SABBATH-KEEPERS IN ENGLAND.
By Thos. W. Richardson
Editor of the Advent Review. DEAR SIR: Believing that you and your readers are glad to learn of any Sabbath work, especially in a distant country, I inclose a report of a Sabbath Conference just held here under the support of Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-day Baptists, and Church of God, but on undenominational lines. The Conference has proved encouraging, and has set many earnest persons thinking about the Sabbath. “CHRISTIAN SABBATH-KEEPERS’ CONFERENCE AT EXETER HALL, LONDON.”
“On Thursday, May 23, the second annual Conference ‘of Christians, irrespective of denomination, who observe the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment, commonly called Saturday,’ was held at Exeter Hall. “The Conference began at three o’clock in the afternoon, with the annual general meeting of the Christian Sabbath-keepers’ Union for the election of officers, and general business. “At half-past three the Conference proper was held. This consisted of the reading of papers and letters, with questions and discussion. A little after five the Conference adjourned for tea. As no official arrangements had been made, the members and friends grouped themselves into parties, quite a large party assembling at St. Martin’s Lane vegetarian restaurant. “Returning to the hall at 6:45, the president, treasurer, secretary, and committeemen, to carry out next year’s Conference, were elected, and then after a short pause, which was occupied with instrumental and vocal music, the public meeting began at half-past seven. “Major Richardson, the president of the Conference, was supported by Lady Blount and Messrs. S. M. Brown, W. Mills, and J. Nicholls, by whom the papers and speeches were given. The papers were entitled, ‘How to Spread the Sabbath Truth,’ ‘Gather,’ and ‘Preach the Word.’ After each paper and each speech, time was allowed for questions and discussion, and this added considerably to the interest of the meeting. “A beautiful hymn, entitled ‘The True Lord’s Day,’ the words and music of which were composed by Lady Blount, was sung by Mr. W. Gadd, with organ and stringed instrument accompaniment. This of course was not a Sunday, but a Sabbath, hymn. “The object of the meeting was to inculcate a greater reverence for the Sabbath of the Lord, and to devise the best means to that end. It was contended that Sunday observance can only destroy reverence for God’s law, being an act of disobedience, a substitution for which no divine sanction can be found; that if Christians really desire the fullness of divine grace, they must return to the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) according to the commandment; for it is of this day that Jesus claims to be the Lord. “The Conference was entirely undenominational, all matters of a denominational character being carefully excluded; for the ‘Sabbath of the Lord,’ the seventh-day, or Saturday, was ‘made for man,’ and belongs as much to the members of the Episcopal Church as it does to the Sabbatarians or Seventh-day Baptists; to the Wesleyans and Congregationalists as much as it does to the Seventh-day Adventists or that other body of Christian Sabbath-keepers who style themselves the ‘Church of God.’ ‘Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.’”