FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson
Chapter 14
Wycliffe, Huss, and Zinzendorf
(147) The Inquisition
and the devastating wars which the popes and the Councils directed against the
Albigenses and Waldenses during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had
scattered some of them over Europe, where they settled mostly in Germany,
Poland, and Bohemia. "Others turning to the west obtained refuge in
Britain." (See "Dissertation on the Prophecies," by Bishop
Thomas Newton, p. 518, and "History of the
Evangelical Churches of...Piedmont," by Samuel Morland, Esq., p.
191. (London, 1658).) Everywhere these God-fearing people worked quietly for
the salvation of souls, and thus prepared the way for the Reformation. But the
books of heaven alone contain the true record of the work done by these humble
Waldenses.
"John Wycliffe was the herald of reform, not for England
alone, but for all Christendom. The great protest against Rome which it was
permitted him to utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened the
struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individuals, of churches,
and of nations." - "The Great
Controversy," pp. 79, 80.
In Bohemia, Huss and Jerome were, in their labor, animated by
the writings of Wycliffe, so that the light of truth, which the Papacy had
quenched in the "Vallies" was flaring up in England and Bohemia. Dr.
Fr. Nielsen, of Denmark, says of the papal opposition:
"The struggle against the Waldenses...was as nothing
compared to the trouble that broke out in the Bohemian church when Wycliffism
had taken root in that country....About the year 1400 Jerome, M.A., of Prague
had been at Oxford, and from thence had brought with him to Prague Wycliffe's
'Dialogus' and 'Trialogus,' and in 1403 John Huss stepped out openly as one of
Wycliffe's disciples." - "Haandbog i
Kirkens Historie" (Handbook of Church History), Vol. II, p. 874,
ed. of 1893. Copenhagen.
(148) After Huss was
burned, July 6, 1415, and Jerome, May 30, 1416, their work of reform was
carried on by their followers. But they were divided into two camps, the
conservative of Prague, and the radical of Tabor. Dr. Nielson continues:
"All Hussites were agreed upon yielding obedience to the
'law of God.'...Those of Prague...rejected only that which conflicted with the
law of God, [while the] Taborites...would acknowledge only what was expressly
mentioned in the Scriptures....The Taborites read the Scriptures with their own
eyes....The radical party rejected all holidays, even Sunday....Some longed for
the condition of the apostolic times....The religious enlightenment among the
Taborites was great, and their women had a better knowledge of the Scriptures
than the Italian priests....In Germany the Waldenses had, without doubt, as in
Bohemia, several places prepared the way for the Hussitism....
"If any one after the middle of the fifteenth century
wanted to find genuine disciples of Wycliffe and Huss in Bohemia he had to go
to the eastern border where the remnant of the Taborites, as 'the quiet in the
land' in strict discipline endeavored to follow the law of God. At the close of
the fifteenth century there were in Bohemia and Moravia about two hundred
churches of the 'Brethren,' who rejected all connection with the Roman church
and had their own ministers and bishops, who through a Waldensian Bishop from
Austria believed they had preserved the apostolic succession....Time and again
they were subject to bloody persecutions." - Id., pp. 886-888, 896, 897.
We shall now show that these Waldensian and Hussite brethren
were Sabbath-keepers. Dr. R. Cox says: "I find from a passage in Erasmus
that at the early period of the Reformation when he wrote, there were
Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to
be...scrupulous in resting on it." Erasmus' statement follows: "Now
we hear that among the Bohemians a new kind of Jews has arisen called
Sabbatarians, who observe the Sabbath." - "Literature
of the Sabbath Question," Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202.
(149) Bishop A.
Grimelund of Norway speaks of them as "the anciently arisen, but later
vanished sect of Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary." - "Sondagens Historie" (History of
Sunday), pp. 46, 47. Christiania: 1886.
About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found
shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhard, of Lichtenstein, "as the princes
of Lichtenstein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." - "History of the Sabbath," J. N.
Andrews, p. 649, ed. 1912. Lord Leonhard asked the Sabbatarians to submit to
him a statement of their belief, which was sent to Wolfgang Capito, a leading
Strassburg Reformer, and to Caspar Schwenkfield, This document is lost, but
Schwekfield's answer to it (printed in 1599) contains several quotations from
it, showing that their arguments for the seventh day were much the same as
those used by Seventh-day Adventists today. In 1535 they were driven from their
homes by persecution, but "once more they were granted respite."
Finally in 1547 the king of Bohemia, yielding to the constant urging of the
Roman church, expelled them. "The Jesuits contrived to publish this edict
just before harvest and vintage....They allowed them only three weeks and three
days for their departure; it was death to be found even on the borders of the
country beyond the expiration of the hour....At the border they filed off, some
to Hungary, some to Transylvania, some to Wallachia, others to Poland." - "History of the Sabbath," Andrews,
pp. 648, 649.
COUNT
ZINZENDORF
Scattered and torn by persecution, the old sect of Moravian
Brethren wandered about till about the year 1720 Count Zinzendorf invited them
to his estate, later called Herrnhut. He began to keep the Sabbath, and became
the leader of these Brethren and the head of a great missionary movement.
Bishop A. D. Spangenberg says of him:
(150) "He loved to
stick to the plain text of the Scriptures, believing that rather simplicity
than art is required to understand it. When he found anything in the Bible
stated in such plain language that a child could understand, he could not well
bear to have one depart from it." - "Leben
des Grafen Zinzendorf" (Life of Count Zinzendorf), pp. 3, 546, 547,
1774.
In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus:
"That I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years
already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel - that I have done
without design, and in simplicity of heart." - "Budingsche Sammlung," Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig: 1742.
Spangenberg gives some of Zinzendorf's reasons for keeping
the seventh day holy:
"On one hand, he believed that the seventh day was
sanctified and set apart as a rest day immediately after creation; but on the
other hand, and principally, because his eyes were directed to the rest of our
Saviour Jesus Christ in the grave on the seventh day." - "Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" pp. 5,
1422, note.
In 1741 he journeyed to Bethlehem, Pa., where some Moravian
Brethren had settled. Of his work there Spangenberg relates:
"As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he
is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest
day. The matter had been previously considered by the church council in all its
details, and all the reasons pro and con were carefully weighed, whereby they
arrived at the unanimous agreement to keep the said day as Sabbath." -
"Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422. (See also "Varnhagen
von Ense Biographische Denkmale," pp. 5, 301. Berlin. 1846.
The church records of the Bethlehem Moravian Church (now in
the Moravian Seminary archives, and dated June 13 O. S., or June 24 N. S.,
1742) has this paragraph:
"The Sabbath is to be observed in quietness and in
fervent communion with the Saviour. It is a day that was given to all nations
according to the law for rest, for the Jews observed it not so much as Jews as
human beings."
PERSECUTION
IN THE UNITED STATES
(151) But even in the
United States, Sabbath-keepers had endured more or less persecution, and when,
on the second of October, 1798, a member of their Ephrata society was haled
into court for working on Sunday, the judge read a letter, which George
Washington wrote to the Baptists of Virginia, dated August 4, 1798, in which he
assured them of full religious liberty. It was not easy, however, for the
people to grasp the truth that religious liberty is an inherent right, and that
governments are instituted to protect the individual in his God-given rights,
and that church and state are to be kept separate. (Luke 20:25.) The champions
of liberty had a long, hard fight to secure the adoption and ratification of
the Federal Constitution and its First Amendment, and it will take the utmost
watchfulness by the friends of freedom to retain the liberty there guaranteed.
When the Constitution was drafted and made its appearance,
the friends of religious liberty, especially those who had been oppressed under
the religious establishments of the colonies, felt that liberty of conscience
was not sufficiently secured by the proposed Constitution. While Article 6
forbade religious tests as a qualification for office under the government,
there was no guaranty against religious tests and religious intolerance to
those not in office. So on August 8,
1789, the United Baptist churches of Virginia addressed a communication to
George Washington, in which they gave expression to the prevailing fears in
this matter. Washington replied as follows: "If I could have entertained
the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention where
I had the honor to preside might possibly endanger the religious rights of any
ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it;
and if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so
administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be
persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual
barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of
religious persecution. For, you doubtless remember, I have often expressed my
sentiments that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen and being
accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in
worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." - "History of the Baptists," Thomas
Armitage, D.D., pages 806, 807.
(152) About a month
later, James Madison, with the approval of George Washington, introduced in the
first Congress that met under the new Constitution, the first ten amendments,
commonly known as the Bill of Rights, the first of which enjoins Congress from
all religious legislation. It is as follows:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom
of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Thus the champions of liberty secured for the citizens of the
new republic full liberty of conscience to worship, freedom of speech and of
the press, and it will take eternal vigilance to retain these rights
unimpaired. See "American State Papers,"
William Addison Blakely, pp. 152, 153, revised edition. Washington, D.C.: 1911.
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