The Adventists are the only body of Christians with the Bible as their teacher, who can find no warrant in its
pages for the change of the day from the seventh to the first. Hence their appellation, "Seventh-day Adventists." Their cardinal principle consists
in setting apart Saturday for the exclusive worship of God, in conformity with the positive command of God himself, repeatedly reiterated in the
sacred books of the Old and New Testaments, literally obeyed by the children of Israel for thousands of years to this day, and indorsed by the
teaching and practice of the Son of God whilst on earth.
Per contra, the Protestants of the world, the Adventists excepted, with the same Bible as their
cherished and sole infallible teacher, by their practice, since their appearance in the sixteenth century, with the time-honored practice of the
Jewish people before their eyes, have rejected the day named for His worship by God, and assumed, in apparent contradiction of His command, a day for
His worship never once referred to for that purpose, in the pages of that Sacred Volume.
What Protestant pulpit does not ring almost every Sunday with loud and impassioned invectives against Sabbath
violation? Who can forget the fanatical clamor of the Protestant ministers throughout the length and breadth of the land against opening the gates of
the World's Fair on Sunday? the thousands of petitions, signed by millions, to save the Lord's Day from desecration? Surely, such general and
widespread excitement and noisy remonstrance could not have existed without the strongest grounds for such animated protests.
And when quarters were assigned at the World's Fair to the various sects of Protestantism for the exhibition
of articles, who can forget the emphatic expressions of virtuous and conscientious indignation exhibited by our Presbyterian brethren, as soon as
they learned of the decision of the Supreme Court not to interfere in the Sunday opening? The newspapers informed us that they flatly refused to
utilize the space accorded them, or open their boxes, demanding the right to withdraw the articles, in rigid adherence to their principles, and thus
decline all contact with the sacrilegious and Sabbath-breaking Exhibition.
Doubtless, our Calvinistic brethren deserved and shared the sympathy of all the other sects, who, however,
lost the opportunity of posing as martyrs in vindication of the Sabbath observance.
They thus became a "spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men," although their Protestant brethren, who
failed to share the monopoly, were uncharitably and enviously disposed to attribute their steadfast adherence to religious principle, to Pharisaical
pride and dogged obstinacy.
Purpose of Article
Our purpose in throwing off this article, is to shed such light on this all-important question (for were the
Sabbath question to be removed from the Protestant pulpit, the sects would feel lost, and the preachers be deprived of their "Cheshire cheese") that
our readers may be able to comprehend the question in all its bearings, and thus reach a clear conviction.
The Christian world is, morally speaking, united on the question and practice of worshiping God on the
first day of the week.
The Israelites, scattered all over the earth, keep the last day of the week sacred to the worship of
the Deity. In this particular, the Seventh-day Adventists (a sect of Christians numerically few) have also selected the same day.
[Note: There have always been Sabbath keepers (other than the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA's)) in
the world since the First century A.D. Today, not only do SDA's number in the millions, but there are thousands of churches, groups and home
fellowships that keep a Saturday Sabbath. ]
Israelites and Adventists both appeal to the Bible for the divine command, persistently obliging the strict
observance of Saturday.
The Israelite respects the authority of the Old Testament only, but the Adventist, who is a Christian, accepts
the New Testament on the same ground as the Old: viz., an inspired record also. He finds that the Bible, his teacher, is consistent in both parts,
that the Redeemer, during His mortal life, never kept any other day than Saturday. The Gospels plainly evidence to him this fact; whilst, in the
pages of the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles, and the Apocalypse, not the vestige of an act canceling the Saturday arrangement can be
found.
[Note: Did you miss that? The above paragraph stated that Jesus, the Savior of Mankind, and those He
taught (the Apostles) kept a Saturday Sabbath!]
The Adventists, therefore, in common with Israelites, derive their belief from the Old Testament, which
position is confirmed by the New Testament, indorsing fully by the life and practice of the Redeemer and His apostles the teaching of the Sacred Word
for nearly a century of the Christian era.
Numerically considered, the Seventh-day Adventists form an insignificant portion of the Protestants population
of the earth, but, as the question is not one of numbers, but of truth, and right, a strict sense of justice forbids the condemnation of this little
sect without a calm and unbiased investigation; this is none of our funeral.
[Note: We do well to take to heart what was written above. It is not how many people believe in
something (like Sunday worship), but what is the TRUTH!]
The Protestant world has been, from its infancy, in the sixteenth century, in thorough accord with the
Catholic Church, in keeping "holy," not Saturday, but Sunday. The discussion of the grounds that led to this unanimity of sentiment and practice of
over 300 years, must help toward placing Protestantism on a solid basis in this particular, should the arguments in favor of its position overcome
those furnished by the Israelites an Adventists, the Bible, the sole recognized teacher of both litigants, being the umpire and witness. If however,
on the other hand, the latter furnish arguments, incontrovertible by the great mass of Protestants, both cases of litigants, appealing to their
common teacher, the Bible, the great body of Protestants, so far from clamoring, as they do with vigorous pertinacity for the strict keeping of
Sunday, have no other [recourse] left than the admission that they have been teaching and practising what is Scripturally false for over three
centuries, by adopting the teaching and practice of what they have always pretended to believe an apostate church, contrary to every warrant and
teaching of sacred Scripture. To add to the intensity of this Scriptural and unpardonable blunder, it involves one of the most positive and emphatic
commands of God to His servant, man: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
No Protestant living today has ever yet obeyed that command, preferring to follow the apostate church referred
to than his teacher the Bible, which, from Genesis to Revelation, teaches no other doctrine, should the Israelites and Seventh-day
Adventists be correct. Both sides appeal to the Bible as their "infallible" teacher. Let the Bible decide whether Saturday or Sunday be the day
enjoined by God. One of the two bodies must be wrong, and, whereas a false position on this all-important question involves terrible penalties,
threatened by God Himself, against the transgressor of this "perpetual covenant," we shall enter on the discussion of the merits of the arguments
wielded by both sides. Neither is the discussion of this paramount subject above the capacity of ordinary minds, nor does it involve extraordinary
study. It resolves itself into a few plain questions easy of solution:
- Which day of the week does the Bible enjoin to be kept holy?
- Has the New Testament modified by precept or practice the original command?
- Have Protestants, since the sixteenth century, obeyed the command of God by keeping "holy" the day
enjoined by their infallible guide and teacher, the Bible? and if not, why not?
To the above three questions we pledge ourselves to furnish as many intelligent answers, which cannot fail to
vindicate the truth and uphold the deformity of error.
[From the Catholic Mirror of Sept. 9, 1893]
"But faith, fanatic faith, one wedded fast To some dear falsehood, hugs it to the last."
—Moore.
Conformably to our promise in our last issue, we proceed to unmask one of the most flagrant errors and most
unpardonable inconsistencies of the Bible rule of faith. Lest, however, we be misunderstood, we deem it necessary to premise that Protestantism
recognizes no rule of faith, no teacher, save the "infallible Bible." As the Catholic yields his judgment in spiritual matters implicitly, and with
the unreserved confidence, to the voice of his church, so, too, the Protestant recognizes no teacher but the Bible. All his spirituality is
derived from its teachings. It is to him the voice of God addressing him through his sole inspired teacher. It embodies his religion, his faith, and
his practice. The language of Chillingworth, "The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of Protestants," is only
one form of the same idea multifariously convertible into other forms, such as "the Book of God," "the Charter of Our Salvation," "the Oracle of Our
Christian Faith," "God's Text-Book to the race of Mankind," etc., etc. It is, then, an incontrovertible fact that the Bible alone is the
teacher of Protestant Christianity. Assuming this fact, we will now proceed to discuss the merits of the question involved in our last
issue.
Recognizing what is undeniable, the fact of a direct contradiction between the teaching and practice of
Protestant Christianity — the Seventh-day Adventists excepted — on the one hand, and that of the Jewish people on the other, both observing
different days of the week for the worship of God, we will proceed to take the testimony of the teacher common to both claimants, the Bible. The
first expression with which we come in contact in the Sacred Word, is found in Genesis 2:2 "And on the seventh day He [God] rested from all His
work which He had made." The next reference to this matter is to be found in Exodus 20, where God commanded the seventh day to be kept, because He had himself rested from the work of creation on that day; and the sacred text informs us that for that reason He desired
it kept, in the following words; "wherefore, the Lord blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." (1) Again we read in chapter 31,
verse 15: "Six days you shall do work; in the seventh day is the Sabbath, the rest holy to the Lord;" sixteenth verse: "it is an
everlasting covenant," "and a perpetual sign," "for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and in the seventh He ceased from
work."
[Note: Scriptures quoted throughout these editorials are from the Douay, or Catholic, Version of the
Bible]
Saturday always the Sabbath
In the Old Testament, reference is made one hundred and twenty-six times to the Sabbath, and all these texts
conspire harmoniously in voicing the will of God commanding the seventh day to be kept, because God Himself first kept it, making it
obligatory on all as "a perpetual covenant." Nor can we imagine any one foolhardy enough to question the identity of Saturday with the
Sabbath or seventh day, seeing that the people of Israel have been keeping the Saturday from the giving of the law, A.M. 2514 to A.D. 1893, a period
of 3383 years. With the example of the Israelites before our eyes today, there is no historical fact better established than that referred to; viz.,
that the chosen people of God, the guardians of the Old Testament, the living representatives of the only divine religion hitherto, had for a period
of 1490 years anterior to Christianity, preserved the weekly practice the living tradition of the correct interpretation of the special day of the
week, Saturday, to be kept "holy to the Lord," which tradition they have extended by their own practice to an additional period of 1893 years more,
thus covering the full extent of the Christian dispensation. We deem it necessary to be perfectly clear on this point, for reasons that will appear
more fully hereafter. The Bible — the Old Testament — confirmed by the living tradition of a weekly practice for 3383 years by the chosen
people of God, teaches, then, with absolute certainty, that God had, Himself, named the day to be "kept holy to Him",— that the day was
Saturday, and that any violation of that command was punishable with death. "Keep you My Sabbath, for it is holy unto you; he that shall profane
it shall be put to death; he that shall do any work in it, his soul shall perish in the midst of his people." Exodus 31:14.
[Note: In other words, the people of Israel (made up of 12 tribes--one of which is Judah, from
which the term "Jew" comes from) anciently maintained the correct day of the Sabbath--and the Jews (who did not lose their identity) to this day
STILL keep the correct time of God's Sabbath given to them through Moses! Time has not been "lost"--we know that Saturday IS God's Sabbath
Day! ]
It is impossible to realize a more severe penalty than that so solemnly uttered by God Himself in the above
text, on all who violate a command referred to no less than one hundred and twenty-six times in the old law. The ten commandments of the Old
Testament are formally impressed on the memory of the child of the Biblical Christian as soon as possible, but there is not one of the ten made more
emphatically familiar, both in Sunday School and pulpit, than that of keeping "holy" the Sabbath day.
Having secured the absolute certainty the will of God as regards the day to be kept holy, from His Sacred
Word, because He rested on that day, which day is confirmed to us by the practice of His chose people for thousands of years, we are
naturally induced to inquire when and where God changed the day for His worship; for it is patent to the world that a change of day has
taken place, and inasmuch as no indication of such change can be found within the pages of the Old Testament, nor in the practice of the Jewish
people who continue for nearly nineteen centuries of Christianity obeying the written command, we must look to the exponent of the Christian
dispensation; viz., the New Testament, for the command of God canceling the old Sabbath, Saturday.
Investigating the Sabbath in the New Testament
We now approach a period covering little short of nineteen centuries, and proceed to investigate whether the
supplemental divine teacher — the New Testament — contains a decree canceling the mandate of the old law, and, at the same time,
substituting a day for the divinely instituted Sabbath of the old law, viz., Saturday; for, inasmuch as Saturday was the day kept and ordered to be
kept by God, divine authority alone, under the form of a canceling decree, could abolish the Saturday covenant, and another divine mandate,
appointing by name another day to be kept "holy," other than Saturday, is equally necessary to satisfy the conscience of the Christian believer. The
Bible being the only teacher recognized by the Biblical Christian, the Old Testament failing to point out a change of day, and yet another day than
Saturday being kept "holy" by the Biblical world, it is surely incumbent on the reformed Christian to point out in the pages of the New Testament the
new divine decree repealing that of Saturday and substituting that of Sunday, kept by the Biblicals since the dawn of the Reformation.
Examining the New Testament from cover to cover, critically, we find the Sabbath referred to sixty-one times.
We find, too, that the Saviour invariably selected the Sabbath (Saturday) to teach in the synagogues and work miracles. The four Gospels refer to the
Sabbath (Saturday) fifty-one times.
In one instance the Redeemer refers to Himself as "the Lord of the Sabbath," as mentioned by Matthew and Luke,
(2) but during the whole record of His life, whilst invariably keeping and utilizing the day (Saturday), He never once hinted at a desire to
change it. His apostles and personal friends afford to us a striking instance of their scrupulous observance of it after His death,
and, whilst His body was yet in tomb, Luke (23:56) informs us: "And they returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested on the sabbath
day according to the commandment." "but on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came, bringing the spices they had
prepared." The "spices" and "ointments" had been prepared Good Friday evening, because "the Sabbath drew near." Verse 54. This action on the part
of the personal friends of the Saviour, proves beyond contradiction that after His death they kept "holy" the Saturday, and regarded the
Sunday as any other day of the week. Can anything, therefore, be more conclusive than the apostles and the holy women never knew any Sabbath but
Saturday, up to the day of Christ's death?
We now approach the investigation of this interesting question for the next thirty years, as narrated by the
evangelist, St. Luke, in his Acts of the Apostles. Surely some vestige of the canceling act can be discovered in the practice of the Apostles during
that protracted period.
[Note (2): It is also referred to in Mark 2:28.]
But, alas! we are once more doomed to disappointment. Nine (3) times do we find the Sabbath
referred to in the Acts, but it is the Saturday (the old Sabbath). Should our readers desire the proof, we refer them to chapter and verse
in each instance. Acts 13:14, 27, 42, 44. Once more, Acts 15:21; again, Acts 16:13; 17:2; 18:4. "And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and Greeks." thus the Sabbath (Saturday) from Genesis to Revelation!!! Thus, it is
impossible to find in the New Testament the slightest interference by the Saviour or his Apostles with the original Sabbath, but on the contrary, an
entire acquiescence in the original arrangement; nay a plenary indorsement by Him, whilst living; and an unvaried, active participation in the keeping of that day and not other by the apostles, for thirty years after His death, as the Acts of the Apostles has abundantly
testified to us.
[Note (3): This should be eight.]
Hence the conclusion is inevitable; viz., that of those who follow the Bible as their guide, the Israelites
and Seventh-day Adventists have exclusive weight of evidence on their side, whilst the Biblical Protestant has not a word in self-defense for his
substitution of Sunday for Saturday. More anon.
[Note: Notice what was just stated. Those who "follow the Bible as their guide" and keep the Seventh
Day Sabbath have the clear weight of scripture behind them!!]
[From the Catholic Mirror of Sept. 16, 1893.]
When his satanic majesty, who was "a murder from the beginning," "and the father of lies," undertook to open
the eyes of our first mother, Eve, by stimulating her ambition, "You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil," his action was but the first of many
plausible and successful efforts employed later, in the seduction of millions of her children. Like Eve, they learn too late, alas! the value of the
inducements held out to allure her weak children from allegiance to God. Nor does the subject matter of this discussion form an exception to the
usual tactics of his sable majesty.
Over three centuries since, he plausibly represented to a large number of discontented and ambitious
Christians the bright prospect of the successful inauguration of a "new departure," by the abandonment of the Church instituted by the Son of God, as
their teacher, and the assumption of a new teacher — the Bible alone — as their newly fledged oracle.
The sagacity of the evil one foresaw but the brilliant success of this maneuver. Nor did the result fall short
of his most sanguine expectations.
A bold and adventurous spirit was alone needed to head the expedition. Him his satanic majesty soon found in
the apostate monk, Luther, who himself repeatedly testifies to the close familiarity that existed between his master and himself, in his "Table
talk," and other works published in 1558, at Wittenberg, under the inspection of Melancthon. His colloquies with Satan on various occasions, are
testified to by Luther himself — a witness worthy of all credibility. What the agency of the serpent tended so effectually to achieve in the
garden, the agency of Luther achieved in the Christian world. (4)
"Give them a pilot to their wandering fleet,
Bold in his art, and tutored to deceit;
Whose hand adventurous shall their helm misguide
To hostile shores, or 'whelm them in the tide."
As the end proposed to himself by the evil one in his raid on the church of Christ was the destruction of
Christianity, we are now engaged in sifting the means adopted by him to insure his success therein. So far, they have been found to be misleading,
self-contradictory, and fallacious. We will now proceed with the further investigations of this imposture.
[Note (4): Of course, one would expect a Catholic to demonize someone such as Luther, a person who fought for
reforms in the church. If Luther had continued his reforms by accepting the Bible's Sabbath day, papists would not now be taunting "Protestants" with
the inconsistency of professing to accept the Bible alone yet following the traditions of the Catholic Church in regards to God's day of
worship.]
Did Jesus change the Sabbath Day?
Having proved to a demonstration that the Redeemer, in no instance, had, during the period of His
life, deviated from the faithful observance of the Sabbath (Saturday), referred to by the four evangelists fifty-one times, although He had
designated Himself "Lord of the Sabbath," He never having once, by command or practice, hinted at a desire on His part to change the day by
the substitution of another and having called special attention to the conduct of the apostles and the holy women, the very evening of His death,
securing beforehand spices and ointments to be used in embalming His body the morning after the Sabbath (Saturday), as St. Luke so clearly informs us
(Luke 24:1), thereby placing beyond peradventure, the divine action and will of the Son of God during life by keeping the Sabbath steadfastly; and
having called attention to the action of His living representatives after his death, as proved by St. Luke; having also placed before our readers the indisputable fact that the apostles for the following thirty years (Acts) never deviated from the practice of their divine Master in
this particular, as St. Luke (Acts 18:4) assures us: "And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogues every Sabbath [Saturday], and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." The Gentile converts were, as we see from the text, equally instructed with the Jews, to keep the
Saturday, having been converted to Christianity on that day, "the Jews and the Greeks" collectively.
Having also called attention to the texts of the Acts bearing on the exclusive use of the Sabbath by the Jews
and Christians for thirty years after the death of the Saviour as the only day of the week observed by Christ and His apostles, which period exhausts the inspired record, we now proceed to supplement our proofs that the Sabbath (Saturday) enjoyed this exclusive privilege, by
calling attention to every instance wherein the sacred record refers to the first day of the week.
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