God’s Law Immutable
369
the prophecy. For this the only authority claimed is that of the church.
Here the papal power openly sets itself above God.
While the worshipers of God will be especially distinguished by
their regard for the fourth commandment,—since this is the sign of his
creative power, and the witness to his claim upon man’s reverence and
homage,—the worshipers of the beast will be distinguished by their
efforts to tear down the Creator’s memorial, to exalt the institution of
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Rome. It was in behalf of the Sunday, that popery first asserted its
arrogant claims; [
See appendix, note 9.
] and its first resort to the power
of the State was to compel the observance of Sunday as “the Lord’s
day.” But the Bible points to the seventh day, and not to the first, as the
Lord’s day. Said Christ, “The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.”
The fourth commandment declares, “The seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord.” And by the prophet Isaiah the Lord designates it, “My
holy day.” [
Mark 2:28
;
Isaiah 58:13
.]
The claim so often put forth, that Christ changed the Sabbath, is
disproved by his own words. In his sermon on the mount he said:
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not
come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven
and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least
commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least
in the kingdom of Heaven; but whosoever shall do and teach them,
the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.” [
Matthew
5:17-19
.]
It is a fact generally admitted by Protestants, that the Scriptures
give no authority for the change of the Sabbath. This is plainly stated
in publications issued by the American Tract Society and the Amer-
ican Sunday-school Union. One of these works acknowledges “the
complete silence of the New Testament so far as any explicit command
for the Sabbath [Sunday, the first day of the week] or definite rules
for its observance are concerned.” [
“The Abiding Sabbath,” p. 184, a
$500 prize essay.
]
Another says: “Up to the time of Christ’s death, no change had been
made in the day;” and, “so far as the record shows, they [the apostles]
did not give any explicit command enjoining the abandonment of the
seventh-day Sabbath, and its observance on the first day of the week.
[
“The Lord’s Day” pp. 185, 186, a $1,000 prize essay.
]
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