And sadly, they all have one thing in common: they reject Christ’s
one Church. Instead, such carnal men (no offense also,
but what else are they?) trust in their own works (private interpretation of the bible, their own opinions, etc.) to get them into heaven. But did not St. Paul warn against such “works of the flesh,” such “party spirit” in Galatians 5:20? And does not history teach that, for those who have given themselves over to their carnal desires, lying, deceit and the like become natural, indeed, their
modus operandi?!
John Calvin to Philip Melanchthon, November 28, 1552:
Nor, in truth, is it of little importance to prevent the suspicion of any difference having arisen between us from being handed down in any way to our posterity; for it is worse than absurd that parties should be found disagreeing on the very principles, after we have been compelled to make our departure from the world.
Translated differently:
It is indeed important that posterity should not know of our differences; for it is indescribably ridiculous that we, who are in opposition to the whole world, should be, at the very beginning of the Reformation, at issue among ourselves
What dishonesty! And these, so we are told, are “reformers of morals”? Are the “pure church”??
But Calvin’s words and the following speak volumes as to deleterious effects of private interpretation and the “party spirit” or sectarian spirit about which the holy apostle had warned. The following is from:
Campaigning for Christ, 1924, David Goldstein, p. 362.
See also:
Campaigners for Christ handbook. pp. 211-212, dated May 21, 1931.
At any rate, the way out for our Protestant friends, out of the Reformer’s darkness, dishonesty, and error, is to understand Christ, to understand his* Incarnation*, to turn
away from from the traditions of men -Luther, Calvin, Melanchthon et al - and
to the saintly Fathers who, after Christ himself, are the truly the “light of the world.”
