"SEVENTH DAY SABBATH ABOLISHED."
By Joseph Bates
The contrast between the testimony of the Advent Harbinger, and the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ; the apostles Paul, James, John, and Peter. The article under this head from the Harbinger is an attempt to prove the abolition of the ten commandments. After a few remarks about the institution of the Sabbath, the ten commandments are embodied in the article from Ex. xx, 1-17, and then an unreasonable attempt is made to prove that the Sabbath was first given at Horeb, and abolished at the crucifixion. 'The facts are, the seventh-day Sabbath is a Jewish institution, established in Horeb, and continued in force on the Jews until their law ended. When that law served its time out, or filled the office for which it was given, it ceased, died,30was abolished, taken out of the way, and nailed to the cross, and the Sabbath being a part or parcel of that law of works, it was abolished as a matter of course. And so far as any now seek to be justified by that dead law, they are 'fallen from grace,' according to the declaration of Paul. Beware how you treat this matter, lest you find yourself fallen from grace when it is to late to be recovered from the fearful fall.'—Advent Harbinger, Nov. 22, 1851. The Saviour's Testimony of his Father's Law.
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. v, 17, 18. "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke xvi, 17. "And behold a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering, said, Thou shalt love the Lord, thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." Luke x, 25-28. "For all prophets and the law prophesied until John."—Matt. xi, 13. "Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." Matt. vii, 12. The Saviour's Testimony of his Father's Commandments.
"Whosoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matt. v, 19. That the above is from his Father's law, see verses 21, 27, 33. "Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God, by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death." * "Thus have ye made the commandments of God of none effect by your tradition." Matt. xv, 3, 4, 6; Mark, vii, 9, 13 (as in reference to parallel text, Mark xii, 28, 31). "Master, which is the great commandment in the law?—Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matt. xxii, 36-40. "And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?—And he said unto him, If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. xix, 16, 17; see Mark x, 17-19; Luke xviii, 18, 20. "Even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." John xv, 10. New Testament, about the year A. D. 30. Here his Father's commandments are named fourteen times, and his law nine times. That commandment and law are synonymous terms, See Matt. xxii, 36. "Master which is the great commandment in the law." That on the commandments, Love God, and Love your neighbor "hang ALL THE LAW, &c." The fourth, the Sabbath commandment cannot then, by any means be excluded from any of the following texts: Matt. v, 17-19; vii, 12; xi, 13; xxii, 36-40; Luke x, 26-28; xvi, 16, 17; John xv, 10. If the Harbinger could by any honest, reasonable argument, get rid of the above divine testimony, and thereby ease his own, and his readers conscience by such unfounded assertions as: that the law of the ten commandments "ceased, died, was abolished, taken out of the way, and nailed to the cross, and the Sabbath being a part or parcel of that law of works, it was abolished as a matter of course. And so far as any now seek to be justified by that dead law, they are fallen from grace." Then there is other testimony of the Saviour's, that will make a clean sweep of all the refuge of lies that has ever appeared to invalidate the testimony given above. I refer the reader to the Revelation which God gave to Jesus, sixty-five years after he had been nailed to the cross.—"And behold I come quickly. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have a right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City." Rev. i, 1, 3; xxii, 12-14. Are not all the commandments embraced in this promised blessing? Who can prove that the fourth, the first, or the tenth, or that any one of the ten are left out? Again, how can it be proved that Jesus is here speaking of any other commandments than those he had already spoken of, recorded in Matthew, Luke and John? It has been said that he was speaking of his own commandments.—Then it would read, blessed are they that do my commandments. The evidence is conclusive that he was referring to the ten commandments of God. See Chap. xiv, 12, and xii, 17, where the saints are persecuted for keeping them while they are in their patient waiting for Jesus. Suppose for a moment that we listen to the teaching of the Harbinger*, and pay no attention to what Jesus has taught us here, relative to the doing or keeping the commandments, for fear that we should fall from grace, could we be saved? Let us see. "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book; if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Verses 16, 18, 19. "Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law." Rom. iii, 31. The law of God, then, is established under the gospel. Proof. "What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay I had not known sin but by the law: for I had not known lust except the law had said, thou shalt not covet." For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.—For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For I delight in the law of God, after the inward man: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God." Rom. vii, 7, 8, 9, 12,-14, 22, 25. Paul wrote this epistle to the Romans, (the Gentiles) in A. D. 60. Twenty nine years after the Saviour was nailed to the cross. How evident that the Harbinger and Paul are at antipodes respecting the perpetuity of God's holy law. Again. "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified," Rom. ii, 13. "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God." 1 Cor. vii, 19. "But this I confess unto thee that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets." Acts xxiv, 14. "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.—For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. xiii, 8,-10. "Children, obey your parents, in the Lord for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, (which is the first commandment with promise.") Eph. vi, 1, 2. Thus, Paul in his several epistles to the Romans, Galatians, Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, &c., names the law of God about one hundred times, and exclaims "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God." In his epistle to Timothy he tells him the design and end of this law. Viz: "Now the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned; but we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully; knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." 1 Tim. i, 5, 8-11. Now the Harbinger teaches that this law is abolished. How much better it would be for him to keep it, under the gospel as Paul teaches here, and not be found among that class of transgressors named in verses 9 and 10. Those that continue to cry no commandments, no law, will have more mob-law than they will be able to get along with, after the third angel's message closes. There will be no danger of any one falling from grace then, for those that keep not the whole law of God, will have no grace. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed." James i, 25. "If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." James ii, 8, 10-12. James here presents a perfect royal law of liberty, by which we are to be judged, under the gospel.—Then it is not imperfect, nor in any way changed or abolished. Having "one law-giver, who is able to save and destroy." Chap. iv, 12. This testimony is 29 years after the Harbinger's "dead law." Which shall we believe? "Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning: the old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you; because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth."—1 John ii, 7, 8. Here is the old commandment of the Father, and the new commandment of the Son, contrasted; both good and binding, the first universal, the second for the true church. "By this we know we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.—For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous." Chap. v, 2, 3. Here is the true criterion by which the true church love God, and know their brethren. "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." Chap. iii, 4. If there was no law, as the Harbinger would have us believe, then there has been no sin for 1821 years. Who has any faith in such teaching? "He that saith I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John ii, 4. This language was uttered by John, 59 years this side of the cross. Will the Harbinger please look at John's testimony once more, and see whether he has spoken the truth? "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God: if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth."—1 Peter iv, 11. That the oracles of God refer to the ten commandments, see Acts vii, 38. "And with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us." If any man minister, or speak, let him do it according to the oracles or ten commandments of God, for this is Peter's meaning. The testimony adduced in this article is proof positive that Jesus, Paul, James and John have all complied with Peter's rule, but the Harbinger has not. Who shall we trust? Not the Harbinger, for that is diametrically opposed to the clear testimony herein adduced. "Beware how you treat this important matter lest you find yourself fallen," by rejecting God's holy law "when it is too late to be recovered from the fearful fall." Rochester, June 18th, 1852.