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Why Christians do not keep the Saturday
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Why Christians do not keep the Saturday Sabbath -- by Enoch Coppin The Christian's Sabbath --- There are, perhaps, well-meaning religionists who would bring Christians under bondage to keep the law by insisting upon the observance of the 7th day Sabbath of the 4Th Commandment. A little consideration of the subject of the Sabbath may be a help to some. By the method of question and answer, we will deal with the points advanced by the Seventh Day Adventists. Ques.--Why do you not keep the Sabbath? Ans.--Because it was never given to the Gentiles to keep. Q.--Does not {Genesis 2:5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.} infer that the patriarchs kept the Sabbath? A.--No.! Q.--Then what laws could Abraham have kept? A.--The laws of: Propagation, {Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.}; Abstaining from blood, {Genesis 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.}; Against bloodshedding, {Genesis 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.}; Faith {Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: }; Walk and Perfection, {Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. }; Circumcision, {Genesis 17:9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.}. Q.--Did not Moses instruct the Isrealites to keep the Sabbath some weeks before the Decalogue was given? A.--Yes, but as a a test not a law, and that very testproved that they had not been keeping it previously. God said, "That I may prove them whether they wil walk in my law or not." {Exodus 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.}. Q.--When was the Sabbath given? A.--{Nehemiah 9:14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:} shows clearly that Israel was given God's Holy Sabbath at Mt. Sinai. Q.--What was the significance of the Sabbath to Israel? A.--It weas a memorial of God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt, that is, of Redemption. ({Deuteronomy 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.}) It was also a sign "that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." (Ezek. 20:20.) Q.--Were not all nations given the Sabbath? A.--No. It was given to Israel onlyu. ({Exodus 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.}) Q.--Did not Christ say, "The Sabbath was made for man" in the generic sense? A.--"For man", not birds, breasts, fishes, angels or demons. The generi sense is sometimes employed where, after all, the word is only applied with limitations, as for instance, in Eph. 4 "Gave gifts to men." {Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.} The context shows that only the Chruch has these gifts. So, too, in the words "for man", for only the Commonwealth of Israel was affected by the Sabbath. Q.--How could God sanctify the 7th day, yet not give it to man till Mt. Sinai? A.--Christ was sanctified by God breforethe world began, yet He was not manifested till the Incarnation. Q.--Did not the disiples "rest according to the commandment" the Sabbath after the Crucifixion? A.--Yes, for Christ was not risen. This was their last Sabbath gathering. Beginning on the day of the Resurrection the disciples there after met on the First day of the week, called the Lord's Day. Q.--Are there not frequent mentions made of the disiples going to the synagogue on the Sabbath day? A.--Yes. The Jews had rejected their Messiah, and the Resurrection meant nothing to them. So they went on blindly with the old order of things ({ 2Corinthians 3:14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.}) keeping the Sabath as before. The only opportunity the disciplles had of preahing the truth of Christ to them was when they gathered thus. The disciples left off going to the synagogue on the Sabbath. ({Acts 19:8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. 9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.}) In {Acts 16:21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. } and {Acts 18:13 Saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. } we have evidence that Paul sought to teach them contrary to the keeping of the Sabbath. The words "they taught things contrar to the law" ould only refer to the Sabbath for Paul would not teach them to break the commandments against murder, adultery, coveteousness, idolatry, etc. As a matter of fact, the only commandment not quoted in the New Testament is the Fourth Commandment. Paul who wrote about one third of the New Testament, and had been given the Gospel to the uncircumcision, never once exhorted to keep the Sabbath, but rather condemned the keeping of it. ({Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.})
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