THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH NOT ABOLISHED.
BY J. B. FRISBIE.
“Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God : in it then shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day : wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath-day, and hallowed it.” Ex. xx, 8-11.
This is the only commandment that begins with the word remember. Why is this? Because in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, &c. and rested the seventh day and blessed it; and it appears that they had forgotten this day. This commandment refers to Gen. ii, 1-3. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Ezek. xx, 20. And hallow my sabbaths ; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. Jer. x, 1—12; Rom. i, 19, 20.
Acts xvii, 23. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, (or gods that ye worshipped, margin,) I found an altar with this inscription, To the unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto you. Verse 24, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands.
THE SABBATH LAW IS THE GREATEST OF THE TEN,
Because it is the only commandment by which we can know and remember God, that we may love and serve him in Spirit and in truth. God is to be known through the works of creation, and remembered by keeping his holy Sabbath. Thus, we may keep the greatest commandment in the book of the law, Matt, xxii, 36-38; Deut. vi, v. Love to God. 1 John, v, 3. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. How can we love him unless we know him ? And how can we know him unless we keep his holy Sabbath. Eze. xx, 20. When Paul made known the unknown God to the Athenians he referred them back to creation, to the God that made the world. Acts xvii, 23 ; xiv, 15. It cannot be possible, that the only commandment that God ever gave in honor of his holy name should be abolished. Upon the fourth commandment rests the true obedience of the first, second and third; for not one of these can be kept as they should be, without the knowlege of the true God, which is to be gained by the knowledge of the fourth.
THE SABBATH GOD.
After we know and remember God, by keeping his holy Sabbath, then the Bible will teach of his personality and dwelling place. Man is in the image and likeness of God. Gen. i, 26. And God said, Let us (speaking to his son) make man in our image, after our likeness. Chap, ii, 1. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life ; and man became a living soul. Gen. ix, 6 ; 1 Cor. xi, 7 ; James iii, 9. That which was made in the image and likeness of God was made of the dust of the ground called man.
This is known to be the true sense from other testimonies that may be given from the Bible. Jesus was in the form of a man and the express image of his Father’s person.
Phil, ii, 6-8. Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. 2 Cor. iv, 4. And being formed in fashion as a man, &c. Col. i, 15. Who is the image of the invisible God. Heb. i, 3. The Son ; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. In this sense could Jesus say to Philip in truth, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” John xiv, 9. Some seem to suppose it argues against the personality of God, because he is a Spirit, and say that he is without body, or parts. John iv, 24. God is a Spirit. Heb. i, 7. Who maketh his angels spirits. Who would pretend to say that angels have no bodies or parts because they are spirits. None the less is God a spiritual being having body and parts as we may learn by his having a dwelling place and because he has and may be seen. Ex. xxxiii, 23. And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen. Matt, v, 8. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Heb. xii, 14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Matt, xviii, 10. That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. Matt, vi, 9. After this manner therefore pray ye, Our Father which art in heaven, &c. John vi, 38. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Chap. xvi, 28. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world, and go to the Father.
Does not God say he fills immensity of space? We answer, No. Ps. cxxxix, 7, 8. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence ? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there, &c. God by his Spirit may fill heaven and earth, &c. Some confound God with his Spirit, which makes confusion. Ps. xi, 4. The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven : his eyes behold, &c. Hab. ii, 20 ; Ps. cii, 19. For he hath looked down from the height of his Sanctuary ; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth. 1 Pet. iii, 12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers, &c. Ps. Ixxx, 1. Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock ; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth. Ps. xcix, 1; Isa. xxxvii, I6.
John xiv, 2. In my Father’s house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. Rev. xxi, 2-5 ; Heb. xi, 6. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, &c. This testimony we deem highly important at this time, to know that there is a God. We have no doubt that if our eyes could be opened in vision, or see as angels see, we should see God in heaven sitting on his throne, and is present to all that exists, however
distant from him in his creation.
THE SUNDAY GOD.
We will make a few extracts, that the reader may see the broad contrast between the God of the Bible brought to light through Sabbath-keeping, and the god in the dark through Sunday-keeping. Catholic Catechism Abridged by the Rt. Rev. John Dubois, Bishop of New York. Page 5. Ques. Where is God ? Ans. God is everywhere. Q. Does God see and know all things ? A. Yes, he does know and see all things. Q. Has God any body? A. No; God has no body, he is a pure Spirit. Q. Are there more Gods than one ? A. No ; there is but one God. Q. Are there more persons than one in God ? A. Yes; in God there are three persons. Q. Which are they? A. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Q. Are there not three Gods? A. No; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, are all but one and the same God.
The first article of the Methodist Religion, p. 8. There is but one living and true God, everlasting, without body or parts, of infinite power, wisdom and goodness: the maker and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. And in unity of this God-head, there are three persons of one substance, power and eternity ; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
In this article like the Catholic doctrine, we are taught that there are three persons of one substance, power and eternity making in all one living and true God, everlasting without body or parts. But in all this we are not told what became of the body of Jesus who had a body when he ascended, who went to God who “is everywhere” or nowhere. Doxology.
“To God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit, three in one.”
Again.
“Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze,
Slows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees.
Lives through all life, extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided and operates unspent.”—Pope.
These ideas well accord with those heathen philosophers. One says, ” That water was the principle of all things, and that God is that intelligence, by whom all things are formed out of water.” Another, ” That air is God, that it is produced, that it is immense and infinite,” &c. A third, “That God is a soul diffused throughout all beings of nature,” &c. Some, who had the idea of a pure Spirit. Last of all, ” That God is an eternal substance.”
These extracts are taken from Rollings History,
Vol. II, pp. 597-8, published by Harpers. We
should rather mistrust that the Sunday god came
from the same source that Sunday-keeping did.
” Sunday was a name given by the heathens to the
first day of the week, because it was the day on
which they worshiped the sun.”—Union £ibk
Dictionary. Afterward modified by the Roman
Catholic Church, in the form we now find it taught
through the land.
It is very natural to suppose when the Pope set
himself up to be God in the temple of God, [2
Thess. ii, 4] that he should have a day sancti-
fied to his worship. This he has done.—Douay
Catechism, p. 59. Q. What is the best means to
sanctify Sunday ? A. By hearing mass, &c. This
saying mass is for the priest to gabble over Latin,
drink some wine, and give the people a wafer to
eat.
But God sanctified his day because be had rest-
ed on it. Another day for a very different pur-
pose. Gen. ii, 3.
In days before the moral fall of Babylon God
directed the minds of his honest children right in
their prayers, whatever they might think at other
times, but now since the apostasy the mind reach-
es to no god but to the people only, there are
many prayers to men we know by their effect and
eloquence. We are truly thankful to our heaven-
ly Father that he has led-our minds from such fol-
ly, to know, and remember his holy name by keep-
ing his holy day that we might love, serve and
worthily glorify him through our great High
Priest in the heavenly Sanctuary in this day of
atonement.
DESTINY OF THOSE WHO FORGET GOD.
Ps. ix, 17. The wicked shall be turned into
hell, and all the nations that forget God. Ps. 1,
22 ; Isa. Ii, 13 ; John xvii, 3 ; 2 Thess. i, 7. The
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flam-
ing fire, taking vengeance on them that know not
God.
The Sabbath was kept the same after the cruci-
fixion as before, which is good evidence that it
was not abolished or changed. First Proof, Be-
fore Christ’s crucifixion. Acts xv, 21. For Moses
of old time hath in every city them that preach
him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath
day. Acts xiii, 27. The voice of the prophets,
which are read every Sabbath day.
This does not look much as some tell us that
those who kept the Sabbath in old times did not
go out of their houses on the Sabbath. For it is
certain they could not have heard the . Books of
Moses and the prophets read in their meeting-
houses if they did not go out of their own houses
on that day.
Matt, xii, 5 ; Num. xxviii,’9 ; Lev. xxiii, 3. Six
days shall work be done: but the seventh day is
the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation, &c. This
was “a sacred meeting of multitudes for the solemn
worship of God, on the Sabbath,?’ an ” assembly.”
Mark i, 21. And they went into Capernaum : and
straightway on the Sabbath-day he (Jesus) entered
into the synagogue and taught. Mark vi, 2 ; Luke
iv, 16. And, he (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where
he had been brought up: and, as his custom was,
he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day,
and stood up for to read. Verse 31. Matt, xii,
12. Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sab-
bath days; That is, not contrary to the Sabbath
law. Jesus says, [John xv, 10] I have kept my
Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
” Who knew no sin.” ” Without sin.” 1 Pet. ii,
22. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in
his mouth. 1 John iii, 4. For sin is the trans-
gression of the law. So Jesus kept the Sabbath.
2d Proof. Christians kept the Sabbath the same
after Christ was crucified as before. Luke xxiii,
56. “And they rested the Sabbath-day according
to the commandment,” after the crucifixion. Acts
xi, 26. And it came to pass, that a whole year
they assembled themselves with the church, and
taught much people. And the disciples were first
called Christians in Antioch. Acts xiii, 14,15,
42-44. Paul and his company eame to Antioch
in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath-day, and sat down. And after the read-
ing 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. And when the Jews were gone
out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that
these words might be preached to them the next
Sabbath. Now when the congregation was bro-
ken up, many of the Jews’ and religious proselytes
followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to
them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of
God.” (Then Christians, to be sure.) And the next
Sabbath-day came almost the whole city together
to hear the word of God. Here was a very favor-
able opportunity for Paul to have told those reli-
gious proselytes who were in the grace of God,
Come together on the morrow and we will preach
to you; on the first day of the week ; for that is
the Christian Sabbath; or, if the Sabbath had been
abolished, to have told them, Why wait until the
next Sabbath; as all days are alike with us Chris-
ians. But no, they must wait until the next regular
preaching day came around; for we think Paul
had not heard of the change. Acts xvii, 2. And
Paul as his manner was, went in unto them, and
three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the
scriptures.
Acts xviii, 3, 4, 11. And because he was of the
same craft, he (Paul) abode with them, and
wrought: (six days:) for by their occupation they
were tent-makers. And Paul reasoned in the syn-
agogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and
the Greeks. And he continued there a year and six
months teaching the word of God among them.
Here it appears that Paul worked six days in the
week, and preached every Sabbath, and continued
seventy-eight Sabbaths. This is all-sufficient for
apostolic example to all who are not blinded by
tradition so as to see not, and drunken with the
wine of the old mother of harlots so as to under-
stand not, and deaf against the truth that they will
not hear.
After such an array of proof for Sabbath-keep-
ing set by the apostle Paul and Christians up to
A. D. 55, some 24 years after the crucifixion, we
will now give one and the only example, how Paul
kept the first day of the week, at Troas. Acts xx,
7, 8. “And upon the first day of the week, when
the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached unto them, ready to depart on the mor-
row ; aud continued his speech’ until midnight.
And there were many lights in the upper cham-
ber, where they were gathered together. When
he therefore was come up again, and had broken
bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till
break of day, so he departed.” Now 1 believe the
record, that they did break bread after midnight
our Saturday night being their first day of the
week, so in the morning at day break Paul depart-
ed on his journey and traveled all day, our Sunday.
CHANGE OF DAY.
This is every solitary example I know of in the
New Testament for keeping Sunday for Sabbath.
All can have the privilege of keeping the day af-
ter such an example if they choose ; but we dare
not do it at the peril of being found sinners in the
day of judgment, after the light has come. Sup-
pose the Apostle had preached on the first day of
the week, and broke bread Monday morning the
second day of the week, would this have changed
the Sabbath of the fourth commandment 1 Surely
not; for God himself could not have changed the
day, and have made the first the seventh, much less
the Apostle, who was butaman. If the congress of
the United States should pass a law that the fifth day
of July was the fourth, that would not make it so.
Neither if God himself should make a law that the
first day of the week was the seventh, that would
not and could not be. The original Sabbath was
known by Jesus when on earth. Since that,
we have the example of the Jews all over the world
keeping our Saturday for their Sabbath according
to the commandment. And it matters not how
much time has been lost by Church or State, the
Jews have kept the seventh in regular succession
to the present time. This is a point that is rarely
denied until we press home the duty of keeping the
Sabbath. See table of time in your Bible-Soci-
ety Bibles: 1st day of the week, Sunday; 7th,
or Sabbath, Saturday. Justin Edwards in his Sab-
bath Manual, argues a change of day. This is ac-
knowledged by all the churches in the land. They
do not pretend to be keeping what they call the
old Jewish Sabbath that existed 2500 years before
a Jew lived ?
Is Sabbath-breaking a sin ? If so, why did not
the apostle Paul condemn it as such.
If breaking any one of the other nine commands
be a sin, then the Sabbath law is ho less so, unless
it has been abolished. That it has not been, and
cannot be by God or man, we intend to prove.
Some may say, I keep a day now, a seventh part
of time. That is not what God requires in his law.
Not ?? seventh part of time, but the seventh day is
the Sabbath of the Lord. God says we shall not
add nor diminish from his law; but in this we have
to do both : first, strike out the, and put in a; then
strike out day and add part; strike out Sabbath
and add time. Now if we have liberty to mutilate
this holy law in this way, we might with the same
propriety strike out not, this little word, out of the
other commandments and then steal, kill, commit
adultery, bear false witness or what not. This
would not be changing God’s other laws any more
than it would to change his Sabbath, then rob God
of his holy day and trample it down with impuni-
ty. But the fact is, the seventh-part-of-time theory
is not the law ; for God calls it my holy day, and
there is but one day in the week that can be thus
called. Therefore a seventh part of time is any
time that any one may choose; and that which is
any time is no time: it is like to-morrow: it never
comes.
Furthermore Paul condemned Sabbath-breaking
by examples in abundance that we have given.
He also condemned Sabbath-breaking as a sin, by
teaching the commands of God and that the wages
of sin is death; therefore he condemns Sabbath-
breaking as much as any other sin in the Bible.
Those who would not keep the Sabbath upon
the original command, would not if it was stated
at full length in the New Testament before and af-
ter the cross. If-it was repeated before the cross,
the quibbler would say, that it was abolished at the
cross, and it would be expected that it would be
taught and kept then by Jesus and his disciples.
“If it was after the cross then they might say that
Paul circumcised Timothy and purified Greeks in
the temple after these rites were abolished and
were nothing; and that it was nothing more than
they should expect that Paul should teach the old
Jewish Sabbath; for he had not got over his old
Jewish notions and prejudices. So if any one is
determined to disbelieve, he will, do what we may
for him ; and the Bible will be insufficient for his
salvation. For if he is disposed, he can wrest,
cavil and quibble around the plainest matters of
truth in the world.
Some .are willing to admit that the seventh-day
Sabbath is binding, if it can be made out that the
first day is the seventh ; if not, it must be abolished.
We are willing to admit that all feast day sabbaths
wer# abolished as such, but not the Lord’s Rest-
day : that existed more than 2500 years before
these feast days were in being, or a Jew either. If
the seventh-day Sabbath occasionally became a
feast day and then was abolished as a sabbath feast
day, this would not alter or change it as the Lord’s
holy Rest-day; for that would remain as before.
1. The Sabbath is to be kept in remembrance of
creation. Ex. xx, 11. 2. The Passover in remem-
brance of Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt. Ex. xii,
14. The Lord’s supper in remembrance of Christ’s
death. 1 Cor. xi, 23-26. 4. Baptism to commem-
orate Christ’s burial and resurrection. Rom. vi, 4.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/RH/RH1854-V05-07/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=2
J.B. Frisbie
Seventh-day Adventist Doctrines 