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Facts of Faith - Contents
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    Finishing the Reformation

    THE Reformers of the sixteenth century had done much to bring people back to the primitive Christianity of apostolic times. While they did not live long enough to see their work fully carried through, they had laid a deep and broad foundation for their children to build upon; namely, faith in “the Bible, and the Bible only.” They expected their followers to carry their work through to a triumphant conclusion. But after the death of the Reformers, the Jesuits nearly wrecked the work of the Reformation, and some of the Protestant countries formed state churches to protect themselves from utter annihilation.FAFA 173.1

    The popes and the Jesuits worked incessantly in conjunction with the bishops and the heads of the larger Catholic states to force the smaller Protestant countries back under the papal rule. This compelled Protestant princes to make common cause and stand together to save the day, as was the case in the Thirty Years’ War.FAFA 173.2

    After the worst storm had blown over, the Protestant churches found themselves under the protection and control of the state. They were no longer free to accept more light, and to progress along the way they originally had started. The state now dictated what they should believe and teach, who should be taken into church fellowship, and who should be their leaders. Their growth was stunted, their spiritual life stifled. Instead of progressing along the line of reform, they retrograded and gave up several of the points of truth held by the Reformers. This was especially true during the period of Rationalism in Europe. But God’s work must go on to completion. No human consideration can stop it, and the time has now come for the work of the Reformation to be finished.FAFA 173.3

    It is a remarkable and fascinating study to see how God offered one religious denomination after another the privilege of carrying the Reformation to a finish, and how they, one by one, rejected God’s plan.FAFA 173.4

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