Fourth Session
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Fourth Session
ELD. GRANT’S TENTH SPEECH
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: We regret that we have not more time. We need another evening to notice all the points before us, but we will do the best we can. A few points we must notice in last evening’s speech. He said there was an hour’s difference in time in Palestine. I find by examining the matter that there could not be over eight minutes. The general difference from east to west would be about four minutes; but the extreme points would not be over eight minutes. Here I will present a thought for him to consider. In the time of Joshua, the day was prolonged so that sunset was twelve hours later than it had been before. Now if the identical twenty-four hours must be kept, the Sabbath has never been kept since the days of Joshua.DSQ69 88.3
In regard to love in the old covenant, it is not in the decalogue. Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;” and Deuteronomy 6: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Here is love with the heart—a law on the heart, not on tables of stone. These are the great leading commandments in the New Testament; but they are not in the decalogue. But if, they are not in the law of ten commandments, they must be ceremonial, according to his position. He says the Sabbath is in the midst of the decalogue. Well, it is a good place for the memorial day. It commemorated their deliverance, and was put in the midst of that law, as we would put records in the corner-stone of a building.DSQ69 89.1
I repeat again the question, to get a full answer, What law was that of which Christ paid the penalty? He says there are two laws; one abolished, and one that is not. But there is no account of a ceremonial law in Scripture. I think the jumbling consists in confounding the old law with the law of faith. That was a national law, and if they lived up to that law, they were accepted as a nation. A man might keep it then, or keep it now, and be lost. I repeat it, A man might keep that law and be lost. If we indulge in witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like, Galatians 5:20, 21, we shall be lost; but not one of these is in the decalogue.DSQ69 89.2
Whoever assumes that the royal law is the ten commandments, gets into a jumble. Psalm 19:7: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” This may refer to the law of faith. What law converted Saul? the ten commandments? No; he was blameless concerning that law. See Acts 9. He was on his way to Damascus, and saw a great light, and the Lord sent Ananias to tell him what to do. Ananias didn’t say word about the Sabbath, but told him to be baptized.DSQ69 90.1
My brother says time rolls on. Watts says, “Fly swiftly round, ye wheels of time;” but there are no actual wheels of time. It is a figure.DSQ69 90.2
I was converted, breaking the seventh-day Sabbath, and was not condemned. But he says I was converted believing in the immortality of the soul, and other errors. There is a difference; these are mere doctrinal points, not concerning moral obligation. He claims the Sabbath to be a moral precept. When I was converted I found a commandment to prove all things, and so I did. I proved the doctrines of the immortality of the soul and endless misery, and found them errors. So I have proved the Sabbath. I have got great light in this discussion. While studying this subject, the light has so shone out that I have had to stop and praise God.DSQ69 90.3
The covenant—diatheke—is again referred to. It means, “Any disposition, arrangement, institution, or dispensation; hence, a testament, will, Hebrews 9:16, a covenant, i.e., mutual promises on mutual conditions or promises with conditions annexed. By metonymy, a body of laws and precepts, to which certain promises are annexed.” Just the case with the covenant at Horeb mutual promises with conditions annexed.DSQ69 90.4
This first covenant is referred to in Hebrews 9:18-20: “Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people, according to the law, the took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament [or covenant] which God hath enjoined unto you.” He says this is the old covenant. Glad to come together again. He omitted to read that part where it says, “Enjoined unto you.” What does that mean? Webster says, “To lay upon, as an order, or command; to put an injunction on; to give a command to; to direct with authority; to order.” Does God command to make an agreement? No! they were covenanted to keep that which he enjoined unto them—the ten commandments. But he says the ten commandments are not the first, or old, covenant. Let us see. I cannot agree with him. Here may come the tug of war, as he promised. “Deuteronomy 5:2-6: “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face, in the mount, out of the midst of the fire (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord; for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount), saying, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house off bondage.” Here begins the covenant, or ten commandments. See again, Deuteronomy 4:12, 13: “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude, only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” They heard the voice; that is, the covenant; no language could be plainer. Again, Deuteronomy 9:11: “And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.” Will he deny the plain language, and say the ten commandments are not the old covenant? Further, in Exodus 34, he was with the Lord forty days, received the tables of stone, and when he came down from the mount, his face shone so that he had to put a vail on it.DSQ69 90.5
Paul takes up this in 2 Corinthians 3:7: “But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away; how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.” One was condemnation; the other of righteousness. He is comparing the two. “For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: and not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.” There you see it has run out—it expired by limitation. Now see Hebrews 8:7-10. The Lord promised to make a new covenant, not according to the covenant he made with their fathers. In this he says ho will put his law in their hearts; in the other, it was only on tables of stone. That was a national covenant, and did not reach the heart. All moral men could keep it, and yet not be saved. I repeat it: ‘A merely moral man could keep it, and not be even nominally a Christian. Not a word in it in regard to evil speaking, impure thoughts, or evil desires. The law made no one perfect; and the old covenant and the law are identical. Romans 7:7. Paul says the law said, Thou shalt not covet. This is the law of the decalogue. It is done away.DSQ69 92.1
Now we come to where we left off. We were last examining Exodus 20, near the close—24th verse and onward: “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings,” etc. Here is the first mention of sacrifices and offerings in Exodus; they were in connection with the old covenant, and they remained together till its close. And so he goes on through the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, and 24th chapters, wherein I read last evening. “Come up unto the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders.” [Time.]DSQ69 93.1
ELD. CORNELL’S TENTH SPEECH
Mr. Chairmen, and the audience: This is the last evening of our discussion, and I regret that it is so soon to close. There are many points I shall not be able to bring out for want of time. I will briefly notice a few of his positions, which, in looking over my notes, I find in his former speeches.DSQ69 93.2
He quotes Romans 7:6, to prove that the law is dead. The marginal reading is correct, which refers the death to the brethren, not to the law, because it agrees with the connection, and because the original of “being dead” is in the plural, and cannot refer to the law. All his argument on the law’s being dead is groundless! He says the Sabbath is a shadow, and quotes Colossians 2, to prove it. But the Sabbath is not a shadow of anything to come. It is a memorial, and points back to creation, instituted before the fall, where no types were given; therefore Colossians 2, cannot refer to the weekly Sabbath.DSQ69 93.3
He includes the seventh-day Sabbath among the feasts of Leviticus 23. There were but three feasts in the Jewish law, as we learn in Deuteronomy 16:16: “Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.” These, with the new moons, were feasts and sabbaths peculiar to that people; they were the sabbaths of Israel; but the seventh day of the week is the Lord’s Sabbath. And the Lord distinguishes between them in Leviticus 23:37, 38: “These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day; beside the Sabbaths of the Lord.”DSQ69 94.1
He tried to prove the Sabbath was not a moral precept, by saying God does not abolish moral precepts, but he has abolished the Sabbath. But he also says he abolished the ten commandments. Now, of course, he must say the other nine commandments are not moral or else he contradicts himself. Will he accept his own argument that the other nine commandments are not moral?DSQ69 94.2
He admitted last evening that there was love in the old covenant, but said there was not in the ten commandments. But he also says the ten commandments were the old covenant. Here he contradicts himself as well as the Bible. But error cannot go in a straight line. [Applause.]DSQ69 94.3
He says if he were in Paris he would celebrate the Fourth of July, but not the same time we do here. Now I ask him if it would therefore be the Fourth of July, or some other day? If it were not the same day he would not celebrate the Fourth of July at all. If it would be the same day, there is no difficulty about the time of the Sabbath.DSQ69 95.1
He has several times said the the ten commandments only noticed outward acts. How do persons covet? Is it an outward act? Is not a heart-work recognized there?DSQ69 95.2
I will notice the difference of time in Palestine. He is probably correct in saying there are only eight minutes’ variation. I had my mind upon the fact that Israel kept the Sabbath when they were scattered abroad, so there was an hour’s difference. But that does not alter the case; the principle is there, all the same. If they could keep the same day, beginning eight minutes apart, they could ten minutes, or thirty minutes, or one hour, or twelve hours, by the same rule.DSQ69 95.3
Again, he said, Ananias did not say a word about the Sabbath to Paul, but only to be baptized; therefore the Sabbath was not binding on him. But he didn’t say a word about the third commandment; therefore he could take God’s name in vain. He did not say a word about the fifth, seventh, or eighth commandments; therefore they are not binding, and he was at liberty to kill, commit adultery, and steal, by Bro. Grant’s rule. That is the way they get into trouble opposing the Sabbath. Every argument they make against it strikes against every other commandment, and destroys all moral obligation.DSQ69 95.4
Notwithstanding the positive evidence I have brought in favor of the original obligation of the Sabbath, he still claims that it depends on the old covenant for its obligation. But he admits, as he must, that it was in force before that covenant was made, and it makes no difference whether it was thirty days, or ten days. If it was binding five minutes before that covenant was made, it does not then depend on that covenant. His position is therefore wrong, but he do n’t notice this. Proving that the old covenant is done away does not prove anything; it does not touch the point.DSQ69 96.1
Deuteronomy 1:1-5, is quoted, which says, Moses stood between God and the people, when the Lord made the covenant with them, to show them the word of the Lord. But Moses did not stand between God and the people when the ten commandments were given; they all heard it directly from God himself. Moses did stand between God and the people when the covenant or agreement was made between them, as we have read in Exodus 19. This again proves that that agreement was the old covenant made with the house of Israel, and that the ten commandments were not.DSQ69 96.2
Let us notice 2 Corinthians 3: “But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:”—what is done away?—“which glory”—of Moses’ countenance—“was to be done away.” But he says it was the ten commandments that are done away. Let us be careful how we read: “How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.” What is that abolished? That which Moses hid with a vail put on his face. Were the ten commandments on Moses’ face? No! Moses was the mediator of that covenant; and Paul is writing about the different ministrations, or priestly work under the two covenants. That did not release from condemnation; it had no sufficient offering to take away sin. This is on better promises; it grants repentance and forgiveness of sins. But the same law is now written on the heart, by the Spirit of God, that God there wrote on the stones.DSQ69 96.3
He says the old covenant could not make any one perfect, and then applies it to the ten commandments, and says there is nothing in them against evil speaking or evil desires. I wonder if Bro. Grant ever read the ten Commandments! See here: “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Does that relate to evil speaking? “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.” Is there nothing about evil desires in that? The commandments of God are much broader than he seems to be aware of.DSQ69 97.1
I will now offer fifteen reasons why the Sabbath is for Gentiles, as well as Jews. Remember, that is the question.DSQ69 97.2
1. “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27. Gentiles are men, hence it was made for Gentiles. There is no evading this conclusion, unless it can be proved that a Gentile is not a man.DSQ69 97.3
2. It was made more than two thousand years before there were any Jews, and, therefore, must have been designed for mankind in general.DSQ69 98.1
3. The reasons given in the commandment to the Jews for keeping it, apply equally to the Gentiles. It is just as true among the Gentiles that God rested upon the seventh day, and that he blessed and sanctified it. It is therefore equally binding upon the Gentiles.DSQ69 98.2
4. It is declared to be a sign, or memorial, between God and his people, because in it he rested from all his work. Exodus 31:17. It is, therefore, a memorial of the creation of the heavens and the earth. This again fastens it equally upon the Gentiles, because they are as much interested in the creation as the Jews.DSQ69 98.3
5. One object of the Sabbath is for religious meetings and worship of the Creator of all things. Proof: Leviticus 23:3: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation.” But the Gentiles need such a day for religious convocation as much as the Jews, and God has never given them any other day. No record in the Bible of any other day of rest ever being given.DSQ69 98.4
6. Again, the Sabbath is a physical blessing to men, as well as to meet the demands of his mental and moral nature. It is declared to be a day of rest for man and his beast. It is universally admitted that man needs a day of rest. Do not the Gentiles and their beasts of burden need the Sabbath rest as much as the Jews? Has the Creator neglected to supply the demands of their nature? May we not inquire with Paul, “Is he not the God of the Gentiles also?”DSQ69 98.5
7. The fact that the Sabbath was made for man in Paradise before the fall, is evidence of its universal application to all men. It was not a temporary thing for some particular sect of people, but a blessing for universal man in his Eden home.DSQ69 98.6
8. Another fact showing the universal application of the Sabbath to all men, both Jews and Gentiles, is that God placed it in the very heart of the moral law. None dare deny that the other nine precepts are of universal application to all men—Gentiles, as well as Jews. Let us consider these commandments.DSQ69 99.1
The first, to serve God only; second, have no idols; third, honor God’s holy name; fourth, remember his holy rest-day; fifth, honor parents; and to abstain from murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and covetousness. All these are duties binding on the Gentiles, as well as the Jews. They are universal, growing out of the relation of all mankind to their Creator, and of course moral.DSQ69 99.2
Now God did not put the Sabbath in the midst of these moral laws by mistake; he put it there intentionally, because it was like them. And this shows his design that all men should keep it. And the Sabbath points directly to the relation that we, as creatures, sustain to him as the Creator It grows out of those relations as surely as do any of the others. It grows out of the fact that God is creator. These facts and relations apply to all mankind alike; they have existed from the beginning of the race.DSQ69 99.3
9. Another proof that the Sabbath is binding on Gentiles, is the fact that Christ and the apostles teach the perpetuity of the moral law, of which the Sabbath was a part. Matthew 5:19: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least,” etc. The Sabbath is one of them. Romans 3:31, Paul says, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” The Sabbath, being a part of the law, is established by faith.DSQ69 99.4
10. The apostle Paul teaches that the Gentiles who never heard the law as did the Jews, yet have it written upon their hearts by nature. Proof: Romans 2:14, 15. “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are a law unto themselves; which show the work of the law written in their hearts.”DSQ69 100.1
Now if the Gentiles have the law in their hearts so as to do by nature the things contained in the law, we can understand why many of the Gentile nations have an idea of the Sabbath without the Bible. Where did they get this idea, if not from nature and tradition? The God, both of nature and of the Gentiles, has stamped the Sabbath truth upon their hearts.DSQ69 100.2
Mark! the law that the Jews heard, and had a copy of, is the same the Gentiles have written on their hearts.DSQ69 100.3
11. When God made the Sabbath for man at the creation of the world, at that very time, he commanded them, Genesis 1:28, to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” To replenish, is to stock, to fill up completely.—Web. So Paul declares that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for a to dwell on all the face of the earth.” Acts 17:26 There was no distinction of nations in the plan of God; we therefore conclude that he made the Sabbath for all nations who dwell on the face of the earth. For the Sabbath was made before any national distinction could be recognized. [Time.]DSQ69 100.4
ELD. GRANT’S ELEVENTH SPEECH
Colossians 2 says that the Sabbath days were shadows of good things to come, but the body is of Christ. Now we have come to the body, and we know the shadow always runs out when we come to the body. Does this mean the seventh-day Sabbath? Yes. How does God declare the end from the beginning? He appointed six days for labor, and one for rest. That is a type of the toil and labor of six thousand years, and the rest that remains for the people of God.DSQ69 101.1
He says there were only three feasts in their law. Let us read: “Three times a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose.” These were for all the males; they were not all required to assemble on the seventh day at a particular place.DSQ69 101.2
God does not abolish moral precepts. Before that law was given, there was a law to love God, etc. But the ten commandments were a code of precepts to them as a nation; and it is now all abolished as a covenant—it is dead. The moral precepts were enjoined before and after that covenant, but it was a special covenant for them.DSQ69 101.3
The Fourth of July cannot be celebrated the same hours in Paris that it is here. If he admits that, he must give up his view of definite, particular time. So here we are agreed again.DSQ69 101.4
2 Corinthians 3:7:“But if the ministration of death [what one?] written and engraven on stones.” That’s it; “that was glorious, but it was done away; and the ministration of righteousness exceeds in glory. It was the ministration, and not the glory, that was done away. That is Paul’s point, if I can understand it.DSQ69 101.5
“The Sabbath was made for man.” We come back to his syllogism. The passover was for men also, but not for the Gentiles. No other points of weight to notice, so I go on.DSQ69 102.1
Hebrews 9:1, we read, “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” Here the ordinances and the covenant are connected together, and they remain together. When the ordinances stop, the covenant stops.DSQ69 102.2
The learned Griesbach says, “Law of the commandments in ordinances;” Wakefield says, “with its ordinances.” Exodus 20:24: “An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings,” etc. Here is the first mention of an altar in Exodus, and it was attached to the first covenant.DSQ69 102.3
Hebrews 9:6-12: “Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people: the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing; which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation [mark this, until—not always]. But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”DSQ69 102.4
And Hebrews 6:19, 20, says, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedec.” Jesus has entered within the vail; but some say he did not enter until 1844. Paul says he is entered.DSQ69 102.5
Hebrews 9:18-20: “Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.”—This first on Mt. Sinai was dedicated with blood.—“For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.” This was a solemn affair. It was sealed with blood. It is described in Exodus 24:3: “And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do.” That was a covenant of works—they promised to do; but now we are under a covenant of grace. And again he submits it to the people to see if it is all right. They hear and consent to it all. Verse 7: “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people; and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient.” But my brother says this covenant was written in a book. Well, he never would have got it if it had not been written in a book. Moses had to write it in a book. He could not carry the tables of stone around to teach the people the words of the covenant. That this is the covenant from Horeb, there is no room for doubt.DSQ69 103.1
We come now to the new covenant. Hebrews 8:13: “In that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Let us look further, in Hebrews 7:18, 19: “For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and un-profitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect”—as we said before, a man might keep every one of the ten commandments, and not be a Christian—“but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” Colossians 2:16, 17: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.” This brings us to the body again, and when we get there, the shadows cease.DSQ69 103.2
Acts 3:22, 23: “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” When you get to the body, look to that; don’t look back to the shadow. Hear that Prophet now. To find what that means, we turn to chap. 15:10: “Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear.” Now come back again to Hebrews 8:6, 7: “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” A man might keep the ten commandments, and not be saved. Paul was blameless touching that law, but it did not reach to the motive of his actions.DSQ69 104.1
We will take a bird’s eye view of the covenant with Israel. They were compared to a vine. Psalm 80:8: “Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen and planted it.” And in Isaiah 5:1, 2, 7: “Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: and he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant.”DSQ69 105.1
He brought it up, it grew, and he made a covenant to make a great nation of them if they would keep his covenant. The blessing was national; it did not refer to future life, but was for the present. We have looked to Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and find they knew nothing of this covenant. Now Christ is our vine—we are married to him.DSQ69 105.2
Ezekiel 16:4-13: “And as for thy nativity, in the day that thou wast born thy navel wast not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.”DSQ69 105.3
Here is the covenant with Israel, and we will see what its result was to them:DSQ69 106.1
“Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.”DSQ69 106.2
The old covenant was for that kingdom, or nation; it was national, and it could be kept by any one and yet he not be fitted for eternal life. I say, emphatically, not a precept in that law but that every moral man can keep. See here: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.” “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” Could not any moral man avoid all that? “Remember the Sabbath day.” This they could do. “Honor thy father and thy mother.” They could do this also. “Thou shalt not kill,” nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness, nor covet. Any moral man can keep all these. It did not command to love God, because then a moral man could not keep it. It speaks of the benefits of loving God, and the evils of hating him, but does not command. Now shall we take the Sabbath, and make a test of it? Preposterous!DSQ69 106.3
2 Timothy 1:9: “Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” We see the new covenant is not a covenant of works.DSQ69 107.1
ELD. CORNELL’S ELEVENTH SPEECH
One thing has been said for mere effect, which I must notice. We do not believe that, they who keep Sunday have the mark of the beast; we do not teach so. It is a misrepresentation. But we do believe that when it becomes enforced by law, the warning has been given, and the people become enlightened on the subject, if they then persist in disobedience to God by breaking his holy Sabbath for an institution of another, opposing power, they will be condemned as worshipers of that power. We cannot tell who are honest; but the truth is sent to test the people.DSQ69 107.2
He says all the moral precepts are in the New Testament. Where are the first three commandments in the New Testament? When he shows these, I will show the Sabbath just as positively. Let him try this if he dare. They all stand or fall together.DSQ69 107.3
Hebrews 9:1: “Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.” But that covenant is not the ten commandments. There was no sanctuary ordered till after they came to Sinai, but every one of the ten commandments was binding before that.DSQ69 107.4
“We are not under a covenant of works.” Does he mean by that that there are no works in the gospel plan? James says that faith without works is dead, being alone Though we are not justified by works, we are not released from them. I assert there is just as much works in the New Testament as in the Old. We shall be judged according to our works; every man will be rewarded according to his works. True faith is a faith that works.DSQ69 108.1
The old covenant is done away, because it was broken; but breaking the commandments would not make them void. Look at each of them: Have no other gods; make and worship no image; take not God’s name in vain; keep holy the Sabbath. Are these weakened by transgression? Honor thy father and mother; thou shalt not kill, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor bear false witness, nor covet. Does the breaking of these do them away? They do not depend on man’s obedience for their obligation or perpetuity, but on God’s authority. But the old covenant was the agreement made concerning God’s law of ten commandments; and an agreement is made void by the failure of either party to fulfill its conditions. This is the case with the old covenant.DSQ69 108.2
He says Christ is our lawgiver. If that is so, I ask Who is our mediator? [Applause.] The Catholic will say, The pope. But what will we do who reject the pope? Who is Bro. Grant’s mediator between him and his Lawgiver?DSQ69 108.3
There was a promise of eternal life in the Old Testament, by faith; but they had to keep the commandments. And so must we; for faith is nothing without obedience.DSQ69 108.4
What is it to be moral? That which is called morality in the world is no morality at all. True morality is just what is needed, and I assert that a strictly moral man will be saved. [A Voice—Humbug.] There is no perfect morality without perfect obedience, and that is just what God requires.DSQ69 109.1
I now resume my reasons for believing the Sabbath was for the Gentiles:DSQ69 109.2
12. The law of God is declared by the apostle Paul to be universal in its jurisdiction. Romans 3:19: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.”DSQ69 109.3
Now we submit that a law which stops “every mouth,” and proves “all the world” guilty, must be binding on all the world. 1. It condemns all to whom it speaks. 2. It speaks only to those who are under it. 3. It condemns all the world. 4. Conclusion: Then all the world must be under it.DSQ69 109.4
But does not Paul say that Christians are not under the law, but under grace? Yes; because their transgressions of it are forgiven. But were they not under it till converted? And if so, is it not binding? Shall we sin now? God forbid.DSQ69 109.5
13. We come now to a direct statement of the word of the Lord, pronouncing a blessing on every Gentile who will keep his Sabbath:DSQ69 109.6
Isaiah 56:1-8: “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. Neither let the son of the stranger that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place, and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the 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; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, besides those that are gathered unto him.”DSQ69 109.7
This is positive. It belongs to the past dispensation, or it is prophetic of the gathering in of the Gentiles. In either case it fastens the obligation of the Sabbath upon the Gentiles. The “strangers” are the Gentiles. See Ephesians 2:11, 12.DSQ69 110.1
It is plainly declared, then, that God requires the Gentiles to keep his Sabbath. And why not? They are men, and Jesus says it was made for them.DSQ69 110.2
14. Jesus, in the New Testament, recognizes the Sabbath and the law of the Sabbath as binding in this dispensation, and hence obligatory upon the Gentiles.DSQ69 110.3
Matthew 12:12: “Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” 1. Then there are Sabbath days in the gospel. 2. There is a law regulating the Sabbath. “It is lawful,” means according to law. It is certain, therefore, that the Sabbath law is still in force.DSQ69 110.4
Again, in Matthew 24:20, Jesus instructs the disciples to make the Sabbath a subject of prayer, during the forty years that intervened between that time and the destruction of Jerusalem; that their flight might not happen on the Sabbath day. And we find the disciples, after the crucifixion, “resting on the Sabbath according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56.DSQ69 111.1
15. The Sabbath will be kept in the new earth, when all flesh will meet to worship on the Sabbath, both Jews and Gentiles. Proof: Isaiah 66:22, 23: “For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Not one eternal Sabbath, but “from one Sabbath to another.” In the restitution, the original plan that all created intelligences should keep the Sabbath will be fulfilled. We have traced the Sabbath from Paradise lost to Paradise restored. It originated in Eden.DSQ69 111.2
“‘T was set apart before the fall, ‘T was made for man, ‘twas made for all.”DSQ69 111.3
And when the time comes that “all the earth shall be filled with the glory of God,” then all the saved will keep the Sabbath together. What a glorious thought!DSQ69 111.4
The Sabbath covers all time, and embraces all races of mankind. It begins with the first man, and it still exists with man as the holy and honorable of the Lord in the immortal state.DSQ69 111.5
And as it was instituted to commemorate the creations of the heavens and the earth, it will remain while heaven and earth endure. [Time.]DSQ69 111.6
ELD. GRANT’S TWELFTH SPEECH
It is claimed that the Sunday institution is the mark of the beast. On this point I will read a little history:DSQ69 112.1
Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, a. d. 101, who died only about half a dozen years after the death of the apostle John, speaks of the Lord’s day familiarly and without explanations, as if everybody understood it. And he gives this title to the first day of the week exactly after the manner of the apostle himself. “Let us [Christians] no more sabbatize,” he says (that is, keep the seventh day, as the Jews did), “but let us keep the Lord’s day.” Again: “Let every one that loves Christ keep holy the Lord’s day, the queen of days, the resurrection day, the highest of all days.”DSQ69 112.2
Irenæus, Bishop of Lyons, a disciple of Polycarp, who had been the companion of the apostles, A. D. 167, says: “On the Lord’s day every one of us Christians keep the Sabbath, meditating on the law, and rejoicing in the works of God.”DSQ69 112.3
Tertullian, who died a. d. 245, says: “The Lord’s day is the holy day of the Christian church. We have nothing to do with the Sabbath (that is, the Jewish Sabbath). The Lord’s day is the Christian’s solemnity.”DSQ69 112.4
Barnabas, who, if not a companion of the apostles, lived in the apostolic age, says: “We [Christians] keep the eighth day [that is, the first day of the week] as a joyful holy day, on which day also Jesus arose from the dead.”DSQ69 112.5
Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, who died a. d. 397, says: “The Lord’s day is sacred, or consecrated, by the resurrection of Christ.DSQ69 112.6
Augustine, who died a. d. 430, says: “The Lord’s day was by the resurrection declared to Christians; and from that very time it began to be celebrated as the Christian festival.”DSQ69 113.1
The persecutors of these Christians were accustomed to put to them this question: “Dominicum servasti?” Hast thou kept the Lord’s day? If they had, they were marked as Christians. This was the badge of their Christianity. And if they said they had, and would not recant, they must, be put to death.DSQ69 113.2
Eusebius, “one of the most learned and eloquent men of the Christian church,” called the “Father of Ecclesiastical History,” who died about a. d. 339, in his commentary on the Psalms, says of Psalm 92: “The Word [Christ] by the new covenant, translated and transferred the feast of the Sabbath to the morning light, and gave us the true rest; viz., the saving Lord’s day; the first [day] of the light, in which the Saviour of the world, after all his labors among men, obtained the victory over death. * * * On this day which is the first of light and of the true Sun, we assemble, after an interval of six days, and celebrate holy and scriptural Sabbaths—even all nations redeemed by him throughout the world—and do those things, according to the spiritual law, which were decreed for the priests to do on the Sabbath; for we make spiritual offerings and sacrifices, which arc called sacrifices of praise and rejoicing.”DSQ69 113.3
Theodoret, another Ecclesiastical Historian, who died about a. d. 460, speaking of the Ebionites, a party of Judaizing Christians, says: “They keep the Sabbath according to the Jewish law, and sanctify the Lord’s day in like manner as we do.” (Hæret. Fab. 2. 1.) “This,” says Prof Stewart, “gives a good historical view of the state of things in the early ages of the church. The zealots for the law wished the Jewish Sabbath to be observed, as well as the Lord’s day; for about the latter there appears never to have been any question among any class of Christians, so far as I have been able to discover. The early Christians, one and all of them, held the first day of the week to be sacred.” (Sabbath Manual, No. 2, pp. 111, 126.)DSQ69 113.4
Says Mosheim: “All Christians were unanimous in setting apart the first day of the week on which the triumphant Saviour arose from the dead, for the solemn celebration of public worship. This pious custom, which was derived from the example of the church of Jerusalem, was founded upon the express appointment of the apostles, who consecrated that day to the same sacred purpose, and was observed universally throughout all the Christian churches, as appears from the united testimony of the most credible writers.” (Maclaine’s Mosheim, Cent. 1, part II, c. 4, s. 4.)DSQ69 114.1
My opponent said the pope changed the Sabbath. Never! Did Constantine change it? Never! He cannot bring a word of proof to sustain it. Constantine enjoined it because he embraced Christianity, and sustained the Christians who had been using that day. The old covenant had passed away before that, and all the other commandments are in the New Testament.DSQ69 114.2
He quotes James to show that justification is also by works. Yes; by works and faith, but it was by works alone under the first covenant. God did not make the covenant alone—there were two parties; but they broke it, and; now it is gone. He asked the people if they would agree to what he laid before them, and they replied, We will do it. Then he ordered them to make an ark, tabernacle, etc.; these belonged to the covenant, and they are all gone together,—all null and void, that they are ended, all the scriptures agree.DSQ69 114.3
We have “one Lawgiver.” Yes; Jesus and his Father are one.DSQ69 114.4
We want proof that Abraham knew that covenant.DSQ69 115.1
He has given a new definition of morality. [Loud shouts of, Amen.]DSQ69 115.2
Romans 3:19, 20: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”DSQ69 115.3
What law is that? He is speaking of that old covenant, verses 21, 22: “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.” That is as broad as the other—“all that believe.” “Where is boasting then?” Well, I don’t know; it is not in our works. Is there any works there? Without—there it stands, without—the law.DSQ69 115.4
Isaiah 56:1, does not touch the resolution, and I let it pass.DSQ69 115.5
He speaks of the Sabbath in the new earth. Yes; there is a Sabbath or rest remaining for the people of God; but it is longer than the seventh-day Sabbath. It is an eternal Sabbath.DSQ69 115.6
Now come to a few facts:DSQ69 115.7
In summing up, we would express the substance of our arguments by introducing the following facts:DSQ69 115.8
1. It is a fact that there is but one weekly Sabbath mentioned in the Bible.DSQ69 115.9
2. It is a fact that there exists no proof that man kept, or was required to keep, a Sabbath from the creation to the exode, a period of about twenty-five hundred years.DSQ69 115.10
3. It is a fact that throughout all history, we can discover no trace of a Sabbath among the Gentile nations of antiquity; hence,DSQ69 116.1
4. It is a fact that no nation except the Jews have ever observed the Sabbath.DSQ69 116.2
5. It is a fact that the Jews, Talmudical writers, and early fathers regard the Sabbath as only given to the Jews after their exode.DSQ69 116.3
6. It is a fact that Adam’s first day corresponded with God’s seventh day.DSQ69 116.4
7. It is a fact that Genesis 2:3, was not written until after the law was given at Sinai.DSQ69 116.5
8. It is a fact that God gave (not restored) the Jews a Sabbath.DSQ69 116.6
9. It is a fact that God never gave the Gentiles a Sabbath.DSQ69 116.7
10. It is a fact that the Israelites never prohibited Gentiles from work on the Sabbath unless they were servants or proselytes.DSQ69 116.8
11. It is a fact that the pope did not change the Sabbath.DSQ69 116.9
12. It is a fact that the early fathers and reformers did not regard the fourth commandment as binding.DSQ69 116.10
13. It is a fact that the only reason given in either decalogue for the Sabbath was because they had been servants in Egypt.DSQ69 116.11
14. It is a fact that the only reason given elsewhere for the Jews to keep the Sabbath on the seventh day, was because God rested on a seventh day in Eden.DSQ69 116.12
15. It is a fact that we can discover no trace of a Sabbath, even among the oriental nations who had the hebdomadal week.DSQ69 116.13
16. It is a fact that, throughout the entire range of Grecian literature, no trace of Sabbath or Septenary institutions can be found.DSQ69 116.14
17. It is a fact that no Pagan writer can be adduced who refers to the Sabbath, otherwise than a Jewish institution.DSQ69 117.1
18. It is a fact that the Sabbath is a positive precept, not a moral one.DSQ69 117.2
19. It is a fact that the Sabbath for the man was made, and not the man for the Sabbath. Hence, the Sabbath was a servant and subservient to man, and not vice versa.DSQ69 117.3
20. It is a fact that the Sabbath was a feast day, and all feast days have ceased.DSQ69 117.4
21. It is a fact that a Jew could keep the ten commandments and be lost.DSQ69 117.5
22. It is a fact that the decalogue has nothing to do with the motive, but only the deed.DSQ69 117.6
23. It is a fact that there is no distinction between the law of Moses and law of God.DSQ69 117.7
24. It is a fact that fornication, incest, bigamy, cheating, backbiting, and a multitude of other immoral and unchristian acts, are no violation of the table law.DSQ69 117.8
25. It is a fact that all nations cannot keep the Sabbath.DSQ69 117.9
26. It is a fact that Christ did not once sabbatize after his resurrection, a period of forty days.DSQ69 117.10
27. It is a fact that the law could not give eternal life, but Christ can.DSQ69 117.11
28. It is a fact that the law (decalogue) was the Sinaitic covenant.DSQ69 117.12
29. It is a fact that the Sinaitic Covenant was one of bondage, from which we are now delivered by its being cast out.DSQ69 117.13
30. It is a fact that if the table law is binding, then circumcision is, also.DSQ69 118.1
31. It is a fact that we are saved by faith; but the law is not of faith, hence we are not saved by keeping the law.DSQ69 118.2
32. It is a fact that the early Christians, for three hundred years, did not recognize the Sabbath as binding, or hold to the sabbatical nature of Sunday.DSQ69 118.3
We read in Hosea 2:11: “I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.” And they have ceased, since Jerusalem was overthrown by the Gentiles. Their nationality is gone, and their covenant is gone.DSQ69 118.4
Galatians 3:23: “But before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith that should after ward be revealed.” We were under the law, but now are divorced—we are free from it.DSQ69 118.5
I hope all will read Exodus, from the 19th to the 25th chapter, and see how it all harmonizes. When the covenant was made, the altar and offerings were all connected with it; as Paul says, the first, covenant had ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary—all made with that poor infant child. It was a national covenant, having no reference to future life. If they would keep it, he would build them up; if not, he would pull them down. They did not keep it, and they are pulled down. And their covenant is null and void. [Cries of, Amen. Shouts and confusion.] Now we are under the new covenant; let us not go back to Moses, but go to Christ. We have not time to go back to Moses. It is proved to a demonstration that that covenant genders to bondage. [Time.]DSQ69 118.6
ELD. CORNELL’S TWELFTH SPEECH
He says we have no time to go back to Moses. Who goes back to Moses? We go to God. That law was before Moses; it was spoken to the people by God’s own voice—not the voice of Moses. But why does he go to the “fathers”? If he has any Bible to sustain his position, why don’t he give it? He has none to give. We have one Lawgiver. Where did either the Father or Son command us to keep the first day of the week?DSQ69 119.1
What is the liberty in Christ of which we boast? Freedom from condemnation—freedom from sin. That I believe. Is it freedom to break the law of God? to make it void? No, says Paul. Bro. Grant says, Yes. There’s where he and the apostle disagree. Romans 6:1: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.” Sin is the transgression of the law, and freedom from sin is freedom in keeping God’s law—not in breaking it. Is Christ the minister of sin? Galatians 2:17. No. X Christ does not release us from obligation, but from condemnation.DSQ69 119.2
One thing I am glad to notice: he acknowledges his failure to sustain his position by the Bible, by going to history. [A voice, That’s false.] If he had any Bible proof that it was right to keep the resurrection day, he could give it; but he has not offered one text. He has not got it. He quotes from the epistle of Barnabas; a letter that all critics agree is a forgery. Mosheim and Kitto condemn it. Eusebius says it is spurious. Neander says it is impossible to attribute it to that Barnabas who was a fellow-laborer with Paul. That letter says the hyena changes its kind, and is sometimes male, and sometimes female. [Laughter.] Docs he believe it? Does he indorse Barnabas as a teacher of Christian duty? He has often said, “Hear Christ.” Yes, hear him. Does Christ teach what his history teaches? If so, why didn’t he show it? Because he could not.DSQ69 119.3
He remarked that I cannot bring proof that the Catholics changed the Sabbath. Well, you are on the affirmative, and you quote history to prove the change. Will you prove who did change it? Did Christ change it? Will you point to the least particle of evidence that Christ instituted, or commanded, the observance of the first day of the week?DSQ69 120.1
We are not justified by the law; because by the law is the knowledge of sin. Look at that law. As you look; you see you are a sinner. Now if you have righteousness restored to you, it must come through Jesus Christ. And what is the righteousness he gives? Paul says, that which is witnessed by the law. Romans 3:21. But Bro. Grant says the witness is dead! [Applause.] And what is Paul’s conclusion on this argument, as presented in the last verse of this chapter? “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” I have several times called his attention to the apostle’s own conclusion, but he will not notice it. He dare not; he knows it turns the argument against him. Paul says we do not make void the law through faith; Bro. Grant says we do. Here is his mistake. So in a manner he and I are engaged in the same work; that is, tearing down—he tearing down God’s law, and I tearing down him. I would much rather occupy my place than his.DSQ69 120.2
He says the Sabbath on the new earth is an eternal Sabbath. Isaiah says, “From one Sabbath to another.” Will they come from one eternal Sabbath to another eternal Sabbath? It will be the Lord’s Sabbath, which, I have shown, was instituted in Paradise and reaches to Paradise restored.DSQ69 120.3
He says Adam’s first day was God’s seventh day. I deny it. Adam’s first day was the sixth day. After his creation he had all the beasts pass before him and gave them names, then was put into a sleep, and had a rib taken from his side, of which a woman was made; she was then presented to Adam, and a wedding took place—all on the sixth day. Certainly a considerable part of the sixth day must have transpired after Adam’s creation.DSQ69 121.1
I will now sum up the arguments as presented, and our replies and the direct arguments against the resolution.DSQ69 121.2
Affirmative Argument, 1st. On the silence of Genesis; no proof that Adam kept the Sabbath—not hinted at for twenty-five hundred years.DSQ69 121.3
Reply. We showed that it proved too much; there is no commandment in Genesis to love God. Again, it would prove the Sabbath was not obligatory for about eight hundred years after the exode, as it is not referred to by Bible writers during that time. But we found in Genesis 2:2, 3, a plain record of its institution; and that it was sanctified, or set apart, for man.DSQ69 121.4
2nd. It is a memorial of their coming out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 5:15: The Lord brought them out of Egypt, “therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.”DSQ69 121.5
Reply. We find the same language used in reference to not oppressing widows and orphans, and in reference to all of God’s statutes and judgments. Are all God’s laws only memorials of their deliverance from Egypt? We have a definite memorial of that event in the passover, while the Sabbath points to creation for its origin.DSQ69 121.6
3rd. God sanctified the Sabbath after Israel had come out of Egypt.DSQ69 122.1
Reply. On this we urged him to show when and where God sanctified the day except at creation. No record that the day was sanctified for man after Israel had come out of Egypt. He asserted it, but he failed to give a particle of proof.DSQ69 122.2
4th. He complained that I asked him to prove a negative; said it was unreasonable.DSQ69 122.3
Reply. He must prove two negatives, or lose his question. He framed the question himself, and ought not to complain if we ask him to sustain it.DSQ69 122.4
5 th. He asks, Is there proof that any particular seventh day is to be kept?DSQ69 122.5
Reply. Did God rest on any particular day? We are to keep holy the day of God’s rest, the day he sanctified, because of his resting on it.DSQ69 122.6
6th. We cannot keep any particular day, because of the variations of time east and west.DSQ69 122.7
Reply. How then can they keep the first day, or day of the resurrection? Is the world flat when Sunday comes?DSQ69 122.8
7th. There is no commandment in the decalogue to love God.DSQ69 122.9
Reply. In the second commandment we read: “Showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.” This is equivalent to a commandment, and is enough for all who are “willing and obedient.”DSQ69 122.10
8th. We don’t claim that we are to keep any particular day, but only the seventh after six days of labor.DSQ69 122.11
Reply. Then why assert that we are wrong? Do we not keep the seventh after six of labor?DSQ69 123.1
9th. He affirmed in regard to Romans 7 that the first husband, that was dead, was the law.DSQ69 123.2
Reply. But we find that Paul, in his argument, comes out on our side. He says, “I had not known sin but by the law.” “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.”DSQ69 123.3
10th. We are married to Christ. Let us hear Christ. If he says, Keep the seventh day, we will keep it.DSQ69 123.4
Reply. He refuses to keep the Sabbath because Christ has not commanded it over again in the New Testament. But he will keep the Sunday as a religious duty, without its ever being once commanded.DSQ69 123.5
11th. To keep the Sabbath right, we must not kindle any fires on that day.DSQ69 123.6
Reply. There is nothing in the commandment against building fires. Like some other laws, it was designed for the period of their sojourn in the wilderness. When they came unto Palestine where it was cold, they were never forbidden having fires. But they were required to have fires on the Sabbath to offer sacrifices.DSQ69 123.7
12th. The old covenant was made with the Jews only; but the new covenant, with the Gentiles.DSQ69 123.8
Reply. The new covenant was not made with the Gentiles. Jeremiah and Paul are the only writers who mention the new covenant, and they both say it was made with the house of Israel and Judah.DSQ69 123.9
13th. Paul kept the law until he was converted.DSQ69 123.10
Reply. After he was converted, was he at liberty to break it?DSQ69 123.11
14th. Nothing in the fourth commandment to indicate how to keep the Sabbath.DSQ69 123.12
Reply. The disciples knew how to keep it by the commandment. Proof: Luke 23:56, “And restedthe Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Read the commandment. It says,” Keep it holy;” “In it thou shalt not do any work.”DSQ69 124.1
15th. There is nothing in the decalogue against evil speaking.DSQ69 124.2
Reply. See the ninth commandment: “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”DSQ69 124.3
And he made a fatal admission, viz., that the Gentile proselytes were not servants, and that the Sabbath was binding on them. This is fatal to his question. Of our rebutting arguments, I notice the following:DSQ69 124.4
1. The Sabbath was made for man; Gentiles are men. It was made 2000 years before there were any Jews, before that distinction was known; hence, it was for mankind in general. The affirmative has failed to show any other institution of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was obligatory before they came to Sinai, and there was a law for it long before the old covenant was made; therefore the vanishing away of that covenant could not affect the Sabbath.DSQ69 124.5
2. The reasons for the sabbatic institution given in the fourth commandment apply to all.DSQ69 124.6
3. It was a memorial of creation, and hence obligatory on all men from creation, and on all under obligation to the Creator.DSQ69 124.7
4. The same law that the Jews kept was binding on Gentiles. “There shall be one law for you and for the stranger.” If the nations would learn the ways of God’s people, they should be built up. Jeremiah 12:16. Thus we learn that the Gentiles, as nations, were under the same conditions and obligations.DSQ69 124.8
5. The Sabbath has existed in all dispensations. Luke 23:56. The disciples of Christ “rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” And the commandment points back to creation, where it was made, as stated in Genesis 2:3. And Jesus says it “was made for man.”DSQ69 124.9
6. We have shown that there were two distinct laws. The Sabbath is found in the midst of the one not abolished—the moral law, spoken and written by God himself.DSQ69 125.1
7. Paul says it was not made void. Romans 3:31. Christ says, “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.” Matthew 5:19. Again: “And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.” Luke 16:17.DSQ69 125.2
But my time is nearly out. To conclude, I call your attention to the question we have had under discussion: “The Sabbath was binding only on the Jews and their servants.” Now I have shown, and he has admitted, that Gentiles were called of God to serve him by joining themselves to his people, and keeping his Sabbath. These were strangers, proselyted to the faith. But, in admitting this, he admits that those who were neither Jews nor their servants were required of God to keep the Sabbath. And, therefore, he has entirely failed to sustain his proposition.DSQ69 125.3
And now, respected audience, I close, with thanks for your kind and attentive hearing of this discussion, and to the chairman for the impartial manner in which he has presided over us. We hope you will remember the points, and be advanced in the knowledge of Bible truth. And I wish to say that I have the kindest feelings toward my opponent in the debate. We met as good friends, and I trust we part as friends. And thus I leave the subject with you.DSQ69 125.4