To show how far modern Fundamentalism has come since the original Protestants of the 16th century, Martin Luther preached on the Feast of the Visitation (July 2, 1532) after his break with Rome —
“She, the Lady above heaven and earth, must have a heart so humble that she might have no shame in washing the swaddling clothes or preparing a bath for St. John the Baptist, like a servant girl. What humility! It would surely have been more just to have arranged for her a golden coach, pulled by 4,000 horses, and to cry and proclaim as the carriage proceeded: ‘Here passes the woman who is raised FAR ABOVE all women, indeed above the WHOLE human race.’”
French Reformed pastor Charles Drelincourt (who well represents the Protestant Reformed/Calvinist tradition of the 17th century) wrote —
“We do not simply believe that God has favoured the holy and blessed Virgin more than all the Patriarchs and the Prophets, but also that He has exalted her above all Seraphim. The angels can only qualify as servants of the Son of God, the creatures and workmanship of his hands; but the holy Virgin is not only the servant and the creature but also the Mother of this great and living God.”
(see these quotations in Calvinist theologian Max Thurian’s study Mary, Mother of All Christians)
http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/num48.htm
“Jesus is the sole Redeemer, since no one is saved except through Him.
We each participate in our own redemption, by cooperating with grace.
We each assist one another in our redemption, by prayer, self-denial, and good works.
Mary’s role is like our role in redemption.
She participated in her own redemption, but she was not able to save herself.
She participates in our redemption by offering her whole life and her whole self to God,
and by being the perfect and first disciple of Christ.
So co-Redemptrix must be understood as not only subordinate to Christ’s role,
but also a fundamentally different type of role. There are two types of redemptive roles.
The first type of role is held only by Christ.
The second type of role is held by all who participate in the redemption that Christ offers.”
- Ron Conte
And I would posit that you pick and choose what you like to hear coming out of these protestant’s mouths when it backs something the Roman church teaches. All the rest your church condemnded them with anathemas for.
I would also state these are great examples to never revere a great figure too much, as these men are also men, fully able to exaggerate and make mistakes. Luther was a great figure and reformer but far from perfect. Just like anyone else. No one should spend time exalting any mortal person and placing them “above the Seraphim”. I believe Luther would agree with me if he could.
Outstanding post! (And the one after this one.)
Even Calvinists are only right when they are telling the truth!
you have to realize, our ‘separated’ brethern ignore their own elder statesmen when those men support the clear biblical catholicity of Mary’s role.
Good thing we don’t worship Luther.