Why Don’t You Keep the Sabbath?
By Burton S. Barnes
BRO. SMITH: Will you allow me through the Review to address a letter to my young friends who do not keep the Sabbath of the Lord? DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS: I am going to propose a very plain and serious question, one well worth your consideration, and one that demands your careful attention. In so doing, I beg you to realize that I am not inviting you from the Bible or a near communion with our Saviour, but shall urge you to take the Scriptures as your only safe counsel, and Jesus as your perfect guide. The question is, Why do you not keep all the commandments of God? Why do you knowingly violate the fourth, when you profess to love and follow the statutes of our Lord? Our Creator at creation gave us a command to keep holy the seventh day; and this command is embodied in the decalogue that says, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, Thou shalt not steal, &c. As soon as God had finished the work of creation, he rested on the seventh day, and sanctified it; that is, he set it apart for a sacred use. If God, at the close of the first six days’ labor, set it apart for a sacred use, he must necessarily have instituted the Sabbath at creation. The time and circumstances under which this was done, sufficiently indicate that it was intended to apply to the whole race of man, and to extend through all time. Christ and his apostles never speak of the decalogue but as of permanent and universal obligation. Now, if we are unable to show where and when God has released us from his holy law, certainly he will no more hold us guiltless for the violation of the fourth commandment than he will for the first. God has told us to keep holy the seventh day; men tell us the first day. Christ told us to be baptized in commemoration of his resurrection; men tell us to celebrate Sunday for that purpose. Christ says, If ye love me, keep my commandments; men, Obey the customs of the church. When God has made mention of his righteous commandments one hundred and thirty-five times in one chapter (exix Psalm); when he once spoke them so as to shake the earth; when he has said, Blessed are they that keep my commandments; how can you ask God to speak more plainly or with a louder voice? Shall we dare change even the least of God’s commandments? The apostle says, He that breaks one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of Heaven. But say you, Does God require us to keep the seventh day in direct opposition to the custom of almost the whole world? My dear friends, has the meek and humble way of the Lord ever been in accordance with the customs of the world? Is popularity found in the way that Christ would lead? Can we expect to obtain eternal life without suffering with Jesus? The apostle says, He that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. In our spirit, as well as our aim, we must differ from the world. Say you, What evidence have you that the world are not keeping the seventh day for the Sabbath? Why do you ask me to prove a point that you so readily admit? You have no trouble to prove that Sunday is the first day; and can we not as easily prove which is the seventh? Most certainly they know which was the seventh day at Christ’s crucifixion, for “they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke xxiii, 5, 6. It is not probable that the true reckoning of days has been lost since that time. What excuse have you, then, for not regarding the true Sabbath of the Lord? To keep the Sabbath of God, my dear friends, requires that you should be entirely consecrated to his will. You will have to throw away worldly hopes; you will have to bear the almost insupportable cross that even those in the popular churches will cast upon you137for keeping holy the Sabbath of the Lord. But, is not the object in view worth all this? Is not eternal life worth all our pains and endeavors? Ought we not willingly to bear every cross for the sake of Jesus? In fact, when God commands us to keep holy the seventh day, what right have we to disobey? What right have we to substitute another day, even if it be for our own convenience? Dear friends, seek eternal life by keeping all the commandments of God. Let your life be a preparation to meet Jesus, and a pilgrimage to a better land. We are now in the wilderness, beset on every side by enemies that would allure us from the path of righteousness. Let us be wise, and put on the whole armor of God. Let us seek first the kingdom of Heaven. The storms and temptations that swell around our pilgrimage here will soon subside; and then, oh! then, if we are found walking in the way of the Lord—keeping his righteous law—we shall see “Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
And rivers of delight.”
In a few years, at most, the conflict will end; sighing grief will weep no more; and this bitter world will be exchanged for a place on the throne of Him who hath loved us and given his life that we might obtain pardon. Oh! let the hope of soon seeing Jesus stimulate us to increased ardor in the work of our Master. Is not the hope of those who shall be prepared to meet Jesus worth striving for? Can we not bear the scoffs and frowns of the wicked for Jesus’ sake? “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” Dear friends, throw away all those forms of religion in which you have no confidence; seek that which has in it the approving smile of our heavenly Father; have regard to the way of the Lord. Let it become the full, fixed, absorbing purpose of your hearts to obey God, to obey him in spite of all allurements, and then will you enjoy the smile of his approbation, and be prepared to meet Jesus. What are all the attractions of this frail world, compared with so great a prize? And oh! if you decide to obey the righteous statutes of our Lord, follow in the way he has commanded, angels will be glad, Heaven will reverberate with the sound of jubilee, and it will be your happy lot to be among those to whom Jesus will soon say, Ye loved me, for ye kept my commandments. You cannot talk of God with propriety, you cannot talk of him in love, your hearts will never bound at the mention of his name, your eyes will not glisten at the thought of his attributes, while you are disobedient to any of his commandments. Study the word of God with an honest heart—a heart that is willing to be fed, and anxious to bear any burden for the sake of Jesus. This will try your love. This will prove whether you love self and the world more than you love God. In keeping all the commandments, you cannot expect honor from the world; you cannot expect to mingle with the gay and thoughtless; but, on the contrary, all this must be sacrificed, and you must be willing to follow whithersoever Jesus leads. I cannot close without again urging you to seriously investigate this subject, and know for yourselves that it is the word of God. Oh! let us live for God, let us make his commands our delight, let us sacrifice self; and then with holy longings for the appearing of our blessed Saviour, we can say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” That the third angel’s message may find a place in your hearts, and you be prepared for Jesus’ soon coming, is the prayer of your unworthy friend, Battle Creek, Mich., Feb. 20, 1867.