The Authority for Sunday Observance by W. W. P.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 23, 1909

The Authority for Sunday Observance

By W. W. P.

THOSE who sincerely desire to know how it was that the observance of Sunday was substituted for the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord can easily learn the truth of this matter. It is all contained in a nutshell. The prophet clearly foretells that the Papacy would think to change the law, and the Papacy claims the authority for so doing, and declares that it has done this very thing. Numerous testimonies to this fact have been submitted, but one has recently come to our attention which seems to be well worth reproducing. From an article entitled “The Observance of Sunday,” printed in the supplement of the Messenger of the Sacred Heart (Roman Catholic) for August, 1901, we take these paragraphs:—

What makes this fact [the general observance of Sunday in the United States] more remarkable still is that there is no clear ordinance in Scripture for the institution or observance of the Sunday. It is purely an ecclesiastical institution originating at the time of the apostles. It would seem to be the “Lord’s day” mentioned in the Apocalypse 1:10. The first day of the week was surely a day of meeting for common worship, as we gather from the Acts 20:7, and from the first epistle to the Corinthians 16:1. Such passages as these only report what was customary. To know that the observance of Sunday was obligatory from the first, we must accept the tradition of the Church. From this source we learn that it was an apostolical institution, a substitute for the Sabbath of the old law, designed to commemorate our Lord’s resurrection, and observed, now one way, now another, always by worship in common, especially by the celebration of the eucharist, and always as a day of rest from servile labor. It is surely wonderful that the Reformers of the sixteenth century, who repudiated tradition, should have allowed their followers to adhere to this sacred institution of the Church without the Scriptural warrant they always demanded for observances far less burdensome than this.

From the beginning the Church has “remembered” to keep holy a day known as the Lord’s own day. When abrogating the Sabbath of the Jewish covenant, she did not lessen the number of days on which public worship should be paid to God, but simply substituted the first for the last day of the week and so, honoring, consecrated it, first by making it a day of rest, and then by sanctifying it in his name. From the beginning it was a day of public worship, especially for the celebration of the eucharistic mysteries. The tradition of this practise is so clear and unquestioned, and the practise itself is so thoroughly in accord with the spirit of our faith, that we never think of inquiring for any special ordinance or sanction for our obligation to sanctify Sunday by hearing mass. If it be the providence of God that the sects which have separated from the Church still maintain some observance of this day, it is a special blessing of his providence that we still keep it just as the apostles and early Christians did in the beginning; and who will deny that the example of ten million Catholics scattered in every town and village of this country, assembling faithfully every Sunday in their churches to assist at the same august sacrifice, to hear the same divine doctrine, helps more than any other influence to keep alive the spirit of religion among our fellow countrymen not of our faith?

We do not consent to the claim that Sunday was the “Lord’s day” of Rev. 1:10, or that the mere mention of one meeting on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7) and the instruction for laying by an offering at home (1 Cor. 16:1) indicated that the custom of observing Sunday was already established, but we are heartily in accord with the idea that the obligatory observance of Sunday rests wholly upon the tradition of the Church. It is high time for those who wish to obey God rather than man to turn away from all observances which rest upon mere tradition, and to accept in their obvious meaning, the commandments of God.

W. W. P.