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Deep Learning with R, Second Edition Francois Chollet download

The document provides information about the book 'Deep Learning with R, Second Edition' by Francois Chollet, including links for downloading the book and related resources. It highlights the significance of deep learning in various industries and emphasizes the need for accessibility to this technology. Additionally, it outlines the contents of the book, covering fundamental concepts, practical applications, and advanced topics in deep learning using R.

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100% found this document useful (1 vote)
82 views

Deep Learning with R, Second Edition Francois Chollet download

The document provides information about the book 'Deep Learning with R, Second Edition' by Francois Chollet, including links for downloading the book and related resources. It highlights the significance of deep learning in various industries and emphasizes the need for accessibility to this technology. Additionally, it outlines the contents of the book, covering fundamental concepts, practical applications, and advanced topics in deep learning using R.

Uploaded by

rumonosicolo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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well-explained, using code examples and diagrams instead of
mathematical formulas.”
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ISBN 9781633439849
ISBN 9781638350781 (ebook)
contents
preface
acknowledgments
about this book
about the authors

1 What is deep learning?


1.1 Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning
Artificial intelligence Machine learning Learning rules and
representations from data The “deep” in “deep learning”
Understanding how deep learning works, in three figures
What deep learning has achieved so far Don’t believe the
short-term hype The promise of AI
1.2 Before deep learning: A brief history of machine learning
Probabilistic modeling Early neural networks Kernel
methods Decision trees, random forests, and gradient-
boosting machines Back to neural networks What makes
deep learning different? The modern machine learning
landscape
1.3 Why deep learning? Why now?
Hardware Data Algorithms A new wave of investment
The democratization of deep learning Will it last?

2 The mathematical building blocks of neural


networks
2.1 A first look at a neural network
2.2 Data representations for neural networks
Scalars (rank 0 tensors) Vectors (rank 1 tensors)
Matrices (rank 2 tensors) Rank 3 and higher-rank tensors
Key attributes Manipulating tensors in R The notion of
data batches Real-world examples of data tensors Vector
data Time-series data or sequence data Image data
Video data
2.3 The gears of neural networks: Tensor operations
Element-wise operations Broadcasting Tensor product
Tensor reshaping Geometric interpretation of tensor
operations A geometric interpretation of deep learning
2.4 The engine of neural networks: Gradient-based optimization
What’s a derivative? Derivative of a tensor operation: The
gradient Stochastic gradient descent Chaining
derivatives: The backpropagation algorithm
2.5 Looking back at our first example
Reimplementing our first example from scratch in
TensorFlow Running one training step The full training
loop Evaluating the model

3 Introduction to Keras and TensorFlow


3.1 What’s TensorFlow?
3.2 What’s Keras?
3.3 Keras and TensorFlow: A brief history
3.4 Python and R interfaces: A brief history
3.5 Setting up a deep learning workspace
Installing Keras and TensorFlow
3.6 First steps with TensorFlow
TensorFlow tensors
3.7 Tensor attributes
Tensor shape and reshaping Tensor slicing Tensor
broadcasting The tf module Constant tensors and
variables Tensor operations: Doing math in TensorFlow A
second look at the GradientTape API An end-to-end
example: A linear classifier in pure TensorFlow
3.8 Anatomy of a neural network: Understanding core Keras
APIs
Layers: The building blocks of deep learning From layers
to models The “compile” step: Configuring the learning
process Picking a loss function Understanding the fit()
method Monitoring loss and metrics on validation data
Inference: Using a model after training

4 Getting started with neural networks:


Classification and regression
4.1 Classifying movie reviews: A binary classification example
The IMDB dataset Preparing the data Building your
model Validating your approach Using a trained model to
generate predictions on new data Further experiments
Wrapping up
4.2 Classifying newswires: A multiclass classification example
The Reuters dataset Preparing the data Building your
model Validating your approach Generating predictions
on new data A different way to handle the labels and the
loss The importance of having sufficiently large
intermediate layers Further experiments Wrapping up
4.3 Predicting house prices: A regression example
The Boston housing price dataset Preparing the data
Building your model Validating your approach using K-fold
validation Generating predictions on new data Wrapping
up

5 Fundamentals of machine learning


5.1 Generalization: The goal of machine learning
Underfitting and overfitting The nature of generalization in
deep learning
5.2 Evaluating machine learning models
Training, validation, and test sets Beating a common-
sense baseline Things to keep in mind about model
evaluation
5.3 Improving model fit
Tuning key gradient descent parameters Leveraging better
architecture priors Increasing model capacity
5.4 Improving generalization
Dataset curation Feature engineering Using early
stopping Regularizing your model

6 The universal workflow of machine learning


6.1 Define the task
Frame the problem Collect a dataset Understand your
data Choose a measure of success
6.2 Develop a model
Prepare the data Choose an evaluation protocol Beat a
baseline Scale up: Develop a model that overfits
Regularize and tune your model
6.3 Deploy the model
Explain your work to stakeholders and set expectations
Ship an inference model Monitor your model in the wild
Maintain your model

7 Working with Keras: A deep dive


7.1 A spectrum of workflows
7.2 Different ways to build Keras models
The Sequential model The Functional API Subclassing
the Model class Mixing and matching different
components Remember: Use the right tool for the job
7.3 Using built-in training and evaluation loops
Writing your own metrics Using callbacks Writing your
own callbacks Monitoring and visualization with
TensorBoard
7.4 Writing your own training and evaluation loops
Training vs. inference Low-level usage of metrics A
complete training and evaluation loop Make it fast with
tf_function() Leveraging fit() with a custom training loop

8 Introduction to deep learning for computer


vision
8.1 Introduction to convnets
The convolution operation The max-pooling operation
8.2 Training a convnet from scratch on a small dataset
The relevance of deep learning for small data problems
Downloading the data Building the model Data
preprocessing Using data augmentation
8.3 Leveraging a pretrained model
Feature extraction with a pretrained model Fine-tuning a
pretrained model

9 Advanced deep learning for computer vision


9.1 Three essential computer vision tasks
9.2 An image segmentation example
9.3 Modern convnet architecture patterns
Modularity, hierarchy, and reuse Residual connections
Batch normalization Depthwise separable convolutions
Putting it together: A mini Xception-like model
9.4 Interpreting what convnets learn
Visualizing intermediate activations Visualizing convnet
filters Visualizing heatmaps of class activation

10 Deep learning for time series


10.1 Different kinds of time-series tasks
10.2 A temperature-forecasting example
Preparing the data A common-sense, non–machine
learning baseline Let’s try a basic machine learning model
Let’s try a 1D convolutional model A first recurrent
baseline
10.3 Understanding recurrent neural networks
A recurrent layer in Keras
10.4 Advanced use of recurrent neural networks
Using recurrent dropout to fight overfitting Stacking
recurrent layers Using bidirectional RNNs Going even
further
11 Deep learning for text
11.1 Natural language processing: The bird’s-eye view
11.2 Preparing text data
Text standardization Text splitting (tokenization)
Vocabulary indexing Using layer_text_vectorization
11.3 Two approaches for representing groups of words: Sets
and sequences
Preparing the IMDB movie reviews data Processing words
as a set: The bag-of-words approach Processing words as
a sequence: The sequence model approach
11.4 The Transformer architecture
Understanding self-attention Multi-head attention The
Transformer encoder When to use sequence models over
bag-of-words models
11.5 Beyond text classification: Sequence-to-sequence learning
A machine translation example Sequence-to-sequence
learning with RNNs Sequence-to-sequence learning with
Transformer

12 Generative deep learning


12.1 Text generation
A brief history of generative deep learning for sequence
generation How do you generate sequence data? The
importance of the sampling strategy Implementing text
generation with Keras A text-generation callback with
variable-temperature sampling Wrapping up
12.2 DeepDream
Implementing DeepDream in Keras Wrapping up
12.3 Neural style transfer
The content loss The style loss Neural style transfer in
Keras Wrapping up
12.4 Generating images with variational autoencoders
Sampling from latent spaces of images Concept vectors
for image editing Variational autoencoders Implementing
a VAE with Keras Wrapping up
12.5 Introduction to generative adversarial networks
A schematic GAN implementation A bag of tricks Getting
our hands on the CelebA dataset The discriminator The
generator The adversarial network Wrapping up

13 Best practices for the real world


13.1 Getting the most out of your models
Hyperparameter optimization Model ensembling
13.2 Scaling-up model training
Speeding up training on GPU with mixed precision Multi-
GPU training TPU training

14 Conclusions
14.1 Key concepts in review
Various approaches to AI What makes deep learning
special within the field of machine learning How to think
about deep learning Key enabling technologies The
universal machine learning workflow Key network
architectures The space of possibilities
14.2 The limitations of deep learning
The risk of anthropomorphizing machine learning models
Automatons vs. intelligent agents Local generalization vs.
extreme generalization The purpose of intelligence
Climbing the spectrum of generalization
14.3 Setting the course toward greater generality in AI
On the importance of setting the right objective: The
shortcut rule A new target
14.4 Implementing intelligence: The missing ingredients
Intelligence as sensitivity to abstract analogies The two
poles of abstraction The two poles of abstraction The
missing half of the picture
14.5 The future of deep learning
Models as programs Machine learning vs. program
synthesis Blending together deep learning and program
synthesis Lifelong learning and modular subroutine reuse
The long-term vision
14.6 Staying up-to-date in a fast-moving field
Practice on real-world problems using Kaggle Read about
the latest developments on arXiv Explore the Keras
ecosystem
14.7 Final words

appendix: Python primer for R users


index
preface
If you’ve picked up this book, you’re probably aware of the
extraordinary progress that deep learning has represented for the
field of artificial intelligence in the recent past. We went from near-
unusable computer vision and natural language processing to highly
performant systems deployed at scale in products you use every day.
The consequences of this sudden progress extend to almost every
industry. We’re already applying deep learning to an amazing range
of important problems across domains as different as medical
imaging, agriculture, autonomous driving, education, disaster
prevention, and manufacturing.
Yet, I believe deep learning is still in its early days. It has realized
only a small fraction of its potential so far. Over time, it will make its
way to every problem where it can help—a transformation that will
take place over multiple decades.
To begin deploying deep learning technology to every problem
that it could solve, we need to make it accessible to as many people
as possible, including non-experts— people who aren’t researchers
or graduate students. For deep learning to reach its full potential, we
need to radically democratize it. And today, I believe that we’re at
the cusp of a historical transition, where deep learning is moving out
of academic labs and the R&D departments of large tech companies
to become a ubiquitous part of the toolbox of every developer out
there—not unlike the trajectory of web development in the late
1990s. Almost anyone can now build a website or web app for their
business or community of a kind that would have required a small
team of specialist engineers in 1998. In the not-so-distant future,
anyone with an idea and basic coding skills will be able to build
smart applications that learn from data.
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1552, which guaranteed religious liberty to the Protestants. This treaty was
re-confirmed by the emperor in the diet at Augsburg, 1555. By that treaty
all who had accepted the Confession of Augsburg were declared free from
all jurisdiction of the Roman pontiff, and his bishops. They were to be
permitted to live in peace and the quiet enjoyment of religious liberty. Men
were to be left free to join either the Reformed or the Catholic Church, and
any person making war upon others, or molesting them because of their
religion was to be accounted the public enemy of Germany.

42. Such was the fruit of the great revolution of the sixteenth century in
Germany—religious liberty. To that end all the struggles tended, and its
result was indeed glorious, worth all the tears and blood it had cost to gain
it. But it was not a reformation, if by that is meant the bringing back of
primitive Christianity. That the Reformers did not do. Indeed they left more
truth in the Catholic church than they brought out with them, or found in
their speculations after leaving that church, as will be seen by a careful
consideration of Protestant doctrines treated in subsequent sections.

NOTES.

1. The Humiliation of Henry IV.—It was the fourth day on which he had
borne the humiliating garb of an affected penitent, and in that sordid
raiment he drew near on his bare feet to the more than imperial majesty of
the church, and prostrated himself in more than servile deference before the
diminutive and emaciated old man, from the terrible glance of whose
countenance, we are told, "the eyes of every beholder recoiled as from the
lightning." Hunger, cold and nakedness, and shame, had for the moment
crushed the gallant spirit of the sufferer. He wept and cried for mercy, again
and again renewing his entreaties until he had reached the lowest level of
abasement to which his own enfeebled heart or the haughtiness of his great
antagonist could depress him. Then, and not till then did the pope
condescend to revoke the anathema of the vatican.—Sir J. Stephen's Essays
On Ecclesiastical Biography.

2. Influence of Greek Literature on the Fifteenth Century.—The


classical school of that period (15th century) inspired its disciples with
admiration, not only for the writings of Virgil and Homer, but for the entire
frame of ancient society; for its institutions, its opinions, its philosophy, as
well as its literature. Antiquity, it must be allowed, whether as regards
politics, philosophy, or literature, was greatly superior to the Europe of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is not surprisingg, therefore, that it
should have exercised so great an influence; that lofty, vigorous, elegant
and fastidious minds should have been disgusted with the coarse manners,
the confused ideas, the barbarous modes of their own time, and should have
devoted themselves with enthusiasm, and almost with veneration, to the
study of a state of society at once more regular and more perfect than their
own. Thus was formed that school of bold thinkers, which appeared at the
commencement of the fifteenth century, and in which prelates, priests and
men of learning were united by common sentiment and common pursuits.—
Guizot's Hist. Civilization.

3. Luther on Indulgences.—I was compelled in my conscience to expose


the scandalous sale of indulgences. I saw some seduced by them into
mischievous errors, others tempted into an audacious profaneness. In a
word, the proclaiming and selling of pardons proceeded to such an
unbounded licentiousness that the holy church and its authorities became
subjects of open derision in the public taverns. There was no occasion to
excite the hatred of mankind against priests to a greater degree. The avarice
and profligacy of the clergy had for many years past kindled the indignation
of the laity. Alas! they have not a particle of respect or honor for the
priesthood, except what solely arises from fear of punishment.—Luther.

4. Duke George of Saxony on the Corruption in the Church.—[Duke


George is regarded as a bigoted papist, esteemed by the Roman Catholics as
a most sincere and active defender of the faith of his day. His testimony,
therefore, to the sale and evils of indulgences, and the corruption of the
clergy, is the more valuable. He entirely approved of Luther's
condemnation.] "Indulgences which ought to be obtained by prayer,
fastings, benevolence towards our neighbor, and other good works," said
the duke, "are sold for money. Their value is extolled beyond all decency.
The sole object is to gain a deal of money. Hence the preachers who are
bound to set forth truth, teach men nothing but lies and frauds. They are not
only suffered to go on thus, but they are well paid for their fraudulent
harangues. The reason is the more conviction they can produce among their
hearers, the more money flows into the chest. Rivers of scandalous
proceedings arise from this corrupt fountain. The officials of the bishops are
equally attentive to scrape money together. They vex the poor with their
censures for great crimes, as whoredom, adultery, blasphemy; but they
spare the rich. The clergy commit the very same crimes, and nobody
censures them. Faults which ought to be expiated by prayers and fastings
are atoned for by money, in order that the officials may pay large sums to
their respective bishops, and retain a portion of the gain for themselves.
Neither when a fine is inflicted is it done in a way to stop the commission
of the same fault in the future, but rather so that the delinquent understands
he may soon do that very thing again, provided he be but ready to pay.
Hence all the sacraments are sold for money; and where that is not to be
had, they are absolutely neglected."—Duke George, quoted by Milner,
Church Hist. vol. iv, p. 568.

5. Character of Tetzel.—He was a profligate wretch, who had once fallen


into the hands of the Inquisition in consequence of his adulteries, and whom
the elector of Saxony rescued by his intercession. He now cried up his
merchandise in a manner so offensive, so contrary to all Christian
principles, and so acceptably to the inconsiderate, that all upright men were
disgusted with him. * * * He claimed to have power to absolve, not only
from all church censure, but likewise from all sins, transgressions, and
enormities, however horrid they might be, and even from those of which
only the pope can take cognizance. He released from all the punishments of
purgatory, gave permission to come to the sacraments, and promised to
those who purchased their indulgences, that the gates of hell should be
closed, and the gates of paradise and of bliss open to them.—Schlegel.

6. Luther Burning the Pope's Bull.—On the 10th of December, a placard


was posted on the walls of the university of Wittemberg, inviting the
professors and students to be present at nine o'clock in the morning, at the
eastern gate near the Holy Cross. A great number of doctors and students
assembled, and Luther walking at their head, conducted the procession to
the appointed place. How many burning piles has Rome erected during the
course of ages! Luther resolves to make a better application of the great
Roman principle. It is only a few old papers that are to be destroyed; and
fire, thinks he, is intended for that purpose. A scaffold had been prepared.
One of the oldest masters of arts set fire to it. As the flames rose high into
the air, the formidable Augustine, wearing his frock, approached the pile,
carrying the Canon Law, the Decretals, the Clementines, the papal
Extravagants, some writings by Eckius and Emser, and the pope's bull.
Luther held up the bull and said: "Since thou hast vexed the Holy One of
the Lord, may everlasting fire vex and consume thee." He then flung it into
the flames. Never had war been declared with greater energy and resolution.
After this Luther calmly returned to the city, and the crowd of doctors,
professors and students testifying their approval by loud cheers, re-entered
Wittemberg with him.—D'Aubigne's Hist. of the Reformation.

7. Excommunication of Luther.—The excommunication bull was an


attack upon the rights of the German churches. For Luther had appealed to
an ecclesiastical council; and in consequence of this appeal the pope could
no longer have jurisdiction of the case. Hence the number of Luther's
friends increased the more after the publication of this bull.—Schlegel.

8. The Character of Luther.—Seckendorf * * * defies all the adversaries


of Luther to fix any just censure on his character except what may be
ranked under two heads, viz., a disposition to anger, and an indulgence in
jesting. Beyond all doubt the Saxon reformer was of a choleric temper, and
he too often gave way to this constitutional evil, as he himself laments.
Neither is it to be denied that he also too much encouraged his natural
propensity to facetiousness. The monks of his time were in general guilty of
the like fault, and often to so great a degree as very improperly to mix
scurrilities with sacred subjects. Moreover, the vices and follies of those
whom Luther opposed, afforded a strong temptation both to the spirit of
anger and of ridicule. For however severe he may be thought in many of his
invectives, we are compelled by unquestionable evidence to confess that his
keenest satirical pieces never reached the demerits of those who ruled the
church in that age. But after all that can be said in mitigation, it must be
owned that a reformer ought to have considered not so much what they
deserved as what became the character he had to support; viz., that of a
serious Christian, zealous for the honor of his God, displeased with the
vices of his clerical brethren, and grieved on account of the pitiable
ignorance of the people, yet more desirous of curing the prevailing evils
than of exposing them.—Milner.
9. The Pestilence and the Council of Trent.—The report of a pestilence
was a mere pretense. The Pope Paul III was equally zealous of the council
which had not been disposed in all respects to govern itself by his
prescription, and of the governing power of the emperor, which he did not
wish to see farther increased by the council. He indeed hated the
Protestants, but he did not wish to see the emperor, under color of enforcing
the decrees of the council, acquire a more absolute authority over Germany.
He had already withdrawn his troops from the imperial army; and he now
wished to see the council dispersed. The Spanish members opposed him;
but he found means to prevail.—Schlegel.

REVIEW.

1. What centuries may be considered as the age of moral and spiritual


darkness?

2. What power was supreme in those ages?

3. Give an instance illustrating the pride and insolence of the popes. (Note
1.)

4. What was Henry IV's offense?

5. From what period do historians date the "revival of learning?"

6. What several inventions and circumstances contributed to the intellectual


awakening of Europe?

7. What effect did the fall of the eastern division of the Roman empire have
on the west?

8. What was the influence of ancient literature on the west? (Note 2.)

9. What circumstances led to the enlargement of the liberty of the masses?

10. Describe land tenure under the feudal system.

11. What were the Crusades?


12. Who aroused the nations of western Europe to undertake the Crusades?

13. What effect did the Crusades have on the feudal system of land tenure
and liberty?

14. What did this enlarged liberty prepare the people for?

15. What event is usually considered the beginning of the Reformation?

16. Give an account of the birth and parentage of Martin Luther.

17. What schools did he attend and with what result?

18. What effect was produced by his visit to Rome?

19. State the origin of indulgences.

20. What doctrine respecting the efficacy of Christ's blood was advanced by
Pope Clement VI?

21. What doctrine is held by the Roman Catholic church about the
atonement of Christ for sin?

22. Of what did the temporary punishments for sin usually consist—that is,
in early times?

23. What changes were made later?

24. Describe the traffic in indulgences.

25. What excuse was made by the pope for the vigorous sale of indulgences
in the 16th century?

26. Who hawked indulgences in the part of Germany where Luther lived?

27. What was the character of Tetzel? (Note 5.)

28. In what spirit was Luther's controversy with Tetzel regarded at Rome?
29. What aroused the pope from his indifference?

30. In what way did meet the difficulty?

31. What course was pursued by Cardinal Cajetan and what was the result?

32. What difference in respect to authority to be appealed to in the


settlement of controversy existed between Luther and the cardinal?

33. What act of Leo X led Luther to appeal to a general council?

34. State what two parties existed in the Roman Catholic church and what
their difference.

35. Describe how the controversy on free will arose.

36. State the respective positions of Eckius and Carolstadt in the


controversy.

37. What discussion arose between Luther and Eckius after the debate on
free will?

38. What position did Eckius take in relation to the supremacy of the pope?

39. What was Luther's position?

40. What was the effect of the discussion?

41. Relate the circumstance of Luther's excommunication.

42. How did Luther treat the bull of excommunication? (Notes 6 and 7.)

43. State how Luther came to be summoned before the diet at Worms.

44. What two questions confronted Luther at the diet?

45. How did he answer them?

46. By what means was Luther protected from the vengeance of the pope?
47. What at last called him from his retirement?

48. Who succeeded Leo X?

49. What demand was made upon Pope Hadrian by the German princes?

50. What event prevented the assembling of the council?

51. What course did Pope Clement VII follow?

52. How did the death of Frederic, the Wise, and the succession of John, his
brother, affect the Reformation?

53. What did John's course threaten to produce?

54. What circumstance prevented it?

55. Relate what transpired at the diet at Spire.

56. By what means did the German emperor decide to settle the religious
controversy in his realm?

57. State what you can of the Augsburg confession of faith.

58. What unreasonable demand did the emperor make of the Protestants?

59. What compromise was effected?

60. What difficulty arose concerning convening the council?

61. What reverses did the Protestants sustain in the conflict of arms?

62. What finally resulted from all this agitation?

63. Give the character of Luther? (Note 8.)


SECTION II.
1. Controversy on the Question of Grace.—It is now for us to consider
the principles at issue in the Reformation. Luther at the first began his
opposition to the pope by denouncing indulgences, and there can be no
question but he and every other honest Christian had just cause of
complaint and indignation against this infamous traffic, and against the
church for permitting it. Yet it cannot be denied that there was a wide
difference between the doctrine of the Catholic church respecting
indulgences [see note 1, end of section] and the things taught by the
infamous John Tetzel. This is evident from the fact that Tetzel with other
agents of the pope were censured for their over zeal and excesses in dealing
in indulgences.[19] Miltitz, whom the pope had appointed to treat with
Luther to bring about his reconciliation with the church, meeting with
Tetzel at Leipsic, twice rebuked him with the greatest severity before the
bishops of his province, on account of his iniquitous proceedings in the sale
of indulgences, and he finally died neglected and alone—"deserted by all
the world." [See note 2, end of section.]

2. These abuses in the sale of indulgences and the other corruptions which
had crept into the church formed a just cause of complaint; but they were
not the true point at issue in the controversy. Some time before he opposed
indulgences, Luther—if we may believe D'Aubigne [Do-benya]—had
imbibed ideas in respect to the part which the grace of God takes in the
salvation of man that would have led him to oppose the church of Rome, if
the abuses in the matter of indulgences had never existed. In order that the
student may grasp this subject in its fullness, and the better understand this
controversy between Luther and the Catholic church, we shall make a
careful statement of the facts which enter into the question of God's grace
and the free will of man.

1. Power of Deliberation—The mind is conscious of a power of


deliberation, before the intellect passes the different motives of action,
interests, passions, opinions, etc. The intellect considers, compares,
estimates, and finally judges them. This is a preparatory work which
precedes the act of will.

2. Liberty, Free Agency or Will.—When deliberation has taken place—


when man has taken full cognizance of the motives which present
themselves to him, he takes a resolution, of which he looks upon himself as
the author, which arises because he wishes it, and which would not arise
unless he did wish it—here the fact of agency is shown; it resides complete
in the resolution which man makes after deliberation; it is the resolution
which is the proper act of man, which subsists by him alone; a simple fact
independent of all the facts which precede it or surround it.

3. Free Will, or Agency Modified—At the same time that man feels himself
free, he recognizes the fact that his freedom is not arbitrary, that it is placed
under the dominion of a law which will preside over it and influence it.
What that law is will depend upon the education of each individual, upon
his surroundings, etc. To act in harmony with that law is what man
recognizes as his duty; it will be the task of his liberty. He will soon see,
however, that he never fully acquits himself of his task, never acts in full
harmony with his moral law. Morally capable of conforming himself to his
law, he falls short of doing it. He does not accomplish all that he ought, nor
all that he can. This fact is evident, one of which all may give witness; and
it often happens that the best men, that is, those who have best conformed
their will to reason, have often been the most struck with their insufficience.

4. Necessity of External Assistance—This weakness in man leads him to


feel the necessity of an external support to operate as a fulcrum for the
human will, a power that may be added to its present power and sustain it at
need. Man seeks this fulcrum on all sides; he demands it in the
encouragement of friends, in the councils of the wise; but as the visible
world, the human society, do not always answer to his desires, the soul goes
beyond the visible world, above human relations, to seek this fulcrum of
which it has need. Hence the religious sentiment develops itself: man
addresses himself to God, and invokes his aid through prayer.

5. Man Finds the Help he Seeks—Such is the nature of man that when he
sincerely asks this support he obtains it; that is, seeking it is almost
sufficient to secure it. Whosoever feeling his will weak invokes the
encouragement of a friend, the influence of wise councils, the support of
public opinion, or who addresses himself to God by prayer, soon feels his
will fortified in a certain measure and for a certain time.

6. Influence of Spiritual World on Liberty—There are spiritual influences at


work on man—the empire of the spiritual world upon liberty. There are
certain changes, certain moral events which manifest themselves in man
without his being able to refer their origin to an act of his will, or being able
to recognize the author. Certain facts occur in the interior of the human soul
which it does not refer to itself, which it does not recognize as the work of
its own will. There are certain days, certain moments in which it finds itself
in a different moral state from that which it was last conscious of under the
operations of its own will. In other words, the moral man does not wholly
create himself; he is conscious that causes, that powers external to himself
act upon and modify him imperceptibly[20]—this fact has been called the
grace of God which helps the will of man, while others see in it the
evidences of predestination.

3. The Pelagian View.—From these facts men arrive at different


conclusions. Some regarding only the power of man to deliberate on any
proposed course of conduct, and his ability to decide for himself what
course he will pursue, ignoring the spiritual influences which operate on
him, and taking no account of the aid which comes to man through prayer
—believe that man's conduct depends entirely upon his will. "Tis in
ourselves that we are thus or thus," say they; and hence reject the fact of the
grace of God and the influence it exerts on human conduct.

Such was the conclusion arrived at by Pelagius who flourished early in the
fifth century. He asserted that human nature is not fallen—that there is no
hereditary corruption, and that man having the power to do good has only to
will in order to perform. His doctrine has been revised several times, and
has drawn to it not a few believers.

4. Catholic View.—Others regarding all the facts elsewhere enumerated—


man's power to deliberate, his ability to decide upon his course, his failure
to do all that his reason teaches him it is his duty to do, his need of help
from a source external to himself, the assistance he can and does obtain
through prayer and, lastly, the influence of spiritual forces upon man—leads
them to the conclusion that it is through a union of the grace of God and the
free will of man that men arrive at last at righteousness. Such was the
teaching of the Roman Catholic church.

5. Protestant View.—Others still, looking only upon the influence of the


spiritual world on man, and noting how very far short he comes of doing all
his reason teaches him it is his duty to do, conclude that man has no power
whatsoever to do good of himself, that he can exercise no will to work
righteousness until after the grace of God makes him righteous, and that it
is that grace altogether which causes him both to will and to do good works.

6. Luther's Fundamental Doctrine.—Luther belonged to this last-named


class. Long before he came to an open rupture with the pope, he taught the
doctrine of predestination, and of salvation through faith alone:—"The
excellent, infallible, and sole preparation for grace is the eternal election
and predestination of God." "On the side of man there is nothing that goes
before grace, unless it be impotency and even rebellion." "We do not
become righteous by doing what is righteous; but having become righteous
we do what is righteous."[21] "Since the fall of man, free will is but an idle
word; and if man does all he can he still sins mortally." "A man who
imagines to arrive at grace by doing all that he is able to do adds sin to sin
and is doubly guilty." "That man is not justified who performs many works;
but he who, without works, has much faith in Christ."[22] "What gives peace
to our consciences is this—by faith our sins are no longer ours, but Christ's
on whom God has laid them all; and, on the other hand, all Christ's
righteousness belongs to us, to whom God has given it."[23] Thus taught
Luther, and this became the first, the main theological question of the
reformation. "The point which the Reformer had most at heart in all his
labors, contests and dangers," says a respectable authority, "was the
doctrine of justification by faith alone."[24] [Note 3, end of section.]

7. It is but just to the Reformer however, that it should be known that he did
not himself reject good works, but on the contrary exhorted men to practice
them; but he condemns those who did them with an idea that by them they
would be justified, or that they were necessary to salvation. He held also
that in order to do good works men must first be justified, and that good
works done before justification were even sinful.[25]
8. The Mischief of Luther's Doctrine.—Though Luther did not reject
good works, and though he held that justifying faith would produce them,
yet his doctrine has been the source of much mischief in the world. When it
was charged by his vicar general, Staupitius, that his doctrines were the
delight of debauches, and that many scandalous practices were the
consequences of some of his publications, he could not deny the charge, but
contented himself by saying, "I am neither afraid of such censorious
representations, nor surprised to hear them."[26] Luther's doctrine of
salvation by faith alone, as stated by Melanchthon, with his approval, stands
thus: "Man's justification before God proceeds from faith alone. This faith
enters man's heart by the grace of God alone."[27] This leaves man a passive
creature in relation to his salvation. He is helpless to procure it; he can do
nothing to hasten it; he is helpless; he must wait the divine workings of the
grace of God. "As all things which happen," says Melanchthon, "happen
necessarily, according to the divine predestination, there is no such thing as
liberty in our wills."[28] [Note 4, end of section.] Other followers of Luther,
among them one Nicholas Amsdorf, went so far as to maintain that good
works were a hindrance to salvation.[29]

9. By denying the existence of human liberty, and maintaining that all


things happen necessarily, the reformers, with Luther at their head, laid
themselves open to the charges made by the partisans of the church of
Rome, viz.: Their doctrine threw open a door to the most unbounded
licentiousness since it furnished men with this defense for the crimes they
committed—"We could do no other, our fate did not permit us to do
otherwise." By saying that good works were not necessary to salvation, and
assisted in no way to procure it, the Reformers took away the chief
incentive to good works, and removed the principal restraint to the doing of
evil.

10. Moreover, their doctrine rendered void the ordinances and works
required by the gospel; neither repentance nor baptism, nor any other act of
obedience to God is essential if salvation is by faith alone. To say that it is a
doctrine adverse to the whole tenor of scripture, notwithstanding a few
isolated passages depended upon by the Reformers and their successors to
support it, is not necessary here. It is sufficient to remark that it is a doctrine
which would render the commandments of God incompatible with the
powers and capacity of his creatures; a doctrine which destroys at once the
consistency of God and the moral responsibility of man; and therefore a
doctrine most pernicious and dangerous to entertain. [See note 5, end of
section.]

11. Luther on the Danger of his Doctrine.—It proved to be so even during


the lifetime of Luther; for it led some of his followers to believe that Christ
had abolished the moral law; and that Christians, therefore, were not
obliged to observe it.[30] Luther himself saw the danger of his doctrine and
thus spoke of it:

If faith be preached, as of necessity it must be, the greater part of


mankind will interpret the doctrine in a carnal way, and so understand
spiritual liberty as to allow indulgences of the flesh. This we may see
in all the ranks of life. All profess themselves to be evangelical; all
boast of their Christian liberty; and yet give way to their lusts and
passions, for example to covetousness, pride, envy, pleasures, and such
like. Who discharges his duty faithfully? Who serves his brother in a
true spirit of charity? The disgrace which such conduct brings on the
profession of the gospel puts me sometimes so out of temper that I
could wish these swine, that tread precious pearls under their feet were
still under the tyranny of the pope; for it is impossible that a people so
much resembling those of Gomorrah, should be kept in due subjection
by the mild maxims of the gospel of peace.[31]

12. It counts for nothing that Luther denounced this corrupt state of morals
among his followers; it was the legitimate outgrowth of his fundamental
doctrine—the doctrine of nearly all Protestants—of justification by faith
alone, a faith which man had no part in generating, but which came through
the grace of God alone. The tree of his planting produced bitter fruit; it was
vain for him to proclaim against the fruit so long as he insisted that it was a
good tree on which it grew.

13. Teaching of the Church of Rome on Justification.—The Catholic


Church at the time, whatever errors in respect to other doctrines it
entertained, held that salvation, justification before God, resulted through
the exertion of man's free will, aided by the grace of God. It came through a
union of faith and works on the part of man, and the rich outpouring of
grace on the part of Deity; a doctrine which man is conscious of as
operating upon and influencing human conduct, and at once in harmony
with the whole tenor of revelation, and consonant with the great facts
underlying the free will of man which have been already stated in this
section.

14. Unfortunately for the Catholic Church, she did not stop here, but
attached too great importance to external marks of repentance, to works of
penance—to tears, fastings, mortifications of the flesh, and pilgrimages.
Men were required to go barefooted, to wear coarse raiment next their
bodies, to become exiles from their homes or to renounce the world and
embrace a monastic life. Finally in the eleventh century voluntary
whippings were added to these other punishments [see note 6, end of
section]; and men learned to look upon these works of penance as
purchasing a forgiveness of sins, and paid little attention to the inward
regeneration of the heart. "As confession and penance are easier than the
extirpation of sin and the abandonment of vice, many ceased contending
against the lusts of the flesh, and preferred gratifying them at the expense of
a few mortifications."[32] Especially did this become the case when the
doctrine was promulgated that substitutes could be hired to receive the
punishment originally inflicted upon the offender, and monks and priests
could be found willing to undergo it for a consideration.

15. The church trusted too much in the works of penance, and did not insist
stoutly enough upon repentance—a godly sorrow which worketh a
reformation of life. If the reformers went to one extreme in attributing man's
justification wholly to the act of faith and the grace of God, the Catholic
church went to the other in assigning too much value to works of penance
and performances of human invention for the forgiveness of sins.

NOTES.

1. Indulgences to be Accompanied by Amendment of Life.—The


doctrine and the sale of indulgences were powerful incentives to evil among
an ignorant people. True, according to the church, indulgences could benefit
those only who promised to amend their lives, and who kept their word. But
what could be expected from a tenet invented solely with a view to the
profit that might be derived from it? The vendors of indulgences were
naturally tempted for the better sale of their merchandise to present their
wares to the people in the most attractive and seducing aspect. The learned
themselves did not fully understand the doctrine. All the multitude saw in
them was that they permitted men to sin; and the merchants were not over
eager to dissipate an error so favorable to their sale.—D'Aubigne.

2. Death of Tetzel.—While the proper nuncio (Miltitz) was negotiating a


reconciliation in Germany, Tetzel, the wretched subaltern, whose
scandalous conduct had so disgraced his employers, met with the reward
which frequently awaits the ministers of iniquity. He found himself deserted
by all the world. Miltitz in particular had treated him so roughly that this
daring and boisterous instrument of papal avarice and extortion actually fell
sick, wasted away, and at last died of a broken heart. A dreadful lesson!
This unhappy man left the world, as far as appears, destitute of comfort in
his own soul, after he had ministered a false peace to thousands.—Milner.

3. Luther on Justification by Faith.—I observe that the devil is


continually attacking this fundamental article by means of his doctors, and
that in this respect he can never cease or take any repose. Well, then, I,
Doctor Martin Luther, unworthy herald of the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, confess this article, that faith alone without works justifies before
Gods; and I declare that it shall stand and remain forever in spite of the
emperor of the Romans, the emperor of the Turks, the emperor of the
Tartars, the emperor of the Persians—in spite of the pope and all the
cardinals, with the bishops, priests, monks and nuns—in spite of kings,
princes and nobles, and in spite of all the world and of the devils
themselves; and that if they endeavor to fight against this truth they will
draw the fires of hell upon their heads. This is the true and holy gospel, and
the declaration of me, Doctor Luther, according to the teaching of the Holy
Ghost.—D'Aubigne (Hist. Ref., vol I, p. 70.)

4. Effects of Predestination on the Mind.—To what purpose shall I labor


in the service of God? If I am predestinated to death [that is, spiritual death]
I shall never escape from it; and if I am predestined to life [that is, to
salvation] even though I do wickedly, I shall, no doubt, arrive at eternal rest.
—Raban, Quoted by Guizot.
5. Evil Results of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith Alone.—The
serious evil involved in Luther's doctrine of justification by faith without
works is perhaps best seen in a quotation from Fletcher, of Madeley, the
most able disciple of John Wesley and his successor Fletcher accuses one
Richard Hill, Esq.—who accepted in its widest sense the doctrine of
justification by faith alone—with saying: "Even adultery and murder do not
hurt the pleasant children, but rather work for their good. God sees no sin in
believers, whatever sin they may commit. My sins might displease God: my
person is always acceptable to him * * * It is a most pernicious error of the
schoolmen to distinguish sins according to the fact, and not according to the
persons. Though I blame those who say, let us sin that grace may abound,
yet adultery, incest and murder shall, upon the whole, make me holier on
earth and merrier in heaven."—End of Religious Controversy, p. 90.

6. The Works in which Catholics Trusted.—In the eleventh century


voluntary flagellations were superadded to these practices [fastings,
pilgrimages, etc.]; somewhat later they became quite a mania in Italy, which
was then in a very disturbed state. Nobles and peasants, old and young,
even children of five years of age, whose only covering was a cloth tied
round the middle, went in pairs by hundreds, thousands and tens of
thousands, through the towns and villages, visiting the churches in the depth
of winter. Armed with scourges, they flogged each other without pity, and
the streets resounded with cries and groans that drew tears from all who
heard them.—D'Aubigne.

REVIEW.

1. What difference existed between the teachings of the Catholic church and
the conduct of its agents in the matter of indulgences? (Note 1.)

2. Was the sale of indulgences the chief cause of Luther's revolt from
Rome?

3. What doctrines did Luther entertain which would at last have led him to
oppose the Catholic church?

4. What is the power of deliberation?


5. Explain what liberty or free agency is.

6. In what way is man's will or free agency modified?

7. What is it that convinces man of the necessity of external help to aid his
will?

8. What does man's experience teach him when he seeks external help?

9. What influence is man conscious of as operating upon him in moral and


spiritual affairs?

10. State the Pelagian view on the subject of grace and free will.

11. State the Roman Catholic view.

12. State the Protestant view.

13. What was Luther's fundamental doctrine?

14. In what light did Luther hold good works?

15. What mischief arose out of Luther's doctrine?

16. What did Luther himself say respecting the danger of his doctrine?

17. What were the teachings of the Roman church on justification?

18. To what extreme did the church of Rome go in the matter of good
works?

19. What was the nature of the works in which Roman Catholics trusted too
much? (Note 6.)

20. What influence on morals did the doctrine have that substitutes could be
employed to receive punishment for sins?
SECTION III.
1. The Growth of Luther's Rebellion.—The thing most important, the one
which drew with it the gravest consequences, and which led to the greatest
good produced by the Reformation, was the rebellion of Luther against the
authority of the pope. He did not come out in open rebellion at the first, but
arrived at that state by gradual and imperceptible steps. When his
opposition to the sale of indulgences met with reproof from the pontiff, he
appealed from the pope ill-informed to the pope better-informed. When that
pope better-informed still held him to be in error and refractory, he appealed
to a general, free council of the whole church; but when no heed was taken
of this appeal, and Leo, pressed by Eckius, Cajetan and others,
excommunicated him, he then answered by burning the pope's bull of
excommunication, and stood in open rebellion to the authority of the
pontiff. When the pope appealed to Emperor Charles to make the
excommunication of some force by the power of the secular authority
vested in him, the emperor, contrary to the protests of the pope's legates,
resolved to give the Reformer a hearing before proceeding against him.
Accordingly Luther was summoned before the diet at Worms, where he not
only insisted upon having a hearing before a free, general council of the
church, but a council that would accept the Bible as the final authority upon
the questions at issue between himself and the pontiff.

2. The Catholic Rule of Faith.—This was demanding more than the pope
could grant; for the Catholics have never exalted the Bible above the
church, but have always held that the scriptures must be accepted as
construed by the church, and in the days of Luther the pope was the church.
The Catholic rule of faith in respect to the laws by which the church is to be
governed is: "The word of God, at large, whether written in the Bible or
handed down from the apostles by tradition, and as it is understood and
explained by the Catholic church."[33] Besides their rule of faith, which is
scripture and tradition, "Catholics acknowledge an unerring judge of
controversy, or sure guide in all matters relating to salvation—viz., the
church."[34]
3. This rule employed to interpret the Bible and to settle controversies that
might arise, Luther rejected. Writing in defense of his conduct in burning
the papal bull of excommunication and the decretals of the popes, he said:

Let no man's good sense be so far seduced as to reverence the volumes


I have burnt, on account of their great antiquity or their high titles. Let
every one first hear and see what the pope teaches in his own books,
and what abominable, poisonous doctrines are to be found among the
sacred, spiritual laws; and then let him freely judge, whether I have
done right or not in burning such writings.

4. Among the teachings in the decretals which Luther held up for special
condemnation were the following:

(1) The pope has the power to interpret scripture, and to teach as he
pleases; and no person is allowed to interpret in a different way. (2)
The pope does not derive from the scripture but the scripture derives
from the pope, authority, power and dignity.

He then affirms that comparing together the different parts of the canon law,
its language amounts to this:

That the pope is God on earth; above all that is earthly or heavenly,
temporal or spiritual; that all things belong to the pope; and that no one
must venture to say, what doest thou?[35]

It was against this arbitrary authority that Luther rebelled.

5. Attempted Settlement by a General Council.—At last when through


the influence of the emperor the pope consented to appoint a council, a
difficulty arose as to where it should be held. The pope on his part seemed
determined to have it assemble in Italy, or in some country where his
influence would predominate; the Reformers were equally determined to
submit their cause to no council outside of Germany. The difficulty had
arisen in Germany; they insisted it should be settled by a council in
Germany, or by a diet of the empire. The cause was never fairly tried by a
council of the whole church; the revolt against the authority of the pope was
sustained by an appeal to arms, as related in section I, Part III, of this work.
6. Revolution, not Rebellion.—Had that revolt against the Catholic church
been a revolt against legitimate authority it would have been rebellion: but
as it was against a usurped and hence an illegitimate authority, it was a
justifiable revolution. For in ecclesiastical government, no less than in civil
government, if a long train of abuses renders it odious, and those who
execute it are tyrannical and usurp authority which the law of God does not
sanction, by which unrighteous dominion is exercised over the minds of
men, it is the right of the people to resist such authority: and refuse to
sustain those who exercise that unrighteous dominion to please their vanity
or gratify their ambition.

7. True Position, but a Corrupt Church.—The position that the church,


officered by inspired prophets and apostles—men having by virtue of their
priesthood and official position a right to the inspiration and revelations of
God—the position that the church of Christ so officered, has the right to
decide upon all controversies and to determine the meaning of scripture, is,
beyond all questioning, a true position. But the difficulty with the Roman
Catholic church was that it was no longer the church of Christ, as already
proven in Part II of this work. It had no prophets or apostles, no men who
had a right to the revelations of God. The popes and bishops of the church
taught that revelation had ceased, and they depended on scripture and
tradition alone, interpreted by themselves, for their guide. The power the
church possessed was usurped power merely, the growth of ages. It had
become both arrogant and insolent, and at last intolerable, and when a man
was found possessing the courage to resent its presumption and defy it, he
found plenty to applaud and sanction his act.

8. True Cause of the Reformation.—We cannot ascribe the Reformation


to accidents and mischances, such for instance as the jealousy of Luther
because the sale of indulgences was entrusted to the Dominican monks
instead of to the order of Augustine monks, to which he belonged[36]—we
cannot assign the cause of the Reformation to this, neither can we go to the
other extreme and say that the great revolution of the sixteenth century
resulted solely from a pure desire to reform the abuses that had arisen in the
church or bring back Christianity to its primitive purity. Not a few of the
princes that favored Luther in his revolt against the pope did so from other
motives than those prompted by a desire to reform the church.
9. Many of the temporal monarchs and princes were jealous of the power
exercised within their dominions by the Roman pontiffs, as it lowered the
dignity of their own position. They were tired, moreover, of the assumed
right of the pope to enter their dominions, and, under one pretext or another,
tax their subjects and thus not only impoverish the people, but reduce the
revenue of the temporal ruler. It will be found, therefore, that the jealousy,
ambition and interest of these princes, and not a desire to establish pure
religion, made them factors in the great revolution. (See note 1, end of
section.)

10. The people also were tired of the dominion asserted over their minds by
the papal authority, and were only too glad to escape from that thraldom
under any pretext whatsoever. The preceding century had brought a great
intellectual awakening to Europe, and men were no longer content to have
questions of fact and belief decided by the authority of the church. (See
note 2, end of section.) They insisted that human reason and individual
judgment had a right to investigate and to be satisfied on these questions;
and the securing of that freedom was not only the leading principle of the
sixteenth century revolution, but its greatest achievement. (See note 3, end
of section.)

11. Revolution, not Reformation.—It is absurd to say that the revolution


of the sixteenth century was a reformation, if by that it is meant that it re-
established the primitive doctrines of Christianity, purified the morals of the
people, or gave birth to a better ecclesiastical government. It did no such
thing. The Reformers declaimed against some of the abuses of the Catholic
church, such as denying the sacramental cup to the laity, the celibacy of the
clergy, the absurdities of the mass, fasts and ceremonies of human
invention, the whole system of monkery, and the great usurpation of
authority by the church; and consequently did not include any of these
abuses—except perhaps the last—in the system of religion they founded.
Still their doctrines led them into serious errors and great disorders.

12. Private Interpretation of the Bible and its Effects.—The evils that
arose from the doctrine of justification by faith alone, we have already
noticed.[37] The disorders that grew out of the doctrine of private
interpretation of scripture is yet to be considered. When Luther refused to
longer recognize the authority of the church in matters of doctrine, he still
was aware that men would need some authority to decide controversies that
would arise, consequently he held up the Bible as the final arbiter of all
questions touching faith and morals. But the Bible had to be construed, its
meaning made plain, and as each one was left to explain it in his own way,
the utmost confusion prevailed. On the great fundamental principle of the
Protestants—justification by faith alone—Osiander, a Lutheran, says:

There are twenty several opinions, all drawn from scriptures, and held
by different members of the Augsburg, or Lutheran Confession.[38]

When the Reformers from the several parts of Germany consulted together,
and with them the Reformers from other states met with a view to come to
some understanding in respect to religion and modes of worship, it was
soon apparent that they were hopelessly divided, not only upon matters
unimportant, but also upon fundamental principles. Luther had rejected the
authority of the church and set up the tribunal of private interpretation of
scripture in its stead. A number of his disciples proceeding on the same
principle, rejected some of his doctrines and undertook to prove from the
scripture that he was in error and that the Reformation needed reforming.

13. Carolstadt, [says the author of the "End of Religious Controversy]


Zuinglius, Okolampadius, Muncer and a hundred more of his
followers, wrote and preached against him and against each other with
the utmost virulence, whilst each of them still professed to ground his
doctrine and conduct on the written word of God alone. In vain did
Luther denounce hell fire against them; in vain did he threaten to
return back to the Catholic religion; he had put the Bible into each
man's hand to explain it for himself, and this his followers continued to
do in open defiance of him, till their mutual contradictions and
discords became so numerous and scandalous as to overwhelm the
thinking part of them with grief and confusion."[39] (See note 4, end of
section.)

14. The Multiplication of Sects.—The division of the Reformers into


numerous sects has ever been a reproach to Protestants and likewise an
evidence of the weakness of their position. Men of different capacities and
dispositions examined the Bible; they found it no systematic treatise upon
religion and morals, but a miscellaneous collection of inspired writings,
dealing with historical events, connected, in the main, with the people of
God; prophecies, dreams, revelations, doctrines, and morals; written at
different times, to different peoples, and under a great variety of
circumstances. In addition to all this, many plain and precious parts have
been taken away from it;[40] other parts have doubtless been purposely
changed by designing men;[41] which, with the imperfections arising from
its translation from the original languages in which it was written, has made
it an uncertain guide, taken alone, for the church or for individuals; and as
Protestants insisted upon the right of private judgment in the interpretation
of the Bible, it is not surprisingg that a great variety of opinions were
entertained, or that numerous sects were founded upon them. It was a great
evil; much confusion and disorder arose out of it; but it was an evil that
could not be avoided. It was one of those periods of time when liberty was a
cause of disorder, but the attainment of liberty through that disorder more
than outweighed the evils that arose from it.

15. The Error of the Reformers.—The great error which the Reformers
made was in not giving full application to their principle of the right of
private judgment in matters of religion. They claimed the right to revolt
from the Catholic church, to interpret the Bible for themselves, and to found
their mode of worship upon their own conceptions of what was required by
the revelations of God; but when others differed from them, and desired to
exercise the same liberty, the Reformers were themselves intolerant, and
attempted to compel men by force to accept their religious faith and modes
of worship. It is this intolerance which is the chief reproach applied to the
Reformation by its enemies, and it must be admitted that it somewhat
sullies the glory of its achievements. (See note 5, end of section.)

NOTES.

1. Motives Back of the Reformation.—The Protestant historian, Mosheim,


with whom Hume agrees, admits that several of the principal agents in this
revolution were actuated more by the impulse of passion and views of
interest than by a zeal for true religion. (Maclaine's Mosheim, vol. iv. p.
135.) He had before acknowledged that King Gustavus introduced
Lutheranism into Sweden in opposition to the clergy and bishops, not only
as agreeable to the genius and spirit of the gospel, but also as favorable to
the temporal state and political constitution of the Swedish dominions. He
adds that Christiern, who introduced the Reformation into Denmark, was
animated by no other motives than those of ambition and avarice. Grotius,
another Protestant, testifies that it was sedition and violence which gave
birth to the Reformation in his own country—Holland. The same was the
case in France, Geneva and Scotland. It is to be observed, that in all these
countries the Reformers, as soon as they got the upper hand, became violent
persecutors of the Catholics. Bergier defies Protestants to name so much as
a town or village in which, when they became masters of it, they tolerated a
single Catholic.—End of Religious Controversy, note, p. 105.

2. Desire for Freedom the Moving Cause in Reformation.—The strength


of the Protestant party had been derived, both in Germany and England, far
less from their superiority in argument, however decisive this might be,
than from that desire which all classes, and especially the higher, had long
experienced to emancipate themselves from the thraldom of ecclesiastical
jurisdiction.—Hallam's Const. Hist. of Eng.

3. The Cause and Leading Principle of the Reformation.—In my


opinion the Reformation neither was an accident, the result of some casual
circumstance, or some personal interests, nor arose from unmingled views
of religious improvement, the fruit of Utopian humanity and truth. It had a
more powerful cause than all these; a general cause to which all the others
are subordinate. It was a vast effort made by the human mind to achieve its
freedom; it was a new-born desire which it felt to think and judge, freely
and independently, of facts and opinions which, till then, Europe received
or was considered bound to receive from the hands of authority. It was a
great endeavor to emancipate human reason, and to call things by their right
names; it was an insurrection of the human mind against the absolute power
of spiritual order. Such, in my opinion, was the true character and leading
principle of the Reformation. * * * Not only was this the result of the
Reformation, but it was content with this result. Whenever this was
obtained no other was sought for; so entirely was it the very foundation of
the event, its primitive and fundamental character! * * * I repeat it;
whenever the Reformation attained this object, it accommodated itself to
every form of government and to every situation.—Guizot.
4. Unhappy Divisions Among Reformers.—Capito, minister of Strasburg,
writing to Forel, pastor of Geneva, thus complains to him: "God has given
me to understand the mischief we have done by our precipitancy in
breaking with the pope. The people say I know enough of the gospel. I can
read it for myself. I have no need of you." In the same tone Dudith writes to
his friend Beza: "Our people are carried away with every wind of doctrine.
If you know what their religion is today, you cannot tell what it will be
tomorrow. In what single point are those churches which have declared war
against the pope agreed amongst themselves? There is not one point which
is not held by some of them as an article of faith, and by others as an
impiety!" In the same sentiment, Calvin, writing to Melanchthon, says: "It
is of great importance that the divisions which subsist among us should not
be known to future ages: for nothing can be more ridiculous than that we
who have broken off from the whole world, should have agreed so ill
among ourselves from the very beginning of the Reformation."—End of
Religious Controversy, Page 101.

5. The Reproach of the Reformation.—What were the reproaches


constantly applied to the Reformation by its enemies? Which of its results
are thrown in its face, as it were, unanswerable? The two principal
reproaches are, first, the multiplicity of sects, the excessive license of
thought, the destruction of all spiritual authority, and the entire dissolution
of religious society; secondly, tyranny and persecution. "You provoke
licentiousness," it has been said to the Reformers: "you produce it; and,
after being the cause of it, you wish to restrain and repress it. And how do
you repress it? By the most harsh and violent means. You take upon
yourselves, too, to punish heresy, and that by virtue of an illegitimate
authority."—Guizot.

REVIEW.

1. What was the matter of chief importance in the Reformation?

2. Describe the growth of Luther's conflict with the pope.

3. Describe the Catholic rule of faith.

4. What demands contrary to that rule did Luther make?


5. What difficulty arose in respect to settling the controversy by an appeal
to a general council?

6. What can you say of the revolt of Luther to the Catholic church
authority?

7. What can you say of the right of the true Church of Christ to settle
controversies and determine the meaning of scripture?

8. Why was the Catholic church unqualified to render decisions on such


matters?

9. What several causes are assigned for the Reformation by Catholics and
Protestants respectively? (Note.)

10. What was the true cause?

11. What several considerations aided the Reformation?

12. Was the religious movement of the 16th century a reformation or a


revolution?

13. What can you say of the evils which arose from the private
interpretation of the Bible?

14. What caused the multiplication of sects among the Protestants?

15. What makes the Bible an insufficient guide in matters of faith and
worship?

16. What was the great error of the Reformers?


SECTION IV.
1. The Reformation in Switzerland.—So far we have considered this
sixteenth century revolution as it affected the German empire alone. It was
not confined, however, to that country. As a matter of fact, the so-called
Reformation began in Switzerland before it did in Germany. Ulrich
Zwingle, born in Wildhausen, Canton of St. Gall, Switzerland 1484,
attacked many of the errors of the Catholic Church, before Luther began his
opposition.

2. In 1516, Zwingle openly declaimed against many Catholic abuses, such


as monastic vows, pilgrimages, worship of relics, and indulgences. He also
taught that the Bible was the only standard of religious truth. In 1518, one
Samson came into Switzerland to sell indulgences. The year following
Zwingle opposed him and drove him from Zurich. Four years later the
Swiss Reformer was accused of heresy by adherents of the Roman pontiff,
and brought before the council of Zurich. He presented sixty-seven
doctrinal propositions before the council which he agreed to defend by the
scriptures against all opposers. The council before which his cause was tried
decided that the controversy must be settled by an appeal to the Bible, and
Zwingle triumphed. At the conclusion of the hearing the council decreed
that the Reformer should be allowed to teach as he had formerly done
unmolested; and that no preacher in the canton should teach any doctrine he
could not prove by the Bible. The year following—1524—the council
reformed the public worship, that is, they adopted the principles and
methods of worship proposed by Zwingle.

3. In 1531, the Catholics in the surrounding cantons attacked Zurich, and


early in the battle, Zwingle, while leading the Protestant forces, was slain,
his body hacked to pieces and afterwards burned. [See note 1, end of
section.]

4. John Calvin.—Zwingle was succeeded in the leadership of the Swiss


Reformers by John Calvin, a talented but austere man, a native of Noyon,
France. [See note 2, end of section.] He more than any other man—Luther
excepted—influenced the character of the Protestant churches. He held
many views that were at variance with those of Zwingle. The latter taught
that civil rulers possessed absolute power in religious matters, and subjected
the ministers altogether to their authority. Calvin held that the church
should be free and independent of the state; that it should govern itself by
its own officers whom the church and not the state should appoint; he
limited the power of the state over the church to giving it external
protection. Zwingle recognized a gradation of officers in the Christian
church; Calvin held that all were equal. Suitable persons appointed and
ordained with the consent of the members of the church, constituted, in his
theory of church government, a legitimate ministry to preach the gospel and
administer the sacraments. But for the government of the church a number
of men were chosen by the people from among the most venerable and
respectable of the congregation. These men were called presbyters or elders.
They were all equal in authority, and even the preaching minister was in no
sense superior to them in office.

5. The elders of a single church or congregation convened in council


constituted the church session; councils composed of representatives from
the several churches in a province, constituted synods or consistories; while
a general council composed of elders from all the churches was known as
the general assembly. The elders in these several councils were all regarded
as equal in authority and had full power to enact laws relating to religious
matters and to establish the discipline of the church. Such is the order of
church government founded by Calvin, and known as Presbyterianism.

6. Difference of Opinion on the Eucharist.—As already stated in a


previous section, the Catholics maintained that in the eucharist the bread
and the wine, were converted by consecration into the very body and blood
of Messiah. Zwingle maintained that the bread and wine were symbols
merely of Christ's flesh and blood, employed to call to mind his death, and
the blessings procured to man by that death. Calvin stood between these
two extremes, as also did Luther, and while they disagreed with Catholics,
and would not concede that the bread and wine were changed to the very
body and blood of Christ, neither would they concede that the bread and
wine were merely symbols, but insisted upon a sort of spiritual presence.
That is, they held that the saints in the exercise of faith in partaking of the
sacrament, do become united in a certain mystic way with Christ, and from
this union received an increase of spiritual life.

7. Predestination.—Another thing in which Calvin differed from Zwingle


was in relation to the celebrated doctrine of an absolute decree of God
respecting the salvation of men. Calvin emphasized the doctrines of Luther
and Melanchthon in regard to the part which the grace of God takes in the
salvation of men; and perhaps carried it further than they would have done,
certainly further than Zwingle did. On this point Calvin taught that God had
elected some persons from all eternity to everlasting life; and had appointed
others to everlasting punishments; and that for this he had no other ground
except his own pleasure, or his most free and sovereign will. This is the
doctrine of predestination.

8. The Spread of Calvin's Doctrines.—It was some time before the Swiss
could be brought to accept these doctrines so at variance with or not found
in the teachings of Zwingle. Yet by the perseverance and the high reputation
for learning and piety of Calvin they were very generally accepted in
Switzerland; and after him, such was the success of his pupils, that large
bodies of Protestants in other nations accepted his doctrines. Especially was
this the case in France, England, Scotland, and even in Germany.

9. The Reformation in France.—In France, though in the main her people


adhered to the Catholic church, the Reformation found its most faithful
adherents, and there they suffered the most violent persecutions. The
Protestants were opprobriously called Huguenots [Hu-ge-nots] the origin of
the appellation is uncertain. Among these French Protestants were men of
high character, and not a few bishops of the church. The king and the
magistrates, however, protected the ancient religion by the sword, by penal
inflictions; and a large number of pious and good people were put to death,
among them not a few of the nobility. [See notes 3 and 4, end of section.]

10. The Reformation in Sweden.—In Sweden the Reformation made rapid


headway. Its doctrines were introduced into that country by Olaus Peri,
whose zeal for the cause was warmly seconded by the king, Gustavus Vasa,
who while an exile in Lubec, during the revolution of 1523, learned
something of the "reformed" religion. For some time before 1523 Sweden

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