FIRST DAT SABBATH
NOT OF
DIVINE APPOINTMENT:
WITH THE OPINIONS OF
ADDRESSED TO THE
REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D
AND TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN SABBATH UNION.
BY H. C. WRIGHT
BOSTON: ^
PRINTED BY ANDREWS AND PRENTISS, 
11 Devonshire Street.
1848.
I BELSHAM, MELANCTHON, BARCLAY, PALEY, AND OTHERS.
The writer of the following pages professes to be a Cheistiaw. Whether he 
is, must be decided by his spirit and life. Christ is his hope—his Redeemer 
from sin—his triumph in joy — his glory in affliction. That death has no sting 
— the grave no gloom —he owes to Christ. That he can Walk calmly on his 
pathway down into the eternal future, is owing to the light that beams upon his 
course from the Sun of Righteousness. That he may have the mind and lead the 
life of Christ on earth, and be permitted to be with him and share his love in his 
eternal kingdom,—is all the glory he seeks here, and all the heaven he expects 
hereafter. If he may but love as Jesus loved; forgive as he forgave; and live as 
he lived—simply to do his heavenly Father’s will—he is willing to be of no re­
pute among men. That he may win Christ, and be a living epistle for him, and 
induce others to share the same glorious distinction, he would make the end and 
aim of his existence.
Such being his feelings and aims, he commits this little pamphlet to the atten­
tive and kindly perusal of all who seek the truth as it is in Jesus.
Boston, Feb. 1, 1848.
MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN AND FOREIGN 
SABBATH UNION.
Friends: — You are seeking to produce in men a be­
lief “ in the divine authority and perpetual obligation of a 
Sabbatical observance; ” that God has changed this observ­
ance/rom the Seventh to the First day of the week; that 
Christianity recognises ihe existence, and condemns the 
practice of the “ sin of Sabbath-breaking; ” that Sabbath- 
breakers are, by God, ranked with thieves, liars, drunk­
ards, and murderers; that what is right, and may be our 
duty, to do on other days, is a sin to do on Sunday; and 
that men may ascertain if an act be right or wrong, by 
consulting the clock and calendar, and learning the hour 
of the day, and the day of the week.
I believe you are teaching, as the commands of God, the 
traditions of men; and are imposing on men a religious 
observance which Christ never enjoined, but which he 
pointedly condemns. 
You are guilty of judging men and 
arraigning them as criminals for an act, (Sabbath-break- 
ingy) which Christianity nowhere condemns, but repeat­
edly justifies. You will, therefore, pardon me for address­
ing the following pages to you — commending them to 
your candid and serious perusal.
THE QUESTION AT ISSUE
Is not—Are men to consecrate first day to God? I be­
lieve they are bound to do so : also, that they are equally 
bound to consecrate every other day to God.
It is not—Were the Jews required to observe the seventh 
day as a Sabbath? They were ; and were subjected to the 
penalty of death if they did any work on that day—(Ex. 
xxxv. 1,2.)
TO REV. JUSTIN EDWARDS, D. D.
AND THE
4
It is not—Is the assembling of ourselves together for 
instruction and improvement in things pertaining to the 
kingdom of Heaven, profitable for man, and acceptable to 
God ? 
I believe such meetings are useful, and adapted 
to our growth in grace and divine knowledge.
It is not—Is it a good regulation of society to appropri­
ate first day to rest and relaxation from bodily toil? 
I be­
lieve such an appropriation of that day to be wise, and 
most useful, and perfectly consistent with the Christian 
system, and with the laws of our physical nature.
But—Does Christianity consecrate the first, or any 
other day of the week, as a Sabbath ? 
Or, Is the first day 
Sabbath of human or divine appointment; and its observa­
tion based on expediency, or Divine authority? 
This, 
alone, is the question to which I would call attention.
THE JEWISH SABBATH.
By the consent of nearly universal Christendom, it is 
abolished, both as to the day and the manner of observing 
it. 
Christianity ranks that Sabbath with “ beggarly ele­
ments,” with “ shadows,” with “ new moons and sacrifices,” 
that are passed away, and have no more authority over 
conscience, since Christ has come. 
The apostle expressly 
warns men against the observance of that Sabbath; against 
imposing it as a burden upon others; and against censur­
ing others for refusing to observe it. 
(Col. ii. 16—23; 
Gal. iv. 9—11; Rom. xiv. 1—7.)
FIRST DAY SABBATH.
If it is of Divine obligation, the proof must be drawn 
from the Jewish or Christian Scriptures. 
Has God com­
manded the observance of first day as a Sabbath ? 
This 
is the question, and the only question.
Argument from the Jewish Scriptures.—The fourth 
command (Ex. xx. 9—11) is quoted to prove the divine 
obligation of the first day Sabbath. 
Read the passage. 
It is seen that the seventh is the day there commanded to 
be observed, and no allusion is made to any other. 
Then 
as to the mode of observing it, rest from labor is the only 
thing required. 
In both these particulars—comprising the 
whole of the command—the most strenuous Sabbatarians 
set it aside. 
They do not remember to observe the seventh 
day as a Sabbath; and they habitually wrork, doing things
5
which, under the Jewish dispensation, would have subject* 
ed them to death.
To set aside a divine command in its only expressed es­
sential points, and then to quote that same command as 
authority in a matter to which it makes no allusion, is 
manifestly unfair, if not impious. 
But this is done by 
Sabbatarians every time they quote the fourth command as 
authority Tor the observance of theirs/ day as a Sabbath. 
For the seventh is the only day specified, or to which allu­
sion is made; and rest the only duty enjoined; and they 
reject the command in both these particulars, and then in­
sist that it binds us to observe the first day as a Sabbath, 
and to devote it to rest and to other purposes!
Seventh part of time.—But it is said, The command is 
not quoted so much to designate the first day, and to en­
force the obligation to keep it, as to designate a seventh 
part of timef and leave it to men to decide what day to 
observe.
I understand what is meant by the phrase, “ the seventh 
day is the Sabbath; ” but how the seventh day can be 
made to mean the first day, or any day which men see fit 
to name, I cannot comprehend, I can also understand the 
reason given for resting on the seventh day; but I cannot 
imagine how this should prove that Christians are bound 
to rest on the first day. And there is not a hint in the 
Scriptures, that God ever changed the seventh to the first 
day, and that He requires the latter to be observed as 
a Sabbath, instead of the former.
Thoy appear to me to trifle with Divine authority, and 
to introduce a principle of interpretation fatal to men’s 
regard for the Scriptures, who seek to elicit from this 
passage authority for the observance of the first day Sab­
bath. 
Especially when they do this by asserting that the 
essential element of the command is, not the seventh day 
of the week, as it is specified, but a seventh portion of 
time. They quote a command specifying the seventh day 
as the only day to be observed, to prove an obligation to 
observe a day to which no allusion is made. 
If this com­
mand, in its only specified duties, may be rejected, and 
then quoted to prove an obligation to do something to 
which it makes no allusion, every other precept of the Bi­
ble may be treated in the same way, and thus the written 
1*
6
record of divine truth be turned into a teacher of whatev­
er absurdities men see fit to derive from it.
The declaration at the close of Creation. (Gen. ii. 1—3.) 
Suppose this command to have been given then, it distinct­
ly marks the seventh as the only day to be observed, and 
rest as the only duty enjoined. 
But there is no command 
in the passage. 
It only states two facts; (1)that God 
completed the works of creation on the seventh day, and 
rested; and (2) that for this reason, God blessed and sanc­
tified the seventh day. 
There is no injunction upon man 
to rest upon that day, unless it is implied in the expression, 
“ and God blessed and sanctified the seventh day.” If this 
expression is thus to be understood, it unavoidably leads to 
the conclusion that the writer of this record was a Jew, 
and was perfectly familiar with the Sabbath, and the rea­
son assigned in the fourth commandment for its observ­
ance. 
There is no possibility of knowing who was used 
by the Divine Spirit to record this account of the creation. 
I incline to think that it was Ezra, and that it is to be 
read thus, “God finished the work of creation on the 
seventh day, and rested; and for this reason, He consecra­
ted the seventh day to be kept as a Sabbath, as it is en­
joined in the commandment.” 
The record is—not that 
God instituted the seventh day Sabbath at the time of fin­
ishing Creation,—but that he instituted it for the reason 
that he rested from his work on that day. It is extremely 
absurd to adduce thq fact that God rested the seventh day 
as a reason why Christians should rest on the first, or 
some other, day of the week; or to argue from the fact 
that “ He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it,” that 
he has blessed and sanctified the first day. 
That he has 
declared the seventh day holy is no reason why we should 
regard the first or some other day as holy,
An attempt is made to prove from various passages in 
Genesis, that the seventh day Sabbath was known and ob­
served by Noah, Abraham, and the patriarchs. This, they 
say, is to be inferred from the use of the number seven. 
That sevenfold vengeance was to be taken upon the slay­
er of Cain; that Lamech was to be avenged seventy and 
seven fold; that Noah was to take beasts and fowls into 
the ark by sevens; that the waters were upon the earth 
after seven days; that the ark rested in the seventh month, 
on the seventeenth day of the month; that the dove was
7
sent forth from the ark the second time after seven days; 
the seven fat and the seven lean kine; and the seven years 
of plenty, and the seven years of famine; these, and other 
like passages, are quoted to prove that the seventh day Sab­
bath was instituted at the creation, and that it was known 
and observed among the Hebrews and other nations, down 
to the promulgation of the law from Sinai; and that a 
Sabbath will be binding on the world to the end of time. 
Having alluded to the argument, I dismiss it as undeserv­
ing of further notice. 
As well argue from the common 
use of the number ten in Britain, that God instituted a 
tenth day Sabbath at creation.
All the references to the Sabbath by the prophets, allude 
solely to the Jewish Sabbath, as a national institution; 
and by them it is uniformly classed with new moons, sacri­
fices, and other national rites and customs that were to pass 
away at the coming of the Messiah.
The New Testament.—The following allusions are made 
to the first day of the week in the Christian Scriptures. 
“ In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn towards 
the first day of the week,” &,c. (Mat. xxviii. 1.) 
Each of 
the evangelists alludes to it in this connection. 
In John 
xx. 19, is another allusion to it. 
Acts xx. 7, “ And upon 
tht first day of the week, when the disciples came together 
to break bread,” &c. 
1 Cor. xvi. 2, “ Upon the first day
of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store,” &c. 
These are the only passges that refer to the first day at all; 
and the only things to which allusion is here made is “ the 
breaking of bread,” and the “givingof alms.” 
There is 
no intimation of the duty to observe the first day as a Sab­
bath ; not a word about resting from labor, or marking the 
day by any distinct observance, for they brake bread and 
gave alms on other days as well as on this. 
There is not 
a passage in the Christian Scriptures designating any par­
ticular duty as appropriate to the first day of the week ; 
nor a passage that teaches that any thing would be wrong 
on the first day, which it would be right to do on any other 
day. 
If there be such passages, they can be produced— 
till they are produced, there can be no argument about 
them.
The positions assumed by Sabbatarians are—that God 
has commanded us to spend the first day of the week in a 
certain manner; that He has specified certain acts to be
8
done on that day, and certain acts not to be done; that 
He has appropriated first day especially to religious pur­
poses, and to a more serious and earnest preparation of the 
soul for eternity; in a word, that He has substituted the 
first day to be observed as a Sabbath instead of the seventh. 
Every man, who has been baptized with the baptism of the 
Divine Spirit, and received the kingdom of God as a little 
child, will devote, not only the first day, but every day of 
the week to God, and make it his aim, without regard to 
times and places, to become a temple meet for the indwell­
ing of the Holy One—but he will seek in vain, in the Gos­
pel, for authority to be more diligent in this work on first 
than on any other day. 
He will search in vain for a sin­
gle passage to mark any duty that is especially appropriate 
to the first day of the week. 
Christianity is not something 
that can be done up and ended in a given time and place, 
but an ever-moving, ever-present principle of action,— 
equally and alike controlling all the words and actions of 
life, without regard to time or place. 
It regenerates the 
soul, and purifies the life of him who possesses it. 
If God 
has assigned particular, specified duties to the first day of 
the week—as Sabbatarians assert—let them produce the 
“ thus saith the Lord.” 
They can do it, if the fact be so; 
and they are bound to do it. 
Let every humble inquirer 
after truth sit at the feet of Jesus—search every chapter 
and verse of the New Testament—and see if God has 
specified peculiar duties as appropriate to the first day of 
the week—see if He has enjoined its observance as a Sab­
bath.
True, the Disciples met to break bread on first day. So 
they did on other days—(Acts ii. 46, 47; vi. ], 2,4.) 
They met to pray, to prophesy, to exhort, and devise ways 
and means to spread the Gospel on all days, without 
regard to a first or seventh day Sabbath. If the fact, that 
they met on first day, proves that they observed that as a 
Sabbath, the same argument proves that they observed the 
seventh and every other day as a Sabbath.
One fact is worthy of notice here — that while Christ 
and the Apostles repeatedly quote and explain, each of the 
other commands of the Decalogue, they never once refer 
to the Jourthy or give any explanation of it. 
Would they 
thus have been so entirely silent about it, had it contained 
an obligation so essential to the existence and perpetuity 
of the Gospel Kingdom, as Sabbatarians say it does ?
9
OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN.
Though I have but small regard for human authority, in 
settling this or any other question of Christianity, I wish 
to call your attention to the opinions of men whose writ­
ings on Christian doctrines and morals are considered of 
standard value among their various adherents. 
As to tal­
ent and learning, they were inferior to none in modern 
times, and thus far their views on the first day Sabbath 
may be said to be entitled to respect. 
When such men 
put forth opinions, they should at least receive a respectful 
hearing.
CALVIN.
“ He (Christ) is the true completion of the Sabbath. ‘ We are burled with him 
by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the 
glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.’ (Rom. vl.) 
Hence, as the apostle elsewhere says, ( Let no man, therefore,Judge you in re­
spect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of THE SABBATH ; which are a 
shadow of things to come; but the body is Christ;* (Col. ii. 16, 17,) —meaning 
by body the whole essence of truth, as is well explained in the passage. 
This is 
not contained in one day in seven, but requires the whole course of our lives, until 
being completely dead to ourselves, we are filled with the life of God. 
Christ­
ians, therefore, should have nothing to do with a superstitious observance of 
days.”
“ We do not celebrate it with minute formality, as a ceremony by which we 
imagine that a spiritual mystery is typified, but we adopt it as a necessary rem­
edy for preserving order in the church. Paul informs us that Christians are not to 
be judged in respect of its observance, because it is a shadow of something to 
come, (Col. ii. 16,) and accordingly he expresses a fear lest his labors among the 
Galatians should prove in vain, because they still observed days, (Gal. iv. 10,11.) 
And he tells the Romans that it is superstitious to make one day differ from an­
other. (Rom. i. 4,5.)”
“ It was not without reason that Christians substituted what we call the Lord’s 
Day for the Sabbath. The resurrection of our Lord being the end and accom­
plishment of that true rest, which the ancient Sabbath typified, this day, by which 
types were abolishedi serves to warn Christians against adhering to shadowy cere­
monies.”
“ 1 do not so cling to the number seven as to advise the Church to an inviolable 
adherence toil; nor do I condemn Churches for holding their meetings on other 
days, provided they guard against superstition. This they will do if they em­
ploy the Sabbath merely for the observance of order.”
“ The whole may be thus summed up. 
As the truth was delivered typically 
to the Jews, so it is imparted to us without figure.
j
£e_That during our whole lives, we may aim at constant rest from our 
works, in order that the Lord may work in us by his Spirit.
Secondly — That every individual, as he has opportunity, may diligently exer­
cise himself in private meditation on the works of God: at the same time, that all 
may observe the legitimate order, appointed by the Churchy for the hearing of the 
word, the administration of the sacraments and public prayejfo and
Thirdly — That we may avoid oppressing those who are sm^ct to us.”
“ Thus vanish all the dreams of false prophets, who in past ages have taught 
the people Jewish notions—dedaring that only the ceremonial part of this command­
ment (which, as they say, is the appointment of the seventh day), has been abro­
gated, but that the moral part of it — that is the observance of one day in seven — 
still remains. 
But this is only changing the day in contempt of the Jews, while 
the same opinion of the holiness of the day is retained ; for, on the same princi­
ple, the same mysterious signification would still be attributed to particular days, 
which prevailed among the Jews. And, in truth, we see what advantages have 
come of it. Those who cling to it far exceed the Jews in a gross, carnal, supers 
stitious observance of the Sabbath ; so that the reproofs we read of in Isaiah (I. 
13.; Iviii. 13), apply as much to those of the present day, as to those whom the 
prophet addressed then.” 
(Calvin's Institutes, Book II. Chap. 8.)
10
Thus Calvin, the oracle of Presbyterian divinity, affirms 
that the fourth commandment has no place in the Christ­
ian code; and that it is of no authority to prove that 
Christians are bound to observe any day as an observance, 
or that one day in seven is to be any more specially con­
secrated to God than all the rest. 
He finds no authority 
for a special consecration of a seventh part of our time to 
God — but he urges to entire consecration of ourselves to 
God all the time. He exhorts men to be filled with the life 
of God, not merely one day in seven, but during the whole 
course of their life. 
Calvin rejected the Divine obligation 
of a Sabbath, under the Christian dispensation.
I can but quote the opinion of Belsham on the subject, 
in connection with Calvin; for it is remarkable that while 
they differ heaven-wide in their theological views, they ex­
actly agree in regard to a Christian Sabbath.
BELSHAM.
“ Nothing can be more explicit than the Apostle’s declaration of the entire ab­
rogation of the Jewish Sabbath, which is plainly no more obligatory upon Christ­
ians, than the institution of the passover. 
The fourth commandment is a precept 
which has no place in the Christian lawt and ought never to be appealed to as an argu­
ment for a Sabbatical institution. And it behooves those who think the observa­
tion of a day of Sabbatical rest is of such high importance under the Christian 
dispensation, and who are so loud in their charges against those who deny, or, 
as they call it, profane the Sabbath, to show what authority they have for this im­
position. I see none. The old Sabbath is expressly repealed, and no new one 
enjoined in its stead : always, however, keeping in mind the very obvious and 
important distinction between the Lord’s day as a weekly religious festival in joy­
ful commemoration of the resurrection of Christ, in which way it has been uni­
versally observed from the beginning; and not as a day of Sabbatical rest from the 
common employments and innocent amusements of life, for which there is no 
precept in the New Testament, and no example in the primitive Chureh; the 
practice of which was universally discountenanced in the primitive Churcht and 
which, to this day, prevails only in a small proportion of the Protestant Churches 
in Europe, and among their descendents in America.
In Justin’s dialogue with Trypho, the Jew objects to Christians that, “pretend­
ing to excel others, they observe no Sabbaths.” Justin replies: “ The law will have 
you keep a perpetual Sabbath. You, when you have passed a day in idleness, think 
you are religious. 
The Lord our God is not pleased with such things as these. 
If any one is guilty of perjury and fraud, let him reform ; if he be an adulterer, 
let him repent; and he will then have kept the kind of Sabbath truly pleasing to 
God. You see that the elements are never idle, and keep no Sabbath. There 
was no need of the observation of Sabbaths before Moses, neither now is there 
any need of them after Christ.”
“ As the law of the country requires suspension from labor on the Lord’s day, 
it is the duty of sdjfects to obey (civil, not religious duty). 
But surely this Sab­
batical observation of the day can never be of that high moral importance which 
many apprehend; otherwise Christ and his Apostles would never have been so totally 
silent upon the subject. But will-worship was not confined to the Apostolic age: 
and the censures passed upon those who do not Sabbatise like others, are as loud 
and as bitter now as they were seventeen hundred years ago. Let those, there­
fore, who determine to stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made them 
free, while they sanctify every day as a Sabbath, by abstaining from all evil, as 
advised by the holy martyr, encourage themselves at the same time by the ex­
hortation of the Apostle, and suffer no man to judge them with respect to the 
Sabbath day. Regard no man’s censure, of whatever rank, or degree, or preten­
sions, for not receiving as of divine authority, institutions which Christ, as our
11
sole heady who possesses all authority and power in the Church, hath not requir­
ed.”
“ The Sabbatical observation of the Lord’s Day is, by mauy learned writers,.. 
placed upon the ground of expediency alone. And if it be expedient, let it be ob­
served ; but in the name of all that is sacred, let not expedients of human device 
be substituted as injunctions of Divine authority. The plain question is, Wheth­
er the Sabbatical observation of the Lord’s Day is enjoined by Divine authority ? 
If it be, let the order be shown, and it shall be obeyed. In the New Testament, I: 
see the Jewish Sabbath plainly abrogated j 1 see no Sabbatical institution ap­
pointed in its place; and I know that the primitive church explicitly denounced 
any such institution. I conclude therefore that Christ, our only Master, saw no 
necessity tor appointing an institution, without which, as many now think, the 
Christian religion could not exist. 
In whose judgment may we most safely con­
fide ? ”
Irenceus once said — commenting on what the Apostle 
says about holy days and Sabbaths,
“ It was not the Apostle’s mind to prescribe anything touching holy days, but 
to preach godliness and a good conversation.”
The views of Luther, Melancthon, and all the leading 
men of the Reformation, in Germany, on this subject, are 
found in the celebrated Augsburg Confession of Faith, 
drawn up by Melancthon, and presented to the Emperor 
Charles V., in 1530, at the Diet of Augsburg. It is a sum­
mary statement of the distinctive doctrines of the Reform­
ation. 
In this it is asked,
“ What is then to be thought of the Lord’s Day, and such like rites used In / 
the Church ? ” 
(I quote from an old collection of Confessions of Faith, printed 
in 1656. The answer is,) “ That it is lawful for bishops and pastors to appoint 
ordinances—not that men’s consciences should be bound to esteem them neces­
sary services, and to think that they sin whea they violate any of them. So 
Paul ordained that women should cover their heads in the congregation j that the 
interpreters should be heard in course or order in the Church.”
“ Such like ordinances (as the first day Sabbath) the churches should keep for 
charity and quietness’ sake, so that they offend not one another, that all things 
may be done in order, and without tumult in the Church; but yet with this cau­
tion, that men’s consciences be not burdened, so as they should account them as 
things Accessary to salvation, and think they did sin when they break any of ' 
them without offence of others; as no man would say that a woman doth wrong 
if she come abroad uncovered.”
“ Of this sort is the observation of the Lord’s Day, of Easter, of Pentecost, and 
such like holy days and rites; for they that think that the observation of thk : 
lord’s dat was appointed by the authority of the Church instead of the sab­
bath, as necessary, they are greatly deceived. The Scripture requireth that the 
observation of it should be more free; for it teacheth that the Mosaical ceremo­
nies are not needful after the Gospel is revealed. And yet because it was requi­
site to appoint a certain day that the people might know when to come together,. 
it seemeth that the Church did for that purpose appoint the Lord’s Day; which * 
day, for this cause, also seemed to have better pleased the Church, that in it men 
might have an example of Christian liberty, and might know that the observation,, 
neither of the Sabbath, nor ant other dat, was of necessity.”
** There are extant monstrous disputations touching the change of the Sabbath, 
which have sprung up from a false persuasion that there should be worship in the - 
Church like to the Levitical worship. They dispute about holy days, and pre­
scribe how far it is lawful to work in them. What else are such disputations but 
snares for men’s consciences ? ”
This is explicit as it can be. That Confession, embody­
ing the leading doctrines of the Reformation, and sanc­
tioned by those who gave up all for what they conceived
12
to be the truth as it is in Jesus, and drawn up by one of 
the purest and most learned men that adorn the history of 
the Church, distinctly declares that the first day Sabbath 
is merely a human institution; beneficial indeed, but yet 
human; and urges, that there is no such sin under the 
Christian dispensation as the sin of Sabbath desecration.
The following is translated from the Wittemberg edition 
of the same Confession, published in 1535: —
“ As for the Sabbath, we be lords of the Sabbath, and may yet change it to 
Monday, or any other day as we may see need; or we may make every tenth 
day holy, if we see cause why* 
Neither was there any cause to change it from 
the Saturday, save only to put a difference between us and the Jews. Neither 
heed we art holy day at all, if the people might be taught without it.”
LUTHER,
As quoted by Coleridge in his Table Talk, says of the 
Christian day of rest,
“ Keep it holy, for its use sake, both to body and soul! 
But if anywhere the 
day is made holy for the mere day’s sake — if anywhere any one sets up its ob­
servance upon a Jewish foundation, then I order you to work on it, to ride on it, 
to dance on it, to do anything that shall reprove this encroachment on the Christ­
ian spirit and liberty.”
FRIENDS.
In this connection, I will quote the opinions of the So­
ciety of Friends, who, from the first, have held the view 
that Christians are under no obligation to keep a Sabbath, 
— that Christianity consecrates, not times and places, but 
men and women to God, and requires us not to keep days, 
but ourselves holy. 
They never use the word Sabbath or 
Lortfs Day — holding that life should be a Sabbath of 
rest from siny and every day esteemed alike the Lord’s 
day. 
I quote from their standard authors.
BARCLAY.
“ We may not think that these days are holy, being persuaded that aU days are 
alike holy in the sight of God.”
“ We, not seeing any ground in Scripture for it, cannot be so superstitious as to 
believe, that either the Jewish Sabbath continues, or that the first day of the week 
is the antetype thereof, or the true Christian Sabbath; which, with Calvin, we 
believe to have a more spiritual sense; and therefore we know no moral obligation 
by the fourth command, or elsewhere, to keep the first day of the week more than 
any other, or any holiness inherent in it. But, first, inasmuch as it is necessary 
that there be some time set apart for the saints to meet together to wait upon 
God; and that, secondly, it is fit at some times that they be freed from their other 
outward affairs; and that, thirdly, reason and equity doth allow that servants and 
beasts have some time allowed them to be eased from their continual labor; and, 
fourthly, it appears that the Apostles and primitive Christians did use the first day 
for these purposes; we find ourselves sufficiently moved, for these causes, to do 
bo also; without superstitiously straining the Scriptures for another reason ; which, 
that it is not to be there found, many Protestants, yea, Calvin himself, upon the 
fourth command, hath abundantly evinced.”
(Barclay’s Apology, Ilfk Proposition,)
13
DYMOND.
The early Christians met, not on the last but on the first day of the week. 
Whatever reason may be assigned os a motive for this rejection of the ancient 
Sabbath, I think it will tend to discountenance the observation of any day as 
such; for if that day did not possess perpetual sanctity, what day does pcssess it? 
And with respect to the general tenor of the Christian Scriptures, as to the sanc­
tity of particular days, it is, I think, manifestly adverse to the opinion that one 
day is obligatory rather than another.” 
(Dymond's Essays.)
PALEY.
“ In my opinion, the transaction in the wilderness above related (Ex. xvL), was 
the first actual institution of the Sabbath.” 
“ The words (Gen. ii. 2, 3.) do not 
assert that God then blessed and sanctified the seventh day, but that he blessed 
and sanctified it for that reason.” “ St. Paul evidently appears to have considered 
the Sabbath a part of the Jewish ritual, and not obligatory upon Christians as 
such.” (Col. ii. 16,17). “ A cessation upon that day, from labor, beyond the time 
of attendance upon public worship, is not intimated in any part of the New Testa­
ment; nor did Christ or his Apostles deliver, that we know of, any commands 
to their Disciples for a discontinuance, upon that day, of the common affairs of 
their professions.” “ The opinion that Christ and his Apostles meant to retain 
the duties of the Jewish Sabbath, shifting only the day from the seventh to the 
first, seems to prevail without sufficient reason; nor does any evidence remain in 
the Scripture, (of what, however, is not improbable,) that the first day of the week 
was thus distinguished in commemoration of our Lord’s death.”
x 
(Palsy's Philosophy.)
WHATELY.
Dr. Whately, the present Archbishop of Dublin, has 
published a work embodying the views of Calvin and the 
Friends on this subject; and clearly established the posi­
tion, that no authority can be derived from the Bible for 
the observance of the first day Sabbath. 
He says in Note 
A to Essay V., on the writings of St. Paul,
“ In saying that there is no mention of the Lord’s day in the Mosaic law, I 
mean, that there is not only no mention of that specific festival which Christians 
observe on the first day of the week, in memory of our Lord’s resurrection on the 
morning following the Jewish Sabbath, but that there is not any injunction to 
sanctify one day in seven. Throughout the whole of the Old Testament, we never 
hear of keeping holy some one day in every seven, but the seventh day, as the day 
in which God ‘ rested from all His works.’ ”
“ I cannot, therefore, but think that the error was less, of those early Christians^ 
who, conceiving the injunction relative to the Sabbath to be binding on them, 
obeyed it just as it was given, than those who, admitting the eternaj obligation 
of the precept, yet presume to alter it on the authority of tradition. Surely, if we 
allow that the tradition of the Church is competent to change the express com­
mands of God, we are falling into one of the most dangerous errors of the Ro­
manists.”
“ But in the present case, there is not even any tradition to the purpose. It is 
not merely that the Apostles left us no command perpetuating the observance of 
the Sabbath, and transferring the day from the seventh to the first such a change, 
certainly, would have been authorized by their express injunction, and by nothing 
short of that; since an express Divine command can be changed, or altered only 
by the same power, and by the same distinct revelation, by which it was deliver­
ed. But, not only is there no Apostolic injunction, than which nothing less would 
be sufficient; there is not even any tradition of their having made such a change; 
nay, more, it is even abundantly plain that they made no such change.”
In stating his reasons for discussing this subject, Whate— 
ly remarks: —
2
14
“ Another reason for dwelling on the view I have thus taken is, the strong dis­
position in many Christians to satisfy their conscience by devoting to God only 
one day in seven, while the rest of their time is given up to the world, with little 
or no thought of religion.”
“ Christians need, therefore, to be often reminded that they are required not 
merely not to (think their own thoughts ’ on one day in the week, but as the re­
deemed of Christ, to live henceforth not unto themselves, but unto Him that died 
for them and rose again j and whatever they do, to do all to the glory of God. 
Numerous early Christian Fathers, accordingly, in their commentaries on the 
Decalogue, describe the Jewish Sabbath as corresponding in the analogous 
scheme of Christianity, not so much to the Lord's Day, as to the whole life of the 
Christian, to abstinence from all works that may draw off his affections from God, 
and to his complete dedication of himself to his service, See Athanasius, Horn, 
de Sab. 3 Hieronymous, in Decalog. 3 Origin, Tract 19, in Matt. 3 Chrysostom, 
Horn. 39, in Matt. xii.; Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho 3 Clemens of Alex­
andria, Strom. lib. IV. 3 and Augustine passim. I refer, however, to these, and 
other human authorities, not as guides to regulate our faith and practice, for I am 
taught to call no man Master 3 but merely to show that the novelty which has been 
attributed to my views lies, in fact, on the other side.”
Thus my views of the Sabbath exactly coincide with 
those of Calvin, Luther, and Melancthon; with those of 
Barclay, Penn, Fox, and the whole Society of Friends; 
with those of Paley, long a standard author in the colleges 
and universities of Great Britain ; with those of Whately; 
and above all, with the New Testament, as I have shown.
Every now and then, Presbyterians publish an edition 
of Calvin’s Institutes. 
Do the people of America know 
that the Presbyterian Church, the Andover, New Haven, 
New York, and Princeton Theological Seminaries, are 
continually circulating the opinion, that the first day 
Sabbath is not of Divine appointment ? 
They should not 
be surprised that persons should occasionally be found 
who believe what they publish. 
No man is supposed to 
be fitted for a Presbyterian minister till he has studied an 
author, (Calvin,) who strenuously insists that the Jewish 
Scriptures are of no authority to establish the doctrine of a 
first day Sabbath. 
The writer who thus teaches is a 
standard author in the libraries of all the ministers, and 
theological schools of Britain and America. 
Why then 
should it seem so strange that some men should be found 
to embrace the Anti-Sabbath views of an author so 
widely circulated, so highly applauded, and so universally 
regarded as a standard writer on Christian doctrine and 
morals? 
Are the professed ministers and followers of 
Christ aware that when they say of me, “ This man can­
not be a Christian, for he denies the Divine obligation of 
a one-day-in-seven Sabbath, and holds that every day 
should be alike consecrated to God and to rest from sin,” 
they also cast the whole Society of Friends, with Luther,
15
Melancthon, Calvin, and ST. PAUL, out of the pale of 
Christianity ?
There are certain phrases dn common use, touching a 
Sabbath, which, as now understood, are peculiarly adapt­
ed to perpetuate the reign of error on this subject. 
Some 
of these I will notice.
HOLY DAY.
When used in the Jewish Scriptures, this phrase is per­
fectly intelligible. 
Holy, as connected with day, or Sab­
bath, has the same meaning as when applied to house, or 
garment. 
It means a thing set apart to a particular use, 
without regard to whether that use be good or evil. 
By 
holy day was meant a day set apart for rest from labor, and 
it was called holy because thus set apart.
But it is remarkable, that not one allusion is made in 
the Christian Scriptures to a holy day. We read of holy 
men and women, but not one word about holy times and 
places, except by way of condemnation. 
The kingdom of 
Christ takes no account of holy days, but of holy hearts; 
it attaches no importance to a holy Sabbath, but all im­
portance to a holy life. 
In this kingdom, a holy Sabbath 
can never be substituted for a holy man.
KEEP THE DAY HOLY.
Sabbatarians frequently urge upon the people the duty 
to keep first day holy. 
Not one word is said by Christ or 
the Apostles about keeping that, or any other day, holy. 
Men are commanded and entreated to keep themselves 
holy. 
“Be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is per­
fect.” 
“ Be ye holy, for I am holy.” 
“ As He who hath 
called you is holy, so be ye holy,” in your daily walk and 
deportment. 
“ Every man that hath this hope in him pu- 
rifieth himself even as he (Christ) is pure.” 
Such are the 
earnest injunctions of Christianity. Its great concern is 
that men, by the Divine aid, should keep themselves pure 
and holy — declaring that the “ pure in heart only shall 
see God; ” and that “ without holiness, no man shall see 
the Lord ; ” but not a thought, not a word does it bestow 
on keeping a day holy.
Why, then, do professed ministers and followers of
16
Christ now bestow so much anxious thought and effort to 
induce men to keep a day holy, seeing their Divine Mas­
ter never alludes to it ? If all this effort were expended in 
urging men to keep themselves holy and unspotted from 
the world, without regard to time and place, it would be 
far more Christian, and far more effective. 
It is an evil 
device; and enables millions to maintain a character for 
zeal for God by being zealous to keep a day holy, while 
they themselves live in the habitual commission of gross 
iniquity.
But you ask, Are we not bound to keep the first day 
holy? 
We are bound to live holy during that day; and if 
this is what you mean by keeping the day holy, I freely 
admit the obligation. 
But I would ask, How are other 
days to be kept? 
That is, How are we to live during the 
rest of the week ? During the whole of first day, we are to 
keep ourselves holy, blameless, and without reproach. 
How are we to keep ourselves during the rest of the week? 
We are under as sacred an obligation to keep each and 
every other day holy, in this only sense in which the 
phrase can have any meaning to the Christian, as we are 
to keep the first day holy. The Christian doctrine is, that 
men are required to keep no day holy, but to keep them­
selves holy, unblameable, and abounding in the work of 
the Lord, during the whole of each day, having no regard 
to any time as holy, but prayerfully, earnestly, and in Di­
vine strength, struggling after a holy life.
No matter how the day is kept, provided the heart and 
the life are kept holy. 
Have no concern about the day; 
but keep the heart and life with all diligence. 
Bestow 
not a thought upon the day, to know whether it be first, 
second, or third day, so far as any sacredness is to be at­
tached to it; but let it be an object of ceaseless prayer ajid 
solicitude to bring every feeling and thought under the 
control of the Divine Spirit—to keep the affections on 
things above—and thus to have the mind and to live the 
life of Christ.
Cease from labor during first day ; complying with the 
custom of society because it is a good custom—useful to 
man and beast—but attach no more importance or holiness 
to rest on that than on another day, when it is needed. 
Have no respect to the first day as a Sabbath, but be anx­
ious to glorify God every day and in all you do, and to love
17
and respect man in all times and places. 
Look not after 
God in a holy day, a new moon, or Sabbath; in Jerusa­
lem, or in the mountains of Samaria: but see Him in man, 
his own child, thy brother. 
Go, see Him in the slave, 
bought and sold; in the drunkard; in the despised and 
down-trodden; in the criminal on the gallows; in the 
mangled victims of war on the battle-field. 
See Him in 
thine own soul. God dwells not in Sabbaths, nor in tem­
ples made with hands; but in humble hearts and contrite 
spirits. 
Keep thy heart humble, and thy spirit contrite, 
and God will dwell in thee. 
Be not concerned to dwell 
in first day as an outward Sabbath; but let thine all-ab­
sorbing concern be to dwell in love, that God may dwell in 
thee, and thou in Him. 
Then would every day be to thee 
a Sabbath ; and, as Calvin says, “ Thou wouldst find thy 
Sabbath in the whole course of thy life; for, being dead 
to thyself, thou wouldest be filled with the life of God.”
CONSECRATTNG THE DAY TO GOD.
You will ask, Are we not bound to consecrate first day 
to God? 
Yes. 
But to whom is the rest of the week to 
be consecrated ? 
I find no license in the Christian Scrip­
tures, or elsewhere, to consecrate any portion of time to 
Mammon, to Moloch, or to Belial; but every day and hour 
is to be consecrated to God. 
We are under no more obli­
gation to devote first day to Him than any other.
But you ask, Are we not to consecrate the first day es­
pecially to God ? 
Yes. 
And to whom are we to conse* 
crate especially the others? 
Especially to ourselves; 
especially to Mammon ; especially to selling whiskey and 
making drunkards; especially to enslaving and killing 
men? 
Every day shoald be especially consecrated to 
God; or rather, speaking in a Christian sense, we are to 
consecrate no day to God, but ourselves, every day and 
hour. Christianity especially sanctifies and consecrates, 
not days and temples, but men and women; and requires 
us to present to God, not a first, or seventh day Sabbath, 
or any mere outward sacrifice; but, by the mercies of 
God, it beseeches us “ to present ourselves a living sacri­
fice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable 
service.” 
How? We are told in the same twelfth chap­
ter of Romans. 
Not by sanctifying and consecrating first 
day as a Sabbath, but “ by love without dissimulation; by 
2*
18
abhorring evil and choosing good; by kindly affection one 
to another; by joy in hope, and patience in tribulation; 
by returning to no man evil for evil; by love for hate, 
blessing for cursing, and good for evil; by love to ene­
mies, and forgiveness of injuries.” 
Let men thus conse­
crate themselves a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, 
during every day, and they need not be troubled about a 
Sabbatical observance; for then will all time be conse­
crated to God in the only sense in which it can be.
But you will say, The first day of the week is to be set 
apart to religious services. 
True ; and to what services 
are the other days to be set apart 1 To irreligious and 
profane ? Not one word is said by Christ or the Apostles 
about setting apart first day, or any other day, to religious 
purposes; but they urge us to set apart all our life to pur­
poses of devotion and obedience. 
As well talk of setting 
apart a particular day to believe in Christ, to love our 
neighbor as ourselves, to do justly, to love mercy, and to 
walk humbly, as of consecrating a day to religious services. 
Every act of life should be done as a religious service—an 
act of devotion, or Christian worship.
But you may ask, Are we to set apart no time for read­
ing the Scriptures, for public conversation, and for mutual 
exhortation? Yes—assuredly—these things are needful 
as means of grace: and we must have times and places to 
attend to them. 
But why call that religious service which 
is but the means to incite to religious service ? Why call 
that worship which is but a means to unite our souls to 
Christ, and to excite us to offer true worship 1 
Religious 
service, or Christian devotion or worship, is this,—“ to 
visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, and to 
keep ourselves unspotted from the world, and to have not 
the faith of our Lord with respect of persons”—“ to break 
every yoke, and let the oppressed go free—to beat the 
sword into a ploughshare, and learn war no more.” 
“I 
was an hungered, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and 
je gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in ; 
naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; 
I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” 
“ When, Lord, 
did we do these things unto thee ?” “ Inasmuch as ye have 
done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto 
me.” This is religious service—this is Christian worship.
To produce in us this mind that was in Christ, and to
19
lead us thus to walk in the steps of Jesus, should we read 
the Scriptures, meditate, assemble ourselves together, ex­
hort one another, and stir up one another’s minds by way 
of remembrance. 
And to use these means, we need set 
times and places; but we are not to forget the great end 
in view, by doing homage to the means, and to the times, 
and places set apart for using them. 
To produce sancti­
fied men and women, and not days, is the aim of Christian­
ity, and to this end should all our attention and desire be 
directed;—but it is no more acceptable to seek this on 
first day than at other times; and to pray, to read the 
Scriptures, and to go to meeting, are as adapted to pro­
mote the great object on any other day of the week as on 
the first.
SABBATH 
DESECRATION.
What is called the sin of Sabbath breaking is an act or 
word which is sinful, not because it is, in itself or its 
effects, a violation of a moral principle, but because of the 
day in which it is done or spoken. Thus an act which is 
right at noon on seventh day, is said to be wrong at noon 
on first day, simply because of the difference of days. The 
only difference is this ; in the former case, it was done on 
seventh day, and in the latter, it was done on the first or 
Sabbath day; and this fact is supposed to make the one 
sinful, and the other not. 
It seems to me a self-evident 
truth, that no action can be right or wrong simply because 
of the time or place in which it is done. 
The fact that 
they are, or are not, violations of moral principles, is what 
makes all actions right or wrong. 
Christianity specifies 
no acts as wrong because of the day in which they are 
done. 
It distinctly repudiates this Sabbatarian rule of 
judging human conduct.
It is remarkable that not one allusion is made by Christ 
or the Apostles to the sin of Sabbath desecration. They 
are ever warning men against defiling themselves, but never 
utter a word against desecrating a day. 
So far as their 
precepts and example touch upon the subject, in reference 
to the Jewish Sabbath, they lead to the conclusion, that 
there is no such sin under the Christian dispensation.
The question of a Sabbatical observance was often and 
strongly agitated between the Jewish and Gentile converts; 
the former declaring it was necessary to keep the law of
20
Moses in this as in other particulars; the latter denying 
the obligation, and refusing compliance. 
The Apostlea 
met at Jerusalem to consider the matter, and in their 
epistle to the churches, they say not a word about resting 
the first day, or keeping it as a Sabbath instead of the 
seventh. 
The writings of the New Testament narrate the 
history of Christianity for about seventy years from its 
commencement on earth in the person of Christ; and they 
give not a hint that the fourth command contains a per­
petual obligation to keep a Sabbath ; nor do they allude to 
the substitution of the first day as a Christian Sabbath; 
nor do they hint at the sin of Sabbath breaking: but 
clearly teach that there is and can be no such sin under 
the Christian system. 
The pollution of human beings by 
drunkenness, by slavery and war, by adultery and oppres­
sion, by anger and revenge, by pride and ambition, by lust 
and avarice, they constantly and earnestly deprecate; but 
to the desecration of a day, they never allude.
Why, then, do men now talk so much about this sin t 
Societies are formed, committees are appointed, and vast 
sums of money are expended, to put down the sin of Sab­
bath desecration—a sin that cannot exist under the Chris­
tian dispensation—for Christianity has no Sabbath of 
Divine appointment to violate. 
Petitions are sent to Leg­
islatures, and the strong arm of governmental violence is 
invoked to abolish the sin of Sabbath breaking. 
Tens of 
thousands petition government, by violence, to close whis­
ky, gin, and beer shops on first day—not because they 
believe selling intoxicating liquors degrades man—for they 
themselves make, drink, and sell them on other days; but 
because they say it desecrates the dayy it violates theSab­
bath to do this on first day. 
These very petitioners go to 
the liquor shops on seventh or second day, and buy and 
drink, and pretend that it does them good. 
Those days 
are not desecrated by such deeds. 
But they denounce all 
who enter these shops, and buy and drink on the Jirst day, 
because that day is susceptible of being desecrated by such 
acts. 
They contend that the liquor trade does not dese­
crate the man, but the day. 
Thus sustaining the hurtful 
doctrine, that actions which have no power to desecrate 
man, have power to desecrate a day. 
They are more 
anxious to preserve a Sabbatical observance inviolate, than 
man.
21
If Christ be in us the hope of glory; if we seek to be 
blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke; 
if, in humble reliance on Christ, as the “ Lamb of God, to 
take away sin,” we seek after “ whatsoever things are 
true, whatsoever things are honest, and whatsoever things 
are just, pure, lovely, and of good reportif we thus re­
ceive the kingdom of God in the meekness and simplicity 
of a little child, and in the fineness, resolution, and per­
fect self-forgetfulness of martyrs; if thus we receive 
Christianity, not as an observance, an institution, but as 
an abiding principle of action; and God, not as a being of 
time and place, but as an ever-present, all-controlling law 
of life ; then we need have no concern about desecrating 
days and places, for at all times and in all places we shall 
live in the Divine presence; and, though inhabitants of 
earth and in tenements of clay, we shall feel that we live 
and move amid the magnificent but delightful realities of 
eternity. The Christian, whose life is thus hid with 
Christ, and who lives but to worship God in doing good to 
man, need never ask the question how he has observed a 
day, for he knows that he cannot desecrate a Sabbath, so 
long as he does not desecrate himself or his fellow-men. 
His soul enjoys a 'perpetual Sabbath, for he dwells in God, 
and God in him.
Is it said, that no man can receive Christ into his heart 
by faith, walk in his steps, and lead a Christian life, unless 
he observes one day in seven as a Sabbath ? Christ and 
his Apostles gave many tests of Christian character;— 
love to enemies—forgiveness of injuries—and many others. 
But where have they laid down a Sabbatical observance as 
a test ? They themselves paid no regard to the then exist­
ing Sabbath, and say not a word about observing any 
other. Are we unworthy of the Christian name if we walk 
in their steps ? The Sabbatarian principle says, “ Conse­
crate one day in seven especially to God.” 
The Anti- 
Sabbatarian principle says, “ Consecrate every day espe­
cially to God.” The former says, “ Give one day in seven 
especially to religious service—to Divine worship—to the 
concerns of the soulthe latter says, “ Devote every day 
and all of life, to these high and holy objects. Give your­
self to God every day, and on one day with as much sin­
cerity and earnestness is on another.” 
Which of these 
principles is most in accordance with the mind of Christ,
22
and which would be most likely to lead us to walk in his 
steps 1
You ask, Are we not forbidden to think our own 
thoughts, to speak our own words, and to seek our own 
pleasure, on the first day of the week ? True ; and whose 
thoughts are we to think, whose words to speak, and 
whose pleasure to seek, on other days ? If in this way we 
are bound to observe first day, in the same way we are 
equally bound to observe every other day. 
The Divine 
will is to be done on first day. 
Whose will is to be done 
on second day? We are to cherish Divine thoughts and 
feelings on first day. 
What thoughts and feelings ought 
we to cherish during the rest of the week ? 
We must 
speak only chosen, heavenly words on first day. 
What 
words are we to speak at other times ?
This attempt to regulate our lives by the hour is not 
only opposed to the genius of Christianity, but most hurt­
ful in its influence upon the character. To the question, 
How ought I to deport myself at this moment ? I cannot 
return an answer until I ascertain the day of the week. If 
it is first da\jy my feelings, thoughts, words, and actions 
must only be so and so; but if, on looking at the clock, I 
find it past the hour of midnight on first day evening, then 
they may at once assume a different, and even opposite 
character. I cannot tell what to think, until I have con­
sulted the day and the hour. 
Such a standard, of neces­
sity, calls off the mind from the only true fountain of 
thought and action. 
Christy not the clock, is our life and 
light. 
We should look to Him and be saved, and not to 
the calendar.
Such are the practical results of the Sabbatarian prin­
ciple, as it is but too commonly illustrated in the lives of 
its adherents. • How different from the Christian princi­
ple ! 
This teaches us to dwell in love continually, that 
God may dwell in us and we in Him; and thus give to our 
souls a Sabbath of perpetual rest from sin, and to make 
the whole of life one act of Christian worship. 
It teaches, 
not to keep ourselves less holy on first day, but more holy 
on all other days; to sanctify and consecrate ourselves to 
the Holy One, not the less on the first day of the week, 
but the more entirely on that and on all others.
It will be the meat and drink of every Christian, accord­
ing to the example of his Saviour, “ to do the will of Him
23
that sent him, and to finish his work; ” and he will be as 
anxious to do this on the seventh as on the first day. 
He 
will feel no more bound to follow Christ, and to have His 
mind, on one day than on another, and he will be no more 
solicitous “ to bridle his tongue that he offend not in word, 
and to show out of a good conversation his works with 
meekness and wisdom,” on the day of rest, than on the 
days of labor. 
He will feel just as anxious “ to put away 
bitter envyings and strife, and to be pure, peaceable, gen­
tle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, 
without partiality, and without hypocrisy,” on each and 
every other day as on the first. Indeed, he will never ask 
what day of the week it is to ascertain how he shall feel, 
what he shall think, read, write, or speak, or how he shall 
act. 
To determine this, he will have a higher standard, 
even the written Record of his Father’s will, and the ever­
present God within, who rules over the empire of his soul!
Instead of looking at the almanac, to ascertain the day 
of the week, or to the clock, to learn the hour of the 
day, he will look to Him who made all time, and to whom 
all days and hours are alike, and ask, “ Lord, what wilt 
thou have me to do?” and having learned this, he will 
do it, regardless of time or place.
WORKS OP NECESSITY AND MERCY.
It is said, We are to do only works of necessity and 
mercy on first day. 
What others may we do the rest of 
the week ? 
The Christian, whose"delight is to do the will 
of his Heavenly Father, will find no time for other than 
works of necessity and mercy. 
Whether he eats or 
drinks, and whatsoever he does, he will do all as a work 
of necessity and mercy, and to the Divine glory. 
But 
who is to decide what works of necessity and mercy 
are to be done on first day ? Is this to be settled for 
each individual in the nation, by an ecclesiastical coun­
cil, or by the legislature? 
When councils and legisla­
tures will assume the responsibilities of each individual, 
then they will have good cause to decide for him what is 
to be his deportment each day; but so long as “ each must 
account for himself for all the deeds done in the body,” 
each must decide for himself what thoughts, words, and 
acts are appropriate to the passing day; since, in the 
Christian Record, no instruction is given on this point, ex­
24
cept to forbid, on each day, all feelings, thoughts, words, 
and acts, that are contrary to the Divine will, and to the 
law of love.
What may be a work of necessity to one, may not be to 
another; and what may be a work of mercy in one, may be an 
act of cruelty in another; and the question, What is the day 
of the week ? is it the holy day—the Sabbath ? or, is it some 
other day ? can justly have no possible weight in deciding 
the point whether, in a given case, this or that would be an 
act of mercy or charity, or otherwise. 
Do no wrong at 
any time, but “ love one another, with a love that thinketh 
no evil, seeketh not her own ; ” that is all-hoping, all-con­
fiding, all-forgiving, all-enduring, and that never faileth, 
without respect to time or place. 
Such is the Divine in­
junction ; and in deciding what is wrong, the question of 
the day of the week, or the hour of the day, should have 
no influence.
lord’s 
day.
It is said, The first day of the week is the Lords day. 
It is. 
Whose are the other days? 
Man’s? Each and 
every other day is the Lord’s day, as really, and in the 
same sense, as is the first. 
But, Why, it is asked, is the 
first day called the Lords day in the Christian Scriptures? 
It is not. 
In Rev. i. 10, the inspired writer says, “ I was 
in the spirit on the Lord’s day,” (sv 
xvpaxr) r,fxsga. The 
Greek word translated “ Lord’s” is an adjective, joined to
day ” as a qualifying word, and may mean a notable or 
remarkable day.) 
Of this passage it is enough to know, 
that there is not a shadow of evidence that the writer had 
the vision on first day, or that he calls it “ Lord’s day,” 
because it was first day, or in reference to the resurrec­
tion of Christ on that day. 
It is certain the Apostles and 
early Christians were not accustomed so to designate first 
day; for the Acts and the First Epistle to the Corinthians 
were written nearly half a century after the Ascension, 
and first day is alluded to in them, but not as the “ Lord’s 
day,” nor as a Sabbath, but simply as “ the first day of the 
week.” 
To use this phrase to give the impression that 
Christianity thus designates first day; or that it would have 
us regard it as a Sabbath ; or that it attaches to it a sa­
credness and importance which it does not attach to other 
days, is obviously to utter the devices of our own hearts
25
as the oracles of Divine truth, and to teach as the com* - 
mandments of God the traditions of men.
The Christian will regard every day as the Lord’s day;, 
and the fact that it is, will, in his estimation, impart as 
much sanctity and importance to one day as to another 
and he will not thus designate first day to convey the im­
pression that it belongs to the Lord in any peculiar sense, . 
or that men are to think of Him more constantly and rev- - 
erently, and to worship Him more devoutly on that than 
on other days.
But why, it is asked, did the writer say, “ I was in the 
Spirit on the Lord’s day ? ” 
He undoubtedly calls it 
u Lord’s day,” or a divine day, because on that day he was 
favored with the wonderful, overpowering vision. To him 
it was a great and wonderful day. 
To mark it as such, lie 
calls it “ Lord’s day,” — a wonderful, a divine day. This 
is the natural and rational interpretation demanded by the 
words of the text, and by the context; and justified by 
Hebrew idiom.
But, it is asked, Has not God himself appropriated cer­
tain duties to the first day of the week, and certain other 
duties to other days? And if He has, should we not at­
tend to our duties in the order, and at the time of His ap­
pointment? 
Most assuredly. 
“ Thy will be done” is the^ 
Christians prayer — not of his lips only, but of his life* 
He utters it not merely in words, as a periodical observ­
ance, or performance, to be seen of men. It breathes in* 
his every thought and word, and appears in his every act.
K Thy kingdom come. 
Thy will be done.” 
This is the. 
hidden life of his soul, and the outward expression of his 
life; and if God appropriates certain duties to certain 
times, and requires him to keep a strict account of the 
days of the week and hours of the day, in order to knowr 
how to regulate his life, the Christian will obey.
Has the Holy One set up this outward standard for Chris­
tians ? Has He made it incumbent on us to consult the day* 
ox the hour, to determine whether our feelings, thoughts,,, 
words, and acts, are right or wrong ? 
This is the ques- - 
tion. ^Sabbatarians affirm that He has. I search the. 
Christian Record, and find not one allusion to the subject.. 
But I read there of a kingdom within us — the spirit and 
mind of Christ, as a purifying, quickening, governing prin­
ciple of life. 
I read of a M Comforter which is to be in« 
3
26
us, leading us into all truth”— of “God dwelling in us, and 
we in Him.” 
To this unchanging principle — to this life 
of God, in the soul, aided by the written Record of His 
will — I am directed by the Divine teacher, in order to 
decide how to live; but I look in vain for a single inti­
mation that I am to ask — Is it first day, or second, or sev­
enth ? in order to decide the right or wrong of particular 
words and acts.
The Sabbatarian says, “ It is wrong to open that shop 
and sell that whisky to that trembling, tottering, emaciated 
wreck of humanity.” 
Why ? 
Not because whisky sell­
ing pollutes the man, and sends him, where it has sent 
millions of others, to the drunkard’s grave and the drunk­
ard’s eternity; but, because it is the first day of the week, 
the Sabbath! 
It desecrates the day! 
His anxiety is for 
the day, not for the man!
“ It is a sin,” cries the Sabbatarian, “ to run those rail­
way trains on first day!” 
Why ? The day, the day / It 
desecrates the day. 
On any other day it would be right, 
and a duty to run them, a convenience, and a great bless­
ing to us all; but, oh! spare this day. 
It is “ the Lord’s 
day ! ” 
“A holy day! ” 
It is an offence to God, and a 
curse to man, to travel on this day!
“ Stop that mail, shut that post-office,” says the Sabba­
tarian. 
Why? Not because the post-office and the mail 
are detrimental to society, or opposed to Christianity, but 
because it is a sin to receive, to read, to write, post, or 
carry letters on first day. 
It breaks the Sabbath !
So if we would know if it be wrong to sell and drink 
whisky, or right to run railway trains; to read, write, post, 
and carry letters, we must ask, What is the day of the 
week ? What is the hour of the day ?
When is it right to hang that brother, that Christian 
brother, by the neck till he is dead ? The Sabbatarian 
consults the calendar, and answers—“Not to-day. It 
would be a heinous sin to break his neck to-day.” 
Why ? 
“This is the Lord's day,” says the Sabbatarian, “ a holy 
day, a Sabbath ! 
It would desecrate the day! ” 
Would 
it not desecrate the day to hang him to-morrow ? 
“ Oh, 
no,” says the Sabbatarian, “ for that is not the Lord's day, 
nor is it holy as this is.” 
But would it not desecrate the 
man? 
“No,” rejoins the Sabbatarian; “ it would neither 
desecrate the man nor the day to hang him to-morrow, for
27
that day is set apart to such works. 
It w«uld not dese­
crate the man to hang him to-day, but it would desecrate 
the day, because it is the Lord’s day, and holy ! ” 
So the 
dreadful act of blood for blood receives all its atrocity 
from the day in which it happens to be done!!
When shall the battle be fougbt, or that town be bom­
barded and burned, and the women and children slaugh­
tered ? The man-killing Sabbatarian consults the calen­
dar or clock, and says, “Wait a bit. 
It would be a great 
sin to do it now. 
It would desecrate the day. In a few 
moments, the Lord’s holy day will be past, and we shall not 
incur the awful guilt of Sabbath desecration. 
Soon as the 
clock has struck the hour of midnight, then pour your 
cannon balls and bombshells into their nurseries, bedrooms, 
parlors and kitchens; burn, kill, slay, and destroy. More 
the better. 
Though it is often necessary to fight battles, 
and slaughter our brothers and sisters on first day, as a 
sacrifice of sweet-smelling savour to the god of battles, 
whose delight is in human sacrifices thus gloriously offered; 
yet it is well not to desecrate that holy day with blood, if 
we can help it. 
Our forgiving Saviour, who loved us, and 
shed His blood for us, is delighted to see us shed the blood 
of our enemies on other days; but He would rather not 
have us do it to-day, if we can avoid it, for fear it would 
desecrate the day! ”
Read the following : 
The battle of Palo Alto was 
fought May 8, 1846; the battle of Monterey commenced 
Sept. 20, 1846; the battle of Cerro Gordo commenced 
April 18, 1847; Tobasco was attacked on Sunday ; the 
battle of Buena Vista commenced Feb. 21, 1847; Vera 
Cruz surrendered to Scott, Feb. 28, 1847; the battle of 
Sacramento was fought March 28, 1847. All these bloody 
scenes were perpetrated on the day which you esteem holy. 
You have declared to the world that writing, posting and 
carrying letters, and that hunting and starting hares, par­
tridges, deer and other game on Sundays, are sins against 
God ; but not one word have you, as a Society, yet uttered 
against this wholesale slaughter of innocent men, women 
and children on that day. 
By your direct advocacy of 
war, and by your silence, respecting these battles, you 
teach the world that it is pleasant and satisfactory to God 
to have his children shoot one another on his “ Holy day;” 
but that he regards with displeasure those who shoot hares 
on that day ! 
If it is right to shoot men on Saturday, is it
28
not right to shoot them Sunday ? You say it is. Yet, while 
you admit it is right to write, post and carry letters, and 
travel on railways, Saturday and Monday, you hold those 
up as among the vilest sinners, who do these things on 
Sunday. 
You allow men seren days in a week to fight 
and kill one another, but will allow them only six days to 
plough, sow and reap.
“ It would be a great sin to sell those men and women 
at auction to-day/’ cries the slave-holding Sabbatarian; 
“ it is the Lord’s day and holy, and a slave-auction would 
desecrate it, and be very wrong; but wait a few hours, and 
then sell the husband and father one way; the wife and 
mother another; and the children another.”
Read too the following; it is an illustration of the Sabba­
tarian principle which you seek to establish as a perpetual 
law of God : i. e. that the right and wrong of slave-trad­
ing may he determined by the clock and calendar. 
It is 
taken from the “ Eutau, Alabama Whig,” of December, 
1847.
“ The sale of about 160 Negroes, 44 Mules and Horses, 
250 or 300 Pork Hogs, Stock Hogs, Cattle, Corn, Fodder, 
Plantation Tools, Cooking Utensils, &c. &c., will com­
mence on Friday, the 10th of December, at the Planta­
tion of John Jones, deceased, near Warsaw, Sumpter 
County.”
The sale continued Friday and Saturday. The Presby­
terians, Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, and other 
sects of Alabama, and the nation, see no sin in herding 
and selling men with mules and hogs, Friday and Satur­
day ; but Saturday night, men, women, children, mules, 
hogs and cattle are all locked up in a pen together, that 
these Sabbatarians may suspend their operations, and 
“ keep the day holy.” 
Soon as Sunday is over, they re­
pair to the Market, and commence the sale again, as the 
rest of the advertisement shows.
“ The sale will be continued on Monday, Dec. 13th, at 
the late residence of John Jones, deceased, in Green 
County, — say 114 or 115 Negroes, 33 Mules and Horses, 
7 yoke of Oxen, Pork Hogs, Stock Hogs, Cattle, Road 
Wagon, Ox Wagon, Horse-Carts, Cart Wheels,Cotton-Gins, 
Com, Fodder, Nuts, Plantation Tools, &c. &c.
“ The terms of sale, twelve months credit. Notes, with
29
two approved securites, interest to be added from sale. 
All sums under $20, cash. 
WM. JONES, Jun.
JOHN P. EVANS, 
Administrators.”
The Sabbatarian principle authorizes those who embrace 
it, to herd and sell MAN with Mules, Hogs and Cattle, six 
days in the week, but condemns them for doing this work 
on the Sabbath. 
You go up and down the land, not to 
rescue Man, but a day from desecration. 
You join hands 
with “ Wm. Jones, Jun. and John P. Evans,” and those 
who bid for those men, and mules, and hogs at auction, to 
rescue a Sabbath observance from desecration. You fear 
not that herding and selling men with beasts will desecrate 
Man, but your anxiety is for the day. 
Had they continued 
the sale Sunday, you would have condemned them as Sab­
bath breakers ! / 
But as Slave-traders, you receive them 
to your Christian fellowship!!!
The following was passed, November 10, 1847.
“ An Act in relation to proceedings against persons ob­
serving as the Sabbath the day commonly called Saturday.
“ The people of the State of New York, represented 
in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
“ Section 1. 
No person whose religious faith and prac­
tice is to keep the seventh day of the week, commonly 
called Saturday, as a day set apart by divine command as 
the Sabbath of rest from labor, and dedicated to the 
worship of God, shall be subject to perform military du­
ty, or jury duty, in a Justice's Court, on such day, except 
that such person shall be subject to perform military duty 
on such day in case of invasion, insurrection, or in time of 
war” 
(T*hree other Sections.)
You teach that the law of a Sabbatical observance is a 
moral law of God — of perpetual obligation upon all na­
tions. 
The Legislature of New York has set this law 
aside in case of war. They assert that men may fight and 
kill the innocent, for the interest of those who kill them; 
that they may be compelled to hunt and shoot men, women 
and children; and you have never offered a word of objec­
tion. 
Yet, had the people of New York State enacted that 
men might hunt and shoot wolves, or ride on a railway, or 
till the lands, Sunday, your voice had been raised in con­
demnation.
3*
30
Thus to know when hanging, war, and slavery are right,
» you are directed to the calendar and the clock ! 
So the 
Sabbatarian sends us to the same source to decide what 
’ books and papers we may read; what are proper topics of 
thought and conversation; what meetings we are to attend; 
i’ how far, and in what wray, to travel; and in what recrea­
tions to indulge. 
All these things are to be decided by 
learning the number of the day and the hour.
God has given to Christians no such law. 
It is a facti­
tious rule, and has no sanction in Christianity. This asso-
* ciates the Divine presence and government with man, and 
not with time and place; teaches us to see God in man, 
and not in Sabbaths; ** to put away anger and wrath, and
» to be tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God for 
(Christ’s sake hath forgiven us;” “ to follow after God as 
- dear children;” “ to be the salt of the earth, and the light 
of the world ;” not only on first day, but on all days, and 
l in all places. 
Whatever is opposed to the Divine will, it 
forbids to be done at any time; whatever is in accordance 
with this law, it allows us to do, when, and where, in our 
opinion, duty calls us to do it. 
But the Sabbatarian prin­
ciple calls for a change of feeling, thought, and deportment, 
as days and hours roll round. 
This moment, the roan is 
one being; the next, another; to-day he appears in his 
week-day character; to-morrow, in his holy-day character; 
to-day’s sun sets upon him, worshipping at the shrine of 
. Mammon, thinking his own thoughts, and seeking his own 
pleasure; to-morrow’s sun finds him, with disfigured face, 
bowing at the altar of his God, striving to think His 
thoughts, and to seek His pleasure. 
His piety, his rever-
• ence for God, his worship, his Christianity, are periodica], 
and go and come according to the revolutions of the earth 
upon its axis, and as the index points to the hour. 
He is 
sober and devout by fits and starts — he feels the Divine 
presence and power, according to the day of the week —
; his repentance for sin is regulated by the dial — his religion 
is a performance, to be enacted in a given time.
THE SABBATARIAN PRINCIPLE TESTED BT ITS FRUITS.
But, it is asked, Does not the divinity of the Sabbata­
rian principle appear in the lives of those who embrace it, 
when contrasted with the lives of those who reject it? 
Keep in mind the point at issue. 
Not—Is it right and
31
useful to set apart one day in seven to rest from manual 
labor ? Not — Is it necessary to have a recognised time 
for social convocation, for mutual exhortation, encourage­
ment, comfort, and instruction in Christian duties 1 
Not 
— Ought we to be under the government and guidance of 
a holy and just God on first day, and on all days? 
But, Is 
the first day Sabbath of Divine appointment ? Has God 
specified any duties as appropriate to that day: and sig­
nified that He is displeased when certain things are done 
on that day which He allows or commands to be done on 
other days? 
The Sabbatarian principle says, He has; 
and appeals to the lives of Sabbatarians as proof.
The comparison is made between those who have always 
enjoyed the means of intellectual and moral improvement, 
and those who, from childhood, have been removed from 
all purifying and saving influences. 
Their character has 
little connection with Sabbatarian views. 
Yea, most of 
those who are cited to prove the wickedness of the Anti- 
Sabbatarian principle — that all days are to be alike devo­
ted to God—were educated in, and now hold to the Sab­
batarian principle, that one day in seven is to be more 
especially consecrated to religious purposes than the rest 
of the week, and that first day is the Lord’s day, and that 
the others are not. 
The comparison is made between those 
who have some reverence for God and some respect for 
man, and those who have none.
But let the comparison be instituted between those who 
truly adopt and act upon the Anti-Sabbatarian principle, i. e. 
that Christians are not required to keep a first or seventh 
day Sabbath, but to sanctify and consecrate themselves 
every day alike, and those who hold to a special, peculiar 
first day consecration; let the comparison, for instance, be 
made between the Friendsf as a body, and those who hold 
to the first day Sabbath, and see where the advantage lies.
It is now about two hundred years since the rise of the 
Society of Friends. From the first, they rejected the no­
tion that the first day of the week possessed any sacred­
ness or importance over other days. They never con­
sidered actions right or wrong because of the day in which 
they were done. 
This Sabbatarian principle they repudia­
ted, as forming no part of the Christian system, and turned 
attention to the Divine will as their only unerring, un­
changing standard of judgment. In their domestic and
32
social instructions, and public communications, they never 
offer as a reason why anything should or should not be 
done — that it is “ the Sabbath day ” — “ the Lord’s day ” 
— “a holy day.” As a body, they rejected the doctrine — 
that the first day Sabbath is of Divine appointment and 
obligation. 
In their families, in their schools, in their 
preaching, in their yearly epistles, in their approved stand­
ard writings, — they have never been accustomed to speak 
of the first day as “ the Sabbath ” — “ the Lord’s day ” — 
“ a holy day; ” but simply as first day, associating with it 
no more sacredness or importance than with each and 
every other day.
What has been the result? In reverence for the Holy 
One, and regard for His will as an abiding principle of 
action; in respect for the rights and persons of men; and 
in singleness of purpose, purity of motive, and general in­
tegrity of life; the Friends, as a body, will compare with 
any other body of professing Christians in the world. 
I 
have been accustomed to great intimacy with them in do­
mestic and social life for fifteen years, in America and in 
Great Britain; and though I have oft been called to rebuke 
them, as a body, for what appeared to me a want of fideli­
ty to their truly noble and Christian testimonies; yet, truth 
and justice compel me to say, that they come nearer to the 
Christian standard, and more closely walk in the steps of 
our Divine Master in the various relations of life, than any 
other religious denomination with which I am acquainted. 
In domestic life — Where can be found more instances of 
well-regulated and virtuous families ? As husbands and 
wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, more 
true, self-forgetting affection, and fewer instances of dere­
liction from the pure and holy principles of Christian mo­
rality that should ever regulate human beings in perform­
ing the duties which grow out of those relations? 
How 
few, comparatively, of the children of Friends, are led 
astray by the popular seductions to vice; and how few are 
ever found in criminal courts, in houses of correction and 
penitentiaries! 
In the business world, whose word is 
more trusted ? Whose truth, justice, and general integri­
ty, less suspected? Who less addicted to fashionable folly 
and dissipation ? But I forbear. 
Friends, from their ori­
gin, have stood before the world, conspicuous for the gen­
eral purity of their lives, and for their strict adherence to 
the instructions of their Divine Teacher.
83
Yet Friends, as a body, deny, “ that either the Jewish 
Sabbath now continues, or that the first day is the true 
Christian Sabbath.” 
They have ever held that there is 
“ no moral obligation by the fourth command, or else­
where, to keep the first day of the week more than any 
other day ; ” but they hold, that “ all days are alike holy 
in the sight of God ”— (See Barclay as above quoted,) — 
and that men and women are bound to consecrate them­
selves to a pure and holy life, without regard to time or 
place. 
This principle, so far as it has been acted upon by 
Friends and others, has produced its natural and necessary 
fruits, i. e. to make Christianity an abiding rule of action 
in every relation, and in every transaction of life; thus 
giving consistency to the character, inspiring confidence 
in Christ as the Divine Regenerator and Redeemer of this 
world from its wrongs and pollutions, and making Chris­
tians daily, “ living epistles for Christ, known and read of 
all men.”
But the natural fruit of the Sabbatarian principle, as it 
is now understood, is to associate, in the minds of its ad­
herents, the presence and government of God with a dayf 
rather than with their own hearts and lives, and with their 
fellow-men, and to give a fitful, periodical tone to their so­
briety and devotionto their regard for man, and their zeal 
for God. 
When first day comes round, they appear more 
solemn, more devout, more humble, more penitent; a more 
sacred and subduing reverence forrGod comes over their 
minds on this than on other days, because they regard it 
as the Lord’s day, in a higher and holier sense than other 
days; and when first day is past, they are apt to feel that 
the “ holy day,” the Sabbathi is past, and man’s secular 
days are commenced. 
Reverence for God is not on their 
minds on second, as it was on first day; they do not feel 
His controlling power to-day as they did yesterday; the 
“ Lord’s day” is gone, and much of the restraining sense 
of His presence is gone with it; and their minds turn with 
avidity to what are called secular pursuits and pleasures. 
Under the influence of the fatal delusion, that first day is 
set apart, by Divine appointment, more especially for re­
ligious purposes than other days, they do not associate 
their daily employments with their Christian character 
and spiritual destiny, as they do the employments which 
are said to be appropriate to the day of rest. 
They seem
34
to be seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness 
on first day; but manifestly are in pursuit of very different 
objects the rest of the week. 
What they call Christianity, 
instead of being in them as a fountain springing up into 
daily and everlasting life, goes and comes as the days roll 
round.
The Anti-Sabbatarian principle has this advantage over 
the Sabbatarian principle; that, whereas the latter only 
consecrates its adherents especially to God one day in a 
week, the former especially consecrates to Him, all who 
embrace it practically, seven days in a week; the latter con­
siders one day in seven the Lord’s day; the former con­
siders every day the Lord’s; the one considers a prepara­
tion of the soul for eternity as the peculiar business of a 
seventh part of time; the other considers this the peculiar 
and appropriate work of all time; the one connects one- 
seventh part of life with the soul’s destiny in the future; 
the other, the whole of life.
Did Calvin advocate a lax and perilous principle of mo­
rality when he said, “ Christ was the true completion of 
the Sabbath ” 1 That “ the dreams of false prophets were 
vanished, who taught the people Jewish notions — declar­
ing that only the ceremonial part of the command that re­
quired the observance of the seventh day has been abro­
gated, but that the moral part of it — the observance of 
one day in seven — still remains ” 1 
Did Luthet and Me- 
lancthon propose a lax rule of morals when they said, 
“ Those are greatly deceived who think that the observance 
of the Lord’s day was appointed by the Church instead of 
the Sabbath” ? 
Did PAUL seek to undermine the foun­
dation of morality and social order when he classed the 
Sabbath with “ beggarly elements,” and when he said 
Christ had nailed that ordinance to the cross, and now 
“ let no man judge you in respect of a holy day, or of the 
Sabbath ” ? 
I believe they all taught the true principles 
of domestic virtue, of public morals and social order; that 
is, that men are to keep, not a day, but themselves holy; 
and to present, not one day in seven as a Sabbath, but 
themselves, a “ living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto 
God, as their reasonable service.”
But you will say, Friends do rest from labor on first day, 
and do assemble together and devote the day to their spirit­
ual improvement. 
True; and in doing this, they do right.
35
But they do not rest because of any Divine command; for 
they expressly assert, that cessation from labor on the first 
day of the week is nowhere enjoined in the Christian 
Scripture; and they admit that when “ reasonable calls 
are made upon us, we are at liberty to attend to them; and 
of the reasonableness of these calls, every man must judge 
for himself.” (Dymond.) 
Friends do not assemble to­
gether on the first day, because they think the Christian 
precept requires them to assemble on that, rather than 
other days. 
T*hey have a fourth or fifth day meeting, 
which they feel as much bound in conscience to attend as 
they do to attend their first day meeting, and for the same 
reason. They deem such meetings conducive to their 
spiritual good. 
They devote first day to spiritual improve­
ment, not because they believe that God has set apart this 
particular day for that purpose, but because they think this 
the appropriate business of every day.
Let the two principles be held responsible, each for its 
legitimate fruits; and it will be seen that a deep sense of 
obligation to live pure lives every day, will be less likely 
to result from the Sabbatarian, than from the Anti-Sabba­
tarian principle — the lives of those who adopt and fcarry 
out the two principles being witness.
THE SABBATH FOR MAN,'AND NOT MAN FOR THE SABBATH.
This was said by our Saviour in reference to the Jewish 
Sabbath, (Mark ii. 23-28.) 
The obvious meaning is, as 
that Sabbath was made for man, and not man for it, it 
should be subservient to the good of man. 
Our Lord jus­
tified his disciples in plucking and eating corn on that day, 
and he justified the sick in coming to him to be healed, 
and himself, in healing them; because, as the Sabbath was 
made for man, it was right to do anything on it which 
should be necessary for human good. 
Even if a sheep is 
suffering, it is right to relieve it: of how much greater 
value is a man than a sheep! 
It is right, said He, who 
was Lord of the Sabbath, “ to do well on the Sabbath; ” 
right to do anything necessary for our own good, or the 
good of others.
Thus, whatever may have been the meaning attached by 
the Jews to their Sabbatical institution, Christ, whom we 
are to follow, and whose authority will be supreme with all 
who receive Him as their Divine Saviour, regarded it, as
36
He did other days, simply as a time to administer to the 
temporal and spiritual wants of man. 
The Sabbath was 
for the benefit of man. The man was above the institu­
tion, and never to be sacrificed to it; in the health and 
comfort of his body; in the development of his physical 
or social nature; in the purity of his affections; in the ex­
pansion of his intellect; or in the assimilation of his char­
acter to Him in whom he “ lives, and moves, and has his 
being.” 
This is taught respecting a Sabbatical institu­
tion, confessedly of Divine appointment. 
It is allowed by 
all, that the Being who appointed that institution has abol­
ished it; and that the seventh day Sabbath has passed 
away with the types and shadows, the new moons and holy 
days, with which it was connected. 
Christ has “blotted 
out the hand-writing of this ordinance that was against us, 
and taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross 
and commanded us no more “ to judge one another in re­
spect of a Sabbath.”
If that institution, thus divinely appointed, was, by 
Christ, made subservient to human welfare and conveni­
ence, what shall we say of the first day Sabbatical observ­
ance, of whose Divine appointment not a shadow of proof 
is adduced from the inspired Record, and which Calvin, 
Luther, Melancthon, Paley, Barclay, and others of the 
most worthy and talented men who have lived, have clear­
ly shown to be a merely human institution 1 
A good one, 
yet of human origin, and sanctioned only by human author­
ity. 
Surely this may be considered as a device of human 
wisdom for human convenience, and to be used solely as a 
human instrumentality for the promotion of human welfare, 
and having no value, except as it can be made to bear on 
the physical, social, intellectual, and spiritual improve­
ment of men. 
The day has no sacredness, except as it 
conduces to the sacredness of man. 
As a day of rest, its 
sole importance is derived from its fitness to promote hu­
man welfare.
How the day can be made most subservient to individ­
ual welfare, each must decide for himself on his responsi­
bility to God; as he decides how other days are to be 
spent. 
As Dymond justly says, “ When reasonable calls 
are made upon us, we are at liberty to attend to them. Of 
the reasonableness of these calls, every man must endeavor 
to judge for himself.” Since God has specified no particu-
37
lar things to be done on first day, rather than on others; 
and since each one must give account of himself to God;, 
every one must decide for himself how to spend this day, 
as he must decide for himself how to spend other days. 
No man has a right to dictate to another how he shall 
spend it. 
God has laid upon us restrictions, which are 
imperative, and which cannot be disregarded with impuni­
ty on first, or any other day. 
“ It is lawful to do well,” 
on first day, and it is not lawful to do ill on that day or on 
any other. 
We are to “put away all anger and wrath 
to do nothing “through strife or vain glory;” to “look 
not every one upon his own interest's, but every one upon> 
the interests of others; ” “ in lowliness of mind to esteem 
others better than ourselves; ” and thus “ to have the same 
mind in us that was in Christ Jesus,” not only on the day 
of rest, but on all other days. 
No man has a right to ben­
efit himself by injuring others on first day, or at any other 
time; to please himself by disobliging his neighbors ; to 
enrich himself by spreading poverty, pollution, disease, 
and death around him; to annoy and wound the feelings 
or consciences of others for his own gratification or con­
venience; but rather to be governed by a love that is self- 
forgetting and self-sacrificing; and on all occasions to 
count it a privilege to suffer, rather than be the means of 
suffering to others; to die, rather than be the means of 
death to others, though they be his deadly enemies.
While the Christian will regard no outward observance 
of days as a necessary part of Christian righteousness; and 
while he will regard the observance of the day of rest as a x 
human custom, having no authority over his conscience as 
an institution of Divine appointment; he will be careful so 
to spend the day as not to interfere with the rights of ‘ 
others; but will seek to be blameless, to “ abstain from all- 
appearance of evil,” and to “ follow that which is good.”
To denounce any man as guilty of a breach of Divine 
law, for doing that on first day, which it is admitted to be 
right to do on other days, is manifestly a violation of the 
command of God, “ not to judge one another in respect of “ 
an holy day or a Sabbath” and opposed to the spirit of 
Christianity.
The day of rest is for the use of man. 
It might be, and- 
ought to be, and will ere long be, a powerful means of im­
provement to the great mass of the people, physically, so- 
4
daily, mentally, and morally. 
It is certain that Sabbata­
rians, in their speeches, deliverances, and writings on this 
subject, often show more solicitude about the day, than 
about their fellow-creatures, to whom this is emphatically, 
as at present spent, a day of physical and moral death. 
And that the day is thus spent, may in great measure be 
traced to the fact that in their religious training, so much 
more stress was laid on their keeping the day, than on 
keeping themselves holy. 
Some seem far more anxious to 
prevent railway trains and steamboats running from large 
towns and cities into the country, than to rescue the mul­
titudes of poor, wretched prodigals, who throng the lanes 
and alleys of those towns and cities, from the drunken­
ness and pollution into which they sink on that and on 
other days.
It is not true that men sink into drunkenness and degra­
dation because they desecrate the Sabbath. 
They drink, 
get drunk, and riot in pollution during first day, because 
they are accustomed to do these things on other days. 
They do not keep first day holy, because they have not 
kept the rest of the week holy; they do not consecrate 
one day in seven to God, because they do not consecrate 
the other six days to Him; they do not regard first day as 
the Lord’s day, because they have not been accustomed to 
regard the ether six as the Lord’s days. 
Had they conse­
crated themselves to God, and kept themselves holy dur­
ing the rest of the week, then would they have consecrated 
themselves to Him, and kept themselves holy, during^rsf 
day. 
Had they regarded themselves as the Lord’s on all 
other days, they would have looked on themselves as His 
on first day. 
No man can consecrate first day to God and 
to religious service, who consecrates the rest of the week 
to any other purposes. 
No man can keep first day holy, 
who does not keep all other days equally holy. No man 
can think the thoughts, or seek the pleasure of God on 
first day, who thinks his own thoughts and seeks his own 
pleasure on all other days. 
One day dedicated to God, 
can never atone for six days that are dedicated to some­
body else.
The day of rest is for the physical and moral improve­
ment of man, and if it can be made conducive to draw our 
fellow-beings from their haunts of vice, let it be done. 
The blessing of God, and of thousands ready to perish,
38
will come upon the man who shall lead the way in this en­
terprise.
WHY KEEP A DAY HOLY?
Sabbatarians insist that the sole object of the first day 
Sabbath is to prevent men from sinking into this degrada­
tion, and induce them to keep themselves pure and holy at 
all times. 
If nothing more is meant by keeping the day 
holy, than that men are to live holy and blameless during 
it, why not say so? And why not urge that they are equal­
ly bound to live holy on all other days? 
Why delude men 
with the most hurtful and wicked notion, that there is 
something peculiarly sacred in first day, which calls for a 
more pure, truthful, and holy life on that than on other 
days ? Why urge the impious doctrine, that men are more 
bound to consecrate this to religious purposes, than 
other portions of time? 
Why pretend that God is in first 
day more than in others? 
Why pretend that it is “the 
Lord’s holy day ” more than others; and that therefore 
men are to have a stricter watch over their feelings, 
thoughts, words, and acts on this than on other days ? All 
days are the Lord’s days. 
He is present with men on one 
day, as really and constantly as on another. 
What dese­
crates one day, desecrates all days; or rather, what dese­
crates and degrades man on one day, desecrates and de­
grades him on all. 
To teach otherwise, necessarily tends 
to cherish and sustain a periodical sense of moral obliga­
tion, and of the Divine presence as a restraining power 
from evil. 
He whose moral and spiritual sense is accus­
tomed to be called into activity mainly by the recurrence 
of a certain day, will find the Divine presence gradually 
losing its influence over his conscience and passions, till 
the return of his religious, holy day has lost all power to 
arouse him to a sense of his moral obligations, and he sinks 
into habitual forgetfulness of God, and indifference to his 
duties to man.
If we would forward the work of man’s redemption, we 
must teach as Calvin did, that the Christian Sabbath “ is 
not contained in one day in seven, but requires the whole 
course of our lives — until being completely dead to our­
selves, we are filled with the life of God ” ; and as PAUL, 
guided by the Holy Spirit, taught, that “ the kingdom of 
God consists not in meats and drinks, in holy days and
39
40
Sabbaths; and that men are to be dead with Christ from 
the rudiments of the world, not subject to ordinances, but 
alive to God through Christ, always abounding in the work 
of the Lord.”
THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS.
That there are many things allowed and commanded in 
the Jewish, which are not only not allowed, but are ex­
pressly forbidden in the Christian Scriptures, none pre­
tends to doubt. 
No man who has learned in the school of 
Christ can help feeling, that the penal code and aggres­
sive wars of Judaism are opposed to the spirit of Christian­
ity. The same must be said of their priesthood and tem­
ple worship. 
They were “ carnal ordinances, imposed till 
the time of reformation by Christ,” who, as “ the High 
Priest of a greater and more perfect tabernacle,” “ has 
taken them out of the way, nailing them to the cross.”
The same must be said of the Sabbath. 
The Apostle 
expressly calls it “ a rudiment of the world,” “ a carnal 
ordinance that is against us,” which Christ ha» abolished. 
This is admitted by all Christians, so far as it bears on the 
seventh day Sabbath.
But did not Christ institute the first day Sabbath in its 
stead ? 
If He did, by Himself, or through His Apostles, 
the proof can be given. 
So far from doing this, as it ap­
pears to me, the very nature of His kingdom, as well as 
the express injunctions of the Apostle, discards a Sabbati­
cal observance as “ a shadow,” and set forth rest from sin, 
every day, and all our lives, as the substance. 
As Calvin 
beautifully and expressively remarks upon the Christian 
Sabbath; it consists “ not in one day in seven, but in 
being dead to ourselves, and in being filled with the life of 
God, during the whole course 
of our lives.”
It is asked, Do you deny the authority of the Old Tes­
tament? 
No — except in cases where Christ has super­
seded Moses. 
That in many things Christianity has su­
perseded Judaism, I have already shown. 
Shall the law 
be quoted against the gospel? 
Moses against Christ? 
The Apostle declares that “ Christ was counted worthy of 
more glory than Moses”; that Moses exercised authority 
“ as a servant” ; “ but Christ, as a Son over his house, 
whose house are we.” 
And speaking of the Old and New 
Testaments, he says, “ Had the first covenant been fault-
41
less, then had there been no room for a second”; but now 
the Lord God says, “ I will make a new covenant with the 
house of Israel, not according to the covenant that I made 
with their fathers, when I brought them out of Egypt; but 
I will write my law upon their hearts.” 
“ Now, by mak­
ing a new covenant, he hath made the first old,” i. e. abol­
ished it.
Thus, in settling any question of Christianity, the Old 
Testament is of no authority, when it conflicts w
ith 
the new. 
Christ, not Moses, is the Christian’s lawgiver.
Shall we turn our backs on Christ to follow Moses ? 
This we do, for instance, when we go to the Old Testa­
ment to find a justification for war, in opposition to the ex­
press injunctions of the gospel. 
“ Peace on earth,” was 
the salutation that welcomed the Son of God to earth, 
“ Put up that sword, for all they that take the sword shall 
perish by the sword,” was the last injunction of Christ to 
the world when He was about to leave it. 
“ My king­
dom is not of this world; therefore my disciples cannot 
fight,” was His explanation to his accuser. 
“ Love your 
enemies;” “ forgive him, if any man have aught against 
another ; ” “ good for evil; ” “ turn the other cheek ; ” 
“ I come not to destroy, but to save men’s lives; ” “ let 
the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus; ” 
“ learn war no more.” 
Is it possible to obey these pre­
cepts, and make it the business of life to kill men, women, 
and children, at the bidding of others, and without regard 
to their guilt or innocence ? 
Can men engage in a death 
struggle, and shoot, stab, and hang one another in love t 
Can they shoot their love into the hearts of their enemies 
on a bullet; or thrust their forgiveness into them on the 
point of the sword ? 
By the same act, can we testify our 
love and forgiveness, and our desire to kill, slay, and de­
stroy ? Can we conceive of Christ, in martial array, at the 
head of an army, leading it on to cut and tear to pieces 
the bodies of those whose souls He came to save ? It is 
clearly contrary to the spirit and precepts of Christ, for 
man to take the life of man, as a penalty or in defence. If 
it is a sin to kill men, it is a sin to threaten or prepare to 
kill them, and a sin to put ourselves into a position where 
we come under an express or implied obligation to kill 
them. 
This is non-resistance ; the beginning and end 
of it,—Never to kill men. 
All human institutions,
v
42
based upon the man-killing principles, must be wrong, and 
contain in themselves an element of certain destruction. 
Let men form whatever social institutions they see fit, only 
do not base them on the right to kill men ; provided they 
•be not opposed to Christianity in other respects. 
This is 
all of non-resistance in principle and practice. 
Is it 
not the peaceful Kingdom of the Son of God which Chris­
tianity was meant to establish?
Shall we cite Moses to justify our neglect of these plain 
iprecepts of Christ? Quote Moses to justify our anger 
and revenge, when Christ tells us to “ put away anger, and 
to forgive one another! ” 
Quote Moses to justify thrust­
ing with the sword, when Christ tells us to “ put up the 
•sword ! ” 
Quote the Old Testament to sanction blood 
for 
blood, when Christ 
forbids 
“ evil 
for 
evil ! ” 
Quote Moses to authorize the maiming and killing of our 
enemies, when Christ tells us “ to love them ! ” 
It is su­
perseding the authority of the Son by that of a servant; a 
rejection of Christianity for Judaism ; a denial of Christ 
for Moses.
The same may be said of all who quote the authority of 
the Old Testament for a Sabbatical observance, in opposi­
tion to the express injunctions of the New. 
As the Old 
Testament can be of no authority in settling the questions 
of War and Capital Punishment, because Christ, whom 
we are to “ follow in all things,” has commanded us to 
love and forgive our enemies, and not to kill them ; so, in 
^deciding whether Christians are under obligation to observe 
“ a holy day or Sabbath” Moses can be of no authority: 
46t Christ has decided that such an observance is “ a carnal 
ordinance,” which He has “ taken away, and nailed to the 
cross.” 
When Moses is adduced as evidence to prove the 
sin of Sabbath desecration, under the Christian dispensa­
tion, we hear Christ say, “ Let no man condemn you in 
«respect of an holy day, or of a Sabbath; ” “ let not him 
that esteems one day above another, despise or censure him 
who esteems every day alike : ” and as to a Sabbatical ob­
servance, we hear Him say, “ Having received Christ, how 
turn ye again to this weak and beggarly element? Having 
begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh ?” 
Having taken the light and easy yoke of Christ upon us, 
and found rest and peace, must we be blamed because 
we do not choose again to come under “ bondage to the
43
beggarly element ” of a Sabbatical observance ? 
Having 
been redeemed from “ holy days, new moons, and Sab­
baths,” by the blood of Christ, must we again “ be subject ” 
to an ordinance which has no power to sanctify? 
Having 
hid our lives “ with Christ in. God,” and found Him a 
strong fortress, — “the shadow of a Rock in a weary 
land,” — shall we now be asked to take refuge in a Sab­
batical observance, which, indeed, may have a “ show of 
wisdom in will-worship,” but which can never purify and 
save the soul? 
“Christ,” as Calvin says, “ is the fulfil­
ment of the Sabbath.” 
He is the “ end of this law for 
righteousness; ” and we are assured that, however vehe­
mently men may declaim against Sabbath desecration, 
“ there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ 
Jesus; who walk not after this carnal ordinance, but after 
the spirit;” for, “ to be carnally minded is death ; but to 
be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
CHILDREN AND THE SABBATH.
It is asked, How ought children to be taught in refer­
ence to a Sabbath? It is said, if first day Sabbath is not of 
Divine appointment, would it not be wise to keep this fact 
a secret from our children, lest they run riot on the day of 
rest ? Children should never be taught to receive the tra­
ditions of men as commandments of God. 
We need 
never fear to teach them what God has taught us. 
Has 
Christ taught us to point them to the day of the week, as 
a reason why they should do this, and should not do that?
“ Hush, my dear,” says the Sabbatarian, “ you must not 
laugh and talk so loud! ” 
“ Why ? ” asks the child. 
“ It
is a holy day” 
“You must not have your playthings to­
day,” says the mother. “ Why ? ” “ It is the Lord's day, 
and it is wicked for children to laugh and play on the 
Lord’s holy day.” 
“ I wish you would take me out to 
walk, to get the fresh air, and to hear the birds sing; I am 
weary sitting still,” says the child to its parents. 
“ It is 
wicked to walk out on the Lord’s day — it would desecrate 
the day,” is the answer.
Such is the lesson repeated every Sabbath, in the fami­
lies of Sabbatarians. 
Is this Christian instruction ? I 
believe it is most Anti-Christian, and most pernicious in 
its influence on the minds of children. 
It teaches them a 
falsehood. 
They are impressed with the idea that there is
44
a mysterious sacredness attached to first day, which be­
longs not to other days. 
They learn to think that an act 
which would not desecrate them, would desecrate the day; 
that an act which would be a sin this moment, would not 
be a sin the next, merely by reason of a change in the 
hour; that what would desecrate this hour, would not de­
secrate the next; that actions derive their good or evil 
qualities from the day in which they are performed; that 
it is more wicked to lie, swear, steal, get drunk, and quar­
rel on first, than on any other day ; that they are to be 
more serious, prayerful, and devoted to God, on that than 
on other days ; that rest is more holy, more religious, more 
pleasing to God than labor; that there is some mysterious 
goodness about a sober face, silence, or a subdued tone, a 
quiet and solemn air and manner, and that God is more 
pleased with these things on first day, than with the activi­
ty and bustle of labor and business during the week; and 
that God is nearer to them, and takes stricter account of 
their thoughts, words, and acts on that than on other days; 
and this, too, because the day is the Lord’s holy day, in a 
sense in which others are not. 
Such are the unavoidable 
impressions made on the mind of every child that is accus­
tomed to hear it given as a reason why one act is right and 
another wrong, that it is the Sabbath, the LorcPs day, a 
holy day.
The inevitable result of this training is, to leave the 
child without the moral and religious restraints upon his 
passions, his words and actions, on other days, which were 
operative on first day. 
He associates the special presence, 
inspection and government of God with the day of rest; 
and the moment that day is passed, and the days of labor 
and active life begin, that restraint is withdrawn. 
At the 
moment of contact with his fellow-creatures, in the school, 
on the play-ground, in the collision of feelings and interests 
attendant on the intercourse of active life ; when his an­
ger, his envy, his jealousy, his revenge, his ambition, his 
avarice, and all his evil passions, are liable to be most stim­
ulated ; and when affection, truth, forgiveness, justice, 
mercy, honesty, and every loving and kindly sympathy, are 
subjected to the fiery ordeal of contending interests; then, 
when most of all the child needs the controlling, subduing 
influence of a deep sense of the Divine presence and gov­
ernment, and of the glory and grandeur of his eternal des­
45
tiny, this redeeming influence is wanting. 
These serious 
subjects, these saving influences are associated in his mind 
with the holy day, and not with days of activity; with rest, 
not with his amusements and his toil; and he sees God 
in a Sabbath, and not in his own heart and life, nor in the 
persons of his fellow-creatures. 
The presence of a Sab­
bath, rather than the presence of a playmate, reminds him 
of his God and of his moral obligations. 
When first day 
comes round, the child is reminded that it is wicked to lie, 
to swear, to deceive, to quarrel, to cheat, to be angry, envi­
ous, or revengeful; or to feel, think, speak, or do any 
wrong; but the presence of his companions during the 
week, and in the active pursuits and contending interests 
of daily life, does not awaken this feeling with so much 
distinctness and power as during the holy day.
Why is it that professed Christians are so generally 
known by their appearance on first day, rather than by 
their conduct during the week 1 In the market, and in 
all the business transactions of life, they are seldom to be 
distinguished from others. This may be traced, in part, 
to the fact, that they have been trained to associate Chris­
tianity with a Sabbath, rather than with the daily inter­
course and business transactions of life; to regard it as an 
observance, to be performed on a given day, rather than as 
an abiding principle of life; and to think of the Holy One, 
as a Being to whom they are to pay their devotion, and to 
whom they owe homage, on a particular day, rather than 
as an omnipresent, all-controlling principle of action. 
“God is not in all their thoughts;” because they have not 
been accustomed to associate Him with all the secret emo­
tions and devices of their souls, and with all the transac­
tions of their lives ; but rather with the day of rest.
The tendency of the Sabbatarian principle is to leave 
children without God, during six days out of seven; and 
being, to a great extent, destitute of the restraining influ­
ence of a sense of His presence and inspection during 
the week, they form habits of feeling and acting, which, 
as they grow up, and engage in the active scenes of life, 
soon blot Him out from their Sabbath; and leave life a 
blank, so far as the redeeming power of the Divine pres­
ence is concerned.
With what longing hearts do young children, who are 
under strict Sabbatarian discipline, look for the Lord's
46
day to pass away, that their days may commence! 
What 
they are taught to believe is the Lord’s holy day, becomes 
to them the most tedious of all days. 
The day set apart 
for religious purposes is far more irksome than the days 
which, as they suppose, are set apart for other purposes; 
they come to dread the approach of the day, when, as they 
are taught to believe, they are to think God’s thoughts, to 
speak His words, and to seek His pleasure, and they hearti­
ly wish that the days might last evermore, in which, as 
they suppose, it is allowable for them to think their own 
thoughts, to speak their own words, and to seek their own 
pleasure. 
Such a training makes the idea of religion re­
pulsive; and Christianity seems to them a “ burden griev­
ous to be borne.”
“ My yoke is easy, and my burden is light,” said our 
Divine Teacher. 
It is so; and that because Christianity 
is a principle of daily holy living, and not an observance. 
It calls for mercy, and not for sacrifice; it asks for holy 
hearts, and not for holy rites—for holy men and women, 
not for holy days and places; it makes life one day of rest 
from sin, a pleasant, joyous Sabbath, and consecrates the 
universe as the temple of the Holy One. 
“God is a 
spirit; ” and He would have us worship Him with true and 
faithful spirits. “ God is love; ” and all who dwell in love, 
dwell in God, and God in them. 
This is Christianity. It 
brings the soul to dwell in love ; a love that “ envieth not; 
is not puffed up; doth not behave itself unseemly; seek- 
eth not her own; is not easily provoked; thinketh no 
evil; that is all-confiding, all-hoping, and all-enduring; 
and that never faileth.” 
This is Peace; this is Heaven.
God requires us to set apart first day to the special pur­
pose of briugiug ourselves to dwell in this love; and to 
the same glorious, happy end, does He command us to 
consecrate every other day. 
To bring us into a perfect 
union of spirit with Him “ who loved us, and died for us,” 
is first day to be specially devoted ; to the same end are 
we required to devote, with equal earnestness, all other 
days. 
We are bound to consecrate the whole of first day 
to the worship of God; and to the same purpose are we 
equally bound to consecrate the whole of every other day; 
and thus, to find our Sabbath, “not 
in 
one 
day 
in
SEVEN, BUT IN THE WHOLE COURSE OP OUR LIVES,” and to
make life one act of Christian worship. 
Let all parents
47
teach their children this, not only on first day, but " when 
they lie down, and when they rise up; when they go out, 
and when they come in ; when they are in the house, and 
when in the field.” 
Then may they hope that a sense of 
the Divine presence and government will be with them, at 
all times, to guard their hearts and lives from temptation.
CONCLUSION.
My work is done. 
I have tried to do it faithfully. 
I 
have certainly had great peace and happiness in doing it. 
I am aware that what I have written will be displeasing to 
many who are very dear to me. 
My answer is — I could 
not throw off the conviction that this was the work which 
my Heavenly Father gave me to do at this time. 
I ask 
all, into whose hands this work may fall, to receive the 
suggestions which it contains, in the spirit in which they 
are made. 
Let us “ prove all things, and hold fast that 
which is good; ” remembering that there is not a thought 
in our minds, or a word on our tongues, which is not 
known to the Searcher of all hearts. 
May we all be fear­
less in our inquiries after truth; and prompt to receive, 
and strong to practice it, when found!
Yours for truth,
Henry C. Wright.