p. 10 | ABBOTT ON THE SABBATH by A. SMITH

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 3, 1879

ABBOTT ON THE SABBATH.

By A. SMITH

Jacob Abbott, in his “Young Christian,” makes a few points concerning the Sabbath, that we think of sufficient interest to transcribe for the readers of the REVIEW. In these days of spirited controversy on the subject there is an array of witnesses for and against the existence of the Edenic Sabbath from the fall of man to the cross of Christ. Prominent among those who affirm the question stands the name of Abbott, as the following terse argument verifies:—

“As soon as God had finished the creation, it is stated that he rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it; that is, he set it apart for a sacred use. The time and the circumstances under which this was done, sufficiently indicate that it was intended to apply to the whole race, and to extend through all time. . . . Many years afterward the Creator gave a very distinct code of laws to his people, the Jews. These laws were of two kinds, ceremonial and moral. It was the design of the former to be binding only upon the Jewish nation. The latter are of permanent and universal authority. . . . The Sabbath was observed, from its establishment down to the coming of Christ, on the seventh day of the week, that is, our Saturday. . . . Our Saviour rose from the dead on the day after the Sabbath.”

The writer of the foregoing recognizes the existence of the Sabbath this side of the cross; but from this point, in his endeavor to prove a change of the Sabbath, he wanders in the mazes of popular error, though he makes some admissions that destroy the force of his arguments.

In regard to keeping the first day, he says: “There is no direct command to do this on record, and no indication that there was any controversy about it at the time.” The fact that the bigoted Jews did not bring any charge against the apostles on this point is good evidence that there was no controversy, and that there could have been no such change. “We infer,” says Mr. A., “that they had some authority for so doing, though it is not at all necessary that that authority should be specified.” In making use of an illustration he draws the following conclusion, which he applies with equal force to a change of the Sabbath: “The universality of the practice is the best of evidence in such a case.” A little further on he says, “There are some Christians who prefer to keep Saturday as holy time, and not Sunday.”

So it seems, after all, that the practice of keeping Sunday is not universal among Christians, and that “best of evidence” is disrobed of its power. Speaking of the fourth commandment he says, “It is for the observance of a particular day. It specifies what day, but it does not specify at what hour it is to begin, and therefore we are left at liberty to begin it so as to correspond with any established and common mode of computing time.” Will the reader please compare this statement with Lev. 23 : 32 ; Neh. 13 : 19 ; and Gen. 1 : 5-31.

Further on, Mr. A. wants to know what we can say concerning the time of beginning the day, to a Christian living in Greenland, where the sun does not set for months together. We would say that in Greenland sunset and sunrise meet, at such a time, in the lowest point reached by the sun in the northern horizon every day of twenty-four hours; and that event would mark the beginning or ending of the Sabbath.

But what, says one, would you advise those living at the poles of the earth, where the sun moves in nearly a perfect circle around and above the horizon? We would advise them to begin the Sabbath when the sun reaches his meridian on the day line, which the providence of God has seemed to fix in the Pacific Ocean. What, I ask, in turn, as an offset, can be said to those living in the center of the earth (?) about this matter? None answering, I would suggest that the Geocentrics and Polarians resolve themselves into a committee of the whole to decide the question for themselves. A. SMITH.