The Necessity Of Reforming The Church PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1843 edition. Excerpt: ... not attempted any thing rashly, any thing alien from our duty; have, in fine, done nothing until compelled by the highest necessity. To enable me to prove this, it is necessary to attend to the matters in dispute. We maintain, then, that atthe commencement, when God raised up Luther and others, who held forth a torch to light us into the way of salvation, and who, by their ministry, founded and reared our churches, those heads of doctrine in which the truth of our religion, those in which the pure and legitimate worship of God, and those in which the salvation of men are comprehended, were in a great measure obsolete. We maintain that the use of the sacraments was in many ways vitiated and polluted. And we maintain that the government of the Church was converted into a species of foul and insufferable tyranny. But, perhaps these averments have not force enough to move certain individuals until they are better explained. This, therefore, I will do, not as the subject demands, but as far as my ability will permit. Here, however, I have no intention to review and discuss all our controversies; that would require a long discourse, and this is not the place for it. I wish only to show how just and necessary the causes which forced upon us the changes for which we are blamed. To accomplish this, I must take up together the three following points. First, I must briefly enumerate the evils which compelled us to seek for remedies. Secondly, I must show that the particular remedies which our Reformers employed were apt and salutary. Thirdly, I must make it plain that we were not at liberty any longer to delay putting forth our hand, seeing that the matter demanded instant amendment. The first point, as I merely advert to it for the purpose of...