American Sabbath Tract Society Anniversary
By J. A. Begg
The ninth anniversary of the American Sabbath Tract Society, was held September 13th. The report of the Board states, that during the past year the Society's series of sixteen Tracts have been thoroughly revised and stereotyped. The following letter from Mr. Begg to the Directors and Members of this Society was read, which we copy from the Sabbath Recorder. DEAR BRETHREN:—I desire to express thankfulness on your account, and prayer in your behalf. I give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that he hath put it into your hearts, and afforded to you the means and opportunity, of being fellow-workers with Him in recalling men to the enjoyment of the blessing that there is in truly remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy; and I pray that grace may be given unto you all, enabling you to approve yourselves unto those for whose enlightenment you have combined, as "a band of men whose hearts God hath touched."101 When Israel was faithful in the observance of the Sabbath, it was "a sign" that the Lord did sanctify them. It still remains so in regard to "the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it." More is thus demanded of us than acquiescence in the soundness of the argument, or the clearness of the evidence, by which the truth concerning it is established. Even the truth may be held in unrighteousness, through men's practice not according with their convictions. The blessing is in keeping the Sabbath from polluting it. It is this which makes it the sign, as it is this which constitutes it a test. In regard to the belief of doctrine which makes no immediate demand upon the external conduct, when the judgment is convinced, there is nothing to prevent an immediate avowal. But the keeping of the Sabbath is an evidence of faith and love, their possession being requisite to enable a man to submit himself to the practical influence of God's commandment, so as to be sanctified by him. It is to this, dear brethren, let us ever bear in remembrance, that all our efforts must be directed, while endeavoring to lead men to a knowledge of the truth. Faith must, however, be based on the word of God, as practice must follow or accompany faith. An intellectual perception of the will and purpose of the Most High may be aided by a clear exhibition of the Scripture statements on the subject of the Sabbath; and remonstrance may be addressed wherever there is the unfaithfulness which the neglect or perversion of the Sabbath implies. Some err from ignorance only; others are obstinately wedded to the error they have adopted. Yet, in all, conscience hath place; and the Spirit that inspired the Word is still capable of making it effectual in the human heart. Christ himself, and Peter, and Paul, and all the holy men of God, reasoned out of the Scriptures, and when this is rightly done, we are still encouraged to hope that with us as with them, some will attend to the things spoken, the Lord opening their hearts thereunto. As of old, when the law of God was made void by human traditions, so is it still, even among the people of God. In some cases, so inveterate is the evil, that the distinction between the law of the Lord and the tradition by which it is overlaid and concealed, is wholly destroyed. Men have come to receive the word of their fellow-men as if it were the word of the living God; and, often unconsciously, they expose themselves to the threatened work of judgment by the Lord upon those of whom he says, "Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men." And yet, not only is the imagined change of the Sabbath a mere tradition, but the tradition itself is that of a confessedly corrupt church. Still more remarkable is it, that the warning of an inspired Apostle—and he the Apostle of the Gentiles—that there should come "a falling away"—should have so failed in putting the church upon her guard against resting any thing on such tradition. Surely, in such circumstances, the friends of the Redeemer ought to have been more upon their guard against the danger to which their faith and practice were exposed by the too ready reception of the traditions of a church on which inspiration has thus placed the brand of apostasy. But the warning was little heeded, and has had little influence on the practice of those for whose guidance it was designed. Apart even from the apostolic warning, it might well have excited doubts and fears as to the acceptance of the traditionary Sabbath, to find that even the less faithful Ecclesiastical Historians of a subsequent age distinctly intimate that the churches of Rome and Alexandria were the first to abandon the divinely-appointed Sabbath—Rome and Alexandria having been the grand nurseries of most of the heresies with which the church of Christ was so early overrun! Ecclesiastical Councils of a later date authoritatively legislated for the perpetuation of this and other errors; and as Rome attained that place of power and influence, over the west especially, to which her ambition had so long aspired, the memorial of God's creation rest was decried as Jewish, while Sunday and saints' days were exalted to a place to which, according to the word of God they have no rightful claim. Thus these days of human appointment, first put on terms of equality with the Sabbath of the Lord, afterwards usurped its place, and anathemas were uttered against all who, in reverence of the law of their Lord and example of their Saviour, refused to allow tradition to thrust aside eternal truth. Ages of superstition confirmed the false position which had thus been assumed; and the Council of Trent, looking back upon what Rome had done, declared (Catechism, Quest. xviii) that "it hath pleased the Church of God, in her wisdom, that the religious celebration of the Sabbath day should be transferred to the Lord's day." "We also learn from the sacred volume," they indeed add, as one of the reasons of transference, but without citing chapter or verse, "that the first day of the week was held sacred because on that day the creation of the world commenced." The sacred volume speaks of the Sabbath in connection with the finishing of creation, not its commencement; but such was the "wisdom" of a General Council of a Church under "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie," because they received not the love of the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Other days, accordingly, says the Council of Trent, besides those in honor of the mysteries of our redemption, were instituted, the first of which are "those dedicated to the most blessed virgin Mother; and also to the Apostles, Martyrs, and the other saints reigning with Christ." (Buckley's Translation, pp. 398,399.) The example and admonition of saints are despised, while their names are used to sanction evils against which they protest! Imperfect was the Reformation towards which the faith and devotedness of Luther so signally contributed. With his whole heart bent on restoring to its place the doctrine of justification by faith, the Sabbath of the Lord had little other place in his creed, than it had received in that of the Church which he denounced as otherwise so corrupt. Calvin followed, in the aim at reformation. More strict in some respects, and more distinguished for logic than for love, he also failed to discover the delusions which had prevailed as to the day and design of the Sabbath, and was as little disposed to return to the position regarding it from which Rome had so sadly severed. Neither he nor Luther recognized any day as now specially sanctified and blessed of God. Any day, in their estimation, was equally good with that which alone the Lord had chosen, for the edification of the Church and preaching to sinners—and to these ends alone, irrespective of the glory of Him who made the world, did they confine their contemplation of its purpose. The inconsistency of allowing such scope to human caprice in dealing with a divine appointment, was too obvious to escape attention; and at a still later period, England gave consolidation to the apostasy by misapplying to the day of the Church's adoption all the sacred sanctions of God's law. Affirming that divinely the change had been made, and calling Sunday the Sabbath, the injunction of the fourth commandment is now read in connection with the first day of the week instead of the seventh. The promises of God to Sabbath observance, and the terrors of the Lord dissuading from Sabbath desecration, are used unhesitatingly in the present day, to sustain a self-evidently false proposition. Under the air of confidence with which this is done, however, the intelligent observer can scarcely fail to perceive that there are misgivings of the soundness of the law and the logic enunciated. There is an unwillingness to argue on the subject of the alleged change; a confession of the want of direct evidence in its support, a pleading of general practice, or the assumption that it matters not which day we observe—and all this by men zealous for the maintenance of a day unsanctioned by the Word. "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no truth in them." In the light of the Lord, and the might of his grace, be it our aim and prayer, my dear brethren, to be enabled to rend away the veil from many hearts. A wide-spread confederacy has been robbing the Redeemer of his glory, under a plea of exalting his name. He who on earth exclaimed, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets," hath not the less love to either, that he is now in glory. In his word and by his providence he again inquires, "Who is on the Lord's side?" Be it our part to be ever willing to be yielded to his hand, and to avail ourselves of all opportunities for the advancement of his truth. The printed page, composed in prayerful spirit, may be read in secret, and be meditated in silence, and be given effect to, in the heart, when the ear has been closed against the preacher's voice. The message of love and truth may be borne, too, beyond the reach of your own observation, watched over by Him who distinguishes between the chaff and the wheat, and the fruit of all your labor may never be seen until the day of the appearing of the Lord we love and serve. That it may then be accepted and abundant, is the prayer of, dear brethren. Yours in the love of the truth,
J. A. BEGG.
5 Argyll Arcade, Glasgow, August 27th, 1852.