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| In the choice of instrumentalities for the reforming of the church, the same divine plan is seen as in that for the planting of the church. The heavenly Teacher passed by the great men of the earth, the titled and wealthy, who were accustomed to receive praise and homage as leaders of the people. They were so proud and self-confident in their boasted superiority that they could not be molded to sympathize with their fellow men and to become colaborers with the humble Man of Nazareth. To the unlearned, toiling fishermen of Galilee was the call addressed: "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19. These disciples were humble and teachable. The less they had been influenced by the false teaching of their time, the more successfully could Christ instruct and train them for His service. So in the days of the Great Reformation. The leading Reformers were men from humble life -- men who were most free of any of their time from pride of rank and from the influence of bigotry and priestcraft. It is God's plan to employ humble instruments to accomplish great results. Then the glory will not be given to men, but to Him who works through them to will and to do of His own good pleasure. {GC 171.1} Chapter 9 |
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| With the opening of the Great Reformation came the writings of Luther, and then Tyndale's English New Testament. Unnoticed by the hierarchy, these messengers silently traversed the mountains and valleys, kindling into new life the torch of truth so nearly extinguished in Scotland, and undoing the work which Rome for four centuries of oppression had done. {GC 249.3} |
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| Like the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, the advent movement appeared in different countries of Christendom at the same time. In both Europe and America men of faith and prayer were led to the study of the prophecies, and, tracing down the inspired record, they saw convincing evidence that the end of all things was at hand. In different lands there were isolated bodies of Christians who, solely by the study of the Scriptures, arrived at the belief that the Saviour's advent was near. Great Controversy, page 357.1 Read entire chapter 20 |
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| I see that great reformation must take place in the ministry before it shall be what God would have it. Ministers in the desk have no license to behave like theatrical performers, assuming attitudes and expressions calculated for effect. They do not occupy the sacred desk as actors, but as teachers of solemn truths. There are also fanatical ministers, who, in attempting to preach Christ, storm, halloo, jump up and down, and pound the desk before them, as if this bodily exercise profited anything. Such antics lend no force to the truths uttered, but, on the contrary, disgust men and women of calm judgment and elevated views. It is the duty of men who give themselves to the ministry to leave all coarseness and boisterous conduct outside the desk at least. {Ev 640.1} {PaM 198.2} {RH, August 8, 1878 par. 5} |
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| But the greatest work of his life was the translation of the Scriptures into the English language. This was the first complete English translation ever made. The art of printing being still unknown, it was only by slow and wearisome labor that copies of the work could be multiplied; yet this was done, and the people of England received the Bible in their own tongue. Thus the light of God's word began to shed its bright beams athwart the darkness. A divine hand was preparing the way for the Great Reformation. {4SP 88.3} {SR 336.4} |
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| The principle we are to uphold at this time is the same that was maintained by the adherents of the gospel in the great Reformation. When the princes assembled at the Diet of Spires in 1529, it seemed that the hope of the world was about to be crushed out. To this assembly was presented the emperor's decree restricting religious liberty and prohibiting all further dissemination of the reformed doctrines. Would the princes of Germany accept the decree? Should the light of the gospel be shut out from the multitudes that were still in darkness? Mighty issues for the world were at stake. Those who had accepted the reformed faith met together, and the unanimous decision was: "Let us reject the decree. In matters of conscience the majority has no power." {6T 402.2} |
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| The principle which we are called to uphold at this time is the same that was maintained by the adherents of the gospel in the days of the great Reformation. When the princes assembled at the Diet of Spires, in 1529, it seemed that the hope of the world was about to be crushed out. To this assembly was presented the emperor's decree restricting religious liberty, and prohibiting all further dissemination of the reformed doctrines. Would the princes representing the states of Germany accept the decree, and consent that the blessed light of the gospel should be shut out from the multitudes that were still in darkness? Mighty issues for the world depended upon the action of a few heroes of faith. Those who had accepted the truths of the Reformation met together, and their unanimous decision, was, "Let us reject the decree. In matters of conscience the majority has no power." And they drew up their protest, and submitted it to the assembled states. {HM, November 1, 1893 par. 20} |
| In the days of the great Reformation, when the princes assembled at the Diet of Spires, in 1529, it seemed that the hope of the world was about to be crushed out. To this assembly was presented the emperor's decree restricting religious liberty, and prohibiting all further dissemination of the reformed doctrines. Would the princes representing the States of Germany accept the decree, and consent that the blessed light of the gospel should be shut out from the multitudes that were still in darkness? Mighty issues for the world depended upon the action of a few heroes of faith. Those who had accepted the truths of the Reformation met together, and their unanimous decision was, "Let us reject the decree. In matters of conscience the majority has no power." And they drew up their protest, and submitted it to the assembled States. {AU Gleaner, March 8, 1905 par. 1} |
| every great reformation |
| The work of God in the earth earth presents, from age to age, a striking similarity in every great reformation or religious movement. The principles of God's dealing with men are ever the same. The important movements of the present have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience of the church in former ages has lessons of great value for our own time. Great Controversy, page 343.1 Read entire chapter 19 |
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