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Lord's Day

The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia

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The first day of the week is not the Sabbath, but the Lord's Day, and as such has been observed since the Resurrection of our Lord, of which it is the weekly commemoration. From the New Testament itself we learn that the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, has always been the day which Christians have consecrated to God's service. The Rt. Rev. F. W. Taylor, D.D., has given us the following clear statement concerning the first day of the week observed as the Lord's Day: "Our Saviour Jesus Christ, in the exercise of this His Lordship over the day, has first of all abolished the ordinance of the Seventh Day, and substituted, by the Holy Spirit guiding His Church into all Truth, the ordinance of the First Day, as that one day in seven which the Fourth Commandment enjoins to be kept sacred to God as a moral obligation. Then our Lord has made this day one of the highest spiritual privilege, by uniting it to His own Person and work as the Day of His Resurrection, the weekly recurrence of the Christian Passover, a perpetual Easter; and also as the weekly memorial of His supreme Gift of the Holy Ghost upon the Feast of Pentecost, to abide with His Church forever. It is preeminently a day of joy and gladness before the Lord, and should first of all be observed to the Lord, in the assembling of the Church together for worship and communion with God and for spiritual instruction and profit. Hence the Prayer Book prescribes a Collect, Epistle and Gospel for every Sunday in the year, and its rubrics plainly teach us that according to the mind of the Church the principal service of every Lord's Day should be the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Our Lord has also taught us by His example as well as by precept, that works of mercy, both spiritual and corporal, are lawful to be done on this day, and are peculiarly appropriate to it."