TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE. 35 IX-THE LUTHERAN CHURCH SURROUNDED BY FALSE PROPHETS. Sermon by the Rev. X-THE GLORY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. XI-THE GROWTH OF GOD'S KINGDOM. Sermon by the Rev. G. H. Trabert, D. D., Minneapolis, Minn. XII THE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY. Address 129 141 155 THE MESSAGE OF THE REFORMATION TO OUR TIMES. By the Rev. C. Armand Miller, D. D., Charleston, S. C. The Reformation is an epoch in the world's history. It stands as the most noteworthy, important and influential event since Apostolic times. Men may seek to underestimate, and even ridicule its importance, as the Romanists, and their apes, the Anglicans do, but no man nor set of men can change the face of the earth, make the Protestant nations weak, and the Papal nations strong, blot out the literature and science of the last three centuries, annihilate liberty, and shackle men with the old chains of Roman domination. What the governments of the world would have been without the emancipation of mind and will wrought by the Reformation may be seen in Spain and Mexico to-day. What science would have been needs not the trite illustration of Galileo's experience, but finds exemplification in the case of the reverent Romish scientist, St. George Mivart, whose effort to show that true scientific research may consist without loyalty to the Church, led, a few years ago, to the condemnation by the Roman Church of his works. And freedom would have been, what it always was under that grim rule-a name! There are pages of history which hold within themselves a light of unfading glory. To look upon them is to feel the quickening impulse of high deeds; to remember them is to be taught the beauty of true heroism. Patriotism glows anew at each recollection of the sacrifices and the achievements of the days of Washington. Manila and Santiago are names that bring with their utterance the thought of a reunited country, of heroes of the South side by side with brave men of the North, under the one flag, of a predominant valor in our race, as widely spread, as readily evoked, as ever in the past. It is good simply to recall such historic incidents as these. Not less are the important epochs of the religious history of the world, and especially, to us, of our own Church, adapted, by their simple presentation, to inspire enthusiasm, and to stimulate love and zeal. Such a period, preeminently, is that of the Great Reformation. It appeals in a peculiar way, to the imagination, as one sees the ignorance and degradation of the masses of the people, the prostitution of the Church and the cultured scepticism, or careless indifference of the religious leaders, and it appeals to the spirit of gratitude, as we behold the heroic conflict of the faithful few who cared for truth and for freedom, and realize what we owe now to the battle they fought for us. But there is far more than this for us in the study of the Reformation history. There is practical instruction for the men who to-day are giving their lives in the same cause of truth divine. There is valuable information to be gained in the light of the experience of those able Captains, for the "far-flung battle-line" of to-day. There are to be found weapons of proof, and plans of campaign, and there is to be gained strength and assurance of victory, from investigation of the thrilling story of the days of Luther. And it is to this theme, the message for our own time from the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century, that we |