The following questions and answers are taken from Catholic books and papers.
1. Does the Catholic church acknowledge that it has changed the Sabbath?
Answer: It does.
2. How do you prove that the church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
Answer: By the very fact of changing the Sabbath into Sunday which protestants allow of; therefore they fondly contradict themselves by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feast days commanded by the same church. Abridgment of Christian Doctrine, by Henry Tuberville, D.D., of Douay College, France (1649), page 58.
3. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
Answer: Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which modern religionists agree. 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. A Doctrinal Catechism, by Stephen Keenan, page 174, of Catholic doctrine.
“The Catholic Church of its own infallible authority created Sunday a holy day to take the place of the Sabbath of the old law,” Kansas City Catholic, Feb. 9, 1893.
“The Catholic Church, . . . by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday,” Catholic Mirror, official organ of Cardinal Gibbons, Sept. 23, 1893.
The above statements are taken from Catholic works printed and put out by that church, and they show plainly that the Catholics set Sunday up as a sign to mark their power and boast that they changed the day, which even exalts them above God Who blessed and set apart the seventh day of the week to commemorate His power in the creation of heaven and earth.
The first day of the week is nowhere mentioned in the entire Bible as a day of rest or worship. None of the patriarchs or prophets honored it in any way. The Catholic church keeps Sunday today, and they have always kept it since they commenced to do so, as they boast “Rome never changes.” They compelled the whole world to keep it during the 1260 years of their rule, and killed everyone who would not do so, putting Sunday up in its place. This they boast of in their own books, and history also affirms it. (See Index of this book for subject on “The Change of the Sabbath.”) Sunday stands, today, as a sign of their greatness. It is a mark everywhere apparent of the time when they ruled the world, and shows the extent of their rule and power, as the whole world honors Sunday. The Bible says the whole world wondered after the beast, Revelation 13:3, and this was true, for the light of the Third Angel’s Message has not yet been heeded by many. As the true Sabbath is a memorial of God’s great power in creating the world, so Sunday is a memorial to the world, of the past greatness of the beast and the church that sustained him and united with him. The Catholics boast of the fact that Sunday is a sign of their power. They say there is nothing in the scriptures for keeping it, but the Catholic church gave it to the world, and the world bows in obedience.
4. As chapters 12 to 18 inclusive, of Revelation are all devoted to this beast power, and of the consequences of worshipping him, or refraining from worshipping him, where is he especially mentioned further in these chapters?
The dragon in chapter 12 or Pagan Rome that tried to destroy Christ gives up its power and great authority to this beast (chap. 13:2, 4). In chapter 17 the beast is again brought to view with the woman (or church) riding it, wherein it is spoken of in verse 8 and 11 as the beast that was, and is not and yet is. The beast is a type of the Roman empire, and the woman (or church) symbolizing the Catholic church is riding upon and controlling it.
See index of book for topic “The Change of the Sabbath.”
NOTE: The beast that was, as mentioned here, we can all see was the Roman Empire with the Catholic church riding upon it. The beast that is not, is the same. We are only now just coming out of the period when it was wounded, and was in the place of confinement or isolation. No nation or king has, during the past one hundred years until recently, honored the Pope in any way. We have been passing through the period when the beast was and is not. The eleventh verse of this chapter declares however, that the same beast that was and is not, is yet going to be. It is marvelous today how rapidly this power is again coming to the front and gaining supremacy over the nations. Thirteen countries of the world have begun sending ambassadors to the Pope at Rome, since the close of the World War, and England is one of this number. The reviving of this same court that was described in the prophecies of the Bible, as a beast, is now not only seen coming, but it is here. It has not yet gained the power that it is seeking and will yet usurp and hold for a brief period, but within a few years the remaining prophecies of this chapter will be just as apparently fulfilled as all others in the past.
The message that has come to the reader of this book is going to the whole world. It is the Third Angel’s message, and God is expecting each one to heed and obey the warning. If they continue, however, worshipping the beast, receiving his mark in their foreheads and hands, God will pour out upon them the dregs of the cup of his indignation, as in verses 10 and 11 of chapter 14. This is the warning message of the time. This beast can now be seen, as he marches forward and onward, but the victory is going to be won this time by the saints of the Most High, who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. This mark is going to be forced upon people in the future, and those who do not understand the consequences will submit to their eternal doom. Those who do understand will refuse to thus honor the beast and the church, and will stand with the people of God, who will be delivered in the final struggle, when God will arise to shake terribly the earth. Jesus is coming at the darkest period, and the most critical hour, and deliverance all over the world is promised to the faithful, who are keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Chapters 14:12 and 17:12 to 14.
Reader be ready for that time by worshipping the only living and true God, and not the Pope of Rome.
The tragedy of death_a world of strife
Each day the world baptised in blood, war arrayed
And man’s mad passion with its toll of human life
Man’s better nature into devils hands betrayed,
Such things must be before I come.
Each day brings something never known before,
Each morn brings sights the world has never known,
Each evening brings its terrors to deplore.
Man’s mad strife comes into its own.
Such things must be before I come.
Kings do not rule_there is a monster death
Who sits on earthly thrones and he
Counts human life as but a passing breath,
Until each nation reaches its appointed destiny.
With sights like visions of the seers of old the earth is filled
With agents of destruction the earth, the sea, the air,
By man’s decree earth’s rules, it is willed.
With greed each seeks to grasp the other’s share,
Such things must be before I come.
The kingdoms of the world each in its place,
Its history, its life and destiny fulfills.
Seeks to its own, knows only its own race.
Not heeding that each exists only as God wills.
Under its load of sin the world will linger on
Until in time, God’s plans shall be revealed.
Nations as great, forgotten, passed and gone.
The mightiest cities of ancient times by desert sands concealed.
The earth in God’s own time shall know.
Abiding His time, its judgment sure to come
Awaits a morn of blessing God will bestow.
_ J. A. Nugent