"THE SOLITARY BIBLE CLASS."
By L. D. Santee
THERE is a department in the Ram's Horn bearing this title. In the issue of February 13 the subject was "Christ and the Sabbath." The following clipping, which I take from it, will be of interest:— "As a matter of fact, Jesus faithfully performed every duty which the Fourth Commandment required. He attended church, He read the Scriptures, and preached the Word of God to the people. He hallowed the day with deeds of mercy; no word or act of His can be construed into an excuse for a lax observance of the Sabbath. It is true that He ignored the senseless additions which a Pharisaical church had attached to that day, and which did not belong to the original law, but He remembered the Sabbath, and kept it holy, as a day set apart for God's service. A religious observance of the seventh day is commanded, because it is indispensable to the welfare of mankind, as you may readily see by observing the degradation of the nations and people who keep no sabbath, whereas those nations that observe the day constitute the world's most intelligent and civilized inhabitants." "Taking for granted the truth of your statement," said the cynic, "if the Sabbath be so indispensable to the welfare of the human race, I would like to know why the world was left in ignorance of a law so vital to its best interests for the thousands of years before the Commandments were given at Sinai." "It is a curious fact," the leader replied, "with such as consider it a mark of superior intelligence to find fault with the Bible, that at one time they declare that all the moral laws incorporated in the Decalogue were in existence long before they were written by the hand of God on the tablets of stone, and at another time complain because the world was left without instruction for so long a time. The truth is that the division of time into periods of seven days was known as far back in remote ages as we have any record. It was customary to observe the seventh day as a day of rest by the Chaldeans, who named it Sabbatu, day of rest. The Persians and Egyptians also observed this division of time long before the Exodus. However, all this is of minor importance compared to a right understanding of the nature and use of the Sabbath. All of God's commands have their most important relation to eternal things. The Sabbath was not given merely as a day of rest from manual labor. It was never intended as a time for idle repose and slothfulness or frivolous sport, but a day in which secular affairs should be set aside in order that the mind might be employed with higher interests, and man's thoughts turned from earthly worries and distractions to find rest and relief in a closer fellowship with God." "The seventh day in time prefigures the eternal rest of the soul. A merely external observance of Sunday, such as attending divine service, Sunday-school, and so forth, with a sober face and good clothes, profits nothing, unless the thoughts be withdrawn from worldly schemes and ambitions and fixed upon the Lord." Do you wonder that I was surprised when I read the last paragraph? He has told us, "A religious observance of the seventh day is commanded, because it is indispensable to the welfare of mankind." Now what has that to do with the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week? Again, he says that Jesus kept the Fourth Commandment. And again, "No word or act of His can be construed into an excuse for a lax observance of the Sabbath." It is a continual wonder to me how he can bring the observance of Sunday into the lesson. His comments are based on Matthew 12, where Christ plucked corn on the Sabbath. It was on the day that the Jews regarded as the Sabbath; otherwise they would not have condemned Him. Was that Sunday? What right has he to use the Fourth Commandment for any other purpose than to teach the seventh day, as the commandment does? I read in Eccl. 3:14, "I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it; and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him." Again: "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of My lips." Ps. 89:34. Of Him it is said, "In whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." James 1:17. Then God is unchangeable, and His law changeless. In the light of this knowledge, what right has any man to use the Fourth Commandment, except to enforce the keeping of the day that the commandment specifies? I read in 1 Peter 4:11, "If any man speak, let him speak as the Oracles of God." The Oracles of God say, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work." Now, if I "speak as the Oracles of God," what will I say? I fear that the writer in the Ram's Horn has not heeded this admonition. To use the claims of God's law in behalf of a day that the law has never mentioned is, to say the least, misleading. Leading men have frankly acknowledged that there is no divine command in either Testament for the observance of Sunday. When we see men assuming the very thing that needs proof, we are reminded of Eze. 22:28, where the false prophet said, "Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken." Now for a standard authority on this subject. "Smith's Bible Dictionary," article "Lord's Day," after giving all the texts referring to Sunday, speaks of the proof as "scarcely adequate." That is, it does not quite prove it. "Dwight's Theology," vol. 4, page 104, says, "The Christian sabbath (Sunday) is not in the Scriptures, and was not by the primitive church called the Sabbath." Again: "It is true there is no positive command for infant baptism, . . . nor is there for keeping the first day of the week."—*4Binney's Theological Compendium*, pages 180, 181. I might enlarge this list of authorities, but it is unnecessary. A careful study of the Bible will tell you that these things are true. In concluding this subject, let me present a few facts. The man that works on the seventh day (Saturday) is a sinner against God, just as truly as "sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4. I do not condemn him; he may be sinning ignorantly; but a careful reading of the Fourth Commandment will prove the truth of my statement. On the other hand, the man who works every first day (Sunday) has not sinned; for "sin is not imputed when there is no law." Rom. 5:13. Let us not have a "Solitary Bible Class." Let us invite God into the class; for "the entrance of Thy Word giveth light" (Ps. 119:130); and, above all, let us endorse the words of Jesus, "Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Matt. 15:13.