Sabbath Versus Sunday: Naming the First Day
In the address of Leonard W. Bacon in Connecticut, recently, on the Sunday question, he used the term Sunday; but the United Presbyterian in publishing the address changed this to the term Sabbath; whereupon The Independent of Oct. 16, gives utterance to the following:— “The United Presbyterian explains its substitution of ‘Sabbath’ for ‘Sunday’ in reprinting Dr. Leonard W. Bacon’s address, by saying that ‘it is a rule in this office to call Christian institutions by Christian names.’ But the Christian name is ‘Lord’s day,’ not ‘Sabbath.’” Another mistake! if by “Christian name” is meant a name given by Christ or recognized in the New Testament. The only name given to Sunday by Inspiration is “first day of the week.” The name “Lord’s day” as applied to Sunday is a human application, and, when applied to that day, is just as false as the term Sabbath.