Luther, Karlstadt & the Sabbath

And he shall speak great words against the most High,

and shall wear out the saints of the most High,

and think to change times and laws:

Daniel 7:25

"Melanchthon, the learned coadjutor Of Luther, ... Com­menting on Daniel 7:25, he described the Roman bishopric thus:
"He changeth the tymes and laws that any of the sixt, worke dayes commanded of God, will make them unholy and idle days when he lyste, or of their owns holy dayes abolished make `worke dayes agen, or when they changed ye Saturday into Sundaye. . They have changed God's lawes and turned them into their owne traditions to be kept above God's precepts."—"Exposicion of Daniel the

Prophete," by George Joye, p. 119 (1545).

Karlstadt, one of the leading men of the Reformation, believed that the Sabbath should be kept. According to Doctor Sears, "Karl­stadt held to the divine authority of the Sab­bath from the Old Testament."—"Life of Luther," p. 402.

And in our own writings, J. N. Andrews quotes Karlstadt thus: "Concern­ing Sunday one feels uneasy because men have instituted it."—"History of the Sabbath," p. 604.

Luther himself said of the views of Karlstadt: "Indeed, if Karlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy."—"Life of Mar­tin Luther in Pictures," p. 147." Ministry-10/1929