Luther may be named John Calvin. Though he held some doctrines which were not Scriptural, as predestination, yet he effected a great work and led thousands out of darkness. Religious liberty came as a result of the Reformation. The great Babylon of popery was declared by Luther to be fallen, and there is no question but that at his time there was a fulfilling of the Scriptures in the calling of God's people out of her.

Protestantism.

Not only was a great reformation the result of preaching the glorious truth of justification by faith, but those who came out under this teaching began to protest against the superstitions, the false doctrines, and the evil practises of the papacy. This set them in direct opposition against the church of Rome, and thus those who came out under the reformers were called Protestants.

There is no question but that God was in the Reformation and that he raised up such men as Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, Menno Simons, and Calvin to lead the people of God out from under the galling yokes imposed upon them by the church of Rome into a blessed Christian liberty and enjoyment of the privileges of the gospel. Though the reformers did not have the clear light as it shone in the days of primitive Christianity, yet the truth that they did preach, coming as it did out of the utter darkness that had covered the earth for more than one thousand years, was like brilliant rays of light from heaven. Thousands upon thousands rejoiced in that light and embraced it.

Thus the church of God emerged from the great wilderness of obscurity in which she had been held fast so long, and songs of deliverance filled the hearts of the redeemed.

This naturally stirred the camp of the Roman church into a state of hatred against the reformers and their followers. Persecution at once began. Soon after the death of Luther there came a great war in Germany between the Protestants and the Catholics. It is known in history as the Thirty Years' War. In the beginning of this great conflict it seemed that the work of the reformers would be crushed, but through the assistance of Gustavus Adolphus, from Sweden, who, with his armies, came to the rescue of the Protestants in Germany, they eventually gained the victory and secured their religious liberty.

It has become customary to denominate all the religious systems that have arisen since the Reformation, Protestants; therefore Protestantism is properly all the so-called Christian churches that discard at least some of the doctrines of their mother, the Roman church.

Sect-making,

The Lutheran reformation was soon followed by apostasy. As before stated, Zwingli at this time was effecting a reformation in Switzerland, and Calvin also was doing a work. Menno Simons came out of popery at this time. Though the reformers preached some truth, yet coming out of the darkness of night as they did, they understood comparatively little of the clear truth taught in the primitive days of Christianity. The result was that several sects were organized, and this marks the rise of Protestant sectism. The oldest of these is the Lutheran, whose creed-the Augsburg Confession -was formed in A. D. 1530. As before stated, this marks the end of the papal reign, as portrayed in prophecy and revelation.

Turning again to the thirteenth chapter of Revelation, we find a description of the ruling power in Protestantism: "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the