The Holy Scripture - english version B.indd - Sabbat

406 Double Foreview of the Reformation.and nothing but the Bible " : but it has never completely purified itself fromRomish doctrine and practice, it has never regained completeindenpendence of secular domination, it has never got clear of union with theworld. It has rejected the claim of the Church to rule the State, is has not as clearlyrefused the pretension of the State to rule the Church ; it has suffered worldlyambition, priestcraft, simony, and abuses of many kinds ; and it has developedtwo strong tendencies, one to a return to the Romish apostasy, and the other torationalism and infidelity. The true spiritual Church of Christ is still, even inProtestant lands, but a small part of the professing Church.I want you clearly to bear in mind from the outset then, first, that, in point oftime, Protestantism is a late or modern movement ; secondly, that it is, in point ofsphere, a limited one ; and thirdly, that is is, in point of character, a very imperfectreturn to primitive Christianity.One more introductory remark before I pass on. May we not safely concludethat Protestantism will last till the end of the age and the second advent of Christ?The reformed Churches will never be darkened by a universal apostasy [Editor:oecumenicity], as was the early Church. The innumerable millions of Bibles readand studied all over the world, the countless human minds enlightened by theircontents, and human hearts regenerated by their revelation of God in Christ, andlinked by faith and love and eternal life to the Saviour, forbid the fear that therecovered gospel [Editor: good tidings] will ever again be lost to the world. Thechronology of the Papacy shows us that the coming of the Lord [Editor: Master]is at hand ; and hence we may rest assured that the Reformation is, not only a lateincident in Church history, but that it is the last great movement. The next will bethe final change from the militant to the triumphant condition of the Church, whenthe fourth empire shall pass away, and be succeeded by the kingdom of the Sonof man and of the saints. We have entered on that phase of Church history whichwill exist at the second advent ; nothing remains unfulfilled of the predictionsconcerning Romanism, except her sudden destruction at the end of this age.As regards the history of the Reformation, I want you to remember that ittook place in stages during a period extending over about half a century. Itscommencement is reckoned from the year when Luther published his thesesagainst indulgences, A.D. 1517 ; and its close, in Germany at least, may beplaced in A.D. 1555, when the celebrated Peace of Augsburg confirmed theProtestants of Germany in all their rights and possessions, and recognised theircomplete national and ecclesiastical independence of the popes. The close of theanti-Reformation Council of Trent and the full establishment of the ProtestantChurch of England were in A.D. 1563, forty-six years from the initial date ofthe Reformation. The struggle to maintain the position gained, in face of themurderous Papal reaction, which dates from the Council of Trent, occupieda much longer period, and was not over even at the Peace of Westphalia, at theend of the thirty years' religious war, in A.D. 1648, when a basis was laid for thesettlement of the long struggle in Central Europe.It extended however in France and England still further, nearly up to the closeof the seventeenth century, when it was finally settled in favour of Popery inFrance by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and in favour of Protestantism