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religion again degenerated into formalism; and errors and superstitions
which would have been cast aside had the church continued to walk
in the light of God’s Word, were retained and cherished. Thus the
spirit inspired by the Reformation gradually died out, until there was
almost as great need of reform in the Protestant churches as in the
Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same worldliness
and spiritual stupor, a similar reverence for the opinions of men, and
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substitution of human theories for the teachings of God’s Word.
The wide circulation of the Bible in the early part of the nineteenth
century, and the great light thus shed upon the world, was not followed
by a corresponding advance in knowledge of revealed truth, or in
experimental religion. Satan could not, as in former ages, keep God’s
Word from the people; it had been placed within the reach of all; but in
order still to accomplish his object, he led many to value it but lightly.
Men neglected to search the Scriptures, and thus they continued to
accept false interpretations, and to cherish doctrines which had no
foundation in the Bible.
Seeing the failure of his efforts to crush out the truth by persecu-
tion, Satan had again resorted to the plan of compromise which led
to the great apostasy and the formation of the Church of Rome. He
had induced Christians to ally themselves, not now with pagans, but
with those who by their devotion to the things of this world had proved
themselves to be as truly idolaters as were the worshipers of graven
images. And the results of this union were no less pernicious now than
in former ages; pride and extravagance were fostered under the guise
of religion, and the churches became corrupted. Satan continued to
pervert the doctrines of the Bible, and traditions that were to ruin mil-
lions were taking deep root. The church was upholding and defending
these traditions, instead of contending for “the faith which was once
delivered to the saints.” Thus were degraded the principles for which
the reformers had done and suffered so much.
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