WHY NOT FOUND OUT BEFORE? by Dudley Marvin Canright

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 4, 1878

WHY NOT FOUND OUT BEFORE?

By Dudley Marvin Canright

BY ELD. D. M. CANRIGHT.

When we have clearly shown by the plainest teachings of the Bible that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and should be kept, Sunday-keepers say, “If this is so, why was it not found out before?” And because many pious and learned men have lived and died without seeing or keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, they argue that it cannot be right. The answer to this objection is short and easy.

First, such reasoners judge the Bible by the opinions and actions of poor, fallible men. Instead of reading the Bible to learn what men ought to do, they inquire what men have done, to learn what the Bible should mean.

Secondly, this objection has always been urged against every reformation in religion. The Pharisees urged it against Christ; Matt. 15:1–9; the Jews against the apostles; Acts 6:14; the Catholics against Luther; and the priests against Wesley. On this principle we must never learn anything which our fathers did not know.

God’s truth is always progressive—new truths being brought out and old truths revived in different ages, as circumstances may require. From Adam to the apostles, the history of the church presents a continual succession of apostasies and reformations. To each generation God gave some additional light and truth which he had not given before. In many cases the people were brought back to doctrines and truths which had been lost sight of for generations. So of the Sabbath in our day. In the providence of God, the time has now come when light is being given, and a reformation is being wrought upon this subject.

It was foretold in prophecy that the man of sin, the papacy, would change God’s Sabbath, and enforce that change for 1260 years. This is the reason it was not found out before. It could not be understood till those days were ended. In this brief article, only the shortest quotations can be given and the briefest explanations made. We ask the reader to open the Bible and read the passages cited. In Dan. 7 we have the prophecy of the four kingdoms. It is universally agreed that the last of these represents Rome; and that the blasphemous horn is a symbol of the papacy, or Catholic power. Verse 25 says, “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” How exactly have the popes fulfilled this prophecy! They have spoken against God by claiming the titles and attributes of God; as, “the holy father,” “Lord God the Pope,” etc. They claim to be infallible. They have worn out the saints of God by persecution, slaying 75,000,000 of them. But this power was also to think to change times and laws. Whose laws and times? Those of the Most High; for it is against God that the beast makes war. Human laws are constantly changing, in the very nature of things, so it would be nothing remarkable that these should be changed. But that a man should think to change the law and times of God would be remarkable. Beyond doubt, then, the prophecy refers to God’s law and God’s holy time.

We learn from the Scriptures that God gave his holy law, the ten commandments, from Sinai with his own voice, and engraved it on stone with his own finger. Ex. 19, 20. This he declared to be his law. Ex. 24:12. What part of this law was the pope to think to change? That relating to time. Is there any precept in that law relating to time? Just one, and only one,—the Sabbath command. The other commandments say nothing about time, while this relates to nothing else. “Six days shalt thou labor, . . . but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord.” Time is inseparably connected with this commandment, so that to change the commandment would be to change the time; and, on the other hand, the time could not be changed without changing the commandment. The prophecy said the pope should think to change God’s laws and times. But God’s law relates to no time except the weekly Sabbath. Hence we have here the most explicit prediction that the papacy was to change the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Seldom is any prophecy so plain as this.

Now we ask, Has the pope changed the Sabbath? Yes, emphatically; the proof is abundant. 1. The law plainly says, “The seventh day is the Sabbath.” Ex. 20:8–11. 2. The New Testament is entirely silent about any change of the Sabbath by Christ or the apostles. Indeed, it shows that they did not change it. 3. But since the rise of the papacy, we find that some one has changed the Sabbath; for the Catholics and most Protestants now keep the first day, instead of the seventh day which the law requires. 4. History shows that the pope did make this change of the Sabbath. See History of the Sabbath, by Andrews. 5. The Catholics confess that they did it. Listen to the following from two Catholic catechisms:

“Ques. Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?”

“Ans. Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.” —Doctrinal Catechism, p. 101.

“Ques. How prove you that the church hath power to institute feasts and holy days?”

“Ans. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of.”—Abridgment of Christian Doctrine.

How could evidence be any clearer? The pope, then, did change the Sabbath, according to the prophecy.

Now the prophecies just as clearly predict that this breach in the law of God will be repaired and the Sabbath restored in the last days. Thus in Dan. 7:25, before quoted, after stating that the papacy would persecute the saints, and change times and laws, the prophet says, “And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” This period is just 1260 years. See any commentary. God’s people are to be given into his hand until this specified time. This is equivalent to saying that they will be taken out of his hand at the expiration of that time, which will be near the Judgment. Verse 26. So even here the restoration of the Sabbath at the end of the 1260 years is strongly implied.

In Rev. 12:14 is a prediction of the same time, times, and a half time, during which the dragon, the Roman power, persecutes the woman, the church, as stated in Daniel. When the time is expired, we find a remnant people keeping all the commandments of God. Thus: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Verse 17. This is after the close of the 1260 years, the period after which the law and Sabbath were to be taken out of the pope’s hand according to Dan. 7:25. What do we find here? 1. A persecuted people. 2. The remnant of the church. A remnant is the last remaining portion of that of which it formed a part. Hence the remnant church will be the last church, or those living at the time of the second advent. This, then, brings us to the last days. 3. The special peculiarity of this people is that they keep the commandments of God. This certainly indicates that all these commandments had not been kept before this time, but that here a people will be raised up who will keep them. Notice that this observance of the commandments brings upon them hatred and persecution. This plainly shows that they are keeping some one of these commandments that is not generally kept; for people are not persecuted for doing what everybody else is doing.

Now let us consider the law of God. Except the Sabbath commandment, everybody is agreed in keeping all of the ten commandments. But let a man step out to keep the Sabbath commandment just as it reads,—“The seventh day is the Sabbath,” and he immediately becomes peculiar and brings upon himself hatred and persecution, as we see wherever the Sabbath question is agitated. This is just what the prophecy foretold; and it is this day fulfilled before our eyes in the Sabbath reform.

Another striking prediction of this reformation concerning the law of God is found in Rev. 14:9–12. It is here stated that just preceding the second advent of Christ, to reap the harvest of the earth, verses 14–16, a message will be given, to bring out and prepare a people for that event. Of those thus brought out it says, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Verse 12. “Here are they.” Where? Just before Christ is seen coming in the clouds. Verse 14. The time, then, is the same as that of the remnant of Rev. 12:17, above considered. What is the peculiarity of this people? They keep the commandments of God. This, again, is just what was said of the remnant in chap. 12:17. In the mind of God this must be an important fact, since it is repeated twice in so close connection. The expression, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God,” implies that for a long time previous no such people had been found, that it was a new return to the truth, a revival of it. “Here are they,” under the last message, just before the second advent, just preceding the end, “that keep the commandments of God.”

Then in the last days there will be a reformation in some way touching the commandments. It must be upon the Sabbath commandment, for all are agreed upon the other nine, they having been kept by God’s people for ages. But through the influence of the papacy the Sabbath commandment has been ignorantly broken till of late. Now, however, just at the time mentioned in the third angel’s message, Rev. 14:9–12, hundreds and thousands are turning to keep the Sabbath. The movement is wide-spread and rapidly increasing. It embraces many countries and languages. The prophecy has become fact. Take heed how you reject it. Here, again, we have the reason why this truth was not found out before,—it was reserved to be the last testing message to the world.

In the book of Ezekiel is another prophecy of the restoration of the Sabbath in the last days. First, the prophet speaks of false teachers as neglecting to do God’s work due at that time. Chap. 13:4–11. He says that certain “gaps” were to be built up, verse 5, but they refused to build. These gaps were to be made up, that the people of God might “stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.” Verse 5. All the Scriptures locate “the day of the Lord” at the second advent. See 2 Pet. 3:10. Is there to be a battle then? Yes, and it is called “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” Rev. 16:14. At that time the wrath of God will be poured out in the seven last plagues, Rev. 16, the last of which will be great hailstones from heaven. Verse 21. God’s saints need a special preparation to stand then. Ezekiel refers to this and to the great hailstones which will fall, and says these “gaps” must be made up, that the people of God may stand at that time, but that these false teachers will not do it. They see “vanity and lying divination, saying, The Lord saith; and the Lord hath not sent them.” Verse 6. Also they cried “Peace, and there was no peace.” Verse 10. In 1 Thess. 5:1–4, Paul locates this peace-and-safety cry just before the second advent.

All these points show the time of which Ezekiel speaks. He says, “One built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar.” Verse 10. In Eze. 22, where the same subject is again brought up, we find that the gap is the breach made in the law of God by breaking down the Sabbath commandment. Read verses 25 to 30, and you will see that the same teachers are referred to, the “daubing with untempered mortar,” the “seeing vanity and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.” He sought for a man to make up the hedge and “stand in the gap,” and found none.

In verse 26 he throws aside the figure, and plainly says it is the law of God and the Sabbath which they are violating. “Her priests have violated my law.” Even the priests are breaking the law of God. Which precept? “And have profaned mine holy things [his holy Sabbath]; they have put no difference between the holy and profane [between the Sabbath and the secular, working days]; neither have they showed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths.” This is the trouble. They are violating God’s law by hiding their eyes from the Sabbath, and refusing to prepare

a people for the day of the Lord by building up that gap.

In Isa. 58 the same work of building up the “gap” and repairing “the breach” by restoring the Sabbath is foretold. The Lord first commands to cry aloud and not spare to show his people their sins. Verse 1. He says they are ignorantly disobeying him, for they think they are doing his will. Verse 2. Among other things he says, “And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” Verse 12. Some important reformation is here spoken of. Old waste places are to be rebuilt, the foundations of many generations are to be raised up. Something that has been neglected for ages must now be restored. Those who do this work will repair “the breach.” Here, again, is that breach of which Ezekiel spoke,—the gap in God’s law made by taking out the Sabbath. Also, they are to restore the old paths. Some truth, then, long neglected, will be brought to light, and obeyed. It is the Sabbath, as the very next verse, in which the conditions are stated, shows. “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.” God’s Sabbath is being trampled in the dust. They have their feet upon it. They have had them there for “many generations.” Now if they will take them off, they will be called the repairers of the breach.

“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day.” They are using God’s day for their own pleasure. “And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable.” They must cease to speak of the Sabbath as they have done. They have called it “the old Jewish Sabbath,” and thought it dishonorable. Now they must call it holy and honorable, and a delight.

This prophecy shows that after the Sabbath has been neglected and trodden under foot for “many generations,” there will be a reformation upon that point, and the holy Sabbath will again be honored. This is just the work which Seventh-day Adventists are now doing. Will you have a part in it?

Isa. 56 also predicts the restoration of the Sabbath in the last days. In verse 1 the Lord says, “My salvation is near to come.” This must be a short time before the coming of Christ. Heb. 9:28; 1 Pet. 1:5. It is when the watchmen are blind, when they are prophesying peace, but when destruction is right at hand. Isa. 56:9–12. At that time, “blessed is the man . . . that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it.” Verse 2. You cannot lay hold of what you are already holding. But here a blessing is pronounced on all who will lay hold on the Sabbath and keep it at that time.

Isa. 8 contains another reference to the work of restoring the Sabbath in the last days. The prophet speaks of the destruction coming on the wicked, verses 9–15; of those who are waiting and looking for the Lord, verse 17; of the signs, verse 18; and then says, “To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Verse 20. This directs us to go to the law of God, and test men by that. In verse 16 the Lord says, “Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” The “testimony” is the ten commandments. See Ex. 31:18; 32:15; 34:29. This must be bound up. But we do not bind up that which is not broken. This shows that in the last days some portion of the law of God will be broken, hence there must be a work of binding up and restoring that law.

“Seal the law among my disciples.” Seal and sign are synonymous terms. Rom. 4:11: “He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness,” etc. Here sign and seal are applied to the same thing. The Sabbath is the sign, or seal, of God. “I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them.” Eze. 20:12. The Sabbath, as the sign of the living God, is the seal in the law of God, which shows who is its author. In tearing down the Sabbath, the papacy has taken the seal from God’s law. Now the prophet says, “Seal the law among my disciples.” The seal, the Sabbath, must be restored to the law while the disciples are waiting for the Lord. Verses 16–18.

So in Rev. 7:1–3, just after the signs of the second advent have been given, chap. 6:12, 13, an angel is seen with the seal of God preparing a people for the day of wrath. This again is the work of restoring the Sabbath. And in Jer. 6:14–19, the same work is foretold. The prophet addresses a class who are deceiving the people with the cry of, “Peace, peace,” when the Lord is about to destroy the land. He sent watchmen to warn them, but they would not hearken. He appeals to them to seek “for the old paths,” but they will not, “because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but have rejected it.” Verse 19.

All the prophets, then, have foretold that in the last days there will be a work of reformation concerning the law of God and his holy Sabbath. The time has come, and the work has commenced. Reader, do not reject the law of God; do not hide your eyes from his holy Sabbath.