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GEO. B. THOMPSON

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Nov 9, 1911

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 88, No. 45.

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GEO. B. THOMPSON

By George B. Thompson

“Hard Nuts for Seventh Dayists”—No. 3

GEO. B. THOMPSON

“14. If Christians are to keep the Sabbath day, how do you account for the fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem, Samaria, to Cornelius the Gentile, and to many others, without commanding a single individual to keep it? Did they, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, fail properly to instruct their converts? Acts 2:1-47; 8:1-40; 10:1-48; 16:1-40.”
How will any one prove that “not a single individual” was commanded to keep the Sabbath by the apostles? Where do the Scriptures of truth so state? We find Paul speaking to both Jews and Gentiles in the synagogue on the Sabbath at Antioch, in Pisidia (Acts 13:42-44), by the riverside at Philippi (Chap. 16:12, 13), in the synagogue at Thessalonica (Chap. 17:1-3), and at Corinth (Chap. 18:1-11). Paul kept the Sabbath, and not in a single instance do we find him observing the first day of the week as the Sabbath. We ask for proof that their converts were not taught to keep the Sabbath. Then we would like to have chapter and verse where the converts of the apostles were taught to observe the first day of the week. Where is the proof of this? Give us one instance recorded in the Bible where it is commanded to keep Sunday, or one example where the first day was ever observed, as a day of rest. When this is done, we will gladly observe the day.
“15. Is it not a fact, according to the book of Acts, that the thing done was of more importance than the day? Acts 20:7.”
The writer does not know. This would depend on the day, upon who did the act, and what the act itself was. We are utterly incapable of determining the value of any act, or the worth of God’s holy time. Only God, who knows all things, and who can weigh things in the light of eternity, can determine this.
Are we to conclude from this question that the writer of “Hard Nuts” does not attach much importance to the Sabbath? We so understand it, else there is no sense in the question. Such a conclusion would be a logical one for those who keep a day as the Sabbath without any divine command to do so. A sabbath unauthorized by the Lord, one which he has never blessed nor made holy, is not of much value; but the Sabbath which the Son of God himself made (compare Mark 2:27, 28; John 1:1-3) and gave to man is of infinite value, and in keeping it there is great reward. Patriarchs, priests, and prophets of God have kept it, Jesus and his disciples kept it, and it will be observed in the new earth through all eternity. Isa. 66:22, 23.
“16. Can you demonstrate that the day you keep is really the seventh day, or Sabbath, coming down in regular succession from the day on which God rested? If not, your day is no better than any other day. Admitting, for argument’s sake, that the law of Moses is still in force, and that the fourth commandment is binding on the whole human race, will you affirm that it is possible for all men to keep the same day? If so, how do you explain the fact that the traveler who starts out to go around the earth, gains, say, if going east, one hour for every thousand miles traveled, or if going west loses an hour for every thousand miles traveled? How far would he go before he lost the count? Do you not see that he would inevitably be behind or in advance? Further, how do you explain the fact that far away toward the extremes of the earth, traveling from the equator, there are periods of six months night and six months day from age to age? Do you not see that it is a geographical impossibility for all men to keep the same day, and that the law was intended only for one people, one country, and one age?”
But what about Sunday? Can it be demonstrated that Sunday is the first day of the week? If not, to use the language just quoted, that day is no better than any other day. If First-day observers can find Sunday, observers of the seventh day can find the seventh day. This “nut” is the old argument that because the world is round, you can not keep the Sabbath.
Did not the Lord know about the rotundity of the earth when he made the Sabbath? “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27, 28),—not the Jew man, but man, all men,—and man was made to dwell on all the face of the earth. Acts 17:26. Then, did God make a Sabbath that could not be found, or kept when found? Let us not charge the all-wise God with such folly. There is no more trouble in keeping or in finding the seventh day when traveling east or west than in keeping or finding the first day. Observers of both days are continually circumnavigating the globe, and not one, so far as we have heard, has ever had the least difficulty either in finding the day or in keeping it in any part of the world. Not long ago I went to Australia. When we crossed the day line in the Pacific Ocean, we dropped a day. This day happened to be Sunday. I kept the Sabbath, while my fellow travelers lost Sunday according to the reckoning of the ship. When we reached Australia, we found that we had the right day. Returning, we had two Tuesdays; but when we reached the United States, we all had the same day. How about gaining a day or losing a day? Take twins, and send one around the world east, and the other west. According to the author of “Hard Nuts,” one would lose a day, the other gain a day, and on meeting each other again there would be two days difference in their ages! How about this? Will the questioner solve this problem in harmony with the position taken in the article under consideration?
The gaining or losing of a day, as every traveler knows, is not actual. You have all the time there is, no more, no less. You add to or drop a certain amount of time, to keep time with God’s great clock, the sun. And when you have traveled around the world, if you have already had your day, it is dropped; if you have not, it is added; so when the journey is finished around the world, you have neither gained nor lost a minute. It is not therefore a “geographical impossibility” to keep the same day on a round world. The author of “Hard Nuts” believes we should keep Sunday, a definite day. But the globe is not flat on Sunday. Wherever we are, we keep the day when it comes to us. The same is true in the polar regions. In those regions there is no trouble in determining the beginning and ending of the day. Peary knew the exact day when he reached the north pole. But how could he if one can not find a definite day in the polar regions?
We are told that the “law was intended for only one people, one country, and one age.” Then was the law forbidding stealing for only one people? Did this not apply to the Gentile nations? What about the second, the third, the fifth, the seventh, and the other commandments? Were these intended for only one people, and one age? We are admonished by the author of “Hard Nuts” not to dodge. Very well, without quibbling tell us about this. Are we to conclude that he believes that in this age these precepts against these terrible sins are not binding? Nothing could dishonor God more than so to teach. This is a terrible position to be forced to take in order to avoid obedience to one of the precepts of Jehovah.
“17. Do you keep the Sabbath day? No dodging; do you? Do you rest, or put in the day promulgating your doctrines?Do you not eat food on that day prepared by work on a fire kindled in violation of the law? Ex. 20:8-11; 35:1-3. Do you offer the burnt-offerings required by the law? Num. 27:3-10. Do you remain in your house during the day? Ex. 16:29. If you do not keep the day according to the law, you do not keep it at all. If you admit that any part of the law concerning the Sabbath is done away, you are driven to the inevitable and irresistible conclusion that it is all done away. If you deny that any part of it is done away, you condemn yourself, for you do not keep it. Which way will you take?”
The questions propounded in the above have been answered in replying to other questions. The law requiring burnt-offerings was ceremonial; it was no part of the moral code, and was nailed to the cross. In Isa. 58:13, 14, we are told how to keep the Sabbath, and the reward which comes for so doing: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”
This the natural man can not do; but the Christian in whose heart a risen Saviour dwells can keep the Sabbath as God commands, and in doing so there is promised a great reward.
It is on such negative reasoning as the foregoing that the advocates of Sunday sacredness endeavor to set aside the Sabbath of the Lord, and to establish in its stead the claims of the first day of the week as a day of rest. To all such the Lord declares, “Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.” Eze. 13:11.
Having Scripturally disposed of these seventeen so-called “hard nuts,” I wish to hand to the author of these questions and to the journals which by publishing them without comment thereby endorse them, an equal number, upon which I confidently affirm they can hammer indefinitely:—
1. One text that says the first day of the week is the Sabbath.
2. One text that commands Christians to keep this day as a day of rest and worship.
3. One text that says it is a sin to labor on this day.
4. One text that says Jesus ever kept this day as the Sabbath, or enjoined any one else to do so.
5. One text that shows he ever mentioned the day when on earth.
6. One text that says any of his followers while he was in the world kept the first day as a day of rest.
7. One text that affirms that any of the apostles ever kept the day.
8. One text from any of their writings which authorizes its observance.
9. One text that gives any instruction as to how the first day of the week should be observed as a day of rest.
10. One text that applies to Sunday any sacred title whatever, or pronounces any penalty for its desecration.
11. One text that commands us to refrain from labor on Sunday, or promises any reward for its observance.
12. One text that says the seventh day is not now God’s holy rest day.
13. One text that states when, where, and by whom the seventh-day Sabbath was abolished.
14. One text that says the seventh day was the Sabbath for the Jews only.
15. One text that calls the seventh-day Sabbath the “Jewish Sabbath.”
16. One text that says the seventh day is not as holy and honorable to-day as when made at creation, or when the precept for its observance was written by the finger of God on stone at Sinai.
17. One text that tells us that the fourth commandment or any part of the moral law written by Jehovah on stone, has been abrogated, and hence is not binding.
Washington, D. C.