A CLERGYMAN AND THE SABBATH.
By George W. Spies
A METHODIST clergyman stated recently that the Sabbath, a memorial of creation, was obligatory before the death of Christ, but that since that event the Lord's day, a separate and distinct institution, should be observed upon the first day of the week, as appointed by Christ. The Sabbath ended at the cross, he said, where the Lord's day began. But are these statements true? That the Sabbath did not cease at the cross is shown by the following facts: (1) The first thing we meet with after the cross is Sabbath observance. Luke 23:55, 56. (2) Inspiration recognizes the Sabbath over twenty years this side of the cross. Acts 17:2; 18:4. (3) Paul and the early church kept it twenty years after the cross. Acts 16:13. (4) Christ commanded His disciples to remember the Sabbath in their prayers as late as the destruction of Jerusalem, in A.D. 70, thirty-seven years after the cross. (5) John, the beloved disciple, was in the spirit on the Sabbath (Rev. 1:10; compare with Mark 2:28), A.D. 97, sixty-four years after the cross. That the first day of the week has not been kept as the Lord's day since the cross, and was not so instituted by Christ, is shown by the total silence of the Scriptures concerning such a change. It was first called "Lord's day" by Tertullian, A.D. 200. This is the earliest authentic instance. See Kitto's "Cyclopædia of Bible Literature," original edition, article "Lord's Day." It was first authoritatively so called by Pope Sylvester, at Constantine's request, about A.D. 324. Hence Christ did not establish this institution, but "the church" did. It is evident that a change in the Sabbath would necessitate the abolition of, or a change in, that part of the Decalogue relating to the Sabbath, i. e., the fourth commandment. But did Christ do either of these things? John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, says:— The moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments . . . He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind and in all ages, as not depending on either time or place, or any other circumstance liable to change, but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other.—Sermons, pp. 221, 222. This law is spiritual and perfect . . . and can never be changed or annulled.—Binney's Theological Compend, Improved, p. 153. The ablest exponent of Methodism in this country says:— Let us not suppose that His [God's] will concerning this matter [of Sabbath observance] has changed. The obligation to obey Him in this [the fourth] commandment, is universal and perpetual. And what is true of the fourth commandment is equally true of every other part of the Decalogue.—Christian Advocate, New York, June 20. The following official utterance is worthy of attention:— The Sabbath instituted in the beginning, and confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets, has never been abrogated. A part of the moral law, not a jot or tittle of its sanctity has been taken away.—M. E. Bishop's Pastoral, 1874, published in New York Herald. So, according to these high Methodist authorities, the law has not been abolished. It has not been changed by Christ or by any one else having authority to change it. The obligation enjoined by the fourth commandment is "universal and perpetual," and "what is true of the fourth commandment is equally true of every other part of the Decalogue." Conversely, what is true of every other part of the Decalogue is true of the fourth commandment. But every other part of the Decalogue is understood to be literally binding upon all men, hence the fourth commandment is binding upon all, just as it reads: "The seventh day is the Sabbath." How do the admissions made in these extracts annihilate the theory that a new institution has superseded the Sabbath "instituted in the beginning," the Sabbath that is "a part of the moral law," the Sabbath "confirmed again and again by Moses and the prophets!" And where do these admissions place our Methodist brethren? How do they relate them to the Decalogue? Plainly they bind all Methodists to the observance of the fourth commandment, the original seventh-day Sabbath. There can be no other just conclusion. We trust that many of them will see this matter in its true light, and respect these teachings of their church, which are clearly in harmony with the Word of God.