Meetings in New Hampshire.
By Uriah Smith
BRO. ANDREWS being called away from Boston for a time by the New York Camp-meeting, I availed myself of the opportunity (not being able to prosecute the work on the History of the Sabbath to advantage in his absence) to fulfill some long-standing engagements with my friends in my native place, West Wilton, N. H., and vicinity. Sabbath, Aug. 12, met with the few in New Ipswich who are trying understandingly to keep God’s whole law. It is cheering to meet with those who, in these days when the masses are either indifferent to religious matters, or are openly hostile to the truths of God’s word, have boldly taken their stand upon the right, and express their faith with all the assurance of knowledge. Spoke once on first-day to some from without who came in to hear. Sabbath, Aug. 19, spoke twice to the little company of commandment-keepers in Blakeville. Some of this church are unable to go abroad to meeting, and hence highly appreciate the visits of any who come to labor with them. They all seemed to be cheered and encouraged by the meetings. Sunday, the 20th, presented the Sabbath question to the people of Wilton. A word as to the occasion of this meeting may be necessary. The lectures of Bro. Rodman in West Wilton, last spring, excited quite a spirit of inquiry among the people on the Sabbath question; and honest inquiry will be satisfied with nothing short of the truth, if the truth is to be had. With the probable object of quieting the spirit of investigation, a discourse was preached against the Sabbath, which was not altogether satisfactory to those who had acquainted themselves somewhat with the reasons upon which the sabbatic institution rests. This, therefore, tended to increase, rather than allay, the excitement; and this was still further increased by the position taken, under the pressure of argument, by some of the most prominent members of the Baptist church. Failing to find any scriptural sanction for the first day of the week, they placed it upon a basis of expediency rather than upon any divine command, and so were driven by the inexorable law of sequence to acknowledge that hunting and fishing were recreations not particularly sinful upon that day. This was rather loose and strange ground for many who had always heretofore been taught that any infraction of Sunday sacredness was a crime committed direct against the requirements of Heaven. Under these circumstances, I was requested by some who were interested, to speak upon the subject; and ascertaining that the Unitarian house in Wilton Center could be had for the purpose, an appointment for the 20th at 1 P. M. was sent in and announced the Sunday previous. On the day in question, the Baptists very kindly arranged their exercises so that their members could have an opportunity of listening to the Sabbath discourse in the afternoon. Both the Unitarian and Baptist congregations were therefore present, to the number, as was estimated, of four hundred or more. In the Unitarian house a discourse was given in the forenoon in behalf of the first day of the week, so that both theories were brought side by side before the people. Two Unitarian ministers, and the Baptist minister, were present in the afternoon. Those who are acquainted with the Sabbath question understand the difficulty of bringing out all of even the more essential points of the evidence in one discourse. I presented all that I was able in an hour and a half, endeavoring to make some strong points in the following line of argument: 1. That the Sabbath is confined to a definite day, not merely to a seventh part of the time; as is proved by the wording of the fourth commandment, and the setting apart of the day in Eden. 2. That the Sabbath was instituted before the fall. 3. That a law was there given for its observance. 4. That it is the great memorial which God has given us of himself. 5. That it was a moral law, like the others amid which it was placed. 6. That since the crucifixion of Christ, one of three things is true; namely, that the Sabbath has been changed, or it has been abolished, or the original institution still exists. 7. That the grounds on which a change is claimed are wholly assumed and fallacious. 8. That the disciples did not meet on the day of Christ’s resurrection to celebrate that event, for they did not believe it had taken place. 9. That the apostles made the first day a secular day, as is proved by Acts 20:7, and onward, and 1 Cor. 16:2. 10. That the Sabbath has not been abolished; for all that was abolished was the typical and ceremonial law; as is proved by Col. 2:14-16. 11. That those who apply Col. 2:14-16 to the weekly Sabbath, should banish even the semblance of such an institution from their religious system, and never contend for it on the ground of expediency; for what the apostle Paul declares to be against us, no believer in Paul can consistently claim to be either a moral or physical necessity. 12. That the original institution still exists; for the law as a whole has come into this dispensation unrepealed and unchanged; as is proved by Matt. 5:17-20, and Rom. 3:31, and the apostles made the Sabbath the day of weekly religious worship even when laboring exclusively for the Gentiles; as is proved by Acts 13:42, 44; and there is in this dispensation a day set apart to divine uses, as the Lord’s day, Rev. 1:10, which can be none other than that Sabbath day of which our Saviour declared himself to be the Lord. Mark 2:28. 13. That our best course is to obey God’s requirements just as he has given them, even though it subject us to some inconvenience, lest in the coming day when we are required to answer for our conduct here, it be found that we have made void the commandments of God by the traditions of men. At 5 P. M. of the same day, I spoke, by request of the Baptist minister, at the County Farm, to a congregation of about two hundred. Immediate results could hardly be expected from one or two discourses. I have, however, the satisfaction of thinking that by means of this meeting many have heard some of the evidences in favor of the Sabbath, who would probably never have taken the trouble to listen to any one with whom they had never had an acquaintance, and in whom they had never felt an interest. That impressions may have been made by the remarks upon some minds, which will prove lasting and prepare the way for further truth, is a matter of hope, and a subject of prayer. As the New England Camp-meeting commences at Amherst in a few days, I design to attend that meeting, and shortly after to return to Michigan. U. S.