Worship-17B-16thTo19thCentury

Adding To and Taking From Perfection
16th to 19th Century

17th Century (Cont.)

FINNISH TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE:� In 1642, the Bible was translated into the language of the common people from the original Greek and Hebrew.

�� In 1644, Matthaus A. von Lowenstern wrote this hymn:

Lord, Thou can't help when earthly armor faileth;

Lord, Thou canst save when sin itself assaileth;

Christ, o'er Thy Rock nor death nor hell prevaileth;

Grant us Thy peace, Lord.

�� DANISH TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE:� In 1647, the Bible was translated into the language of the common people, being an updated revision of Resen's earlier edition.

�� RUMANIAN TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE:� In 1648, Simion Stefan published the Four Gospels in parallel with Greek, Latin, and Slavonic.

�� 1648 heavy persecution raged throughout Lithuania and Poland.� Among them was Adrian Chalinski who was put close enough to a fire to singe him, and was roasted alive.

�� In 1653, Johann Cruger wrote this hymn:

The foes who hate me unprovoked are strong and still increase,

Though to disarm their enmity my right I yield for peace.

�� In January 1655 in the Piedmont Valleys of Italy, the church ordered confiscation of all property to anyone who did not return to the Catholic Church within three days.� The Protestants fled into the Alps.� They were followed by troops.� Following is an account of just a few of the deaths.

�� In one village they beheaded 150 women and beat the children to death.� Protestants in Vilario and Bobbio refusing to go to Mass above age 15 were crucified upside down, and those under that age were strangled.� Sarah Rastignole des Vignes, age 60, refused to pray to a saint so was stabbed with a sickle, then beheaded.�

�� A man in Thrassiniere had swords run into his ears and through his feet, his fingernails and toenails were torn off.� He was dragged through the street, then strangled with a rope.�

�� A woman named Armand, had her arms and legs cut off.� Two old women were stabbed and left for dead.� A very old woman had her nose and hands cut off and left to die.� Magdalen Bertino was stripped naked, her head tied between her legs, and thrown off a cliff.� Mary Raymondet was skinned alive.� Magdalen Pilot of Vilario was cut up in a cave of Castolus.� Ann Charboniere had a stake thrust up her body and was left to die.�

�� Jacob and David Perrin, elders of the church in Vilario, were skinned.� Giovanni Rostagnal, 80 years old, had his nose and ears cut off, then was skinned.� Seven others had their mouths stuffed with gunpowder and set on fire.�

�� Jacob Birone of Rorata was stripped naked, had his fingernails and toenails torn off, holes bored through his hands, led through the streets being bludgeoned on the way.� He constantly refused when asked, "Will you go to Mass?� Will you go to Mass?"� So they beheaded him.

�� Paul Garnier's eyes were put out, then he was skinned.� Historian Fox reports "he bore all his sufferings with the most exemplary patience, praised God as long as he could speak." [4]

�� Daniel Cardon of Rocappiata was beheaded.� Two old blind women of St. Giovanni were burned.� A widow and her daughter of La Torre, were stoned.� Paul Giles had his neck shot, nose and chin slit, then was stabbed.

�� Eleven men of Garcigliana were forced to push each other into a furnace.� Michael Gonet, 90 years old, was burned, and Baptista Oudri, also old, was stabbed.� Tormentors drew ropes through the heels of Frasche Bartholomew, dragged to prison with them, then died.�

�� Cypriania Bustia, refusing to turn Catholic, said, "I would rather renounce life, or turn dog."� When Jacob Roseno refused to pray to the saints, soldiers beat him and shot him, but still he cried out his refusal.� He was then beheaded.

�� Paul Clement, an elder of the church in Rossana, was shown the recently executed bodies of other Protestants.� He replied, "You may kill the body, but you cannot prejudice the soul of a true believer."� He was ordered hung.

�� Daniel Rambaut of Vilario was arrested and refused to believe the Catholic doctrine, which someone put in writing.� It is reported in FOX'S BOOK OF MARTYRS in part, as follows:

��� "To believe the real presence [of Jesus] in the host [bread] is a shocking union of both blasphemy and idolatry.� That fancy words...by converting the wafer and wine into the real and identical body and blood of Christ, which was crucified and which afterward ascended into heaven, is too gross an absurdity for even a child to believe...nothing but blind superstition could make the Roman Catholics put a confidence in anything so completely ridiculous....

��� "The doctrine of purgatory was more consistent and absurd than a fairy tale....the pope's being infallible was an impossibility, and the pope arrogantly laid claim to what could belong to God only....saying Masses for the dead was ridiculous...as the fate of all is finally decided on the departure of the soul from the body...praying to saints for the remission of sins is misplacing adoration....God only can pardon our errors."

�� Thereupon, one finger was cut off every day, then every toe, then daily a hand and a foot.� "But finding that he bore his sufferings with the most admirable patience, increased both in fortitude and resignation, and maintained his faith with steadfast resolution and unshaken constancy they stabbed him to the heart." [5]

�� Numerous others were thusly tortured and murdered for being Protestants and wanting to follow only the Bible.

�� In mid-century Paulus Gerhardt of Saxony, Germany, a follower of Luther, was caught between the beliefs of Luther, Calvin, and the Catholic Church and sometimes persecuted by one of the groups.� He began writing his hymns at the end of the Thirty Years' War.� Among his 120 hymns he wrote were these written in 1653:

Give to the winds your fears in hope be undismayed;

God hears your sighs and counts your tears,

God shall lift up your head.

�� In 1657, Australian Johann Scheffler wrote this hymn:

Thee will I love, my strength, my tower;

Thee will I love my joy, my crown....

Uphold me in the doubtful race,

Nor suffer me again to stray;

Strengthen my feet with steady pace

Still to press forward in Thy way.

�� ARMENIAN TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE:� In 1666, Oskan of Yerevan translated the Bible into the language of his people and had it printed in Amsterdam.

�� FRENCH TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE:� The following year in 1667, Isaac Louis de Sacy translated the Bible into the language of his people from the Latin.� He was Catholic.

�� In 1674, an Englishman named Thomas Ken, who would alternately grow in and out of favor with various kings of England over a period of 40 years, wrote this hymn:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,

Praise Him all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts,

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

�� In 1666, French King Louis XIV, a Catholic king, had come to power and stripped the Huguenots of every favor provided them by King Henry. He enacted sixty clauses by which Huguenots could legally be persecuted.� The government closed their hospitals, schools, and colleges, and many of their church buildings.�

�� Many Huguenot children were abducted and raised as Catholics.� He executed thousands of Huguenots on the galleys for resisting Catholic conversions.� Ministers were exiled, but the people were forbidden to leave the country.� Yet 250,000 managed to leave.

�� In 1685 in France, the peace Edict of Nantes with the Huguenots was revoked and the persecution started once more.� Protestants (Huguenots) were expelled from all offices and employments, children age 7 and above were taken away to be raised Catholic, were forbidden to meet for religious purposes, and passage out of the country was denied.�

�� Soldiers entered cities and announced, "Die, or be Catholics!"� They were led by bishops, and urged on by monks among them.� Some Huguenots were tortured with smoke while hanging upside down, others had their hair plucked out one strand at a time, their bodies were used as pin cushions, or dragged by the nose.� Women and children who still refused to become Catholic were imprisoned in monasteries, and the men were put in dungeons for perpetual torture.

�� Still about 150,000 escaped to other countries (including this author's own ancestors).

�� Over in Germany, which was receiving many fleeing persecution in Western Europe, Johannes Olearius wrote this hymn of comfort in 1671:

Comfort, comfort ye My people,

Speak ye peace, thus saith our God.

�� And in 1677 this famous German hymn of unknown origin appeared to bring peace to aching Christian hearts:

Fairest Lord Jesus!� Ruler of all nature!

O Thou of God and man the Son!

Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,

Thou my soul's glory, joy, and crown.

�� In 1680 amidst religious and political turmoil often brought on by the kings themselves, Joachim Neander was associated with Calvin Reformed Church in Germany.� He wrote this hymn set to a tune composed by Erneurten Gesangbuch of Stralsund:

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!

All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near;

Join me in glad adoration!

�� RUMANIAN TRANSLATION OF THE BIBLE:� In 1688, a group of scholars translated the Bible from the Septuagint into the language of their people.

�� This same year came the death of one of the most well-known restorationists, a Baptist named John Bunyan.� For preaching in England without being ordained, he was imprisoned.� During that time he wrote the most famous Christian book outside the Bible in history:� PILGRIM'S PROGRESS.

�� In 1693 in England, Thomas Shepherd wrote this hymn to spread courage and a reason for it all among the persecuted:

Must Jesus bear the cross alone,

And all the world go free?

No, there's a cross for everyone,

And there's a cross for me.

The consecrated cross I'll bear

Till he shall set me free,

And then go home my crown to wear,

For there's a crown for me.

Eighteenth Century

�� In 1703, Irishman Nahum Tate wrote this famous Christmas hymn:

While shepherds watched their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,

And glory shone around.

�� In 1704, Benjamin Schmolke wrote this hymn of courage and hope:

My Jesus, as Thou wilt!

All shall be well with me;

Each changing future scene

I gladly trust with Thee;

Straight to my home above

I travel calmly on,

And sing, in life or death,

"My Lord, Thy will be done."

�� But this century brought the beginning of secularization into much of Europe.� People were satisfied to be members of whatever church they were born into.� Many denominations took on infant baptism so that the child would grow up believing s/he was of that sect; a speculation that usually became true.�

�� Possibly trying to urge Christians to penetrate the new philosophy, Laurentius Laurenti wrote this hymn:

Rejoice, all ye believers,

And let your lights appear;

The evening is advancing,

And darker night is near.

The Bridegroom is arising,

And soon He draweth nigh;

Up, pray, and watch, and wrestle;

At midnight comes the cry.

�� Further, religion moved from interest in the scriptures to rationalizing one's sins, self-pietism, that parts of the Bible were mythical, a belief in science over faith.� Europe began to lose interest in religion and replace it with the Renaissance arts.�

�� During this ho-hum period of religion, worshippers in England did not have hymn books, so had to follow a leader who sang a verse, followed by the congregation who repeated the verse.� Not many hymns were made available to the people at that time.

�� Isaac Watts decided to help the problem, and in 1707 published his HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, the first hymn book in the English language.� One of the hymns was:

I'm not ashamed to own my Lord,

Nor to defend His cause;

Maintain the honors of His Word,

The glory of His cross.

�� Another, among the 600 hymns he ended up writing was:

O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from he stormy blast

And our eternal home.

�� In 1709, Thomas Ken of England, amidst the continual shift of kings and religious alliances that he tried to keep happy, often in vain, wrote this hymn:

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

�� Three years later in 1712, Joseph Addison wrote this comforting hymn:

When all Thy mercies, O my God, my tender soul surveys.

Transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love and praise.

�� He also wrote these words set to the unforgettable music of Franz Joseph Hayden:

The spacious firmament on high,

With all the blue ethereal sky,

And spangled heavens, a shining frame,

Their great Original proclaim.

The unwearied sun, from day to day

Does his Creator's power display,

And publishes to every land

The work of an Almighty hand.

�� To the northeast, Erdmann Neumeister wrote this hymn in 1718:

Sinners Jesus will receive:

Sound this word of grace to all

Who the heavenly pathway leave,

All who linger, all who fall.

Sing it o'er and o'er again:

Christ receiveth sinful men;

Make the message clear and plain:

Christ receiveth sinful men.

�� In 1719, Isaac Watts wrote this Christmas hymn of triumph:

Joy to the World!� The Lord is come!

Let earth receive her king.

Let every heart prepare him room,

And heaven and nature sing.

�� The fight to follow just the Bible without man's additions, continued.� While reflecting all that was done to make freedom of religion and personal access to the Bible possible, Isaac Watts wrote this anthem:

Am I a soldier of the cross, follower of the Lamb,

And shall I fear to own His cause, or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize and sailed thru bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?� Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace to help me on to God?

Since I might fight if I would reign, increase my courage, Lord;

I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.

�� And back in England there arose two brothers, Charles and John Wesley, both unordained evangelists.� At Oxford in 1728, Charles organized the Holy Club.� Later in his life he would write some 6500 hymns, mostly paraphrases of the Bible.�

�� When brother John arrived, he organized the Bible Moths Club and Super-erogation Men, referring to their methodical ways of studying the Bible.

�� In 1735 John Wesley met the Moravians and were impressed with their calm faith and pietism.� At a devotional gathering that year, while someone was reading Luther's commentary on Romans, "I felt my heart strangely warmed.� I felt that I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

�� Because of this experience, he decided there should be no ritual attached to salvation.� The established churches refused to let him preach there, so he began preaching to the poor in open fields.� His revival swept through England.� Although his original methodist clubs grew into nonconformist churches, after his death his followers named the new movement the Methodist church.

�� In 1738, Charles Wesley wrote this poem, later set to music to Thomas Campbell, a Scotsman who moved to America and began a movement to restore the simplicity of first-century worship:

And can it be that I should gain

An interest in the Savior's blood?

Died He for me, who caused His pain?

For me, who Him to death pursued?

Amazing love! How can it be

That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

�� The following year, he wrote this famous Christmas hymn:

Hark!� The herald angels sing, "Glory to the newborn King;

Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations rise; join the triumph of the skies;

With the angelic hosts proclaim, "Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

�� Among his hundreds of other hymns was also this one, written in 1749:

Soldiers of Christ, arise and put your armor on;

Strong in the strength which God supplies,

Through his beloved Son.

�� William Williams in Wales broke away from the "Established Church."� He preached everywhere in his home country away from established church buildings, despite blistering sun, drenching rain, and hunger.� Among his 800 hymns was this one written in 1745:

Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,

Pilgrim through this barren land;

I am weak, but Thou art mighty;

Hold me with Thy powerful hand;

Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more.

�� In 1748, the Roman Church decided that no one receives grace and favors from God unless granted by the Virgin Mary.

ORDAINED MARY GRANTS ALL FAVORS

�� That same year in England, John Newton, captain of a slave ship, walked onto land and never returned to sea.� Although he retained his captain's outfit, he became a minister.� One of his 284 hymns was this one written soon after his conversion:

Amazing grace!� How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

Was blind, but now I see.

�� Also in England in 1755, Philip Doddridge, wrote 375 hymns, among them:

Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve,

And press with vigor on;

A heavenly race demands thy zeal,

And an immortal crown.

�� In the mean time, Robert Robinson, who had never been religious, changed his life at age 20 and was baptized into Christ.� Eventually he began preaching in a small congregation in Cambridge.� Among the hymns he wrote was this one, written in 1757, three years after his conversion:

Oh, Thou Fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

�� In 1758, Robert Robinson, a Baptist in England, wrote this hymn:

Come, Thou fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

�� But during this same period of time, Germans, with great respect for Immanuel Kant, moved to a humanistic type of Christianity that resembled agnosticism - that God cannot be proven or disproven.

�� In 1765, Joseph Grigg, a Presbyterian in England, wrote these two hymns:

Jesus, and shall it ever be,

A mortal man ashamed of Thee?

Ashamed of Thee, whom angels praise,

Whose glories shine through endless days?

and

Behold a Stranger at the door!

He gently knocks, has knocked before,

Has waited long, is waiting still;

You treat no other friend so ill.

�� In 1769, tired of all the kings of Europe fighting over which would be their official religious affiliation, offenses of which were punishable by death, Italian Felice de Giardini wrote this famous hymn:

Come, Thou almighty King, help us Thy name to sing;

Help us to praise.

Father all glorious, o'er all victorious,

Come and reign over us, Ancient of Days.

�� In 1775, Edward Perronet, a Huguenot of England, wrote this hymn:

All hail the power of Jesus' name!

Let angels prostrate fall;

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all!

�� In 1776, Augustus Montague Toplady, a friend of the Wesleys in England, wrote this hymn:

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee;

Let the water and the blood,

From Thy riven side which flowed,

Be of sin the double cure,

Cleanse me from its guilt and power.

�� In 1782, John Fawcett of England wrote this hymn:

Blest be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds

Is like to that above.

�� And in France, under the influence of Voltaire, there was a complete denial in the existence of God, preferring personal morals over the immoral church they had lived with for so many centuries.

�� In 1787, George Keith wrote this hymn, seemingly trying to get through to those who were forsaking religion completely:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

~- You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

�� That same year, Samuel Stennett of England wrote:

Majestic sweetness sits enthroned upon the Saviour's brow;

His head with radiant glories crowned,

His lips with grace o'erflow.

�� The last of the imprisonments, tortures and barbarous executions of people who just wanted to follow the Bible outside the mainline Roman church was in France.� It continued well into the next century.�

�� France, the first of Europe to receive the gospel, either by the Apostle Simon (the Zealot) or Ireneaus who preached and lived most of his life in Lyons.� France, the stronghold of Christianity during the dark ages.� France the originator of the reformation movement and restoration movement four centuries before it became famous in Germany.� France, the Christian nation that now was headed into atheism.

�� The strongest centers of the Restoration movement, by now, had moved to and was thriving in North America.� What will this movement ultimately bring to the new continent?� The same?� Agnosticism?� Atheism?�

�� And among the few God-believers left, how strong will Christianity be?� Strong enough to stand up against New Agers who believe everyone's god is the true God and take us all the way back to the paganism of Jesus' time?�

�� After all, we've been putting opinion above scripture all these centuries.� Why stop now?

�� Interestingly, the center of Christianity in the first century was Jerusalem and the Middle East.� It is almost non-existent there today.� Then it moved to Turkey and southern Europe, but it is almost non-existent there now too.� Then it moved to France, but it is almost non-existent there.� Finally it moved to North America.� Will the same thing happen there?�

�� They said it wouldn't.� They said it couldn't.

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Endnotes For This Page

[4].� Fox, pg. 111

[5].� Fox, pg. 114

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