The Sabbath In HistoryIllustration.Israel In Captivity. "To fulfil the word of the Lord, ... until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." 2 Chron. 36:21.1. When and by what acts was the Sabbath made?“And onthe seventh dayGod ended His work which He had made; and Herestedon the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Godblessedthe seventh day, andsanctifiedit: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”Gen. 2:2, 3.2. What division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?The week.Notes.—“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time intoweeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians,—nations some of whom had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”—Horne's“Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,”Vol. I, page 69, edition 1841.“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—“Brief Dissertation on the First Three Chapters of Genesis,”by Dr. Lyman Coleman, page 26.Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, show that the week was known at the time of the flood.3. How widely recognized is the seventh-day Sabbath in the different languages of the world today?[pg 458]It is very generally so recognized.Note.—Some years ago the late Dr. William Mead Jones, of London, published a“Chart of the Week,”showing the style of the weekly cycle and the designations of the different days of the week in one hundred and sixty different languages. This chart shows very vividly that the seven-day period, or week, was known from the most ancient times, and that in no fewer than one hundred and eight of these languages the seventh day is designated as the Sabbath, or holy day. The following is from this chart:—EnglishThe seventh dayThe SabbathHebrewShabbathSabbathGreekSabbatonSabbathLatinSabbatumSabbathArabicAssabtThe SabbathPersianShambinSabbathArmenianShapatSabbathTurkishYomessabtDay the SabbathAbyssinianSanbatSabbathRussianSubbotaSabbathPolishSobotaSabbathHindustaniShambaSabbathMalayAri-SabtuDay SabbathAfghanShambaSabbathGermanSamstagSabbathPrussianSabaticoSabbathFrenchSamediSabbath dayItalianSabbatoSabbathSpanishSabadoSabbathPortugueseSabbadoSabbath4. What reason did God assign at Sinai for having blessed and set apart the seventh day as a day of holy rest?“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.”Ex. 20:11.5. What promise did God make to Israel, through Jeremiah, if they would keep the Sabbath?“And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein;then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: andthis city shall remain forever.”Jer. 17:24, 25.6. What did He say would happen if they did not hallow the Sabbath day?“Butif ye will not harken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem[pg 459]on the Sabbath day;then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”Verse 27.7. What befell the city of Jerusalem when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 588b.c.?“And all the vessels of the house of God ... he brought to Babylon. Andthey burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.”2 Chron. 36:18, 19.8. Why was this done?“To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath.”Verse 21.Note.—Israel's Babylonish captivity, under Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, was seventy years long because that for 420 years, or for six times seventy years,—from the days of Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar's time,—they had largely neglected to keep the Sabbath. See Eze. 22:8, 26; Jer. 25:8-11; 17:24, 27; 2 Chron. 36:15-21. The seventy years' desolation made up for the 420 years of Sabbath desecration. So during the millennium, or the one thousand years after Christ's second advent, the whole earth will lie desolate, or keep sabbath, for one thousand years, because that for six thousand years the world's inhabitants have disregarded the Sabbath. See this period and condition pointed out in Rev. 20:1-4; Isa. 24:1-6; Jer. 4:23-27. The periods of rest and desolation of the land are divinely appointed sabbatical compensations for man's irreligion, as manifested in Sabbath desecration. They are impressive lessons on the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and the results of breaking and disregarding it.9. After Israel's restoration from the Babylonian captivity, what did Nehemiah say was the reason for their punishment?“Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, andprofane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?yet ye bring more wrath upon Israelby profaning the Sabbath.”Neh. 13:17, 18.10. How does he speak of God's giving the Sabbath to Israel?“Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, andgavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.”Neh. 9:13, 14.Note.—Let it be noted that this text does not say that Godmadethe Sabbath then, but simply that He made itknownto Israel then. They had largely forgotten it while in Egypt. See pages419,423.11. How did Christ, while on earth, regard the Sabbath?[pg 460]“And He 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.”Luke 4:16.12. By what did Christ recognize the Sabbath law?“And He said unto them, ... It islawfulto do well on the Sabbath days.”Matt. 12:11, 12.Notes.—William Prynne says:“It is certain that Christ Himself, His apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath.”—“Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath,”page 33.Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says:“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose.”—Morer's“Dialogues on the Lord's Day,”page 189.The historian Neander says:“Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—Neander's“Church History,”Rose's translation, page 186.Dr. Lyman Abbott says:“The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.Archdeacon Farrar says:“The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—“The Voice From Sinai,”page 167.13. What was the first effort of the Roman Church in behalf of the recognition of Sunday?In 196a.d., Victor, bishop of Rome, attempted to impose on all the churches the Roman custom of having the Passover, or Easter, as it is commonly called, celebrated every year on Sunday. See Bower's“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, pages 18, 19.Note.—This, Dr. Bower, in his“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, page 18, styles“the first essay of papal usurpation.”14. What was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice?“The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most[pg 461]important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy.”—Boyle's“Historical View of the Council of Nice,”page 23, edition 1836.15. How was the matter finally decided?“Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.”—Id., page 24.16. In urging the observance of this decree on the churches, what reason did Constantine assign for it?“Let us have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.”—Id., page 52.17. What had Constantine already done, in 321a.d., to help forward Sunday to a place of prominence?He issued an edict requiring“the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades”to rest on“the venerable day of the sun.”See Encyclopedia Britannica, article“Sunday;”and this work, page 443.18. Who did Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, and one of Constantine's most ardent supporters, say had transferred the obligations of the Sabbath to Sunday?“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath,thesewehave transferred to the Lord's day.”—Eusebius's“Commentary on the Psalms,”quoted in Cox's“Sabbath Literature,”Vol. I, page 361.19. What did Sylvester, bishop of Rome, 314a.d.to 337a.d., do for the Sunday institution by his“apostolic authority”?He officially changed the title of the first day, calling it theLord's day. See“Historia Ecclesiastica,”by M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. 4, cap. 10, pages 739, 740, edition Basilea, 1624.20. What did the Council of Laodicea decree in 364a.d.?Canon 29.“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honor.”—“A History of the Councils of the Church,”Charles Joseph Hefele, Vol. II, page 316.21. How late did Christians keep the Sabbath?“Down even to the fifth century, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church.”—Lyman Coleman's“Ancient Christianity Exemplified,”chap. 26, sec. 2.[pg 462]22. How generally does the historian Socrates, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, say the Sabbath was observed by the Christian churches of his time?“Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—Socrates's“Ecclesiastical History,”book 5, chap. 22.23. What day was observed in the dark ages by some of the Waldenses?“They kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.”—Jones's“Church History,”Vol. II, chap. 5, sec. 4.24. Who among the early Reformers raised this question of Sabbath observance?“Carlstadt held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament.”—“Life of Luther,”by Dr. Barnes Sears, page 402.25. What did Luther say of Carlstadt's Sabbath views?“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.”—Luther, Against the Celestial Prophets, quoted in“Life of Martin Luther in Pictures,”page 147.26. What claim is now made by the Roman Church concerning the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?“Question.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?“Answer.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—“Doctrinal Catechism,”by Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174.Note.—Through want of sufficient light and investigation, and because of the efforts of some who opposed the Sabbath during the Reformation, Sunday was brought from Catholicism into the Protestant church, and is now cherished as an institution of the Lord. It is clear, however, that it is none of His planting, but rather the work and result of apostasy. But a message is now going forth to revive the truth on this point, and calling for a genuine reformation upon it. See pages251-263, and next reading.[pg 463]Sabbath ReformIllustration.The House Of Prayer. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.1. What kind of worship does Christ say results from doctrines based on the commandments of men?“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”Matt. 15:9.2. What commandment did Christ say the Pharisees had made void by their teaching?“ForGod commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother.... But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.”Verses 4-6.3. What was the result of their course?“Thus have yemade the commandment of God of none effectby your tradition.”Verse 6.Note.—By a gift or dedication of property to the temple service, they taught that a man might be freed from the duties enjoined by the fifth commandment.4. What question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ?“Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?”Verse 12.5. What answer did the Saviour make?“But He answered and said,Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”Verse 13.[pg 464]Note.—What is true of the fifth commandment is true of every other commandment. If through tradition men set aside any other of God's commandments, the words of Christ to the Pharisees are equally applicable to them. They are guilty of making void the commandment of God, and of instituting vain worship.6. When, and by whom, was the Sabbath“planted”?“For in six daysthe Lordmade heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, andrested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”Ex. 20:11.7. Who claims to have planted the Sunday institution?“Question.—Hasthe [Catholic] churchpower to make any alterations in the commandments of God?“Answer.—... Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”—“Catholic Christian Instructed,”by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challoner, page 211.Note.—“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of‘the churchof the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’(1 Tim. 3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; forthere is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that therecan beauthority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, followtraditionin this matter; butwefollow it, believing it to be a part of God's word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter;youfollow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often‘makes the commandment of God of none effect.’”—“Clifton Tracts,”Vol. IV, article“A Question for All Bible Christians,”page 15.For further quotations on this, see pages441,444,455,456.8. When is final salvation to be brought to God's people?“Who are kept by the power of God through faithunto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”1 Peter 1:5.9. When God's salvation isnear to come, upon whom does He pronounce a blessing?“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”Isa. 56:1, 2.10. Is this promised blessing confined to any one class?“Also the sons of thestrangerthat join themselves to the[pg 465]Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants,every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant;even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.”Verses 6, 7.Note.—It is evident from these scriptures that in the last day, when men are waiting for the Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord to separate themselves from the world, to observe the Lord's true Sabbath, and to depart from all evil.11. What does God tell His ministers to do at this time?“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, andshow My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”Isa. 58:1.12. What message of Sabbath reform does He send?“If thouturn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”Verses 13, 14.Note.—The Sabbath of Jehovah is not now, by the majority even of professed Christians, called holy and honorable. By many it is stigmatized as“Jewish.”The Lord foresaw how this would be in this age, and inspired the prophet to write as he did.“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.”This is a strong expression, indicating that many would be trampling upon God's day, and doing their own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking God, and honoring Him by keeping the Sabbath holy.13. What will those be called who engage in this reformation?“And thou shalt be called,The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”Verse 12.14. What does another prophet say professed teachers among God's people have done?“Her priests haveviolated My law, and haveprofaned Mine holy things: they haveput no difference between the holy and profane; neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean,and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”Eze. 22:26.15. What have they done to maintain their theories?“And her prophets havedaubed them with untempered mortar,[pg 466]seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.”Verse 28.Notes.—Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says:“The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many barefalse witnessagainst Him, buttheir witness agreed not together.”Mark 14:55, 56. The lack ofagreementamong them was evidence in itself of thefalsityof their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better illustrated than in the reasons assigned for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:—One says the Sabbath has beenchangedfrom the seventh to the first day of the week.Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hencethere has been no change.Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, God did not appoint aparticularday, yetagreementis necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.Others, to avoid the claims of God's law, assert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which wasagainst us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ's resurrection, they say, has been chosen.Another class say they believe it is impossible to know which is theseventh day, although they have no difficulty in ascertaining which is thefirst.Some are so bold even as to declare thatSunday is the original seventh day.Others, with equal certainty, say that those who keep the seventh day are endeavoring to bejustified by the law, and arefallen from grace.Another class, with more liberal views, say they believe that every one should be fully persuaded in his own mind, whether he keep this day, or that, or none at all.Still again, as if having found the great desideratum or missing link in the argument, men credited with even more than ordinary intelligence, will sometimes declare that it isimpossible to keep the seventh day on a round and rolling earth; and yet, strange to say, they find no difficulty in keepingSunday anywhere, and believe that this day should be observedthe world over!Lastly, and more terrible and presumptuous than all the rest, some, like Herod of old in slaying all the children of Bethlehem in order to make sure of killing Christ, have gone so far as to teach thatall ten commandments have been abolished, in order to avoid the duty enjoined in thefourth. But as in the case of Herod, God's Anointed escaped the murderous blow of this wicked king, so in the judgment such will have to meet God over His broken law, and will find that the Sabbath precept stands there unchanged with the rest.Said Christ,“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”Matt. 5:19.[pg 467]16. What does the Lord say will become of this wall thus daubed with untempered mortar?“Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, thatit shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye,O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.”Eze. 13:11.17. When are these hailstones to fall?“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seenthe treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?”Job 38:22, 23.18. Under which of the seven last plagues will this hail fall?“Andthe seventh angelpoured out his vial into the air; ... and the cities of the nations fell: ... and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon mena great hailout of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.”Rev. 16:17-21.19. In order to prepare His people for that terrible time, what does God expect His ministers to do?“Ye have notgone up into the gaps, neithermade up the hedgefor the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.”Eze. 13:5.20. Instead of trying to close up this breach made in God's law [the loss of the Sabbath], and so make up the hedge, what have they done?“They have seen vanity and lying divination,saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.”Verse 6.21. During these closing scenes, what message is God sending to the world to turn men from false worship to the worship of the true and living God?“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.... Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.”Rev. 14:7-10.[pg 468]Note.—This is the last gospel message to be sent to the world before the Lord comes. Under it will be developed two classes of people, one having the mark of the beast (the Papacy), and the other keeping the commandments of God, and having His seal, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. See readings on pages259,446.22. What, besides attending and taking part in religious services (Luke 4:16), did Christ do on the Sabbath day?“Whowent about doing good.”Acts 10:38. See Matt. 8:14-17; 12:1-15; Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; 13:11-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-18; 9:1-41.Note.—When we come to study the life of Christ, we find that He did not make the Sabbath a day of idleness, nor even a day confined wholly to public and private worship, but one of active service in blessing others. On this day especially He went about doing good, ministering to the sick, and bringing relief to those long bound by Satan. Luke 13:15, 16; John 5:5, 6. And as He is our pattern in all things, we, too, like Him, should seek to make the Sabbath a day for helping and blessing others. To loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, deal bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and let the oppressed go free, is the fast which God has chosen, and the Sabbath-keeping most acceptable to Him. Isa. 58:1-12. In this kind of work and ministry there is room for a world-wide Sabbath reform.Brother! up to the breachFor God's freedom and truth;Let us act as we teach,With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth.Heed not their cannon-balls;Ask not who stands or falls;Grasp the sword of the Lord,And—Forward!
The Sabbath In HistoryIllustration.Israel In Captivity. "To fulfil the word of the Lord, ... until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." 2 Chron. 36:21.1. When and by what acts was the Sabbath made?“And onthe seventh dayGod ended His work which He had made; and Herestedon the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Godblessedthe seventh day, andsanctifiedit: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”Gen. 2:2, 3.2. What division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?The week.Notes.—“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time intoweeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians,—nations some of whom had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”—Horne's“Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,”Vol. I, page 69, edition 1841.“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—“Brief Dissertation on the First Three Chapters of Genesis,”by Dr. Lyman Coleman, page 26.Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, show that the week was known at the time of the flood.3. How widely recognized is the seventh-day Sabbath in the different languages of the world today?[pg 458]It is very generally so recognized.Note.—Some years ago the late Dr. William Mead Jones, of London, published a“Chart of the Week,”showing the style of the weekly cycle and the designations of the different days of the week in one hundred and sixty different languages. This chart shows very vividly that the seven-day period, or week, was known from the most ancient times, and that in no fewer than one hundred and eight of these languages the seventh day is designated as the Sabbath, or holy day. The following is from this chart:—EnglishThe seventh dayThe SabbathHebrewShabbathSabbathGreekSabbatonSabbathLatinSabbatumSabbathArabicAssabtThe SabbathPersianShambinSabbathArmenianShapatSabbathTurkishYomessabtDay the SabbathAbyssinianSanbatSabbathRussianSubbotaSabbathPolishSobotaSabbathHindustaniShambaSabbathMalayAri-SabtuDay SabbathAfghanShambaSabbathGermanSamstagSabbathPrussianSabaticoSabbathFrenchSamediSabbath dayItalianSabbatoSabbathSpanishSabadoSabbathPortugueseSabbadoSabbath4. What reason did God assign at Sinai for having blessed and set apart the seventh day as a day of holy rest?“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.”Ex. 20:11.5. What promise did God make to Israel, through Jeremiah, if they would keep the Sabbath?“And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein;then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: andthis city shall remain forever.”Jer. 17:24, 25.6. What did He say would happen if they did not hallow the Sabbath day?“Butif ye will not harken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem[pg 459]on the Sabbath day;then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”Verse 27.7. What befell the city of Jerusalem when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 588b.c.?“And all the vessels of the house of God ... he brought to Babylon. Andthey burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.”2 Chron. 36:18, 19.8. Why was this done?“To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath.”Verse 21.Note.—Israel's Babylonish captivity, under Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, was seventy years long because that for 420 years, or for six times seventy years,—from the days of Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar's time,—they had largely neglected to keep the Sabbath. See Eze. 22:8, 26; Jer. 25:8-11; 17:24, 27; 2 Chron. 36:15-21. The seventy years' desolation made up for the 420 years of Sabbath desecration. So during the millennium, or the one thousand years after Christ's second advent, the whole earth will lie desolate, or keep sabbath, for one thousand years, because that for six thousand years the world's inhabitants have disregarded the Sabbath. See this period and condition pointed out in Rev. 20:1-4; Isa. 24:1-6; Jer. 4:23-27. The periods of rest and desolation of the land are divinely appointed sabbatical compensations for man's irreligion, as manifested in Sabbath desecration. They are impressive lessons on the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and the results of breaking and disregarding it.9. After Israel's restoration from the Babylonian captivity, what did Nehemiah say was the reason for their punishment?“Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, andprofane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?yet ye bring more wrath upon Israelby profaning the Sabbath.”Neh. 13:17, 18.10. How does he speak of God's giving the Sabbath to Israel?“Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, andgavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.”Neh. 9:13, 14.Note.—Let it be noted that this text does not say that Godmadethe Sabbath then, but simply that He made itknownto Israel then. They had largely forgotten it while in Egypt. See pages419,423.11. How did Christ, while on earth, regard the Sabbath?[pg 460]“And He 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.”Luke 4:16.12. By what did Christ recognize the Sabbath law?“And He said unto them, ... It islawfulto do well on the Sabbath days.”Matt. 12:11, 12.Notes.—William Prynne says:“It is certain that Christ Himself, His apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath.”—“Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath,”page 33.Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says:“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose.”—Morer's“Dialogues on the Lord's Day,”page 189.The historian Neander says:“Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—Neander's“Church History,”Rose's translation, page 186.Dr. Lyman Abbott says:“The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.Archdeacon Farrar says:“The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—“The Voice From Sinai,”page 167.13. What was the first effort of the Roman Church in behalf of the recognition of Sunday?In 196a.d., Victor, bishop of Rome, attempted to impose on all the churches the Roman custom of having the Passover, or Easter, as it is commonly called, celebrated every year on Sunday. See Bower's“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, pages 18, 19.Note.—This, Dr. Bower, in his“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, page 18, styles“the first essay of papal usurpation.”14. What was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice?“The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most[pg 461]important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy.”—Boyle's“Historical View of the Council of Nice,”page 23, edition 1836.15. How was the matter finally decided?“Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.”—Id., page 24.16. In urging the observance of this decree on the churches, what reason did Constantine assign for it?“Let us have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.”—Id., page 52.17. What had Constantine already done, in 321a.d., to help forward Sunday to a place of prominence?He issued an edict requiring“the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades”to rest on“the venerable day of the sun.”See Encyclopedia Britannica, article“Sunday;”and this work, page 443.18. Who did Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, and one of Constantine's most ardent supporters, say had transferred the obligations of the Sabbath to Sunday?“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath,thesewehave transferred to the Lord's day.”—Eusebius's“Commentary on the Psalms,”quoted in Cox's“Sabbath Literature,”Vol. I, page 361.19. What did Sylvester, bishop of Rome, 314a.d.to 337a.d., do for the Sunday institution by his“apostolic authority”?He officially changed the title of the first day, calling it theLord's day. See“Historia Ecclesiastica,”by M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. 4, cap. 10, pages 739, 740, edition Basilea, 1624.20. What did the Council of Laodicea decree in 364a.d.?Canon 29.“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honor.”—“A History of the Councils of the Church,”Charles Joseph Hefele, Vol. II, page 316.21. How late did Christians keep the Sabbath?“Down even to the fifth century, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church.”—Lyman Coleman's“Ancient Christianity Exemplified,”chap. 26, sec. 2.[pg 462]22. How generally does the historian Socrates, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, say the Sabbath was observed by the Christian churches of his time?“Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—Socrates's“Ecclesiastical History,”book 5, chap. 22.23. What day was observed in the dark ages by some of the Waldenses?“They kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.”—Jones's“Church History,”Vol. II, chap. 5, sec. 4.24. Who among the early Reformers raised this question of Sabbath observance?“Carlstadt held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament.”—“Life of Luther,”by Dr. Barnes Sears, page 402.25. What did Luther say of Carlstadt's Sabbath views?“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.”—Luther, Against the Celestial Prophets, quoted in“Life of Martin Luther in Pictures,”page 147.26. What claim is now made by the Roman Church concerning the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?“Question.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?“Answer.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—“Doctrinal Catechism,”by Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174.Note.—Through want of sufficient light and investigation, and because of the efforts of some who opposed the Sabbath during the Reformation, Sunday was brought from Catholicism into the Protestant church, and is now cherished as an institution of the Lord. It is clear, however, that it is none of His planting, but rather the work and result of apostasy. But a message is now going forth to revive the truth on this point, and calling for a genuine reformation upon it. See pages251-263, and next reading.[pg 463]Sabbath ReformIllustration.The House Of Prayer. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.1. What kind of worship does Christ say results from doctrines based on the commandments of men?“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”Matt. 15:9.2. What commandment did Christ say the Pharisees had made void by their teaching?“ForGod commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother.... But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.”Verses 4-6.3. What was the result of their course?“Thus have yemade the commandment of God of none effectby your tradition.”Verse 6.Note.—By a gift or dedication of property to the temple service, they taught that a man might be freed from the duties enjoined by the fifth commandment.4. What question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ?“Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?”Verse 12.5. What answer did the Saviour make?“But He answered and said,Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”Verse 13.[pg 464]Note.—What is true of the fifth commandment is true of every other commandment. If through tradition men set aside any other of God's commandments, the words of Christ to the Pharisees are equally applicable to them. They are guilty of making void the commandment of God, and of instituting vain worship.6. When, and by whom, was the Sabbath“planted”?“For in six daysthe Lordmade heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, andrested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”Ex. 20:11.7. Who claims to have planted the Sunday institution?“Question.—Hasthe [Catholic] churchpower to make any alterations in the commandments of God?“Answer.—... Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”—“Catholic Christian Instructed,”by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challoner, page 211.Note.—“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of‘the churchof the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’(1 Tim. 3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; forthere is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that therecan beauthority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, followtraditionin this matter; butwefollow it, believing it to be a part of God's word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter;youfollow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often‘makes the commandment of God of none effect.’”—“Clifton Tracts,”Vol. IV, article“A Question for All Bible Christians,”page 15.For further quotations on this, see pages441,444,455,456.8. When is final salvation to be brought to God's people?“Who are kept by the power of God through faithunto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”1 Peter 1:5.9. When God's salvation isnear to come, upon whom does He pronounce a blessing?“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”Isa. 56:1, 2.10. Is this promised blessing confined to any one class?“Also the sons of thestrangerthat join themselves to the[pg 465]Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants,every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant;even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.”Verses 6, 7.Note.—It is evident from these scriptures that in the last day, when men are waiting for the Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord to separate themselves from the world, to observe the Lord's true Sabbath, and to depart from all evil.11. What does God tell His ministers to do at this time?“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, andshow My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”Isa. 58:1.12. What message of Sabbath reform does He send?“If thouturn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”Verses 13, 14.Note.—The Sabbath of Jehovah is not now, by the majority even of professed Christians, called holy and honorable. By many it is stigmatized as“Jewish.”The Lord foresaw how this would be in this age, and inspired the prophet to write as he did.“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.”This is a strong expression, indicating that many would be trampling upon God's day, and doing their own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking God, and honoring Him by keeping the Sabbath holy.13. What will those be called who engage in this reformation?“And thou shalt be called,The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”Verse 12.14. What does another prophet say professed teachers among God's people have done?“Her priests haveviolated My law, and haveprofaned Mine holy things: they haveput no difference between the holy and profane; neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean,and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”Eze. 22:26.15. What have they done to maintain their theories?“And her prophets havedaubed them with untempered mortar,[pg 466]seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.”Verse 28.Notes.—Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says:“The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many barefalse witnessagainst Him, buttheir witness agreed not together.”Mark 14:55, 56. The lack ofagreementamong them was evidence in itself of thefalsityof their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better illustrated than in the reasons assigned for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:—One says the Sabbath has beenchangedfrom the seventh to the first day of the week.Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hencethere has been no change.Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, God did not appoint aparticularday, yetagreementis necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.Others, to avoid the claims of God's law, assert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which wasagainst us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ's resurrection, they say, has been chosen.Another class say they believe it is impossible to know which is theseventh day, although they have no difficulty in ascertaining which is thefirst.Some are so bold even as to declare thatSunday is the original seventh day.Others, with equal certainty, say that those who keep the seventh day are endeavoring to bejustified by the law, and arefallen from grace.Another class, with more liberal views, say they believe that every one should be fully persuaded in his own mind, whether he keep this day, or that, or none at all.Still again, as if having found the great desideratum or missing link in the argument, men credited with even more than ordinary intelligence, will sometimes declare that it isimpossible to keep the seventh day on a round and rolling earth; and yet, strange to say, they find no difficulty in keepingSunday anywhere, and believe that this day should be observedthe world over!Lastly, and more terrible and presumptuous than all the rest, some, like Herod of old in slaying all the children of Bethlehem in order to make sure of killing Christ, have gone so far as to teach thatall ten commandments have been abolished, in order to avoid the duty enjoined in thefourth. But as in the case of Herod, God's Anointed escaped the murderous blow of this wicked king, so in the judgment such will have to meet God over His broken law, and will find that the Sabbath precept stands there unchanged with the rest.Said Christ,“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”Matt. 5:19.[pg 467]16. What does the Lord say will become of this wall thus daubed with untempered mortar?“Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, thatit shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye,O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.”Eze. 13:11.17. When are these hailstones to fall?“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seenthe treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?”Job 38:22, 23.18. Under which of the seven last plagues will this hail fall?“Andthe seventh angelpoured out his vial into the air; ... and the cities of the nations fell: ... and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon mena great hailout of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.”Rev. 16:17-21.19. In order to prepare His people for that terrible time, what does God expect His ministers to do?“Ye have notgone up into the gaps, neithermade up the hedgefor the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.”Eze. 13:5.20. Instead of trying to close up this breach made in God's law [the loss of the Sabbath], and so make up the hedge, what have they done?“They have seen vanity and lying divination,saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.”Verse 6.21. During these closing scenes, what message is God sending to the world to turn men from false worship to the worship of the true and living God?“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.... Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.”Rev. 14:7-10.[pg 468]Note.—This is the last gospel message to be sent to the world before the Lord comes. Under it will be developed two classes of people, one having the mark of the beast (the Papacy), and the other keeping the commandments of God, and having His seal, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. See readings on pages259,446.22. What, besides attending and taking part in religious services (Luke 4:16), did Christ do on the Sabbath day?“Whowent about doing good.”Acts 10:38. See Matt. 8:14-17; 12:1-15; Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; 13:11-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-18; 9:1-41.Note.—When we come to study the life of Christ, we find that He did not make the Sabbath a day of idleness, nor even a day confined wholly to public and private worship, but one of active service in blessing others. On this day especially He went about doing good, ministering to the sick, and bringing relief to those long bound by Satan. Luke 13:15, 16; John 5:5, 6. And as He is our pattern in all things, we, too, like Him, should seek to make the Sabbath a day for helping and blessing others. To loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, deal bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and let the oppressed go free, is the fast which God has chosen, and the Sabbath-keeping most acceptable to Him. Isa. 58:1-12. In this kind of work and ministry there is room for a world-wide Sabbath reform.Brother! up to the breachFor God's freedom and truth;Let us act as we teach,With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth.Heed not their cannon-balls;Ask not who stands or falls;Grasp the sword of the Lord,And—Forward!
The Sabbath In HistoryIllustration.Israel In Captivity. "To fulfil the word of the Lord, ... until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." 2 Chron. 36:21.1. When and by what acts was the Sabbath made?“And onthe seventh dayGod ended His work which He had made; and Herestedon the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Godblessedthe seventh day, andsanctifiedit: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”Gen. 2:2, 3.2. What division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?The week.Notes.—“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time intoweeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians,—nations some of whom had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”—Horne's“Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,”Vol. I, page 69, edition 1841.“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—“Brief Dissertation on the First Three Chapters of Genesis,”by Dr. Lyman Coleman, page 26.Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, show that the week was known at the time of the flood.3. How widely recognized is the seventh-day Sabbath in the different languages of the world today?[pg 458]It is very generally so recognized.Note.—Some years ago the late Dr. William Mead Jones, of London, published a“Chart of the Week,”showing the style of the weekly cycle and the designations of the different days of the week in one hundred and sixty different languages. This chart shows very vividly that the seven-day period, or week, was known from the most ancient times, and that in no fewer than one hundred and eight of these languages the seventh day is designated as the Sabbath, or holy day. The following is from this chart:—EnglishThe seventh dayThe SabbathHebrewShabbathSabbathGreekSabbatonSabbathLatinSabbatumSabbathArabicAssabtThe SabbathPersianShambinSabbathArmenianShapatSabbathTurkishYomessabtDay the SabbathAbyssinianSanbatSabbathRussianSubbotaSabbathPolishSobotaSabbathHindustaniShambaSabbathMalayAri-SabtuDay SabbathAfghanShambaSabbathGermanSamstagSabbathPrussianSabaticoSabbathFrenchSamediSabbath dayItalianSabbatoSabbathSpanishSabadoSabbathPortugueseSabbadoSabbath4. What reason did God assign at Sinai for having blessed and set apart the seventh day as a day of holy rest?“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.”Ex. 20:11.5. What promise did God make to Israel, through Jeremiah, if they would keep the Sabbath?“And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein;then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: andthis city shall remain forever.”Jer. 17:24, 25.6. What did He say would happen if they did not hallow the Sabbath day?“Butif ye will not harken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem[pg 459]on the Sabbath day;then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”Verse 27.7. What befell the city of Jerusalem when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 588b.c.?“And all the vessels of the house of God ... he brought to Babylon. Andthey burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.”2 Chron. 36:18, 19.8. Why was this done?“To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath.”Verse 21.Note.—Israel's Babylonish captivity, under Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, was seventy years long because that for 420 years, or for six times seventy years,—from the days of Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar's time,—they had largely neglected to keep the Sabbath. See Eze. 22:8, 26; Jer. 25:8-11; 17:24, 27; 2 Chron. 36:15-21. The seventy years' desolation made up for the 420 years of Sabbath desecration. So during the millennium, or the one thousand years after Christ's second advent, the whole earth will lie desolate, or keep sabbath, for one thousand years, because that for six thousand years the world's inhabitants have disregarded the Sabbath. See this period and condition pointed out in Rev. 20:1-4; Isa. 24:1-6; Jer. 4:23-27. The periods of rest and desolation of the land are divinely appointed sabbatical compensations for man's irreligion, as manifested in Sabbath desecration. They are impressive lessons on the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and the results of breaking and disregarding it.9. After Israel's restoration from the Babylonian captivity, what did Nehemiah say was the reason for their punishment?“Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, andprofane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?yet ye bring more wrath upon Israelby profaning the Sabbath.”Neh. 13:17, 18.10. How does he speak of God's giving the Sabbath to Israel?“Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, andgavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.”Neh. 9:13, 14.Note.—Let it be noted that this text does not say that Godmadethe Sabbath then, but simply that He made itknownto Israel then. They had largely forgotten it while in Egypt. See pages419,423.11. How did Christ, while on earth, regard the Sabbath?[pg 460]“And He 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.”Luke 4:16.12. By what did Christ recognize the Sabbath law?“And He said unto them, ... It islawfulto do well on the Sabbath days.”Matt. 12:11, 12.Notes.—William Prynne says:“It is certain that Christ Himself, His apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath.”—“Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath,”page 33.Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says:“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose.”—Morer's“Dialogues on the Lord's Day,”page 189.The historian Neander says:“Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—Neander's“Church History,”Rose's translation, page 186.Dr. Lyman Abbott says:“The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.Archdeacon Farrar says:“The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—“The Voice From Sinai,”page 167.13. What was the first effort of the Roman Church in behalf of the recognition of Sunday?In 196a.d., Victor, bishop of Rome, attempted to impose on all the churches the Roman custom of having the Passover, or Easter, as it is commonly called, celebrated every year on Sunday. See Bower's“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, pages 18, 19.Note.—This, Dr. Bower, in his“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, page 18, styles“the first essay of papal usurpation.”14. What was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice?“The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most[pg 461]important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy.”—Boyle's“Historical View of the Council of Nice,”page 23, edition 1836.15. How was the matter finally decided?“Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.”—Id., page 24.16. In urging the observance of this decree on the churches, what reason did Constantine assign for it?“Let us have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.”—Id., page 52.17. What had Constantine already done, in 321a.d., to help forward Sunday to a place of prominence?He issued an edict requiring“the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades”to rest on“the venerable day of the sun.”See Encyclopedia Britannica, article“Sunday;”and this work, page 443.18. Who did Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, and one of Constantine's most ardent supporters, say had transferred the obligations of the Sabbath to Sunday?“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath,thesewehave transferred to the Lord's day.”—Eusebius's“Commentary on the Psalms,”quoted in Cox's“Sabbath Literature,”Vol. I, page 361.19. What did Sylvester, bishop of Rome, 314a.d.to 337a.d., do for the Sunday institution by his“apostolic authority”?He officially changed the title of the first day, calling it theLord's day. See“Historia Ecclesiastica,”by M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. 4, cap. 10, pages 739, 740, edition Basilea, 1624.20. What did the Council of Laodicea decree in 364a.d.?Canon 29.“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honor.”—“A History of the Councils of the Church,”Charles Joseph Hefele, Vol. II, page 316.21. How late did Christians keep the Sabbath?“Down even to the fifth century, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church.”—Lyman Coleman's“Ancient Christianity Exemplified,”chap. 26, sec. 2.[pg 462]22. How generally does the historian Socrates, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, say the Sabbath was observed by the Christian churches of his time?“Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—Socrates's“Ecclesiastical History,”book 5, chap. 22.23. What day was observed in the dark ages by some of the Waldenses?“They kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.”—Jones's“Church History,”Vol. II, chap. 5, sec. 4.24. Who among the early Reformers raised this question of Sabbath observance?“Carlstadt held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament.”—“Life of Luther,”by Dr. Barnes Sears, page 402.25. What did Luther say of Carlstadt's Sabbath views?“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.”—Luther, Against the Celestial Prophets, quoted in“Life of Martin Luther in Pictures,”page 147.26. What claim is now made by the Roman Church concerning the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?“Question.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?“Answer.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—“Doctrinal Catechism,”by Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174.Note.—Through want of sufficient light and investigation, and because of the efforts of some who opposed the Sabbath during the Reformation, Sunday was brought from Catholicism into the Protestant church, and is now cherished as an institution of the Lord. It is clear, however, that it is none of His planting, but rather the work and result of apostasy. But a message is now going forth to revive the truth on this point, and calling for a genuine reformation upon it. See pages251-263, and next reading.[pg 463]Sabbath ReformIllustration.The House Of Prayer. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.1. What kind of worship does Christ say results from doctrines based on the commandments of men?“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”Matt. 15:9.2. What commandment did Christ say the Pharisees had made void by their teaching?“ForGod commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother.... But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.”Verses 4-6.3. What was the result of their course?“Thus have yemade the commandment of God of none effectby your tradition.”Verse 6.Note.—By a gift or dedication of property to the temple service, they taught that a man might be freed from the duties enjoined by the fifth commandment.4. What question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ?“Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?”Verse 12.5. What answer did the Saviour make?“But He answered and said,Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”Verse 13.[pg 464]Note.—What is true of the fifth commandment is true of every other commandment. If through tradition men set aside any other of God's commandments, the words of Christ to the Pharisees are equally applicable to them. They are guilty of making void the commandment of God, and of instituting vain worship.6. When, and by whom, was the Sabbath“planted”?“For in six daysthe Lordmade heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, andrested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”Ex. 20:11.7. Who claims to have planted the Sunday institution?“Question.—Hasthe [Catholic] churchpower to make any alterations in the commandments of God?“Answer.—... Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”—“Catholic Christian Instructed,”by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challoner, page 211.Note.—“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of‘the churchof the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’(1 Tim. 3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; forthere is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that therecan beauthority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, followtraditionin this matter; butwefollow it, believing it to be a part of God's word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter;youfollow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often‘makes the commandment of God of none effect.’”—“Clifton Tracts,”Vol. IV, article“A Question for All Bible Christians,”page 15.For further quotations on this, see pages441,444,455,456.8. When is final salvation to be brought to God's people?“Who are kept by the power of God through faithunto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”1 Peter 1:5.9. When God's salvation isnear to come, upon whom does He pronounce a blessing?“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”Isa. 56:1, 2.10. Is this promised blessing confined to any one class?“Also the sons of thestrangerthat join themselves to the[pg 465]Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants,every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant;even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.”Verses 6, 7.Note.—It is evident from these scriptures that in the last day, when men are waiting for the Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord to separate themselves from the world, to observe the Lord's true Sabbath, and to depart from all evil.11. What does God tell His ministers to do at this time?“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, andshow My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”Isa. 58:1.12. What message of Sabbath reform does He send?“If thouturn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”Verses 13, 14.Note.—The Sabbath of Jehovah is not now, by the majority even of professed Christians, called holy and honorable. By many it is stigmatized as“Jewish.”The Lord foresaw how this would be in this age, and inspired the prophet to write as he did.“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.”This is a strong expression, indicating that many would be trampling upon God's day, and doing their own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking God, and honoring Him by keeping the Sabbath holy.13. What will those be called who engage in this reformation?“And thou shalt be called,The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”Verse 12.14. What does another prophet say professed teachers among God's people have done?“Her priests haveviolated My law, and haveprofaned Mine holy things: they haveput no difference between the holy and profane; neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean,and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”Eze. 22:26.15. What have they done to maintain their theories?“And her prophets havedaubed them with untempered mortar,[pg 466]seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.”Verse 28.Notes.—Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says:“The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many barefalse witnessagainst Him, buttheir witness agreed not together.”Mark 14:55, 56. The lack ofagreementamong them was evidence in itself of thefalsityof their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better illustrated than in the reasons assigned for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:—One says the Sabbath has beenchangedfrom the seventh to the first day of the week.Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hencethere has been no change.Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, God did not appoint aparticularday, yetagreementis necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.Others, to avoid the claims of God's law, assert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which wasagainst us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ's resurrection, they say, has been chosen.Another class say they believe it is impossible to know which is theseventh day, although they have no difficulty in ascertaining which is thefirst.Some are so bold even as to declare thatSunday is the original seventh day.Others, with equal certainty, say that those who keep the seventh day are endeavoring to bejustified by the law, and arefallen from grace.Another class, with more liberal views, say they believe that every one should be fully persuaded in his own mind, whether he keep this day, or that, or none at all.Still again, as if having found the great desideratum or missing link in the argument, men credited with even more than ordinary intelligence, will sometimes declare that it isimpossible to keep the seventh day on a round and rolling earth; and yet, strange to say, they find no difficulty in keepingSunday anywhere, and believe that this day should be observedthe world over!Lastly, and more terrible and presumptuous than all the rest, some, like Herod of old in slaying all the children of Bethlehem in order to make sure of killing Christ, have gone so far as to teach thatall ten commandments have been abolished, in order to avoid the duty enjoined in thefourth. But as in the case of Herod, God's Anointed escaped the murderous blow of this wicked king, so in the judgment such will have to meet God over His broken law, and will find that the Sabbath precept stands there unchanged with the rest.Said Christ,“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”Matt. 5:19.[pg 467]16. What does the Lord say will become of this wall thus daubed with untempered mortar?“Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, thatit shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye,O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.”Eze. 13:11.17. When are these hailstones to fall?“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seenthe treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?”Job 38:22, 23.18. Under which of the seven last plagues will this hail fall?“Andthe seventh angelpoured out his vial into the air; ... and the cities of the nations fell: ... and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon mena great hailout of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.”Rev. 16:17-21.19. In order to prepare His people for that terrible time, what does God expect His ministers to do?“Ye have notgone up into the gaps, neithermade up the hedgefor the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.”Eze. 13:5.20. Instead of trying to close up this breach made in God's law [the loss of the Sabbath], and so make up the hedge, what have they done?“They have seen vanity and lying divination,saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.”Verse 6.21. During these closing scenes, what message is God sending to the world to turn men from false worship to the worship of the true and living God?“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.... Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.”Rev. 14:7-10.[pg 468]Note.—This is the last gospel message to be sent to the world before the Lord comes. Under it will be developed two classes of people, one having the mark of the beast (the Papacy), and the other keeping the commandments of God, and having His seal, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. See readings on pages259,446.22. What, besides attending and taking part in religious services (Luke 4:16), did Christ do on the Sabbath day?“Whowent about doing good.”Acts 10:38. See Matt. 8:14-17; 12:1-15; Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; 13:11-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-18; 9:1-41.Note.—When we come to study the life of Christ, we find that He did not make the Sabbath a day of idleness, nor even a day confined wholly to public and private worship, but one of active service in blessing others. On this day especially He went about doing good, ministering to the sick, and bringing relief to those long bound by Satan. Luke 13:15, 16; John 5:5, 6. And as He is our pattern in all things, we, too, like Him, should seek to make the Sabbath a day for helping and blessing others. To loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, deal bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and let the oppressed go free, is the fast which God has chosen, and the Sabbath-keeping most acceptable to Him. Isa. 58:1-12. In this kind of work and ministry there is room for a world-wide Sabbath reform.Brother! up to the breachFor God's freedom and truth;Let us act as we teach,With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth.Heed not their cannon-balls;Ask not who stands or falls;Grasp the sword of the Lord,And—Forward!
The Sabbath In HistoryIllustration.Israel In Captivity. "To fulfil the word of the Lord, ... until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." 2 Chron. 36:21.1. When and by what acts was the Sabbath made?“And onthe seventh dayGod ended His work which He had made; and Herestedon the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Godblessedthe seventh day, andsanctifiedit: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”Gen. 2:2, 3.2. What division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?The week.Notes.—“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time intoweeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians,—nations some of whom had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”—Horne's“Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,”Vol. I, page 69, edition 1841.“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—“Brief Dissertation on the First Three Chapters of Genesis,”by Dr. Lyman Coleman, page 26.Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, show that the week was known at the time of the flood.3. How widely recognized is the seventh-day Sabbath in the different languages of the world today?[pg 458]It is very generally so recognized.Note.—Some years ago the late Dr. William Mead Jones, of London, published a“Chart of the Week,”showing the style of the weekly cycle and the designations of the different days of the week in one hundred and sixty different languages. This chart shows very vividly that the seven-day period, or week, was known from the most ancient times, and that in no fewer than one hundred and eight of these languages the seventh day is designated as the Sabbath, or holy day. The following is from this chart:—EnglishThe seventh dayThe SabbathHebrewShabbathSabbathGreekSabbatonSabbathLatinSabbatumSabbathArabicAssabtThe SabbathPersianShambinSabbathArmenianShapatSabbathTurkishYomessabtDay the SabbathAbyssinianSanbatSabbathRussianSubbotaSabbathPolishSobotaSabbathHindustaniShambaSabbathMalayAri-SabtuDay SabbathAfghanShambaSabbathGermanSamstagSabbathPrussianSabaticoSabbathFrenchSamediSabbath dayItalianSabbatoSabbathSpanishSabadoSabbathPortugueseSabbadoSabbath4. What reason did God assign at Sinai for having blessed and set apart the seventh day as a day of holy rest?“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.”Ex. 20:11.5. What promise did God make to Israel, through Jeremiah, if they would keep the Sabbath?“And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein;then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: andthis city shall remain forever.”Jer. 17:24, 25.6. What did He say would happen if they did not hallow the Sabbath day?“Butif ye will not harken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem[pg 459]on the Sabbath day;then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”Verse 27.7. What befell the city of Jerusalem when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 588b.c.?“And all the vessels of the house of God ... he brought to Babylon. Andthey burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.”2 Chron. 36:18, 19.8. Why was this done?“To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath.”Verse 21.Note.—Israel's Babylonish captivity, under Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, was seventy years long because that for 420 years, or for six times seventy years,—from the days of Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar's time,—they had largely neglected to keep the Sabbath. See Eze. 22:8, 26; Jer. 25:8-11; 17:24, 27; 2 Chron. 36:15-21. The seventy years' desolation made up for the 420 years of Sabbath desecration. So during the millennium, or the one thousand years after Christ's second advent, the whole earth will lie desolate, or keep sabbath, for one thousand years, because that for six thousand years the world's inhabitants have disregarded the Sabbath. See this period and condition pointed out in Rev. 20:1-4; Isa. 24:1-6; Jer. 4:23-27. The periods of rest and desolation of the land are divinely appointed sabbatical compensations for man's irreligion, as manifested in Sabbath desecration. They are impressive lessons on the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and the results of breaking and disregarding it.9. After Israel's restoration from the Babylonian captivity, what did Nehemiah say was the reason for their punishment?“Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, andprofane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?yet ye bring more wrath upon Israelby profaning the Sabbath.”Neh. 13:17, 18.10. How does he speak of God's giving the Sabbath to Israel?“Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, andgavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.”Neh. 9:13, 14.Note.—Let it be noted that this text does not say that Godmadethe Sabbath then, but simply that He made itknownto Israel then. They had largely forgotten it while in Egypt. See pages419,423.11. How did Christ, while on earth, regard the Sabbath?[pg 460]“And He 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.”Luke 4:16.12. By what did Christ recognize the Sabbath law?“And He said unto them, ... It islawfulto do well on the Sabbath days.”Matt. 12:11, 12.Notes.—William Prynne says:“It is certain that Christ Himself, His apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath.”—“Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath,”page 33.Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says:“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose.”—Morer's“Dialogues on the Lord's Day,”page 189.The historian Neander says:“Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—Neander's“Church History,”Rose's translation, page 186.Dr. Lyman Abbott says:“The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.Archdeacon Farrar says:“The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—“The Voice From Sinai,”page 167.13. What was the first effort of the Roman Church in behalf of the recognition of Sunday?In 196a.d., Victor, bishop of Rome, attempted to impose on all the churches the Roman custom of having the Passover, or Easter, as it is commonly called, celebrated every year on Sunday. See Bower's“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, pages 18, 19.Note.—This, Dr. Bower, in his“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, page 18, styles“the first essay of papal usurpation.”14. What was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice?“The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most[pg 461]important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy.”—Boyle's“Historical View of the Council of Nice,”page 23, edition 1836.15. How was the matter finally decided?“Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.”—Id., page 24.16. In urging the observance of this decree on the churches, what reason did Constantine assign for it?“Let us have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.”—Id., page 52.17. What had Constantine already done, in 321a.d., to help forward Sunday to a place of prominence?He issued an edict requiring“the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades”to rest on“the venerable day of the sun.”See Encyclopedia Britannica, article“Sunday;”and this work, page 443.18. Who did Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, and one of Constantine's most ardent supporters, say had transferred the obligations of the Sabbath to Sunday?“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath,thesewehave transferred to the Lord's day.”—Eusebius's“Commentary on the Psalms,”quoted in Cox's“Sabbath Literature,”Vol. I, page 361.19. What did Sylvester, bishop of Rome, 314a.d.to 337a.d., do for the Sunday institution by his“apostolic authority”?He officially changed the title of the first day, calling it theLord's day. See“Historia Ecclesiastica,”by M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. 4, cap. 10, pages 739, 740, edition Basilea, 1624.20. What did the Council of Laodicea decree in 364a.d.?Canon 29.“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honor.”—“A History of the Councils of the Church,”Charles Joseph Hefele, Vol. II, page 316.21. How late did Christians keep the Sabbath?“Down even to the fifth century, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church.”—Lyman Coleman's“Ancient Christianity Exemplified,”chap. 26, sec. 2.[pg 462]22. How generally does the historian Socrates, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, say the Sabbath was observed by the Christian churches of his time?“Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—Socrates's“Ecclesiastical History,”book 5, chap. 22.23. What day was observed in the dark ages by some of the Waldenses?“They kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.”—Jones's“Church History,”Vol. II, chap. 5, sec. 4.24. Who among the early Reformers raised this question of Sabbath observance?“Carlstadt held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament.”—“Life of Luther,”by Dr. Barnes Sears, page 402.25. What did Luther say of Carlstadt's Sabbath views?“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.”—Luther, Against the Celestial Prophets, quoted in“Life of Martin Luther in Pictures,”page 147.26. What claim is now made by the Roman Church concerning the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?“Question.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?“Answer.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—“Doctrinal Catechism,”by Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174.Note.—Through want of sufficient light and investigation, and because of the efforts of some who opposed the Sabbath during the Reformation, Sunday was brought from Catholicism into the Protestant church, and is now cherished as an institution of the Lord. It is clear, however, that it is none of His planting, but rather the work and result of apostasy. But a message is now going forth to revive the truth on this point, and calling for a genuine reformation upon it. See pages251-263, and next reading.
Illustration.Israel In Captivity. "To fulfil the word of the Lord, ... until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." 2 Chron. 36:21.
Israel In Captivity. "To fulfil the word of the Lord, ... until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths." 2 Chron. 36:21.
1. When and by what acts was the Sabbath made?
“And onthe seventh dayGod ended His work which He had made; and Herestedon the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And Godblessedthe seventh day, andsanctifiedit: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.”Gen. 2:2, 3.
2. What division of time is marked off by the Sabbath?
The week.
Notes.—“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time intoweeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians,—nations some of whom had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”—Horne's“Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,”Vol. I, page 69, edition 1841.“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—“Brief Dissertation on the First Three Chapters of Genesis,”by Dr. Lyman Coleman, page 26.Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, show that the week was known at the time of the flood.
Notes.—“One of the most striking collateral confirmations of the Mosaic history of the creation is the general adoption of the division of time intoweeks, which extends from the Christian states of Europe to the remote shores of Hindustan, and has equally prevailed among the Hebrews, the Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and northern barbarians,—nations some of whom had little or no intercourse with others, and were not even known by name to the Hebrews.”—Horne's“Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures,”Vol. I, page 69, edition 1841.
“Seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning. The original of this was the Sabbath of God, as Moses has given the reasons for it in his writings.”—“Brief Dissertation on the First Three Chapters of Genesis,”by Dr. Lyman Coleman, page 26.
Gen. 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12, show that the week was known at the time of the flood.
3. How widely recognized is the seventh-day Sabbath in the different languages of the world today?
It is very generally so recognized.
Note.—Some years ago the late Dr. William Mead Jones, of London, published a“Chart of the Week,”showing the style of the weekly cycle and the designations of the different days of the week in one hundred and sixty different languages. This chart shows very vividly that the seven-day period, or week, was known from the most ancient times, and that in no fewer than one hundred and eight of these languages the seventh day is designated as the Sabbath, or holy day. The following is from this chart:—EnglishThe seventh dayThe SabbathHebrewShabbathSabbathGreekSabbatonSabbathLatinSabbatumSabbathArabicAssabtThe SabbathPersianShambinSabbathArmenianShapatSabbathTurkishYomessabtDay the SabbathAbyssinianSanbatSabbathRussianSubbotaSabbathPolishSobotaSabbathHindustaniShambaSabbathMalayAri-SabtuDay SabbathAfghanShambaSabbathGermanSamstagSabbathPrussianSabaticoSabbathFrenchSamediSabbath dayItalianSabbatoSabbathSpanishSabadoSabbathPortugueseSabbadoSabbath
Note.—Some years ago the late Dr. William Mead Jones, of London, published a“Chart of the Week,”showing the style of the weekly cycle and the designations of the different days of the week in one hundred and sixty different languages. This chart shows very vividly that the seven-day period, or week, was known from the most ancient times, and that in no fewer than one hundred and eight of these languages the seventh day is designated as the Sabbath, or holy day. The following is from this chart:—
4. What reason did God assign at Sinai for having blessed and set apart the seventh day as a day of holy rest?
“For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.”Ex. 20:11.
5. What promise did God make to Israel, through Jeremiah, if they would keep the Sabbath?
“And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently harken unto Me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein;then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: andthis city shall remain forever.”Jer. 17:24, 25.
6. What did He say would happen if they did not hallow the Sabbath day?
“Butif ye will not harken unto Me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem[pg 459]on the Sabbath day;then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.”Verse 27.
7. What befell the city of Jerusalem when it was captured by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, in 588b.c.?
“And all the vessels of the house of God ... he brought to Babylon. Andthey burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire.”2 Chron. 36:18, 19.
8. Why was this done?
“To fulfil the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath.”Verse 21.
Note.—Israel's Babylonish captivity, under Nebuchadnezzar and his sons, was seventy years long because that for 420 years, or for six times seventy years,—from the days of Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar's time,—they had largely neglected to keep the Sabbath. See Eze. 22:8, 26; Jer. 25:8-11; 17:24, 27; 2 Chron. 36:15-21. The seventy years' desolation made up for the 420 years of Sabbath desecration. So during the millennium, or the one thousand years after Christ's second advent, the whole earth will lie desolate, or keep sabbath, for one thousand years, because that for six thousand years the world's inhabitants have disregarded the Sabbath. See this period and condition pointed out in Rev. 20:1-4; Isa. 24:1-6; Jer. 4:23-27. The periods of rest and desolation of the land are divinely appointed sabbatical compensations for man's irreligion, as manifested in Sabbath desecration. They are impressive lessons on the importance of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and the results of breaking and disregarding it.
9. After Israel's restoration from the Babylonian captivity, what did Nehemiah say was the reason for their punishment?
“Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, andprofane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city?yet ye bring more wrath upon Israelby profaning the Sabbath.”Neh. 13:17, 18.
10. How does he speak of God's giving the Sabbath to Israel?
“Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, andgavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.”Neh. 9:13, 14.
Note.—Let it be noted that this text does not say that Godmadethe Sabbath then, but simply that He made itknownto Israel then. They had largely forgotten it while in Egypt. See pages419,423.
11. How did Christ, while on earth, regard the Sabbath?
“And He 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.”Luke 4:16.
12. By what did Christ recognize the Sabbath law?
“And He said unto them, ... It islawfulto do well on the Sabbath days.”Matt. 12:11, 12.
Notes.—William Prynne says:“It is certain that Christ Himself, His apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath.”—“Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath,”page 33.Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says:“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose.”—Morer's“Dialogues on the Lord's Day,”page 189.The historian Neander says:“Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—Neander's“Church History,”Rose's translation, page 186.Dr. Lyman Abbott says:“The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.Archdeacon Farrar says:“The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—“The Voice From Sinai,”page 167.
Notes.—William Prynne says:“It is certain that Christ Himself, His apostles, and the primitive Christians for some good space of time, did constantly observe the seventh-day Sabbath.”—“Dissertation on the Lord's Day Sabbath,”page 33.
Morer, a learned clergyman of the Church of England, says:“The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted that they derived this practise from the apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to that purpose.”—Morer's“Dialogues on the Lord's Day,”page 189.
The historian Neander says:“Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath.... The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect,—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—Neander's“Church History,”Rose's translation, page 186.
Dr. Lyman Abbott says:“The current notion that Christ and His apostles authoritatively substituted the first day of the week for the seventh, is absolutely without any authority in the New Testament.”—Christian Union, June 26, 1890.
Archdeacon Farrar says:“The Christian church made no formal, but a gradual and almost unconscious transference of the one day to the other.”—“The Voice From Sinai,”page 167.
13. What was the first effort of the Roman Church in behalf of the recognition of Sunday?
In 196a.d., Victor, bishop of Rome, attempted to impose on all the churches the Roman custom of having the Passover, or Easter, as it is commonly called, celebrated every year on Sunday. See Bower's“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, pages 18, 19.
Note.—This, Dr. Bower, in his“History of the Popes,”Vol. I, page 18, styles“the first essay of papal usurpation.”
14. What was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice?
“The question relating to the observance of Easter, which was agitated in the time of Anicetus and Polycarp, and afterward in that of Victor, was still undecided. It was one of the principal reasons for convoking the Council of Nice, being the most[pg 461]important subject to be considered after the Arian controversy.”—Boyle's“Historical View of the Council of Nice,”page 23, edition 1836.
15. How was the matter finally decided?
“Easter day was fixed on the Sunday immediately following the full moon which was nearest after the vernal equinox.”—Id., page 24.
16. In urging the observance of this decree on the churches, what reason did Constantine assign for it?
“Let us have nothing in common with the most hostile rabble of the Jews.”—Id., page 52.
17. What had Constantine already done, in 321a.d., to help forward Sunday to a place of prominence?
He issued an edict requiring“the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades”to rest on“the venerable day of the sun.”See Encyclopedia Britannica, article“Sunday;”and this work, page 443.
18. Who did Eusebius, bishop of Cæsarea, and one of Constantine's most ardent supporters, say had transferred the obligations of the Sabbath to Sunday?
“All things whatsoever that it was duty to do on the Sabbath,thesewehave transferred to the Lord's day.”—Eusebius's“Commentary on the Psalms,”quoted in Cox's“Sabbath Literature,”Vol. I, page 361.
19. What did Sylvester, bishop of Rome, 314a.d.to 337a.d., do for the Sunday institution by his“apostolic authority”?
He officially changed the title of the first day, calling it theLord's day. See“Historia Ecclesiastica,”by M. Ludovicum Lucium, cent. 4, cap. 10, pages 739, 740, edition Basilea, 1624.
20. What did the Council of Laodicea decree in 364a.d.?
Canon 29.“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday [Sabbath], but shall work on that day; but the Lord's day they shall especially honor.”—“A History of the Councils of the Church,”Charles Joseph Hefele, Vol. II, page 316.
21. How late did Christians keep the Sabbath?
“Down even to the fifth century, the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church.”—Lyman Coleman's“Ancient Christianity Exemplified,”chap. 26, sec. 2.
22. How generally does the historian Socrates, who wrote about the middle of the fifth century, say the Sabbath was observed by the Christian churches of his time?
“Although almost all churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath of every week, yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—Socrates's“Ecclesiastical History,”book 5, chap. 22.
23. What day was observed in the dark ages by some of the Waldenses?
“They kept the Sabbath day, observed the ordinance of baptism according to the primitive church, instructed their children in the articles of the Christian faith and the commandments of God.”—Jones's“Church History,”Vol. II, chap. 5, sec. 4.
24. Who among the early Reformers raised this question of Sabbath observance?
“Carlstadt held to the divine authority of the Sabbath from the Old Testament.”—“Life of Luther,”by Dr. Barnes Sears, page 402.
25. What did Luther say of Carlstadt's Sabbath views?
“Indeed, if Carlstadt were to write further about the Sabbath, Sunday would have to give way, and the Sabbath—that is to say, Saturday—must be kept holy.”—Luther, Against the Celestial Prophets, quoted in“Life of Martin Luther in Pictures,”page 147.
26. What claim is now made by the Roman Church concerning the change of the Sabbath to Sunday?
“Question.—Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?
“Answer.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her,—she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.”—“Doctrinal Catechism,”by Rev. Stephen Keenan, page 174.
Note.—Through want of sufficient light and investigation, and because of the efforts of some who opposed the Sabbath during the Reformation, Sunday was brought from Catholicism into the Protestant church, and is now cherished as an institution of the Lord. It is clear, however, that it is none of His planting, but rather the work and result of apostasy. But a message is now going forth to revive the truth on this point, and calling for a genuine reformation upon it. See pages251-263, and next reading.
Sabbath ReformIllustration.The House Of Prayer. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.1. What kind of worship does Christ say results from doctrines based on the commandments of men?“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”Matt. 15:9.2. What commandment did Christ say the Pharisees had made void by their teaching?“ForGod commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother.... But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.”Verses 4-6.3. What was the result of their course?“Thus have yemade the commandment of God of none effectby your tradition.”Verse 6.Note.—By a gift or dedication of property to the temple service, they taught that a man might be freed from the duties enjoined by the fifth commandment.4. What question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ?“Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?”Verse 12.5. What answer did the Saviour make?“But He answered and said,Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”Verse 13.[pg 464]Note.—What is true of the fifth commandment is true of every other commandment. If through tradition men set aside any other of God's commandments, the words of Christ to the Pharisees are equally applicable to them. They are guilty of making void the commandment of God, and of instituting vain worship.6. When, and by whom, was the Sabbath“planted”?“For in six daysthe Lordmade heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, andrested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”Ex. 20:11.7. Who claims to have planted the Sunday institution?“Question.—Hasthe [Catholic] churchpower to make any alterations in the commandments of God?“Answer.—... Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”—“Catholic Christian Instructed,”by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challoner, page 211.Note.—“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of‘the churchof the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’(1 Tim. 3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; forthere is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that therecan beauthority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, followtraditionin this matter; butwefollow it, believing it to be a part of God's word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter;youfollow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often‘makes the commandment of God of none effect.’”—“Clifton Tracts,”Vol. IV, article“A Question for All Bible Christians,”page 15.For further quotations on this, see pages441,444,455,456.8. When is final salvation to be brought to God's people?“Who are kept by the power of God through faithunto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”1 Peter 1:5.9. When God's salvation isnear to come, upon whom does He pronounce a blessing?“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”Isa. 56:1, 2.10. Is this promised blessing confined to any one class?“Also the sons of thestrangerthat join themselves to the[pg 465]Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants,every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant;even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.”Verses 6, 7.Note.—It is evident from these scriptures that in the last day, when men are waiting for the Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord to separate themselves from the world, to observe the Lord's true Sabbath, and to depart from all evil.11. What does God tell His ministers to do at this time?“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, andshow My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”Isa. 58:1.12. What message of Sabbath reform does He send?“If thouturn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”Verses 13, 14.Note.—The Sabbath of Jehovah is not now, by the majority even of professed Christians, called holy and honorable. By many it is stigmatized as“Jewish.”The Lord foresaw how this would be in this age, and inspired the prophet to write as he did.“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.”This is a strong expression, indicating that many would be trampling upon God's day, and doing their own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking God, and honoring Him by keeping the Sabbath holy.13. What will those be called who engage in this reformation?“And thou shalt be called,The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”Verse 12.14. What does another prophet say professed teachers among God's people have done?“Her priests haveviolated My law, and haveprofaned Mine holy things: they haveput no difference between the holy and profane; neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean,and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”Eze. 22:26.15. What have they done to maintain their theories?“And her prophets havedaubed them with untempered mortar,[pg 466]seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.”Verse 28.Notes.—Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says:“The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many barefalse witnessagainst Him, buttheir witness agreed not together.”Mark 14:55, 56. The lack ofagreementamong them was evidence in itself of thefalsityof their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better illustrated than in the reasons assigned for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:—One says the Sabbath has beenchangedfrom the seventh to the first day of the week.Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hencethere has been no change.Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, God did not appoint aparticularday, yetagreementis necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.Others, to avoid the claims of God's law, assert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which wasagainst us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ's resurrection, they say, has been chosen.Another class say they believe it is impossible to know which is theseventh day, although they have no difficulty in ascertaining which is thefirst.Some are so bold even as to declare thatSunday is the original seventh day.Others, with equal certainty, say that those who keep the seventh day are endeavoring to bejustified by the law, and arefallen from grace.Another class, with more liberal views, say they believe that every one should be fully persuaded in his own mind, whether he keep this day, or that, or none at all.Still again, as if having found the great desideratum or missing link in the argument, men credited with even more than ordinary intelligence, will sometimes declare that it isimpossible to keep the seventh day on a round and rolling earth; and yet, strange to say, they find no difficulty in keepingSunday anywhere, and believe that this day should be observedthe world over!Lastly, and more terrible and presumptuous than all the rest, some, like Herod of old in slaying all the children of Bethlehem in order to make sure of killing Christ, have gone so far as to teach thatall ten commandments have been abolished, in order to avoid the duty enjoined in thefourth. But as in the case of Herod, God's Anointed escaped the murderous blow of this wicked king, so in the judgment such will have to meet God over His broken law, and will find that the Sabbath precept stands there unchanged with the rest.Said Christ,“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”Matt. 5:19.[pg 467]16. What does the Lord say will become of this wall thus daubed with untempered mortar?“Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, thatit shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye,O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.”Eze. 13:11.17. When are these hailstones to fall?“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seenthe treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?”Job 38:22, 23.18. Under which of the seven last plagues will this hail fall?“Andthe seventh angelpoured out his vial into the air; ... and the cities of the nations fell: ... and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon mena great hailout of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.”Rev. 16:17-21.19. In order to prepare His people for that terrible time, what does God expect His ministers to do?“Ye have notgone up into the gaps, neithermade up the hedgefor the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.”Eze. 13:5.20. Instead of trying to close up this breach made in God's law [the loss of the Sabbath], and so make up the hedge, what have they done?“They have seen vanity and lying divination,saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.”Verse 6.21. During these closing scenes, what message is God sending to the world to turn men from false worship to the worship of the true and living God?“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.... Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.”Rev. 14:7-10.[pg 468]Note.—This is the last gospel message to be sent to the world before the Lord comes. Under it will be developed two classes of people, one having the mark of the beast (the Papacy), and the other keeping the commandments of God, and having His seal, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. See readings on pages259,446.22. What, besides attending and taking part in religious services (Luke 4:16), did Christ do on the Sabbath day?“Whowent about doing good.”Acts 10:38. See Matt. 8:14-17; 12:1-15; Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; 13:11-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-18; 9:1-41.Note.—When we come to study the life of Christ, we find that He did not make the Sabbath a day of idleness, nor even a day confined wholly to public and private worship, but one of active service in blessing others. On this day especially He went about doing good, ministering to the sick, and bringing relief to those long bound by Satan. Luke 13:15, 16; John 5:5, 6. And as He is our pattern in all things, we, too, like Him, should seek to make the Sabbath a day for helping and blessing others. To loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, deal bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and let the oppressed go free, is the fast which God has chosen, and the Sabbath-keeping most acceptable to Him. Isa. 58:1-12. In this kind of work and ministry there is room for a world-wide Sabbath reform.Brother! up to the breachFor God's freedom and truth;Let us act as we teach,With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth.Heed not their cannon-balls;Ask not who stands or falls;Grasp the sword of the Lord,And—Forward!
Illustration.The House Of Prayer. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.
The House Of Prayer. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day." Isa. 58:13.
1. What kind of worship does Christ say results from doctrines based on the commandments of men?
“But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”Matt. 15:9.
2. What commandment did Christ say the Pharisees had made void by their teaching?
“ForGod commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother.... But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.”Verses 4-6.
3. What was the result of their course?
“Thus have yemade the commandment of God of none effectby your tradition.”Verse 6.
Note.—By a gift or dedication of property to the temple service, they taught that a man might be freed from the duties enjoined by the fifth commandment.
4. What question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ?
“Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?”Verse 12.
5. What answer did the Saviour make?
“But He answered and said,Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.”Verse 13.
Note.—What is true of the fifth commandment is true of every other commandment. If through tradition men set aside any other of God's commandments, the words of Christ to the Pharisees are equally applicable to them. They are guilty of making void the commandment of God, and of instituting vain worship.
6. When, and by whom, was the Sabbath“planted”?
“For in six daysthe Lordmade heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, andrested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”Ex. 20:11.
7. Who claims to have planted the Sunday institution?
“Question.—Hasthe [Catholic] churchpower to make any alterations in the commandments of God?
“Answer.—... Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for God's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”—“Catholic Christian Instructed,”by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Challoner, page 211.
Note.—“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of‘the churchof the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’(1 Tim. 3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; forthere is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that therecan beauthority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, followtraditionin this matter; butwefollow it, believing it to be a part of God's word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter;youfollow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often‘makes the commandment of God of none effect.’”—“Clifton Tracts,”Vol. IV, article“A Question for All Bible Christians,”page 15.For further quotations on this, see pages441,444,455,456.
Note.—“We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Saturday, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of‘the churchof the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth’(1 Tim. 3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; forthere is no authority for it in the Bible, and you will not allow that therecan beauthority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, followtraditionin this matter; butwefollow it, believing it to be a part of God's word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter;youfollow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often‘makes the commandment of God of none effect.’”—“Clifton Tracts,”Vol. IV, article“A Question for All Bible Christians,”page 15.
For further quotations on this, see pages441,444,455,456.
8. When is final salvation to be brought to God's people?
“Who are kept by the power of God through faithunto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”1 Peter 1:5.
9. When God's salvation isnear to come, upon whom does He pronounce a blessing?
“Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.”Isa. 56:1, 2.
10. Is this promised blessing confined to any one class?
“Also the sons of thestrangerthat join themselves to the[pg 465]Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants,every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant;even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer.”Verses 6, 7.
Note.—It is evident from these scriptures that in the last day, when men are waiting for the Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord to separate themselves from the world, to observe the Lord's true Sabbath, and to depart from all evil.
11. What does God tell His ministers to do at this time?
“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, andshow My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”Isa. 58:1.
12. What message of Sabbath reform does He send?
“If thouturn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.”Verses 13, 14.
Note.—The Sabbath of Jehovah is not now, by the majority even of professed Christians, called holy and honorable. By many it is stigmatized as“Jewish.”The Lord foresaw how this would be in this age, and inspired the prophet to write as he did.“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath.”This is a strong expression, indicating that many would be trampling upon God's day, and doing their own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking God, and honoring Him by keeping the Sabbath holy.
13. What will those be called who engage in this reformation?
“And thou shalt be called,The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.”Verse 12.
14. What does another prophet say professed teachers among God's people have done?
“Her priests haveviolated My law, and haveprofaned Mine holy things: they haveput no difference between the holy and profane; neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean,and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.”Eze. 22:26.
15. What have they done to maintain their theories?
“And her prophets havedaubed them with untempered mortar,[pg 466]seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.”Verse 28.
Notes.—Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says:“The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many barefalse witnessagainst Him, buttheir witness agreed not together.”Mark 14:55, 56. The lack ofagreementamong them was evidence in itself of thefalsityof their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better illustrated than in the reasons assigned for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:—One says the Sabbath has beenchangedfrom the seventh to the first day of the week.Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hencethere has been no change.Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, God did not appoint aparticularday, yetagreementis necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.Others, to avoid the claims of God's law, assert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which wasagainst us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ's resurrection, they say, has been chosen.Another class say they believe it is impossible to know which is theseventh day, although they have no difficulty in ascertaining which is thefirst.Some are so bold even as to declare thatSunday is the original seventh day.Others, with equal certainty, say that those who keep the seventh day are endeavoring to bejustified by the law, and arefallen from grace.Another class, with more liberal views, say they believe that every one should be fully persuaded in his own mind, whether he keep this day, or that, or none at all.Still again, as if having found the great desideratum or missing link in the argument, men credited with even more than ordinary intelligence, will sometimes declare that it isimpossible to keep the seventh day on a round and rolling earth; and yet, strange to say, they find no difficulty in keepingSunday anywhere, and believe that this day should be observedthe world over!Lastly, and more terrible and presumptuous than all the rest, some, like Herod of old in slaying all the children of Bethlehem in order to make sure of killing Christ, have gone so far as to teach thatall ten commandments have been abolished, in order to avoid the duty enjoined in thefourth. But as in the case of Herod, God's Anointed escaped the murderous blow of this wicked king, so in the judgment such will have to meet God over His broken law, and will find that the Sabbath precept stands there unchanged with the rest.Said Christ,“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”Matt. 5:19.
Notes.—Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says:“The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many barefalse witnessagainst Him, buttheir witness agreed not together.”Mark 14:55, 56. The lack ofagreementamong them was evidence in itself of thefalsityof their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better illustrated than in the reasons assigned for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:—
One says the Sabbath has beenchangedfrom the seventh to the first day of the week.
Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hencethere has been no change.
Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, God did not appoint aparticularday, yetagreementis necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.
Others, to avoid the claims of God's law, assert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which wasagainst us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ's resurrection, they say, has been chosen.
Another class say they believe it is impossible to know which is theseventh day, although they have no difficulty in ascertaining which is thefirst.
Some are so bold even as to declare thatSunday is the original seventh day.
Others, with equal certainty, say that those who keep the seventh day are endeavoring to bejustified by the law, and arefallen from grace.
Another class, with more liberal views, say they believe that every one should be fully persuaded in his own mind, whether he keep this day, or that, or none at all.
Still again, as if having found the great desideratum or missing link in the argument, men credited with even more than ordinary intelligence, will sometimes declare that it isimpossible to keep the seventh day on a round and rolling earth; and yet, strange to say, they find no difficulty in keepingSunday anywhere, and believe that this day should be observedthe world over!
Lastly, and more terrible and presumptuous than all the rest, some, like Herod of old in slaying all the children of Bethlehem in order to make sure of killing Christ, have gone so far as to teach thatall ten commandments have been abolished, in order to avoid the duty enjoined in thefourth. But as in the case of Herod, God's Anointed escaped the murderous blow of this wicked king, so in the judgment such will have to meet God over His broken law, and will find that the Sabbath precept stands there unchanged with the rest.
Said Christ,“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”Matt. 5:19.
16. What does the Lord say will become of this wall thus daubed with untempered mortar?
“Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, thatit shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye,O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.”Eze. 13:11.
17. When are these hailstones to fall?
“Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seenthe treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?”Job 38:22, 23.
18. Under which of the seven last plagues will this hail fall?
“Andthe seventh angelpoured out his vial into the air; ... and the cities of the nations fell: ... and every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon mena great hailout of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent.”Rev. 16:17-21.
19. In order to prepare His people for that terrible time, what does God expect His ministers to do?
“Ye have notgone up into the gaps, neithermade up the hedgefor the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord.”Eze. 13:5.
20. Instead of trying to close up this breach made in God's law [the loss of the Sabbath], and so make up the hedge, what have they done?
“They have seen vanity and lying divination,saying, The Lord saith: and the Lord hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.”Verse 6.
21. During these closing scenes, what message is God sending to the world to turn men from false worship to the worship of the true and living God?
“Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.... Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.... If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation.”Rev. 14:7-10.
Note.—This is the last gospel message to be sent to the world before the Lord comes. Under it will be developed two classes of people, one having the mark of the beast (the Papacy), and the other keeping the commandments of God, and having His seal, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. See readings on pages259,446.
22. What, besides attending and taking part in religious services (Luke 4:16), did Christ do on the Sabbath day?
“Whowent about doing good.”Acts 10:38. See Matt. 8:14-17; 12:1-15; Mark 2:23-28; 3:1-6; Luke 6:1-11; 13:11-17; 14:1-6; John 5:1-18; 9:1-41.
Note.—When we come to study the life of Christ, we find that He did not make the Sabbath a day of idleness, nor even a day confined wholly to public and private worship, but one of active service in blessing others. On this day especially He went about doing good, ministering to the sick, and bringing relief to those long bound by Satan. Luke 13:15, 16; John 5:5, 6. And as He is our pattern in all things, we, too, like Him, should seek to make the Sabbath a day for helping and blessing others. To loose the bands of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens, deal bread to the hungry, clothe the naked, and let the oppressed go free, is the fast which God has chosen, and the Sabbath-keeping most acceptable to Him. Isa. 58:1-12. In this kind of work and ministry there is room for a world-wide Sabbath reform.
Brother! up to the breachFor God's freedom and truth;Let us act as we teach,With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth.Heed not their cannon-balls;Ask not who stands or falls;Grasp the sword of the Lord,And—Forward!
Brother! up to the breachFor God's freedom and truth;Let us act as we teach,With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth.Heed not their cannon-balls;Ask not who stands or falls;Grasp the sword of the Lord,And—Forward!
Brother! up to the breach
For God's freedom and truth;
Let us act as we teach,
With the wisdom of age, and the vigor of youth.
Heed not their cannon-balls;
Ask not who stands or falls;
Grasp the sword of the Lord,
And—Forward!