Thoughts on the Institution and Perpetuity of THE SABBATH.
By William S. Ingraham
PERHAPS there is not a point connected with the Christian religion, or an institution however clearly described in God's holy Word, but what has been overlooked and trampled under foot by some one of the professed churches of Christ. We could point out some institutions, that are as clear as the sun's rays, and seemingly impossible for us to differ in regard to the true import of them, unless led captive by Satan at his will. Before coming to the subject of discussion, we will cite your minds to only two. For a moment look at the different views disseminated in the religious world, with relation to the mode of water baptism. When God's Word says we are to be buried with Christ in baptism, it is made to mean something entirely different; notwithstanding, we have testimony conclusive on this subject. A person may be led away from Jordan where there is much water, to the altar where the candidate receives the application of a few drops of holy water, (it ought to be holy if sprinkling is to take the place of immersion) by the hands of the priest, and if this satisfies the conscience it answers every purpose. Again, the institution of washing the saints' feet, is said by some to teach us an act of humility, and this lesson is to be learned by having lowliness or humility enough to wash each other's feet, but never to perform it. Paul in speaking of baptism, makes use of the following language: (1 Cor. xv, 29:) Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, (Macknight) for the resurrection of the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? Please read Rom. vi, 3, 4, Col. ii, 12. Here the design of baptism, is in part brought to light. It is an exhibition of our faith in the resurrection. Relative to the second institution, read the words of him who spake as never man spake. John xiii, 4-17. I have only spoken of these institutions to show that the plainest testimony may be disregarded by man. And if a thus saith the Lord can be set aside, in respect to any of the institutions of the Church, it may be in regard to others. Every point connected with theology must be tested by the word of the Lord. And in speaking on the Sabbath question, I do not intend to follow our modern Rabbis, in their confusion of tongues. In order to come directly to the subject in question, we would first inquire, What knowledge have we from the Bible of the institution of the Sabbath? Ex. xx, 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Thus reads the eighth verse of the twentieth of Exodus. With a glance, all can see the Sabbath is here spoken of as an institution previously known. There could be no propriety in calling the attention of the Israelites to a remembrance of an institution that was never in existence. In this text of scripture, we are carried back to the rest-day of Jehovah. The eleventh verse sheds still more light on the subject. 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. Further evidence on this point, may be found in Ex. xxxi, 17. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. When the last text quoted is taken in consideration with Ex. xx, 11, we see in the institution of the Sabbath, it was intended to call to mind the wisdom, power, and goodness of God, as they are displayed in the creation of the world. Gen. ii, 1-3. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them. This testimony taken in connexion with the last verse of the first chapter, shows clearly the work was finished in six days. 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 had created and made. A number of important points are clearly developed in the texts just quoted. 1. God's resting from all his work. 2. The day on which he rested. 3. The blessing attached to the day. 4. The sanctification of the day. Other testimony might be produced, although enough has been said to convince any unprejudiced mind, that God instituted the Sabbath when he rested from all his work, on the seventh day of the first week of time. For further light, read the following testimony. Ex. xvi, 23. And he said unto them, this is that which the Lord hath said, to-morrow, is the rest-day of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Mark ii, 27. And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man. We would inquire, When was the Sabbath made for man? When God rested from his work, as has been abundantly proved. Secondly, we pass to notice the Perpetuity of the Sabbath. Christ said the Sabbath was made for man. If the Sabbath was made for the benefit of the human race, how could they be benefitted by it unless observers of the same. To take the position that God's people had no knowledge of the Sabbath until delivered from Egyptian bondage, and brought into the wilderness, would deprive a part of Adam's posterity of the benefits and blessings connected with the observance of this holy institution; and obscure the light of that star that points back to the handy work of God, as displayed in the creation of the world. But as the Sabbath was to be regarded by man, it must have been a part of that law by which he was, and is to be governed. And as God instituted the Sabbath, before man was expelled from Paradise, and it was made for him, he must have had some knowledge of the same. And if the Sabbath was not apart as holy time, to be regarded as such by the human family, it would be base infidelity to suppose that Adam did not make it known to his posterity. That the law of God was in the world from Adam to Moses, is evident from the words of the apostle Paul, which are to be found in his epistle to the Romans, chap. v, 13, 14. For until the law sin was in the world; (Macknight, counted in the world,) but sin is not imputed (counted) when there is no law. 2 Esdras vii, 11. Because for their sake, I made the world, and when Adam transgressed my statutes, then was decreed that now is done. Where there is no law, there can be no sin. This being the case, men had a law as a rule of action, before the law was written on tables of stone. If not, it was very wrong to destroy the Antediluvians and Sodomites, for their innocency. For innocent they were, if there was no law. Please read Gen. vi, 5, 6; xxvi, 5, Jude 6, 7. Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws. Ex. xvi, 4, 23, 26, 28. 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. 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. In the 23d verse, the people are reminded of what God had previously said respecting the Sabbath. In verse 4, God proves his people, to see whether they would walk in his law. The 28th verse shows the Sabbath was a part of the law. From the wilderness of Sin, where Israel was put in remembrance of the Sabbath, as above stated, we follow them to Rephidim, and from Rephidim to Sinai, where they encamped before the mount. Here God makes known the ten commandments in the most solemn manner. Whilst the earth was shaking, Israel trembling, and fire and smoke, clouds and darkness, was settling on the mount, God proclaimed his law to man. Deut. v, 22. These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the clouds, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. The fourth commandment of the ten, is the Sabbath commandment. Deut. viii, 1. All the commandments which I commanded thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live and multiply and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers. Deut. xxviii, 1. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and do all his commandments, which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high, above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket, and thy store. Sore judgments were threatened against Israel, if they failed to keep God's law. Read the 15th verse, and onward to the end of the chapter. Neh. ix, 13. Thou camest down also on mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes, and commandments. Neh. xiii, 18. Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city, yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. Isa. lvi, 1, 2. Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment and do justice; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. Isa. lviii, 13. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride130upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Jer. xvii, 21, 22. Thus saith the Lord, take heed to yourselves, and bear no burdens on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. Eze. xxii, 8, 26. Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my Sabbaths. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things, they have put no difference between the holy and profane, between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Psa. lxxxix, 27. Also I will make him my first born higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. The Son of God is here evidently referred to. God has declared he would make him higher than the kings of the earth, consequently, he cannot be one of the kings spoken of. He is called the first born. The apostle Paul declares in Rom. viii, 29, that Christ was the first born among many brethren. Also Col. i, 15, Who is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature. His seed (my son's seed) also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his children, (my son's children, embracing all true believers under the gospel dispensation,) forsake my law, (God's law) and walk not in my judgments, (God's judgments,) if they break my statutes, (God's statutes,) and keep not my commandments, (God's commandments and not the Pope's,) then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquities with stripes. The Psalmist in this chapter, clearly shows the commandments of God will be binding as long as the Son of God has a seed on earth. And if we think of obtaining heaven, whilst living in transgression of any one of the ten commandments, we shall be greatly disappointed. The rod will be our portion. As we have quoted largely from the Old Testament, we will turn our attention to the New. Moses in speaking of Christ says, The Lord thy God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, unto him shall ye hearken. Please compare Deut. xviii, 15, with Acts iii, 22, 23. It is of the greatest importance, that we hearken unto the words of our Saviour on this subject. His testimony, will now be carefully considered. The first instance where the law of God is mentioned, is in Christ's sermon on the mount. Matt. v, 17-19. Think not that I am come to destroy (subvert) the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. (Camp. ratify.) As our Saviour was just entering on his work, it was important for him to state what he came to do. Two important facts are here specified. 1. The declaration of Christ, that he did not come to destroy the law. 2. His testimony, that he came to fulfill. The first point referred to, is for ever settled by Christ himself, and put beyond all reasonable dispute. I came not to destroy the law. Secondly, to fulfill. How did our Lord fulfill the law? not by doing it away as some would have us believe. If we take this position, we array Christ against his own testimony. For he declares it was no part of his work to destroy the law; consequently, to fulfill the law, could not be the act of doing it away. Mr. Webster says to fulfill, is to perform what is required. To answer a law by obedience. With this, agrees James: If ye fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. James ii, 8. Also Matt. iii, 15; John xv, 10. And Jesus answering, said unto him, suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness, then he suffered him. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. We conclude from the light we have, our blessed Saviour fulfilled the law, by strictly obeying its requirements. 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. Albert Barnes, in commenting on the last quoted text of scripture, furnishes us with the following testimony: Verily, Truly, Certainly, A word of strong affirmation Till heaven and earth pass. This expression denotes that the law never should be destroyed, till it should all be fulfilled. It is the same as saying, everything else may change, the very earth, and heaven may pass away, but the law of God shall not be destroyed till its whole design shall be accomplished. John Wesley's comments on the same text are as follows: One jot or tittle shall in no wise pass till heaven and earth pass, or as it is expressed immediately after: till all (or rather all things) be fulfilled, till the consummation of all things. If the comments of J. W. and A. B., are according to truth on this subject, the commandments of God must cover all probationary ground. Whosoever, (any one, any person whatever,) therefore, (for that or this reason, referring to something previously stated) shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, 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. The commandments in the nineteenth verse, are synonymous with the law in the 17th and 18th verses. Albert Barnes in commenting on the last clause of the 19th verse, favors us with the following arguments: Shall be called great. He that preaches that all the law of God is binding, and that all of it should be obeyed without attempting to specify what is most important, shall be a teacher worthy of his office; shall teach the truth and shall be called great. We learn hence, 1. That all the law of God is binding on Christians. Compare James ii, 10. 2. That all the commandments of God should be preached in their proper place by Christian ministers. 3. That they who pretend that there are any of God's laws so small, that they need not obey them, are unworthy of his kingdom. And 4. That true piety has respect to all the commandments of God and keeps them. Ps. cxix, 6. Query. How can Mr. A. Barnes make himself believe that he is a subject of true piety, according to the testimony he has given us, whilst living in disobedience to the fourth commandment. Matt. xix, 16-19. 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, why callest thou me good, there is none good but one, that is God; but if thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments. The question was answered by Christ. And the young man seemed to be somewhat astonished that he should be referred to the commandments, from the fact, he supposed he had kept them perfectly. But for fear he had been negligent in the observance of some one of them, he asks which; Jesus answers the question proposed, and specifies the part of the law that related to the duties he owed to his fellow men; for he had not been particular respecting all his duty, as was proved in the sequel. There is a class of professed Christians, that have come to the conclusion, that none of the ten commandments are binding, only those quoted to the young man by our Saviour. If this position is true, have we not a right to hasten after other gods; to make graven images, and serve them; take the name of God in vain; and trample under foot God's holy day of rest? But says one, You are taking too much liberty, all the commandments are binding but the Sabbath. But stop Sabbath-breaker, stop, and think. If God's Word gives you the privilege of blotting out the fourth commandment, because Christ did not quote it to the young man; it gives me liberty to strike out the three preceding ones. There is but one reasonable conclusion to which we can come from this scripture; and that is all the commandments are still in force. James ii, 10. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Five of the ten commandments are quoted in the next verse, by which we may know what law is referred to. Matt. xxiv, 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the Winter, neither on the Sabbath-day. Here Jesus is speaking of the flight of his children from Jerusalem, when its desolation was near; and as Jerusalem was not destroyed until A. D. 70, the argument is conclusive, that the Sabbath stood fast up to that time. Luke xxiii, 54-56. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. Query. How could the Sabbath be drawing on, if it had been previously nailed to the cross? And the women also which came with him from Galilee, followed after and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices, and ointments, and rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment. Acts xiii, 42, 44. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath-day came almost the whole city together, to hear the word of God. Acts xvi, 13. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city, by the river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Acts xvii, 2. And Paul as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. Rev. xii. In this chapter, we have a connected chain of events, extending from the birth of Christ, down to the present time. We learn from the 6th and 14th verses, that the woman, (Church) fled into the wilderness, and also the time she remained there. From the 15th verse, we see the serpent designed to overthrow the Church by persecution. 16th verse. And the earth helped the woman, (Church) and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. The prophetic events connected with the 16th verse, had their fulfillment in 1798 when the papacy lost its civil power. This was accomplished by Napoleon Buonaparte. Here the 1260 days of oppression and cruel bondage to the church ended. From this period of time, the Church has been favored with great light, until tested by the first angel's message. Rev. xiv, 8. This message not being heeded by the professed churches, their light is turned into darkness; and the way for the second angel's message is prepared. This proclamation having been given, the third angel takes his stand. Under the cry of the third angel, a remnant is gathered from the confused masses, that are floating upon the bosom of the mighty deep; and are brought together and united in the faith of Jesus, and the commandments of God, as we read in Rev. xiv, 12. The 17th verse of the 12th chapter, is a parallel. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. According to the chronological order of the events brought to view in this chapter, the remnant is to be found this side of 1798. The period for commandment-keepers is more definitely fixed by the third angel's message. Rev. xiv, 9-12. This brings us this side of 1844. If any man would know the glorious result of keeping the commandments of God, please read Rev. xxii, 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City. From the next verse learn the consequences of breaking God's commandments. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.