Asa H. Craig, (Asa Hollister), 1847-1934
From the Protestant standpoint the Reformation is regarded as the foundation of religious freedom, the overthrow of Catholic supremacy, and the establishment of new doctrines of worship. While, in a large measure, this may be true, yet from the light of history we conclude these things: There being but one religion, there could be no demand for freedom until new dogmas were invented and new desires created. The world practically knew but two ideas of worship, that of Christianity and that of pagan idolatry. Of idolatry, we find the Old Pagan Mythology and the followers of Mohammed. As the great countries of India, China, and Japan were not in close connection with Europe, the people were not acquainted with their modes of worship and knew nothing of them. The Turk Mahomet was the only factor in Europe which in any way conflicted with the Christian Church. The Reformation instituted new creeds, translated the Bible into new understandings, and inaugurated conflicts of worship, thereby creating a demand that had not existed before. Martin Luther had declared his theology, his version of the Scriptures, and his doctrine of worship as the only true faith, the only true Gospel of Christ, and the only means of salvation.
Other Reformers were not content to give* Luther a monopoly of this new innovation, but would enter the field in competition, and from these divisions arose the cry of freedom of worship. Catholics prescribed laws against heresy, and in many instances executed them. But the Catholics were not alone in meting out punishment. Even John Calvin, the next greatest to Luther in the cause of Reformation, had the Spanish physician, Michael Servetus, on the 27th of October, 1553, burned as a heretic. And to justify himself, he wrote a treatise explaining Servetus’ dangerous doctrine, his blasphemy against holy worship, and the awful example of an ungodly man. In this treatise, or explanation, Calvin invents many excuses for this desperate means of ridding the country of the man. It was not because he was immoral in character, but spiritually immoral, depraved in the sight of God, dangerous to the faithful, a stumbling-block to the wavering, a reproach, an infidel, a heretic and by the laws of empire must be burned.
Other renowned reformers of this age advocated the execution of heretics. Even Melanchthon, who took the leadership after the death of Luther, wrote to John Calvin praising him for the execution of Servetus, and endorsed its justice. But we are not competent, at this time in the nineteenth century, owing to our education of obedience, to rightfully judge the people of the sixteenth century. At that time heresy was considered a more grievous crime than high treason itself. The people of that era were taught to believe it a crime, while we are taught to observe tolerance, to call it a privilege, a universal right, a question you cannot question, a foundation of
liberty, and the inalienable right of man. We accord to every man the right to say what he chooses in the defamation of Christ, to vilify God’s Holy Word, to write and talk Atheism, to denounce the Church, ‘the Bible as only the invention of man, to say, do, act and scoff at worship. All these and more, are the boasted rights we accord man, in our freedom of speech, thought, deed, and action. The only restraint we have placed upon him is that he shall not disturb others while engaged in devotion. It is not a restraint from the blasphemy of God, but from interfering with the individual right which each man has of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With these privileges we have no right to charge crime to a church, nor to a law that lays down a penalty for the abuse of all that is holy, sacred, and pure. In their rigid punishment of heresy they may have gone too far, but in our liberalism may we not have gone to the other extreme? They called it a crime to deny God; we laugh and jest at the blasphemies of His Holy Name. They taught reverence, obedience, and justification; we teach the right of man to reverence nothing, to obey nothing, and to worship nothing. They taught restraint; we are bound by none on earth, or heaven, or hell. The whole realm of infinity is ours to revile, to curse, to damn. Such is the boasted privilege of our vested rights in the great kingdom of freedom. Glorious freedom! Freedom of heresy, of license, of power to defy, to scorn and scoff, to persecute and crucify, and to breathe the words of slander, jest, and falsehood. Shame to denounce one extreme and allow the opposite. If, in their zeal for the welfare of the future existence of man, they were too severe, have we not, in return, desecrated the sacred worship of God beyond the hope of redemption, of salvation, and of eternal life? May not our freedom of desecration bring upon us the damning words when in the day of judgment, we are commanded to depart from Me, for I know you not?
In the establishment of the Lutheran worship in Germany, the reformers were constantly working upon the feelings and prejudices of the German princes. To be free from the Church of Rome was to have greater temporal power, more direct access to the public treasury, and less restraint. As this country was divided into many small kingdoms, it became the great object of Luther to draw them into a closer alliance, thus strengthening, not only their powers of possession, but congregating a greater religious force by which the doctrine of Luther will be more firmly established, the laws of the Catholic Church abolished, and the destruction of the monasteries made complete.
As the people under the princes were easily weaned from their forms of worship, by the example of the lords and nobles, it is not surprising to find the doctrine so universally accepted. Where the people were slow to become reconciled to this change force was introduced and they were compelled to obey the mandates of those in authority. In order to have unity of action in the explanation of their belief, and to prevent any new reforms, a system of visitation was established, by which commissioners would give instruction to the ministers and prescribe rules of government. In 1527 Melanchthon, the chief lieutenant of Luther, published his little book of “Visitation for the Preservation of Unity in Doctrine and Worship.” This gave to the clergy a condensed form of Luther’s doctrine of worship. It gave instruction how to proceed, what to impress more forcibly, and how to explain it. Two years later Luther issued his large and small Catechisms. Thus, the faith was established by a direct line of instruction. In 1542 consistories were established and a system inaugurated by which superintendents were appointed to carefully watch over the future exposition of this new declaration of Reformation. A rigid discipline was instituted, and the clergy commanded to observe the rules of faith, and preach only the doctrine as formulated by Luther and his co-laborers.
To further enhance the prejudices against the Pope, Luther wrote “The Papacy at Rome an Institution of the Devil.” In this work he used his greatest powers of expression. His language was often coarse and almost vulgar. He upbraided him with curses, and assailed him as a vile and impious wretch. He denounced him as a creature of the devil, a false prophet, a power of crime, a despot under the cloak of religion, a stench to humanity, and for the benefit of the true worship of God, should be denied sovereignty, despoiled of his possessions, and be an exile on the face of the earth. Considering these denunciations, is it any wonder that prejudices grew rapidly, and that the Pope should seek to destroy his poisonous influence by the power of conflict? And yet Luther was never arrested for the violation of Church or State laws! His body was never assailed, and his safe-conduct agreed to when he went to the great Diets for examination.
To follow closely the rise of this Reformation we must note some historical facts in relation to France, Italy, Spain, and Germany. Charles I, of Spain, who afterwards became Emperor Charles V, was the son of Philip the Handsome, Archduke of Austria, and Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. This marriage conferred upon him “the converging point and heir of four great royal lines, which had become united by a series of happy matrimonial alliances.” This alliance included the houses of Castile, Aragon, Austria, and Burgundy. To this was added, by the vote of the Electors of Germany, the sovereignty of the Holy Roman Empire.
Charles now having great combined strength, resolved to consecrate his life to the restoration of the Pope’s power over all Christendom, and to destroy, not only the movement of the Reformation, but the seeds that had been sown. It now seemed to the world as if the fortunes of the Reformation, this religious revolt, were lost. He placed himself at the head of the Catholic party and was about to “employ the strength and resources of his empire in repressing the heresy of reform…’’ when outside complications arose and he was obliged to cease active demonstrations. These complications consisted of the attitudes of Francis I, of France, and of Solyman, the Magnificent, Sultan of Turkey. These two monarchies were the most powerful dominions then in Europe. For some reason, whenever Charles threatened a crusade against the German heretics, these forces, sometimes acting in concert, would arise against him and the crusade would be abandoned.
Four wars were waged against Charles, with disastrous results to his kingdom and the Church of Rome. In the first war Francis was defeated, but gathering strength by uniting with the German Lutherans, he captured Rome, sacked the city, and committed outrages only equaled by the terrible days of the Goth and Vandal. It was a great victory for the followers of Luther. They had retaliated for the excommunications and the edicts of the Pope. The ban was broken by victory, the Pope’s power destroyed by conquest, ruin, and desolation. As the Imperial army was composed mostly of Lutherans, the cry was, Down with the Pope! Down with Catholic power! Down with the forces of Satan! Down forever the curse of empires, of kingdoms, and principalities! Luther was avenged, and gloried that the Reformation was made stronger, more enduring, and more perfect in the sight of God.
In the third war Francis shocked all Christendom by forming an alliance with the Turkish Sultan, who, with his powerful fleets, ravaged the coasts of Italy, captured cities, destroyed churches, burned monasteries, and persecuted Catholic Christians. In this war w find Turkish barbarity trying to outdo its previous records of pillage, rapine, and murder.
In the fourth war the rival forces gain nothing, and the provinces are restored to the same possessors as before the first war.
The result of these wars was disastrous to nearly all of Europe. The strife between the followers of the Reformation and the Catholic Church was bitter in the extreme, and beyond the possibility of peace. They became possessed of a hatred so deep-seated that, in principle, can never die. Friends became enemies, and this enmity, in the struggle for conquest, grew stronger and stronger. The Turks were terrible in their ravages of Hungary, in the capture of Rhodes, and in the pillage of the Mediterranean shores. Thousands of Catholics were captured and chained to the oars of Turkish galleys, where they suffered the cruelties of untold persecution. They were slaves of a barbarous race, a race without pity or compassion, a race devoid of Christian manhood and tolerance, a race of despotic power, of unbroken cruelty, of oppression, brutality, plunder, and crime.
History informs us that Charles made a desperate fight with the Turks at Barbarossa, Tunis, defeating them and setting free 20,000 Christian captives. For this brilliant achievement all of Europe was wild with applause. The Turks had become a menacing power to Christianity. Their captives were made slaves, or butchered in relentless persecution. It was not warfare in the light of civilization, but scenes of excessive cruelty, scenes of extermination, of prostitution and slavery.
How little we, of the nineteenth century, realize the awful persecution of our ancient Christian fathers! How little we reverence those faithful men and women who, in the earnest faith of a true heart, surrendered life rather than surrender the conscience of their souls! What, then, can we say of those who, in the full manhood of strength and power, in possession of all that constitutes happiness, love, and affection, of their own free will and accord, without provocation or excuse, and of deliberate purpose, assail the vows of their worship, the vows of constancy, the pledge of fidelity, the true cross of Christ? If they will perjure their souls with the awful declaration of apostate denial, what right have we to recognize them in any form of truth, virtue, or responsibility? Is it no sin to obligate one’s self in the profession of faith, discipline, and obedience, and then intentionally, willfully, and maliciously defame that faith, that discipline, that obedience? Are you to be raised to the sublime height of heroism, because you slander the hand that kissed and blessed you? What form of ingratitude is baser or more ignoble, than to spurn the love and affection, the trust and confidence, of one who seeks only for your benefit, who labors only for your reward, only for the advancement of your pleasure and happiness?
If a man enters your house and asks for bread, and you greet him with true Samaritan affection, what manner of reptile must he be to accept your alms and then curse the hand that gives it? What indignation must rise to your thoughts as you think of his depraved nature, the lost manhood, and the accursed Satan that must control his being? You lose your respect for the unfortunate poor because of this blot on humanity, this blot on God’s handiwork, this barbarous and ungrateful creature, this contemptible relic of a falsehood. to life, a falsehood to nature, and a falsehood to charity. Words cannot express your righteous indignation that there can exist a wretch so vile, so mean, so low, so contemptible in the measure of decency, so abhorring to all the blessings of virtue, of truth, and of human sacrifice. And yet the world is full of this saddest of all sad pictures, of a broken faith, unrequited love, and cowardly desecration of God’s command to give charity to the poor, benevolence to the afflicted, and brotherly love to all.