SABBATH vs SUNDAY (Statements from Other Churches)

Jesus Christ said of the Pharisees, "'In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'  For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men....  All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition" (Mark 7:7-9).  Yet notice what other churches admit regarding their observance of Sunday instead of Saturday.

ROMAN CATHOLIC

Stephen Keenan, A Doctinal Catechism, p. 174:
"Question:  Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept? 
"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 observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.... 
"Question:  When Protestants do profane work upon Saturday... do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith...? 
"Answer:  On the contrary, they have only the authority of tradition for this practice.  In profaning Saturday, they violate one of God's commandments, which He has never clearly abrogated, 'Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath.'"

The Convert's Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 3rd ed., p. 50:
"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 [c. 363] transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday."

Catholic Press, Aug. 25, 1900
"Sunday is a Catholic institution, and... 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."

METHODIST

Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, "Sabbath":
"Sabbath in the Hebrew language signifies rest, and is the seventh day of the week... and it must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day."

Clovis Chappell, Ten Rules for Living, p. 61:
"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."

PRESBYTERIAN

The Christian at Work", April 19, 1883, and Jan. 1884:
"Some have tried to build the observance of Sunday upon Apostolic command, whereas the Apostles gave no command on the matter at all....  The truth is, so soon as we appeal to the litera scripta [literal writing] of the Bible, the Sabbatarians have the best of the argument."

ANGLICAN

Isaac William, D.D., Plain Sermons on the Catechism, vol. 1:
"Where are we told in Scripture 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....  The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the Church, has enjoined it."

EPISCOPAL

Philip Carrington, Toronto Daily Star, Oct. 26, 1949:
"The Bible commandment says on the seventh day thou shalt rest.  That is Saturday.  Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday."

BAPTIST

Harold Lindsell (editor), Christianity Today, Nov. 5, 1976:
"There is nothing in Scripture that requires us to keep Sunday rather than Saturday as a holy day."