THE PRESENT TRUTH

By James White

PUBLISHED SEMIMONTHLY VOL. I.—MIDDLETOWN, CONN., AUGUST 1849.—NO. 2.

“The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.” —Psalm 25:14 (KJV).

Colossians 2:14–17 is also quoted to prove that the seventh-day Sabbath has been abolished.

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”

The handwriting of ordinances that was nailed to the cross at the crucifixion of the Messiah was the typical and ceremonial law of Moses, which was written by the hand of Moses in a book.

The crucifixion was the dividing line between the two dispensations. “In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” Daniel 9:27.

The first covenant, which had “ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary,” was a shadow of the second and better covenant. The law was the shadow, and the Gospel is the body that casts the shadow; and as all shadows reach to their body, and no farther, it is very clear that the sacrifices and offerings, new moons, feast days, and sabbaths of the Jewish law ceased when the precious body and blood of the Lamb of God were sacrificed upon the cross. This is what Paul calls “nailing it to his cross.”

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

If we compare this text with Romans 14:3–6, we shall see that both refer to the same subject. Some continued to observe the Jewish sabbaths, new moons, and feast days after they had been abolished and nailed to the cross, while others did not. Paul did not want the Colossians to be judged by Judaizing teachers concerning those things which had already ceased, according to the testimony of the prophet.

“I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.” Hosea 2:11.

We will now turn to Leviticus 23:24–38. Here are four Jewish sabbaths: one on the first day of the seventh month, one on the tenth, one on the fifteenth, and one on the twenty-third.

“These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations,” “BESIDE THE SABBATHS OF THE LORD.” Leviticus 23:37, 38.

The Sabbaths of the LORD our God come every seventh day; but some of the Jewish sabbaths of convocation were separated by nine days, and between others there were only four days. Here a clear distinction is made between the two classes of sabbaths.

The Sabbath of the LORD, so called by way of distinction, is not classed with the other sabbaths. The Jews were to observe their sabbaths of convocation at their appointed times, “BESIDE THE SABBATHS OF THE LORD.”

The Sabbath of the LORD our God was instituted at creation, before the fall, when the earth and man were holy, and Eden flourished upon the earth. The Jewish sabbaths of convocation were given at Mount Sinai, more than two thousand five hundred years afterward, and were part of the handwriting of ordinances of the law of Moses, which was nailed to the cross at the death of the Messiah.

The fact that some were teaching these Jewish customs to the Christian church, and judging it concerning them, led the apostle to write, as he did to the Galatians, Romans, and Colossians, upon this subject.

Now, where is the proof that the apostle refers to the weekly Sabbath in Colossians 2:14–17? If it exists, let it be presented.

I do not fear to affirm, however, that no good evidence can be given to prove that he refers to the Sabbath of the LORD our God; but there are many reasons, some of which I shall give, to show that he makes no reference to it.

First. What was blotted out and nailed to the cross was the handwriting of ordinances given by the HAND of Moses; but the Sabbath commandment was written with the FINGER of God.

Moses wrote his law in a BOOK; but God wrote His ten laws upon TABLES OF STONE.

It was the HANDWRITING in the book of the covenant that was blotted out at the death of Christ, and not that which was written upon the two tables of the covenant with the finger of God.

One was a faulty covenant imposed upon the Jews until the time of reformation, or the first advent of Jesus; the other is God's perpetual and everlasting covenant.

That we might be impressed with the perpetuity of the royal law, God engraved it upon tables of stone.

The idea of blotting out what Moses wrote in a book is perfectly natural; but what idea can we have of blotting out what Jehovah engraved with His finger upon tables of stone?

The apostle has taught us that it was the HANDWRITING of ordinances that was blotted out and nailed to the cross; therefore, he did not refer to the Sabbath law, for God engraved that upon stones with His FINGER.

Second. The Sabbath was never “against us”; rather, it was made for the benefit of mankind in all ages.

It was “made for man,” because man needed a day of rest from labor and the cares of this world; he also needed the Sabbath day to devote to the worship of God.

The holy Sabbath never stood in man's way, except in the sense that God placed it before him to be observed; therefore, He has not “taken it out of the way.”

The law of Moses was imperfect. It could not “make the comers thereunto perfect”; therefore, the first covenant, which was faulty, “which was against us, which was contrary to us,” and which stood in the way, was taken out of the way and nailed to the cross; and it gave place to the new and better covenant, of which Jesus Christ is Priest.

God's everlasting covenant of commandments is a perfect law, by which we are to be judged; therefore, God cannot give another better law to take its place. See James 1:25; 2:8–12.

“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Romans 7:12.

A law that is “holy,” “just,” “good,” and “spiritual” is never against man, contrary to him, or in his way; rather, it is precisely what his needs require.

Therefore, the apostle does not refer to the Sabbath, nor to any of the commandments of God's holy and royal law of liberty.

Third. Paul does not speak of the “Sabbath day” associated with the other nine moral laws, but of sabbath days associated with “meat,” “drink,” and “new moons” in the ceremonial laws of Moses.

Some object to this because the word days, connected with sabbath, is supplied by the translator.

I will here give a few lines from the pen of J. B. Cook, in his excellent Testimony, published in 1846:

“Colossians 2:16 does not speak of the Sabbath; but of sabbaths, improperly called in our version sabbath days, the word days being supplied by the translator.”

Some may still object to the word sabbaths, because J. B. Cook changed his opinion concerning the Sabbath.

Then we will take Macknight's translation. He translates it Sabbaths; and if this does not satisfy the reader, we will take Whiting's translation of the New Testament, recently published in Boston by Joshua V. Himes.

Whiting's translation reads “sabbaths,” which makes the text plain and clear.

Fourth. Everything the apostle has mentioned, such as new moons and sabbaths, was a shadow, which ceased when it reached its body at the introduction of the new covenant.

“Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” Colossians 2:17.

But the Sabbath of the LORD our God is not a shadow, because it is to be perpetuated throughout eternity. See Isaiah 66:22, 23.

No flesh has worshiped God on the Sabbath in the manner described by Isaiah since he wrote this prophecy, nor will they until all the righteous are gathered into the New Earth; then the Sabbath will be observed as long as the immortal saints, and the new heavens and the new earth, remain.

Observe this. The Sabbath was instituted in Eden, before the fall, when man was holy and the earth was holy; and after the restoration it will occupy the same proper place it held before the fall.

It is not an ordinance given to restore fallen man to God; for it was given when man could speak face to face with God and the angels in the holy garden.

All shadows cease when they reach the body that casts them. Follow the shadow of a tree to its trunk, and there the shadow ends.

But the weekly Sabbath will never end; therefore, it is not a shadow, but a substance, like the other nine commandments.

The Ten Commandments are of the same nature; and if one is a shadow, all are shadows.

How can we make swearing falsely, stealing, and killing into shadows? We cannot do so. Neither can any man show that the Sabbath is a shadow.

I know that ancient tradition is deeply impressed upon many minds: that the seventh-day Sabbath is a type of the seventh millennium. But where is the Scripture that proves it? It cannot be found.

Yet if anyone chooses to cling to this tradition, let him remember that all types or shadows reach to their substance; and admitting that the seventh millennium is the substance, and the seventh-day Sabbath the shadow, he is forced to the irresistible conclusion that the seventh-day Sabbath must continue in the same manner until the seventh millennium.

The idea that the Sabbath is a type of the seventh millennium, and that it ceased at the crucifixion, leaves a gap of more than eighteen hundred years between the substance and the shadow, which agrees neither with the biblical system of types nor with common sense.

Finally, the fact that the early Christians were troubled by those who taught them that they must observe the law of Moses in order to be saved shows what Paul's subject was, and that he did not refer to the Sabbath, but to the shadows of the law of Moses, which began to reach their substance when the new covenant was introduced by the death of the Messiah.

Second Corinthians 3:7–13 is also quoted to prove the abolition of the Sabbath; but it proves no such thing.

I think all Bible readers will admit that here the apostle is contrasting the administration of the Jewish covenant with the administration of the Gospel covenant.

The law of God, “written and engraven in stones,” was to remain unalterable as long as heaven and earth exist; but its ADMINISTRATION through the outward ceremonies of the law of Moses was “abolished” or “taken away” to make room for the better administration of the same law by the Holy Spirit.

The glory of the first covenant, represented by the glory of Moses' face, was to fade away and be absorbed by the incomparable glory of the administration of the Spirit.

The light of the moon is glorious; but when the sun rises in all its glory, the light of the moon disappears.

It would be just as absurd to say that there is no light because the moonlight disappears before the superior light of the sun, as to say that there is no law because its administration under the first covenant is removed by the superior glory of the administration of the Spirit.

Those who rest upon their erroneous interpretations of these texts that I have examined, as proof of the abolition of the Sabbath, stand upon sandy ground.

Unless they hasten to leave that ground and place their feet upon the commandments of God, the “overflowing scourge” that is soon to “pass through” will sweep them away in ruin.

Those who teach that the Sabbath has been changed from the seventh to the first day have only three or four texts to quote in support of their position concerning the first-day Sabbath.

My purpose is to show briefly that Revelation 1:10; 1 Corinthians 16:2; and Acts 20:7 do not prove what they are said to prove.

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.” Revelation 1:10.

The first day of the week is nowhere called the Lord's day in Scripture; but the seventh day is.

“But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God.” Exodus 20:10.

God, through Isaiah, calls the Sabbath “MY HOLY DAY.” Isaiah 58:13.

Therefore, the beloved disciple was in holy vision on the seventh day.

“Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” 1 Corinthians 16:2.

For this text to prove what it is claimed to prove, it would have to read as follows:

On the first day of the week, when you assemble for worship, let each one bring with him, according as God has prospered him, to place in the contribution box.

But I do not wish to alter the text in order to follow the Pope.

Take the text as it stands, and there is no mention of anything resembling an assembly for worship.

Saint Paul preached on the Sabbath, not only in the synagogues of the Jews, but also by the “riverside.” See Acts 16:13.

He preached in Corinth for seventy-eight consecutive Sabbaths.

The apostle would not have permitted the Sabbath to be profaned by the rattling of Mammon's contribution box; therefore, he chose the first working day of the week for the church at Corinth and the churches of Galatia to “lay by” at home for the poor saints in Jerusalem.

Acts 20:7 is the only place in Scripture where the first day of the week is connected with public worship.

But the object of that meeting was not to observe the first day as the Sabbath, because they assembled at night to break bread.

Paul preached to them on the Sabbath, which ended at six o'clock in the evening; then, after dark, when the first day began, the disciples assembled to celebrate the Lord's Supper, and Paul preached all night.

We follow this example of the disciples and break bread on the evening of the first day, immediately after the close of the Sabbath.

Jesus did not spend the first day of the week assembling with His disciples.

On the day of His resurrection He walked toward Emmaus, and did not meet with them until evening.

After eight days, which would extend to Monday night, Jesus appeared to His disciples in the same manner.

Our Master and Example has not taught, either by precept or example, that the first day of the week should be observed as a holy day or Sabbath any more than the other five working days; neither have the apostles.

The change from the seventh to the first day was effected by the power of the little horn, which thought to “change times and laws.” Daniel 7:25.

I will here give some extracts from Sabbath Tract No. 4, published by the New York Sabbath Tract Society, which presents the history of the change.

At the beginning of the seventh century, during the time of Pope Gregory I, the Sabbath question attracted considerable attention.

There was a class of persons who declared “that it was not lawful to do any kind of work on the Sabbath, or old Sabbath; and another, that no one should bathe on the Lord's day, or their new Sabbath.”

Against both doctrines Pope Gregory wrote a letter to the Roman citizens.

Baronius, in his Councils, says:

“In this year (603), at Rome, Saint Gregory the Pope corrected that error which some preached, through Jewish superstition or Greek custom, that it was a duty to worship on the Sabbath as well as on the Lord's days; and he calls such preachers preachers of Antichrist.”

According to Lucius, Pope Urban II, in the eleventh century, dedicated the Sabbath to the Virgin Mary with a mass.

Binius says:

“Pope Innocent I instituted a fast on the Sabbath day, which appears to have been the first institution of that fast; but dedicating the Sabbath to the Virgin Mary was the work of Urban II in the latter part of the eleventh century.”

The observance of the first day was not as early in England and Scotland as in most other parts of the Roman Empire.

According to Heylyn, Christian societies had been established in Scotland as early as A.D. 435; and it is supposed that the Gospel was preached in England in the first century by Saint Paul.

For many centuries after Christianity was received in these kingdoms, they paid no respect to the first day.

Binius, a Catholic writer, in the second volume of his works, gives an account of the introduction of the Lord's day into Scotland as late as A.D. 1203.

“This year,” he says, “a council was held in Scotland concerning the introduction of the Lord's day, which council was held in 1203, in the time of Pope Innocent III.”

He cites Roger Hoveden, Matthew Paris, and the Ecclesiastical History of Lucius as his authorities.

He further says:

“By this council it was decreed that it should be holy time from the twelfth hour on Saturday at noon until Monday.”

Binius says that in A.D. 1201 Eustachius, abbot of Flay, came to England, where he preached from city to city and place to place.

He prohibited markets on Sundays, because he said that the following commandment concerning the observance of the Lord's day had come from heaven.

The history of this remarkable epistle, entitled A Holy Commandment Concerning the Lord's Day, was presented by the pious abbot as follows:

“It came from heaven to Jerusalem, and was found upon the tomb of Saint Simon at Golgotha. And the Lord commanded this epistle, which for three days and three nights men beheld, and falling to the earth, prayed for the mercy of God. And after the third hour, the patriarch arose; and Akarias the archbishop spread out his mitre, and they took the holy epistle of God and found it written thus.”

[We shall give some extracts from this epistle, partly as a curiosity, and partly to show the credulity of our ancestors, and by what means they were intimidated into what was for them a new religious observance.]

“I, the Lord, who commanded you to observe the Lord's day, and ye have not kept it, neither have ye repented of your sins, as I said by my Gospel, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

“I have caused repentance unto life to be preached unto you, and ye have not believed; I sent heathen against you, who shed your blood, and yet ye believe not.

“And because ye kept not the Lord's day, for some days ye suffered hunger; but soon I gave you abundance, and afterward ye did worse.

“I command again that from the ninth hour on Saturday until sunrise on Monday, no man shall do any work except that which is good.

“And if anyone does so, let him amend by repentance; and if ye obey not this commandment, amen, I say unto you, and swear by my seat, by my throne, and by the cherubim that guard my holy seat, that I will change nothing by another epistle.

“But I will open the heavens, and instead of rain I will cause stones, logs of wood, and hot water to rain upon you by night, and no man shall be able to prevent it, that I may destroy all wicked men.

“This I say unto you: ye shall die because of the holy Lord's day and the other feasts of my saints which ye have not kept.

“I will send upon you beasts with lions' heads, women's hair, and camels' tails; and they shall be so wasted with hunger that they shall devour your flesh.

“And ye shall desire to flee to the graves of the dead and hide yourselves for fear of the beasts.

“And I will take from your eyes the light of the sun; and I will send darkness upon you, so that, not seeing, ye shall kill one another.

“And I will turn my face away from you, and show you no mercy; for I will burn your bodies and your hearts, all who do not keep the holy Lord's day.

“Hear my voice, lest ye perish upon the earth because of the holy Lord's day.

“Know now that ye are safe through the prayers of my most holy mother Mary, and of my holy angels who daily pray for you.”

Provided with this new commandment from heaven, “Eustachius preached in various parts of England against the transgression of the Lord's day and other feasts; and gave the people absolution on condition that they should thereafter reverence the Lord's day and the feasts of the saints.”

The time appointed as holy was from the ninth hour on Saturday until Monday morning at dawn.

And the people promised God that thereafter they would neither buy nor sell anything, except food, on Sunday.

“Then,” says Binius, “the enemy of mankind, envying the admonitions of this holy man, put it into the hearts of the king and nobility of England to command that all who kept the traditions already mentioned, and especially all who had abolished the markets for goods sold on the Lord's day, should be brought before the king's court to give satisfaction concerning the observance of the Lord's day.”

Binius relates many miraculous things that happened on the Sabbath to those who worked after the ninth hour—that is, after three o'clock in the afternoon on the seventh day, or Saturday.

He says that on a certain Saturday, after the ninth hour, a carpenter, while making a wooden peg, was struck with paralysis; and a woman, for weaving on Saturday after the ninth hour, was also struck with paralysis.

A man baked bread, and when he broke it to eat, blood came out.

Another, grinding grain, saw a great stream of blood come forth instead of flour, while his mill wheel stood still despite the strong force of the water.

Heated ovens refused to bake bread if they were fired after the ninth hour on Saturday; and dough left unbaked, out of respect for the new doctrine of Eustachius, was found on Monday morning to be well baked without the aid of fire.

These fables were industriously spread throughout the kingdom.

“Nevertheless the people,” says Binius, “fearing royal and human power more than divine power, returned like a dog to its vomit, to holding markets for goods sold on the Lord's day.”

Mr. Bampfield says:

“The king and princes of England, in 1203, did not agree to change the Sabbath and keep the first day upon this authority. This was in the time of King John, against whom the papal clergy bore great resentment for not honoring their prelacy and the monks, by one of whom he was finally poisoned.”

The Parliament of England met on Sundays until the time of Richard II, who postponed its meetings from that day to the next.

In A.D. 1203, “a council was held in Scotland for the inauguration of the king, and concerning the feast of Saturday; and a legate of the Pope also came, with a sword and a purple hat, indulgences and privileges for the young king. It was also decreed there that Saturday, from the twelfth hour at noon, should be holy.”

The Magdeburg historians say that this council concerned the observance of the newly introduced Lord's day, and that they ordered it to be holy from the twelfth hour on Saturday until Monday.

The first law in England made for keeping Sunday was in the time of Edward VI, about 1470.

“Then Parliament passed an act by which Sunday and many holy days, the feasts of All Saints and of the Holy Innocents, were established by law as festivals.

“It was also provided that it should be lawful for husbandmen, laborers, fishermen, and all others in harvest time, or at any other season of the year when necessity required, to work, ride, fish, or do any other kind of labor, at their free will and pleasure, on any of the said days.”

By such means the observance of the first day was gradually, though forcibly, imposed upon the people wherever they acknowledged the authority of the Pope as head of the church; and in England and Scotland, as late as the thirteenth century, the Sabbath was gradually brought into contempt and disuse.

As the Sabbath was made for man, for the entire human race, and as man has needed all its blessings ever since it was first instituted in Eden, it is reasonable to conclude that God intended it to be observed with the same strict faithfulness in one dispensation as in another.

I can see no reason why the Jew should keep it more strictly than the Christian.

My purpose is to show that there is perfect harmony throughout the biblical testimony of both Testaments concerning the observance of the holy Sabbath.

The fourth commandment of the Decalogue is the great Sabbath law. It is the standard to which all other testimony of Scripture concerning the Sabbath must be brought and carefully compared.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” Exodus 20:8–10.

The great God appointed six days for man to labor and perform ALL HIS work necessary for his support; but the seventh day He designated for man to rest from the cares and labor of this world and engage in the service of his Creator.

Acts of mercy and necessity, such as relieving the afflicted, whether man or beast; healing the sick; and eating when hungry on the Sabbath, are nowhere forbidden by God in the Bible, and do not constitute a violation of the Sabbath law in the Decalogue.

I know that some say we cannot keep the Sabbath as it is given in the Old Testament; but this is like most of the false assertions made by those who oppose the true Sabbath.

I am not willing to admit that God has given us a law which we cannot keep. I dare not charge Him with such injustice.

The commandments of our holy and righteous God are not grievous, but joyful to those who keep them.

Those who followed Jesus from Galilee saw His body laid in Joseph's new tomb, and then returned “and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” See Luke 23:54–56.

They could keep the Sabbath according to God's law after the ceremonial law had been abolished, and so can we.

Jesus stripped the Sabbath of the traditions with which the blind Jew had covered it, and left it bare, resting upon its own eternal foundation, the fourth commandment.

The Lord of the Sabbath kept His Father's commandments; therefore, He and His disciples kept the Sabbath according to the fourth commandment.

Observe this. Jesus and His disciples even kept the law of Moses until the crucifixion; therefore, all must see the folly of those who teach that they departed from the letter of the Sabbath law.

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.” Matthew 23:2, 3.

Jesus taught His disciples to observe and do even the law of Moses.

His last meeting with them, before nailing it to His cross, was to celebrate the Passover.

How absurd, then, is the idea taught by some that Jesus and His disciples departed from the letter of the Sabbath law, written upon stones with the finger of Jehovah!

The wicked Pharisees accused the disciples of departing from the letter of the Sabbath law when they plucked ears of grain and ate to satisfy their present hunger; but Jesus proved to them by facts that this was a false accusation.

He reminded them of what David did when he was hungry, and also of the priests in the temple who were blameless.

The law of Moses required the priests to offer sacrifices on the Sabbath.

“And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot, and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof: This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering.” Numbers 28:9, 10.

The priests, then, had to work on the Sabbath; but this was not a violation of the Sabbath law, because it was not the kind of work prohibited in the fourth commandment.

The law given by Moses did not require the priests to violate the law written by the finger of God.

“Six days shalt thou labour, and do all THY work.”

Man was to attend to his own work during the six days; then rest from HIS work on the seventh and work for God, who never intended that we should remain motionless and inactive on His Sabbath.

The words “labour” and “work” in the fourth commandment must be explained in this way to acquit the priests in the temple.

Eating on the Sabbath when hungry is nowhere forbidden in the Bible.

Jesus and His disciples were on their way to the synagogue when the disciples plucked and ate the ears of grain; and it was just as lawful to eat this when hungry on the Sabbath as any other food.

According to the law of Moses, they had the right to pluck the ears with their hands and eat.

“When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's standing corn.” Deuteronomy 23:25.

Jesus never admitted that He or His disciples departed from the letter of the Sabbath law.

No, never; but He always demonstrated to His accusers that what they did on the Sabbath was lawful, or in strict accordance with the Sabbath law.

On this basis, and no other, they were INNOCENT.

“But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” Matthew 12:7.

If they had known that acts of mercy and necessity, such as eating when hungry and healing the sick on the Sabbath, were lawful, they would never have falsely accused the holy followers of Jesus of breaking the Sabbath.

Now, who is willing to take the side of the wicked Pharisee and accuse the disciples, and their holy Master, who said He had kept His Father's commandments, of departing from the letter of the fourth commandment?

The very thought of such a thing seems dreadful!

Let my right hand wither and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth before I write or speak such a sentiment to the precious waiting flock.

“And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.

“And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?

“How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.” Matthew 12:10–12.

The word lawful means according to law. In this text it means according to the Sabbath law.

Observe this: Jesus did not give them a new Sabbath law, nor did He suggest that the Sabbath law should be RELAXED or changed.

Rather, He exposed their hypocrisy in accusing Him of breaking the Sabbath by healing the sick, while at the same time they would relieve a dumb beast on the Sabbath.

“How much then is a man better than a sheep?”

He also taught them that such acts of mercy as lifting a sheep out of a pit and healing the sick on the Sabbath were doing good and were in accordance with the Sabbath law.

“Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.”

“Then said Jesus unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things.” Luke 14:3–6.

Here again Jesus referred the lawyers and Pharisees to the Sabbath law, and by it closed their mouths so that they could not answer Him.

If He had suggested that the Sabbath law should be relaxed, and that He had the right to depart from its letter, they would have cried out against Him.

But instead, He appealed to the letter of the law and to the manner in which they observed it, and proved to them that what He had done was LAWFUL.

When Jesus healed the daughter of Abraham, the ruler of the synagogue was filled with indignation and said to the people:

“There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.”

The Lord then answered him and said:

“Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?” Luke 13:11–17.

This answer of the Savior silenced the ruler of the synagogue and put all His adversaries to shame; “and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.”

All were convinced that it was LAWFUL and right for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath; otherwise they would not have REJOICED.

We are sometimes referred to the case of the disabled man who was healed and took up his bed and walked on the Sabbath at the command of Jesus.

It is said that he carried a burden; therefore, he and his Master, who told him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk,” broke the Sabbath.

It is true that God, through Jeremiah, forbade the Jews to carry burdens into or out of the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath.

He also promised them that if they diligently obeyed Him, and did not bring a burden through the gates of the city on the Sabbath day, but sanctified the Sabbath day by doing no work therein, their city would remain FOREVER. Jeremiah 17:19–25.

Jeremiah has not shown us as precisely what kind of burdens are forbidden as Nehemiah has.

“In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.” Nehemiah 13:15.

Here Nehemiah has shown us that it was burdens of merchandise, brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath, which God had forbidden to be carried on the Sabbath.

Now let the reader compare the carrying of merchandise to market to sell for worldly gain with the healed disabled man carrying his bed while praising God, and the difference will be seen.

One was laborious and for worldly gain; the other was for the glory of God.

One was a violation of the fourth commandment; the other was an act of mercy manifesting the mighty power of God.

It was doing good on the Sabbath; therefore, it was lawful.

I fear that I may weary those who understand the Sabbath question with this lengthy article.

My purpose in being so particular is to unfold the whole truth before those who have not carefully investigated this glorious and harmonious subject.

I will mention two more objections against the true Sabbath and leave the subject for the present.

One objection is that God forbade the Jews to kindle a fire on the Sabbath; and that if we keep it as strictly as they did, we cannot kindle a fire on the Sabbath.

If we consider this objection in its true light, the whole difficulty will disappear.

This instruction concerning kindling a fire on the Sabbath was given to Israel in the wilderness, when God was feeding them with manna from heaven.

They were a strong and healthy people in a mild climate. Their clothing was miraculously preserved, and their food was given them from heaven.

God told them to bake their manna on the sixth day; therefore, they had no need of fire on the Sabbath.

If they had kindled a fire to cook their manna, or to wash their clothes on the Sabbath, it would have been a clear violation of the fourth commandment, for that was work which God appointed for the six days.

Our situation is different.

Our constitution and our climate make it necessary for us to have the warmth of a fire during part of the year in order to keep ourselves properly warm.

We kindle a fire on the Sabbath during part of the year as an act of mercy and necessity, just as we would give water to an ox or horse, or lift a sheep out of a pit; therefore, it is lawful and right.

But it is just as wrong to kindle a fire now, in the warm part of the year, to cook our food on the Sabbath, when it could be cooked on the sixth day, as it was for the Jews.

The sixth day is the day of preparation, and if we neglect any of the work of that day and perform it on the seventh, we profane the holy Sabbath.

The Sabbath law forbids us to do on the seventh day that which can be done on the sixth; but acts of mercy and necessity, which cannot be performed on the sixth day, are lawful on the Sabbath.

A reasonable and biblical observance of the Sabbath law will neither freeze us nor starve us; for the law is “HOLY,” “JUST,” and “GOOD.”

The other objection to the true Sabbath which I shall mention here is the case of the man who was stoned for gathering wood on the Sabbath.

We are not told what kind of wood he gathered, nor for what purpose he intended it; but the best inference is that he gathered it for fuel, to kindle a fire for baking and boiling his manna.

God told them through Moses:

“To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe.”

As they were to do all their cooking on the sixth day, this man, by gathering fuel on the Sabbath, was certainly doing on the seventh day the work of the sixth, and was violating the fourth commandment.

“Abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” Exodus 16:29.

It was a violation of Jehovah's express commands for them to go out into the field to gather manna or fuel on the Sabbath.

It was doing on the seventh day the work of the sixth, and was a bold transgression of the Sabbath law, written by the finger of God.

It was just as wrong for them to gather wood for fuel on the Sabbath as it would be for us to cut and haul wood on God's holy day.

If we did so, the whole world would unite in saying that we had broken the fourth commandment.

Some would almost stone us now for doing such things on the first day of the week, the Pope's Sabbath.

The children of Israel, while in the wilderness, were not to go out of their places on the Sabbath to gather manna or perform any other work that should have been done on the sixth day.

But afterward they did go out of their places on the Sabbath, not to perform servile labor, but to worship God.

The Jews had what they called a Sabbath day's journey, and certainly they had to leave their places or dwellings to walk nearly a mile.

The wages or punishment for transgressing the law of God was, and still is, Eternal Death.

“For the wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23.

And “sin is the transgression of the law.” 1 John 3:4.

During the administration of God's law by Moses, the willful transgressor was immediately stoned to death; but under the administration of God's law by Jesus Christ, patience and tender mercy are manifested.

In this better dispensation, God, for Jesus' sake, preserves the life of the transgressor so that he may turn, keep the law of God, find forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and live.

During the time of the first covenant, which was faulty, stern justice struck down the transgressor.

But since Jesus has been our only sacrifice and Priest, MERCY, the excellence and glory of the better covenant, has intervened and given the transgressor of God's holy law an opportunity to repent of his sin and find full and free forgiveness of all his sins through the precious blood of Jesus.

The Gospel never required that a man be stoned for stealing or for swearing falsely.

No, never; yet this does not prove that there is no law against stealing and profane swearing.

“For where no law is, there is no transgression.” Romans 4:15.

If there is no law for keeping the Sabbath, nor against stealing or swearing, because the Gospel does not require the transgressor to be stoned, then men may steal, swear, and profane the holy Sabbath and still be pure before God; for “WHERE NO LAW IS, THERE IS NO TRANSGRESSION.”

The full and final penalty of God's law has not been abolished—no, no.

This penalty, as well as the law, the transgressor will face in the judgment.

Those who were stoned to death under the first covenant will also face the final penalty there.

Beloved reader, do not be deceived by those who oppose the true Sabbath.

Their poor objections will all disappear when exposed to the light of biblical truth.

Do not turn away from this harmonious present truth because of their fables.