The Bible Readings at Brewer's
By M. B. Duffie
THE BIBLE READINGS AT BREWER'S. NO. 3.
SUCH a measure of curiosity had been awakened in the minds of the people who had heard of Mabel Brewer's Bible studies that it was an easy task to induce others of her neighbors to attend. So, after lunch, when the family, with those who had come in from the outside, had assembled with their Bibles around the table, Mabel brought out her books, and as several were now present who had not had the benefit of the previous study, she gave a brief review of the points which had been brought out, after which she proceeded to unfold the subject which she had chosen for the evening's consideration, and which therefore was as new to the members of the family as to the callers, and proved as fully convincing to one as the other, especially when each point was so firmly clinched by Bible evidence. As a sort of preface Mabel said: "Since last Sunday evening this book of Bible readings which I hold in my hand has, with my Bible, been my almost constant companion, and I must confess that I have been somewhat startled, and not a little perplexed, and it may be chagrined, over this one point more than all others yet discovered, and that is the proof I have that we as a family have been going as completely though unwittingly astray in regard thereto as on the question of man's condition in death, and which I am sure must bring with it a far greater cross to those who accept it. I refer to the subject of holy time, that the seventh day of the week, instead of the first, is the day which the Lord sanctified and blessed."8 "Do you mean to imply," asked Mrs. Westmore, "that Sunday should not be regarded as holy time?" "I only know what the Bible says, Aunt Amie," said Mabel. "Of course it should not be so observed," said Mr. Brewer. "I have always contended, as you know, Maria, that Sunday had no more right to the title of Sabbath than had Monday, Wednesday, or Friday." "Yes, David, you have, I will admit, but I always had a sort of a faint suspicion that what you said concerning it was more than anything else a sort of a balm to ease your conscience, and account for your tendency to go on fishing and hunting excursions on that day. But I am anxious to hear whatever Scripture testimony can be adduced on this point also. I am not prepared to say but this is another idol that has been bolstered up in our hearts by preconceived ideas rather than by biblical facts." "Yes," said several voices in chorus, "let us know how it is." Mrs. Evers, wife of Elder Evers, pastor of the "Freewillers," as they are called, said that she had always supposed, from what thinking she had done herself, as well as what the elders and others had said, that there wasn't a particle of doubt but what the term "Lord's day" applied to Sunday. Then, appealing to Mabel, she asked, "Does not that verse somewhere in the book of Revelation, I cannot say just where it is, where John speaks of being in the Spirit on the Lord's day, have reference to Sunday?" "I hardly think it does," said Mabel. "The text you refer to is the tenth verse of Revelation 1. Let us see what day is the Lord's day, if we can, and then we will know without any question or doubt. We want to determine what Lord is spoken of, and which day it is that he is the Lord of. Those who have your Bibles please turn to the twelfth chapter of Matthew and the eighth verse. There you will see that the Son of Man is the Lord there revealed, and that he is Lord even of the Sabbath. His day is the Sabbath of the Lord. Now turn to the book of Isaiah, the fifty-eighth chapter and the thirteenth verse, and you will see that he calls the Sabbath 'my holy day,' the very one he made and sanctified in the beginning, as you will see by a reference to Gen. 2:3, and embodied in the ten precepts found in Exodus 20. The Sabbath is enjoined in verses 8-11, inclusive, and again in Deut. 5:12-15, and so on through both the Old and New Testaments." "Well, then, how does it happen," said Mrs. Tannehill, "that we are all keeping Sunday?" "That is what I would also like to know," said old Mrs. Denmer, "and by what power or authority was it done?" "I learn," said Mabel, "that it was done by that power which we find revealed in the twenty-fifth verse of the seventh chapter of the prophecy of Daniel, a power which should think to change times and laws, a power that has changed the time for beginning and ending the days, from sunset to midnight, and has attempted to change the law of God, of which the Sabbath law is a part, the power of which the pope of Rome is the acknowledged head." "Did you ever hear of such a thing?" "What is the world coming to?" queried several voices in unison. "Yes, indeed," said Mr. Brewer, "and that power boasts of it, too." "Indeed that is true," said Mabel, "as you will all realize by the following, taken verbatim from the catechisms of the Romish Church. Here is one as an illustration, copied from the 'Doctrinal Catechism.' Hear what it says in reply to the question, 'Have you any other way of proving that the church has power to institute festivals of precept?' Answer—'Had she not such power she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her: she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday, the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday, the seventh day, a change for which there is no scriptural authority.'" "Listen to that, Tom," said Will. "How I wish my husband could hear that!" said Mrs. Evers. "My husband and sons are members of the A. P. A. and I know they ought to hear it, too," said Mrs. Denmer. "There are many other quotations which I might take from works of the same character, and which I might read to you if necessary," said Mabel. "For my part," said Mrs. Tannehill, "I am quite well satisfied with that. If it is a fact that the Catholic Church did that miserable piece of work, and I have not the least doubt but they did ["Nor I," "Nor I," "Nor I," responded several in chorus], the sooner we Protestants know it, and refuse to honor that authority, be Protestants indeed, and return to our allegiance to God, asking his pardon for ever having served such a power, the better it will be for all of us." "Quite true," said Mrs. Brewer, "and may the Lord forgive me for breaking so many Sabbaths as I have." "Amen," responded several voices together. "Let us begin next Friday evening at sundown, Mabel," said Mrs. Brewer, "and keep the Sabbath the Lord has designated." Mabel delightedly agreed, and when the sun was sinking in the west at the close of the sixth day of the week, Mrs. Brewer, Mabel, and Mrs. Westmore began to observe their first Sabbath on earth, and regular Sabbath meetings are now being held at their house. Neither Mr. Brewer nor the boys refrain from labor on that day, as yet, though they admit, as do many others, that it is right. They are staunch advocates of religious liberty, and are regular readers of the American Sentinel, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, and Review. They do everything they can to make it pleasant for mother, Mabel, Aunt Amie, Mrs. Evers, and the other members of the little class which assembles for Sabbath school and worship every Saturday forenoon in the pleasant little reading room. Much interest is being manifested among some of the other neighbors. Some are calling for reading matter, others for the living preacher, and it is expected that this little company will soon have some further desirable acquisitions to its ranks, in which case we will report further.