The Sabbath by G. B. T.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 30, 1916

The Sabbath

By G. B. T.

THERE is no doctrine of the Bible that stands out with greater clearness than the binding obligation of the seventh-day Sabbath. From the flaming, smoke-wreathed summit of Sinai Jehovah spoke the law of the Sabbath, saying to awe-stricken humanity assembled at the base of the mountain that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” With the rest of the precepts he traced this commandment on the imperishable stone. This great and only divine Sabbath law stands unrepealed. It reads, “The seventh day is the Sabbath.” Not that it was, but is, the Sabbath of Jehovah. Men may claim that the Sabbath has been abrogated, but they must face in the Word of God the statement handed down from Sinai that the seventh day is the Sabbath. This command is nowhere changed in the Scriptures. That devout worshipers of the Lord read this precept in the Bible, and repeat it in churches every week from catechisms, and then continue to transgress it, claiming some other day is the Sabbath, is a very remarkable inconsistency.

The immutability of the Sabbath law, and our duty to observe the Sabbath, have been very clearly and forcefully set forth by scholarly writers, though themselves observers of the first day of the week. I have before me a book entitled “The Sabbath for Man.” It is a prize essay, published by the Lord’s Day Observance Committee of the Wesleyan Methodist Conference in England. In the introduction the author says:—

“It will be our endeavor to show in the following pages that the Sabbath dates from the very dawn of man’s existence on the earth, and was an important feature in the Edenic dispensation; that its subsequent modifications, recognized and sanctioned in the Holy Scriptures, originated from him who is both Creator of the universe and Lord of the Sabbath; that its observance was enforced in the fourth commandment, which, although promulgated primarily with reference to the Jews, was yet not an exclusively Jewish law; that in after-ages the Sabbath ordinance was incorporated in the system of Christianity by divine authority; that the Lord’s day, kept from the earliest Christian times, is designed by its divine Author to represent the earlier seventh-day Sabbath, commemorating the creation of the world and its redemption; and that, as a part of God’s immutable law, as well as from its suitability to man’s condition and requirements, the ordinance of the Sabbath is binding on all mankind, bringing with it grave responsibilities, but fruitful of most beneficent results when cherished and hallowed in harmony with the precepts of the Lord.”—Pages 4, 5.

Again he says:—

“The Sabbath takes rank amongst the immutable rectitudes which no local or changing circumstances can affect. Edenic innocency, patriarchal simplicity, Levitical symbolism, rabbinical subtleties, the spiritual liberty of Christianity, may reflect varying hues upon it; but the principle involved in Sabbath keeping is not abrogated by any canonical or dispensational transitions. Dr. Hessey admits that ‘the occurrence of a commandment to keep the Sabbath in a table generally moral implies that there is a moral element in that commandment.’ And again he says: ‘If the church made the first day holy, she may make any other day holy instead. She may change the cycle, she may enlarge it indefinitely, she may get rid of it altogether.’”—Page 65.

The learned author quotes seemingly with approval the words of Dr. Hessey that “if the church made the first day holy, she may make any other day holy instead. She may change the cycle, she may enlarge it indefinitely, she may get rid of it altogether.” It seems hard to understand how one who had a vision as clear as this would continue to keep the first day of the week, and teach in this prize essay that others should keep it.

Concerning the immutability of the fourth commandment, he says:—

“The Sabbath law of the decalogue has never been repealed. All through the later developments of Jewish history it retained its vitality; and notwithstanding

the abrogation of the ceremonial law, the decalogue in general, and the Sabbath in particular, were adopted and sanctioned by Jesus Christ.”—Page 85.

Speaking of the attitude of Jesus toward the Sabbath, he further says:—

“The sacredness of the Sabbath, and the obligation resting upon all mankind to observe it, are distinctly manifested by the example of Christ.”—Page 116.

That the author of this prize essay knows of no law authorizing a change of the Sabbath, is clear from the following:—

“It is not categorically asserted in the New Testament that the Lord’s day was specially set apart by Christ and ordained by him to be the memorial of creation and redemption.”—Page 52.

Yet without any command of the Saviour, whom he admits kept the Sabbath when on earth, he says:—

“The change from the seventh-day to the first-day Sabbath is an impressive testimony to the sovereignty and glory of the Messiah.”—Page 59.

He cites as inferential proof the usual texts found in the New Testament where it is said that Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, etc. But none of the texts prove a change of the Sabbath. No command of God is given; no example of the Man of Calvary is cited, no text where he ever mentioned the day, no place where he referred to a change, no apostolic example. Nothing is given but mere assertion. The word of men, the practice of a church, is set up against the precept of God.

How blessed is the assurance as we keep the Sabbath that we have a “Thus saith the Lord” upon which to stand! There may be, and is, a sacrifice involved in keeping the true Sabbath, but it is worth all it costs even in this life to know that we are walking in the footsteps of the Saviour. It may be inconvenient to keep this day now, when all the arrangements of the world are against our doing so, at least along business lines; but it will be very convenient to be found a Sabbath keeper in the judgment, when every act and motive is weighed, and the hidden things come to light.

G. B. T.