ONE class there is, wide spread throughout the land,
Who claim no need that any plain command,
Explicit and direct, should e'er be given,
That we should keep the first day of the seven.
On other ground their theories they rest,
Ground which they fondly think will stand the test.
'Tis claimed that Christ, who for our sin has died,
In all things our example and our guide,
The perfect pattern of the Church below,
Who trod the way he wished his saints to go,
By his example, plainly took away
The obligation of the seventh day.
Then further down the stream of time we're brought,
And told that the apostles plainly taught,
Taught by their actions, which the loudest speak,
That we must keep the first day of the week;
That they observed it as the day of rest,
And they, of course, did only what was best.
And oft, upon that day, they met, 'tis said,
For public worship, and for breaking bread;
And thus most clearly showed, as all may see,
What day the Christian Sabbath hence should be.
Christ, as our perfect pattern, we will own,
Teacher and guide, in all that he has done.
We will acknowledge that th' apostles knew,
And showed by practice, what was right to do.
And actions loudest speak;—all this we admit,
But on our side we claim the advantage yet;
For that our Lord, in any shape or way,
Relaxed the law that guards the Sabbath-day,
That so his followers ever understood,
Which, if it was the case, they surely would,
Or that the apostles owned, or e'er confessed,
The first day of the week, a day of rest—
These, though asserted with assurance high,
Plainly and fearlessly, we do deny.
To save all long debate and words about it,
With those who still may feel disposed to doubt it,
We will submit to facts: they shall decide:
By their decision we will then abide.
All will admit this fact: that to the cross,
The ten commands were full in binding force;
The fourth, with all, bore undisputed sway,
And held mankind in duty to obey.
If Christ then disregarded these commands,
Or only that on which the Sabbath stands, [yet;
Then he transgressed God's law; which bound men
Then he committed sin! all must admit;
For herein, says the Apostle, sin is shown,
When we transgress the law to us made known.
Those, then, who claim that Christ the Sabbath broke
Make him a sinner! as the Word hath spoke.
Ye, in whose breasts such views, blasphemous, start,
Give them no lodging-place within your heart!
But on the day that Christ rose from the dead,
His followers were assembled; and 'tis said,
They met to celebrate the day when so,
Our Saviour triumphed over man's last foe;
So that must be the day henceforth to stand,
The Christian Sabbath in each Christian land.
Pitiful reasoning! if each word were true,
And e'en the resurrection were in view,
To what would it amount? why, nothing more
Than a mere inference, and at that most poor!
Would those who reason thus, some foresight take,
Such false assertions they might cease to make;
For they would find the saints assembled there,
Being fearful of the Jews—their rage to dare—
And not, the resurrection day to keep;
For they believed their Lord was yet asleep!
Forever, then, this point is at an end;
On this 'tis folly longer to contend.
But still, that Jesus sanctioned it, they say;
By meeting his disciples on that day.
If such an act, then, will suffice to make
A Sabbath-day, one instance more we'll take;
'Tis where he met them, as it chanced to be
When they were fishing in Tiberian sea.
Then, by this rule, apply it either way,
It makes the Sabbath but a fishing-day.
So much for this; but hear them yet again,
Their darling theory striving to maintain,
Claim that the apostles in all they did and said,
And by their frequent acts of breaking bread.
Gave to the Christian world abundant ground
On which their First-day theory they should found.
Does breaking bread a Sabbath make? if so,
Then every day's a Sabbath; as we know,
Because a certain space, as may be read,
The apostles daily practiced breaking bread.
But with the teachings of the sacred Word,
Do such unfounded theories accord?
May there we learn that such a simple act
Would make a Sabbath! There is no such fact.
Does it assert, if, on a certain day,
The saints, perchance, were met, to sing and pray,
That we that day henceforth should understand
As the Sabbath of the fourth command?
That that day then should take a higher place
Than that which God first hallowed for our race?
On which his blessing he did first dispense,
And placed the seal of his omnipotence?
There's no such teaching! so it is most true,
That mere assertion, then, supports this view.
It is a theory of men's invention!
In words of Holy Writ it has no mention.
But other facts there are, pointed and stern,
And which some classes would do well to learn:
The Lord himself affirmed that he obeyed
All the commandments which his Father made.
And as the apostles' custom was, they say,
We find them preaching on the Sabbath-day,
And nowhere in God's Word, (we safely speak,)
Is Sabbath used for first day of the week.
'Tis true a term of "Lord's day" once is used,
And 'tis a term most grossly, too, abused;
For First-day sticklers, as may oft be seen,
Claim that 'tis Sunday, that of course must mean.
We think not so; for God did never own,
A day as his, except the seventh alone.
We will acknowledge, then, that day the Lord's,
Which with his own demands thus well accords.
Nor can we think, whatever pains men take
They will oblige him by the change they make.
'Tis true there's been a change; the world now say,
That Sunday is the Christian Sabbath-day.
And so they practice; but by whom, and how,
Was this change made, which men acknowledge now!
God did not do it, nor his Son from heaven;
Nor was this work unto the Apostles given;
For their example, and their teaching, too,
Show this was not the work they came to do.
But there was one, whom, in the unfolding plan,
Which the Arch-Fiend had plotted against man,
Time in his onward flight would soon reveal,
O'er God exalted, and his holy will.
Perdition's son! child of iniquity,
The man of sin, the wicked Papacy!
Ay, he it was, who was to magnify
Himself against the power of God, most high.
And think his laws to change, his fixed decrees,
Usurp his power, and rule as he might please.
As prophets had foretold, so, plainly, he
Has done his daring work of blasphemy.
'Tis he, has raised a sacrilegious hand
Against the Sabbath of the fourth command;
Has robbed it of its glory and its grace,
And reared the Pagan Sunday in its place.
Ye Sunday followers, then, if ye would know
Where you for your authority must go,
You have no need to wander far from home,
For you receive it from the Pope of Rome.
And also ye, who claim that Christ now stands,
The giver of the law for Christian lands,
Who is your advocate? Ah, here's your hope,
You have an advocate with Christ—the Pope!!
All ye who then so zealously confide
In apostolic practice, for your guide,
Know that so long as Sunday creeds you own,
You follow Papacy! and that alone!
If 'tis, indeed, your honest, firm intent,
To tread the way the first apostles went,
Do as they did; heed not the creeds of men,
But keep the Sabbath as they kept it then.