VINDICATION OF THE TRUE SABBATH.
By J. W. Morton
Divine Appointment of the Seventh Day.
[IN the following able treatise on the divine appointment of the Sabbath of the Bible, the writer makes use of an argument or two which we might not employ. Yet we can commend it to the readers of the SIGNS, especially to those who have been, and still are, misinformed in regard to a very plain, important, and ancient institution of Jehovah. This brief discussion of a small, but intensely interesting, portion of the Sabbath controversy, is designed especially for the perusal of those Christians, styled orthodox, who do not keep holy the seventh day of the week.] 1 COR. 16 : 2 : "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." Your premises are, 1. That the apostle here commands the Corinthians to make public collections on the first day of the week. 2. That therefore public assemblies were accustomed to be held on that day. Whence you infer that the first day of the week is the Sabbath. I deny both your premises. The apostle simply orders that each one of the Corinthian brethren should lay up at home some portion of his weekly gains on the first day of the week. The whole question turns upon the meaning of the expression, "by him;" and I marvel greatly how you can imagine that it means "in the collection box of the congregation." Greenfield, in his Lexicon, translates the Greek term, "by one's self, i. e., at home." Two Latin versions, the Vulgate and that of Cæstallio, render it, "apud se," with one's self, at home. Three French translations, those of Martin, Osterwald, and De Sacy, "chez soi," at his own house, at home. The German of Luther, "bei sich selbst," by himself at home. The Dutch, "by hemselven," same as the German. The Italian of Diodati, "appresso di se," in his own presence at home. The Spanish of Felipe Sico, "en su casa," in his own house. The Portuguese of Ferreira, "para isso," with himself. The Swedish, "naer sig sielf," near himself. I know not how much the list of authorities might be swelled; for I have not examined one translation that differs from those quoted above. Now, if your premises are false, your inference is not only unnecessary, but wholly inadmissible. REV. 1:10: "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." You premise that the Lord's day is the first day of the week. Whence you infer that the first day of the week is the Sabbath. You here assume the principal point in dispute, namely, that God has appointed the first day of every week to be kept in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ. Is every friday the "Lord's day," because he was crucified on Friday? You answer, No. Is every Thursday the "Lord's day," because he ascended on Thursday? You answer, No. So when you ask, Is every first day of the week the "Lord's day," because he arose on the first day? I answer, No. And is it too much that I should ask you to prove your assumption? I have never yet met with an attempt to prove it. But, were this even proved, your inference would not be necessary. The first day might be the "Lord's day," and yet not the Sabbath. Would the bare mention of this day by the apostle John, even if it were certain that he referred to the first day of the week, repeal or alter the fourth commandment? Certainly not. But you ask, What day did he mean? I reply, Most probably he meant the seventh day, since we know from several scriptures that this is in fact the Lord's day. See Neh. 9:14, and Isa. 58:13. But you ask again, Why did he not say "the Sabbath," if he meant it? I reply by asking you, Why did he not say "the first day," if he meant it? Brethren, who can say that from any or all of the texts commented upon above, the inference is necessary, that the first day of the week is, and that the seventh is not, holy? But this is precisely what you infer from them. On the sole authority of these passages, together with that one in which Christ says that he is "the Lord of the Sabbath," you have no hesitation in affirming that the first day of the week is the very Sabbath day spoken of in the fourth commandment, and that the seventh day of the week is not now more holy than any other; or, in other words, that the blessing which God put upon it in the beginning (Gen. 2:2, 3), has been taken from it, and given to another day. What! because "there remaineth a sabbatism to the people of God," therefore, the seventh day must have ceased to be the Sabbath! Because "we will be glad and rejoice" in "the day which the Lord hath made," therefore, the seventh day must have ceased to be holy! Because Christ showed himself to his disciples once or twice on the first day of the week, therefore, the seventh day cannot be the Sabbath! Because the Pentecostal effusion of the Holy Ghost happened on the first day of the week, as is clearly demonstrated by arithmetical calculation, therefore, the seventh day cannot claim to be the Sabbath! Because the disciples met once "to break bread" on the first day of the week, therefore, God must have unsanctified the seventh day! Because the Corinthian and Galatian Christians were commanded to "lay by them in store" on the first day of the week, for the relief of the poor saints, therefore, the seventh day can be nothing more than a working day! Because John was "in the Spirit on the Lord's day," therefore, the seventh day cannot be "the Lord's day," as it used to be! Because Jesus Christ is "Lord of the Sabbath," and has the right to change it, or even to annihilate it(!), therefore, the seventh day must have ceased to be a day of rest! O brethren, you dare not say that any of these inferences flow from the Scriptures as necessary consequences. But if they are not necessary—if there is any way of avoiding them without doing violence either to the text or context—how can you ask me to believe that the first day is, and the seventh day is not, holy? "THE Sabbath was made for man." I am a man; therefore, the Sabbath was made for me. God has blessed and sanctified the seventh day of the week, and commanded me to keep it holy for that reason; therefore, as long as the seventh day continues to be divinely blessed and sanctified, I am bound to keep it holy. But it is nowhere said in the Bible that God has removed the blessing from this day, or that he has unsanctified it. You say so, indeed; but you are neither the authors nor the finishers of my faith; nor will your unsupported assertion a thousand times repeated amount to a divine revelation. If you assert that it is the will of God that I should cease to regard the seventh day as holy, I ask, Where is this revealed? What prophet or apostle has said so, directly or indirectly? It is not enough for you to answer that the first day has been blessed and sanctified, as a memorial of the work of redemption. That assertion, if it were true, would not prove that the seventh day is not holy. No, brethren, your own conscience must tell you that there is not one syllable in the Bible on which to ground the doctrine, that God has unsanctified the seventh day of the week. But one of your ministers has told me that God did not bless and sanctify any particular day of the week, but only the Sabbath institution. To this I have only to say, "Let God be true and every man a liar." The Holy Ghost says (Gen. 2:2), "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it;" and again (Ex. 20:11), "Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it." Now, if you assert, with these scriptures staring you in the face, that God never blessed and sanctified any particular day, but only the Sabbath institution, do you not make God a liar in order to excuse your own rebellion? O brethren, I perceive that these texts are an eye-sore to you, and that in your hearts you wish they were out of the Bible. If you loved them, you would not flatly contradict them. I appeal to your own consciousness, Is it not your great effort, when you take up the fourth commandment, to convince yourselves and others that God's Spirit does not mean what he says, in as plain language as any Sabbatarian could employ; that is, that "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God"? And when you take up those passages in the New Testament which have been considered above, do you not labor to convince yourselves that the same Spirit does not mean what he does not say; that is, that the first day is the Sabbath? You do not believe that what God says a dozen times, or more, can be true; but you are sure that what he does not say even once is infallibly true; and that nothing but stupidity and skepticism would presume to doubt it. When you are told that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and the testimony of God's Spirit, plainly uttered in one dozen passages, together with the uniform practice of the church as long as we can trace the inspired history of the Sabbath, is offered in proof of the assertion, you shut your eyes, and declare that you can see nothing, and that all this proves nothing. But when you tell me that the first day is, and the seventh is not, the Sabbath, and quote, as proof, Acts 20:7, and a few other passages, not one of which says one word about the Sabbath, or the seventh day, or a day of rest, or holy time, or exercises which are proper only on the Sabbath, you affirm that you have proved your position beyond all doubt, and that the only reason why I cannot see the evidence is because the vail of Judaism is over my eyes. The moral law says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath;" but you say, "No; the seventh day is not the Sabbath; you do not understand the law; you mistake its meaning." Neither that law, nor any other in the Bible, says, "The first day is the Sabbath." Notwithstanding, you dare to lift up your hands, and swear by the living God that the first day is the Sabbath. But this is not all. Oh, that it were! The Holy Ghost has said, not only in the record that God made on Adam's heart and in the covenant of works, but also in the written law given at Mount Sinai and in several other passages of Scripture, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." But you have repeatedly sworn by the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable Jehovah, that this assertion is not true—that the seventh day is not the Sabbath of the Lord our God—that it is a common working day. Because I can no longer join you in this Heaven-daring oath, you have declared me unworthy of the confidence of a Christian people, and forbidden me to perform any longer the functions of a missionary of the cross. You have told the church that, having violated my ordination vows, I have forfeited my ministry, and that my seat at the Lord's table is vacant. You have thus flung upon the heedless winds the mad-dog cry of "suspended minister," "covenant breaker," and "disturber of the church's peace. But think not, brethren, beloved in the Lord, that the treatment which I have received at your hands shall deter me from proclaiming what I believe to be God's truth, as God may give me utterance. That you wish to do what is right, I do not doubt. That you believe you do God service in thrusting me from your Christian embraces, is evident enough. That many of you love me yet, and pray for me, I can but hope. But that you all sin in not searching the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so, I do firmly believe. And now, brethren, I cannot close this treatise without uttering a word of warning to every one of you, which will, I fear, be very generally disregarded by you. Yet "woe is me," if I utter it not! Do not, I beseech you, be angry at any thing I have written, or refuse to hear my parting words because I am a "suspended minister." You have loaded me with reproach, not because I have committed any crime, but because I have pleaded for the integrity and immutability of the moral law. I am neither a thief, nor a murderer, nor a robber of churches; but I do most firmly believe that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord my God, and that you, and all others who do not keep it holy, are guilty before God of a gross violation of the moral law. And can I, under those circumstances, regard your reproaches as a legitimate expression of the divine displeasure? No! That I am really unworthy of the gospel ministry, I confess. That I am not sufficient for these things, I know. But, after having been regularly called to this responsible work, I will not be driven from it for such a cause. Know, then, ye rulers in the house of God, that I am still a minister of Jesus Christ, sent forth to proclaim the terrors of God's law to the rebellious and impenitent, and to promise the grace of the gospel to the penitent and believing. Know, also, ye professors of the Christian religion who neglect the sanctification of the seventh day, and especially ye ministers of Jesus who "teach men so," that you make dark what God has made plain; that you pluck out of the hand of God's schoolmaster one of those rods wherewith he would lash the carnal heart; that you hide one of God's candles under a bushel, and compass yourselves about with sparks and a fire of your own kindling; that you provoke the Holy Spirit, in rejecting his testimony and teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Yes, brethren, though my words fall upon your ears as an idle tale that you believe not, I declare to you, in the name of Him whom your doctrine dishonors and your philosophy insults—in the name of that suspended minister to whom all the ends of the earth shall look for salvation—that, if you repent not, the Holy Ghost will bear witness against you in the awful day of retribution that you have refused his words, and that you have "put darkness for light, and light for darkness!" Think not that I am your enemy, because I thus speak. Think not that I have no confidence in your piety, because I rebuke you sharply. Think not that I am proud, boastful, and self-confident, because I dare to approach you, who are vastly my superiors in knowledge, and remind you of your duty. I would gladly have avoided this public exhibition of my sentiments. Had it been possible to withhold my testimony, you would never have seen these pages. "But necessity is laid upon me." And think not, I beseech you, that I am against the church of our Redeemer, or would hinder her prosperity, because I oppose a human institution which Christians very generally observe. "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy."