--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Fredric Clift collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 9 published: 1905-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Fredric Clift, "The Sabbath Day," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 9 (July 1905): 641–655.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0809unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0809unse start_page: 641 end_page: 655 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0809unse publication_year: 1905 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Sabbath Day Vol. VIII. JULY, 1905. No. 9. THE SABBATH DAY.* FROM GENESIS TO REVELATION. BY FREDRIC CLIFT, M. D., BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY. In a previous articlef entitled, Sunday in the New Testament, it was shown that Christ and his apostles adopted the first day of the week for the breaking of bread and the offering of prayer and praise. It was also shown that owing to a mistranslation of the * This and the previous article entitled, Sunday in the New Testament, are commended to the notice of missionaries, especially those called upon to labor in certain fields, where the observance of the Seventh day Sabbath is made the pivot around which the gospel must turn. As our friends will not accept modern revelation, we must meet them on their own ground; and these articles are designed to confute Seventh day arguments, both from the philological and historic standpoints. The question is a side issue, but we are often called upon to meet it, before we are allowed to state or discuss the doctrines of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to previous writers on this subject for many facts and thoughts, and especially to Messrs. Warner, Lean and "Pudens."— F. C. f Improvement Era, April, 1905. €42 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Greek word "Sabbaton," in a number of places, the first day of the week, or Sunday, was deprived of its Sabbatical character, and that in so doing the King James and associated versions followed the errors of the Presbyterian or Genevan Bible of 1557, A. D. Let us now consider the subject from the purely historical standpoint of both Old and New Testaments. Mark opens his gospel by declaring, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God," and it is elsewhere stated, "The law was until John." Paul, however, in Galatians 3, declares: "The scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham;" and he further writes, "And this I say, thatthe covenant [with Abraham], that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterward be revealed [in Christ]. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." From this we understand that the gospel was upon the earth, prior to the time when the law of carnal commandments was given to Moses. We accept the fact that there have been several dispensations of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that Abraham, amongst others, lived in such a dispensation, and was enabled to look forward in faith to the coming and death of Christ; and, further, that having sufficient faith, he accepted his atoning sacrifice, and that thus "even as Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness." The question may be asked, did the gospel dispensation under which Abraham lived require him, under penalty of law, to observe the Sabbath? Before considering the evidence contained in the Bible itself, let us recall the belief and practice of the early Christians. They had just emerged from under the tutelage of those who had received the gospel from the very lips of our Lord himself, and must, therefore, be presumed to have been in touch with its spirit. We find that Eu3ebius, the earliest Christian Church historian, born in Judea, A. D. 270, says, "The Patriarchs had not the Sabbath of the law," and Book I, chapter 4, referring to in those who lived before Abraham, writes, "They did not, therefore, — THE SABBATH DAY. 643 regard circumcision nor observe the Sabbath, neither do we, neither do we abstain from certain foods, or regard other injunctions which Moses subsequently delivered to be observed in types and symbols, because such things as these do not belong to Christians." If this is true, neither do they belong to us, for we, like Christ himself, are free from the law of Moses. We render obedience to the law of the gospel, summaries of which are found in Matthew 22: 35-40 and 19: 17-19. Christ promulgated no Sabbath law, and Paul, when preaching that self-same gospel, reiterates Christ's commands in Romans 13: 9, and further explains the position in Romans 6: 14, 15, "For ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." This does not mean that Christians have no Sabbath. Their Sabbath is one of commemoration, prayer, praise and thanksgiving. They keep it not because of any law, but because they are led by the Spirit, "having received the promise of the spirit through faith," which has led them to reverence the day of the resurrection and each succeeding first day of the week as the "Lord's day.'' The Sabbatical character of the first day is fully established by the writings and practice of the apostles and their immediate successors. It is a day of great activity in the vineyard of the Lord whereas, the Jews were not allowed to do any manner of work. The Christian world believes today that the principles of moral right and wrong, which prevailed before the law was published on Sinai, prevail now, and that such spiritual laws — as distinguished from the carnal laws of Moses — have remained unchanged since the covenant made by Moses, on behalf of the Israelites, was abolished by Christ. The nature of the gospel law is unchangeable, for although, owing to the perversity of men, it may be necessary to suspend its enactments and provide a temporary law, as in the case of the law of Moses, yet the fundamental law remains the same, and is in force for those whose lives are in accord with the Supreme will. This is proved by a reference to Doctrine and Covenants 59: 9-12, where the spirit of the Gospel Sabbath law, is once more proclaimed to the people of God. Let us examine and learn whether these statements are supported or not by the facts as given to us in the Bible. In Genesis 2: 2, 3, we find that God rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. This work, as shown in verses 4 and 5, was the spiritual creation of the earth, including the spiritual Adam, together with every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. It was after this spiritual work was finished that God, our Father, rested — there is no record that the spiritual Adam rested or that he received a Sabbath law. Time having been allowed for God's laws to mature, the material creation by Jehovah God, followed, and man was given an earthly, in addition to the spiritual, body which he already possessed, and these two bodies became a living soul. Let us recall Paul's statement in I Corinthians 15: 44, "There a natural body, and there is a spiritual is body The first man is of the earth, earthy." Whilst John the Baptist declares, (John 3: 31) "he, that is of the earth, is earthly." This earthly creation is still incomplete, for a great multitude of spirits who kept their first estate have not yet received their mortal bodies, and God's rest from his material creation of this earth and its inhabitants is yet a future event. There is no record that the earthly Adam received a Sabbath law, or that God or Adam observed it whilst the earth remained in its paradisical condition. Not that there was no Sabbath, but Adam and the patriarchs, like Paul, regarded each day alike. "He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it." (Romans 14: 6.) There is no evidence to show that any Sabbath law was, subsequently, after the expulsion from Eden, given to Adam or his immediate descendants. The evidence all points to the contrary, for when God blessed Noah and made a covenant with him, (Genesis 9: 8) nothing was said touching a Sabbath law. So, too, when Abraham (Genesis 17: 8) entered into covenant with God, and the law of circumcision was given, no reference is found to any Sabbath law. This, as we learn from Paul, was 430 years before the delivery of the law to Moses on Sinai. Consider, the people became so wicked that all but eight souls were destroyed, and, although the Bible describes and gives details of the crimes of the sons of God and of men, as also those of the immediate descendants of Abraham 1HE SABBATH DAY. 645 during the 430 years, yet not one single reference is therein made to the breaking by them of any Sabbath law. If this law had been delivered to Adam, is it possible, judging from what the Bible has to say about the Sabbath, after it was given to Moses and recorded by hia in Exodus 20, that God would have failed to inspire that same Moses to record the giving of such a law to the Antediluvians, Noah, Abraham, and other seekers after God? It is incredible that such a thing should be. The first Old Testament reference to a keeping of the Sabbath by any of the descendants of Adam is found in Exodus 16: 23-29, where directions are given to the Israelites for the gathering of manna, and preparation of food on the sixth day for use on the following, or Sabbath day. This brings us to the delivery of the ten commandments, written on two tables of stone, as narrated in Exodus 20, the Sabbath law being found in verses 8 and 11. The question arises, with whom was this covenant made ? It was made between Jehovah God, and the children of Israel, after they had come up out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 5: 2 declares: "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our Fathers; (Jacob, Abraham, Noah) but with us, even us who are all of us here alive this day." Our Father, determined that there should be no room for mistake on this point, inspired Nehemiah to write as follows (9: 13), "Thou earnest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger," thus coupling together the two events found narrated in Exodus 16 and 20. Further, inspired Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 4: 13: "And he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments, and he wrote them on two tables of stone," and in order that no error might creep in, as to the identity of these laws or any addition thereto, the same inspired author in Deuteronomy 5: 22, says, "These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly, in the Mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and he added no more— and he wrote them in two tables of stone and delivered them to me." And in Deuteronomy 9:9, we have this further statement identifying the two tables of stone with the tables of the covenant, "And when I was gone up into the Mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the Lord gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant." It will be remembered that the tables of the covenant were placed in the Ark, and we find Solomon, in speaking of the temple tnat he built for the Lord, (I Kings 8: 21), says, "And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the Lord which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt." Inspired Paul, writing to the Hebrews 9:4, referring to the rites and sacrifices of the law, says, "Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and the tables of the covenant." The children of Israel failed, however, to live up to this, their covenant with God, and as a result, we find the prophet Hosea declaring God's anger, and saying, "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts." This prophecy as we know came true. Troubles followed fast and thick; the children of Israel, after the death of Solomon, were rent asunder into two hostile nations. Jeroboam, King of Israel, caused his people to sin by setting up an idolatrous form of religion, that of Baal, at Bethel, and in Dan. This apostasy led to their captivity in Assyria, and their final dispersion amongst the nations of the world. The house of Judah were carried captive to Babylonia, but having profited somewhat by their punishment, were allowed to return to Judea, where they continued until their final act of apostasy, the rejection of their promised Messiah — the Christ — which made them once more outcasts upon the face of the earth. Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath, endeavored to teach his people the principles of the gospel Sabbath, but they "sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God" (John 5, 18). That Jesus was indeed Lord of the Sabbath, is not only declared by Christ himself,(Mark 2: 28) but also by Paul in Ephesians 1: 22, where he states that "God hath put all things under his feet, and THE SABBATH DAY. 647 gave him to be head over all things to the church." This included authority to delegate power to others, and it was under this authority that the apostles, at the first Council of the Church at Jerusalem in A. D. 50, declared the abolition of the law, or covenant of circumcision, and subsequently sanctioned the gradual abolition of feast days, new moons and Sabbaths, including the feast of the Passover. It was under this power, given to him by his Father, and our Father, that Jesus promulgated the two great gospel commandments, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets." Paul, recognizing the fact that Christians are not under the law, but under grace, amplifies the gospel law, (Romans 13: 9,) and says, "Thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, viz., thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Having thus stated the gospel or Christ's law, in which no reference is made either by Christ himself, or Paul, to the keeping of the Sabbath, we find that the latter further adds, "Wherefore my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ;" and, as people even in his day had already begun to enjoy disputations, he says,Romans 14: 1-6, "Him that is weak in the f aith,receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one bplieveth that he may eat all things, another, who is weak eateth herbs; let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every— man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord and he that regardeth not the ; day, to the Lord he doth not regard it." In II Corinthians 3, Paul compares the law of Moses with that of the gospel, saying, "Who hath made us able ministers of the new testament, (covenant) not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." As showing that the law had been abolished, Paul writing to the Hebrews 7: 12, declared, "For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law." When, through the hardness of heart of the descendants of Jacob, God withdrew the gospel and gave, in place thereof, the law of carnal commandments, there was a change of priesthood. The liead of the Melchizedek priesthood is Jesus Christ, it is therefore necessarily the controlling priesthood of the gospel. Where there is no gospel, there is no need for the higher priesthood. Consequently, Moses was in that dispensation the last to hold the keys, and although individuals thereafter, occasionally, held the priesthood, they did not act in that calling until Christ came and restored the gospel in its fulness of priesthood and power. During Mosaic times, the Aaronic priesthood acted as the schoolmaster, and sought by force of penalties to compel the Israelites and Jews to live up to the covenant made by them with their Father in heaven, but history relates their continued failure. With the restoration of the gospel and its accompanying priesthood, Jesus, as the great High Priest thereof, became the surety of a better testament (covenant) whereby God through his servant Paul declared, (Hebrews 8: 10), "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, said the Lord. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." These gospel laws were written in the minds and hearts of the Patriarchs, but when their descendants, after their deliverance from Egypt, hardened their hearts, the gospel was taken from them, the carnal law of Moses taking its place. Now, however, we are made free, and are no longer under the schoolmaster, for Christ says, "Lo, I come to do thy will, God," and Paul adds, "He has taken away the first that he may establish the second." Let us now deal with another phase of the question. In all, these scriptures —these ten commandments written on the tables of stone —and "no more," constitute the covenant between God and the people of Israel. Seventh- day worshipers, however, when brought face to face with the indisputable facts, must admit defeat or find some new ground for disputation. Accordingly, when THE SABBATH DAY. 649 compelled to admit that the covenant was a temporary law given for a specific purpose, that it was limited to the Israelites and their descendants, and that same was abolished by Christ or his apostles acting under his authority, they shift their ground, and hunt up some uninspired dictionary for a definition of the word covenant. Having found therein that a covenant is a mutual agreement between two or more persons, they refer to Exodus 19: 5-8, "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant And all the people answered together and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do." It is claimed that this, and nothing else, was the covenant that was made between God and the Israelites, because, forsooth, a "covenant is a mutual agreement between two or more persons," and that, consequently, the ten commandments are still in force, inasmuch as they do not constitute a covenant within the dictionary definition. If so, why did Christ and Paul, as already shown, reiterate some of them and omit others? Let us, however, seek inspiration from the Lord, and accept his definition of the particular covenant made between himself and Israel as follows (Deuteronomy, 5: 22-23): "These words the Lord spoke unto all your assembly in the mount out of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness; and he aided no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone and delivered them unto me." This definition or identification is complete, but Moses clinches the matter in Deuteronomy 9: 9 "When I was — gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you." Furthermore, after the Lord had, in Exodus 20, spoken "All these words," — the ten commandments— Moses came and wrote all the words of the Lord, including the commandments "And he took the book of the covenant and read it in the audience of the people, and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient." Then came the reason for keeping the Sabbath day by the Israelites, as related in Exodus 31: 13: "Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations." It has been asserted that the Sabbath law given on Mount Sinai formed part of Gods organic or constitutional law, and was therefore immutable and unchangeable. Yet here we find God declaring that was a sign only. Notwithstanding, therefore, it that our friends would limit Christ's power and authority, and de_ prive him of part of the fruits of his victory over death, we find that those to whom he delegated his power, abolished circumcision as also the passover: both of which had been established as signs, and were as immutable as the Sabbath law itself. In reporting the judgment given at the council of Jerusalem in relation to the sign of circumcision, Luke says (Acts 15: 28): "For it seemed good : to the Holy Ghost and to us. The authority delegated to the ' apostles was therefore no empty sham, but was approved by God himself. That Christ and his apostles did abolish this Sabbath sign is proved by reference to the Gree"k text of the New Testament. This has been fully discussed in the previous article. It will be remembered that John, in Revelation 1- 10, refers to the "Lord's day." It has been asserted by some that he referred to the Jewish or Saturday Sabbath, while some Roman Catholic writers, in controversy with the Protestant sects, by connecting the events of the fourth chapter with those of the preceding chapters, seek to show that this expression refers to the judgment day, which is yet to come. It is not to be presumed that the whole of the reveThey lations were received by John on this one particular Sunday. were no doubt spread over several days, perhaps weeks, or even months. Either construction is entirely foreign to the current views and writings of the immediate followers of the apostles, and who were known as the apostolic fathers. They invariably refer to Sunday, the first day of the week, as the Christian Sabbath or the Lord's day. And in doing this, they bear testimony to a fact within their individual knowledge —not to an opinion. Justin Martyr, born A. D. 114, less than twenty years after John wrote bis gospel, in his Apology, chapter 67, says: "And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the apostles, or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits. Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly For he was crucified on the day before that of Saturn (Saturday) and on the day after that of Saturn, which is the : THE SABBATH DAY. 651 day of the sun, having appeared to his apostles and disciples, he taught them." Barnabus, at the close of the first century, writes, "Wherefore we keep the eighth day with joyfulness." Eusebius, A. D. 270, in book 4, chapter 23, quoting Dionysius, says "Today we have passed the Lord's holy day, in which we have read your epistle," and in chapter 26 he mentions a work written, by Melito, entitled, "On the Lord's day." This book was then extant, but is now lost. Hilary, A.D. 360, writes: "On the Lord's day Christians enjoy the felicity of a perfect Sabbath." St. Ignatius, the pupil of St. John, in A. D. 107, in his epistle to the Magnesians, 8, 9, 10, writes: "Be not deceived with strange doctrines nor with old fables, which are unprofitable, for if we still continue to live according to Jewish law, we do confess ourselves not to have received grace; for even the most holy prophets lived according to Jesus Christ Wherefore, if they who were brought up in these ancient law3 come nevertheless to the newness of hope, no longer observing Sabbaths, but keeping the Lord's day Wherefore, being become his disciples, let us learn to live according to the rules of Christianity Lay aside, therefore, the old and sour and evil leaven; and be ye changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ It is absurd to name Jesus Christ and to Judaize." Tertullian, A.D. 200, says: "We celebrate Sunday as a joyful day." In the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, written in the first or second century, the genuineness of which is universally admitted, we find, in chapter 14: "But on the Lord's day do ye assemble and break bread and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions, in order that your sacrifice may be pure. But every one that hath controversy with his friend, let him not come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned." Bede, our own Anglo-Saxon historian, A. D., 664, book 3, chapter 25, writing of Easter day and St. John the Revelator, says: "And when that day came, if the Lord's day, then called the first after the Sabbath" Clement, Origen and others, all offer evidence to the same effect. This cumulative evidence of the early Christian writers is confirmed by a heathen writer, Pliny, governor of Bithynia, who, in a letter written to Trajan, the then emperor of Rome, about A. D. 103, says, referring to the Christians: "They meet on a certain stated day, before it is light, and address themselves in a form of prayer to Christ, as to some god." A certain stated day —not the Jewish Sabbath, with which Pliny was acquainted; but they met on a day peculiar to the Christian faith. Paul says, Hebrews 4:4: "Again he limiteth a certain day." It is claimed by some that the Christian fathers and early writers were heretics, and that their testimony is not to be received; but when we read in their histories and writings that the primitive church held and practiced certain things, and we find the same things taught in the inspired word, then we are entitled to rely on such historic records, and receive their testimony as to what the church held and practiced in their day, without being compelled to receive as sound doctrine all that they individually teach or their application of scripture proofs. Dr. Pusey, in his preface to the Oxford Library of the Fathers, says: "We become assured that we know what was the Apostolic doctrine, when we have the agreement of early and independent witnesses as to that doctrine." Mosheim, 1 cent., part 2, chapter 4, sec. 4, sums up this part of the argument thus: "There are certain laws whose authority and < bligations were universal and indispensable among Christians. All Christians were unanimous in setting apart the first day of the week on which the triumphant Savior arose from the dead, for the solemn celebration of public worship. This custom was derived from the example of the church of Jerusalem, was founded upon the express appointment of the apostles, and was observed universally by all the Christian churches, as appears from the united testimony of the most credible writers." Mrs. White, a writer on this subject, in Great Controversy, page 55, says: "Satan tampered with the fourth commandment also, and essayed to set aside the ancient Sabbath, and in its stead exalt the festival observed by the heathen as the venerable day of the sun. Constantine, while still a heathen, issued a decree THE SABBATH DAY. 653 enjoining the general observance of Sunday as a public festival throughout the Roman empire. A few years after the issue of Constantine's decree (about A. D. 320) the Bishop of Rome conferred on Sunday the title of the Lord's day; still the original Sabbath was kept. The observance of Sunday as a Christian institution has its origin in the mystery of lawlessness." She calls the Lord's day "a child of the papacy;" but does not cite the Bible or early church history to prove it. On the contrary, John, in A. D. 96, calls the first day of the week, "Sabbaton," in his gospel 20: 1 and 19, and "Lord's day" in his book of Revelations, 1 : 10. Yet Mrs. White endeavors to convey the impression that Constantine was the author of the Christian Sabbath, and the Pope the inventor of the term "Lord's day." She readily accepts the Roman Catholic claim to priority of invention or -copyright in the name, but the Protestant world rejects arguments founded on a falsification of history, as vigorously as it refuses to acknowledge Peter as the first pope of Rome. The law of Moses was full of types and signs of the coming of the promised Savior, the Messiah. The feast of Pentecost was one of these types, and foreshadowed the redeeming offering of Christ himself. We find in Acts 2: 1 that "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place." It may be asked, on what day of the week did this particular feast occur, so full of important events in relation to the establishment of the church of Jesus Christ? It was the first day of the week, known later as the "Lord's day," or Sunday. Our subject leads us to inquire as to the origin and symbolical meaning of this feast of Pentecost. A reference to Leviticus 23: 10 shows Moses speaking to the children of Israel, when giving directions in respect to the feast of harvest, as follows: "When ye come into the land which I giv<* unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the fruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it, and ye shall offer that day, when ye wave the sheaf, an he lamb without blemish of the first year, for a burnt offering unto the Lord," From this we learn, first, that the wave offering was made on the — day after a particular Sabbath, thus making it the eighth or first day of the week; second, that the lamb was typical of Christ and his death and resurrection on the first day of the week; third, that the wave offering was typical of the harvesting of the souls of men. "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept" (I Cor. 15: 20). In the same chapter in Leviticus we find Moses directing the people as follows: "Ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath, from the day ye brought the sheaf of wave offering, seven Sabbaths shall be complete" viz., forty-nine days — "even unto the morrow after the seventh Sabbath, shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord." We find that the ascension of our Lord took place on the fortieth day after his resurrection — on a Thursday. Ten days later, viz., the fiftieth day from the resurrection "Sabbaton,"was the day of Pentecost, that being the morrow after the seventh Sabbath from the waving of the sheaf. On this first day of the week, or Sunday, therefore, when the Jews were gathered together in the temple, offering a new meat offering unto the Lord, the disciples, in accordance with Christ's command, "that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father," were found with one accord in one place, gathered together for their weekly service of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. Then the promise was fulfilled, "and suddenly there a came sound and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude (including, no doubt, many Jews from the temple) came together." This was the first day of the week, or Sunday, and it commemorated not only the resurrection, or harvesting of the souls of men, but also, the opening up of the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. Objection is sometimes made that the first day of the week is also called the eighth day of the week; it should cause no disputation. It is a mere question of excluding or including the first day in the reckoning. In Leviticus 23: 35, we find: "On the first day shall be a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein. Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, on the eighth day shall be a holy convocation unto you." In Numbers 29: 35: "On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly." In II Chronicles 7: 9. "And in the eighth day they made a solemn THE SABBATH BAY. 655 assembly;" and in Nehemiah 8: 18: "And they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly," a Sabbath, typical of the Christian Sabbath. It is submitted that the foregoing fact3 constitute a chain of evidence, every link of which is perfect, and they substantiate the following propositions: 1. That Adam and his descendants down to the time of Moses were in possession of, and lived under the gospel of Jesus Christ. 2. That no Sabbath law was given prior to the time of Moses. 3. That i t was given as a sign between God and the children of Israel, and as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ. 4. That the Sabbath law was not an organic or immutable law. 5. That Christ had authority to change it. 6. That Christ did change it, and gave authority to his apostles to make such changes in the law as the Holy Ghost might indicate. 7. That in the original Greek text of the Bible the last day of the week and first day of the week are both called "Sabbaton," or Sabbath. 8. That the first day of the week is called the Lord's day, both by St. John and the early apostolic fathers, and this some 250 years, prior to the time of Constantine, A.D. 325. 9. That the Feast of Pentecost fell on the first day of the week, and that the disciples did not take any part in the Jewish temple services on that day, but were "with one accord in one place," holding their own services of prayer, praise and thanksgiving, as directed by Christ himself. 10. That the terms first and eighth day of the week were synonymous and interchangeable. 11. That so far as Latter-day Saints are concerned, no dispute can arise, the Lord having declared his mind and will, as recorded in section 59:9-12 of the Doctrine and Covenants: "Verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High. Nevertheless thy vows shall be offered up in righteousness on all days, and at all times. But remember that on this, the Lord's day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord." Provo, Utah.