WHY WAS NOT THIS KNOWN BEFORE?
By George I. Butler
Whenever the truth upon the Sabbath question is made clear from the Scriptures, and all the inferences and assumptions entirely demolished, till nothing more can be said by the opposer of the truth, as a last resort we are treated to the foregoing question. This question implies, if it has any force at all, that all that is worth knowing has already been found out; a very palpable absurdity. In all ages, however, the same course has been pursued. Christ was complained of for not following the traditions of the elders. Paul was thought to be “a setter forth of strange gods.” But especially was this seen in the reformation. When Luther began to deal those mighty blows which resulted in the humiliation of the Papacy, its adherents began at once to cry out, Innovation! And Doctor Eck, his greatest antagonist, in their celebrated discussion at Leipzig used the following language in reference to Luther: “I am surprised at the humility and modesty with which the reverend doctor undertakes to oppose alone so many illustrious fathers, and pretends to know more than the sovereign pontiffs, the councils, the doctors, and the universities! It would be surprising, no doubt, if God had hidden the truth from so many saints and martyrs until the advent of the reverend father.” History of Reformation, Vol. II, page 59, and yet Luther was contending for the faith of the early church, for the justification by faith so plainly demonstrated by St. Paul. So of the reformation in Switzerland. Sebastian Meyer, one of the reformers there, refuted the hackneyed charge “that the disciples of the gospel [meaning the reformers], teach a new doctrine and that the old is right.” “To have been a thousand years wrong,” said he, “will not make us right for one single hour; or else pagans should have kept their creed.” Vol. II, page 427. These were brave and sensible words, surely. This same objection would keep the pagan idolators from ever becoming Christians, for they have a very ancient faith. In this extract we see that this very objection which is so often urged against the truth of God for this age was a common argument, if it is worthy of such a designation, in the days of the reformation. The enemies of the truth in those times could use this to bolster up indulgences, image worship, and all the popish assumptions; and Protestants look back with wonder now that such an argument could have had any force, it seems so clear that Luther and his fellow-laborers were right in taking their stand upon the Bible, and the Bible alone. But then it was very different. Thousands were blinded by the antiquity of those errors advocated by Eck, and others, and it seemed very preposterous that a humble monk, like Luther, should dispute doctrines held for centuries, by the doctors, the colleges, and all the great men of the earth. “Why was not this known before?” could be asked then, with much more propriety than now, after we have learned how many errors are ancient and venerable, and that there is no safe position but the Protestant platform, The Bible and the Bible alone. Let us still take this position, till every tradition of man has given place to God’s eternal truth.