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THE PRESENT TRUTH

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jan 2, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 1.

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THE PRESENT TRUTH.

Jews, or Christians; but the whole human race. The Sabbath was made for man, for the whole race of man. Adam, Noah, and Abraham were men, therefore the Sabbath was made for them, as well as for Moses, and the Jews. We are men, and the Sabbath is made for us.
God has given the following reason in the decalogue, why man should keep his holy Sabbath—“FOR in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord BLESSED the seventh day and HALLOWED it.” Ex. xx: 11.
Here our minds are directed back more than twenty-five hundred years, to the creation and holy rest in Eden, for the origin of the Sabbath. This plain fact every candid mind must see. God did not bless and hallow the Sabbath day at Sinai—no, no. This he had done in Eden twenty-five hundred years before.
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: Gen. ii : 3.
The Sabbath was marked and guarded with miracles by Jehovah and kept by Israel in the wilderness of Sin, thirty days before they came to Sinai.
“And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man; to-morrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.”
“And Moses said, eat that to-day, for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord: to-day ye shall not find in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.”
And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws! See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. So the people rested on the seventh day.” See Ex. xvi. : 22—30.
The children of Israel departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, and came to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month. Here God gives them bread from heaven, and reminds them of the Sabbath. From the wilderness of Sin they journeyed to Rephidim, and from Rephidim they came to the desert of Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the third month. Mark this. God gives them manna, reminds them of his Sabbath, and guards it with miracles thirty days before they saw Mount Sinai, and thirty-two days before God spake from the smoking mount, the ten commandments.
We frequently hear the assertion, that the Sabbath is not mentioned in the Bible, till after the law was given from Mount Sinai; therefore, the seventh day Sabbath is the Sabbath of the old Jews, and is abolished. Not long since a second advent preacher made this false statement to me. Another person repeated this statement to me not two weeks since. Now, I hope all who are laboring under this mistaken view will look again. Please read the history of the journey of Israel from Egypt to Mount Sinai, found in Exodus.
The Lord said to Moses, thirty-two days before he gave the law of commandments, “How long refuse ye to keep MY COMMANDMENTS and MY LAWS? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath.” The Sabbath is not mentioned here as a new institution, but an old one, that they had not kept while in bondage to the Egyptians. God brought Israel out of the house of bondage to prove them, and see if they would keep his commandments. They had been from Egypt but thirty days when God reminded them of his Sabbath.
“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or no.” Deut viii : 2
They could not keep his Sabbath in Egypt. They could not keep it; neither can we keep it when bound by sectarian creeds. Therefore God has brought us out of the churches to prove us, to try us, to know what is in our hearts, whether we will keep his commandments.

The Sabbath a perpetual Weekly Memorial.

“Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth SANCTIFY you.” “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a PERPETUAL covenant.”
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel FOREVER: FOR in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” Ex. xxxi. : 13—17.
FACSIMILE OF THE SECOND PAGE OF THE FIRST PAPER PUBLISHED BY SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS