THE SABBATH WAS CHANGED BY THE MYSTERY OF INIQUITY.
By A. Smith
ADVOCATES of first-day sanctity claim that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week in the days of the apostles, and by virtue of the resurrection of Christ,—that it was constituted a memorial of that event. The only Bible evidence claimed in support of this theory being of a doubtful, inferential character, the main evidence is drawn from the writings of the early Fathers. But of these same Fathers the great Reformer, Martin Luther, thus testifies:— When God’s Word is by the Fathers expounded, construed, and glossed, then, in my judgment, it is even like unto one that straineth milk thru a coal-sack, which must needs spoil the milk and make it black. Even so likewise, God’s Word of itself is sufficiently pure, clean, bright, and clear; but thru the doctrines, books, and writings of the Fathers, it is very surely darkened, falsified, and spoiled.—Table Talk, p. 228. We should take heed how we quote the Fathers in proof of the doctrines of the Gospel; because he who knows them best, knows that on many of those subjects they blow hot and cold.—Autobiography, p. 134. Roman Catholics also appeal to the early Fathers in proof of their claim that the change of the Sabbath was made by their church. There are two mysteries brought to view in the Bible: the mystery of the Gospel, godliness (see Eph. 6:19; Col. 1:25-27; 1 Tim. 3:16); and the mystery of iniquity (see Rev. 17:5-18). The Sabbath, sign, or seal of the mystery of godliness is the seventh-day Sabbath. See Ex. 31:16, 17. The sabbath of the mystery of iniquity is, of course, a counterfeit of the true Sabbath, and it is the sabbath of Baal, or the sun. The following testimonies are from the Catholics themselves:— The observance of Sunday by the Protestants is an homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] church.—Plain Talk to Protestants, p. 213. The observance of Sunday is solely a law of the Catholic Church. . . . The church changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and all the world bows down and worships upon that day in silent obedience to the mandates of the Catholic Church.—Father Enright, in Hartford Weekly Call, Feb. 22, 1884. The Catholic Church claims that the change [of the Sabbath] was her act. . . . And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical power and authority in religious matters.—H. F. Thomas, Chancellor for Cardinal Gibbons. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:8.