Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 17, 1858
IS THE SABBATH LAW OBLIGATORY NOW?
By N. V. Hull
From the "Sabbath Recorder."
"IS THE SABBATH LAW OBLIGATORY NOW?"
Eld. N. V. Hull to Eld. Wm. H. Rogers:
DEAR BROTHER—You have been pleased to address me three several inquiries upon the Sabbath Question in the Recorder of April 29th, and ask an answer through the same medium. Knowing my want of Biblical knowledge, and imperfect style of composition, had I not confidence in you as a sincere inquirer after truth rather than one seeking an advantage through the weakness of your respondent, I certainly should not venture a reply.
Your knowledge of the question is sufficient to suggest to you that in order to do anything like justice to it, I must occupy considerable space. Before proceeding to direct investigation and analysis, it may be proper to call your attention to a few plain and necessary truths.
Man is a moral and religious being, and for this element of his nature his Maker is bound to provide. Also as a creature of time, he must have time necessities, and for these necessities provision must be made. Any system of religion, then, that does not fully meet these necessities, must be imperfect, and therefore not of God. Let me ask you then, dear brother, is the Sabbath a necessity of our moral and social state? In other words, do our highest necessities demand the provisions of the Sabbath? If you answer yes, then I ask, may we not expect to find this provision in the word of the Lord, not for those of one race or age, but for those of all races and ages upon whom the necessities lie?
With these thoughts let us proceed to your first question, "What are the arguments by which you are convinced that the Sabbath Law was obligatory upon and kept by any of the human family during the first 2500 years, i. e. from the beginning of the world till the giving of the manna."—(Ex. xvi.)
Argument 1.—"And on the seventh-day God ended his work which he had made and he rested the seventh day from all his works which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." (Gen. ii. 2, 3.) This passage is so introduced as to show that the "seventh day" mentioned, immediately succeeded the "sixth day" in the previous chapter so that it was the seventh day in order from the first. This day then, was the last of a cycle of seven—the first week of time. Observe (1) God rested on this day. Did he rest himself because he needed rest? No. What else then than an example was it? If an example, to whom if not to man? If to man, then was it not to Adam? (2) God blessed the seventh day "because in it he had rested." It was blessed then because it was a day of rest. What other sense can be given to his "blessing it?" There was certainly no positive good conferred upon the day by his blessing it, for it was incapable of receiving any. Is there any other meaning then, to this, than that he blessed it as a day of rest? But as a day of rest to whom but to man? Who else? (3) But God did more than to rest on the seventh day and bless it—he sanctified it. According to Webster, the word sanctify has eight different meanings. The first and the general sense is to cleanse, to purify. But this certainly cannot be the meaning in this place for the reason that it is incapable of being "cleansed, purified." Nor will any other of the definitions given but the second suit the case any better. The second is "to separate, set apart or appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use," and as an instance of its use in this sense, quotes this very text. If then, this be its sense in this place, and as I have said it can have no other, what do we find? why that God besides resting on the seventh day and blessing it, he set it apart. But set it apart from what and to what?—for surely something like this is involved in the idea. I ask again how set apart? And to these questions, the pertinence of which you will not deny, can any other answer in reason be given than that it was set apart in its use from the secular character of the other days and so appropriated to a religious use? Mark, it is not merely a day of rest, but a day of religious rest, so that it referred to man not merely as an animal, but as a moral being. Please keep this in mind. If then God at this time separated the seventh day in its use from the other six and they were to be employed as days of labor, which none deny, how much short of a command is it for man to sanctify it as a day of rest?
But as the word sanctify possesses such weight in this controversy as employed in this text, a more extended examination of it may be required. Cruden in his Concordance says: "Sanctify, when referred to God, signifies to separate and appoint any thing to an holy and religious use. God sanctified the seventh day. (Gen. ii. 3.) The first born were sanctified. (Ex. xiii. 6.) And thus the tabernacle, the temple, the priests, the altars, the sacrifices, etc., were sanctified under the law." Wood, in his Bible Dictionary says under the word sanctify: (1) To prepare or set apart persons or things to a holy use."—(Ex. xix. 23.) God sanctifies the Sabbath by setting it apart for a holy and religious use.—(Gen. ii. 3.) The Jewish tabernacle, temple, vessels, priests and Levites were sanctified, when set apart to the service of God and ceremonially prepared for it by sprinkling of blood or oil, or by washing with water.—(Ex. xxx. 29; and xxviii. 41; Lev. viii. 12,) etc. The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, article sanctification says, "sanctify often signifies to set apart."
I trust, dear brother, that the above is sufficient to justify in your mind the statement that the word "sanctify" in Gen. ii. 3, is to set apart. Should this be conceded, then has it not the force of a command? If not, what sense has it?
Argument 2.—In Ex. xvi. 23, as a part of the account of the giving of the manna Moses says: "This is that the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord." Now the question arises where is this of which Moses says, "The Lord hath said." Is it not the text we have had under consideration in Gen. ii. 3? It has indeed been conjectured that God might have said this to Moses separately. But is there any necessity for this "conjecture?" All sound rules of interpretation forbid that we should enter the field of conjecture, unless compelled to do so by some overruling necessity arising out of the fact that the author has left nothing on record as a fair guide to his meaning. But no such necessity exists here, for the text in (Gen. ii. 3.) furnishes precisely the idea we want, and this is a most happy circumstance, as it affords an inspired exposition of Moses' words, Gen. ii. 3, i. e. it was the rest of the Sabbath unto the Lord. Now, if Moses so understood this, did he not see in it the force of a command? Indeed was it not for this very purpose he quoted it?
Argument 3.—In the commandment, (Ex. xx. 11,) the Sabbath is made a memorial of the creation in these words: "For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." That the Sabbath is referred to as a memorial of creation, cannot be doubted. But why the Jews alone memorialize a work in which as creatures, they had no more interest than the heathen around them? If it be replied that they were called upon to celebrate the work of creation, because they were God's select people, I answer that their obligations could be no stronger than Adam's before the fall, or those who after the fall, made covenants with God by sacrifice as the token of a true faith in the coming Redeemer. If there were special reasons why the Jews should observe the Sabbath they were found in the fact that they were chosen of God to witness for him and his truth before the apostate and heathen world that surrounded them. The fact then that they were witnesses for him as the creator was the very ground and reason of his giving them this memorial—the only institution heaven appointed, given to any people of any age for this purpose. And here34let me throw in an inquiry. Suppose the various nations of the earth had remained true to their creator—would the necessity for calling out the Jews have existed? But does not the supposition of their continued faithfulness suppose the continued observance of the creation festival? And further, does not their abandonment of this festival suppose their abandonment of faith in him [God] as the creator? How then does the giving of the Sabbath to Jews as God's select people militate against the idea that all good men also in previous times celebrated the festival of creation?
But to return: there is one expression in this eleventh verse which needs further attention. It is said of the seventh day, God "hallowed" it, i. e., he made it sacred—appointed it as a sacred use. Not for himself, for the appointing act took place after he had rested on it and blessed it. For whose use then did he hallow it? Surely was it not for the use of man? (See Mark ii. 27.) "The Sabbath was made for man."
One thought further: if this word hallowed in Ex. xx. 11, is used with the same signification as "sanctified" (in Gen. ii. 3.) then have I not proved beyond a doubt that the seventh day was made a Sabbath day at creation?
Argument 4.—My fourth and last argument which I propose to offer upon this first question is drawn from the early division of time into weeks or periods of seven days, and the sacredness of the seventh day.
I begin, however, with a text which I do not claim as positive in its testimony, but only as having a strong leaning in that direction, (Gen. iv. 3.) "And in process of time, (or end of days) that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord." The points which I make upon this text, are: 1. The transaction referred to happened at the end or cutting off of days—some particular period of time. 2. It was a time of worship. It seems unnatural to suppose this to have been the change of the moon or any natural division of time, as these could scarcely have been called the "end" or "cutting off" of days.
There is more of violence or arbitrariness indicated by the words than attaches to a natural division. But the division of time into weeks is arbitrary, and also according to the theory advocated, the closing period is a sacred and religious one. The context also shows it to have been a season of public religious worship, in which the family of Adam participated. Upon the supposition that the Sabbath was instituted already, would not the most natural thought be that the end of days referred to was the seventh or closing day of the week? So it seems to me.
The early division of time into periods of seven days seems plainly indicated in Gen. vii. 10; viii. 10, 12, which please see.
But in Gen. xxix. 27, 28, taken with Judges xiv. 12, we have proof positive of the early division of time into weeks or periods of seven days. In the first mentioned instance which refers to the marriage of Jacob with Leah, daughter of Laban, it is said by Laban to Jacob, "fulfill her week," and in the latter we learn that the marriage festival continued "seven days." From this, then, we have the best authority for believing in the division of time into weeks of seven days. We think this strongly favors our interpretation of Gen. ii. 3.
Perhaps you will not object to the introduction in this connection of some historic statements corroborative of the above view. In the Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, by Ritter, article "Sabbath," it is said, "it is powerfully urged by the believers in a primitive Sabbath, that we find from time immemorial the knowledge of a week of seven days among all nations—Egyptians, Arabians, Indians—in a word, all the nations of the East have in all ages, made use of this week of seven days for which it is difficult to account, without admitting that this knowledge was derived from the common ancestors of the human race."
The Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge says: "Week, a period of seven days. Under the usual name of a week, shabah is mentioned as far back as the time of the deluge, (Gen. vii. 4, 10; viii. 10, 12; xxix. 27, 28.) It must therefore be considered a very ancient division of time, especially as the various nations among whom it has been noticed, for instance, the Nigri in Africa, appear to have received it from the sons of Noah."
From the American Edition of the London Encyclopedia, I quote the following: "The Septenary division of time has been from the earliest ages, observed over all the Eastern world. The Israelites, Assyrians, Indians, Arabians, and Persians, have always made use of a week consisting of seven days. Many vain attempts have been made to account for this uniformity, but a practice so general and prevalent could never have taken place, had not the septenary distribution of time been instituted from the beginning and handed down by tradition?"
From the same source also, must the ancient heathen derive their notions of the sacredness of the seventh day. That they had such notions of it is evident from several passages of the Greek poets quoted by Aristobulus, a learned Jew, by Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius. The seventh, the sacred day—Hesiod. Afterwards came the seventh, the sacred day.—Homer. Again on the seventh day all things were complete.
In the face of the above testimony, which is the most rational, dear brother, to believe in, the early institution of the Sabbath; or to disbelieve in it?
Answer to your other questions in a future paper.
N. V. Hull.
Alfred Centre, May 4, 1858.
THE WARFARE.
By ZIONA
Art thou wearied so soon in the warfare of life?
Dost thou faint in the struggle and shrink from the strife?
Wilt thou lay down thy weapons and yield in despair,
When the wreath of the victor is waiting so near?
Oh! arouse thee, my soul, from ignoble repose!
Come! bravely advance and confront thy proud foes;
Sigh not in thy freedom for bondage again,
Nor linger disheartened so long on the plain.
The battle is not to the mighty of earth,
But to those whom the word of the Lord summons forth—
Nor the race to the swift, nor the prize to the strong;
Then be "faint yet pursuing," thy watchword and song.
Hark! the sound of the trumpet—the signal of war;
Up! haste to the standard, which waves from afar!
Follow on, where the cross is uplifted, nor flee,
Lest the curse upon Meroz descend upon thee.
Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might,
Girding on the whole armor of God for the fight;
For we wrestle not only with evil within,
But with rulers of darkness who tempt us to sin.
Stand, therefore—thy loins encircled with truth;
Thy breastplate of righteousness, not thine own worth;
Thy feet let the gospel of peace then adorn,
And the hope of salvation a helmet be worn,
Above all, take the shield of unwavering faith,
To quench all the fiery darts in thy path;
Grasp the sword of the Spirit, with nerve-lifted hand,
And the wiles of the devil undaunted withstand.
Go, then, and the joy of the Lord be thy strength;
He will give thee both victory and honor at length;
But the good fight of faith must be fought ere 'tis won,
The reward of the work cometh when it is done.
ZIONA.
From the "Sabbath Recorder."
FLAVEL'S TOUCHSTONE.
CHAPTER V.
Showing what trial is made of men's hearts by Adversity.
Section I. That ADVERSITY is adapted to try men's hearts none can doubt who have either studied the Scriptures or observed human experience. When the dross of corruption and the rust of hypocrisy had nearly eaten out the heart of religion among the Jews, God said, "I will melt them and try them;" accordingly they were cast into the furnace of affliction and tried.
Prosperity multiplies professors, but adversity brings them to such a test that the precious are separated from the vile. Job was tried by adversity, and although some dross was discovered, he came forth as gold. By adversity is brought out to view not only the hypocrisy and corruption of the wicked, but also the sincerity and holiness of the righteous; it manifests the faith and patience of the saints.
In discussing this topic it will be necessary to inquire what effects are common both to the sound and unsound, and what are peculiar to each, from the trial of adversity.
Section II. The following particulars relating to adversity may apply both to saints and sinners.
1. Both may entertain fears of adversity when they perceive its approach. While impending judgments cause sinners in Zion to tremble, and fill hypocrites with fearfulness; saints also, though for different reasons, may be agitated with concern and apprehension.
2. When the cup of affliction comes, the holy as well as the sinful may receive it with reluctance. The wicked will, indeed, ever loathe and resent it; and though accompanied by a thousand mitigations to the righteous, they also may shrink from it.
3. Troubles, disappointments, and pain may sometimes produce impatience in saints as well as in sinners. Flesh and blood can hardly endure anguish and privation with composure. But if in such circumstances grace is not always so powerful in God's people as to overcome the propensity to disquiet, it will restrain them from such indulgence as the wicked allow.
4. The ungodly as well as the godly may be driven to their closets and their knees by their adversity; the former perhaps for the first time, the latter with increased punctuality and engagedness.
I need not detail the different motives of saints and sinners when in similar conditions their external appearance and conduct is in some respects alike; I therefore pass on to those things which are peculiar to each.
Section III. Here, in the first place, let us consider the discoveries made by adversity of the hearts of unsanctified men.
1. An unsanctified man is not easily made to recognize and acknowledge the hand of God in the calamities and troubles which have befallen him. He is prone to refer them to some natural cause, or to suppress the idea of any producer of them, or to charge them to the malice or negligence of men. Thus the creature bounds his horizon; and he contrives to secure his conscience from alarm.
2. Unsanctified men are not apt in seasons of adversity to retire into their closets, to search their hearts, to ascertain what they have done, to repent of their wickedness, and submit themselves to God. Afflictions rarely lead them to self-examination; they do not choose to think that they have done anything to occasion their troubles.
3. A man destitute of real religion, if left to his own choice, would prefer sin to affliction, and really consider it less evil; he can contemplate the defilement of his soul with composure, rather than suffer the loss of his goods, his pleasures, or his present ease; and thus the unsoundness of his heart is discovered. The saints, on the contrary, will never, knowingly, consent to the commission of sin, if it might prevent ever so much personal suffering or loss.
4. Unregenerate men in adversity will turn from creature to creature in pursuit of comfort and relief, instead of leaving all creatures and repairing to God for support; and when all their creature-comforts fail they sink in despondency.
5. An unsanctified man never comes out of the furnace of affliction purified, humbled and made better than when he was cast into it; the fire does not consume his dross, but the more he is afflicted the worse he becomes. The reason is plain; afflictions themselves cannot purify men's souls, and those which come upon the wicked are not sanctified to them. Think of this, ye that have had numberless afflictions of one kind or other, but have derived no benefit from any of them!
Section IV. The reader may now be desirous to know what effects adversity has upon sincere humble Christians: but before I proceed, let it be observed that they realize these effects, not so much while the trial continues, as after it is past, when they have opportunity for calm reflection. The fruits of sanctified affliction are lasting, and they affect the Christian's whole temper and deportment: still some particular effects may be mentioned, which are produced in all upright hearts.
1. Every real Christian, in time of affliction and adversity, will make God his refuge and look to him for comfort and relief. "I found," saith David, "sorrow and trouble, then called I upon the name of the Lord."
2. The people of God particularly recognize his providence in all their adversities and troubles, whatever instruments may intervene. And this apprehension of the divine agency is fundamental to that communion with God which saints in affliction maintain, and to the holy submission and heavenly composure which they feel.
3. Christians are heartily disposed to justify God in the severest afflictions which come upon them, as well as in all his other dealings: the scripture proofs of this are so numerous that it would be superfluous to quote them. They may receive treatment from men which they are conscious they do not deserve; but if God should add condemnation to affliction, they would vindicate not only his character and government, but his dispensations to them.
4. Good men in adversity examine themselves, and endeavor to ascertain why they are afflicted; to find what they have done or neglected, on account of which God contendeth with them. Their prayer is "That which I see not teach thou me; show me if there is any evil way in me."
5. Every real Christian deliberately chooses to continue in adversity, rather than to be delivered from it by any sinful means. Christians are not insensible to pain, but rather than sin against God, they can cheerfully submit to privations and sufferings.
6. The people of God fail not to bless him for sanctified afflictions; esteeming the happy effects of them on their own minds more highly than deliverance from them. If their affections are weaned from this world, if their sinful propensities are mortified,35if they are advanced in the divine life, and made more meet for heaven by adversity they never think it too great or too long continued.
One of Mr. Wesley's Letters.
By John Wesley
LYNN, November 7, 1771.
MY DEAR SISTER:—At length I have snatched an hour to repeat to you, in writing, the advices which I gave you before. 1. Keep that safe which God has given you: never let slip any blessing which you have received. Regard none who tell you, "you must lose it." No; you never need lose one degree of love. 2. You never will, provided you are a careful steward of the manifold gifts of God. To him that hath, that is, useth what he hath, it shall be given still, and that more abundantly. Therefore, 3. Use your every grace. Stir up the gift of God that is in you. Be zealous! Be active! Spare no one. Speak for God, wherever you are. But, meantime, 4. Be humble: let all that mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. And be clothed with humility. Pray that you may always feel that you are nothing, less than nothing, and vanity. In this spirit speak and do every thing, giving all the glory to Him that lives and rules in your heart by faith.
Last night I was reading some advices of a French author, part of which may be of use to you. Only observe he is writing to one that had living faith, but was not perfected in love.
"How can I distinguish pride from temptation to pride? It is extremely difficult to distinguish these, and still more so to lay down rules for doing it. Our eyes cannot penetrate the ground of our hearts. Pride and vanity are natural to us; and, for that reason, nothing is more constantly at hand, nothing less observed, than their effects. The grand rule is, to sound sincerely the ground of our hearts, when we are not in the hurry of temptation: for if, on inquiry, we find that it loves obscurity and silence; that it dreads applause and distinction; that it esteems the virtues of others, and excuses their faults with mildness; that it easily pardons injuries; that it fears contempt less and less; that it sees a falsehood and baseness in pride, and a true nobleness and greatness in humility; that it knows and reveres the inestimable riches of the cross, and the humiliations of Jesus Christ; that it fears the lustre of those virtues which are admired by men, and loves those that are more secret; that it draws more comfort even from its own defects, through the abasement which they occasion; and that it prefers any degree of compunction before all the light in the world—then you may trust that all the motions you feel tending to pride or vanity, whether they are sudden, or are thrust against you for some time, are not sin, but temptation. And then it may be the best to turn from and despise them, instead of giving them weight by fixing your attention upon them."—Guide to Perfection.
Sacred Meditations.
"And thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
And does God, the holy one, love me? Me, once a rebel, covered over with guilt, and no spot bright? Can it be, he loves me? Yes, redeemed one, he loves thee. As he hath loved Jesus, so he loves the purchase of his blood. As a father over his lost son, as the bridegroom over the bride, so does thy God rejoice over and delight in thee. O, it is in my Father's love that I delight myself. All else but love is cold and formal, and meets not the demands of my being. It is love the soul of man was made for. Here is its home, its rest. To rest in my father's love, this is bliss beyond expression. Bliss allied to that of the celestial ones. My soul flutters to be free; to reach and touch an angel's harp, to give expression to the blessedness of love. O, ye blessed ones, going up and coming down, hear my request. Strike ye a louder note, and praise for me the God of love. Thou seest my harp, descending angel! It is feeble. Shattered are its strings, and broken. But it is attuned to love. Melody is in my soul.
And shall no stormy blast beat upon and quench this flame? Can it survive in the rude shocks, which perchance may beat upon it in this nether world? O, yes, yes. There is a calm, a solace in the storm. My Father bids it blow. There is no chance, no accident to me. A Father's hand governs each event. It is love that spreads out the dark, no less than the bright scenes of life. And love can cast a shade of beauty on the darkest hour. It is bright above the cloud.
"I go to prepare a place for you."
A home in heaven—is this thy portion, O my soul? A home with God, with Christ, with all the holy angels. A short, brief space of time, and then shall I be there, where all the air is love? Where nothing enters that defileth? Shall I look around and find no scoffer there? No lip of scorn; no jealous, no malignant eye? See not one face but what is beaming love? Will no unholy thought intrude into my breast? Shall I then be saved, forever saved from sin? Blessed thought! beyond expression, blessed! My soul longs, my spirit pants to see the God I love. My God! Thou art in my waking thoughts, my noon-day reverie, and my midnight dream. So close art thou unto my heart, thou seemest to be a portion of myself; or rather I am a part of thee. O, is it possible, that God can come so near; can so restore us to himself, and bring back again the blissful days of Eden to the soul? Yes, so it is. Infinite love can accomplish all that Infinite Love has devised. This is our God, and we will bless him; our father's God, and we will exalt him.
I have heard a soft and pleasing strain, sung by a voice I loved, and breathing words of love, and I have thought of Heaven's music. If that of earth be so sweet, what must the music of heaven be? Heard ye that seraph's song, who sits near by the throne? Saw ye the response in every glistening eye? It fell on the ear as dew on the tender herb, awaking to new life and beauty each emotion of the soul. There was one heart, one feeling, "Worthy is the Lamb!" And shall I too swell the chorus of that song? Yes, I have loved it here on earth. It is to me the song of songs. It comes up from the depths of my soul, a melody akin to heaven's own music; awakened there by the same touch that gives beauty to the seraph's song. And shall I not re-echo it in heaven? Yes. My soul kindling with seraphic fire, will praise the Lamb, for he was slain for me.—Guide to Perfection.
The Sunday Law of California.
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE BETTER OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH.
The People of the State of California represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. No person or persons shall, on the Christian Sabbath, or Sunday, keep open any store, warehouse, mechanic shop, work shop, banking house, manufacturing establishment, or other business house, for business purposes; and no person or persons shall sell, or expose for sale, any goods, wares or merchandise on the Christian Sabbath or Sunday; and every person who shall violate any of the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in the sum of fifty dollars, together with the costs of prosecution; and the judgment shall also order that the defendant shall be imprisoned until the same shall be satisfied, which imprisonment shall not exceed one day for every two dollars of such fine and two dollars costs, or in that proportion.
Sec. 2. The provisions of Section 1 of this Act shall not apply to, or in any manner affect, the business of hotel keepers, inn keepers, tavern keepers, keepers of restaurants, boarding house keepers, keepers of livery stables; or the retail business of druggists, or dealers in medicines; or the sale of fresh meats, fish, or milk; or to the sale or disposal of any article or thing, or to any act or thing done in cases of necessity, or charity, on such Sabbath or Sunday; nor shall the provisions of said Section 1 apply to such manufacturing or other business establishments as necessarily require to be kept in continual operation to accomplish the business thereof.
Sec. 3. The provisions of this Act shall not be so construed as to conflict with or in any manner affect the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to prohibit barbarous and noisy amusements on the Christian Sabbath, passed March sixteenth, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five; provided that any person who shall sell or expose for sale milk, fish, or fresh meat after 10 o'clock A. M. shall be liable to all the penalties of Section 1 of this Act.
Sec. 4. This Act shall take effect on and after the first day of June A. D. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Approved April 10th, 1858.
Facts About the Bible.
The history of the English Bible includes a period of nine hundred years. The venerable Bede translated the Psalter and the Gospel into the Anglo-Saxon, by order of King Alfred. The price of a Bible in 1274, fairly written, with a Commentary, was from $150 to $250, though in 1840 two arches of the London Bridge were built for $123.
Richard Rolls was one of the first to attempt a translation of the Bible into the English language, as it was spoken after the conquest. He wrote a paraphrase in verse on the book of Job, and a gloss upon the Psalter, but the whole Bible, by Wickliffe, appeared between 1360 and 1380.
A bill, in 1490, was brought into the House of Lords, to forbid the use of English Bibles, but it did not pass. A decree of Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1403, forbade unauthorized persons to translate any text of the Holy Scriptures into English, as well as prohibited the reading of any translation, till approved of by the bishops, or a Council. Several persons were burned for reading the word of God.
In the reign of Henry the Fifth, a law was passed “That whoever should read the Scriptures, in their mother tongue, should forfeit land, cattle, body, life, and goods, from their heirs forever, and be condemned for heretics to God, enemies to the crown, and most arrant traitors to the land.” And between 1461 and 1493, Faust, or Faustus, who undertook the sale of Bibles at Paris, where printing was then unknown, narrowly escaped punishment. He was taken for a magician, because he produced them so rapidly, and because one copy was so much like another.
The Latin Vulgate, printed at Mayence, in 1462, was the very first printed edition of the whole Bible in any language, bearing the date and place of its execution, and the name of the printer. The first printed edition of the Holy Scriptures in any modern language, was in German, in the year 1467. The New Testament, by Luther, revised by Melancthon, appeared in 1521. William Tyndale, in 1526, printed his English Testament at Antwerp; but those who sold it in England, were condemned by Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor, to ride with their faces to the horses’ tails, with papers on their heads, and to throw their books and themselves into the fire at Cheapside. Tyndale himself was strangled and burned. His dying prayer was, “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.”
Go
Go.—“I hope,” says Mr. McKnill, of St. Petersburg, in a letter, “the subject of devoting ourselves and our children to God and to his service will be more thought of, and more acted upon, than it has been hitherto. I am more and more convinced, that if St. Paul had ever preached from, ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel,’ he would have laid great stress on the word ‘go.’ On your peril do not substitute another word for ‘go.’ ‘Preach,’ is a good word. ‘Direct,’ is a good word. ‘Collect,’ is a good word. ‘Give,’ is a good word. They are all important in their places, and cannot be dispensed with. The Lord bless and prosper those who are so engaged; but still lay stress on the word ‘go;’ for ‘how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?’ Six hundred millions of the human race are perishing; and there are perhaps thirty among all the Christians in Britain, who are at this moment preparing to ‘go.’ Alas! my hand shakes, and my heart trembles. ‘Is this thy kindness to thy friend?’”