WHICH DAY DO YOU KEEP? AND WHY? by George Washington Amadon

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 16, 1880

WHICH DAY DO YOU KEEP? AND WHY?

By George Washington Amadon

NEARLY all professing Christians observe some day as a Sabbath unto the Lord. Some keep the day which God appointed; but most, doubtless conscientiously, rest on Sunday. Well, it is presumed that all who read this are interested to know which day is the right one to keep; for certainly there cannot be two Sabbaths, and so we will present a few facts about Sabbath and Sunday. Will you look at them carefully? Take your Bibles and examine the texts of Scripture quoted. Here are the facts referred to:—

FACTS ABOUT THE SABBATH.

God made the Sabbath at creation. Gen. 2 : 2, 3; Ex. 20 : 11. It was observed before the law was given on Sinai. Ex. 16 : 23-30. The command to observe it is associated with nine moral precepts, which are binding upon all men during all time. It is placed in the bosom of the unchangeable law. Ex. 20 : 8-11. It is a sign between God and his people. Ex. 31 : 17; Eze. 20 : 20. Wrath came upon ancient Israel for breaking the Sabbath. Neh. 13 : 15-18. If the Sabbath had been kept, Jerusalem would not have been destroyed. Jer. 17 : 24, 25. Prophecy foretells a reform on the Sabbath. Isa. 58 : 12-14. The Sabbath will exist in the new earth. Isa. 66. Christ observed the Sabbath. Mark 1 : 21. He called himself its Lord. Mark 2 : 28. It was his "custom" to preach on that day. Luke 4. The disciples "rested" on the Sabbath while Christ was lying in the grave. Luke 23 : 56. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who wrote after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, spoke familiarly of the Sabbath as an existing institution. Matt. 24 : 20; 28 : 1; Mark 16 : 1; Luke 23 : 56. It was Paul's "manner" to make the Sabbath a preaching day. Acts 17 : 2. The "Gentile" believers also observed the Sabbath. Acts 13 : 42, 44. Paul preached by a "river side," where there was no synagogue, on the Sabbath. Acts 16 : 13. He reasoned in the synagogue at Corinth "every Sabbath." Acts 18 : 4. He continued there a year and six months (78 Sabbaths), "teaching the word of God." Acts 18 : 11. Finally, in the last mention of it in the Bible, it is called "the Lord's day." Rev. 1 : 10. (Compare this text with Ex. 20 : 10; Isa. 58 : 13; Mark 2 : 28.)

FACTS ABOUT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK, OR SUNDAY.

Christ rose from the dead on that day. Mark 16 : 9; Matt. 28 : 1; Mark 16 : 2; John 20 : 1. (But he did not say that it was therefore the Sabbath.) The women brought spices to the grave of the Saviour on that day. Luke 24 : 1. (Which they would not do on the Sabbath. See Luke 23 : 56.) Christ appeared to his disciples on that day, the doors being shut for fear of the Jews. John 20 : 19. (They were not assembled to keep the Sabbath, but had closed the doors for personal safety.) Paul once preached on the evening of the first day, Acts 20 : 4, corresponding with our Saturday night. (But the next morning, answering to our Sunday morning, he continued his journey toward JERUSALEM, nine hundred miles distant!) The Corinthians were commanded to lay by a "collection for the saints" on the first day. 1 Cor. 16 : 2. (This might be money or goods. It was not a public donation, but a private setting apart.) The foregoing, dear reader, are ALL the texts which speak of the "first day of the week." There are just eight of them. But what do they prove? Nothing at all in favor of Sunday. Carefully examined they prove the reverse. The Bible tells us that "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3 : 4. But what law do we "transgress" when we work on Sunday? If the reader will find a text which says, "Thou shalt do no work on the first day of the week," or "Remember Sunday to keep it holy," or its equivalent, then will his Sunday observance, in place of God's Sabbath, stand the test of the Judgment; otherwise it will not. Will you consider this point? The Saviour says, "Blessed are they that do His [i. e., God the Father's ten] commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22 : 14. But where is that commandment that speaks about Sunday? It is not in the Bible, but it is in the Roman Catholic catechisms. Read your Bibles through a hundred times with reference to this subject, and you will each time become more and more convinced of the truthfulness of the following notable facts :—

There is no divine command for Sunday observance.
There is not the least hint of a Sunday institution.
Christ never changed God's Sabbath to Sunday.
He never observed Sunday as the Sabbath.
The apostles never kept Sunday for the Sabbath.
There is no prophecy that Sunday would ever take the place of the Sabbath.
The word Sunday never occurs in the Bible.
Neither God, Christ, angels, nor inspired men, have ever said one word in favor of Sunday as a holy day.

These are the facts in the case in regard to the Sabbath and Sunday, and it is hoped the reader will search the Bible to see whether these things are so. (See Acts 17 : 11.) Again let me inquire, WHICH day do you keep? and why?

G. W. A.