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

In his second article, he says, “We are concerned here and now simply with the transfer of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week.” In the third article, when speaking of apostolic times, he remarks again, “It was also seen that while the observance of the seventh day was not continued, another day of the week, the first, took its place as the stated day for religious assemblies and services.” Farther on, he writes again, as follows: “On the last seventh day on which the disciples rested, according to the commandment, the Lord himself is lying in the tomb. The glory of the seventh day dies out with the fading light of that day, throughout the whole of which the grave claimed the body of the Redeemer. But the glory of the Sabbath of the Lord survives. It receives fresh luster from the added glories of the Lord of the Sabbath. ‘The Stone which the builders refused has become the head of the corner.’ It is very early in the morning, the first day of the week. Again, ‘God said, Let there be light; and there was light’ The Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in his wings. This is the day which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. The first day of the week has become the Lord’s day.”

But we must cease from our quotations, for them is no limit to expressions synonymous with the above. Not only so, but were additional proof necessary, by more ample extracts, it could be made to appear that the whole theory of his defense, as already declared, has rested entirely upon the change of the day from the seventh, which was observed till the death of Christ, to the first, which was honored especially by our Lord, by his personal appearance to the disciples on the first and second Sundays following the resurrection, and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, with the especial view of teaching the disciples that it had become holy time; also, that they, grasping the moral of the lesson imparted by example, if not by positive precept, inculcated the doctrine of the change, and made it binding upon all.

If we are right in this, and the reader who has followed the debate thus far will unhesitatingly admit that such are the facts, then, of course, the gentleman is arrayed against himself in a manner most distasteful, no doubt, to his personal feelings, as well as disastrous to his polished logic; for to the mind of the merest school-boy it must be apparent that a change of Sabbath from one day of the week to another, involves the definiteness of the day thus honored; i. e., if the first day of the week is now the Christian Sabbath because of the nature of events which transpired upon it in particular, then, of course, it occupies that position to the exclusion of all other days; but this utterly demolishes the seventh-part-of-time theory, which the gentleman has adopted, the very essence of which is, that there is now no superiority in days, and the individual is left free to choose any one which may best accord with his tastes or subserve his interests.

Here, then, we come to a dead halt. Which shall we believe, the nine articles of the gentleman, or the tenth, which is in direct conflict with their teachings? Should we go by the bulk of the testimony, then we must decide that there is a definite day, according to the conviction of our opponent. But if he still holds to that doctrine, then that which he has said against the seventh-day Sabbath, on the ground that the earth is round, and, therefore, that the Edenic Sabbath could not be kept in all portions of it, is deprived of all its force. For, assuredly, if he believes that God now requires all men to honor the first day of the week, the world over, then he must admit that it is possible for them to do so.

But if it is possible for men both to find and to celebrate the first day of the week, on a round world, then, beyond all dispute, the same process which will enable them to do this, will also qualify them to locate and to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. For it is just as certain as mathematical demonstration can make it, that in a week consisting of seven days, having found the first of the number, in order to discover the last, you have but to take the one which preceded the known day, or, if you please, count forward six days from the one already established, and you have the last day of the Week to which it belongs.

So, too, with every objection urged in the communication. The one in regard to the difficulties which would be experienced in an attempt to keep the Sabbath of the commandment at the poles, is just as fatal to the first day as it is to the seventh. All this talk, also, in regard to the impossibility of preserving a correct count, and of the lengthening and shortening of the days, as the traveler passes from the east to the west, if it has any force at all, or even the semblance of force, must be met and answered equally by the observers of the so-called Christian Sabbath, with those of the Sabbath of the Lord. This being true, we might pause right here, and roll the burden onto the opposition. Having raised the dust which is blinding the eyes of the ignorant, yet conscientious, it would be but substantial justice for Sabbatarians to fall back and say to them, Take the field, gentlemen, and wrest from the hand of the infidel and the atheist the weapons with which you have armed them to be employed against you in the very work in which you are engaged; for, be it remembered that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light, and they will readily perceive the advantage which they have gained by such doctrines and difficulties as those to which the gentleman has called their attention.

This, however, we shall not do, but shall ourselves, in due time, strike at the very root of the error, in the interest of a definite and universal day of holy rest. Before entering upon this work, nevertheless, there is a matter which concerns Sabbatarians most deeply, to which attention should be directed.

The gentleman and his friends are pressing upon the nation the necessity of the Constitutional Amendment—contrary to his former declaration, in which he said there was no necessary connection between the Sabbath and the amendment. He now justifies our strictures upon the disingenuousness of his argument, by deliberately stating, in the article before us, with an air of triumphant exultation, that, the amendment once secured, the Sabbath laws in this country will then cease to be a dead letter. By this, he means, of course, that they will be carried into operation. But what are those Sabbath laws? They are laws enforcing the first day of the week, in nearly every State in the Union.

Now, we believe that what the gentleman says will be fulfilled; but right here is the proper place to offer a solemn protest. Will the gentleman fine and imprison my brethren and myself for disregarding the first day of the week, after having conscientiously kept the seventh? If so, we ask for the logic by which such a course could be justified, on the ground that the seventh-part-of-time theory is correct? Now, mark it, the object of the amendment is to make the Bible the fountain of national law. All the enactments of the Congress and all the decisions of the judiciary are to be in harmony with it. If, therefore, Sabbath laws are passed, they must be such as the Scriptures would warrant; for the Sabbath, be it remembered, which this movement seeks to enforce, is the one which the Bible teaches.

But, according to the last theory, the day which God now requires to be observed is not any one in particular, but simply one in seven, the individual being left to make the selection of the one which he prefers thus to honor. Now, therefore, it is submitted that if God has given to man this prerogative of choice, then be has done so because this course was the one which commended itself to infinite wisdom, and no person or set of persons has a right to come between the creature and the Creator, depriving the former of rights which the latter has guaranteed to him. If the Bible Sabbath is indeed an indefinite one, we say to these gentlemen, Hands off; in the name of religion and the Bible you shall not perform a work which twill do violence to a large class of conscientious citizens, and which, according to your own argument, is contrary to the doctrine of the Christian Sabbath, as laid down in the word of God. Be consistent with yourselves and your views of Scripture.