[Sabbath Controversy #3] A Vindication of the Seventh-day Sabbath, and the Commandments of God

11/29

THE SABBATH

Jesus kept the Sabbath, and when he was giving them the signs of his coming and the end of the world, he pointed them at least thirty-five years after his death, to the very same Sabbath. On the 29th of June last, you replied to J. Gifford’s inquiries on this point, and perverted the word, and called THE, their Sabbath. You also say, “The day before the resurrection was the Jewish Sabbath, which Christ kept in the tomb. When that Sabbath ended, the law of types ended, and of course the typical Sabbath ceased - a new dispensation commenced on the first day, which should be observed in commemoration of the death of Christ, until he come.” Now look at your zig-zag course. First, that the whole law with the decalogue was nailed to the cross. But here, to get rid of this brother’s argument, about the Sabbath being kept the day before the resurrection, and after the crucifixion, you stretch out the Sabbath in the fourth commandment about twenty-seven hours, (as long as you wanted it,) and then put it back with the other nine that died the day before. Here too, you say, “ended the law of types, and of course the typical Sabbath,” and then about twelve hours after a new dispensation commenced. Your argument looks like this—the Jewish dispensation ended at the preaching of Christ. Oh no, it was at his death—where the law of Moses, with the commandments of God, were all nailed to the cross. But stop again—the Sabbath did not end, not the types, until twenty-seven hours after; and finally—come to think of it—the dispensation did not end until about twelve hours after that, when Christ arose. Surely J. Turner, with all his mesmeric influence, could not do much better. How much better to follow Paul in Colossians 2:14, “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances (the ceremonial law) and nailing it to the cross” on Friday, the 14th day of the first month, “FINISHED” at 3 o’clock, P.M.—John 19:30; Mark 15:33, 37 Again, you say “the Jews were so tenacious about the strict observance of their Sabbath, that they would have prevented the disciples fleeing on that day, had they made an attempt to do so; hence for their own salvation, Christ taught his disciples to pray that their flight might not be on that day, not because it would be wrong to save their lives on that day, which the Sabbatarian view seems to teach.” In the first place Christ never intimated a word about their Sabbath; it was THE Sabbath, the same that he had kept. Your sophistical argument about their flight, etc. etc. touches not the main point. Christ did here recognize THE Sabbath of the Lord thirty-five years beyond the time which you say it was abolished. At that time, if it never did before, as you have it, it belonged as much to the Gentile as the Jew, unless you make another attempt to stretch out the Jewish dispensation thirty-five years to cover it. His disciples certainly kept the Sabbath, the day after his death, and you cannot prove by the Scriptures that the disciples ever held a meeting but once of an evening on the first day. Therefore you must be very much pushed for a Sabbath, to continually call that day one, as you do, at the same time reiterating, “we want none of your inferences!” Luke also recognizes THE Sabbath twenty years beyond the resurrection, and shows that Paul kept it, and the Gentiles also. - Acts 13:42, 44 You attempt to destroy all this proof too, because you say this was the Jews’ day for worship, and Paul could get a better hearing. Don’t you see that the Gentiles invited him to preach to them - they kept the same day, 44th verse. See 16:13; here they are by the river’s side. Paul’s manner was to reason with them on the Sabbath; see 17:2, and 18:4, 11 So was it the custom of the Saviour; Mark 6:2, and Luke 4:16, 31 Now if all this is not New Testament evidence enough for honest believers, in the absence of any other testimony for an abolition, or change of the Sabbath then it is because men would rather pervert the word of God than keep it. SC3 162.3