The Seventh-day Sabbath Not Abolished.
By Editor
The article by Joseph Marsh, editor of the "Harbinger and Advocate," entitled "Seventh-day Sabbath Abolished," REVIEWED.
We are happy to meet our opponents on Bible ground. By the light of the "sure word of prophecy" the Sabbath question should be candidly and carefully examined, and from the testimony of that word alone, the decision upon this question should be made. Protestants, especially Advent believers who profess to take the Bible alone in support of their religious sentiments, should be ready to take this position. We are aware that the Sabbath of the Bible is unpopular, and generally despised. In all reforms, truth has been reproached and trodden down, until investigated by the sincere. We rejoice that the Sabbath is arresting the attention of many, and that both sides of the question may now be seen. Candid investigation is our only hope for the final triumph of the Sabbath of the Lord, yet we regard the institution as being too holy, and too unlike the spirit of the world, to become popular, even among professed Christians. We are also aware that some resort to slander and rediculous falsehoods in order to prevent the investigation of this subject. This has been a trick of the Devil in all past time, in his efforts to arrest the progress of divine truth. Never has there a pure people, a people separate from the world as the Bible requires, escaped reproach. The faults of the erring few among them have ever been seized upon to brand and reproach the whole body of the same faith, however holy their doctrines and lives. And for want of scripture argument, the enemies of truth have resorted to slander. But those who will stoop to such contemptible meanness, are not worthy the name of Christian, or the society of the sincere. When the writings of Dowling, Stewart, Chase, and others, failed to arrest the progress of the Advent cause, then the foolish stories of "ascension-robes," "speculation," "getting rich," "insanity," and the "brick wall around Mr. Miller's farm," &c., were seized upon, and circulated in the place of argument. This had an effect; but those thus engaged, were doing Satan's meanest work. To those who may be disposed to act over the same in opposing the Sabbath cause, and seek to draw us from our present work, we would say, as Nehemiah said to Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem, we are "doing a great work," we "cannot come down to you." Neh. vi, 1—7. Such may have an influence over some for a short time; but we are sure the honest, who have minds capable of judging between a bible argument and slander, will not be influenced by them long. With such we intend to have as little to do as possible; but with pleasure we meet those who seek to show from the Bible that our position is incorrect. "The Advent Harbinger and Bible Advocate" of September 27, 1851, is now before us, containing an article headed "Seventh-day Sabbath abolished," of which the editor says: "The following article, in substance, was published in our sheet about six years since; then about four years ago; then again about two years since in its present form. It is unanswerable." The principal reasons given in this article for the abolition of the weekly Sabbath have been, we think, fully and fairly answered in our publications, but as M. has published his article the fourth time, and still asserts that it is "unanswerable," we have concluded to give it a review. We shall not be able to copy the entire article; but that both sides of this question may be seen, and that the reader may see that we do not mis-state the position of M., we will quote largely from the article, and have it put in small type. "What is the signification of Sabbath? Rest: and, when connected with day, it denotes a day of rest." With this signification we fully agree. By substituting the word Rest, in the place of Sabbath, the truth is more clearly seen. We will here quote the fourth commandment, and use the word Rest. "Remember the Rest-day to keep it holy. Six days shall thou labor and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Rest of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and Rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Rest-day, and hallowed it." Ex. xx, 8—11. Is it any where historically recorded that God Rested on the seventh day? It is. "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he Rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had Rested from all his work which God created and made. Gen. ii, 2—3." No one can fail to see that the Sabbath institution and the fourth commandment are inseparably connected with the Rest of the Creator on the last day of the first week of time. That day, and no other day of the week, is the Rest-day (Sabbath-day) of the Lord thy God. We may, therefore, appropriate the first, or any other of the six laboring days to the Lord, by resting from labor on that day, still it would not be the Rest, but a rest; for the Rest of the Lord thy God means the Rest that the Lord thy God OBSERVED. God has given but one reason in his Word for the institution of the weekly Rest, which is as follows: "For, [or because] in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and Rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." It is said that the Sabbath was instituted to keep in memory the deliverance from Egypt. But it is not possible that the Sabbath should be designed to commemorate two events so widely different as the deliverance from Egypt on the fifteenth day of Abib, and the Creator's Rest, on the seventh day, after he had made all things in six. God has never sanctified, hallowed and blessed the Sabbath-day but once, and that was after he had Rested upon it at the close of the Creation. He did not bless the day in resting upon it, but first rested, then blessed and sanctified the day. Mark well that portion of the fourth commandment which gives the reason for the institution of the Sabbath. When speaking of the creation in six days, and the rest of the seventh, God says, "Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it." Here the seventh day is called the "Sabbath-day" at the very period when God bestowed his blessing upon it, which was at the close of the seventh day of the first week of time. We have shown the institution of the Sabbath, two thousand years before Abraham, or even a Jew lived. We have pointed the reader to the fact that God sanctified and blessed the seventh day, after he had rested upon it, at the close of creation, see Gen. ii, 3. And we have shown that God, in giving the reason for the Sabbath institution, calls the seventh day, the "Sabbath-day," at the time he blessed the day, at the close of the first week of time. See Ex. xx, 11. And there is not one text in the Bible to show that the Sabbath was instituted, sanctified and blessed at any other time or place but at creation, in Eden, after God had Rested on the seventh day. Hence the Sabbath is a memorial of the Creator's rest. And how wonderfully calculated to keep in memory the true and living God. It is true that God, after he brought the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, reminded them of his Sabbath, (which they could not observe in Egypt,) and commanded them to observe it. To them he spake the ten commandments, and gave them the tables of stone. They were the only people to whom God could, at that time, deliver the precepts of his holy law. But that makes the Sabbath no more Jewish, than it does the other nine precepts of the decalogue. No, "the seventh day is the Sabbath [Rest] of the Lord thy God." The texts referred to by M. do not afford the least evidence that the seventh-day Sabbath was designed for the Jews alone. Let the reader turn and read them and be satisfied on this point. Said Jesus, "The Sabbath was made for man." Mark ii, 27. The word man, when used as it is here by our Saviour, in its broadest sense, means all mankind. Not the Jews only, but MAN, the whole race of man, the same as in the following texts: "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble." Job xiv, 1. "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until evening." Ps. civ, 23. "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man." Cor. x, 13. "Man lieth down and riseth not, till the heavens be no more." Job xiv, 12. No one will say that man in these texts means Jews or Christians, for the whole family of Adam is included. In this sense, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." Adam, Noah and42Abraham were men, and the Sabbath was made for them as well as for Abraham's natural seed. We are men, and the Sabbath was made for us. If Gentiles are not a portion of the race called "man" then what are they? The Lord of the Sabbath, standing down very near the close of the Jewish dispensation, just at the opening of the "ministration" of the law of God by the Spirit, in correcting the superstition of the Jew, and to guard against the idea that the Sabbath was for the Jews alone, says, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them.
"The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb."
"The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day."
"Keeping the Sabbath was embraced in this covenant with the children of Israel at Horeb. It was "NOT made with their fathers" [the Patriarchs], but "with US, even us, who are all of US HERE ALIVE THIS DAY." Verse 3. This testimony, first negative, "He made it not with our fathers," and then positive, "But with us," is conclusive. It plainly tells us for whom the Sabbath was not, and then for whom it was instituted." Here M. uses the word Sabbath instead of covenant, which he has no right to do. It is true that it helps his argument, but it perverts the word of God. The word Sabbath is not mentioned in Deut. v, 1—5, yet the readers of the "Harbinger" are told that the "testimony" is "conclusive," and "plainly tells us for whom the Sabbath was not, and then for whom it was instituted." If the text read, The Lord made not the Sabbath for our fathers, but for us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day, then M. would have some ground for his assertion; but the text would then prove too much for him, for it would prove that the Sabbath was instituted for those with whom "the Lord talked face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire." Those only who were all "alive" that day. And after generations would have no right to the Sabbath, for it was made for those only who were all alive that day. By using the words "Sabbath," "instituted" and "for," which are not in the text, as M. has, the scripture is wrested from its true meaning, and those who do not carefully search the Scriptures for themselves will be left astray. A covenant usually signifies the mutual consent of two or more. The covenant that was made in Horeb was a mutual agreement between God and his chosen people. We will first give the requirements and promises of God on the one hand, and then the consent of the people on the other. "In the third month when the children of Israel" "were come to the desert of Sinai," "Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel,
"Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, [when he should speak the ten commandments,] and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine.
"And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. THESE ARE THE WORDS WHICH THOU SHALT SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL." The following is the agreement of the people.
"And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him.
"And all the people answered together and said, ALL THAT THE LORD HATH SPOKEN WE WILL DO. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord." Ex. xix, 1—8. This is the covenant that the Lord made with his people in Horeb. The conditions on the part of the people were to obey the voice of God, and keep the covenant of commandments that he was about to speak to them with his own "voice." This the people promised to do. And God promised on his part, that if they would do this, he would make them a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.—Truly could Moses say, "The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." Deut. v, 3. But the position that the commandments and Sabbath were "made" in Horeb is contrary to the plain word of God, as will be clearly seen. Some object to the position that the Sabbath was made for man, immediately after God made the first man, Adam, because so little is said relative to it in the Bible until the giving of the law. But such should notice that the entire record of about twenty-five hundred years from the creation is contained in fifty-two chapters of our Bible, therefore we should not expect that much would be said relative to the weekly Rest during that period of time. But we find early and frequent notices of reckoning by sevens. The term week is used in the contract between Jacob and Laban. "Fulfill her week." Gen. xxix, 27. The word Sabbath not being used in the record of more than two thousand years is no evidence that there was none during that time. At a later period, even in that time when the transgressor of the law of God, was, by the law of Moses, put to death, the word Sabbath is not found in the divine record of about four hundred years.—None will say that there was no Sabbath during that space of time, because it is not mentioned in the record. The word Sabbath being left out of that portion of the Bible which only notices the most important events from the creation to the deliverance from Egypt, certainly, is not so remarkable as the being left out for hundreds of years when enforced by temporal death. As there is no intimation given of the institution of the Sabbath only at the close of creation, and, as Jehovah has so forcibly shown, by the language of the fourth commandment, that the Sabbath of that commandment is inseparably connected with his Rest on the seventh day of the first week of time, we can now clearly see that when Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man," he meant for Adam, the first man, and for all his posterity. We frequently hear it asserted, by those who oppose the Sabbath of the Lord our God, that "the word Sabbath is not mentioned in the Bible, till after the law was given from Mount Sinai; therefore," say they, "it is the Sabbath of the old Jews, and was abolished at the crucifixion, when the Jewish dispensation closed." But any one who has read Ex. xii—xx, ought to know better than to make this statement. The Sabbath was guarded by three standing miracles in giving the manna, and was kept by the children of Israel, in the wilderness of Sin, thirty days before they came to Sinai. They departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, and came to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month. See Ex. xvi, 1. There, in the wilderness of Sin, God gave them bread from heaven, and through Moses reminded them of his Sabbath. They then journeyed to Rephidim, and from Rephidim they came to the desert of Sinai on the fifteenth day of the third month. Moses was then commanded to sanctify the people, to set bounds around the Mount, and to be "ready against the third day." And on the third day, in the morning, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount." And the Lord descended upon it in fire, and from the smoking Mount proclaimed in awful grandeur, the "Royal Law." But, thirty days before Israel saw Mount Sinai, and thirty-two days before they heard the voice of Jehovah repeating to them the ten commandments, both God and Moses speak of the Sabbath as of an old institution well understood by the people. "And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that ye will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
"And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord; to-day ye shall not find it in the field; Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none." "And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days." Ex. xvi, 22—29. There is something very interesting in the circumstance of the people gathering two omers of manna on the sixth day. This seems to have been done without the special direction of Moses as the rulers. And when "the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses," he said unto them, "This is that which the Lord hath said. To-morrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord."—Where had the Lord thus said? At Sinai? Certainly not; for he did not speak the ten commandments till thirty-two days afterward. It is evident that Moses in his reply to the rulers of the congregation, referred to the time when God blessed and sanctified the seventh day of creation. But some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather manna, and there was none in the field. This called forth the rebuke from Him who hallowed the seventh day. "How long refuse ye to keep my COMMANDMENTS and my LAWS? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath." Here we see that God's commandments and laws existed, and were observed by his people, before he spake them from Mount Sinai. Before he made a covenant with his people in Horeb. Then how preposterous is the position that the Lord made the Sabbath in Horeb, when he talked with the people "face to face."! See Deut. v, 4. Abraham kept God's commandments, statutes and laws. "And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries: and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed: Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws. Gen. xxvi, 4, 5. Compare this with Ex. xvi, 28, 29. "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days." Here commandments and laws are mentioned when direct reference is made to the Sabbath. It follows, then, that the Sabbath was one of God's commandments and laws observed by Abraham. Mark this point well. The Sabbath, with the other nine commandments and laws of God, is not the covenant referred to, made in Horeb. If the "Sabbath is embraced in this covenant with the children of Israel at Horeb," as asserted by M., then it necessarily follows that the Sabbath was first instituted when God talked to the people face to face, and that it never had been previously known. But the fact that God said to Moses, thirty-two days previous to his speaking the ten precepts of his law, "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath," is proof positive that the covenant made in Horeb was not God's "commandments and laws," which include the Sabbath. It is evident then, that the covenant was the mutual agreement between God and his people, that they should obey his voice, and keep the covenant that he was about to speak with an audible voice to them, and that God should, on his part, make them a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, as we have before shown. With these facts before us, let us look again at the assertion of M. relative to Deut. v, 3, viz: "It plainly tells us for whom the Sabbath was not, and then for whom it was, instituted." Let the reader carefully examine this point, and it will be seen, that the text "tells" no such thing. We say again, that the words "Sabbath," "institution" and "for," used by M., are not found in Deut. v, 1—4. Search and see. We solemnly protest against such perversions of the word of God, and such "inferences" where there is positive and plain scripture testimony to the contrary.43What was the design of the Sabbath? It was made "for man, and not man for the sabbath." Mark ii, 27. When was it made for man? Not at the creation; for there is nothing said there about the sabbath on which man was to est; but mention is made of the "seventh day" on which God rested. The only account we have of the sabbath being made for man, is the one given of its institution after the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea, and entered upon their journey to Canaan. Ex. xvi, 23—26; Deut. v, 2, 3. If the Sabbath was designed for man, and the Lord of the Sabbath has so taught, then let man, the entire race, have it. In this sacred institution we see the wisdom and goodness of God. No one will deny that man needs it. Man cannot do without it. Both his spiritual and physical wants require it. No sane man will say that this was true of the Jew only. It is true of man, the whole race of mankind. The only reason why God gave the Sabbath to man, was because the entire race needed it. But the no-Sabbath view leaves "man" without it for about twenty-five hundred years, then gives it to the Jews alone for only about sixteen hundred years, and then leaves "man," through the entire gospel dispensation, without it. Please compare this view with the words of the Son of God, "The Sabbath was made for man." As the Sabbath institution was designed for man, it follows of necessity that it was made at the creation, when there was but one man living. The fact that there is no record of Adam's resting on the seventh day, is not proof that the Sabbath was not instituted at creation. The creation was in six days, then God rested the seventh day, and then, after he had rested upon it, he "blessed" and "sanctified" the day for the benefit of man. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work." Gen. ii, 3. There was, therefore, no Sabbath for man to observe until God had blessed and set it apart for him, which was not till he had first rested upon it. There is no account of the Sabbath being "instituted after the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea," as stated by M., and the texts he refers to, afford no proof that the Sabbath was then made for man. In Ex. xvi, 23—26, the Sabbath is spoken of as an old institution. The expressions are, "To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord," and "the Sabbath," without any reason being given for the Sabbath institution. But why should M. refer us to Ex. xvi, when he has the Sabbath made at Horeb, when God talked with the people face to face, thirty-two days afterward!! The expression in Ex. xx, 8, is, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." How absurd to suppose that God required his people to remember what never had been. But the fact that God has connected the Sabbath of the fourth commandment with his Rest on the seventh day, and has given no other reason for the institution in his Word than that given in the fourth commandment, is conclusive evidence that the Sabbath was instituted in Eden. Here is the reason for the Sabbath institution. "FOR in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and Rested the seventh day; WHEREFORE the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day, and hallowed it." Ex. xx, 11. If there is any other reason, given in the Word, for the institution of the Sabbath, will some one point it out? If the Sabbath-day was blessed, sanctified and hallowed at any other place, but in Eden, will some one point to the place where it is recorded in the Bible? "It was also designed as a sign or memorial to keep in memory the creation of the world in six days by God, and his resting on the seventh." That the Sabbath was instituted to commemorate God's Rest on the seventh day after he created all things in six, is clear. It is one of the most simple and glorious truths of the Bible. Man needed this memorial of his Creator, to keep in memory the true and living God. The passover was a memorial for Israel, that they might not forget their wonderful deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The communion of the body and blood of Christ is a memorial for the church to keep in memory the Lamb of God who suffered and died for us. So the seventh-day Sabbath was a weekly memorial instituted to commemorate God's Rest-day, after he had created the world in six. If man had always observed this memorial, none would have forgotten God, and there never would have been an infidel in the world. How wonderful and wise the plan of Jehovah, laid out in the beginning! Man was to labor six days, and on the seventh rest from servile labor and care; and by viewing the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all things which were created in six days, he was to call to mind the living God who rested on the seventh. The passover was to be observed from the time of the deliverance from Egypt, until "Christ our passover" was "sacrificed for us;" the communion was to be observed by the church from the crucifixion, until the Second Advent. So the seventh-day Sabbath was designed to be observed from creation, through all dispensations. The great necessity for this memorial may be clearly seen through the entire mortal state, where man is so prone to forget the living God. But the no-Sabbath view teaches that man had no need of this memorial of his Creator for twenty-five hundred years after the event to be commemorated occurred, and then it was to be observed by the Jews only, for the space of only about sixteen hundred years, and that man, through the entire gospel dispensation, a period so marked with idolatry, has no need of this memorial to call to mind that God that made the heavens and the earth in six days. A singular memorial indeed, "to keep in memory the creation of the world in six days by God, and his resting on the seventh!" As though the Jews were the only people that needed "to keep in memory" God's creation, and holy Rest! The folly of such a position must be apparent to all. It is also stated by M. that the Sabbath was designed to keep in memory the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt, and Deut. v, 14, 15, is quoted to sustain the position. But it is not possible for the weekly Sabbath to commemorate any event only that which occurred on the last day of the first week of time. What if we should assert that the feast of unleavened bread was designed to commemorate God's Holy Rest at the close of creation? Certainly none would believe us. Neither should our opponents be believed when they assert that the seventh-day Sabbath was designed to commemorate the deliverance from Egypt, which was to be commemorated only once a year! One is as absurd as the other. It is true that God, after he had brought the natural seed of Abraham out of the house of bondage, reminded them of his Sabbath, and commanded them to observe it; but there is not a word on record to show that it was then instituted. The reason is plain why God at that time specially enforced the observance of the Sabbath, which is as follows: "And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day." Deut. v, 15. While the children of Israel were slaves in Egypt they could not keep the Sabbath. But they had been from Egypt but thirty days when God reminded them of it, and, in giving the manna, guarded the Sabbath by a three-fold weekly miracle. See Ex. xvi, 19—30. They were then free, and the only given reason why God at that time commanded them to keep his Sabbath was because he had brought them "out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; [where they could keep it;] therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day." The fact that God had brought them out of Egypt, where they were free to observe the Sabbath, was presented before them as a reason why they should then keep the institution, that they had so long been unable to observe. Let the candid reflect for a moment, and they will see the absurdity of the position, that the weekly Sabbath was designed for a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt on the fifteenth day of Abib, which had its two annual memorials, the passover and the feast of unleavened bread. It was a feast or day of holy convocation. "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even those are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings." Lev. xxiii, 2, 3. It is true that the Jews were to have "an holy convocation," a general assembly on the "Sabbath of the Lord." This removes an objection frequently urged against the Sabbath, that the Jews were commanded to abide in their places, and not move out of their dwellings on the Sabbath, and that we cannot observe it as strictly as they were required to. It shows that the instruction relative to their abiding "every man in his place," [Ex. xvi, 29,] related exclusively to some going out into the field to gather manna on the seventh day. But there is no more evidence that the seventh-day was a feast day than that the other six were feast days. See Lev. xxiii, 3. If M. had quoted the next verse, and on to the 8th, he would have shown what the "feasts of the Lord" were. "These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons. In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover.
"And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the Lord; seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein.
"But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days; in the seventh day is an holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein." Lev. xxiii, 4—8. "Finally, it was a shadow of things to come. "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' is supplied by the translators, we therefore omit it] which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Col. ii, 16, 17." If we would rightly understand the words of the Apostle, we should first learn the subject of his discourse. And here we would say that he makes no reference to any of the commandments of God in Col. ii, 16, 17. His subject relates to "meat," "drink," "the new moon," &c., which are associated with the sabbaths of the law of Moses, that were blotted out, and nailed to the cross. That we may better understand the application of this, and similar portions of scripture, let us take a brief view of some of the trials of the early church with whom the Apostle labored and suffered. A portion of the Christian church were converts from the circumcision or Jews, and a portion from the uncircumcision or Gentiles. The converts from the circumcision were inclined to still hold on to, and practice some of the customs and ceremonies of the Jewish religion, while the Gentile believers were free from those customs, having never been educated in them. Peter did not understand that the gospel was for the Gentiles also, until God gave him a vision upon the house-top, and sent him to preach to them at the house of Cornelius. He would not eat with the Gentiles or keep company with them until he was shown that God was "no respecter of persons." See Acts x, 1—45.44Certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren that they must be circumcised in order to be saved. "Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them," and then went "up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question." There they were met by "certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." After they had discussed this question, they came to the following conclusions, which they wrote and sent by chosen men "unto the brethren which were of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia." "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." Acts xv, 28, 29. At Antioch, Paul withstood Peter to the face, and says that "he was to be blamed." His wrong consisted in eating with those who were converted from the Gentiles in the absence of those who were converted from the Jewish church, and then in presence of those from the circumcision, refusing to eat with those from the uncircumcision.
"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel. I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" Gal. ii, 14. With these facts before us we may understand the subject of the Apostle in Col. ii, 16, 17. He would not have his Colossian brethren judged by Judaizing teachers in respect to those things that had ceased according to the testimony of the Prophet: "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast-days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts." Hosea ii, 11. It is evident that both Paul and Hosea speak of those sabbaths or sabbath-days, which the Law-giver placed in the midst of the Jewish ordinances, and not of the Sabbath of the Lord, which he placed in the midst of the ten commandments. There are four sabbaths mentioned in Lev. xxiii, 24—39. One on the first day of the seventh month, one on the tenth, one on the fifteenth, and one on the twenty-second day. "These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt-offering, and a meat-offering, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings, everything upon his day. BESIDES THE SABBATHS OF THE LORD." Lev. xxiii, 37, 38. The Sabbaths of the Lord our God, come every seventh day; but some of the Jewish sabbaths were nine days apart, others had only four days between them. Here is a clear difference made between the two kind of sabbaths. The Sabbath of the Lord, so called by way of distinction, is not classed with the other sabbaths. The Jews were to observe those that are called "her sabbaths," and "your sabbaths," at their appointed times, "BESIDES THE SABBATHS OF THE LORD." The Sabbath of the Lord, so called by way of eminence, was instituted at creation before the fall when the earth and man were holy. The Jewish sabbaths were given at Mount Sinai, twenty-five hundred years later, and we find them classed with the ordinances of Moses' law, such as "a meat-offering, a sacrifice, and drink-offerings." They were of the same nature of those offerings, and had their origin and end with them. But the Sabbath of the Lord, which was made for the entire human race to commemorate God's Rest after he had created the world in six days, was wisely placed in the midst of nine moral precepts which have been, and ever will be, binding on the whole race of mankind. No good reason can be produced that the Apostle refers to the weekly Sabbath in Col. ii, 16, 17. But there are many good reasons to show that he has no reference to it. Some of them we will here give. 1. That which was blotted out and nailed to the cross was the "hand-writing of ordinances" given by the HAND of Moses. But the Sabbath commandment was written with the FINGER of God. Moses wrote his law in a BOOK; but God wrote his ten laws on TABLES OF STONE. It was the HAND-WRITING in the book of the covenant that was blotted out at the death of Christ, and not that which was written on the two tables of the covenant with the finger of God. Here we will quote two classes of scripture which show the distinction between