Sunday, August 18, 2019

2 Rules of Faith that Govern / Seperate Christendom

"Two rules of faith really embrace the whole Christian world.
--One of these is the word of God alone;
--the other is the word of God and the traditions of the church.

Here they are:
I. THE RULE OF THE BIBLE ALONE.
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:16)"
II. THE RULE OF THE ROMANIST, THE BIBLE AND TRADITION.
"If we would have the whole rule of Christian faith and practice, we must not be content with those scriptures which Timothy knew from his infancy, that is, with the Old Testament alone; nor yet with the New Testament, without taking along with it the traditions of the apostles and the interpretation of the church, to which the apostles delivered both the book and the true meaning of it."
*It is certain that the first-day Sabbath cannot be sustained by the first of these rules; for the word of God says nothing respecting such an institution.
*The second of these rules is necessarily adopted by all those who advocate the sacredness of the first day of the week.
To adopt the second is virtually to acknowledge that the Romanists are right; for it is by this rule that they are able to sustain their unscriptural dogmas. Mr. W. B. Taylor, an able anti-Sabbatarian writer, states this point with great clearness:
"The triumph of the consistent Roman Catholic over all observers of Sunday, calling themselves Protestants, is indeed complete and unanswerable. . . . It should present a subject of very grave reflection to Christians of the reformed and evangelical denominations, to find that no single argument or suggestion can be offered in favor of Sunday observance that will not apply with equal force and to its fullest extent in sustaining the various other `holy days' appointed by `the church.'"
J.N.Andrews