The Christian Sabbath

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Chapter I. Two Systems Of Divine Law

By the records given of God to the human race, since the creation, it is apparent that law and order was designed of him, to characterize the lives and motives and actions of the human family, in their relations to him and to each other. Hence we find by looking into the records given, that he has been pleased to reveal two systems of law, both general and specific in their character, in different eras of the world; the object of these laws being, if lived up to, the formation of governments in order to the development and well-being of man, temporally and spiritually, to exalt them in the scale of their being to the highest possible good.

In the Bible these two systems of law, from their nature and intention, are called ''the two covenants" a, 'Hhe law of God" 6, and ''the gospel of God"— of Christ c. Both are designed to bring about an agreement between God and his people, and both having been given to the Jews during their national existence, Moses having been sent to deliver them from the bondage of Egypt, he, the ordained mediator of the one, and Christ Jesus, afterward sent, the teacher, high priest and mediator of the other. They are, in the record, by contrast^ called the ^^Jirst,'' and the ''second" ''covenants" cZ. Also, the "law of Moses" e, and "the gospel of Christ," or, "of Jesus Christ"/. Out of these two systems of laws, in their operations and application among men, grew two governments — organized kingdoms — one called "the kingdom of Israel, " because it pertained to the children of Israel only g; the other "the kingdom of God" ^, ^, "of his dear Son," "the body of- Christ"/^, "the household of God" I

The contrast between the law and the gospel reveals its completeness when we come to consider the fact that the law, in its provisions, when given to Israel at Sinai, was temporal — designed to serve for a time only — and then to be superseded by the gospel of Christ, which, in its nature, is eternal. The blessings flowing out of obedience to the law, or "first covenant," were all to be realized in this life, and pertained to this life only. Likewise the penalties to follow its violation were to be visited on the transgressors in this mortal state of existence, during the time of its designed duration. ' 'Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee" a. Also, in the enactments growing out of the decalogue, or constitution of the government of Israel, the Lord renews the conditional promise of long life. Conditional? Provided they rested the seventh day, kept the feasts of the Lord, and served no other gods, God would "take sickness away from" them, and the number of their days would he fulfill h. On the other hand the punishment of the transgressor of the law was inflicted by the hands of its administrators, as in the case of the Sabbath breaker: "And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall, be surely put to death, all the congregation shall stone him with stones, without the camp" c. Thus it was with the individual transgressions, but when the nation as such, violated the law, God, whose law they had covenanted to keep, vindicated the law by national calamities; plagues, famines, unsuccessful wars, and death and captivity. We need but to carefully read the blessings for obedience, and the curses for disobedience, to be entirely satisfied on this matter df. And when the Israelitish economy was brought to a close, and the law was abrogated according to God's design concerning it. Holy Writ informs us that, '^every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward" e.

On the other hand the gospel^ G-od's plan of eternal salvation, has for its basis the principles of the doctrine of Christ, of the oracles of God/, being spiritual and eternal in their nature, and the laws based upon them constituting the gospel system are perfect, and hence we read, ^'The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul" ^, and, ^'whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty^ and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" h.

The blessings that follow the faithful obedience of the children of men, to the gospel, relate not to this life only, but also to the eternal ages to come. The law could not give eternal life: "Is the law then against the promise of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" i. "I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come hy the law, then Christ is dead in vain"^. Also the violations of the gospel by man are reserved to the life to come to be visited

upon the transgressors. Jesus says: ^^He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken^ the same shall judge him in the last day" h.

The law could hill, but could not forgive — ^^take away sin" I — and therefore it is called ^^the letter;" "for the letter killeth;" "the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones" m; while the "law of Christ," the gospel, is designated "the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus," that liberates "from the law of sin and death" n. Thus does inspiration array in contrast the two systems of law given to govern the race, in their relation to Grod and each other; the object of the law being to instruct, educate and civilize in this world, the other to regenerate, moralize and prepare us for the special blessings of G-od in this life, and adapt us to the joys, honors and glories of the redeemed in the ages to come: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith (the faith revealed through Christ) is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster o.

Chapter II. The Two Systems Of Worship

Under the two systems of law revealed of Grod, two separate and distinct orders of worship were established. Under each, men were required to acknowledge and render homage to our heavenly Father. The order of service in both laws is specifically set forth. The first covenant was made with the children of Abraham only; they alone were to be partakers of its privileges and blessings. Moses said to Israel: "For what nation is there so great, who hath Grod so nigh unto them, as the Lord our G-od is in all things that we call upon him for? And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day" p. "He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation; as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord" q. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law^ do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves" r. Not thus was the gospel to be circumscribed to any one nation or family, but was to be "good tidings of great joy unto all people" s. The gospel of God's grace, and "repentance and remission of sins," for the obedience of faith should be proclaimed among all nations t\ "Go ye therefore, and teach al] nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" u.

The worship under the first covenant was typical in its nature, and but the shadowy reflections of a better, a spiritual, an enduring and more substantial order of worship to be afterward presented to Israel and the world, and established. It was limited, as we have seen, to Israel, both in its duration and in its location. Of the locality where this first covenant was to be kept, also of its rewards, Moses, its "mediator," said: "Know therefore this day, and consider in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments^ which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee^ and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee v. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt; to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day'' w. "In the land" which God gave to Israel — the land of Canaan^ was where the law was designed of God to be kept inviolate x.

Chapter III. The Weekly Sabbath, Or Rest Day, Under The Law

It has seemed wise in G-od, in the establishment of his worship, under the laws given, to institute a weekly rest — of worship and devotion — one day out of each week of seven days, that his children may rest from the arduous duties of life, and have in special remembrance the Giver of life, and offer up thankful reverential praise and devotion for all his loving kindnesses, mercies and blessings. This day of rest once a week is only one of a series of requirements to be observed, whether under the law or imder the gospel. By the law the seventh day of the week, usually called Saturday^ was designated as the weekly rest day y. But since the introduction of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the ''better covenant, which was established upon better promises" z^ a division of opinion has existed among the worshipers of G-od as to which is the proper and divinely accepted day of the week to observe, the seventh or the first day — Sunday. A large majority of Christians, holding the belief that Sunday is the proper weekly rest day, have sincerely observed it as a day of worship, believing, of course, that the ^'covenant" in which the requirement to observe the seventh day was embodied was taken away in Christ, ''that he may establish the second" covenant a, and because it is a notable fact that there is no enactment of God in, or under, the new covenant that requires the ohservance of the seventh day as a day of rest and worship. Now it is a principle in law, both human and divine, that no two or more distinct and differing wills, on any subject, or estate, by any one testator, is binding or valid at one and the same time: ^'Then, said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O G-od. He taketh away the first^ that he may establish the second." Thus the Apostle Paul teaches in writing to the Hebrew Saints, on this very principle of the validity of wills, and shows that God recognized this principle, and acted upon it, in the establishment of the gospel.

It will now be very essential for us to inquire minutely as to what the covenant which G-od made with Israel at Sinai consisted of, for it is just on this point almost entirely, that the division of opinion is based in regard to which is the right day to observe as the Sabbath, the seventh or the first day of the week. By the advocates of the seventh-day Sabbath, the unity of the law or covenant given to Israel at Sinai is denied. It is assumed by them that the covenant made with Israel, and written in the book of the law, did not include the ten commandments^ and that tliey were not a part of the first covenant, or will, that was taken away by Christ, that he might ^ 'establish the second. "

But we now ask: Are the ten commandments, as formulated at Sinai, anywhere incorporated into the new covenant as a part thereof? We have failed, so far, to find it so recorded in the Christian covenant. • It is also asserted that the decalogue is the moral law of G-od, is the immutable law, and therefore it cannot be annulled, changed or superseded by another. That this idea is an assumption, and wholly without proof, is shown by the fact that G-od, nor any man inspired of G-od that we have any record of in the Bible, ever applied the words moral or immutahle, or their equivalents, to the law ol the ten commandments.

Separate all the rest of the law given to Israel from the decalogue, and let it stand all alone, absolutely so, as recorded in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, and then carefully consider it for awhile, and the following points plainly appear:

1. The ten commandments do not positively enjoin the worship of God nor point out any mode of divine worship, but teach that the man who strictly abstains from idolatry, whether he worships or not, keeps the first two commandments. Jesus did not quote from the decalogue when he said to the devil: ''For it is written. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve" b.

2. Not to use the name of God when swearing to that which was false, was keeping the third commandment — ''And ye shall not swear by my name falsely," is Moses' comment on this command c. And, in the new covenant, Jesus instituted the following to take its place. ''But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it it is God's throne; neither by the earth; for it is his footstool; neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black. But let your communication be. Yea, yea, Nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh ofeviV^ d. Now, in the light of all the provisions of this enactment of Jesus Christ, what is the use of the third commandment of the decalogue? Does it serve any practical purpose to the follower of Christ?

3. The man who quietly stayed in his tent or house, and did no work on the seventh day of the week, and with his family, servants and beasts, rested from all labor, kept the fourth commandment, according to the letter of it, whether engaged in any manner of worship or not, so far as anything we may learn from the decalogue in the abstract, is concerned. Any man can do that in a nominal sense, and not be particularly religious either. Just keep the seventh day holy!

4. The other six commandments relate wholly to the obligations of the various classes of society to each other, including those of the family and neighborhood, and were not exclusively peculiar to the Jews, for such conditions as are there enjoined have ever characterized the more refined and better regulated states of society, anciently in Ethiopia, Egypt, Chaldea, Greece and Rome, as well as in mediaeval and modern times, as attested by the history of those countries. On this point Paul said, 'Tor when the G-entiles, which have not the law, do hy nature the things contained in the law^ these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another" e. What law does the apostle here refer to? Let him answer: ''Behold thou art called a Jew, and rest est in the LAW, and maketh thy boast of God, and knowest his WILL, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law; . . . thou that preachest a man should not steal , dost thou steal? Thou that say est a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?"/. By the language of this text we learn that "the law," the works of which many of the Gentiles did, though having not the law, was the decalogue. Moreover we learn by this language of inspiration that

THE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. It

this law of the ten commandments was a part of that. ^ 'first covenant^'' or "will" that Paul refers to when hesays, "Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first [will] that he may establish the second" g.

5. The principle incorporated into the second commandment, viz., God "visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation," is inconsistent with the doctrine of the personal responsibility of each individual, as viewed in the lightof "the law of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus," to whom coming, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place and the darkness comprehendeth it not. Indeed, it was not applicable under the government of Israel, in so far as the execution of the law and its penalties by human agency were concerned, for we read: "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for Ms own sin ' h. But when thewhole nation of Israel went into transgression, and refused to return to the observance of the law, God visited them with national calamities (as before observed), with pestilences and great plagues, when they should break his covenant i. He punished them seven-fold, with consuming diseases — epidemics, drouths, giving them intothe hands of their enemies who should rule over them, and the fruit of their land would be smitten. He would break the pride of their power, and they should be rohhed of their children. He would lay waste their cities, desolate their sanctuaries, visit them with such dire and strange calamities, that even their enemies would be astonished at them; and if they refused to "be reformed'^ by all this great punishment, then they should even be destroyed out of their land, and it be left desolate, and

"they left few in number. And when these sad predictions were all fulfilled against Israel, and their children in -exile were made to feel that they were thus suffering on account of "the sins" of their ''people Israel," need we wonder that the captive Daniel prayed, "O Lord, according to all t^y righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine :anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers^ Jerusalem and thy people are a reproach to all that are about us" j. Laws or covenants involving this principle could not, in their very nature, unless such principle was eliminated, be an adjunct to, or a part of the gospel. The law of Christ does not deal with nations, as such, in that manner. Nor does it propose penalties either in this world or that to come, wherein the children shall, in any sense, or to any degree, be held responsible for the iniquties of their fathers; but, on the contrary, "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God" h.

6. There are some who seem to have discovered such a high degree of morality and perfection in the ten commandment law that they, in their claims for it, assert that it is the code that governs in heaven; that the angelic hosts in their exalted sphere render homage to Grod in accordance with its requirements. "It existed," say they, "before man was created. The angels were governed by it" I, If this statement be true, the Sabbath was not instituted in Eden^ or "made for man'^ only, but for the angels as well! Will one of the believers of this "spirit of prophecy" give us a dilation on the application of the decalogue, in all its bearings, to the conduct of the angels? Perhaps they will enlighten us as to how the angels order their households, including

Dan. 9: 16. Tc Rom. 14: 12. I Mrs. E. White, in "Spirit of Prophecy," vol. 1, p. 261.

their servants and beasts of burden on the Sabbath dayf Possibly they could render clear to our understandingwhat effect it would have on the angels in heaven were they to fail to carry out the letter and spirit of the fifth commandment J or the tenth and last one, for instance. This would be a source of edification that the gospel of Christ fails to afford. Now we believe in revering the law of G-od given to Israel, just as he designed we should, but we do not wish to make claims for it that, in their logical deductions, would render it ridiculous, or that are absurd.

7. We here observe that, by the law of the ten commandments, no one can be convicted of sin, unless guilty of committing the overt act by it prohibited. It does not make the conception of the act in the hearty or its desire, sin. Nor can we determine from them what the penalty is for their violation, or, indeed, whether there be a penalty save for the violation of the first two; and that, as we have seen, is for national transgressions. Now to illustrate the truth of this statement^ take the case of the man who ''gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day,"" whom the children of Israel incarcerated till Moses might be informed of the Lord what the penalty might be m. "If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant^ and hath gone and served other G-ods n, and worshiped them, either the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrouo^ht in Israel: then shalt thou brino^ forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that ^v\^oman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witness, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you." This passage of holy writ demonstrates the fact, that the law of the ten commandments is a part of tJie covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai — that law prohibiting idolatry — and that to break it was ''transgressing Ms covenant;'' and, that its violation was determined by an earthly court^ and that by an earthly court was the penalty executed. It further shows that, in its very nature, it is no part of the code that constitutes the unexecuted 'thoughts of wrongdoing, sin. Only He who knows the secret operations of the human mind and affections, can judge and convict, and he can convict justly^ only^ after the law is revealed defining evil thoughts to be sin.

With the foregoing facts concerning the ten commandments, as viewed abstractly and apart from the statutes and judgments that actually grew out of them, carefully noted, we notice again the further fact that, if Moses did not add /o the ten commandments as originally given on the Mount Sinai, they are not aU contained in the record as found in Exodus, chapter twenty. For as they stand recorded as rehearsed by Moses from the second set of tables, these additional words are found: ^'And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Eg3^pt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded tJiee to keep the Sahhath day' o.

That Moses did not add the contents of the verse cited,

oDeiit. 5: 15.

but that God spoke these words, Moses declares: "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me" p. Observe now that the reason here assigned by the Lord, why he commanded Israel to keep the Sabbath day holy, is omitted from the copy we have of the decalogue in Exodus. But it is substantially the wording of the title to the enactment of God in ordaining, formulating and recording the other nine also: "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" q. These are reasons God gave for requiring Israel to keep the ten commandments as formulated and given to them at Sinai, and shows us that he designed them to be kept by those so brought out of Egypt, from ''the house of bondage." And further, th^y show that the claim made by seventh-day Sabbath advocates, that the fourth commandment is a memorial of creation and designed to commemorate God's work, in the creation of the universe, is an assumption, The decalogue nowhere states that the Sabbath was or is a "memorial," either of God, or his creation; nor does the Bible anywhere so state, so far as we know. The claim is an assumption; for this, the Bible says, is God's memorial, "And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel; the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all genenerations' z. Now join the fact that God brought Isriael out of the land of Egypt attended with such wonders and signs as to demonstrate to them his Almighty power and goodness, and this

16 THE CHiaSTIAN SABBATH.

Name, his ^ 'memorial,'' together, and the divine reason for Israel's keeping the Sabbath, assigned in Deuteronomy, fifth chapter and fifteenth verse, becomes obvious. And so inspiration understood this matter in after times, for David, recounting the wonderful works of God in delivering Israel from Egypt and planting them in Canaan, in fulfillment of his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, concludes with these words, ^'Thy name^ O Lord, endureth forever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations" 7\ But again, we have no evidence in the Biole that the decalogue was ever revealed to man till it was given to Israel at Sinai: ''For until the Jatv sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses^ over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come" s. And this accounts for the fact that, in all the history of things prior to Moses, we have no account of the injunction being given to anyone to observe the seventh day as the Sabbath.

G-od made a covenant with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. The decalogue was made the basis of that covenant. The covenant was national in its character. As a nation they had to be located. By this covenant they were to be organized into a ^'kingdom," someiohere on earth. This kingdom was to be of a twofold nature, — a kingdom at once religious and political, the religious phase of it being largely ceremonial, being governed by that department of the code of laws, and so we read: *'Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary t. Novv^ the ten commandments, being the foundation of this covenant, it must, in its nature, be a religio-political enactment, and hence it is that six of the ten commandments relate directly to the relation of man to his fellow, while four relate to the obligations of man to God. The decalogue was so all-important a factor in the covenant that, sometimes by a figure of synechdoche, where a part of anything is put for the whole, the ten basic conditions of the covenant are called ''the covenant." ''And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments: and he wrote them upon two tables of stone" tt. Indeed, sometimes a single enactment is called a covenant, as, when Canaan was given to Abraham the rite of circumcision is called a covenant u. Doubtless the reason why this is so, is, because it was the sign or seal of the covenant, v^ with Abraham, and as the rainbow in the cloud was in the covenant made with Noah to. In the covenant made with Israel at Sinai, the Sabbath day was assigned the. important position of token, sign, or seal; also "a perpetual covenant" x; and like the rite of circumcision was to be observed by Israel "throughout their generations" by a perpetual covenant, just like the atonement Sabbath y; or the statute governing the weekly arrangement of the shewbread z. The seventh-day Sabbatb then, was the seal of the covenant made with Israel at Sinai. This covenant was to give way to the new and everlasting covenant, we are taught, the covenant ratified by the blood of the Son of God. Will the old be reenacted — made anew — or will the Lord make a new covenant?