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

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its merciful <strong>and</strong> beneficent design was utterly<br />

hidden beneath <strong>the</strong> rubbish <strong>of</strong> men's inventions. It<br />

being impracticable for Satan, after <strong>the</strong> Babylonish<br />

captivity, to cause <strong>the</strong> Jewish people, even by<br />

bloody edicts, to relinquish <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sabbath</strong> <strong>and</strong> openly<br />

to pr<strong>of</strong>ane it as before that time, he turned <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

doctors so to pervert it, that its real character<br />

should be utterly changed <strong>and</strong> its observance<br />

entirely unlike that that which would please God.<br />

We shall find that <strong>the</strong> Saviour never missed an<br />

opportunity to correct <strong>the</strong>ir false notions respecting<br />

<strong>the</strong> <strong>Sabbath</strong>; <strong>and</strong> that he selected, with evident<br />

design, <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sabbath</strong> as <strong>the</strong> day on which to perform<br />

many <strong>of</strong> his merciful works. It will be found that<br />

no small share <strong>of</strong> his teaching through his whole<br />

ministry was devoted to a determination <strong>of</strong> what<br />

was lawful on <strong>the</strong> <strong>Sabbath</strong>, a singular fact for those<br />

to explain who think that he designed its<br />

abrogation. At <strong>the</strong> opening <strong>of</strong> our Lord's ministry,<br />

we read thus:--<br />

"And Jesus returned in <strong>the</strong> power <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Spirit<br />

into Galilee; <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>re went out a fame <strong>of</strong> him<br />

through all <strong>the</strong> region round about. And he taught<br />

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