The Sabbath a Test by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 28, 1903

The Sabbath a Test

By L. A. S.

As the Sabbath is the sign or memorial of the true God, so also it is a test of man's allegiance to God. By keeping holy the Sabbath of the Lord, men acknowledge him as their God, and testify that his claims are paramount with them to the claims of self and of the world.

The Sabbath commandment is set in the bosom of the decalogue, and he who faithfully observes that commandment will not be found violating other precepts of the moral law. The Sabbath is to-day the chief test of Christianity.

In keeping the Sabbath men are obliged to separate themselves from all that is in opposition to the work of God. They are made to stand in

opposition to human traditions, and to keep aloof from the confederacies of men which are so characteristic of these times. There is nothing in common between God's Sabbath and the world. He who observes the Sabbath set apart by the Creator will every week be brought in conflict with the traditions, customs, and institutions of the world. Tradition upholds a rival Sabbath—the first day of the week. Popular custom sets apart that day and sanctions its observance by law. And the federations of men by which the world's activities are largely governed to-day are conducted upon principles and rules altogether at variance with the requirements of the Sabbath commandment.

The Sabbath commandment relates to work and to rest. The greatest problem of the day in civilized lands is the problem of work and rest; but what man has instituted for the solution of this problem is at variance with the law of work and rest ordained by the Creator. In the consideration of the labor problem the obligation of man to the divine law of weekly rest is not taken into account.

No man can belong to a labor union and observe the seventh-day Sabbath. There is not a worldly confederacy of any note to-day which makes any provision for such a religious observance. Their principles are not in harmony with it; neither is any need felt of such a provision; for observers of the true Sabbath feel no inclination to join with these confederacies. By the keeping of the Sabbath they signify that their trust is in God; that they depend wholly upon his arm, and not on the arm of flesh.

Thus at every point the Sabbath becomes a wall of separation between Christians and the world. It is at this day the chief test of an individual's Christianity. In this day the people of God are to be completely separated from the world and its errors, preparatory to the coming of the day of God; and in the Sabbath the means of this separation is provided. The great labor problem of the day will soon involve the question of Sabbath observance; and so fierce will the conflict become on this testing point between Christianity and worldliness that all the power of the world will be arrayed against those in whose lives the Sabbath commandment is honored. But while the Sabbath is a badge which marks its wearer for hatred and opposition in the eyes of the world, it is also a sign of the union with Him who is infinite in power, and who has everlasting victory over the world for all his followers. He who is wise and can see afar off will not shrink from the Sabbath test.

“Let good or ill befall. It must be good for me, Secure of having Thee in all, Of having all in thee.”

L. A. S.