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WHO WILL FIND THE EVIDENCE?

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, April 21, 1885

FromAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 16

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WHO WILL FIND THE EVIDENCE?

By R. F. Cottrell

BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL.
In the Christian Statesman of Oct. 9, 1884, is an article by Arthur T. Pierson, D. D., from which I quote the following, italicizing according to copy. Speaking of the growing disregard for Sunday he says:—
“Christians apologize for all this on the ground that the Sabbath is a Jewish institution, and is abrogated; making no distinction between the ceremonial and the moral law. Certain features of Sabbatic observance belonged to the Mosaic ritual, and have passed away with that whole system; but the law of the Sabbath, which is not so much the consecration of the seventh day but of one day in seven, belongs to the moral law, and if abrogated, so is the whole decalogue! The law of the Sabbath antedates the Mosaic law, Moses, the Hebrew church, Abraham, Melchisedec, Noah; antedates sin, for the Sabbath was consecrated first in sinless Eden! Other disciples do away with the consecrated seventh of time as with the consecrated tenth of money, on the ground that now all time and property are holy unto the Lord, and so the practical effect is they consecrate nothing! All time and all property are alike, indeed, but alike expended upon worldly, selfish principles.”
Apply this argument to the day that God rested upon, blessed, and sanctified, and it is worthy of commendation. It is just the argument that observers of the Lord’s rest day have used from time immemorial. But when he says the law of the Sabbath “is not so much the consecration of the seventh day but of one day in seven,” I would ask, Did you learn that from the fourth commandment? I have read that several times over, but have failed to find the idea there. Let others try it; for I am anxious to find the evidence if it can be found in the Bible. “God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”