The Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment not Altered but Confirmed by the Atonement.
By Zebina Marsh
IT has often been said by our brethren and sisters, and is confirmed by the Scriptures, that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was given in honor of God's resting on the seventh day from the work of creation. Ex. xx, 11, compared with Gen. ii, 2, 3. From these, as well as many other passages of Scripture, we find that the Sabbath was given at the time of the finishing of the work of creation, and in honor of that work, or of the rest on that day, of God the author of that work. But it is said in the Scriptures that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; and how was it made for man? From the scriptures already quoted, we find that it was made while the earth was in purity, and while Adam was the only man on the earth; and it was made for him, and, through him, for all his posterity. So then we see that it was not made for the children of Israel exclusively, but for all mankind; and we also find that the seventh day is the Sabbath. But it is said at the present time by almost all people, that it was changed at the resurrection of Christ; for he (Christ) finished the atonement on the first day of the week when he arose from the dead. But supposing that this was the case, it would not prove anything like the change of the Sabbath; but did he then finish the atonement? Let the Scriptures speak on this point? I have never heard it stated that it was later in the week when he was crucified, than the sixth day, or Friday at 3 o'clock P. M.; or, Bible reckoning, at the 9th hour, when he died. Compare Matt. xxvii, 46-50, with Mark xv, 33-37, and Luke xxiii, 44-46; and in John xix, 28, and onward, we find the history as follows: Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished that the Scriptures might be fulfilled declared himself thirsty; and they gave him some vinegar; and in verse 30 he says, It is finished; and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, or died: now I would ask any one to tell me what was finished if the atonement was not? and if the atonement was here finished, it was finished on the sixth day, or Friday. At the resurrection an angel is commissioned to come down in the presence of the Roman guard, and also of the women who are come to anoint him, and rolls back the sealed stone, and comforts the women and consigns to them a labor to do immediately; that is, to go and tell his disciples that he has risen. Neither Jesus nor the angel tells them to rest on that day and keep it as a Sabbath; but we find him and also the disciples in their ordinary business; so that if this was the Christian Sabbath then both Christ and the disciples did break it; and we find two of the disciples traveling on that day to Emmaus, which was about three-score furlongs from Jerusalem; which is 7 1/2 miles; and Jesus himself journeys with them and there makes himself known to them, and they return on the same night to Jerusalem, making a journey of fifteen miles on the Sabbath if the first day of the week is the Sabbath. Now I ask any one who is contending that the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week to bring so much as one precept, or one example from the Bible; but until this can be done I am obliged to rest on the seventh day and labor on the first. May God bless us all, my brethren and sisters, and save us from the fables of these last days. I remain your unworthy brother striving to keep the commandments of God, and trust that I have the faith of Jesus. ZEBINA MARSH.
South Hadley, Mass., July 30th, 1854.