The History and Origin of Sunday Sacredness 05/27/2017 File: SabbathSundayQuotes Roman Catholic Leaders: "The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of the Scriptures, because the Church had changed the Sabbath into Sunday, not by command of Christ, but by its own authority." Canon and Tradition, p. 263 "Is not yet too late for Protestants to redeem themselves. Will they do it?... will they indeed take the written word only, the Scripture alone, as their sole authority and their sole standard? Or will they still hold the indefensible, self contradictory, and suicidal doctrine and practice of following the authority of the Catholic church and wear the SIGN of her authority? Will they keep the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, according to Scripture? Or will they keep the Sunday according to the tradition of the Catholic church ." Canon and Tradition, page 31 “The Pope has the power to change times, to abrogate (CHANGE) laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." "The Pope has the authority and often exercised it, to dispense with the command of Christ." Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. Cap. (The Pope can modify divine law.) Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary “The Pope is of great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws... The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." -Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Ribliotheca, "Papa," art. 2, translated. (about 1746) "We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for 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 Brotherhood of St. Paul, "The Clifton tracts," Volume 4, tract 4, p. 15. (1852-1856) "It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is a homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church." (Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, by Mgr. Louis Segur, 1868, p.213) "Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the [Roman Catholic] Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought logically to keep Saturday as the Sabbath." —John Gilmary Shea, in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883. “I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says: ‘No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.’ And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church.” father
Roman Catholic Leaders: "The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of the Scriptures, because the Church had changed the Sabbath into Sunday, not by command of Christ, but by its own authority." Canon and Tradition, p. 263 "Is not yet too late for Protestants to redeem themselves. Will they do it?... will they indeed take the written word only, the Scripture alone, as their sole authority and their sole standard? Or will they still hold the indefensible, self contradictory, and suicidal doctrine and practice of following the authority of the Catholic church and wear the SIGN of her authority? Will they keep the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, according to Scripture? Or will they keep the Sunday according to the tradition of the Catholic church." Canon and Tradition, page 31 “The Pope has the power to change times, to abrogate (CHANGE) laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." "The Pope has the authority and often exercised it, to dispense with the command of Christ." Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. Cap. (The Pope can modify divine law.) Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary “The Pope is of great authority and power that he can modify, explain, or interpret even divine laws... The Pope can modify divine law, since his power is not of man, but of God, and he acts as vicegerent of God upon earth." -Lucius Ferraris, Prompta Ribliotheca, "Papa," art. 2, translated. (about 1746) "We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for 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 Brotherhood of St. Paul, "The Clifton tracts," Volume 4, tract 4, p. 15. (1852-1856) "It was the Catholic Church which, by the authority of Jesus Christ, has transferred this rest to the Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord. Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is a homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church." (Plain Talk About the Protestantism of Today, by Mgr. Louis Segur, 1868, p.213) "Protestantism, in discarding the authority of the [Roman Catholic] Church, has no good reason for its Sunday theory, and ought logically to keep Saturday as the Sabbath." —John Gilmary Shea, in the American Catholic Quarterly Review, January 1883. “I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ The Catholic Church says: ‘No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.’ And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church.” father
T. Enright, C.S.S.R. of the Redemptoral College, Kansas City, in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, February 18, 1884, printed in History of the Sabbath, p. 802 "My brethren, look about the various wrangling sects and denominations. Show me one that claims or possesses the power to make laws binding on the conscience. There is but one on the face of the earth-the Catholic Church-that has the power to make laws binding upon the conscience, binding before God, binding upon the pain of hellfire. Take for instance, the day we celebrate-Sunday. What right have the Protestant churches to observe that day? None whatsoever. You say it is to obey the commandment, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' But Sunday is not the Sabbath according to the Bible and the record of time. Everyone knows that Sunday is the first day of the week, while Saturday is the seventh, and the Sabbath, the day consecrated as a day of rest. It is so recognized in all civilized nations. It was the Holy Catholic Church that changed the day of rest from Saturday to Sunday, the first day of the week. And has not only compelled all to keep Sunday, but at the council of Laodicea, A.D. 364 anathemized those who kept the Sabbath and urged all persons to labor on the seventh day under penalty of anathama. Which church does the whole civilized world obey? Protestants call us every horrible name they can think of-anti-Christ, the scarlet-colored beast, Babylon, etc., and at the same time profess great reverence for the Bible, and yet by their solemn act of keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the power of the Catholic Church." (Industrial American, Harlan Iowa; a published lecture by T. Enright, December 19, 1889) "From this same Catholic Church you have accepted your Sunday, as the Lord's day, she has handed down as a tradition; and the entire Protestant world has accepted it as tradition, for you have not an iota of Scripture to establish it. Therefore that which you have accepted as your rule of faith, inadequate as it of course is, as well as your Sunday, you have accepted on the authority of the Roman Catholic Church." (D.B. Ray, The Papal Controversy, 1892, p.179) "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. "The church...took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday.... The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom.... And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday." (Dr. William L. Gildea, The Catholic World , March, 1894) "The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ, hidden under veil of flesh." —The Catholic National, July 1895. "Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claim to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles . . From beginning to end of Scripture 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.
"If you follow the Bible alone there can be no question that you are obliged to keep Saturday holy, since that is the day especially prescribed by Almighty God to be kept holy to the Lord. In keeping Sunday, non-Catholics are simply following the practise of the Catholic Church for 1800 years, a tradition, and not a Bible ordinance.... With the Catholics there is no difficulty about the matter. For, since we deny that the Bible is the sole rule of faith, we can fall back upon the constant practise and tradition of the Church." (Francis G. Lentz, The Question Box, 1900, pp. 98, 99) “It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.” Priest Brady, in an address reported in The News, Elizabeth, New Jersey, March 18, 1903. "If we would consult the Bible only, without Tradition, we ought, for instance, still to keep holy the Saturday with the Jews, instead of Sunday..." (Deharbe's Catechism, translated by Rev. John Fander, published by Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss, 53 Park Place, New York, Sixth American Edition, Copyright 1912, 1919, 1924, page 81) "They [the Protestants] deem it their duty to keep the Sunday holy. Why? Because the Catholic Church tells them to do so. They have no other reason. ...The observance of Sunday thus comes to be an ecclesiastical law entirely distinct from the Divine law of Sabbath observance. .The author of the Sunday Law...is the Catholic Church." (Walter Drum, Catholic priest, Ecclesiastical Review, February, 1914) "Is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." -James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72, 73. "The penetration of the religion of Babylon became so general and well known that Rome was called the New Babylon." Faith of our fathers 1917 ed. Cardinal Gibbons, p. 106 "Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change (Saturday Sabbath to Sunday) was her act... And the act is a MARK of her ecclesiastical authority in religious things." H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons. "If Protestants would follow the Bible, they should worship God on the Sabbath Day. In keeping the Sunday they are following a law of the Catholic Church." (Albert Smith, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, replying for the Cardinal, in a letter dated February 10, 1920.) "Sunday is our MARK of authority. . .the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact" Catholic Record of London, Ontario Sept 1, 1923. "TheChurchchangedtheobservanceoftheSabbathtoSundaybyrightofthedivine,infallibleauthoritygiventoherbyherfounder,JesusChrist.TheProtestant,claimingtheBibletobetheonlyguideoffaith,hasnowarrantforobservingSunday.
InthismattertheSeventh-dayAdventististheonlyconsistentProtestant."—TheCatholicUniverseBulletin,August14,1942,p.4."'OurLordrosefromthedeadonthefirstdayoftheweek',SaidFatherHouriganoftheJesuitSeminary.'ThatiswhytheChurchchangedthedayofobligationfromtheseventhdaytothefirstdayoftheweek.TheAnglicanandotherProtestantdenominationsretainedthattraditionwhentheReformationcamealong'."(TorontoDailyStar,October26,1949)"Protestants...acceptSundayratherthanSaturdayasthedayforpublicworshipaftertheCatholicChurchmadethechange.ButtheProtestantminddoesnotseemtorealizethatinobservingtheSunday,inkeepingChristmasandEaster,theyareacceptingtheauthorityofthespokesmanforthechurch--thePope."(OurSundayVisitor,February5,1950.)“Question - Which is the Sabbath day? “Answer - Saturday is the Sabbath day. “Question - Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday? “Answer - We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 364), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” Peter Geiermann, C.S.S.R., The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, p. 50, 3rd edition, 1957. “Not the Creator of Universe, in Genesis 2:1-3,-but the Catholic Church can claim the honor of having granted man a pause to his work every seven days." -S. C. Mosna, Storia della Domenica, 1969, pp. 366-367. "RegardingthechangefromtheobservanceoftheJewishSabbathtotheChristianSunday,Iwishtodrawyourattentiontothefacts:1)ThatProtestants,whoaccepttheBibleastheonlyruleoffaithandreligion,shouldbyallmeansgobacktotheobservanceoftheSabbath.Thefactthattheydonot,butonthecontraryobservetheSunday,stultifiesthemintheeyesofeverythinkingman.2)WeCatholicsdonotaccepttheBibleastheonlyruleoffaith.BesidestheBiblewehavethelivingChurch,theauthorityoftheChurch,asaruletoguideus.Wesay,thisChurch,institutedbyChristtoteachandguidemanthroughlife,hastherighttochangetheceremoniallawsoftheOldTestamentandhence,weacceptherchangeoftheSabbathtoSunday.Wefranklysay,yes,theChurchmadethischange,madethislaw,asshemademanyotherlaws,forinstance,theFridayabstinence,theunmarriedpriesthood,thelawsconcerningmixedmarriages,theregulationofCatholicmarriagesandathousandotherlaws.Itisalwayssomewhatlaughable,toseetheProtestantchurches,inpulpitandlegislation,demandtheobservanceofSunday,ofwhichthereisnothingintheirBible."(PeterR.Kraemer,CatholicChurchExtensionSociety,1975,Chicago,Illinois)"ThecivilauthoritiesshouldbeurgedtocooperatewiththechurchinmaintainingandstrengtheningthispublicworshipofGod,andtosupportwiththeirownauthoritytheregulationssetdownbythechurch'spastors.Foritisonlyinthisway
Protestant Leaders: BAPTIST: "There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day 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, 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. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual. "The Scriptures nowhere call the first day of the week the Sabbath . . There is no Scriptural authority for so doing, nor of course, any Scriptural obligation." —The Watchman. "To me it seems unaccountable that Jesus, during three years’ discussion with His disciples, often conversing upon the Sabbath question, discussing it in some of its various aspects, freeing it from its false [Jewish traditional] glosses, never alluded 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 had said unto them, deal with this question. Nor yet did the inspired apostles, in preaching the gospel, founding churches, counseling and instructing those founded, discuss or approach the subject. Of course I quite well know that Sunday did 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 comes 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. T. Hiscox, report of his sermon at the Baptist Minister’s Convention, New York Examiner, November 16, 1893. Southern Baptist: "The sacred name of the seventh day is Sabbath. This fact is too clear to require argument [Exodus 20:10, quoted] . . On this point the plain teaching of the Word has been admitted in all ages . . Not once did the disciples apply the Sabbath law to the first day of the week,—that folly was left for a later age, nor did they pretend that the first day supplanted the seventh." —Joseph Judson Taylor, The Sabbatic Question, pp. 14-17, 41. 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 sanctity of Sunday." —Dr. R. W. Dale, The Ten Commandments, pp. 106-107. 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 the Catechism. Episcopalian: "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. Presbyterian: "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. Into the rest of Sunday no Divine Law enters." —Canon Eyton, Ten Commandments. Anglican: "And where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the first day at all? We are commanded to keep the seventh; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day." —Isaac Williams, Plain Sermons on the Catechism, pp. 334, 336. 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." —Amos Binney, Theological Compendium, pp. 180-181. American Congregationalist: "The current notion, that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament." —Dr. Lyman Abbot, Christian Union, June 26, 1890. Christian Church: "Now there is no testimony in all the oracles of heaven that the Sabbath is changed, or that the Lord’s Day came in the room of it." —Alexander Campbell, Reporter, October 8, 1921.
Disciples of Christ: "There is no direct Scriptural authority for designating the first day ‘the Lord’s Day.’ " —Dr. D. H. Lucas, Christian Oracle, January 23, 1890.
