The Holy Scripture - english version B.indd - Sabbat

380Interpretation of the Reformers.reformer, was on the prophecies concerning the Papacy. The reformers embodiedtheir interpretations of prophecy in their confessions of faith, and Calvin in his„Istitutes.“ All the reformers were unanimous in the matter; even the mild andcautious Melanchthon was as assured of the antipapal meaning of these propheciesas was Luther himself. And their interpretation of these prophecies determinedtheir reforming action. It led them to prostest against Rome with extraordinarystrength and undaunted courage. It nerved them to resist the claims of that apostateChurch to the uttermost. It made them martyrs; it sustained them at the stake. Andthe views of the reformers were shared by thousands, by hundreds of thousands.They were adopted by princes and peoples. Unter their influence nations abjuredtheir allegiance to the false priest of Rome. In the reaction which followed, allthe powers of hell seemed to be let loose upon the adherents of the Reformation.War followed war: tortures, burnings, and massacres were multipied. Yet theReformation stood undefeated and unconquerable. God‘s word upheld it, and theenergies of His almighty spirit. It was the work of Christ as truly as the foundingof the Church eighteen centuries ago; and the revelation of the future which Hegave from Heaven - that prophetic book with which the Scripture closes - was oneof the mightiest instruments employed in its accomplishment.To resist the use to which Scripture prophecy was put by the reformers isno light or unimportant matter. The system of prophetic interpretation knows asFuturism does resist this use. It condemns the interpretation of the reformers.It condemns the views of all these men, and of all the martyrs, and of all theconfessors and faithful witnesses of Christ for long centuries. It condemnsthe Albigneses, the Waldenses, the Wicliffites, the Hussistes, the Lollards, theLutherans, the Calvinists; it condemns them all, and upon a point upon whichthey are all agreed, an interpretation of Scripture which they embodied in theirsolemn confessions and sealed with their blood. It condemns the spring of theiraction, the foundation of the structure they erected. How daring is this act, andhow destitute of justification! What an opposition to the pillars of a work mostmanifestly Divine! for it is no less than this, for Futurism asserts that Luther and allthe reformers were wrong in this fundamental point. And whose interpretation ofprophecy does it justify and approve? That of the Romanists. Let this be clearlyseen. Rome felt the froce ot these prophecies, and soughtto evade it. It had no way but to deny their applicability. It could not denytheir existence in Scripture. They were there plainly enough. But it denied thatthese prophecies referred to the Romish Church and its head. It pushed themaside. It shifted them from the entire field of mediaeval and modern history. As toBabylon the Great, is asserted that it meant Rome pagan, not Rome Papal. Romepagan shed all the blood referred to in Revelation xvii., xviii. Rome Christianshad shed none of it. Prophecy was eloquent about the deeds of the Caesars, butsilent as to those of the popes; and this though the persecutions perpetrated bythe popes had exceeded those of the Caesars. Prophecy expended its strength inwarning the Church of the perils from heathenism which it perfectly understood,and was speechless as to the far greater perils asrising from the Christian apostasyon which it needed the fullest warning and instruction. It was eagle-eyed as todangers from without, but blind to dangers from within. It guided and guarded