|
|
60
Seventh day Facts
1. After working the first six days of the week in creating this earth,
the great God rested on the seventh day. (Genesis 2:1-3)
2. This stamped that day as God's rest day, or Sabbath day, as
Sabbath day means rest day. To illustrate: When a person is born on a
certain day, that day thus becomes his birthday. So when God rested
upon the seventh day, that day became His rest, or Sabbath, day.
3. Therefore the seventh day must always be God's Sabbath day.
Can you change your birthday from the day on which you were born to one
on which you were not born? No. Neither can you change God's rest day
to a day on which He did not rest. Hence the seventh day is still God's
Sabbath day.
4. The Creator blessed the seventh day. (Genesis 2:3)
5. He sanctified the seventh day. (Exodus 20:11)
6. He made it the Sabbath day in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:1-3)
7. It was made before the fall; hence it is not a type, for types were not introduced till after the fall.
8. Jesus says it was made for man (Mark 2:27), that is, for the
race, as the word man is here unlimited; hence, for the Gentile as well
as the Jew.
9. It is a memorial of creation. (Exodus 20:11; 31:17) Every
time we rest upon the seventh day, as God did at creation, we
commemorate that grand event.>
10. It was given to Adam, the head of the human race. (Mark 2:27; Genesis 2:1-3)
11. Hence through him, as our representative, to all nations. (Acts 17:26)
12. It is not a Jewish institution, for it was made 2,300 years before ever there was a Jew.
13. The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath, but always "the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Men should be cautious how they
stigmatize God's holy rest day.
14. Evident reference is made to the Sabbath and the seven-day
week all through the patriarchal age. (Genesis 2:1-3; 8:10, 12; 29:27,
28, etc.)
15. It was a part of God's law before Sinai. (Exodus 16:4, 27-29)
16. Then God placed it in the heart of His moral law. (Exodus
20:1-17) Why did He place it there if it was not like the other nine
precepts, which all admit to be immutable?
17. The seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by the voice of the living God. (Deuteronomy 4:12, 13)
18. Then He wrote the commandment with His own finger. (Exodus 31:18)
19. He engraved it in the enduring stone, indicating its imperishable nature. (Deuteronomy 5:22)
20. It was sacredly preserved in the ark in the holy of holies. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5)
21. God forbade work upon the Sabbath, even in the most hurrying times. (Exodus 34:21)
22. God destroyed the Israelites in the wilderness because they profaned the Sabbath. (Ezekiel 20:12, 13)
23. It is the sign of the true God, by which we are to know Him from false gods. (Ezekiel 20:20)
24. God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if the Jews would keep the Sabbath. (Jeremiah 17:24, 25)
25. He sent them into the Babylonish captivity for breaking it. (Nehemiah 13:18)
26. He destroyed Jerusalem for its violation. (Jeremiah 17:27)
27. God has pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. (Isaiah 56:6, 7)
28. This is in the prophecy which refers wholly to the Christian dispensation. (See Isaiah 56)
29. God has promised to bless all who keep the Sabbath. (Isaiah 56:2)
30. The Lord requires us to call it "honourable." (Isaiah 58:13)
Beware ye who take delight in calling it the "Jewish Sabbath," "a yoke
of bondage," etc.
31. After the holy Sabbath has been trodden down "many generations," it is to be restored in the last days. (Isaiah 58:12, 13)
32. All the holy prophets kept the seventh day.
33. When the Son of God came, He kept the seventh day all His
life. (Luke 4:16; John 15:10) Thus He followed His Father's example at
creation. Shall we not be safe in following the example of both the
Father and the Son?
34. The seventh day is the Lord's day. (See Revelation 1:10; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 58:13; Exodus 20:10)
35. Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), that is, to love
and protect it, as the husband is the lord of the wife, to love and
cherish her (1 Peter 3:6).
36. He vindicated the Sabbath as a merciful institution designed for man's good. (Mark 2:23-28)
37. Instead of abolishing the Sabbath, He carefully taught how it should be observed. (Matthew 12:1-13)
38. He taught His disciples that they should do nothing upon the Sabbath day but what was "lawful." (Matthew 12:12)
39. He instructed His apostles that the Sabbath should be prayerfully regarded forty years after His resurrection. (Matthew 24:20)
40. The pious women who had been with Jesus carefully kept the seventh day after His death. (Luke 23:56)
41.Thirty years after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit expressly calls it "the sabbath day." (Acts 13:14)
42. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, called it the "sabbath
day" in A.D. 45. (Acts 13:27) Did not Paul know? Or shall we believe
modern teachers, who affirm that it ceased to be the Sabbath at the
resurrection of Christ?
43. Luke, the inspired Christian historian, writing as late as A.D. 62, calls it the "sabbath day." (Acts 13:44)
44. The Gentile converts called it the Sabbath. (Acts 13:42)
45. In the great Christian council, A.D. 49, in the presence of
the apostles and thousands of disciples, James calls it the "sabbath
day." (Acts 15:21)
46. It was customary to hold prayer meetings upon that day. (Acts 16:13)
47. Paul read the Scriptures in public meetings on that day. (Acts 17:2, 3)
48. It was his custom to preach upon that day. (Acts 17:2, 3)
49. The Book of Acts alone gives a records of his holding
eighty-four meetings upon that day. (See Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2;
18:4,
11)
50. There was never any dispute between the Christians and the
Jews about the Sabbath day. This is proof that the Christians still
observed the same day that the Jews did.
51. In all their accusations against Paul, they never charged
him with disregarding the Sabbath day. Why did they not, if he did not
keep it?
52. But Paul himself expressly declared that he had kept the
law. "Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple,
nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all." Acts 25:8.
How could this be true if he had not kept the Sabbath?
53. The Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament fifty-nine
times, and always with respect, bearing the same title it had in the
Old Testament, "the sabbath day."
54. Not a word is said anywhere in the new Testament about the
Sabbath's being abolished, done away, changed, or anything of the kind.
55. God has never given persmission to any man to work upon it.
Reader, by what authority do you use the seventh day for common labor?
56. No Christian of the New Testament, either before or after
the resurrection, ever did ordinary work upon the seventh day. Find one
case of that kind, and we will yield the question. Why should modern
Christians do differently from Bible Christians?
57. There is no record that God has ever removed His blessing or sanctification from the seventh day.
58. As the Sabbath was kept in Eden before the fall, so it will
be observed eternally in the new earth after the restitution. (Isaiah
66:22, 23)
59. The seventh-day Sabbath was an important part of the law of
God, as it came from His own mouth, and was written by His own finger
upon stone at Sinai. (See Exodus 20.) When Jesus began His work, He
expressly declared that He had not come to destroy the law. "Think not
that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets." Matthew 5:17.
60. Jesus severely condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites for
pretending to love God, while at the same time they made void one of
the Ten Commandments by their tradition. The keeping of Sunday is only
a tradition of man.
41
First day Facts
1. The very first thing recorded in the Bible is work done on
Sunday, the first day of the week. (Genesis 1:1-5) This was done by the
Creator Himself. If God made the earth on Sunday, can it be wicked for
us to work on Sunday?
2. God commands men to work upon the first day of the week. (Exodus 20:8-11) Is it wrong to obey God?
3. None of the patriarchs ever kept it.
4. None of the holy prophets ever kept it.
5. By the express command of God, His holy people used the first day of the week as a common working day for 4,000 years, at least.
6. God Himself calls it a "working" day. (Ezekiel 46:1)
7. God did not rest upon it.
8. He never blessed it.
9. Christ did not rest upon it.
10. Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3), and worked at His trade
until He was thirty years old. He kept the Sabbath and worked six days
in the week, as all admit. Hence He did many a hard day's work on
Sunday.
11. The apostles worked upon it during the same time.
12. The apostles never rested upon it.
13. Christ never blessed it.
14. It has never been blessed by any divine authority.
15. It has never been sanctified.
16. No law was ever given to enforce the keeping of it, hence it
is no transgression to work upon it. "Where no law is, there is no
transgression." Romans 4:15. (See also 1 John 3:4.)
17. The New Testament nowhere forbids work to be done on it.
18. No penalty is provided for its violation.
19. No blessing is promised for its observance.
20. No regulation is given as to how it ought to be observed. Would this be so if the Lord wished us to keep it?
21. It is never called the Christian Sabbath
22. It is never called the Sabbath day at all.
23. It is never called the Lord's day.
24. It is never called even a rest day.
25 No sacred title whatever is applied to it. Then why should we call it holy?
26. It is simply called "the first day of the week."
27. Jesus never mentioned it in any way, never took its name upon His lips, so far as the record shows.
28. The word Sunday never occurs in the Bible at all.
29. Neither God, Christ, nor inspired men ever said one word in favor of Sunday as a holy day.
30. The first day of the week is mentioned only eight times in
all the New Testament. (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John
20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2)
31. Six of these texts refer to the same first day of the week.
32 Paul directed the saints to look over their secular affairs on that day. (1 Corinthians 16:2)
33. In all the New testament we have a record of only one
religious meeting held upon that day, and even this was a night
meeting. (Acts 20:5-12)
34. There is not an intimation that they ever held a meeting upon it before or after that.
35. It was not their custom to meet on that day.
36. There was no requirement to break bread on that day.
37. We have an account of only one instance in which it was done. (Acts 20:7)
38. That was done in the night-after midnight. (Verses 7-11)
Jesus celebrated it on Thursday evening (Luke 22), and the disciples
sometimes did it every day (Acts 2:42-46).
39. The Bible nowhere says that the first day of the week
commemorates the resurrection of Christ. This is a tradition of men,
which contradicts the law of God. (Matthew 15:1-9) Baptism commemorates
the burial and resurrection of Jesus. (Romans 6:3-5)
40. The New Testament is totally silent with regard to any change of the Sabbath day or any sacredness for the first day.
41. Finally, looking to the
Jew that sought out EVERY avenue of attack against the Apostles. The New Testament
is completely silent in regards to the Jews ever coming against the Apostles
for breaking the Sabbath by worshipping on Sunday.
Here are one hundred plain Bible facts upon this question, showing
conclusively that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord in both
the Old and New Testament
-Review and Herald Publishing assc. Reprinted from a tract published in the
year 1885 (Any and all additions supplied by Presents of God ministry)
The parable of the woman (woman = church see Jer. 6:2) with the "ten coins" who looses ONE of the coins is actually speaking of the end time Church and the ten commandments! And the ONE lost equals Commandment #4
Luke 15:8-9, "Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost."
Are you going to do as this "woman" does and rejoice and tell your friends. If so, then YOU are spoken of in PROPHECY! You will become a "REPAIRER OF THE BREACH!"
Isaiah 58:12, "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in."
The end time Remnant Church has FOUND THAT COIN!
And we are rejoicing by telling our "friends!"
It's Jewish?
Uriah Smith
(circa mid to late 1800's)
[Some words have been changed without changing the
context or meaning.]
When we present G-d's holy law,
And arguments
from scripture draw,
Objectors say, to pick a flaw,
'It's
Jewish.'
Though at the first Most High blessed
And sanctified His day
of rest,
The same belief is still expressed,
'It's Jewish.'
Though
with the world this rest began,
And thence through all Scriptures ran,
And
Yeshua said "'twas made for man"--
'It's Jewish.'
Though not with
Jewish rites,
which passed,
But with the moral law 'twas classed,
Which
must exist while time shall last,
'It's Jewish.'
If from the Bible we
present
The Sabbath's meaning and intent,
This answers every
argument--
'It's Jewish.'
Though the disciples, Luke and
Paul,
Continue still this rest to call
The 'Sabbath day', this answers
all:
'It's Jewish.'
The good news teacher's plain expression,
That
" Sin is of the law's transgression,"
Seems not to make the least
impression--
'It's Jewish.'
They love the rest of man's
invention,
But if the L-RD's day we mention,
This puts an end to all
contention:
'It's Jewish.'
O ye who thus G-D's day abuse,
Simply
because 'twas kept by Jews,
The Saviour, too, you must refuse,
He's
Jewish.
The Scriptures, then, we may expect
For the same reason you'll
reject;
For if you will but recollect,
They're Jewish.
Thus the
apostles, too, must fall;
For Andrew, Peter, James, and Paul,
Thomas,
Matthew, John, and all
Were Jewish.
So to your helpless state
resign
Yourself in wretchedness to pine;
Salvation, surely you'll
decline,
It's Jewish.
By the way. The Sabbath was instituted by God in the Garden of Eden 2500 YEARS BEFORE a Jew was ever born!
INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he made; and he rested on the
seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh
day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work
which God created and made." (Genesis 2:1-3 )
JESUS
"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his
custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to
read." (Luke 4:16)
JESUS
"And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing
shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, if thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:16,17)
JESUS
"But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath
day." (Matthew 24, 20).
NOTE: Jesus asked his disciples to pray that in the flight from the doomed
city of Jerusalem they would not have to flee on the Sabbath day. This flight
took place in 70 A.D. 40 years after the Jesus' crucfixion and we see here
that Jesus fully expected His church to be observing His true seventh day
Sabbath that He Himself proclaimed to be the Lord of.
JESUS' FOLLOWERS
"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments and rested the
Sabbath day according to the commandment." (Luke 23:56.) Did these women
make a mistake and keep the wrong sabbath or was it that Christ NEVER EVER
hinted that there would be a change forthcoming???
PAUL
"And Paul, as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath days
reasoned with them out of the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2) Did Christ fail to
inform Paul on the road to Damascus that there's now a new sabbath? Or rather
does the silence of Christ speak volumes against the papal sabbath???
PAUL AND THE GENTILES
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought
that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next
Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God."
Acts 13:42, 44.
Here we find Gentiles in a Gentile city gathering on the Sabbath. It was not a
synagogue meeting in verse 44, for it says almost the whole city came
together, verse 42 says they asked to hear the message the "next
Sabbath."
And get this: The Bible does not say it is the "old Jewish Sabbath that
was passed away," but the Spirit of God, writing the Book of Acts some 30
years after the crucifixion, calls it "the next Sabbath."
JOHN
"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev.1:10 (Mark 2:28,
Isa.58:13, Ex.20:10, Clearly show the Sabbath to be the Lord's day).
The term "Lord's day" in reference to sunday came later. The
Biblical meaning for Lord's day is the day that God calls "My holy
day" and the day that Jesus said He is Lord of.
JOSEPHUS
"There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the Barbarians, nor
any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath
not come!" M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries on China and Japan"
(edited by Dennys), Vol 4, Nos 7, 8, p.100.
PHILO
Declares the seventh day to be a festival, not of this or of that city, but of
the universe. M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries," Vol. 4, 99
So we have incontrovertible proof that the observance of sunday was NOT
practiced by the apostolic church of the first century. Although the poison of
apostasy had already begun, it did not reach the ascendancy until the passage
of a few more centuries.
The next installment will show the historical record of the early christians
observing the true seventh day Sabbath in the second century A.D.
-----------------------------------------------
EARLY CHRISTIANS - 2nd Century
"The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and
spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they
derived this practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several
scriptures to the purpose." "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p.
189. London: 1701, By Dr. T.H. Morer (A Church of England divine).
EARLY CHRISTIANS - 2nd Century
"...The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the
whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy they followed not only the
example but also the command of Jesus." "Geschichte des Sonntags,"
pp.13, 14
EARLY CHRISTIANS - 2nd Century
"The Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath," Gieseler's
"Church History," Vol.1, ch. 2, par. 30, 93.
EARLY CHRISTIANS - 2nd Century
"The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;...therefore
the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the
Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till
the time of the Laodicean council." "The Whole Works" of Jeremy
Taylor, Vol. IX,p. 416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol XII, p. 416).
EARLY CHRISTIANS - 2nd Century
"It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed
(together with the celebration of the Lord's day) by the Christians of the
East Church, above three hundred years after our Saviour's death."
"A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath," p. 77
Note: By the "Lord's day" here the writer means Sunday and not the
true Sabbath," which the Bible says is the Sabbath. This quotation shows
Sunday coming into use in the early centuries soon after the death of the
Apostles. It illustrates the apostasy that Paul the Apostle foretold of when
he spoke about a great "falling away" from the Truth that would take
place soon after his death.
"From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was about
the year 364, the holy observance of the Jews' Sabbath continued, as may be
proved out of many authors: yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council
against it." "Sunday a Sabbath." John Ley, p.163. London: 1640.
------------------------------------------
EGYPT (OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRUS) (200-250 A.D.)
"Except ye make the sabbath a real sabbath (sabbatize the Sabbath,"
Greek), ye shall not see the Father." "The oxyrhynchus Papyri,"
pt,1, p.3, Logion 2, verso 4-11 (London Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund,
1898).
EARLY CHRISTIANS-C 3rd
"Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His
work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence: it is a rest for
meditation of the law, not for idleness of the hands." "The
Anti-Nicene Fathers," Vol 7,p. 413. From "Constitutions of the Holy
Apostles," a document of the 3rd and 4th Centuries.
AFRICA (ALEXANDRIA) ORIGEN
"After the festival of the unceasing sacrifice (the crucifixion) is put
the second festival of the Sabbath, and it is fitting for whoever is righteous
among the saints to keep also the festival of the Sabbath. There remaineth
therefore a sabbatismus, that is, a keeping of the Sabbath, to the people of
God (Hebrews 4:9)." "Homily on Numbers 23," par.4, in Migne,
"Patrologia Graeca," Vol. 12,cols. 749, 750.
PALESTINE TO INDIA (CHURCH OF THE EAST)
As early as A.D. 225 there existed lallrge bishoprics or conferences of the
Church of the East (Sabbath-keeping) stretching from Palestine to India.
Mingana, "Early Spread of Christianity." Vol.10, p. 460.
INDIA (BUDDHIST CONTROVERSY), 220 A.D.)
The Kushan Dynasty of North India called a famous council of Buddhist priests
at Vaisalia to bring uniformity among the Buddhist monks on the observance of
their weekly Sabbath. Some had been so impressed by the writings of the Old
Testament that they had begun to keep holy the Sabbath. Lloyd, "The Creed
of Half Japan," p. 23.
EARLY CHRISTIANS
"The seventh-day Sabbath was...solemnised by Christ, the Apostles, and
primitive Christians, till the Laodicean Council did in manner quite abolish
the observations of it." "Dissertation on the Lord's Day," pp.
33, 34
---------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------
ITALY AND EAST-C 4th
"It was the practice generally of the Easterne Churches; and some
churches of the west...For in the Church of Millaine (Milan);...it seems the
Saturday was held in a farre esteeme... Not that the Easterne Churches, or any
of the rest which observed that day, were inclined to Iudaisme (Judaism); but
that they came together on the Sabbath day, to worship Iesus (Jesus) Christ
the Lord of the Sabbath." "History of the Sabbath" (original
spelling retained), Part 2, par. 5, pp.73, 74. London: 1636. Dr. Heylyn.
ORIENT AND MOST OF WORLD
"The ancient Christians were very careful in the observance of Saturday,
or the seventh day...It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the
greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival...Athanasius
likewise tells us that they held religious assembles on the Sabbath, not
because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the
Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same." "Antiquities of the Christian
Church," Vol.II Book XX, chap. 3, sec.1, 66. 1137,1138.
ABYSSINIA
"In the last half of that century St. Ambrose of Milan stated officially
that the Abyssinian bishop, Museus, had 'traveled almost everywhere in the
country of the Seres' (China). For more than seventeen centuries the
Abyssinian Church continued to sanctify Saturday as the holy day of the fourth
commandment." Ambrose, DeMoribus, Brachmanorium Opera Ominia, 1132, found
in Migne, Patrologia Latima, Vol.17, pp.1131,1132.
ARABIA, PERSIA, INDIA, CHINA
"Mingana proves that in 370 A.D. Abyssinian Christianity (a Sabbath
keeping church) was so popular that its famous director, Musacus, travelled
extensively in the East promoting the church in Arabia, Persia, India and
China." "Truth Triumphanat,"p.308 (Footnote 27).
ITALY-MILAN
"Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan
he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the
proverb, 'When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.'" Heylyn, "The
History of the Sabbath" (1612)
SPAIN-COUNCIL ELVIRA (A.D.305)
Canon 26 of the Council of Elvira reveals that the Church of Spain at that
time kept Saturday, the seventh day. "As to fasting every Sabbath:
Resolved, that the error be corrected of fasting every Sabbath." This
resolution of the council is in direct opposition to the policy the church at
Rome had inaugurated, that of commanding Sabbath as a fast day in order to
humiliate it and make it repugnant to the people.
SPAIN
It is a point of further interest to note that in north-eastern Spain near the
city of Barcelona is a city called Sabadell, in a district originaly
inhabited. By a people called both "Valldenses" and Sabbatati."
PERSIA-A.D. 335-375 (40 YEARS PERSECUTION UNDER SHAPUR II)
The popular complaint against the Christians-"They despise our sungod,
they have divine services on Saturday, they desecrate the sacred the earth by
burying their dead in it." Truth Triumphant," p.170.
PERSIA-A.D.335-375
"They despise our sun-god. Did not Zorcaster, the sainted founder of our
divine beliefs, institute Sunday one thousand years ago in honour of the sun
and supplant the Sabbath of the Old Testament. Yet these Christians have
divine services on Saturday." O'Leary, "The Syriac Church and
Fathers," pp.83, 84.
COUNCIL LAODICEA-A.D.365
"Canon 16-On Saturday the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture
shall be read aloud." "Canon 29-Christians shall not Judaize and be
idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall
especially honor, and as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on
that day." Hefele's "Councils," Vol. 2, b. 6.
===========================================
-------------------------------------------------
THE WORLD
"For although almost all churches throughout the world celebrated the
sacred mysteries (the Lord's Supper) on the Sabbath of every week, yet the
Christians of Allexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition,
refuse to do this." The footnote which accompanies the foregoing
quotation explains the use of the word "Sabbath." It says:
"That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never
called "the Sabbath' by the ancient Fathers and historians."
Sacrates, "Ecclestical History," Book 5, chap. 22, p. 289.
CONSTANTINOPLE
"The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together
on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never
observed at Rome or at Alexandria." Socrates, "Ecclesiastical
History," Book 7, chap.19.
THE WORLD-AUGUSTINE, BISHOP OF HIPPO (NORTH AFRICA)
Augustine shows here that the Sabbath was observed in his day "in the
greater part of the Christian world," and his testimony in this respect
is all the more valuable because he himself was an earnest and consistent
Sunday-keeper. See "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers," 1st Series,
Vol.1, pp. 353, 354.
POPE INNOCENT (402-417)
Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on
Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches
that obeyed him, (In order to bring the Sabbath into disfavour.) "Innocentius
did ordain the Saturday or Sabbath to be always fasted." Dr. Peter Heylyn,
"History of the Sabbath, Part 2, p. 44.
THROUGH THE FIFTH CENTURY A.D.
Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was
continued in the Christian church. "Ancient Christianity
Exemplified," Lyman Coleman, ch. 26, sec. 2, p. 527.
In Jerome's day (420 A.D.) the devoutest Christians did ordinary work on
Sunday. "Treatise of the Sabbath Day," by Dr. White, Lord Bishop of
Ely, p. 219.
FRANCE
"Wherefore, except Vespers and Nocturns, there are no public services
among them in the day except on Saturday (Sabbath) and Sunday." John
Cassian, A French monk, "Institutes," Book 3, ch. 2.
AFRICA
"Augustine deplored the fact that in two neighbouring churches in Africa
one observes the seventh-day Sabbath, another fasted on it." Dr. Peter
Heylyn, "The History of the Sabbath." p. 416.
SPAIN (400 A.D.)
"Ambrose sanctified the seventh day as the Sabbath (as he himself says).
Ambrose had great influence in Spain, which was also observing the Saturday
Sabbath." Truth Triumphant, p. 68.
SIDONIUS (SPEAKING OF KING THEODORIC OF THE GOTHS, A.D. 454-526)
"It is a fact that it was formerly the custom in the East to keep the
Sabbath in the same manner as the Lord's day and to hold sacred assemblies:
while on the other hand, the people of the West, contending for the Lord's day
have neglected the celebration of the Sabbath." "Apollinaries
Sidonli Epistolae," lib.1, 2; Migne, 57.
CHURCH OF THE EAST
"Mingana proves that in 410 Isaac, supreme director of the Church of the
East, held a world council,-stimulated, some think, by the trip of Musacus,-attended
by eastern delegates from forty grand metrop olitan divisions. In 411 he
appointed a metropolitan director for China. These churches were sanctifying
the seventh day."
EGYPT
"There are several cities and villages in Egypt where, contrary to the
usage established elsewhere, the people meet together on Sabbath evenings,
and, although they have dined previously, partake of the mysteries."
Sozomen. "Ecclesiastical History Book 7, ch. 119
===========================================
------------------------------------------------
SCOTTISH CHURCH
"In this latter instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which
we find traces in the early monastic church of Ireland by which they held
Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours."
W.T. Skene, "Adamnan Llife of St. Columbs" 1874, p.96.
SCOTLAND, IRELAND
"We seem to see here an allusion to the custom, observed in the early
monastic Church of Ireland, of keeping the day of rest on Saturday, or the
Sabbath." "History of the Catholic Church in Scotland," Vol.1,
p. 86, by Catholic histsorian Bellesheim.
SCOTLAND-COLULMBA
"Having continued his labours in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly
and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the month of June, said to his
disciple Diermit: "This day is calleld the Sabbath, that is the rest day,
and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labours.'"
"Butler's Lives of the Saints," Vol.1, A.D. 597, art. "St.
Columba" p. 762
COLUMBA (RE DR. BUTLER'S DESCRIPTION OF HIS DEATH)
The editor of the best biography of Colulmba says in a footnote: "Our
Saturday. The custom to call the Lord's day Sabbath did not commence until a
thousand years later." Adamnan's "Life of Columba" (Dublin,
1857), p. 230.
==============================================
-----------------------------------------------
SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
Professor James C. Moffatt, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton,
says: It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times,
in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day
of rest from labour. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the
seventh day of week." "The Church in Scotland," p.140.
SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
"The Celts used a Latin Bible unlike the Vulgate (R.C.) and kept Saturday
as a day of rest, with special religious services on Sunday." Flick,
"The Rise of Mediaeval Church," p. 237
ROME
Gregory I (A.D. 590-640) wrote against "Roman citizens (who) forbid any
work being done on the Sabbath day." "Nicene and Post- Nicene
Fathers," Second Series, Vol, XIII, p.13, epist. 1
ROME (POPE GREGORY I,A.D.590 TO 604)
"Gregory, bishop by the grace of God to his well-beloved sons, the Roman
citizens: It has come to me that certain men of perverse spirit have
disseminated among you things depraved and opposed to the holy faith, so that
they forbid anything to be done on the day of the Sabbath. What shall I call
them except preachers of anti-Christ?" Epistles, b.13:1
ROME (POPE GREGORY I)
Declared that when anti-Christ should come he would keep Saturday as the
Sabbath. "Epistles of Gregory I, "b 13, epist.1. found in
"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers."
"Moreover, this same Pope Gregory had issued an official pronouncement
against a section of the city of Rome itself because the Christian believers
there rested and worshipped on the Sabbath." "Epistles of Gregory I,
"b 13, epist.1. found in "Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers."
================================================
-----------------------------------------------
COUNCIL OF FRIAUL, ITALY-A.D. 791 (CANON 13)
"We command all Christians to observe the Lord's day to be held not in
honour of the past Sabbath, but on account of that holy night of the first of
the week called the Lord's day. When speaking of that Sabbath which the Jews
observe, the last day of the week, and which also our peasants observe.."
Mansi, 13, 851
PERSIA AND MESOPOTAMIA
"The hills of Persia and the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates reechoed
their songs of praise. They reaped their harvests and paid their tithes. They
repaired to their churches on the Sabbath day for the worship of God."
"Realencyclopaedie fur Protestatische and Krche," art. "Nestorianer";
also Yule, "The Book of ser Marco Polo," Vol.2, p.409.
INDIA, CHINA, PERSIA, ETC
"Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath
among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of
India, who never were connected with Rome. It also was maintained among those
bodies which broke off from Rome after the Council of Chalcedon namely, the
Abyssinians, the Jacobites, the Maronites, and the Armenians," Schaff-Herzog,
The New Enclopadia of Religious Knowledge," art. "Nestorians";
also Realencyclopaedie fur Protestantische Theologie und Kirche," art.
"Nestorianer."
COUNCIL OF LIFTINAE, BELGIUM-A.D.745 (ATTENDED BY BONIFACE)
"The third allocution of this council warns against the observance of the
Sabbath, referring to the decree of the council of Laodicea." Dr. Hefele,
Counciliengfesch, 3, 512, sec. 362
CHINA-A.D.781
In A.D. 781 the famous China Monument was inscribed in marble to tell of the
growth of Christianity in China at that time. The inscription, consisting of
763 words, was unearthed in 1625 near the city of Changan and now stands in
the "Forest of Tablets," Changan. The following extract from the
stone shows that the Sabbath was observed:
"On the seventh day we offer sacrifices, after having purified our
hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so
excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant
precepts." Christianity in China, M. I'Abbe Huc, Vol. I, ch.2, pp. 48, 49
============================================
------------------------------------------------
BULGARIA
"Bulgaria in the early season of its evangelization had been taught that
no work should be performed on the Sabbath." Responsa Nicolai Papae I and
Con-Consulta Bulllllgarorum, Responsum 10, found in Mansi, Sacrorum Concilorum
Nova et Amplissima Colectio, Vol.15; p. 406; also Hefele, Conciliengeschicte,
Vol.4, sec. 478
BULGARIA
(Pope Nicholas I, in answer to letter from Bogaris, ruling prince of
Bulgaria.) "Ques. 6-Bathing is allowed on Sunday. Ques. 10-One is to
cease from work on Sunday, but not also on the Sabbath." Hefele, 4,346-
352, sec. 478
The Bulgarians had been accustomed to rest on the Sabbath. Pope Nicholas
writes against this practice.
CONSTANTINOPLE
(Photuus, Patriarch of Constantinople {in counter- synod that deposed
Nicolas}, thus accused Papacy). Against the canons, they induced the
Bulgarians to fast on the Sabbath." Photius, vonKard, Hergenrother, 1,
643
Note: The Papacy had always tried to bring the seventh-day Sabbath into
disrepute by insisting that all should fast on that day. In this manner (she
sought to turn people towards Sunday, the first day, the day that Rome had
adopted.
ATHINGIANS
Cardinal Hergenrother says that they stood in intimate relation with Emperor
Michael II (821-829) and testifies that they observed the Sabbath.
Kirchengeschichte, 1, 527
INDIA, ABYSSINIA
"Widespread and enduring was the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath
among the believers of the Church of the East and the St. Thomas Christians of
India. It was also maintained by the Abyssinians.
BULGARIA
"Pope Nicholas I, in the ninth century, sent the ruling prince of
Bulgaria a long document saying in it that one is to cease from work on
Sunday, but not on the Sabbath. The head of the Greek Church, offended at the
interference of the Papacy, declared the Pope ex-communicated." Truth
Triumphant, p. 232
===============================================
----------------------------------------------
SCOTLAND
"They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner." A
history of Scotland from the Roman Occupation, Vol. I, p.96. Andrew Lang
CHURCH OF THE EAST-Kurdistan
"The Nestorians eat no pork and keep the Sabbath. They believe in neither
auricular confession nor purgatory." Schaff-Herzog, "The New
Encyclopaedia of Religious Knowledge," art. "Nestorians."
WALDENSES
"And because they observed no other day of rest but the Sabbath days,
they called them Insabathas, as much as to say, as they observed no
Sabbath." Luther's "Fore-Runners" (original spelling), PP. 7, 8
WALDENSES
Roman Catholic writers try to evade the apostolic origin of the Waldenses, so
as to make it appear that the Roman is the only apostolic church, and that all
others are later novelties. And for this reason they try to make out that the
Waldenses originated with Peter Waldo of the twelfth century. Dr. Peter Allix
says:
"Some Protestants, on this occasion, have fallen into the snare that was
set for them...It is absolutely false, that these churches were ever found by
Peter Waldo...it is a pure forgery." Ancient Church of Piedmont, pp.192,
Oxford: 1821
WALDENSES
"It is not true, that Waldo gave this name to the inhabitants of the
valleys: they wewre called Waldenses, or Vaudes, before his time, from the
valleys in which they dwelt." "Id., p. 182
WALDENSES
On the other hand, he "was called Valdus, or Waldo, because he received
his religious notions from the inhabitants of the valleys." History of
the Christian Church, William Jones, Vol II, p.2
===============================================
-----------------------------------------------
SCOTLAND
They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from
work. "Celtic Scotland," Vol. 2, p. 350
SCOTLAND
"They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner...These
things Margaret abolished." A History of Scotland from the Roman
Occupation," Vol.1, p. 96.
SCOTLAND
"It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence due to the
Lord's day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it,
just as they did upon other days. That this was contrary to the law, she
(Queen Margaret) proved to them as well by reason as by authority. 'Let us
venerate the Lord's day,' said she, 'because of the resurrection of our Lord,
which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it;
bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the
devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same.'" Life of Saint
Margaret, Turgot, p. 49 (British Museum Library)
SCOTLAND
(Historian Skene commenting upon the work of Queen Margaret) "Her next
point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord's day, but in this latter
instance they seemed to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the
early Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on
which they rested from all their labours." Skene, "Celtic
Scotland," Vol.2, p. 349
SCOTLAND AND IRELAND
"T. Ratcliffe Barnett, in his book on the fervent Catholic queen of
Scotland who in 1060 was first to attempt the ruin of Columba's brethren,
writes: 'In this matter the Scots had perhaps kept up the traditional usage of
the ancient Irish Church which observed Saturday instead of Sunday as the day
of rest.'" Barnett, "Margaret of Scotland: Queen and Saint,"
p.97
COUNCIL OF CLERMONT
"During the first crusade, Pope Urban II decreed at the council of
Clermont (A.D.1095) that the Sabbath be set aside in honour of the Virgin
Mary." History of the Sabbath, p.672
CONSTANTINOPLE
"Because you observe the Sabbath with the Jews and the Lord's Day with
us, you seem to imitate with such observance the sect of Nazarenes."
Migne, "Patrologia Latina," Vol. 145, p.506; also Hergenroether,
"Photius," Vol. 3, p.746. (The Nazarenes were a Christian
denomination.)
GREEK CHURCH
"The observance of Saturday is, as everyone knows, the subject of a
bitter dispute between the Greeks and the Latins." Neale, "A History
of the Holy Eastern Church," Vol 1, p. 731. (Referring to the separation
of the Greek Church from the Latin in 1054)
===============================================
-----------------------------------------------
LOMBARDY
"Traces of Sabbath-keepers are found in the times of Gregory I, Gregory
VII, and in the twelfth century in Lombardy." Strong's Cyclopaedia, 1,
660
WALDENSES
"Robinson gives an account of some of the Waldenses of the Alps, who were
called Sabbati, Sabbatati, Insabbatati, but more frequently Inzabbatati.
"One says they were so named from the Hebrew word Sabbath, because they
kept the Saturday for the Lord's day.'" General History of the Baptist
Denomination, Vol.II, P. 413
SPAIN (Alphonse of Aragon)
"Alphonse, king of Aragon, etc., to all archbishopss, bishops and to all
others...'We command y;ou that heretics, to wit, Waldenses and Insabbathi,
should be expelled away from the face of God and from all Catholics and
ordered to depart from our kingdom.'" Marianse, Praefatio in Lucam
Tudensem, found in "Macima Gibliotheca Veterum Patrum," Vol.25,
p.190
HUNGARY FRANCE, ENGLAND, ITALY, GERMANY. (Referring to the Sabbath- keeping
Pasagini) "The spread of heresy at this time is almost incredible. From
Gulgaria to the Ebro, from nothern France to the Tiber, everywhere we meet
them. Whole countries are infested, like Hungary and southern France; they
abound in many other countries, in Germany, in Italy, in the Netherlands and
even in England they put forth their efforts." Dr. Hahn, "Gesch. der
Ketzer." 1, 13, 14
WALDENSES
"Among the documents. we have by the same peoples, an explanation of the
Ten Commandments dated by Boyer 1120. Observance of the Sabbath by ceasing
from worldly labours, is enjoined." Blair, History of the Waldenses,
Vol.1, p. 220
WALES
"There is much evidence that the Sabbath prevailed in Wales university
until A.D.1115, when the first Roman bishop was seated at St. David's. The old
Welslh Sabbath-keeping churches did not even then altogether bow the knee to
Rome, but fled to their hiding places." Lewis, "Seventh Day Baptists
in Europe and America," Vol.1, p.29
FRANCE
"For twenty years Peter de Bruys stirred southern France. He especialy
emphasised a day of worship that was recognized at that time amaong the Celtic
churches of the British Isles, among the Paulicians, and in the great Church
of the East namely, the the seventh day of the fourth commandment."
PASAGINI
The papal author, Bonacursus, wrote the following against the "Pasagaini":
"Not a few, but many know what are the errors of those who are called
Pasaagini...First, they teach that we should obey the Sabbath. Furthermore, to
increase their error, they condemn and reject all the church Fathers, and the
whole Roman Church." D'Achery, Spicilegium I,f.211-214; Muratory, Antiq.
med. aevi.5, f.152, Hahn, 3, 209
================================================
-------------------------------------------------
WALDENSES
"They say that the blessed Pope Sylvester was the Antichrist of whom
mention is made in the Epistles of SSt. Paul as having been the son of
perdition.[They also say] that the keeping of the Sabbath ought to take
place." Ecclesiastical History of the Ancient Churches ofPiedmont,"
p.169 (by prominent Roman Cathholic author writing about Waldenses)
FRANCE (Waldenses)
To destroy completely these heretics Pope Innocent III sent Dominican
inquistors into France, and also crusaders, promising "a plenary
remission of all sins, to those who took on them the crusade...against the
albigenses." Catholic Encyclopaedia, Vol.XII, art."Raymond VI,"
p. 670
WALDENSES OF FRANCE
"The inquisitors...[declare] that the sign of a Vaudois, deemed worthy of
death, was that he followed Christ and sought to obey the commandments fo
God." History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," H.C.Les, vol.1
FRANCE
Thousands of God's people were tortured to death by the Inquisition, buried
alive, burned to death, or hacked to pieces by the crusaders. While
devastating the city of Biterre the soldiers asked the Catholic leaders how
they should know who were heretics; "Slay them all, for the Lord knows
who is His." History of the Inquisition, pp.96
FRANCE-KING LOUIS IX,1229
Published the statute "Cupientes" in which he charges himself to
clear southern France from heretics as the Sabbath-keepers were called.
WALDENSES OF FRANCE
"The heresy of the Vaudois, or poor people of Lyons, is of great
antiquity, for some say that it has been continued down ever since the time of
Pope Sylvester; and others, ever since that of the apostles." The Roman
Inquisitor, Reinerus Sacho, writing about 1230
FRANCE-Council Toulouse, 1229
Canons against Sabbath-keepers: "Canon 3.-The lords of the different
districts shall have the villas, houses and woods diligently searched, and the
hiding-places of the heretics destroyed.
"Canon 14-Lay members are not allowed to possess the books of either the
Old or the New Testaments." Hefele, 5, 931, 962
EUROPE
"The Paulicians, Petrobusinas, Passaginians, Waldenses, Insabbatati were
great Sabbath-keeping bodies of Europe down to 1250 A.D."
PASAGINIANS
Dr. Hahn says that if the Pasaginians referred to the 4th Commandment to
support the Sabbath, the Roman priests answered, "The Sabbath symbolised
the eternal rest of the saints."
MONGOLIA
"The Mongolian conquest did not injure the Church of the East.
(Sabbath-keeping.) On the contrary, a number of the Mongolian princes and a
larger number of Mongolian queens were members of this church."
===================================
-------------------------------------------------
WALDENSES
"That we are to worship one only God, who is able to help us, and not the
Saints departed; that we ought to keep holy the Sabbath day." Luther's
Fore-runners," p. 38
INSABBATI
"For centuries evangelical bodies, especially the Waldenses, were called
Insabbati because of Sabbath-keeping." Gui, Manueld' Inquisiteur
BOHEMIA, 1310 (Modern Czechoslovakia)
"In 1310, two hundred years before Luther's theses, the Bohemian brethern
constituted onefourth of the population of Bohemia, and that they were in
touch with the Waldenses who abounded in Austria, Lombardy,. Bohemia, north
Germany, Thuringia, Brandenburg, and Moravia. Erasmus pointed out how strictly
Bohemian Waldenses kept the seventh day Sabbath." Armitage, "A
History of the Baptists," p.313; Cox, "The Literature of the Sabbath
Question," vol. 2, pp. 201-202
NORWAY
Then, too, in the "Catechism" that was used during the fourteenth
century, the Sabbath commandment read thus; "Thou shalt not forget to
keep the seventh day." This is quoted from "Documents and Studies
Concerning the History of the Lutheran Catechism in the Nordish
Churches," p.89. Christiania 1893
NORWAY
"Also the priests have caused the people to keep Saturdays as
Sundays." Theological Periodicals for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Norway, Vol.1, p.184 Oslo
ENGLAND, HOLLAND, BOHEMIA
"We wrote of the Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Transylvania, England and
Holland between 1250 and 1600 A.D." Truth Triumphant, Wilkinson, p.309
-----------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
BOHEMIA
"Erasmus testifies that even as late as about 1500 these Bohemians not
only kept the seventh day scrupulously, but also were called Sabbatarians."
Cox, "The Literature of the Sabbath Question," Vol.2, pp.201, 202
"Truth Triumphant," p.264
NORWAY
(Church Council held at Bergin, August 22,1435) "The first matter
concerned a keeping holy of Saturday. It had come to the earth of the
archbishop that people in different places of the kingdom had ventured the
keeping holy of Saturday. It is strictly forbidden-it is stated-in the Church
Law, for any one to keep or to adopt holy-days, outside of those which the
pope, archbishop, or bishops appoint." The History of the Norwegian
Church under Catholicism, R. Keyser, Vol.II, p. 488.Oslo: 1858
NORWAY, 1435 (Catholic Provincial Council at Bergin) "We are informed
that some people in different districts of the kingdom, have adopted and
observed Saturday-keeping. It is severely forbidden-in holy church canon-one
and all to observe days excepting those which the holy Pope archbishop, or the
bishops command. Saturday-keeping must under no circumstances be permitted
hereafter further than the church canon commands. Therfore, we counsil all the
friends of God throughout all Norway who want to be obedient towards the holy
church to let this evil of Saturday- keeping alone; and the rest we forbid
under penalty of sever church punishment to keep Saturday holy." Dip.
Norveg., 7, 397
NORWAY, 1436
(Church Conference at Oslo) "It is forbidden under the same penalty to
keep Saturday holy by refraining from labour." History of the Norwegian
Church, p.401
FRANCE - Waldenses
"Louis XII, King of France (1498-1515), being informed by the enemies of
the Waldense inhabiting a part of the province of Province, that several
heinous crimes were laid to their account, sent the Master of Requests, and a
certain doctor of the Sorbonne, to make inquiry into this matter. On their
return they reported that they had visited all the parishes, but could not
discover any traces of those crimes with which they were charged. On the
contrary, they kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism,
according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles
of the Christian faith, and the commandmnets of God. The King having heard the
report of his commisioners, said with an oath that they were better men than
himself or his people." History of the Christian Church, Vol.II, pp. 71,
72, third edition. London: 1818
INDIA
"Separated from the Western world for a thousand years, they were
naturally ignorant of many novelties introduced by the councils and decrees of
the Lateran. 'We are Christians, and not idolaters,' was their expressive
reply when required to do homage to the image of the Virgin Mary.'"
==============================================
---------------------------------------------
ENGLAND
"In the reign of Elizabeth, it occurred to many conscientious and
independent thinkers (as it previously had done to some Protestants in
Bohemia) that the fourth commandment required of them the observance, not of
the first, but of the specified 'seventh' day of the week." Chambers'
Cyclopaedia, article "Sabbath," Vol. 8, p. 462, 1537
RUSSIA (Council, Noscow, 1593)
"The accused [Sabbath-keepers] were summoned; they openly acknowledged
the new faith, and defended the same. The most eminent of them, the secretary
of state, Kuritzyn, Ivan Maximow, Kassian, archimandrite of the Fury Monastery
of Novgorod, were condemned to death, and burned publicly in cages, at Moscow;
Dec. 17,1503." H.Sternberfi, "Geschichte der Juden" (Leipsig,
1873), pp.117-122
SWEDEN
"This zeal for Saturday-keeping continued for a long time: even little
things which might strengthen the practice of keeping Saturday were
punished." Bishop Anjou, "Svenska Kirkans Historia after Motetthiers,
Upsala
LICHENSTEIN FAMILY
(estates in Austria, Bohemia, Morovia, Hungary. Lichenstein in the Rhine
Valley wasn't their country until the end of the 7th century). "The
Sabbatarians teach that the outward Sabbath, i.e. Saturday, still must be
observed, They say that Sunday is the Pope's invention." Refutation of
Sabbath, by Wolfgang Capito, published 1599
BOHEMIA (the Bohemian Brethren)
Dr. R. Cox says: "I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early
period of the Reformantion when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia,
who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be...scrupulous in resting
on it." Literature of the Sabbath Question, Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202
HISTORIAN'S LIST OF CHURCHES (16th Century)
"Sabbatarians, so called because they reject the observance of the Lord's
day as not commanded in Scripture, they consider the Sabbath alone to be holy,
as God rested on that day and commanded to keep it holy and to rest on
it." A. Ross
GERMANY
-Dr. Esk (while refuting the Reformers) "However, the church has
transferred the observance from Saturday to Sunday by virtue of her own power,
without Scripture." Dr. Esk's "Enchiridion," 1533, pp.78,79
PRINCES OF LICHTENSTEIN (Europe)
About the hear 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate
of Lord Leonhardt of Lichtensein held to the observance of the true
Sabbath." J.N.Andrews, History of the Sabbath, p. 649, ed.
INDIA
"The famous Jesuit, Francis Xavier, called for the Inquisition, which was
set up in Goa, India, in 1560, to check the 'Jewish wickedness'
(Sabbath-keeping)." Adeney, "The Greek and Eastern Churches,"
p.527, 528
NORWAY-1544
"Some of you, contrary to the warning, keep Saturday. You ought to be
severely punished. Whoever shall be found keeping Saturday, must pay a fine of
ten marks." History of King Christian the Third," Niels Krag and S.
Stephanius
AUSTRIA
"Sabatarians now exist in Austria." Luther, "Lectures on
Genesis," A.D.1523-27
ABYSSINIA--A.D. 1534
(Abyssinian legate at court of Lisbon) "It is not therefore, in imitation
of the Jews, but in obedience to Christ and His holy apostles, that we observe
the day." Gedde's "Church History of Ethiopia," pp. 87,8
DR. MARTIN LUTHER
"God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. God willedl that
this command concerning the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the
seventh day the word should be preached." Commentary on Genesis, Vol.1,
pp.138-140
BAPTISTS
"Some have suffered torture because they would not rest when others kept
Sunday, for they declared it to be the holiday and law of Antichrist."
Sebastian Frank (A.D. 1536)
FINLAND-Dec. 6,1554
(King Gustavus Vasa I, of Sweden's letter to the people of Finland) "Some
time ago we heard that some people in Finland had fallen into a great error
and observed the seventh day, called Saturday." State Library at
Helsingfors, Reichsregister, Vom J., 1554, Teil B.B. leaf 1120, pp.175-180a
SWITZERLAND
"The observance of the Sabbath is a part of the moral law. It has been
kept hholy since the beginning of the world." Ref. Noted Swiss writer, R
Hospinian, 1592
HOLLAND AND GERMANY
Barbara of Thiers, who was executed in 1529, declared: "God has commanded
us to rest on the seventh day." Another martyr, Christina Tolingerin, is
mentioned thus: "Concerning holy days and Sundays, she said: 'In six days
the Lord made the world, on the seventh day he rested. The other holy days
have been instituted by popes, cardinals, and archbishops.'" Martyrology
of the Churches of Christ, commonly called Baptists, during the era of the
Reformation, from the Dutch of T.J. Van Bright, London, 1850,1, pp.113-4.
===============================================
-----------------------------------------------
ENGLAND-1618
"At last for teaching only five days in the week, and resting upon
Saturday she was carried to the new prison in Maiden Lane, a place then
appointed for the restraint of several other persons of different opinions
from the Church of England. Mrs. Traske lay fifteen or sixteen years a
prisoner for her opinion about the Saturday Sabbath." Pagitt's "Heresiography."
p.196
ENGLAND-1668
"Here in England are about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath,
besides many scattered disciples, who have eminently preserved."
Stennet's letters, 1668 and 1670. Cox, Sab.,1, 268
HUNGARY, RUMANIA
"But as they rejected Sunday and rested on the Sabbath, Prince Sigmond
Bathory ordered their persecution. Pechi advanced to position of chancellor of
state and next in line to throne of Transylvania. He studied his Bible, and
composed a number of hymns, mostly in honour of the Sabbath. Pechi was
arrested and died in 1640.
SWEDEN AND FINLAND
"We can trace these opinions over almost the whole extent of Sweden of
that day-from Finland and northern Sweden. "In the district of Upsala the
farmers kept Saturday in place of Sunday. "About the year 1625 this
religious tendency became so pronounced in these countries that not only large
numbers of the common people began to keep Saturday as the rest day, but even
many priests did the same." History of the Swedish Church, Vol.I, p.256
MUSCOVIT RUSSIAN CHURCH
"They solemnize Saturday (the old Sabbath). Samuel Purchase- "His
Pilgrims." Vol. I, p. 350
INDIA (Jacobites)-1625
"They kept Saturday holy. They have solemn service on Saturdays."
Pilgrimmes, Part 2, p.1269
AMERICA-1664
"Stephen Mumford, the first Sabbath-keeper in America come from London in
1664." History of the Seventh-day Baptist Gen. Conf. by Jas. Bailey, pp.
237, 238
AMERICA-1671 (Seventh-day Baptists)
"Broke from Baptist Church in order to keep Sabbath." See Bailey's
History, pp. 9,10
ENGLAND
Charles I,1647 (when querying the Parliament Commissioners) "For it will
not be found in Scripture where Saturday is no longer to be kept, or turned
into the Sunday wherefore it must be the Church's authority that changed the
one and instituted the other." Cox, "Sabbath Laws," p.333
ENGLAND-John Milton
"It will surely be far safer to observe the seventh day, according to
express commandment of God, than on the authority of mere human conjecture to
adopt the first." Sab. Lit. 2, 46-54
ENGLAND
"Upon the publication of the 'Book of Sports' in 1618 a violent
controversy arose among English divines on two points: first, whether the
Sabbath of the fourth commandment was in force; and, secondly, on what ground
the first day of the week was entitled to be observed as 'the Sabbath.'"
Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, art. "Sabbatarians." p.602
ETHIOPIA-1604
Jesuits tried to induce the Abyssinian church to accept Roman Catholicism.
They influenced King Zadenghel to propose to submit to the Papacy (A.D.1604).
"Prohibiting all his subjects, upon severe penalties, to observe Saturday
any longer." Gedde's "Church History of Ethiopia." p.311, also
Gibbon's "Decline and Fall," ch. 47
BOHEMIA, MORAVIA, SWITZERLAND, GERMANY
"one of the counsellors and lords of the court was John Gerendi, head of
the Sabbatarians, a people who did not keep Sunday, but Saturday." Lamy,
"The History of Socinianism." p. 60
TELEGRAPH PRINT, NAPIER
The inscription on the monument over the grave of Dr. Peter Chamberlain,
physician to King James and Queen Anne, King Charles I and Queen Katherine
says that Dr. Chamberlain was "a Christian keeping the commandment of God
and the faith of Jesus, being baptised about the year 1648, and keeping the
seventh day for the Sabbath above thirty-two years."
================================================
-----------------------------------------------
ABYSSINIA
"The Jacobites assembled on the Sabbath day, before the Domical day, in
the temple, and kept that day, as do also the Abyssinians as we have seen from
the confession of their faith by the Ethiopian king Claudius." Abundacnus,
'Historia Jacobatarum,"p.118-9 (18th Century)
RUMANIA, 1760 (and what is today) YUGOSLAVIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA
"Joseph II's edict of tolerance did not apply to the Sabbatarians, some
of whom again lost all of their possessions." Jahrgang 2, 254
"Catholic priests aided by soldiers forcing them to accept Romanism
nominally, and compelling the remainder to labour on the Sabbath and to attend
church on Sunday,-these were the methods employed for two hundred fifty years
to turn the Sabbatarians.
GERMANY-Tennhardt of Nuremberg
"He holds strictly to the doctrine of the Sabbath, because it is one of
the ten commandments." Bengel's "Leban und Wirken," Burk, p.579
He himself says: "It cannot be shown that Sunday has taken the place of
the Sabbath (P.366). the Lord God has sanctified the last day of the week.
Antichrist, on the other hand, has appointed the first day of the week."
Ki Auszug aus Tennhardt's "Schriften," P.49 (printed 1712)
BOHEMIA AND MORAVIA (Today Czechoslovakia).
Their history from 1635 to 1867 is thus described by Adolf Dux: "The
condition of the Sabbatarians was dreadful. Their books and writings had to be
delivered to the Karlsburg Consistory to becomes the spoils of flames."
Aus Ungarn, pp. 289-291. Leipzig, 1850
HOLLAND AND GERMANY
"Dr. Cornelius stated of East Friesland, that when Baptists were
numerous, "Sunday and holidays were not observed," (they were
Sabbath-keepers). Der Anteil Ostfrieslands and Ref. Muenster," 1852, pp
l29, 34
MORAVIA-Count Zinzendorf
In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus: "That I have
employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the
proclamation of the gospel." Budingsche Sammlung, Sec. 8, p. 224.
Leipzig, 1742
AMERICA, 1741
-Moravian Brethren (after Zinzendorf arrived from Europe). "As a special
instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at
Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422
AMERICA
But before Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Bethlehem thus began the observance
of the Sabbath and prospered, there was a small body of German Sabbath-keepers
in Pennsylvania. See Rupp's "History of Religious Denominations in the
United States," pp.109- 123
===============================================
-----------------------------------------------
RUSSIA
"But the majority moved to the Crimea and the Caucasus, where they remain
true to their doctrine in spite of persecution until this present time. The
people call them Subotniki, or Sabbatarians," Sternberg, "Geschichte
der Juden in Polen," p.124
CHINA
"At this time Hung prohibited the use of opium, and even tobacco, and all
intoxicating drinks, and the Sabbath was religiously observed." The
Ti-Ping Revolution," by Llin-Le, and officer among them, Vol. 1,
pp.36-48, 84
"The seventh day is most religiously and strictly observed. The Taiping
Sabbath is kept upon our Saturday." P. 319
CHINA
"The Taipings when asked why they observed the seventh day Sabbath,
replied that it was, first, because the Bible taught it, and, second, because
their ancestors observed it as a day of worship." A Critical History of
the Sabbath and the Sunday.
INDIA AND PERSIA
"Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship
throughout our Empire, on the seventh day." Christian Researches in
Asia," p.143
DENMARK
"This agitation was not without its effect. Pastor M.A. Sommer began
observing the seventh day, and wrote in his church paper. "Indovet
Kristendom" No.5,1875 an impressive article about the true Sabbath. In a
letter to Elder John G.Matteson, he says:
"Among the Baptists here in Denmark there is a great agitation regarding
the Sabbath commandment..However, I am probably the only preacher in Denmark
who stands so near to the Adventists and who for many years has proclaimed
Christ's second coming." Advent Tidente," May, 1875
SWEDEN (Baptists)
"We will now endeavour to show that the sanctification of the Sabbath has
its foundation and its origin in a law which God at creation itself
established for the whole world, and as a consequence thereof is binding on
all men in all ages." Evangelisten (The Evangelist). Stockholm, May 30 to
August 15,1863 (organ of the Swedish Baptist Church)
AMERICA, 1845
"Thus we see Dan. 7, 25, fulfilled, the little horn changing 'times and
laws. 'Therefore it appears to me that all who keep the first day for the
Sabbath are Pope's Sunday-keepers and God's Sabbath- breakers." Elder T.M.
Preble, Feb.13, 1845
AMERICA (Seventh-day Adventists)
In 1844 Seventh-day Adventists arose and had spread to nearly all the world by
the close of the 19th Century. Their name is derived from their teaching of
the seventh-day Sabbath and the Advent of Jesus. In 1874 their work was
established in Europe, 1885 -Australasia, 1887-South Africa, 1888-Asia,
1888-South America. Seventh-day Adventists uphold the same Sabbath that Jesus
and His followers kept. The sacred Torch of Truth was not extinguished through
the long centuries. Adventists are working today in nearly 1000 languages of
earth and have over 27,000 churches. Over ten million members around the globe
welcome the sacred Sabbath hours.
============================================
------------------------------------------------
American Congregationalists: No authority in the New Testament for
substitution of the first day for the seventh
"The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively
substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority
in the New Testament." Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the Christian Union, June 26,
1890
Anglican: Nowhere commanded to keep the first day
"And where are we told in the Scriptures 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 why we keep the first 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
[commanded] it." Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, Vol. 1,
pp 334, 336.
Anglican/Episcopal: The Catholics changed it
"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." Episcopalian Bishop Symour, Why we keep Sunday.
Baptist: Sunday Sabbath not in the scriptures
"There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that
Sabbath day was not on Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of
truimph, 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...
"I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the
gravest and most perlexing question connected with Christian institutions
which at present claims attention from Christian people; and the only reason
that it is not a more disturbing element in Christian thought and in religious
discussion is because the Christian world has settled down content on the
conviction that some how a transference has taken place at the beginning of
Christian history.
"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
glosses [of Jewish traditions], never alluded to any transference of the day;
also, that during 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 instruction 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 a sun god, when adopted and
sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to
protestantism!" Dr. Edward Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual. From a
photostatic copy of a notarized statement by Dr. Hiscox.
"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 One Day p.49
Church of England: No warrant from scripture for the change of the Sabbath
from Saturday to Sunday
"Neither did he(Jesus), or his disciples, ordain another Sabbath in the
place of this, as if they had intended only to shift the day; and to transfer
this honor to some other time. Their doctrine and their practise are directly
contrary, to so new a fancy. It is true, that in some tract of time, the
Church in honor of his resurrection, did set apart that day on the which he
rose, to holy exercises: but this upon their own authority, and without
warrant from above, that we can hear of; more then the generall warrant which
God gave his Church, that all things in it be done decently, and in comely
order." Dr. Peter Heylyn of the Church of England, quoted in History of
the Sabbath, Pt 2, Ch.2, p7
Congregationalist: The Christian Sabbath' [Sunday] is not in the Scripture
"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 [Dwight (1752-1817) was
president of Yale University from 1795-1817].
Disciples of Christ: It is all old wives' fables to talk of the 'change of the
sabbath'
"If it [the Ten Commandments] yet exist, let us observe it... And if it
does not exist, 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 the observance or respect to the reason, can be changed. It is
all old wives' fables to talk of the 'change of the sabbath' from the seventh
to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it
who changes times and laws ex officio, - I think his name is "Doctor
Antichrist.'" Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, February 2,
1824, vol 1, no. 7
Episcopal: Bible commandment says the seventh day
"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 avove 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: They err in teaching Sunday Sabbath
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
"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 possesion 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
"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].
"They [Roman Catholics] refer to the Sabbath Day, as having been changed
into the Lord's Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it seems. Neither is there
any example whereof they make more than concerning the changing of the Sabbath
Day. Great, say they, is the power of the Church, since it has dispensed with
one of the Ten commandments!" Augsburg Confession of Faith,art. 28;
written by Melanchthon and approved by Martin Luther, 1530; as published in
The Book of Concord of the Evangelical Lutheran Church Henry Jacobs, editor
(1911), p.63
Methodist: Jesus did not abolish the moral law - no command to keep holy the
first day
The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the prophets,
He Jesus did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any
part of this. This is a law which can never 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 man, and their unchangeable relation to each other." John
Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, Vol.1, No. 25
"It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor is
there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ
changed the 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, 1902 edition, pp
180-181, 171 [Binney (1802-1878), Methodist minister and presiding elder,
whose Compendium was published for forty years in many languages, also wrote a
Methodist New Testament Commentary].
"Take the matter of sunday. There are indications in the new testament as
to how the church came to keep the first day of the week as its day of
worship, but there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day or to
transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that day." Harris Franklin Rall, Christian
Advocate July 2, 1942 pg. 26
Moody Bible Institute: "Sabbath was before Sinai"
"I honestly believe that this commandment [the Sabbath commandment] is
just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have said
that it has been abrogated [abolilshed], but they have never been able to
point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was on
earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from the traces under which
the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave it its true place. 'The Sabbath
was made for man, not man for the Sabbath' [mark 2:27]. It is just as
practicable and as necessary for men today as it ever was - in fact, more than
ever, because we live in such an intense age.
"The [Seventh-day] Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force
ever since. This Fourth Commandment [Exodus 20:8-11] begins with the word
'remember,' showing that the Sabbath had already existed 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 admit that the other nine are
still binding? Dwight.L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting, 1898, pp.46-47 [D.L.
Moody, (1837-1899) was the most famous evangelist of his time, and founder of
the Moody Bible Institute].
"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: Sunday kept the Gentiles happy
"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
Roman Catholic: No such law in the Bible
"Nowhere in the bible do we find that Jesus or the apostles ordered that
the Sabbath be changed from Satuday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God
given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is, the seventh day of the
week, Saturday. Today, most Christians keep Sunday because it has been
revealed to us by the [Roman] church outside the bible." Catholic
Virginian, 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 sanctified."
James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp.72,73
"If protestants would follow the Bible, they should 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 of Feb. 10, 1920.
Question: "Have you not any other way of proving that the Church has
power to institute festivals of precept?"
Answer: "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" Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism 3rd ed. p. 174
"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)
"The Catholic Church,... by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day
from Saturday to Sunday." The Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal
Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
"1. Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible and the 10
Commandments?
"I answer yes.
"2. Is Sunday the first day of the week and did the Church change the 7th
day, Saturday, for Sunday, the 1st day?
"I answer yes.
"3. Did Christ change the day?
"I answer no! Faithfully yours,
"J. Cardinal Gibbons" Gibbons' autograph letter.
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." John Laux A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and
Academies 1936, vol.1 p.51
"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 solemity from Saturday to Sunday." Peter Geiermann, The
Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (1946 ed.), p.50. Geiermann received
the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X on his labors, January 25,
1910.
"The 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, Aug. 14, 1942, p.4
"The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in
spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church."
Monsignor Louis Segur, Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today (1868), p.
213
Anglican: Nowhere commanded to keep the first day
"And where are we told in the Scriptures 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 why we keep the first 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 [commanded] it." Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on
the Catechism, Vol. 1, pp 334, 336.
Anglican/Episcopal: The
Catholics changed it "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." Episcopalian Bishop
Symour, Why we keep Sunday.
Baptist: Sunday
Sabbath not in the scriptures "There was and is a commandment to keep
holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not on Sunday. It will
be said, however, and with some show of truimph, 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... "I
wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the
gravest and most perlexing question connected with Christian
institutions which at present claims attention from Christian people;
and the only reason that it is not a more disturbing element in
Christian thought and in religious discussion is because the Christian
world has settled down content on the conviction that some how a
transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history. "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 glosses [of Jewish traditions], never alluded to any
transference of the day; also, that during 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 instruction 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 a sun god, when
adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a
sacred legacy to protestantism!" Dr. Edward Hiscox, author of The
Baptist Manual. From a photostatic copy of a notarized statement by Dr.
Hiscox.
"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 One Day p.49
CHURCH OF CHRIST: "Finally,
we have the testimony of Christ on this subject. In Mark 2:27, he says:
'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.' From this
passage it is evident that the Sabbath was made not merely for the
Israelites, as Paley and Hengstenberg would have us believe, but for
..... that is, for the race. Hence we conclude that the Sabbath was
sanctified from the beginning, and that it was given to Adam, even in
Eden, as one of those primeval institutions that God ordained for the
happiness of all men. "-Robert Milligan, Schetne of Redempiten, (St.
Louis, The Fethany Press, 1962), p.165.
Church of England: No
warrant from scripture for the change of the Sabbath from Saturday to
Sunday "Neither did he (Jesus), or his disciples, ordain another
Sabbath in the place of this, as if they had intended only to shift the
day; and to transfer this honor to some other time. Their doctrine and
their practise are directly contrary, to so new a fancy. It is true,
that in some tract of time, the Church in honor of his resurrection,
did set apart that day on the which he rose, to holy exercises: but
this upon their own authority, and without warrant from above, that we
can hear of; more then the generall warrant which God gave his Church,
that all things in it be done decently, and in comely order." Dr. Peter
Heylyn of the Church of England, quoted in History of the Sabbath, Pt
2, Ch.2, p7
Congregationalist: The Christian Sabbath' [Sunday] is not in the Scripture
"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 [Dwight
(1752-1817) was president of Yale University from 1795-1817].
Dr. R. W. Dale- The Ten Commandments
" . . . it is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly
we may spend Sunday, we are not 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."
Disciples of Christ: It is all old wives' fables to talk of the 'change of the sabbath'
"If it [the Ten Commandments] yet exist, let us observe it... And if it
does not exist, 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 the observance or respect to
the reason, can be changed. It is all old wives' fables to talk of the
'change of the sabbath' from the seventh to the first day. If it be
changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and
laws ex officio, - I think his name is "Doctor Antichrist.'" Alexander
Campbell, The Christian Baptist, February 2, 1824, vol 1, no. 7
Episcopal:
Bible commandment says the seventh day "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 avove 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: They
err in teaching Sunday Sabbath 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
"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
"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, p. 64 [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].
"They [Roman Catholics] refer to the Sabbath Day, as having been
changed into the Lord's Day, contrary to the Decalogue, as it seems.
Neither is there any example whereof they make more than concerning the
changing of the Sabbath Day. Great, say they, is the power of the
Church, since it has dispensed with one of the Ten commandments!"
Augsburg Confession of Faith,art. 28; written by Melanchthon and
approved by Martin Luther, 1530; as published in The Book of Concord of
the Evangelical Lutheran Church Henry Jacobs, editor (1911), p.63
Lutheran- Dr. Augustus Neander, The History of the Christian
Religion and Church (1843)"The festival of Sunday,
like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from
the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect,
far from them, and from the early apostolic Church, to transfer the laws of the
Sabbath to Sunday."
John Theodore Mueller (a Lutheran) - Sabbath or Sunday-
"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."
Methodist: Jesus did not abolish the moral law - no command to keep holy the first day
The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, and enforced by the
prophets, He Jesus did not take away. It was not the design of His
coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which can never 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 man, and their
unchangeable relation to each other." John Wesley, Sermons on Several
Occasions, Vol.1, No. 25
"It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism. Nor
is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many believe
that Christ changed the 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, 1902 edition, pp 180-181, 171 [Binney (1802-1878),
Methodist minister and presiding elder, whose Compendium was published
for forty years in many languages, also wrote a Methodist New Testament
Commentary].
"Take the matter of sunday. There are indications in the new testament
as to how the church came to keep the first day of the week as its day
of worship, but there is no passage telling Christians to keep that day
or to transfer the Jewish Sabbath to that day."- Harris Franklin Rall,
Christian Advocate July 2, 1942 pg. 26
Clovis G. Chappell- Ten Rules For Living- '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."
John Wesley- The Works of the Rev. John Wesley "But, 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." (Wesley was a Methodist)
"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 part or tittle of its
sanctity has been taken away."- New York Herald 1874, on the Methodist
Episcopal Bishops Pastoral 1874.
Moody Bible Institute: "Sabbath was before Sinai"
"I honestly believe that this commandment [the Sabbath commandment] is
just as binding today as it ever was. I have talked with men who have
said that it has been abrogated [abolilshed], but they have never been
able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When
Christ was on earth, He did nothing to set it aside; He freed it from
the traces under which the scribes and Pharisees had put it, and gave
it its true place. 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
Sabbath' [mark 2:27]. It is just as practicable and as necessary for
men today as it ever was - in fact, more than ever, because we live in
such an intense age. (Moody was also a Methodist)
"The [Seventh-day]
Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been in force ever since. This
Fourth Commandment [Exodus 20:8-11] begins with the word 'remember,'
showing that the Sabbath had already existed 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 admit that the other nine
are still binding? Dwight.L. Moody, Weighed and Wanting, 1898, pp.46-47
[D.L. Moody, (1837-1899) was the most famous evangelist of his time,
and founder of the Moody Bible Institute].
"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: Sunday kept the Gentiles happy
"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
"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, pp.
474,475.
PENTECOSTAL: "'Why do we worship on Sunday? Doesn't the Bible teach us that
Saturday should be the Lord's Day?'...
Apparently we will have to seek the answer from some other source than
the New Testament."-D5~~d A. Womack, "Is Sunday the Lord's Day?" The
Pentecostal Evangel, Aug. 9,1959, No.2361, p.3.
SEVEN
DAY ADVENTISTS:
...the Lord
has clearly defined the road to the city of God; but the great apostate has
changed the signpost, setting up a false one--a spurious sabbath. He says: "I
will work at cross purposes with God. I will empower my delegate, the man of
sin, to take down God's memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath. Thus will I show
the world that the day sanctified and blessed by God has been changed. That
day shall not live in the minds of the people. I will obliterate the memory
of it. I will place in its stead a day bearing not the credentials of heaven,
a day that can not be a sign between God and his people. I will lead the people
who accept this day, to place upon it the sanctify that God placed upon the
seventh day. Through my vicegerent I will exalt myself. The first day shall
be extolled, and the Protestant world shall receive this spurious sabbath as
genuine. Through the non-observance of the Sabbath God instituted, I will bring
his law into contempt. The words, 'A sign between me and you throughout your
generations,' I will make to serve on the side of my sabbath. Thus the world
will become mine. I will be ruler of the earth, prince of the world. I will
so control the minds under my power that God's Sabbath shall be an object of
contempt. A sign? I will make the observance of the seventh day a sign of disloyalty
to the authorities of earth. Human laws shall be made so stringent that men
and women will not dare to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. For fear of wanting
food and clothing, they will join with the world in transgressing God's law;
and the earth will be wholly under my dominion."
The man of sin has instituted a false sabbath, and the professed Christian world has adopted this child of the papacy, refusing to obey God. Thus Satan leads men and women in a direction opposite to the city of refuge; and by the multitudes who follow him, it is demonstrated that Adam and Eve are not the only ones who have accepted the words of the wily foe. {RH, April 17, 1900 par. 5}
The enemy of all good has turned the signpost round, so that it points to the path of disobedience as the path of happiness. He has insulted Jehovah by refusing to obey a "Thus saith the Lord." He has thought to change times and laws. -Ellen G. White {Review and Herald, April 17, 1900 par. 4 & 5}
ENCYCLOPEDIA: "Sunday was a name given by the heathen 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." -Eudle's Biblical Cyclopedia, 1872 ed., p.561
MISC: "The idea of imparting to Sunday the solemnity of the sabbath, with all its exigencies and in particular its prohibition of work, was an entirely foreign one to the early Christians" --(Origins of Christian Worship, Duchesne, cap ii) Cited in: Christian Worship in the Primitave Church, Alexander B. Mac Donald, T. and T. Clark, 38 George street, Edinburg, p. 65, 1934ed.
The Almighty says in the Old Testament..
Exodus 20:8-11, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou 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: 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."
He then says in the New Testament...
Hebrews 4:4,8,9 "For he spake in a certain place of the
seventh day on this wise, And God did
rest the seventh day from all his works. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of
another day. There remaineth therefore a
rest to the people of God."
REST:
STRONG'S #4520 sabbatismos {sab-bat-is-mos'}
from a derivative of 4521; TDNT - 7:34,989; n m
AV - rest 1; 1
1) a keeping sabbath
2) the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the
age to come by the true worshippers of God and true Christians
NOTE: Most state the Sabbath was changed after the Cross. But the book of Hebrews was written around 40 years after the cross. PLUS, Historic Fact is, Constantine didn't make Sunday "Law" until March 7, 321AD. That's means most Christians kept the 7th Day Sabbath for hundreds of years after Christ's cross. As the Historic facts above just proved, only the weak Christians decided to keep Sunday holy out of fear of Rome.
