Sunday and Catholic Feasts
fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same church. "A. Because by keeping Sunday they acknowledge the church's power to ordain feasts, and to command them under sin; and by not keeping the rest by her commanded, they again deny, in fact, the same power." In the "Catholic Christian Instructed" is presented the following list of feast days, which all rest upon the same foundation; namely, the authority of the Catholic church. Of these, Sunday takes the lead:— "Ques. What are the days which the church commands to be kept holy? "Ans. 1. The Sunday, or our Lord's day, which we observe by apostolic tradition, instead of the Sabbath. 2. The feasts of our Lord's Nativity, or Christmas day; his circumcision, or New Year's day; the Epiphany, or twelfth day; Easter day, or the day of our Lord's resurrection, with the Monday following; the day of our Lord's ascension; Whit-Sunday, or the day of the coming of the Holy Ghost, with the Monday following; Trinity Sunday; Corpus Christi, or the feasts of the blessed sacrament. 3. We keep the days of the Annunciation, and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 4. We observe the feasts of All-saints; of St. John Baptist; of the holy apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul. 5. In this kingdom we keep the feasts of St. Patrick, our principal patron." From the same work, we take the following additional testimony:— "Ques. What warrant have you for keeping the Sunday, preferable to the ancient Sabbath, which was the Saturday? "Ans. We have for it the authority of the Catholic church, and apostolic tradition. "Q. Does the Scripture anywhere command the Sunday to be kept for the Sabbath? "A. The Scripture commands us to hear the church (Matt. 18:17; Luke 10:16), and to hold fast the traditions of the apostles. 2 Thess. 2:15. But the Scriptures do not in particular mention this change of the Sabbath. John speaks of the Lord's day (Rev. 1:10); but he does not tell us what day of the week this was, much less does he tell us that this day was to take the place of the Sabbath ordained in the commandments. Luke also speaks of the disciples' meeting together to break bread on the first day of the week. Acts 20:7. And Paul (1 Cor. 16:2) orders that on the first day of the week the Corinthians should lay by in store what they designed to bestow in charity on the faithful in Judea; but neither the one nor the other tells us that the first day of the week was to henceforth the day of worship and the Christian Sabbath; so that truly the best authority we have for this is the testimony and ordinance of the church. And, therefore, those who pretend to be so religious of the Sunday, whilst they take no notice of other festivals ordained by the same church authority, show that they act by humor, and not by reason and religion; since Sundays and holy days all stand upon the same foundation, viz., the ordinance of the church."—Cath. Chris. Instructed, pp. 209–211. The "Doctrinal Catechism," pp. 101, 174, 351–355, offers proof that Protestants are not guided by Scripture. We present two of the questions and answers:— "Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept? "Ans. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her;—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority. "Q. When Protestants do profane work upon Saturday, or the seventh day of the week, do they follow the Scripture as their only rule of faith—do they find this permission clearly laid down in the Sacred Volume? "A. On the contrary, they have only the authority of tradition for this practice. In profaning Saturday, they violate one of God's commandments, which he has never clearly abrogated—'Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.'" Then follows a statement and refutation of the arguments Protestants usually rely on to prove the change of the Sabbath, such as the resurrection of Christ, the pouring out of the Spirit, the Lord's day of Rev. 1:10; Acts 20:7; and 1 Cor. 16:2, showing that these scriptures contain no evidence of the institution of Sunday observance, but that the practice rests solely upon the authority of the Catholic church. In a Roman Catholic work entitled, "The Shortest Way to End Disputes about Religion," p. 19, by the Rev. Robert Manning, approved by the Rt. Rev. Bishop Fitzpatrick, Coadjuter of the Diocese of Boston, Mass., we find the following:— "As zealous as Protestants are against the church's infallibility, they are forced to depend wholly upon her authority in many articles that cannot be evidently proved from any text of Scripture, yet are of very great importance. "1. The lawfulness for Christians to work upon Saturday, contrary, in appearance, to the express command of God, who bids us 'keep the Sabbath holy,' and tells us the seventh day of the week is that day. "2. The lawfulness and validity of infant baptism, whereof there is no example in Scripture." A QUESTION FOR ALL BIBLE CHRISTIANS.
In accordance with the instruction given in the catechisms from which the foregoing quotations are made, a Catholic tract, under the above title, makes a precise statement of the positions held respectively by Catholics and Protestants.