Basic HTML Version
Chapter 49—Failure to Advance
The Reformation did not, as many suppose, end with Luther. It
is to be continued to the close of this world’s history. Luther had
a great work to do in reflecting to others the light which God had
permitted to shine upon him; yet he did not receive all the light
which was to be given to the world. From that time to this, new light
has been continually shining upon the Scriptures, and new truths
have been constantly unfolding.
Luther and his co-laborers accomplished a noble work for God;
but, coming as they did from the Roman Church, having themselves
believed and advocated her doctrines, it was not to be expected
that they would discern all these errors. It was their work to break
the fetters of Rome and to give the Bible to the world; yet there
were important truths which they failed to discover, and grave errors
which they did not renounce. Most of them continued to observe the
Sunday with other papal festivals. They did not, indeed, regard it as
possessing divine authority, but believed that it should be observed as
a generally accepted day of worship. There were some among them,
however, who honored the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.
Among the reformers of the church an honorable place should be
given to those who stood in vindication of a truth generally ignored,
[354]
even by Protestants—those who maintained the validity of the fourth
commandment and the obligation of the Bible Sabbath. When the
Reformation swept back the darkness that had rested down on all
Christendom, Sabbathkeepers were brought to light in many lands.
Those who received the great blessings of the Reformation did
not go forward in the path so nobly entered upon by Luther. A few
faithful men arose from time to time to proclaim new truth and ex-
pose long-cherished error, but the majority, like the Jews in Christ’s
day, or the papists in the time of Luther, were content to believe
as their fathers believed, and to live as they lived. Therefore reli-
gion again degenerated into formalism; and errors and superstitions
which would have been cast aside had the church continued to walk
274