Report from Bro. Sanborn.
By Isaac Sanborn
SINCE my last report I have been laboring with the church at Avon. The weather most of the time was very cold, and the roads very rough; therefore, the congregations were rather small, yet the Lord helped us in all our meetings. On the fifth of January three were baptized and five were received into the church. The brethren and sisters were much encouraged to press on in the good way to Mt. Zion. January 6th, Elder Sheldon, a no-Sabbath Adventist, preached two hours and a half. His text was “Ellen’s visions;” referring to what sister White saw in vision concerning the perpetuity of God’s holy law, and especially the holy Sabbath. Said Elder S., If this vision is true, then the ten commandments can never be changed while God exists, and if so, the Sabbath is binding forever. Here the Elder’s mind seemed to be wonderfully stirred up, perhaps in fulfillment of Paul’s language to the Romans: The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. He labored long and hard to show that the ten commandments could not exist in the kingdom of God, but that they were made for an age in which man could kill. Then he tried to show that the ten commandments were not adapted to this age, because, said he, They are rubbish. I had a good, free time in reviewing the Elder’s discourse in the evening. A brief summary of which is as follows: 1. If the vision is true, then the Sabbath is binding forever. I showed from Heb. ix, 1–5, that the ten commandments were in the ark of the earthly Sanctuary; and in the 23d verse, Paul says, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the Heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” Paul, in the above language, clearly shows that he recognized the fact that the ten commandments are in the heavenly Sanctuary where Jesus has entered to make an atonement for all who will obey God and keep his commandments. 2. We showed from Rev. xi, 19, that under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which commenced in 1844, the Temple of God was opened in Heaven, and that there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. Here we raised the question, Who had seen the ark of God’s testament, with its sacred contents in Heaven, since 1844? I answered, the seventh-day Advent people had by faith followed Jesus into the most holy place, and there found the fourth commandment teaching us to remember that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God; and that sister White had seen it there in vision, we had no doubt. 3. We then showed from Matt. v, 17, that not one jot or tittle should pass from the law till Heaven and earth had passed; therefore, the seventh day is the Sabbath till Heaven and earth shall pass away with a great noise, 2 Pet. iii, 10, and is, therefore, binding on Elder Sheldon and every other man, even himself being judge; because he admitted it might be binding in an age when men could kill his fellow. He also admitted that, if the vision of sister White is true, then the seventh day is the Sabbath. We see that our Lord in Matt. v, 17, 18, has positively declared that one jot or tittle cannot pass from the law till Heaven and earth pass, and, as Heaven and earth have not yet passed, we should hope that the Elder and many others might keep the Sabbath, if it was not for one thing: They have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths and I am profaned among them. Ezekiel xxii, 26. The Elder had left an appointment for second-day evening, to continue his warfare against God’s holy law; but after we got through reviewing him, he took up his appointment, as he found that I was going to stay and review him all the week if he stayed. He then challenged me to discuss the three angels’ messages, the visions, the law and the Sabbath. I told him I would not have a discussion with him on any other plan than the one we were then having, but that I would discuss with him this evening to his heart’s content if he would; but he would not stay, so we are satisfied that the truth lost nothing by the effort which he made against it. I do praise the Lord for the clearness of the light upon present truth.