Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 12, 1860
THE HOLY SABBATH OF THE LORD.
By B. F. Snook
BY B. F. SNOOK.
(Continued from No. 24, Vol. xv.)
NEW TESTAMENT EVIDENCE.
We have given evidence on the above subject from the Old Testament, and have shown from the teachings of Christ that he taught the perpetuity of the moral law. Next we will show that the perpetuity of the Sabbath is taught by the same great Teacher, and that its existence in the Christian dispensation is clearly recognized. According to some theologians the New Testament dispensation did not begin until fifty days after the death of Christ. All that was done and taught before that time was peculiar to the Old Testament, with which we have nothing to do. Therefore for their conviction we must bring evidence from this dispensation. This we will do. But before advancing any evidence we will notice another and older notion than the above; namely, that the present dispensation began with John the Baptist. We will not now offer any arguments on the incorrectness of either of the above positions, but deal with their results. If the latter position be correct, the Old Testament ended with John, just when he introduces the New. Then if the Sabbath is Jewish and only peculiar to the Old Testament, it cannot be found this side of the days of John; for nothing belonging exclusively to that dispensation can pass into this. Therefore if we prove that the Sabbath did exist and was kept since then, it will follow that it is not Jewish nor peculiar to the former age.
We now refer to Matt. xii. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and his disciples were an hungered and began to pluck the ears of corn. But when the Pharisees saw it they said unto him, Behold thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. Verses 1, 2. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. Verse 12. Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.
We have introduced this testimony to prove, first, that the Sabbath did exist and was recognized by Christ this side of John's preaching. Second, to prove that the Sabbath law also existed at the same time by which actions on that day were decided either right or wrong, and third, to show that the disciples did not violate any law by plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath; for had they sinned Christ could not have declared them guiltless. We have now sustained one point from which it follows that the Old Testament did not end with John or that the Sabbath was not the property of the Jews, as A. Cambell says.
We now pass to the other position stated above. According to this the Old Testament ended at the death of Christ, and with it passed all law of every kind that had formerly been given. Now if the Sabbath is an institution of law, and grows out of law as the above system says, and the law was abolished, as they say who hold to the above, then it is impossible for another Sabbath ever to have existed unless the law had been re-enacted. But if we prove that the Sabbath did afterward exist, then it will follow that the above position is not correct, and that the Sabbath is not an institution created, but protected by law.
That this part of the subject may be clearly developed, we will prove the following proposition: The Sabbath exists this side of Christ's death, and was kept according to the commandment.
1. The Sabbath exists this side of Christ's death. This is either true or untrue. If untrue, the Sabbath was abolished on the cross and did not pass into this age. If true, it was not abolished; and Tekel is written in flaming letters on the very brow of Campbellism for teaching to the contrary.
The first argument we will bring in proof of the above proposition is founded upon Acts xiii, 14, 15. But when they departed from Perga they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Luke, writing for those who lived in the Christian age, in the year A. D. 45, recognized the day on which the Jews met to read the law and the prophets as being the Sabbath, if the above evidence proves anything. Again how could they meet on the Sabbath if it had been abolished; for here we have proved that at least one Sabbath did exist in this age.
Argument 2, verses 42, 44. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Rem. 1. From this testimony it is absolutely certain that the Sabbath does now in this dispensation have a place. 2. The Gentiles also had a knowledge of its nature, and the fact of their desiring preaching on that day, is an evidence that their regard for it was very high; for most all the city assembled that day to hear the word of the Lord. 3. The fact of their desiring preaching on the Sabbath, is conclusive proof that they knew nothing of the man-made festival of the sun.
4. If Sunday-keeping were of divine origin, what a good opportunity for Paul to make it known! If he had been instructed by some modern sectarian partizan, he would have said to those Gentiles, Come out to-morrow and I will preach to you. You need not wait for another Jewish Sabbath. It will do you Gentiles no good. To-morrow is the first day of the week, the Lord's day. Come out then and you shall hear the word of wisdom.
Argument 3. And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river-side where prayer was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. Acts xvi, 31. This scripture is pointed proof, first, that the Sabbath did exist, and second, that it was a day of worship with some, in or near Philippi; third, that it was Paul's day of devotion also. If not, why did he resort to a place of prayer?
Argument 4. And Paul as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath-days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. Acts xvii, 2.
Rem. 1. Paul's manner or custom was to preach on the day on which the Jews met in the synagogue. 2. Luke calls this day, in A. D. 45, the Sabbath-day, or rest-day. How different was Paul's manner from the manner of many who now pretend to be his brethren! If Paul could but be raised from the dead now, how soon would he be reproved for his old, unfashionable manner of preaching. Yes, we think he would not preach many discourses until he would surrounded with a rabble railing out, Paul, you are wrong in your manner! You should now preach on Sunday! That old Jewish Sabbath, the day on which it is your manner to preach, has been abolished. Our manner is very popular now, and although it is contrary to yours, we will continue in it; for the manner of Sunday preaching now pays very well.
Argument 5. Acts xviii, 3, 4, 11. And because he was of the same craft he abode with them and wrought; for by their occupation they were tent-makers, and he reasoned every Sabbath in the synagogue, and persuaded the Jews and Greeks; and he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. From the above it is apparent, 1. That Paul worked on Sunday, and fellowshiped others who did the same. Paul's partners were Jews; and the fact that Sunday is a working day with them is evidence that Paul wrought on that26day. But if he did not, he was just as guilty as though he did; for he not only fellowshiped working on that day, but being a party in the tent-making enterprise, he shared in the proceeds of the Sunday labor.
2. That Paul rested on the Sabbath is apparent from the fact that that was the day on which his Jewish partners rested. To think otherwise would be unreasonable; for Sabbath-keepers have no fellowship with Sabbath-breakers. Therefore if Paul had not been a Sabbath-keeper, he could not have formed any league with the Jews. 3. His preaching every Sabbath is additional evidence to the above. 4. The next query is, How long did he continue his preaching, and to whom did he preach? Vs. 11 says a year and a half. In a year and a half there are 78 Sabbaths, which Paul kept in Corinth—more Sabbaths than the whole of the Sunday clergy in England and America ever kept according to the commandment. He preached both to Jews and Greeks. Vs. 4. Paul could then have the Gentiles to hear him on the Sabbath as well as the Jews. We close this catalogue of arguments with the addition of one more.
Argument 6. Matt. xxiv, 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day. This scripture, according to the common acceptance of this chapter, cannot apply earlier than A. D. 70, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. But the text is conclusive that the Sabbath-day will last as long as the seasons of the year. If not, why pray that your flight be on neither the winter nor the Sabbath?
Thus far we find that God has been mindful of his people to provide for them a Sabbath. We find that our Saviour in giving warning to the disciples that they should pray that their flight be not on the Lord's holy day, shows much regard for his Father's holy day. The above text is enough to sustain the point in question; for it most unanswerably follows that the Sabbath existed down this side of A. D. 70.
Having now proved our point, that the Sabbath does exist in the New Testament, we will prove that it was kept according to the commandment. Luke xxiii, 56. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath-day according to the commandment. When was this done? Ans. This side of the death of Christ. Could they have kept the Sabbath according to the commandment unless there had been a commandment? They could not. We therefore conclude that the Sabbath of the Lord is still in existence, and that the commandment protecting it has never been abolished. With such testimony as the foregoing, in proof of the holy day of the Lord, let commandment-keepers be encouraged. The Lord is on Israel's side. He will be with the ark of his covenant, and he will bless those who remember his commandments to do them.
(To be Continued.)
Publication Information
The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald is published weekly, at One Dollar a Volume of 26 Nos. in advance.
J. P. KELLOGG, CYRENIUS SMITH and D. R. PALMER,
Publishing Committee.
Uriah Smith, Resident Editor. J. N. Andrews, James White, J. H. Waggoner, R. F. Cottrell and Stephen Pierce, Corresponding Editors.
Address REVIEW AND HERALD Battle Creek, Mich.
SHALL I OVERCOME?
By Cornelia Rice
SHALL I be an overcomer? or shall I be overcome?
How this all-important question, to my heart comes rushing home;
For I feel so weak and feeble, almost helpless seem to lie,
Only lisping the petition, Save me, Jesus, or I die.
Shall I be an overcomer? or shall I be overcome?
Shall I fall beneath the power of the strong and wicked one?
No, I know there is a stronger, he can bind the man of Sin,
Watch, my soul, a little longer, watch, and pray, and wait for him.
Shall I be an overcomer? or shall I be overcome?
Shall I meet the welcome plaudit, hear the joyful sound,
Well done?
O, I feel I'm so unworthy, so unfaithful have I been,
Often yielding to the tempter, or to some besetting sin.
Shall I be an overcomer? or shall I be overcome?
Now the door of mercy's open, I will enter while there's room;
For I hear my Saviour saying, Buy of me the gold that's tried,
Though thou art both poor and wretched, all thy wants shall be supplied.
Cornelia Rice.
Folsomdale, May, 1860.
"MUCH IN LITTLE."
Short Testimonies on the Soul, &c.
VERY CONSISTENT.
Gen. ii, 17. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
LOCKE, the great Mental Philosopher and Christian, says: "It seems a STRANGE way of understanding a Law which requires the plainest and directest words, that by 'death,' should be meant eternal life IN MISERY."
FRANK ADMISSION.
OLSHAUSEN in his comments on 1 Cor. xv, 19, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ," &c., says, "The doctrine of the IMMORTALITY of the SOUL, and the name, are alike unknown to the ENTIRE BIBLE."
IT'S JUST SO.
Eld. J. BLAIN, Baptist minister of Buffalo, makes use of the following sarcastic paragraph: "It is a notorious fact that in our theological works, a nondescript dictionary is made with definitions, as follows: To be dead, means to be more conscious. To die, is to live on in woe. To lose life, is to preserve a miserable existence. Life means happiness. To burn up is to make a living salamander. To destroy, is to preserve whole. To devour, perish, consume, &c., mean to make indestructible and immortal. Not to be, to be without end!"
PHILOSOPHICAL REASONING.
BISHOP NEWTON, the noted writer on the prophecies, justly remarks: "Nothing can be more CONTRARY to the divine nature and attributes, than for a God All-wise, All-good, All-powerful, All-perfect, to bestow existence on any beings whose destiny he foresees and foreknows, must terminate in wretchedness and misery, without recovery or remedy, without respite or end. God is love, and he would rather have not given life, than render that life a torment and curse to ALL ETERNITY. Imagine such a state of misery you may, but you can NEVER seriously believe it, nor reconcile it to God and goodness."—Newton's Works, V. 6.
A HEATHEN'S CONCLUSION.
In Siam a priest came to our missionary and asked "how long his God tormented bad men in a future state," and when answered, "Forever," he replied, "Our god torments the worst of men only one thousand years, so we will not have your American God in Siam!" The doctrine is a barrier to the gospel to the heathen as well as to us.
ANCIENT TESTIMONY.
JUSTIN MARTYR, who was born A. D. 89, and suffered martyrdom for Christ A. D. 163, in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew, says: "Should you happen upon some who are called Christians, . . . and say there is no resurrection of the dead, but INSTANTLY when they die are received up into heaven, do not count these among Christians."
AN ILLUSTRATION.
It is said, "The terror of eternal woe is greater than that of destruction, and so more salutary." This might be partly true if men believed it; but in our day it affects sinners just as a child ten years old is affected by the parent's saying, "Obey or I'll cut your head off!" It is the certainty and justness, and not the severity of threatened punishment which is salutary.
LUTHER'S VIEW.
This great Reformer, "Defense Prop. 27," says: "I permit the pope to make articles of faith for himself and his faithful, such as, the pope is emperor of the world and the king of heaven, and God upon earth, (that) the soul is IMMORTAL, with all those monstrous opinions found in the Roman dung-hill of decretals!" Audlin in his "Life of Luther," speaking of Italian reformers, says: "They left Wittemburg and went to Geneva, where we find them in 1561, sustaining in a crowded school and in printed theses, that all which was said about the immortality of the soul was invented by anti-christ for the purpose of making the pope's pot boil!"
TYNDALE'S ARGUMENT.
This great man and translator of the Bible, while writing to Sir Thomas Moore, a Catholic, says; "In putting departed souls in heaven, hell and purgatory, you destroy the argument wherewith Christ and Paul prove the resurrection. . . . If the souls be in heaven, tell me why they be not in as good case as the angels be? And then what cause is there of the resurrection?"
A GOOD WITNESS.
Mr. DARBY, in his "Hopes of the Church," frankly admits what many others now begin to see. He says: "We would express our conviction that the immortality of the soul HAS NO SOURCE IN THE GOSPEL : that it comes on the contrary, from the Platonists. . . . The immortality of the soul came in to replace that of the resurrection."
SUPERSTITIOUS.
Says Eld. Blain, "Death not Life," p. 114: "An old Baptist minister lately told me it would be impossible to convert sinners by preaching destruction!" This is the same as saying, We must preach a lie, for fear God will not, or cannot, bless the truth; and so join hands with the heathen who go on the principle of doing evil that good may come!
AN IMPORTANT FACT.
DR. MCCULLOH, an author of Baltimore, says: "There is no word in the Hebrew language that signifies either soul or spirit in the technical sense in which we use the terms, as implying something distinct from the body." Vol. ii, p. 466-8.
A LITTLE BOY'S OPINION.
The doctrine of eternal woe has a pernicious effect even upon children. This is well illustrated by the following authentic fact: Said a pious minister, "The first I ever heard of a God was by my mother's telling me when two years old, that there was a God, and if I was bad he would burn me forever in such a fire as I saw on the hearth. My reply was, 'If God does so, he is a bad man!' I grew up an infidel, and remained so till converted by those who preached destruction."
HORRID TEACHING.
The Am. Tract Society published a tract, No. 277, by Rev. James Saurin, which says: "The wicked (in the fire of hell) utter as many blasphemies AGAINST God as the happy souls in heaven shout HALLELUJAHS to his PRAISE!" To which we answer: "Wo to them that utter error against the Lord," "Wo unto them that put darkness for light," "Wo unto the blind guides." Give us the "mind of the Spirit," if it tears every creed in christendom to atoms.
CUTTING RETORT.
It is contended by the advocates of endless woe, that "the eternal sufferings of the lost will give the intelligent creation, as a whole, a higher knowledge and ENJOYMENT of God." That is, "The woes of some will make others happy." So teaches Dr. Beecher. To this slanderous sentiment the Rev. S. Cobb retorts: "Now be it known that I, Sylvanus Cobb, will consent, and even petition to be permitted to forego that extra share of happiness which was to be added to me by the infinite sufferings of my brothers and sisters, and so put up with that moderate degree of happiness which I may enjoy in the divine love and grace in common with all, for the sake of having them too, reformed and blessed." This sarcastic reviewer adds, we should "have a unanimous petition from the righteous to be disencumbered of that enormous surfeit of ENJOYMENT which should be derived from the endless misery of others!"
AWFUL SLANDER.
Speaking of the miseries of the lost, Mr. Benson, the commentator, says: "God will27exert all his divine attributes to make them as wretched as the capacity of their natures will admit." The "Rev." Mr. Vincent adds: "The wicked will always be roaring and never breathe out the last; always sinking and never come to the bottom; always burning in the flames and never be consumed; the eternity of hell will be the hell of hell!" And Pres. Finney of Oberlin outdoes them all, by saying "this torment will eternally INCREASE!" May we not suppose with Mr. John Foster of England, "that if so transcendently DREADFUL a doctrine had been meant to be taught, there would have been such forms of propositions as to render all doubt a palpable absurdity." But the devotees of this doctrine may find relief in the remarks of Prof. Stuart. He says: "Perhaps God may in mercy extinguish our social susceptibilities in heaven!"
A PREDICTION.
The great and godly Dr. Vinet once sagaciously observed, that "Even now after eighteen centuries of Christianity, we are very probably involved in some ENORMOUS ERROR, of which Christianity will at some future time make us ashamed." The doctrine of endless woe is just such an "enormous error," and the church are beginning to be ashamed of it!
CLOSING TRIBUTE.
MR. PANTON HAM, of Bristol England, in writing of the origin of the Immortality of the Soul, says: Let it be registered as the genuine genealogy, that Pagan Plato was its father, and the profligate Pope Leo its foster-father. Born and bred by the Pagan philosophy, the protege of Popery, this notion of the soul's immortality has become a pet dogma of popular Protestantism, which with a strange forgetfulness of its low lineage, openly declares it to be the honorable offspring of a true orthodoxy!
GOD THE FATHER, AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
TITLES OF THE FATHER.
The following titles of supremacy belong alone to Him who is from everlasting to everlasting, the only wise God:
With such inspired declarations before us, ought we to say that Jesus Christ is the Self-existent, Independent, Omniscient and Only True God; or the SON of GOD, begotten, upheld, exalted and glorified BY THE FATHER?
GOD A PERSONAL BEING.
Proof. "The Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard hisVOICE at any time, nor seen hisSHAPE." John v, 37.
"God, who . . . spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, . . . who being the brightness of his glory and the express IMAGE of hisPERSON," &c. Heb. i, 1–4.
"I beheld till the . . . Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the HAIR of hisHEAD like the pure wool." Dan. vii, 9.
"And (Moses) said, I beseech Thee, shew me thy glory. . . . And he said, Thou canst not see myFACE; for there shall no man see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with myHAND while I pass by. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see myBACK PARTS, but myFACE shall not be seen." Ex. xxxiii, 18–23.
"And they heard the voice of the Lord WALKING in the garden in the cool of the day." Gen. iii, 8.
"And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under hisFEET as it were a paved work of sapphire stone." Ex. xxiv, 10.
"After the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and SATon theRIGHT HAND OF GOD." Mark xvi, 19.
"Hast thou an ARMlikeGOD? or canst thou thunder with a VOICElikeHIM?" Job xl, 9.
"Out of the mouth of the Most High proceedeth not evil and good." Lam. iii, 38.
III. MAN IS MORTAL.—“Shall mortal man be more just than God?”Job iv, 17. He is told to seek for immortality [Rom. ii, 7], and will obtain it at the resurrection. 1 Cor. xv, 51-54.
GOD ALONE IS IMMORTAL.—“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto.”1 Tim. vi, 16; i, 17. “Life and immortality are brought to light [made clear, Macknight], through the gospel.”2 Tim. i, 10,
THE STATE OF THE DEAD.
“Man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?” Job xiv, 10.
DON'T take your Bible and say, "I don't want to read it, but I suppose I must;" nor your hymn-book and say, "I don't want to sing, but I guess I had better." Don't say, "I don't want to pray, but I will, and keep praying till I do feel like it." I am in the habit of likening the Saviour, in my thoughts, to some great and noble friend. Don't you suppose if you went to the door of such a friend, and said to him, "I did not want to see you a bit to-day, but I was afraid you would feel hurt if I did not come, and would treat me accordingly," that he would say, "If you don't want to see me, I am sure I don't want to see you?" And do you suppose that God is less delicate in friendship than an earthly friend?
SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS.
By Dudley Marvin Canright
IT IS NOT desirable with me to mention any one sect of religionists as the subject of public remarks; but being well acquainted with this people, their customs and questions, having been a member with them, and having felt, since embracing the third message, a desire for their salvation, similar to what Paul expresses concerning his brethren, his "kinsmen according to the flesh," when he says, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved," I hope I shall not offend in speaking my mind freely. From my knowledge of their Christian character in past years, their zeal and love of truth, I have felt confident that a considerable portion of them, at least, would embrace the light of present truth. They have been much slower to believe than I ardently hoped at the first; still the leaven is at work. Some have come out decidedly, and others, many others, are inquiring and will soon have strength of faith sufficient to believe the work that God is now doing in behalf of his down-trodden truth.
It was no wonder that so very few of them were affected by the first and second messages. They stood upon a moral platform consisting of ten good, sound, reliable planks, while those the Lord had moved out by his word and Spirit to announce the Advent messages had but nine sound planks, and, to make it still worse, a rotten one in the midst of their platform. But the Lord in his wisdom chose his own instrumentality. He knew how to commence a work that will gather his jewels of all denominations.
But when the third message reached me—when I could see that the Lord was causing the testimony to be bound up and the law sealed among his disciples—when I could see the harmonious fulfillment of prophecy in the Advent movement and the fruit of the work—the rejection of the rotten plank and the breach in the platform repaired, now, thought I, the Seventh-day Baptists can see the hand of the Lord in this, and those who keep the truth for the love of it, will certainly embrace these messages. Of course I was aware that it was with them as with other denominations. That "they are not all Israel that are of Israel." Some were Sabbatarians only because they were born such, and others had left their first love and fallen into the spirit and love of this present evil world. Still I believed that this message would gather a harvest of souls from among them; and though, as I said, they have seemed slow to believe, still I am no less confident in the good result.
I regard it as truly providential that their organ, the Sabbath Recorder, has been opened for the investigation of some of the truths we believe, and they have been discussing them among themselves for a few months past. The hand of the Lord has been in it, notwithstanding there has been too much levity with those who stood in defense of the truth as well as others. The advocacy of religious truth is serious business, and no less so in these last days of peril, while the wheat and the tares are being ripened for the harvest, and the strong delusion of Satan is abroad, that will deceive, if it were possible, the very elect.
The Lord opened the Recorder to the truth. And though there has been recently a rally of denominational pride, and its columns have been closed against it, yet the Lord will overrule even this for the furtherance of the gospel of the kingdom. The work of the Lord cannot be stopped by human power. Efforts to retard will only accelerate it. Human wisdom does not foresee this. Consequently it advances the work it would impede. Love of the truth cannot long dwell with manifest hatred of it. It is said that young eagles will not fly till they are pushed out of their nests. There have been some believers in the Advent truth, weak in faith, that have thought perhaps that the Seventh-day Baptist church would be saved in unbelief, or, at least, that they might safely remain with them. This mistake will ere long be corrected. The late rally against the truth will aid the work. The separation is inevitable; and in one sense I rejoice in it, in another I do not. Would to God they might all receive the truth, but they will not; and I will therefore rejoice that some will, I hope a large number.
The jewels will all be gathered by this last message. The work cannot fail, for God is its author. The Lord Jesus promised to come again for the salvation of his people, and he will fulfill his promise. He gave us signs of his near approach, and they have been fulfilled. He predicted the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom as a witness or sign, and it is being preached. He revealed through the beloved disciple the three messages that should precede his advent, and the last of the three has already spread from Maine to Minnesota, to California on the shores of the Pacific, and the sound is not entirely unknown on the eastern shores of the Atlantic. But while this message has converted a few thousands, Spiritualism has seduced its millions. Now is the time to choose which we will have. Now is the time to venture out on Bible truth, and throw our whole energies into the work of the Lord, giving our influence, our talents and our all without reserve to the cause of the Lord.