THE INVADERS - Series -- Part 10

New International Version -- On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. New Living Translation -- On the Sabbath we went a little way outside the city to a riverbank, where we thought people would be meeting for prayer, and we sat down to speak with some women who had gathered there. English Standard Version -- And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. Berean Study Bible -- On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river, where it was customary to find a place of prayer. After sitting down, we spoke to the women who had gathered there. Berean Literal Bible -- And on the day of the Sabbaths, we went forth outside the city gate, by a river, where there was customary to be a place of prayer. And having sat down, we began speaking to the women having gathered. New American Standard Bible -- And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. King James Bible -- And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Christian Standard Bible -- On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. Contemporary English Version -- Then on the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to a place by the river, where we thought there would be a Jewish meeting place for prayer. We sat down and talked with the women who came. Good News Translation -- On the Sabbath we went out of the city to the riverside, where we thought there would be a place where Jews gathered for prayer. We sat down and talked to the women who gathered there. Holman Christian Standard Bible -- On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate by the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women gathered there. International Standard Version -- On the Sabbath day, we went out the city gate and walked along the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and began talking to the women who had gathered there. NET Bible -- On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate to the side of the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer, and we sat down and began to speak to the women who had assembled there. New Heart English Bible -- On the Sabbath day we went forth outside of the gate by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. Aramaic Bible in Plain English -- And we departed on the Sabbath day outside the gate of the city on the riverside, because there was seen there a house of prayer, and when we sat, we were speaking with the women who had gathered there. GOD'S WORD® Translation -- On the day of worship we went out of the city to a place along the river where we thought Jewish people gathered for prayer. We sat down and began talking to the women who had gathered there. New American Standard 1977 -- And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. Jubilee Bible 2000 -- And on one of the sabbaths we went out of the city by a river side, where it was customary to pray; and we sat down and spoke unto the women who gathered there. King James 2000 Bible -- And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was accustomed to be made; and we sat down, and spoke unto the women who met there. American King James Version -- And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spoke to the women which resorted thither. American Standard Version -- And on the sabbath day we went forth without the gate by a river side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down, and spake unto the women that were come together. Douay-Rheims Bible -- And upon the sabbath day, we went forth without the gate by a river side, where it seemed that there was prayer; and sitting down, we spoke to the women that were assembled. Darby Bible Translation -- And on the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where it was the custom for prayer to be, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had assembled. English Revised Version -- And on the sabbath day we went forth without the gate by a river side, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which were come together. Webster's Bible Translation -- And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spoke to the women who resorted thither. Weymouth New Testament -- On the Sabbath we went beyond the city gate to the riverside, where we had reason to believe that there was a place for prayer; and sitting down we talked with the women who had come together. World English Bible -- On the Sabbath day we went forth outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down, and spoke to the women who had come together. Young's Literal Translation -- on the sabbath-day also we went forth outside of the city, by a river, where there used to be prayer, and having sat down, we were speaking to the women who came together, Acts 13:14 -- And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down. Acts 16:16 -- Treasury of Scripture -- And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spoke to the women which resorted thither. on. Acts 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in to them, and three sabbath days … Acts 18:4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the … Luke 13:10 And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. THE INVADERS - Series -- Part 10 - The Sabbath in History -- 9. The Sabbath in History AS WE continue our study of the Sabbath question, we shall first consult an eyewitness, who had travelled over the greater part of Christendom: Socrates, the Greek historian, who was born about 380 A. D. M'Clintock and Strong's Cyclopedia says of him: "He is generally considered the most exact and judicious of the three continuators of the history of Eusebius, being less fond in his style and more careful in his statements than Sozomen, and less credulous than Theodoret. 'His impartiality is so strikingly displayed,' says Waddington, 'as to make his orthodoxy questionable to Baronius, the celebrated Roman Catholic historian; but Valesius, in his life, has shown that there is no reason for such suspicion.’” Vol. IX, art. "Socrates" p. 854. Socrates says of the year 391 A. D.: "For although almost all Churches, throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries [the Lord's Supper on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this. The Egyptians in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, and the inhabitants of Thebais, hold their religious meetings on the Sabbath, but do not participate of the mysteries in the manner usual among Christians in general: for in the evening . . . they partake of the mysteries. "Ecclesiastical History," Book 5, chap. 22, page 289. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1892. The footnote which accompanies the foregoing quotation explains the use of the word " Sabbath..." It says: "That is, upon the Saturday. It should be observed, that Sunday is never called ‘the Sabbath’ by the ancient Fathers and historians. . . . The Latins kept the Sabbath as a fast, the Greeks as a feast; and the 64th of the Apostolical Canons forbids any of the clergy to fast on the Sabbath (Saturday) under pain of being deposed, and likewise a layman under the penalty of excommunication." - Id., p. 289. This shows that all the churches throughout the world kept Saturday as the Sabbath in 391, but that some did not have the Lord's Supper till in the evening. There had sprung up a hot controversy in regard to fasting on the Sabbath. Who was it that urged this Sabbath fasting against the will of the churches in general? Pope Sylvester (314-335) was the first to order the churches to fast on Saturday, and Pope Innocent (402-417) made it a binding law in the churches that obeyed him. Dr. Peter Heylyn says: "Innocentius did ordaine the Saturday or Sabbath to be alwayes fasted. . . . It was by him intended for a binding law. [Most of the churches refused, however, to obey him.] And in this difference it stood a long time together, till in the end the Roman Church obtained the cause, and Saturday became a fast, almost through all the parts of the Westerne world. I say the Westerne world, and of that alone: The Easterne Churches being so farre from altering their ancient custome, that in the sixth Councell of Constantinople, Anno 692, they did admonish those of Rome to forbeare fasting on that day, upon pain of censures. Which 1 have noted here, in its proper place, that we might know the better how the matter stood betweene the Lord's Day, and the Sabbath; how hard a thing it was for one to get the mastery of the other." - "History of the Sabbath," part 2, chap. 2, pp. 44, 45. London: 1636. (The original spelling is retained.) This shows how the popes tried to get rid of the Sabbath. They knew that the churches generally would not give it up willingly, and as yet the popes did not have the power to force them to do it. But if the Sabbath was made a day of fasting, the children would soon tire of it, and after a few generations the majority would gladly give up the gloomy fast day. This effort continued from about A. D. 391 to 692, and even then it was hard for the Sunday to get the mastery over the Sabbath, says Dr. Heylyn. Here we can readily see that it was not changed at the time of the apostles. Rev. Joseph Bingham, M. A, says: "The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the seventh day, which was the ancient Jewish Sabbath. Some observed it as a fast, others as a festival; but all unanimously agreed in keeping it as a more solemn day of religious worship and adoration. In the Eastern church it was ever observed as a festival, one only Sabbath excepted, which was called the Great Sabbath, between Good Friday and Easterday. . . . From hence it is plain, that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival. . . . Athanasius likewise tells us, that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same." - "Antiquities of the Christian Church," Vol. II, Book XX, chap. 3, See. 1, pp. 1137, 1138. London: 1852. The Primitive Christians Bishop Jeremy Taylor says: “Theprimitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews; . . . therefore the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council; which also took care that the reading of the Gospels should be mingled with their reading of the law.” - "The Whole Works" of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX, p. 416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol. XII, P. 416). London: 1822. The edict here mentioned is "Canon XVI, " which reads: "Canon XVI. - The Gospels are to be read on the Sabbath Day, with the other Scriptures." – “Index Canonum,” - John Fulton, D. D., LL. D., p. 255. New York: 1883. Dr. T. H. Morer (a Church of England divine) says: “The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the apostles themselves, as appears by several Scriptures to that purpose.” - “Dialogues on the Lord's Day,” p. 189. London: 1701. Dr. Theodore Zahn (Lutheran Professor in Theology at the University of Erlangen) says: "The Apostles could not have conceded to any other than one man the right to 'change the customs Moses had given:' the Son of Man, who had called Himself Lord also of the Sabbath day; but of Him they knew that He had neither transgressed nor abolished the Jewish Sabbath, but truly sanctified it. And they knew also, how He had threatened any of His disciples who might dare to abolish even one of the least of the commands of Moses. "But this has no one dared to do with the Sabbath commandment during the time of the Apostles. Certainly not within the territory of the Jewish Christendom; for they continued to keep the actual Sabbath. . . . Nor could any one have thought of such a thing within the Gentile Christian domain as far as Paul's influence reached." - "Sondagens Historie" (History of Sunday), pp. 83, 84. Christiania: P. T. Mallings, 1879. The Example And Command Of Jesus Dr. Zahn further says in regard to the early Christians: "They observed the Sabbath in the most conscientious manner: otherwise, they would have been stoned. Instead of this, we learn from the book of the Acts that at times they were highly respected even by that part of their own nation that remained in unbelief. . . . That the observance of Sunday commenced among them would be a supposition which would have no seeming ground for it, and all probability against it. . . . The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy, they followed not only the example, but also the command of Jesus. "Geschichte des Sonntags," pp. 13, 14. Bishop Grimelund of Norway (Lutheran) says: “The early Christians were of Jewish descent, and the first Christian church in Jerusalem was a Jewish- Christian church. It conformed, as could be expected, to the Jewish law and Sabbath-custom; it had no express instruction from the Lord to do otherwise.” - “Sondagens Historie,” p. 13. Christiania, Norway: Den norske Lutherstiftelses Forlag, 1886. After citing the fact that Christ arose on the first day, he continues: "But, one could reason, that for all this it does not follow that one should give up and forsake the 'Sabbath' which God Himself has commanded, . . . nor that we should transfer this to another day of the week, even if that is such a memorable day. To do this would require an equally definite command from God, whereby the former command is abolished, but where can we find such a command? It is true, such a command is not to be found." - Id., p. 18. Dr. John C. L. Gieseler says: "While the Jewish Christians of Palestine retained the entire Mosaic law, and consequently the Jewish festivals, the Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath and the passover (1 Corinthians 5: 6-8), with reference to the last scenes of Jesus' life, but without Jewish superstition." - "A Compendium of Ecclesiastical History," Vol. I, chap. 2, see. 30, p. 92. Edinburgh: 1846. A little later we shall trace Christ's true followers from the days of the apostles to our own time, and show how they retained the Bible Sabbath with the other parts of the apostolic faith. But we will here break off this narrative, and trace step by step how Sunday-keeping came into the popular church, and the influences which worked together to accomplish the change from the seventh to the first day of the week.-- [TO BE CONTINUED]

THE INVADERS - Series -- Part 09

THE INVADERS - Series -- Part 09 -- The New Testament Rest Day -- CHRIST is "the way, the truth, and the life." John 14: 6. He has gone all the way before us, "leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21), and "he that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked" (1 John 2: 6), and all will admit that the footsteps of Jesus cannot lead any one astray. Let us therefore agree to follow His steps in regard to Sabbath observance. He worked as a "carpenter" at Nazareth during "the six working days," but rested on the seventh-day Sabbath. (Mark 6:2,3; Ezekiel 46:1; Luke 4:16) And after He began His ministry, He faithfully continued His Sabbathkeeping. (V. 31) While He taught His disciples that such necessary work as eating, healing the sick, or lifting a sheep out of a pit, was lawful to do on the Sabbath days (Matthew 12: 1-12), He thereby acknowledged the claims of the Sabbath law, which makes ordinary work not lawful on that day. It was "the Spirit of Christ" in the prophets (1 Peter 1: 10, 11) who instructed His people to "bear no burden on the Sabbath day" through the gates of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 17:21, 22, 27). And when foretelling the destruction of that city (which took place A. D. 70) Jesus warned His disciples saying: " But pray ye that your flight be not . . . on the Sabbath day." Matthew 24: 20. This warning was not, as some would have us believe, on account of the gates being closed on that day, for in the same connection Jesus says: "Let him which is on the housetop not come down." V. 17. But how could he flee without coming down from the housetop? There can be only one answer. There was an elevated road from one flat roof to another on which they could flee till they reached the wall, where they could be let down. (See Acts 9: 25; Joshua 2: 15; 1 Samuel 19: 12) In such a case closed gates could hardly come into consideration. This instruction shows Christ's sacred regard for the Sabbath, and His anxiety that His church should keep it properly. A Lutheran minister says: "When God gave the third [fourth] commandment. . . . He designated definitely the seventh day, which already had been sanctified by Him at creation, as this rest day. And as Christ says that He had not come to destroy the law (Matthew 5: 17), so He has also in the words of His last prophetic speech (Matthew 24: 20), which has reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the flight of the Christian church from the doomed city, expressly emphasized the Sabbath, or Saturday, as the still valid rest day, by saying: 'Pray, that your flight be not on the Sabbath' (on which day ye according to the third [fourth] commandment should rest, and not undertake any long journey). For this reason many godly Christians have solemnly upbraided the Christian church for keeping Sunday instead of Saturday: it [the church] can have no right to change God's commandment, and, if in the catechism the whole commandment had been embodied verbatim in its entire wording from Exodus 20: 8-11, as has been done in the Heidelberg Catechism, then we should still keep the Saturday holy, and not the Sunday." - "Opbyggelig Katekismus undervisning," ("Edifying Instruction in the Catechism,") K. A. Dachsel, pp. 23, 24. Bergen: 1887. “ ‘Neither on the Sabbath day.’ The Jewish Christians might entertain scruples against travelling on the Sabbath beyond the legal distance, which was about five furlongs” – “A Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark," John J. Owen, D. D., LL. D., p. 314. New York: Scribner and Co., 1868. Christ had so carefully instructed His followers about proper Sabbath-keeping, that they would not even anoint His sacred body on the Sabbath. They "prepared spices and ointments" on Friday, "and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment," but early the next morning, "the first day of the week," they came to the grave to anoint Him. (Luke 23: 52-53; 24: l.) They left their work unfinished from Friday evening until Sunday morning, because they "rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke wrote this thirty-five years after the resurrection. Some claim that the Sabbath was abolished at the cross, and that therefore the Sabbath commandment is not mentioned in the New Testament. But here we find the Sabbath commandment in the New Testament, and we find that it enjoins the keeping of the "Sabbath" which comes between Friday and the "first day of the week" and that Christ's followers were keeping it. The apostles are entirely silent in regard to any change of the day of rest from the seventh to the first day of the week. Paul, while working among the Gentiles, knew of no change. At Antioch he preached on the Sabbath, and when asked by the Gentiles to preach the same sermon again, he did not suggest a meeting on Sunday, but waited till "the next Sabbath day." (Acts 13:14,42,44) He knew of no other weekly rest day than the Sabbath, for he worked at his trade as tent maker during the "six working days " (Ezekiel 46: 1), but " he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks " (Acts I8: 1-4). And this was his custom. (Acts 17:2) When he came where there were no Jewish synagogues, he did not stay in the hustling, bustling, heathen city on God's holy day, but the record says: "And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made." Acts 16: 12, 13. This shows it was a matter of conscience with him to keep the Sabbath. He says: " Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Romans 3: 31. If Christ or the apostles had changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, does it not seem strange that they never informed us about it in the New Testament, which is the only record they left us? Could they have neglected to inform us regarding so important a matter? Paul declares emphatically: "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you." Acts 20: 20. History reveals that most of the Christian church kept the seventh-day Sabbath till the seventh century.

THE INVADERS - Series -- Part 08

THE INVADERS - Series -- Part 08 Christ and the Sabbath -- Christ and the Sabbath THOSE who oppose the Bible Sabbath center their attack on three points, claiming (1) that the Sabbath was not instituted at creation, and hence is not an original law for the whole human family; (2) that the Sabbath commandment is not a moral command as the other nine, but was a part of the Jewish ceremonial law; (3) that Christ or the apostles abolished the Sabbath, and gradually substituted the first day of the week in its place. We shall now test these propositions one by one. The Sabbath An Edenic Institution God the Father has always worked through His Son, both in creation and in redemption. (Genesis 1: 26; Hebrews 1: 1, 2, 8-10; John 3: 16) Therefore it was Christ who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. "All things were made by Him - and without Him was not any thing made that was made. . . . He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not." John 1: 3, 10. (Compare Colossians 1: 14-18) It is a great comfort to a poor, weak sinner to know that our Saviour is "the Mighty God" (Isaiah 9: 6) who spoke the worlds into existence (Psalm 33: 6, 9), and who is "upholding all things by the word of His power" (Hebrews 1: 3). His word has creative power, and if we receive it by faith, it will change our hearts and lives, and give us victory over sin. (John 1: 12; Genesis 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4: 5, 6; Matthew 5: 16; Isaiah 60: 1) As the crowning act on the sixth day, the Lord made man in His own image, and then He "rested on the seventh day" from a "finished" work.. (Genesis 1: 27, 31; 2:1-3) Thus the seventh day stood as a memorial and reminder of a finished work in Christ. And when man lost the image of God through sin, Christ came to restore in man that divine image by a new creation. (Colossians 3: 10; Ephesians 4: 24; 2: 10; 2 Corinthians 5: 17.) On the cross He cried out: "It is finished." John 19: 30. (See Hebrews 10:14.) This was on Friday evening, and He rested the Sabbath day from the work of redemption, just as He had originally rested on it from the work of creation. (Luke 23: 52-56.) Thus the seventh-day Sabbath is Christ's memorial of redemption as well as of the creation. (Ezekiel 20: 12; Hebrews 13: 8. See "The Great Controversy," p. 769.) And both events were for the whole human race, and not for the Jews only. Christ says: " The Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2: 27. And therefore it was made when man was created. "So God created man in His own image . . . . And the evening and the morning were the sixth day . . . . And He rested on the seventh day. . . . And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." Genesis 1: 27, 31; 2: 2, 3. This was two thousand years before Abraham (the first Jew) was born, therefore the Sabbath could not be Jewish. But, as Christ says, it was," made for man," and the term "man" is not confined to any one race, but embraces all mankind. We are not alone in believing that the Sabbath was instituted at creation, as the following quotations from leading men in different denominations show: F. C. Cook, M. A., Canon of Exeter, says: “ ‘And God blessed the seventh day.’ The natural interpretation of these words is that the blessing of the Sabbath was immediately consequent on the first creation of man, for whom the Sabbath was made Page 41 (Mark 2: 27). It has been urged from the silence concerning its observance by the patriarchs, that no Sabbatic ordinance was really given until the promulgation of the law, and that this passage in Genesis is not historical but anticipatory. There are several objections, which seem fatal to this theory.” - "The Holy Bible, with an Explanatory and Critical Commentary by Bishops and Clergy of the Anglican Church," Vol. I, p. 37. New York: 1875. Thomas Hamilton, D. D., in his Five-Hundred-Dollar Prize Essay, meets this objection to the historicity of Genesis in the following forceful way: " Palcy . . . says: ‘The words [of Genesis 2: 1-3] do not assert that God then blessed and sanctified the seventh day.’ . . . But such an interpretation really amounts to an interpolation. It alters the passage. . . . Once admit such a mode of dealing with Scripture, or of dealing with any other book, and we may bid farewell to certainty regarding any author's meaning. . . . No history could stand if subjected to such treatment. The plainest and most unvarnished statements might be so twisted and distorted as to bear a meaning the exact contrary to that intended by its author. . . . "It is not only said God 'rested,' but He 'blessed,' the day and 'sanctified' it. . . . If all this do [sic.] not amount to the institution of a weekly Sabbath for man in all time coming. . . . we fail to see what intelligible meaning or purpose is to be extracted from the narrative." - "Our Rest Day," pp. 10-15, New edition. Edinburgh: 1888. Dr. Martin Luther says on this text: "God blessed the Sabbath and sanctified it to Himself. It is moreover to be remarked that God did this to no other creature. God did not sanctify to Himself the heaven nor the earth nor any other creature. But God did sanctify to Himself the seventh day. This was especially designed of God, to cause us to understand that the 'seventh day' is to be especially devoted to divine worship. . . . "it follows therefore from this passage, that if Adam had stood in his innocence and had not fallen he would yet have observed the 'seventh day' as sanctified, holy and sacred. . . . Nay, even after the fall he held the 'seventh day' sacred; that is, he taught on that day his own family. This is testified by the offerings made by his two sons, Cain and Abel. The Sabbath therefore has, from the beginning of the world, been set apart for the worship of God. . . . For all these things are implied and signified in the expression 'sanctified.' “Although therefore man lost the knowledge of God by sin, yet God willed that this command concerning the sanctifying of the Sabbath should remain. He willed that on the seventh day both the word should be preached, and also those other parts of His worship performed which He Himself instituted.” - “Commentary on Genesis,” Vol. I, pp. 138-140, translation by Professor J. N. Lenker, D. D., Minneapolis: 1901; and also "Copious Explanation of Genesis," Vol. I, pp. 62, 68. Christiania: 1863. The following words from a distinguished Hebrew scholar are worthy of note here: "'Finished.' To finish a work, in Hebrew conception, is to cease from it, to have done with it. On the seventh day. The seventh day is distinguished from all the preceding days by being itself the subject of the narrative. In the absence of any work on this day, the Eternal is occupied with the day itself, and does four things in reference to it. First, He ceased from His work which He had made. Secondly, He Page 42 rested. . . . Thirdly, He blessed the seventh day. . . . In the fourth place, He hallowed it or set it apart to a holy rest. . . . "The present record is a sufficient proof that the original institution was never forgotten by man. . . . "Incidental traces of the keeping of the Sabbath are found in the record of the Deluge, when the sacred writer has occasion to notice short intervals of time. The measurement of time by weeks then appears (Genesis 8: 10, 12). The same division of time again comes up in the history of Jacob (Genesis 29: 27, 28). This unit of measure is traceable to nothing but the institution of the seventh-day rest. "A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Genesis with a New Translation," J. G. Murphy, D. D., T. C. D. (Professor of Hebrew, Belfast), pp. 70,71 . Andover: 1866. Dr. J. P. Lange says: "The expression, He hallowed it, must be for man, for all men who were to be on the earth. " If we had no other passage than this of Genesis 2: 3 there would be no difficulty in deducing from it a precept for the universal observance of a Sabbath, or the seventh day, to be devoted to God, as holy time, by all of that race for whom the earth and its nature were especially prepared. The first man must have known it. The words 'He hallowed it,' can have no meaning otherwise. They would be a blank unless in reference to some who were required to keep it holy." - Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, John Peter Lange, D. D., Vol. I, pp. 196, 197. New York: 1884. Dr. M. W. Jacobus, Professor George Bush, and C. O. Rosenius, and others forcefully emphasize the same facts. The preceding statements taken from leading men in different denominations need no comment. They state the plain facts of the Bible narrative in their most natural setting. Another remarkable thing in this connection is the fact that the heathen nations for centuries after the days of Noah retained the seventh-day Sabbath. The learned Dr. John Kitto says: "We find from time immemorial the knowledge of a week of seven days among all nations - Egyptians, Arabians, Indians - in a word, all the nations of the East, have in all ages made use of this week of seven days, for which it is difficult to account without admitting that this knowledge was derived from the common ancestors of the human race." - Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature, Vol. II, art. "Sabbath," p. 655. Professor A. H. Sayce declares: "The Sabbath-rest was a Babylonian, as well as a Hebrew, institution. Its origin went back to pre- Semitic days. . . . In the cuniform tablets the Sabattu is described as 'a day of rest for the soul,' . - it was derived by the Assyrian scribes from two Sumerian or pre-Semitic words, sa and bat, which meant respectively 'heart' and 'ceasing.' . . . The rest enjoined on the Sabbath was thus as complete as it was among the Jews." - "Higher Criticism and the Monuments," pp. 74, 75. During their servitude in Egypt, the majority of the Jews evidently worked on the Sabbath, just as the rank and file of the Jews do today, but the knowledge of it was retained then as now, and it was kept holy by a faithful few. Besides other evidences, we see this is from the fact that, thirty days after they left Egypt, and more than two weeks before the law was given on Sinai, God tested the people on Sabbath-keeping (Exodus 16: 4, 27, 28), which He certainly could not have done, if the Sabbath had not been known among them till the law was given on Sinai. Then, too, God speaks of it as a familiar Page 43 institution. (Compare Exodus 16:28 with Genesis 26:5 and 2:3) The fourth commandment itself points back to creation and commands us to "remember the Sabbath day" on which He rested at the close of creation week. (Exodus 20:8,11) No human logic can therefore explain away the historical facts that the Sabbath was set apart for man at creation. The Sabbath Moral Or Typical? Some claim that the Sabbath commandment does not enforce the observance of the seventh day of the week, but only the seventh part of our time, the particular day being left to our choice. But nothing could be more contradictory to the plain wording of the commandment. If God's commands and promises are to be so construed as to mean the very opposite of what they state, then we may bid farewell to all certainty and comfort derived from the Scriptures. God commands us to keep, not a seventh, but the seventh, day, on which He rested, the day He blessed and sanctified. (Exodus 20:10,11) The Sabbath rests on a historical event that cannot be changed to another day, any more than our birthday can be changed. In regard to the claim that the Sabbath commandment is not moral as the other nine, but ceremonial, it needs only to be said that there is no statement to that effect in the whole Bible, and it would involve its advocates in the most serious difficulty. All through the Bible a clear distinction is maintained between the two laws, the moral and the ceremonial. God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people directly, "and He added no more" (Deuteronomy 5: 22); He engraved them on two tables of stone (Exodus 32:16; Deuteronomy 9: 10); and had them laid in the ark" (Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8: 9). But the ceremonial law of ordinances was spoken to the people by Moses, was written by him "in a book," and laid beside the ark. (Exodus 21: 1; 24: 3, 4, 7; Deuteronomy 31: 24-26.1) Now we respectfully ask: Would any one claim that God did not understand the difference between moral and ceremonial laws, and hence wrote a ceremonial command into the very bosom of His moral law, the Decalogue? Such an accusation of God would be preposterous, and yet, this is what the above claim necessarily implies! We must therefore conclude that all the Ten Commandments are moral, which practically all the leading religious denominations teach in their confessions of faith. Did Christ Change The Sabbath? Christ came to lift people out of the degradation of sin, not to leave them in sin. He received the name "JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins." Matthew 1: 21. And sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3: 4. The law here referred to is the moral law of the Ten Commandments. (Romans 7: 7, 12; James 2: 10, 1 L) Christ firmly refuted the idea that He was to abolish any part of God's law. He says: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law. . . . For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law." Matthew 5: 17, 18. Christ was to "magnify the law, and make it honorable." Isaiah 42: 21. And this He did, for He freed it from all the traditions and additions of men. (Matthew 15: 3, 6, 9, 13) The Pharisees had burdened down the Sabbath with hundreds of man-made regulations. All these Jesus swept away, and restored it to its original purpose, that it should be a blessing, a sacred " delight " to God's people. (Isaiah 58: 13) But He never made any change in the day. He kept it Himself, and taught His followers to do the same. (Luke 4: 16, 31; Matthew 24: 20; 12: 11, 12.) 1 The English and American Revised Versions, the Jewish, Danish. Norwegian. And Swedish versions render Deuteronomy 31: 26, “by the side of the ark.” Others render it “at the side of the ark,” and “beside the ark.” Page 44 The Lord gave His Sabbath to man as a weekly reminder of Christ's sanctifying and keeping power, because man needed this reminder. (Ezekiel 20: 12) But Satan has always tried to blot out all memory of the true God from the earth, and to draw man's allegiance and worship to himself through idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:20) He has therefore made relentless efforts to pull down God's Sabbatic flag, and to trample it in the mire. We have seen that for a long time after the descendants of Noah had dispersed over the earth they retained the knowledge of the Sabbath. This was true even after they went into idolatry. Egypt was the first among the heathen nations to attempt to suppress the seventh-day Sabbath, and influenced other nations to regard the first day as the weekly holiday of their sun-god. Truels Lund gives us the following information on this important and interesting subject of the week in Egypt, in his extensive work: "According to the Assyrian-Babylonian conception, the particular stress lay necessarily upon the number seven. . . . The whole week pointed prominently towards the seventh day, the feast day, the rest day, in this day it collected, in this it also consummated. 'Sabbath' is derived from both 'rest' and 'seven.' With the Egyptians it was the reverse. . . . For them on the contrary the sun-god was the beginning and origin of all things. The day of the Sun, Sunday, therefore, became necessarily for them the feast day. . . . The holiday was transferred from the last to the first day of the week." - "Daglige Liv i Norden," Vol. XIII, pp. 54, 55. "The seven planetary names of the days were at the close of the second century A. D., prevailing everywhere in the Roman Empire. . . . This astrology originated in Egypt, where Alexandria now so loudly proclaimed it to all. . . . 'The day of the Sun' was the Lord's day, the chiefest and first of the week. The evil and fatal Saturn's day was the last of the week, on which none could celebrate a feast. . . . "From Rome, through the Roman legionaries, the seven planetary days pressed farther north to Gaul, Britain, and Germany. Everywhere . . . people yielded respectfully to the astrology in its popular form: the doctrine concerning the Sun-day with its fortune, the Moon-day with its alternative play, and the filthy, unlucky Saturday. . . . As a concentrated troop the planetary appellations and names of heathen deities stood on guard, when later Christianity reached Europe, and attempted to displace them. . . . "For the Christians the lot was cast by the reception of the . . . day of the sun. Not till they themselves had later gained power were they awakened to doubt. . . . And the heathen names of the days seemed at variance with Christian faith." - Id., pp. 91, 92, 110. The London Anglican rector, T. H. Morer, says of Sunday: "It is not to be denied but we borrow the name of this day from the ancient Greeks and Romans, and we allow that the old Egyptians worshipped the sun, and as a standing memorial of their veneration, dedicated this day to him. And we find by the influence of their example, other nations, and among them the Jews themselves, doing him homage. "Six Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 22. London: 1701. Thus we see how Satan, through heathenism, tried to stigmatize the Sabbath of Jehovah and to elevate Sunday as a joyful day. The Egyptians worshipped their sun-god under the name of Osiris, and the Apis bull (the golden calf made at Horeb) was a representation of him. This worship was conducted by turning to the rising sun. (Ezekiel 8: 16.) Therefore the Lord ordered the tabernacle always to be pitched with the front toward the east, so that the people, worshipping before it, had to turn their backs upon sun worship. (Numbers 3: 23. See also Exodus 26: 22; 36: 27, 32 in American Revised Version, and Jeremiah 32:33) Talbot W. Chambers, D. D., says that sun worship was "the oldest, the most widespread, and the most enduring of all forms of idolatry known to man!' "The universality of this form of idolatry is something remarkable. It seems to have prevailed everywhere. The chief object of worship among the Syrians was Baal - the sun . . . In Egypt the sun was the kernel of the state religion." - "The Old Testament Student," pp. 193,194. January, 1886. In Babylon the sun-god was called Bel, in Phonecia and Palestine, Baal, and Sun-day was “the wild solar holiday of all pagan times.” – “North British Review,” Vol. XVIII, P. 409. Rev. W. H. Poole says: “The first and principal idol was the sun - the glorious luminary of the day . . . Baal was the great sungod of all the East. With our Israelitish ancestors the sun-god came west. His day is our Sunday. Every time you name our Sabbath-day Sunday you are reminded of our great, great, great grandfathers' principal deity.” – “Anglo-Israel in Nine Lectures,” pp. 389, 890. Detroit, Mich.: 1889. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of the worship of Baal: "As the sun-god he is conceived in the male principle of life and reproduction in nature, and thus in some forms of his worship is the patron of the grossest sensuality, and even of systematic prostitution. An example of this is found in the worship of Baal-Peor (Numbers 25)." - Vol. III, (New American ed., Werner Co.), art. "Baal," p. 175. This sun worship was the greatest of all abominations to God (Ezekiel 8: 13-16), and the warnings to Israel have great significance to us today: "I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat Me, saith the Lord." Hosea 2: 13. (See also 1 Corinthians 10: ll.) When we remember that it was Christ who took Israel out of Egypt (Hebrews 11: 26, 27; 1 Corinthians 10: 4), and who labored so earnestly to turn them away from sun worship and Sunday keeping, and that it was Satan who always led them into this idolatry, we ask with all candor: Could any one suppose that Christ, in the New Testament, has exchanged places with Satan, so that He is now leading people to keep Sunday, while the devil is leading them to keep the Sabbath of Jehovah? Every thoughtful person must say with the Apostle Paul: "God forbid." Romans 3:31. [TO BE CONTINUED]. [ More on the Divine Law found here - http://www.the-ten-commandments.org/index.html -- If your church is missing on the Sabbath keeping Churches list, and you are indeed a 7th Day Sabbath keeping church, congregation, ministry, ETC.; you should request it's name to be added. Most 7th Day Sabbath keeping churches, denominational or congregational are there listed. This is a bright day for God's Sabbath observers because, as the storm approaches, there will be unity among Sabbath keepers and than, "The final Remmnant" will also appear. Will you be among them?].

THE INVADERS - Series -- Part 07

MARKS OF IDENTITY -- "He Shall Speak Great Words" THE little horn was to "speak great words against the Most High." Daniel 7: 25. We shall now quote a few extracts from authentic Roman Catholic sources showing the fulfillment of this prophetic utterance: Pope Leo XIII in his "Great Encyclical Letters" says: "We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty." - p. 304. In this encyclical the pope has capitalized all pronouns referring to himself and to God. In a large, authentic work by F. Lucii Ferraris, called "Prompta Bibliotheca Canonica Juridica Moralis Theologica," printed at Rome, 1890, and sanctioned by the Catholic Encyclopedia (Vol. VI, p. 48), we find the following statements regarding the power of the pope: "The Pope is of so great dignity and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God, and the vicar of God. . . . "Hence the Pope is crowned with a triple crown, as king of heaven and of earth and of the lower regions. . . . "So that if it were possible that the angels might err in the faith, or might think contrary to the faith, they could be judged and excommunicated by the Pope. . . . "The Pope is as it were God on earth, sole sovereign of the faithful of Christ, chief king of kings, having plenitude of power, to whom has been entrusted by the omnipotent God direction not only of the earthly but also of the heavenly kingdom." - Quoted in "Source Book," (Revised Edition) pp. 409, 410. Washington, D. C.: 1927. The Catholic Encyclopedia says of the pope: "The sentences which he gives are to be forthwith ratified in heaven." - Vol. XII, art. "Pope," p. 265. Pope Leo XIII says: "But the supreme teacher in the Church is the Roman Pontiff. Union of minds, therefore, requires, together with a perfect accord in the one faith, complete submission and obedience of will to the Church and to the Roman Pontiff, as to God Himself." - "The Great Encyclical Letters," p. 193. We leave it with the reader to decide whether or not these are "great words." St. Alphonstis de Liguori, a sainted doctor of the Roman church, claims the same power for the Roman priests. He says: "The priest has the power of the keys, or the power of delivering sinners from hell, of making them worthy of paradise, and of changing them from the slaves of Satan into the children of God. And God himself is obliged to abide by the judgment of his priests. . . . The Sovereign Master of the universe only follows the servant by confirming in heaven all that the latter decides upon earth. "Dignity and Page 35 Duties of the Priest," pp. 27, 28. New York: Benziger Brothers., Printers to the Holy Apostolic See, 1888. "Innocent III has written: 'Indeed, it is not too much to say that in view of the sublimity of their offices the priests are so many gods." - Id., p. 86. These must truly be called "great words A Persecuting Power - The little horn was also to "wear out the saints of the Most High." Daniel 7: 25. That is, it was to persecute them till they were literally worn out. Has the Papacy fulfilled this part of the prophecy'? In order to do Roman Catholics no injustice, we shall quote from unquestioned authorities among them. And, since they persecute people for "heresy," we must first let them define what they mean by "heresy." In the New Catholic Dictionary, published by the Universal Knowledge Foundation, a Roman Catholic institution, New York, 1929, we read: "Heresy (Gr., hairesis, choice), deciding for oneself what one shall believe and practise." Art. "Heresy," p. 440. According to this definition any one who will not blindly submit to papal authority, but will read the Bible, deciding for himself what he shall believe, is a "heretic." What official stand has the Catholic Church taken in regard to such heretics? This we find stated in the Catholic Encyclopedia in the following words: "In the Bull 'Ad exstirpanda' (1252) Innocent IV says: 'When those adjudged guilty of heresy have been given up to the civil power by the bishop or his representative, or the Inquisition, the podesta or chief magistrate of the city shall take them at once, and shall, within five days at the most, execute the laws made against them.' . . . Nor could any doubt remain as to what civil regulations were meant, for the passages which ordered the burning of impenitent heretics were inserted in the papal decretals from the imperial constitutions 'Commissis nobis' and 'Inconsutibilem tunicam.' The aforesaid Bull 'Ad exstirpanda' remained thenceforth a fundamental document of the Inquisition, renewed or reinforced by several popes, Alexander IV (1254-61), Clement IV (1265-68), Nicolas IV (1288-92), Boniface VIII (1294-1303), and others. The civil authorities, therefore, were enjoined by the popes, under pain of excommunication to execute the legal sentences that condemned impenitent heretics to the stake. It is to be noted that excommunication itself was no trifle, for, if the person excommunicated did not free himself from excommunication within a year, he was held by the legislation of that period to be a heretic, and incurred all the penalties that affected heresy." - Vol. VIII, p. 34.1 This Encyclopedia was printed in 1910, and bears the sanction of the Catholic authorities, and of their "censor," so that here is up-to-date authority showing that the Roman church sanctions persecution. The Roman church here acknowledges, that, when she was in power, she forced the civil government to burn those whom she termed heretics, and the government officials who failed to execute her laws, became heretics by that neglect, and suffered the punishment of heretics. Professor Alfred Baudrillart, a Roman Catholic scholar in France, who is now a Catholic Cardinal, says: 1 See also "Dictionary of the Inquisition," in “Illustrations of Popery,” J. P. Challender, pp. 377-386, New York, 1838; and "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, H. C. Lea, Vol. 1. pp. 337 338, New York. 1888. Page 36 "The Catholic Church is a respecter of conscience and of liberty. . . . She has, and she loudly proclaims that she has, a 'horror of blood.' Nevertheless when confronted by heresy she does not content herself with persuasion; arguments of an intellectual and moral order appear to her insufficient, and she has recourse to force, to corporal punishment, to torture. She creates tribunals like those of the Inquisition, she calls the laws of the State to her aid, if necessary she encourages a crusade, or a religious war and all her 'horror of blood' practically culminates into urging the secular power to shed it, which proceeding is almost more odious - for it is less frank - than shedding it herself. Especially did she act thus in the sixteenth century with regard to Protestants. Not content to reform morally, to preach by example, to convert people by eloquent and holy missionaries, she lit in Italy, in the Low Countries, and above all in Spain, the funeral piles of the Inquisition. In France under Francis I and Henry II, in England under Mary Tudor, she tortured the heretics, whilst both in France and Germany during the second half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth century if she did not actually begin, at any rate she encouraged and actively aided, the religious wars. No one will deny that we have here a great scandal to our contemporaries. . . . "Indeed, even among our friends and our brothers we find those who dare not look this problem in the face. They ask permission from the Church to ignore or even deny all those acts and institutions in the past which have made orthodoxy compulsory.2 "The Catholic Church, the Renaissance, and Protestantism," pp. 182-184. London: 1908. This book bears the sanction of the Roman Catholic authorities, and of their "censor." Andrew Steinmetz says: "Catholics easily account for their devotion to the Holy See, in spite of its historical abominations, which, however, very few of them are aware of their accredited histories in common use, 'with permission of authority,' veiling the subject with painful dexterity." - "History of the Jesuits," Vol. I, p. 13. London:1848. Dr. C. H. Lea says: "In view of the unvarying policy of the Church during the three centuries under consideration, and for a century and a half later, there is a typical instance of the manner in which history is written to order, in the quiet assertion of the latest Catholic historian of the Inquisition that 'the Church took no part in the corporal punishment of heretics."' - "History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages," Vol. I, p. 540. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1888. Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) made the following decree for the destruction of all heretics, which is binding on civil rulers: “Temporal princes shall be reminded and exhorted, and if needs be, compelled by spiritual censures, to discharge every one of their functions: and that, as they desire to be reckoned and held faithful, so, for the defence of the faith, let them publicly make oath that they will endeavour, bona fide with all their might, to extirpate from their territories all heretics marked by the Church; so that when anyone is about to assume any authority, whether spiritual or temporal, he shall be held bound to confirm his title by this oath. And if a temporal prince, being required and admonished by the Church, shall neglect to purge his kingdom from this heretical pravity, the metropolitan and other provincial bishops shall bind 2 This explains why some Catholic authors deny that their church ever persecuted. him in fetters of excommunication; and if he obstinately refuse to make satisfaction this shall be notified within a year to the Supreme Pontiff, that then he may declare his subjects absolved from their allegiance, and leave their lands to be occupied by Catholics, who, the heretics being exterminated, may possess them unchallenged, and preserve them in the purity of the faith.”- “Decretalium Gregorii Papae Noni Conpilatio;” Liber V, Titulus VII, Capitulum XIII, (A Collection of the Decretals of Gregory IX, Book 5, Title 7, Chapter 13), dated April 20, 1619. The sainted Catholic doctor, Thornas Aquinas, says: "If counterfeiters of money or other criminals are justly delivered over to death forthwith by the secular authorities, much more can heretics, after they are convicted of heresy, be not only forthwith excommunicated, but as surely put to death. "Summa Theologica," 2a, 2ae, qu. xi, art. iii. That this principle is sanctioned by modern Catholic priests, we can see from the following statement: "The church has persecuted. Only a tyro in church history will deny that. . . . Protestants were persecuted in France and Spain with the full approval of the church authorities. We have always defended the persecution of the Huguenots, and the Spanish Inquisition." - "Western Watchman," official organ of Father Phelan. St. Louis, Mo.: Dec. 24, 1908. We have now seen from the "decretals" of popes, from sainted doctors of the Roman church, and from authentic Catholic books, that they sanction and defend persecution, and history amply bears out the fact. Dr. J. Dowling says: "From the birth of Popery in 606, to the present time, it is estimated by careful and credible historians, that more than fifty millions of the human family, have been slaughtered for the crime of heresy by popish persecutors, an average of more than forty thousand religious murders for every year of the existence of Popery." - "History of Romanism," pp. 541, 542. New York: 1871. W. E. H. Leeky says: "That the Church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that has ever existed among mankind, will be questioned by no Protestant who has a competent knowledge of history. The memorials, indeed, of many of her persecutions are now so scanty, that it is impossible to form a complete conception of the multitude of her victims, and it is quite certain that no power of imagination can adequately realize their sufferings." - "History of the Rise and Influence of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe," Vol. II, p. 32. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910. John Lothrop Motley, speaking of papal persecution in the Netherlands, says: "Upon February 16, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office [the Inquisition] condemned all the inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. . . . A proclamation of the king, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the Inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution. . . . This is probably the most concise death warrant that was ever framed. Three millions of people, men, women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in three lines." - "The Rise of the Dutch Republic," (2-vol. ed.) Vol. I, p. 626. New York. Many Roman Catholic authors today have tried to prove that their church does not sanction persecution, but facts of history are too plain to be denied. Eternity alone will reveal what God's dear children suffered during the Dark Ages. Accordingly as the Papacy attained to power, the common people became more oppressed, until "the noon of the Papacy was the midnight of the world." - "History of Protestantism," J. A. Wylie, LL.D., Vol. I, p. 16. London. "Think To Change Times And Law' But Daniel 7: 25 has still another prediction concerning the "little horn"; namely, that it should " think to change times and laws," or as the Revised Version has it: "times and the law." James Moffatt's translation reads: "He shall plan to alter the sacred seasons and the law." Now, as the two preceding statements in this verse depict what the Papacy should do against the Most High, we must conclude that it is also the "times and the law" of the Most High which the Papacy should attempt to change. This could not refer to the ceremonial laws of the Jews, which were abolished at the cross (Ephesians:2:15; Hebrews 9:9,10), but to the Ten Commandments, which are binding in the Christian era, to which dispensation this prophecy applies. (Matthew 5:17-19; 19:16-19; Luke 16:17; Romans 3:31; 7:7, 12, 14; James 2: 10, 11.) From the prophecy of Daniel 7: 25 it is therefore evident that the Papacy would attempt to make some changes in the moral law. After the worship of images had crept into the church during the fourth to the sixth centuries, its leaders finally removed the second commandment from their doctrinal books, because it forbids us to bow down to images (Exodus 20:4, 5), and they divided the tenth, so as to retain ten in number. Thus the Catholic Church has two commandments against coveting, while Paul six times speaks of it as only one "commandment." (Romans 7:7-13) Then, too, the Lord has purposely reversed the order of the supposed ninth and tenth commandments in Deuteronomy 5: 21 to what they are in Exodus 20: 17, so that the Catholics, following Deuteronomy 5: 21, have "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife" as their ninth commandment, while the Lutherans, following Exodus 20: 17, have it as part of their tenth commandment, and their ninth command is: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house." Thus we see how people get themselves into trouble when they attempt to change the law of God. The Papacy was also to change times. But the only commandment of the ten that has to do with time is the fourth, which commands us to keep holy the seventh day, on which God rested at creation. (Exodus 20:10,11; Genesis 2:1-3) It is a remarkable fact that Christ, His apostles, and their followers kept the seventh day in common with the Jews (Mark 6:2,3; Luke 4:16, 3 1; 23: 52-56; Acts 13:42,44; 16:12,13; 17:2; 18:1-4), and that the New Testament is entirely silent in regard to any change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week. This would be natural enough if the original Sabbath, which they were then keeping, should continue. But if a new day was to take its place in the Christian church, its Founder would certainly have given explicit directions for its observance. Yet not a word was spoken by Christ or His apostles, either before or after His resurrection, as to such a change. . It is another remarkable fact that Sunday is never called by any sacred title in the New Testament, but always referred to as a weekday, never as a holy day. It is classed as one of the weekdays, being called "the first day of the week." And yet we find the Christian world generally keeping it. Who made this change, when it is not recorded in the Bible? When, how, and why was it made? Who dared to lay hands on Jehovah's law, and change His Holy Sabbath, without any warrant of Scripture? All Protestant denominations disclaim any part in this crime. But the Roman Catholic Church boasts of having made this change, and even points to it as an evidence of its authority to act in Christ's stead upon earth. We shall therefore ask her two pointed questions: 1. Men did you change the Sabbath? 2. Why did you do it? Here are her answers: Page 39 "The first proposition needs little proof. The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence of a Protestant, by virtue of her Divine mission changed the day from Saturday to Sunday." - "The Christian Sabbath," p. 29. Baltimore, Md.: "Catholic Mirror," Sept. 23, 1898. "Ques. - Which is the Sabbath day? Ans. - Saturday is the Sabbath day. "Ques. - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? Ans. - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the council of Laodicea (A. D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. . . . " The Church substituted Sunday for Saturday by the plenitude of that divine power which Jesus Christ bestowed upon her. "The Convert's Catechism of Christian Doctrine," Rev. Peter Geiermann, C. SS. R., p. 50. St. Louis, Mo.: 1934. (This work received the "apostolic blessing" of Pope Pius X Jan. 25, 1910.) "The Church . . . took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday . . . . And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus." - "Catholic World," (New York), March, 1894, p. 809. We shall enter into this subject more thoroughly in the following chapters. [TO BE CONTINUED]