," 'Why tone' Prqtesta~'t:.. ~Reformation BAILEDr '":r by Frank M. "Walker;from ~,tract by-Raymond. Clark, D.D.). "," ...•

. Martin Luther (1483-1546) ,- "

. "Blessedqre they that do His com- ,~,',"mandments, that they may have right /0','the. tree/of life, and may enter in'

through'.thi'gates-,. into the city,'"'. Revelation:22:14-. ', - ~~Andy~' shall -knowihe truth, and" ,""theftuth'$hall- make you free," John'

8 32 "r'-<':. ',., . \' ' '~~'"My p~ople are destr.oyed for lack: '.' '

, a/knowledge'. , '. ~eeing thou hast,-::forgotte~ /he _law of thy God I wi11also', .forget thy children," Hosea 4:6.

" ".-. . ,,' here are they that keep the,;~ c;ommandments' of God, .and the faith of'

Jesu;"(RevelationJ4d2).', ,.' ""', ',,' , ,It seems, thatmos! 'ma,instream"

'Christians' cannot .fully" grasp ,the ,.~tremendously 'important iol~ God's' .'~'Holy Sabb,ath has played "in" chux;c,h',:history.' Forcinstance, what part did 'the;'

" Sabbath phiy in the Reformation? The'-reformers paid a t~J;flble~pt.ice fof their:·'rejection of the seventh-day; 'Sabbath: ' 'and for their refusal to accepfit.~s arY'~article ,of revolt against' the Catholi<;',Church. ' 'They flaily<~ejected 'the ',,'

. , Sabbath.rest, of the 'Sdriptl;ires. They'claimed to, follow the Written word only.(the Bi,ble as we now" oall it), and to·refus.e . ,the tradition,s' of, the Church"(Sunday '.i~t 'a .tnidition"of,the Romai',':'Church that has not one. text word, oL

. divine authority.)', , ""'. .Martin Euther was not the staunch"

advocate of truth that'many·suppose,'·',He is highly praised, for daiming to

'follow th~ Scriptures orily. He stated ',< .

that he was discarding all tradition, He"and the re(ormers, (so'~((aifed) were .challenged at the termination' of the'Council of Trent by the'Archbishop ,of,: ", .

, Reggio. He. said - all 'their,' cl~iIi1S of .discarding ,tradition were false as 'long "as they retained Sunday. "rb.is· rej~etion:', 'of the seventh-day S~bQa~h was also'a~tradition; instituted by",the Catholic'"Church., Thi~ 'change, in-the :daY,oLworship is no~here to be found -in',the'Scrip.tures. ',"

, .

'Sabbath,Tru.th Pr,esente~,But· ,<~Re~ectedbyLuther '",.

(. ,. , .J, .:;. '>~.:.;

Almost unknoWn. to ,most Qhrlstia,fi'literature ,is, the ',name, of 'AndreasRudolph B. Carlstadt,' the ,great ap'ostle

- .• ',','" ' .,.' ';.,. ~ ",J '~.

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",:- ,~ :r. .', "'. "'<' '. . - " ••..\.~ _; ~ • '''~'.~' ',,' ,..-~ ."j."

'of'ihe seventh-day".saoQath. He· was' j, b{>min:.Carlstadt; Bavar1~' in '1480 ariel:, "1

,dled)fi," Basel, "Swltzerland,Olf:I ·December 25, 1541, at 'the age of fj1., ..'~ .ye~rs. G~lsfadt was a:,persQnal friend ."• < and co-wp,rkcr with Martin 'Luther,' "b,ut,1" 'sttemio'usly opposeq him on the Sabbath "'I

issue: Carlstadt obSeryed -the seventn-",-,. day Sabbath and taught its obserVance." ,

:,' D'Aubigne~'says that L'l\theFhimself .'" "adinitted th~t 'Carlstadt was' his superior' ' . '

" 'c' in learning (Fifield:s His!~f:y.Refere~~~:, ,"jbook,ten, page) 15). :'- ,~::. i, 1

;. The rejection of .the· S.:abbath at the \ I!' Coundl of,Trent at once crippled the' ' ,I

,advance of the Reforimition. Prot€stants'" ", I< ' • and' Protestant refomiers will be ~he1d! '1

, 'responsible on ,Judgment' Day for tl:H::lr';,· 1;'unfai,thfulriess ata time when the. entire, .

',C Roman Church pivoted toward discard- Iing alltradit,iori~~ , J . " I',' At this 'point' let '~s ..refet ,to~ fh~, ,

!Ii " 'eminent Doctor' Dowling.' ·.In his s·. ' j" History ofp'omanism, bb<ik two" chapter '

. pni, he say~: ""The,Bible~ and 'the Bi1:?I,e' '.only, is the religion oLProtesta,nts';" ,It ' ';>'

"is, further, :of no ". ~.. ')ccpunt in the:,I ,',.estimation,of a genujne Pr:otestap.th,Q'Y .

" early a 40ctrine '·origina,ted. \f '~t is ,not. i fO\lnd in the Bible .. ' . .':~,Hence if a ... '

...doctrine,,'be' . 'propounded for 4is~accepfarrce,' he asks, "Is it fotind in the':''inspired, w~i-d? 'Was.iitaught by, the, Lord' Jesus 'ChEst or His ,apostles?" It", did, not "matter to him <'whether' it had .

. 'been "disCt:>veredinthe:musty folio bf .'. som~ ancient visionary, df the third 'or"fourth" century, Or ::wh~thet;'it emerged

,from'the -fertile brain of '$ome modern. ,,vis~onary ,of the ~net~enth. If it was ~not f0~lUd6" in :the sacred Scriptures, it ;'

. presented no valid claim. (0 be'ree,eiveq:"\. .; :: r ~ ,

''i'"",\ ", ._ ."

as an article <Sfhis religious' creed.' He' ",who receives a,'sin:gl~,doctrip.e from the, '~

r mere~authority ofyradition, by so doing .r",.steps down from, the "Protestant' Rook, ~ "I passes, ove}:~'the ,'line" that ,separates ,,'j" Protestantism [rbm popery and gives nor" reason why he should'nofreceive:all the:

earlier doctrines ~and: ceremonies' of "RomaIiism. . ", '

Again, the Halian historian>-Gavassi- says, "A pagan 'flood flowi'ng into 'thechurch, carried with it its' ,customs,,'practices ana;,' ~,idols'" fG.dvassi'sLectures, p~ge290).' ", ' ,

To quote another, autho'fity, PI.'White, BishOp of Ely: ",The otJ-servanceof the seventh day was beirigrevivedin 'Luther's time by Carlstadt" (Tr.eatise of "'the Sabbath, page 8). And trom Sears'. '

. , Life of Lutller, page402,: "Carlstadt held, ,', 'to the 'Divine authority of the', Sabbath '

, from the 9ld Testament." ",': ' , 'In,deed Luther says (in his book·

Against the Celeltial PrOphets): "In- '""deed, if Carlstadt were, to ~Writefurtnerabout the Sabba~h, Sund?y \ypuld p.ave, 0"

to give way ,and, the~abbath 2:- that is;to' say, Saturday ~ m\lstbe:kept holy." i

" Carlstadt" $aid: "In regard' to,' theceremonjes of the Church, 'all gre" t6 be", rejected which "have .noLa "warrant jn ', the !3ible. " , .' J<', "f '.' ,

" Luther a;;serted oq. the,' contrary,:' .. ,:, "Whatever is.not, against the 'Scripture is','" ,for it.'" '"

"Not so~". 'said Carlstadf'''We are'bound to the, Bible;' and, yu/ on~'maydecide after' tfie'thOughts, of his: 'o.wnheart" (Searl',Life of Luther,' pages 401, ,402).:' , '~' ,,' '\.. .,. ~ ", ,." ,

"li cannot pe,denied thart~ m~ny .'~~f~spects, ,Carlstadt was ip.. advance' of'·

., ;, ~'. .'

Luther, and doubtless the Reformationowes him much good for which he hasnot the credit"· (McClintock andStrong's Cyclopedia, Volume 2, page .n3). ~ -References in the -following,paragraph are taken from History of theSabbath by Andrews. See third edition,1887: .

"From the Catholic (Roman) teach- .ing of justification by works of penance,etc., Luther went to the oppositeextreme of justification without works.,

. This idea caused him to deny that theEpistle of James was inspired; becauseJames said, "Faith, if it hath not works, ,is dead, _being' alone.' ., 'This attitudemade Luther spurn the true ChristianSabbath."

Read what Draper says:' "Towardthe close of Luther's life it seemed as ifthere were no other prospects for 'papalpower than total ruin. Yet at this d~y,1930, but of three hundred millions ofChristians, more than half owe alleg-iance to Rome '(1967: Moslems, 500million, Roman Catholics 550 million;'at least).' Almost as if by enchantmentthe Reformation ceased to advance:Rome was not only able to check itsspread but even to gain back a portion.'of what she had lost" (IntellectualDevelopment, Volume 2, page 216).

Protestant Victory Almost Won,But Lost, Why? .

Now in dealing with the Council of'Trent, held in northeast Italy, andlasting from A.D. 1545 to 15'63, wemust quote another well-versed writer,G.E. Fifield, D.D., in his incomparabletract, Origin of Sunday as a Christian

(?) Festival (Published by AmericanSabbath' Tract Society, Seventh DayBaptist Church). To quote Dr. Fifield:

. "At the: Council of Trent, called by theRoman Church to deal with questionsarising O\1tof the Reformatipn, it was at

to' first an, apparent possibility that theCouncil would declare in favor of thereformed.doctrines .instead of againstthem, ~o profound was the impressionmade thus far by the teachings of Lutherand other reformers."

The Pope's legate actually wrote tohim that there was "strong tendency toset aside tradition, altogether, and tomake th~;Scriptures the sole standard ofappeal. ",The question was debated dayby day, until it was fairly brought to astandstill. Finally' the Archbishop ofReggio turned the Council against theReformation by the following argument,"The Protestants claim to stand uponthe written word only: they profess tohold the Scriptures' alone as thestandard of faith. They justify their

, revolt by the plea that the Church hasapostatized from the written word aridfollows tradition. Now 'the Protestant'sclaim that they stand upon the writtenword alone is not true."

"'-

Why Luther's Claim Not True

"Their" profession of holding .theScriptures alone as the standard of faithis false.' Proof: The written word ~x-plicitly' enjoins the' observance oj theseventh day as the Sabbath They do notobserve the seventh day, but reject it. Ifthey tfllly hold the Scriptures alone asthe standard, they would be observingthe seventh day as it is enjoined in the

Scripture throughout. Yet they not onlyreject the observance of the Sabbath asenjoined in the written word, but theyhave adopted, and do practice the obser-.vance of Sunday, for. which they haveonly the tradition of (he' (Catholic)Church.'" . .

"Consequently, the cl(J.im of Scrip-·ture alone as the standard fails and thedoctrine of 'Scripture and tradition' asessential is fully established, the Protes-tants themselves being Judges." SeeThe Proceedings of the Council ofTrent, Augsburg Confession, and Ency-clopaedia Britannica; article' "Tren~,CounCil of." At this argument, the party'that had. stood for the Scripture alonesurrendered, and the Council at onceunanimously condemned Protestantism,and the whole Reformat.ion. It at onceproceeded to enact stringept decrees toarrest its progress.'

Results of the Reformation

Now what were the results of the.Reformation? Let us hear what Myerssays: '~The outcome of the revolt,· verybroadly stated, was the separation -fromthe Roman Catholic Church of theNorthern, or. Teutonic nations, that is tosay, of Northern Germany, parts of-Switzerland and the Netherlands, and ofDenmark, Norway, Sweden, England,

'. ' and Scotland. The Romance Nations,namely; Italy, France, and Spain, to-'gether with Celtic Ireland, adhered tothe old Church." Of the spiritual resultsof the' revolt the same writer says: "In aspiritual or religious point of view, thisseverance of the Northern nations of thebonds,that formerly united them to the

ecclesiastic. emplry of' Rome'" ~e~nt,atransfer of th~it allegiance ..' ;'~'.", And ',.'hi finally sums up: "Thus one half ;Qf ...

.' Western Christendom was', Idsf't0'the "< .. Ro'inan'Chutch.". .c

r'0' ~, '-~',. .~

L ,:.,From this "We 'see that the 'Roman <'

. .; Church,attacke'd by the' Reformers, had,!, . at one. time 'faced utter .defeat: But ,she', Ie,covered! The' 'reformers had' dealt., a~d~a(hbl(Jwto the Papacy ..Unfortunately,'the'reformers themselves bound liP the .'wound by 'clinging to~Sunday,'R6me's ....day, and.to other PapqJ traditions. They':, .','tejected the Sabbath ofthe S'criptures., ..~ Compiled from' a tract" byRaym~ndClark,DD "';- r .,'" ., .

Conchision:' '-'Caine.' out of her; iny "._,people ... " {Reve!atio~ 18,:4.-8) .. " '.'

, God fs gi'ving, a fast solemn wainiri,g,today to come out' pf those samt1 tnid- . ','itions that most earlY':Proiestant .leaders " ,

.;. carried over, from the R,&han Catholic':;".' C}llirch~·Theat!empted· change, o,i, the:' ,,' ,c- '. Sabbath coll].l1).and''CExodul;20:8:U),is,', ',only patt "of the list: Traditi0n is' vain", , ~worship~·:.',See· ,Mark :~7:6-1~.'·fOur, ·iternar destiny is ,at· stake i:p. )mr" f deCiSions; friends. .~" ". '~'\{-

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