Sabbath Discussion in Sutton, C. E.
By A. C. Bourdeau
Bro. White: Pursuant to appointment I discussed on the Sabbath question with D. Chapin, a Universalist minister, in North Sutton, C. E., Sept 18 and 19. I was much encouraged by the presence of Bro. Hutchins, my brother, and others. We encountered a determined opposition against the truth, from the part of the minister and his friends. They knew that the ministry of Sutton and vicinity had failed in all their attempts to oppose the truth, and they were determined to put an end to the controversy by giving a deadly blow to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Mr. Chapin, failing to disprove my position relative to the origin and perpetuity of the Sabbath, manifested his rebellion against God's government, before the whole assembly, in trying to prove that God's perfect, holy, just, and good law of ten commandments was nailed to the cross, abolished, and forever done away. As an upsetter of his unscriptural position I gave a Bible exposition of the two laws and the two covenants; and his arguments were so used up by the unerring truths of God's word, that instead of occupying one hour in his last speech, he spoke only nineteen minutes. In one of his half-hour speeches he made the following contradictory statements: 1. "God's rest commenced at the close of his creative work, and will continue throughout eternity." 2. "God rested at creation on the first day of the first week, of the first month, of the first year of time." I was reminded of what our Lord said about a house divided against itself. In my closing speech I summed up the positions taken by Mr. C. during the discussion, and compared them with the Bible, and proved Chapin vs. the Bible twelve times, as may be seen in the following: 1. Chapin. "God rested at creation on the first day of the first week . . . of time." Bible. "In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day." Ex. xx, 11; Gen. i, 2; ii, 3. 2. Chapin. "The Sabbath did not exist till the giving of the law on mount Sinai." Bible. "And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." "Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it." Gen. ii, 2; Ex. xx, 11. See also Ex. xvi, 23, 25, 26, 29. 3. Chapin. "The Sabbath was made for the Jews, not for the Gentiles." Bible. "The Sabbath was made for man." "Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, . . . every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, . . . even them will I bring to my holy mountain." Mark ii, 27; Isa. lvi, 6, 7. 4. Chapin. "The old Sabbath was an animal Sabbath, a rest for the body." Bible. "With the mind I myself serve the law of God." "And call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable." "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man." Rom. vii, 25, 22; Isa. lviii, 13. 5. Chapin. "Christ abolished the law." Bible. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law. . . . Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. v, 17, 18. 6. Chapin. "Christ did not keep the ten commandments." Bible. "I have kept my Father's commandments." Jno. xv, 10. 7. Chapin. "The law is carnal." Bible. "We know that the law is spiritual." Rom. vii, 14. 8. Chapin. "There is not a particle of righteousness in the commandments." Bible. "All thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. cxix, 172; Deut. vi, 25. 9. Chapin. "Love does not exist in the law. The ten commandments are excluded from the law of love." Bible. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." Rom. xiii, 10; 1 John v, 3. 10. Chapin. "Christ broke the Sabbath." Bible. "It is lawful (or, according to law) to do well on the Sabbath-day." Matt. xii, 12. 12. Chapin. "No man can be justified by keeping the law of ten commandments." Bible. "The doers of the law shall be justified." "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rom. ii, 13; Rev. xxii, 14. There were many at this discussion who had decided against the truth, and their efforts to crush it down reminded us of the anxiety that the Jews manifested to crucify the Saviour. May God pity them, and help the honest to fully see the beauty and harmony of the truth, and obey God and live.