In Defense of the Faith
Canright Presents 100 Bible Facts To Support The Sabbath
We present herewith a reprint of a tract published in 1885 by D. M. Canright in which he argues convincingly for the keeping of the seventh day as the Bible Sabbath. DOF 150.4
“Why keep the Sabbath day? What is the object of the Sabbath? Who made it? When was it made, and for whom? Which day is the true Sabbath? Many keep the first day of the week, or Sunday. What Bible authority have they for this? Some keep the seventh day, or Saturday. What Scripture have they for that? Here are the facts about both days, as plainly stated in the Word of God: DOF 151.1
Sixty Bible Facts Concerning the Seventh Day
1. After working the first six days of the week in creating this earth, the great God rested on the seventh day. Genesis 2:1-3. DOF 151.2
2. This stamped that day as God’s rest day, or Sabbath day, as Sabbath day means rest day. To illustrate: When a person is born on a certain day, that day thus becomes his birthday. So when God rested upon the seventh day, that day became His rest, or Sabbath day. DOF 151.3
3. Therefore the seventh day must always be God’s Sabbath day. Can you change your birthday from the day on which you were born, to one on which you were not born? No. Neither can you change God’s rest day to a day on which He did not rest. Hence the seventh day is still God’s Sabbath day. DOF 151.4
4. The Creator blessed the seventh day. Genesis 2:3. DOF 151.5
5. He sanctified the seventh day. Exodus 20:11. DOF 151.6
6. He made it the Sabbath day in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:1-3. DOF 151.7
7. It was made before the fall; hence it is not a type; for types were not introduced till after the fall. DOF 151.8
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 Gentile as well as for the Jews. DOF 151.9
9. It is a memorial of creation. Exodus 20:11; 31:17. Every time we rest upon the seventh day, as God did at creation, we commemorate that grand event. DOF 151.10
10. It was given to Adam, the head of the human race. Mark 2:27; Genesis 2:1-3. DOF 151.11
11. Hence through him, as our representative, to all nations. Acts 17:26. DOF 152.1
12. It is not a Jewish institution; for it was made 2,300 years before ever there ‘was a Jew. DOF 152.2
13. The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath; but always, ‘the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’ Men should be cautious how they stigmatize God’s holy rest day. DOF 152.3
14. Evident reference is made to the Sabbath all through the patriarchal age. Genesis 2:1-3; 8:10, 12; 29:27, 28, etc. DOF 152.4
15. It was a part of God’s law before Sinai. Exodus 16:4, 27-29. DOF 152.5
16. Then God placed it in the heart of His moral law. Ex. 20:117. Why did He place it there if it was not like the other nine precepts, which all admit to be immutable? DOF 152.6
17. The seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by the voice of the living God. Deuteronomy 4:12, 13. DOF 152.7
18. Then He wrote the commandment with His own finger. Exodus 31:18. DOF 152.8
19. He engraved it in the enduring stone, indicating its imperishable nature. Deuteronomy 5:22. DOF 152.9
20. It was sacredly preserved in the ark in the holy of holies. Deuteronomy 10:1-5. DOF 152.10
21. God forbade work upon the, Sabbath, even in the most hurrying times. Exodus 34:21. DOF 152.11
22. God destroyed the Israelites in the wilderness because they profaned the Sabbath. Ezekiel 20:12, 13. DOF 152.12
23. It is the sign of the true God, by which we are to know Him from false gods. Ezekiel 20:20. DOF 152.13
24. God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if the Jews would keep the Sabbath. Jeremiah 17:24, 25. DOF 152.14
25. He sent them into Babylonish captivity for breaking it. Nehemiah 13:18. DOF 152.15
26. He destroyed Jerusalem for its violation. Jeremiah 17:27. DOF 152.16
27. God has pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. Isaiah 56:6, 7. DOF 152.17
28. This is in the prophecy which refers wholly to the Christian dispensation. See Isaiah 56. DOF 152.18
29. God has promised to bless any man who will keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 56:2. DOF 153.1
30. The Lord requires us to call it ‘honorable.’ Isaiah 58:13. Beware, you who take delight in calling it the ‘old Jewish Sabbath,’ ‘a yoke of bondage,’ etc. DOF 153.2
31. After the holy Sabbath has been trodden down ‘many generations,’ it is to be restored in the last days. Isaiah 58:12, 13. DOF 153.3
32. All the holy prophets kept the seventh day. DOF 153.4
33. When the Son of God came, He kept the seventh day all His life. Luke 4:16; John 15:10. Thus He followed His Father’s example at creation. Shall we not be safe in following the example of both the Father and the Son? DOF 153.5
34. The seventh day is the Lord’s day. See Revelation 1:10; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 58:13; Exodus 20:10. DOF 153.6
35. Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28); that is, to love and protect it, as the husband is the lord of the Wife, to love and cherish her. 1 Peter 3:6. DOF 153.7
36. He vindicated the Sabbath as a merciful institution designed for man’s good. Mark 2:23-28. DOF 153.8
37. Instead of abolishing the Sabbath, He carefully taught how it should be observed. Matthew 12:1-13. DOF 153.9
38. He taught His disciples that they should do nothing upon the Sabbath day but what was ‘lawful.’ Matthew 12:12. DOF 153.10
39. He instructed His apostles that the Sabbath should be prayerfully regarded 40 years after His resurrection. Matthew 24:20. DOF 153.11
40. The pious women who had been with Jesus carefully kept the seventh day after His death. Luke 23:56. DOF 153.12
41. Thirty years after Christ’s resurrection, the Holy Spirit expressly calls it ‘the Sabbath day.’ Acts 13:14. DOF 153.13
42. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, called it ‘the Sabbath day’ in A. D. 45. Acts 13:27. Did not Paul know? Or shall we believe modern teachers, who affirm that it eased to be the Sabbath at the resurrection of Christ? DOF 153.14
43. Luke, the inspired Christian historian, writing as ate as A. D. 62, calls it ‘the Sabbath day.’ Acts 13:44. DOF 153.15
44. The Gentile converts called it the Sabbath. Acts 13:42. DOF 154.1
45. In the great Christian council, A. D. 52, in the presence of the apostles and thousands of disciples, James calls it the “Sabbath day.” Acts 15:21. DOF 154.2
46. It was customary to hold prayer meetings upon that day. Acts 16:13. DOF 154.3
47. Paul read the Scriptures in public meetings on that day. Acts 17:2, 3. DOF 154.4
48. It was his custom to preach upon that day. Acts 17:2. DOF 154.5
49. The book of Acts alone gives a record of his holding eighty-four meetings upon that day. See Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:1, 11. DOF 154.6
50. There was never any dispute between the Christians and the Jews about the Sabbath day. This is proof that the Christians still observed the same day that the Jews did. DOF 154.7
51. In all their accusations against Paul, they never charged him with disregarding the Sabbath day. Why did they not, if he did not keep it? DOF 154.8
52. But Paul himself expressly declared that he had kept the law. ‘Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all.’ Acts 25:8. How could this be true if he had not kept the Sabbath? DOF 154.9
53. The Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament 59 times, and always with respect, bearing the same title it had in the Old Testament, ‘the Sabbath day.’ DOF 154.10
54. Not a word is said anywhere in the New Testament about the Sabbath’s being abolished, done way, changed, or anything of the kind. DOF 154.11
55. God has never given permission to any man to work upon it. Reader, by what authority do you use the seventh day for common labor? DOF 154.12
56. No Christian of the New Testament, either before or after the resurrection ever did ordinary work upon the seventh day. Find one case of that kind, and we will yield the question. Why should modern Christians do differently from Bible Christians? DOF 154.13
57. There is no record that God has ever removed His blessing or sanctification from the seventh day. DOF 155.1
58. As the Sabbath was kept in Eden before the fall, so it will be observed eternally in the new earth after the restitution. Isaiah 66:22, 23. DOF 155.2
59. The seventh-day Sabbath was an important part of the law of God, as it came from His own mouth, and was written by His own finger upon stone at Sinai. See Exodus 20. When Jesus began His work, He expressly declared that He had not come to destroy the law. “Think not that I am come to destroy the law,’ or the prophets.” Matthew 5:17. DOF 155.3
60. Jesus severely condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites for pretending to love God, while at the same time they made void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition. The keeping of Sunday is only a tradition of men. DOF 155.4
“We have now presented 60 plain Bible facts concerning the seventh day. What will you do with them? DOF 155.5
Forty Bible Facts Concerning the First Day Of The Week
1. The very first thing recorded in the Bible is work done on Sunday, the first day of the week. Genesis 1:13. This was done by the Creator Himself. If God made the earth on Sunday, can it be wicked for us to work on Sunday? DOF 155.6
2. God commands men to work upon the first day of the week. Exodus 20:8-11. Is it wrong to obey God? DOF 155.7
3. None of the patriarchs ever kept if’ DOF 155.8
4. None of the holy prophets ever kept it. DOF 155.9
5. By the express command of God, His holy people used, the first day of the week as a common working day for 4,000 years, at least. DOF 155.10
6. God Himself calls it a ‘working’ day. Ezekiel 46:1. DOF 155.11
7. God did not rest upon it. DOF 155.12
8. He never blessed it. DOF 155.13
9. Christ did not rest upon it. DOF 155.14
10. Jesus was a carpenter (Mark 6:3), and worked at His trade until He was 30 years old. He kept the Sabbath and worked six days in the week, as all admit. Hence He did many a hard day’s work on Sunday. DOF 155.15
11. The apostles worked upon it during the same time. DOF 156.1
12. The apostles never rested upon it. DOF 156.2
13. Christ never blessed it. DOF 156.3
14. It has never been blessed by any divine authority. DOF 156.4
15. It has never been sanctified. DOF 156.5
16. No law was ever given to enforce the keeping of it, hence it is no transgression to work upon it. ‘For where no law is, there is no transgression.’ Romans 4:15; (1 John 3:4.) DOF 156.6
17. The New Testament nowhere forbids work to be done on it. DOF 156.7
18. No penalty is provided for its violation. DOF 156.8
19. No blessing is promised for its observance. DOF 156.9
20. No regulation is given as to how it ought to be observed. Would this be so if the Lord wished us to keep it? DOF 156.10
21. It is never called the Christian Sabbath. DOF 156.11
22. It is never called the Sabbath day at all. DOF 156.12
23. It is never called the Lord’s day. DOF 156.13
24. It is never called even a rest day. DOF 156.14
25. No sacred title whatever is applied to it. Then why should we call it holy? DOF 156.15
26. It is simply called the ‘first day of the week.’ DOF 156.16
27. Jesus never mentioned it in any way, never took its name upon His lips, so far as the record shows. DOF 156.17
28. The word Sunday never occurs in the Bible at all. DOF 156.18
29. Neither God, Christ, nor inspired men, ever said one word in favor of Sunday as a holy day. DOF 156.19
30. The first day of the week is mentioned only eight times in all the New Testament. Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2. DOF 156.20
31. Six of these texts refer to the same first day of the week. DOF 156.21
32. Paul directed the saints to look over their secular affairs on that day. 1 Corinthians 16:2. DOF 156.22
33. In all the New Testament we have a record of only one religious meeting held upon that day, and even this was a night meeting. Acts 20:5-12. DOF 156.23
34. There is not an intimation that they ever held a meeting upon it before or after that. DOF 157.1
35. It was not their custom to meet on that day. DOF 157.2
36. There was no requirement to break bread on that day. DOF 157.3
37. We have an account of only one instance in which it was done. Acts 20:7. DOF 157.4
38. That was done in the night after midnight. Verses 7-11. Jesus celebrated it on Thursday evening (Luke 22), and the disciples sometimes did it every day. Acts 2:42-46. DOF 157.5
39. The Bible nowhere says that the first day of the week commemorates the resurrection of Christ. This is a tradition of men, which makes void the law of God. Matthew 15:1-9. Baptism commemorates the burial and resurrection of Jesus. Romans 6:3-5. DOF 157.6
40. Finally, the New Testament is totally silent with regard to any change of the Sabbath day or any sacredness for the first day. DOF 157.7
“Here are 100 plain Bible facts upon this question, showing conclusively that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord in both the Old and New Testament.” DOF 157.8