PREFACE.
At the present time, when the Sabbath controversy is engaging so much of the public attention, and when Sabbath Conventions and Sabbath Unions are being chronicled almost monthly, I consider it unnecessary to offer any apology for the introduction of the following work to the public notice. My reader need not fear a repetition or recapitulation of the arguments generally employed in favour of the sabbatical institution, as it refers either to the first or the last day of the week; neither will his attention be wearied by prolix and verbose details. It has been my aim to collect, collate, and condense facts, as much as appeared consistent with perspicuity. I have not taken any new stand with regard to the Sabbath question. The Seventh-day Baptists have, from the first, contended that the Sabbath was changed, not by Christ or his Apostles, but by ecclesiastical synods and councils. This could only be proved convincingly by reference to the practice of those churches who were removed by distance or otherwise beyond the pale of such authority. That the Armenian, East Indian, and Abyssinian Episcopacies were so removed, and that they absolutely refused to succumb to the authority of the Latin or Greek prelates, sustaining in consequence the most cruel and desolating wars, is an undeniable historical fact; no less so the truth that during all this time they have been living witnesses against Anti-Christ, as the observers of the ancient Sabbath, which practice they learned from the Apostles, or their immediate successors.
With respect to the History of the Seventh-day Baptist denomination, I am not unaware of the imperfections that may be detected in it. But I must excuse my own defects by a just complaint of the blindness and insufficiency of my guides; and may also observe that, with reference to nearly every portion of the work, I have been the pioneer in the field of research.
The Author.
April, 1851.