Pilgrimage of Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., on THE SABBATH QUESTION.
BEFORE us is the "Sabbath Manual by Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., published by the American Tract Society." Mr. Edwards, a learned and popular man, was considered by the American Tract Society a suitable person to prepare a standard work setting forth the claims of the (so-called) Christian Sabbath. In this work we may expect to find all the strength of argument that can be produced in favor of the observance of the first day of the week as the Sabbath for Christians. But our object at this time is not so much to show the unsoundness of the arguments presented to prove that the first day of the week is the authorized Sabbath for Christians; but we wish to notice the winding pilgrimage of this Doctor of Divinity to his final arrival to the conclusion that all Christians should observe the first day of the week as a day of rest and worship. He undoubtedly starts right, so far as his work treats upon the time when the Sabbath was instituted. He says:— "The first great institution established in paradise for the human race, was that of marriage. This lays the foundation for families, and for social relations among men. The second great institution established also in paradise for the race, was that of the Sabbath. This was designed to regulate families; to point out the period for labor and the period for rest, for the public worship of God, and of special devotion to spiritual and eternal concerns. So important was this arrangement to the glory of God and to the welfare of men, that with reference to it God regulated his own conduct in the creation of the world. He wrought six days—himself. He then came out in the face of creation, and rested one day. God thus gave to this arrangement of six days for labor and one for rest, the sanction of his high and holy example. This was the proportion which would, in all ages, be suited to the nature of men, adapted to their capacities, and essential to the supply of their wants. With reference to it, time itself was to be divided, not into days, or months, or years, merely, or into any periods measured by the revolutions of the earth or the heavenly bodies, but into weeks—periods of seven days; six for labor, and one for rest and special devotion to spiritual things. This division of time, measured by the conduct and will of God, and by the capacities and wants of men, was, among those who should know and do his will, to be as permanent and as universal as though it were measured by the revolutions of the earth or the heavenly bodies. It was to be, in all ages and all countries, a sign of the covenant between God and his people."—pp. 8, 9. "The reason which God gave on the tables of stone for keeping the Sabbath, was not a Jewish reason. It was one which applies alike to all men. 'For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is.' But he did not make them for Jews merely, or for any particular people. He made them for us, and for all men. As a memorial of that fact, he set apart the Sabbath, kept it, sanctified and blessed it, for the benefit of all."—pp. 15, 16. "Some contend that the Sabbath was made for the Jews only. But this is in opposition to the testimony of the Infallible Witness, the Lord of the Sabbath. His decision is, [Mark, ii, 27,] 'The Sabbath was made for man.' Man, as used in this connection, and in other places in the Bible, does not mean Jews only; it means the human family; as when it is said, 'Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth as a flower, and is cut down.' It does not mean Jews only; it means the human race. When it is said, 'Man lieth down, and riseth not again till the heavens be no more,' does it mean Jews only? No. It means man, to whom it is appointed once to die. And the Sabbath was made for man—that man to whom it is appointed once to die, and after that the judgment."—pp. 87, 88. Here Mr. Edwards takes the true position: one of vital importance to the perpetuity of the Bible Sabbath; for, if the Sabbath was made for man, at creation, it is neither Jewish nor Christian, but "the Sabbath [Rest] of the Lord thy God." There is another point of the greatest importance to the right view of this subject: it is the distinction between the two kinds of laws, and the two kinds of Sabbaths. This distinction the Doctor has set forth in a clear and beautiful manner, in the following words:— "Under the Jewish dispensation were incorporated two kinds of laws. One was founded on obligations growing out of the nature of men, and their relations to God and one another; obligations binding before they were written, and which will continue to be binding upon all who shall know them, to the end of time. Such are the laws which were written by the finger of God on the tables of stone, and are called moral laws. The other kind, called ceremonial laws, related to various outward observances, which were not obligatory till they were commanded, and then were binding only on the Jews till the death of Christ.
"There were also two kinds of Sabbaths, or days of rest. One was a day of weekly rest; and the command to keep it holy was placed by the Law-giver in the midst of the moral laws. It was called, by way of eminence, 'THE SABBATH.' The commandment to keep the other sabbaths was placed by the Lawgiver among the ceremonial laws because it was like them, as the command to keep the weekly Sabbath was like the laws with which it was associated. One class were fundamental, permanent, universal moral laws; the other class were local, temporary ceremonial laws. One had their origin in the nature and relations of man; the other in the peculiar circumstances in which, for a time, a peculiar people were placed. One would be binding in all ages, upon all who should know them; and the other would be binding only upon the Jews till the death of the Messiah."—pp. 133, 134. That the Jews were required to observe the seventh day of the week, and did observe that day, is evident. Ex. xx, 8–11; Gen. ii, 2, 3; Ex. xvi, 22–30. That Adam, Abel, Enoch, Lot, Abraham and Moses kept the last day of the week, Mr. Edwards does not express the least doubt. And now to remove the weekly Sabbath (made for the entire race, reaching from creation forward through all time) from the seventh day, (which God exalted when he hallowed it in the beginning,) down to the first day of the week, (which he never hallowed,) is no small task. To do this the Doctor is obliged to come down two very difficult descents; first, make it appear that the fourth commandment does not require the observance of "the seventh day," but a seventh day; (that is, one day in seven, but no one day in particular,) second, that the first day of the week, (the definite day of Christ’s resurrection,) is that indefinite day!! Mark well his steps. He says:— "The primary and essential idea in the numbers 'six' and 'seven,' as used in the command, is that of proportion. It marks the number of days to be devoted to secular concerns, compared with those to be devoted to rest and spiritual duties. 'Six days shalt thou labor;' and the next day, which of course, reckoning from the first working day, is 'the seventh,' thou shalt rest and not do any work. Men who call their first working day the second day of the week, and who, on the seventh day from that, keep the Christian Sabbath, do as really comply with the spirit and the letter of the fourth commandment, as men did who of old kept the Jewish Sabbath."—p. 91. With Mr. Edwards’s definition of the word Sabbath, which all agree is correct, let us compare the above with the language of the fourth commandment. In page 88 he says that "The word SABBATH means rest" "Remember the Sabbath-day [Rest-day] to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath [Rest] of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, . . . for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day [the Rest-day] and hallowed it." Ex. xx, 8–11. On what day did God rest. The seventh. What day did he hallow. The seventh. What day, then, is the Sabbath, or Rest, of the Lord thy God? The seventh day, the very day on which the Lord thy God rested. What are we commanded to remember? The day. What are we required to keep holy? The day. In what are we forbidden to work? In the day. None can fail to see that the Author of the fourth commandment requires the observance of the definite day of the week on which he rested, and which he sanctified; and not a day. Some indefinite day, left to man’s choice, would be quite another thing. Man may choose a day for rest and worship, but, at the most, it is only his sabbath or rest; but the seventh day is the Sabbath, or Rest, of the Lord thy God; for on that day the Lord God rested. The Sabbatical institution does not consist in man’s setting apart either of the seven days of the week he chooses to a holy use; but it is based upon the fact that God blessed the seventh day after he had rested upon it. And the fourth commandment enjoins the weekly celebration of Jehovah’s Rest-day. God did not make the seventh day holy by resting upon it, but his blessing he bestowed upon the day after he had rested upon it. "And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested." Gen. ii, 3. If, then, the great God did not make a day holy by resting upon it, how preposterous for feeble man to talk of making one of the six common days of labor holy by resting and worshiping on that day! God has never left to man the work of making Sabbaths, or making days holy; but he requires of the race the weekly celebration of that day which he made holy at the close of the first week of time. But we must leave this point for the present, to follow the Doctor still further on his pilgrimage. After asserting that the fourth commandment does not require the observance of any one particular day of the week, he then takes the position that it is the duty of Christians to keep the first day of the week, the definite day on which Christ arose from the dead!! He says:— "Ever since He who had power to lay down his life, showed that he had power to take it again, by bursting the bands of death, and rising triumphant, making captivity captive, his disciples have assembled on the day of his resurrection to worship and adore."—p. 100. "Have they done right in this? And are men now doing right in keeping the day of the resurrection of the Saviour, and the finishing of his atoning work for their salvation, as the Christian Sabbath."—p. 101. "The resurrection of the Redeemer, the assembling of his disciples, the manifestations of himself to them the approval which he bestows upon them, the commission which he gives them, the Holy Ghost which he imparts to them—all give to this day, in the view of his disciples, a grand peculiarity, and strongly mark it for their future guidance."—p. 105. "In observing the first day of the week for religious worship, they followed no cunningly devised fable, but the known will of their Lord; and that practice has been continued in the Christian world from that day to this. So general was it, even before the death of the apostles, and under their direction, that the day, by way of convenience, was called THE LORD’S DAY; that is, the day especially devoted to his worship."
"As the supper which commemorated his death was called 'the Lord’s supper,' so the day of his resurrection, on which they met for his worship, was called 'the Lord’s day.' And so universal was the habit of observing it, that it was, without explanation, evidently understood at that time throughout the Christian world.
"Here the apostle John says, 'I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.' What day that was, all Christians knew. It was the day of his resurrection, when they assembled to worship their Lord."—pp. 112, 113. The Doctor has now come down the second descent, and is seen with the Sabbath established, (if assertions will answer in the place of Bible testimony) on the definite first day of the week. But we shall do well to notice that most of the statements contained in the above extracts are deceptive, and positively untrue. The Doctor assumes very many things which he should prove by plain scripture testimony; but, as he has no such testimony at his command, he uses the words "evidently," and "doubtless," to establish fundamental points in his theory, and passes on. Such words from a Doctor of Divinity have much more weight with many narrow-souled sectarians than the word of God. Such can see no flaw in his arguments.53 But let us now look back and take a view of the route Mr. Edwards has come. In getting from the seventh day of the week, the old beaten path which he acknowledges had been trodden from Adam to Christ, more than 4000 years, he takes the position that God has never required the observance of any one day of the week, but only one day in seven. And then in framing his theology to suit the custom of the age, he takes the ground that God requires the observance of the definite first day of the week. How unfortunate for these men who take upon themselves the task of showing a change in the Sabbath that God has never revealed such a change, and that they are left to take so rugged and exceeding crooked route in getting from the seventh day of the week to the first. Or, rather, how unfortunate for them that, instead of cheerfully submitting to the claims of the fourth commandment, in their zeal to maintain an institution of Papacy they mangle the word of God, and expose their own folly. This may be considered strong language; but let us see if the nature of the case will not justify it. What is Mr. Edwards' real position? Summed up in few words it is this:— The fourth commandment does not enjoin the observance of the seventh day of the week. It requires the observance of one day in seven, but no day in particular. And the Sabbath has been changed to the first day of the week. But, what has the Sabbath been changed from? Why, from one day in seven, but no particular day!!! And what is the Sabbath changed to? It has been changed, according to the learned Mr. Edwards, to one day in seven, and no day in particular!!! But this amounts to no change at all. And what is still more wonderful, Mr. Edwards makes this no day in particular, which the Sabbath has been changed to, to be the definite first day of the week!! So that the Sabbath has been changed from one day in seven and no day in particular, to another day in seven and no day in particular; and that no day in particular is the identical first day of the week!!