Does the Law of the Sabbath Bind Us?
It is evident that laws may cease to be of force; that is, they may cease to be laws. When this occurs, it must be in one of the following ways: The condition of a people may be so changed as to render their obedience to the law impracticable. In human governments such cases often arise, and the law, unless administered by tyrants, becomes a dead letter. No good government will inflict the penalty on the transgressor to whom obedience is impossible, even though the law remains on the statute-book. But the law of the Sabbath can as well be kept now as at any former period of the world. Indeed, when given from mount Sinai, it was given to a people on a long journey, to whom were wanting many conveniences which we enjoy140for its careful observance. If this law was in its nature ever practicable, it is so now. Some laws expire by limitation. Such are many of the laws of every country. Such were many of the laws given by Moses. They were in force until Christ, who was their end, came; and then they bound no longer. Thus the whole ceremonial law ceased to bind after the death of Christ, to which it was limited. But no limit was fixed to the observance of the fourth commandment, either when first given or afterwards. A competent authority may repeal a law, and thus its obliging power may cease. Every free government affords numerous instances of the repeal of laws once useful, but no longer so. In a regular government, the repeal must be passed by the power which enacts the law. The great Lawgiver of the world is God. He ordained the law of the Sabbath, and he has never repealed it. Is any evidence of such repeal found in Scripture? If so, where is the book, the chapter, the verse containing it? All admit that the law was in force until Christ. Christ did not repeal it, for he says so, Matt. v. 17; nor did the apostles anywhere declare that it was repealed. If this law, therefore, has ceased to bind, it must be in some way utterly unknown to us. It is still practicable; it has not expired by limitation; it has not been repealed. THIS LAW IS A PART OF A CODE WHICH IS IN FORCE.
It may also be said that this law is in the middle of a code, all the rest of which is acknowledged to be binding; and why not this? Were the other precepts of this code spoken by God from Sinai, amid blackness and darkness, and tempest and terrors? So was this. Were the others written by the finger of God, on tables of stone? So was this. Were the others deposited in the ark of the testimony, in the holy of holies, under the wings of the cherubim? So was this. No ceremonial or repealable law, given to the Jews, had these marks of honor put upon it. Did Christ say, "I came not to destroy, but to fulfill the law?" He said it as much of this as of any other precept. Did Christ's most devoted followers keep the other commandments? So did they keep this. Luke xxiii, 56. THIS LAW ENACTED WITH GREAT CARE.
On the face of this law are found some things which prove that God, who gave it, regarded it as of great importance. In the wording of it, a more full explanation of its true intent is given than in any other commandment. It is enacted both positively and negatively: positively, "Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy;" negatively, "In it thou shalt do no manner of work." No other precept of the decalogue is given in both of these forms, although every fair rule of interpreting them requires, that when they enjoin a duty, we should regard them as forbidding the contrary sin; and when they forbid a sin, we should regard them as enjoining the contrary duty. Yet in this command, but in no other, both forms are used. This command is also introduced as no other is. The very first word of it is a solemn memento—"Remember." This word is not found elsewhere in the decalogue. Moreover, this command not only addresses men in the singular, "Thou shalt," etc., but it goes farther, and tells who is thereby intended; namely, not only the head of the family, but also the son, the daughter, the man-servant, and the maid-servant, the cattle and the stranger. No such particularity is found in any other precept of either table of the law. In this command God also reasons with us on the equity of his demands. He says, he gives us six days out of seven, as if he said, "I am no hard master; I do not act unreasonably. I give you ample time to do your necessary work. I give you six days; therefore, if you have any conscience, give me the seventh." For, says he, "It is mine—it is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." Surely, you will not deny to your God a right so equitable, a demand so fair. It is also stated by God in the command itself, that he set us the example on the completion of creation. And shall we not follow such an example? If we ought to be holy because God is holy, if we ought to forgive our enemies because God forgives his enemies, we ought also to keep the Sabbath-day because God kept it. Teaching by example is the highest kind of instruction. THE SABBATH GIVEN IN EDEN.
Nor did the Sabbath originate with Moses, or with any sinner. It was an ordinance in Eden. When, for his sins, man was driven out of paradise, God permitted him to carry with him two institutions, established for his good before his fall. Which of these institutions is the greatest mercy to our world, or which is the dearest to the heart of a good man, I will not undertake to say. One of them is marriage, the other the Sabbath-day. If he is the enemy of virtue who would abolish the former, he cannot be the friend of God or man who would set aside the latter. By restoring marriage, as far as possible, to its original purity in Eden; that is, by confining it to the pairs and rendering it indissoluble, the Christian religion has incalculably advanced civilization, peace, and all the domestic virtues. By restoring the Sabbath, as near as possible, to its purity in Eden, that is, by the holy observance of all of it, man makes his nearest approach to primitive innocence and to future glory. There is no example of any community, large or small, ancient or modern, continuing virtuous or happy for a considerable time, if they slighted either marriage or the Sabbath-day. Amer. Tract, No. 187.