Seventh Day Adventism.

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume XIV, Issue 10, 1 April 1924, Page 381

Seventh Day Adventism.

Adventism is a riesuscitiation . of a Judaistic heresy that .troubled ;|>tjie Church m the earliest days. , If based upon, the ideas :-r- r ' L (1) That the law abolished jtiy; Christ was the Ceremonial law only.

(2) That the ten commandments are the moral law and that all are equally binding; the fourth is not merely ceremonial. (3 That therefore the obligation to observe the Sabbath is as binding as the obligation "Thou shalt not steal." Next :— (1) That the prophecies of both the Old and New Testaments must have an actual and literal fulfilment. (2) That the prophecies m Daniel and Revelation and other Scriptures enable the time of the second coming of Christ to be calculated. (3) Particularly, that the Millenium is near at hand. Modern Adventism owes its origin to an illiterate farmer, William Miller, of Low Hampton, New York. He said the second Advent would take place m 1843. This created great excitement and he gained many followers, including Nonconformist ministers. The Adventists or "Millerites" gave away their goods and gave up work, spending their time m preparation for the Advent. Nothing happened m 1843. Miller then said he had made a mistake m his calculations — the event would take place m 1844. There was still more fanaticism and enthusiasm. The appointed day m October arrived, but passed without anything unusual occurring. Elder A. Smith (an Adventist elder) says: "From that point the history of the majority of that once happy, united people has been marked by discord, division, confusion, speculation, new mishaps, fresh disappointments, disintegrations, and apostasy." (The Sanctuary, page 13). Another day was appointed m 1854 — but still nothing happened. The Adventists broke up into numerous sects, some of which preached most extravagant ideas as to vegetarianism, spiritual wifery, that work was sinful, that ownership of property was wrong, and so on. Of these sects two continued for a time, the First Day Adventists and the Seventh Day Adventists. The latter, by virtue of its insistence on the tithe has been very rapidly growing m wealth and has become very teen on foreign missions. Whereever any religious denomination has established a mission it sends its elders to proselytise the converts to Seventh Day Adventism. Its weird notions appeal to the ignorant natives and it succeeds m splitting them off from orthodox Christianity. In spite of the defection of most of its prominent .elders and professors of Adventisfc colleges it continues to thrive. To prove its thesis as to the seventh day. Sabbath its teachers unblushingly misquote holy scripture, the writ-

ings of the early fathers and those of Church historians. It attracts uneducated and simple people by its positivehess and dogmatic assurance. Instances were given by one of the clergy at the late clerical meeting at Clive of flagrant dishonesty m connection with the collections of funds by a Seventh Day Adyentist m one of the parishes m this diocese. A large gathering of Adventists was recently held m Hastings and the lurid teachings of the pastors present were widely advertised m the local papers. As to the Adventist system of interpretation of prophecy it is enough to say that m every case where it has been applied to the mystical numbers and metaphors of the prophets it has been falsified by the event j especially with regard to the fixing of the date of the Second Advent. The method has egregiously failed. It is based upon an ignorant and fanatical interpretation of prophecy, that takes no account of the circumstances and aims of the prophet himself, nor of the symbolic, imaginative and poetical ways of speech and thought of the times and peoples for which the prophecies were written. But enough of destructive criticism. Why do we not keep the Sabbath ? The observance of the Sabbath is an ancient rule common to all Semitic nations. Its origin is obscure. The Old Testament gives two different reasons for its observance: (1) That the world was made m Six days and God rested on the Seventh; (2) to commemorate the deliverance from Egypt. The method of its observance is given m Levit. xxiii. 32: Exod. xx. 10: Exod. xxxv. 3: Exod. xvi. 23: Exod. xxxi. 15. No professing Sabbatarian, not even the Seventh Dayist, observes these regulations. Hosea ii. 11 prophesied that it would be abolished by God. St. Paul (Coloss. ii. 14) declares its observance is not enjoined on Gentile Christians; and m Galatians iv. condemns its observance by them. St. Paul shows over and over again that the law is abolished. The c' c law certainly included the ten commandments as such. The moral principles which underly the law were plainly taught by our Lord, but interpreted on a much higher plane than that of the ten commandments, m the Sermon on the Mount; but the observance of the Sabbath was not one of the principles. The Christians m the Apostolic age met for the weekly observance of the Lord's Day on the first day of the week. Those who were Jews before their conversion continued to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish days and ceremonies also, but those who were converted from heathenism were forbidden to submit themselves to Judaistic law and the observance of Judaistic rites and days.

The Lord's Day is not the Sabbath changed from the seventh day to the first, it is a different day r observed for a different reason, and man altogether different way. Theobservance of the Lord's Day was enjoined from the very first as a; memorial of the Resurrection. It was not a day of rest. It was a weekly festival of thanksgiving culminating m the celebration of the Eucharist. St. Paul attended the Synagogues on the' Sabbath Day to preach to and convert the Jews, but w.e never hear of Christians meeting for Christian worship on the Seventh day. They always meet on the first day of the week. In spite of the numerous testimonies of the early fathers to the~ universal observance by the Christian Church of the Lord's day, the Seventh Day Adventistsj m defianceof history, assert that the Christians-' before Constantine (312, A.D.) always observed the Seventh day, but that Constantine or the Pope changed the day to Sunday m the fourth Century. It is true that among the many pieces of legislation enacted by Constantine m favor of his Christian subjects, whom he desired to propitiate and use for his own purposes, there was included one which madV the Lord's Day a public holiday. Christians were thus given the opportunity to spend m religious exercises the whole day, instead of only the early morning hours that they had used before. They were no longer compelled to work on that day as on other days. They no longer had to worship m secret m the holesand caves and catacombs. Constantine presented them with basilicas(court houses) to use as churches, and gave them all kinds of privileges and facilities; but he merely made lawful what the Christianshad been doing for three hundred: years m defiance of the law. In fact,, the Jewish Sabbath and the Christian Lord's Day are two entirely distinct institutions. The Sabbath was a national commemoration, its law was a law of restrictions. The Lord's Day is a universal festival, commemorating the greatest event m history, with joy and thanksgiving, when Chirstians meet , together tocelebrate their central act of worship, to meet their Lord at His table and offer their sacrifice of praise. It was sanctified by our Lord Himself" by His appearances to His disciples gathered together on that day, and by the gift of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost, "the first day of the week." 1 ' The disciples met together regularly "on the first day of the week" (Acts xx. 2). St. Paul ordered the collection for the poor m Jerusalem to be" made at the weekly meeting on that day. St. John calls it "The Lord's Day (Rev. i., 10). How can we account for the strong condemnation of

Sabbath observance by St. Paul, a rigid Pharisee Who claimed to be "as touching the law, blameless," except on the supposition that our Lord Himself during the forty days after His Resurrection had instructed the disciples as to the Lord's Day among the many things "concerning the Kingdom of Heaven," and that St. Paul on his conversion had found the Lord's Day, and not the Sabbath, observed by all Christians as an integral part of their religion.