It is well known, by some of our readers, that it has been argued that the first day of the week is the true seventh day, therefore, the Sabbath of the Lord. As some honest souls have been led astray by deceptive reasonings on this point, which appeared in the "Bible Advocate," published at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1847 and 1848, and, as some are still bound in this snare, we think it our duty to refer to it, even at this late period.
It is not an uncommon thing to meet with those who tell us that they believe that all ten of the commandments of God are binding on us, and that the Sabbath law is in force now as much as it ever was; but, say they, "Sunday is the seventh day." And when they are driven from that ground, many of them will flee to the position that the commandments are all abolished, to shelter themselves from the force of truth.—Such is the blindness that has come over some minds, that they do not see that this view, that the commandments of God are abolished, is in direct opposition to the view that the seventh-day Sabbath exists, and falls on the first day. If they do see it, honesty requires that they should not argue both positions. Neither should any one teach that the ten commandments are abolished, until he has first renounced the other position. J. Turner taught both these views in the "Bible Advocate." In his first article, (see Vol. III, No. 8, page 62,) attempting to prove that the first day of the week was the seventh, he says:—
"I must keep that day of the week which can be proved to be the 7th, for I then believed and do now believe that the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God."
Some of those who observed the Sabbath, not understanding the deceptions that have been used by many professed teachers in the Advent, rejoiced greatly that T. had confessed his faith in the seventh-day Sabbath. And no doubt, to many it was a relief and a matter of rejoicing that they could, as they thought, observe the Sabbath law on the very day set apart by the Pope, and professedly observed by all Babylon.—But poor souls, they little thought that T. their leader, would desert them in less than eight months, and take another position, perfectly destructive of the first. But this he did do as will be seen by an article from his pen. (See "Bible Advocate," Vol. IV, No. II, page 85.)—Under the head, "Judaism," he says:—
"We feel called upon to warn the Churches of God against a special effort which is being made by a few wandering stars, see Jude, who have recently come to this state, to lead the unwary under the bondage of the law of Moses. We therefore give a few of the many reasons why the law of Moses should not now be regarded as binding on the Church."
Now who were those that T. called "wandering stars," that he charged with teaching the law of Moses? Answer, three Sabbath-keepers, who were invited to attend a Conference at Rocky Hill, Conn. Did they teach the law of Moses? No; and T. knew better when he asserted that that was their object. What did they teach? Just what T. taught eight months before, viz. "That the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God." All the difference was, they believed that the seventh-day Sabbath should be observed on the seventh day, while T. taught that the first day was the seventh. And because they differed with him on this point, he took the liberty to apply to them those texts which show the fallen condition of those who left the gospel, rejected Jesus, and went back to the observances of the law of Moses in the Apostles' days. Now any person of common sense will see, at once, that all those texts that he applied to them for observing the Sabbath on the seventh day, would apply to himself with equal force, for professing to keep the Sabbath of the fourth commandment on the first day of the week. We present these things to show the honest inquirer after truth, some of the "deceivableness of unrighteousness," practiced by some that handle the word of God.
That person must be very fond of doubting, that will doubt that a knowledge of the true seventh day has been preserved. God Rested on the seventh day of the first week of time, and there, and then, sanctified, blessed and hallowed it. Israel, in the wilderness of Sin received bread from heaven, which fell only on the six laboring days. On the seventh, the Rest-day of the Lord our God, there was no manna. There God, by a miracle, shewed them the true seventh day. That was thirty two days before God spake the Sabbath law from Sinai. Jesus, God's beloved Son, observed the true seventh day. This none will deny, not even those that say that the Sabbath was abolished at the crucifixion.—Thus we see that God has preserved a knowledge of the true seventh day down to the first Advent. In fact we have no record that it has ever been lost, since Jehovah's Rest at creation.
The Jews, who have tenaciously observed the Sabbath, buried up with their traditions, have not, in their scattered condition, all of them to a man, made a mistake of one day, and unanimously observed the Sabbath on the sixth day instead of the seventh. All the leading classes of mankind have not been put into a deep sleep, or something equivalent, so as to mistake one day in numbering the days of the week, as argued by T. so that all the records in the world incorrectly fix the seventh day on our Saturday. To cause the inhabitants of the world to unanimously mistake one day in numbering the days of the week, would be one of the greatest miracles that the world ever witnessed. We venture to say that no man would have presumptuously advanced such a preposterous idea, if it had not been to shun the cross of observing and teaching the true seventh-day Sabbath.
We give the following article, and Bro. Nichols' article from "Present Truth," No. 5, for the benefit of a large portion of our readers that have not seen that paper.