GOD'S EXPLICIT DIRECTIONS.
By T.
IN an editorial last week all the scriptures were given in which the first day of the week is mentioned. Nothing that bordered on the nature of a command for Sunday observance was found in any of those scriptures. The first six mentions of the first day of the week in the New Testament all pertain to the one event of Christ's resurrection having taken place on that day. These six scriptures abundantly show that Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week, but they do not show that the Master made a Sabbath of that day. The remaining two texts that mention the first day of the week merely record facts without giving any hint at Sunday sacredness or making any suggestion of a command to observe that day for the Sabbath. When the Lord gives a command concerning a moral duty, He makes it so explicitly plain that there need be no mistake about what is designed. Read the Lord's Sabbath commandment, and see how it guards every point, and note how plain and explicit it is. The commandment reads:— “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Ex. 20:8-11. The Lord, in the foregoing commandment, shows that the Sabbath was given to commemorate the wonderful work of creation. He definitely tells that no work shall be done on the Sabbath; He definitely tells that He “blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it,” and furthermore He definitely tells that “the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Thus does the Lord show us how explicit and careful He is in giving a commandment. He makes everything so plain that there is no possible chance to make a mistake. None of these essential elements of a definite and clear commandment can be found in any of the texts that make mention of the first day of the week. And it should be apparent to any one that those who keep Sunday for the Sabbath do so without any instruction whatever from the Lord. And not only that, but they keep Sunday right in the face of a clear command that the Lord has given concerning another day. The Lord of heaven and earth says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” He says He has “blessed” and “hallowed” that day. He has never set His original Sabbath command aside. It stands just as it has always stood. What will you do about it? What are you doing now? T.