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The Great Controversy 1888
those which rest on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures. These words
struck at the very foundation of papal supremacy. They contained the
vital principle of the Reformation.
Luther saw the danger of exalting human theories above the Word
of God. He fearlessly attacked the speculative infidelity of the school-
men, and opposed the philosophy and theology which had so long held
a controlling influence upon the people. He denounced such studies
as not only worthless but pernicious, and sought to turn the minds of
his hearers from the sophistries of philosophers and theologians to the
eternal truths set forth by prophets and apostles.
Precious was the message which he bore to the eager crowds that
hung upon his words. Never before had such teaching fallen upon their
ears. The glad tidings of a Saviour’s love, the assurance of pardon and
peace through his atoning blood, rejoiced their hearts, and inspired
within them an immortal hope. At Wittenberg a light was kindled
whose rays should extend to the uttermost parts of the earth, and which
was to increase in brightness to the close of time.
But light and darkness cannot harmonize. Between truth and error
there is an irrepressible conflict. To uphold and defend the one is to
attack and overthrow the other. Our Saviour himself declared, “I came
not to send peace, but a sword.” [
Matthew 10:34
.] Said Luther, a few
years after the opening of the Reformation, “God does not conduct,
but drives me forward. I am not master of my own actions. I would
gladly live in repose, but I am thrown into the midst of tumults and
revolutions.” He was now about to be urged into the contest.
The Roman Church had made merchandise of the grace of God.
[127]
The tables of the money-changers [
Matthew 21:12
.] were set up beside
her altars, and the air resounded with the shouts of buyers and sellers.
Under the plea of raising funds for the erection of St. Peter’s church
at Rome, indulgences for sin were publicly offered for sale by the
authority of the pope. By the price of crime a temple was to be built up
for God’s worship,—the corner-stone laid with the wages of iniquity.
But the very means adopted for Rome’s aggrandizement provoked the
deadliest blow to her power and greatness. It was this that aroused the
most determined and successful of the enemies of popery, and led to
the battle which shook the papal throne, and jostled the triple crown
upon the pontiff’s head.