The Wayside Pulpit No.37
The Unnerving Power of Tradition
We like to
honour Martin Luther, (1483 - 1546) who restored Justification by Faith to the
world. But he was a fallen man like the rest of us, and some of his deeds and
his words by no means did him credit. The following statement is
reproduced verbatim from his writings.
"People
give ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves
and not the heavens of the firmament, the Sun and the Moon. Whoever wishes to
appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course
the best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; the
sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the Sun to stand still, not the
Earth."
Luther was
referring to Nicolaus Copernicus, (1473 - 1543.) The "Copernican
system", as it is now called, is undisputed by modern astronomers.
Everybody now accepts that the earth (and all the planets) rotate round the
Sun. Luther's prejudice was based on long-held tradition. But many of his day
would have given credence to his words, simply because he had been God's
instrument to restore a wonderful Biblical truth. Such is the unnerving power
of tradition, which has strong tentacles of mental bondage.
Lord
Brougham (1778 - 1868) wrote anonymously to the Edinburgh Gazette about an
upstart physicist who had the audacity to contradict Sir Isaac Newton over the
nature of light.
The
physicist in question was Thomas Young, (1773 - 1829), and today his
"upstart" theory is accepted without challenge. But I venture to say
that were
Rudyard Kipling
(1865 - 1936) wrote a beautiful poem entitled "The Explorer", in
which he addressed the problems facing the Pioneers of this world. See how he
started the poem -
"There's
no sense in going further - it's the edge of cultivation,"
So they said, and I believed it - broke my land and sowed my crop -
Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station
Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop:
Till a
voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes
On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated - so:
"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges -
"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"
So I
went, worn out of patience; never told my nearest neighbours -
Stole away with pack and ponies - left 'em drinking in the town;
And the faith that moveth mountains didn't seem to help my labours
As I faced the sheer main-ranges, whipping up and leading down.
The rest
of the poem is worth its weight in gold. Look it up. You'll see what I mean.
But after thirteen more stanzas, he concludes his poem this way -
God
took care to hide that country till He judged His people ready,
Then He chose me for His whisper, and I've found it, and it's yours!
Yes, your "Never-never country" - yes, your "edge of
cultivation"
And "no sense in going further" - till I crossed the range to
see.
God forgive me! No I didn't. It's God's present to our nation.
Anybody might have found it, but - His whisper came to Me!
We are
all, more or less, bound by tradition. Often it springs from an over-indulgence
in worshipping famous men, as did Lord Brougham, or a misunderstanding of
Scripture, like Martin Luther. But Jesus said, "You make the word of God
of no effect by your vain traditions." And it does not come as a surprise
to know that the Greek word for tradition (Paradosis) has a numerical value of
666.
Fear of the unknown is behind the power of tradition. King George VI, in his
Christmas radio address to the nation in 1939, quoted the oft-repeated words of
Minnie Louise Haskins (1875 - 1957) -
"I
said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: 'Give me a light that I may
tread safely into the unknown.' And he replied: 'Go out into the darkness and
put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and
safer than a known way.'"
Are you
afraid of the near future? The end of this millennium? Are you scared by new
and apparently untried gems of truth from the Bible? What is it that can hold us
in the palm of God's hand, to make us true pioneers, afraid of nothing, and
able to walk a step at a time into the unknown with Him?
To
conclude, I will quote the words of a little-known Arabic Christian lady by the
name of Rabiah al-Adawiyah, who lived from 717 to 801. I believe she held the
answer to this question. She was once asked if she hated Satan. She
said, "My love for God leaves no room for hating Satan. Another
of her sayings was, "I have not served God for fear of God, or love of