Is Sunday the True Sabbath of God?

REPLY TO
S. W. GAMBLE'S "Sunday the
True Sabbath of God"

By A. T. JONES

BIBLE STUDENTS' LIBRARY
No. 177
April, 1903, Extra Issued Quarterly, 25c per year
Entered at the Post-Office, Oakland, California
PRICE 15 CENTS

Is "Sunday
The True Sabbath of God"?

REPLY TO GAMBLE

Pacific Press Publishing Company
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
1903

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That the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God is one of the greatest truths in the universe. For a person to fall under the deception that the first day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord is, therefore, one of the greatest misfortunes in the universe.

This transcendent truth that the seventh day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God is of especially transcendent importance in the time in which we now live. The great importance of this truth for this time is in many ways urged in all the world. Wherever this truth is urged, and so there is seen the enormity of the error of keeping the first day of the week as the Sabbath, there are many people who will not admit it, but throw themselves on the defensive, and put forth great exertion to prove that it is not so.

This is found to a greater or less degree everywhere that the truth is preached. This has been so throughout the more than fifty years that this mighty truth for this time has been preached. Yet not one of these defenses has ever been of such vitality as to enable it to live to any great length of time; therefore, from time to time new ones must be invented. The latest of these inventions is one by "Samuel Walter Gamble,

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of Ottawa, Kansas, a member of the South Kansas Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church," etc., etc. It is given an introduction by Bishop Fowler, and public advertisement has said that, "So important is his work that the whole Board of Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church has sent him out all over the United States, to labor as a special teacher and evangelist in his chosen line." The "line" of this book is "his chosen line." This, therefore, in no small sense makes his work the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

This production is not only the latest of the inventions in defense of the error that Sunday is the Sabbath of the Lord, but it is, without exception, the most toilsome one that has ever appeared. And it is the most toilsome one, in vain: the most toilsome, palpably for nothing: as the production in itself shows.

It is a book of 208 pages, entitled "Sunday the True Sabbath of God." And in the "Introduction" Bishop Fowler says that "on the controverted point raised by Saturdarians this argument moves with all the quietness and certainty of a mathematical demonstration. It is this or nothing."

Mr. Gamble argues all the way through his book that "the seventh day is the Sabbath," and on page 168 emphasizes it by declaring that, "in every dispensation, the 'seventh day is the Sabbath.'" He declares the seventh day to be "the creation Sabbath;" that it was "given to Adam;" that it is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, given at Sinai; and, in short,

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as already quoted, that, "in every dispensation, the seventh day is the Sabbath."

On pages 91 and 92 he prints these words:-

"If Genesis 2:2, 3 teaches anything, it teaches that in Eden God 'blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it [set it apart as a day of rest and worship]; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.'" (The brackets are his own.)

On page 62 he says:-

"God appeared upon Mt. Sinai, and revealed the creation Sabbath."

On page 90 he prints, concerning the giving of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment at Sinai, that the keeping of the Sabbath of that commandment "in commemoration of creation takes us back to the reason that God gave Adam in Eden for Sabbath-keeping," and "hence" that God "identifies" the "Sabbath mentioned at Sinai with the creation Sabbath."

On page 96 he prints:-

"The fourth commandment, given to Adam, required the Sabbath to be a fixed seventh day." (Italics his.)

On page 97 he prints:-

"The Sabbath commandment to Adam was of universal application."

Again, on the same page he prints:-

"The Sabbath given to Adam was to commemorate God's work of creation."

Again, on page 97 he says:-

"The creation Sabbath had been on a fixed day of the week."

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Now these statements admit all that anybody ever can claim as to the seventh day of the week being the Sabbath of the Lord, for it declares that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, given at Sinai, revealed the creation Sabbath; that that Sabbath was given to Adam; that, accordingly, the fourth commandment was given to Adam; that the Sabbath of the commandment was of universal application to commemorate the work of creation; that it was "on a fixed seventh day;" and that it was "on a fixed day of the week." And, when the Sabbath was on "a fixed seventh day," and "on a fixed day of the week," that is plainly to admit nothing else than that the creation Sabbath was on a fixed seventh day of the week.

Again we say that this is all that any observer of the seventh day as the Sabbath of the Lord,-any "Saturdarian," as Mr. Gamble delights to call them,-claims, or that any could claim, as to the seventh day being the creation Sabbath, and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.

Now Mr. Gamble's book, as we have seen, is entitled "Sunday the True Sabbath of God." Accordingly he claims that "Sunday was that 'seventh day.'" Therefore, the only point of controversy between him and Seventh-day Adventists, the only thing for him logically to dwell upon or to demonstrate, is that Sunday is the seventh day. Yet, while this is the only point upon which he could logically dwell, instead of dwelling upon that one point and showing that that is the truth he toilsomely piles up a whole bookful of matter,

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which, by the structure of the book itself, is both logically unnecessary and altogether vain.

He makes the pivot of his book, and the pivot of his theory, a scheme that he has invented concerning what he calls "fixed-date Sabbaths," which, by the aid of a slide, he makes to fall upon the same days of the year forever. At the same time, he distinctly separates this whole scheme from that which he repeatedly says is the creation Sabbath, and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment; from the whole decalogue, of which the fourth commandment is a part; and from all that pertained to the seventh day as the creation Sabbath.

Since, therefore, the whole ground of controversy between him and the Seventh-day Adventists, with respect to the seventh day being the Sabbath, is solely whether Sunday is the seventh day or not; and since he himself separates from the whole thought of the creation fixed seventh-day Sabbath and the fourth commandment, his scheme of "fixed-date Sabbaths," which is the pivot of his whole book; then it is perfectly plain that all that he has said, written, or published with respect to his "fixed-date" or "Jewish-dispensation Sabbaths" has neither truly nor logically any connection whatever with the sole point that is at issue. His whole scheme of "fixed-date" or "Jewish-dispensation Sabbaths" is a sheer invention and fraud. Yet, even if it were all admitted to be true, the very structure of his argument makes it so that it would have no bearing upon the one point in controversy here, viz., Is Sunday the seventh day?

In this controversy, then, of Mr. Gamble with the

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Seventh-day Adventists, the sole question of truth is, What day of the week is the "fixed seventh day," "the Sabbath of the fourth commandment," "the creation Sabbath," "the Sabbath given to Adam," to be "of universal application," "to commemorate God's work of creation"?

He and we are agreed in the following statements, every one of which is his own, quoted from his book:-

"The fourth commandment, given to Adam, required the Sabbath to be on a fixed seventh day." P. 96.

"The Sabbath commandment to Adam was of universal application." P. 97.

"The Sabbath given to Adam was to commemorate God's work of creation." P. 97.

"The creation Sabbath had been on a fixed day of the week." P. 97.

We agree that "God appeared upon Mt. Sinai and revealed the creation Sabbath." P. 62.

We agree that in the Sabbath of the fourth commandment God "identifies" "the Sabbath mentioned at Sinai with the creation Sabbath." P. 90.

We repeat, therefore, the only question between us is, "Is that seventh day Saturday or is it Sunday?"

What saith the Scripture? That is, does the Scripture, just as it stands, give to us any definite information by which we may know what day of the week is the fixed seventh day of the week, according to the names by which the days of the week are now customarily called,-Saturday or Sunday? When God identified the Sabbath of the fourth commandment mentioned at Sinai with the creation Sabbath, did He

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do anything to identify what day of the week that Sabbath is? or were the people to whom the fourth commandment was spoken left, and were all people left, to choose for themselves, to decide and fix for themselves, what day of the week that seventh day should be? Let us see.

When "the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai," the Lord said unto Moses: "Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." This was the promise of the manna; and, when the manna fell, and they gathered it, they were commanded, "Let no man leave it till the morning." Yet "some of them left it until the morning." But their purpose in this was utterly defeated, because "it bred worms, and stank." So, according to the Lord's own regulation, they were compelled to confine themselves each day to the daily individual needs of the host.

They were commanded to gather on the sixth day "twice as much as they gather daily." Accordingly, when the sixth day came, "they gathered twice as much bread; . . . and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake to-day, and seethe [or boil] that

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ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day is a Sabbath unto the Lord; to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none."

Here, then, the seventh-day Sabbath was distinctly singled out and held apart from all the other days of the week by the fact, first: that the manna would not keep over to any other day than the seventh-day Sabbath, by which fact they were excluded from using or keeping any more than a single daily portion for each individual; second: on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, and on that day alone, would any portion keep, beyond the single daily portion for each individual, and, in view of this fact, a double portion was gathered on the sixth day; and, third: there was no manna given on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath.

Thus, by these specific facts, which were directly and wholly controlled by the Lord Himself, the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, was distinctly designated.

And that all this was not only without their choice, but even against their choice, is plain from the fact that, though for all the days except the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, they were commanded not to leave any of it till the morning, yet they disregarded the command, and would have their own way, and left some of it till the morning. But, by causing to spoil all that they had so carefully laid up, the Lord instructed

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them that His word means exactly what it says.

Again, when they were told that on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, "Ye shall not find it in the field," because "there shall be none," still there were those who disregarded the commandment, and went out on the seventh day to gather manna. But again, by the fact that there fell none on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, the Lord taught them what His word meant, and what He intended when He said the seventh day is the Sabbath.

These facts demonstrate that the people had nothing whatever to do with choosing or deciding or fixing what day should be the seventh day, nor what day should be the Sabbath, nor anything whatever in connection with that Sabbath. It was all done by the Lord; and by specific acts of the Lord the Sabbath day was designated, against their will, and against what they would have chosen.

Now, when they came to Sinai, God spoke from Sinai the fourth commandment, in which He "revealed the creation Sabbath." In that commandment He said, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," and identified this Sabbath "mentioned at Sinai" with the creation Sabbath. And at that time, and continuing for forty years, He distinguished the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, by refusing to allow the manna to keep over to any day but the seventh day, which is the Sabbath; by causing that which was gathered on the sixth day to keep upon the seventh day, which is the Sabbath; and by causing that there

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should be none on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath. And that seventh day, which is the Sabbath, thus regulated by Him in connection with the manna, He identified with the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which He spoke from Sinai, in which He "revealed the creation Sabbath," and which Sabbath He identified with the creation Sabbath.

Beyond all room for fair question, these Scripture facts settle it that the Sabbath which, against their will as to what they would have chosen, the Lord thus caused Israel to keep for forty years in the wilderness was the Sabbath which God revealed at Sinai, which is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and which was identified by the Lord with the creation Sabbath. And that Sabbath, being identical with the creation Sabbath, being "on a fixed seventh day," and "on a fixed day of the week," was therefore on a fixed seventh day of the week: fixed by the Lord Himself, in connection with His arrangement of the manna.

What day of the week, then, as the days are now named, was that seventh day of the week which the Lord thus fixed and identified with the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and the creation Sabbath, and which He continued in their forty years' sojourn in the wilderness, till they had crossed the Jordan into the promised land?-It was the same day then that it was while they dwelt in Palestine, and that it has been to this day, the day which the people of Israel have ever known as the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord, which is Saturday. For the people with whom the Lord thus fixed the seventh day of the fourth

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commandment, which He identified with the creation Sabbath, have continued in unbroken existence from that day until this, and have not lost the count of the days of the week from that day until this. Therefore, that day which God then designated as the seventh day of the week, and which He identified with the creation Sabbath, has been the seventh day of the week to that people unto this day, and is so still. And the day which since then has been, and is now, the seventh day with that people is the day called Saturday. This fixes it, therefore, that the day called Saturday is the seventh day which the Lord definitely designated for Israel in an unbroken experience for forty years, is the day which is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and is the day which He identified in the fourth commandment at Sinai with the creation Sabbath. The days as named are commonly spoken of as being the same as the corresponding days as numbered: Saturday the seventh day, Sunday the first day, etc., etc. Yet strictly neither the seventh day nor any other Bible day corresponds exactly to the day as named-Saturday, Sunday, Monday, etc. This because the Bible day is measured from evening to evening-sundown to sundown; while the days as named are measured from midnight to midnight. Therefore strictly and technically speaking the seventh day begins Friday evening at sunset and ends Saturday evening at sunset; while Saturday begins at midnight Friday night and ends at midnight Saturday night. So also the first day of the week begins Saturday evening at sunset, while Sunday begins at midnight

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Saturday night. This difference is because that it is Roman time, and not Bible time, that is followed by the nations of to-day.

And that at Sinai this day was Saturday is practically admitted by Mr. Gamble himself, in the fact that he has quoted from Dion Cassius, with approval, the statement that "the Jews made Saturday their Sabbath when they left Egypt." This is plainly an admission by Mr. Gamble that Saturday was the seventh day which, in connection with the manna, the Lord unmistakably designated to Israel as the Sabbath of the Lord. For, as we have seen by the Scriptures, instead of the Jews having made Saturday their Sabbath, it was the Lord Himself who did it, not only without their choice, but even against their choice.

More than this, Mr. Gamble himself says that Saturday was the Sabbath which Israel observed from their coming out of Egypt till at least after God spoke the ten commandments "first" at Sinai. For, in speaking of the time "when Israel leaves Egypt," and onward to the giving of the law at Sinai, he says, "The children of Israel have been keeping Saturday as the Sabbath for seven weeks." P. 92. This is distinctly to admit that the seventh day which, in connection with the manna, was designated by the Lord as the Sabbath was Saturday.

Now the plain, open facts of Scripture in connection with the giving of the manna show that, by the Lord's regulating of the manna strictly to the observance of this day, which Mr. Gamble says was Saturday, for forty years, without a single break, He specifically and

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unmistakably designated that day,-Saturday,-as the seventh day and the Sabbath, and also identified it with the Sabbath of the fourth commandment and, in that, with the creation Sabbath. Therefore Mr. Gamble's statement that the Sabbath which the children of Israel kept in the time between their deliverance from Egypt and the giving of the ten commandments at Sinai was Saturday, is in truth an admission that the seventh day of the week, and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and the creation Sabbath, is Saturday only. And, in view of the plain Scripture facts, Mr. Gamble's statement that that day was Saturday is simply fatal to all his claim and argument that Sunday is the seventh day. It annihilates his whole scheme.

Yet this is not all. By the direct daily and weekly acts of the Lord in connection with the manna, continued without interruption for forty years, in designating the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and the creation Sabbath, the Lord so fixed in their minds and in their experience what day of the week is the Sabbath of the Lord that from that time forward all that was necessary to designate that Sabbath was simply the expression "the Sabbath," "the Sabbath day," or "the Sabbath day according to the commandment." And, when the Creator of the world and the Maker of the Sabbath came into the world as man's Example, He not only observed that Sabbath day while He lived, and taught His disciples so, but, before His death, He specifically extended it to be observed as such after His death. And, when He had died-on Friday, even as Mr.

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Gamble himself counts-His disciples observed the next day,-Saturday,-which was "the Sabbath day according to the commandment."

What we mean by saying that before His death Jesus specifically extended beyond His death the remembrance and observance of the Sabbath day as such is that He definitely told His disciples so to do. Thus: In telling them of the calamities and destruction that would come upon Jerusalem, against which they were to prepare, and which they must escape, He gave definite signs by which they should know what to do. He said, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." And, when this should be seen, "then let them which be in Judea [not in Jerusalem only] flee into the mountains; let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes."

And, since, when that scene was seen, their going must be so urgent that one should not come from the housetop down into his house to take anything, nor he who was in the field even turn back to take his clothes, He enjoined upon them two things, which they were ever to keep in their prayers: "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." This demonstrates that Jesus definitely taught His disciples to keep as an item in their prayers for forty years after His death the remembrance of the Sabbath day, and regard for its holy observance. This demonstrates also that, as certainly as there was the succession of winter in the course of the seasons, and the

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disciples were to keep in their minds and pray that, when should come the time of their urgent flight from Judea, they might not be subjected to the severity of winter cold, so certainly there was also the succession of the Sabbath in the weekly course, which they were also to remember, and pray that, when the time of their urgent flight from Judea should come, it should not be on the Sabbath day.

And that Sabbath day which Jesus thus taught His disciples to remember to keep after His death; that Sabbath which was as certain in its weekly recurrence as was the winter in the annual recurrence; that Sabbath day which His disciples observed the very day after His death; was "the Sabbath day according to the commandment."

And the Sabbath day according to the commandment was the day which God, in regulating the manna, designated as the seventh day of the week, and which He identified with the creation Sabbath.

And that seventh day of the week which, by His regulating of the manna in the wilderness, God identified to Israel as the Sabbath day according to the commandment, and the creation Sabbath, and which Mr. Gamble says was Saturday, was the same day that is still the seventh day of the week to Israel, which is Saturday.

And that was the Sabbath day which Jesus identified to His disciples, and which He continued in their experience after His death, and that Mr. Gamble himself says was the day after Friday, which, beyond all question, is Saturday.

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It is therefore certain, by the Bible, by the life of the people of Israel in the world, and even by the statements of Mr. Gamble's book, that Saturday, and not Sunday, is the seventh day of the week; and therefore that Saturday, and not Sunday, is the Sabbath of the fourth commandment given at Sinai, and there identified by the Lord with the creation Sabbath.

II

Since the only point in Mr. Gamble's controversy with the Seventh-day Adventists on the Sabbath question is whether Sunday or Saturday is the seventh day of the week, what we have already presented covers that whole ground, and is a full reply to his claim. Yet it seems proper that we should touch, at least briefly, other items in his book.

It is certain that, in the effort to make it appear that Sunday is the seventh day of the week, Mr. Gamble has fallen into error, although he says, "I have been demolishing the theory . . . that Sunday is the first day of the week." P. 172. That Sunday is the first day of the week is not a theory. It is a fixture in the experience of the human race. And to demolish that requires far more than simply that a man shall set up the plea that Sunday is the seventh day, as a means of avoiding the observance of the day which God chose, and requires to be observed as the Sabbath of the Lord. In order to demolish the truth that Sunday is the first day of the week, he would have to demolish not only the literature and the language of the English-speaking portion of the human race, but

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of all the other nations. And, to do that, he would have to abolish the race itself.

Mr. Gamble's "Fixed-Date Sabbaths."

It may be of interest for the people to know how Mr. Gamble makes out that "the Jewish-dispensation Sabbaths" were annual, and at the same time weekly: that is, how the seventh day could come weekly and yet annually, "the same as does Christmas, or the Fourth of July, or any other yearly celebration," and on "each day in the week successively as the years pass by."

He does it by means of a slide: that is, by the ready sliding of a slide that he has made especially for the purpose. That is to say, he manufactures a "perpetual calendar of ancient months, weeks, Sabbaths," etc. He says that this calendar is the Bible calendar, which for many centuries has been lost; but, "After eighteen years of study, I have been able to build it out of the Bible teachings and the old Egyptian calendar." But in another place he says that it "is built out of the Egyptian calendar." P. 41. In still another place he says that "it is built out of the old Egyptian calendar." P. 57. And in yet another place he speaks of "the remodeling of the Egyptian calendar into the Bible calendar." P. 61. To any one who will examine the thing in the light of truth, it will be clearly evident that his calendar, with the whole scheme that is built up by means of it, is altogether Egyptian. Having built this calendar himself, he announces that in it "there is something unique," that is, "the

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Sabbaths are located in a fixed place in it." P. 58. And this is the origin of his fixed-date, weekly Sabbaths.

This Egyptian mixture of a calendar he makes to begin with the first day of Abib, the first month of the Hebrew year, as the Lord said that Abib should be to them the beginning of months, and the first month of the year.

He next decides that there are three dates in this month of Abib-10, 14, and 16-that must and shall never fall on the Sabbath. The support for this theory he wrings out of the Word of God as to the Sabbath day, that in it "thou shalt not do any work." Upon this he says: "Therefore if work is commanded to be done on a certain date every year, that date could never be the Sabbath day." Then because the Lord commanded that on the tenth day of the month Abib, the passover lamb should be selected, and that on the fourteenth day of Abib that lamb should be killed, and that on the sixteenth day of Abib the wave-sheaf of the first fruits should be offered, Mr. Gamble makes these three things to be so much work that these three days were thus "prohibited from ever being Sabbath days." He says: "The selection of the lamb every year on Abib 10 made that date a labor day every year." "Abib 14 was a day of house-cleaning and butchering, . . . and never could have been the Sabbath." "The first sheaf of ripe grain was brought every year on Abib 16," and hence like the other two days could never be on the Sabbath. Having so fixed all this, he concludes: "Therefore, in building the Bible calendar

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there must always be six days' work to follow the weekly Sabbath, and yet the calendar must be so constructed as to prevent Abib 10, 14, and 16 from ever being Sabbaths."

Now that whole device amounts to just nothing at all from the simple truth that on the Lord's own weekly Sabbath there were twice as many offerings, and therefore twice as much work as on the other days of the week; and yet it was always the Sabbath of the Lord and holy. On every day, "day by day" continually, on the Sabbath as on all other days, there were always offered two lambs in sacrifice, with their accompanying offerings. "The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even." This was the "continual burnt-offering." In addition to this continual offering, on the Sabbath day there were offered two lambs. "And on the Sabbath day two lambs of the first year, without spot, . . . this is the burnt-offering of every Sabbath, beside the continual burnt-offering." Num. 28:3-10. Now when every Sabbath four lambs could be and were selected and killed and offered up, and the day still be the true holy Sabbath and no working day at all, by this there is seen the brazen fallacy of the suggestion that because only one lamb was selected on one day and was killed on another day, and a few handfuls of barley were gathered and offered on yet another day, this would make all three of these days so overwhelmingly working days that not one of them could ever be the Sabbath day! And yet this fallacy, this structure that crumbles at a touch of the truth-this is an essential

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of his laboriously built calendar and scheme of "fixed-date Sabbaths"! It is a fair illustration of how desperate is the case that he has to make out.

Having arranged to his satisfaction, "after eighteen years of study," this calendar, beginning with the first day of Abib, he adjusts to it a slide, with the names of the days of the week printed on it, beginning with Thursday, and running through nineteen days, ending with Monday. He has the scheme already fixed that the first day of the year must be always the Sabbath. Then, since he has it fixed that the first day of the year must always be Sabbath, whatever day of the week that first day of the year may come upon, of course his weekly Sabbath comes annually, just as New Year's day does. And, whatever day of the week is New Year's day, he making thus the Sabbath, that makes each day of the week in succession the Sabbath, as the years go by. Consequently, he sets his slide according as he has his New Year's day to come, and then that fixes his Sabbath and the order of the days of his week throughout that year. We give some illustrations:-

Page 61: "Place the calendar before you, and adjust the slide so that Abib 15 will fall on Saturday. Then it will be seen that Abib 1 and 8 are also on Saturdays."

Page 63: "Take the chart, and count the six work days, commencing with Monday, Sivan 6. The seventh day will be Sunday, Sivan 12."

Page 68: "Adjust the slide so that Saturday will fall on Abib 1."

Page 69: "Move the slide up one place, so that Abib 1 will fall on the Sabbath,-Sunday."

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Page 77: "Adjust the slide in the calendar so as to make the 15th of Abib fall on Saturday."

Page 84: "Now adjust the slide in the chart so that Sunday will be at the top. Now the Sabbaths are on Sunday, Abib 1, 8, "

Page 85: "You shove the slide up one place higher each succeeding year, in order to get the correct day of our week upon which the Jewish Sabbath fell."

Page 100: "Adjust the slide, putting Abib 1 on Saturday, then Abib 15 will also be on Saturday."

Page 100, again: "That date fell on Friday one year before; hence, pull the slide down one day."

Page 101: "Abib 15 fell on Thursday; hence, pull the slide down another place."

Page 101, again: "Abib fell on Wednesday, so draw the slide down another place."

And again: "And still draw it down again to Tuesday."

Yet again: "Keep the calendar before you. . . . Push the slide up one place, so that Abib I will be on Wednesday."

Page 102: "That year began and ended on Wednesday, so push the slide up one day."

Page 105: "The third year would begin on Friday, so once more push the slide up, so that Abib I will be on Friday."

Page 106: "Returning now to the chart, you will observe that the Pentecost Sabbath was on Saturday. . . . Now readjust the slide, by pushing it up till Saturday shall mark the New Year Sabbath of Abib 1."

Page 110: "Notice the chart, and you will see," etc., etc.

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Page III: "Look once more at the chart, and remember," etc., etc.

But suppose this does not work exactly all the way through the year?-Oh, that is easily remedied! Simply double up; that is, make two days in succession to be the Sabbath; as on page 62:-

"Sivan 5 is a continuation of the Sabbath of Sivan 4; or, in other words, Sivan 4 and 5 constitute a Sabbath forty-eight hours long, every year, not two Sabbaths."

By this doubling up to make that "Sabbath forty-eight hours long, every year," he accomplishes another purpose also; thus:-

"On account of the long Sabbath at the Feast of Pentecost, forty-eight hours long, the day of the Sabbath changed there every succeeding year throughout all the centuries until the crucifixion." P. 85. (Italics his.)

But suppose that, even with this piece of hocuspocus, the thing will not come out even?-Oh, that is easy, too! Where the hitch comes, simply "drop out two of the five odd days here, in order to let the first day of the seventh month be the seventh day of the week." P. 64.

But suppose that, even with this double hocuspocus, the thing does not work evenly through the year, then what?-Oh, this is all easy, too! just as easy as in the other cases. He simply slips back again in another place the two days that he had dropped out from this place:-

"We follow along the Sunday Sabbath dates to the end of the year. The last Sabbath of the year falls

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on Sunday, Adar 26, leaving four labor days in Adar after the last Sabbath [and before the next Sabbath and before the end of the year]. You will notice that we have shortened the year by two days, because of the change allowing the first day of the seventh month to fall on the Sabbath. . . . The Lord also required that six days of labor must precede the Sabbath. Here we have four. . . . Hence, Moses had to have two more days to work between Adar 30 and Abib 1. Therefore there was but one thing that could be done, that is, to put the two days which he had to drop out of the middle of the year in at the close. Having done that, the year is now 365 days long, and there are six days of labor between the Sabbath of Adar 26 and the Sabbath of Abib 1. Since Abib 1 is a Sabbath, Abib 8, 15, 22, and 29 are Sabbath dates in the second year, and in every other year, as they were in the first, because every Sabbath had to be 'in his season from year to year.'" Pp. 64-66.

And that is exactly the way he does it. That is to say that the whole of God's revelation, the whole of God's grand and beautiful economy of salvation, from the deliverance of Israel from Egypt to the cross of Christ, is subjected to a paper slide moved up and down at the capricious will of a man who would spend eighteen years in inventing such a thing, rather than to observe as the Sabbath the day which God commanded, and which for forty years He Himself designated in such a way that it is impossible for any inquiring mind to escape.

And that capricious contrivance of a paper slide pushed up and pulled down, with days doubled up, dropped out, and picked up, to accommodate-that is the thing that Bishop Fowler introduces to the world

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as "a mathematical demonstration;" and of which he says, "It is this or nothing"! It is perfectly plain that it is not "this."

We have no disposition to question Mr. Gamble's statement that this thing was built by him "out of the old Egyptian calendar." It partakes altogether of the character of Egypt. But for all time God has written of the people who will be His, "Out of Egypt have I called My son."

A "Proof" That Does Not Prove

Another thing that reveals in this the taint of Egyptian character is that he pretends to prove the correctness of his counting by Brother Alonzo T. Jones. He says:-

"I shall prove the correctness of my counting by Alonzo T. Jones, a leading Seventh-day Adventist."

He then quotes several expressions, on pages 78 and 79, from the writings of Brother Jones. Then, on page 80, he quotes, as from Brother Jones, a passage which is not only not Brother Jones's at all, but is disputed by Brother Jones: and this in the very place, that is, on the very page, from which Mr. Gamble quotes it.

In his book he spends several pages in addressing personally "Brother Jones." And on this page 80 he says to him:-

"Probably you have another definition of Pentecost, which will name those Sabbaths.

"'Pentecost is the fiftieth day after the Passover, which was called the Sabbath of weeks, consisting of

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seven times seven days, and the day after the completion of the seventh weekly Sabbath day,' etc."

Then on page 86 he says:-

"We have, by the aid of Brother Jones, located the day and date of the first Pentecost; that is, that it occurred on Sunday, Sivan 5, on the morrow after the seventh Saturday Sabbath after their deliverance from Egyptian bondage."

Now, as already stated, that first quotation he makes as from Brother Jones, and through the pages following attributes it definitely to Brother Jones, when, as already stated, Brother Jones not only never wrote a word of it, but, in the place from which Mr. Gamble quoted it, definitely wrote a note disavowing it.

The reference which Mr. Gamble gives to that quotation is "Rome's Challenge," page 17. Mr. Gamble knows that Alonzo T. Jones did not write "Rome's Challenge;" for, in a note on page 117 of his book, he says, "'Rome's Challenge' was edited by Alonzo T. Jones from four articles by Senex."

Now this passage which he quotes as from "Brother Jones," and for which he refers to "Rome's Challenge," page 17, is from the text, which he himself knows was written by Senex. In its original place the passage is in one sentence, and complete, and runs as follows:-

"Pentecost is the fiftieth day after the Passover, which was called the Sabbath of weeks, consisting of seven times seven days; and the day after the completion of the seventh weekly Sabbath day was the chief day of the entire festival, necessarily Sunday."

Now at that very place, immediately after the word

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"passover" in the quotation, is the reference figure" 1 ," referring to a foot-note, written by the editor, and so signed "Ed.," in which, with reference only to these very words and lines which Mr. Gamble has quoted, the following is written:-

"Our Saviour ate the Passover with His disciples the night before His crucifixion, and He was crucified on Friday. Friday, therefore, was the first day of the feast of the Passover, or of unleavened bread. The morrow after that day was the day from which the fifty days to Pentecost were to be counted. Lev. 23:6, 11, 15, 16. The morrow after that day being 'the Sabbath according to the commandment' (Luke 23 56), and the first day of the fifty, it is evident that the fiftieth day itself would be not Sunday, but Saturday. Anybody can demonstrate this for himself who will begin with 'the morrow after' any Friday, and count fifty. And, as the Passover was always the 14th day of the first month, without any reference whatever to any particular day of the week, it were impossible that the Pentecost should always be 'necessarily Sunday,' as stated. Of course, this note, true though it be, has no bearing upon this question between Catholics and Protestants, as both claim-the Catholics originally-that this very Pentecost was on Sunday. This note is inserted merely in the interests of accuracy, and not with the intention that it should have any bearing on the controversy in the text."

This demonstrates, therefore, that Mr. Gamble has deliberately quoted as from "Brother Jones" a passage which he knew was not written by Brother Jones, and which he knew, by the foot-note, that Brother Jones had definitely repudiated, declaring that what the text

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said was impossible, and that this note was inserted "in the interests of accuracy."

Mr. Gamble claims that Brother Jones, in editing "Rome's Challenge," and passing it on through the press, to be circulated, adopted it as thoroughly correct teaching, and that therefore he, Mr. Gamble, "is justifiable in quoting from it as the words of Alonzo T. Jones, or the teaching of Seventh-day Adventism." This does not necessarily follow, even as to places where no notes are inserted disavowing the teaching; but, of all things, it is impossible to be true or correct in a passage concerning which a note is definitely inserted by the editor, disavowing the teaching in the sentence noted. And yet, in spite of a note inserted by Brother Jones definitely disavowing the teaching in a sentence which Mr. Gamble knows was written by another, Mr. Gamble, knowing all this, deliberately quotes and publishes, as from Brother Jones, a sentence which he knows was not written by Brother Jones, but entirely by another, and which, in the same place, was disallowed by Brother Jones, in a note written expressly for that purpose!

It is evident that Mr. Gamble's Egyptian Calendar is not the only Egyptian element that is in his book.

Yet the dishonesty in this item of Mr. Gamble's is not all that there is in the item: He starts with the declaration, "I shall prove the correctness of my counting by Alonzo T. Jones," etc. Then in fulfilment of this declaration he quotes as his proof a passage with the production of which he knows that Alonzo T. Jones never had anything whatever to do; and which

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he knows that Alonzo T. Jones, in the interests of accuracy, positively disavowed as being "impossible." Therefore, in the very thing which Mr. Gamble declares that he would prove, this leaves him absolutely without any proof at all. And the thing which he declares that he would prove by this which proves to be no proof at all, is "the correctness of my counting." And upon the correctness of his counting hangs all the merit that there can be in his scheme of "fixed-date Sabbaths." But, behold! his proof turns out to be simply no proof at all. Ah! but he declares that that is the proof of "the correctness of my counting." Unquestionably that is so: the proof of the correctness of his counting is just no proof at all, but is only an absolute blank. Yet Bishop Fowler says that Mr. Gamble's scheme is "a mathematical demonstration" "or nothing." Now for the proof of the correctness of its counting no mathematical demonstration ever rested upon a blank, upon proof that is no proof at all. It is perfectly plain therefore that this thing is not in any sense a mathematical demonstration. And the alternative is very easy: it is plainly nothing.

III

Mr. Gamble will have it, that the Sabbath which, by his slipping and sliding and other hocus-pocus, he has made for the Jews to observe between the deliverance from Egypt and the crucifixion, was solely in commemoration of their deliverance from Egypt, and had no connection with the creation Sabbath. And for his basis in this he resorts to another entangling

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invention. That is, he invents what he calls three decalogues: one for the Patriarchal Dispensation, another for the Jewish, and a third for the Christian.

The Decalogue of Exodus 20, he says, is the "Patriarchal Decalogue;" that in its fourth commandment God "revealed the creation Sabbath," and that it "was of universal application." He claims that this Decalogue was never written on the tables of stone.

What he calls "the Jewish Decalogue" is taken from Deut. 5:7-21. And he makes this "Jewish Decalogue," with its Sabbath, commemorative of the deliverance from Egypt; because it does not read word for word as does the Decalogue in Exodus 20; and because, in repeating the fourth commandment, Moses said: "And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day."

Of what he calls the "Patriarchal Decalogue," he says, "The Sabbath commemorated God's rest from creation to the Patriarch, and occurred regularly on the seventh day." P. 205.

Of what he calls the "Jewish Decalogue," he says: "To the Jew, the Sabbath commemorated his deliverance from Egyptian slavery, on Abib 15, that date being the high Sabbath every year thereafter." P. 205.

But this invention of separate decalogues is all a hocus-pocus, as really, though not so abundantly, as is his invention of the fixed-date Sabbaths. For, in order to have what he calls the "Jewish Decalogue"

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to refer to the deliverance from Egypt as an incentive to Sabbath-keeping, and so to be different from what he calls the "Patriarchal Decalogue," he begins to quote what he calls the "Patriarchal Decalogue," not where the words of God begin in His speaking it, but where, for the purpose which he has in mind, Mr. Gamble chooses to begin it.

God's own words, in His own speaking at Sinai the original and only true Decalogue that there is or ever was, began, and ever rightly do begin, with the reference to the deliverance from Egypt. Here are the divine words, and the inspired record as to that: "And God spake all these words:-

"I AM "the Lord thy God,

"which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," etc., etc., etc.

Now all these words of God referring to the deliverance from Egypt and its bondage, are left out by Mr. Gamble: he beginning his patriarchal decalogue merely with the words, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me:" thus causing God to leave a dead blank as to who He is that gives this law. It is true that Mr. Gamble and the Methodist Church are not the only people who thus mutilate, or even decapitate, God's law; but that is no fair excuse for such a thing.

Then, in quoting Deut. 5:7-21, where Moses, in

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manifestly directing attention to this original and only true Decalogue, refers to the deliverance from Egypt, this is seized upon, by Mr. Gamble, and because of it he erects Deut. 5 17-21 into an altogether distinct and distinctly given decalogue, which he will have to pertain only to the Jews. But, as we have seen, this is accomplished by a positive omission of the words of the Lord Himself in speaking from Sinai His law, as in Exodus 20.

To any truly inquiring mind, it is perfectly plain that the Decalogue as quoted in Deut. 5:17-21 is nothing else than a rehearsal of the original Decalogue in Exodus 20, by Moses in the regular course of his reminding the people of Israel of their experiences through the forty years, from the deliverance from Egypt to the border of Jordan where then he and they stood; and that it is rehearsed with direct reference to the original Decalogue in Exodus 20. This is plain from the fact that when Moses comes to the fourth commandment, he does not attempt to repeat it, as with the preceding ones; but begins thus: "Keep the Sabbath day, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee." Beyond all question, that is a direct reference to the fourth commandment, as spoken from Sinai; and shows that he refers the people to that commandment for the authority, and for the commandment itself, as to the keeping of the Sabbath.

Again, when Moses comes to the fifth commandment, he says: "Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee," etc.

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This is again, beyond all question, a direct reference to the Decalogue as in Exodus 20, as the original.

And these two positive references to the Decalogue as in Exodus 20, show that it is to that Decalogue that Moses turns the attention of the people as the original; as the one to which they are to look; which they are to study; and as that which they are to obey.

The reference to their being delivered from Egypt is of the same character precisely, for it was the word of the Lord from heaven, which He Himself spoke at Sinai, saying,-

"I AM "the Lord thy God, "which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," etc.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."

It was this word spoken by the Lord Himself concerning their deliverance from Egypt, that was the original and the basis of Moses's reference to this fact forty years afterwards, on the borders of Canaan, in his rehearsing and emphasizing God's dealings with them from the day that they left Egypt. Therefore on Mr. Gamble's own ground, when place is truly allowed to the words which God truly spoke at Sinai, the Sabbath of Deut. 5:12-15 can no more be applied or confined exclusively to the Jews, than can the Sabbath of the Decalogue of Exodus 20, which he himself says is identical with the creation Sabbath, that it was given to Adam, that it "required the Sabbath to

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be on a fixed seventh day," and "on a fixed day of the week," and that it "was of universal application."

This scheme is also in itself, and in Mr. Gamble's plan, as capricious as is that of his sliding and hocus-pocus "fixed Sabbaths." For as we have seen, he states repeatedly and explicitly, that the calendar which enables him to accomplish all this "wonderful discovery" is built distinctly "out of the old Egyptian calendar." Why, then, should he be so willingly dependent upon Egypt for all that makes him great, and then not only repudiate the Sabbath of the Lord, which falls on Saturday, because in connection with its observance, deliverance from Egypt is mentioned, but also must take from the mouth of the Lord and from the Decalogue, which he proves is Adamic and patriarchal and of universal application, the reference which is by the Lord there made to deliverance from Egypt, not only as an incentive to the observance of the Sabbath, but of the whole Decalogue as well?

A thing which is Egyptian altogether is good enough for Mr. Gamble to pick up, and spend eighteen years upon, in warping it around to be accepted by all Christendom; when an institution of the Lord must be utterly rejected by all Christendom, merely because, in calling people to its observance, the Lord Himself cites as an incentive the fact that He has delivered them from Egypt and its bondage.

It can not be questioned that this very forcibly illustrates the difference between God and Mr. Gamble, God, in asking men to accept His will and His way,

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does it upon the basis of the total exclusion of all Egyptian elements.

"I AM "the Lord thy God, "which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

Mr. Gamble, on the other hand, in asking mankind to accept his will and his way, does it upon the repeated assurance that it is based altogether upon Egyptian elements, for he says that it is done by warping the Bible into the Egyptian calendar: or as he himself puts it, "remodeling the Egyptian calendar into the Bible calendar." "It is built out of the old Egyptian calendar."

And this difference is fundamental, because of Mr. Gamble's failure to discern a beautiful and vital view of the gospel. In this thought of the Lord's as to the deliverance from Egypt, there is one of the profoundest and mightiest of spiritual truths. As we have seen, the very first words spoken by the Lord in the giving of His law were and are:-

"I AM "the Lord thy God, "which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

This law of ten commandments which, preface and all, was spoken by the Lord at Sinai, is perfect. When He had spoken it, all was said that can be said, and "He added no more." Deut. 5:22; Eccl. 12, 13, margin. This law, preface and all, is "holy, and just, and good." Rom. 7:12.

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God is Spirit. And this law, preface and all, being altogether of God, is therefore altogether spiritual; "for the law is spiritual." Rom. 7:14. Accordingly, the Egypt referred to is spiritual Egypt; and the bondage referred to is spiritual bondage; for the Scriptures deal definitely with a spiritual Egypt. Rev. 11:8.

Spiritually, then, what is Egypt? Read this: "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Heb. 11:24-26.

Here we have "affliction with the people of God," set over against "the pleasures of sin;" and "the reproach of Christ" set over against "the treasures in Egypt;" thus:-

Affliction with the people of God.

Reproach of Christ.

Pleasures of sin.

Treasures in Egypt.

This shows "affliction with the people of God," and "the reproach of Christ," to be synonymous; and "the pleasures of sin," and "the treasures in Egypt," to be likewise synonymous. It also plainly shows "sin" and "Egypt" to be synonymous. Spiritual Egypt, therefore, is the realm of sin. Therefore this beginning of the law of God as spoken by the Lord from heaven, simply says, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the realm and bondage of sin.

Brother Gamble claims that he and other Christians are not to observe this law; but the only basis which

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that claim can have is that he and other Christians have not been brought out of Egypt. But not to have been brought out of Egypt is to be yet in the realm and bondage of sin. And not being delivered from the realm and bondage of sin, being still in Egypt, they can not observe this law; for it is only those who have been brought out of Egypt, those who have been completely delivered from the realm and bondage of sin, that can keep this holy, just, good, and spiritual law.

Now all this is not mere argument, for effect or advantage; it is perfect truth; for when Israel was yet in Egypt, the word came to Pharaoh, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My first-born: and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me" To serve the Lord is to do His will, it is to keep His law. Ex. 16:4. Israel had to be delivered from Egypt before they could serve the Lord, before they could keep His law. They must be delivered that they might serve Him, that they might keep His law. And when He had delivered them He said:-

"I AM "the Lord thy God, "which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. . . .

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God," etc., etc.

And in this, from that day till this one, the Lord has been doing His very best to have all people learn that

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it is impossible for anybody to observe His law, impossible for anybody to serve Him, who has not been delivered from the realm and bondage of sin.

But some may ask, Was there anything by which Israel then could know that this was spiritual Egypt?-There was, decidedly. Consider:-

God promised Abram that his seed should be as the stars of heaven. Through unbelief, the promise was not fulfilled as soon as they expected, and Sarai said to Abram, "The Lord hath restrained me from bearing;" the promise has not been fulfilled; here is my Egyptian maid; take her, and peradventure the Lord will give us seed by her. That was done, and Ishmael was born. But the Lord said to Abraham that Sarah should have a child indeed, should bear a son, and they should call his name Isaac. And Abraham said in response to that, "O that Ishmael might live before Thee!" Gen. 16:1-3; 17:15-18.

That Egyptian maid was a bondwoman; and her son was a bondson, a bond-servant, born of the flesh, a child of unbelief, a man of violence, "his hand against every man." When Abraham said, "O that Ishmael might live before Thee!" he was praying that Ishmael might be counted by God as the promised seed through whom deliverance and freedom should come to the sons of men and all the children of God. But could freedom come to any person through a bondman? Abram himself must be redeemed by the promised seed, "which is Christ." If now this son, being a bondson, should be accepted as the promised seed, Abraham could himself never

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be redeemed, but instead he and all mankind would forever remain in bondage. And what bondage?-Ishmael's mother was an Egyptian and a bondwoman; and Ishmael being a bondson, his was Egyptian bondage. All this is an allegory, and shows that there was Egyptian bondage-a spiritual Egypt-in the family of Abraham.

Turn to Galatians, and see plainly that the Lord says the same. Gal. 4:22-24: "For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."

By this we are pointed right back to the family of Abraham; and to Hagar, the Egyptian. That covenant, says the Scripture, "Gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar." Hagar, in the family of Abraham, represents, in the allegory, the covenant from Sinai. That covenant gendered to bondage. Hagar was an Egyptian. Then what bondage is represented in the covenant at Sinai?-Egyptian bondage. But it was spiritual bondage. Therefore there was then a spiritual Egypt.

Read further: "For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." Verses 25, 26.

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So when Abraham said, "O that Ishmael might live before Thee!" he asked that a bond-servant should be accepted as the one through whom the promised Seed should come, which is Christ. Thus, unknowingly, he asked that God, and all mankind, should go into bondage in spiritual Egypt. Egypt is the symbol of darkness, and also the symbol of sin, as we have seen. Sin also is darkness itself. Egypt, then, representing sin and darkness, it is plain that sin with its darkness is spiritual Egypt.

The Lord could never accept a bond-servant as the promised seed. So the Lord answered Abraham with these words: "Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. BUT My covenant will I establish WITH ISAAC, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year."

Isaac was the promised seeed. But think! Isaac never was IN EGYPT. Remember that. There was a famine in Canaan, and he started to go to Egypt, but the Lord said to him, "Go not down into Egypt." Gen. 26:2. Abraham was in Egypt; Sarah was in Egypt; Israel was in Egypt; but Isaac never was in Egypt. He was the child of promise, born of the Spirit from the beginning.

Further: "For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia,

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and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that barest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now WE, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise."

And who are WE?-"If ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Isaac was the child of Abraham,-the child of the promise. And when WE become Abraham's seed by faith in Christ, delivered from the bondage of sin,-from spiritual Egypt,-we are "as Isaac was," born of the Spirit, free from Egypt.

Thus Egyptian bondage and Christian freedom were in the family of Abraham. Ishmael was born after the flesh, and represented Egyptian bondage. Isaac was born after the Spirit, and represented the children of God by faith of Jesus Christ. And by this, Israel, at Sinai and always, should have remembered that the Egypt of God's law is spiritual Egypt, and that the outward, physical, Egypt of bondage and darkness was but an object-lesson of the inner, spiritual Egypt of the darkness and bondage of sin.

Israel of old was called God's son, even his first-born, and God called him out of Egypt. And when God's Son indeed, His first-born, His only-begotten Son, came into this world to deliver all from the realm and bondage of sin; when He came to man where man is, and was made "in all things" man, as

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man is; that little Child, God's first-born, was, at the direction of the Lord, taken into Egypt, and was brought out again, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, OUT OF EGYPT HAVE I CALLED MY SON." Matt. 2:11- Thus in the life of Christ, which is the true life for all mankind, God has fixed it forever that the Egypt of His law, the Egypt of the ten commandments, is spiritual Egypt; that spiritual Egypt is sin; and that every soul must be delivered from Egypt, from the realm and bondage of sin, before he can possibly serve the Lord; before he can walk in the Lord's law.

Is Brother Gamble a son of God in truth? It is so only because he has been called out of Egypt; for it is written, "Out of Egypt have I called My son."

Are Christians sons of God, in truth? It is so only because they have been called out of Egypt; for it is written, "Out of Egypt have I called My son."

Having been called out of Egypt, that he may serve the Lord, will Brother Gamble now refuse to serve the Lord? will he refuse to walk in the law of the Lord? Having been called out of Egypt, that they may serve the Lord, shall Christians refuse to serve the Lord, to walk in His law? and will Brother Gamble teach them so? If so, it can be only because they "in their hearts turned back again into Egypt" (Acts 7:39); and in so doing, they will certainly fall in the wilderness.

It is the vital truth of the gospel which from God is written that "Israel is My son;" that "out of Egypt

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have I called My son;" that this is done that Israel may serve the Lord by walking in His law; and that the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day, is the Lord's own chosen test to Israel, whether they will walk in His law or no. Ex. 4:22, 23; Matt. 2:15; Ex. 16:4, 27-31; Heb. 4:1-9.

Brother Gamble insists that the law of ten commandments, that mentions the deliverance from Egypt, with its Sabbath, is only for Israel. Let it be so; it is the Decalogue of Exodus 20 that originally mentions the deliverance from Egypt. Let it be then "only for Israel:" that Israel is only spiritual Israel, because that law is only a spiritual law. For "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise." "And IF YE BE CHRIST'S, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Rom. 9:6-8; Gal. 4:28; 3:29.

"Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, even My first-born." "Out of Egypt have I called My son." "And I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me."

"I AM "the Lord thy God, "which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. . . .

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"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. . . . The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."

"Out of Egypt have I called My son." "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God." Therefore Christians can thank the Lord forever that the Author of the holy law given at Sinai is both Creator and Redeemer, and is the Christian's Lawgiver.

IV

It will no doubt be of interest to the reader to know how Mr. Gamble makes Sunday to be the seventh day in his book.

He does it by having first: the first year of Israel after the leaving of Egypt to begin on the Sabbath (Saturday); and, by this, having the Passover also to fall on Sabbath.

Next: since he will have Pentecost to be the morrow after the weekly Sabbath, this gives him Sunday, Sivan 5, as Pentecost.

Next: he says that Pentecost was kept by Israel as commemorative of the giving the law, the ten commandments, at Sinai.

By this, he has the ten commandments spoken from heaven on Sunday.

Next: he will have it, that by the commandment there must be six days of work before there could be a Sabbath.

Next: since he has the ten commandments spoken from Sinai on Sunday, this and the events which accompanied the giving of the law that day, he makes

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to occupy all the day, so that "they did not work on that Sunday." Thereby he makes that Sunday to have been "not one of the six work days;" but "the Sabbath that preceded the six work days."

Finally, and of course, "take the chart," with that ever-convenient and serviceable slide, "and count the six work days, commencing with Monday, Sivan 6 the seventh day will be Sunday, Sivan 12."

And that is how he makes Sunday to be the seventh day, the seventh-day Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and the creation seventh-day Sabbath, in his book. And that is how it is "a mathematical demonstration"-"or nothing."

Then he bolsters it up, by the following contrivance:-

"Since in the minds of so many people Sunday has come to be regarded as the 'first day of the week,' and if it be the first, no man can prove that it is the seventh day. . . . In conclusion, let me say, Adam was created near the close of God's sixth day. After being shown what God had made, he was put to sleep, and while he slept, that Saturday night, God took a rib and made Eve."

It will be seen that this rests for its point upon what he has already said in his making God give the ten commandments on Sunday, and then counting that as a day of no work, and then from that, making that day to be the seventh day of the commandment, in which "thou shalt not do any work." For it will be noticed that in the quotation just now made, he by a sleight-of-hand slips in Saturday as the sixth day for he says, "Adam was created near the close of the

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sixth day," and then was "put to sleep;" and that "while he slept that Saturday night," etc. And so, having thus deftly insinuated Saturday as the sixth day, of creation week, he proceeds as follows:-

"The first day Eve ever saw was God's seventh day, and the first whole day Adam ever saw was a Sabbath. Sunday morning God performed a religious ceremony. He married Adam and Eve, and established the home. Then God rested. Time began with man, then, on the Sabbath day." (The italics are his.)

And of course, since the first day that Eve ever saw he makes to have been God's seventh day; and the first whole day that Adam ever saw he makes to have been a Sabbath; and since he has made that day to have been Sunday; therefore by all this Gambleing contrivance he makes Sunday the first day, seventh day, Sabbath.

And that is how Mr. Gamble accomplishes the feat of making Sunday the seventh day. And by the same Gambleing contrivance he could just as easily make Monday or any other day the seventh day, or any other day. And that is how his argument is "a mathematical demonstration"-"or nothing."

Some More Sliding

We should not, however, leave this particular invention of his without further notice of his insistence that there must be six days' work between Sabbaths, or else there can be no keeping of the commandment. Indeed, one essential of this whole scheme of his calendar, and of fixed-date Sabbaths, is this strict

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pressing of the words of the fourth commandment "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;" for on page 60 he says:-

"In building the Bible calendar ["remodeling the Egyptian calendar into the Bible calendar"], there must be six days of work to follow the weekly Sabbath."

And on page 64:-

"The Bible requires that there be six days' work after Elul 27, before the next Sabbath, and also 'In the first day of the seventh month, shall ye have a Sabbath (Lev. 23:24). Hence, it will be necessary to drop out two of the five odd days here, in order to let the first day of the seventh month be the seventh day of the week."

That is to say, this his calendar is built so strictly upon the theory that six days of work must lie between Sabbaths, that he must slide out two whole days where they naturally come, in order to preserve it alive.

Again, on page 65:-

"The Lord also required that six days of labor must precede the Sabbath."

And this theory is so essential to the existence of his Egyptian calendar, that he slides in here the two days that he slid out at the other point, to preserve alive his essential theory that there must be six days work between Sabbaths.

Again he says, page 65:-

"The Lord commanded Moses to work six days before he had a Sabbath."

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Again, page 76, he says:-

"He [God] shows when the Sabbaths come, by saying, 'Six days shalt thou labor; . . . the seventh day is the Sabbath.'"

Again, referring to the giving of the law at Sinai on the Sunday that he has chosen, he says:-

"Now on Sunday morning, God said, 'Six days shalt thou labor; . . . but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.' Where did they begin to work the 'six days'? Did they work that Sunday?-No. They did not work that Sunday. . . . About five minutes before the conclusion of the 'words of the Lord,' and about the going down of the sun, Sunday evening, He would repeat to them (the third time that day), 'Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the Sabbath day thou shalt not work.' Work six days from that Sunday evening?-Certainly. But if they do work six days from Sunday evening, and rest the seventh day, they must rest on the next Sunday. That is exactly what God required them to do. What is this 'seventh day' which will fall on the next Sunday, Sivan 12?-That 'seventh day' (Sunday) is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."-Pp. 88-90.

Again, on page 93, he says that the fourth commandment "required them to work six days and rest on Sunday."

And finally, on page 133, he says:-

"My calendar has always six days, and only six days, of work, preceding my Sabbaths."

But, in spite of all his sliding, even this fails; for on page 114 he admits that "Tisri 10," the day of atonement, was "a day upon which no work might be done,

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and yet it intervened between two weekly Sabbaths, every year, amongst the ancient Jews."

And when he meets this fact, what does he do with his strictly-drawn theory that six days of work must lie between Sabbaths?-Oh, that is as easy as all the rest! He simply lets it slide: merely with the observation that "it did not interfere with the arrangement of the weekly Sabbath days"!

Sundays "Just Seven," Not Eight, Days Apart

Another item is worth noting. He builds upon the fact of Jesus' meeting with the disciples on Sunday the day of His resurrection. He notes how that Thomas was not with them that same evening, when Jesus met with them. The record says, in John 20:26 that "after eight days again His disciples were with and Thomas with them." Mr. Gamble says: "During the week that followed, the ten met doubting Thomas. . . . Next Sunday evening, the eleven met, including Thomas."

And yet, on page 152, he says: "Sundays are just as far apart as Saturdays,-that is, just seven day apart. Hence, Sundays are not kept 'every eight day.'" Now, since Sundays are just seven days apart and the words of inspiration are that from the day of the evening when Jesus was with His disciples, was "after eight days," when Jesus met the eleven and Thomas with them, then we have Mr. Gamble positive assertion that, Sundays' being "just seven day apart," and "are not kept every eighth day," that meeting in which the Saviour met Thomas, with the disciples, was not by any possibility on the next Sunday.

That $1,000 Reward

For several years there has been very widely circulated throughout the United States an offer of a reward of $1,000, by Father Enright, of the Catholic Church, to anybody who will produce "one verse of Scripture making Sunday observance obligatory." Mr. Gamble, in his book and otherwise, makes a great deal of that thing. He says that he has demonstrated that this is only a "bluff." A sample of what he says of this is the following:-

"For over five years I have made Enright and his Adventist allies take a back track, by publishing and widely circulating a challenge to Enright or any Saturdarian in the United States, to find that reward and deposit the same, and execute a legal reward, and meet me in debate about it. I hold receipt to Enright's 'back-out;' and I filed sworn affidavits at Battle Creek, Mich., with the Adventist leaders."

As to what he presented to Mr. Enright, in his book on pages 141 and 142, he says:-

"Through S. Malcolm, my Sabbath-school superintendent, I conducted a correspondence with the said T. Enright, during the ten months ending Jan. 21, 1896. His challenge was formally accepted. (1) We demanded that he enter into writings, deposit the money in the hands of judges, who should hear the evidence, and turn the reward over if evidence was produced. (2) We also demanded the production of the reward, the formulation of a properly-written contract upon the terms that Enright should be met in public debate before any congregation he should select, and allow the reward to pass over upon a majority vote of the audience listening to the discussion. Both these offers were refused."

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Now, Mr. Enright's proposition, and that of Mr. Gamble, are two entirely different things. Mr. Enright offers a thousand dollars' reward for anybody who will produce one verse of scripture showing that Sunday observance is obligatory. Mr. Gamble offers to debate the question.

Neither Father Enright, nor anybody else, ever offered a thousand dollars' reward to anybody who would debate the Sabbath question. It may come to that yet, but we have not heard that it has reached that point already. At any rate, whatever may come that is not the situation in this case.

Father Enright's proposition is a very simple one,-a thousand dollars' reward to anybody who will produce one verse of scripture showing that Sunday is the Sabbath. If there is a verse that shows it, that is easy. But Mr. Gamble, and everybody else, knows that there is no verse of scripture that shows any such thing. Professedly in a reply to that, and professedly as an acceptance of that offer calling for one verse of scripture, Mr. Gamble proposes a debate before judges or a congregation, and if the "majority" say that he has proved by arguments, that Sunday is the Sabbath then he is to claim the reward that is offered for the production of one verse of scripture that shows that Sunday-keeping is obligatory. And then, because Mr. Enright will not come over to Mr. Gamble's altogether different proposition, Mr. Gamble loudly proclaims everywhere that Mr. Enright's offer is a "bluff," and that he has made him and the rest "take a back track."

But this is only of a kind with all the rest of his

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book, from beginning to end, and we can not see that there is any need of any further notice of it.

V

Another of Mr. Gamble's errors is in endeavoring to make the keeping of Sunday as the Sabbath the fulfilment of the word in Hebrews 4, that "there remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God." He does not enlarge upon this, as upon the thoughts which we have already examined; but it is the same character of capricious inventiveness as is that of the others; and the true thought in Hebrews 4 is enough of a key to justify our dwelling upon it at length.

First, however, as to Mr. Gamble's scheme in this. In Heb. 4:8, there can be no fair question, that reference is made to Joshua in the Greek form of that word,-"Jesus." This, because the thought is definitely, to the "rest" that was spoken of, and not received, before David lived and spoke; and of which David in his day spoke because the people had not received the rest which had been waiting for them all those days. This is so evident that in the margin, with a reference from the word "Jesus," it is said, "That is, Joshua." But Mr. Gamble makes this verse refer to Jesus Christ, and says:-

"Those wicked, murderous Jews did not believe on Christ, but were doing all they knew how to do, to obtain His crucifixion. Hence, they found no rest of soul. Therefore, they had no hope of the rest eternal, and had no right to a day commemorative of

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the rest present and eternal. Therefore, Christ spoke of 'another day.'"

And again:-

"Paul, about thirty-three years later, in teaching the converted ones of those Jews about the Christian Sabbath's not being identical with the Jewish Sabbath, reminded them that if Jesus had given them rest, then the Lord would not afterward have spoken of another day."

Then again:-

"Paul continued the explanation of that 'other day,' and said, 'There remaineth, therefore, a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God. For he that is entered into His (Jesus Christ's) rest, he also hath ceased from his works, as God did from His.'" Pp. 189, 190.

Upon this he claims that Christ's "work reaches its completion on Sunday morning, when He burst the bonds of death, and rose triumphant over the grave." And "there remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God." P. 191.

It is easy to discover that this Sabbath-keeping that remains to the people of God is the same Sabbath-keeping that there was before; the same Sabbath-keeping that God pointed out in the wilderness; the same Sabbath-keeping as that of the fourth commandment of the "Patriarchal Decalogue;" the same Sabbath-keeping that was given to Adam; identical with the creation Sabbath; and the same Sabbath-keeping that there was at creation, and onward.

In order to find the full thought of Hebrews 4, it is essential that Hebrews 3 shall be studied in connection therewith.

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Sabbath is rest. The Sabbath of the Lord is the rest of the Lord. And the Sabbath day of the Lord is the rest day of the Lord. The word of the Lord is, "The seventh day is the Sabbath [the rest] of the Lord thy God." It is not man's rest, it is God's rest. And so it is written, "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, . . . and rested the seventh day." Ex. 20:11. "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." Gen. 2:2. And "He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest." Heb. 4:4, 5.

Thus in Hebrews 4 the subject is the same precisely as in Gen. 2:2, 3, and in Ex. 20:8-11, the fourth commandment. That subject is the Sabbath of the Lord, God's rest of the seventh day, and being addressed directly to Christians, and in the New Testament, too, it is definite instruction to Christians as to the true Christian observance of the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh day. And this subject in the fourth chapter of Hebrews is simply the continuation of the same subject from the third chapter of Hebrews; and that subject is God's rest of the seventh day. This shows that the Sabbath of the seventh day, the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and its observance, are distinctly treated in the greater part of at least two chapters in the New Testament, and are there addressed directly to Christians.

Let us study the third and fourth chapters of

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Hebrews, and see what is there taught in the Word of God.

In exhorting Christians to faithfulness, thus it is written:-

"As the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known My ways. So I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into MY REST.

"Wherefore take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

"For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

"LET US therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed DO

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enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest ["they shall not enter into My rest"]: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into My rest ["They shall not enter into My rest"].

"Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus ["Joshua," margin] had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore A REST ["The keeping of a Sabbath," margin] to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." Heb. 3:7-19; 4:1-10.

Now note carefully the story as it is thus told:-

It is GOD'S REST into which, by the Holy Ghost, men are exhorted to enter to-day "while it is called To-day."

This rest was prepared at the foundation of the world. For that "the works were finished from the foundation of the world," is proved by the fact that God "spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works." That this rest of the seventh day is God's rest into which men are to enter, is proved by the further fact that "in this place again" He spoke of the seventh day on this wise, "They shall not enter into My rest."

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God's rest is eternal rest. When God made man, He made him that he might enter into and enjoy God's eternal rest, with God. However, this could be only upon the man's personal choice, freely made. The Lord therefore placed him on a season of probation. And in this probation, God prepared for the man, and gave to the man, the introduction to, yes, the very beginning of, this eternal rest, in order that in his probation the man might choose and enjoy God's rest with God.

When God's rest was prepared for man at the foundation of the world, it was in the seventh-day Sabbath that it was prepared. For the seventh day is the Sabbath, the rest, of the Lord thy God, and "the Sabbath was made for man."

So, the seventh day being the Sabbath; the Sabbath being God's rest; and the Sabbath being made for man at the foundation of the world; it is certainly true that it is in the Sabbath that God's rest was prepared for man at the foundation of the world.

The works were finished from the foundation of the world. When the works were finished, the rest was prepared; for then "God did rest . . . from all His works." This rest was prepared in the seventh day; "for God did rest the seventh day from all His works." This rest of God's was at that time prepared for man; for the seventh day is the rest of the Lord thy God; and the rest was made for man.

But through unbelief the man failed to enter into God's rest. He did not abide in God's work, and so he could not enter into God's rest. Through unbelief

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he entered into Satan's works, and so missed God's rest. God's rest never can accompany Satan's works; God's rest accompanies only God's work.

Then, though the man had failed, the rest remained. And in the offering of Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, to the man was given again the opportunity to believe and so find God's rest,-the opportunity to believe, and so to forsake Satan's works and find God's work; and, finding God's work, so also to find God's rest.

God's work is found only in Christ. God's work is righteousness, "even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:22, 23. Accordingly it is written, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." John 6:29.

No man can find God's rest, who has not first found God's work; for "he that is entered into His [God's] rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His." Heb. 4:10. And the only way in which any man can cease from his own works is by finding God's work; and God's work is found only in Christ by faith. Accordingly it is not only written, "This is the work of God that ye believe;" but also, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And "we which have believed do enter into rest." Matt. 11:28; Heb. 4:3. Thus the Sabbath of the Lord is the very seal of righteousness by faith in Christ.

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And so God's rest still remained till the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham and his Seed, which is Christ (Acts 7:17; Gal. 3:16); till the time when God would deliver His people from Egypt, from the world of sin: then He called Israel to enter into His rest,-into this rest which He had prepared for man at the foundation of the world; but into which, man, through unbelief, had failed to enter, and which yet remained for the people of God. For it is written: "Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation." "Thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established." Ex. 15:13, 17; Heb. 8:1, 2; 9:11, 24.

And so God called Israel to enter into His rest,-to enjoy and observe His Sabbath. For the Sabbath is the Lord's, it is God's rest; and "the seventh day is the Sabbath."

But Israel also failed to enter into God's rest; Israel would not believe, and so could not enter in. For "I sware in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest." But "to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief."

What! did Israel not keep the Sabbath?-No; how could they, when they did not believe? But did they not rest on the seventh day?-Oh, yes, they rested on the seventh day; but for all that they did not keep the

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Sabbath. There is a great difference between resting on the seventh day, and keeping the Sabbath. A person might rest on the seventh day all his life, and yet never keep the Sabbath. The seventh day is not the Sabbath because it is the seventh day. The seventh day is the Sabbath because GOD MADE IT THE SABBATH.

The Sabbath of the Lord is God's rest: only he who finds God's rest finds the true Sabbath; and only he who keeps God's rest can truly keep the Sabbath. True Sabbath-keeping depends altogether upon whether a person finds God's rest, instead of his own, on the seventh day. Israel rested on the seventh day, it is true; but it was only their own rest that they found, and entered into, on the Sabbath day; because they did not believe in Christ, that, by finding in Him God's work, they might also find in Him God's rest, which they might keep. They "saw" His "works forty years;" but they "believed not," and entered not into His works; and so could not enter into His rest.

God's rest is spiritual; only he who is spiritual can enter into it, and only he who is of faith is spiritual: therefore only he who is of faith can enter into God's rest; only he who is of faith can keep the Sabbath of the Lord. And, though it is true that a person might rest on the seventh day all his life without once truly observing the Sabbath, yet he can not truly observe the Sabbath without resting on the seventh day; for "God did rest the seventh day," and it is in the seventh day that God's rest is found.

But Israel did not believe, and so could not enter into God's rest; "howbeit not all that came out of

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Egypt by Moses," but with the vast majority it was so. And thus Israel, like man at first, through unbelief missed God's rest, which was prepared at the foundation of the world, and which had waited so long for men to enter. And the vast majority of the Jews in the day when Jesus was on earth in the flesh, did the same. But the Christian Sabbath-keepers, to whom the book of Hebrews was written, knew what a fearful mistake Israel had made. And so do the Christian Sabbath-keepers of to-day know it.

Yet though Israel failed to enter into God's rest, that rest did not fail: it still remains, and waits for men to enter it. Though Israel failed to discern in the seventh day God's rest, and so missed it; that rest, that Sabbath, of the seventh day did not vanish away: it still, even to-day, "remaineth," and waits for man to enter into it. For "seeing . . . that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; . . . to-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God;" and this rest is God's rest, which Adam missed, and which Israel missed; but which, in the Lord's mercy, still remains for all people to enter, and for God's people to enjoy.

This rest that remains is the Sabbath; for the margin of the verse gives the literal Greek: "There remaineth therefore a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God." And this Sabbath that remains is the creation

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seventh-day Sabbath; for in this place it is written, in direct connection: "He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again [He spoke of the seventh day on this wise], They shall not enter into My rest." Then seeing that some must enter into that rest, and seeing that man at the beginning, and Israel at the time of the promise and at the time of Christ in the flesh, did not enter in, there remains therefore to the people of God this same Sabbath, which is "the seventh day."

Again: It is written that there "remaineth . . . a rest"-the keeping of a Sabbath-"to the people of God." Now that which remains is something left over, something continued of what was before. But the only Sabbath that there was before, in which was God's rest, was the creation seventh-day Sabbath,-Saturday. And as there remains a Sabbath; as whatever remains is something continued of what was before; and as the seventh-day Sabbath is the only Sabbath that there was before, in which was God's rest; it is therefore the very certainty of truth that the Sabbath which remaineth is the Sabbath of the seventh day; for "God did rest the seventh day."

Yet again: Whatever remains is something left over, something continued, of what was before. The remainder is not the beginning of a thing. "That which remaineth" can not correctly be spoken of anything newly begun, of something only just now being set up. Now the most extreme claim for the origin of Sunday, the first day of the week, as a "day of rest," or "the

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Christian sabbath," is that it was in "the primitive church" "in the apostolic times." Therefore as, according to their own claim, that time was but the beginning of Sunday observance as a day of rest; and as what remains is something left over, something continued, of what was before, it is the very certainty of truth that this "rest," this "keeping of a Sabbath," that "remaineth to the people of God," is NOT the rest of the first day of the week, commonly called Sunday, which, according to their own claim, was just then having its beginning; but IS the rest of the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord, commonly called Saturday, which was prepared at the foundation of the world, which waited for Israel to enter in, and which, thank the Lord! yet "REMAINETH to the people of God."

Does any one say, "The Sabbath was abolished"?-God says it remaineth.

Does any one say, "The Sabbath of the seventh day was changed in the days of the apostles, and by the apostles"?-The Word of God, written in the days of the apostles, and by an apostle, declares that it "remaineth."

Does any one say that the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath is not for Christians?-The Word of God, with direct reference to the keeping of the Sabbath, "the seventh day" on which "God rested," says that it "remaineth" "to the people of God." Are not Christians the people of God? As certainly therefore as Christians are the people of God, so certainly the keeping of the Sabbath, "the seventh day," God's

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rest, "remaineth" to Christians. The Word of the Lord says so. Whether "Christians" will have it or not, that is for them to say; but the Lord says it "remaineth" to them. Why should "Christians" refuse to have it remain? When God says it "remaineth" "to the people of God," how can they refuse to have it remain, and still be the people of God?

And this "rest," this "Sabbath," of the seventh day, which "remaineth," is God's rest, is God's Sabbath; for "He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day. . . . And in this place again [He spoke of the seventh day on this wise], they shall enter into My rest."

God is the eternal God. His rest is, therefore, eternal rest. And the seventh day is the rest, the Sabbath, of the Lord thy God. Therefore, the Sabbath, the rest of the seventh day, being God's rest, is eternal rest.

It was prepared for man to enter into and enjoy, at the foundation of the world. Through unbelief the man failed to enter into it. It waited till the time which God had sworn to Abraham; yet, through unbelief, the people then failed to enter in. It waited then till the day of Christ in the flesh; and still through unbelief, the people then failed to enter in. And still, "to-day," it remains; for "some must enter therein." "Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, . . . Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest

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any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." For He has limited a certain day, saying, still, "To-day, after so long a time; . . . to-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

It is the indisputable truth that in the greater part of at least two chapters of our New Testament there is an explicit treatise on the Sabbath,-the seventh day,-and the obligation of God's people to observe it, covering all time "from the foundation of the world" unto "to-day, while it is called To-day."

Yet, sad to say, even to-day, as at the foundation of the world, as at the time of the coming out of Egypt of old, and as in the days of Christ in the flesh, the great mass of God's professed people still will not hear His voice, but harden their hearts and tempt Him, and grieve Him, and do err in their heart, and have not known His ways: and thus still by their unbelief He is compelled to swear in His wrath, "They shall not enter into My rest,"-this blessed rest which from the foundation of the world has remained, and still remains, to the people of God.

How long shall it be before God's people will believe Him? Come, Brother Gamble; come, all God's people, everywhere, "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Let us enter into God's rest,-that holy rest of the blessed seventh day. For God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it; because that in it He had rested.

Why should Christians, professing to be "followers

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of God," refuse to do on the seventh day what God did on the seventh day, simply because it is the seventh day? They are all willing to rest-yea, they are not only willing to rest, but also to compel everybody else to rest; but they are not willing to rest the day on which God rested. They are not willing to enter into God's rest. Is that loyalty? Is that the way of God which they choose? or is it their own way? "Take heed, brethren, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."