p. 7 | Multiplying Contempt

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 16, 1908

Multiplying Contempt

The movement on the part of some of the advanced thinkers among the Jews to conform to the practise of the majority in the observance of Sunday in place of the original Sabbath of the decalogue is one of the signs of the times. Some of the less liberal Jews, however, see the absurdity of such an action in view of the fact that one of the reasons given by the early church fathers for changing the day was in order that they might not “judaize” in any respect. The case is well stated in an article in the Jewish Exponent, from which the following paragraph is taken:—

The Jewish ministers who urge their people to adopt as their sabbath a day which has never had the sanction of either the Old Testament, the New Testament, or any other testament, are placing themselves in a very peculiar position—a position that practically amounts to this assertion: because the early church changed the Sabbath day to show its contempt for the Jews and their institution, the Jews should accept that change to show their contempt for their own religion.

But what about those who made this change to show their contempt for the Jews, in face of the fact that Jesus was a Jew, and that he declared, “Salvation is of the Jews”? In reality the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath honors Christ as the Father’s personal agent both in creation and redemption, while the observance of the first day of the week is a tribute to the power of antichrist. “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.”