17th Century Sabbath Text Available Online!

As reported on Jim Skaggs' weblog, One Eternal Day, the text of the mid-seventeenth century work, "The Doctrine of the Fourth Commandment..." by John Ockford, is now available online at the webpage of the Yakima, WA SDB Church.

Ockford's work, which was banned by the English Parliament shortly after its publication in 1649-50, was ordered burned by that same body, and accordingly copies of the volume are extremely rare. One original copy is known to exist in Oxford. It is also helpful in dating the rise of the Seventh Day Baptist movement's origins in England.

The book gives an early apologetic for Seventh-day Sabbath worship and is among the first published by known Seventh Day Baptists. It is an extremely important work because it also outlines the basic case for Sabbathkeeping SDB's have used ever since. In reading the pages, it is astonishing how little the case for Sabbath observance has changed since 1650.

The work of bringing this historical text into the present day was done by Pastor Stanley Fox, of the Yakima church, after his own personal study of the text proved helpful to his own understanding. Impressed by the work, he endeavored to make it available and transcribed it from a copy from the microfilm in the Historical Society library. The transcription work was difficult and time-consuming, but it is now complete.

We encourage all Seventh Day Baptists to visit the site, enjoy Ockford's work (and Pastor Fox's!), and support the Yakima church (which is also in the process of constructing a new meeting house)!