p. 29 | NOTES OF THE DISCUSSION IN KANSAS

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 25, 1877

NOTES OF THE DISCUSSION IN KANSAS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

THE COVENANTS.

Fifth Session.

In the fifth session we took up the Two Covenants. Here is where our no-law opponents always think they have a strong case; but the more we have studied this question the plainer it has become, till, of late, it has actually become the strong hold of the Sabbath argument, and the death blow to Sunday. Bro. Andrews’ little tract on the Two Covenants brought out that question very clear and decisive to those who would study the subject thoroughly. In addition to this argument, our brethren in Kansas got out some excellent points which made it, if anything, more simple. I designed to have presented these arguments on the Two Covenants fully, but as Bro. Smith has lately given two excellent and lengthy articles upon that subject I do not feel justified in going over the same ground again. I will, therefore, simply quote the headings of the positions taken.

The nature of both the old and new covenants is stated in Heb. 8:8–12. Here we learn that the old covenant was made between God and Israel at the time he brought them out of Egypt. Paul says, Rom. 3:2, that God committed his oracles to Israel. All other nations had apostatized from God and desecrated his law. Lev. 20:22, 23. Israel was the only nation left upon the earth who regarded the law of the true God. To them, therefore, he solemnly committed his statutes and laws to be preserved among men. For this purpose God made a solemn covenant with them, immediately after bringing them out of Egypt.

Webster defines a covenant to be a mutual agreement made between two or more parties. In Ex. 19:1–8, we have a careful history of this very covenant made between God and Israel. It states what God proposed to do on his part, and what they solemnly promised to do on their part.

In Jer. 11:1–15, the prophet directly says that this was the covenant that God made with Israel when he brought them out of Egypt. He quotes the very words of the covenant in Ex. 19, and says that that is what God said to them when he made the covenant. In that covenant they promised to obey God’s voice and keep his covenant. Then they heard God’s voice as he spoke to them his law. Ex. 20. Afterward Moses went up into the mountain, and was there with the Lord a long time, where he received a great many instructions about various things.

Finally, he came down from the mountain, having written out in a book all the words that the Lord had spoken to him. He read these words to Israel, and here again they solemnly promised to obey what God had said, and stand to their former agreement. Ex. 24:3–8. Then Moses killed a beast, and took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people and upon the book, saying that it was the blood of the covenant which God had made with them. Verse 8. Here, then, the covenant was sealed and ratified. That this was the old covenant, we are positively told by the apostle Paul in Heb. 9:18–20. This settles the question beyond all dispute that the old covenant which God made with Israel is the one begun in Ex. 19:1–8, and finished and ratified in Ex. 24:3–8. Now we need to remember the words of Paul in Gal. 3:15, where he says, “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men, Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.” When a covenant is once sealed, then nothing can be added to or taken from it.

Now that the ten commandments were no part of that covenant, were not in that covenant, were not the words written in the book, is evident from the following facts; viz.,

1. The ten commandments were not written at that time; for it was after this that the Lord called Moses up into the mountain to receive the tables.

2. Moses had not yet received the ten commandments in any shape, because after Moses had first come down from the mountain and read the words of the Lord to the people, and had ratified that covenant with blood, Ex. 24:3–8, after this the Lord said unto Moses, “Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” Ex. 24:12. Here it will be noticed that after the old covenant was all finished and ratified, Moses yet had no copy of the ten commandments; for the Lord told him to come up into the mountain and receive the law written on stone, which we know to be the ten commandments, that he might teach them to Israel. This shows positively that Moses did not have the ten commandments at that time.

3. He was there with the Lord in the mountain forty days and forty nights, and did not come down with the ten commandments till the end of that time, as recorded in Ex. 32:15. And even then he immediately threw down the two tables of stone, and broke them. Then he had to prepare a second set, and was there with the Lord the second time, forty days and forty nights before he received a copy of the ten commandments permanently. Hence, neither Israel nor Moses had a copy of the ten commandments till nearly three months after the old covenant was closed up and finished. Then it was too late to put the ten commandments into that covenant, because, remember, you cannot add to a covenant after it is ratified. Furthermore, the following facts show that the ten commandments were not the old covenant:

1. The old covenant was made between God and Israel, Jer. 31:32. It was therefore a mutual covenant, a covenant which two parties made. But Israel had no part in making the ten commandments. God made these without consulting them, and they are expressly declared to be God’s commanded covenant. Deut. 4:13.

2. The old covenant was first made at Sinai. Deut. 5:2, 3. But the ten commandment covenant was made with Abraham and confirmed to Jacob for a law. 1 Chron. 16:15–17; Deut. 4:13; Ex. 24:12.

3. The decalogue was a complete covenant in and of itself alone. Deut. 4:13. It took nothing else to make that covenant. But the old covenant included a good many things, the sanctuary, the priesthood, etc. Heb. 9:1–10.

4. God’s law was perfect, Ps. 19:7; but the old covenant was not perfect. Heb. 8:7.

5. When the Jews failed to perform their part of the covenant, that is, broke the covenant, that ended that covenant. But it does not end a law to break it. You may break a law a thousand times, and the law is just as binding as it was before.

6. Paul distinguishes between the two covenants and the law. Rom. 9:4.

7. There were two covenants given to the people at Sinai. This is an important point, which I made very prominent, and which Eld. Shick never touched at all. I also made the same point in my discussion with Eld. Grant, in California, and he never answered it, for it cannot be answered. By reading carefully Ex. 34:10–27, it was very plainly seen that God there made a covenant with Israel, which Moses wrote in a book. The above scripture shows that this was not the ten commandments. In Deut. 31:24, this book is called the book of the law. In 2 Kings 22:8, Hilkiah found this book of the law, and in 2 Kings 23:2 it is called the “book of the covenant.” Here, then, was a covenant made between God and Israel, written by the hand of Moses in a book, and that book is called the book of the covenant, and this book was placed in the side of the ark. Deut. 31:26. That is one covenant.

That the ten commandments is another entirely distinct covenant is shown thus: In Deut. 4:13, the ten commandments are directly called God’s covenant, and he is said to have written them on tables of stone. In Deut. 9:9 they are called the “tables of the covenant.” That God, and not Moses, did truly write the ten commandments on the tables of stone, is shown by the following scriptures: Ex. 24:12; 31:18; 32:16; 34:27, 28. Notice the last scripture particularly, and compare it with Deut. 9:9, 10, which shows that God is the one who wrote the covenant on the tables of stone. This being so, in Ex. 34:10–32, we see one covenant written by Moses in a book, which was not the ten commandments, the other written by God on tables of stone, which was the ten commandments. So much for the old covenant.

The new covenant was to be made with Israel, Jer. 31:31–34. It was to be introduced and confirmed by the Messiah at his advent. Dan. 9:24–27. That Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant is declared by Paul. Heb. 9:15. Hence, when he began his ministry he immediately chose twelve apostles, and he always kept them with him during all his ministry. While he spoke to the multitude only in parables, he privately expounded everything to these disciples. Mark 4:33, 34. Thus for three years and a half he carefully indoctrinated them in the principles of the new covenant. When he finally left them he said he would send them the Holy Ghost, which should bring to their remembrance

all things that he had committed to them. John 14:26.

He tells them, also, in his last commission, to go and teach all nations what he had already taught them. Matt. 28:19, 20. After they had thus become thoroughly familiar with the doctrine of the new covenant, he gathered the twelve apostles, on that memorable night, in an upper room, and there, he, as the mediator of the new covenant, and the twelve apostles, as the representatives of the twelve tribes, solemnly entered into covenant relations. Luke 22:14–20. By partaking of the bread and wine, they accepted Christ and the terms of the new covenant; for this is what that was for. Notice the language of Jesus, “This cup is the new testament [covenant] in my blood which is shed for you.” Here, then, the new covenant was made with Israel. The next day Jesus died, and sealed it with his blood. Heb. 9:14–16.

Now all will admit that the Sabbath and law of God were binding till the death of Christ, and hence were confirmed by that covenant. And Paul directly says the law of God was in that covenant. Heb. 8:10. But nobody places the origin of the Sunday Sabbath earlier than the day of Christ’s resurrection, which is three days after the new covenant was confirmed, and sealed by the blood of Christ; and there is no getting anything into a covenant after it is confirmed. Gal. 3:15. Hence Sunday is certainly not in the new covenant.

Many other interesting points might be stated here, but I omit them, lest these should be too long. The main points on the covenants were not touched at all by my opponent. The only thing he attempted to do with my argument on the old covenant was to show that the ten commandments were not written by God, but by Moses. But this was a futile attempt, easily met. As to the argument on the new covenant, though I repeated it in our discussion of the Sunday question, yet he never noticed it in any way, showing that he could not meet it.

D. M. CANRIGHT.