Baptist
“There was and is a command to keep holy
the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not 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 of such 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 seventh to 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 we know, did the Spirit, which was given to bring
to their remembrance all things whatsoever that He had said unto them, deal
with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel,
founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or
approach the subject. 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 with this statement.See
Below)
"The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath. .
.There is no 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-day Sabbath 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
Anglican
"And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first dayat all? 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 of the 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.
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. Sundayis an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who
observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.” Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the
Elizabeth, NJ ‘News’ on March 18, 1903.
"Protestants ... accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public
worship after the Catholic Church made the change... But the Protestant mind
does not seem 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.
“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 – for the change.” This Rock, The Magazine of Catholic Apologetics and
Evangelization, p.8, June 1997
Q. Have you any other proofs that they(Protestants) are not
guided by the Scripture?
A. Yes; so many, that we cannot
admit more than a mere specimen into this small work. They reject much that is
clearly contained in Scripture, and profess more that is nowhere discoverable
in that Divine Book.
Q. Give some examples of
both?
A. They should, if the Scripture
were their only rule, wash the feet of one another, according to the command of
Christ, in the 13th chap. of St. John; —they should keep, not the Sunday, but
the Saturday, according to the commandment, "Remember thou keep holy the
SABBATH-day;" for this commandment has not, in Scripture, been
changed or abrogated;... Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New
York in 1857, page 101 Imprimatuer
Q. Have you any other way of
proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power, she
could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; —she
could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week,
for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no
Scriptural authority. Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York
in 1857, page 174
Q. In what manner can we show
a Protestant, that he speaks unreasonably against fasts and abstinences?
A. Ask him why he keeps Sunday,
and not Saturday, as his day of rest, since he is unwilling either to fast or
to abstain. If he reply, that the Scripture orders him to keep the Sunday, but
says nothing as to fasting and abstinence, tell him the Scripture speaks of
Saturday or the Sabbath, but gives no command anywhere regarding Sunday or the
first day of the week. If, then he neglects Saturday as a day of rest and
holiness, and substitutes Sunday in its place, and this merely because such was
the usage of the ancient Church, should he not, if he wishes to act
consistently, observe fasting and abstinence, because the ancient Church so
ordained? Rev. Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism; New York in 1857,
page 181
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 Convert’s 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 for which [pg.
7] there is no Scriptural authority; when he 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 tradition as 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
by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus
Christ. 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
only consistent Protestant.'' The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942,
p. 4.
"All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find
in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the
Apostles ordered 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 of the 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 a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures
enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never
sanctify." The Faith of Our 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 this 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 was born, and by that time the custom was
universally observed. They have continued the custom, even though it rests upon
the authority of the Catholic Church and not upon an explicit text in the
Bible. That observance remains as a reminder of the 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 following a 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 about the 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, 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 are
a Protestant, and you profess to go by the Bible and the Bible only; and yet in
so 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
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?
If you are consistent with your own principles, if you really follow the Bible
and the Bible only, you ought to 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.
"There is but one church on the
face of the earth which has the power, or claims power, to make laws binding on
the conscience, binding before God, binding under penalty of hell-fire. For
instance, the institution of Sunday. What right has any 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 one 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 act
is 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 not of 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 Jesus Christ (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 the Trinity." 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 faithful 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.
"The Sun was a foremost god with heathen-dom…The sun has worshippers at
this hour in Persia and other lands…. There is, in truth, something royal,
kingly about the sun, 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 to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to
Jesus." William Gildea, Doctor of Divinity, 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 first day 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 of the 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 change 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
sunday 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 days she would deem suitable as holy days. The church chose sunday, the
first day of the 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., Benzinger Brothers, 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
that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the
week to the 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 the Bible, so, without knowing it they
are obeying the authority of the Catholic Church." Canon Cafferata, The
Catechism Explained, p. 89.
''Reason and sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these
alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday, or
Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible.'' John
Cardinal Gibbons, The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.
Church of Christ
"But we do not find any direct
command from God, or instruction from the risen Christ, 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 days ...
there is no command or warrant in the New Testament for observing it as a 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. But let those who demand a
strict observance of the Sabbath remember that the seventh 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. The first 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 place in 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's Word, 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 God's ten words, which, not only in the Old Testament, but in all
revelation, are the 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, or that the Sabbath was changed from the
seventh to the first day, for this plain reason, 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.
Episcopalian
"We have made
the change from the seventh day to the first
day, from Saturday to 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 delivered 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." -Augsburg
Confession of Faith, Art. 28, par. 9.
"They [Roman Catholics] allege
the change of the Sabbath into the Lord's day, as it 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 the Decalogue." The Augsburg Confession, 1530 A.D.
(Lutheran), part 2, art 7, in Philip Schaff, the Creeds of Christiandom, 4th
Edition, vol 3, p64 [this important statement 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 Law 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 of the 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
abrogate sin also."-MARTIN LUTHER, Spiritual Antichrist," pages 71,
72.
"We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish Sabbath faded from the mind 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, but for 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 children of Israel .... These churches
err in their teaching, for scripture has in no way ordained the first day of
the week in place of the Sabbath. There is simply no law in the New Testament
to that effect" John Theodore Mueller,
Sabbath or Sunday, pp.15, 16
Methodist
"This 'handwriting of ordinances'
our Lord did blot out, take away, and nail to His 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 stands on an entirely different foundation from the
ceremonial or ritual law. ...Every part of this law must remain in force upon
all mankind and in all ages."-JOHN WESLEY, "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.
"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 made Sunday 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 any part 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 either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change,
but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable
relation to each other."-JOHN WESLEY, "Sermons on Several
Occasions," Vol. I, Sermon XXV.
"The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by
Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jot or a tittle of
its sanctity has been taken away." New York Herald 1874, on the Methodist
Episcopal Bishops Pastoral 1874
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 and uniform." 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 moral obligation 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 after the [Roman] empire became
Christian," American Presbyterian Board of Publication, Tract No. 118.
"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 ever 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 partly in respect to its divine body (as they conceived it) the Christians
thought fit to 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 bring a 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
Southern Baptist
“The sacred name of the Seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require argument [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 the first 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 Sabbatic Question’, 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 as a witness to
God's toil and rest in the creation. . . . No one of the ten words is 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 Baptist Convention series,
Aug. 15, 1937.
Source
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2
4
On Colossians 2: 16, Dr. Albert Barnes writes:
7
We are to walk in the light while we have the light.
9. "The Sabbath brings trouble and division."