The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 194

will stand fearlessly in defense of the truth! Men who are but agents of
Satan are praised and flattered, and even looked upon as martyrs, while
those who should be respected and sustained for their fidelity to God,
are left to stand alone, under suspicion and distrust.
Counterfeit holiness, spurious sanctification, is still doing its work
of deception. Under various forms it exhibits the same spirit as in the
days of Luther, diverting minds from the Scriptures and leading men to
follow their own feelings and impressions rather than to yield obedience
to the law of God. This is one of Satan’s most successful devices to cast
reproach upon purity and truth.
Fearlessly did Luther defend the gospel from the attacks which came
from every quarter. The word of God proved itself a weapon mighty in
every conflict. With that word he warred against the usurped authority
of the pope, and the rationalistic philosophy of the schoolmen, while he
stood firm as a rock against the fanaticism that sought to ally itself with
the Reformation.
Each of these opposing elements was in its own way setting
aside the Holy Scriptures and exalting human wisdom as the source
of religious truth and knowledge. Rationalism idolizes reason and
makes this the criterion for religion. Romanism, claiming for her
sovereign pontiff an inspiration descended in unbroken line from the
apostles, and unchangeable through all time, gives ample opportunity
for every species of extravagance and corruption to be concealed under
the sanctity of the apostolic commission. The inspiration claimed by
Munzer and his associates proceeded from no higher source than the
vagaries of the imagination, and its influence was subversive of all
authority, human or divine. True Christianity receives the word of God
as the great treasure house of inspired truth and the test of all inspiration.
Upon his return from the Wartburg, Luther completed his translation
of the New Testament, and the gospel was soon after given to the people
of Germany in their own

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