p. 16 | A Catholic Testimony by C. S. Longacre

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 6, 1916

A Catholic Testimony

By C. S. Longacre

THE Redlands (Cal) Review of Jan. 28, 1916, published a lengthy article from the pen of Rev. T. F. Fitzgerald, of the Sacred Heart Church (Catholic), entitled, “Does the Bible Contain the Whole Christian Code?” In this article the writer takes Protestants to task for being opposed to tradition in theory, but adhering to it in practice. He then cites two doctrines held by many Protestants which cannot be found in the Bible, but only in tradition, as follows:—

“If there is any one thing in the whole Christian code which the Bible Christian is strong in inculcating, that one thing is the observance of the Sabbath. He will tell you that before Moses brought the command from Mt. Sinai, God himself, by his example of rest after the work of creation, teaches us that the Sabbath ought to be observed. And what is the Sabbath? The Sabbath is the seventh day. Sunday?—Not at all; the Sabbath is Saturday, the seventh day. If the Bible contains the whole Christian code, and commands the Sabbath, then those who keep Sunday transgress its command. You will search the whole New Testament in vain to find one single text justifying the observance of Sunday.

“Not in the Catholic Church alone is the practice of infant baptism observed. There are Christian denominations who believe in its necessity. . . . Is there any authority for this in the Bible?—None whatever.”

This Catholic writer then taunts the Protestants for professing to adhere to the Bible alone as their rule of faith, and yet practicing the customs handed down by tradition. He continues: “It is very strange, my friends, how our actions contradict and condemn our words. Tradition, as a way of receiving instruction, is set aside, and yet our whole life is guided by tradition.”

Thank God, there are some who have not bowed the knee to Baal. There are some who both teach and practice the doctrines of the Bible only, refusing to follow traditions which are contrary to the Bible. Our Catholic friend says that the Catholic Church follows traditions which are not in the Bible and contrary to the Bible, and that Protestants are following suit. The Catholic Church professes to believe in the Bible and tradition, and the Protestant church believes in following the Bible only. This, of course, makes the Protestant who follows tradition very inconsistent with his platform principles. But our Catholic friend is just as illogical as is our Protestant friend who observes Sunday and infant baptism, contrary to Bible authority.

Mr. Fitzgerald says that the Bible is God’s infallible word, and that tradition is the church’s infallible teaching under divine authority. He says further: “With authority, indefectibility, and infallibility has Christ invested his church. She has the right and power to teach—the right and power to govern. She will

last forever, and is guarded against the liability to err in delivering her sacred deposits, and she will divinely hand down what was divinely given.”

But does God contradict himself? How can God’s word in the Scriptures be infallible, and tradition also be infallible, both coming from the same source, as our Catholic friends assert, and yet contradict each other? In this, our Catholic friends are just as inconsistent as are our Protestant friends who follow such contradictory traditions. The only logical and consistent platform is to stand by a “Thus saith the Lord,” and not by a Thus says a man in the place of God. And let us make our theories of a religious life and our practice of such a life harmonize. C. S. LONGACRE.