Some final references on ‘Who changed the Sabbath’ ?

The following quote is from a paper presented by Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual, before a meeting of Baptist ministers in Saratoga, New York, August 20, 1893;
“Of course I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of Paganism, and Christened with the name of the Sun-god. Then adopted and sanctified by the Papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism, and the Christian world, just as Easter. …”

A short time later, the conclusions of Dr. Hiscox would be upheld by the March 1894 edition of ‘The Catholic World’, a monthly magazine of General Literature and Science published by the Catholic Church.
“The church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan, Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the feast we celebrate during this season.
Sunday and Easter day are, if we consider their derivation, much the same. In truth all Sundays are Sundays only because they are a weekly, partial recurrence of Easter day. The pagan Sunday was, in a manner, an unconscious preparation for Easter day. The sun was the foremost god of heathendom. … There is, in truth, something royal, kingly about the sun, making it a fit emblem of Jesus, the Sun of Justice. Hence the church in these countries would seem to have said, “keep that old, pagan name. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.” And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder [by the Scandinavians), became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus. (p. 809)”

Other quotes:

It (Mithraism) had so much acceptance that it was able to impose its own Sun-Day in place of the Sabbath, its Sun’s birthday, 25th December, as the birthday of Jesus. Gilbert Murray, essay published in ‘Christianty in the Light of Modern Knowledge’ (“Religion and Philosophy,” pp.73-74).

The History of the Christian Religion and Church during the Three First Centuries by Dr. Augustus Neander “The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic Church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps, at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear at that time to have considered labouring on Sunday as a sin. …
The Jewish Christian Churches, {i.e. Churches consisting of Jewish converts,} although they received the festival of Sunday, retained also that of the Sabbath; and from them the custom spread abroad in the Oriental Church, of distinguishing this day, as well as the Sunday, by not fasting and by praying in an erect posture; in the Western Churches, particularly the Roman, where opposition to Judaism was the prevailing tendency, this very opposition produced the custom of celebrating the Saturday in particular as a fast day.” (Vol. I, p.186)

A Doctrinal Catechism, by Rev. Stephen Keenan, published in 1846 and released in the United States in 1876 .

“Q. Have you any other way of proving that the Church has power to institute festivals of precept?
A. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; – she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority. (p.174)”

The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine by Peter Geiermann, Louis, Missouri, 1909, 16th edition, page 50;

“Q. Which is the Sabbath day?
A. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
Q. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
A. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”

Now, we know the history of who did what and who changed what. But there comes a time when we, like Jeremiah, must draw a line in the sand and recognize the false inheritance that has, without intent, been handed down and refuse to pass this on to the next generations. The greatest inheritance we can leave for our children and our grandchildren is the Truth. “And when your children ask . . .” How will you answer ? shalom –