The Seventh-Part-of-Time Theory.
By N. J. Bowers
A. WELL, this whole Sabbath question, first and last, amounts to just this—it makes no difference which day we keep, so it is one in every seven. Proportionate, and not definite, time is the true principle. This thing of being confined to a particular day is an infringement of gospel liberty. One day is no better than another. B. Which of the seven days do you keep? A. O I keep Sunday, of course. A. Well, the resurrection of Christ, our true rest, was on this day; he met with his disciples on this day; the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples on this day on Pentecost, and the apostle Paul preached and broke bread with the brethren on it. Besides it is the general custom of the church and country to observe this day. Common convenience would have us select this day; yet, as I say, we should not esteem one day above another. B. We should not esteem one day above another, yet you esteem Sunday above other days; one day is no better than another, yet Sunday is better; it makes no difference which day we keep, yet it does after all; a particular day should not be kept because it infringes on gospel freedom, yet all should keep the particular day, Sunday. You have given half a dozen reasons for keeping a definite day, at the same time you were saying an indefinite one would do just as well. Does it make no difference whether we keep Sunday, and at the same it does make a difference? What do you mean? A. We should keep the Christian Sabbath. B. How do you know there is such an institution? Where in the Bible do you read about the Christian Sabbath? Here is a Bible, please read something about it. Besides, according to your principle, there can be no such thing. Is not the first day of the week definite time? yet you say we should not be confined to a particular day. Do you not see your positions devour themselves. A. The Bible says we should honor the Son even as we honor the Father. We should honor the Son by honoring the day of his resurrection. B. How do you know? Why should we honor the day of the Lord's resurrection any more than the days of his birth, crucifixion, or ascension? On all these days important events in redemption took place. This pretense of honoring the Son in disobedience to the Father, in the day when the hearts of all men shall be made manifest, will be laid bare in all its wickedness. It is no honor to the Son to refuse honor to the Father in disobedience. "I and my Father are one," says Jesus. A. The fourth commandment enjoins any day of the week for the Sabbath. We can "remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy," when we remember the day of the resurrection. B. Let us see. On what day did God rest? B. On the seventh day of what? A. On the seventh after six of labor; this is the principle, as I have said. B. True, and this seventh day after six of labor was the seventh day of the week. A. The commandment does not say week, it says seventh day. B. The words it is true are not seventh day of the week. Although the commandment does not say week, yet it means week, indeed it can mean nothing else. Notice this was the seventh day of the first seven days of time. Here is the first week of time. The day of God's rest was the seventh day of this first week. This was the model for all succeeding weeks. Now did not the Lord rest on a definite day? B. On what day are we to rest in obedience to this commandment? A. On the day on which God rested. B. And this was on the seventh day of the week, as I have proved. So no day can be the Sabbath but the day on which God rested, which he blessed and appointed. He rested on but one, not on two or seven, so it is an absolute demonstration that any seventh day cannot be the Sabbath. You cannot make a day the Sabbath on which God wrought. It must be the day on which he rested; which by tradition, by chronology, by historic preservation, by astronomical records, by legal agreements, and by common consent, is the seventh day of our week, or Saturday. The ancient people of God—the Jews—certainly kept the day enjoined in the commandment. This day corresponded with the day of Saturn of the Gentile nations, which agrees with our Saturday. The Jews have in all nations kept this day down to the present. They never lost the order of the week. It is also equally evident that we cannot, in obedience to the fourth commandment, remember the day of the resurrection, for two reasons: 1. The Lord did not rest on the day of the resurrection, but on the day before. 2. In rendering obedience to this commandment we remember or call to mind the great facts of creation and not the resurrection of Jesus. The fourth commandment has nothing to do with this. The great Sabbath precept knows nothing of the Lord's resurrection. It is the creation of the world with which it stands related. It says nothing about the resurrection. A. Well, you keep your Sabbath and I'll keep mine. B. I have no Sabbath. The Lord has one, and he tells me to observe it. It being his, I must be careful how I neglect or misuse it. I must be mindful how I treat the property of another. If I had one of my own, as you say you have, I need not be so particular. Does the Bible tell you to keep your Sabbath, or the Sabbath of the Lord thy God? Read the fourth precept. A. I think the Lord is not as particular about these matters as he used to be. He wants spiritual worship now. B. The Lord always has required spiritual worship. This has been true in all past ages. Among the Jews he required it. Read the prophets. What is spiritual worship but sincere and willing obedience to God? Paul says "we know that the law is spiritual." Rom. 7:14, and the man who is truly spiritual will consent with the apostle that the law is "holy, just, and good," and will keep it. The Sabbath is a part of the law. He will keep that also. The Lord is as careful now as he ever was. Why should he be less so? Sin is sin now, as of old. Can you prove that the Lord is not in this day particular whether we obey him or not? You spoke at the beginning about giving the Lord a proportion of time. It is right to give him a proportion, but it must be the right proportion. This idea of averaging matters with the Lord may fitly characterize the average Christian professor of to-day, but it will count nothing in the Judgment but condemnation. The tendency of to-day is to make the teachings of the Bible indefinite; meaning anything or nothing at all; so of what use is it? That's the pattern this any-day-and-no-day-in-particular theory is cut after. You can make it fit any day, and hide a multitude of sins in priest and people; but the Lord can see through it, and through the disobedient heart of the wearer. A. I don't think you can change my mind. I mean to serve the Lord faithfully, and try to get to Heaven. B. It is vain to serve the Lord with a disobedient heart. There is no faith in disobedience and rebellion. You can't get to Heaven by neglecting known duties. Do not be deceived in this matter. It is only the willing and obedient who shall eat the fruit of the land. I hope you will carefully, and in the fear of God, consider where you stand, and decide to serve the Lord more fully. N. J. BOWERS.