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13 - The Netherlands and Scandinavia - The Great Controversy · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. In the Netherlands, the
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  Speaker 1: papal tyranny very early called forth resolute protest. Seven hundred
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  Speaker 1: years before Luther's time. The Roman pontiff was thus fearlessly
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  Speaker 1: impeached by two bishops, who, having been sent on an
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  Speaker 1: embassy to Rome, had learned the true character of the
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  Speaker 1: Holy See. God has made his queen and spouse the Church,
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  Speaker 1: a noble and everlasting provision for her family, with a
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  Speaker 1: dowry that is neither fading nor corruptible, and given her
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  Speaker 1: an eternal crown and scepter, all which benefits you. Like
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  Speaker 1: a thief intercept, you set up yourself in the temple
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  Speaker 1: as God instead of pastor. You are become a wolf
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  Speaker 1: to the sheep. You would make us believe that you
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  Speaker 1: are a supreme Bishop, but you rather behave like a tyrant.
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  Speaker 1: Whereas you ought to be a servant of servants. As
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  Speaker 1: you call yourself, you endeavor to become a lord of lords.
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  Speaker 1: You bring the commands of God into contempt. The Holy
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  Speaker 1: Ghost is the builder of all churches. As far as
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  Speaker 1: the earth extends, the City of our God, of which
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  Speaker 1: we are the citizens, reaches to all the regions of
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  Speaker 1: the heavens, and it is greater than the city by
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  Speaker 1: the holy prophets named Babylon, which pretends to be divine,
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  Speaker 1: wins herself to heaven and begs that her wisdom is immortal.
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  Speaker 1: And finally, though without reason, that she never did ern
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  Speaker 1: nor ever can. Others arose from century to century to
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  Speaker 1: echo this protest. And those early teachers, who traversing different
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  Speaker 1: lands and known by various names, bore the character of
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  Speaker 1: the Boudois missionaries and spread everywhere. The knowledge of the
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  Speaker 1: Gospel penetrated to the Netherlands. Their doctrines spread rapidly. The
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  Speaker 1: Waldensian Bible they translated in verse into the Dutch language.
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  Speaker 1: They declared that there was great advantage in it, no jests,
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  Speaker 1: no fables, no trifles, no deceits, but the words of truth.
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  Speaker 1: That indeed there was here and there a hard crust,
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  Speaker 1: but that the marrow and sweetness of what was good
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  Speaker 1: and holy might be easily discovered in it. Thus wrote
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  Speaker 1: the friends of the ancient Faith. In the twelfth century.
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  Speaker 1: Now began the Romish persecutions, But in the midst of
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  Speaker 1: faggots and torture, the believers continued to multiply, steadfastly declaring
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  Speaker 1: that the Bible is the only infallible authority in religion,
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  Speaker 1: and that no man should be coerced to believe, but
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  Speaker 1: should be won by preaching. The teachings of Luther found
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  Speaker 1: a congenial soil in the Netherlands, and earnest and faithful
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  Speaker 1: men arose to preach the Gospel. From one of the
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  Speaker 1: provinces of Holland, came Meno Simons. Educated a Roman Catholic
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  Speaker 1: and ordained to the priesthood, he was wholly ignorant of
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  Speaker 1: the Bible, and he would not read it for fear
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  Speaker 1: of being beguiled into heresy. When a doubt concerning the
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  Speaker 1: doctrine of transubstantiation forced itself upon him, he regarded it
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  Speaker 1: as a temptation from Satan, and by prayer and confession,
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  Speaker 1: sought to free himself from it, but in vain By
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  Speaker 1: mingling in scenes of dissipation, he endeavored to silence the
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  Speaker 1: accusing voice of conscience, but without avail. After a time
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  Speaker 1: he was led to the study of the New Testament,
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  Speaker 1: and this, with Luther's writings, caused him to accept the
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  Speaker 1: Reformed faith. He soon after witnessed in a neighboring village
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  Speaker 1: the beheading of a man who was put to death
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  Speaker 1: for having been rebaptized. This led him to study the
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  Speaker 1: Bible in regard to infant baptism. He could find no
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  Speaker 1: evidence for it in the scriptures, but saw that repentance
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  Speaker 1: and faith are everywhere required as the condition of receiving baptism.
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  Speaker 1: Meno withdrew from the Roman Church and devoted his life
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  Speaker 1: to teaching the truths which he had received. In both
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  Speaker 1: Germany and the Netherlands, a class of fanatics had risen,
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  Speaker 1: advocating absurd and seditious doctrines, outraging order and decency, and
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  Speaker 1: proceeding to violence and insurrection. Meno saw the horrible results
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  Speaker 1: to which these movements would inevitably lead, and he strenuously
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  Speaker 1: opposed the erroneous teachings and wild schemes of the Finnie.
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  Speaker 1: There were many, however, who had been misled by these fanatics,
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  Speaker 1: but who had renounced their pernicious doctrines, and there were
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  Speaker 1: still remaining many descendants of the ancient Christians, the fruits
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  Speaker 1: of the Waldensian teaching. Among these classes. Men O labored
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  Speaker 1: with great zeal and success for twenty five years. He
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  Speaker 1: traveled with his wife and children, enduring great hardships and privations,
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  Speaker 1: and frequently in peril of his life. He traversed the
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  Speaker 1: Netherlands and northern Germany, laboring chiefly among the humbler classes,
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  Speaker 1: but exerting a widespread influence. Naturally eloquent, though possessing a
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  Speaker 1: limited education, he was a man of unwavering integrity, of
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  Speaker 1: humble spirit and gentle manners, and of sincere and earnest piety,
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  Speaker 1: exemplifying in his own life the precepts which he taught,
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  Speaker 1: and he commanded the confidence of the people. His followers
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  Speaker 1: were scattered and oppressed. They suffered greatly from being confounded
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  Speaker 1: with the fanatical minstrites, Yet great numbers were converted under
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  Speaker 1: his labor. Nowhere were the Reformed doctrines more generally received
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  Speaker 1: than in the Netherlands. In few countries did their adherents
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  Speaker 1: endure more terrible persecution. In Germany, Charles the fifth had
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  Speaker 1: banned the Reformation, and he would gladly have brought all
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  Speaker 1: its adherents to the stake, But the princes stood up
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  Speaker 1: as a barrier against his tyranny. In the Netherlands, his
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  Speaker 1: power was greater, and persecuting edicts followed each other in
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  Speaker 1: quick succession. To read the Bible, to hear or preach it,
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  Speaker 1: or even to speak concerning it was to incur the
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  Speaker 1: penalty of death by the stake. To pray to God
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  Speaker 1: in secret, to refrain from bowing to an image or
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  Speaker 1: to sing a psalm was also punishable with death. Even
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  Speaker 1: those who should abjure their errors were condemned. If men
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  Speaker 1: to die by the sword, if women to be buried alive,
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  Speaker 1: thousands perished under the reign of Charles and of Philip
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  Speaker 1: the Second. At one time a whole family was brought
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  Speaker 1: before the inquisitors, charged with remaining away from Mass and
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  Speaker 1: worshiping at home. On his examination as to their practices
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  Speaker 1: in secret, the youngest son answered, we fall on our
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  Speaker 1: knees and pray that God may enlighten our minds and
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  Speaker 1: pardon our sins. We pray for our sovereign that his
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  Speaker 1: reign may be prosperous and his life happy. We pray
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  Speaker 1: for our magistrates that God may preserve them. Some of
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  Speaker 1: the judges were deeply moved, yet the father and one
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  Speaker 1: of his sons were condemned to the stake. The rage
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  Speaker 1: of the persecutors was equalled by the faith of the martyrs.
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  Speaker 1: Not only men, but delicate women and young maidens displayed
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  Speaker 1: unflinching courage. Wives would take their stand by their husband's stake,
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  Speaker 1: and while he was enduring the fire, they would whisper
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  Speaker 1: words of solace or sing psalms to cheer him. Young
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  Speaker 1: maidens would lie down in their living grave as if
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  Speaker 1: they were entering into their chamber of nightly sleep, or
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  Speaker 1: go forth to the scaffold in the fire, dressed in
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  Speaker 1: their best apparel, as if they were going to their marriage.
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  Speaker 1: As in the days when paganism sought to destroy the Gospel,
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  Speaker 1: the blood of the Christians was persecution served to increase
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  Speaker 1: the number of witnesses for the truth. Year after year,
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  Speaker 1: the monarch, stung to madness by the unconquerable determination of
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  Speaker 1: the people, urged on his cruel work, But in Vain,
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  Speaker 1: under the noble William of Orange, the revolution at last
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  Speaker 1: brought to Holland freedom to worship God. In the mountains
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  Speaker 1: of Piedmont, on the plains of France and the shores
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  Speaker 1: of Holland, the progress of the Gospel was marked with
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  Speaker 1: the blood of its disciples. But in the countries of
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  Speaker 1: the North it found a peaceful entrance. Students at Wittenburg,
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  Speaker 1: returning to their homes, carried the Reformed faith to Scandinavia.
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  Speaker 1: The publication of Luther's writings also spread the light. The simple,
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  Speaker 1: hardy people of the North turned from the corruption, the pomp,
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  Speaker 1: and the superstitions of Rome to welcome the purity, the simplicity,
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  Speaker 1: and the life giving truths of the Bible. Tausen, the
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  Speaker 1: reformer of Denmark, was a peasant's son. The boy early
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  Speaker 1: gave evidence of vigorous intellect. He thirsted for an education,
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  Speaker 1: but this was denied him by the circumstances of his parents,
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  Speaker 1: and he entered a cloister. Here. The purity of his life,
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  Speaker 1: together with his diligence and fidelity, won the favor of
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  Speaker 1: his superior. Examination showed him to possess talent that promised,
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  Speaker 1: at some future day good service to the church. It
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  Speaker 1: was determined to give him an education at some one
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  Speaker 1: of the universities of Germany or the Netherlands. The young
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  Speaker 1: student was granted permission to choose a school for himself,
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  Speaker 1: with one proviso that he must not go to Wittenburg.
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  Speaker 1: The scholar of the church was not to be endangered
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  Speaker 1: by the poison of heresy, so said the friars. Tausen
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  Speaker 1: went to Cologne, which was then as now one of
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  Speaker 1: the strongholds of Romanism. Here he soon became disgusted with
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  Speaker 1: the mysticisms of the schoolmen. About the same time he
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  Speaker 1: obtained Luther's writings. He read them with wonder and delight,
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  Speaker 1: and greatly desired to enjoy the personal instruction of the reformer.
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  Speaker 1: But to do so he must risk giving offense to
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  Speaker 1: his monastic superior and forfeiting his support. His decision was
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  Speaker 1: soon made, and ere long he was enrolled as a
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  Speaker 1: student at Wittenburg. On returning to Denmark, he again repaired
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  Speaker 1: to his cloister. No one as yet suspected him of Lutheranism.
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  Speaker 1: He did not reveal his secret, but endeavored, without exciting
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  Speaker 1: the prejudices of his companions, to lead them to a
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  Speaker 1: purer faith and a holier life. He opened the Bible
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  Speaker 1: and explained its true meaning, and at last preached Christ
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  Speaker 1: to them as a sinner's righteousness and his only hope
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  Speaker 1: of salvation. Great was the wrath of the prior who
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  Speaker 1: had built high hopes upon him. As a valiant defender
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  Speaker 1: of Rome. He was at once removed from his own
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  Speaker 1: monastery to another, and confined to his cell under strict supervision.
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  Speaker 1: To the terror of his new guardians, several of the
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  Speaker 1: monks soon declared themselves converts to Protestantism. Through the bars
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  Speaker 1: of his cell, Tausan had communicated to his compai onions
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  Speaker 1: a knowledge of the truth. Had those Danish fathers been
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  Speaker 1: skilled in the Church's plan of dealing with heresy, Tausan's
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  Speaker 1: voice would never again have been heard. But instead of
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  Speaker 1: consigning him to a tomb in some underground dungeon, they
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  Speaker 1: expelled him from the monastery. Now they were powerless. A
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  Speaker 1: royal edict just issued offered protection to the teachers of
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  Speaker 1: the new doctrine. Tausen began to preach. The churches were
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  Speaker 1: open to him, and the people thronged to listen. Others
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  Speaker 1: also were preaching the Word of God. The New Testament,
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  Speaker 1: translated into the Danish tongue, was widely circulated. The efforts
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  Speaker 1: made by the papists to overthrow the work resulted in
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  Speaker 1: extending it, and ere long Denmark declared its acceptance of
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  Speaker 1: the Reformed faith in Sweden. Also, young men who had
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  Speaker 1: drunk from the well of Wittenberg carried the water of
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  Speaker 1: life to their countrymen. Two of the leaders in the
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  Speaker 1: Swedish Reformation, Olaf and Laurentius Petrie, the sons of a
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  Speaker 1: blacksmith of Rebro, studied under Lutheran Melanchthon, and the truths
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  Speaker 1: which they thus learned, they were diligent to teach. Like
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  Speaker 1: the great reformer, Olaf aroused the people by his zeal
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  Speaker 1: and eloquence, while Laurentius, like Malanthon, was learned, thoughtful and calm.
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  Speaker 1: Both were men of ardent piety, of high theological attainments,
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  Speaker 1: and of unflinching courage in advancing the truth. Papist opposition
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  Speaker 1: was not lacking. The Catholic priests stirred up the ignorant
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  Speaker 1: and superstitious people. Olaf Petrie was often assailed by the mob,
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  Speaker 1: and upon several occasions barely escaped with his life. These
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  Speaker 1: reformers were, however, favored and protected by the king. Under
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  Speaker 1: the rule of the Roman Church, the people were sunken
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  Speaker 1: in poverty and ground down by oppression. They were destitute
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  Speaker 1: of the scriptures and having a religion of mere signs
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  Speaker 1: and ceremonies which conveyed no light to the mind. They
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  Speaker 1: were returning to the superstitious beliefs and pagan practices of
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  Speaker 1: their heathen ancestors. The nation was into contending factions, whose
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  Speaker 1: perpetual strife increased the misery of all. The King determined
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  Speaker 1: upon a reformation in the state and the Church, and
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  Speaker 1: he welcomed these able assistants in the battle against Rome.
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  Speaker 1: In the presence of the monarch and the leading men
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  Speaker 1: of Sweden, Olaf Petrie with great ability defended the doctrines
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  Speaker 1: of the Reformed Faith against the Romish champions. He declared
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  Speaker 1: that the teachings of the Fathers are to be received
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  Speaker 1: only when in accordance with the scriptures, that the essential
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  Speaker 1: doctrines of the faith are presented in the Bible in
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  Speaker 1: a clear and simple manner, so that all men may
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  Speaker 1: understand them. Christ said, my doctrine is not mine, but
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  Speaker 1: his that sent me. And Paul declared that should he
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  Speaker 1: preach any other gospel than that which he had received,
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  Speaker 1: he would be accursed. How then, said the Reformer, shall
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  Speaker 1: others presume to enact dogmas at their pleasure and impose
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  Speaker 1: them as things necessary to salvation? He showed that the
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  Speaker 1: decrees of the Church are of no authority when in
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  Speaker 1: opposition to the commands of God, and maintained the great
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  Speaker 1: Protestant principle that the Bible and the Bible only is
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  Speaker 1: the rule of faith and practice. This contest, though conducted
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  Speaker 1: upon a stage comparatively obscure, serves to show us the
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  Speaker 1: sort of men that formed the rank and file of
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  Speaker 1: the army of the reformers. They were not illiterate, sectarian,
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  Speaker 1: noisy controversialists. Far from it. They were men who had
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  Speaker 1: studied the Word of God and knew well how to
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  Speaker 1: wield the weapons with which the armory of the Bible
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  Speaker 1: supplied them. In respect of erudition, they were ahead of
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  Speaker 1: their age. When we confine our attention to such brilliant
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  Speaker 1: centers as Wittenberg and Zurich, and to such illustrious names
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  Speaker 1: as those of Lutheran Melanthon, of Zwingli and Ecolampadius, we
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  Speaker 1: are apt to be told these are the leaders of
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  Speaker 1: the movement, and we should naturally expect in them prodigious
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  Speaker 1: power and vast acquisitions. But the subordinates were not like these.
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  Speaker 1: While we turned to the obscure theater of Sweden and
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  Speaker 1: the humble names of Olaf and Laurentius Petri from the
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  Speaker 1: Master us to the disciples. What do we find scholars
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  Speaker 1: and theologians, men who have thoroughly mastered the whole system
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  Speaker 1: of Gospel truth, and who win an easy victory over
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  Speaker 1: the sophists of the schools and the dignitaries of Rome.
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  Speaker 1: As the result of this disputation, the King of Sweden
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  Speaker 1: accepted the Protestant faith, and not long afterward the National
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  Speaker 1: Assembly declared in its favor. The New Testament had been
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  Speaker 1: translated by Olaf Petri into the Swedish language, and at
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  Speaker 1: the desire of the King, the two brothers undertook the
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  Speaker 1: translation of the whole Bible. Thus, for the first time,
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  Speaker 1: the people of Sweden received the Word of God in
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  Speaker 1: their native tongue. It was ordered by the diet that
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  Speaker 1: throughout the kingdom ministers should explain the scriptures, and that
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  Speaker 1: the children in the schools should be taught to read
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  Speaker 1: the Bible steadily. And surely the darkness of ignorance and
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  Speaker 1: superstition was dispelled by the blessed light of the Gospel.
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  Speaker 1: Freed from Romish oppression, the nation attained to a strength
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  Speaker 1: and greatness it had never before reached. Widen became one
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  Speaker 1: of the bulwarks of Protestantism. A century later, at a
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  Speaker 1: time of sorest peril, this small and hitherto feeble nation,
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  Speaker 1: the only one in Europe that dared lend a helping hand,
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  Speaker 1: came to the deliverance of Germany. In the terrible struggles
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  Speaker 1: of the Thirty Years War, all Northern Europe seemed about
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  Speaker 1: to be brought again under the tyranny of Rome. It
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  Speaker 1: was the armies of Sweden that enabled Germany to turn
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  Speaker 1: the tide of Popish success, to win toleration for the
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  Speaker 1: Protestants Calvinists as well as Lutherans, and to restore liberty
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  Speaker 1: of conscience to those countries that had accepted the Reformation
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  Speaker 1: end of Chapter thirteen,