Resurrection.

1Co 15:12  Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? 

Is there a RESURRECTION of the dead? What does resurrection mean? What do you think of when you think of being resurrected?

Resurrection

RESURREC'TION, n. s as z. [L. resurrectus, resurgo; re and surgo, to rise.]

A rising again; chiefly, the revival of the dead of the human race, or their return from the grave, particularly at the general judgment. By the resurrection of Christ we have assurance of the future resurrection of men. 1 Pet 1.

In the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage. Mat 22.

(WEBSTER)

Abraham looked forward to being resurrected, as did David, and many others.

Heb 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 

Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 

Heb 11:15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 

Heb 11:16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. 

Act 2:29  Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. 

Act 2:30  Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 

Act 2:31  He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 

Act 2:32  This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. 

Act 2:33  Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 

Act 2:34  For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 

Act 2:35  Until I make thy foes thy footstool. 

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. 

Act 13:35  Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 

Act 13:36  For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 

Act 13:37  But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. 

Paul tells us in the book of Acts about David- 'NOT ascending into the heavens.' That David 'saw corruption'. Jesus did NOT see corruption. Jesus WAS resurrected.  David did NOT go on to live any sort of life outside of his body or don't you think we'd be told all about that? There would be a lot on the subject about us dying and then living a new life in a new way in heaven. David did not ascend to heaven- if all this is supposedly telling us is that David doesn't have his body but is like an angel in spirit form now, why would it make a point of mentioning David NOT ascending to heaven, if in fact part of David with awareness did make it to heaven? What would it matter whether or not he had a body if everything that made him who he was- his thoughts, his feelings, his individuality was all there in heaven? Is the body NOT being in heaven more important than a spirit-thinking form? Big deal no cumbersome, ailing, aging body, no flesh at all to worry about with all its ins and outs, just spirit form us living on- yet, the Bible does not talk about that. Instead it talks about someone being in the grave as though they are really there, dead, unliving, unknowing, just dead and staying dead until they are called to be resurrected or not. Waiting for that heavenly country wasn’t their waiting for death to inherit it, or else we'd be told that’s what is was in no uncertain terms. A body in a grave would mean NOTHING, if the person that body belonged to was living in a new way.

None of these people talked of looking forward to their death and subsequent awakening in spirit form. None of these people talked about their dying and immediately going to be with God and their previously dead loved ones. There WAS NO TALK about life immediately after death. They did not speak of instantly receiving the kingdom of heaven upon their demise. We talk about it in our world all the time, endlessly. You hear it on television, in movies, read it in books, see it all over social media- all loved ones, it seems to be the consensus, go immediately to heaven upon death. People are grieving the loss of their loved ones but being consoled by others and consoling themselves that the dead person is in a better place now- with Jesus, with God, with loved ones that have gone on before them.

IF THIS WERE TRUE WHY DOESN’T THE BIBLE TALK ENDLESSLY ABOUT IT AS WELL? 

What is the big fuss about death if we truly are automatically going to a better place instantaneously?

Some religions teach of purgatory- a place to do penance before entering heaven. Again where are the myriad of Biblical texts supporting this? Where?

Our Lord spoke of the kingdom, the gospel is all about the good news of the kingdom of God, but no where do we read about that kingdom being inherited by our intelligent spirit forms upon death.

Why does there even need to be a resurrection if people are already resurrected in spirit form and living eternally, it doesn’t make too much sense, does it? What is the big deal about belonging to Jesus if everyone goes to heaven?

Of course people are quick to say that there is hell to worry about and those who don’t accept Christ as their Savior are going to eternal suffering in spirit form with Satan and his minions in hell. Yet, very few people will talk about anyone going to hell even if they believe it, why? Because they live under the delusion that God will save everyone when all is said and done. Satan has done his job well. Satan's goal was and is deception and that will not end until He is ended eternally.

1Co 15:13  But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 

1Co 15:14  And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 

1Co 15:15  Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 

1Co 15:16  For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 

1Co 15:17  And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 

1Co 15:18  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 

1Co 15:19  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 

1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 

1Co 15:23 BUT EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER: CHRIST THE FIRSTFRUITS; AFTERWARD THEY THAT ARE CHRIST'S AT HIS COMING.

1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 

1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 

1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 

1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 

1Co 15:29  Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? 

1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 

1Co 15:32  If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. 

1Co 15:33  Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 

1Co 15:34  Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. 

1Co 15:35  But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 

1Co 15:36  Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 

1Co 15:37  And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 

1Co 15:38  But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 

1Co 15:39  All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 

1Co 15:40  There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 

1Co 15:41  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 

1Co 15:42  So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 

1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 

1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 

1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 

Mystery and Victory

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, AT THE LAST TRUMP: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 

1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 

1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 

1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. 

1Th 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 

1Th 4:14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 

1Th 4:15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 

1Th 4:16  FOR THE LORD HIMSELF SHALL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL, AND WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD: AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST SHALL RISE FIRST. 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

1Th 4:18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words. 

When Christ returns - then and ONLY then will the DEAD in Him be raised up.  It does NOT read, when Christ returns the dead in Him will be there already. These dead have to RISE. How can they rise if they are already risen with Him? HOW!? Ask yourselves these questions! They are important.

Believing that you go right to heaven upon death is a DECEPTION and no deception is harmless! Deception hides the truth and lulls us into a very false sense of security. So many believe there is NO harm at all in believing their loved ones are living a better life now, they are done suffering, they are happy all the time. They believe that for their loved ones and in turn for themselves and their own ultimate death. They don't want to believe that they are ever really dead in the sense that they are in a state of knowing absolutely nothing, in a state of not being except in a form of suspended animation-sleep. They don’t want to believe they are sleeping, that all brain functions have ceased. Why? Why is there more comfort in believing loved ones supposedly are able to watch over us and all our suffering while they are endlessly happy? Why? Where is the real, logical, Biblical comprehension of all this?

We do not know the fate of any one, yet we pretend we do when we put our loved ones in heaven and take away the very idea that they may not be called to meet the Lord in the air upon His return. We don’t want to think such a horrific thought, the possibility that those was love and mourn are not with God now, and will never be. It stuns our senses, it numbs us, it makes us horrendous monsters to imagine anyone not making it to heaven. Tell someone who believes their loved one is in heaven that they can't know that, then prepare yourself for a fight. You're just awful if you can entertain the idea that someone a person loves isn't in heaven after death. Yet we KNOW, our BIBLE tells us that narrow is the way, and few are going to find it.

We can't let ourselves be deceived.

Satan told Eve she would not die, and that lie has continued from that day onwards, that death isn't real, but transitioning to a better way of living is… being MORE LIKE GOD… is that better way. Satan told Eve if she ate that fruit she'd be more like God and boy has that lie just gone on and on and on.

Please, Father in heaven, please, holy Father, as Jesus prayed for us, we pray as well… KEEP US FROM EVIL, all evil in every form!

From Apostles to 1600's - Sabbath Keepers

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  15

Sabbath-Keepers in India

APOSTOLIC ORIGIN

     (153) We shall now briefly trace the apostolic Christian Sabbath-keepers from Antioch in Syria to their farthest mission stations in old China. Thomas Yeates in his "Indian Church History" (London: 1818), has collected from several sources statements that all agree on the points he presents, that the apostle Thomas traveled through Persia into India, where he raised up many churches. "From thence he went to China, and preached the gospel in the city of Cambala, [which is] supposed to be the same with Pekin, and there he built a church." - Indian Church History," p. 73. "In the year 1625, there was found in a town near Si-ngan-fu, the metropolis of the province of Shin-si, a stone having the figure of a cross, and inscriptions in two languages,...Chinese and Syriac...as follows: 'This Stone was erected to the honor and eternal memory of the law of light and truth brought from Ta-Cin, and promulgated in China.' [The inscription consists of 736 words, giving] a summary of the fundamental articles of the Christian faith." - Id., pp. 86-88.

     That the missionaries who brought the gospel to China were Sabbath-keepers can be seen by the following extract from the inscription:

     "On the seventh day we offer sacrifice, after having purified our hearts, and received absolution for our sins. This religion, so perfect and so excellent, is difficult to name, but it enlightens darkness by its brilliant precepts." - "Christianity in China," M. l''Abbe Huc, Vol. I, chap. 2, pp. 48, 49, seq. New York. 1873.

     Returning to India we shall find traces of the Sabbath among those churches also. And they had retained the Bible in the ancient language used by the church at Antioch, where the name "Christians" originated. (Acts 11:26.)

     (154) "It was in these sequestered regions that copies of the Syriac Scriptures found a safe asylum from the search and destruction of the Romish inquisitors, and were found with all the marks of ancient purity." - "Indian Church History," T. Yeates, p. 167.

     "Whatever may be the future use and importance of those manuscripts, one thing is certain, and that is, they establish the fact that the Syrian Christians of India have the pure unadulterated Scriptures in the language of the ancient church of Antioch, derived from the very times of the Apostles." - Id., p. 169.

     Thomas Yeates shows that they kept "Saturday, which amongst them is a festival day, agreeable to the ancient practice of the church." - Id., pp. 133, 134.

     The Armenians of India and Persia had evidently received their faith from the same source as the other Christians of India. Rev. Claudius Buchanan, D. D., says of them:

     "The Armenians in Hindostan are our own subjects....They have preserved the Bible in its purity; and their doctrines are, as far as the Author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship, throughout our Empire, on the seventh day; and they have as many spires pointing to heaven among the Hindoos, as we ourselves." - "Christian Researches in Asia," p. 143. Philadelphia. 1813.

     The Jacobites, another branch of the original Christians of India, can add one more link to this evidence. Samuel Purchas, the noted geographer and compiler, said of them:

     "They keep Saturday holy, nor esteem the Saturday fast lawful, but on Easter even. They have solemn service on Saturdays, eat flesh, and feast it bravely, like the Jews." - "Pilgrimmes," Part 2, book 8, chap. 6, p. 1269. London. 1625. (We must remember that the papal church demanded all to fast on the Sabbath, but these Christians refused to obey her.)

     J. W. Massie says of these Indian Christians:

     "Remote from the busy haunts of commerce, or the populous seats of manufacturing industry, they may be regarded as the Eastern Piedmontese, the Vaudois of Hindustan, the witnesses prophesying in sackcloth through revolving centuries, though indeed their bodies lay as dead in the streets of the city which they had once peopled." - "Continental India," Vol. 2, p. 120.

PAPAL PERSECUTION

     (155) Mr. Massie further says of these Christians:

     "Separated from the Western world for a thousand years, they were naturally ignorant of many novelties introduced by the councils and decrees of the Lateran; and their conformity with the faith and practice of the first ages laid them open to the unpardonable guilt of heresy and schism, as estimated by the church of Rome. 'We are Christians, and not idolaters,' was their expressive reply when required to do homage to the image of the Virgin Mary....LaCroze states them at fifteen hundred churches and as many towns and villages. They refused to recognize the pope, and declared they had never heard of him; they asserted the purity and primitive truth of their faith since they came, and their bishops had for thirteen hundred years been sent, from the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians." - Id., Vol. II, pp. 116, 117.

     When the Portuguese (Roman Catholics) came to Malabar, India, in 1503, "they were agreeably surprised to find upwards of a hundred Christian churches on the coast of Malabar. But when they became acquainted with the purity and simplicity of their worship, they were offended. 'These churches,' said the Portuguese, 'belong to the Pope.' 'Who is the Pope?' said the natives, 'we never heard of him.' The European priests were yet more alarmed, when they found that these Hindoo Christians maintained the order and discipline of a regular church under Episcopal jurisdiction: and that, for 1300 years past, they had enjoyed a succession of Bishops appointed by the Patriarch of Antioch. 'We,' said they, 'are of the true faith, whatever you from the West may be; for we came from the place where the followers of Christ were first called Christians'" - "Christian Researches in Asia," Claudius Buchanan, D. D., p. 60. Philadelphia. 1813.

     (156) "These Christians met the Portuguese as natural friends and allies, and rejoiced at their coming: - but the Portuguese were much disappointed at finding the St. Thome Christians firmly fixed in the tenets of a primitive church; and soon adopted plans for drawing away from their pure faith this innocent, ingenuous, and respectable people." - "Indian Church History," Thomas Yeates, p. 163. London. 1818.

     When the Jesuit, Francis Xavier, and his colaborers, were sent to India, they displayed the true spirit of Romanism. "The Inquisition was set up at Goa, in the Indies, at the instance of Francis Xaverius, who signified by letter to Pope [King] John III, Nov. 10, 1545, 'that the Jewish wickedness spread every day more and more in the parts of the East Indies, subject to the kingdom of Portugal, and therefore he earnestly besought the said king, that to cure so great an evil, he would take care to send the office of the Inquisition into those countries. [Accordingly the Inquisition was erected there.] The first Inquisitor was Alexius Diaz Falcano, sent by Cardinal Henry, March 15, A.D. 1560....The language of F. Xavier, used on this occasion, is truly suspicious, and that under the mask of correcting 'the Jewish wickedness,' is rather to be construed an avowed design against the liberties, the independence, and the firmness of the native Christians of Malabar, who refused to acknowledge the Pope's supremacy, and with a true Protestant zeal bravely resisted the Catholic tyranny." - Id., pp. 139, 140.

     "The Jewish wickedness" of which Xavier complained was evidently the Sabbath-keeping among those native Christians, as we shall see in our next quotation. When one of these Sabbath-keeping Christians was taken by the Inquisition, he was accused "of having Judaized; which means, having conformed to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law; such as not eating pork, hare, fish without scales, &c., of having attended the solemnization of the Sabbath." - "Account of the Inquisition at Goa," Dellon, p. 56. London. 1815.

     (157) "The Inquisitors, by degrees, begin to urge him in this way - 'If thou has observed the law of Moses, and assembled on the Sabbath day as thou sayest, and thy accusers have seen thee there, as appears to have been the case; to convince us of the sincerity of thy repentance, tell us who are thine accusers, and those who have been with thee at these assemblies.'"

     Dellon then suggests that in the mind of the inquisitors "the witnesses of the Sabbath are considered as accomplices." - Id., p. 58.

     Some have thought that these Sabbath-keepers were relapsed Jews, but Dellon declares:

     "Of an hundred persons condemned to be burnt as Jews, there are scarcely four who profess that faith at their death; the rest exclaiming and protesting to their last gasp that they are Christians, and have been so during their whole lives." - Id., p. 64.

     "The prisoner, who was entirely innocent, would be given over to the civil arm to be burned, unless he confessed the very crimes of which he was accused, and signed his confession, and also named six or seven of his accusers. But, not being told who they were, he might have to name many before striking the right ones, and, as his accusers were supposed to have been eyewitnesses to his Sabbath-keeping, they might be Sabbath-keepers, who, like himself, were in the clutches of the Inquisition. His only hope, therefore, was to name some of his brethren, who would then be taken by the inquisitors, and forced to repeat the same experience to free themselves. thus the prison would be filled with people who were tortured for guilt of which they were innocent, or to remain in solitary confinement and terrible suspence and agony of mind unto the Auto da Fe, or public burning, which took place every two or three years." - Id., pp. 53-60, 67. And whether they were released or executed, their property was confiscated to the Inquisition. Dr. C. Buchanan says:

     "When the power of the Portuguese became sufficient for their purpose, they invaded these tranquil Churches, seized some of the Clergy, and devoted them to the death of heretics....They seized the Syrian Bishop Mar Joseph, and sent him prisoner to Lisbon: and then convened a Synod at one of the Syrian Churches called Diamper, near Cochin, at which the Romish Archbishop Menezes presided. At this compulsory Synod 150 of the Syrian Clergy appeared. They were accused of the following practices and opinions: 'That they had married wives; that they owned but two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, that they neither invoked Saints, nor worshipped Images, nor believed in Purgatory; and that they had no other orders of names of dignity in the church, than bishop, Priest, and Deacon.' These tenets they were called on to abjure, or to suffer suspension from all Church benefices. It was also decreed that all Syrian books on ecclesiastical subjects that could be found, should be burned; 'in order,' said the Inquisitors, 'that no pretended apostolical monuments may remain'" - "Christian Researches in Asia," p. 60.

     (158) The papacy had adopted the policy that all remains of the pure, apostolic church, whether persons or books, should be carefully eradicated, so that no trace of them might betray the sad fact that the Roman church had fallen away from the apostolic purity. And she has also tried to destroy all accounts of her persecution during the Dark Ages, so that her tracks would be covered up.

Sabbath - Freedom to Worship

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  14

Wycliffe, Huss, and Zinzendorf

     (147) The Inquisition and the devastating wars which the popes and the Councils directed against the Albigenses and Waldenses during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, had scattered some of them over Europe, where they settled mostly in Germany, Poland, and Bohemia. "Others turning to the west obtained refuge in Britain." (See "Dissertation on the Prophecies," by Bishop Thomas Newton, p. 518, and "History of the Evangelical Churches of...Piedmont," by Samuel Morland, Esq., p. 191. (London, 1658).) Everywhere these God-fearing people worked quietly for the salvation of souls, and thus prepared the way for the Reformation. But the books of heaven alone contain the true record of the work done by these humble Waldenses.

     "John Wycliffe was the herald of reform, not for England alone, but for all Christendom. The great protest against Rome which it was permitted him to utter, was never to be silenced. That protest opened the struggle which was to result in the emancipation of individuals, of churches, and of nations." - "The Great Controversy," pp. 79, 80.

     In Bohemia, Huss and Jerome were, in their labor, animated by the writings of Wycliffe, so that the light of truth, which the Papacy had quenched in the "Vallies" was flaring up in England and Bohemia. Dr. Fr. Nielsen, of Denmark, says of the papal opposition:

     "The struggle against the Waldenses...was as nothing compared to the trouble that broke out in the Bohemian church when Wycliffism had taken root in that country....About the year 1400 Jerome, M.A., of Prague had been at Oxford, and from thence had brought with him to Prague Wycliffe's 'Dialogus' and 'Trialogus,' and in 1403 John Huss stepped out openly as one of Wycliffe's disciples." - "Haandbog i Kirkens Historie" (Handbook of Church History), Vol. II, p. 874, ed. of 1893. Copenhagen.

     (148) After Huss was burned, July 6, 1415, and Jerome, May 30, 1416, their work of reform was carried on by their followers. But they were divided into two camps, the conservative of Prague, and the radical of Tabor. Dr. Nielson continues:

     "All Hussites were agreed upon yielding obedience to the 'law of God.'...Those of Prague...rejected only that which conflicted with the law of God, [while the] Taborites...would acknowledge only what was expressly mentioned in the Scriptures....The Taborites read the Scriptures with their own eyes....The radical party rejected all holidays, even Sunday....Some longed for the condition of the apostolic times....The religious enlightenment among the Taborites was great, and their women had a better knowledge of the Scriptures than the Italian priests....In Germany the Waldenses had, without doubt, as in Bohemia, several places prepared the way for the Hussitism....

     "If any one after the middle of the fifteenth century wanted to find genuine disciples of Wycliffe and Huss in Bohemia he had to go to the eastern border where the remnant of the Taborites, as 'the quiet in the land' in strict discipline endeavored to follow the law of God. At the close of the fifteenth century there were in Bohemia and Moravia about two hundred churches of the 'Brethren,' who rejected all connection with the Roman church and had their own ministers and bishops, who through a Waldensian Bishop from Austria believed they had preserved the apostolic succession....Time and again they were subject to bloody persecutions." - Id., pp. 886-888, 896, 897.

     We shall now show that these Waldensian and Hussite brethren were Sabbath-keepers. Dr. R. Cox says: "I find from a passage in Erasmus that at the early period of the Reformation when he wrote, there were Sabbatarians in Bohemia, who not only kept the seventh day, but were said to be...scrupulous in resting on it." Erasmus' statement follows: "Now we hear that among the Bohemians a new kind of Jews has arisen called Sabbatarians, who observe the Sabbath." - "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Cox, Vol. II, pp. 201, 202.

     (149) Bishop A. Grimelund of Norway speaks of them as "the anciently arisen, but later vanished sect of Sabbatarians in Bohemia, Moravia, and Hungary." - "Sondagens Historie" (History of Sunday), pp. 46, 47. Christiania: 1886.

     About the year 1520 many of these Sabbath-keepers found shelter on the estate of Lord Leonhard, of Lichtenstein, "as the princes of Lichtenstein held to the observance of the true Sabbath." - "History of the Sabbath," J. N. Andrews, p. 649, ed. 1912. Lord Leonhard asked the Sabbatarians to submit to him a statement of their belief, which was sent to Wolfgang Capito, a leading Strassburg Reformer, and to Caspar Schwenkfield, This document is lost, but Schwekfield's answer to it (printed in 1599) contains several quotations from it, showing that their arguments for the seventh day were much the same as those used by Seventh-day Adventists today. In 1535 they were driven from their homes by persecution, but "once more they were granted respite." Finally in 1547 the king of Bohemia, yielding to the constant urging of the Roman church, expelled them. "The Jesuits contrived to publish this edict just before harvest and vintage....They allowed them only three weeks and three days for their departure; it was death to be found even on the borders of the country beyond the expiration of the hour....At the border they filed off, some to Hungary, some to Transylvania, some to Wallachia, others to Poland." - "History of the Sabbath," Andrews, pp. 648, 649.

COUNT ZINZENDORF

     Scattered and torn by persecution, the old sect of Moravian Brethren wandered about till about the year 1720 Count Zinzendorf invited them to his estate, later called Herrnhut. He began to keep the Sabbath, and became the leader of these Brethren and the head of a great missionary movement. Bishop A. D. Spangenberg says of him:

     (150) "He loved to stick to the plain text of the Scriptures, believing that rather simplicity than art is required to understand it. When he found anything in the Bible stated in such plain language that a child could understand, he could not well bear to have one depart from it." - "Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" (Life of Count Zinzendorf), pp. 3, 546, 547, 1774.

     In 1738 Zinzendorf wrote of his keeping the Sabbath thus:

     "That I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and our Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel - that I have done without design, and in simplicity of heart." - "Budingsche Sammlung," Sec. 8, p. 224. Leipzig: 1742.

     Spangenberg gives some of Zinzendorf's reasons for keeping the seventh day holy:

     "On one hand, he believed that the seventh day was sanctified and set apart as a rest day immediately after creation; but on the other hand, and principally, because his eyes were directed to the rest of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the grave on the seventh day." - "Leben des Grafen Zinzendorf" pp. 5, 1422, note.

     In 1741 he journeyed to Bethlehem, Pa., where some Moravian Brethren had settled. Of his work there Spangenberg relates:

     "As a special instance it deserves to be noticed that he is resolved with the church at Bethlehem to observe the seventh day as rest day. The matter had been previously considered by the church council in all its details, and all the reasons pro and con were carefully weighed, whereby they arrived at the unanimous agreement to keep the said day as Sabbath." - "Id., pp. 5, 1421, 1422. (See also "Varnhagen von Ense Biographische Denkmale," pp. 5, 301. Berlin. 1846.

     The church records of the Bethlehem Moravian Church (now in the Moravian Seminary archives, and dated June 13 O. S., or June 24 N. S., 1742) has this paragraph:

     "The Sabbath is to be observed in quietness and in fervent communion with the Saviour. It is a day that was given to all nations according to the law for rest, for the Jews observed it not so much as Jews as human beings."

PERSECUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

     (151) But even in the United States, Sabbath-keepers had endured more or less persecution, and when, on the second of October, 1798, a member of their Ephrata society was haled into court for working on Sunday, the judge read a letter, which George Washington wrote to the Baptists of Virginia, dated August 4, 1798, in which he assured them of full religious liberty. It was not easy, however, for the people to grasp the truth that religious liberty is an inherent right, and that governments are instituted to protect the individual in his God-given rights, and that church and state are to be kept separate. (Luke 20:25.) The champions of liberty had a long, hard fight to secure the adoption and ratification of the Federal Constitution and its First Amendment, and it will take the utmost watchfulness by the friends of freedom to retain the liberty there guaranteed.

     When the Constitution was drafted and made its appearance, the friends of religious liberty, especially those who had been oppressed under the religious establishments of the colonies, felt that liberty of conscience was not sufficiently secured by the proposed Constitution. While Article 6 forbade religious tests as a qualification for office under the government, there was no guaranty against religious tests and religious intolerance to those not in office. So on August 8, 1789, the United Baptist churches of Virginia addressed a communication to George Washington, in which they gave expression to the prevailing fears in this matter. Washington replied as follows: "If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the convention where I had the honor to preside might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it; and if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny and every species of religious persecution. For, you doubtless remember, I have often expressed my sentiments that any man, conducting himself as a good citizen and being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience." - "History of the Baptists," Thomas Armitage, D.D., pages 806, 807.

     (152) About a month later, James Madison, with the approval of George Washington, introduced in the first Congress that met under the new Constitution, the first ten amendments, commonly known as the Bill of Rights, the first of which enjoins Congress from all religious legislation. It is as follows:

     "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

     Thus the champions of liberty secured for the citizens of the new republic full liberty of conscience to worship, freedom of speech and of the press, and it will take eternal vigilance to retain these rights unimpaired. See "American State Papers," William Addison Blakely, pp. 152, 153, revised edition. Washington, D.C.: 1911.

Sabbath- As the End Draws Near

Lately the Lord has been impressing upon me the need to get the truth out there, particularly the Sabbath truth. So many do NOT realize the importance of this truth. It's easy to gloss over it and pay it no heed at all choosing rather to grab hold of the seemingly more important truths- such as accepting Christ as our Savior.  People do NOT seem to realize the same Lord that they so happily, and even joyously accept as their Savior and proclaim such to all far and wide, is the Lord who said these words--

Joh 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments. 

Jesus did NOT say, If you love me, just love me.  Jesus Himself ADDED the words- keep my commandments.

Of course now we'll have a whole slew of people eager to point out that the only commandments Jesus wants us to keep are 1) Loving God. 2) Loving Each Other.   That's it, end of story, and for many that is it and the story ends there for them because they do NOT want to study God's word and eat the tough, chewy meat of the scriptures but would much rather sip the easily digested milk of the Word, never ever going on to grow up into the Lord but forever remaining an infant in knowledge and truth.  We are accountable for our decisions.

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 

Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 

Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. 

We are given milk first but we must grow and when we grow we leave behind the simple, easily digested milk and begin to eat things with much more substance.

So, yes, the commandments hang on those two - loving God and loving each other, but the loving includes obedience to God's word, to His truth.  Very few people who are Christians will deny the moral laws of God- the Ten Commandments- a law He wrote Himself, unlike any other law given.  Jesus didn't come to do away with the law, but to reveal to us how to keep the law by fulfilling it Himself. His life was one of complete obedience to the Ten Commandments. Some tried to say He broke the Sabbath commandment and should be stoned to death, but He did not break the Sabbath commandment, He kept it as God intended it to be kept unfettered by the overwhelming traditions man had placed upon it.

The Sabbath our Savior kept was the same Sabbath kept by Jews today, the same Sabbath the Jews kept in Jesus' day. The seventh-day Sabbath.

Why wouldn’t it be important to keep the Sabbath on the day it was ordained to be kept by God?  Even in the wilderness BEFORE the written Ten Commandments were given, God provided food fresh every day from heaven and told the people NOT to try and store any for the next day- EXCEPT on the sixth day, it was that day they were to get double and keep some for the next day when no food would come from God.  The Sabbath was and is a very special day, so why wouldn't it be important?

If you don't believe in keeping the Sabbath nothing I say will convince you to keep it, and it's not my job to convince anyone of anything. The Lord will soften the hearts of ALL who truly love Him and when the time comes for the Sabbath to be a sealing point, those people will comprehend the truth through the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Read the following- EG White- Early Writings-

'I saw that the holy Sabbath is, and will be, the separating wall between the true Israel of God and unbelievers; and that the Sabbath is the great question to unite the hearts of God's dear, waiting saints.

I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the Sabbath more fully. This enraged the churches and nominal Adventists, as they could not refute the Sabbath truth. And at this time God's chosen all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out and endured the persecution with us.

(page 33)

Notes on page 33-

This view was given in 1847 when there were but very few of the Advent brethren observing the Sabbath, and of these but few supposed that its observance was of sufficient importance to draw a line between the people of God and unbelievers. Now the fulfilment of that view is beginning to be seen. "The commencement of that time of trouble," here mentioned does NOT refer to the time when the plagues shall begin to be poured out, but to A SHORT PERIOD JUST BEFORE THEY ARE POURED OUT, while Christ is in the sanctuary. (Page 85)'   EG White Early Writings.

*******

This time is NOW.

We are living in the SHORT period just before the plagues. God would have His people find His truth and keep His truth right now!  Could this be why my heart is heavy with the need to get the truth out for people to see? Oh how broad is the way leading to destruction! Oh how many live unconcerned with their eternal life, focusing solely on their lives now! Satan has deceived ALL but so very few! Please, LORD, we would NOT be deceived by the evil one! Keep us in YOUR TRUTH!

Please, LORD, we do NOT want to be among those lost to You!

EG White- Early Writings- page 37-

'This was the time of Jacob's trouble. Then all the saints cried out with anguish of spirit, and were delivered by the voice of God. The 144,000 triumphed. Their faces were lighted up with the glory of God. Then I was shown a company who were howling in agony. On their garments was written in large characters, "Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting." I asked who this company were. The angel said, "These are they who have once kept the Sabbath and have given it up." I heard them cry with a loud voice, "We have believed in Thy coming, and taught it with energy." And while they were speaking, their eyes would fall upon their garments and see the writing, and then they would wail aloud. I saw that they had drunk of the deep waters, and fouled the residue with their feet--trodden the Sabbath underfoot-- and that was why they were weighed in the balance and found wanting. '

Please LORD we would NOT be among those found wanting! Help us to believe as we first believed and not give up any truths You have revealed to us! Please, keep us from EVIL! We would be YOURS!

All through JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD and SAVIOR, NOW and FOREVER!!!!!!!

Sabbath Seventh Day Defended.

FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson

Chapter  13

Celtic Sabbath-Keepers

     (134) We know from several sources that Christianity entered the British Isles in apostolic times. (Colossians 1:23.)

Col 1:23  If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister

Rev. Richard Hart, B.A., Vicar of Catton, says: "That the light of Christianity dawned upon these islands in the course of the first century, is a matter of historical certainty." - "Ecclesiastical Records," p. vii. Cambridge: 1846. Tertullian, about 200 A.D., included the Britons among the many nations which believed in Christ, and he speaks of places among "the Britons - inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ." - "Answer to the Jews," chap. vii. Dr. Ephraim Pagit, in his "Christianography," printed in London, 1640, gives an interesting account of the early Christians in these islands.

     Before the church in the British Isles was forced under the papal yoke, it was noted for its institutions of learning. The Rev. Mr. Hart says:

     "That learning and piety flourished in these islands during the period of their independence is capable of the most satisfactory proof, and Ireland in particular was so universally celebrated, that students flocked thither from all parts of the world." - "Ecclesiastical Records," p. viii.

     He says, some came to "Ireland for the sake of studying the Scriptures." - Id., p. xi

THE COMING OF PATRICK

     Patrick, a son of a Christian family in southern Scotland, was carried off to Ireland by pirates about 376 A.D. Here, in slavery, he gave his heart to God and, after six years of servitude, escaped, returning to his home in Scotland. But he could not forget the spiritual need of these poor heathen, and after ten years he returned to Ireland as a missionary of the Celtic church. "He had now reached his thirtieth year [390 A.D.]." - "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D. D., p. 70.

     (135) Dr. E. Pagit says that "Saint Patricke had in his day founded there 365 churches." - "Christianography," Part 2, p. 10.

     Dr. August Neander says of Patrick:

     "The place of his birth was Bonnaven, which lay between the Scottish towns of Dumbarton and Glasgow, and was then reckoned to the province of Britain. This village, in memory of Patricius, received the name of Kil-Patrick or Kirk-Patrick. His father, a deacon in the village church, gave him a careful education." - "General History of the Christian Religion and Church," Vol. II, p. 122. Boston. 1855.

     Patrick himself writes in his "Confession":

     "I, Patrick,...had Calpornius for my father, a deacon, a son of the late Potitus, the presbyter....I was captured. I was almost sixteen years of age...and taken to Ireland in captivity with many thousand men." - "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D.D., p. 127.

PATRICK NOT A CATHOLIC

     To those who have heard of Patrick only as a Catholic saint, it may be a surprise to learn that he was not a Roman Catholic at all, but that he was a member of the original Celtic church. There is no more historic evidence for Patrick's being a Roman Catholic saint, than for Peter's being the first pope. Catholics claim that Pope Celestine commissioned Patrick as a Roman Catholic missionary to Ireland; but William Cathcart, D.D., says:

     "There is strong evidence that Patrick had no Roman commission in Ireland."

     "As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Britain, repudiated the supremacy of the popes, all knowledge of the conversion of Ireland through his ministry must be suppressed [by Rome, at all cost.]: - Id., p. 85.

     (136) The popes who lived contemporary with Patrick never mentioned him. "There is not a written word from one of them rejoicing over Patrick's additions to their church, showing clearly that he was not a Roman missionary....So completely buried was Patrick and his work by popes and other Roman Catholics, that in their epistles and larger publications, his name does not once occur in one of them until A.D. 634." - Id., p. 83.

     "Prosper does not notice Patrick....He says nothing of the greatest success ever given to a missionary of Christ, apparently because he was not a Romanist." - Id., p. 84.

     "Bede never speaks of St. Patrick in his celebrated 'Ecclesiastical History.'" - Id., p. 85.

     But, writing of the year 431, Bede says of a Catholic missionary: "Palladius was sent by Celestinus, the Roman pontiff, to the Scots [Irish] that believed in Christ." - "Ecclesiastical History," p. 22. London. 1894.

     But this papal emissary was not received any more favorably by the church in Ireland, than was Augustine later received by the Celtic church of Scotland, for "he left because he did not receive respect in Ireland." - "The Ancient British and Irish Churches," William Cathcart, D.D., p. 72.

     No Roman Catholic church would have dared to ignore a bishop sent them by the pope. This proves that the churches in the British Isles did not recognize the pope.

     Dr. Todd says:

     "The 'Confession' of St. Patrick contains not a word of a mission from Pope Celestine. One object of the writer was to defend himself from the charge of presumption in having undertaken such a work as the conversion of the Irish, rude and unlearned as he was. Had he received a regular commission from the see of Rome, that fact alone would be an unanswerable reply. But he makes no mention of Pope Celestine, and rests his defense altogether on the divine call which he believed himself to have received for his work." - Id., pp. 81, 82.

     (137) "Muirchu wrote more than two hundred years after Patrick's death. His declaration is positive that he did not go to Rome." - Id., p. 88.

     There are three reasons why Patrick could not have been a Roman Catholic missionary: 1. Early Catholic historians and popes avoided mentioning Patrick or his work; until later legendary histories represented him as a Catholic Saint. (These legendary histories of St. Patrick, written during the Dark Ages, are so full of childish superstition and fabricated miracles, that they have to be rejected as actual history.) 2. When papal missionaries arrived in Britain, 596 A.D., the leaders of the original Celtic church refused to accept their doctrines, or to acknowledge the papal authority, and would not dine with them. (Compare 1 Cor. 5:11; 2 John 8-11.) They "acted towards the Roman party exactly 'as if they had been pagans.'" - "Ecclesiastical Records," by Richard Hart, pp. viii, xiv. 3. The doctrines of the Celtic church of Patrick's day differed so widely from those of the Roman church, that the latter could not have accepted it as "Catholic." Patrick, and the churches he established in Ireland, as well as the mother church in Scotland and England, followed the apostolic practice of keeping the seventh-day Sabbath, and of working on Sunday, as we soon shall see. But this was considered deadly heresy by the Papacy.

COLUMBA

     Another leader in the Celtic church deserves to be mentioned: Columba, who was born in Ireland, A.D. 521. Animated by the zeal and missionary spirit he found in the schools established by Patrick, Columba continued the work of his predecessor, and selecting twelve fellow workers, he established a missionary center on the island of Iona. This early Celtic church sent its missionaries not only among the heathen Picts of their own country, but also into the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. This Sabbath-keeping church (as did their Waldensian brethren) kept the torch of truth burning during the long, dark night of papal supremacy, till finally they were conquered by Rome in the twelfth century. Professor Andrew Lang says of them:

     (138) "They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a Sabbatical manner." - "A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation," Vol. I, p. 96. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1900.

     Dr. A. Butler says of Columba:

     "Having continued his labors in Scotland thirty-four years, he clearly and openly foretold his death, and on Saturday, the ninth of June, said to his disciple Diermit: 'This day is called the Sabbath, that is, the rest day, and such will it truly be to me; for it will put an end to my labors.'" - "Butler's Lives of the Saints," Vol. I, A.D. 597, art. "St. Columba," p. 762. New York. P. F. Collier.

     In a footnote to Blair's translation of the Catholic historian, Bellesheim, we read:

     "We seem to see here an allusion to the custom, observed in the early monastic Church of Ireland, of keeping the day of rest on Saturday, or the Sabbath." - "History of the Catholic Church in Scotland," Vol. I, p. 86.

     Professor James C. Moffatt, D.D., Professor of Church History at Princeton, says:

     "It seems to have been customary in the Celtic churches of early times, in Ireland as well as Scotland, to keep Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, as a day of rest from labor. They obeyed the fourth commandment literally upon the seventh day of the week." - "The Church in Scotland," p. 140. Philadelphia: 1882.

     But the church of Rome could never allow the light of pure apostolic Christianity to shine anywhere, for that would reveal her own religion to be apostasy. Pope Gregory I, in 596, sent the imperious monk Augustine, with forty other monks, to Britain. Dr. A. Ebrard says of this "mission":

     "Gregory well knew that there existed in the British Isles, yea, in a part of the Roman dominion, a Christian church, and that his Roman messengers would come in contact with them. By sending these messengers, he was not only intent upon the conversion of the heathen, but from the very beginning he was also bent upon bringing this Irish-Scotch church, which had hitherto been free from Rome, in subjection to the papal chair." - "Bonifacius," p. 16. Guetersloh, 1882. (Quoted in Andrews' "History of the Sabbath," fourth edition, revised and enlarged, p. 532).

     (139) Through political influence, and with magnificent display, the Saxon king, Ethelbert of Kent, consented to receive the pope's missionaries, and "Augustine baptized ten thousand pagans in one day" by driving them in mass into the water. Then, relying on the support of the pope and the sword of the Saxons, Augustine summoned the leaders of the ancient Celtic church, and demanded of them: "'Acknowledge the authority of the Bishop of Rome.' These are the first words of the Papacy to the ancient Christians of Britain." They meekly replied: "'The only submission we can render him is that which we owe to every Christian.'" - "History of the Reformation," D'Aubigne, Book XVII, chap. 2. "'But as for further obedience, we know of none that he, whom you term the Pope, or Bishop of Bishops, can claim or demand.'" - "Early British History," G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., p. 17 (London: 1860): and "Variation of Popery," Rev. Samuel Edger, D.D., pp. 180-183. New York: 1849. Then in 601, when the British bishops finally refused to have any more to do with the haughty messenger of the pope, Augustine proudly threatened them with secular punishment. He said:

     "'If you will not have peace from your brethren, you shall have war from your enemies; if you will not preach life to the Saxons, you shall receive death at their hands.' Edelfred, King of Northumbria, at the instigation of Augustin, forthwith poured 50,000 men into the Vale Royal of Chester, the territory of Prince of Powys, under whose auspices the conference had been held. Twelve hundred British priests of the University of Bangor having come out to view the battle, Edelfred directed his forces against them as they stood clothed in their white vestments and totally unarmed, watching the progress of the battle - they were massacred to a man. Advancing to the university itself, he put to death every priest and student therein, and destroyed by fire the halls, colleges, and churches of the university itself; thereby fulfilling, according to the words of the great Saxon authority called the Pious Bede, the prediction, as he terms it, of the blessed Augustine. The ashes of this noble monastery were smoking; its libraries, the collection of ages, having been wholly consumed." - "Early British History," G. H. Whalley, Esq., M. P., p. 18. London: 1860. See also "Six Old English Chronicles," pp. 275, 276; edited by J. A. Giles, D. C. L. London: 1906.

     (140) D'Aubigne says of Augustine: "A national tradition among the Welsh for many ages pointed to him as the instigator of this cowardly butchery. Thus did Rome loose the savage Pagan against the primitive church of Britain." - "History of the Reformation," D'Aubigne, book 17, chap. 2.

     This was a master stroke of Rome, and a great blow to the native Christians. With their university, their colleges, their teaching priests, and their ancient manuscripts gone, the Britons were greatly handicapped in their struggle against the ceaseless aggression of Rome. Still they continued the struggle for more than five hundred years longer, till finally, in the year 1069, Malcolm, the King of Scotland, married the Saxon princess, Margaret, who being an ardent Catholic, began at once to Romanize the primitive church, holding long conferences with its leaders. She was assisted by her husband, and by prominent Catholic officials. Prof. Andrew Lang says:

     "The Scottish Church, then, when Malcolm wedded the sainted English Margaret, was Celtic, and presented peculiarities odious to the English lady, strongly attached to the establishment as she knew it at home....The Celtic priests must have disliked the interference of an Englishwoman.

     "First there was a difference in keeping Lent. The Kelts did not begin it on Ash Wednesday....They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner." - "History of Scotland," Vol. I, p. 96.

     William F. Skene says:

     "Her next point was that they did not duly reverence the Lord's day, but in this latter instance they seem to have followed a custom of which we find traces in the early Monastic Church of Ireland, by which they held Saturday to be the Sabbath on which they rested from all their labours." - "Celtic Scotland," Vol. II, p. 349. Edinburgh: David Douglas, printer, 1877.

     (141) "They held that Saturday was properly the Sabbath on which they abstained from work." - Id., p. 350.

     "They were wont also to neglect the due observance of the Lord's day, prosecuting their worldly labours on that as on other days, which she likewise showed, by both argument and authority, was unlawful." - Id., p. 348.

SCOTLAND UNDER QUEEN MARGARET

     Professor Andrew Lang relates the same fact thus:

     "The Scottish Church, then, when Malcolm wedded the saintly English Margaret, was Celtic, and presented peculiarities odious to an English lady, strongly attached to the Establishment as she knew it at home....

     "They worked on Sunday, but kept Saturday in a sabbatical manner....These things Margaret abolished." - "A History of Scotland from the Roman Occupation," Vol. I, p. 96. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1900.

     The Catholic historian, Bellesheim, says of Margaret:

     "The queen further protested against the prevailing abuse of Sunday desecration. 'Let us,' she said, 'venerate the Lord's day, inasmuch as upon it our Saviour rose from the dead: let us do no servile work on that day.' The Scots in this matter had no doubt kept up the traditional practice of the ancient monastic Church of Ireland which observed Saturday, rather than Sunday, as a day of rest." - "History of the Catholic Church in Scotland," Vol. I, pp. 249, 250.

     Finally the queen, the king, and three Roman Catholic dignitaries held a three-day council with the leaders of the Celtic church. Turgot, the queen's confessor, says:

     "It was another custom of theirs to neglect the reverence due to the Lord's day, by devoting themselves to every kind of worldly business upon it, just as they did upon other days. That this was contrary to the law, she proved to them as well by reason as by authority. 'Let us venerate the Lord's day,' said she, 'because of the resurrection of our Lord, which happened upon that day, and let us no longer do servile works upon it; bearing in mind that upon this day we were redeemed from the slavery of the devil. The blessed Pope Gregory affirms the same, saying: "We must cease from earthly labour upon the Lord's day."'...From that time forward...no one dared on these days either to carry any burdens himself or to compel another to do so." - "Life of Queen Margaret," Turgot, Section 20; cited in "Source Book," p. 506, ed. 1922.

     (142) Thus Rome triumphed at last in Scotland. In Ireland also the Sabbath-keeping church established by Patrick was not long left in peace:

     "Giraldus Cambrensis informs us that in the year 1155 [Henry II, King of England, was entrusted by Pope Adrian IV with the mission of] invading Ireland [with devastating war] to extend the boundaries of the church, [so that even the Irish would become] faithful to the Church of Rome." The pope wrote Henry:

     "'You, our beloved son in Christ, have signified to us your desire of invading Ireland,...and that you are also willing to pay to St. Peter the annual sum of one penny for every house. We therefore grant a willing assent to your petition, and that the boundaries of the Church may be extended,...permit you to enter the island.'" - "Ecclesiastical Records of England, Ireland, and Scotland," Rev. Richard Hart, B.A., pp. xv, xvi.

     Thus we see, that in Scotland an English queen "introduced changes which, in Ireland, came in the wake of conquest and the sword. For example, the ecclesiastical novelties which St. Margaret's influence gently thrust upon Scotland, were accepted in Ireland by the Synod of Cashel (1172) under Henry II. Yet there remained, in the Irish Church, a Celtic and an Anglo-Norman party, 'which hated one another with as perfect a hatred as if they rejoiced in the designation of Protestant and Papist.'" - "History of Scotland," Andrew Lang, Vol. I, p. 97.

     (143) But whether this triumph of Catholicism over the native Celtic faith was accomplished by the devastating wars of Henry II, or by Queen Margaret's appeal to Pope Gregory, and her threat of the civil law, in either case it lacked an appeal to plain Bible facts, accompanied by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. And, while the leaders of the Celtic church might reluctantly yield to the civil authorities, the people, who had kept the Bible Sabbath for centuries, requested divine authority for Sunday-keeping. For some time the papal missionaries, who preached this strange gospel to the Britons, fabricated all kinds of stories about miraculous punishments that had befallen those who worked on Sunday: Bread baked on Sunday, when it was cut, sent forth a flow of blood; a man plowing on Sunday, when cleaning his plow with an iron, had it grow fast to his hand, so that he had to carry it around to his shame for two years.

FORGED LETTER FROM CHRIST

     When the Abbot Eustace, 1200 A.D., was continually confronted with requests for a divine command for Sunday-keeping, he finally retired to Europe, and returned the next year with a spurious letter from Jesus Christ, claimed to have fallen down from heaven upon St. Simon's altar at Golgotha. This letter declared:

     "I am the Lord....It is my will, that no one, from the ninth hour on Saturday [3 P.M.] until sunrise Monday, shall do any work....And if you do not pay obedience to this command,...I swear to your...I will rain upon you stones, and wood, and hot water, in the night....Now, know ye, that you are saved by the prayers of my most holy Mother, Mary." - "Roger de Hoveden's Annals," Vol. II, pp. 526, 527, Bohn's edition. London. 1853.

     In that superstitious age such childish fabrications might, to some extent, satisfy some people, but four hundred years later the trouble flared up again.

     (144) "Upon the publication of the 'Book of Sports' in 1618, a violent controversy arose among English divines on two points: first, whether the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was in force among Christians; and, secondly, whether, and on what ground, the first day of the week was entitled to be distinguished and observed as 'the Sabbath.' In 1628 Theophilus Brabourne, a clergyman, published the first work in favor of the seventh day, or Saturday, as the true Christian Sabbath. He and several others suffered great persecution." - Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, art. "Sabbatarians," p. 602. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1883.

     Several ministers arose in England about this time who defended the Bible Sabbath, and who were bitterly persecuted by the state church. John Trask was put in prison; his wife, a schoolteacher of a devout Christian character, remained in prison for fifteen years. On November 26, 1661, John James, a godly Sabbath-keeping preacher, was hanged for advocating the Sabbath truth, "and his head was set upon a pole opposite the meeting house in which he had preached the gospel." - "History of the Baptists," Dr. J. M. Cramp, p. 351. London: Elliot Stock, 1868. Dr. Thomas Bampfield, (See Robert Cox's "Literature of the Sabbath Question," Vol. II, pp. 86-91.) who had been speaker in one of Cromwell's parliaments, wrote two books defending the seventh-day Sabbath (1692, 1693), but he also was imprisoned. In 1664, Edward Stennet, an English minister, wrote a book entitled: "The Seventh Day Is the Sabbath of the Lord." But like the rest, he had to spend a long time in prison. In 1668 he wrote the following letter to his Sabbath-keeping brethren America:

     "Abington, Berkshire, England,

     "February 2nd, 1668.

     "Edward Stennet, a poor unworthy servant of Jesus Christ, to the remnant in Rhode Island, who keep the commandments of God, and the testimonies of Jesus, sendeth greeting:

     "Dearly Beloved:

     (145) "I rejoice in the Lord on your behalfs that He hath been graciously pleased to make known to you His holy Sabbath in such a day as this, when truth falleth in the streets, and equity cannot enter. And with us we can scarcely find a man that is really willing to know whether the Sabbath be a truth or not, and those who have the greatest parts, have the least anxiety to meddle with it.

     "We have passed through great opposition for the truth's sake, repeatedly from our brethren, which makes the affliction heavier; I dare not say how heavy, lest it should seem incredible; but the Lord has been with us, affording us strength according to our day. And when lovers and friends seem to be moved far from us, with such quick and eminent answers to our prayers, has encouraged and established us in the truth for which we suffer. But the opposers of truth seem much withered, and at present the opposition seems declining away; the truth is strong, and this spiritual fiery law will burn all those thorns which men set up before it. For was there ever any ceremonial law given us? But this law was given from the mouth of God, in the ears of so many thousands - written on tables of stone with His own finger - promised to be written on the tables of their hearts - and confirmed by a miracle for the space of forty years in the wilderness, the manna not keeping good any other day but the Sabbath....

     

"It is our duty as Christians, to carry it with all meekness and tenderness to our brethren, who, through the darkness of their understanding in this point, differ from us. We have abundant reason to bless our dear Father, who hath opened our eyes to behold the wonders in His law, while many of His dear servants are in the dark; but the Lord has in this truth as in others, first revealed it unto babes, that no flesh shall glory in His presence. Our work is to be at the feet of the Lord in all humility, crying unto Him, that we may be furnished with all grace to fit us for His work; that we may be instruments in His hands, to convince our brethren (if the Lord will) who at present differ from us....

     (146) "Truly, dear brethren, it is a time of slumbering and sleeping with us, though God's rod is upon our backs. Oh! pray for us to the Lord, to quicken us, and set us upon watch-towers. Here are, in England, about nine or ten churches that keep the Sabbath, besides many scattered disciples, who have been eminently preserved in this tottering day, when many once eminent churches have been shattered in pieces. The Lord alone be exalted, for the Lord has done this, not for our sakes, but for His own name's sake. My dear brethren, I write these lines at a venture, not knowing how they will come to your hand. I shall commit them and you to the blessing of our dear Lord, who hath loved us, and washed away our sins in His own blood. If these lines come to you safely, and I shall hear from you, hereafter I will write to you more largely....The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. "Edward Stennet." - "An Original History of the Religious Denominations," I. Daniel Rupp, p. 71. Philadelphia: 1844.