CONCERNING THE SABBATH.
Extracts from a Reply by John Rogers, Sr. (1721), to a Book by Benj. Wadsworth, entitled “The Lord’s Day Proved to be the Christian Sabbath.”
... When God’s children were in a holy frame and agreed to fast and pray, they did it not with a mixt multitude in public assemblies, as hypocrites are wont to do; as appears Neh. 9, 1, 2. The children of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, in time of offering up their prayers unto God. Acts 1, 13, 14. And we nowhere read, throughout the whole Bible that God’s children ever prayed in a public assembly, with a mixt multitude, and in a customary way, as hypocrites are wont to do, as throughout the whole scripture doth appear. Rom. 8, 26.
... This have I written that people may not be misled, by thinking they worship God in forms and set times of prayer, while they are in a state of sin; and that they may consider the publican, upon his first prayer, accompanied with true repentance, went away justified rather than the other that was zealous in his often fasting and prayers....
In page 5th sayth he: “The apostle doth not oppose the keeping one day in a week holy to God.” To which I answer, It is not what the apostle doth not oppose, but what the apostle commands, I Pet. 1, 16, “Be ye holy for I am holy.” An unholy man cannot do one holy act, no more than a corrupt tree can bring forth good fruit: but I have no where read in the books of the New Testament that we are commanded to keep one day more holy than another....
... And the next place, I shall shew that the first commandment that both the angel of God and Christ himself gave forth to his apostles was to make the first day of the week (the day of his resurrection) a day of labor by travelling out of one province into another.... Thus it appears that had they believed them that was sent by the angel of God and by Christ himself they should have set out on their journey early in the morning for Galilee, which was in another province, and by all probability more than one day’s journey, as appears in the 2nd chapter of Luke, which shews that Christ’s parents went a day’s journey towards Galilee before they missed him.... So that it appears that Christ had no regard to the day, otherwise than to make it a day of labor ... through their unbelief they were disobedient to the message that Christ sent them and did not make it a day of labor by travelling, as they were required by the angel of God and by Christ himself; which journey according to history was above 40 miles and the message was sent them in haste, to set out upon this journey, upon the first day of the week, the day of Christ’s resurrection.
In page 6th he quotes Gen. 2, 2, 3, which speaks only of God’s resting from the works of creation, when all things were finished and “was very good” ... and this God’s Sabbath or rest from his works of creation had no evening or morning ascribed to it, because it was his eternal rest or Sabbath, all things being now finished. And it could be no Sabbath or rest to Adam, for he had done no work to rest from, for he was the finishing work, ... So that Adam in his first creation entered into God’s Sabbath and so continued, till he by sin brought labor upon himself ... and we have no account in Scripture of any Sabbath commanded or kept from Adam till Mose’s time, ... For when God delivered the two tables of the ten commandments, he gave Moses a particular account about the seventh-day sabbath, how it was a sign, as is seen Exod. 31, 12 etc. compared with the last verse.... And a sign is not the thing signified by it, any more than a shadow of a thing is the substance....
In page 19 he quotes ... “I was in spirit on the Lord’s day.”... that is, I was spiritualized on the Lord’s day of his revelation for that work he employed me in, but here is no account what day or days it was of the week or month, this God hath not revealed to us.... But for any to affect it to be on a first day of the week is presumption, seeing no such name in Scripture was imposed on the first day of the week in any other place of the Scripture....
In page 27, he quotes Acts 20, 7, “And upon the first day of the week” ... This text tells us the disciple’s coming together was to break bread; it does not say to celebrate a Sabbath, or give the day any pre-eminence above the five other working days ... the word breaking of bread is used in common eating, Acts 2, 46.—“breaking bread from house to house,”—Christ brake bread to two of his disciples and also when Christ fed 5000.... And in this place it is said they came together to break bread, and Paul was at that time tending a ship, as appears....
But as to the Lord’s Supper, it was always attended at supper time, ... It was first instituted by Christ at supper ... And Paul, the Gentile apostle, hath left it on record that he did deliver it to the Gentiles to be attended in the night, as appears I Cor. 11, 23.... The Gentile churches attended the time and season, tho’ they got into a disorderly way of partaking of it, yet they attended the season ... “For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper.”... So that we see this coming together to break bread, on the first day of the week, was not for preaching (but a feast of charity), for that was attended the night following (when the young man fell from the loft), nor for the Lord’s supper.
The following is at the end of the book containing the answer to Benjamin Wadsworth. The “questions” were written in New London prison at the time John Rogers was confined there on account of troubles arising out of the arrest and imprisonment of Sarah Bolles for a “matter of conscience.”
The following questions were presented as they are underwritten, but when I saw I could obtain no answer but persecution, I then presented them to a Superior Court in the colony New London, and from them to the next General Court in that Colony, and so to the Elders and Messengers of the churches of the Colony of Connecticut, requesting of them an answer, upon the consideration of the Confession of their own Faith and the good counsels there given, and printed in New London, in the year 1710. And here follows an account of some part of what I presented to them, taken out of the Confession of their own Faith.
In page 6. “First Counsel. That you be immovably and unchangeably agreed in the only sufficient and invariable rule of religion, which is the Holy Scriptures, the fixed canon, uncapable of addition and diminution. You ought to account nothing ancient that will not stand by this rule, nor anything new that will. Do not hold yourselves bound to unscriptural rites in religion, wherein custom itself doth many times misguide. Isai. 8, 20. To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”
“Second Counsel. That you be determined by this rule in the whole of religion. That your faith be right and divine, that the Word of God must be the foundation of it and the authority of the Word the reason of it, etc. For an orthodox Christian to resolve his faith into education, instruction and the persuasion of others, is not an higher reason than a Papist, Mahometan or Pagan can produce for his religion.”
Page 7. “Believe, in all divine worship, it is not enough that this or that act of worship is not forbidden in the word of God; if it be not commanded, and you perform it, you may fear you will be found guilty and be exposed to divine displeasure. Nadab and Abihu paid dear for offering in divine worship that which the Lord commanded them not. It is an honour done unto Christ, when you account that only decent, orderly and convenient in his house which depends upon the institution and appointment of Himself, who is the only head and lawgiver of his church.”
Page 65. “God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in anything contrary to his word, or not contained in it: so that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience; and the requiring an implicit faith and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience and reason also. Acts 4, 19. Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Acts 5, 29. We ought to obey God rather than men. Jam. 4, 12. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: Who art thou that judgeth another? Col. 2, 22. But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines commandments of men? Mat. 15, 9. Which all are to perish with the using, after the commandments and doctrines of men. John 4, 22. Ye worship ye know not what. Hos. 5, 11. Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment because he willingly walked after the commandment.”
These are the scriptures they quote for their proof, with many more. All these quotations, quoted out of the book of the Confession of their own Faith, with much more, was presented to the abovesaid Courts, Elders and Messengers of said churches, with the following questions, grounded upon the said Confession of their pretended Faith, but can obtain no answer but violence to compel us to rebel against it, as will appear by said questions as followeth.
To Richard Christophers Assistant, and from him to Gov. Saltonstall and Eliphalet Adams.
I request of you, as you profess yourselves to be Christians, and the Scripture to be your rule, to give me a direct answer to these scriptural questions, Rom. 4, 15. “For where no law is, there is no transgression.”
My question is, Hath God any law to forbid labor on the first day of the week? If he hath, quote chapter and verse for it, to convict us of our error, or be convicted that you will be found fighters against God, in striving to compel us to worship the works of your own hands, which would be idolatry in us.
And consider the age and antiquity of an idol doth not make the sin one whit the less, but the greater; for God’s patience and long suffering towards idolaters should lead them to repentance.
A second question I crave of you is, Whether the name “Sabbath” (which you impose upon the first day of the week in your law book) be a title that God by his word hath put upon it? If it be, pray quote the chapter and verse, where it is so named by God’s word; if not, judge yourselves.
A third question I crave your answer to is, Whether the name Lord’s Day (which you impose in your law book on the first day of the week) be a Scripture name peculiar to that day? And how you prove the revelations of Jesus Christ to John was upon the first day of the week?
And if you cannot answer the said questions by the holy Scriptures, then I request of you to read and to consider what is written, Psal. 94, 20, 21. “Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.” From the New London Prison, the 17th of the 9th month, 1719.
And here follows a copy of my request to Court Elders and Messengers, wrote under the above questions as it is here.
My request to you is, That you will be pleased to see that an answer to my questions may be returned, by you or your elders, as you will answer it before God, the judge of Heaven and earth, and that we may not be compelled by the Authority to offer to God in divine worship that which he hath not commanded, against our consciences, and contrary to the Confession of your own Faith; and if God hath commanded the first day of the week to be kept for a Sabbath, to quote to us the place in Scripture where it is so commanded, and send it to us: And if there be no command of God for it in the Holy Scriptures, and only your own law in your Law Book, and your minister’s doctrine for it, then I desire you to read and consider what is written, Mat. 15, 7th, 8th and 9th verses, “Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
New London, the 7th of the third month, 1721. From him that wishes you well, and desires to see your salvation and not your destruction.
But I could obtain no answer from them; “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” John 3, 20.
And now my request to you, the said Courts, Elders and Messengers, is, in the presence and view of the world, to shew us chapter and verse, or verses, where God’s command is which commands the keeping the first day of the week for a Sabbath, by which you are not in the same danger Nadab and Abihu was, that we may escape with you; for I can find no such commandment throughout the whole Bible: For you, in the Confession of your Faith, set before us the great danger we are in, if we offer to God that in divine worship which he hath not commanded; not only the loss of our lives, as Nadab and Abihu did theirs, but eternal damnation also; as appears in your “Confessions of Faith,” Page 7, and in your second Counsel (before quoted).
Upon this consideration, I request this favor of you, so that we may venture in with you in keeping of it, by a commandment from God, if you know of any, for this will be more for your honour than to compel us against our own consciences (and your own counsels) by your own law, accompanied with your whips, stocks, fines and imprisonments; which hitherto you have been using to compel us to offer in divine worship that which God hath not commanded; and besides this, we are ashamed (I do not say you) to pretend to be “orthodox Christians” and “to resolve our faith into education, instruction, and the persuasion of others,” seeing you say in your “Confession,” page 6, that “this is no higher reason than a Papist, Mahometan or pagan can produce for his religion;” for we would not be like such spoken of in Zeph. 3, 5, “The unjust knoweth no shame.”
Thus it appears nakedly before your eyes, and to your consciences, that either your Counsels, in the Confession of your Faith, is very erroneous, or else your first day Sabbath, if it have no command of God for it, which I can find nowhere throughout the whole Bible—and that which can be found nowhere may well be concluded not to be at all. And the said Counsels in the Confession of your Faith is so substantially grounded on the holy Scriptures that I think it most safe to conclude that it is your Sabbath that is erroneous and idolatry (except you have a commandment of God for it) by the Confession of your own Faith.
I having been treating upon your Sabbath, the foundation almost of all your worship, which is the works of your own hands, by your own Confession, except you can find a commandment of God for it....
The following from “A Midnight Cry,” by John Rogers, Sr.
I desire that these following things may be well considered.
First, when God delivered the two tables of stone into the hands of Moses, he gave him a particular account about the Sabbath how it was a sign, as is to be seen Exod. 31, beginning at verse 12 to the end of the chapter, yea, it was a covenanted sign to that people, as is to be seen, verse 17. Ezek. 20, 12, 20.
Secondly, Moses testifieth to Israel that it was commanded to be kept upon the account of that deliverance out of Egypt, as is to be seen Deut. 5, comparing the 12, 13 and 14 verses with the 15th verse. So that as their deliverance was from a temporal bondage, so the sign of it was a temporal rest; and the sign was for a covenant between God and them, of his safe protecting them from the oppression of their enemies, in that inheritance which he gave them while they kept his laws.
Thirdly, Christ testifieth that the priests profaned the Sabbath in the temple and yet were blameless, Mat. 12, 5, compared with Numb. 28, 9, 10, so that we may well conclude those sacrifices by which they profaned the Sabbath, though they were but signs in themselves, yet the Sabbath which was of less value was to give place that the greater might not be omitted.
Fourthly; The man that bore a burden on the Sabbath day, to wit, his bed, John 5, 10, profaned it in so doing, and was as blameless as the priests; for that sign under the law was not the Sabbath, any more than that circumcision commanded to Abraham was the circumcision, and therefore, saith the apostle, That is not circumcision that is outward in the flesh, Rom. 4, 12. Thus we see he calls it the sign of circumcision, though the scriptures did no where call it a sign, but called it circumcision; but the 7th day Sabbath God declared to be a sign, yea, a covenanted sign with his people, as circumcision was, as is to be seen, by comparing these places of scripture together, Exod. 31, 13, 16, 17. Gen. 17, 10, 13 and 14.
Fifthly, Seeing that God testifieth that the weekly 7th day Sabbath is a sign, and gave no such plain demonstration of any other of the Sabbaths under the law, we have good and better reason to judge that Paul’s words, Col. 2, 16, 17 (Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ) comprehends the 7th day Sabbath in a special manner, seeing it agrees with God’s testimony to Israel, that it was a sign to them, and a sign is not the substance; for a shadow is but the sign of the substance.
And lastly, Seeing that God testifieth to Israel that the 7th day Sabbath was a sign, so it was no more the Sabbath than the seven stars which John saw in the right hand of Christ were the angels of the seven churches, nor no more the Sabbath than the seven golden candlesticks were the seven churches, nor no more the Sabbath than those fat kine that Pharaoh saw were the seven plentiful years; which sort of creature (we afterwards read) they made an image of and worshipped; nor no more the Sabbath than the sign of circumcision was the circumcision; nor no more the Sabbath (under the first covenant) than the wine that Christ gave his disciples to drink was the blood of the New Testament or covenant; nor no more the Sabbath (under the first testament) than the bread that Christ gave to his disciples was his body under the second or new covenant.
Thus we see that signs (in the Scripture) bear the complete name of the substance or thing they signify; so the 7th day Sabbath was a sign under the first covenant, and so continued till the establishment of the second, and then both the covenant and signs under it ceased; for they were signs of instruction to the church, that they might impose their faith on the things they signified, which were to be fulfilled by Christ, who was the substance of them all; and so at his coming they were all nailed to his cross, and so ceased. Eph. 2, 15, 16. Col. 2, 14. And so likewise the signs that are now in being (under the new covenant) are to continue till Christ’s coming in his manhood, I Cor. 11, 26, and then they will cease also.