To the Editors of the Sabbath Recorder:—
By S. S. Griswold
To the Editors of the Sabbath Recorder:—
In a former article, I offered a few thoughts on Sabbath Lectures, showing that the objections which are made against them lie equally against the preaching of the gospel, and any other object of reform. I therefore deem such lectures perfectly consistent with a courteous and Christian manner of presenting truth, and in fact demanded by the present state of the sabbatic question. And I enter my solemn protest against that unmerited opprobrium, which aims at the champions of truth, the defenders of God's law, the sobriquet of bull-dog fighter, disputer, &c. For, be it known, that Jesus and Paul disputed every inch of ground they gained. Such being my views, I cheerfully co-operated with Bro. Crandall, as an Agent of the Am. Sabbath Tract Society. In order, therefore to aid him in his agency, I requested him to lecture on the subject of the Sabbath at Sackett's Harbor, in the Methodist meeting-house, which was procured for the purpose. On the appointed evening, a very respectable audience was convened. There were present, also, the Presbyterian clergyman, Rev. Mr. Sawyer, and the Methodist, Rev. Mr. Foote. Bro. Crandall aimed in that lecture to show the perpetuity of the law of God, and that the Sabbath, as a part of that law, was of perpetual obligation. In this position he showed he was sustained by Watson and Dwight, both theological writers of high repute, and observers of the first day. He also quoted largely from history, to show that the church for many centuries observed the true Sabbath of the Lord. At the close of the lecture, opportunity was given to any one to speak; but as no one accepted the invitation, the meeting was closed. Just before retiring, I was introduced to the Rev. Mr. Sawyer, who requested the privilege of giving his views to our people in Hounsfield on some Sabbath day, adding, that he thought he could convince them of their error. To his proposition I acceded, and appointed the next Sabbath, at 11 o'clock, the usual time of service. On the Sabbath a large congregation was convened, in which were a goodly number of ministers, whose names, as near as I can recollect, are as follows: Sawyer, Foote, Lyons, Burchard, of the first-day order; Crandall, Summerbell, J. Greene, W. Greene, Griswold. Eld. Campbell, who was expecting to have been present, was prevented by the disappointment of his substitute to preach for him. The services were opened by reading the 17th of John, prayer, and the singing of the good old Sabbatarian hymn, "Another six days work is done." Mr. Sawyer introduced his subject by appropriate remarks upon his text, which was John xvi, 13—"Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." From this text Mr. Sawyer inferred that the people of God would be guided into truth, although he admitted that they might err, even with this guide. The impression which he evidently designed to make was, that although no precept for the first-day observance might be found, yet to such observance Christians might be directed by the Spirit. The Speaker then proceeded to his argument, or proof, for the observance of the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. It should be premised, that he admitted the seventh day of the week to be the Sabbath given to Adam, the world, and the Jewish nation—that the Sabbath was incorporated in the fourth command—that it was the day in use as the Sabbath in the days of Christ. The speaker's first argument was based upon Ezekiel xliii, 27—"And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt-offerings upon the altar." Mr. Sawyer maintained that by the eighth day was intimated the change from the seventh to the first day. He thought there was also some intimation of the same change in Psalms—"This is the day the Lord hath made,"—although on the last text he would not lay much weight. But upon the former he seemed to have no doubt. He proceeded to sustain the change from the resurrection, and from the frequent appearances of Christ on the first day, maintaining that Christ never made his appearance to his disciples except on the first day. Acts xx, 7; 1 Cor. xvi, 1; Rev. i, 10, were also brought forward to sustain his position. He then entered history, which he said fully corroborated his views, by showing that the early Christians all kept the first day, and that Constantine found its observance universal. The speaker thought that history had been interpolated, and otherwise altered, to suit the purpose of Sabbatarians and the Catholic Church, but that true history favored first-day observance, as well as teaching good Presbyterianism. Having thus run through his argument in favor of a change from the seventh to the first, the speaker then expressed his most decided conviction, that Jesus Christ had given a precept for the keeping of the first day, but that such precept was not recorded. He then assumed, that the now first day of the week was the original seventh day, so that, in point of fact, he was keeping the true seventh day as the Sabbath. For proof of this assumption, he showed that at the exodus of Israel the Sabbath was put back one day, also, when Joshua bade the sun stand still one day, that would carry the Sabbath forward one day, so that now the first day was the true seventh day. It seemed strange to me, that the speaker could not see, that according to his own showing of the receding and advancing of the days of the week, he had only restored by Joshua's dual day, what had fallen back at the exodus of Israel; but he was so set on making out Sunday to be the Sabbath, that even his mathematical demonstration was falsified. Such was, in substance, the lecture as given by Rev. Mr. Sawyer. It is but just to say, that throughout, the discourse was characterized by chasteness of diction, and the speaker, by the courtesy of a Christian minister; and although all were not convinced of the truth of his position, yet all were highly pleased by the good feeling which pervaded both the speaker and the congregation. On First-day evening, a large assembly came together at the same place to hear a review of the discourse of Mr. Sawyer, by Eld. Crandall. After prayer and singing, Mr. Crandall commenced by passing some criticisms upon the introductory of Mr. Sawyer, particularly referring to a remark of Mr. Sawyer, that his object in discussion was not victory, but truth. Mr. Crandall thought such remarks uncalled for, as they seemed to intimate that some argued for victory, not truth, which he (Crandall) did not believe was the case generally. He then proceeded to examine Mr. Sawyer's argument, drawn from Ezekiel xliii, 27. He showed that there was nothing in it having a bearing on the question under consideration, and the reason why he (Crandall) noticed it so long, was because there was nothing in it. Mr. Crandall then re-examined the various texts mentioned by Mr. Sawyer in the New Testament, and showed that there was no account of Christ meeting with his disciples for worship on the first day of the week, after his resurrection, nor of the apostles doing so. He showed from Tyndal's translation of the New Testament, that Acts xx, 7, also 1 Cor. xvi, 1, 2, referred to the seventh day instead of the first, and that Tyndal had rendered each of those passages Sabbath-day. As Mr. Sawyer had endeavored to detract from the authority of Tyndal's translation, by saying that Tyndal did not fully understand the true idiom of the Greek, which had led him to render Acts xx, 7, and 1 Cor. xvi, 2, Sabbath instead of first day, but that more modern acquaintance with the Greek had decided those phrases to mean the first instead of the seventh day. Mr. Crandall most ably defended that ancient martyr and learned translator from the ignorance which Mr. S. charged him with, and showed pretty clearly that suspicion rested on translators who had followed Tyndal as having made a translation to conform to their Sunday observance. Mr. Crandall also showed, that there had been, and were still, many mutilations of history upon this subject—that the American Tract Society had suppressed certain passages in Buchanan's Researches in Asia, also in Dr. Neander's church history—that fraud had been practiced in order to suppress evidence in favor of the true Sabbath. He then read from Peter Heylin's History of the Sabbath, extracts from Ignatius and others, contrasting them with those given by Mr. Sawyer, which showed that those ancient Sabbath-keepers had been made to give testimony in favor of first-day keeping as the Sabbath, when the fact was that they gave positive evidence in favor of the seventh day. *