"I was told," continues the same author, "that these people were very numerous in many parts of Russia; and that their missionaries could travel all over the empire, and pass every night with their brethren. They were known to each other by a secret sign, and all their houses are distinguished by a private mark, known only to the initiated. In consequence of their extreme caution that none but members of their churches should be present at their assemblies, they have been accused of many horrid and abominable practices,—such as drinking the blood of a child, and the indulgence of licentiousness,—their accusers not considering that the only security for their safety is in their avoidance of public notoriety." All testimonials concur in stating that their numbers are considerable, but that, through fear of a recurrence of persecution, they courted obscurity; being content with the humblest stations, and only seeking to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. "Of the sect called Sabbaton, who reside in Russia," says Voltaire, "some say one thing and some another. It is evident, however," he continues, "that they originated from the Vaudois, who fled before the Crusaders into Germany, Bohemia, and Poland, and thence into the imperial territories. They pay great attention to the Bible, and but little to the priests, for which reason, probably, they have been so hated by the latter." Again, he observes, "that it is quite impossible to ascertain their numbers, or the proceedings of their meetings, since, through fear of persecution, they keep both entirely secret." A Russian historian testifies to the same. "I have no means of determining the numbers of the sect denominated Sabbaton, as they have been estimated by various authorities at from 10,000 to 100,000. It is certain, however, that they are harmless, simple, and inoffensive in their lives, and that they avoid all publicity, having a good reason for so doing." "I have been credibly informed," says the Rev. Joseph Wolfe, in private correspondence, "that the Sabbatarians in Russia are quite numerous, and are called Sabbaton." In a work entitled "The Annals of Russia," which was published at St. Petersburg, in 1796, and afterwards translated into French by M. de Brissembourg, we are told that these people are not only found in the large cities, but that they had congregations in the remotest parts of the empire,—in Siberia, and upon the northwest coast of North America. This was proved to be the case in 1829, when the Rev. J. S. Green, of the American Board of Foreign Missions, visited a church of fifty communicants on the northwest coast of Russian America, who religiously observed the seventh day. He gives rather a deplorable picture of their ignorance, but upon one point at least he might have learned a lesson of them.
SECTION V.
SOME ACCOUNT OF THE SABBATARIANS IN HOLLAND.
In my foregoing statements I have been governed entirely by the language and opinions of the writers from whom I derived my information, and who are almost unanimous in supposing that the Semi-Judaisers of Bohemia and Transylvania were descendants of the primitive Waldenses. However this may be, we have every reason to believe that both these countries, with different parts of Germany and Holland, were the abodes of evangelical Christians, and probably of Sabbatarians, before the dispersion of the Waldenses. An ancient author informs us that long before the dawn of the Reformation in Germany, there lay concealed in all these countries, particularly in Bohemia, a class of persons who contended for the spiritual nature of the kingdom of Christ, and that this kingdom should be exempt from all human institutions, of which first-day keeping is such a principal one. It is certain, however, that they were first brought into public notice about this time, and the probability is, that being similar to, they became amalgamated with the persecuted Waldenses; and as their safety lay in their obscurity, they took no pains to form records to perpetuate their memories. This opinion is further strengthened from the fact that many of the Anabaptists of Holland, whose origin is confessedly hid in the remote depths of antiquity, are known to have been Sabbatarians, and the same was true of multitudes in the Netherlands, or Low Countries, as we learn from Father Lebo, a Spanish inquisitor, who accompanied the Duke of Alva on his expedition to that unhappy country, of which he wrote an account. He says, "Of all the heretics, none were more incorrigible than a certain set, who were quite numerous, who refused to pay any regard to the festivals of the church, but persisted in Judaising, and openly declared that the Mosaic ritual was still binding."
Of the origin of Sabbatarianism in Holland, however, we have no account; neither have the names of its teachers been handed down to us. Whether its first observers were led to its adoption by an examination of the sacred records alone, or whether the commandments there laid down, were argued and explained by some popular leader, I have at present no means of ascertaining. Certain it is that the Sabbath controversy became, in the commencement of the sixteenth century, the principal one of the age, in all those northern Germanic countries, and engaged not only the attention of prelates and doctors of divinity, but of princes and sovereign states. In this controversy learning was opposed to ignorance, and influence to obscurity. Wealth, talent, and civil power, were arrayed on the side of the No-Sabbath doctrine. Here I would remark, that the Sabbatarians in Europe, at this period, were engaged in a controversy, which, originating upon different principles, required to be managed in altogether a different manner, from the present controversial discussions of the Sabbath question. The change of the Sabbath at this time had not been broached. It was conceded by all that the Dominical day was a mere festival of the church, brought in and perpetuated by human authority, and the mass of the people, with the so-called great Reformers at their head, contended that all sabbatical statutes had been abrogated, and consequently that, under the present dispensation, it was a matter of perfect expediency, whether or not any day of rest was observed. On the contrary, the Sabbatarians maintained that a Divine law could only be abrogated by its institutor, that the law of the Sabbath had not been so abrogated, and consequently, that it must be still in force. They appealed to the Scriptures; the opposite party appealed to the sword: and though the arguments of the former could never be answered in a satisfactory manner, their upholders could be hushed in death or driven into exile. One of the most eminent and learned men of this age, was a Sabbatarian, and a bold advocate of Sabbatarian views. I refer to Grotius, who wrote and published a book, in which he proved that the ten commandments are moral and immutable, and consequently the law of the Sabbath is still binding. This book was condemned in the celebrated council convened at Dort in 1618, and its author denounced in the severest manner. But however much this distinguished man contributed to support the Sabbatarian cause, he was certainly not its founder. A Catholic historian, in treating of the Anabaptists in Holland, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, remarks, that, "these heretics, through the instigation of the devil, for their overthrow, were divided among themselves, part teaching one thing, and part another; for, though all unanimously rejected the holy sacraments of the church, and refused to obey its ordinances, a certain set were for going back to Moses for a Sabbath, in which matter, they went so far as to form congregations, and hold meetings on the seventh day." In another place he observes, "I never heard that they were persecuted by their brethren, the other Anabaptists, except by the way of jeers, scoffs, and ridicule."[33]
Again, "The followers of Moses being chiefly among the poorer classes, they escaped for a long time the notice of the civil authorities, and so greatly increased in numbers, that they had teachers and congregations in all the principal cities of Holland, but when the persecutions broke out, some fled, others conformed, and their meetings were generally broken up." It is well known that the Lutheran princes and prelates practised upon the Anabaptists all the cruelties to which themselves had been subjected by the Roman hierarchs. The names of Luther, Calvin, and Zuinglius, have been marked in this manner with an indelible stain. The conscientious Sabbatarians neither expected nor found sympathy in the bosoms of these men. Luther, who could send a circular to the princes of the empire, urging them to execute summary vengeance upon the heretical sect, and who bitterly denounced Carlostadt for sympathizing with them; Calvin, who could smile with complacency over the tortures of those who refused to be governed by his own opinions; and Zuinglius, who, when questioned regarding the fate of certain Anabaptists, replied, "Drown the Dippers,"—what sympathy could be expected from princes whose consciences were guided, and whose opinions were influenced by such men? and is it a wonder, that while the horrible scenes of the Inquisition were re-enacted in Protestant countries; that while women and children, old men and maidens, indeed, a multitude of all classes, were being drowned, hung, burned, racked, and crowded into prisons to be literally starved to death; is it a wonder, I say, that under all these circumstances, posterity is beginning to inquire whether they were reformers or deformers, and whether pure and undefiled religion was really benefited by their services? This inquiry appears the more rational, when we consider that it was for being baptized as baptism was practised in the primitive church, and, so far as the Sabbatarians were concerned, for observing the Sabbath that God had commanded, that these frightful persecutions were carried on. Although many Sabbatarians doubtlessly perished, the name of only one martyr known to have been of that faith has been preserved. This was Barbary Von Thiers, who had been baptized by a Sabbatarian minister named Stephen Benedict. At her examination, she declared her rejection of Sunday and the holydays of the church, but said that "the Lord God had commanded rest on the seventh day;" in this she acquiesced, and it was her desire, by the help and grace of God, to remain as she was, for it was the true faith and right way in Christ. At the time when the Arminian schism was creating such a great excitement in Holland, the Sabbatarians appear to have become amalgamated, at least to a certain extent, with that people. Both were equally obnoxious to the state, and that of itself would have created a sympathy between them. It is well known that Grotius embraced the Arminian tenets. Maurice, at that time the reigning prince, exerted his utmost efforts to crush both parties. Inquiries were set on foot with all the rigours of the Inquisition. The suspected were tortured not so much to make them criminate themselves, as to betray their friends and associates. Some were beheaded, and others escaped into foreign countries. Of the latter class was Grotius, who, being condemned to perpetual imprisonment, escaped his doom by flight. Their houses were demolished, their property confiscated, and every measure that tyranny and malice could invent, was exerted for their extirpation. Partially, at least, these efforts were attended with success, and since that period few Sabbatarians have been found in that country.
SECTION VI.
SEVENTH-DAY BAPTISTS OF ENGLAND.
About sixty years after the ascension of our Lord, Christianity was first introduced into Britain, and many of the nobility, as well as those of inferior birth, were happily converted. As it can be proved that, at this early period, the seventh day was observed by the Christians in general, we may conclude that these primitive churches were Sabbatarian. The British Christians experienced various changes of prosperity and adversity, until about the year 600, when Austin, the monk, with forty associates, was sent hither to subject the island to the dominion of Rome. Various ancient authors might be quoted to prove the Sabbatarian character of the English at this period. In the Biography of Austin, published in the Lives of the Saints, we are told that he found the people of Britain in the most grievous and intolerable heresies, being given to Judaising, but ignorant of the holy sacraments and festivals of the church. The author then goes on to relate the prodigies wrought in their conversion.
The terms of conformity proposed to these Christians by Austin related, among other things, to the observation of Easter and the festivals of the Romish church. A division among the people immediately ensued, and the different branches of the church were designated as the old and the new. The old, or Sabbatarian Baptist church retained their original principles; while the new adopted the keeping of the Dominical day, infant baptism, and the other superstitions of the Romish hierarchy.
Benius' Councils, fol. 1448, says that a council was celebrated in Scotland in 1203, in which the initiation or first bringing in of the Lord's day was determined. Lucius says of this council, that "it was enacted that the Dominical day should be holy, beginning at the twelfth hour on Saturday, until Monday." "The same year," says Hoveden, "Eustachius, Archbishop of Flay, returned into England, and therein preached the word of God from city to city, and from place to place, and said the command under written, came from heaven about the observation of the Dominical day; that it was found in a letter at Jerusalem, on the tomb of St. Simeon, which the Archbishop, after fasting, praying, and doing penance, at length ventured to take and read, which was as follows:
"I, the Lord, who commanded you that you should observe the Dominical holy day, and ye have not kept it, and ye have not repented of your sins, as I said by my gospel. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. I have caused repentance unto life to be preached unto you, and ye have not believed. I sent Pagans against you, who shed your blood, yet ye believed not; and because ye kept not the Dominical holy day, for a few days ye had famine. But I soon gave you plenty, and afterwards ye did worse. I will again, that none, from the ninth hour of the Sabbath,[34] until the rising of the sun on Monday, do work anything, unless what is good, which, if any do, let him amend by repentance.