Obtained from a newsgroup email from Jim Searcy.
Dear Friends -
Some chruch leaders have told the TRUTH about the 4th Commandment.
Yet, today, few have ears to hear about the SABBATH. The following
are some things that various church leaders have said. I do hope that
you find them interesting and helpful.
American Congregationalists:
No authority exists 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, 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.
Church of England:
No scripture exists 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 above in a message
on this subject delivered to a packed assembly of clergymen. It was
widely reported at the time in the news media].
Lutheran:
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 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] 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, 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 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 (pagans) happy "Sunday being the first day
of which the Gentiles (pagans) 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(pagans), 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.
"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),
Orthodox (Eastern):
"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.
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).
Shalom & Simcha,
Jim Searcy
Great Joy in Great Tribulation www sites:
http://www.dccsa.com/greatjoy/ and http://www.gvtc.com/~jsearcy/
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