Once more I feel constrained to speak in vindication of the Sabbath of the
Lord our God. I have been privileged to read about all the articles which
have appeared in the BIBLE ADVOCATE, both for and against the Seventh-day
Sabbath, for about four months past; and occasionally a thrust and a
challenge from the Advent Harbinger, declaring that the law of God was
abolished more than eighteen hundred years ago, and that we have since
that time been under grace. The most that I have feared in this
controversy was, that it would not be continued long enough to bring out
the whole truth, to the utter confusion and dismay of these professed
Second Advent Sabbath breakers. One trait in their characters is now
pretty clearly developed, that is—they are Sabbath haters! The law of God
is nicknamed by them, the “Jewish Ritual,” the “Jewish Sabbath,” the
“Sabbath of the old Jews,” &c. &c., thus virtually showing up their
characters in these perilous times, according to Paul, as covenant
breakers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, denying the righteous law of God,
and yet professing to believe the whole word of God. “As Jannes and
Jambres withstood Moses” so do some of these leading men resist the truth.
“A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land, the prophets
prophecy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people
love to have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Answer—“The
soul that sinneth, it shall die.” I think it is becoming very evident that
they are fulfilling Rev. xii: 17, and xvi: 13, first clause. None others
so likely to deceive as these, because of their position in the near
coming of the Saviour. It amounts to almost an impossibility to get
_their_ definition of the _Law and Commandments_. One class will tell you
that the old and new testaments are the Word and Commandments of God. A
second will tell you that the new testament contains all the commandments
and teachings that are now required of us. I was informed of a company of
professed advent believers, not thirty miles from this, having become so
alarmed or tenacious, that they would not carry the old testament with
them to meeting on the first day. There was nothing in it, however, that
they feared but the commandment to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath. A third
class will tell you that baptism, the Lord’s Supper, washing one another’s
feet, holy greeting, and all the commands which are given, are
commandments. Joseph Marsh, editor of the Advent Harbinger, says we are
not under the law (of Moses) but under the law of grace, the new
testament. Now the Apostle James has given us a test which will utterly
confound all such unscriptural arguments, viz.: “Whosoever shall keep the
whole law but shall fail with respect to one precept hath been guilty of
all.”—[_Macknight’s trans._] Now to make it still plainer for us, he says,
“For he who commanded do not commit adultery, hath commanded also, do not
kill. Now if thou commit not adultery, _but killest_, thou hast become a
transgressor of the law.” Now I ask in all candor which of these _five_
are right? You answer, James, the inspired one. Well, does he justify
either of the other four? You answer no, for he has directed us to the
tables of stone, the ten commandments in the law, recorded in Exodus xx:
1-17. This is the true source. Is it doubted? Then here is the testimony
of Jesus in Matt. v: 17-19. Now read the 21st and 27th verses—the very
same ones James has quoted. See also the 33d verse, the third precept.
There are several others if required, but surely these two are clear.
Certainly no one will doubt from the above testimony but what the ten
commandments in the decalogue are all and the only ones that man is
required to keep, with the exception of the new one in John xiii: 34,
given for the church of Christ. But J. Marsh says, it is clear that all
the ten commandments in the decalogue were abolished at the crucifixion of
Christ. So says every one that takes this stand, and they quote for proof
2d Col. 14-17. But it happens very unfortunately for them all that James
saw his master crucified and his testimony is dated A.D. 60, about
twenty-nine years beyond their point of time, and shows us that the
commandments were as much enforced then and ever would be, as they were
when his master was crucified twenty-nine years before. Now I say that
this testimony pointedly and positively condemns them and will condemn
them at the judgment. For proof of this I appeal to the teachings of our
Lord Jesus Christ, what we must do to be saved, “_If thou wilt enter into
life, keep the commandments._” But some will say James called it the law,
therefore you must so expound it. I will let God and Jesus do that: God
says positively that the keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath is my
_commandment and my law_. Exod. xvi: 28, 29. So he has in other places
taught us respecting the whole decalogue, and so in like manner does
Jesus. Read the same question and answer recorded in Luke x: 25-28: “WHAT
SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE?” Jesus asks him what is written in the
LAW. He repeats the words of Jesus recorded in Matt. xxii: 36-40, or, in
37-39th verses. “_And_ (Jesus) _said unto him, thou hast answered_ RIGHT
_this do and_ THOU SHALT LIVE.” Now, if you want it still clearer, read
Matt v: 17-19. Law and commandments are here too, synonymous: “Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least [_laws_] commandments, and shall
teach men so, shall be in no esteem in the reign of heaven, but whosoever
shall _practice_ and teach them shall be highly esteemed in the reign of
heaven.”—[_Campbell trans._] That he is speaking of the law of
commandments in the decalogue is positive and clear from the 21st, 27th
and 33d verses. That he means the whole, is also clear from this and the
above quotations in Matt. xxii. and Luke x. Now if the keeping of the
commandments will secure us eternal life, and the violation of them render
us of no esteem in the reign of heaven, how can those enter there who do
not keep them, and especially such ones as Joseph Marsh and his adherents,
who are teaching the world that there are no commandments, and are
endeavoring to dissuade and discourage and reproach all of God’s honest
children, who are striving to be highly esteemed in the reign of heaven.
Does not the Saviour’s language as clearly apply to them now as it did
when he was permanently establishing and confirming this covenant, the law
and commandments of God, “putting them into our minds and writing them on
our hearts.” viz.: “Why do ye also transgress the commandments of God by
_your_ tradition? Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophecy of you saying,
this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with
their lips,” [They are advocating his speedy coming to judge the world.]
“but their heart is far from me. But _in vain_ they do worship me
_teaching_ for _doctrines the commandments of men_.” Oh, but say some, we
believe that the commandments are as valid now as they ever were. Why do
you then constantly and perseveringly reject, scoff at, and sneeringly
deride, and denounce, those that are as honest as you are, while they are
endeavoring to keep the fourth commandment just as God had directed them?
When you have been so repeatedly shown by their writings, drawn from the
clear word that the fourth commandment is not abolished and _never_ has
undergone any change more than the other nine, and that there is no other
weekly sabbath recorded or intimated in the old and new testaments. If you
will follow such downright infidelity as is taught in _all_ the second
advent papers respecting God’s holy sabbath, and still continue to
stigmatize the holy law of God, how can you expect to be treated otherwise
than the rebellious house of Israel, and be made to feel in a very little
while from this, all the horrors of a guilty conscience, urging you to do
that which you now detest and abhor: even to come and bow at the feet of
these very despised—as you are now disposed to term them—“_door
shutters_,” “_mystery folks_,” “_Judaizers_,” “_feet washers_,” “_deluded
fanatics_,” _&c._ _&c._ See Isa. xlix: 23, and lx: 14; Rev. iii: 9. Here
your characters are delineated. You say no, these mean the nominal church.
It is not so. _They_ have rejected the message of the second advent. And
_you_ since that time (1814) have rejected the word of God. Our testimony
will not be rejected when called for that you with us left them with all
their creeds and confessions of faith and professed to take the whole word
of God for our rule of faith and practice. This then is your clear
position, even while opposing the commandments of God. If you ask why I
speak in such positive terms about or concerning the commandments of God,
allow me to cite you to our history, Rev. xiv: 12. Is not this positive
proof?
Also in xii: 17. Do you not read your own characters as described above,
on the remnant of the last end? and are not these individuals who enter
the gates of the city the same remnant that are at last saved by keeping
the commandments? xxii: 14. Does not the 15th verse describe those who are
left out, “and whosoever loveth and maketh a _lie_.” How perfectly this
compares with what I quoted above, Rev. iii: 9. See also 1st John ii: 4.
“He that saith I know him and keep not his commandments is a LIAR and the
_truth_ is not in him.” You will possibly say the three texts which I have
quoted in Rev. xii., xiv. and xxii., have no reference to the Sabbath.
When I come to treat on the xiv. of Rev. I will look at this point. But
allow me to state here, that the first three commandments in the decalogue
have never been a subject of dispute (_separately_) in Christendom, while
the fourth _has_ been for fifteen hundred years. We know positively that
this is true in our second advent experience. Therefore it is plain that
by keeping the fourth commandment or the seventh-day Sabbath as it stands
recorded, and in the very time too in our history, we are clearly
fulfilling the prophecy, viz.: “Here is the patience of the saints, here
are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Allow
me to state my conviction here with reference to the great mass of advent
believers especially, that if they could quietly dispose of the
seventh-day Sabbath and sink it with the Jewish rituals, then they would
never raise their voice against the other nine commandments of God. This,
then, is the evident reason why they are wielding their puny weapons to
smite down the only foundation that upholds the old and new testament. It
would be much easier work for them to stop the raging of the hurricane.
God has them in derision, he will laugh them to scorn. But I must pass to
the examination of this subject, as I intimated in the beginning.