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"Ceremony. Outward rite; external form in
religion." —Webster. "An outward form or rite
in religion; anything or observance held
sacred."—International Encyclopaedic Dictionary.
This is exactly what the observance of the Sabbath was in
Jewish worship. The day in itself was not holy. One twenty
four hours of time is no better than another, unless made
so. In the nature of days there is no difference; there is
nothing in one that makes it differ from another. All
nature continues the same. Then, the only way in which one
day can become holy is by divine appointment.
Moral obligations are not made, or
do not become so by mere appointment. They exist in their
very nature. Murder, idolatry, blasphemy, stealing,
adultery, etc., are morally wrong. Had God given no
special command against these things, they would have been
wrong in their nature. But it would never have been wrong
to work on the seventh day unless God had given a
commandment to rest in it. The day in itself was not holy,
any more than the other days. God made it holy. He
"sanctified it" (Gen. 2:3); he "hallowed
it" (Exod. 20:11). This act of the Lord made the day
holy. But did it make it holy for all time and eternity? I
mean this: Did God's appointment, his sanctification of
that particular day, set it apart as being holy forever?
If so, then every other day and thing made holy by God's
appointment would remain so forever.
Other days were made just as holy
as the seventh day. In Leviticus 23 are the feasts of the
Lord, which were all "holy convocations." These
were the ceremonial seasons. The first of these feasts on
the list is the weekly seventh day Sabbath. Verses 1-3. It
is spoken of as a "rest, an holy convocation; ye
shall do no work therein." Next comes the Lord's
Passover. Verses 5-8: "In the first day ye shall have
an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work
therein." Next the feast of harvest (vss. 1014).
After this the feast of Pentecost (vss. 15-21). It also
was "a holy convocation," and the Jews were
forbidden to work on that day (vs. 21). In fact, a careful
reading of the entire chapter shows that all those special
feast days were holy days. They were made so by God's
appointment.
The Day of Atonement was just as
holy as the weekly Sabbath. "There shall be a Day of
Atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; . . .
and whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same
day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people.
Ye shall do no manner of work: . . . It shall be unto you
a Sabbath of rest" (vss. 27-32).
In all, there were seven of these
yearly holy days. One of them, the Day of Atonement, was a
holy sabbathday—so holy that it was death to work on it;
yet all those holy days have ceased to be such, and are
now common working days. Adventists admit that those holy
days—made so by God's appointment—were ceremonial and
nailed to the cross. They do not attempt to keep them. But
the seventh day was exactly like these—made holy by
God's appointment. Hence it was ceremonial, and was nailed
to the cross. I quote from Canright:
"So, then, holiness can be put
upon a day, taken from it, or changed to another day. It
is not necessarily a permanent, unchangeable affair. Let
Sabbatarians meditate here awhile. More still: A day once
appointed, and made a holy sabbath day by God himself, may
cease to be such and become even hateful to God. Thus: Isa.
1 :13, 14, 'The new moons and sabbaths, the calling of the
assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the
solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to
bear them.' All these holy days God himself < had
appointed. Is it any proof, then, that a particular day is
holy now because it was once holy? None whatever.
"Notice also how many other
things were made holy by God's appointment. Under the law
we read of 'the holy temple,' 'the holy hill,' 'the holy
ark,' 'the holy instruments,' 'the holy vessels,' 'the
holy water,' 'the holy perfume,' 'the holy altar,' 'the
holy veil,' 'the holy linen coat,, 'the holy ointment,'
'the holy nation,' 'the holy Sabbath,' etc. Those
pertained to the worship and service of God in his holy
temple [tabernacle], which was 'only a shadow,' 'figure,'
or 'type of the true temple'— the 'spiritual house' of
Christ, 'his body, the church.' While they stood as types
they were 'holy,' and no longer. They had no inherent
holiness, but were made holy by the command of God. (Law
and Gospel, p. 43, by S. C. Adam.)
"Like all these holy things,
the seventh day had no holiness in itself. It had to be
'made' so (Mark 2:27). The sanctity of the day did not
rest upon the nature of the day itself, but, like a
hundred other hallowed things, simply upon God's
appointment, which may be altered any time at his
will."
No man could murder, blaspheme,
commit adultery, steal, etc., for years and be a
Christian. Why? Because these things are morally wrong.
But the most zealous Saturday keepers admit that such men
as Luther, Wesley, Bunyan, and thousands of others, who
never kept the seventh day (some of whom wrote against its
observance), were highly eminent Christian men.
Adventists' literature says so. They readily admit that
there are many Christians who do not keep Saturday. How is
this? A moment's reflection here ought to convince them
that the keeping of the Sabbath as enjoined in the law was
ceremonial in its nature.
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