A few Words with Eld. S. on the Sabbath.
By H. C. Crumb
DEAR BROTHER S.:—Permit me to address you at this time. Let us review our conversation that we had the other evening. I quoted the language of Paul as is recorded in Acts xxviii, 17, where he addressed the chief of the Jews. Paul said unto them, that he had committed nothing against the people, or customs of their fathers. I quoted this as proof that Paul did not neglect to keep the Sabbath, and that he did not keep First-day; for if he had done either, he would have done something against the customs of their fathers. If I recollect aright you stated that Paul did do something against the customs of their fathers; for Paul believed on Jesus, (had faith) and said (or implied) that they did not believe on Jesus, and you seemed to say that Paul could just as well have kept Sunday and said this, as to have believed (had faith) on Jesus, and said so. I do not think so: I do not so understand Paul; for Paul says, after preaching up faith, "Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we (we, Christ's true preachers like Paul) establish the law." Do you establish the law, or do you make void the law through faith? (or a tradition of the fathers?) In this connection, will you please to read the following quotations, and see how every sentence, word and letter is placed. Matt. xv, 1-13. "Then came to Jesus Scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." "And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand: not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." Did Christ's Heavenly Father plant this First-day keeping? if he did not plant it, if Christ's words be true, he will root it up; and if we cling to it with a strong grasp, where shall we be? Now would it not defile us [verses 10, 11] if we should say that God had not founded his covenant for ever? or that he would alter at least some of the words that have gone out of his lips? or that Christ had destroyed the law, or that one jot or one tittle of the law had failed, after reading Matthew v, 17-19? or that man had the power to make one of the Commandments to pass away, when he has not the power to make either heaven or earth pass away, when Christ has said that it is easier for heaven and earth (both) to pass, than for one tittle (least particle) of the law to fail. We might ask many questions, and in truth I should like to, but I will cut short by referring you to some passages, and your own good judgment will see the force of them. James ii, 10, 11. I do want to ask you what James would be likely to say to you? Would he not say, Now if thou do not kill, yet if thou break the Sabbath, thou art become a transgressor of the law; for he that said, (margin that law which said,) Do not kill, said also, Remember the Sabbath-day (yes, day) to keep it holy, &c. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, (not of the Jews, as some reproachfully call it.) Again, you seemed to say that Paul regarded the Sabbath and circumcision alike. I understand Paul to teach very differently; for he says in 1 Cor. vii, 19, "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the Commandments of God." Rom. ii, 21. Says Paul, "Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? (I do not believe brother S., that you will steal.) But thou that preachest that a man shall not break the Sabbath, dost thou break the Sabbath? (I am afraid you do.) Would James give you any more liberty to break the Sabbath, than he would to steal? Paul said that by the law was the knowledge of sin. Paul said that he had not known sin, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet; so we can see that by God's law of Ten Commandments is the knowledge of sin; for sin is the transgression of the law. Where there is no law, there is no transgression; and where is there any law for keeping Sunday? So if you want to see sinners converted to God, if you have God's word you must declare it faithfully; for Paul said that he was alive without the law once; but when the Commandment came, sin revived, and he died. But thanks be to God that Paul lived after this to tell us many good things; but he did not live after the flesh, or after the carnal mind, but after the Spirit; so that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in him. Says he, I delight in the law of God in, or after the inward man. Do you then of the abundance of the heart let the mouth speak? Paul said, (although the commandment came home to Paul and slew him,) that the law was holy, the commandment holy, just and good; yea, spiritual. Was then that which was holy, just and good, yea, spiritual, done away? Paul said, God forbid that he should do it away, even through faith. Do you do it away through faith? Has God given you more liberty than he did Paul? If not, the law says to you to-day, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy," &c. "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," &c. God has said so by his example, by his Word, and by a three-fold miracle; and said Christ, "The Sabbath was made for man." Was Adam not a man? are you not a man? Dare you come up and say to Christ, that God did not make the Sabbath for you? Again, you stated that the fourth Commandment did not specify any particular day, only one after six days of labor. But it reads to me, not a seventh day, but THE seventh day, the one on which God rested, at creation; yea, blessed and sanctified. If the fourth Commandment does not specify any particular day, in what language could it be specified? But after all this you said (if I recollect aright) that the seventh day was the right one to keep, if we could tell which day it was. You seemed to think that the time had been lost, so that we could not tell which the seventh day from creation was. Well, if you are in the dark on this subject, do not be leading others in the dark, or into the dark. Matt. xv, 14. Now if we keep the day that we think is the seventh day from the best knowledge that we can get, I believe that God will accept of it. But because we cannot count back to creation, and tell to a day how many days have intervened from the first day till now, to say that we will not keep the seventh day, would not be wise. When almost every body will agree when the first day comes, of course we can tell when the seventh day comes. Why did our translators of the Bible add a table after this manner: 1st day of the week, Sunday; 2d day, Monday; &c., 7th day or Sabbath, Saturday. If time had been lost before the children of Israel came out of Egypt, God in giving the manna would have corrected them; and what reason have we to suppose that time was lost from that time to Christ's time? But in case time had been lost before Christ's time, it would be undervaluing Christ, I think, to say that he would not have known it, and knowing, would not have corrected it. But yet I understand you to say, that in case time was lost when Jesus Christ came into this world, that you did not believe that Christ would have corrected them. But if time was lost, Christ must have known it, and not to have corrected them in it, would not only have been countenancing them in a wrong, but yielding to the wrong202himself. But this is too inconsistent for us to suppose even for one moment; for Christ said that he had kept his Father's Commandments, and one of them required the observance of the seventh day; and hence I can but conclude that the true seventh day from the creation was kept in Christ's time. As Christ told his disciples to pray that their flight be not on the Sabbath-day, they not only knew when the Sabbath came, but kept it also. And when Jerusalem was destroyed, the Jews were scattered among all nations, where they are monuments of the truth of God's word. They have carried the Sabbath with them, and do they not all agree as to time? Would they all be apt to make a mistake, and all make a mistake alike? Yes, and all the Gentile world too, if any mistake has been made; for almost the whole world will agree on this point. Now in conclusion give me an answer, a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear; and count me not as an enemy because I tell you the truth. Madison Co., N. Y., March, 1856.