what day is the sabbath of the bible?

8/3/2019 What day is the Sabbath of the Bible?

1/25

In order to understand the richness of this document. Please take the time to watch this video first then come and read the document in its entirety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2qot1YrFNU

The Truth about 7th-Day Sabbath

(note* To the reader take a moment to meditate on what is shared on this document. This essay will be an eye opener for those that have not been exposed to thetruth in the word of God. If you truly wish to follow God this writing will bring conviction in your heart. Please stand strong for the truth?)

Table of Contents

A. Problem in Christianity

B. Various Scripture on the Sabbath

C. Quotes from Various Christian Denominations

D. Warning against Unbelief

A. Problem in Christianity

There is a great problem in Christianity that has been established in error formany centuries. This dilemma stems from the fact that many professed Christiansdo not even read and uphold the bible doctrines in the ten commandments. Morallyevery Christian believes in the ten commandments. We know it is wrong to steal,kill,commit adultery and other violent acts of human selfishness. When it comesto practical practice there are several problems in it self. The main problem to be discussed in this essay is the Sabbath Day. What is Sabbath? Where did thesabbath day originate?Many pastors, priests, prophets, overseers, deacons, etc t

ell all the members of their respected churches to keep the ten commandments. That is the moral fiber of what all Christianity should be based on. When it comesto the ten commandments most of these (leaders) will agree with the moral basisand intelligent standard that God has written with his own hand. Why is there such a division in doctrine when it comes to the Sabbath? Why do many different Christian persuasions not adhere to the simple statement of the 10 commandments concerning the Sabbath? It is well known that Christianity was derived from Judaism. In fact even Jesus conducted worship service on the sabbath day (Saturday) in the synagogue or temple. In this essay there are several sources regarding thesabbath from the bible and other historical sources. There is an expressed commandment that upholds the seventh-day sabbath of the bible. The reader will be able to understand what the truth is concerning the sabbath.

B. Various Scriptures on the Sabbath

1Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2And onthe seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made

Gen 2:1-3 (KJV)

If we use the bible as a reference of doctrine, (as many Christian societies claim as the main doctrine) we see that God created the universe and rested from hi

s work on the sabbath. All creation was finished and he blessed and sanctified the sabbath day (7th day of the week). This is the day that was the basis of restfrom secular work, to contemplate on God and worship him. The sabbath was creat


2/25

ed to guide our hearts to the creative love of God. He created the world and everyone in it. We were made in the very image of the Creator. We are able to procreate in our own image every creature after its kind due to God's blessings and approval. In the old testament all the children of Israel gathered for an assembly or congregation to read the law and learn the ways of God. Thus on the mountain of Sinai, Moses was given the Decalogue and was directed to give all the commandments for ancient Israel and all descendants and future generations to observe

.

From the 10 Commandments:

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labor, and doall thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in itthou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

Ex 20:8-11 (KJV)

In modern day records, many laws have a mark or "seal of approval" by the high ranking official.

The seal of governing authority contains three distinct features:

1.Name of the Official

2.Office or Title of Position

3.Territory of the Official

For example, whenever the US Commander and Chief makes an executive order or passes a law it will contain his seal of approval.

1.George Washington (Name of Official)

2.President (Title of Position)

3.United States of America (Territory)

It is wise to imply that God also has a seal of authority written directly in the 10 Commandments. It is found in the Sabbath commandment Exodus 20:8-11. In verse 11, "In six days the Lord (Name of Official) made (Title of Position as the Creator) heavens, and earth, the sea, (Territory) and all that in them is..."

Interesting that the very commandment that God tells everyone to remember is thecommandment that many theologians choose to forget or fail to discuss thoroughly with their church members.

God has not change the sabbath day(Saturday 7th Day) to Sunday or the "Lord's Day" as the catholic church describes. It should be concluded that even the Messiah worshiped on this day and he is Lord of the Sabbath.

5And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

Luke 6:5 (KJV)

(note*This verse indicates that Jesus is a part of divinity. He shows his placeas the Creator that rested from the work of creation. Jesus also stated,"if you


3/25

love me, keep my commandments.")

Now even God reproved the priests in the old testament concerning his sabbath day (Ezekiel 20). It is disconcerting that many religious leaders are going against the word of God and substituting it for traditions of men.

(note* Sunday worship,Lent's,prayers to the dead,prayers to statues, Christmas,

Easter, and other traditions are not found in the bible as what our God desiresfor His people. For example, Christmas existed before Jesus as a pagan day of worship. Catholicism has taken the pagan day of Tammuz as the Christian Day of thebirthday of Christ, sadly this was transferred and upheld by many protestant denominations. Christmas and other non-biblical traditions was a tool used to bring many pagans into the Christian faith. These traditions have no scriptural basis at all. Read Jeremiah 10 about Christmas).

This was already foreseen by God and the bible is the only way to rebuke or correct this error by show of truth concerning the word of God vs. the traditions ofmen. If a person refuses biblical truth, that would just mean that they do notwant to serve the Creator fully. Do you agree? If you believe in Christ, Let's a

ssume you want to obey God completely! Let's look at other verses showing what God said to the people that abandoned the sabbath:

15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

Ezek 20:15-16 (KJV)

(note*The reader can note for the record how the children of Israel not only disrespected the Lord's Sabbath but also followed after idolatry. They were not all

owed into the promised land because of disobedience. This is still going on today in the Christian faith. We will not be able to reach Heaven our "promised land" if we are disobedient to God. Instead of worshiping the God in heaven, many have trivialized true worship by creating man-made images. Many of the common statues of Mary, Peter, John, etc are actually taken from Roman and Greek traditionsof Diana, Zeus, Apollo, Aphrodite,etc.)

God blessed those that keep all of His commandments. It is better to keep all commandments and not just one (Psalms 119:142).Do not let anyone deceive you by saying a Christian should obey some of the commandments and not all. If a person tells you not to obey God then they are obeying men and that is a very crude deception. As James states:

10For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

James 2:10 (KJV)

In the bible, it states that those who love God will keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus (Rev.14). The devil will try to oppose the sabbath and all other commandments of God because the law shows God's authority and love for the people that do His will.

17 And the dragon [Satan]was wroth with the woman[true church], and went to makewar with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have

the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Rev 12:17 (KJV)


4/25

The deceiver has planted many religious leaders who deny the truth plainly stated in scripture and seek to corrupt the truth concerning the keeping of God's Holy Law. Those that keep the commandments of God and have the faith in Christ arethe ones who will be saved by faith. As it states in 1 John chapter 3:"6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. 7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is

righteous, even as he is righteous. 1 John 3:6-7 (KJV)

By keeping the law we show our faith in God's grace. If we are forgiven of sin,then the fruit of grace (God's pardon) is obedience. Keeping the commandments are very simple to do if you allow God to write them in your heart. This means that you should strive to obtain all the moral ethics of the word of God through faith. If you have strong faith you will be able to overcome by relying on the bible as the only truth. There are blessings for those that keep the Sabbath and the other commandments of God.

To fear the Lord and keep his commandments is a sign of true wisdom.

I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fool walks in the darkness. Ecclesiastes 2:13-14 NIV

Those that follow God fully will keep his commandments including the Sabbath. Asit is written,"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."-Psalms 119

11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Psalms119:11 (KJV)

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and sha

lt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD

Isaiah 58:13-14 (KJV)

If you keep his sabbath and do not go your own way by your own words (traditionsof men), then you will have joy in God. He also says:

...and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

Isaiah 58:14 (KJV)

Isaiah 56 displays many blessings to those that keep the Sabbath.

2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it;that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing anyevil.

Isaiah 56:2 (KJV)

...4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choosethe things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 5 Even unto them will Igive in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons a

nd of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth


5/25

the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7Even them will Ibring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer:

Isaiah 56:4-7 (KJV)

For those that keep these things to heart these will be the very people that reach heaven and are filled with joy. Even the stranger (referring to the future Ge

ntiles or non-Hebrew that convert to follow God fully) will be able to reach a divine resort of peace called Heaven.

Then at the coming of Christ will reap the final harvest of history, and as thechurch triumphant in heaven celebrate and enjoy the eternal sabbath of holinessand peace. This will be the endless end of history, as it was foreshadowed already at the beginning of its course in the holy rest of God after the completion of his work of creation.History of the Christian Church

"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: so then the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Thus it remains that we as Christians should rest and have a common day of assembly on Bible-Sabbath (Saturday).

Many modern-day catholic's and protestants do not know that the basis of Sundayworship has not originated from the bible at all but from the Roman Empire's change in the times and laws (Daniel 7:25).

The very definition of anti-christ is to substitute or replace sound Christian doctrine and beliefs to something opposed to or completely different from the word of God. A famous theologian named Joe Crews wrote:

It seems more than coincidental that Jesus spelled out "traditions of men" as the false doctrine that would lead to vain worship. The chief tradition which turned multitudes from keeping the 10 commandments is the doctrine of Sunday-keeping. Almost any Christian of any persuasion can defend and extol nine of the Ten Co

mmandments. It is only the Sabbath which has stirred deep hatred and prejudice against the holy law of God. Who inspired that attitude of contempt for the onlypart of the bible which God wrote with His own hand? How have so many millions been led to equate obedience with legalism? The tragedy is that ministers have been responsible for turning people away from obedience. On many occasions of evangelistic crusades people have reported angry tirades made by their own pastors against the Sabbath.-Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears, Ch. 5. Sunday:A Tradition of Man

Those that are not able to give any biblical explanation for Sunday observance and frustrated by the insistent questions of their "flock", these pastors turn toemotional outbursts upon the validity of the law God created. Some of these theologians try to refute the law by stating that no special day of worship is necessary and the believer is entirely free from all claims of the law. The fundamentalist group of ministers emphasize the "spirit of the law" while insisting thatthe letter is not binding. If this is true, then those that commit murder, adultery,etc would be allowed to make this erroneous claim as well. This allows forthe specific seventh day Sabbath to be set aside for Sunday.

We saw that Sunday-keeping was instituted by the Catholic Church. Sunday-keepingis a Catholic tradition. Sunday-keeping is a tradition of men.-"Sunday? Its notthe Sabbath-Day" Since sin is defined in the bible as "the transgression of thelaw," and St. Paul affirms that,"Where no law is, there is no transgression," any attack on the law serves to weaken man's convictions about sin (1 John 3:4, Romans 4:15)-Joe Crews "Hidden Eyes and Closed Ears", Ch. 5 [-From the Catholic C

hurch's own words- Question: Which is the Sabbath day?

Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.


6/25

Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. Peter Geiermann, The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine(1957 ed.), p.50.

The observance of Sunday by the protestants is an homage they pay in spite of themselves to the authority of the [Catholic] Church. Mgr. Louis Segur, Plain TalkAbout the Protestantism of Today, Boston: Patrick Donahoe, 1868, page 225.]

Thus for all mankind it would be better to have known the truth and follow God,than to blaspheme God by doing what you want instead of following Him fully. Ifsociety, as a whole kept the principles of the commandments millions of deaths could have been spared. War, stealing, urban and sub-urban murders, domestic violence all are from breaking the commandments. The definition of iniquity or sin is lawlessness. Why does a person murder, steal, commit adultery, etc? Does thesethings not come from disobedience. By allowing sin to manifest through lustfuldesires it causes harm to oneself and others. So all commandments are easy and p

ractical to keep for the overall benefit of society.

Some people out of ignorance will say," No one truly knows what day the seventhday is..." Lets use history, science and the bible to resist this argument.

In every culture there is a distinction of how to determine the days in a year.Typically every civil society claims 360-366 days as equivalent to one full year. We know this because it takes approximately 360-366 cycles of day and night for the earth to revolve around the sun. How do we determine months? Many will conclude that a month contains 28-31 days. This is based on the lunar cycle. The word month comes from the word "moon". The moon cycle around the earth is about 28-31 days. Where is it then that every culture in all of human history can determine the days of the week? The day is determined by 12 hour or 24 hour intervals

that are completely symmetrical, indicating that this supreme order is made andwas not by accident. Only from the bible you see how," In the beginning God created,"the heavens, the earth, the sea, the days, months, years, etc". Did God create you? Of course, so we know for sure that the One that can number the hairs of your head, also knows what day He created and blessed, sanctified and made holy.

Some may still argue,"How do we know which day is the 7th day?"We can simply look at a calendar or dictionary. You can also look at the demographics of any society on our planet.

Every culture has a word in their own language that equates to Sabbath.

For example in English, we call it Saturday.

In Spanish Saturday is also known as Sabado.

In Creole its called Saba, in Hebrew Shabbat.

For every culture there is a word that is equal to the seventh day.

The truth of this essay is very plain and precise. It is not intended to cause dissension to any particular denomination of faith. The purpose of this essay isto direct all believers of Jesus Christ to the Sabbath-truth. In order to shed light we must look at all doctrine to make sure it coincides with the word of God

.

If you have light that God has given regarding this truth take the opportunity t


7/25

o have open and general discussion on the truth and make a decision to decide for God rather than for man. For him that knows truth and does not do it, to him it is a sin.

Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

James 1:3 (KJV)

"And on the same day Jesus saw a man working at his craft on the Sabbath-day, and He said unto him, O man, if thou knowest what thou doest, then art thou blessed; but if thou knowest not, then art thou accursed, and art a transgressor of theLaw. "History of the Christian Church

Concerning the early church during the time of St. Paul...The status of the Christians was no subject of controversy, and hence the decree is silent about them.They were expected to continue in their ancestral traditions and customs as faras they were at all consistent with loyalty to Christ. They needed no instruction as to their duty, "for," said James, in his address to the Council, "Moses from generations of old has in every city those who preach him, being read in the

synagogues every SabbathHistory of the Christian Church

The leaders of the early Christian church used the old testament to prove pointsconcerning the messiah, the law of God, salvation by faith and grace,etc. Thusany that claim to be New Testament believers should uphold the old testament also as the word of God.

Let us now consider every verse in the Bible that mentions the first day of the week. There are eight of them. Five texts describe the women coming to Jesus tomb early on Sunday morning. Notice how many of these verses mention that the Sabbathwas ending as Sunday was beginning.

Matthew 28:1: In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day

of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher.

Mark 16:1,2: And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came to the sepulcher at the rising of the sun.

Luke 24:1: Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulcher, bringing the spices they had prepared, and certain others with them.

Mark 16:9: Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appearedfirst to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils.

John 20:1: The first day of the week came Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, to the sepulcher, and saw the stone taken away from the sepulcher.

Many assume that John 20:19 describes a Sunday worship service, but the verse clearly says that the disciples were there because they were afraid of the Jews. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors wereshut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said to them, Peace be unto you.

Next, Acts 20:7 describes a meeting where Paul preached until midnight. And uponthe first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul

preached to them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech untilmidnight. Remember Gods days start at sunset and end at sunset the next day. TheSabbath, the seventh day, ended at sunset when the first day started. The discip


8/25

les met on Saturday night after sunset. The way the world reckons time, Sunday starts at Midnight. Paul quit preaching at midnight just as Sunday was beginning.So even as the world reconstructs time Paul was not holding a Sunday morning service. The phrase to break bread refers to eating dinner, as verse eleven suggests. Many claim this was a communion service celebrating the Lords resurrection. Communion is a memorial, not to His resurrection, but to His death as First Corinthians 11:26 shows. For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you sho

w the Lords death till he comes.

The Jews kept their accounting books on the first day of the week. In First Corinthians 16:1,2 Paul is simply telling believers to set aside an offering for thepoor saints in Jerusalem so he can pick it up quickly on his way. Now concerningthe collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so you do. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by himin store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

We have just looked at every verse in the Bible where the phrase first day of theweek is mentioned. Notice that in these verses concerning the first day, and infact the entire Bible, there is no commandment, instruction, injunction, mandate

, precept, or even a suggestion that Sunday should be kept holy. There is certainly no clear command from God, as there was on Mt. Sinai when He gave the fourthcommandment concerning the Sabbath day in His own voice. There is no precedentfor Sunday observance anywhere in the entire Bible. On the other hand, the Bibledescribes many Saturday Sabbath observances as we have seen.

In trying to justify Sunday-keeping, many frantically search the Bible for a precedent for Sunday observance. Suppose they found one. Suppose they found an instance of a Sunday religious meeting in the Bible. Would that justify Sunday-keeping? Would that justify working on Gods holy Sabbath day, Saturday? What would they do with the multitude of Saturday religious meetings we have looked at in theBible? The Bible describes many instances where Gods people have lied and otherwise committed sins. Does this justify lying, or breaking any of the Ten Commandme

nts? Of course not. A Sunday meeting, if it were found, would not justify breaking Gods Sabbath commandment either. Granted you can worship God whatever day onewishes. But there is only one commandment on what day to keep holy. The phrase remember the sabbath

Deuteronomy 4:2 tells us not to change the Word of God and gives us the reason for this: You shall not add to the word that I command you, neither shall you takeanything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God thatI command you. Notice the reason given for not changing Gods Word: that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. To claim that the Sabbath is no longer in effect is to change the Word of God. Proverbs 30:6 says, Addnot to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

The truth of this is so simple and obvious that it should require no repetition,but the devious reasoning of those who try to avoid obedience makes it necessary to press this point a bit further. Have you ever been stopped by a police officer for exceeding the speed limit? It is an embarrassing experience, especiallyif you know you are guilty. But suppose you really were hurrying to meet a validemergency, and you pour out your convincing explanation to the policeman as hewrites your ticket. Slowly he folds the ticket and tears it up. Then he says, "All right, I

m going to pardon you this time, but..." Now what do you think he means by that word "but"? Surely he means, "but I don

t want to ever catch you speeding again." Does this pardon (grace) open the way for you to disobey the law?On the contrary, it adds compelling urgency to your decision not to disobey thelaw again. Why, then, should any true Christian try to rationalize his way out o

f obeying the law of God? "If ye love me,"Jesus said,"keep my commandments." (John 14:15).-Joe Crews "Does God

s Grace Blot out the Law?", Ch. 6


9/25

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and thetruth is not in him." (1 John 2:4)

St. John could write that with such assurance because it is one of the most deeply established truths in the Bible. Jesus spoke of those who said,"Lord, Lord,"

but did not do the will of the Father. Then He described many who would seek entrance to the kingdom claiming to be workers of miracles in the name of Christ. But He would sorrowfully have to say, "I never knew you depart from me, ye that worketh iniquity (lawlessness or sin)" Matthew 7:23 (Ibid. Ch. 7)

Ask yourself this question. If I love God, shouldn

t I listen to Him in order tosave my life? Do I believe in grace? If I do believe in God

s grace, shouldn

tI obey his commandments and believe in Jesus in order to obtain grace?Once I repent of sins, should I not obey the commandments of God therefore not sinning anymore?

In order to truly love Jesus we must follow God

s commandments this will lead yo

u to repentance, patience and making sure we love completely by keeping the lawin our hearts and mind. This means all the commandments of God including the sabbath day.

The conclusion should be for God and not against Him.

I bid thee choose wisely, and may God bless you. Repent and choose God

s mercy it will be better for all man at the end of the age. Knowing Christ, loving Him,and obeying are all inseparable in the life of God

s faithful people. "For thisis the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and his commandments are notgrievous."(1 John 5:3)

Many will say,"What about my job? All the work that I do on Saturday?

For those that do not know the truth, God will show mercy. But since you now know the truth you can tell your beliefs to your supervisor. It is currently against the US law to discriminate due to religious beliefs. The wise thing to do is make arrangements to make God your priority. Teach your children to obey God andnot men. Love the Lord with all your heart and His peace shall enter into your gates.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you"-Jesus Christ

C. Quotes from Various Christian Denominations

Here are many quotes from different denominations in regards to the Sabbath. This will provide no shadow of doubt as to what day we should keep as holy according to the scripture.

Excerpts from www.Sabbathtruth.com

American Congregationalist:

"The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted thefirst day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament." Dr. Layman Abbot, in the Christian Union, June 26, 1890.

Anglican:

"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at al


10/25

l? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day... The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead ofthe seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it." Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, pages 334, 336.

Baptist:

There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day wasnot Sunday. It will however be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which I have studied for many years, I ask, where can the record ofsuch a transaction be found: Not in the New Testament absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventhto the first day of the week. Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual.

"To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years

discussion with His disciples, often conversing with them upon the Sabbath question, discussing it

in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional]glosses, never alluded to any transference of the day; also, that during the forty days of His resurrection life, no such thing was intimated. Nor, so far as weknow, did the Spirit, which was given to bring to their remembrance all thingswhatsoever that He had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did theinspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject. (emphasis added)

Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and christened with the name of the sun-god, then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism." Dr. E. T. Hiscox, report

of his sermon at the Baptist Minister

s Convention, in

New York Examiner,

November 16, 1893 (The leader / spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church agrees withthis statement. www.sabbathtruth.com/sabbath_quotes.asp#John Paul)

"The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. . .There isno Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation."The Watchman.

"We believe that the law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of His moral government."-"Baptist Church Manual," Art. 12.

"There was never any formal or authoritative change from the Jewish seventh-daySabbath to the Christian first-day observance." -WILLIAM OWEN CARVER, "The Lord

s Day in Our Day," page 49.

"There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day." Harold Lindsell (editor), Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1976

Brethren:

"With the views of the law and the Sabbath we once held ... and which are stillheld by perhaps the great majority of the most earnest Christians, we confess that we could not answer Adventists. What is more, neither before or since have Iheard or read what would conclusively answer an Adventist in his Scriptural contention that the Seventh day is the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10). It is not

one day in se

ven

as some put it, but

the seventh day according to the commandment.

" Wordsof Truth and Grace, p. 281.


11/25

Catholic:

It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observethe day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church. Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ News on March 18, 1903. See This Rock

"Protestants ... accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change... But the Protestant mind does notseem to realize that ... in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church, the pope." Our Sunday Visitor, February 5th, 1950. See This Rock

Of course these two old quotations are exactly correct. The Catholic Church designated Sunday as the day for corporate worship and gets full credit or blame forthe change. This Rock, The Magazine of Catholic Apologetics and Evangelization, p.8, June 1997

Question: Which is the Sabbath day?

Answer: Saturday is the Sabbath day.

Question: Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?

Answer: We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. -Rev. Peter Geiermann C.SS.R., The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50

Q. Must not a sensible Protestant doubt seriously, when he finds that even the Bible is not followed as a rule by his co-religionists?

A. Surely, when he sees them baptize infants, abrogate the Jewish Sabbath, and observe Sunday a change for which [pg. 7] there is no Scriptural authority; whenhe finds them neglect to wash one another

s feet, which is expressly commanded,and eat blood and things strangled, which are expressly prohibited in Scripture.He must doubt, if he think at all. ...

Q. Should not the Protestant doubt when he finds that he himself holds traditionas a guide?

A. Yes, if he would but reflect that he has nothing but Catholic Tradition for keeping the Sunday holy; ... Controversial Catechism by Stephen Keenan, New Edition, revised by Rev. George Cormack, published in London by Burns & Oates, Limited - New York, Cincinnati, Chicago: Benzinger Brothers, 1896, pages 6, 7.

"The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord

s Day. The Council of Trent(Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, 1908 by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition 1999 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat- Remy Lafort, Censor Imprimatur - +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, page 153.

The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday byright of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Ch

rist. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the onlyconsistent Protestant.

The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4.


12/25

"All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in theBible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostlesordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day ofthe week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible." The Catholic Virginian, "To Tell You

The Truth, Vol. 22, No. 49 (Oct. 3, 1947).

"... you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find asingle line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce thereligious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." The Faith ofOur Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, 88th edition, page 89. Originally published in 1876, republished and Copyright 1980 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., pages 72-73.

Deny the authority of the Church and you have no adequate or reasonable explanation or justification for the substitution of Sunday for Saturday in the Third -Protestant Fourth - Commandment of God... The Church is above the Bible, and th

is transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact.

Catholic Record

, September 1, 1923.

"But since Saturday, not Sunday, is specified in the Bible, isn

t it curious that non-Catholics who profess to take their religion directly from the Bible and not the Church, observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Yes, of course, it is inconsistent; but this change was made about fifteen centuries before Protestantism wasborn, and by that time the custom was universally observed. They have continuedthe custom, even though it rests upon the authority of the Catholic Church andnot upon an explicit text in the Bible. That observance remains as a reminder ofthe Mother Church from which the non-Catholic sects broke away - like a boy running away from home but still carrying in his pocket a picture of his mother or

a lock of her hair." The Faith of Millions

"Perhaps the boldest thing, the most revolutionary change the Church ever did, happened in the first century. The holy day, the Sabbath, was changed from Saturday to Sunday. "The Day of the Lord" (dies Dominica) was chosen, not from any directions noted in the Scriptures, but from the Church

s sense of its own power. The day of resurrection, the day of Pentecost, fifty days later, came on the first day of the week. So this would be the new Sabbath. People who think that the Scriptures should be the sole authority, should logically become 7th Day Adventists, and keep Saturday holy." Sentinel, Pastor

s page, Saint Catherine Catholic Church, Algonac, Michigan, May 21, 1995 If Protestants would follow the Bible, they would worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are followinga law of the Catholic Church. Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920. The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church. Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk aboutthe Protestantism of Today, p. 213.

What Important Question Does the Papacy Ask Protestants?

Protestants have repeatedly asked the papacy, "How could you dare to change God

s law?" But the question posed to Protestants by the Catholic church is even more penetrating.

Here it is officially: ""You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath,

but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! but by whom?Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said, Thou shalt keep holy the seventh day, who shall dare to say,


13/25

Nay, thou mayest work and do all manner of worldly business on the seventh day;but thou shalt keep holy the first day in its stead?

This is a most important question, which I know not how you can answer. You area Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet inso important a matter as the observance of one day in seven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of tha

t day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day isone of the ten commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding;who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible and the Bible only, you oughtto be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered."" *Library of Christian Doctrine: Why Don

t You Keep Holy the Sabbath-Day? (London: Burns and Oates, Ltd.), pp. 3, 4.

I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone thatI am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

The Catholic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The enti

re civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Catholic Church." Priest Thomas Enright, C.S.S.R., February 18, 1884, Printed in the American Sentinel, a New York Roman Catholic journal in June 1893, p. 173.

"There is but one church on the face of the earth which has the power, or claimspower, to make laws binding on the conscience, binding before God, binding under penalty of hell-fire. For instance, the institution of Sunday. What right hasany other church to keep this day? You answer by virtue of the third commandment(the papacy did away with the 2nd regarding the worship of graven images, and called the 4th the 3rd), which says

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.

But Sunday is not the Sabbath. Any schoolboy knows that Sunday is the first day of the week. I have repeatedly offered one thousand dollars to anyone who will prove by the Bible alone that Sunday is the day we are bound to keep, and no o

ne has called for the money. It was the holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday, the seventh day, to Sunday, the first day of the week."- T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture delivered in 1893.

Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change was her act. And the actis a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.

C. F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons, in answer to a letter regarding the change of the Sabbath, November 11, 1895.

Tradition, not Scripture, is the rock on which the church of Jesus Christ is built. Adrien Nampon, Catholic Doctrine as Defined by the Council of Trent, p. 157

"The Pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine law". The pope can modify divine law, since his power is notof man, but of God, and he acts a vicegerent of God upon earth" Lucius Ferraris,Prompta Bibliotheca, art. Papa, II, Vol. VI, p. 29.

"The leader of the Catholic church is defined by the faith as the Vicar of JesusChrist (and is accepted as such by believers). The Pope is considered the man on earth who "takes the place" of the Second Person of the omnipotent God of theTrinity." John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 3, 1994

"...pastoral intuition suggested to the Church the christianization of the notion of Sunday as "the day of the sun", which was the Roman name for the day and which is retained in some modern languages.(29) This was in order to draw the fait

hful away from the seduction of cults which worshipped the sun, and to direct the celebration of the day to Christ, humanity

s true "sun"." John Paul II, Dies Domini, 27. The day of Christ-Light, 1998 (Prominent protestant leaders agree wit


14/25

h this statement - See above for a statement by Dr. E. T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual)

"The Sun was a foremost god with heathen-domThe sun has worshippers at this hourin Persia and other lands. There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about thesun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the church in these countries would seem to have said, to

Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It

shall remain consecrated, sanctified.

And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated toBalder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." William Gildea, Doctor ofDivinity, The Catholic World, March, 1894, p. 809

"The retention of the old pagan name of Dies Solis, for Sunday is, in a great measure, owing to the union of pagan and Christian sentiment with which the firstday of the week was recommended by Constantine to his subjects - pagan and Christian alike - as the

venerable

day of the sun."" Arthur P. Stanley, History ofthe Eastern Church, p. 184

"When St. Paul repudiated the works of the law, he was not thinking of the Ten Commandments, which are as unchangeable as God Himself is, which God could not ch

ange and still remain the infinitely holy God."-Our Sunday Visitor, Oct. 7, I951.

"Question: How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays?

Answer: By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of; and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church." Henry Tuberville, An Abridgment of the Christian Doctrine (1833 approbation), p.58 (Same statement in Manual of Christian Doctrine, ed. by Daniel Ferris [1916 ed.], p.67) "Some theologians have held that God likewise directly determined the Sunday as the day of worship in the NEW LAW, that he himself has explicitly substituted sun

day for the Sabbath. But this theory is entirely abandoned. It is now commonly held that God simply gave His church the power to set aside whatever day or daysshe would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose sunday, the first day ofthe week, and in the course of time added other days as holy days." - Vincent J.Kelly, Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations, Washington, DC, Catholic University of America Press, Studies in Sacred Theology, No. 70.,1943, p. 2.

"If we consulted the Bible only, we should still have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday, with the Jews, instead of Sunday; ..." -- A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, by Rev. John Laux M.A., BenzingerBrothers, 1936 edition, Part 1.

"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and... can be defended only on Catholic principles.... From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage thatwarrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week tothe first." Catholic Press, Aug. 25, 1900 "The Sabbath was Saturday, not Sunday.The Church altered the observance of the Sabbath to the observance of Sunday. Protestants must be rather puzzled by the keeping of Sunday when God distinctly said,

Keep holy the Sabbath Day.

The word Sunday does not come anywhere in theBible, so, without knowing it they are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church." Canon Cafferata, The Catechism Explained, p. 89.

Church of Christ:

"But we do not find any direct command from God, or instruction from the risen C

hrist, or admonition from the early apostles, that the first day is to be substituted for the seventh day Sabbath." "Let us be clear on this point. Though to the Christian

that day, the first day of the week

is the most memorable of all d


15/25

ays ... there is no command or warrant in the New Testament for observing it asa holy day." "The Roman Church selected the first day of the week in honour of the resurrection of Christ. ..." Bible Standard, May, 1916, Auckland, New Zealand.

"... If the fourth command is binding upon us Gentiles by all means keep it. Butlet those who demand a strict observance of the Sabbath remember that the seven

th day is the ONLY sabbath day commanded, and God never repealed that command. If you would keep the Sabbath, keep it; but Sunday is not the Sabbath. The argument of the

Seventh-day Adventists

is on one point unassailable. It is the Seventh day not the first day that the command refers to." G. Alridge, Editor, The Bible Standard, April, 1916.

"There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord

s day."-DR. D. H. LUCAS, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890.

"The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. Thefirst day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Script

ures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any placein the Bible any intimation of such a change."-"First-Day Observance," pages 17,19.

"It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God

sWord, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." DR. N. SUMMERBELL, "History of the Christian Church," Third Edition, page 4I5.

"To command...men...to observe...the Lord

s day...is contrary to the gospel." -"Memoirs of Alexander Campbell," Vol. 1, page 528.

"It is clearly proved that the pastors of the churches have struck out one of Go

d

s ten words, which, not only in the Old Testament, but in all revelation, arethe most emphatically regarded as the synopsis of all religion and morality."-ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, "Debate With Purcell," page 214.

"I do not believe that the Lord

s day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, orthat the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plainreason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath was changed, or that the Lord

s day came in the room of it."-ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, Washington Reporter, Oct. 8, 1821.

Church of England:

"Many people think that Sunday is the Sabbath. But neither in the New Testamentnor in the early church is there anything to suggest that we have any right to transfer the observance of the seventh day of the week to the first. The Sabbathwas and is Saturday and not Sunday, and if it were binding on us then we shouldobserve it on that day, and on no other." Rev. Lionel Beere, All-Saints Church,Ponsonby, N.Z. in Church and People, Sept. 1, 1947. "Nowhere in the Bible is itlaid down that worship should be done on Sunday. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. ...! That is Saturday." P. Carrington, Archbishop of Quebec, Oct. 27,1949; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 12. "The observance of the first instead of the seventh day rests on the testimony of the church, and the church alone." Hobart Church News, July 2, 1894; cited in Prophetic Signs, p 14. "Where are we toldin Scripture that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep

the Seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. The reason whywe keep the first day holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoin


16/25

ed them." Rev. Isaac Williams, Ser. on Catechism, p. 334. "The seventh day, thecommandment says, is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. No kind of arithmetic, nokind of almanac, can make seven equal one, nor the seventh mean the first, nor Saturday mean Sunday. ... The fact is that we are all Sabbath breakers, every oneof us." Rev. Geo. Hodges.

"Not any ecclesiastical writer of the first three centuries attributed the origi

n of Sunday observance either to Christ or to His apostles."-SIR WILLIAM DOMVILLE, "Examination of the Six Texts," pages 6, 7. (Supplement). "There is no word,no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. . . . Into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters, The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday." -CANON EYTON,

The Ten Commandments," pages 52, 63, 65. "Is there any command in the New Testament to change the day of weekly rest from Saturday to Sunday? None."-"Manual of Christian Doctrine," page 127. "The Lord

s day did not succeed in the place of the Sabbath....The Lord

s day was merely an ecclesiastical institution. It was notintroduced by virtue of the fourth commandment, because for almost three hundred years together they kept that day which was in that commandment...The primitive Christians did all manner of works upon the Lord

s day, even in times of perse

cution, when they are the strictest observers of all the divine commandments; but in this they knew there was none."-BISHOP JEREMY TAYLOR, "Ductor Dubitantium,"Part I, Book II, Chap. 2, Rule 6. Sec. 51, 59. "Sunday being the day on which the Gentiles solemnly adore that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partly in respect to its divine body (as theyconceived it), the Christians thought fit to keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear causelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bring a greater prejudice than might be otherwise taken against the gospel."-T. M. MORER, "Dialogues on the Lord

s Day," pages 22, 23.

"The Puritan idea was historically unhappy. It made Sunday into the Sabbath day.Even educated people call Sunday the Sabbath. Even clergymen do." "But, unless

my reckoning is all wrong, the Sabbath day lasts twenty-four hours from six o

clock on Friday evening. It gives over, therefore, before we come to Sunday. If you suggest to a Sabbatarian that he ought to observe the Sabbath on the proper day, you arouse no enthusiasm. He at once replies that the day, not the principle,has been changed. But changed by whom? There is no injunction in the whole of the New Testament to Christians to change the Sabbath into Sunday.

- D. MORSEBOYCOTT, Daily Herald, London, Feb. 26, 1931. "The Christian church made no formal,but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other."- F.W. FARRAR, D.D., "The Voice From Sinai," page 167. "Take which you will, either of the Fathers or the moderns, and we shall find no Lord

s day instituted byany apostolical mandate; no Sabbath set on foot by them upon the first day of the week."-PETER HEYLYN, "History of the Sabbath," page 410. "Merely to denouncethe tendency to secularize Sunday is as futile as it is easy. What we want is tofind some principle, to which as Christians we can appeal, and on which we canbase both our conduct and our advice. We turn to the New Testament, and we lookin vain for any authoritative rule. There is no recorded word of Christ, there is no word of any of the apostles, which tells how we should keep Sunday, or indeed that we should keep it at all. It is disappointing, for it would make our task much easier if we could point to a definite rule, which left us no option butsimple obedience or disobedience. . . . There is no rule for Sunday observance,either in Scripture or history."-DR. STEPHEN, Bishop of Newcastle, N.S.W., in anaddress reported in the Newcastle Morning Herald, May 14, 1924.

Congregational:

"The Christian Sabbath

[Sunday] is not in the Scripture, and was not by the primitive [early Christian] church called the Sabbath." Timothy Dwight, Theology, sermon 107, 1818 ed., Vol. IV, p49 Note: Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) was president


17/25

of Yale University from 1795-1817.

"It is quite clear that, however rigidly or devoutly we may spend Sunday, we arenot keeping the Sabbath ... The Sabbath was founded on a specific divine command. We can plead no such command for the obligation to observe Sunday ... There is not a single sentence in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday." Dr. Dale, The Ten Commandments,

pp. 106, 107.

"It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Buck

s Theological Dictionary page 403. "There is no command in the Bible requiring us to observe the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath."-ORIN FOWLER, A.M., "Mode and Subjects of Baptism."

"The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted thefirst day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament."-DR. LYMAN ABBOTT, Christian Union, Jan. 18, 1882.

Christian Church:

"I do not believe that the Lord

s day came in the room of the Jewish Sabbath, orthat the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day, for this plainreason, where there is no testimony, there can be no faith. Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the LordsDay came in the room of it." Alexander Campbell, in The Reporter, October 8, 1921

"It has reversed the fourth commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God

sWord, and instituting Sunday as a holiday." - Dr. N. Summerbell, History of theChristian Church, Third Edition, p. 415

"There is no direct scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord

s day." - Dr. D. H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890.

"The first day of the week is commonly called the Sabbath. This is a mistake. The Sabbath of the Bible was the day just preceding the first day of the week. Thefirst day of the week is never called the Sabbath anywhere in the entire Scriptures. It is also an error to talk about the change of the Sabbath. There never was any change of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. There is not in any placein the Bible any intimation of such a change." First-Day Observance, pp. 17, 19.

Disciples of Christ:

"There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lords Day." Dr D.H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, January, 1890

"If it [the Ten Commandments] yet exist, let us observe it... And if it does notexist, let us abandon a mock observance of another day for it.

But,

say some,

it was changed from the seventh to the first day.

Where? when? and by whom? -No, it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned [in Genesis 2:1-3] must be changed before theobservance or respect to the reason, can be changed. It is all old wives

fablesto talk of the

change of the sabbath

from the seventh to the first day. If itbe changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and lawsex officio, - I think his name is "Doctor Antichrist.

" Alexander Campbell, TheChristian Baptist, February 2, 1824, vol 1, no. 7

Episcopalian:

"We have made the change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to


18/25

Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church of Christ." Bishop Symour, Why We keep Sunday.

"The Bible commandment says on the seventh-day thou shalt rest. That is Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday." Phillip Carrington, quoted in Toronto Daily Star, Oct 26, 1949 [Carrington (1892-), Anglican archbishop of Quebec, spoke the above in a message on this subject d

elivered to a packed assembly of clergymen. It was widely reported at the time in the news media].

Lutheran:

"The observance of the Lord

s Day (Sunday) is founded not on any command of God,but on the authority of the Church." Augsburg Confession of Faith.

"They [the Catholics] allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord

s day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it appears, neither is there any example more boasted of than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispensed with one of the Ten Commandments." -Aug

sburg Confession of Faith, Art. 28, par. 9.

"They [Roman Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord

s day, asit seemeth, to the Decalogue [the ten commandments]; and they have no example more in their mouths than they change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church

s power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with the precept of theDecalogue." The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D. (Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christendom, 4th Edition, vol 3, p64 [this importantstatement was made by the Lutherans and written by Melanchthon, only thirteen years after Luther nailed his theses to the door and began the Reformation].

"For up to this day mankind has absolutely trifled with the original and most special revelation of the Holy God, the ten words written upon the tables of the L

aw from Sinai."-"Crown Theological Library," page I78.

"The Christians in the ancient church very soon distinguished the first day of the week, Sunday; however, not as a Sabbath, but as an assembly day of the church, to study the Word of God together, and to celebrate the ordinances one with another: without a shadow of doubt, this took place as early as the first part ofthe second century."-Bishop GRIMELUND, "History of the Sabbath," page 60.

"The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance."- AUGUSTUS NEANDER, "History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. 1, page 186.

"I wonder exceedingly how it came to be imputed to me that I should reject the law of Ten Commandments...Whosoever abrogates the law must of necessity abrogatesin also."-MARTIN LUTHER, Spiritual Antichrist," pages 71, 72.

"We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from themind of the Christian church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christian of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, butfor a time celebrated both." The Sunday Problem, a study book by the Lutheran Church (1923) p.36

"But they err in teaching that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and therefore must be kept as the seventh day had to be kept by the child

ren of Israel .... These churches err in their teaching, for scripture has in noway ordained the first day of the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simplyno law in the New Testament to that effect" John Theodore Mueller, Sabbath or S


19/25

unday, pp.15, 16

Lutheran Free Church:

For when there could not be produced one solitary place in the Holy Scriptures which testified that either the Lord Himself or the apostles had ordered such a transfer of the Sabbath to Sunday, then it was not easy to answer the question: Wh

o has transferred the Sabbath, and who has the right to do it? George Sverdrup, ANew Day.

Methodist:

"This

handwriting of ordinances

our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail toHis cross. (Colossians 2: 14.) But the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away.... The moral law standson an entirely different foundation from the ceremonial or ritual law. ...Everypart of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages."-JOHN WE

SLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," 2-Vol. Edition, Vol. I, pages 221, 222.

"No Christian whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral."-"Methodist Church Discipline," (I904), page 23.

"The Sabbath was made for MAN; not for the Hebrews, but for all men."-E.O. HAVEN, "Pillars of Truth," page 88.

"The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first. The early Christians began to worship on the first day of the week because Jesus rose from the dead on that day. By and by, this day of worship was made also a day of rest, a legal holiday. This took place

in the year 321.(*Note: This was done by the emperor Constantine in 321 A.D andnot by Jesus Christ)

"The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the Scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first... Our Christian Sabbath, therefore, is not a matter of positive command. It is a gift of the church... "-CLOVIS G. CHAPPELL, "Ten Rules for Living," page 61.

"Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, "Sabbath"

"In the days of very long ago the people of the world began to give names to everything, and they turned the sounds of the lips into words, so that the lips could speak a thought. In those days the people worshiped the sun because many words were made to tell of many thoughts about many things. The people became Christians and were ruled by an emperor whose name was Constantine. This emperor madeSunday the Christian Sabbath, because of the blessing of light and heat which came from the sun. So our Sunday is a sun-day, isn

t it?"-Sunday School Advocate,Dec. 31, 1921.

"The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets,He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke anypart of this. This is a law which never can be broken... Every part of this law

must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages; as not depending eitheron time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the natureof God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other."-JO


20/25

HN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several Occasions," Vol. I, Sermon XXV.

It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor is there anyfor the keeping of the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ changedthe Sabbath. But, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on a supposition. Amos Binney, Theological Compendium, p. 180-181

"The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by Mosesand the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jotor a tittle of its sanctity has been taken away." New York Herald 1874, on the Methodist Episcopal Bishops Pastoral 1874

Moody Bible Institute:

"The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word

remember,

showing that the Sabbath alreadyexisted when God wrote the law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one commandment has been done away with when they will admit that t

he other nine are still binding?"- D.L. MOODY, "Weighed and Wanting," page 47.

"I honestly believe that this commandment [the fourth, or Sabbath commandment] is just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said that it has been abrogated, but they have never been able to point to any place inthe Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on earth, He did nothing to setit aside; He freed it from the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees hadput it, and gave it its true place.

The Sabbath was made for man, and not manfor the sabbath.

It is just as practicable and as necessary for men today as itever was-in fact, more than ever, because we live in such an intense age.

- Id., page 46.

"This Fourth is not a commandment for one place, or one time, but for all places

and times." D.L. Moody, at San Francisco, Jan. 1st, 1881.

Presbyterian:

"The Christian Sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath." Dwight

s Theology, Vol. 14, p. 401. "A further argument for the perpetuity of the Sabbath we have in Matthew 24:20, Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the Sabbath day. But the final destruction of Jerusalem was after the Christian dispensation was fully set up (AD 70). Yet it is plainly implied in these words of the Lord that even then Christians were bound to strict observation of the Sabbath." Works of Jonathon Edwards, (Presby.) Vol. 4, p. 621.

"We must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law; for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must therefore be as unchangeable as the justice of God, which it embraced, is constant anduniform." JOHN CALVIN, "Commentary on a Harmony of the Gospels," Vol. 1, page 277.

"God instituted the Sabbath at the creation of man, setting apart the seventh day for the purpose, and imposed its observance as a universal and perpetual moralobligation upon the race." American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No.175.

"The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath did not cease till it was abolished a

fter the [Roman] empire became Christian," American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 118.


21/25

"The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it,but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel in any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation." "Westminster Confession of Faith," Chap. 19, Art. 5.

"The Sabbath is a part of the Decalogue-the Ten Commandments. This alone for eve

r settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution ... Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand...The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath."- T.C.BLAKE, D.D., "Theology Condensed," pages 474, 475.

"Sunday being the first day of which the Gentiles solemnly adored that planet and called it Sunday, partly from its influence on that day especially, and partlyin respect to its divine body (as they conceived it) the Christians thought fitto keep the same day and the same name of it, that they might not appear carelessly peevish, and by that means hinder the conversion of the Gentiles, and bringa greater prejudice that might be otherwise taken against the gospel" T.M. Morer, Dialogues on the Lord

s Day

"There is no word, no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent, stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters." Canon Eyton, in The Ten Commandments.

"Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon Apostolic command, whereas the Apostles gave no command on the matter at all.... The truth is, so soon as we appeal to the litera scripta [literal writing] of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the argument." The Christian at Work, April 19, 1883, and Jan. 1884

Protestant Episcopal:

The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day... but as we meet with no Scriptural direction for the change, we may conclude it was done by the authority of the church. Explanation of Catechism

Southern Baptist:

The sacred name of the Seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to requireargument [Exodus 20:10 quoted] on this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to thefirst day of the week, -- that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh. Joseph Hudson Taylor, The SabbaticQuestion, p. 14-17, 41.

"The first four commandments set forth man

s obligations directly toward God....But when we keep the first four commandments, we are likely to keep the other six. . . . The fourth commandment sets forth God

s claim on man

s time and thought.... The six days of labour and the rest on the Sabbath are to be maintained asa witness to God

s toil and rest in the creation. . . . No one of the ten wordsis of merely racial significance.... The Sabbath was established originally (long before Moses) in no special connection with the Hebrews, but as an institution for all mankind, in commemoration of God

s rest after the six days of creation. It was designed for all the descendants of Adam."-Adult Quarterly, Southern Ba

ptist Convention series, Aug. 15, 1937.

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias:


22/25

"Sunday was a name given by the heathens to the first day of the week, because it was the day on which they worshiped the sun, ...the seventh day was blessed and hallowed by God Himself, and ...He requires His creatures to keep it holy to Him. This commandment is of universal and perpetual obligation...The Creator

blessed the seventh day

-declared it to be a day above all days, a day- on which His favour should assuredly rest. ...So long, then, as man exists, and the world a

round him endures,

does the law of the early Sabbath remain. It cannot be set aside so long as its foundations last.... It is not the Jewish Sabbath, properlyso-called, which is ordained in the fourth commandment. In the whole of that injunction there is no Jewish element, any more than there is in the third commandment, or the sixth." Eadie

s Biblical Cyclopedia, 1872 Edition, page 561. "Thus we learn from Socrates (H.E., vi.c.8) that in his time public worship was held inthe churches of Constantinople on both days.... The view that the Christian

s Lord

s day or Sunday is but the Christian Sabbath deliberately transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week does not indeed find categorical expression till a much later period.... The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in A.D. 321, enacting that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest

on Sunday (venerabili die Solis), with an exception in favour of those engaged in agricultural labour...The Council of Laodicea (363) ... forbids Christians from judaizing and resting on the Sabbath day, preferring the Lord

s day, and so far as possible resting as Christians."-Encyclopedia Britannica, 1899 Edition, Vol. XXIII, page 654. "Unquestionably the first law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the sabbatical observance of Sunday is known to have been ordained isthe sabbatical edict of Constantine, A.D. 32I." Chambers

Encyclopedia, Article"Sunday." "It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day."-M

CLINTOCK AND STRONG, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological,and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. IX, page 196. "Sunday (Dies Solis, of the Roman calendar,

day of the sun,

because dedicated to the sun), the first day ofthe week, was adopted by the early Christians as a day of worship. The

sun

ofLatin adoration they interpreted as the

Sun of Righteousness.

. . . No regula

tions for its observance are laid down in the New Testament, nor, indeed, is itsobservance even enjoined."-SCHAFF HERZOG, Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,1891 Edition, Vol. IV, Art. "Sunday."

"Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day." CHARLES BUCK, "A Theological Dictionary,"

"As the Sabbath is of divine institution, so it is to be kept holy unto the Lord. Numerous have been the days appointed by men for religious services; but theseare not binding, because of human institution. Not so the Sabbath. Hence the fourth commandment is ushered in with a peculiar emphasis-

Remember that thou keepholy the Sabbath day.

The abolition of it would be unreasonable."-

CHARLES BUCK,"A Theological Dictionary," 1830 Edition, page 537. "But although it [Sunday] was in the primitive times indifferently called the Lord

s day, or Sunday, yet itwas never denominated the Sabbath; a name constantly appropriate to Saturday, or the seventh day, both by sacred and ecclesiastical writers."-Id., page 572. "The notion of a formal substitution by apostolic authority of the Lord

s day [meaning Sunday] for the Jewish Sabbath [or the first for the seventh day]...and thetransference to it, perhaps in a spiritualized form, of the sabbatical obligation established by the promulgation of the fourth commandment, has no basis whatever, either in Holy Scripture or in Christian antiquity." - SIR WILLIAM SMITH AND SAMUEL CHEETHAM, "A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," Vol. 11, page 182, Article "Sabbath."

"This long series of temporal enactments (in considering which we have, for thesake of exhibiting them as a whole, anticipated chronological order) must have told very powerfully upon the conception of the Lord

s day in the church itself,


23/25

not only tending to formalize its celebration, but to invest it in great degreewith the character of a sabbath. Still, however, there was no connexion of its observance with the obligation of the fourth commandment, and therefore no application to it either of the laws of the Jewish sabbath, or of our Lord

s teachingon the subject, as modifying and spiritualizing these laws." -Id., page 1047

Infidel:

Probably very few Christians are aware of the fact that what they call the

Christian Sabbath

(Sunday) is of pagan origin. "The first observance of Sunday- that history records is in the fourth century

, when Constantine issued an edict (not requiring its religious observance, but simply abstinence from work) reading,

let all the judges and people of the town rest and all the various trades besuspended on the venerable day of the sun.

At the time of the issue of this edict, Constantine was a sun-worshiper; therefore it could have had no relation whatever to Christianity." - HENRY M. TABER. "Faith or Fact" (preface by Robert G. Ingersoll), page 112. "I challenge any priest or minister of the Christian religion to show me the slightest authority for the religious observance of Sunday. And, if such cannot be shown by them, why is it that they are constantly preaching

about Sunday as a holy day? ...The claim that Sunday takes the place of Saturday, and that because the Jews were supposed to be commanded to keep the seventh day of the week holy, therefore the first day of the week should be so kept by Christians, is so utterly absurd as to be hardly worth considering....That Paul habitually observed and preached on the seventh day of the week, is shown in Acts18:4-

And be reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath

(Saturday)."-Id., pages ,114, 116.

Miscellaneous:

"You will tell me that Saturday was the Jewish Sabbath, but that the Christian Sabbath has been changed to Sunday. Changed! But by whom? Who has authority to change an express commandment of Almighty God? When God has spoken and said,

Thou

shalt keep holy the seventh day,

who shall dare to say,

Nay, thou mayest workand do all manner of business on the seventh day; but thou shalt keep holy thefirst day in its stead

? This is a most important question, which I know not howyou can answer." "You are a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible andthe Bible only; and yet in so important a matter as the observance of one day inseven as a holy day, you go against the plain letter of the Bible, and put another day in the place of that day which the Bible has commanded. The command to keep holy the seventh day is one of the Ten Commandments; you believe that the other nine are still binding; who gave you authority to tamper with the fourth? Ifyou are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible andthe Bible only, you ought to be able to produce some portion of the New Testament in which this fourth commandment is expressly altered."-"The Library of Christian Doctrine," pages 3, 4. "The first precept in the Bible is that of sanctifying the seventh day:

God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.

Genesis 2:3. This precept was confirmed by God in the Ten Commandments:

Remember the Sabbath day to keep It holy. ...The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

Exodus 20: 8, 10. On the other hand, Christ declares that He is not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. (Matthew 5: 17.) He Himself observed the Sabbath:

And, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.

Luke4: r6. His disciples likewise observed it after His death:

They . . . rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment.

Luke 23: 56. Yet with all this weight of Scripture authority for keeping the Sabbath or seventh day holy, Protestants of all denominations make this a profane day and transfer the obligation ofit to the first day of the week, or the Sunday. Now what authority have they for doing this? None at all but the unwritten word, or tradition of the Catholic C

hurch, which declares that the apostle made the change in honour of Christ

s resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Ghost on that day of the week."-JOHN MILNER, "The End of Religious Controversy," page 71. "Sabbath means, of course, Satu


24/25

rday, the seventh day of the week, but the early Christians changed the observance to Sunday, to honour the day on which Christ arose from the dead."-FULTON OURSLER. Cosmopolitan, Sept. 1951, pages 34, 35. "I do not pretend to be even an amateur scholar of the Scriptures. I read the Decalogue merely as an average man searching for guidance, and in the immortal

Ten Words

I find a blueprint for the good life."-Id., page 33. "Most certainly the Commandments are needed today, perhaps more than ever before. Their divine message confronts us with a profound

moral challenge in an epidemic of evil; a unifying message acceptable alike to Jew, Muslim, and Christian. Who, reading the Ten in the light of history and of current events, can doubt their identity with the eternal law of nature?"-Id., page 124. "The Sabbath is commanded to be kept on the seventh day. It could not bekept on any other day. To observe the first day of the week or the fourth is not to observe the Sabbath. . . . It was the last day of the week, after six daysof work, that was to be kept holy. The observance of no other day would fulfillthe law."-H. J. FLOWERS, B.A., B.D., "The Permanent Value of the Ten Commandments," page 13. "The evaluation of Sunday, the traditionally accepted day of the resurrection of Christ, has varied greatly throughout the centuries of the Christian Era. From time to time it has been confused with the seventh day of the week,the Sabbath. English speaking peoples have been the most consistent in perpetuat

ing the erroneous assumption that the obligation of the fourth commandment has passed over to Sunday. In popular speech, Sunday is frequently, but erroneously,spoken of as the Sabbath."-F. M. SETZLER, Head Curator, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institute, from a letter dated Sept. 1, 1949. "He that observesthe Sabbath aright holds the history of that which it celebrates to be authentic, and therefore believes in the creation of the first man; in the creation of afair abode for man in the space of six days; in the primeval and absolute creation of the heavens and the earth, and, as a necessary antecedent to all this, inthe Creator, who at the close of His latest creative effort, rested on the seventh day. The Sabbath thus becomes a sign by which the believers in a historical revelation are distinguished from those who have allowed these great facts to fade from their remembrance.

- JAMES G. MURPHY, "Commentary on the Book of Exodus," comments on Exodus 20: 8-11.

With the countless historical sources and scriptural evidence can their be roomfor disobedience.

D. Warning Against Unbelief

This is found in Hebrews Chapter 3-4. It is very fitting to place on this document for all readers.

Hebrews 3:7-19 and Chapter 4:1-13 (NIV)

Chapter 3:7-19

So as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, whereyour fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is whyI was angry with that generation, and I said, Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.

So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest

See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turnsaway from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin

s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said:

Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.


25/25

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he (God) angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobey? So we see that they werenot able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Sabbath Rest for the People of God

Hebrews Ch 4:1-13

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no valueto them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who havebelieved enter that rest, just as God has said:

So I declare on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest.

And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: And on the seventh day Godrested from all his work. And again in the passage above he says, They shall neverenter my rest. It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before:

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about anotherday. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone whoenters God

s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Let us

, therefore, make

what day is the sabbath of the bible?

Documents