2. "The acceptance of Sunday as the Day of the Lord is not based on any commandment of God, but on the authority of the church" (Augsburg Confession of Faith, quoted in the Catholic Sabbath Manual, Part 2, Chapter 1, Section 10).

3. "They are mistaken in declaring that Sunday has taken the place of the Old Testament Sabbath and should therefore be revered as the seventh day observed by all the 'children of Israel' (J. T. Mueller, Sabbath or Sunday, pp. 15, 16).

4. "They (the Catholics) claim that Sunday (the Day of the Lord) is honored instead of the Sabbath, this is contrary to God's commandment and there is nothing to be proud of" (Martin Luter, Augsburg Confession of Faith, Art 28, Para7 9).

5. "Although Sunday was often called the Day of the Lord in early times, it was never the successor of the Sabbath - the seventh day, as this day is called in the works of the sacred writers." (Charles Buck, "A Theological Dictionary," 1830, p. 537).

6. "The opinion that the Apostles should formally replace the Jewish Sabbath with the Day of the Lord (Sunday), i.e. the seventh day first, and automatically transfer to that day all the necessary duties established for the fulfillment of the fourth commandment, has no basis either in the Holy Scriptures or in the Christian traditions" (Sir William Smith and Samuel Cheetham, "A Dictionary of Chistian Antiquities, vol. p. 182, article on the Sabbath).

7. "The point of view that Christian Sunday is a "Christian Sabbath", only transferred from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week, does not find support in the foreseeable period of time... The Council of Laodicea (364) forbade Christians as Jews to honor the Sabbath, prescribing to them the Christian veneration of Sunday." (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1899, vol. 23, p. 654).

Thus, Adventists themselves shattered their arguments by resorting to official Protestant sources, which definitely state that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day and that the tradition of such Sunday observance has been going on since apostolic times.

It should also be noted that in the "Official Statements" the Adventists have overlooked the fact that all the sources of information they cite openly support Sunday as the Day of the Lord and declare the abolition of the Sabbath on the cross of Calvary (Col 2:16-17). Adventists also turn to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day (Mormons) and to Fulton Ousler, a little-known Catholic author, in a selection of various quotes in their support. Mormons are a non-Christian cult, a fact recognized by Adventists themselves, and Oursler, as a layman, can hardly express the position of "official Rome."

On page 13 of their work, Adventists inaccurately use one of the quotations and thereby mislead readers. The following is a direct quote from the "Authoritative Statements": "Sunday (dies-solis, in the Roman calendar is the day of the sun, since it is dedicated to the sun) was adopted by the first Christians as a day of worship. They interpreted the sun of Latin worship as the "sun of righteousness"... The New Testament does not describe the establishment of such a rule." (Schaff-Herzog, "Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge," 1891, vol. 4, article on Sunday)

Now let's see how the same passage is set out in the original source: "Sunday (dies-solis, in the Roman calendar is the day of the sun, since it is dedicated to the sun) was adopted by the first Christians as a day of worship. They interpreted the sun of Latin worship as the "sun of righteousness." SUNDAY IS THE PROPHETIC DAY OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION, JUST AS THE JEWISH SABBATH IS THE DAY OF THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. THIS DAY IS CALLED "THE DAY OF THE LORD" AND THE FIRST CHRISTIANS ON THIS DAY GATHERED TO BREAK BREAD IN REMEMBRANCE OF THE SAVIOR. (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). In the New Testament there is no description of the establishment of such a rule: ALTHOUGH THE CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW LEADS TO THE UNIVERSAL VENERATION OF THIS DAY. IN THE SECOND CENTURY, THIS VENERATION WAS ACTUALLY UNIVERSAL. (Sentences in capital letters have been omitted by the Adventist writers (p. 22). This distortion of the sources used is first found in The Present Truth, Volumes 1-9, published in 1880.

This use of primary sources is not unusual for Adventist writers dealing with such topics as the Sabbath, the Day of the Lord, etc., and we regret that these writers have resorted to such measures to prove "their rightness."

This work quotes from Martin Luther, despite the well-known fact that Luther was an ardent opponent of the Sabbath. His refutation of the position of his colleague "Subbotnik" Dr. Carlstadt is a monument to the "apologetic genius" of Luther. The use of quotations from Luther to support their position on the Sabbath shows that Adventists have little understanding of Martin Luther's theological teaching.

We recognize the theological boldness of our Adventist brethren in their views of the Sabbath, but this boldness is misused and can lead to a perverted understanding of the fourth commandment, and when a person believes and teaches that "the fourth commandment is the most important and fundamental," it is evident that this person does not fully understand the spirit of the law. The fourth volume of the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia gives the reasons why the Christian church honors Sunday rather than the Sabbath and also clearly explains the Seventh-day Adventist position on the issue (pp. 2629-34).33

On page 2633, Adventists state, "According to historical records, the Sabbath is the seventh day honored in the early stages of the Christian church, and no other day was considered for the worship of God during the first two or three centuries of Christianity."