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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.
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 Cross).
HIS FOLLOWERS
"And they returned, and prepared spices
and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according
to the commandment." Luke 23:56.
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
PAUL AND 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." 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, Isaiah 58:13,
Exodus 20:10, clearly show the Sabbath to
be the Lord's day).
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
EARLY CHRISTIANS
"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
"...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
2ND CENTURY CHRISTIANS
"The Gentile Christians observed also
the Sabbath," Gieseler's Church History,
Vol.1, ch. 2, par. 30, 93.
EARLY CHRISTIANS
"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 CHURCH
"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. Paul the Apostle foretold a great "falling away" from the Truth that would take place soon after his death.
2ND, 3RD, 4TH CENTURIES
"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 Minge, Patrologia
Graeca, Vol. 12,cols. 749, 750.
PALESTINE TO INDIA (CHURCH OF THE
EAST)
As early as A.D. 225 there existed large 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...solemnized
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,
traveled extensively in the East promoting
the church in Arabia, Persia, India and China."
Truth Triumphant by B.G. Wilkinson,
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 originally 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 sun god, 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, Ecclesiastical
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.
5TH CENTURY CHRISTIANS
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 metropolitan 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 Life 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 historian Bellesheim.
SCOTLAND-COLUMBA
"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 called 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 Columba
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." Ibid.
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 Encyclopedia 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 (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
were called Waldenses, or Vaudes, before his
time, from the valleys in which they dwelt."
Ibid., 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
archbishops, bishops and to all others...'We
command you 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 northern 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 Welsh 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 especially emphasized
a day of worship that was recognized at that
time among the Celtic churches of the British
Isles, among the Paulicians, and in the great
Church of the East namely, 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 St. 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 of Piedmont, p.169 (by prominent
Roman Catholic 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 of 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
symbolized 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 brethren constituted
one fourth 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. Therefore we counsel 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
RUSSIA (Council, Moscow, 1490)
"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
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 commandments of God. The King
having heard the report of his commissioners,
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
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
Reformation 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 willed 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 holy 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 none 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. Ibid., 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 1862 the Seventh-day Adventist Church 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 triumph, that the Sabbath
was transferred from the Seventh to the First
day of the week, with all its duties, privileges
and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information
on this subject, which I have studied for
many years, I ask, where can the record of
such a transaction be found? Not in the New
Testament - absolutely not. There is no scriptural
evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution
from the Seventh to the First day of the week...
"I wish to say that this Sabbath question, in this aspect of it, is the gravest and most perplexing 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
"The Scriptures nowhere call the first
day of the week the Sabbath. . There is no
Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of
course, any Scriptural obligation." -
The Watchman.
SOUTHERN BAPTIST:
"The sacred name of the seventh day is
Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require
argument [Exodus 20:10, quoted] . . On this
point the plain teaching of the Word has been
admitted in all ages . . Not once did the
disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first
day of the week,-that folly was left for a
later age, nor did they pretend that the first
day supplanted the seventh." Joseph Judson
Taylor, The Sabbatic Question, pp.
14-17,41.
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 general 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].
"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 observance of Sunday. . There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanctity of Sunday. " Dr. R. W Dale, The Ten Commandments, pp. 106-107.
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
"There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day 'the Lord's Day.' " Dr. D. H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, January 23, 1890.
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]:
"We have made the change from the seventh to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy, catholic, apostolic church of Christ. " Bishop Seymour, Why We Keep Sunday.
PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL:
"The day is now changed from the seventh
to the first day... but as we meet with no
Scriptural direction for the change, we may
conclude it was done by the authority of the
church." The Protestant Episcopal
Explanation of the Catechism.
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, 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 [abolished],
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
"There is no word, no hint in the New
Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday.
The observance of Ash Wednesday, or Lent,
stands exactly on the same footing as the
observance of Sunday. Into the rest of Sunday
no Divine Law enters." Canon Eyton, Ten
Commandments.
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 Saturday 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
solemnity 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
"Prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says, No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week. And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in reverent obedience to the command of the Holy Roman Catholic Church."- Thomas Enright, CSSR, President, Redemptorist College, Kansas City, Missouri, February 18, 1884 [Roman Catholic].
"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles. . From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first." Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August, 1900.
"Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the [Roman Catholic] Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought logically to keep Saturday as the Sabbath." John Gilmary Shea, in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883.
"It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church." -Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, N.J. News of March 18, 19.03.
"Reason and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these two alternatives: either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday. Compromise is impossible." The Catholic Mirror, December 23, 1893.
"Protestants. . accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change. . But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in accepting the Bible, in observing the Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope." Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950
"Not the Creator of Universe, in Genesis 2:1-3,-but the Catholic Church "can claim the honor of having granted man a pause to his work every seven days." S. C. Mosna, Storia della Domenica, 1969, pp. 366-367.
"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 dated February 10, 1920.
"It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest [from the Bible Sabbath] to the Sunday... Thus 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, p. 213.
"We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy instead of Saturday as we have for every other article of our creed, namely, the authority of the Church. . whereas you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; for there is no authority for it [Sunday sacredness] in the Bible, and you will not allow that there can be authority for it anywhere else." The Brotherhood of St. Paul, The Clifton Tracts, Volume 4, tract 4, p. 15.