YOUNG PEOPLE continued they could throw off the shackles of Rome and become free men. Then Martin Luther began to study and teach the Bible in his native German tongue. The masses came to hear him preach and as Luther came into a new and blessed understanding of the gospel he began to preach salvation by faith through grace and not through the works of the law and the imposed regulations of the Roman Catholic Church. The truth caught hold of the hearts and fired the imagination of the masses, and the Refor mation was on its way. Other great in tellectual giants secured access to the Word of God and began to preach it— men like John Calvin and John Knox, and .the Reformation swept through Europe and the British Isles like wildfire tear ing great sections away from the despotism of Rome. The Subsequent History Of the Reformation During the past four and a half cen turies there have been several far-reaching movements within the Protestant Church. One of these movements was that of or ganization. Out of the Reformation came the three doipinant types of Protestant church government, the episcopal, repre sented by the Church of England and the Lutherans; the preshyterian, represented by the Presbyterians and the reformed groups; and the congregational, represented by. the independent churches, the Congregational churches, and the Baptist churches. Another trend is that of missions. In jhe 18th century the church received a tre mendous moving of the Holy Spirit to extend the gospel of Christ around the world. This movement is still in motion and will succeed in taking, the gospel to the entire world before the Saviour comes (Matt. 24:14). Still another trend is that of church merger. During the first four centuries of the Protestant Reformation the trend was toward divergence. This trend gave rise to innumerable denominations. Since the turn of the century, however, the movement is toward church union. Contemporary Trends in Protestantism W e ought not to leave this subject with out seeking to analyze the contemporary Protestant Church. As we study the church today we note that there has been a strong trend in the direction of liberalism and modernism. Another trend is that of formalism. Prot estantism is getting more and more like the Romanism from which it separated over four centuries ago. There is a definite surge toward liturgical services, with robes, candles, crosses and altars. W e cannot close our discussion with out mentioning another great movement in the Protestant Church, and that is fundamentalism. By this term I mean that great host of believers who hold to the principles of the Reformation—the suprem acy of the Word of God over human in ventions, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, the right of private interpreta tion of the Bible, and the inviolability of the human conscience. May our number grow and influence multitudes to Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord!
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