SABBATH UNIFORMITY by Lee S. Wheeler

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 5, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 52.

SABBATH UNIFORMITY.

By Lee S. Wheeler

Who Is Lord of the Sabbath?

"The Sabbath was made for man[kind]." Mark 2:27.

The Lord (the Son of Man) made it. Verse 28; 1 Cor. 8:6. "Besides me there is no God." Isa. 44:6. God is a God of order, not of confusion. Isa. 9:7; 1 Cor. 14:33. Without the designation of the particular day of the week to be kept, mankind would be the subjects of confusion. Churches cannot establish and regulate this order as to what day, because they have no authority over mankind or the human race; they are only the "pilgrims and strangers upon the earth," the "called out," the "little flock." The church is not "Lord of lords." Rev. 19:16. They are not even their own head, but Christ is their Head. Col. 1:18; Eph. 5:22, 24.

There is no master in spiritual things upon earth; but "one is your master, even Christ." Matt. 23:8, 9. Any attempt at such authority is usurpation, is "antichrist." Jesus referred to such when he added, "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased." Verse 12. It would be the Mystery of Iniquity sitting "in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." 2 Thess. 2:4. The only church that has attempted such a thing is the Church of Rome. She did, and to show such authority over mankind, she took that one thing so plainly stated to have been made for mankind—the Sabbath—and changed it to a day of her own appointment—Sunday—and enforced its observance. But in professing and thinking herself able to change the times and laws of the Most High (Dan. 7:25, Douay Version), she "deceiveth them that dwell on the earth [mankind]" (Rev. 13:14). She usurped the power which Christ declared was given to him in earth. Matt. 28:18. The kings of the earth (civil powers) have not the right to exercise such authority either, for they are controlled by her, and are under her. "She reigneth over the kings of the earth." Rev. 17:18. They are deceived by her—drunken with the wine of her error. "These," therefore, in supporting her, and strengthening her, "shall make war with the Lamb," the only power in the universe that is Lord of the Sabbath and of mankind, for

whom it was made, and thus able to preserve its uniformity, upon servants and kings alike; but "the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings." Rev. 17:14.

The lords of the earth are not lords of the Sabbath. They have nothing to do with it. He alone is the Lord of it and of its appointment who says, "My glory will I not give to another." Isa. 42:8. Suppose the czar of Russia and the queen of England should presume to appoint and enforce Sabbath observance; they would then in that act set themselves up as lords of the Sabbath. Then they are antichrists.

Again, when they had appointed the day, they must be able to make it holy before it could be kept holy by their servants. But they could not do this, for they themselves are not holy. God only is holy, hence his rest day (Sabbath) is the only holy rest day (Sabbath), and the attempt of a civil government to set up a sabbath is an attempt at an impossibility, which assumes the attributes of Jehovah. It takes the special act of God to make a day holy, or make it the Sabbath—an act which is not recorded to have been performed but once during all time,—the rest of the Creator from his works; and then it required his blessing bestowed upon it for time to come, and his sanctification, to make it a complete sabbatic obligation upon others.

No other day of the week can claim this but the seventh day, and without this there is no holy Sabbath. If governments or creeds cannot do this, people should cease to talk of the day the government legalizes, or the day the church sets apart as the Sabbath. Days are not naturally holy, and must be made so before they can be kept so. If the government or the church could make a day holy, they could not then enforce it; for holiness is an affair of the heart, and neither State nor Church has means of knowing what is in the heart, or what is there kept holy; and they could not know whether their laws were kept or not. But the Catholic Church, having taken the first steps, saw the necessity of this, and instituted the Holy Inquisition, to wring from the lips of men the thoughts of their hearts through the agonies of torture. It also established auricular confession, by which it extorted from them the secrets of their lives through the fears of hell—an accursed and terrible invention; an all-seeing eye of priestcraft that watched at every fireside of Europe for centuries, that makes a man's wife and confidential companion the informer and spy of his home.

Yet these are the results of an earthly power attempting to enforce the laws of God. Sabbaths set up by governments are antichristian; for if they set up the day God has set up, they must usurp the authority of God to enforce it. Where God would pardon, they know nothing of pardon, not knowing the heart; where God might not speedily execute the punishment, they might; where it was most demanded, they might be least able to inflict it. Where God would be just, they might be unjust. Where he could justify the sinner, they could not. Therefore, they must have infallibility; and, therefore, Rome claims it.

But if they set up another day from that which God has set up, and God should approve of man's keeping it, he would set aside

his own appointment, and deny his own infallibility. He would have to judge Sabbath keepers by the laws of their respective countries instead of his own law—those of Russia by the laws of the czar, those of England by the laws of England, and those of China by the laws of China, where they have no Sabbath. This would be necessary if governments are to be followed in such matters.

But the laws of governments are the laws of the "many"—the majority—and these are in the broad way that leads to death (Matt. 7:13, 14), or they are the laws of tyrants, and the power of tyranny is the power of the devil. Majorities always have been wrong in matters of religion, and tyranny must be wrong.

Satan is God of this world (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2), and the rulers of this world are massed upon his side (Rev. 19:19; 6:15, 17; Acts 12:1-7; Daniel 3). "Put not your trust in princes" (Ps. 146:3), for they will be ruled out at that tribunal where monarchs are weighed in the balance and found wanting. And their servants shall be ashamed when "God is judge himself," "to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgement written." Ps. 149:8, 9. Those who follow them must share their fate. The State cannot say what day men shall observe, nor that they shall observe any at all unto the Lord.

Let us look at the church again. If the church is united in keeping and enforcing a different day than God appointed in his word, the Christian cannot uphold that church, for it is antichrist (against Christ). It is a sin, for Christ prayed: "Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth, . . . that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us." John 17:17-21. As long as people try to maintain any other unity, it is a deception, and hinders the accomplishment of the true unity. They are resisting the plan which God is working out through Jesus Christ. They are resisting the Saviour's prayer, and fighting against God. They may be sincere, but people are often sincere in upholding wrong. Everyone who lends his influence to support a church that is extending and strengthening such unity, is hindering the Saviour's prayer, resisting the accomplishment of the plan of salvation, and the triumph of the gospel. He is perpetuating rebellion against God. It is Babylon. "From such turn away." 2 Tim. 3:5; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; Rev. 18:2-4.

Some of the oldest faiths in the world have carefully preserved such unity through centuries of time, thinking the greatest merit to consist in reverencing what has been long venerated, and that falsehoods are hallowed by long standing, and thus may always be depended upon to resist light and truth. Such is Catholicism. The word of Jesus Christ, the Bible, is the only authority that can determine the day of the Sabbath. Its unity is the only unity of the Spirit, unless it be the spirit of the devil.

(Concluded next week.)