The Real Point Involved.
By W.
THERE is one strange thing about this Sunday-sabbath, and that is that an argument which is universally used by its advocates, and is relied on as conclusive, is not considered of any force whatever when used in favor of the Sabbath. For instance, an extended Sunday argument is scarcely ever made without reference to the number of times that Christ met with his disciples on Sunday, and the number of religious meetings held on that day. Now the facts are these: We have a record of just one meeting of Christ and his disciples on the first day of the week, and of but one meeting of people for worship. The first meeting was while the disciples sat at supper, in which they were joined by Christ, and the second was an evening meeting just before Paul was to take leave of the brethren at Troas after a week of labor among them. Concerning Sabbath worship we have the following: It was the "custom" of Jesus to worship in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Luke 4:16. He also told his disciples that because it was made for man, not against him, they would not be violating it by doing a charitable act on that day. We also find Sabbath meetings spoken of in Acts 13:14, 42, 44; 17:2, and 18:4. We find also that it was Paul's "manner" to hold meetings on the Sabbath. Now if custom is to be taken as evidence in favor of either day, certainly the verdict must be in favor of the seventh day. But this is not all, nor is it the main point at all. The mere fact that meetings were held on a certain day proves nothing, because the disciples were accustomed to meet every day, and Christ and the apostles preached every day. But here is the point: The first day of the week is invariably spoken of as "the first day of the week." No sacred title is ever applied to it. There is absolutely nothing in connection with the mention of it to indicate that any sacredness was attached to it. On the contrary it is spoken of as being devoted to secular employments, and is designated, the same as the other working days, only by its number. The seventh day, however, the Sabbath, is always spoken of as "the Sabbath"—the rest day. This is wherein we find evidence in favor of the seventh-day Sabbath in the New Testament. Christian men, moved by the Spirit of God to write for Christians, writing at periods varying from five to thirty years after Christ's ascension, invariably refer to the particular day enjoined in the fourth commandment as "the Sabbath." Surely, then, there can be no doubt as to what day is the only Sabbath for Christians to keep. The Spirit of God has set its seal on the seventh day, and has declared that it is the Sabbath day. Still further, the inspired apostles have left on record the statement that only the seventh day is the Sabbath. There is no question but that the day on which the Jews met for worship was the seventh day of the week. Now Paul, when he was at Antioch, in Pisidia, showed, in the following words, how inconsistent the Jews were in rejecting Christ: "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him." Acts 13:27. If the Scriptures were read in the Jewish synagogues on the seventh day, which no one will think of denying, then, according to Paul, they were read every Sabbath day, which effectually shuts Sunday out of any claim to be called Sabbath. The apostle James, also, in an assembly of the apostles and elders, which is generally spoken of as "the first Christian Council," and where the Holy Ghost was present to direct, said, "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day." Acts 15:21. Here we have, in an assembly of Christians twenty years after the crucifixion, an unmistakably Christian declaration to the effect that the day on which the Jews read the books of Moses in their synagogues,—the seventh day,—is the Sabbath to the exclusion of every other day. We cannot see how Christians can ignore such facts as these. If the Holy Spirit declares that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and the only Sabbath, why should we not say so too? How can we be Christians if we walk not as Christ and the apostles walked, and talk not as they talked? If holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, why should not their words be an end of all strife? For our part we will maintain before the world that the seventh day of the week is the only Sabbath, and the day which God and Christ demand shall be kept by Christians; and we know that this position cannot be contradicted by the Scriptures. W.