Half a Sabbath | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jun 29, 1876

Half a Sabbath.

UNDER this heading the Church Union says: “In the present discussion concerning the Sabbath, and the opening of the Centennial Buildings on that day, the position assumed by Archbishop Wood, of the Roman Catholic church, is the most remarkable. ‘It would grieve me very much’; says the representative of the Roman faith, ‘to see the Exposition remain open all day on Sundays.’ But he thinks that an afternoon visit to the ‘Exposition would be ‘harmless.’ The Bishop’s reading of the fourth commandment must be a curiosity. ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy’—until after twelve o’clock. Or, as the Bishop would probably prefer, ‘Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy’—until after morning mass, and then you may go to Fairmount Park. And then this remarkable prelate adds, very naively, that the desecration of the Lord’s day is, ‘unhappily, a growing evil in the community.’”

On this the Sabbath Recorder remarks: “If the Church Union, which tries to turn the tables on Archbishop Wood by referring him to the fourth commandment, concerning the opening of the Exposition on Sunday, will only reflect a moment, it will see that the fourth commandment and the Sunday, have no connection with each other. The fourth commandment refers to the last day of the week, and Sunday is the first. No harm is done to the Sabbath by opening the Exposition on Sunday.”