Today we're going to be going over one of the bloodiest times in European history. That is the period of the Thirty Years' War. The Thirty Years' War is something that these days, strangely enough, very few people are well aware of, if I can put it that way. When it comes to Europe, generally speaking, People are aware of, obviously, the big wars like World War I and World War II, and perhaps the Napoleonic Wars and things like that, but less is known. about the religious wars that broke out after the Reformation. Now, most of Europe's wars prior to the Reformation had been political as a general rule, national political rule, and were wars, obviously, where the ruling dynasties in Europe were going at it with one another. in order to grab provinces over succession, for instance, who was going to be the new king, political control in a particular area. or even, at times, control over the papacy and things like that. But the Thirty Years' War and the Reformation really brought in wars, and of course you had wars where you had the European Christians fighting various Muslim invaders, whether it be the Ottoman Turks, And that was happening in the 17th century as well. The Turks, you may remember, almost took Vienna. So this was a time of great bloodshed and so on. But now we're going to see a time where Christians are fighting Christians and not in the Inquisition and not in limited wars like the wars raged against the Albigensies or the attempt to exterminate the Waldensies and things like that. but Protestant nations versus Catholic nations, Protestant provinces versus Catholic provinces and so on. So it's going to be a new era in European history with Christians fighting Christians. So without further ado, let's pray and let us go ahead and After that, get started with our reading. Gracious God, we do pray, Lord, that you would help us to understand your word as we read the Bible, Lord. I pray that you would give us light and that you would be able to apply that to our everyday lives. But we're also very thankful for the work of various men and women. who have left behind testimonies of how you have worked in history. We are thankful for S.M. Houghton, for instance, and the insight that he showed on your work of continuing redemption in the midst of history through the centuries. And we pray, Lord, that you would help us now to remember what he said and then apply it to our own time. We pray this in Jesus' holy name. Amen and amen. Alright reading from chapter 33 the 30 years war in Germany incidentally when I say Christians fighting Christians I I don't mean Obviously that the Roman Catholics and the and the Reformed were on or the Lutherans were on the same footing I do believe that a man who does not hold to the solace of the Reformation cannot rightly be called an Orthodox Christian. And certainly with the Council of Trent, the Roman Catholics had essentially anathematized, that is said, this is curse. They had anathematized. uh... justification by faith alone and all of the solace and so therefore they had an athmatized in my mind or to my mind i should say and uh... uh... certainly to the former's minds the gospel uh... and therefore you had uh... you had christians fighting against uh... against papists we might uh... we might say in many areas but there was a lot of political opportunism and to think that all of the protestants were high-minded and saved is uh... Uh is very very naive to put it mildly. So anyway, but here we go sm houghton 33 the 30 years war in germany It will be remembered that struggles between roman catholics and protestants in the 16th century resulted in wars, which greatly troubled france Germany and the netherlands, but another religious war was yet to be fought It took place in Central Europe in the mid-17th century and was the worst war of them all, the most appalling demonstration of the consequences of war to be found in history. In Bohemia, only 6,000 villages escape destruction out of 35,000, and three quarters of the population disappeared. The total population of what was called the Empire, formerly called the Holy Roman Empire, was reduced by almost two-thirds. War casualties, famine, pestilence, and emigration accounted for this. In many cases, agriculture was completely ruined. Wolves came in where sheep had formerly grazed. Forests began to replace fields. Walled towns were unhealthily crowded with refugees from the countryside. Industry and trade suffered eclipse. Schools and universities were closed down. Women and children and noncombatants suffered greatly. Why all this? The plain answer is that the religious settlement in Germany, affected by the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, was not really a settlement at all. It applied to Roman Catholics and Lutherans only, and left the ruler of each state, and Germany was a massive state, mostly small, to decide the religion of the state. Hence, Lutherans living in a state where the ruler was Catholic were denied religious liberty. Similarly, Catholics suffered in a Lutheran state. Furthermore, a Lutheran prince might be followed by a Catholic prince, in which event the entire state was required to change its religion, as, for example, in the Palatinate, where successive electors compelled their subjects to change their religion three times in 25 years. And again in the half century after 1555, many Germans became Calvinists, but they were not given mention in the Peace of Augsburg and therefore had no liberty of worship in any state. There were also many disputes about land, which was also reckoned to be either Catholic or Protestant, but into such matters we need not enter. Let me break off really quickly here and say most Americans do not understand the depth of hatred that existed between Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Anabaptists in Europe in the 17th century, but it was deep-rooted and the worst wars we need to remember are civil wars, wars where you have essentially people from the same background and so on who are divided on some issue. You can see the level, I mean, let me give you an example. The level of hatred between people from different countries who've never met each other is generally very low. They may distrust them, they may have a generalized dislike towards them, but there is an in-ground hated hatred to them. So for instance, in the First World War, one of the things they had to stop was the fraternization of the troops because the average British Tommy didn't really have that much separating him from the average German Fritz who was who was out there. They had You know, they were usually from the same kind of middle or lower class background and really, you know, aside from the affairs of state, nothing much really divided them. But, I mean, for instance, think about the vehemence, the hatred that exists within the United States now between Republicans and Democrats. Worse than that, think about the hatred that existed between Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda before the genocide. If you live with somebody, that hatred comes boiling up. That was what was going on in Germany between the Lutherans and the Catholics. Also, one other point before we keep going. It's important to remember that the Calvinists were despised by the Lutherans as well. They viewed them as heretics because they did not hold to Luther's positions, for instance, on baptism and the Lord's Supper. And so they were outside the pale of orthodoxy. And to this day, you will run into, or I have run into, LCMS priests, or pastors, I'm so sorry, That is Lutheran Church Missouri Synod or Lutheran Church Wisconsin Synod, the two most conservative branches who still consider Calvinists to be non-Christians. They have more in common, they would say, with the Catholics. And certainly they have nothing but disdain for our theology. In any event, back to Europe, circa the 17th century. All these troubles were bound to come to a head sooner or later and so we move on to the year 1618 by which time two militant leagues had been formed the Evangelical or Calvinist Union and the Roman Catholic or Holy League the ensuing troubles began in Bohemia the country of the Czechs and of Jan Hus or John Hus Where the reform doctrines had taken a powerful hold on the affections and convictions of the people nine-tenths of whom had embraced the Reformation and Ferdinand II was their king. He was also emperor in Germany and a most zealous Catholic. Rather, said he, would I cut in pieces than allow the Church of Rome to be despised. He persecuted the Bohemian Protestants with rigor and cruelty, but the Bohemians carried their protests to the capital, Prague. And after much heated argument, they threw Ferdinand's deputies out of the windows of the council building, a sign of disapproval not uncommon in Czech history. Some have called it defenestration, from the Latin words defrom and fenestra, window. the defanistration of Prague, this is known as historically. A general revolt now began. Soon, the Bohemians renounced their allegiance to Ferdinand and chose for their king, Frederick, Elector Palatine in the southern Rhineland. But Frederick was no match for the emperor when the trial of strength took place on the battlefield. The Battle of White Mountain near Prague decided the fate of Bohemia. The Elector became a fugitive, not only from Bohemia, but from his own territories also. and Ferdinand established his authority more firmly than before. A savage persecution followed. Three out of four Czechs disappeared and the fourth was enslaved to some alien to whom the emperor sold or gave his property. Bohemia as a state vanished from the map for 200 years. As for Frederick, henceforth called the Winter King, Because of the brevity of his reign, he took refuge in Holland with his wife Elizabeth, daughter of King James I of England. Soon, the conflict between Catholics and Protestants moved from the south to the north of Germany. At this point of time, Christian IV, King of Denmark, came to the aid of the Protestant cause. The emperor's forces were led by a very able soldier named Tilly. A second army recruited by the emperor was led by an even greater commander, Albert of Wallenstein. In the outcome, Christian IV was defeated by Tilly. He fled to his islands while the Catholic army occupied most of the Danish mainland. In 1629, the Treaty of Lübeck ended this stage of the war. Austria was now overjoyed. The emperor at Vienna was in his glory. His cause seemed to be triumphant, and the Protestant hopes seemed doomed to disappointment. But in this dark hour of calamity, the dismayed Protestants suddenly saw light ahead, for to their aid came one who turned the fortunes of battle and laid the foundations of the final peace settlement. He was Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, born in the year 1594. It is claimed that he spoke German, Dutch, French, Italian, and Swedish, and understood Spanish, English, Polish, and Russian. He also possessed more knowledge of Latin and Greek, some, sorry, knowledge of Latin and Greek. More important of all, he was an evangelical Christian who read his Bible regularly and was deeply concerned to help the Protestant cause. In June 1630, Gustavus Adolphus crossed the Baltic Sea and landed on German soil with a well-trained army numbering 18,000 men opposing him. was a very much greater army commanded by Tilly, already the victor in 30 desperate battles. Ferdinand and his court held the Swedes in contempt, and remembering the overthrow of the Winter King, and of Christian IV, said, Another of these snow kings has come against us. He too will melt in our southern sun. For a time, the Protestants of Germany hesitated to join Gustavus, for they were greatly disheartened, and before the Swedish forces could show their prowess, Tilly had besieged and almost destroyed the great city of Magdeburg, one of the few places which had welcomed Sweden's intervention in the war. Nearly the whole population of 30,000 was massacred, only about 4,000 surviving. When the slaughter began and no escape was possible, the children were formed in procession and marched across the marketplace singing Luther's hymn. Lord, keep us steadfast in thy word. Curb Pope and Turk, who by the sword would wrest the kingdom from thy son, and set it not, all he hath done. Enraged by the singing, Tilly, like a second Herod, ordered all the children to be slain. The city's buildings were set on fire, and in a few hours, nothing but the cathedral and some homes of the poorest of the people remained of what had been one of the finest cities in Germany. So dreadful is war indeed. Tilly wrote to the emperor, never was such a victory since the storming of Troy or of Jerusalem. I'm sorry you and the ladies of the court were not there to enjoy the spectacle. From that time, however, the emperor's success began to decline. The sack of Magdeburg roused the Protestants from their inactivity. It united them as the massacre of St. Bartholomew in France had united the Huguenot. They rallied and marched under the standard of Gustavus, and soon their prospects began to improve. The emperor had ordered the disarmament of Saxony, and this state threw in its lot with the Swedes, whose king marched south and challenged the army of Tilly. The Battle of Breitenfeld followed. Tilly, who was himself severely wounded, met with a crushing defeat. 10,000 of his men were taken prisoner. He had sufficiently recovered, however, by the following year to fight Gustavus again, this time near the River Lech. Not only was he defeated again, but on this occasion he received his death wound. It almost seemed as if the Swedish king could now have marched against Vienna, but the emperor humbly asked the aid of Wallenstein, with whom he had previously quarreled. Wallenstein consented to help on condition that he was made the virtual dictator of Germany, both militarily and politically. The test of strength between the two armies soon came. They met at Lützen on the 6th of November, 1632. On the morning of that day, after the blessing of the Lord had been invoked, the whole Swedish army sang great Luther's great hymn, Almighty Fortress is Our God, and also Gustavus' own battle hymn, Fear Not, O Little Flock the Foe. Then the king and his army knelt down, kneeled down rather, and again offered prayer. A dense fog which covered the field of battle lifted about 10 o'clock. The king then addressed his troops, gave the watchword, God with us, cried forward and led them personally against the foe. But there came the moment in the tumult of battle with the fog again descending. When the king found himself isolated from his men, he fell wounded. One of the enemies, seeing his plot, asked him who he was, and he replied, I am the king of Sweden, and this day I seal with my blood the liberty and religion of the German nation. Hearing such words, a soldier shot him through the head. When the Swedes heard of this blow to their cause, they fought with even greater valor, caused the emperor's troops to quit the field of battle, recover the king's body, and mourn for him, even in victory. Later, the corpse was laid to rest in a Stockholm church. The war continued for another 18 years. Wallenstein and the emperor soon found themselves at cross purposes once more. And in 1634, the general was murdered in his tent by an Irish soldier of fortune. Later, that's a mercenary. Later, the French joined in the war for Cardinal Richelieu believed that it could be manipulated to the advantage of the French Bourbon House against the Austrian House of Habsburg. But finally, all parties wearied of the struggle, and in 1648, the Peace of Westphalia was signed. Widespread territorial changes occurred. Calvinists received equal rights with Lutherans and Roman Catholics. The emperor abandoned his plan to force Catholicism upon Germany. No principle of religious toleration was formulated, but this proved to be the last of the great wars of religion. Protestantism had won the right to exist in Central Europe. But it was long before Germany recovered from its wounds. All right. Well, brothers and sisters, we will tomorrow be reading chapter 34, English Puritanism, chiefly under Elizabeth. And we'll actually be going back in time to uh the protestant era oh uh tom hudson says maria pole under siege by putin supported by the russian orthodox patriarch looks a little today like magdeburg gold history repeats itself doesn't it well maria paul fell as well unfortunately One thing we need to remember about Ukraine, though, is that it's a mostly Eastern Orthodox state. And while the Russians are certainly not religious, the Ukrainians are a little more religious. In terms of church attendance, I believe the breakdown is 7% of Russians go to church and about between 12 and 16% of Ukrainians do. And certainly the gospel has been growing, not by leaps and bounds, but growing very steadily, or was growing in the Ukraine. So there are some similarities, and Americans don't realize the degree to which the war in Ukraine is also a war of religion in one sense, in that The Ukrainians broke from the Russian Orthodox Church and established the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. So you have two nationalistic churches in that particular area, both under the heading of Eastern Orthodoxy. But we need to remember that neither Ukrainian Orthodoxy or Russian Orthodoxy is really orthodox in the sense of believing in justification by faith alone or the solace of the Reformation that we've been reading about. But an interesting area, and important to realize that the wars in Europe are always just on pause. They never finally end, and we'll never reach that utopia of a warless existence while the fall still exists in the world. But we are grateful to God that he has restrained our hands in that while we have had the ability to destroy ourselves entirely through nuclear weapons for the last 70 years, He has not allowed that to happen, and we should be grateful, very grateful for that. In any event, brothers and sisters, I will see you, God willing, tomorrow, when we will be, as I said, discussing Puritanism in England, which means we'll be going back to the 16th century from the 17th century, and we'll discuss exactly how it was that the Puritans waxed and waned again in England.