Easter celebrations.

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

Hi,
Nearby we have this rather tall Adventist church and as I drove by it on Holy Thursday I came to think about easter and how it's celebrated in our church and I have to admit that I don't know much about how you guys celebrate easter?

Seeing how you observe the Saturday Sabbath how do you celebrate easter seeing how Christ rose on a sunday.
Do you observe the Sabbath as usual and celebrate easter sunday in addition or?

I like knowing things thus I'm asking this question



God bless.

 

[Dave-W]

Good question. I was wondering the same thing myself.

Driving to our congregation Saturday (Yeah - I know) I pass 2 SDA congregations and this last shabbat the parking lots were FULL. Our middle daughter and family were over for dinner Sunday so I did not see if there was a service then as well. One of the congregations rents space from a Sunday church so I doubt they had a service.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

Good question. I was wondering the same thing myself.

Driving to our congregation Saturday (Yeah - I know) I pass 2 SDA congregations and this last shabbat the parking lots were FULL. Our middle daughter and family were over for dinner Sunday so I did not see if there was a service then as well. One of the congregations rents space from a Sunday church so I doubt they had a service.

Hopefully a wellinformed and nice guy or gall drops by to share their practice with us.
In the meantime we`ll just have to wait in excitement

 

[Ubuntu]

The only day that is sacred for adventists is the weekly Sabbath. Celebrating the “Holy Week” isn’t therefore something we’re religiously obliged to do. Adventists remember the death and resurrection of Jesus through the rite of communion (which includes foot washing), and communion is celebrated several times a year. (Not necessarily in connection to the Easter holiday...)

However, I guess you can say that Easter often is acknowledged in our churches, and many local churches do have special services in connection to Easter. Whether or not to celebrate Easter is basically up to each believer and each local congregation to decide.

Here is an article from a few years back that illustrates this:
http://atoday.org/hundreds-of-adventist-churches-plan-easter-events-this-coming-weekend.html

 

[Dave-W]

However, I guess you can say that Easter often is acknowledged in our churches, and many local churches do have special services in connection to Easter. Whether or not to celebrate Easter is basically up to each believer and each local congregation to decide.

Thanks. That helps.

We Messianics celebrate (hold sacred) all the Leviticus 23 festivals; and Resurrection day coincides with Yom haBikkurim - Day of First Fruits.

The only day that is sacred for adventists is the weekly Sabbath.

I get why God restored the Sabbath FIRST. But He has been restoring the others in that list as well. I would encourage my Adventist brothers to take a look at those other holy days as well.

 

[reddogs]

Hi,
Nearby we have this rather tall Adventist church and as I drove by it on Holy Thursday I came to think about easter and how it's celebrated in our church and I have to admit that I don't know much about how you guys celebrate easter?

Seeing how you observe the Saturday Sabbath how do you celebrate easter seeing how Christ rose on a sunday.
Do you observe the Sabbath as usual and celebrate easter sunday in addition or?

I like knowing things thus I'm asking this question



God bless.

As Adventist along with the rest of the world are learning the pagan origins of Easter and how the Papacy brought it in, they are rejecting it as it has nothing to do with Christianity as its becoming quite clear as we see here..
"Easter is a pagan festival. If Easter isn't really about Jesus, then what is it about? Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviours too.

The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld. One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome. Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother. Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life.

In an ironic twist, the Cybele cult flourished on today's Vatican Hill. Cybele's lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. This spring festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday, rising to a crescendo after three days, in rejoicing over the resurrection. ....."http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

As Adventist along with the rest of the world are learning the agan origins of Easter and how the Papacy brought it in, they are rejecting it as it has nothing to do with Christianity as its becoming quite clear as we see here..
"Easter is a pagan festival. If Easter isn't really about Jesus, then what is it about? Today, we see a secular culture celebrating the spring equinox, whilst religious culture celebrates the resurrection. However, early Christianity made a pragmatic acceptance of ancient pagan practises, most of which we enjoy today at Easter. The general symbolic story of the death of the son (sun) on a cross (the constellation of the Southern Cross) and his rebirth, overcoming the powers of darkness, was a well worn story in the ancient world. There were plenty of parallel, rival resurrected saviours too.

The Sumerian goddess Inanna, or Ishtar, was hung naked on a stake, and was subsequently resurrected and ascended from the underworld. One of the oldest resurrection myths is Egyptian Horus. Born on 25 December, Horus and his damaged eye became symbols of life and rebirth. Mithras was born on what we now call Christmas day, and his followers celebrated the spring equinox. Even as late as the 4th century AD, the sol invictus, associated with Mithras, was the last great pagan cult the church had to overcome. Dionysus was a divine child, resurrected by his grandmother. Dionysus also brought his mum, Semele, back to life.

In an ironic twist, the Cybele cult flourished on today's Vatican Hill. Cybele's lover Attis, was born of a virgin, died and was reborn annually. This spring festival began as a day of blood on Black Friday, rising to a crescendo after three days, in rejoicing over the resurrection. ....."http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/03/easter-pagan-symbolism

Believe what you want.

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

The only day that is sacred for adventists is the weekly Sabbath. Celebrating the “Holy Week” isn’t therefore something we’re religiously obliged to do. Adventists remember the death and resurrection of Jesus through the rite of communion (which includes foot washing), and communion is celebrated several times a year. (Not necessarily in connection to the Easter holiday...)

However, I guess you can say that Easter often is acknowledged in our churches, and many local churches do have special services in connection to Easter. Whether or not to celebrate Easter is basically up to each believer and each local congregation to decide.

Here is an article from a few years back that illustrates this:
http://atoday.org/hundreds-of-adventist-churches-plan-easter-events-this-coming-weekend.html

Thanks for not coming at me for jumping by as a Catholic I appreciate your generosity and hospitality.

Also thank you for explaining the adventist view on easter and different holy days.

God bless.

 

[EastCoastRemnant]

I get why God restored the Sabbath FIRST. But He has been restoring the others in that list as well. I would encourage my Adventist brothers to take a look at those other holy days as well.

The thing is Dave, we believe that Jesus fulfilled the yearly feasts (all except the feast of trumpets which will be fulfilled at His coming) during His ministry. To us, to celebrate the Passover, as an example, is to negate what Christ did for us as the antitype. The Jews were instructed to have blood sacrifices and to participate in the sanctuary service to point forward to a day when Jesus would come and give a Sacrifice, once and for all for our sins.

When the veil in the temple was torn at His death and the prophesy in Daniel about the sacrifices and oblations that were to cease at that time, we see as an end to these things.

It seems to me that these feasts that were fulfilled but are still being kept, changed in their purpose from looking for the promise, to commemorating that promise. I see in the Bible the command to look forward but nowhere do I see the command to commemorate the things that Christians do today. Christmas... looking back, Easter....looking back, feasts...looking back. Where are the discussions and zeal for the prophesies of end times, the edification for the saints of the time of tribulation coming. The impetus for the work that needs to be done in our hearts to meet the coming crisis. It's almost like Satan is deceiving Christians to not look forward to these things by keeping them busy looking back.

 

[Dave-W]

You are looking only at the most simplistic reason for the feasts. Are they sign posts? Of course. But I submit they are much more than that.

God told us "Meet ME at these times on these days." That has not changed. God is still there waiting for all who will come to Him. That is being restored to HIS body of believers.

Abraham Joshua Heschel (of blessed memory) wrote a book that has garnered a LOT of traction in SDA circles. (I believe it is a mandatory read for Andrews students) IT is called "The Sabbath." In it he shows how the Sabbath is a "temple in time" rather than space or location. The other feasts are also that. Temples in time where we go to be in HIS presence.

 

[Ubuntu]

Thanks for not coming at me for jumping by as a Catholic I appreciate your generosity and hospitality.

Also thank you for explaining the adventist view on easter and different holy days.

God bless.

You’re welcome! I believe it’s my duty to treat Catholics in the same way as I would treat an adventist. I don't know if you’ve been unkindly treated by adventists simply for being Catholic. If you've ever had such an experience, then please accept my apology on behalf of my Church.

Adventists and Catholics might disagree about many things, but it’s still our Christian privilege to treat each other with courtesy and respect!

 

[Stabat Mater dolorosa]

You’re welcome! I believe it’s my duty to treat Catholics in the same way as I would treat an adventist. I don't know if you’ve been unkindly treated by adventists simply for being Catholic. If you've ever had such an experience, then please accept my apology on behalf of my Church.

I have so in the past yes, but I dont blame your church for those individuals and their contempt for me because of my faith.
Its their choice to be unkind and no one is forcing them.
They may have been struggling with certain aspects of their own faith and so they did find it easier to condemn me for my faith than to face their own doubts or whatever, I dont know.

"each and every person you walk by carries his or her own cross"
This is something I try to keep in mind if I meet people who act in an uncharitable way.

Adventists and Catholics might disagree about many things, but it’s still our Christian privilege to treat each other with courtesy and respect!

Amen brother, Amen.
May you walk in peace.

 

[reddogs]

Believe what you want.

I think the facts speak for themselves.
All the things about Easter are pagan. Bunnies are a leftover from the pagan festival of Eostre, a great northern goddess whose symbol was a rabbit or hare. Exchange of eggs is an ancient custom, celebrated by many cultures. Hot cross buns are very ancient too. In the Old Testament we see the Israelites baking sweet buns for an idol, and religious leaders trying to put a stop to it. The early church clergy also tried to put a stop to sacred cakes being baked at Easter. In the end, in the face of defiant cake-baking pagan women, they gave up and it swept into the church as it fell into apostasy and turned against the true believers which it then persecuted.

As for Easter, the name "Easter" never appears in the Greek New Testament. Easter is not a Christian name. It is Chaldean (Babylonian) in origin - the name Astarte, one of the titles of Beltis, the queen of heaven. By the 8th century this name had come to be applied to the anniversary of Christ's resurrection. With the passage of time the connection with the goddess was lost, the only remaining meaning being associated with Christ's resurrection. Unquestionably the resurrection was of enormous importance to the apostolic church, for it figures prominently in the evangelistic messages from the apostles as recorded in the book of Acts. No issue is made about the date when it occurred, however, other than to note in a factual manner that the resurrection occurred on the first day of the week.

It is to be noted that the apostolic church never gave attention to either the date of Christ's birth or the date of His resurrection, other than to note that the latter occurred on a Sunday. Neither of these days was observed by early Christians but as the pagan influence came into the church so did its festivals. In the third and fourth centuries a tremendous debate arose among Christian churches as to when Easter was to be observed. For the Roman Catholic branch it was largely settled at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325) with a formula still followed to this day, which cannot possibly be commemoration of the actual resurrection. In current practice Easter always falls on a Sunday and the Sunday chosen wanders over a period of four weeks ranging from March 22-April 25. The eastern branch of Christendom selected a different system, so that in the Eastern Orthodox tradition both Christmas and Easter fall on different dates from those in the Western Catholic and Protestant tradition. The point is that the early Christians gave no attention to commemorating the resurrection day of Christ. If they had been serious they would be observing the 17th day of the Jewish month, Nisan, which begins with the first new moon following the spring solstice. Passover among the Jews begins with the 14th day of Nisan. It would not be possible to commemorate the actual day of the month and have it always on Sunday, so the choice was made to have it on Sunday, adjusting the day of the month for convenience.
Given this information, although the resurrection of Jesus is a historical event of huge importance, we have no biblical precedent for making Easter a special day of celebration. The name Astarte, as found on the Assyrian monuments by the noted archeologist Layard, was the name Ishtar. The worship of Bel and Astarte was introduced very early into Britain, along with the Druids, "the priests of the groves," the high places where the pagans worshipped the idols of Baal. In the Almanac of the 1800's, May 1st is called Beltane, from the pagan god, Bel. The titles Bel and Molech both belong to the same god.

We must remember that Semiramis (also known as Ishtar) of Babylon, the wife of Nimrod and mother of Tammuz, was the same goddess worshiped throughout the world under various names, such as the Egyptian fertility god, Artemis, the Roman goddess of licentiousness, Venus, the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, and the Ephesian, many-breasted fertility god, Diana, as well as many others.

The (Easter) bunny, the oldest pagan symbol of fertility - Semiramis - has absolutely nothing to do with the birth of Christ.

Easter is essentially a pagan festival which was celebrated with gifts and the ancient symbolism still is held by many who call themselves Christian.

 

[reddogs]

Now lets look at the historical breakdown of what occurred that led to the pagan festivals such as Easter and pagan belief's that entered the church in the early centuries. Most originated in Alexandria or Rome and from those two locations they gradually spread to many of the western churches, and thence to some of the eastern ones. Until the fourth century and some time beyond, the eastern churches, being farther from Rome, tended to remain closer to the teachings of the Apostles.

Pagan sun worship continued to be the official religion of the empire until Constantine would make the changes that would allow it to be 'christianized'. The early church compromised and began to let pagan sun worship creep in and there was no one to stop it as most of the disciples were gone by 65 A.D. John, the last of the Apostles, died just before 100 A.D.

By the year 200, pagan compromises and practices were beginning to come into the church in a decided way. By 250, pagan beliefs were sweeping into the early church in an flood. About the year 154 A.D., Anticetus, bishop of the church at Rome, authorized a Sunday festival to correspond with the Attis fertility festival. This was a combining of Mithra, Attis and Christ and would better appeal to the heathen, he thought. Polycarp who was a close friend of the Apostle John before his death, the same one who tried to win Anticetus back to the true Sabbath, also tried to dissuade him from keeping the pagan festivals. But he failed in his efforts and returned with a sad report to the brethren in the eastern churches. The Roman church instituted the new Easter Sunday to avoid appearing to be "Judaizers" to the Roman authorities. There is a direct relationship between observing an Easter Sunday and a weekly Sunday as a day of worship. Each Sunday is held to be a "mini Easter" in commemoration of the (supposed) resurrection of Christ. Tertullian states, "On Sunday it is unlawful to fast or to kneel while worshipping. We enjoy the same liberty from Easter to Pentecost." Origin states "The resurrection of the Lord is celebrated not only once a year but constantly every eight days." Eusebius says, "While the Jews faithful to Moses, sacrificed the Passover lamb once a year . . . we men of the New Covenant celebrate every Sunday our Passover."

The same causes that led to the abandonment of the Sabbath for Sunday were instrumental in the abandonment of Passover for Easter: "the inclination to break away from Judaism" (J. Jeremias), to avoid "even the semblance of Judaism" (J.B. Lightfoot). With the abandonment of Passover came the abandonment of the Hebrew Calendar. M. Righetti states that Rome and Alexandria after "having eliminated the Judaizing Quartodeciman tradition [annual Passover on Nisan 14], repudiated even the Jewish computations, making their own time calculations, since such a dependence on the Jews must have appeared humiliating."

The Council of Nicaea (A.D. 325) settled the Quartodeciman Controversy in favor of Easter. It enjoined "All the brethren in the East who formerly celebrated Easter with the Jews, will henceforth keep it at the same time as the Romans, with us and with all those who from ancient times have celebrated the feast at the same time with us." Further, Constantine's Nicean letter stated "Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd . . . ."

The Church of Rome led the adoption of Sunday, Easter and Christmas (December 25), and the abandonment of the Sabbath and Passover. This was done to oppose the Jews and the Sabbath, and to amalgamate truth with the pagan custom of Sun worship.

 

[reddogs]

In 195 A.D., Victor I, bishop of Rome, tried to force all of the eastern church leaders to keep the annual celebration of Christ's resurrection on Sunday. Of course, the bishops of the other churches protested, insisting that if done at all, the Biblical precedent for this was on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan [Ex 10,12,14, Lev 23:5].

But Victor would not consider this, and had the boldness to write letters "ex-communicating" all leaders and churches that refused to do as he said. He declared all the churches of Asia to be apostates because they would not follow his example in the matter. Victor I, bishop of Rome, had entered into a compact with Clement, before this about 190, to carry on research around the Mediterranean basin to secure support to help make Sunday the prominent day of worship in the church. Sunday was already a day exalted among the heathen, being a day on which they worshiped the sun; yet Rome and Alexandria well knew that most of the churches throughout the world sanctified Saturday as the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. So when Victor I, pronounced excommunication on all the churches of the East who would not with him make Easter always come on Sunday, Alexandria supported this first exhibition of spiritual tyranny by the bishop of Rome.

Back in those days, some churches were more influential than others, but none were "over" the others. What Victor tried to do in 195 AD. bordered on the fantastic.This was probably the first time in history that the bishop of Rome attempted to gain control over all the other churches, and commenting on it, Dr. Bower, in his History of the Popes, volume 1, page 18, calls it "The first essay of papal usurpation." In simple language, we would call it, "the first attempt at papal takeover."A careful study of the historical records reveals that gradually, with the passing of the years, the Roman bishop tended to use his new day, Sunday, as a ploy for political supremacy over the other churches. Victor's decree was the first ecclesiastical Sunday Law of any kind, in history.The festival on Easter controversy continued, with the Eastern churches giving it stiff opposition until the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., at which time Sunday was declared the official day for Easter observance. Emperor Constantine immediately followed this, the same year, with civil enactments enforcing it among the churches.

Two centuries after Christ and the Apostles, the apostasy was taking over as the influence of pagan worship was rapidly increasing in the Roman Empire. Over the centuries the official religion of the empire had been emperor worship, but it had died out and two strong contenders for popular favor were taking its place. And as the third century neared its close, it was the pagan sun worship and its adherents that were influencing the church to the point there wasnt much difference between the two religions.

 

[Dave-W]

In 195 A.D., Victor, bishop of Rome, tried to force all of the eastern church leaders to keep the annual celebration of Christ's resurrection on Sunday. Of course, the bishops of the other churches protested, insisting that if done at all, the Biblical precedent for this was on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan [Ex 10,12,14, Lev 23:5].

That does not make sense. Yes, the last supper was either on the 13 (at twilight) or on the 14 of Nisan/Abib after dusk, which would put the crucifixion roughly simultaneous with the priests in the temple slaughtering the lambs for the passover meal. That would put the resurrection on the 16th or 17th of the month, depending on exactly how you count it out. And that has been debated for centuries.

 

[reddogs]

That does not make sense. Yes, the last supper was either on the 13 (at twilight) or on the 14 of Nisan/Abib after dusk, which would put the crucifixion roughly simultaneous with the priests in the temple slaughtering the lambs for the passover meal. That would put the resurrection on the 16th or 17th of the month, depending on exactly how you count it out. And that has been debated for centuries.

I am going to celebrate the Pasch, yes Passover with my Jewish friends this weekend...so yes, Easter and its celebration by Christians on a date not sanctioned by scripture but only from pagan origins, does not make sense.

 

[reddogs]

By adopting and accepting pagan practices into the Church, Catholicism gained in power and popularity, extending her reach, literally, around the globe. It fell into apostasy and brought in the pagan day of worship and even declared that the sign of their authority is the fact that they changed the Sabbath to Sunday, not anything from scripture.
The Christians at Rome had been faithful as they were persecuted for many years but as they became accepted and persecution stop, other challenges faced them. Greek philosphy and Ghonosticism had been picked up and in Rome the old beliefs and festivals were still followed by the Romans and many Christian and leaders didnt see a problem with it. The first issue began when early in the life of the Church, disputes arose as the bishop of Rome allowed the celebration of the Pasch or Passover to continue till the following Sunday so Christians could also celebrate Spring Equinox festival as they had done before. Now the danger of allowing the Christians to join in pagan solistice celebrations was overlooked as the new pagan 'converts' joined the church and swelled the numbers under the bishop of Rome. But other Christian leaders saw the danger of worship according to the old pagan festivals and tried to stop it in what came to be known as Paschal/Easter controversies. The first recorded such controversy came to be known as the Quartodeciman controversy.

Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, V, xxiii) wrote:
"A question of no small importance arose at that time [i.e. the time of Pope Victor I, about A.D. 190]. The dioceses of all Asia, according to an ancient tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon [of Nisan], on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should always be observed as the feast of the life-giving pasch (epi tes tou soteriou Pascha heortes), contending that the fast ought to end on that day, whatever day of the week it might happen to be. However it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this point, as they observed the practice, which from Apostolic tradition has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the Resurrection of our Saviour." So the bishop of Rome began the practice of fixing the celebration of Passover for Christians on Sunday and it spread through the old areas of the Empire.Polycarp the disciple of John the Apostle who was now the bishop of Smyrna, came and confronted Anicetus, the Bishop of Rome who had allow the changes in the Passover and other changes to bring in converts.According to Irenaeus, around the 150s or 160, Polycarp visited Rome to discuss the differences that existed between the other centers of Christianity in Asia and Rome "with regard to certain things" and especially about the time of the Pasch or Passover which in Rome were now the Easter festivals. Irenaeus says that Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, observed the fourteenth day of the moon, whatever day of the week that might be, following therein the tradition which he derived from John the Apostle. Irenaeus said that on certain things the two bishops speedily came to an understanding, while as to the time of the Pasch and the change to Easter, each adhered to his own custom. Polycarp following the eastern practice of celebrating Passover on the 14th of Nisan, the day of the Jewish Passover, regardless of what day of the week it fell while the bishop of Rome let it be observed on Sunday.

So the Bishop of Rome ignore the warning and contined to allow the Passover to be observed on Sunday at the pagan Spring Equinox festival connected to the goddess Eostre the "goddess of sunrise" so this is how the Pasch was change to the festival of Easter. But not only was it just the festival as more pagan converts came in, they were allowed to worship on the pagan day of worship which they were used to, while Christians continued to worship on Sabbath. When Polycarp was martyrd for standing against the pagan worship, the Smyrnaean letter known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp states that Polycarp was taken on the day of the Sabbath and killed on the Great Sabbath, so we see that he observed the Sabbath.Scholar William Cave wrote, "...the Sabbath or Saturday (for so the word sabbatum is constantly used in the writings of the fathers, when speaking of it as it relates to Christians) was held by them in great veneration, and especially in the Eastern parts honoured with all the public solemnities of religion. But in the Western part of the Empire, Sunday had entered in through the back door celebration of the Pasch or Passover.

But it gets even worse, as later, one of the bishops of Rome, around 195, which some call Pope Victor I attempted to excommunicate the Christians who continued correctly to celebrate the the Pasch or Passover, turning the divergence of practice into a full-blown ecclesiastical controversy. According to Eusebius, synods were convened and letters were exchanged, but in the end, having over-stepped his mark Pope Victor was rebuked and backed down.

Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, V, xxiv) notes:
"But this did not please all the bishops. And they besought him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are extant, sharply rebuking Victor. Among them was Irenæus, who, sending letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be observed only on the Lord’s day. He fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom."

So now you see where the 'Lord’s day' comes in and it wasnt from the disciple of John the Apostle or John himself, even the church falls back to tradition or its claim of power to change Gods Commandments:

“Who Do We Reverence and Pay Homage to by Keeping Sunday Holy? From this we may understand how great is the authority of the church in interpreting or explaining to us the commandments of God – an authority which is acknowledged by the universal practice of the whole Christian world, even of those sects which profess to take the holy Scriptures as their sole rule of faith, since they observe as the day of rest not the seventh day of the week demanded by the Bible, but the first day. Which we know is to be kept holy, only from the tradition and teaching of the Catholic church.” (Henry Gibson, Catechism Made Easy, #2, 9th edition, vol. 1, pp. 341-342.)