Separations From the Church
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Section Titles
Withdrawal From the Main Body
Novatian's Separation From Rome
Evils That Forced Separation
The Novatian Doctrines
Donatists Break With Rome
Separation Inevitable
The Waldensian Protestants
Early Protesters Against Rome
Withstood Rome a Thousand Years
Waldo-Bible Translation and Persecution
Inquisition in Full Force
Resist the Tyranny of Rome
Paulicians Protest Eastern Apostasy
We now take up the search for manifestations of prophetic light during the
blackness of that long, harsh night that began to settle down upon the
religious world during the fourth century. That spiritual night grew
fearfully dark and dismal. The dominant church had hidden the Bible behind
a
mass of tradition. She had turned from God's holy law. She had substituted
a
human priest and an earthly ministry for our great High Priest and His
heavenly ministry. The nominal church had become "the synagogue of Satan"
(Rev. 2:9), even where "Satan's seat" was (verse 13), and from it the true
church, symbolized by the "woman," later had to flee "into the wilderness"
where God had prepared a "place" for her (Rev. 12:1-6).
Withdrawal From the Main Body
[Top of Do***ent]
As the church began to depart more and more from the true doctrines of the
Bible, and to turn from the high spiritual and moral standards of the
apostolic church, devoted, loyal believers were first grieved, and then
alarmed, and finally aroused to determined opposition. In vain they
appealed
and protested to bishops, priests, and other leaders. Receiving no
friendly
response assuring them of a reformation, and seeing the apostasy expanding
steadily and becoming entrenched, some of the zealous, courageous leaders,
together with their churches, began to withdraw from the main body of the
professedly Christian church, as has been stated in the preceding chapter:
"After a long and severe conflict, the faithful few decided to dissolve
all
union with the apostate church if she still refused to free herself from
falsehood and idolatry. They saw that separation was an absolute necessity
if they would obey the word of God."-"The Great Controversy Between Christ
and Satan," p. 45.
It was this opposition to the growing apostasy, and this withdrawal of
loyal
groups from the dominant church, that marked
[201]
the beginning of the long series of protests and conflicts which kept the
true light ****ning through the long, dark night. The great Reformation of
the sixteenth century and the marvelous light of the gospel that floods
the
whole world today form the climax to the service of those loyal, suffering
believers through the struggles of a thousand years. It is fitting,
therefore, that we should acquaint ourselves with some of these courageous
leaders and their loyal churches, for this acquaintance will reveal the
forces that culminated in the glorious Reformation.
Novatian's Separation From Rome
[Top of Do***ent]
Open conflict, begun by the Montanists, continued under Novatian, or
Novatianus, the ordained minister of a church in the city of Rome. Let us
now trace the secession of the Novatians, which took place a century or so
before the sharp, general division that came throughout Christendom. Says
Jones:
"Long before the times of which we now treat [370-400 A.D.] some
Christians
had seen it their duty to withdraw from the communion of the Church of
Rome.
The first instance of this that we find on record, if we except that of
Tertullian [the Montanist], is the case of Novatian, who, in the year 251,
was ordained the pastor of a church in the city of Rome."-"History of the
Christian Church," William Jones, chap. 3, sec. 2, p. 180.
As this separation was a drastic step, and was followed by that of other
devout leaders and their followers through the centuries, it should be
clearly understood why these separations seemed imperative. It becomes
necessary, therefore, to survey rather specifically some of the historical
aspects that form the background to the object of our study.
Of the time and the conditions when the Novatians withdrew, Mosheim says:
"The face of things began now to change in the Christian church. The
ancient
method of ecclesiastical government seemed, in general, still to subsist,
while, at the same time, by imperceptible steps, it varied from the
primitive rule, and degenerated toward the form of a religious monarchy."
[202]
"This change, in the form of ecclesiastical government, was soon followed
by
a train of vices, which dishonored the character and authority of those to
whom the administration of the church was committed. For, though several
yet
continued to exhibit to the world illustrious examples of primitive piety
and Christian virtue, yet many were sunk in luxury and voluptuousness,
puffed up with vanity, arrogance, and ambition, possessed with a spirit of
contention and discord, and addicted to many other vices that cast an
undeserved reproach upon the holy religion, of which they were unworthy
professors and ministers."-"An Ecclesiastical History," Vol. I, Cent. III,
pp. 258, 259.
Evils That Forced Separation
[Top of Do***ent]
Novatian was a kind of minister who refused to take any part in the
apostasy. His character, and some of the evils that forced him to separate
from the main body, are set forth by Robinson:
Novatian was "a man of extensive learning, and held the same doctrine as
the
church did, and published several treatises in defense of what he
believed.
His address was eloquent and insinuating, and his morals were
irreproachable. He saw with extreme pain the intolerable depravity of the
church. Christians, within the space of a very few years, were caressed by
one emperor and persecuted by another. In seasons of prosperity, many
rushed
into the church for base purposes. In times of adversity, they denied the
faith, and ran back to idolatry again. When the squall was over, away they
came again to the church, with all their vices, to deprave others by their
examples. The bishops, fond of proselytes, encouraged all this, and
transferred the attention of the Christians from the old confederacy for
virtue, to vain shows at Easter, and other Jewish ceremonies, adulterated
too with paganism.. In the end, Novatian formed a church, and was elected
bishop. Great numbers followed his example, and all over the empire
Puritan
churches were constituted and flourished through the succeeding two
hundred
years. Afterward, when penal laws obliged them to lurk in corners, and
wor****p God in private, they were distinguished by a variety of names, and
a
succession of them continued till the Reformation."-"Ecclesiastical
Researches," Robert Robinson, p. 126. Cambridge: Francis Hodson, 1792.
Of the surprising extent of this body, we read:
"With respect to the extension of the schismatic (Novatian) church,
notice,
for Spain, Pacian; for Gaul, the polemical work of Bishop Reticius
[203]
of the fourth century; for Upper Italy, Ambrose (De poenitentia); for
Rome,
where in the fifth century, the Novatians had a bishop and many churches,
Socrates (Hist. Eccl., V. 14, VII, 1, 11); for Mauritania, Alexandria
(where
they also had a bishop and several churches), Syria, Paphlagonia, Phrygia,
Bithynia, Scythia, etc., Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret. In
Constantinople
they had three churches; and Socrates gives the list of their bishops,
with
the principal events of their lives. At the Council of Nicaea the Novatian
bishop Arius was present. He accepted the decisions of the council
concerning the faith and the Easter controversy, and was treated with much
regard by the council. But the emperor did not succeed in alluring him
(the
Novatian bishop) and his party back into the bosom of the church. Ten
years
later, however, (after the Council of Nicaea) when Constantine had
somewhat
changed his theological views, he placed the Novatians in rank with the
Marcionites and Valentinians, forbade them to wor****p in public, closed
their (heretical) churches, and ordered their books to be burnt. During
the
Arian controversy the relation between the Novatians and the Catholic
Church
was generally good, as the former showed no inclination towards that
heresy.
But the danger was hardly over, before the Catholic Church began
persecutions. In Rome, Innocent I closed their churches, and Celestine I
forbade them to wor****p in public."-"Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious
Knowledge" (three-volume edition, 1889), Vol. II, art., "Novatian," p.
1672.
The Novatian Doctrines
[Top of Do***ent]
Of the Novatian doctrines and discipline, Jones says:
"The doctrinal sentiments of the Novatians appear to have been very
scriptural, and the discipline of their churches rigid in the extreme.
They
were the first class of Christians who obtained the name of (Cathari)
Puritans, an appellation which doth not appear to have been chosen by
themselves, but applied to them by their adversaries; from which we may
reasonably conclude that their manners were simple and
irreproachable."-"The
History of the Christian Church," William Jones, chap. 3, sec. 2, p. 181.
Robertson adds this:
"As to the chief doctrines of the gospel, however, the Novatianists were
and
continued steadily orthodox, and many of them suffered, even
[204]
to death, for the faith. The Council of Nicaea attempted to heal the
schism
by conciliatory measures; but the Novatianists still regarded the laxity
of
the church's discipline as a bar to a reunion with it, although they were
drawn into more friendly relations with the Catholics by a community of
danger during the ascendancy of Arianism. The sect long continued to
exist."-"History of the Christian Church," James C. Robertson, M. A.,
Vol.
I, p. 170. London: John Murray, 1907.
Of the conflict with Catholic Church discipline, and the challenge of
arbitrary church authority by Novatian, Neander has written:
"With regard to the second main point of the controversy, the idea of the
church, Novatian maintained that, purity and holiness being one of the
essential marks of a true church, every church which, neglecting the right
use of discipline, tolerates in its bosom, or readmits to its communion,
such persons as, by gross sins, have broken their baptismal vow, ceases by
that very act to be a true Christian church, and forfeits all the rights
and
privileges of a true church. On this ground the Novatianists, as they held
themselves to be alone the pure immaculate church, called themselves. .
the
Pure."-"General History of the Christian Religion and Church," Augustus
Neander, Vol. I, p. 343. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853.
"Novatian, on the other hand, laid at the basis of his theory the visible
church as pure and holy, and these qualities were, in his view, the
essential conditions of the truly catholic church. The catholic
(universal)
church, though carried on by the succession of bishops, ceases, in his
opinion, to be a truly catholic one as soon as it becomes stained and
desecrated through fellow****p with unworthy men."-Id., pp. 344, 345.
The Novatians gained the confidence and sympathy of people everywhere who
saw the peril and "groaned for relief." When this one man, Novatian,
showed
the courage to break away from the professing Christian church, the crisis
was on, and thousands took their stand with these Reformers. Truly he was
led of God. It was such courageous loyalty to the teachings of Christ and
the apostles that kept the channel open for the manifestation of the
prophetic gift. It should likewise be remembered that a succession of the
Novatians under different names continued till the Reformation of the
sixteenth century.
[205]
Donatists Break With Rome
[Top of Do***ent]
In the early part of the fourth century the Novatians were joined, or
perhaps followed, by another company of sincere Christians who broke away
from the Catholic Church. These were the Donatists, receiving their name
from Donatus, their leader, who had been elected Bishop of Carthage about
the year 306 A. D. The reader will recall that it was in this century in
which the emperor and the bishops joined hands, and organically united
church and state. Of this time Mosheim says:
"An enormous train of different superstitions were gradually substituted
in
the place of true religion and genuine piety." "When we cast an eye toward
the lives and morals of Christians at this time, we find, as formerly, a
mixture of good and evil; some eminent for their piety, others infamous
for
their crimes. The number however of immoral and unworthy Christians began
so
to increase, that the examples of real piety and virtue became extremely
rare."-"An Ecclesiastical History," Vol. I, Cent. IV, pp. 355, 372.
Separation Inevitable
[Top of Do***ent]
With such a departure as this from the high standards of the apostolic
church, it is not surprising that true spiritual leaders and their
followers
separated from the dominant church. Indeed, it was inevitable. Regarding
Donatus and his followers Jones says:
"He [Donatus] was a man of learning and eloquence, very exemplary in his
morals, and, as would appear from several cir***stances, studiously set
himself to oppose the growing corruptions of the Catholic Church. The
Donatists were consequently a separate body of Christians for nearly three
centuries, and in almost every city in Africa, there was one bishop of
this
sect and another of the Catholics. The Donatists were very numerous, for
we
learn that in the year 411, there was a famous conference held at Carthage
between the Catholics and Donatists, at which were present 286 Catholic
bishops, and of the Donatists, 279."-"The History of the Christian
Church,"
William Jones, chap. 3, sec. 5, p. 222.
The Donatists, like the Novatians, remained separate from the main body,
and
worked untiringly for the maintenance of the
[206]
true teaching and spiritual living of the people of God. Thousands of the
devout in all parts of northern Africa joined them. Of course, they were
not
without imperfections and marked limitations. They must be studied and
judged in the light of comparison with the apostasies and degeneracies of
the time. As was always the case with dissenters, the Catholic Church
endeavored to exterminate them. They continued, however, until the middle
of
the sixth century. Says George Waddington:
"The Donatists have never been charged, with the slightest show of truth,
with any error of doctrine, or any defect in church government or
discipline, or any depravity of moral practice."-"A History of the Church
From the Earliest Ages to the Reformation," p. 153. New York: Harper &
Brothers, 1834.
The Waldensian Protestants
[Top of Do***ent]
Historians have brought to light a vast amount of information about the
people and events that center in the Christian church, or churches, known
as
the Waldenses, or Vaudois. It is now certain that the Waldenses were not a
single, isolated class of one nation only. In their broadest and most
comprehensive history, they embrace and represent, under variant names,
many
of the protesting, reforming groups of Christians from early centuries to
the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and on for a hundred years
later.
Concerning their antiquity and origin, Alexis Muston in his monumental
work,
based on sources, says:
"The Vaudois of the Alps are, in my opinion, primitive Christians, or
descendants and representatives of the primitive church, preserved in
these
valleys from the corruptions successively introduced by the Church of Rome
into the religion of the gospel. It is not they who have separated from
Catholicism, but Catholicism which has separated from them by changing the
primitive religion."-"History of the Waldenses," Vol. I, p. 17, 1875.
The noted Waldensian authority, William S. Gilly, M. A. states the same
essential fact in these words:
"The terms, Vaudois in French, Vallenses in Latin, Valdesi, or Vallesi in
Italian, and Waldenses in English ecclesiastical history, signify nothing
[207]
more or less than 'Men of the Valleys;' and as the valleys of Piedmont
have
had the honor of producing a race of people, who have remained true to the
faith introduced by the first missionaries, who preached Christianity in
those regions, the synonyms Vaudois, Valdesi, and Waldenses, have been
adopted as the distingui****ng names of a religious community, faithful to
the primitive creed, and free from the corruption of the Church of Rome.
"Long before the Roman Church, (that new sect, as Claude, Bishop of Turin
in
840, called it,) stretched forth its arms, to stifle in its Antæan embrace
the independent flocks of the Great Shepherd, the ancestors of the
Waldenses
were wor****ping God in the hill countries of Piedmont, as their posterity
now wor****p Him. For many ages they continued almost
unnoticed."-"Waldensian
Researches During a Second Visit to the Vaudois of Piemont," p. 6. London:
Printed for C. J. G. & F. Rivington, 1831.
Speaking further of these relation****ps, he adds:
"The Waldenses of Piemont are not to be regarded as the successors of
certain reformers, who first started up in France and Italy at a time,
when
the corruptions of the Roman Church and priesthood became intolerable, but
as a race of simple mountaineers, who from generation to generation have
continued steadily in the faith preached to their forefathers, when the
territory, of which their valleys form a part, was first Christianized.
Ample proof will be given of this, as I proceed, and without attempting to
fix the exact period of their conversion, I trust to be able to establish
the fact, that this Alpine tribe embraced the gospel as it was first
announced in all its purity, and continued true to it, in the midst of
almost general apostasy. Nothing is more to be regretted than the mistakes
which have been made upon this point, even by Protestant authors."-Id.,
pp.
8, 9.
Early Protesters Against Rome
[Top of Do***ent]
The leading territory, or headquarters, of the Waldenses was in the region
of the Alps, in northern Italy and southern France. The most central and
prominent place of location seems to have been in the valleys of Piedmont
along the southern foothills of the Alps. According to these authorities,
the gospel had first been preached, and churches established, in all that
region by preachers of the early centuries. From the churches in northern
Italy the Church of Rome met decided protests. Says Wylie:
[208]
"The country in which we find the earliest of these protesters is Italy.
The
See of Rome, in those days, embraced only the capital and the surrounding
provinces. The diocese of Milan, which included the plain of Lombardy, the
Alps of Piedmont, and the southern provinces of France, greatly exceeded
it
in extent. It is an undoubted historical fact that this powerful diocese
was
not then tributary to the papal chair. 'The bishops of Milan,' says Pope
Pelagius I (555), 'do not come to Rome for ordination.'"-"The History of
Protestantism," J. A. Wylie, LL.D., Vol. I, pp. 18, 19. London, Paris, and
New York: Cassell Petter & Galpin.
That there were flouri****ng churches in northern Italy in the fourth
century
is evident, for Ambrose was elected Bishop of Milan in 374 A. D. Wylie
comments:
"His [Ambrose's] theology, and that of his diocese, was in no essential
respects different from that which Protestants hold today.. Rufinus, of
Aquileia, first metropolitan in the diocese of Milan, taught substantially
the same doctrine in the fifth century."-id., p. 20.
Withstood Rome a Thousand Years
[Top of Do***ent]
But the bishops in the region of Piedmont and the adjoining provinces did
more than decline to go to Rome for ordination.
"In the year 590, the bishops of Italy and the Grisons (Switzerland) to
the
number of nine, rejected the communion of the pope, as a heretic."-Dr.
Allix's "Remarks on the Ancient Churches of Piedmont," chap. 5, p. 32,
quoted in "The History of the Christian Church," William Jones, chap. 4,
sec. 1, p. 244.
About a century later, Paulinus, Bishop of Aquileia, in Italy, stood
firmly
against the domination and the innovations of the papacy, and was joined
by
other bishops in condemning the wor****p of images as idolatrous.
Turin, an im****tant city a short distance to the west of Milan, was the
center of an im****tant diocese at the beginning of the ninth century.
About
the year 817 A. D. Claudius was appointed Archbishop of Turin, by Emperor
Louis. Of him we read:
"This man beheld with dismay the stealthy approaches of a power which,
putting out the eyes of men, bowed their necks to its yoke, and
[209]
bent their knees to idols. He grasped the sword of the Spirit, which is
the
word of God, and the battle which he so courageously waged, delayed,
though
it could not prevent, the fall of his church's independence, and for two
centuries longer the light continued to ****ne at the foot of the
Alps."-"The
History of Protestantism," J. A. Wiley, Vol. I, p. 21.
This is all sup****ted by Lawrence, the learned essayist, who writes:
"Here, within the borders of Italy itself, the popes have never been able,
except for one unhappy interval, to enforce their authority. Here no Mass
has been said, no images adored, no papal rites administered by the native
Vaudois. It was here that Henry Arnaud, the hero of the valleys, redeemed
his country from the tyranny of the Jesuits and Rome; and here a Christian
church, founded perhaps in the apostolic age, has survived the
persecutions
of a thousand years."-"Historical Studies," Eugene Lawrence, p. 199.
"Soon after the dawn of Christianity, they assert, their ancestors
embraced
the faith of St. Paul, and practiced the simple rites and usages described
by Justin or Tertullian. The Scriptures became their only guide; the same
belief, the same sacraments they maintain today they held in the age of
Constantine and Sylvester. They relate that, as the Romish Church grew in
power and pride, their ancestors repelled its assumptions and refused to
submit to its authority; that when, in the ninth century, the use of
images
was enforced by superstitious popes, they, at least, never consented to
become idolaters; that they never wor****ped the Virgin, nor bowed at an
idolatrous Mass. When, in the eleventh century, Rome asserted its
supremacy
over kings and princes, the Vaudois were its bitterest foes. The three
valleys formed the theological school of Europe. The Vaudois missionaries
traveled into Hungary and Bohemia, France, England, even Scotland, and
aroused the people to a sense of the fearful corruption of the church.
They
pointed to Rome as the Antichrist, the center of every abomination. They
taught, in the place of Romish innovations, the pure faith of the
apostolic
age. Lollard, who led the way to the reforms of Wycliffe, was a preacher
from the valleys; the Albigenses of Provence, in the twelfth century, were
the fruits of the Vaudois missions; Germany and Bohemia were reformed by
the
teachers of Piedmont; Huss and Jerome did little more than proclaim the
Vaudois faith; and Luther and Calvin were only the necessary offspring of
the apostolic churches of the Alps."-Id., pp. 200, 201.
[210]
With these illuminating statements may be placed this interesting and
significant sentence:
"In lands beyond the jurisdiction of Rome, there existed for many
centuries
bodies of Christians who remained almost wholly free from papal
corruption."-"The Great Controversy Between Christ and Satan," p. 63.
Waldo-Bible Translation and Persecution
[Top of Do***ent]
Two centuries after the death of Claudius of Turin, the Waldenses were
greatly blessed and strengthened by the coming to them of the great
preacher
and leader, Peter Waldo. He had been a wealthy merchant in the city of
Lyons, France. After his conversion to Christianity, he became a most
successful opponent of the papacy. He secured the translation of the New
Testament into the Latin tongue, the common language of the people in
Southern Europe at that time.
"This Romaunt version was the first complete and literal translation of
the
New Testament of Holy Scripture; it was made . not later than 1180, and so
is older than any complete version in German, French, Italian, Spanish, or
English. This version was widely spread in the south of France, and in the
cities of Lombardy. It was in common use among the Waldenses of Piedmont,
and it was no small part, doubtless, of the testimony borne to truth by
these mountaineers to preserve and circulate it."-"History of
Protestantism," J. A. Wylie, Vol. I, p. 29.
Inquisition in Full Force
[Top of Do***ent]
Through the extraordinary devotion and flaming zeal of Waldo, the
Waldenses
were aroused to greater missionary activity. Their young men traveled
everywhere, making known to the people the truth of the gospel. These
sincere, devout people of the Lord continued through centuries of
seclusion,
suffering, and persecution, to hold up the torch of light and truth to
millions in superstition and darkness. They were living and active
throughout the years spanned by Wycliffe, Huss, and Luther, thus preparing
the way for the great Reformation.
We include here a somewhat extensive quotation, again from the moving
words
of that gifted writer, Lawrence:
[211]
"The fable of a united Christendom, obeying with devoted faith a pope at
Rome, had no credence in the period to which it is commonly assigned; and
from the reign of Innocent III to the Council of Constance (1200-1414) the
Roman Church was engaged in a constant and often doubtful contest with the
widely diffused fragments of apostolic Christianity.
"The popes had succeeded in subjecting kings and emperors; they now
employed
them in cru****ng the people. Innocent III excited Philip of France to a
fierce crusade against the Albigenses of the south; amidst a general
massacre of men, women, and children, the gentle sect sunk, never to
appear
again. Dominic invented, or enlarged, the Inquisition; and soon in every
land the spectacle of blazing heretics and tortured saints delighted the
eyes of the Romish clergy. Over the rebellious kings the popes had held
the
menace of interdict, excommunication, deposition; to the people they
offered
only submission or death. The Inquisition was their remedy for the
apostolic
heresies of Germany, England, Spain-a simple cure for dissent or reform.
It
seemed effectual. The Albigenses were perfectly extripated. In the cities
of
Italy the Waldenses ceased to be known. Lollardism concealed itself in
England; the scriptural Christians of every land who refused to wor****p
images or adore the Virgin disappeared from sight; the supremacy of Rome
was
assured over all Western Europe."
Resist the Tyranny of Rome
[Top of Do***ent]
Lawrence then discusses the Alpine church, in its stand against the
furious
destroying tyranny of Rome. He continues:
"Yet one blot remained on the fair fame of the seemingly united
Christendom.
Within the limits of Italy itself a people existed to whom the Mass was
still a vain idolatry, the real presence a papal fable; who had resisted
with vigor every innovation, and whose simple rites and ancient faith were
older than the papacy itself. What waves of persecution may have surged
over
the Vaudois valleys in earlier ages we do not know; they seem soon to have
become familiar with the cruelty of Rome; but in the fifteenth century the
popes and the inquisitors turned their malignant eyes upon the simple
Piedmontese, and prepared to exterminate with fire and sword the Alpine
church.
"And now began a war of four centuries, the most remarkable in the annals
of
Europe.. For four centuries a crusade almost incessant went on against the
secluded valleys. Often the papal legions, led by the
[212]
inquisitors, swept over the gentle landscape of Lucerna, and drove the
people from the blazing villages to hide in caves on the mountains, and
almost browse with the chamois on the wild herbage of the wintry rocks.
Often the dukes of Savoy sent well-trained armies of Spanish foot to blast
and wither the last trace of Christian civilization in San Martin or
Perouse. More than once the best soldiers and the best generals of Mazarin
and Louis XIV hunted the Vaudois in their wildest retreats, massacred them
in caves, starved them in the regions of the glaciers, and desolated the
valleys from San Jean to the slopes of Guinevert.
"Yet the unflinching people still refused to give up their faith. Still
they
repelled the idolatry of the Mass; still they mocked at the Antichrist of
Rome. In the deepest hour of distress, the venerable barbes gathered
around
them, their famine-stricken congregations in some cave or cranny of the
Alps, administered their apostolic rites, and preached anew the Sermon on
the Mount. The Psalms of David, chanted in the plaintive melodies of the
Vaudois, echoed far above the scenes of rapine and carnage of the desolate
valleys; the apostolic church lived indestructible, the coronal of some
heaven-piercing Alp."-"Historical Studies," Eugene Lawrence, pp. 202-204.
Paulicians Protest Eastern Apostasy
[Top of Do***ent]
In closing this chapter, we again go back to the seventh century to note
briefly the remarkable story of the Paulicians in the territory of the
Eastern church.
"While the Christian world, as it has been the fa****on to call it, was
thus
sunk into an awful state of superstition-at a moment when 'darkness seemed
to cover the earth, and gross darkness the people'-it is pleasing to
contemplate a ray of celestial light darting across the gloom. About the
year 660, a new sect arose in the east under the name of Paulicians."-"The
History of the Christian Church," William Jones, chap. 3, sec. 5, p. 239.
The name of this body of zealous Christians seems to imply that they
claimed
to be followers of the great apostle Paul, through faithfulness to the
instruction contained in his epistles. Be that as it may, the Paulicians
appear to have been the descendants of those churches established in the
earliest centuries in the region of Armenia. Wylie says concerning their
origin:
[213]
"Some obscurity rests upon their origin, and additional mystery has on
purpose been cast upon it, but a fair and impartial examination of the
matter leaves no doubt that the Paulicians are the remnant that escaped
the
apostasy of the Eastern church, even as the Waldenses are the remnant
saved
from the apostasy of the Western church."-"History of Protestantism," J.
A.
Wylie, Vol. I, p. 33.
A great awakening, and a new spiritual life, courage, and zeal came to
these
Christian people in the latter part of the seventh century by the
conversion
and preaching of one Constantine, an Armenian. They carried on an
extensive
missionary enterprise, and gained great numbers of adherents in many
countries.
The Paulicians protested against the immoralities that were permitted
among
the clergy and the churches. They also opposed the wor****p of the Virgin
Mary, the adoration of saints and images, and reverence for so-called
sacred
relics. Infant baptism they rejected as unscriptural.
"It appears, from the whole of their history, to have been a leading
object
with Constantine and his brethren, to restore, as far as possible, the
profession of Christianity to all its primitive simplicity."-"The History
of
the Christian Church," William Jones, chap. 3, sec. 5, p. 239.
Thus they were branded as heretics by the leaders of the Eastern church in
which they were located territorially, and became the victims of "the most
deadly persecution which ever disgraced the Eastern church." But they
withstood all the imperial edicts and penal cruelties that were brought
against them. They increased in numbers, and traversed great regions in
their missionary activities. The Paulicians form another of those
connecting
links between the primitive Christian church and the Reformation of
Wycliffe, of Huss, and of Luther, that followed in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries.
With this historical picture of the Novatians, Donatists, Waldenses, and
Paulicians before us, we are now prepared to seek further for evidences of
God's endowing with the power of the Spirit men of His choosing as leaders
in reform.
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