November 1999

Dear Readers,

“Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth.” (2 Thessalonians 1:2, 3) It is our prayer that each of you are growing in your experience with the Lord. We need to grow closer to the Lord each day. Job said, “he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.” (Job 17:9) We need to guard against letting our Christian experience become stagnant and cold. Jesus said, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:12-13)

Faith and Acceptance

(In the July 1999 issue of Present Truth we printed an article entitled “Repentance” which was taken from the book Steps to Christ. We are continuing this study in this issue. We believe you will be richly blessed by this book, so we are offering you a free copy. A one dollar donation to cover shipping is appreciated, but not required to receive your free book.)

As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and you look upon it with abhorrence. You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness. Your motives are impure; your heart is unclean. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. You long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to Him—what can you do to obtain it?

It is peace that you need—Heaven's forgiveness and peace and love in the soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect cannot procure it, wisdom cannot attain to it; you can never hope, by your own efforts, to secure it. But God offers it to you as a gift, “without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1. It is yours if you will but reach out your hand and grasp it. The Lord says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” Ezekiel 36:26.

You have confessed your sins, and in heart put them away. You have resolved to give yourself to God. Now go to Him, and ask that He will wash away your sins and give you a new heart. Then believe that He does this because He has promised. This is the lesson which Jesus taught while He was on earth, that the gift which God promises us, we must believe we do receive, and it is ours. Jesus healed the people of their diseases when they had faith in His power; He helped them in the things which they could see, thus inspiring them with confidence in Him concerning things which they could not see—leading them to believe in His power to forgive sins. This He plainly stated in the healing of the man sick with palsy: “That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” Matthew 9:6. So also John the evangelist says, speaking of the miracles of Christ, “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” John 20:31.

From the simple Bible account of how Jesus healed the sick, we may learn something about how to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins. Let us turn to the story of the paralytic at Bethesda. The poor sufferer was helpless; he had not used his limbs for thirty-eight years. Yet Jesus bade him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” The sick man might have said, “Lord, if Thou wilt make me whole, I will obey Thy word.” But, no, he believed Christ's word, believed that he was made whole, and he made the effort at once; he willed to walk, and he did walk. He acted on the word of Christ, and God gave the power. He was made whole.

In like manner you are a sinner. You cannot atone for your past sins; you cannot change your heart and make yourself holy. But God promises to do all this for you through Christ. You believe that promise. You confess your sins and give yourself to God. You will to serve Him. Just as surely as you do this, God will fulfill His word to you. If you believe the promise,—believe that you are forgiven and cleansed,—God supplies the fact; you are made whole, just as Christ gave the paralytic power to walk when the man believed that he was healed. It is so if you believe it.

Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, “I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised.”

Jesus says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24. There is a condition to this promise—that we pray according to the will of God. But it is the will of God to cleanse us from sin, to make us His children, and to enable us to live a holy life. So we may ask for these blessings, and believe that we receive them, and thank God that we have received them. It is our privilege to go to Jesus and be cleansed, and to stand before the law without shame or remorse. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1.

Henceforth you are not your own; you are bought with a price. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold;… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19. Through this simple act of believing God, the Holy Spirit has begotten a new life in your heart. You are as a child born into the family of God, and He loves you as He loves His Son.

Now that you have given yourself to Jesus, do not draw back, do not take yourself away from Him, but day by day say, “I am Christ's; I have given myself to Him;” and ask Him to give you His Spirit and keep you by His grace. As it is by giving yourself to God, and believing Him, that you become His child, so you are to live in Him. The apostle says, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Colossians 2:6.

Probation?

Some seem to feel that they must be on probation, and must prove to the Lord that they are reformed, before they can claim His blessing. But they may claim the blessing of God even now. They must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help their infirmities, or they cannot resist evil. Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are, sinful, helpless, dependent. We may come with all our weakness, our folly, our sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence. It is His glory to encircle us in the arms of His love and to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from all impurity.

Here is where thousands fail; they do not believe that Jesus pardons them personally, individually. They do not take God at His word. It is the privilege of all who comply with the conditions to know for themselves that pardon is freely extended for every sin. Put away the suspicion that God's promises are not meant for you. They are for every repentant transgressor. Strength and grace have been provided through Christ to be brought by ministering angels to every believing soul. None are so sinful that they cannot find strength, purity, and righteousness in Jesus, who died for them. He is waiting to strip them of their garments stained and polluted with sin, and to put upon them the white robes of righteousness; He bids them live and not die.

God does not deal with us as finite men deal with one another. His thoughts are thoughts of mercy, love, and tenderest compassion. He says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.” Isaiah 55:7; 44:22.

“I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” Ezekiel 18:32. Satan is ready to steal away the blessed assurances of God. He desires to take every glimmer of hope and every ray of light from the soul; but you must not permit him to do this. Do not give ear to the tempter, but say, “Jesus has died that I might live. He loves me, and wills not that I should perish. I have a compassionate heavenly Father; and although I have abused His love, though the blessings He has given me have been squandered, I will arise, and go to my Father, and say, 'I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants.'” The parable tells you how the wanderer will be received: “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Luke 15:18-20.

But even this parable, tender and touching as it is, comes short of expressing the infinite compassion of the heavenly Father. The Lord declares by His prophet, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3. While the sinner is yet far from the Father's house, wasting his substance in a strange country, the Father's heart is yearning over him; and every longing awakened in the soul to return to God is but the tender pleading of His Spirit, wooing, entreating, drawing the wanderer to his Father's heart of love.

With the rich promises of the Bible before you, can you give place to doubt? Can you believe that when the poor sinner longs to return, longs to forsake his sins, the Lord sternly withholds him from coming to His feet in repentance? Away with such thoughts! Nothing can hurt your own soul more than to entertain such a conception of our heavenly Father. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner, and He gave Himself in the person of Christ, that all who would might be saved and have eternal blessedness in the kingdom of glory. What stronger or more tender language could have been employed than He has chosen in which to express His love toward us? He declares, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Isaiah 49:15.

Look up, you that are doubting and trembling; for Jesus lives to make intercession for us. Thank God for the gift of His dear Son and pray that He may not have died for you in vain. The Spirit invites you today. Come with your whole heart to Jesus, and you may claim His blessing.

As you read the promises, remember they are the expression of unutterable love and pity. The great heart of Infinite Love is drawn toward the sinner with boundless compassion. “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Ephesians 1:7. Yes, only believe that God is your helper. He wants to restore His moral image in man. As you draw near to Him with confession and repentance, He will draw near to you with mercy and forgiveness.

The Test of Discipleship

“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place, or trace all the chain of circumstances in the process of conversion; but this does not prove him to be unconverted. Christ said to Nicodemus, “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8. Like the wind, which is invisible, yet the effects of which are plainly seen and felt, is the Spirit of God in its work upon the human heart. That regenerating power, which no human eye can see, begets a new life in the soul; it creates a new being in the image of God. While the work of the Spirit is silent and imperceptible, its effects are manifest. If the heart has been renewed by the Spirit of God, the life will bear witness to the fact. While we cannot do anything to change our hearts or to bring ourselves into harmony with God; while we must not trust at all to ourselves or our good works, our lives will reveal whether the grace of God is dwelling within us. A change will be seen in the character, the habits, the pursuits. The contrast will be clear and decided between what they have been and what they are. The character is revealed, not by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts.

It is true that there may be an outward correctness of deportment without the renewing power of Christ. The love of influence and the desire for the esteem of others may produce a well-ordered life. Self-respect may lead us to avoid the appearance of evil. A selfish heart may perform generous actions. By what means, then, shall we determine whose side we are on?

Who has the heart? With whom are our thoughts? Of whom do we love to converse? Who has our warmest affections and our best energies? If we are Christ's, our thoughts are with Him, and our sweetest thoughts are of Him. All we have and are is consecrated to Him. We long to bear His image, breathe His spirit, do His will, and please Him in all things.

Those who become new creatures in Christ Jesus will bring forth the fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Galatians 5:22, 23. They will no longer fashion themselves according to the former lusts, but by the faith of the Son of God they will follow in His steps, reflect His character, and purify themselves even as He is pure. The things they once hated they now love, and the things they once loved they hate. The proud and self-assertive become meek and lowly in heart. The vain and supercilious become serious and unobtrusive. The drunken become sober, and the profligate pure. The vain customs and fashions of the world are laid aside. Christians will seek not the “outward adorning,” but “the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit.” 1 Peter 3:3, 4.

There is no evidence of genuine repentance unless it works reformation. If he restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, confess his sins, and love God and his fellow men, the sinner may be sure that he has passed from death unto life.

When, as erring, sinful beings, we come to Christ and become partakers of His pardoning grace, love springs up in the heart. Every burden is light, for the yoke that Christ imposes is easy. Duty becomes a delight, and sacrifice a pleasure. The path that before seemed shrouded in darkness, becomes bright with beams from the Sun of Righteousness.

The loveliness of the character of Christ will be seen in His followers. It was His delight to do the will of God. Love to God, zeal for His glory, was the controlling power in our Saviour's life. Love beautified and ennobled all His actions. Love is of God. The unconsecrated heart cannot originate or produce it. It is found only in the heart where Jesus reigns. “We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19, R.V. In the heart renewed by divine grace, love is the principle of action. It modifies the character, governs the impulses, controls the passions, subdues enmity, and ennobles the affections. This love, cherished in the soul, sweetens the life and sheds a refining influence on all around.

There are two errors against which the children of God—particularly those who have just come to trust in His grace—especially need to guard. The first, already dwelt upon, is that of looking to their own works, trusting to anything they can do, to bring themselves into harmony with God. He who is trying to become holy by his own works in keeping the law, is attempting an impossibility. All that man can do without Christ is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, that can make us holy.

The opposite and no less dangerous error is that belief in Christ releases men from keeping the law of God; that since by faith alone we become partakers of the grace of Christ, our works have nothing to do with our redemption.

But notice here that obedience is not a mere outward compliance, but the service of love. The law of God is an expression of His very nature; it is an embodiment of the great principle of love, and hence is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. If our hearts are renewed in the likeness of God, if the divine love is implanted in the soul, will not the law of God be carried out in the life? When the principle of love is implanted in the heart, when man is renewed after the image of Him that created him, the new-covenant promise is fulfilled, “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them.” Hebrews 10:16. And if the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life? Obedience—the service and allegiance of love—is the true sign of discipleship. Thus the Scripture says, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” “He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” 1 John 5:3; 2:4. Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience.

We do not earn salvation by our obedience; for salvation is the free gift of God, to be received by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith. “Ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.” 1 John 3:5, 6. Here is the true test. If we abide in Christ, if the love of God dwells in us, our feelings, our thoughts, our purposes, our actions, will be in harmony with the will of God as expressed in the precepts of His holy law. “Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.” 1 John 3:7. Righteousness is defined by the standard of God's holy law, as expressed in the ten precepts given on Sinai.

That so-called faith in Christ which professes to release men from the obligation of obedience to God, is not faith, but presumption. “By grace are ye saved through faith.” But “faith, if it hath not works, is dead.” Ephesians 2:8; James 2:17. Jesus said of Himself before He came to earth, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart.” Psalm 40:8. And just before He ascended again to heaven He declared, “I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. The Scripture says, “Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.… He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.” 1 John 2:3-6. “Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps.” 1 Peter 2:21.

The condition of eternal life is now just what it always has been,—just what it was in Paradise before the fall of our first parents,—perfect obedience to the law of God, perfect righteousness. If eternal life were granted on any condition short of this, then the happiness of the whole universe would be imperiled. The way would be open for sin, with all its train of woe and misery, to be immortalized.

It was possible for Adam, before the fall, to form a righteous character by obedience to God's law. But he failed to do this, and because of his sin our natures are fallen and we cannot make ourselves righteous. Since we are sinful, unholy, we cannot perfectly obey the holy law. We have no righteousness of our own with which to meet the claims of the law of God. But Christ has made a way of escape for us. He lived on earth amid trials and temptations such as we have to meet. He lived a sinless life. He died for us, and now He offers to take our sins and give us His righteousness. If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ's character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.

More than this, Christ changes the heart. He abides in your heart by faith. You are to maintain this connection with Christ by faith and the continual surrender of your will to Him; and so long as you do this, He will work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. So you may say, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. So Jesus said to His disciples, “It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.” Matthew 10:20. Then with Christ working in you, you will manifest the same spirit and do the same good works —works of righteousness, obedience.

So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us.

When we speak of faith, there is a distinction that should be borne in mind. There is a kind of belief that is wholly distinct from faith. The existence and power of God, the truth of His word, are facts that even Satan and his hosts cannot at heart deny. The Bible says that “the devils also believe, and tremble;” but this is not faith. James 2:19. Where there is not only a belief in God's word, but a submission of the will to Him; where the heart is yielded to Him, the affections fixed upon Him, there is faith—faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Through this faith the heart is renewed in the image of God. And the heart that in its unrenewed state is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be, now delights in its holy precepts, exclaiming with the psalmist, “O how love I Thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Psalm 119:97. And the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1.

There are those who have known the pardoning love of Christ and who really desire to be children of God, yet they realize that their character is imperfect, their life faulty, and they are ready to doubt whether their hearts have been renewed by the Holy Spirit. To such I would say, Do not draw back in despair. We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because of our shortcomings and mistakes, but we are not to be discouraged. Even if we are overcome by the enemy, we are not cast off, not forsaken and rejected of God. No; Christ is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Said the beloved John, “These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2:1. And do not forget the words of Christ, “The Father Himself loveth you.” John 16:27. He desires to restore you to Himself, to see His own purity and holiness reflected in you. And if you will but yield yourself to Him, He that hath begun a good work in you will carry it forward to the day of Jesus Christ. Pray more fervently; believe more fully. As we come to distrust our own power, let us trust the power of our Redeemer, and we shall praise Him who is the health of our countenance.

The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes; for your vision will be clearer, and your imperfections will be seen in broad and distinct contrast to His perfect nature. This is evidence that Satan's delusions have lost their power; that the vivifying influence of the Spirit of God is arousing you.

No deep-seated love for Jesus can dwell in the heart that does not realize its own sinfulness. The soul that is transformed by the grace of Christ will admire His divine character; but if we do not see our own moral deformity, it is unmistakable evidence that we have not had a view of the beauty and excellence of Christ.

The less we see to esteem in ourselves, the more we shall see to esteem in the infinite purity and loveliness of our Saviour. A view of our sinfulness drives us to Him who can pardon; and when the soul, realizing its helplessness, reaches out after Christ, He will reveal Himself in power. The more our sense of need drives us to Him and to the word of God, the more exalted views we shall have of His character, and the more fully we shall reflect His image. ?

Rome’s Arraignment of Sabbath-Breakers

by J. O’Keefe

“But these men blaspheme whatever things they know not; and what things soever they naturally know, like dumb beasts, in these they are corrupted.” (See Jude 10.)

The morning paper of last Monday spread before its readers a compendium [collection] of seven sermons delivered the day before, by as many Baptist preachers, on the topic of Sabbath desecration. This simultaneous concert of action was the result of previous arrangement.

As it is the duty of every citizen who has at heart the public welfare to aid, as far as possible, in promoting the diffusion of knowledge, and at the same time in the correction of error, I feel I would be guilty of a gross injustice to my fellow citizens were I not to furnish them with the exact truth, especially since false ideas are being constantly promulgated [published] by men either grossly and criminally ignorant of what they should know, and who, assuming the office of public guides, convey false information derived either from false premises, or in-consecutive conclusions from the same, or, knowing better, maliciously and unscrupulously abuse the influence they accidentally wield over simple and unsophisticated people, by deliberately impregnating their ductile [easily molded] and plastic minds with erroneous views that practically interfere with the rational exercise of their liberty in the ordinary routine of life.

In the fifteenth chapter, tenth verse, of the Acts of the Apostles, we read of a case in point. A sect of the Pharisees (converts to Christianity) gave much annoyance to the primitive Christians by requiring circumcision and the full observance of the Mosaic law, Peter arose in the assembly and asked, “Now therefore, why tempt ye God, to put a yoke on the necks of the disciples which neither our fathers, nor we have been able to bear?” (See Acts 15:10.) A sect of the same order of modern Pharisees, in their self-righteousness, gave vent to their mock solicitude for the spiritual welfare of their contemporaries by denouncing most emphatically the practices of barrooms, cigars, tobacco, soda water, bicycles, confectionery, parks, trolley cars, Sunday papers, reporters, ice-cream saloons, etc., etc., on Sunday, with a highly commendable and virtuous indignation; but it is my purpose to meet their crusade in the spirit of common sense, and ask with St. Peter, “Why, therefore, tempt ye God to put a yoke on the necks of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” And this is precisely what these self-constituted guides of the people undertake to do, when they assume to dictate into what is permitted and what forbidden on the Sabbath.

And, just here, I boldly proclaim that this meddlesome interference with the God-given liberties of our citizens is an assumption of authority that has no warrant whatsoever in God’s law, and amounts to what may be truthfully designated an impertinent attempt at an unauthorized despotism [absolute power, tyranny]. For whilst the American people are tolerant of every law, divine and human, that appeals to their reason, yet they must be convinced that the ordinance has a divine or human sanction for the enforcement of its obligations.

It is my purpose to submit to my fellow citizens the true grounds for the obligation of cessation from labor one day of the week, and of the duty of sanctifying the same day. The seven reverend gentlemen who on last Sunday assumed to impose their views on their fellow citizens anent [concerning] the question of Sabbath desecration, have no warrant whatsoever for such imposition [a burdensome unfair demand], save what can be found in their acknowledged teacher, the Bible. Let us then open the pages of this guide and teacher, and learn from it the commands of God on this point. We are at least equally intelligent with them in construing the expressed will of God, in drawing rational conclusions, and in inferring conclusively the correctness or falsity of their claim to impose their views on us.

The first intimation that reaches us of God’s will on this important point is found in Genesis 2:2: “And on the seventh day He [God] rested… from all His work which He had made.” And it is conclusive that the patriarchs under the immediate direction of God, continued, by oral tradition, the same observance of God’s Sabbath, until He gave through Moses the same commandment by written tradition (see Exodus 20:8-11), “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;” and the sacred text informs us He did so command for that reason, viz. [namely]:

“Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.” (See Exodus 20:11.) Again, the Lord calls the Sabbath “a perpetual covenant.” (See Exodus 31:16.)

Once more, we will refer to the most positive repetition of this command (see Deuteronomy 5:13-14): “Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy work. The seventh is the day of the Sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein,” etc.

On a careful examination of the Old Testament, we find this reference to the Sabbath 126 times. And now it is incumbent on us to ascertain which is the seventh day on which God rested, and which He blessed and sanctified: which day, also, He designated as “a perpetual covenant.” The answer to this question is furnished by the Hebrew race, who all through the patriarchal age to Moses’ day, over 2,500 years, thence from Moses, 2514 A.M. [B.C.] to A.D. 1897, a period of 5,897 years, have scrupulously kept every Saturday, from the days of Adam, who walked with God, through the days of the patriarchs, the law, and the prophets, and through the full period of the New Law to yesterday [Saturday]. Thus the Hebrew race form a living historical chain of nearly 5,900 annual links—a perpetual, living testimony of God’s rest (His Sabbath) to today, through oral and written tradition. Therefore, if the testimony of men could ever be regarded as an infallible motive of credibility, it must be recognized as such in the constant weekly keeping of God’s Sabbath synchronous [having identical periods] with time itself.

The Old Testament is also, from the days of Moses, the living witness of this undeniable fact, sustained by the oral living testimony of the Hebrew people to the advent of the Messiah. To deny this effectively, it would be necessary to destroy the Jewish people and the Old Testament.

Having placed beyond the reach of all successful denial; the grand historical fact that up to the coming of the Messiah, the Lord’s Sabbath—that of the seventh day—was alone recognized and kept, from the last day of Creation to the coming of the Messiah—this by the positive precept of God in the Old Law and the ever-living testimony and practice of the Hebrew race, it now behooves us to trace the history of this arrangement to date, or as far, at least, as the apostolic records testify under the New Law. On approaching this period, involving as it does an era of nearly nineteen full centuries, we naturally inquire whether a divine statute, which God Himself was pleased to designate a “perpetual covenant,” continued to be observed by the people of Israel and Christians collectively; that is, whether the day enjoined by God (Saturday) has always been kept by Christians and Jews collectively for these nineteen centuries, or, if not, where in the pages of the New Testament is found a divine decree canceling the mandate of the Old Law, and at the same time specifying the day to substitute [for] Saturday. For inasmuch as Saturday was ordered to be kept by divine authority, so, also, divine authority, under the form of a canceling decree, is absolutely necessary to do away with Saturday, and another decree emanating from the same divine source is equally necessary to appoint another Sabbath. A close and critical examination of the New Testament is now necessary to discover these two decrees—the one canceling Saturday, the other selecting another day to replace it.

The Hebrew Sabbath, or Saturday, is referred to in the New Testament 61 times. In the four Gospels the same Sabbath (Saturday) is mentioned 51 times. We find that the Saviour during His life constantly adopted the same day to teach in the synagogues and to work miracles.

In one instance, quoted by Matthew and Luke [Mark]. He designated Himself the “Lord of the Sabbath;” but to the last hour of His life He utilized that day and gives no indication of a desire to change it. After His crucifixion, His apostles and personal friends kept it (Saturday) strictly. whilst yet He was in the tomb; that St. Luke informs us of (see 23:56):

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested on the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” And having strictly kept the Sabbath, as St. Luke has just now described, they felt themselves free to commence the new week with the corporal work of mercy, viz., embalming the body of their Master.

This proceeding is quoted by St. Luke in the next verse (see 24:1): “And on the first day of the week [Sunday], very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices they had prepared.” Can anything be more conclusive than that up to the day of Christ’s death, from St. Luke’s testimony?

Thus we are forced from all we read in the Gospels to conclude that the “Lord of the Sabbath,” as Christ calls Himself, never kept during his mortal life any other Sabbath than Saturday, testifying His respect for it on several occasions by His severe rebukes to the scribes and Pharisees for their fanatical mode of keeping it; and after His death the apostles, and the holy women, who were the best exponents [representatives] of His will, followed His example by doing on Sunday that the commandment forbade them to do on Saturday. It is then undeniable that the Jewish Saturday was alone kept by the Saviour, His apostles, and friends up to the period of His death, covering thirty-three years of the Christian era.

Come we now to examine the history of this interesting question for thirty years more after Christ’s death, as recorded by the evangelist St. Luke, in his Acts of the Apostles. Surely we must find some trace of the canceling act during this period involving a lifetime. But, alas! not a vestige of it can be discovered; and what is worse, we find in the nine passages referred to in the Acts of the Apostles that they invariably kept Saturday. I shall quote them: “They… went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day And after the reading of the law and the prophets,” etc. (See Acts 13:14, 15.) Again, verse 27: “For they… because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath,” etc. Behold here the testimony of St. Paul to the practice of reading the Scriptures every Sabbath. He does not say “were read,” but “are read,” thus bearing witness to a time-honored practice.

Again, verse 42: “And when the Jews had gone out, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath,” not the next Sunday. Observe next how the Greeks or Gentiles kept the Sabbath with the Jews (see verse 44): “And the next Sabbath came almost the whole city to hear the Word of God.” Not Sunday, but the Sabbath still! Once more (see Acts 15:13, 21):

James, the apostle, publicly says: “Men and brethren, hear now to me… For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.” No vestige of a change to Sunday yet. Again (see Acts 17:2): “And Paul, as his manner was, went unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.” And, to cap the climax and exhaust all scriptural resources (see Acts 18:4): “And he [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.”

Thus it is absolutely certain that neither our Lord during His life of thirty-three years, nor His apostles for thirty years subsequently, ever kept any Sabbath save Saturday.

But, before I close my argument, I propose to answer the argument of the apologists for the change of day not to be found in the New Testament. Their arguments are grounded on the words “the Lord’s day” and “the day of the Lord,” as the drowning man grasps a straw. The first of these (see Acts 2:20):

“The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord shall come.” Is this Sunday? Again (see 1 Corinthians 1:8): “Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Who is silly enough to interpret these words [as being] of Sunday? Again (see 1 Corinthians 5:5): “To deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.” Is this Sunday? Again (see 2 Corinthians 1:13-14): “And I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end… even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Is this day Sunday or the day of judgment? Whilst once more (see Philippians 1:6): “Being confident of this very thing that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Until next Sunday, of course! Sixth text (see Philippians 1:10): “That ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” Till next Sunday, forsooth! Seventh text (see 2 Peter 3:10): “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.” Sunday next! Eighth text (see 2 Peter 3:12): “Looking out for and hastening unto the coming of the day of the Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire, shall be dissolved.” Look out for the fireworks on Sunday, if not too late today [Sunday]!

I have thus disposed of eight of nine texts from the apostolic writings which the apologists for the change of day grounded on the words, “the day of the Lord,” “the Lord’s day,” “the day of Christ,” and shown the absurdity of their application to Sunday, referring in each instance to the day of judgment. There is a ninth, and the only one left which does not bear its own interpretation like the others (see Revelation 1:10). St. John says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.” The rule of analogy, a certain motive of judging whereby we are enabled to conclude with certainty of an unknown quantity from the law, applies here unqualifiedly. Eight texts, of a similar form and character to a ninth, have been shown to unite in one meaning exclusively. Dialecticians [specialists in dialectics or logic] conclude that the ninth must be so interpreted. Or, to present a more intelligible example from physical laws:

Eight stones thrown into the air fall by the law of gravity to the surface; the ninth it is conclusive must obey the same law. Hence the words of St. John admit of the same interpretation by analogy as the eight preceding texts.

Any attempt to interpret the above texts, the day of the Lord or the Lord’s day, as meaning Sunday, is therefore absurd. And what will confirm this reasoning beyond all doubt is the language of the same St. John in two passages in his Gospels; speaking of Sunday (Easter) he does not say, “on the Lord’s day,” But, “on the first day of the week” (see John 20:1): and speaking of the following Sunday, he does not designate it “the Lord’s day,” but (see chapter 20:19), “Now when it was late that same day, the first of the week.” This disposes forever of St. John’s, “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day,” interpreted as Sunday.

A False Supposition

To conclude my proofs, I propose to call attention to and reply to an argument that would suppose a change of day. Five times the first day of the week is referred to as being the day substituted for the Sabbath in five passages of the Gospel, Acts, and Epistles. St. Luke 24:33-40 and St. John 20:19 both refer to the meetings of Jesus with the apostles on Easter Sunday. This would appear to furnish a clue to the substitution of Saturday; but the texts themselves record the motive of their meeting. It was not for prayer, for exhortation, or reading of the Scriptures, but they were huddled together in that room “for fear of the Jews,” as St. John tells us.

The third occasion was the meeting of Christ arisen with the eleven (including Thomas), for the purpose of confounding the incredulity of Thomas, as St. John assures us (see chapter 20:26-29). There is not a word to be found in these texts of prayer, praise. or reading of the Scriptures. Again (see Acts 2:1), “The apostles were all of one accord in one place” on the feast of Pentecost (Sunday). Nor can this fourth instance of meeting on Sunday afford the slightest hope of finding an escape; for Pentecost was the fiftieth day from the Passover, which was called the Sabbath of weeks, consisting of seven times seven days; and the day after the seventh weekly Sabbath was the chief day in the entire festival, necessarily Sunday, which had been kept by the Jews annually for over 15 centuries before Christianity. This was over a festival, and no comfort can be derived from its introduction in favor of a change of day, from the sacred volume.

And the apologists for the change of day call attention to Acts 20:7: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread,” etc., the application of the axiom in logic, “Quod probat nimis, probat nihil” (What proves too much, proves nothing), puts a quietus release from obligation on this text when I introduce words from the Acts (see 2:46): “And they continuing daily… in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house,” etc., which shows that this was a daily practice which is claimed in this instance for Sunday.

Fifthly and finally, we are invited to 1 Corinthians 16:1-2: “Now concerning the collection for the saints.… On the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store,” etc. Presuming that this was done as St. Paul requested, I will call your attention to what was regularly done the day before (Saturday) and contrast the acts of each day. I have already quoted St. Paul’s testimony (see Acts 13:27) of the practice of reading the Scriptures “every Sabbath day.”

What more absurd conclusion than to infer that the reading of the Scriptures, exhortation, and praying, which formed the routine duties of every Saturday, or Sabbath, were overslaughed [passed over in favor of another] by a request to take up a collection, on a particular occasion, another day of the week? Which occupation was more in keeping with the service of the Lord’s day?

The Summing Up

Having placed before you all the references in the sacred writings—Gospels, Acts, and Epistles—I will now sum up the result of my examination of the relative use of the Sundays and Saturdays from these same records, constituting the New Testament, and covering a period of over 60 years. Every Sabbath, or Saturday, was kept, according to the record, 3,276 times by Christ and His apostles, whilst the beggarly record of the Sunday meetings by the apostles number five within the same period, viz., Easter Sunday (finding Sunday) comes first; next, Sunday (doubting Sunday) when Thomas was converted; but not a prayer, nor reading of the Scripture, nor preaching on either occasion; Pentecost Sunday, a part of the ceremonial law of the Jews kept for 1,500 years before; the Sunday referred to in Acts 20:7, where the breaking of bread alone is referred to, but which in Acts 2:46 is designated a daily work; and fifthly, collection Sunday (1 Corinthians 16:1-2) has no vestige of prayer, reading of Scripture, sermon, or any other act of divine worship connected with it. Add to these, nine references to the “Lord’s day;” “the day of the Lord,” “the day of Christ,” mentioned nine times, each one of which refers, as I have proved, to the day of judgment. and you have every vestige of any claim that might be made of a change of day from Saturday during the period of over 60 years from the dawn of Christianity.

With this truthful and exhaustive exposition before us, based in the Sacred Writings, and against which I defy successful contradiction, let us apply our valuable information practically to the existing position of Protestantism and its relative bearing on Judaism, because they both acknowledge the same teacher, the Bible. With this difference, however, whilst the Jew’s teacher, the Old Testament, closes with the Messiah’s coming, the Biblical Christian has the New Testament superseded to the Old, whilst he enjoys the teaching and practice of the Saviour together with those of the apostles for over 60 years, and all these in perfect conformity with the Old Testament. For whilst the Jewish people—patriarchs, law, and prophets—have, after the example of God Himself, kept “the Sabbath of the Lord” for nearly 6,000 years. up to yesterday [Saturday]. the New Testament, the supplemental teacher of Protestantism, testifies to the positive teachings of the Saviour, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;” and His life and those of the apostles, as we learn from the Sacred Record, were in perfect keeping with the practice of the Jewish people. Today, however, so-called followers of Christ, (who was Himself to the hour of His death an obedient follower of the law of the Sabbath), in direct contradiction of the law and the Gospel, have for over three centuries raised the flag of revolt against this “perpetual covenant.” as God Himself is pleased to call it. and for fully 10 generations not one representative of Protestant Christianity, with a feigned and hypocritical affection of respect for his teacher, the Bible, has once kept the day ordered to be kept over 160 times by the Old Testament and over 60 times by the New.

A more transparent contradiction, involving millions of human beings, does not exist in the earth today—a teacher, assumed to be of divine origin by its disciples—utterly ignored, and the voice of God Himself echoing in every page, as they profess to believe, utterly disregarded by every Protestant Christian on earth today, for not one of them has once obeyed His command to keep His Sabbath. Christ, as their teacher, informs them, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,” and the chief and most emphatic of these is, “Remember the Sabbath day.”

Viewing the situation from a common-sense standpoint, it is almost incredible that men endowed with average intelligence could consent to occupy before the world, for an hour, such a self-stultifying [ridiculous], self-contradictory position as this. Professing to adore God, professing to obey His commands, yet they stand today before heaven and earth, with His Written Word clasped to their breast, and which they profess to obey, the most pronounced Sabbath-breakers on earth.

The Jew is rational; he obeys his teacher, the Bible, pointing to the command, “Keep holy the Sabbath;” the Catholic is ever rational, he obeys the teacher [the Church] appointed him by Christ; but the Protestant obeys neither God nor his teacher; the Bible. Thus I have in this sermon shown his utter abandonment of his professed teacher, the Bible, and his public apostasy from the positive injunctions of God, speaking to him through it; but he had descended to a still lower depth of degradation. Having abandoned the teachings of his Bible, and having poured out the vials of his apparently honest indignation against the Catholic Church, all his life he is found today, after having consummated his apostasy from his own religious principles and teacher, knocking at the door of the Catholic Church to notify her that he is about to borrow her day; thus this traitor to his professed teacher and guide throws open the doors of his meeting house on each Sunday with a notice overhead, “OPEN EVERY ROMAN SABBATH.” “CLOSED EVERY BIBLE SABBATH,” whilst the notice on every synagogue on Saturday reads, “OPEN TO-DAY, THE BIBLE SABBATH.”

Nor does his unscrupulous treachery to his Bible end here; but with insolent swagger [boasting] and cool effrontery [boldness], like Cain, addressing his descendants on brotherly love, with the broad brand of murderer on his brow; like Judas moralizing on deicide [the killing of a god]; like the squatter who insolently intrudes himself and like the robber glorying in his ill-gotten goods; in a word, like Satan rebuking sin, he inveighs [vehemently attacks], through his seven clerical drummers, against barrooms, cigars, tobacco, soda water, bicycles, confectionery, parks, trolley cars, Sunday papers, reporters, ice-cream saloons, etc., etc., whilst there is not a living representative of these different avocations [one’s regular work] whose records before the bar of reason, religion, and God are not comparatively immaculate when contrasted with the record of these very people who stand before God, reason, and religion as the most inveterate [persistent] Sabbath-breakers on earth.

Before closing this discourse, I publicly invite those seven reverends, and all their confederate Sabbath-breakers, to loose themselves from the above imputation [attributing of personal guilt].

But I predict with absolute certainty that the seven eloquent orators of last Sunday will be mute and dumb next and future Sundays on this subject. ?

Catholic Admissions to their Attempt to Change the Sabbath

“We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church in the Council of Laodicea (364 AD) transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.” (The Converts Catechism, Peter Giermann, page 50. This catechism received the pope’s blessing on January 25, 1910)

“Ques.—Have you any other way of proving that the [Catholic] Church has power to institute festivals of precept [to command holy days]?”

“Ans.—Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her: She could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority.” (Stephen Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, page 176)

“Protestants… accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change… But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the church, the Pope.” (Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950)

“The Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday.” (The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, page 4)

“We hold upon this earth the place of God Almighty.” (Pope Leo XIII, in an Encyclical Letter, dated June 20, 1894)

“The Pope is not only the representative of Jesus Christ, but he is Jesus Christ Himself, hidden under veil of flesh.” (The Catholic National, July 1895)

“Like two sacred rivers flowing from paradise, the Bible and divine Tradition contain the Word of God, the precious gems of revealed truth. Though these two divine streams are in themselves on account of their divine origin, of equal sacredness, and are both full of revealed truths, still, of the two, Tradition [the sayings of popes and councils] is to us more clear and safe.” (Di Bruno, Catholic Belief, page 33)

“Sunday is a Catholic institution, and its claims to observance can be defended only on Catholic principles… From beginning to end of Scripture there is not a single passage that warrants the transfer of weekly public worship from the last day of the week to the first.” (The Catholic Press, Sydney, Australia, August, 1900)

“It is well to remind the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and all other Christians, that the Bible does not support them anywhere in their observance of Sunday. Sunday is an institution of the Roman Catholic Church, and those who observe the day observe a commandment of the Catholic Church.” (Priest Brady, in an address at Elizabeth, New Jersey on March 17, 1903. Reported in the Elizabeth, New Jersey News of March 18, 1903)

“Some non-Catholics object to Purgatory because there is no specific mention of it in Scripture. There is no specific mention of the word Sunday in Scripture The Sabbath is mentioned, but Sabbath means Saturday. Yet the Christians of almost all denominations worship on Sunday not on Saturday. The Jews observe Saturday. Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that worship should be changed from Saturday to Sunday.” (Martin J. Scott, Things Catholics are Asked about, 1927, page 236)

“This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8, 9)

“The [Catholic] church took the pagan philosophy and made it the buckler of faith against the heathen. She took the pagan Roman Pantheon, temple of all the gods, and made it sacred to all the martyrs; so it stands to this day. She took the pagan Sunday and made it the Christian Sunday. She took the pagan Easter and made it the feast we celebrate during this season… The Sun was a foremost god with heathendom… The sun has worshipers at this hour in Persian and other lands… Hence the Church would seem to say, ‘Keep that old pagan name [Sunday]. It shall remain consecrated, sanctified.’ And thus the pagan Sunday, dedicated to Balder, became the Christian Sunday, sacred to Jesus.” (William L Gildea, “Paschale Gaudium,” in The Catholic World, 58, March, 1894, page 809 [Roman Catholic])

The introduction of false doctrines

Sunday is not the only alteration the papacy has attempted to make to God’s law. The following is a list of doctrines that have been introduced by the papacy:

A.D. 300—Prayers for the dead, and the Sign of the cross. 321—Sunday laws and enforced Sunday-keeping. 325 & 381—The trinity doctrine. 375—Veneration of angels and dead saints, and the use of Images. 394—Daily celebration of the heathen Mass. 400—Persecution of Bible (Seventh-day) Sabbath-keepers begins. 431—Exaltation of Mary, as she is called “Mother of God.” 450—Death Sentence for Sabbath-keepers. 500—Priests dress differently. 526—Extreme Unction. 593—Purgatory. 600—Latin language alone in prayer and worship, and prayers directed to Mary, dead saints and angels. 607—Title of Pope or universal Bishop first used. 709—Kissing the pope’s foot. 750—Civil power of the pope. 786—Worship of the cross, images, relics, and bones. 850—Holy water. 927—College of cardinals. 965—Baptism of bells. 995—Canonization of dead saints. 998—Fasting on Fridays and Lent. 1079—Celibacy of the priests. 1090—The Rosary and mechanical praying with beads. 1184—The Inquisition. 1190—Sale of Indulgences. 1215—Auricular Confession of sins to a priest instead of to God. 1220—Adoration of the wafer [the host]. 1229—Bible officially forbidden to laymen (placed on the “Index of Forbidden Books”). 1251—The Scapular. 1414—Cup forbidden to the people. 1508—The Ave Maria to be said with the beads. 1534—Jesuit order founded. 1545—Tradition (the sayings of Catholic leaders) officially declared of equal authority with Scripture. 1546—Apocryphal books officially added. 1854—Immaculate Conception proclaimed. 1864—Papal “Syllabus of Errors” condemns freedom of religion, speech, conscience, press, and scientific discoveries. 1870—Infallibility of the pope. 1930—Public, and all non—Catholic schools condemned. 1950—Assumption (translation and ascension) of the Virgin Mary proclaimed. 1965—Mary is made the mother of the church. 1998—Papal letter “Dies Domini” calling for laws enforcing Sunday sacredness. Add to these many others: monks, nuns, hermits, monasteries, convents, Lent, holy week, Palm Sunday, Ash Wednesday, All Saints day and Halloween, fish day, flagellation (beating oneself to increase holiness), incense, holy oil, medals, charms, novenas, and on and on.

As you can see, the papacy has gone down hill. Why did it take so long to come up with these false ideas (commandments of men)? In 786 they began worshiping images, which is strictly forbidden in the ten commandments. “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:4-6)

The Handbook for Today’s Catholic, along with many Catechisms, lists the ten commandments leaving out the second commandment, the one I just quoted, and splitting the ninth into two to retain the number ten. This is a blatant change of God’s commandments. Daniel prophesied concerning the papacy, “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time [1260 years - the Dark Ages].” (Daniel 7:25)

Jesus said, “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 5:19)

“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)    ?

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