“Circumstantial Evidence.”
—A correspondent of the Sunday School Times, whose letter is printed in that paper of August 9, inquires about the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, and says:— In our studies we found that every commandment, with the exception of the fourth, was reaffirmed in the New Testament. Consequently, the observation of the first or Lord’s day rests wholly upon circumstantial evidence. Is not the position of the church somewhat weakened by this fact? I have always looked upon the moral teaching of the fourth commandment as binding upon Christians, and do yet. And the only circumstantial evidence there is, is this, that the church finds herself keeping the first day. Jesus did not keep it. The apostles did not keep it. There is no command whatsoever concerning it. On the other hand, the perpetuity of the whole law is affirmed again and yet again, in every jot and tittle. Matt. 5: 17; Luke 16: 17; Isa. 51: 5, 6; James 2: 8–10. The correspondent, in closing, well asks, “Are we in any sense released from the command, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy?’” In his reply to this and a kindred query, the editor frankly declares that “there was no fixed and formal legal change in the observance of the Sabbath at any one time in the early church;” and that “for a time both days were kept by many Christians.” And this is true, but Sunday never as a Sabbath in the early church. Twelve centuries pass before Sunday is ever called the Sabbath by the church. The church is weakened and ever will be weakened till she return to the Word of God, the law which God gave through Christ, and which Christ as our example kept.