River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-04-28

people, regardless of their religious
convictions, are ready to admit the
wisdom, the expediency, yes, the
necessity, for a Sabbath day, a rest
day once a week. Whatever dis
putes there are on the subject, there
fore, pertain to which day shall be
observed and to the manner of OBJ
seryance. When, through Moses as
Mediator, God adopted the nation
Israel as his peculiar people, &C
cepting them into Covenant relation
ship through their promised obedi-
ence to the Law, he fixed for them a
special day Of the week, the seventh,
to be their Sabbath, or day of rest.
This Law specially appertained to
Palestine. Had it extended beyond,
| to encompass the whole earth, 1t
would have been necessary for the
Law to specify which day should be
considered the Sabbath on t h e
other side of the earth, where the
time would, of course, be twenty
four hours different.
But those of US who are not Jews
by nature and not Under that Law
| Covenant are not bound by it's llml-
tation that the Sabbath should be
on the seventh day of the week.
Indeed, neither Jesus nor the Apos-
ties ever placed the Gospel Church
under the Law Covenant at all
They tell us that those under it
were the "house of servants" in
bondage and that we are the house
of sons" if we stand fast in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free"
This does not mean liberty or free
dom TO do wrong. But since Christ
ians are not limited to the land of
Palestine, it leaves US free to follow
the spirit of the Law rather than it's
letter. This is true of the entire
Ten Commandments, as we'll as of
the Fourth. The Heavenly Father
does not address his spirit begotteu
children with commandments not to
kill, not to steal, etc because such
commandments to them would be
unnecessary. Begotten of the holy
Spirit, they love God and reverence
him alone, and would not think of
homaging images, nor of profaning
the Holy Name, nor of doing injury
| to a neighbor or brother. On the
contrary, their love for God would
lead them to honor his Name, to
serve his cause. And their love
| for their neighbor as for themselves
would prompt them to render him
service doing good unto all men
as we have opportunity, especially
to the household of faith" (Gal.
6:1O.) This love, the Apostle as
sures us, is the fulfillment of the
Law, so far as we are concerned
the fulfilling of the spirit of the
Law-for "ye are not under the
Law (Covenant), but under Lthe1
Grace (Covenant) Rom. GA;
Gal. 1929.
The Jews had system of Sab
bath Days snd Sabb ath years-the
Seventh Day and the (7X7+1=50)
or Fiftieth Day, or Day of Pente-
cost. And they had a system of
year Sabbaths, the Seventh Year
and the (7x7+1=50) Fiftieth Year,
or Year of Jubilee. These were
typical, as the Apostle explains, and
true Christians may enjoy the anti
types. Thus to US the Seventh Day
represents a Rest of higher char
acter than that of the Lava rest
of faith, as instead of physical
rest. "We who believe do enter
into his rest"-a faith rest based
upon our acceptance of Jesus as
our satisfaction before God. The
fitness of this rest we attain when
we receive the begett;ng of the holy
Spirit. And this was typif1ed by
the sending of the holy Spirit on
the Day of Pentecost. Similarly
Israel's Sabbatic Year of Jubilee
has its antitype in the great Millen-
NAL Age of Rest. (Acts 3:20.) But
we leave the discussion of this for
a more convenient season.
The Great Teacher as Jew was
as much under the obligations of
every feature of the Law Covenant
as any other Jew. We may be sure
that he did not violate any feature
of it. He was obliged to keep the
letter of it in a sense and degree
which he has not commanded us,