In Defense of the Faith

Canright Shifts to Roman Catholic Position

This, then, is the ground on which Mr. Canright chose to stand after he forsook the law of God, and surely he was sinking in the mire. He had clearly forsaken the commandments of God for the traditions of men. Had he become a Catholic, we could better understand his appeal to these questionable Catholic sources. But he claimed still to be a Protestant, and yet stepped down from the solid Protestant platform of the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and practice, onto the shifting sands of the Catholic position of the Bible plus tradition, with tradition above the Bible. DOF 146.5

The Roman Catholic position on this point is clearly set down in the following terse quotations: DOF 147.1

“A rule of faith, or a competent guide to heaven, must be able to instruct in all the truths necessary for salvation. Now the Scriptures alone do not contain all the truths which a Christian is bound to believe, nor do they explicitly enjoin all the duties which he is obliged to practice.... We must, therefore, conclude that the Scriptures alone cannot be a sufficient guide and rule of faith, because they cannot, at any time, be within the reach of every inquirer; because they are not of themselves clear and intelligible even in matters of the highest importance. And because they do not contain all the truths necessary for salvation.”—Cardinal Gibbons, Faith of Our Fathers, p. 111. DOF 147.2

The following quotations will show what the Catholic Church teaches as to the authority for its doctrine: DOF 147.3

“Question. Has tradition any connection with the rule of faith? DOF 147.4

“Answer. Yes; because it is a part of God’s revealed word, properly called the unwritten word, as the Scripture is called the written word. DOF 147.5

“Question. What is tradition? DOF 147.6

“Answer. The doctrines which the apostles taught by word of mouth, and which have descended through every successive generation even to our times. DOF 147.7

“Question. Are we obliged to believe what tradition teaches, equally with what is taught by Scripture? DOF 147.8

“Answer. Yes; we are obliged to believe the one as firmly as the other.” Rev. Stepheh Keenan, Doctrinal Catechism, pp. 86, 87. DOF 147.9

“Like two sacred rivers flowing from Paradise, the Bible and divine tradition contain the word of God, the precious gems of revealed truths. Though these two divine streams are in themselves, on account of their divine origin, of equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, tradition is to us more clear and safe.”—Bruno’s Catholic Belief, p. 45. DOF 147.10

How contrary this all is to the clear teachings of Jesus. In Mark 7:6-9 it is recorded that He said: DOF 148.1

“Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things you do. And He said unto them, Full well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition.” DOF 148.2

It is this leaving of the written and inspired Word of God to follow the conflicting, confusing traditions of the ancients, that has repeatedly led the church into error and apostasy. If tradition is as good as the Bible, if the hearsay of what has been taught in past ages must be accepted, then there is no fixed standard of truth. The teachings of one church are as reliable as any other. But think of the confusion to which this leads us! Surely, it is worse than the confusion of languages at the tower of Babel. A thousand voices from as many religions and sects shout in our ears, “This is the way. The fathers believed thus and so.” And yet no two of them agree! DOF 148.3

It may be truly said that the Bible and tradition are like two rivers, as stated above by Dr. Bruno, but while the Bible is the pure word of God, tradition is foul with error and sophistry. The Bible flows forth from the very throne of God, and its sparkling waters, which are clear as crystal, come down to us as the water of life. Those who drink deeply of it shall never thirst again. But the river of tradition has become polluted with the errors and commandments of men; its waters have been contaminated through the work of God’s great archenemy in his effort to deceive and destroy the faith of God’s children. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in the Scripture text above quoted, declares the commandment of God supreme above all human tradition. God’s will, expressed in the Ten Commandments, cannot be set aside by any man-made ordinance. DOF 148.4

Now it is of course, known by everybody that Catholics all observe Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of Saturday, the seventh day, but their reason for doing this is clearly stated in their official catechisms. They do not ‘claim to have Scriptural authority for this practice, but, on the contrary, they frankly and clearly say that there is no such authority, and that in this matter they are following tradition only. Note carefully the following quotations bearing directly upon this point, from one of their recognized works: DOF 149.1

“Question. When Protestants do profane work on Saturday, or the seventh day of the week, do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith, do they find this permission clearly laid down in the Sacred Volume? DOF 149.2

“Answer. On the contrary, they have only the authority of tradition for this practice. In profaning Saturday, they violate one of God’s commandments, which He has never clearly abrogated—‘Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day.’ DOF 149.3

“Question. Is the observance of Sunday, as the day of rest, a matter dearly laid down in Scripture? DOF 149.4

“Answer. It certainly is not; and yet all Protestants consider the observance of this particular day as essentially necessary to salvation. To say we observe the Sunday, because Christ rose from the dead on that day is to say we act without warrant of Scripture; and we might as well say that we should rest on Thursday because Christ ascended to heaven on that day, and rested in reality from the work of redemption.” —Rev. Stephen Keenan, Doctrinal Catechism, p. 352. DOF 149.5

“Question. What do you conclude from all this? DOF 150.1

“Answer. That Protestants have no Scripture for the measure of their day of rest; that they abolish the observance of Saturday without warrant of Scripture; that they substitute Sunday in its place without Scriptural authority; consequently, that for all this, they have only traditional authority.... Hence we must conclude, that the Scripture, which does not teach these things clearly, does not contain all necessary truths, and, consequently, cannot be the only rule of faith.”—Ibid., pp. 354, 355. DOF 150.2

So there we have it. That clearly states the Catholic position. Tradition is safer than the Bible. And it was on this platform that Mr. Canright took his stand in trying to prove Sunday sacredness. He found it only in tradition. And every individual must take his choice. Either his faith must be planted on the solid rock of Scriptural truth, the word that lives and abides forever, or on the quagmire of tradition. In the one are found the Ten Commandments, the Sabbath, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to enable us to keep them. In the other are apostasy, uncertainty, and shipwreck of faith. “Choose you this day whom you will serve.” “Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men.” Mark 7:7, 8. DOF 150.3