It is hardly a matter of surprise (though always of sorrow to the devout mind), in this day of general rebellion against divine authority, to meet with attempts to abrogate the special claims of the first day of the week, and even to find those attempts made upon grounds alleged to be scriptural. Of such a character is the tract named below.
The author seeks to show that there is no more authority for observing the first than any other day of the week. He rightly repudiates the first day being in any sense the sabbath; but he nevertheless falls into an exceedingly grave error in. the opposite direction. He considers one day out of seven a far too insignificant proportion for the Lord. With a show of zealous ultra-spirituality, he declares he will not be satisfied unless every one of the seven be counted a Lord's day. This contention, as another has remarked, results in the very impotent conclusion that not one of the seven becomes a Lord's day. Instead of leveling up the six days to the first, the first is leveled down to the six; and the Lord is robbed of that to which He has set His name.
The aim of the tract therefore is decidedly mischievous, inasmuch as it tends to destroy the character of what is due to Christ from His saints. And it is the consideration of this fact that has induced us to notice it. It is no question of balancing proofs for the validity of certain human opinions, but whether it is written that the first of the week is appropriated by the Lord Jesus in a special way or not. And if He has, in any manner that has seemed good to Him, reserved this day unto Himself, we are undeniably under the most sacred obligation to respect that claim.
And before penning any of the remarks that may follow, we desire to make it clear to our readers that they are not the outcome of controversy between two persons of different persuasions. Half the circumference of the globe lies between us. Who C. W. may be, whether he is alive, and Whether he will see these lines, are questions that the present writer cannot answer; nor do they affect the subject at the head of this paper. The point at issue is not C. W. but C. W.'s tract. We hope therefore that anything that may be said against his notion may not be construed as an uncharitable remark against C. W. His arguments are only referred to because they may be used by some, and may, possibly, be difficulties to others.
To proceed to the consideration of the subject. It will be found that the first day of the week is as characteristic of Christianity as the sabbath was of Judaism; so that this is no case of making “trifles seem the marrow of salvation.” The day selected in each of the two instances stands as one of the strong points of distinction, nay, of contrast, between the systems of law and of grace. Their relative positions in regard to the other days of the week are highly significant of this diversity of character.
In the Mosaic economy, the day of rest was made to succeed the six days of toil. Jehovah in promulgating the law on Mount Sinai commanded, “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it” (Ex. 20:8-118Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:8‑11)).
It is not overlooked that there are earlier references to a hebdomadal division of time, and also to the seventh day as the sabbath. But only when incorporated with the “ten words,” did it possess the nature of a legal obligation, so that to break the sabbath, by gathering sticks, for instance, was punishable by death. It was the sabbath of Jehovah Elohim, and it was to be hallowed to His worship and service.
It was to be a sabbath of rest to them. While it is true that its holy character was enforced by divine authority, it remains that its peculiar feature was that it was a day of rest. In contrast with their labors of the six days, they were to do no manner of work on the seventh.
Now if one word more than another is characteristic of the ancient economy, it is the word, “Do.” “The man that doeth these things shall live in them.” It was therefore the man that labored for six days that rested the seventh. Had he for six days loved the Lord his God with his whole being, and his neighbor as himself, he could then, in a worthy manner, remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. But alas! in this as in every other commandment Israel failed. They estranged their hearts from Jehovah. They did, their own pleasure on His holy day, and thus profaned His sabbaths. So that we find throughout the prophets that the Lord brings a continual charge against His people for breaking His sabbaths. They proved themselves unable to discharge their responsibility God-ward in the due observance of this day. Being unholy for six days, it became impossible to keep holy the seventh.
But beside being an integral part of the system inaugurated at Mount Sinai, which resulted, not in man's blessing and salvation, but in making his offense to abound (Rom. 5:2020Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: (Romans 5:20)), the sabbath is specifically declared to be a particular sign of God's covenant with His people. It became a broad distinctive mark between them and every other nation. Other nations might, in varying degrees, recognize the great moral landmarks of abstinence from murder and lust, &c., as specified on the tables of stone. But the sabbath was an abiding sign that Jehovah had separated that people unto Himself; other nations not observing it as it was laid upon them to do. Hence Jehovah says to the sons of Israel, without at all mentioning the other nine commandments, “Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am Jehovah that doth sanctify you.” It was to be a perpetual covenant, a sign forever (Ex. 31:12-1712And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 13Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. 14Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. (Exodus 31:12‑17)). This sign-character of the sabbaths is long after referred to by Ezekiel the priest when Israel is charged with polluting them, and thus walking in the ways of the nations (Ezek. 20:12, 1312Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. 13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. (Ezekiel 20:12‑13)).
Without giving further proofs, as might easily be done, it will surely be allowed that the sabbath was one of the distinctive features of the Jewish religion, as indeed it will be in a future day when Israel is restored (Ezek. 45:17; 46:317And it shall be the prince's part to give burnt offerings, and meat offerings, and drink offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the sabbaths, in all solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meat offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. (Ezekiel 45:17)
3Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons. (Ezekiel 46:3)). In like manner we hope to show that the first of the week is characteristic of Christianity.
( To be continued, D.V.)