An Ancient Letter by Eliza H. Morton

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 27, 1878

An Ancient Letter.

By Eliza H. Morton

I recently had an opportunity to examine a stained and yellow Catholic manuscript known to be over one hundred years old; and thinking an account of it might interest the readers of the Review, I briefly noted its contents. It purported to be a copy of a letter written by Jesus Christ. The original was said to have been found fifty-three years after the crucifixion, in the following singular manner: A stone, round and large, was discovered near where the cross stood. Upon the stone was engraven, “Blessed is he that shall turn me over.” All the people prayed to God that he would make this writing known unto them. In the meantime, a little child came out of the house and turned over the stone, and disclosed a letter bearing the words, “The commandments of Jesus Christ, signed by the angel Gabriel seventy four years after our Saviour’s birth.” The following extract shows the nature of the letter:—

“Whosoever worketh on the Sabbath day shall be cursed. I command you to go to church and keep the Lord’s day holy. I will have that day kept that your sins be forgiven you. You shall not break my commandments, but observe and keep them; write them in your hearts and observe them. You shall finish your labor every Saturday in the afternoon at six o’clock, at which hour the preparation for the Sabbath begins. I advise you to fast five Fridays in every year, in commemoration of the five bloody wounds I received. If you do this, I will bless you. He that hath a copy of this my letter, written with my own hand and spoken with my own mouth, and keepeth it, without publishing it, shall not prosper; but he that publishes it to others shall be blessed. You shall not have any tidings of me but by the Holy Scriptures until the day of Judgment. . . . All goodness, happiness, and prosperity shall be in the house where a copy of this my letter shall be found.”

Those who keep Sunday holy, can, from the above, see the fraud and deception practiced by the Catholics in order to effect the change of the Sabbath. Those who observe the seventh day can see how much better the word of the Lord is than the traditions of men.

The “man of sin” has thought to change the law of the Most High; but truth will triumph, and God’s true Sabbath will yet be kept in the earth, even when “all flesh shall go up to worship the Lord of hosts.”

Eliza H. Morton.