I have had the privilege of visiting many different countries as part of my recent work, and one of the most beautiful places is the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium. Every time I visit the city, I always make a point of going to this outstandingly beautiful location. I would have stood looking up at those high spires and admiring the magnificant architecture, and marvelled at how the workers ever achieved such a fete.
However, just today (17th Jan 2012), I learned that that place has a somewhat different notoriety, because it was at this exact place in Brussels that made its mark on the great Protestant Reformation in Europe in the sixteenth century. Let Dr F. A. Schaeffer tell the story:
When Luther had begun his preaching, he received word about the first Protestant martyrs. Some monks had read his work, turned to his way of thinking, and were burned alive in the Grand Place in Brussels. The spot is still marked where they died. And the story is told that when Martin Luther heard about it, he began to walk the floor and he said, 'I can't go on. I can't do it anymore. Because of me other men are being killed. I can't go on!' Then as he wrestled with it, he understood that because it was truth, no matter what the cost to himself or anybody else, he must go on.
Schaeffer continues, "Thank God, Martin Luther marched straight forward - the reformation went forward."
The next time I visit the Grand Place in Brussels, while still admiring its beauty and magnificence, I will remember those godly men who died for Christ and his Gospel.
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