Kitabı oku: «The Seventh Day Sabbath, a Perpetual Sign», sayfa 5

There is still another passage, and I believe the only one, to which reference has been made, (except where he opened the eyes of a man that was born blind,) for proof that he broke the Sabbath. It is recorded in John v: 5-17. Here Jesus found a man that had been sick thirty-eight years, by the pool of Bethesda, 'he saith unto him rise, take up thy bed and walk, – therefore did they persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.' 16v. 'But Jesus answered them, my Father worketh hitherto and I work.' If they did not work every hour and moment of time, it would be impossible for man to exist: Here undoubtedly he had reference to these and other acts of necessity and mercy; but the great sin for which professors in this enlightened age charge the Saviour with in this transaction, is, in directing the man to take up his bed, contrary to law. It is clear the people were forbidden to carry burthens on the Sabbath day, as in Jer. xvii: 21, 22, but by reading the 24th v. in connection with Neh. xiii: 15-22, we learn that this prohibition related to what was lawful for them to do on the other six days of the week, viz. merchandise and trading. See proof, Neh. x: 31; also unlawful, as in Amos viii: 5. We need not nor we cannot misunderstand the fourth commandment taken in connection with the other nine; they were simple and pure written by the finger of God; but in the days of our Saviour it had become heavily laden with Jewish traditions, hence when Jesus appeals to them whether it is lawful to do good and to heal on the Sabbath days, their mouths are closed because they cannot contradict him from the law nor the prophets. The Saviour no where interferes with them in their most rigid observance of the day; but when they find fault with him for performing his miracles of mercy on that day, he tells them they have broken the law; and in another place, "If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision without breaking the law of Moses, are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day?" He then says, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." vii: 23, 24. Did he break the Sabbath? Now the law requires that the beasts shall rest; but what is the practice of many of those who are the most strict in keeping Sunday for the Sabbath. Sick, or well, ministers or laymen, do they not ride back and forth to meeting? Again, is it right and lawful to carry forth our dead on the Sabbath? or carry the communion service back and forth. The Apostle says, 'believe and be baptized.' Suppose this should be on the Sabbath and we were some distance from the water, would any one interfere with us if we carried our change of apparel with us and back again, or have we in so doing transgressed the law; if we have, it is high time we made a full stop. Jesus undoubtedly had good reasons for directing the sick man to take up his bed and walk, but I cannot learn that he justified any one else in carrying their bed on the Sabbath, unless in a case of necessity and mercy, such as he cited them to, as watering their cattle, and pulling them out of the ditch, and eating when hungry, and being healed when sick. Be it also remembered that when the Sanhedrim tried him they did not condemn him, as in the other cases cited; so in this, they failed for want of scripture testimony. He was the Lord of the Sabbath, and the law of ceremonies were now about to cease forever, the ten commandments with the keeping of the Sabbath therefore were to be stripped of these ceremonies and all of their traditions, and left as pure to be written on the hearts of the Gentiles as when first written on tables of stone, therefore Jesus taught that it was right to do good on the Sabbath day, and whoever follows his example and teaching will keep the seventh day Sabbath holy and acceptable to God. They will also judge righteous judgment, and not according to appearance.

There is but one Christian Sabbath named, or established in the bible, and that individual, whoever he is, that undertakes to abolish or change it, is the real Sabbath breaker. Remember that the keeping the commandments is the only safe guide through the gates into the city.

My friends and neighbors, and especially my family, know that I have for more than twenty years, strictly endeavored to keep the first day of the week for the Sabbath, and I can say that I did it in all good conscience before God, on the ocean, and in foreign countries as well as my own, until about sixteen months since I read an article published in the Hope of Israel, by a worthy brother, T. M. Preble, of Nashua, which when I read and compared with the bible, convinced me that there never had been any change. Therefore the seventh day was the Sabbath, and God required me as well as him to keep it holy. Many things now troubled my mind as to how I could make this great change, family, friends, and brethren; but this one passage of scripture was, and always will be as clear as a sunbeam. "What is that to thee: follow thou me." In a few days my mind was made up to begin to keep the fourth commandment, and I bless God for the clear light he has shed upon my mind in answer to prayer and a thorough examination of the scriptures on this great subject. Contrary views did, after a little, shake my position some, but I feel now that there is no argument nor sophistry that can becloud my mind again this side of the gates of the Holy City. Brother Marsh, who no doubt thinks, and perhaps thousands besides, that his paper is what it purports to be, THE VOICE OF TRUTH, takes the ground with the infidel that there is no Sabbath. Brother S. S. Snow, of New York, late editor of the Jubilee Standard, publishes to the world that he is the Elijah, preceding the advent of our Saviour, restoring all things: (the seventh day Sabbath must be one of the all things,) and yet he takes the same ground with Br. Marsh, that the Sabbath is forever abolished. As the seventh day Sabbath is a real prophecy, a picture (and not a shadow like the Jewish Sabbaths,) of the thing typified which is to come, I cannot see how those who believe in the change or abolition of the type, can have any confidence to look to God for the great antetype, the Sabbath of rest, to come to them.

Brother J. B. Cook has written a short piece in his excellent paper, the ADVENT TESTIMONY. It was pointed and good, but too short; and as brother Preble's Tract now before me, did not embrace the arguments which have been presented since he published it, it appeared to me that something was called for in this time of falling back from this great subject. I therefore present this book, hoping at least, that it will help to strengthen and save all honest souls seeking after truth.

A word respecting the History. At the close of the first century a controversy arose, whether both days should be kept or only one, which continued until the reign of Constantine the Great. By his laws, made in A. D. 321, it was decreed for the future that Sunday should be kept a day of rest in all the cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow husbandry. History further informs us that Constantine murdered his two sisters husbands and son, and his own familiar friend, that same year, and the year before boiled his wife in a cauldron of oil. – The controversy still continued down to A. D. 603, when Pope Gregory passed a law abolishing the seventh day Sabbath, and establishing the first day of the week. See Baronius Councils, 603. Barnfield's Eng. page 116, states that the Parliament of England met on Sundays till the time of Richard II. The first law of England made for keeping of Sunday, was in the time of Edward IV. about 1470. As these two books are not within my reach, I have extracted from T. M. Preble's tract on the Sabbath. Mr. Fisher says, it was Dr. Bound one of the rigid puritans, who applied the name Sabbath to the first day of the week, about the year 1795. "The word Sunday is not found in the bible," it derived its name from the heathen nations of the North, because the day was dedicated to the sun. Neither is the Sabbath applied to the first day any more than it is to the sixth day of the week. While Daniel beheld the little horn, (popery) he said, among other things, he would think to change times and laws. Now this could not mean of men, because it has ever been the prerogative of absolute rulers like himself, to change manmade laws, nor the law of Moses, for that had been abolished 570 years before the Pope finally changed the Sabbath to the 1st day of the week. Then to make the prophecy harmonize with the scripture, he must have meant times and laws established by God, because he might think and pass decrees as he has done, but he, nor all the universe could ever change God's times and laws. Jesus says that "times and seasons were in the power of the father." The Sabbath is the most important law which God ever instituted. "How long refuse ye to keep my commandments, and my laws, see for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath." Exod. xvi: 28, 29. Then it's clear from the history, that this is in part what Daniel meant. Now the second advent believers have professed all confidence in his visions; why then doubt this. Whoever feels disposed to defend and sustain the decrees of that "blasphemous" dower, and especially Pope Gregory and the great Constantine, the murderer, shown to be the moral reformer in this work of changing the Sabbath, are welcome to their principles and feelings. I detest these acts, in common with all others which have emanated from these ten and one horned powers. The Revelations show us clearly that they were originated by the devil. If you say this history is not true then you are bound to refute it. If you cannot, you are as much in duty bound to believe it as any other history, even, that George Washington died in 1799! If the bible argument, and testimony from history are to be relied on as evidence, then it is as clear as a sunbeam that the seventh day Sabbath is a perpetual sign, and is as binding upon man as it ever was. But we are told we must keep the first day of the week for the Sabbath as an ordinance to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus. I for one had rather believe Paul. See Rom. vi: 3-5; Gal. iii: 27; Col. ii: 12.

A word more respecting time. See 31st page. Here I have shown that the sun in the centre, regulates all time for the earth – fifty-two weeks to the year, one hundred and sixty-eight hours to the week, the seventh of which is twenty-four hours. Jesus says there are but twelve hours in the day, (from sunrise to sunset.) Then twelve hours night to make a twenty-four hour day, you see, must always begin at a certain period of time. No matter, then whether the sun sets with us at eight in summer or 4 o'clk in winter. Now by this, and this is the scripture rule, days and weeks can, and most probably are, kept at the North and South polar regions. What an absurdity to believe that God does exonerate our fathers and brothers from keeping his Sabbath while they are in these polar regions, fishing for seals and whales, should it be with them either all day or all night. If they have lost their reckoning of days and weeks, because there was, or was not any sun six months of the time, how could they learn what day of the week it was when they see the sun setting at 6 o'clock on the equator, if bound home from the South? By referring to Luke, xxiii ch. 55, 56, and xxiv: 1, we see that the people in Palestine had kept the days and weeks right from the creation; since which time, astronomers teach us that not even fifteen minutes have been lost. God does not require us to be any more exact in keeping time, than what we may or have learned from the above rules, but I am told there is a difference in time of twenty-four hours to the mariner that circumnavigates the globe. That, being true, is known to them, but it alters no time on the earth or sea.

But, says one, I should like to keep the Sabbath in time, just as Jesus did. Then you must live in Palestine, where their day begins seven hours earlier than ours; and yet it is at 6 o'clock in the evening the same period, though not the same by the sun, in which we begin our day. Let me illustrate: our earth, something in the form of an orange, is whirling over every twenty-four hours. It measures three hundred and sixty degrees, or about twenty-one thousand six hundred miles round, in the manner you would pass a string round an orange. Now divide this three hundred and sixty degrees by the twenty-four hour day, and the result is fifteen degrees, or nine hundred miles. Then every fifteen degrees we travel or sail eastward, the sun rises and sets one hour earlier in the period of the twenty-four hours: therefore those who live in Palestine, one hundred and seven degrees east of us, begins and closes the day seven hours earlier, so in proportion all the way round the globe, the sun always stationary! Then the Sabbath begins precisely at 6 o'clock on Friday evening, every where on this globe, and ends at the same period on what we call Saturday evening. God says 'every thing on its day,' 'from even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath;' 'the evening and the morning was the first day.' He is an exact time keeper! I say then, in the name of all that is holy, heavenly and true, and as immortality is above all price, let us see to it that we are found fearing God and keeping his Commandments, for this, we are taught, 'is the whole duty of man.' The proof is positive that the seventh day Sabbath is included in the commandments.

Bro. Marsh says, "Keeping the Sabbath is embraced in this covenant, Deut. v: 1-6, made with the children of Israel at Horeb. It was not made with their Fathers (the Patriarchs) but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. v. 3. This testimony first negative, he made it not with our Fathers, and then positive with us, is conclusive. Not a single proof can be presented from either the old or new testament that it was instituted for any other people or nation." Now it is clear and positive that if the Sabbath is not binding on any other people than the Jews, by the same rule not one of the commandments is binding on any other people, who dare take such infidel ground? Was not the second covenant written on the hearts of the Gentile, even the law of Commandments? which Paul says 'is Holy, just and good.' Thirty years after the crucifixion he directs the Ephesians to the keeping the fifth commandment, that they may live long on the earth not the land of Canaan. vi: 2, 3. Did not God say that Abraham kept his commandments, statutes, and laws? This embraced the Sabbath for circumcision, and the Sabbath were then the only laws, or statutes, or commandments written. The fourth commandment was given two thousand years before Abraham was born! Is not the stranger and all within their gates included in the covenant to keep the Sabbath? See Exod. xx: 10. And did not God require them to keep THE Sabbath before he made this covenant with them in Horeb? See Exod. xvi: 27-30. Does not Isaiah say that God will bless the man, and the son of man, and the sons of the stranger, that keep THE Sabbath? These certainly mean the Gentiles. lvi: 2-3, 6-7. Also, in the lviii. ch. 13, 14, the promise is to all that keep the Sabbath. To what people did the Sabbath belong at the destruction of Jerusalem, nearly forty years after the crucifixion? Matt. xxiv: 20. The Gentiles certainly were embraced in the covenant by this time! Why was it Paul's manner always to preach on the seventh day Sabbath to Jews and Gentiles?

By what authority do you call the seventh day Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath? The bible says it is the Sabbath of the Lord our God! And Jesus said that he was the 'Lord of the Sabbath day.' He moreover told the Jews that the Sabbath was made for MAN! Where do you draw the distinguishing line, to show which is and which is not MAN between the natural seed of Abraham and the Gentiles? "Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also!" Then Paul says 'there is no difference,' and that 'there is no respect of persons with God.' Is it not clear, then, that the Sabbath was made for Adam and his posterity, the whole family of man? How very fearful you are that God's people should keep the bible Sabbath! You say, 'let us be cautious, lest we disinherit ourselves by seeking the inheritance under the wrong covenant.' Your meaning is, not to seek to keep the Sabbath covenant, but the one made to Abraham. If you can tell us what precept there is in the Abrahamic covenant that we must now keep to be saved, that is not embraced in the one given at Mount Sinai, then we will endeavor to keep that too, with the Sabbath of the Lord our God. If the Sabbath, as you say, is abolished, why do you, JOSEPH MARSH, continue to call the first day of the week the Sabbath. See V. T., 15th July. If you profess to utter the VOICE OF TRUTH from the bible, do be consistent, and also willing that other papers, besides yours and the Advent Herald, should give the present truth to the flock of God. I say let it go with lightning speed, every way, as does the political news by the electric telegraph. If the whole law and the prophets hang on the commandments, and by keeping them we enter into life, how will you, or I, enter in if we do not 'keep the commandments.' See Exod. xvi: 28-30. Jesus says, "therefore whosoever shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom," &c. "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Amen!

GOD HAS MADE THREE EVERLASTING COVENANTS WITH MAN

The first one is the Covenant of Inheritance "confirmed unto Jacob for a law and unto Israel for an everlasting Inheritance." See Psl. cv: 8-11. Acts vii: 3-6. Eph. i: 14.

Second is an "everlasting Covenant of Redemption." See Isa. lxi: 8, 9. "I have made a Covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, thy seed will I establish forever." Psl. lxxxix: 2-5. See also 34-37 vs. "My Covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David, his seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me – It shall be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness in heaven." Isa. says it is sure, lv: 3; liv: 13, 14. Ezekiel calls it a Covenant of peace. xxxiv: 25. In xxxvii ch. 25 and 26 v. he shows clearly that David is Christ, and this "Covenant of peace is an everlasting Covenant with his Israel, and will be known when his sanctuary is in the midst of them forever more." 28 v. The very same is brought to view by Paul. Rom. xi: 26, 27.

These two everlasting Covenants are conditional, and in the future. The living saints of God inherit them by keeping the 'commandments of God and testimony of Jesus', which can be nothing more nor less than what Jer. and Paul calls the 'new or second covenant.' Jer. xxxi: 31-33; Heb. viii: 6-10; by us the Gospel Covenant, confirmed by Christ and his Apostles 1800 years ago. Dan. ix: 27; Acts x: 36-40; Heb. ii: 3, 4. The old or first Covenant was delivered to Moses at Mount Sinai 3337 years ago, and is about 1537 years older than the new, or second, or what we call the Gospel Covenant. Paul to the Heb. ix: 1, says, 'This first Covenant had ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary,' meaning the Old Tabernacle with all its appendages, (see 23 v.,) and was dedicated with the blood of bulls and goats. 18, 19 v. (Macknight's trans.). See also Exo. xxiv: 8; Lev. xvi: 15. This same Covenant was the ten commandments 'written on tables of stone by the finger of God.' Exo. xxxiv: 27, 28; Deut. ix: 9-11. Paul calls it the Ark of the Covenant. Heb. ix: 4. Moses built a Tabernacle for it. Exo. xl: 3, 21. David had it in his heart to build a house for it. 1 Chr. xxviii: 2. Solomon built the house (the Temple) and put the Ark into it. 2 Ch. vi: 11. These ten commandments then, was the first Covenant. The Tabernacle and all its furniture was appended to it, and was called the Sanctuary, the building that contained it. This Covenant was broken by the Jews, with whom it was first made. Deut. xxxi: 15, 20; Jer. xxxi: 32; Ezek. xvi: 5, 9; and xvii: 19; Isa. xxxiii: 8. Now how evident it is that the Jewish nation did not destroy nor abolish this Covenant by breaking it. As well may it be said that the man who violates the law of his country has abolished or destroyed the whole law. No, no! men can no more destroy the law God has made than they can put out the light of the sun. They can destroy themselves, but God's work can they never. Hear God speak and may his word annihilate every thought to the contrary: "The Lord thy God he is the faithful God, which keepeth Covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations." Is not this as much as 63,000 years in the future? Will he break it, then think ye? No, you know it means forever! Deut. vii: 9. Do you still doubt. Let him speak once more. "My Covenant will I not BREAK nor ALTER [look at this, you that say God has altered this Covenant so as to change this Sabbath from the 7th to the 1st day of the week.] the thing that has gone out of my mouth." Psl. lxxxix: 34. Then it is immutable! unchangeable! immortal! as well may man undertake to annihilate the sun. Jesus then, as I have shown, came to establish the new Covenant, and as I have before stated, he stripped off all these appendages, the law of ceremonies, the hand writing of ordinances, the carnal commandments (Paul,) from the first Covenant, the ten commandments, leaving them pure as when they first came from his Father's hand, and nailed as Paul shows to the Col. all these ceremonies to his cross, at the same hour he sealed the new Covenant with his blood, called the everlasting Covenant. Heb. xiii: 20.

Paul in the viii. ch. on this Covenant, extracts from Jer. xxxi: 31-34, which shows us clearly what he means (see 8-12v,) and says in the 7 v., if the first one had been faultless then no place could be found for the second. 6 v. says this covenant is established on better promises because Jesus is the mediator of it. xii: 24. In x: 15, 16, he quotes from the viii. ch. to show that the Holy Ghost is also a witness. See how, in ii. Rom. 13-16, "when the Gentiles which have not the law, (that is the ten commandments on tables of stone) DO the things contained in the law (the ten commandments) they show the work of the law (the ten commandments) written on their hearts, their thoughts in the mean while accusing, or else excusing, (when, Paul?) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by my gospel." Then it must be now. Oh no, says the reader, Paul means at the day of judgment. – I am glad you admit that condemnation overtakes the transgressors of the law written on our hearts somewhere. For proof that he means the commandments read 21, 22 v.; you will of course understand that it is not the law of ceremonies, for these had been abolished more than 25 years before. See chronology A. D. 60. Now see Heb. viii: 10 again. "I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts." This is the very same, the commandment, the covenant, for there is no other law called God's law that we can refer to in the bible but this. In Jer. xxxii: 40, the everlasting covenant which Paul quotes in xiii Heb. is the same promise as in Jer. xxxi.

Now in Ezek. xvi: 8. This is the first covenant to Moses; that it is broken see 59 v. 60-62, shows the second covenant as in Jer., read the history in the chapter.

In ch. xx: 37, where the promise is, "I will bring you into the bond (or delivering, see margin,) of the covenant." At first view it would appear as though here was another implied, but I think the preceding verses, particularly the 12th and 20th, show it to be the covenant in which the Sabbath is included, or it may be the everlasting covenant of redemption, given to Jesus just previous to the resurrection. Paul clearly shows that there are but two covenants under the law in his allegory to the Galatians iv: 21-27, and these two must of necessity, as I have shown embrace the ten commandments. Now has this new covenant been broken by man as was the first? Hear Isaiah: "Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty, the inhabitants of the earth burned, and but few left." Why? "Because they have broken the everlasting covenant." See xxiii: 5. Read the whole chapter. Paul says that the professed church in the last days will be covenant breakers. 2 Tim. iii: 2-5. (Macknight's translation.) This must of course be violating, especially, the fourth commandment, the Lord's Sabbath. It would be the height of absurdity to attempt to apply it to the first day of the week, because this is included in the six working days, which God never sanctified nor set apart for an holy day.

Now what is to be appended to this everlasting covenant (called new not in respect of its date: it being made from everlasting, and will continue forever,) to ensure us an entrance into the gates of the holy city. Answer. The testimony of Jesus. Rev. xii: 17. "That old dragon the devil is pursuing the remnant (the last end) of God's children, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." In the xiv: 12, John says the faith of Jesus, (same meaning.) Now what is this faith or "testimony of Jesus?" John shows that he was banished to Patmos for the "word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ." Rev. 1, 9, he says he "bore record of the testimony of Jesus," "and what he saw." 2 v. Just what Jesus had directed his disciples to do. See Math. xxviii: 19, 20. "Teach all nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." This then is what makes the covenant new, appending to it the teaching or testimony of Jesus, after the ceremonial law had been "nailed to the cross." Here it is perfectly clear that the everlasting covenant the ten commandments have undergone no change whatever. Indeed it is impossible that the law of God could be changed; do you say it is possible I may be mistaken? Then I will appeal to Jesus. He says "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail." You say this is no proof, for the law of God is the word taught in the old and new testaments. See here then, in Matt. v: 17, 18. Is not this the same law as in Luke 16: 17? Yes. Very well then, see next verse, here he unhesitatingly calls them the commandments; for proof that he means the ten commandments, read 21st verse, "shall not kill," now 27th "nor commit adultery," then 33d, "nor take God's name in vain." His exposition of them as a whole is certainly as clear as this in Matt. xxii: 35-40, reduced to two precepts, love God, and love your neighbor, on these two hang all the law (ceremonial) and the prophets. Dont you see then that if this law is taken away, changed or abolished, that the prophets must fall with it, as certainly as a building would if the foundation was swept away? – The argument is clear that the prophecies cannot be sustained without the law. Again, see Luke x: 25-28. The lawyer says, "Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus "said unto him what is written in the LAW? how readest thou?" He begins and quotes the two precepts (the essence of the ten commandments) given by the Saviour in Matt. xxii. Jesus says "thou hast answered RIGHT, this do and thou shalt live." Is this a safe rule for us? Yes, if you can believe the Saviour. I ask if it could be so if any of the law should fail? No, that would undermine the foundation. Then I have not appealed to Jesus in vain. If all of this does not convince you, just hear the Prophets. "The good man's delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night." Psl. i: 1, 2. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." xix. "The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." xix: 72. "Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." 165. Does the changing of the law by the little horn bring peace? "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination." Prov, 28: 9. Read this passage again. You that say the Lord is not so particular about his law, whether we keep this day or that for a holy day. He says "every thing upon his day." "Seal the law among my disciples." Isa. viii: 16. What for? "It will be binding on them in the new heavens and the new earth." 66: 22, 23, "To the law and the testimony." 20. What can you prove by it if it is changed or abolished? "He will magnify the law and make it honorable." 42: 21. How could he do that if he was going to change or destroy it. "The people in whose heart is my law, fear ye not the reproach of men." 51: 7. "After those days saith the Lord, I will put my laws in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts." Jer. 31: 33. Then we are certainly bound to obey them. "Her Priests have violated my law– and have put no difference between the holy and profane – and have hid their eyes from my SABBATHS, and I am profaned among them." Ezek. xxii: 26. It is just so; we believe it, Lord. It is even among them that say they are looking for Jesus daily.