The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 172

Chap. 9 - The Swiss Reformer
In the choice of instrumentalities for the reforming of the church, the
same divine plan is seen as in that for the planting of the church. The
heavenly Teacher passed by the great men of the earth, the titled and
wealthy, who were accustomed to receive praise and homage as leaders
of the people. They were so proud and self-confident in their boasted
superiority that they could not be molded to sympathize with their fellow
men and to become colaborers with the humble Man of Nazareth. To the
unlearned, toiling fishermen of Galilee was the call addressed: “Follow
Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Matthew 4:19. These disciples
were humble and teachable. The less they had been influenced by the
false teaching of their time, the more successfully could Christ instruct
and train them for His service. So in the days of the Great Reformation.
The leading Reformers were men from humble life—men who were
most free of any of their time from pride of rank and from the influence
of bigotry and priestcraft. It is God’s plan to employ humble instruments
to accomplish great results. Then the glory will not be given to men, but
to Him who works through them to will and to do of His own good
pleasure.
A few weeks after the birth of Luther in a miner’s cabin in Saxony,
Ulric Zwingli was born in a herdsman’s cottage among the Alps.
Zwingli’s surroundings in childhood, and

171