In Defense of the Faith

The Lord’s Day

In an attempt to prove that Sunday is the Lord’s day, Mr. Canright the Baptist says: DOF 140.4

“Those who observe Sunday say that they do it in honor of the resurrection of Christ upon that day, and that this practice was derived from the apostles and has been continued in the church ever since. Let us see. ‘The Lord’s day’ is a term now commonly applied to the first day of the week, in honor of the Lord’s resurrection on that day. Thus: ‘We believe the Scriptures teach that the first day of the week is the Lord’s day.’—‘Baptist Church Directory,’ p. 171.... So every dictionary, lexicon, and cyclopedia applies that term to the first day.”—Seventh-day Adventism Renounced, p. 186. DOF 140.5

Here Mr. Canright begins his great adventure among the lexicons, dictionaries, encyclopedias, church Fathers, etc., in a desperate effort to turn up some semblance of proof for Sunday observance. He can find nothing whatsoever in the Bible, as he has so frequently and emphatically stated in the quotations we have cited from his own writings, so in his desperation he is driven to other, sources. He starts in with the Baptist Church Directory, and then wanders through the annals of medieval ecclesiastical history, searching for what cannot be found in Scripture. In this field he fares far better than when he, Seeks proof in the New Testament. Calvin is quoted by him as saying: DOF 141.1

“‘The ancients have, not without sufficient reason, substituted what we call the Lord’s day in the room of the Sabbath.’”—Ibid. DOF 141.2

But, we inquire, how does this help us in this matter? Who were these “ancients”? In what generation did they live? Were they Catholics, pagans, or early Christians? And if they were either, what authority did they have to tamper with the immutable law of the great God? ‘Who made these ancients to be our lawgivers? “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy.” James 4:12. “The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us.” Isaiah 33:22. DOF 141.3

Who, then, are these ancients who presume to tamper with what God has done? Away with them! DOF 141.4

“If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose You this day whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods.” Joshua 24:15, 16. DOF 142.1