union with the world, etc., and the development thus, of the “man
of sin” in the control of the Sanctuary, or holy things of the Lord.
Paul also tells of the Reformation, when the power of this man of
sin and his erroneous teachings would begin to consume–”Whom
the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth.” (2 Thess.
2:8) This–the Spirit of Christ’s mouth–the truth–has been doing
the cleansing work.
When Luther began to question the teachings of Papacy on
various subjects, venerable with age, and respectable because of
their almost universal acceptance among the people, and hallowed
because of the superstitious reverence for the clergy of the Church
of Rome, who advocated them–then the cleansing commenced.
We repeat that when Luther and others–as member of the
“royal priesthood” began to see in God’s holy place–Sanctuary-
such abominations as the selling of “indulgences”–absolution of
sins past or future for money; the doctrine of Transubstantiation or
the actual presence and repeated sacrifice of Jesus in the Mass; the
doctrine of the infallibility of the church and its creeds as the
exponents of truth; the claim that the Pope is the head of the
church, or Vicar of Christ, etc., they saw the defilement, and
forthwith commenced its removal.
Luther claimed justification by faith and not by works; that
Christ was the only head and all truly his are his members, and are
brethren; that the Word of God in the only rule of faith and
practice; and that any doctrine unsupported by it is unworthy of
acceptance, though it be hoary with age. He pointed to Papacy as
the “man of sin,” or as shown in another symbol (Rev. 17) the
woman seated o n, (controlling) the beast (empire), drunken with
the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus; having a golden cup in
her hand full of filthiness, the abominable errors of doctrine and
practice) having in her forehead the name written MYSTERY (of
iniquity)–BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH– the
abomination that defiled and made desolate, the holy place. And he
began to overturn those filthy traditions and to cleanse the
Sanctuary.
He did, perhaps, his share of the great work, but soon
reformation ceased in the church he established. It rested from its
labors self satisfied, that it had obtained all the truth, and got rid of
all the abominable error. But still the work went on; one truth after
another being discovered hidden under Papal error, and brought to
light by new reformers, each in turn, however following the same