1. Where is the proof that any man ever kept the seventh day, except by special commandment, prior to the proclamation of the ten commandments at Mount Sinai? (Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 16:23-30; 20:1-17).
2. If Christians are required to keep the seventh day, why do you depart from your dwelling on that day, seeing those to whom the law was given were plainly commanded not to do so? (Ex. 16:29).
3. If you keep one Sabbath-the seventh day-why not keep them all, the seventh year and the year of Jubilee? Who authorized you to make distinction in favor of the seventh day? (Lev. 25 :1-22)
4. If Christians are required to keep the Sabbath, how are they to live in cold climates when it is forbidden to build a fire on the Sabbath? (Ex. 35:1-3).
5. Is it the duty of Christians to put to death those who desecrate the seventh day? (Num. 15:32-36). If yes, who will be the public executioner? If no, what will you do with the law? (Ex. 35:2). If you say that the penalties are abolished, I answer that the same passages that you use to establish this. prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that the law, too, is abolished. If you admit that the penalties are still in force-and the proof that they are unanswerable and invincible if the law is in force-there is not a Seventh Dayist on top of the green earth who can escape the vengeance of the broken law!
6. If Christians are under obligation to observe the seventh day, why did Jesus declare that all law and prophecy hang on love instead of the Sabbath, seeing the command to keep it is the one on which you hang your everlasting all? (Matt. 22:34-40; Rom. 13:8-10).
7. Why did Jesus not require the young ruler to keep the Sabbath when enumerating the commandments? (Matt. 19:16-20; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-24).
8. If Christians are to keep the law of Moses-the Sabbath-why did the apostles and elders who met at Jerusalem leave it out of their address to the churches? (Acts 15 :1-29). This case finds, in some respects, a parallel in your theorizing. Judaizing teachers had gone forth declaring to the brethren that unless they would submit to circumcision and keep the law of Moses they could not be saved. The apostles said, "We gave no such commandment."
9. If Christians are required to keep the Sabbath, how are we to account for the open violation of the law by Jesus Christ, who is our example, unless by saying that the power that made the law can take it away (John 7 :22-23).
10. If you keep the Sabbath because you think it was kept before the law of Moses, why do you not practice circumcision. seeing it is plainly commanded in these ages? (Gen. 17:1-14; Gal. 5:1-6).
11. When did patriarch, prophet, or apostles, or anybody else, command any Gentile to keep the law of Moses? No dodging here. Proof! Proof!! Proof!!!
12. Paul says the ministration of death written and engraven in stone (Ex. 20:1-17; 31:18; 32 6:15-16; 34:1-28) was done away (2 Cor. 3:1-18). When, where, and by whom was it brought back into force? Name the day, the age, the authority, and give proof from the Book! If your doctrine is true the great apostle of the Gentiles stands convicted of a mistake.
13. If the early Christians kept the Sabbath day, why did they break bread on the first day of the week? (Acts 20:7).
14. If Christians are to keep the Sabbath day, how do you account for the fact that the apostles preached the gospel in Jerusalem, Samaria, to Cornelius the Gentile, and to many others, without commanding a single individual to keep it? Did they, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit fail to properly instruct their converts? (Acts 2:1-47; 8:1-40; 10:1-48 ;16:1-40).
15. Is it not a fact, according to the book of Acts, that the thing done was of more importance than the day? Acts 20:7.
16. Can you demonstrate that the day you keep is really the seventh day or Sabbath, coming down in regular succession from the day on which God keeps? If not, your day is no better than any other day. Admitting, for argument's sake, that the law of Moses is still in force, and that the fourth commandment is binding on the whole human race, will you affirm that it is possible for all men to keep the same day? If so, how do you explain the fact that the traveler who starts out to go around the earth, gains, say, if going east, one hour for every thousand miles traveled, or if going west loses an hour for every thousand miles traveled? How far would he go before he lost the count? Do you not see that he would inevitably be behind or in advance? Further, how do you explain the fact that far away toward the extremes of the earth, traveling from the equator, there are periods of six months night and six months day from age to age? Do you not see that it is a geographical impossibility for all men to keep the same day, and that the Law was only intended for one people, one country, and one age?
17. Do you keep the Sabbath day? No dodging, do you? Do you rest, or put in the day promulgating your doctrines? If you do not keep the day according to the Law, you do not keep it at all. If part is done away, then all is done away. Read Exodus 20:8-11; 35:1-3.
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Samuel
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