Bible Readings — Bible Questions Answered

Two Plants in the Church Garden

When, and by whom, was the Sabbath “planted”? BR-ASI9 317.1

“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11. BR-ASI9 317.2

Who claims to have planted the Sunday institution? BR-ASI9 317.3

“Q.—Has the [Catholic] Church a power to make any alterations in the commandments of God? BR-ASI9 317.4

“A.—. . . Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the Church has prescribed the Sundays and holydays 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.”—Rt. Rev. Dr. Challoner, The Catholic Christian Instructed (1853), p. 204. BR-ASI9 317.5

Note.—“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 of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’ (1 Timothy 3:15).”—Clifton Tracts, vol. 4, art. “A Question for All Bible Christians,” p. 15. BR-ASI9 317.6