Replies to Elder Canright’s Attacks on Seventh-day Adventists

CANRIGHT FOR THE SABBATH

“3. Sin does rule over sinners. Verse 14; John 8:34. RCASDA 59.3

“4. Are sinners under grace?—No. Verse 14. RCASDA 59.4

“5. All this applies only to baptized saints. Verse 4. RCASDA 59.5

“6. ‘Under law’ means here condemned by it. Romans 3:9, 19. Under: ‘2. Under the pains and penalties of the law.’— Webster. RCASDA 59.6

“7. There are two classes, those under grace and those under the law. Verse 14. RCASDA 59.7

“8. Shall we sin?—No. Verse 15. What is sin1 1 John 3:4. RCASDA 59.8

“9. Then we must not transgress the law, though we are not under it. This shows that it is binding, and must be kept by Christians.”—Canright”s Critical Notes on Romans 6:14 and 10:4. RCASDA 59.9

“Sunday-keepers assert that the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath, or the Sabbath of the New Testament. Seventh-day Adventists maintain that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the New Testament. Go into a church on the first day of the week, and you hear the minister call it the Sabbath day. Go among the seventh-day people on Saturday, and they call that the Sabbath. Now, who is right? We appeal to the New Testament. RCASDA 59.10

“‘In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene,’ etc. Matthew 28:1. Notice particularly; here are two days. One is the Sabbath day. ‘In the end of the sabbath.’ Very well, there is one day, then, that is the Sabbath. Now which day is this? Sunday-keepers say it is the first day of the week, and we say that it is the seventh day, Read further. “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week.’ Reader, which is the Sabbath day? It cannot be the first day, because the one which is called the Sabbath is the day before the first day. The Sabbath is ended before the first day comes. Remember, this is not the testimony of the Old Testament. It is from the Gospel that we are reading, the Christian Scripture, the New Testament. RCASDA 59.11

“Here is another text: ‘When the Sabbath was past... very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher.’ Mark 16:1, 2. Notice carefully; here are two days spoken of again. One of them is the Sabbath. Which day is it? Is it the first day -Surely not, because the Sabbath is past before the first day comes. ‘When the Sabbath was past... the first day of the week they came unto the sepulcher.” Remember this is New Testament, not Old,-gospel, not law,-Christians, not Jewish, testimony. To this we appeal. This was written a long time after the resurrection-written by a Christian, and for Christians. RCASDA 60.1

“Once more: ‘And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment.’ Luke 23:56. Thus did the holy women who had followed Christ and were acquainted with all his teaching. This was written thirty years after the resurrection. It is in the Christian Scriptures. What does it say?—They kept the Sabbath day. What Sabbath day?—‘The Sabbath day according to the commandment.’ Then it is the right Sabbath, the one the law requires. Now what day was this? The next verse will settle it: ‘Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher.’ Notice, the next day after the day they had kept, was the first day of the week. Thus, reader, the first day of the week cannot be the Sabbath day according to the commandment, because the Christians had kept the Sabbath day according to the commandment, because the Christians had kept the Sabbath day the day before the first day of the week. Do not think we are reading from the Old Testament. This is New Testament Scripture. RCASDA 60.2

“We turn to Acts, which was written some thirty-three years this side the commencement of the gospel age, and written by a Christian. It shows us the language of the apostolic Christians touching the ancient Sabbath, and how they used it. We find them always calling it “the Sabbath.’ just as it had been called in the old dispensation, and using it for religious worship as of old. Of Paul and Barnabas it says: “They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down.’ Chap. 13:14. This was the seventh day, the day on which the Jews worshiped. Inspiration here calls it the Sabbath day, not a Sabbath day, nor the day that used to be the Sabbath, but “the Sabbath day.’ Was it the Sabbath day? Sunday-keepers say, No. The Lord says, Yes. RCASDA 60.3

“Paul, in his sermon referring to that day says that the prophets ‘are read every Sabbath day.’ Acts 13:27. Here the apostle calls it definitely’ the Sabbath day.’ When he had finished his discourse, ‘the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.’ Acts 13:42. Here, even the Gentiles called it the Sabbath. Once more: ‘And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together.’ Acts 13:44. Luke, the historian, here calls it the Sabbath, and records the meetings they held upon it. James, in Acts 15:21, says the Scripture are “read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.’ Thus, James still designates that as the Sabbath day. RCASDA 61.1

“Once more: “And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river-side, where prayer was wont to be made,’ Acts 16:13. On what day?—The Sabbath. Who will contradict the Scriptures, and say that it was not the Sabbath? Every one holds that the day here referred to was the seventh day; and this record is in the New Testament. RCASDA 61.2

“Again: ‘Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.’ Acts 17:2. It was Paul’s custom to observe the Sabbath, as we here see. On what days did he preach there? On the Sabbath days. But this was on the seventh day, not on the first. Which, then, is the Sabbath-day, according to Paul? In Acts 18:1-11, we find the following facts: Paul went to Corinth, searched the city over, and found Aquila, a Jew, with whom he went into company in the business of tent-making, ‘And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath.’ Verse 4. ‘And he continued there a year and six months.’ Verse 11. Thus we find Paul working at his trade and preaching in the synagogue every Sabbath for a year and a half. Here is a record of seventy-eight Sabbaths observed by the apostle. Not a word is said about keeping Sunday. Thus we find that the seventh day is always and invariably termed ‘the Sabbath’ in the New Testament, while the first day is never so called. RCASDA 61.3

“Again: ‘I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.’ Revelation 1:10. There is, then, in the gospel, a day which belongs to the Lord. That this is the seventh day is expressly taught all through the Bible. Six days God gave to men, but the seventh day he reserved for his own worship. Hence he says, ‘The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord’ (Exodus 20:10), and he calls it ‘my holy day,’ Isaiah 58:13. And Jesus says that he is ‘Lord of the Sabbath.’ Mark 2:28. Then the seventh day is the Lord’s day. Those who assume that the first day is the Lord’s day, contradict the Bible, and make it up out of their own hearts. RCASDA 61.4

“Here we think we have plainly found the Sabbath day which the Christian Scriptures plainly teach. It is the seventh day of the week. We ask, then, By what authority do you apply the term ‘Sabbath’ to the first day of the week? God has never changed it, and why should you? RCASDA 61.5

“In conclusion, we ask, Where did the Lord ever give you permission to work on his holy day? Who gave you liberty to use it for secular work? When was the blessing or sanctification removed from it? We pray you to consider these things in the light of the Judgment. RCASDA 62.1

“When predicting the overthrow of Jerusalem, which occurred thirty-nine years after his resurrection, he said to his disciples, “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.’ Matthew 24:20. Here he points them forward thirty-nine years into the gospel age. He tells them that they will have to flee for their lives, but commands them to pray the Lord that they may not be compelled to flee either in the winter or on the Sabbath day. If they should go in the winter, they might perish. But why not flee upon the Sabbath day? If it was not a sacred day, they could flee on that day as well as on any other. This text, then, plainly shows that not only was the Sabbath to exist so many years after the resurrection of Christ, but that it was still to be regarded as a holy day. If not, there would be no reason in this command. Here then, we find a New Testament commandment from the lips of Jesus himself for the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. RCASDA 62.2

“Next, Acts 20:7-11 is supposed to furnish some little proof for first-day observance. ‘And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.’ Then a young man fell from a window, and being taken up dead, was restored to life by Paul And when he ‘had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.’ We notice these facts: 1. The first day is not called the Sabbath, Lord’s day, or by any other sacred title. 2. This is the only religious meeting upon the first day of the week of which we have any record in the in the New Testament. This is remarkable, if that were the common day of meeting. But we have a record of eighty-four Sabbaths which Paul kept, and on which he preached. See Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:1-4, 11. 3. Nothing is said about its being their custom to meet on that day. 4. There is no record that they ever met on that day before this occasion or afterward. 5. But what settles the whole matter is the simple fact that it was only an evening meeting. When they assembled, Paul began to preach to them; and ‘continued his speech until midnight.’ After breaking bread, he again talked ‘till break of day,’ and then went on his journey. Evening meetings are frequently held on all days of the week. No one thinks of calling a day holy for this reason. So in the above case; this meeting does not furnish the slightest evidence that Sunday was a holy day. Moreover, this was not an ordinary meeting, but a very uncommon one. It was Paul’s farewell meeting (verse 25); hence it lasted all night. A dead man was raised. It was for these reasons that it was mentioned, and not because of any sacredness belonging to the day. Then there is not a particle of evidence here for Sunday observance.”—Canright in the tract, The Christian Sabbath. We give, also, a few extracts from “One Hundred Bible Facts”:— RCASDA 62.3

“7. The sabbath was made before the fall; hence it is not a type, for types were not introduced till after the fall. RCASDA 63.1

“8. Jesus says it was made for man (Mark 2:27); that is, for the race, as the word man is here unlimited; hence, for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews. RCASDA 63.2

“12. It is not a Jewish institution, for it was made 2,300 years before ever there was a Jew. RCASDA 63.3

“13. The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath, but always ‘the Sabbath of the Lord thy God’ Men should be careful how they stigmatize God”s holy rest day.” RCASDA 63.4

“16. Then God placed it, not in the ceremonial law, but in the heart of his moral law. Exodus 20:1-17. Why did he place it there, if it is not like the other nine precepts, which all admit to be immutable?” RCASDA 63.5

“27. God has pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. Isaiah 56:6, 7. RCASDA 63.6

“28. This is in that prophecy which refers wholly to the Christian dispensation. See Isaiah 56 RCASDA 63.7

“29. God has promised to bless any man who will keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 56:2. RCASDA 63.8

“30. The Lord requires us to call it ‘honorable.’ Isaiah 58:13. Beware, ye who take delight in calling it the ‘Old Jewish Sabbath,’ ‘a yoke of bondage,’ etc.” RCASDA 63.9

“39. He instructed his apostles that the Sabbath should be prayerfully regarded forty years after his resurrection. Matthew 24:20.” RCASDA 63.10

“41. Thirty years after Christ’s resurrection, the Holy Spirit expressly calls it ‘the Sabbath day.’ Acts 13:14. RCASDA 63.11

“42. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, called it ‘the Sabbath day’ in A.D. 45. Acts 13:27.” RCASDA 63.12

We have given quite a liberal amount of space to enable the Elder to show his agility in arguing both sides of these questions. We have purposely refrained from making comments, so as not to confuse the reader’s mind. In fact, we are perfectly willing to leave the verdict with the reader, as to which right for the Sabbath.” We feel sure the greatest mystery the reader will have to solve is this: How could a man, after presenting such strong, valid arguments in years past, now turn and present such as he has been giving of late? The correct answer is readily perceived. Canright is now in the darkness. He has stepped down from the solid rock of truth, founded upon the eternal obligation of the law of God, and now stands upon the shifting sands of the “law abolished,” “Sunday-Lord’s day,” and the support of a pagan and papal institution. From our hearts we pity him. G.I.B. RCASDA 64.1