“And ye shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free”
(John 8:32).
“My people are destroyed for
lack of knowledge: because thou hast
rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee,...” (Hosea 4:6).
“Here is the patience of the
saints: here are they that keep the
commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev 14:12).
It seems that most
mainstream Christians cannot fully grasp the tremendously important roll God's Holy Sabbath has played in church history. For
instance what part did the Sabbath play in the Reformation? The reformers paid a
terrible price for their rejection of the seventh day Sabbath and for their
refusal to accept it as an article of revolt against the Catholic Church. They
flatly rejected
the Sabbath rest of the Scriptures.They claimed to
follow the written word only (the Bible as we now call it), and to refuse the
traditions of the Church. (Sunday is a tradition of the Roman Church that has not
one text word of divine authority).
Martin Luther was
not the staunch advocate of truth that many suppose. He
is highly praised for claiming to follow the Scriptures only. He
stated
that he was discarding all tradition. He and the reformers (so called) were
challenged at the termination of the Council of Trent by the Archbishop of Reggio. He said all their claims of discarding tradition were false as long as they
retained Sunday. This rejection of the Seventh day Sabbath was also a tradition
instituted by The Catholic Church. This change in the day of worship is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures.
Sabbath Truth Presented
But Rejected by
Luther
Almost unknown to most
Christian literature is the name of Andreas Rudolph B. Carlstadt, the
great apostle of the seventh day Sabbath. He
was born in Carlstadt, Bavaria, in 1480 and died in Basel, Switzerland,
on December 25, 1541, at the age of 61 years. Carlstadt was a personal
friend and co-worker with Martin Luther but strenuously opposed him on
the Sabbath
issue.
Carlstadt observed
the seventh day Sabbath and taught its observance. D’Aubigne says that Luther himself admitted that Carlstadt was his
superior in learning (Fifield's History, Reference book ten, page 315.)
The rejection of the
Sabbath at the Council of Trent at once crippled the advance of the
Reformation. Protestants and Protestant reformers will be held
responsible on Judgment Day for their unfaithfulness at a time when the
entire
Roman Church pivoted toward discarding all tradition.
At this point let us
refer to the eminent Doctor Dowling. In his History of Romanism, book
two chapter one, he says: “The Bible and the Bible only, is the
religion of Protestants.” It is, further, of no “. . . account in the
estimation of
a genuine Protestant how early a doctrine originated if it is not found
in the
Bible...” Hence if doctrine be propounded for his acceptance, he asks,
“Is it found in the
inspired word? Was it taught by the Lord Jesus Christ or His apostles?”
It did not matter to
him whether it had been discovered in the musty folio of some ancient visionary of the third or fourth century or whether it
emerged from the fertile brain of some modern visionary of the nineteenth. If it was
not found in the sacred Scriptures it presented no valid claim to be received as
an article of his religious creed.
He who receives a single
doctrine from the mere authority of tradition, by so doing steps down from the Protestant Rock, passes over the line that
separates Protestantism from Popery and give no reason why he should not receive
all the earlier doctrines and ceremonies of Romanism. Again,
the Italian
historian Gavassi says, “A pagan flood flowing into the church, carried
with it its customs, practices and idols” (Gavazzi's Lectures,
Page 290).
To quote another
authority, Dr. White, Bishop of Ely: “The observance of the seventh day
was being revived in Luther's time by Carlstadt” (Treatise
of the Sabbath, page 8). And from Sears' Life of Luther, page 402:
“Carlstadt
held to the Divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament,” Indeed Luther says
(in his book Against the Celestial Prophets): “Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have
to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday— must be kept holy.”
Carlstadt
said: “In regard to the ceremonies of the Church, all are to be rejected which have not a warrant
in the Bible.”
Luther asserted on the contrary,
“Whatever is not against the Scripture is
for it.”
“Not so,”
said Carlstadt. “We
are bound to the Bible, and no one may decide after the thoughts of his own heart” (Sears' Life of Luther, pages 401,
402).
“It cannot be denied
that in many respects Carlstadt was in advance of Luther, and doubtless the Reformation owes him much good for which he
has not the credit” (McClintok and Strong's Cyclopedia, Volume 2, page 123).
“From the Catholic
(Roman) teaching of justification by works of penance, etc. Luther went
to the opposite extreme of justification withou works. This idea caused
him to deny that the Epistle of James was inspired, because
James, said, `Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.' This attitude made
Luther spurn the true Christian Sabbath” History of the Sabbath by Andrews. See third edition, 1887
Read what Draper
says: “Toward the close of Luther's life it seemed as if there were no
other prospects for papal power than total ruin. Yet at this
day, 1930, out of three hundred millions of Christians, more than half
owe allegiance
to Rome (1967: Moslems 500 million, Roman Catholics 550 million, at
least).
Almost as by enchantment the Reformation ceased to advance. Rome
was not only able
to check its spread but even to gain back a portion of what she had
lost”
Intellectual Development Volume 2, page 216
Protestant
Victory Almost Won, But Lost, Why?
Now in dealing with
the Council of Trent (held in northeast Italy. and lasting from 1545 to
1563 A.D.), we must quote another well versed writer, G. E. Fifield, D.
D., in his incomparable tract, Origin of Sunday as a
Christian (?) Festival (Published by American Sabbath Tract Society,
Seventh Day Baptist Church). To quote Dr. Fifield:
“At the council of
Trent, called by the Roman Church to deal with questions arising out of the Reformation, it was at first an apparent possibility
that the Council would declare in favor of the reformed doctrines instead of
against them, so profound was the impression made thus far by the teachings of Luther
and other reformers.
“The Pope's legate
actually wrote to him that there was “strong tendency to set aside tradition altogether, and to make the Scriptures the sole
standard of appeal.”
The question was debated day by day, until it was fairly brought to a
standstill. Finally the Archbishop of Reggio turned the Council against the
Reformation by the following argument: “The Protestants claim to stand upon the
written word only; they profess to hold the Scriptures alone as the standard of
faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostasized from
the written word and follows tradition. Now the Protestant's claim that they stand
upon the written word alone is not true.
“Their profession of
holding the Scriptures alone as the standard of faith is false. Proof: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance of the
seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. lf
they truly hold the Scriptures alone as the standard, they would be observing the
seventh day as it is enjoined in the Scriptures throughout. Yet they not only
reject the observance of the Sabbath as enjoined in the written word, but they
have only the tradition of the (Catholic) Church. “Consequently,
the
claim of Scripture alone as the standard fails and the doctrine of
'Scripture and tradition as essential' is fully established, the
Protestants themselves being Judges.”
See The Proceedings
of the Council of Trent, Augsburg Confession, and Encyclopedia Britannica, article “Trent, Council of.” At this argument,
the party that had stood for the Scripture alone surrendered, and the Council at
once unanimously condemned Protestantism, and the whole Reformation. It at
once proceeded to enact stringent decrees to arrest its progress.
Results Of The Reformation
Now what were the
results of the Reformation? Let us hear what Myers the historian says:
“The outcome of the revolt, very broadly stated, was
the separation from the Roman Catholic Church of the Northern, or
Teutonic nations, that is to say, of Northern Germany, parts of
Switzerland and
the Netherlands, and of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, England and Scotland.
The Romance Nations, namely, Italy, France and Spain, together with
Celtic
lreland, adhered to the old Church.”
Of the spiritual
results of
the revolt the same writer says: “ln a spiritual or religious point of
view, this severance of the Northern nations of the bonds that
formerly united them to the ecclesiastic empire of Rome meant a
transfer of
their allegiance...” And he finally sums up: “Thus one half of Western
Christendom was lost to the Roman Church.”
From this we see
that the Roman Church, attacked by the Reformers, had at one time faced utter defeat. But she recovered! The
reformers had
dealt a death blow to the Papacy. Unfortunately, the reformers
themselves bound up the wound by clinging to Sunday, Rome's day, and to
other Papal traditions. They rejected the Sabbath of the
Scrintures.
Conclusion:
“And I heard another
voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues ” (Rev 18:4).
God is giving a last
solemn warning today to come out of those same traditions that most
early Protestant leaders carried over from the Roman Catholic
Church (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, to name a few.) The attempted
change of
the Law that God himself wrote with his own finger is only part of the
traditions that the Protestants brought out of the Roman Church.
“And he shall speak
great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws:...”
Daniel 7:25. The Sabbath command (Exodus 20: 8-11) is only part of the list.
Tradition is vain worship. Our eternal destiny is at stake in our decisions, friends. “Howbeit in vain do they
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Mark 7:7)
(Compiled from a
tract by Frank Walker)
Shining Light Ministries
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