266 ABROGATION OF THE SABBATH. 



The -wrong " breastplate." Jurisdiction of the Decalogue. 



stumbling-stone;'' choosing for his breastplate 'Hbe righteous- 

 ness whicli is in 'the Law/ blameless/^ rather than 'Hhe 

 righteousness which is of Faith." {Rom. ix. 30, 32.) ''In 

 the name of Truth and Honesty/^ says he {p. 172), "I have 

 a demand to make on W. B. T., and on all, of his opinions. 

 Come out clearly, and show your colors. [?] What do you 

 onean to do loith the Decalogue? Not a trace of anything 

 local, temporary, ceremonial, or shadowy,* is in it. Every- 

 thing is absolute, universal, perpetual Lawf — the Legislation 

 of the Infinite Creator for men, His creatures. As such, it is 

 distinctly recognized by Christ and his Apostles.^^J 



Under the protection of a rigid logic, I might reply that the 

 Decalogue is not the subject of our Discussion. I might insist 

 that we are at present engaged with but one of its require- 

 ments, and that one the only positive, ceremonial, and typical 



^- When the Sabbath rest is entitled " tlie beacon light of that which 

 is to come" [p. 61), an uBsophisticated reader might suppose that there 

 was ''a trace" of something '^shadouy in the Decalogue. My friend 

 admits that the Sabbath was syvibolical {Heh. iv. 3, 4, 9), but does not 

 like to grant that it was "a shadow." {Col. ii. 17.) And yet, holding 

 the fourth commandment to be an ^^ absolute, universal, perpetualLn,'^,^' 

 he is living in the constant violation of that law ! He has probably never 

 obeyed the plain and unmistakable requirement of that law, to sanctify 

 the day Ha-Shihingi! "Eemember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy!" 

 " Whosoever shall offend in onepohit, he is guilty of all!" My friend 

 remembers only a Sabbath : — he has entirely forgotten " the day,''' a day 

 definite beyond the hope of escape, or the reach of evasion. I echo the 

 question: "What do you mean to do with the Decalogue?" (See 1 

 Kings xii. 33 ; 2 Kings v. 12 ; Dan. vii. 25.) 



f "Everything in the Decalogue is not obligatory to Christians, — is 

 not a portion of the moral or natural law." Jekebiy Taylor. {^Duct. 

 Duh. b. ii. ch. 2, rule 6.) 



% " With regard to the doctrine of those who consider the Decalogue 

 as a code of universal morality, I am at a loss to understand how such 

 an opinion should ever have prevailed." Milton. [Christian Doctrine, 

 b. ii. ch. 7.) 



