The Ceremonial Side of the Sabbath
But when we come to the definite day, which it shall be, nature does not indicate that. All the benefits above mentioned would be secured by keeping one day as well as another. There would not be a particle of difference whichever day was selected. Suppose that all the churches would change in one week and keep Saturday instead of Sunday, what practical difference would it make? None at all. Physical rest, mental rest, social and religious privileges, a quiet day, - all that can be secured by one day can by another, so far as the day is concerned. But to secure the greatest good from the day, all should rest the same day. Where this is not done confusion and evil follows. Ex. 20:8-11.
God has marked no difference in the nature of days in themselves. All nature goes right on just the same every day alike. We see nothing in one day of the week which differs from another, and there is no difference. No day is holy in and of itself and by its own nature. The learned Dr. Edwards says: "No identical period of duration is, in itself, intrinsically holy." Sabbath Manual, page 92. In every case God had to make the day holy by a special appointment. The same appointment of some other day would have made it just as holy.
Nor does nature indicate clearly just the proportion of time to be used. Hence God's example of six days' work and the seventh of rest was doubtless given as a model to follow. To this the Lord pointed in giving the Sabbath law. Ex. 20. And this divine model all Christians now following in resting on the Lord's day after six day's work.
Another fact which Sabbatarians overlook is that God's act of resting on the day did not confer any holiness upon it. Gen. 2:3, says: "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it HE HAD RESTED. So Ex. 20:11. He "rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." First, God rested on the day, but that did not make it holy. After that he blessed it but still it was not holy time. Third, he hallowed it, made it holy. So the day was not holy in itself nor did God's resting on it make it holy.
The Lord has made other days holy, days on which he never rested. The day of atonement was as holy as the weekly Sabbath. Thus: "It shall be an holy convocation unto you.... And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. Ye shall do no manner of work.... It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest." Lev. 23:27-32. So there were seven of these yearly holy days. Elder Smith, Adventist, says: "The word SABBATH means REST. That is the one sole idea it conveys, first, last, and all the way between, - cessation from labor, rest. Here were seven annual days on which there was to be an entire suspension of labor, Were these days Sabbath, or were they not? If they were not, can any one tell us why they were not?" What Was Nailed to the Cross, page 11.
So, then, according to the Bible and the arguments of the Adventists themselves, different days may become holy Sabbath days without the Lord's resting on them or even blessing them, for he did neither to these days. Further, a day which was once a holy Sabbath day, so holy that it was death to work on it, as in the case of the day of atonement, Lev. 23:27-32, may cease to be so and become a common working day. See Col. 2:16. Even Adventists do not keep these old holy days. So, then, holiness can be put upon a day, taken from it, or changed to another day. It is not necessarily a permanent, unchangeable affair. Let Sabbatarians meditate here awhile. More still: A day once appointed, and made a holy Sabbath day by God himself, may cease to be such and become even hateful to God. Thus: Isa. 1:13-14, "The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; IT IS iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear THEM." All these holy days God himself had appointed, but see how he hates them now. Is it any proof, then, that a particular day is holy now because it was once holy? None whatever.
Notice also how many other things were made holy by God's appointment. Under the LAW we read of "the holy temple," "the holy hill," "the holy ark," "the holy instruments," "the holy vessels," "the holy water," "the holy perfume," "The holy altar," "the holy veil," "the holy linen coat," "the holy ointment," "the holy nation," "the holy Sabbath," etc. Those pertained to the worship and service of God in his HOLY TEMPLE, which was "only a shadow," "figure" or "type of the TRUE temple" - the "spiritual house" of Christ, "his body, the church." While they stood as TYPES they were "holy," and no longer. They had no inherent holiness, but were made holy by the command of God. Law and Gospel,page 43, by S.C. Adams.
Like all the above holy things, the seventh day had no holiness in itself. It had to be "made" so. Mark 2:27. But moral duties are not made. They exist in the very nature of things. For instance, it is morally wrong to murder. It would have been wrong even if God had given no command against it. But it never would have been wrong to work on the seventh day unless God had given a commandment to keep it. So, then, the sanctity of the day does not rest upon the nature of the day itself, but like a hundred other hallowed things, simply upon God's appointment, which may be altered any time at his will.
All must admit that this commandment does differ from those which are admitted to be wholly moral. No one could all his lifetime live in open violation of the commandments against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, stealing, etc., and yet have the least hope of heaven. Yet the most zealous Sabbatarian will admit that millions of devout Christians have lived holy lives who never kept the seventh day, but rested on Sunday instead. And Sunday-keepers will admit that those who keep Saturday instead of Sunday are Christian people. Now, certainly, one or the other of these classes does not keep the Sabbath commandment, if the essential thing is to keep the particular day. Would any seventh-day man recognize as a Christian any person who would every week violate the letter of any other commandment? No, nor would he excuse him on any plea of ignorance either. Yet they will freely admit that thousands right around them who do not keep the Sabbath commandment as they read it, are yet good people and Christians. So, they themselves being judges, this commandment does differ from the others in some way.
You go to the left. I'll go to the right. Johnny, you gather the stones. Elder 111 has broken the Sabbath day! 
