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    The Reformation And The Bible

    The time had now come for the light to shine, and God’s word could no longer be kept from the people. Prophecy states that in spite of captivity, fire, and sword, “they shall be holpen with a little help.” Daniel 11:33, 34. But the people had been kept in darkness so long that they could not endure the glaring light of all the Bible truths at once. They had to come gradually, and the hour had struck for the Reformation to begin.FAFA 12.1

    In preparing for the Reformation, the Lord had worked in marvelous ways to provide protection for the Reformers. The night before Martin Luther nailed his ninety-five theses on the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, the Elector Frederick of Saxony had a remarkable dream. In relating it to Duke John the next morning he said:FAFA 12.2

    “‘I must tell you a dream which I had last night.... For I dreamed it thrice, and each time with new circumstances.... I fell asleep, ... I then awoke.... I prayed ... God to guide me, my counsels, and my people according to truth. I again fell asleep, and then dreamed that Almighty God sent me a monk.... All the saints accompanied him by order of God, in order to bear testimony before me, and to declare that he did not come to contrive any plot.... They asked me to have the goodness graciously to permit him to write something on the door of the church of the Castle of Wittenberg. This I granted through my chancellor. Thereupon the monk went to the church, and began to write in such large characters that I could read the writing at Schweinitz. The pen which he used was so large that its end reached as far as Rome, where it pierced the ears of a lion that was crouching there, and caused the triple crown upon the head of the Pope to shake. All the cardinals and princes, running hastily up, tried to prevent it from falling.... I awoke, ... it was only a dream. [Again he fell asleep.]FAFA 12.3

    “‘Then I dreamed that all the princes of the Empire, and we among them, hastened to Rome, and strove, one after another, to break the pen; but the more we tried the stiffer it became, sounding as if it had been made of iron. We at length desisted.... Suddenly 1 heard a loud noise - a large number of other pens had sprung out of the long pen of the monk. I awoke a third time: it was daylight.’ ...FAFA 13.1

    “So passed the morning of the 31st October, 1517, in the royal castle of Schweinitz.... The elector has hardly made an end of telling his dream when the monk comes with the hammer to interpret it.” -“History of Protestantism,” J. A. Wylie, LL.D., Vol. I, pp. 263-266.FAFA 13.2

    One can hardly wonder that the Elector of Saxony became Luther’s protector during his long struggle with the Papacy. The greatest work that was accomplished by these “pens” of the Reformation was the translation of the Bible into the language of the common people. True, there had been some attempts made before this time to produce the Scriptures in the vernacular, but without much success, as the language was almost unintelligible to the common people, and the price prohibitive.FAFA 13.3

    After Martin Luther had spent much time in the homes and company of the people that he might acquire their language, he, with his co-workers, translated the Bible into a language that, while it was dignified and beautiful, was so natural and easy to be understood by the ordinary mind that it made the Bible at once “the people’s book.” The New Testament was translated in 1521, and fifty-eight editions of it were printed between 1522 and 1533: seventeen editions at Wittenberg, thirteen at Augsburg, twelve at Basel, one at Erfurt, one at Grimma, one at Leipzig, and thirteen at Strassburg. The Old Testament was first printed in four parts, 1523 to 1533, and finally the entire Bible was published in one volume in 1534.FAFA 13.4

    In 1522, Jacques Lefevre translated the New Testament into French, and Collin, at Meaux, printed it in 1524. In 1525, William Tyndale translated the New Testament into English. All these New Testaments were translated from the original Greek, and not from the imperfect Latin Vulgate, used by the papal church.FAFA 14.1

    Printing presses were kept busy printing the Scriptures, while colporteurs and booksellers sold them to the eager public. The effect was tremendous.FAFA 14.2

    “Every honest intellect was at once struck with the strange discrepancy between the teaching of the Sacred Volume and that of the church of Rome.” — “Historical Studies,” Eugene Lawrence, p. 255. New York: Harper Brothers., 1876.FAFA 14.3

    In the Book of God there were found no purgatory, no infallible pope, no masses for the dead, no sale of indulgences, no relics working miracles, no prayers for the dead, no worship of the Virgin Mary or of saints! But there the people found a loving Saviour with open arms welcoming the poorest and vilest of sinners to come and receive forgiveness full and free. Love filled their hearts and broke the shackles of sin and superstition. Profanity, coarse jests, drunkenness, vice, and disorder disappeared. The blessed Book was read by young and old, and became the talk in home and shop, while the Church with its Latin mass lost its attraction.FAFA 14.4

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