The Constitutional Amendment: or, The Sunday, the Sabbath, the Change, and Restitution: A discussion between W. H. Littlejohn, Seventh-day Adventist, and the editor of the Christian StatesmanLittlejohn, Wolcott H.
Religion
The Constitutional Amendment: or, The Sunday, the Sabbath, the Change, and Restitution: A discussion between W. H. Littlejohn, Seventh-day Adventist, and the editor of the Christian Statesman
Littlejohn, Wolcott H.
Sabbath; Seventh-Day Adventists -- Doctrinal and controversial works; Sunday; Sunday legislation -- United States
Now, suppose, for the sake of the argument, that some modern sect should
endeavor to transform our unpretending Thursday, which was really the
day of the ascension, since it was the fortieth after the resurrection,
into one of peculiar dignity, claiming, in defense of their position,
the example of Christ, and urging that the course which he pursued could
only be satisfactorily explained on the ground that he was laying the
foundation for its future Sabbatic observance, how would our friends
meet them in such an emergency? Deny the facts, they could not, for the
record is ample. There would, therefore, be but one alternative left.
If transactions of this character are of a nature such that they
_necessarily_ exalt the days upon which they occur to the rank of holy
days, then Thursday is one, and should be treated as such. No line of
argument, however ingenious, could evade this conclusion, so long as the
premises in question were adhered to. Planting himself squarely upon
them, with the consent of modern Christendom, the advocate of the newly
discovered holy day, finding the record perfectly free from
embarrassments in the nature of transactions which would appear to be
incompatible with the notion that everything which Christ and his
apostles did was in harmony with his view, if possessed of that skill
and ability which has marked the efforts of some modern theologians in
such discussions, could weave a web of inference and conjecture almost
interminable in its length.
All the facts connected with the meeting could be expanded, and turned
over and over, and exhibited from innumerable stand-points, so as to
yield the largest amount of evidence possible. Having dwelt at large
upon everything which was said and done at Bethany, he might return with
the solemn procession to the great city. Having done this, he would not
fail to call our attention to the fact that they did not conduct
themselves in a manner such as men might have been expected to do under
the circumstances on a common day, but that, on the contrary, impressed
with the sacredness of the hours which had witnessed the glorious
ascension of the Son of God, they immediately repaired to a place of
assembly, manifestly for the purpose of continued worship. Again,
scrutinizing with polemic eye every syllable of the history, in order to
extract from it all the hidden testimony which it might contain, his
attention would be arrested by these words, “A Sabbath day’s journey.”
Immediately, he inquires, Why employ such an expression as this—one
which occurs nowhere else in the sacred volume? Certainly it cannot be
the result of accident. The Holy Spirit must have designed to signify
_something_ by such a use of the term in the connection under
consideration. A Sabbath day’s journey! What importance could be
attached to the fact that the particular point from which Christ
ascended was no more than a Sabbath day’s journey from Jerusalem? The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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