BIBLE OR TRADITION? by W. C. Grainger

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 7, 1880

BIBLE OR TRADITION?

By W. C. Grainger

A TRUE Protestant is one who rejects every doctrine of the Catholic church that is not based upon the word of God. The Bible, and the Bible alone, is his rule of faith and practice. It makes no difference with him how far back the history of a doctrine can be traced, if it is not set forth in the word of God. Hence, when a doctrine is presented for his acceptance, his first inquiry is, Does the Bible sustain it? Did Christ or his apostles teach it?

Paul in writing to Timothy tells him that he had known the Holy Scriptures from a child, and that they are able to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Tim. 3:15. If the word was sufficient for the salvation of Timothy, it is all that we need to guide us in the right way. Every doctrine should be compared with the infallible word of God.

Paul in his preaching did not expect his hearers to receive his teachings unsupported by the Scriptures, for it is written of the Bereans, to whom he ministered, "that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Acts 17:11.

Whoever accepts a single doctrine on the authority of tradition only, whatever he may call himself, is no longer a Protestant, and can give no sufficient reason why he should not accept every other dogma of the Romish church. The Bible says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," and there is no intimation that it has ever been abolished or changed to the first day. The Catholics do not claim that they have any Scripture authority for Sunday observance.

Milner, in his "End of Controversy," pp. 70, 71, says: "With all their repugnance to tradition and church authority, Protestants have found themselves absolutely obliged in many instances to admit of them both. The first precept of the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day. 'God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.' Gen. 2:3. This precept was confirmed by God in the ten commandments. 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' Ex. 20. On the other hand, Christ declares that he is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Matt. 5:17. He himself observed the Sabbath. 'And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.' Luke 4:16. His disciples likewise observed it after his death. They 'rested the Sabbath according to the commandment.' Luke 23:56. Yet with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day, and transfer the obligation of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None whatever, except the unwritten word or tradition of the Catholic church."

Such is the testimony of all Catholic writers. They do not claim that Sunday observance is founded on the written word of God, but is an institution of the church. Protestants will not acknowledge this, but assert that Christ changed it. If that is true the Bible will inform us of the facts. But where does it tell us of this change? A liberal reward will be given to anyone who will find a single text that shows that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day of the week. Many heresies crept into the church at a very early date. Paul says that the mystery of iniquity was already at work in his day, and that it would develop in the great apostasy or man of sin (2 Thess. 2), which all Protestant commentators agree is fulfilled in the Catholic church. It is true that Sunday observance can be traced back to the third or fourth century. Purgatory, prayers for the dead, invocation of saints, use of images, the sign of the cross, consecrated oil, the superstition of relies, and other heresies were established at a much earlier date. See Dowling's Hist. Romanism, book 2, chap. 1, also Mosheim, book 1, cent. 2, chap. 2.

These heresies, and the Sunday Sabbath, stand upon the same foundation, viz., Catholic tradition, and should be rejected by all true Protestants. But whoever accepts one can give no reason for not accepting all, for all are equally venerable.

In speaking of the writings of the early fathers, Dr. Clarke says: "There is not a heresy that has disgraced the Romish church that may not challenge them as its abettors. In points of doctrine, their authority is, with me, nothing. The word of God alone contains my creed." Lectures on Romanism, p. 203. Many other writers testify to the same effect.

Dear reader, are you a true Protestant? Then cut loose from all tradition, and accept the word of God, and that alone as your guide in this life, that you may be prepared for the life to come. Cease to transgress God's holy law. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. 58:12-14.