Morality of the Sabbath and its Importance by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 1, 1874

Morality of the Sabbath and its Importance.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

When the claims of God’s holy Sabbath are presented, and its observance is urged upon the people, then every effort is made by its opponents to belittle the Sabbath as an institution of but trifling account. It is said to be only a ceremonial precept given simply for man’s convenience, and that its observance or non-observance is a matter of little importance. While it is admitted that all the other precepts of the decalogue are moral, and their observance all-important, yet it is asserted that the fourth commandment is of a very different nature, containing no test of moral character. The only importance that is attached to it is as a day for physical rest and religious gatherings.

While the Sabbath is regarded in this light, of course men will not feel very particular about observing it. We propose, therefore, to show that the nature and design of God’s Sabbath day is as much higher than this view of it as heaven is higher than the earth; that it is not only a moral institution, but that it is the most important precept in the whole decalogue. In proof that the Sabbath is a moral precept we offer the following facts:—

I. Moral duties and precepts are such as grow out of the attributes of God. Creative power is the distinguishing attribute of the living God, and the Sabbath grew directly out of the exercise of this attribute in the creation of the world.

I do not see how the truthfulness of this proposition can be denied by any one. Why are we morally bound to serve God? Because he created us and all the blessings which we enjoy. None will deny that this is the basis of all our duties to God. A little reflection will show that it is not so much the wisdom, or the justice, or the holiness, or any other attribute of the Deity, as it is his act of creating us, which makes it our moral duty to obey him. Notwithstanding God is infinitely wise, just, holy, &c., yet could we bring ourselves into existence and sustain ourselves without his aid, we would be under no obligation to serve him. This is an important fact which we wish the reader to weigh carefully. It is, then, God’s attribute of creative power above all others, that is the basis of all our moral duties to him. He made us by his power as a Creator, and by his power he can destroy us; hence he has a perfect right to say what we shall, or shall not, do. So Paul argues in Rom. 9:20–23. Now the very basis of the Sabbath was God’s act of creating the world in six days and resting upon the seventh. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. * For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; therefore [for this reason] the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8–11; Gen. 2:1–3.

The foundation of the Sabbatic precept, then, is the same as that of all other moral precepts; and hence it must be moral.

II. The Sabbath, like all other moral precepts, rests upon eternal and unalterable facts.

In creating the world, God worked the first six days of the first week of time. He then rested upon the seventh day. That act made it his rest day, or Sabbath day. Sabbath is a Hebrew word, signifying rest. Hence the Sabbath day of the Lord signifies the rest day of the Lord. Therefore, when God had rested upon the seventh day, that day had thus become distinguished from all the other days of the week as God’s rest, or Sabbath, day. When a man is born upon a certain day, that day becomes his birth-day. No other day in the year is his birth-day. So the day upon which God rested, the seventh day, and no other, is God’s Sabbath day.

These facts of creation are just as true now as they were when the Sabbath was first given, six thousand years ago. Is it not as true now as it was then that God did work the first six days of the week? Certainly. Then these are still only working days, as the Lord has properly named them. “Thus saith the Lord God, The gate of the inner court that looketh toward the east, shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened.” Eze. 46:1. Is it not also just as true now as it was then that the seventh day is God’s Sabbath day? Is it not still the day upon which he rested, and hence his rest day? Can you change your birthday from the day upon which you were born to one upon which you were not born? Of course not. Neither can the Lord’s rest day be changed from the day upon which he did rest to one upon which he did not rest. Has the first day of the week become the Sabbath (rest) day of the Lord? Impossible, because no day can become God’s rest day till he has first rested upon that day. But God never did rest upon any day except the seventh. Hence the Sabbath day of the Lord is unchangeably fixed to the seventh day. This will always remain a fixed fact while the earth stands, which will be eternally. For this earth is to be purified and become the everlasting abode of the righteous. Isa. 65:17–25; 2 Pet. 3:7–13; Isa. 66:22, 23. So long as days shall continue to succeed each other, so long must the seventh day continue to be the Creator’s Sabbath day. And so we read in Isa. 66:22, 23: “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” This evidence proves my proposition true, that the Sabbath is founded upon unchangeable and eternal facts, the same as all moral principles are. Here, also, it seems to me that all must admit the truthfulness of this proposition.

III. The principle of every moral precept existed before the fall, and would have existed if man had never fallen. This is true of the Sabbath. But all ceremonial precepts were introduced after the fall, to shadow forth redemption.

Here again we find that true of the Sabbath which is true of all moral commandments, viz., that it was a primary institution existing before the fall of man. But this is not true of any ceremonial statute. Idolatry, image worship, profanity, lying, stealing, &c., would all have been as morally wrong before the fall as after. Hence moral duties may be defined as those resting upon primary principles, or those which did exist before man fell, or before any remedial system was instituted. Ceremonial precepts are those which came in consequence of the fall, and which would never have existed but for sin. They grew out of the creature’s action as a sinner, and shadowed forth his coming redemption. This is a plainly marked and undeniable distinction between moral and ceremonial precepts. Now we only have to ask to which of these two classes the Sabbath belongs, in order to determine whether it is a moral or a ceremonial precept.

Only one answer can be given to this. Every fact and principle upon which the Sabbath ever was based did exist before Adam sinned. Creation’s work was ended, and the Lord’s rest upon the seventh day was in the past. God had placed his blessing upon the seventh day and had set it apart to a sacred use. Thus the record reads: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day, from all his work which God created and made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God had created and made.” Gen. 2:1–3.

This is a plain, chronological narration of what occurred in Eden. God worked six days, rested the seventh day, blessed it, and then sanctified it. Sanctify is thus defined by Webster: “To separate, set apart, or appoint, to a holy or religious use.” Then the Lord did set apart to a holy use the seventh day in Eden. Every reference afterward to the origin of the Sabbath always points back to Eden. See Ex. 16:23; 20:8–11; 31:17; Mark 2:27. The Sabbath is a memorial of creation as I will soon show; and hence became necessary as soon as creation week was ended. But what were types, and shadows, and ceremonies

for? To point to redemption through Christ who was to come. Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1. But these were given only until man needed redemption; and he did not need redemption till after he had sinned.

But the Sabbath was given before man sinned, and hence was not a typical or ceremonial institution. So we find that the Sabbath is a primary institution, all the reasons for which, like every moral precept, existed before the fall.

The following established principle in law applies in this case: “Where there is no law by statute, but a reason for such law exists, the law itself is presumed to be in force.”—Broom’s Legal Maxims.

Every fact and reason upon which the Sabbath was founded did exist before man fell in Eden. Hence the record in Gen. 2:1–3 is true and reasonable, which says that God made, blest, and set apart the Sabbath day in Eden. Hence it cannot be typical or ceremonial. D. M. CANRIGHT.