ELDER GRANT’S FIRST SPEECH

I am glad to engage in this discussion with one who is so well posted on his side of the question before us. The Scriptures, of course, must settle the question, for when good men differ, one or both must be wrong. We do not claim to be very well posted. The question however, is one of great importance, for, admitting my friend’s position correct, we are all Sabbath-breakers! and we know that a great penalty was attached to Sabbath-breaking, Tappan’s Logic has been referred to about ancient institutions, etc. True, the Sabbath was ancient, but it was kept only by the Jews. I shall take the position that the Sabbath was only a positive institution, and shall prove that it was binding on the Jews, but never on the Gentiles, only when they lived in Jewish families; hence, we consider the statement that the Sabbath is binding upon all mankind, not correct.DSQ63 8.3

My friend claims that the Sabbath still exists, because the reason assigned for its observance still exists. But I will show that the reason for keeping it does not apply to the human family-that it does not apply to the Gentiles. Deuteronomy 5:15. “And remember that that wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.”DSQ63 8.4

God took that day to commemorate their deliverance because it was the day on which he rested. It was binding only on Israel for they only were delivered from Egyptian bondage.DSQ63 9.1

We now call on him to show that any Sabbath existed before they came to Mt. Sinai; or to give one passage in the New Testament to prove that the fourth commandment still exists. Matthew 12 is quoted to prove it. “It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.” But it is not lawful to do wrong on any day in the Christian age, surely! Luke 4:16, and 23:56, are quoted to prove that Christ and the disciples preached on the Sabbath days. True, and so should I, if I was among those who kept that day.DSQ63 9.2

I will now advance argument to show that the Sabbath is done away. Hebrews 8:7. “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.” This shows that the first covenant was faulty and can be improved. Galatians 4:21-24. “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh; but he of the fret woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.”DSQ63 9.3

We learn what the covenant of Sinai was from 1 Kings 8:9. “There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.” Also, in Deuteronomy 5:2, 3. “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 ten commandments, then, were the first covenant. It was not made before it was made with Israel at Sinai, and of course it was not binding before it was made.DSQ63 9.4