The Sabbath question is their pet doctrine, and, ac-cording to their views, all Christians should keep the seventh day, according to the fourth commandment. Thus they put Christians back on Jewish ground, and set aside Christianity. The whole teaching of Seventh-Day Adventists is far more serious than people generally imagine. It is not a mere mistake as to a minor point of doctrine, but it is a system of doctrine which undermines the whole truth of Christianity, and puts its followers not only on Jewish ground, under law, and therefore under the curse (Gal. 3:10); but it leaves them without a Saviour (though they speak of Christ and His blood), for the Christ they speak of is not the Christ revealed in Scripture; He is for them, merely, the noblest Being in the universe save One. While, as we have seen, they have no atonement, and no present certainty of salvation. With them, eternal life is not a present but a future thing; and annihilation is the final doom of the impenitent. These, and other things which they teach, plainly show that it is a system which completely undermines Christianity,-one of the blinding and satanic delusions of the last days (i Tim. 3:i ; 2 Tim. 4:3, 4), from which may the good Lord deliver His people.

To turn, then, to the Sabbath. It is not a question of whether the Seventh day is the Sabbath or not. Unquestionably it is. And here, let me add, unhappily many good men have made grievous mistakes by contending that the seventh day has been changed to the first day of the week ; and the Adventist boldly challenges them to show one text from the Scriptures to prove it and they cannot do it.-Of course not. There is no such thing. Then, others lecture on " The Christian Sabbath," and quote history and the Fathers to show that the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath, only to be again challenged and overthrown by the Adventist to the surprise of their audiences, the defeat of themselves, and the success of Adventism. It is all a total blunder; the seventh day is the Sabbath, and no other. God never changed it, and no one else ever can. The Jews still keep it, and Seventh-Day Adventists so far sail in the same boat. But the root of the whole question is not which is the proper day to keep, but, Are Christians under law, or not. This is the real question, which, when settled, settles the Sabbath question. If Christians are under law, then the seventh day, not a seventh day, but the seventh day alone-no other-must be kept, according to the fourth commandment. There is no escape. If, on the other hand, the Christian is not under law, then to command him to keep the Sabbath is to annul the gospel and deny Christianity.

We see at once that this raises the whole question as to what the Christian state and position is. Whether the Christian is in Adam, or in Christ?-in the flesh, or in the Spirit?-on the ground of responsibility to obtain blessing by keeping the law, or taken up and blessed on the ground of sovereign grace through faith, and therefore responsible to act consistently in the new relationship in which that grace has set him ?To set forth the truth in a Scriptural way, I shall have to unfold some of the teachings of the epistle to the Romans, as also that to the Galatians. I shall, however, do it as briefly as possible, and would press upon each Christian reader the necessity of carefully and prayerfully considering with his open Bible before him the truths here set forth.

In the epistle to the Romans, man, both Jew and Gentile, is shown to be " guilty before God." The Gentiles in chap. 1:18-32. Then the educated men-the philosophers, also Gentiles, in chap. 2:1-16. The Jews are next taken up in chap. 2:17 to 3:9 ; then the testimony of the Scriptures is given from the Psalms and the Prophets that all are guilty, so that " there is none righteous, no not one" (ver. 10-18). Thus "every mouth is stopped, and all the world guilty before God " (ver. 19).
Next, we have "the righteousness of God"seen in freely justifying men, proved to be ungodly and guilty sinners, because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ (ver. 24, 25) ; faith being the principle on which that blessing is received, not works of any kind (chap. 4:4, 5). This is further seen by our attention being called to the difference between Abraham and us. He believed that God would give him a son(ver. 18); he believed the promise of God (ver. 20), and God reckoned him righteous(ver. 22). We believe an accomplished fact-that God has given us His Son, "delivered Him for our offenses, and raised Him again for our justification " (ver. 25).Not, He will do it; but He has done it, and righteousness is reckoned to all who believe (ver. 23, 24). The blessed results of the wonderful action on the part of God are seen in chap, 5:, and are the portion of all who have believed the gospel." Being justified by faith we have peace with God" (ver. i); so that the past is settled perfectly and permanently, and the believer has peace as to it. Next, as to the present, he has a perfect standing before God (ver. 2). Then as to the future, he rejoices in hope of the glory of God(ver. 2).Not only so, he glories in tribulation as he learns his lessons on the way home, the love of God being shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto him (ver. 3-5).And lastly, he is able even to joy in God Himself (ver. ii).Thus, the question of the believer's guilt is perfectly and permanently settled, and he is justified by God, and stands justified before God. But now comes another question. What about his state? He is a child of Adam and possesses an evil nature. Is what Scripture calls "in the flesh." (Rom. 8:9.) Is under the power of sin (chap. 6:20) and of law (chap, 7:i), and needing deliverance from these things. This, which God has provided for likewise in His grace as the portion of the believer, is next taught in this wonderful epistle. Not that these things are necessarily consecutive. They may all be concurrent. But the subjects are different and taught separately.

Having heard the word of truth, the gospel of his salvation, and having trusted in Christ; the believer is thereupon sealed with the Holy Ghost. (Eph. 1:13.)He is therefore in Christ, and Christ is in him. (Jno. 14. 20.) He is no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit. (Rom. 8:9, 10.)Now, Christ having died and risen after having glorified God about the question of sins and sin, He has now taken His place as Head of a new race, as Adam was the head of a fallen race. The condition, therefore, of the head is necessarily that of all who form the race. Adam's one act of disobedience constituted all his race sinners, and involves them in all the consequences of that act. (Rom. 5:12.)So Christ's one act of obedience unto death (Phil. 2:8) constitutes His race righteous, and makes them sharers in all the blessed results of His act. (Rom. 5:12-21.)

The question of guilt having been settled, and that of headship of race clearly set forth, the apostle proceeds to apply this last truth to the question of sin and law. God has, first of all, " condemned sin in the flesh." (Rom. 8:3.) "Our old man has been crucified with Him" (Christ). (Rom. 6:6.) Thus the evil nature in us has been dealt with by God, and condemned in the sacrifice of Christ. God will, therefore, have nothing more to say to it. It is still in us, and ready to act if we allow it, but this we must not do, and at death, or the coming of the Lord, we shall leave it behind forever. But, further, the believer can say he has died to sin. (Rom. 6:6.) This is true of him as in Christ, because Christ actually died to it on the cross, and the believer is now in Him. And he accepts this truth of being dead with Christ to sin, and practices it by reckoning himself dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom. 6:ii), he finds a present deliverance from the power of sin (Rom. 6:14), and looks forward to the time when he shall be delivered from its very presence. (Rom. 8:23.)
In chap. 7:this is applied to the question of law. The apostle is there speaking to those who were under law (the Jews). The law was never given to Gentiles. (Ps. 147:19. 20; Rom. 2:14.) They were never under law, though they do put themselves under it now, and it thus becomes very useful to teach them what they are. He says, " I speak to those who know law (Jews), that law has dominion over a man as long as he liveth." (ver. 1:) Then he proceeds to show that the believer has died to law by the body of Christ, (ver. 4.) This he repeats in ver. 6. "But now we are delivered from the law, being dead to that wherein we were held (margin); that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." Then is the law dead and gone, as some affirm? No! Certainly not! Such a thought is not found in Scripture, and we would strenuously resist such an idea. " Is the law sin? God forbid." Do we then set the law aside? No, in no wise. Such a thing would be wickedness ! But in the person of our Substitute whom it condemned and crucified when in grace He took our place, it has set us aside, for we have died to it. And the grasping of this glorious emancipating truth which I shall still further prove, delivers forever from the folly and Judaism of Seventh-day Adventism.

Suppose a man commits murder:we know that the end of the law for murder is the end of the rope. Now, if the murderer is hanged, is the law set aside ? No ! It is vindicated !Its claims are established and vindicated in the fullest way by the death of the murderer, and it stands there in its full force the same as ever, forbidding the crime of murder, and pronouncing death as the penalty for committing it. Thus the law is not made void, but established in the way God justifies the believer. (Rom. 3:31.)The law said, "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen." (Deut. 27:26.)This law is used by the apostle in Gal. 3:10, and also confirmed by the apostle James who writes, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For He that said, 'Do not commit adultery," said also, ' Do not kill.'Now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law." (Jas. 2:10, 11.) Were a man suspended over a precipice by a chain of ten links, and one were to break, it would be as fatal as though the whole ten had broken. If, therefore, the least infringement of the law is allowed, whether as to the fourth commandment or any of the ten, it is fatal, and puts the transgressor under the curse. Moreover, it is law, and men cannot play fast or loose with it as they please ; applying it to what they like, or taking such parts of it as they choose. It is law, and says and means, do or die. But the apostle Paul goes on to show that " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, ' Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.' " (Gal. 3:13.)

When the Judaizing teachers came down from Judea, and sought to bring the Christians again under law, and thus put a yoke upon their necks which neither their fathers nor they could bear" (Acts 15:1-10); (the very thing that Seventh-Day Adventists are endeavoring to do to-day); and even Peter and Barnabas were caught in the snare and carried away by it; Paul withstood them to the face. To him it was another gospel, and he uses the strongest language to denounce such conduct. They are troublers of the saints-perverters of the gospel-and though he himself, or an angel from heaven, or any man, preached any other gospel than that which he had already preached to them, let them be accursed. (Gal. 1:7-9.) How jealous he was for the simple but glorious gospel which he had given them. A gospel which gives the believer deliverance from the guilt of sin-deliverance from the power of sin-from law which is the strength of sin- and presently from the very presence of sin. How jealously we ought to guard this precious, emancipating gospel, and not allow it to be spoiled by the introduction again of that which we have been delivered from – the law ; whether it be in the form of Sabbath-keeping or in any other way; but " stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage." (Gal. 5:1:)

He then goes on to show them, that if they again put themselves under law after being justified by Christ on the principle of faith, they build again the things which they destroyed, and make themselves transgressors. (Gal. 2:15-18.)If they gave up law, to be justified on a different .principle, entirely on the principle of faith, how could they go back to it? If they were right in giving it up, they would clearly be wrong in going back to it, and would be transgressors. Moreover, he clenches this argument in the strongest manner by saying, "For I through law am dead to law."Not that I might be lawless and continue to live in sin, no! God forbid such a thought! But "that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ:nevertheless I live:yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Gal. 2:19,20.) How, then, could they be governed in any way by that to which they had died? Christ was now their life, and was to be their rule of life, (i Jno. 2:6; Col. 3:1-3; 2 Cor. 3:18.)

The story is told of a German who was drawn in the conscription, but whose friend took his place, fought, and was killed. After a time, there was another call for men, and the German was again drawn, but he pleaded, "I am dead."He was not actually dead, of course, but his substitute's death was counted as his, and thus he was freed forever from the military claims of his country. Thus it is with Christians; we have died with Christ, and are " dead to law," but not left to be lawless, but to live unto God. The law spent its full force on Christ as our Substitute when He stood in our place and died for us on the cross.

"The law was our schoolmaster up to (or until) Christ," we read ; " but after that faith is come, we are no longer under the schoolmaster."(Gal. 3:24, 25.)Could any thing be plainer than this :" We are no longer under the schoolmaster"-the law! "Law has dominion over a man so long as he liveth." (Rom. 7:1:)But the believer has died with Christ, and is therefore no longer under law. Is he therefore lawless ?God forbid !He is dead and risen with Christ, and stands on the resurrection-side of the grave of Jesus. He has a new life- eternal life (Jno. 5:24.); a new power-the Holy Ghost (Eph. 3:16) ; and a new object-Christ in glory.(2 Cor. 3:18.)He is new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17) and the open grave of the Saviour separates him forever from Judaism and its bondage. The ministration of the law and the ministration of the Spirit are in contrast to each other (2 Cor. 3:); the one being a ministration of death and condemnation (mark this :the law which Adventists tell us we must keep is a ministration of death and condemnation); the other, being a ministration of life and righteousness. The one was characterized by the fading glory on the face of Moses, which God would not let them see; hence Moses was commanded to vail his face:the other, is characterized by the glory shining in the face:of Jesus Christ, never to pass away, and on which we are privileged to gaze. (2 Cor. 3:) Moreover, it is not the ceremonial law which Adventists admit has passed away; but it is that which " was written and engraved in stones" the ten commandments. Then, as we are occupied with Christ, without being under law and in bondage, "the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Rom. 8:4.) This, then, is the teaching of Scripture and shows conclusively that the believer is "not under law, but under grace." (Rom. 6:14.) He is dead to law. To insist, therefore, on his keeping the Sabbath as part of God's holy law is to make him debtor to do the whole law, to put him on Jewish ground, to treat him as in Adam, "in the flesh," on the ground of responsibility to obtain blessing, and thus bring him again into bondage. The Sab-bath had, and still has, its place for those under law; the believer has died and is in Christ; governed by a new believer; has a new object ; and the grace of God which covered him, teaches him how to live. (Titus 2:11-14.)

Ere closing, I would briefly glance at the place the Sabbath occupies in Scripture. It was God's rest. (Gen. But not one word is said about its being given to keep. He was the last work of God on the sixth He had as yet done no work and therefore needed no rest. To him it would be meaningless, in his innocence to tell him to rest from his labor. Yet Mrs. White tells us "it was kept by Adam in his innocence in holy Eden; by Adam, fallen, yet repentant, when he was driven from his happy estate. It was kept by all the patriarchs, from Abel to righteous Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob, etc.;" but without one particle of Scripture for her assertions. To say that the law was given to Adam is foolish. What place could the moral law have in innocence, and when as yet Adam and Eve were alone ? Then twenty-five hundred years or more elapsed before we hear another word about the seventh day. God's rest had been broken by sin, and He began to work again ; His first work being to make coats of skins for those who had broken His rest. (Gen. 3:21.)How gracious of God! Hence, the Lord Jesus said, " My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." (Jno. 5:17.) , So the first recorded Sabbath-God's rest, was A. very brief one, and became a type of one which is still future, and yet remains for the people of God. (Heb. 4:9.)

When next we hear of it, it is given to a redeemed people. (Ex. 16:29.)Then incorporated into the law. (Ex. 20:8-n.)Given as a sign that they were a sanctified people.(Ex. 31:13, 17; Ezek. 20:12.) Given to them because they were redeemed. (Deut. 5:12, 15.)It was a shadow of things to come. (Col. 2:16.)The Lord lay in the grave all the Sabbath day. The whole of that order of thing was set aside for the time being on the rejection and crucifixion of the Messiah by the Jews, until they see Him coming with clouds (Rev. 1:7) and shall say, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." (Matt, 23:39.) Judaism and its Sabbath-keeping is, therefore, set aside till that day when they shall hail their Messiah as their King. Then shall He reign over them, and they shall have their true rest, to which all their Sabbaths had pointed.

The Lord Jesus rose again on the first day of the week. The Jews murdered Him, and, after sealing Him in the tomb they kept their Sabbath. Their week ended with murder of the Son of God. The whole system of Judaism was set aside from that point-the rent vail being the witness of it. Then on the first day of the week He rose again, thus inaugurating a new order of things entirely and this day characterizes Christianity, as the seventh day, or Sabbath, characterized Judaism. Again, when seven Sabbaths had passed, on the fiftieth day (not. the forty-ninth, or the seventh Sabbath day), "when the day of Pentecost was fully come," the Holy Ghost descended. (Acts 2:1:) This is typified in Lev. 23:the wave-sheaf was waved on "the morrow after the "Sabbath " (ver. ii)-Christian resurrection. Then the two wave-loaves on the morrow after the seven Sab-(ver. 16,17)-Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came, and the Church had its commencement. The two wave-loaves-Jews and Gentiles presented to God. Then, again we have seven times seven Sabbaths of years, Sing over forty-nine years ; then on the fiftieth year, the jubilee trumpet was to sound, and things were to return to their original order again. (Lev. 25:)

How remarkable all this is! Christ did not rise on the Sabbath, but on the first day of the week. Pentecost, not on the forty-ninth day, which was the dd-Sabbath-day, but on the fiftieth day, which first day of the week. The Jubilee was not on the forty-ninth year, but the fiftieth year. All this shows that there is a new order of things, typified by the first day of the week, Pentecost, and the Jubilee year, and clearly the eternal state after the millennium, or the Sabbath-keeping on earth is over. In the apostle's he Jews still kept the Sabbath, and, as the people gathered together in the synagogues on that day, the apostles took the opportunity to preach the gospel to them, but they keep the first day of the week themselves as Christians, and met together on that day, to break bread. (Acts 20:7.) Thus the first day of the week speaks to the Christian of the victory and triumph of his Saviour, and was the day they met together to remember Him and show His death till He come, (i Cor. 11:23-26.) The reasonings of Adventists as to the time they did it, and how Paul must have walked a long distance across the country to Assos on the same day, and thus desecrated the day, is just a piece of nonsense, and supposes that Christians are under law to keep the first day of the week, as Jews and Adventists are to keep the Sabbath; and that Paul must not do what his Master told him to do on that clay. Scripture says it was on the first day of the week, and whether it was morn, noon, or night, it was on that day, and not the Sabbath, the disciples met to break bread.

The Sabbath was at the close of the week's toil- the seventh day-a day of rest after labor. In it, as we have seen, no work had to be done, not even a fire lighted. No work means no work. Not even the servant in the house, and no excuse is valid. It is do or die. This is Judaism and law as regards the Sabbath. The first day of the week is the commencement of the week and is devoted to the worship and service of Him who inaugurated a new order of things in resurrection. The grave of Christ stands between and separates Judaism from Christianity. The true sacrifice has been offered. (Heb. 10:5, 10.)The true Priest has sat down in the Sanctuary. (Heb. 8:i, 2.)The Aaronic priesthood has given place to that of the Lord Jesus Christ.(Heb. 8:12.)The Holy Ghost has come, sent by Christ since He went on high, and by one Spirit believers are baptized into one body, (i Cor. 12, 13.)The Church of God now exists, composed neither of Jews nor Gentiles, but believers out of both, saved; and baptized into one body. Thus, there are three classes of men now on earth, Jew, Gentile, and Church of God. (i Cor. 10:32.) The Lord appeared unto His disciples on the first clay of the week when they gathered together. (Jno. 20:19.) This gives us a picture of the Church period. John says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." (Rev. 1:10.) The disciples met together on that day to break bread. (Acts 20:7.) And on that day they were instructed to lay aside their collection, or offering, for the needy saints at Jerusalem. Thus, then, on that day, Christians met together, and do so still to commence the week by giving to God the praises of full hearts, made by Him at such a cost, and serve Him with gladness, in telling forth the riches of His grace made known in the gospel. Then we go forth to the labor and toil of the week, and whether we eat, or drink, or whatsoever we do, do all to the glory of God. (i Cor. 10:31) "Let no man judge you, therefore, in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days ; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." (Col. 2:16, 17.) And "be not entangled in the yoke of bondage." (Gal. 5:1:) Do not give up Christianity with its liberty for Judaism and its bondage, under the antichristian teaching of Seventh-Day Adventists. W. E.