Memorials by D. Hildreth

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 30, 1862

Memorials.

By D. Hildreth

IMPORTANT events are commemorated by some ceremony which represents as nearly as possible the event which transpired. Unless the ceremony has some semblance to the event, it is not a memorial. Memorials may be divided into three classes, viz., 1. Weekly, 2. Yearly, and 3. Indefinite in the time of their celebration.

1. There is but one genuine, weekly memorial, which is the seventh-day Sabbath. The Creator labored six successive days in making the heavens and earth, and rested the seventh day. We are commanded to labor six days, and rest upon the seventh, thus clearly pointing back to the creative work and rest of Jehovah. To rest every eighth or tenth day would not answer, and to rest on any of the six working days would not commemorate the event.

2. Yearly memorials are numerous. For instance, the passover was a yearly memorial of the salvation of Israel from the tenth plague visited upon Egypt, in which the destroying angel passed over the houses marked with the blood. On the fourteenth day of the first month of every year, they were required to keep the passover in the same manner as at the exode. Ex. xii, 11.

3. Some memorials have no stated time of celebration; of which the Lord's supper and baptism are examples.

There is but one genuine weekly memorial, but there is a counterfeit one which deserves notice, namely, the Sunday institution. This counterfeit memorial is faulty in several particulars.

1. It has never been commanded. One would suppose that when people do all that God has commanded, they would be doing well enough.

2. It sets aside a plain command which some one will have to answer for in the coming judgment.

3. To fitly commemorate the resurrection of Christ, it should be observed annually, like Christmas, instead of weekly. There is nothing in the event which calls for a weekly celebration.

4. Jesus rose from the dead, traveled, and was actively engaged upon the day, which event cannot be fitly celebrated by rest, but, on the contrary, by, to say the least, good works.

Christ has instituted a memorial of his burial and resurrection which not only precludes the necessity of another, but renders it a presumptuous innovation. Baptism beautifully represents the burial and resurrection of Christ, and at the same time points forward to the resurrection of the saints.

A good bank note must be well engraved, dated, and signed by responsible parties, to be worth anything. A counterfeit note is generally poorly engraved, signed by irresponsible parties, or by forged signatures. The first-day Sunday memorial sustains the same relation to the seventh-day Sabbath memorial, that a counterfeit bill does to a genuine one. The genuine is well engraved, having a representation of the creation for a vignette, dated on the seventh day of time, and signed by Him who owns heaven and earth. He is, of course, responsible, and this note is good anywhere on earth, or in heaven. On the contrary, the counterfeit is poorly engraved, with the resurrection of Christ for a vignette (unlike genuine), no certain date, and signed by a well-known counterfeiter (the pope). The signer is irresponsible, and although the note is current in some places on earth, it is worthless at the bank of heaven.

There has been a great deal of trouble and dispute about this counterfeit bill; and those familiar with it know that it has several dates and a forged signature. The counterfeiter has many friends who are determined

to make this note current, and many think it is good. Why is this? Simply because people do not test it by the great detector, the Bible, which the Lord has furnished.

D. HILDRETH.