02.17 The Two Covenants and the Observance of Sabbaths

Saturday, February 25, 1899; 3:30 p. m.

SERMON No. XIII.—THE TWO COVENANTS AND THE OBSERVANCE OF SABBATHS.

Text: ”Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I AM the Lord (Lev 26:2).”

Here are two commandments backed up by the Lord Himself. First, they were to keep His sabbaths, Second, they were to reverence His sanctuary. I shall address myself particularly to the first. At the very threshold of this investigation I want to emphasize one word. The word is not sabbath, it is sabbaths; not a single sabbath but the plural of sabbath; not one sabbath but many sabbaths. Following this command there comes the statement: "I am the Lord!" This emphasizes the importance of the commands. It is a fact that while the sabbath day is defined and explained, that generally the command given in reference to the subject is in the plural number. Not only is this so in the law of Moses but it is so also in the prophetic writings and in the New Testament. Hence my theme: The observance of sabbaths under the two covenants, or of the observance of days. It seems that from the Lord’s standpoint there were a number of sabbaths, and He does not discriminate by saying to the Hebrews, that they should keep this sabbath or that sabbath or that they should honor this command to keep the sabbath, and dishonor that command to keep the sabbath, but that they should keep His sabbaths, meaning all of these sabbaths. There are a number of passages to which I call your attention: "Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God (Lev 19:3)." Again: I call your attention to the testimony of the prophet of the Lord: "Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them (Eze 20:10-12)." Again, from the very same source: "Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths (Eze 22:8)." Again: "Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them (Eze 22:26).” Again: "Moreover this they have done unto me: they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths (Eze 23:38).” Again: "And in controversy they shall stand in judgment; and they shall judge it according to my judgments: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all mine assemblies; and they shall hallow my sabbaths (Eze 44:24).” Again: "Likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the sabbaths and in the new moons (Eze 46:3).” Turn with me to the New Testament: "Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it (Luk 6:9)?” He does not use the term sabbaths, but He uses the term of the phrase ”sabbath days,” which still leaves it in the plural. Again: ”Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days (Col 2:16).” On this we have the testimony of Moses, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jesus, Paul, therefore I will not discuss the sabbath or the sabbath day, but I will discuss the sabbaths or the sabbath days. A little history: I am aware of the fact that if I demonstrate by the New Testament that the sabbath has been nailed to the cross along with the law somebody may want to go back behind the law and say that as on that account God rested on the seventh day we ought to do likewise. But more of this farther on. To the law and to the testimony: ”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).” I assert here with all reverence and deliberation that no man can prove by His statement that anybody rested on that day save God Himself. There is not the slightest intimation that any human being was commanded to or required to, or that the propriety of keeping this day was suggested to any human being in those times. There were other laws in the patriarchal times. When Noah came out of the ark God gave him a number of laws, one against eating blood, another against murder: Hear the record: ”But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man (Gen 9:4-6)." Again, the law of circumcision: God addressing Abraham said: "And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you (Gen 17:11)." All of these laws were re­enacted under Moses. Allow me to give you the proof in detail. First the law requiring the keeping of the seventh day. So far as man was concerned, mark you that I said, there is not any proof prior to the keeping of the sabbath in the wilderness by the special command of God that any human being ever kept it, but at the giving of the law, these are the words of Jehovah relative to it: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it (Exo 20:8-11)." The law against murder: "Thou shalt not kill (Exo 20:13)." Law against eating blood: "And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people (Lev 17:10)." The law of circumcision: "And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised (Lev 12:3)." And again in the very words of the Master: "Moses therefore gave you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man (John 7:22)." Proposition: The law of the sabbath, the law on the subject of eating blood, the law on the subject of murder, the law on the subject of circumcision, re-enacted from the patriarchal ages, in the law of Moses, must of necessity share its fate.

Go back to the text a moment. The Lord declared that they should keep His sabbaths. From much of the preaching and the talk and the discussion and the writings of the day you would understand that God never had but one sabbath and that was the sabbath of the decalogue or of the ten commandments. As a matter of fact that was only a small portion of what God means when He says "my sabbaths." As a matter of test I raise this question; answer it in your own mind: How many sabbaths are defined, how many sabbaths are required, in the law of Moses? The next man you meet who declares that it is the duty of every Christian to keep the seventh day because of the fact that God rested on that day and because of the fact that it is a part of the ten commandments, ask him as a matter of fact to tell you how many sabbaths were required by the law of Moses? To my mind this is a very interesting question. I want to show you what God meant when He said that they should keep His sabbaths. It was equivalent to a demand on them for nearly thirty-three per cent of their time. I am not going to be critically exact because if I should it would make it difficult for you to understand. Therefore I shall give you a general view. I have heard of the sabbath all the days of my life; you have heard of it all your life, and even among people who ought to know better you hear people talk about the sabbath school, the sabbath day, the sabbath this, or the sabbath that, or the sabbath the other, and I say this, that while I have heard much about the sabbath day—the seventh day—I have not heard very much about the other sabbaths and God does not discriminate. He does not lay one down and say that is my sabbath and you must keep that and He does not lay another one by the side of it and say that is my sabbath and you must keep that and He does not lay another one by the side of it and say that is my sabbath also but keeping it is a matter of indifference; keep it if you want to, and let it alone if you want to, but He sums it all up again and says positively and peremptorily: "Ye shall keep my sabbaths." I want you to follow me in the account where every sabbath day was a. sabbath unto the Lord our God or unto the Lord their God. Proof: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings (Lev 23:1-3)." As I said I should not be critically exact, we will just go along and suppose that the year contains as many days as ours, and say that they kept fifty-two sabbath days every year. Second, two sabbaths at the feast of the passover and unleavened bread. Proof: "In the first day ye shall have an holy convection: ye shall do no servile work therein. But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days; in the seventh day is an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work therein (Lev 23:7-8)." Two sabbaths every year. Third, one sabbath at the day of first fruits. Proof: "And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein; it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations (Lev 23:21)."

One day kept without labor unto God, a sabbath. Fourth, the day of the blowing of trumpets unto God was a sabbath in which they should not do any labor. Proof: "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord (Lev 23:24-25)." One day, another sabbath. Fifth, day of atonement: Proof: "It shall be unto you a sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your sabbath (Lev 23:32)." One day in which they were not to do any work on penalty of being excommunicated from Israel. Sixth, feast of tabernacles, two sabbaths. Proof: "Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath (Lev 23:39)." Two days devoted unto God and no work done therein. Summary of one year: Six different periods or sabbaths aggregating fifty-nine days. Mark you: the sabbath day coming in regular order, the sabbaths of the feast of the passover and unleavened bread, the sabbath of the atonement, the sabbath of the feast of tabernacles. Seventh, the sabbath of years: Every seventh year, absolutely no work: "And the Lord spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the Lord. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard (Lev 25:1-4)." Eighth, every fiftieth year was a sabbath unto the Lord their God. Proof: "And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seventh sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, or gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession (Lev 25:8-13)." Summary of fifty years, eight different sabbaths required by the law: The sabbath day, twenty-six hundred days, passover one hundred days, day of first fruits fifty days, feast of trumpets fifty days, atonement fifty days, feast of tabernacles fifty days, sabbaths of years two thousand, five hundred and twenty days, jubilee three hundred sixty days; grand total in fifty years, five thousand eight hundred thirty sabbaths, or sixteen years and seventy sabbath days. Text: "Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord." Summary of sabbaths required from the giving of the law to the cross—understand me I do not say that they did it, but I do say that God required it— it was a period of fifteen hundred years or thirty jubilees aggregating the grand total of one hundred seventy-four thousand, nine hundred sabbaths, or four hundred eighty-five years and three hundred days! Text: "Ye shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary for I am the Lord." How were these eight sabbaths kept? Every seventh day was kept by refraining from all sorts of labor and by allowing the stock to rest. The sabbaths of the feast of unleavened bread were kept in like manner; so the day of first fruits; so the blowing of trumpets; so the day of atonement; so the feast of tabernacles; so the sabbath year; so the year of jubilee —no sort of work was the idea; absolute rest on that day, resting in honor of God and in obedience to His commandments. In obedience to what law did they keep these sabbaths? The law of God. They did not know any distinction as to importance. In point of importance one was just as important as another and they were just as scrupulously exacting touching one as they were another. How was the law given, by whom was the law given? A very interesting question indeed. Let me give you the answer: "And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone (Deu 4:12-13)." Again: "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob (Deu 33:4)." Then the law came by the voice of God from mount Sinai, His own voice, His own words, His own commands, and by the mouth of Moses the servant of God. To whom was this law given, this law regulating the sabbaths, these laws requiring that they give nearly one-third of their time unto rest, unto reverence and unto the remembrance of the commandments of God? Who received the law? Let Moses answer: "And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to show you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount) (Deu 5:1-5)." Notice one thing particularly here: Moses did not say Hear O Gentiles, Hear O Egyptians, Hear O Cananites, but he said "Hear, O Israel,"—and there was only one Israel—"The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb." Let us see if we can find out anything about that in addition to this. Standing by the mountain just before the ten commandments were proclaimed by the voice of Jehovah, the Lord said: "For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel escaped before the mount (Exo 19:2)." He did not say, Thus shalt thou say to the Gentiles, or to the Egyptians, or to the Cananites but He sent His message to Israel, to Abraham’s sons, to Jacob’s sons according to the flesh. Again: "Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed (Exo 31:14-17)." Let me call your attention to a few elemental facts here: The penalty of death was added to the commands to remember and keep the sabbath day. Again: The children of Israel only were commanded to keep it and I lay down the proposition broad, deep and sweeping, positive, unequivocal, that no man has yet been born who can lay his finger on any command in the law in the prophets, in the Gospels, in the Acts of the Apostles or elsewhere requiring anybody else to keep it. He declared that it was a sign between Himself and Israel, not between Himself and all nations, but between Himself and His own peculiar family, and He declared that they should keep it throughout their generations perpetually. I will admit, if something cannot be shown to the contrary, that Israel is yet under obligations to keep the sabbath, the sabbaths. But no Gentile in any age, any country, any time, anywhere, was ever required to keep that commandment unless he became a member of the covenant and submitted to circumcision, thereby receiving the sign of membership in the covenant. In their generations! What does that mean? In our generation means in our time. The time of Israel was I may say without hesitation from the time of the giving of the law to the death of Christ and to the destruction of the temple. In their generations! Proof: Speaking of these very people our Lord said: "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled (Luk 21:24)." I am not done with the idea of the penalty. The law of Moses had its own appropriate and I may say appalling penalties. What was the penalty for sabbath desecration touching the seventh day or any other day? I will let Moses answer. What was it? Death. Proof: "And Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day (Exo 35:1-3)." Again: "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses (Num 15:32-36)." So much for the seventh day. Shall we keep the sabbath day or the sabbaths? I answer by asking, which? I have proven to you that there were eight under the law and if you affirm that we must keep a sabbath or the sabbath I ask you to please tell me which one, and then tell me by what authority you discard the other seven. Or if you say we must keep seven, I ask you by what authority you discard the other one? Hear me! If there is any reason to keep one, the same reason will require us to keep all. If there is any authority to keep one the same authority will require us to keep all. If there is any scripture requiring us to keep one the same scripture will require us to keep all. If there is any reason why we should neglect one the same reason will justify us in neglecting all. If there is any scripture for neglecting one we may therefore by the word of God neglect them all. And so I answer every Judaizing teacher in our time who says that we must keep a sabbath or the sabbath, I ask which sabbath? One or all? One or all! All or none. You might as well face the issue fairly and squarely, it is unequivocal. God Almighty said: "Ye shall keep my sabbaths." If that has any application to anybody in our time it takes in all the sabbaths and if it does not take in all of them it does not take in any of them. Of that there cannot be a doubt, from this conclusion there can be no escape. I declare that we should neither keep one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, or eight, or any other number. God was addressing Israel under the law. He was not addressing Israel under the Gospel, but Israel under the law, and he never did address such a command as that to any Gentile, in any age, or any country, or any time. Well, says one, "I would like to see a little proof of that." You can just see as much proof if it as you want. Open the book with me. God said, as I have already given you proof, that it should be kept by Israel in their generations. Moses said that God proclaimed His covenant from mount Sinai to Israel or made a covenant with them. Who were the Israelites? They were Hebrews. Who were the Hebrews? Abraham’s family. Who were Abraham’s family? Let the book answer. Somebody might say that it was not true if I attempted to answer, but if the Bible answers let mortal men tremble, let him put his hand on his mouth and be silent: "He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant (Gen 17:13)." Born in Abraham’s house! Bought with Abraham’s money! Hear me again in the exact words of Moses: "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb (Deu 5:2)." I was not born in Abraham’s house, I was not bought with his money, my great-great-great-great-grand-father was not present at mount Sinai and therefore the covenant was not made in him or with him for me. I am not a Jew, I am not a Israelite, I am not a Hebrew, I am not a slave of Abraham, I am not of his body, I am not of his blood. But I am a Jew, I am a Hebrew, I am an Israelite, in a higher, a nobler sense of kinship to Jesus Christ. Hear the apostle Paul on the subject: "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God (Rom 2:28-29)." Hear me, while I give you a startling proposition: That really, religiously there never was a Jew in the new covenant neither was there ever a Gentile in the new covenant and yet in a certain sense, in an important sense, men are still Jews and still Gentiles. But religiously the distinction Jew and Gentile is blotted out in the terms of the covenant that makes a man a Christian. Here is a fair illustration of that. A man does not lose his nationality by becoming a Christian. He is still a Canadian, still an American, still an Englishman, still a Frenchman, still a German, still a Russian, still a member of whatever nationality he was before, but he is a Christian. The idea is this: That the religious distinction in the word Jew, in the word Hebrew, Israelite, Heathen, Gentile, stranger, circumcision, uncircumcision, is blotted out in Christ. Proof: "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise (Gal 4:28)." Hear me! The great difficulty as I take it, in the Apostolic Church was this: You know that there were Judaizing teachers who went about trying to pull the law of Moses over into the church. Paul fought the thing from the heart, from the shoulder, and I think the difficulty with those Hebrew brethren was this; they did not fully understand the Gospel and were not fully delivered from the law and they thought if the ten commandments were done away with that the thing just licensed men to do anything that they wanted to do, and they thought also that in the abolishment of the law that the nation was abolished which was not a fact. Here is an illustration: I go to Japan with the Gospel and preach it, and the people misunderstand me and conclude that the abolishment of their religion also abolishes the empire of Japan. The Judaizing teacher had an idea that the nation would be blotted out and that if they were no longer under the law in the church, in a new covenant, that a man could commit adultery and kill, or do anything that is prohibited in the law of Moses and still be a Christian! That is where the mistake was. And there is where many a man has mistaken Paul. Paul said he had naught against his nation. He still loved his nation with an undying love, just as we love the stars and stripes, just as every loyal Briton loves the Union Jack, so Paul loved his nation. The trouble was they did not understand the Gospel. And when Paul said they were not under law but under grace they did not comprehend the fact that if a man is really under grace he will not want to do the things prohibited in the law under Moses. They had an idea that the abolishment of the law was the abolishment of the morality of the nation. Paul says we are not under the law and in answering this argument to these good people, Philippians, many of them converted to Christ —they said in their contention which amounted to this: That if we are not under the law then in the church we can do the very things that have been prohibited for generations. That in my judgment was the ground for the contention. And Paul combated that very idea when he argued with them on the subject. I will give you some of his own words. He says: "And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away (2Co 3:13-16)." The vail of darkness, the vail of misunderstanding was on the heart of some of these Christians. We ought not to be too hard in our judgment upon them. They did not understand the spirit, the liberty, the power, the radical or the revolutionary power of the Gospel. And when Paul said that the ten commandments were done away they thought Paul meant to say that if you want to go and worship other gods go and do so, if you, want to dishonor your father and mother to do so, if you want to kill, steal, commit adultery, covet, go and indulge in them all—and we hear such expressions from ignorant men today. But under and over and in all was the idea in the Gospel that he tried to pound into their heads, that if a man is a converted man and has the Gospel written in his heart, you could not induce him to do such a thing. You do not need any law to keep him straight.

Jesus and the sabbath day. He had many contests with His countrymen on that very ground. He did good on the sabbath day. He declared that the Son of Man is Lord, even of the sabbath! "And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in their hands. And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days? And Jesus answering them said, Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an hungered, and they which were with him; How he went into the house of God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone? And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. And it came to pass also on another sabbath, that he entered into the synagogue and taught: and there was a man whose right hand was withered. And the scribes and Pharisees watched him, whether he would heal on the sabbath day; that they might find an accusation against him. But he knew their thoughts, and said to the man which had the withered hand. Rise up, and stand forth in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it? And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And they were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus (Luk 6:1-11)." And again He declared unto them that they circumcised a man on the seventh day and did good or obeyed the law and therefore it was not wrong to set it aside. Hear Him: "Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision, (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the. law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day (John 7:22-23)?"

Apostles and the sabbath day: Before advancing another step I want to make one thing clear: The sabbath is mentioned a great many times in the New Testament. Doubtless in general terms, I may say, meaning the seventh day for the reason that that particular sabbath occurred with such frequency that it kept the matter before their minds. There were synagogues everywhere in Israel, and on that day the Hebrews, the people who were still in their minds and hearts under the law, met in the synagogues for the purpose of reading and expounding the scriptures. Keep this in mind and do not be led astray by the supposition that when Jesus went to the synagogue on the sabbath day that He meant to say that He proposed to perpetuate that day forever. Do not deceive yourself by supposing that Paul who went to a synagogue to get to speak to a crowd was by that giving his sanction to that which he declared was a part of the dispensation of death. Paul was not that sort of a man. Peter and the sabbath day—we will talk of him first. At the very starting point of the argument I want to quote the words of the Master: "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven (Mat 16:18-19)." Proposition: Peter opened the door of faith on Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius; First to Israel, then to the Gentiles and never so much as mentioned a sabbath day or the sabbaths of God. If Peter did not bind a sabbath or the sabbaths, one sabbath or eight sabbaths, on the church where is the mortal man that will have the audacity in the face of what Jesus said to him to declare that a man ought to keep the seventh day, or the seventh year, or the fiftieth year or any other sabbath? Paul went into the synagogue. Proof: "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming (Acts 13:44-45)." Again: "And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks (Acts 18:4)." Did he go in there for the purpose of keeping the sabbath day according to the law? Certainly not. The law did not say a word about the synagogue or about reading the law on the sabbath day. He went there because there was a congregation there and he had an opportunity to preach. He was under a commission from the risen Lord to carry His name, wherever he found a crowd; he went and he would have gone just as quickly to a heathen temple as to a Jewish synagogue. Who would not under such a commission as that? Besides that Jesus broke the sabbath day in the estimation of the Jews in what He did, and He said that He was Lord of the sabbath. Days are unimportant, and Paul according to the decalogue broke the sabbath, in the very thing that he did when he went in there on the sabbath day—he preached and argued and disputed. "In it," said Moses, "thou shalt not do any work." If a man does not think it is work to stand up here and speak, let him try it. I dare say Paul put his heart, his mind, his soul into his work. He could not preach without working, he could not argue without working. I preach from the very bottom of my heart and from the very bottom of my feet. That is work, If you can call that play I would like to see a man work! It would be worth going miles to see. Mark you, as one of the steps toward the great convention that was held in Jerusalem on this point was that certain brethren from Judea who had the idea as before intimated that the abolishment of the law would turn all sorts of immorality loose in the world, went down among the churches and said: "Except ye be circumcised and keep the law ye cannot be saved." How did Paul treat that? If he went into the synagogue for the purpose of observing the sabbath day, to honor the sabbath day, to keep the sabbath day, to reverence the sabbath day, how did he do when these brethren came around? Hear: "When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders, about this question (Acts 15:2)." Oh well, says one, these men were not arguing about the sabbath day. Are you certain of that? Let me see where your argument will land you. What was the contention of these men who came down from Judea? Here it is: "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved." My brother, circumcision was fundamental. Just as fundamental as if I were to say to you: "If you do not come to the class you cannot recite your lesson. If you do not come to the table you cannot eat. If you do not be pure you cannot see God." Oh, well, says one, that never did mean the sabbath day. Paul was not contending against that. He knew too much for that, because after that he went into the Jewish synagogue on the sabbath day. How I would just like to sit down for five minutes and talk with Paul on this subject! I am satisfied he could let a great deal of light into our darkened cranium. I admire a remark made by the brilliant Henry Watterson, who once said he thought seriously of applying for a patent on a machine for boring holes in people’s heads to let the darkness out. I say if Paul were here he could let some light into our heads that would turn the darkness out. But it is not necessary for him to come back from the grave to tell us. We have his record. Therefore I will let him tell us. What was the contention of these men from Judea? Hear me: "Except ye be circumcised and keep the law you cannot be saved." Brother Paul, Will you please take the witness stand? Brother Paul, Will you answer one or two questions for me? Where did you learn the things that you preached, from Peter and the other apostles? He answers, I did not go up to Peter and the others; I learned them from God. Well, brother Paul, we would like to know what is meant by the fact that you were disputing with certain men about the law? What did that involve? They said that except a man be circumcised he could not be saved. Now we understand you had a dispute with them on the subject, and we would like to have you tell us what you meant by it. I will give you brother Paul’s exact language this time: "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law (Gal 5:2-3)." Hear me, Paul disputed with them on the fundamental proposition of circumcision and the whole law, and according to the Judaizing teachers of the present day the whole law amounts to about this: "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy!" You hear more on that one point than you do on all the other subjects. I venture the assertion that these Judaizing teachers that go up and down in the country never intimate that God required Israel to keep seven sabbaths more. Brother Paul, we are not done with you yet. We would like to hear you answer one other question. Suppose a man refuses absolutely to keep the sabbath day as a religious duty, what will be the result? "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day"—eight sabbaths in the Law!—"or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days"—or sabbaths—"Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ (Col 2:16-17)." You can keep it if you want to, you can keep all of them if you want to—as a Jew, as a matter of form, as a matter of policy, or as a matter of expediency, but if you do not want to keep one of them there is not any power in heaven or earth that will make you and there is not any power in hell that can. Let no man judge you on the subject of the eight sabbaths of the Lord delivered by Moses to Israel. That is the idea exactly. But what about the observance of days under the law? I answer that we are freed from the law. Proof: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:1-2)." Again: "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another (Gal 5:13)." Again: "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks (Rom 14:5-6)." What does that mean? That means that on the question of days there is liberty. Oh, the liberty of the Gospel of the Son of God! One man esteems every day alike unto the Lord. I am that man. You ought to be. But here is where the trouble comes in. It was all right to keep any day, to keep the seventh day if you wanted to, the seventh year if you wanted to, but when you go to make a test of fellowship out of it and say that a man must keep it or be damned, that is another question. The Galatian brethren had misunderstood the freedom that is in Jesus’ Gospel and therefore they had tried to go back to the law, to serve the law, to honor the law, to obey the law. Hear Paul in his rebuke to them: "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain (Gal 4:10-11)." What does that mean? Just this: Ye observe sabbath days, the sabbath of new moons, the sabbath of years, the sabbath of Jubilees as a part of the Gospel and make it a test of fellowship, and I am afraid for you brethren that I have bestowed labor on you in vain. Hear him again: "Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator (Gal 3:19)." They had gotten Christ out and gotten the law in, and he could only compare his anxiety and pain and trouble to a woman in child-birth. Take the verse preceding this strong rebuke about day and times and months and years: "But now, after that ye have known God or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage (Gal 4:9)?" Liberty in Christ! Keep any day, keep every day in the year, keep every day only do not go back to the weak and beggardly elements and say that a man must be circumcised and do it. That is the idea. There is a vast difference there. Do you see it? One party contended that a man had to do it in order to be saved; the other party did it because they thought they would like to have a day occasionally in which he could sit down and rest and meditate on God and His goodness. Oh, I would like to have that sort of a day myself, a day of quiet meditation, a month of quiet meditation, a year of quiet meditation; during all the years of toil and anxiety for you and for the cause of the Master, in my heart I have cherished a hope that some time my feet would yet stand within the gates of the City of Jerusalem, that some time I might stand where Moses stood and view the landscape there and have a day of rest, a year of rest, a sabbath of rest, but I do not make it a test of fellowship and necessity to salvation. That is where the trouble comes in. Here comes a very interesting phase of the subject. Paul disowned the religion of his nation but still he loved his nation with an undying love. Paul understood when he became a Christian that he only left his nation religiously just as if a man were to be converted now, that would not make any less an American citizen of him, but a Christian citizen. Paul understood it. But many of his brethren did not understand that. Here is a very remarkable statement from him. I want to read it to you: "For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews, I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;"—I break my quotation here long enough to say that religiously Paul was no longer a Jew, though in his relations to God, all of his ideas, all of his thoughts had been changed, but nationally he was still a Jew, still a Hebrew of the Hebrews, but he became a Jew apparently and he went under the law apparently as a matter of expediency that he might get close to them that he might save them!—"To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you (1Co 9:19-27)." Hear me: On this very account Paul went in with the men that had a vow and paid the expense of the time of that vow and stayed in the temple as a matter of policy to show that he was not an enemy of Israel or an enemy even to Moses. It was a matter of policy but it failed. When the things was over the mob gathered stronger than ever. On that same ground as a matter of policy he became a Jew, he circumcised Timothy as he was going to then deliver the decrees from the council at Jerusalem. Why did he circumcise Timothy? As a matter of policy, as a matter of expediency. There was no harm in the act so far as that is concerned, it would do no harm to him and no harm to you as a matter of fact and it was done therefore as a matter of policy. Paul did it as a matter of policy. It was all right. It is a matter of liberty. But many men there were who said that he had to do it in order to obtain salvation. They were the men that Paul antagonized. Here is a fair illustration of that, I think: If a man were to go to a heathen land to preach the Gospel, it would be necessary for him to be very careful about his conduct, to be always using policy and expediency to not offend anybody. Samuel enunciated that principle when he went up to Bethlehem in the days of old, and the Lord endorsed it and told him to say that he was going to offer sacrifices, but he was also going to anoint a king (1Sa 16:1-2). It was all right. It is the making it a test of fellowship that is wrong. I say it is all right to keep the seventh day if a man wants to keep it, I have not the slightest objection but he cannot make me keep it. He makes a test of fellowship of it when he says that the word of God requires every man to keep it. I object. But if he says that the word of God gives a man the right or the privilege to keep it, if he wants to do it I say certainly, here is my hand on it. If a man wants to keep the seventh year it is all right. He has that right. The time belongs to him and God. Let him use it as in his judgment he can best glorify God. But then when he comes and says that I must shut up my school for a whole year I respectfully protest. He can do it if he wants to but he cannot make me. Where the spirit of Jesus is there is liberty. In view of all these things I raise the question: Why not keep the sabbath day? For this reason, it was a part of the law, it was a part of the old covenant, the law and the covenant are ended, gone, abolished forever. Proof: "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter (Rom 7:1-6)." Let me emphasize a thought just here. Paul affirms that they had become dead to the law by the body of Christ, dead to the first sabbath, dead to the second sabbath, dead to the third sabbath, dead to the fourth sabbath, dead to the fifth sabbath, dead to the sixth sabbath, dead to the seventh sabbath, dead to the eighth sabbath, dead to all the sabbaths. I give you a little translation of that passage, the most remarkable passage on the subject to my mind in all the scriptures of everlasting truth, verse four: "Therefore, my brethren, you also were put to death by the law, through the body of the anointed one, in order that you may belong to another, —to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Listen! Do you know that every man without exception, under the law, was a criminal and worthy of death? Did you know that? All had sinned and come short of the glory of God. Every mouth was stopped and all the world was guilty. Paul says that they were put to death by the law through the body of Jesus Christ. Instead of executing them one by one, Jesus bore their sins in His body; He eternally put to death sin in the flesh and brought man again to immortal life. Again: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above;) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much again; and this is stronger still: "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away; How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather is, the word of faith, which we preach (Rom 10:4-8)." And more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious (2Co 3:6-11)." I want to read you a little translation of that. It only gives the facts as Paul had them in his mind. I will read several verses: "Who also qualified us to be servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit makes alive. Now, if the dispensation of death, engraved in letters on stones, was attended with glory, so that the sons of Israel were unable to look steadily into the face of Moses, because of the brightness of his countenance; which (dispensation) is passing away;—how, rather, shall not the dispensation of the spirit be attended with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For even that having been glorified has not been glorified in this respect, on account of the surpassing glory. For if that is being annulled through glory, far superior is this remaining in glory." Notice this: "Engraven in letters on stone." I assert before you this day that only the ten commandments were engraved in letters on stone. I have proven that to you abundantly, conclusively, overwhelmingly. Paul says that dispensation was passing, yes, passing forever. Again: "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Col 2:13-14)." Notice that statement: "Having blotted out what was written by command in ordinances." God’s finger traced the ten commandments upon the tables of stone. Moses’ finger traced the statutes of Israel upon the parchment. They were all deposited in the ark of the covenant together. Again: Paul declares, Gal 4:21-26, that the institution is cast out, not simply that Agar is cast out, but Agar and Ishmael are cast out. Not simply that the ordinances touching ceremonies are cast out but the whole institution is cast out. And again: "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity; even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby (Eph 2:12-16)." Religious Israel was abolished, the covenant was abolished, the sabbaths were abolished, all ended with the nailing of the Master to the cross. Again: "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire . . . that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. Ye are come unto mount Sion; unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits ofjust men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven (Heb 12:18-25)." We have net come to Sinai but we have come to Jerusalem. Sinai was bondage, Jerusalem is freedom. Sinai said keep eight sabbaths, Jerusalem says you need not keep any if you esteem every day alike. "For ye are not under the law, but under grace (Rom 6:14)."

Every day is sacred. God measures time out to us by particles and each before it leaves us on its flight to the court of eternal record is freighted with a weight and with a power and with an accountability of eternal meaning. Now I say the sacredness of the day is in the sacredness of the opportunity to live and to be worthy of God and man. Shall we not keep the first day of the week? We should if we so desire. Our Lord and Master arose on that day. It is appropriate to remember His coming and going to life. He gave the cup and the bread in His memory. Paul declares that as often as we remember, or as we eat and drink, we show His death. It depends on how much you love Him, as oft—as much—as you love Him do it! But there is no command which says to do it. He measured not His love but gave Himself. He asks you for no measure of your love and will accept none short of your own heart, of your own conscience, of your own life. Oh the freedom of the gospel, oh the liberty of the name of Jesus! Oh the grandeur and the permanence and the radical power of the saving blood of Jesus Christ. We are not under the law; we are under grace. Let us not abuse our privileges or lightly esteem our birthright. The great prophet of Israel, the poet of his day, declared with an eloquence that has not been surpassed in the annals of time that eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor the heart of man conceived what God had in store for His children (Isa 64:4)." Paul applies that to the new covenant (1Co 2:9-10). Prophets looked forward to the day, the poets of Israel sung of His humiliation, of His suffering, of His glory, but only those realized, realized in a small degree the good things that God had in store for His children. Oh, I do rejoice today in the knowledge of God, that the Lord hath come and hath given us light and that we know Him and that He is true, and knowing Christ, knowing that He went about doing good, that He never lost a day, an hour, or a moment, I exhort you brethren in the name of the Master before whom ye stand in judgment, consider every moment sacred. Oh the time you spend here will not be measured by the rising and setting sun, not by decades, not by jubilees, not by centuries, not by millenniums, but it will be measured by heart-throbs and in the records of the eternal day, in the archives of heaven, he lives most who thinks most, who feels the noblest, who acts the best. It is not a matter of one day in seven, of one year in seven, but it is a matter of every day in seven, every year in seven, every year in a life time. Oh the value, Oh the beauty, Oh the glory, Oh the grandeur, Oh the infinite possibilities of time; God measures it out to us. We know not what tomorrow will be. Yesterday rests in the distance and tomorrow slumbers in the bosom of the unborn ages; yesterday is gone forever. I stand between the yesterday that was and the tomorrow that is still in the bosom of the years that may never come to me here. May God help you my brothers to realize that this day is the day of the Lord whether it be Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or this day, this day is the day of the Lord, and that this day is the day of present and eternal salvation and that this day is pregnant with meaning deeper than the bowels of earth, wider than the circumference of infinity, higher than the summit of God’s great throne and more infinite in its possibilities than the eternal years that are gone. This moment, now, is the time, and my brother it is eternity. One man esteemeth every day alike unto the Lord. I am that man. May God increase my tribe.

What shall I say in conclusion? Together we have made the journey. It has been a journey of toil. Through physical infirmity I have endeavored to open the treasure house of God and tell you things new and things old. I rejoice that we have lived to see the climax. Together brethren we have traveled the road here below. There has been many a weary mile, many a weary day—foot-sore, anxious, worried oppressed with burdens without and within, we have traveled together, touching elbow to elbow, hand to hand, and heart to heart. The weary watch will soon be over; the night of trial will soon be passed and we shall stand—Oh glorious thought! Oh grand and glorious consummation!—we shall stand in the presence of the King, transformed, glorified, made like unto Him, and may God grant that the little company that hath been so patient in this investigation, by the blood of the Lamb may join that innumerable company in the Father’s house where we shall sit down together and where we will talk together. May God give us mansions close to one another in that city and may we gather up the boys that have been and those that are and those to come and our children and our children’s children in the gospel unto the remotest age, and may we all take part ourselves and, while others join in the chorus, sing one grand, sweet song of triumph to Jesus who hath loved the sons of men and washed them in His blood and may live together and talk over the times when we had hardships here below, and may we see the smiling face of Him whom we believe and honor, and may we as His children from every land, sit down together in the sight of His throne and may the rest that is denied us here, sweet, deep, eternal, on Jesus’ breast be ours there, ages on ages, infinite, eternal, unending—and so shall we be forever with the Lord!