THE SABBATH by James White

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 16, 1856

THE SABBATH.

By James White

THE word of the Lord says: "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment." Eccl. xii, 13, 14. In view of the solemn scenes of the Judgment-day we should carefully examine the terms of the commandments wherein our whole duty is revealed, that we may know how to worship God in truth, and escape the wrath to come.

As the Scriptures present the consequences of the Judgment as the motive for keeping God's commandments, we justly conclude that they will be the rule of judgment: that by them the nature of all actions will be determined. Then if we have done wrong, God's commandments or law will show it; as the apostle says: "By the law is the knowledge of sin." Rom. iii, 20.

WHAT IS THE LAW?

God has in many ways revealed his purposes to man, but when he made known his law, he spake it with his own voice, and himself engraved it on tables of stone; which gives us an idea of its holiness and perpetuity. Man is a moral agent, required to be holy, or develop a holy character. Of course the law which defines the duty of a moral agent must be purely a moral law; and the law which would prove a man to be holy because he kept it, must be a holy law. This holy, moral law is a transcript of the divine mind, and a development of the divine perfections, as it is the perfect will of a holy God. It was called God's holy covenant, as Moses said to the children of Israel: "The Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments, and he wrote them upon two tables of stone." Deut. iv, 12, 13. The Lord said to Moses: "Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them." Ex. xxiv, 12.

That the ten commandments constitute God's Law is not only abundantly proved by the Bible, but it is admitted by every considerable body of professed worshipers of God, whether Jews, Catholics, or Protestants. This we learn from the writings of their respective authors, and from their church articles and catechisms.

That there is a great deal of sin at the present time none will deny; of course, the law of God is much disregarded; for "Sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John iii, 4. And as it is God's decree that "the soul that sinneth it shall die, [Eze. xviii, 4.] we feel that it is a duty we owe to God and to our fellow men, for the honor of his government, and the salvation of their souls, to raise our voices in warning them to turn from their sins and live.

But there are many who will not be convinced of their sins; they deny the Bible, the text-book of righteousness, and charter of our eternal inheritance. Such we are obliged to leave to their own ways; for they cannot be saved who willfully reject the counsel of God. We lament their blindness, but can do no more.

But we also think that many who acknowledge that the Bible is true, and reverence that law which Jehovah spake with a voice that shook the earth, are unknowingly transgressing that law from week to week. To such we would make an earnest appeal, and ask them to lay aside all prejudice, and as frail mortals on the way to Judgment, humbly look up to him who has said, "I am God, . . . my counsel shall stand." To them we would say, Let no vain excuse turn you away from learning perfectly God's truth; for we have his revealed will placed before us, and if we neglect to search for his light and his truth, we shall be guilty of slighting the all-wise counsel of the Just and Holy One.

That you may understand how great is the departure from God's word and law, even by those who profess to love him and follow his Son, and that you may be enabled to conform to it yourselves, if not now fully observing it, we ask you to examine

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.

This commandment enjoins the observance of the Sabbath of the Lord. As it is well to have the law plainly before us when we inquire concerning our duty, we will copy this commandment.

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 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." Ex. xx, 8-11.

That we may understand what is meant by blessing the Sabbath-day, we must bear in mind that Sabbath signifies rest; therefore to bless the Sabbath day means to bless the Rest-day, and to remember the Sabbath-day is to remember the Rest-day. The day of the Lord's Sabbath is the day of the Lord's rest. This the commandment says was the seventh day: also in Gen. ii, 3: "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."

To this plain fact we would call your especial attention, because we know that the day on which God rested, the day which he blessed and hallowed, the day which he commanded should be kept holy, is not generally kept by those who profess to take God's word for their guide; but they keep a day on which he did not rest, which he did not hallow, and which he never commanded them to keep. If the sanctified Rest-day of Jehovah is the proper day to be observed, and that is the very day specified in his law, then the observance of another day in its stead, is an offense against the great God who gave the law. The law does not say that you shall remember to keep the first day of the week, (which is now called Sunday,) but the seventh day. It is not indefinite, leaving you to observe any day as a Sabbath that you may see fit; but it is a certain definite day, namely, the Sabbath-day, that is, the day of the Sabbath or rest of the Lord, which is no other than the seventh day of the week.

ORIGIN OF THE SABBATH.

The fourth commandment points to the Sabbath as a memorial. It says: "The Lord blessed the Sabbath-day." The act of blessing is recorded in Gen. ii, 3 and it was bestowed because that in it he had rested from all his work. Then the Sabbath was, from the foundation of the world, a holy day, and to be observed because God rested on it, and blessed it. Thus it is commemorative of what God has done. In order to observe a day as a memorial, we must keep in view the object of the memorial, and the day on which the event occurred which we celebrate. The fourth commandment enjoins the observance of the memorial of God's work and rest. A rest implies a work performed; therefore to remember to keep God's Rest-day, is the divinely appointed means of keeping in mind his great work.

You cannot find in God's law any duty to remember or keep the day of Adam's fall, or the day of the flood, or the day of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt or the day they entered the promised land, or the day of the Saviour's birth, or the day of his death, or the day of his resurrection, or the day of his ascension. You may remember all these days, but the fourth commandment does not tell you to, neither did the Lord bless and hallow any of these days. But it requires the observance of the day on which the Lord rested, which he also sanctified, which was the seventh day of the week; for he made the world in the first six days of the first week of time, and then rested.

That the original Sabbath-day was the seventh day, and that the Jews did keep the very day enjoined in the law, all well know; and they admit it also, since they denominate the seventh day of the week the Jewish Sabbath. Therefore in this they admit that the very day which the Jews observe is the true original Sabbath of the Lord.

THE SABBATH WAS NOT JEWISH.

We hope you will examine this fact with care; for there are many that suppose that those who keep the seventh day are Jews, or are observing a Jewish institution. But we assure you that we endeavor to live as Christians, observing only these things enjoined in God's word, and neglecting or rejecting only those things not found therein.

The name Jew is derived from Judah, the son of Jacob, who was born 2255 years after the creation. Then the distinctions of Jews and Gentiles could not have been known, for they did not exist until more than 2000 years after the Rest-day of God was blessed and sanctified. But if the sanctified day on which God rested was a Jewish Sabbath after the Jews as a separate people came into existence, what was it during the 2000 years before their existence? Would you conclude that it was a Gentile Sabbath from the creation to the separation of the Hebrews, and then a Jewish Sabbath till the time of Christ? Consider well this matter, and let your conclusion be such as will stand the test of the Judgment-day.

But we do not find in the Bible that the seventh day Sabbath was ever called a Gentile Sabbath, or a Jewish Sabbath, but it was always called the Lord's Sabbath. It was established and sanctified as a day of rest from the creation, not by the Gentiles, nor the Jews, but by the Lord; and neither Gentiles nor Jews were there. When the Sabbath was made no human beings were there but Adam and Eve; and though they were the first parents of all, both Gentiles and Jews, it would be as absurd to call them Jews or Gentiles as it would be to call them English, French or Germans. And to say that the Sabbath which God instituted at creation, and sanctified because that in it he had rested—to say that it was a Jewish Sabbath is no more correct than to say that it was a French Sabbath, a German Sabbath, or a Norwegian Sabbath. Men, the creatures of God, the descendants of Adam, have become divided into various distinct classes since the Sabbath was instituted; but to say that the Sabbath was instituted in view of these distinctions, or for any particular class, is taking unwarrantable liberties with God's word and his sacred institutions. We should take God's truths as they come to us from his hand, and place implicit confidence in what he has spoken.

THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD.

What is Sabbath? It is rest. Who rested on the seventh day? The Lord thy God. Mark well this fact: the seventh day is never in the scriptures called the Sabbath of the Jews, or of the Greeks, or of the Russians, or of the Romans, but always and invariably the Sabbath of the Lord. It was his; and he made it for man, [Mark ii, 27,] to glorify him, the Creator, and to benefit man, the creature. We know that the Jews are men; but the Gentiles are also men. Jacob, (Israel,) was a man; so was Enoch. Moses was a man; so was Noah. Solomon was a man; so was Pharaoh. Daniel was a man; so was Nebuchadnezzar. Peter was a man; so was Cornelius. English, French, Germans, Turks, Chinese, Africans, &c., are all men—all are descended from Adam; but no one class or nation can be called men to the exclusion of others. Can you find in God's word that the Sabbath was a national institution? You cannot. It is right to be strictly just toward our fellowmen, and to render to all, that which is their due; but while we render to Caesar that which is Caesar's, let us be very careful to render unto God that which is God's. The Sabbath is the Lord's. He himself hath said so; and so let it be.

J. H. W. (To be Continued.)