A FALSE CHARGE EXPOSED.
By John Nevins Andrews
A FRIEND has just placed in my hand a small pamphlet entitled, “The Sabbath Question,” written by F. Walden, and has called my attention to the reference made by this writer on pages 41–43 to my History of the Sabbath. Mr. Walden undertakes to show that I have falsified the testimony of Neander. He does not give the words which I quote from Neander, nor does he even fairly state their purport. But his charge of dishonesty could hardly have been made by a candid man. He says that he has Neander’s Church History in five volumes (this is Torrey’s translation), and he does not find the words as I quote them. Also he has Neander’s “Planting and Training of the Christian Church,” and he does not find my quotation in that book. Thereupon, he charges me with dishonesty. But the quotation from Neander on page 230 of my History of the Sabbath is expressly said to be taken from Neander’s Church History, translated by H. J. Rose. This translator is a clergyman of the Church of England, and his translation is by no means a rare book. Mr. Walden cannot excuse himself for overlooking the fact that his translation by Torrey is not the translation from which I quoted, because I did on that very page refer to quote from both translations. I will not say that the gentleman did not honestly blunder in this gross manner, but certainly he must, as a Christian, retract his bitter words when they are shown to be without foundation in fact. The gentleman takes on trust the usual quotations from the Fathers in behalf of Sunday. Thus on page 47 he quotes a testimony of this kind from Theophilus, bishop of Antioch A. D. 162, and yet not one word of his quotation can be found in Theophilus! I will not charge him with dishonesty, as he has charged me, but I will say that he can only be excused from that charge in this case by the charitable supposition that he has never seen the author whom he thus quotes.