[Sabbath Controversy #2] The Seventh Day Sabbath, A Perpetual Sign (2nd Ed.)

HAS THE SABBATH BEEN ABOLISHED SINCE THE SEVENTH DAY OF CREATION? IF SO, WHEN, AND WHERE IS THE PROOF?

The text already referred to, is in Romans 14:5, 6 “One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day to the Lord, he doth not regard it.” Does the apostle here mean to say, that under the new or Christian dispensation it is a matter of indifference which day of the week is kept as a Sabbath, or whether any Sabbath at all is kept? Was that institution which the people of God had been commanded to call a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, now to be esteemed of so carnal a nature as to be ranked among the things which Jesus “took out of the way, nailing it to His cross.” If this be true, then has Jesus, in the same manner, abolished the eight last verses in the fifty-eighth of Isaiah, and the 2nd, 6th and 7th verses of the 56th chapter have no reference to the Gentile since the crucifixion. O Lord help us rightly to understand and divide thy word. But is it not evident from the four first verses in the same chapter of Romans, that Paul is speaking of feast days; Hear him explain. “Destroy not him with thy meal for whom Christ died. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink.” 15,17v, also 20,23 Giving them again in substance the decrees which had been given by the Apostles in their first conference, in A.D. 51, held at Jerusalem. See Acts 15:19 James proposes their letter to the Gentiles should be “that they abstain from pollution of Idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood;” to which the conference all agreed. Now please read their unanimous decrees (16:4,) from twenty-three to thirty verses. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” “That ye abstain from meats offered to Idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which if ye keep yourselves ye shall do well.” Reading along to the 13th of the next chapter, we find Paul establishing the Churches with these decrees; (see 4,5,) and at Philippi he holds his meeting, (not in the Jews Synagogue) but at the river’s side, on the Sabbath day. A little from this it is said that Paul is in Thessalonica preaching on the Sabbath days. Luke says this was his manner! What was it? Why, to preach on the Sabbath days, (not 1st days.) Observe here was three Sabbaths in succession. 17:2 A little while from this Paul locates himself in Corinth, and there preaches to the Jews and Greeks (or Gentiles) a year and six months every Sabbath. Now this must have been seventy-eight in succession. 18:4, 11 Does this look like abolishing the Sabbath day? Has anything been said about the 1st day yet? No, we shall speak of that by and by. SC2 63.2

Before this he was in Antioch. “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue the GENTILES besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.” 13:42, 44 Here is proof that the Gentiles kept the Sabbath. Now I wish to place the other strong text which is so strangely adhered to for abolishing or changing this Sabbath along side of this, that we may understand his meaning. “Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.” SC2 64.1

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days.” Colossians 2:14, 16 Now here is one of the strong arguments adhered to by all those who say the seventh day Sabbath was abolished at the crucifixion of our Lord; while on the other hand by the great mass of the Christian world, (so called,) the seventh day Sabbath ceased here, and in less than forty-eight hours the change was made to the first day of the week. Now remember Paul’s manner, (before stated) itinerating from city to city and nation to nation, always preaching to Jews and Gentiles on the seventh day Sabbath, (for there is no other day called the Lord’s Sabbath in the Bible.) Now if the Apostle did mean to include the Sabbath of the Lord God with the Jewish feasts and Sabbaths in the text, then the course he took to do so, was the strangest imaginable. His manner always was, as recorded, with the exception of one night, to preach on the very day that he was laboring to abolish. If you will look at the date in your Bibles, you will learn this same apostle had been laboring in this way as a special messenger to the Gentiles, between twenty and thirty years since (as you say) the Sabbath was changed or abolished, and yet never uttered one word with respect to any other day in the week to be set apart as a holy day or Sabbath. I understand all the arguments about his laboring in the Jewish Synagogue on their Sabbath, because they were open for worship on that day, etc., but he did not always preach in their Synagogues. He says that he preached the Kingdom of God, and labored in his own hired house for two years. He also established a daily meeting for disputation in the school of Tyrannus.” Acts 19:9. Again he says, I have “kept back NOTHING that was PROFITABLE unto you. (Now if the Sabbath had been changed or abolished, would it not have been profitable to have told them so?) and have taught you publicly, and from house to house.” “For I have not shunned to declare unto you ALL the council of God.” - Acts 20:20, 27 Then it is clear that he taught them by example that the Sabbath of the Lord God was not abolished. Luke says it was the custom (or manner) of Christ to teach in the synagogues on the Sabbath day. 4:16, 31 Mark says, “And when the Sabbath day was come he began to teach in their synagogue.” Mark 6:2 Now if Jesus was about to abolish or change this Sabbath, (which belonged to the first code, the moral law, and not the ceremonial, the second code, which was to be nailed to his cross, or rather, as said the angel Gabriel to Daniel 9:27, “he (Christ) in the midst of the week shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease,” meaning that the Jewish sacrifices and offerings would cease at his death.) Jesus did not attend to any of the ceremonies of the Jews except the passover and the feasts of tabernacles. Why did he say, “Think not I am come to destroy the law or the prophets? I am not come to destroy but fulfill. One jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled.” “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments” etc. Did he mean the ten commandments? Yes; for he immediately points out the third, not to take God’s name in vain; sixth and seventh, not to kill nor to commit adultery, and styles them the least. Then the others, which include the fourth, of course were greater than these. Matthew 5:17-19, 21, 27, 33, and were not to be broken nor pass away. Then the Sabbath stands unchanged. SC2 65.1

Almost every writer which I have read on the subject of abolishing or changing the seventh day Sabbath, call it the Jewish Sabbath, hence their difficulty. How can it be the Jewish Sabbath when it was established two thousand years before there was a Jew on the face of the earth, and certainly twenty-five hundred before it was embodied in the decalogue, or re-enacted and written in stone by the finger of God at Sinai. God called this HIS Sabbath, and Jesus says it was made for man, (not particularly for the Jews.) SC2 66.1

“Well,” says one, “what is the meaning of the texts which you have quoted, where it speaks of Sabbaths?” - Answer: These are the Jewish Sabbaths! which belong to them as a nation and are connected with their feasts. God by Hosea makes this distinction, and says, “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.” These then belong to the text quoted, and not God’s Sabbath. Do you ask for the proof? See 23 Levit.4 “These are the FEASTS of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons, EVERY THING UPON HIS DAY” -37th v. (May we not deviate a little? If you do it will be at your peril.) Fifteenth and sixteenth verses gives them a fifty day’s Sabbath; twenty-fourth verse says: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying in the seventh month in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.” SC2 66.2

“Also on the tenth day of the seventh month there shall be a day of atonement. It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest.” 27,32 SC2 67.1

“Also on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when ye shall have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. On the first shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. 39v. And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the FEASTS of the Lord.” 44v. Now here we have FOUR kinds of Jewish Sabbaths, also called “FEASTS of the Lord,” to be kept annually. The first fifty days or seven weeks Sabbath ends the third month, seventh. In three months and twenty-four days more commences the second Sabbath, seventh month, first; the next, the tenth; the last the fifteenth of the month. Between the first two Sabbaths there is an interval of one hundred and twelve days; the next two, ten days, and the next, five days. Now it can be seen at a glance, that neither of these Sabbaths could be on the seventh day any oftener than other annual feast could come on that day. These then are what Hosea calls HER Sabbaths. Paul calls them HOLY DAYS, new moons, and Sabbaths; and this is what they are stated to be. The first day of the seventh month is a new moon SABBATH, the tenth is a Sabbath of rest and Holy convocation, a day of atonement, and the fifteenth a feast of Sabbaths. Do you ask for any more evidence that these are the Jewish Sabbaths, and that God’s Sabbath is separate from them? Read then what God directed Moses to write in the third verse: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation, ye shall do no work therein, it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.” Now Moses has here declared from the mouth of the Lord, that these are ALL the feast of the Lord, (there is no more nor less) and every thing is to be upon his day, and he has clearly and definitely separated his Sabbath from the other four. But let us look at the text again. Colossians 2:14-16 See 17 (?) “which are a shadow of things to come.” What did the apostle say were shadows? Why, meat, drink, holy day, new moon, sabbath days. 16th v. Hebrews 9:10 What does he mean by shadow? See Hebrews 10:1, 2 Just what I have stated on page 14. Now here we have one clear, positive point. If the seventh day Sabbath is included in the 17th verse, then it must be a shadow; if it is not a shadow, then Paul has no reference to it, and it stands forever! Moses says the ten commandments were written by the finger of God on tables of stone; whatever God has done with his own hand is stamped with immortality, and is as enduring as the sun, moon and stars. Psalm 8:3 But if the 4th commandment, the Sabbath of the Lord is a shadow then all the other nine commandments must be. Let us look at what are called by our Lord the least commandments, the 6th and 7th “Thou shalt not kill.” - “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Matthew 5:19, 21, 27 Are these shadows? Is there an individual with common sense in the world that dare risk his reputation in such kind of logic? Then it is as clear as a sun beam that all the others are tangible substances, and will continue in full force while immortality endures; especially the 4th commandment, the Sabbath. See Isaiah 66:23, Hebrews 4:9 Revelation 22:14 And in the 28th and 29th chapters of Numbers the sacrifices and offerings for each of these days are made so plain, beginning with the Sabbath, 9v, that we have only to read the following to understand. 26.29:1 First day, seventh month, (new moon;) 7v, 10th day Sabbath; 12th v., 15th day Sabbath, and 35th v., 23rd Sabbath. I will endeavor to present it in a clearer point of view: SC2 67.2

Feast by fire connected with the Lord’s and the Jewish Sabbaths. The Daily or continual [always] 2 lambs morning and evenings, 3 quarts of flour for a meat offering, 2 1-2 pints of oil, 5 pints of wine - 28:3-7 SC2 68.1

THE SABBATH DAY. 2 lambs, and six quarts of flour with oil. SC2 68.2

Here follow the Jewish feasts with their Sabbaths: SC2 68.3

1st - 7th week Sabbath, 2 bullocks, 1 ram, 7 lambs, 1 goat, 24 quarts of flour - 28:1, 17 SC2 68.4

2nd - 7th month Sabbath, 1 bullock, 1 ram, 7 lambs, 1 kid, 36 quarts of flour - 29:1-5 SC2 68.5

3rd - 10th of 7th month Sabbath, 1 bullock, 1 ram, 7 lambs, 2 kids, 86 quarts of flour - 7 - 11 SC2 68.6

4th - 13 of 7th month Sabbath, 13 bullocks, 2 rams, 14 lambs, 2 kids, 4 1-2 bushels of flour - 12 - 16 SC2 68.7

5th - 8th day Sabbath, 1 bullock, 1 ram, 7 lambs, 1 goat, 36 quarts of flour - 35 - 39 SC2 68.8

“And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded Moses.” Here is the 8th day Sabbath, which makes 5 Jewish Sabbaths, every one of them differing from the other and the Lord’s Sabbath, no more connected with them than in the 23 of Levit. just named. Here then is an unanswerable argument for a separation of the Jewish from the Lord’s Sabbath, and shows conclusively what Paul calls “shadows” in Colossians 2:17, and Hosea “her Sabbaths.” And in the days of Nehemiah when Ezra had read the law to the people, 8 (more than one thousand years after they were promulgated,) they bound themselves under an oath “to walk in God’s law which was given by the hand of Moses, the servant of God.” “And to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord, our Lord.” 10:29 And that there might be no misunderstanding about the kind of Sabbaths, they say, “If the people bring ware or any victuals on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the Sabbath or on the holy day,” (31v.) but they would “charge themselves yearly with a third part of a shekel (to pay for) “the burnt offerings of the Sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts,” etc. (33v.) for the house of God, including what has already been set forth in Leviticus and Numbers. Now as their feast days commenced and ended with a Sabbath, so when their feasts ceased to be binding on them these Sabbaths must also, and all were “nailed to the cross.” Now I ask, if there is one particle of proof that the Sabbath of the Lord is included in these Sabbaths and feast days? Who then dare join them together or contradict the Most High God, and call HIS the Jewish Sabbath. Theirs was nailed to the cross when Jesus died, while the Lord’s is an everlasting sign a perpetual covenant. The Jews, as a nation, broke their covenant. Jesus and his disciples were one week (the last of the seventy) that is seven years, confirming the new covenant for another people, the Gentiles. Now I ask if this changing the subjects from Jew to Gentile made void the commandments and law of God, or in other words, abolished the fourth commandment; if so, the other nine are not binding. It cannot be that God ever intended to mislead his subjects. Let us illustrate this. Suppose that the Congress of these United States in their present emergency, should promulgate two separate codes of laws, one to be perpetual, the other temporary, to be abolished when peace was proclaimed between this country and Mexico. The time comes, the temporary laws are abolished; but strange to hear, a large portion of the people are now insisting upon it that because peace is proclaimed that both these codes of laws are forever abolished; while another class are strenuously insisting that it is only the fourth law in the perpetual code that’s now abolished, with the temporary and all the rest is still binding. Opposed to all these is a third class, headed by the ministers and scribes of the nation, who are writing and preaching from Maine to Florida, insisting upon it without fear of contradiction, that when peace was proclaimed this fourth law in the perpetual code was to gradually change its date to another day, (while some of them say immediately) and thenceforward become perpetual, and the other code abolished; and yet not one of these are able to show from the proceedings of Congress that the least alteration had ever been made in the perpetual code. Thus, to me, the case stands clear that neither of the laws or ten commandments in the first code, ever has or ever can be annulled or changed while mortality is stamped on man, for the very reason that God’s moral law has no limitation. Jesus then brought in a new covenant, which continued the Sabbath by writing his law upon their hearts. Paul says “written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” 2 Corinthians 3:3 And when writing to the Romans he shows how the Gentiles are a law unto themselves. He says, they “shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their consciences always bearing them witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another,” (when will this be Paul) “in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” 2:15, 16 How plain that this is all the change. The Jews by nature had the law given them on tables of stone, while the Gentiles had the law of commandments written on their hearts. Paul tells the Ephesians that it was “the law of commandments contained in ordinances,” (2:15) not on tables that were nailed to the cross. If the ten commandments, first written by the finger of God on stone, and then at the second covenant on fleshy tables of the heart, are shadows, can any one tell where we shall find the substance? We are answered, in Christ. Well, hear Isaiah. He says, “that he (Christ) will magnify the law and make it honorable.” 42:21 Again, I ask, where was the necessity and of what use were the ten commandments written on our hearts, if it was not to render perfect obedience to them. If we do not keep the day God has sanctified, then we break not the least, but one of the greatest of his commandments. Before we leave this part of our subject let us examine 2 Corinthians 3:7, 9, 13, 15 I have been told that these verses clearly prove the abolition of the 10 commandments. It is admitted by all our opponents, that the change which they so much insist upon, respecting the commandments, took place at the crucifixion of our Lord. It is clear from 2 Colossians 14 that the hand-writing of ordinances (the law of Moses) was then taken our of our way, and all that was contrary to us, but the 10 commandments were never contrary to us, especially the 4th, the Sabbath, for “it was made for man.” The 2nd or Gospel Covenant Paul tells the Hebrews is written upon our hearts. 8:10. This is the same ten commandments; then instead of being taken away or abolished they are still nearer to us. See also 3rd v. of 2nd Corinthians 3. If Paul was laboring here to show the abolition of the ten commandments in A.D. 60, (look at the top of your Bible for the date) pray tell me if you can what he meant by writing to the Romans the very same year and telling them that “the law was holy, and the commandments holy, just and good.” That he meant no other than the Law and Commandments in the decalogue, see 13:8, 9. About four years after this he is exhorting the Ephesians to the keeping the 5th commandment. He says it is the “first commandment with promise.” 6:2. The same year that he writes the Romans he dates his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians in ch. 7:19, and says circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, (what is, Paul?) but the keeping the commandments of God. Now all this was certainly more than twenty-five years after the crucifixion. Is not the proof then positive and forever established that Paul’s preaching is right to the point in establishing the commandments of God instead of abolishing them? If I have not made it plain here, I would just say once more, that the Apostle’s argument where he refers to the abolition of the law in Rom., Corinthians, Galatians, see 5:14, Ephesians and Hebrews he always means the carnal commandments of God, as he has shown. See Acts 21:20, 21. Here is circumcision, and the customs, the law of Moses, and not one breath about the Sabbath. But if you will trace back to the 17:4, 11, you will see that instead of abolishing THE sabbath, Paul had just come from Corinth, where he had been preaching for 78 Sabbaths in succession. O Lord help thy people to see THESE truths and keep thy law! Still, there are many other texts relating to the law, presented by the opposite view, to show that the law respecting the Sabbath is abolished. Let us look at some of them. But it will be necessary in the first place, to make a clear distinction between what is commonly called the SC2 69.1