That the first day of the week has no claim to the title of Lord’s day,
the following facts will show: 1. That, as this text does not define the
term Lord’s day, we must look elsewhere in the Bible for the evidence
that shows the first day to be entitled to such a designation. 2. That
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and Paul, the other sacred writers who mention the
day, use no other designation for it than first day of the week, a name
to which it was entitled as one of the six working days. Yet three of
these writers mention it at the very time when it is said to have become
the Lord’s day; and two of them mention it also some thirty years after
that event. 3. That while it is claimed that the Spirit of inspiration,
by simply leading John to use the term Lord’s day, though he did in no
wise connect the first day of the week therewith, did design to fix this
as the proper title of the first day of the week, it is a remarkable
fact that after John returned from the isle of Patmos he wrote his
gospel;[410] and in that gospel he twice mentioned the first day of the
week; yet in each of these instances where it is certain that first-day
is intended, no other designation is used than plain first day of the
week. This is a most convincing proof that John did not regard the first
day of the week as entitled to this name, or any other, expressive of
sacredness. 4. What still further decides the point against the first
day of the week is the fact that neither the Father nor the Son have
ever claimed the first day in any higher sense than they have each of
the six days given to man for labor. 5. And what completes the chain of
evidence against the claim of first day to this title is the fact that
the testimony adduced by first-day advocates to prove that it has been
adopted by the Most High in place of that day which he once claimed as
his, having been examined, is found to have no such meaning or intent.
In setting aside the third answer, also, as not being in accordance with
truth, the first day of the week may be properly dismissed with it, as
having no claim to our regard as a scriptural institution.[411]
That the Lord’s day is the Bible Sabbath, admits of clear and certain
proof. The argument stands thus: When God gave to man six days of the
week for labor, he did expressly reserve unto himself the seventh, on
which he placed his blessing in memory of his own act of resting upon
that day, and thenceforward, through the Bible, has ever claimed it
as his holy day. As he has never put away this sacred day and chosen
another, the Sabbath of the Lord is still his holy day. These facts may
be traced in the following scriptures. At the close of the Creator’s
rest, it is said:—
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because
that in it he had rested from all his work which God created
and made.”[412]
After the children of Israel had reached the wilderness of Sin, Moses
said to them on the sixth day:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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