The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 238

Chap. 13 - The Netherlands and
Scandinavia
In The Netherlands the papal tyranny very early called forth resolute
protest. Seven hundred years before Luther’s time the Roman pontiff
was thus fearlessly impeached by two bishops, who, having been sent
on an embassy to Rome, had learned the true character of the “holy
see“: God “has made His queen and spouse, the church, a noble and
everlasting provision for her family, with a dowry that is neither fading
nor corruptible, and given her an eternal crown and scepter; ... all which
benefits you like a thief intercept. You set up yourself in the temple
of God; instead of a pastor, you are become a wolf to the sheep; ...
you would make us believe you are a supreme bishop, but you rather
behave like a tyrant.... Whereas you ought to be a servant of servants, as
you call yourself, you endeavor to become a lord of lords.... You bring
the commands of God into contempt.... The Holy Ghost is the builder
of all churches as far as the earth extends.... The city of our God, of
which we are the citizens, reaches to all the regions of the heavens; and
it is greater than the city, by the holy prophets named Babylon, which
pretends to be divine, wins herself to heaven, and brags that her wisdom
is immortal; and finally, though without reason, that she never did err,
nor ever can.”—Gerard Brandt, History of the Reformation in and About
the Low Countries, b. 1, p. 6.

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