wesleys appeared as light bearers for God.
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Speaker 1: Under the rule of the established Church. The people of
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Speaker 1: England had lapsed into a state of religious declension, hardly
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Speaker 1: to be distinguished from heathenism. Natural religion was the favorite
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Speaker 1: study of the clergy and included most of their theology.
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Speaker 1: The higher classes sneered at piety and prided themselves on
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Speaker 1: being above what they called its fanaticism. The lower classes
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Speaker 1: were grossly ignorant and abandoned to vice, while the Church
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Speaker 1: had no courage or faith any longer to support the
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Speaker 1: downfall and cause of truth. The great doctrine of justification
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Speaker 1: by faith, so clearly taught by Luther had been almost
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Speaker 1: wholly lost sight of, and the Romish principle of trusting
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Speaker 1: to good works for salvation had taken its place. Whitefield
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Speaker 1: and the Wesleys, who were members of the established Church
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Speaker 1: were sincere seekers for the favor of God, and this
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Speaker 1: they had been taught was to be secured by a
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Speaker 1: virtuous life and an observance of the ordinances of religion.
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Speaker 1: When Charles Wesley at one time fell ill and anticipated
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Speaker 1: that death was approaching, he was asked upon what he
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Speaker 1: rested his hope of eternal life. His answer was, I
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Speaker 1: have used my best endeavors to serve God. As the
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Speaker 1: friend who had put the question seemed not to be
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Speaker 1: fully satisfied with his answer, Wesley thought, what are not
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Speaker 1: my endeavors a sufficient ground of hope, would he rob
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Speaker 1: me of my endeavors? I have nothing else to trust to.
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Speaker 1: Such was the death and darkness that had settled down
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Speaker 1: on the church, hiding the atonement, robbing Christ of his glory,
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Speaker 1: and turning the minds of men from their only hope
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Speaker 1: of salvation, the blood of the crucified Redeemer. Wesley and
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Speaker 1: his associates were led to see that true religion is
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Speaker 1: seated in the heart, and that God's law extends to
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Speaker 1: the thoughts as well as to the words and actions.
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Speaker 1: Convinced of the necessity of holiness of heart as well
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Speaker 1: as correctness of outward deportment, they set out in earnest
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Speaker 1: upon a new life. By the most diligent and prayerful
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Speaker 1: efforts they endeavored to subdue the evils of the natural heart.
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Speaker 1: They lived a life of self denial, charity, and humiliation,
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Speaker 1: observing with great rigor and exactness every measure which they
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Speaker 1: thought could be helpful to them in obtaining what they
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Speaker 1: most desired, that holiness which could secure the favor of God.
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Speaker 1: But they did not obtain the object which they sought.
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Speaker 1: In vain were their endeavors to free themselves from the
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Speaker 1: condemnation of sin, or to break its power. It was
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Speaker 1: the same struggle which Luther had experienced in his sal
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Speaker 1: at Airfort. It was the same question which had tortured
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Speaker 1: his soul. How should man be just before God? The
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Speaker 1: fires of divine truth, well nigh extinguished upon the altars
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Speaker 1: of Protestantism, were to be rekindled from the ancient torch
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Speaker 1: handed down the ages by the Bohemian Christians. After the Reformation,
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Speaker 1: Protestantism in Bohemia had been trampled out by the hordes
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Speaker 1: of Rome. All who refused to renounce the truth were
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Speaker 1: forced to flee. Some of these, finding refuge in Saxony,
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Speaker 1: there maintained the ancient faith. It was from the descendants
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Speaker 1: of these Christians at light came to Wesley and his associates,
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Speaker 1: John and Charles Wesley, after being ordained to the ministry,
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Speaker 1: were sent on a mission to America. On board the
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Speaker 1: ship was a company of Moravians. Violent storms were encountered
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Speaker 1: on the passage, and John Wesley, brought face to face
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Speaker 1: with death, felt that he had not the assurance of
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Speaker 1: peace with God. The Germans, on the contrary, manifested a
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Speaker 1: calmness and trust to which he was a stranger. I
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Speaker 1: had long before, he says, observed the great seriousness of
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Speaker 1: their behavior, of their humility. They had given a continual
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Speaker 1: proof by performing those servile offices for the other passengers,
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Speaker 1: which none of the English would undertake, for which they
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Speaker 1: desired and would receive no pay, saying it was good
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Speaker 1: for their proud hearts, and their loving Savior had done
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Speaker 1: more for them, and every day had given them occasion
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Speaker 1: of showing the meekness which no injury could move. If
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Speaker 1: they were pushed, struck, or thrown down, they rose again
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Speaker 1: and went away, but no complaint was found in their mouth.
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Speaker 1: There was now an opportunity of trying whether they were
20:40
Speaker 1: delivered from the spirit of fear as well as from
20:43
Speaker 1: that of pride, anger and revenge. In the midst of
20:46
Speaker 1: the Psalm, wherewith their service began, the sea broke over,
20:49
Speaker 1: split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured
20:53
Speaker 1: in between the decks, as if the great deep had
20:55
Speaker 1: already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English.
21:00
Speaker 1: The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterward,
21:04
Speaker 1: were you not afraid? He answered, I, Thank God, No,
21:08
Speaker 1: I asked, but were not your women and children afraid?
21:12
Speaker 1: He replied mildly, no, our women and children are not
21:15
Speaker 1: afraid to die. Upon arriving in Savannah, Wesley for a
21:19
Speaker 1: short time abode with the Moravians and was deeply impressed
21:22
Speaker 1: with their Christian deportment of one of their religious services,
21:27
Speaker 1: in striking contrast to the lifeless formalism of the Church
21:30
Speaker 1: of England. He wrote, the great simplicity, as well as
21:33
Speaker 1: solemnity of the whole almost made me forget the seventeen
21:37
Speaker 1: hundred years between, and imagine myself in one of those assemblies.
21:40
Speaker 1: Where forem and state were not but Paul the tent
21:43
Speaker 1: maker or Peter the fisherman presided. Yet, with the demonstration
21:47
Speaker 1: of the spirit and of power. On his return to England, Wesley,
21:52
Speaker 1: under the instruction of a Moravian preacher, arrived at a
21:55
Speaker 1: clearer understanding of Bible faith. He was convinced that he
21:59
Speaker 1: must renounce all dependence upon his own works for salvation
22:03
Speaker 1: and mistrust wholly to the Lamb of God that taketh
22:05
Speaker 1: away the sin of the world. At a meeting of
22:08
Speaker 1: the Moravian Society in London, a statement was read from
22:12
Speaker 1: Luther describing the change which the spirit of God works
22:15
Speaker 1: in the heart of the believer. As Wesley listened, faith
22:19
Speaker 1: was kindled in his soul. I felt my heart strangely warned,
22:23
Speaker 1: he says. I felt, I did trust in Christ, Christ
22:26
Speaker 1: alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that
22:30
Speaker 1: He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved
22:33
Speaker 1: me from the law of sin and death. Through long
22:36
Speaker 1: years of wearisome and comfortless, striving years of rigorous self denial,
22:41
Speaker 1: of reproach and humiliation, Wesley had steadfastly adhered to his
22:45
Speaker 1: one purpose of seeking God. Now he had found him,
22:48
Speaker 1: and he found that the grace which he had toiled
22:50
Speaker 1: to win by prayers and fasts, by alms deeds and
22:53
Speaker 1: self abnegation, was a gift without money and without price.
22:58
Speaker 1: Once established in the faith of Christ, his whole soul
23:01
Speaker 1: burned with the desire to spread everywhere a knowledge of
23:04
Speaker 1: the glorious gospel of God's free grace. I look upon
23:08
Speaker 1: all the world as my parish, he said, In whatever
23:10
Speaker 1: part of it I am, I judge it, meet write,
23:13
Speaker 1: and my bound and duty to declare unto all that
23:16
Speaker 1: are willing to hear the glad tidings of salvation. He
23:20
Speaker 1: continued his strict and self denying life, not now as
23:23
Speaker 1: the ground, but the result of faith, not the root,
23:26
Speaker 1: but the fruit of holiness. The grace of God in
23:30
Speaker 1: Christ is the foundation of the Christian's hope, and that
23:33
Speaker 1: grace will be manifested in obedience. Wesley's life was devoted
23:38
Speaker 1: to the preaching of the great truths which he had received,
23:41
Speaker 1: justification through faith in the atoning Blood of Christ and
23:44
Speaker 1: the renewing power of the Holy Spirit upon the heart,
23:47
Speaker 1: bringing forth fruit in a life conformed to the example
23:50
Speaker 1: of Christ. Whitefield and the Wesleys had been prepared for
23:54
Speaker 1: their work by long and sharp personal convictions of their
23:57
Speaker 1: own lost condition, and that they might might be able
24:00
Speaker 1: to endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ. They had
24:03
Speaker 1: been subjected to the fiery ordeal of scorn, derision, and
24:07
Speaker 1: persecution both in the university and as they were entering
24:10
Speaker 1: the ministry. They and a few others who sympathized with
24:14
Speaker 1: them were contemptuously called Methodists by their ungodly fellow students,
24:18
Speaker 1: a name which is at the present time regarded as
24:21
Speaker 1: honorable by one of the largest denominations in England and America.
24:25
Speaker 1: As members of the Church of England. They were strongly
24:28
Speaker 1: attached to her forms of worship, but the Lord had
24:31
Speaker 1: presented before them in his word a higher standard. The
24:34
Speaker 1: Holy Spirit urged them to preach Christ, and him crucified
24:38
Speaker 1: the power of the Highest attended their labors. Thousands were
24:42
Speaker 1: convicted and truly converted. It was necessary that these sheep
24:47
Speaker 1: be protected from ravening wolves. Wesley had no thought of
24:51
Speaker 1: forming a new denomination, but he organized them under what
24:54
Speaker 1: was called the Methodist Connection. Mysterious and trying was the
24:58
Speaker 1: opposition which these were preachers encountered from the established church.
25:02
Speaker 1: Yet God, in his wisdom, had overruled events to cause
25:05
Speaker 1: the reform to begin within the church itself. Had it
25:09
Speaker 1: come wholly from without, it would not have penetrated where
25:12
Speaker 1: it was so much needed. But as the revival preachers
25:15
Speaker 1: were churchmen and labored within the pale of the church
25:18
Speaker 1: wherever they could find opportunity, the truth had an entrance
25:21
Speaker 1: where the doors would otherwise have remained closed. Some of
25:25
Speaker 1: the clergy were roused from their moral stupor and became
25:28
Speaker 1: zealous preachers in their own parishes. Churches that had been
25:32
Speaker 1: petrified by formalism were quickened into life in Wesley's time,
25:37
Speaker 1: as in all ages of the Church's history, men of
25:39
Speaker 1: different gifts performed their appointed work. They did not harmonize
25:44
Speaker 1: upon every point of doctrine, but all were moved by
25:47
Speaker 1: the spirit of God and united in the absorbing aim
25:50
Speaker 1: to win souls to Christ. The differences between Whitefield and
25:54
Speaker 1: the Wesleys threatened at one time to create alienation, but
25:58
Speaker 1: as they learned meekness in the School of Christ, mutual
26:01
Speaker 1: forbearance and charity reconciled them. They had no time to dispute.
26:05
Speaker 1: While error and iniquity were teeming everywhere, and sinners were
26:08
Speaker 1: going down to ruin, the servants of God trod a
26:12
Speaker 1: rugged path. Men of influence and learning employed their powers
26:16
Speaker 1: against them. After a time, many of the clergy manifested
26:21
Speaker 1: determined hostility, and the doors of the churches were closed
26:24
Speaker 1: against a pure faith, and those who proclaimed it. The
26:28
Speaker 1: course of the clergy, in denouncing them from the pulpit,
26:30
Speaker 1: aroused the elements of darkness, ignorance, and iniquity. Again and
26:35
Speaker 1: again did John Wesley escape death by a miracle of
26:38
Speaker 1: God's mercy, when the rage of the mob was excited
26:42
Speaker 1: against him and there seemed no way of escape. An
26:44
Speaker 1: angel in human form came to his side. The mob
26:47
Speaker 1: fell back, and the servant of Christ passed in safety
26:50
Speaker 1: from the place of danger of his deliverance from the
26:54
Speaker 1: enraged mob. On one of these occasions, Wesley said, many
26:57
Speaker 1: endeavored to throw me down while we were going down
27:00
Speaker 1: hill on a slippery path to the town, as well,
27:02
Speaker 1: judging that if I was once on the ground, I
27:04
Speaker 1: should hardly rise any more. But I made no stumble
27:08
Speaker 1: at all, nor the least slip, till I was entirely
27:10
Speaker 1: out of their hands. Although many strove to lay hold
27:14
Speaker 1: on my collar or clothes to pull me down, they
27:17
Speaker 1: could not fasten at all. Only one got fast hold
27:20
Speaker 1: of the flap of my waistcoat, which was soon left
27:22
Speaker 1: in his hand. The other flap, in the pocket of
27:25
Speaker 1: which was a bank note, was torn but half off.
27:28
Speaker 1: A lusty man just behind struck at me several times
27:31
Speaker 1: with a large oak and stick, with which if he
27:34
Speaker 1: had struck me once on the back part of my head,
27:36
Speaker 1: it would have saved him all further trouble. But every
27:39
Speaker 1: time the blow was turned aside. I know not how,
27:43
Speaker 1: for I could not move to the right hand or left.
27:46
Speaker 1: Another came rushing through the press, and raising his arm
27:48
Speaker 1: to strike on a sudden let it drop, and only
27:51
Speaker 1: stroked my head, saying what soft hair he has. The
27:55
Speaker 1: very first men whose hearts were turned were the heroes
27:58
Speaker 1: of the town, the captains of the rabble on all occasions,
28:01
Speaker 1: one of them having been a prize fighter at the
28:03
Speaker 1: bear gardens. By how gentle degrees does God prepare us
28:08
Speaker 1: for his will? Two years ago a piece of brick
28:11
Speaker 1: grazed my shoulders. It was a year after that the
28:15
Speaker 1: stones struck me between the eyes. Last month I received
28:19
Speaker 1: one blow, and this evening too, one before we came
28:22
Speaker 1: into the town, and one after we were gone out.
28:24
Speaker 1: But both were as nothing, For though one man struck
28:27
Speaker 1: me on the breast with all his might, and the
28:29
Speaker 1: other on the mouth with such a force that the
28:31
Speaker 1: blood gushed out immediately, I felt no more pain from
28:34
Speaker 1: either of the blows than if they had touched me
28:37
Speaker 1: with a straw. The Methodists of those early days, people
28:41
Speaker 1: as well as preachers, endured ridicule and persecution alike from
28:45
Speaker 1: church members and from the openly irreligious, who were inflamed
28:48
Speaker 1: by their misrepresentations. They were arraigned before courts of justice.
28:53
Speaker 1: Such only a name for justice was rare in the
28:55
Speaker 1: courts of that time. Often they suffered violence from their persons.
29:01
Speaker 1: Mobs went from house to house, destroying furniture and goods,
29:04
Speaker 1: plundering whatever they chose, and brutally abusing men, women and children.
29:09
Speaker 1: In some instances, public notices were posted calling upon those
29:13
Speaker 1: who desired to assist in breaking the windows and robbing
29:15
Speaker 1: the houses of the Methodists to assemble at a given
29:18
Speaker 1: time and place. These open violations of both human and
29:23
Speaker 1: divine law were allowed to pass without a reprimand a
29:27
Speaker 1: systematic persecution was carried on against a people whose only
29:30
Speaker 1: fault was that of seeking to turn the feet of
29:32
Speaker 1: sinners from the path of destruction to the path of holiness,
29:37
Speaker 1: said John Wesley, referring to the charges against himself and
29:40
Speaker 1: his associates. Some allege that the doctrines of these men
29:44
Speaker 1: are false, erroneous, and enthusiastic, that they are new and
29:48
Speaker 1: unheard of till of late, that they are Quakerism, fanaticism, popery.
29:53
Speaker 1: This whole pretense has been already cut up by the roots,
29:56
Speaker 1: it having been shown at large that every branch of
29:58
Speaker 1: this doctrine is the doctrine of scripture interpreted by our
30:02
Speaker 1: own church. Therefore it cannot be either false or erroneous,
30:07
Speaker 1: provided the scripture be true. Others allege their doctrine is
30:11
Speaker 1: too strict. They make the way to Heaven too narrow.
30:15
Speaker 1: And this is in truth the original objection, as it
30:18
Speaker 1: was almost the only one for some time, and is
30:20
Speaker 1: secretly at the bottom of a thousand more which appear
30:23
Speaker 1: in various forms. But do they make the way to
30:27
Speaker 1: Heaven any narrower than our Lord and his apostles made. It?
30:30
Speaker 1: Is their doctrine stricter than that of the Bible? Consider
30:34
Speaker 1: only a few plain texts. Thou shalt love the Lord
30:37
Speaker 1: thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy mind,
30:39
Speaker 1: and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.
30:43
Speaker 1: For every idle word which men shall speak, they shall
30:46
Speaker 1: give an account in the day of judgment, whether ye
30:49
Speaker 1: eat or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to
30:52
Speaker 1: the glory of God. If their doctrine is stricter than this,
30:56
Speaker 1: they are to blame. But you know in your conscience
30:58
Speaker 1: it is not. And who can be one jot less
31:01
Speaker 1: strict without corrupting the word of God? Can any steward
31:05
Speaker 1: of the mysteries of God be found faithful? If he
31:08
Speaker 1: change any part of that sacred depositum. No he can
31:12
Speaker 1: abate nothing, he can soften nothing. He is constrained to
31:16
Speaker 1: declare to all men, I may not bring down the
31:18
Speaker 1: Scripture to your taste. You must come up to it
31:22
Speaker 1: or perish forever. This is the real ground of that
31:25
Speaker 1: other popular cry concerning the uncharitableness of these men. Uncharitable?
31:30
Speaker 1: Are they? In what respect? Do they not feed the
31:34
Speaker 1: hungry and clothe the naked? No, that is not the
31:37
Speaker 1: thing they are not wanting in this. But they are
31:40
Speaker 1: so uncharitable in judging they think none can be saved
31:43
Speaker 1: but those of their own way. The spiritual declension, which
31:47
Speaker 1: had been manifest in England just before the time of Wesley,
31:51
Speaker 1: was in great degree the result of Antinomian teaching. Many
31:55
Speaker 1: affirmed that Christ had abolished the moral law, and that
31:58
Speaker 1: Christians are therefore under no obligation to observe it, that
32:02
Speaker 1: a believer is freed from the bondage of good works. Others,
32:06
Speaker 1: though admitting the perpetuity of the law, declared that it
32:08
Speaker 1: was unnecessary for ministers to exhort the people to obedience
32:12
Speaker 1: of its precepts, since those whom God had elected to
32:15
Speaker 1: salvation would, by the irresistible impulse of divine grace, be
32:19
Speaker 1: led to the practice of piety and virtue, while those
32:22
Speaker 1: who were doomed to eternal reprobation did not have power
32:25
Speaker 1: to obey the divine law. Others, also holding that the
32:29
Speaker 1: elect cannot fall from grace nor forfeit the divine favor,
32:32
Speaker 1: arrived at the still more hideous conclusion that the wicked
32:35
Speaker 1: actions they commit are not really sinful, nor to be
32:38
Speaker 1: considered as instances of their violation of the divine law,
32:42
Speaker 1: and that consequently they have no occasion either to confess
32:45
Speaker 1: their sins or to break them off by repentance. Therefore,
32:49
Speaker 1: they declared that even one of the vilest of sins,
32:52
Speaker 1: considered universally an enormous violation of the divine law, is
32:56
Speaker 1: not a sin in the side of God if committed
32:59
Speaker 1: by one of the elect, because it is one of
33:01
Speaker 1: the essential and distinctive characteristics of the elect that they
33:04
Speaker 1: cannot do anything that is either displeasing to God or
33:07
Speaker 1: prohibited by the law. These monstrous doctrines are essentially the
33:12
Speaker 1: same as the later teaching of popular educators and theologians
33:16
Speaker 1: that there is no unchangeable divine law, as the standard
33:19
Speaker 1: of right, but that the standard of morality is indicated
33:22
Speaker 1: by society itself and has constantly been subject to change.
33:27
Speaker 1: All these ideas are inspired by the same master Spirit,
33:30
Speaker 1: by him who, even among the sinless inhabitants of Heaven,
33:33
Speaker 1: began his work of seeking to break down the righteous
33:36
Speaker 1: restraints of the Law of God. The doctrine of the
33:40
Speaker 1: Divine Decrees unalterably fixing the character of men, had led
33:44
Speaker 1: many to a virtual rejection of the law of God.
33:48
Speaker 1: Wesley steadfastly opposed the errors of the Antinomian teachers and
33:52
Speaker 1: showed that this doctrine which led to Antinomianism, was contrary
33:55
Speaker 1: to the scriptures. The grace of God that bringeth salvation
33:59
Speaker 1: hath appeared to all men. This is good and acceptable
34:03
Speaker 1: in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have
34:05
Speaker 1: all men to be saved and to come unto the
34:08
Speaker 1: knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and
34:11
Speaker 1: one mediator between God and men, the man Christ, Jesus,
34:15
Speaker 1: who gave himself a ransom for all The Spirit of
34:19
Speaker 1: God is freely bestowed to enable every man to lay
34:22
Speaker 1: hold upon the means of salvation. Thus, Christ, the true
34:25
Speaker 1: light lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Men
34:30
Speaker 1: fail of salvation through their own wilful refusal of the
34:32
Speaker 1: gift of life. In answer to the claim that at
34:36
Speaker 1: the death of Christ the precepts of the Decalogue had
34:38
Speaker 1: been abolished with the ceremonial law, Wesley said, the moral
34:42
Speaker 1: law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets,
34:45
Speaker 1: he did not take away. It was not the design
34:48
Speaker 1: of his coming to revoke any part of this. This
34:51
Speaker 1: is a law which never can be broken, which stands
34:54
Speaker 1: fast as the faithful witness in heaven. This was from
34:57
Speaker 1: the beginning of the world, being written not on tables
35:00
Speaker 1: of stone, but on the hearts of all the children
35:03
Speaker 1: of men, when they came out of the hands of
35:05
Speaker 1: the Creator. And however, the letters once wrote by the
35:08
Speaker 1: finger of God are now in a great measure defaced
35:11
Speaker 1: by sin. Yet can they not wholly be blotted out?
35:15
Speaker 1: While we have any consciousness of good and evil? Every
35:18
Speaker 1: part of this law must remain in force upon all
35:20
Speaker 1: mankind and in all ages, as not depending either on
35:24
Speaker 1: time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change,
35:28
Speaker 1: but on the nature of God and the nature of man,
35:31
Speaker 1: and their unchangeable relation to each other. I am not
35:36
Speaker 1: come to destroy, but to fulfill. Without question. His meaning
35:40
Speaker 1: in this place is consistently with all that goes before
35:43
Speaker 1: and follows after. I am come to establish it in
35:46
Speaker 1: its fullness, in spite of all the glosses of men,
35:50
Speaker 1: I am come to place in a full and clear view,
35:53
Speaker 1: whatsoever was dark or obscure therein. I am come to
35:56
Speaker 1: declare the true and full import of every part of it,
36:00
Speaker 1: to show the length and breadth, the entire extent of
36:03
Speaker 1: every commandment contained therein, and the height and depth the
36:07
Speaker 1: inconceivable purity and spirituality of it in all its branches.
36:12
Speaker 1: Wesley declared the perfect harmony of the Law and the Gospel.
36:16
Speaker 1: There is therefore the closest connection that can be conceived
36:19
Speaker 1: between the Law and the Gospel. On the one hand,
36:23
Speaker 1: the Law continually makes way for and points us to
36:26
Speaker 1: the Gospel. On the other, the Gospel continually leads us
36:29
Speaker 1: to a more exact fulfilling of the law. The Law,
36:33
Speaker 1: for instance, requires us to love God, to love our neighbor,
36:36
Speaker 1: to be meek, humble, or holy. We feel that we
36:39
Speaker 1: are not sufficient for these things. Yea that with man
36:43
Speaker 1: this is impossible, But we see a promise of God
36:46
Speaker 1: to give us that love and to make us humble,
36:48
Speaker 1: meek and holy. We lay hold of this Gospel, of
36:51
Speaker 1: these glad tidings. It is done unto us according to
36:54
Speaker 1: our faith, and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled
36:57
Speaker 1: in us through faith which is in Christ Jesus. In
37:01
Speaker 1: the highest rank of the enemies of the Gospel of Christ,
37:04
Speaker 1: said Wesley, are they who openly and explicitly judge the
37:07
Speaker 1: law itself and speak evil of the law, who teach
37:10
Speaker 1: men to break, to dissolve, to loose, to untie the
37:14
Speaker 1: obligation of not one only, whether of the least or
37:17
Speaker 1: of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke.
37:21
Speaker 1: The most surprising of all the circumstances that attend this
37:24
Speaker 1: strong delusion is that they who are given up to
37:27
Speaker 1: it really believe that they honor Christ by overthrowing his law,
37:30
Speaker 1: and that they are magnifying his office while they are
37:33
Speaker 1: destroying his doctrine. Yea, they honor him just as Judas
37:37
Speaker 1: did when he said, hail Master and kissed him. And
37:40
Speaker 1: he may as justly say to every one of them,
37:43
Speaker 1: betrayest thou the son of Man with a kiss. It
37:46
Speaker 1: is no other than betraying him with a kiss, to
37:48
Speaker 1: talk of his blood and take away his crown, to
37:51
Speaker 1: set light by any part of his law under pretense
37:54
Speaker 1: of advancing his gospel. Nor, indeed, can any one escape
37:58
Speaker 1: this charge who preaches faith in any such a manner as,
38:01
Speaker 1: either directly or indirectly, tends to set aside any branch
38:04
Speaker 1: of obedience, who preaches Christ so as to disannull or
38:08
Speaker 1: weaken in any wise the least of the commandments of God.
38:12
Speaker 1: To those who urge that the preaching of the Gospel
38:15
Speaker 1: answers all the ends of the law, whilst they replied this,
38:19
Speaker 1: we utterly deny it does not answer the very first
38:22
Speaker 1: end of the law, namely the convincing men of sin,
38:25
Speaker 1: the awakening those who are still asleep on the brink
38:28
Speaker 1: of hell. The apostle Paul declares that by the law
38:32
Speaker 1: is the knowledge of sin, and not until man is
38:35
Speaker 1: convicted of sin will he truly feel his need of
38:37
Speaker 1: the atoning blood of Christ. They that be whole, as
38:40
Speaker 1: our Lord himself observes, need not a physician, but they
38:43
Speaker 1: that are sick. It is absurd, therefore, to offer a
38:47
Speaker 1: physician to them that are whole, or that at least
38:49
Speaker 1: imagine themselves, so to be, you are first to convince
38:53
Speaker 1: them that they are sick, otherwise they will not thank
38:55
Speaker 1: you for your labor. It is equally absurd to offer
38:58
Speaker 1: Christ to them whose heart a is having never yet
39:01
Speaker 1: been broken. Thus, while preaching the gospel of the grace
39:05
Speaker 1: of God, lest they, like his master, sought to magnify
39:08
Speaker 1: the law and make it honorable. Faithfully did he accomplish
39:12
Speaker 1: the work given him of God. And glorious were the
39:14
Speaker 1: results which he was permitted to behold. At the close
39:18
Speaker 1: of his long life of more than fourscore years, above
39:21
Speaker 1: half a century spent in itinerant ministry, his avowed adherents
39:25
Speaker 1: numbered more than half a million souls. But the multitude
39:29
Speaker 1: that through his labors had been lifted from the ruin
39:32
Speaker 1: and degradation of sin to a higher and purer life,
39:35
Speaker 1: and the number who by his teaching had attained to
39:37
Speaker 1: a deeper and richer experience, will never be known till
39:41
Speaker 1: the whole family of the Redeemed shall be gathered into
39:43
Speaker 1: the Kingdom of God. His life presents a lesson of
39:47
Speaker 1: priceless worth to every Christian. Would that the faith and humility,
39:51
Speaker 1: the untiring zeal, self sacrifice, and devotion of this servant
39:55
Speaker 1: of Christ might be reflected in the churches of to day.
40:00
Speaker 1: End of Chapter fourteen