The second reference to Sunday is to be found in St. John's Gospel,
20th chapter, 26th to 29th verses: "And after eight days, the disciples were again within, and Thomas with them."
The resurrected Redeemer availed Himself of this meeting of all the apostles to confound the incredulity of Thomas, who had
been absent from the gathering on Easter Sunday evening. This would have furnished a golden opportunity to the Redeemer to
change the day in the presence of all His apostles, but we state the simple fact that, on this occasion, as on Easter day,
not a word is said of prayer, praise, or reading of the Scriptures. The third instance on record, wherein the apostles
were assembled on Sunday, is to be found in Acts 2:1: "The apostles were all of one accord in one place."
(Feast of Pentecost — Sunday.) Now, will this text afford to our Biblical Christian brethren a vestige of hope that
Sunday substitutes, at length, Saturday? For when we inform them that the Jews had been keeping this Sunday
for 1500 years, and have been keeping it for eighteen centuries after the establishment of Christianity, at the same time
keeping the weekly Sabbath, there is not to be found either consolation or comfort in this text. Pentecost is the fiftieth
day after the Passover, which was called the Sabbath of weeks, consisting of seven times seven days; and the day after the
completion of the seventh weekly Sabbath day, was the chief day of the entire festival, necessarily Sunday. What Israelite
would not pity the cause that would seek to discover the origin of the keeping of the first day of the week in his festival
of Pentecost, that has been kept by him yearly for over 3,000 years? Who but the Biblical Christian, driven to the wall for
a pretext to excuse his sacrilegious desecration of the Sabbath, always kept by Christ and His apostles, would have resorted
to the Jewish festival of Pentecost for his act of rebellion against his God and his teacher, the Bible? Once more,
the Biblical apologists for the change of day call our attention to the Acts, chapter 20, verses 6 and 7: "and
upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread," etc. To all appearances,
the above text should furnish some consolation to our disgruntled Biblical friends, but being Marplot, we cannot allow them
even this crumb of comfort. We reply by the axiom: "Quod probat nimis, probat nihil" — "What
proves too much, proves nothing." Let us call attention to the same Acts 2:46: "And they, continuing daily
in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house," etc. Who does not see at a glance that the text produced
to prove the exclusive prerogative of Sunday, vanishes into thin air — an ignis fatuus — when
placed in juxtaposition with the 46th verse of the same chapter? What Biblical Christian claims by this text for Sunday
alone the same authority, St. Luke, informs us was common to every day of the week: "And
they, continuing daily in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house." One text
more presents itself, apparently leaning toward a substitution of Sunday for Saturday. It is taken from St. Paul, 1Corinthians
16:1, 2: "Now concerning the collection for the saints," "On the first day of the
week, let every one of you lay by him in store," etc. Presuming that the request of St. Paul had been strictly
attended to, let us call attention to what had been done each Saturday during the Saviour's life and continued for thirty
years after, as the book of Acts informs us. The followers of the Master met "every Sabbath"
to hear the word of God; the Scriptures were read "every Sabbath day." "And Paul,
as his manner was to reason in the synagogue every Sabbath, interposing the same of the Lord Jesus Christ,"
etc. Acts 18:4. What more absurd conclusion that to infer that reading of the Scriptures, prayer, exhortation, and preaching,
which formed the routine duties of every Saturday, as had been abundantly proved, were overslaughed by a
request to take up a collection on another day of the week? In order to appreciate fully the value
of this text now under consideration, it is only needful to recall the action of the apostles and holy women on Good Friday
before sundown. They brought spices and ointments after He was taken down from the cross; they suspended all action until
the Sabbath "holy to the Lord" had passed, and then took steps on Sunday morning to complete the process of embalming
the sacred body of Jesus. Why, may we ask, did they not proceed to complete the work of embalming on Saturday? —
Because they knew well that the embalming of the sacred body of their Master would interfere with the strict observance of
the Sabbath, the keeping of which was paramount; and until it can be shown that the Sabbath day immediately preceding
the Sunday of our text had not been kept (which would be false, inasmuch as every Sabbath had been kept),
the request of St. Paul to make the collection on Sunday remains to be classified with the work of the embalming
of Christ's body, which could not be effected on the Sabbath, and was consequently deferred to the next convenient day;
viz., Sunday, or the first day of the week. Having disposed of every text to be found in the New Testament referring
to the Sabbath (Saturday), and to the first day of the week (Sunday); and having shown conclusively from these texts, that,
so far, not a shadow of pretext can be found in the Sacred Volume for the Biblical substitution of Sunday for Saturday; it
only remains for us to investigate the meaning of the expressions "Lord's Day," and "day of the Lord,"
to be found in the New Testament, which we propose to do in our next article, and conclude with apposite remarks on the incongruities
of a system of religion which we shall have proved to be indefensible, self-contradictory, and suicidal.
[From the Catholic Mirror of Sept. 23, 1893] "Halting
on crutches of unequal size,
One leg by truth supported, one by lies,
Thus sidle to the goal with
awkward pace,
Secure of nothing but to lose the race."
In the present article
we propose to investigate carefully a new (and the last) class of proof assumed to convince the Biblical Christian that God
had substituted Sunday for Saturday for His worship in the new law, and that the divine will is to be found recorded by the
Holy Ghost in apostolic writings. We are informed that this radical change has found expression, over and over again,
in a series of texts in which the expression, "the day of the Lord," or "the Lord's day," is to be
found. The class of texts in the New Testament, under the title "Sabbath," numbering sixty-one in the Gospels,
Acts, and Epistles; and the second class, in which "the first day of the week," or Sunday, having been critically
examined (the latter class numbering nine [eight]); and having been found not to afford the slightest clue to a change of
will on the part of God as to His day of worship by man, we now proceed to examine the third and last class of texts relied
on to save the Biblical system from the arraignment of seeking to palm off on the world, in the name of God, a decree for
which there is not the slightest warrant or authority from their teacher, the Bible. References to "Day
of the Lord" or "Lord's Day" The first text of this class is to be found in the Acts of
the Apostles 2:20: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable
day of the Lord shall come." How many Sundays have rolled by since that prophecy was spoken? So much for that
effort to pervert the meaning of the sacred text from the judgment day to Sunday! The second text of this class is to
be found in 1Corinthians 1:8: "Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. " What simpleton does not see that the apostle here plainly indicates
the day of judgment? The next text of this class that presents itself is to be found in the same Epistle, chapter 5:5 "To deliver
such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."
The incestuous Corinthian was, of course, saved on the Sunday next following!! How pitiable such a makeshift
as this! The fourth text, 2Corinthians 1:13,14: "And I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end, even as ye also are
ours in the day of the Lord Jesus." Sunday or the day of judgment, which? The fifth text is from St. Paul to the Philippians, chapter 1, verse 6: "Being confident of this very thing,
that He who hath begun a good work in you, will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ."
The good people of Philippi, in attaining perfection on the following Sunday, could afford to laugh at our
modern rapid transit! We beg to submit our sixth of the class; viz., Philippians, first chapter, tenth verse: "That he may be sincere
without offense unto the day of Christ." That day was next Sunday, forsooth!
no so long to wait after all, The seventh text, 2 Peter 3:10 "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night."
The application of this text to Sunday passes the bounds of absurdity. The eighth text, 2 Peter 3:12: "Waiting for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord,
by which the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved," etc. This day of the Lord is the same referred to in
the previous text, the application of both of which to Sunday next would have left the Christian world sleepless
the next Saturday night. We have presented to our readers eight of the nine texts relied on to bolster up by text of
Scripture the sacrilegious effort to palm off the "Lord's day" for Sunday, and with what result? Each furnishes
prima facie evidence of the last day, referring to it directly, absolutely, and unequivocally. The ninth text wherein we meet the expression "the Lord's day," is the last to be found in the apostolic writings.
The Apocalypse, or Revelation, chapter 1:10, furnishes it in the following words of John: "I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day;" but it will afford no more comfort to our Biblical friends than its predecessors of
the same series. Has St. John used the expression previously in his Gospel or Epistles? — Emphatically, NO. Has he had
occasion to refer to Sunday hitherto? —Yes, twice. How did he designate Sunday on these occasions? Easter Sunday was
called by him (John 20:1) "the first day of the week." Again, chapter twenty, nineteenth
verse: "Now when it was late that same day, being the first day of the week."
Evidently, although inspired, both in his Gospel and Epistles, he called Sunday "the first day of the week." On
what grounds, then, can it be assumed that he dropped that designation? Was he more inspired when he wrote
the Apocalypse, or did he adopt a new title for Sunday, because it was now in vogue? A reply to these questions would
be supererogatory especially to the latter, seeing that the same expression had been used eight times already by St. Luke,
St. Paul and St. Peter, all under divine inspiration, and surely the Holy Spirit would not inspire St. John
to call Sunday the Lord's day, whilst He inspired Sts. Luke, Paul, and Peter, collectively, to entitle the day of judgment
"the Lord's day." Dialecticians reckon amongst the infallible motives of certitude, the moral motive of analogy
or induction, by which we are enabled to conclude with certainty from the known to the unknown; being absolutely certain of
the meaning of an expression can have only the same meaning when uttered the ninth time, especially when we know that on the
nine occasions the expressions were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Nor are the strongest intrinsic grounds
wanting to prove that this, like its sister texts, contains the same meaning. St. John (Revelation 1:10) says "I
was in the Spirit on the Lord's day; " but he furnishes us the key to this expression, chapter four, first
and second verses: "After this I looked and behold a door opened in heaven." A voice said to him:
"Come up hither, and I will show you the things which must be hereafter." Let
us ascend in spirit with John. Whither? — through that "door in heaven," to heaven. And what shall we see?
— "The things that must be hereafter," chapter four, first verse. He ascended in spirit to heaven. He was
ordered to write, in full, his vision of what is to take place antecedent to, and concomitantly with, "the Lord's
day," or the day of judgment; the expression "Lord's day" being confined in Scripture to the day of judgment
exclusively. [Note: The "Lord's Day" of the Book of Revelation was referring to God's day
of judgement, not to Sunday!] We have studiously and accurately collected from the New Testament every available proof
that could be adduced in favor of a law canceling the Sabbath day of the old law, or one substituting another day for the
Christian dispensation. We have been careful to make the above distinction, lest it might be advanced that the third (6) commandment
was abrogated under the new law. Any such plea has been overruled by the action of the Methodist Episcopal bishops in their pastoral 1874, and quoted by the
New York Herald of the same date, of the following tenor: "The Sabbath instituted in
the beginning and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of
the moral law, not a part or tittle of its sanctity has been taken away." The above official pronunciamento
has committed that large body of Biblical Christians to the permanence of the third commandment under the new law. [Note
(6): In the Catholic enumeration of Exodus 20, the Sabbath commandment is the third of the ten commandments.] We again
beg to leave to call the special attention of our readers to the twentieth of "the thirty-nine articles of religion"
of the Book of Common Prayer; "It is not lawful for the church to ordain anything that is contrary to God's
written word." CONCLUSION We have in this series of articles, taken
much pains for the instruction of our readers to prepare them by presenting a number of undeniable facts
found in the word of God to arrive at a conclusion absolutely irrefragable. When the Biblical system put in an appearance
in the sixteenth century, it not only seized on the temporal possessions of the Church, but in its vandalic crusade stripped
Christianity, as far as it could, of all the sacraments instituted by its Founder, of the holy sacrifice, etc., etc., retaining
nothing but the Bible, which its exponents pronounced their sole teacher in Christian doctrine and morals. Chief
amongst their articles of belief was, and is today, the permanent necessity of keeping the Sabbath holy. In fact, it has been
for the past 300 years the only article of the Christian belief in which there has been a plenary consensus of Biblical representatives.
The keeping of the Sabbath constitutes the sum and substance of the Biblical theory. The pulpits resound weekly with incessant
tirades against the lax manner of keeping the Sabbath in Catholic countries, as contrasted with the proper, Christian, self-satisfied
mode of keeping the day in Biblical countries. Who can ever forget the virtuous indignation manifested by the Biblical preachers
throughout the length and breadth of our country, from every Protestant pulpit, as long as yet undecided; and who does not
know today, that one sect, to mark its holy indignation at the decision, has never yet opened the boxes that contained its
articles at the World's Fair? These superlatively good and unctuous Christians, by conning over their Bible carefully,
can find their counterpart in a certain class of unco-good people in the days of the Redeemer, who haunted Him night and day,
distressed beyond measure, and scandalized beyond forbearance, because He did not keep the Sabbath in as straight-laced manner
as themselves. Protestants have never kept God's Sabbath They hated Him for
using common sense in reference to the day, and He found no epithets expressive enough of His supreme contempt for their Pharisaical
pride. And it is very probably that the divine mind has not modified its views today anent the blatant outcry of their followers
and sympathizers at the close of this nineteenth century. But when we add to all this the fact that whilst the Pharisees of
old kept the true Sabbath, our modern Pharisees, counting on the credulity and simplicity of their dupes,
have never once in their lives kept the true Sabbath which their divine Master kept to His dying day, and
which His apostles kept, after His example, for thirty years steward, according to the Sacred Record, the most glaring contradiction,
involving a deliberate sacrilegious rejection of a most positive precept, is presented to us today in the action of the Biblical
Christian world. The Bible and the Sabbath constitute the watchword of Protestantism; but we have demonstrated that it is
the Bible against their Sabbath. We have shown that no greater contradiction ever existed than their theory
and practice. We have proved that neither their Biblical ancestors nor themselves have ever kept one Sabbath day in their
lives. [Note: Wow! Did you get that? The Bible, the very words of God, demonstrate evidence against a Sunday
day of worship!] The Israelites and Seventh-day Adventists are witnesses of their weekly desecration of the day named
by God so repeatedly, and whilst they have ignored and condemned their teacher, the Bible, they have adopted a day kept by
the Catholic Church. What Protestant can, after perusing these articles, with a clear conscience, continue to disobey the
command of God, enjoining Saturday to be kept, which command his teacher, the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation,
records as the will of God? [Note: Remember the paragraph above--Protestants have ultimately kept Sunday out
of tradition from the church they came from-the Catholics-and NOT the Bible! So says the Catholics from whom they got this
day of worship!] The history of the world cannot present a more stupid, self-stultifying specimen of dereliction of
principle than this. The teacher demands emphatically in every page that the law of the Sabbath be observed every week, by
all recognizing it as "the only infallible teacher," whilst the disciples of that teacher have not once for over
three hundred years observed the divine precept! That immense concourse of Biblical Christians, the Methodists, have declared
that the Sabbath has never been abrogated, whilst the followers of the Church of England, together with her daughter, the
Episcopal Church of the United States, are committed by the twentieth article of religion, already quoted, to the ordinance
that the Church cannot lawfully ordain anything "contrary to God's written word." God's
written word enjoins His worship to be observed on Saturday absolutely, repeatedly, and most emphatically,
with a most positive threat of death to him who disobeys. All the Biblical sects occupy the same self-stultifying position
which no explanation can modify, much less justify. How truly do the words of the Holy Spirit apply to this deplorable
situation! "Iniquitas mentita est sibi" — "Iniquity hath lied to itself." Proposing
to follow the Bible only as teacher, yet before the world, the sole teacher is ignominiously
thrust aside, and the teaching and practice of the Catholic Church — "the mother of abomination," when it
suits their purpose so to designate her — adopted, despite the most terrible threats pronounced by God Himself against
those who disobey the command, "Remember to keep holy the Sabbath." Sunday as day of worship is
Catholic creation Before closing this series of articles, we beg to call the attention of our readers once
more to our caption, introductory of each; viz., 1. The Christian Sabbath, the genuine offspring of the union of the Holy
Spirit with the Catholic Church His spouse. 2. The claim of Protestantism to any part therein proved to be groundless, self-contradictory,
and suicidal. The first proposition needs little proof. The Catholic Church for over one thousand years before the existence
of a Protestant, by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. We say by virtue of her divine
mission, because He who called Himself the "Lord of the Sabbath," endowed her with His own power to teach, "he
that heareth you, heareth Me;" commanded all who believe in Him to hear her, under penalty of being placed with "heathen
and publican;" and promised to be with her to the end of the world. She holds her charter as teacher from Him —
a charter as infallible as perpetual. The Protestant world at its birth found the Christian Sabbath too strongly entrenched
to run counter to its existence; it was therefore placed under the necessity of acquiescing in the arrangement, thus implying
the Church's right to change the day, for over three hundred years. The Christian Sabbath is therefore to this
day, the acknowledged offspring of the Catholic Church as spouse of the Holy Ghost, without a word of remonstrance
from the Protestant world. Let us now, however, take a glance at our second proposition, with the Bible alone
as the teacher and guide in faith and morals. This teacher most emphatically forbids any change in the day for paramount
reasons. The command calls for a "perpetual covenant." The day commanded to be kept by
the teacher has never once been kept, thereby developing an apostasy from an assumedly fixed principle, as
self-contradictory, self-stultifying, and consequently as suicidal as it is within the power of language to express. Nor
are the limits of demoralization yet reached. Far from it. Their pretense for leaving the bosom of the Catholic
Church was for apostasy from the truth as taught in the written word. They adopted the written word as their
sole teacher, which they had no sooner done than they abandoned it promptly, as these articles have abundantly proved; and
by a perversity as willful as erroneous, they accept the teaching of the Catholic Church in direct opposition to the plain,
unvaried, and constant teaching of their sole teacher in the most essential doctrine of their religion, thereby emphasizing
the situation in what may be aptly designated "a mockery, a delusion, and a snare." [EDITORS' NOTE (Written
by Michael Scheifler). — It was upon this very point that the Reformation was condemned by the Council of Trent. The
Reformers had constantly charged, as here stated, that the Catholic Church had "apostatized from the truth as
contained in the written word. "The written word," "The Bible and the Bible only," "Thus
saith the Lord," these were their constant watchwords; and "the Scripture, as in the written word, the sole standard
of appeal," this was the proclaimed platform of the Reformation and of Protestantism. "The Scripture and
tradition." The Bible as interpreted by the Church and according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers,"
this was the position and claim of the Catholic Church. This was the main issue in the Council of Trent, which was called
especially to consider the questions that had been raised and forced upon the attention of Europe by the Reformers. The
very first question concerning faith that was considered by the council was the question involved in this issue. There was
a strong party even of the Catholics within the council who were in favor of abandoning tradition and adopting the
Scriptures only, as the standard of authority. This view was so decidedly held in the debates in the council that
the pope's legates actually wrote to him that there was "a strong tendency to set aside tradition altogether and
to make Scripture the sole standard of appeal." But to do this would manifestly be to go a long way toward justifying
the claims of the Protestants. By this crisis there was developed upon the ultra-Catholic portion of the council the task
of convincing the others that "Scripture and tradition" were the only sure ground to stand upon.
If this could be done, the council could be carried to issue a decree condemning the Reformation, otherwise not. The question
was debated day after day, until the council was fairly brought to a standstill. Finally, after a long and intensive mental
strain, the Archbishop of Reggio came into the council with substantially the following argument to the party who held for
Scripture alone: "The Protestants claim to stand upon the written word only. They profess to hold the
Scripture alone as the standard of faith. They justify their revolt by the plea that the Church has apostatized from the written
word and follows tradition. Now the Protestants claim, that they stand upon the written word only, is not true. Their profession
of holding the Scripture alone as the standard of faith, is false. PROOF: The written word explicitly enjoins the observance
of the seventh day as the Sabbath. They do not observe the seventh day, but reject it. If they do truly hold the scripture
alone as their standard, they would be observing the seventh day as is enjoined in the Scripture throughout. Yet they not
only reject the observance of the Sabbath enjoined in the written word, but they have adopted and do practice the observance
of Sunday, for which they have only the tradition of the Church. Consequently the claim of 'Scripture alone as the standard,'
fails; and the doctrine of 'Scripture and tradition' as essential, is fully established,
the Protestants themselves being judges."
[The Archbisop of Reggio (Gaspar [Ricciulli] de Fosso) made
his speech at the last opening session of Trent, (17th Session) reconvened under a new pope (Pius IV), on the 18th of January,
1562 after having been suspended in 1552. — J. H. Holtzman, Canon and Tradition, published in Ludwigsburg,
Germany, in 1859, page 263, and Archbishop of Reggio's address in the 17th session of the Council of Trent, Jan. 18, 1562,
in Mansi SC, Vol. 33, cols. 529, 530. Latin.] There was no getting around this, for the Protestants' own statement
of faith — the Augsburg Confession, 1530 — had clearly admitted that "the observation of the Lord's day"
had been appointed by "the Church" only. The argument was hailed in the council as of Inspiration only; the
party for "Scripture alone," surrendered; and the council at once unanimously condemned Protestantism and the whole
Reformation as only an unwarranted revolt from the communion and authority of the Catholic Church; and proceeded, April 8,
1546, "to the promulgation of two decrees, the first of which, enacts under anathema, that Scripture and tradition
are to be received and venerated equally, and that the deutero-canonical [the apocryphal] books are part of the canon of Scripture.
The second decree declares the Vulgate to be the sole authentic and standard Latin version, and gives it such authority as
to supersede the original texts; forbids the interpretation of Scripture contrary to the sense received by the Church, 'or
even contrary to the unanimous consent of the Fathers,'" etc. (7) [Note: (7)- See the proceedings of the Council;
Augsburg Confession; and Encyclopaedia Britannica, article "Trent, Council of."] This was the inconsistency
of the Protestant practice with the Protestant profession that gave to the Catholic Church her long-sought and anxiously desired
ground upon which to condemn Protestantism and the whole Reformation movement as only a selfishly ambitious rebellion against
the Church authority. And in this vital controversy the key, the chiefest and culminative expression, of the Protestant inconsistency
was in the rejection of the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, enjoined in the Scriptures, and the adoption and observance
of the Sunday as enjoined by the Catholic Church. And this is today the position of the respective parties to this controversy.
Today, as this document shows, this is the vital issue upon which the Catholic Church arraigns Protestantism, and upon which
she condemns the course of popular Protestantism as being "indefensible", "self-contradictory, and suicidal."
(end of editor's note)] Should any of the reverend parsons, who are habituated to howl so vociferously over every
real or assumed desecration of that pious fraud, the Bible Sabbath, think well of entering a protest against
our logical and Scriptural dissection of their mongrel pet, we can promise them that any reasonable attempt on their part
to gather up the disjecta membra of the hybrid, and to restore to it a galvanized existence, with be met
with genuine cordiality and respectful consideration on our part. But we can assure our readers that we know these reverend
howlers too well to expect a solitary bark from them in this instance. And they know us too well to subject themselves to
the mortification which a further dissection of this antiscriptural question would necessarily entail. Their policy now is
to "lay low," and they are sure to adopt it. APPENDIX I These articles are reprinted,
and this leaflet is sent forth by the publishers, because it gives from an undeniable source and in no uncertain tone, the
latest phase of the Sunday-observance controversy, which is now, and which indeed for some time has been, not only a national
question with the leading nations, but also an international question. Not that we are glad to have it so; we would that Protestants
everywhere were so thoroughly consistent in profession and practice that there could be no possible room for the relations
between them and Rome ever to take the shape which they have now taken. But the situation in this matter is now as it
is herein set forth. There is no escaping this fact. It therefore becomes the duty of the International Religious Liberty
Association to make known as widely as possible the true phase of this great question as it now stands. Not because we are
pleased to have it so, but because it is so, whatever we or anybody else would or would not be pleased to have. It is
true that we have been looking for years for this question to assume precisely the attitude which it has now assumed, and
which is so plainly set forth in this leaflet. We have told the people repeatedly, and Protestants especially, and yet more
especially have we told those who were advocating Sunday laws and the recognition and legal establishment of Sunday by the
United States, that in the course that was being pursued they were playing directly into the hands of Rome, and that as certainly
as they succeeded, they would inevitably be called upon by Rome, and Rome in possession of power too, to render to her an
account as to why Sunday should be kept. This, we have told the people for years, would surely come. And now that it has
come, it is only our duty to make it known as widely as it lies in our power to do. It may be asked, Why did not Rome
come out as boldly as this before? Why did she wait so long? It was not for her interest to do so before. When she should
move, she desired to move with power, and power as yet she did not have. But in their strenuous efforts for the national,
governmental recognition and establishment of Sunday, the Protestants of the United States were doing more for her than she
could possibly do for herself in the way of getting governmental power into her hands. This she well knew, and therefore only
waited. And now that the Protestants, in alliance with her, have accomplished the awful thing, she at once rises up in all
her native arrogance and old-time spirit, and calls upon the Protestants to answer to her for their observance of Sunday.
This, too, she does because she is secure in the power which the Protestants have so blindly placed in her hands. In other
words, the power which the Protestants have thus put into her hands she will now use to their destruction. Is any other evidence
needed to show that the Catholic Mirror (which means the Cardinal and the Catholic Church in America) has
been waiting for this, than that furnished on page 21 of this leaflet? Please turn back and look at that page, and see that
quotation clipped from the New York Herald in 1874, and which is now brought forth thus. Does not this show plainly that that
statement of the Methodist bishops, the Mirror, all these nineteen years, has been keeping for just such
a time as this? And more than this, the Protestants will find more such things which have been so laid up, and which will
yet be used in a way that will both surprise and confound them. This at present is a controversy between the Catholic
Church and Protestants. As such only do we reproduce these editorials of the CATHOLIC MIRROR. The points controverted are
points which are claimed by Protestants as in their favor. The argument is made by the Catholic Church; the answer devolves
upon those Protestants who observe Sunday, not upon us. We can truly say, "This is none of our funeral." If they
do not answer, she will make their silence their confession that she is right, and will act toward them accordingly. If they
do answer, she will use against them their own words, and as occasion may demand, the power which they have put into her hands.
So that, so far as she is concerned, whether the Protestant answer or not, it is all the same. And how she looks upon them
henceforth is clearly manifested in the challenge made in the last paragraph of the reprint articles. There is just
one refuge left for the Protestants. that is to take their stand squarely and fully upon the "written word only,"
"the Bible and the Bible alone," and thus upon the Sabbath of the Lord. Thus acknowledging no authority but God's,
wearing no sign but His (Ezekiel 20:12,20), obeying His command, and shielded by His power, they shall have the victory over
Rome and all her alliances, and stand upon the sea of glass, bearing the harps of God, with which their triumph shall be forever
celebrated. (Revelation 18, and 15:2-4.) It is not yet too late for Protestants to redeem themselves. Will they do it?
Will they stand consistently upon the Protestant profession? or will they still continue to occupy the "indefensible,
self-contradictory, and suicidal" position of professing to be Protestants, yet standing on Catholic ground, receiving
Catholic insult, and bearing Catholic condemnation? Will they indeed take the written word only, the Scripture alone, as their
sole authority and their sole standard? or will they still hold the "indefensible, self-contradictory, and suicidal"
doctrine and practice of following the authority of the Catholic Church and of wearing the sign of her authority? Will they
keep the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, according to Scripture? or will they keep the Sunday according to the tradition
of the Catholic Church? Dear reader, which will YOU do? APPENDIX II Since
the first edition of this publication was printed, the following appeared in an editorial in the Catholic Mirror of
Dec. 23, 1893: The avidity with which these editorials have been sought, and the appearance of a reprint of them by
the International Religious Liberty Association, published in Chicago, entitled, 'Rome's Challenge: Why Do Protestants
Keep Sunday?' and offered for sale in Chicago, New York, California, Tennessee, London, Australia, Cape Town, Africa,
and Ontario, Canada, together with the continuous demand, have prompted the Mirror to give permanent form
to them, and thus comply with the demand. "The pages of this brochure unfold to the reader one of the most glaringly
conceivable contradictions existing between the practice and the theory of the Protestant world, and unsusceptible of any
rational solution, the theory claiming the Bible alone as teacher, which unequivocally and most positively commands Saturday
to be kept 'holy,' whilst their practice proves that they utterly ignore the unequivocal requirements of their teacher,
the Bible, and occupying Catholic ground for three centuries and a half, by the abandonment of their theory, they stand before
the world today the representatives of a system the most indefensible, self-contradictory, and suicidal that can be imagined. "We
feel that we cannot interest our readers more than to produce the 'Appendix' (8) which the International Religious
Liberty Association, and ultra-Protestant organization, has added to the reprint of our articles. The perusal of the Appendix
will confirm the fact that our argument is unanswerable, and that the only recourse left to the Protestants is either to retire
from Catholic territory where they have been squatting for three centuries and a half, and accepting their own teacher, the
Bible, in good faith, as so clearly suggested by the writer of 'Appendix,' commence forth-with to keep the Saturday,
the day enjoined by the Bible from Genesis to Revelation; or, abandoning the Bible as their sole teacher, cease to be squatters,
and a living contradiction of their own principles, and taking out letters of adoption as citizens of the kingdom of Christ
on earth — His Church — be no longer victims of self-delusive and necessary self-contradiction. [Note: (8)
At the close of this editorial, Appendix I of this pamphlet was reprinted in full.] "The arguments contained in
this pamphlet are firmly grounded on the word of God, and having been closely studied with the Bible in hand, leave no escape
for the conscientious Protestant except the abandonment of Sunday worship and the return to Saturday, commanded by their teacher,
the Bible, or, unwilling to abandon the tradition of the Catholic Church, which enjoins the keeping of Sunday, and which they
have accepted in direct opposition to their teacher, the Bible, consistently accept her in all her teachings. Reason
and common sense demand the acceptance of one or the other of these alternatives; either Protestantism and the keeping
of Saturday, or Catholicity and the keeping of Sunday. Compromise is impossible." |
