Let Us be Careful by L. L. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 7, 1916

Let Us be Careful

By L. L. C.

Our greatest enemies are our own mistakes. Little inaccuracies of statement have done and are doing much harm in the world. Opponents of our message delight to point to any misstatement made by an Adventist, whether it be made through carelessness or through ignorance.

A good example of the current stories which are passed from one person to another without examination as to their truthfulness, is the one that Queen Victoria, holding a Bible in her hand, said that this Book was the secret of England’s greatness. On investigation, all that can be found is that Queen Victoria once said that Christianity was the secret of England’s greatness. Of course one may say that the two statements amount to the same thing, as Christianity is based on the Bible, but still Queen Victoria should be credited with what she really said.

There is a report quite widely circulated that D. L. Moody kept the seventh-day Sabbath before his death. This has been emphatically denied by his son. The facts of the case seem to have been that, having so much preaching to do on Sunday, Mr. Moody found that he needed some time for rest. For that reason he would do nothing on Saturday, in order that he might be in good condition for his preaching on Sunday. This, of course, is very far from any seventh-day Sabbath keeping.

Recently an attack has been made upon us, based largely upon our position concerning the origin of Sunday. Seventh-day Adventists have associated the Sunday institution with both paganism and the apostasy, and rightly so. It is well, however, that we be guarded in our statements, and that we have a clear understanding of the historical connection. It is well to remember that paganism is not one religion, but many; and because there are some pagan religions which have no fixed seven-day week with a recurring worship on the first day of the week, does not prove that no pagan religion had it.

There are two forms of paganism which are thought of in connection with the Roman Empire, the old paganism and the new. The old paganism of the Greeks and Romans was a polytheism with a whole pantheon of gods, in which Zeus and Jupiter respectively, not the sun god, were supreme. The week, or period of seven successive days, was not introduced into the Roman calendar till after the reign of Theodosius (fourth century after Christ), according to the Encyclopedia Britannica (see art. “Calendar”). The Greeks divided their months into ten-day periods, and the Romans had an eight-day period, each ninth day being a recurring market day. There are places, however, in the literature of the late Roman Empire (first century before Christ) where Romans used the astrological week of seven days in connection with many of the Eastern superstitions of that period. The most important of these Eastern superstitions was the new paganism called “Mithraism,” which spread over the Roman Empire in the first centuries of the Christian Era. As faith in the old polytheistic paganism waned among the Romans, this new monotheistic paganism spread rapidly, and in the middle of the third century seemed on the verge of becoming the universal pagan religion. Mithraism, in which the sun was worshiped under the legendary name of “Mithra,” had many resemblances in religious rites to those of Christianity under the apostasy which gave rise to the Papacy. We quote from the Encyclopedia Britannica concerning this form of paganism:—

“The most interesting aspect of Mithraism is its antagonism to Christianity. Both religions were of Oriental origin; they were propagated about the same time, and spread with equal rapidity. . . . The struggle was the more obstinate because of the resemblances between the two religions, which were so numerous and so close as to be the subject of remark as early as the second century, and the cause of mutual recrimination. The fraternal and democratic spirit of the first communities, and their humble origin; the identification of the object of adoration with light and the sun; the legends of the shepherds with their gifts and adoration, the flood, and the ark; the representation in art of the fiery chariot, the drawing of water from the rock; the use of bell and candle, holy water and the communion; the sanctification of Sunday [italics ours] and of the twenty-fifth of December; the insistence on moral conduct, the emphasis placed upon abstinence and self-control; the doctrine of heaven and hell, of primitive revelation of the mediation of the Logos emanating from the divine, the atoning sacrifice, the constant warfare between good and evil and the final triumph of the former, the immortality of the soul, the last judgment, the resurrection of the flesh, and the fiery destruction of the universe, are some of the resemblances which, whether real or only apparent, enabled Mithraism to prolong its resistance to Christianity. At their root lay a common Eastern origin rather than any borrowing.”

The new Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia also says in its article on Mithra:—

“In theory, ritual, and practice Mithraism parodied or duplicated, after a fashion, the central ideas of Christianity. The birth of Mithra and of Christ were celebrated on the same day; . . . both regard Sunday as sacred.”—The New Schaff-Herzog, Vol. VII, p. 419, art. “Mithra,” “Mithraism.”

Inasmuch as Mithraism had become at that time so prevalent in the Roman Empire, and the astrological, or seven-day, week was then known to the Romans, the decree of Constantine in favor of the “venerable day of the sun” is seen to have been intended not only to please the apostatizing Christian church, but also the believers in the new paganism, with its sanctification of Sunday.

Without question, the Roman Catholic Church found it easy to urge Sunday keeping upon those who may have been keeping Sunday as Mithra worshipers. Cardinal Newman (Roman Catholic) frankly acknowledges that pagan rites were frequently taken over into the early church. He says:—

“Confiding then in the power of Christianity to resist the infection of evil, and to transmute the very instruments and appendages of demon worship to an evangelical use, . . . the rulers of the church from early times were prepared, should the occasion arise, to adopt, or imitate, or sanction the existing rites and customs of the populace, as well as the philosophy of the educated class.”—“An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine,” pp. 371, 372.

Dr. Killen, in his preface to “Ancient Church,” states the same thing:—

“In the interval between the days of the apostles and the conversion of Constantine, the Christian commonwealth changed its aspect. . . . Rites and ceremonies of which neither Paul nor Peter ever heard, crept into use, and then claimed the rank of divine institutions.”

The apostasy which led to the formation of the Papacy began to work in very early times. Paul says that it was working in his day, “The mystery of iniquity doth already work.” 2 Thess. 2:7. It is not to be supposed that any of the apostles would think of adding aught to the commands of Christ as given to us in the New Testament, where we find no “Thus saith the Lord” for Sunday keeping. Paul did not establish Sunday, and he said, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” Gal. 1:9. The apostle John, though using the expression “the Lord’s day,” which is a term designating the true Sabbath (Isa. 58:13), in no place speaks of the sanctification of Sunday; and he warns us in Rev. 22:18, “I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.”

We are told in 2 Tim. 3:16, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” Through the Scripture which has been given to us we “may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” There is then no room left for Sunday keeping.

Sunday sanctification was added through tradition without divine authority, and assimilated the Sunday keeping which came from the paganism of Mithraism. We thus see that the Sunday institution is rightly associated with both paganism and apostate Christianity. There is no reason for any who follow the Bible, and the Bible only, to keep any other day than the seventh-day Sabbath, the memorial of creation, the day which was blessed and sanctified by God and kept by Christ and his apostles, and which will be kept in the new earth.

L. L. C.