The Sabbath and Conversion.
The following question and answer we find in the report of a “gospel service” in San Francisco on a recent Sunday night:— “Is the Sabbath done away with?” “If you are a Jew, No. But it is deplorable to see a person claiming to be a Christian, and going back to Judaism. The Sabbath is the seventh day, but they are not converted people who keep it. Some people devote so much attention to the Sabbath question that their religion is all Sabbath and no Christ.” That is, the thing is done and it is not done. We leave the question as to how a thing can at the same time both be and not be, to those who are more skilled in casuistry than we are. It is too deep for ordinary people. We read that “the Sabbath was made for man;” then if it is abolished, it must be abolished for man; and if it is not abolished, it must still remain for man. We have great respect for the Jews, but we do not believe that they were any more entitled to be called men than we are; therefore we do not believe the Sabbath was made specially for them. The Sabbath was made for all who are included in the general term “man.” If there are any people to whom the term “man” will not apply, then perhaps the Sabbath was not made for them. Keeping the Sabbath is no more Jewish than is worshiping the true God, or refraining from blasphemy, murder, and adultery. Therefore to keep the Sabbath is not to go back to Judaism. “The Sabbath is the seventh day, but they are not converted people who keep it.” The seventh-day Sabbath is the Sabbath commanded in the law, and the psalmist says, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.” Ps. 19:7. The law, including the Sabbath, is that which converts the soul, and brings it to Christ; now if a man, having come to Christ, rejects that which alone could bring him to Christ, he necessarily, in so doing, rejects Christ. Therefore to say that a Sabbath-keeper cannot be a converted man is unscriptural and false. If the man had said that not all who keep the Sabbath are converted, we should be obliged to agree with him. Not all who profess to worship the true God, are converted. Not all who profess to accept Christ as their Saviour, are converted. Said Christ: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7:22, 23. But this does not prove that no one can be converted if he worships God or prophesies in the name of Christ. Yet we might as well say that it does as to say that a Sabbath-keeper cannot be converted. Answers such as the one quoted above may satisfy those who “love to have it so;” but the fact that these questions are continually being asked, shows that people are thinking about the Sabbath; and in these investigations many will reject the foolishness of men, and will accept the word of the Lord which “endureth forever.”