Wearisome as these repeated conflicts may be to the child of God, there is a satisfaction in the thought that we hold in our hands the same weapons, and bear aloft the same banners by which, under the blessing of God, victory, complete and universal, has been attained in the past. The opponents of Bible truth have never yet been able to stand before the thunder of its power, or to balance the ponderous weight of its influence, in the decision of religious questions. The homely phrase of the great reformer is just as potent and irresistible in the present contest as it was in that for which it was framed “When God’s word is by the fathers expounded, construed, and glossed, then, in my judgment, it is even like unto one that straineth milk through a coal-sack, which must needs spoil the milk, and make it black; even so, likewise, God’s word of itself is sufficiently pure, clean, bright, and clear; but through the doctrines, books, and writings, of the fathers, it is very surely darkened, falsified, and spoiled.”
The elegant and convincing logic of Philip Melancthon, the greatest theologian of the sixteenth century—who, in the following brief lines, discussed and summed up the whole question—is just as sound and unanswerable now as it was when, under the blessing of God, it carried confusion and defeat into the ranks of the papacy, three hundred years ago. He says: “How often has not Jerome been mistaken! how often Augustine! how often Ambrose! How often do we not find them differing in judgment—how often do we not hear them retracting their errors! There is but one Scripture divinely inspired, and without mixture of error.” (Idem., p. 219.) In fine, we might prove from history that nearly every Protestant writer, for the last three centuries, has forged for us weapons which could be employed with the most telling effect in the controversy in which we are now engaged.
This, however, we have not space to do, but must content ourselves with several brief citations, by which we will show that the authorities of our own times—equally with those of the past—are uniform in their expressions of contempt for testimony which is so largely relied upon by our reviewer in the present discussion. “To avoid being imposed upon, we ought to treat tradition as we do a notorious and known liar, to whom we give no credit, unless what he says is confirmed to us by some person of undoubted veracity.... False and lying traditions are of an early date, and the greatest men have, out of a pious credulity, suffered themselves to be imposed upon by them.—Archibald Bower.
“But of these, we may safely state that there is not a truth of the most orthodox creed that cannot be proved by their authority; nor a heresy that has disgraced the Romish church, that may not challenge them as it abettors. In point of doctrine, their authority is, with me, nothing. The WORD of God alone contains my creed. On a number of points, I can go to the Greek and Latin fathers of the church, to know what they believed, and what the people of their respective communions believed; but after all this, I must return to God’s word to know what he would have me to believe.” (A. Clark, Com. on Prov. 8.) “We should take heed how we quote the fathers in proof of the doctrines of the gospel; because he who knows them best, knows that on many of those subjects they blow hot and cold.” (Quoted in Hist. of Sab. from Autobiography of Adam Clarke.)
“Most of the writings, bearing the name of the apostolic fathers, are regarded as spurious by various modern critics. The genuineness of all has been disputed; but the fragments that remain are curious as relics of an early age, and valuable as indicating the character of primitive Christianity.” (Am. Cyc., Art. Apostolic Fathers.) Thus much for the estimate which Protestants place upon the authorities which are brought forward by the gentleman in the Statesman. Assuredly, he would never have appealed to them, had he not felt that his cause was hopeless one, when left to the arbitrament of Scripture.
Should it be pleaded in extenuation of his cause that they have not been advanced with a view to influencing the judgment of the reader in reference to the continuity of the old Sabbath, but were introduced simply to furnish, as suggested in the outset, a criticism showing the use of the term, “Lord’s day,” in the first three centuries, then, we inquire, why cite Ignatius at all? It will be perceived at a glance that, according to the rendering which he has given us—and for which, and his note thereon, he will receive our thanks, since it will save us much labor—there is not in it a single mention of the term, “Lord’s day.” If the passage conveys any meaning at all, it is either that the Sabbath should be observed in a manner differing from that in which it was kept by the Jews, or else that it should not be observed at all.
But the last of these propositions, the writer will not admit to be sound, since he has fairly repudiated such a conception, and has, in so many words, stated that he heartily agrees with us in the perpetuity of the Edenic Sabbath. He has also stated that the fourth commandment—which it will be admitted commences with the words, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”—is a Sabbath law which is still binding, and which, the words of Ignatius to the contrary notwithstanding, forever settles the question that this is not a Sabbathless dispensation.
What shall be done, then, with the language of the venerable father? We are well acquainted with the office which it has performed hitherto, and are anxious to know where it is to throw its baleful shadow hereafter. In the past, hundreds of individuals whose consciences have been aroused by appeals to the Bible on the subject of the perpetuity of God’s holy day, have had their fears quieted, and have been lulled into security by the very extract with which we are here favored. Why, they have said, was not Ignatius a disciple of John, and did he not therefore know what John believed? Did he not also prove his integrity by becoming a martyr to the faith? Since, therefore, he was possessed of both knowledge and piety, and since he has called the first day of the week the Lord’s day, are we not justified in keeping the day which he kept, and rejecting the day which he rejected? Supported and encouraged in this position, as they have been by the brethren of the writer who—having either less candor, or less scholarship, than he—have insisted again and again that Ignatius did call the first day of the week the Lord’s day, it has been in many cases utterly impossible for Sabbatarians to disabuse their minds of this impression. With gratitude, therefore, we shall add the name of the gentleman to the rapidly increasing list of scholars who, headed by Kitto, and others of equal distinction, frankly concede that Sabbatarians have been in the right, and that Ignatius did not speak of the Lord’s day at all, but simply alluded to the Lord’s life.
But what shall we say for those who have been deluded upon this point, and have thus been prevented from doing what they felt that duty required? There is a terrible responsibility somewhere. For the scholars who have abetted this deception, there can be no defense. For the unfortunate victims of the fraud, it may be said that their situation would be more hopeful had they not brought themselves into the difficulty by going upon forbidden ground. Should one be led astray by an incorrect translation of the Scriptures, God would undoubtedly pardon the mistake; for the person had done the best he could under the circumstances, and had sought for light where God had instructed him so to do. But to those who, having left the only true source of trustworthy knowledge, have allowed any class of persons, ancient or modern, to shape their belief differently from what it would have been had they relied wholly upon the Bible, we fear that Christ will say—as he did to those in like circumstances in his day, who, having followed the traditions of their ancestors, were found violating the law of God—“In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
Before closing on this point, and in order that the citation may not be employed in the interest of no-Sabbath views, let the reader consider, for a moment, another feature, and a very important one in this argument. Having seen that Ignatius—if he wrote the above—did not mention the Lord’s day, it is proper now to inquire whether it is certain that he ever penned the language in question, at all? To this it may be replied, that it is very far from being so. Nay, it is in the highest degree probable, as the following extracts will prove, that the venerable man either never wrote a word of those which are cited, or, if he did, what he said has been so manipulated that it is very far from conveying the impression which he intended. “From Smyrna, he (Ignatius) wrote to the churches at Ephesus, Magnesia, Trallia, Rome, and Philadelphia, and on his voyage, to Polycarp, and the church at Smyrna. These letters are still extant, though the genuineness of the first three is doubted by some learned men.” (Cyc. Relig. Knowl. Art. Ignatius.)