week in the western church; and while he declares at one time that it
was near “nine hundred years from the Saviour’s birth before restraint
of husbandry on this day [Sunday] had been first thought of in the
east,” he elsewhere records the fact that in the fifth and sixth
centuries general unanimity respecting the exaltation to divine honor
was reached. He writes: “The faithful, being united more than ever
before, became more uniform in matters of devotion, and in that
uniformity did agree together to give the Lord’s day all the honors of a
holy festival, yet this was not done all at once, but by degrees, the
fifth and sixth centuries being fully spent before it came unto that
hight which has since continued. The emperors and the prelates in these
times had the same affections, both earnest to advance this day above
all others; and to the edicts of the one, and to the ecclesiastical
constitutions of the others, it stands indebted for many of those
privileges and exemptions which it still enjoyeth.”—_Hist. Sab._, part
2, chap. 4, sect. 1.
Thus it has been proved, by citations from men who have possessed the
resources, as well as the disposition, to make themselves acquainted
with the history of the first centuries of the Christian church, first,
that the first day of the week was looked upon for a long time as a
merely human institution; secondly, that the Edenic Sabbath was for
centuries after the crucifixion of Christ quite generally celebrated;
thirdly, that prejudice against it seems to have been strongest and to
have originated earliest at Rome, where, in order to bring it into
odium, it was made a day of fasting, while the Sunday was treated as a
festival; fourthly, that after a struggle, which extended through
hundreds of years, the ancient Sabbath was finally quite generally
repudiated, and the Sunday, through the united efforts of prelates,
councils, and emperors, was enthroned and enforced upon all.
Into the details of this long and varying conflict, in which victory
seems first to have favored the one side and then the other, we are
restricted by the limits of our communication from entering. The
intelligent reader can readily fill in the outlines which have been
given, and will not be slow to perceive that the contest, from the very
nature of things, must have been one of intense interest and heated
debate. If he would satisfy himself most fully that the gentleman is
mistaken in saying that it has left no traces, we refer him for a more
full discussion to the authorities quoted.
Changing now the point of view, we will come to the present time. We
return once more to the charge that the church of Rome, availing itself
of the condition of things which preceded its rise, has consummated the
terrible work which was begun with the great apostasy, long before the
papacy proper was fully developed. In prosecuting the labor thus entered
upon, the reader is invited to pause a moment and decide upon certain
principles which ought to govern in the decision of the question. He
will remember that if he has been educated in the observance of Sunday,
he will be in danger of requiring more testimony than could reasonably
be demanded, since his education, and personal interest, and standing,
would all incline him to a conservatism which needs to be guarded with a
jealous care, lest it should result in a bias which would terminate in
the rejection of sufficient light.
All that we ask him to do is to treat this subject the same as he would
any other matter of fact. To illustrate: If the body of a murdered man
were discovered upon the street, and if there should be found in the
community one whose character was bad in every respect, concerning whom
those who knew him best had given warning; if on the garments of this
suspicious personage blood stains were found; if, in the meantime, a
careful examination of the wounds should show that they had been
inflicted by a weapon peculiar to the notorious individual; and if, in
addition to the foregoing, he should step forward and frankly confess
that he had done the deed, no court in the world would hesitate to
inflict the penalty of the law, because of any doubt regarding the guilt
of the offending party. Now applying the same principles to the case in
hand, if every one can be shown to hold good in every particular, then
consistency demands that they should produce a conviction equally clear
and strong with that in the mind of the court, in determining in the
case of the homicide upon the infliction of punishment.
But is it true that the charge against the Roman Catholic church can be
made out as conclusively as that against the individual mentioned above?
Let us see. The first point there brought forward was the unquestionable
fact that the man had been murdered. This was the starting point of the
whole affair. That which answers to it in the case before us is the fact
that the change of the Sabbath has been made out beyond reasonable
doubt; for God commanded the observance of the seventh day, while,
somehow, Christendom is generally observing the first, though utterly
incapable of furnishing Scripture warrant for the change.
The second point was that respecting the bad reputation of a certain
character in the community—its parallel in the persons of the popes is
found in the fact that, as we have seen, their rise and history were
symbolized centuries before their appearance under the type of the
“little horn” of the seventh of Daniel, by one who never errs in his
analysis of character, and who declared of the “man of sin” that he
should “think to change times and laws,” and that they should be given
into his hands for “a time and times and the dividing of time,” thus
proving that this blasphemous power who was to open his mouth in
blasphemy against God is capable of attempting the transfer of God’s
holy Sabbath to a day different from that pointed out in the
commandment.
The third point, which related to blood stains upon the garments of the
suspected person, finds its counterpart in the teachings of Romanism,
most clearly. We learn, in the writings of Moses, that the blood is the
life of the individual. This, however, is not more true than it is that
the fourth commandment is the life of the Sabbatic institution. If you
mar that commandment, you mar the Sabbath in the same ratio. If you
destroy that commandment, you destroy the Sabbath. But the assumed
ability to alter this precept as well as others of the decalogue is one
of the very crimes of which Rome has been guilty, by which she has
blotched all over in the most loathsome manner the garments of a once
spotless Christianity, and a profoundly reverent faith. That this is so
will become manifest when we present a copy of the decalogue as it has
been mutilated by the Romish church in the exercise of a pretended
divine right to accomplish such a work. For this purpose we append the
ten commandments as they stand in Butler’s catechism.[16]
“1. I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me,
&c. 2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 3.
Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. 4. Honor thy father and
thy mother. 5. Thou shalt not kill. 6. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
7. Thou shalt not steal, 8. Thou shalt not bear false witness against
thy neighbor. 9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife. 10. Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.”
Hero it will be seen that the second commandment is dropped out
altogether, and that the tenth is divided; a portion of it retaining its
ancient number, and the remaining portion of it being numbered as the
ninth commandment, thereby making the complement of the original ten,
which would have been reduced to nine by ignoring the one against image
worship. It will also be perceived that with the exception of the words,
“Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,” the fourth commandment
is left out entirely. True, it may be that in the Douay Bible the
original commandments are allowed to remain intact, but we shall see
hereafter that the above arrangement is not accidental, and that the
power to make these changes is unhesitatingly claimed.
The fourth point was that concerning the form and nature of the wound,
whereby it was discovered that it was made with a weapon precisely such
as one possessed by the suspected party. The correspondence in this
particular will be found in the boundary of the new Sabbath; in its
beginning and ending, occurring as they do at twelve o’clock, midnight,
are the unmistakable marks of the band of one who most assuredly did not
live at Jerusalem, and who left upon the creature of his own power the
badge of its origin at Rome.
The Jews, as we have seen heretofore, by the agreement of commentators
and scholars generally, as well as by the testimony of the Bible,
commenced and ended their days with the setting of the sun. At Rome, on
the other hand, as well as in other parts of the world, the day began as
we now begin the Sunday—at midnight. In this, it is made apparent that
some one has been tampering with a day which it is claimed was hallowed
by Christ eighteen hundred years ago; since, if it had originated at
that time and in that place, it would have conformed in its beginning
and ending to the weekly Sabbath, the day of Pentecost, and the other
days in the Jewish calendar. The presumption concerning whom this person
is, is already made out. The certainty respecting it will be established
under the next heading.
The fifth point cited above was the confession of the culprit. Under
ordinary circumstances, this alone would have made a conviction
inevitable. Answering to it in the fullest degree are the oft-repeated
declarations of Romanists, that they have changed the Sabbath from the
seventh to the first day of the week, and that they had the ability and
the right thus to do. Respecting these assumptions, we might introduce
quotations almost without number, but we must content ourselves with a
few brief but pointed ones.[17]
“_Ques._ What are the days which the church commands to be kept holy?”
“_Ans._ 1. The Sundays, or our Lord’s day, which we observe by
apostolical tradition instead of the Sabbath. 2. The feasts of our
Lord’s nativity, or Christmas day; his circumcision, or New Year’s day;
the Epiphany, or twelfth day; Easter day, or the day of our Lord’s
resurrection, with the Monday following,” &c.
“_Ques._ What was the reason why the weekly Sabbath was changed from the
Saturday to the Sunday?”
“_Ans._ Because our Lord fully accomplished the work of our redemption
by rising from the dead on Sunday and by sending down the Holy Ghost on
Sunday; as therefore the work of our redemption was a greater work than
that of our creation, the primitive _church_ thought the day in which
this work was completely finished was more worthy her religious
observation than that in which God rested from creation, and should be
properly called the Lord’s day.”
“_Ques._ But has the church power to make any alterations in the
commandments of God?”
“_Ans._ The commandments of God, as far as they contain his eternal law,
are unalterable and indispensable, but as to whatever was only
ceremonial they cease to oblige, since the Mosaic law was abrogated by
Christ’s death; hence, as far as the commandment obliges us to set aside
some part of our time for the worship and service of our Creator, it is
an unalterable and unchangeable precept of the eternal law in which the
church cannot dispense. But, forasmuch as it prescribes the seventh day
in particular for this purpose, it is no more than a ceremonial precept
of the old law which obligeth not Christians, and therefore, instead of
the seventh day and other festivals appointed by the old law, the
_church_ has prescribed the Sundays and holidays to be set apart for
God’s worship, and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of
God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”
“_Ques._ What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday preferable to the
ancient Sabbath, which was the Saturday?”
“_Ans._ We have for it the authority of the Catholic church and
apostolic tradition.”
“_Ques._ Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for
the Sabbath?”
“_Ans._ The Scripture commands us to hear the church (Matt. 18:17, Luke
10:16), and to hold fast the traditions of the apostles. 2 Thess. 2:15.
But the Scriptures do not in particular mention this change of the
Sabbath. John speaks of the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10); but he does not tell
us what day of the week this was, much less does he tell us that this
day was to take the place of the Sabbath ordained in the commandment;
... so that truly the best authority we have for this, is the testimony
and ordinance of the church. And, therefore, those who pretend to be so
religious of the Sunday, whilst they take no notice of the festivals
ordained by the same church authority, show that they act by humor, and
not by reason and religion, since Sundays and holy days all stand upon
the same foundation, viz., the ordinance of the church.”—_Cath.
Christian Instructed_, pp. 209-211.
“_Ques._ Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to
institute festivals of precept?”
“_Ans._ 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 scripture
authority.”—_Doctrinal Catechism._
“_Ques._ If keeping the Sunday be a church precept, why is it numbered
in the decalogue, which are the commandments of God and the law of
nature?”
“_Ans._ Because the substance, or chief part of it, namely, that the day
be set apart for the service of God, is of divine right and of the law
of nature; though the determining this particular day, Sunday, rather
than Saturday, be a church ordinance and precept.”—_Abridgment of Chris.
Doc._, pp. 57, 59.
Thus much for the connection of the papacy with the change of the
Sabbath. The reader, repudiating the claim for apostolical tradition,
which is of no value with Protestants, and rejecting as fallacious the
assumed antiquity of the Roman Catholic church, will discover that there
still remains the bold assumption of the ability on the part of that
church to change the Sabbath, and also of the historic fact that it has
done so. Mr. Gilfillan, while, of course, from his standpoint rejecting
the notion that the pope has either in reality changed, or even
possessed the ability to change, the divinely appointed day of rest,
frankly acknowledges that he arrogates to himself the power so to do, in
the following language:—
“Rome, professing to retain, has yet corrupted every doctrine,
institution, and law of Jesus Christ, recognizing for example, the
mediator between God and man, but associating with him many other
intercessors; avowing adherence to the Scripture, but the Scripture as
supplemented and made void by the writings and traditions of men; and,
in short, without discarding the Lord’s day, adding a number of
encumbering holidays, giving them in many instances an honor equal and
even superior to God’s own day, and claiming for the ‘Vicar of Christ’
lordship even of the Sabbath.”—_The Sabbath_, p. 457.
Into the details respecting the fasts; the decrees of councils; the
bulls of popes: the myths concerning the calamities which have befallen
those laboring on the Sunday; the forgery of an epistle in its
interests, which it was claimed fell from Heaven; and the astounding
miracles with which the hierarchy has accomplished the prodigious task
of making the transfer, we are not permitted to enter here, nor will it
be required that we should do so. Any person acquainted with the arts
usually employed at Rome will readily perceive the methods which she has
called to her assistance. All that a reasonable man could possibly ask
is found in the transition from one day to another, in the fact that the
law of God was to be tampered with by a persecuting power which was to
continue its oppressions of the saints of God for twelve hundred and
sixty years, and in the further consideration that no persecuting power
except that of Rome has ever continued for that length of time.
Concerning the decree of Constantine, the only place which we assign to
it in the controversy between the friends of the Lord’s Sabbath and its
rival, is that which it holds because of its having made the transition
easy. The first day of the week being the one generally observed by the
heathen and by this decree enforced by statute, had in its favor the
practice and sympathy of the masses of men. This law, though passed by a
heathen, and in the interest of the heathen religion, was, as would
naturally have been the case, of great service to those who subsequently
favored the change of day, since it gave to their effort not only the
color, but also the material advantage, of legality; by it, men, under
certain circumstances, were compelled to celebrate the day of the sun
even though they had previously regarded that of the Lord. This, of
course, was burdensome, and worked greatly to the advantage of the
heathen festival.
One of two views must be taken of the statute of Constantine: If it were
Christian, then it proves that Sunday observance, at the time of its
passage, was exceedingly lax, since by its terms only men in the cities
and towns were prohibited from laboring upon it, while those in the
country were by it allowed and encouraged to carry on the vocations of
the farm. If, on the other hand, it were heathen in its origin, then the
suggestion that it recognizes the venerableness of the day of the sun,
even at so early a period as that of its promulgation, is entirely
without force, since it thereby becomes manifest that it received this
dignifying appellation, not because it had long been venerated by the
disciples of our Lord, but because from time immemorial it had been
honored by the heathen—a doubtful compliment to the Christian Sabbath.
Footnote 15:
For the extracts given in this connection, the reader is referred to
“Sabbath and Sunday,” by A. H. Lewis, and to “The History of the
Sabbath,” by J. N. Andrews.
Footnote 16:
The commandments as given above are supposed to be repeated by the
individual Romanist in response to the injunction, “Say the ten
commandments of God.”
Footnote 17:
The following citations will be found in a small tract published at
the “_Review_ and _Herald_” Office, entitled, “Who Changed the
Sabbath?”
STATESMAN’S REPLY.
ARTICLE TEN.
THE PRINCIPLE AS TO TIME IN SABBATH OBSERVANCE.
Our readers will recollect that the chief difference between the second
and the third theories of the Christian Sabbath, as we stated them in
our last issue, is in reference to the question of time. Seventh-day
Sabbatarians, on the one hand, maintain that the last one of the seven
days of the week is _the_ sacred day, and that the observance of this
very day is absolutely essential to the proper observance of the Sabbath
of the Lord, and the keeping of the fourth commandment. On the other
hand, we set forth what we believe to be the true theory of the
Christian Sabbath, according to which the essential idea of the law of
the Sabbath is the consecration to God of an appointed proportion of
time—one day in seven, and not the essential holiness of any particular
day.
We have already seen that the interpretation of the fourth commandment
which insists on the essential holiness of the last day of the week
would convict the risen Lord, and his inspired apostles, and the whole
church of Christ, even in its purest days, of the violation of that
precept of the divine law. But let us now examine a few practical points
in connection with this second theory.
1. If the seventh day of the week is to be rigidly adhered to, as the
law of the fourth commandment, it must be the seventh from the creation,
in regular weekly succession. Will any seventh-day Sabbatarian venture
to affirm that, through all the changes of our race, through all the
breaks of history, through the bondage in Egypt, and the repeated
captivities of God’s ancient people, to say nothing of the miracles in
connection with Joshua’s victory, and Hezekiah’s sickness, unbroken
succession of the weekly divisions of time has been maintained? Does the
last day of our week answer, in an exact numbering of days, to the
seventh day on which God rested after completing the work of creation?
The interpretation which we are now considering demands this conformity
to the fourth commandment in its letter. He would be a bold man indeed,
who would affirm that his seventh day in this nineteenth century is the
exact day which his own view of the law of the Sabbath would require him
to keep holy. Our present first day may correspond to the original
seventh day. Who knows?
2. But admit that these essentially holy twenty-four hours, at the close
of each week, may be marked without doubt, how can all Christians in
different parts of the world keep them? How can men in different
longitudes and latitudes so mark off the week as to have it end with
this intrinsically holy portion of time? The difference in local time in
different parts of the earth is a fact familiar to every school-boy. The
circumference of the earth, for the convenience of calculation, is
divided into three hundred and sixty degrees. As the sun appears to make
a circuit round the earth every time the earth rotates on its axis, that
is, every twenty-four hours, the apparent motion of the sun from east to
west will be fifteen degrees each hour. Let it be noon of the seventh
day at any given point in our land, and it will be sunset ninety degrees
east, and sunrise ninety degrees west. At what point of the earth’s
surface shall men claim the right to have the seventh or holy day begin
with their sunset or their midnight, and demand that all others east and
west shall measure their holy day from so many hours before or after
their own midnight or sunset, as their portion may require?
Or, again, in extreme northern and southern latitudes, where perpetual
day and constant night alternate with the annual revolution of the
earth, how shall the seventh day be marked? How shall this essentially
holy day of twenty-four hours be known? As God, in his infinite wisdom,
has seen fit to make our earth, and ordain the laws of its diurnal
revolution on its axis, and its annual orbit round the sun, it is simply
impossible for the inhabitants of the world to keep holy the same
identical period of time. The interpretation of the law of the Sabbath
at which we are looking is in conflict, therefore, with the laws of the
solar system.
3. Our seventh-day friend, perhaps, retreats to his last refuge. There
is no portion of absolute time essentially holy. That was never meant.
Very well, then, what is meant? Why, that each one in his own longitude
or latitude should observe the seventh day as it is measured by his own
local time. We apprehend that, in some latitudes, the seventh day,
measured by local time, running through some thousands of hours, would
be a weariness to the strictest even of seventh-day Sabbatarians. But we
will leave these extreme cases. They must keep holy the appointed
proportion—one-seventh of their time. That must be the law of the
Sabbath to them. But in the belt of the earth nearer the equator, local
time, measured by the natural division of days, must be followed.
Now, let it be said, we have no desire to treat a serious subject
lightly. But our friends insist on an interpretation of the fourth
commandment which can hardly be treated seriously. We can scarcely blame
Dr. Geo. Junkin for employing this shaft of ridicule. He says,
substantially, suppose all our seventh-day Sabbatarians (and their
number is not an insuperable objection to the experiment), having
labored six days, according to the commandment, come to the night of
Friday. By an excusable artifice, sponges, saturated with a powerful
anæsthetic agent, are held to their noses, and they are laid up, in
perfect unconsciousness, for a whole day beyond the close of their usual
time of sleep. They awake, supposing it to be the seventh day of the
week, as to them, so conscious intelligent beings, and subjects of law,
it certainly would be to all intents and purposes. But in fact, by the
actual measurement of time, it is the first day of the week. Might there
not be in this way a practical solution of the whole difficulty?