, 1896-03-11

ihluSC Ndu NC bdlu W DC III 1OICC, dA the COM
mandment clearly forbids not only the
worshipping-which SO far is included in the
lst-but also the making, in which way the
Jews also understood it. If it is in force. who
has given us permission to change it and to
make statues of angels and Of Christ? But we
will lay the question aside. Only 50 far it
concerns US that it shows that We cannot take
the Uhols ofthe decalogue as being still in force
to the letter. The resi- Of the commandments
we find all confirmed III the new testament-
mostly literally alluded to-as every Bible
reader will know (The. 1T. T.. i. l Cor s, 4, &
Matlh. 4. TO-, the Bird 9th and 7th in the SER
mon on he mount, the 9th. Malth 10 4.G; the
8th, Eph. +. %; the 9Th, Eph. t. 25;the 10Th,
Rom. l3. 81 Now it lies in the nature
Of the revealed re1ig ion that all these men
toned commandments, even without being
named. were in force under the new covenant
also. But the only doubtful! one is not con
trmd. OH the contrary. Were there net Sab
bath breakers III the days Of the new tesla
ment ? And what does ii. the Apostle Paul
ray 10 his congregations? Does he instruct
the members to keep the sabbath? We can
not say that it was unnecessary, for ne speaks
to heathen- Christian mostly. for whom the
idea of u Sabbath would be a quite distant
thought. But as some of the Jewish Chris
tians would make them keep Sabbath he even
warns his congregations against it: Let no
man Judge you in meat or drink or in respect
Of an holiday or of the Sabbath days, which
are u shadow of things to come (Colos. 2. 16.)
49,. Ye observe days and months and times
and years. / am afraid lest ! have bestowed
lab0ur upon You i'll vain Gal. 4. 81 He
even calls hat observance b~eggarly elements,
and he has not a word Of r~eproach to those
who in Rome esteem every day alike" (Rom.
IA. o. Considering ali CHS | am not sure
of the good reception ST.. Paul would have In
st. Thomas with al! were he to preach there
to-day about the burning question of Sab
bath observance" Martin Luther, of course,
is out of the question.
And has Christ left one decisive word to
his Church about the observance Of the Sab
bath 2, / think we must say that the man
ner in which le speaks to the Pharisess of
olden days about The Sabbath does, to say
YER. little, not confirm the view which some
hold of chat day now.
Last, but not least, if observance of
the modern Sabbath rests on the 4th
commandment, who has then given us
permission to change the day? If it DO
still Gods law, the Church, we must remem-
Der, could not change it. And where is the
authority for it? here is a serious difficulty.
All that VIZ see in the New Testament about
the list day Of the week is that Christians in
some places used to come together that day.
Where is the decisive word for the doing
away with the observance of the 7th day as
enjoinsd upon the Jews, and removing it
with all its obligations to the list?
According to our view, that question, that
cannot be solved when we take our stand
point on the decalogue, finds a very easy
solution rs follows The observance of the
Christian Sunday has nothing to do with the
4th Comm andmrnt, which, as belonging to
the ceremonial part of the Mosaic law. has
fulfilled It's end, but has quite a different
origin. Its tie day in which the great "let
there be light was said by the Almighty, it
is the day Of the great Christian memories, Of
His resurrection, If the beginning of the
Church. For this day we may say hat The
Jewish Sabbath was a prototype, a shadow of
the substance 10 come. Sunday is IL gift to
the Church, not a commandment.
This view is confirmed by the Ancient
Church. I|gnatius "a. d. 400 says: I'VE
are not keeping Sabbath, but we are living
according to the Lords Day" The author of
the Barnnbas letter (Which letter if not writ
ten by the Companion of Paul anyhow is very
old) says that it's festival origin comes from
its being the day of the resurrection of
Christ. Justinns Martyr "a. D. 1863 is the
first to call the day Sunday, refering to the
creation Of light on tho first day and the
stepping forward of Christ, the Sun of Right