The Detroit times., 1910-04-30

was obligated to keep the letter OF 1t
IN a sense and degree which He has
not commanded us, His followers. II
is ours merely to keep the spirit Of It,
Hence If we were living in Palestine
neither the Seventh Day nor any
other particular day OF the week
would be obligatory upon us. But it
would be our pleasure TO maintain the
spirit of the Jewish Law. Acting
along the lines OF this liberty, the
early church began TO meet on the
First Day Of the week. because II
was on that day that their Redeemer
arose from the dead On that day He
appeared to some in the upper room
and TO two on the way TO Emmaus
and to Mary and subsequently TO
others Of the disciples near the tomb.
These four manifestations of the
Lords resurrection marked that day
ia special sense as "A holy day 10
the early Church They waited dur
ing an entire week and then again lie
appeared on the first day of the week.
, Indeed, so far as we may know all
OF His eight appearances To His fol
lowers after His resurrection were on
the first day OF the week. No wonder,
the Lords Day No wonder If they
specially associated with that Day all
the blessings OF God and Il rest OF
faith which came TO them through the
Redeemer Quite probably those who
lived in Jewish communities would
continue to observe the Seventh Day
also, because it's general observance
would make this a necessity. But the
/ 90 th a
general time for the Lords followers
TO assemble themselves and to par
take of simple meal called breaking
of bread mot the Lords supper in
commemoration OF the fact that on
the day of His resurrection Jesus
manifested Himself to His followers
In the breaking OF bread.
But we are not to understand from
the present study that the Master
reprovcd the Jews for keeping the
Seventh Day, which was their duty
! His reproofs attach to certain ex-
tremcs The Pharisees exaggerated
some features and entirely overesti
mated other features OF the Law. In
| their theory there was no harm in
eating the corn on the Sabbath Day,
/ but to- pull an ear of it they construed
TO be reaping. And to rub il out OF the
chaff they considered to be threshing
and winnowing Similarly, to scratch
or look for a flea was estimated to be
I hunting, and thus Gods reasonable
Law was made to appear absurd. II
was such absurdities only that Jesus
combatted. He showed that one had
! a right to satisfy his hunger. and
cited case where the Prophet David
| had done SO without blame. lie cited
/ also the fact that the priests labored
on the Sabbath Day without blame
/ lie explained that God was DESTROYS
OF seeing i'm His creatures the quality
OF mercy towards one another. rather
| than merely the sacrificing OF their
| comforts. Had they recognized this
! Truth they would not have found fault
with the Apostles.
/ Then. as though TO demonstrate His
position. He healed man who had a
withcred hand also demonstrating by
/ His miracle that He had the Divine
/ favor and that His teaching on the
subject had this evidence of It's truth
! fulness He pointed out the incOn-
/ sisteucy of His critics, saying that
since they would relieve one OF their
/ brute beasts. IL he fell into a pit on
/ the Sabbath. they would see. there.
/ fore. how illogical was their position
1 in objecting TO his performing cures
Nof human ills ON the Sabbath Day
/ But the evil heart Is not amenable to
/ reason The very fact that lie dem
onstratcd His teachings 90 be superior
/ to theirs excited the Pharisees 70
envy. malice. hatred. and the very
! spirit Of murder Thus they |egi-
denced that they lacked the quality OF
mercy. love, yhSh God would spe-
cially approve. and without which we
cannot be- His children Sacrifice Is
right in lis place, but mercy more