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aft Old Testament "church,” for Christ said^ "Upon this rbck I will build my church . . .” (Matt. 16:18). It had not yet come into being. The church is founded upon Christ, is empowered by the Spirit of God; and its tusk is to bear witness of the crucified and res urrected Saviour to a lojst and dying world'(1 Cor. 3:11; Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:19, 20). / I. FROMTHE EARLYCHURCH TO RO MAN;CATHOLICISM, 1. 'The church in Antioch was troub led by false teachers who claimed that works plus faith were necessary to salvation. A delegation to Jeru salem sought the advice of the apos tles there. God showed t h e m that faith in Christ saves (Acts 15:1-21). \ 2. Persecuted Christians spread the faith over the Roman Empire. Mar tyrdom faced more than fifty million within three centuries, but when Con stantine became Emperor, Christianity was declared the state religion. Per secution ceased, but the churches be came worldly. 3. Then a m a n - m a d e hierarchy arose. It began to develop in the fifth century, but 200 years passed before Gregory the Great set himself Jup as the first "papa," or pope. The Roman Catholic Church really began there. II. ENGLISH ' VERNACULAR TRANS LATIONS OF THE BIBLE. 1. In England, John Wycliffe and his Lollards preached and circulated parts of the Bible in English. Many suffered persecution, imprisonment, and even death. Wycliffe was the first to publicly speak against the pope and to teach religious freedom. This was in 1382. : 2; Gutenberg had i n v e n t e d the printing press. William Tyndale trans lated the New Testament into Eng lish. Driven from England, he labored in Germany, and smuggled fifteen- thousand copies back into England i n, , bales of cloth and by other means. Later, in E n g l a n d , Tyndale w a s strangled and was burned to ashes. But Within fifty years other transla tions had been distributed, and eighty- six years after his first edition was printed, the King James Version ap peared. ; lit. FROM THE REFORMATION TO SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. 1, "Erasmus was the odious bird who laid the egg that L u t h e r hatched!” said a Catholic b i s h o p . Erasmus edited the New Testament in the original Greek, Luther studied it, discovered salvation by grace, through faith, noted Roman Catholicism’s hyp ocritical practices, and be, and later others, protested so emphatically that many new groups came into being. 2. The Reformation, however, d id not cure, all the evils of Roman back ground. “State” churches stilly pre vailed, and “independents”’were much
persecuted. John Bunyan, and George Fox were, independents. But the peo ple wanted religious freedom. Oppres sion, ( as well as cold formalism in state churches, stirred hearts to seek a better way. America proved an open door. - But even in America religious oppression was- practiced. The Ameri can Constitution brought real reli gious' freedom, . and then only by - amendment. - IV. FROM WESLEY AND CAREY TO THE PRESENT. 1. The Methodist r e v i v a l helped bring England from a quagmire to heights that it feels yet today. A traveler in an English town asked where he might buy a dripk. “You can’t, buy liquor here,” :replied the villager. When asked, “Why not?” he answered: “One hundred years ago John .Wesley passed t h r o u g h this town!” 2. William Carey’s arrival in India in 1793 stirred missionary interest in England and America' tremendously! Adonisam Judson, Henry Martyn, Hud- . son Taylor, David Livingstone, and many others h a v e m a d e glorious Christian history. The year 1898 found the Word translated i n t o 300 lan guages and dialects. Today the num ber runs above 1,050. About i,000 dif ferent languages and dialects are still without the. Bible! The present trend in Christendom is strong for unity and cooperation. The gospel has spread, and denom inational “squabbles” h a v e b e e n pretty ;well eliminated. Some, how ever, have Towered their standards in order td unite with certain others. This is lamentable, for without the funda mentals' of Bible-grounded Christian faith, Christianity is only a counter feit. Cooperation, while at the same time holding to the fundamentals, * is the desirable goal. CONCLUSION: Times of great danger are times for great daring. Times of great fearful- ness are times for great faith. Times of great social evils are times for mighty evangelism. High points in church history are made by folks like you and me, if We have the vision, and work! Some one has said: “We are all manufacturers; making good, making trouble, or making excuses.” What kind of history are you making for Christ? OCTOBER 25", 1942 GREAT JPERSONS IN CHURCH HISTORY 2 C orinthians 11:23-28 By Gene W. Fussell Paul, who, called himself chief of sinners, became the mightiest Chris tian ambassador. How may one be come a great .Christian? Education? Good family? Wealth? Robert Murray McChfyne said: “It isn’t great knowl-
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