Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from History of Christian Doctrine, Vol. 2 of 2
We enter now upon an era in the history of Christian doctrine inferior in importance to none since the age of the apostles, - an era from which one might date, without presumption, the second birth of Christianity.
Remarkably fruitful in immediate results, the Reformation was still more fruitful in preparing for remote and permanent acquisitions. It bears comparison with the first century in the work of breaking down barriers. Primitive Christianity, by opening a way through the complex legalism and proud assumptions of Pharisaic Judaism, gained room for a glorious advance in religious thought and life. So the Reformation, in cleaving the fortifications of legality and pretentious infallibility by which the Romish hierarchy sought to perpetuate its spiritual despotism, provided inestimable opportunities of progress. Its work was absolutely indispensable. It bears unmistakably the marks of divine providence. Let hostile criticism say what it may; let it point to foibles in the conduct or to crudities in the dogmas of the Reformers; the fact still remains, that the Reformation purchased for Christianity the noblest opportunities and prospects which it has in the world to-day. If it gave scope for some temporary errors, it secured a chance for vigorous, healthy, and permanent growth. Designedly or undesignedly it placed men in the way of fulfilling their divine calling to freedom and intelligence.
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