A PARALLEL FOUND by R. F. Cottrell

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 9, 1880

A PARALLEL FOUND.

By R. F. Cottrell

CHRIST was accused of his enemies of breaking the Sabbath. And many in our day have laid hold of and repeated this accusation, as one of their best arguments for the abolition of the Sabbath. We have thought that their audacity in reiterating the false accusation of the enemies of Jesus, to justify their no-Sabbathism, was without a parallel; but we were mistaken; as the following extract from history will show.

"The Bishop Natalis, of Salona in Dalmatia, had been guilty of gross sensuality, and had utterly neglected the duties of his office. He had enriched his relatives with presents of gold and silver vessels belonging to the church, and had wasted much of its revenue in luxurious banqueting. Gregory sharply reproved him, and threatened him with suspension from office. Natalis had the audacity to defend his excesses by alleging that he followed the example of Christ, who was called 'a gluttonous man.'"

The two cases are perfectly parallel, only that the Saviour defended himself against the charge of Sabbath-breaking, claiming that what was done was "lawful" to be done on the Sabbath day, that is, in perfect harmony with the Sabbath law, and therefore no violation of it; whereas, the charge of gluttony he made no effort, as far as is revealed, to repel. The Bishop may have argued that the fact of his not repelling the charge was an evidence of its truth; but this subterfuge is not left open to the enemies of the Sabbath. R. F. COTTRELL.