p. 5 | NOTES OF THE DISCUSSION IN KANSAS

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 4, 1877

NOTES OF THE DISCUSSION IN KANSAS.

By Dudley Marvin Canright

From Oct. 10 to 16, seven days, I held a debate at Rock Creek, Kansas, with Eld. P. W. Shick, of the Disciple denomination. Eld. Shick came endorsed as one of their ablest men, as “the peer of the West.” I found him quite an able man so far as the argument was concerned, probably few would do any better. The only fault I found with him was that he was frequently very low and coarse in his language, and constantly endeavored to create a laugh. While this made it somewhat unpleasant for me, of course it did not help him any.

We discussed four questions; the seventh day, first day, the annihilation of the wicked, and the kingdom. Sometimes we are apt to be very particular about the exact wording of the question; but my experience is that it does not make very much difference about that. The debate always turns upon the merit of the question any way, and if an opponent endeavors to take unfair advantage of the verbal wording of the proposition it does not help him. However, we had no trouble on this point. Still it is quite often very important to have strict rules with regard to the discussion, such as, that the speakers shall be kept to the question, that they shall be confined to the Bible, and prohibiting abusive language. I found these rules very necessary in this debate. However, we got through with everything about as pleasantly as could be expected in a debate.

The first question was the seventh-day Sabbath, which was debated three days, two sessions each day. The substance of the question was, whether the seventh day was made a Sabbath at creation, and is now binding on all men. I propose to give only a brief outline of my main arguments, leaving the reader generally to look up the scripture references for himself.

That the Sabbath was made at creation, I proved by Mark 2:27, where Christ says “the Sabbath was made for man.” If the Sabbath was made, there was a time when, and a place where, and circumstances under which, it was made. Somebody made it, and made it for a definite object; and we may expect to find a plain history of it. Going clear back to the very first of the Bible, we find the record of how God made heaven and earth in six days. It tells very minutely what he did on each day. Then, in Gen. 2:1-3, we are told that God finished everything in six days and that he rested on the seventh day, blessed it, and sanctified it. This is a plain, chronological statement of what occurred on the first week of time. It tells very plainly that right there and then, God did rest on the seventh day, and did bless it and sanctify it. References to the origin of the Sabbath afterwards always refer right back to this time. Thus in the law, the Sabbath precept commences with the word “Remember,” pointing of course back to something previously known; and it directly says that they were to keep the Sabbath because God rested on that day after he had made the earth. Ex. 20:8-11; also Ex. 31:16, 17; Heb. 4:4. I showed also that the Sabbath was not made simply as a day of physical rest, nor as a day of worship, but primarily as the memorial of the creation, an institution by which man should always commemorate the work of creation. The other six days are called “working days.” Ez. 46:1; Ex. 20:8-11.

The Sabbath is not a Jewish institution, because it was given to Adam in Eden, and he was the representative head of our whole race. In giving it to him, God thereby virtually gave it the race, to all men. The fact that the Sabbath was given in Eden, before sin, before the fall, is evidence that it is not a temporary institution, is not for a limited time. The farther fact, that the Sabbath will be eternally kept in the new earth, confirms our opinion of the eternal nature of the Sabbath. Isa. 65:17; 66:22, 23. We have good evidence that the Sabbath was known and observed by the patriarchs. See Gen. 2:1, 3; 8:10-12; 29:27, where we learn that they reckoned time by weeks of seven days each. There is nothing in nature to mark the period of seven days, hence this custom plainly points to the keeping of the Sabbath.

The importance of observing the Sabbath was shown from the fact that the Jews were overthrown in the wilderness because they would not keep the Sabbath, Eze. 20:12, 13, and by the fact that Jerusalem was overthrown and the Jews sent into captivity for the violation of the Sabbath. Jer. 17:24-27; Neh. 13:17, 18. From Isa. 56, we showed that the Lord particularly designates the Gentiles and requires them to keep his Sabbath.

Eld. Shick claimed that the Sabbath originated with Moses and was a memorial of the deliverance from Egypt. This he endeavored to prove by Deut. 5:15. But we showed that the passover was a memorial of that event, and that the reason here stated for the observance of the Sabbath is also given for every other precept of the law. See Deut. 24:18-22; Lev. 19:35-37.

Eld. Shick said that God never cursed the Gentiles for breaking the Sabbath. This statement we showed to be false by Lev. 20:22, 23. The Elder found this a very hard text to grapple with; and though I urged him time after time to answer it, he made no reply to it. It states positively that the Lord cast out the heathen before them, because they had broken his law. He says they had broken all his commandments, and therefore he hated them. Thus the passage reads: “Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them; that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation which I cast out before you; for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.”

The Elder got himself into a bad position by quoting Neh. 9:13, 14, to prove that the Sabbath did not exist and was not made known to Israel till the exode; but by Ex. 20:5; 39:7, we showed that the same language was used with regard to God himself; hence, according to Eld. Shick the Lord himself did not exist till the time of Moses! He did not try that argument again.

D. M. CANRIGHT.

(To be Continued.)