The Pilgrim Church

THE PILGRIM CHURCH

Many people think of the Reformation in terms of the life and work of Martin Luther 1483-1540. They have some knowledge of the mighty work he was able to do and of the way in which the church was reformed then. They do not understand that long before Luther there were efforts at reform. All kinds of people and movements were involved in the attempt to reform Papal power and Roman Catholic superstition. The great Monastic orders were founded by people who were seeking a more spiritual life in the Church of their day. In the earlier centuries the Roman Church was not as corrupt as later. It was not until 1215 AD that transubstantiation was officially part of Roman Catholic doctrine. For a long time before that the Holy Communion was called the "Mass". This was due to the use of Latin and was taken from the form of dismissal at the conclusion of the service. Today, in theology, the term is applied to the Roman form and its superstitious doctrine of the "real presence" and of the Holy Communion as a sacrifice for sin. These doctrines are of recent introduction, in earlier times the Roman Church was much more Biblical. The introduction of doctrines that were patently unscriptural forced them to build up Church Authority in the place of Scripture to enforce them. Once they began on that slippery slope nothing could stop them. It is also true that as, under the influence of liberal theology, the authority of Scripture has been wickedly departed from, the formal protestant Churches have been unable to stand against Rome.

RISE OF THE PAPACY
Long before the Reformation there were deep misgivings in many quarters about the position of the Church of Rome. In the West the superstition that Peter was the rock and upon that rock the church was built had become accepted. The belief that Peter had been Bishop of Rome and the first Pope was based on the assumption of that as factual, in spite of the historical evidence to the contrary. It was one of the reasons for the struggle between the Greek Byzantine Church and the Roman Church. In the Roman Empire it was the custom to divide territory up into districts under consuls and pro-consuls. When the Empire under Constantine became nominally Christian the Bishops of the more important areas, such as Rome the Imperial City, regarded themselves as having a church to rule over, they "lorded it over God's heritage". It is relevant to the situation today that the custom of consecration of a Bishop on assuming office in the Church of England has now been superseded by enthronement. The old habit of lording it over God's heritage has returned. Formerly, after the Reformation bishops were consecrated to preach and teach, today they are enthroned to rule.

THE CORRUPTION OF THE CHURCH
Little by little as the Roman Empire decayed, mainly by corruption from within, as all Empires including the British decay, the Emperor was replaced by the Bishop of Rome. The Papacy had arrived. The position of the Bishop of Rome was no longer that of a back street persecuted churchman but a ruler, a prince. Nobles fought for it, wealth pomp and pride were invested in it. Armies were raised and engaged to protect it. Throughout Europe it extended its power. Eventually all Bishops and Archbishops were subject to it. The rising tide of monasticism was harnessed to it, supported by funds raised by Peter's pence and all kinds of wicked devices to raise money. Doctrines contrary to Scripture were adopted, most of which were calculated to raise money. A good example of this was the doctrine of purgatory and the resultant traffic in indulgences, pardons and masses for the dead. Noblemen who had lived wicked lives were told on their deathbed that if they were buried in the cowl of a friar they would be sure of heaven. The price of the cowl was a large bequest to the Friary. When Bishops were elected to their sees their appointment had to be ratified by the Pope, who issued a pallium - a small vestment, without which token a bishop was not regarded as properly elected. Many bishops had to make the journey to Rome to obtain it and pay an anate, one year's emoluments of the see to which they had been elected, to the Papal Treasury. Just before the English Reformation it had become the practice to appoint elderly men to bishoprics in order that their occupation would be short and anates would be frequent. One of the first acts of the Reformation Parliament of Henry VIII was the abolition of anates.

THE GLIMMERING LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
The dissolute lives of many Popes, Cardinals and other prominent Churchmen prompted constant complaint. During the reign of Edward III there was constant friction between the English Monarch and the Papacy. It brought John Wycliffe to the fore, his famous remark to Edward III will never be forgotten. "If the Pope be the chief follower of St Peter he should be able to say 'silver and gold have I none'" (Acts 3:6). This was after his being sent to Bruges in Belgium to treat with the Papal commissioners over the tribute the Pope was demanding. It was demanded of King John at the close of an interdict in 1209, but not ratified by Parliament. In the second volume of the famous Acts and Monuments of John Foxe (RTS edition of 1843) is printed, in its old English form and spelling, the "Complaint of Piers Ploughman". This clearly shows the fact that Protestantism does not date from the Reformation of the sixteenth century. Peter Waldo, who was the organiser of the Waldensians, converted in 1174, was shocked by the affluence and luxury in which the larger part of the clergy lived. Everything was turned to money. The Papacy denied to the parish clergy the right to marry but often on payment would allow a priest to have a concubine. It became a source of large revenue to the Bishops and the Papacy. Higher clerical positions were often given to children or nephews of the Popes. Nepotism was widespread throughout Europe. Pope Julius II levelled a pagan cemetery in Rome to build the Basilica of St Peter. He fought the battle of Ravenna to establish his claim to the Papacy. Maycock,a Roman Catholic historian, describes him as "a soldier in a cassock". As he retired from the battle he left 6,000 dead on the battlefield.

During the "Dark Ages" the lights did not all go quite out. In northern Italy and in southern France the Waldensians and Albigenses kept the light of the gospel burning. Here and there there appeared people raised up of God, sometimes members of monastic orders or priests, sometimes lay people of humble origin. They had become acquainted with the Bible and had come to the conclusion that the Church of their day had become worldly, corrupt and wickedly departed from Biblical teaching.

WHERE THE LIGHT SHONE
Time and space forbid me to enumerate them in great detail. It is true that until the Reformation the Waldensians were not a church, they were a missionary movement. They spread north from the Cottian alps of Piedmont into Dauphiny and France and through Switzerland into Bohemia and Germany. They penetrated northward to the Netherlands. In Germany there was a body known as the "Friends of God". Some of them were Friars, Monks and Priests but many were lay people. The corruption of the Church, the formalism of the religious life generally dissatisfied them, they sought a more spiritual religion. It may be that the "Pietist" mvoement had its origins with them, they may have influenced the Moravians and through them the Methodists eventually. This emphasis on holiness is seen in one of their leaders, a Dominican Monk named John Tauler, a man of deep practical piety. During his life the plague known as the Black Death swept across central Europe. Many of the regular priests fled from areas where it broke out but Tauler and some of his friends ministered to the dying and stricken people staying with them. Through another remarkable man, Nicolas of Basle, they were connected with the Waldensians.

THE GODLY REMNANT
In all this we see a "Pilgrim Church". The great professing Christian Church, in those times the Roman, in our day the ecumenical Church, often denies the basic doctrines of Biblical faith, intent on worldly power and political might, wealth and influence, devoid of the Gospel. Beside it and at times even in it, are the Pilgrim Church, a body of believers of various sorts, yet professing the vital Biblical beliefs and by grace alone through faith alone, the people of God.

A.G. Ashdown

(Taken from the March/April 1992 edition of "The Reformer", the official organ of the Protestant Alliance. Reproduced with permission.)