Sunday Sacredness Shattered
George Burnside
It is our purpose tonight to say only those things that are helpful, and that will prove a blessing to all. I am reading from the book of Proverbs, the 18th chapter and the 17th verse: “He that is first in his own cause seems just; but his neighbor comes and searches him.”
In this paper we are planning to review a sermon preached by the Reverend X. We do this with the desire to stand by the truth of God, and to contend very earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints.
Now, the Reverend X first proposition, is that the Sabbath was given only to the Jews, and that it dealt only with Israel, and that you and I have nothing at all to do with the Sabbath, and he makes the statement that the first mention of the Sabbath is found in Exodus 20. Evidently he overlooked Exodus 16. For in the 16th chapter of Exodus, the Sabbath is brought to view very clearly. Inverses 25 and on we read:
“And Moses said, Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord: today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in It there shall be none. And it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, “How long refuse you to keep My commandments and My Laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide you every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
You will notice that definite reference is made in the 16th chapter to the Sabbath of God. Therefore, dear friends, it is evident that the Sabbath of God was given prior to the giving of the law in written form on Mount Sinai. We art, not left in doubt because the origin of the Sabbath of God is very clearly outlined in the Book of God. However, before noticing when the Sabbath was given, I want you to notice particularly who gave the Sabbath and who made it. In John 1:10 we find: “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not.”
Now tell me, to whom does this apply? It is talking about none other than the Lord Testis Christ. “He was in the world, and the world was made Him.” Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ was the one who created this world away back in the beginning with God. For more evidence let me read John 1:1-1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
If the New Testament is clear on any subject, it is clear that the very same One who was born in Bethlehem’s stable, and died on Calvary’s tree, was the One who created the world in the beginning. Now we will read the story in Genesis. Genesis 2:1-3 “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 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, Jesus is referred to here as God. He was God. He was the second person of the God-head. My name Is Burnside because my father’s name is Burnside, and Jesus name was God because His Father was God. Therefore, seeing that the New Testament makes it very plain that Jesus was the Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ was the One who rested, blessed and sanctified the seventh day of the week, and made it the Sabbath. And the blessing of Jesus is still in that sacred day. I was brought up a very strict Sunday-keeper. Yes, of the straightest sect of Sunday keepers, I was reared a Baptist. But, my dear friends, I have found that since I stepped out to keep the Sabbath of God, I have received blessings that I never knew in keeping Sunday. The reason is apparent. The blessing of Jesus is in that day. Yes, it is in every moment of that sacred day. I defend the Sabbath through thick and thin, because it is Jesus’ day. You see, it was Jesus who rested on the Sabbath. It was Jesus who blessed it. It was Jesus who sanctified the Sabbath, and it is the same blessed Savior who hands down that love-gift to you and me in this last generation.
Now, if Jesus made the Sabbath, He should know whom He made it for. There is no better authority in the world as to whom this Sabbath was made for, than the Lord Jesus Christ. I am reading to you His words as found in Mark 2:27 “And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.”
Reverend X says that the Sabbath was made for the Jews. Jesus says it was made for man. That statement takes in every man that is on this earth. It takes in all mankind, both Jew and Gentile, and every soul reading this paper. Reverend X says the Sabbath is only for the Jews. Jesus says it is for mankind. I would sooner believe Jesus than any erring mortal. Besides, there is nothing Jewish about the Sabbath. It was made when there was only one man on the earth. The Sabbath was made 2,500 years before there was a single Jew In existence. Do you think for one moment that Jesus would make a day holy, with His own sacred blessing, and then have it trailed underfoot for 2,500 years, and then reach down and rake it out of the more of the ages and hand it as a love-gift to His people? Does our Redeemer work that way? Never! The Sabbath comes to us, fellow Christians, from the golden gate of Eden. God says that the Sabbath was made for man and that settles the question for me. I say tonight, without fear of successful contradiction from any, that there is not a single text in the whole Bible where it says that the Sabbath was made only for the Jews, or calls the Sabbath “the Jewish Sabbath.” My Bible calls it “The Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and “My holy day.” Such expressions as “the Jewish Sabbath” are not found in the book of God. If you and I are going to reject the Sabbath and all that the Jews once held, I am afraid we will end up with very little of the Book of God, because practically all of it was written by Jews. The apostles were Jews, Jesus was a Jew, and all the great prophets were Jews. I know of only one Bible writer who was not a Jew. So, if we reject the Sabbath because it was kept by Jews, then we have got to reject the Sabbath because it was kept by Jews, then we have got to reject practically the whole of the Book of God.
It would be far better to believe Jesus when He said, “the Sabbath was made for man,” and when you learn to take your foot off the Sabbath of Jesus, you will find the very presence of Jesus in every moment of that sacred day. I want to tell you friends, that if sin had not raised its ugly head on this world, that same Sabbath would have come down unbroken. There is no question about that. Watch carefully as you read Isaiah 66:22,23 “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, said the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, said the Lord.”
It is talking about the new earth, when the battle is over, and God’s people are saved on the eternal shore. When the battle is completely over, the same sacred Sabbath of God is there, and Sabbath by Sabbath, when the earth is made new, all flesh comes to worship before God, and so, if we have the privilege of walking the sunny plains of the new earth, we will all be Sabbath keepers there. There will be no divided heaven, one half keeping Sunday, and the other half keeping the Sabbath, for It says “all flesh” will be keeping the Sabbath there.
Then, it is clear that the Sabbath was not abolished at the Cross, because away down in the future they are going to keep the same Sabbath, and “all flesh” will worship before God. Then don’t you think that the best thing we can do is to start and keep it down here? God is preparing a people to go home to glory.
Reverend X second point is that the New Testament does away with the Ten Commandments. But the facts are, dear friends, there is not a verse in the whole of the Book of God that teaches that the Ten Commandments, or any part of them, were done away with. They stand eternal. And not only that, but all the great denominations of this land stand four square on the eternal nature of God’s law. Remember too, that In the Ten Commandments, we have the Law that God wrote with His own fingers on tables of stone. We are referred to Acts 13:39. “And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.” What has that verse got to do with the argument? Who said we needed to keep the law of Moses. Seventh-day Adventists believe in the binding nature of the Ten Commandments, but do not believe that they are to keep the law of Moses. The Reverend X confuses the law of God with the law of Moses. Remember, there is not a single verse In the whole of the Bible that calls the law of God, the law of Moses. All the great denominations of the world have taught the same thing. I am reading from the book entitled, “Aggressive Christianity,” by Mrs. Booth, the wife of General Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army: “People should be very careful to be clear in their minds, as to what the apostle is writing about, but I frequently find In such writings and songs a total misapprehension as to the meaning of the apostle and total confounding of the moral and the ceremonial law. Now, always mind, when you read anything about the law, to examine and find out which law is meant, whether it is the great moral law, which never has been, and never can be abrogated, or the ceremonial law, which in Christ, confessedly was done away. Mind which, because your salvation may depend upon that point. If you make a mistake there, you may be lost through it. Therefore be very careful.” “Let us mind then, the distinction always between the great moral law and the ceremonial law.” pages 104,105.
May we all heed this earnest appeal. Be very careful when you talk about the law to make very clear as to just which law is referred to, for not once do we find the Ten Commandments referred to as the law of Moses. You will find that one law, the Ten Commandments, was written by God, and the other law by Moses. One was written on stone, and the other in a book. One is called “the law of God,” the other “the law of Moses.” The law of God was not abolished and never will be. It will stand as long as the heavens and earth stand. The law of Moses was done away with at the Cross. Now here we have the relationship of these two laws. The Ten Commandments define sin. This law as stated in Romans 3:31, was established by the Gospel. Now do not go away with the idea that we teach that we are justified by keeping the law. We keep the law of God because we are justified. We delight to keep our Savior’s commands because we love Him. 1 John 5:3. “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.”
You will recall that God likens His law to a mirror. James 1:23-25. “For if any be a hearer of the Word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass. For he beholds himself and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But who so looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”
Now the purpose of a mirror is to reveal the dirt, it is certainly not a black streak of Sabbath-breaking. But breaking the mirror will never-cleanse the face. Just so, abolishing the law of God will never make sinners righteous. God’s mirror, His law, our sins. Cleansing does not come through the mirror, God’s law, but as it reveals our sins we fly to Jesus for cleansing and when cleansed arid made white by the blood that flowed from Jesus’ veins, the law of God bears witness to righteousness.
Now, sin is the transgression of God’s law (1 John, 3:4). In Old Testament times when a man sinned, In other words, broke God’s law, he had to offer a sacrifice according to the law of Moses, and the result was forgiveness (Leviticus 4:26,31,35.) The law of Moses naturally passed away when Jesus died, for then type met antitype. But the Ten Commandments, the law of God, is just as eternal as God Himself. This law never will, and never can pass away. Sin is still the transgression of God’s law. If the law is abolished, as the Reverend X contends, then, there Is no sin, for It is impossible to transgress a law that is non-existent.
How true are the words of Spurgeon, that great preacher of the Baptist church: “The law of God is a divine law, holy, heavenly, perfect. There is not a command too many; there is not one too few. No human lawgiver could have given forth such a law as that which we find in the Ten Commandments.” Spurgeon’s Sermons, page 280.
I was walking down the street the other day, and I heard a child who was scarcely able to talk, taking God’s name in a way that well nigh made one’s blood run cold. It is more tragic to hear ministers, telling their audiences that we have gotten beyond the Ten Commandments, and that it is no longer necessary to keep them. From cover to cover of this precious old Bible of ours, I find the law of our God upheld in the most sacred of terms. Long should the erring tongue of man hesitate, ere it speaks against the law written by the finger of God.
We are next referred to the book of Galatians. Reverend X makes another mistake however, because Galatians has no bearing on this question, Note carefully Galatians 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Which law was written in a book? Certainly not the Ten Commandments. Even Reverend X admits that they were written on stone. The bone of contention in Galatians is circumcision, not Sabbath-keeping. Hence the issue here is dealing with the law of Moses, the law written in a book and not the law of God at all. Reverend X cannot find a single reference to the Sabbath in the whole book of Galatians.
Next we are referred to the book of Colossians. Colossians 2:14, but again our friend draws a blank because this chapter is not talking about God’s law, but again speaks of the law of Moses. Notice verse 14 “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” “Blotting out the handwriting of Ordinances.” What are ordinances? I won’t give you my opinion, but notice the word of God on this vital question. In Hebrews 9:10 we read, “Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances. Notice carefully the marginal reading. Instead of “ordinances” it reads “rites and ceremonies.” So this law in Colossians 2:14 which deals with rites and ceremonies or ordinances, is none other than the law of Moses, which dealt almost solely with rites and ceremonies. Remember, however, that the law of God did not deal with rites and ceremonies, therefore it is crystal clear that this passage, Colossians 2:14 is not dealing with the law of God at all. Look at verse 16 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.” Do the Ten Commandments deal with meats and drinks? You can see clearly that it has no reference to that law. We read on: “or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come.” These typical Sabbaths were the yearly Sabbaths, such as the Passover, etc., which naturally were “a shadow of things to come.” You will read of them in Leviticus 3.
We must be careful, however, not to confuse these typical, yearly Sabbaths with the weekly Sabbath of the fourth Commandment. The weekly Sabbath is not typical at all, but is a memorial. Every time the weekly Sabbath is commanded it always reads, “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,” or a similar statement.
The weekly Sabbath points back to a finished work. The typical Sabbaths pointed forward, they were all types of something in the Gospel. For Instance, the Passover. Naturally we do not as Christians keep the Passover, because “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” And so you see, Paul is not speaking at all about the law of God or the Sabbath of the law, but he Is referring to the law of Moses which certainly passed away in Christ. I might add, this is the only time that the word “Sabbaths” is used in the New Testament where it is not speaking of the weekly Sabbath, and Paul makes that clear. He tells you exactly which Sabbaths passed away, those which are a shadow of things to come.
We are next referred to Matthew 5, and informed that this chapter is the law of Christ. Reverend X maintains that Christ is teaching His law here. Permit me therefore, to read verse 17, a verse our friend did not read. The reason is apparent. Listen carefully. Matthew 5:17,18: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Jesus taught that just as long as there was a heaven above and an earth beneath our feet. Just so long would the law of God stand. Not even one jot or tittle, or as Goodspeed renders it, not the dotting of an “I” or the crossing of a “t” would pass. Therefore, God’s law stands tonight just as when written by the “finger of God” on Sinai’s flint. Remember, that the fourth Commandment of God’s eternal law reads, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
Note carefully how emphatic are the words of our Lord and Savior on this point. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law.” Don’t even think it: perish the thought. Certainly, Christian friends, a man is carrying things with a very high hand when he not only thinks that Christ came to destroy the law, but stands up before an audience and says Christ did it, when His Master said he should not even think it.
The most thrilling part of Christ’s statement is found in regard to the reward that comes to the one who keeps God’s law. Look at verse 19, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Don’t you think to be great in the kingdom of heaven is worth striving for? I am going to keep right ahead, by God’s grace, keeping the commandments of God and teaching others to do so. The “blessed hope” of someday hearing from Christ Jesus, my Lord, those glorious words, “Well done, good and faithful servant,” inspires me to keep right along teaching people to walk in the way of God’s commandments, however unpopular it may be. “Take the world, but give me Jesus.”
2 Corinthians 3 is the next chapter we are referred to. I will not go into this chapter in detail, because there is not a single verse in this chapter that says any law is abolished. It certainly says “a ministration” was abolished. Paul is dealing here with the two ministrations of one law. Our friend is not able to distinguish between the ministration of a law and the law itself. Paul makes it clear that the old ministration was abolished, but he does not say the law was abolished. For instance the constitution of Australia stands fundamentally the same, but sometimes there is a labor ministration, or administration of that constitution. Other times a national administration. See, fellow Christians, there is a difference between a law and the ministration of that law.
Paul, in this wonderful chapter is making clear that the law once written on stone is now by the “ministration of the spirit” written on the “fleshy tables of the heart.” Therefore the very same law that was once written on stone, - which, by the way, even our opponents will admit was the Ten Commandments, - God wants to write that sacred law on your hearts, let Him write the whole law there and then It will be “a perfect law.”
You can see that this chapter that our friend endeavors to twist into abolishing the law, teaches the very opposite. It teaches that the law is not abolished, for God would not write in your hearts a law that was abolished two thousand years before. That “holy” law (Romans 7:12). God is not now writing in tables of stone, but in the “fleshy tables of the heart.” My sincere prayer is that ere the day of mercy closes, every person reading this paper may have permitted the nail-scarred hand of Jesus to write that law in their hearts, for they are the people who will be ushered into the glorious city of God. (Revelation 22:14). Blessed truth.
Now for Romans 7:1-4. “Know you not, brethren (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives? For the woman which hath a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives; but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband be dead, she is free from the law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.” Reverend X makes another mistake when he concludes that it is the law that dies. It is not the law that dies at all, it is the husband. A woman does not marry the law.
If her husband dies, the law does not die, because if she marries again, she must be married under the same law. For instance if Miss Jones marries Mr. Smith, the law of Australia binds her to Mr. Smith as long as he lives. Three things stand out in this illustration of Romans 7. The woman, the husband, and the law. Now, if Mr. Smith dies, does that abolish the law of Australia? The woman is loosed not because the law dies, but because the husband dies. In verse 4, Paul makes it clear that our old man of sin must die before we are married to Christ Jesus. It is not the law that dies at all, for the “law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives.” (verse 1) Paul in summing up his argument, states in verse 12, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Now, if Reverend X argument was correct, Paul would have summed up things something like this, “Wherefore the law is dead and abolished, it being a yoke of bondage.” How different are the words of the apostle of God, “Wherefore the law is holy.” Not “was holy,” but is holy.” Thirty years after the Cross every detail of the law remains holy. Let us as Christians respect that law which God, through His apostle, declares is holy. There is no escaping the fact that the law in Paul’s day was holy. Therefore God’s Sabbath, which is part of that “holy” law is still holy too. God told Moses to take the shoes from off his feet, for the ground on which he stood was holy. It is a very serious thing to trample underfoot that which God has declared holy, hence the reason for His mighty appeal to this generation through the prophet of old:
“Turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day.” Isaiah 58:13. After our friend has endeavored to get rid of the Ten Commandments, he evidently feels he has gone too far, so tries to drag nine of them back in again. It always seems to me to be a very pathetic thing, to witness the vain endeavor to bring back the nine commandments. Is it logical, is it commonsense to believe that God would make a set of commandments and declare them eternal, (Psalms 111:7,8) and then abolish the whole ten of them, and then try to drag in nine of them again through the back door of the Church. Let me illustrate. Suppose I have a very sore finger. This fourth finger Is giving me a great deal of pain and trouble, so I go along to the doctor. The doctor looks at it carefully, then declares, “There is only one thing to do and that is to cut it off.” I naturally object, but he exclaims, “Come on, no funny business. Put your two bands down on the block.” So I put both my hands down on the block and shut my eyes, and thud, down comes the chopper. “Oh doctor, doctor, look what you’ve done,” I moan as I hold up my bleeding stumps. “Why, you have cut off the whole ten of them. What will I do?”
“That’s quite alright Mr. Burnside,” assures the doctor with a happy twinkle in his eye. “Don’t you know I am going to glue nine of them on again?”
Reverend X may be a very eloquent and fluent preacher, but, I would not advise you to go to him if you have a troublesome finger. I know quite well, no doctor would deal in such an absurd manner, and neither would God. It is utterly absurd to think that God would make a law, then abolish it, and then drag nine of the Ten Commandments in again. The whole of this nine-tenth argument is unsound and not scriptural. I will now prove that to you. Turn to James 2:10,11.
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.” Now, which law is referred to? Beyond question it is the law that contains the statement, “Thou shall not kill” etc. Which law is that? Why, the Ten Commandment law. Therefore the whole law, the whole of the Ten Commandment Law, was binding in AD 60, some thirty years after the Cross. Remember, that this is the same law that states, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
Reverend X - then turns to 1 Corinthians 16:2 as evidence for Sunday sacredness. Read verse 1 and 2 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do you. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” Now honestly my friends, can you read anything in this verse to substantiate the keeping of Sunday as a holy day? A man is hard pressed for evidence when he goes to 1 Corinthians 16:2 to prove Sunday-keeping. Christian friends, you can read this precious old Bible of ours from cover to cover and you will not find a single verse authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. That is the reason why I left off keeping Sunday and now keep the only day God asks of us, the Sabbath that your Savior kept while on earth. May you too, follow the example of Jesus in Sabbath-keeping. “He that said he abides In Him ought himself so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6.
Reverend X finally turns to the Catholic Fathers. I am not surprised either, for I have never yet found a man endeavor to defend Sunday sacredness, but that he finally leaves the Bible, and goes to the Fathers. Let me read to you the reply of Dr. Wayland, editor of the National Baptist, to a young minister: “I regard, however, a judicious use of the Fathers as being on the whole the best reliance for anyone who is in the situation of my inquirers. The advantages of the Fathers are two-fold: first, they carry a good deal of weight with the masses; and secondly, you can find whatever you want in the Fathers. I do not believe that any opinion could be advanced so foolish, so manifestly absurd, but that you can find passages to sustain it on the pages of these venerable stagers. If the point you want to prove is one that never chanced to occur to the Fathers, why, you can easily show that they would have taken your side if they had only thought of the matter. And if, perchance, there is nothing bearing, even remotely, or constructively, on the point, do not be discouraged. Get a good strong quotation, and put the name of the Fathers to it, and utter it with an air of triumph; it will be all just as well; nine-tenths of the people do not stop to ask whether a quotation bears on the matter in hand.”
“Yes, my brother, the Fathers are your stronghold. They are Heaven’s best gift to the man who has a cause that cannot be sustained in any other way.” Perhaps that is the reason why Reverend X goes to them too. Martin Luther has this to say of the Catholic Fathers, “When God’s Word is by the Fathers explained, construed, and glossed over, then, in my judgment, it is even as when one strains milk through a coal sack. It must needs spoil and make the milk black.” I hold in my hand tonight a Catholic publication entitled, “Faith of our Fathers,” by Cardinal Gibbons. On page 31 read: “It is also a very ancient and pious practice for the faithful to make on their person the sign of the Cross, saying at the same time: “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Tertullian who lived in the second century of the Christian era says: “in all our actions, when we come in or go out, when we dress, when we wash, at our meals, before retiring to sleep we form on our foreheads the sign of the cross. “These practices are not commanded by a formal law of Scripture; but tradition teaches them, custom confirms them, faith observes them.” You notice that Cardinal Gibbons when lie can find no Scripture commanding the “sing of the cross,” goes to one of the Fathers for proof. How tragic when a protestant minister cannot find Scripture for Sunday, lays aside the Book of Cod and goes to the same source as the Catholics. (Reverend X quoted from Tertullian and Clement.)
It reminds me of a story of the old negro mate who was told by the Captain to take the wheel as he was going down below for a sleep. “Steer by yonder star,” instructed the Captain. In the early hours of the morning the Captain was awakened by the mate. “Where are we?” exclaimed the Captain as he sat up hurriedly. “I don’t know,” replied the mate. “I thought I told you to steer by a certain star,” said the Captain. “Oh yes, master,” replied the mate, “but that star passed hours ago, and I want another one to steer by.” Is it not sad to find professed Christians leaving their guiding star, the Bible, and wanting some other star to steer by.” The Bible and the Bible only is our guide. Let us stand by it.
Clement of Alexandria is another of the “early Fathers” that the Reverend X quotes. Just how reliable his writings are may be gathered from the following: “There is a certain bird called phoenix; of this there is never but one at a time. And that lives 500 years, and when the time of its dissolution draws near, that it must die, it makes itself a nest of frankincense, and myrrh, and other spices into which when its time is fulfilled it enters and dies. But its flesh putrifying, breeds a certain worm, which being nourished with the juice of the dead bird brings forth feathers, and when it is grown to a perfect state, it takes up the nest in which the bones of its parent lie, and carries it from Arabia into Egypt. And flying in open day in the sight of all men, lays it upon the altar of the sun, and so returns from whence it came.” Chapter 12:2-4. Think about being compelled to read from such a source to prove Sunday has become a holy day. Note how he mentions the “altar of the sun.” These Fathers leaned towards sun-worship, Sunday, in place of the Sabbath of God. I freely admit that you can find Sunday-keeping in the “early Fathers,” but remember this, that right along side of Sunday, you will find purgatory, prayers for the dead, the sign of the cross, and practically every other papal and sun-worshiping practice advocated. God warned about this very apostasy. Look carefully at the prophecy found in Daniel 7:25: “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” You have heard me before prove conclusively that this power referred to is none other than the Papacy. Bible Commentators are agreed on this. Dr. Adam, Clarke, the great Methodist Commentator says, “Among Protestant writers this is considered to be popedom.” Alexander Campbell, founder of the Church of Christ, says, “I positively affirm these items never met in any king, state or empire, save that of Papal Rome.
This next extract is from Reverend John Dowling, of the Baptist Church: “The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. These two passages alone complete a prophetic picture of the papal Antichrist.” Beyond all question the prophecy is speaking of Papal Rome, that would speak great words against God, persecute God’s people, and think to change God’s law, and the times in that law. Really no power is able to change God’s law, because it is “forever settled in heaven.” But the prophecy reveals that this power would think it has changed the “times” connected with God’s law. The only one of the Ten Commandments dealing with time is the fourth Commandment, the Sabbath Commandment. So God reveals that the Papacy would change the Sabbath of God.
I hold in my hand a Catholic catechism, entitled, “The Converts Catechism of Catholic Doctrine.” I notice on the first page that the writer had received the apostolic blessing of Pope Plus X. On page 50 I read these words:
Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea, (AD
336) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
Here Is another Catholic publication, this time “The Controversial Catechism,” by Reverend Steven Keenan. On page 124, 125 I read:
Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her - she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day. A change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”
The papacy is not the only one who admits to this. Look at the words of Dr. Hiscox, author of the “Baptist Manual.” “There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not 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 discussions, is because the Christian world has settled down content on the conviction that somehow a transference has taken place at the beginning of Christian history. Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism.”
I have read to you the prophecy; God warned that Rome would do it, and Rome admits to doing it and even boasts about it. How dare any Christian accuse Christ of abolishing the Sabbath, when God declares it would be the work of the Antichrist. The issue is very clear. God says that Rome would do it, and tonight we ask, “Rome, did you do it?” Rome answers, “Yes, of course we did. Who else would dare to do it?” Even Reverend X, to prove Sunday, goes right over to the Catholic Fathers. I freely admit you will find Sunday in those writings. We have always maintained that is where you will find evidence for Sunday-keeping, for it originated from that very source. Rome has challenged the protestant world to produce one text from the Bible asking us to keep Sunday. No one has taken up the challenge yet. My Christian friends, would you not like to come back to the Bible teaching? Come away from this unscriptural practice of Sunday-keeping. The book of Revelation is Christ’s own book. He directed the writing of this book. The teaching of this book is the teaching of Jesus, and it is called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 1:1. In this book Jesus points out His people in these last days. In Revelation 12:17 we read: “And the dragon was wrath with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” This prophecy is speaking of the last part of the church of Jesus, and they have the outstanding characteristic of “keeping the commandment of God.” God’s commandments are not abolished, no matter what any man may say. Jesus points out in the last days a people who keep the commandments. Again in Revelation 14:12 they are brought to view. These are Christian people for they have “the faith of Jesus” they are standing right by the commandments of God. Every Christian Church stands by nine of the commandments, so at least the Adventists are nine tenths right. Don’t you think there is a possibility they are ten-tenths right. Christ tells you to look for a people who keep all the commandments. That, dear fellow Christians, is what Seventh-day Adventists, by the grace of God endeavor to do. May God bless every soul reading this paper in their search for truth.