God's Law Unbroken : by Geo. W. Burnham

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 6, 1866

God's Law Unbroken :

By Geo. W. Burnham

Or the Ancient Sabbath, the Sabbath Still.

BY GEO. W. BURNHAM.

MUCH has already been said and written in defense of, and advocating, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; yet I wish to present a few thoughts in regard to that much-neglected—not to say abused, portion of God's holy law. Many are the arguments brought forward by those who reject the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, to show that that commandment is not binding upon Christians at the present time. Still, they loudly protest that they want to keep all of God's commandments, but if the fourth is mentioned, they say, "We have nothing to do with that, for the old law is abolished, and we are living under the new covenant; therefore we are no longer under the old law, which is the commandments."

It does indeed seem strange that they do not see the absurdity of such a position. Again, they say, "Jesus Christ lived our example, and died our sacrifice." This we not only admit, but firmly believe. But could they who oppose the fourth commandment see the true position in which this claim places them, they would soon turn round, and from opposing the observance of one of the commandments, would as strongly advocate (as they say they want to) the keeping of them all.

Said the Saviour, "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love." John xv, 10. "Well," says one, "I do keep all of Christ's commandments; and as he is the Christian's lawgiver, we are only required to keep the commandments which he gave, or those that were by him brought over from the old into the new dispensation, and as he said nothing about keeping the fourth commandment, but has commanded us to keep the other nine, therefore, we conclude that he did not teach the observance of the fourth, and we do not keep it."

Now my friend, just please read again carefully, very carefully, the above-quoted scripture, and see where it will lead you, if you still adhere to your present position. Suppose that I should tell you, that in the light of that scripture, I shall be justified in keeping only eight of the nine commandments, which you say are binding, rejecting one, because, perchance it may happen to be at variance with some particular views of my own, Would you believe it? You answer, no doubt, most emphatically, No! Then let me tell you my friend, whoever you see that advocates the abolition by the Saviour of one of the commandments given by the Father, that although you may not be aware of it, that is just your position, so long as you advocate that Christ is the Christian's lawgiver, and that only nine of the commandments contained in the decalogue, are binding on the church in this dispensation. You think this a bold and unwarrantable assertion, do you? Well, facts are stubborn things; and the word of God gives me boldness thus to speak. Now I will show in what way you teach that only eight of the commandments are binding upon Christians in this dispensation.

You say that Christ abolished the fourth commandment; and now, to show the fallacy of your position, or to prove my assertion that if you are correct in the position that Christ did abolish the fourth commandment, there are only eight of the commandments binding upon us at the present time. Mark the Saviour's language in the last clause of the verse, John xv, 10, "Even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love;" or, in like manner as I have kept my Father's commandments, so keep ye my commandments. Now, how or in what manner, did the Saviour keep his Father's commandments? Did he keep them all? You answer, Yes, he kept them all but the fourth, and as he was "Lord of the Sabbath," he could keep it or not, as he chose, knowing that in him was to be the end of the law.

Now my friend, we see that all the Saviour requires of us is, that we keep his commandments as strictly as he kept his Father's commandments; then, according to the Saviour's language, "If ye keep my commandments, . . . even (or in like manner) as I have kept my Father's commandments," we may set aside one, at least, of Christ's commandments, and still with the same justification say that we are keeping all the commandments of Christ that he requires us to keep, as you say that you keep all the commandments that are binding upon Christians in this dispensation. Now my friend, you would say that they who took the position that only eight of the commandments were binding, were in the dark, to say the least, and yet, such a position is just as good as the one you occupy, when you say that the Saviour did not observe, or that he disregarded the fourth precept in God's law.

"But," say you, "the Saviour did not disregard the least portion of the Father's law as long as he lived; but there was a part of it that was fulfilled in him, and expired when he did. For we have the declaration of the apostle Paul in Rom. x, 4, that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes; and as the Saviour never taught the observance of the fourth commandment, while he did the other nine, yea, the very fact that he did not once in all his teachings, mention the Sabbath in connection with the commandments, is evidence enough that the Sabbath was a part of that law that was fulfilled in him and so abolished. Well, then, if the Saviour kept all the Father's commandments, and if he lived our example, how can you say that you are following the example set by him, if you refuse to keep any one of the commandments which you acknowledge our Saviour kept? Do you not see that you are walking at variance with the example?"

Rom. x, 4, is taken to show that Christ was the end of the law of the ten commandments; but let us briefly notice this passage. What law was Christ the end of? was it the ten commandments? Certainly not. He was the end of that law that if a man sinned, and came before the priest, and through him offered the sacrifice which was ordained in the law to be offered for that sin, that act was counted to him for righteousness, and his sin remitted. "And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sins which he hath done; and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him." Lev. xix, 22. This is also that law in which it was ordained that offering should be made for uncleanness; and, "This is the law of the burnt-offering, of the meat-offering, and of the sin-offering, and of the trespass-offerings, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings; which the Lord commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai." Lev. viii, 37, 38. This is that law of which Paul spoke, when he said, "But Israel which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law." Rom. ix, 31, 32.

But was the Sabbath any part of that law? I answer, No! for the Lord said he had given them the Sabbath before

he gave them that law; and so far was it from being a part of that law, that the pollution of the Sabbath was one of the sins of which the people were guilty, and for which those judgments were given them. The Sabbath was made for man, and being made for him, it is certain that it could not be against him.

Again, it is said that the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week, in commemoration of the resurrection of the Saviour from the dead; but whether it was changed by Christ himself, or by the apostles, does not appear quite clear. What an error! to think that because the Saviour, in obedience to the will of his Father, shed his blood to redeem poor lost man from the wretched condition into which disobedience had plunged him, substituting his own precious blood for the blood of bulls and goats which could not take away sin, that we might be freed from the constant observance of those sacrifices, by the shedding of his blood once for all;—what an error to think that of submission to the will of his Father, so far eclipsed the glory of God's power in the creation of the universe, that the Father, seeing his own glory eclipsed by his Son, gave him power to change the only time that he had reserved unto himself, and had sanctified and made holy in commemoration of the great work of creation, and that the Saviour trusted that holy time into the hands of poor, weak, finite man,—though the holiest and the best of men—and that they transferred it from commemorating the creation of all things, to the commemoration of that day on which the Father, who was able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham, brought his own dear Son from the land of the enemy, and rescued the soul of his holy one from the jaws of hell and the pit of corruption!

The Saviour said, "I came not to destroy the law or the prophets;" Matt. v, 17; but if he abolished a part of the law, is not that part which he abolished destroyed? Most certainly it is. And in the 18th verse he says, "Verily I say unto you, till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Jesus says here, that "till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Now, What was it that was to be fulfilled? Some say that it was the law; but we take the position that it was the prophets; as if he had said, "I came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill those prophecies which relate to my coming, and my mission on the earth as the promised Messiah, and verily I say unto you, that one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all the prophecies of the Scriptures are fulfilled." Have all the prophecies been fulfilled? Who is there that will say that the prophecy of Jeremiah has had its fulfillment, in which he said, "The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth;" or, that they have seen "the slain of the Lord, from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth." Jer. xxv, 30, 33. Who hath seen the earth burning as an oven and consuming all the wicked as the stubble is consumed by fire in the field after the harvest? Mal. iv, 1. What mortal eye hath beheld the glory of that city of which the Lord hath said, "I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones." Isa. liv, 11, 12. And unless these prophecies have been fulfilled, the law of God remains as unbroken as in the day when it was first given to the children of Israel from mount Sinai.

Again, Jesus says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Matt. xxii, 37. How shall we know when we love God? The beloved disciple tells us, "For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments." 1 John v, 3. Now the disciple would never have left his children in the dark in regard to the commandments of God; and if they had been abolished, he would never have written to the church to keep them; and if we would know what those commandments are, let us turn to Ex. xx, and read from the third to the seventeenth verse and we shall see what they are. We there read that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." These are not Moses' commandments, but God's, which he with his own finger engraved in two tables of stone. And, as if to preclude the possibility of a doubt in the minds of the people as to who the author of those commandments was, and to stamp them with the seal of everlasting unalterability, while the mountain "smoked and quaked," and the terrific lightning blazed forth from the thick darkness of the cloud, and the dreadful thunder shook the earth, in the midst of that scene of awful grandeur stood the Majesty of Heaven, and, while the people trembled and removed and stood afar off, swelling high above the pealing thunder, until it filled the very dome of Heaven itself, rose the sublime voice of the great Jehovah, proclaiming his royal law to his chosen people! Let not that again be called Moses' law, which the great I AM would not entrust even to that faithful servant of his, as his representative to give unto the people, but which was of such vast importance that the Royalty of Heaven came down from his high throne, and from his own lips gave it them! And he has also declared through his servant David, saying, "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Ps. lxxxix, 30-32, 34. What, I inquire, has more emphatically gone out of his lips than the ten commandments? and yet, we are very seriously told that those commandments have all been abolished; but that nine of them have been remodeled, and re-established! And yet, after their reconstruction, they stand word for word as they did before they were abolished! O consistency! Let us remember that "God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of man that he should repent."

We have the direct testimony from the apostle Paul, that the seventh day was the Sabbath as late as A. D. 46; for while preaching the gospel of the kingdom to the Jews at Antioch in that year, he says, "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him." Acts xiii, 27. Paul here speaks of the Sabbath as being the Sabbath at that time, and not as something that had been and had passed away, but as an institution that then was; for he says, speaking in the present tense, "which are preached every Sabbath day." No language could more plainly show that the Sabbath of the Lord was still the Sabbath at the time he was speaking, than that used by the apostle. If Paul had understood the Sabbath to have been changed, would he, while endeavoring to lead those to whom he was speaking, to a knowledge of the truth and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have shunned to declare that they were fallen from grace if they observed the Sabbath, if such had indeed been the case? And, would not Paul have come under the same condemnation because he kept the Sabbath, and by his example before the Jews, encouraged them in the continued observance of that day?

The next year we see the subject of the law brought before the church at Antioch, by certain of the believing Jews of the sect of the Pharisees, who went out from Jerusalem, and who taught that they ought to observe the ordinance of circumcision, and keep the law of Moses; which teaching, threw the church into confusion and trial. But when the apostles at Jerusalem heard of those things, they wrote to the church at Antioch, declaring that they never commanded the observance of the Mosaic law of ceremonies, that "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." Acts xv, 19. If the apostles had understood that if they observed the Sabbath day they were fallen from grace, would they not have warned the church at Antioch against its observance, when if they did do those things which they were commanded not to do, they could be in no worse condition than if they did not do those things, and still observed the Sabbath, if it be true that in the observance of that day they were fallen from grace? Hence it seems clear that as they did not warn them against its observance, they did not understand the Sabbath to be either changed or abolished.

Paul in writing to Timothy says: "But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation, through faith in Christ Jesus." 2 Tim. iii, 14, 15. Here Paul refers Timothy to the Jewish scriptures, and tells him that they are able to make him wise unto salvation, if to them he added faith in Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. And those Scriptures which were able to make Timothy wise unto salvation, were all founded on the ten commandments; which, according to the testimony of the Saviour, (when questioned as to which of the ten commandments was the greatest) are summed up in those words, Those written on the first table, or our duty to God; "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." Deut. vi, 5; x, 12; xi, 13; xxx, 6. Those on the second table, or our duty to man, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Lev. xix, 18. "On these two commandments," said the Saviour, "hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. xxii, 40.

These commandments, then, must surely be what Paul referred to when he wrote Timothy, that, from "a child" he had known them, and they were able to make him wise unto salvation. Says the sweet singer of Israel, "Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies; for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers; for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." Ps. cxix, 98-100. And Solomon, after applying his great wisdom to the study of the many ways by which men sought to be justified before God, says, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Eccl. xii, 13. "And thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which teacheth thee by the way which thou shouldest go. Oh that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isa. xlviii, 17, 18.

Farmington, N. H., Feb. 1866.