Lessons for Bible Students.
(History of the Sabbath, pp. 79–92.) Was anything more than the ten commandments engraven on the tables of stone? What scripture proves that the first tables contained simply the ten commandments? What scripture shows that the second tables were an exact copy of the first? In Ex. xx, we find the ten commandments introduced with a short preface; what considerations show that this preface was no part of what was engraven on the tables? Having now traced the Sabbath down to the time when sabbaths of another nature were introduced, to exist for a time contemporaneously with it, let us briefly recapitulate some of the important facts concerning it. Where was its origin? What people were made its depositaries? What was committed to that people besides the Sabbath? With what did God proclaim it? What features did this law as a whole possess? Upon what is the Sabbath institution founded? What is its great citadel of defense? What does its place in the midst of the moral law, and beneath the mercy-seat, show? We come now to inquire about the feasts, new moons and sabbaths peculiar to the Hebrews. How many feasts had they? How many annual sabbaths had they? What were these sabbaths? In addition to these, what sabbaths were there relating to the land? From what did the passover take its name? When did it begin, and how long continue? What was the second of the Jewish feasts? How long a time did it occupy? How long after the passover did it occur? What was done at this feast? What was the third and last Jewish feast? What does it probably typify? What was ordained in regard to the new moons? What characterized the sabbath of the land every seven years, and the jubilee? Were these feasts of the Hebrews ordained to be kept in the wilderness? or not till they had entered the promised land? Were the new moons to be kept before they kept these feasts? Could the annual sabbaths be kept before they kept these feasts? Is the same fact true of the sabbaths of the land and the jubilee? [We are thus shown that these ordinances were prospective, to be kept by them after they entered into the promised land; but the Sabbath of the Lord was binding upon them when they came into the wilderness, and all through their sojourn there.] Between these Jewish sabbaths and the Sabbath of the Lord, a strong contrast exists: what is the substance of Mr. Miller's view upon this point? What is the first point of contrast between them and the Sabbath of the Lord? What is the second consideration? What was the difference between the Sabbath of the Lord and the Jewish Sabbaths, when they came into the wilderness? Can we point to the very act of God, while leading this people, that gave existence to these sabbaths? On the other hand, how is the Sabbath of the Lord referred to? What may be said of the two kinds of sabbaths, in reference to their coming into the promised land? For whom were the Sabbath of the Lord, and the annual sabbaths of the Jews, respectively designed? What were the respective offices of each? How does God speak of his Sabbath? How are the sabbaths of the Jews designated? Where did God write his Sabbath and deposit it? In what were the ceremonial sabbaths embodied? In what scripture does God plainly distinguish between his own Sabbath, and the Jewish festivals, and in what language does he do it? How does Isaiah speak of the ceremonial sabbaths of the Jews? How does the same prophet speak of the Sabbath of the Lord? What prediction does Hosea utter concerning the annual sabbaths of the Jews? When was this prediction uttered? When was this prediction fulfilled in part? Where were the feasts of the Lord to be holden? Did the observance of the Lord's Sabbath cease with the Hebrews, on their dispersion from their own land? Why did it not then cease like the annual sabbaths? What bearing did the observance of the Sabbath have upon the Babylonish captivity, and their restoration? The Hebrew feasts being restored after the captivity, how long were they continued? Before the destruction of the Jewish nation by the Romans, what had been accomplished in reference to the typical system? The hand-writing of ordinances being abolished, how do we stand in relation to meats, drinks, holy days, new moons, and shadowy sabbaths? Was the Sabbath of the Lord any part of the hand-writing of ordinances? Was it, or could it have been, a shadow? The day following the nailing of the typical sabbaths to the cross, what is said of the Sabbath commandment of the moral law?