FIFTEEN FACTS REGARDING THE SABBATH OF THE LORD by Francis McClellan Wilcox

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 5, 1892

FIFTEEN FACTS REGARDING THE SABBATH OF THE LORD.

By Francis McClellan Wilcox

BY ELDER F. M. WILCOX.

1. CHRIST is the active agent in the creation of all things (Col. 1:18; John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6); therefore Christ made the Sabbath.

2. Christ rested on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2), thus making it his Sabbath, or rest day.

3. The Sabbath was given to Adam, the father of the race, and was thus enjoined upon his descendants, the whole human family. Gen. 2:1-3; Mark 2:27.

4. The Sabbath was given to man in his innocence, and was therefore designed to meet the needs of a holy race.

5. In thus being given before sin entered the world, it therefore bore no relation to the types, ceremonies, or ritual connected with the remedial system of sacrificial offerings.

6. The Sabbath commandment is and was a part of God's law. As such it was observed by Abraham and all the holy patriarchs after sin entered, thus proving it to be suited to the needs of man in all conditions. Gen. 26:5.

7. The seventh day in particular is the specified holy day of the weekly cycle. This is emphasized by the fact that for forty years God rained manna from heaven, to supply the needs of his people for the first six days of the week, and withheld it every seventh day.

8. God is a moral Governor. He has given a law of moral principles for the guidance of man. All moral principles are eternal principles, reflections of the moral character of their divine Author. The Sabbath command was placed in the very bosom of that law of moral principles, thus proving it to be likewise moral in its nature, and as eternal and enduring as the other nine associated with it. Ex. 20:3-17; Neh. 9:13, 14.

9. When Christ, the Lord of the Sabbath, visited this earth, his bearing toward the day he had honored as his own was in keeping with its sacred character. He labored by precept and example to rid its observance of the burdensome traditions of the Jews, and bring it back to the place and use appointed it in the beginning,—a day of joy and delight. Matt. 5:17-19; 12:1-12.

10. It was customary for Christ to use at least a part of the seventh day for the purpose of public worship. Would we follow his example, we will do well to devote a part of it to the same object. Luke 4:16.

11. His most intimate disciples, those who performed for him the last sad rites of burial, understood nothing else from his example and teaching than that they should sacredly regard the day enjoined in the commandment. Luke 23:56.

12. These same disciples regarded the seventh day so holy that they would not perform upon it the work they did without scruple upon the first day of the week. Luke 23:56; 24:1.

13. The apostle Paul, following the example of Christ, by whom he had been instructed in many visions and revelations, used the seventh day of the week as a time for regular public worship. Acts 17:2; 18:4, 11.

14. This he did not alone while laboring for the Jews, but also when preaching to the Gentiles. Acts 13:14, 42, 44.

15. The Sabbath will be observed and regarded as a stated and set time for divine worship by the ransomed of the Lord in the

world to come. Isa. 66:22, 23. Thus does the Sabbath, like a mighty arch, span the gulf of sin, reaching from Eden, the garden of God, to Paradise restored. The design of God in its observance has been turned aside for a time, but not thwarted. In the eternal ages will the Sabbath institution, planted in beauty and holiness, be carried out according to the design of God—an eternal joy, blessing, and delight to the nations of men.