A Word for The Sabbath

BY URIAH SMITH.

THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED.
STEAM PRESS

OF THE SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION,

BATTLE CREEK, MICH.:
1875.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE 3

01 TRUTH AND ERROR 5

02 THE SABBATH INSTITUTED AT CREATION 11

03 THE SABBATH A MEMORIAL 20

04 THE SABBATH NOT ABOLISHED 25

05 APOSTOLIC EXAMPLE 33

06 SABBATH AND SUNDAY 40

07 VAIN PHILOSOPHY 52

CATALOGUE of Books, Pamphlets, Tracts, etc., Issued by the Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association 61

Works in Other Languages 64

PREFACE

THIS little work does not claim to bring out any new ideas upon the Sabbath question.

It does not claim to treat exhaustively any branch of the subject, but only to touch upon its more salient features, in a manner, perhaps, to arrest the attention of the reader, and suggest profitable lines of thought.

We have thrown it into the form of rhyme and meter, with the idea that it might thus secure a perusal from some who would otherwise give no attention to this important subject.

Being mostly of an argumentative nature, a style of writing not particularly adapted to the flights and fancies of poetry, it claims no particular merits in that direction. The effort has been chiefly to guard against introducing an unnecessary amount of verbiage, and sacrificing perspicuity for the sake of the rhyme.

The rest we leave with the reader; only adding

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that, however tamely expressed, the great importance of the subject gives importance to the thoughts that are uttered; and offering a prayer that by means of this little effort an interest may be aroused in some minds on this subject, which is to be so intimately connected with the religious life of the present generation, and affect so largely their prospects touching the life to come.
U.S.
Battle Creek, Mich., March, 1875.

01 TRUTH AND ERROR

SINCE first in Eden sin an entrance found,
When sad success the Tempter's efforts crowned;
Since first the sunlight saw its hideous birth,
Dark floods of error have swept o'er the earth.
Stern and unceasing has the conflict been,
'Tween light and darkness, 'mong the sons of men;
Many the ways the Prince of death has tried
God's truth to weaken and his name deride;
Many the snares he ne'er has ceased to weave,
Many his doctrines fashioned to deceive,
Many his artful schemes, mankind to win
From ways of holiness to ways of sin;
Many his frauds to make the world believe,
While grasping error, they the truth receive.

So rooted deep, wide-spread among mankind,
Of creeds discordant, countless hosts we find;

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Theories opposed, widely conflicting views,
'Mid which men find whatever they may choose;
But all cannot be truth; all cannot flow
In that straight channel truth alone can show;
All cannot lead men on in light and love;
All cannot guide them to the realms above;
So must we closely search if we would know
Where blooms the truth, where poisonous errors grow;
With closest scrutiny each form must scan,
Lest it conceals the Tempter's artful plan.

O sacred Truth ! dark was for thee the hour,
When man first bowed to the Deceiver's power;
When sin first came, thy gilded page to mar,
And on thy precepts wage unholy war;
To pour rank poison in thy purest streams,
To shut men's vision to thy brightest beams,
To make apostates of our fallen race,
And drive thee, slighted, from they rightful place.
Yet art thou not cast down; thy lovely form
Has rode triumphant over every storm;
Sin has not undermined thy structure fair,
Though it has turned mankind from worship there;
Firm thou hast ever stood, and e'er shalt stand,
Guarded by Heaven, upheld by God's own hand;
Still dost thou shed, fair as the morning light,
Thy holy radiance o'er earth's moral night;
Still does thy form, majestic, lead the way,

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And point us onward to eternal day;
Yet still do men, heedless thy beaming rays,
Grope their blind way thro' error's devious maze.

O Error ! hideous, dark, unholy thing,
With thousand snaky heads and poisonous sting !
How hast thou marked, with foul, unhallowed breath,
A thousand crooked ways that lead to death !
How hast thou trailed thy serpent length along,
And wound insidious 'mong the heedless throng;
How hast thou spread o'er earth a moral blight,
And warred with truth and holiness and right.
Unsightly monster ! hide thy hideous head
In realms that thou hast peopled with the dead.
Soon shall thy rule and empire be o'erthrown,
Thy father, Satan, shall receive his own.

'Mong all the mighty truths that God has given,
To fit mankind to share a home in Heaven,
One fair, illustrious stands, and e'er has stood,
Since God first made the world and called it good;
One mighty truth, and to our purpose quite,
To show how error dims men's mental sight.
'T is thus expressed in plainest, simplest terms,
As He in wisdom sacred truth affirms:

Six days for man's own work did Heaven accord,
The seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord.
The seventh day God sanctified and blest,

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And set apart for man, a day of rest.

That day is binding on his creatures still;
And all must keep it who would do his will.
And since the mass of all enlightened men
Observe a day God did not give us then,
A day of rest-however they may view it-
We question now the right by which they do it:
The right by which they boldly set aside
The only day that God e'er sanctified;
Then strive to place upon the vacant throne,
Another day he ne'er has called his own.

The fact which first we claim, and justly too,
Which we contend no one can prove untrue,
Is this: Since God at first the Sabbath made,
He has not placed another in its stead.
Though men may search, no record will they find,
Where he has changed the day to suit mankind;
No record that he ever took away
The blessing which he gave the seventh day;
And surely none in any age or clime,
Where he has blest aught else as holy time;
Therefore, we say, according to God's will,
What was the Sabbath then is Sabbath still;
Firm is the pillar set, we cannot move it,
The world say it is changed, and they must prove it.

And this to do, and set the thing at rest,
Many have sought the field and done their best;

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To prove this point, many have sternly fought;
And most absurd the arguments they've brought.
But, bad for the assertions which they make,
Scarce any two the same position take;
And so they find, at last, unlucky elves,
The heft of battle is among themselves.
Here only they agree: to prove somehow,
The seventh day is not the Sabbath now;
And to this end they arguments employ
Which do each other totally destroy.

Like some fair monument, of towering form,
The Sabbath stands, unmoved amid the storm;
While round it fierce the noisy rabble crowd,
With tumult wild and imprecations loud;
Their missiles at it hurl with venomed spite,
To mar its beauty and obscure its light;
And dire "Confusion" is their proper label,
Like that which babbled round the tower of Babel.

'Mid all this jargon of discordant sound,
'Mid all the darkness which enfolds them round,
One shining lamp we have our feet to guide,
One rule, alone, by which we can abide;
One only standard, God's unerring word,
To show how human creeds with truth accord.
This is the cleaver keen, which, without ruth,
Will trim all theories till they fit the truth.

With this alone we hence propose to test
These various views, and see on what they rest;

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To mark how with God's word they will compare,
And whether truth or error lingers there.
Hence, if the first-day theory, which would make
Sunday the place of God's true Sabbath take,
Arrayed against the Scriptures shall be found,
It straightway should be leveled to the ground.
If the no-Sabbath views, which some pretend
Are views correct, and no one can amend,
Shall prove but empty chaff and brittle hay,
One breath of truth shall blow them all away.

In short, if all the views that e'er arose,
God's holy Sabbath sternly to oppose,
Shall all be found, though fair outsides they wear,
To be mere puff-balls filled with empty air,
Or morsels which the Foe of truth has fixed
With error and corruption duly mixed,
All sugared o'er with nicest care refined
To suit the vicious palate of mankind,
From this fixed purpose 't is not ours to swerve,
To treat them plainly, as they best deserve.
It is not ours, who battle for the right,
To cringe when old Tradition heaves in sight,
Nor from truth's bold position basely shrink,
Because with us all people do not think.
This be our aim, who'er the question moots,
To pluck up error by its lowest roots;
From its strong snare some wandering feet to save,
And dig Tradition's everlasting grave.

02 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;
Then did the Morning Stars loud songs 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.
Calmly and grand the six days' labor close,
The seventh beholds the Deity's repose.
Oh ! wondrous day, when the creative power
Ceasing, as dawned that calm auspicious hour,
The Lord in holy, contemplative mood
Surveyed his finished work, and called it good.
'T was meet the day on which the King did rest

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Should thus be hallowed, sanctified, and blest.
'T was meet that man, from God's example given,
Should yield each seventh day to him and Heaven.
So was the hallowed season set apart
To be observed by every loyal heart.

Thus full and clear the Sabbath was made known,
Firm as the pillars of Jehovah's throne.
With the fair earth it left its Maker's hand,
And with the earth will co-existent 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.

As yet, upright in innocence man stood,
Not yet engulfed in sin's polluting flood,
Still pure in heart he walked the earth abroad,
And face to face held converse with his God,
No error yet had slightest foothold found
Within the precincts of that hallowed ground.
In this pure season was the Sabbath given
When earth was but the outer court of Heaven.
'T was not a type, foretelling sin to come,
A sad reminder of man's fearful doom,
When e'en his soul by sin's polluting breath
Was doomed, unless redeemed, to certain death.
As yet, man needed no redeeming grace,
Nor type of that as yet could here find place.

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A child of Eden is the Sabbath fair,
Its natal breath, that garden's sinless air,
Unchanged by what has since marred nature's face,
And made redemption needful for our race.

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 pressed,
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,

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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,
'T will last, of course, as long as Time shall run.
Since made for him, the father of mankind,
For all his offspring, 't was, 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 though 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 national divisions held their sway,
And ere the Jews 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 't was needed, pray?

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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 harmonious,
And talk consistently, must reason thus:

Though God at first supposed it would be best
That all mankind should have a day of rest,
Soon by experience he wiser grew !
And saw for all mankind it would not do !
So he confined it to a single place,
And charged it only on a single race;
And with such limits hedged it round about
That soon its term of life should all 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.

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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;
He ne'er will disregard or 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 dodge 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;

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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;
'T is 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,

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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 illumes it now.
Then thinkst 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 they 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,

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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 they 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 mayst thou think, presumptuous man !
To make improvements on Jehovah's plan !

03 THE SABBATH A MEMORIAL

THAT man, on earth and fading things below,
Might not his best affections all bestow,
That he might not, buried in worldly care,
Forget who made the earth and sea and air,
But calm his soul with holy thoughts of Heaven,
The rest-day of the Lord was kindly given:
A blest memorial which to mind should bring
Creation's birthday and creation's King.

Here Error, busy with her countless arts,
To weave her webs and hurl her poisonous darts,
Ceaselessly striving with her sorcerer's rod
To mar the beauty of the truth of God;
To make mankind through some false medium see,
Till all their vision shall perverted be,
Zealously strives, with energy not slack,
To switch men off on a fallacious track.
This is her plea: though false and most absurd,
'Tis yet entitled to a passing word:

When Israel's sons were slaves in Egypt's land,
Close-fettered in oppression's iron band,
Their God deliverance brought, and freed from harm,

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With mighty hand and with a stretched-out arm;
Therefore 't is claimed the Sabbath was designed
Their great deliverance then to keep in mind:
A Jewish rite, memorial of the day
When they from cruel bondage fled away.

Now, then, shall reason and God's word declare
How far with truth this theory will compare.
That they might ever cherish, fresh in thought,
The glad deliverance which for them was wrought,
And Him who thus stretched forth his hand to save,
Two fit memorials Jehovah gave:
For oft as they the Passover observed,
So oft in strong remembrance they preserved,
When God through judgment bro't deliverance nigh,
And Egypt's first-born sons were doomed to die,
How the destroying angel, dark with wrath,
Passed o'er their dwellings on his fearful path.
And oft as they the Unleavened Feast prepared,
So oft, with this memorial, they declared
How the Egyptians, fearful of their stay,
With hastening hand then hurried them away.
And when at length their sons should wish to know
What means this service, what designed to show,
This was their answer: For with mighty hand
Jehovah brought us up from Egypt's land. ¹1

Thus were two fitting, plain memorials given,
So to remind them of this work of Heaven.

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But such desires in some poor minds bear sway,
To get Jehovah's Sabbath out the way,
That they attempt, in furious strength to seize,
And crowd it in, and make it go with these !
Not satisfied with what God gives to man,
They must push in another if they can.
At once we see 't is but an artful quirk,
And there's no fitness in such silly work.
A weekly rest, to keep in memory, clear,
A day that could come round but once a year !
Just as if we to celebrate, should try,
Once every week the Fourth of our July !
But most in this propriety they crush,
They have a rest memorial of a rush !! ²1

'Twas meet that God, when he had bared his arm,
To lift their suffering, and release from harm,
And brought them from beneath the oppressor's rod,
Where they could freely serve and worship God,
Should charge to whom they homage then should pay,
And so remind them of the Sabbath day.

Others there are who take no ground like this,
But still take theories equally amiss.
Thus they contend: Since first day was the day
When from death's bands our Saviour broke away,
Since then redemption's plan was made complete,
That is the day, henceforth, that we must keep:
Should keep to bear in mind, in deed and word,

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The resurrection of our blessed Lord.
First, then, in all sincerity we seek
How this sustains the first day of the week,
And in all candor ask, Where do you find
Authority for changes of this kind?
Where, keep the Sabbath, does the Bible say,
To bear in mind the resurrection day?
Are not memorials already given,
Ordained, appointed, and designed, of Heaven?
For when we lay our bodies 'neath the wave,
Do we not emblem Jesus in the grave?
That as he from the dead arose, so we
Should rise, in newer life henceforth to be?
And oft as we, said Christ, the bread should break,
And in his memory should the cup partake,
So oft should we show forth, with symbols clear,
The death of Jesus till he should appear.

Are not these then sufficient? must we bring
A third memorial so unlike the thing?
And no way fitted to recall to mind
The scenes for whose remembrance 'twas designed?
If God proposed the Sabbath day to change,
It sure must be a matter passing strange
That he no record gave to set it right,
But left mankind to guess it as they might;
For in God's word, though men don't seem to mind it,
There's no such record, and they cannot find it.

'T was naught, at first, but God's almighty power
That placed the blessing on the Sabbath hour;

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Naught but his mandate that enforced its claim,
On all men equal, and on all the same.
Know then that his almighty power, alone,
Can change that day he once declared his own.
No less than his command, express and plain,
Must you produce, to prove your theory sane.
On human creeds, then, dare you longer rest,
Slighting the only day that God has blest?
On human theories dare you trust your all?
Remember, by God's law we stand or fall.

The Sabbath a memorial we admit,
But not of actions which it will not fit.
To make it a memorial of events,
To which it has no semblance, is not sense.
To use it where no meaning it conveys,
Stretched and distorted in a thousand ways,
Shocks every law Propriety e'er gave,
And finds for Fitness an untimely grave.

Rightly applied, harmonious and fair,
The Sabbath stands, and there is beauty there.
Grant it the place for which it was designed,
And it has lessons for each honest mind;
For thus our actions speak, while we protest,
After six days of toil, a day of rest,
In stronger terms than language e'er unfurled-
Jehovah rested when he made the world.
Plainly he's shown what day that day shall be;
He rested on the seventh, and so must we.

04 THE SABBATH NOT ABOLISHED

TRULY may it be said, when we perceive
The many theories which the world believe,
Theories upreared against the Sabbath, bold,
Their name is legion, their effects untold.
One point there is most prominently known,
Around which has the arch-deceiver thrown
His varied snares, and spread his artful schemes,
To lull mankind into delusive dreams.
Where thus to plant his power he's not at loss,
But takes his station at the Saviour's cross.

Thus, it is claimed: that Christ on Calvary's hight,
Annulled God's royal law, the rule of right.
Others, who still would claim a law for men,
Say that the Sabbath, only, perished then.
Some say that all the ten commands were dead,
But nine were re-enacted in their stead;

And so it happened as it came about,
That, lo, the Sabbath precept was left out.

Thus on one point we find such theories queer,
Behold a perfect Babel, even here !
Some may be honest while they thus contend,

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And think 't is truth they're trying to defend;
But they may find, when to the crisis brought,
'Tis harder work to prove it than they thought.

First, if God's law is wholly done away,
Where is your rule of moral action? say !
May'st thou now murder, lie, and swear, and steal,
And yet no sin commit, nor guilty feel?
None will assert it. What then shall we do?
To say there is no law would be untrue.
If then there is a law which none can doubt-
Why, there's the Sabbath, which must be got out !

By stubborn facts, they thus are driven to say,
That Christ renewed all but the Sabbath day.
When did he do it? Oh ! say you, secure,
Throughout his public ministry, be sure !
But here's a slight objection, friend; just hark:
I'll show you where you've overshot the mark !
If at the cross, God's law first ceased to be,
'T was good up to that time you will agree;
But nine were re-enacted here you say,
Before the ten were ever done away !!
One favored race had nineteen precepts then,
They must, indeed, have been most moral men !

The folly of this view, all can but see;
And those who hold it still must stubborn be.
A school-boy, blind as that, we should expect,
Would be sent home for want of intellect.

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Driven then from this absurd position, next,
To save themselves, they fabricate this text:
That when the ten commands were done away,
The nine were given again without delay.
In this, another bright idea they broach,
Worthy of ridicule and all reproach:
To think that the same blow which crushed the ten,
Should instantly bring nine to life again.

One illustration take, to show most clear,
How learn'd Theology has reasoned here:
Suppose you have a finger, bruised and sore,
Which must come off; you cannot bear it more.
The surgeon comes, obedient to your call,
And chops off all your fingers, thumbs and all,
Then undertakes to join the others on,
Well pleased to think the sore one now has gone.
If any one an act like this should try,
You'd say he was a fool, and so should I.
Equally bad, your view that God did then,
To get out one command, strike out the ten.

Compelled again to leave their luckless ground,
One theory more necessity has found;
One more foundation for their feet opprest-
And lo, this is as bad as all the rest.
As fierce as drowning men catch at a straw,
So they seize everything by which the law
Can be opposed; or which will aid their view,

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That part is done away, and part holds true.
They now assert, The apostles this have done,
They've re-enacted all the ten but one;
The Sabbath precept, only could not stay,
As that the Lord designed to do away.

One question, now we ask: If this be true,
How long before God's law was given anew?
How long before the revised edition came,
That men might know their duty, and their blame?
How long might men live on all law forgot,
Doing unholy deeds, yet sinning not?
Ah, here's the point, that, with unyielding claims,
Binds down this theory in eternal chains.
You will not claim, a moment e'er was found,
When men were not to moral duty bound.
If such suggestions any should throw out,
'T would bring their sanity to serious doubt.

This theory, then, though vaunted ne'er so bold,
We find fallacious; it will never hold.
Would God his holy law, abolish, then,
And leave the matter in the hands of men?
Leave them to say what parts henceforth shall stand
And let the world receive it at their hand?
There's one lawgiver, say the Scriptures, true; ³1
But there are twelve ! according to this view.

Oh ! why not take the word that God has given,
When he declared that sooner earth and heaven

29

Should pass away, than darkness should prevail,
And e'en a tittle of the law should fail?
Why not believe the word that Christ employed,
That he came not to render null and void
The law or prophets? that was not his aim,
Not to destroy, but to fulfill, he came. ⁴1
Why strive t'amend, as though it were impaired,
The law the Psalmist, perfect, has declared? ⁵2
Shall man attempt, with blind and bungling move,
What is already perfect, to improve?

Better 't would be, ye railers at the law,
If your own weakness, verily, ye saw;
If ye would hear the teachings of God's word,
And live obedient to all ye heard.
Better 't would be t'obey God's holy will,
And own the Sabbath precept binding still,
Before ye make, in all ye do and say,
Such wretched work to have it done away.

One law there was, we're ready to declare,
Which came up to the cross and perished there.
A ceremonial law, and which, we find,
Was for that dispensation sole designed.
Law of commands, in ordinances contained,
Shadows of things to come it was ordained.
Christ is the body, whither all did tend;
And when the substance comes, the shadows end.
A law it was, made only for that land,

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And written in a book by Moses' hand.
This law, no longer needed from that day,
Was nailed unto the cross, and done away;
Hence, the partition-wall was broken through,
That kept distinct the Gentile and the Jew.
Hence all in Christ have now an equal claim,
And henceforth, Jew and Gentile are the same.
If we are Christ's then are we Abraham's seed,
According to the promise, heirs indeed.
Therefore let none by this dead law abide,
Or henceforth take its precepts for their guide.
Let no man judge you by its ritual maze,
Its new moons or its feasts, or sabbath days;
These were but shadows; these but bondage bring:
The law of God is quite another thing.
Between them, there is given distinction broad,
In all the teachings of the word of God.
The royal law, the law of ten commands,
On its eternal basis firmly stands;
Stands as it ever stood, pre-eminent,
The constitution of God's government.
'T is holy, just, and good; if we fulfill
This law of liberty, we do his will.
The ceremonial law, in works contained,
For types and shadows was express ordained.
In the old dispensation was its place:
And if we trust it now, we fall from grace.

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All unintended for the gospel day,
It came up to the cross, and passed away.
Those who between them no distinction find,
Must be indeed most pitifully blind;
Who claim that one law only was employed,
And therefore, at the cross, was all destroyed.
All who these separate laws thus blend together,
Can't make their arguments outweigh a feather.

But why are men unwilling to admit
That God's unaltered law is binding yet;
That neither all, nor yet a part is slain,
But unimpaired its precepts all remain?
'Tis simply this: The fourth command doth say,
The Sabbath comes upon the seventh day;
So they would cast the law itself aside,
To shun the day that God has sanctified.

O Fourth Command ! what trouble hast thou been,
Source of vexation to the sons of men !
How have they tugged and toiled, with various plans,
To break thy power, and shirk thy just demands !
Have chafed and fretted to secure their aim,
And render null and void thy obvious claim !
Vast circuits they through logic's fields have run,
And found themselves at last where they begun !
Have loud proclaimed thy day of rule was o'er,
And that thy law was binding now no more !
Then brought forth reasons for their theories wise,

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Which fools might laugh at, maniacs despise !
Still true are thy demands, thy claims still good,
Though men would fain avoid them if they could.
All who regard them not, must soon confess,
And reap the harvest of their sinfulness.
Firm and immutable as Heaven's decree
Thou e'er hast stood, and thou shalt ever be.
Among those holy laws thy place is known,
Which God's own finger graved upon the stone,
Still thy requirements hold that we must rest
Upon the seventh day, which God has blest;
His fixed decrees he ne'er will disarrange;
For God can never lie, and never change.

05 APOSTOLIC EXAMPLE

ONE class there is, wide spread throughout the land,
Who claim no need that any plain command,
Explicit and direct, should e'er be given,
That we should keep the first day of the seven.
On other ground their theories they rest,
Ground which they fondly think will stand the test.

'Tis claimed that Christ, who for our sin has died,
In all things our example and our guide,
The perfect pattern of the Church below,
Who trod the way he wished his saints to go,
By his example, plainly took away
The obligation of the seventh day.
Then further down the stream of time we're brought,
And told that the apostles plainly taught,
Taught by their actions, which the loudest speak,
That we must keep the first day of the week;
That they observed it as the day of rest,
And they, of course, did only what was best.
And oft, upon that day, they met, 'tis said,
For public worship, and for breaking bread;
And thus most clearly showed, as all may see,

34

What day the Christian Sabbath hence should be.

Christ, as our perfect pattern, we will own,
Teacher and guide in all that he has done.
We will acknowledge that th' apostles knew,
And showed by practice, what was right to do.
And actions loudest speak-all this we admit,
But on our side we claim the advantage yet;
For, that our Lord, in any shape or way,
Relaxed the law that guards the Sabbath day,
That so his followers ever understood,
Which, if it was the case, they surely would,
Or that the apostles owned, or e'er confessed,
The first day of the week, a day of rest-
These, though asserted with assurance high,
Plainly and fearlessly, we do deny.
To save all long debate and words about it,
With those who still may feel disposed to doubt it,
We will submit to facts: they shall decide;
And by their verdict we will then abide.

All will admit this fact: that to the cross,
The ten commands were full in binding force;
The fourth, with all, bore undisputed sway,
And held mankind in duty to obey.
If Christ then disregarded these commands,
Or only that on which the Sabbath stands,
Then he transgressed God's law; which bound men yet;
Then he committed sin ! all must admit;

35

For herein, says the apostle, sin is shown,
When we transgress the law to us made known.
Those, then, who claim that Christ the Sabbath broke
Make him a sinner ! as the word hath spoke.
Ye, in whose breasts such views, blasphemous, start,
Give them no lodging-place within your heart !

But on that day when Christ rose from the dead,
His followers were assembled; and 't is said,
They met to celebrate the day when so
Our Saviour triumphed over man's last foe;
So that must be the day henceforth to stand
The Christian Sabbath in each Christian land.

Pitiful reasoning ! if each word were true,
And e'en the resurrection were in view,
To what would it amount? Why, nothing more
Than a mere inference, and at that most poor !
Would those who reason thus some foresight take,
Such false assertions they might cease to make;
For they would find the saints assembled there
Partaking of their evening's frugal fare;
For in that room, as Luke hath plainly showed,
The twelve disciples all as one abode. ⁶1
'T was not to keep the day that Christ arose
As one then hallowed to divine repose;
For they did not believe he yet had risen;
But thought the grave was still his gloomy prison. ⁷2
Forever, then, this claim is at an end;

36

On this 't is folly longer to contend.

But still, that Jesus sanctioned it, they say,
By meeting his disciples on that day.
If such an act, then, will suffice to make
A Sabbath day, one instance more we'll take;
'T is where he met them, as it chanced to be
While fishing on the sea of Galilee.
And sanctioned what they did all heart could wish,
By furnishing a nice repast of fish.
So if this rule we follow, either way,
It makes the Sabbath but a fishing-day.

Failing in this, we hear them yet again,
Their darling theory striving to maintain,
Claim that the apostles in all they did and said,
And by their frequent acts of breaking bread,
Gave to the Christian world abundant ground
On which their first-day theory they should found.
Does breaking bread a Sabbath make? if so,
Then every day's a Sabbath; as we know,
Because a certain space, as may be read,
The apostles daily practiced breaking bread. ⁸1

How with the teachings of the sacred word
Do such unfounded theories accord?
May there we learn that such a simple act
Would make a Sabbath? There is no such fact.
Does it assert, if, on a certain day,
The saints, perchance, were met to sing and pray,

37

That we that day henceforth should understand
Usurped the Sabbath of the fourth command?
That that day then should take a higher place
Than that which God first hallowed for our race?
On which his blessing he did first dispense,
And placed the seal of his omnipotence?
There's no such teaching ! so it is most true
That on their bare assertion rests this view.
It is a theory of men's invention:
In words of Holy Writ it has no mention.

But other facts there are, pointed and stern,
And which some classes would do well to learn:
The Lord himself affirmed that he obeyed
All the commandments which his Father made.
And as the apostles' custom was, they say,
We find them preaching on the Sabbath day,
And nowhere in God's word (we safely speak),
Is Sabbath used for first day of the week.
'T is true a term of "Lord's day" once is used,
And 't is a term most grossly, too, abused,
For first-day sticklers, as may oft be seen,
Claim that 't is Sunday that of course must mean.
We think not so; for God did never own
A day as his except the seventh alone.
We will acknowledge, then, that day the Lord's,
Which with his own demands thus well accords.
Nor can we think, whatever pains men take,

38

They will oblige him by the change they make.

'T is true there's been a change; the world now say
That Sunday is the Christian Sabbath day.
And so they practice; but by whom, and how,
Was this change made which men acknowledge now?
God did not do it, nor his Son from Heaven;
Nor was this work unto the apostles given;
For their example, and their teaching, too,
Show this was not the work they came to do.
But there was one, whom, in the unfolding plan,
Which the Arch-Fiend had plotted against man,
Time in his onward flight would soon reveal,
O'er God exalted, and his holy will.
Perdition's son ! child of iniquity,
The man of sin, the wicked papacy ! ⁹1
Aye, he it was, who was to magnify
Himself against the power of God, most high.
And think his laws to change, his fixed decrees,
Usurp his power, and rule as he might please.
As prophets had foretold, so, plainly, he
Has done his daring work of blasphemy.
'T is he has raised a sacrilegious hand
Against the Sabbath of the fourth command;
Has robbed it of its glory and its grace,
And reared the pagan Sunday in its place.

Ye Sunday followers, then, if ye would know
Where you for your authority must go,

39

You have no need to wander far from home,
For you receive it from the pope of Rome.
And also ye, who claim that Christ now stands
The giver of the law for Christian lands,
Who is your advocate? Ah, here's your hope,
You have an advocate with Christ-the pope !!

All ye who then so zealously confide
In apostolic practice for your guide,
Know that so long as Sunday creeds you own,
You follow papacy ! and that alone !

If't is, indeed, your honest, firm intent
To tread the way the first apostles went,
Do as they did; heed not the creeds of men,
But keep the Sabbath as they kept it then.

06 SABBATH AND SUNDAY

TWO institutions now before us stand,
Each claiming for its basis God's command,
Each claiming for mankind it has been given,
Approved, appointed, sanctioned of High Heaven.
These claims it cannot sure be hard to test,
And show the grounds on which they clearly rest.
For in God's word we find his will revealed;
No truth from us is in that word concealed;
That must point out the rightful Sabbath day;
For that word never answers yea and nay.
By this word summoned to the witness' stand,
We'll hear what proof they have at their command.

SUNDAY EXAMINED

A Christian institution is your claim;
The "Christian Sabbath" now you call your name,
Or with the title, "Lord's Day," mount the throne
Of Sabbath rest, and call it all your own.

What is a Christian institution, pray?
Something ordained by Christ our Lord, you say.

41

Like baptism and the eucharist, we see
This institution, then, must surely be.
But these unto the church alone belong;
How comes it then that Sunday claims so strong,
So broad, so full, and universal sway
That saint and sinner must alike obey?
Like the Lord's supper must the Lord's day be,
If but a Christian ord'nance there we see.
Then to the church its use must be confined,
Not urged upon the godless 'mong mankind.

Did Christ within his lips e'er take the name?
No; and from him no Sunday precept came.
How oft did those inspired to teach his grace,
The name of first-day on their pages trace?
Eight times alone of this one day they speak,
But call it always "first day of the week." ¹⁰1
And six of these refer to that one day
When from death's bonds our Saviour broke away.
They name it never as a day of rest,
Nor once declare it sanctified or blest.

One first-day meeting only do they name,
When, on his journey, Paul to Troas came. ¹¹2
And this an evening meeting, as is shown
By "many lights" within that upper room.
And as the night before the daylight stands,

42

In Bible time, throughout all Bible lands,
Here's a night meeting, as we now would speak,
On Saturday, the last day of the week.
And when arose the Sunday morning fair,
That Sunday morning fresh with Syrian air,
Bidding the church at Troas all adieu,
Paul starts again his journey to pursue.
If in the night he had a Sabbath made,
By meeting the disciples to break bread,
He surely tore that Sabbath all away
By traveling off afoot through all the day. ¹²1

Again 't is said that Paul by plain command,
Showed that the Sunday must as Sabbath stand,
By word through Corinth and Galatia sent,
That all the brethren there, with care intent,
Should on each first-day lay aside some store, ¹³2
To help their Christian brethren who were poor.

Must they to church, to do this service, come?
No; each was to lay by himself at home. ¹⁴3
A work most fit for week-days, any one,
But never on the Sabbath to be done.

Driven thus from every text, rather than yield
And like a thin imposter quit the field,
Behind a show of reason next it aims
To shield its groundless and presumptuous claims.

43

Redemption is a greater work 't is claimed,
Than the creation, when all worlds were framed,
And as our Lord on Sunday made complete
That glorious work, it surely is most meet
That day henceforth in sacred robes should stand,
As the true Sabbath of the fourth command.

Does God's word tell you so? Ah ! no indeed,
No aid it gives to such presumptuous creed.
Can you decide which work most labor cost,
To make a world or rescue it when lost?
How dare you then decide, a finite man,
On works infinity alone can span,
And on your rash decision then essay
To judge God's law and change his Sabbath day?

But is the work of God's redeeming grace
As yet completed for our fallen race?
Well for us is it this is not yet true.
Such fact would all our hopes of life undo.
Nor will it be complete till all shall stand,
Who are to come from every age and land,
Redeemed in Heaven, their mortal journey through;
Nor till the earth itself is made anew.

Vain, vain, to think memorials to find,
To keep redemption's finished work in mind
Until the work is finished; which will be
Only when all are saved eternally.

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Again, Sir Sunday, will you take the stand?
In your behalf can you show one command,
In all the Bible, hinted or expressed,
That we should spend your hours in hallowed rest?
Not one is found. Then can you show wherein
We in the least incur the guilt of sin
By earnestly devoting all your days
To wordly labor and all business ways?
For Paul decides by this most plain expression
That "where no law is, there is no transgression." ¹⁵1
Again, in words that cannot be disputed,
When there's no law, then sin is not imputed. ¹⁶2

Did e'er a being divine employ in rest,
Your passing hours, or sanctify and bless?
Not one. On what pretense then can you claim
The Sabbath obligation or the name?
Where is the sacredness of Sunday? where?
The question dies unanswered on the air.

THE SABBATH EXAMINED

The Sabbath of Jehovah, is your claim,
And that alone your high and holy name.
"Christian" and "Jewish" you alike disown,
Accepting "Sabbath of the Lord" alone.
Among the primal laws you claim a place,
Ordained of God to guide a sinless race.

45

Not among those the need of which came in
With man's need of a remedy for sin.
These change, as time unfolds the saving plan;
Those e'er remain as when they first began.
While ages, dispensations, roll along,
They changeless stand, the bounds of right and wrong.

When time's first week had run its course complete,
To mark the cycle with its boundaries meet,
The Sabbath on its royal throne was set,
Creation's fair and lovely coronet.
Thus soon as Sabbath possibly could be,
There in its place the Sabbath, lo, we see.
Designed as much for all upon the earth,
As any blessing of primeval birth.
As much a gift of God's foreseeing care,
As tree or fruit or flower, earth, sea, or air.
Such institution surely ne'er can change
How wide so'er the dispensations range;
And surely it can never cease to be
Till time is lost in vast eternity.
There was a Sabbath law to Adam given;
For that day then was sanctified of Heaven;
And full a month before the Hebrews came
To Sinai, with its trumpet, smoke, and flame,
We find the Sabbath plainly brought to view,
As an old institution, not a new. ¹⁷1

46

Not there the Sabbath into being came.
No such transaction does the record name.
It gives no other date for Sabbath birth,
But that grand time when God made heaven and earth.
So here's a fact, plain as you ever saw,
The Sabbath day was kept, before the law.

Come down the stream to Bethlehem's wondrous birth,
When Christ, as Abraham's seed, appeared on earth,
When he as prophet, teacher, friend, and guide,
Walked among men and taught them, side by side,
Leading their minds to truths and duties clear,
To guide his church through all its sojourn here,
The Sabbath does full oft his teaching share,
To this he gives his earnest, tenderest care,
Strips from the day tradition's sad abuse,
And fearlessly defends its lawful use.

That law of which the Sabbath was a part,
To be henceforth engraven on the heart,
He came not to destroy, he said, but would
Its every part fulfill, and show it good.
Lo, he exclaimed, the heavens may pass away,
The earth may crumble into full decay,
But of the law, a tittle or a jot,
God has decreed that it shall perish not.
Not this of ritual law did Jesus say,
Which at the cross was soon to pass away,
But of that law designed the world to bless,

47

Which shows the measure of our righteousness.
And he declared that whosoe'er should do
And teach these precepts unto others too,
Should when God's kingdom should appear in state,
Be held therein in rank and honor great.
But he that broke them, and should teach men so,
A place in that blest kingdom ne'er should know. ¹⁸1

And soon we reach earth's darkest, gloomiest day,
When for a time the powers of death bore sway;
We see the cross upreared 'neath darkened skies,
On which the Heavenly Victim bleeds and dies.
Here was the world's great sacrifice made plain,
A sinless Christ, for sinful beings slain.

Here types expired, and shadowy systems ceased.
From them henceforth the world was all released.
For here the antitype, the substance, stood,
And shadows come no further, if we would.
Whate'er of previous law we claim has died,
It ceased with Christ on Calvary crucified.
Did there the Sabbath perish? List and see:
They took the Saviour from the accursed tree,
Prepared the spice his body to embalm,
As on the Sabbath drew, so fair and calm.
Then those disciples whom the Lord had taught,
And both by precept and example brought
Clear to their minds the truths he came to teach,

48

Which they henceforth in all the world should preach,
Had never learned, from all they'd heard him say,
That then the Sabbath was to pass away.
So ceasing from their work of tender love,
Even for their Lord, they turned their thoughts above.
They rested, says the word, that Sabbath day,
And the commandment thus did well obey.

As we have found, clear as one ever saw,
The Sabbath day observed before the law,
So here we find, above all fear of loss,
The Sabbath day observed this side the cross.
And if this side it does one moment stand,
Upheld by virtue of the fourth command,
It stands till all these gospel days are o'er,
And time and all its scenes shall be no more.

So held the ministers of gospel grace;
And so they ever taught from place to place.
Paul said the law by faith was not made void.
Yea; 't is by faith established, not destroyed.
Fifty and nine times, as their record stands,
They name the Sabbath, kept in different lands.
Their "manner" and their "custom" was, they say,
To teach the people every Sabbath day;
Not solely for the ceremonial Jew;
For on that day they taught the Gentile too.
Once Paul at Antioch made known salvation,
Through Christ, the seed of his own Jewish nation,

49

And through his name the banner wide unfurled
Of free salvation unto all the world.
The Gentiles listened, glad of heart, and sought,
That they next Sabbath might the same be taught. ¹⁹1
How fine a chance the apostle had to say,
To-morrow, Gentiles, is your Sabbath day.
We Christian preachers Sunday bring along,
Not the old Jewish Sabbath, dead and gone:
On Sunday come and hear the words we say,
Not wait until another seventh day.

Thus he to them would surely have explained,
If Christ a first-day Sabbath had ordained.
As no such thing the record brings to view,
'Tis certain no such day the apostle knew.
And so they waited all the coming week
Till the next seventh day for Paul to speak;
Then the whole city, 'most, with one accord,
Came out to hear the doctrine of the Lord.
No other Sabbath day the apostles knew,
Except the seventh, for Greek as well as Jew.

And when on Patmos' lone and rocky dome
The holy seer had views of scenes to come,
It was the Lord's day ²⁰2 when the Spirit's power
Made doubly dear that consecrated hour.
Therefore, in this dispensation there remains,
One day the Lord as his distinctly claims.

50

And what day, pray you, may the Lord's day be?
Not that day, sure, of which, we clearly see,
While here on earth he never deigned to speak,
As he did not the first day of the week.
Somewhere, his day the Lord must surely own,
Somewhere, declare that it is his alone.
And of the Sabbath thus he e'er hath spoken,
Of his regard for that, given every token.
Called it his day, ²¹1 the Sabbath of the Lord, ²²2
And promised those who keep it great reward. ²³4
The Saviour spoke, and thus his teaching ran:
The Sabbath day was made, and made for man.
Therefore, he adds, in terms of clear accord,
The Son of man, of Sabbath, is the Lord.

Thus manifold the proofs the Sabbath gives,
That in this dispensation still it lives.
It lacks no feature, wants no law, to show
Itself a sacred rest for all below.
The Lord upon it rested, and thus laid
A Sabbath basis, no man can evade.
Then, on the day his sacred blessing placed,
And sanctified it for the human race.
'Twas made in Eden, ere the blight of sin,
To this fair world of ours had entered in.
And long before the Hebrews Sinai saw,

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They all were tested on the Sabbath law. ²⁴1
When dispensations changed, it met no loss,
But lawfully was kept this side the cross. ²⁵2
'Tis part of that great law, the Christian's joy, ²⁶4
Which Christ declared he came not to destroy.
The Lord's apostles kept it everywhere,
As they by act and precept both declare.

Oh ! then, your feet from off the Sabbath turn,
No longer God's requirements careless spurn,
But learn, by keeping his own sacred day,
That better than sacrifice is to obey. ²⁷5

07 VAIN PHILOSOPHY

IT is a fact, and not to be concealed,
Which first-day leaders have themselves revealed,
That 't is no point with them what ground they take,
Provided they can some objection make
Against the seventh; to prove that that's not right,
Is what they labor for with all their might.
To gain this end, so zealous do they grow,
Bend all their mind, and all their thoughts bestow,
That they o'erlook this fact, most plain to see,
That all their shifts and turns will not agree;
But on they rush nor heed their reckless pace,
Till contradiction stares them in the face.

Full many strenuous advocates we see
Of Sunday-keeping, strict as well may be;
But while so strict lest first-day they shall break,
Hear what objection to the seventh they make:
They claim that time, with varied scenes of change,
Has served men's reckoning all to disarrange;
Hence none can tell which day the seventh day stood;
Therefore, we cannot keep it if we would.
But you pretend to keep the true first day,

53

Do you know when that comes? Oh, yes, you say,
The day when Christ arose has well been known;
E'er since that time, as plainly can be shown;
'T is then a little strange, as seems to me,
Since on the first day, people all agree,
Since all are certain when that day comes round,
No one can tell us where the seventh is found !
You know when Sunday comes? Then say no more;
For Sabbath is the very day before.

But, says another, ere he count the cost
Of his assertion, there's a day been lost;
Hence, what men first-day now are pleased to call,
Is really the true seventh, after all.

A day been lost ! and yet men all agree !
I marvel greatly how the thing can be.
Suppose one town alone should chance to make,
And all agree, in such a gross mistake.
Abroad like lightning would the news be hurled,
And soon 't would be the wonder of the world.
To think, then, all on earth, for so they view it,
All lost a day and no one ever knew it,
Is far beyond conception;-in a word,
This theory is preposterously absurd.
Doubtless all were asleep when this took place !
Perhaps in some mesmeric, strong embrace !
But we would say, as being nearer true,
Those, rather, are asleep, who hold this view.

54

Again, says one, the Sabbath ne'er has been
Permitted to be changed by laws of men.
In all they've done, in all their various ways,
They've only changed the reckoning of the days.

In answer, you'll admit, ere this, the Jew,
Which the true seventh day was, full certain knew.
And they have, strictly, from that very time,
Scattered through all the world, in every clime,
Preserved their reckoning; and in harmony
With others and themselves, they all agree.
If then there's been this change, in ages gone,
The Jews, the wide world o'er, have reckoned wrong.
Mohammedans, their sixth day holding high,
Christians, their first-day lauding to the sky,
Each zealous for the day they deem the best,
Each in their count agree with all the rest.
Whate'er did one, the other did befall;
If one has blundered, they have blundered all.
This most as bad would be as 't is to say
That all the world have blindly lost a day.

And there are those, not seldom to be found,
Who sagely tell us that the world is round !
And therefore as time differs east and west,
All cannot keep, at once, a day of rest.
We know the world is round, as they declare,
"And like a ball seems swinging in the air."
And, doubtless, God knew well his wondrous plan,

55

Before he made the Sabbath day for man.
To urge, then, this objection, surely must
Make God imperfect, and his law unjust.
But if this really an objection be,
Those who have urged it most, forgot to see,
That all the force against the seventh it had,
Came against first-day equally as bad.

Suppose some sovereign, to whom were due
Honor and reverence, should journey through
His loyal realm, and it was told the throng
To do him reverence as he passed along.
Should then his distant subjects rise and say
That to their Prince they could no reverence pay,
Because it would not the same moment be,
With those who first his majesty would see,
Would such a reasonless excuse evince
Love and obedience to their sovereign prince?
Theirs it would be to quell so false a claim,
And pay their loyal tribute when he came.

So with the Sabbath, in Jehovah's plan,
Designed for all the world, and made for man:
God has appointed, if we so may say,
The world's great time-piece, made to rule the day;
That brings to all, where'er their place is found,
The seventh day, in every weekly round.
Then be it ours, with humble hearts and tongues,
To do the Sabbath reverence when it comes;

56

Nor strive from vain philosophy to draw
Insults to God and his majestic law.

Thus having noticed various objections,
We shall be suffered now a few reflections.

Those who are rambling off to nature's laws,
Striving to gather from effect and cause,
Some reasons, as they fondly trust, which may
Stand as objections to the seventh day,
Show, by their course, undoubted proof and true,
That they've no Bible to support their view;
And being over-anxious to succeed,
They run full tilt against their Sunday creed.
Blindly contending, till at last 't is found,
They've torn their own loved theories to the ground.
As oft I've seen some angry urchins rise,
With deep vexation working in their eyes,
And aim so spiteful at a dodging foe
That they themselves upset and overthrow.

Should these objections, then, as some contend,
Be urged to prove the Sabbath at an end,
Before such arguments as these are heard,
That point must first be settled by the word;
Settled in face of proof on every hand,
Though heaven and earth should pass, God's law would stand.

It is a serious fact, when men are driven
From Bible ground, the only standard given,
That then, whatever arguments they find,

57

Drawn from whatever source, whate'er their kind,
Provided for their side they seem to tell,
To all appearance, suit them just as well.
'Tis hard for men, whatever their position,
To break the cords of long-observed tradition;
And error, cherished long, e'en when confessed,
With deep reluctance leaves the human breast.
Yet strange that men, in view of proof so plain,
Precept on precept, line on line again,
Through error's devious maze should grope their way,
And trample still upon the Sabbath day.
Strange that on truth so weighty, and defined
Of all-absorbing interest to mankind,
Eternal with the precepts God has given,
Through love of which we gain a right to Heaven,
Which, above all that sheds its light abroad,
Holds man in close connection with his God-
Strange that on this they careless should be found,
And on such flimsy proof their theories ground;
Or listen to Tradition's siren song,
And scarcely ponder whether right or wrong;
Should rest, untroubled, their eternal all,
On man-made theories, which must surely fall.
And stranger still, that they, presumptuous, then,
Should, with these doctrines and commands of men,
With baseless reasonings, and all senseless things,
Fight the stern precepts of the King of kings !

58

Did men but know it, in their reckless strife,
They're laboring hard to lose eternal life.
Said God's beloved Son, Would we secure
Eternal life, keep the commandments pure.
And he, the Wise Man, says, in truth and beauty,
"Fear God, and keep his law, is man's whole duty."
Let error's advocates, henceforth, be dumb;
For here's their condemnation-light has come.
Light which reveals the devious course they're in,
And now they have no cloak for further sin.
Too many causes, trivial though they be,
Keep men from acting on what light they see.
Too many, anxious honor to sustain,
Will shun the truth to save their worldly gain.
The mote of earthly interest fills their eye,
And hides from view the world's of bliss on high.
And ah ! too many, when before their eyes
The narrow way and cross begin to rise,
Though ample views of truth they once have got,
Will shut their eyes, and say they see it not.
Those, only, who are bold to bear the cross,
To count earth's honor and its pleasure dross;
Who to its lying songs will give no ear,
Nor bow, a paltry slave, to worldly fear;
Who bravely stand, and battle for the right,
'Mid all the darkness of earth's moral night,
Nor shrink to strike, with an unsparing hand,

59

Against the sins of a degenerate land;
Servants of God Most High, to him alone
Pay their due homage, and allegiance own;
Alone obedient to his righteous laws,
And zealous, only in his glorious cause;
They will receive the welcome from their Lord,
They, reap the harvest of a rich reward.
To those who, through obedience, seek for Heaven,
This is the promise Christ himself hath given:
"Blessed are they who his commandments do; ²⁸1
For they the pearly gates shall enter through;
They shall the city in its glory see,
They shall have right to Life's unfading tree."
Palm-wreaths of victory shall the conquerors hold,
And star-gemmed crowns and harps of glit'ring gold.
There in that world of fadeless glory, bright,
With angel-bands, arrayed in silvery white,
Sabbath succeeding Sabbath, years unknown,
Shall God behold them worship at his throne. ²⁹2

Oh ! when the scenes of earthly strife are past,
When from th' long contest we emerge at last,
When God himself shall rise in peerless might
To vindicate his truth and show the right,
Then will it be a priceless joy to know
That in the moral darkness here below,
When men their faces 'gainst the Lord had turned,

60

And from their hearts his love and precepts spurned,
We tried his moral law to keep in view,
And prove ourselves of loyal hearts and true.

Father in Heaven, thy precepts will we love,
That honor seek that cometh from above,
Thy Sabbath keep with ever fresh delight,
A day of gladness in thy holy sight.
Yea, while as pilgrims here we pass along,
Thy statutes still shall be our cheerful song.
And when thy saints shall all to Zion come,
Bathed in the bliss of their eternal home,
When crowned with songs and everlasting joy,
Heaven's hallelujahs all their harps employ,
O grant us with that happy throng a place
To look with joy ecstatic on thy face,
To make in Heaven our Sabbath joys complete
While worshiping in rapture at thy feet.

CATALOGUE of Books, Pamphlets, Tracts, etc., Issued by the Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association

THE ADVENT REVIEW & HERALD OF THE SABBATH, weekly. Terms, $2.00 a year, in advance.

THE YOUTH'S INSTRUCTOR, monthly, devoted to moral and religious instruction. Terms, 50 cts. a year, in advance.

THE HEALTH REFORMER, monthly, devoted to an exposition of the laws of life, etc. Terms, $1.00 a year, in advance.

THE ADVENT TIDENDE, a religious monthly in the Danish language. Terms, $1.00 a year, in advance.

THE SVENSK ADVENT HAROLD, a religious monthly in the Swedish tongue. Terms, $1.00 a year, in advance.

THE HISTORY OF THE SABBATH AND FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK. By J. N. Andrews. 528pp., $1.25.

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE AND PUBLIC LABORS OF WM. MILLER, the noted Lecturer and Writer upon the Prophecies. $1.00.

THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL, critical and practical. By U. Smith. Bound, $1.00; condensed edition, paper, 35 cts.

THOUGHTS ON THE REVELATION, critical and practical. By U. Smith. 328pp., $1.00.

THE NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN. By U. Smith. 384pp., bound, $1.00, paper, 40 cts.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT: or a Discussion between W.H. Littlejohn and the editor of the Christian Statesman on the Sabbath question. $1.00.

THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY. By Mrs. E.G. White. $1.00.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ELD. JOSEPH BATES, with portrait of the author. 318pp., $1.00.

62

SABBATH READINGS; or Moral and Religious Reading for Youth and Children. 400pp., 60 cts.

THE GAME OF LIFE, with notes. Three illustrations, 5x6 inches each, representing Satan playing with man for his soul. In board, 50 cts., in paper, 30 cts.

HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS for Camp-meetings and other Religious Gatherings. Compiled by Eld. James White. 196pp. Bound, 50 cts., paper, 25 cts.

THE UNITED STATES IN PROPHECY. By U. Smith. Bound, 40 cts.; paper, 20 cts

THE ADVENT KEEPSAKE; a daily text of Scripture on the Second Advent, etc. Gilt, 40 cts.

SERMONS ON THE SABBATH AND LAW; embracing an Outline of the Biblical and Secular History of the Sabbath for 6000 years. By J. N. Andrews. 30 cts.

FACTS FOR THE TIMES; a Collection of Valuable Extracts from Eminent Authors. 30 cts.

HISTORY of the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul. By D.M. Canright. 25 cts.

THE STATE OF THE DEAD. By U. Smith. 224pp., 25 cts.

OUR FAITH AND HOPE. Sermons on the Second Coming of Christ. By James White. 20 cts.

REFUTATION OF THE AGE TO COME. By J.H. Waggoner. 20 cts.

THE ATONEMENT; an Examination of a Remedial System in the light of Nature and Revelation. By J.H. Waggoner. 20 cts.

THE NATURE AND TENDENCY OF MODERN SPIRITUALISM. By J.H. Waggoner. 20 cts.

THE BIBLE FROM HEAVEN; a Dissertation. 20 cts.

MIRACULOUS POWERS. 20 cts.

THE MINISTRATION OF ANGELS; and the Origin, History, and Destiny of Satan. By D.M. Canright. 20 cts.

63

THE DESTINY OF THE WICKED. By U. Smith. 15 cts.

COMPLETE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS, concerning the Sabbath and First Day of the Week. By J. N. Andrews. 15 cts.

THE MESSAGES OF REV. 14, particularly the Third Angel's Message and Two-Horned Beast. By J. N. Andrews. 15 cts.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE UNJUST; a Vindication of the Doctrine. By J.H. Waggoner. 15 cts.

THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS. By Mrs. Ellen G. White. 15 cts.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS; and Exposition of Rev.8 and 9. 15 cts.

THE SAINTS' INHERITANCE; or, The Earth Made New. By J. N. Loughborough. 10 cts.

THE SANCTUARY AND TWENTY-THREE HUNDRED DAYS. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.

SUNDAY SEVENTH-DAY EXAMINED. A refutation of Mede, Jennings, Akers, and Fuller. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.

THE TRUTH FOUND; the Nature and Obligation of the Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment. By J.H. Waggoner. 10 cts.

REVIEW OF GILFILLAN, and other authors, on the Sabbath. By T.B. Brown. 10 cts.

DATE OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.

VINDICATION OF THE TRUE SABBATH. By J.W. Morton. 10 cts.

MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR. By James White. 10 cts.

THE POSITION AND WORK OF THE TRUE PEOPLE OF GOD under the Third Angel's Message. By W.H. Littlejohn. 10 cts.

THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL. By J. N. Loughborough. 10 cts.

SERMON ON THE TWO COVENANTS. By J. N. Andrews. 10 cts.

AN APPEAL TO THE BAPTISTS, from the Seventh-day Baptists, for the Restoration of the Bible Sabbath. 10 cts.

MILTON ON THE STATE OF THE DEAD. 5 cts.

64

FOUR-CENT TRACTS: The Law and the Gospel-The Seventh Part of Time-Celestial Railroad-Samuel and the Witch of Endor-The Ten Commandments not Abolished-Address to the Baptists-The Present Truth-The Second Advent-The Sufferings of Christ-The Two Thrones, Representing the Kingdoms of Grace and Glory-Spiritualism a Satanic Delusion.

THREE-CENT TRACTS: Much in Little-The Lost-Time Question-Infidel Cavils Considered-The End of the Wicked-Scripture References-Argument on Sabbaton-Who Changed the Sabbath?

TWO-CENT TRACTS: Definite Seventh Day-Seven Reasons for Sunday-Keeping Examined-Sabbath by Elihu-The Rich Man and Lazarus-The Millennium-Departing and Being with Christ-Fundamental Principles of S.D. Adventists-The Sanctuary of the Bible-The Judgment, or the Waymarks of Daniel to the Holy City.

ONE-CENT TRACTS: Appeal on Immortality-Brief Thoughts on Immortality-Thoughts for the Candid-Sign of the Day of God-The two Laws-Geology and the Bible-The Perfection of the Ten Commandments-The Coming of the Lord-Without Excuse-Which Day, and God's Answers.

THE WAY OF LIFE: a beautiful Allegorical Picture, illustrating the plan of salvation. Size, 19x24 inches. $1.00.

Works in Other Languages

The Association also publishes works on some of the above-named subjects in German, French, Danish, Swedish, and Holland languages.

--Any of the foregoing works will be sent by mail to any part of the United States, post-paid, on receipt of the prices above stated. Full Catalogues sent gratis, on application.

Address, REVIEW & HERALD, BATTLE CREEK, MICH.

¹ Ex.12,13.

² Ex.12:33.

³ Jam.4:12.

⁴ Matt.5:17.

⁵ Ps.19:7.

⁶ Acts1:13.

⁷ Mark16:14.

⁸ Acts2:46.

⁹ Dan.7:25; 2Thess.2:3.

¹⁰ Matt.28:1; Mark16:2,9; Luke24:1; John20:1,10; Acts20:7; 1Cor.16:2.

¹¹ Acts20:7.

¹² See Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of Paul, pp.592-595.

¹³ 1Cor.16:1,2.

¹⁴ See the Greek.

¹⁵ Rom.4:15.

¹⁶ Rom.5:13.

¹⁷ Ex.16.

¹⁸ Matt.5:17-20.

¹⁹ Acts13:42.

²⁰ Rev.1:10.

²¹ Is.58:13,14.

²² Ex.20:10.

²³ Mark2:27,28.

²⁴ Ex.16.

²⁵ Luke23:56.

²⁶ Matt.5:17.

²⁷ 1Sam.15:22.

²⁸ Rev.22:14.

²⁹ Is.66:23.