Report from Bro. Blanchard.
By H. C. Blanchard
Bro. WHITE: I left home Oct. 3, to labor as the Lord should open the way. I reached Gridley the 4th, and visited among the brethren until the Sabbath, when I preached to them from Heb. v, 8, 9. I found them still pressing Zionward. May the Lord bless and encourage them, and may they strive to excel in love and good works. Sunday, the 7th, I commenced a series of meetings in the village of Gridley, and preached thirteen times. The meetings were well attended most of the time, and a good deal of interest was manifested by some to know what the Scriptures taught. I spoke twice on the subject of the Sabbath. At the close of the first sermon, a Disciple minister arose and called the attention of the congregation, and in reply to my first proposition, viz., The Sabbath was instituted at creation, asserted there was not a man on the face of the earth when God rested on the seventh day. Gen. ii, 2, 8. (!) To sustain my proposition, I read Gen. i, 24-31. Comment was unnecessary. He also stated that Christ kept the law. To which I replied, A very good admission; for John says, 1 John ii, 6, “We are to walk even as he walked;” also, Christ left us an example that ye should follow in his steps. 1 Pet. ii, 21. He asserted that “Christ fulfilled the law and that ended it, and we are not under it,” &c. To which I replied, If the word fulfill means to abolish, it will not do violence to substitute abolish for fulfill in the following scriptures. Matt. iii, 15. For thus it becometh us to abolish all righteousness. Does it? Gal. vi, 2. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so abolish the law of Christ. Must we! Once more: James ii, 8. If ye abolish the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well. Do we? Thus he abolished all righteousness, the law of Christ, and the royal law. If this is not wresting the Scriptures, what is it? How much better the following: “Fulfill; to perform what is required; to answer a law by obedience. Webster’s fourth definition of the word fulfill.” At the close of my second sermon, I requested all who believed that Sunday was the Sabbath for us to keep, and was authorized by divine authority, to arise. Not one arose. There being two ministers present, they thereby signified how much faith they had in the divine origin of Sunday-keeping. It rained there for nearly two weeks, and the roads became very bad, so that I concluded to go home and spend a few weeks until the election excitement was over. May the Lord increase the interest that our humble labors have awakened, and may he raise up a people there that shall keep his commandments, and receive the testimony of Jesus Christ. I am now at home resting. I would say to the dear saints that I still love present truth, and desire their prayers that I may, with the Lord’s help, be able to do some good. Princeville, Nov. 2, 1866.