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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, 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 expose 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 religion again degenerated into formalism;
and errors and superstitions which would have been cast aside had the church continued to
walk in the light of God's Word, were retained and cherished. Thus the spirit inspired by
the Reformation gradually died out, until there was almost as great need of reform in the
Protestant churches as in the Roman Church in the time of Luther. There was the same
spiritual stupor, the same respect for the opinions of men, the same spirit of
worldliness, the same substitution of human theories for the teachings of God's Word.
Pride and extravagance were fostered under the guise of religion. The churches became
corrupted by allying themselves with the world. Thus were degraded the great principles
for which Luther and his fellow laborers had done and suffered so much.
As Satan saw that he had failed to crush out the truth by persecution, he again resorted
to the same plan of compromise which had led to the great apostasy and the formation of
the church of Rome. He induced Christians to ally themselves, not now with pagans, but
with those who, by their worship of the god of this world, as truly proved themselves
idolaters.
Satan could no longer keep the Bible from the people; it had been placed within the reach
of all. But he led thousands to accept false interpretations and unsound theories, without
searching the Scriptures to learn the truth for themselves. He had corrupted the doctrines
of the Bible, and traditions which were to ruin millions were taking deep root. The church
was upholding and defending these traditions, instead of contending for the faith once
delivered to the saints. And while wholly unconscious of their condition and their peril,
the church and the world were rapidly approaching the most solemn and momentous period of
earth's history--the period of the revelation of the Son of man.
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