Opposition to Truth, Sabbath Truth.

Taken from-

THE PRESENT TRUTH, 

PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY—BY JAMES WHITE.

Vol. 1.  MIDDLETOWN, CONN. AUGUST, 1849.  No.4

Repairing the Breach in the Law of God.

" And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn 'away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy . day ; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, etc. Isa. 58 : 12, 13. Those who turn away their feet from treading down the Sabbath, and keep it holy, and make it a delight, have the promise of being called repairers of the breach. If we repair a breach by teaching, and observing the Sabbath according to the fourth commandment, then it necessarily follows, that the breach has been caused by those who, have been trampling down this commandment. Therefore the breach that has been made, and is now being repaired, is in the law of God

God's everlasting covenant of commandments was not to he "DIMINISHED," "broken nor altered." Deut. 4: 2; Ps. 89 : 34. Jesus said, " For VERILY I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in NO WISE pass from the law." Mat. 5: 18. The proof is plain and positive, that the law of God engraven in stones was to remain the same to the close of time : yet we see almost the whole professed Christian world, every week, trampling down the fourth immutable law in God's everlasting covenant, thus making a breach in his holy law

But the time has come for the Sabbath to be proclaimed more fully, and the breach repaired. The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah commences thus—" Cry aloud; spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their sins." The Prophet then describes the fasts of the present day, which are by no means acceptable to God, and then shows us what a true and acceptable fast is.

"Is not this the fast that I have chosen ? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to LET THE OPPRESSED GO FREE, and that ye break every yoke." Verse 6th. The falling judgments of Almighty God will not be averted by such a fast as was holden August 3d, while on this nation rests the cruel, and damning sin of slavery. Let them break the yoke than binds the poor slave, and undo his unjust and heavy burden, and thus let the oppressed go free, and then they have begun to fast in God's appointed way. The wrath of God will not be turned away from this favored land of light, stained with sins of the deepest dye, by a few cold and formal prayers, from those who have rejected his truth, and. are desecrating the holy Sabbath every week. It seems plain that Isaiah looked down in prophetic vision to this very time, when the breach in the law, first made by the little horn, (see Dan. 7: 25,) is being repaired.

Ezekiel speaks of the same breach. "Ye have not gone up into the gaps, (margin breaches,) neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the Lord." Ezek. 13: 5. The day of the Lord has but one place, and that is just before us. This prophecy has not been fulfilled in past time ; for its fulfilment is closely connected with the day of the Lord, which is future

This breach must be built up, that the Israel of God may be able to stand in the great and terrible day of slaughter, that is fast rolling on ; therefore, the work of repairing the breach in the commandments of God belongs just before, and preparatory to, the day of destruction by the seven last plagues.

God has a place for everything, and everything is in its place. So we see that the mighty work of repairing the breach in the law of God, by teaching and observing the Sabbath, which has been so long trodden down, belongs exactly here, just before the four Angels let loose the four winds, that the Israel of God may keep the whole law, and be sealed with the seal of the living God, which will enable them to

26  THE PRESENT TRUTH.

" stand -in the battle in the day of the Lord.

" And behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter-weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side : and they went in and stood before the brazen altar." Ezek. 9: 2

The five Angels* with slaughter weapons, have charge of the work of slaughter, in the day of Lord.

*Angels are sometimes called men in the Scriptures, see Gen 18: 1,2, and 16, 17; 19 : 1; Dan 9: 21; Acts 1:  10.

The one clothed with linen, is the sealing Angel, or the Angel that has oversight of the sealing work. "And the Lord said unto him, Go through Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and SMITE : LET NOT YOUR EYE SPARE, NEITHER PITY : SLAY UTTERLY OLD AND YOUNG," etc. Ezek. 9 : 4-6.

The man with the ink-horn first goes through, and marks a mark on the foreheads of the sighing saints.. This mark seals them, and they are safe in the time of slaughter. "BUT COME NOT NEAR ANY MAN UPON WHOM IS THE MARK, verse 6th. The work of slaughter immediately follows, and none but the marked, or sealed ones stand in the battle of the Lord. So we see that the repairing of the breach in the law of God, and the sealing, are one and the same work, just before the day of the Lord, " cruel both with wrath and fierce anger.

"Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing ! O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps," etc. Eze. 13: 3-5,

The prophets that have not gone up into the gaps, represent advent preachers who have rejected the Sabbath, and have refused to work for God, in repairing the breach. Their being like the cunning foxes of the deserts doubtless represents the artful positions which some of them have taken to hunt and destroy souls, in persuading them to give up the Sabbath, and in keeping others from embracing it.

These men have not been agreed among themselves, while carrying on this Work of spiritual destruction and death. There has been, at least, four different positions taken by some of them, as they have opposed the true one.

The first position that was taken in opposition to the true Sabbath, when the subject was first spread before the second advent people, was that it was changed from the seventh day to the first, at the time of the first advent.

This position was so very weak and unscriptural, that, it did not accomplish much; therefore it was thought necessary to sweep away the whole law of God, in order to get rid of the Sabbath.

This second position against the Sabbath, that the ten commandments were abolished at the first advent, and are dead, has done an awful work of slaughter among the precious flock. Though there is not one text, nor one line in all the Bible to sustain such a view, and much plain Scripture testimony against it; yet many seem determined to cling fast to it.

" It is time for thee, Lord, to work : for they have made VOID THY LAW," Ps. 119 : 126.

The third position that has been taken by some of these men who have opposed the Sabbath, was that the first day of the week was the seventh-day Sabbath. This view was introduced into the " Bible Advocate," published at Hartford, Conn., in 1847. The whole argument that sustained it was drawn from this one text, " For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matt. 12: 40.

It was argued that Monday was the resurrection day; because three days and three nights from Friday, the day of our Lord's burial, would reach to Monday. But three days and three nights, from the time that Jesus was put in Joseph's new tomb, would reach to Monday night ; and if the Son of man was to remain in the tomb just three days and three nights, then he arose in the evening, instead of the morning, and all four of the Evangelists were wrong in recording that the resurrection took place in the morning. This view which has been so recently discovered, that Monday is the first day of the week, and Sunday the seventh, and that all the world have made a mistake, of just one day, in numbering the days of the week, has but one text to sustain it, and a fulfilment of this one- text, as to time, has never yet been shown. According to this view, those who have been keeping Sunday in commemoration of the day of the resurrection, should have kept Monday ; and in keeping Sunday for the first day of the week, they have been observing the seventh-day Sabbath, and did not know it. A singular mistake indeed, to be hid from the world so long, and be found out in 1847 !

But if Jesus rose from the dead on Monday, then the resurrection was on the fourth day, which does not agree with the testimony of Jesus, and St. Paul.

" Thus it is written, and thus it behooveth Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead THE THIRD DAY." Luke 24: 46.  See also Matt. 16 : 21; 20: 19 ; Mark 9 : 31; 10 : 34; Luke 9 : 22 ; 18: 33

" For I delivered unto-you first of all, that which I also received, how-that Christ died for our sins according to-the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again THE THIRD DAY, according to the Scriptures." 1 Cor. 15 : 3, 4.

Jesus was crucified on Friday, which was the first day ; Sabbath he rested in the tomb, which was the second, and Sunday, the first day of the week, he rose from the dead which was THE THIRD DAY. This is plain enough for all who want to see the truth; but those who wish to cavil, and pervert the Word, have a chance.

The fourth position that has been taken against the Sabbath truth, is that the fourth commandment is relaxed, and we are at liberty to keep the Sabbath, or to desecrate it; just as we choose, only be sure and not make it a test. This last position has deceived precious souls, as they have been led to believe, " by good, words, and fair speeches," that Jesus did really relax the Sabbath law. But there is not one text in the New Testament that proves any such thing, and there is much plain and direct testimony from Jesus and his Apostles, that all of the commandments of God are in full force.

Those who have embraced the true Sabbath, and have been teaching it, have been united in it. They have but one position to take on the Sabbath question ; while those who have been opposing it, have in their turn advocated as many as four different views ; and some of them have been as much opposed to each other, as to the true position. Truth is a unit, while error has a variety of heads and horns. This was so in 1842, and '43, when Daniel's vision of the twenty-three hundred days was proclaimed.

Some of those men who then opposed the advent truth, took the ground. that the twenty-three hundred days of Dan. 8 14 were literal days ; others that they were only eleven hundred and fifty literal days. Then Mr. Bush came out in opposition to all. He stated that the twenty-three hundred days were prophetic, and that we were correct on time ; but erred in the event. Those who had the true position were united, therefore, triumphed.

These men that have opposed the Sabbath, have pursued a course similar to that which was taken in opposing the second advent. But the Sabbath truth is so plain and simple, that a child may understand it; and those who receive and obey it, are united in it, and in the strength of Israel's God they will overcome, and triumph; Amen.

To Be Continued…

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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!