Historical Story of the Reformation: Luther the Separatist and Schismatic from Our Mother?

Not everyone is a big fan of history, but let me remind you of the famous and helpful quotation that says: “Those who are ignorant of the mistakes and errors of the past, are doomed to repeat them.”  Even if you aren’t a big fan of history, I think it is important to consider how the Church of the Reformation and the Church today are in very similar situations and I would encourage you to read this story and how it can give us all wisdom today.

 

Before I begin, let me tell you a brief story from my own experience as a pastor in the local community.  I had a conversation with a man last year where he told me that because he could not find a faithful congregation of saints (and I can sympathize concerning the weaknesses of many congregations of Christ’s people), he was going to take it upon himself to begin “anew” and to “seek to bring reformation, and attempt to establish solid Bible-believing churches like Luther.  I appreciated his zeal, but I asked him what he thought about Martin Luther.  I asked him: “Do you think Luther was a separatist or schismatic from Christ’s Church?” He answered that Luther was called by God to split from the Church.  I said to him: “You have a very unbiblical way of thinking of how Luther and we should reform the Church of Christ.  Luther never left the Church, the Church left Luther, if you will.”  The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century was just that: a reformation of the Church, which implies that it was done decently and in good order, by the help and aid of the Holy Spirit, within the Church herself.

 

My point in saying this to the man was not to unnecessarily offend, but to encourage him to see that although he was eager to see change in Christ’s Church, and I can very much appreciate it, he was willing to split, or to be separate, or to be schismatic from the one holy catholic and apostolic Church of Christ in order to achieve his goal or end; And I don’t believe that is what he should do, or what Martin Luther and the Reformers did.  In fact, they specifically answered this claim of being separatists by arguing back to the Roman Catholic communion, that it was not the Reformers who left the Church and the gospel, the Roman Catholic communion denied the gospel and ceased to be the Church [Note: Rome formally denied the gospel at the Council of Trent, ca. 1545-1563; Rome still uphold this decision today: see ‘Catechism of the Catholic Church’, 1996].  Let us consider this story from the Reformation, as we think about our own time, and learn together with all the saints concerning our heritage and gain wisdom as to how to be “reformational” in our understanding of the Church.

 

As noted above, there is another similarity within Evangelicalism today and the Evangelicals of the Reformation.  Because of the abusiveness of the Church by Rome, and because some believed naively in rescuing the Church individualistically apart from the visible Church in small groups, or by taking it upon themselves to leave, John Calvin as the leading teaching of the Reformation had to address the sin of being a separatist and to form a schism in the one Church. 

 

Why did Calvin as a leading teacher of the Reformation address this matter and find it to be important?  For two reasons primarily and they are both related: 1) He believed in one “mother” who Christ had established and therefore there could not be more than one Church of Christ; and 2) Because when Luther and Calvin and the other Evangelicals began seemingly and in appearance to leave the visible communion of Rome, they were accused of being sinful schismatics who were undermining their foundational Nicene Creedal confession that “we believe in one holy catholic apostolic church”.  He needed to defend the “reformational” understanding of the Church against the accusations that they were dividing Christ’s people.

 

The Evangelicals of the Reformation had to respond in their own defense because they knew that to leave the visible institution, family and school of Christ was a sin.  The Evangelicals who God used to “rescue and restore” the gospel in the sixteenth century were primarily ordained men who were already in places as pastor-elders like Martin Luther, or theological teachers, such as John Calvin (these were not “Lone-Spiritual-Rangers” who raised themselves up for the task, but ordained ministers called by God and the Church to teach the true and biblical gospel). 

 

It should be remembered that Luther and Calvin and the other Evangelicals of the Reformation did not leave the one visible Church.  They were used by God to restore the one visible Church by God’s grace from within, because they had been called by God to shepherd the people of God with the apostolic gospel and biblical teaching.  The Evangelical Reformers did not leave the Church, the largest manifestation of the visible Church at the time, the Roman Catholic communion left the Church in denying the gospel and apostolic teaching of the Bible.

 

Although the Roman Catholic communion with all its outward glory and tremendous buildings looked like the real visible Church, it was just a shell of a woman without a gospel soul, and therefore because it undermined and denied the apostolic and biblical teaching of the gospel, it ceased to be a visible church of Christ.  In other words, the Roman Catholic communion could not claim to be the Church of Christ because it did not show forth the three marks of the Church. 

 

At the time of the Reformation in the 1500s, the preaching of the Word was in Latin, not in the language of the people, and so the poor people of God could not hear of Jesus and His grace.  The Word was undermined by unbiblical traditions of man.  The sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper had been corrupted, some within Rome believing that baptism regenerates, and the Christ is actually sacrificed in the “mass” or the taking of the Lord’s Supper (not to mention they had added five additional sacraments to the list, even though Christ had not instituted or established these).  Discipline was not upheld or practiced within the Roman communion and so there were many wicked men and imposters, who although were called pastor-elders, had no accountability to other men and had become heretical, unloving pastor-shepherds who were poisoning the sheep of Christ.  So Christian men and women were looking again for a visible manifestation of their mother.

 

John Calvin and a Man Named Sadoleto

In 1539, an important Roman Catholic teacher named Cardinal Sadoleto wrote to the church and city of Geneva to encourage those churches whom had separated from the Church of Rome to return “home” to their mother in the Roman Catholic communion.  The nurturing and loving image of “mother” was used by ungodly cardinals and teachers in the Church of Rome, as an authoritative, smeared image with no love or nurture at all attached to it.  In response to this veiled threat from this important teacher, Calvin wrote as a teacher-theologian of the Church at Geneva to correct Cardinal Sadoleto, and deny the claim that he and the other Reformers were being sectarian and schismatics. Calvin wrote (and notice how his understanding of the three marks of the Church, faithful preaching of the Word of God, faithful administration of the sacraments, and faithful discipline to uphold the first two marks, drives his thinking as he addresses Sadoleto’s criticism):

 

“[Sadoleto] You either labor under a delusion as to the term Church, or, at least, knowingly and willingly give it a gloss….When you describe it as that which in all parts, as well as at the present time, in every region of the earth, being united and consenting in Christ, has been always and everywhere directed by the one Spirit of Christ, what comes of the Word of the Lord, that clearest of all marks, and which the Lord himself, in pointing out the Church, so often recommends to us? For seeing how dangerous it would be to boast of the Spirit without the Word, he declared that the Church is indeed governed by the Holy Spirit, but in order that that government might not be vague and unstable, he annexed it to the Word.”[3]

 

Calvin disputed with Sadoleto because although he claimed the Reformers had left the Church, Calvin replied that the Church and the working of the Holy Spirit were to be annexed to the Word of God.  When the Word of God is undermined and perverted, no longer teaching the will of Christ to his bride, then that outward manifestation in this world that once was a Church ceases to be one. Rome had denied the true gospel of the Word of Jesus Christ and it was not Calvin and the Reformers who had abandoned Christ, it was Rome.

 

Calvin puts it bluntly to Sadoleto, “Now, if you can bear to receive a truer definition of the Church than your own, say, in future, that it is the society of all the saints, a society which, spread over the whole world, and existing in all ages, yet bound together by the one doctrine, and the one Spirit of Christ, cultivates and observes unity and brotherly accord. With this Church we deny that we have any disagreement. Nay, rather, as we revere her as our mother, so we desire to remain in her bosom.”[4]

 

In this quotation, we see clearly that Calvin and the Reformers were still confessing the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.  There was nothing the Reformers wanted more than to honor Christ by revering “our mother” as he says above.  However, the issue between Rome and the Reformers was not with the one-ness (unity), nor the holiness, nor the catholicity, but with the apostolicity. 

 

Rome had ceased to teach the apostolic gospel found in the Bible, and they had ceased to interpret their Bibles with the Church before them.  In fact, as we will study later in part three, Rome undermined the established the faithful creeds, confessions, and councils that had already been accepted as Biblical in teaching in the early church long before the early Church took on the name the Roman Catholic Church (this happened in the later after the 5th century AD in what has been called the “Middle Ages” or “Medieval Period” of Church History).

 

The Serious Sin of Being Sectarian and Schismatic

John Calvin and the Reformers, although accused by the Roman Catholic communion to be a schismatic wrote concerning those who would make themselves sectarians and schismatics:

 

"...Where the preaching of the gospel is reverently heard and the sacraments are not neglected, there for the time being no deceitful or ambiguous form of the church is seen; and no one is permitted to spurn its authority, flout its warnings, resist its counsels, or make light of its chastisements- - much less desert it and break its unity.

 

For the Lord esteems the communion of His Church so highly that he counts as a traitor and apostate from Christianity anyone who arrogantly leaves any Christian society, provided it cherishes the true ministry of Word and sacraments. He so esteems the authority of the Church that when it is violated he believes his own authority is diminished" (‘Institutes’, IV.1.x).

 

The reason Calvin can speak in this manner is that the visible Church is called "the pillar and ground (or foundation) of the truth" and the very "house of God" (1 Timothy 3:15).  The Church is the faithful keeper of Christ's own precious Word to His people.  The Church is not only founded on the Apostles and Prophets, with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20), it is the Church that has been preserved through the ages by the providential work of God's Holy Spirit. 

 

We should learn wisdom from this.  As the visible Church today, we should think prayerfully as Christians, how much our family from the past can guide us to better understand our own time period.  We must remember that biblically and historically, to divide from a faithful visible Church for whatever reason, or to take it upon oneself to read the Scriptures without considering the faithful interpretation of the Scriptures in the creeds and councils of the Church is to dishonor the work of the Holy Spirit for the last 2000 years! 

 

The Apostle Paul says:

 

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16).

 

The Church is the place where God's Word and Sacraments are given so that Christ's people might grow mature in their faith (Eph. 4:14-16), avoiding the errors and false teachings of men.  Calvin wrote in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians, explaining the importance of Ephesians 4:16 with regard to the unity of the Church and the attitude of love and humility we ought to have one to another, not dividing, or separating from the visible Church, but remembering that we all have a common source- -Christ the LORD:

 

“All the life or health which is diffused through the members flows from the head; so that the members occupy a subordinate rank…By the distribution made, the limited share of each renders the communication between all the members absolutely necessary…Without mutual love, the health of the body cannot be maintained. Through the members, as canals, is conveyed from the head all that is necessary for the nourishment of the body. While this connection is upheld, the body is alive and healthy. Each member, too, has its own proper share- - according to the effectual working in the measure of every part.”

 

Are You Tempted to Leave Your Mother?

If you are sometimes tempted to separate from the visible Church because of personal sins and imperfections of your brothers and sisters, or if you are in a communion where the Word is not correctly taught, and the sacraments are not rightly administered, and if you have no real accountability and true discipline from your elders (1 Corinthians 5), you must remember that we learn both in the Bible as well as historically that it is not for you to take it upon yourself to separate from the visible Church and "go home", but to find a faithful and orthodox church as near as possible to your home so that your family can grow.  You should prayerfully ask the Holy Spirit to reveal our Mother to you!  She is still to be found because the gates of hell will never prevail against Christ’s Church!

 

As fathers or mothers who have the responsibility to teach our children about Christ’s Church, may we never implicitly or explicitly, in our words or in our deeds or actions, communicate to the next generation of children that the visible Church is insufficient and unimportant! If we do this, we are guilty of NOT rightly nurturing and admonishing them in the LORD.  For Christ has established that they be admonished and nurtured in the LORD in the visible Church (Deut. 27-32; Eph. 4:11-16; Eph. 6:1-4).  You may be part of an unfaithful visible Church, but you are called to find a faithful manifestation of the Christ's Church, not to separate and individualistically to try and interpret the Scriptures for yourself, or write your own creed or confession, or statement of faith. 

 

Rather, you are called to root yourself in the historical and orthodox Christian Church, and to seek to find pastor-elders and teachers in your community who line themselves up with these correct and orthodox teachings of Scripture, no matter how far you have to travel, it will be worth it when you find yourself maturing and growing in Christ as His disciple once again! And oh! How it will bless your marriage, your family life, and be reassuring when you fall short and go through a difficult circumstance in your life!

 

Calvin writes of the importance of finding a true visible Church but avoiding the separation from the Church with all one’s might when he writes: “It is also no common praise to say that Christ has chosen and set apart the church as his bride, ‘without spot or wrinkle’ (Eph. 5:27), ‘his body and…fullness’ (Eph. 1:23). 

 

From this it follows that separation from the church is the denial of God and Christ. Hence, we must even more avoid so wicked a separation. For when with all our might we are attempting the overthrow of God’s truth, we deserve to have him hurl the whole thunderbolt of his wrath to crush us. Nor can any more atrocious crime be conceived than for us by sacrilegious disloyalty to violate the marriage that the only-begotten Son of God deigned to contract with us (Eph. 5:23-32)” [emphasis mine] (‘Institutes’, IV.1.x).

 

As the people of God, let us return to this kind of “reformational” way of thinking.  Let us remember that what Christ has made one and unified, let no man tear asunder.

 

“Our Mother’s Not Good Enough for Me!”: Self-Righteous Separation from Our Mother

There is also separation that can take place from our “mother” because of negative interactions, miscommunications and difficult relationships with other Christians.  We can presume to think that somehow we have reached a higher level of sanctification than other brothers and sisters in the visible Church, and seek to split and start another congregation of Christ’s saints because “our mother’s not good enough for me.”  This also happened frequently in the Reformation, and in order to have a “reformational” understanding of the Church, it would be helpful to consider the wisdom of our “fathers” concerning this reaction to other Christians.

 

Calvin makes it clear in his writings that separation from the church because of perceived scandal or leaving because of personal problems with others in Christ's congregation sets one self-righteously up as judge of other Christians.  As Christ teaches there will always be tares and wheat growing up together.

 

As Augustine said concerning the visible Church in his argument against the Donatists (who wanted to "start afresh" and leave the visible Church because they thought that they were the only true Christians who were righteous earlier in church history in the 5th century AD): "There are many sheep without and many wolves within."  Even though this can be a reality, scandals or personal problems are never biblical reasons for leaving the visible Church of Christ. 

 

Later in the Reformation, Calvin described the kind of people who leave the visible Church founded upon correct biblical teaching, yet imperfect in her sanctification: "For there have always been those who, imbued with a false conviction of their own perfect holiness, as if they had already become a sort of perfect angelic spirit-people who could do no wrong, spurned association with all men in whom they discern any remnant of human nature of sin....There are others who sin more out of ill-advised zeal for righteousness than out of that insane pride. When they do not see a quality of life corresponding to the doctrine of the gospel among those to whom it is announced, they immediately judge that no church exists in that place." (‘Institutes’, IV.1.xiii).

 

The Church as Country Club or “Corinthian-Hospital-Rehabilitation” Clinic

As Christians who are saved by grace, nevertheless who struggle against indwelling sin (Rom. 7:7-25; Heb. 3:12-13; 12:3), we need to change our image of the Church of Christ as a country club, and remember that the Church when properly understood is a hospital or rehabilitation clinic for sinners who are being “cleaned up” and purified by the Lord Jesus himself!  Country-club-Christianity will expect perfection and be surprised by sin in a local congregation, but Hospital-Rehab-Christianity will have biblically real expectations of other Christians- -those who are alive in our generation, as well as those who went before us.  Do you have a biblical doctrine of sin and do you understand the Church as a hospital or rehab clinic?

 

If you are tempted to leave the Church because you think you have achieved a higher sanctification than other Christians, or if you are worried that other Christians might “contaminate” you and your family, then you have a low doctrine of sin in your own heart, and an unrealistic perspective on the Church.  It would be helpful to remember as Christians who are blessed to be under the right preaching of the Word and the right administration of the Sacraments in the visible Church, that we are all "works in progress" as sinners saved by grace and that is why we as Christians constantly need to hear the gospel too!  Jesus has said that he will finish and complete the work he has begun in us, but that this was a lifetime of pursuing holiness (Phil. 1:6; 2:12-13). 

 

It is ironic that some would separate from the visible Church because of their perceiving some in their midst to be more sinful, but the visible Church is exactly the hospital where those who struggle with sin as Christians should be! It is just in those difficult relationships with other Christians that we learn to be meek, hunger and thirst for righteousness, merciful, forgiving, and pure in heart.  It is ironic that if Christ has given the visible Church for us to seek unity and one-minded-ness together (cf. Phil. 2:2-5), and we are commanded to honor others and consider others more important than ourselves (Rom. 12:9ff; Phil. 2:1-3), that to leave the visible Church is to make shipwreck of our sanctification in many ways.

 

Consider for example the visible Church at Corinth as a “Hospital-Rehab Clinic”.  The Christians at Corinth were divisive, unloving, had a sinner in their midst who had not been biblically disciplined yet (1 Cor. 1:10-16; 5:1-7).  Corinth was a gifted congregation of Christ’s people (1 Cor. 12) who could not get along, and even were called "fleshly" by Paul because they were acting like sinful men of the world (1 Corinthians 3), yet Paul still called them "saints", those "sanctified or holy in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:2; 6:11ff).  Paul understood, as we should, that our sanctification in Christ is a present reality, but there is still much work for God to do in all of us!  Yet love never fails!

 

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

 

The Church at Corinth had right teaching of the Word, and were learning even more as they grew in Christ to maturity (1 Cor. 1:24-31; cf. Eph. 4:11-16).  Corinth had the correct administration of the sacraments, but they were struggling to understand what the Lord’s Supper “meant” and how it represented the unity of the one Body of Christ (1 Cor. 1:16; 10:14ff; 11:19ff), and even had discipline, although they had to be corrected by the Apostle Paul for not exercising it (1 Cor. 4:18ff; 5:1ff).  Yet Corinth with all their sins and misunderstandings of apostolic teaching was also a true visible Church of Christ with "sanctified sinners" in the midst of the congregation.  They were an example of perhaps a typical visible Church that we could remember for ourselves today in order to have more biblical and real expectations of sinners saved by grace.

 

The Church at Corinth was a true Church, but had imperfect people within.  However, they had elders/teachers/pastors and the members were learning and receiving the sacraments from them and growing together in love.

 

As in the Reformation, there is great distrust from many Evangelical, Bible-believing Christians today concerning the visible Church, particularly since some have experienced abusive leadership from pastors and elders, incorrect teaching, and various forms of abuse that come from those who profess the name of Christ. 

 

As in the Reformation, we need to be reminded that although there are abuses, this does not mean that we should individualistically take it upon ourselves to be Christians outside and apart from the ordained institution of Christ's Church, either separated physically and literally, or separated confessionally and spiritually.  Or to change the metaphor, we should never self-righteously seek our learning about Christ in His Word apart from the mother God has graciously provided for His people. 

 

You could say that biblically and historically an essential truth of Christian teaching is a sound doctrine of the Church.  You could say that how much you love Christ is how much you show your love for his Church.  Or to put it another way, if you are not for the Church, you are against her and have become her rival even though it may be unintentional on your part.

 

To separate from the visible Church has consistently been considered a sin by Christians in history.  Jesus said: “He who is not with me, is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23).  As the people of God today, we need to think how we can more obediently set about the task of seeking unity visibly in Christ’s Church.  I think this can be accomplished by first returning to a reformational doctrine of the Church as our mother, because we will long to be in her embrace and love, and seek to serve Christ in the visible community where he has called his people to work and serve on earth.

 

What we learn from the Bible as well as Church History is that it is imperative for Christians today, particularly those like myself who call themselves Evangelical, Bible-believing Christians to repent of our undermining (implicitly or explicitly) the Church of Jesus Christ.  If we deny ourselves fellowship from Christ’s visible Church and attempt to seek godliness, and Christ-likeness apart from Christ’s ordained means, we are best weak, feeble and ignorant Christians, and at worst, no Christians at all. 

 

The Church is the visible body, covenantal community, and very mother of the faithful, the only normal, or “ordinary” place where we should find salvation and the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.  The ministry of the Holy Spirit is a ministry to Christ’s Church.  We cannot then properly hear the preaching and declaration of the gospel apart from the Church, nor participate in the right administration of the sacraments, nor expect to grow in grace apart from the fellowship of the covenant community Christ has given through which we might grow.

 

We follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus and the apostles and prophets by being a visible Church that is incomplete in holiness, but constantly forgiving and merciful toward each other as we forgive the sins that we so commonly commit against our Lord and each other in thought, word and deed.  The hope of the Church is not separation from it, as if we are somehow holier than those who remain in Christ's visible congregation, but the hope is in our forgiving one another and seeking unity through love. 

 

“Our Mother’s Love: "He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear What the Spirit Says to the Churches"

We can see a glimpse of the visible and universal Church of Jesus Christ by looking at Revelation 2-3.  Jesus Christ walked among these churches that represent not only real historic churches of Asia Minor, but the visible Church of Jesus on earth until he returns. As Christ walked among these churches, so he walks among his churches today.  There are some churches more faithful to his truth than others, and this should never be disputed. Rather, there should be a prayerful and humble seeking of Christ's visible congregations to rightly interpret and carefully handle the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

 

In Christ's addresses to the seven churches of Asia Minor, we should have "ears to hear" his address to visible congregations today.  As the seven churches of Asian Minor are judged by how accurately they hold to the Word of Truth, so congregations today are judged by Jesus Christ the Lord by how accurately they hold to the Word of Truth.  As some of these churches had become "synagogues of Satan", not holding to Christ's truth, so many visible congregations of Christ's church have become haunts and wildernesses with regard to the truth as well!

 

Christ commends some of the churches of Asia Minor because they are holding out the Word of Truth in persecution, sufferings, and all manners of trials just because they are speaking the truth of God's Word in this world of sin and misery and this storms the institutions and organizations of hell itself!  Christ encourages some of the congregations (as he does us today!) that if they more precisely and accurately teach and make known his Word, so they will grow more mature in their faith.  This is a reminder of the importance of avoiding some vague and lowest common theology in the Church today, and seeking with the Church throughout history (rooted back in the 7 Churches of Asia Minor), to know the truth that we are all called to be sanctified by (John 17:17).

 

The visible Church of Jesus today, in order to be commended by the Lord Jesus must return to a right handling and right teaching of His Word and a right administration of His sacraments, and an appreciation of what God in Christ has already established as Biblical teaching throughout the last 2000 years.  Jesus says to the churches of Asia Minor and to us today, that if we will repent of our unbiblical teachings and life, if we will seek our first Love with all of our hearts by His grace, if we will endure even when others visible congregations of Christ speak ill of us, if we will seek to forgive each other, and if we will seek to honor Christ's visible Church by becoming members of it, we shall truly be overcomers and conquerors by His grace!

 

The Roman Church during the Reformation died, although it was once part of the visible Churches of Christ, because it no longer held to the doctrines of salvation by grace alone revealed in Holy Scripture, and disagreed with the orthodox articulations and formulations of Biblical teaching in early church history.  The Word of God was no longer preached, and the sacraments were not only abused, but additional ones were added that were not instituted and ordained by Christ.  Yet God was faithful in the Reformation to raise up ordained ministers within the Church to respond to these abuses and false teachings as Jesus responded to the churches false teaching in Asia Minor! 

 

“He Who Has Ears, Let Him Hear What the Spirit Says to the Church.”

 

Having considered the teaching of the visible Church, her call to unity and apostolicity, and having learned from the historical situation in the Reformation of the Sixteenth century, let us now consider the ordained office of pastor-elders and why Christ has given them to us as gifts.  Let us also think through why accountability, ordination, and a higher view of the office of pastor-elder ought to be considered in Evangelical, Bible-believing congregations of Christ’s one Church today.

 

End of Part One

 

Part Two: Our Mother’s Ordained Ministry

Next Chapter: Chap. 6: Our Mother’s Ordained Ministry: Why Ordained Men?

Copyright 2005 A Place for Truth. None of this material may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author.