Bible Readings for the Home Circle Part 130

1. What kind of worship does Christ say results from doctrines based on the commandments of men?

"_But in vain they do worship Me_, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matt. 15:9.

2. What commandment did Christ say the Pharisees had made void by their teaching?

"For _G.o.d commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother_.... But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free." Verses 4-6.

3. What was the result of their course?

"Thus have ye _made the commandment of G.o.d of none effect_ by your tradition." Verse 6.

NOTE.-By a gift or dedication of property to the temple service, they taught that a man might be freed from the duties enjoined by the fifth commandment.

4. What question did the disciples soon afterward ask Christ?

"_Knowest Thou that the Pharisees were offended_, after they heard this saying?" Verse 12.

5. What answer did the Saviour make?

"But He answered and said, _Every plant, which My Heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up_." Verse 13.

NOTE.-What is true of the fifth commandment is true of every other commandment. If through tradition men set aside any other of G.o.d's commandments, the words of Christ to the Pharisees are equally applicable to them. They are guilty of making void the commandment of G.o.d, and of inst.i.tuting vain worship.

6. When, and by whom, was the Sabbath "planted"?

"For in six days _the Lord_ made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and _rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it_." Ex. 20:11.

7. Who claims to have planted the Sunday inst.i.tution?

"_Question._-Has _the [Catholic] church_ power to make any alterations in the commandments of G.o.d?

"_Answer._-... Instead of the seventh day, and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holy days to be set apart for G.o.d's worship; and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of G.o.d's commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath."-_"__Catholic Christian Instructed,__"__ by the Rt. Rev. Dr.

Challoner, page 211._

NOTE.-"We Catholics, then, have precisely the same authority for keeping Sunday holy, instead of Sat.u.r.day, as we have for every other article of our creed; namely, the authority of '_the church_ of the living G.o.d, the pillar and ground of the truth' (1 Tim.

3:15); whereas, you who are Protestants have really no authority for it whatever; for _there is no authority for it in the Bible_, and you will not allow that there _can be_ authority for it anywhere else. Both you and we do, in fact, follow _tradition_ in this matter; but _we_ follow it, believing it to be a part of G.o.d's word, and the church to be its divinely appointed guardian and interpreter; _you_ follow it, denouncing it all the time as a fallible and treacherous guide, which often 'makes the commandment of G.o.d of none effect.' "-_"__Clifton Tracts,__"__ Vol. IV, article __"__A Question for All Bible Christians,__"__ page 15._

For further quotations on this, see pages 441, 444, 455, 456.

8. When is final salvation to be brought to G.o.d's people?

"Who are kept by the power of G.o.d through faith _unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time_." 1 Peter 1:5.

9. When G.o.d's salvation is _near to come_, upon whom does He p.r.o.nounce a blessing?

"Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. _Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it_, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil."

Isa. 56:1, 2.

10. Is this promised blessing confined to any one cla.s.s?

"_Also the sons of the_ STRANGER that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, _every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it_, and taketh hold of My covenant; _even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer_." Verses 6, 7.

NOTE.-It is evident from these scriptures that in the last day, when men are waiting for the Saviour to appear, there will be a call for those who really love the Lord to separate themselves from the world, to observe the Lord's true Sabbath, and to depart from all evil.

11. What does G.o.d tell His ministers to do at this time?

"_Cry aloud, spare not_, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and _show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins_." Isa.

58:1.

12. What message of Sabbath reform does He send?

"If thou _turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day_; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Verses 13, 14.

NOTE.-The Sabbath of Jehovah is not now, by the majority even of professed Christians, called holy and honorable. By many it is stigmatized as "Jewish." The Lord foresaw how this would be in this age, and inspired the prophet to write as he did. "_If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath._" This is a strong expression, indicating that many would be trampling upon G.o.d's day, and doing their own pleasure upon it, instead of seeking G.o.d, and honoring Him by keeping the Sabbath holy.

13. What will those be called who engage in this reformation?

"And thou shalt be called, _The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in_." Verse 12.

14. What does another prophet say professed teachers among G.o.d's people have done?

"Her priests have _violated My law_, and have _profaned Mine holy things_: they have _put no difference between the holy and profane_; neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, _and have hid their eyes from My Sabbaths_, and I am profaned among them." Eze. 22:26.

15. What have they done to maintain their theories?

"And her prophets have _daubed them with untempered mortar_, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, _Thus saith the Lord G.o.d, when the Lord hath not spoken_." Verse 28.

NOTES.-Untempered mortar is that which is improperly worked, and will not therefore hold together or stand the test. Thus it is with the reasons advanced for keeping Sunday instead of the Bible Sabbath, the seventh day. They are not only unsound and untenable in themselves, but are utterly inconsistent, contradictory, and destructive one of the other, among themselves. They are like the witnesses employed by the Jewish leaders to condemn Christ. Of these the record says: "The chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put Him to death; and found none. For many bare _false witness_ against Him, but _their witness agreed not together_." Mark 14:55, 56. The lack of _agreement_ among them was evidence in itself of the _falsity_ of their testimony. In nothing, perhaps, is a lack of agreement better ill.u.s.trated than in the reasons a.s.signed for Sunday-keeping. Note the following:-

One says the Sabbath has been _changed_ from the seventh to the first day of the week.

Another says that the Sabbath commandment requires only one day of rest after six of labor, and hence _there has been no change_.

Some reason that all ought to keep Sunday, because although, as they affirm, G.o.d did not appoint a _particular_ day, yet _agreement_ is necessary; and to have any or every day a sabbath would be equal to no sabbath at all.

Others, to avoid the claims of G.o.d's law, a.s.sert that the Sabbath precept is one of those ordinances which was _against us, contrary to us, blotted out, and nailed to the cross_. Still, they admit that a day of rest and convocation is necessary, and therefore the day of Christ's resurrection, they say, has been chosen.