“THE SABBATH TRANSFERRED.”
THE above is the title of a monograph of 150 pages by Rev. Johns D. Parker, Ph. D., with an introduction by Rev. F. N. Peloubet, D. D. The advertisement of the publishers tells us that—“The faithful study of ten years has been put into this monograph by the author, who for several years has been engaged in a correspondence with leading Greek scholars in regard to the translation of two words in the Greek Testament, whose correct and obvious rendering gives the Christian world the transferred Sabbath. The transfer of the Sabbath at the resurrection, has been held by many distinguished scholars, such as Eusebius, Alcuin, Philip Schaff, F. N. Peloubet, but this monograph makes it public for the first time.” Surely it presents great claims; and yet one can not help querying at the very outset why such scholars should not have discovered “the correct and obvious rendering” of two such important words before this! that with the multitude of translations by first-day observers, they should not have discovered an “obvious” rendering that was so much to their own interest! Of these words, more later. Mr. Parker’s first chapter is entitled, “The Sabbath a Moveable Institution.” To prove this he first makes the statement (lays down as his major premise an unsupported averment) that— “The seventh day, following the first hexahemeron [a period of six days], existed as secular time for ages,” even from the time the earth began to revolve upon its axis until the end of creation, before the Sabbath was instituted. “This seventh segment of time for rest and worship was placed on a secular day, or revolution of the earth, to commemorate the creation of the world. If man should be removed from the earth, the Sabbath would cease to be, as it was made for man, but the seventh day would continue to exist as long as the earth revolved on its axis as a member of the solar system.” Upon which we remark (1) That in all God’s work, unmarred by sin, He is giving expression of His own power and character. The septenary law, the law of sevens, is not an arbitrary law; it is an expression of the perfection of the infinite. Infinite power could work in no other way, or it would be false to the essentials of Deity. 2. It is pure assumption to say that the seventh day following the first six days, “existed as secular time for ages.” The first man knew the earth as it came from the hand of God, under the divine creative power exercised thru six days. This period began with the light upon chaos, and ended at the eve of the Sabbath in cosmos. The rest of God came upon the seventh day of that septenary period. “On the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.” The Creator did not wait for ages; He wrought His work in six days; He rested the seventh. 3. That was God’s rest (or Sabbath) day. It always will be. It would have been if man had never been created. The great fact would ever remain, if man should cease to be. When Christ said the Sabbath was made for man, He did not for a moment imply that it was originated because of man. It is a part of the law of God’s being and of His whole created universe. It was for man in the sense that it was not against him. It was made a helper, a friend, a blessing to man and to every other one of God’s intelligent worshiping creatures. So also Christ Jesus died for man, “gave Himself for us,” but He did it also for every creature in the universe. As if light or color could not exist, because a man was blind; or sound, because the ear could not hear it. We might as well say that there would be no law of God of any kind if man did not exist. That would be the natural, mortal, narrow way of looking at it; but God’s law is as eternal and as universal as His life. It is operative everywhere, and where man appears, his subjection is due to every part of that law adapted to him. 4. The seventh-day period with the Sabbath at its close is a part of God’s law; and therefore “the seventh day [Sabbath] would continue to exist as long as the earth revolved on its axis.” 5. The only week which man knows, the only septenary period with which he is acquainted, or has ever been acquainted, the only seventh day which has ever come before him, is that ordained of God. That first seventh day was God’s rest-day, and will so continue. It can no more be changed than one can change his birthday. The only thing that segregated, separated, or in any way made known the seventh day was God’s rest, blessing, and sanctification confined to and placed upon that day. “And God blessed the SEVENTH DAY, and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested.” Gen. 2:3. All the holiness pertains to the day, the day that was the seventh day before it was given to man. God’s sacred Sabbath can not be separated from the day. 6. In view of these self-evident facts, it is pure fallacy to say, as does Mr. Parker, page 25, “This segment of holy time may also be transferred, or slipped forward a day, as it was at the resurrection, so that the Sabbath day coincides with the first day of the week, as it is under the Christian dispensation.” If that were true, it would make God a liar; for He declares the seventh day to be the Sabbath. This He marked in the beginning, at the exodus, elsewhere and elsewhen; but never has He intimated a change, because such a fact never could change. 7. As the creation and the week came from God, there was no “secular” time. God is spirit, and His works are spiritual, and His “law is spiritual.” His institutions are of the same character with Himself. Secular things came because of sin; but there was no sin when God founded the Sabbath. In fact, the Sabbath is what made the week. Every other day is numbered with that in view. It is first day to or of the Sabbath, second day to the Sabbath, and so on to the Sabbath, the crowning day of the week, the turning day of the week, the controlling day of the week, the day for which all the other days of the septenary cycle are numbered. To the thoughtful, reverent, believing soul, who understands God’s plan, all these are self-evident facts. Mr. Parker’s play on words is well illustrated in the following:— “The Sabbath (Sabbaton) is an Institution, and does not form an integral part of the secular week. God blessed the seventh day (Gen. 2:3), and sanctified it; but as far as we have any record, He never blessed Saturday, or any other portion of secular time above any other portion. Blessing the seventh day was equivalent to blessing one day in seven; or, in other words, blessing the Sabbath, and the Sabbath, under the Christian dispensation, is still observed one day in seven. In the Decalog (Ex. 20:11), God also formally blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” True, God did not bless “Saturday;” there was no such day. Saturday is of the same heathen origin as Sunday. The pagan name of the former came from Saturn, of the latter from the sun. The Bible knows absolutely nothing of the secular names of days. It is not a secular book. It is not given by a secular author. But how could God bless and sanctify “one day in seven” without blessing and sanctifying a particular day? As well might a man of seven sons, in making his will, devise and bequeath to one in seven of his sons a double portion, and to each of six an equal portion. We may be sure that each boy would set up the claim that he was one in seven of the testator’s sons. Or if the man should bequeath a double portion to his seventh son, what would we think of the honesty of an attorney who would contend that the seventh son meant the first? God did not bless the Sabbath in the Decalog; that7law simply declares that God blessed it in the beginning. Our author likens the Sabbath to Easter and Thanksgiving, and says:— “Thanksgiving is clearly an Institution, but it does not occur on any calendar day until the President by proclamation places it on some Thursday in November. Easter is also an Institution; but the calendar day on which it is observed is not determined until the moon falls on or about the twenty-first of March. “In a similar way the Sabbath is an Institution, which can be placed by divine authority on a secular day, or be transferred, under divine Providence, from one secular day to another.” But both Thanksgiving and Easter are wholly human ordinances, neither of which pertains to a day. Humanity ordained them and can change them. But the Sabbath rest pertains to a day,—a particular day, of a period which it called into being. That specific day God rested upon, blessed, and sanctified. Why does not Mr. Parker compare it with the Fourth of July, or one’s birthday? Thus much for the first chapter. We will notice others in future issues.