The Great Second Advent Movement: Its Rise and Progress

Eck’s Retort to Luther

For the benefit of those who may be inclined to decide whether a doctrinal point is right or wrong by the few or many who accept it, we quote, in part, the controversy between Luther and Eck. As Luther took his position upon the Scriptures, and presumed to dispute the right of men to place their opinions above the word of God, Eck retorted in these ironical words: “I am surprised at the humility and modesty with which the reverend Doctor undertakes to oppose, alone, so many illustrious fathers, and pretends to know more than the sovereign pontiffs, the councils, the doctors, and the universities! ... It would be surprising, no doubt, if God had hidden the truth from so many saints and martyrs until the advent of the reverend Father.” GSAM 36.2

This retort might well be met with that of Zwingle to John Faber, at Zurich, when the latter expressed his “amazement at the pass to which things had come, when the ancient usages which had lasted for twelve centuries were forsaken, and it was clearly concluded that Christendom had been in error fourteen hundred years.” Zwingle quickly replied that “error was not less error because the belief of it had lasted fourteen hundred years, and that in the worship of God antiquity of usage was nothing unless ground or warrant for it could be found in the sacred Scriptures.” ⁴⁶ GSAM 36.3