THE SABBATH by L. A. Phippeny

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Mar 22, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 12.

THE SABBATH

By L. A. Phippeny

BY L. A. PHIPPENY

APOSTASY AND SABBATH REFORM.

NO. 2.

In our study two weeks ago a few facts were briefly referred to, showing how the Sunday gradually came into the church and became an established institution a few hundred years after Christ. The name Sunday, or "day of the sun," belonged to the first day of the week from ancient times, as it was on this day that special feasts were celebrated in honor of the sun-gods of the pagans.

A Deep Purpose of the Enemy.

There was no accident in the introduction of sun-worship, nor in the selection of the day when these special feasts were to be observed. The careful student of the Word of God will discern in this worship the working of the one in whom sin originated, and who has from the beginnings of sin, exalted himself to be above the true God. This exaltation of self above God was what was done by Lucifer when he departed from the only right way. And as the principles of sin were spread in the human family, and the knowledge of God obliterated, other gods were suggested by the enemy, the chief one, under various names, being the sun, because of its beneficent influence upon the earth.

The design of the enemy has always been to deceive, and in accomplishing the deception he often introduces very beautiful theories and plausible reasons, weaving in truth wherever it can be made to assist in his endeavors. It was not difficult to satisfy men led into error that the sun represented all good to mankind. It was light and warmth and a blessing, and it was only a step to suggesting a certain day, recurring regularly, upon which to give honor to the god of light. What more natural than to suggest the day upon which light was commanded to appear in the beginning? Why this suggestion?—It was to thwart the Creator's designs for His creatures. It was a deliberate purpose to lead the minds of men away from the ordinances that told of the true God, by destroying, if possible, those ordinances, or substituting an ordinance devised by the enemy himself. It was an effort to pervert entirely God's everlasting covenant with the earth and with all the worlds, and to establish another reign. The ordinance particularly aimed at was the Sabbath, for this was the memorial of the creative work; the sign of all good, the sign of the Creator Himself, since it contained His name as defining who He is. And to the extent of Satan's success as opposed to the work of God in the earth, to that extent have men's minds been blinded and confused relative to the true God and His purposes.

And it was not accident or a mere circumstance that led to the gradual introduction of Sunday, with an added signification, into the church. The way was all prepared by one wiser than Constantine for grafting the Sunday onto Christianity in the confused condition of his times. It was but a step from the purely pagan idea of the god of light to the Sun of Righteousness when the religious idea, as pertaining to the resurrection of Christ, began to be attached to the day. And this latter idea is that which has appealed to the mass of Christians through the ages since, with exceptions as noted last week.

Sunday Institution Unchristian.

Not only is such an idea not upheld by the Bible, as has been shown by our studies, but the institution of Sunday must be seen to be wholly repugnant to the principles underlying God's revealed truth. Not that the words or the thought conveyed in the words "sun of righteousness," are not good and true; not that one scintilla of meaning is subtracted from all the significance of the mission of our Saviour and His resurrection by repudiating the Sunday. The Sunday institution must be repudiated because of its origin and the object of its origin. Shall honor be given primarily to Satan, the instigator of all enmity against our Saviour, even in a worthy endeavor to honor the Saviour? Let such be far from any one who has spiritual discernment to understand the truth! We may and should give all honor to the Saviour, and that honor which we delight to give to Him is truly the honor bestowed by keeping the Sabbath, the sign of redemption, the sign of soul-rest from sin, the sign of His graces within the soul. Hence the urgent need of a reform, the need of a careful scrutiny of the way in which we are walking, that God and Christ may be honored, and not the adversary.

Displeasing in the Eyes of God.

The picture is not at all overdrawn in the words just preceding. The evil of sun worship in ancient times was held to be an exceedingly obnoxious thing by the Lord. It was classed as an abomination—not an ordinary abomination, but the greatest abomination that could be committed. Read the eighth chapter of Ezekiel, with special reference to the fifteenth and sixteenth verses: "O son of man, . . . turn ye yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these [those mentioned before]. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house; and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the East; and they worshiped the sun toward the East." Why was this such an abomination?—Because the Lord, the true God, was utterly contemned, the temple dedicated to Him was profaned by His professed followers, and the ordinances of divine worship were polluted. Another god was honored before Him. This was primarily Satan, the "god of this world," the prince that still works in the children of disobedience. The worship of the sun was toward the East, while the worship of the Lord was toward the West, as defined for Israel when the tabernacle was built, the intention of this difference being to teach, even in a form, the most absolute contrast between the true and the false worships.

The question may naturally arise, Why have not these facts been more clearly discerned through the centuries of the Christian dispensation, and why have not honest souls in far greater numbers observed the seventh-day Sabbath? Two answers are patent: First, the influence of ages of teaching, custom, and tradition; second, the message of Sabbath reform was not due until the present generation of mankind. In the time of Christ no argument was necessary as to which day of the week was the Sabbath, because only the one Sabbath was recognized, altho there was decided instruction by the Saviour Himself as to what constituted true Sabbath-keeping. Then the great apostasy developed, and it has been running its course. Then the call of God in the Reformation of the sixteenth century opened the way for the light to begin to shine in the midst of darkness, and in the final work of preparing the world for the second coming of the Lord, the fullest light of the Gospel is due to shine to all nations.

A Definite Call to This Generation.

In the great message referred to in Revelation 14, the apostle, in visions of the last days, saw "another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." The implication in this call is that men have been losing sight of God, and have forgotten that the judgment is coming. The affairs and cares of this life, the attainment of riches, the search after pleasure, and the multitude of pursuits that attract men in the latter days, have absorbed the attention and driven from the mind thoughts of God and eternal things. Other gods and idols have taken the place of the God of heaven.

Is it not a significant thing that the words of the message calling attention to the true God and His worship, are the words of the Sabbath commandment? There is no accident in the wording of this message, we may be assured. The world is losing sight of God in spite of the abundant light shed abroad in these latter days. Other gods than the true God are being worshiped. It is also to the last days and to the identical topic before us, that the words of the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah, apply: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Isa. 24:5. In the call to worship the true God is the utmost significance as concerns the Sabbath and the Sunday. The call is a direct summons for mankind to abandon the false and return to the true, "for the hour of His judgment is come."

Questions of Infinite Importance.

The time has fully arrived for a decided reformation on this point. The message is now going, as the reader must know. And if he has observed with ordinary care, he must have seen that the conflict is on between the principles involved. Shall the issue result in a victory for the God of heaven, or in a victory for the adversary? Shall the worship of the true God be restored in the hearts of men, or will a false god be honored? Shall the ordinances established by the Creator in the everlasting covenant be respected by His children, or will another ordinance, substituted by Satan, be preferred by mankind? Shall the Lord of heaven be honored, through the Sabbath, as the One who made heaven and earth and the sea, or shall the arch-enemy be exalted above Him in a counterfeit Sabbath? Shall the truth prevail, or shall superstition and error and tradition gain the day? Shall we not fear the God of heaven, and tremble at His word in humility and loving obedience?

The Lord called for a reform in the time of Isaiah, and the promise to Israel then is the promise of a spiritual Israel to-day: "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and

call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Isa. 58:13, 14. Let us heed the call.