Which Day Do You Keep and Why?

2. FACTS ABOUT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, OR SUNDAY

Christ rose from the dead on that day. Mark 16:9; Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; John 20:1. (But he did not say that it was therefore the Sabbath.) WDK 2.13

The women brought spices to the grave of the Saviour on that day. Luke 24:1. (Which they would not do on the Sabbath. See Luke 23:56.) WDK 2.14

Christ appeared to his disciples on that day, the doors being shut for fear of the Jews. John 20:19. (They were not assembled to keep the Sabbath, but had closed the doors for personal safety.) WDK 3.1

Paul once preached on the evening of the first day, Acts 20:7, corresponding with our Saturday night. (But the next morning, answering to our Sunday morning, he continued his journey toward JERUSALEM, nine hundred miles distant!) WDK 3.2

The Corinthians were commanded to lay by a “collection for the saints” on the first day. 1 Corinthians 16:2. (This might be money or goods. It was not a public donation, but a private setting apart.) WDK 3.3

The foregoing, dear reader, are ALL the texts which speak of the “first day of the week.” There are just eight of them. But what do they prove? Nothing at all, in favor of Sunday. Carefully examined, they prove the reverse. WDK 3.4

The Bible tells us that “sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4. But what law do we “transgress” when we work on Sunday? If the reader will find a text which says, “Thou shalt do no work on the first day of the week,” or, “Remember Sunday to keep it holy,” or its equivalent, then will his Sunday observance, in place of God’s Sabbath, stand the test of the Judgment; otherwise it will not. Will you consider this point? WDK 3.5

The Saviour says, “Blessed are they that do His [i.e., God the Father’s ten] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14. But where is that commandment that speaks about Sunday? It is not in the Bible, but it is in the Roman Catholic catechisms. Read your Bibles through a hundred times with reference to this subject, and you will each time become more and more convinced of the truthfulness of the following notable facts.— WDK 3.6

1. There is no divine command for Sunday observance. WDK 4.1

2. There is not the least hint of a Sunday institution. WDK 4.2

3. Christ never changed God’s Sabbath to Sunday. WDK 4.3

4. He never observed Sunday as the Sabbath. WDK 4.4

5. The apostles never kept Sunday for the Sabbath. WDK 4.5

6. There is no prophecy that Sunday would ever take the place of the Sabbath. WDK 4.6

7. The word Sunday never occurs in the Bible. WDK 4.7

8. Neither God, Christ, angels, nor inspired men, have ever said one word in favor of Sunday as a holy day. WDK 4.8

These are the facts in the case in regard to the Sabbath and Sunday, and it is hoped the reader will search the Bible to see whether these things are so. (See Acts 17:11.) Again let me inquire, WHICH day do you keep? and WHY? WDK 4.9