A CUTTING REPROOF

Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Jan 20, 1853

A CUTTING REPROOF.

Extracts from Milner's End of Controversy, a Catholic work; pages 89, 90.

"The first precept in the Bible, is that of sanctifying the seventh day; God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Gen. ii, 3. This precept was confirmed by God in the ten commandments. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Ex. xx. On the other hand, Christ declares that he is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Matt. v, 17. He himself observed the Sabbath; and as his custom was, he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day. Luke iv, 16. His disciples likewise observed it after his death: they rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke xxiii, 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, the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all, but the unwritten word of tradition of the Catholic Church, which declares that the apostles made the change in honor of Christ's resurrection and the descent of the Holy Ghost on that day of the week.

"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 mentioned in it is most explicitly and strictly enjoined? I make no doubt but he would answer, The washing of feet. To convince yourself of this, be pleased to read the first seventeen verses of St. John, Chap. xiii. Observe the motive assigned for Christ's performing the ceremony there recorded: namely, his 'love for his disciples;' next the time of his performing it: namely, when he was about to depart out of this world; then the stress he lays upon it, in what he said to Peter, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me; finally, his injunction, at the conclusion of it, If I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. I now ask, on what pretence can those who profess to make scripture alone the rule of their religion, totally disregard this institution and precept? Had this ceremony been observed in the church when Luther and the other Protestants began to dogmatize, there is no doubt but they would have retained it; but having learned from her [Catholic Church] that it was only figurative, they acquiesced in this decision, contrary to what appears to be the plain sense of scripture."