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Section Titles
Sabbath Command Applies to All Ages
Religious Leaders Agree
Martin Luther
on the Sabbath
Mr. Canright the Baptist bitterly attacks the
seventh-day Sabbath, which is kept by Seventh-day Adventists. He says:
“The Sabbath is not mentioned by name in the book
of Genesis, nor till the time of Moses.”—Seventh-day Adventism
Renounced, p. 249.
“The Sabbath was given to the
Jews.”—Ibid., p. 258.
“‘Thou camest down also upon Mt. Sinai, …
and madest known unto them Thy holy Sabbath.’ Neh. 9:13, 14. This implies
that it was not known before.”—Ibid., p. 255.
Now, these bold statements were made by Mr. Canright
after he had repudiated the Decalogue and had become an advocate of that no-law
doctrine which has brought upon the religious world an era of lawlessness and
revolt against God.
While Mr. Canright was still in the Adventist faith,
and, like David of old, still delighted in the law of the Lord, he wrote
profusely on the subject of the Sabbath as well as on the law, and it may be of
interest to the reader to compare his arguments of that time on the Sabbath
question with those set forth in his book in which he attempts to refute his
former teachings. Fortunately these former writings of his are available for
reference. We will therefore draw largely from these earlier publications by
Mr. Canright, in replying to his later refutation of them, thus permitting the
reader to observe how
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completely his former arguments devour his subsequent
denials of them.
In a pamphlet entitled The Morality of the
Sabbath, written by him in 1875, fourteen years before he renounced
Seventh-day Adventism, Mr. Canright said:
“The principle of every moral precept existed
before the fall, and would have existed if man had never fallen. This is true
of the Sabbath. But all ceremonial precepts were introduced after the fall, to
shadow forth redemption.
“Here again we find that true of the Sabbath which
is true of all moral commandments, viz., that it was a primary institution
existing before the fall of man. But this is not true of any ceremonial
statute. Idolatry, image worship, profanity, lying, stealing, etc., would all
have been as morally wrong if committed before the fall as after. Hence, moral
duties may be defined as those resting upon primary principles, or those which
did exist before man fell, or before any remedial system was instituted.
Ceremonial precepts are those which came in consequence of the fall, and which
would never have existed but for sin. They grew out of the creature's action as
a sinner, and shadowed forth his coming redemption. This is a plainly marked
and undeniable distinction between moral and ceremonial precepts. Now we only
have to ask to which of these two classes the Sabbath belongs, in order to
determine whether it is a moral or a ceremonial precept.
“Only one answer can be given to this. Every fact
and principle upon which the Sabbath ever was based did exist before Adam
sinned. Creation's work was ended, and the Lord's rest upon the seventh day was
in the past. God had placed His blessing upon the seventh day and had set it
apart to a sacred use. Thus the record reads: ‘Thus the heavens and the
earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended
His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work
which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because
that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.’
Gen. 2:1-3.
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“This is a plain, chronological narration of what
occurred in Eden. God worked six days, rested the seventh day, blessed it, and
then sanctified it. ‘Sanctify’ is thus defined by Webster: ‘To
separate, set apart, or appoint, to a holy or religious use.’ Then the
Lord did set apart to a holy use the seventh day in Eden. Every reference
afterward to the origin of the Sabbath points back to Eden. (See Ex. 16:23;
20:8-11; 31:17; Mark 2:27.) The Sabbath is a memorial of creation, … and
hence became necessary as soon as creation week was ended. But for what were
types, and shadows, and ceremonies? To point to redemption through Christ who
was to come. Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1. But these were not given until man needed
redemption; and he did not need redemption till after he had sinned. But the
Sabbath was given before man sinned, and hence was not a typical or ceremonial
institution. So we find that the Sabbath is a primary institution, all the
reasons for which, like those for every moral precept, existed before the
fall.”—Pages 9-11.
“The Sabbath precept, like all moral precepts,
applies equally well to all nations, in all countries, and at all times.
“All moral laws are of universal application. They
are not restricted to one nation or to one country, nor do they change with
circumstances; but, on the other hand, merely ceremonial precepts are, from
their very nature, restricted in their application to certain persons, times,
and places. Here, again, we find evidence of the morality of the Sabbath. As we
have shown already, God instituted the Sabbath at creation in Eden before the
fall. From this fact several important conclusions necessarily follow:
“1. It is not a type. Types were given after the
fall to shadow forth redemption; but the Sabbath points back to creation, not
forward to redemption. (See Ex. 20:11.)
“2. The fact that the Sabbath was given in the
Edenic state indicates that it was designed to be a perpetual institution.
Hence we read that when the curse shall be removed from this old earth, and the
new earth state shall be brought in, then the Sabbath will still be observed,
and that forever. Isa. 66:22, 23.
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“3. It is not a Jewish Sabbath. The simple fact
that it was given at creation, twenty-three hundred years before such a
distinction existed proves this.
“4. A Jew is a descendant of Judah, one of the
twelve tribes. But Judah himself was not born till nearly twentythree hundred
years after creation. Hence it is absurd to call it a Jewish institution. It is
never so called in the Bible, but it is ever designated as God's holy
Sabbath.
“The Sabbath was given to Adam, who was the
representative head of the whole human race, the father of all men and all
nations. Acts 17:26. In giving it to him, God thereby gave it to man as a race;
hence Christ says truly, ‘The Sabbath was made for man.’ Mark 2:27.
He does not say it was made for the Jew man, nor for the Gentile man, nor for
the Christian man; nor does He limit it in any manner; but He puts it on the
broad basis that it was made for man. It is a rule in grammar that a noun
unlimited by an adjective is to be taken in its broadest sense, as, ‘Man
is mortal,’ meaning all men, the race. So in this case; Christ does not
limit it to one class of men, but says that it was made for ‘man,’
that is, the race.
“In this language, he points us back to the time
when the Sabbath was made, and says that it was made for man. When was the
Sabbath made? It was made at creation. God rested on the seventh day, blessed
it, and sanctified it. This is how and when it was made. For whom was it made?
Christ's language is definite. It ‘was made for man.’ Being given to
Adam, the father of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews, it was thus given to
all nations; for Paul says that God ‘hath made of one blood all nations of
men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.’ Acts
17:26.”—Ibid., pp. 43-45.
Thus in Mr. Canright's former publication he points out
very clearly that the Sabbath as well as every moral precept existed in Eden
before the fall, that it was instituted at the close of creation week, that it
was set apart to a holy and religious use, and that it was given as a
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memorial of creation, was blessed and sanctified of God, and
given to Adam to be kept. He shows that every reference to the Sabbath after
that time clearly points back to Eden. He buttresses all these facts by a
“Thus saith the Lord” from Scripture. He clearly points out the fact
that the Sabbath “is not a type”; that it is “a perpetual
institution”; that it “is not Jewish”; that it was made for man;
and that in giving it to Adam, who was the representative head of the entire
human race, it was thus given through him to all humanity.
Strange that fourteen years later, when Mr. Canright
leaves the Seventh-day Adventist Church, he should so completely forget all
this evidence of the existence of the Sabbath from the time of creation, and
should boldly declare that the Sabbath was not known until Sinai. How, we ask,
is it possible for a man who is truly led by the Spirit of God, so evidently to
turn away from the clear teachings of the Word of God inspired by His Spirit?
Does the Spirit thus teach one thing through inspiration and another through
Mr. Canright? Is God thus divided against Himself? Or is this additional
evidence that Mr. Canright had wandered into the darkness, turning away from
the Word which David declared to be a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his
path?
From Mr. Canright's pamphlet The Morality of the
Sabbath, written before he repudiated the moral law and while he was still
an Adventist, we quote:
“A careful examination of the commandment will show
that it is equally applicable to all nations in all ages. Read it carefully.
‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’
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Cannot Gentiles do that as well as the Jews? Can we not do
it as well in America as in Asia?
“‘Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy
work.’ Is not that enough for any man to work in any country or in any
nation? Can the Gentiles endure to work more days than the Jews? …
“‘But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the
Lord thy God.’ Is not the seventh day God's rest day now as truly as it
was then? Does it not remain a fact now that God did rest upon the seventh day?
and as long as this continues to be a fact, will it not be true that the
seventh day is God's rest day? Certainly.
“‘In it thou shalt not do any work.’ We
need a day of rest and worship now as much as then, the Gentiles as much as the
Jews.
“‘Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy
manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is
within thy gates.’ Do not all these relations exist now among all nations?
Do they not all have sons and daughters, servants and cattle? And do not all
these need the rest of the Sabbath? Certainly.
“‘For in six days the Lord made heaven, and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is.’ Is it not just as true now as it
was then that God created all things in six days and rested the seventh day?
Does not this remain a fact now?
“‘Wherefore [that is, for this reason] the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’ Why did the Lord bless the
Sabbath day and hallow it? Because that in it He had rested from all His
work.
“As we have shown, the Lord set apart the seventh
day as a memorial of creation. Who should observe that memorial? All who are
interested in creation. Verily, are not the Gentiles as much interested in the
work of creation as the Jews ever were? As Paul significantly asks, ‘Is He
the God of the Jews only? is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles
also.’ Rom. 3:29. Was it not, then, true that God created the Gentiles as
well as the Jews; and did not the Gentiles inhabit the earth which He there
created? Are they
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not constantly enjoying the blessings which He there made
for man? Certainly. Then why should they not be as much interested to
commemorate this great work as were the Jews?
“In short, there is not a single idea in the fourth
commandment but applies equally well to all nations, in all countries, and at
all times. Did the Jews need a day of rest? So do the Gentiles. Did the Jews
need a day for religious worship? So do the Gentiles. The Jews kept the seventh
day to commemorate creation; so should the Gentiles.”—Pages
45-47.
Although most of the Protestant world still clings to
the custom of Sundaykeeping, yet it is a surprising fact that leaders of
religious thought in all the great Protestant bodies agree in teaching the
eternal perpetuity and the binding obligation of the law of God. And this they
do in spite of their continued observance of the first day of the week. Note
the following clear declarations from some of them in support of the fact that
the seventh-day Sabbath existed from creation, and was not a new institution
when given to the Jews at Sinai:
“‘And sanctified it.’ Heb., ???,
kadash. It is by this term that positive appointment of the Sabbath as a
day of rest to man is expressed. God's sanctifying the day is equivalent to His
commandment to men to sanctify it. As at the close of creation the seventh day
was thus set apart by the Most High for such purposes, without limitation to
age or country, the observance of it is obligatory upon the whole human race,
to whom, in the wisdom of Providence, it may be communicated. This further
appears from the reason why God blessed and sanctified it, viz.,
‘because that in it He had rested,’ etc., which is a reason of
equal force at all times and equally applying to all the posterity of Adam; and
if it formed a just ground for sanctifying the first day which dawned upon the
finished system of the universe, it must be equally so for
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sanctifying every seventh day to the end of time. The
observance of the day is moreover enjoined in the decalogue, which was not
abolished with the peculiar polity of the Jews, but remains unalterably binding
upon Christians in every age of the world…. The sanctification of the
seventh day in the present case can only be understood of its being set
apart to the special worship and service of God.”—George Bush
(Presbyterian), professor of Hebrew and Oriental literature, New York City
University, Notes, Critical and Practical, on the Book of Genesis, vol.
1, pp. 48, 49.
“By this [Sabbath] is meant, 1. the appointed of
God at the close of creation, to be observed by man as a day of rest from all
secular employment, because that in it God Himself had rested from His work.
Gen. 2:1-3. Not that God's rest was necessitated by fatigue (Isa. 40:28); but
He rested, that is, ceased to work, on the seventh day as an example to man;
hence assigned it as a reason why men should rest on that day. Ex. 20:11;
31:17. God's blessing and sanctifying the day, meant that He separated it from
a common to a religious use, to be a perpetual memorial or sign that all who
thus observed it would show themselves to be the worshipers of that God who
made the world in six days and rested on the seventh. Ex. 20:8-11; 31:16, 17;
Isa. 56:6, 7.”—Amos Binney (Methodist), Theological Compend,
p. 169.
“When it is therefore said by the inspired
historian that God ‘sanctified the seventh day,’ I must understand
him to say, that God set it apart (from the other six days of labor), to be
religiously employed by man.”—Rev. J. Newton Brown (Baptist), The
Obligation of the Sabbath, p. 48.
“??? [in piel form] to make holy, to
sanctify, to hallow…. 2. To pronounce holy, to sanctify, e.g., the Sabbath
(Gen. 2:3); a people (Lev. 20:8; 21:8). Also to institute any holy thing, to
appoint.”—Edward Robinson, Gesenius, Hebrew and English
Lexicon, p. 924.
“Where is the example in Scripture of any
instituted commemoration not beginning from the time of its appointment? …
Did circumcision under the Old Testament, or baptism and the Lord's supper
under the New, remain in
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abeyance for centuries before they were acted upon? And
shall the commemoration of the glories of creation be thought to be suspended
for more than two thousand years after the occasion on which it was appointed
had taken place? and especially as the reason for the celebration existed from
the beginning, related to the whole race of mankind more than to the Jews, and
was indeed most cogent immediately after the creation?”—Daniel
Wilson, The Divine Authority and Perpetual Obligation of the Lord's Day,
pp. 46, 47.
“God blessed and sanctified the Sabbath. This He
has not done with any other creature. For heaven and earth or any other
creature has He not sanctified to Himself; but only the seventh day. The
significance of this is especially that we should learn from it to understand
that the seventh day is particularly suited for and ought to be used for divine
worship. For that is called sanctified, which is separated from all other
creatures and dedicated to God. To sanctify is to select to holy use or divine
worship, an expression often used by Moses, for instance when he speaks of holy
vessels.
“It is evident from this text, that even though
Adam had stood the test and had remained in his innocency, he would still have
kept the seventh day.
“And, even though man by sin has lost the
perception of God, yet God has willed that the commandment to keep holy the
Sabbath should remain, and has willed that man on the seventh day should
practice and inculcate the word and worship of God.”—Dr. Martin
Luther's Copious Exposition on Genesis, translated according to the German
Text in Walch's Edition by F. W. Bugge, vol. 1, pp. 62, 63.
“From these facts I think we may conclude that the
Sabbath was originally given to the whole human race, and that it was observed
by the Hebrews previously to the giving of the law; and that in early ages,
this observance was probably universal.”—Francis Wayland (Baptist),
Elements of Moral Science, p. 91.
“The Sabbath was made for all men, and was designed
to
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be a universal and perpetual blessing. It was not made for
any particular class or race of men, but for man, the generic man, the
whole human family.”—A. E. Waffle, The Lord's Day (Prize
Essay), p. 163.
“The use of ‘remember,’ in connection
with the fourth commandment, ‘implies that the weekly rest day was not a
new institution.’ It was observed before Sinai was reached. ‘The
Sabbath was a recognized institution long before the days of Moses. Traces of
its strict observance in the ancestral home of Abraham are disclosed in the
Assyrian records unearthed in these later days.’ (H. Clay
Trumbull.)”—Henry T. Scholl, D.D., in New York Christian
Observer (Presbyterian), Dec. 24, 1913.
“This was the most ancient institution, God calls
them to remember it; as if He had said, Do not forget that when I had
finished My creation I instituted the Sabbath, and remember why I did so, and
for what purposes.”—Adam Clarke, A Commentary and Critical
Notes, vol. 1, p. 402.
“The seventh day was observed from Abraham's time,
nay, from creation. The Jews identified their own history with the institution
of the Sabbath day. They loved and venerated it as a patriarchal
usage.”—The Evidences of Christianity, a Debate Between Robert
Owen and Alexander Campbell, p. 302.
In his wonderful volume Weighed and Wanting,
Dwight L. Moody adds the following ringing testimony on this important
subject:
“The Sabbath was binding in Eden, and it has been
in force ever since. This fourth commandment begins with the word
‘remember,’ showing that the Sabbath already existed when God wrote
this law on the tables of stone at Sinai. How can men claim that this one
commandment has been done away with when they will admit that the other nine
are still binding?
“I believe that the Sabbath question today is a
vital one for the whole country. It is the burning question of the
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present time. If you give up the Sabbath, the church goes;
if you give up the church, the home goes; and if the home goes, the nation
goes. That is the direction in which we are traveling.
“The church of God is losing its power on account
of so many people giving up the Sabbath, and using it to promote
selfishness.”—Page 47.