2225.—Sunday-Keeping and Public Prayer.
By Editor
Does the Signs of the Times think that Sunday-keeping and public prayer are both heathen institutions, both of them out of harmony with the Gospel?
E. H. B. As to the observance of Sunday as a holy day there is no warrant for it in the Scriptures of truth. Even some of the advocates of Sunday observance admit this. Having no requirement of Scripture, there certainly is no obligation resting upon men if they do not keep the day. Furthermore, the origin of Sunday observance lies wholly in heathen lands and in papal fostering. When it began to be observed as a holy day, we do not know. In very early ages it was devoted to the worship of the sun, but how far back the custom goes it is impossible to tell, extending, so far as men know, back to the first apostasy. God has given us one weekly Sabbath day in the Scriptures. He has separated that from the other days of the week, by sanctifying it to His purpose. The other six days of the week He has told us to labor and do our own work, and has therefore left no place for Sunday sacredness. As to public prayer, the matter is quite different. Prayer is the expression of human need to God. He has enjoined His people to pray without ceasing. In 1 Tim. 2:8 we read, "I desire, therefore, that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing." We do not know how this could be understood as not including public prayer. We read in the 20th chapter of Acts that when the brethren from Ephesus met with the apostle Paul and his company at the beach, Paul prayed with them all. That certainly was public prayer. We read of the dedication of Solomon's temple that Solomon kneeled before that vast company and prayed. That certainly was public prayer, and God answered it in a wonderful way. We read in John 17 that Jesus prayed with His disciples, and it gives us the very words that He used. That certainly was public prayer. On the other hand, prayer should not be made a display of. When we have petitions to offer to God for ourselves, it is not the place on the street corner or where we wish men to see us to mark our holiness, that we should pray, but we should enter into our closets and pray in secret for what lies between us and God.