The Fathers on the Sabbath Question.
By John Nevins Andrews
ONE of the principal means of blinding the people to the claims of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to present certain quotations purporting to be taken from those who had conversed with the apostles, or from those who had conversed with those who had seen them, and to show from these that the first day of the week was ordained by the apostles to be observed in the place of the ancient day of rest. The Sunday argument from the Scriptures is too feeble to stand alone, and never ventures out except with the testimony of the fathers of the early centuries, as a staff on which to lean for support. A set of quotations, purporting to come from the early writers of the Christian church, was long since prepared ready for use, and every first-day writer and speaker produces these in support of the change of the Sabbath, and in proof of the authority of the so-called Christian Sabbath. It has therefore seemed to me important, inasmuch as this kind of testimony is so highly prized by first-day people, that the complete testimony of all the fathers for something more than three hundred years—which must be long enough to take in all those men who had conversed with those who had seen them etc., and several quotations more—should be given in full in their own words. I am persuaded that it will astonish many to see what dishonest use has been made of these writings. The task has been one of much labor, and I have not known how to spare the time for it when so many other things demanded attention in the Sabbath History. But the work seemed to me to be imperatively demanded and I have now nearly accomplished it. Probably it would not be best to insert the whole of this matter in the new edition of the Sabbath History, as it is necessary to keep that work in as condensed a form as possible. I have therefore thought best, if the publishing committee approve, that this “Complete Testimony of the Fathers of the First Three Centuries concerning the Sabbath and First Day” should be published in a pamphlet of perhaps about one hundred pages. And after thus giving the testimony in full, with some remarks, the most important points can be given in a condensed form in the Sabbath History. Modern church historians make very conflicting statements respecting the Sabbath and first-day in the centuries preceding Constantine. And there is no end to the modern first-day writers, who set forth the merits of the so-called Lord’s day from the authority of the fathers. These are thrust in the face of every person who observes the despised, down-trodden Sabbath of the great Creator. The History of the Sabbath is of course the proper work to give the truth on these points. And how shall it be done? Shall it array those historians who have borne testimony with greater or less clearness in behalf of the Sabbath against those others who have given to Sunday such unqualified support, and have treated the Sabbath with such contempt? This could be done; but this does not seem to me the proper method. It decides nothing, inasmuch as it simply arrays doctor against doctor, and makes the subject of the early history of the two days one of doubt and perplexity in many minds. There seems to be, however, a wiser and better course, and one that cannot fail to give us the exact truth. Let us go back of these modern writers to the persons who lived in those first centuries, and find the exact words which every one of them has written (or which purport to have been written by them) on this subject. Then it matters little to us what the modern writers say, for we have the facts in full which they used in preparing their histories. This reason, also, has weighed with me in determining to give the full testimony of the fathers. I trust it will be found by no means dry, but of real interest to the common reader. I have felt great anxiety to hasten forward, the whole work to completion. For this reason, I have desisted, for the time, from writing for our papers, that I might save my strength for this work. But after a little, I intend, if the Lord will, to write also for the papers. In the meantime, I ask an interest in the prayers of the people of God, that my work may be done to his acceptance. J. N. ANDREWS.
Lancaster, Mass., Nov. 15, 1872.