The Holy Scriptures show a clear distinction between the law of God, and the law of Moses. Those who confound these two laws in one, cannot see and feel the force of the law of God, which is shown to be perpetually binding, and is so strikingly enforced in the New Testament. Such are in great danger of resting down on the view that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is abolished. But if it can be shown that the law of God, the ten commandments, and the law of Moses, or what the apostle Paul says is "abolished," which he calls the "enmity, even the law of commandments CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES, [Eph. ii, 15,] are two distinct covenants, then it will be clearly seen that the law of "ordinances" given to the Jewish Church could be abrogated, without affecting the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.
THE LAW OF MOSES, OR "THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES."
This law was written by the HAND of Moses, in a BOOK, which was called the BOOK of the COVENANT. To this the Apostle refers in the following words: "Blotting out the HAND-WRITING OF ORDINANCES," &c. Here we will give some texts of Scripture which speak of the book of the covenant.
"And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a BOOK, until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites which bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, take this BOOK of the law, and put it in the SIDE of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God." Deut. xxxi, 24—26. See verses 9—11.
"And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found a BOOK of the law of the Lord, given by the hand of Moses." (See marg.) 2 Chron. xxxiv, 14.
"And he read in their ears all the words of the BOOK of the COVENANT that was found in the house of the Lord." See 2 Chron. xxxiv, 30.
"And the king commanded all the people, saying, keep the passover unto the Lord your God, as it is written in the BOOK of this COVENANT." 2 Kings xxiii, 21.
"And they spake unto Ezra the scribe, to bring the BOOK of the LAW OF MOSES, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. See Neh. viii, 1—3.
"Then said I, lo, I come (in the volume of the BOOK it is written of me) to do thy will, O God." Heb. x, 7.
"Have ye not read in the BOOK of Moses." Mark xii, 26.
The "ordinances" of the Jewish law, contained in "the book of the covenant," shadowed forth the "good things" of the gospel. Its "carnal rites," "burnt offerings and sacrifices," and "meats and drinks and divers washings," were all blotted out, and nailed to the cross when the Lamb of God shed his most precious blood.
THE LAW OF GOD, OR TEN COMMANDMENTS.—
The law of God was written with the FINGER of God on TWO TABLES OF STONE, which were called the TABLES of the COVENANT. Here we will give some texts which speak of the tables of the covenant.
"And the Lord said unto 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.
"And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone written with the FINGER OF GOD." Ex. xxxi, 18.
"And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." See Ex. xxxii, 15, 16.
"And he wrote upon the tables the words of the COVENANT, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS." See Ex. xxxiv, 28, 29.
"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, 13.
"And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, EVEN THE TABLES OF THE COVENANT." See Deut. ix, 9—11; v, 22.
By this class of texts we learn first, that "the tables were the work of God," second, that he wrote upon them with his own FINGER, third, that the matter written was the ten commandments, and fourth, that the ten commandments, alone, are God's covenant. They are not called a part of his covenant, but "HIS COVENANT." The Great Law-giver spake this covenant from "the Mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a GREAT VOICE; and he ADDED NO MORE;" and he wrote it "in two tables of stone." See Deut. v, 22.
The ten commandments that God wrote in the TABLES of the covenant, with his FINGER, are a law of substances, bodies and not shadows like the law of ordinances written in the BOOK of the covenant by the HAND of Moses. The law of God is founded on obligations growing out of the nature of men, and their relations to God and one another; obligations binding on man before this law was written by the finger of God, and which continue to the close of time. The law of Moses, relating to outward observances which were not obligatory till they were commanded, was binding only on the Jews till the death of Christ, then it was abolished, and gave place to the "ministration of the Spirit."
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT.
"And they shall make an ark of shittim-wood: two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof." Ex. xxv, 10.
The Ark was a small chest, a little more than four feet, six inches long, two feet, eight inches wide and high. It was made purposely to contain the tables of the covenant. See Ex. xxv, 16.40Deut. x, 5; Kings viii, 9. Its place in the Tabernacle and in the Temple was the Most Holy, within the second vail. There, in the holiest place on earth, so sacred that no man entered it excepting the high priest, and he but once a year, God placed his covenant, his law, his testimony, even the ten commandments.
God has placed great honor upon his law. The Ark containing it was the strength and glory of Israel. When the tribes of Israel were about to pass over the river Jordan, "the officers went through the host, and commanded the people saying, When ye see the Ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall remove from your place, and go after it." See Joshua iii, 3. The priests took up the Ark of the Lord and passed on, and the people followed after. And when the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the Ark rested in the brim of the water, Jordan parted before the Ark of the Lord of all the earth, and the waters that came down the river rolled up and stood upon an heap.—The priests passed down into the bed of the river, where their feet stood firm on dry ground. There they stood with the Ark of God until all Israel passed over on dry ground. Twelve men were then selected to take from the midst of Jordan, where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones for a sign or memorial. And when their children should ask their fathers, "What mean ye by these stones?" they were to answer, "The waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the covenant of the Lord." And when the priests that bore the Ark came up out of Jordan, and stood upon the bank of the river, down came the waters of Jordan and rolled on as before. See Joshua iii—v.
The walls of Jericho fell down before the Ark of the covenant. Seven priests went before it blowing their simple trumpets of rams' horns. For six successive days the Ark of God, and the host of Israel went round the city, compassing it once each day; but on the seventh day, seven times. And when the seventh time was completed, the priests made a long blast with their trumpets of rams' horns, and Joshua said to the people, Shout, and down came the walls of Jericho flat to the ground before the Ark of the covenant. See Joshua vi. When Israel obeyed the ten commandments they were victorious in battle; but when any of them violated any portion of that covenant they were smitten, and compelled to flee before their enemies. Hophni and Phinehas the sons of Eli, violated the seventh commandment, and caused the Lord's people to transgress; therefore, when Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, they were smitten before them, and there fell of them about four thousand men. The elders of Israel said, "Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the Ark of the covenant out of Shiloh unto us." And when the Ark came into the camp, all Israel shouted, so that the earth rang again. When the Philistines learned that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp of Israel they were terrified and said, "God has come into the camp." "Wo unto us!"
But the Ark was not the strength of Israel at that time, for one of the ten immutable precepts which it contained had been violated. The Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and thirty thousand footmen fell. Hophni and Phinehas were slain, and the Ark of God was taken. When the sad tidings was borne to Eli, that the Ark of God was taken, he fell from his seat backwards, "and his neck brake, and he died." Eli was not so much affected in hearing of the slaughter of thirty thousand men, and of the death of his two sons: but when the messenger "MADE MENTION OF THE ARK OF GOD, he fell from his seat; for he knew that the GLORY HAD DEPARTED from Israel." See Samuel iv.
The Philistines put the Ark into the house of Dagon, their God, and in the morning, "behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord." They set him in his place again, and the next morning they found Dagon on his face again, with his head and the palms of his hands cut off: "only the stump of Dagon was left to him." See Samuel v. 1—6.
The Ark was in the country of the Philistines seven months, and during that time "the hand of the Lord was against them with a very great destruction," and they were exceedingly anxious to get rid of it, and have it go back, to Israel where it belonged. They finally made a new cart and laid the Ark upon it, and took two milch-kine, that had never been yoked, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. The Philistines then decided that if the cows went up to Beth-shemesh that they should know that the plagues that had come upon them, while the Ark had been with them, were from the Lord, but if they did not, then they should know that "a chance had happened" to them. "And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, LOWING AS THEY WENT, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left." The cart came into the field of Joshua, and the Levites set the Ark upon the great stone Abel. "And they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt-offering unto the Lord." The men of Beth-shemesh were curious to see what was in this wonderful chest, so they looked into the Ark, and God slew fifty thousand and seventy of them. "And the men of Beth-shemesh said, 'Who is able to stand before this Holy Lord God!'"
The Ark of the Lord was removed to the house of Abinadab, and Eleazer his son was sanctified to keep it. There it remained a long time until David with thirty thousand chosen men of Israel, went to remove it into the city of David. Uzzah and Ahio drove the new cart on which they placed the Ark, while King David and all the house of Israel followed, playing on psalteries, timbrels, cornets and cymbals. And when they came to Nachon's threshing-floor, the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah put forth his hand to steady the Ark, and God smote him for his error, and he died by the Ark of God. This terrified the King, and he said, "How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me?" So he would not remove it to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite. But when the King heard that Obed-edom and all his house were blessed because of the Ark of God, which had continued with him three months, he went and brought it into the city of David with gladness. And when they that bore the Ark went six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings, "And David danced before the Lord with all his might." See ii Samuel vi.
We have given this brief sketch of the history of the Ark of the covenant, thus far, to show that it was the strength and glory of Israel, and also to show how the Great Law-giver has regarded and honored his holy law. Those who presumptuously speak of the law of God with contempt, and call it "the old law," "the old Jewish ritual," "a yoke of bondage," "an old thunder and lightning law, which always was a curse to man," and a "miserable rickety old law," are to be pitied. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil."—Eccl. viii, 11. But their day is coming.
Both Testaments make mention of the "ARK OF THE TESTIMONY"—a chest, or Ark, containing an important TESTIMONY delivered by Jehovah. See Ex. xxv, 22; Num. vii, 89; Josh. iv, 16; Rev. xi, 19; xv, 5. This testimony is nothing more nor less than the ten commandments. It is often spoken of as "the testimony," and the "tables of the testimony." Why was it necessary that Moses should sanctify the congregation, and set bounds around the Mount as recorded in Ex. xix? Because the Great God was about to speak and bear a TESTIMONY to man, and in awful grandeur proclaim the "Royal Law." Lightnings flashed and thunders rolled upon the Mount, while God descended upon it in fire, and "the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly." Israel, in dismay, tremblingly stood and listened, while Jehovah uttered the words of the ten commandments, "And he added no more." This testimony, contained in about sixty lines of our pocket Bibles, God has honored far more than any other portion of his Word. He would not trust it in the hands of man alone, as he has the other portions of the Scriptures; but with his voice proclaimed it, and with his finger wrote it in tables of stone, which, during the Jewish dispensation were placed within the second vail of the Sanctuary, the holiest place on earth.
But where shall we look for this TESTIMONY in the present dispensation? Answer. In its proper place, in God's Sanctuary in heaven. It was also to be put into the mind, and written in the hearts of the people of God by the Holy Spirit. There is no Sanctuary recognized under the gospel as the Lord's, but the "True Tabernacle" in heaven, of which Christ is a Minister or Priest. See Heb. viii—x.
The heavenly Sanctuary is perfect in all its parts. It is called "a greater and more perfect Tabernacle." See Heb. ix, 11. If we would be correctly instructed as to its apartments and furniture, we should study well the Scriptures which speak of67the earthly Sanctuary, for when Moses was about to make it, God shewed to him in holy vision, the heavenly Sanctuary, and said to him, "See that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." This caution was repeated to Moses, even while receiving instruction how to make such small vessels of the Sanctuary as the golden lamps, tongs and snuffers. See Ex. xxv, 40.
From these facts, and many more of the same nature that might be presented, we conclude that the Temple of God in heaven contains the Ark of the testimony, the ten commandments; and this conclusion is backed up by a plain thus saith the Lord.
"And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ARK of his testament. Rev. xi, 19.
"And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the TESTIMONY [Holiest of all, which contained the testimony,] in heaven was opened." Chap. xv, 5.
The revelation of Jesus Christ to his servant John, while in the Isle Patmos, was A. D. 96. This was twenty-six years after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Therefore, the "Ark," and the "tabernacle of the testimony," of which St John speaks, must belong to the heavenly Sanctuary. THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY can refer to nothing but to that apartment in the "True Tabernacle" containing the Ark of God's testimony, which is the "holiest of all." The ARK OF HIS TESTAMENT can refer to nothing but to the Ark now in that apartment which contains the TESTIMONY that Jehovah delivered when he descended upon Mount Sinai in fire.—Will those who differ with us on these points just give a more harmonious exposition of them. How cheering and glorious is the sublime thought, to all who love the holy law of God, that in the heaven of heavens, the High and Holy One has placed the ten commandments beside his own Holiness.
I LONG TO BE THERE.
In the midst of temptation, and sorrow and strife,
And evils unnumbered, of this bitter life,
I look to a blessed earth, free from all care;
The kingdom of Jesus, and long to be there!
When this mortal body is racking with pain,
And demons are striving to trouble my brain,
I hope for the crown that the saints soon shall wear,
In the regions of glory, and long to be there!
When the wicked are scoffing—because I believe
The Saviour is coming, my pains to relieve,—
I weep for their folly, and bow in deep pray'r,
For Christ's coming kingdom, and long to be there!
By the sweet flowing River of Life I will sing
My triumph through Jesus, my Saviour and King,
And praise him who brought me, a sinner to share
A feast of fat things,—O, I long to be there!
I long to be there! and the thought that 'tis near
Makes me almost impatient for Christ t' appear,
And fit up that dwelling of glories so rare,
The earth robed in beauty, I long to be there!
THE TWO LAWS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
This is a subject of great importance. By not understanding it many have honestly supposed that the commandments of God were all nailed to the cross and abrogated. It is our object to show that the word law, so often used in the New Testament, does not apply to one and the same law, but that it sometimes applies to the ceremonial law of Moses, and sometimes to the ten commandments. If the word “law,” so often used in the epistles of St. Paul, refers to one law only, then the Apostle has often contradicted himself. Here we will give two texts from his epistles, which speak of the law, that the reader may clearly see the contradiction, if but one law is meant.
'Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace' Gal. v, 4.
'For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.' Rom. ii, 13.
Has the Apostle contradicted what he wrote to the Galatians, A. D. 58, relative to the law, in his letter written to the Romans two years after? This he certainly has done, if he refers to one and the same law in both texts. But we are not ready to admit that there is a contradiction in his testimony. Much rather would we admit the clear distinction between the two laws, than to thus charge the Apostle. When we apply the word law correctly there is no contradiction. To do this, we should study well the context, which, with the text, will determine the true application.
When St. Paul speaks of the law in Rom. ii, 13, he refers to the ten commandments alone. See verses 12—22.—That we may not mistake what law is referred to, the Apostle quotes three of the ten commandments, which proves it to be the law of God. 'The DOERS of' this law, says he, 'SHALL BE JUSTIFIED.' But when the Apostle mentions the law in Gal. v, 4, none of the ten commandments are referred to. He speaks of circumcision, which judaizing teachers were pressing upon the gospel church, and testifies that if they were circumcised they were debtors to do the whole law of shadows, of which the gospel is the body or substance, and Christ is 'end.' Surely, those who turned from a living substance, the gospel, and sought justification by the deeds of a dead law of shadows, had 'FALLEN FROM GRACE.'
We are often referred to Rom. Chap. vii, for proof that the commandments of God are abolished, and we are told that verse 6, shows that the law is dead. But we think it proves no such thing. Read verse 6, with the marginal reading, and it will be seen that it is the Christian, who has been convinced of sin by the law, has submitted to obey it, and has been made free in Jesus Christ, that is dead to the law, and not the law that is dead. 'But now we are delivered from the law, [condemnation of the law,] being dead to that wherein we were held.' The law of God condemns, and leaves the sinner bound; but through faith in Jesus Christ he receives grace and freedom. 'What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, [transgression of the law,] that grace may abound?' Or, shall we who have been delivered from the condemnation of the law, and have found pardon through faith in the atoning blood of Christ violate any part of the 'royal law,' because we have found freedom? 'God forbid.' For the moment we do we are bound by its condemnation again. And further, it cannot be the law of God that is dead, for this law is the very living instrument to convict the sinner of sin, and slay him as it slew Paul.
'What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, [tenth commandment,] Thou shalt not covet.' Verse 7.
'For I was alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.' Verse 9.
'Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we establish the law.' Rom. iii, 31.
The epistle to the Romans was written A. D. 60. The crucifixion was A. D. 31, therefore the Apostle's letter to his Roman brethren was 29 years after the 'hand-writing of ordinances' was nailed to the cross. If the Apostle wished to teach the Romans that the ten commandments had been abolished, and had been dead 29 years, that they were a 'yoke of bondage,' and if observed by them, they would fall from grace, as many teach at this day, we might expect him to write to them something as follows—Wherefore the law is unholy, and the commandment unholy, and unjust, and bad; instead of saying, 'Wherefore the LAW IS HOLY, and the commandment HOLY, and JUST, and GOOD.' Verse 12. Paul also says, 'For we know that the law is SPIRITUAL.' See verse 14. Who dare say that this was any part of that law of ceremonies that had been dead 29 years? 'For I DELIGHT in the law of God after the inward man.' Verse 22. Who will say that he delighted in a yoke of bondage? 'I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God.' Verse 25. Will any one say that Paul thanked God that he served a law that had been abolished 29 years, after teaching the Galatians two years before that if they sought to be justified by it they would fall from grace? Certainly no sane man will charge the great Apostle to the Gentiles with such contradictions and folly. Then we cannot avoid the conclusion that he, in his epistles, speaks of two distinct laws.
One was called a 'yoke of bondage,' Gal. v, 1, for when in force it could not 'make the comers thereunto perfect;' but now it had been dead 27 years. The other is called 'holy,' 'just,' 'good,' and 'spiritual,' and was the Apostle's 'delight.' James calls it the 'ROYAL LAW OF LIBERTY.' Chap. i, 25; ii, 8. One was the 'enmity, even the law of commandments CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES.' The other is the law of God the ten commandments. One was abolished at the cross, while the other remains as firm as heaven. Here we will add the testimony of Jesus in his sermon on the Mount.
'Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily, I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.' Matt. v, 17, 18.
To abolish a law is to destroy it. One of the great objects of the first Advent was to abolish or destroy the law of ordinances, to make place for the gospel. But there is a law which Jesus did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. The only way to fulfill this law is to keep it. See James ii, 8. This Jesus did; for he says, 'I have kept my Father's commandments.' John xv, 10. He who knew that men would make void the law of God, and think it abolished at the cross says, 'Think not that I am come to destroy the law.' He also, in an impressive manner, declares that while heaven and earth remain, this law in all its parts will remain the same. Not one jot or tittle was to pass from it. That none may mistake what law is spoken of here, Jesus adds, 'Whosoever therefore shall break one of these68least COMMANDMENTS, and shall teach men so. &c.' This shows it to be God's law of commandments. But to make it still more sure if possible, Jesus in verses 21, 27 and 33, refers to three of the commandments of the decalogue.
Men may teach for a few days that the law of God is abolished, that the fourth commandment is taken from it, that it is changed, or, as some say, 'relaxed;' but their assertions and sophistry wither before the plain and positive testimony of the Son of God, who has said, 'Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in NO WISE pass from the law.'
OBJECTIONS TO THE SABBATH ANSWERED.
AN EXAMINATION OF THOSE TEXTS USUALLY QUOTED TO PROVE THE ABOLITION OF THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH.
The principal passages of Scripture quoted to sustain the no-Sabbath system are from the epistles of the Apostle Paul. It is our object to show that these texts do not mean what they are said to mean, and also to show their true application. We fully believe that when their true application is seen, that they will not present the least objection to the perpetuity of the seventh-day Sabbath.
Objection 1. "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things; another who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not, judge him that eateth; for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be holden up; for God is able to make him stand.
"One man esteemeth one day above another; another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks." Rom. xiv, 1–6.
If we would rightly understand the words of the Apostle we should first learn the subject of his discourse. And here we would say that he makes no reference to any of the commandments of God in Rom. xiv. His subject relates to eating, and those feast-days which some of the church then regarded, while others did not regard them. The word eateth is mentioned in this chapter eleven times, eat three, meat four, and drink twice; but the Sabbath, which many suppose is the subject of this chapter, is not once mentioned.
That we may better understand the application of this, and similar portions of Scripture, let us take a brief view of some of the trials of the early church with whom the Apostle labored and suffered. A portion of the Christian church were converts from the circumcision or Jews, and a portion from the uncircumcision or Gentiles. The converts from the circumcision were inclined to still hold on to, and practice some of the customs and ceremonies of the Jewish religion, while the Gentile believers were free from those customs, having never been educated in them. Peter did not understand that the gospel was for the Gentiles also, until God gave him a vision upon the house-top, and sent him to preach to them at the house of Cornelius. He would not eat with the Gentiles or keep company with them until he was shown that God was "no respecter of persons." See Acts x, 1–45.
Certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren that they must be circumcised in order to be saved. "Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them," and then went "up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question." There they were met by "certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." After they had discussed this question, they came to the following conclusions, which they wrote and sent by chosen men "unto the brethren which were of the Gentiles in Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia."
"For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." Acts xv, 28, 29.
At Antioch, Paul withstood Peter to the face, and says that "he was to be blamed." His wrong consisted in eating with those who were converted from the Gentiles in the absence of those who were converted from the Jewish church, and then in presence of those from the circumcision refusing to eat with those from the uncircumcision.
"But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?" Gal. ii, 14.
With these facts before us we may see that the subject of the fourteenth chapter of Romans applied directly to the trials of the church in the Apostle's day. We may also see that this subject does not directly apply to the church at this day; for divisions relative to feast-days and eating do not now exist, as they did in the apostolic church. The Apostle was giving the Romans a lesson of forbearance in relation to the Jewish views of eating and feast-days which some still retained. "Let not him that eateth, despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not, judge him that eateth, for God hath received him."
He did not take measures to rid the church at once of all those errors which the converts from the circumcision were inclined to cling to. The Apostle even had Timotheus, his fellow laborer, "whose father was a Greek," circumcised, that they might better find access to the Jews. He was "all things to all men," that by "all means" he might "save some." But, says Paul, "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is something." [Whiting's trans.] Cor. vii, 19.
The keeping of the commandments of God is nowhere in the New Testament spoken of as a thing of little importance, as circumcision and feast-days are, but it is always made a test of christian fellowship, and eternal salvation. The uniform testimony of the New Testament writers relative to keeping the commandments is as follows. "If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments." Matt. xix, 17. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." 1 John v, 3. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a LIAR, and the truth is not in him." Chap. ii, 4.
Those who read only the fifth and sixth verses of the fourteenth chapter of Romans, which speak of regarding and disregarding days, without an understanding of the Apostle's subject may suppose that the seventh-day Sabbath is referred to. But an understanding of his subject, his trials, and his labors with his brethren at Rome, destroys all reasonable grounds for even an inference that he refers to the Sabbath of the Lord. It is urged by some that Rom. xiv, 5, 6, "refers to every day," therefore includes the seventh-day Sabbath. So it may be urged with equal propriety that some of the early christians lived without eating, from the expression, "Let not him that eateth, despise him that EATETH NOT; and let not him which EATETH not, judge him that eateth." It is evident that the words "eateth not" was spoken in reference to those things forbidden by the Jews. It is also evident that the words, "every day alike" had reference only to disregarding feast-days. "Consistency is a jewel," and should ever be seen in those who teach the Holy Scriptures.
Those who profess to believe that there is divine authority for observing the first day of the week as the Sabbath, should not refer us to Rom. xiv, 5, 6, for proof that the seventh-day Sabbath is abolished; for if they admit that St. Paul refers to a day of weekly rest, then their first-day Sabbath is at once overthrown. Therefore, those who observe the first-day are not wise in quoting this Scripture to prove us wrong in keeping the Sabbath.
We are told by many of those who advocate the no-Sabbath doctrine that if we observe the Sabbath we shall fall from grace and certainly be lost; and Gal. v, 4, is quoted as proof.—"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." But this does not harmonize with their own view of what Paul has taught in Rom. xiv, 5, 6. They first tell us that we may esteem the seventh day above the other six, and keep the Sabbath; or we may esteem all alike and work on all seven days of the week. In either case we are safe, if the Sabbath is not made a test question. And then we are told that if we do esteem one day above another, that is, observe the Sabbath, we shall fall from grace, and call down on our own heads all the woes mentioned in the New Testament against those who rejected Christ, and went back to the observances of the Jewish law. Again, if the word
The Sabbath and the Law
law in Gal. v, 4, refers to the ten commandments, then certainly those who observe nine of them, all excepting the fourth, are also fallen from grace. If we have fallen from grace for observing the fourth commandment we cannot be restored until we break it. And by the same rule those who observe nine of the commandments cannot be restored to grace, until they violate all ten of the commandments of God!! We leave the reader to decide as to the justness of this conclusion. Our object is to hold up the view that the commandments of God are abolished, in its true hideous form, that souls may take warning and not be devoured by it.
With the view that Gal. v, 4, and Rom. xiv, 5, apply to the case of those who keep the Sabbath, we will give the following. "One man esteemeth one day above another; [that is, he keeps the Sabbath and falls from grace;] another esteemeth all days alike. [He does not keep the Sabbath, therefore does not fall from grace.] Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." [That is, whether he should observe the Sabbath and fall from grace or not!!] Those who will search the Word for themselves may not only see the error, but the utter folly in applying these and similar texts to those who observe the Sabbath of the Bible. [To be continued.]