Not from That Source, but from God
OUR correspondents often meet the statement from Roman Catholics that Protestants received the Bible from them. In the words of a Catholic editor,— “They can not prove the Bible by the Bible. They got it from the church. Its authority is the authority of the church. Without the church there could have been no Bible, and when people give up the church it is but a short time until they give up the Bible also. The so-called orthodox and the so-called unorthodox are alike, inconsistent and illogical. If they only used the minds which God gave them, they would soon see that there is only one reasonable form of Christianity on earth, and that is the Catholic Church.” The argument of this editor is like that of the Jews of old: “We have Abraham for our father;” “we are the seed of Abraham, and we have never been slaves to any man.” (All Scripture quotations are from the Catholic Douay Version.) But the answer of both John and our blessed Lord forever showed that a long line of tribal or priestly succession was no evidence of a title to the church of God. Said the former, “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Matt. 3:9. And Jesus said, “Whosoever committeth sin [“sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4] is the servant of sin.” “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.” John 8:39. The Pharisees of that day could also have said, “We are the teachers. The Scriptures are with us; we brought them to you,” as indeed they did. Yet they had made the Scriptures and law of God void through their tradition. The Sabbath had been buried under a heap of rabbinical superstition, and the fifth commandment had, in one particular at least, been made of no effect. Luke 13:11-17; Mark 7:1-13. So also the great apostate church since Christ, while depositaries of the written Word, have through priestly and pagan tradition made void in some particulars the second commandment, and in all particulars, so far as her influence extends, the Sabbath commandment. God’s Word contains the proof of itself in itself to him who has faith. The words of Christ are as true to-day as when uttered, “If any man will do the will of Him, he shall know of the doctrine.” John 7:17. But what if the Roman Catholic Church had never existed?—Well, we would probably have had far more of earlier copies of the Word of God in the original tongues than we have to-day. God has preserved His Book, as He has His Sabbath, despite apostasy, not because of it; and He would have done so had every king been an Ahab or a Manasseh, and every pope a Sixtus IV or an Alexander VI. There were faithful men of God in the darkest days of the Jewish apostasy, not because of the apostasy, but by the grace of God despite the apostasy. There have been and are faithful Christians in the Roman Catholic Church, but not because of the doctrines or teaching or grace of that church, but by the grace of God despite the corrupt system. The test of Jesus Christ is, “Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doth the will of My Father who is in heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 7:21.