p. 1 | SABBATH MEMORIAL by M. E. Cornell

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 5, 1872

SABBATH MEMORIAL.

By M. E. Cornell

BY ELD. M. E. CORNELL.

The object of a memorial is to keep some person, place, thing, or event, in remembrance. A memorial, therefore, must have striking points of resemblance to the thing commemorated, so as to bring that thing forcibly to mind. A proposition so self-evident as this, needs only to be stated to gain the assent of every candid, reflecting mind. But, for the sake of any who may be doubtful, we may refer to Scripture illustrations and explanations, which will forever set the matter at rest with every Bible believer. The following may be sufficient:—

1. THE PASSOVER: “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.” “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.” Ex. 12: 14, 26, 27.

2. BAPTISM: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.” Rom. 6: 4, 5.

3. LORD’S SUPPER: “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, which is broken for you; this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood; this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” 1 Cor. 11: 23–26.

4. THE SABBATH: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Ex. 20: 8–11. “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord.” Eze. 20: 12, 20. See also Ex. 31: 13, 17.

Now upon a careful comparison of these memorials, who will affirm that the passover, baptism, and the Lord’s supper, are memorials any more than the Sabbath? Each is explained in the very text itself to be a commemorative institution. Indeed, so very certain is this, in regard to the Sabbath, that it has been admitted by the majority of theologians, both Jewish and Christian.

So Kiddush, Chamber’s Cyclopedia: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hath sanctified us by his laws, and bath, in his love and in his mercy, given us the Sabbath as a REMEMBRANCE of his CREATION.”

The “Encyclopedia Brittanica,” Art. Sabbath, says: “They were commanded to set it apart for sacred purposes in honor of creation.”

Groves, on Genesis, p. 32, says: “When God ended the six days’ work, he rested and was refreshed; for his creation was prepared to yield to him the glory which is his due. And for this reason, he sanctified the seventh day to his service, that men should by it be reminded of the greatest end for which they were created, and on that day appropriately render to their Maker adoration.”

Dr. Priestly, in his Notes on Gen., chap. 2, says: “It pleased the Divine Being to appoint that the seventh day should be considered as sacred to him, probably with a view to call mankind to reflect on his power and providence in the creation, and to attend to the relation in which they stand to him as creator, and sovereign disposer of all things.”

Murphy, on Gen. 2, says: “A thankful commemoration of that auspicious event in which the Almighty gave a noble origin and a happy existence to the human race. It is this which, even apart from its divine institution, at once raises the Sabbath above all human, commemorative festivals.”

Dr. Justin Edwards says: “It commemorates the work of God as creator, preserver, benefactor, and redeemer. It is the day which the Lord has made for this purpose, and which he blesses to this end.”

Rev. Thomas B. Brown says: “The Sabbath is a monument which has been set up as a memorial of creation.”

Thoughts on the Sabbath, p. 54, John Wilton says: “With regard to the Sabbath, it is clear that God hallowed it to himself, and dedicated it to rest, in remembrance of the consummation of his work. Gen. 2: 2, 3.” Book 1, chap. 10.

Now if it be admitted that the day of God’s rest was set apart and appointed to be observed as a memorial of the complete creation, how could the Sabbath be changed? How could the Creator’s rest be celebrated on a day upon which he was engaged in his work? Then we must conclude that the “first day of the week” is not a memorial of anything.

1. It is not a memorial of creation; for God did not rest on that day. God’s rest on the seventh day signified his work completed. But on the first day it was only begun.

2. It is not a memorial of redemption; for Christ did not redeem the world by rising from the dead on the first day of the week, neither did he rest on that day from the work of redemption; for the work of redemption is not yet complete.

Again, there is no text to show that we have redemption through the resurrection of Christ.

There are many steps in the work of redemption, such as the following:

The Ministry of Christ.

The Crucifixion of Christ.

The Resurrection of Christ.

The Ascension of Christ.

The Intercession of Christ.

The Second Advent of Christ.

The Resurrection of the Dead.

The Destruction of the Ungodly.

The New Creation, &c.

How could the first day be set up as a memorial of a work that was not half done? No instance can be shown of such a procedure. To do such a thing would be as if God, at the close of the third day of his work of creating, had stopped, and appointed that third day as a day of rest to commemorate the great work of creation!

But if the first day is a memorial, where is the record of its appointment? Where, when, how, and by whom, was it appointed?

For every divinely-appointed memorial set up for God’s people in the past, we have a definite and inspired record. Will God so change as to leave his people to infer or QUESTION their religious duty?

We must conclude, hence, that Sunday is an imaginary memorial. It has not only no divine appointment, but it has no reason. It is a “plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted,” “a well without water,” “a cloud without rain,” “a broken cistern.” It is an institution without foundation in Scripture, or reason. It is as destitute of a bottom as a certain “pit” we read of in the Apocalypse. If any are anxious to find a text to establish Sunday-keeping, they will find it in the very same chapter, and next verse after the one that says we must observe “Good Friday;” and that will be some chapter in the “Acts of the Man of Sin,” for, surely it cannot be found in the “Acts of the Apostles.” It did not come from Jerusalem, nor Antioch, but from Rome, the city where the principal merchandise is that of “fables,” “heresies,” “traditions of men,” &c. Old Dr. Antichrist lives there, and has waxed rich by selling his wine to the nations.

The truth has come, and with gladness we hail the light which makes manifest all this darkness, and shows us where to find the “old paths.”

“Then as we would our God obey, In letter and in spirit too, Oh! let us keep the seventh day, For it is plainly brought to view.”