Part 1 (1/2)
A Vindication of the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
by Joseph Bates.
PREFACE.
TO THE LITTLE FLOCK:
I DEDICATE to you the following pages, with my continued prayers to G.o.d, through our Great High Priest and coming King, that they may, in connection with G.o.d's Holy Word and guidance of the Divine Spirit, enable you more clearly to discover the deceptive arts of the Devil, and the agents he is employing in these last days, to betray and ensnare you in his (almost) innumerable and complicated variety of sins and snares; and see your true position _just here_ under the HIGH LANDS of IMMORTALITY! Do not forget, while seeking to understand the Scriptures with a simple and honest desire to live _here_ by every word of G.o.d, to read again and again the warning that G.o.d in his infinite mercy gave to Jesus more than fifty years after his glorious resurrection and triumphant ascension to his Father's seat in his Sanctuary in the heaven of heavens; and he sent it by his angel, who presented it before John in holy vision, recorded in his Rev. xii: 13 and 17, and in xvi. chapter, first part of the 13th, and 14th and 15th verses. You will see the opening developement of these very things in the work before you. None will fully realize them but those who are keeping _all_ of the Commandments of G.o.d, especially his Holy Seventh-day Sabbath. Without fear of contradiction here or hereafter before the great WHITE THRONE, I tell you there is not an Advent paper (that I have heard of) published in the land, that is leading to the kingdom. I do not say but what they publish many truths; but their heretical doctrines will, if followed, never, no never, lead you to G.o.d!
And as you pa.s.s along through these peace and safety _valves_ in your prophetical history, watching and anxiously waiting for G.o.d to give the fourth sign of the coming of Jesus by shaking the heavens and earth, the sea and all nations, and give you the _time_ of Jesus' coming, you will more clearly discover the widening track these advocates are pursuing with almost to a _unit_ every professed advent minister in their train. You will also see that the _Waymarks_ and high heaps in your pathway, _past and present_, are the only sure earthly guides to the peaceful haven of eternal rest. From my watch-tower I have discovered and pointed out to you some of the devouring WOLVES in sheep's clothing. Let us avoid them, and live prayerful, humble and watchful, for more will yet be seen, and perhaps start right out of your midst!
As I am unable to pay the Printer, your means-as G.o.d has given you ability-will be needed. I trust that G.o.d's true children are ready.
Fairhaven, Ma.s.s. Jan. 1848.
J. B.
THE SABBATH CONTROVERSY.
Once more I feel constrained to speak in vindication of the Sabbath of the Lord our G.o.d. I have been privileged to read about all the articles which have appeared in the BIBLE ADVOCATE, both for and against the Seventh-day Sabbath, for about four months past; and occasionally a thrust and a challenge from the Advent Harbinger, declaring that the law of G.o.d was abolished more than eighteen hundred years ago, and that we have since that time been under grace. The most that I have feared in this controversy was, that it would not be continued long enough to bring out the whole truth, to the utter confusion and dismay of these professed Second Advent Sabbath breakers. One trait in their characters is now pretty clearly developed, that is-they are Sabbath haters! The law of G.o.d is nicknamed by them, the ”Jewish Ritual,” the ”Jewish Sabbath,” the ”Sabbath of the old Jews,” &c. &c., thus virtually showing up their characters in these perilous times, according to Paul, as covenant breakers, boasters, proud, blasphemers, denying the righteous law of G.o.d, and yet professing to believe the whole word of G.o.d. ”As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses” so do some of these leading men resist the truth.
”A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land, the prophets prophecy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Answer-”The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” I think it is becoming very evident that they are fulfilling Rev. xii: 17, and xvi: 13, first clause. None others so likely to deceive as these, because of their position in the near coming of the Saviour. It amounts to almost an impossibility to get _their_ definition of the _Law and Commandments_. One cla.s.s will tell you that the old and new testaments are the Word and Commandments of G.o.d. A second will tell you that the new testament contains all the commandments and teachings that are now required of us. I was informed of a company of professed advent believers, not thirty miles from this, having become so alarmed or tenacious, that they would not carry the old testament with them to meeting on the first day. There was nothing in it, however, that they feared but the commandment to keep the Seventh-day Sabbath. A third cla.s.s will tell you that baptism, the Lord's Supper, was.h.i.+ng one another's feet, holy greeting, and all the commands which are given, are commandments. Joseph Marsh, editor of the Advent Harbinger, says we are not under the law (of Moses) but under the law of grace, the new testament. Now the Apostle James has given us a test which will utterly confound all such unscriptural arguments, viz.: ”Whosoever shall keep the whole law but shall fail with respect to one precept hath been guilty of all.”-[_Macknight's trans._] Now to make it still plainer for us, he says, ”For he who commanded do not commit adultery, hath commanded also, do not kill. Now if thou commit not adultery, _but killest_, thou hast become a transgressor of the law.” Now I ask in all candor which of these _five_ are right? You answer, James, the inspired one. Well, does he justify either of the other four? You answer no, for he has directed us to the tables of stone, the ten commandments in the law, recorded in Exodus xx: 1-17. This is the true source. Is it doubted? Then here is the testimony of Jesus in Matt. v: 17-19. Now read the 21st and 27th verses-the very same ones James has quoted. See also the 33d verse, the third precept.
There are several others if required, but surely these two are clear.
Certainly no one will doubt from the above testimony but what the ten commandments in the decalogue are all and the only ones that man is required to keep, with the exception of the new one in John xiii: 34, given for the church of Christ. But J. Marsh says, it is clear that all the ten commandments in the decalogue were abolished at the crucifixion of Christ. So says every one that takes this stand, and they quote for proof 2d Col. 14-17. But it happens very unfortunately for them all that James saw his master crucified and his testimony is dated A.D. 60, about twenty-nine years beyond their point of time, and shows us that the commandments were as much enforced then and ever would be, as they were when his master was crucified twenty-nine years before. Now I say that this testimony pointedly and positively condemns them and will condemn them at the judgment. For proof of this I appeal to the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, what we must do to be saved, ”_If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments._” But some will say James called it the law, therefore you must so expound it. I will let G.o.d and Jesus do that: G.o.d says positively that the keeping of the Seventh-day Sabbath is my _commandment and my law_. Exod. xvi: 28, 29. So he has in other places taught us respecting the whole decalogue, and so in like manner does Jesus. Read the same question and answer recorded in Luke x: 25-28: ”WHAT SHALL I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE?” Jesus asks him what is written in the LAW. He repeats the words of Jesus recorded in Matt. xxii: 36-40, or, in 37-39th verses. ”_And_ (Jesus) _said unto him, thou hast answered_ RIGHT _this do and_ THOU SHALT LIVE.” Now, if you want it still clearer, read Matt v: 17-19. Law and commandments are here too, synonymous: ”Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least [_laws_] commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be in no esteem in the reign of heaven, but whosoever shall _practice_ and teach them shall be highly esteemed in the reign of heaven.”-[_Campbell trans._] That he is speaking of the law of commandments in the decalogue is positive and clear from the 21st, 27th and 33d verses. That he means the whole, is also clear from this and the above quotations in Matt. xxii. and Luke x. Now if the keeping of the commandments will secure us eternal life, and the violation of them render us of no esteem in the reign of heaven, how can those enter there who do not keep them, and especially such ones as Joseph Marsh and his adherents, who are teaching the world that there are no commandments, and are endeavoring to dissuade and discourage and reproach all of G.o.d's honest children, who are striving to be highly esteemed in the reign of heaven.
Does not the Saviour's language as clearly apply to them now as it did when he was permanently establis.h.i.+ng and confirming this covenant, the law and commandments of G.o.d, ”putting them into our minds and writing them on our hearts.” viz.: ”Why do ye also transgress the commandments of G.o.d by _your_ tradition? Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophecy of you saying, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips,” [They are advocating his speedy coming to judge the world.]
”but their heart is far from me. But _in vain_ they do wors.h.i.+p me _teaching_ for _doctrines the commandments of men_.” Oh, but say some, we believe that the commandments are as valid now as they ever were. Why do you then constantly and perseveringly reject, scoff at, and sneeringly deride, and denounce, those that are as honest as you are, while they are endeavoring to keep the fourth commandment just as G.o.d had directed them?
When you have been so repeatedly shown by their writings, drawn from the clear word that the fourth commandment is not abolished and _never_ has undergone any change more than the other nine, and that there is no other weekly sabbath recorded or intimated in the old and new testaments. If you will follow such downright infidelity as is taught in _all_ the second advent papers respecting G.o.d's holy sabbath, and still continue to stigmatize the holy law of G.o.d, how can you expect to be treated otherwise than the rebellious house of Israel, and be made to feel in a very little while from this, all the horrors of a guilty conscience, urging you to do that which you now detest and abhor: even to come and bow at the feet of these very despised-as you are now disposed to term them-”_door shutters_,” ”_mystery folks_,” ”_Judaizers_,” ”_feet washers_,” ”_deluded fanatics_,” _&c._ _&c._ See Isa. xlix: 23, and lx: 14; Rev. iii: 9. Here your characters are delineated. You say no, these mean the nominal church.
It is not so. _They_ have rejected the message of the second advent. And _you_ since that time (1814) have rejected the word of G.o.d. Our testimony will not be rejected when called for that you with us left them with all their creeds and confessions of faith and professed to take the whole word of G.o.d for our rule of faith and practice. This then is your clear position, even while opposing the commandments of G.o.d. If you ask why I speak in such positive terms about or concerning the commandments of G.o.d, allow me to cite you to our history, Rev. xiv: 12. Is not this positive proof?
Also in xii: 17. Do you not read your own characters as described above, on the remnant of the last end? and are not these individuals who enter the gates of the city the same remnant that are at last saved by keeping the commandments? xxii: 14. Does not the 15th verse describe those who are left out, ”and whosoever loveth and maketh a _lie_.” How perfectly this compares with what I quoted above, Rev. iii: 9. See also 1st John ii: 4.
”He that saith I know him and keep not his commandments is a LIAR and the _truth_ is not in him.” You will possibly say the three texts which I have quoted in Rev. xii., xiv. and xxii., have no reference to the Sabbath.
When I come to treat on the xiv. of Rev. I will look at this point. But allow me to state here, that the first three commandments in the decalogue have never been a subject of dispute (_separately_) in Christendom, while the fourth _has_ been for fifteen hundred years. We know positively that this is true in our second advent experience. Therefore it is plain that by keeping the fourth commandment or the seventh-day Sabbath as it stands recorded, and in the very time too in our history, we are clearly fulfilling the prophecy, viz.: ”Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of G.o.d and the faith of Jesus.” Allow me to state my conviction here with reference to the great ma.s.s of advent believers especially, that if they could quietly dispose of the seventh-day Sabbath and sink it with the Jewish rituals, then they would never raise their voice against the other nine commandments of G.o.d. This, then, is the evident reason why they are wielding their puny weapons to smite down the only foundation that upholds the old and new testament. It would be much easier work for them to stop the raging of the hurricane.
G.o.d has them in derision, he will laugh them to scorn. But I must pa.s.s to the examination of this subject, as I intimated in the beginning.
IS THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK THE SEVENTH?
Before entering upon this subject, it will be proper for me to state, that some time last August the editor of the Bible Advocate, being pressed by his brethren to open his columns for the discussion of the Sabbath question, rather reluctantly complied, by first giving his views against it. He stated that he should first give C. Stowe's view, in the affirmative, covering the whole ground, and then the view of some other writer in the negative, before he published any thing more on the other side, and so on. Sister Stowe's piece, accompanied by the views of the editor, appeared in the B. A., Sept. 2d, 1847. C. Stowe sent the editor two articles, as she says. The editor saw proper to publish her second article and withhold the first, for purposes best known to himself.
Perhaps it was considered objectionable, as the editor of the Advent Harbinger had refused to publish it for her. So for some reason or other, only part of the ground was covered, and not one candid objection or examination offered to her second, except by a certain character, who, apparently, was ashamed to have his real name known among honest seekers for the truth. So far as the subject has advanced, J. Croffut, of N. Y.
city, J. B. Cook, of New Bedford, Ma.s.s. and A. Carpender, of Sutton, Vt.
have spoken in the affirmative. The negative is advocated by the editor, Joseph Turner and Barnabas, and perhaps two others; besides what has been teeming from the Advent Harbinger, in the negative. Now, I do not re-examine Turner and Barnabas, because they have not been ably replied to by J. Croffut, J. B. Cook and C. Stowe of N. H., but because I see the necessity of taking up the subject in a different form, without being restricted, as all generally are, who write for papers. Another important point which governs me, is, that all the little flock may understand the true bearings of the subject, for there are undoubtedly a great many that do not see the Bible Advocate, and because I felt like taking a part in this great subject, in which I feel deeply interested, and I see from the commencement that I was excluded from that paper, by the statement that C.
Stowe would cover the whole ground in the affirmative. I furthermore perceived there were additional objections to their unscriptural views, which continued to be presented to my mind.
JOSEPH TURNER in attempting to prove that Sunday, the first day of the week is the seventh day of the week, and therefore the proper Sabbath, has failed to make out his case. His proposed foundation is from Matt. xii: 39, 40. ”But he answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas, for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” He says, ”to rear the temple of this body in three days, or to remain in the heart of the earth three nights and to rise the _third_ day was, according to the above scripture, to be a sign. I will now prove by Christ and his disciples that this sign was literally given, and that he arose, not the second, but _third_ early in the morning.” This statement is not true. The above scripture states _three_ days, and not as you say you will now prove _in_ three days. If it proves any thing, it proves three whole days, and then of course the Saviour would rise on the fourth day. This, according to your mode of calculating, would make the seventh day come on Monday. If you want the third day, or within three days, why not take as many as you need for your argument, from the eighteen other texts, and not take this isolated one, and then pervert it, as you have done. The only object that I can see, in your perversion of the text, is to prove, as you say, that Jesus was three nights in the heart of the earth, viz.: Friday night, one; Sat.u.r.day night, two, and Sabbath night, three. You say, ”that Christ was actually raised the _third_ day and not the second, as tradition holds it.” I am not aware of any such tradition. That would be perverting the whole eighteen texts instead of the one you have done. But that he was raised the third day, and that third day was the first of the week, is the joint testimony of the four evangelists, Matt. xxviii: 1; Mark xvi: 2; Luke xxiv: 1; John xx: 1. But let us see how you have obtained these _three_ nights as stated above, which, as you say, ”proves triumphantly that 'OUR SABBATH' is the seventh day.” First read the second paragraph in your P. S., where you have attempted to pervert the plain and clear testimony of Luke, in chap.
xxiii: 54, 56. Here you stated one scriptural fact: That the Sabbath always commenced at evening. ”From evening to evening shall you celebrate your Sabbath.” Then, as a most natural consequence, the next day would begin where the Sabbath ended, and so of every other day thenceforward, or chaos and confusion would follow. This also perfectly agrees with G.o.d's manner of commencing time at the creation: ”The evening (first,) and the morning is the first day,” &c. Now as you have shown that Friday was the first day of the crucifixion and that it was so far spent and pa.s.sed away at the time our Lord was buried, that the women could not have got home and prepared spices, (which probably was not more than twenty minutes labor,) before the next day began. How, and by what authority do you claim Friday night? Does Friday night come after twenty-four hours of that day are spent? You see how difficult G.o.d makes the way of transgressors. You may reply that you made a mistake. Will you allow me to tell you where your mistake commenced on this subject. If I am not very much mistaken it was when you gave up keeping the true seventh day, the only historical, chronological or biblical day of the week ever given to man. Well, you may say, I have made some converts. True-but they are also deceived, and many very likely rejoicing in it like D. B. WYATT, who seems to have swallowed the whole, and is endeavoring, with the a.s.sistance of the Advent Harbinger, (although they are at antipodes respecting the commandments of G.o.d,) to spread the glad tidings far and wide. This editor is in no wise particular about men and measures to accomplish his Jesuitical purpose, to annihilate the very foundation and superstructure of the Bible, ”the commandments of G.o.d.” Matt. xxii: 40. This wonderful piece of Advent intelligence is recorded in the same paper with D. B. Wyatt's, Sept 9, 1847. See also April 28, page 38. Let it be well understood here also, that this man and J. V. Himes, editor of the Advent Herald, are the two, and only two, editors and papers in this country, which William Miller of Lowhampton, N. Y. recommends to give the light on the second Advent. The meat in due season.