A Challenge to Protestants
By George W. Reber
Leading Priest Charges Protestants with Following Rome—He Specifies Some Particulars In a book bearing the title, “The End of Religious Controversy,” written by “the Right Rev. John Milner, of the Catholic Academy of Rome,” the author advances evidence which, to his mind, is proof positive that Protestant denominations are not, in their practices, consistent with their profession. His argument runs thus: “The first precept of the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day. Gen. 2: 3. This precept was confirmed of God in the Ten Commandments, Ex. 20: 8-11. On the other hand, Christ declares that He is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill. Matt. 5: 17. He Himself observed the Sabbath. Luke 4: 16. His disciples likewise observed it after His death. Luke 23: 36. “Yet with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath, or the seventh day, holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day, and transfer the obligations of it to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all but the unwritten word or tradition of the Catholic Church.” “Then with respect to the manner of keeping that day holy, their universal doctrine and practice are not less at variance with the sacred text. The Almighty says, ‘From even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbaths’ (Lev. 23: 32), which is the practice of the Jews down to the present time, but not of any Protestants that I ever heard of.” The Ordinance to Wash Feet
“I will confine myself to one more instance of Protestants abandoning their own rule, that of Scripture alone, to follow ours, of Scripture explained by tradition. If any intelligent pagan who had carefully perused the New Testament were asked, ‘Which of the ordinances in it is most explicitly and strictly enjoined?’ I make no doubt but he would answer that it is ‘the washing of feet.’ To convince yourself of this, be pleased to read the first seventeen verses of John chapter 13. Observe the motive (love) which Jesus assigns for the ordinance; then the stress that He lays upon it; and finally His injunction at the conclusion of it: ‘Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.’ “I now ask, On what pretense can those who profess to make Scripture alone the rule of their religion, totally disregard this institution and precept?” He Excepts One Denomination
One further quotation from the same work, page 277, reads, “Our church teaches that to326enter into life we must keep God’s commandments.” Alongside of this I will quote from a prominent churchman of the same denomination to which Mr. Milner belongs. In a Catholic convention held in Durban, Natal, South Africa, in which the question of keeping the commandments of God was under discussion, one of their principal speakers made the following sweeping statement: “When it comes to literal obedience to the Ten Commandments, there is not a Christian denomination upon the face of the globe that obeys the Decalogue.” Suddenly checking himself, he remarked: “I am in error. There is one small sect who literally keep the commandments. I think they are called ‘Seventh-day Adventists.’ They alone, of all Protestants, are commandment keepers.” Thus according to the confession of the Catholic Church, there is one Christian denomination who are consistent in their profession and practice. It is not only consistent Protestantism to keep the Sabbath enjoined in the Scriptures and observed by Jesus and His disciples; but in the settling of the question of one of the most prominent and important practices in religion,—that of regarding a day to the Lord,—it is absolute safety to keep “the Sabbath day according to the commandment.”