History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week - John N. Andrews

These are the words which the Lord hath
commanded, that ye should do them. Six days shall
work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be
to you an holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord:
whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to
death.[2] Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your
habitations upon the Sabbath day." (Ex. 35:1-3)
The chief feature of interest in this text relates
to the prohibition of fires on the Sabbath. As this is
the only prohibition of the kind in the Bible, and as
it is often urged as a reason why the Sabbath
should not be kept, a brief examination of the
difficulty will not be out of place. it should be
observed, 1. That this language does not form part
of the fourth commandment, the grand law of the
Sabbath. 2. That as there were laws pertaining to
the Sabbath, that were no part of the Sabbatic
institution, but that grew out of its being intrusted
to the Hebrews, such as the law respecting the
presentation of the shew-bread on the Sabbath; and
that respecting the burnt offering for the Sabbath:
(Lev. 24:5-9; Num. 28:9, 10) so it is at least
possible that this is a precept pertaining only to that
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