Morality of the Sabbath
By D. M. Canright
VIII. The fact that God himself has associated the Sabbath with the moral precepts affords conclusive proof that it is a moral institution. Fallen man has one document which came directly from the living God himself, and that is the ten commandments. God came down personally upon mount Sinai amidst thunderings and lightnings and most terrible majesty, and there, in the hearing of the whole nation, he spoke from Heaven, with his own voice, his moral law of ten commandments. Webster in defining the moral law says that it is “summarily contained in the ten commandments.” When God spoke this law, his voice shook the earth. Heb. 12: 26,—not simply the land of Canaan,—indicating that this was the law for all nations in all the earth. With his own divine finger he then engraved it in the imperishable stone; Ex. 31: 18, here again indicating that this law was as imperishable and as enduring as the solid rock. It was then deposited in the ark, under the shekinah in the holy of holies. No other part of the Bible, no other law of God, was ever given in such a solemn manner. Why was this? This question our opponents have never been able to answer. Nine of these ten commandments are universally acknowledged to be moral in their nature, and of perpetual and universal application, applying through all ages, and to all nations. Look at them. 1. You shall have no other gods. 2. You shall not make and worship an image. 3. You shall not profane God's name. 5. Honor your parents. 6. Do not kill. 7. Do not commit adultery. 8. Do not steal. 9. Do not lie. 10. Do not covet. Reader, are not these commandments all moral and as enduring as truth itself? There is not a shadowy or ceremonial precept in the whole ten, except it be the Sabbath. Now we ask the reader, if the Sabbath was, unlike the other nine precepts, a mere ceremonial institution. Why did God place it in the moral law? Why did he not put it where it belonged, with those precepts which are confessedly only types and shadows? Shall we impugn God's wisdom to sustain our theories? Would God mar an otherwise perfect moral law? God's own action gives the lie to that baseless theory. It is a true saying that a man is known by the company he keeps. Now look at the Sabbath. God, who knew its character, has placed it right in the midst of a strictly moral neighborhood. It has three perfectly moral neighbors on one side, and six on the other. We do claim that this important fact shows that the all-wise God has put his stamp upon the Sabbath as a moral institution. What God has joined together let no man put asunder. IX. The Sabbath precept guards the right of property the same as the eighth commandment does; and, hence, like that, is moral. All admit that the eighth commandment, “Thou shalt not steal,” is a moral commandment. Why? Because it guards the right of property. You shall not take and appropriate to your own use that which belongs to another. The Creator who is the author of everything, has divided time into weeks of seven days each. All these days were the Lord's; but he in his benevolence and goodness, has given six of them to man to be properly used in his own necessary business, but the seventh day, God's rest day, he has reserved to himself. The fourth precept is given to guard this Sabbath day. It forbids us to appropriate to our own use that which belongs to another, viz., to God. The right of property, then, is recognized in this commandment the same as in the eighth commandment; and, hence, if one is moral, then the other is also for the same reason. To illustrate: A wealthy man has seven apple trees all bearing. He has a poor neighbor living near him. He takes him into the orchard and tells him to freely use of the fruit of the first six trees; but the seventh one he forbids him to touch, as that he has reserved for a special purpose to himself. This would be a very generous act on the part of the rich man. Now how ungrateful and wicked it would be on the part of the poor man to use not only the fruit from the six trees, but to take that of the seventh also. It would be a grossly immoral act. Just so God has given us six days which we can freely use in an honorable business; but the seventh day belongs to God. Thus the Lord says by the mouth of Isaiah: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day,” &c. Ch. 58: 13. Again, the Lord says, “Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep.” Ex. 31: 13. And so the fourth commandment says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20: 10. It is not our day, our time, nor our property. It belongs to God. And the fourth commandment is given to guard the Lord's right to this day. Another prophet exclaims, “Will a man rob God? But ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Mal. 3: 8, 9. God had reserved to himself one-tenth of all their increase. This belonged to him. Thus he says, “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord.” Lev. 27: 30. But the people had taken these tithes which belonged to the Lord and had used them for their own benefit: in doing this they had “robbed God.” Then a man can rob the Lord. If this was true in the above case, with how much greater force can it be said that a man robs God who every week takes God's holy day and appropriates it to his own worldly purposes! Verily, he is guilty of stealing. A little reflection will show that the same motive which leads a man to steal from his neighbor, also leads him to break the Sabbath. He covets his neighbor's property that he may use it for his own selfish purposes; so he takes it without his consent. So a man covets God's holy day that he may use it in his own worldly business or pleasure. Hence he proceeds to appropriate that sacred time to his own purposes. A man who knowingly appropriates God's Sabbath to his own use is robbing God, and thus violating the very highest principle of morality. If it is wrong to rob our neighbor who is our equal, how much more wicked is it to rob God our Creator? The same moral principle, then, is involved in the Sabbath precept that is in the precept against theft; and therefore it is moral for the same reason. X. Marriage is a moral institution. The Sabbatic institution being made at the same time, by the same authority, for the same persons, and in a similar manner, is also moral for the same reason. Notice the origin of the marriage institution. 1. Adam was created; but there was no marriage institution yet, nor any moral obligation upon Adam touching it. 2. Eve was made; but still there was no marriage institution. 3. Eve was given to Adam to be his wife. Now marriage obligation first existed. It was made by the direct and positive appointment of God. So of the Sabbath. 1. God created the heavens and the earth; but there was no Sabbath yet. 2. God rested the seventh day; but yet there was no institution of the Sabbath. 3. God blessed and sanctified (set apart to a holy use) the rest day, and then Sabbath obligation existed. To deny the morality of the Sabbatic institution because it rests upon the appointment of God, is to deny the morality of the marriage institution; for it rests upon the same authority. If one is moral the other is also. Indeed, there is a striking similarity in the Bible record touching these two institutions. 1. God himself instituted marriage; so he did the Sabbath. 2. Marriage was instituted before the fall; so was the Sabbath. 3. Paul says: “The woman (was made) for the man,” 1 Cor. 11: 9; and Jesus says: “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2: 27. 4. The apostle says: “Marriage is honorable,” Heb. 13: 4; and the Lord exhorts all to call the Sabbath “honorable.” Isa. 58: 13. These two are the only institutions which the Lord has ever called honorable—an honorable pre-eminence. 5. The husband is called the “lord” of the wife. 1 Pet. 3: 6; and so the Son of man is called the “Lord” of the Sabbath. Mark 2: 28. As the husband loves and cherishes the wife, so the Lord loves and protects his Sabbath. 6. As God has put in the moral law a precept guarding the sacredness of the marriage institution, so he has put in the same law a commandment guarding the sacredness of the Sabbatic institution. The Jews having perverted both these institutions, questioned Christ concerning the nature of each of them. His answer in each case was similar. In relation to marriage his answer, in substance, was this: In the beginning God made one man and one woman, designing that they two should be one flesh. The marriage institution, therefore, was designed to unite but two persons, and this union should be sacred, permanent, and for man's good. Matt. 19: 3-9. Touching the Sabbath, his argument was this: God made the Sabbath. Thus he goes right back to Eden, the origin of the Sabbath; for that was when the Sabbath was made. Then he says it was made for man. Being made for man before he fell it must be a merciful institution, of which fact the Jews had lost sight. Thus Jesus traces both institutions back to their origin in Eden. Both rest upon a similar basis, and both are equally moral.