NOT INCORPORATED INTO THE NEW COVENANT.
By R. F. Cottrell
"There is no possible way to sustain the seventh-day Sabbath but by proving one of two things: 1. That the old covenant is now binding upon all mankind; or 2. That the fourth commandment has been incorporated into the new covenant; neither of which has yet been done." So says a recent writer. One other way is possible; and that is to prove that the ten commandments are not the old covenant. Whoever will read the old covenant, as recorded in Ex. 19:3-8, will see that the covenant was made before the people heard the voice of God proclaiming his commandments. And in chap. 24, where we have the account of its dedication with blood (Heb. 9:20), Moses said, "Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." The words and the covenant concerning them, are self-evidently two things. The covenant consisted of mutual promises. The people promised to obey the voice of God, and on this condition God promised to make them a peculiar treasure to himself above all other people. And after this, God uttered his voice in the hearing of all the people. Concerning this, Moses said, "And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. 4:12, 13. That person's mental powers are not to be envied, who cannot see the distinction between the covenant and the commandments of God, obedience to which was made a condition of his promises; and the candor and honesty of those who will not see it are not to be coveted. The old covenant, we admit, is superseded by a better one, the new. But this writer says that the fourth commandment has not been incorporated into the new covenant. Where does he find the new covenant? I suppose he alludes to the revelations written in the New Testament. In this volume the Sabbath is mentioned nearly sixty times, and it is always designated by its sacred title, as if no strange thing had happened to it. But says our writer. "The Lord's day is the memorial day of the new covenant." By the Lord's day he means the first day of the week. Now we ask, when and where was the first-day Sabbath incorporated into the new covenant? Can any one tell? Where is the record of this new "memorial day?" Is there any "possible way to sustain" the first-day Sabbath, but by showing its place either in the old or the new? "Memorial day of the new covenant!" who ever read or heard of such a thing? New inventions must have new titles; and of course every one may give names to his own children. And it seems much easier for some to invent new doctrines, than to yield to those that are taught in the word of God.