TRUE SABBATH OBSERVANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14507, 22 October 1910, Page 5

TRUE SABBATH OBSERVANCE.

Sir, — have been, interested' in a few re* plies that have appeared in your columns in reply to my letter on tho abovo subject. Mr. A. F. Turner seems to stun up what the others have said, with tho addition of refuting all the facts which I stated. (l). Mr. Turner says "There is no proof, either inside or outside of tho Bible, that the Sabbath Day was given to man before the timo of Moses, which was 2500 years after Adam. Tho Sabbath Day belongs not to either tho Patriarchal or the Christian dispensation, but to tho Jewish." HoW can a man who is a teacher of the people utter such tilings? knowing as we do, and'a'-s'he : .<hi'rely ought to know, that the Bible is absolutely against him. Genesis ii., 1-3 plainly states that tho seventh day of creation was set apart as the Sabbath, God Himself giving Adam the example by Himself resting. Again, in Ecc. xvi., we have an account of * (rod's people on the way to Mount Sinai hiring tested by the way in which they observed tho seventh day Sabbath. This Sabbath Day was made and given to man 2500 years"before ever a Jew breathed. It is true that God made it known to 'the '.Tb'Ws' jiirft'Ss'lfo' made Himself known to them. . (2)- Mr. Turner says that my . statement, " after tho crucifixion ot Christ tho record tolls us plainly that tho disciples taught it," is not true. In Matt. xxiv., 20, we find Christ telling the disciples to pray tliat their flight from tho destruction, of Jerusalem (70 a.d.) be pot on tlio Sabbath Day. In other words, i the Saviour was telling the disciples to keep the Sabbath 40 years after tho crucifixion. (3) " Sunday was observed maify'_ years J before' ..Constantino." Yes, this is correct. " the) first publio measure enforcing Sunday observance wa3 the law enacted by Constantino 321 a.d. Though virtually a heathen statute, it was enforcixl by the Emperor after his nominal acceptance of Christianity. ...: . . Eusebius, a bishop, and special friend and flatterer of Constantino, advanced tho claim that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday, G.C. pp. 574.'" "In order to strengthen the" Papacy, Constantino was urged by the bishops who thirsted for power that if tlio same day was observed, by both Christian s.nd heathen if, would advance the power and glory of the Church.". H. pp. 53. I would say, in conclusion, that there is not a single text in tlio Bible thai.,does in any way support Sunday-keeping. • Fathor Enright says: "I will give" £200 "to"; any man who will prove by tho Bible' alone that Sunday i-t the day we are bound' to keep. . . . T.'ae observance of Sunday is solelv a law of the Catholic Church. ... The Church changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and all the world bows down and worships" upon that day, in silent obedience to the roandates of tho Catholic Church." ....... Bible STCDEXT.