DISCUSSION IN CANADA by A. C. Bourdeau

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 2, 1878

DISCUSSION IN CANADA.

By A. C. Bourdeau

About the last of March I heard a discourse by Mr. A. Hardie, Methodist preacher of Coaticook, on the subject of the Sabbath, which I reviewed that day at 4:30 P. M. At the close of his discourse I was allowed to ask questions, and to speak awhile; whereupon, in a candid manner, it was decided that a discussion should be held on the Sabbath question between Mr. Hardie and myself, in the Methodist house at Dixville, on Wednesday, April 3, in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Several ministers, and a large concourse of people attended the discussion. I led out, and held that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment was made for man, and is a part of God's holy law, which is immutable. At first Mr. Hardie took the position that God changed his own law of ten commandments at the exode, after Moses broke the first tables; and that Christ also changed the moral law at his first advent. This, I showed, was contrary to plain Bible declarations, and opposed to the teachings of Luther, Wesley, Barnes, the Methodist Discipline, etc.

Then Mr. H. asserted that time has been lost, that we cannot tell when the seventh day comes, and hence are only required to keep a seventh part of time. Here I reminded him of the statement he had made just the Sunday before,—that Saturday was kept for four thousand years, from creation to the cross, and that Sunday was the day on which Christ arose from the dead. And I further showed that this view was contrary to clear scriptural evidence, and the evidence of the world; for in Asia, Europe, Africa, and America all agree that Saturday is the old seventh-day Sabbath.

Mr. Hardie held that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, which he was pleased to call Jewish, was abolished, and that now Sunday is kept to commemorate the resurrection of Christ. But here, again, he had no Bible proof to substantiate his position. The Holy Scriptures definitely point out the seventh-day as “the Sabbath of the Lord.” It is not called Jewish. In favor of its observance we have the example of the patriarchs, the prophets, Christ, and the apostles, who all kept it. On the other hand, there is no evidence in favor of Sunday. Dr. Neander says, “The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance.” Dr. Buck says, “It must be confessed that there is no law in the New Testament concerning the first day.” No: and the Bible nowhere shows that that day was kept as the Sabbath, either by Christ or his apostles, or by any of the primitive church.

In his last address, Mr. H. left the question, made some exaggerated speeches about us and our work which candid, thinking minds could not sanction; and finally brought some sprinkling of quotations from the fathers to make it appear that those who keep Sunday are on the right track. I showed that the fathers contradict themselves, and are not safe guides; and the Lord helped in summing up the claims of his holy day. The cause of truth has gained new friends, some of whom have already decided in favor of the truth.

A. C. BOURDEAU.