Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 127

"And Paul, _as his manner was_, went in unto them, _and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures_." Acts 17:2. See also Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 18:1-4, 11.

14. On what day does John say he was in the Spirit?

"I was in the Spirit on _the Lord's day_." Rev. 1:10.

15. What day does the commandment say is the Lord's?

"_The seventh day_ is the Sabbath of the Lord." Ex. 20:10.

16. By whose Spirit did the prophets write?

"_The Spirit of Christ_ which was in them." 1 Peter 1:11.

17. What does the prophet Isaiah, speaking for G.o.d through this Spirit of Christ, call the seventh-day Sabbath?

"My holy day." Isa. 58:13.

18. Does Christ anywhere in the Scriptures ever claim any other day of the week than the seventh as His?

He does not.

NOTE.-We do not need to speculate as to what day is the Lord's, if we will but take the Word of G.o.d for our guide, for loyalty to which John was banished to the isle of Patmos. See Rev. 1:9.

19. If John, therefore, referred to a day of the week, on what day must he have been in the Spirit?

The seventh day.

NOTE.-No other day of the week in all the Bible is claimed by G.o.d as His day. During the second, third, and fourth centuries of the Christian era, when apostasy came in like a flood, men, without any warrant or command of Scripture, thinking to do honor to Christ and despite to the Jews who crucified Christ, began to neglect the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and to honor the day of the week on which Christ rose from the dead, the first day, as "the Lord's day," until finally the Sabbath was almost wholly lost sight of, and the Sunday quite generally took its place. But there was no more warrant for this change in the divine and unchangeable law of G.o.d than there was for other errors and changes which crept into the professed Christian church during this same time, such as abstaining from meat on Friday in honor of the crucifixion; Mariolatry, or the wors.h.i.+p of the Virgin Mary; the ma.s.s; purgatory; indulgences; prayers for the dead; saint-wors.h.i.+p; and the human vicars.h.i.+p of Christ. There was no more divine authority for one than for the others. All came in through apostasy. The Bible knows but one true and living G.o.d, one Lawgiver, one Mediator between G.o.d and man, one Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, one body, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, one baptism, and _one Sabbath_. See Jer. 10:10-12; Rev. 14:6, 7; 1 Tim. 2:5; Eph. 4:4-6; Ex. 20:8-11.

Walking As He Walked

[Ill.u.s.tration.]

Jesus In The Synagogue On The Sabbath. "Leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps." 1 Peter 2:21.

1. The way of the Christian life was set for us by Jesus Himself.

"He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to _walk, even as He walked_." 1 John 2:6. "Leaving us an example, that ye should _follow His steps_." 1 Peter 2:21.

2. The footprints that Jesus set for us to follow, lead unvaryingly along the way of G.o.d's commandments.

"_I have kept My Father's commandments_, and abide in His love." John 15:10. "For this is the love of G.o.d, _that we keep His commandments_." 1 John 5:3.

3. The pathway is the same today as when Jesus walked in Judea.

"Jesus Christ _the same yesterday, and today, and forever_." Heb. 13:8.

4. When it is shown that Jesus kept the seventh day holy as our example, many ask, "Why have not scholar and churchmen found out that there is no Bible authority for first-day sacredness?"

The answer is, They have found it so, and have freely declared the fact.

Testimony Of Eminent Men

5. The extracts that follow are from noted clergymen, scholars, and eminent writers, all of whom doubtless kept the Sunday as a matter of church custom. But they nevertheless bear witness that there is no Bible command for it.

Church Of England Writers

Archdeacon Farrar: "The Sabbath is Sat.u.r.day, the seventh day of the week." "The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other."-_"__The Voice From Sinai,__"__ pages 163, 167._

Canon Eyton (of Westminster): "There is no word, no hint, in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday." "The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday." "Constantine's decree was the first public step in establis.h.i.+ng the first day of the week as a day on which there should be secular rest as well as religious wors.h.i.+p.... Into the rest of Sunday no divine law enters."-_"__The Ten Commandments,__"__ Trubners & Co._

Canon Knox-Little, replying to those who quote the example of Christ against the High-church ritualism, says:-

"It is certain that our Lord when on earth _did_ observe Sat.u.r.day, and did _not_ observe Sunday." "If they are consistent, as I have said, they must keep Sat.u.r.day, not Sunday, as the day of rest."-_"__Sacerdotalism,__"__ Longman Company._

Sir William Domville: "Centuries of the Christian era pa.s.sed away before the Sunday was observed by the Christian church as a Sabbath."-_"__Examination of Six Texts,__"__ chap. 8, page 291._

Writers Of Other Churches

Bishop Grimelund, of Norway (Lutheran): "The Christians in the ancient church very soon distinguished the first day of the week, Sunday; however, not as a sabbath, but as an a.s.sembly day of the church, to study the Word of G.o.d together."-_"__Geschichte des Sonntags,__"__ page 60._

Dr. R. W. Dale (British Congregationalist): "It is quite clear that however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath.... The Sabbath was founded on a specific, divine command. We can plead no such command for the observance of Sunday.... There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating the supposed sanct.i.ty of Sunday."-_"__The Ten Commandments,__"__ Hodder and Stoughton, pages 106, 107._

Dr. Lyman Abbott (American Congregationalist): "The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively subst.i.tuted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament."-_Christian Union, June 26, 1890._

Dr. Edward T. Hisc.o.c.k (Baptist): "There was and is a commandment to 'keep holy the Sabbath day,' but that Sabbath was not Sunday.

It will, however, be readily said, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week.... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament-absolutely not."-_The New York Examiner, Nov. 16, 1893._

Dr. D. H. Lucas (Disciple): "There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day the Lord's day."-_Christian Oracle, Jan. 23, 1890._

Cardinal Gibbons (Roman Catholic): "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday."-_"__Faith of Our Fathers,__"__ edition 1892, page 111._

Prize Essay of American Sunday-school Union: "Up to the time of Christ's death, no change had been made in the day.... So far as the record shows, they [the apostles] did not give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment of the seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day of the week."-_"__Lord's Day,__"__ pages 185, 186._