The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-07-12
sabbath observance.

thor in tie Boston Globe refers to the
Bible, both old and new Testament, !
therefore infer that he accepts the Bible
doctrine of the Sabbath, as he undertakes
TO show that Christians do not keep it &C.
cording to the divine teaching. He tells
US that the early church ''made the Sab
bath what we would now call a holiday,
releasing people from the obligation Of
labor" He says the ''ehurch expressly
excepted agricultural laborers, whose crops
might need attention; and it was not until
the year of 528 that all work was prohibit
ted
Now to the law and testimony, as l pro-
pose to show the teachings of the book on
this important question, because if there
are those who deny the Bible as authority
on this question | have no controversy
with such persons. The book says son
the seventh day God ended his work which
he had made, and he rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had
made" Thus the earth and the heavens
were finished and all their glory. Now the
rest of God does not mean to remain inact-
i've or to do nothing. The divine is full of
energy and contemplation. May it not
refer to the rest of the saints, as it is
said "they that believe have entered into
rest" 'And hallowed it, Now to hal
low is to devote to Gods service. and there
is no possibility of SO twisting this an
guage as to make it mean a mere ssholi-
day, or a day of worldly pleasure. With
out doubt hallowed means for divine SER
vice. He rested TO give us a rule and to
indicate a time when we should give
special service TO our divine Lord. Men
should repose and rest in God.
The article says .'There is no trace any
where Of an authoritative transfer of Sab
bath keeping OF Sunday" Now the change
was made in II Lords time, and it had
been q time for solemn religious assem-
bling and was so observed by Him, and
when changed to the first day of the week
it was the day on which the first Christians
assembled for divine service and it was
called the Lords day. Now all this was
done in Christ's time, and it is sure the
Bible is not all in the form of direct COM
mand, but it teaches by examples and
proverbs, and our Lord declares that He
sscame not to destroy the law and the
prophets. but to fulfil" Now the observ-
anee of the Sabbath is a part of the moral
law and Christ says 'sthe Sabbath was
made for man. In this be refers to the orig
inal institution as 4 universal law and not
to its obligation upon the Jews only. Il
is a law for the race. Paul asks, edo we
then make void the law through faith"
and answers by saying sGod forbid; yea,
we establish the law and / had not known
lust, except the law had said thou shalt
not coyet." Now this is a plain reference
TO the teEtb command, and is proof that
the decalogue is the law of which he
speaks and which is 70 be the rule of all
inward and outward holiness through time.
And whoever, therefore. denies the obi
t1-AI j.
MES the whole decalogue and must suffer
the penalty of such violation, as this is the
law our Lord came to fulfil and perpetrate.
I am free to say / don't envy that man his
courage who says Il will when God says
thou shalt not"
Now while there is no positive command
for the Apostles to change the Sabbath
from the seventh to the first day of the
week, yet as it was don in the Apostolic
age and Paul waited at Troas seven days
TO be present ION the first day of the week.
and when the disciples came together to
break bread paul preached unto them. "
Now these disciples, it appears, were in the
habit of worshipping on the first and not
on the seventh day. So instead of there
being no trace anywhere of an ~authoritiye
transfer of Sabbath keeping on Sunday
as the article says, we do have the sanction
and example of inspired men, and those
men the appointed rulers in the church of
Christ, whose business it was to ssset all
things in order" pertaining to worship and
moral government. The original institu-
ton is stated In general terms 'tGod blessed
and sanctified the seventh day" which
must undoubtedly imply the sanctity of
every seventh day, or one seventh part of
our time. The seventh day after six days
Of labor, should thus be appropriated for
sacred and benevolent purposes. The diff
f~erenees of latitude and longitude would
make it exceedingly difficult for persons
in all parts of the earth to observe it at
exactly the same time, hence the general
terms used are just what thoughtful men
might expect. At the close of each divi-
sion of the work Of creation He says 'sthe
evening and the morning were the first
day" and so on until he reaches the seventh,
sFand on the seventh day God ended his work
which he had made" and which day, or
portion of time, is to be kept holy as to
the Lord.
The precept is not remember the seventh
day of the week to keep it holy, but re
member the Sabbath day to keep it holy"
But it is not for each person to decide as to
the day he or she will observe, since by
Apostolic authority the day is fixed to be
held on the first day Of the week. And
| since our government has elected the same
day it is the duty, and ali good citizens
will observe the day thus designated be-
cause good citizens will obey all reasonable
laws.
The Globe says s'the writer of the epistle
to the Colossians distinctly and in terms
abregates the Sabbath law, declaring it to
be no longer binding on Christians" Now
the Globe or its friends will confer a favor
on the writer of this article if they will
point out chapter and verse where such a
doctrine is recorded in the Colossians.
We are prepared to receive facts, but vague
and bold assertions without proof must
and will be ruled out. Plain intimations
OF this weekly revolution of time are to be
found in the earliest Greek poets-Hesoid,
and Homer, as well as among the Chal-
deans, Egyptians and Romans. And Noah
sent the dove of the ark ''and he stayed
yet other seven days, and again he sent
forth the dove out of the ark observing,
you iii notice, the same order and number.
| Seven with the Jews was a holy lumber.
! The Globe tells us that Jesus was
publicly branded as q Sabbath breaker, z
but forgot to give US Christ's answer to
those Pharisees who accused Him The
| Master said, II say unto you, that in this
place is one greater than the temple, and
| the Son of man is Lord even of the Sab
bath day" And when they asked lis it
lawful to heal on the Sabbath" He asked
| them what man that has one sheep and
IL fall into a r;t IN tho Sabhat will he