REPLY by J. H. W.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 14, 1873

REPLY

By J. H. W.

We accept your profession to be “looking for light,” but say, without hesitation, that you have marked out a course which, if followed, must lead into the deepest darkness and most fatal error.

1. Your position on conversion supposes that a person is converted to a complete knowledge of duty, which is inconsistent with Scripture and with fact. The Scriptures speak of young converts as “new-born babes,” who may grow by the use of the “sincere milk of the word.” The theory of a knowledge of right by “abstract principles” without “direct enforcement” by “tangible precept” is infidel in its tendency, since it actually ignores the word of God as the rule of life. Fortunately for us, God has not left us to our own blindness, or to walk according to our own ways; but he has given us a revelation of his holy will, and made us responsible if we neglect it. To suppose that we can fully know our duty without a knowledge of the law of God, or understand “the moral requirements of God” without any knowledge of the Scriptures, is to set aside revelation altogether. We know that in this age of infidel tendencies the tide is in that direction, but that professed Christians should plead for it is as astonishing as it is deplorable.

2. Christ promised that the Spirit of truth should guide believers “into all truth,” and in his prayer to his Father, he said, “Thy word is truth.” Now we are exhorted not to believe every spirit, “but try the spirits whether they are of God.” God’s word is truth; and his Spirit will guide into the truth. Of course any spirit which guides contrary to God’s word is not the Spirit of God. This is an infallible test. When an individual excuses himself from obeying any duty laid down in the word, because he has the Spirit for his guide, we know at once “what manner of spirit” he is of. As the Spirit is given to guide into truth, whoever rejects or neglects any duty enjoined by the word of truth, grieves the Spirit; and if he persists in this course, the Spirit will leave him altogether.

3. The fourth commandment is a moral law; it is based upon, and grows out of, a relation as old as the heavens and the earth; and which will continue as long as the relation of Creator and created exists. It is a recognition of the power and authority of the Creator, and of his right to regulate our worship. When he established the cycle of seven days to the week, he blessed and set apart to his own service, the seventh day; thus distinguishing it from the other days which were given to man for his use. Hence, the seventh day is a holy day, and the Lord’s day, “the holy of the Lord.” Some have lost sight of the blessing which God put upon the seventh day, and look upon it as a day simply set apart as were other days. But this is a holy day in a sense which other days are not; and this fact is well expressed in Ex. 35:2; (literally) “the seventh day shall be to you holiness.” It is the Lord’s, and we have no moral right to disregard his prohibition and to appropriate it to our own use.

On this, your question leads to a most singular conclusion. You ask, if the commandment is moral, “is not the morality of the commandment fulfilled in giving God one day in seven, without any reference to a particular day?” To this, a pertinent reply is contained in the question, “Who hath required this at your hands?” The commandment says the seventh day is blessed and consecrated, and requires us to keep it holy; and this obligation you think may be fulfilled by appropriating that day to your own use, and “giving God” a day in its stead which he never blessed, which he never sanctified, never claimed as his own, and never required any one to keep! You would be shocked if any should apply such reasoning to any other commandment. Would you admit that, if the eighth commandment is moral, we can fulfil its morality by taking our neighbor’s goods without his knowledge? Or, if it is a moral duty to pay our lawful debts, we can discharge that obligation by giving our creditor counterfeit coin, and reserving the genuine for our own use? And this illustration is exactly to the point. As a Sabbath, the Sunday is a counterfeit. The seventh day alone is genuine; and its genuineness is attested by the well-known and acknowledged fact that Jehovah’s signature is upon it, set there by his own hand.

Your third question is but a carrying out of the error of the second. Admitted that a commandment may be kept in letter while it is not kept in spirit, we must deny the converse, that it may be kept in spirit while it is not kept in the letter. You may keep the letter of the third commandment by never mentioning the name of the Lord; but you cannot keep the spirit of it without loving and reverencing his name. Would you claim that you can keep the spirit of it while breaking it in letter, that is, openly using the name of Jehovah in a profane manner; or that you can keep the spirit of the sixth commandment while taking your neighbor’s life; or, of the eighth while taking his property? We know you would not. Why, then, make this distinction against the fourth commandment, and use it as you would not use any of the others? Have you carefully examined the motive which has led you to your conclusions?

The seventh precept of God’s law may be kept in letter by abstaining from the overt act of adultery; but the Saviour asserts that it is really broken, that is, in its spirit, by impure desire. Of course it cannot be kept in spirit while its letter is violated, and this shows us what is meant by serving in newness of spirit. It certainly is not to break the law of God in letter, which cannot be done without sin, but it is to keep the law in the letter and something more; not with a mere nominal, formal observance, but with an obedience of faith in God,—the obedience of a heart which loves God, and has an earnest zeal toward him.

We have accepted your profession of a desire for light, and have spoken plainly, as we think the occasion requires, and we ask you to accept the assurance that this is written in kindness, and with an earnest prayer that the Spirit of God may guide you into all truth, which you will find in the word of God. And we hope you may be so successful in seeking the light that you may yet say with an inspired servant of God, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” J. H. W.