Pilgrimage of Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., on
IN our last, we noticed the two difficult descents which Mr. Edwards has to pass, in getting from the seventh day of the week down to the first day; first, that the Sabbath law requires the observance of no one day of the week in particular, but one seventh part of time; second, that the day of the Sabbath has been changed to the first day of the week. But if the Sabbath law does not require the observance of any one day of the week in particular it is worse than folly to talk of the change of the day of the Sabbath. If the day of the Sabbath has been changed, then one day in particular is pointed out, and enforced by the fourth commandment, and another particular day should now be observed; otherwise there can be no change of the day of the Sabbath. Mr. Edwards takes two positions, totally destructive of each other. First, the position that the Sabbath law requires the observance of only a seventh part of time, but no one day in particular, destroys his other position that there has been a change of the day of the Sabbath. Second, a change of the day of the Sabbath shows that the Sabbath law points out some day of the week in particular. No one will deny that the Doctor, in his Sabbath Manual for all Christendom, has taken these two contradictory positions. His real positions are fairly stated in the following: The Sabbath has been changed from the seventh part of time but no day in particular, to another seventh part of time and no day in particular; and this other seventh part of time and no day in particular, is the identical first day of the week, when our Lord arose from the dead!! We think no one will call in question the Doctor's ability to manage a difficult point in theology. Perhaps no man can do better in gathering straws to support the Sabbath of tradition, than Justin Edwards has. It will be admitted that he has handled the subject artfully, while it must be conceded that he has an extremely difficult case to manage. That the reader may better see the contradictory positions taken by the Doctor, we will place some of them side by side. He first takes the position that the Sabbath was instituted in Eden and there made for the entire race of man; and then talks of the "Jewish Sabbath" and the "Christian Sabbath," expressions not found in the holy Scriptures, which virtually contradict his first position. "The second great institution established also in Paradise for the race, was that of the Sabbath."—p. 8. "The reason which God gave on the tables of stone for keeping the Sabbath, was not a Jewish reason. It was one which applies alike to all men."—p. 15. "Some contend that the Sabbath was made for the Jews only. But this is in opposition to the testimony of the Infallible Witness, the Lord of the Sabbath. His decision is, Mark ii, 27. 'The Sabbath was made for man,'"—p. 87. "Men who call their first working day the second day of the week, and who, on the seventh day from that, keep the Christian Sabbath, do as really comply with the spirit and the letter of the fourth commandment, as men did who of old kept the Jewish Sabbath."—p. 91. "All things, thus far seem to correspond with the idea awakened by prophecy, and realized in fact that this—and not the old Sabbath commemorating the physical creation, when he lay in the grave, and his disciples were scattered, each one to his own—was, in future to be the day for their religious rejoicing and praise."—p. 107. "The primary and essential idea in the numbers 'six' and 'seven,' as used in the command, is that of proportion. It marks the number of days to be devoted to secular concerns, compared with those to be devoted to rest and spiritual duties. 'Six days shalt thou labor;' and the next day, which of course, reckoning from the first working day, is 'the seventh,' thou shalt rest and not do any work. Men who call their first working day the second day of the week, and who, on the seventh day from that, keep the Christian Sabbath, do as really comply with the spirit and the letter of the fourth commandment, as men did who of old kept the Jewish Sabbath."—p. 91. "Are men now doing right in keeping the day of the resurrection of the Saviour, and the finishing of his atoning work for their salvation, as the Christian Sabbath?"—p. 101. "The resurrection of the Redeemer, the assembling of his disciples, the manifestation of himself to them, the approval which he bestows upon them, the commission which he gives them, the Holy Ghost which he imparts to them—all give to this day, in the view of his disciples, a grand peculiarity, and strongly mark it for their future guidance." "In observing the first day of the week for religious worship, they followed no cunningly devised fable, but the known will of their Lord."—p. 112.