Sabbath or Sunday—Which?
By James White
St. Louis, October 2, 1873. THE preachers of this city, Catholics included, were invited, by a public call, to meet for the purpose of taking steps to secure a better observance of the Sabbath. After adopting a “Doctrinal Basis,” in which they declared that salvation is by faith alone, they were brought up standing by Rev. Dr. Leftwich, who suggested that it might be well to ascertain, before proceeding farther, what changes were made in the New Testament in reference to the observance of the Sabbath. This resulted in an adjournment, and I believe they have not met since. The Sunday following, the Democrat contained the following article from “A Student”:— PUBLIC OPINION.—THE SABBATH DAY.
To the Editor of the Democrat: Will you make room in the columns of your paper for a few lines concerning the association of ministers of the gospel for the purpose of securing a better observance of the Sabbath in St. Louis? In my opinion, the adoption of the “Doctrinal Basis” will necessarily exclude more than half of the “professors of religion” in St. Louis from a participation in this good work. The “decalogue” is the only law in the Bible for keeping the Sabbath day “holy.” The Sabbath of that law was, as all know, the seventh, and not the first, day of the week, which would be our Saturday, and not our Sunday. If Christianity abrogated Judaism, what authority have we for keeping the “Sabbath day” holy unless the New Testament—the law of Christianity—contains some command to that effect? But if Christianity did not abrogate Judaism, and if that command in the decalogue is still binding upon us, we must admit: First, That we totally disregard that command, for who pretends to keep Saturday, the seventh day of the week, as God commanded it to be kept? or, secondly, That God made a mistake when he appointed the Sabbath on the seventh instead of the first day of the week; or, thirdly, We must show some authority for daring to tamper with God’s law when we changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, from Saturday to Sunday; or, fourthly, That some of us have had our consciences very unnecessarily troubled for the so-called much-preached-against “desecration of the Sabbath.” Will some one engaged in this praiseworthy movement be kind enough to remove the difficulty above suggested? These comments are not made in a spirit of levity, but in earnestness and sincerity, by one who truly sympathizes with any undertaking to purify the moral atmosphere of the “future great city,” but who finds a “stumbling-block” in the “manner and form” in which the desired results are sought to be accomplished. It is hoped this difficulty will be removed through the columns of this paper; for this is a matter of public interest, and many others beside the writer are earnestly desiring more light. The above interesting article we copy from The Christian, a Disciple paper published in Illinois, to which paper it was sent by a correspondent from whose remarks we take the following extract:— “We are commanded not to neglect the assembling of ourselves together upon the first day of the week; but is that the Sabbath, or even a Sabbath, or day of rest? and if so, are we commanded to keep it holy?” This, from a denomination professing to be far in advance of their neighbors in Scripture light and knowledge, is worthy of record. If that correspondent will look closely, he will find the commandment of which he speaks in the same chapter with the commandment to baptize our infant children. They both emanated from the same source, and rest on the same authority. And the editor of that paper, not to be outdone, gives another item of modern Scripture doctrine in the following words:— “—Saviour, who rose from the dead on the first day of the week, and consecrated it as his own.” The act of consecration, or the evidence of any such act of consecration, may be found in the same chapter with the two commandments spoken of above. But, notwithstanding the regret which must be felt that so much blindness and religious bigotry exist as is manifested in the above extracts, we rejoice that such items are being published to the world, as they show that the spirit of inquiry is abroad upon the Sabbath question, and the light is spreading by every means; and whether of good-will or of “contention,” still we rejoice that the light is spreading on this test-question of the age.