THE SABBATH by Rev. Geo. H. Griffin.

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · May 13, 1880

THE SABBATH.

By Rev. Geo. H. Griffin.

It is alleged by some that the fourth commandment is not binding under the gospel; that its requirements were abrogated when the Lord of the Sabbath declared that day made for man, and not man for it. But arguments based upon such an assumption prove too much; for if Christ did away with the fourth commandment of the decalogue, it may be reasoned that he also superseded the rest of the nine.

The confusion of ideas lies in the failure to distinguish between the moral, ceremonial and civil laws of the Old Testament dispensation. It is clear that when the veil of the Temple was rent in twain, an end was put to the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that all the ceremonies of sacrifice and priestly intercession gave place to the one great expiation and eternal advocacy of the One Mediator between God and men. So, when the theocracy had accomplished its purpose, the civil code of the Jews passed into desuetude. But to say that the moral law was destroyed by the introduction of the new dispensation is, by implication, to remove the very foundation of Christianity. Few can be found, perhaps, to favor such a view as this; and yet for consistency's sake, those who argue the abrogation of one of the ten commandments, must undermine the whole.

I believe, for one, that the entire decalogue is in full force now, and will be till "the last syllable of recorded time;" but that, instead of keeping these commandments from fear of the penalty of their violation, Christ inculcates the obedience of love. Hence we are to observe the Sabbath as a day of hallowed rest, of loving worship, and of cheerful service to God and man. Avoiding either extreme of austerity or levity, I hold to the duty of making the Sabbath a day of holy joy and attractiveness even to the children.—Rev. Geo. H. Griffin.