NEW TESTAMENT SEVENTH DAY SABBATH.
By Joseph Bates
Those who are keeping the seventh day Sabbath, in the third angel's message, are opposed by a certain class of believers that were recently their teachers and fellow laborers while passing through the first, and second angel's messages, as recorded in Rev. xiv, 6—8. The main points of their objections are these. 1. That Jesus never taught, neither did he ever enforce the Sabbath. Many say that he "RELAXED" it. 2. That it was nailed to the cross, and never taught by the apostles: hence, we are not bound to keep it since the crucifixion of Jesus. It was all right, say they, for the Jews, to whom it was given under the Old Testament law; but not for the Gentiles under the New. We dissent from this, and will now attempt to show, 1. That Jesus did teach, and keep the seventh day Sabbath. 2. That it was not nailed to the cross, and that all four of the evangelists speak of it in the same light after, as they did before the crucifixion. That the disciples kept it after their Lord was nailed to the cross, hence it is as binding on the Gentiles, as on the Jews, and never was abolished by being nailed to the cross. Our opponents say that Jesus never taught us in the New Testament that we should keep the Sabbath. I answer, neither did he ever show us that it ought not to be kept. The seventh day Sabbath is brought to view more than fifty times in the New Testament: seventeen times by Jesus himself, and twelve times, after his crucifixion by his disciples. The Sabbath is taught eleven times also, by and through the commandments, six times certainly after the crucifixion of the Saviour, and three in the Revelation: in all near seventy. A great portion of these our opponents say there is no Sabbath; yet they call the first day of the week the Sabbath, and profess to rest on that day. See their appointments for preaching on that day in the "Advent Herald," and the "Advent Harbinger." Jesus taught that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. In the Old Testament! No, he taught it in the New. Did he keep it under the gospel, in the New Testament! Yes he did. See John xv, 10. "I have kept my Father's commandments." Is it possible for a living man to prove that he did in any way relax, or break the fourth commandment of the ten? the Sabbath that he was Lord of! Certainly not. He is no Saviour to those who doubt his plain simple words. Mark says that "when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue."—Chap. vi, 2. See also Luke iv, 31, and 16. It was his custom to read and teach on that day. All Christendom, as it were, do the same; but not on the Lord's Sabbath day. A part of his reply to his disciples respecting his coming and the end of the world was, "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." There was but two points of time for this flight referred to: first, the destruction of Jerusalem, the 30 years in the future, and second, "the great and terrible day of the Lord," the "time of trouble such as never was." I ask if the Sabbath, the one Jesus was the Lord of, was not clearly recognized 30, if not 1820 years beyond his crucifixion. Call it the Jewish Sabbath, or any other name that suits you best; and then prove why they were not to flee on the Sabbath, and then you have not disproved the perpetuity of THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH, of which Jesus is Lord. It is clear also that this title, given him by his Father, was not nailed to the cross, nor can it be abolished while he has a follower to keep the Sabbath. For "the Sabbath was made for man." By showing the commandments of God to be the foundation of all the law, and the prophets, and the keeping of them the road to eternal life, and being highly esteemed in the reign of heaven, [Matt. xxii, 35—40. Luke x, 25—28. Matt. v, 19.] he proves, that the Sabbath is perpetual, and was not nailed to the cross; because the whole ten were included in the above teaching. See article on "New Testament commandments." If the reader objects because the Sabbath is not separately quoted by Jesus, then by the same rule he may object to the first, second and tenth commandments; for Jesus has not quoted them, only as in the above, in the New Testament. Who for a moment supposes that we may with impunity, have other gods, or bow down to graven images, or covet our neighbor's wife, house, or lands, because he did not quote them separately? —No one. If these three commandments are binding here, it is clear that the Sabbath is also binding. If the Sabbath was to be perpetuated, says one, why did not Jesus teach it clearly and distinctly. He has done it by enforcing all ten of the commandments. It was not necessary for him to re-enact a law that even his enemies were so tenacious in observing. They even threatened him with his life three several times for breaking the Sabbath law, as they said, when all that they could prove against him was that he had allowed some of his disciples to cut some raw wheat to satisfy hunger, and healed three men of their infirmities. He also said, "The Sabbath was made for man." What sort of men? Paul will answer. "Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also."—Rom. iii, 29. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after death the judgment." The Jews! yes, the Gentiles also. It would be strange teaching indeed, for Jesus to say the Sabbath was made for man, and yet men were to live and multiply for more than 1800 years after that law was blotted out. If the Sabbath was made for the Jews only, then as Jesus has said, "for man," the Sabbath must be perpetuated while the Jews as men exist. There is proof enough that they are not dead yet. THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH NOT NAILED TO THE CROSS.
Our opponents say that the Sabbath was nailed to the cross, when Jesus was crucified. They quote Col. ii, 14, 16, for proof. "Blotting out the hand writing of ordinances, . . . . nailing it to his cross." "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath-days." The version here is incorrect. It should be "sabbaths." Days are supplied. See Whiting and Macknight. Verse 17th shows that the new moon, meats, drinks, and sabbaths, as were required to be observed yearly, are shadows. But the weekly Sabbath, that never was given for a feast day as the above were, is not a shadow, neither can it be unless all of God's commandments are shadows. If they are shadows, then of course they are blotted out, and there can be no sin. "For sin is the transgression of the law." "Where no law is, there is no transgression." This32settles the question forever. For Col. ii, 16, 17, is the only scripture in the New Testament, that they can find to fix on the time for the abolition of the Sabbath. This fails them, for Paul says that they are shadows. But as they insist upon it that they are right, we will try the point by the testimony. THE STARTING POINT THEN, IS A. D. 31, AT THE CRUCIFIXION.
The testimony of Jesus has already overthrown their whole argument; we will now present the testimony of his disciples. All the Evangelists show the Sabbath, after the crucifixion. "In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards the first day of the week," the disciples came and found Jesus had arisen.—See Matt. xxviii, 1, 6. Mark gives the same testimony, chap. xvi, 1, 6. Also John xix, 31; xx, 1. Luke is more full. "And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on." The women that followed prepared spices, and saw the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath-day, according to the commandment."—Chap. xxiii, 54—56. "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came, . . . . bringing the spices which they had prepared." Jesus had arisen. Chap. xxiv, 1, 6. Now if evasion and perversion of the above scripture be allowed to the greatest extent, the proof is still positive and clear that the disciples of Jesus did rest the Sabbath-day, [the seventh day] according to the commandment, after Jesus was nailed to the cross, taken down and laid in the sepulchre. And so consciously did they observe it, that they did not allow themselves to go with the spices they had prepared, and perform the sacred rites of anointing their beloved Master's body until the day was past. Here then, the only text of scripture, which our opponents can find in the Bible, for proof that the Sabbath was nailed to the cross, fails them; because the Sabbath was kept after the crucifixion. Therefore, they are left without a starting point; equally as much so, as the far-absent ship-wrecked mariner, with neither masts, rudder, or compass to guide to a place of safety. Permit me to digress for a moment, to ask the Sunday keeper a few questions. First, did God establish the (so called) "christian sabbath," the next day after the disciples of Jesus had ceased to keep the Sabbath, that Jesus was the Lord of? You know that it is not even intimated in this connection, where so much proof is given of the true Sabbath, the day before. Second, did God pervert the order of the week at the resurrection of Jesus, so as to require a rest for his people, the first day, and seventh day also? two days in one week, viz. the beginning and the end of it? Every man of common sense knows that it is not so. You see that the disciples did not regard this day, as they did the day before. The story proceeds in Luke xxiv, 9—12. They were running about the city. See verse 13 and onward. Two of the disciples were traveling seven and a half miles to Emmaus, and Jesus went with them. Did he chide them for breaking the (so called) "christian sabbath"? Would he allow himself, or them, to violate it by permitting them to go back again that afternoon, if this was the changed day? Did the disciples at Jerusalem fasten themselves up in an upper chamber to keep it? No, they kept the day before. Again; the first day of the week is brought to view seven times in the New Testament, and not one word, or lisp, of any change, or of its being a Sabbath, or a holy day, then, nor in the future. Paul mentions the first day in two places. 1. "Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him" [himself] &c. What? why, money for charitable purposes. A meeting, or a Sabbath, is not required for individuals to lay money by themselves. 2. Paul held a meeting all night, at Troas and broke bread after midnight. At day light, of this first day of the week, he dissolved the meeting to attend to business, and traveled and sailed all that day.—See Acts xx, 7—15. This is the only meeting ever recorded in the New Testament to have been on the first day for religious purposes. This, remember, was a night meeting only, and probably has never been practiced by any worshiping assembly to christendom. Do, I beseech you, lay aside your prejudices, and follow the plain, simple scripture as it reads. But to the Sabbath again. The great Apostle to the Gentiles, followed the example of his Master, and kept the Sabbath; yes, the very man that our opponents say has proved in Col. ii, 14, that it was nailed to the cross. If we adduce scripture argument to prove that Paul kept the Sabbath, then surely you must yield; for by their own arguments, Paul was the commissioned Apostle to teach the Gentiles that the Sabbath of the Lord was abolished. See his commission. Acts xiii, 2—4. At Antioch, Paul enters their synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he was called upon to teach. Verses 14, 15. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the GENTILES besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. "And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." Verses 42, 44. Here Paul preached two Sabbath days. The last one was crowded with Gentiles. Says an objector, he preached in the Jewish synagogues. What of that? Did he not preach on the Sabbath? Well, he came to Phillippi, the chief city, but on the Sabbath they went by the "river side," and taught, and prayed. Chap. xvi, 13. Then he travelled as far as Thessalonica; "and Paul as his MANNER WAS, went in unto them, and three sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures."—Acts xvii, 2. Paul was keeping the Sabbath, just as Jesus had kept it. His custom (or manner) was to teach on the Sabbath.—See Luke iv, 16, 31. After a while Paul was at Corinth; and there he reasoned with them every Sabbath, and was with them one year and a half.—Acts xviii, 4, 11. This must be seventy-eight Sabbaths in succession. Many Gentiles believed, and were baptized. God told him that he had much people in that city. Here is an account of eighty-four Sabbaths in all, in which, Paul taught in different places, as Jesus did. The last date is, A. D. 54, 23 years after the time where we are told that it was nailed to the cross. Six years after this, he declared to the Romans, that "the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good," and that it was spiritual, and that he delighted in the law of God, and thanked God through Jesus, that he himself served the law of God. How? Answer by keeping the whole of God's commandments, which of course includes the seventh day Sabbath. James shows that if we "offend in one point," we are "guilty of all." John says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." How many? All, all of them! In chap. ii, 7, he shows the old one from the beginning, which we believe is the Sabbath. Let us now see how this important subject stands. We have shown, 1. That the seventh day Sabbath is brought to view more than fifty times in the New Testament. 2. That Jesus kept all his Father's commandments. 3. That he has taught the perpetuity of the Sabbath, through the ten commandments of God. 4. That Jesus recognized the Sabbath 29, if not 1850 years beyond his crucifixion. 5. That he is still, the Lord of the Sabbath. 6. That the Sabbath was made for man—all men. 7. That it was his custom to teach on the Sabbath. 8. That the four evangelists show the Sabbath since the crucifixion. 9. That the commandments of God, also, are taught six times since. 10. That Luke positively proves the keeping of the Sabbath by the disciples, since the crucifixion. 11. That Paul's manner, or custom was, and that he did teach from place to place, on the Sabbath of the Lord our God; that he delighted in, and kept the law of God, which includes the Sabbath. 12. That James, and John also, teach the Sabbath by enforcing all of the commandments of God, which makes the Sabbath as binding now as it ever was. 13. That there is not a passage in the New Testament that shows a change of the day, or keeping of the first day of the week for the Sabbath. 14. That both Luke, and Paul, utterly and forever destroy, and take from our opponents, the main and only point which they ever had to show where the Sabbath was abolished, by proving incontestably that the Sabbath of the Lord our God was kept after they say it was nailed to the cross; viz: one day, 12, 23, and 29 years after. But says an objector, is there no other scripture, or point of time, by which it can be shown that the Sabbath was abolished? None that I have found. Something may come up after this; but thank the Lord, there is testimony enough in the above fourteen points, to scatter it to the four winds. This is the New Testament testimony. O Lord, let thy blessing accompany it to the scattered remnant, Amen. About sixty-five years after Jesus was nailed to the cross, God gave him a revelation. He sent his angel and signified it to his servant John, for the churches. In this message, the subject of the commandments of God was renewed. John saw that the last end of the church, the remnant, would be made war with for keeping them, and for having the testimony of Jesus. Chap. xii, 17. This is true now, and is developing more and more; but it is impossible for any one to show this war made on any one for strictly keeping the 1st, 2d, 3d, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, commandments. But keeping the fourth commandment right, makes the war. The experience of five years has taught me this. In Revelation xiv, John saw, and heard the third angel giving the last message of mercy for God's people. He was describing a patient waiting company of saints, who were keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. This is the same class as described in chap. xii. Thank the Lord our God, we know this to be strictly true; for we are acquainted with a goodly number of them, and they understand their message. They are keeping the Sabbath of the Lord our God, RIGHT; restoring it as Peter has shown, in the blotting out time. It is the last crowning sealing truth for the Church, to pass them through the time of trouble such as never was, right before them. We are not obliged to labor for an argument for this; for we are actually keeping the Sabbath, as it is taught in the commandment. We ask then, if this is not 1810 years this side of the crucifixion. This proof that it was not nailed to the cross, is independent of the New Testament teaching. It is this side of it, and is actually knowledge to us. Now pass to chap. xxii, 14. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Does the keeping of nine of the commandments right, and the fourth wrong, give an entrance there? No, never. What then? Answer, the keeping, or doing all of them right. How shall we do it? Answer, keep the fourth, as God has taught, viz: the seventh day Sabbath, and the other nine according to your profession, and claim the blessed promise. Fail in this, and the promise is not yours. Fairhaven, Mass., Nov. 18, 1850. JOSEPH BATES.