WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THE CHURCH AND THE WORLD?
By Ethan Lanphear
In all the civilized world there is a terrible buzzing and humming over the Sunday question and the Sabbath question. There is no trouble with the Sunday question or with the Sabbath. The sun moves as God created it to move, as do also the moon and stars; the sun giving light by day, and the moon and stars by night. The Lord made the Sabbath especially for man, and said, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath.” The sun’s day has no more to do with Sunday, or the first day of the week, as a Sabbath, than has the moon’s day. No sanctity was ever applied to either, as was applied to the weekly Sabbath. According to history, Constantine issued the first edict for worshiping on Sunday, or the first day of the week, and that applied only to townspeople. The agriculturist, or farmer, was not required to neglect the care of his crops. God or Christ never had anything more to do with Sunday as a Sabbath than they had with the Fourth of July. The Church and the world have, for hundreds of years, been substituting the heathen Sunday in the place of God’s Sabbath. The Roman Catholics claim that they had a right to change the Sabbath, and that they did change it. And doubtless some converts from heathenism continued to observe the Sunday as well as many other heathen customs, because of the opposition to the Jewish converts. Professedly Protestant Churches have so long preached Sunday-keeping that many believe that Sunday, or the first day of the week, is the real Sabbath, or Lord’s day, while there is not an instance in the Old or in the New Testament where either “Sabbath,” or “Lord’s day” is applied to Sunday, or the first day of the week. Many of the Protestant Churches of to-day are about as far from Christ’s teaching as the Roman Church is; and yet they claim to take the Bible for their faith and practice. The intelligent people of our country know that there is no Bible authority for keeping Sunday, and you can not convince them that it is a sin to work or to do business on that day the same as on any other working day; for they know that under God’s order of things, “where no law is, there is no transgression.” All this attempt to compel people to observe Sunday as the Sabbath, is fighting against God by trying to substitute a heathen institution in place of God’s ordained law, the seventh-day Sabbath, which He made for man. Is it any wonder that there is confusion in the churches and the world? How can you convince a man that it is a sin not to observe Sunday as the Sabbath? Every intelligent Bible student knows that there is no law for it, and that where there is no law, there is no sin. How can you compel a person to keep Sunday conscientiously if there is no law for it? If we search the Scriptures, we may find that the Church and the world are as far from God and true religion as the antediluvians were. If Christ should come unexpectedly, would the professed people of God be prepared to meet Him? Would He not find nearly all the Churches, as well as the world, worshiping idols, and keeping the commandments of men instead of the commandments of God? Let every one examine himself.