Church History Quotes.

1. "One of the reactions to Jesus was the confession, first voiced by the leader of the Twelve, Peter, that You are the Messiah (Mark 8:29), the eagerly awaited anointed of the Lord who would bring deliverance to the Jewish people. It was a confession welcomed by many, doubted by others, and feared by still others in positions of power. Jesus’ popularity provoked jealousy and opposition from some Pharisees and a range of sentiments from uneasiness to profound disturbance among the political leaders."
- Everett Ferguson, Church History

2. "during the years 1797–98. In the 1790s, revivals (led by Reformed pastors) also broke out in the Connecticut Valley in the United States. They became early manifestations of the so-called Second Great Awakening (late 1780s – early 1840s). This awakening encompassed multiple disparate elements: the widespread distribution of Christian literature; Reformed preaching in Connecticut by theological descendants of Jonathan Edwards; the faithful gospel witness of Methodist circuit riders; the occurrence of emotionally high-octane camp"
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

3. "Whatever differences in polity, all Puritans shared the same fundamental theological commitment to Reformed theology (Calvinism)."
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

4. "John Newton, the repentant former slaver, preached the gospel in his parish of Olney; created the Eclectic Society, whose members asked questions like What is the best way of propagating the Gospel in the East Indies?; and penned the famous lyrics of Amazing Grace: Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

5. "The first wall attacked by Luther was the idea that popes, bishops, monks, and priests are spiritually superior to laity. His view was that all Christians belong to the same spiritual estate by virtue of their baptism and faith. These alone grant entrance into the kingdom of God. This was an early version of what came to be known as the priesthood of all believers. Luther demolished the second wall when he rejected the Roman assertion that only the pope has the right to interpret Scriptures. Luther strongly emphasized that laypeople have the right to read and interpret the Scripture for themselves. The third wall torn down was the claim that only the pope could summon church councils. Luther reminded his German readers that the emperor, not the pope,"
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

6. "During the reign of James I some Puritans grew discouraged at the pace of reform and separated entirely from the Church of England. After a short sojourn in the Netherlands, one group of separating Puritans, better known historically as the Pilgrims, eventually established the Plymouth Colony in 1620 in what is now southeastern Massachusetts."
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

7. "As the Puritans’ relationship with the new king soured, John Winthrop, a Puritan lawyer, began to pursue seriously the prospect of a Puritan colony in New England. In March 1629 Winthrop obtained a royal charter to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and in 1630 he was joined by 700 colonists on eleven ships to set sail for New England. While on board the Arbella, Winthrop preached a sermon in which he declared to his fellow travelers, We shall be as a city upon a hill [and] the eyes of all people are upon us."
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

8. "that every time the Lord’s Supper is celebrated, Christ is actually resacrificed. For Luther, this was the most abominable bondage of all. The mass was a gift of God to man, not a gift of man to God. They [the Roman Church] make God no longer the bestower of good gifts to us, but the receiver of ours. Such impiety! So that everyone could better understand this gift of God, Luther stressed that the mass should be in the vernacular."
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

9. "It is worth noting that Anabaptists did not aspire to be identified as Protestants. Instead, they actually repudiated the Protestantism of the Lutherans and Reformed. Anabaptists acknowledged that Protestants were right to break away from the Roman Church, but they judged that the Protestants fell well short of the more extensive social, moral, ecclesiastical, and theological reforms that were needed and had succeeded only in creating another institutional church, to which the Anabaptists were equally opposed."
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History

10. "Anabaptist movement arose from the Swiss Brethren. The origins are dated quite specifically to January 21, 1525, when Conrad Grebel baptized Felix Manz in the home of George Blaurock in the Swiss canton of Zürich. This view generally argues that Swiss Anabaptism was transmitted to southern Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and northern Germany, where it developed into its various branches. This remains the dominant view for the historical origins and diffusion of Anabaptism."
- John D. Woodbridge, Church History