Publishing Committee · Rochester, N. Y. · Oct 25, 1853
THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.
By John C. Day
BY JOHN C. DAY.
AND if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Gal. iii, 29.
It will be my purpose to show that this promise has been, and still is the property of the church in all ages and under all dispensations, and will continue thus, until its consummation. The work of redemption is the great work of God by which from eternity he purposed to make known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places his manifold wisdom. This work, though composed of many parts, and continued from age to age, under different dispensations, is one; the church is one, and the covenant with the church is one.—Immediately after the apostasy in Paradise, the work of redemption commenced. The voice of the Lord God was heard walking in the garden in the cool of the day. Having summoned the guilty parents of our race before him, and examined them on the subject of the revolt, the Lord turned to the serpent and said unto him, "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. iii, 14, 15.
This may with strictness be considered the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In this sentence, pronounced upon the serpent and his seed, was the first exhibition or revelation of the eternal counsel of peace, or covenant of redemption, between the Father and the Son, which is the unchangeable foundation and source of all the merciful dispensations to our fallen race. This curse upon Satan, contains the sum of all blessings which a merciful God bestows on sinful man. It is a prophecy and a promise, which have ever since been fulfilling, but have not yet received their entire accomplishment. It comprises the whole Gospel, and a prophetical history of the opposition with which it should meet, and the success with which it should be crowned in all ages and countries to the end of time. Indeed almost the whole history of the church and of the world through time and to eternity is comprehended in this single verse.
By the seed of the woman, with almost universal consent, we are here to understand, Christ, as prominent, and all his believing people as one with him, and members of the mystical body of which he is the head. Christ and his people, of all ages and nations, are the seed of the woman, in contradistinction to Satan and all who adhere to his cause, designated as the serpent and his seed. In this construction, all the principal commentators agree. In this early promise, Christ was presented as a covenant for the people; and upon the ground of this promise the church, commencing with the first human pair, was originally founded. With reference to this promise sacrifices were divinely instituted as types of the great atonement to be made once in the end of the world, and as sacred memorials of God's gracious and everlasting covenant. By faith in this promise, Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. By faith in this promise, the people of God, in the days of Enos, began to call upon, or, according to the margin, to call themselves by the name of the Lord; [Gen. iv, 26,] thus distinguishing themselves from the rest of the world by an open and solemn profession. By faith in this promise, from time to time, in some manner and form, renewed and confirmed, the church of God was continued from generation to generation, to the days of Noah, and thence to the days of Abraham.
From the beginning, until the Abrahamic dispensation, the church, so far as we can learn from the sacred oracles, was continued in the domestic or family state. The patriarch of a family was also the patriarch of that part or branch of the church, which the members of his family composed. But for wise and important purposes, the Lord, in due time, saw fit to bring his church into a more compact and regularly organized body, favored with a clearer dispensation of his covenant, and distinguished by a more special and visible seal. In pursuance of this great design, he called Abraham to go out from his country and his kindred, and his father's house, into a land which he would shew him; that in his family the church might be regularly formed, and that with him, as the heir of the world, and the constituted father of all them that believe, his everlasting covenant might be established.
From that memorable period, forward to the end of time, the church was to be considered one great family, composed of the children, either natural or adopted of Abraham; and accordingly, in Abraham as the constituted patriarch, all the families of the earth were to be blessed. At the time of Abraham's call, the promise, in thee, and thy seed, shall all the families of the earth be blest, was first made to him. This, as none, I believe, will deny, is the very same promise, or a promise of the same comprehensive import, with that given in Paradise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Suffer me to review this for a moment. Is not the representation, here briefly given, correct and scriptural? Is not the work of redemption one, though in constant progression? Is not the church, though under different dispensations, throughout all ages, one? Was not the church primevally founded on the gracious promise of the Messiah, first given in Paradise? and did it not continue upon that foundation till the days of Abraham? Was not the promise to Abraham, in thee and in thy seed, shall all nations be blessed, though different in form, yet in substance the same with that given in Paradise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head? and if so, then did not this same promise continue to be the foundation of the church under the Abrahamic dispensation as before, from the beginning, it had been? Was there not in the days of Abraham a great and important advance? Was not the church at that period advanced to a higher state under a clearer and more favorable dispensation? and is it then to be supposed that in this, its advanced state, it was removed from the foundation of a promise comprising the Messiah, and all the blessings of his kingdom, and placed upon the foundation of a promise, or promises, of a very different nature and comprising only temporal blessings? Certainly it is not to be supposed that after resting two thousand years, from Adam to Abraham, upon a promise including all the blessings of salvation, the church of God, thus advanced to a higher state, was placed, for two thousand years, from Abraham to Christ, on the foundation of merely temporal promises. Not so! Other foundation can no man lay for the church of God, in any period of the world, than that which is laid—even Christ.
For what purpose, it might be asked, was the great promise, comprising the Messiah, and all the blessings of his kingdom, renewed at the time of Abraham's call, if, under the dispensation then to take place, the church was not to be grounded upon it? Undoubtedly, as the church formed in Abraham's family, was but a continuation of the same church of God, which, two thousand years before commenced with the believing parents of our race, so it remained, though under a different economy, yet on the same foundation; and on the same foundation, though under different economies, the same church has remained to the present day, and will remain as long as the moon endureth.
With this view of the subject, it is very easy to see how believers in Christ are the children of Abraham; and as his children are blest with him as heirs of Jesus Christ, as it is by virtue of that covenant, by which the church was formed in his family, how can they be children and heirs by virtue of that covenant, unless the covenant and church formed by it be continued.
In order more fully to see that the covenant with Abraham was but one, and contained all the great and precious promises ever made to him, it may be useful to take a connected view of God's covenant transactions with that distinguished patriarch. Somewhat more than two thousand years after the creation, and about four hundred and twenty-six years after the flood, when the descendants of Noah had very generally apostatized from the true religion and devoted themselves to idolatry, the Lord said unto Abram, "Get thee out from thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and will make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:122and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." Gen. xii, 1-3.
By faith Abraham obeyed and went out, not knowing whither he went, Heb. xi, 8. On his arrival at Moreh in the land of Canaan, the same year after his departure from Haran, the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, "Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him." Gen. xii, 7. On the departure of Lot from between Bethel and Ai, where Abram sojourned three or four years after his arrival in Canaan, the Lord said to Abram, "Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth." Gen. xiii, 14-16. Then Abram removed his tent from between Bethel and Ai, to the plain of Mamre, in Hebron and built there an altar unto the Lord.
About eight years after his arrival in Canaan on his return from his expedition against Chedorlaomer and his confederates, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, "Fear not Abram: I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." In that same day after giving assurance of a son for his heir, and foretelling him the affliction of his posterity in Egypt, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "Unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates;" and this covenant was confirmed by the smoking furnace and the burning lamp passing between the parts of the slain beasts and birds. Gen. xv, 1-18.
After this solemn transaction it does not appear that the Lord spake again to Abram until about twenty-four years after his removal from Haran.—But when Abram was ninety and nine years old, the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto him, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make a covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly:" And Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him saying, "As for me, behold my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram; but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee; and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations for an everlasting covenant; to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God." On this memorable occasion, the outward rite of circumcision was instituted as a token of the covenant. Gen. xvii. After this solemn transaction, but in the same year, the Lord appeared unto Abraham twice: once on the destruction of Sodom, [Gen. xviii, 1-29,] and afterwards on the occasion of Sarah’s proposal, after the birth of Isaac, to cast out the bond-woman and her son: on both which he graciously gave him a renewal of his promises.
About twenty-six years after this formal establishment of the church in Abraham’s family, as the last special trial of his faith and obedience, the Lord was pleased to command Abraham to take his son, then about twenty-five years of age, and offer him up as a burnt-offering on one of the mountains of Moriah. On this occasion, after Abraham had given proof of his entire devotion to the divine will, the angel of the Lord called to him out of heaven and said, "By myself have I sworn saith the Lord; for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing, I will bless thee, and in multiplying, I will multiply thee as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blest, because thou hast obeyed my voice." Gen. xxii, 17; 18. What was the design of this last extraordinary confirmation? The123Apostle to the Hebrews, furnishes the answer: "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us." The promises first made to Abraham four hundred and thirty years before the law dispensation, [Gal. iii, 17,] were from time to time renewed until about twenty-four years after they were first given, then they were solemnly ratified and sealed in the form of a covenant, just as proposals first made to-day, may be renewed at several different times during any given period, and at length may be ratified and sealed in the form of a civil contract.
After the death of Abraham, the Lord appeared on a special occasion unto Isaac, and said, "Sojourn in this land and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee and unto thy seed will I give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham; and I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and I will give unto thy seed all these countries, and in thy seed shall the nations of the earth be blest, because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." Gen. xxvi, 2-5.
You will observe, that as Abraham in the covenant of the church was expressly required to walk before God, and be perfect, as a condition of the promised blessings; so the Lord expressly assures Isaac, the heir of the promises, that because Abraham had obeyed, the promised blessings should be conferred. By this we may learn in what it consisted to walk before God and be perfect; for the Lord said to Isaac, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes and my laws. But let us examine these promises a little farther. The apostle Paul, in Rom. iv, while speaking of Abraham says: "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised; that he might be, [that is, might be solemnly constituted,] the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed unto them also; or that they might be blest in him."
Here the Apostle in this passage doubtless has direct reference to the establishment of the church in Abraham’s family: for he tells us that on that memorable occasion, Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, yet being uncircumcised; does this not clearly teach that Abraham received the seal, that thus he might be formally constituted the father of believers of all nations, and does he not say or clearly teach that all this was done, that unto believers of all nations and ages, as the patriarch’s constituted seed, righteousness, even the righteousness of faith, might be imputed. But if at the time the church was established in his family, the patriarch was thus solemnly constituted the father of believers of all nations, that unto them, as his constituted seed and heirs, the righteousness of faith might be imputed, I ask then, finally, was not the promise, in thee and thy seed shall all nations be blest, essentially included in that covenant by which the church was then established, and to which the sign of circumcision was affixed as a sacred seal?—This again must be admitted as clear and direct proof of the perpetuity of this covenant.
But there is another consideration, too important to be omitted in this argument. Abraham was not only an individual believer, but as it already appears, he was divinely constituted the patriarch and representative of the church. Was the promise, then, “in thee and thy seed, shall all nations be blest,” merely personal, or was it of a public nature? Did it belong to Abraham only, as a favored individual, or did it belong to him in his public capacity as the patriarch and representative of the church; and consequently to the church of which he was the patriarch and representative? This promise, it is acknowledged on all hands, comprises the Messiah, and all the blessings of his kingdom. It was in substance the very same promise with that given in Paradise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and on which the church while in the family state, for two thousand years, had rested. It was in fact, the gospel as appealed to Abraham, in those early times, and which afterwards, at sundry times and in divers manners, was more clearly unfolded. I ask, then, again, did this great promise belong to Abraham as a favored individual, only, or did it belong to him in his public capacity also; and consequently to the church of which he was the constituted patriarch and representative. Unquestionably, it belonged to him in his public capacity, and to that church to which pertained the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants and the giving of the law, and the service of God and the promises. Rom. ix, 4. Yes, this promise always belonged to the church of God; and, therefore, was always included in the covenant by which the church was formed. Accordingly, as a covenant promise, it was expressly renewed to Isaac and to Jacob, and in after ages its renewal was often repeated to the Abrahamic church with increasing clearness and fullness. On the whole, the promises, "a Father of many nations have I made thee"—and "in thee and thy seed shall all the nations be blessed," are clearly correlative promises, and, as such, the one implies the other; for when the patriarch’s name was changed from Abram to Abraham, and he was divinely constituted the father of believers of all nations and ages, believers of all nations and ages were by the same act, correlatively constituted his children and heirs; and it is by thus being his children and heirs that any are really blest in him.—And now as the covenant made with Abraham and his seed was the constitution of the church formed in his family, the covenant and church were undoubtedly intended to be commensurate in their duration. If the covenant was intended to be temporary, the church was to be temporary; but if the covenant was intended to be perpetual, the church was also to be perpetual. The Lord renewed this covenant unto Jacob at Bethel. On his way from Beersheba to Haran the Lord appeared unto him and said, "I am the Lord God of Abraham, thy father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed after thee, and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the West, and to the East, and to the North, and to the South, and in thee, and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blest." In this renewal of the covenant with Jacob, almost one hundred and forty years after it was sealed to Abraham, the great promise in question was explicitly concluded. Gen. xxviii, 13, 14. When blessing his son, just before his decease, Jacob, by the spirit of prophecy, said, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Gen. xxix, 10. "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord; and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee," said David by the same prophetic spirit. Ps. xxii, 27, 28. "In that day said the Lord by the prophet, there shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people: to it shall the Gentiles seek; and his rest shall be glorious." Isa. xi, 10. "It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth." Isa. xlix, 6. "Arise, shine! for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought."—Isa. lx, 1, 11.
These, with numerous other passages of the same import, with the assurance first given in Paradise, that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head, and with the gracious promise to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blest—these, are all the same gospel, more clearly and124fully unfolded as from age to age the work of redemption proceeds, and the church was advanced. But these were all addressed to the church divinely formed in the family of Abraham, to the ancient Zion of the Holy one of Israel, and were therefore essentially included in the covenant by which the church was established. Accordingly Zacharias in the grateful effusion of his heart in view of the birth of the long expected Messiah, says, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David: as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant: the oath which he sware to our father Abraham." Luke i, 69-73.—In this passage again we have clear and decisive proof that all the acts of mercy to be performed by the coming of the Messiah had been promised to the fathers, and had been spoken of to the church by the holy prophets from the beginning of the world, and were comprised in the holy covenant sealed to Abraham and his seed, and confirmed by an oath.
I will here only add the direct testimony of the apostle Peter, after the ascension of the Saviour, addressing himself to the Jews assembled at the beautiful gate of the Temple he took occasion to say, "Ye are the children of the Prophets and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." Acts iii, 25. Now I ask, in conclusion, if the gospel church is not uniformly represented as being the same church, or a continuation of the same, which was formed in Abraham's family. In what respect then did the constitution of the church under the ancient dispensation differ from the present? Obviously, in no essential respect. In regard to external rites and appendages, indeed, a difference is manifest; but external rites and appendages are neither the church itself, nor the constitution of the church; and as the ancient members of the church were required by the constitution to walk before God and be perfect, so are the present; and as the true members of the church anciently had the all-sufficient Jehovah for their God, and held a part in all the immunities and blessings of his people, the same also, to this day, are the peculiar privileges and rights of the true members of the church.
Rock Bottom, Mass., Oct 2d, 1853.
THE RETURN.
By Annie R. Smith
TUNE—"Lilly Dale."
"I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am there ye may be also."—John xiv, 2, 3.
'Twas a doleful night, on Calvary's height,
When the Lamb of God was slain;
But Hope's cheering ray, shone bright o'er the day,
When he rose from the tomb again.
CHORUS.—O Jesus! my Saviour! dear Saviour come!
Our hearts weary grow,
Of thy longer delay—
O hasten to gather us home!
"I go," he said, "to prepare a place,"
Blest mansions in glory's domain;
And the promise, sure, sweetly fell from his lips,
"For you I'll return again!"
Through storm and night, so dark and drear,
In perils, grief and pain,
Thy people have sighed for the promised day,
When thou wouldst return again!
How long, O Lord, shall we watch and weep,
For the rightful Heir to reign?
And the myriad saints in silence sleep,
Who wait thy return again?
See the signs fulfilled of his Advent near!
Soon he comes in his kingdom to reign!
Not long will the wheels of his chariot stay,
That brings his return again!
The soul that once bowed with its burden of woe,
Shall rejoice o'er the flowery plain,
And a dazzling crown deck the care-worn brow
When the King in his beauty shall reign!
No tears or death shall await them more,
Who the better land attain;
O, we long to hail, with rapturous joy,
Thy glorious return again!
Rochester, Oct. 17th, 1853. ANNIE R. SMITH.
A WORD FOR THE SABBATH.
CHAPTER II.
THE SABBATH INSTITUTED AT CREATION.
WHEN first the rapid march of Time began,
And God achieved his ever wondrous plan,
When heaven and earth the royal summons heard,
And came, obedient, at the Almighty's Word,
Sky, land and sea, and forms of beauty there
Raised their glad anthems on the silent air;
The morning stars did songs of praise employ,
And all the Sons of God shouted for joy;
When planets, glimmering on the brow of Night,
The orb of day, with his refulgent light,
And rolling earth, each taught their varied bounds,
Commenced, majestic, their eternal rounds—
Six days alone this glorious work employed;
God on the seventh a sacred rest enjoyed:
Then, since thereon he had enjoyed a rest,
He sanctified it, set apart, and blest.
Here was the holy Sabbath first made know,
Firm as the pillars of Jehovah's throne.
With the fair earth it left its Maker's hand,
Hence, with the earth, 'twill coexistent stand.
If any think that they can prove as fact,
The Sabbath was not fashioned by this act,
All who are so disposed may freely try it;
For there's the record and they can't deny it.
And when to earth, heaven's Royal Monarch came,
His car the clouds, his steeds devouring flame,
When Sinai's towering mount obsequious bowed,
And swelling trumpet answered thunders loud,
When thus the King of kings his footstool prest,
And trembling earth proclaimed her mighty guest,
Mid all these heralds of almighty power,
Mid all the grandeur of that awful hour,
God spake his just, eternal law to man;
And thus, in plainest truth, this precept ran:
The Sabbath-day remember: then shall close
The days of weekly toil, for calm repose.
For earthly labor, stern, six days are thine,
The seventh is God's holy day divine;
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
And gave all beings and all creatures birth,
And on the seventh enjoyed a sacred rest;
Wherefore the Sabbath-day Jehovah blest.
Thus was the Sabbath-precept given then
As something which had long familiar been;
Not as a fabrication, new and rare,
For that occasion made and people there;
And God's own finger points us to its birth:
When he from out the void made heaven and earth.
Since, then, the sacred institution stands;
Old as the world and broad as all its lands,
Since made when Time's great circuit first begun,
'Twill last, of course, as long as Time shall run.
Since made for him, the father of mankind,
For all his offspring 'twas of course designed.
Absurd to think such institution given,
Link most divine connecting earth with heaven,
A sacred chain, joining, in due degree,
Man with his God, time with eternity;
Given for the good of all who dwell below,
Designed o'er all its blessings to bestow—
Absurd to think that it was destined, then,
For but a portion of the race of men;
Or to be pinioned by the bounds of space,
Or reverenced only by a single race!
Say, you who claim, and speak as tho' you knew,
That it was given only for the Jew,
Were our first parents Jews? If so, then how
Are not all earth's great nations Jewish now?
Or if long years successive rolled away,
Ere among men divisions held their sway,
And ere that class arose, who were to know
What blessings from the holy Sabbath flow,
For whom alone it was designed you say—
Why made so long before 'twas needed, pray?
Narrow and groveling must that theory prove,
Which thus would limit God's eternal love;
Which thus would dictate man's omniscient Friend,
And say how far his blessings shall extend.
But narrower-minded still are those who say,
That God should e'er his Sabbath take away;
That he, what first unbounded wisdom planned,
A blessing for mankind in every land,
What he to herald, did such pomp employ—
Should finally repent of and destroy.
Those who, with such plain facts before their eyes,
Still view this noon-day question on this wise,
To make their crooked views and theories go,
And talk consistently, must reason so:
That though Jehovah thought at first 'twas best,
That all mankind should have a day of rest,
Yet, notwithstanding, soon he wiser grew!
And thought for all mankind it would not do!
So he confined it to a single place,
And charged it only on a single race;
And then, at last, he planned the thing about,
So that eventually it should run out!
Just as in scenes of earth, we oft behold
Some giant of the forest, tall and old,
Which man a cumbrance deems, towering on high,
Girdled about and left alone to die;
Mid dews and frosts of night and storms of day,
To crumble slowly into sure decay.
Such, some would have us think, Jehovah's plan,
To treat the Sabbath; made at first for man,
Confined at length with ceremonial dross,
Forever doomed to perish at the cross!
But know, O man! such theories false to teach,
Is God's eternal wisdom to impeach!
Know that he does not act from varying cause,
Nor govern man with fluctuating laws.
He changes not, nor fickle are his ways,
His words are certain; hear then what he says:
"I will not alter what my lips e'er spake,
And lo, my covenant I will not break."
Through his vast plans he does not ignorant move,
And then amend them if they faulty prove;
Hence, he'll not disregard nor set aside,
What once he made and blest and sanctified.
'Tis not for man, frail brother of the clod,
To charge such folly on Almighty God.
But yet again, hear what some classes say,
To shun God's law, and shirk the Sabbath-day.
They claim, that he did not intend that we,
In keeping one set day, so strict should be;
But when he said, the seventh day is mine,
He only meant a seventh part of time:
That we should keep a seventh part as his,
No matter where it comes or when it is.
Such is this theory; fairly stated too;
But by what logic do they prove it true?
Loose reins it gives, at once, for men to use
Their freedom, and observe what day they choose;
Hence one the first, and one the fifth, may say,
Or second, third or fourth, is Sabbath-day;
And yet they all will equally be true,
If any seventh part of time will do,
Thus would all order be to ruin hurled,
And one great Babel triumph o'er the world!
Take one example, ye who hold this view,
To test your theory; whether false or true;
One illustration, fair, adapted well
T' explain this question, and its import tell:
Seven fair and beauteous candlesticks behold:
Six are of silver, but the seventh of gold.
The question now is asked, if any know
Which is the golden one in all that row.
Thus represented fair, it seems to me,
No one could doubt what his own eyes could see;
And any man of common sense, would say,
The seventh is the one, without delay.
But by your rule, this answer would not hold,
You would exclaim, a seventh part is gold;
'Tis no one in particular so fair!
Only a seventh part of all that's there!
Just so absurd, indeed, it is to say,
That God has no specific Sabbath-day:
That any day, for rest, a man may claim,
And answer God's requirements all the same.
Thus you assert, as plainly may be seen,
That God has uttered what he did not mean!
But, first, the ground-work all is laid amiss,
Which this view presupposes; which is this:
That man, by resting, makes it holy time;
And well with such a theory does it chime;
Then on whatever day a man may rest,
That day to him is sanctified and blest.
Learn, then, this simple truth, without delay:
God's act of resting did not bless the day,
Or make it holy time; first he did cease
From all his labor for a day of peace;
Then for that he had rested, on its brow
He placed the blessing which illumines it now.
Then think'st thou, man, by any act of thine,
To make thy rest-day holy or divine?
Canst thou a blessing grant? or hast thou power
To render sacred e'en a single hour?
And will thy theories, built of brittle straw,
Meet the demands of God's eternal law?
He who on earth below, in heaven above,
Made and upholds and governs all in love,
He who alone hath power, above, below,
All life to give, all blessings to bestow,
Eternal Lord, creation's mighty King,
To whom all people should their tribute bring,
He on the seventh, and on the seventh alone,
Has placed his blessing—sanctified his own.
When thou canst speak, and countless worlds shall [rise,
And fairest prospect spread before thine eyes,
When thou canst bid the rolling earth be still,
Or worlds move on obedient at thy will,
When thou canst hold creation in thy hand,
And guide the universe with thy command,
Mighty as God's, when thou thine arm canst make,
When earth, thy voice, shall like his thunders shake,
Then, only, mayest thou think, presumptuous man!
To make improvements on Jehovah's plan!
Religion
RELIGION.—When religion is made a science, there is nothing more intricate; when a duty, there is nothing more easy.
Babel--Babylon!
THE following is the closing paragraph of an article headed, "The Bible in our Common Schools." By C. Rollin Burdick, published in the Sabbath Recorder for September 8th.
"The whole Christian world is a babel of unknown tongues. The church of Christ, shattered into a thousand fragments, by jars, discords and heresies, is bleeding at every pore. The infidel world points the finger of scorn at our religion, because we quarrel so much over it. The Protestant knows the Roman Catholic to be false, because he is an idolater; while the Roman Catholic will swear that the Protestant is a heretic dog, because his clan is so much divided.—Some men hoist the flag for Mormonism, some for Shakerism, and some for Socialism. This man is a Methodist, that a Baptist, and the other a Presbyterian. One Christian says there is no Sabbath; another says there is, but it is Sunday; and a third says, 'The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.' This man will eat the Lord's Supper with all Christians; that one will eat with none who do not believe as he does. One says Christ is equal with the Father; another says he is not. Some know that the Bible teaches election and final perseverance; and others know to the contrary. One man says you must be plunged under water to obey God; another says sprinkling or pouring will do; while a third says you need not be baptized at all. All this strange congeries of beliefs, cliques and clans, professedly finds its warrant in the Bible. This is extremely humiliating, but not the worst feature in the present condition of the Christian world. The wranglings, heart-burnings, jealousies, and hate, engendered by such a state of things, are enough to make an angel weep, were it possible for a pure and happy spirit; and, surely, nothing can be more detrimental to the progress of the gospel. It all arises from a want of proper understanding of the Bible. Let its truths and doctrines be more universally disseminated, and their spirit more fully imbibed, and these erroneous notions concerning civil government, these foolish religious teachings, and sectarian hate and exclusiveness would find no place among Christians. I will venture my reputation, be it worth little or much, upon the assertion, that were the Bible placed in the hands of children, without note or comment, either oral or written, and its study more perseveringly enjoined, they would form more nearly correct notions of its teachings than are now held by the religious world, and the number of sects would be diminished ten fold."