A Puzzled Reader by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 29, 1889

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 4, No. 18.

A Puzzled Reader.

By Editor

A FEW weeks ago we copied without comment an article from the New York Tribune, in review of a speech made by Col. E. F. Shepard, in which he claimed that God's seventh day was man's first day. The writer of that article showed so clearly the absurdity of Mr. Shepard's theology, and held him up to public ridicule so successfully, that we did not deem it necessary to add anything. But it seems that some have made the mistake of thinking that we indorsed Mr. Shepard's muddled theology, as is shown by the following letter received from an honest man in Columbus, Ohio. We quote the letter in full:—

“To-day I received the last number of the SENTINEL, dated April 24. Although I am a disbeliever in any kind of divine revelation, I read the SENTINEL with much interest, as it is a live paper. In the article headed, ‘The Seventh and First Days of the Week Are the Same,’ I struck a snag. It may be that my skepticism is at fault, and that I do not correctly understand the wording of the Bible. In the article referred to I find the following passage: ‘The first Sabbath was God's seventh and man's first day. Thus God's seventh day of rest after the creation was man's first day of existence, so that his first Sabbath of rest was his first day, although it was God's seventh day.’

“This statement is not in harmony with chapters one and two of Genesis. There we find it asserted, twenty-third verse, ‘And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.’ Twenty-sixth, ‘And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ Twenty-seventh, ‘And God created man in his own image.’ Thirty-first, ‘And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good, and the evening and the morning were the sixth day.’ Gen. 2:2 says, ‘And on the seventh day God ended the work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work.’

“Now the day on which it is claimed that man was created, was the sixth, corresponding to our Friday; and on the day following, which we call Saturday, God rested from his work and sanctified it. In consideration of these statements, or, rather, according to these assertions, it must be wrong to say, ‘Thus, God's seventh day of rest was man's first day of existence,’ for on that first Saturday man had already existed one day; that Saturday was the second day of man's existence, according to my reckoning, which may be misguided, as I do not wear colored spectacles. My eyes must be at fault; else I cannot understand that you learned gentlemen did not point out the flaw in the argument of Col. Elliott F. Shepard. If you would deem it advisable to enlighten me on the subject, I would be under many obligations to you.”

We do not think that our good friend needs any enlightenment. He seems to be able to read the English language quite intelligently; and we do not know of anybody who could state the facts in regard to the record in the first and second chapters of Genesis any better than he has done. Mr. Shepard's statement that the first and seventh days are the same is a self-evident absurdity. All the enlightenment that our correspondent needs is to understand that the Sunday-law business is contrary to reason and revelation, and that he must not be surprised at any fraud or absurdity that he may find in connection with arguments for it. Mr. Shepard has been chosen as the head of this great (ir)religious movement; and by virtue of his position as pastor of pastors, he finds himself obliged to give instruction to the clergymen of the United States; and, like anybody else who presumes to talk about that of which he knows nothing, he naturally makes many foolish statements. Still we would not be unnecessarily harsh on Mr. Shepard, for, although he is not a theologian, he makes full as good an argument for Sunday and Sunday laws as any doctor of divinity ever did; which only goes to show that what is needed for the success of the Sunday cause is, not knowledge, but power.