The Law and the Prophets
By R. R. Chapin
Dear Bro. White: Would it not be as consistent for the editor of the "Harbinger" to head some articles, A portion of the prophets abolished, as to head some of his articles, "Seventh-day Sabbath abolished"? I think it can be clearly shown that he has as good ground to prove the abolition of a part of the prophets as a portion of the holy law of God. Jesus testified that he came to destroy neither, and warns us against thinking such a thing as the abolition of his Father's law or the prophets as follows: "THINK NOT that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, &c. Matt. v, 17. Any one may understand from these words that the prophets are intimately connected with the law; and if one tittle of the law is abolished, then certainly a portion of the prophets are also gone. For further proof see Matt. xxii. Here in answering the question of the lawyer, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" Jesus says, "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." Now if the editor of the "Harbinger" would cease for a while to prove that a part of the law of God is abolished, and show what portion of the prophets are gone, I am certain, as soon as he can do this, he will succeed in getting many converts to his "seventh-day Sabbath abolished" theory. In the law of God, the ten lively oracles, there are 302 words. The fourth oracle has the strength of 97 of these words, about one third of the whole. Paul uses this oracle to prove who the true God is, by declaring to the men of Athens that it is the God that made the world and all things therein, that he is Lord of heaven and earth. Rochester, N. Y., March 9th, 1852.