From Tract .No. 6.
of the American Sabbath Tract Society. Twenty Reasons for Keeping Holy each
Week the Seventh Day instead of the First Day.
1. Because the
Seventh day was blessed and sanctified for a Sabbath, by God, immediately after
the creation of the world, as a perpetual memorial of that wonderful work, and
of His own resting from it; and because there is now as much need for man to
remember God's creative work, and to enjoy a weekly rest, as ever there was.
2. Because there is
evidence that the Seventh Day was observed from Adam to Moses. Gen.36 3-6 ; 29
: 27, 28.
3. Because the
Seventh Day is a necessary part of the fourth commandment, given at Mount
Sinai, graven on stone by the finger of God, and incorporated with the other
nine precepts of the Decalogue, which are admitted to be moral in their nature,
and perpetually binding. "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy."
"The Seventh Day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God " " 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,"
4. Because the Old
Testament abounds with declarations of God's- blessing upon those who keep holy
the Seventh Day, and of his vengeance upon those who profane it
5. Because our Lord
Jesus Christ enforced the claims of the law to the fullest extent, saying in
regard to the code to which the Seventh Day belonged, " Till heaven and
earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all
be fulfilled;" and because He always kept holy the Seventh Day, in this
doubtless " leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps
"
6. Because the holy
women who had attended Jesus Christ at his death and burial, are expressly said
to have "rested the Sabbath Day according to the commandment," (Luke
23 : 56;) and because, though the narrative proceeds immediately to record the
appearance of Jesus Christ, on the morning of the first day of the week,
neither there nor elsewhere is one word said about a change of the Sabbath, or
about the sabbatic observance of the First Day of the Week.
7. Because the
Apostles of our Lord constantly kept the Seventh Day, of which there is
abundant evidence in the Acts of the Apostles, and it is declared of Paul,
that, " as his manner was," he went into the synagogue frequently, on
the Sabbath Day. (Compare Luke 4 : 16, with Acts 17 : 2 ; see also Acts 13 :
14, 42; 44, and 16:13.)
8. Because Jesus
Christ, foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, warned his disciples to pray
that their flight might not happen " on the Sabbath Day ;" and as
that event was to take place almost forty years after the resurrection of our
Lord, it appears that the same Sabbath was to be then observed by his
disciples.
9, Because there is
no other day of the week called by the name of " Sabbath," in all the
Holy Scriptures, but the Seventh Day alone; and because, when " the First
Day of the Week" is mentioned in the New Testament, it is always clearly
distinguished from " the Sabbath."
10. Because not one
of those passages which speak of the" First Day of the Week," records
an event or transaction peculiar to the Sabbath.
11. Because when God
had so carefully committed his Law to writing, had repeated his precepts
throughout the prophetic books, and had left so many testimonies and examples
of the Seventh Day Sabbath on His sacred records, it is most unreasonable to
suppose that He would have repealed or changed one single article thereof,
without recording it among the words of our Lord Jesus or His Apostles, in the
writings of the New Testament.
12. Because the
observance of the Moral Law, (without any exception from it,) is constantly
enjoined, in the writings of the Apostles; and one of them says that "
Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty
of all" quoting at the same time the sixth and seventh commandments. (See
Rom. 13 : 9 ; Gal. 5 : 14; Eph. 6: 2, 3 ; and James 2: 8-11.)
13. Because the
religious observance of the Seventh Day of the Week as the Sabbath, was
constantly practised by the primitive Christians, for three or four hundred
years at least; and because, though it gradually fell into disuse, the neglect
of the Sabbath was caused only by those corruptions of-Christianity, which at
length grew up into the grossest idolatry ; so that the second commandment was
in fact, and the fourth was in effect, abolished by an ignorant, superstitious,
and tyrannical priesthood.
14. Because it was
only through the superstitions observance of the anniversaries of saints and
martyrs, and a multitude of other fasts and feasts, with which the simplicity
of revealed -religion was encumbered and overwhelmed, that the sabbatic
observance of the Seventh Day went out of use ; and not (in fact) by any real
or pretended command of Christ or His Apostles, nor at first by the express
authority of any Pope or Council ; for it was kept as a strict fast, for ages
after it lost every other token of a holy day.
15. Because the
leaders of the Reformation never claimed for the First Day the name of the
Sabbath, and never enforced the observance of that day by any other authority
than that of the Church.
16. Because it is
obviously absurd—(and it is an objection often made by irreligious people)—
that the observance of the First Day of the Week as the Sabbath, should be
grounded on a divine precept which commands the observance, not of the first,
but of the Seventh Day.
17. Because, if the
fundamental principle of Protestantism be right and true, that " the Bible
alone is the religion of Protestants," then the Seventh Day must be the
true and only Sabbath of Protestants ; for, unless that day of the week be kept,
they have no scriptural Sabbath at all.
18. Because the
pertinacious observance of the First Day of the Week, in the stead of the
Seventh, has actually given occasion of great scandal to the Protestant faith ;
it has caused the Papists to declare that Protestants admit the authority of
human tradition in matters of religion ; and it has led to intolerance and
persecution.
19. Because the
observance of the First Day, and neglect of the Seventh, having been adopted
partly in contempt of the Jews, has always laid a burden upon them, and
presented an obstacle to their receiving Christianity, which ought to be
removed.
20. Because the
observance of the Seventh Day obeys God, honors the Protestant Principle,
rebukes Papacy, removes stumbling-blocks, and secures for us the presence and
blessing of "the Lord of the Sabbath."
Dear Brethren and
Sisters— The Lord has shown me that it is my duty to relate to you, what he has
revealed to me relating to the present truth, our present tried, scattered and
tempted state, and our duty in view of the coming judgments of God.
Sabbath, March 24th,
1849, we had a sweet, and very interesting meeting with the Brethren at
Topsham, Me. The Holy Ghost was poured out upon us, and I was taken off in the
Spirit to the City of the living God. There I was shown that the commandments
of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, relating to the shut door, could not
be separated, and that the time for the commandments of God to shine out, with
all their importance, and for God's people to be tried on the Sabbath truth,
was when the door was opened in the Most Holy Place of the Heavenly Sanctuary,
where the Ark is, containing the ten commandments. This door was not opened,
until the mediation of Jesus was finished in the Holy Place of the Sanctuary in
1844.
Then, Jesus rose up,
and shut the door in the Holy Place, and opened the door in the Most Holy, and
passed within the second vail, where he now stands by the Ark ; and where the
faith of Israel now reaches. I saw that Jesus had shut the door in the Holy Place,
and no man can open it; and that he had opened the door in the Most Holy, and
no man can shut it : (See Rev. 3 : 7, 8 :) and that since Jesus has opened the
door in the Most Holy Place, which contains the Ark, the commandments have been
shining out to God's people, and they are being tested on the Sabbath question.
I saw that the present test on the Sabbath could not come, until the mediation
of Jesus in the Holy Place was finished ; and he had passed within the second
vail ; therefore, Christians, who fell asleep before the door was opened in the
Most Holy, when the midnight cry was finished, at the seventh month 1844 ; and
had not kept the true Sabbath, now rest in hope; for they had not the light,
and the test on the Sabbath, which we now have, since that door was opened.
I saw that Satan was
tempting some of God's people on this point. Be, cause so many good Christians
have fallen asleep in the triumphs of faith, and have not kept the true
Sabbath, they were doubting about it being a test for us now. I saw that the
enemies of the present truth have been trying to open the door of the Holy
Place, that Jesus has shut; and to close the door of the Most Holy Place, which
he opened in 1844, where the Ark is containing the two tables of stone, on
which are written the ten commandments, by the finger of Jehovah.
Satan is now using
every device in' this sealing time, to keep the minds of God's people from the
present, sealing truth ; and to cause them to waver. I saw a covering that God
was drawing over his people, to protect them in the time of trouble ; and every
soul that was decided on the truth, and was pure in heart, was to be covered
with the covering of Almighty God. Satan knew this, and was at work in mighty
power, to keep the minds of as many as he possibly could unsettled, and
wavering on the truth. I saw that the mysterious knocking in N. Y. and other
places, was the power of Satan ; and that such things would be more and more
common, clothed in a religious garb, to lull the deceived to more security ;
and to draw the minds of God's people, if possible, to those things and cause
them to doubt the teachings, and power of the Holy Ghost.
I saw that Satan was
working through agents, in a number of ways. He was at work through ministers,
who have rejected the truth, and are given over to strong delusions to believe
a lie that they might be damned. While they were preaching, or praying some
would fall prostrate and helpless; not by the power of the Holy Ghost, no, no;
but by the power of Satan breathed upon these agents and through them to the
people. Some professed Adventists who had rejected the present truth, while
preaching praying or in conversation used Mesmerism to gain adherents, and the
people would rejoice in this influence, for they thought it was the Holy Ghost.
And even some that used it, were so far in the darkness and deception of -the
Devil, that they thought it was the power of God, given them to exercise. They
had made God altogether such an one as themselves; and had valued his power as
a thing of naught.
Some of these agents
of Satan were affecting the bodies of some of the saints; those that they could
not deceive and draw away from the truth by a satanic influence. Oh! that all
could get a view of it as God revealed it to me, that they might know more of
the wiles of Satan, and be on their guard. I saw that Satan was at work in
these ways to distract, deceive, and draw away God's people, just now in this
sealing time. I saw some who were not standing stiffly for present truth. Their
knees were trembling, and their feet were sliding ; because they were not
firmly planted on the truth, and the covering of Almighty God could not be
drawn over them while they were thus trembling. Satan was trying his every -art
to hold them where they were, until the sealing was past, and the covering
drawn over God's people, and they left out, without a shelter from the burning
wrath of God, 3 -the seven last plagues.
God has begun to
draw this covering -over his people, and it will very soon be drawn over all
who are to have a shelter in the day of slaughter. God will work in power for
his people; and Satan will be permitted to work also.
I saw that the
mysterious signs and wonders, and false reformations would increase, and
spread. The reformations that were shown me, were not reformations from error
to, truth; but from bad to worse; for those who professed a change of heart,
had only wrapped about them a religious garb, which covered up the iniquity of
a wicked heart. Some appeared to have been really converted, so as to deceive
God's people but if their hearts could be seen, they would appear as black as
ever.
My accompanying
angel bade me look for the travel of soul for sinners as used to be. I looked,
but could not see it; for the time for their salvation is past.
TO BE CONTINUED….
*******
Taken from-
THE PRESENT
TRUTH,
PUBLISHED
SEMI-MONTHLY—BY JAMES WHITE.
Vol. 1. MIDDLETOWN, CONN. AUGUST, 1849. No.3
*******
We are now studying
- 'The Present Truth' papers published in the middle 1800's. These are called
the 'Present Truth' because it WAS Present Truth for that time. So why study
them now? Because TRUTH at any time is worth studying, and we KNOW that often ORIGINAL
truth presented before Satan has had an opportunity to corrupt it, can be very
enlightening. At the very least we will see, by the grace of God, through the
Holy Spirit, what truth then is still uncorrupted today and still very relevant
for us living in these dark, dark times. Our world today compared to a hundred
and seventy years ago is so much worse than it was, with so much evil being
called good, and good being called evil.
May God bless us as we seek HIS truth for us in our present, bringing us
only closer to Him and prayerfully the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ!
No comments:
Post a Comment