The Constitutional Amendment: or, The Sunday, the Sabbath, the Change, and Restitution / A discussion between W. H. Littlejohn, Seventh-day Adventist, and the editor of the Christian Statesman

by Wolcott H. Littlejohn

Hero it will be seen that the second commandment is dropped out altogether, and that the tenth is divided; a portion of it retaining its ancient number, and the remaining portion of it being numbered as the ninth commandment, thereby making the complement of the original ten, which would have been reduced to nine by ignoring the one against image worship. It will also be perceived that with the exception of the words, “Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day,” the fourth commandment is left out entirely. True, it may be that in the Douay Bible the original commandments are allowed to remain intact, but we shall see hereafter that the above arrangement is not accidental, and that the power to make these changes is unhesitatingly claimed.

The fourth point was that concerning the form and nature of the wound, whereby it was discovered that it was made with a weapon precisely such as one possessed by the suspected party. The correspondence in this particular will be found in the boundary of the new Sabbath; in its beginning and ending, occurring as they do at twelve o’clock, midnight, are the unmistakable marks of the band of one who most assuredly did not live at Jerusalem, and who left upon the creature of his own power the badge of its origin at Rome.

The Jews, as we have seen heretofore, by the agreement of commentators and scholars generally, as well as by the testimony of the Bible, commenced and ended their days with the setting of the sun. At Rome, on the other hand, as well as in other parts of the world, the day began as we now begin the Sunday—at midnight. In this, it is made apparent that some one has been tampering with a day which it is claimed was hallowed by Christ eighteen hundred years ago; since, if it had originated at that time and in that place, it would have conformed in its beginning and ending to the weekly Sabbath, the day of Pentecost, and the other days in the Jewish calendar. The presumption concerning whom this person is, is already made out. The certainty respecting it will be established under the next heading.

The fifth point cited above was the confession of the culprit. Under ordinary circumstances, this alone would have made a conviction inevitable. Answering to it in the fullest degree are the oft-repeated declarations of Romanists, that they have changed the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week, and that they had the ability and the right thus to do. Respecting these assumptions, we might introduce quotations almost without number, but we must content ourselves with a few brief but pointed ones.[^[17]]

“Ques. What are the days which the church commands to be kept holy?”

“Ans. 1. The Sundays, or our Lord’s day, which we observe by apostolical tradition instead of the Sabbath. 2. The feasts of our Lord’s nativity, or Christmas day; his circumcision, or New Year’s day; the Epiphany, or twelfth day; Easter day, or the day of our Lord’s resurrection, with the Monday following,” &c.

“Ques. What was the reason why the weekly Sabbath was changed from the Saturday to the Sunday?”

“Ans. Because our Lord fully accomplished the work of our redemption by rising from the dead on Sunday and by sending down the Holy Ghost on Sunday; as therefore the work of our redemption was a greater work than that of our creation, the primitive church thought the day in which this work was completely finished was more worthy her religious observation than that in which God rested from creation, and should be properly called the Lord’s day.”

“Ques. But has the church power to make any alterations in the commandments of God?”

“Ans. The commandments of God, as far as they contain his eternal law, are unalterable and indispensable, but as to whatever was only ceremonial they cease to oblige, since the Mosaic law was abrogated by Christ’s death; hence, as far as the commandment obliges us to set aside some part of our time for the worship and service of our Creator, it is an unalterable and unchangeable precept of the eternal law in which the church cannot dispense. But, forasmuch as it prescribes the seventh day in particular for this purpose, it is no more than a ceremonial precept of the old law which obligeth not Christians, and therefore, instead of the seventh day and other festivals appointed by the old law, the church has prescribed the Sundays and holidays to be set apart for God’s worship, and these we are now obliged to keep in consequence of God’s commandment, instead of the ancient Sabbath.”