Your ShelfYour Projects

NOTES OF THE DISCUSSION IN KANSAS

1%

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 8, 1877

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 49, No. 6.

Read the full edition

NOTES OF THE DISCUSSION IN KANSAS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

I concluded my negative argument upon this question by showing that I had clearly proved the following facts with regard to the Sabbath and the first day of the week:—

The Sabbath vs. Sunday.

FIFTY-ONE BIBLE FACTS CONCERNING THE SEVENTH DAY.

1. The great God rested on the seventh day. Gen. 2:2, 3.
2. The Creator has blessed the seventh day. Ex. 20:11.
3. The Lord has sanctified the seventh day. Gen. 2:3.
4. It was made the Sabbath day in the garden of Eden. Gen. 2:1–3.
5. It was made before the fall of man, hence it was not a type. Gen. 2:1–3.
6. It was made for man. Mark 2:27.
7. It was a memorial of Creation. Ex. 31:17.
8. The word Sabbath means rest. The Creator rested, or sabbatized, on the seventh day; therefore, the Sabbath of the Lord is the day on which the Lord rested. Hence the seventh, and no other day of the week, is still the rest, or Sabbath, of the Lord our God.
9. It was made 2300 years before there was a Jew; hence it was not Jewish.
10. It was given to the head of the human race. Mark 2:27; Gen. 2:1–3.
11. Hence through him, as the representative, to all nations. Acts 17:26.
12. It was a part of God’s holy law before Sinai. Ex. 16:4, 27–29.
13. God placed it in the moral law. Ex. 20:1–17.
14. It was commanded by God’s voice from heaven. Deut. 4:12, 13.
15. And that command was written by the finger of God. Ex. 31:18.
16. It was engraven in stone. Deut. 5:22.
17. It was deposited in the ark in the holy of holies. Deut. 10:1–5.
18. God forbade work upon it, even in the most hurrying time. Ex. 34:21.
19. God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if they would keep it. Jer. 17:24, 25.
20. He sent the Jews into captivity for breaking it. Neh. 13:18.
21. God destroyed Jerusalem for its violation. Jer. 17:27.
22. God has pronounced a blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. Isa. 56:6.
23. God has promised to bless any man who will keep it. Isa. 56:2.
24. The Lord requires his people to call it honorable. Isa. 58:13.
25. It was a sign between God and his people. Ex. 31:17.
26. By this, they were to know they were sanctified. Eze. 20:12.
27. The patriarchs kept it. Gen. 2:1–3; Ex. 16:4, 27–29; Gen. 26:5.
28. All the holy prophets kept it, as all admit.
29. The Son of God kept it. Luke 4:16; John 15:10.
30. He was its Lord, that is, to honor and protect it. Mark 2:27.
31. He vindicated it as a merciful institution. Matt. 12:7, 8.
32. He recognized the law of the Sabbath in the New Testament. Matt. 12:12.
33. He taught how it should be kept. Matt. 12:1–13.
34. He taught his disciples that it would exist at least forty years after the resurrection. Matt. 24:20.
35. The holy women kept it after the crucifixion. Luke 23:56.
36. The Holy Spirit called it the Sabbath day twenty-two years after the resurrection. Acts 17:2.
37. Paul called it the Sabbath day in A. D. 45. Acts 13:27.
38. The Gentile converts called it the Sabbath. Acts 13:42, 43.
39. Luke called it the Sabbath day. Acts 13:44.
40. In the great Christian council, A. D. 51, the apostle James called it the Sabbath day. Acts 15:21.
41. It is called the Lord’s day. Rev. 1:10. Compare Ex. 20:8–11; Isa. 58:13; Mark 2:28.
42. Paul held a prayer-meeting upon it. Acts 16:13.
43. He read the Scriptures upon it. Acts 17:2, 3.
44. He preached upon it at least eighty-four times. Acts 13:14, 15; 42–44; 16:13; 17:3; 18:1–4, 11.
45. No dispute occurred between the Jews and Christians about the Sabbath; hence the Christians must have kept the same day that the Jews did, which was the seventh day.
46. It is mentioned in the New Testament fifty-nine times, always with respect as the Sabbath day.
47. It is not once said that the Sabbath is abolished or done away.
48. God has never given permission to any man to work upon it.
49. There is no record that God has removed his blessing or sanctification from it.
50. It is a part of that law which is binding in the gospel. Matt. 5:17–19; Rom. 3:31; James 2:8–12.
51. It will be kept eternally in the new earth. Isa. 66:22, 23.

THIRTY-SEVEN BIBLE FACTS CONCERNING THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK.

1. The first thing recorded in the Bible is work that was done by the Creator on the first day of the week. Gen. 1:1–5.
2. God provided for men to work upon it. Ex. 20:8–11.
3. None of the patriarchs or prophets kept it.
4. Christ did not keep it during his whole life.
5. The apostles worked upon it during the same time.
6. It is classed with the working days. Eze. 46:1.
7. God never rested upon it.
8. Christ never rested upon it.
9. There is no record that the apostles ever rested upon it.
10. God never blessed it.
11. Christ never blessed it.
12. It was never blessed by any divine authority.
13. It was never sanctified.
14. No law was ever given to keep it; hence it is no sin nor transgression to work upon it. 1 John 3:4; Rom. 4:15.
15. The New Testament nowhere forbids work to be done on it.
16. No penalty is given for its violation.
17. No blessing is promised for its observance.
18. It is never called the Christian Sabbath.
19. It is never called the Sabbath day at all.
20. It is never called the Lord’s day.
21. It is not called a rest day.
22. No sacred title whatever is applied to it.
23. It is called simply “first day of the week.”
24. Jesus never mentioned it in any way.
25. It is never said that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day.
26. If you keep it, “Who hath required this at your hands?” Isa. 1:12.
27. It is only mentioned eight times in the New Testament.
28. And six of these eight texts refer to the same first day.
29. No regulation is given as to how it should be observed.
30. Paul directed Christians to do secular business upon it. 1 Cor. 16:2.
31. Only one religious meeting is recorded upon that day, and this a night meeting. Acts 20:5–13.
32. It is not said that the disciples ever had a meeting on it before.
33. It is not intimated that they ever did afterward.
34. It is not said that it was their custom to meet on that day.
35. There is no requirement to meet and break bread on that day.
36. There is only one case where it was done. Acts 20:7.
37. That was done in the night, after midnight. Acts 20:7–11.
D. M. Canright.