The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

and then a Reformer, and he became a Reformer because he was a
Christian. "He believed, therefore he spoke." But Christian as he was, he
could not have been a successful Reformer, had he not possessed the
power of spreading the fire of Divine truth. The fatal defect in all the
Reformatory movements in the councils and universities of Paris in the
fifteenth century, was that they were not based upon the true foundation,
and did not propose to attain the great end by the right means. The cry had
been for a Reform "in the head and members" by outward improvement,
not in the Spirit and through the Word. The Reformation was kindled by
the Word; it trusted the Word, and scattered it everywhere, directing
attention to it in every writing, and grounding every position upon it. The
Word soon made itself felt throughout all Europe. Even in the lands most
thoroughly under Papal power, sparkles of the truth began to show
themselves, as in Austria, Spain, and Italy. But from Wittenberg through
Germany, from Zurich through Switzerland, the first flame spread, and but
a few years passed ere all Europe, which is at this hour Protestant, had
received the pure faith of the Word of God.
The fire of the Divine Word destroyed the accumulated rubbish of
tradition, swept away the hay, wood, and stubble, which the hand of man
had gathered on the foundation and heaped over the temple, and the gold,
silver, and precious stones of the true house of God appeared. The Bible,
like sunshine bursting through clouds, poured its light upon the nations.
The teaching of mere men ceased to be regarded as authority, and the
prophecy was again fulfilled: "They shall all be taught OF GOD."
A Lesson for our time.
Three hundred and fifty-three years ago, the first thrill of the
earthquake of the Reformation was felt in A Lesson for Europe. Men
knew so little of its nature, that they our time. imagined it could be
suppressed. They threw their weight upon the heaving earth, and hoped to
make it lie still. They knew not that they had a power to deal with, which
was made more terrible in its outburst by the attempt to confine it. As the
result of the opposition to the Reformation,