Review of Sermon on the "Christian Sabbath."
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
A FEW weeks since we received a copy of the Stockton (Cal.) Independent, which contained the synopsis of a sermon on "The Christian Sabbath, and the Abrogation of the Jewish Sabbath," by Rev. W. T. Fleenor, pastor of the First Baptist Church of that city. Having received several requests to review the sermon, we decided to do so, but have been hindered hitherto by press of other matter. We offer no apology for the number of articles that appear in the SIGNS, nor even for repeating arguments again and again; for we believe the Sabbath reform is the message for this time, and we know that "precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little." The most unpleasant part of the work, is that of reviewing articles or sermons in opposition to the truth, because (1) The arguments urged against the Sabbath are so weak and puerile, and so self-contradictory that it seems almost a waste of time to notice them; and (2) We do not like to seem to be finding fault with others, when we have no personal feeling in the matter at all. We do so, however, because arguments that appear very weak to those familiar with Bible truth may seem [page-break] strong to others, who have heard little or nothing of the evidence in favor of the Sabbath of the Lord. And these arguments, weak though they may be, often afford an excellent opportunity to bring out the straight testimony of the Bible. But that we may save space, in this instance, we will not repeat all the arguments which the speaker brought forward, but will simply present the Bible evidence in favor of the truths that have been assailed. There is no fact more susceptible of proof than that the Sabbath began at the close of the creation week, and that the first Sabbath commandment was spoken at that time. Notice the following points: 1. "Sabbath," as is generally known, means "rest;" it is nothing more than the Hebrew word for "rest." 2. When God had completed his work in six days, and pronounced everything very good, he rested on the seventh day. Gen. 2:1–3: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended [ceased] his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." If "Sabbath" means "rest," then this text plainly declares that God made the Sabbath at the close of the first week of time; for he not only rested, but he blessed the day of his rest and sanctified it, or set it apart for a holy use. 3. Our Saviour declared that "the Sabbath was made for man;" it was not given to man centuries after it was made, but it was made for him; it was designed for his especial use. Again, to sanctify is to set apart. God sanctified the seventh day; from what did he set it apart? From the other days of the week. This was a part of the work of making the Sabbath. Now to say that the Lord made the Sabbath for man, and set it apart for his use, and yet told him nothing about it, is to charge God with folly. We do not see how the evidence could be any clearer than it is, that in the beginning, in Eden, God commanded man to keep the Sabbath. The "Speaker's Commentary" says on Gen. 2:3: "The natural interpretation of these words is that the blessing of the Sabbath was immediately consequent on the first creation of man, for whom the Sabbath was made." The record says that "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." Our objector says: "The seventh day of what? Not of the week, for the days of creation were long periods of time. No one can keep that day." We say that God blessed and sanctified the seventh day of the week, and none other. The commandment, Ex. 20:8–11, teaches us that we are to keep holy the Sabbath-day, because God rested upon and hallowed it. We are to rest upon the same day upon which God rested. What day of the week this was may be learned from Luke 23:54–56; 24:1. The women who followed Jesus to the tomb "returned and prepared spices and ointments, and rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment." Then whatever day of the week they kept, was the day of the week which the commandment enjoins. That must be admitted by all. The very next day (Matt. 28:1) they came again to the sepulcher. This visit was made on "the first day of the week;" consequently the day previous—the Sabbath according to the commandment—was the seventh day of the week. The days of creation were literal days of twenty-four hours each. 1. They were days composed of an evening and a morning. Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31. 2. They were days over which the sun and moon were made to rule. Gen. 1:16. 3. As above stated, God commanded man to rest upon the day that he did. To claim, then, that that day was a long, indefinite period of time, is to charge God with trifling with man. The theory of an indefinite period of time for creation, is the offering of "science falsely so called" to the cause of infidelity. No proof for such a theory can be brought forward; it rests solely on infidel conjecture. It is urged that we do not find the patriarchs keeping the Sabbath; that for a period of 2500 years no mention is made of the Sabbath. The men who make this objection seem to think that the book of Genesis is a diary kept by the patriarchs, and that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, each contributed the complete history of his own time. Nothing could be further from the truth. The book of Genesis contains the history of 2500 years, written by Moses after the events had all taken place. It was written to show God's plan in regard to mankind, and to trace the genealogy of Christ. The record does not state that Enoch, or Noah, or Abraham refrained from blasphemy and theft, but we do not therefore conclude that these men were thieves and blasphemers; neither have we any reason to conclude that they were Sabbath-breakers, because particular mention is not made concerning each one that he kept the Sabbath. God had given the Sabbath commandment; to say, then, that a certain man was a good man is equivalent to saying that he kept the Sabbath. Of Enoch and Noah it is said that they "walked with God," and of Abraham that he kept God's commandments, statutes and laws. But even if no one from Adam to Moses had observed the Sabbath, it would not have affected God's commandment in the least. We close for this week with the following testimony from Dr. Scott, comment on Gen. 2:3:— "The sacred writer here both records the appointment of the Sabbath, and assigns the reason for it: 'Because that in it the Lord rested from all his work.' This is evidently historical, and not by anticipation; for the reason subsisted from the beginning, and was more cogent immediately than it could be at a distance of more than two thousand years, when the command was solemnly renewed from Mount Sinai, long after sin had marred the beauty of the great Creator's work; and it concerns the whole human race, as much as the nation of Israel. . . . And the silence of Moses concerning the observation of the Sabbath by the patriarchs, so far from proving that they were not commanded to observe it, will not render it so much as probable that they did not actually keep it, to those who attentively consider how much darkness rests upon many similar subjects, in the Scriptural history of the Church. Yet some intimations are given in this book, which show that the patriarchs divided the time into weeks, and observed the seventh day." E. J. W.
(To be Continued.)