Dear Bro. Chamberlain—When I think of the many scriptural objections, which I formerly had to my present position, (I say scriptural, for I never undertook to establish a Sabbath, or a No-Sabbath in any other way than by scripture,) the construing the many passages as I did, the want of any direct or positive distinction, being made between the law and covenant written on tables of stones, and the laws and statutes given to Moses, the long established belief that the law and old covenant were done away in Christ, I am almost surprised at my present position. Had it not been for the Types, together with some conviction that the Lord was on the side of those that held the Sabbath, it is doubtful whether I should ever have left my old position. But when I saw, by the word, with what peculiar care God had preserved the Ark, containing the tables of stone on which was written the law or covenant by his own finger, and that this was in exact imitation of the Ark of his testament which Moses saw on Mount Sinai, and John the Revelator saw 'in heaven,' [Rev. xi, 19; xv, 5.] I was led to see by the Type that he had made a very clear distinction between this law, and that law of Ordinances, which was done away in Christ.
It may seem singular to those, who, through their whole religious instruction, have made distinction between the two laws, that any one should suppose he had the word of God to support a No-Sabbath system from the New Testament. But I assure you that it is one of the strong holds of Satan; and I had rather undertake to demolish the scriptural arguments of forty that believe in the first day as holy time, than to silence one in the former position. We have need of patience with this class. I know how to sympathize with them. I trust there are many honest souls who have read their Bibles much, with a desire to know the truth, that are still opposing the Sabbath, and especially as a seal. With such individuals, the declaration that our brethren sometimes make in their confidence of the truth they sustain, (that they have not a passage of scripture in the Bible to sustain them,) will have no other effect than to prejudice them. Sound scriptural argument, with a willingness to give to our opponents all the weight of their arguments, is the most effectual way to win some. 'He that winneth souls is wise.' You see I am throwing in my cautions, which would be entirely useless were we at all times filled with the Spirit of Wisdom. Give them no more weight than they deserve.
But you will by this time say, how do you get along in keeping the Sabbath? I commenced by putting up a short notice at each of my Starch Factories, that I should receive no potatoes on the seventh day of the week, for it was the 'Sabbath of the Lord thy God;' I agreed to pay my men as much for working five, as formerly for working six days in the week. I did not know but that it might subject me to a loss of from fifty to one hundred dollars in closing my work for two days in succession; but when duty is decided, I have always found it safe trusting in God. It made no little stir, and I trust has preached to some in that place. I have had a labor and strength imparted which I have not felt for years. The light has shone upon the Book of Revelation, and the Types, such as I never saw before. I have had my mind called to the 'Jewels,' which have long been covered up in the 'rubbish.'