The Sabbath Law by Joseph Clarke

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 30, 1862

The Sabbath Law.

By Joseph Clarke

THE fourth precept sets apart a specific day. It says nothing of proportions, or abstract principles, but with certainty, definiteness and clearness, it sets apart the seventh-day.

It gives no one any license to reckon from any other data, but gives the starting point: and, with wonderful care, God words this command with such astonishing accuracy, that a child of six years old would fully understand it, and with such guarded care, that no legal acumen could ever get any other meaning from it.

It does not say in general terms "Work six days" and "rest the seventh;" but it breaks upon the ear in its very introduction, with "Remember the sabbath

day." Here is the starting point. Thank God, he has not left this important regulation at loose ends, to be tampered with by men, or societies, or nations, or the Pope, but has set the stake himself; and woe to him who removes the ancient landmarks!

Doubtless the Roman Catholics in the days of Luther, imagined themselves in the right, because their influence swayed the politics of Europe; because kings and emperors trembled at the displeasure of the Pope. But did all the thunders of Rome, terrify the reformers? or could all the armies of the church, or the decretals of the Pope, make one wrong right? No! Right is stronger than armies, stronger than creeds, stronger than prejudice itself.

I assert that the mere principle of proportion is not to be found in the fourth precept. On the contrary its very first injunction, precludes such an idea; and the idea is plainly inferable, that an attempt would be made to forget or make men forget the true Sabbath. The word, Remember points to the past and the future; as though it would be necessary to keep the past in memory, to escape the future attempt to abrogate this law.

No doubt God foresaw all the dodging and twisting and squirming there would be, to evade the strict interpretation of this precept, and so he gave the interpretation himself, and wove the command and interpretation so closely together, that they are inseparably one, and so left man without excuse.

Examine carefully this singular document. It is singular, because the more we consider it, the more are we impressed with its definiteness, its clearness, and its internal impress of divinity.

It seems impossible for God himself, to have found language, to convey so many ideas in fewer words, to enforce upon his people a uniformity of custom, in the celebration of the Sabbath.

It will be noticed that the very objections brought against the true Sabbath, are met conclusively in the command itself, as if the Lord in giving this law, saw in the future, the methods men would pursue in trying to subvert this command, and so he fenced it around, with prohibitions, with cautions, with specifications, with statements, and reasons, so completely, that the artless child of eight years wonders at the logic of its father, as he attempts to absorb the law of God in the traditionary institution of Sunday.

Notice the six days are spoken of only twice in this precept, and then without the article prefixed, and in each case numbered in connexion with the seventh, which seventh day is carefully located in each case. Of course the seventh-day being the last of the week, another week immediately following in succession, to the close of time, there is no ground for cavil. Also, notice the Sabbath is repeated three times, and the seventh twice, and in each of these five instances, with the definite article prefixed; and we are informed that in the original, the definite article is here emphatic.

The seventh. What seventh? The very seventh-day upon which Jehovah rested. Do we know when this day comes? If we do not, we know when the first day Sabbath comes, and by taking the day preceding that, we fulfill the letter, to the best of our knowledge.

We may say that the fourth precept is truly a wonderful document: it is a woven web, which all the sophistry of men cannot inweave; it is so simple, that all the ingenuity of men cannot make it intricate; and it is so comprehensive, that the honest soul finds in the command itself, an answer to every objection against it.

This command is so brief, that it cannot be condensed; so full, that nothing can be added; and so clear, that it cannot be explained to appear more plain.

It is urged that the Sabbath revolves around the earth; the same may be said of every day; so that this argument is as weighty against Sunday; and the man who is presented to the grand jury for breaking Sunday, would be committed for contempt of court, if he should defend himself by so groundless a plea; and more than this, such a plea made in opposition to God's holy law, impeaches the wisdom of God, and manifests excessive folly.

A great deal is said about the Sabbath at the poles of the earth; I will merely say that Moravian missionaries in Greenland, know when Sunday comes, as well as we do; and Bayard Taylor gives an account of a Sunday spent in Kautokeino, Lapland, and by reading we may find accounts of seamen, wintering in the far north, who kept their favorite days, with as much accuracy as ever.

JOSEPH CLARKE.