Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-26
SUNDAY OBSERVANCE
OPEN LETTER TO CLERGY BY
SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIsTs.
Proposition Advanced That Sunday
Keeping and Sunday Legislating Are
Wrong-Bible Quoted.


city present arguments and scriptural quo
tatfons intended to support the contention
of the Seventh Day Adventist Church that
Saturday. rather than Sunday, is the day to
be observed as a day of rest
The open letter Of the Adventist minis
ters, it is stated, is inspired by the reports
of the meeting of Protestant ministers held
here the 18th of this month. when plans
were formulated for opening the new year
with campaign for the better observance
Of Sunday in the city of Washington, and
to secure the passage Of legislation forbid
ding the transaction of certain kinds of
business on Sundays.
The letter referred to is signed by A. G.
Daniels, w. w. Prescott w. A. Spicer, 1.
II. Evans, ]. s. Washburn, Luther Warren,
K. c. Russell G. B. Thompson, w. A: Col
cord, Lewis c. Sheafe, B. G. Wilkinson,
o. o. Farnsworth. V. H. Lucas, r. w.
Mace. They state to the Protestant minis
tiers Of the city that they wish, "in the
spirit of Christian kindness, and as brethren
with you in the ministry, to present from
Bible standpoint what to us appears to be
the truth respecting the Sabbath question,
and why both Sunday keeping and Sunday
legislation are wrong" The writer's declare
that they thoroughly agree with the other
Protestant ministers that there is pressing
need of worldwide campaign in favor of
better Sabbath Keeping" but the Adventist
ministers caution their brethren of other
Christian and is done in Christian way.
Only Bible Command.
In Exodus xx:S-11, the writer's state. is
found the only command in the whole Bible
for weekly Sabbath. This reference
reads: 1.-The seventh day is the Sabbath of
the Lord All through the Bible, the
writer's claim, the seventh day Of the week
is referred to in such terms as MY holy
day" My Sabbaths,'' 1.-The Lords day,
etc. The Adventist ministers declare that
God blessed and sanctified the seventh
day after He had rested upon 1t, and be
cause He had rested; so it was the seventh
day of all future time that God set apart
for a sacred. holy, religious use. AS the
Sabbath was made for man, the rest bless
ing and sanctification are for man.
The writers quote numerous references
from the Old Testament having reference
to the Seventh day and the Sabbath, and
in this connection declare that
commands God placed the seventh-day
Sabbath, thus clearly showing the differ
ence between it and the shadoWy, cere-
monial sabbaths given through Moses.
God intends that everybody shall see this
difference.
Where His ministers put no difference
between the holy and the common, and hid
their eyes from His Sabbath, He complained
Of 1t. and says He is profaned. Geek
xxii:26)
I'm Matt. xxiii:1. we are told that the
before the first day of the week. Luke
tells us that it is the Sabbath according
to the commandment luke, xxiii56l thus
Identifying 1t with the Sabbath of crea-
ton. Every Bible Christian, from Adam
to John the Beloved, honored Gods holy
day; and no professed Christian ever
thought of keeping any other day for the
Sabbath for many, many years after Jesus
went back to Heaven.
savior's Manual Labor.
WV o11 bo
a carpenter, SO we know that, according to
the command He worked at His carpen-
ter's bench six days Sunday included). and
rested the seventh-day Sabbath. To follow
Jesus we must DO as He did.
Jesus magnified the law; that Is, He re-
vealed things in 1t that had not been seen:
He taught that hatred is murder; an evil
the Sabbath. and made it honorable by
tearing away the burdens placed upon it by
the Jews, and revealing in it. by His acts
Of bfeaKns thy He
responded: 1t Is lawful to do we'll on the
Sabbath days. that Is, 1t is according to
the law. Matt. xii:12)"
In summing up the argument, the Ad-
ventist ministers say:
In the face of ali this evidence from the
Christians standard, the Bible, how Is it
been resting upon another day and tread
ing under foot Gods holy day?
THE Bible gives a clear answer to this
lei is revealed power that should fight
against God, His people, and His law. In
Daniel rs we are told that this power
would wear out the saints of the Most
High, and think to change times and
laws The people and law Of the Most
High were to be in the hands OF this power
for 1,260 years.
pagan times Little by little, as the bars
were let down to accommodate the prac-
tees Of the heather, the people, though still
all keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, were
to the first day of the week because Christ
rose from the dead on that day. Satan
was thus paving the way for his contem-
plated change in the law of God.
Constantine's Sunday Law.
"In A. D. 321, Constantine, a pagan en-
peror, made a Sunday law. Constantine
was a sun worshiper. and in his law he
calls Sunday the venerable day Of the sum-
Worldly bishops united with the pagan
emperor to lead the people to honor the
heather Sunday, and trample under foot
the Lords day.
I'm A. d. 364 at the council of Laodicea
the fallen church mathematical all who
should keep the Sabbath, and commanded
every one to honor the Sunday The dark
ages followed, during which Sabbath-keep-
ers We're killed and banishd. The true
church was in the wilderness. Rev., xii:6-
14.)
Now, God appeals to His true children,
both Catholic and Protestant, to take their
feet off from His holy day, and call 1t hon.
orable the holy Of the Lord, and by thus
honoring the true God, help to build up
again the breach that was made in Gods
law. Qsa., cviii:1, ., 12-14)
State Laws.
To-day nearly all the states of our Union
contain laws honoring the Sunday, while
the Lords day is constantly trampled under
foot and made the busiest day Of all the
week. At the present moment two Sunday
bills are pending before the lawmakers
here at the seat OF government. There is
also a widespread movement among nearly
all religious bodies in favor of a universal
Sunday law.
Dear brethren, may God help us to
Msten to His appeal, turn away from man.
made institutions. and honor the Creator
and Redeemer. To our mind, we have
reached the time foretold by the Apostle
Paul, when many are turned away from
the truth and are turned unto fables. e
Tim, iv:1-4) Let us be careful that we do
nothing to encourage this condition.
III any position here set forth is not in
harmony with the truth. we shall be glad
to have it pointed out from the Scriptures.
We desire only the truth.
Trusting you will not be offended by
thnoa 1nf ufn 0rn With Love