"And now to show the seventh-day command
Was never meant for all in every land,
I'll call the mind into the Polar ray,
Where six long months describe the nat'ral day,
Each night the same; how then's the Sabbath there?
Or how'll their time with Moses' law compare?
A day and night there constitute a year,
Which doth include above three hundred here;
Then if some sacred parts of time there are,
Which days here in the milder zone declare,
How can they properly define them there?
And still some other reasons will arise,
And show how time revolves around the skies;
That if a man should take a western route,
And fully circumvolve the earth about,
Then his account with ours would not agree,
His seventh day, to us would sixth day be.
But if an eastern course one traverse round
This globe of Earth, it clearly will be found79When he returns, if he return at all,
His seventh day will on our first day fall:
So that in foreign lands it doth appear,
Part of their seventh day is first day here;
Therefore no certain space can be defined,
A universal rest for all mankind.
Hence, clear it is, the Israelite commands,
Which were of old dispensed by Moses' hands,
Were local precepts to a certain race,
And not enjoined on man in ev'ry place."
THE ANSWER.
"Now what you say respecting Polar clime
Appears to me but a delusive rhyme;
You call us off into a certain place,
Which is no dwelling for the human race.
Of consequence, we this conclusion draw,
That where no people is, there needs no law;
Yet were men there, did they but understand
The thing that's meant when God doth give command,
'Twould be their duty strictly to obey,
Whether 'twas always night or always day.
Now when this Earth did first begin to run,
Shifting its sides towards the radiant Sun,
One side was dark, the other side was light,
The light God called the day, the darkness night.
So when it had quite round its center run,
One day and night was out, the next begun:
Hence, clear it is, the space of time he meant,
Was while this Earth once round its axis went.
Then if so be that people could be there
And could endure that frigid state of air,
By certain land-marks they might well compute
Such parts of time as with God's law would suit.
But since no mortal ever could arrive
Unto the Polar point, and there survive,
Then sure 'tis wrong the Scriptures thus to twist,
Under pretence of things that can't exist;
Compassing land and sea from equinox to pole,
To make one proselyte, deluded soul,
When done, more vile, perhaps, by seven fold,
As was one wretched proselyte of old;
For, being taught one holy law to break,
To break nine more the liberty he'll take;
And thus go on, and well enough he may,
If true it is these laws are done away.
Excuse me if you think I speak too rash,
I do not mean so much to use the lash,
But with plain language strive with all my might,
On darkened minds to cast a gleam of light.
The great Apostle bids us all beware,
Lest we are spoiled through philosophic snare,
And vain deceit, which we may often find,
Where wrong tradition veils the fleeting mind.
And now to trace you round this rolling world,
An eastern and a western route you've twirled,
And made not nothing by this spacious travel,
But what I call a wretched, foolish cavil.
'Tis by the use of reason man has found
That one this spacious earth may traverse round
By that same reason 'tis as clearly plain
That by the route one day he'll lose or gain.
When he returns, his day he must correct
'Tis what we know and what we must expect;
But for a man to bring this as a plea,
That round this earth no Sabbath there can be,
Appears too weak for men of sense to bring
Against the laws of our almighty King.
And now, to make you clearly understand
That Sabbath days can be in every land,
At least those parts where mortals may reside,
And nowhere else can precepts be applied.
There was a place where first the orb of light
Appear'd to rise and westward take its flight;
That moment in that place the day began,
And as he in his circuit westward ran,
Or, rather, as the earth did eastward spin,
To parts more westward daylight did begin;
And thus, at different times, from place to place,
First day began it clearly was the case;
And I should think a man must be a dunce
To think the day began all round at once;
So that in foreign lands it doth appear
There was a first day there as well as here,
And if there was a first the earth around,
As sure as fate the seventh might be found.
And thus you see it matters not a whit
To which meridian of earth we get,
Since each distinctly had its dawn of light,
And ever since, successive day and night;
Thus, while our antipodes in darkness sleep,
We here the true primeval Sabbath keep."