Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 139, 15 June 1894 — THE SABBATH. [ARTICLE]

THE SABBATH.

! : N. F. 3nrgess ts. Bishop I Willia. ( Co nd ) Are v e jcstifleJ in keeping i SnnJay. in preferenco to God's ancient nnd tīme-honored memorial of e »ati’n. Ihe seveath d»v (S-itunlav)? Tbere Ls onlv oue sonrce t.> whieh the consistaut rrotest;i »t ean go for a rep!y. and tb tt is, G‘>d's word. Dr D wling has tru!y said: — “The IJib!e, and the Bibie only, is the religion of Prote~l auts. Nor is it of any accoant in the e>timation of tbe gennine Protest»at. how early a Joctrine originatt«l. if it is not fouuJ in the Bibl3. : ' Henee if a doctrina be proponndeJ for bis acceptance, he :isks, Is it founJ in tbe inspired word? \Vas it tinght bv t'ie Lf»rJ Jes isCbrist or His apostles' K tbev knew notbing of it. no raatter to him whether it bo Jis l cover-d in the mustv foiio of • - smne ai cicnt visionary of tbe t!»inl or fourth century, or . wbetber it springs from tbe fer ‘ tile brain of some modern vision:»rg of tbe ninetpeath. 1 f it is uot f >unJ iu the Sacml Scnptures, it presents no va!id elaim to l>e received as nn article of religious creed. It is true, as Bishop Willis savs: T ie cause of Jispnte over j controverted -questions arise be1 c;iuse inm are not satifieJ to ; accept t ie Bib!e aa it i< u-ritUn , bnt read into >t, tbeir own interi>retatioi:. Wbere does the shoe * » pineh, when we examine tlie sabject uacler c>>nsideration. Let tbe reader decide I am r.ot sarprised that Bis’ op Willis believes that the Cbnrch i has rega;ded tbe fiist day of tbe ! week, as the LnrJ’s day, from | the time of the apostles. As it is :be prev»iling iJea tbat CLri;-t or j His apcstles cbanged the day. ! But we fiiul tbe Bible is sileut on ! tbis point. We fiiul that Clirist i Himself kept tlie seveutb day |Sabb.ith; Luke 4: 16, 31. Tbe | early Cb istians kept it after the ; erucifiction;• Lnke 23: 56. Paul [»reucber to Jews and(lenfiles ou tl;e Sa >batb Jay, (SatnrJay) Acts 18; 4; 13: 42. We soarcb ia vain lor mie passage iu tbe | scriptortsof trnth wh eh s mctious SnnJ.»y as first d«y of Hie week ob«orvance. The gr *atest obstacle in the way of tli» 8nnJay institution is tlie ■ !aw of ten eommamlmenia. Sun- : Jav cannot be sapported by that ; 1 aw, tbe fonrtii precept <*f whieh i savs * t ie sevonth day is tbe 1 - •' Sabb.»tb ” and to abolisb the !aw wco!d be to abolish tlie very foondation of tbe g<»verninent of God. B.shop i Willia, 1 ke many o( tbe ieading Protestaat denominations agive’ s that tbe ten—Commandments are still iu force. Tbe T’iptist Cburch Manoa). Art. 12, aays; “We be!ieve that i tbe law cf G<k1 is the eienuil and : unchan<jtaIAe rnle of His morul 1 governm»)ut.” Tbe Methodist Discipline, Art. t 6. savs: “No Christian wbatever } * is free frnn the obedience of the commandmeuts whieh are calUd : i mon»l.” Dwight’s Theologx-, a Presby- ■ terian work, Vol. 4, page 120, says: | • Tbe law of God is and rau.st of • necessity be unchangeable and | eiemal.” Tbus vefinJ tbree of the great Protestai.♦ Jeuominations agroeing with Bishop Wiilis, tbat the : taw of t-n Commaiulmenis is I «n chavgcnUe, and yet by their | ( practioe -)f keeping 8anday, tbey virtanilv assert tbat it Las beeu ! cbang<*l: for sareiy a cbange of j tlie Sab>atb woaU iuvolve a i ch-»nge o: tbe law, Havin<; focnJ tbat tbe B>ble ■ sostaius i.o cb »ngeof the8-.bl»atb. | i we turn in vain to history aud lbe | I leaJiug antborities of tbese great Jenoiuint.tions foi Sut Jay sacreJ- ; aeea. 1 Buck’s Tbeo!ogicaI Dict onary,} i a \ietboJi?t work, s »ys; “Sabbatb | in the Hol.iew Iangnage siguifies I rest. and is tbe «eveuth <la>j of the | h*ek, “anJ it mast be c»»nfeased • } tnat the.*w ia no law in tbe New 1 ■ T«et*ment eoaceruieg tbe first < ia»r" 1

The Woiekman. a Baptist paper savs in reply to a correspondent: “The Scriptores nowhem calls the first d«y of tbe week tbe Sabbatb. “Tbere is no scriptural autbority for so doing. nor. of course, any scriptoral oblig*tion. Dwīgbt‘s Tbeology, Aol 4.page 4<)1. says: “The Christian Sabbatb (Sond*y) is not in tbe scripture, and was not by tbe primitive charcb called tbe Sabbath.” Rev G. Hodges, who preaches in one of the l=rgest cburches in in Pittsbnrg. Pa., writing for the Pitteburg Dispatche* says: “Tbe seventb Jav. the commanJment s>\s. īs tbe Sabb.<th o( tbe Lonl tby Go*l. No kiuJ of aritbm.itic, no kind cf aluiame. ean make seven days eqaal to one, or tbe seventh me»n the first, nor SatnrJav mean SunJay. “The fact is we are all SabbatL-breakers. It is evident tbat Sunday eannot in any manner be identified witb God’s holy aud sanctifiel rest day «f tbe fouith comroandiuent, and tbercfore is only a mau made in>titution. Now to bistory. Neander, who is admitted by all to be one of the greitost and most reliable churoh bLstorians, says: “The festival of Sunday, like all ot’uer festivals,was always only a hnmau oniiaauee, and it was far from tbe intention of tbe «post!es to establrsli a devine eommnml in tbis respect. far from them and from tbo e«rly apostolic churcb to transfer the lawa of the Sitbbatb to Snuday.” —Kose’s Neander, p 186. Bnt tbe qnestion is asked:Wlio changed the Sabbatb? In D «n. 7:25, we ie»d of a power, whieh all Protestant commentators ngree is tbe Papacy,or Koniau Catbolic power. \Ve read in the verse named; “He sball tbink to cbauge times and laws,” meaning of course, the times and laws of God, aml it waa this pover whieh bas been tcmpering witb God’s boly Sabbath, tlie only times in bis iaw, and bec »nse tliey have acknowledged tbe trntb in the matter. Bisliop Willis reproves thoni by saying tbey ongbt to be ashained. Rev. John Snyder, in an artic!e in the St. Lonia Glotje Democra( of April 3. 1887, said: “Every instructed man knows tbak tbere is no New Testament autbor;ty for tlie change of the day of rest from tlie seventh to first day of tbe week. Every instructed man knows that tbe j Catbolic Cburch gave to the Christian world tbe Sunday, and Jetermined tbe manner in whieh it should be nsed. And when 1 Protestuntism threw otf the au } thority of tbe Catbolic Cbnrch. it abandoned ihe ouly ecclesiastical fonndatiou ujwn whieh Sunday ean logioally rest.” The above testimony coraes from a man wbo is himself aSun- ; Jay kee(»er. Now, we appeal toevery bonest Protestant to choose whom he will serve. Paul savs. 5u Rom. 6:15, “Know ye not.tbat to whom ve vi«’U vourselves servante to • • • obev, his servants ye are to whom I ye obey ? Are yon obeying God auJ keep- | , ing His Jay? or are you obeying ; the Catbolio Chnroh aud keepir.g i We eanuoi serve two ; masters. N. F. Buho 7 ss.