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PRACTICALLY everything that Protestants regard as es- sential or important they have received from the Catholic Church. They accepted Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made that change.

Blatantly false. The essential or important truths are those of the NT church of the Bible, which was not Catholic (which slowly was a slow if not total transition), and distinctive Catholic teachings are not manifest in the only wholly inspired substantive authoritative record of what the NT church believed (which is Scripture, in particular Acts through Revelation, which best shows how the NT church understood the gospels).

And it was not Catholicism that began meeting on the first day, but the same NT church which was not Catholic.

Under the New Covenant instituted in Christ's precious sinless shed blood, (Lk. 22:20; cf. Heb. 9:16) the Lord Jesus, having come in the flesh and risen to Heaven, we are to "walk by faith, and not by sight" (1Cor. 5:7), and sight is what the ceremonial elements provided. And thus it is distinctly stated that the prophesied New Covenant was "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." (Hebrews 8:9) The prophesied destruction of the previous temple being allowed to take place by the LORD in approx. 70 AD., that event terminated the sacerdotal priesthood, with it's Levitical genealogical records etc., thereby making it literally impossible to keep the whole Law as it was literally intended. This destruction puts an exclamation point as it were after such passages in Hebrews as, “In that he saith, A new covenant, He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” “But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us” “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: " (Heb. 8:13; 9:11, 12; 10:4,5).

As the Temple was destroyed and replaced by the “holy temple in the Lord” of believers, so also the Old Covenant was replaced with the New. Therefore in no place is the N.T. church called to perpetuate the Old Testament shadows among the hundreds of commands given to the church of new creations, but rather we are expressly warned about those who would constrain us to keep such ordinances that Christ fulfilled. (2Cor. 3, Col. 2:14-17; Galatians 3-6; Phil. 3:1-3; etc.) This deletion of such ordinances includes the special observance of the 7th day Sabbath²as nowhere is the NT church commanded to keep this, though the other 9 of the 10 commandments are reiterated under the New Covenant. (1Cor. 8:5,6; Rv. 22:9: 1Jn. 5:21; 1Cor. 6:9; 10:7,14; Eph. 5:5: 1Tim. 6:1: Eph. 6:2-3: Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:19-21; James 2:10-12: Rom. 13:9; 1 Cor. 6:9; 10:8; Eph. 5:5; Gal. 5:19-21; James 3:10-12: Rom. 13:9; Eph. 4:28: Rom. 13:9; Col. 3:9; Eph. 4:25: Rom. 7:7; 13:9; Eph. 5:3, 5. More here).

Neither do we see any real example of any established Christian assembly keeping the 7^th day Sabbath as they grew in the grace and knowledge of God. Text such as Lk. 4:16; Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4 do not show 7^th day Sabbath–keeping commanded or the church perpetuating, but Paul, as a Jews, going to 7^th day meetings to preach to the Jews and their proselytes. And as mentioned before, the only specific day only Christians are recorded as meeting was the first day of the week. (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.16:2)

The Christian who holds such a doctrine as Old Testament 7th day Sabbath–keeping in the absence of any command to do so under the New Covenant (which clear confirmation other major doctrines have) are not “rightly dividing the Word” (2Tim. 2:15) as I see it, as they are not Biblically recognizing the evident Covenantal distinctions of the New Covenant, and are promoting a doctrine without sufficient New Testament warrant from God who is its author.

To be consistent, those who teach we must keep the 7^th day Sabbath also must literally require keeping another pre-Mosaic everlasting covenant, that of circumcision, (Gn. 17:13) of which Scripture expressly states, “neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” (Gal. 6:15) And if they will invoke the law of Moses as their authority to keep ceremonial law, then they have a practical dilemma as well, as God has taken away the means by which they can observe them all the other for ever type statues²(without the Temple there can be no Levitical priesthood, or “patented” incense, etc.). Rather, the Lord has commanded us to be obey Him under the New covenant, which we are to able minsters of, “not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” (Col. 3:6)

In contrast to the absence of the any mention of an established N.T church specifically meeting on the 7^th day , the Holy Spirit clearly records that the disciples came together specifically on the first day, (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.16:2) a practice that has historical support³ beginning as early as approx. 100 AD. (before the establishment of Roman Catholicism - which is charged by the Sabbathtarians with instituting Sunday worship - came to formally be).

100 AD BARNABAS: Moreover God says to the Jews, 'Your new moons and Sabbaths 1 cannot endure.' You see how he says, 'The present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I have rested [heaven: Heb 4] from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.' Wherefore we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead and when he appeared ascended into heaven. (15:8f, The Epistle of Barnabas, 100 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, pg. 147)

150AD EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLES.- I [Christ] have come into being on the eighth day which is the day of the Lord. (18)

150AD JUSTIN: The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first.". (Justin, Dialogue 41:4)

150AD JUSTIN: ...those who have persecuted and do persecute Christ, if they do not repent, shall not inherit anything on the holy mountain. But the Gentiles, who have believed on Him, and have repented of the sins which they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance along with the patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who are descended from Jacob, even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts. Assuredly they shall receive the holy inheritance of God. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 207)

150AD JUSTIN: But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish opinion, as if it were not the same God who existed in the times of Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses enjoined such observances... For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now, after that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of Abraham. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 206)

150AD JUSTIN: And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president, who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead. For He was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday); and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the day of the Sun, having appeared to His apostles and disciples, He taught them these things, which we have submitted to you also for your consideration." (First apology of Justin, Weekly Worship of the Christians, Ch 68)

150AD JUSTIN: Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned [after mentioning Adam. Abel, Enoch, Lot, Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham], though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until Moses... And you [fleshly Jews] were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For His word makes this announcement, saying, "That you may know that I am God who redeemed you." (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 204)

150AD JUSTIN: There is no other thing for which you blame us, my friends, is there than this? That we do not live according to the Law, nor, are we circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers, nor do we observe the Sabbath as you do. (Dialogue with Trypho 10:1. In verse 3 the Jew Trypho acknowledges that Christians 'do not keep the Sabbath.')

150AD JUSTIN: We are always together with one another. And for all the things with which we are supplied we bless the Maker of all through his Son Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit. And on the day called Sunday there is a gathering together in the same place of all who live in a city or a rural district.... We all make our assembly in common on the day of the Sun, since it is the first day, on which God changed the darkness and matter and made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior arose from the dead on the same day. For they crucified him on the day before Saturn's day, and on the day after (which is the day of the Sun the appeared to his apostles and taught his disciples these things. (Apology, 1, 67:1-3, 7; First Apology, 145 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , Vol. 1, pg. 186)

155 AD Justin Martyr [W]e too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined [on] you--namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your heart. . . . [H]ow is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us--I speak of fleshly circumcision and Sabbaths and feasts? . . . God enjoined you [Jews] to keep the Sabbath, and impose on you other precepts for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your unrighteousness and that of your fathers" (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 18, 21).

180AD ACTS OF PETER.- Paul had often contended with the Jewish teachers and had confuted them, saying 'it is Christ on whom your fathers laid hands. He abolished their Sabbath and fasts and festivals and circumcision.' (1: I)-2

200AD BARDESANES: Wherever we are, we are all called after the one name of Christ Christians. On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together. (On Fate)

200AD TERTULLIAN: We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath. (Tertullian's Apology, Ch 16)

200AD TERTULLIAN: It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary. (An Answer to the Jews 4:1, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3, page 155)

200AD TERTULLIAN: ...God originated Adam uncircumcised, and inobservant of the Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering Him sacrifices, uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, was by Him commended... Noah also, uncircumcised - yes, and inobservant of the Sabbath - God freed from the deluge. For Enoch, too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, He translated from this world... Melchizedek also, "the priest of most high God," uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, was chosen to the priesthood of God. (An Answer to the Jews 2:10; 4:1, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3, page 153)

200AD TERTULLIAN: Others . . . suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is well-known that we regard Sunday as a day of joy. (To the Nations 1: 133)

200AD TERTULLIAN: To us Sabbaths are foreign. (On Idolatry, 14:6)4

220AD ORIGEN: On Sunday none of the actions of the world should be done. If then, you abstain from all the works of this world and keep yourselves free for spiritual things, go to church, listen to the readings and divine homilies, meditate on heavenly things. (Homil. 23 in Numeros 4, PG 12:749)

225 AD The Didascalia: The apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the oblation, because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead, and on the first day of the week he arose upon the world, and on the first day of the week he ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of the week he will appear at last with the angels of heaven" (Didascalia 2).

250AD CYPRIAN: The eight day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord's Day." (Epistle 58, Sec 4)

250 AD IGNATIUS: ...those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death...And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, "To the end, for the eighth day," on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ...(Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, Chapter IX)

250AD IGNATIUS: On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathaea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord's day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord's Day contains the resurrection. (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians, chapter 9)

250AD IGNATIUS: This [custom], of not bending the knee upon Sunday, is a symbol of the resurrection, through which we have been set free, by the grace of Christ, from sins, and from death, which has been put to death under Him..." (Ignatius, Fragments)

300 AD Victorinus: The sixth day [Friday] is called parasceve, that is to say, the preparation of the kingdom. . . And let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews . . . which Sabbath he [Christ] in his body abolished. (The Creation of the World).

300AD EUSEBIUS: They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe the Sabbath neither do we; … because such things as these do not belong to Christians." (Ecc. Hist., Book 1, Ch. 4)

300AD EUSEBIUS: [The Ebionites] were accustomed to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish customs but on the Lord's days to celebrate the same practices as we in remembrance of the resurrection of the Savior. (Church History Ill.xxvii.5)

300 AD Eusebius of Caesarea: They [the pre- Mosaic saints of the Old Testament] did not care about circumcision of the body, neither do we [Christians]. They did not care about observing Sabbaths, nor do we. They did not avoid certain kinds of food, neither did they regard the other distinctions which Moses first delivered to their posterity to be observed as symbols; nor do Christians of the present day do such things" (Church History 1:4:8).

300 AD Eusebius of Caesarea: The day of his [Christ's] light . . . was the day of his resurrection from the dead, which they say, as being the one and only truly holy day and the Lord's day, is better than any number of days as we ordinarily understand them, and better than the days set apart by the Mosaic Law for feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths, which the Apostle [Paul] teaches are the shadow of days and not days in reality. (Proof of the Gospel 4:16:186)