Some New Testimony in Favor of Sunday
By L. A. S.
The Sunday School Times of March 24 devotes considerable space to the narration of personal experiences furnished by a number of its readers, in proof that Sunday-keeping is according to the will of God. In answer to the question raised by one reader of the Times, whether haying on Sunday is to be considered a work of necessity, a number of other readers furnish indubitable proof (?) to the contrary by a citation of personal experiences coming under their cognizance. One mentions the case of a Scotch Covenanter living near the Connecticut River. There was a fall flood which raised the river out of its banks. “The corn was cut and ‘stacked,’ but not husked, and farmers day by day moved it back to higher ground until Sunday morning.” Then the Covenanter stopped work and went to church, while the others kept at work, as the river continued6to rise. It rose higher and higher, and Sunday night swept all the corn away. But lo! a day or two later, when the flood subsided, the Covenanter found his field covered with corn which had in some way drifted on to it, so that he harvested a good crop! An Ohio pastor narrates that at one time “when a boy on my father’s farm, just as the wheat of a neighborhood had been put in shock, it set in to rain, and rained for about a week continuously every day. The shocks were thoroughly saturated with rain. On Sunday following this week of rain the sun shone out bright, and many of our neighbors with their teams worked all day hauling and ricking their grain. Some did not touch theirs until Monday, which was also bright, as were all the following days of the week. When thrashing time came, those who hauled in their grain on the sabbath day found that it had all molded and spoiled in the stacks, because of having been put up in a damp and wet condition. Those who waited until Monday brought settled weather, opened up the shocks and leisurely stacked and thrashed in due time a fair quality of wheat.” Another cites the following evidence on the subject, which was brought out at a court trial in Kentucky some years ago: A farmer was on trial for breaking the “sabbath,” in having cut his grain on Sunday. The farmer testified that his wheat had become so “straw-fallen” that he believed if he waited longer, he would be unable to save it. He cut about half of it, when he was obliged to stop on account of a heavy fall of rain. “The judge inquired if he cut the remainder. ‘Yes,’ he replied, ‘but not until the Tuesday following, on account of rain.’ ‘So you saved all your crop after all [inquired the judge]?’ ‘No,’ said the farmer; ‘I saved all I cut on Tuesday, but lost all I cut on Sunday.’” This is a verbatim report of the testimony given, showing it to be absolutely correct. Another instance is furnished by some one in California. He says: “My father, though not an active Christian, would not make hay on Sunday. One year the season was very wet. We cut some grass Monday morning, and in the afternoon it came on to rain, and rained practically all the week. Late Saturday afternoon it cleared, and in the evening we went into the field and opened up the grass, and let it lie that way all day Sunday. Our neighbor across the way worked all day Sunday, and got in all his hay.” The sequel was that those who had waited until Monday had a chance to sell their damaged hay at a fair price, while the man who worked on Sunday had to take out again all the hay he had put in on that day and work it over, because he had put it into the barn when damp. Still another instance is furnished by a reader living in New Hampshire. It happened when he was a boy. His father had a load of wheat out in the field Sunday morning, and as it looked like rain, he yoked his oxen and went out with his cart to get the wheat. The oxen were young and not well trained, so his wife went with him, taking with her her baby girl. The baby was rolled in a blanket and laid on the grass. Pretty soon the oxen became excited and ran across the field toward the baby, but when one wheel of the cart was on the blanket, and another forward step would have been fatal to the infant, they stopped, and the latter was rescued. The writer adds: “Father never tried working on Sunday after that experience.” We might raise the query whether it is not quite possible that wheat or hay which is put into the barn when damp would spoil just the same if it was put in on any other day than Sunday; or whether an equal or even greater number of instances might not be cited where Sunday work was done on the farm with no attending loss. But we will let this evidence in behalf of Sunday stand for all it is worth, and will even add further evidence of the same kind. There are other occurrences which belong with these, cited and vouched for by witnesses in behalf of Sunday in earlier times. Some of these were of a miraculous nature. “Among other wonders it was reported that as a husbandman who was about to plow his field on Sunday, cleaned his plow with an iron, the iron stuck fast in his hand, and for two years he carried it about with him, ‘to his exceeding great pain and shame.’” — “Great Controversy, page 575.” About the close of the twelfth century a zealous advocate of Sunday came to England, bringing with him a roll which had been received direct from heaven, containing the strongest command for Sunday observance. It forbade labor between three o’clock on Saturday afternoon and Monday morning. To confirm its authenticity, persons who labored beyond this designated hour on Saturday were stricken with paralysis (so it was stated). “A miller who attempted [on Sunday] to grind his corn, saw, instead of flour, a torrent of blood come forth, and the mill wheel stood still, notwithstanding the strong rush of water. A woman who placed dough in the oven [on Sunday], found it raw when taken out, though the oven was very hot. Another who had dough prepared for baking at the ninth hour, but determined to set it aside till Monday, found, the next day, that it had been made into loaves and baked by divine power. A man who baked bread after the ninth hour [three o’clock] on Saturday, found, when he broke it the next morning, that blood started therefrom.” — Id., page 576. We do not think the Sunday sabbath cause is strengthened by any evidence of this character, though it is undoubtedly the best that can be furnished in support of that institution. The Bible rule is, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isa. 8:20. Not all the wonderful occurrences in the world can overthrow the evidence of the law and the testimony of Jehovah. Judged by this evidence, the Sunday sabbath is found to rest upon a false foundation. The law and the testimony plainly declare that not the first day, but the seventh day, is the Sabbath. L. A. S.