Lewis
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The seventh day was sanctified by God in the beginning (Gen. 2:3), was kept by Israel and Gentiles to the end of the Bible, and was to be obeyed as a sign and perpetual covenant. Ecclesiastical history proves that early Christians kept Saturday as the Sabbath.
"16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." (Ex. 31)
"27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ... 29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3)
The observance of Sunday as the Sabbath was by decree of the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine in 321 AD. He decreed the Christian religion to be the religion of the state to settle religious controversy; but, was never baptized until a short time before his death in 337 AD. He issued an edict on March 7, 321 AD, "Let all the judges and towns people, and the occupation of all trades rest ON THE VENERABLE DAY OF THE SUN: but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture: because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines: lest, the critical moment let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by heaven." The Book of Facts, by H. M. Rouff, p. 542, noted, "The FIRST law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of Sunday is known to have been ordained, is the Edict of Constantine, A. D. 321."
At the beginning of a dispensation, men are taught, "precept upon precept; line upon line." (Isa. 28:10) When the dispensation was given to the Gentiles, after Jesus crucifixion, the Apostles' teachings were based upon this same principle. The Gentiles were first given little more than the milk of the gospel (first principles). "25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication." (Acts 21) It is possible that the very first Gentile believers did not obey the Jewish Sabbath. I have no record that tells when they first began to obey the Sabbath.
It has been a tradition of the Gentiles to worship on Sunday since the days of Babylon. It was the "venerable day of the sun." Even Jesus found it most convenient to assemble the people on Sunday. It came to be called the Lord's day. As a Jew, though, he always kept Saturday as the Sabbath. He was harassed for even healing on the Sabbath. A dispensation was given under Joseph; which allowed the early latter day saints to observe Sunday. Sunday was not the Sabbath; but, the Lord allowed that day to be kept by the Gentiles for a time. God had not yet commanded the people to obey the original Sabbath.
When James J. Strang translated the Book of the Law of the Lord from ancient plates taken from those given to Moses, that dispensation ended and the people were commanded to keep the seventh day of the week. When the Book of the Law was translated, those following James J. Strang were once again bound by the original law. By God teaching "line upon line, and precept upon precept," those who did not follow James were left to observe, "the venerable day of the sun." Only those who followed James J. Strang received the Book of the Law and the renewed commandment to keep the original Sabbath-- the seventh day, Saturday!
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." (Book of the Law, p. 22) James J. Strang wrote in his notes, "1. The day of rest originated in the rest of God, when he ceased the work of creation, at the making of man, to have dominion over the earth.
"2. It was had in remembrance as an institution of God, before promulgated by his voice in Sinai; (Gen. ii, 2, 3. Ex. xvi, 23;) and there is no ground for believing that the sanctifying of the Sabbath, was not a law among the Patriarchs and the Antediluvians, because it is not mentioned in the scriptures; for from the time of Moses until that of Solomon, when it was unquestionably in force, it is nowhere mentioned.
"3. Throughout Christendom, with some slight exceptions, the first day, and not the seventh, is kept as a Sabbath. For this they have no warrant in the scriptures, and pretend to none. (Bucks Th. Dic. 'Sabbath.') The reason given for the change, is, that Christ raised from the dead the first day, and the attempt is to justify it by tradition, and the practice of the Church.
"4. But, evidently, the Church have no power to change or abrogate a commandment of God, who required us to keep the seventh day, not any other day in the seven.
"5. The early Christians did undoubtedly frequently meet on the first day for religious worship, precisely as the Saints do nowadays, in exclusively Christian communities; not because they regarded it as the Sabbath of God, but because on that day, being the regular day of heathen festivals, men would come together to hear them.
"6. Keeping the first day as a Sabbath, instead of the seventh, is one of the innovations forced upon Christianity by the Emperour Constantine, to make the change of national religion less difficult.
"7. The very language of this Commandment, seems to presage the propensity of man to change the Sabbath; remember the Sabbath day; and God, foreseeing what wicked men would do, has placed on his chosen a special injunction that they keep that day in all their generations for a perpetual covenant; (Ex. xxxi, 13-17;) and awful penalties are denounced against those who abolish it.
"8. The Sabbath is appointed for men in every station in life. The crime of exacting labour of children and servants on the Sabbath day, is a great offence unto God. But it is the Sabbath of the beast as well as of men, and to work beasts for our pleasure or profit, is an offence unto God." (Ibid., pp. 22, 23)
The law of God on keeping the Sabbath was given for a thousand generations. "9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations...11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them." (Deut. 7) Only under special Gentile dispensations were the people permitted to observe, for a short time, Sunday. James J. Strang was the only successor of Joseph Smith to abide in this law of God.
http://www.mormonbeliefs.com/7th_day_sabbath.htm
"16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." (Ex. 31)
"27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ... 29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3)
The observance of Sunday as the Sabbath was by decree of the pagan Roman Emperor Constantine in 321 AD. He decreed the Christian religion to be the religion of the state to settle religious controversy; but, was never baptized until a short time before his death in 337 AD. He issued an edict on March 7, 321 AD, "Let all the judges and towns people, and the occupation of all trades rest ON THE VENERABLE DAY OF THE SUN: but let those who are situated in the country, freely and at full liberty attend to the business of agriculture: because it often happens that no other day is so fit for sowing corn and planting vines: lest, the critical moment let slip, men should lose the commodities granted by heaven." The Book of Facts, by H. M. Rouff, p. 542, noted, "The FIRST law, either ecclesiastical or civil, by which the Sabbatical observance of Sunday is known to have been ordained, is the Edict of Constantine, A. D. 321."
At the beginning of a dispensation, men are taught, "precept upon precept; line upon line." (Isa. 28:10) When the dispensation was given to the Gentiles, after Jesus crucifixion, the Apostles' teachings were based upon this same principle. The Gentiles were first given little more than the milk of the gospel (first principles). "25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication." (Acts 21) It is possible that the very first Gentile believers did not obey the Jewish Sabbath. I have no record that tells when they first began to obey the Sabbath.
It has been a tradition of the Gentiles to worship on Sunday since the days of Babylon. It was the "venerable day of the sun." Even Jesus found it most convenient to assemble the people on Sunday. It came to be called the Lord's day. As a Jew, though, he always kept Saturday as the Sabbath. He was harassed for even healing on the Sabbath. A dispensation was given under Joseph; which allowed the early latter day saints to observe Sunday. Sunday was not the Sabbath; but, the Lord allowed that day to be kept by the Gentiles for a time. God had not yet commanded the people to obey the original Sabbath.
When James J. Strang translated the Book of the Law of the Lord from ancient plates taken from those given to Moses, that dispensation ended and the people were commanded to keep the seventh day of the week. When the Book of the Law was translated, those following James J. Strang were once again bound by the original law. By God teaching "line upon line, and precept upon precept," those who did not follow James were left to observe, "the venerable day of the sun." Only those who followed James J. Strang received the Book of the Law and the renewed commandment to keep the original Sabbath-- the seventh day, Saturday!
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." (Book of the Law, p. 22) James J. Strang wrote in his notes, "1. The day of rest originated in the rest of God, when he ceased the work of creation, at the making of man, to have dominion over the earth.
"2. It was had in remembrance as an institution of God, before promulgated by his voice in Sinai; (Gen. ii, 2, 3. Ex. xvi, 23;) and there is no ground for believing that the sanctifying of the Sabbath, was not a law among the Patriarchs and the Antediluvians, because it is not mentioned in the scriptures; for from the time of Moses until that of Solomon, when it was unquestionably in force, it is nowhere mentioned.
"3. Throughout Christendom, with some slight exceptions, the first day, and not the seventh, is kept as a Sabbath. For this they have no warrant in the scriptures, and pretend to none. (Bucks Th. Dic. 'Sabbath.') The reason given for the change, is, that Christ raised from the dead the first day, and the attempt is to justify it by tradition, and the practice of the Church.
"4. But, evidently, the Church have no power to change or abrogate a commandment of God, who required us to keep the seventh day, not any other day in the seven.
"5. The early Christians did undoubtedly frequently meet on the first day for religious worship, precisely as the Saints do nowadays, in exclusively Christian communities; not because they regarded it as the Sabbath of God, but because on that day, being the regular day of heathen festivals, men would come together to hear them.
"6. Keeping the first day as a Sabbath, instead of the seventh, is one of the innovations forced upon Christianity by the Emperour Constantine, to make the change of national religion less difficult.
"7. The very language of this Commandment, seems to presage the propensity of man to change the Sabbath; remember the Sabbath day; and God, foreseeing what wicked men would do, has placed on his chosen a special injunction that they keep that day in all their generations for a perpetual covenant; (Ex. xxxi, 13-17;) and awful penalties are denounced against those who abolish it.
"8. The Sabbath is appointed for men in every station in life. The crime of exacting labour of children and servants on the Sabbath day, is a great offence unto God. But it is the Sabbath of the beast as well as of men, and to work beasts for our pleasure or profit, is an offence unto God." (Ibid., pp. 22, 23)
The law of God on keeping the Sabbath was given for a thousand generations. "9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations...11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them." (Deut. 7) Only under special Gentile dispensations were the people permitted to observe, for a short time, Sunday. James J. Strang was the only successor of Joseph Smith to abide in this law of God.
http://www.mormonbeliefs.com/7th_day_sabbath.htm