Year: 1878




Formerly District Secretary and General
Ageat the Western Reform Book and Tract
,Socieh,


Every man who believes the Bible to be
from God, whether Jew or Gentle. Chris
tian or not, accepts the law of the Ten
Commandments as Gods law He has no
doubt OF the value Of this law as a rule of
human conduct Neither has he any
doubt that God is the author Of this Law
The Law of the Sabbath being part of
the Decalogue, he accepts it as of binding
force. equally with the other commands.
Men who have found time for even a
cursory examination Of the Bible, who
have heard the Gospel preached even
occasionally, or have attended but par
italy the Sabbath School, yield ready
acquiescence to the fact that the seventh
day of the week was set apart by the
great Creator and Law-giyer of our world,
as a day of observance, and m later enact
ments, severe penalties were annexed to
a desecration Of that day which they ad-
NIT and believe to have been set apart by
God as a holy time.


In discussing the Sabbath question,
therefore, it is perfectly easy for the
speakers and writers to carry the minds
and consciences Of men along with them
through the four thousand years Of our
earth's history down to the commence
ment of the new or Christian dispensa-
tion. The minds and consciences Of men
flow along keeping pace with the speaker,
smoothly, gently, as the gliding waters
along the smooth bed of the river, till
you reach near the close Of the Jewish
dispensation Here the mind meets the
1Iu haW oh
the mind, and the conscience stops
What is this barrier? The speaker says,
God has appointed one screah part Of he
time as a Sabbath. When Where says
the listener. Repeat the inquiry-and
the oftener repeated, the more frequently
will the vibrations Of his own voice return
in echo's answers-WheTe2


JpZcrs and lgkcn has God authorized his
creatures to choose their own method or
time of Observing his laws2 When the
Lord said "the seventh day is the Sab
bath Of the Lord thy God'-did he mean
to give US license TO choose any other
day that would suit our own convenience
better? II so, each one may choose his
own day or time, without reference to the
choice OF his neighbors or even the choi.
ces OF the different members of his own
family, so that each one observes a sew
enth part of the time for religious purpo-
ses, according to his or her own ideas OF
convenience or propriety.


We can all see that such a course
would destroy the Sabbath. The idea is
preposterous. Is il not improper then to
use such parlance in our discussions OF
this very important subject


There ought TO be better way Of get
ting over the difficulty, if there be a diff
ficulty in accounting for the change
from the seventh to the first day of the
week as a Sabbath. 1t could not be the
intention of the Law-giver, when he set
apart the seventh day commemorative of
his great work of creation, to be observed
as holy time-a day Of Test-of holy con
vocation-of religious observance and pi-
Gus instruction-to authorize his subjects
To do as they pleased about observing
this or some other day for such purposes
The day was fiXcd-the Seventh day
and that only was TO be kept holy unto
the Lord as his Sabbath. Any other, and
all the other days kept ever SO religiously
would not atone for the dcsecration Of
the one Sabbath day.


| say when Speakers or Preachers or
writers arrive at this point and enter up
on discussion OF the first day OF the week
as the Christian Sabbath, they leave the
conscience OF llttI HFhItEo anu ltdhtI-
behind them. The argument is iallacious.
1t has the appearance Of quibblc. Ger
| t4iuly il is seen to be both logically aud
| theologically untrue.


have been often panied at this Be-
tween the Jewish Sabbath and Christian
| Sabbath-those who discuss the subject
seem to see before them as il were, a
/ great gulf, over which somehow a tire
mendous leap is to be made, and in order
/ that they may land safely on the other
/ side, this broken reed is seized upon
| Thus used it does worse than pierce the
hand, for it weakens, Obliterates, and de-
| stroys the whole argument.


! hope no one will understand me ne
! wishing to set aside the first day OF the
week as the Christian Sabbath | would
enforce it-but not by the argument 20
often used, that God ordained a seventh


part Of the time as the Sabbath. There


are better reasons stronger arguments,


higher authority, from which we may ar


rive at conclusions irresistible that the


first day OF the week has been, ought to


be, and will be observed as the Christian


Sabbath so long as the Christian dispen


sation shall remain.


While we receive cordially and thank


fully the fact that God did ordain the


seventh day as the Jewish Sabbath, 50


we receive also with equal satisfaction


this other fact, that our blessed Saviour


who was Lord also of the Sabbath had
| a perfect right to change the day from


the seventh TO the first, or any other day
of the week, if He thought proper. The