The popular idea is that the Christian Sabbath is a separate institution from the Sabbath enjoined in the Decalogue. We are continually confronted with an imaginary contrast between a Christian Sabbath and a Jewish Sabbath. But both are strangers to the Bible; the Scriptures contain no intimation of either a Jewish or a Christian Sabbath. The only Sabbath mentioned in Holy Writ (excepting some special ceremonial sabbaths enjoined in connection with certain feasts of the Levitical ministration) is the "Sabbath of the Lord." In the beginning the Sabbath was instituted in Eden, before man fell into sin, before any types or shadowy ceremonies had any place in the work of God. It was a memorial of a past work, and not a shadow of things to come. And Christ plainly tells us that "the Sabbath was made for man." Mark 2: 27. It was not made for any class of men, but for man—the entire race. There were only Adam and Eve when the Sabbath was set apart, and they represented the whole race. There was solemn formality in the establishment of the Sabbath. God rested on the seventh day, and then he "blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it." To this is added the reason for the institution: "Because that in it he had rested from all his work." Gen. 2: 2, 3. And the Sabbath commandment repeated at Sinai repeats the reason, or object, of the rest day: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Has God ever in like manner set apart any other day? If he should set up another day as the Sabbath, to supersede the one already hallowed, we would naturally and reasonably expect the same solemn formality and statement of reason for the action. But we have no record of any such transaction. Christ said that he kept the commandments (John 15: 10), and when he was accused by the Jews of Sabbath breaking, he refuted the charge by showing that he did only that which was lawful. He had only violated their unwarranted traditions. Yet the masses of Christian people insist that Christ did change the Sabbath to the first day of the week. But the claim is easily refuted, if the Scriptures be allowed to stand as the only infallible witness in the case, which they ever must be. There is no claim that the Old Testament teaches such a change, therefore we are shut up to the New; and this narrows the controversy down to a very limited scope. There are but eight texts in the New Testament that mention the first day of the week, and these we will cite:— (1) Matt. 28: 1: "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher." (2) Mark 16: 1, 2: "And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun." (3) Verse 9: "Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils." (4) Luke 24: 1: "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them." (5) John 20: 1: "The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher." (6) Verse 19: "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." So far there is no intimation that the first day was to be the Sabbath. On the contrary, it is plainly shown that the first day of the week was the day after the Sabbath. We come now to Paul's visit to Troas. (7) Acts 20: 7: "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight." This meeting was held on Saturday evening, as the days were then reckoned from sunset until sunset, and Paul departed on his journey the next morning. But holding a meeting of disciples could not establish a holy day. Only the Lord can sanctify a day, or anything else. The disciples then, as they do now, held meetings on any and all days—especially when a great preacher came around. Breaking of bread did not make a day holy, or constitute it a Sabbath day. We learn from Acts 2: 46 that in Jerusalem at a certain time they continued daily in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house. If holding meetings and breaking bread constitute a Sabbath, then every day is a Sabbath. But there is no command as to when the Lord's supper shall be celebrated, or when religious meetings shall be held. There is only one more mention of the first day of the week, and that is:— (8) 1 Cor. 16: 2: "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." This reckoning was a purely business transaction, and had nothing to do with Sabbath observance; the Sabbath is not here mentioned at all. Here we have every reference to the first day of the week to be found in the New Testament, and there is not even a hint at its being set apart as a Sabbath day. It is only necessary to compare these references with the solemn consecration of the Sabbath of the Lord, in order to see that a first-day Sabbath has not one iota of divine authority. Its alleged sacredness is sheer assumption, and its foundation is human authority and nothing more. A true Christian is a follower of the Lord. The Lord ordained, and when on earth kept, the seventh-day Sabbath, the Sabbath of the Lord. Therefore, if the Christian follows his Master, he will keep the Sabbath of the Lord, and the Lord's Sabbath is the Christian's Sabbath. Whoever sets up a Sabbath, or any other institution, in opposition to the commandment of God, is antichrist. W. N. G.