History bore that the Sabbath rest was transferred from the seventh day (Saturday) to Sunday by Emperor Constantine on March 7, 321 AD. The edict bear the following condition. “Let all the judges and town people, and the occupations of all trades rest on the venerable day of the sun”. This edict is found in the book known as (Corpus Juris Civiles Cod, Lib 3, titiz, lex3.
Again the book “ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANICA” with the article “SUNDAY” supported it as follows: “The earliest recognition of the observation of Sunday as a legal duty is a constitution of Constantine in 321 AD. The edict stipulated that all courts of justice, inhabitants of towns, and workshops were to be at rest on Sunday (Venerabili die Solis) with an exception in favour of those engaged in agricultural labour”.
Presently, millions of Conscientious Christians attend church every Sunday, the first day of the week. They do so believing that somewhere, somehow, someone changed the day of worship. Either that, or they are not aware that Yahweh set aside the seventh day (Sabbath) not the first day of the week as his holy day.
The question that Christians must answer is, are we to follow the order of Yahweh in his scriptures or to follow the edict of Emperor Constantine, a pagan Roman King of the fourth century AD?
For clearity of the subject matter on who changed the Sabbath (seventh day) to Sunday rest let us go through these listings of comments by churches, councils, leaders and scholars. This will aid us to know if the church has deceived mankind or are they representing Yahoshea Meshiyach and his disciples who on their days kept Sabbath day rest.
1. CATHOLICISM SPEAKS:
“Sunday is a Catholic institution and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles... from beginning to end of scriptures, there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first” CATHOLIC PRESS, SYDNEY AUSTRALIA, AUGUST 1900.
2. PROTESTANTISM
PROTESTANTISM in discarding the authority of the Roman Catholic Church has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and aught logically to keep Saturday as Sabbath” John Gilmary Shea, IN THE AMERICAN CATHOLIC QUARTER REVIEW, January 1883.
3. “It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and all other Christians that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observances of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of Roman Catholic Church and those who observe the day, observe the commandment of the Catholic Church” Priest Brady, in an address, reported in the Elizabeth, NJ News of March 18, 1903.
4. “QUESTION- Have you any other way of proving that the Catholic Church has power to institute festivals of precepts (to command holy days?”
“Answer- Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her. She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority” Stephen Keeran, DOCTRINAL CATECHISM P.176.
5. Reason and Common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these two alternatives, either Protestantism and the keeping holy of Saturday or Catholicity and the keeping holy of Sunday compromise is impossible THE CATHOLIC MIRROR, December 23, 1893.
6. “God simply gave his Catholic Church the power to set aside whatever day or days she would deem suitable as Holy days. The church chooses Sunday, the first day of the week, and in the course of time added other days as Holy days “Vincent J. Kelly FORBIDDEN SUNDAY AND FEAST DAY OCCUPATION. P. 2
7. “Protestants...
8. “Not the creator of the universe in Genesis 2:1 3,- but the Catholic church can claim the honour of having granted man a pause to his work every Sunday. S.C Mosna, STORIA DELLE DOMENICA 1969, Pp 366, 367.
9. “If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath day, in keeping the Sunday, they are following the law of the Catholic church” Albert Smith 1920.
10. “We define that the Holy Apostle See (the Vatican) and the Roman Pontiff hold the primacy over the whole world”. A decree of the Council of Trent “THE MOST HOLY COUNCILS 1967.”
11. “It was the Catholic Church by the authority of Jesus Christ, has translated this rest from the Bible Sabbath to the Sunday. Thus the observance by the Protestants is an homage they pay, inspite of themselves to the authority of Catholic Church” Monsignor Louis Segur PLAIN TALK ABOUT THE PROTESTANTISM OF TODAY, P213.
12. “We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday”- Peter Geleman, A DOCTRINAL CATECHIAM 1957 edition P. 80.
13. “We Catholic then, have precisely the same authority of keeping Sunday holy instead of Saturday as we have for every other article of our creed, namely the authority of the church... whereas you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever for. There is no authority for it (Sunday sacredness) in the Bible, and you will not allow that there can be authority for it anywhere else” THE BROTHER OF SAINT PAUL.
14. “The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine infallible authority given to her by the founder Jesus Christ. The Protestants claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith has no warrant to observing Sunday, in this matter, the Seventh Day Adventist is the only consistent protestants” THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSAL AUGUST 14, 1942 P.4.
PROTESTANTISM SPEAKS
15. BAPTIST” There was and is a command 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 seventh to the first day of the week, with all its duties, privileges and sanctions. Earnestly desiring information on this subject, which i have studied for many years. I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week- Dr. E. T Hiscon Author of the Baptists Manual.
16. CONGRETIONALIST
17. PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL: “The day is now changed from the seventh to the first day... But as we meet with no scriptural direction for the change we may conclude, it was done by the authority of the church”. THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL EXPLANATION OF CATECHISM.
18. BAPTIST: “The scriptures nowhere called the first day of the week the Sabbath... there is no scriptural authority for such doing, nor of course any scriptural obligation” THE WATCHMAN.
19. PRESBYTARIAN: “There is no word to 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 into the rest of Sunday, no divine law enters “CANON EYTON TEN COMMANDMENTS.
20. ANGLICAN “And where are we told in the scripture that we are to keep the first day of at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh, but we are no where commanded to keep the first day”. ISAAC WILLAMS PLAIN SERMONS ON THE CATECHIMS Pp 334, 336.
21. METHODIST “It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism, Nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath. But from his own words, we see that he came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath base it only on a supposition: Ames Binney, THEOLOGICAL COMPEDIUM pp 180,181.
22. EPISCOPORAL “We have made the change from the seventh to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday, on the authority of the one holy Catholic Apostolic Church of Christ. Bishop Seymour WHY WE KEEP SUNDAY.
23. SOUTHERN BAPTIST “The sacred name of the seventh day is Sabbath. The fact is too clear to require argument (Exodus 20:10) on this point the plain teaching of the world has been admitted in all ages. Not once did the disciples apply Sabbath law to the first day of the week, that folly was left for a latter age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh” Joseph Judson Taylor. THE SABBATH QUESTION pp 14 17,41.
24. AMERICAN CONGREGATIONALI
25. CHRISTIAN CHURCH: “Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the Lords day came in the room of it. Alexander Campbell. THE REPORTER OCTOBER 8, 1921.
26. DISCIPLES OF CHRIST: “There is no direct scriptural authority for designating the first day “THE LORD’S DAY” Dr. D. H LUCAS CHRISTIAN ORACLE Jan 23, 1980.
27. BAPTIST: “ To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years of discussion with his disciples, often conversing upon the Sabbath question discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its (Jews tradition) glosses, never allotted to any transference of the day, also no such thing was intimated nor so far as we know, did the spirit which was given to bring to their remembrance all things whatsoever that he has said unto them, deal with this question, nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counselling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject.
Of course i quite well know that it did not come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it come branded with the mark of paganism and Christened with the name of the sun god, then adopted and sanctified by the papal apostasy and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism. Dr. E. II. Hiscox SERMON at the
Baptist Ministers Conversion New York Examiner November 16, 1893.
Iniquity shall abound for a while but truth must certainly destroy it. Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.
One of the interesting questions to Christendom is- Sunday rest, is it Church deception? Let us start answering through the listings of comments from various churches and scholars.
Baptist: - “There is nothing in the scriptures that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day” Harold Lindsell, former editor of “Christianity Today” November 5, 1976.
Episcopal “The Bible commandment says on the seventh day thou shall rest. That is Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday,” Philip Carrington, Toronto Daily Star October 26, 1949.
Methodist “The reason we observe the first day instead of the seventh is based on no positive command. One will search the scriptures in vain for authority for changing from the seventh day to the first” - Clovis G. Chappell, Ten Rules For Living pg 61.
Catholic: - “We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because of Catholic church in the Council of Necea, transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday” The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, third edition, pg 50.
With these listings above, a seeker must realize that Sunday sacredness is a human made obligation imposed on the church by the state of Rome, adopted on the Council of Necea in 325 AD.
In the book captioned “History of the Sabbath”, pg. 802 by Father Enright, CSSR of the Redemptoral College Kansas city explained it this way “The Bible says, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day”, The Catholic Church says, No, By my divine power, I abolish the Sabbath day, and command you to keep the first day of the week. And so, the entire civilized world bows in reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church”.