Earlier text: The Signs of the TimesHistoric Proof of the Resurrection of Our Lord.
It is asserted that the gospels, having been written from fifty to one hundred years after the death of Christ, are not sufficiently near testimony to such an incredible thing as his resurrection. They only recorded a belief that had gradually found place in the superstitious minds of the first-century Christians. But let us measure the force of the testimony of four writings earlier than the gospels, which confirm those later assertions concerning the resurrection. These are Paul's first and second epistles to the Corinthians, and his letter to the Galatians and Romans. Those writings are indisputably genuine. Bauer admits that they were written by Paul as early as A. D. 60. Paul died during the reign of Nero, who was succeeded by Galba in 68. He was a prisoner two years at Caesarea before Festus took the place of Felix, which was A. D. 60. These letters were written while he was still at liberty, they date, therefore, before A. D. 58, or just twenty-five years after the crucifixion. Will the reader think for a moment how he regards events which transpired twenty-five years ago. If only thirty-five years old you may recollect distinctly the incidents of the Mexican War which began in 1845, and closed in 1847. You can recall, when a child of eight years, the sight of the departure and return of troops, and the excitement which the reports of victory or defeat produced. Thus awakening the historic sense, we can appreciate Paul's assertion in I Cor. 15 : 6, that of five hundred persons who saw the risen Jesus at one time twenty-five years before, two hundred and fifty were still alive and able to give testimony to the fact from personal knowledge. Having previously asserted to the Corinthians, and no one having disputed it, he here repeats that at least two hundred and fifty were living and able to testify that they had seen Jesus alive within six weeks after his acknowledged death. At the time they had testified to it, with others, and had been believed. For twenty-five years they had adhered to the same testimony. Now, would a sane man assert that two hundred and fifty of my readers could not be trusted in their assertion of having personally seen our soldiers returning from the Mexican War, or declare that they did not know what they were saying! The first letter to the Corinthians gives us then this strong proof of the resurrection. Christ's death is indisputable. His re-appearance was real to five hundred persons, who were compelled to believe what was contrary to their reason and experience, that a man who was dead and buried could be alive again, often and distinctly seen, and even handled by some of them. Two hundred and fifty living persons are ready to confirm Paul's statement of what they saw twenty-five years before. The second letter to the Corinthians gives this still stronger concurrent evidence of the resurrection. Paul speaks of himself as a Christian fourteen years before it was written. Add three years to this (Gal. 2 : 1; 1 : 18) after which he went up to Jerusalem, and we find that only seven years, or at the most ten years, after the resurrection of Christ, he himself fully believed it and the testimony concerning it. Could any one now rationally deny the truth of the assertions of five hundred living persons, as to the assassination of President Lincoln, who saw him shot in Ford's Theater, in 1865, or nine years ago? Paul would have been equally unreasonable in refusing to believe those who told him they had seen and handled the risen Jesus. After fourteen or twenty years he believed their testimony more firmly than ever. In the epistle to the Romans, the same writer assumes in his argument that the Christians at Rome had for many years believed in Christ's resurrection. In fifteen years at least after the death of Jesus, this belief was undisputed at Rome without Paul's preaching it, and at Jerusalem. The real resurrection is the most reasonable cause for this widely-spread belief; which made its way against national prejudice, worldly pride, the ambition and present comfort of those who held it in persecution. Galatians (1 : 12–15) takes us one step nearer to the fact of the resurrection. Paul's conversion occurred within five years after the event. As a fierce and stubborn enemy of Jesus, he then acknowledged the spiritual power of his death and resurrection, in its personal relations to himself. Accepting it in full view of the ruin of all his earthly hopes, twenty-five years after he can declare that he had not thrown away his life on a delusion, but found the resurrection an abiding and ever-increasing source of peace and joyful hope, and support amid all tribulations. These epistles then bring us much nearer testimony to the facts recorded than do the gospels if we regard only the times in which they were written. The historic sense can receive them as almost concurrent with the great miracle.—Christian Union. A Philosopher’s Opinion of the Bible.
By Earnest Naville
A LEARNED Swiss writer (Jean de Muller) was deeply engaged in historical studies at Cassel, in the year 1782. Indefatigable in researches, he wrote to his friend Charles Bonnet, that he had studied all the ancient authors without one exception, in the order of time in which they lived, and had not omitted to take note of a single remarkable fact. Among other works it occurred to him to glance at the New Testament, and we give in his own words the impression it produced upon him:— “How shall I express what I have found here? I had not read it for many years, and when I began it I was prejudiced against it. The light which blinded St. Paul in his journey to Damascus was not more prodigious or not more surprising to him than what I suddenly discovered was to me the accomplishment of every hope, the perfection of all philosophy, the explanation of all revolutions, the key of all apparent contradictions of the material and moral world, of life and immortality. I see the most astonishing things affected by the smallest means. I see the connection of all the revolutions in Europe and Asia with that suffering people to whom were committed the promises; as one likes to entrust a manuscript to those who, not knowing how to write, cannot falsify it. I see religion appearing at the moment most favorable to its establishment, and in the way most likely to promote its reception; the world appearing to be arranged solely with reference to the religion of the Saviour. I can understand nothing if such a religion be not from God. I have not read any book about it, but in studying all that happened before this epoch, I have always found something wanting, and since I have known our Lord all is clear to my sight; with him there is no problem that I cannot solve. Forgive me for thus praising the sun, as a blind man who had suddenly received the gift of sight.— The Temporal Millennium—a Fable.
THE doctrine of the world's conversion, styled a “modern novelty,” and admitted by its author to be a “new hypothesis,” was invented by Daniel Whitby, D. D., of England, and first published about A. D. 1680. Dr. Henshaw, the late Bishop of Rhode Island, thus speaks of it:—“The fact is that the commonly received opinion of a spiritual millennium consisting in a universal triumph of the gospel and conversion of all nations for a thousand years before the coming of Christ, is a novel doctrine, unknown to the church for a period of sixteen hundred years. So far as we have been able to investigate its history, it was first advanced by the Rev. Dr. Whitby, the commentator, and afterward advocated by Hammond, Hopkins, Scott, Dwight, Bogue, and others, and has been received without careful examination by the majority of evangelical divines of the present day. But we may safely challenge its advocates to produce one distinguished writer in its favor, who lived before the commencement of the eighteenth century. If antiquity is to be considered as any test of truth, the advocates of the premillennial advent, and personal reign of Christ with his saints upon earth, need have no fears of the result of a comparison of authorities with the supporters of the opposite theory.”—Henshaw on Second Advent, p. 115. How few persons in any congregation regard the truth preached, as intended for them! In our earlier ministry, we visited an old German couple, who, though highly respectable, frequently in conversation broke out into exclamations of surprise, bordering closely on blasphemy. We concluded to condemn this practice in a public discourse, taking for our text the words, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The whole sermon, though free from any expression of personality, fell upon the venerable German pair as directly as if it had passed through a funnel on their heads, for we knew of no other persons in the church chargeable with such a practice. When we descended from the pulpit, we expected to get some sour looks, but instead of this, the kind-hearted old man approached us and, patting us on the back, said, “That’s right, preacher, give it to them—that’s the preaching that’s going to do good.”—Presbyterian Journal. Conference Address.
By James White
PROGRESS AND WANTS OF THE CAUSE.
Ours is a missionary work. We are constantly pressing our way onto new ground. And the Lord goes out before us and manifests his power in the conversion of men, without our instrumentality, to the very unpopular sentiments we hold dear. Our publications are doing a great work. Those tracts already printed in the French, German, Danish, and Swedish tongues are reaching many precious souls in our own good country, and are finding their way to the Old World, and alone, without the living teacher, are converting strong men to the present truth. Eld. Olsen, president of the Wisconsin Conference, is in possession of letters from Denmark giving the information that three ministers in that country have embraced the doctrines of the third angel’s message, and that one of them has been successful in bringing over to the faith six persons as the fruits of his labor. This state of things in old Denmark makes it necessary that a teacher of the present truth should go from this country to that without delay, to open that as a missionary field, and establish the work there. As much as he is needed in this country, we see no way to give the proper assistance demanded at this time, only to send Eld. Matteson as a missionary to Denmark. The foregoing relative to Denmark illustrates the progress and wants of the cause in different parts of Europe and in our own country. This growth of the cause, constantly entering new ground, makes frequent changes of our feeble forces necessary, hence the importance of the extra session of the General Conference. The late Conference was truly a refreshing season to those who were present. Good news from all parts of the field was cheering. And there was great harmony of action and feeling by the members in the new measures taken for the advancement of the cause. No branch of the work received more attention than that among the French. The work among the French at the present time bears marks of the especial favor of God. The conversion of Bro. J. E. Morin in this country, an educated Frenchman from France, is truly wonderful, when we consider the simple means which the Lord employed in his conversion. Since he finished his education in the University of France he has traveled quite extensively. And while on a hunting tour in Northern New York he fell in company with a French Seventh-day Adventist from whom he received the Sabbath. After spending a few days with Eld. Bourdeau he came to Battle Creek and was baptized, and has since labored successfully among the French in Illinois. He was at the recent Conference at Battle Creek and has returned to Illinois, where he designs to remain until the camp-meeting in that State, when he expects to be ordained and leave immediately for Europe to assist Elder Andrews in translating, to act as interpreter, and to teach Elder Andrews and his children the French language more perfectly. He will thus relieve Elder Bourdeau to go to France, his much-desired field of labor. At Bro. Morin’s especial request we had a most precious season of prayer with him before he left for Illinois. But right here, while we were praising God for the valuable accession of Bro. Morin, the good news comes from Switzerland of the conversion of Prof. Louis Aufranc from the college at Locle, under the labors of Elder D. T. Bourdeau who has been giving a course of lectures in that city. Elder Bourdeau says:—“There are twelve new converts here keeping the Sabbath. Most of these spoke in tenderness last Sabbath. The teacher of whom I wrote last week is firm in the truth and seems to be advancing in knowledge and experience. As soon as he became convinced of his duty to keep the Sabbath, he wrote as follows to the ‘Commission d’ Education’:— “LOCLE, MARCH 27, 1876. “MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN:—Having become convinced that the first day is not the day that we should keep as a day of rest, and that the seventh day is still the holy Sabbath of the Lord, my conscience does not permit me to give lessons on Saturday. In case that you do me the favor of authorizing me to give the lessons of Saturday on other days, I shall cheerfully continue teaching in the college, and shall do this with a zeal and faithfulness that will answer to the debt of gratitude which I owe you. Be pleased, respected gentlemen, to receive the assurance of my esteem and faithfulness.
“LOUIS AUFRANC.” “He then wrote the following letter to his pastor:—
“LOCLE, MARCH 27, 1876.
“MR. PERROCHET, DEAR PASTOR: In harmony with what I have just written to the ‘Commission d’ Education,’ I hereby inform you that the conferences held by M. Bourdeau have convinced me of the importance of sanctifying, not the first, but the seventh, day of the week. Therefore, I send you my resignation as elder of the church. I pray you to believe me when I say that it is not mere caprice which has led me to pursue this course; for I was and am still attached in heart to the National church, in the bosom of which I was reared and instructed. I have resisted the convictions of my conscience for eight days, and it is after realizing much anguish that I have come to this decision. I have not sought for my temporal interests, but for the eternal interests of my soul. “I leave you with tears, and pray you to still keep for me at least some of the affection that you have always manifested to me since I became acquainted with you. Be pleased to tell the members of the college that it is not without deep feeling that I leave them, if they cannot give me liberty of conscience; and if I do leave them, I shall bring with me fond recollections. Tell them also to judge me with that charity that you entertained us with yesterday; for it is not my own will that I seek (this were insanity), but the will of God, as I understand it.” “Respectfully yours,
“LOUIS AUFRANC.” “Upon receiving this letter, the pastor requested Bro. A. to visit him. Bro. A. complied. The pastor labored hard to persuade this brother to retrace his steps, and said he hoped he (the brother) would take time to reflect, and then recall his letter of resignation. The next day Bro. A. sent the pastor the following note:— “MR. PERROCHET, PASTOR: Having reflected on all that you told me yesterday, and having read the passages that you referred me to, I cannot believe in the abolition of the Sabbath, and I still cleave to the restoration of the Sabbath, just as God gave it, whatever may be the temporal loss that I shall sustain. I stand by the decision of my first letter, and I pray you to tell the elder of the church who will be called upon to replace me, to call on me to receive the accounts. “Respectfully yours,
“LOUIS AUFRANC.” “Bro. A. has just placed in my hands an honorable discharge, signed by the president and secretary of the college, who express gratitude for Prof. A.’s long and faithful services, though they had hoped he would still continue a teacher of the first class. They also express hope that Bro. A. will prosper and find happiness in the new field of activity that circumstances may trace and open before him.” The conversion of Prof. Aufranc to the theory of truth as we find it in God’s word is not the only cause of rejoicing we have in his case; but that one in his high position should break away from former associations so suddenly, and in a manner so gentlemanly and so Christian-like as to secure the good will and parting blessing of his former pastor, employers and associates, is indeed admirable. In the very start he has shown himself capable of uniting firmness in acting up to the convictions of his own mind with that gentleness and power of kindness which is the true ornament of a Christian. The way now seems fully open for Eld. Andrews to commence publishing at Basel, Switzerland. At present he can hire his printing done. And, as we have said before in our prints, there is the sum of $2,000 in the missionary treasury at Battle Creek subject to his order. And before this shall be exhausted our people will cast into the treasury liberally of their abundance. The time is not far distant when there will be connected with the European mission a complete office of publication controlled by our people and wholly devoted to publishing the present truth. And we recommend that W. C. White, president of the Pacific S. D. A. Publishing Association, and also business agent of that publishing house, be on the ground before next New Years to take charge of our European Office. Mrs. Mary Kelsey White, his wife, local editor of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES, would have a favorable chance to finish her French, and to teach young men and young women the art of printing, for compositors for the new office. The late Conference voted that $10,000 be raised immediately to establish the press in Europe. It was understood by that Conference that this sum would be necessary to meet the immediate expenses of printing a paper and other publications as fast as they can be prepared, and to purchase printing material for the European Office excepting the presses. The sum of $10,000 should be raised immediately, and all should be collected during the present year. Some weeks since we called for $1000 men to help in this good work. But only two have responded at this date. It was the general opinion at the Conference that $100 men should be called for, so we submit to this arrangement, and now call on all the friends of our great and growing cause to send in their pledges of $100 each for the European press. In all cases where it is possible immediate payment should be made. Those who have not present cash, but have money at interest, which they cannot collect because of the hard times, can forward their notes payable in one year with use to the S. D. A. Publishing Association, located at Battle Creek, Mich. On the strength of such notes the Association can hire money. We do not object to persons of limited circumstances in life donating less than $100 each. But we recommend that these smaller sums which our poorer brethren cheerfully donate should be used for home missionary purposes, such as the circulation of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES; and that the necessary sum to establish the press in Europe and carry on printing there until the cause shall be self-sustaining, should be donated by our more wealthy brethren who would regard it a pleasure to give $100 each, or more. The Southern States now present inviting fields of labor. Elders Lane and Corliss are already in the field with their new tent in Virginia. Elder Osborn commences immediately with his new tent in Kentucky. And we are informed by a letter received at the Review Office this morning (April 23), by a father in the gospel who has recently been preaching the Sabbath in Alabama, that already there are about one hundred Sabbath-keepers in that State. He says, “As to the Sabbath, my attention was called to it by a brother from the State of Missouri, by the name of Blackman. I at once went into the investigation of the subject, I embraced the truth, and immediately began the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, and at once began to teach it.” And Bro. S. H. King returns to us from Texas giving favorable accounts of that field. He states that there are already about forty Sabbath-keepers there, and many others investigating with deep interest. And it is also stated with confidence by these parties that if a laborer should enter that field under the sanction of the General Conference he would be well sustained. It is with the deepest feeling and the most lively interest for the prosperity of the cause in all parts of the wide harvest field that the progress and the wants of the cause have been considered since the Conference by those in charge of the work. And after a season of prayer at the Review Office for divine guidance this morning (April 23), it was decided that Eld. D. M. Canright be invited by the General Conference to enter the southern field at once and spend one week or more in each of the aforementioned States. We now look to the South as a favorable winter resort for our worn laborers instead of the more distant field of California. And we look forward to the time as not far distant when our lines of camp-meetings shall reach from Texas in early spring to Minnesota, and from Maine to Alabama in late autumn, covering a period of nine months in each year. From personal knowledge we are prepared to state that the Battle Creek College is in a prosperous condition. The teachers are earnest in their work, and united in their efforts for the best good of their pupils, as none but devoted Christian educators are. And there is a feeling of entire confidence and satisfaction on the part of the students. We venture the statement that there is not another school in all our land, where the moral and religious influence is as salutary as at the Battle Creek College. Great changes have taken place at Battle Creek. Long had been the struggle between a lax state of government, the tendency of which is always downward, and that thorough discipline and promptness to maintain the right which ever bears upward, sustaining a high moral and religious standard. But thank God, the right is in the ascendancy, and will prevail. There are those who are thoroughly aroused to the importance of fortifying our institutions as safely as possible. Mrs. Ellen G. White.
By Ellen G. White
HER LIFE, CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE AND LABORS.
At this time Bro. Wm. H. Hyde was very sick with bloody dysentery. His symptoms were alarming, and the physician pronounced his case almost hopeless. We visited him and prayed with him, but he had come under the influence of certain fanatical persons, who were bringing dishonor upon our cause. We wished to remove him from their midst, and petitioned the Lord to give him strength to leave that place. He was strengthened and blessed in answer to our prayers, and rode four miles to the house of Bro. P——. But after arriving there he seemed to be rapidly sinking. The fanaticism and errors into which he had fallen through evil influence seemed to hinder the exercise of his faith. He gratefully received the plain testimony borne him, and made humble confession of his fault. Only a few who were strong in faith were permitted to enter the sick-room. The fanatics whose influence over him had been so injurious, and who had persistently followed him to Bro. P——'s, were positively forbidden to come into his presence, while we prayed fervently for his restoration to health. I have seldom known such a reaching out to claim the promises of God. The salvation of the Holy Spirit was revealed, and power from on high rested upon our sick brother and upon all present. Bro. Hyde immediately dressed and walked out of the room praising God, with the light of Heaven shining upon his countenance. A farmer's dinner was ready upon the table. Said he, “If I were well I should partake of this food; and as I believe God has healed me, I shall carry out my faith.” He sat down to dinner with the rest and ate heartily without injury to himself. His recovery was perfect and lasting. From Topsham we returned to Portland and found there quite a number of our faith from the East. Among them were the very fanatics to whom I had borne my testimony in Exeter, declaring that it was not their duty to visit Portland. These persons had laid aside reason and judgment; they trusted every impression of their excitable and over-wrought minds. Their demonstrative exercises, while claiming to be under the Spirit of God, were unworthy of their exalted profession. We trembled for the church that was to be subjected to this spirit of fanaticism. My heart ached for God's people. Must they be deceived and led away by this false enthusiasm? I faithfully pronounced the warnings given me of the Lord; but they seemed to have little effect except to make these persons of extreme views jealous of me. These false impressions of theirs might have turned me from my duty, had not the Lord previously shown me where to go and what to do. Although so young and inexperienced, I was preserved from falling into the snare of the enemy, through the mercy of God, in giving me special instructions whom to fear and whom to trust. Had it not been for this protection I now see many times when I might have been led from the path of duty. About this time I was shown that it was my duty to visit our people in N. H. My constant and faithful companion at this time was Louisa Foss, the sister of my brother-in-law. She has been dead for many years; but I can never forget her kind and sisterly attention to me in my journeyings. We were also accompanied by Bro. Files and his wife, who were old and valued friends of my family, and brethren Haskins and White. We were cordially received; but there were wrongs existing in that field which burdened me much. We had to meet a spirit of self-righteousness that was very depressing. I had previously been shown the pride and exaltation of certain ones whom we visited, but had not the courage to meet them with my testimony. Had I done so the Lord would have sustained me in doing my duty. While visiting at the house of Bro. Morse, the burden did not leave me, but I did not yet feel sufficiently strong to relieve my mind and place the oppressive burden upon those to whom it belonged. During our stay at this house I165was very ill. Prayer was offered in my behalf, the Spirit of God rested upon me, and I was taken off in vision. While in this state, some things were shown me concerning the disappointment of 1844, in connection with the case of Bro. Morse. He had been a firm and consistent believer that the Lord would come at that time. He was bitterly disappointed when the period passed without bringing the event that was expected. He was perplexed and unable to explain the delay. He did not renounce his faith as some did, calling it a fanatical delusion; but he was bewildered, and could not understand the position of God's people on prophetic time. He had been so earnest in declaring that the coming of the Lord was nigh, that when the time passed, he was despondent and did nothing to encourage the disappointed people, who were like sheep without a shepherd, left to be devoured by wolves. The case of Jonah was presented before me. God commanded him to go into Nineveh and deliver the message that he gave him. Jonah obeyed, and for the space of three days and nights the solemn cry was heard throughout the streets of the wicked city, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” The city was a marvel of wealth and magnificence; yet the king believed the warning and humbled himself and his people before the Lord in fasting and sackcloth. A merciful God accepted their repentance and lengthened the days of their probation. He turned away his fierce anger and awaited the fruits of Nineveh's humiliation. But Jonah dreaded being called a false prophet. He murmured at the compassion of God in sparing the people whom he had warned of destruction by the mouth of his prophet. He could not bear the thought of standing before the people as a deceiver. He overlooked the great mercy of God toward the repentant city, in the personal humiliation of seeing his prophecy unfulfilled. Bro. Morse was in a similar condition to that of the disappointed prophet. He had proclaimed that the Lord would come in 1844. The time had passed. The check of fear that had partially held the people was removed, and they indulged in derision of those who had looked in vain for Jesus. Bro. Morse felt that he was a bye-word among his neighbors, an object of jest. He could not be reconciled to his position. He did not consider the mercy of God in granting the world a longer time to prepare for his coming; that the warning of his judgment might be heard more widely, and the people tested with greater light. He only thought of the humiliation of God's servants. I was shown that although the event so solemnly proclaimed did not occur, as in the case of Jonah, the message was none the less of God, and accomplished the purpose that he designed it should. Subsequent light upon the prophecies revealed the event which did take place, in the High Priest entering the most holy place of the sanctuary in Heaven to finish the atonement for the sins of man. Nevertheless God willed for a wise purpose that his servants should proclaim the approaching end of time. I was shown that, instead of being discouraged at his disappointment, as was Jonah, Bro. Morse should gather up the rays of precious light that God had given his people and cast aside his selfish sorrow. He should rejoice that the world was granted a reprieve, and be ready to aid in carrying forward the great work yet to be done upon earth, in bringing sinners to repentance and salvation. It has been reported that on the occasion of this vision I declared that in forty days the end of the world would come. No such words were uttered by me. I had no light concerning the end of time. The subject of Nineveh, her lengthened probation, and the consequent grief of Jonah, was presented to me as a parallel case with our own disappointment of 1844. The case of Bro. Morse was presented to me as one that represented the condition of a large class of our people at that time. Their duty was plainly marked; it was to trust in the wisdom and mercy of God and patiently labor as his providence opened the way before them. “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” Gen. 2:3. “The Lord hath given you the Sabbath.” Ex. 16:29. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” Ex. 20:10. “And rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. THE SEVENTH DAY OBSERVED BY CHRISTIANS SEVERAL HUNDRED YEARS AFTER CHRIST.
Coleman says: “Down even to the fifth century the observance of the Jewish Sabbath was continued in the Christian church, but with a rigor and solemnity gradually diminishing until it was wholly discontinued.”—Ancient Chris. Eccl., chap. 26, sect. 2. Edward Brerewood, professor in Gresham College, London, says: “It is commonly believed that the Jewish Sabbath was changed into the Lord’s day by Christian emperors, and they know little who do not know that the Ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed by the eastern churches three hundred years after our Saviour’s passion.”—Treatise on the Sabbath, p. 77. The American Presbyterian Board of Publication, in tract No. 118, states that “The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath did not cease till it was abolished after the empire became Christian.” Socrates, A. D. 440, says: “There are various customs concerning assembling; for though all the churches throughout the whole world celebrate the sacred mysteries on the Sabbath day, yet the Alexandrians and the Romans, from an ancient tradition, refuse to do this.”—Eccl. Hist., p. 289. M. de la Roque, a French Protestant, says: “It evidently appears that, before any change was introduced, the church religiously observed the Sabbath for many ages; we of consequence are obliged to keep it.” NO AUTHORITY FOR THE CHANGE.
The National Cyclopedia has the following: “It has been held by many eminent divines that there is not sufficient evidence in the New Testament for such an institution; that the change of day from the seventh to the first day of the week is an insuperable difficulty.”—Nat. Cyc., Art. Sabbath. Dr. Cox, in his Literature, &c., says: “All who claim any knowledge of the works of the Fathers say that these ancient writers usually, if not invariably, speak of the Lord’s day [Sunday] as an independent institution, of which neither the fourth commandment, nor a primeval Sabbath, is once referred to as the foundation.”—Cox’s Lit., p. 12. See also Heylin, part 2, chap. 2; Taylor’s Life of Jesus, part 2, sec. 12, dis. 10, sec. 24; Baxter’s Practical Works, 13, 386; Cock, 2, 291–303; Holden, p. 334; Bannesman, 130; Neale, 90, 237; Domville, 1, 291–9; Bunsen, Hippolytus, 3, 76. Alexander Campbell, of the change of the Sabbath, says: “But some say it was changed from the seventh to the first day. Where? when? and by whom? No man can tell. No; it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again; for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance or respect to the reason can be changed! It is old wives’ fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio. I think his name is Dr. Antichrist.”—Christian Bap., Vol. 1, p. 44. The reformers, Luther, Melancthon, and others, speaking of the unwarranted assumptions of the Catholic church, say: “They allege the Sabbath changed into Sunday, the Lord’s day, contrary to the decalogue, as it appears; neither is there any example more boasted of, than the changing of the Sabbath day. Great, say they, is the power and authority of the church, since it dispenses with one of the ten commandments.”—Augsburg Confession, Art. 28. Dr. Cox refers to the reformers thus: “They failed to see in the New Testament any of those indications which the puritans were the first to discover, of a transference of the Sabbath to the first day of the week, by Jesus or the apostles.”—Literature, Vol. 1, p. 127. Dr. Cox says: “The early fathers give no support, direct or indirect, to the notion that the Sabbath had been transferred at all; but it is not surprising that those who wrote after the enactment by Constantine that Sunday should be kept as a Sabbath, were more apt to discover reasons for such observance of it.”—Lit., Vol. 1, p. 257. [Note.] Dr. Neander says: “Opposition to Judaism introduced the particular festival of Sunday, very early, indeed, into the place of the Sabbath……The festival Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance; and it was far from the intention of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect—far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. Perhaps at the end of the second century, a false application of this kind had begun to take place; for men appear by that time to have considered laboring on Sunday as a sin.”—Church Hist., p. 168. —Valuable Extracts from Eminent Authors.
Responsibility of Sabbath-Keepers.
[We trust the following stirring words from J. Mc F. in the Sabbath Recorder, will not fail to incite all those who observe the true Sabbath of the Lord, not only to greater activity in spreading the light to others, but to greater carefulness in its observance.] Sabbath-keepers, though few in number, have immense responsibilities devolving upon them. Evils, great in number and terrible in results, spring from the non-observance of the Sabbath. The gross immoralities and vices prevalent in all Catholic countries originate to a fearful extent in their having no Sabbath. An article appeared recently in one of the periodicals written by a traveler in German cities. He describes one where the people were mostly Catholics. He says the difference between Sundays and other days is chiefly in their quitting business earlier on Sunday, in order to go to places of amusement. Catholics have nothing that can properly be called a Sabbath. They call a certain day Sunday, but with many of them it has no sacredness, a holiday, but not a holy day, therefore the tendency is to evil in many cases rather than to good, and so vice and wickedness are rampant, and the prospects for reformation among them in a great measure hopeless, unless they return to the keeping of the Sabbath as a day sacred to the worship of Jehovah. A home missionary has been operating of late in Utah. One great obstacle to success has been the difficulty to get the people out on Sunday. With business men, it is the busiest and most profitable day of the week. It is a day especially given to trading and pastime. But just what we might expect, is true—the people generally are horribly profane, and given to drink and fighting. They have no Sabbath to call their minds from earthly to heavenly things. We have an illustration of the demoralizing influence of Sunday, but no Sabbath, in the general character of the employees on our railroads, rivers, and canals. The profanity and obscenity is shocking, but it is not strange at all that it is so. It is the natural outgrowth of the life they live. No class of men will be moral, much less religious, without a sacred day of rest. If inquired of why they work seven days in a week, they say, we have to do it. It is well known that on many railroads, more freight-work is done on Sunday than on any other day of the week. The reason is, that there are not so many, or not any, passenger trains to occupy the road. Some of the managers and stockholders are church members, but they have such loose notions about Sunday-keeping that they allow themselves to sanction these enormous evils. It is painful to say it, but it must be said if the truth is told, that there are many church-members in what are usually called the evangelical churches, that are very far from being exemplary Christians. Why is this so? See them at their homes reading secular papers on the day they sometimes call Sabbath, and sometimes Sunday. Hear their conversation about worldly affairs, and you will not wonder that they lack spirituality. Men will not generally be holy unless they keep the Sabbath holy. The conclusion is, that we must return to Sabbath-keeping before there is a thorough reformation in the land. Therefore there is a great work devolving on those who hold Scriptural views of the Sabbath. They should be up and doing in good earnest.