The experienced traveler, planning to visit a new city, seeks to make his tour most profitable and instructive to himself by first making a general orientation survey of the city's extent and arrangement by the aid of a guidebook and map. Then he will take a ride, probably on the top deck of a bus, through the most important streets (as in London), or if possible, he may instead seek a bird's-eye view from a church steeple, as in Continental cities, or from a skyscraper, as in New York. After that, he will feel ready to make the best selections of sites for closer study.
The experienced reader will likewise approach a given field of study from a wider conspectus and proceed through a subsequent delineation of its structural divisions (epochs, component materials, etc.), to the intensive analysis, scrutiny, and explanation of its details.
The student of church history has come to recognize that the Christian church in any given period may well be regarded under the analogy of a cathedral. He who would study a cathedral carefully, will first note its setting,—that is, its environment. Then he will proceed to an investigation of its architecture, with regard to its lines and materials, as well as with regard to a general scheme or idea which may be brought to expression in its structure. But that obviously does not exhaust the aspects of the cathedral, for it has an interior, and the interior has a different appearance from the exterior. It serves a different purpose, all of which the careful student will again observe.
The interior, for instance, is given its shape for two purposes, one for individual worship, and the other for congregational devotions. That fact will lead to the study of the worshipers themselves, of the services which take place, also the forms of service; while on the other hand the matter of the expressions of the individual worshipers or of the congregation is important. That will lead next to a study of the thoughts and experiences the worshiper obtains from the act of worship in the churchly structure. And lastly, the student will wish to know how the experience within the church service affects the life of the worshiper outside. In other words, a comprehensive view of a church includes both the structure and the worshiper within. So church history has in any period both its external and its internal aspects. No satisfactory view of it is gained until all these aspects are taken into consideration. That would include, then, the topics of the political and social setting, the external organization and status of the church, the specific topics of the history of preaching, of forms of worship, of teaching, of individual experience, of the Christian activities of members, and obviously the lives of those individuals who played an active role in the period under observation. The approach to the study of the Protestant Reformation from this angle will prove fruitful and profitable.
The era of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century commends itself as one of especial importance, particularly to him whose interpretation of history has been schooled by the Spirit of prophecy, which views history as a conflict between good and evil, and regards this period of the Reformation as especially significant in this great struggle. In "The Great Controversy," ten chapters out of the total of forty-two are devoted to the Protestant Reformation, including two on the pre-Reformation.
The significance of this becomes obvious when it is realized that of the long period of time between the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world, which is covered in this work, the Protestant Reformation occupies but a very brief span. Yet it is stressed as highly important. The Protestant Reformation is discussed and interpreted widely for the purpose of drawing lessons either negatively or positively for the carrying on of the true reformation of the advent message. The Reformers are treated as object lessons from which much may be learned as to what to do and what to leave undone in the work of a religious reformation. On pages 78 and 148 of this book it is stated that the work of the Reformation will continue to the end of the world, and our own movement is discussed as the continuation and perfection of the movement commenced by the heroes of those centuries.
In "The Acts of the Apostles," on page 598. the Reformers are spoken of as having been builders of God's temple. These facts and statements, to which many others may be added, may suffice for the present purpose of indicating the importance which a study of the Continental Reformation in the sixteenth century should occupy in the minds of the workers of the advent movement. The reading of the Lindsay volume should therefore be done in a way which would be most profitable and instructive. Whether or not this can be attained by the following suggestions, they may at any rate be followed as one way which will be sure to bring helpful results:
1. Following the analogy of the traveler given at the beginning of this article, a comprehensive orientation of this field should be gained by a first reading of the book. This first reading need not be too thorough, because it should not be the last. But having thus gained the conspectus of the field,—and the reading should be done in as compact a period of time as possible, and certainly the individual chapters should be read without interruption, —then the reader should seek to familiarize himself more fully with the personality of the author and the technique of his book, by observing the following points:
2. The Literary Style of the Author.
At this point, selections of outstanding literary quality should be reread. Among them may be suggested the fascinating narrative concerning Luther in Worms, beginning on page 275, and the vivid description of Luther's appearance, beginning on page 279. The deep spiritual quality of the author's work will be sensed in selections like that on pages 432 and 433. To these brief passages others may be added which should be read carefully, not only for the purpose of penetrating appreciatively the author's style of writing and personality, but also—as in the case of the next two items —for the purpose of acquiring similar skill and technique in historical writing and speech.
3. Source documents and their use by any author constitute a very important feature of his work, so the way in which these are cited in the footnotes at the beginning of each successive chapter merits special attention. Not only are source documents quoted there, with their dates and places of publication, but secondary works of a reliable and authoritative nature are also listed, so that anyone who wishes to penetrate- farther- into the subject may do so with the aid of these bibliographies.
4. Citations of Sources.
The value of a historical work depends also in large part upon the skillful use of original documents in quotation. Much vivid and interesting information may be carried into a narrative from such original documents, and without their use a piece of historical writing may tend to generalizations and reconstructions of conditions, or utterances which are more modern than historical. A skillful historian, such as Lindsay, knows how to introduce original materials to great literary effect, as well as for the purpose of authoritatively establishing the data he presents. Thus it should be noticed not only how he introduces original citations, but also to what extent he uses them and with what effect upon his narrative. Inasmuch as they appear throughout the book, no specific pages need be cited here.
(To be continued)
