Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

Papal Power Acknowledges This Act

What power has claimed authority to change God’s law? BR-ASI9 300.8

The Papacy. BR-ASI9 300.9

Note.—“The pope is of so great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws. . . . The pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth.”—Translated from Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Bibliotheca (Ready Library), “Papa,” art. 2. BR-ASI9 300.10

What part of the law of God has the Papacy thought to change? BR-ASI9 301.1

The fourth commandment. BR-ASI9 301.2

Note.—“They [the Catholics] allege the change of the Sabbath into the Lord’s day, contrary, as it seemeth, to the Decalogue; and they have no example more in their mouths than the change of the Sabbath. They will needs have the Church’s power to be very great, because it hath dispensed with a precept of the Decalogue.”—The Augsburg Confession (Lutheran), part 2, art. 7, in Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (Scribner’s, 4th ed.), vol. 3, p. 64. BR-ASI9 301.3

“It [the Roman Catholic Church] reversed the Fourth Commandment by doing away with the Sabbath of God’s word, and instituting Sunday as a holiday.”—N. Summerbell, History of the Christian Church (1873), p. 415. BR-ASI9 301.4

Why did God command Israel to hallow the Sabbath? BR-ASI9 301.5

“And hallow My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Ezekiel 20:20. BR-ASI9 301.6

Note.—As the Sabbath was given that man might keep God in mind as Creator, it can be readily seen that a power endeavoring to exalt itself above God could do this in no other way so effectually as by setting aside God’s memorial—the seventh-day Sabbath. To this work of the Papacy Daniel had reference when he said, “And he shall . . . think to change times and laws.” BR-ASI9 301.7

Does the Papacy acknowledge changing the Sabbath? BR-ASI9 301.8

It does. BR-ASI9 301.9

Note.—The Catechismus Romanus was commanded by the Council of Trent and published by the Vatican Press, by order of Pope Pius V, in 1566. This catechism for priests says: “It pleased the church of God, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to ‘the Lord’s day.’ ”—Catechism of the Council of Trent (Donovan’s translation 1867), part 3, chap. 4, p. 345. The same, in slightly different wording, is in the McHugh and Callan translation (1937 ed.), p. 402. BR-ASI9 301.10

“Ques.—How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holydays? BR-ASI9 301.11

“Ans.—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.) BR-ASI9 301.12

“Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? BR-ASI9 302.1

“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 Scriptural authority.”—Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism (3d ed.), p. 174. BR-ASI9 302.2

“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. BR-ASI9 302.3

“1. Is Saturday the 7th day according to the Bible & the 10 Commandments. BR-ASI9 302.4

“I answer yes. BR-ASI9 302.5

“2. Is Sunday the first day of the week & did the Church change the 7th day—Saturday—for Sunday, the 1st day: BR-ASI9 302.6

“I answer yes. BR-ASI9 302.7

“3. Did Christ change the day. BR-ASI9 302.8

“I answer no! Faithfully yours, BR-ASI9 302.9

“J. Card. Gibbons” BR-ASI9 302.10

—Gibbons’ Autograph letter. BR-ASI9 302.11

“Ques.—Which is the Sabbath day? BR-ASI9 302.12

“Ans.—Saturday is the Sabbath day. BR-ASI9 302.13

“Ques.—Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? BR-ASI9 302.14

“Ans.—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, Jan. 25, 1910. BR-ASI9 302.15

Do Catholic authorities acknowledge that there is no command in the Bible for the sanctification of Sunday? BR-ASI9 303.1

They do. BR-ASI9 303.2

Note.—“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 sanctify.”—James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72, 73. BR-ASI9 303.3

“Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday. The fact is that the Church was in existence for several centuries before the Bible was given to the world. The Church made the Bible, the Bible did not make the Church. BR-ASI9 303.4

“Now the Church . . . instituted, by God’s authority, Sunday as the day of worship. This same Church, by the same divine authority, taught the doctrine of Purgatory long before the Bible was made. We have, therefore, the same authority for Purgatory as we have for Sunday.”—Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics Are Asked About (1927 ed.), p. 136. BR-ASI9 303.5

“If we consulted the Bible only, we should still have to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is, Saturday.”—John Laux, A Course in Religion for Catholic High Schools and Academies, vol. 1 (1936 ed.), p. 51. Quoted by permission of Benziger Brothers, Inc., proprietors of the copyright. BR-ASI9 303.6

“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 the Sunday for the Sabbath. But this theory is now 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.”—Vincent J. Kelly (Catholic), Forbidden Sunday and Feast-Day Occupations (1943 ed.), p. 2. BR-ASI9 303.7