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THE LAW OF GOD

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 18, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 42.

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THE LAW OF GOD.

By Samuel Benjamin

BY SAMUEL BENJAMIN.
THE Ten Commandments are the constitution of this planet, the expression of the will of God toward mankind. They are the fundamental law by which our heavenly Father seeks to govern His great human family.
Let it carefully be borne in mind that each part of that code of great moral law is equally God-given and authoritative.
The fourth article in that immortal Decalogue relates especially to the Sabbath. It designates carefully the day in the week, and tells how to keep it. "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;" "Remember [it] to keep it holy."
There is no law of language that would permit any one to apply the fourth commandment to the first day of the week. The seventh day is the one "nominated in the bond."
The Sabbath was not founded on a sentiment that could be changed by the will, or at the caprice, of man. But its eternal basis is the great fact of creation.
Such an event deserved suitable dedication and a fitting memorial. This it had in the Sabbath ordained in Eden when creation, so far as pertains to this earth, was fully accomplished. Gen. 2:1-3.
The last clause in the Sabbath law (Ex. 20:11) refers back to the fact of creation as stated in Gen. 2:1-3, for the reason why the "seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." If the reader will compare these two Scripture references, the fact that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath of God and of the Bible, will obtain permanency in the mind.
"How firm a foundation, Ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith In His excellent Word."
It is an axiom in jurisprudence that a law on a given subject must fit the facts, and the facts must fit the law. This idea finds forceful illustration in the fourth commandment which is the official law of God governing the Sabbath. It corresponds with the fact as stated in Gen. 2:1-3; and that fact of a finished earth, dedicated on that seventh day in that first week, is in perfect correspondence with the law which says, "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Thus law fits fact and fact fits law.
"Lo! from Mount Sinai's lofty peak The great Jehovah deigns to speak To mortal man. O, hear His voice, Ye people of His love and choice."
The Sabbath is the memorial of creation. It is God's special reminder, in the weekly cycle, of that great and glorious event.
The completion of creation, so far as this system is concerned, took place on the seventh day of the week. From that God-ordained and established position human opinion or legislation can not dislodge it. There it stands, solid, grand, and immutable as He who built the round earth, and sent it rolling through illimitable space. God sanctified that special day; that is, He set it apart, and raised it in importance over all its fellows in the weekly cycle for a special and holy purpose. The Sabbath was to be creation's memorial.
The honor of God as the great, wise, and loving Creator is involved in the keeping of that particular day which, above all others, shows forth God as Creator. Also the integrity of the fourth commandment is involved, because it declares in plain language, "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
A memorial day must correspond with the event on which it is predicated. Thus the Sabbath, as creation's memorial, must correspond with Gen. 2:1-3; and it must be the seventh day in the week rather than the first day.
Those who are seeking for the truth on this subject, and earnestly desiring to be right in the sight of God, should abandon the counterfeit Sabbath which Sunday certainly is, and accept and keep the Sabbath established by Jehovah.
That day, the seventh day, is the Sabbath of God and of the Bible. This world has never known any other true Sabbath, and never will.
Granby, Conn.