Distinction between the Sabbath of the Lord and the sabbaths of the Jews.
By William Miller
[THE following remarks are from the pen of Wm. Miller. Bro. M. was an advocate of the change of the Sabbath, though he took this for granted, without attempting to show any divine precept in its favor. But his views respecting the perpetuity of the Lord's Sabbath and its distinction from the sabbaths of the Jews are none the less truthful for that.] "I say, and I believe I am supported by the Bible, that the moral law was never given to the Jews as a people exclusively, but they were for a season the keepers of it in charge. And through them the law, oracles and testimony, have been handed down to us: see Paul's clear reasoning in Rom. ii, iii, iv, on that point. Then, says the objector, we are under the same obligation to keep the sabbaths of weeks, months and years, that the Jews were. No, sir; you will observe that these were not included in the decalogue; they were attachments, added by reason of transgression, until the seed should come, to whom the promise of one eternal day, or Sabbath of rest, was made. "Therefore there remaineth a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God." Only one kind of Sabbath was given to Adam, and one only remains for us. See Hosea ii, 11. "I will cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new-moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts." All the Jewish sabbaths did cease, when Christ nailed them to his cross. Col. ii, 14-17. "Blotting out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 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; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." These were properly called Jewish sabbaths. Hosea says, "her sabbaths." But the Sabbath of which we are speaking, God calls "my Sabbath." Here is a clear distinction between the creation Sabbath and the ceremonial. The one is perpetual; the others were merely shadows of good things to come, and are limited in Christ."—Miller's Life and Views, pages 161, 162. "Neither on the Sabbath-day." Because it was to be kept as a day of rest, and no servile work was to be done on that day, nor would it be right for them to travel on that day. Christ has in this place sanctioned the Sabbath, and clearly shows us our duty, to let no trivial circumstance cause us to break the law of the Sabbath. Yet how many, who profess to believe in Christ, at this present day, make it a point to visit, travel, and feast on this day! What a false hearted profession must that person make who can thus treat with contempt the moral law of God, and despise the precepts of the Lord Jesus! We may here learn our obligation to remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy." Exposition of Matt. xxiv, p. 18. Sec. Ad. Library, Vol. I.