p. 4 | A Serious Question by M. E. STEWARD

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Feb 25, 1915

A Serious Question

By M. E. STEWARD

M. E. STEWARD

WHEN our Lord comes to earth again, he will find a people who “keep the commandments of God.” One of these commandments relates to Sabbath observance. This people will keep the Sabbath as God requires it to be kept; otherwise he could not designate them as commandment keepers.

Is it not of the utmost importance that we know precisely what the Lord calls Sabbath keeping? Isaiah makes it very plain to all who believe in understanding the Bible as it reads, literally: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.” Could anything make the meaning clearer?

The company brought out by the third angel of Revelation 14 comply with these specifications of Isaiah 58. When the third message first arose, the Sabbath was kept in this strict way; there then, was no worldly conversation, and the mind was stayed on divine things. As far as I knew there was no talking about crops or trades or occupations on the Sabbath; nor did the sisters have anything to say about their cooking or sewing. Neither men nor women were planning about their work, even in their own minds. No doubt it could truly have been said of Adventists at that time, “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” Those Christians enjoyed the blessing of Heaven. Sweet brotherly love bound the hearts of the believers together. Humility of dress and soul distinguished them.

In “Patriarchs and Prophets,” page 307, we read: “God has given man six days wherein to labor, and he requires that their own work be done in the six working days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath, the sick and suffering are at all times to be cared for; but unnecessary labor is to be strictly avoided. . . . Those who discuss business matters or lay plans on the Sabbath, are regarded by God as though engaged in the actual transaction of business. To keep the Sabbath holy we should not even allow our minds to dwell upon things of a worldly character.”

Not only are we in danger of not properly observing the Sabbath as it passes, but we are in danger of failing to realize all that it stands for and of enjoying it when we come up to it so wearied in body and mind that it is hard to comprehend anything in full. God gave the Sabbath to man to be a blessing, not a yoke of bondage. We may well ask if there is

not a way to avoid this exhaustion by better systematizing our work. And would not the one who so carefully prepared for the Sabbath, not only find it “a delight,” but most sweetly delight himself in the Lord?

A woman who had just accepted God’s Sabbath wrote: “I have had the privilege of keeping one of God’s holy Sabbaths, and now I have the privilege of keeping another.” It is indeed a privilege, for his Sabbath is a precious day.

And now, when we see God’s “judgments are in all the earth,” shall we not diligently “learn righteousness”? Let us seek a oneness with the heart of the decalogue, that we may “dwell in the secret place of the Most High,” and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Then, indeed, will “his truth . . . be thy shield and buckler.” O, the privilege of being on the Lord’s side, of knowing that he is our salvation, though called to part with everything earthly! And we are never to forget that “the love of the Saviour is infinitely more tender than a mother’s love.”

Sanitarium, Cal.