THE MEMORIAL OF CREATION by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 8, 1875

THE MEMORIAL OF CREATION.

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

THE FITNESS OF THE DIVINELY APPOINTED MEMORIAL DAY.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

TEXT.—“Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.” Psa. 135:18.

So early was the truth respecting the law and the Sabbath obscured by the ambitious conceits of worldly wise men; so long have people been accustomed to set aside the claims of God’s holy day by calling it Jewish, that it is even difficult to get the professed church of God to examine the Scripture evidence of its claims with candor. Such being the case it is not surprising that the truth respecting the Sabbath is not understood. It is unfortunate that prejudice is allowed to shut the minds of professed Christians against Bible truth, and most lamentable that ministers are often found strengthening these prejudices in the minds of their hearers.

Many seem to suppose, and we must admit that in some cases they do suppose, that the seventh day of the week is the least of all fitted as a day, an acceptable day, of rest and worship; that it is a proper subject of contemptuous expressions; while the first day is, in all things, just the reverse. This idea is of long standing. Some who are looked up to as excellent authority, even of the early “fathers,” took this view. The circumstance, however, that they lived in the darkest hours of the Christian church, when the “mystery of iniquity” had so far wrought that “the man of sin” was rising into full view; in the time when “grievous wolves” were making sad havoc of the flock, and to which time we trace all the “damnable heresies” introduced by the “perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds,” greatly modifies our regard for the authority of the “fathers.” When we add to this that their writings have been corrupted by designing men, we feel very safe in bringing everything to the test of “the law and the testimony,” and of rejecting everything which would supersede the sole authority of “the holy Scriptures which are able to make us wise unto salvation,” and which are profitable to furnish the man of God unto all good works.”

We may take Eusebius for example. Writing in the fourth century, he is reputed to have said concerning the first day of the week:—

“It had a precedence, and is first in rank, and more honorable than the Jewish Sabbath. For on that day, in making the world, God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

God has said that we should call that day “honorable” which is “the holy of the Lord,” Isa. 58:13, that is, the day which the Lord blessed and sanctified. When a man rises up and says that another day is “more honorable” than that which God has designated as such, we may well ask, “Who is this, that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” When God selected, set apart, and put honor upon the seventh day, he was not ignorant that he called light into existence on first-day, but he did not set it apart as a day of honorable consecration on that account. It seems truly strange that men will pass by the important truths that God chose the seventh day, that he blessed, which means that he put honor upon, that day, that he sanctified it; that is, set it apart to be observed sacredly by man, and in great glory commanded it to be kept holy, and repeatedly reproved with threatenings the violation of its sanctity, and enjoined with promises its observance; strange, we say that men will pass over all these divinely-given truths, and set up another day as its rival, and offer in favor of its observance, reasons which God never gave, and which conflict with those which he gave! Alas, for the folly of man. Since Satan first deceived the race, and taught them to aspire to “be as gods,” there has been no end to their presumption.

The wisdom of man is folly. Unassisted by “the wisdom which is from above,” and especially when he sets aside the words of heavenly wisdom and substitutes his own reasoning, he gropes his way in darkness, no matter how high his pretence of knowledge, how strong his claims to wisdom, may be. These but serve to make his darkness and blindness more manifest. “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” said the apostle. They who realize and confess their weakness and their errors are not so laboring under deception.

Aside from the conclusive truths referred to of God’s blessing and commanding the observance of the seventh day, truths which ought to settle every controversy and silence every objection, it is easy to show that the seventh day is the only day that could answer the object of the Sabbath institution. It is the only memorial day of the works of the great Creator.

Of the work of the first day the sacred record says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” We believe that this means that at the time specified, God called into existence the materials of which he formed all things as they appeared at the end of that first week of time. Paul says in Heb. 11:3, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” We have no doubt that this refers to the creating or originating of things to which reference is made. Thus Bloomfield, after noticing the relation of the terms of the original text, says:—

“Thus the sense is, that ‘the world we see, was not made out of apparent materials, from matter which had existed from eternity; but out of nothing; so that, at his fiat, the material creation was brought into existence, and formed into the things we see.’”

And thus again, Rom. 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.” Before the close of that first day of the first week of time, light was also caused to exist in connection with this material world.

But what was the condition and appearance of the earth on that first day? The record says further: “And the earth was without form, and void.”

The earth in its formed state is composed of land and water; the dry land, and the clear water gathered into bodies both large and small. But on the first day it was “without form, and void”—a vast, dreary waste; no dry land; no running streams nor rolling seas. Its face was but a dark, murky mixture; no life—no grass nor herb—nothing to relieve the almost oppressive sense of wasteness and desolation, had it had a beholder. Surely, the object of the Great Designer in its creation was not yet fulfilled, nor even manifested.

On the second day the firmament was made. This was a step toward fitting the world to be inhabited. With the creation of the atmosphere, it was made possible for animal life to exist on the surface of the earth. But had animals then existed they could have been only of the very lowest type, as there was neither dry land, clear water, nor any vegetation upon which they could subsist. Though all was good, its goodness stood related to the design of the Creator yet to be fulfilled.

On the third day the waters were gathered to their place and the dry land was made to appear. This was an important part of the work to fit the earth to be inhabited. Likewise on the third day the grass and herbs were caused to spring forth from the solid ground which then appeared. Henceforth animals could live upon the earth’s surface. There was an atmosphere, and there was vegetation upon which they might subsist. On this third day the earth began to be “a thing of beauty.” Instead of the dark semi-liquid mass of earth, there was the pleasant plain, and green grass, and shrubs, and trees, to relieve the eye and to destroy the dull monotony. Rivers and seas were there prepared for their intended, happy, playful tribes. “And God saw that it was good.”

On the fourth day the vault of heaven was beautified with lights. Hitherto the light which was created on the first day had, probably, been gathered near the surface of the earth. Now it was removed and placed in the sun, and, through it dispersed to the planets which revolved around it. Thus the night itself was relieved of the weariness of its thick darkness, and the heavens above united with the earth beneath in a scene of beauty and of glory.

On the fifth day the first sign of animal life was manifested. The waters were caused to bring forth every living thing that moves and lives in the water, from the smallest fish that sports in the brook to the monstrous whale. The seas and the rivers now became scenes of happiness as well as of beauty, as the waters brought forth abundantly of its sporting inhabitants. This was the beginning of earthly enjoyment. The benevolence of the plan of the Great Designer began to be manifested in the happiness of the lower forms of life in the new-born world.

On the sixth day the animals were created upon the earth—upon the dry land; first, the creeping thing, and then the animals which roamed over the field and through the wood; and finally, man, who was given dominion over the whole, the highest form of animated creature on the earth. He was not endowed with capacity for animal enjoyments, merely, but for that of a higher order, even of an intellectual and moral nature; not only to delight in the presence of his Maker and of the holy angels, as all creatures did from the beginning, but to hold delightful converse with his Maker and with the bright inhabitants of Heaven. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”

The result of the work of each day was pronounced good—good in itself as a separate part of the great design. But now the expression is changed and strengthened. Looking over the combined results of his work the Creator pronounced it very good; as the wheels in a machine, each being well formed, may be called good, because of the workmanship displayed upon it; but its value as an article of use can only be known when it is viewed in connection with the other parts. Then as each works in concert with all the others, fulfilling the design of the constructor, it may well be pronounced very good; not only well formed itself, but well adapted to all the rest. Or as the several parts of a beautiful tune; each shows the working of a master mind, well acquainted with the rules of composition; but to judge rightly of its beauty we must hear it in combination with the other parts. The air alone may be beautiful, lovely, and touching to the feelings. But when all is heard together, there is not only beauty, but there is harmony and sublimity. So was the work of God—the grand result of the six days’ work of creation.

Now it must be plain to all that, as a memorial of this work, no one of these six days can be selected. Each had its own specific work assigned to it. On each the work completed was different from that on each and all of the others. The first day would commemorate a world’s creation in a state of wasteness and desolation. It would ever bring to our minds an abyss, neither land nor water, without a green spot, or shrub, or tree, to relieve the gloomy monotony. No living creature was there, neither could any exist there. Had the work of God ended with that first day, it would have brought no glory to its Creator, and no bliss to any of his creatures.

And so of each of the first six days of creation week. Taken as a memorial, their significance would be limited and partial; they could have reference to a part, and to a part, only, of his work. Therefore neither of them was chosen as the memorial day.

But the question may be asked, Why, then, choose the seventh day, seeing that no work at all was done on that day? A little examination will show that for this reason it alone could be chosen.

It is well known to all that Sabbath means rest. “The seventh day is the rest of the Lord thy God.” “The Lord blessed the day of the rest, and hallowed it.” Now a rest must have reference to a work performed. We can have no idea of rest separated from the idea of work. Hence a rest may well be chosen as the memorial of a work. And thus the seventh day is a day proper to select as a memorial of a work just then completed.

And the seventh day is not only a proper memorial of God’s work, but it is not liable to the objections which rest upon the other days, namely, that they would be partial or limited in signification to a part of his work. The Lord himself gives us this view of his memorial in Gen. 2:3. “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK which God created and made.”

The wisdom of man says the first day is more honorable than the seventh day because that in it God created the light. These are the words of Eusebius, approved and copied by Dr. Edwards in his so-called Sabbath Manual, and indorsed by almost the entire Christian world. But this is only the wisdom of man, and folly in the sight of God, as we learn by comparing it with the words and truths of divine inspiration. The first day would not commemorate the creation of the firmament; the separation of the land from the water; the making of the waving grass, the blooming shrub, and stately tree; the garnishing of the heavens with the sun, moon, and stars; the creation of animals in the water and on the land; and the formation of the highest of all, man. None of these are embraced in the work of the first day; none of these would be commemorated by a first-day rest.

Man was created on the sixth day, and probably near its close. As its last hour faded into the evening of the seventh day, he beheld a scene of glory which was well calculated to inspire him with reverence for the Creator. The moon—the “fair moon”—was riding in splendor in the heavens; the stars, as countless gems set in a vast diadem, made the heavens brilliant. The earth, in half-disclosed beauty, seemed to arouse a longing

for the coming morn in order to a clearer view. And who shall describe that morn when first the sun arose upon the world complete?—when man first saw its rising glories beam on sea and plain! Every shrub and tree, and every living thing, spoke, more clearly than language can express, their Maker’s praise. God himself and his holy angels delighted in the work of his hands. Heaven and earth united in praise to the Creator. “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” And man could behold the earth in its beauty, and say, “All for me!”

“The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious.” “He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered.” Ps. 111:2–4.

The Sabbath in this age is very generally separated from its great object, as God’s memorial, and turned into a mere creature of human convenience, and a subject of human caprice. The Lord said: “It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” As the true God is always distinguished from false gods by the great truth that he is Creator of all things (See Jer. 10:1–16; Acts 17:22–25, &c.), so the Sabbath, the day on which he rested from all his works, the memorial of creation, is the sign whereby the true God, the Creator, is known. Thus again he said: “And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” The Sabbath is his sign because in it he rested from all his works.

We will notice here one objection, or counter position. It is assumed that the object of the Sabbath is still better accomplished, and the fourth commandment better fulfilled, by observing the first day than the seventh day, inasmuch as redemption is greater than creation. Against this we present several reasons, each one sufficient in itself to refute the position.

1. We have no means of ascertaining that redemption is greater than creation. On this subject we are entirely dependent on revelation for knowledge, as both creation and redemption are works beyond the comprehension of man. But God has revealed nothing on the subject, and as “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” it is only the presumption of worldly wisdom to affect faith where the word of God is silent.

2. It is open to the same objection that is raised against the observance of the first day as a memorial of creation; the work of redemption is not yet completed, and therefore no day can yet possibly be a memorial of redemption.

3. But if it were true that redemption is greater than creation, and if it were also true that the work of redemption were completed, it yet remains true that God never set apart a day for any such reason. He never blessed and sanctified any day as a memorial of redemption, or of any part of redemption. The whole theory is only of human authority; a tradition to make void the commandment of God. It is a system of suppositions subversive of the facts and reasons which God has given in his word.

4. If it were true, as the theory supposes, that God performed, on the first day, and in the work of redemption, the greatest work which he ever performed, this would be a sufficient reason why the observance of the first day cannot be obedience to the fourth commandment. For the commandment enjoins upon us to keep the rest day of the Lord. Not the day on which he did the greatest work, but the day on which he did no work. God blessed and sanctified, not his working-day, but his rest-day. Obedience to God is only rendered by doing what he says, not what we choose to do. Reverence for God is shown by paying respect to the reasons which he gives in his word, not by devising others in their stead. When the great day shall open the eyes of men to the full intent and consequences of their actions, then first will be realized how greatly has the presumption of men dishonored God by vain reasonings on this Sabbath question. It is a fearful thing to despise the authority of Jehovah, and to trifle with his commandments.

“Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever; and thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.”