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Section Titles
Danger of Worldliness
One of Mr. Canright's strong arguments against the
Sabbath commandment is that it is not entirely moral in its nature, but partly
ceremonial, and was therefore of temporary obligation only. On this point,
after becoming a Baptist, he wrote:
“That the Sabbath of the decalogue was partly moral
and partly ceremonial, or positive, in its nature has been the doctrine of the
church as taught by its best theologians in all ages.”—Seventh-day
Adventism Renounced, p. 166.
“Adventists claim that there was nothing ceremonial
in the decalogue or about the Sabbath. But let us consider what a
ceremony is. Webster says: ‘Ceremony. Outward rite, external form
in religion.’ That is exactly what the observance of the Sabbath was in
Jewish worship….
“The observance of the Sabbath on a particular day
was a ceremonial service.”—Ibid., p. 171.
Now this further objection is not difficult to answer.
In fact, Mr. Canright, in one of his former publications, The Morality of
the Sabbath, written while he was still a Seventh-day Adventist, makes such
a comprehensive and convincing reply to this later quibble of his that we will
again grant him the privilege of demolishing his own argument.
At that time he wrote:
“When the claims of God's holy Sabbath are
presented, and its observance is urged upon the people, then every effort is
made by its opponents to belittle it as an institution of
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small account. It is said that the Sabbath law is only a
ceremonial precept, given simply for man's convenience, and that its observance
or nonobservance is a matter of little importance. While it is admitted that
all the other precepts of the decalogue are moral and their observance
all-important, it is asserted that the fourth commandment is of a very
different nature, containing no test of moral character. The only importance
attached to it is that of a day for physical rest and religious gatherings.
“While the Sabbath is regarded in this light, of
course men will not feel very particular about observing it. We propose,
therefore, to show that the nature and design of God's Sabbath day is as much
higher than this view of it as heaven is higher than the earth; that it is not
only a moral institution, but that it is the most important precept in the
whole decalogue. In proof that the Sabbath is a moral precept, we offer the
following facts:
“Moral duties and precepts are such as grow out
of the attributes of God. Creative power is the distinguishing attribute of the
living God, and the Sabbath grew directly out of the exercise of this attribute
in the creation of the world.
“I do not see how the truthfulness of this
proposition can be denied by any one. Why are we morally bound to serve
God?—Because He created us and all the blessings which we enjoy. None will
deny that this is the basis of all our duties to God. A little reflection will
show that it is not so much the wisdom, or the justice, or the holiness, or any
other attribute, of the Deity, as it is His act of creating us, which makes it
our moral duty to obey Him. Notwithstanding God is infinitely wise, just, holy,
etc., could we bring ourselves into existence and sustain ourselves without His
aid, we would be under no obligation to serve Him. This is an important fact
which we wish the reader to weigh carefully. It is, then, God's attribute of
creative power above all others, that is the basis of all our moral duties to
Him. He made us by His power as a Creator, and by His power He can destroy us;
hence He has a perfect right to say what we shall, or shall not, do. So Paul
argues in Romans 9:20-23.
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Now the very basis of the Sabbath was God's act of creating
the world in six days and resting upon the seventh. ‘Remember the Sabbath
day, to keep it holy…. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore [for this
reason] the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.’ Ex. 20:8-11;
Gen. 2:1-3.
“The foundation of the Sabbatic precept, then, is
the same as that of all other moral precepts; and hence it must be moral.
“The Sabbath, like all other moral precepts,
rests upon eternal and unalterable facts.
“In creating the world, God worked the first six
days of the first week of time. He then rested upon the seventh day. That act
made it His rest day, or Sabbath day. Sabbath is a Hebrew word
signifying rest. Hence, the Sabbath day of the Lord signifies the rest
day of the Lord. Therefore, when God had rested upon the seventh day, that day
had thus become distinguished from all the other days of the week as God's
rest, or Sabbath, day. When a man is born upon a certain day,
that day becomes his birthday. No other day in the year is his birthday.
So the day upon which God rested, the seventh day, and no other, is God's
Sabbath day.
“These facts of creation are just as true now as
they were when the Sabbath was first given, six thousand years ago. Is it not
as true now as it was then that God did work the first six days of the week?
Certainly. Then these are still only working days, as the Lord has properly
named them. ‘Thus saith the Lord God, The gate of the inner court that
looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the
Sabbath it shall be opened.’ Eze. 46:1. Is it not also just as true now as
it was then that the seventh day is God's Sabbath day? Is it not still the day
upon which He rested, and, hence, His rest day? Can you change your birthday
from the day upon which you were born to one upon which you were not born? Of
course not. Neither can the Lord's rest day be changed from the day upon which
He did rest to one upon which He did not rest. Has the first
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day of the week become the Sabbath (rest) day of the Lord?
Impossible, because no day can become God's rest day till He has first rested
upon that day. But God never did rest upon any day except the seventh. Hence,
the Sabbath day of the Lord is unchangeably fixed to the seventh day. This will
always remain a fixed fact while the earth stands, which will be eternally. For
this earth is to be purified and become the everlasting abode of the righteous.
Isa. 65:17-25; 2 Peter 3:7-13; Isa. 66:22, 23. So long as days shall continue
to succeed each other, so long must the seventh day continue to be the
Creator's Sabbath day. And so we read in Isaiah 66:22, 23: ‘For as the new
heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the
Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that
from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all
flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.’ This evidence proves my
proposition true, that the Sabbath is founded upon unchangeable and eternal
facts, the same as all moral precepts are. Here, also, it seems to me that all
must admit the truthfulness of this proposition.
“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….
“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….
“Every fact and reason upon which the Sabbath was
founded did exist before man fell in Eden. Hence the record in Genesis 2:1-3,
which says that God made, blessed, and set apart the Sabbath day in Eden, is
true and reasonable. Hence it cannot be typical or ceremonial.”—Pages
5-11.
Thus Mr. Canright while an Adventist shows conclusively
that the Sabbath command is neither typical nor
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ceremonial, but is a great moral precept. Yet he later
declares it to have been ceremonial and to have ended at the cross with the
other ceremonies of Moses' law.
But let him continue to argue against himself. We still
quote from his former publications:
“Thus the Sabbath is declared to be a divinely
appointed memorial of God's great work of creation. Its importance cannot be
overestimated. God instituted it for a great moral purpose, namely, to preserve
in the memory of men a knowledge of His work of creation.
“Had the human family carefully observed this
sacred memorial, they never would have forgotten the living God and have become
atheists or the worshipers of false gods.
“‘Had all men properly kept the Sabbath, all
would have known Jehovah and worshiped Him from the creation of the world to
the present time, and idolatry never would have been practiced on the
earth.’—Justin Edwards.
“The Sabbath, therefore, does have for its object
the greatest of all moral principles, namely, the preservation in the earth of
the knowledge of the true and living God, the Creator of the earth. The reader
cannot fail to observe that, if this be so, the farther we come from creation
the more important becomes the careful observance of the Sabbath. For during
the first few generations, the facts of creation might have been handed down
from father to son without any memorial. But now, when all such traditional
knowledge has been lost, and men are becoming skeptical with regard to God's
existence and the miraculous work of creation, how morally important becomes
the preservation of the ancient and divinely instituted memorial of creation,
God's holy rest day.”—Ibid., pp. 14, 15.
“The fact that God Himself has associated the
Sabbath with the moral precepts affords conclusive proof that it is a moral
institution.
“Fallen man has one document which came directly
from the living God Himself, and that is the ten commandments.
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God came down personally upon Mt. Sinai amidst thunderings
and lightnings and most terrible majesty, and there, in the hearing of the
whole nation, He spoke from heaven, with His own voice, His moral law of ten
commandments.
“Webster, in defining the moral law, says that it
is ‘summarily contained in the ten commandments.’ When God spoke this
law, His voice shook the earth. Heb. 12:26. With His own divine finger He then
engraved it in imperishable stone (Ex. 31:18); here again indicating that this
law was as imperishable and as enduring as the solid rock. It was then
deposited in the ark, under the Shekinah in the holy of holies. No other part
of the Bible, no other law of God, was ever given in such a solemn manner. Why
was this? This question our opponents have never been able to answer. Nine of
these ten commandments are universally acknowledged to be moral in their
nature, and of perpetual and universal application, applying through all ages
and to all nations. Look at them. 1. You shall have no other gods. 2. You shall
not make and worship an image. 3. You shall not profane God's name. 5. Honor
your parents. 6. Do not kill. 7. Do not commit adultery. 8. Do not steal. 9. Do
not bear false witness. 10. Do not covet.
“Reader, are not these commandments all moral, and
as enduring as truth itself? There is not a shadowy or ceremonial precept in
the whole ten, except it be the Sabbath. Now, we ask the reader, If the Sabbath
was, unlike the other nine precepts, a mere ceremonial institution, why did God
place it in the moral law? Why did He not put it where it belonged, with those
precepts which are confessedly only types and shadows? Shall we impugn God's
wisdom to sustain our theories? Would God mar an otherwise perfect moral law?
God's own action gives the lie to that baseless theory. It is a true saying
that a man is known by the company he keeps. Now look at the Sabbath. God, who
knew its character, has placed it in the midst of a strictly moral
neighborhood. It has three perfectly moral neighbors on one side, and six on
the other. We claim that this important
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fact shows that the all-wise God has put His stamp upon the
Sabbath as a moral institution. What God has joined together let no man put
asunder.”—Ibid., pp. 36-38.
“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.)”—Ibid., p. 43.
“All admit that the eighth commandment, ‘Thou
shalt not steal,’ is a moral commandment. Why?—Because it guards the
right of property. You shall not take and appropriate to your own use that
which belongs to another. The Creator, who is the author of everything, has
divided time into weeks of seven days each. All these days were the Lord's; but
He, in His benevolence and goodness, has given six of them to man to be
properly used in his own necessary business, but the seventh day, God's rest
day, He has reserved to Himself. The fourth precept is given to guard this
Sabbath day. It forbids our appropriating to our own use that which belongs to
another, viz., to God. The right of property then, is recognized in this
commandment the same as in the eighth commandment; and, hence, if one is moral
the other is also for the same reason.
“To illustrate: A wealthy man has seven apple
trees, all bearing fruit. He has a poor neighbor living near him. He takes him
into the orchard and tells him to use freely of the fruit of the first six
trees; but the seventh one he forbids him to touch, as that he has reserved for
a special purpose to himself. This would be a very generous act on the part of
the rich man. Now how ungrateful and wicked it would be on the part of the poor
man to use not only the fruit from the six trees, but to take that of the
seventh also. It would be a grossly immoral act.
“Just so God has given us six days which we can
freely use in an honorable manner; but the seventh day belongs to God. Thus the
Lord says by the mouth of Isaiah: ‘If thou turn away thy foot from the
Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day,’ etc. Chap. 58:13.
Again, the Lord says, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep.’ Ex.
31:13. And so
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the fourth commandment says, ‘The seventh day is the
Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’ Ex. 20:10. It is not our day, our time, nor
our property. It belongs to God.
“And the fourth commandment is given to guard the
Lord's right to this day. Another prophet exclaims, ‘Will a man rob God?
But ye say, ‘Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are
cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.’ Mal.
3:8, 9. God had reserved to Himself one tenth of all their increase. This
belonged to Him. Thus He says, ‘And all the tithe of the land, whether of
the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy
unto the Lord.’ Lev. 27:30. But the people had taken these tithes which
belonged to the Lord and had used them for their own benefit. In doing this
they had ‘robbed God.’ Then a man can rob the Lord.
“If this was true in the above case, with how much
greater force can it be said that a man robs God who every week takes God's
holy day and appropriates it to his own worldly purposes! Verily, he is guilty
of stealing. A little reflection will show that the same motive which leads a
man to steal from his neighbor, also leads him to break the Sabbath. He covets
his neighbor's property, that he may use it for his own selfish purposes; so he
takes it without his consent. So a man covets God's holy day, that he may use
it in his own worldly business or pleasure; hence he proceeds to appropriate
that sacred time to his own purposes. A man who knowingly appropriates God's
Sabbath to his own use is robbing God, and thus violating the very highest
principle of morality. If it is wrong to rob our neighbor who is our equal, how
much more wicked is it to rob God our Creator? The same moral principle, then,
is involved in the Sabbath precept that is in the precept against theft; and
therefore it is moral for the same reason.”—Ibid., pp.
38-41.
“The seventh-day Sabbath was placed in the moral
law. Ex. 20:1-17. No others were. This is a stubborn fact which our opponents
can never account for. If the Sabbath was a mere typical, shadowy, or
ceremonial institution, as were the festival days of the Jews, why did God
Himself put it in the
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moral law, and thus associate it with moral precepts? Why
did He not place it with the other Jewish holy days if it was like them? Did
God make a mistake and place it where it did not belong? Our opponents, with
their view of the Sabbath, certainly never would have put it where God did, in
the moral law. Here God has marked an important difference between the Sabbath
and all other sacred days….
“All other holy days grew out of man's actions as a
sinner, and they would never have existed but for sin. Here we have a marked
contrast which we wish the reader to distinctly notice. The Sabbath grew out of
the action of a holy and infinite God, but all festival days originated in some
action of man himself. (See a complete list of these days in Leviticus 23.)
“All other holy days originated this side of the
fall, after types and shadows were introduced. This marks them as shadowy and
typical. But the Sabbath, as we have shown, was given in Eden before types were
instituted….
“So many and so marked differences between God's
holy Sabbath and all other holy days show that they are of very different
natures,—the first was unchangeable, perpetual, and for all people; but
the second was only ceremonial, temporal, and for one
nation.”—Ibid., pp. 59-61.
“From the foregoing we see that the Sabbath is an
institution of the greatest importance to man physically, mentally, morally,
and spiritually. It has been plainly shown that men absolutely need such a day
of rest from physical or mental labor. The man who does not obey this law of
nature, sins against himself, and will inevitably suffer loss in the end. The
social benefits of the Sabbath in promoting friendly intercourse, moral
culture, and refinement of manners, are beyond all estimation even if only this
life is considered.
“But it is in the holy work of religion, in man's
duties to his Creator, that the highest importance of the Sabbath is seen. It
sets apart a definite, regular, and oft-recurring day of rest from all worldly
employments, upon which men can be free to attend to the worship of God. No
other law can compare in importance with the Sabbath in preserving and
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promoting the knowledge and worship of the true God. We have
seen that it is the sign which distinguishes the true God from all false gods.
It [the Sabbath] is the memorial of the great work of creation. It is the seal
to the moral law of Jehovah, without which that law would be of no authority.
This fact alone elevates the Sabbath precept in importance above any
other. We have seen that the Sabbath is a moral precept in every sense of
the term. Every argument against it falls with equal weight against one or more
of the other commandments of the moral law.”
Upon the conclusion of this argument Canright writes the
following appeal:
“Our great and constant danger is that we shall
become ‘choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life’
(Luke 8:14); and so bear no fruit for the Lord. To obviate this, the Lord has
interposed the Sabbath after six days of labor, to break up the tide of
worldliness and call man's attention back to God. If it were not for this
provision, the business of the world would absorb all man's attention, and God
would soon be forgotten. Man needs a constant reminder of his duty to God, an
oft-recurring test of his own spiritual condition. For this purpose, no other
precept is like the Sabbath.
“We have before shown that the principle involved
in the violation of all the other commandments is also involved in the
violation of the Sabbath. A man covets his neighbor's property. This leads him
to steal it. So a man covets God's time for his own work; hence he proceeds to
take it and use it for himself, and he thus robs God. A man who will knowingly
and deliberately use God's holy day for his own worldly, selfish purposes,
would also steal if he could do it with the same impunity. If a man will steal
from his Creator, will he not from his fellow men? I know that men do not like
to regard it in this light, but it is true, notwithstanding. When we come to
look at the claims and sacredness of the Sabbath
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day in a proper light, it must be seen that it is no slight
offense to disregard the Sabbath. I cannot conceive how a man could set at
naught God's authority in so defiant a manner as this.
“Look at the facts a moment. The omnipotent God,
whose glory fills all heaven, whose hands have made the universe, has created
our earth, ourselves, and every blessing which we enjoy. To commemorate this
great work, He has set apart, as sacred to Himself, the Sabbath day. With a
voice that shook the earth, He has forbidden us to use this day in doing our
own work. With a full knowledge of these facts before him, with the law of God
pointing out his duty, with the eyes of Jehovah upon him, a man arises Sabbath
morning and deliberately proceeds to use this holy time in his own business.
How must such an act appear in the eyes of God? How will it appear on the
record in the judgment? What act could puny man perform which would more
deliberately set at naught the law and authority of the great Creator? Reader,
we beseech you to stop and think seriously of this matter, and consider whether
the observance of the Sabbath is not of greater importance than you have
hitherto considered it.”—Ibid., pp. 89-91.
“With all these facts before us, we appeal to the
reader's judgment and conscience to decide whether or not the Sabbath is of so
little importance as its opponents are wont to represent it. Is it not, on the
other hand, the keystone of God's great moral law, without which the law would
have no strength to stand? Dear reader, as you value your soul and the favor of
your Creator, do not pass by the light which God in His providence is now
causing to shine out so clearly upon the subject of His holy but downtrodden
Sabbath day. May the Lord help you to turn away your feet from the Sabbath, and
call it ‘a delight, the holy of the Lord,
honorable.’”—Ibid., p. 96.
What a pity that, after seeing so clearly the light
concerning the great moral obligation of the Sabbath, Mr. Canright should later
have gone so far into darkness that he could no longer discern this light. He
referred to the
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Sabbath as the keystone of the great moral law, and then
later, when he renounced Seventh-day Adventism, he proceeded to try to remove
this keystone and thus destroy the law in its entirety.
In 1898 D. L. Moody published his little book Weighed
and Wanting, devoted to a discussion of the Ten Commandments. In his
chapter on the fourth commandment, although he was not an observer of the
seventh day, Mr. Moody speaks of those who try to excuse themselves from the
obligation to keep the Sabbath, as follows:
“But some one says: ‘Mr. Moody, what are you
going to do? I have to work seven days a week or starve.’
“Then starve! Wouldn't it be a grand thing to have
a martyr in the nineteenth century? ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed
of the church.’ Some one says the seed is getting very low; it has been a
long time since we have had any seed. I would give something to erect a
monument to such a martyr to his fidelity to God's law. I would go around the
world to attend his funeral.
“We want today men who will make up their minds to
do what is right, and stand by it if the heavens tumble on their heads….
Let men call you narrow and bigoted, but be man enough to stand by God's law,
and you will have power and blessing. That is the kind of Christianity we want
just now in this country. Any man can go with the crowd, but we want men who
will go against the current.
“Sabbath breaker, are you ready to step into the
scales?”—Pages 61, 62.