SOMETHING NEW BUT UNTRUE.
By W.
We thought we had heard all the arguments that could by any possibility be brought against the Sabbath; but we have just come across one that to us is absolutely new. This one comes all the way from Texas, and is the joint product of a Methodist minister, a professor in a college, and an "orthodox theologian." We find it in a little pamphlet entitled, "The Sabbath Day Examined." It is our design to give our readers the benefit of everything that is offered against the Sabbath, and so we give this. In deference to the high authority whence the book originates, we do not venture to change the grammatical construction in any particular. The reader will notice from the way the matter is introduced, that it is one of a class of similar arguments:— "Before leaving this class of arguments, we will introduce one more which is of itself sufficiently strong to preclude the idea of the most sanguine Sabbatarian of going back to creation to begin with number seven for Sabbath. I have before me a little book in which it is stated that an orthodox theologian asked a Sabbatarian, 'From when do you date your Sabbath?' 'From creation, sir,' was the reply. Now if you will just listen to me, I will prove that you do no such thing. Is the Sabbath a moral or religious institution? Nay, has it the elements of good or evil in it? Please answer. Is it good or evil? If either, the observance of it by Adam would have been a violation of the law which God gave to him. 'Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat.' The same as to say, 'Thou shalt not know good or evil.' The observance of the Sabbath by Adam before he sinned would have knowledge of good and evil, and of itself a sufficient reason for all the sin and misery that the world has ever known from that day until the present." We are not told what reply the Sabbatarian made151to the "orthodox theologian" who got off the above. No doubt he was so much overwhelmed by such a torrent of "orthodox" theology and "orthodox" grammar and logic, too, that he could not reply. But we have had time to take breath since we read it, and so we venture to turn the tables on the "orthodox theologian" as follows:— 1. Is marriage a moral or religious institution? Nay, has it the elements of good or evil in it? Please answer. Is it good or evil? If either, then the entering into the marriage state by Adam would have been a violation of the law of God, which forbade him to know good or evil. Therefore Adam, according to our orthodox theologian, was not married until after the fall, and Eve was not in the transgression. 2. Has God the elements of good or evil in him? Is he good or evil? If either, then if Adam had known anything about him before the fall, it would have been a violation of the commandment which God gave to him, that he should not know good or evil. But God is good; he is goodness itself; therefore, according to the argument of that "orthodox theologian," we must conclude (a) that Adam did not know God until after the fall; (b) that since he did not know God until after the fall, he never received from God any commandment concerning the tree of knowledge of good and evil; and that (c) consequently, Adam never having received any commandment from the Lord, never fell, but continued a clam-like existence, neither good or evil, but half way between both, like Mohammed’s coffin suspended between heaven and earth! But someone who has not had the superior advantages of that college professor or the "orthodox theologian," may be simple enough to say, "These conclusions directly contradict the plain statements of the Bible." Of course they do; and so does the conclusion of the "orthodox theologian" in regard to the Sabbath. So also does every "argument" which is fabricated against the Sabbath which God gave to man in Eden, and proclaimed in thunder tones from Sinai. The lofty theories of many an "orthodox theologian" would tumble to the ground instantly, or, rather, would never be raised, if he should take counsel of the Bible, and should accept its plain statements. The tree which was forbidden to Adam was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and not of the knowledge of good or evil. Adam knew good; so long as he regarded the command of the Lord, he could not know anything else, and God did not design that he should; but when he transgressed the Lord’s command, he knew evil as well as good. This transgression, which made him know evil, brought "death and all our woe," and it also brought into the world a flood of just such absurd, contradictory, unscriptural, and wicked "arguments" as that put forth against the Sabbath by that reputed "orthodox theologian." W.