The Bible Echo, vol. 12
November 15, 1897
“No Scripture Authority for Sunday Observance” The Bible Echo 12, 45.
E. J. Waggoner
STATEMENTS FROM EMINENT MEN
WHY SUNDAY LAWS ARE WICKED
When people are shown that the Bible gives no warrant what ever for the observance of Sunday, but that it declares now, as in the beginning, that “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and requires that we, following price example, should keep it only, the often asked, “Why have not learned men in the church found this out?” The paragraphs which followed show that they are have found it out. They are not simply “admissions” extorted from them, but are there delivered statement of well-known facts. We commend them to the careful consideration of all, calling attention to the fact that the Scripture is profitable “for instruction in righteousness,” and is alone sufficient to make a man “thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 2 Timothy 3:16, 17. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 1
Mr. Gladstone: —“The seventh day of the week has been deposed from its title to the obligatory religious observance, and its prerogative has been carried over to a first, under no direct precepts of Scripture.”—Church Monthly March 1895. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 2
Canon Eyton: —“There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 3
“No commandment of God bids us to do this or not do that on Sunday; we are absolutely free as far as His law goes.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 4
“The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands on exactly the same footing as the observance of Sunday.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 5
“Constantine’s decree was the first public step in establishing the first day of the week as a day on which there should be secular rest as well as religious worship.... Into the rest of Sunday no Divine law enters.”—“The Ten Commandments,” Truber and Co. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 6
Sir William Dossville: —“Centuries of the Christian era passed away before the Sunday was observed as the Sabbath.”—Examination of Six Texts. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 7
Dr. R. W. Dale: —“It is quite clear that however rigidly or devoutly we may spend a Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 8
“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 sentence in the new testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the suppose sanctity of Sunday.”—“The Ten Commandments,” Hodder and Stoughton. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 9
The Belfast Witness (Presbyterian):—“The dropping of the seventh day Sabbath, and the substitution of the Lord’s day, was an innovation accomplished by the Church, with sufficient reason, but without any scriptural command.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 10
M. Barthelemy Saint-Milaire: —“From what motive has the Sabbath, which is Saturday, become in the Christian Church the Sunday? I have sought in vain the reasons for this act in the best authorities.”—Speech in French Senate. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 11
Dr. Isaac Williams: —“The reason why we keep the first day 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 enjoyed it.”—“Plain Sermons on the Catechism,” Longman’s and Co. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 12
Canon Knox-Little: —Speaking of those who quote the example of Christ against Ritualism he says:— BEST November 15, 1897, par. 13
“It is certain that our Lord when on earth did observe Saturday, and did not observe Sunday.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 14
“If they are consistent, as I have said, they must keep Saturday, not Sunday, as the day of rest.”—“Sacerdotalism,” Longman’s and Co. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 15
The Catholic Mirror (the official organ of Cardinal Gibbons):—“Of those who follow the Bible as their guide, the Israelites and Seventh-day Adventists have the exclusive weight of evidence on their side, while the Biblical Protestant has not a word in self-defence for his substitution of Sunday for Saturday.”—Sept. 9, 1893. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 16
The foregoing statements are all from observers of the Sunday, and some of them occur in the midst of Appeals for the more strict observance of that day. If there were any Scripture authority for the observance of Sunday, they would have cited it, instead of saying that there is none. Read the Bible carefully, and you will find the same thing for yourself. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 17
On the other hand, the Bible most clearly establishes the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord-the Lord’s day. The Fourth Commandment says:- BEST November 15, 1897, par. 18
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labour, and will work; but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor by son, nor the daughter, thy manservant, nor the maidservant, nor the cattle, nor thy stranger that is within the gate; for in the six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord bless the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 19
Jesus said, “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, then one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17. In Isaiah 58:13 the Lord calls the Sabbath, “My holy day;” and Jesus, speaking of the seventh day of the week, the very day that the Jews observe, declared Himself to be its Lord. Mark 2:28. It is most evident, therefore, that the seventh day of the week, and none other, is the Lord’s day. BEST November 15, 1897, par. 20
It will thus be clearly seen that the observance of Sunday is the exultation of a human custom above the precepts of the Bible. But the exultation of customs and traditions to a level with the Bible, and even above it,—the substitution of the human for the Divine—is what constitutes the Papacy. The substitution of Sunday for the Sabbath, without any Scripture warrant, and in direct opposition to the commandment of God, is there for the great mark of the Papacy; so that the Catholic work, “Plain Talk about the Protestantism of To-day,” makes a true statement when it says:— BEST November 15, 1897, par. 21
“The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage which they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the Church.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 22
The reason why Sunday laws are wicked is very plain, therefore. In short, it is because such laws require men to commit sin against God. No other reason is needed. They tend to establish the Papacy, in opposition to the Lord. “No man can serve two masters.” “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve.” “If the Lord be God, serve Him.” BEST November 15, 1897, par. 23
E. J. WAGGONER.