," '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'
"r'-
<':.8 32 ',., . \' ' '~~'
"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 the staunch" not
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 'long " as
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,oL
worship 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 'Andreas
Rudolph B. Carlstadt,' the ,great ap'ostle
- .• ',','"

_:..
'

- .,.' ';.,. ~

};.,
",J '~.
",:- ,~ :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~~~:, ,"j
book,ten, page) 15). :'- ,~::. 1 i,

;. 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- I
ing alltradit,iori~~ , I J . "

',' 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 no
r" 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 'the
church, carried with it its' ,customs,,'
practices ana;,' ~,idols'" fG.dvassi's
Lectures, p~ge 290).' ", ' ,
To quote another, autho'fity, PI.
'White, BishOp of Ely: ",The otJ-servance
of 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 ~Writefurtner
about 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,' the

ceremonjes of the Church, 'all gre" t6 be"
, rejected which "have .noLa "warrant jn '
, the !3ible. " , .' "f
J<', '.' ,
" 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~' may
decide after' tfie'thOughts, of his: 'o.wn
heart" (Searl',Life of Luther,' pages 401, ,
402).:' , '~' ,,' '\.. .,. ~ ", ,." ,
"licannot pe,denied thart~ m~ny .'~~
f~spects, ,Carlstadt
.,
was ip.. advance' of'·
;, ~'. .'
 Luther, and doubtless the Reformation
owes him much good for which he has
not the credit"· (McClintock and
Strong's Cyclopedia, Volume 2, page .
n3). ~ -References in the -following,
paragraph are taken from History of the
Sabbath by Andrews. See third edition,
1887: .
"From the Catholic (Roman) teach- .
ing of justification by works of penance,
etc., Luther went to the opposite
extreme of justification without 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."
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 d~y,
1930, but of three hundred millions of
Christians, more than half owe alleg-
iance to Rome '(1967: Moslems, 500
million, Roman Catholics 550 million;'
at least).' Almost as if 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 A.D. 1545 to 15'63, 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 O\1tof the Reformatipn, it was at
to' first an, apparent possibility that the
Council would declare in favor of the
reformed.doctrines .instead of against
them, ~o 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 th~;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
apostatized from the written word arid
follows tradition. Now 'the Protestant's
claim that they stand upon the written
word alone is not true."
"'-

Why Luther's Claim Not True

"Their" profession of holding .the

Scriptures alone as the standard of faith
is false.' Proof: The written word ~x-
plicitly' enjoins the' observance oj the
seventh day as the Sabbath They do not
observe the seventh day, but reject it. If
they tfllly hold the Scriptures alone as
the standard, they would be observing
the seventh day as it is enjoined in the
 Scripture throughout. Yet they not only
reject the observance of the Sabbath as
enjoined in the written word, but they
have adopted, and do practice the obser-.
vance of Sunday, for. which they have
only the tradition of (he' (Catholic)
Church.'" . .
"Consequently, the cl(J.im of Scrip-·
ture alone as the standard fails and the
doctrine of 'Scripture and tradition' as
essential is fully established, the Protes-
tants themselves being Judges." See
The Proceedings of the Council of
Trent, Augsburg Confession, and Ency-
clopaedia Britannica; article' "Tren~,
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 Reformat.ion. It at once
proceeded to enact stringept decrees to
arrest its progress.'

Results of the Reformation

Now what were the results of the

.Reformation? Let us hear what Myers
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, to-'
gether with Celtic Ireland, adhered to
the old Church." Of the spiritual results
of the' revolt the same writer says: "In a
spiritual or religious point of view, this
severance of the Northern nations of the
bonds,that formerly united them to the
 ecclesiastic. emplry of' Rome'" ~e~nt,a
transfer of th~it allegiance ..' ;' ~'.", And ',.'
hi finally sums up: "Thus one half ;Qf ...
.' Western Christendom r was', Idsf't0'the "
< .. Ro'inan'Chutch.". .c '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" by
Raym~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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