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INCIDENTS BY THE WAY

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 13, 1877

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 50, No. 24.

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INCIDENTS BY THE WAY.

By C. H. Austin

In a tented grove on a pleasant summer evening in balmy June, were seated a large congregation of worshipers professing to believe in the soon-coming of Jesus, and who were convened to listen to words of instruction on the work of preparation necessary to fit a people for that great and glorious event.
In the desk arose a man of lofty mien, whose head was silvered over. Selecting, as the starting point of his remarks, Isa. 46:10: “Declaring the end from the beginning,” he stated that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth; that six days were employed in the work of creation, but the first three were indefinite periods, proved so by the fact that the sun was not made until the fourth day.
The last four days of creation week were just twenty-four hours long, because then there was a time-keeper to measure the length of the days. (Query: Could not He who made the light and separated it from the darkness, measure the time it took each to encircle this earth as accurately as does the great light-bearer formed by his hand?)
He said that to close the labors of the six days, and show from the beginning that the first day should be the Sabbath, God created man on the evening of the sixth day, so that his first day should be the Sabbath. God also showed his design that the first day of the week should be the Sabbath for the world, by requiring the people of Israel to bring their wave-sheaf and offer it on the morrow after the Sabbath; and though the fourth commandment required the seventh day to be kept, it was obligatory only upon the Jews, and was given them as a memorial of their deliverance from Egypt. Whoever keeps that day now is on the high road to destruction. And let me tell you, said he, as a minister of the gospel, on the authority of fifty years’ experience, that this so-called Sabbath reform is a humbug.
He said Sunday was named for the sun, because the day was dedicated to the worship of that luminary. “And do I think any less of the day for this fact? Ah, no: the very fact that the day was spent in worship of that glorious orb sheds a halo of glory around the day which should now be observed as a memorial of the resurrection of the Sun of Righteousness, the true source of all light.”
He gave the origin of the names of the other days correctly, until he came to the seventh, when he said that Saturday was named for Satan, as Saturnalia, and was the devil’s own day, emphasizing the last remark with a blow upon the desk. The excitement in the crowd testified their surprise; and many said they never knew before that God made one day for the devil.
After the close of the service, he was asked, If God intended the seventh day to be kept as a memorial of deliverance from Egyptian bondage, why did he not say so in the commandment? He said, “He did.” It was denied. He affirmed; and when the fourth commandment was repeated just as it was declared by the voice of God, he brought his hand down with force, saying, “That is rotten, just as rotten as can be; and if you persist in keeping the seventh day you will surely be lost.”
Such are the teachings of some who occupy responsible positions among a people that should be light-bearers in the world, and reflect the truth of God in their lives.
C. H. AUSTIN.